Over the attack on the iranian officials in baghdad. One of the questions looming today seems to be, what is the right move . How do you respond . It is hard to answer that question completely in isolation. What happens next will determine really whether this was the right move or not. I think the situation the president found himself in was one of iranian escalation over the last six months, starting with attempts to sink or at least attack tankers in the persian gulf, the shooting down of an american drone, attacks on the saudi oil facility. 11 rocket attacks on u. S. Bases in iraq over the last two months, culminating in the killing of an american contractor, and then the attack on the u. S. Embassy. The president was facing a situation in which he could either do nothing and allow iran to ratchet up attacks, or respond in some measure. It is certainly the case that this shook the arabian establishment iranian establishment and challenged ideas of what the u. S. Was going to do. I think the value is not just taking out a key figure in ira s military establishment, but iran had grown confident it could push the United States and not elicit a military response. Two u. S. President s elected on the promise of seeking to avoid military entanglements in the middle east, so they were confident they could keep pushing and there wouldnt be a response. This has challenged that. The question, what does the u. S. Do now, in what is sure to be a continued back and forth with iran . Receive the to premise of the question, but what we have been hearing from democrats, despite flaws in the Nuclear Agreement signed in 2015, at least iran was contained and was not proceeding with nuclear capability. So, with President Trump moving out of that agreement and then basically hitting the hornets nest by going after general soleimani, we have basically escalated the whole situation went for a while it was contained despite the flaws. How do you respond to that . I think that is a myopic view of the history of what has happened since 20142015 when the jcpoa was negotiated. Four years ago in january 2016 right after the jcpoa was agreed to, iran took american sailors hostage that were operating in the persian gulf, and hell them at gunpoint. So this is not a regime that invitationpoa as an to better relations with the United States. Evenntinued to antagonize, during the Obama Administration and during this deal, and certainly continued to antagonize the region during the jcpoa. It conducted multiple wars in syria and yemen, strengthened oversaw theiraq, use of chemical weapons against civilians in syria. The reading of the jcpoa as in any way pacifying iranian aggression is misplaced. It certainly put limits on Irans Nuclear program, limits that iran has broken out of and might accelerate as a reaction to killing soleimani, but it certainly, the jcpoa did not halt aggression in the region. On friday, senator Bernie Sanders submitted legislation that would essentially block aid for the president to use it for any military operation in the middle east. On the campaign trail, the candidates for 2020 with this course would have been to stick with that nuclear enforce itsn f provisions and use that diplomatic channel with iran to address a wide range of concerns, including their support of terrorism. Ignored they, trump advice of his own security advice of ignored the his own Security Officials and listened to rightwing extremists, some of whom were exactly the same people who got us into the war in iraq in the first place. As we all remember, trump promised to end endless wars. Tragically, now his actions put us on the path to another war, potentially one that could be even worse than before. Cspan campaign 2020 coverage. As you hear that from senator sanders, your response . I think it is important to note, as senator sanders said, President Trump ran on the slogan of ending endless wars, and just three months ago in october the washington establishment and many members of congress were berating President Trump for pulling out for the, ending support syrian kurds fighting isis. Fornow hes being berated potentially a greater involvement in the region. We need to remember the instants of the president thus far have not been towards war, and thats why i say we cant judge this act in isolation. If it is one and done, an attempt to shake the iranian establishment and pull the u. S. Out of the region, it might not change a lot. It might be a reset, then we go back to where we have been with iran furthering aggression in a couple weeks, if not months. If this is the start of a new strategy, however, a new military presence, a new attempt to roll back iranian aggression throughout the region and further american departments, that will lead to very different outcomes hard to judge at this point. Bottom line, based on your expertise, do you think iran will directly respond . I dont think so. Irans strategy is to never play the same game as the United States, never directly confront the United States. The regime knows its position is always precarious, knows it lacks the military might be United States has, and is not looking for allout war because it knows it cannot win it. It will certainly want to respond, retaliate to save face, in thet will not cow face of american pressure, but it will not do so directly, it will find another means to do so, through cyber attacks, terrorist attacks. Any large action that would precipitate an overwhelming u. S. Response, the world war iii scenarios thrown out in the twittersphere like closing the or attackingmuz israel, i think those will be off the books for iran. People can follow you online . On twitter. You wrote this, all this is part of a pr strategy by iran. Explain . Iran has to do two things. It has internal calculus where it needs to prove, not so much ,s citizens but constituents the Supreme Leader needs to prove he is in control and retaliate to say face. Irans strategy since President Trump backed out of the jcpoa is to cast itself as the more responsible actor, following the law more so than the United States, particularly the case with the European Countries iran has been trying to convince to keep from sanctioning it and keep doing business with it. In its reaction to the strike, it will have to walk a fine line between retaliating against the United States, and casting itself as a victim, and following international law. So anything explicitly overly willssive and militaristic not serve its purpose. It will continue using proxies that are deniable, attacks in cyberspace that are hard to attribute, but you will not see Iranian Military units conducting operations against the United States, because that will subvert the image of iran as a responsible international actor. Complete the sentence. The state of irans Economy Today is what . Fragile. The other thing we have to remember, iran has been under immense political pressure at home and across the region in the lead up to the strike. There have been massive protests in iran, iraq and lebanon against iranian rule and oppression. In iran alone, thousands have 300 to 1500 men have been killed by men working for qassem soleimani. That pressure has not gone away. The worst thing the u. S. Could do at this point is use this strike to distract attention from the political woes iran is feeling in the region. If this is used to strengthen the message that this is a man who oppressed and bled the lebanon, iran, iraq, syria and yemen and turn attention back to the people of those countries, it will be successful for the United States. U. S. Drones attacking the Iranian Military leadership inside baghdad, inside iraq, significant . It is a sign this is not a dramatic escalation by the United States, at least to the level people have claimed. Its an attack on soleimani, if it were in iran, that would have been a drastic measure violating iranian sovereignty. Weq is a country in which have authorization of use of force from congress to operate, a country in which at least so far the government has invited us to operate, although the parliament will be voting today on whether to continue that. It is a country in which we have the right and ability to operate, so its not i think is drastic an action as might have been seen if it were conducted elsewhere in the region. Lets get the phone calls. Gayle joining us from kentucky, republican line, good morning. I just have a question i would really like answered. Certainly. Mpeachment happen with only one party wanting the other party out . Isnt that a coup . What is the difference . Thank you. A little offtopic, but let me use that as a jumping off point to the politics of this country and how this is being viewed overseas from your perspective . In terms of domestic politics, like Everything Else that happens today, it is seen largely through partisan lenses and you largely have President Trumps supporters cheering on this act, and his critics calling it into question. I dont think that whatever happens next is likely to change those dynamics. I think it is interesting that secretary pompeo in the immediate aftermath of this attack spent more time calling european counterparts than necessary consulting with members of congress. But it shows theres an attempt by the administration to create a diplomatic campaign, diplomatic strategy based on this, and now calling on allies and partners who might have connections and ties and relationships with tehran to push iran to not escalate further, and take this as an opportunity to reset what has been a growing the antagonistic relationship. As President Trump said, try to negotiate a better deal than the jcpoa. Joining from maryland, line for republicans, good morning. Good morning. Got ast wondering, we major leader of iran, getting ready, or who is doing harm attacking our embassy in another country, iraq, and youre going to say iran is contained . We have been battling with them for 40 years, wanting to do away with americans and their culture, and they even are allowed to get across our border and attack us on our homeland, and they are contained . Like to know, how does a send 150get to billion of tax dollars over to iran, and im here struggling to pay obamacare . We will get a response. Thank you. I would certainly agree that iran is not contained, and we have seen growing iranian aggression over the last six months, in fact over the last six years or so. I think the last decade has been one that, at, least in the middle east has been dominated by iran. S an act that certainly resets the balance somewhat, and that is why we cannot judge it in isolation. The death of soleimani by itself will not rollback irans presence and influence in the middle east or undermine its desire for hegemony or to disrupt the United States, but it creates an opportunity to change the dynamics. Availablests work is online at hudson. Org. This tweet from a viewer, saying usa kills a top general of iran and wants us to believe this isnt an escalation or a big deal . Read International Statements on the subject, nobody agrees. Respond to that . I do think it is certainly an increase in American Military action in the region. Itsi said in my tweets, not a step up the escalation letter in the sense that this is not an attemptby the United States to oneup iran, not an scalatoryo have exc dominance, to hit them so hard we think they will not hit back. There has been clarity from this administration, that they understand there is the potential for retaliation and they are preparing for it. The state department issued warnings for americans to get out of iraq and to use caution traveling in the middle east. There is definitely a sense that they think there could be something coming in return. What this was was an attempt to shock iran and change the rules of the game. So this was not part of a titfortat military action, but an announcement to the military regime that their assumptions about the u. S. Willingness to use force and how the United States would behave will change. Iran willnt think take a step up the escalatory ladder, at least directly, because iran will not directly confront the United States. They will find other ways to retaliate that they think are deniable, ways they think are u. S. Red lines and not prompt a response. But this wont be the beginning of a trip up the ladder that leads to allout war as some have claimed. But what we here this morning from secretary of state mike pompeo on the sunday morning programs, he told jake tapper on cnn that the Trump Administration is advising Congress Iran could respond in his words within weeks in some fashion. I think it is likely there will be a response. Respond,ans have to but i dont think it will be unitsly irans military attacking u. S. Units or personnel. It will be proxies, militias, iraniansupported terrorist groups. They might go after u. S. Bases. We have seen some rocket fire at u. S. Bases in iraq. I dont think it will be something drastic that will raise the potential for a direct confrontation. State oncretary of meet the press and state of the union. As well as fox news sunday, abcs this week and face the nation, all rearing beginning new in time on cspan radio, and on the cspan radio app. Bob, in livionia, michigan. Thanks for taking my call. As far as escalation, irans has never needed an excuse to cut off somebodys head with a rusty sword, number one. Number two, we have been partners with russia for 20 years on the International Space base onand the australia sharing military secrets. I dont think trump is a russian spy. This text message, trump has created a common enemy in the middle east. Who knew trump is such a peacemaker . Now, if the u. S. Could come together in the face of our common enemy trump, the world would be a better place. I think it is a mistake to judge the sentiments of the people of the middle east based on what is broadcast on tv. The regimes of the middle east, particularly iran, are autocratic and are expert at manipulating images we see and controlling what happens in their streets for the most part, in the same way that when there was an attack on the u. S. Embassy, this was originally cast and described as a sort of Popular Uprising in protest against american actions, when in fact it was iranian backed militias directed by iran. I think we should be careful to believe what we see on tv, what we see coming out of the mouths of middle eastern leaders as representative of the popular beliefs and public will of the people of the region. We heard from john bolton, the former National Security advisor who was either fired or quit depending on who you talk to in september, praising the administrations decision saying it will ultimately lead to regime change. How likely is that . I believe this one action is probably unlikely to lead to regime change, but it raises the larger question about what exactly the Trump Administrations iran policy is and what their objective is. Part of the problem thus far in the three years they have been in office, there is a decided lack of clarity about what they are trying to achieve, or rather different parts of the administration have different goals. So we have seen some parts of the Administration Talk about regime change as the ultimate objective. Other goals, secretary pompeo has a list of 12 objectives he meet, including better human rights at home and ending human rights abuses abroad aggression abroad. President trump has talked about getting a better deal on the nuclear program, has said hes not interested in regime change, so what they want to accomplish is up in the air, which is a problem both for the administration and iran because they dont know what to expect. Nikki, in charleston, west virginia. Good morning. I think the president did the right thing, at the right time, to let them know we arent going attacks hese for these attacks. Come back with a cyberattack, go in with the drones and blow up every means of communication they have got, so they cant cyberattack anything else. Thank you. Marion, joining us from georgia, democrats line. Good morning. I have a question, and i dont know if you can answer this or not. I hope that you can. Israel and russia notified before our congress was of this strike . Do you know the answer . And i have Something Else i would like to say. Morning. I dont know the reaction in regard to russia and i cannot say with complete certainty about israel, but there has certainly been reporting in the Israeli Press that they were at the very least notified that they would be some sort of action and were not completely taken by surprise. What exactly they knew and when is still up in the air. Ok. That concerns me, that our congress was not notified before other countries where. The other question i have, is wet, ok, in the 1950s when did regime change in iran, what led up to that . What has been our issue . So many other countries are just peoples heads off like the other man had said. What exactly is it that we have this zeo focus on iran for . It just seems strange to me. If you could explain that, i would appreciate it. I think you are referring to cia helpedup the orchestrate against the democratically elected Prime Minister of iran, an act that s stillly the iraniana remember and blame the United States for. That act was encouraged by the british, who at that point were still largely involved in iran, had previously been a british colony, a britishcontrolled territory, and there was would behat there attempts to nationalize the Oil Resources of iran, which were still very important to the british economy at that point. So at that time, it certainly was all about the oil. Obviously, since then what has transpired with the 1979 coup that created the Islamic Republic of iran, which led to them taking the u. S. Embassy hostage and really soured relations, in a completely different direction, in fact, a regime that defines itself almost entirely as against the United States, defining the United States as the great satan. That is a source of a lot of friction. That is different from what happened in 1953. A tweet, we have been hearing a lot from viewers with regard sayingiran nuclear deal, we should have corrected the ignoring color that caller that obama did not send tax dollars to iran, it was money under the terms of the jcpoa, iranian money that was being held iowa. Go live to you can watch the rest of washington journal on www. Cspan. Org. Cspan is back live with Political Science scholars looking ahead to the states Democratic Caucus is taking place on monday, february 3. How they see the race unfolding, who is ahead and who is behind. Discussion, i report we have breaking news. A cbs poll just out has