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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt

Now: Admin Officials Briefing Gang Of 8 On Iran War; War Spirals Across Mideast As Trump Warns Iran Of Bigger Strikes; Trump Tells CNN "Big Wave" Yet To Come In Iran War. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired March 02, 2026 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:00:11]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. Welcome to THE ARENA. It's good to have you with us on this Monday.

As we come on the air, secretary of state and national security advisor, Marco Rubio, is briefing congressional leaders, including the so-called Gang of Eight, on the war against Iran as it spirals across the Middle East.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: There absolutely was an imminent threat and the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked and we believe they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us. And we were not going to sit there and absorb a blow before we responded, because the Department of War assessed that if we did that, if we waited for them to hit us first after they were attacked and by someone else -- Israel attacked them. They hit us first and we waited for them to hit us, we would suffer more casualties and more deaths. We went proactively in a defensive way to prevent them from inflicting higher damage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So, as this briefing happens, President Donald Trump is warning what remains of the Iranian government that the worst is yet to come.

U.S. Central Command today announcing new airstrikes targeting Iran's ballistic missiles. Israeli sources tell CNN they expect Iran's missile program to be heavily impacted in the coming 24 hours.

This morning, President Trump telling my colleague Jake Tapper this, quote, "We haven't even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn't even happened. The big one is coming soon," end quote.

So far, four American service members have been killed in action, with sources telling CNN that all four were killed in the same attack in Kuwait.

In a separate incident, Kuwaiti air defenses accidentally shot down three American fighter jets. Fortunately, all six members of those flight crews ejected safely and were recovered in stable condition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This was our last best chance to strike what we're doing right now and eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime, and they are indeed sick and sinister. Our objectives are clear. First, we're --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: President Trump today making his first live public comments since he announced the beginning of military operations on Saturday. As the world waits to see just what happens next, we here at CNN have new polling that shows how the American people initially feel about this war. The poll, which was conducted on Saturday and Sunday finds that 59 percent of Americans disapprove of U.S. military action in Iran.

In addition, 60 percent of Americans say President Trump does not have a clear plan for the war, a reality that he seemed to address today as he explained what he hopes to achieve.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Our objectives are clear. First, we're destroying Iran's missile capabilities. Second, we're annihilating their navy. Third, we're ensuring that the world's number one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon.

And finally, we're ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders. And we thought we had a deal, but then they backed out and they came back and we thought we had a deal, and they backed out. I said, you can't deal with these people. You've got to do it the right way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: "You got to do it the right way," he says.

For many Americans, a war with Iran evokes the memory of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the resulting war that cost thousands of American lives, became deeply unpopular at home and around the world.

President Trump has not ruled out sending U.S. troops into Iran, but his administration seems very aware of the potential parallels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: This is not Iraq. This is not endless. I was there for both. Our generation knows better and so does this president. He called the last 20 years of nation building wars dumb. And he's right.

This is the opposite. This operation is a clear devastating, decisive mission -- destroy the missile threat, destroy the navy. No nukes. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Let's get off the sidelines. Head into THE ARENA.

My panel will be standing by, but we're going to start with our reporters who are covering the story around the world.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is here in Washington. She's outside the White House. CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward joins us from near the Iran-Iraq border. And CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is in Israel. We also have with us, CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen.

[16:05:03]

Kristen, let me start with you here in Washington. What more are you hearing from the administration on the justification for this, as well as the timeline?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, I want to go back to what we just heard from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, because he seemed to be giving a different definition or justification for why we attacked Iran at this time than we heard even from President Trump this morning, Marco Rubio said that there was an imminent threat. And this is what he said. He said that we knew that if Iran was attacked, that we believed they would be and we believe they would be attacked. They would immediately come after us.

He goes on another time to say that we believed Israel was going to attack Iran, and Iran was going to retaliate and hit American forces. That is very different than one preemptive strikes, because this would be in retaliation. But two, from what President Trump himself said today, which he essentially laid out, this idea that they were going to be obtaining long range missiles soon and that they weren't going to strike a deal. And that because of that, they had to act.

These are two different things. One of them appears to be saying that Israel was going to strike Iran, and then Iran might retaliate against America. So, they had to act quickly the other one is about the overall program here, and the fact that it became clear that they were not going to negotiate.

And I will add another caveat on top of President Trump's remarks, because I spoke to a white house official who wanted to go through this idea of what President Trump said, the last and best chance, stressing the fact that a lot of this was also about the fact that there was intelligence that showed that the Iranians, the Iranian government, was the weakest that it had ever been. So, time was of the essence these are all slightly different pieces of information here coming out.

Again, it started over the weekend, we heard about these preeminent strikes. That's clearly not what Rubio was referring to here. He says that this would be retaliation strike, but this actually opened the door to even more questions about what we might have known about a potential strike from Israel on Iran, and then what we were expecting there.

The other part of this, of course, to note, is that timeline. President Trump left the door open for a long range of various timelines. He did say that they believed it was going to be anywhere from four to five weeks, that he always said that, but that he would do whatever it took to fulfill those objectives. And just a reminder of what those objectives were. President Trump laid them out. We did hear the same from Marco Rubio, as well as members of the administration, to destroy those missile capabilities and any capacity to produce new missiles to annihilate the navy, to stop nuclear ambitions and then to stop Iran from funding terrorists outside of their borders.

So that appears to be the same, the same page there. But now we have new questions about what they referred to and what knowledge they have at a potential strike on Iran first, that then might cause retaliation that caused us to then join in on the first strike.

HUNT: All right. And I do want to note, you've been seeing it on your screen, but just to underscore, we have new reports just in from CENTCOM that there are two additional U.S. service members beyond the four that we reported initially who have been lost now, six U.S. service members have been killed so far in this Iran war situation. That just in from CENTCOM.

Clarissa Ward, you are seeing the spillover effects of this in the region firsthand, including a drone that flew by. Tell us what you're seeing and hearing there.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kasie. Earlier today, we went to the border between Iran and Iraq. There was a line more than a mile long of Iranian trucks and truck drivers waiting to go back inside. They did open the border for a short time just to allow Iranians to return home Iraqis who were trapped on the other side to come back to Iraq. And while we were there, we saw quite an extraordinary sight. An Iranian Shahed drone flying right across the border above us. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARD: Hoping you can see that now, an Iranian drone literally just flew directly over our heads from Iran into Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WARD: And about half an hour after that, Kasie, we saw another Iranian drone. From what we've been able to ascertain, both of those drones crashed. But that has not been the case with every single attack.

According to the Iraqi foreign minister, more than 70 missiles and drones have been hitting Iraq. We saw last night a number of those focused on that area over there behind me. In fact, we've just heard in the last 10 minutes, two loud booms that is the Erbil airport. It's one of the very few places in Iraq where there are still U.S. troops.

[16:10:06] In January, the U.S. officially finished its withdrawal of American service members, but there are still a number at a several bases here in this autonomous Kurdish region. And they have been getting hit a lot. And what is important to note for our viewers is that, like some unlike some other places in the region, the Kurdish areas do not have their own air defenses. They do have them, obviously, at air bases where U.S. personnel are located.

But still, there is a heightened risk. There is not an alarm system here. There are not proper air defenses, which makes the risk associated with those missiles and those drones that much more dangerous for ordinary people living here, Kasie.

HUNT: Really important to point out for sure.

Nick Paton Walsh, you're in Haifa in Israel. Can you walk us through what were what you're seeing there, what you're hearing from officials in Israel as all of this unfolds?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, just in the last minutes we've been hearing of another evacuation order from the IDF to Lebanese living in the south of the country. About 30 villages, as far as we understand being told that they need to essentially leave their homes, leave that area, because the Israelis say Hezbollah facilities are there, and therefore that puts their lives and their safety in peril.

So, adding, I think, to the exodus of Lebanese from the south of Lebanon, we've seen roads jammed up towards the north jammed coming out of Beirut. This all began in the middle of yesterday, where, bizarrely Hezbollah enormously weakened from their last conflict or the attack in late 2024 by Israel against them, decided that they wanted to put a statement out saying that they would avenge the death of ultimately their sponsor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of Iran that was then followed hours later by missiles, drones fired behind me here towards Israel. No casualties from that, but Israel getting essentially a green light to pursue what it's been looking to do for months, which is take out the remains of Hezbollah.

Air strikes then launched on the southern suburb of Beirut, Dahieh, where so much of Hezbollah's command is. And it seems that two key what the IDF referred to as terrorist targets hit there over the past hours. One, a commander of the Quds force based there, and also to the IDF, said hours ago now its probably an out-of-date figure, 70 targets hit in the south of Lebanon.

The real question here is why did Hezbollah pick this fight? Because ultimately, they are so weakened we've not seen much of a response back yet since they made that initial salvo. It seems to be perhaps a bit of desperation for Iran to use whatever assets it has. But its had consequences inside of Lebanon because the Lebanese government have ultimately said Hezbollah has to lay down its arms and allow the Lebanese army to be the only security forces deciding who metes out violence in that area. Yet to be seen, if that can be achieved. But it's more likely than it has been frankly, since the beginning of Hezbollah. And so, it could change in the hours ahead. But ultimately, it seems

like Israel is now cleaning up an irritant it's always had to its north, whilst also pursuing its objectives in Iran.

HUNT: All right. Nick, thanks for that.

Peter Bergen, I wanted to ask you about something we just heard from the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who told reporters on Capitol Hill as he was heading in to brief the gang of eight, that part of the justification for why now was that the U.S. government was aware that there would likely be Israeli strikes in Iran that would lead to Iranian retaliation against Americans. Reporters there pressed Marco Rubio on whether this meant that we had essentially been forced into this, or whether the American hand was forced into this by the Israelis.

What do you make of that justification from the secretary of state?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Kasie, I'm extremely skeptical. I mean, the Israelis and the United States are very closely allied. And their operations, as we've seen just now, are very closely integrated. And Netanyahu has been in dc repeatedly. We've been moving massive amounts of military assets into the region since January, so I just find that kind of an implausible rationale.

HUNT: All right. Fair enough. Peter Bergen, thank you very much. Clarissa, Nick and Kristen, thanks to you as well.

Coming up next here in THE ARENA, we're going to talk to two key lawmakers as top administration officials briefed Capitol Hill leadership. Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, Democratic Senator Chris Coons, they will both be here live in this hour.

Plus, our panel is here to weigh in on it all including what our new poll says about how Americans feel about this, the latest American war in the Middle East.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Is there a concern of this spiraling into a longer war? And then one for the chairman when you're done.

[16:15:02]

HEGSETH: Did you not hear my remarks? I mean, we're ensuring the mission gets accomplished, but we are very clear eyed as the president has been, unlike other presidents, about the foolish policies of the past.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): This is an illegal war.

REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS (D-MA): He needs to come to Congress immediately to seek an authorization for the use of military force.

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): It is illegal, and the president is obligated under the Constitution to come to Congress.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: Nothing has been presented to justify what's taking place up until this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Democrats in Congress seem not thrilled, to say the least, with president Trump's decision to strike Iran over the weekend without first seeking congressional approval.

[16:20:05]

Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, Senator Rand Paul now teaming up with Democrats in their respective chambers to demand that GOP leaders bring Congress back into session immediately and hold a formal vote to limit Trump's authority to carry out additional military action.

Joining me now, Republican senator from Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin. He's also a member of the armed services committee.

Senator, you, of course, represent Americans in Oklahoma. Should you not have a voice should you not give voice to them in a decision like this?

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): Well, Kasie, we've known that Iran has been a thorn in our side for 47 years. They've attacked us multiple times. I think the president laid out a very clear message when he announced what was going on. There's no question the Democrats are aware of this. The Gang of Eight was briefed. Those of us that have sat in intel briefings understand the threat that Iran has brought to us.

And the president is well within his authority here. Keep in mind, Barack Obama in 2016 dropped 26,000 bombs over six different countries. Not one Democrat said that he didn't have the right to do that. And when Barack Obama was in his first and second term, he kept saying he had the AUMF to be able to do it, the authorization of military force.

And when the Democrats go out there and they say it's illegal, well, they say illegal and say its unconstitutional, but they don't tell you specifics on why it's illegal and why it's unconstitutional because underneath Article Two, Kasie, the president has very broad jurisdiction when it comes to keeping Americas interests home and abroad and the ability to use military force.

When you start talking about his authorization to use force. He has two obligations. One, he has to inform Congress within 48 hours. He's already done that. And two within 60 to 90 days, he has to come back. And if its going to be a war, he has to ask Congress for war. And if he's going to use the authority underneath the AUMF, which is still standing, then the president simply has to inform why he's doing that.

And there is no question when it comes to the AUMF, which why it was passed for terrorist organizations that was trying to harm us, there's no question that Iraq or Iran, Iran clearly fits in that picture because we know you and I, it's not even debatable. We know that Iran has been the number one sponsor of war, terror around the world for decades now.

HUNT: But, sir, doesn't that that slip that you made underscore exactly why the American people are telling us in our poll that they don't want this? I mean, the memory of Iraq is still very fresh in a lot of Americans' minds.

MULLIN: Well, this isn't Iraq. We made that very clear. Pete Hegseth, Secretary Hegseth, made that very clear. This isn't the same approach. Keep in mind, we took out the leader within an hour. There was -- there was no direction between where we were going with Iraq and where we're going with Iran.

When we have clear, precise targets that were hitting, we're taking out their ability to launch missiles at us and our assets around the region. We're clearly not going to allow them ever to have a nuclear weapon. And that is -- that is very clear.

We want to make sure that were protecting all of our assets at home and abroad and we wanted to eliminate the threat. The threat has been around for 47 years.

Ayatollah has had a dream since he first came into office in 1979 to create a nuclear weapon. And there's no question if he had the opportunity, it wouldn't be if it would be a matter of when he would use it on us. And after 9/11, Kasie -- and after 9/11, Kasie, we said never again -- never again will we be caught flatfooted. Never again will we ignore someone like Osama bin Laden when we knew what his intentions were, but we didn't take him out.

We knew what the ayatollah's intentions were. They had been chanting "death to America" for 47 years. We gave them that opportunity to --

(CROSSTALK)

HUNT: This is not a war of choice.

MULLIN: -- and it didn't.

HUNT: Is this not a war of choice? The president ran -- and did the president not run on not starting a war with Iran?

MULLIN: He ran on two things, ending wars. He's ended eight of them. And he also started this one America safe.

HUNT: He started this one.

MULLIN: This isn't a war. We haven't declared war. Everybody wants to say we're at war with Iraq.

HUNT: Hold on, hold on. I want to play the secretary -- the secretary of defense, who calls himself the secretary of war, said today, this is a war. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: We set the terms of this war from start to finish. We didn't start this war. But under President Trump, we are finishing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Is it really not a war?

MULLIN: What he declared on us was war -- meaning us as ayatollah he declared war on us. We are not at war with the Iranian people. The ayatollah who declared war on us we've already taken him out. Now we're eliminating the threat.

The Iranian people, we want to see them take back the country that the that the ayatollah has been raping and pillaging them -- or from them for 47 years.

[16:25:00]

So, we're not at war with Iran. We're making sure that they do not have the capability to harm us anymore. They have killed thousands and injured thousands around the world, American citizens and military personnel for 47 years. And not one single president has had the backbone to do anything about it until President Trump. And thank God we have done something about it.

HUNT: So, Tucker Carlson, who, of course, has been close to President Trump over many years, right wing voice, talk to Jonathan Karl this weekend. He said that the attack on Iran that we saw President Trump authorize is, quote, "absolutely disgusting and evil".

So, Senator, my question to you is why is Tucker Carlson wrong here?

MULLIN: I don't know, Tucker Carlson. I've never -- I've never sat down and shaken his hand. I don't know if I met him or maybe I have, but Tucker Carlson doesn't speak for me and I would say Tucker Carlson doesn't speak for the Republican Party either, or the president.

HUNT: So, do you think he's wrong here?

MULLIN: Absolutely, 100 percent. I disagree with a lot that Tucker Carlson says.

HUNT: Marjorie Taylor Greene also added this to the mix of the conversation. She says, "Just like we're no longer a nation divided by left and right, we're now a nation divided by those who want to fight wars for Israel and those who just want peace and to be able to afford their bills and their health insurance."

Why is she wrong? MULLIN: Well, if anyone -- and I'm not going to discuss if Marjorie

Taylor Greene is wrong or not, because I -- not knowing -- I'm not knowing where she's coming from on this. But what I will say, not Tucker Carlson or Marjorie Taylor Greene, yourself, or any Democrat that opposes this, can say that ayatollah wasn't a threat to the United States and our interests home and abroad. We've known he's been a threat.

And we know that he's -- that he has been the number one sponsor of terror around the world for decades. And so, if any of them believe that this world would be better off with him still alive, I'd like to think --

HUNT: I don't think that's the argument they're making. I think --

MULLIN: And what's the argument?

HUNT: The argument is not -- I have not heard anyone who has been talking about this in this way say that Iran is nothing, except for -- many of the things that you say, a sponsor of terrorism, that the ayatollah --

MULLIN: Right.

HUNT: -- many of those characteristics. Sure.

The question is, what should the United States be doing about that, right?

MULLIN: And proactive in eliminating the guy, just like we did, in eliminating the threat. That's what the AUMF is all about.

HUNT: How many Americans are you willing to see lose their lives in this fight to make this work?

(CROSSTALK)

MULLIN: Listen, one -- one is too many.

HUNT: We've already seen six, right?

MULLIN: Thes problem is -- yeah, one is too many. The problem is we've already lost thousands. We can go back and have a timeline in which I know you know the timeline of how many times they've attacked us going back all the way to 1979, when they took the students hostage to the time that they've -- that they've attacked our interests at sea and on land over the last 47 years. So, we already lost Americans over this murderous regime. It's -- the question is how many more were we willing to lose before we finally done something?

The fact is we're stopping it. President Trump has stopped it. He stopped future killings at this murderous regime. And this underneath the ayatollah can do to our people, home and abroad. So it's about time a president of United States stood up and took care of this nuisance that's been around for 47 years

HUNT: Nuisance is quite a word -- word for it, considering all the other things we've just attributed to them. But okay.

Senator Markwayne Mullin, I always appreciate you coming and being willing to answer questions. Thank you very much, sir.

MULLIN: Thank you, Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Coming up next here in THE ARENA, our panel is going to discuss this latest escalation, including just how long it will take and the administrations multiple timelines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:33:12]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: This is not Iraq. This is not endless I was there for both. Our generation knows better and so does this president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, himself an Iraq war veteran, tried to deliver that clear message this morning. Quote, "This is not Iraq".

At the height of that war, the U.S. had 170,000 troops on the ground in Iraq. By the end of it, more than 4,400 American service members had been killed. Today, the U.S. military has dozens of -- thousands of troops stationed across the Middle East.

And President Trump is not ruling out sending them into Iran itself. He told "The New York Post" this, quote, "I don't have the yips with respect to boots on the ground. Like every president says, there will be no boots on the ground. I don't say it. I say probably don't need them. Or if they were necessary." That's the end of the quote.

If President Trump decides that U.S. boots on the ground in Iran are necessary, it would mark a major escalation of this war and one that the American people are overwhelmingly opposed to.

A CNN poll conducted this weekend finding that just 12 percent are in favor of boots on the ground in Iran, five times as many Americans, 60 percent are opposed. Already, six American service members have been killed in action and at least 18 have been wounded, a number that President Trump has made clear he expects to rise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war. Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends, that's the way it is. Likely be more. But we'll do everything possible, that that won't be the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: All right. My panel is here in THE ARENA. CNN political analyst, investigative reporter for "The New York Times", David Fahrenthold; CNN contributor, "New York Times" journalist Lulu Garcia-Navarro; CNN global affairs commentator, former deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh; and CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings.

Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here.

Scott, David Sanger in "The New York Times" over the weekend framed this very clearly as a war of choice, right? President Trump decided to do this. It runs contrary to some of the things that he said on the campaign trail. President Trump spoke to Jonathan Karl, and he said this, according to Karl on the platform X, quote, "I got him" meaning the ayatollah, :before he got me. They tried twice. Well, I got him first."

Why in your view, did the president do this when he had essentially campaigned, telling the American people that he was going to do the opposite?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, he also campaigned and has said, really since this regime came into power 47 years ago, that they can never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. It has been a long-standing consistent view of the president.

So, I think he had multiple motivations. One -- and you heard Rubio address this today. The ballistic missile capabilities of Iran was not something they were willing to stomach any longer. And he clearly laid out that they believed U.S. bases were going to be targeted with ballistic missiles. If Israel, in fact, launched an attack. So that was one.

Number two, they obviously believed they were getting the runaround from Iran on nuclear enrichment for the purpose of building a nuclear weapon and using it against us, using it against Israel, maybe other allies. And so, these are the motivations.

And obviously, Iran has been a bad actor. They did have assassination plots against the president. Some intelligence indicated they tried to interfere in our elections. They are responsible for the deaths and the maiming of hundreds, thousands of U.S. personnel and military members over the years.

They are the number one state sponsor of terror. These are the worst actors in the world. And their number one chant is "death to America". Multiple motivations. All righteous and I think the president took a courageous move here, even though the politics of it as you admit, and as our polling says, are a little dicey.

HUNT: Well, let's kind of revisit why the politics of it are extraordinarily complicated on the MAGA side, if you look at what Tucker Carlson has said. He called this attack evil. Marjorie Taylor Greene has criticized it as well.

And I want to show you the president then and the president now. The president then, the president now. Watch. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate.

We tried. They wanted to do it. They didn't want to do it. Again, they wanted to do it. They didn't want to do it. They didn't know what was happening.

We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction. There were none and they knew there were none.

An Iranian regime armed with long range missiles and nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat.

I will stop the chaos in the Middle East.

We would have had peace in the Middle East.

This was our last, best chance to strike.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Who would like to take this one?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: I mean, I'm happy to have you to jump in. I think just the side by sides are just so contradictory. I mean, from what he ran on and won on in 2024, the idea that we were going to get out of endless, pointless wars or however he's described it was not only a winning message, it was because he focused so much on the economy. So, I think getting to the political point.

I mean, tomorrow, we have a big primary in Tuesday -- in Texas. And I think the fact that this is now going to overshadow so many Republicans that are running in very competitive seats, not just in Texas, but all around the country -- I mean, just today, earlier this morning, the average gallon of gas was $2.96. Today in battleground states, Michigan, it's $3.39. Florida and Ohio, it's $3.19. Just today, it's going to keep going up for those constituents, for other Americans around the country.

And I think when we look at this and pull this back, this is exactly what Republicans do not want to be running on. They do not want to be talking about Iran. They want to be talking about the economy.

And this war is going to make gas prices, grocery prices, electricity prices go up for the average American.

JENNINGS: Can I just -- I would just rebut saying the idea that this is endless or pointless. It's not endless. It doesn't have to be endless. They have a clear objective to destroy the ballistic missile capability and to further and totally degrade the nuclear capability. And it's -- that can be done according to Rubio and others, they think with an air superiority campaign which is currently working but -- no, no, let me finish.

And pointless, you know, with respect, Iran has killed American service members and personnel.

[16:40:04]

They have maimed our people. They have committed terrorism against our people time and time again. They are the destabilizers of the Middle East.

This is not starting a pointless war this is ending a regime that had a point, which is to attack western civilization.

(CROSSTALK)

HUNT: I mean, I have to tell you, Scott, the one thing. And I want to let this side of the table make sure they get in as well the administration has actually been pretty remarkably careful to not say that the goal here is regime change. Marco Rubio was just up on Capitol Hill, okay, and he said the goal was the navy, the ballistic missile capability, et cetera., and that it was up to the American people or the Iranian people -- excuse me -- what the regime (AUDIO GAP)

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Actually, it's been really interesting because you heard Senator Markwayne Mullin say it's not a war. Then you had Marco Rubio say, we were actually brought into this war because of Israel. Then you had Hegseth say this morning it was not regime change.

But you did have Trump earlier, I would actually dispute you saying that actually the aim was about regime change.

And so, what we have heard throughout this is a administration here who cannot explain to the American people exactly why they've done this. And there might be very many reasons as to why they've done this, but it keeps changing.

And my issue here is this because indeed, as Secretary Hegseth -- I'm a product of those wars. I covered Afghanistan. I lived in Iraq and I also covered Libya because there was another president who thought they knew how to do it better, and that was Barack Obama. He thought he was going to go into Libya and he was going to bomb them, and there was going to be regime change, and it was all going to be okay.

And guess what? It really wasn't. To this day, Libya is enormously destabilized. And the problem with Iran is that Libya is a sideshow compared to Iran because of where Iran is based in the Middle East.

HUNT: And, David Fahrenthold, I mean, isn't that -- isn't that really the thing when you listen to Hegseth say, this is not Iraq, right? Like this is going to be different. I mean, don't they all go into these conflicts, every president thinking that it's going to be quick and easy, right?

DAVID FAHRENTHOLD, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It's always the same plan. And remember, in Iraq, they didn't -- they didn't know right away that Iraq was going to be a disaster. The plan is always --

HUNT: There was a "mission accomplished" banner. I guess Donald Rumsfeld did say, you go to war with the army you have.

FAHRENTHOLD: Right, right. But there's always decapitation, right? That's always the start.

You start out by killing the people or destroying the government and then hoping good things happen and it never -- good things almost never happen in these situations. Whether you send troops in, like in Iraq, whether you just sort of stand aside with air power, like in Libya, the controlling what happens next in a country like this, especially a country like Iran with no -- there's no premade rebel movement, there's nobody with guns or power or any sort of movement who's ready to take over, you can't control what happens.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, that's also because, I mean, there has never been a world in which an air campaign alone will result in regime change. And because Iran and the way the supreme leader has structured it for so many, for decades, you go for layers down. I mean, there is a plan in place and people will subsume control.

But I just want to say something to what Scott was saying about the ballistic missile program. The navy, the now objectives of this campaign. You can do that. You can totally target these capabilities. But when it comes to the nuclear program, you need to put some people on the ground to actually disable that. And who's going to do that?

HUNT: Well, and I should sort of amend what I said earlier, the you're absolutely right that the president has talked about regime change. They've talked about getting the ayatollah. It's the nation-building piece of it, right, that a lot of these other -- you know, operations --

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Israel -- listen, Israel's best case for this is an incredibly weakened Iran that is destabilized and that -- but there isn't actually regime change because I'm not sure that they want necessarily a maybe strong democratic Iran who might still not be allied to them. So, you know, at the end of the day there's a lot of different competing interests here.

What is the question? What is the best for the American people? We're not sure.

FAHRENTHOLD: One of the really striking things for me is just saying, if you're an Iranian police or army officer, lay down your arms, surrender. To who?

HUNT: Yeah. Fair enough.

All right. Ahead here in THE ARENA, Senator Chris Coons a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, is here as lawmakers in both chambers prepare for votes this week on the president's war powers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bibi Netanyahu has literally been trying to get presidents from both parties to do a regime change operation in Iran with him for decades. Donald Trump is just the first one stupid enough to actually do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[16:49:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Why not notify Congress ahead of this and --

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, we did. We notified Congress. I mean, we notified the Gang of Eight. We notified congressional leadership.

There's no law that requires us to do that. The law says we have to notify them 48 hours after beginning hostilities. We've done that. I think the notification went today, but we did notify members of Congress in advance. But we can't notify 535 members of Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushing back against allegations from Democrats. The administration did not appropriately notify Congress ahead of its strikes against Iran this weekend. Rubio making those remarks as he headed into a briefing with members of the so- called Gang of Eight and other top lawmakers.

Joining me now, Democratic senator from Delaware, Chris Coons. He, of course, has been a longtime voice on foreign policy and world affairs as a member of the Senate.

Senator, thanks very much for being here.

I do want to start with some of the reaction in Iran and here in the U.S. as well among the diaspora of people celebrating the death of Ayatollah Khamenei, who, as has been pointed out, consistently led a regime that funded many terrorist groups.

Are these celebrations not justified? Is the world not better off without the ayatollah in it?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Absolutely, Kasie. I, too, do not mourn in any way the passing of Ayatollah Khamenei and the Iranian revolutionary regime has been of the world's strongest supporters of terrorism. They have the blood of thousands of Americans on their hands from the Khobar Towers bombings in Saudi Arabia, to the marine barracks bombing years ago, now in Lebanon, to the attacks on many American soldiers in Iraq that were facilitated by Iranian technology to, frankly, the ways that they have supported Putin's murderous war against Ukraine by giving him Shahed drone technology. So, I, too would be enthusiastic about seeing an end of this regime.

My concern is about how the Trump administration has taken us into this war. If President Trump actually cares about a regime change, he shouldn't have interrupted or cut off or defunded lots of programs that we previously had under an organization formerly known as USAID that helped support protesters, civil society youth groups that helped them connect to the Internet, that help them connect with each other.

We know how to support civil society in repressive countries around the world, and we used to do a good job of it through organizations like the Institute for Peace, the National Endowment for Democracy, and USAID, and many of those were disrupted in the DOGE chaos of the first few months of the Trump administration.

HUNT: Interesting points all. Sir, one of your Republican colleagues was on the program earlier arguing that the authorization of use of military force against terrorism from 2001, in the wake of the September 11th attacks, should mean that what we have seen here from the president is legal. You put out a statement calling these strikes illegal.

Can you explain your thinking on why that AUMF does or doesn't apply here?

COONS: Wow. Well, I didn't get to see that argument by a colleague, but I'll simply say this. The constitution gives congress the power to declare war. I think demonstrably, president Trump said, we're launching a war against Iran, a war whose purposes and scope and goals he has variously defined in his brief engagements over the last couple of days as full scale regime change, or trying to make sure that Iran never has a nuclear bomb, a goal that I support as well or trying to rein in their missile capabilities, or trying to make sure that the United States has access to the resources of the Middle East.

But it's clearly an ongoing war. We have American soldiers and sailors from about a third of our navy from a very large armada of planes and bombers that have launched missiles from surface ships and submarines and fixed facilities throughout the Middle East. And Iran has struck back at, I think, more than eight countries so far maybe nine now. And tragically, Kasie, we now have six American service members who have died in service to our nation.

So I don't understand how a colleague of mine would say, all of this is somehow covered under an AUMF in response to a 2001 attack against the United States when this was clearly a preventive strike, not even a preemptive strike, since Trump did not present us with any evidence that there was an imminent threat of a strike on the American homeland.

HUNT: And sir, finally, as we wrap up here, you mentioned that six Americans have been killed in this conflict so far, and I know that Dover Air Force Base, where, of course, the dignified transfer of their remains happens, is in your home state of Delaware. Do you think Americans are prepared to see their countrymen and women come home that way because of this? COONS: Look, Kasie, every president has a sacred obligation to make

sure that we are supporting our men and women at arms, and so does every member of Congress.

And for Dover Air Force Base and for the people of Dover, Delaware, it is a solemn and very valuable obligation that we have to be the host of every dignified transfer. I have stood alongside President Trump, President Biden, President Obama and many other leaders as they have welcomed home our fallen service members.

[16:55:03]

But that also means that we have an obligation to take seriously the harm that we cause to choose war as a last option, not a first option. Today is the Jew -- the Jewish holiday of Purim this evening.

HUNT: We're in the middle of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. We're also in the middle of Lent, a season of reflection and prayer for Christians. And I hope that all Americans will take a moment today and pray for those who served and sacrificed for us and all the civilians who are at risk in the region, as this war continues to unfold.

HUNT: All right. Senator Chris Coons, thank you very much. Really appreciate your time.

COONS: Thank you

HUNT: And, of course, as we think of those service members in the region, we think of their families as well. Those who are here at home, who are serving all of us as they worry about their loved ones across the globe.

We'll be right back.

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HUNT: Thanks so much to my panel. Thanks to you at home for watching.

Jake Tapper is standing by for "THE LEAD".

Hi, Jake.