Meet the Press NOW — June 13

Foreign. Welker in Washington. Following that breaking news and a dramatic military isolation in the Middle East. This was the scene in Israel just a short time ago.

Air raid sirens blaring as the country's Iron Dome defense system intercepted missiles launched from Iran. Now, it's unclear just how much damage has been done, but at least one building in Tel Aviv appeared damaged and on fire as smoke billowed over parts of the city. Iran says it launched hundreds of missiles as it begins its retaliation. Israeli officials say the number was less than 100.

Now it comes after Israel launched a major series of overnight strikes targeting Iran's nuclear facilities and other military targets. The strikes also killing Iran's top military commander and nuclear scientists. Israeli military officials say last night's strikes were just the beginning of a multi day campaign. These were some of the images in Tehran from overnight as explosions rocked the capital city.

You saw that bright flash lighting up the city and these images of buildings in Tehran on fire. Similar scenes playing out in other cities across Iran. You can see here fire and smoke billowing in the aftermath of a strike on the Natanz nuclear facility, Iran's main enrichment center. In an early warning video address, Prime Minister Netanyahu called the military operations a preemptive attack on Iran's nuclear program and warned that the fighting could continue for days.

Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival. This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat. Now, as prime minister, I've made it clear time and again Israel will never allow those who call for our annihilation to develop the means to achieve that goal. Tonight, Israel backs those words with action.

The overnight strikes derailing nuclear talks between the US And Iran that were set to take place this weekend while raising concerns from analysts that Iran could now instead try to rush toward building a nuclear bomb. The strikes also putting American assets in the region on alert. In a statement, Secretary of State Margo Rubio was quick to try to distance the United States from Israel's military operation, said the U.S. was not involved in the strikes.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has confirmed that the US Was given a heads up about the operation. And during a phone call with my colleague Garrett Hey. President Trump appeared pleased with Israel's military operation, telling Garrett, quote, they have the finest equipment in the world, which is American equipment. Joining me now is our team of reporters.

NBC News international correspondent Matt Bradley is in Tel Aviv. NBC News chief international correspondent Keir Simmons is in Dubai, also with Me is NBC News White House correspondent Monica Alba and NBC News senior national security correspondent Courtney Kubi who's at the Pentagon. And joining us on The Phone is NBC's chief international correspondent Richard Engel. Matt Bradley, let me start with you.

What is the situation on the ground there in Tel Aviv? Well, I gotta tell you, it's surprising. It's quite calm. You can see this skyline, looks like the one I left when I went down to the safe room just a couple of hours ago.

We haven't heard while I've been up here any strikes. We haven't heard any interceptions and any sirens. And that's because my team were all playing it safe. We went to the safe room, we stayed there, we broadcast live from there and we didn't leave until we got the all clear from the idf.

But for those people who didn't go and for our cameras, you could see that spectacle over this skyline. All of those missiles being intercepted according to the Israelis, hundred of them, which was a pretty underwhelming show of force in retaliation considering the angry language and aggressive rhetoric we've been hearing from the Iranians all day long. This was the show of course they put up. Now we don't know if this is over.

We don't know if this is going to spill into the next couple of days or weeks. We know from the Israeli side that they're planning a days or weeks long attack on the Iranians and so far they haven't let up. But what we did see tonight, in addition to the terrifying vision that we got from this rooftop, was a little glimpse of the Iranian military capabilities left over from that comprehensive Israeli attack overnight. So remember, that attack didn't just target the nuclear installations, the leadership of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, it didn't just kill those five nuclear physicists.

It also attacked more conventional weapons capabilities, its anti aircraft capabilities, anti air missiles and its ballistic missiles. The Iranians said it was ballistic missiles they were firing at Israel tonight and maybe that's why, why they didn't have that many to spend or that many to lose. Because the fact is the Israelis put them squarely in their crosshairs during that huge assault. So it looks as though we got a little bit of a taste of just how much the Iranians thought they could spend on their so called enormous retaliation that they've been broadcasting all day.

If this is it, if this is all they have, it just goes to show that they have been badly damaged by the Israelis and the images are extraordinary. Matt Bradley, we are so glad that you and your team were able to make it to safety. Let's talk about the timing of these strikes. The backdrop to this, the United States holding talks with Iranian officials trying to reach an agreement over its nuclear program.

President Trump had reportedly urged Prime Minister Netanyahu not to attack some time ago. But now, obviously, the prime minister's calculation had changed. And our understanding, he did give President Trump a heads up. Why now?

What is your latest reporting there, Matt? Well, we don't know exactly. We did hear from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a little bit earlier today. He spoke to the Israeli public and he laid out the timeline and his thinking behind all of this.

One of the things he did say was that back last year, if you remember the Israelis assassinated in a huge explosion. I was right there, right, not right next to it. I was very close to it when I was in Beirut last year killing Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. Hezbollah was the primary cat's paw of the Iranian regime.

It smuggled right up next to Israel's northern border. It had a huge missile arsenal. And again, like so many of Israel's adversaries in the past year and a half, it has been almost completely dismantled and decapitated by assassinations. Now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his speech to the public said that after the killing of Hasan Nasrallah, the military Yeshua, the leaders decided that Iran would most likely move very quickly toward a nuclear weapon.

So they decided they needed to make a plan to totally destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities. And so it was then that this plan was set in motion. But this really is, for Benjamin Netanyahu, the culmination of a career's ambition to attack Iran and destroy its nuclear capabilities. He did say today this whole plan was supposed to happen in April.

And it got delayed for reasons that he didn't actually specify. And it got delayed until now, just two days before the sixth round of those Iranian US Peace talks. It sounds as though there might have been some frustration. We heard this from President Trump just earlier today, that the Iranians weren't willing to accede to a deal.

So there definitely was a green light from Washington that allowed this very well planned, very well executed procedure to move ahead. Matt Bradley, thank you so much for starting us off and please do continue to stay safe. Kir Simmons, let me turn to you now. What is Iran saying about the strikes that it just launched?

And to Matt's point is what we witnessed basically the fact that Iran has been diminished in its power? Well, we don't know. Certainly there has been an assessment that Iran had pretty frightening capability. If it is not able to use that capability at this stage, or if it no longer has it, if it's been defanged effectively, then Matt's absolutely right.

That is a key moment, an absolutely key moment in all of this. Iran's president just today addressed the nation saying Iran's legitimate and powerful response will make Israel regret its foolish act. If what Matt is saying turns out to be right. It's nighttime here in the region now.

If what he' that's correct in the morning, then that will be that threat will not have been seen through by Iran. And here's one of the reasons, Chris, why it's so important, because we have reports tonight, and I think we'll talk more about this there in Washington in a moment. We have reports tonight that the US Is assisting Israel in these defenses against the Iranian attack. Now, why that's important is because if, imagine if tonight, and this is when we talk about being on the precipice, imagine if tonight there had been a very damaging strike, a deadly strike in Israel.

The likelihood is that that would pull the Trump administration into the conflict. It would pull the US into the conflict because it would feel, it would feel it would have to defend and support its partner in Israel. So by ensuring, if this is what happens in the coming hours and days and what has happened now in these past few hours, by ensuring that Iran was not able to land a deadly blow, potentially that is a de escalation rather than escalation. And that is the big concern here looming over all of this.

Could this not ensnare not only the wider region, but the United States here? Quickly talk about the targets that Israel hit in Iran, its nuclear facilities. How damaging a blow was Israel able to pull off? Well, we've seen the smoke over the Tanzanic, we've seen the smoke over Fordo and Esfahan apparently too, has been hit.

There were reports, there was an assessment before these strikes that the only munitions that could truly take out, if you like, Iran's capability this, well, well buried nuclear capability were US bombs, 30 from B2 bombers. We're going to find out whether Israel actually is capable because here's why it's important. Again, it's about escalation versus de escalation. If Israel was not able, is not able in these waves of strikes to significantly reduce, if not end, Iran's nuclear program, then Iran may decide that it will rework it and that it will reach for a nuclear missile.

And that could be the kind of nuclear escalation that everyone fears. All right, Kirsims, thank you so much for that broader perspective. We really appreciate it. According to Hubie, walk us through what we saw in Israel.

What is the Pentagon saying? What are they watching? Well, Pentagon's not telling us anything, frankly. They haven't spoken about no statement of the Secretary of Defense.

So. But officials who we are talking, who we are talking to say that in fact the United States did help Israel defend from this enormous barrage of projectiles, including estimates of more than 100 ballistic missiles that came from Iran fired towards Israel. The US Used ground based interceptors to help with this. That's the Thaad, the Patriot.

Those are both ground based missile defense interceptors that have the ability to take on various ranges, various ranges, including even medium range ballistic missiles. The US has other things though in the region that could help if in fact Iran continues to target Israel. Things like missile defense ships off the coast in the Mediterranean, nearby in the Red Sea. They've been used in the past to help defend Israel.

But they also have aircraft, fighter jets, fighter squadrons there that have also in the past been used to try to defend Israel. Recall that during one of these back and forth between Israel and Iran last year, US aircraft were in the air shooting down drones that were flying from Iran to Israel, taking them out. Because we get at this point all that was used for these ground based interceptors in this current level by the Iranians and according to Israel is saying that it killed three top military officials. What are the implications of that and to what extent does it fit into the retaliatory measures that Israel is bracing for?

Of course we've already seen some, but could there be more because of that? Yeah. I mean, right now what Israel is clearly trying to do, there's various levels of what they have, they have said in the past that they would want to do regarding the nuclear program in Iran in back in October, they took a strike that was to send a message to Iran. Look, we can fly in your airspace, we can take out things right around your nuclear facilities.

And they were able to completely take out or at least harm most of Iran's strategic air defense systems. This is different though, Kristen. In this case, they are not only showing that we can. They are not only showing that they can go after Iran's nuclear facilities.

They are going after the people who run them, the experts, the generals and their Iran Revolutionary Guard Force and the nuclear scientists who were involved in the program. This is clearly an effort. According to it's going to go on for days, even a couple of weeks. This is clearly an effort not just to disable or to hurt the Iranian nuclear program, but it sure looks like these Israelis are trying to destroy this time.

Kristen? Well, it's a really important fine point to put on what we are witnessing. Courtney, Kitty, thank you for your fantastic reporting from the Pentagon. My Alba, let me turn to you.

As Courtney was just saying, the United States was helping Israel to intercept some of these missiles from Iran. What are your White House officials, they're saying to you about the very latest how the president is monitoring all of this? Yeah, it's not surprised, Kristen, that the US Would play that role given that there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who live in Israel. There are military assets in the region that the US Would be interested in protecting.

And so of course they're saying that's why and that's part of the key context for why U.S. officials are aiding in the Israeli defensive posture here. But it is notable what we're not hearing, which is the president come out and speak before cameras. He's doing a lot of diplomatic work behind the scenes.

I'm told he was on the phone with Prime Minister Netanyahu earlier today. He also spoke with the British prime minister. We understand there are a couple of other world leader calls that they are going to tell us a little bit more about, and that is because he was monitoring a lot of this in real time from the Situation Room with his top national security aides for most of the day. But you know as well as idea that the president decides he wants to come out and speak and say something more publicly that he can do that in a split second.

So we'll see if that changes throughout the rest of this day. But I can also tell you person that he's had a couple of different public comments on this, some of which are a little bit in contradiction because he did say yesterday that it didn't seem imminent when it was. So there's a question there what the US Knew but what he didn't want to say in the moment. There's a question of what the US Involvement was going to be.

We'll learn a little bit more about that as we just discussed, and then what happens in the next couple of days as well. But this is the president who is trying to point to diplomacy, trying to argue that these talks with Iran to try to curb their nuclear capabilities should continue, he's saying. And the White House special is telling me they still want Steve Wyckoff, his top advisor and envoy on this, to take part in those, even though Iran is saying that those talks obviously have been suspended, given the actions of the last 24 hours, everyone continuing to watch that space very closely to see if these talks can be resumed at all. Monica?

And of course, all this is happening as President Trump is preparing for this military parade tomorrow, the first of its kind in a time of peace in decades, quite frankly. What are your sources telling you about the potential optics? Is there any concern about the optics? Well, it is expected to be an extraordinary display of military muscle and might at a time, as you rightly point out, when on the world stage there are so many ongoing conflicts.

And this is a president who says he wants to do this because he wants to thank the army, celebrate their 250th birthday. It also happens to be his 79th birthday. And he's doing this, he says, as a thank you. But there are questions and some Democratic critics raising that about how much money is going to cost something like $45 million.

They're going to be repairs needed to the streets of Washington as many, many tanks are going to roll across them near the National Mall. And there is also this question that was brought into real stark contrast this week about the president sometimes politicizing the military and sometimes going to places like Fort Bragg a few days ago and delivering a really sharp message against his opponents and sometimes even where the service members were booing certain political foils that the president has or the media. And that has been a big question about tomorrow, too. The White House says it meant to be a unifying display.

We should point out, though, that there are also protests that are expected not just here in the nation's capital, but across the country in response to the president and many of his policies. And he had said that if there are major protests that interfere with law enforcement here, that they will be met with a heavy presence. So that's something we're really watching for tomorrow. That could absolutely.

And it's undoubtedly going to be an extraordinary split screen moment. Monica Alba, thank you so much for your reporting from the White House. We are now joined by Richard Engel. Richard, thank you so much for being here.

So let's talk about the state of play here. Israel launching these attacks. Iran has already retaliated. What are the implications of this, Richard?

Could this become a wider regional war? Well, I think it's fair to say that Israel and Iran are at war right now. You have Prime Minister Netanyahu calling openly for regime change. Israel says that it's launched attacks on 200 targets in Iran Courtney is exactly right.

It seems that this time Israel decided, Prime Minister Netanyahu decided to fulfill his career ambition and destroy the Iranian nuclear program. It's not destroyed yet. So it seems very likely that this is going to continue several more days because many of these centrifuges, many of these uranium storage facilities where the more highly enriched uranium is capped are deep underground. They're very inside mountains and they're not easy to get to.

But you're seeing Iran under attack in a full scale way and responding as it can is promising a great response. As you asked here earlier, what the response has been so far. The Iranians are claiming success. They're saying that they are pounding Israel, they're pounding the occupied territory they consider occupied Palestine and that the new leader of the Revolutionary Guard, the previously was just killed.

So the brand new leader says that Iran is going to open the gates of hell. Obviously Israel tonight those states of hell were not open. According to witness accounts, according to the Israeli's own account, very few if any of the ballistic missiles got through the net and caused significant damage or fatality. So this is a, I think we're going to mark this as a historic day when Israel decided for reasons that are, that are highly disputed because this has not been supported in the region.

President Trump's ally, Saudi Arabia, uae, Qatar, the country he was just praising, have all condemned us, all think it's reckless, all think it's dangerous and could lead to escalation which they don't want. But I think clearly a turning point, clearly historic day when president decided he was going to go after the nuclear program and find out. And as you're talking, Richard, we are watching live footage of Cruz trying to clean up the wreckage, the aftermath of these countermeasures in Tel Aviv. Part of the timing of this may have had to do with the sense that Iran has been weakened, its proxies have been under attack.

Talk a little bit, Richard, if you would, about that. Has Iran been weakened over time and is that part of what has made Iran vulnerable in this moment? I think Netanyahu did it because he can do this. He could not do this earlier because Iran had proxies all around Israel.

Iran's power was always the ability to project force outside of its border. It was never its own military. Iran's own military was generally for suppressing the people, generally for preventing another revolution, a street revolution. It fought its enemies abroad through a network of militia groups through Hamas, Hezbollah, primarily Shia militias in Iraq, the Syrian regime and the Houthis.

They were willing to fight and had the ability to fight outside their borders without absorbing casualties inside Iran. And those proxies are now all gone. Iran has not been this vulnerable since it was founded in 1979, the Islamic Revolution. And it was clear that Prime Minister Netanyahu, he talked about this opportunity, saw an opportunity, didn't think it was going to last, clearly seized an opportunity with President Trump, who is giving him more leeway than President Biden did, saw the opportunity and it's taking it.

All right. Richard Engel, thank you so much for joining us on the phone. We really appreciate it. Appreciate your insights.

I now want to bring in Ambassador Dennis Ross, former Middle east envoy and an NBC News foreign affairs analyst. He's also out with a new book titled Sacraft 2.0 what America Needs to Lead in a Multipolar World. Ambassador Ross, thank you so very much for joining us. You are in Tel Aviv.

You had to seek shelter when this counter attack by Iran started and took hold. Walk us through your experience. What did you see? What did you hear?

I'm actually in Jerusalem right now. I was in Tel Aviv. We were awake in the middle last night with a state of basically emergency in anticipation of what would come. Nothing did come.

I was able to go to Jerusalem and this evening we had sirens and were forced to go into a shelter because there were three waves of ballistic missiles that came from Iran. The first wave included 110 ballistic missiles. So this was a significant barrage of ballistic missiles. It's a 12 minute early warning time from Iran to Israel.

So Israel has an unbelievable civil defense system. Every apartment building has multiple saferones and hotels have safe rooms on every floor and then down in the basement as well. I'm staying at a hotel in Jerusalem and we went down to the safe room and we were basically there, as I said, for about an hour and five minutes because there were multiple waves. Iran certainly is trying to show that it has the ability to inflict damage on Israel.

I think we'll see. There's probably 10 to 15% of the rockets that were fired today that probably penetrated. You're showing the screen right now some damage to buildings within Israel. It's not the trophies that the Iranians seek.

But it's also incorrect to think that they're not able to inflict any damage. But Israel, they are able to inflict damage to Israel. Israel has a multiple layer of defense, but no multiple layer defense against missiles is ever 100% foolproof. And so we experience that today.

I think Israelis almost taken in stride this I will say is the one issue in Israel on which there is no division. The leaders of the opposition came out in support of what the prime Minister has done. People like Abdul Liu bei, who has not said a terrible thing about Bin Netanyahu since the 1990s, tipped his hat to him for making this decision. Obviously focused mostly what Mossad and the military had done.

I just want to say the Israelis decapitated today the Iranian military and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. It's not just that they took out the leaders of the military and the leader of the Revolutionary Guard. They took out their second in command. In the case of the army, they took out the head of the ground forces, the head of the air forces, the head of the naval forces.

They did their counterparts in the Revolutionary Guard, they also were taken out. They took out the head of the besiege. The siege are a militia that basically enforces the rule of the regime, especially when there's protest. So this was a stunning achievement.

In many ways. The ability to fuse extraordinary intelligence with an operational capability to act on it is reminiscent of what we saw when the Israeli turned on the pager in Lebanon. Although I would describe this as an exercise of the pagers on steroids. It was an extraordinary military achievement.

Now, in addition to decapitating the military, the Israelis clearly went after a number of key sites, key fights to the nuclear infrastructure in Iran. So the Times the IAEA is saying it does appear to have been in the underground Ishvahan in the Times that's their biggest enrichment facility. Shahan is ready to conversion where they create what you feed into a centrifuge. They have a Typhoon which is built in there.

It's a smaller enrichment site built into a mountain. The ability to completely destroy the know how doesn't exist. But they apparently also were able to kill 10 of the leading nuclear scientists focused on that, on the program within Iran. But I think from a military standpoint, this has been an extraordinary achievement.

Now, can the Israelis translate that into a political outcome? That's what we haven't yet seen. That's what I think is most important. The key is not just to have tremendous military success.

Israel has changed the balance of power in the region. Prior to this, you were talking to Richard Engel about the weakness of the Iranian proxies. Last because the Israelis decimated Hezbollah, they haven't defeated Hamas from a political standpoint, but they certainly have defeated Hamas from a military standpoint. So the ring of fire that Soleimani described that Iran was going to build around Israel and try to make it unlivable.

That Ring of Fire doesn't exist and Iran itself has been weakened dramatically. But there still needs to be a political outcome. And the question is, can you do, can you take advantage of this to produce some kind of enduring political outcome as it relates to the Iranian nuclear program? Ambassador Dennis Ross, we are so glad that you are safe and we are so grateful for your insights and for helping us to understand this situation as it unfolds.

We really appreciate your time. Please continue to stay safe. I now want to bring in retired force star General Joseph Hotel, former commander of U.S. central Command, now distinguishing your fellow at the Middle East Institute.

Thank you so much for joining me. So let's just talk about this from a military perspective. What are your key takeaways both from what we saw from Israel and Iran's counter strikes tonight? And what is so notable to me, of course, you just heard what Ambassador Ross said, that Israel has really decapitated the Iranian military leadership.

Thanks. It's great to be with you. I mean, the big takeaway here for me is Israel stepping in this with a plan and a very aggressive one to go after not only the nuclear weapons program, but, but, but the regime itself. And so the targets that it is selected that include nuclear infrastructure include missile factories and air defense systems, command and control sites.

And, and then the leadership of the military and especially of the Iranian Iranian Republican Guard Ku Force elements. And then of course, the scientists, I think really demonstrates the level of diligence of planning that that went into this. And I think what you're going to continue to see going forward is, is their continued focus on this. I would imagine they're doing intelligence assessments and making decisions on what will be targeted, where the vulnerabilities that they can double down on.

And then from an Iranian standpoint, I mean, I think the response has been about what we had expected. I think the 100 or so UAV systems that we saw come across earlier this morning seem to be much less than we would expect. But now with the multiple waves of ballistic missiles, I think this is about what we expect. And I think going forward, I think we're going to continue to see more of this, at least for the coming days.

And let's talk about the United States role. We're learning that they did help to intercept some of the Iranian missiles that were being lobbed at Israel. The concern of so many U.S. officials that this could ensnare the United States, that this could become a broader regional conflict.

What do you make of those concerns? Well, I mean, Certainly the United States has interests in Israel, things we have to protect first and foremost, the hundreds of thousands of citizens that are in Israel. And so we really have no choice but to, but to assist in protecting, protecting them. And of course, you know, I think it is in the United States interest to prevent, you know, further escalation, further spread of the conflict.

You know, the region has been on fire for a long period of time now. And in a situation we have stay on state activities, this really is the highest level of conflict that we see in the region. And it's in our interest to try to try to prevent us from that. But at the same time, we've got to make sure we protect our own interests, our own forces and our citizens who are really spread across the region.

General Hotel, thank you so much. We really appreciate your perspective. For more on the situation in the Middle East, I'm joined now by Bilal Saab, senior managing director of Trends US thank you so much for joining me. Really appreciate it.

So let's talk about the perspective of the United States. It was very notable that Secretary Rubio chose his words very carefully. He was very quick to say the US had no involvement in Israel strikes overnight. And of course, we are now learning, as we were just discussing, that the United States helped to shoot down the Iranian missiles targeting Israel.

What are you watching for in terms of the US Involvement? In terms of the fact that President Trump is still urging Iran to get a nuclear deal done. Right. Nice to meet with you again.

And I was a pleasure to go after Dennis and Joe, very dear friends of mine and former colleagues. It's also difficult to go after them. Listen, I think you hit the nail on the head here, which is the US Position in this entire equation, which to me, I will admit to you, and I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm very much unclear about the level of coordination that's taking place between us and Israelis. There are two theories here.

Either we are really in lockstep and there's some level of deception in strategic communications whereby we're trying to sort of fool the Iranians, that we didn't know about this even though we knew about the strike a week ago or something like that, or there's some kind of a gap between us and the Israelis. Right. A gap that I see possible because of the very desire on our part to strike a diplomatic accord with the Iranians and to resume the negotiations this Sunday. If our goal is to resume the negotiations this Sunday, then I think we're smart enough to know that this Kind of a strike that caused a pretty heavy blow to the Iranians would lead to the opposite of that goal.

I don't expect Uranus to talk about on Sunday. I mean, why would they. As a matter of fact, they came out informally, said that we're definitely not talking this Sunday and negotiations in a long. So, you know, it's, it's a little bit confusing.

There's a good bit of confusion, frankly, and even possibly contradiction in what we're saying and what we are trying to accomplish with the Iranians. The Israelis have no interest in reaching the point accord with the Iranians, rightly or wrongly. I'm not criticizing, but I'm saying that we have a vested interest in reaching that accord. And I think that we're not exactly in lockstep with the Israelis on this very issue.

Well, and it's a really important point. And I guess the question becomes, do you think that talks can resume? As you point out, Iran is very clear that talks on Sunday are off. Do you think there's a way to get them back on track?

And broadly speaking, if not, what is the off ramp here? Is there a way to de escalate at this point? Yeah, also great question. Listen, if I'm Iran, I should recognize immediately that I'm in deep trouble, okay?

My options are really awful. And you can see it also in the response, the military response against Iran, which will have to be limited no matter what. I, as Iran will always have to balance between avenging the strike but also making sure that the regime survives and not actually causing the Americans to get involved in this and having to deal with too much stronger foes. You gotta keep in mind this entire equation, the Iranians are the weaker part, right?

So my options are, okay, do I go back to the negotiating table with a much weaker bargaining hand or do I completely call off the whole thing and then just sort of try to start a regional war that would probably force the issue of going back to the negotiating table. UN terms that might be more favorable to the Iranians. I'm not sure if that's going to happen, but the bottom line is Iranian. I agree with Richard Engle before I was listening to him, is at the most vulnerable period in its history since 1979.

It knows that its options are awful. Its entire military chain of command is gone and a number of its nuclear scientists are gone. In addition to the most important political advisor who's overseeing the negotiations, by the way, that's Ayesha Qani is gone as well. Boy, are they in deep trouble.

Well, it is such a volatile situation that we continue to monitor minute by minute. Bilal Sahib, thank you so very much for your perspective and expertise. We really appreciate it and we have much more after this. Stay with us.

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The Trump administration can continue to deploy National Guard troops in Los Angeles, at least for now. Late last night, a federal appeals court paused a lower court ruling that had found the administration's deployment of the Guard to be illegal. A hearing is set for next Tuesday. The decision came just hours after California Senator Alex Hidia was forcibly removed and restrained when he interrupted a DHS news conference in Los Angeles.

He was attempting to question Secretary Christy Noem at the time. Now the White House claims the senator failed to identify himself to security and lunged at Secretary Noem. Senator Padilla disputes that account. And we are following another developing story tied to immigration enforcement.

This one out of New Jersey Department of Homeland Security says the four detis at the Delaney Hall ICE facility of Newark have a state escaped. This followed extended protests and a reported disturbance inside the facility. The New York Times reports a group of migrants pushed back on their treatment. It's the same facility where just last month members of Congress and Newark's mayor were denied access during an attempt to inspect the site.

Now, one of those lawmakers, Congresswoman Lamona McIver, is facing federal charges for the clash against agents that day. She plans to plead not guilty and calls the charges politically motivated. She says what's happening now at Delaney hall only underscores her concerns. New Jersey Democratic Congressman Lana McIver joins us now to talk about the situation inside the facility and what she believes is at stake.

Congressman, thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be on.

Well, it is a pleasure to have you and have your perspective. And we are going to get to the situation inside the Laney hall in just a moment. I have to start with your reaction to what happened with Senator Padilla. What went through your mind, what went through your head when you saw what happened yesterday in Los Angeles?

I mean, I thought to myself, again, here we go again. Another situation happening with this administration. It was really sad to see. It was disgraceful.

I really brought tears to my eyes to see a United States senator, you know, in his state, in his district, being treated like this, you know, brought to his knees, brought to hit the ground with his hands up. I mean, it's just, honestly, just sad. And I'm sure Americans who are watching this thought it was sad, too. It's so unamerican.

It's. It's just. It shows the times that we're in what we're dealing with in this country, and it's just honestly. Which is entirely disgraceful.

Congressman, I do have to get your reaction to some of what your colleagues are saying. Your House Democratic colleague Jared golden said this, quote, I think that it's never good when a senator or member of Congress gets roughed up by law enforcement, but I don't think politics at theater is. What our job is, is. Is here.

Where I come from, if you shove a police officer, you're probably getting arrested. What is your reaction to Congressman Goldman? Well, first of all, his comments are unfortunate. Right.

Our job is to have oversight and do the job that the people have elected us to do. That's not theater. That's. That's what we're elected to do.

That's why we're hired by elections to do our jobs. To hear him say that, it's just. It's super unfortunate. And, you know, it doesn't stop me from doing my job.

I don't think the senator was there to put on A show. He was there to ask questions of his state, where you see, you know, the National Guard being deployed there, you see massive protests. And that's what he was there to do to get an answer. So that's his theater.

That's him on the job that people have liked him to do. And, Congressman, I don't forget your response to what House Speaker Mike Johnson said yesterday. I'll play a little clip, get your reaction on the other side. Side, we have to turn the temperature down.

We need to be on the side of the rule of law. We need to be on the side of law and order. We need to be on the side of a common, not chaos. And when members go into these settings and act this way, when they push law enforcement agents around, when they storm cabinet secretaries in a press conference, I think it's wildly inappropriate behavior.

I think it sets a terrible message in tone for the rest of the country. And there even calls for him to be censured. Are you concerned that he could actually be censored? Congresswoman?

Absolutely, I am concerned about that. I think Republicans have shown us that they can see no wrong in this administration. They can see no wrong with Donald Trump. They can see no wrong with how the administration is acting, how they are doing the job that they're claiming they are doing.

And because of that, they would do anything to, you know, try to intimidate Democratic leaders across this nation from doing their job, from speaking out, from being critics of what they're doing. And so, absolutely, I have concerns about what they can possibly do, what they will do, because they are literally blinded by what this administration is doing. And they refuse, you know, to speak out, to, you know, talk about the things that are happening. They refuse to do that.

Congresswoman, let's turn now to the situation inside Delaney Hall. I know you've been trying to keep your finger on the pulse of that. Do you have a sense of what's happening right now inside this ICE facility? So we have gotten multiple reports about what has happened.

We have spoken to local pb, some of our county PD about some of the events, but we have not heard from ICE officials or Homeland Security. We have reached out to them to, you know, ask them what was going on, to get some information. Of course, at this hour, we still have not heard anything back. It is very concerning about the reports that we're hearing from, you know, lack of food that detainees are getting.

I mean, to the detainees escaping. I mean, these are some serious, you know, issues that we're hearing coming out of this facility. Which at the end of the day, this is what prompt us to go there in the first place to inspect this facility and have oversight accountability on this detention center. And look, fast forward a couple of weeks later, we're seeing all of this pour out of this detention center.

It is just unacceptable. There's some serious issues and I'm thankful for my colleagues Coleman and Red Robin. And as we literally just put together a letter that I let that I'm leading to oversight committee to ask for an emergency investigation regarding this facility. I do want to talk to you also about your legal situation ahead of your arraignment.

This is what the interim U.S. attorney Alina Haba said after charges were filed against you. She said, well, people are free to express their views for or against particular policies. They must not do so in a manner that endangers law enforcement and the community, communities those officers serve.

What is your response to that, congresswoman, once again? I mean, you know, the U. S. Attorney, she loves to go on twitter and, you know, tweet out what she believes and what she thinks.

Even tweeting out charges on me before I'm even officially notified with this. It's ridiculous. At the end of the day, I was there to do my job at Delaney Hall. That's what I went there for.

My colleagues, we went there for oversight visit. And now I'm facing three counts, you know, of charges, you know, with a maximum of 16 plus years. That's absurd. Like, I mean, what are we even talking about?

But once again, this is a attempt to intimidate, to stop me from doing my job, to stop me from speaking out, to stop me from doing oversight. And I will not stop doing that. I will serve the people of the 10th congressional district because that's what they elected me to do. And I'm going to continue to do.

I have no plans to stop doing that based off these charges. And I really look forward to my day in court because the facts are on my side. And you know, no matter what, you know, the term keeps out, those facts are going to play out in court. And I know that they're going to be on my side of defense.

And so we're looking forward to that trial to be able to do that. But you know, at the end of the day, this is the center of this administration. This is what they do. They're very cruel individuals.

The basis of it is centered in cruelty. And I'm just another, you know, person on that list of their coolness. Very quickly, 30 seconds left. Your response to how Governor Gavin Newsom has handled his clash against President Trump, who sent in the National Guard.

He says this moment is a fight for democracy. Is that overstated? How do you see that? No, absolutely.

Our democracy is being shredded away each and every day with this administration. Multiple occasions of this multiple incidents and it's just continuing to escalate each and every day. And he is absolutely right. This is why we love America, because of our democracy.

And every American at this point should be because concerned about our democracy in the state of it. And we have to defend it. All right. Congressman McIver, thank you so very much for joining us.

We will stay on top of your case. So please stay in close touch with us. We appreciate your joining us. Thank you so much.

Have a great day. And you, too. We have much more ahead on the unrest at home and abroad coming up after the break. Stay with us watching with the press.

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Welcome back. This very busy week is ending with unrest at home and war abroad with the potential for more unrest this weekend as thousands of protesters are expected around the country spurred on in part by President Trump's military parade right here in Washington. Expected to be a really remarkable split screen moment. Joining me now instead is Shelby Talca, White House correspondent for SEVEN four, Maria Theresa Kumar, president and CEO of Voto Latino.

She's also an NBC News contributor and Republican strategist, Matt Gorman. Thank you all for joining me. Appreciate it. Shelby, let's talk this moment because we do have obviously what we're witnessing in the Middle east and then you have the clashes that we've been watching all week long in California and then again this weekend, the president's military parade and Protests, like all across the country.

Yeah. This is certainly something that I don't think the Trump administration necessarily anticipated when they were planning this military parade. And it has made things much more difficult, much more complicated over at the White House. But at the same time, you know, the Trump administration, when I talked to White House officials, they're excited about this parade.

They have made clear that they are anticipating these protests but that they don't want it to get out of hand. They are standing by, sending in the National Guard in California and they're also at the same time dealing with the situation with Iran and Israel. And they're saying, you know, we, we were sort of aware of it, but we had nothing to do with it. But it does really complicate the situation here in terms of they're focusing on several really big things all at months now.

Yeah. Now pick up on that point. And of course, what's happening in the Middle east is complicating not only everything that President Trump's working on here, but the fact that they were in the midst of having these talks to try to reach a nuclear agreement to get Iran to abandon its nuclear program. It's true.

I think the Trump administration play at the best when they also said that things are bound at once because it keeps our opponents off balance. They can't focus on one particular thing. I think one thing they also learned from 2017, 28, the first time the goal round was when these protests having some sort of counter visual is really, really important for that. So they're going to welcome, I think this split screen as well for tomorrow to get some sort of counter programming to what the so called King's March will be, I think and certainly with just a week ago, talk about Elon Musk, how this news shadow shifted.

Oh, you're absolutely right. The focus was Elon Musk disputed. Yes. Maria, Theresa, let me turn to you and this extraordinary split screen here.

We're going to have a military parade and then these protests all country. And I think the question becomes this week, given what we're seeing in California, given what we're going to see tomorrow, are Democrats starting to find their messaging around all of us? I think just to take a step back, if we look at why people are protesting, it is because when he said that he was going to do for the most part, he said that he was going to basically deport only the criminals. He's breaking the trust American people, because he's doing much more than that.

And when you look at Iran and the reason you could actually argue the reason we're here is that he's the one that literally blew up the Iran nuclear agreement last time in office, and that's what we're fighting for right now. And he's working at a tentative soft spot because Iran is aligned with the Russians, he's aligned with China, he's trying to negotiate a trade deal with China around terrorists. And we no longer have the same allyship that we had in Western Europe because of, you know, his rhetoric. And normally, in the normal times of wartime, we have a very clear, stark understanding that we are with Israel, that our allies are with Israel and, and Russia and Iran and China are on the other side.

He is. That's one of the reasons why I think the White House are now so tentative in those conversations. And then you take a step back and say, okay, well, yes, he's going to have the no Kings rally now, no Kings protests this weekend. And it's a direct.

It's directly impacting what he promised on the campaign trail. And he's actually deliberate. It does very little. Now, what about that argument?

I guess I shouldn't hear a message for the Democrats, right? I don't know what that is, is theory, press conference. The message is esoteric theory basing off a rally that's not a protest on policy per se, but against someone's not having a ballot. I just don't understand what the actual convenient messages.

I think one of the more telling things about California was Gavin Newsom certainly elevated by this, and we as probably welcome, elevated Gavin Newsom. But this was popular among 2028, you know, candidates as it is. Why wasn't there Pete there? Why wasn't Josh Shapiro there?

You can tell others distance themselves. They're nowhere to be found on this. I think that tells me also why, I think the same immigration of the debate among the two parties. I think that last time, the last time around, when it came to Mitch elections, there was no rallying cry.

It was a protest that mobilized. It was the protest that mobilized the Democrats and the Republicans to back down on some of this. And so I think that's what you're going to see is a cool lesson of the protesters actually telling Democrats, hey, you guys, you actually have a chance, but you have to get your ass to that. One thing that I wonder if it will affect the amount of protests and how much Democrats can use it is the fact that over the past few days, Trump has sort of acknowledged that, you know, for example, he had a post on Social just the other day about farmers and he recognizes that these farmers are gonna be struggling.

And there might be a shift in his immigration strategy. It seems like he might be considering a potential carve out. Not saying that, you know, expressing the fact that there has been real pushback over the fact that some of these folks who work in various industries, industries, their employers want them to say, I mean, what about that? The fact that he might be looking for cargo, I think that's a breadcrumb to see how people react or traveling, if you will.

But the surest indicator of where this debate is going, it will be what the polling looks like. Immigration. Right now, we feel confident, we've seen pulling up that we feel good about. We are immigration.

If that falters, maybe then that traveler, that car bout comes to pass. Marissa, what are you saying? What are you hearing? Is it a sign?

And we're gonna have you pulling out, by the way, on Sunday. I mean, what do you make of that? I have to say, when you are seeing so many folks in ruby red states on record saying, this is not what I voted for. These are.

Farmers are saying, it's not what I for. These are. These are, you know, local community saying, bring her back, this woman who's a cafe worker. When you're starting seeing u.

S. Citizens getting on the dragnet of all this, this, it keeps moving. And I think that it keeps moving in place where you come closer and closer. It's like he is overstepping and he is break trust.

We're seeing that a lot of independent moderate republicans are saying, this is not what I voted for. You said criminals. These are not criminals. I do want to talk about Gavin Newsom very quickly because this week he gave that speech, as Matt said, he was in the spotlight this week, really framing the counterpoint to president Trump and to the magna movement.

To what extent, if Gavin Newsom does run for office in 2028, will we look back at this week and say this was pivotal? I think it remains to be seen because there's two sides of this, right? You have Gavin Newsom highlighting the one aspect of it which is the Trump administration sort of overrided what they were supposed to do and just sent to the national guard without really conferring with california. And then you have the Trump administration, Republicans who are trying to focus on the more violent aspects of the protests.

And so it is sort of a split screen. And the question is going to become which split screen wins out. And I also think that there's a question of who else is going to emerge over the next several years within the democr party. It really is an open open season for Democrats.

Anybody could come up and sort of take the helm. There's no real weird. Clearly, Gavin Newsom is trying to combat. But what else is gonna happen over the next few years?

We'll leave 30 seconds of final thoughts, both of you. I actually think that what he's doing is actually demonstrating the difference between the Republicans and Democrats. He's actually taking him on. He's suing the court and he's also winning within.

Within not just the, I think the Latino, African American, but also within moderate Republicans saying, this guy's going too far. And what about states rights? It's strict. Is only when it serves you.

And he's saying not. Okay. All right, guys, thank you so much. Great conversation.

Shelby, Maria Teresa and Matt. We will be back on Monday with more meat Press now. And if it's Sundays, meet the press on your local NBC news stations. I'll have exclusive interviews with senators out of ship and Rand Paul.

The news continues with Yasmin Vesuvian. And for Hollywood accent right now, everyone, I'm Dylan Dryer, co host of the third hour of today and mom to three wild boys. I learned a lot my years as a parent, mostly that I don't have it all figured out yet. And I'm not the only one.

This is my new podcast, the Parent Chat. Each week I sit down with someone new for honest conversation and real world advice about parenting. I'm over here just, like, winging it. Hey, I'm trying not to do my own kid.

I'm not giving you advice. I'm not. Screw yourself. Search parent chat on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.