Morning Joe - ‘It does really matter’: Joe pushes back on WH dismissing reports Russia is sharing intel with Iran

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

‘It does really matter’: Joe pushes back on WH dismissing reports Russia is sharing intel with Iran To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What are the circumstances where you do? I don't think it's an appropriate question. You know, I'm not going to answer it. Could there be possible for a very good reason? Have to be very good reason. And I would say if we ever did that, they would be so decimated that they would be able to fight at the ground level.

President Trump aboard Air Force One on Saturday, not ruling out the possibility of sending ground troops to Iran. We're going to have all the new developments and angles to the war are now entering. It's second week, Joe. Yeah, second week. And, of course, I don't think many presidents would tell people, the telegraph where they were going to go as far as ground troops go.

It still seems a bit of a stretch to suggest ground troops, given what we know so far. But, of course, with this president, it goes any direction he decides in the moment he thinks it should go. But there is no doubt. a lot of people trying to figure out around his circle and also people who voted for him how much longer this war is going to go. Many people believe it may last one more week. We shall see if that's the case. And the two weeks that he talked to me about a couple of Fridays ago would be the end of this coming week.

We'll see what happens there. I will say right now, though, very hot, apocalyptic. war, a looking war in the Middle East. Of course, the news reports that we're going to talk about this morning, Mika, a couple of things happening with Iran picking the Slane-I-Itolla Sun to be their new leader and also oil fields being blown up. Oil and gas storage facilities being blown up. So this is a war that it continues to expand. We'll see if there's an expansion with the, again, with the purpose of ending it, declaring war coming home in a week or so, or whether it's going to spiral even further out of control.

Well, with us, we have the co-host of our 9am hour staff writer at the Atlantic, Jonathan Lemire, co-host of the Restis Politics podcast, the BBC's Caddy Kay, and columnist and associate editor at The Washington Post. David Ignatius is back with us this morning. Let's get right to it. The Iranian regime has selected, as Joe mentioned, the son of deceased supreme leader to succeed him. President Trump warned Iran on Saturday not to elevate anyone to the position

who his administration hadn't approved. U.S. and Israeli officials have vowed that any successor will remain a target. Meanwhile, Axis reports that strikes carried out by Israel on Saturday on Iranian fuel depots were far broader than the United States expected to support. sources tell Axis the U.S. is concerned the attacks could backfire strategically by rallying ordinary Iranians around the regime and driving up oil prices. All of this comes as the U.S. and Israel continue to carry out air strikes. On Saturday, Iran's president apologized to its neighbors for attacking them and said that Iranian forces would no longer strike nearby countries unless an attack

originated from there. However, there continues to be reports of explosions in many of these countries. And Joe, certainly the Gulf states are, to say the least, quite angry. And I'm not sure saying we won't do it again is enough. They might need some more reassurance. Well, I spoke to leaders in the region after that promise was made and the response was, well, if that's the case, then why are the attacks still coming, which they were through the weekend? And of course, much of that has to do with pushback that he received after making that statement from hardliners who do not want this country to back down. They do not want this terror state to back down. And David Ignatius, therein lies rub. This is not Iraq. It's not take care of Saddam Hussein and at least the leadership

scatters. And then an insurgency begins. This is, as we've said, a deeply rooted terror state that has tentacles going back to 1979 and the idea that you blow up the Supreme ruler, everybody else runs out and, you know, holds their hands up. That's not going to happen. So talk to that point, the resiliency thus far of this regime, and in part because they've been around since 79. And secondly, you're reporting the latest out of the region and the latest guesses from leaders on how long this war goes. So, Joe, the regime is taking a pounding. the skies over Tehran now essentially are undefended, which means that U.S. and Israeli bombers have been able to hit targets at will.

Exploding oil tanks that you mentioned in the beginning, or just one example of that. A veteran Iran operations person I spoke with last night said that in looking at the situation now in Iran, you need to focus on the scene and the unlawful, unseen. The scene is the decision by the Iranian leadership to install basically the most hardline person possible as the new supreme leader. It's a direct rebuff to President Trump in his talk about, I'll pick the next leader. Well, they picked somebody who is so close to the IRGC that my source

said he's basically woven into the fabric of the IRGC. So this is going to be a hardline war leader. And that's the decision they made, decided to announce it publicly, even though the risk that he's going to be killed now, as his father was, is significant. What's unseen? What's unseen is any sign of revolt, marches in the streets, defection from the ruling elite in any part of the country. There is no uprising in Tehran or in any of the other provinces. People were expecting you'd see that kind of fragmentation. by now, given the intensity of the U.S. bombardment, it isn't happening, which means that

somebody like President Trump almost has to talk about use of ground troops because there's no indigenous revolt that's underway. Personally, I think the idea of invading with ground troops is so unlikely because of memories of Iraq and just the difficulties, Joe, of this is a country much bigger than Iraq, much more difficult to invade, more mountainous. I tend to put the threat of ground troop invasion aside. But there's a real problem here on both sides of tightening no exit scenario. Neither side is talking about ways out. At the very moment, the world economy is really beginning to hurt because of the effects of the blockade of the strait of what moves and all the other war effects.

We're heading toward, what, a week from now, I don't know whether we'll have peace, but we're going to have financial markets significantly tightened. Yeah, and again, just based on everything I've heard, and also just looking at Donald Trump over the past 10 years, I find it. It would be a break in his public character, I think, for this to go more than another week. with the oil prices spiking, understanding he doesn't want boots on the ground, understanding his absolute contempt for George W. Bush because of the Iraq war. I would just say for me, if he goes past another week of this, and we're talking about this next Monday being a hot act of war, then I think all bets are off on whether Donald Trump does a Viking strike,

as you say pull back. Let's talk about three things that have happened, David, that is going to make it much harder, not only for Iran to rebuild if there is a new regime, but also much harder for the Iranians to see the United States as the so-called good guys. Number one, reporting not only from the New York Times, but other outlets, that it was a Tomahawk missile that hit that girl's school, killing up to 175 people there, mainly young girls. Of course, the strike, if you look at the overhead, they were going for a naval facility

that was nearby. So the president can deny that it was the United States, but all the evidence suggests strongly, strongly suggests otherwise. Also, the fuel depots being hit. Good reason. The U.S. would be concerned about that, and think even more damaging may be. The water plants, the water plants that are, as you know, better than any of us, it is not an economic life. It is a lifeline to this region.

Water is more precious and more scarce as far as living day to day than oil. And when those plants are being struck, you are putting yourself in a position to create a lot of hostility. Talk about these steps where either the United States or Israel are striking out against these civilian targets and how the impact that might have moving forward unless we are far more careful. Joe, for what we know, the first attack on the girl school in the opening. hours of the war was a tragedy of the sort that you see in wartime, a horrific moment, but not something intentional. Bombing these fuel depots and water desalomization plants is intentional. We don't know yet who's doing the targeting, but it reminds me of a dispute that took place between the United States and Britain during World War II over what targets were

appropriate. The Brits went after targets that had specific civilian value. It's called strategic bombing, whereas the U.S. tried to focus on military targets. When you go after water desalimization plants, you're going after the population. And it was striking that Lindsey Graham, of all people, who's been very supportive of the war, had a post last night warning the Israelis to be careful in target selection. So take that for what you would. The problem with this kind of bombing is that rather than breaking the will of the public, it seems, from the history that we've all studied, to actually tighten their resolve. It makes them angry.

It makes them more willing to fight on. And I think that's one of the problems that surely in the Trump White House, people are beginning to think of the question, how do we end this war as the economic costs become more severe? Well, this kind of bombing that hits civilians makes it harder to end wars, not easier. So I hope in the discussions, that's a factor that people will try to sort out. I certainly hope so. And if it is, at least with the Fuel Depot, Jonathan Lemire Fuel Depot and the other plants, if it is the Israelis, it certainly let us hope that we can talk them off of civilians.

targets. It's not, it's the exact opposite of what we want if we expect the Iranian people to rise against this terror regime. But, you know, David Ignatius was warning beforehand. Just what he said right there, his concern about the United States having strikes on Iran was that after almost 50 years of this terror regime being in charge, it was exhausted. It was, it was with commons. It was, with Romania, it was likely on its last leg. And David warned beforehand that strikes actually would turn not only this regime into a group of martyrs, but also turn the Iranian people against the United States. We don't know whether that's the case or not.

We certainly hope. I certainly hope it's not the case because like a democratic regime in there, though right now that seems unlikely. But there is no doubt that, that again, if this is the Israelis targeting water facilities and fuel depots for civilians, that's not doing anybody any favors. No, and there's been no signs of the mass protests from earlier this year that were swiftly put down and sort of actually started this, you know, made President Trump consider military strikes then, but U.S. facilities, you know, our assets simply weren't in the region.

And to that point, I mean, what David was talking there, we were showing footage of Tehran after that fuel depot was hit. I mean, these are apocalyptic scenes, the fire raging there across the sky. You're looking at it again now in a few points. Yes, I'm told by advisors, close to the president, ground troops, not really an option. Some in the orbit are talking about maybe a limited incursion to try to secure fuel facilities, that nuclear facilities, but it's not a widespread invasion. That's not on the table, certainly at least not yet. We should note, by the way, the utter indifference by the Trump administration to the reports that Russia is helping Iran with targeting intelligence of U.S. military assets, and one Trump official after another, including

the president, seems to dismiss that as if it's no big deal when, of course it is. And Caddy, both Joe and David just hit a big point here about seemingly some growing rift between military objectives that Israel might have and the United States might have. Yes, if Senator Lindsey Graham is telling you, you've gone too far when it comes to striking Iran, you know you've gone too far. We're seeing his tweet here because it is certainly the moral issue of also hitting civilians, but also an economic one. And hitting these fuel depots combined with what we're seeing in the Strait of Hormuz, oil now over $100 a barrel, the most. markets really shaky. There's real economic concern as well. Yeah, and speculation that oil

could even go to $150 a barrel, there's a line that people, oil traders can see that. I think this is the week where the markets forces clash up against Donald Trump's own intentions here and his own desires to go big on this one. And he may find himself restrained just because the economic hit globally, but particularly to the United States, is too high. It's pretty quick when you start, we've had a week or so, perhaps people haven't had to fill their cars up with petrol, but this week will be the week people start going to the gas pumps and having to fill their cars up with gas, and they will start seeing already a rise in prices. That's going to put political pressure on the president to wrap this up. But what does wrapping this up this week look like if we have an Iranian

regime that is just as hardline, if not more so than the regime that was there before, where you had an aging Ayatollah, who may well have died soon anyway, there could have been some kind of diplomatic or negotiated strategy. And now you have a country that is led by a hardliner if he survives. Military supplies massively depleted. So I guess the president could paint that as a win to say, well, anything is better than what we had before. But I think we're going to have the lack of clarity about the strategy is going to hit us around the exit strategy, because it's harder to declare this as a victory when you don't know why you went in in the first place. All right. Everybody stay right where you are. We have a lot more to get to on this. Also still

ahead on Morning Joe. According to U.S. intelligence, Russia has given Iran information that could lead to strikes on American ships and aircraft. But the president and others in the administration are downplaying that reporting. We'll show you what they're saying. And as we go to break, A quick look at the Travelers' Forecast this morning from Accuethers, Bernie Raynow. Bernie, how's it looking? Mika, spring has sprung across the northeast. Try not to smile if you like it warm, your exclusive Acky Weather forecast, sunshine. 59 in Boston, okay, but 70 in New York City, 75 in Washington, D.C., about 71 in Chicago.

We'll keep a drive for the most part across the southeast. We have some fog, spotty thunderstorms this afternoon, Jackson, and Atlanta. But I'm not projecting any flight delays except for the fog this morning in Atlanta. To help you make the best decisions and be more in the know, download the ACCA weather app today. Enjoy the view. We have confirmed reports from U.S. officials that Russia is providing intelligence to Iran to help it target U.S. assets in the region. I'm sure this is something that does not please the president.

whatsoever. Has he spoken to Putin about it? Well, look, I'll leave that to the president to answer himself. But what I will tell you, John, we don't comment on intelligence reports that are leaked to the press. Whether or not this happened, frankly, it does not really matter because President Trump and the United States military are absolutely decimating the rogue Iranian terrorist regime. Well, it does really matter. And this does matter. And it matters to people in the United States of America. The White House, though, that was the line throughout the weekend, even the president, saying on Air Force One, well, basically it doesn't matter. We do it to them too. Now, it doesn't work that way. When you go to war and you have Russia helping your enemy in that war,

target Americans, kill Americans. That matters. And this comes the same, this came, this reporting came the same day that for some reason, this White House decided to loosen sanctions on Russia. And it came the same week that the Ukrainians who were actually helping us in this war, not targeting us, just so people in the White House can understand why this matters, the Russians are helping the Iranians target Americans. That's on one side. On the other side, the Ukrainians are helping Americans with what they've learned intercepting Iranian-made drones that were sent to their front line.

So the Ukrainians are helping us in this war. Russia is trying to kill American troops. Yeah. It matters. And, Mika, the fact that this is still going on 10 years later, the fact that you still have these bizarre statements about Vladimir Putin targeting and trying to kill Americans saying that doesn't matter is a real, real problem. My guess, people in the White House and the maggot crowd can yell Russia hoax, Russia hoax. Maybe that makes him feel better, but it doesn't change

a central fact. Vladimir Putin and Russia, according to these reports, are targeting, helping Iran target America. Yeah. To kill American troops. And on the other side, Zelensky is actually helping us. And the White House is saying it doesn't matter. It matters. It matters a great deal.

It matters to Americans. And it matters why after 10 years, Donald Trump is still doing this, still claiming that Russia is winning on the front lines against the Ukrainians when they've had a savagely bad month, the worst month, the Russians. in two or three years, and yet they still in the White House keep spinning for Vladimir Putin, suggesting he's going to win this. I've been hearing from the White House for a year now. The Dunboss is about to get into Russian's hand.

Russia's hand. It's not. It's just, it's not. Maybe it will one day, but the wishful thinking over the past year is ridiculous while the Ukrainians over the past month have been picking up more Russian territory than any time. since 2023. There seems to be also an attempt to distract from

these facts and what's really important here with kind of a grotesque tone out of the White House. Like we've killed people, destruction, we've decimated them. Kill, kill, kill. And from the Secretary of Defense,

I can't say Secretary of War, can't do it, but I guess that's what they call it. But there's such a, it's grotesque. It's grotes. But it's got this bro culture attached to it. It's the opposite of having the bro culture. No. It's the opposite of that, though. David Ignatius.

David Ignatius, they're sitting back, David, and they're letting Russia target Americans to kill Americans. And they're sitting there. It doesn't matter. We're so tough. We know it does matter. And there's nothing tough about finding out that Russia is helping Iran target Americans to kill them. And this just kind of blow it off. Please help me.

Give me some parallel where American president said it didn't matter that a country was helping another country target and kill Americans. The only thing that you can imagine is that the White House recognizes that addressing this directly right now makes this war much more dangerous. If you decide that Russia is, in fact, your adversary, along with Iran, what are you going to do about it? But I think what you're describing, reports of Russian assistance to Iran reports also that Iranian ships are leaving China, carrying chemicals that are crucial for the Iranian war effort. Tell us that as we start the second week, this war is getting more dangerous, the risk that it will lead to a broader confrontation, throwing in the United States, Russia, and China is increasing. I think that's one reason I'm beginning to hear talk, including from Israeli officials,

about possible ways to achieve military goals without going even further down this really deadly road of political confrontation. Israelis are telling me last night, we are about to achieve our military objectives in Iran within the next several days. We don't need regime change in Iran to achieve our military goals.

I'll be very curious whether the White House picks up that theme. Two things. The only problem with that, Jonathan O'Meer, is this, is that you have, the only problem is you have the president saying we're going to get regime change. And then you have the president saying Khomeini's son is not

an acceptable replacement. I'm just talking about the politics for Donald Trump. because I think the instinct would be to leave in the next week to 10 days. Tear up the military targets, say mission accomplished, come home, unlike George W. Bush. The problem is when the Iranians have been so defiant to Donald Trump in a way he's not used to. And actually, appoint Khomeini's son, who in many ways, as David said, is even more militant than the father. It's hard to come home and say mission accomplished under that scenario. I want this mission accomplished.

I mean, I made no secret throughout my adult life that this Iranian regime since 1979 has been the epicenter of terror. I'm just saying it's going to be more difficult for this president or any president to leave in a two-week time frame, which I think was his original intention, when you have the, the new supreme ruler, even more militant than the one who was killed the first night of the strikes. Within, yeah, within the first hours of this war starting, many of us, you know, the Washington or close Trump observers immediately began looking for, okay, where is his off-ramp? We know he prefers these one-and-done big strikes. He doesn't want to prolong conflict. He spoke out against him in the past. How does he declare victory and get out? It is hard to see right now, though, what that victory is. First of all, because they never,

so really laid out their objectives at the start of the war. But now, Joe, as you say, you know, perhaps even harder liner is in power. It's going to be very difficult to suggest that things have gotten better there in Iran in any way, perhaps other than some of its military assets being blown up. So there's that. Tamika's point about the broculture. The Department of Defense is putting out these videos, like interspersed with, like, movie clips and like hard-hitting NFL action with scenes of war.

It's grotesque. and not have what we've ever seen before. That's certainly that, yes. Brotesque have coined here this morning by Ms. Priske. But, Caddy, let's go back to the Russia a bit for a moment because it is, even for a decade of Donald Trump being deferential to Vladimir Putin, every chance he gets, this is extraordinary.

He was asked on Air Force One about this report that Russia's helping Iran target U.S. assets, and he said, and I'm paraphrasing just slightly, well, they, meaning Russia said, we do it too, wouldn't they? Sort of drawing a moral, equivalence. Very reminiscent of what he did on this show a decade or so ago when he suggested that Americans killed journalists and dissidents too, which of course Vladimir Putin does.

We don't. And it also comes, Caddy, at a moment where Trump, in his rhetoric, has gotten very critical of Zelensky for not coming to the table with a deal to end that war, once again, claiming, with no evidence, Putin wants peace and Zelensky does. Yeah, I mean, this has been a war of even in the short-sperson. of 10 days already of unintended consequences. We went into this war with Donald Trump still being rude about Vladimir Zelensky, now needing America could well do with Ukrainian help in how to tackle those Iranian drones. You've got Russia, which has had a reprieve on some of its oil exports to India, if only for a month, in order to kind of put some, take out some of the

pressure on global oil prices. And at the same time, you have a whole load of American munitions being used up in the Gulf, you have more air defenses being, American air defenses being supplied to Gulf countries than have been supplied to Ukraine. That's going to hurt Ukraine's efforts against Russia. So this has global ramifications, clearly what is happening in the region. I mean, I think that the problem with not having a clear entry strategy and therefore not a clear moment when you can call victory is that, let's say, say we have the regime in place, but David's reporting is right. The Israelis are pretty much finished with their list of military targets. What happens in six months if the Iranians start

rebuilding? What happens in two years if the Iranians start rebuilding? What happens in five years if the Iranians start rebuilding? Do we just keep going back every time the Iranian regime decides to try to reconstitute something? The only way to really neutralize, my understanding is the threat of Iran's nuclear program in particular is through negotiation. Now, maybe the thinking in the White House is, well, we obliterate their missiles and we bomb the heck out of them, and that forces them to negotiate. But there isn't much sign at the moment that the government that's been installed since the bombing began is in a mood to negotiate. All right.

Coming up, the official plaque honoring police officers who fought off rioters during the January 6th insurrection is now finally on display in the Capitol building. We'll explain the catch about that. Morning Joe will be right back. Everywhere we see greed and bigotry being celebrated and bullying and mockery masquerading as strength. We see science and expertise denigrated while ignorance and dishonesty and cruelty and corruption are reaping untold rewards every single day we see that. We don't. We don't don't step up, no one else will. How fortunate we were that Jesse Jackson answered that car. What a great debt we owe to him. Former President Barack Obama speaking on Friday in Chicago as thousands gathered to celebrate

the life and legacy of the late civil rights icon Jesse Jackson. The Public Memorial Service also featured a eulogy by Reverend Al Sharpton. What I'm urging you to do is leave here with some Jackson fire in you. Not just a program book, but to say I see the things the way they are, but I'm going to turn and change them. I was raised by them to realize that after storms, if we do the right thing in the storm, if we organize, if we register, if we do what we're supposed to do, there's always a rainbow coming out. The rainbow don't show until the storm is over. And Reverend Al joins us right now.

Reverend Al, your eulogy was incredible. And you've stated the simple facts, but they speak of just such a momentous life. Jesse Jackson, one man, he changed American politics. He changed. And as you said, kept alive the civil rights movement. after Martin Luther King's assassination. He changed the Democratic Party.

He opened up the primaries in 1984 in a way that transformed the party and actually made it more Democrat, more Democratic. He changed New York politics. I mean, you could go down the long laundry list of it all. But I guess the main thing, what you said at the end is what he always said to you. He's constantly challenging you throughout your life. You have to push this forward, Al. You have to push this movement forward. It's up to you.

It's up to your generation. And now that seems to be the message that you're sending yourself to a new generation. Absolutely. It's the message that he would give me and others and the message I'm trying to give. We marched yesterday commemorating the Voting the Voting Rights Act in Selma, Alabama. But I said it's not a commemoration, it's a continuation. And that's what Jesse Jackson taught us. When I was sitting there listening to the presidents and preparing for my part and listening to their eulogies,

LaMelle McMorris, one of his students who's in his own right, a civil rights leader, and a businessman reminded me, but what about the action? And that's why I wanted to get up and not just talk about how Jesse Jackson taught me I am somebody. And he did. But what am I as somebody going to do? A lot of speakers were commemorating on his self-esteem he gave them. But self-esteem without work doesn't mean anything. So Reverend Jackson used to say we've got to go from the where as,

whereas we are something to the therefore, our therefore I'm going to do something. And I wanted in my statement to bring us from the whereas to the therefore. We are facing the Save Act right now, which will change voting back to the pre-Jackson era. We're looking at what's going on in Iran. We're looking at what's going on in terms of deportations. Jesse Jackson would want us to be active, not just morning, but moving.

You were also in Selma. So talk about that. 60 years later, where are we? 61 years later, we're facing the legislation that would bring us back to vote ID that many will be using to try and inhibit our voting power. Martin Luther King III and I spoke out of March to cross that bridge together with Westmore and Governor Pritchker. And we can't talk about like the days of the past. We're in the days right now because the inhibit voting, it has been any amount of studies that show.

Voter ID will disproportionate affect people of color, will affect seniors, will affect poor people. And Mr. Trump said just yesterday, I will not move forward. without the Save Act. Well, so why are we talking about 61 years ago when we're living 61 years later with the same kind of impediment? We are in the fight. Coming up, we're going to get back to the escalating war in the Middle East. As Iran's president apologizes to neighboring countries after a week of missile and drone

strikes, plus a look at Republican Senator Lindsey Graham's role in lobbying President Trump to strike Iran. And what country he says the U.S. could go after next? Morning Joe is back in a moment.