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U.S. Warns Of Risk Of Terror Attacks In Bahrain, Jordan; Iran & Proxies Launch New Strikes On U.S. Allies In The Gulf. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired March 03, 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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ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Erica Hill in New York.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Becky Anderson from our Middle East programming headquarters here in Abu Dhabi. And we begin with the very latest in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and word that Israel is now launching simultaneous strikes in Tehran and in Beirut. The onslaught from the Israeli military coming as President Trump tells CNN that the big wave, as he describes it, hasn't even happened yet. More than 700 Iranian civilians killed since the war began on Saturday. According to the latest from a U.S. based human rights group.

U.S. Central Command now says six American service members were killed in an Iranian strike in Kuwait. Those casualties are the first Americans killed in action in what the U.S. and Israel are dubbing Operation Epic Fury.

Well, right now Israel says it is seizing more positions in southern Lebanon as it carries out new strikes there. We've been seeing heavy smoke in the skies over Beirut, the Lebanese capital this morning. CNN's are in leaving following this from Tel Aviv. And let's start with Lebanon, what's going on there. Then we'll move on to the wider story of Israel strikes on Iran if we can.

Let's start with what we know about what's going on in Lebanon.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Of course, Israel announced just a short time ago that they have seized additional positions in southern Lebanon. They call this an enhanced forward defense posture. Keep in mind, Israel has held five positions in southern Lebanon just across the border from Israel that it has used to essentially look into the southern part of the country, a Hezbollah stronghold. Now Israel says with more troops they have taken additional positions. They say that's an added layer of defense for northern Israel as the country vows not to have to evacuate Israeli residents along the border.

At the same time, the Israeli military, the IDF says they have completed another wave of strikes against what they say are Hezbollah intelligence headquarters positions in Beirut. As you pointed out, Becky, we have seen plumes of smoke above the Lebanese capital. Israel unleashing a furious campaign here. Before the last few days, we have seen Israel carry out near daily strikes against what they say are Hezbollah targets. This is a much, much broader campaign.

When Israel and the U.S. planned that joint strike against Iran, Israel knew Hezbollah might get involved. This is the preparation that Israel has been -- has been ready for. And this is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu carrying out a much wider campaign that frankly, we expect to see continue and potentially even intensify in Lebanon over the day and over the coming days here. Becky.

ANDERSON: And what is going on, as far as we understand it, with IDF action on Iran?

LIEBERMANN: That very much continues. Israel says they've expanded their air superiority over Iran. And what that means is that Israeli fighter jets more and more have free rein effectively to do whatever they want. And we have seen them carry out strikes in western and central Iran targeting ballistic missiles -- missile arrays and much more. And then in Tehran itself, they've gone after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence headquarters and a number of other sites belonging to the Iranian regime.

One of the key questions here is where does this lead from here? And that's a question that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced on Fox News. The U.S., the Trump administration has faced criticism for not clarifying a clear strategy here about where this heads and about whether Trump just got the U.S. involved in another Middle East forever war. Well, here's what Netanyahu had to say about that point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I hear the people are taking we're going to have an endless war here. We're not going to have an endless war because we (inaudible) with that. We've been in Iran, this terror regime in Iran is the weakest point that it's been here since it hijacked Iran from the brave Iranian people 47 years ago. So we're -- this is going to be a quick and decisive action and we're going to create the conditions first for the Iranian people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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LIEBERMANN: We're on day four of this right now. Israel giving no indications that it's letting up. So how much longer this goes, Becky? That's something we're learning on a daily basis.

ANDERSON: Good to have you on. Thank you very much indeed.

Well, the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia's capital closed after it was struck by suspected Iranian drones. That is just the latest on the attacks from Iran against U.S. allies in region. CNN's Paula Hancocks is covering this live from Dubai. And of course, the UAE, one of those U.S. allies. The Gulf has been dragged into a war that frankly, it didn't ask for.

What's the latest on these strikes on this region? You know, in a communique regionally described as illegal, of course. These are Gulf countries that are, you know, were not expecting the sort of barrage of attacks that they have faced. And how are they or are they likely to respond? Is it clear at this point, Paula?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, it's not completely clear. We have heard public statements. There was a joint statement by the GCC nation saying that they reserve the right to retaliate. Of course, what that retaliation would look like is not being publicly signaled at this point. We know that the Gulf nations, many of them had said to the United States, you are unable to use our military bases if you are going to attack Iran.

You are unable to use our airspace. They had also been lobbying for diplomacy, not war. They had believed that this would insulate them from the Iranian retaliation. It did not. So, of course, one of the potential options they have now is to reverse that decision and allow U.S. military to use their bases.

But we have not heard that at this point. That is one of the more or the less confrontational decisions that they could take when they say that they do reserve the right to retaliate. But it is unclear how big -- how -- oops, the light's falling down. It's unclear at this point how they will retaliate. What they're focusing on at this point is the defense of the nation.

We have seen hundreds of missiles and drones that have been directed across the Gulf nations. The UAE really has been singled out for the most at this point. But we know in Saudi Arabia, for example, the U.S. embassy has now been closed because two suspected drones were intercepted in that area. We also know that in Kuwait, the U.S. embassy has had to be closed because on Sunday and on Monday that was targeted.

And it is in keeping with what we have heard from the IRGC in Iran, they have said that they were going to expand the scope of what they were targeting. They had claimed it was military targets in the first place. They now say they're starting to destroy American political centers, referring to the attack on Saudi as the move towards that decision. But as we know clearly, there has been far more than military targets, even American political targets that have been hit and have been impacted. We've been seeing impacts in city centers, in hotels, in energy infrastructure, in airports.

So this is far more than what Iran claims it is targeting. Becky.

ANDERSON: Wind picking up there in Dubai. Well done. The lights we will peg down properly going forward. Thank you, Paula.

Let's bring in Hasan Alhasan. He's a senior fellow for Middle East policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Good to have you. You're in Bahrain, where we saw strikes from Iran, including the U.S. run naval base there, the U.S. Fifth Fleet, of course, based in Bahrain. Just tell me what is perspective there at this point? HASAN ALHASAN, SR. FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST POLICY AT IISS: Yes, we've seen a number of Iranian UAV and missile attacks targeting Bahrain, initially centered on the U.S. Naval base here, and then gradually widened to include civilian infrastructure, including buildings, including energy infrastructure, the port, the airport, and so on. So I think it's -- this is part of a broader trend. Clearly, Iran, on the one hand, is trying to apply pressure on the Gulf States, hoping this would compel them to ask President Trump to bring an end to this war more quickly. But there's also, I think, a broader pattern of Iran trying to internationalize this conflict, impose a cost on the global economy by targeting energy infrastructure not just in Bahrain, but perhaps more importantly in Saudi Arabia, in Qatar, targeting oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and threatening any ship passing through that area.

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Now, I think this strategy is highly likely to backfire. Ultimately, we've seen that the French, the Germans, the Brits have said that they are strongly considering stepping in, preventing Iran from holding energy and the region at risk. And so in a sense, internationalization is a way for Iran to impose costs on everyone. But it also means that it's more likely to create a larger coalition of countries that will try to blunt the effects of its attacks.

ANDERSON: You wrote in your latest analysis that quote here, "The Gulf countries or the Gulf States are on the front lines of a war they sought to avert. Across Gulf capitals, a debate is brewing about the merits and limits of strategic patience and restraint." Can you just expand further on that?

ALHASAN: Absolutely. So I think, you know, there's been clear frustration in the Gulf about the fact that Iran has been targeting not just U.S. military assets, as would be predicted and expected, but also that Iran is very clearly going after civilian assets and civilian infrastructure, endangering the lives and livelihoods of people in this region. But the question has been, you know, what do we do about it? I think there are those who say that the Gulf States can't simply sit idle by, that the Gulf States need to impose a cost on Iran, that Iran needs to be deterred. There are others who fear that if the Gulf States do get involved, then this means that we would be parties to a war that we did not start.

This means that we may not be able to control the tempo of this war because essentially President Trump is in the driver's seat. So the Gulf State not only would risk a long --

ANDERSON: So --

ALHASAN: -- and open ended confrontation with Iran, but also to be in a situation that they do not fully control.

ANDERSON: I think at this point what's, you know, really difficult is that it is unclear what happens next as far as the U.S. and Israel is concerned. President Trump saying this could be four to five weeks. The only thing we've heard from the Israeli prime minister is that this is not an endless war. But no clear indication as to what happens next nor -- and for how long these strikes will continue. And that has Gulf nations, of course, considering how they will respond.

As you rightly point out, they reserve the right to respond. The European nations that you mentioned have said that they will support that right for self-defense. I just wonder, there is a sort of big discussion about what that response might look like at this point. What's your -- what's your sense of that response from Gulf nations? What does it look like at this point?

What are the options?

ALHASAN: I think the first stage would be to essentially enable a more robust defensive posture. And so I think the Gulf States will most certainly be asking partners and allies for additional assurance uncertainty, on the one hand, the availability of interceptors that are needed to shoot down incoming Iranian projectiles, including UAVs and missiles. They might be asking for a reconfiguration of the U.S.'s defensive posture in the region to prioritize a defense of the Arabian Peninsula. The U.S.'s initial posture was optimized for defending Israel. That's why the U.S. placed a carrier in the Mediterranean in order to be able to intercept incoming projectiles fired at Israel.

But it just so happens that the Arabian Peninsula, the Gulf States, have received just as many projectiles and attacks coming from Iran. And therefore there might be a Gulf ask of the United States to reconfigure some of those assets to be able to ensure a more effective and long lasting defense of their interests. So there is a defensive component to this. There's a diplomatic component where we've already seen the UAE closed down its embassy in Iran and further signal Iran's diplomatic and political isolation.

And then there's, of course, the, I think, perhaps the most effective and direct option that the Gulf States could take, which is to allow greater U.S. operational access to their airspaces and territories. This would allow the U.S. to conduct military operations more effectively, open up new attack vectors on Iran.

And then there's, of course, the more extreme option of carrying out preemptive strikes against Iranian missile launchers by Gulf militaries on the one hand, or in an even more extreme scenario, to fully join the campaign against the U.S. All of these options have risks and merits associated to them.

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ANDERSON: Yes.

ALHASAN: And this is exactly the kind of discussion that is now taking place in Gulf capitals.

ANDERSON: Hasan Alhasan joining us out of Bahrain this morning. Sir, it's always good to have you on. Thank you very much indeed for your perspective.

I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Still to come, the Trump administration claims Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States. Hear why Democrats in Congress say they are not buying that explanation.

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HILL: The Trump administration is staunchly defending its decision to strike Iran. On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, echoing the words of President Trump, arguing Iran posed, in his words, an imminent threat.

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MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: That was -- we knew that if Iran was attacked and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us. And were not going to sit there and absorb a blow before we responded because the Department of War assessed that if we did that, if we waited for them to hit us first after they were attacked by someone else, Israel attacked them, they hit us first, and we waited for them to hit us, we would suffer more casualties and more deaths.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: A number of Democrats in Congress, however, believe the explanations they have been getting from the administration have been both exaggerated and in some cases at odds with U.S. intelligence and that the stated goals we're hearing from the administration keep shifting.

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SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): I have seen no evidence of any imminent threat to the United States posed by Iran. There were threats towards Israel, although arguably even whether they were imminent. But the idea that we had to act at this moment, at this time because of a direct imminent threat to the United States, I have seen absolutely no evidence of that.

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HILL: Trump administration officials are due to brief both chambers of Congress on the Iran strikes later today. CNN's Julia Benbrook is live in Washington with more on that. A much anticipated briefing for those members, Julia.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and taking place in just a matter of hours now Trump administration officials are expected to brief members of both the House and the Senate. And this comes after on Monday, the Gang of Eight, those top lawmakers from both chambers and both parties, they were briefed on those joint U.S.-Israel strikes against Iran. And the White House had said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio reached out to all eight of those members prior to the strikes. He was able to get a hold of seven of the eight of them. But some sources said that those calls fell short of providing full legal justification.

The split on Capitol Hill is a stark one. A big divide there with for the most part Republicans supporting Trump's decision and Democrats questioning the legality and the lack of congressional approval. And both chambers are looking at talking about war powers resolutions, trying to limit Trump's ability when it comes to that.

And I want to pull up some recent CN polling because with the midterms just ahead, this is no doubt a topic that is going to be top of mind. And so we'll pull up some of that polling for you now. On the approval of the strikes, it found that 41 percent approved of the strikes and 59 percent said that they disapprove. And then if we break it down even more by party, it gives a bit of perspective there. Looking at Republicans, it says 77 percent approve versus 23 who disapprove.

And then Democrats, 18 percent approve and 82 percent disapprove. Now, Trump has said that the combat operations will continue until objectives are achieved. But his predictions on how long that will last have been a bit all over the place. We've heard everything from two to three days to through the week to most recently he's been saying four to five weeks is what is expected. In a recent phone interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, he stuck with that four week prediction, also saying though he doesn't want it to go on too long, and he thinks that some things are ahead of schedule.

HILL: We will continue to watch for those developments. Julia, appreciate that. Thank you.

The Israeli military says it is conducting simultaneous strikes today in Iran and Lebanon. Video geolocated by CNN shows white smoke east of Tehran. A U.S. based human rights group reports at least 700 people have been killed in Iran since the war began on Saturday. CNN cannot independently verify that claim.

Meantime, though, voices from inside are revealing a conflicted mix of both hope and fear. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reports.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I die, I'm OK with it. If that leads to the destruction of this regime.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As U.S. and Israeli bombs started raining down on Iran, a woman who says she's in the southeastern city of Kerman shared this rare audio recording from inside the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: U.S. strikes have begun, and I feel like I should record a video to say thank you, Mr. Trump. First of all, thank you, Benjamin Netanyahu and the people of Israel. Responsibility of this war is on the Islamic Republic.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): While this voice by no means is representative of a country of more than 90 million people, over the past six weeks, we have been speaking with Iranians inside the country who opposed the regime. Many told us they wanted President Donald Trump's help. They were desperate, they said, after the bloody crackdown on protesters in January that killed thousands. But with a massive bombing campaign, reports of rising civilian casualties, including scores of schoolgirls killed and hospitals hit, the mood is shifting, even for some of those who want nothing more than this regime gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): People are not happy. Many police stations are located next to homes. Last night, they struck one and nearby homes were damaged.

[04:25:06]

KARADSHEH (voice-over): The regime's repression and disruption to communication make it difficult for us to speak freely with people inside Iran. But we managed to get some text and audio messages.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We were happy that those who had shot at the people, at the youth and killed them were being punished. The situation now is a mix. There's happiness, but also concern. And above all, we all hope that in the end they leave and that the Islamic Republic is no longer there.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Video this weekend showed celebrations on the streets as news broke that the man who depressed them for more than 40 years, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is gone. The killing of Khamenei does not mean the end of this regime for now. It's lashing out and striking back hard. And inside the country, it seems it fears another uprising.

In Iran's Kurdish region, some people received this message. The enemy's plan, it said, will be, quote, "street riots" next. "Any movement that disrupts security will be considered a direct cooperation with the enemy and will be faced with the strong fist of the IRGC Intelligence Organization."

So many Iranians want to believe that freedom is within reach, that this is the beginning of the end of a four decade nightmare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): You always think the Islamic Republic is finished. And suddenly, from a place you wouldn't expect, everything becomes OK for them again. That scares me.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): After the initial euphoria of this weekend as the help Iranians were promised finally arrived. Now for many, the reality that this may be a long and costly war is starting to sink in.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: The war with Iran is taking a toll on world oil prices. We'll take a closer look at what's driving the increase, how the global markets are reacting as well today. That's all ahead here on CNN.

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