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War Between U.S.-Israel and Iran Escalates; Red Crescent: More Than 500 People Killed in Iran Since the U.S. and Israeli Strikes Began; President Trump Cites War with Iran Could Last "Four to Five Weeks". Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired March 02, 2026 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News!

ERICA HILL, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world, I'm Erica Hill in New York.

BECKY ANDERSON, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: I'm Becky Anderson, live from our Middle East programing hub here in Abu Dhabi. And the war with Iran rapidly escalating across this region, with the death toll quickly climbing as well.

I want to start in Iran, the Red Crescent there now says more than 500 people have been killed since the U.S. and Israeli strikes began on Saturday. Meantime, new video obtained by "Reuters" and geolocated in the past couple of hours by CNN shows smoke rising from the area around the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait.

Today, the embassy had earlier warned U.S. citizens to shelter in place. Tehran ramping up its retaliation and rhetoric, Iran's top security official said earlier that Tehran, and I quote him here, will not negotiate with the United States.

And the Iranian Foreign Minister has also accused the U.S. and Israel of violating international law -- that's in a letter to the United Nations. Israeli forces meantime escalating their attacks in Tehran, and now in Beirut, where Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants have been targeted.

Lebanese officials there say at least, 31 people have been killed and more than 140 injured in Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon and the capital of Beirut. Now on Sunday, President Trump told the "New York Times" that the conflict with Iran could last 4 to 5 weeks, and that is the clearest indication yet of a possible time frame from the President as we move into the third day here.

Who now says Operation Epic Fury, as his administration is calling it, could last much longer and cost more lives than previously stated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends, that's the way it is. Likely to 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, the impact is very real, not least around this region of the Gulf, and of course, beyond. We have teams covering this conflict across the region. Our Oren Liebermann is standing by in Tel Aviv for you.

Paula Hancocks is in Dubai. First, I want to get you this hour to Nic Robertson, who is in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, where Nic, the Defense Ministry has just released a statement that two drones were intercepted and destroyed at one of its largest oil refineries. Nic, the Ras Tanura Refinery is hugely economically significant. What do we know at this point?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, it's a very massive sprawling facility. I've been there on a number of occasions before. It covers a vast area and is very important to Saudi Arabia's economy can produce capacity about half a million barrels of oil a day.

That's a significant number. What we're hearing from the spokesman at the Ministry of Defense here is that two drones were intercepted as they were flying towards that -- or in the vicinity of that refinery. These drones were intercepted, debris fell.

There were no casualties. And the spokesperson saying that this falling debris lit a fire in the area. This is obviously an area of concern for Saudi Arabia, thinking here of the ministerial -- the Foreign Ministerial level GCC virtual meeting that happened yesterday, a joint statement from those GCC Foreign Ministers talking about a very strong diplomatic signal.

[05:05:00]

Saying that they were -- that they had the right to take all necessary measures to protect their security and stability. So, it comes within that context --

(CLEARS THROAT)

ROBERTSON: Very clear diplomatic messages being sent from the Gulf states to Iran. And that fits in with the picture of the attacks that were witnessed over the past 24-36 hours in the Gulf. And as you report in Kuwait, there was smoke seen billowing near the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait.

Also, we have the Kuwaiti MOD reporting a number of U.S. military aircraft crashed, that's their terminology, crashed in Kuwait, and what appears to have been a U.S. Air Force pilot who was seen parachuting down, according to the Kuwaiti MOD.

There were no military fatalities. Of course, U.S. military operates a large airbase inside of Kuwait, operates out of a large airbase in Kuwait.

ANDERSON: Yes, and we're going to stay across those stories and more, of course, as we get them both from Saudi and from Kuwait. I have to say, Nic, that sources around this region of the Gulf, and particularly in Saudi, suggesting that this is a massive miscalculation by Iran.

They are -- they are losing or have lost all goodwill from Arab and Islamic states, and you've offered up, of course, you know, the fact that there has been a statement addressing this and reserving the right by these Gulf nations to respond.

What that looks like and what the timeline on that might be is unclear at this point. But this is a rapidly-escalating situation. And when you see the images out of an ARAMCO oil facility like we've seen this morning, and you see, you know, pilots parachuting from fighter jets over Kuwait, and a fighter jet coming down in flames.

These are not images that are going to bode well for relations between Tehran and this region going forward. Oren, when it comes to this conflict expanding into Lebanon, the Israeli military says all options are on the table for a potential ground operation there. What's the very latest as you understand it?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Becky, before we get to that, just a moment ago, we got the alerts on our phones here that within several minutes, there was a warning of incoming fire coming from presumably Iran.

At this point, that's the second time we've gotten this in the morning hours. The first was about 3 or 4 hours ago, so if sirens go off, I will have to head into the shelter here. And that's something we've had to do many times over the course of the next three days.

And frankly, we expect we will be doing many more times as this unfolds. And as you pointed out, expands. Now, we are seeing not only a front open that has been opened between the U.S. and Israel and Iran, but now, upfront with Hezbollah as well.

In the overnight hours, Hezbollah launched what they called a barrage at a military site in northern Israel. Israel says one projectile was intercepted while the rest landed in open areas. Hezbollah says that was in revenge for the killing of Iran's supreme leader.

For Israel, that was all the reason they needed to expand a war and a conflict that, frankly, hasn't really ended. Despite a ceasefire that went into effect in 2024, Israel has been over the course of the past months, striking individual targets on a near-daily basis of Hezbollah targets, accusing Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire by trying to rebuild its forces and re-arm, especially in southern Lebanon.

Now, it seems Israel is very much expanding and broadening that campaign, striking into Beirut itself and issuing an evacuation warning for more than 50 villages in southern Lebanon, south of the Litani River, an area that is supposed to be -- that Hezbollah is supposed to leave and disarm, according to the ceasefire agreement.

So, it seems there may be a much broader campaign Israel is carrying out in Lebanon soon. As you point out, earlier today, the IDF Spokesperson, Brigadier General Effie Defrin was asked, are there plans for a ground operation, a ground invasion into Lebanon?

And all he would say is that all options remain on the table. A short time after that, the Israeli military's foreign media spokesperson was asked effectively, the same question, and he said there are no such plans in the immediate timetable.

But Israel has clearly prepared for this to broaden into a much larger conflict, not only involving Iran. Yesterday, we saw the Israeli military call up 100,000 reservists across all theaters, and it seems that had a particular emphasis on the north, knowing of the possibility of Hezbollah stepping into this fray and expanding.

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Now, we see where this goes from here on. Not only one front with Iran where Israel has stated that it is intensifying its campaign there and striking targets in central Tehran. They say they have aerial superiority over the western and central parts of the country and over the capital itself.

(SIREN BLARING)

LIEBERMANN: Becky, there is the siren that we expected, we're going to head to the shelter --

ANDERSON: Yes --

LIEBERMANN: Here in just a moment as we head for safety here with another round of incoming.

ANDERSON: Yes, thank you, Oren, stay safe there. It's important across this region, people experiencing similar things. I was woken twice in the middle of the night in Abu Dhabi to the sound of my phone siren alert going off more in the morning hours.

The UAE has been targeted by the most Iranian drones and missiles of any Gulf country. Paula joining us now from Dubai to break that down for us. Paula?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Becky, if you look at the figures we've got from the Ministries of Defense, from the different Gulf nations, you're right, it is the UAE that has had by far the highest number of missiles and drones that have been fired from Iran.

Now, the latest figures we have from here are from Sunday evening, so we know for a fact that the numbers will be higher now because we have heard and seen the interceptions overhead Monday morning as well. There were a couple more here in Saudi, but the -- excuse me, in

Dubai. But the latest figures that we have is that 165 ballistic missiles have been fired into the UAE, two cruise missiles, 541 drones. These are significant numbers.

And we're seeing across the Gulf nations high numbers, the second highest is in Kuwait, you've got almost 100 missiles there, more than 280 drones. Again, those figures will likely need to be updated as we're seeing continual retaliation from Iran.

Now, Dubai itself, it has to be noted, does have a sizable Iranian population, but for whatever reason, the UAE is bearing the brunt of this particular Iranian retaliation. And we are hearing increased anger from the leaders of these Gulf nations.

A reminder once again, these are countries in many cases that said they didn't want their air bases to be used by the United States if they were to decide to go ahead and carry out military action in Iran. They said they didn't want their airspace to be used.

They were lobbying the U.S. President not to go ahead with military action. And so, they would have felt that they had distanced themselves as much as they could have done from what was about to transpire. But that is simply not the case.

That's not how Iran sees it. They say that they are targeting U.S. military targets. We have seen very clearly that the targets and what has been hit is far beyond just military targets. Now, it has to be said that a lot of the damage is being done as there is interceptions of these missiles in the air and the falling debris, we know has hit a couple of international hotels, the Dubai, the Abu Dhabi airport also being affected. This is why authorities are saying to everybody stay inside, shelter in place. Becky.

ANDERSON: Paula Hancocks on the story out of Dubai. Oren Liebermann with us or certainly, he was before the sirens went off there in Tel Aviv, and Nic Robertson earlier from Saudi covering the Saudi -- Riyadh, the Saudi story from Riyadh and also bringing us back up-to- date on what is going on in Kuwait.

Just the datelines there gives you a sense of just the extent of this conflict and how it has escalated and widened across this region of the Gulf and Middle East. Still to come, sources tell CNN that the Trump administration will soon face members of Congress who expect to hear an explanation and a plan for the war with Iran. That is up next.

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HILL: The Trump administration is expected to brief the Gang of Eight and other top lawmakers on the Iran strikes later today. Sources telling CNN, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had notified the reachable Gang of Eight members in advance, but he did not offer a full legal justification for this major military action. Sources also telling CNN, the full House and Senate will be briefed on

Tuesday. Lawmakers including some Republicans have denounced the Trump administration for launching this massive assault on Iran without seeking congressional approval.

CNN's Julia Benbrook joins us now live from Washington. So, Julia, also, just a few hours from now, so just -- we're told at 8:00 a.m. Eastern, the U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as well as the Joint Chiefs Chairman, General Dan Caine, they are expected to brief reporters on what is labeled Operation Epic Fury.

It's also important to note, Julia, this is the first Pentagon briefing we've had in, I believe, several months, and it will be the first time Trump officials have spoken publicly on camera since the strikes.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN REPORTER: It will be. I mean, I think a lot of people are hoping that today, in these next few hours, is when we start to get some more information here, because there have been a lot of questions.

And President Donald Trump has not been speaking publicly directly about this. Most of his communication has been done through social media posts. We saw him announce the strikes in that eight-minute plan, seemed to be scripted.

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Video we saw in a post, that's when he announced that Iran's supreme leader, the Ayatollah, had been killed. He also issued a warning to Iran not to retaliate, saying that the United States would only hit back harder.

But when he returned to Washington yesterday evening from his Mar-a- Lago estate in Florida, that's where he monitored the joint U.S.- Israel strikes against Iran. When he returned, he had an opportunity to speak to reporters.

People were shouting questions, and he did not take that opportunity. And this is a President who likes to talk. We've often seen him on that travel back on Air Force One, coming to speak to reporters for 30, 40 minutes at a time, and that was not the case.

Now, when it comes to this operation, he has said that it will continue in full force until the objectives are achieved, but he did not go into full details on exactly what those objectives are and where that line is specifically.

And then there's the timeline part of this, Erica, we have heard him say it could last for two days, it could last throughout the week, most recently in an interview with the "New York Times", he said, between 4 and 5 weeks, that seems to be the most specific timeline that we've seen so far.

But looking ahead at his schedule, it does not seem that there is a planned time for him to take reporter questions. But as you mentioned, those briefings are going to be taking place with Capitol Hill lawmakers. And then also that Pentagon briefing just over two hours away now.

HILL: All right, and we'll be looking forward to those and more information as it comes. Julia, appreciate it, thank you. The conflict is making international travel at major airports in the Middle East nearly impossible. Key airports in the UAE sustained damage from Iranian strikes, leading to major flight cancellations.

At the moment, it is impossible to fly in or out of Dubai. The UAE will reportedly cover the cost of food and accommodations for the tens of thousands of travelers who are stranded. There is no word, though, on when they may actually be able to get to their destinations.

Several major airlines have canceled flights, some say they hope to resume operations in the week ahead, but of course, that is dependent on what happens in the region. A number of countries have closed their airspaces, including Iran, Kuwait and Israel.

Other countries are implementing restrictions. The war with Iran is also having major impacts on oil prices and the global stock markets. Oil futures surging in initial trading since the fighting began. You're taking a look here. You look at the numbers for both crude and brent crude, up significantly there as you see.

As for the markets, well, we are going to see a whole lot of red there, starting the trading week. Take a look at U.S. futures, now as you can see, the Dow down at least 1 percent, the S&P not far behind, the Nasdaq down just over 1.35 percent.

Meantime, in the Asia Pacific markets, we're seeing sharp drops rather today, airline stocks in particular really being hit hard amid those airport closures. The airspace disruptions that of course we just talked about, that is throwing the travel industry into chaos.

CNN business and economic reporter Anna Cooban joins us now with more. So, when we look at this economic picture, the impact is broad. It is wide reaching. Walk us through what you're -- what you're really focused in on in this moment, Anna.

ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS & ECONOMIC REPORTER: Well, as you mentioned, Erica there, and it's not surprising we're seeing stocks really in the red across all global regions today. U.S. futures are pointing to quite a difficult day ahead for Wall Street.

But I think the big focus today is on energy, it's on oil in particular. Now, this Strait of Hormuz, a very narrow waterway that Iran partly controls, and through which a fifth of the world's global oil supply travels every single day, this is under close scrutiny now.

Iran hasn't blocked the strait. There's no official blockade of it. However, that has not been enough to really dissuade global oil or shipping companies from going through these channels. Maersk is a Dennis -- Danish shipping giant. They have suspended all traffic through this waterway. And as you

mentioned, we saw oil really spiking earlier today, as much as 13 percent. This was brent, the global benchmark, it's now fallen back, but it's still up around as we can see here around -- up 6 percent, 7 percent U.S. oil as well.

And these oil prices feed directly into gasoline prices. So, consumers are filling up their cars, and the United States, for example, can expect potentially down the road to feel the pain of this. And it's not just oil, Erica. It's also gas.

And Europe in particular is very reliant on Qatari gas, which travels through this strait, around a fifth of the world's LNG, liquefied natural gas, the seaborne gas travels through this area. And so, energy markets are being disrupted on all fronts today, Erica, and we can expect more disruption ahead.

HILL: Yes, absolutely, and I really appreciate it. Thank you. We will have much more of course, on the war with Iran still to -- still to come. We'll take you live to Doha where our teams on the ground there have been hearing explosions today as Iran ramps up its retaliation. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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[05:25:00]

ANDERSON: Well, it's day three of the Israeli and United States war with Iran, and the conflict is spreading across the wider region. I'm Becky Anderson here in Abu Dhabi at our Middle East programming headquarters.

Kuwait's Ministry of Defense says several United States military aircraft crashed on Monday, and that all crew members have survived. This video just into our newsroom, shows what appears to be fighter jet pilot parachuting to the ground in Kuwait.

And CNN also obtained this video that we geolocated to Kuwait. It shows a fighter jet crashing after catching fire. CNN is unable to verify which nation's.