Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Velshi And Ruhle 20200108

Escalating tensions with iran after iran launched Ballistic Missiles at two iraqi bases that housed u. S. Troops. A house briefing on the situation is expected to get underway any minute now on capitol hill. A senate brief willing take place in just over an hour from now. In remarks to the American People just a short time ago, President Trump said iran would never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. He announced new sanctions and then went onto suggest the negotiations of a new nuclear deal. No americans were harmed in last nights attack by the Iranian Regime. We suffered no casualties. All of our soldiers are safe. And only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases. Irans hostilities substantially increased after the foolish Iran Nuclear Deal was signed in 2013. And they were given 150 billion not to mention 1. 8 billion in cash. The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration. As we continue to evaluate options in response to iranian aggression, the United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian Regime. These powerful sanctions will remain until iran changes its behavior. The time has come for the united kingdom, germany, france, russia, and china to recognize this reality. They must now break away from the remnants of the iran deal or jcpoa, and we must all Work Together toward making a deal with iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place. We must also make a deal that allows iran thrive and prosper and take advantage of the untapped potential. The foreign minister says they do not seek escalation or war but if the United States takes any further action, iran will respond in a very harsh way. We have teams of correspondents fanned out across the middle east. I want to begin at home with the white house. Kelly odonnell joins us now. Kelly, it does sound i want to remind our viewers about how this went down. The attacks occurred last night. There was a sense the president was going to address the nation. Dont know whether they were looking for more information or cooler heads prevailed. He waited until 11 00 this morning, and it was a far less combative president than weve seen on twitter. Were hearing from republican allies that he was measured in how he has approached this. That might be a more broadly one assessment of how the president has handled this, because hes often not shied away from being more bellicose. Today was a Firm Response with the opening about the u. S. Would never permit while the president is in office iran to have a nuclear weapon. That is an ongoing piece of the diplomatic stress point between the countries. He also then set a tone of not wanting to escalate while carving out criticism for iran, a message that could be interpreted as deterrence by talking about the u. S. Military assets and our military capability and talking about new sanctions. There have been so many sanctions levelled at iran. We dont have any clarify on the specifics of what would be included but thats another way that the president could try to say he is using the might of the u. S. Government to respond to iran without it ratcheting up in the military sense always leaving those options on the table. So in some ways this was not a typical President Trump tone. And in other ways, quite a bit typically the president where he was overtly criticizing the Obama Administration for the work to be a part of that jcpoa as its own in wonky washington parlance, but the Iran Nuclear Deal. The president pulled out of that. We heard from the president how he claimed that money that was given back to iran, the own funds frozen for a long time ur returned to part as a part of that agreement were somehow used to pay for the missiles. The president making it fungible that any money going back to iran would be used to pay for acts of terror, more broad ly, and specifically this military action on the part of iran. Thats a point thats been argued against many times over, that this was irans money. Right. Yeah. Its irans money. As i often say, it would be easier because it would allow us to just report the news if we didnt have to fact things. You might not like that we gave iran back money as part of the deal, but it was irans money. Kelly odonnell, thank you. Joining us, a bureau chief and msnbc anchor, and correspondent up as well anchoring overnight with us. All three of us covering this. Ali, the president says iran appears to be backing down. We saw a tweet from the foreign minister last night suggesting the attacks of last night they dont want to escalate that. They dont want more to happen. On some level, youve got the Iranian Foreign minister and the president of the United States sort of saying similar things. This doesnt have to go further than its gone. Thats right. I mean, first let me say i think theres a sigh of relief here in iran that an imminent attack seems to be off the books for now. There doesnt seem to be a question of a strike against iran for the attacks they launched last night. And in some ways, the leadership here in iran got what they wanted. They hit america last night, and theyre billing that as a victory here at home. And i think President Trump is also billing that as a victory for himself. So theyre both playing to their base on both sides. So thats kind of worked out for both of them, but i dont think much has changed. I mean, President Trumps rhetoric was still harsh when it came to iran. He still is threatening additional sanctions against the country. Im not sure what other sanctions you can levy against the country thats going to hurt their country any more than it has now, but if we dig a little deeper, its still troubling. The ayatollah came out and said last nights attack was a slap in the face for the United States. And vengeance is still coming. And the reality of the situation is that iran came back as a huge massive attack against the United States. They put out a lot of information here this morning about the damage. That seemed to be very salient information. They havent backed it up with any pictures. People are asking, was this really an eye for an eye. Ayatollah khomeini lost his right hand man, and there were no american casualties in the attack. It begs the question are they going to try to save face and do Something Else . Maybe via proxy or keep quiet for now and go about their plans in the shadows as they have been before . Because as far as i can see, the status quo remains the same. President trump is going to put more sanctions on iran. Thats going to draw them even furtherer away from any notion of negotiation with the United States over the nuclear deal which is basically all but done. Iran has reduced all the commitments to the deal. They said theyre going to enrich enrich as much uranium as they like and go as far as they need with research and develop. Not a lot has changed and President Trump was speaking badly as far as the iranian establishment is concerned about Qassem Soleimani calling him a terrorist whose hands are steeped in blood. So we have averted a direct strike between the countries, but not much else has changed and it looks like that maximum Pressure Campaign is going to carry on. It is interesting, though, that the president seemed to talk first, about the 150 billion which i have to keep reminding people, it was irans money that they got back, but he talked about a new iran deal. He talked about doing that. Its just a weird way of thinking about this. The other iran deal, the 2015 deal took about ten years to negotiate. About two years of intense negotiation toward the end when america got into it. Anybody in the diplomatic circles will tell you the deal could have been better, but it was really hard to get to. Donald trump seems to be thinking and he has supporters in this, that by breaking the whole thing and doing all this, he is now in a better position to get a better deal. That hasnt worked for north korea. Is there any indication it will work in iran. At this point theyre going to say wed better sit down and get a better deal . No. I say that because everyone involved in the first jcpoa made clear this is not a comprehensive deal between iran and the United States about all of irans nefarious activities. Its about nuclear enrichment. Uranium enrichment. To contain it to begin talking about the other issues. What happened is when President Trump came in and now shattered that deal, what youve seen is youve opened all the fronts of the crises with iran. Now have the nuclear portfolio. You have the terrorism portfolio with iran doubling down with proxies in the region the United States considers a terrorist organization. And now you have this direct military to military confrontation, america killing an iranian general. America attacking a military facility. You alienated the allies which youve asked to get involved in trying to help us piece this together. By any stretch of the imagination, you cant say that where we are today with iran is anywhere safer. Imagine in a year or maybe four years President Trump leaves office and youre trying to get the iranians to sit down at the table and say this time when see sign a piece of paper, we mean it. Why would anyone in the world watching a president sign a paper, believe theyll abide by it . Yesterday i was talking to the Energy Secretary who helped negotiate this under obama. He was saying look, to the people who were negotiating what was called the joint comprehensive plan of action, the name of the iran deal, they were mostly concerned about the enrichment of uranium and development of a nuclear weapon. Something iran said theyve never been in pursuit of but evidence seemed to suggest otherwise. There was hope iran would be a better neighbor and the criticisms of the deal from the beginning were it didnt control irans use of proxies in the region including the stuff that Qassem Soleimani was already wellknown for. Again, donald trump said that today. That iran must stop that action. Is it likely, is there any potential deal, is there anything the west can offer iran that will cause it to stop sponsoring the activity that it sponsors in lebanon, in gaza, in syria, in iraq, in yemen and in other places . Its highly unlikely, ali. They are very dependent on these proxies that they have in these regions. It has given iran a lot of power here. Its allowed them to threaten america indirectly throughout this entire region. The proxies are spread all over here and iran is supremely paranoid about america and use the proxies as a defense shield against them and as a threat in times like this. But having said that, if the deal was working. If there was a ton of Foreign Investment pouring into iran, it might have softened all those things. At the end of the day when a countrys economy is booming, everybody is making money, you have to worry less about your adversaries because youre doing business with them. Youre making membershoney with. But that never developed. You never really saw the fruits of the nuclear deal. I mean, there was maybe one good year after the deal was signed. Nobody people were exploring the field to see what they could do in iran, but no Real Investment was made here. So well never know what the results of that would have been. But as it stands today, irans proxies are growing. Theyre getting more powerful and theres absolutely no chance of iranians returning to the Nuclear Negotiating Table over the Nuclear Issue with the United States. The Supreme Leader has been very clear about that. Even this morning in the speech he made, he said you know, negotiating with america would be a foolish thing to do. Theyve shown how dishonest they are. So iran has taken a completely new strategy and you see all the folks that negotiated the nuclear deal are not particularly powerful in this country anymore. Ali, i dont know when you sleep or if you sleep, because every time i come on tv, im having a discussion with you. Thank you for your work there. Ali is our man in tehran. Same thing for you, i dont know when you sleep, but were grateful youre here. Coming up, what damage could iran do if the situation escalates . Another big story were following also in iran. 176 People Killed in a boeing plane crash. Iran is refusing to hand over the black box. Were watching markets for you shifting after President Trumps announcement. Things started off in the red and now everything is in the green after President Trump seemed to silence the drums of war a little bit. You are watching velshi and ruhle live on msnbc. Hi, im jonathan, a manager here at Colonial Penn Life Insurance company. And with Coverage Options starting at just 9. 95 a month, you can get a whole Life Insurance plan to help close that gap with a benefit check paid directly to your beneficiary. If youre between age 50 and 85, Coverage Options start at just 9. 95 a month. And the rate is locked in. And it comes with two lifetime guarantees. One, your coverage can never be cancelled, and two, your rate can never go up. Call for free information and youll also get this beneficiary planner free just for calling. Use it to record Important Information and helpful direction for your loved ones. So dont wait, call now. announcer and when you call right now, youll also get this free prescription savings card that can help you save up to 80 on prescription drugs. Welcome back to velshi and ruhle. During his speech today President Trump highlighted the u. S. s preparedness for the missile strike. Even though a full scale war feels less likely today. The president emphasized how u. S. Military capabilities would act as a deterrent for further conflict with iran. No american or iraqi lives were lost because of the precautions taken. The dispersal of forces, and an Early Warning system that worked very well. U. S. Armed forces are stronger than ever before. Our missiles are big, powerful, accurate, lethal and fast. The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it. As conflict with iran intensifies, it is worth considering irans military capabilities. According to the u. S. Defense intelligence agency, iran has about 610,000 active military personnel and with reserves over 1 million troops. Irans Defense Budget for 2019 was about 20. 7 billion which is roughly 3. 8 of the entire gdp. Iran has the largest and most diverse Ballistic Missile arsenal in the middle east including close range, shortrange, and medium range Ballistic Missiles. They can strike targets throughout the region up to 2000 kilometers away, 1200 miles meaning theyre capable of reaching israel and south eastern europe. The attack last night seems to have targeted infrastructure without human life. That is precision with which iran can operate the missiles. Iran relies on geostrategic positions along the strait of hormuz where more than a fifth of Global Oil Supply passes through. Its 21 miles at the narrowest point. They have antisurface war far capabilities, naval mines, surface combatants and submarines. And they can use conventional weaponry to attack ships that are carrying oils, tankers carrying oil. Iran also provides Financial Training and Material Support to regional militant groups including Iraqi Militias, hamas in a gaza. This allows iran to strike targets with a degree of plausible deniability, but its noteworthy that decades of sanctions hampered their ability to modernize the military forces. The United States military has more than 1. 3 million active military personnel and 800,000 reserve troops with a military budget of 693 billion. Joining me now,bear mccaffery. Suzanne maloney. Thank you to both of you. General, i feel like ive been talking to you all night. I kind of have. One of the points you make is that its an interesting comparison, and donald trump brings it up a lot. But theres no scenario that were looking at which involves a war of troops between iran and the United States. Yeah. No question. By the way, that was an excellent comparison of the Iranian Armed forces. A subset of irgs which has the own missile, elements, cam doe organizations. Theyre capable of defending iran. There is zero possibility of a land war with iran. Its not going to happen. We do have strategic overmatch in air and naval power. We could devastate the iranian oil industry, their homeland, probably knock out most of their air defenses, submarines. None of that is going to happen unless we go to high intensity war. So President Trumps talk this morning, i thought was an a plus. I was glad to hear it. He tried to walk back from the blunder of nailing general soleimani at the baghdad airport. Were still in bad situation. We got isolated pockets of u. S. Troops who are vulnerable all over iraq. The embassy is still potentially isolated. The iraqi shiite parliamentarians want us out. My guess is well come out in the coming year and the iranians are not done with us. Theyre going to go after using proxy forces, diplomats, military leadership, theyre aimed to get us out of iraq. Suzanne, its interesting. The tweets from the president since friday have been aimed at maybe a base. The idea of taking out cultural institutions. It seemed red meaty and tough. And then all of a sudden he didnt make a speech last night. We were expecting he might address the nation last night. They said he would. Then they said he wouldnt. This mornings comments have calmed markets down. Oil is down 6. Iranians are breathing a sigh of relief. What was todays speech about . What was the president doing . Was he talking to americans to calm them down . Was he talking to iranians to say weve done our tit for tat, lets go back to status quo . What do you think happened this morning . I think we heard the beginning of the speech which is going to be repeated on the campaign trail. I think the president is very much speaking to his base, and its a base that is energized by what they see as a successful hit on a very bad guy. And that we did it without sneaking around. That we did it very directly. President trump sort of wraps himself in that very confrontational approach. He criticized his predecessor, president obama, for having negotiated with iran and having what he described as having m p powered iran around the region. Thats not entirely accurate, but it plays very well to the american electorate. I didnt hear deescalation in President Trumps speech today. What i did hear was a repetition of a desire for a different kind of a deal with iran. One in which iran essentially capitulates on the existing policies, not just nuclear or regional, but the whole thing. I think the prospects of getting that in the near term are almost inconceivable, and i think general mccaffery is right. The iranians arent finished. This was just like public pronouncement on their response to the soleimani strike. And were going to see over the course of many months, i think, a covert and unconventional response all around the region and the world. He did seem to be asking for a whole enche law da with nothing on the table to suggest that. The context is important. That Iran Nuclear Deal, i cant say it enough. It took ten years to negotiate. And everybody went in wanting as much of the plan as possible and couldnt get it. One of the things we talk about in general on tv is all the people in the defense infrastructure and the National Security infrastructure who are not there under the Trump Administration. There are a lot of people displaced and a lot of people who were sort of wise contributors not there, and everybody says its an important time, there arent good advisers around the president. Im inclined to say does that matter . When he had strong advisers around him, he was making bad decisions. I think it matters. I spent hours and hours in the white house situation room where the number two and number three people are trying to hash out options analyze them carefully. In the room is treasury, commerce, dia, cia, state department. You name it. Homeland security. And i think the decision to kill soleimani which was a i think a legitimate option, when analyzed for an hour by a group of people would have said oh, this is really a stupid move. Youre going to be replaced an hour later by Somebody Just as bad. It doesnt change the capacity. That decision was almost made as a golfing buddys outing down in maralago. They fly down there. Theres no process there to make reasoned judgments about National Security issues. Thats continuing under this president. Now, this speech, somebody knocked together some pretty sound ideas, and i think moving forward, he better figure out one concept is engage the iranians in diplomatic negotiations. The nuclear cord is dead and gone. Theres a stake in the heart of it. Move forward. The europeans have got to help us talk to the iranians. Right. He said it. He said it in his speech, but again, its a situation where nothing concrete seems to have been put forward. I have to ask if that is the case, if the president left i dont know if you want to call it an olive branch, but he said we should do a better deal, who comes up with such a deal . Well, i think thats the real difficulty. General mccaffery suggested the europeans should bring us together with the iranians. Its a fantastic idea. But fundamentally the iranians arent going to come back to the table and put anything on offer. From their perspective, the United States is entirely the aggressor. The Trump Administration walked away from this deal. And has imposed harm on irans economy somewhere in the order of 50 to 100 billion in losses not just from the oil theyve been unable to sale or repatriate the revenue for, but in the lost opportunities of Economic Growth over the course of now a year plus since the president walked away from the deal. So theyre going to be looking for not just a better deal for themselves, but theyre going to be looking for compensation from the United States. I see no prospect theyre going to be willing to give more in terms of concessions on their own policies. In terms of expanding the life span of the restrictions under the Nuclear Program for anything that the Trump Administration might offer. So i think we are very much backed into a diplomatic corner at the moment, unfortunately. Thank you to both of you. General and suzanne. I appreciate your time this morning. Up next, live in iraq for the latest reporting on u. S. Troops there and how vulnerable they really are after last nights show of force by iran. Plus last nights deadly boeing plane crash and why iran isnt handing over the black box. Youre watching velshi and ruhle live on msnbc. Im your 70lb st. Bernard puppy, and my lack of impulse control, is about to become your problem. Ahh no, come on. I saw you eating poop earlier. Hey my focus is on the road, and thats saving me cash with drivewise. Whos the dummy now . Whoof whoof so get allstate where good drivers save 40 for avoiding mayhem, like me. Sorry hes a baby a lot will happen in your life. Wrinkles just wont. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repairs dermproven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. Making wrinkles look so last week. Rapid wrinkle repair® pair with retinol oil for 2x the wrinkle fighting power. Neutrogena® welcome back. Today President Trump said there were no casualties during this overnight missile attack on an iraqi base that houses u. S. Troops. He also declared the United States would immediately impose additional economic sanctions on iran. Iran fired at least a dozen Ballistic Missiles at the base in retaliation for the u. S. Killing of irans general Qassem Soleimani. Minimal damage to the base was sustained. Joining me now, chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel in baghdad, iraq. I think you might have been in irbil when one of the attacks its hard to keep track of you. You travel so much. Reporter no, no. I am still in irbil, and yes, there was one of the Ballistic Missile attacks happened here in irbil. The other at the assad air base. Not in baghdad, at least, for now. Talk to me about this. Its amazing. They say there were 22 missiles sent to the elle assad base which 17 hit the target. No casualties. Minimal damage. It may speak to irans remarkable capabilities in being able to send a message. How did the president s subsequent remarks this morning which you waited hours to giver, how is that playing in the region . Do you get the sense it was an off ramp and is deescalating things from where we were last night. Reporter i do. I spoke with a senior iraqi official who was listening to President Trumps remarks, and i dont want to say took comfort in them, but thought that it was an off ramp. Thought that it meant that the United States is not going to take further action for now. As long as iran doesnt take further action. This official, however, was very concerned that there could be more instability in this country. Particularly he was pointing to the shia militias. Because for the for the last week or so, weve been talking act the hit on Qassem Soleimani. But he wasnt alone. Qassem soleimani, President Trump and others in the administration say he had come to baghdad to organize an attack. If thats the case, who was he organizing that attack with . He was greeted by a group of individuals at the airport, and he was not alone. He was with a senior Iraqi Militia leader and they were targeted together. And that was the apparently part of this meeting to plan the attack. Well, that militia leader was killed and his militia has promised some kind of revenge. So we will see if they carry something out as well. While this official thought we were a lot better stage than we could have been had President Trump come out and said that planes are in the air and a new faze of the war has begun and nothing iran did can be allowed to stand. He was concerned about the future stability of this country own this region. Richard, thank you for your work in keeping us posted. Stay safe where you are. Richard engel in irbil, our chief Foreign Correspondent. Another big story in iran, an investigation after a ukrainian airplane crashed during takeoff in iran. Killing all 176 people on board. The Ukrainian International Airlines Flight was en route to ukraine but disappeared from radar a few minutes after the departure from tehran. Iranian officials immediately blamed the crash on mechanical issues, but ukraine says its too early to determine the cause. It was a boeing 737800. Not one of the max models weve talked about for a long time. So far iran is refusing to hand over the planes black box to anyone else. The ukrainian president said in a statement, quote, our priority is to establish the truth and those responsible for this terrible catastrophe. Passengers on the flight were from iran, canada, ukraine, sweden, afghanistan, germany, and the united kingdom. Joining me now is tom costello who covers aviation. Tom, look, this all happened at a moment that seemed confusing. The attacks had taken place in iraq. Air space had been closed. It became confusing and it felt like it was part of the same story. Could this plane had been hit by a missile or Something Like that in what do we know happened . Reporter i think youre on the track that many people on the outside are thinking about. Was this plane hit by some sort of a missile, a ground to air missile . Keep in mind, the ukrainians have specifically said they are not ruling out the possibility that the plane was hit by a missile. This happened at about 6 12 in the morning. It was still dark outside. Keep in mind the iranians had already fired their missiles at the u. S. They were anticipating the possibility of some sort of a counterattack. Suddenly this plane is taking off on a regularly scheduled flight at 6 00 a. M. Or so, and it only gets to 7900 feet when suddenly it catches on fire and this is the home video shot by iranian journalism student presumably who may have been up all night because of the stress of the night. Look at the flame, and then the explosion as it hits the ground. The question is what could have caused that plane to catch on fire . Most of the experts i will tell you here in the United States aviation experts speaking on background are now really considering the possibility that this was, in fact, some sort of an incident in which ground fire may have brought down the plane. The ng, the boeing 737800 has a good track record, and this kind of an incident is really hard to explain. Right. Good track record run by an airline with a good record. Its not a particularly old plane. Its not one of these max models that are still not flying. Its unusual to hear of a crash of a 737 which is one of the most the most popular commercial airliner of all. Reporter and this one in particular. The 800 is one of the bestselling and safest planes out there. The flight when you look at the fire ball coming across, that does not look like thats any sort of an engine fire necessarily. Theres too much fire there. What caused that fire . That is what people are questioning. Why would there be a fire that would so immediately incapacitate the crew that there was no distress call and suddenly at 7900 feet, its simply stops. It loses all telemetry with the ground. Were interested in hearing the cause of the crash. Tom, he covers aviation for us. Next, how americas allies are responding to this weeks crisis with iran. Live in tel aviv. Top Trump Officials are giving a briefing on the situation overseas. Well hear from someone live in the room. Youre watching velshi and ruhle live on msnbc. Hle live c let obamacare implode. Nurse these wild attacks on healthcare hurt the patients i care for. Ive been a nurse in new york for thirty years. I know the difference leadership can make because i saw what Mike Bloomberg did as mayor. Vo mayor bloomberg helped lower the number of uninsured by 40 , covering 700,000 more new yorkers, Life Expectancy increased. 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They must now break away from the remnants of the iran deal or jcpoa, and we must all Work Together toward making a deal with iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place. Today i am going to ask nato to become much more involved in the middle east process. All right. Lets get some translation to what all of this means. Joining me is matt bradley in tel aviv. Matt, its confusing only because the jcpoa he referred to, joint comprehensive plan of action, the iran deal of 2015, involved a lot of parties. It involved negotiating group, the united nations, the eu. It wasnt a nato specific thing. Now hes talking about nato. Whats the president talking act . Reporter well, the president is reviving a complaint that hes had since before the election back in 2015. Hes longsaid that nato members dont pay enough into the alliance and are just enjoying the protections of america and other big powers without paying anything. Without having to pony up their own militaries and without having to spend more than 3 of their Gross National products every year on military spending in fact hes been complaining about this a lot. This is one of the president s habits. When Something Like this, a new news event comes up, he tucks an old complaint in. Thats what youre seeing here. The fact is that nato allies, the request by the president , they get more involved in the middle east, it seems as though thats at odds with what the president has been doing recently. Nato was founded to protect against russia. But the president has just allowed russia to move into syria and the wider middle east in a huge way. So by doing that, hes at odds with the notion of having the other european powers step in and pick up the slack in the middle east, and thats the last thing the middle east needs is more foreign intervention. You know the region youre in very, very well, and all of its complexities from gaza to israel and lebanon and syria. This has been the result for Benjamin Netanyahu for a decade. While other people have been worried about the palestinians, hes convinced the israeli public the only and main threat and existential threat to iran is to israel is iran. Suddenly, like donald trump, he sort of is taking a softer tone in the last 24 hours saying we dont really want to be too involved in this. Whats the threat to israel and what is israel doing about it . Reporter why would netanyahu want to be involved in this . I mean, this was christmas coming slightly late for Benjamin Netanyahu. He got a massive gift here. He got one of the arch enemies for decades, the grease we hind the iran yab regime and Iranian Regime and their forces in the gaza strip, now hes gone. They didnt have to lift a finger. And the resulting blowback didnt blow back against israel or against Benjamin Netanyahu. And now Benjamin Netanyahu who is in really tough political circumstances. Hes facing an indictment and an upcoming election. He can go back to the public and said look, we did all of this without lifting a finger, and all because of my close relationship with donald trump. He has constantly been positioning himself as the steward of this new israeli American Alliance that has revived itself since trump came to office. When it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu and israel, netanyahu spoke this morning and said anyone who attacks israel is going to be fiercely put down by the israeli state. We had the Cabinet Meeting this afternoon. We heard nothing from that. It seems as though the israelis for the time being are just enjoying sitting this one out and watching from afar. As far as we can hear from Israeli Intelligence and top officials, they dont expect any reprisals. They dont expect any of irans proxies to attack them from lebanon or the gaza strip. As far as a lot of people in the region are concerned, this is over. Let me ask about syria. We have about 5300 troops i think in syria. This is the president announced a drawdown of the troops. In criticizing the president for doing so, people said you are leaving a vacuum which will be filled by we often talked about russia but iran was the other group. Qassem soleimani was in syria more than he was kind of anywhere else these soleimani w more anywhere else these days. Syria and russia have backed the asas iran and russia have backed the assad regime. What is the influence of Qassem Soleimani being out of the picture with respect to the u. S. Being out and Qassem Soleimani not being there . Thats what everybody wants to know. Why al kauni just stepped up. Is the same man . Its not clear. He had a similar job though he was more focused eastward rather than westward, which is what Qassem Soleimani did. Its unclear what hell be doing. The syrian war thanks in part to Qassem Soleimani and others, that is really winding down, the russians have been behind it. Before the russians, it was iranians who were underwriting all of the regime. They sent in their fierce besieged forces. They supported a lot of the shiite groups that had been backi backing assad. A lot reseeded after the russians came in around 2015. The russians brought in their massive firepower, hightech technology into syria. The yarnz who were by then suffering from massive eeconomis problems, the same groups that eventually killed a contractor, a lot of them are very, very active in syria. And it was Qassem Soleimani who was directing them. Is mayel ghauan ni. Thank you for your analysis which comes from the amount of time and knowledge youve developed in the region. We appreciate it at times like this. Matt bradley in tella vive. This hour lawmakers have been getting a briefing from top Trump Officials including from mike pompeo. Well have the details coming up. Youre watching velshi and ruhle live. I and ruhle live. Ight to me. Tech hi, im adrian. Man thanks for coming. With service i could trust. Right, girl . Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. Before we talk about taxsaudreys expecting. New . Twins wed be closer to the twins. Change in plans. At fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. Fthe prilosec otc twoweekymore. Challenge is helping people love what they love again. Just one pill a day. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. Because life starts when heartburn stops. Take the challenge at prilosecotc dot com. Aimen my haudsen back with me, an msnbc anchor, one who spent a lot of time in the region behind us. Theres one thing were looking today, stock market started the day, oil prices dropped 6 a barrel. Iran, 1 5 of the voil oil goes through the hormuz strait. The big ships need a lot of space. Iran has said they will mine it, destroy tank thaerz go through. America has said any tanker gets a flag on p, so if you attack it its like attacking america. That seems to have gone down. People are thinking the chances of war are less likely than on friday or even yesterday. Yeah. The strait of hormuz is on a short list that would engulf or descend the area into a ball of flames. All of the things, attacking israel or dubai or saudi arabia, not just an oil fa silt there. Its demonstrated a resiliency to be able to bounce back. So i think that in this particular case, the key point in President Trumps speech we kind of talked about this a little bit was him saying it appears that iran is stepping down. The indication coming out of foreign minister zarifs tweet, we have concluded our response. I think that was a key driving factor to markets around the world. They were beginning to recover from last week. Today they opened lower but now theyve bounced back. The indicators are we have averted this fullblown war. But in averting a fullblown war, no expert has said this game is finished. Theyre not saying irans activities that the u. S. Doesnt like, theyre not sure its over. All we know is in the next while, we may not see an escalation. But kaz em soleimani has been replaced by his righthand man. Theres no indication that the things america doesnt like in the region are stopping . That was the central question i was saying. Ill say it one more time. All of that has happened over the past week can really be, you know, broken down into one question. Will what america did change irans behavior . And the short answer i go back to is no, theyre not going give up the buffer theyve built, not abon daning their Nuclear Program. Theyve doubled down. Theyre not easing up on internal roe strikss. Theyre not going to push back with economic reforms. Nothing has changed from a week ago. Exactly. There are questions as to whether or not the proxies are going to respond to the new outputs for leader in the same way. Hes less charismatic, may not have the same relationships, but he will build that over time if he isnt taken out by an american or other strike. We are on the beginning of a repetitive cycle where iran said it will continue to do what it had been doing. Thank you for joining me. Thanks for watching velshi and ruhle. Ill see you back at 3 00 p. M. Kitty tur. We are asking once again where is the evidence . Flanked by stern white military men, the president addressed the world this morning following irans attack on military bases housing american soldiers last night. He began not by saying good morning but by demanding iran must not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. He asserted that Qassem Soleimani was planning an imminent attack and called on nato to intervene in the middle east. He called for the International Community to abandon the Iran Nuclear Deal. He blamed the Obama Administration for the recent attacks. But he also appeared to back away from any further military conflict