Robust military punch in reaction to the shootdown of the drone. And then suddenly pulling back at the very last second. Also interesting to note that the New York Times suggested in that report that the administration did not ask the newspaper to hold out hold off on putting that information out which suggests, perhaps, that the administration essentially wanted that information to go open source. But we have seen again and again from the administration now is some dual track messaging coming from here, coming from the defense department, coming from the state department. And the question, of course, is why. The president on the one hand has down play ed from time to time the provocative actions of iran iran. Suggesting youll have to see what happens. This is very much a trump style mark. But the question is will this be able to get iran to the table so sort of cut off all the drama at this stage . What we do know is there have been other actions in the gulf which are concerning. Including the federal Aviation Administration telling u. S. Planes to stay out of the area. And that, of course, because of the back and forth between the United States and iran. Back to you, alisyn. Thank you for all of that breaking from the white house. Well come back to you whenever you have anything. Iran state Television Just aired images of what it claims is debris of the downed u. S. Surveillance plane. And Frederik Pleitgen is live in tehran, iran, with more for us. Fred . Reporter yeah. These images just coming into us. The iranians claim these are parts of a drone that was shot down. They of course from the beginning claimed that the debris from that plane landed in their territory waters because it was shot down over Territorial Air space and the retrieved it from the persian gulf area. Look at these debrises. One of the things the u. S. Said was it was flying at an extremely high altitude. These small piece of debris indicate this drone probably did fall from a very high altitude. If you look at some of it, ive actually seen the global hawk drones up close. You look at some of the debris were seeing here, a lot of it seems to be possibly outer shell of the body of the fuselage of that aircraft. Just a few little pieces of what might be some of the electronics on that aircraft. Of course as you mentioned there is that diverging narrative between the u. S. And iran. The iranians literally just got some more information a couple of minutes ago. An air defense official from iran said there were several warnings radioed to this aircraft. They claim that the last one was radioed to the drone at 3 55 local time a. M. The iranians say they shot it down at 4 05. That would have been ten minutes before the aircraft was actually shut down. Iranians are saying all this happened over International Air space as that dispute continues on. The iranians, by the way, guys, not commenting yet on that New York Times article that apparently a strike on iran was imminent. One of the things theyve been telling us over the past couple of days. If the u. S. Does strike, there will be a painful response from the iranians. Just extra info to johns point, we heard that a few International Airlines are already diverting their routes to not fly over the persian gulf area. Thank you very much for all of that news. Joining us now john kirby and Abby Phillips and retired army general james spider marks. Let me read again what the New York Times is reporting this morning. Here is the heart of the matter. As late as 7 00 p. M. Last night, military and diplomatic officials were expecting a strike. The operation was underway in its early stages when it was called off. Planes were in the air and ships were in position. The strike was set to take place just before dawn friday in iran to minimize risk to the Iranian Military and civilians. But the strike was then off at least temporarily. What are you hearing . What fred just reported i think is really significant. He indicated that the iranian systems lit up. That the United States could then intercept that activity relative to the drone which tells you our intelligence collection is robust in that part of the world. I dont know this, but its not unusual for the United States to conduct operations, get the intended target to light up. Then you can identify whats abhorrent and whats different. Then go back and adjust the plan. And we still reserve the right to conduct that operation with some modifications. Youre suggesting its possible that the goal here was a show of force, was to show the iranians that we could do this, that this could happen . Or just intel gathering . Well, those two together. Exactly right. You show force in some type of a provocative way. Intelligence lights up and you overlay what you think it should be. Now you see what it is. Adjust your plan. Admiral, what do you read from this . Again, as of 7 00 p. M. Last night, the planes were in the air, the ships were in position. This operation was underway. Then the president called it off. Yeah, so clearly they were intending to strike. No question about that. You know, we had had reports here in washington that people were coming back to the pentagon and staffing the offices. This was a serious strike that was definitely in the works. I dont know why the president called it off. But frankly im glad he did. Hell get criticized for that. But now he has created space for himself he didnt have yesterday to try to figure out what the next step is here. Abby, what do we know about the president s feelings about this versus the secretary of states feelings about this versus advisers feelings about this . I think we do need to know more on why this was called off. Its going to matter. Whether or not this was a strategic or tactical matter or whether it was a decision the president made because he changed his mind essentially about what he wanted to do here. But inside the white house, there has been for quite some time an effort to convince the president that a more aggressive stance on ooimiran is necessary. That everything iran has done if the last few weeks. Including the oil tanker the last week, it warrants some kind of response. And hes been getting that feedback from his closest National Security advisers. But also on capitol hill. One of his closest lawmaker advisers senator Lindsey Graham has been giving him that advice. But the president is hesitant to do that. He is concerned about this escalating beyond what hes willing to execute. Hes not really that interested in some kind of military action. She just wants to get to the negotiating table even though i think a lot of people think that seems unlikely hes going to be able to get iran back to that table after he pulled out of the iran nuclear deal. So look. I think this is theres legitimately inside the white house an effort to try to find a strategy that is not going to escalate thing thing beyond what the president is willing to stomach. Its not clear that they determined what that was last night. Or it sounds like there is a possibility that this could be part of an effort to give the president a little bit more space, issue a warning, and then he still reserves the right to do something in the future whether its in the near future or further down the road. Again, we are pressing the white house for some kind of response or explanation as to what happened. General, what would the likely targets be here for a strike like this . And how logistically complicated is it or what are the logistics for turning Something Like this around . To turn it around is simply stop what youre doing. Reverse course. Everybody shut down your systems. You still put folks at risk. When folks are in aircraft, when folks are deployed in the water. Youve got to be cautious about how you go from an offensive posture to defensive posture. Forced protection is always rule number one. The very specific target would be in my mind the recommendation would be go against that firing battery that conducted the attack against the drone. Very, very precisely but simultaneously turn off all your own systems so you dont project a very aggressive posture to the iranians. Because theyre looking at what youre doing. Make it look like a limited strike while youre doing pit. Make it limited and ensure theres no misunderstanding. And admiral, how often does that happen . Stop the presses, shut it down, turn this around order come from the white house . Very rare. I mean, cant speak for this particular administration, but administrations ive served under in the past, thats a very rare thing fop ha. To have it go that far of nearly having missiles launched and pull it back. But no missiles were launched. Yeah. They were armed and ready. Then pull them back at the brink of execution is an extremely rare thing to do. The generals right. It is more risky to wait until that point to make that decision because theres always miscalculation or delay in communication could cause a problem. Clearly that didnt happen here, but its rare. I think the president should be commended for this for pulling it back and for giving himself a little bit of decision space. As i said, hell get criticized for this. Its not the same thing. And now itll be really interesting to see what they do today and the decisions that they make and the kinds of discussions they have. Because i think abbys right. Theres a great deal of chaos over what the policy is and the strategy for iran. Now they have a little bit of a chance to take a breather and figure that out. The president s language on this, if you listen to the words he said, very specific. He said yesterday it would be different if there were a pilot involved here. He seemed to draw a line there. The minute u. S. Military personnel were specifically targeted. On the other hand, the world is looking at this and some of the language the president has used. Theres a terrific article that says President Trump has sort of a modified version of Theodore Roosevelts walk softly and carry a big stick. Hes adopted a modern version of t roosevelts maxim when it comes to overseas military threats. Speak loudly and carry a small stick or carry a big stick but wave it around without actually using it much. That sums it up perfectly. It becomes problematics in moments like this. You have some using really bombastic language in response to so of these provocations from iran. And its kind of hard to tell if they are using some kind of Good Cop Bad Cop strategy within the administration. Or if this is simply just the president and his advisers being on a different page. I mean, i think that in the administration, theres a feeling that they can do both. That you can talk tough on iran and also have a president whos reluctant to act. But at some point, that dynamic becomes transparent. People start to see that President Trump actually is not that interested in taking action. And what effect does that have . I mean, i think thats really the question that we have right now. Is it detrimental to the United States to have a president who pretty clearly doesnt want to act on his own rhetoric. Does that really just sort of it kind of spoils the game. Everybody knows whats going on. And it diminishes the effectiveness of some kind of good cop, bad cop strategy. Stand by. Were monitoring these developments. Were trying to get an explanation from the white house. We are reporters at the white house as well. Meantime, theres other breaking news this morning. Want to show you some live pictures from philadelphia. Firefighters are battling this huge blaze that has trickered explosions at the Energy Solutions refinery. This is a fire at a refinery. The flame and smoke can be see for miles. The blast could be felt in southern new jersey. No reports of injury. Parts of interstate 76 closed this morning as the morning rush gets underway. Of course well keep following all of the news out of iran. Also back here, theres politics. Joe biden and cory booker hashing out their differences after biden defended working with segregationist senators. Did either of them apologize . What was said on this phone call . Introducing the first of its kind lexus ux and ux f sport, also available in hybrid allwheel drive. Lease the 2019 ux 200 for 329 month for 36 months. 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Here are even more reasons to join tmobile. 1. Do you like netflix . Z tmobile will match your discount. Ok ill admit. I didnt keep my place as clean as i would like cuz im way too busy. Whos got the time to chase around down dirt, dust and hair . So now, i use heavy duty swiffer sweeper and dusters. For hardtoreach places, duster makes it easy to clean. It captures dust in one swipe. Ha gotcha and sweeper heavy duty cloths lock away twice as much dirt and dust. It gets stuff deep in the grooves other tools can miss. Yknow what . My place. Is a lot cleaner now. Stop cleaning. Start swiffering. The breaking news this morning is the major news out of the persian gulf. The president ordered and then called off a military attack on iran. In retaliation for the shootdown of a u. S. Surveillance aircraft. We are trying to get fresh reaction from the white house and the pentagon. Reaction is coming around from all the rest of the world. We will bring it to you as it comes in. First, though, new details this morning about a phone call between former Vice President joe biden and senator cory booker. Biden called booker after booker told cnn that the former Vice President s comments about working with segregationist senators were insulting. Neither man, were told, offered an apology. Listen to how cory booker described, i think, the state of his dialogue with joe biden overnight. And i understood where his intentions were. The fact is its not about me or him. He said things that are hurtful and harmful. I believe he should be apologizing to the American People and having the discussion with all of us. Joe bidens not apologizing to the American People. Nor is he apologizing to cory booker. Where is this situation this morning . I think cory booker is using it effectively to raise his profile in the race. When he said he understood bidens intentions, i think you see that cross roads within the bebait but this hangs a lantern about his longevity. His age. Correct. Didnt mean to be too delicate. His age but also how long hes been around. How the senate wodepends on w you work with people. But invoking eastland, he ends up owning and rhesesuscitating t rhetoric. End of the day, ill take jim clyburn on this. He said ive worked with Strom Thurmon my whole life. But the argument is right. Its not going to wash with a lot of folk who is say why are you invoking James Eastland as civility in american politics . Abby, these things do have a tendency to pull over. With joe biden it was the personal space issue and whether or not he owed an apology for whatever it was. These things do blow over because theyre not what any voter lists at the top of what theyre looking for in terms of solving issues. Its just at what point do these things sort of pile up for joe biden where i guess Younger Voters start to think that he cant represent them . Yeah, i think youre right. I mean, there is a sense in which some of these issues are so resonant where we are and resonant on twitter. Paem are talking about them all the time. Then you wonder how much theyre discussing these minute developments. But at the same time what were building at the moment is a picture of what joe biden is like when he is up against some kind of controversy like this. How does he respond to it . And it was interesting to see him kind of take a very combative tone about this. Instead of saying i understand where youre coming from, i understand why youre concerned the fact i used the example of eastland not calling me boy. I understand where youre coming from with that. He didnt say that. He said of course im not going to apologize. In fact, youre the one that needs to apologize to me. I think that tells you about his approach to dealing with these kinds of issues. That that i think might start to penetrate to people as theyre like, i wonder if this is the kind of personality that we want going up against trump and well f