Background Briefing with Ian Masters: We begin with heightening tensions in the Gulf following an Iranian strike by drones and cruise missiles on two key Saudi oil facilities which has Trump threatening in a tweet that the U.S. “is locked and loaded” but has the Saudis meek and terrified at the same time exposing their military as a paper tiger despite the billions they spend on the latest U.S. weapons. Joining us is Mansour Farhang, professor emeritus of international relations at Bennington College who resigned as revolutionary Iran’s first ambassador to the United Nations when Khomeini’s regime refused to accept the UN’s recommendation to release its U.S. hostages. We will discuss the not-too-subtle message Tehran is sending the White House that as long as you are conducting economic warfare against us and we can’t sell our oil, then your friends the Saudis and Emiratis won’t also be able to sell their oil. And while Trump does not want a war that will drive up the price of gas at the pump which will hurt his reelection chances, he is incapable of recognizing it his obsession with undoing Obama’s achievements that has brought him to this crisis. Although the U.S. could do great damage to Iran’s military and Revolutionary Guards Corps, the IRGC just reminded U.S. military planners what they could do to the huge U.S. airbase in Qatar which might explain the Pentagon’s reluctance to get into another war in the Gulf. But with diplomacy the only option to get out of this hair-trigger situation, Trump might have to make concessions to Iran to get them to the table, the very thing he accused Obama of doing.