Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Interview with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL): Secretary of State Rubio Claims Iran Presented Imminent Threat; U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia Warns: Take Cover Immediately; Trump: U.S. Has Enough Munitions to Fight Forever Wars. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 03, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... of these candidates have really presented different arguments for the way to win and the types of voters that they will need to turn out in November. As Talarico has said that they need to appeal to independents and disillusioned Republicans, while Crockett says the answer is turning out the Democratic base. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES TALARICO, (D) TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: This broken political system, they may have the money, but we have the majority. It's going to require -- it's going to require that we bring people together across these manufactured divisions.

REP. JASMINE CROCKETT (D), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: For the longest, they've tried to convince us that Texas is a red state. I have been explaining for a very long time that Texas is a voter suppressed state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: But Democrats are operating in very tough political terrain here in Texas. No Democrat has won statewide since 1994 -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Arlette, thank you so much. A big day playing out in Texas and more states. So begins the election season. Arlette, thank you.

A new hour, CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news, two U.S. embassies closed. Most personnel ordered to leave five others. The State Department warns all Americans to leave almost the entire Middle East immediately.

One analyst told us this is basically unprecedented. It comes after new Iranian attacks on U.S. facilities.

But for all the warnings to get out, the question is how? Major travel disruptions ripping through the world from this conflict.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sinder. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news this morning, the U.S. has shut down two embassies, one in Saudi Arabia, one in Kuwait, as Iran steps up its retaliatory strikes on American assets and allies across the Middle East. Both embassies hit by suspected Iran drone attacks. And there's also this video showing a massive inferno at one of the world's largest oil refineries in Saudi Arabia.

The death toll for U.S. forces since the war began has now risen to six after a counterstrike against a U.S. facility in Kuwait. The State Department is now warning Americans to leave nearly the entire Middle East immediately. Inside Iran, new images showing blasts and destructions across the country.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog now confirming the first damage to an Iranian nuclear facility since the bombing began. President Trump is warning Iran the largest strikes are yet to come.

And just in the last few minutes, the president posting this about Iran, "Their air defense, Air Force, Navy and leadership is gone. They want to talk, I said, 'Too Late'."

Today, top Trump administration officials will brief Congress on the ongoing operation there -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, let's talk about this right now. Joining me now is Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. He's the number two Democrat in the Senate.

Senator, thanks for your time. You're going to be briefed today. All senators are going to be briefed today.

I want to play the explanation, though, that we heard from Marco Rubio now on why the U.S. operation, he says, was necessary and needed. Now, please listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces. And we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Rubio there arguing that they knew Israel was going to strike, that Iran would then retaliate. So therefore, the United States needed to come along with Israel and strike first. Does that make sense to you?

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): No, Kate, this is the fourth day of this war. We've had four different explanations of why we decided to invade Iran. And you look at those four.

Nuclear weapons. Sure, we wanted to stop those. We've been at that for more than a decade. Ballistic missiles. They don't have a ballistic missile that's any threat to the United States on the horizon. Regime change. Try to do that with aerial bombardment. It takes troops on the ground.

And finally, this latest from Secretary Rubio, that it has something to do with Bibi Netanyahu making the decision that we didn't want to be left not attending the party. I just think it's impossible for them to explain why this war of choice was started in the first place.

BOLDUAN: President Trump has talked in the past about wanting regime change in Iran. Pete Hegseth, though, the Secretary of Defense, said very clearly yesterday, this is not a regime change war. Does the answer to that question matter to you in the midst of this operation?

DURBIN: It certainly does. The president says that the aerial bombardment and the planes going into -- the drones going into Iran will end in four or five weeks. Trust me, I've been through this before with the Iraqi war.

When you're talking about regime change, you're talking about a long- term commitment and troops on the ground.

BOLDUAN: Republicans are using this war with Iran to put new pressure on Democrats to break the stalemate and fully fund DHS, as has been, obviously, now, I think, held up for a little, maybe a month now, or since earlier this month. Let me read for you what a couple of these Republicans are saying and the pressure they're now trying to apply.

Mike Lawler is saying this, "Given the situation in the Middle East and the potential for Iran and its terrorist proxies to attempt some type of attack, it is imperative that Schumer and Jeffries immediately drop all opposition to funding the Department of Homeland Security and pass the funding bill."

Don Bacon also saying this, "It is inexcusable that Congress has not funded CISA, TSA, Coast Guard, and Secret Service when we are seeing combat operations in the Middle East." Senator, have circumstances changed here since this weekend, putting Democrats in a risky spot right now in holding out on fully funding DHS?

DURBIN: Well, I'm not going to go into the history of this administration and its second term, which removed many people who were engaged in cybersecurity and terrorism and put them in this mass deportation plan of Stephen Miller. That is a fact. The second part of it is we've been discussing for weeks the basic premise that the ICE forces and CBP forces should stand by the standards of basic police procedure, all that are dominant across the United States.

They want to be treated special. They want the mass secret police that don't have to answer to anyone for court orders or the Constitution. That is unacceptable.

We can resolve this issue in terms of the ICE forces and should have done it a long time ago.

BOLDUAN: But have circumstances -- that's a position I've heard since this fight began -- but have circumstances changed since bombs started dropping out of the sky on Iran?

DURBIN: We should watch it very carefully. We want to protect our troops first and foremost, but we also want to protect the American people when it comes to their basic constitutional rights. To think that this mass paramilitary is going to run roughshod over people across America is unacceptable.

BOLDUAN: The secretary of DHS, Kristi Noem, is going to be testifying before your committee, I believe, at the top of the next hour in front of the judiciary. She's faced even criticism over her leadership from Republicans on your committee, like Thom Tillis. What do you want to hear from her this morning?

DURBIN: Remember the goal the president told us over and over again at his rallies? We're going after the worst of the worst, the rapists, murderers, terrorists, and criminally insane illegal aliens. It turns out that 85 percent of the people who've been arrested and detained by ICE forces of this DHS department had no criminal record, certainly no violent criminal record at all.

Many are American citizens obeying the law. When you look at the reality of what this operation is, it has little to do with our safety and a lot to do with political posture.

BOLDUAN: Senator Dick Durbin, thank you for your time. That committee hearing with Secretary Noem begins very soon. I appreciate it -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. New this morning, no timeline in sight. President Trump has told a Republican senator, it is not possible to know how long the U.S. military operation in Iran will last. Fear of a long, drawn-out conflict is now growing.

Plus, as Americans in places like Dubai try to get out of the Middle East, we are getting a look at how the UAE is defending itself against attacks from Iran.

And GOP Congressman Nancy Mace, under investigation, accused of trying to profit off a housing program.

Those stories and more ahead.

[08:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: We have new video in of explosions over Doha and Qatar as air defenses there intercepted incoming Iranian missiles. Iran has been launching attacks on U.S. allies all over the Gulf and the Middle East. In one of those countries, the United Arab Emirates, a top military official, just spoke about the missiles destroyed by their air defenses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. ABDUL NASSER AL HUMAIDI, UAE DEFENSE MINISTRY SPOKESMAN (through translator): We start with this ballistic tactical missile, which was damaged. We intersected hundreds of these missiles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now, since the war began, the UAE says it has intercepted 169 missiles of the 182 they say were fired. They also say that they've intercepted 645 drones over their airspace, with 44 managing to land somewhere inside the territory.

Now, Kuwait nearby says it has intercepted 178 ballistic missiles. and 384 drones. Bahrain, the island nation, reports intercepting 70 missiles and 76 drones, and Qatar says it intercepted 101 missiles out of a total of 104 that were fired, and 24 out of 39 drones, and a significant development. It also says it shot down two Iranian bombers.

The defense has been largely successful inside these nations, but there is a question about how long they can sustain. Do they have the supplies?

[08:15:00]

President Trump is insisting they do have the supplies to maintain the air defense, but we will see.

I want to get right to CNN's Nic Robertson is in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. The embassy where you are has been hit and I understand, Nic, that there are some new warnings in the nation.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, the embassy here in Riyadh has a very -- the U.S. Embassy has a very strong and clear warning for U.S. citizens in Dharan in the east of the country where the U.S. has a consulate. Also, this is the sort of main oil producing region of Saudi Arabia. And of course, being in the east of Saudi Arabia, this is a massive country, a bit less than a quarter the size of the U.S. That is much closer to Iran. And it's a very stark warning. So let me let me just read it here.

"There is an imminent threat, an imminent threat of missile and UAV drone attacks over Dharan shelter in place. Do not come to the consulate. Take cover immediately. Immediately."

This is a very real warning, and it does seem that the U.S. has pretty precise information about the targeting of its embassies and consular locations here in Saudi Arabia. Remembering last night, two drones struck right outside the U.S. Embassy here in Riyadh. No one was injured. A fire was started by those drones.

But in this sort of hour, two hours after that, there was another follow-on warning from the embassy saying shelter in place in the consulate in Jeddah in the west of the country, in the embassy in Riyadh here. And again, Dharan in the east of the country, shelter in place.

And we had reports that there was a possibility of other missiles incoming. Well, they arrived. So there does seem to be a level of intelligence. Those second wave of attacks, again, impacting near the U.S. Embassy here in Riyadh. So these warnings are coming in effectively real-time. And the real-time warning is U.S. citizens in the east of Saudi Arabia around the city of Dharan, shelter in place. Do not go to the consulate. Do not get outside and start moving around. So it appears that Iran is using drones to target U.S. facilities inside Saudi Arabia, ratcheting up the sort of diplomatic tensions and pressures in the region. Saudi Arabia has condemned strongly these actions by Iran and have said again, reiterated that they reserve the right to respond to aggression. It's a very, very difficult diplomatic place right now for the Saudi kingdom.

BERMAN: Yes, no doubt about that. And these warnings at a level that we really have not heard before, very specific, very urgent. Nic Robertson, thank you for that report.

Obviously, we will keep our eyes on what's happening in Dharan with the very latest. Thank you -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. ahead, still to come, from airspace closures to massive reroutes. How the conflict in the Middle East is putting a strain on global travel.

Plus, the Supreme Court waying in on a law aimed at blocking schools from outing transgender students to their parents. Those stories and more ahead.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Breaking just minutes ago, President Trump posting this about Iran, quote, "Their air defense, Air Force, Navy and Leadership is gone. They want to talk. I said, 'Too Late'."

Overnight, the president posted that the U.S. has a virtually unlimited supply of weapons, enough to fight, as he put it, forever war. That's despite top administration officials trying to reassure the American public that the war with Iran will not be one of those.

CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House. What are you learning this morning? You're getting more and more messages being pumped out by the president on his social media site.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and it also comes, Sara, as we've now seen a number of senior Trump administration officials, really the top people who have been involved in this operation from the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, to the Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, to the Vice President, J.D. Vance, all of them coming out for the first time.

And that includes, I should say, President Trump speaking publicly in person yesterday as well, coming out and beginning to formulate the message that this White House has been really carefully working on behind the scenes to try and sell the American people on this. And I want to walk through some of what we've heard from each of these people, because I should say all of the messaging is not necessarily aligned.

When we heard from the president yesterday, and this goes to that post you read from the president this morning, he laid out really four different objectives for this war. He said he wanted to destroy Iran's missile capabilities, to annihilate its navy, to end its nuclear ambitions and to prevent the Iranian regime from arming terrorists. That's what he laid out yesterday when speaking publicly at a ceremony.

He did not mention, really, regime change there, even though, of course, we know that a big part of this, and he said this over the weekend, is about regime change and really encouraging the Iranian people at this point to kind of rise up and overthrow their government. That was the language we heard from the president over the weekend.

But then we heard from Rubio yesterday, and this is what I think was very interesting. He was talking about this idea of an imminent threat, and this is one of those questions that a lot of people have about the justification and timing for this war. And he said the imminent threat that the Trump administration had identified was that they knew that Israel was going to be launching strikes and attacking Tehran, and that essentially, they presumed and had information that Iran would then fight back and target U.S. bases and military assets in the region.

[08:25:00]

And so this was what they believed was that preemptive strike, what was the imminent threat that they were going against. That has left a lot of people kind of concerned about the reasoning for jumping into this. We've also heard, then, different explanations from the vice president, who said this is all about ensuring that Iran never has a nuclear weapon.

What I will say is a lot of this comes down to the timing and that the administration knew that at this point in time, Iran was weaker than they have ever been because the proxies, Iran's proxies are weaker than they have ever been. And that was also playing into this. All to say there are still so many questions and so many things that are unclear, particularly the timeline for this and really how the administration believes we will ultimately get out of this situation down the road -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, Alayna Treene, thank you for that update there from the White House -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thanks so much, Sara.

As part of Iran's retaliation, it's effectively shut down the critical shipping channel in the Strait of Hormuz, and now U.S. gas prices are seeing the largest one-day jump since Hurricane Katrina. We're tracking this for you this morning.

And with wave after wave of Iranian drone attacks and retaliation, the question is now growing of could U.S. allies in the Middle East run out of what they need in terms of air defense?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:00]