we begin with jennifer griffin at the pentagon. jennifer, what can you tell us

if this is confirmed tonight, the number we have been able to get from officials and jennifer griffinlation. something people in baghdad have been concerned about. they are extremely concerned about what is to come. there was a calm before the storm feeling in baghdad today because many people have experienced this before, knowing how quickly conflict can erupt in the region. it is a major concern, if iran does launch a major counterattack after the americans took out their military leader qasem soleimani last week. it could evolve into a much larger conflict, we are looking at a proxy war in the region, mostly small attacks on iraqi bases that house american troops, more than a dozen of them over the past six months. ballistic missiles are completely different thing in the region and coming from iranian territory, this leaves all options on the table for the trump administration. we are getting a statement from the white house, from stephanie grisham the press secretary indicating the president is aware of the situation and has been briefed and is consulting with his national securit

jennifer griffin, a fox news national security correspondent from the pentagon. yesterday, jennifer, secretary esper from the dod said the department has taken a number of steps to ensure it doesn't happen again. we know the justice department will say that the end of this investigation shows this incident was an act of terrorism. >> well, what is interesting, dana, the defense secretary said he had taken certain measures, that he had tightened up the way in which foreign students are vetted coming into the country to participate in these long-standing military training programs. you also heard robert o'brien, the national security adviser say yesterday that he blamed the u.s. for not having vetted these students well enough. my understanding of the way things work is that the saudis are the ones that do the original vetting and the state department signs off on the background checks for these kind of students. there's about 900 saudis inside the u.s. right now training. we're going to hear today about a dozen of them are being sent home because of their concerns

i want to go back if you can to the breaking news that we learned just a few moments ago, jennifer griffinelling us that u.s. officials, and i know this is not your area of expertise but u.s. officials saying they now believe and have confirmed that iran shot down that ukrainian jetliner. your thoughts on that? >> is a member of the select committee on intelligence, we see a lot of intelligence and what i would say is, if this were the case, i hope the iranians were providing as much information as they have today it community and i hope they will be forthright on what they know and what they are investigating. i think 176 people were killed, and a number of nationalities -- there's a lot of canadians on board. we know it was a ukrainian aircraft. is this going to be an opportunity for the iranian government to share information that they have or they can do what they always do and that is a lie to and mislead the international community. i'm sure there are a lot of families all over the world, and that's important and a responsibility of the iranian government to share information they do

jennifer griffin, thank you. the president's decision to kill the iranian general is a significant break from his predecessors. presidents obama and bush that rejected the idea fearing it could lead to a war with iran. let's bring in michael o'hanlon from the brookings institute. jennifer griffin talked about the fact that the u.s. has had a number of opportunities to go after soleimani. you said that you reread the article that general stanley mcchrystal wrote a year ago saying that he had a shot at soleimani back in 2007. he opted out of that. maybe he's questioning that. i'm quoting here. he said and he's writing, all - >> your thoughts on this kind of back and forth and whether he should have been targeted in the past, michael. >> a great article, trace, by general mcchrystal that affected the ambivalence that a lot of decision makers lad a chance to take a shot at soleimani. as the american of americans that are dead because of weaponry shipped into iraq or elsewhere from the quds force that soleimani headed

jennifer griffin at the pentagon.irst, chief white house correspondent john roberts reporting live from the north lawn. >> good afternoon to you. in the briefing this morning, secretary of state mike pompeo was careful not to go too far as to what the imminent threat was opposed by qassim soleimani, but literally as the briefing ended, laura ingraham conducted an exclusive interview with president trump that will air at 10:00 tonight where she asked him what he first talked about yesterday morning when the president said that soleimani was "looking to blow up our embassy." listen here. >> john the american people have a right to know specifically what was targeted without revealing methods and sources? >> i don't think so, but we will tell you that it was probably going to be the embassy in baghdad. >> did he have large scale attacks planned for other embassies? and if those were planned, why can't we reveal that to the american people? would that not help your case? >> i can reveal that i think it would've been four

national security correspondent jennifer griffin has the latest from the pentagon. trey yingst is live on the ground in baghdad. first of john roberts on the north on with the latest. >> good afternoon. president trump holding off on any military retaliation against iran for the missile strike last night. the fact that there were no u.s. casualties among the missiles that landed at the al-assad airbase and in erbil gives the president to try to ease tensions rather than escalate the confrontation. the president making it clear as he walked up to the podium surrounded by military brass and his national security team this morning that as long as he's president, iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. he also called on america's european allies along with trigger with russia and china. to pursue a more comprehensive deal and says he will push nato to get more involved. >> the time has come for the united kingdom, germany, france, russia and china to recognize this reality. we must all work together toward making a deal with iran that makes the world a safe

national security correspondent jennifer griffin live at the pentagon with what may have happened, jennifer. >> harris, we spoke to a senior pentagon official who has seen the latest intelligence. the latest u.s. intelligence on the downing of that plane. into u.s. intelligence agency now increasingly believes that that ukrainian plane that crashed as you mention, just a few hours after the missile strike on the basis in iraq, that it was brought down by a russian-made air defense system that was being deployed by the iranians. they believe that this was a mistake, obviously. but they are looking very closely at the russian defense system, which is known as an essay 15. a mobile launch missile system designed to protect and defend against incoming missiles. obviously the iranians would have turned a system on if they were worried about retaliation from the u.s. in the wake of those missile strikes on the basis where the americans were in iraq. again, this is a single source at this point, but with the latest intelligence the just thing they increasingly believe that that plane was brought d

jennifer griffin with the military options from the pentagon. chief white house correspondent john roberts with the president's response. we kick things off with trey yingst live in baghdad. good morning, trey. >> shannon, good evening, and baghdad it is quite after a night of fire jets over helicopters over baghdad green zone. some amazing reporting by lucas and jennifer at the pentan confirming early details as they unfolded. these more than a dozen rockets fired from iranian territory towards the base in western iraq, u.s. forces, al-assad base targeted by those ballistic missiles. we understand four with them failed to appear at all of this ratcheting up tension that has been high in the region after week of exchanges between iranians and trump administration. the ayatollah ruhollah khomeini, and also vowing to respond to the killing of outside of baghdad international airport, hossein salami. the health administration to respond if they do decide, one point of note i would like to note, we will get information this hour of possible a plane

let's bring in once again for national security correspondent, jennifer griffin. spent a lot of time reporting from this region and joins us live from the pentagon with an update this evening, jennifer. what are we learning at 7:41 eastern time? >> martha what we know the defense secretary mark esper him for chairman of the joint chief mark milley have just arrived at the white house. they will be briefing the president meeting in a situation room and they are carrying with them and amount of briefing materials as well as the latest intelligence. we have received a statement from the pentagon, which you have been reading from this evening, suggesting that the pentagon will be carrying out a bomb damage assessment. there were no casualties to report right now from these two strikes on the american bases inside of iraq. we were the first to report that these were crews or short range ballistic missiles fired within side iran at these american bases. we were speaking to u.s. officials, military sources on the ground in iraq during the attacks. things have quieted down

jennifer griffin reporting live from the pentagon. good afternoon, jennifer. >> hi, bret.learned that defense secretary mark esper's chief of staff is leaving the pentagon in a few weeks. we're told the decision does not have to do with middle east tensions or policy differences. he will be replaced by the minority staff director, jen stewart, who has worked for max thornberry for several years. she's the first woman to hold this powerful pentagon position. we've learned as you've been reporting that both the defense secretary and joint chiefs chairman general mark milley will be on capitol hill for those closed-door classified briefings to the house and senate to explain the intelligence behind the qassim soleimani strike. the house plans to vote late wednesday on a war powers resolution act as mike emanuel reported to limit the president's military actions in iran, bret. >> bret: jennifer griffin live. breaking news now. senator mitch mcconnell talking about iran. >> permanent injuries inflicted by his terrorists. in iraq and in syria, and beyond, the region felt his evi

we begin with jennifer griffin at the pentagon. jennifer, what can you tell us about the strike? what have we learned? >> dana, in chess terms, the u.s. military took out iran's queen. qassim suleimani was the second most powerful leader in iran serving as the right hand of the ayatollah. he was responsible for exporting the iranian revolution for 40 years. suleimani was a fixture in baghdad making a number of trips to baghdad in recent months. this time the u.s. military was waiting. officials said they had eyes on suleimani as he flew from lebanon to iraq. an armed american drone was waiting after he exited the play and his convoy prepared to leave the airport. he was greeted by the shiite malitia that led the attack on the u.s. base this week. suleimani had become a fixture in baghdad making, as i mentioned, so many trips to baghdad, iraq as they were trying to form a new government. his goal was to push the u.s. out of iraq. he led the shiia iraqi fight against isis in recent years since 2014 forcing the u.s. military to fight alongside and pushes isis out of key iraqi cities

correspondent jennifer griffin has more from the pentagon. >> iranian officials warned iraq about theile strike because tehran did not want to kill iraqi forces. iraqi officials later warned the american military counterparts but by the time the iraq he warning came the american military had already known for hours that iran was planning to launch the missile to strike last night. they even knew the approximate time of the attack, and that warning was not a not a surprise to us. we already knew it was coming. how did the u.s. know? it intercepted chatter through cyberspace and knew when and where the missile strike would come in, they just didn't know the exact magnitude of the strike. according to the senior pentagon official source, the early warning the president referenced in his speech included layers of surveillance that included satellite that can detect the second the missile motor sparks. infrared images that can alert u.s. forces immediately. it's between three and 5 minutes, the flying time to the airbases about 15 minutes. they did not reach their target, crashing's short

new information about casualty is, national security correspondent jennifer griffin tracking it liverom the pentagon. >> the pentagon is still conducting battlefield assessments, bomb damage assessments, the fact that there were no u.s. casualties and no iraqi casualties is good news and allows each side and off ramp now. it is significant that none of iran's proxy forces in iraq fired on u.s. bases, their strike was the equivalent of the u.s. firing tomahawk set desert sites after warning those in harm's way to leave. the iranians are known to have about 2,000 ballistic missiles, they launched 15 ballistic missiles, ten hit al assad air base, one hit erbil and one failed. if the iraqi foreign minister concluded iran took appropriate measures in self-defense, senior officials were launched, we do not seek escalation or war but will defend ourselves against any aggression. it is quiet in iraq right now, i'm told the two waves of strikes were over in about an hour, we were the first to report u.s. military bases came under attack from short range ballistic missiles or cruise missiles f

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we've got notice -- oh, jennifer griffin at the pentagon right now. e reporting all morning on this that of the president. your thoughts? >> sandra, i think what's notable, look at the national security team standing -- they will be standing behind the president. this is a strong, forceful message. what was notable here at the pentagon yesterday, when mark esper, the defense secretary, give his press conference, he did not have general mark milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs, standing next to him. because they did not want to send a military message to iran. right now, i would expect the president to come out and to offer the iranians and off-ramp, to de-escalate this militarily. but he has his national security team there to say what will happen if they don't. back to you. >> president trump: as long as i am president of the united states, iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. good morning. i am pleased to inform you, the american people should be extremely grateful and happy. no americans were harmed in last night's attack by the

bret. >> bret: jennifer griffin at the pentagon, after the iraqi parliament voted to move u.s. troops out of the country we will see what happens there and president trump knocking down one bit in his decision to go after iran's top military leader. chief white house correspondent tonight from the north alon long period of >> a lot of heat from credits who said that to soleimani was a killer, the terrorists are taking him out was the wrong thing to do. if the president trump insists it was the right thing to do to save american lives. >> on the show, president trump defended his decision to take out qassem soleimani saying that soleimani's demise was long past due. >> he should have been taken out a long time ago and we had the shot at it and we took it out. >> despite threats of retaliation from around, the president also insisted that america is safer with soleimani gone. >> we will see what happens in with the responses if any, but you've seen what i said and our response will be. the country is a lot safer. it was >> president trump friday's air strike ordering intelligence

jennifer griffin is breaking this down. >> u.s.nfirms it was russian made f-15 missile that the iranians fired that brought down the ukrainian airliner. absolute tragedy the official told fox news. they screwed up and it is tragic. the canadian prime minister is demanding answers. >> we have intelligence from multiple sources including our allies and our own intelligence. the evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an iranian surface-to-air missile. this may well have been unintentional. reporter: the missile that brought down the plane was fired from an sa 15 gauntlet mobile missile defense launcher. that missile defense system would have been put on alert to defend against a possible u.s. response to the iranian missile strike targeting americans in iraq. the sa-15, other russian made missile systems are programmed to look on to anything metal that looks like a missile. uranium civilian airliner with 176 people on board crashed two minutes after takeoff while still in its ascent. the sa-15 and other air defense systems

no evidence of that as of yet, however. >> trace: jennifer griffin, great insight. thank you. we are waiting to hear from the president. also congressional leaders are set to get briefed on iran. let's bring in chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel live on capitol hill with more. >> the key leaders getting a classified explanation from the trump administration on this recent drone attack by key leaders, the gang of eight, top leadership of the senate, mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer. top leaders of the house, nancy pelosi and kevin mccarthy. and the key figures on the intelligence committees, richard burr and mark warner in the senate and adam schiff and devin nunes in the house. today mcconnell noted top iranian general led a violent campaign in the middle east. >> while they have taken pains to avoid direct conflict, iran's authoritarian regime has shown no compunction about kidnapping, torturing, and killing americans since its earliest days. for iraqis, or fellow iranians for that matter. >> democrats counter saying they don't believe president trump has a plan.

which jennifer griffin reported. >> perspective is important.or threat to us unless they are a proxy for one of the world powers, whether that be russia or china. those are what we have to keep an eye on, what relations are going on there. let's also keep in mind, franklin roosevelt would have preemptively bonds the japanese had they known that about the text was going to happen on the u.s. democrats have no defensible position saying that make america safer was a bad thing. too many suburban voters, as we get closer to 2020 -- particularly suburban women -- they will look at this and say, "why were they not trying to protect americans," >> sandra: these were live images on the streets of tehran this morning. >> there's no doubt the iranian people are extremely happy, happy about what's happened. my concern is that, have we not undermined the growing anti-iranian sentiment that was building up in iraq? there were anti-uranian protests every day in that country, and there were anti-iranian government protests within iran. this killing has, for th

jennifer griffin and i first reported back in july 2015, 10 days after the iran nuclear deal, he made a trip to moscow in violation of sanctions to meet vladimir putin and top officials the plan russia and iran's deployments to syria to shore up the assad regime. making for a de facto alliance with the u.s. military. but now ice is largely is defeated and iran has launched 11 rocket attacks on u.s. forces in iraq since late october, trying to push them out of the country once again. until last night, the leader of the top has below , 25 of his iranian-backed proxies were killed by u.s. jet sunday. he was photographed alongside other leaders outside the u.s. embassy in baghdad earlier. also, graffiti on the compound said, "soleimani is our leader." officials here say not anymore. they planned a bombing two days after the beirut bombing. iran's supreme leader has already named a replacement for soleimani. we'll wait to see what his next steps will be, leland. >> leland: the israelis have been tracking soleimani for a long time. lucas tomlinson come a long night and long day ahead of you

our very own jennifer griffin tonight. jennifer, you reported very early that this was happening, all credit to you. what are you hearing? i am hearing, thankfully so far, no casualties confirmed, and may be a lot of missed targets. >> that's right, sean. in fact, i'm hearing that it is not quite in iraq. officials on the ground tell me that the missile strikes have stopped the two waves of missiles happened about an hour apart starting about 5:30 tonight. you are seeing images come out from the hometown of soleimani. they are laying him to rest. they had to stop that earlier because of a stampede that killed thousands of iranians. u.s. officials mentioned that there are no u.s. casualties as a result of these missile strikes. we were the first to report that u.s. military bases came under attack from cruise missiles fired from inside iran. here's the statement issued by jonathan hoffman. at approximately 5:30 p.m. eastern standard time on januare than a dozen missiles against u.s. military in iraq. it is clear that these m

look at this clip from an interview with the chief of staff of the army in 2015 with jennifer griffin. >> we have to be careful. he has been exporting malign activities throughout the middle east for some time now. he is absolutely responsible for killing many americans. i would say the last two years the majority of our casualties came from his surrogates, not al qaeda. that is concerning to me. and what are they after? what are their ends? we are not flying missions by the air force, we are flying missions in support of the isf. >> we have new pictures of the aftermath of the airstrike in baghdad, these images coming from the associated press, reportedly showing what has happened, what is left in the aftermath, fire and destruction you can see, the pentagon has taken responsibility to explain what was behind the commander-in-chief's decision to launch this airstrike. this is what we are seeing in the aftermath, a much different time over there and susan the sun will be coming up and it will be interesting to see what the reaction is overseas. there are many divisions that will feel

a spin on the latest assessment according to jennifer griffin at the pentagon from the pentagon is thatical decision taken in tehran not to kill any americans when you talk about the firepower missiles they use. we will move on, now questions about the cause of a fiery plane crash outside of tehran, killing all 176 people on board. that jet went down just after iran's air strike inside iraq. now iran is freezing out the united states when it comes to the investigation. they are not giving up the black boxes. a live report next. ♪ newday has extended their call center hours to help every veteran refinance their mortgage at these near record low rates. one call can save you $2000 every year. ♪ >> harris: white brought down a passenger jet in iran minutes after takeoff? carrying 176 people, came the same day that iran fired missiles in iraq. no one is saying there is a connection, the timing is being looked at. analyst telling the bbc that the airplane was heavily fragmented which means there was an intense impact on the ground or something happen in the sky. dan springer following all of

national correspondent jennifer griffin live at the pentagon with this issue, jennifer. >> dana now whate reconstruction of the incident by the apn "new york times" who pieced together publicly available videos, many shot on a rainy and resident's cell phone and security videos, to missiles filed about 20 seconds apart bue plane caught fire and attempted to turn around before crashing. for the first time as you mentioned, iran top diplomat who negotiated the nuclear deal had a shocking admission. >> the last few nights, we have had people in disputes. demonstrating against the fact that they were lied to for a couple of days. >> lied to by iran revolutionary guard corps. iran president and a rare cabinet meeting had a message for europe. >> today the american soldier is in danger. tomorrow the european soldier could be in danger. let's correct the security. we do not want insecurity in the world. we want you to leave this region, but not with war. we want you to go wisely. it is to your own benefit. >> saw a not so veiled threat in germany triggered this security mechanism of the defunct

national security correspondent jennifer griffin has been on this all day from the pentagon. it has the latest. good evening. >> good evening, bret. u.s. officials i've spoken to say it's likely a mistake, absolute tragedy one official told me. they just screwed up and it's tragic. >> a senior u.s. official confirms it's a russian-made saa-15 missile that the iranians fired that brought down the ukrainian civilian airliner. this cell phone video obtained by "the new york times" shows the point of impact. 176 killed in the crash including 63 canadians. >> we have intelligence from multiple sources including our allies and our own intelligence, the evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an iranian surface-to-air missile. >> of the missile defense system would've put on alert to defend against a possible u.s. response to the iranian missile strike targeting americans in iraq. >> not our missile. somebody could've made a mistake. i don't think that is even a question. >> the sa-15 can some essentially track ten target out once and shoot down planes more than 3 miles i

my colleague jennifer griffin and i reported in 2015 that general soleimani had flown to moscow to meet with vladimir putin before russian forces entered syria to a great extent. they already had it but to shore up the assad regime, they sent dozens of fighter jets, thousands of troops, and soleimani is part of that because the iranians and the russians supported the assad regime. so the fact that he appears to have been taken out tonight is a major win for the u.s. military and the families and the hundreds of the soldiers killed at soleimani's hands and his hands of his mefrj. >> thank you for that. both have been in the military and served our nation, both understand this situation. congressman, your reaction to the report we just heard? >> well, you know, i want to address the notion that iran is trying to put on an international community and frankly men are espousing in washington that everything was fine under the the iran deal once president obama entered that deal. that was absolutely not the case. soleimani at the direction of the ayatollah, reporting directly to him was killi

national security correspondent jennifer griffin has the latest from the pentagon. >> u.s. officials say speak of he warned that iraq ahead of the missile strike because tehran did not want to kill iraqi forces. the iraqis in turn warned there american military, parts, but the american military had already known for hours that iran was planning to launch the missile strike by intercepting chatter. the second the missile motor sparks, infrared images that alert u.s. forces immediately. >> we suffered no casualties. all of our soldiers are safe and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases. >> the chairman of the joy chief believes that americans wanted to kill americans. >> they destroyed equipment and aircraft and to kill personnel. >> they opted out of a military response but delivered a message to iran and nato flanked by his military chiefs hinted that the u.s. would like to eventually leave the middle east. >> i'm going to ask nato to become much more involved in the middle east process. over the last three years under my leadership, our economy is stronge

jennifer griffin live at the pentagon. >> trace, the white house secretary of state mike pompeo became highest ranking u.s. official in the administration to blame iran directly for shooting down the ukrainian airliner killing all 176 on board. >> we do believe that it is likely that that plane was shot down by an iranian missile. we will let the investigation play out before we make a final determination. it is important that we get to the bottom of it. >> iranian officials continuing to deny that they shot down the plane with a surface-to-air missile. iran's ambassador to the u.k. said it was a tragic accident, but not their fault. >> so we are in fact confident from our side that there was no missile launched in the area at the time. >> iran has invited boeing investigators and representatives from countries whose citizens were killed in the crash to come to tehran and aid the investigation. canada had 63 citizens on board the plane after days of chaos, iran secured their brief field. there are indications the investigation has already been hampered. much of the wreckage has been re

first though, to jennifer griffin with the latest on that. >> a senior u.s. official tells me that the latest u.s. intelligence confirms it was a russian-made is a 15 missile that iranians fired that brought dowdown the ukrainian civilian airliner. an absolute tragedy, the official told fox news. they just screwed up and it's tragic. we reported earlier that pentagon officials increasingly believed having reviewed the latest intelligence analysis that iran shot down the airliner by mistake using one of the s15 gauntlet mobile defense launchers in their arsenal. that missile defense launcher would have likely been put on alert to defend the u.s. possible response to the iranian missile strike on americans in iraq. speak to somebody could have mistake on the other side. it was flying, not our system, it has nothing to do with us. it was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood and someone could have made a mistake. some people say it was mechanical but i personally don't think that's even a question, personally. >> the as a 15 and other russian-made missile system

jennifer griffin has more from the pentagon. what does that mean, exactly?t appears that that is for domestic consumption, but there has been a shift in messaging from the trump administration about whether the u.s. believes that they were intentionally trying to avoid killing americans in those missile strikes two year -- two nights . >> there is no doubt in my mind that they were intending to kill americans. >> originally officials told us that they believe to the iranians warned the americans through the iraqis and also basically were pounding sand. now the shift began when the u.s. military's top officer after seeing the latest battle damage assessment told reporters here at the pentagon late yesterday and early warning system tipped off american forces about the missile strike, sending u.s. troops to shelters that saved lives. but mark milley went on to say, make no mistake, the goal was to avenge qassim soleimani and kill american troops. >> i believe based on what i saw and what i know is that they were intending to cause structural damage and destroy

you for being here, we will bring it to the couch in a second but first, let's get right to jennifer griffin at the pentagon. >> defense secretary mark esper telegraphed this drone strike when he warned the u.s. was prepared to order preemptive strikes to protect americans. "the game has changed," he told reporters at the pentagon. >> we've had around sponsored militia groups attacking u.s. forces now for several months, culminated in the death of americans last week and the wounding of several soldiers. there is obviously crossed line for us. >> the restraint president trump had shown was important and it's now the time we need to take action to restore deterrence. >> soleimani had become a fixture in baghdad, as a rack try to form a new government. his goal has always been to push the u.s. military out of iraq. he led the iraqi fight against isis, forcing the u.s. military at times to fight alongside and even fly air cover for his forces to push isis out of key are iraqi cities. during the surge, soleimani perfected the use of explosive penetrators that slice through american armor with de

our jennifer griffin report that they are fired from iranian territory, multiple bases including thebase in anbar. what are your thoughts about that. >>> our prayers extend to american and american women. this is not unexpected, iranians warning about a response to the killing of soleimani. we'll have to see where this goes. i urge folks, i urge my colleagues to take a moment, remain calm. let's see how this unfolds. as lou dobbs indicated, the details are going to matter here as we go through this fog of war moment in real time. melissa: you mentioned that we had been expecting a response from iran. this was a logical target, even though obviously it's a very big one. do you have any information as to whether we had evacuated personnel from there or what kind of defense is in place? >> i don't have any real time information along those lines. other than to know our men and women are trained to respond to this we will make sure that they are always given resources to protect themselves and defend themselves. we'll see where this goes. in this moment in time, you know, this is somethi

jennifer griffin has the latest from the pentagon. >> the pentagon is not issuing any statements on thebut a senior u.s. official confirms to me that it was a russian-made essay 15 missile that the irradiance fire that brought down the ukrainian civilian airliner. an absolute tragedy the official told fox news. the official screwed up and it's tragic. the canadian prime minister is demanding answers. >> intelligence from multiple sources including our allies and our own intelligence -- the intelligence indicates that the plan was shot down by an iranian surface-to-air missile. this may very well have been unintentional. >> the missile that brought down the plane was fired from an essay 15 gauntlet mobile missile defense launcher. at missile defense system would have likely been put on alert to defend against a possible u.s. response to the iranian missile strike targeting americans in iraq. the essay 15 and other russian-made missile are programmed to lock on to . the ukrainian airliner with 176 people on board crashed after takeoff while still in its ascent. it could have easily been m

take a look at the clip with an interview from the chief of staff with our own jennifer griffin. >> i think that we have to be careful. and i qassim soleimani is the one who has been exporting the activities throughout the middle east for some time now. his absolutely responsible for killing many americans. i would say the last two years i was there, the majority of deaths came from his surrogates. not sunni or al qaeda. so obviously, that is concerning to me. and what are they after, what are their ends? now i believe that we are not supporting qassim soleimani by the air force. we are finding only missions in support of the isf. >> shannon: now coming in, we have some new pictures of the aftermath of the air strike in baghdad. coming in from the associated press. they were reportedly showing what has happened and what was left from the aftermath. fires burning, the destruction you can see. the pentagon tonight has taken full responsibility and explained what was behind the commander-in-chief's decision to launch this air strike taking out general soleimani. this is the aftermath the

i want to go to our national correspondent jennifer griffin who was the first to break this news thatndeed the u.s. was under attack in iraq earlier this evening. jennifer, what can you tell us as we learn about a second round. >> what we were the first to report is u.s. military bases came under attack from short-range ballistic missiles or cruise missiles fired from inside iran. that's a bit of a game changer. they were not the rockets reported earlier. these were fires from the iranian revolutionary guard corps from inside iran. here is the statement. at approximately 5:30 -- p.m. iran launched a dozen ballistic missiles against the u.s. military and coalition forces in iraq at two military bases at al asad and erbil. we are working on initial battle damage assessment. i spoke to a senior official. under missile attack from iran. these are cruise missiles are short-range ballistic missiles. among those u.s. bases targeted. al-asad and a base in erbil. the hope of deterring the expects iranian strike. >> what happens next depend on them. i think we should expect they will retaliate

first, national security correspondent jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon with what we know tonight. jennifer, good evening. >> good evening, martha. it's a heartbreaking picture emerging. u.s. officials are calling it a tragic mistake, senior u.s. official confirms it was a russian-made missile that the iranians fire that brought down the ukrainian civilian airliner, killing all 176 people on board with 63 canadians killed among them. canada's prime minister is demanding answers. >> we have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence, the evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by in iranian surface-to-air missile. this may well have been unintentional. >> two missiles are believed to have been fired. the missiles that brought down the plane was fired from the sa15 gauntlet, a mobile missile defense system, likely a batch of 2 29 similar lodges around purchased from russia in 2005 for more than $700 million. that missile defense system would've likely been put on alert to defend against a possible u.s. response to the iranian missile st

fox news security correspondent, jennifer griffin, and former congressman jane harman, director of theson senator. ben, a few key swing republicans like lisa murkowski of alaska, who democrat were counting on to vote their way, to call witnesses, to put them in the majority, 51 votes to get some witnesses say they were offended by those remarks. as we begin week two of the senate trial, is calling witnesses more likely or less likely? >> i think it is less likely, chris, for a lot of different reasons i think that was really a huge error on the part of the house managers. they had been advancing a case i think they made as strongly as they really could but in the end there they resorted to the kind of behavior that i think was more in line with making ads back home as opposed to trying to convince any of those republican senators to come along with them. i think that was a huge error on their part and i think it will allow for a lot of different members to say hey look, this looks even more partisan than they did when it started. they have room here in order to not vote for additional

. >> sandra: jennifer griffin live at the pentagon with the latest on what we are learning now. nifer. >> hi, sandra. we now know more than 1,000 u.s. troops spent harrowing hours underground and bunkers as 11 ballistic missiles hit their base. they did not have a patriot missile battery because those are protecting saudi military bases. while initially the pentagon said no u.s. troops were hurt, we now know some had to be flown out of iraq days later to be screened for potential traumatic brain injury. a senior military official tells me this was done out of an abundance of caution. a spokesman for u.s. forces in the middle east said, "while no u.s. service members were killed in the january 8th iranian attack on al-assad air base, several were treated for concussion symptoms from the blasts and are still being assessed. eight service members were transferred to u.s. medical facility in germany, three went to kuwait. all the service members are expected to return to duty in iraq." the u.s. military has come a long way in its understanding and treatment of head injuries after nea

jennifer griffin is reporting right now that the u.s.ight and that the reports were wrong. is this a development, black swan development that we've got to watch out for? we've had the unexpected developments, lehman out of the blue happened-- seemingly out of the blue and we were not prepared. >> if we knew about them they wouldn't be black swan. neil: a tad condescending. >> sometimes you have to stand up to the host. if we look at 2019, the big issues, neil, china trade and interest rate. going into 2020, those issues, i don't think are going to be quite as big. i think the fed is going to be on the side line for the most part and i think we have phase one for china, we have a shot at phase two and we'll see how that plays out. neil: and you heard lauren, trade is going to dictate a lot of things here. >> i think that the markets will start to react if they're sensing that trump is vulnerable, if something changes. >> when we know who the democratic nominee is, whenever that is, that's when i think the markets could take a dip. >> that

embassy this week and jennifer griffin's interview who oversaw the iraqi surge, talked about soleimaniected the use of ex explosive foreign penetrate ors which sliced through an american armor with devastating effect. >> qassem soleimani is the one whose been exporting activities throughout the middle east for some time now, he is absolutely responsible for killing many americans in fact i'd say the last two years i was there the majority of our casualties came from his surrogates, not sunni or al qaeda. >> soleimani didn't just threaten the u.s. troops in the middle east. you'll recall back in 2011 neil that he tried to orchestrate an assassination attempt of the saudi ambassador in washington d.c. and tried to kill him outside a restaurant in georgetown. soleimani himself was not present in the united states but the obama administration sanctioned him in fact he was sanctioned by 2005 but the force was later sanctioned during the trump adminitration. so, right now. there are 5,000 american troops stationed in iraq and many of iraqs parliament are calling for the 5,000 troops to leave

reporter: neil, the big news today that pentagon officials telling our fox's jennifer griffin at thebelieve iran mistakenly shot down the commercial jet minutes after takeoff. the air to surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, excuse me, were on high alert just four hours after iran fired missile into iraq airbases. that increasingly believe iran shot down this airliner. for its part iran has released a initial report which leaves more questions, frankly than answers. it says the plane's two black boxes were recovered but they were damaged to the point that some information was lost. it confirmed that pilots did not put a distress call but attempted to turn the plane around to land at tehran airport. that was impossible because the plane was engulfed in flames before the crash. iran said it was cause of engine fire. investigators are looking at multiple scenarios including anti-aircraft missile. the plane was headed to kiev, where president zelensky added to a growing memorial. >> translator: we will surely find out the truth. for this purpose, a thorough, independent investigate

jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon with more. jennifer? secretary treachery steve mnuchin that despite his new sanctions the u.s. will authorize waivers for any american citizens who need to travel to iran as part of the investigation into the plane crash. they also just heard on the record for the first time from an american official confirming the u.s. and believes iran is responsible for the downing of the billing jet >> we do believe it's likely that plane was shot down by an iranian missile. we are going to let the investigation play out before we make a final determination. it's important we get to the bottom of it. >> iranian officials continued to deny, as you mention, that they shot on the plane with a surface-to-air missile. iran's ambassador to the u.k. said it was a tragic accident, but not their fault. >> we are in fact confident from outside that there has been no missile launched in that area at that time. >> they have invited boeing investigators and representatives from countries who citizens were killed in the crash to co

first to national security correspondent jennifer griffin come alive at the pentagon for us this morningrning, sandra. secretary of state pompeii was under continued pressure to prove there was significant justification to order the killing of qassem soleimani. in his press briefing moments ago, he did in providing new evidence that it was imminent come of it talks iran's involvement in afghanistan and support for the taliban's network, which is baffling and an exaggeration at best given that pakistan is well known to be the main force backing that network. pompeo also scoffed that any notion that soleimani was on a support don't like to panic mission to dog bed. >> anybody believe that? is it remotely possible that this diplomat agreed order, qassem soleimani, had traveled to the baghdad for the idea of conducting a peace mission? soleimani is a propagandist of the first order. >> he was referring to iran's foreign minister, the u.s. is refusing to give him a visa to visit for an upcoming security council meeting. the u.n. is on high alert now that soleimani's mourning period is coming