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Israel Renews Attacks, Iran Vows To Avenge Supreme Leader's Death; Trump Says Iran Conflict Could Last "Four Weeks or So"; Three Dead, 14 Injured In Deadly Texas Mass Shooting; Interview With Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA); President's Statement On Iran Strikes; Protesters Rally. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired March 01, 2026 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:01:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: And welcome back. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Sunday. I'm Erin Burnett in Tel Aviv alongside my colleague Abby Phillip in New York.

And we are following breaking news here in the Middle East right now and in Tel Aviv. It is day two of the U.S. and Israel massive military operation against Iran. President Donald Trump now offering some commentary into the timeline of his conflict, telling "The Daily Mail" that it could last four weeks or so.

U.S. Central Command announcing today three service members were killed in action here in the Middle East. Five others were injured. Now, at this very moment, it is not clear exactly how those troops were killed. We don't know. We know that they are still notifying their next of kin.

And Israel is launching a fresh wave of attacks against Iran. The Israeli military announcing it is preparing to mobilize around 100,000 reservists as well. Meantime, Iran retaliating with unprecedented strikes across the region, including shocking attacks on Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the world's biggest airport in Dubai. All following the death of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A senior White House official tells CNN, and this is very interesting, President Donald Trump will eventually speak with new leadership in Iran. Of course, we don't know what that leadership is or what it entails at this point but that is perhaps why the White House says that the military operation for now will continue, quote-unquote, "unabated."

Meanwhile, the Iranian foreign minister is speaking out, posting on social media, quote, "It was Mr. Trump yet again who ultimately ordered bombing of the negotiating table." Of course, referring to the fact that, well, the Omani foreign minister had come and tried to talk up that there was a huge breakthrough, right, and then that was the night, I'm here with Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv, that the strikes happened. So, you know, Jeremy, as we are seeing this unprecedented moment,

right, a moment that none of us have experienced in our lifetimes. Israel taking out a leader the way it has with Iran has never happened. And now here we are with strikes across this region and fear, and people are afraid and people are scared.

What you -- what you are at a site today here as we have been going through sirens after sirens where nine people were killed in a missile attack.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This has been the deadliest attack in Israel so far of this conflict. One Iranian ballistic missile getting through that air defense system and making a direct hit on a synagogue of all places in the city of Beit Shemesh on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

But that's not all to this story. It's even more tragic by the fact that beneath that synagogue was a bomb shelter, a public bomb shelter where residents from that neighborhood could go to in the event that they heard those sirens. That's exactly what happened. And multiple people who were inside that shelter were actually killed by the impact of that ballistic missile.

We also saw all around, I mean, the destruction is really enormous from these ballistic missiles, which carry enormous payloads on top. You know, these very large warheads. And multiple houses in that area were also destroyed. We also spoke with one resident who said that she was able to get her neighbors to come to her shelter inside of her home. They survived. Had they not had that shelter, they might have gone to that public bomb shelter beneath that synagogue.

It just shows you those split second decisions that happen in wartime like this.

BURNETT: In a place you feel safe. You're going to the shelter. It's like you think about that horrific story, right, in Ukraine.

DIAMOND: Absolutely.

BURNETT: Right? And when people go to where it's safe and then what you just saw.

DIAMOND: And it's also just a reminder that, you know, even though Israel's air defense is quite phenomenal and it's also right now being assisted by the United States that has brought in enormous air defense assets to bear, it just takes one missile to get through to kill nine people in this instance.

[16:05:02]

And we expect that this is going to continue. I mean, Israel and the United States are making clear that they are only at the beginning of this operation in Iran. The Israeli prime minister today saying they will continue until their objectives are achieved entirely. And so that also means that the Iranian retaliation here is going to continue, and the costs are going to continue to rise for people on both sides, civilians included.

BURNETT: Right. And as you say, you know, until the operation is completed, we don't know what that is. Right? And we don't even know, even if it's regime change, which it clearly is, what does that mean for Israel versus the United States? And what does it even mean for Israel? Right?

There's so much we don't know which is why I want to go now to Zachary Cohen, our national security reporter in Washington.

You know, Zach, what are U.S. officials saying about a mission and where this goes from here?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, President Donald Trump actually offering a different timeline of sorts in a new interview today, saying that this operation and mission could go on for four weeks, which is longer than I think what we've heard from U.S. officials, even in private discussions to date. And that's coming as there's still questions about what the ultimate objective here, not just for the U.S., but for also Israel.

And, you know, obviously, this also coming as we're learning about the first three U.S. service members who were killed as part of this ongoing operation. We're told that the process of notifying their families is underway right now. Donald Trump calling them, quote, "great people" and warning that more casualties could be coming.

And this is something that he even acknowledged in that initial video statement that he put out at the very beginning, announcing the very beginning of this operation. So a very real reality and risk that we know he was briefed on routinely by his top general, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine, before the operation began as well.

So, again, these questions about what the ultimate goal here, especially on the U.S. side still are lingering. And we're hearing from some Republican lawmakers today who have offered some interesting commentary about what the goal is. We've heard from Donald Trump that part of his objective is to prevent Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon.

But one of his closest allies in Congress, Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, saying this today raising questions about how far away Iran was from obtaining such a weapon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I don't have present day intelligence on what progress they had made towards rebuilding nuclear weapons since we bombed their facilities. I have no indication that that they were anywhere close to getting nuclear weapons because our bombing was devastating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So we've also heard President Trump say that Iran's ballistic missile program posed an imminent threat to the U.S. and that is part of the justification for this U.S. involvement in this operation. Of course, we've reported that U.S. intelligence did not really corroborate that statement from the president. And lastly, President Trump has alluded to this desire for the Iranian people to rise up and take control of their government now that several key regime figures are or have been eliminated.

Again, U.S. intelligence and U.S. officials have repeatedly told me that the U.S. does not have a clear picture of what would come next if a regime change operation was successfully -- was successfully carried out. And I think those questions still remain to this day.

BURNETT: All right. Zachary Cohen, thank you very much.

And I'm here with Nick Paton Walsh.

And Nick, you know, whatever their expectation may have been about what would happen when they did this, the United States and Israel, they killed the supreme leader, was there some expectation that there would be an immediate uprising in the streets, of celebration? There was in some places. But that this, you know, this groundswell of this is our moment. Right? And the reports that, you know, that the Israelis had tried to alert members of the military and the IRGC that this is your chance to defect and this is your chance to come up.

Look, we're in the first hours, OK? But in these first hours, that is not what's happened.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: No, absolutely not. And we are still, though, left with a moment of severe crisis for Iran's autocratic leadership. I mean, they've taken the biggest blow ever at this stage. President Trump saying 48 leaders frankly gone in those opening hours, and they've not even been able to elucidate who's going to be in charge after Khamenei.

We have this temporary council here with the senior cleric, with the current president, Masoud Pezeshkian on it, and a member of the judiciary as well, to guide things forward. President Trump has said he kind of thinks he knows who is in charge, who he might potentially talk to at some particular point. But there is this vacuum here certainly. And I think that is also somewhat undermined by the fact we have not seen a mass popular uprising or some sort of sense of that big groundswell of change that many hoped or felt might follow here. Certainly President Trump felt might particularly follow.

BURNETT: Yes.

WALSH: And we have this curious comment by the Iranian foreign minister, Mr. Araghchi, who basically said something on the lines of how Iran's military are acting independently on previously given instruction.

BURNETT: Yes, it was a very odd thing. Sort of that the individual units, I'm paraphrasing here, that are making the decisions.

[16:10:02]

It was sort of in the context of Oman, we're sorry, we didn't mean to hit you.

WALSH: Well, clearly --

BURNETT: Because individual units are making decisions on where they're going to strike which seems odd?

WALSH: But it sounds kind of terrifying, right?

BURNETT: Yes, it does.

WALSH: I mean, particularly if you're seeing --

BURNETT: Freelancing.

WALSH: -- extraordinary massive retaliation by Iran across the region against neighbors, countries that have not always been an aggressor, where they're seeing their shopping malls being hit by drones. I mean, that has been utterly startling. He used the phrase decentralized mosaic defense, which sounds like quite a euphemistic way of saying we told people what to do before this happened, and now they're just getting on with it.

BURNETT: And now they're just off doing it.

WALSH: They're just getting on with it. Now that is, I think, a real moment potentially, where we see the weakness of the Iranian government here because if they can't get that military totally under their control then how do they slow things down?

BURNETT: And that, and that -- right? And then, of course, the IRGC, which we know as a military, you know, is so strong and entrenched and deep. But then I asked, because you and I are both sitting here tonight, it took us a long time to get here, OK? Because we came via land border via Sinai. OK. That's just Israel. But there isn't anywhere else you can fly into either. The entire region shut down.

So when Donald Trump comes out and says, the president United States, to "The Daily Mail," which is an interesting interview, to say four weeks possibly. Now I know that could change on a dime but if you're the world's biggest airport and the financial capital of this region and some of your biggest buildings that the world sees, as you know cities on a hill, were on fire today because of drones and missiles, and you're saying, wait, four weeks?

WALSH: I would be surprised if we saw four weeks of this, to be honest, not just because of the economic huge turmoil you're talking about here.

BURNETT: Yes.

WALSH: But because the Iranians clearly don't have four weeks' worth of retaliation in them. They don't have a leadership at this point. They were weak before this happened. Suddenly getting attacked and retaliating like this with the majority must think of their arsenal by now.

BURNETT: Right. So maybe --

WALSH: They're not suddenly massively strong again.

BURNETT: Maybe Trump means what he says, or maybe he's purposely putting out such a clock that will continue this.

WALSH: He's just saying we can go as long as you need, ultimately, because I think possibly before this even happened, there was some kind of calculation. The best way to disable the nuclear program was through inspections, verification perhaps. And they seized this moment for decapitation, certainly.

BURNETT: Yes.

WALSH: But as you said earlier on, there doesn't seem to be this cohesive plan for what comes next. Maybe they just made the calculation that anything is better than what they currently have. This may also be the Venezuela playbook, too, though, of hoping there's somebody there who's kind of been a bit schooled by this exceptionally brutal and efficient campaign, and may go along with a more pro-Western policy.

But it's so hard to see whether this is a grand scheme or just something that's being pragmatically made up as they go along.

BURNETT: Right. And of course, Venezuela, a place with, you know, so many militias as opposed to the IRGC which is such a very different beast.

WALSH: Incomparable. Yes.

BURNETT: Incomparable. Yes. All right. Thank you very much, Nick Paton Walsh here with us in Tel Aviv.

And some members of Congress are now demanding a role, demanding a role. Congress is supposed to obviously approve a war, and they want a vote on war powers following President Trump's decision to strike Iran without Congress being involved.

Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts joins us after the break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:17:44]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: We are following some breaking news out of Texas. Sources say that law enforcement are investigating whether the strikes on Iran were part of an Austin mass shooter's motivation. Gunshots erupted early this morning in the Texas city's Entertainment District leaving three people dead including the suspected gunman. 14 other people were injured.

Rafael Romo has been following this story very closely along with chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller.

Rafael, I'll start with you. Walk us through what we know about this shooter and what might have motivated him.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Abby. Well, officials are still trying to get all the facts on the shooting, but the FBI said earlier today there are indications it might be linked to terrorism.

And this just in, Abby. We are getting live pictures of authorities in Pflugerville, Texas, at what is believed to be the suspect's home. We know ATF agents and others are there, and we're just now getting more details on what happened. Two law enforcement officials briefed on the attack told CNN the suspect had a shirt with an Iranian flag design.

The officials also said that law enforcement is investigating a series of factors, including whether the suspect may have been motivated by the attacks on Iran, though officials cautioned that it was too early to draw any conclusions.

The deadly mass shooting began just before 2:00 in the morning in Austin's Entertainment District, as you previously mentioned. According to officials, the gunman killed two people and wounded 14 others before being shot and killed by officers. According to a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation the suspected gunman was originally from Senegal and appears to have arrived in the United States in the early 2000s, settling in New York.

It's not clear when he arrived in Texas but did have multiple addresses in the state, according to the same officials. Alex Duran, the acting special agent in charge for the FBI in San Antonio, said a digital forensics team and others have joined the investigation with the Austin Police Department. As for a motive, this is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX DORAN, ACTING SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI SAN ANTONIO: Obviously it's still way too early in the process to determine an exact motivation, but there were indicators that -- on the subject and in his vehicle that indicate potential nexus to terrorism.

[16:20:02]

Again, it's still too early to make a determination on that. That's why we are investigating it very closely with our partners, with Austin Police Department.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And finally, Abby, officials also told CNN that authorities are also reviewing past mental health encounters that the suspect had while living in Texas. That's what they said.

Now back to you.

PHILLIP: All right, Rafael, thank you for that reporting.

John Miller, I know you're very familiar with what might be going through the minds of the FBI and other investigators especially after a major international event like this strike in Iran has happened. What do you think is going on here? And what are you hearing from your sources and connections?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, as we're all aware, Kash Patel, the FBI director, put the Joint Terrorism Task Forces across the 56 field offices of the FBI on high alert. The night these attacks began they have been looking at their suspects, scrubbing their wiretaps, checking with human sources, but also poised to respond, which is why the JTTF from the Austin resident agency responded immediately to this shooting last night, even when they were trying to piece those facts together.

But as Alex Doran, the special agent in charge, said, as Rafael just played for us, things found on the suspect and in the car including that T-shirt with the Iranian flag and a couple of other items really pushed them to say, is this going to be an act of terrorism?

Now, the complicating factor is the suspect who's been identified here, the 53-year-old American naturalized citizen from Senegal, has a background in New York City of a number of arrests for minor crimes involving street peddling and things like that. Mostly the kind of things you'd get a criminal court summons for, but also a mental health background involving encounters with police in Texas.

So whether or not the attack was motivated by mental health issues or by propaganda that has been emerging over the last 36, 37 hours from Iran, that people should strike back at the United States is the very reason they're at that residence executing that search warrant at his home.

Now they want to get into his computers, into his phones, into his writings, and see if he left behind either clues to what propaganda he might have been consuming or what he might have been writing, or if he left anything behind, talking about what he intended to do. But certainly those indicators, as the FBI, you know, told us are emerging.

PHILLIP: And this is exactly why major police departments all across the country are in high alert right now as a result of what we've been covering all weekend.

John Miller, Rafael Romo, thank you both very much for that reporting.

I want to now bring in Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss. He's joining us now.

Congressman, great to have you with us. We have a lot to get to. But I do want to ask you about what you may have just heard about that incident in Austin. What's your news to the reaction that they are investigating, whether there are ties to the strikes in Iran in terms of what might have motivated this shooter?

REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS (D-MA): Thanks for having me on. Unfortunately, a threat vector that many have predicted, which is that the Iranian regime, very weak, unable to defend its own skies, is going to take to social media to try to propagate domestic terrorism within the United States, both by small arms and also by unmanned drones, which I think is also a significant threat right now.

I would be interested to know, in particular, whether TikTok was a platform for the dissemination of that propaganda. TikTok, as we know, still owned and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party because of this president's failure to force its divestment as Congress required. And we know that the CCP has been using TikTok to try to amplify anti- American content.

PHILLIP: And Congressman, President Trump just a short time ago said that they planned for this operation to last up to four weeks. If that's the case, do you think that he then really needs to come to Congress for approval for an operation of that length?

AUCHINCLOSS: It's not the president's decision for how long this lasts, or even to start it in the first place. This is a war of choice without congressional authorization, and he needs to come to Congress immediately to seek an authorization for the use of military force. Otherwise, these hostilities need to cease immediately. And the number one question that Congress needs to press upon in these debates is, what's the strategic end game?

Because the ayatollah is dead. Well, the ayatollah was 86 years old with a cancer diagnosis. So these bombs did what biology was going to do anyways.

[16:25:00]

The actual question is, are we just having a regime succession where there's going to be a continued pattern of hardliners who are going to try to promote their ballistic and nuclear programs and continue to try to attack Israel and Americans, or are we going to actually have a regime change where Iran is willing to rejoin the community of nations except that they're not going to have air supremacy in the region, except that there has to be a policy of mutual noninterference where they cannot, you know, foment terrorism in Syria and Lebanon and beyond.

Because if we don't have clarity about that strategic endgame, then the American public don't understand why their service members are being put in harm's way.

PHILLIP: Democrats right now, I understand they're planning to meet this afternoon, but your party seems to be somewhat divided. One of your colleagues on the Senate side, John Fetterman, has said publicly that he supports this operation. He also says he does not believe that it violates the War Powers Act. What's your response to him?

AUCHINCLOSS: I think the senator is on an island within the party about this, not violating the War Powers Act. The vast majority of Democrats in Congress in both chambers are going to vote for this war powers resolution that makes clear the president violated the law by not seeking an authorization for the use of military force.

I do think that many Democrats understand, and I count myself among them, that Iran cannot be allowed to promote a nuclear ballistic missile program. Iran cannot be funding proxy terror forces throughout the region. Iran cannot seek Israel's annihilation or continue to kill American troops. And America does need to ensure that whoever is leading Iran understands that if they're going to continue to try to kill Americans, Israelis, Saudis, then they're going to continue to be at risk themselves.

You know, I just messaged a good friend of mine, an Israeli, who is about my age. She's got a young family, and they're huddled in a bomb shelter right now with a newborn child, with several young daughters. And I asked him, what should the world know about how you're feeling and he said two things. First, morale is high. They're exhausted and worse but they know they're in it to win it.

And number two, that they feel a sense of solidarity, not just with Americans who are supporting them, but also with Saudis and Emiratis who are going through the same thing. And I think the Iranian regime needs to understand that, that sense of we're in it to win it. And there's solidarity. The world is not going to accept this terror regime continuing to operate.

PHILLIP: So with that in mind the president has said that the Iranian people should rise up. But what do you realistically see as the future of Iranian leadership after this military phase of the campaign is over?

AUCHINCLOSS: Abby, I can tell you with a high degree of confidence that there is nobody in the United States government, not the intelligence services, not the Department of War, not in Congress, who has any degree of certainty about who is going to succeed the ayatollah in the medium term. And that's an issue, because the greatest leverage that the United States has is not in killing ayatollah. As I said, the guy was 86.

The greatest leverage is in empowering the Iranian people to self- determine and in placing a moderate who actually seeks what's best for the Iranian people, not the annihilation of other nations. And those are all open questions. And that's precisely why the president needs to come to Congress and allow the people's representatives to have a debate about the strategy behind our approach to Iran.

PHILLIP: Congressman Jake Auchincloss, thank you very much for joining us this afternoon.

AUCHINCLOSS: Good evening.

PHILLIP: Weve got a lot more of our breaking news coverage of the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran ahead, including -- you're in the NEWSROOM. We're be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: President Trump is just posting a video addressing his operation in Iran, and we'll listen to it in full. Here's the president.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Over the past 36 hours, the United States and its partners have launched Operation Epic Fury, one of the largest, most complex, most overwhelming military offensives the world has ever seen. Nobody has seen anything like it.

We have hit hundreds of targets in Iran, including Revolutionary Guard facilities, Iranian air defense systems. Just now, it was announced that we knocked out nine ships, plus their naval building. All in a matter of literally minutes.

Iran's formerly supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, is dead. This wretched and vile man had the blood of hundreds and even thousands of Americans on his hands and was responsible for the slaughter of countless thousands of innocent people all across many countries.

Last night, all over Iran, the voices of the Iranian people could be heard cheering and celebrating in the streets, when his death was announced. The entire military command is gone as well and many of them want to surrender into saving their lives. They want immunity. They're calling by the thousands.

Combat operations continue at this time in full force, and they will continue until all of our objectives are achieved. We have very strong objectives.

[16:35:00]

They could have done something two weeks ago, but they just couldn't get there.

Earlier today, CENTCOM shared the news that three U.S. military service members have been killed in action. As one nation, we grieve for the true American patriots who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, even as we continue the righteous mission for which they gave their lives. We pray for the full recovery of the wounded and send our immense love and eternal gratitude to the families of the fallen.

And, sadly, there will likely be more before it ends. That's the way it is. Likely be more. But we'll do everything possible where that won't be the case. But America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against, basically, civilization. They have waged war against civilization, itself.

Our resolve and likewise that of Israel has never been stronger. America is now, again, the richest, most powerful nation in the world by far. But the only reason we enjoy the quality of life that we do, and the freedom and security, is we have done things that others are unable to do.

But it's because of warriors who are willing to lay down their lives to do battle with our enemies, and they do battle better than anybody. An Iranian regime armed with long range missiles and nuclear weapons would be a dire threat to every American. We cannot allow a nation that raises terrorist armies to possess such weapons that would allow them to extort the world to their evil will. Not going to let it happen. We're not happening to us and we're not going to let it happen to others.

The United States has the strongest military the world has ever seen. I rebuilt our military in my first term. There's never been a military like we possess. And, frankly, there's nobody even close.

But we are now using that military for good. We want to have it for good purpose. We're undertaking this massive operation not merely to ensure security for our own time and place, but for our children and their children, just as our ancestors have done for us many, many years ago.

This is the duty and the burden of a free people. These actions are right and they are necessary to ensure that Americans will never have to face a radical, bloodthirsty terrorist regime, armed with nuclear weapons and lots of threats.

For almost 50 years, these wicked extremists have been attacking the United States, while chanting the slogan, death to America, or death to Israel, or both. They are the world's number one state sponsor of terror. We are the world's greatest and most powerful nation, so we can do something about what they do.

These intolerable threats will not continue any longer. I, once again, urge the revolutionary guard, the Iranian military and police, to lay down your arms and receive full immunity or face certain death. It will be certain death. Won't be pretty.

I call upon all Iranian patriots who yearn for freedom to seize this moment, to be brave, be bold, be heroic, and take back your country. America is with you. I made a promise to you, and I fulfilled that promise. The rest will be up to you, but we'll be there to help.

Thank you. God bless you to our incredible warriors. And God bless the United States of America. Thank you.

BURNETT: All right, you just heard the president speaking there for just about six minutes. And the bottom line is reiterating the U.S. will do whatever it needs to do, using its military for a force of good. And saying that if -- that the U.S. has done its part. It's now up to the Iranian people.

Of course, a president who had run on no regime change, no wars in the Middle East, and no forever wars. It is, of course, a bit of a cognitive dissonance that we continue to hear here.

Holly Dagres joins us now, senior fellow with the Washington Institute and curator of "The Iranist" newsletter. And also with us is Joel Rubin, former deputy assistant secretary of state under President Obama, also the author of "The Briefing Book" on Substack.

So, I appreciate both of you. Joel, let me just start, though, one thing that stands out there of what the President said. [16:40:00]

Much of what he said has been consistent all the way along. He did reference, you know, these objectives, which he did not specifically lay out here.

But then, he talked about the death of the U.S. serviceman, Joel. And he said, sadly, there will likely be more. That that's the way it is. What's your reaction to that, that he is telegraphing that there will be more Americans who die in this?

JOEL RUBIN, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA (via Webex): Yes, Erin, first and foremost, my heart goes out to the families of those who were killed in action on our behalf.

And I'm glad that he brought it up. I'm also glad that he's talking about it openly this way, because it means that he is cognizant that this is going to have a high impact on how Americans view this action.

But what it means to me is that we're going to be continuing these strikes. And that it means, by extent, that there will continue to be rockets and missiles being sent towards our forces across the region, and our allies as well. And so, this is going to be an ongoing operation for days and it will continue.

And we'll see if the Iranian leadership now sues for peace or it continues to fight and fight. But that this is going to be some time going forward to have these hostilities in front of us.

BURNETT: And, Holly, you know, you talk about, in a recent piece that you wrote, about, you know, how some Iranians just, you know, have, obviously, celebrated this in Iran. Overall, though, we have not seen a mass uprising, at this point. I mean, it's a very uncertain moment, to state the obvious.

What do you make of what the president just said there? An open plea to members of the IRGC, right. The powerful military and economic force that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is trying to openly put out there. That they're asking for their defections. Is that meaningful?

HOLLY DAGRES, CURATOR, "THE IRANIST": Well, it is noteworthy. It's something I had, as a policymaker, have been advocating since the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprisings and creating these off ramps for defections.

We didn't really see that happen during the 12-day war. And during this recent anti-regime uprising in January, unfortunately, it resulted in an unprecedented massacre.

So, that being said, in this moment, it's really hard to measure what that looks like. It could be that people don't show up to work. That they feign illness. And so, in this moment, I can't imagine, with the much of the clerical establishment still in power, that they would actually give up their arms because that would be considered as treason. So -- but I think that, right now, given that it's been 36 hours, that can obviously change very quickly. And I think it is noteworthy. And it's something that Iran analysts, and ordinary Iranians alike, whether in the diaspora or inside the country, have always wondered what that would look like. Who would defect? Would it be the IRGC? Would it be the army?

But, again, some of these characters are ideological and would rather be quote, unquote, "martyred," than actually give up their arms. But I think we have to wait and see, in the days and weeks to come, if this continues.

BURNETT: So, Joel, President Trump has said that the new leaders of Iran are showing a willingness to talk. And, obviously, there's still a lack of clarity as to who those -- you know, what that leadership actually entails. Who's in it and what role. Obviously, the president of Iran is still alive, although Israel said it's eliminated, what, 48 of the top military and regime leaders.

So, I guess, at this point, though, for the Iranians, do you think there will be talks, right? I mean, talks have led to nothing --

RUBIN: Yes. Yes.

BURNETT: -- right, in either side, right.

RUBIN: Right.

BURNETT: But the concept of talk was not a negotiation. It was a capitulation, right. So, then what?

RUBIN: Yes, I mean, that is the moment that I think we're currently in, which is the talks are defined now as an ultimatum. What President Trump has chosen to do is to tell the Iranians what he wants which is the elimination of their entire nuclear infrastructure, pulling it out. The termination of their support for terrorist proxies in the region. Of course, the elimination of their missile -- ballistic missile capacity.

And then, to Holly's point, finding a way to allow the Iranian people to breathe. And absent that, I think that this president is willing to hold the line and continue to strike which is quite remarkable, considering it's your earlier discussion about regime change and long- term wars in the Middle East. And so, for President Trump, this seems to be the path he's on.

The question for the Iranian leadership is who's going to crack first, if anyone does. And try to say to the President, I'll join you. And I'll be the leader. And we'll do this. And let's move on the others. Or are they going to hunker down and just try to wait this out?

But, for now, it's a capitulation negotiation demand.

[16:45:00]

BURNETT: Holly, what's your insight right now into who replaces the Ayatollah, right? There was no official heir. There's supposed to be a council. His son was seen as the person who would likely take up the mantle. What insight do you have into this right now?

DAGRES: Well, Article 111 of the Iranian Constitution stipulates that, basically, the president Masoud Pezeshkian, the judiciary chief Mohseni-Ejei, and a cleric from the Guardian Council, a vetting body, would actually take over his duties until that was determined. That being said, we don't entirely know who could be the next supreme leader.

I know you mentioned Mojtaba Khamenei as being a prospect. I know that, historically, there's been conversations within Iran that, if that were to be the case, it would be a hereditary model like the Shah.

But there's also an 88-member assembly of experts which is basically the equivalent of the College of Cardinals. And they will play a big role in helping determine the supreme leader.

There were also reports during or after the 12-day war that he had three in mind. But we'll have to see in the coming days and weeks what that looks like.

BURNETT: I have to say, I really appreciate that analogy with the College of Cardinals. I think that, you know, sets it up, in a sense, for so many of us to see.

Joel, the thing about where I'm standing right now is that this region shut down. You can't fly in. You can't fly out. And that doesn't just matter to anybody who's coming in out of the Middle East, right? I mean, Dubai International is the biggest airport in the world, in terms of transit. So, people are stuck.

You've got, what, in the United Arab Emirates, they've got more than 20,000 people that they say the government is just going to write a blank check and say, we'll pay your hotel. And you're rebooking and everything because they're desperate to have people not say, forget it. This place isn't safe anymore.

The United States is telling anybody -- you know, Americans, don't go in and out of the region. Don't avoid travel. I mean, Joel, how long can a situation like this continue? I mean, just to state the obvious, we have never seen the world's busiest airport possibly shut down for weeks on end because of being in a war zone.

RUBIN: Erin, you're asking a question that, clearly, everybody should be asking right now in government. But I remember early on, and to make an imperfect analogy, in the war in Gaza, when asked about how long can this go? I thought, maybe for weeks. And it went for two years.

You know, these wars in the Middle East, they have a way of taking on a life of their own. And, to your point about the pressure that will build, the additional pressure that Iran is putting on our allies in the region by shooting ballistic missiles at a multiplicity of Arab states and civilian targets as well, that's all intended to try to increase the pressure on President Trump to pull back.

And so, the test of wills game may actually very well have started with this speech today by President Trump, where he's putting it out there that he is not going anywhere and he's not going to stop his assault. And then, the Iranian leadership saying that they are going to continue to try to maintain themselves and strike back.

And so, this could go on for a long time. I'll just put it that way. This could go on for a very long time, and we could see this hostility. We have enough firepower for at least several weeks, if not longer. And then, of course, we could do resupply as well.

And so, I think that we could see this test of wills, this game of chicken, go on for a very long time.

BURNETT: Yes. Sobering words when you consider what the president said there which is that more Americans are going to die.

Holly Dagres, Joel Rubin, I appreciate both of you very much. Thank you for being part of our breaking coverage here.

As people around the world, you know, in some places, taking to the streets to celebrate, some to condemn the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. We're going to go live to Los Angeles, where we are seeing big crowds gather today. Stay with us.

[16:49:05]

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PHILLIP: People across the globe are heading out into the streets to either celebrate or condemn the United States and Israel striking Iran. In Karachi, Pakistan, hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters stormed the U.S. consulate. At least 10 of them were killed after they clashed with police.

Now, demonstrations are also taking place in other major American cities like Los Angeles. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is live there at a pro-strike rally. Julia, what are you seeing at these demonstrations?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's quite striking, Abby, because I -- it almost looks like it's half a Trump rally and half a pro-Iran rally. We're seeing flags that say, thank you, President Trump. Thank you, Bibi Netanyahu, for these strikes.

You see these pale-blue flags up here in the crowd behind me. Those are Iran's imperial flag, so this -- these are very much pro-monarchy protesters who have come here.

And just before we came on, we were hearing a chant that said, Javid Shah. Javid Shah, that means long live the Shah. They're referring, of course, of -- about Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah, the deposed shah of Iran.

Now, speaking to these people, Abby, I do want to make this distinction. [16:55:02]

JONES: There is a wide variety of opinions here. Some who say, well, the Reza Pahlavi might be the only person that could lead Iran into a transitional government. That is some of what the ideas we're hearing here. Some of them say that he is the only person that could unify Iran, of course, getting so ahead of themselves.

Yesterday, we saw people crying in joy and celebrating, as they heard for the first time about the death of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. So, they have been a bit of a roller coaster of emotions here.

Of course, we're hearing that kind of emotion right behind me. But it is striking, Abby, just how much people are saying, look, it's sad for me to be joyous about this, but this is the change that Iran needs.

PHILLIP: Julia Vargas Jones, thank you very much for that report. And thank you all for joining me. And, also, my colleague, Erin Burnett, in Tel Aviv. Kaitlan Collins will continue our coverage right after a short break.

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