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Continued Strikes in Iraq; Continued Strikes on UAE; Continued Strikes on Lebanon and Israel; Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) is Interviewed about Iran; War with Iran Triggers Global Travel Chaos; Iran Escalates Retaliatory Strikes; Rubio Claims Imminent Threat. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 03, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:51]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia is now shut down. The embassy also just issued a pretty frightening warning that there is, and the way they put out is, "a threat of imminent missile and UAV drone attacks" in the eastern Saudi city of Dhahran. The Trump administration is also now telling U.S. citizens to not come to the U.S. consulate and take cover immediately, is their message. The U.S. embassy in Kuwait also closed after suspected Iranian drone attacks. And there's this video out of Saudi Arabia showing one of the world's largest oil refineries on fire.

So, as Iran's retaliation seems to obviously continue and expand, it has several types of missiles and drones at its disposal. Some capable of hitting targets even in Europe. The Soumar is one, a long range, ground-launched cruise missile that is potentially nuclear capable. It has an estimated range of 3,000 kilometers. There's also the Sejjil, a medium range ballistic surface to surface missile. It has a maximum range of 2,000 kilometers or more than 1,200 miles.

And then there's the Shahed drones that we've talked so much about, that are flown directly into targets. They're cheap. They're effective. They also have a maximum range of 2,000 kilometers. Iranian state media put out -- we're going to show you some video that we brought to you yesterday, but it's worth talking about now. They say this shows the drone firepower that they have at their disposal, stored in underground tunnels. Unclear when this video was taken, of course. These are widely used to strike targets in the middle -- in Middle Eastern cities and countries allied with the United States since this conflict began.

With all of that in mind, let's get back to our CNN teams. They're following the very latest in these developments from across the Middle East.

Let's start with Clarissa Ward, near the Iraq-Iran border.

And just yesterday, you brought us video, Clarissa, of one of those drones flying right over that -- your head, your team's head, just showing how real this is. What's happening now?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Kate, that's right, those drones have continued to fly overhead. The vast majority of them have been targeting an area over behind me there to the right. That is where the Erbil International Airport is. That's also where the air base is, which is one of the last places that there is still a U.S. troop presence. Last night there was also an attack on another air base just outside of Erbil. Not clear if there were any U.S. service members there.

But what's interesting today, Kate, is that we have seen at least two drone strikes on Iranian Kurdish militia headquarters. Now, there are a number of Iranian Kurds who have been in this country for 40 years. They are waiting essentially for the opportunity to go back into Iran at some point. And there's been a lot of speculation about whether they would be part of some kind of an effort to topple the Iranian regime. At that stage -- at this stage that is incredibly speculative. But nonetheless, it is still interesting that we are now seeing those drones targeting those militia positions.

Important also for our viewers to understand that Iraqi Kurdistan is getting it from two sides at the moment. We saw that drone coming in from Iran, but they're also getting fired upon regularly by Iran- backed militias in Iraq. And we have seen a number of statements coming out from those militias, particularly during the course of last night, where they say that they are upping the ante. Last night more strikes than ever before since this war began. And the expectation is that will only continue to intensify.

So, a lot of anxiety here. Obviously, you've heard those, you know, orders for Americans in a number of different countries to quickly leave these countries as quickly as they can. But as you probably understand, Kate, that is simply impossible for most people. The airport here is closed. The airport in Baghdad is closed. The journey to get to Turkey takes many, many hours. So, a lot of complexity and a lot of anxiety that this situation is continuing to escalate with no clear offramp in sight.

Kate.

[08:35:03]

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Clarissa, thank you so much to you and your team with your continued reporting.

Let's go over now to Paula Hancocks, who's standing by as well in Dubai.

Talk -- what's the latest on the attacks that you're learning about in the UAE?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, we've heard some blasts overhead earlier this morning in Dubai, overnight in Abu Dhabi. There's certainly a lot more fighter jet activity that we can hear in the sky throughout today. And we've been hearing from officials here in the UAE. There was a

briefing just about an hour ago trying to reassure people that the air defense systems were intact, that they were doing their job, as they are supposed to.

Now, they had some pretty staggering figures of just how many missiles, drones have been fired from Iran into the UAE. Well over 1,000. And we are only on day four. Now, this is an unprecedented level of military attack that this country has not seen before. But they also pointed out that they do have enough strategic ammunition, that they have enough reserves that the multi-layered air defense system is able to keep working for as long as it is needed to work. Because, of course, the longer this war continues and the longer there is this retaliation against gulf nations, the question will always be asked, do they have enough interceptors? And this briefing was effectively to tell people, yes, we do. Do not worry.

And on that same note, we also saw the UAE leader, along with the defense minister, the crown prince of Dubai walking through Dubai mall last night, Monday night, greeting shoppers, to try and give a bit of reassurance that there is still a semblance of safety and security in this country.

But to Clarissa's point as well, people here, there are many that would like to leave. It is very difficult to leave. We've just been to Dubai Airport, which is the world's busiest international airport, 600 to 700 flights usually fly out of there. Tens of thousands of passengers. There was a fraction of those passengers there. But they are starting to get some flights out as of Monday night.

Now, we spoke to an Irishman who was here on a business trip that got stuck. We spoke to a couple that live here but couldn't sleep because of the alarms and the blasts. They had tried to go to Paris, flight canceled. Tried to go to Milan, flight canceled. They were now going to Jeddah. So, people are going to the airport with confirmed tickets but still uncertain if their flight is going to take off.

In Doha, Qatar, for example, there are 8,000 transit passengers who were traveling through the airport when the war started. They're stuck.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And they're stuck. Paula, thank you so much for that.

Let's go to northern Israel right now. That is where Nick Paton Walsh is standing by.

Nick, there's just so much activity going on. Where do you want to begin?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, around us over the last minutes before we came on air here, noise of drones, but also what must be Israeli jets as well.

That behind me over there, over that hill, is southern Lebanon. A significantly battered landscape from some of the footage we've been indeed seeing. But it is where Israel says it's essentially been making the first ground move of this, well, ultimately regional conflict. Now, not an invasion, but essentially widening a buffer zone that they have since a ceasefire kicked in, which told them to withdraw, they've kept five positions inside Lebanese territory and they appear this morning to have inserted more forces essentially between those positions to kind of deepen the buffer zone, ultimately, or widen it, certainly intensify it, enabling a town like this, Kiryat Shmona, to continue to have signs of life, because in late 2024, when they had clashes with Hezbollah, places like this were evacuated. Israel saying they will not be doing that this time. And I think that is a measure of the weakened adversary they face to their north here in Lebanon.

A recap, Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy militia, ultimately sponsored by the now late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran, said they would avenge his death. They launched drones, missiles. They did some very early this morning as well. They've predominantly been intercepted. Some light injuries at one house that's been hit not far from where I'm standing here as well. But they've been hit hard. Eighty villagers have to be evacuated, according to an IDF evacuation order to the north of where I am in southern Lebanon, 70 plus targets repeatedly hit again and again. We've been hearing blasts over that hill since we got here. And Beirut's southern suburbs of Deir, being hit repeatedly hard, again and again.

And a key change as well. Lebanon's government has told Hezbollah to lay down its arms and to stop aggression against Israel. This could be an existential moment for that group, severely weakened. And Israel has made it clear that they wish to finish the job this time around. But still, great anxiety here because of the history of how violent this area has indeed been when clashes occur.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, a very important perspective there from you, Nick.

[08:40:01]

Thank you so much for all of our correspondents and teams throughout the region right now.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, Kate.

Today, the Trump administration will brief Congress on its operations in Iran. And it comes as Democrats in Congress are pushing for a war powers resolution. Democratic Senator Jack Reed from Rhode Island is joining us now. He's the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Senator, thank you so much for being here.

SEN. JACK REED (D-RI): Thank you. SIDNER: First, I want to talk to you about what we're hearing from President Trump now. And I'll get to that in just a sec. But Americans are stuck in the middle of this in the Middle East. For many of them, they cannot fly out. But the Trump administration is telling them to get out of almost the entire Middle East. So, what do you advise Americans to do who are stuck in the region without being able to fly out?

REED: Well, the first thing they should do is contact the American embassy, because the embassy will have specific instructions as to where they may protect themselves while they're waiting to get out. And also, I would presume and hope that the American embassies are organizing, as best they can, transportation to take American citizens out of the country, out of the scope of danger.

So, the first step is, call the embassy. And then use whatever commercial activities you can to try to secure a flight out. But the embassies are the ones that are designed to deal with these types of crises.

SIDNER: Yes, the embassies closing in a couple of places, so it is too late for those people in places like Kuwait and Saudi.

REED: Right.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about what the president has been saying in the last few hours. Overnight he posted this about the war with Iran. He says, "the United States munitions stockpiles have never been higher or better. We have virtually unlimited supply of these weapons. Wars can be fought forever and very successfully using just these supplies."

Does that language signal to you that the president is preparing Americans for one of the so-called forever wars that he has railed against?

REED: Well, I think it first suggests to me that we do not have unlimited arms. The president is trying to put a good face on a situation which, not immediately, but certainly within weeks or months we're going to run into a crisis of having sufficient arms. That is why, over the last year, the Department of Defense has been investing significantly on increased arms production because even without this conflict they anticipated that we would not have adequate number of arms for a major conflict. And I think the president is simply trying to dispense with the real problem, which is that at some point we have to start rationing our arms.

And, again, the question is when. Is it this week? Is it five weeks? Is it five months? The whole question of an unlimited termless war is something that we face. I don't know of any war in the Middle East that has been short and sweet, other than the 1991 attack against Iraq. But that was limited by President George Herbert Walker Bush himself. They were -- they understood they didn't want to go all the way to Baghdad. A mistake that was made by his son, George W. Bush.

SIDNER: Yes. No, there was a very clear directive there just to get Iraq out of Kuwait. Now, the objective is not as clear. There are many different things that this administration is saying that its objective is here.

The president just is heading to Congress today to address this war in front of the Congress. He's started this war without congressional approval. He's promising a major attack today. Has Congress simply lost its power to have any say in a conflict that is clearly going now? He's called it a war, and so has his secretary of defense.

REED: Congress has not exerted its power, as it must under the Constitution of the United States. It is Congress that can authorize war. The president disregarded this constitutional imperative. Now, we have to step up.

There will be a vote this week, perhaps tomorrow morning, so that Congress can retain its constitutional obligation and responsibility to authorize a war. This is consistent with most everything the president has done. He's (INAUDIBLE) legal (ph) constraints (ph).

SIDNER: Will you vote to authorize this war?

REED: I will vote to invoke the War Powers Act, which would give the president 30 days to terminate the operation, except for activities defending the state of Israel, which is critical to our reliance and alliance on Israel.

[08:45:08]

SIDNER: Senator Jack Reed, I do appreciate your time this morning. Thank you for coming in.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, as we've been discussing, new overnight, the U.S. State Department has closed its embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. It ordered non-emergency U.S. government personnel and their families to leave Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. And the State Department also urging all U.S. citizens throughout the Middle East to depart now due to serious safety risks. They're saying leave, but the issue is, with many airlines suspending flights in the region, how do you get out? Hundreds of thousands of people are stranded.

Let's get to CNN's Kristie Lu Stout for the latest on this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The Iran conflict has triggered global travel chaos as major airports across the Middle East remain closed or restricted, and major airlines cancel or reroute flights. And as a result, scores of travelers are stranded in airports and cities around the world. In fact, according to Australia's foreign minister, 115,000 residents are stuck in the Middle East.

Now, we've been monitoring social videos from Dubai, and there are scenes of crowds and chaos, with passengers having nowhere to go. Earlier, passengers rushed to evacuate the airport after reported Iranian strike. Officials confirmed four staff were injured. And Dubai International is the busiest airport in the world for international passenger traffic.

Meanwhile, at the Abu Dhabi International Airport, a drone strike there killed one person and injured seven. That's according to the airport's social media account.

And elsewhere, Bahrain's main airport was hit by a drone. Kuwait as well.

Now, one passenger from China, who expressed shock and dismay after her flight to Dubai was turned back to the origin city in Qingdao, China.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At first I was just really shocked because I never thought things like this, like war, would be kind of so close to me. I always just thought it's something that is just something you read in the news. But then actually getting on a long-haul flight, and almost made it, like kind of halfway there, and then started to turn around all the way, it was just really shocking.

STOUT: Airspace has been closed across the Middle East. Just bring up FlightRadar24 and you can clearly see how the skies over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE and elsewhere are virtually empty. And there's a growing list of airlines canceling flights to the region, including Emirates, including Etihad Airways, Qatar, Lufthansa, Air France, Air India, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Turkish Airways and Cathay Pacific.

Now, Hong Kong's flagship carrier has suspended all flights to the region, citing passenger and crew safety. Hundreds of thousands of travelers are stranded all over the world, in Dubai, Paris, Bangkok, and Sydney and airports across India and elsewhere. When can they get home?

Now, with airspace across the Middle East still closed amid a very kinetic conflict, that remains unclear.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Kristie Lu Stout, thank you so much. She's really talking about one example of how immediate disruptions have been setting in because of this war.

U.S. markets are a half hour from opening bell right now, and you can see what direction they are heading here. Oil prices have been surging once again this morning. And what this war now means for, well, all markets and U.S. gas prices. That's coming up.

And Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace is now facing an ethics probe, facing allegations over improperly billing her congressional office for reimbursements.

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[08:52:49]

SIDNER: The breaking news, President Trump is warning Iran the largest strikes are about to come. The U.S. embassies in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia closed after suspected Iranian drone attacks. And Americans are being told to leave the region now.

In an interview with "The New York Post," President Trump said he would send troops into Iran if they were, quote, "necessary."

Joining me now, CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier, and retired Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson.

All right, look, the president has said he wants to destroy Iran's missile capabilities, annihilate its navy and its nuclear ambitions, and stop it from arming militant groups.

General, from a purely military standpoint, can you do all of that from the air and sea or does this eventually inevitably require boots on the ground?

BRIG. GEN. STEVE ANDERSON, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Thank you for having me, Sara.

And the answer is unequivocally, no, you cannot do that. Air power is almost always -- we overestimate the impact of air power and its ability. Now, it's very, very important, of course, to conduct shaping operations. But until you put boots on the ground, you really can't execute any of those missions that the president has laid out satisfactorily.

It's a bad situation. It's not going to get worse -- not going to get better by putting boots on the ground, unfortunately, though, because really I don't think that we -- we're ready for that. We can't prepare -- it would probably take six months and 500,000 troops in order to conduct an invasion of Iran. Not a good idea. Air power isn't the answer. We need to limit our objectives accordingly because we're just not going to be able to achieve all those things that President Trump thinks we're going to be able to achieve.

SIDNER: Kimberly, I want to just play what we heard from Marco Rubio, because there is a big question as to why this war now. Why now? And here's how Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained it. He said there was an imminent threat.

Listen.

(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 believed 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.

[08:55:08]

Israel attacked them. They hit us first. And we waited for them to hit us, we would suffer more casualties and more deaths.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Does that make sense to you?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: No, not at all. I mean, the U.S. and Israel are allies. Israel would not launch an attack like this without the cooperation of the United States and without basically getting a green light. Plus, we know, the Pentagon has told us, that the -- Israel was able to hit some of these targets with U.S. intelligence. So, this was a coordinated operation. The idea that Israel was some sort of unhinged actor that was about to hit Iran, and therefore we had to join them, it just -- I don't know how he came up with this. And it's left a lot of people throughout the region confused.

SIDNER: Yes, it is perplexing because an imminent attack, it sounds like he was talking about the fact that it was imminent from Israel, and then we were responding. It is confusing the way in which Rubio put that.

DOZIER: Yes.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you, General, about the capabilities of the gulf countries, because they are getting hit. The UAE is getting hit and sometimes civilian apparatus is getting hit. What kind of capabilities do they have to defend themselves? When you have a large population of people who are residents there trying to figure out how to stay safe.

ANDERSON: Well, most of those countries have American systems. Patriot and THADD air defense systems in particular. But one of my big concerns about what's going on right now is the nuclear capability of Iran. I mean we still do not know where the 900 pounds of missing enriched uranium is. You know, it's been enriched to 60 percent. You'd need to get it to 90 percent in order to execute -- to conduct -- to make an actual bomb. But they've got enough material for ten of them.

Also, the centrifuges. We know they have thousands of them. Where are they? I suspect that they could be very well in this place called Pickaxe Mountain. And I think that's what President Trump was talking about on his big hit, going after Pickaxe Mountain with GBU-57s, which he used very successfully eight months ago, against facilities in Isfahan and others. We need to go after that facility 300 feet deep, perhaps. They've been working on it since September. We know that there's been activity. Pickaxe Mountain needs to be a target.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you, Kimberly, look, Americans are being told to get out of almost the entire Middle East right now. And we know that there are -- most airlines are not flying. The space over the airways is too dangerous. There are all sorts of, you know, drones being flown over and fighter jets being flown over those countries right now. What are they supposed to do when you also have embassies closing?

DOZIER: Yes, air departure opportunities are very limited. Ambassador Huckabee in Israel has just released a video to Americans this morning telling them to take busses that the embassy has organized to Egypt and fly out that way. But this also leads to a question of, we're being told this big strike is about to happen. As Steve said, maybe it's something like B-2's dropping bunker busters.

But we're also being told by U.S. and Israeli officials that in the coming 24 to 48 hours Iran will have a lot less that it's able to launch. So. what is it, this renewed threat to American citizens across the region? And that leads you to think of scary things like chemical, biological or terror attacks. So, big question marks.

SIDNER: Lots of question marks still yet to be answered.

Kim Dozier, Brigadier General Steve Anderson, thank you both for your insight on this. It's very needed at this hour.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, we learned the House Ethics Committee is investigating whether Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace tried to turn a profit on a taxpayer funded program meant to help lawmakers cover their Washington, D.C., housing costs. A nonpartisan watchdog says there is, quote, "substantial reason to believe," end quote, that Mace pocketed about $9,500 more than her actual expenses. A lawyer for Mace calls the report "fundamentally flawed" and suggests the narrative was influenced by her former fiance. Mace is not seeking re-election to the House. She is instead running for governor of South Carolina.

A major ruling out of the Supreme Court. And it comes via the emergency docket once again. In a six to three vote, the justices blocked a California policy that restricts teachers from informing parents about a student's gender expression at school. The conservative majority says parent's religious rights were being violated. California says the decision puts children at risk of abuse at home.

A brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

[09:00:07]

BOLDUAN: Take cover immediately.