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Iran's Supreme Leader Killed In Strikes. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired February 28, 2026 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:31]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington, and we are following breaking news this hour. It's been a remarkable 24 hours. Iranian state media confirming that Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is dead.

And an announcer appearing on Iranian television to deliver the news, breaking down in tears as he did.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

SCIUTTO: U.S. President Donald Trump had confirmed that news earlier saying that Khamenei was killed following a massive U.S. and Israeli series of strikes on Iran Saturday morning.

Khamenei killed in his compound in central Tehran. President Trump says he knows exactly who he wants to lead Iran next, though he would not say who that is. The president wrote on social media, 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," end quote.

The Israeli military says it launched a new wave of strikes on Iran just a short time ago, and we are getting reports, new reports of explosions in Tehran. The IDF says it is targeting Iran's ballistic missile array and aerial defense systems.

President Trump says the U.S. will continue with its own airstrikes throughout the week. He is now calling for the Iranian people to rise up and overthrow their government. Iranian state media says that dozens of students were killed during the U.S.-Israeli attacks early on Saturday. That attack according to Iranian media reports, struck a girl's school in southern Tehran -- southern Iran. Iran's state media says 118 people were killed and that many are still buried under the rubble. CNN has been unable to independently verify the details of those state media reports.

The school is located just 200 feet from an Iranian military base. We should note it appears to have been part of the base in the past, but satellite imagery shows that the two sites have now been separated since at least 2016. Saturday is the first day of the school week in Iran.

Iran is threatening to retaliate with the heaviest offensive in its history now. It has already struck U.S. military bases and Israeli civilian population centers. You see here a missile falling from the sky there. This scene you're seeing here is inside Tel Aviv. Israel says that one person was killed, 121 others injured in total in strikes across the country.

A number of other targets across the region also hit including a drone strike on a residential high rise. You see it burning there.

This in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi's Zayed International Airport says at least one person was killed, seven injured in a drone strike there. Airports in Dubai and Kuwait also struck. The Pentagon reports no combat related casualties for U.S. military personnel and only minimal damage to U.S. bases.

Joining us now, CNN's Ivan Watson in Hong Kong.

And, Ivan, I know you've been monitoring the impact on, well, a whole host of things in the region but one of those is that air travel has been shut down to many of those Middle Eastern airports. Tell us what you're hearing.

IVAN WATWSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. This has ground air travel across the Gulf to a standstill, where you have Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, all closing their airspace. And were talking about major hubs, Doha Airport which is home to Qatar Airways, Dubai Emirates Airlines all closed right now. So that will have a dramatic impact and also, you know, it's very clear that there's been a pattern of targeting airports in these four countries. One of them, Abu Dhabi airport, one fatality reported in several people wounded in an apparent drone strike there.

So, we've seen this surprise attack by the coordinated U.S. and Israeli aviation assets which have succeeded in killing Iran's supreme leader after 38 years in power.

[23:05:13]

And the response thus far have been these drone and missile strikes that have certainly not only targeted Israel, but they've also fanned out around other countries that are allied with the U.S. Jordan as well.

And I might add that in the Gulf, unlike cities like Beirut in Lebanon or Tel Aviv in Israel or Damascus in Syria, we're talking about Gulf cities that are not accustomed to being in the crosshairs of a missile or deadly drone attack. These are much softer targets. There are aerial defenses that have been at play, but this is something that nobody is familiar with or comfortable with. In a city like Dubai or Doha. And remains to be seen what these types of actions the response might be from Gulf countries to Iran lashing out at neighbors with which the regime had enjoyed at least commercial ties, if not better, in the cases of some of these countries -- Jim. SCIUTTO: Listen, to your point, those strikes on the airports, they're

deliberate because it's a -- it's a -- it's a good way to disrupt business and travel and the personal lives of the populations in those countries. Quite a deliberate target it seems, by the Iranians. Ivan, thanks so much.

Joining us from West Palm Beach, Florida, Julia Benbrook.

And, Julia, I wonder -- has the president provided further clarity on what the U.S.'s strategic goals are here, because we know he wanted to set back the nuclear program eliminate it. We know that he wanted to set back the missile program, but he has also now called on the Iranian people to rise up against their government. I mean, is he stating explicitly that regime change is now an objective of these strikes?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have heard him allude to regime change a number of times, even prior to these strikes, saying at one point that he did believe that it could be the best outcome here. He monitored the strikes of operation epic fury from here in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago estate. In fact, we have seen photos of him wearing that white USA hat. He is with top members of his national security team. In that photo you can see both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles interacting with him there.

And he has done a number of different brief interviews with reporters from several different networks throughout the day. But the primary form of communication that he's used here is social media, Truth Social. We first learned about these overnight strikes during an eight-minute video that he posted on social media. And in it he urged the Iranian people to seize control of their government.

Once U.S. operation had concluded. He also warned that the American lives could be lost in this operation. Then, hours later on social media, he confirmed that Iran's supreme leader, the ayatollah, had been killed. The Israeli military had also shared a list of other top Iranian officials who have been killed, as part of this operation.

And Trump spoke about that specifically in his most recent post. I want to read part of that for you. He said he was unable to avoid our intelligence and highly sophisticated tracking systems, and working closely with Israel. There was not a thing he or the other leaders that have been killed along with him could do adding that he believes this is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country.

In that same post, Trump said that this operation would continue uninterrupted for a week or so. Whatever he deemed necessary there to get the outcome he wanted to see.

Again, though, a lot of questions there on where that line is, what the actual objective is going forward. And this all takes place after we have seen several rounds of those high stakes talks between the United States and Iran. We had U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner, taking the lead there and the most recent round of talks, those took place on Thursday in Geneva. And when those ended, it was clear that there were still significant

gaps when it comes to a new nuclear agreement. And Trump had said repeatedly throughout the process that the Iranians were doing a lot of talking here, but he wasn't seeing a lot of action. And then on the side of who knew what, when, we do know from the White House that Rubio briefed the Gang of Eight, at least seven of the eight of them, he was able to get a hold of ahead of time.

But there are still questions about the legality of this. And calls from a number of members on Capitol Hill for more information and a potential vote on Trump's war powers in the aftermath of these strikes

[23:10:04]

SCIUTTO: Julia Benbrook, thanks so much for joining.

Well, to Julia's point on Capitol Hill, Democrats and even a handful of Republicans are now fuming at President Trump's decision to attack Iran without going to Congress first. With many in Congress now questioning whether the attack is legal. Democratic leaders are demanding their GOP colleagues bring congress back into session immediately to hold a formal vote on the strikes in Iran, a vote that will surely become a major test of loyalty for some of the president's staunchest allies.

Joining me now, Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks, who is also ranking member on the house foreign affairs committee.

Thanks so much for taking the time this evening. We appreciate you joining.

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY): Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: So first, your reaction to these strikes, which are continuing and which have now eliminated Iran's supreme leader and have also drawn Iranian retaliation around the region. Do you welcome these strikes on Iran?

MEEKS: No tears will be drawn because of the ayatollah's demise. But what happens next is a concern. And the fact of the matter transparency to the United States Congress is absolutely important because the Constitution of the United States says that who declares war is congress. We don't have a king. The reason why we don't have a king is because the constitution established a congress to be able to determine war and work with the president of the United States, not the president of the United States working around the United States Congress and not allowing us to be the voice of the people of the United States as we have been elected.

So, the problem here is transparency. And coming and letting us know exactly why you're doing it, what you're doing it for and what the end result, as you see it may be. And congress then will vote.

You know, I have been in Congress quite a long time. That's exactly what took place in 2003, though George W. Bush at the time, there was hearings that were had. The secretary of state came before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. I had access to all of the members of the State Department that were involved in negotiations at that particular time, as well as the Pentagon. None of that was available to any member of Congress, whether you were part of the Gang of Eight or not.

SCIUTTO: The thing is as you know, presidents -- multiple presidents of both parties have ordered military action in numerous places without going to Congress first. And perhaps they go later, right? And then the question becomes, how long can the military action remain? I mean, this discussion of a discharge petition to demand a congressional vote on military action has been floating around for a while.

Do you believe that that you waited too long? Democrats and the Republicans, the handful of Republicans who want to vote on this, waited too long to take some action.

MEEKS: Let me just say that we have been asking for action. And the reason why in my experience in Congress, we've had each president -- I just enunciated what George W. Bush did, what happened previously under Barack Obama. He came to Congress and asked Congress, what do you want me to do? For example, in Syria, Congress decided that they did not want to do anything.

Same thing in Libya. We cannot give away. And that's part of the problem. So part of the problem with Congress is we can't give away the authority that the Constitution gives us to the executive branch of government. That's not what this country was created to have a king or one person to make those kinds of determinations. And the people of the United States.

So each time there had been explanations from the president to members of Congress and to the American people to get their confidence of that, this president or any president is doing the right thing, that a individual president does not have the right to arbitrarily decide when he or she and where they want to go to war, that has to have a conversation with Congress. That's the checks and balances of our system. And the difference of having a Congress as opposed to a parliament or an authoritarian government like Vladimir Putin has in Russia.

SCIUTTO: Right. As you know, until -- well, 24 hours or so before these strikes went underway, the U.S. and Iran were talking, they were negotiating. And I know the president said that Iran did not get to where he wanted them to get to and didn't consider their concessions to be -- to be deep enough to continue those talks.

[23:15:11]

But do you believe that those talks were substantive or a feint? Because military action of this size by the U.S. and Iran would, would have required an enormous amount of planning and preparation, right, to flip the switch very quickly. Do you believe there was a real effort and negotiation, and do you believe there's still a genuine openness now to negotiation following these strikes?

MEEKS: Well, you're correct. I heard Prime Minister Netanyahu say earlier during the day that this was planned for months. So that does raise that question that this was something that they had planned for a long period of time. I know I had some suspicions when, in fact, Prime Minister Netanyahu came and visited Washington, D.C. visited with the president. There was no really press reports or any comments after the meeting when he left. That was the first time that I can recall where that took place there was no public statements thereafter. That raised my suspicion in that regard.

So there, generally, if there's going to be this kind of strike and I did not hear articulated by the president that there was an imminent threat to the United States which means that this is a war of choice by the president of the United States without Congress. So it is what he chose to do, and he should not and does not have the power to choose without coming to Congress.

SCIUTTO: And to that point, CNN reported that the president claimed in the State of the Union that Iran had a missile or was preparing a missile that could strike the U.S., that that was not backed by current intelligence assessments.

Congressman Gregory Meeks, we do appreciate you joining. Thanks so much.

MEEKS: Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: And there is much more news ahead on CNN. Please do stay with us.

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[23:21:32]

SCIUTTO: Israel's military says it has now targeted some 500 sites across Iran. Approximately 200 fighter jets carried out those coordinated strikes. The largest military flyover in the history of Israel's air force. According to the IDF, targets included Iranian air defense systems as well as ballistic missile launchers. And of course, we know the strikes on the Iranian leadership as well.

Joining me now retired Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, former spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, now a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Jonathan, good to talk to you again.

JONATHAN CONRICUS, SENIOR FELLOW, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: Good night to you. Good morning from Israel.

SCIUTTO: So, the supreme leader is dead as are, according to the IDF, several other senior Iranian leaders. The Israeli strikes, to our knowledge, are continuing though. What is Israel's objective, then?

CONRICUS: Israeli strikes are indeed continuing. And just now, there are incoming missiles towards central Israel. I'd say around four or five million Israelis have now been rushed to bomb shelters, as per standard operations. Iranian assaults on Israel continue. I think that the objective is to significantly weaken the regime, its

security forces, specifically the IRGC and all of those branches of the Iranian government that have been busy trying to destroy the state of Israel, support fund and arm Israel's enemies Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic jihad, the Houthis and others and perhaps hopefully to provide the environment that will be conducive for the Iranian people to take back their country.

SCIUTTO: Okay Israel has superb intelligence inside Iran and has proven that it does, given its targeting, not just in these strikes but in previous strikes last year and before what are Israels assessments then, of the Iranian people's ability to take the regime down? Right? Because that's -- it's quite a tall order, given what Iranian protesters faced in recent weeks in a bloody crackdown by this regime, many thousands killed.

Is it Israel's assessment that that can happen, ground -- that a ground roots, organic popular rebellion can take this regime down?

CONRICUS: I think at the end of the day, it is. Had it not been so, I don't think Israel would have bothered to launch a war against the Iranian regime together with the U.S. and bottom line, I think Israel assesses that with enough external help, the brave Iranian people, which has taken to the streets, faced some of the most brutal repression that weve seen in modern times yet come out on the streets again and again and again in millions, including just a week ago.

I think that the assessment in Israel, based on, you know, people that Israel has on the ground and people that Israel liaises with and kind of a an assessment of the sentiment I think Israel understands that what the Iranian people needs in order to be able to rise up is just a little bit of help and to be frank, I think Israel and the U.S. have provided the Iranian people with a lot of help, and Israel continues to strike regime targets IRGC, Basij.

[23:25:06]

Currently, what Israel is focused on is suppressing Iranian missile fire. That's the number one objective for the Israeli air force as we speak. So, most of the assets are going there. But once that target will be achieved and most Iranian missile launchers will be struck, which I think is a work in progress and there's good progress on it. I think Israeli fighter jets and other military assets and probably Mossad on the ground, will divert more assets towards centers of command and control of the regime -- Basij, IRGC and others in order to make that possible.

SCIUTTO: But let me ask you this, Jonathan because the president, the U.S. president says that he's still open to the possibility of negotiations at some point, that perhaps the regime will be so weakened that they will be willing to sit down at the table. It does not sound like Israel is interested in such negotiations if the -- if the intention is to. And by the way, President Trump has been encouraging the Iranian people to rise up against the government, too. I just wonder how those two goals can live together.

Is it bring the Iranians to the table, or is it destroy the Iranian regime and bring it down?

CONRICUS: Yeah, I think you're right. There is a slight difference here, and I think that the Israeli perspective is one that is a bit more binary because the state of Israel and Israelis see the Iranian regime, of course, not the Iranian people, but we perceive the Iranian regime as a lethal enemy and a threat to our very existence.

As such, the room for negotiations and diplomacy from an Israeli perspective is less. We also understand that there's the U.S. perspective, and we also understand that that perspective is the dominant one. So, if you know, if there's a scenario where parts of the regime will go ahead and say, okay we relinquish nuclear weapons, we are going to stop funding Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis and others, and were going to stop building ballistic missiles, now let's sit down and negotiate, I'm sure that the president will look positively towards that. Maybe Israelis wouldn't be, you know, really happy about it, but that's maybe something that's palatable.

But at the end of the day, Israel wants to safeguard itself. It wants to defang the most dangerous and lethal enemy that it has in the region and so far, I'm happy to say that that is going pretty well.

SCIUTTO: Jonathan Conricus, I'm sure it's not the last time we discuss. Thanks so much for joining.

CONRICUSD: Thank you, Jim

SCIUTTO: So for a view of how the Iranian people might listen to or react to those calls, I'm going to bring in Jason Rezaian. He's the director of Press Freedom Initiatives at "The Washington Post. He was "The Post" Tehran correspondent. And as many of you may know, he was held in an Iranian prison for some time.

Jason, good to have you on tonight. Thanks so much for joining

JASON REZAIAN, DIRECTOR OF PRESS FREEDOM INITIATIVES, THE WASHINGTON POST: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, first, I don't expect you to speak for the Iranian people, but you're quite well in touch with many inside Iran. And what is your best assessment as to what the reaction would be there to these calls that we're hearing from President Trump? Rise up take down this government yourself, especially given the pain and suffering and bloodshed they went through in protest just weeks ago.

REZAIAN: Jim, first of all, I think we have to acknowledge the fact that there is a sense of exhilaration that Ali Khamenei has been eliminated and taken from power -- taken from this Earth. Yeah, people are rightfully celebrating the removal of a brutal dictator who ruled ruthlessly for 37 years.

But at the end of the day, I think there is a long road ahead of them. And when President Trump called for Iranians to take to the streets about 50 days ago and said, we would have your backs, I think there was a sense of disappointment that things didn't happen sooner than they did. There wasn't an immediate response. So, I'm not so sure. And we've seen already just in the last couple of

hours since Khamenei's death was confirmed by the Iranian state, that they've announced 40 days of official mourning, seven day holiday. If people come out into the streets in a -- either in a celebratory way or in a protesting way of the state, I think you can assume that there will be a major backlash or violent repression like we saw several weeks ago in thousands of Iranian protesters were killed.

So, you know, I don't think it's at all clear what's going to happen next inside the country and how people are going to respond.

[23:30:05]

Although we did see a lot of celebration today.

SCIUTTO : Yeah. No question. And we've been showing some of that on the air right now. And to your point, Ali Khamenei, in addition to the bloodshed he's caused around the region, the bloodshed he's been responsible for in his own country is just beyond the pale.

You wrote an op ed just over a month ago where you said that if and when the regime were to fall, whoever will lead Iran is almost certainly living there now. You know the open question is, would that replacement be better? Right. And is -- are there any guarantees of that?

REZAIAN: Absolutely no guarantee of that. I think there's a lot of hope that that Iranian civil society, which has shown itself to be brave and resilient, although suppressed and beaten down in so many different ways. I mean, so many of the leaders of Iran's opposition in the country have either been exiled, imprisoned or killed but they still exist and there's still calling for fundamental change within that country.

So, you know, I would hope that those voices are able to begin to seep through and gain traction at home and around the world but to your point, I mean, I think the possibility of someone within the system stepping forward and becoming you know, equally as brutal as Khamenei was, is a -- is a possibility, one that we can't ignore. We can't just assume that this is going to work out.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. Final question, if I can, just because you were held in an Iranian prison unjustly on false charges, you had some of your life taken away, right, because of that. Just your own personal reaction to see the end of Ali Khamenei.

REZAIAN: Well, first, I want to remind folks that there are six Americans, U.S. nationals who are currently being held hostage in Iran, nationals of the U.K., the bureau chief of NHK, the Japanese broadcaster, a Japanese citizen being held hostage right now.

My thoughts first and foremost with the people of Iran and the continuing languishing political prisoners and hostages in jails but I think that the system of repression is starting to show some cracks. And, as someone who spent time a year and a half of my life in that prison and know what a horrendous place it can be, I'm just hoping for a freer future for Iranians of all stripes. So many people have suffered there for so many years, and they deserve so much better.

SCIUTTO: And that's always been my reaction, traveling to that country, including during protests in 2009, is that the Iranian people, many that you meet there, they want something far different from what they've been living under.

Jason Rezaian, we appreciate you joining. Thanks so much

REZAIAN: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: And we'll be right back with more of our breaking news coverage.

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[23:38:15]

SCIUTTO: The sounds you're hearing, they're the sound of celebration breaking out in Tehran and other Iranian cities after the death of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state media has confirmed the supreme leader was killed in his compound in central Tehran by strikes earlier today. Iran is now promising to respond with, quote the heaviest offensive operations in its history.

The U.S. and Israel began their barrage on Iranian targets early Saturday morning. The U.S. president says the military operation against Iran is, quote, "massive and ongoing".

CNN U.S. security correspondent Kylie Atwood joins me now from Washington.

And, Kylie, ongoing is the key word there. To the best of our knowledge, we have not seen the end of U.S. military strikes?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Certainly not. President Trump promising in a post on social media earlier today that these strikes will continue uninterrupted throughout the week at least. So, it's very clear that the administration is in a position now where they are going to continue carrying out these strikes, make assessments and go from there.

We are less than 24 hours into what is a military campaign, to which we really don't know the extent of, Jim. And obviously with Iran promising its response. There are multiple factors here that are going to extend this conflict at this moment.

Speaking with regional sources, I've learned that they were given a heads up about these strikes through military to military channels some countries were given a heads up through conversations with top Trump administration officials before these strikes begun, carrying out in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

But those who were not alerted included, of course, the Omani foreign minister, who was here in Washington at the White House on Friday, meeting with Vice President J.D. Vance. He said this morning that he was dismayed by these U.S. strikes. He felt there was real momentum in those U.S.-Iran negotiations to try and find a nuclear deal.

But when he left that meeting with Vance on Friday a source told me that he believed that Vance had authentically engaged, but he was still concerned about the U.S. military buildup. He knew very well that this eventuality was in the realm of the possible.

The question tonight, of course, as you have been discussing, is after this military campaign what could come? Will anything come of U.S. support for the Iranian people as President Trump is saying, that they should rise up?

I've talked to sources in the region who said that they were not told that ayatollah, Leader Khamenei was going to be a target of this strike. And they were also not told what the further plans would look like. So, there are many questions of what comes next as this all unfolds -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: No question. Unanswered questions. Kylie Atwood in Washington, thanks so much.

Well, joining me now is Amos Yadlin. He is retired Israeli air force deputy commander former head of Israeli military intelligence.

Amos, good to have you on the program. Thanks so much for taking the time.

AMOS YADLIN, FORMER HEAD OF ISRAEL'S DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE: Good morning, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, it seems like the message from Israel and from the U.S. is twofold. One encouraging the Iranian people now to rise up against their government, but also it seems, encouraging regime forces to lay down their arms.

I wonder, in your view, are the U.S. and Israel, who were clearly in lockstep on these operations strikes so far -- are they in lockstep on the objective now being to bring down the Iranian regime?

YADLIN: I think both countries realistic enough to know that it is very difficult to remove and to change and to collapse the regime only by air campaign and missile campaign. The Iranian people have to take the lead or as you said element in the former regime, in the current regime that will change the Iranian behavior.

So, the strategic goal is regime behavior change, and not so much the collapse of the regime even nobody will have tears in his eyes if the regime will fall.

This operation has to strategic goal one the regime change or collapse or a another behavior, but the other one is not less important. And this is the possibility of this evil regime, of this brutal dictatorship to influence the Middle East to have to threaten all its neighbors. Iran yesterday fired at seven countries. Iran in the 2023 range seven of its proxies and states to attack Israel. So, Iran is the source of terror and evil in the Middle East. And

neither President Trump or Prime Minister Netanyahu will be sorry if this regime will gone and the Middle East can go to totally different paths of prosperity and peace

SCIUTTO: It's remarkable to note the number of losses the Iranian regime has had in the last couple of years, right losing their ally and Assad in Syria, the diminution of Hezbollah and Lebanon, the diminution of Hamas. And now this.

You have said that Iran's objective now will be to try to prolong the war beyond the length that the U.S. is willing to tolerate in effect. And I wonder, do you believe -- does Israel believe Iran maintains the capability to keep carrying out these retaliatory strikes?

YADLIN: The capability will go down dramatically, and its already went down dramatically. If you remember, the Iranians used to fire in 2024 hundreds of ballistic missiles in a minute.

This is not happening anymore. Yesterday we saw them coming one by one, which show you that the capability to launch is decreasing dramatically. And since there is no ground war, which is the advantage of a country that willing to sacrifice half a million people, we saw it in the war in Iraq and against Iraq in the late -- in the '90s.

[23:45:09]

We are witnessing it every day in Ukraine and Russia. But here, it's a war between firepower the Israeli air force, the American Navy, the American Air Force vis a vis the Iranians missiles and Iranian drones. This firepower can depress the Iranian capability to act within a week or two.

And they can also try to initiate an internal unrest like running on the banks, like a blackout on the electricity grid, and I don't think that Iran can drag Israel and the U.S. to a very long war. It can be, as I said a couple of weeks, but the Iranians has to fight another form and this is the internal front against the people of Iran that celebrated last night in the street the death of the brutal dictator. They called for his death in the last two months.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, we've been seeing some of those celebrations in a number of Iranian cities in recent hours. One final question, if I can, because there's another tool that Iran has at its disposal to some degree, right, which would be to attempt to carry out terror attacks right on targets whether in the region or further abroad.

What is Israel's assessment of Iran's capability to do so?

YADLIN: You never underestimate terror attacks, but history tells us that the threat is much higher than the capability to execute it. Saddam Hussein promised a terror campaign against every American embassy and every Israeli in the Middle East and all over the globe both in '91 and 2003. And he was unable to do.

So, the Iranians, after Soleimani, after the war in the summer of 2025, a terror networks this day when the world is transparent, when all the security forces since September 11th basically are looking all over the place with very advanced sensors. It is not as easy as it was when the Iranians killed 240 marines in Beirut or when they destroy the Israeli embassy and the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.

Their capabilities went down dramatically due to a very good defense, by the way. They tried. They tried in India. They tried in in Malaya, and they failed.

So, this is not the main threat. There is one bullet left, and this is attacking the oil industry in the Gulf. Until now, they decided not to do it. We will have to see whether the Strait of Hormuz are closing and the U.S. Navy, the Fifth Navy, will have a mission to do to keep them open. I think this is the place to look more into. The terror

SCIUTTO: We'll be watching closely. We know you will.

Amos Yadlin, thank you so much for joining.

YADLIN: Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: And we'll be right back.

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[23:53:18]

SCIUTTO: It remains unclear what the potential political ramifications of these ongoing military operations will be. With the U.S. heading into midterm elections this fall, President Trump's decision to attack Iran is causing some unease even among his MAGA base.

Joining me now John Zogby, a senior partner at John Zogby Strategies, and CNN politics senior reporter Stephen Collinson.

Good to have you both.

John, I want to begin with you because you've been polling on the president's approach to Iran. Tell us what the approval ratings show.

JOHN ZOGBY, SENIOR PARTNER, JOHN ZOGBY STRATEGIES: It's split in half, 46 percent who support his approach to dealing with Iran, 45.5 percent who oppose. But among those 45 who oppose, 33 percent or two thirds of them strongly oppose.

SCIUTTO: Stephen, you've written that this military campaign will alienate some sectors of Trump's own base, the MAGA movement. I mean, Trump of course, ran on ending the endless wars and he was quite critical when other presidents of the other party carried out or considered carrying out military action.

Tell us where the MAGA voices are right now on these ongoing operations.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: I think we'll have a split there as well. I think in the short term, this short sharp operation, if it doesn't involve a long-term U.S. commitment, that will be supported in my experience, in covering elements of the grassroots of the Trump base who like strength, and they like to see the president wield power.

But you've already heard some voices, like Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, MAGA personalities who are pointing out as you do, that this is contrary to so much of what the president said he was against when he came to power for the first time after the 2016 election.

[23:55:16]

So I think a lot depends on what happens next. If Iran degenerates, I think that will be very bad for a president who's already deeply unpopular running into the midterm elections. And you're already hearing Democrats make the argument the president cares about Iran. He doesn't care about the cost of your groceries. And that could turn out to be a powerful domestic argument if things go badly in Iran.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, John, it's stuck -- struck me during the State of the Union in CNN and own polling, when voters were asked what they want to hear about most, if I remember correctly, foreign policy, two percent said foreign policy, whole host of other issues that are further top of mind right now, including affordability. In your own polling, beyond approval of specific approach -- the specific approach to Iran, is military action in the Middle East a priority for a large portion of voters going into these midterms?

ZOGBY: It really is not. It's barely eighth or ninth out of 10 issues that that we test.

But, you know, Jim, we got a sneak peek in late June, early July. We asked about support for taking out Iran's nuclear program that was 50 to 45, support versus opposed. We said, what if it takes six months to a year? That number dropped down to 42 percent supportive, and a majority opposed. A year or more, it was 35 percent who support or oppose that underscores the fact that this will get some support. The era of the big bump is over it will get some support, but it better not last very long.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, and listen, you know, it's easier to support success, right? I remember this going back to the Iraq invasion because around 2003, despite the controversy, there was a lot of popular support in the early days of the war. Of course, that disappeared as it dragged on and on.

John Zogby, Stephen Collinson, thanks so much to both of you.

ZOGBY: Thank you.

COLLINSON: Thanks.

SCIUTTO: I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. I'll be right back with much more of our breaking news coverage right after this.

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