Department for the first time. It is now his job to address not just the conflicts with these allies and adversaries, but also the conflicts within his own department, where a remarkable 900 workers just submitted a letter of dissent over the controversial travel ban. Even if hes able to do all that, there is now the issue of escalating tensions with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hes not kidding. Lets begin with iran. Just a day after the white house put iran on notice for its weekend Ballistic Missile test, iran says it will, quote, vigorously continue with its missile activity. Its just what National Security adviser Michael Flynn called a provocative breach. Retired bringigadier general, r, bring us up to speed on the back and forth here. Thats right, we saw the missile test iran conducted, Medium Range Missile test. The pentagon considered that test a failure but it raising tensions within the relationship. That along with what mike flynn was iranianbacked rebels targeting a navy ship in the red sea, thats escalated tensions with the iranians vowing to continue missile tests because they say it doesnt fall within the technical restrictions of the deals and the u. N. Resolutions because in their words the missiles are not nuclear capable. Ryan, thank you for that. Bringing us up to speed on where we are in this moment. General, when you hear this back and forth, you see what both sides are saying, on notice, iran is being put on notice, that coming from first Michael Flynn as National Security adviser and then from donald trump in a tweet. What does that threat mean . Well, i think what it means, this administration is setting boundaries very early in the administration, as to the behavior of the reins. And what theyre saying is, we are not going to put our cards on the table, what were prepared to do, thats strategic ambiguity, they believe thats worthwhile. Donald trump had complained about the fact that we showed all our cards all the time. And what theyre just trying to do at this point is say, were going to do what is necessary but were not going to tell what you were going to do ahead of time. What does strategic ambiguity mean here, though, general . Its not like the Obama Administration condoned these missile tests, they were against them, they just didnt really do anything about them. If President Trump is in fact going to do something about it other than put them on notice, what would that mean, what would doing something about it mean . Look, there are an entire range of actions that the United States can take, from diplomatic to special operations, observance, reconnaissance. Theres an entire range of options that i have no doubt the military and diplomatic planners are working on right now. We could sit here for a half hour and talk about those different options. But i believe mike flynn and the president want the iranians to keep guessing on what could happen here anden understand th consequences of what could happen if they continue these provocative strikes. General, what do these Ballistic Missile tests signal to you . Again, what it signals to me is that the iranians are testing President Trump and his administration from the outset. They want to see where their boundaries are, how far they can go, and how prepared the United States is to respond. And the timing no accident, by the way. The iranians, i think its a term of diplomatic art, they say this doesnt violate the u. N. Resolution because these missiles dont carry Nuclear Warheads because we dont have a Nuclear Program. But in fact a Ballistic Missile for all intents and purposes, it could carry nuclear weapons, correct . It certainly could. Theyre trying to find a loophole in the resolution and the only people theyre convincing of that loophole is themselves. General, thanks, as always. The agenda of new secretary of state Rex Tillerson, in addition to the tensions with iran, some long time u. S. Allies, some of the countrys very best friends, are getting their first taste of diplomacy Donald Trump Style and they may not like it very much. Were learning that the president s first calls to the leaders of australia and mexico took a pretty contentious turn. This is how President Trump addressed the issue a short time ago when speaking at the National Prayer breakfast. When you hear about the tough phone calls im having, dont worry about it. Just dont worry about it. Theyre tough. We have to be tough. Its time were going to be a little tough, folks. Were taken advantage of by every nation in the world, virtually. Its not going to happen anymore. Its not going to happen anymore. For more on this lets bring in cnns senior White House Correspondent jeff zeleny. Jeff, it seems like were hearing one thing from the white house and a different story is leaking out after. Reporter essentially the president confirming those tough phone calls weve been talking about all morning that really have certainly have rankled the normal course of diplomacy. But nothing seems normal these days. Its very common for leaders of countries to have their first phone calls. But we are learning, as the Washington Post first reported, these courtesy calls became confrontational. Trump says hes going to do this tough talk with foreign leaders but it makes the job for the new secretary of state much more difficult here. This all came out of last saturdays round robin phone calls. The australian phone call, were told, was the most confrontational of all. Australia, after all, is an ally of ours. But its a different moment for tough talk here in washington. Not just an ally, a really, really close ally. Like an ally, not just an ally. Capital a. Not just tensions with these friends and adversaries, jeff. There is also the question of how the president is getting along with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Theres already been this response. Reporter so important that he called for divine intervention on the ratings of the apprentice under Arnold Schwarzenegger at the prayer breakfast, trying to use a bit of humor but certainly asking for gods blessing for the ratings. Lets listen. Its been a total disaster. And mark will ever, ever bet against trump again. And i want to just pray for arnold, if we can, for those ratings, okay . Donald, i have a great idea. Why dont we switch jobs. You take over tv, since youre such an expert in ratings, and ill take over your job. Then people can finally sleep comfortably again, hmm . Reporter that was a realtime response from Arnold Schwarzenegger responding within minutes, saying he would be happy to become president. One problem with that, the u. S. Constitution would not allow that, only americanborn people can be president , which governor schwarzenegger is not. But certainly an interesting moment of back and forth that i did not think we would be talking about here today. No, and of course President Trump, though, has any been a source of concern for him, over where someone was born before they could become president. Governor schwarzenegger had rapid response, the ball is in your court, mr. President. Lets go back to international relations. Were going to talk about the heated phone call between the president and the australian Prime Minister. Cnn International Diplomatic editor Nic Robertson joins us right now. Australia one of the u. S. s closest allies all around the world. Its clear that this discussion did not go as either had planned. Reporter it certainly didnt. I mean, this came on the back of President Trumps announcement that there were going to be restrictions allowing refugees and restrictions on those seven muslim majority countries coming into the United States. What the australian Prime Minister wanted to get a handle on and wanted to get President Trump to agree on was something that the australians had agreed with president obama that 1250 refugees, mostly from those seven muslim majority nations, on an island off the coast of australia, would be taken in by the United States. That was the agreement with president obama. And malcolm turnbull, the australian Prime Minister, pushed that point with President Trump. Thats where things seemed to go wrong. President trump later tweeted that it was a dumb deal. But it did seem to end the phone call early, by all accounts. Now, the australian Prime Minister says he doesnt want to talk publicly about what goes on in those phone calls. He says he thinks theyre better off being frank and kept private between the two. However, he did say that the phone call didnt end contentiously. This is how he put it. The report that the president hung up is not correct. The call ended courteously. And as far as the nature of the discussion, it was very frankly and forthright. I stand up for australias interests. I make australias case as powerfully and persuasively as i can, wherever i am. Reporter so interestingly, out of this, for this important u. S. Ally, malcolm turnbull, he now has gone up in the popularity ratings in australia. Over the weekend, the country thought he was being too weak. They wanted to see someone who was tougher on this new travel policy. And now they see theyve got just that. Pretty interesting. They say theyve got just that. You know what i also say, we dont often hear such clear reports of what happens in these phone calls, you just get those frank and friendly readouts. A new world we live in. Nic, thank you so much. Breaking news from many places around the globe right now. Whats the response from capitol hill . I spoke with republican senator Lindsey Graham who as you may remember has never hesitated to take on President Trump. Here is his take on trumps butting heads with the australian Prime Minister. The relationship is strong and can withstand a phone call. Well be fine with australia. The 1250 refugees, if theyre wellvetted, we can absorb them too. Hes been on the job two weeks now, the australian prime mince seems okay with the way it ended. My dad was stationed in australia in world war ii, i served with an Australian Unit in iraq and afghanistan. Trump tweeted about that deal that the Obama Administration struck with australia, he called it a dumb deal on twitter. Dumb deal or not, is that the way to handle it . You know, i wish he would sleep more and tweet less. But thats up to him. Whatever hes doing has worked for him. You know, youre still president of the United States, and theres probably better ways to handle this. Instead of talking about this, we should be talking about judge gorsuch. He does like to talk about that, that is in the win column for him, i know youre very supportive of judge gorsuch. Lets go to another part of the world, a lot going on today. The president and his National Security adviser are saying theyre formally putting iran on notice. Those are their words, after its Ballistic Missile test over the weekend. That sounds like a threat. Senator, from your view, what is the president threatening . I dont know. Here is what i would suggest we do, that we impose sanctions on the regime for their violation of the u. N. Missile test ban, for what theyve done in the region, for capturing our sailors, new sanctions on the reign r Iranian Regime for their behavior. I wouldnt put them on notice. I would go to the congress and say its now time to punish iran for all the things theyre doing in the region including trying to test a new missile. A Senior Adviser to the ayatollah put out a statement saying among other things theyre going to vigorously continue their missile activity and also saying that President Trump shouldnt make a toy out of himself, i think is how he put it. Where does this go if here, do you believe . The u. N. Security Council Passed a resolution telling the iranians, stop developing missiles, long range and short range missiles that can disrupt the balance of power in the region. Iran has been a bad actor. Theyve basically toppled four arab capitals. Its not just trump, its the u. N. Itself, their credibility at risk. Ive had it with the iranians toppling prou. N. Governments throughout the region, capturing our sailors, flaunting the missile test ban. Its now time for them to pay a price. They have a pair of twos. We have a full house. I dont want a war with iran but we want to make them stop. Along that line, you want them to stop, but what do you think trump will do if iran fires another missile . I think the world should not only condemn iran but we should have multinational sanctions against the regime for their continued violation of the u. N. Security Council Resolutions regarding their missile program. And i would heres what i would tell the president to do. The deal we have with iran regarding their Nuclear Program is a bad deal. In 15 years they can enrich and reprocess and make a bomb without even cheating. What i would like to see is Peaceful Nuclear power throughout the mideast. This is a chance for russia, china, the United States, maybe france, to build power plants throughout the entire mideast for theatio arabs and the irani and we control the fuel cycle so no one can turn it into a bomb. That would be the offer i would make the iranians, were not going to give you the ability to enrich and reprocess uranium because youll turn it into a bomb. Youve spoken out about the travel ban and called it a selfinflicted wound in the fight against terrorism. The white house right now doesnt even want to call it a ban anymore, after some awkward back and forth. Why not, do you believe . What are they concerned about with regard to it being called a ban . I think the enemy has seized upon this. Were treating people all the same. The interpreter helped us in iraq, and hes a hero in my mind. Weve got a young lady from clemson who is from iran who graduated from clemson, works in a Startup Company in clemson, south carolina, beloved by her colleagues and the entire Clemson University community. She was taken off a plane in dubai. She had a legal visa. What i would suggest is that people like her and the interpreter, people who have already been vetted with a visa, they not be treated as if theyre terrorists, because theyre not. I do support a time out in terms of future refugee flows from these countries until we get better vetting. We sort of screwed this up in the rollout. President trump had a few choice words for you, not surprisingly, after you spoke out. He called you weak on immigration and that youre always looking to start world war iii. What strikes me about the president s response on this one, though, senator, is that there were a lot of republicans that were critical of the president s executive order but he singles out you and john mccain. Why do you think you get under his skin so much . I dont know. I look forward to helping the president where we can. Its not being weak on immigration to have a system that can tell the difference between the young lady in clemson who is a value added product to our country, the interpreter from iraq, who helped us, and a real terrorist. Thats just being logical and having good common sense. Im not trying to start world war iii. Im trying to win the war against radical slislam. The worst thing you can do is declare war on the faith itself. The way weve rolled out this executive order, were catching people in the web that clearly are not terrorists, and that helps the enemy. I would try to reform this executive order to focus on the problem, which is future flow coming from unstable failed states, which makes sense to me. But the president isnt acknowledging any fault in the rollout. Right. Hes still calling it a success. Theres no problem with the rollout that theyve seen so far. The president s not going to acknowledge that there was a problem in how they rolled it out. It sure doesnt seem theyve shown any openness to reforming what theyve put in place so far. Well, i think general kelly and secretary tillerson are on the case now, theyre actually working with us to try to restore this young ladys visa. She went back doesnt the buck stop with the president on this . Totally. Heres what i would say. I would say that the rollout was flawed. The idea makes sense. A time out in terms of future flow. But weve got to have a system that can tell the difference between this young lady, and an interpreter, and a potential terrorist. It was screwed up. And that happens. The rollout with gorsuch was terrific, well done, mr. President. Theres a lot of things hes doing i support. But at the end of the day, when something happens on your watch as president , youre responsible for it. Its his responsibility to fix this system in a way that we can all appreciate