how close is iran to having nuclear weapons, does iran want nuclear weapons? something i teach my undergraduate at georgetown university is in order for nuclear weapons to happen or nuclear proliferation to happen, there is a supply side, those things have to come together. on the supply side the country must have the ability to build nuclear weapons and on the demand side, must have the will to produce them. i talk about the supply and demand. how close is iran to having nuclear weapons capability? to build nuclear weapons iran has to do three things. it has to acquire enough material to form the core of the nuclear device, that can be highly enriched uranium or plutonium. second, iran has to be able to form that into an explosive device, the nuclear warhead and third it needs a way to deliver that to an opponent, ballistic missiles, aircraft, submarine launch, ballistic missiles of the platforms that dvanadvance nuclear powers use. all the matters is the first stage. the international community if necessary could take military action, could destroy those nuc

iran is different. and as we sit here, today is exactly 40 days away from the july 20th deadline set by the agreement. and again, as was previously mentioned, there is talk about moving iran back on the pathway to nuclear weapons capability. i think many of us have stated here before and again today that moving iran backwards is not sufficient, the goal should be to move iran off the path to a nuclear weapon. by that long way of introduction, mr. rademaker, for the whole panel, is there any reason why we should be giving up as you stated, the goal of holding iran to zero enrichment, holding iran to not having an iraq plutonium reactor, holding iran to fully disclosing their previous potential military dimensions of their nuclear program? >> well, first of all corporationman, i think you and i are in violent agreement about our perspective on this. in answer to your question, the rationale for allowing them to enrich, i'm really the wrong person to ask to provide such a rationale because where i come dow

sanctions on iran have to go have to go way, our sanctions on iran have to go away. all of that will end at that point. restrictions on nuclear commerce with iran and so iran can be singled out and treated differently than other countries. we can't have export controls that treat iran differently than other countries. nor can the rest of the international -- iran becomes a legitimate partner so the idea of a conference of solution is for a period of time if iran behaves if they are not caught cheating and they uphold their commitments of the conference of solution at the end of the conference of solution they go from being a nuclear pariah to in the rear partner. and at that point they are subject to the same verification that germany or japan or any other country subject to and that basically consists of two things. it consists of iaea verification and the comprehensive safeguards agreement and secondly the additional protocol which is an enhanced verification that iran is committed to ratifying and implementing under the gpa -- jpa. there will be more robust verifi

the interim agreement of last year would allow iran to maintain an enrichment program to give iran cover to develop a covert weapons program as the the ability produce low enriched uranium is close to that needed for a nuclear weapon. if iran is left with the capacity to enrich a breakout race to a weapon will be a permanent threat. a threat that undoubtedly will increase as sanctions are eased and the world turns its attention elsewhere. that's especially troubling given how iranian leaders have spoken of israel as, in their words a one-bomb country. many on the committee are very troubled that the obama administration has this on track to an agreement that leaves iran as a permanent nuclear threat to the region and to us. today's hearing will be this committee's latest warning against the ill considered course of action. i will turn to the ranking member for his opening statement. mr. elliot engel of new york. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. you and i have made a great deal, as have other members of the committee about the bipartisan nature of our committee and how you and i have

iran is no soviet union. i mean, do we really believe that we could put in place a way to just to monitor and this is what i'm going to ask you, are there ways to put in place to monitor what they're doing and do it with assurances they're not hiding anything in mountains or underground. >> one of the challenges we face you quite rightly point out this is very much an asymmetric relationship. this is not where the united states is concerning some of its capability compared to something that we're asking iran to do. we're asking iran to stop doing what it has been doing illicitly in -- against international norms and international agreements and we're trying to trade off sanctions relief against that. we know how to monitor missiles an we certainly have a track record of things that we could put in place if we could bring iran to that position. >> no, but your point is right on. that's so central because if we're talking about weaponization and miniaturization that's a delivery system you have to look at the b

special torah in iran. some eight months into the rouhani presidency, expressed outrage over the alarming number of executions that have taken place in iran this year. per capita, iran ranks first in the world in terms of executions. more than 500 executions have taken place this year alone. but the iranian government had only publicly reported on some 125. a recent report by the u.n. special repertoire, stated there are at least 895 prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in iran. this includes civic activists, students, journalists and other society leaders. political prisoners face widespread physical, mental and often sexual abuse. iran continues to discriminate and to perpetrate egregious abuses against minorities. the largest nonmuslim group in iran, numbering somewhere between 300 and 400,000. faces discrimination throughout the iranian judicial system. as of last year, 136 are being held in iranian prison for religious reasons. since 2005, 49 incidents of arson have been reported on the prop

iran is different. today as we sit here, today is 40 days away from the july 20th deadline set by the agreement. and again, as previously mentioned there was talk about moving iran back on the pathway to a nuclear weapons capability. i think many of us have stated here before and again today that moving iran backwards is not sufficient. the goal should bere to mover rn off the path to a nuclear weapon. by thatmo long way of introduction, mr. rademaker, for the whole panel, is there any reason why we should be giving up as you stated, the goal of holding iran to zero enrichment, holding iran to not having iraq plutonium reactor, holding iran to fully disclose their previous potentialth military dimensionsf their nuclear program? >> well, first of all, congressman, i think you and i are in violent agreement about our perspective on this. in answer to your question the rationale for allowing them to enrich, i'm really wrong person to ask to provide such a rationale, where i come down the correct answer the

sanctions on iran have to go have to go way, our sanctions on iran have to go away. all of that will end at that point. restrictions on nuclear commerce with iran and so iran can be singled out and treated differently than other countries. we can't have export controls that treat iran differently than other countries. nor can the rest of the international -- iran becomes a legitimate partner so the idea of a conference of solution is for a period of time if iran behaves if they are not caught cheating and they uphold their commitments of the conference of solution at the end of the conference of solution they go from being a nuclear pariah to in the rear partner. and at that point they are subject to the same verification that germany or japan or any other country subject to and that basically consists of two things. it consists of iaea verification and the comprehensive safeguards agreement and secondly the additional protocol which is an enhanced verification that iran is committed to ratifying and implementing under the gpa -- jpa. there will be more robust verifi

we have heard the harsh realities in iran. , dr. george iran is not alone. a part of your commissions mandate by law is to review the ongoing facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom around the world. present that in your annual review and make policy recommendations to the president .nd secretary of state comic entries are listed as a country of concern due to their ongoing violation of religious freedom? how manager commission recommend to be listed? when was the last time in a country was designated as a country for particular concern by the state department? administration overrule your commissions recommendations? is the systematic of a larger problem that the united states is dropping advocating for religious freedom on our foreign-policy agenda? have we been using all the tools available to us like shank shins -- sanctions. your you again for testimony and telling your story. that story is not unique to just you as a member of a minority community. 'su talked about rouhani citizens rights. , the least ofns which that does not recomme

iran is different. as we sit here, today is 40 days from the july 20th deadline set by the agreement. again, as previously mentioned, there is talk about moving iran back on the pathway to a nuclear weapons capability. i think many of us have stated here before and again today that moving iran backwards is not efficient. the goal should be move iran off the bath to introduction. for the whole panel, is there any reason we should be giving up the goal of holding iran to zero enrichment, to not having a plutonium reactor, previous dimensions of their program? >> first of all, i think we're in violent agreement on perspective on this. in answer to your question, rational for allowing them to enrich, i'm the wrong person to ask to provide. the correct answer is they should not be allowed to enrich given their history. i think if you want someone to give them the reason to permit that, perhaps you need -- the obama operation -- >> does anyone have a case to justify allowing iran to enrich? >> we are all in a

. >>> delegates from iran and six world powers are pushing through to try and ink a deal on iran's nuclear program. they've been meeting face to face since monday. representatives from the five permanent members of germany and iran are at the table. they're working to have an agreement in place ahead of the july 20th deadline. but both sides remain far apart on a number of issues. they still need to agree on the number of centrifuges used in uranium enrichment and they're also divided over the lifting of sanctions placed in iran and e.u. spokesperson says both sides are realistic. >> everybody is aware that they're entering a phase of negotiations wi negotiations where things are getting quite intense, so we continue to work as hard as we can. >> analysts say both sides have started to meet with experts to begin a framework for achieving a deal. but iranian deputy foreign minister told reporters there's been no concrete wording for a draft yet. the talks will continue until friday. >>> britain will take a major step to improve relations with iran. the british foreign office announced it wi

and now we might rely on iran? i mean why are we trusting these untrustworthy actors. >> i don't think we're trusting untrustworthy actor ps. iran debate gets away from the point of what's happening inside of iraq. what's happening is a terrorist group that were unleashed largely by the chaos that came into iraq after we started a war in iraq. don't forget that mali ki is iran's guy. at this point we need to focus on the fact that this terrorist threat is real to iraq and the region and we need to be worried about it. but the petty micromnging of who we should partner with -- >> i don't think it's petty. clearly you cannot argue that these are not trustworthy guys. you're not making the case that iraq is playing it straight with us. >> what this has to do with, just as in 2006 to 2008, we were able to work with all sorts of countries around the region to increase stability inside iraq. even iran wanted that at that time. they encouraged secretary governance. >> the reason that he's able to do that, the reason he's

officials said talking with iran would not mean coordinating iran's military. the u.s. and its allies have accused of iran of trying to build a nuclear weapon. but iran has, of course, denied that. one top adviser said the united states and iran are the only two countries that can bring the crisis to iraq to a peaceful end. ed henry is here. it seems like the administration is doing some backpedaling on iran's role. >> they are. this would be a curious alignment, as you're suggesting, the u.s. secretary of state calling iran the terror around the world which has been inciting terror inside iraq for years now. but when as secretary of state john kerry went on yahoo! news as you suggested, he left the door taupe some sort of a partnership, if you will, that would end the war in iraq. >> look, we're open to discussions that can be contributed if iran is prepared to do something that is going to respect the integrity and sovereignty of iraq and the ability of the government to reform. >> reporter: now republican john mccain said it was foley to suggest that the u.s. could a

but it is an important step forward in our relations with iran. >> he will urge iran to restrict violence in the middle east. they expect iran's government will reopen its embassy in london. britain's embassy was closed three years ago after it was attacked by young iranians denoupsing economic sanctions against the country. iran also shut down its embassy in london at the time. >>> efforts were stepped up to improve relations. >>> the situation remains tense in iraq. militants are moving south toward the iraqi capital. government forces are fighting back to regain control and stop them from advancing further. the al qaeda linked militant group tried to enter a city 50 kill lom ters north of baghdad. they failed to capture the city. the militants took control of the second largest city mosul last week. on monday they seized tal afar. they attacked several other towns near by. the government forces are fighting against the militants to regain control of tal afar and other towns. the violence in iraq is forcing japanese businesses to take precautionary steps. some companies have started pul

and iran. the meeting comes one week prior to scheduled negotiations between iran and six world powers, including the u.s. and russia. the negotiations are aimed at limiting a ron's nuclear program and possibly removing further sanctions. june 11 is the deadline for the copperheads of agreement to be reached. >> the earliest account we have of joseph smith's first vision occurs in a book he began riding in 1832. in the front part of that book, he wrote a worse no history about his life until that point. he described a vision he had 12 years earlier. joseph smith himself did not write the things personally. he had clerks riding before him. altogether in finished form, we volumes. 2000 printed >> this weekend, learn about the rich history and literary life utah, at 6e city, p.m. today on c-span 2's book tv. >>

as well as iran. does iran, i believe iran has an opt-out system. >> no. no, iran does not have an opt-out system. what he's talking about is when you die, are you considered, you know, like communal property, or is it assumes that you were going to donate. and if you don't want to donate, you have to call or e-mail a registry that says you do not want to be a donor ahead of time. there are softer provisions and harder provisions. soft provisions would allow your family still to say no. hard provisions would say if you have said -- if you have said nothing about or began donation -- organ donation, your families can't stop it. my problem with that is i think it kind of goes against the grain of what americans believe. they believe they kind of are control of their own fate and their own bodies, and they like the idea of their families deciding if they haven't decided. but that aside, that aside would only increase the number of organs by maybe 10,000. i think through living donations we could solve the organ shortage. and the reason, you know, maybe not wi

iran becomes a legitimate partner. so the idea of the comprehensive solution is that for a period of time if iran behaves, if they are not caught cheating and uphold their commitments under the comprehensive solution at the end of the comprehensive solution, they go from being nuclear pariah to nuclear partner. at that point they are subject to the same verification that germany or japan or any other country is subject to. that basically consists of two things, that consists of iaea verification under the safeguards agreement that applies to all countries and the protocol which is enhanced verse verification that they are required to under the jpa. that's it the. there will be more robust verification agreed to under the comprehensive solution. i think the parties are talking

iran to resist sectarian violence. britain's embassy in tehran was close lead the years ago after it was attacked by young iranians denouncing economic sanctions against the country. iran shut down its embassy in london at the time. efforts to improve relations between britain and iran last year after president hasan row hauny in august. analysts are seeing changes in japan's trade data. yuko fukushima has more from the business desk. >> imports are down for the first time in 19 months and it has led to the increase in the overall deficit. looking at the detail. japan recorded its 23rd straight monthly trade deficit in may but the deficit shrank for a second month due to falling imports. finance ministry officials say preliminary figures show the trade balance for may was $8.9 billion in the red. exports fell to $54.8 billion. that's down 2.7% in yen terms from the same month a year ago. it's the first drop in 15 months. one reason exports declined was a slight in shipments of light oil and fuel to australia and automa

would acknowledge that iran is a big important country that you. happens to be a neighbor it happens to be next door to iraq next door to syria has a lot more right to be in the region than the u.s. does you know and begin a process of normalizing those relations that's a huge challenge to israel it's a huge challenge to saudi arabia and the other gulf states but if the u.s. was prepared to say you know what israel doesn't get to set our foreign policy you know what saudi arabia doesn't matter does it if all of those countries were ready then there could be the beginning of real negotiations which then could pull in russia as well and go back to the potential for negotiations that we saw that was never really able to come to fruition the last time around i mean given that tougher on in d.c. are so at odds with the syria issue i mean is that the only way reconciliation can really happen is if the u.s. says look let's leave all these other people not to dictate our foreign policy and really negotiate in iran where we can absolutely that's why preside

sanctions on iran have to go have to go way our sanctions on iran have to go away. all of that will end at that point. restrictions on nuclear commerce with iran and so iran can be singled out and treated differently than other countries. we can't have export controls that treat iran differently than other countries. nor can the rest of the international -- iran becomes a legitimate partner so the idea of a conference of solution is for a period of time if iran behaves if they are not caught cheating and they uphold their commitments of the conference of solution at the end of the conference of solution they go from being a nuclear pariah to in the rear partner. and at that point they are subject to the same verification that germany or japan or any other country subject to and that basically consists of two things. it consists of iaea verification and the comprehensive safeguards agreement and secondly the additional protocol which is an enhanced verification that iran is committed to ratifying and implementing under the gpa -- jpa. there will be more robust verifi

iran. it's "inside story." >> hello, i'm ray suarez. over the weekend, iraq stayed isis posted pictures on the web that shot around the world. captured soldiers from the iraqi national army, restrained, led to a field and executed in a shallow trench. isis said that it has killed 1700 soldiers that way, and the army says it's a lot less, but either way, it's a symbol of the cold murder that isis said it's prepared to use in a drive to take as much territory as possible in a drive for a sunni state on both sides of the border. iraqis president is under pressure and scrutiny. maliki was voted in in the last round of voting but the territory in which he is charge is shrinking. the u.s. has ruled out sending the u.s. military back into iraq, but the country is examining the options and one of those is talking to iran. long an american opponent and a close friend of the maliki government. >> i wouldn't rule out anything constructive to providing real stability. >> in an interview with yahoo news monday, secretary of state john kerry said tha

would acknowledge that iran is a big important country that you. happens to be a neighbor it happens to be next door to iraq next door to syria has a lot more right to be in the region than the us you know and begin a process of normalizing those relations that's a huge challenge to israel it's a huge challenge to saudi arabia and the other gulf states but if the u.s. was prepared to say you know what israel doesn't get to set our foreign policy you know what saudi arabia doesn't and cutter does it if all of those countries were ready then there could be the beginning of real negotiations which then could pull in russia as well and go back to the potential for negotiations that we saw that was never really able to come to fruition the last time around i mean given that talk ron and d.c. are so at odds with the syria issue i mean is that the only way reconciliation can really happen is if the u.s. says look let's leave all these other people not dictate our foreign policy and really negotiate around where we can absolutely that's why president obama

regarding iran's nuclear program. there is deep concern here at the white house over isis. a senior official told meet national security team was working with the situation with the same urgency as we saw last week. last week, it got pretty intense. >> quick question. do we know the president will be meeting with his national security advisers in the oval office in "the situation room" at the white house or some other room? i ask the question because if it's in "the situation room," they can can have video conferencing, all of a sudden it were ras up the possibility that the president may be moving toward some sort of military action. >> that's exactly right, wolf. we understand that there's national security meetings were happening here at the white house throughout the weekend and the national security advisor susan rice was keeping the president up to speed how all of those meetings were going. we don't have the location of tonight's meeting. we'll get it back to you. >> jim accost ta, will monitor that. i hear mar

with the support of iran. now the whole issue of whether or not we could have stayed in some numbers really is just debatable. on the one hand, many feel that we should have insisted much stronger that we have a residual force there and the argument that comes back is, well, maliki was taking his orders from iran saying under no circumstances could american troops remain. well, maliki is now paying the wages of his sins in the sense that when you take the u.s. forces out, it's almost predictable what's going to happen. it takes time to train an army. it takes time to inculcate certain democratic values and, clearly, maliki has been pursuing a very narrow sectarian objective. and as a result of that, you have the sunni moderates joining with the most radical of all elements in al qaeda now taking towns all over the central part certainly and part of the north of iraq. i think that we're not going to be in a position and don't want to be a position of helping iran simply confirm what's been going on by having a

would acknowledge that iran is a big important country that you. happens to be a neighbor it happens to be next door to iraq next door to syria has a lot more right to be in the region than the us you know and begin a process of normalizing those relations that's a huge challenge to israel it's a huge challenge to saudi arabia and the other gulf states but if the u.s. was prepared to say you know what israel doesn't get to set our foreign policy you know what saudi arabia doesn't and cutter does it if all of those countries were ready then there could be the beginning of real negotiations which then could pull in russia as well and go back to the potential for negotiations that we saw that was never really able to come to fruition the last time around i mean given that tyrone and d.c. are so at odds with the syria issue i mean is that the only way reconciliation can really happen is if the u.s. says look let's leave all these other people and not dictate our foreign policy and really negotiate in iran where we can absolutely that's why president ob

>> if there's something constructive that can be contributed by iran, if iran is prepared to do something that is going to respect the integrity and sovereignty of iraq and the ability of the government to reform, i think we are open to any constructive process here that could minimize the violence, hold iraq together. the integrity of the country. >> the pentagon was quick to stress that for now, that would be purely political, not military collaboration. iran would be something of a strange bedfellow, though, of course, with the shared goal of stopping sunni insurgents sweeping iraq right now. it would be the latest in a long history of america forging some pretty uneasy alliances in this region. desperate measures spurred by desperate circumstances. that's because isis fighters took another city tal afar just before dawn today. adding it to this list of territories already under isis control. you see those cities there. and there are also new rumors of mass atrocities, include something reports that isis fighters executed hundreds, some say more than 1,000 iraqi soldiers and posted pic

would acknowledge that iran is a big important country that you. happens to be a neighbor it happens to be next door to iraq next door to syria has a lot more right to be in the region than the us you know and begin a process of normalizing those relations that's a huge challenge to israel it's a huge challenge to saudi arabia and the other gulf states but if the u.s. was prepared to say you know what israel doesn't get to set our foreign policy you know what saudi arabia doesn't matter does it if all of those countries were ready then there could be the beginning of real negotiations which then could pull in russia as well and go back to the potential for negotiations that we saw that was never really able to come to fruition the last time around i mean given that talk ron and d.c. are so at odds with the syria issue i mean is that the only way reconciliation can really happen is if the u.s. says look let's leave all these other people not to dictate our foreign policy and really negotiate around where we can absolutely that's why president obama

and iran. this is the moment when i can be possible. right now in this exploding violent conflict going on on the sectarian bases in iraq and syria, iran and the u.s. have a lot of the same interests. for someone different reasons, but they come down on the same side. in iraq, it is clear iran on some level like to see malik he and his sectarian shia government stay in power, but iran certainly does not want to see an explosion of this kind of destabilizing violence on its long border with iraq. in syria, both countries have an interest in tamping down the violence, even though they have differences over what the real threat might be. syria are still supporting the syrian regime. the u.s. opposes the syrian regime. the both iran and the united states say they are against isis , the leading force in syria that is opposed to the syrian regime. so the u.s. and iran in that context are on the same side. it makes the whole u.s. policy eric complicated and very sort iscontradicted of of what it tryin

there is a fear in iran. after all, who is going to lead and since iran has an upper hand in many ways in terms of technology and techno contracts, and the way it is managing itself under the embargo i think it has left a very positive image as a whole. to be the leader and that's the fire that is really pushing the isil to go to the land of not only discrediting shia as non-muslim, but that iran will not succeed. make it clear that iranian arms cannot really protect iraq at all. that's what they fear. that it is iran's protection that is keeping iraq going under the mismanaged government of nouri al-maliki. >> professor landis, briefly, before we go, does this war have the possibility of changing international borders in that part of the world? >> well, it could. in the sense that you have two shiite governments. one in baghdad, one in damascus. in between them there is a big sea of sunnies. if you keep the same borders and keep assad in baue power. it's going to finance. isil is saying this will not stand,

deal with iran? we're going to be talking to a former ambassador of one of those states coming up, and tell us what you think. how high could oil prices go if iraq gets worse? tweet us @fbnatb, your answers coming up. ♪ ♪ peace of mind is important when you're running a successful business. so we provide it services you can rely on. with centurylink as your trusted it partner, you'll experiencreliable uptime for the network and services you depend on. multi-layered security solutions keep your information safe, and secure. and responsive dedicated support meets your needs, and eases your mind. centurylink. your link to what's next. so i can reach ally bank 24/7 but there are24/7branches? i'm sorry- i'm just really reluctant to try new things. really? what's wrong with trying new things? you feel that in your muscles? yeah...i do... drink water. it's a long story. well, not having branches lets us give you great rates and service. i'd like that. experience a new way to bank where no branches = gre

iran. it's "inside story." >> hello, i'm ray suarez. over the weekend, iraq stayed isis posted pictures on the web that shot around the world. captured soldiers from the iraqi national army, restrained, led to a field and executed in a shallow trench. isis said that it has killed 1700 soldiers that way, and the army says it's a lot less, but either way, it's a symbol of the cold murder that isis said it's prepared to use in a drive to take as much territory as possible in a drive for a sunni state on both sides of the border. iraqis president is under pressure and scrutiny. maliki was voted in in the last round of voting but the territory in which he is charge is shrinking. the u.s. has ruled out sending the u.s. military back into iraq, but the country is examining the options and one of those is talking to iran. long an american opponent and a government. >> i wouldn't rule out anything constructive to providing real stability. >> in an interview with yahoo news monday, secretary of state john kerry said that he might be willing to re

now, it also comes as both iran and russia are also aiding this iraqi government. of course, in neighboring syria, eric, the u.s. is supporting the sunni rebels against the assad-backed iranian and russian government there. it is a really strange bedfellows of people in the middle east right now. but the u.s. basically working alongside russia and iran trying to keep up this maliki government. the question is will maliki, the prime minister, eric, still be in power at the end of this week? we'll find out on tuesday when iraq's parliament meets to pick a new prime minister. >> all right, conor. and isis, of course, still pressing its advance. thanks so much. arthel? >>> benghazi suspect khattala is now being held at a detention center after making his first appearance in u.s. court yesterday. khattala pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiracy to provide support to terrorists. this after u.s. agents interrogated him on the navy ship that brought him here from libya. but lawmakers are hoping his trial will provide further insight into the events of september 11th,

and iran and we have we have worked with iran and in the past with in terms of afghanistan and there are there are shared interests i mean there was talk before in terms of the discussion about nouri al maliki being america's nouri al maliki i mean he's also iran's nouri al maliki so there is that in the sense in the sense there and iran will be will be looking over seeing credibly closely the situation and is it is it is becoming ever more apparent that actually nouri al maliki is one of the biggest factors in in this problem and is sectarian as ation of a state institutions as iraq and iran will be looking at this very closely indeed nouri al maliki does not command all support from all shere all of the shia community inside iraq and i think we saw that in terms of the parades in baghdad of all solders militia and that is another another sign and of course these will be taking orders from iran that's interesting to put. the militia in in the context of how iran sees that but again that is further proof not just i mean the advance with isis in terms of engaging various sunni communi

iran being in power, and iran in the cross hairs. let everybody gather steam, then i think it condoms back to our shores and i think that's why you need to preemptively do something. >> every time these politicians shoot their mouth off over 9/11. these guys have oversight of this. every time something goes wrong with the obama administration, lindsey graham shoots his mouth off there's going to be another 9/11. >> senator graham and others have been very particular about the administration's lack of action in syria, something we've talk about for several months as to why the administration couldn't figure out at least some way to contain the situation. i don't think it's fair to say he just jumped on it. they have been on top it. it's the president in charge. >> what about the red line comments? >> it was about a year or two years ago, that president obama made the red line comment in syria, says if syria uses chemical weapon, x will happen, it doesn't happen after syria used chemical weapons. we've been in this situation since then

is only getting its international help from iran. so i, for one, believe the united states needs to be active. and i would like to see us active also in the form of air strikes. >> on top of that, the former acting cia director told cbs today i believes isis wants a save half tone launch a terrorist attack in the u.s. potentially we are putting more pressure on the president to act on his own. >> thank you. let's get some thoughts from senior political analyst. >> reporter: president obama has an interesting view of wars and how they end. most presidents bring the troops home when the war is over. mr. president thinks he can end war by bringing the troops home. he thinks leaving is winning and the only thing better is not to get involved in the first place. it seemed a quiet place compared to its earlier years of blood and chaos. so he appeared them to be sovereign, stable and self-reliant and brought the last of the american troops out. it seemed not to occur to him the presence of those forces were a major region iraq was holing to

and iran and we have we have worked with iran in the past with in terms of afghanistan and there are there are shared interests i mean there was talk before in terms of the discussion about nouri al maliki being america's nouri al maliki i mean he's also iran's nouri al maliki so there is that in the sense in the sense there and iran will be will be looking over seeing credibly closely the situation and is. is it is becoming ever more apparent that actually nouri al maliki is one of the biggest factors in in this problem and is sectarian as ation of a state institutions as iraq and iran will be looking at this very closely indeed nouri al maliki does not command or support from all shere all of the shia community inside iraq and i think we saw that in terms of the parades in baghdad of sutter's militia and that is another another sign and of course these will be taking orders from iran that's interesting to put. the militia in in the context of how iran sees that but again that is further proof not just i mean the advance with isis in terms of engaging various sunni communities who a

we talked about iran, and you've talked about the unique set of circumstances with iran. and to a certain extent, with russia and ukraine that targeted sanctions, you think, have already affected russia's economy, and potentially this behavior. where doesn't it work? steve? syria? >> well, a couple things. and i'm -- others can correct me on the numbers, but one of the issues that came, surfaced in connections with sanctions against russia on ukraine is people, you know, the united states generally has to lead on these things, and encourage the europeans to come around. but i think germany is, i think, russia's number two trading partner, if you take the eu together it's far and away the number one trading partner for russia. we're way down that list. so one of the problems in sanctions is, you know, they need to be multilateral many times because the folks with the money, with the economic and financial relations, may not be the united states of america. this is why it was so important to bring the europeans along, which actually started in the clinton administration, to

should start to work with iran and the policy makers and pundits in washington are separating to two camps and they're fighting bitterly about this some do not of course want the united states to begin cooperating with iran they are fearful that this will have a very bad effect on israel and saudi arabia others believe that counterterrorism is of the utmost importance and that iran can help the united states beat back isis and al qaeda in the region professor landis i would have to discuss that iranian angle a little bit later but before we go there there was the media's framing of the events in iraq it is very predictable they're sort of putting all the blame on. government he felt to build a functioning democracy here alley and they did the sunni's and i think we can admit that some of that criticism is valid but the question is could it different person have done a better job is it fair to put all of the blame on a law like here and instead of looking somewhere else let's put it this way well a lot of this is domestic politics president obama is down the polls there are elections

iran and the policy makers and pundits in washington are separating to two camps and they're fighting bitterly about this some do not of course want the united states to begin cooperating with iran they are fearful that this will have a very bad effect on israel and saudi arabia others believe that counterterrorism is of the utmost importance and that iran can help the united states beat back isis and al qaeda in the region professor landis i would have to discuss that iranian angle a little bit later but before we go there there was the media's framing of the events in iraq it is very predictable they're sort of putting all the blame on molecule government he felt to build a functioning democracy here ali and they did the sunni's and i think we can admit that some of that criticism is valid but the question is could it be different person have done a better job is it fair to put all of the blame on al maliki and instead of looking somewhere else let's put it this way well a lot of this is domestic politics president obama is down the polls there are elections coming up midterm electi

and iran and we have we have worked with iran in the past with in terms of afghanistan and there are there are shared interests i mean there was talk before in terms of the discussion about nouri al maliki being america's nouri al maliki i mean he's also iran's nouri al maliki so there is that in the sense in the sense there and iran will be will be looking over seeing credibly closely the situation and is it is it is becoming ever more apparent that actually nouri al maliki is one of the biggest factors in in this problem and is sectarian as ation of a state institutions as iraq and iran will be looking at this very closely indeed nouri al maliki does not command all the support from all shere all of the shia community inside iraq and i think we saw that in terms of the parades in baghdad of all southers militia and that is another another sign and of course these will be taking orders from iran that's interesting to put. the militia in in the context of how iran sees that but again that is further proof not just i mean the advance with isis in terms of engaging various sunni commun

and iran and we have we have worked with iran in the past with in terms of afghanistan and there are there are shared interests i mean there was talk before in terms of the discussion about nouri al maliki being you know america's nouri al maliki i mean he's also iran's nouri al maliki so there is that in the sense in the sense there and iran will be will be looking over seem credibly closely at the situation and is. is it is becoming ever more apparent that actually nouri al maliki is one of the biggest factors in in this problem and is sectarian as ation of a state institutions as iraq and iran will be looking at this very closely indeed nouri al maliki does not command or support from all all of the shia community inside iraq and i think we saw that in terms of the parades in baghdad of at all solders militia and that is another another sign and of course these will be taking orders from iran and that's interesting to put. the militia in in the context of how iran sees that but again that is further proof not just i mean the advance with isis in terms of engaging various sunni com

actually needs iran's help to all hold baghdad to keep it from collapsing into the hands of isis iran has its own interests in preserving the shia government in iraq and also doesn't want the radical insurgents coming into its own country so iran has said they're willing to do what it can to help iraq and then you have isis militants that are in syria unleashing bloodshed to try to topple the syrian government of president bashar assad so you have a position where you know the u.s. iran and syria all do have a common enemy some would argue they. might need to work together to defeat isis but israel on the other hand has said that that the us should just allow the enemies to fight one another not get involved that's that's what israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said he said that he does not want to see the us make a friend out of iran in the context of iraq he actually said that still considering what's happening in iraq that. iraq iran's nuclear program is the biggest threat to the globe not isis not not these terrorists that are cutting off people's heads and eating human hea

iran has its proxy in syria. assad and the shia militia are fighting over future influence in the middle east. who should we support not fight? easy. the saudi arabia's and the moderate gulf states. war, there's a war staten the secular arab and al qaeda. the secular arab state is assad. he's fighting al qaeda. who should we support in that were? that is one of the reasons that this is so difficult. wins, weem is if assad fixed the al qaeda problem, but iran is the big winner. >> exactly. bigger problems. >> but if assad loses -- >> hezbollah and iran are the big winners. >> correct. if assad loses, we have this mess in syria. who knows? we have this mess in syria. it may break apart. al qaeda has a safe haven. the losers are ron and hezbollah , we are also big losers. there is a potential for spill over. a safe haven for al qaeda. >> levy put this into the middle of the table. this is not our problem. it is too complicated. we cannot make this work. madever mistakes have been , they have been made. you guys figh

somewhat aligned with iran so i mean you know the bank of iran was the first official business to open in iraq after we left my recollection is correct and he's a shia a shiite and iran is shiite you've got syria on the other northern border melting down in and you know what's also becoming increasingly a sectarian confrontation one of the possibilities of this could turn into a regional or that it already has become basically a regional firefight between sunnis and shia i think that regional firefight has been going on for some for some time certainly is seen that way by people in the region and i think it's very important that the united states and its allies not go down that sectarian road further. there's a tremendous concern about about the instability in iraq but the civil war they'll be pressure from saudi arabia to back saudi arabia and its and its friends. i think the last thing the u.s. should do now is is da policies that deepen the split somehow and i think this is something that the obama visit ministration does understand and believe deeply somehow united states and its a

on the question of iraq and syria because iran today is the most stable country in the region it's we with iraq and syria falling apart with saudi arabia in the midst of a question of who's going to become king next the iran is a source of stability in the region and it's why it's got a strong military it's what it dislikes isis and al qaida so. of course it's very there are many dangers in teaming up with iran for the united states if america looks like it's siding with the shiites and with iran to kill sunnis and to damage their interests this will alienate the gulf our our longtime allies it'll alienate the saudi arabians already some qatar cutty's have come out and said if america begins engaging in airstrikes against isis and against the other cities this will be seen as purely sectarian play on the part of america and it won't be appreciated and you can't you just mentioned that there is a danger for the americans. in engaging with the iranians but what i'm asking you if there is a danger for the americans for the syrians for the russians often gaging with the americans because