but what we've heard now from the deputy secretary of state, anthony blinken, is that the united states is going to continue to support that effort. this is what he said. >> saudi arabia is sending a strong message to the houthis and their allies that they cannot overrun yemen by force. in support of that effort we have expedited weapons deliveries we've increased our intelligence sharing, and we've established a joint coordination and planning cell in the saudi operations center. >> reporter: so what we heard from the capital in yemen overnight, a quieter night overnight there, but we've heard it from other sources elsewhere in the country, plenty of saudi-led coalition airstrikes on other houthi positions as they try to gain ground in the country, john. >> having antony blinken there is a show of support. >>> plans to curb the nuclear program are being disingenuous. john brennan told students at harward's kennedy school of government that critics should not rip apart a solid deal. he says it is impossible to expect iran to dismantle everything. brennan did say he does understand why s

>> one of the fundamental items in deputy secretary blinken's agenda with our partners in riyadh and in abu dhabi was precisely to encourage them, to urge them to ensure that humanitarian access to yemen was possible. i think that the latest information that we have is that the picture has improved somewhat. it remains very serious. nearly half of the population in yemen right now based on the estimates that we've seen is food deprived. so this is a very serious situation. we're doing a better job, i think, in getting some of the humanitarian supplies, not only food but also medicines and other essential humanitarian goods, to yemen. the internal distribution is extremely difficult because of the various military activities that are going on around the country so the movement has become complicated. and probably the most significant concern that we have right now is the availability of fuel which is essential not only for the movement of goods and people but also is essential in order to provide water and also bread because the bakery is run on propane gas. without propane, they can'

deputy secretary of state antony blinken and south korea's first vis foreign minister cho tae-yong. he's expected to help the two countries work toward reconciliation. saiki will also meet with senior u.s. officials to discuss a meeting between prime minister shinzo abe and president barack obama. the two leaders are scheduled to hold talks on april 28th. >>> japan's central bank will continue its easy money policy in a bid to keep the economy going. gene otani is here with the latest. gene? >> well, the markets reacted but there were no surprises here. same as usual. policymakers at the bank of japan took a vote and were 8-1 in favor of maintaining the massive monetary easing program. the aim is to achieve a 2% inflation target. the board members wrapped up a two-day policy meeting on wednesday. they kept their assessment of the economy unchanged, saying a moderate recovery trend is continuing. the policymakers say private consumption, as a whole, has remained resilient, although recovery in some areas has been sluggish. they also cite steady improvements in employment and income.

but this is the clearest indication yet of antony blinken that the saudi authorities here intend to continue this air campaign. this is what he said. >> saudi arabia is sending a strong message to the houthis and their allies that they cannot overrun yemen by force. in support of that effort we have expedited weapons deliveries we have increased our intelligence sharing, and we've established a joint coordination and planning cell in the saudi operations center. >> reporter: now, with this increased intelligence sharing, it doesn't allow the united states to provide direct targeting information to the saudis. however, what it does do when the saudis have decided what it is they're going to target to share that with the united states. the united states to review it then advise potentially for any civilian targets. and yesterday there was a case where a civilian target was right next to a military -- a civilian school was right next to a military target. the military target was hit. it had been hit before but the school was also hit, and six children were killed. so this additional intelligenc

. >> deputy secretary of state tony blinken is hitting the road as we speak visiting five mideast states over coming days, starting today in lebanon, chris. >> james rosen reporting from the state department. james, thanks for that. >>> now, let's bring in the chair of the senate foreign relations committee, republican, bob corker of tennessee for his first television interview since the agreement. senator, i know you have been briefed in some detail by top administration officials, what's your -- and i understand it's a framework, but what's your initial reaction to what you've learned? >> chris, i did reach out to the energy secretary and i've had three conversations with him over the last couple of days. i think it would be very difficult for anyone to ascertain at this moment, as you just reported in iran, they're reporting sort of the mirror image opposite of what's being reported here. and as you saw, zarif challenged secretary kerry for presenting talking points that only intended to cause congress to be pleased. so, look, there's a lot of water that needs to go under the bridge h

. >> ifill: in saudia arabia today, deputy secretary of state anthony blinken announced the u.s. will accelerate delivery of arms and intelligence, to boost the saudis' 13-day-old bombing campaign against houthi rebels in neighboring yemen. yemen's slide towards humanitarian disaster has seen airports and sea trade cut off, and a government coup. iran's supreme leader, who is said to back the houthis, said today foreign interference must stop. journalist safa al ahmad gets a rare inside look inside an unstable nation, and into the lives and aspirations of houthi fighters in tonight's frontline documentary, "the fight for yemen." >> al ahmad: for the moment, the saudi border may be the limit of houthi control. but their ambitions go way beyond it. our borders are tehran and the islamic and arab world. we will help oppressed people all over the world. >> this barbwire here means nothing to you? >> ( translated ): it means nothing. it represents nothing. if the relationship between the yemeni and saudi arabian people is strengthened, then it will ease the fall of the house of alsaad

it's not successful at the moment. >> you have anthony blinken in saudi arabia delivering more weapons are engaged in this remarkable intervention in yemen right now with other arab countries. do you think there's any reservations in the administration about being so public about taking such sides here? >> i don't think so basically in for a penny, in for a pound. presumably they're trying to protect the massive investment that's already in there. and knowing that you know which side do you want to win? right now al qaeda is exploiting this vacuum. the saudis have done you know got quite a good cobbled together a local coalition. the americans are providing some weapons, some intelligence doing what they can, they may or may not be a ground invasion. every day we hear that maybe the saudis will put boots on the ground. two things one, it's not working, the houthis are still, still massively advancing. some of their bases have been somewhat disrupted. and two, you know it's very very difficult to know whether this is just a proxy war, civil war or is it going to be you know just a massi

antony blinken. also national security adviser to the president and director senate foreign relations committee. just the most recent iteration of antony's kreesh in adjustment. he said during administration 1994 to '1in a variety of capacity, including european affairs. he was also in the state department in other capacity in the 1990s. he did begin his career as most people in washington seem to do as a lawyer but we've forgiven him for that. he was also a reporter from "new republic" writing for "new york times" and foreign affairs. perfect segue to today's event. it will also feature a discussion with another secretary of state who began his career in journalism brookings president talbott, so their careers intersected during clinton administration. they worked together in various capacities. but there's also a very interesting, and many of you in the audience probably aware of it, link to today's event. july 1997, just down the road, not here at brookings but just down the road in what was newly

sharing arrangement on what appears to have been a first step in what deputy secretary of state tony blinken calls, and i quote, a profoundly positive trajectory, end quote. admiral, please discuss the relationships between south korea and japan and the challenges we face in furthering our trilateral u.s.-japan-south korea alliance. >> the challenges we face from my perspective are primarily political and social challenges. on the military side, the militaries, if allowed, are able to work together for i think the common good of the security in northeast asia in particular. the impediments -- what's happened thus far is because of the political pressure to not have a true information sharing agreements between japan and korea. limit our ability to allow us to bring together in a trilateral way that optimizes the forces that they have invested in and we've invested in. particularly in critical areas such as ballistic missile defense, et cetera. so i highly encourage both korea and japan to move forward at the highest level of governments with the types of agreements and allow us to optimize a

let's bring in tony blinken. he's the deputy secretary of state and have him make the case. republicans, some democrats and your ally israel and i want you to -- i want to test your perspective on what their take is here. the first main one is you guys should have come to us sooner in congress about this because you went your own path we don't like the path. you went too far down that path and now we're going to put in our own sanctions because sanctions are the key. what is your punch back. >> so chris, first of all, this deal if it is finalized, pushes far into the future iran's pathways to a bomb. it cuts them off far into the future. it's the most effective thing we can do. to date we've almost had 250 briefings, meetings hearings phone calls with members of congress and now we have the details. the president has instructed us to move out aggressively to work with congress in the weeks ahead to show them all of the details, to give them a chance to digest the details and then to move forward with congress. >> i believe my friend israel who says we cannot accept a deal th

the state department's tony blinken and madeleine albright and the top spoke man for benjamin netanyahu mark regey. plus, a live report from germany where new evidence suggests the intentional crash -- >> can you believe this news? >> no. it was not a spur of the moment decision. what investigators found on the suspect's computer. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. woman: it's been a journey to get where i am. and i didn't get here alone. there were people who listened along the way. people who gave me options. kept me on track. and through it all my retirement never got left behind. so today, i'm prepared for anything we may want tomorrow to be. every someday needs a plan. let's talk about your old 401(k) today. whether you need a warm up before the big race... or a healthy start before the big meeting there's a choice hotel that's waiting for you. this spring, choose choice twice, get a night at no price at 1,500 hotels. book now at choicehotels.com >>> 20 past the hour. troubling new details are emerging into the investigation of germanwings copilot andreas lubitz. f