Irans current current president Hassan Rouhani is among leaders promising revenge for the generals death. We need to find out exactly what that revenge means. I want to bring in mustafa with the Washington Post qwest. Mustafa, you are on the ground. How bad is it now . How bad is it going to get . Right now the situation in baghdad is very tension. People in baghdad are nervous. The whole regime is about to be changed. Everybody knows that Something Big is going to happen. Iraq is between the u. S. And iran. The people always knew that this was about to happen, but it was only an assumption, but now after this strike and killing two Senior Leaders who are backed by iran and the people who are in the militia in iran and the whole region now it is a reality. All right. Mustafa, stay safe where you are. Lets take you back to the u. S. Lets take you back to hans nichols. He is traveling, and eamon mohadin. We knew his name, we knew his awful work, but very few people here actually know who general suleimani is, but in terms of the actual threat, Osama Bin Laden versus suleimani to the American People, how do they compare . Very different to be honest with you. Although they would make the argument that Qasem Suleimani would be considered a terrorist foreign. He is a member of a sovereign state and a member of the military force and a state actor, so to speak, but he did, no doubt have influence in a lot of nonstate actors in the region and that is where a lot of americans would be concerned about what he was doing in the region because through his paramilitary proxies in countries like lebanon, syria and iraq. Particularly in iraq throughout the American Invasion in the country, he led the Paramilitary Forces that were carrying out some of the these attacks against American Forces and killing them, but at the same time, just to give you a sense of how complex and complicated of a man he was. He also led those same Paramilitary Forces to fight the iraqi forces. Hes a person that led forces against america and also against americas enemies including isis and al qaeda. To simply brush him off and say hes been removed from the battlefield as mike pompeo has claimed this morning as a result of the imminent attack raises a whole lot of questions about the legality of the attack ask raises questions about the american strategy against the attack in the region moves it to a safer place or not. You are hearing the Trump Administration make the case that america is safer today as a result of this. A lot of people would say no, america and its allies as a result of this killing are probably not that much safer in the long run. What kind of a response do you expect from iran . So theres a few ways to look at it. In the short term, probably not much. Iran has demonstrated that theyre going to replace Qasem Suleimani within the quds force. To suggest it has the ability to replenish all of the leaders that the United States may begin to target or may say it is going after. So there is that aspect of it. The other point to this is what happens in the days and the decade ahead and here iran is unlikely to go to war with america. Theyve never wanted to go into a direct, symmetrical war against the United States. They are the rational actor and the assessment of the military government and they know they can go up against the military gun for gun or pound for pound, but they do know they have an advantage in the asymmetrical warfare. They can hit installations in the gulf which they have demonstrated they can. They can empower proxies to go after american citizen, american interests, diplomatic facilities as we saw this weekend. Our Baghdad Embassy was thought of as being impenetrable, our largest embassy in a hostile country. We thought we had it against strong, selfdefense capabilities and it was overrun in the course of one day as a result of the iranian being bahhed militias on the ground. We are vulnerable to the asymmetrical warfare especially if you consider cyber warfare and economical warfare. Keep in mind, iran has thought of itself as being at war with america now for the better part of 40 years, since 1979. But for the American People who dont consider it, what should we consider now . So america this morning has taken a step closer to engaging in this direct war with iran. Americans this morning are wake up saying on one hand, are we safer and the longterm answer is probably not. Not given where we were a couple of years ago and not the trajectory of what were going now with the escalation with iran. Hans nichols, i spoke last night with a former pentagon policy adviser in both the bush and Obama Administration who said its not a new idea to take out suleimani and Previous Administration quickly dismissed it given how complicated it is and the risks of retaliation. What do we know about what went into the president s decision to approve this air strike now . Reporter well, initially there had been an imminent threat in the region according to mike pompeo and we just heard from the president and he seems to be expanding the rationale for killing suleimani. This is partly retribution and retaliation for what suleimani did in the iraq war and hes being blamed for millions of deaths in iraq and iran. Up until this point, the president tweeted it had been about preemptive selfdefense. Thats a very defined legal doctrine under International Law which is clearly when you read closely what the pentagon was putting out, that was their argument. That was their justification. So you have slightly mixed messages coming out with the latest tweet from the president. I should note they just called in the White House Press corps a lunch lid. What that means we are unlikely to hear from the president until we hear from that rally in miami and he obviously has access to twitter. One other quick point and pompeo seems to be suggesting this is a discreet action and weve restored this balance of deterrence. The president with his earlier tweet talking about war seems to be expanding it and going in a different direction now. They may be using different channels to be sending different messages, but its not entirely consistent at this hour in the morning. Stephanie . Eamon, how do you read that tweet from the president. Iran has never won a war, and never i dont want to speculate whats in the president s heads. They are very proud people and very nationalistic, if there was ever a moment or sense that perhaps the United States was trying to exploit internal divisions within iran, moderate versus hardliner, some of this political unrest domestically, you can put all of that aside right now, because iran is very much rallying behind the country. There are massive funeral processions that will take place over the next couple of days and the count real unify behind its leadership in a way nobody could have designed except a killing of this magnitude. I dont know what in the world the president is talking about when he says iran has never has never won a war and never won a negotiation. We can kiss that goodbye. Theres no way what iran has gone through, economic starvation, economic war and having the general killed will say lets go back and talk about jcpoa. Lets bring in former assistant secretary of state under president obama and also the author of red line. American Foreign Policy at a time of failed states qwest. Elise labott has reported on Foreign Policy and currently a resident at Georgetown University of foreign service. Secretary pompeo was very clear this morning. He said the u. S. Reduced risk by killing the general. Do you agree . I dont agree. I certainly, from a military standpoint, if youre in a conflict attacking the military command structure of your opponent is legitimate objective, but but this certainly has to be seen as an escalation and we are clearly in danger of taking what has been an economic and political conflict with iran and moving it more actively into a shooting war. The question here is will iran retaliate at some point . It has to and then what does the United States do . Were moving up the ladder of escalation and theres no clear off ramp in sight. Elise, can you argue this will lessen irans influence in the region . No because the Iran Revolutionary guard corps is a very powerful figure not only in the Iranian Security establishment, but throughout the whole iranian economy, and so as the iranians said they will certainly replace suleimani. I mean, it is a significant blow to iran. Theres nobody in the middle east that has really shaped the landscape of the region like suleimani has over the last 20 years or so, but i dont necessarily, i think at this point iran has nothing to lose as ayman just said before, the idea of negotiation and cooling the temperatures is really a pipe dream and the question now is i spoke to officials this morning and they are expecting a response. I spoke to one official who said guaranteed there will be some type of response on american interests and facilities. I think the question is will the u. S. Absorb the blow, take the hit and say we are expecting a response or are we going to see this kind of cycle of escalation on this asymmetrical war, this proxy war in the region. Will it just be some kind of u. S. Diplomatic facility . Probably not. It could be where the u. S. Svrnt looking and it could be like saudi arabia, like uae and israel. If iranians shoot down a u. S. Dren thats one thing, but if more americans are killed, its a new day in the middle east and it will be a hot weekend and a couple of weeks ahead. P. J. , some are calling this an assassination. The department of defense calling it an act of selfdefense. What do you say . It probably is both. Certainly, as we know, he has american blood on his hands. Hes been an actor in the region for some time. Directly or indirectionallly. Hes responsible for the deaths of hundreds of americans and it is a terrorist organization and it means that their leadership is fair game. At the same time he is a figure. Hes a state figure as ayman was saying a minute ago and hes a state figure in a country with which we do not have a formal declaration of war. So its part of the actual complexity here, and it raises the question as to what the Trump Administration policy is. Its at odds with each other in the case that the president said many times he wants to get out of the middle east and at the same time this action, at least in the foreseeable future will lead to a deeper confrontation with iran. Elise, i want to play a part of what secretary pompeo said this morning on cnn on how he believe it is the people of the region are going to react. We have every expectation the people not only in iraq, but in iran will view the American Action as giving them freedom. Freedom to have the opportunity for success and prosperity for their nations and while the Political Leadership may not want that, the people in these nations will demand it. Do you agree with him . I think that it reflects a lack of understanding not only of secretary pompeo, but of the administration and irans influence in the region. I dont think anybody could argue that its not a good thing that suleimani is gone, that hes dead, but the question is what happens to the region now . There are the saudis, the uae and everyone is calling the u. S. And saying whats going to happen now . The u. N. Envoy to yemen Martin Griffiths called up the administration this morning and saying how is this going to affect yemen . There will be these tectonic shifts in the region. I think people might say that he was a dangerous figure, but i dont think they are celebrating right now today, and certainly theyre wondering about how this is going to affect them next. When pompeo says we expect that nations will salute us. Thats the message that theyre sending to the allies this morning according to officials, but i think it will be very interesting to see who comes out and applauds the United States. When that attack happened on the u. S. Embassy, one of the closest allies, uae has not even condemned it yet. Everyone is quaking in their boots right now. P. J. , you definitely have a view on this. Secretary pompeo said its essentially too dangerous to do nothing. Previous president s are in worst shape because they didnt take this guy out. The Trump Administration and the president himself has prided himself on a number of occasions prided himself in taking steps that others havent in the region. The real question is have we thought through the broader implications of this. In the short term we may lose influence with a very difficult and uncertain political situation in iraq. Weve now taken two actions that i think are clearly going to be unpopular. Saudi arabia may well salute us, israel may well salute us, but to the extent that the broader policy of the United States is to confront iran, but also bring iran back to the table its hard to see how this action in and of itself makes that challenge easier. It actually in the short to midterm makes that challenge much harder. P. J. , and elise, thank you so much. Well take a quick break. When we come back, iran has promised to respond to the killing of Qasem Suleimani. What could be their next target . What do we have in the region at risk . Arget . What do we have in the region at risk uleimani. Im steve me rule. We are continuing our coverage of breaking news out of the middle east. General Qasem Soleimani, irans top intelligence commander who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of americans over the last 20 years. This morning the big question on the minds of millions of americans who are waking up to this news, what now . What does it mean us to . Courtney joins me now from the pentagon. Courtney, we are waiting to see irans next move, but what do we know about the United States next steps in the region . Right now the u. S. Military and intelligence are scouring various threat streams. This is the way they gather intelligence to see where iran or iranian proxies may be looking to lash out. Theyre focusing on three main things. Number one, u. S. Military installations in diplomatic posts overseas in the region and beyond, are they strengthened . Are they hardened and are there new and specific threats against any of them. Number two, cyber. Iran has a very advanced and capable cyber capability that the u. S. Has already been victim to in many ways. Theyre looking to see if theyre trying to attack in any way u. S. Infrastructure, allies, anything in the cyber realm and the third is the commercial threat. Iran has shown an ability and a desire to attack commercial locations in the region in tankers in the gulf and the strait of hormuz, the large attack on saudi aramco only several months ago and those are the three main areas they are focusing on now, steph. Stay in the region. What American Properties or places are there that could be targeted . Theres a number of them and they are large installations. So if we look at just the military assets, there is an enormous base at al udid in qatar, its where most of the u. S. Operations are run out of. Pretty much all of them are run out of there. The u. S. Has an enormous naval presence in manama. The u. S. Fleet is there. There are a number of installations that iran can strike from inside iran against the u. S. Right now. Theyve had that capability and now the question is is the killing of Qasem Soleimani and another iranianbocked proxy forces, is that the trigger that will lead them to strike some of these locations. There are a number of them in the region, syria, iraq, all throughout, steph. Thank you, Courtney Kube. I want to bring in the Washington Post reporter, and the Vice President for the National Program at third way and john gantz from the university of pennsylvanias perry world house Global Policy center and auth offer white house warriors. Mr. Gantz, to you first. What are you watching for in the region in the coming days . I think weve just seen a big event. So what you will see now is that nobody could have predicted where we would be a week ago and i dont think anyone can predict where well be a week from now. We can see changes in iran and conflicts in syria, yemen and elsewhere and we can see other actors taking action. So i think what we worry about in these situations in these high, unknown situations is that the president has got to digest a tremendous amount of information and a tremendous number of evolutions and make sort of solid decisions and thats something that President Trump has struggled to do in part because hes undermined some of the things that help president s sleep at night, whether its the credibility of american alliances. Whether its america backing treaties and International Law and even the credibility and morale of american troops and american bureaucrats in his war against the deep state. The things that should help us sleep at night in one of these highly unknown, highrisk situations is that president has taken steps to undermine. Thats what i want to try to understand. Mr. Hudson, the state depar