Is Trump running out of options to end his so-called 'excursion' in Iran?

0:01 and Israeli war on Iran is now in its 11th week.

0:04 In interviews that aired over the weekend,

0:06 the leaders of both countries made it absolutely clear the war is not over.

0:12 On Iran, would you say the war is over?

0:15 Is it paused, or is it very much active?

0:18 DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States, Well, they're militarily defeated.

0:22 In their own minds, maybe they don't know that.

0:24 But I think they do, because I deal with them.

0:27 And we cannot ever let Iran have a nuclear weapon,

0:32 but they are militarily defeated.

0:34 JUDY WOODRUFF.

0:35 WOODRUFF.

0:36 WOODRUFF.

0:36 the combat operations are over and done.

0:39 the combat operations are over and done.

0:39 WOODRUFF.

0:45 I said they are defeated, but that doesn't mean Is the war with Iran over?

0:47 And if it isn't, who will decide when it is?

0:51 I think I THINK IT ACCOMPLISHED A GREAT DEAL,

0:53 BUT IT'S NOT OVER BECAUSE THERE'S STILL NUCLEAR MATERIAL,

0:56 ENRICHED URANIUM THAT HAS TO BE TAKEN OUT OF IRAN.

1:00 THERE'S STILL ENRICHMENT SITES THAT HAVE TO BE

1:04 THERE ARE STILL PROXIES THAT IRAN SUPPORTS,

1:07 THEIR BALLISTIC MISSILES THAT THEY STILL WANT TO PRODUCE.

1:11 NOW WE'VE DEGRADED A LOT OF IT, BUT ALL OF THAT IS STILL there.

1:15 And there's work to be done.

1:18 Now, that's particularly significant because we are now almost two weeks past

1:23 the 60-day mark that would require Trump to get approval from Congress.

1:28 But several Trump officials, including the Secretary of Defense Pete Hexith,

1:32 have said they don't need approval because Operation Epic Fury was over.

1:36 So at this moment, the administration's position on whether

1:40 the war is still happening is actually unclear.

1:44 On Sunday, Trump called Iran's latest peace offer totally unacceptable.

1:48 And today, Trump called it a piece of garbage

1:50 and said the ceasefire between the U .S.

1:53 and Iran is on life support.

1:54 According to Iran's state media, Tehran is demanding the U .S.

1:58 pay war reparations, recognize Iran's sovereignty over the Strait

2:02 of Hormuz and end sanctions against Iran.

2:05 State media also reported that Iran's new supreme leader issued new directives,

2:10 quote, for the continuation of operations

2:12 and the powerful confrontation with the enemies.

2:16 And with that, let's bring in our lead off panel,

2:19 Michael Schnell, MSNOW congressional reporter Peter Baker,

2:21 chief White House correspondent for the New

2:23 York Times and retired four-star U .S.

2:26 Army General Barry McCaffrey, decorated combat veteran of Vietnam and a former

2:31 battlefield commander in the Persian GOLF.

2:33 IT'S GREAT TO HAVE ALL OF YOU WITH US.

2:35 GENERAL, LET ME START WITH YOU AND THE BLUSTER WE'RE HEARING COME OUT OF IRAN.

2:38 IT SOUNDS VERY CONFIDENT.

2:41 THEY HAVE BEEN REFERRING TO THEMSELVES AS A global superpower lately.

2:45 What does that tell you about their stance as this stalemate drags

2:49 on, and whether or not they feel they have the strategic upper hand?

2:55 Yeah, well, I was actually surprised by the direct confrontation with Mr.

3:01 Trump by the Iranians.

3:03 It's just astonishing.

3:03 They stuck it right in his eye.

3:05 I think they have concluded correctly, I might add,

3:09 that although we've hit them with 13 ,000 airstrikes

3:13 and devastate a lot of their conventional military forces,

3:17 that their ability to control the Hormuz traits,

3:20 which cannot be rectified by airpower alone,

3:24 and their tenacious grasp of their own

3:28 nuclear development program is worth writing out

3:32 the next three months or so to increase

3:35 the economic and political disaster that Mr.

3:38 Trump finds himself in.

3:40 It's a very dismal state of affairs.

3:43 I can't imagine that this goes much more than

3:46 three months or so just from of the economic consequences.

3:51 But the Iranians clearly think they've got the upper hand here.

3:54 So, General, just to follow up on that, from a military perspective,

3:59 short of a full-on American AMERICAN INVASION COMPARED TO LET'S SAY 2003

4:04 IRAQ WAR WHERE WE HAVE BOOTS ON THE GROUND IN SUBSTANTIAL MANNER

4:08 TO TRY TO TAKE OVER LARGE PARTS OF THAT COUNTRY MAYBE ALONG

4:11 THE COAST OR DEEPER INTO THE CAPITAL OF TEHRAN TO COLLAPSE THE REGIME,

4:16 SHORT OF THAT AND SHORT OF GOING AFTER

4:18 WHAT THE PRESIDENT HAS THREATENED IN THE PAST,

4:20 POTENTIAL CRIMES OR were international

4:22 war crimes going after civilian infrastructure,

4:25 power plants, energy resources that could ignite the region.

4:28 What military options does the United States

4:31 have to escalate against the Iranian regime?

4:35 It beats me.

4:36 You know, at the end of the day, we have some ground troops in the area.

4:41 The marines could use their two battalions to seize

4:43 three of the islands at the mouth of the STRAITS,

4:48 WHAT THAT WOULD ACCOMPLISH IS NOT CLEAR BECAUSE

4:50 AT THE END OF THE DAY WHAT YOU'RE DEALING

4:53 WITH A COUPLE OF THOUSAND SHIPS STRANDED IN THE GULF

4:56 OR IN IRANIAN PORTS AND THEY they're slow-moving targets.

5:01 It's a restricted waterway.

5:02 It's only 20 miles across.

5:04 It's shallow.

5:05 You can't find mini submarines or mines easily in that strait.

5:10 And then if you're trying to go deeper in the Gulf,

5:13 like 150-some-odd miles up to Karg Island,

5:18 the 82nd Airborne could parachute onto the island

5:21 and seize it in a bloody tactical fight.

5:24 But at the end of the day, what does that accomplish?

5:27 So I think the disconnect between diplomacy and military power is profound.

5:34 We've got to find a way to talk to these people.

5:37 out of public.

5:37 Mr.

5:38 Trump is killing his negotiators.

5:41 You cannot demean and offend the IRGC in public

5:45 and then expect to get something from them in private, Bill.

5:49 We've got a problem.

5:50 We've got to lead with negotiations.

5:53 So, Peter, it seems that the president is not

5:56 only just going frustrated with how the negotiations are going.

5:58 He seems to have turned his ire on leaks coming out of the administration.

6:03 The Wall Street Journal is

6:04 reporting that, according to administration officials,

6:07 Trump has actually complained about those leaks

6:09 to the media involving the Iran war,

6:11 which in turn has led to aggressive DOJ investigations THE D .O .J.

6:19 RESPONDED THAT IT IS FOLLOWING THE FACTS AND APPLIES

6:22 TO THE LAW TO IDENTIFY THOSE WHO ARE COMMITTING CRIMES,

6:25 AND THERE IS AN IRONY IN ALL OF THIS BECAUSE IT WAS LITERALLY

6:27 ON THIS day in 1973 that a judge dismissed the Pentagon Papers case,

6:31 citing government misconduct.

6:33 And it's probably not lost on a lot of people that it's not good

6:36 for the president to force comparisons between

6:39 this war and the Vietnam not more.

6:42 No, of course not.

6:43 But that's not something President Trump focuses on.

6:46 What he focuses on is his, as you said, ire at these leaks.

6:50 He's not the first president to be offended by, you know, leaks,

6:53 especially in a time of war, especially with regard to national security.

6:57 But these are not leaks that are in any way dangerous to troops.

7:01 Nobody's leaking out specific troop positions or, you know,

7:05 future operation plans.

7:06 These are stories that just offend him because

7:08 they say things he doesn't want people to know,

7:11 which is that the war has not been the unvarnished success that he says it is,

7:14 and that There are challenges, in fact, awaiting him.

7:18 We've seen really good reporting by some

7:20 of our colleagues in the last few weeks about

7:22 intelligence reports showing that something like 70

7:25 to 75 percent of Iran's ballistic missiles remain intact, UNDAMAGED BY THIS WAR.

7:30 WE'VE SEEN INTELLIGENCE REPORTS CITED IN THE MEDIA

7:33 SUGGESTING THAT IRAN COULD LAST MONTHS,

7:35 DESPITE THE ECONOMIC AND MILITARY PRESSURE THAT IT'S

7:39 BEEN UNDER IN THESE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS,

7:41 WHICH IS ALL IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO EVALUATE

7:44 HOW THIS WAR WILL PROCEED OR SHOULD PROCEED,

7:46 AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR THE PUBLIC

7:48 TO UNDERSTAND WHAT'S BEING DONE IN ITS NAME.

7:51 SO, YES, HE IS, IN FACT, USING THE PRESSURE OF GOVERNMENT TO TRY TO to squeeze,

7:54 you know, squeeze information out of the public sphere.

7:58 But I think reporters are going to do what reporters do.

8:01 Yeah, and Michael, there's a really important part in all of this, which

8:04 is the language being used to describe what is exactly happening Today,

8:07 we heard Trump use another euphemism for this war.

8:10 Let's take a listen and I'll get your reaction to it.

8:15 We had to make an excursion to the beautiful country of Iran.

8:19 We didn't want WE WANT TO LET THEM HAVE

8:21 A NUCLEAR WEAPON AND WE MADE THE RIGHT DECISION

8:24 AND WE'VE GOT IT PRETTY GOOD AND THOSE PRICES ARE

8:26 GOING TO COME CRASHING DOWN AS SOON AS THAT'S OVER.

8:29 WE'LL GET TAKEN CARE OF, WE'VE GOT TO TAKE

8:31 CARE OF WE'LL GET TO THE PRICES IN A MOMENT,

8:35 BUT YOU HEARD HIM THERE SAYING IT'S AN EXCURSION NOW.

8:38 HE'S CALLED IT A JOURNEY.

8:39 HE'S CALLED IT A SCRIMISH.

8:41 BUT HE SAID IT OVER THE WEEKEND CLEARLY THAT THE WAR War is not over,

8:45 and now we are past this threshold for the War Powers Act.

8:49 Is there any real appetite in Congress from the sources you've been

8:54 speaking to or what you're hearing

8:56 from your CONTACTS AND CERTAINLY AMONG REPUBLICANS,

8:59 WHETHER THEY WANT TO TRY TO REIGN THIS IN.

9:03 NOT A CRITICAL MASS, EAMON.

9:05 I MEAN, LOOK, THERE HAVE BEEN THE FEW REPUBLICANS HERE AND THERE,

9:08 MORE OF THE MODERATE figures,

9:09 some folks who may be retiring at the end of their terms,

9:12 who have said that they've had enough of the war and that they want to move on.

9:16 They at least want to follow the War Powers Act of 1973

9:19 to a T and want the president to come and get that authorization,

9:22 want him to come for a firm declaration of war.

9:25 But it hasn't been enough to actually move the needle on Capitol Hill.

9:28 And there are folks who are recognizing,

9:31 Republicans who are recognizing that it may

9:33 not be worth putting their political capital

9:35 in because the writing is on the wall for example i was talking to senator tom

9:40 tillis the retiring republican from north carolina

9:42 just this evening at the capitol and he

9:45 was somebody who sort of had been inching

9:47 towards maybe voting for a War Powers resolution, maybe voting for an AUMF.

9:52 But he kind of laid it out for the reporters there at the Capitol

9:54 and said that he needs to figure out carefully how he wants to move forward.

9:58 Because even if this is able to squeak through the House,

10:01 even if it's able to squeak through the Senate,

10:03 an AUMF, a War Powers resolution, what have you.

10:06 Which, by the way, unlikely it can move through the Senate,

10:08 pass through the Senate.

10:09 President Trump is more than likely to veto the legislation and then it would

10:13 be sent back to Congress and require

10:15 a two-thirds majority to override that veto,

10:17 which is virtually impossible given the makeup

10:20 of the Republican conference right now.

10:22 So even though you have those voices here and there,

10:25 it's certainly not a critical mass.

10:27 And even some of those figures who may be the ones

10:29 to cross the aisle and vote for something against this war,

10:32 they're recognizing it may not just be worth it to take that snap vote because

10:37 of the fact that it was going to be a failure at the end regardless.