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Iran Launches Major Missile Attack on Israel; Israeli Military Comments on Iranian Missile Attack. Aired 13:30-14p ET

Aired October 01, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Beirut. So, people here, at least in those parts of Beirut clearly taking some solace in the fact that Israel's being hit. Keeping in mind that it's been -- it was just two weeks ago today that those pagers started to go off in Beirut, the next day, the walkie-talkies and certainly over the last eight days, what we've seen is what amounts to a full-scale war between Hezbollah and Israel.

And it's also important to note that Iran in its -- putting out its statement in the aftermath of these strikes on Israel said that it was in retaliation for 31st of July assassination of Ismail Haniyeh; the head of Hamas' political bureau, assassinated in the heart of the Iranian capital Tehran.

And then of course, last Friday, Hassan Nasrallah killed in the southern suburbs of Beirut in that massive blast. And also a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also killed in that strike. But stepping back and looking broadly at the situation, I think we are at that tipping point that so many people feared a real regional war.

I was here in April when you had more than 300 Iranian missiles and drones fired at Israel, but that was such an orchestrated telegraphed event, and Israel barely retaliated, and I think just one missile on some obscure target in Iran. But given the size of the Iranian strikes on Israel this evening, the broad nature of how many of those missiles were fired across Israel.

I fear it's inevitable. There is going to be a significant Israeli response on Iran, and therefore, you get into a situation where we could easily find the region, the Middle East engulfed in that regional war that so many people feared. Wolf?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN NEWS CENTRAL: We're about to get this news conference, the IDF Press Spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, there you see him. Let's listen in to hear what he's saying.

DANIEL HAGARI, SPOKESPERSON, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES (through translator): Estimation, if we decide to act during the time when we find necessary. Again, before the war, for many for us, it's not the first-time for us. There are certain attacks from Iran, from the start of the (INAUDIBLE) or the -- make such -- Iranian, we are ready for them, our fire systems are ready. Because of the behavior of the public, there's no injuries, no hurts,

now -- part -- no. We continue to look at Hadat(ph) the same way, the future -- now in the future. We have possibilities -- capabilities and we're ready, we continue on our action. There was serious attack on us and there will be a serious consequences on that.

Thank you, thank you. I'll repeat to -- update you on all the developments in the future. It's very important that our public hides in a possible manner, which has saved many lives.

BLITZER: All right, so there we have the translation of the Israeli -- IDF Spokesman Real Admiral Daniel Hagari telling people in Israel listen to all the instructions you're getting, this is clearly an extremely dangerous moment in Israel's history right now with these rockets and these ballistic missiles moving towards Tel Aviv and elsewhere in Israel.

If you've been getting these notifications all over Israel, sirens are going off right now, not just in the Tel Aviv area, but elsewhere in Israel as well. And you can see these rockets coming in, and then at some point, very often, you can see an Iron Dome anti-ballistic missile system intercepting a rocket or a missile or a drone and exploding in the air.

But as I said before, still very dangerous when all that shrapnel, all that metal comes down potentially on people on the ground, it could kill you.

[13:35:00]

So, you have to be very careful, and that's why Israelis based on the experience I've had, and I've been to Israel now three times since October 7th, they immediately listen to those sirens, Kaitlan, when they go off, they go into shelters and wait for the all-clear and sometimes that could take a long time.

But as I said, this is an extremely tense moment, and based on everything I've been hearing, Kaitlan, over these past few weeks, if the Iranians were to launch this kind of strike again, Israel would not wait very long, but would retaliate in a major way. They have a lot of targets inside Iran that they can go after various targets.

And there's no doubt that Israel has the capability of reaching those targets. This thing -- this situation in the Middle East could explode into a regional war big time right now. And Kaitlan, one final point I just want to make before I throw it back to you, the U.S. has been moving troops and equipment to the region, whether the eastern Mediterranean or the Red Sea or elsewhere are getting ready not only to help Israel in an emergency like this, but also to preemptively warn the Iranians if you're messing with Israel, you might be messing with the United States as well.

And there you see those pictures from moments ago when those missiles and rockets started coming over Tel Aviv, and some of them being intercepted. Kaitlan, this is an extremely tense moment right now. KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, and you make

a really great point about the U.S. moving forces there, something that they just moved more of in recent days. Israel has also been amassing forces on its northern border with Lebanon. That's when they said yesterday that it was limited ground incursion going into Lebanon.

There were questions of what that was actually going to look like, how long that could last. And Wolf, on your point about the shelters and what we're watching right now, we just got that briefing from the spokesperson for the IDF, is when Jim Sciutto was reporting from Tel Aviv a few moments ago, just moments after these missiles seemed to stop, obviously, the ballistic missiles move very quickly within 15 minutes, even potentially, you could see traffic going up and down the roads of Tel Aviv.

It's about 8 O'clock in the evening there, people were still out on the roads. They did not seem to have as much as of a heads-up that an attack was coming at this time as they did back in April when, you know, officials were kind of bracing, they were telling residents to either stay home or to stay in shelters.

And Wolf, I obviously, you know, you have to note the timing of all of this. This is happening on the evening in Tel Aviv as we were just on the eve of Jewish holidays, that obviously people will be observing, will be at home and the timing of this attack happening now, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah, it starts Wednesday night, and it continues Thursday and Friday, leads up to Yom Kippur some ten days later. So, this is a very sensitive religious moment in Israel, as well as all of this is beginning to unfold up, once again, hundreds of Iranian missiles launched toward Israel.

That according to the Jordanian military, and in the past when -- in April when Iran was launching missiles and rockets towards Israel, Jordan was involved in helping the U.S. and Israel under-buying that opportunity for the Iranians, try to destroy those incoming rockets and missiles.

And Israel got help from the U.K. and other countries as well in that region, some 300 missiles and drones and rockets were fired towards Israel, but the Iron Dome and Israel's other anti-ballistic missile system worked and destroyed most of them, causing very limited damage in Israel.

Jim Sciutto, tell us where you are. We were really concerned a little while ago when you had to run into a shelter, when you saw what was going on from your location.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Wolf, we're on the roof of our hotel once again where we were in the middle of this barrage. Our sense is now the air raid sirens have stopped, we've been told it's safe now and other folks around here have been told it's safe to go back to their homes.

And we're seeing the city now as I just look around me and see the streets begin to fill again with traffic, a sense of the city waking up to some degree, to your point, Wolf, this is a city that takes those air raid warnings very seriously, they listen, they go to their shelters as we did during the worst of it.

I mean, you saw that impact there. I actually filmed that right there on my phone just moments ago, those impacts about a quarter mile from our hotel here. Still not clear if those were the missiles themselves that got through intercept missiles that came to the ground are fragments of missiles, regardless, it shows you the danger.

I did find it remarkable listening there to Admiral Hagari saying that there have been no casualties report -- reported, that speaks to the -- just how formidable Israel's missile defense is, especially -- but I have to think there's some good fortune involved as well, because some of the impacts I saw hit the ground, particularly one just to the north of us.

[13:40:00]

I'm amazed that people got through unscathed. Now, I should note, and I believe this was mentioned earlier that there was another event, another deadly event in Tel Aviv earlier this evening, and that was a shooting at one of the high-speed rail locations here in which eight people were killed according to the emergency services.

They say that police responding then neutralized two attackers, which they described as apparent terrorists. So, in the midst of that aerial barrage from Iran, there was a suspected terror attack, and sadly, that terror attack, a deadly one, killing eight just to the south of us here.

It speaks to -- well, the nature of where we are right now in this country and in this region, because in addition to the incoming threats here, you now have Israeli boots on the ground in southern Lebanon, that just beginning in the last 24 hours, you have an ongoing war in Gaza, you had an Israeli strike, and I'm pointing with general directions here as best I know them, without them -- happened in front of me.

You had an Israeli Air Force strike in Yemen against Houthi targets just in the last 48 hours. And now, you have this incoming from Iran. The other thing that stood out from Admiral Hagari, his comments there just a short time ago, Wolf, and I'm sure this caught your attention as well.

He said there was a serious attack on Israel and there will be serious consequences --

BLITZER: Yes --

SCIUTTO: We'll await now to see how Israel responds to this. But as you noted, they have enormous capabilities. The question now will be, to what extent they use them?

BLITZER: And that's what presumably a lot of folks in Israel will want Israel to respond and hit Iran directly, very sensitive targets in Iran to make it clear to the Iranians, you can't do that, you can't launch these ballistic missiles towards Tel Aviv, a huge --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

BLITZER: City, a million people-plus with all those huge buildings there in Tel Aviv, and think you're going to get away with it. Iran is going to pay at least everything I've heard from the Israelis, a huge price for doing what they're doing right now. So --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

BLITZER: This situation, as bad as it is right now that you correctly pointed out --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

BLITZER: With the Houthis launching missiles towards Israel from Yemen, with Hezbollah launching rockets and missiles from southern Lebanon towards Israel. And there's still this war going on with Hamas in Gaza. Multi-front war going on right now, and now the Iranians directly from Iranian --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

BLITZER: Soil, not their proxies, not the Houthis or Hezbollah or Hamas, but Iran itself launching these ballistic missiles towards Israel. You've got to believe that this situation is going to intensify, a very dangerous moment in the Middle East --

SCIUTTO: And you know --

BLITZER: Right now. Go ahead.

SCIUTTO: And you know, Wolf, one question about Israel's response is, and this has been a burning question as you well know for a number of years, does Israel attempt to strike Iran's nuclear facilities? There is a cohort in this country that has wanted to do that for some time when Israel responded to the April Iranian missile attack, we all noted at the time that it struck a missile defense position around one of Iran's nuclear facilities or facility locations in Isfahan.

A strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, that would be quite a moment and hard to see how that would not spark an even larger war in the region.

BLITZER: Yes, that's what potentially could happen. Indeed, that's not unrealistic at all. Jim Sciutto, be careful over there in Tel Aviv, we'll get back to you. Kaitlan, I want you to continue our special coverage.

COLLINS: Yes, Wolf, a major question of how Israel chooses to respond to those, that could determine what we are looking at over the next days and weeks and months. We can report now that celebratory gunfire and cheers could be heard in Beirut and Gaza as all of this was unfolding in just the last hour, CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Beirut. Ben, can you tell us what you're seeing from your vantage point? WEDEMAN: Yes, what we saw in the immediate aftermath, Kaitlan, of

those strikes on Israel where fireworks being fired over the southern suburbs of Beirut. We can also hear celebratory gunfire, keeping in mind that the last two weeks have been very hard for Hezbollah and Lebanon, going back to the pager attacks, the walkie-talkies, and since the last eight days, full-on war between Hezbollah and Israel.

And therefore, for these supporters of Hezbollah and the supporters of Iran here in Lebanon, this was a moment of -- for them, joy and of course, in elsewhere though, for instance, in Jordan, there was fear. We've seen -- we saw in Jordan, rockets firing through this -- zooming through the skies of Jordan, the Jordanian military put out instructions to people to urgently go inside for their own safety.

[13:45:00]

The airspace over Jordan has been closed. And of course, now we are bracing for the Israeli response to this -- these Iranian strikes, and the expectation is that unlike in April, when the Israeli response to when Iran fired more than 300 drones and ballistic missiles at Israel was very modest.

Clearly, they were, the Israelis were encouraged by the Americans not to escalate, but I think just watching the pictures from Israel, clearly, the Israeli response is going to be significant. And what we have been talking for months now about the threat of a regional war, and I think we are on the very edge of that abyss.

The worry is that now that this has happened, that things could quickly go out of control. And of course, you have the United States very much part of this conflict, seen as the major supporter of Israel. It's deployed significant additional military forces to the region, and in the event we see more exchanges of fire between Iran and Israel, it's likely that the U.S. will, in some way be involved. Kaitlan?

COLLINS: That's a really important point, Ben, in the sense of in April after seeing Iran's response, the White House basically was telling Netanyahu take the win. This wasn't as bad and as damaging as it could have been, it was more targeted, maybe meant and deliberate to not cause more damage than what they had set out to do.

And the question though, was, if it happened again, what Israel would do and what that would look like. And I think the question here is, do they target Iran's nuclear capabilities? What does that look like in the aftermath? Because that could really shape the future of this war in this region.

WEDEMAN: Well, we heard the Prime Minister Netanyahu, the other day, he put out a message in English to the people in Iran, and he certainly suggested that things would change soon, that the relations between the people of Iran and the people of Israel would -- could dramatically improve.

So, how this is going to come about, it's difficult to say, but certainly, you know, Israel has been poised for years for military action against Iran, and certainly, I think now that seems very likely indeed, Kaitlan?

COLLINS: Yes, Ben Wedeman, we'll be watching it all, Ben Wedeman in Beirut, thank you for that report. Wolf, obviously, major questions here of what this is going to look like, though, we did hear from the IDF spokesperson who said right now in the immediate future, it does not appear there's any longer an aerial threat coming from Iran.

Obviously, a relief to people who were in Israel as of this moment, especially what we saw happening in Tel Aviv, but still a big question of what's to come.

BLITZER: That's the huge question right now, Kaitlan, and it's very important what Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the Israeli IDF spokesman said just a few minutes ago. He said there was a serious attack on us and there will be serious consequences. His words. He added that this was not the first time Israel has faced a direct threat from Iran.

We all remember what happened in April, but he added these words. We are ready for them. I want to bring in Michael Oren right now, he's the former Israeli ambassador to the United States. Ambassador Oren, thank you so much for joining us. How tense is this moment in Israel's history right now?

MICHAEL OREN, DIPLOMAT & FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: It is a very tense and a very historic moment, Wolf. The state of Israel was created in 1948 to prevent precisely from this happening, to defend the people and the land of Israel to ensure that the Jewish people would never be subject again to precisely this type of attack.

And this goes to the DNA of the Jewish state. And Israel will have to respond just as it responded to the attacks on October 7th, to the 11 months of shelling from Hezbollah in the north, Israel will respond and respond forcibly against Iran. And Israel has capabilities, and capabilities that are conventional, I must say, that it has not used.

I want to call your attention to the operation that eliminated Mr. Hassan Nasrallah before several days ago, in which many Israeli planes dropped bombs, about 2,000-pound bombs that cut through many yards of concrete. Now, we don't have strategic bombers like the United States have, that can bomb, you know, from 50,000 feet in the air with 50,000 bombs.

But we have a lot of fighters, the F-15s, the F-16s, F-35s, that conduct successive bombing sorties that can cut through concrete. And so, there is no -- there's no structure, no facility in Iran, including the nuclear facilities that is immune to an Israeli response.

[13:50:00]

BLITZER: So, you think the Israelis will actually do that, go after Iran's nuclear capabilities and try to destroy them with a massive bombing attack?

OREN: I wouldn't rule it out. I wouldn't rule it out against -- action against Iran's oil facilities as well in the Persian Gulf. They're very vulnerable. Way back when Ronald Reagan took out a number of them in the 1980s in response to Iranian aggression, they are vulnerable. Israel has other capabilities.

We have submarines, we have -- we have long-range missiles that we haven't used yet in these -- in these conflicts. So, there's a range of -- there's a spectrum of possibilities that Israel can do, and I think that Israel has to respond in a very forceful way because again, that goes to the very DNA of the country.

The big question, Wolf, is what will be America's position here? I was in the White House recently, I asked very pointedly, it's the United States willing to put teeth into don't? Remember, the President said, "don't" to Iran and to Hezbollah. They did. And now, is the United States willing to adopt a posture that's not just defensive, but offensive?

Were the United States to do that, I strongly believe it would be a game-changer in the Middle East and a game-changer in the world.

BLITZER: Look, do you think the U.S. will in fact come to Israel's aid right now? Or will the U.S. continue to urge Israel to step back and try to work out some sort of ceasefire agreement?

OREN: I think that as they say, that horse has left the stable about the ceasefire agreement. And Israel is not going to be able to agree to any ceasefire, it wasn't going to agree to a ceasefire even before this, the 21-day ceasefire that was requested by the administration and by the French, was a nonstarter in the state of Israel because that ceasefire would have benefited only Hezbollah, giving it a chance to regroup and re-arm.

Unless that ceasefire came with agreements with the United States, the United States would support Israel wholeheartedly should Hezbollah break the ceasefire and not implode -- and not retroactively implement resolutions 1701 from 2006. And that is to withdraw north of Litani River about 20 miles from our border.

But now, with the Iranian shelling of Israel -- and my family, my grandkids are all in bomb shelters now as I'm speaking to you, there are huge explosions in my neighborhood and a major terrorist attack as Jim reported a little while ago on CNN, a major telegraph in my neighborhood, literally down the street, eight people killed.

Israel is going to have to respond, and again, there will be a spectrum of possibilities. The big question, again, will the United States just act in a passive way and help Israel to take down these rockets? And I think we'll find out shortly that United States military assets in the Middle East were very active in intercepting these rockets.

But is the United States willing to say to the Iranians, you shoot at our ally, the way you've shot at our ally and you're going to pay a prohibitive price, because up to this point, the Iranians haven't paid a price. They've fired at American bases in the Middle East some 200 times. They've wounded dozens of American service people, killed three, and Iran to this point hasn't paid a price.

Here's an opportunity to change the rules of the game so the Iranians will know in an unequivocal way, that if they destabilize and bring it to the Middle East and bring violence to so many people, they are responsible for literally hundreds of thousands of deaths, and many hundreds of American deaths. That there will be a very painful price to pay.

BLITZER: So, what does your gut tell you, ambassador, you're the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, you appreciate what's going on in Washington right now. You know what's going on in Washington. What's your -- what your gut tell you, if the Israelis launch a massive retaliatory strike against very important and sensitive targets in Iran, which a lot of people suspect the Israelis will do.

What will be the U.S. reaction to that? Will the U.S. get militarily involved in helping Israel or will the U.S. try to urge Israel to step back?

OREN: It may do both. It's not an or. It may urge Israel to, you know, exercise restraint, it's very difficult right now. And I think that the administration knows that they can say publicly pleased -- you know, hold your fire, but behind the scenes, they know that Israel cannot do that. We cannot do that and fulfill our historic role as the Jewish state, just can't do that.

But also the United States will be involved as I mentioned, defensively, helping to intercept rockets, sharing Intelligence as they've done before. The U.S. and Israel, as you know, we don't agree all the time on everything, but still, we are a historic alliance. Between us, the U.S.-Israel strategic alliance is probably the deepest and most multifaceted strategic alliance which the United States has had with any foreign power in the post-World War II period.

And it goes into many areas. It's cyber, it's laser, it's Intelligence-sharing at the highest level. So, that's going to come into play. The big question is, is the United States -- and we can't over -- not overlook the fact that you're in an election cycle here only a few weeks away, and the debate tonight, is the United States prepared to adopt not just a defensive posture toward Iran, but a more offensive posture toward Iran.

[13:55:00]

And let the Iranians understand that they cannot do this. They cannot ignite wars throughout the entire Middle East. They cannot be involved in the massacre of hundreds of thousands of people. We're talking about 500,000 people who were killed in Syria alone and in the Yemen civil war, they can't do this anymore.

They can't stop international shipping through the Mandab Strait. They can't fire on American bases all the time. There has to be a price to be paid, and that would be a game-changer. It's not an easy decision. I understand it's not an easy decision for the White House, but there's an opportunity here and history will judge America, I think very favorably if it takes a strong stand at this moment.

BLITZER: Yes, I know that the U.S. Defense Department, the military, the Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and others were deploying many additional U.S. troops and equipment to the region in the hopes of deterring Iran from doing what they've done in the last couple of hours or so, launching a lot of these missiles and ballistic missiles towards Tel Aviv and elsewhere in Israel.

That deterrence clearly did not work. We'll see what happens next. Michael Oren; the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, thanks very much for joining us.

OREN: Thank you, Wolf, thank you.

BLITZER: Now, let's get back to Kaitlan. Kaitlan?

COLLINS: Thank you, Wolf. And I want to bring in CNN's Alex Marquardt, because Alex, it was just days ago that Prime Minister Netanyahu was here in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. He delivered a speech and there was a line that day that stood out, but even more so now, where he said it was a warning to Iran, a very frank one.

He said, "if you strike us, we will strike you. There's no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach." And Alex, you and I went to a briefing with senior Israeli officials talking about the very prospects of what the next steps of this war could look like, especially as we were on the verge of getting confirmation that the leader of Hezbollah had been killed in a targeted strike by Israel.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kaitlan, and that briefing was on the heels of this ceasefire deal that the U.S. had put on the table, and it had said that Israel was fully on board with. And then clearly, Israel showed that it had no intention of abiding by that ceasefire, they did not agree to it.

And just a couple of hours later, we got confirmation that Hassan Nasrallah had been killed. The U.S. has made clear that they did not want Israel to go into the ground in Lebanon and further inflame the situation. So, I think I can answer that question that Ambassador Michael Oren was just posing about whether the U.S. will take a more offensive stance.

I think the U.S. has shown zero willingness, and has no desire to engage proactively, militarily with the Iranian regime. And I think there are a lot of officials in this town who would take issue with his characterization that what the U.S. is doing right now is passive. In fact, what we're told is that the U.S., it has been very actively involved tonight in this aerial defense of Israel as they were back on April 13th.

And so, right now, Kaitlan, we have to get a sense of what it was that Iran has fired at Israel and what the destruction, what the results have been. I'm also told Kaitlan that in terms of this defense of Israel, the Jordanians have been actively involved with their Air Force in terms of shooting down many of these missiles. So, we're starting to get a sense of what this collective defense of

Israel has looked like tonight, and as we know so far from the Israelis, there have been no deaths and no injuries. And therefore, the question will then be, what are -- what is that Israeli response going to be? We heard the Israeli say that there will be consequences.

You can imagine the U.S. is going to be pressuring them to not escalate and to not respond in a way that will further inflame things, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yes, and President Biden and Vice President Harris are right now watching all of this play out with their national security team from the Situation Room. We do know that. Alex Marquardt, thank you for that. Our special coverage of this attack by Iran on Israel will continue. We're going to take a quick break, we'll be back with the breaking news with Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper right after this.

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