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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
War With Iran; First Female Archbishop Of Canterbury. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired March 26, 2026 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:32:29]
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson live from our Middle Eastern Gulf programming headquarters here in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Time here is just after midday, an update now on the latest developments in the war with Iran.
Authorities here in Abu Dhabi say two people have been killed by falling debris from an inter ballistic missile overnight. In Israel, the IDF says an emergency crew responded to an area east of Tel Aviv after it was hit by debris from an Iranian missile. The renewed attacks as the US appears to be increasing efforts to end the war through diplomacy.
Two senior administration officials tell CNN the White House is trying to set up a meeting in Pakistan this weekend to discuss an off ramp to this war. The current plan has Vice President JD Vance traveling there for talks, but officials caution that the details are still being worked out.
While Iran is threatening to open new fronts in the war if the US moves forward with a potential plan to seize what's known as Kharg Island. As CNN's Natasha Bertrand now explains, the key island handles the majority of Tehran's oil exports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Iran has been laying traps, and moving additional military personnel and air defenses to Kharg Island in recent weeks in preparation for a possible US operation to take control of the island. That's according to people familiar with US intelligence on the issue.
Now, the Trump administration has been weighing using US troops to seize the island in the Persian Gulf, which is an economic lifeline for Iran that handles roughly 90 percent of its crude exports as leverage over the Iranians to coerce them to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
But US officials and military experts say there would be significant risks involved in this kind of ground operation, including a very large number of US casualties. The island has layered defenses and the Iranians have moved additional shoulder-fired surface to air-guided missile systems known as MANPADS there in recent weeks, according to our sources. And interestingly, Iran has also been laying traps including anti-personnel and anti-armor mines around the island, including on the shoreline where US troops could possibly stage an amphibious landing.
Now, US Central Command declined to comment on the issue, but the US military hit targets on Kharg Island on March 13th, including naval mine storage facilities and missile storage bunkers. Iran has been watching these US moves very closely and the speaker of Iran's parliament on Wednesday warns the country's "enemies" against attempting to occupy any Iranian islands, saying that, "all enemy movements are under the full surveillance of our armed forces."
[04:35:18]
If the US does decide to move forward with a ground operation, it would have two marine expeditionary units at its disposal which specialize in rapid response amphibious landings, raids and assault missions from Navy amphibious ships. And approximately a thousand US soldiers with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division are also expecting to deploy to the region in the coming days.
Natasha Bertrand, CNN in Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: While the focus still on the war with Iran, that the US and Israel is waging and target still being hit, Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is expanding its military presence in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli prime minister spoke as his nation launched new strikes on the area on Wednesday. He says the Israeli military has created what he called a buffer zone to keep Hezbollah further from Israel's border. He also says the threats from Hezbollah missiles or a ground invasion have been largely eliminated.
Israel has issued widespread evacuation orders in southern Lebanon, and a top UN official says a state staggering number of civilians have had to flee their homes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARHAM SALIH, UNHCR HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES: Undoubtedly, the escalating violence in the region is of profound consequence. The situation is dire in terms of the humanitarian consequences that people across the region are faced with. Look at Lebanon, we nearly have a million people who are internally displaced. In Iran, you probably, according to government figures, anywhere from 600,000 to 1 million households have been internally displaced.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, the numbers don't lie. My next guest warns on Lebanon that "Israel is drawing itself into the same trap as the US in Iran." Joining me now from Beirut is Yezid Sayigh, a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He's also a former Palestinian negotiator. Just explain exactly what you meant by that.
YEZID SAYIGH, SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Well, I mean, that the Israeli end goal in Lebanon, first of all, appears to be clear enough, the full disarmament of Hezbollah. But it also seems from the pattern of Israeli attacks, the targeting of the Shia community, the civilian support base or social base of Hezbollah, that Israel actually seeks something more ambitious, which is the total dismantling or dissolving of Hezbollah as a political and social movement in Lebanon.
And that starts to drag Israel into trying to achieve goals that it cannot achieve alone or that it cannot achieve through remote firepower, air power, and that require going pretty much house to house and neighborhood to neighborhood, both to disarm every Hezbollah member, but also to take effective control and impose these goals. And it can't do that without actually finding a Lebanese counterpart to do this part of the job.
And that's why I think the whole goal of the campaign, the Israeli campaign in Lebanon today, is primarily to coerce the Lebanese government and army into taking forcible action against Hezbollah, going, as I said, house to house, as it were. If not that, then generating so much grassroots pressure from other Lebanese communities against the government or against Hezbollah as to create conditions that basically coerce Hezbollah indirectly.
These are very nebulous goals. It's difficult for Israeli firepower to achieve this on its own.
ANDERSON: I wonder what you make of the Lebanese position at present. And let's be quite clear, the Lebanese Armed Forces, the LAF, have relatively little sort of firepower logistics capability at this point. Even if they were to effectively not support the Israelis necessarily, but to, in support of the Lebanese government, go after the Hezbollah sort of military capability.
SAYIGH: Well, the Lebanese army is at risk also of splits within its ranks along sectarian lines. This is primarily, I think, why the Lebanese army command is reluctant to get involved in domestic fighting as opposed to peacekeeping. The Lebanese army has been deployed for many years in areas where there's a fragile communal tension in various parts of the country.
[04:40:05]
But going from being a buffer force or a peacekeeping force within Lebanon among different Lebanese communities to actively moving against one community, that is something that Lebanese army is very reluctant to do. And indeed, as you just pointed out, there is a risk that in certain respects the Lebanese army doesn't have the firepower and the ability to take on Hezbollah and its strongholds.
Now, the other thing is that sort of overshadowing all of this, is constant Israeli military pressure that the talk about a buffer zone forcing massive, immense, huge numbers of civilians to leave their homes. Strikes inside the capital Beirut, and not just in the southern suburbs which are seen as a Hezbollah stronghold. All this is designed primarily to increase the political pressure.
This is what I meant by saying that Israel is locking itself into something where it's to achieve goals that require a long time and a lot of, you know, a lot of damage and destruction to bring about and with uncertain results.
ANDERSON: The International Rescue Committee says a million people right now are displaced in Lebanon. We know over a thousand have been killed, including, you know, a significant number of kids. The Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, said the following. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISRAEL KATZ, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER: Hundreds of thousands of residents of southern Lebanon who evacuated northward will not return to the south of the Litani River until security for northern residents is ensured. All five bridges over the Litani that were used by Hezbollah to transfer operatives and weapons have been destroyed, and the IDF will control the remaining crossings and the security zone up to the Litani.
The principle is clear, where there is terrorism in missiles, there will be no homes and no residents, and the IDF will remain present.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: I think this just sort of underscores what you have been suggesting, that this shift potentially from what Israel says is a campaign against Hezbollah into a sort of broader openended conflict is a risk here. Is there still a viable off ramp in Lebanon at this point?
SAYIGH: That's very difficult to say. I think the one that many Lebanese would support and Lebanese government has openly stated is one in which Hezbollah disarms and reverts to being purely a political party. And I think that, in effect, this is something that is probably the best off ramp for Lebanon, and it's obviously something that Hezbollah completely rejects and resists.
Now one element here we should bring in is the wider regional dimension, specifically the ongoing war in Iran. Iran at the moment appears to be signaling that its terms for ending the war with the US and Israel in the Gulf involve ending the Israeli onslaught in Lebanon, which means leaving Hezbollah intact and armed.
The other thing, though, I think to point out here is that there's a certain amount of political theater in the statement you just carried by the Israeli defense minister, establishing the entirety of south Lebanon as a buffer zone and security zone where there are no Israeli soldiers present doesn't necessarily work. We also know that most Hezbollah rocket fire is actually coming from north of the Litani River, in other words, from outside this declared security zone.
So part of this is theater, part of this is maximizing the threat level among Lebanese to coerce Lebanese governments with this threat of permanent displacement of the Lebanese people. But I'll just finish by saying that Israel is not in a position in Lebanon, that it is in Gaza where it occupies, where the Israeli army occupies 50 percent of Gaza with some Palestinian civilians living there. And that allows it to create a sort of buffer zone in half of Gaza because the army is physically there on the ground.
This is not the case in Lebanon. I don't think the Israeli army, despite massing along the border, is yet ready for taking on a full stage occupation of the south.
ANDERSON: Yes. Thank you. Your insight and analysis is very important to us as we continue to follow what are these sort of multiple fronts at present. Thank you.
I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Rahel Solomon will have more of your day's top stories after this short break. Stay with us.
[04:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. Ukraine's president says that his country is hoping to keep up with Russia's growing production of drones. Ukraine says that Moscow launched more than 1,000 drones over a 36 hour period this week. At least three people were killed, dozens of others were injured across the country.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Ukraine should be able to meet its drone production targets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): The good news is that the Russians are moving toward their goal of using a thousand drones a day. The good news, if you can call it that, is that their plans haven't yet caught up with reality, but that is undoubtedly their goal.
That's why we are aiming to produce over a thousand drones and interceptors a day. And as of today, we know we are capable of doing so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:50:19]
SOLOMON: Meanwhile, this video shows smoke from two Russian oil terminals on the Baltic coast, which were struck by Ukraine on Tuesday. Sources say that the two terminals have suspended their exports.
Four people are dead after the latest US strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean. US Southern Command says that Wednesday's attack hit a vessel operated by a designated terrorist organization. More than 160 people have now been killed since the US launched these strikes in September. But the Trump administration has shown little evidence that the boats being targeted were carrying drugs or that those on board had ties to cartels.
We're going to take a break and we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:55:22]
SOLOMON: Welcome back. And now to a historic first in the Church of England's nearly 500 year history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH MULLALLY, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY: I am Sarah, a servant of Jesus Christ. I come as one seeking the grace of God.
SOLOMON: Sarah Mullally is the first female archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England. She was officially installed on Wednesday in a ceremony mixing tradition with global symbolism. The heir to the British throne, Prince William and his wife, Catherine, the Princess of Wales, were some of the 2,000 guests who attended the ceremony of Archbishop Mullally is the spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans around the world.
All right. That's going to do it, thanks for joining us. Becky Anderson and I will both be back with another hour of EARLY start after this break.
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