iran's support for terrorist groups like hezbollah and thomas. iran -- hamas. iran is actively engaged in subverting the government in several countries in the middle east right now. the intention of u.s. negotiators right now is to try to focus very narrowly on the nuclear aspect of this. we can talk about whether or not this is a successful approach. when it comes to the iranian perspective, i'm not sure that they're looking for friendship -- i think the intention of u.s. negotiators right now is to try to focus very narrowly on the nuclear aspect of this. we can talk about whether or not this is a successful approach. when it comes to the iranian perspective, i'm not sure that they're looking for friendship with the u.s. they want to get out from under the burden of these sanctions. i don't think they see themselves as ending up as aligned with the u.s. at the end of this process. they look to other countries in the world as their natural allies such as china and russia. host: let me summarize how "time" focuses on this deal. the easy part in dealing with ir

to the geneva two talks in syria well iran agreed to help from the sidelines iran is an important player in this reach. it would be rather. ironic to have. those who support extremist groups participate in the conference invited to participate in the conference and then for some. predispositions say that iran should accept preconditions in order to participate in the conference. will either participate in the conference or as any other state that has been invited without preconditions on the descent same circumstances and others have been invited and will participate. in the. main course of the conference and on the sidelines or iran will decide to stay away if you are not invited. we will not accept anything that that is beneath our dignity that is our own the only condition we do not have any condition for participation in the talks we are prepared to participate if we are given the same invitation as anybody else who participated in the conference we believe we have a much more important role to play in this conference than many others who have been invited bobo. but we're not conveni

we just ran a four-part series on iran and south asia so there's one on iran and afghanistan, iran and pakistan, iran and india. so i commend it to you. so iran primer.com. >> very good. let's go here. >> thank you. i'm from george mason university. my question is about new technology and social media. we know more than 50% of iranians have access to internet, and rouhani and zarif also on twitter. but a few days ago they had a policy to have more censorship on social media and internet access. how is it fixed with the realistic policy of rouhani? >> i'm happy to take that. i follow both rouhani and zarif on their twitter account coming yesterday in fact which is posted on the iran primer today tweets from the presidents account on his speech about freedom and the arts. and one of the problem is that president rouhani doesn't have control over that issue, and it's one which he's talked about a lot. and again this goes back to the nuclear deal, that they can't do anything else until they get this nuclear deal and they prove their credits and the rest of the regime has to bend more becau

and iran their historical reasons for it their course u.s. run line says in the region so it's not going to be a brave new world just because the nuclear issue is resolved but i think the nuclear issue is so important that it should be resolved before other issues or even addressed so i don't i don't see is somehow a return to the good old days of the shah being policy would whoever is in the white house those days are gone but the nuclear issue is such a dangerous and it's in the interests of both to us and iran to the road need to resolve that richard doesn't it if they were determined to go on ministration go ahead richard jump in go ahead yeah it is a position a bomb inspirational they phrase it a little differently it's if you can't trust iran to agree to comply with its nuclear obligations you can't really trust them for anything syria afghanistan ever and so therefore we have to settle the nuclear issue before we can achieve extensive cooperation these other areas although i think you're going to see a little de facto cooperation maybe

and iran their historical reasons for it their course the u.s. run line says in the region so it's not going to be a brave new world just because the nuclear issue is resolved but i think the nuclear issue is so important that it should be resolved before other issues or even addressed so i don't i don't see is somehow a return to the good old days of the shah being policy would whoever is in the white house those days are gone but the nuclear issue is such a dangerous idea it's in the interests of both to us and iran to the road need to resolve that richard doesn't it if they were determined to go on ministration go ahead richard jump in go ahead yeah it is a position a bomb inspirational they phrase it a little differently it's it that if you can't trust iran to agree to comply with its nuclear obligations you can't really trust them for anything syria afghanistan ever and so therefore we have to settle the nuclear issue before we can achieve extensive cooperation with other areas although i think you're going to see a little de facto cooperati

to the geneva two talks in syria well iran agreed to help from the sidelines iran is an important player in this region. it would be rather. ironic to have. those who support extremist groups participate in the conference invited to participate in the conference and then for some. predispositions say that iran should accept preconditions in order to participate in the conference . will either participate in the conference or as any other state that has been invited without precondition on the descent same circumstances and others have been invited and will participate. in the. main course of the conference and on the sidelines or iran will decide to stay away if you're not invited. we remarked accept anything that that is beneath our dignity that is our own the only can. we do not have any condition for participation in the talks we are prepared to participate if you are given the same invitation as anybody else who participated in the conference we believe we have a much more important role to play in this conference than many others who have been invited. but we are not convening this

and also on iran. we just ran a four-part series on iran and asia. iran and india. it's on iranprimer.com. >> very good. all right. let's go here. >> thank you. i'm and george mason university. my question is about new technology and social media. more than 50% of iranians have access to internet and rouhani andzarif also on twitter. but a few days ago they have a policy to have more censorship on social media and internet access. how is it fixed with the rouhani?s' policy of >> i'm happy to take that i follow both on their twitter accounts and we just posted tweets from the president's account on his speech about freedom in the arts and one of the problems is that president rouhani doesn't have control over that issue and it's one which he's talked about a lot and again, this goes back to the nuclear deal, that they can't do anything else until they get this nuclear deal and they've proved their creds and the rest of the regime has to bend more because the balance of internal power moves more from rouhani's favor. they also don't want to move too quickly because th

in terms of capacity when iran -- in other duce words, iran maintains its industrial capabilities. construction of nonnuclear is ermitted and it proceeds elsewhere. he production continues. >> the details worked out in agreement by the i.a.e.a. and iran have provided them much wider access to this agreement. the 2003 undertaking included arlier access to the nuclear r&d. visit to was the tehran and component managed facilities and key material such as high strength weapons. one of the challenges that they are facing is the material centrifuge manufactured by iran. iran commits itself not to construct new locations and will not construct any thing capable for reprocessing. , the he access provided i.a.e.a. is in their capabilities in the statements made to iran. preamble of the this, additional steps and final step which includes addressing the u.n. security council resolutions that includes outstanding issues and of the iranian nuclear program. in other words, iran needs according to those resolutions to explain -- resolve the questions and certain high explosive studies and has to

first, iran's president tweeted the world's powers surrendered to iran's will. second, iran's foreign minister declared his country isn't dismantling any of its centrifuges. and then you have iran's president today explaining to cnn's fareed zakaria what the chants of "death to america" really mean. >> what they mean to say relates to the aggressive policies of the u.s. and intervention and meddling boy the u.s. we don't want those to continue. >> well, i would just suggest that you that if an american leader was wandering around chanting death to iran, it would be hard to explain we meant that it symbolic. and they have had a long tradition now of over 30 years of behaving as though they mean it. >> you're right, newt, they have a long tradition of saying things exactly like that. but what matters here is that for the first time in decades we have an agreement in place that has halted iran's nuclear weapons program. it's a temporary agreement that dpi gives us space to negotiate a broader deal. this is real progress that the american government under president

predispositions say that iran should accept preconditions in order to participate in the conference iran will either participate in the conference or as any other state that has been invited without preconditions under the scent same circumstances and others have been invited to participate. in the. main course of the conference on the sidelines or iran will decide to stay away if you are not invited. we will not accept anything that that is beneath our dignity that is our own the only condition we do not have any condition for participation in the talks we are prepared to participate if you are given the same invitation as anybody else who participated in the conference we believe we have a much more important role to play in this conference than many others who have been invited. but would not convening this conference or other convenience of the conference they will destroy. their own benefit on that are meant to vote or not so let me make sure i understand this correctly iran will only help advance the peace process in syria if it isn't right as a full member of the difference iraq.

effort to bring iran to the table. there are many members on both sides who feel it is appropriate for congress, the body that built the sanctions architecture, that brought iran to the table, to remind the iranians that full -- full sanctions relief will come only when a deal the p5+1 and the regional ally is reached. this relief can only come if congress acts so it also suggests it's appropriate to send iran a reminder as well as to remind the company lining up to visit tehran. a message of what is at stake if iran violates the term of the joint plan of action. a deal is in place. if we're going to move forward with a final view we have focus on them fulfilling their obligation by beginning to parameter of the solution. we are eight days in to the implementation of the joint plan of action. a six-month deal to freeze iran's nuclear activity resulting in sensation of iran's 20% enrichment and the convention of the current stockpile wells open up the nuclear program. and while the caps on iran's current program are sub

and iran their historical reasons for it their course u.s. run line says in the region so it's not going to be a brave new world just because the nuclear issue is resolved but i think the nuclear issue is so important that it should be resolved before other issues are even addressed so i don't i don't see is somehow a return to the good old days of the shah being policy would whoever is in the white house those days are gone but the nuclear issue is such a dangerous so you shoot that it's in the interests of both to us and you're on to the road need to resolve that richard doesn't it if they were determined position of being on ministration go ahead richard jump in go ahead yeah it is it is there's been a bomb inspirational they phrase it a little differently it's if you can't trust iran to agree to comply with its nuclear obligations you can't really trust them for anything syria afghanistan ever and so therefore we have to settle the nuclear issue before we can achieve extensive cooperation with other areas although i think you're going to

>> guest: well, iran is a what is good about iran? i guess what concerns me most is the stereotypes that are wrong, and, for example, that khomeini tried to take the revolution back to the seventh century, at the time the faith was founded by the prophet mohammed. in fact, there are many attempts to modernize. they've kept on many of the modernization products started by the shah building a subway system in teheran, building new new development projects. i think that their focus, their hatred was channeled against the west. it was the westernization that was synonymous with modernization that so turned them off. and there are still many sides of life where iranians are approachable. they're open -- life for women is better in iran than it is in many of the gulf sheikdoms with which we have good relations. there are women in parliament; there are women in the ministries; 51 percent of teheran university a year ago was accounted for by women students. so it's not what is good or bad about iran; it's a different culture, and it's... i th

to bring for iran? >> of course, iran will gain officially around $8 billion immediately. this money will be transferred to iran starting from 20th of this month, january 2 days ago. more important, there will be more deals with the iranian government over gaza and oil and thirdly, they will be changing the image of iran, changing investment. this is what iran hopes to achieve. >> israeli has been very cautious about this, saying it's just the actions, not soft words, as it says. >> israel will be always worried about iran not because of its nuclear issue, but because of the nature of regime. israeli will worry about the rhetoric, about the slogan, about the construction of the regime in iran and this will not change overnight. despite all of what's been said, you know, good will shown by iran, israel will worry about iran unless there are more things presented. >> it is an unlikely alliance between saudi and israel on this issue. >> it's unlikely to happen as we see it in public, but there is sort of,

act and its contingent sanctions on iran? i ask you, ryan. >> well, you know, they are being accused of supporting it because they want to scuttle these negotiations. the white house has gone on the record and said that, quote, unquote, certain senators ought to be up front if they want war with iran, because the argument that they are making is that unilateral sanctions would allow hard liners in iran to play the victim card and say the united states isn't dealing fairly with us. the international community would broadly agree with that assessment. and we would have managed somehow to turn iran into a sympathetic figure in the global stage, which would be just an embarrassing accomplishment. >> collapse of the talks as well. john, clearly behind this, israel's behind this, a-pac, israeli lobby-- >> behind what? >> behind this s 1881, the senate bill. you get the republican hocs, evangelical christians, saudis, an enormous coalition. i agree with ryan that if the republicans succeed somehow in passing this, overriding the pre

they say that it is essential for iran to bring an end to the violence. >> i believe strongly that iran needs to be a part of the solution to the syrian crisis. >> iran is an important ally to syrian president bashar al-assad. now, a group called the islamic front, an alliance of forces rejected the talks. if a breakthrough is reached, it will be harder to implement on a battlefield. violence in the war-rattled nation continues. we have more. >> government forces continue to hit targets in different parts of aleppo. the weapon of joys is barrels filled with explosives. the distribution is vast and people continue to die. act visits and residents are keen to find survivors. the army backs coalition going to the talks, provided they end the syrian regime. we support a solution guaranteeing a political traction of authority, fulfilling the syrian people's demands. we ask the government going to geneva to halt the goals. bashar al-assad, and his group must leave power, he must have no role in syria's future. a transitional government will be formed. prisoners should be released. especially

to the geneva two talks in syria well iran agreed to help from the sidelines iran is an important player in this reach. it would be rather. ironic to have. those who support extremist groups participate in the conference invited to participate in the conference and then for some. predispositions say that iran should accept preconditions in order to participate in the conference. will either participate in the conference or as any other state that has been invited without precondition on the descent same circumstances and others have been invited and will participate. in the. main course of the conference and on the sidelines or iran will decide to stay away if you are not invited. we will not accept anything that that is beneath our dignity that is our own the only condition we do not have any condition for participation in the talks we are prepared to. participate if you are given the same invitation as anybody else who participated in the conference we believe we have a much more important role to play in this conference than many others who have been invited. but we're not convening t

doesn't iran want stability in iraq? doesn't iran want stability in syria? perhaps question work with them. lo and behold the president actually said this. there's a probing effort and investigation to see if maybe impossible to come to some kind of understanding with them. and the second factor that drives us is the focus of the administration primarily on the al qaeda threat. when you look at the region you say the major threat to the united states from the middle east. women, it's al qaeda and the sunny -- and perhaps question reach an accommodation with the iranians on that. whether a lot of decisions made willie nilly or a strait go reach a talk with iran, it doesn't matter. it represents -- traditional containment as we have seen it. traditionally we saw ourselves as a leader of an alliance. we were alied with the vertical powers. in trying to advance interest against the interest of iran and its allies. the israelis today are much more -- their interest line up almost perfectly with the horizontal powers. we have moved very much against what the israe

there are islamic revolutionary guards, inside iran. >> iran is not going to be at the table. it was clear there was not going to be any transitional government. what could come out of the talks if all those things are true? >> well i guess as one headline in one of the stories today said, you know, the question is not will the talks fail but how will they take. >> oh, wow. >> i think that's a good way of putting it, simply because of all the obstacles. nevertheless it is good that at least members of the government, syrian government officials will be talking to the opposition and that is very important. however there are so many obstacles to any sort of agreement. >> having said that is there anything that could be considered some or the of victory that could come out of the talk, anything? >> i think ultimately, we are probably going to see a syria that is partitioned. i mean let's not forget that even now, the rebels control parts of the country. the dynamics in the war have shifted as of several months ago in favor of the current government. but nonetheless, syria today i

. >> i believe strongly that iran needs to be part of the solution to the syrian crisis. >> iran gets the invite but just days before the syrian peace talks fears they might fall apart. >> a dangerous turn in the koran. ukraine. >> i'm jessica taff where the shawks havseahawks have just pur ticket to super bowl 48. we'll have later in sports. >> tonight the syrian peace talks are in danger of ending before they even get started. just hours ago the united nations invited iran to the conference in switzerland but that upset syrian rebels who are threatening to pull out. the united nations wants the invitation suspended until it agrees that syria's president steps down. >>> shuttled diplomacy over syria. this was moscow last thursday. a meeting of friends and allies. russian hosting the iranian and syrian foreign ministers. the man from teheran that his -- making clear that his country was ready to go. the u.n. secretary-general made this announce. >> pledged that iran would play a positive and constructive roll in montreul. therefore as convenor and host of the conference i have issued

but iran's stance on this is clear. i feel that a common agreement is forming, but the main problem is extremism and sectarianism. >> those comments were made a week after a trip to jordan. >> they support not only the syrian conflict but political conflict in iraq and lebanon, and saudi arabia is nervous about iran's growing ambitions including its nuclear ones. >> reporter: iran has agreed to suspend its most sensitive nuclear work in return for limited sanctions relief. iran and the five permanent members of the u.n. security council plus germany will implement the agreement over the next six months. it took ten years of diplomacy to make the deal happen, but just six months and a new government to start what many see as iran's return from the cold. al jazeera, tehran. >> for more on those syrian peace talks that may or may not start we turn to james bays in geneva. >> reporter: it's taken nearly eight months to get the syrian opposition to agree to come to the talks which are due to talk here in switzerland from wed

and iran to decide over whether iran should attend these this conference is now over should iran simply say its word that it could scupper these talks and simply acknowledge that fact and now walk away. was oh i don't think so and i don't think that would be a wise approach by iran iran has repeatedly expressed his interest to participate and play a constructive role toward a political settlement in syria their foreign minister zarif radio raiding iran's principle position in favor of a political transition in syria you know democratic free elections and so forth so i don't think iran will walk away given the fact that syria strategy. and the civil war in syria are serious ramifications in terms of regional instability affecting iran's national security calculus so i think that iran is interested and keen on accepting the invitation sent by the un secretary general which to my understanding was sent without any precondition and that has been confirmed by the deputy foreign minister mr yon who said that iran was not invited to geneva a wonderful it's sort of illogical to impose on iran s

iran won't come to the table sanctions. iran won't come to the table sanction. you will turn the tv off right mister or sanctions. >> there are 59 senators including 16 democrats who have deified the president to support a bill to ready new sanctions if diplomatic talks fail. >> jon: 16 dema -- what? i get republicans. they would line up to oppose obama on the or gaz yams cure cancer act or the resolution finding jennifer lawrence delightful but democrats -- democrats -- why would they vote for this? >> well, i think a lot of them haven't read it yet. [ laughter ] >> jon: really? they haven't read it yet. that's never slowed them down before. [ laughter ] why? why are the democrats really voting for this? >> but i also think that with big parts of proisrael lobby and the united states being against it, the country of israel being against it it's a steep hill to climb. >> jon: that makes it. the senators from the great state of israel are against it and we don't -- wait a minute that's not our country. why do we have to listen to snem israel is our alley and iran

do you trust iran? the question obviously is we don't. why would you trust iran. look at their track record. this is not a question of trust. this is a question of finding a way to stop them from doing that. one way to stop them is to get rid of all the enrichment facilities, the so-called zero option would be ideal. the cartridge approach, raise it to the ground, make sure they can never do it again. we could have had that deal in 2003 when iran first came to was when they weren't operating in the centrifuges, could have had that in 2005 with only a few hundred, a test facility. they propose talks in the united states. we were not interested in that point. the view in the united states government under the bush administration was as dick cheney said we don't negotiate with evil, we defeat it. the view is you are going to topple these oppressive regimes in the middle east one after the other. that strategy didn't work out so well. we didn't talk with iran, building centrifuges by the end of the bush administration, zero to 8,000 so that is why we have the problem,

resolution says remove it from iran. it can be left from iran and diluted but it's possible to reconvert it. you can go to 90% to create a weapon. the idea of the congress not acting really does offend me because the purpose of the sanctions is to deter them falling apart at a time we still need them. sanctions is to determ falling apart at a time we still need them. the number of countries sending delegations to iran is growing by the day. beginning to fall apart. if congress voted to pass new sanctions that could only be imposed if this agreement fell apart, it would reinforce to the western world, stop doing business with iran. michael singh, the politics behind all this, what's going on? guest: to the extent we have made progress on iran that led , ithe stage we're at now was as a result of cooperation between congress and the president, perhaps unspoken cooperation. it was that combination of very tough sanctions as well as this diplomacy which has taken place as well as other factors that led to the place we're at

for iran, it means stopping enriching uranium to 20% purity. iran will continue to enrich at 5%. tehran will begin converting half its current stock into fuel and diluting the other half. >> if the agreement isn't implemented simultaneously by about the sides, it will be suspended. if either side doesn't uphold their side of the agreement, iran will continue to enrich up to 20%. >> the world powers will suspend u.s. and eu sanctions on oil exports. the u.s. will suspend sanctions on iran's auto industry and help with the supply of airplane parts and medicines. the white house has said it doesn't want to impose new sanctions. the biggest issue remains, one that affects all eye raines, sanction honest iran's central bank. >> sanction have mostly been imposed on our banking system, transport, insurance and oil sales. it means because they have blocked iran's access to swift and international banking, we have new ability to transfer money while transportation have been band from iran's ports and there is no insurance for these goods. what has happened january 20 has no impact, but it

and iran their historical reasons for it their course u.s. run line says in the region so it's not going to be a brave new world just because the nuclear issue is resolved but i think the nuclear issue is so important that it should be resolved before other issues are even addressed so i don't i don't see is somehow a return to the good old days of the shah being policy would whoever is in the white house those days are gone but the nuclear issue is such a dangerous issue that it's in the interests of both to us and iran to the road need to resolve that richard doesn't it if they were determined position of being on ministration go ahead richard jump in go ahead yeah it is it is there's been a bomb inspirational they phrase it a little differently it's that that if you can't trust iran to agree to comply with its nuclear obligations you can't really trust them for anything syria afghanistan ever and so therefore we have to settle the nuclear issue before we can achieve extensive cooperation with other areas although i think you're going to se

the story is that syria, iran during the iraq-iran war and they helped us a lot. what we said about syria is the stability and, it is very important for us and in the region, stability, so, therefore, this is the responsibility of syrian people to decide about themselves. so that is why we have supported any kind of initiative to stop the bloodshed in syria and bring closure together to the real open position groups, not sunni groups and terrorist groups, the real opposition group with is syrian government to solve their problem and come up with what they want to see for the future of the country. >> rose: how strong is the commitment to the individual bashar al-assad, the president of syria? >> i mean, would you and i mean would iran be part of some negotiation that would witness his removal from power if there was a division of power in syria? >> i don't believe that based on any international law and regulations any country has any right to decide about the government, the kind of government in another country. what needs to happen in syria should be syrian led

to the geneva two talks in syria well iran agreed to help from the sidelines iran is an important player in this reach it would be rather. ironic to have. those who support extremist groups participate in the conference invited to participate in the conference and then for some. predispositions say that iran should accept preconditions in order to participate in the conference. will either participate in the conference or as any other state that has been invited without precondition on the descent same circumstances and others have been invited and will participate. in the. main course of the conference and on the sidelines or iran will decide to stay away if you are not invited. we will not accept anything that that is beneath our dignity that is our own the only condition we do not have any condition for participation in the talks we are prepared to participate if we are given the same invitation as anybody else who participated in the conference we believe we have a much more important role to play in conference this. then many others who've been invited. but we're not convening this

and you come to the confused power structure and in iran -- in iran. i think president rouhani wants an arms agreement as a way of relieving sanctions and preserving as much of iran's nuclear assets as possible. at the same time, i think iranians are not sentimental about their nuclear diplomacy. this is a longer context. the american administrations going back to the 1970's have always viewed arms control and detente as join together. the soviets could easily negotiate with the united states and invade afghanistan. they saw no necessary connection between the two. they are not sentimental about this. we tend to view arms control as flying open a different relationship with the country and the country in the region. that is the way we approach arms control. >> hillel? i was going to ask you something specifically. believe, thewe administration believes a nuclear weapons program makes the iranians more responsible? it calms them down? >> you mean an agreement? >> an agreement and program, having the actual bomb would calm them down and make them more re

agreement,s supposedly to go into effect with iran leaves with iran the option to develop nuclear capabilities at will. dangerous.ly >> the deal said iran must stop enriching uranium and above five percent. worth billions of euros to the country. iaea.n is at the what has iran accomplished? how does it make it harder for them to build a nuclear bomb? first of all, they have to ad to enrich uranium certain purity level and it has disconnected certain centrifuges . means is thathis iran will be less able to enrich uranium further where it could be used to make nuclear weapons. iran has also agreed to stop .ork on a heavy reactor there have been little details about this facility and concerns from france that it could also be used for a weapon. >> there have been complaints in the past that iran hasn't cooperated with authorities. they aresatisfied doing everything to stay in line with this agreement? they say it will also double the number of infected. make sure they are continuing to comply with the agreement. there are other concerns that they want to address. there are suspicions iran may hav

to iran president obama has said that the u.s. will continue to vigorously enforce broader sanctions should iran not follow its obligations what does it say about washington stance well one has to ask the question fundamentally why is there sanctions on iran in the first place that's a good question and the answer is that obviously is the billions upon billions in frozen assets in accounts around the world and there are some people who would like to get their hands on that money as you know it's not going to sit frozen forever if there was a war with iran which some people would be advocate. namely israel. might be freed up to go into their hands and if. for instance. only deals with these problems but the main situation here is that the timing of this you can't ignore the two thousand and sixteen run up to the elections in two thousand and sixteen this is going to be dragged out in such a fashion six months twelve months it will become a major major sort pivotal issue in the united states so the israeli lobby is already putting h

if the united states and western powers continue their dialogue with iran go ahead. well first of all i want to say agree with the first part of what brian had to say with regard to the fact that yes the third is migrant workers yes they're paying off people with oil wealth but the idea that saudi arabia is somehow a client state of the united states i completely disagree with they have independent interests that often coincide with the united states and saudi arabia can pursue an independent foreign policy if you run for example were to get nuclear weapons saudi arabia would have nuclear weapons probably within a month because of their alliance with pakistan that many people think that pakistan got their nuclear weapons because of saudi money so if there is a nuclear arms race we will be right there after iran it's one of the reasons why i support the current iran deal because i think it is the best chance we have to prevent this nuclear arms race from happening but please don't pretend that saudi arabia somehow isn't independent somehow is a client state or a very

introduce that right now without those two sides deciding to make some kind of accommodation only in iran but across the entire region i'm going lebanon back rain to afghanistan and yemen these two sides have their hands in local conflict particularly in syria and until the iranians in the saudis can come to some accommodation this war is not going to and unless the two parties are finally realized the neither side is going to win and we're long way from that and i don't think that taking sides and there are sides being drawn up russia of course is also on the side of the of the syrian government and the categories and other gulf powers are helping the rebels so the this is a proxy war this is an international war being fought out in syria a very awful war and i don't see any any solution to this until those outside powers come together and by the way that first day of the conference is truly symbolic there was a big thing about whether iran was invited and i guess they were and then they were disinvited it was only a one day speech symbolic when they got in the room nothing happened noth

it was a phenomenon in iran. areroved that the iranians trying to support the system by electing the right people and the right person. they are serious to continue on. >> thank you. >> it was a pleasure to see you. >> the ambassador of iran to united nations. back in a moment. stay with us. >> but i will say that we are working with great intensity, serious purpose, and with a commitment to try to resolve this conflict that has gone on for many years too long. think preses is now with the possibility of trying to find a framework agreement which would really lay out the endgame. for decades, american diplomats have attempted to broker a palestinian-israeli peace deal. secretary of state john kerry kick started the process last july. he just returned from his 10th trip to the region. he promised that any framework would be fair and balanced. mansour,e now is riyad the permanent observer to the united nations for palestine. i am pleased to welcome him. where are we? >> one should admire the tenacity and determinat

invited iran, and the opposition threatened to boycott. showirst, iran needs to good faith. i believe in the political process. i believe in peace. >> the u.n. withdrew its invitation. ban ki-moon's spokesman accused the iranians of acting in bad faith. likes the secretary-general is deeply disappointed by iranian public statements today. they are not at all consistent with the stated commitment. >> the u.s. and britain say iran has to declare support for a transfer of power in syria. we have no problem in principle of iran attending, it has to be the same basis as all of the rest of us, to implement -genev president assada i. >> made clear he won't step down. that is the opposition's main demand. extremist groups will fight on, no matter what happens here. the big international supporters include saudi arabia. is a western ally, but it gives money and guns to rebel groups that oppose democracy. iran -- it bankrolls the regime. an agreement without iran might be possible, but now they are not going to these talks. thething that is hoped achieve, access for aid. this is rare

let me turn to iran. what we talk about iran because it's clear the most pressing issue we face today. these other issues that i discussed lurking in the background. in fact, we funded a group called we think immediate and they did a survey for us, and of all the stories over the last several years there on nuclear policy, 70% of them are on iran. so we could think of ran is our greatest threat, you have a reason to think that the most of what you read on nuclear policy, i don't happen to think the. i think iran is a concern but i'm much more worried about pakistan than i am about iran, a country that always has 100 nuclear weapons. there's a chapter in "nuclear nightmares" called the most dangerous country in growth and it's not about iran. it's about pakistan. iran is the most pressing issue. it becomes now a critical policy point, if we get this right there are enormous benefits that can play out, that go beyond solving iran nuclear program. strategic openness that could develop in the middle east. ope

threatening to pass a bill to add new sanctions on iran, which would be implemented if they feel iran isn't living up to their side of the agreement. the white house said it will end the talks and threatening a veto and opponent's are working to make sure they can override it. the first and second steps taken in the next few weeks that congress could take a third but it's one the white house fears would be the last in this long diplomatic process. patty with al jazeera washington. >> reporter: and let's go to thailand where the prime minister invited protesters trying to shut down the capitol for talks and they have bar kated major intersections and plan to march no home to ministers and wants to discuss a timing of controversial february polls with the protest leaders. the latest wave of demonstrations have been gathering since november. that is when the government led tried to force through an amnesty wish could have avoided her broth prison and she was sentenced to jail in 2008 for abuse of power and the former prime minister leaves in self imposed exile in dubi and we have more fr

so with the u s urging the un to un invite iran. key members of the syrian opposition threatening to pull out the sink the general was said to be caught allegedly considering his options. but the wrongs common mission to the un helped him to make up is money. lip reading the united states writes issuing a statement it made it clear that iran would melt it and it's good to have to help set up the new syrian governments saying it's the anticipation of the rawness conditioned to accept genuine communicate the role will not participate in geneva to conference. that effectively cleared the way to visit the gentle trickle his invitation. scott's cousin announcing the news he has decided that the one day. montrose gathering will proceed without the wrongs participation. with all the cctv. the likely continue on the upcoming geneva to peace talks are to follow up on the costume from last june the objective this time around is to implement geneva one communicate for preview of the conference list of the correspondence which investing he's in

which further hurts iran. the vast majority of the people in that country are under the age of 30, and they are sick and tired of these repressive regimes. and because social media, , youtube, theyet see how the rest of the world is living. and the tools of social media are not only used for aspirational purposes and seeing how everybody else is living, but highly effectively for organizational purposes tehran and is not like new york city. it is not like -- it is like los angeles. it is spread out. but the regime is good at keeping people down. we need to be very, very careful. i know i went a little bit longer here. i just ask -- brief comment. >> thank you, maybe we will have them comment with someone else. thank you so much, mr. higgins. next. >> thank you. thatemen, a couple things bear repeating over and over again. this is a key quote out of iran earlier in the decade. the dilemma was if we offered a complete picture, the picture itself could lead us to the un security council and not providing a comple

and also by iran. we just ran a four-part series on iran and south asia. iran and india. iran and pakistan. i commend that to you. it's on iranprimer.com. >> very good. all right. let's go here. >> thank you. i'm at george mason university. my question is about new technology and social media. we know more than 50% of iranians have access to internet and rouhani and zarif also on twitter. but a few days ago they have a policy to have more censorship on social media and internet access. how is it fixed with the realistics' policy of rouhani? >> i'm happy to take that i onlow both rouhani and zarif their twitter accounts and we just posted tweets from the president's account on his speech about freedom in the arts and one of the problems is that president rouhani doesn't have control over that issue and it's one which he's talked about a lot. and again, this goes back to the nuclear deal, that they can't do anything else until they get this nuclear deal and they've proved their creds and the rest of the regime has to bend more because the balance of internal power moves mor

iran... healthcare... ad guests on all sides of the debate. >> this is a right we should all have... >> it's just the way it is... >> there's something seriously wrong... >> there's been acrimony... >> the conservative ideal... >> it's an urgent need... and a host willing to ask the tough questions >> how do you explain it to yourself? and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america >> all this week, >> the strength of our future relies on education. >> we are creating a class of adults exposed to mediocre education. >> stealing education, part of our week long, in depth series. america tonight only on al jazeera america ♪ i have decided to issue an invitation to iran to participate. >> the up coming syrian peace talks are thrown into uncertainty after the united nations unexpectedly invites iran to participate despite u.s. objections, two men who are behind the deadly suicide bomb attacks in russia release a video threatening to carry out

if the united states and western powers continue their dialogue with iran go ahead. well first of all i want to say agree with the first part of what brian had to say with regard to the fact that yes the third is migrant workers yes they're paying off people with oil wealth but the idea that all your baby is somehow a client state of the united states i completely disagree with they have independent interests that often coincide with the united states and saudi arabia can pursue an independent foreign policy if you run for example were to get nuclear weapons saudi arabia would have nuclear weapons probably within a month because of their alliance with pakistan that many people think that pakistan got their nuclear weapons because of saudi money so if there is a nuclear arms race we will be right there after iran it's one of the reasons why i support the current iran deal because i think it is the best chance we have to prevent this nuclear arms race from happening but please don't pretend that saudi arabia somehow isn't independent somehow it's united a client state

and iran taking on a new tone. president obama addressing how he'll make sure the countries continue to make diplomatic progress. >> i think it's because we have more young people. i don't know if it's true, but that's the feel i get. it feels more private. >> a part of the u.s. that the rest of the country can learn from, a look at what it keeping the economy booming in the north-west. >>> hi there, good to have you with us here on al jazeera america. i'm thomas drayton. >>> president obama is pledging to make 2014 a year of action. the president pitched a new agenda during his state of union address. he promised to modify the tax code, spend more to rebuild roads and bridges. the president urged a divided congress to work together and is willing to get things done through executive orders. patty culhane has more on monday's speech. >> mr speaker, the president of the united states. [ cheering and applause ] >> tens of millions of americans spent their evening watching the u.s. president out line his priority. the

the interim agreement over iran's nuclear. program the united states went ahead and signed the accord even though it was very apparent that saudi arabia and israel were not happy about that so i think the fact that the united states has conducted under the obama administration diplomacy with iran in fact has done so secretly for the last. for over a year and is now signed an interim nuclear agreement and is intent to hope to to sign a comprehensive agreement despite the concerns of saudi arabia and israel i think indicates that in fact the united states has pursued its own interests in the middle east and continues to do so i would point to another example where the united states pursued its own interests in the region with regard to egypt the united states you know albeit somewhat reluctantly but did ultimately support the overthrow of hosni mubarak in egypt despite the fact that again israel and saudi arabia were opposed to that so i don't think i think it's wrong to imagine that somehow u.s. foreign policy in the middle eas

the interim agreement over iran's nuclear. program the united states went ahead and signed the accord even though it was very apparent that saudi arabia and israel were not happy about that so i think the fact that the united states has conducted under the obama administration diplomacy with iran in fact has done so secretly for the last. for over a year and is now signed an interim nuclear agreement and is intent to hopeful to sign a comprehensive agreement despite the concerns of saudi arabia and israel i think indicates that in fact the united states has pursued its own interests in the middle east and continues to do so i would point to another example where the united states pursued its own interests in the region with regard to egypt the united states you know albeit somewhat reluctantly but did ultimately support the overthrow of hosni mubarak in egypt despite the fact that again israel and saudi arabia were opposed to that so i don't think i think it's wrong to imagine that somehow u.s. foreign policy in the middle eas