On Wednesday’s Morning Joe, co-host Jonathan Lemire implied there might be an imminent invasion of Iran and Kharg Island. He also stated, in the same raised voice that set up a ‘question,’ an end of the war hostilities with Iran without fix of the Strait of Hormuz closure and Kharg Island would be a clear “defeat” that “simply isn’t adding up.”
Lemire started with an opine on the reasoning for President Trump’s Address to the Nation on Wednesday night about the conflict in Iran. He first said it was a retroactive move to explain the war:
Some of this is aides around him have said one thing you did poorly. They didn't sell the war to begin with, right? They didn't make the case to the American people or to our allies. So maybe, retroactively, this is his attempt to explain to us why we did this.
He shifted to imply Trump could withdraw forces or escalate the situation, which just means nobody in the MS NOW or liberal media circle knew what he was going to do.
On Wednesday’s Morning Joe, Jonathan Lemire implied there might be an imminent invasion of Iran and Kharg Island. He also stated an end of the hostilities with Iran without fix of the Strait of Hormuz closure and Kharg Island would be a “defeat” that “simply isn’t adding up.” pic.twitter.com/F82Z5O6o3n
— Nick (@nspin310) April 1, 2026
Lemire eyed Kharg Island and implied a possible ground invasion announcement during the address because some military tracker accounts on Twitter say more military assets have moved in:
And let's be clear, even as he's saying this war is about to be over, more military assets are arriving in the region as we speak. They are in place. And for the first time, if he were to give the okay for a ground operation, whether it be to Kharg Island or perhaps to try to find the uranium, now the assets are in place to do so.
So, this isn't about talk anymore. He could give the green light to make this happen. And, Katty, that, of course, would be a marked escalation. And I think that, you know, there are people in Trump's orbit, in his inner circle, and certainly in the political operations who think this would be a terrible idea that the American people do not want to see boots on the ground.
Lemire didn’t really have a clue what he’s talking about as, just earlier this week, he shared false information about Israel killing a new key negotiator, the Iranian Parliament Speaker.
He continued, with a raised voice, and insisted the War in Iran would end in “defeat” for the U.S. if Kharg Island wasn’t invaded and the Strait of Hormuz was not opened:
That said, if we leave and the Strait of Hormuz is still closed, let's be clear that is a defeat for the United States. We've lost. And the economic pressure that is behind Trump wanting to ramp this war down. Well, that pressure would persist. So, a lot of this simply isn't adding up.
Frequent Morning Joe guest Katty Kay agreed with the sentiment of Lemire’s statement of a Trump declaration of victory no matter what. But she also had some pushback to Lemire about the new weaknesses for Iran:
Yeah. I mean, the president will obviously try to paint it as a win. He'll say we've decimated their missile production capacity, which is true. That really has been damaged and that Iran is weaker than it was before February the 28th when America went in. (...)
It would be a fair assessment to guess Iran was much weaker and was in a losing position if a lot of their missiles, military, and clerical leadership had been obliterated. Lemire, of course, could not admit that.
The transcript is below. Click "expand":
MS NOW’s Morning Joe
April 1, 2026
6:13:11 AM Eastern
(...)
JONATHAN LEMIRE: And, you know, the White House is playing close to the vest what we'll hear from the president tonight, nine o’clock. The networks have given him time to address the nation.
Some of this is aides around him have said one thing you did poorly. They didn't sell the war to begin with, right? They didn't make the case to the American people or to our allies. So maybe, retroactively, this is his attempt to explain to us why we did this.
It's also possible that he'll announce the beginning of some sort of withdrawal, some sort of escalation, or even both, because, as David Ignatius has been writing, he's been doing that where he sort of climbing down at the same time ramping up the strikes.
And let's be clear, even as he's saying this war is about to be over, more military assets are arriving in the region as we speak. They are in place. And for the first time, if he were to give the okay for a ground operation, whether it be to Kharg Island or perhaps to try to find the uranium, now the assets are in place to do so.
So, this isn't about talk anymore. He could give the green light to make this happen. And, Katty, that, of course, would be a marked escalation. And I think that, you know, there are people in Trump's orbit, in his inner circle, and certainly in the political operations who think this would be a terrible idea that the American people do not want to see boots on the ground.
That said, if we leave and the Strait of Hormuz is still closed, let's be clear that is a defeat for the United States. We've lost. And the economic pressure that is behind Trump wanting to ramp this war down. Well, that pressure would persist. So, a lot of this simply isn't adding up.
KATTY KAY: Yeah. I mean, the president will obviously try to paint it as a win. He'll say we've decimated their missile production capacity, which is true. That really has been damaged and that Iran is weaker than it was before February the 28th when America went in. But I think I've been trying to reach out to economists and experts and people around the world and in the UAE to find out what would happen if America pulled out. And it's pretty unclear. (...)
