On Monday’s Morning Joe, the MS NOW program’s co-host Jonathan Lemire claimed the Israeli military killed the Iranian Parliament Speaker, who had emerged as the apparent key negotiator and possible new leader in Iran according to the White House.

Around 10 minutes after his statement, host Joe Scarborough asked Lemire to clarify his comments, to which he clarified the report of the Speaker’s death may be untrue and shifted his tone to mention that the Parliament Speaker may have no power anyway, a flip from his original smug comments on negotiations.

A focus of the premier liberal morning talk program was on how a war with Iran would end through negotiations. David Ignatius, a columnist at The Washington Post, discussed many diplomatic options, but called the president “overoptimistic.”

Only 15 minutes into Monday’s Morning Joe, MS NOW’s Jonathan Lemire falsely claimed the Israelis killed the Iranian Parliament Speaker, a figure who has risen as an apparent negotiator with the US.
Lemire framed it as a rebuke to White House claims of negotiations with Iran. pic.twitter.com/mjQM7mEh75
— Nick (@nspin310) March 30, 2026
 

Lemire, a former Politico reporter, in an attempt to display negotiations may have taken place, quickly stated:

The White House had floated that the parliament’s speaker there may be the person who could lead the Iranian side of these negotiations. Well, reportedly, the Israeli military killed him over the weekend.

With no citation or anything, Lemire just decided to throw out such a big claim that was really not reported anywhere, except for a little post by frequent Morning Joe guest Richard Haass and a post from a random pro-Israel twitter account. Lemire may need to learn to become more media literate.

Around 10 minutes after Lemire’s comments, Scarborough tried to get Lemire to do a little fact check:

Hey, John Lemire, I got quite a few questions coming in to my phone after you mentioned that the parliamentary speaker may have been killed over the weekend by Iran. Tell us about your reporting.

Joe Scarborough asked Lemire to fact-check his own earlier comments, to which he blamed on the fog of war.
Unsurprisingly, Lemire shifted his original comments to now say that the Iranian Parliament Speaker is apparently alive, but actually does not have any negotiation power. https://t.co/IkDwXeUOJo pic.twitter.com/Wo38M2s8Sx
— Nick (@nspin310) March 30, 2026
 

Lemire walked back his comments, with an attempt to distance himself while he placed blame for his false share of information on the fog of war: 

Yeah, so it’s a mixed – I said reportedly killed. An Israeli news site has said that he was hit by an airstrike and killed. There’s some confusion now, whether that’s true or not, it points to the two things. The first of all, the fog of war. We all know the former President of Iran was reportedly killed in the first days of the strike. Turns out he’s not. He’s alive. So, it’s unclear whether this person is still with us or not.

Unsurprisingly, Lemire shifted his original comments to now say that since the Iranian Parliament Speaker was apparently alive, he actually did not have any negotiation power: “It’s also unclear whether he’d be actually empowered to have any authority to have negotiations. The White House had propped him up a few days ago. We will see if that’s the case.”

In his continued attempt to save face, Lemire placed blame on all Israeli actions and a “growing divide” between the US: 

But also, Joe and Mika, we should – it’s a reminder that a growing concern among some observers of this war is the divide and perhaps growing divide between Israeli war aims and U.S. war aims. So, that’s something we need to watch as well. And it’s unclear when any real diplomacy would begin.

Oh, so the US and Israelis weren’t on the same page because of a fake strike on an Iranian figure that did not happen?

From the seeming ruin of negotiations to there being no real negotiations since the Iranian Speaker had no real power, the real time flip in opinion from Lemire was fascinating but unsurprising. 

The transcript is below. Click “expand”:

MS NOW’s Morning Joe

March 30, 2026

6:14:59 AM Eastern

(…)

DAVID INGATIUS: These diplomatic options may increase as other countries lean hard into trying to get cooperation from Pakistan, from Iran. We may end up with a different situation in a few days. But right now, Joe, I think the president is being overoptimistic.

JONATHAN LEMIRE: The White House had floated that the parliament’s speaker there may be the person who could lead the Iranian side of these negotiations. Well, reportedly, the Israeli military killed him over the weekend.

(…)

6:24:30 AM Eastern

JOE SCARBOROUGH : Hey, John Lemire, I got quite a few questions coming in to my phone after you mentioned that the parliamentary speaker may have been killed over the weekend by Iran. Tell us about your reporting.

LEMIRE: Yeah, so it’s a mixed – I said reportedly killed. An Israeli news site has said that he was hit by an airstrike and killed. There’s some confusion now, whether that’s true or not, it points to the two things. The first of all, the fog of war. We all know the former President of Iran was reportedly killed in the first days of the strike. Turns out he’s not. He’s alive. So, it’s unclear whether this person is still with us or not.

It’s also unclear whether he’d be actually empowered to have any authority to have negotiations. The White House had propped him up a few days ago. We will see if that’s the case. 

But also, Joe and Mika, we should – it’s a reminder that a growing concern among some observers of this war is the divide and perhaps growing divide between Israeli war aims and U.S. war aims. So, that’s something we need to watch as well. And it’s unclear when any real diplomacy would begin.

SCARBOROUGH : I mean, the expansion of the war in Lebanon, it just continues. And again, it adds to any potential blowback that we’re going to see in the years to come. Just continues to add to the blowback that all of us, not Israel, all of us could be facing in the years to come. 

(…)