forgive me if your head is spending now because this morning it appears it is the president who is trying to ease tensions between the u.s. and iran. according to the "new york times" mr. trump informed patrick shanahan that he does not want to go to war. this comes as the u.s. says it has images of iranian commercial vessels carrying missiles. cnn has not reviewed the intelligence which has led to this assessment. the government has yet to provide further evidence of that claim. vermont michaela pereira, acting secretary of defense patrick is that han and general joseph done ford are expected to brief all senators on iran next tuesday. joining me now to discuss iran is the president of the council on foreign relations also the author of a great book "a world in disarray" a fitting head line it seems. ambassador, thanks for taking this time this morning. >> good morning, jim. >> the president telling his defense secretary he doesn't want to go to far with iran, calm things down. a couple weeks ago the u.s. was