>> sunday at 3:00 p.m. eastern, democratic presidential candidate senator bernie sanders hosts a town hall in rock hill, south carolina. watch it on c-span, c-span.org, or listen on the free c-span radio app. afternoon,s president trump issued this statement from twitter, concerning reports that immigration officials would begin staging raids to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants. the president tweeted, "at the request of democrats, i have delayed the illegal immigration removal process, deportation, for two weeks, to see if the democrats and republicans can get together and work out a solution to the asylum and a loophole problems at the southern border. if not, deportation start!" ues. host: seth jones is with the center for gigi can

international studies. worked for special operations in afghanistan. tensions rise between the u.s. and iran. u.s.eadline frames it, backs away from the brink. iran tensions are high. tell us what you thought about the president's thinking and stopping the airstrike. guest: the president explained on tryingcision based to save lives. the concern he said he had was the strike that had been ordered would've killed roughly 150 individuals. werethe various options presented to the president, how they were debated.

give us an idea of how those plans would be presented to a commanding officer. as with any use of military force, most commanders in chief would be presented with a series of from strikesons, against facilities to the boarding of vessels. options, one the of the costs and benefits of those options? how do they serve a broader political objective? the use of military force is not a tool that should be designed for a broader clinical objective area i hope there was a broader discussion about how the use of force would survey broader objective. host: you are just back from the middle east. what was the purpose of your trip?

you were there during a very tense week. the middle hear from east partners you talked to about the u.s. iran relationship. guest: there is a broader competition with iran right now. people talk about coming close to the brink of war. war is already in the middle east. againstelis have struck iranian locations in syria. the saudi's are with the primary partner in saudi arabia. is aparticular incident much broader context. that's of people reminded me. drone is ant of the much broader campaign, the u.s. nonemergency its

personnel. off from striking against iran. there has been a constant back and forth. drone in the the wall street journal. it's a very big aircraft. what are those? shot down. where they looking for? do surveillance and reconnaissance. they are able to capture pictures and video of various locations. i'm sure it was taking pictures and video of activity in the gulf and iranian territory. it depends on where was into iran. tensions, the rising

the iranians saying they would andease uranium production , theyootdown of the drone seek leverage, not war. guest: i think there already is war to some degree. we have seen cyber activity on each other. already are a strikes between the iranians and others. they have shot missiles into saudi arabia. there is a low-level war. we are talking about further escalation. troopso the additional increased tensions there? do they help reduce the likelihood? i'm not convinced they are going to do either. the primary focus of iranian activity is unconventional.

putting 1000 troops is not the do something that is being fought covertly. i take this as more of a symbolic step then giving the u.s. war capabilities. host: there is a diplomatic avenue with the administration seeking some consideration from the united nations on monday. has that been sealed off by all of this activity in the past week? think what is not entirely clear is what the primary objectives are. the u.s. is concerned about iran getting a nuclear weapon. guard is thenary paramilitary arm of the government could expand its reach. it's concerned about the missile

program. if all of those areas are concerning, how do steps reduce thebehavior we see, reduce missile programs and prevent iran from going nuclear. it's unclear what the approaches. host: was it safe to withdraw from the nuclear deal? guest: what it did was it kept iran from doing one of those things for the moment, going nuclear. anything about the rgc activity or the missile activity. the challenge i see with the nuclear deal is any efforts had to do with more significant threats in the region. host: do you think the next step on that is direct negotiations? it seems like he would like to have negotiations with iranian

leaders. negotiations are a positive thing. the u.s. is pretty far apart right now, levels of trust are low. i think the possibility of any kind of bargain right now is pretty small. at least worthe trying. host: we are taking your calls on the situation in iran. (202) 748-8000 for republicans. four democrats. independents2 four . you are first up. go ahead. caller: i just want to ask a quick question. would iran be able to fly surveillance drones or planes up and down the east coast?

am i on? guest: the answer to the question is yes, they could fly drones, they could put ships or submarines off the coast of the united states in international water. during the cold war, the russians did this regularly with submarines. they were in and around eastern ports. it is certainly possible. i think it would be a provocative step. about iranian activity within its own borders. caller: good morning. i would like to start by thanking you and your guests. with all the other men and women that brings us this program, you are doing us a great service. , i was a negotiator.

i sat across from people and negotiated. our president blinked. he blinked. now how do we do it? you can't pull the gun out and caught the trigger and put it away. if we step back and we look at the activity over the last couple of months, the u.s. shutdown its consulate. personnelum did most from the embassy in baghdad because of iranian threats. it did not respond to the tanker crisis. now it doesn't respond to a shootdown of a drone. my view is the signal this sends

iran is we are not going to respond to their activity. that sounds like appeasement. play theant to interview it's going to be on sunday's meet the press about not going on strike. >> to jew greenlight something? what was the order? >> thinks change. ready to gohing subject to my approval. they came about half an hour before. definition.ter they would have been pretty soon. things would've happened to appoint where you couldn't turn back. they came and said we are ready to go. i want to know something before you go.

how many people will be killed? great people, these generals. approximately 150. i thought about it for a second. they shot down an unmanned drone. are, sending 150 dead people that would have taken place. i didn't like it. i didn't think it was proportionate. interview willat air on meet the press sunday. what do you hear from the president? says the shootdown of the drone, there been other activities. attack decided was an

that kills 100 50 iranians was not proportionate to the takedown of a drone. i would push back a little bit and say put together a proportionate response. there are things, they've been shipping weapons into yemen. something that signals a iranian activity that is proportionate to what they've been doing. that is my concern with where the u.s. is at right now. you exclude a strike that escalates a situation, we should've responded proportionally. have sanctions had a real effect on the iranian economy. guest: there's no question sanctions have impacted the iranian economy. most of the assessment coming from the world bank and the imf

have said the same thing. they are still pretty active in the region. impacted, the behavior is not been significantly impacted. host: eric is in rhode island. good morning. caller: good morning. with president trump cost decision to fall back. there wasn't any loss of life. if you look at president trump, he does not like war. endlessook at these wars in afghanistan started by the neocons, they are still

going. these wealthy kids don't go. i believe if he gets a second term and they don't do much of anything, he is going to turn on them. this is not talked about at all. anniversary ofh the biggest invasion of all time. about because of the political correctness of the media. he is right in the sense that when the president called off would've had significantly

situation,he particularly if it killed 150 iranians or something close to that. analogy of the bully on the playground who gets away with pushing kids around. point, you have to draw a line. i'm not talking about war per se. this is not iraq or afghanistan. i'm not talking about deploying large numbers of forces. i'm talking about sending a signal that it has to stop conducting the activity it has in the region. this is paul in pennsylvania. caller: thank you. how much do you think this has trying to drive up

oil prices and trying to bait us into responding but not get into a full out war. sanctions,out the how they are hitting the iranians hard. it's all about money and all trying to drive up oil prices. know if it'st entirely just about driving up oil prices. i think your broader point is important. iran feels backed into a corner. it agreed to a nuclear deal that the current administration for reasons it outlined stepped away from. the u.s. raised the economic sanctions against iran that had

been hurting the economy. iran has been looking for a way to respond. one of the things it's done is start to push back a little bit against saudi arabia. in yemen struck an oil pipeline in saudi arabia a couple of months ago. what we are seeing is iranian action at the saudi's, the israelis, the mri's. it feels backed into a corner. i think there is a broader issue people need to be aware of. the president is without a defense secretary. he will nominate the army secretary to that position. issue, advisers on this

mike pompeo and john bolton. do you think the president is getting a wide array of choices? the ability to get a wide array of input. the other individual providing input and has been a mainstay for the administration is the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. he is the most important military commander. he has been in that job for quite some time. his advice on this issue would have been very important. what not entirely clear right now is who else the president is listening to outside that circle, how much of this was based on his view about the election next year, what other considerations came from this decision. the: this is joseph on democrat line. caller: thank you very much.

thank you for taking my call. is as a comment democrat, i can tell you i am pleased he held back. not a time to be talking about war. the world is already upside down, with all the refugee flows here and in other parts of the world. a good administration should be theing at what to do about problems that lead to war. the reason i think we are about of a war iseginning the kind of people the president has around him, pushing him to attacking.

he should not be listening to people like john bolton and those people. they are the one to push them to that extent. he did not begin by refusing. he decided they should go and then took it back. i definitely support what he did. he should look to the people around him. . host: do you have any thoughts? briefly, i do think people talk about the military instrument of u.s. power. i think it's worth reminding everybody that's one instrument in addition to economic tools, the black tools.

as i stepped back and look at iran. in 1979, you get the islamic revolution that gives a theocracy. today, it has ambitions in the region. if you are the u.s. trying to expansion, you have multiple tools. the i am looking for is broader strategy of the u.s. in the region right now. the most important question to ask the administration. host: this is reaction from the foreign minister. boycotts.about the we don't seek war, we will defend our skies, land, and water. towill take this aggression

the u.n.. how much do you think the u.s. can reveal on that in terms of the plight -- flight pattern of the drone. they recovered wreckage in iran. how much can the usa without revealing classified information. reveal quite ald bit, including the location of the drone. the issue, the challenge is how to do it in a way that makes people believe it. if ato important here is drone was operating in international waters, the key aspect is going to be convincing some allies, including the un security council, that the u.s. is telling the truth.

geographyttle reminder. this is where iran says the drone was shot down on the eastern shore. in the it was shot down middle. carol is in maryland. thank you for waiting. now that donald trump has pulled out of the deal, iran doesn't trust us. i don't think they can note negotiate anything. now that he has pulled out of the deal, is the deal still in effect? do they still abide by the deal? will the deal be done away with to enrich uranium

? does that kill the deal. is it still in effect? guest: good question. the deal is partially in effect. haveuropean participants been trying to get the u.s. to repurchase of fate in the nuclear deal. they want to renegotiate the terms of the deal, particularly to include other aspects of iranian activity. the deal at the moment is still technically in place. the u.s. backed out. the u.s. can certainly go back in. we could see a renegotiation. this point, it's a

move point. it doesn't really matter if something on paper exist or not. u.s. and bbc reports iran airlines reroute. good morning. go ahead. caller: good morning. i want to ask you what is the root cause of her visceral hatred for israel? to 1979, we go back when the ayatollah overthrows h, it was a revolution in the country. a path ofran on revolutionary ideology. part of what iranian leaders have argued is the establishment

of the state of israel has been illegitimate and they have talked about regaining palestine. the israelisputs and the iranians on a collision course since 1979. , orink people often forget is in the region. it's not like the u.s. is starting something. the israelis and iranians have been involved in notable conflict. i talked to israeli officials about their campaign in syria. they have had hundreds of strikes. host: this is the 40th anniversary of the revolution. these are pictures of the hostages taken.

is there pressure inside the regime? is there pressure for change inside the regime western mark guest: there has been pressure inside the country. we see hundreds of strikes per months over the past year and a half. students, others. they are localized right now. iran, weok at a map of see protests across much of the country. they are disorganized. we don't see a large mobilized movement like we saw in 1979. ,he closest we've come to that this was mostly middle-class. in iran lot of protests

right now, no large-scale movement to overthrow the regime did -- regime. host: nate is in tallahassee, florida. caller: is it possible -- i believe try is a rational person. drone was in airspace. knew he wastime, he involved in mining those ships. why kill people based on a lie? think heyou say you was responsible for the israeli intelligence agency? caller: yes. guest: i honestly believe trump said why should i have people killed based on a lie.

i'm not going to vote for him. i think he did something i can support. that ispeople based on over the line. in 1953.invaded iran seth, our hands are not clean in this region. i don't think there is a fair fight here. we've done a lot of bad things. u.s. army in 1979 when the crisis happened there. i was in germany. we were afraid we would be deployed to iran at the time. clean and ae not lot of things going on around the world. guest: nobody's hands in the region are clean. the u.s. is certainly made mistakes historically.

the regime during the carter administration took hostages and the u.s. had to retrieve them. i think it's important to note two things. moment, we have a dispute about where the drone of was that has been adjudicated yet. the u.s. claims it was in international waters. overranians claim was iranian airspace. hopefully, we will get more over the next couple of days. planted,nds that were that evidence has become clearer, that it was likely the revolutionary guard fear -- guard. countries are technology that they have assessed the same thing. the german chancellor is no

friend of president trump's, the germans of said it was their activity. there is no evidence that length other than the group was involved in that. the way they've been behaving in that area over the last couple of months. host: seth jones is with us. >> c-span's "washington journal tomko live every day -- journal," live every day with news that impacts you. sunday morning, we discuss campaign 2020 and president comes reelection strategy. then we mark the 50th anniversary of the stonewall thets and the impact on lgbtq movement.

followed by a new york times reporter who will join us to discuss key issues facing transgender americans today. be sure to watch "washington journal was quote on sunday morning. join the discussion. eastern, at 3:00 p.m. senator bernie sanders hosts a town hall and raquel, south carolina. watch it on c-span, c-span.org, or listen on the free c-span radio app. the complete guide to congress is now available. details about the house and senate for the current session of congress, contact and bio information about every senator and representative, and information about committees, state governors, and the cabinet. the 2019 congressi d