Yasmin Vossoughian was on Morning Joe today to talk about what the Trump administration is doing about Iran.
"Yesterday I got a call saying Pompeo was headed to CENTCOM but there was nothing public saying he was heading to CENTCOM. I think what Bill just said, the timing and optics of this is very interesting, to say the least. He's going to meet with General McKenzie of SOCOM to talk about additional troops they'll be sending to the Middle East. As Mika mentioned, in late May, 1,500 troops were approved to be sent to the Middle East. On top of that now, a thousand-plus troops being sent as well.
"I think all of us here at this table knows the optics of this and grand scheme of this is what 2,500 troops is a blip on the radar. It's not a lot of troops to be heading to the Middle East. Hearing from what Iran said yesterday, they do not want confrontation from the United States, they do not want to go to war with the United States, but if they are attacked, they have said they will respond.
"So what is the purpose of sending these troops? If it just a blip, what is the objective here?" Sam Stein asked.
"I think it's the optics of it all. They want Iran to be see they're serious about all of this, right? And if in fact, Iran is responsible for the oil tanker attacks, but continues to deny, Iran is saying it's going to be expensive if you want to go to war with us. Look at the crude oil prices that went up Friday after those attacks."
