>> to pick up on that point, courtney. we all woke up to this report in the "wall street journal" that perhaps these latest tensions started over a miscommunication. what are you hearing about that? >> so, i mean, there's no question that this has really been a big game of chicken on both sides. but the military officials who i'm talking to, you know, they have no, they do not question the fact that there was a very credible stream of threats emanating from iran and from proxies in the region that led to all of this movement over the last nearly two weeks now, kristen. >> and what is the administration doing right now to try to ratchet down some of these tensions? because the president yesterday and i thought this was just sort of a remarkable moment was asked if we're going to go to war with iran. he said, i hope not. he actually answered that question. what do you make of that and how he's trying to sort of step back at this point. >> now he's talking about potentially talking to iran. so, i mean, this has really