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Israel And U.S. Launch A Major Attack On Iran; Iran Shutters Airspace After Israel Strikes. U.S. and Israel Launch Attack on Iran; Iran Retaliates with Multiple Strikes on U.S. Bases in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired February 28, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is CNN's breaking news coverage of the U.S. and Israel launching a major attack on Iran. I'm Victor Blackwell in Atlanta.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Thank you for joining us.

Well, here's what we know right now. Smoke is rising over Iran after strikes across the country there, including its capital city of Tehran. We learned minutes ago Israeli strikes targeted Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the country's president, amongst others.

But it is unclear if any of them were hit in the attack. U.S. embassies across the Middle East are calling for Americans to shelter in place.

Sirens in Bahrain, one of the countries reporting strikes. Officials say a missile hit the service center of the U.S. navy's 5th Fleet there. And you can see people running down the street moments after explosions there.

The explosions being reported in other Gulf Arab countries hosting U.S. military bases. People in Abu Dhabi took these pictures after strikes. These happened barely a day after indirect nuclear talks between Iran and the US.

BLACKWELL: President Donald Trump said in an early morning address that the U.S. tried several times to make a deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Iran is the world's number one state sponsor of terror and just recently killed tens of thousands of its own citizens on the street as they protested. It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I'll say it again. They can never have a nuclear weapon.

That is why in Operation Midnight Hammer last June, we obliterated the regime's nuclear program at Fordeau, Natanz and Isfahan. After that attack, we warned them never to resume their malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons. And we sought repeatedly to make a deal. We tried.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: President Trump also added in that address that American lives may be lost in these strikes. U.S. and Israeli officials are planning on strikes lasting for days. And Iran media says that the country is preparing for a, quote, crushing response which may already be underway.

Those are the sirens in Jerusalem. Iran media reported just hours ago that Iran already launched dozens of ballistic missiles at Israel and Jordan and Qatar both confirmed they intercepted missiles.

Our team is up and covering this breaking story around the world. We'll get to Zach Cohen and Elena Treene in just a moment. Up first, though, Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, what's the view from there?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, the United States and Israel are now carrying out a major military campaign against the Iranian regime. We have been watching as there have been strikes in Iran carried out by both the U.S. and Israel's air forces, targeting everything from military targets, nuclear targets, as well as senior political figures in Iran.

And it all began this morning at around 8:15 a.m. local time, when here in Israel were woken by the sound of air raid sirens going off, not signaling incoming missiles, but rather alerting the country to a state of emergency as Israel announced that it was carrying out strikes against Iran.

Within about two hours of that timeline, the first Iranian ballistic missiles were fired towards Israel, sending millions here rushing to bomb shelters.

As of now, we don't have any confirmed hits in Israel, but there certainly were several missile intercepts, including in the last 20 minutes or so we heard one boom go off following air raid sirens. And in fact, once again, we are now getting the alert on our phones as I'm speaking to you, saying that alerts are expected in the next few minutes.

This is the early warning siren that exists now in Israel to give people usually somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes to be able to get close to a bomb shelter before that final air raid siren goes off, giving people about 90 seconds before expected impact of those ballistic missiles.

[06:05:00]

And so this is probably going to continue on throughout the day. Separately, I'm also learning from two Israeli sources familiar with the matter that Israel has indeed carried out strikes targeting the Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, as well as several other Iranian senior political figures. And this again points to the fact that the United States and Israel very much seem to be trying to create the conditions for regime change in Iran.

And we heard President Trump, of course, urging Iranians to rise up, telling them effectively that this is their chance to take their country back from the Iranian regime.

BLACKWELL: All right, Jeremy Diamond for us there in Tel Aviv. And we're hearing from military officials in Iran that they plan to deliver, quote, a historic lesson to Israel and the United States after the strikes on Iranian cities.

Let's bring in now CNN's Alayna Treene, who's reporting from West Palm Beach, Florida, near the president's resort there. The president's -- it's hard really to overstate the gravity of the message that the president posted on social media today. And we're continuing to hear from him about his goals for this strike.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think that is a key part of this. And the president did attempt, Victor, to lay out some of the United States objectives here. You heard him in the clip you played say that he believe that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. And he went a little bit further trying to say what the goal is. I want you to listen what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: 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 --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So Victor, what the president said there as far as objectives go, you know, he's talking about how he want the objective is to defend the American people by eliminating this threat. But he didn't go further. And that is actually a huge criticism we have heard from many lawmakers on Capitol Hill as well as some of even the president's own allies, which is it isn't very clear.

The president hasn't articulated in a detailed way what the end goal is with this type of action. Even in the lead up to this, before these strikes had happened, a lot of people were saying they needed more clarity on what, you know, a potential military involvement in Iran would look like.

And so that is still a question after that address that he gave and really what he is looking for in order for this to potentially end. I know I'm getting ahead of ourselves here as these strikes are just taking place this morning. But that is a key goal.

And I do think as well, one of the main things that he also said is that this is going to be a massive and ongoing operation, Victor. And what we're hearing from my colleague Zach Cohen and I, our sources are telling us that the U.S. is planning for this, there to be several days of attacks. And so there's a lot of concern as well that this could be a protracted military involvement. We'll be keeping our eyes on all of that.

BLACKWELL: Alayna Treene, thank you for that report. Becky, as we are hearing from the Iranians, in reply to what we are seeing from the U.S. and Israel, they are promising to show no hesitation. Of course, we're discussing with our military analysts how much their relative strength at this moment, their arsenal matches the rhetoric of what they're promising in response.

We're, of course, seeing these ballistic missiles at U.S. assets across the region, but how much can they match what they say they will do with what they actually have the capabilities of doing?

ANDERSON: The threat was there and certainly the action has been undertaken. Just how much more there is as far as retaliation is concerned, clearly, you know, that's -- that's not clear at this point. But we have seen interception of ballistic missiles over Abu Dhabi, over Bahrain, Doha in Qatar and Kuwait this morning.

So the Iranians coming good on those threats, clearly prepared for some kinetic action. And it happened this morning, just less than four hours ago, when we got the first reports of strikes by the U.S. on Iran later, very shortly afterwards, to learn that these were U.S.- Israel coordinated strikes.

[06:10:04]

Let's get you to CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen who today is in Berlin, but in the past couple of weeks has been in Geneva for the latest round of talks between the U.S. and Iran, the diplomatic talks.

And before that, you were on the ground in Iran for a period of time, Fred. We've learned that Israel's strikes were targeted at Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the country's president this morning. It is unclear if those targets were hit. But what does that information sourced into CNN today tell you about the goal here?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, clearly the Israelis seem to be stating that they want regime change in Iran. And it also appears as though from the targets, if it was indeed the supreme leader as one of their targets and the president, Masoud Pezeshkian, that they're certainly trying to decapitate, if you will, the senior leadership of Iran.

Of course, you and I know, Becky, that in the end, the military structure, if that remains in place, is certainly very capable of striking back. One of the things that we've picked up on in the morning hours of today is that Iran's military seems to be saying that its entire military leadership is indeed still intact and leading what it calls response -- its response operations to those strikes that have come from the United States and Israel. And certainly you just mentioned it.

It seems as though the Iranians this time a lot better prepared than last June when that last round of Israeli strikes, of course, then later the U.S. entering into that as well, when that took place, the Iranians already firing missiles near U.S. military installations in various countries in the Gulf, apparently also in Jordan, then of course at Israel as well.

Also apparently drones near Erbil in Iraq, where the United States also has a military presence. So certainly the Iranians are saying that their response is in full force.

What they continued to say is that while they were going down that diplomatic track, of course, the foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, speaking to Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, they also did say that they were preparing for war. And it certainly seems as though they definitely were.

They seem to have much more of a playbook, seem to be much better prepared this time than last time, and also claim that they can continue these retreats, retaliatory strikes, for quite an extended period of time.

Of course, we're not sure how big their missile inventory actually still is. But one of the things that senior Iranian officials told me when I was on the ground is that they have replenished their missile inventory since that last confrontation with the Israelis and the U.S. in last June and even expanded their missile inventory.

The other thing that we're also picking up, Becky, here on the ground that we're getting from Iranian authorities is they're trying to project that they are still very much in control on the ground. They say that services, government services are still available. They say that gasoline stations are open even though they're highly frequented. They're urging people who can to leave the city to be out of the combat zone.

But one thing they're also saying is that markets are going to be open and are going to be stocked. So essentially what they're saying is, look, everything is going to be available, transport is available. Trying to project that the government is still in control, of course, in the face of those words from U.S. President Donald Trump and from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Becky.

ANDERSON: Just briefly, the Omani FM who have been mediating these talks, the Omani foreign minister in Washington in the past 24 hours and telling a U.S. network that peace was in -- was within reach. They just needed some time.

Well, clearly that was a message to the American public and the U.S. president. That interview only going out in the past sort of 24 hours, decisions will have been being taken at that point by the Trump administration.

Clearly, the talk, the clock had just ticked down to the point at which Donald Trump made his decision, despite what hears from the Omani foreign minister.

PLEITGEN: Yes, absolutely. You're absolutely right. That interview went out late last night, so just a couple of hours before the military action started, and certainly seemed as though President Trump's patience with that process had clearly run out.

It was interesting because were on the ground in Geneva, and certainly the vibe that were getting from both sides was that they said that the talks had been positive, especially the Iranians were saying that they believed on the issue of enrichment, there really wasn't that big a gulf between the two sides. They did say that there were still some tough issues that were at hand, but they also said that none of those actually pertained to enrichment at all.

So, the Omanis were projecting that things were going well, that there had been big compromises on the part of the Iranians. Not sure whether the United States really felt the same way, but certainly they were scheduled to have another meeting this Monday, a technical meeting in Vienna, and then possibly a meeting on a higher level later in the week, maybe in Geneva or somewhere else in Europe again.

[06:15:11]

So that process was never really canceled by the United States. But certainly it seems as though at some point President Trump lost his patience with that process and then decided to take this military action. Becky.

ANDERSON: Fred Pleitgen with us this morning. Thank you, Fred. And we will have more breaking news coverage after this short break here on CNN. And talk to our analysts and reporters about how these strikes on Iran could impact stability in the Middle East. Please stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:20:21]

ANDERSON: I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. We are following breaking news across the Middle East. Just a few hours ago, U.S. and Israel launched coordinated airstrikes against Iran. President Trump is describing these strikes as quote, major combat operations, end quote.

A U.S. official confirms to CNN that the attacks are focused on Iran's military targets. And sources also say that Israeli strikes targeted Iran's supreme leader and its president as well as others.

Well joining me now to discuss is CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. And we also have CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier. Good to have you both. Thank you for joining us. Nick, let's start with you. Any information at this point on targets and casualties inside Iran? For example, we've seen the aftermath of a strike on a square where Iran's former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly lives. Any more information about what has been achieved on the ground?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Ultimately, Becky, no. And at this point, we don't have clarity from Iranian side or the Israeli side of the likely death of any of their particular targets here. And that will take, obviously, hours for solid confirmation and verification to indeed emerge.

And it is utterly startling to have this Israeli admission that part of their onslaught here was essentially decapitation, the removal of Khamenei and other senior figures, those linked, it seems, to the missile program as well.

That is, of course, compatible with what we've heard from the Israeli government of them seeking regime change here. It is an extraordinarily bold step, you might say, because it suggests that they think that whatever comes after this current authoritarian government is better than what they currently have. And there are many analysts who say, well, you actually risk potentially having IRGC hardliners stepping in to the fold.

So I think there may be an assessment here that we're beginning to see, owing to the scope of ambition here, that Israel and the United States have assessed Iran to be an exceptionally weak juncture. But that leaves what comes next as a huge open question and one, frankly, that I think the region will be deeply concerned about if indeed these strikes were, in fact successful.

There are many attempts by Iranian state media to suggest that some of the targets indeed are alive and well, and just fine shouldn't -- well, much on that until we have larger clarity. But what's startling too, Becky, and you've obviously felt that where you are quite vividly is the breadth and the scale the Iranian retaliation that we've seen. I don't recall anything like this in recent decades.

The number of targets that appear to have been aimed at the potential for civilian casualties in nation states that may not share Iran's ambitions or values or even potentially consider them to be an issue, but certainly don't want to be dragged into some element of conflict here.

And that scale of response suggests possibly two things. An Iranian military that want to get the missiles they have off the ground in the air, fired as quickly as possible because they're perhaps worried that they may indeed get taken out by these airstrikes, and also to perhaps a regime that is reeling and wanting to strike back.

And that might be a sort of indication as to the extent of damage that they've been receiving. But one huge downside of how enormously telegraphed this strike has been is the preparation. Likely the senior leaders will have been able to put into place in Iran in the event of any of them being killed here. But it's so early to assess whether the ferocity of these strikes, and remember, as we saw in the 12 Day War, the precision, the absolute extraordinary knowledge they had led to real damage to the Iranians. Becky.

ANDERSON: And Kim, you've been in this game a long time. You talk to counterterrorism officials all the time, and they will have warned of what the Iran playbook would look like if the threat of action by the U.S. was actually carried out. We've seen that it's happened. So to your mind, given what, you know, what happens next?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, we're in the upside down right now, Becky. President Trump had the choice of a couple of options that he was briefed on. One was a short, sharp series of strikes to take out missile sites, missile factories, and more of the nuclear facilities. But instead, he's gone for all out regime change.

[06:25:00]

In the past, U.S. intelligence officials have warned us that this could lead to Iran doing a few different things, most directly in that region, closing the Strait of Hormuz to oil traffic by using naval ships and also mining the strait, making it unsafe for anyone trying to transit, including U.S. naval ships or activating some of its terrorist cells around the world to attack Western targets.

So they have a range of options from their playbook that could have been entrenched and ready for a situation like this. Also, as Nick was saying, they've had a long time to prepare a succession plan and also a plan to operate underground, to operate some sort of insurgency to should there be a rebellion that breaks out in response to President Trump's call for action by the Iranian people.

We've seen this playbook in the past. The Ukrainians, for instance, had a plan that was briefed to them by many different Special Forces branches, including the Americans, that when someone attacks you, you prepare to fall back, go undercover and then emerge to fight another day.

So if we see a collapse of the some sort of attempt to put a Western friendly government in power, I'm talking way down the road, that is not necessarily without peril, especially because the U.S. is trying to do this with outside of the country strikes, without putting any boots on the ground and without having any sort of military partner on the ground to pick up the mantle that the U.S. is handing them with this air cover.

ANDERSON: Kim, very briefly, is there any evidence to suggest that there is a working plan behind the scenes which has been organized by or supported by the United States for a change in leadership?

DOZIER: We know that Pahlavi, the crown -- the supposed crown prince, has been meeting with U.S. officials. He has said in public remarks that he has been in touch with Iranian military leaders who are ready to revolt against the regime. Now we get to see if his plans actually come to fruition or if this collapses with informants, et cetera, inside the regime who are very good at rooting out any attempts at a coup.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you both. Thank you very much indeed for your insight and your analysis. Couldn't do without you today. We're going to take a very short break. Back with our breaking news coverage after this and details on what President Trump said about these strikes on Iran and how it might impact Americans. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News!

ANDERSON: Well, coming up on the half past the hour is staying across our breaking news out of the Middle East. The U.S. and Israel struck Iran early this morning.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CO-ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: And these strikes happened just hours after the U.S. and Iran continued another day of talks to try to hammer out a deal over Iran's nuclear program, and just as the strikes began, President Trump posted this message on social media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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.

It's 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 countries.

Among the regime's very first acts, was to back a violent takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, holding dozens of American hostages for 444 days. In 1983, Iran's proxies carried out the Marine Barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American military personnel.

In 2000, they knew and were probably involved with the attack on the USS Cole. Many died, Iranian forces killed and maimed hundreds of American service members in Iraq, the regime's proxies have continued to launch countless attacks against American forces stationed in the Middle East in recent years, as well as U.S. Naval and commercial vessels in international shipping lanes.

It's been mass terror, and we're not going to put up with it any longer. From Lebanon to Yemen, and Syria to Iraq, the regime has armed, trained and funded terrorist militias that have soaked the earth with blood and guts. And it was Iran's proxy, Hamas, that launched the monstrous October

7th attacks on Israel, slaughtering more than 1,000 innocent people, including 46 Americans, while taking 12 of our citizens, hostage. It was brutal, something like the world has never seen before.

Iran is the world's number one state sponsor of terror, and just recently, killed tens of thousands of its own citizens on the street as they protested. It has always been the policy of the United States in particular, my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon.

I'll say it again, they can never have a nuclear weapon. That is why in Operation Midnight Hammer last June, we obliterated the regime's nuclear program at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. After that attack, we warned them never to resume their malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons.

And we sought repeatedly to make a deal. We tried, they wanted to do it, they didn't want to do it again.

[06:35:00]

They wanted to do it, they didn't want to do it, they didn't know what was happening, they just wanted to practice evil. But Iran refused, just as it has for decades and decades, they've rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can't take it anymore.

Instead, they attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing long-range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas and could soon reach the American homeland.

Just imagine how emboldened this regime would be if they ever had, and actually were armed with nuclear weapons as a means to deliver their message. For these reasons, the United States military is undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests.

We are going to destroy their missiles and raise their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally again obliterated. We are going to annihilate their Navy. We are going to ensure that the region's terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world, and attack our forces and no longer use their IEDs or roadside bombs, as they are sometimes called to.

So, gravely wound and kill thousands and thousands of people, including many Americans. And we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon. It's a very simple message. They will never have a nuclear weapon. 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 risks 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.

We pray for every service member as they selflessly risk their lives to ensure that Americans and our children will never be threatened by a nuclear armed Iran. We ask God to protect all of our heroes in harm's way, and we trust that with His help, the men and women of the Armed Forces will prevail.

We have the greatest in the world, and they will prevail. 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. Now, you have a president who is giving you what you want. So, let's see how you respond. America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force.

Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach. This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass. May God bless the brave men and women of America's Armed Forces. May God bless the United States of America. May God bless you all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And that was posted at about 2:30 a.m. Eastern Time by the President, and since then, we saw, of course, the strike across many cities in Iran and the retaliatory strikes across several states and countries there in the region.

[06:40:00]

The UAE reporting that one person was killed by debris falling from one of the intercepts of a ballistic missile. We will talk more about the political implications of what we're seeing through -- a quick break, stay with us for the continuing breaking news coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: More now on the breaking news of the ongoing attack by the United States and Israel against Iran. President Trump announced the mission in a video on social media, and he justified it by claiming Iran is building missiles that could soon reach the American homeland.

Sources tell CNN that, that claim is not supported by U.S. Intelligence. Now, the President is also warning there could be American casualties. Iran is retaliating with drone and missile attacks, and the mission is expected to last several days.

Let's talk now about the political implications of this operation with Errol Louis; political anchor for "Spectrum News", and the host of "The Big Deal with Errol Louis". Errol, good morning to you, and before we get into those specific elements, let's back up just a bit.

I mean, the world is awake and watching this, but put this into a political -- a domestic political context. Just the moment that we're watching in President Trump's time in office and the gravity of the address we just played in full.

ERROL LOUIS, POLITICAL ANCHOR, SPECTRUM NEWS: Good morning, Victor, it's interesting that this should be happening right now. There was a poll taken just a couple of days ago, "The Associated Press" has reported, saying that people have -- by and large, Americans have very little confidence in this president to handle a situation of exactly this sort.

People are worried, a majority of voters are worried about a nuclear armed Iran. But an overwhelming majority say they are not entirely comfortable with Donald Trump as the person to try and solve the situation.

[06:45:00]

And so, I think when you see that there is this arms buildup, there's this troop buildup, the world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford steaming into the region. We know that there's a lot of force being directed at Iran, but it's really telling that there is no troop presence.

And the President's address really confirmed that it's not a full- scale invasion. He wants to try and get out of this or get through this, maybe provoke regime change without a lot of American casualties. Because I think the White House knows very well that, the people are not necessarily behind this.

And that what starts out as uncertainty can turn into direct political opposition if this goes on for too long.

BLACKWELL: Can we just put that poll up from the "AP" NORC, in which the voters were asked, how much do you trust Donald Trump about the use of military force outside the U.S.? Only a little or not at all, 56 percent, a great deal or quite a bit, 27 percent in that recent poll.

Let me ask you about this. The President made the promise for -- during his re-election campaign, that he was not only going to make sure that the U.S. was not going into any of these unending wars, but there would be no new wars.

That was a central tenet of his America first platform. What's the significance to his voter base, now that this is starting, and we don't know that this will be an unending war, will go on for more than a few days, that the President says the strikes will go on, but now that this is happening.

LOUIS: Well, I mean, you've got to keep in mind that the 40 to 50,000 odd American military personnel that are stationed in the Gulf, they're -- look, you have to be realistic about it. There will be casualties. Not necessarily because there will be hostilities and people shot down or anything like that.

But just moving that many people around. There are mistakes. There are accidents along the way. So, this is -- you know, in the best-case scenario, this is not something to be taken lightly. The military families, I think are first and foremost going to be concerned about this.

To the extent that there are tourists or business people who have interests and are going to be inconvenienced, I guess that's sort of a secondary kind of a consideration. But here again, the length of time that it takes, the number of casualties, the amount of inconvenience will really matter.

And what we are hearing just from that message and everything we know about this so far, Victor, is that, the White House wants to do something that is quick, that is perhaps surgical, and is not going to lead into one of these unending wars, because it's not -- it's something that nobody wants, and it's something that he promised to avoid.

BLACKWELL: Yes, Congressman Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, they were working to try to get this War Powers Resolution through Congress, to try to curb the President's ability to do what we're showing on our screen right now, these attacks in Iran.

I think Massie was the only Republican who signed on to it, looked like it had an uphill battle in Congress. But declaring war is a responsibility of Congress. It's an Article One power. It is not with the President. And so, put that into the Washington context of the President now has launched this war, this attack on Iran, and what we're seeing in response from lawmakers.

LOUIS: Well, look, from it -- for a generation now, there's been this kind of quiet agreement almost, between Congress and the executive. That Congress won't push too hard to really exert its constitutional prerogative to declare war.

They'll kind of look the other way and let the executive go forward. And in return, the executive tries to sort of move pretty quickly and say, well, it was an emergency. There was no time to try and organize congressional support.

I think we're going to see some of that here, too. And it feeds back into what I said a minute ago. This White House, this Pentagon, wanting to make this a short and limited intervention so that these questions don't come up. Anything that looks like a troop buildup, anything that looks like an invasion, anything that looks like a long- term commitment will be politically disastrous for this White House and for the Republican Party.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and we still don't know if the White House notified the gang of eight. We know that they did not notify the gang of eight ahead of the strike in Venezuela, and only the Republicans ahead of the strike on Iran last June.

So, still working on the reporting there. Errol Louis reporting -- joining us this morning. Thank you, Errol. We'll have more breaking news coverage after the break, including how Tehran is responding to the U.S. strikes. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

B. ANDERSON: Well, we're getting new details about this sweeping, coordinated attack around this region of the Middle East. The U.S. and Israel struck Iran first, and Iran is firing back, hitting U.S.-linked sites in several countries at once, with explosions echoing from Abu Dhabi to Doha and beyond.

Right now, it's still unclear whether those blasts were missiles being intercepted or missiles actually hitting their targets. Joining me now is Bader Al-Saif; Professor of History at Kuwait University. It's good to have you, sir. First, you're in Kuwait.

We know Iran's IRGC targeted Al Salem Air Base there. What if anything, have you seen and heard, and just describe the atmosphere, if you will.

BADER AL-SAIF, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, KUWAIT UNIVERSITY: Look, sirens are off. People are alarmed. The feeling across the Gulf, I mean there's a feeling of indignancy where we've been only but -- we've been nothing, but good neighbors to Iran. We've been trying to avert the war.

We've been trying to help them with the negotiations. So, to try to strike back at U.S. bases in the Gulf is actually striking back at the Gulf states. That's what's happening right now. And we will not take those attacks slightly. There needs to be a response, and they need to understand that we are not part of this.

B. ANDERSON: Qatar describing retaliatory strikes from Iran as, quote, "unacceptable escalation". The UAE, where I am, calling these strikes a cowardly act and reserving, quote, "its full right to respond to this escalation." Do you see this escalating in and from the region?

AL-SAIF: I mean, look, let's tie it to what President Trump said when he announced the strikes. I mean, it's clearly a call for a regime change, and with the regime change, you're going to get chaos, frustration and fragmentation. So, if anything, what it looks like that there will be an escalation.

[06:55:00]

So, all regional partners and parties need to brace for the worst, unfortunately, and need to continue on the path of diplomacy. I know that, that file has retired very drastically in the last few hours, but we should always keep hope in diplomacy.

B. ANDERSON: And you've written Gulf states must -- sort of move from kind of hedging and crisis management towards proactively shaping Iran's trajectory. What does that look like to your mind? And is it too late for that, given what we've seen from the U.S. and Israel today, Bader.

AL-SAIF: Look, the Gulf states have underused leverage. It's never late to be able to shape outcomes to your favor. The Gulf states and Iran are neighbors. They'll continue to be neighbors. This is not going to change. So, my call in that piece for the Gulf states is to act up and to try to influence outcomes in a better way.

They've been trying to do that, under moments of tension during diplomacy. But I think they can do -- still do the same in a moment of war. Our voices should be heard, and they should be rallying towards calls for peace and prosperity.

Remember, this region has all been about being the last bastion of stability in the Middle East. So, we don't want to pull it into that whole endless cycle of wars. The same cycle of wars that President Trump himself was going against when he ran for elections.

B. ANDERSON: Very briefly. Were you surprised that President Trump was calling on elements of the Revolutionary Guard to surrender? That was his word today. And for the people of Iran to rise up and take over their government. He didn't specifically say that his actions were regime change, but he's effectively calling for regime change from the people of Iran this morning.

AL-SAIF: Look, he gave us a history lesson at the beginning of his speech. He went back to 1979 and hit every single milestone, a friction between Iran and the U.S. and the region at large. So, it doesn't surprise me at all that he ends with the call to rise.

And I think he wants to see a repeat in the Venezuela scenario where we've heard that there were some elements of support for his actions within Venezuela.

B. ANDERSON: With that, I'm going to leave it there. It's always good to speak to you, Bader. Thank you very much, indeed. It is unclear what happens next. We'll have a lot more on our breaking news coverage on the U.S. strikes on Iran after this short break, do stay with us.

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