or you can be part of a political settlement. the russians for their part will looking at syria has been a client state for 40 years. they re going to look for their streak interests, whether the port or a continued economic benefit. jenna: the strikes in syria actually gave rex tillerson some political leverage. sounds like you agree with that. i do agree with that. it demonstrates there s a willingness to back up the intention. it was a very focused statement on where that line is, which is not that necessarily there s regime change as a means to an end, but that we re clear that assad can t continue to have the legitimate governing role for his people but we re willing to work on a settlement. if he continues to use chemical weapons against his people, that choice won t be his. jenna: can we say the assad
russian counterpart. correspondent rich edson reports from moscow. the highest-ranking trump administration official to travel to moscow has arrived, and secretary of state rex tillerson brings his firmest commitment you have to regime change in syria. it is clear to all of us that the reign of the assad family is coming to an end. we are not presupposing how that occurs, but i think it is clear that we see no further role for the assad regime long-term given that they have have given up tr legitimacy with these attacks. declared the coming end of syrian president bashar al-assad, yet he remains, with and because of russian support. tillerson says that is the key to removing a solid. i hope that what the russian government concludes is that they have aligned themselves with an unreliable partner.
only the u.s. has the power to help. there was a real sense that last week s tomahawk strike at a genuine effect on the strength, at least from geopolitical standpoint. on the ground, the battle is as brutal as ever. new mexico invention, thank you. the top man at the pentagon says there is no doubt syria s government was behind it. defense secretary jim mattis has issued a warning. good evening, jennifer. defense secretary mattis stop short of blaming anyone other than the syrian regime for the chemical weapons attack exactly a week ago today. he would not say it, when asked, whether russia knew about the chemical weapons attack in advance. there have been mixed messages from the administration about whether you are calling for a regime change in syria. are you prepared are you
russians have a complicated relationship with iran. they re not close allies. they have a shared interest in syria. the question is, can we convince the russians in effect to have a in effect a proclamation of solidarity about standing up to the united states, but in effect, peel him off and let him know that his interests, long-term he has problems all over the world. challenges. whether it s ukraine, the caucuses. they re testing us. we have to stand, we have to stand firm. we also have to get a bilateral and very clear channel with putin so that we can exert the kind of leverage that we need. jenna: we ll see what this meeting produces and what comes the rest of the week from secretary of state rex tillerson. thanks, ambassador. thank you. jon: at these complicating events unfold, we have new information about the attacks that killed dozens of civilians
is so important. we re going to need to have, again, for the right settlement, we need the russians at least have a seat at the table given their interests there. jenna: i m so curious why you think the russians are willing to deal, based on the state just put out. a joint statement of supporters by syria. russia is part of the statement and iran is part of it. here s what the statement says. jenna: you know, that sounds scary. it s a two-part question. why do you think they re ready to deal despite those words? what is the threat to us if they re not? i think this is posturing by the russians. they re going to invite the iranians and syrians to moscow. the question is, you know, the