a slap in the face for the trump administration but it comes as no surprise because germany has said repeatedly that there would be no new tensions with iran if the u.s. had not withdrawn from that iran nuclear deal germany's act of defiance is also a clear one a firm no to a naval mission led by the u.s. well what about a naval mission led by europe last week the u.k. proposed just that but its new prime minister and government apparently consider a naval mission off the coast of iran without u.s. military muscle to be a nonstarter an idea that germany apparently best not share apparently tonight we simply don't know 1st here is what the german foreign minister said earlier today. i was trying to get definition we do not want to join the united states atrocity of maximum pressure we do not want any further escalation and 2nd is needed we must recognize that there are incidents that need to be dealt with you can british

government will say again later today house intends to do with this we have agreed to germany france and great britain will coordinate very very closely on this issue with time in this by d.m. teams so there you have the german foreign minister clear about that no to a u.s. led naval mission and not so clear about what germany france and the u.k. could possibly do together or today germany's new defense minister left the door open not we don't know exactly to what take a listen. i gather with france and great britain and germany has done everything in the past and the present to achieve a diplomatic and complete solution in iran. in me if i am called and. like other international partners we now have a 1st rough proposal such as from the united states about the possible mission.

and we're currently examining these requirements in close consultation with great britain and france and we're doing this in particular against the background of our political and diplomatic objectives. in this are how to make sense of all of this this is a transatlantic story and that is how we are covering it tonight. political correspondent kate brady she joins me tonight from here in berlin and across the pond to w.'s helena humphrey joins me from washington d.c. to both of you welcome let me start with you berlin says no to washington has there been any reaction from the trumpet district. not as of yet brant and i wouldn't expect there to be any swift reaction for the simple reason that it's the idea of not dignifying that know from the slap in the face with a swift response just you know writing it off as small fry because i think at the

end of the day there is now the sense here in washington that the united states will go ahead with it this naval mission where the burden is on board or whether but it is not on board as we are now say seeing i think the problem for the german government may likely have been in terms of the wording the devil is in the detail i think for lennon that request from the united states because the united states called on berlin to secure shipping in the strait of hormuz but they also called on them to combat a rainy and aggression were of course then germany to give into that i'm essentially they would have been condemning iran's actions at the same time you know engaging in something which is labeled as putting them on a collision course then with tech ron at a time of course when germany has such a differing view and it stance towards iran desperately trying to nudge the iranians back into the parameters of that carefully negotiated 2015 nuclear deal at the end of the day though i think whether this u.s.

mission is the trolling of the high seas or perhaps even something more perhaps a move of politic i think it's fair to say that we will see washington now proceed and go forward rather swiftly and killed or what about germany i mean this does look like a slap in the face delivered by germany to the united states. it certainly could be seen that way particularly given that german defense rely so heavily on the u.s. but at the same time this really isn't a surprise if you look even at the wider picture here out of outside of this particular situation that we find ourselves in right now germany is always very reluctant to partake in any kind of combat military operation any kind of involvement that school and has been that way for many decades and for some time now it's very it's be much more of a helping hand than an active participant so there's absolutely no appetite here in

germany to really get involved in a very robust hems on role particularly in a u.s. led mission and belin simply doesn't want to see its forces led by the u.s. particularly in in this very fragile and very what could be explosive situation right now and we're just getting reports now that both of you know that the united states has just announced it is imposing sanctions on iran's foreign minister zarif that is going to up the tension considerably but that's just coming across right now let me stick with you germany is saying no to a u.s. led naval mission what about a european naval mission which the u.s. or the u.k. rather cold for last week. well of them and that is one of the big questions of course at least from the u.k. side things aren't looking so sure of that anymore either but there is this fear

here in germany as well that were gemini to become part of at least that u.s. led mission and that it could become collateral damage and the same could apply to an e.u. naval mission as well and so that's something that germany's discussing at the moment but nothing has been moved off the table so far germany is in very close talks with the u.k. and with france right now as we saw there on a great crime karrenbauer the new defense minister was already meeting with french and and u.k. officials today to discuss exactly how a joint effort can be achieved and to move things forward and find out what's very important for germany here a difficult matic solution so not any kind of military action yet but beyond that still look you waters all around hell of what about. that international naval

mission that the u.s. has been trying to put together in the strait of hormuz is there any movement on that. well there is some reason we don't know the full details and that we should point out is that talks were held today with military representatives from the united states from the u.k. in basque rain back rain of course is home to the 5th largest u.s. naval fleet in the wild so a sense that they are putting that together details are emerging on the those door those talks being held behind closed doors we can expect more details potentially on thursday and now we know that perhaps denmark code and portugal spain and sweden said that they would be interested to hear what comes out of that so they're still weighing their possibilities i wonder now whether that changes based on those latest sanctions targeted against the foreign minister zarif because that makes it very clear that the united states is still pursuing this campaign of maximum

pressure all of which the european union has been critical so that may change how this now evolves i think brant all right tell the humphrey on the story for us in washington kate brady on the story here in the german capital to both of you thank you. i expect breaks may come up a little bit the crucial thing to stress is that i all this the attach huge importance to the spirit of the delphos good friday agreement and that was a british prime minister boris johnson speaking in northern ireland today in belfast he reiterated his promise that he will take the u.k. out of the european union and that there can be no brakes a deal until the backstop is scrapped now the backstop is something like an insurance policy that would guarantee no return to a hard border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland most people in

northern ireland voted to remain in the european union and that referendum back in 2016 and one of the provinces biggest parties the nationalist shin fein is staunchly opposed to a new deal bracks it that was the message that the party's leader had for mr john.