latest iran retaliation against u.s. military bases inside iraq. that was after a drone strike killed top general five days ago firing more than a dozen coalit. iranian state tv overnight saying that this video that you see on your screen is one of those attacks. it's not been verified by nbc news or by u.s. officials. now the pentagon says the strikes were undoubtedly from iran. that began around 5:30 eastern time yesterday. near the air base erbil located in the central area of kurdistan. right now, there are no casualties, the pentagon says it's still assessing the air base. >> president who visited al asad air base tweeted auld is well, adding so far so good. we have the most powerful military anywhere by far. he then said he will be making a

statement this morning. and javad zarif said iran took and concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under article 51 which cowardly armed attack against our citizens and senior officials were launched. nbc foreign affairs correspondent tweeting this, iran making threats of mass escalation to attack more bases in iraq. to unleash hezbollah, to unleash shiite militias in iraq. >> joining us matt bradley, christopher livesay and in london christopher bell. matt, let's begin with eyyou,

reddic saying if the united states to attack would include israel. lots of question what the morning is like in israel, now in the cross hairs of iran should america respond p. do you thank you that calculation is weighing on iran this morning? is this iran' deterrent so to speak? >> yeah, it's hard to say, we know here in israel, may have been waiting for any event weight. we heard from prime minister benjamin netanyahu a moment ago. he said that any attack against israel would be met with strong force. that's no change. we've known that forever. israel always retaliates whenever it's attacked by any of its very hostile neighbors so this isn't that different. but we do know it was a little different leading up to this. before this, iranians, the leader of hezbollah made mention

of targeting u.s. targets, military targets, not civilians. they didn't talk about israel. and the hezbollah iranian regime barely met any in the middle east and didn't blake it on israel so that was different. but now we're hearing that israel could be on the front line. and it was as late as yesterday that the israeli cabinet was hearing that there wasn't going to be any retaliatory strike against israel. that militants were convinced this is an american fight that nothing was going to happen to the jewish state, but that could change because hezbollah backed by iran to the north. there's palestinian islamic jihad and hamas, to the gaza strip to the southwest. and then to the east, in syria, there are numbers of different shiite militia groups of the kind that exist in iraq and their attacks were starting this whole thing. so israel is surrounded by iranian proxies so it's a very

good position for the iranians to strike against israel. but right now, what we're seeing is extraordinary. it looks as though the iranians so far have made somewhat not so strong attack against u.s. interests, u.s. military targets in the middle east. there were no casual this. the iranians say they're okay with it. the americans say they're okay with it. if this continues if everything lasts the way it does for the rest of the day. it looks like this could all be over and that would be an extraordinary end to a very dangerous, tense escalation, ayman. >> before we move over, we have not heard on this program, of course, from america's european allies, what are you hearing from that sense with regards to what has taken place in the last 24 hours? >> well, yasmin, there's lots of condemnation calls, calls for de-escalation and also many of the coalition partners waiting in to say that they're okay. here in the uk, condemning the

attacks of the air bases, as part of the coalition, british personnel are also stationed. the secretary urging iran not to escalate what he calls a dangerous attack. like isis the m.o.d. saying there are no british casualties. it will pair no efforts to keep alive the deal preventing iran to develop atomic weapons. but they call for the use of weapons in the current conflict. the european commission president calling for de-escalation amid tensions in the region. saying they need to go back to dialogue and dial back the weapons being used. the eu inviting the foreign minister zarif for talks. and germany rejects this in the sharpest terms. telling british broadcasters particularly to the iranians now, not to engage in further

escalation. spain has pulled out some of its troops in iraq due to security concerns. they were saying this on state tv. they say those in riskier positions have left for kuwait. we've also heard from the danish, as well as the polish, that their people are safe. condemnation but calls for de-escalation. >> yeah, yasmin, it's safe to say that the world is watching this as everybody remains on edge. let's go to beirut. chris, you have a pulse of what's being said in lebanese and pan arab meaning in general. how much do you think this is for the consumption, iran's attack, which obviously did not materialize in the way that rhetoric seems to say in the past couple of days. how much of this does this play into domestic considerations in places like lebanon or other places in the region that could

target but not necessarily the casualties that it had promised? >> well, ayman, iran is under pressure for its proxies and now those who wanted immediate retaliation f retaliation. and saying americans would leave the region, american military, i should say, would leave the region in caskets. it did echo that line that american civilians should not be targeted. however, it's a question of how iran will use the proxies to the extent to which they have control over these proxies. you should also assume that they're taking orders from iran. but iran gets basically a two for one when they use the proxies. not only do they act for them military, but also a shield. but if hezbollah acts violently, iran can say, you know what, we

didn't order them to do that, these guys are acting independently. taking for instance, news a moment ago from militias backed by iran. the leader of that militia released a statement saying that iraq would retaliate for the death of soleimani. and it would not be a lesser reaction than what iran's was. again, how much control iran has over groups like this, we really don't know. but the end result is, it may mean more violence. and it may mean that nobody really has control over the situation. one thing for sure, donald trump is due to speak later today, his response will speak volumes throughout the region. guys. >> nbc's matt bradley, chris livesay and chris bell. iran had launched a dozen ballistic missiles at iraq.

multiple sources tell nbc news that pelosi was meeting with leaders when she received a note. according to politico she was handing a note saying the vice president was in the phone. saying, tell him i'll call him back. a few seconds later she was handed a specific note about the specifics about the attack. and pelosi tweeted out, closely monitoring the situation following bombings targeting u.s. troops in iraq. we must ensure the safety of our service members. >> lindsey graham responded during an interview on fox news last night. here's some of what he had to say. >> it was a nag by the regime in the middle east for the last 40 years. it's been a cancer in the middle east. let me say tonight if you're watching television in iran.

i just got off the phone to the president. your fate is in your own hands in terms of the regime's economic viability. you continue this crap, you're going to wake up one day out of the oil business. house speaker nancy pelosi has yet to send articles of impeachment to the senate but mitch mcconnell said he's ready to start the trial. plus, secretary of state mike pompeo, we'll show you how he reacted from the president's threats to attack cultural sites in iran. those stories and, of course, a check of your weather when we come back.

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welcome back, everyone. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell announced yesterday that he's prepared to begin president trump's impeachment trial despite his disagreement with democrats on potential witnesses. . reports that house speaker nancy pelosi told democratic colleagues in a meeting yesterday that she would not send the articles of impeachment to the senate because she wanted to see the specific rules of

procedure for the trial according to people present for those remarks. however during a news conference on capitol hill, mcconnell told reporters that he has enough republican votes to start the impeachment trial without the support of democrat, echoing the format of former president clinton's trial 21 years ago. >> all we're doing here is saying, we're going to get started in exactly the same way that 100 senators agreed to 20 years ago. what's good for president clinton is good for president trump. we'll get around to discussion of witnesses. we got around to discussion of witnesses after we got through phase one 20 years ago. >> joining us, msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. good to have you this morning. what do you make of senator mcconnell's claims that they're going to move forward without any support from democrats? >> to describe the vote back 20 years ago to the clinton impeachment of 100-1 is a little misleading, because, at the

time, it looked very much in doubt that senator trent lott, the republican, could get even a simple majority to agree. it was not as bipartisan as originally thought. it was only that far phil graham to agree on the little stuff and go forward on the little stuff, which was opening statements, briefings, the things they could agree on in the short term. that narrow issue is what passed 100 to nothing. when mitch mcconnell says this is the same as the deal that passed 100 to nothing 20 years ago, it was hotly contested back then. and it was only that compromise. the limited compromise, phase one as he calls it moved forward and passed. and passed very quickly because senators were worried if we don't agree with this now and start talking about it, it will divulge into debate and not go

anywhere. so history actually repeats itself today. >> there is a lot of questions about the mechanics of how a procedure like this would begin. i think some people were maybe surprised yesterday seeing mitch mcconnell say he could actually start this thing, something that lindsey graham has been pushing for over the airwaves, start this without having the documents transmitted. is that even possible? is this a little political posturing and maneuvering with mitch mcconnell? i know he has the numbers but can he really go ahead and start a trial without having the actual articles transmitted? >> the optics of that. >> yeah, brought up yesterday, physically can't proceed because you don't have the house managers to carry out a fair trial. >> that to me is a strong argument for not beginning the trial. not so much that the articles have not been delivered because that's just a huge gap in the constitutional procedure over whether or not they're even required to be physical with delivered. but if the prosecutors pr s refo show up, can you have a trial?

that's to me a bigger reason why the trial may not be able to go forward. here's an interesting concept. it's because the framers left the huge gaps in constitutional procedure. because the senate has the sole power to try impeachment. if they decided to go ahead and hold the trial without the house managers or would you say evidence or without articles impeachment, then how would you even challenge it? if you filed suit in court it would be missed as what's called a political question. something that only the senate has the power to control. so, although this is a lot of political posturing if push came to shove, it seems that the senate might have a path to simply holding a trial or holding something that they call a trial without evidence and possibly even without house managers. >> danny cevallos in response to your tweet yesterday, it is not 2021 yet? >> is it 2021 yet? >> just in case. danny tweeted out is it 2021 yet? >> made me look at my horoscope,

i have to say. >> like november. >> thank you, danny. let's check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. hey, bill. good morning, everyone. yesterday, we saw that burst of snow around washington, d.c., baltimore. even last night in cape cod. and the temperatures down there about freezing or a little bit below. so be careful. we're hearing a lot of secondary roads are still kind of slushy and they refroze overnight. and on the sidewalks, too. this morning, everything is cleared out but we still have a little snow through western new york and a little snow in western pennsylvania. we'll get snow through portland and southern maine. that will about do it for the snow. now, let's start with the winds today. as that air pushes out, cold air pushes in. new york city, philadelphia, washington, d.c., it's going to be a cold wind and we could get airport delays because of that. i don't think we'll get a lot of damage from it. but winds could gust to 30 or 40 you'll feel this afternoon.

now to the next weather concern, all the way to friday. we're going to have a springlike storm. record high temperatures, widespread. we're going to see severe weather, possibly significant tornadoes. that is going to start in east texas, louisiana and arkansas friday afternoon and continue into saturday. on saturday, the severe weather threat will spread through mississippi, tennessee all through alabama, eventually through the panhandle of florida, late friday night, some of that may slide into areas of georgia. besides the tornado threat, we're going to have the potential for a record high. we're going here today. already warm from dallas to little rock, temperatures in the mid-60s. by the time we get to thursday, even indianapolis gets up to the 50s. kansas city hits 60 on thursday. that warmth will eventually shift all the way to the east. friday, d.c.'s in the mid-50s. pittsburgh in 55. these temperatures are 10 to 20 degrees warmer than she should be. that's why we're talking about severe weather. and thunderstorms, in the

mid-atlantic and southern new england by the time we get to sunday. thunderstorms in boston in mid-january? that's unheard of. so for today, not a lot of issues just travel delays with wind gusts but that high impact storm is going to cause a lot of headaches and hopefully not too much damage. we talk about the potential for significant tornados doesn't matter what time of year it is, that's kind of scary. >> thank you, bill. still ahead, we're going to show you how two u.s. secretaries, current and former, are responding to escalations with iran. we're back in a moment.

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welcome back. during a press conference at the state department yesterday, secretary of state mike pompeo dismissed a question from nbc news' andrea mitchell regarding president trump's threat to attack iranian cultural sites assuring that the united states will be consistent with international rule of law. >> president said on air force one coming back, after you had been on the sunday talk shows, that they're allowed to kill our people. they're allowed to torture and maim our people. they're allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up their people. and we're not allowed to touch their cultural sites? it doesn't work that way. defense secretary esper made it clear he would not follow an order to hit a cultural site would be a war crime. i'm wondering whether you would also push back on the advice, or in your role? >> you're not really wondering,

andrea. you're not really wondering. it's clearly consistent with what the president has said. we'll take -- every action we take will be consistent with the international rule of law. and the american people will rest assured that's the case. let me tell you who has been damaged to the persian culture. it's not the united states of america. it's the ayatollah. if you want for know who has deny, the culture steeped in intellect and denied the intellect for that culture to continue. if you look around the holidays, they have not allowed people to celebrate, people that they've killed, that qassem soleimani killed. they're not allowed to mourn their family members. the real risk from cultural persian does not come from the united states. >> defense secretary mark esper defended the united states' decision to kill iranian leader

qassem soleimani saying the attack was expected to occur days before he was hit by u.s. strike. >> can you clarify, the attack soleimani was planning, was that days or weeks away? >> i think it's more fair to say days for sure. it was clearly, on the battlefield. he was conducting, preparing planning military operations. he was a legitimate target and his time was due. >> and former defense secretary and cia director leon panetta weighed in a piece for "the washington post" yesterday. the piece was published shortly before the u.s. missile attacks in iraq. panetta writes, trump is facing the greatest test of his presidency. for the past three years he has questioned the role of the u.s. global leadership, criticized alliances and often ignored the guidance of his more experienced military and diplomatic advisers. the reality of the potential war has caught up with his tweets.

the fate of his presidency and the fate of the nation depend on whether trump will finally get serious about the threat. military power alone will not be enough. the most sobering lesson. more on the attack on u.s. forces last night. polilus, a look at how that attack is expected to impact wall street. we'll be right back. k. from my family, that loves me and needs me, without a fight. when i came to cancer treatment centers of america, it felt... so different from any other hospital that we'd ever been to. whether it be spiritual, physical, emotional... they take it all into consideration, in healing you. infusion, imaging, everything is here.

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welcome back, i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin. we continue to follow that breaks news from the middle east as iran retaliates for the u.s. drone strike that killed its top

general five days ago. nbc news national security and military correspondent courtney kube has the latest from the pentagon. >> yasmin, ayman, this morning, you eyes are on the white house. in just a few hours, we expect to hear from president trump. this is the first time we'll hear from him on camera about the attacks. we now know that iran launched more than a dozen ballistic mists inside of iraq overnight. the first at al asad an iraqi air base and and the other in erbil, a place that houses u.s. and foreign forces. he did tweet overnight saying after the iranian launches, all is well. and on the early assessments of potential u.s. casualties, he says, it looks good. we also heard from the iranians

also in the form of a tweet. the iranian foreign minister zarif tweeting that the strikes were proportional and concluded. now, that may answer one of the big looming questions, after the strikes inside of iraq last night. and that is, is this the end? the strikes were taken in response or retaliation to the u.s. killing qassem soleimani only days ago in baghdad. but since then, the u.s. military has been bracing in the region for some kind of retaliation. iran now, at least the first salvo of that being from the conventional iranian military. that's uncommon for iran, they tend to act through proxy forces in the region. which some saying it's possible they could respond with those proxy forces going forward. the other big looming question is will the u.s. military, or the u.s. administration, in some way respond to the strikes overnight.

ayman, yasmin? >> our thanks to courtney kube for that report. right now, i want to nbc news mat bradley. christopher livesay in the lebanese capital. matt, give us a quick read of the israeli assessment of how this has played out? do people feel, or do the israeli leadership believe at least that we are on an exit ramp off of this potential war footing? >> well, we're going to be hearing from the israeliing a little more. we just heard from benjamin netanyahu, the embattled prime minister of us real just recently. his only really substantive comment on this, if israel is attacked, israel will retaliate with strength. that's no surprise. it's hard a change in position,s we'll wou israel would always retaliate.

ayman, air always looking for an attack from hostile neighbors so things really haven't changed. the security cabinet is meeting today around 2:00 p.m. local time. that's around 7:00 a.m. your time. so, we might get more information that far. so far, leading up to this, we've been hearing from the cabinet, and we've will be hearing from top politicians, israelis and israeli government don't think this has anything to do with israel. even though the rhetoric coming out of iran and hezbollah to the north, they see israel and united states as seamlessly connected. they see israel as essentially an extension of the u.s. government in the middle east. part of the american military occupation in various places throughout the middle east. so it's likely that israel could come under attack. and as you mentioned and as courtney kube was asking a moment ago, is this over? that's what's going to determine what happens from here. and if it turns out that nobody has killed, that iranians call this success, that donald trump

has said all is well. if all of that stands for the next couple of days, then it looks like this whole thing could be over with a whimper instead of a bang. this kind of attack was not the reprisal that the entire region was looking for. it almost looks as though that paltry to show any resolve from the iranians. iranians saying that they've killed americans in the strike. and it's likely that they'll boast that they've done something and they haven't. that could be the end of it. >> christopher, if we've heard from the iranians that if in fact the united states plans to strike back, hezbollah will be part of iran's response. what do you make of that? >> khamenei's plan was not to just respond with the attack that eventually killed soleimani, but also proportionate to appease people in his own country and the

militias, if you responded not strongly enough, then he comes across as looking weak. but if he responds too strongly, then that would lead to a very strong response from the united states. and possible annihilation of its regime. so if this is his only gamut, if this is his only response, then the question is, well, how is it going to be interpreted back home in the middle east? and in countries like lebanon where you have hezbollah, the islamic militant group headquartered here, backed by iran and often acts as its muscle outside of the country of iran. in a pro-hezbollah newspaper this morning, the headline read that the great battle for liberation has begun. and it listed pictures of the military installations throughout the middle east. sort of suggesting that these were now targets for hezbollah, maybe for iran. we just don't know. will hezbollah and will its supporters feel that this response from iran was enough? do they feel like they need to

save face? or will they look weak if they don't respond? a good example of that is actually in iraq, just moments ago, a pro-iran militia, one that's backed by iran, actually released a statement saying that iran has had a chance for its revenge. but we still need to meet out ours. and it will be no less than iran. so this doesn't seem to be the end. at the very least, tensions are still very high throughout the region because of these proxies. back to you, guys. >> hey, guys, stick for me for a moment. i want to ask yasmin, obviously with your contacts over the past couple of hours. when you look at how iran has been telegraphed their response ahead of the irgc saying there would be american bodies across the middle east and now that we're seeing this, what do you make of the iranian response? >> it's interesting because you saw the ground swell of support after the general was killed and

the mourning period, you saw the millions of people take to the streets in iran. it seems as if the government made the calculation, people that i've been talking to in the country and here in the united states as well and u.s. officials, the government made the calculation that they needed to show their force their own people, they needed to show their force of strength to the iranian people by showing the capabilities that they had. but they knew that by taking u.s. lives would they feasibly start this war, continue the war that they the united states -- that they believe, from their perspective had already begun. so, in fact, they were very calculated about the fact we're going to take out all g to ta a base. and then the united states, the president is boxed into a decision to say i can de-escalate. i can back away. and then go back to the iranian people and say look what we can do, look at the threats we have made publicly and the capabilities that we have. if you're looking at iranian

media, if you're opening an an iranian newspaper, you're seeing reports of 80 american casual this which we know is not true. all reports pointing to the fact that there are no casualties. >> i wonder if the local iranians will find out that it's not true? >> oftentimes, it happens that you're hearing one thing from iranian officials and another thing which we all know. >> matt bradley, thank you. christopher livesay in beirut, thank you as well. joe biden calls it incompetent. more from the former vice president as he tries to cast himself as a capable commander in chief. your "first look" at "morning joe" is back in a moment.

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former vice president joe biden sharpened his criticism of president trump amid the escalating fences with iran during a speech in new york city yesterday, already facing scrutiny of his own foreign policy record, biden standing before a row of american flags

warning against military engagement in the region after the death of general soleimani. >> haphazard decisionmaking process that led up to it. the failure to consult with our allies or congress. and the reckless disregard for the consequences that would surely follow was in my view dangerously incompetent. >> a president says he wants to end endless wars in the middle east is bringing us dangerously close to starting a brand-new one. the president says he wants out of the region, sends an additional 18,000-plus troops to do the crisis of his own making. an administration that claims its actions that made america safer, in the same breath, urges our citizens to leave iraq, puts americans throughout the region on notice and because of increased danger that now exists. >> now, biden's stance is seens a striking difference of past views which often embraced use

of american military four. >> joining us, mike memoli and good to see you here, mike. >> yes. >> let's talk about the former vice president's response last night, as were you watching twitter and you saw everything developing yesterday, you saw from the vice president he was very cautious about what he wanted to say. he said i'm going to wait and see what happens before i actually make a public statement on this. then we heard from the vice president last night. take us exactly through his address. >> what's interesting the speech came a few hours before we saw the retaliatory strikes in iraq. what the president is trying to convey here. it's interesting he gave a foreign policy speech in new york last july. he said that the president was dangerously incompetents of leadership. so speech went nowhere so this was front and opportunity for him yesterday.

he said this, i said this six months and the actions have proven that. i covered the white house. the event yesterday. there was no crowd. there was no audience. this is exactly the kind of statement that you see presidents give in front of a blue curtain in front of american flags. biden said the president is not showing presidential leadership. i'm here. i'm going to have the conversation that the president should be having. >> on the game cycle, we're now as of last night, we're on the edge of war with iran. how has the crisis with iran changed the political landscape for the 2020 field of democrats? >> it's changed it in a huge way, ayman. i think you're seeing candidates like joe biden very much trying to bolster their experience in foreign policy, as well as pete buttigieg really citing his experience in terms of serving in the military. however, joe biden in particular has really been honing in, like you saw in that speech

yesterday, on his years serving on the foreign relations committee, as well as his eight years in the obama administration really trying to bolster that foreign policy rolodex that he has with negotiations and with the experience with iran administration and the nuclear deal and him making the case that the trump administration should not have pulled out of that deal. however, you have senator bernie sanders who does not have that same experience. however, he's been very consistent on this stance. he's hammered joe biden and he hammered hillary clinton, too, in 2016 on their volts favoring the iraq war in 2003. so it's a question whether these iraq votes will play a role in this primary. it played a role in 2008, obviously, with barack obama then senator very much trying to corner hillary clinton on that. and then again in 2016 with sanders and clinton.iraq war is obviously in that vote is a

distant memory now, however, it remains to be seen whether this conflict with iran will bring that memory back and sanders will really potentially bring it back to the forefront. >> mike, i feel like the former vice president is between a rock and a hard place now, considering the fact that he was part of the molding. jcpoa, and part of the obama administration. iran said they're not going to negotiate. how does the president make an appeal to the american people to put himself in a position of power, considering the position where we are right now? >> he said this both in his speech and with lester holt, to defend iran, it doesn't necessarily have to deal with the issues we have with iran. he said i have no illustratiionh the difficulties we face with iran. essentially severing our relationship with our allies, we've weakened our position by

breaking with our allies with this not giving them notification. he said it's made it harder for diplomacy going forward. what's interesting, you talk about 2008 versus 2004. that's the year that the biden campaign hopes we'll remember in terms of what the iraq war vote front and center could have. john kerry was actually in iowa yesterday campaigning for joe biden. john kerry with a surge in the poles was a front-runner in part because of opposition at that point. but it was john kerry that won the caucus and the argument that i'm the best democrat to face a wartime president. >> is he confident? is the vice president confident that he can go back to diplomacy that has taken place? >> that's his argument. that we need a new president who can step in on day one and be able to pick up the pieces here. and he's saying basically no ones on this campaign stage can do that. >> julia, how much do the

tension s iran potentially spli up the democratic party? because there is posturing and positioning among the democrats who don't want to appear that they're criticizing america at the time of war or conflict, but at the same time, really trying to undermine the president in being incapable or incompetent in leading the country at the time of war? >> yeah, i think it could potentially split the democratic party when it comes to hawkish democrats, more centrist like biden and buttigieg. and then warren and sanders. we've seen that elizabeth warren in particular, in her messaging of the killing of soleimani, she's gone back and forth. you know, she got a lot of backlash from some on the left last week when she called it a murder. that soleimani was murdered. to some on the left, that was seen as overly hawkish and she kind of backtracked that and

tried to seem more dovish on the issue. however, i would say for sanders if there were to be a split that would benefit him the most because he's been so consistent. >> mike memoli, julia manchester, thank you. stock futures are down, with fears that it could lead to a conflict. we'll have the very latest on the financial front, next. americans have come to lendingtree.com to shop and compare their loans and credit cards for over 20 years. now with the new lending tree app you can go beyond loan shopping and see your full financial health, including your free credit score, ongoing credit monitoring, your current cash flow and financial future. then it automatically compares your current loans and credit card payments to their network of lenders and shows you where you can cut your monthly bills. download it now to check your financial health and see how much you can save. this is the all-new chevy silverado hd. it's beautiful. you want to take it for a test-drive? definitely. we're gonna go in that.

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time now for business where the world is reacting to the news of the iran missile attack on american forces. cnbc's willem marx is joining us from london. talk just about how the markets are reacting this morning. >> good morning, guys. so the markets in asia let's start there, they have all closed down, the nikkei in tokyo down more than 1.5%. situation si little better in europe though not that much better. all of the major markets on this side of the atlantic currently in negative territory. the u.s. futures markets that predicts what the u.s. markets will do when they open they are all currently showing a drop when they start trading, the dow looking to open currently around 50 points lower, that's a lot better than it was looking a few hours ago when that news of the missile strikes first broke. something you can see when the tensions rise in the middle east of course the oil prices rise. there was a huge spike in the price of u.s. crude.

traders getting concerned there will be a disruption to supply and bid up the price as a consequence with seeing that slightly less significant a spike right now, though. you can expect the public comments from president trump later on this morning could have an impact there and at times when investors get worried about what's going on in the equity markets, worried about the price of government debt and oil, they go looking for safe haven assets, places they can park their money safely until the storm passes over. those include the japanese currency, the yen, that is trading significantly higher on the back of this news. another very classic safe haven is the idea of the oldest value in the world, gold. we have seen a pretty significant spike in the price of gold above $1,600 an ounce, the highest level in eight years. >> as of yesterday morning the markets had kind of, you know, regained the losses they had since the killing of soleimani, all of that was wiped away overnight as a result of the tensions, we will see how long it takes for the markets to

regain that loss. willem marx in london, thanks. up next, a look at axios' one big thing and coming up on "morning joe" we are going live to the white house as we await president trump's response to missile strikes targeting sources in iran. presidential candidate elizabeth warren and senator tim kaine join the very important conversation this morning. "morning joe" everyone just moments away. morning. "morning joe" everyone just moments away you try hard, you eat right... mostly. you make time... when you can. but sometimes life gets in the way, and that stubborn fat just won't go away.

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welcome back, everyone. joining us now from washington, d.c. with a look at axios a.m. editor and chief for ex yoes nicholas johnson. >> good morning. >> what is the one big thing? >> today's one big thing is trump's red line before the iranian missile attack yesterday trump had probably drawn his strongest red line on international affairs when he tweeted over the weekend that iran would be hit back, quote, very hard if they went after u.s. assets in the region. we saw what happened last night, missiles launched, iran clearly went after u.s. assets, they were targeted at u.s. military

bases in iraq where there are u.s. forces so now we're seeing that that red line might be turning into more of an offramp with both sides being able to declare their goals were met in the region and being able to deescalate the situation. we're seeing that start to unfold when the president tweeted all is well in the initial casualty reports were coming in that there were no u.s. casualties reported so far. on the other side of the equation the iranian supreme leader up this morning saying they delivered a slap in the face to the americans and a rebuke to the imperialists in the region and have struck back. it very much seems like the sense that both sides of the crisis were being able to declare victory, they achieved their goals. you're going to ask me what i'm watching, it's what president trump says today when he goes before the cameras to speak about his reaction to that. look for his tone. if he continues the all is well declaring victory we could see a der. der. drooe escalation why

the reenchen. >> jacks yoes has reporting about mike bloomberg's economic trail. >> he is in a lot of fall events around the region. he's going to hit three states, bring a lot of reporters on him. he's going to be unveiling the beginning, the broad frame works of an economic plan that will focus on raising wages. the people have been forgotten in dump's america, remember president trump focuses on stock market gains. the bloomberg folks are going to say most people don't own stocks and what we are not seeing people being impacted is on wage gains. this is something we hear a lot in our focus groups. broadly the economy is doing well but not a lot of that is trickling down in the people's paychecks. when mike bloomberg hits the trail that will be a big focus for him. >> nicholas johnson, we will be reading axios a.m. in just a bit. sign up for the newsletter by going to sign up@axios.com. >> i'm yasmin vossoughian

alongside ayman mohyeldin. "morning joe" starts right now. america shouldn't be doing the fighting for every nation on earth, not being reimbursed in many cases at all. if they want us to do the fighting, they also have to pay a price and sometimes that's also a monetary price so we are not the suckers of the world. we are no longer the suckers, folks. and people aren't looking at us as suckers. >> all right. that was president trump in 2018 touting america's pull back from the middle east while speaking at the very same american air base in iraq that was just struck by iranian missiles after the u.s. military killed iran's most powerful general with a drone strike. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is wednesday, january 8th. last night iran retaliated for the u.s. dronetr