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U.S. and Israel Launch Attack on Iran; Blasts Seen and Heard in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain; Trump Suggests Regime Change May Be Best for Iran; Iran Launches Retaliation across the Middle East. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired February 28, 2026 - 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 (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

Breaking news this hour out of this region, the U.S. and Israel has launched what the U.S. president describes as a massive military operation on Iran and is calling for regime change in Tehran.

They are both planning for several days of attacks, according to our sources. Live images here from Jerusalem as Israel comes under apparent retaliation from Iran. Just a short time ago, Israeli authorities sent out alerts and warnings about incoming missiles.

On the ground in Iran, explosions have been reported in multiple cities, including in the capital. Video from Tehran shows plumes of smoke billowing over the city. Iranian state media says the country's president is alive and is in good health.

U.S. president Donald Trump says the military campaign is massive and ongoing and American lives, he says, may be lost as a result.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime. A vicious group of very hard, terrible people.

Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world.

For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted, "Death to America," and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder, targeting the United States, our troops and the innocent people in many, many countries.

This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States armed forces. I built and rebuilt our military in my first administration and there is no military on earth even close to its power, strength or sophistication.

My administration is taking every possible step to minimize the risk to U.S. personnel in the region. Even so and I do not make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill.

The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war. But we're doing this not for now. We're doing this for the future. And it is a noble mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, that is the U.S. president. I'm here in Abu Dhabi, in the UAE. And the UAE has just closed its airspace after explosions were heard in Abu Dhabi.

I have to say, I'm here with my colleague, Paula Hancocks, and we both heard those explosions on two separate occasions over the last 10 minutes or so.

What can we report at this point?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, you're right. Just about a minute ago we heard three or four booms. We know now that the airspace in this country, in the United Arab Emirates, is closed.

We also know there have been reports of explosions in Bahrain. We did have just shortly before this alert from the U.S. embassies, both here in the UAE and in Bahrain, giving a shelter in place order. That was for the embassy staff.

They said that they recommended to American citizens to shelter in place, which is -- they put in brackets, i.e. take cover, saying that that they should do so until further notice.

So certainly this is something the U.S. embassy may have been aware of that was certainly a possibility. We knew it was a possibility as Tehran had been very clear that U.S. allies, U.S. bases, would be under threat if there were strikes in Tehran.

[04:05:08]

ANDERSON: And, of course, the fifth fleet is based in Bahrain. There is an -- there is a base here in the UAE. The UAE and others around this region have been very specific. Certainly from here, they have said no use of this base in any operations by the U.S. or Israel.

Of course, they've been calling for de-escalation. There has been an enormous amount of mediation, if you -- if you like, around this region of the Gulf and wider Middle East. And we see calls between stakeholders every day over the past couple of weeks.

And although, for example, the UAE hasn't been directly involved, even as an observer in the talks, the ongoing talks that have been extended, of course, into next week between the U.S. and Iran.

It is very clear that the authorities and leadership around this region of the Gulf is intrinsically sort of, you know, embedded in at least the sort of, you know, the way that things are being communicated in order to make it absolutely clear that they want to see de-escalation, not escalation around this region.

I mean, it is -- it is a region that has been ridden by conflict for so long. The idea of navigating a new Middle East is de-escalating the conflicts around this region and moving into a new sphere.

But at this point, whether these are limited strikes -- it doesn't sound that way from the U.S. president, who has described this as a massive military operation -- whether these are strikes that are now going to go on for some time, it's going to be a clear concern to the leadership around this region and indeed to the people who live here

HANCOCKS: Well, exactly. And it wasn't just the fact that some of the Gulf nations said, you can't use military bases, which the U.S. has a very sizable presence in, in many of these Gulf nations. They also said, you can't use our airspace.

They wanted to distance themselves from this decision that they believed the U.S. may take. We now know that the U.S. president has taken this decision, believing that this may give them some space from what is happening.

But Tehran had been very clear from the beginning that, if there was going to be strikes in Iran, then this would be a wider regional matter, that this wasn't just going to be a retaliation, for example, to Israel but the U.S. bases allies in this region.

ANDERSON: And I want to get to Israel now, just to make the point that we have been making this over the past couple of hours now. And these this, this operation, this massive military operation conducted, coordinated with the U.S. and Israel, started about 2.5 hours ago.

Those were the first reports that we got. It's just after 1:00 in the afternoon here. So it was just after 10:20-10:25 that we got the first reports, Abu Dhabi time, of attacks on Iran.

And it was within the past couple of hours that we've seen outgoing ballistic missiles from Israel. That is extremely quick in response. And indeed also blasts heard and seen here in Abu Dhabi and indeed in Bahrain.

So the response, which was telegraphed by Iran, it would happen, were they to be struck. The response is swift and the Iranians are calling their revenge, they describe it, as it being a crushing operation. Good to have you.

Let's bring in Danny Citrinowicz. He's with the Institute for National Security Studies, where he serves as a senior researcher. He's also former head of the Iran branch in the research and analysis division of Israeli defense intelligence.

You and I spoke not 24 hours ago and we did talk about the possibility of Israeli involvement in an operation; 2.5 hours ago we saw the evidence of that massive military operation as described by president Trump now on Iran.

The Israeli prime minister, Danny, has just posted on X, saying in part, "Our joint operation will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their fate into their own hands."

And that echoes what Donald Trump said. That message from that source.

How is it likely to be received?

I mean, this is two countries now calling for the people of Iran to rise up and take their regime out.

DAN SHAPIRO, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: Are you speaking to me, Becky?

ANDERSON: I am, Danny, yes.

SHAPIRO: Hi, this is actually Dan Shapiro in Israel, former U.S. ambassador to Israel.

[04:10:02]

I think you we're expecting --

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ANDERSON: Sincere apologies. Dan, I can see you now. I couldn't see you before. Dan Shapiro, good to have you on, sir. You are -- tell me where you are at this point just so I'm absolutely clear.

SHAPIRO: So I am in Israel, just outside of Tel Aviv. I was in Tel Aviv this morning when the first sirens went off. So obviously that was the moment we knew that this attack was underway.

And spent several -- made several trips to shelters in the -- in the interim hours. Listen, there's no question we are now facing what could be a pivotal, even a transformative moment in the Middle East.

The president announced a short while ago that what he has launched together with Israel is essentially a regime change war in Iran. That is something that, of course, he said he would not do when he was running for president. So it's a big change. It has not been explained in a lot of detail to the American people.

Now the first phase is underway. There's no question that the United States military and the Israeli military together are significant, have a significant advantage over Iran because of Iran's degraded air defenses, because of excellent technology and intelligence and Joint operations between the two militaries.

So Iran is going to suffer some very serious blows. Iran is going to also be able to land some blows in return. It sounds like they've already sent some in your direction in Abu Dhabi, maybe elsewhere in the Gulf.

And, of course, they've tried, I think unsuccessfully, as far as we know so far, toward Israel. The real question, however, is there a linear progression. The way the president outlined it in his speech from U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iranian military and regime targets and then the Iranian people rising up and taking over their country.

That's a very, very big gamble. And we have a long way to go to see if it can be carried out the way he described it.

ANDERSON: Talks continue or certainly were continuing and had been extended into next week. You'll have heard the message from the Omani foreign minister, the mediator in these U.S.-Iran talks in Washington yesterday on a U.S. domestic network, saying, you know, voicing some optimism for these talks.

But saying very specifically, we just need time. It seems the time just simply ran out as far as president Trump is concerned, correct?

SHAPIRO: Well, time ran out. But I don't believe there was ever really a zone of possible agreement between these two sides.

What the president has been saying since the Iran nuclear negotiations last year, before the war in June, was that he insists on zero enrichment for Iran, that Iran export all of its enriched uranium and pledge by shutting down all facilities and subjecting them to intrusive inspections that they will never again carry out that program.

I don't think that was ever in the cards that this Iranian leadership would agree to anything like that. So even more time, probably, would have been a frustrating exercise in negotiations that wouldn't produce an outcome in an agreement.

What's a bit puzzling about the president's description, however, was that, until this morning, he had said that, if he could get that nuclear deal, that's what he would take and he would take that deal and then that would have prevented military action.

But it would have also meant the Iranian regime would have remained in place. the ballistic missiles which threaten Israel, which threaten Gulf states, threaten U.S. bases, would not have been addressed. And the Iranian people would not have had their desire for support.

From the protests they engaged in a month ago, would not have received that support. So on the one hand, he was saying he was prepared for negotiation. That would have dealt with only one issue.

And then when those negotiations didn't succeed, which was predictable, he's now going for everything. And we'll see again in the days ahead if that can be successful.

ANDERSON: You've posted on X, the regime change war that Donald Trump has launched is a huge gamble, with minimal explanation to the American people.

Do you think he gave enough of an explanation in what was an eight- minute video posted to his Truth Social account after this operation began? And I guess further, will Donald Trump's gamble play out?

[04:15:00]

How will Donald Trump's gamble play out?

SHAPIRO: I think it's not a sufficient explanation. Typically, before launching a major military action, really a war, the president of the United States should speak to the American people at some length before the operations begin.

Explain the strategy, why it might happen, what the risks are, how to mitigate those risks. What his objective is and it would even be ideal to have that discussion with the Congress and let the Congress express its view.

First of all, hold hearings and ask questions, have briefings, ask questions and then express their view on it. He hasn't done any of those things. So a statement, it was a seven- or eight-minute statement sort of in the middle of the night in the United States, announcing the beginning of the operations.

To me it's not a sufficient explanation to the American people of what the goal is. Really until that statement, it would -- it was really quite impossible to identify what the strategic objective that he was prepared to pursue if this operation started.

Was it nuclear only?

Was it missiles?

Was it regime change?

Was it -- was it to support the Iranian people in the protests?

So tonight he did give that explanation. And it's everything. It's all up against the wall.

And again, I think the American people probably are going to wake up tomorrow and wonder, how did we find ourselves in this major war in the Middle East without a proper explanation or preparation?

There may or may not be support for it. I suspect there will be actually quite limited support for it. But a lot of that will depend on the results. If the results are a spectacular success, of course, there will be support for it.

If there are casualties, if we get sucked into something much longer and much more damaging and depleting of our own military strength, then perhaps the support will not be there. So that remains to be seen but he would have done better to give a clear explanation before he got started.

ANDERSON: Dan Shapiro is an American diplomat, served as the U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2011 to 2017. It's always good to have you. Sincere apologies for confusing you with

another guest at the beginning of this. Your insight and analysis extremely important for us as we continue with what is our rolling breaking news. Dan, thank you.

Stay with CNN. Our breaking news coverage of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran continues just ahead.

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ANDERSON: We're following breaking news out of the Middle East. Iranian media reports that dozens of ballistic missiles have now been launched toward Israel. Warning sirens in Israel sounded just a short time ago, after the U.S. and Israel had begun striking targets in Iran.

In a new development, Qatar says it has intercepted two Iranian missiles over its country. Sources tell CNN that the U.S. and Israel are preparing for several days of attacks. President Donald Trump described the military campaign as massive and ongoing. He accused Iran of working to rebuild its nuclear program.

CNN White House correspondent Alayna Treene joining me now from outside Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach in Florida.

We are seeing videos of what is happening on the ground in Tehran. We have heard from the U.S. president, who has called this U.S.-Israel coordinated operation massive and ongoing.

What else have we heard from the administration?

And what do you understand to be the very latest on these attacks?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, as for the second part of your question, Becky, about the latest, we are starting -- and, sorry, I'm getting some feedback. So I'm going to take this out.

But we're starting to get a better picture of Iran's level of retaliation. We are hearing -- this is from an official who told our colleague, Kaitlan Collins, that Qatar has intercepted two Iranian missiles over its country.

We also are hearing that the U.S. base in Bahrain was targeted by Iran. That's according to state media. And so we're starting to see kind of the picture of Iran's retaliation unfold right now.

But to get back to your question about the president's speech, what I am told is, yes you're right. He is at his Mar-a-Lago estate. I'm told he is awake and monitoring the situation on the ground. But I do think that video announcement kind of declaring the U.S.

involvement in this operation was very remarkable. Becky. And I think that the words that you pointed out are the key words from that address that I took away, which is that this is massive and ongoing, this operation.

And it does come as sources tell me and our colleague, Zach Cohen, that the United States is planning for several days of attacks. And so this could quickly shape up to be one of the, you know, most involved military operations that president Trump has seen, even, you know, when you look back to his first term.

Now another thing I think that was very notable from that video announcement as well, was that he effectively called for regime change in Iran.

He said, quote, "When we are finished," -- and this was a message to the Iranian people -- "When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will probably be your only chance for generations."

That is a huge statement. And, of course, it comes after we saw the president earlier this year in January tell the Iranian people, when there are protests breaking out, of course, across the country against the Iranian regime, he told them that he would -- that help was on the way.

And then, you know, we've waited; we've seen weeks now of negotiations between the United States and the Iranians. Trump saying that he was frustrated with how things were going.

And then this strike take place. But I think that regime, that, you know, effectively calling for this regime change is so notable.

And I will tell you as well, from all the conversations I've had with people in the White House, while there are other goals, this operation, the president has been more public recently in saying that he believes regime change is really the best thing for the country.

It's unclear, of course, where all this stands. From everything that I've heard so far is it does seem that really what the Trump administration wants is to see the Iranian people be the ones to take advantage of this opportunity of the regime being so weakened by these strikes.

[04:25:06]

I also know that part of the reason the president moved on this is because they believe that Iran is completely weakened at this moment as well, because the proxies in the region are weakened.

But one key thing I would keep in mind is, through all of this coverage, I think it's very important context to the politics of all of this, is that there are a lot of people in America and a lot of people in the president's own base that are very wary of foreign intervention to this level. And very, you know, have long memories of going to war with Iraq in

the early 2000s. And so this is something that the Trump administration has had to weigh heavily in all of these negotiations that led up to this moment. Becky.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you, Alayna, thank you.

Alayna Treene is in Florida, of course, West Palm, West Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, where Donald Trump is.

He posted to Truth Social in the middle of the night, announcing what is a massive military operation coordinated with Israel on Iran. We have since seen reports of outgoing ballistic missiles from Iran to Israel and around the region where I am of the Gulf.

Reports of explosions in various different places. These were -- these were strikes that were warned of by Iran, should it be attacked. These would be explosions heard around U.S. facilities, military bases around this region.

Joining us now live in London is Sanam Vakil. She's the director of Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House. She's also an adjunct lecturer in Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

It's very good to have you with us this morning. Frankly, what we heard from the U.S. president is not only the launch of a massive military operation in conjunction with Israel but a call for regime change, for the people of Iran to stand up against a regime that he says they are taking out. And it is for the people of Iran to take it over.

What do you make of what we are seeing and hearing this morning, Sanam?

SANAM VAKIL, DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA PROGRAMME, CHATHAM HOUSE: Good morning, Becky, it's nice to be with you.

This is certainly nothing short of a regime change. Donald Trump started to foreshadow this yesterday when he began to talk about the 47-year adversarial relationship between the U.S. and Iran.

And today in that video, he laid out the long laundry list of challenges, from hostage taking to wreaking havoc across the region of the Middle East, to Iran's nuclear program and ballistic missile program as justification for this operation.

That is certainly not going to be one and done. It's going to go for many days.

But what is really unclear is what's going to come afterwards?

Because leaving it to the Iranian people on its own is going to be messy and dangerous. And what we do know, as we are talking -- and you're in Abu Dhabi -- is that Iran has already started its response, striking Israel, striking U.S. facilities around the region and so we are bracing for something much more serious.

ANDERSON: I have to ask where, what the plan?

Is it clear to you what the plan is from the United States at this point?

I mean, there are a huge military presence in the Persian Gulf, of course, and in deterrence of Israel around the Mediterranean area. A call on the people of Iran to stand up and take back their country. But no clear indication of what a day-after plan might look like.

And we are only in, of course, day zero at this point, however, however long that might take.

VAKIL: I think we have to break this apart in pieces. The strikes began today just a few hours ago. The Iranians are already, despite, of course, being hit across numerous cities -- and it's important to also mention that it's very clear that the U.S. and Israel are targeting Iran's leadership.

Reports of strikes on the supreme leader's compound, around where the president's office is, have already been reported. They're attacking ballistic missile facilities but the Iranians are already responding.

So this is -- we have to take this as phase one and see how long this phase lasts and see what Iran can do. The only option it really faces is to quickly respond and try to export this war to the region. It doesn't have too much ability to withstand the United States of America, ultimately.

[04:30:05]

But then we will look at what comes next. I cannot imagine that the Iranian people are going to come out and protest and take back their government in the midst of this war. That would be a phase three or four over the next few weeks, if not months.

ANDERSON: And we are looking at pictures out of -- images out of Iran today as we get them in. Not easy to get comms with Iran at present. Not easy to get the images of this offensive but we were getting as much as we can and well get those to our viewers.

Let's talk about the retaliation finally that we are seeing. We have images from Abu Dhabi and video from Bahrain. You mentioned that, of course, there were threats to strike U.S. facilities around this region of the Gulf should Iran be hit.

We are seeing that, of course, albeit limited, I think, at this stage. Qatar has said it has intercepted two ballistic missiles on its -- in its airspace.

How much do you expect this to escalate at this point?

VAKIL: I think we can only expect escalation because the United States has made it clear, with prime minister Netanyahu on side, that this is not a strike in order to pressure Iran back to the negotiating table.

But these -- this is a war to change the Islamic Republic. The Islamic Republic is in fighting for its life. So it has already struck. It is -- it's also hitting Israel. There have been reports of strikes also in Haifa. This is going to be very dangerous for the region.

The Houthis in Yemen have also indicated on social media, we haven't seen the results yet in action, that they're also intending to get involved. So Iran's strategy is to regionalize this war and to regionalize it quickly so that the pain is not just taken and absorbed by Tehran but spread across the Middle East.

ANDERSON: Yes. And we were remarking on the speed of these retaliatory strikes just earlier on this hour. It has been quite remarkable to see the speed at which these strikes have been launched in the wake of what has been this massive ongoing operation, as described by the U.S., which started around about three hours ago.

First reports of strikes on Iran coming in around three hours ago. It is 1:30 Abu Dhabi time here. Thank you for joining us, Sanam.

We are learning that the U.S. and Israel are preparing for several days of strikes on Iran. Our breaking news coverage continues in a moment.

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ANDERSON: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. Back to our breaking news.

The U.S. and Israel carrying out military strikes against Iran and calling for the overthrow of the regime.

Explosions have been reported in multiple cities, including the capital, Tehran. Iranian state media, citing a source close to the presidency, says Iran's president is safe and in good health. U.S. President Donald Trump described the military campaign as massive and ongoing and said American lives may be lost as a result.

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TRUMP: This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States armed forces. I built and rebuilt our military in my first administration and there is no military on Earth even close to its power, strength or sophistication.

My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to U.S. personnel in the region. Even so -- and I do not make this statement lightly -- the Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have

casualties. That often happens in war. But we're doing this not for now, we're doing this for the future. And it is a noble mission. It's been mass terror and we're not going to put up with it any longer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, Iran is preparing for what they describe as a crushing response to the attacks. State media says that dozens of ballistic missiles have been launched toward Israel. Other countries in the region that host U.S. bases have reported multiple explosions.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling for regime change in Tehran. Mr. Trump has also advocated for the same and encouraged Iranians to seize control of their government.

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TRUMP: To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity or, in the alternative, face certain death.

So lay down your arms. You will be treated fairly with total immunity or you will face certain death.

Finally to the great proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don't leave your home. It's very dangerous. Outside bombs will be dropping everywhere.

When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations. For many years you have asked for America's help but you never got it. No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, let's bring in CNN's chief international security correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, reporting live from London.

No president is willing to do what he is, he says, prepared to do tonight.

Based on what we are seeing in these videos from on the ground in Tehran, can we get any sense of the scope of this operation at this point?

And do we have a picture of what and who has been hit?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: No. In terms of the actual assessment as to the cast of characters that have been under the U.S. crosshairs over the last hours.

[04:40:03]

We don't have clarity necessarily on that. But from the scope of the ambitions, we've been hearing president Trump lay out there, I should say, you know, it is remarkable after the drum roll toward this moment to see the announcement made on social media like that.

And remember, I think the disparity between the inordinate lineup ahead of the 2003 invasion of Iraq just how fast this has been put upon the American people and indeed, the fact that the president is now saying there may be U.S. casualties as a result.

But Trump's ambitions here are pretty wide in scope. He's clear he wants to destroy their missile capabilities. And in fact. we may be seeing this significant barrage of Iranian missiles being launched because perhaps the Iranians are concerned they need to get them off the ground while they still indeed can.

He wants, as he always has, to stop the Iranian nuclear weapon here. But it's the issue of regime change that is slightly more nuanced. He does not openly say that they want the government to go, that they want regime change.

Instead, he lays out a complex scenario, in which the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the police would lay down their arms and then he somehow believes the U.S. can enable them to get complete immunity. Unclear how that's going to work if there isn't some U.S.- compliant new administration going along with that inside of Iran.

And if they don't agree, then they will face certain death. A reminder, though, that the Iranian people have just endured significant protests and horrific crackdown, potentially costing tens of thousands of lives, during which president Trump said help was on the way.

Well, it didn't arrive in time to influence that unrest, those demonstrations. And now again he is asking the Iranian people, still under duress from the suppression of those protests, to rise up again.

So we are obviously going to have to see exactly what has been hit, what degradation that does to the Iranian government. But the notion of a new world in a box that can be opened and take over all of Iran is a little far fetched.

It's an extensively autocratic society where the government has its fingers on multiple tentacles and multiple parts of the economy many dependent upon it for their jobs. The security forces well entrenched.

So there is a concern here, I think among some observers, that we're seeing an element of hubris after you might say how easily it seemed to be to affect change in Venezuela. That project still ongoing but certainly the capture of the then president, Nicolas Maduro relatively straightforward by comparative terms.

This is a whole separate idea, a potentially enormous undertaking if indeed Trump wants all of these massive goals to be realized. And I think it's important to remember the position both sides are necessarily in here.

Iran is weak. It was massively weakened by the 12-day war of last year. Yes, there have been some assessments. It has rebuilt its missile program but it's nowhere near where it was. And so we'll see in the days ahead how effectively that's being degraded by these American and Israeli strikes. Surely one of their first key targets.

Its leadership will surely have been in disarray after their decimation during the war of last year. So they've been rebuilding clearly but they won't be back to where they wanted to be. So they are certainly in a vulnerable position.

There's some analysts saying that ultimately they might fight to the death in this moment of weakness. But that doesn't suddenly give them more strength. It's important to remember that.

And the U.S. here is in a precarious position as well. Yes, they have enormous forces arrayed in the Middle East certainly. But some of the top brass have been warning about not having the inventory necessarily or the resources for a sustained campaign.

Now Trump has been talking and his officials talking about several days maybe. That's not a major offensive. That's not 2003. That is a days-long campaign with, you might argue, relatively limited objectives in terms of the broader scale of things we've seen in the region in the past.

So we're entering a period now where I think the key issue is to define how quickly the U.S. and Israel achieve their objectives and exactly how extensive indeed those are, because the things they may be going after at the top of their list may not be that expansive.

And we now have to deal exactly as to whether the unknown potential for this to turn into a retaliation war, with sides hitting each other, if any of these missiles get through and take American lives, that potentially prolongs this more.

But a moment where it's important to realize the United States possibly doesn't have the full extent of the capabilities it would like for something as enormous as it may be suggesting. And at the same time the Iranians are weak as well. So maybe still we see talks in Vienna. Who knows?

ANDERSON: Nick Paton Walsh. Yes, those talks are scheduled for next week. That was certainly what those involved from this region were hoping. Let's see whether those work and let's get to Washington, D.C. Nick, thank you.

Where senior national security reporter Zachary Cohen joins us live.

And Zach, I hope you could hear what Nick Paton Walsh and I were just discussing. This feels like certainly has been telegraphed as a massive military operation by the U.S. president.

[04:45:07]

Suggesting that U.S. service members may lose their lives in this. I mean, you know, there is no scaling back on what he has suggested.

But where does that take the U.S. at this point?

And what is the strategy here?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Becky, obviously U.S. officials telling me and our colleague, Alayna Treene, that the U.S. military is prepared to carry out several days of strikes.

But as Nick mentioned just a minute ago, several days is not, in context, a extended major military operation. That is something that even vice president JD Vance, ahead of this, these strikes, said the U.S. really had no intention of getting embroiled in. But to your point about what is the strategy here?

If Donald Trump's suggestion that the strategy ultimately or the goal ultimately is regime change?

We've reported extensively on the fact that senior U.S. officials including chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine, has acknowledged that even if the U.S. successfully carried out regime change in Iran, they can't predict what would come next.

And I think that is a key point here. It's -- facilitating regime change is one challenge; understanding and having the pieces in place after the fact are another.

And we saw comparatively in Venezuela this -- there was significant effort before the military operation to lay the groundwork for some day-after plan. There's really no indication here that the U.S. has a sense of what would come next, other than calling on the Iranian people to rise up and take back their government.

The prospect of which, several weeks ago, when Donald Trump first mulled the prospect of military strikes, maybe seemed a little bit more likely. And there has been U.S. officials that have openly questioned whether or not Trump maybe missed his moment then. Obviously protesters, there's been a severe crackdown on the protesters in Iran.

There has been thousands killed as a result. And it remains to be seen whether or not the U.S. has done any work on the ground to help facilitate that rising up as president Trump is talking about.

and so ultimately, we're going to have to wait and see but the U.S. military clearly prepared to at least carry on for several more days. And the Israeli military similarly saying that they are ready to do the same so ultimately, what comes after that remains to be seen.

ANDERSON: And Zach, we had been well aware that Iran would retaliate. It had said it would retaliate if it was struck. And indeed, we are seeing that retaliation around this region.

I'm here in Abu Dhabi. There is, of course, an al-Dhafra airbase in the UAE. That is a U.S. Base, al-Udeid in Qatar; al-Salem air base in Kuwait and the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. We are seeing reports of explosions in all four of those countries. And the IGRC -- the IRGC now saying four U.S. bases in the Middle East were targeted as a response to the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian cities.

This is being reported by Iranian state media, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

And I have to report, sitting here at our Middle East programming headquarters, I have continued to hear boom after boom over the past hour or so. Let's just bring some video up from Abu Dhabi. We've got a map up of those bases around the region.

This is video of Abu Dhabi. I'll get our viewers some video of Bahrain as well that we've got into CNN. I'm hearing similar reports of explosions in Kuwait as well. And we're going to get a analyst up live from there momentarily. Donald Trump had promised that his allies around the region would be defended.

So what is the plan here, Zach?

Is it clear?

COHEN: It's not, Becky. But we do know that the president has been very concerned and made very aware of the risk to U.S. forces and allied forces in the region if he were to move forward with the kind of strikes we're currently seeing are underway.

And that has been a concern that's been raised to the president by his top military advisers, by the U.S. intelligence community and by regional partners, regional allies, where, including some that housed U.S. forces at military bases there.

We've -- we saw a choreographed response to the previous strikes, the limited strikes last year on those Iranian nuclear facilities. Obviously, this appears to be much more significant on both the U.S. side and the response from Iran.

So this is a -- this is a risk Donald Trump knew was likely when he gave the order to start this military operation targeting Iran. He knew that U.S. forces were going to be put in harm's way, not just the U.S. forces carrying out the operation but ones housed and deployed overseas.

And that is -- we're seeing the back-and-forth play out now. How long that lasts also remains unclear.

[04:50:00]

And it remains to be seen what the U.S. response to the Iranian retaliation might be.

ANDERSON: Yes. OK. Well, we're going to leave it there for the time being. I thank you very much indeed for joining us.

I want to get us live to Beirut, Lebanon, where we're joined by Maha Yahya, the director of the Carnegie Middle East Center.

And we've just been talking about the retaliation that we are seeing and hearing, I have to say, around the region of the Gulf. Before we talk about that -- and it had been telegraphed as a threat

by Iran, of course, I do want to just get your initial response to the news that we got, what, 3.5 hours ago, of the first attacks in what the U.S. president has described as a massive, ongoing military operation on Iran -- Maha.

MAHA YAHYA, DIRECTOR, MALCOLM H. KERR CARNEGIE MIDDLE EAST CENTER: Good morning. Becky. Look, it's, I mean, for me, this operation is about regime change. The immediate targets were the presidential palace, the ministries, I mean government buildings.

In addition to all the military targets, president Trump has almost said that -- Netanyahu is saying that, quite bluntly, that this is an opportunity for the first time in decades. The prime minister of Israel found a willing partner in the U.S. president to undertake an operation of this attack.

What is clear is that the negotiations and what we we're hearing about the negotiations yesterday were just the intermission in a much broader act. This is now the second act and we have to wait and see what is going to happen next.

ANDERSON: We're just talking retaliation and we are now seeing and getting confirmation from the Islamic, the Revolutionary Guard media, that four U.S. bases in the Gulf have been targeted in Bahrain, here in Abu Dhabi, in Kuwait and, of course, in Qatar.

We've got video out of Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi has closed its airspace understandably, after these strikes. And we've got new video coming in from here.

I just wonder how much regional escalation do you expect?

Clearly, we have no idea how long this massive military operation as described by the U.S. president will go on.

But what do you expect and what do you make of, you know, the consistent messaging from around this region of de-escalation, taking a diplomatic route, wanting to see these talks successful?

And indeed hearing from the Omani foreign minister in the past 24 hours, speaking to a U.S. network in Washington, suggesting that these talks were in a good place and just needed time.

YAHYA: And the fact that the Omani foreign minister went to Washington tells you a lot, went to Washington at this moment, tells you a lot. I mean, the signals were there, that the U.S. and Israel were about to launch something quite massive.

And he went there to try and walk them back from this or at least say, give, you know, diplomacy a chance. The region is on, you know, pins and needles. The last thing we need is more war because, ultimately, it's the region that will pay the price for this, both in terms of lives but also in terms of economies at every single level.

It is the regional, the region that is going to pay the price for whatever comes next in this war with the Iranian regime. Certainly, we were hearing from Gulf officials all the way back in the summer. They were saying, OK we're we don't mind a weaker Iranian regime.

However, we certainly don't want a hegemonic Israel, an Israel that today is saying it has a biblical right to hit anywhere it wants in the region. You have an ambassador, U.S. ambassador to Israel, talking about this. There's a kind of -- I mean I don't know how to describe it.

Is it a messianic approach to war and peace?

It's -- what is clear is that the current Israeli government sees this as a historic opportunity to remake the region in a way that suits its interests, whether it's to expand territories or whether to reshape the entire security architecture.

[04:55:00]

Whatever agenda it has, it sees this as a historic opportunity and found a willing partner in the United States and in president Trump specifically.

ANDERSON: OK, Maha, I'm going to just stop you there because I've only got a couple of minutes left in the show. And I've just heard that Benjamin Netanyahu has just addressed the Israeli citizens. So I want to just get that in.

I really appreciate your time. You and I, I'm sure we'll speak again in the next couple of days. For the time being, thank you. Let's have a listen to what Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has just said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): Anyone who put down their weapons, including in the regime, will make sure that it is going to be safe. This is your opportunity to put together a new, free Iran. Look at the sky. Our forces are there, the pilots of the free world. Help has arrived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi with the alarms going off here, suggesting we should seek immediate shelter in the closest source. So we'll do that. Our breaking news coverage continues after this short break. Stay with us.