Luke Vargas

In addition to no nuclear weapons, no missile program, we have annihilating the Iranian Navy, the president ordering Iranian troops and police to lay down their weapons or face certain death.

What's your reaction to all this?

I mean, do we have any early answers, signals we can see from these attacks about how well they line up with those goals?

It seems like a lot of work, safe to say, remains to be done here if the U.S.

really does intend to follow through on all those goals the president sketched out.

And I want to play another clip of what President Trump said speaking this morning about this major combat operation.

He really sought to emphasize patience, endurance is going to be needed here, including potentially comfort with the loss of American lives.

Alex, for those listeners, you know, kind of trying to hear parallels between what's playing out today and the operation earlier this year to remove Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, here's one area where it just seems like the messaging is already very different, preparing people for the potential loss of American lives.

Trying to borrow some excess political capital should it be necessary.

But just operationally, what do we know about the extent to which the U.S.

can sustain a potentially prolonged military campaign like this?

Jared, over to Iran.

What have we seen in terms of their response so far?

That would be kind of their trump card, right?

Closing down the Straits and probably activating their network of proxy groups around the Middle East, too.

Neither of which we've seen yet, but those are cards they conceivably retain.

We've got to take a very short break, but when we come back, we'll look at the political debate breaking out in Washington in response to these U.S.

attacks, as well as how America's partners around the Middle East are getting pulled into this conflict and what it could take to trigger regime change in Iran.

Stay with us.

Alex, you're there in Washington.