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Iran Launches Its Largest Attack Ever Against Israel; Israel Strikes Hezbollah Targets in Beirut Suburbs; Vance, Walz Cordial to Each Other, Clash on Divisive Issues. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired October 02, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a brazen, unacceptable attack by Iran.

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Israel, with the active support of the United States and other partners, effectively defeated this attack.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Make no mistake, the United States is fully supportive of Israel.

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want us as a Republican Party to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word.

GOV. TIM WALZ, D-MN, VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Just because you have a mental health issue doesn't mean you're violent. And I think what we end up doing is we start looking for a scapegoat. Sometimes it just is the guns.

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MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: For our viewers joining us from around the world, I'm Max Foster. It's Wednesday, October the 2nd, 9 a.m. here in London.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Becky Anderson in Tel Aviv, where the time is 11 a.m.

The turmoil in the Middle East is intensifying. From Iran's attack on Israel to new IDF strikes in Lebanon, you are looking at live pictures out of Beirut this morning. Plumes of smoke are still rising from the densely populated southern suburbs there, where the Israeli military went after Hezbollah targets overnight.

Hezbollah claims to have hit back with a rocket strike on Israeli military barracks along the border and other launches at Israel. The fighting follows Iran's largest ever attack against Israel.

The commander-in-chief of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says 200 missiles were fired and 90 percent of them, he says, hit their targets. The IDF's earlier estimate was 180 mostly ballistic missiles. The Israeli prime minister says most were intercepted and the attack failed, and that echoed by Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser in the U.S., who described the attack as defeated.

Well, my colleague Jim Sciutto and his crew and my team were here in Tel Aviv as the rockets reached Israel. Jim was on air. Have a listen to what happened.

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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY ANALYST: Oh, Jesus. Oh, God. OK, guys, we got to get off the roof. These are coming down right next to us here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please do, Jim. Please do.

SCIUTTO: They're coming down. One just about. We got to go inside.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jim, please take cover.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: The true impact of the Iranian air assault is unclear, but we are hearing some homes in central Israel were damaged by shockwaves. CNN's Jeremy Diamond had this report earlier.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: There was an enormous crater right near where we're standing. You can see behind me the mounds of dirt that just popped up from this explosion damaging this vehicle behind me. And it appears that what Iran was targeting in this area is Israel's main intelligence military intelligence base, which is less than a kilometer away from here.

But multiple rockets appearing to hit here. We actually have video of one of those missiles making impact in this very area where we are standing now, showing the destructive power that these missiles could have.

Earlier, we were a bit south of here in Gadara, Israel, where we visited the damage of one of these missiles, that one of these missiles apparently wrought on an elementary school, landing in the schoolyard right next to second and third grade classrooms, severely damaging that school building.

The Israeli military is vowing tonight that they will exact serious consequences for these attacks by Iran. Some 180 ballistic missiles fired, several of them landing in central as well as in southern Israel. The Israeli military says they were able to intercept most of those missiles, but now it's certainly a region even more on edge than it already was as Israel threatens further retaliation.

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ANDERSON: Well, President Joe Biden says the United States remains fully supportive of Israel, but is still discussing an appropriate response to Iran's attack. Mr. Biden confirmed that the U.S. is in constant contact with the Israeli government, though he hasn't personally spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since August.

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He also spoke on how the attack last night was thwarted.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective, and this is testament to Israeli military capability and the U.S. military. I'm also -- it's also a testament to intensive planning between the United States and Israel to anticipate and defend against the brazen attack we expected. Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel.

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ANDERSON: Well, we're also hearing from the frontrunners in the U.S. presidential race while Donald Trump decided to attack the current administration. Vice President Harris made very clear her stance on America's relationship with Israel and interactions with Iran. Have a listen.

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KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My commitment to the security of Israel is unwavering, and let us be clear, we will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend U.S. forces and interests against Iran and Iran- backed terrorists. And we will continue to work with our allies and partners to disrupt Iran's aggressive behavior and hold them accountable.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As you know, the world right now is spiraling out of control.

I've been talking about World War III for a long time, and I don't want to make predictions because the predictions always come true. We're not going to make, but they are very close to global catastrophe.

We have a nonexistent president and a nonexistent vice president who should be in charge, but nobody knows what's going on.

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ANDERSON: Well, meanwhile, across the region in parts, there have been celebrations following the Iranian missile strike on Israel, just like these scenes of jubilation on the streets of Iran's capital, Tehran, on Tuesday evening.

CNN's team in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, could hear celebratory gunfire and fireworks as word spread of Iran's attack. Meanwhile, on Israel's other war front, video filmed by CNN crews in Gaza captured the sounds of cheering as the Iranian rockets flew overhead en route to Israel.

With me now from Tel Aviv is the IDF international spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner. And Peter, it's good to have you. We were here on this terrace at 7:30 last night when the largest ever aerial attack on Israel began, and it was ferocious. You will have witnessed the same scenes. The sirens were going off. It was a very, very frightening scene.

And as the mourning continues and the damage assessment goes on, there are certainly competing claims as to the damage, destruction and casualties. So can you be very specific last night? What is the assessment by Israel on the impact of this ferocious attack?

LT. COL. PETER LERNER, IDF INTERNATIONAL SPOKESPERSON: Good morning, Becky. Indeed, 180 ballistic missiles indiscriminately fired at Israel from Iran. Of course, there were some hits, but they were mostly, I would say, marginal and never had any impact on our ability to defend ourselves, did not limit our air force capabilities, our aerial defense capabilities.

As you rightly saw, we've seen images circulating on social media, but it's very hard to jump to conclusions. What we understand is the vast majority were defeated and intercepted or landed in open areas that had no impact, except for the inconvenience of being afraid. Those sirens sent 10 million people into shelters.

There was one person that was killed in this barrage of ballistic missiles, a Palestinian in the area of Jericho. But other than that, most of us, like yourself, like us, we took shelter and did the responsible thing and took cover in the anticipation that there could be wider damage. Of course, it goes to the underlying message is Iran.

Sure. Sorry.

ANDERSON: Let me press you because there are images and videos circulating of this attack. Iran said it was very specifically on military and security targets. Now, we know because our teams have been on the ground, there has been an impact, for example, in central Israel, very close to a school. That is not an area of military or security assets.

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But we also know there were clear attacks on Nevatim, for example, which is the air base, very strategic air base in the south of the country. And there is reports that there was significant damage sustained there.

Again, what can you tell us aside from the fact that your air capabilities are still operational? What was the extent of the damage there, for example?

LERNER: So, I'm not going to talk about specific locations, Becky, precisely because I don't want to tip off Iran. But what I can say is that the operational capability, the ability to continue, as we have been throughout the course of this morning, conducting precision strikes against Hezbollah targets, continues. The aerial defense system was effective on its multi-layers different capabilities, from the Iron Dome and David's Sling and beyond.

And I think what is important, of course, 180 ballistic missiles fired at Israel with the intent to kill and cause death and destruction failed.

ANDERSON: What can you tell us about planning for an Israeli response? The prime minister here has said that he vows a response, very specifically on Iran. I also want to talk about what is going on with regard Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group in Lebanon.

But what can you tell us about what that response on Iran might look like and when it will take place?

LERNER: Very, very specific questions, as always, Becky. I think we need to understand that our primary focus currently is destroying Hezbollah's capabilities on the border with Israel to restore safety and security and bring home the 60,000 Israelis that have been living out of home. If you want to ask what we can do, Nic Robertson was on a flight to Yemen when we conducted strikes against the Houthis just two days ago.

And I think that illustrates our ability to go long distances, to exert destruction on our enemies that are all operating under the umbrella of Iran. So it does make sense. And I think that there is no distance we won't go in order to make sure that Iran pays the consequences for its actions against us.

I think the prime minister, the defense minister, chief of staff, the IDF's chief of staff have all spoken very, very clearly. Iran can't be allowed to get away with what they did. There needs to be a very, very strong message that if you decide to launch an attack on Israel, then there is a price.

But it's not only against Israel, because Iran is involved in disruption everywhere. They focused on Israel for sure with empowering and engaging and funding and training Hezbollah and funding and training and equipping Hamas in the south or the Houthis, which would not have any firepower without Iran. But so with them operating as this puppet master, there is a huge shift and we will have to deal with that.

ANDERSON: And let's talk very specifically about the Houthis and the attack, the strike by Israel on the Hodeidah port, because you brought that up and that was a strike on power facilities there. Are you suggesting that that is an option on oil and power facilities as a target for an Israeli response to this?

LERNER: We have a bank of targets, potential targets that would inflict pain and pressure on the regime. I won't go into specifics. Obviously, you know, it would be irresponsible for me to reveal any specific plans, Becky.

So let's just say with this very, very clear message, Iran, the regime in Iran, they made a poor decision when they decided to launch such a hostile action against Israel and the citizens and people of Israel. Ten million people in shelters took shelter yesterday. That cannot be acceptable anywhere.

ANDERSON: The foreign minister of Iran has said that they are a country that was exercising restraint, called on by the Arab Muslim world to exercise restraint while a ceasefire was organized. That has never materialized. And we see ourselves as far away as ever from a ceasefire in Gaza.

That is the position that Iran takes. And that has been the position, of course, of Hezbollah. They want to see a ceasefire in Gaza.

Tell me, what is going on with regard Hezbollah at this point?

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We have certainly seen, as I understand it, some 100 launches from Hezbollah overnight. We are also getting reporting on an incident at some military barracks, as I understand it, on the Lebanese-Israeli border. What can you tell us about what is happening there at this point?

LERNER: Our operations against Hezbollah are with three core missions. First of all, decapitating the organization, their leadership, those that want to aspire to be the leadership of the organization. We've proved over the last two weeks that we know how to reach them, how to take them out with vast means, with vast intelligence, with very definitive capabilities that are taking them out, I would say, one by one or when they congregate together like Hassan Nasrallah and his Jihad Council, then we operate. So it's the leadership to begin with.

Secondary, I would say, there's the operations that are to take out their strategic assets. So what we've seen in the last few days is an increase on the pressure of their precision-guided capabilities, their coast-to-sea missiles, their surface-to-surface missiles, all of the heavy warheads that they have, all of these tools of destruction that pose an inferior serious threat, including multiple launch rocket systems.

And the third component is what we've seen in the last few days is the ground operations against the staging grounds that Hezbollah have positioned on our borders to conduct a 7th of October-like attack.

So we're currently engaging on those three different levels. The goal is to restore safety and security to the north, so that 60,000 people that have been evacuated over the last year can go home. That could have been achieved by negotiations, by diplomacy.

ANDERSON: Let me press you. I did ask very specifically about the incident on the border that we're just getting news on. Has Israel -- has the Israeli military taken casualties from an attack from Hezbollah on the border?

LERNER: You know, there have been exchanges, there have been skirmishes across the border at different locations since our ground operations began. In Israel, when we have something to say, we first of all say it to families. So I don't want to elaborate on any sort of incident specifically at this time.

We're very forthcoming. We have a responsibility to be transparent to the people, but we don't want to risk any more operations that are being conducted at any time in the case of an event. So I don't want to neither confirm nor deny at this stage.

ANDERSON: Finally, Israel has announced, though, that it is adding an additional division to its Lebanon operation. This is, of course, despite claims of it being limited, and that will slightly confuse perhaps some of our viewers.

So is this no longer limited? What is the goal strategy for that additional division to the Lebanon operation at this point?

LERNER: Becky, let me walk you through what we revealed yesterday. We exposed a series of hundreds of ground force special forces operations that we'd conducted over several months. What we found, based on intelligence in these operations, was an extensive network of attack infrastructure that Hezbollah had pre-positioned across the border area.

We dismantled some of it in these special forces operations, and now the ground operations that we began yesterday and are continuing to do today are to dismantle what we've found and to seek out more of this infrastructure.

You see, what they had done over the course of the last 20 years has created a network of bunkers, of communication systems, of staging grounds that would give them the opportunity to do the 7th of October from Lebanon. What they had planned was what was realized by Hamas, just with one caveat.

Hezbollah is 10 times stronger than Hamas, so the amount of damage that they could have inflicted if they had realized their operation would have been 10 times as much. And I think one of the most important thing is to say they had revealed already in 2015 their intentions to conquer the Galilee, and the type of operations that they had planned was exactly what we saw in the 7th of October.

And so what we need to do and what we're currently doing in the ground operations, and indeed, more forces have gone in because of the extent of the infrastructure that is across the border from east to west. And so we are focusing on different areas currently, and we will see continued activity in that border area to make sure that there is no staging ground to launch offensives against the Israeli people in the north, and that way, after we get rid of that, maybe then we will be in a situation where people can go home safely.

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ANDERSON: And as I understand it, this could be days, weeks or months at this point, yes or no? Literally, yes or no?

LERNER: We don't give specific dates. We need to see this, you know, war is a dynamic. To put a specific day, a due date, I think it would be irresponsible for me. We're moving forward.

ANDERSON: Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, appreciate the time this morning. Thank you very much indeed for joining us.

Well, the former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is calling on Netanyahu's government to take action against Iran's attacks by destroying Tehran's nuclear program. Here's what he said to our Wolf Blitzer.

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NAFTALI BENNETT, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: This is a once-in-a- 50-year opportunity. What Israel needs to do immediately, we need to take out Iran's nuclear program, we need to attack Iran's energy facilities, and we need to attack the regime itself right away. Because Iran made a fatal mistake of shooting 200 ballistic missiles at the state of Israel. Enough is enough.

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ANDERSON: Meanwhile, former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen says that Israel might capitalize on its response and fulfill one of its long-time objectives.

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WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: I would expect that they would level a very serious attack in Iran against a number of facilities, possibly their oil industry, but conceivably their nuclear facilities. This has been a prime objective of the Israelis at some point in time to prevent Iran from ever getting a nuclear weapon. Iran seems to be getting closer to that possibility, and I think the Israelis are going to at least think seriously about whether now is the time to launch a military attack against the Iranians.

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ANDERSON: Let's get live to Paris. Ben Taleblu is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and you wrote just last month that Iran has basically taken the win in the Middle East by threatening escalation but not actually doing very much.

And you wrote at the time, and I quote: By preying on America's fears of a wider war in the Middle East, Tehran hopes that when push comes to shove, de-escalation will be prioritized over deterrence. Tehran aims to enlist Washington and the broader West in its bid to foil Jerusalem's war aims, one of which is to destroy Hamas.

Now that we are actually in a period of significant escalation, do you still stand by what you wrote, and where does the Islamic Republic stand at this point?

BEHNAM BEN TALEBLU, SENIOR FELLOW, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: It's a pleasure to be with you, and it's an excellent question. Because the past two or three weeks since that article have been game-changing weeks that have really eroded years of the Islamic Republic's investment in its terrorist apparatus, chiefly Hezbollah, but not limited to that entity across the heartland of the Middle East.

And that was brought to you by a change in the way Israel had actually been engaging in these military operations. It went from problem managing to problem solving, and it tried to validate the theory that Iran has been invalidating since October 7th.

And it's why for the first 10 1/2, 11 months of this war, Iran was indeed taking the win, up until this series of deeper attacks, pager attacks, targeting of Hezbollah command and control, special operations leaders, IRGC officials, and most recently, the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah in Lebanon.

So all of those things combined have changed it, and now the balance politically and militarily favors Israel. And the Islamic Republic tried to save face with its nearly 200 ballistic missile barrage just the other night at the Jewish State. A vast majority of those, as you know, were intercepted. Still, some warheads, based on social media video, did indeed land and make contact, but not necessarily a direct hit.

From that, though, how Israel responds and how Israel may be poised to take the win, whether that's going after the nuclear program, regime command and control, energy facilities, all of that remains to be seen.

But the balance has drastically, drastically shifted, and it's drastically shifted in rapid succession. And another X factor to this question, and that gets to the heart of the quote that you read, is where is Washington in all of this? Will Washington again enter on the side of de-escalation, and will the election, given the fact that the first question in the vice presidential debate last night was about potentially supporting a preemptive Israeli attack on the nuclear program?

ANDERSON: Do you do you buy the argument that this is just an impotent, lamed up presidency at this point, and has been for some time in the U.S., which has no longer has any influence over this very specific Israeli prime minister?

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Or do you buy the argument that I hear doing around in this region? In that, you know, critics of the administration say, has it not been running interference for the Israelis for some time?

TALEBLU: I feel like the real answer to that question is much more personal than political, meaning those individuals who are coming up with this analysis, it depends a great deal where you sit. And then once you sit in that place, we'll know where you stand on this issue, whether you're in the region, whether you're on the left in Washington, whether you're on the right in Washington.

But look, there is a larger problem here. And that is well before President Biden chose not to run. There has been a deterrence deficit with even the way Washington approached the region's myriad security issues. The fact that from October 7th to present, there's been 176 or 177 indirect fire attacks on U.S. forces in the region by Iran backed proxies in a bid again, to threaten a wider war to force America to put the political handcuffs on Israel's military operation.

That attempt has failed, but Washington has only responded militarily 11 times. So again, there's a real question of where is Washington and this sense that both adversaries and allies alike don't feel like it's done Washington has done its most is a palpable and understandable assessment.

ANDERSON: Ben -- Ben Taleblu, it's a pleasure having you on. Thank you very much indeed for your insight and analysis.

TALEBLU: Pleasure.

FOSTER: U.S. vice presidential candidates, Republican J.D. Vance and Democrat Tim Walz were cordial in their only debate on Tuesday. But each attacked his opponents running mate, and they clashed over the January 6, 2021 insurrection and Donald Trump's false claims that he won the 2020 presidential election.

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GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This was a threat to our democracy in a way that we had not seen. And it manifested itself because of Donald Trump's inability to say he is still saying he didn't lose the election. I would just add to that, did he lose the 2020 election?

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Tim, I'm focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?

WALZ: That is a damning -- that is a damning non answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: They also fought over the divisive issues of the economy, reproductive rights, immigration and foreign policy. Here's CNN's Julia Benbrook.

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JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: During the 90 minute debate, the vice presidential nominees looked to paint the other ticket as extreme. Walz pointed back to Trump's time in office calling him quote, dangerous. And Vance questioned why Harris hadn't accomplished more during her time as vice president.

BENBROOK (voice-over): Ohio Senator J.D. Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz bringing their fight from the campaign trail to the debate stage and detailing their party's positions on the top issues, including the economy.

VANCE: I know a lot of you are struggling. I know a lot of you are worried about paying the bills. It's going to stop when Donald Trump brings back common sense to this country.

WALZ: Kamala Harris has said to do the things she wants to do. We'll just ask the wealthiest to pay their fair share. When you do that, our system works best.

BENBROOK (voice-over): Reproductive rights.

VANCE: Let voters make these decisions. Let the individual states make their abortion policy.

WALZ: Just mind your own business on this. Things work best when Roe versus Wade was in place.

BENBROOK (voice-over): Border security.

WALZ: We had the fairest and the toughest bill on immigration that this nation's seen.

But as soon as that was getting ready to pass and actually tackle this, Donald Trump said no, told them to vote against it because it gives him a campaign issue.

VANCE: So you've got to stop the bleeding. You've got to re-implement Donald Trump's border policies, build the wall, re-implement deportations.

BENBROOK (voice-over): And foreign policy. The debate taking place just hours after Iran's attack on Israel.

VANCE: Effective, smart diplomacy and peace through strength is how you bring stability back to a very broken world. Donald Trump has already done it once before.

WALZ: Our coalition is strong and we need the steady leadership that Kamala Harris is providing.

BENBROOK: When it comes to debates, the vice presidential candidates could have the final say. The presidential nominees have not yet agreed to another showdown.

Reporting in New York, I'm Julia Benbrook.

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FOSTER: We'll have much more on the vice presidential debate after a quick break. Plus, we'll continue with our coverage of the escalating tensions in the Middle East throughout the hour, right here on CNN.

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