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Trump Declares Iran's Supreme Leader Is Dead; U.S. Official Says Iran Planned Preemptive Strikes Before Joint Attacks; Interview With Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL). Aired 7-8p ET

Aired February 28, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:53]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper, and this is a special edition of THE LEAD.

We're following major breaking news at this hour, President Trump confirming a short while ago the death of Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He was killed as a result of the massive joint strikes from the U.S. and Israel in the last 24 hours. The president writing, quote, "Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead. This is not only justice for the people of Iran, but for all great Americans and those people from many countries throughout the world that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty thugs," unquote.

Reports of the supreme leader's death have sparked cheers and celebrations in parts of Tehran, as well as chants of "Death to the Islamic Republic" and "Long Live the Shah." Iran says that the U.S.- Israeli strikes hit an all-girls school in a southern Iranian city, killing at least 108 people there. The majority of whom were students. CNN cannot independently verify those claims.

A spokesman for the U.S. Military Central Command calls the report concerning and says they are looking into it.

President Trump says the U.S. will continue with heavy bombing in Iran throughout the week, and is calling for the Iranian people to rise up and overthrow their government following the joint strikes. All of which has prompted an unprecedented wave of retaliatory attacks by Iran struck, U.S. military bases, Israeli civilian population centers and other targets across the region including in many Arab states.

Israel said that one person was killed and 121 others injured in strikes in Israel while the Pentagon is reporting that they have not had any U.S. combat related casualties and only minimal damage to U.S. bases. President Trump outlined his objectives for today's strikes in a video message he posted to social media early in the morning today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime. A vicious group of very hard, terrible people.

This terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon.

To the great proud people of Iran I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Let's get right to CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who is standing by for us in a part of Tel Aviv.

Jeremy, are you still in the part that was hit by the missile? Anyway, you just got out of a shelter. Tell us more about what you've experienced the last few hours.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, we've just moved from that location. But as you mentioned, we were tonight for several hours at the site of a deadly ballistic missile attack by Iran in the heart of Tel Aviv. One woman was killed as a result of that ballistic missile attack. Several others in serious or moderate condition, and the damage was really quite a sight to behold.

You know, a building that was partially collapsed, one of them that was ablaze. Damage and destruction really everywhere. And a lot more of this is expected to take place in the coming days, as Israel and the United States have vowed that this military campaign against Iran will be wide-ranging and will continue for at least several more days in order to accomplish the objectives, which are not only to try and severely damage Iran's military capabilities, their naval capabilities, their ballistic missile program, their nuclear sites, but also, critically, to create the conditions for regime change.

And today, of course, we saw both the United States and Israel now confirming that the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been killed in those Israeli strikes that took place on Saturday morning. And so, while that may not signal regime change altogether given the kind of layered and structural nature of the Iranian regime, it certainly is a decapitation strike and one that is going to have severe implications for the future of Iran, and also, of course, for the future of the Middle East.

[19:05:03]

But Iran is making clear that it is not going to allow such a strike to prevent it or to sway it from carrying out the kinds of strikes that it's been doing across the Middle East today because it hasn't just been barrages of ballistic missiles and drones aimed at Israel here. We've seen strikes against seven other countries in the Middle East where the United States has military bases.

But Iran hasn't just struck those bases. We've seen strikes hitting populated centers in the Middle East, in the Gulf in particular, in Dubai, as well as in Doha, Qatar. And we anticipate that this could continue to escalate between these two sides and could also --

TAPPER: All right. We lost comms there. Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv, thanks so much. Stay safe.

History is unfolding right now in the Middle East. And as CNN chief national security analyst Jim Sciutto reports for us right now, this conflict has the potential to reshape the entire region for better or for worse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST (voice-over): It was a broader and more ambitious attack than many had expected. As day broke, airstrikes slammed Tehran Saturday morning as the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes, which President Trump called Operation Epic Fury.

TRUMP: The United States military is undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests. We are going to destroy their missiles and raise their missile industry to the ground.

SCIUTTO: Sources tell me that the U.S. is prepared for multiple waves of strikes lasting 36 to 48 hours, followed by pauses to assess battle damage. Soon after the strikes began, a plume of smoke was visible, rising from Tehran's Pasteur District, location of the highly secure compound housing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. By day's end, President Donald Trump confirmed the supreme leader was dead.

Israel quickly closed its airspace, declaring a state of emergency and warning citizens to stay home. Iranian state run news agencies began reports that missiles are dropping in cities across Iran, including Isfahan, Lorestan, Karaj and Tabriz. Footage verified by CNN appears to show a strike on Iran's Intelligence Ministry complex in northern Tehran. Video geolocated by CNN from another angle appears to show the same area.

Then retaliatory strikes by Iran began hitting across the region. First, missile attacks on the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain. Soon after Iran fired short and medium range missiles at the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East. And at the U.S. base in Erbil, Iraq. Within hours, the United Arab Emirates announced it had closed its airspace as missiles struck the capital city Abu Dhabi, and heavily populated neighborhoods in Dubai.

Israel itself was next, as sirens erupted in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Iran launching dozens of ballistic missiles in Israel's direction. Israeli air defenses working to intercept them. Stories of casualties quickly emerged. Iranian media says dozens of students were killed after a missile struck a school near the town of Minab.

Bahrain reported a high rise residential building struck.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): In the next few days, we are going to strike many terrorist targets to complete this act and to topple this regime.

Help has arrived.

(Through translator): This help that you were wishing for has arrived, and this is the time to go together for this mission.

SCIUTTO: Global airlines are canceling flights all over the Middle East, and governments warning their citizens to take immediate shelter as the deadly back and forth continues with no apparent end in sight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And Jim Sciutto joins me now on set, along with CNN national security analyst and former deputy director of National Intelligence, Beth Sanner.

Jim, what are your thoughts on seeing President Trump openly calling for the Iranian people to rise up and take their government back, saying they'll never have an opportunity like this again? I have to say, like easier said than done.

SCIUTTO: No question. I've been in touch with some of the survivors of the most recent protests, and, you know, it was a bloody, bloody massacre. Many thousands killed, many of them young people. And in the wake of that, Iranian authorities have been going to their families and saying if you say that your child was killed in these strikes, we will come after your other kids, right?

[19:10:02]

I mean, so the fear is understandable. And remember, at the time of those protests, many of those people were expecting American action at that time, right? You know, if we go out in the streets that, you know, there will be some price for this regime to pay, which didn't come at the time and the people paid the price. So one could understand why it's a risky gambit for Iranians to go out in the streets and imagine that they themselves might be able to bring this regime down.

Now, the regime is clearly weakened, right? The supreme leader is dead. Many other senior leaders killed. So could it carry out the same crackdown? We don't know but if you're one of those young people it's a big risk to take and it's your life.

TAPPER: What could other countries do to help the Iranian people get their country back from this murderous regime? Is there anything?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I mean, you know, we're going to have to see what we're going to do because if you define success as regime change, where does this end? You know, defining the end point is really important. If it takes weeks for this uprising to take place and the IRGC guards and the Basij people, you know, the ones with the guns and the motorcycles that brutally killed these protesters.

TAPPER: And have been for decades.

SANNER: And have for decades, are we going to put loitering drones over these areas? Are we going to take out the Basij as they're attacking protesters? Are we going to go to every town all over Iran and fight back? Because I can tell you that, not just the protesters' families are talking about whether -- what's the risk of putting people on the streets, but each one of these people who participated in the brutal suppression and murder of Iranians fears regime change because they know they're going to be strung up on light posts if this regime change. So they have skin in the game, not just the supreme leader.

TAPPER: I mean, what do you -- what do you think?

SCIUTTO: Well, it brings us back to a question we've been asking in the days and weeks. And by the way, not just asking amongst ourselves, but asking the administration, the president, what is America's strategic objective here?

TAPPER: Right.

SCIUTTO: Is it --

TAPPER: They've listed any number of.

SCIUTTO: But, you know, crippling the nuclear program, no question, crippling the missile program, which, by the way, I am certain we have struck quite destructive blows to them. They've talked about regime change. Is that still a goal? How much further does that carry military action? And does it -- because the history and you know this better than me, Beth Sanner, the history of regime change from the air is not a good one. Right?

SANNER: No. No. Right.

SCIUTTO: It would require other steps that -- it's not clear that the U.S. is ready to do. And by the way, the risks of that would be significant.

SANNER: Right. I mean, you can look back to the Vietnam War and we put -- we put more bombs on the North Vietnamese than both sides of World War II combined. And we thought that this would, you know, destroy the regime and it didn't. You cannot have regime change by remote control. This strategy relies -- the linchpin of this working relies on the people rising up and being successful.

That's why you see President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu coming out and saying people rise up, because if that doesn't happen, this doesn't work.

TAPPER: But has the -- has that ever worked? Has it ever worked that the U.S. has killed a foreign leader or, you know, somebody else did, maybe with our help, and then there was a revolution and a resistance and a rising up and then a better leader?

SANNER: Well, usually a worse leader came.

TAPPER: Well, that's my point. SANNER: And that's the risk. I mean, this is the intelligence

community. There was a press piece today that reported that the CIA said that, you know, IRG is stan, IRG is stan, that the most likely outcome here would be that it will be the bad guys that will take over. And that's been a consistent refrain of a lot of experts for a long time. So that is a real risk here if we do not figure out, and it would have been I think, I worry that while I actually think the diagnosis of this problem is correct, you cannot have peace in the Middle East, you're going to have continuing cycles of violence if this regime doesn't get taken out.

TAPPER: Right.

SANNER: I think we all agree with that. The question is, was this the best way to go about it? And did we actually set ourselves up for success? We're kind of doing it backwards.

TAPPER: There's obviously a lot we don't know. I hope --

SANNER: We don't know.

TAPPER: I hope that there's a lot more we don't know.

SANNER: I think there's less than we would hope for.

SCIUTTO: Well, if you look at Iraq, too. You got rid of Saddam Hussein. You got rid of the bad guy, right? And you got someone better, and you got something of a democratic process. But many, many years of investment and time and dead ends, et cetera. Simple solutions are certainly not --

TAPPER: Yes. Jim Sciutto and Beth Sanner, thanks to both of you. Really appreciate it.

Coming up, more breaking news here on CNN. President Trump calling on the Iranian people to rise up and overthrow their government now without its supreme leader and many other of its leaders.

[19:15:06]

Plus some Iranians abroad are celebrating in the streets. We're going to go live to a rally in Los Angeles. Stick with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: We're continuing to monitor the breaking news in the Middle East, following the joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and Iran's retaliation.

[19:20:05]

Earlier today, President Trump confirmed that the leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in the operation.

Joining us now Robin Wright, a veteran Middle East journalist for the "New Yorker." She has reported from Iran and interviewed the ayatollah before he became Iran's supreme leader on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly back in the 1980s and what was the only trip he ever made to the West.

Robin, thanks so much for joining us. What is the significance of this man's death?

ROBIN WRIGHT, WRITER AND COLUMNIST, THE NEW YORKER, INTERVIEWED ALI KHAMENEI IN 1987: Well, this is an important transition for Iran as it charts a way forward. Now, the regime has long been unsustainable. We've seen that in the protests across Iran. The question now, of course becomes amid the U.S. strikes, what comes next. And Khamenei was in many ways the kind of glue that held various governments together for almost four decades.

And this will be a moment when Iranians, whether it's those in power at the moment or those particularly not in power, have to decide what the future holds. He was just a mid-level cleric when he came to power, and he built his base on the military, particularly the Revolutionary Guards. And the question is, what will that power base do next in his absence?

TAPPER: You covered the last transition of power in Iran. When do you expect Iran to acknowledge Ayatollah Khamenei's death, and how do you expect the current leadership structure to emerge from this?

WRIGHT: Well, Iran has a system in place that the supreme leader is selected by a group of 88 senior clerics, who are actually elected by the public every eight years, and they will get together and decide who rules next. Now there is the possibility, as stipulated in the constitution, that a council of three senior clerics from among those 88 will form a council to rule in a transition until a new supreme leader is selected.

Now the question becomes, of course, are there enough of those in the assembly of experts, as it's known, to select supreme leader? And you know, what do others in the government that remains want to see happen next? Do they want to see a compromise with the United States on whether it's a nuclear deal or what comes next, or will they try to ensure that the Islamic Republic, the world's only theocracy, survives in some form?

TAPPER: President Trump issued a direct call to the people of Iran today. He urged them to take over the government and added it will probably be the only chance for generations. Obviously easier said than done. How might that look? How are the Iranians supposed to rise up and take their government back?

WRIGHT: Well, we've seen since 2017 a series of protests, whether it's over economic price hikes and existential issues of daily life or whether it's over personal freedoms, as we saw in the Women Life Freedom protests in 2022. The Iranians have many young Nelson Mandelas, but they don't have the kind of African National Congress you had in South Africa that had years to form an infrastructure, to define what the alternative to Apartheid might look like, and who would be its leadership. And Iran doesn't have any of that. Population of 92 million people

with very diverse political views in terms of what they want and who should lead. You know, have to figure out what's next. And I think just as the United States hasn't thought that through, I don't think the Iranian opposition or dissidents in Iran have either.

TAPPER: Robin Wright, thank you so much as always. Great to have you.

Coming up, why now? We have new reporting on the threat that the Trump administration claims forced their hand into strikes that President Trump now says led to the death of Iran's supreme leader. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:28:34]

TAPPER: Welcome back to our coverage of the breaking news from the Middle East. The U.S. and Israel conducting massive military strikes on Iran today. It killed the country's supreme leader and took out other senior Iranian officials.

We're learning more now about why the Trump administration felt compelled to act right now. A senior official says the U.S. received intelligence that Tehran was planning to launch preemptive missile strikes, and the Trump administration says that influenced the president's decision.

Norman Roule joins us now. He served for 34 years in the Central Intelligence Agency managing Mideast programs for the agency.

Norman, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it. Let's start with the intelligence, which we're told forced the president's hand. A senior administration official confirming that they believed an Iranian attack was imminent. Walk us through what -- how that kind of intelligence sharing works, how the process works.

NORMAN ROULE, FORMER NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE MANAGER FOR IRAN, ODNI: Well, when such information comes along, such as that the president only has a few options, the first is he communicates to the Iranian government that information is available, and the Iranian government needs to stand down. That is the first option. The second option is to communicate with partners and allies that they should communicate as well that such information is available and they should also communicate that the United States is taking it seriously and will act, and that they believe the United States will act, and that they are advising Iran to take the United States seriously in this regard.

And then the United States might move forces to demonstrate its seriousness. And then finally, the president can then make a move in this regard to act.

[19:30:14]

The Trump administration has a history of doing this in the past. Prior to the killing of Qasem Soleimani there was an escalatory ladder where it provided warnings to the Iranians, but the Iranians chose to ignore those warnings, according to the Trump administration and that led to the killing of Qasem Soleimani.

TAPPER: The Israeli military published a list of Senior Iranian officials that they claim were killed in the airstrikes today, it includes the country's Defense Minister, the Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This is quite a list of individuals. How does Tehran go about filling this immediate power vacuum?

ROUIE: It's an extraordinary decapitation of the government. In fact, in history, no government has been so repeatedly decapitated as the Iranians in the last year-and-a-half. And what this does, is it destabilizes the government's ability to undertake strategic military action during a conflict. That doesn't mean that it can't respond.

So, for example, you're seeing Iran undertake military action with its missiles, but its ability to have crisp decision making and planning by its senior most leaders simply has evaporated. But there are deputies, there are deputy of deputies. There are people who are in line to move up. It's a big government and people are able to fill those positions. It's not a terrorist group. It's not a small organization.

TAPPER: Iran has carried out strikes on U.S. assets in allied Gulf nations with the U.S. What is the strategy behind it? Attacking all these other Arab countries? I'm looking at the map right now. Qatar, Bahrain, Bahrain, Iraq Jordan, Kuwait. I mean, that doesn't seem particularly wise, does it?

ROUIE: It's not for two reasons. First, it's going to turn the countries with whom it's got a comfortable detente into adversaries. Secondly, it's going to upset oil markets. And that's going to unnerve the Chinese who have benefited tremendously from cheap Iranian oil.

So, Iran's strategy is twofold. First, it seeks to inflict heavy casualties upon the United States. If it can kill a lot of Americans, it will hopefully put President Trump in a difficult political position.

Second, if it can achieve a significant number of structural losses upon the GCC countries themselves claiming we are only attacking the American military bases, but they're actually striking civilian targets as well using attacks that are attributable to Iran, but deniable, as if they were aiming at civilian targets.

It compels these countries, it hopes to go to the United States and say, knock off the war against Iran. You're causing us damage against our civilian enterprise. So, it's hoping to build diplomatic pressure against the U.S.

I should note that the drones used by the Iranians against Bahraini civilian targets are the same drones that Russia is using against Ukrainian civilian targets.

TAPPER: Talk to us about the Intelligence that that led to this, the claim that Iran was planning a preemptive strike, the claim that Iran was just days away from being able to manufacture a nuclear weapon. President Trump posted on social media in that video that Iran has been developing missiles that could soon reach the American homeland. I guess the word soon is doing a lot of work there. How imminent was this threat do you think?

ROUIE: Well, we should go back and say that for some years, the Intelligence community has stated in annual threat assessments that Iran space launch vehicle program is teaching it skills that look an awful lot like exactly what you would seek to do to build an intercontinental ballistic missile program.

This space launch vehicle program is now under control of the Revolutionary Guard. This is the same Revolutionary Guard that manages the most aggressive use of ballistic missiles, of any country in the region. They've attacked five or six different countries with ballistic missiles. These are the same people that write death to Israel on their ballistic missiles. These are the same countries that have proliferated ballistic missiles to the Houthis, et cetera, et cetera.

So, this is already a very, very aggressive country on ballistic missiles. So, the Defense Intelligence Agency some months ago issued a report stating that Iran could, if it chose to do so, develop in eight-and-a-half years, up to 60 intercontinental ballistic missiles.

So, if you're the President of the United States, you have this challenge. In eight-and-a-half years, Iran could have as many as 60 intercontinental ballistic missiles, the type of missiles that are usually only used with nuclear warheads. So, do you want a world eight-and-a-half years from now where you have North Korea and Iran with nuclear tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles? Now you can either build a shield or you can stop that program from being built now. So, you do that through diplomatic negotiations or a military action. You only have a couple of choices.

[19:35:22]

The Iranians are also increasing the sophistication of their medium range ballistic missiles, making them harder to shoot down for Israel and making the program much larger, making it harder to kill all at once. So, there are good reasons to constrain that program.

TAPPER: All right, Norman Rouie, thank you so much for your expertise as always.

An Iranian American journalist and activist says the Iranian regime tried to have her assassinated for speaking out against its practices. And those thugs were convicted in a court. What she makes of today's strikes and the death of the Supreme Leader. Is it the beginning of a change that she and so many others have longed for? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:40:27]

TAPPER: Tonight, in Tehran, some Iranians are rejoicing after the announcement of the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Another person who has been watching todays stunning events unfold is Iranian- American activist and journalist Masih Alinejad. Masih, you must be experiencing such a range of emotions. Have you talked to any of your family in Iran? Have you been able to get through?

MASIH ALINEJAD, IRANIAN-AMERICAN JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR: Of course, I have been talking to many Iranians especially the family members of those who have been killed, and they saying now the death of their children is not in vain. They are celebrating the killing of Ali Khamenei because he was the one who ordered the massacre of thousands of innocent Iranians.

Jake, today I am bombarded by different feelings. I took to the street in America to tell my fellow American citizens that how proud I am to be an American, because this is a true leadership I know there are a lot of journalists on CNN, they don't like Trump.

But believe me, whether you like him or not, he made the right decision to remove terrorist leaders in my country, Iran, because they are not representing my nation, they are the one actually took the entire Iranian nation hostage, Iranians want to have a normal life. They are like Americans, ordinary Americans. They have their daughters, their sons, and they want to be happy. They want to have fair and free election and this is the right decision that's why they are celebrating. And they want to see an end for Islamic Republic.

TAPPER: You know, I've seen images of celebrations in the United States and in London of Iranian expatriates praising Donald Trump, holding signs, praising Donald Trump. This is the end of a regime, we hope, the end of a regime, at the very least, the end of some of the members of the regime that tried to assassinate you.

ALINEJAD: Yes.

TAPPER: How confident are you that these strikes will lead to a regime change and a better future for the Iranian people?

ALINEJAD: This is the Berlin wall moment for Iranians, as I always say, the consequence of ending this regime will be bigger than the fall of the Berlin Wall. Why? Because now the people of Iran literally saying that we want to end this regime, and we believe that this is the right moment that Europeans must join the United States of America. The free world they must stand united together to help the people of Iran to change this regime because by actually ending this regime, we will guarantee global security.

Jake, many people burying their children, they told me that they went back to the grave of their children to tell them that this is the end of this regime.

So, this is the right time that the history is watching leaders. And I want to see, I want to see actions, decisive actions from Europeans to actually invite the opposition, Iranian oppositions, have a peace conference and think about an Iran without Islamic Republic.

I don't really get it how and why some of the leaders of free world, they're really allergic to the term regime change. Stop being allergic to regime change, be allergic to dictatorship. This is 21st Century, believe me, getting rid of these barbaric regime and mullahs the people of Iran can be better allies for America for Europe, for the free world.

So yes, the history will judge those leaders who could manage to end this regime, but they decide to actually you know, negotiate with this regime and support this barbaric regime instead of supporting the people of Iran. One person like Zohran Mamdani, if I have time, Zohran Mamdani is a statement. It breaks -- it really broke my heart. It really did.

TAPPER: Just to bring people up to speed, the Mayor of New York, Mamdani, condemned the attack on Iran describing it as an illegal war of aggression. I saw you took to Twitter to take issue with him.

ALINEJAD: Yeah, because, look, we Americans, we have freedom, dignity safety, democracy, everything here. And if you don't like President Trump, you can take to the streets and protest against him. You have judicial system here. You have media here. We don't have any of this in Iran and how come, Mayor Mamdani, that you lecture us Iranians who carried the wounds and scars of war on our body, the war being waged on us by the Iranian government?

And now you lecture us about safety security, peace and war. You better when you kept absolutely quiet about the massacre, massacre of 40,000 innocent people. You kept quiet, so you better keep quiet now as well.

Just listen to the people of Iran. We want to have the same democracy that you're enjoying it in New York.

[19:45:37]

To be honest I don't even feel safe when he talks about safety. But no mention about the killers from Islamic Republic being sent here in this beautiful city in New York to kill me, to kill American officials. I want to talk to my fellow American citizens. Please stand with the people of Iran.

This is not about Trump. This is not about Democrats or Republicans. This is not politics. This is human rights. This is about people who want to have a normal life. I have a daughter I have a son and I want to go back and hug my family members. This is about just having a normal life. That's so simple.

TAPPER: Masih, it's great having you on. Go drink some tea. I know you've been yelling and singing out of joy. Please go drink some tea. Please rest your voice. Good to see you.

ALINEJAD: Thank you, I love you, I love you, you've been always supportive of the people of Iran, never give up. Never give up, Jake, I want to invite you to my beautiful homeland, Iran. After 14 years, I want to hug my mom. I will take you to my beautiful village.

TAPPER: I would love to do it. Let's do it as soon as it's safe. Thank you so much.

In the wake of today's attacks on Iran, we're seeing some celebrations right here in the United States. And CNN's Elex Michaelson is on the scene in Los Angeles. Tell us what you're seeing there, Elex.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR, "THIS STORY IS WITH ELEX MICHAELSON": Well, Jake L.A. is kind of a scene of contrasts. On the one hand, it has a very large Iranian American population that is supporting this event. We saw some of that earlier in Westwood. Hundreds of people in the streets.

Here in downtown L.A., we're seeing some anti-war activists that have shown up. They just finished up a rally here as well. They are against what we are seeing here. L.A., of course, home to some of the most progressive people in the country and folks that have a real connection when it comes to Iran.

Cameron -- here, one of the organizers of the anti-war protest here. What's your main point? Why are you against what's going on right now?

CAMERON, ONE OF THE ORGANIZERS THE ANTI-WAR PROTESTS: I'm against it because it's another brutal war for oil. You know, I'm someone who grew up during the war on Iraq which was built on lies. And I think we're witnessing the exact same thing this time about Iran's nuclear capacity. But we understand that it's a lie, and it's a war for oil.

MICHAELSON: You know, there's folks that say, this guy has been a brutal dictator for years and that he's killed thousands of people. There are other people celebrating in the streets of Los Angeles today. What do you say to that?

CAMERON: What I would say is that Donald Trump has waged war not only on Iran, but on the people of the world, including the people of Los Angeles and the people in this country, the war on immigrants, the war on Black America, it all has to stop. And we believe that standing with people around the world who don't want to be bombed by the United States is essential.

MICHAELSON: Cameron, thank you. Nice to see you.

CAMERON: God bless.

MICHAELSON: So, this event just wrapping up, we are also seeing again celebrations in Westwood and Beverly Hills here in Southern California as well. Jake, back to you.

TAPPER: Elex Michaelson, in L.A. thank you so much.

What comes next for Iran after the death of the country's Supreme Leader? The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is going to join us live. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:52:27] TAPPER: Many Democrats and a handful of Republicans say they are alarmed and disappointed by President Trump's decision to launch massive strikes against Iran without Congressional approval. Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California called the move a slap in the face of the United States Congress, others disagree.

Joining us now is the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Republican Brian Mast of Florida, who served in the U.S. Army for more than 12 years and lost his legs to an explosive device while he was deployed in Afghanistan.

Chairman Mast, thanks for joining us. As you know, some of your colleagues are disagreeing with the decision to start this war or authorize this military strike without seeking Congressional approval. What is your take on it? What is the justification for this campaign.

REP. BRIAN MAST (R-FL): Yes, I would say, number one, nobody should classify this as war. It is combat operations. But President Trump is batting a thousand for not dragging the United States of America into any kind of prolonged war. The justification for the operation is twofold, he has Article II authority, which does allow him, as commander-in-chief, to go out there and defend the United States of America from emergencies. And he does have the 1973 War Powers Act, which also gives him an authority to go out there and defend the United States against emergencies and gives him up to 60 days to conduct those operations, 48 hours to notify Congress. And I couldn't be happier about this operation. Tomorrow is a better day. Today is a better day.

TAPPER: Do you think that these strikes are mainly because of Iran's refusal to enter into a deal, refuse to pledge that they will not make nuclear weapons? Or is it about regime change or both or is it something else?

MAST: I think it's both, two things can be true, or more than one thing can be true at once. So, if you're interested in going after the targets which attack the United States of America which the President is then those targets are, number one, what's everything that's going on right this second and tomorrow's operations and the day after that is literally destroy every piece of equipment, every piece of military hardware that can reach out in the region and touch an American in Bahrain or in Qatar or UAE or wherever that American force might be, destroy every piece of equipment. That's what's going on.

But it's also important to destroy the person that is authorizing all of those pieces of equipment and looking to put nuclear tips on the ends of those pieces of equipment. So, all of those things are true at once.

So, absolutely it is changing that regime that has attacked America year after year, even killing three Americans just a year-and-a-half ago in Tower 22. But it does go beyond that in destroying all of that equipment as well. That is the immediate operations taking place.

TAPPER: What more do you think the United States government should do to help the Iranian people, when it comes to their need to have a government that doesn't oppress them and engages with human rights and on and on the kind of government we would like Iran to have, the kind of government, more importantly, that the Iranian people would like to have? What kind of support can the U.S. provide beyond the strikes today?

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MAST: I don't think what we owe them is beyond the strikes that have happened today and beyond the strikes that are taking place right now again, to destroy all of that equipment that I spoke about.

The opportunity has been given, President Trump even laid it out that way. You have a once in a generation opportunity to go out there and take back your government from these extremists that have taken it over, made it so that you don't have functional utilities there, like working water, made it so that your currency is worth about 1.2 million Riyal to one U.S. dollar. Made it so that they not just suppress their people, but kill tens of thousands of them. If they don't kill them, they imprison them.

They have an opportunity to right that course. And if the person that steps up right now, they're looking at the I think they call them the Supreme Leader of National Intelligence or some title like that, maybe looking to be the next successor in this line.

If that person doesn't change course, then what I think the Iranian people could expect is that that person is a dead man as well. But beyond that, I don't think they're owed anything from the United States of America except this opportunity that they're getting by us defending our country.

TAPPER: All right, Chairman Brian Mast, Republican of Florida and veteran, thank you so much for your time, sir, really appreciate it.

MAST: Thank you.

TAPPER: Thanks for joining me tonight. Sara Sidner picks up CNN's breaking news coverage after this quick break. I will see you maybe tomorrow, maybe Monday. We'll see.

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