political interest for years. there are nearly a nuclear power. i think this attack on israel, it is now unfolding. the key to me will it be followed by ballistic missiles? a combined attack. it looks to me like a major attack to which the idf will respond. the iranians cannot possibly deal with the israeli f-35 going in low level, stealth technology. nine tons of ornaments. they will strike to chi -- strategic targets. is hard to understand what either side is doing at this point. general, thank you. colonel, thank you.

attack. they have deployed more than 100 unmanned weaponnized drones toward israel and iranian state media saying they have fired missiles as well. the president is meeting with principles of the national security council in the white house situation room tonight. nbc says they expect major escalation from iran, plans to launch dozens of cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. senior officials say u.s. central command has coordinated a defense plan including potential american assistance from the air and the sea. the prime minister thanking them united states and addressed the israeli people saying quote our defense systems are deployed. the idf is strong. the public is strong. iran has been threatening retaliation since the israeli air strikes since its consulate

in syria. earlier today, iran seized control of a commercial vessel leadershipped to israel near the persian gulf. another sign of growing tensions across the region. i want to bring nbc news chief correspondent richard engel who is on the ground for us. bring us up to date this hour. >> reporter: well, we are learning more about what is on the way to this country and what is thbeing done to stop it according to israeli officials,r dozens of drones, more than 100 drones have been launched from inside iran. they are on their way here and that efforts are already being taken to shoot them down including efforts by the united states which has base on the way. jordan also promising to shoot down any iranian drones. israelis are trying to tell the public to be safe. they have canceled all public events that would involve more

than a thousand people. until 11:00 at night on monday. people are being told to take this seriously. when they hear the air ride sirens, for many years before that, periodically, people often ignore them. and the israeli military says don't ignore them this time. go inside, stay inside at least ten minutes. and then, the big question is, is the drone assault all of it. this is what the israelis are confirming now. the u.s. is already trying to address it. but will there be ballistic missiles as well? according to iranian media, they have a name for this operation, they are calling it truthful response. they are saying it is the response they promised. israel never claimed responsible for the embassy

attack but is widely believed to have been responsible and the iranians say there will be three phases to this. first phase, the drones that we have already seen now. drones launched from iraq and syria which are closer to israel. and show that the sort of extent of their reach. and, the third would be targeted ballistic missile strikes which would potentially escalate this into a different category. of conflict. >> richard, i know you know a lot about the defense systems in israel. do they s have the capability t defend themselves from this three-pronged approach you laid out? >> reporter: ballistic missiles are the most complicated. several hours daughters or sonsing hundreds of miles. one of the things the israelis are already doing is disrupting the gps systems. like the google maps or ways systems you use in your car, a

lot of the drones will also be affected by gps. they want to see if they can confuse the drones, divert them. jam them in anyways. there has been a lot of jamming technology. ballistic missiles much harder. you point them and shoot them. they go up, they come down. and they explode and travel very quickly. another top iranian general killed under the trump administration. the iranian response was to fire ballistic missiles at a u.s. air base in iraq. they took minutes to arrive. some of those missiles still made it through. and some u.s. troops were injured by blast. no casualties but i was on the base shortly before the attack

and commanders told us they were very lucky that it could have gotten much worse. when you talk about highly explosive fast ballistic missiles coming into populated areas potentially, you could see casualties and you could very easily see an israeli response. israel has already said it will respond to an attack on israeli soil with an attack on iranian soil. >> richard engel, thank you. that does it for me. i will hand things off to my colleague andrea mitchell. >> thanks so much to you. and let's go now to the white house. ali, we understand that the white house is now in the situation room. the president flew back. obviously, his top cabinet members all there. the national security cabinet. what can you tell us about the briefings they have had so far? we understand that they have briefed the hill in advance of what they expected iran to do

just this past week. the last couple of days. >> reporter: the president headed to the oval office before the high stakes meeting. as you said, we do know now that there was a warning, an assessment given to members of congress by administration. members before this attack. and, we onare told that members of congress are expecting further intelligence assessments and updates as this situation unfolds in the middle east. because remember, the united states has had roughly two weeks to prepare for this moment after we saw iran issue that retaliatory warning against israel after that attack in syria. so what we are tawatching for n is really what actionables could come out of the meeting in the situation room.

including the secretary of defense, the secretary of state. we also know that vice president harris is joining virtually from the west coast and we know that the u.s. remember has pledged ironclad support for israel. the president making clear that will continue. but the president is also trying to not drag the u.s. deeper into this conflict. so no doubt during this meeting they are going to be considering how the u.s. responds with israel to this attack. because we know that israel has vowed in iran did strike, di israel has vowed to strike iran directly inside. and with the u.s. now involved u in that effort as it has pledged its support, that could potentially directly involve u.s. support and potentially put the united states in the cross fire with iran. remember iran has also warned u.s. officials not to be

involved in israel's response. possible threats to u.s. assets or service members in this region. top israeli defense officials, about what could be done. what the u.s. could do to support israel as far as land and sea assets. we know military assets have been repositioned in recent days to offer that support. but we will be looking for any actionables to come out of that meeting in the situation room now taking place. >> thank you so much. joining us now is aaron aa david miller. a former middle east analyst. long time negotiator. lest talk about how extreme

this escalation is. because these drones, the cruise missiles are coming directly from territorial iran. not from proxies. first of all, what does this tell you and do you think the proxies are going to get into it as well? >> yeah. you know. it is a moving train. it is the understatement of the day. we are in a completely new phase. whether that phase leads to a true regional war which would involve an exchange of ballistic missiles. israeli strikes on iranian conventional military sites. against u.s. military asset ins the aggulf and the middle east breaking into what it has never

experienced before. i don't know if we will get there. but we are well on our way. the iranians have a three-phase plan. drones, cruise missiles. ballistic missiles. no air defense system is perfect. the israelis have iron dome. if any of those missiles strike civilian targets, then i think there is absolutely no question that the israelis are going to respond and they will respond hard. even if they don't, if israeli air defense systems end uptaking down. i still think we are in a new phase. the campaign between the wars, w

the israeli strikes against iranian nuclear scientists, iranian retaliation. it has all been indirect through proxy. it is now out in the open. great humility is required here. where it goes is very unclear. there will be no rafah operation. and tragically, there is not going to be any israeli hostage release either. from the human dimension, that is really sad and tragic. hamas was not in any hurry to cut this deal. i don't think the israelis were either. hamas will now wait to see how much regional chaos which has been their objective, how much chaos will be caused by this

escalation. right now, they are riding the tiger. >> the white house clearly from our intelligence expected this to will a layered and lengthy engagement because of the statement that came out just a couple of hours ago from the national security council spokeswoman adrian watson. so they expect this to be cruise missiles and then the ballistic missiles probably following. they expect it to take several days. they are not saying whether they think it will be contained to iran and israel. but one thing that occurred to me the last couple of days, why did israel take the shot against, they had a clear military target. israel supporters agree, the u.s. agree, why take that shot when there was some hope of getting a cease fire and a

hostage release at that time? and hamas was considering it? >> some israeli comentators will accuse israel of being reckless. all the tensions, biden's anger and frustration. it will all fade away for now. but i guarantee you, there are folks in the national security council who have probably said why did the israelis do this? target of opportunity? the most important link between iran's proxies and teheran. target of opportunity. the israelis roll the dice on this and i'm not sure, i would have expected the iranians to find maybe a better balance

between drones. but cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, the iranians have rolled their dicet as well. so second guessing this now is probably not terribly relevant but i'm sure there will be residual anger and frustration about why the israelis felt they needed a target of opportunity, big strikes, big hits. but the implications i think guarantee a wild ride for the u.s. and the region. >> we understand jordan has closed their air space. understandably to any kind of civilian traffic right now. but they have been calming on their leaders to message iran. why is iran doing this? do they have a choice?

>> you know, i think that not so smart money in trying to analyze how they would respond. probably thought that the iranians would respond in a way that would not provoke israeli retaliation. but what they have set into motion is a major strike which even if it doesn't cause casualties i think in an effort to measure some deterrence, the israelis cannot afford to have direct iranian strikes against israel. successful or inot become the new normal. so thigh will have to climb up the escalator latter. you risk something never seen before.

air strike, ballistic missiles involving the gulf. and perhaps even israel in lebanon. and, that is a huge problem. 100 to 150,000 high trajectory weapons. hundreds of israelis would be killed. thousands of lebanese if the israelis respond by destroying lebanese infrastructure. i'm not suggesting that is where we are going. but, a real gamble has now been taken. frankly, by both sides. >> sorry, i can't mean to interrupt you. you and i have seen a lot of this history over decades and decades. this is an entirely new level

of engagement. thank you very much. joining us now emis mark, the n news national security and intelligence analyst and former cia officer. and also author of clarity and crisis, leadership lessons from the cia. so first of all, take us behind the scenes. what conversations are happening from the white house to their intelligence partner as well. they clearly had very good intelligence. from everything the president has been signaling for several days. >> the intelligence community played a strong role in this. you saw president biden come back quickly. where intelligence comes into play now is the days, the hours ahead. it looks as though iran has launched an attack that surprised a lot of analysts. this wasn't just loa simple kin of retaliation that would then lead to deescalation. if we see the drones and now there's reports of missiles in

the air, this is a lot more serious. and what the intelligence community knows right now is this going to be a wave of iranian attacks that almost overwhelms the israeli air defense systems. not overwhelms in the sense of mass casualties but enough to perhaps get through. and i think that one of the e things that will determine an israeli response. not only eris this a direct attack on israel but also in terms of casualties. one thing to notice, all the back channel i tempts seem to have failed. they were trying to get the iranians to stand down just to do something symbolic. that doesn't seem to have occurred. >> i did not expect it to be a minor or proxy war. but now it looks like this is a fully engaged war from territory to territory.

which is a completely new experience. for all of us. talk to me about the layers defense. and what the u.s. is now able to contribute from the uss. air defenses trying to stop missiles. >> it appear that's the iranians have launched an av attack that consists of drones followed on by cruise missiles and perhaps, ballistic missiles. that is a little more th conspiracy. that is where the u.s. can play a role with our naval assets. on an offensive capability. if this attack is seemingly as large as we have seen.

marco rubio who is a significant player in u.s. national security. the vice chairman of the select committee on intelligence. this is a temuch larger attack than i think a lot of people anticipated. so these are heavy days ahead. we have to see in essence the amount of casualties the israelis take. if you remember you and i were on, october 7, together. the ferocity of the israeli response was due to 1200 israelis being killed so i think in essence, we have to see what happens inside of israel. what kind of casualties to see in the days ahead. not worst case scenario yet. but it is getting toward that point. >> we know prime minister netanyahu is in the war cabinet

with his war cabinet. they are probably speaking to each other on secure communications. who has been there in israel. and he is most likely coordinating from his standpoint. the u.s. defenses correct? >> that's right. perhaps this is a way, the iranians made a big mistake. the political relationship was going south. u.s. and israel will be in absolute lock step. the u.s. military will rally and has rallied to israel's defense. israel has the united states as

a guaranteer of security. what happens in the days ahead is the degree of u.s. involvement. this might be a really significant iranian miscalculation. >> courtney joins us now, you have been tracking this for days now. as u.s. forces have repositioned as they went to israel. >> so we know according to a u.s. officials that the u.s. military intention is to intercept or shoot down some of

these incoming drones. and missiles. atrack cruise missiles, ballistic missiles. the uss car knee, its destroyer. it has been in the red sea near the coast of yemen. dronesand missiles. now it has been repositioned. it will hang out there a bit longer. it is ready to shoot down some of the missiles. but there is land based assets. so remember, the military has a presence in eastern syria and southern syria where they have significant defenses. i have been talking with you and on nbc news air about the

terrible attack on tower 22. the u.s. has beefed up other air defense systems. for iranian drones, missiles, to help the israelis with their defense. now what that would take of is course is for any of those projectiles to come within range of the u.s. military ta again. into northern jordan or at sea. we are asking. we keep asking to see if the military has intercepted any of these yet. we don't have any confirmation that has happened but this is the kind of thing we expect to hear over the coming hours and we expect this to be an hours long campaign by iran. >> let me read you something on x previously known as twitter from the iran mission to the

united nations which is a bit ambiguous. but saying conducted on the strength of article 51 of the u.n. charter, iran's military action was in response to the e zionist regime's aggression, what's that they call israel. against our premises in damascus. and this matter has now been concluded. do we think the u.n. mission is indicating? it says that unless israel of course has a major response. so, is that, if this can be authenticated, does that indicate that maybe this will be smaller than is predicted? how do you read that? >> yeah. that's a great question. it could also be signaling to israel. one thing we have been watching, and you know this way better than i do. there is a tremendous amount of

diplomatic back channeling since this april 1st strike. it is not just the u.s. country ins the gulf, have been signaling and directly telling iran and israel not to let this escalate. yes, iran has been very forcefully, that wouldn't lead to each side continuing to strike that escalating into a larger regional conflict. even if iran does limit these attacks to israeli government sites or maybe they do make this more of a symbolic strike. there is always the possibility that something gets through that a missile, a drone, something happens that is a mistake. you know. that it goes off course and it

leads to a larger to miscalculation. but i will say this fact that there has been so much lead time between april 1st and today for the israelis. to talk behind the scenes and make sure there was a real solid message of not letting this escalate into a regional conflict. that may signal, this is not going to lead to a larger escalation. >> and let me just read to you before we wrap this up, courtney, because, however, should the israeli regime make another mistake, iran's response would be considerably more severe. this is the authentic tweet

from the government of iran. this could be one little signal. so i know you will be standing i by and tracking all of this. thank you so much for jumping in. courtney. our pentagon correspondent. joining us now is general barry mcaffrey who has had so many years of experience. what is your immediate take away. our national security council meeting at the white house. >> i think one of the best comments i have heard in the last hour or so is this has escalated beyond recovery. the fact that it may be 100 drones followed by ballistic missiles. the strike time i have been

saying of 12 minutes for political targets. whether or not they kill israelis. so, this is going to require an israeli response to the attack. i don't think this is a multihour crisis we are looking at. this is the following week. to what extent the saudis, the egyptians, jordanians intervened to cool us off. the u.s. will stay out of this fight except providing air defense coverage unless it looks as if israel is going under, going to attack from the north. that is a threat the israeli existence not the iranians.

>> doesn't hezbola have 150,000 missiles? >> yeah, no question. but, so, almost immediately, whether i am overwhelmed or not, there would be massive damage to israeli urban structure. heavy losses. civilian life. but the real key would be then,d would that be followed by over 100,000 fighters into the north. israeli has a lot of their reservists, they are now basically gone back to civilian life. that would be an all-out fight for their existence. at that point, the u.s. would become involved and our logical target would be iran, not hezboula. the iranians have no defense that can deal with the israeli

f35 aircraft. carrying nine tons going after strategic targets. so this is an unbounded situation at this point. >> can those planes get to iran without refuel something do they need u.s. refueling assistance? >> the israelis have very little air to air refueling capability. but they k. and by the way in the last week or so, they signaled to the iranians we canr get into your air space without being attacked by the f35. tremendous f15 and f16 capability. and cross border special operations unit. they could employ. cant he f35, they simply deal with it so they would go after i'm sure the iranian nuclear capability.

they cannot deal with the israeli cruise missiles or submarine launch missiles so why they have chosen this disproportionate attack. after one israeli military target with a limited number of ballistic missiles really underscoring the brutal nature of the iranian regime. they have made a huge mistake in judgment and the conversation is no longer on idf withdrawal from gaza. it is now on the existence of israel against an iranian attack. >> what targets would you expect iran to attack tonight in israel? >> one would hope it is not a city attack. and 100 some odd drones. that's a long flight time. they are vulnerable to being

shot down. israeli f35s . i wouldn't expect many of those some odd 100 drones are going to get through. if they did hit a civilian target, if they go after idf targets in the middle of urban areas, they will kill israeli civilians but again, i don't think catastrophic loss of lifel in israel is a triggering function. it's the nature of this attack. they simply nhave to respond t iran. this can't be the new normal to have israel live under this level of ballistic missile threat. >> given what has been happening the last six months with israel, more and more isolated, losing arab allies they had. the saudis and others who had

been considering normalization put on their back feet and not willing to do anything until a total withdrawal from gaza. and a two-state solution. at least on the horizon. so given all of that, where do you see any kind of future for this region now that we have gone to a completely different level? >> they have a significant number of forces capable of going in. and i think they are just putting pressure on hamas trying to get whatever surviving hostages exist under their control. the senior leadership. particularly now, they have this iranian attack to deal with.

the focus of the discussion, they have lost most of their hostages. what a tragedy. i don't think you get many of them back if any. but the real threat is what about the imminent threat of hezbollah and the north? they have to respond. they will. the iranians are not going to be able to deal with the israeli air force. >> as always, thank you for all of your help. >> we want to recap. we have will more on this breaking news from the middle east. iran has launched more than 100 drones toward israel. president biden is meeting with security advisers. and israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu is meeting with his war council. we are getting to get reaction

from capitol hill to news iran has launched drones toward israel. according to one senior official, the biden administration is bracing for this to be quote a major attack. joining us now is congressman jared moskaviwz. you are asking mike johnston so put the foreign aid package on the floor monday night that supports our allies against iran. was there any indication that could happen. whether ukraine. a controversial piece given a lot of domestic opposition to what israel was doing in gaza. >> thanks andrea. thanks for having me. no, we are getting some word the schedule may be changing for this week in the house as far as the topics. they were five bills proposed this week dealing with trying g

to keep the biden administration off of your appliances so hopefully, that is not what we'll be doing this week and we will be doing what we should have done months ago which is standing by our allies in the region. with the latest news with iran's disproportionate attack on israel. now is the time to send the message to the world. there are other additional th player ins the region that decide to get involved as we know. with edhezbollah. and other ins the region. this is a moment many of us had hoped we would not see. this is a moment for congress mo to show the world that we

actually can function which is different. >> and the context of democratic party politics, obviously, the president has been under a lot of pressure. he lost a lot of support from progressives and others from young people. who are concerned about his support for israel which was is beginning to toughen up because of the consequences of the civilian casualties in gaza. his language, his conversation with netanyahu. the fact that he said that israel's conduct was a mistake. do you think his solid ironclad as he put it support for israel under fire from iran helps rebalance that? how does that complicate the 2024 conversation? >> i think this is a game changer to what the narrative

has been. they are firing hundreds of drones, cruise missiles. ballistic missiles. toward israel. iran doesn't have nuclear weapons yet. so, this disproportionate attack which i think far exceeds any response to israel taking out the folks that were in damascus that were part of the revolutionary guard and hezbollah. this is a totally different game changer. within the congressional halls.

there is still overwhelming support for israel both in the republican party and in the democratic party. even with the isolationists on the republican side and even with some of the progressives to my left. there is still dramatic support for israel. so if the speaker decides now is the moment which i believe it is to do what we should have done months ago, we tied it to irs cuts. now is the moment to stop the politics and stop the games and show the united states stands firmly with our ally israel. >> and how concerned are you that this is going to pull the u.s. into the wider conflict besides u.s. air defenses? >> i think as your military experts said earlier, i'm deeply concerned about the targets. this is not a targeted strike. so this is a disproportionate response. so if you are launching hundreds of drones, you are not

just targeting government officials. so in the event these get through the defense systems which obviously israel has sophisticated systems in the united states. there are strikes from iran that then hit israel proper. and, attack civilians, i'm deeply concerned about israel obviously responding to make sure that no additional ballistic missiles or cruise missiles could be launched. and then, yes, of course, that could drag the united states. and let's not forget that israel has been dealing with hezbollah for months now. hundreds of rockets from hezbollah. the united states had to strike back to take away some of their capability. so some of this has been going on behind the scenes. it has not come to the forefront. but now, obviously, you know, us this is what we hoped would not happen after october 7th. iran trying to take advantage and launching what is clearly a

disproportionate attack. i know you read that statement they are sending to the u.n. that oh, this is it. it is very easy when you launch hundreds of drones, to say the person you launched it at, oh, we are done, don't respond. we have to see if they actually strike before we get there. >> and just a quick question. i know there was a briefing for the hill. i assume that was the gang of eight. did you have any briefing as these days, in the last couple of days on the hill, as we anticipated that this was going to happen. that something was going to happen. >> we had some briefings on the foreign affairs committee. not to any near this detail. and as a member of foreign m affairs i expect we will get a briefing probably some time monday when we return back to town. obviously, i'm sure the gang of eight has already been briefed but foreign affairs has not yet had a secure briefing.

>> and, steve scalise, one of the leaders in the house, number two in the house. republican leadership has just announced that there will usbe vote to support israel. do you think that there is enough support now despite opposition from donald trump to attach or ukraine to that? would this be for the original supplementals so it could go through without needs another round in the senate? >> there could be andrea. let's not pretend that russia and iran are not linked at the hips. these drones are the same drones that they give to russia to launch at ukraine. and so, there are all sorts of webs tied between iran and russia in addition to obviously oil. on how iran gets some of its

money. and so, this is a time to step p up for our allies. especially because it shows in the absence of our leadership and the absence of doing what we are supposed to do. we leave a vacuum for these things to happen. so yes. now is the time to do both of those things. how we get there is probably unclear at the moment. but i'm glad we are putting something on the floor and i expect my colleague to stand with israel against iran which i is different than what we have been debating since october 7th. >> and, just to read his statement now, in light of iran's attack on israel, the house will move to consider legislation that supports our ally israel and holds iran and terrorist proxies accountable. and there is a statement from is the speaker. i don't know if you have seen

that which says as israel faces this vicious attack from iran, america must show our full resolve to stand with our critical ally. he continues by saying i will continue to engage with the t white house to insist upon a proper response. the biden administration's undermining of israel have contributed to these te developments so the blame game is already starting. on the republican side. if you want to respond to that. >> now is not the time for that as there are missiles in the air. that will always come. it is just the nature of the beast. i don't care about the speaker's statement on twitter. i care about the speaker's actions. now is his time to act. he passed up on that his first

week. now is his time to show why he wanted to be speaker. it is time to bring democrats and republicans together to standby our ally israel. he is either going to sink or swim in this moment. what we were supposed to do was all of these appliance bills. liberty for appliances. and air-conditioning. it was a joke of a legislative schedule. showing our enemies we can function. >> thank you so very much. i want to bring in msnbc military analyst colonel jack

jacobs. what does that signal to you about the coordination between the u.s. and israel and these layered responses? >> not only coordination between the united states and israel on the one hand. but also between among allies in nato. don't forget, we are not doing this alone. even alone with israel. our nato allies have been heavily involved. particularly the british. any response that is any defense that will take place is taking place right now. is going to involve some of ouro allies and not the least significant of alcohol is the brits. so, that's the first thing. the second thing to keep in

mind is that we always have to roll the tape forward. it is what is liable to happen in the near future. and what are our plans if a wide variety of circumstances evolved? and we have operations, plans for all those possibilities. the general is in the region talking about both the israelis and our allies. solidify what operations plans that currently exist will go into action, depending on the outcome. so, his control of and lineup of the allied response of the iranian attacks is vitally important. he is not going to leave the area.

>> the idf has told people in the north, to be going in to protective spaces. telling residents, required to stay in protective spaces until further notice. they are concerned. they are told to stay in those places. worried about opening the second front. joining us now is chief foreign correspondent. >> things have been developing. it just stopped a moment ago. i have a feeling it will start up again any second or in the next few minutes. so i am in jerusalem. behind me here is the old city. you can make out the old city walls. short while ago, we heard the

air raid siren warning people to get off the streets and now, there are very few people still out on the streets. but, what we sue here which i have not seen here before is an enormous amount of tracer fire rocket fire in the skies. they are part of the air defense system. not the iranian drones. they were coming from in and around the city. if we stay together for a little bit longer, i think you will see more of it. in one stage in the sky behind me. i don't know if you could see that ball. they are just exploded. there must have been 50, 60, or 70 of those streaking across the sky here behind me as we heard the air raid siren.

there was a perceived threat. the alert system went off. and these rockets. intercept the drones. deployed in large numbers. there is one you can see, like an orange shooting star. a few anmore up above it. and now, reone coming in the opposite direction. and this thas been going on fo about just about the last 20 minutes or so. which is right around the time that israeli officials predicted that the iranian drones would start entering into israeli air space. >> you see this happening over

the old city is remarkable. usually, specifically in this instance, we were told that they did not expect this to be going near targeting civilian areas. there could not be anything more dense than the old city. >> no doubt, the iranians have described this operation as taking place in three phases. the first phase with drones. the massive launch of drones from iran. teched phase with drones being launched from a rock in syria. and the third phase, ballistic missile phase. we have gotten a confirmation that some missiles have been fired toward israel. no exact confirmation of the type. but, would they be, will they

be launched at jerusalem? at populated centers? now we will see if it continues but for about 20 minutes, 30 minutes, we had a very intense scene. >> and we have more reporting from courtney cubie. they plan to shoot down the missiles when they can. any asset ins iraq, syria, and at sea. the u.s. has beefed up its air defenses since the attack. they have repositioned asset to be ready for this iranian attack. the commander has been there in israel and the region as well. coordinating. they have already shot down some some iranian drones.

we don't know what you are seeing but this could be a part of it. >> what i believe was part of s the israeli defense systems but a different kind of defense f system. maybe it was coordinated with the united states. now, for the last six months, almost everything has been coordinated. but these are not the items, the drones coming from iran. because if i ask, if we turn around, you can see, that's the opposite direction headed toward teheran. but just sort of, orient ourselves on the map here. jordan is in that direction. so if we are seeing these rockets, and the west bank. behind the old city. you drop into the jordan valley. throughout the west bank. across the jordan river to the dead sea into jordan. jordan also says it is using its air defenses. jordan is a close ally to shoot

down drowns flying over its territory or iranian missiles going through its air space. jordan is one of several countries closing their air space tonight. >> richard, take a step back. and let's talk about how the region is going to respond. because there has been so much anger at israel from its neighbors because of the way it has conducted the war in gaza. and the world, frankly because of the siege and the deaths of palestinian civilians. we have all experienced it and talked to the leaders. i have traveled the region, you have traveled the region. will this change that calculus? clearly, the white house is pivoting toward its ironclad defense of israel under attack from iran. >> across the region, there, the middle east, the arab world, the broader islamic world, there is a very t different conversation being had than the one in washington than many of the ones in the united states.

there is a tremendous amount of anger against israel. there is a tremendous amount of sympathy for the palestinian people. not necessarily hamas. but, the houhti attacks. when they have been carrying out their attacks they have generally been celebrated. and iran it seems like, didn't want to lose this moment. it felt it needed to respond to its attack. and it felt it was the right time. because, it has a bit of momentum. now, that could prove to be a terrible disaster. iran could be fought walking into a trap and walking into an escalating war with the united states and israel that is beyond anything that it could handle. but the mood on the streets right now is another one headed

in the direction of iran. not coming from iran. not close to iran. headed in that general direction. that's why it is pretty clear he that these are being launched domestically. not incoming fire. but the mood is very much against israel on the popular street right now. so i think iran by doing this slow motion attack, that is very visible, not potentially. it could have a symbolic effect. there was a statement from the iranian mission on its official x account saying that after this, iran can consider this issue closed. >> we were discussing that just a few minutes ago. >> escalates it further. it was interesting they came out and said this is it for us. if israel makes i believe the word was another mistake, our

response will be more severe. so, iran is clearly projecting it wants this to be the end of it. but that doesn't mean this will be the end of it if some of the ballistic missiles come and cause large numbers of er casualties, israel could respond in kind and we could be in a very different situation in the next couple of days. but if this slow roll out. casualties seen all around the arab and islamic world which will probably make iran look strong like it carried out its promises, it could be that iran feels it accomplished its mission with what it is doing now. we will see. >> and we have doless than a minute left. but, it depends on how israel responds in any case because israel very much felt after the

attack, the hideous attack on october 7th that they had to prove their strength and reassert their strength in the s fact that they were the invulnerable israeli army. now. >> that is why you have been doing this so many years. it is all about perception and deterrence. israel was badly, badly wounded and embarrassed. it felt that its capabilities were, it didn't live up to its capabilities. it had to prove its deterrent. now iran was humiliated after its embassy compound was attacked in damascus. now it has to prove its capacity. prove its capacity. engel. that does it for a some coverage . f that continues