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Isa Soares Tonight
Iran's Leader Warns Israel, Defends Hamas And Hezbollah; Israel Strikes Near Key Border Crossing Between Lebanon And Syria; Hundreds Missing As Hurricane Helene Death Toll Rises; IDF: 20 Projectiles Fired From Lebanon Into Northern Israel; Report: Burkina Faso Massacre Leaves Up To 600 Dead; World's Smallest Rubik's Cube Unveiled. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired October 04, 2024 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:00]
ISA SOARES, HOST, ISA SOARES TONIGHT: A very warm welcome to the show, everyone, I'm Isa Soares. Tonight, Iran's supreme leader vows Hezbollah
will never be defeated, describing the October the 7th attacks as a legitimate act. Meantime, Israel strikes on Lebanon continue with a major
road out in the country left impassable.
We're live for you in Beirut. Plus, hundreds dead and hundreds more missing in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, we'll bring you an incredible story
of survival. We begin though this hour with a show of defiance in Tehran, despite the threat of an Israeli retaliatory attack that could happen at
any time.
Iran's supreme leader is vowing in public that Hamas and Hezbollah will never be defeated, saying Iran and its allies will not back down. Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei led Friday prayers in Tehran today for the first time in years. Iran's Foreign Minister meantime is in Beirut meeting with
government officials even as Israel escalates blistering airstrikes on the southern suburbs.
And Israeli official tells CNN, a possible successor to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, one -- was one of the targets, his fate though is unknown
this hour. And some Lebanese civilians have been fleeing into Syria on foot to escape the violence as Israel expands evacuation orders.
But a key border crossing is now closed after an Israeli strike destroyed a nearby road. The IDF says it targeted what it called an underground tunnel
crossing to prevent weapons from being smuggled into Lebanon. I want to get more now from our Ben Wedeman, who is in Beirut for us this hour.
And Ben, more strikes, more evacuation orders. And now this main crossing used by civilians to get out of Lebanon to Syria has been hit. What more
can you tell us about this?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first, I want to just pause for a moment --
SOARES: I can hear it --
WEDEMAN: Maybe you can hear this --
SOARES: I can --
WEDEMAN: It's an Israeli drone -- it's an Israeli drone flying over Beirut, which it does for a lot of the day. But it also usually suggests
that perhaps there will be an Israeli strike, and there are Israeli airstrikes every single night, often times after midnight. As far as the
situation goes, we've just gotten announcement from the Arabic spokesman for the Israeli military, warning that if any vehicle in south Lebanon is
being used to transport what he calls terrorist and weapons, even if it's an ambulance, it will be considered a legitimate target.
So, this is setting off alarm bells because the worry is that Israel is going to start targeting ambulances in the south without actually having
solid evidence that there might be some suspicious character inside. Now, also today, the same Arabic spokesman for the Israeli military issued
another set of evacuation orders for more than 30 Lebanese villages in the south, bringing to about 110, the total number of villages and towns that
have been ordered by the Israeli military to leave.
This at a time when the health system in south Lebanon seems to be falling apart, 37 health facilities in the south of the country have been forced to
close. Some of them came under shelling very close to those facilities. And we heard from the head of the World Health Organization that Thursday
alone, 28 health workers were killed in Israeli strikes.
Now, you referenced that strike on the main border crossing between Syria and Lebanon, that's the Beirut-Damascus highway called Masnaa. There, the
Israelis bombed both sides of the road, that's a road that within the last two weeks, according to the general security here in Lebanon, as many as
360,000 Syrians and Lebanese have left the country to Syria since hostilities escalated.
[14:05:00]
Now, I think the Minister of Trade told CNN in the past hour that most of the smuggling of weapons, which was the pretext for Israel to bomb that
crossing, doesn't even happen there. Most of it --
SOARES: Yes --
WEDEMAN: Happens, it's well-known, it's over the mountains, and that sort of rugged frontier that separates the two countries. Isa?
SOARES: Yes, and actually, I spoke to the Minister of Economy and Trade. But let me just play that because I think that's important. Have a listen
to this, Ben.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMIN SALAM, MINISTER OF ECONOMY & TRADE, LEBANON: It is a major border point. But let me point out one thing, more important than that, smuggling
weapons into Lebanon or smuggling anything inside or outside Lebanon, mostly is not done through this channel, mostly done through illegal
channels, illegal roads in Lebanon that are not like this one.
This one is the official, you know, recognized entry point. But most of the smuggling is happening from all across the borders. We have with Syria, not
specifically that point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: I wonder then, Ben, from the conversations that you've had, that you're having right now, whether Lebanon is a tall concern about a repeat
of 2006, a full blockade of land, sea and air. What are you hearing?
WEDEMAN: As the Minister of public works said exactly that today, that there is a real threat of a land and air blockade of Lebanon along the
lines of what we saw in 2006. Now, amazingly, the national carrier of Lebanon, Middle East Airlines continues to fly in and out of Beirut,
despite the fact that sometimes it comes within minutes or even less of Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs, which are adjacent to the
airport.
So, yes, that's a major concern, and of course, the same thing happened in 2006, that border crossing was bombed. A lot of bridges were bombed by the
Israelis. And the concern is that not only is Lebanon in danger of repeating the experience of 2006, but already, we see the death toll so far
after two weeks exceeds the 34 --
SOARES: Yes --
WEDEMAN: Day war between Israel and Hezbollah. And what we're seeing is that certainly, the signs are that it could be well worse --
SOARES: Yes --
WEDEMAN: Much worse than this --
SOARES: And that is --
WEDEMAN: War in 2006.
SOARES: And that's exactly what I heard from the U.S. -- former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon during the 2006 war, who said -- from what he's
seeing, the signs look like this is going to be much worse. Ben, stay on top, of course, of the very latest, we can hear those drones buzzing right
behind you. If there's any more developments, we will come to you. Ben Wedeman there for us in Beirut. Appreciate it, Ben.
Let's get more now on Iran's public defiance amid the looming threat of an Israeli attack. I want to actually -- I want to wait there for just a
second, I want to go -- what -- President Biden, I believe he's speaking, let's listen to that.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I especially want to thank the carriers, the port operators and the Longshoremen's Union for reaching
this agreement at a time when the nation has experienced such terrible devastation from Hurricane Helene. It's truly a service to the American
people for all of these parties to come together respond to our request to keep the ports open.
Our determine to avert a crisis of this moment because it's a critical moment, if we didn't do this now, we'd have a real problem. Also, I want to
thank my White House team for the work they worked around the clock to bring the parties together. But today, we got more incredible news.
Although the strengthening American economy is about the strength of American economy.
New jobs report as you all know you've been reporting created 250,000 jobs in September. The expectation was for 150,000 jobs in September, which has
far exceeded that number. Not only the previous two months, was not only that, the previous two months was revised up 150 -- 75,000 jobs.
And from the very beginning, we were told time and again that the policies we were pursuing, we'd put forward weren't going to work, it'll make things
worse, including some of the other team are still saying they're going to make things worse. But we've proven them wrong. You know, we've told our
American -- we were told our American rescue plan was too big and it would crowd out private investment.
We proved them wrong. We vaccinated a nation and got immediate economic relief to people in need. When I came to office, determined and trickle-
down the economics and grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up, I know you're tired to hear me say that over and over again, but that
was a policy and it remains a policy.
[14:10:00]
Because we didn't do that, everyone does well, the middle class grows and the nation is stronger. And the nation is stronger when there's a strong
union movement as well. We're told it wouldn't work, but I was also determined to do what was ignored for much too long. Presidents have been
authorized since the '30s to be able to spend the money given by Congress to spend the money on hiring American workers and using American product
where they were available.
And that's what we did. We were told that was going to be a big problem. But all the money we -- I was authorized to spend by the Congress has gone
to building -- to -- gone to hiring American workers and use the American products. We were told it wasn't going to be -- we were told that was going
to be a big problem, but it's working.
We were also told there are historic lot to invest in America and all Americans would crowd out private sector investment. Well, that was proven
wrong too. We've attracted nearly $1 trillion since we've come to office. In private sector investment from domestic and foreign companies investing
in America, in America.
And not this stuff, shipping jobs overseas for cheaper labor and bringing back the product to America. We're building it here and send it overseas,
and look at the results across the board, unemployment is down 4 to 4.1 percent and every month, the fact that Vice President Harris and I have
been in office, we've been -- there's been -- we've created jobs every single month.
The nation has now created 16 million jobs since I've come to office, more jobs created in a single presidential term in any time in American history.
Our GDP shows our economy grew at 10 percent under my administration. Unemployment rate is at the lowest level in 50 years. We're also told
inflation couldn't come down without massive job losses or sending the economy in economic recession.
Once again, outside experts were wrong. Inflation has come down. Wages have gone up faster than prices. Interest rates are down, record 19 million new
business applications have been filed for. The stock market continues to reach new heights. We've got more work to do now to keep getting -- keep
getting prices down, like more affordable housing, extending what I've done for seniors and lowering prescription drug costs by letting Medicare
negotiate the prices, make sure that's available to everyone.
And by the way, we were done so far, just when we brought down the price of seniors under Medicare, it saved the taxpayers billions of dollars,
billions of dollars, saved the taxpayers billions of dollars. That's important to note because they don't have to pay the exorbitant and
irrational prices that these companies are charging.
Simple fact is we've gone from economy in crisis to literally having the strongest economy in the world. And -- but -- we've got -- we've got more
work to do. We've got more work to do to deal with the things I've just mentioned and we're going to have to deal with unforeseen cost of what this
hurricane is going to cost.
It's going to cost a lot of money, and I'm going to probably have to ask the Congress before we leave for more money to deal with some of those
problems. But that remains to be seen. I'll take a few questions before I turn it over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President --
BIDEN: You pick up --
(LAUGHTER)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Yes sir, go ahead, Josh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks again for doing this, Mr. President. Two questions. The first Florida Senator Marco Rubio described today's jobs
report as having fake numbers. What do you make of that? And how worried are you that many Americans are hearing that the jobs numbers aren't real?
BIDEN: Look, I'm going to be very careful here. If you noticed, anything the MAGA Republicans don't like, they call fake. Anything. The job numbers
are what the job numbers are. They're real. They're sincere. What we are -- and by the way, just look at how the EU talks about us.
How they like to have an economy like ours. Let's talk about the rest of the world looks at us and what we're doing. So, I -- well, I don't want to
get going.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then secondly, could you clarify some of your comments yesterday with regards to strikes on Iranian oil facilities? What did you
mean by them, given some of the reactions we're seeing in the market?
BIDEN: Look, the Israelis have not concluded how they're -- what they're going to do in terms of a strike. That's under discussion. I think there
are -- if I were in their shoes, I'd be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields.
JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, Rachel(ph).
[14:15:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you Karine, thank you so much, Mr. President, for being here. This week, Senator Chris Murphy said it's certainly a
possibility that the Israeli government is not going to sign any diplomatic agreement prior to the election, which is what you have been calling for,
for so long, potentially to try to influence the results.
Do you agree, do you have any worries that Netanyahu may be trying to influence the election, and that's why he has not agreed to a diplomatic
solution?
BIDEN: No administration has helped Israel more than I have, none. And I think Bibi should remember that. And whether he's trying to influence the
election, I don't know, but I'm not counting on that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You've said many times recently that you want to speak to him, that you plan --
BIDEN: No, I didn't say -- planning, I didn't say I want to.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't want to?
BIDEN: No, I didn't say that. You're making it sound like I'm seeking and then -- speaking -- I'm assuming when they make the assessment of how
they're going to respond, we will then have a discussion.
JEAN-PIERRE: Kathy(ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President for being here. What are you advising the Israelis to do in terms of their retaliation to
Iran? And at this point, you still haven't spoken to Netanyahu. Is it fair to say that you have little personal influence over what he decides to do?
BIDEN: No, look, our teams are in contact 12 hours a day, are constantly in contact. I've already had my presidential daily brief. We've already had
interface between our military, our -- the diplomats is in constant contact. They are trying to figure out, and some high holidays as well.
They're not going to make a decision immediately. And so, we're going to wait to see what they -- when they want to talk.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But after the past few months, they've consistently defied your administration's own advice. So, do you believe that the
Israelis are going to listen to the advice you're giving them?
BIDEN: What I know is the plan that I put together received the support of the U.N. Security Council. The vast majority of our allies around the world
as a way to bring this to an end. One of -- look, the Israelis have every right to respond to the vicious attacks on them, not just from the
Iranians, but from everyone from Hezbollah, the Houthis -- anyway. And -- but the fact is that they have to be very much more careful about dealing
with civilian casualties.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, how should they respond? You've expressed concerns about attacks on Iranian oil facilities. How should they respond?
BIDEN: That's between me and them.
JEAN-PIERRE: All right, we've got to move on, go ahead Tam(ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The election is a month away, one, I'd like to know how you're feeling about how this election is going. And then also, do you
have confidence that it will be a free and fair election, and that it will be peaceful?
BIDEN: Two separate questions.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very much.
BIDEN: I'm confident it will be free and fair, I don't know whether it will be peaceful. The things that Trump has said and the things that he
said last time out when he didn't like the outcome of the election were very dangerous. Have you noticed -- I noticed that the Vice Presidential
Republican candidate did not say he'd accept the outcome of the election and haven't even accepted the outcome of the last election. So, I am
concerned about what they're going to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you making any preparations, getting security briefings related to domestic security?
BIDEN: I always get those briefings.
JEAN-PIERRE: All right, we've got to move on, go ahead, Kayla(ph) and we have two --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Mr. President, what are you considering in closing sanctions on Iran, and would you include oil in those sanctions?
BIDEN: That's -- that's me, that's under consideration right now. The whole thing, I'm not going to discuss that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And just on your comments yesterday on the port strike, you said, by the grace of God, it's going to hold. Is there any
reason you think that this --
BIDEN: Well, is what you do. In a month from now, there's more to do in terms of everything from the whole notion of -- excuse me, mechanization
of the ports and the like. There's more to resolve.
JEAN-PIERRE: Go Dan(ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks Karine, thanks Mr. President. Last night, you said that there's still a lot to do to avoid an all-out war in the Middle
East. I think firstly, I'll be pretty close to that definition already. And secondly, what can you really do to stop that happening?
BIDEN: There's a lot we are doing. The main thing we can do is try to rally the rest of the world and our allies into participating like the
French are in Lebanon and other places to tamp this down. And -- but when you have proxies as irrational as Hezbollah and the Houthis and -- it's a
hard thing to determine.
JEAN-PIERRE: Good to lose --
[14:20:00]
BIDEN: Yes, I've got to go, OK --
JEAN-PIERRE: I know, I know --
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You need to be so --
BIDEN: I said I'd take a couple of questions.
(LAUGHTER)
JEAN-PIERRE: All right, you go -- you go --
BIDEN: I guess you'd appreciate the credibility --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much, you have to take some more --
JEAN-PIERRE: Toluse(ph), you're going to be the last one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. President, thank you for spending some time here with us. There obviously have been a number of crises that the
country have been facing over the past several days with the hurricane, port strike, with the situation in the Middle East. Can you talk about how
your Vice President who is running for the presidency has worked on these crises and what role she has played over the past several days.
BIDEN: Well, she's -- I'm in constant contact with her. She's aware of -- we're not -- we go -- we're singing from the same song sheet. We -- she
helped passed all the laws that are being employed now. She's a major player and everything we've done including passage of legislation which we
were told we could never pass. And so, she's been -- and her staff is interlocked with mine in terms of all the things we're doing.
(CROSSTALK)
JEAN-PIERRE: All right, all right, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead, Mandida(ph), sir, -- no, sir, I didn't call on you, sir, I didn't call on,
you, Mandida(ph) --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you --
JEAN-PIERRE: Mandida(ph), go -- Mandida(ph) --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President --
BIDEN: Francis convert day of prayer and fasting --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prayer and fasting this Monday, October 7th, your reaction, sir?
BIDEN: I will pray and fast.
JEAN-PIERRE: All right, OK, that's it --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is acceptable to you in terms of Israel's response, how long are you OK with Israel bombing Lebanon? What is
acceptable to you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President!
JEAN-PIERRE: All right, guys, that's it, thank you everybody, thank you, Mr. President, thank you, sir. Thank you sir --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. President --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On Ukraine, any decision on long-range weapons?
SOARES: Well, that was President Biden there, very excited journalists as you could see, because it is the first time ever that the President has
taken questions in the White House briefing room. So, that is why you had so many journalists there wanting to pepper him with questions.
He started by talking about the U.S. job numbers, of course, it's important to point out we're what? Thirty two days or so until the U.S. election. He
started talking about how those numbers, 250,000 jobs added in September, expectations were 150,000, and that really blew all the expectations.
And we're seeing how the stock market has been reacting to that. But he did say more work needs to be done on keeping prices down. He talked about the
port strike that has been averted, but a lot of the questions that you heard there were in terms of not just how Israel may respond, what the U.S.
would be OK with, and how to tamp down the current crisis in Middle East.
He said there -- Israel hasn't concluded what they will do, if I were in their shoes, I will be looking at alternatives to striking the oil fields.
He was asked whether he's worried about Netanyahu is trying to influence the election, and he said that no administration has helped Israel more
than he has.
He said that sanctions on Iran are under consideration, that is interesting. He was also asked questions about the election in the United
States, whether he's confident that it will be free and fair, but then don't know whether they will be peaceful. Listening to this, we have our
Julia Chatterley.
Julia, let me go to you first, on the economy. Important because, you know, we haven't heard from the President, you can see how excited the
journalists were ever in the White House briefing room in during his presidency. But he really started -- he was very strong on the economy and
those job numbers, with an election of course, around the corner.
This is an important message. Even though you heard him, his reaction to that Marco Rubio comment that the numbers were fake.
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN ANCHOR: I think one month out from a presidential election. Now is your time to answer a few questions --
SOARES: Yes --
CHATTERLEY: And you heard there from the Press Secretary, each time he answered, she was trying to move him on and reiterate the fact that he was
only out there to answer a couple of questions --
SOARES: Yes --
CHATTERLEY: Specifically, it seems on the economy, which I would argue is the right move, because as I say, it doesn't get better for the White
House, all for the Harris campaign than the jobs numbers that we got today, which was an incredible wow, really, far stronger than we were expecting.
And he reiterated that the economy -- he said it's the strongest in the world -- is not, remember, growth in places like India and China are
stronger than the United States. But what we saw today does point to almost an acceleration actually over the past few months in terms of the jobs
numbers that we're adding in this economy.
And that's before the recent Federal Reserve rate cuts kick in really beyond the sentimental and positive impact that you get. It doesn't
surprise me that he was willing to ask some questions on this, obviously, things deviated and talked about the oil market.
[14:25:00]
We can talk about that today because obviously that does play into it. And the strikes potentially, if not the port worker strikes, but Boeing's
strikes and Hurricane Helene and the impact on jobs for the --
SOARES: Yes --
CHATTERLEY: Next month will be important and playing, I think just what a couple of days before the presidential election.
SOARES: What about oil prices? You and I were talking about this earlier. He said, if I were in their shoes -- in Israel's shoes, I would be looking
at alternatives to striking oil fields. Are you already seeing tensions and signs of anxiety within the oil markets because of what we've been hearing
in the last couple of days?
CHATTERLEY: So, this was an important calibration as well because remember --
SOARES: Yes --
CHATTERLEY: He's been asked about this over the last 24 hours, and he --
SOARES: Yes --
CHATTERLEY: Suggested that, that remained part of the discussion with the United States. And what he said there was, look, I'd avoid doing that,
which is the right answer I think at this stage. And we are seeing a record, what? Six-year high now for Iranian oil exports. And a lot of what
the analysts are pointing to now is saying if Israel really wanted to take out Iranian oil facilities, what they target would be the Kharg Island
export facilities that take up to about 90 percent of the exports.
I mean, that would involve a phone call to the Saudis to say, look guys, OPEC needs to replace the oil if indeed Iran is taken out. I think there's
a relative degree of complacency actually in the oil markets, but the investors have been burned before, if you react in news flow like this
without actually having concrete damage on oil facilities, then you can get called out anyway.
But we have seen an 8 percent to 9 percent rise over the past week or so in oil prices, we could perhaps see another $5 to $10 if we did see some kind
of direct retaliation. But as I say, it can ultimately be replaced by supplies from the United States --
SOARES: Yes --
CHATTERLEY: And probably, the Saudis too. So, again, the price shifts probably would fall out --
(CROSSTALK)
CHATTERLEY: It's an important calibration that he made today --
SOARES: Indeed --
CHATTERLEY: They're not discussing and upright --
SOARES: And I'm guessing until we see how Israel is going to retaliate, I think we'll continue to see this anxiousness in the oil market. Julia --
CHATTERLEY: Yes --
SOARES: I really appreciate you jumping in, thank you very much, I caught everyone by surprise.
CHATTERLEY: Yes --
SOARES: Thank you. Let's get more analysis, joining me now is Karim Sadjadpour; Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace. Karim, welcome to the show, I'm not sure whether you are able to hear what we just heard from President Biden, but he talked about the oil
facility and how perhaps Iran's oil facilities and whether Israel would target that.
And he said, if I were in their shoes, I would be looking at alternatives to striking oil fields, although he did say that sanctions on Iran are
under consideration. What did you make of what he said?
KARIM SADJADPOUR, SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: I did think it was notable that he tried to publicly dissuade
Israel from going after Iran's oil installations. The other day, he also publicly thought it would publicly express it would be unwise for Israel to
go after Iran's nuclear installations.
And the other thing he said, which I thought was notable, he said, my team are in touch with the Israelis 12 hours a day, and I think what that --
SOARES: Yes --
SADJADPOUR: Makes clear is that in the past, Israel has carried out operations, assassinations against Iran's Axis of Resistance, and even
assassinations inside Tehran without coordinating with the United States. But an operation of this magnitude, which has ramifications for the global
economy and U.S. national security is something that Israel can't do without coordination with the United States.
And as we've now heard the Biden administration or President Biden himself has publicly discouraged Israel from going after Iran's nuclear and oil
installations.
SOARES: It doesn't mean that they won't, as we have seen. President -- Prime Minister Netanyahu hasn't really listened to much of the advice from
the U.S. administration when it comes in particular to Gaza. I wonder then what you think, Karim, would be a proportional retaliatory attack from
Israel to Iran, if they're not going to go -- if perhaps they didn't go after the oil facilities. How do you think they would retaliate in what
measure to put deterrence on the table back again?
SADJADPOUR: Well, we've really entered uncharted waters --
SOARES: Yes --
SADJADPOUR: So, we can only speculate, and as you alluded to, just because President Biden has publicly dissuaded Israel from going after Iran's
nuclear and oil facilities. That's not a guarantee that they will heed that advice. Obviously, other outpost, which is really closely looking at are
Iranian military outposts places where they manufacture missiles and drones, Revolutionary Guard headquarters.
You've been looking at individuals, whether that's senior military commanders or nuclear scientists who have expertise in weaponization, oil
refinery. So, I suspect that there's a whole lot of places that are being discussed and deliberated.
[14:30:08]
And this is a real challenge because I don't think Israel is interested in fighting a full-blown war in the Middle East, so the goal they have in mind
is to punch back hard, deter Iran without causing another escalatory cycle.
SOARES: And now that I've got you here, I wonder what you made of what we heard from Ayatollah Khamenei today, a defiant speech as you would expect
of course. What did you make of what he said or what he didn't say, Karim, here?
SADJADPOUR: There wasn't anything particularly new and that he started off addressing what he said that was the Islamic world, not necessarily the
people of Iran. So, it was some ways for me reminiscent of a leader of the Soviet Union in the last decade or two of the Soviet Union addressing the
communist role because he knows that internally this tremendous revolutionary, this fatigue that's set in, you know, Khamenei communicated
in a way as if he has a direct line to God which is the ways his communicated in the past. He praised October 7th the Hamas attacks and as
always he kind of made it clear that he has far more hatred toward Israel than he has any love for Iran.
You know, the slogan of these Friday prays are always death to Israel, never long live Iran. So, he's 85 years old. That's what he's espoused the
last three or four decades. And it was simply a continuation of that revolutionary ideology.
SOARES: Karim Sadjadpour, I appreciate you being with us even as we get the breaking news. Thank you, Karim.
SADJADPOUR: Thank you.
SOARES: And still to come tonight, with Israel's latest air strikes on Beirut and Iran's missile attack on Israel, questions are raising are being
asked about how the us is going to get involved. We had some clarity there from the United States what it would like to see or not see. We'll have
more after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:35:17]
SOARES: And back to our top story. Israel is escalating air strikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs. On the ground, Hezbollah still fighting
back despite the death of top leaders like Hassan Nasrallah. Who will replace Nasrallah is unclear after Israel says it targeted one of his
potential successors. The IDF say they've killed more than 250 Hezbollah fighters over the last few days. At Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran's
supreme leader vowed his country will attack Israel again if needs be. He called Iran's Tuesday missile attack on Israel completely legal and
legitimate.
Let's get more on all these strands. I'm going to bring in our diplomatic editor Nic Robertson who was with us in Tel Aviv. And Nic, I'm not sure
whether you heard President Biden speaking just now in the last few moments at the White House Briefing Room, but he was peppered with questions about
how Israel may respond following Iran's missile strikes. And he said something that was very interesting. He said over questions of whether
Israel would target Iran's oil facility. He said if I were in their shoes, in Israel's shoes, I would be looking at alternatives to striking oil
fields. He also talked about sanctions on Iran and that may be under consideration.
I wonder how that would be received in Israel and what is being considered? What are you hearing?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know, it does seem that we've got a significant number of days now after Iran's strike for Israel to respond.
Of course, it's been the high holidays of Rosh Hashanah and reasons there in that alone that the country might not choose to retaliate against Iran.
But what President Biden indicated there is it may be some more time even yet he said he thought that Israel was still considering what it might
strike.
He said that the United States, the White House was in permanent contact, more than 12 hours a day in contact talking with Israeli Partners over
this. It's clear that the discussions have been pretty intense behind the scenes. It's not clear why he said that he thought that if he was in Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shoes that he would say -- that he would choose not to attack oil installations inside of Iran.
We have heard from the deputy military commander in Iran today indicating a retaliation from Iran. He said look, Iran is a very big country. We got
essentially -- you know, we've got a lot of resources, a lot of -- a lot of availability to continue to produce power, continue to produce oil. That's
what he was implying. But he pointed at Israel and said look, this is a country that's got three principal power generating facilities and a couple
of oil refineries and we can hit them all in one go. So, he's clearly talking about retaliation there apparently in the oil sector as well.
So, it's very hard to know what's happening behind the scenes here, but the length of the conversations that seem to be going on -- going on between
United States and Israel are interesting at a time of extremely heightened tensions. And the fact that they -- you know, that President Biden said
that he wouldn't go into detail about what's being discussed is just an indication of how sensitive it is.
We know that -- we know and understand from former officials here there's huge pressure for Israel to strike at Iran's nuclear capabilities. So, the
potential for escalation is huge and perhaps why there's this huge pressure from the United States on a pause.
SOARES: Yes. And of course, worth reminding viewers, and I had this conversation with White House Reporter Kevin Liptak earlier today that both
President Biden nor Prime Minister Netanyahu, they haven't spoken I think, Nic, since August. And although we heard on Wednesday that that there would
be -- a call would be imminent, this both haven't spoken. And President Biden said he assumed it would -- they would speak once Israel made a
decision about responding to Iran.
He was also asked about whether Netanyahu is trying to influence the U.S. Election. We've got 32 days or so, Nic, into the U.S. election. He -- and
President Biden said no administration has helped his -- Israel more than I have. None, he said, and I think Bibi should remember that. Just speak to
the tensions between both sides between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu because clearly as we have seen President Biden has advised,
Netanyahu hasn't listened.
[14:40:03]
ROBERTSON: There's been a lot of pressure by President Biden's White House on Israel to tamp down it strikes in Gaza that have killed now more than
now more than 41,000 Palestinians there as they've target -- as the IDF has been targeting Hamas. There's been a lot of pressure to curtail, a lot of
pressure to get in humanitarian aid. The number of times Secretary of State Antony Blinken here has come and a few months later come back to ask again
the same question, get more humanitarian aid in, and it really hasn't happened.
So you know, the -- it's created the impression that Biden is weak, that the White House is weak, that the United States can't influence the Israeli
Prime Minister and the decisions he takes. So, there's that. There's also the under -- very clear understanding that Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu far prefers Donald Trump to win the presidency than Kamala Harris previously when it looked like being Joe Biden in the running for it -- for
him as well.
Netanyahu would rather have Trump. And the reason he'd rather have Trump is Trump is much more hawkish on Iran and has a lot more people around him who
would advise hawkish positions on Iran. And that's exactly what Netanyahu wants. He wants Iran's influence in the region to be diminished and he
would see Trump as being more effective perhaps -- scattershot and chaotic about it but more effective in achieving that.
But you know what President Biden here is saying is a help for those who would who were trying to make up their minds whether or not to vote for
Harris in the United States, pointing out that that he and her have been strong allies of Israel, something Kamala Harris continues to reinforce
whenever she's speaking about this issue.
SOARES: Nic Robertson, I appreciate it. Thanks very much, Nic.
Well, as -- we're joined now by David Hale, a global fellow at Wilson Center. He's the former U.S. Under Secretary of State and also served as
U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Jordan, and Pakistan. Ambassador, thank you very much for being with us.
Let me just start what we have been seeing just in the past 24 hours. And it has been as I -- as I've spoken to our correspondent on the ground a
pretty terrifying day for many Lebanese. We've got strikes overnight including a strike at the Syria-Lebanon border which the IDF said it struck
an underground tunnel crossing to prevent weapons from being smuggled into Lebanese territory. Just your reaction to what we are seeing right now.
DAVID HALE, FORMER U.S. UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, thank you. Obviously, the situation in Lebanon is very grave. And Lebanese have lived
through these tragedies before for but that doesn't make it any easier. And the vast majority of them are victims as are many Israelis who are
sheltering during these times. And unfortunately, we know that one of the tactics of Hezbollah is to use civilian shields which just a sort of
aggravates the humanitarian dimension and the predicaments that Israel faces as it tries to reestablish deterrence and stability along its border.
SOARES: And we heard President Biden speaking a few minutes ago. And he said that Israel have to be much more careful about dealing with civilian
casualties. So, it's something that we have heard before when we were talking about Gaza. But we have been told, and you would have heard this,
Ambassador, by the IDF that this would be limited, this would be localized, and this will be targeted. And yet Israel has been issuing more evacuation
orders for Lebanon in what seems like a broadening ground offensive.
I wonder how you see this playing out because yesterday on the show, roughly at this time, I spoke to Jeffrey Feltman who was the ambassador --
who served as ambassador to Lebanon during the 2006 war. And he said that this -- he thinks this might be much worse than 2006 in terms of
destruction. Your thoughts.
HALE: The level of sophistication and the amount of weaponry that both sides have accumulated since 2006 would make that war look like a tea
party. But of course the Israelis have done something really quite remarkable that they didn't do in 2006 and which changes the equation
completely. And that is the decapitation of the command and control structure of Hezbollah, not just the leader Nasrallah, but layer after
layer after layer of that. The organization is being run now largely by the IRGC and its rank and file although still I think is rather dumbfounded by
the current situation.
But this ground operation is a concern. I mean, what the Israelis learned in past operations is that they can't really finish off the job just
through air assaults. That there does have to be a ground component. And that's when they expose their soldiers and that's when you run the risk of
mission creep. There's nothing the Iranians and Hezbollah would like better than to pin down the Israelis in open-ended ground operation and
occupation. This would really begin to turn the tables against Israel after all of these victories.
So, I do hope it's in and out quickly. And the announcement that we've seen in the last 24 hours that they have basically doubled the evacuation zone
to include now more than 25 percent of the country is a concern that they're going the other direction.
[14:45:14]
SOARES: Yes, indeed. I want -- I wonder if we can turn to Iran because of course as we have been hearing and President Biden was peppered with
questions about this, Israel is weighing its response to Iran's missile attacks. And today in fact we heard from the country's supreme leader,
Ayatollah Khamenei, who praised Hamas' October the 7th attack on Israel, described it as legitimate, and said, Ambassador, that Iran would strike
again if necessary, if needed.
How should Israel respond in your view? Because we heard President Biden just said if I were in their shoes, talking about Israel, I would be
looking at alternatives to striking oil fields. So, how should they respond?
HALE: Well I'd say the first point is people should stop talking about their preferred targets it is better that the Iranians have a high degree
of uncertainty about what's coming next rather than the opposite. The second point is that the Israelis have finally after a long period where
this was not the case turn the tables. They have established the control over the deterrence ladder -- I'm sorry the escalatory ladder. And they've
beginning to reestablish deterrence.
And so, I don't think they should be stampeded into one course of action or the other. They should be thoughtful about how can they continue with our
support by the way which has been pretty significant militarily to continue to tighten the noose around Iran and its proxies. And I don't think running
after targets in Iran is necessarily the next best step. Although if they have a clear shot at the military target there, who would argue against
that?
But the real task right now is the goal of really pressing the advantage that they've created against Hezbollah, the long-term nemesis of Israel
that is finally, finally out.
SOARES: And Ambassador, we've got about a minute left or so. What is your biggest fear, of course? I've heard so much about fear of this becoming a
wider war, a much wider conflict. What is your fear right now?
Hale: Well, it is a wide war. I mean, I'm -- I sort of struck by the question sometimes because it's like what do you people think has been
happening the last year? Can it get worse? Perhaps. The Iranians aren't going to be sending soldiers into the Levant. They're going to continue to
rely upon their proxies. You could have a lot of damage in the Gulf, but I think that we've demonstrated with our Israeli allies and our Arab friends
that we have the upper hand and we should not be too fearful of the Iranians.
I think that one concern I have is the fate of American citizens in Lebanon, many of whom are dual citizens and often very reluctant to leave
until frankly it's too late. And it may be time to move now toward a higher level of evacuation than we have seen the U.S. so far.
SOARES: Ambassador, I really appreciate you taking the time to speak to us. Thank you very much, sir.
HALE: Thank you. Bye-bye.
SOARES: Thank you. And still to come tonight, the true toll of August Jihadi attack in Burkina Faso is revealed to be much worse than first
thought. We'll bring you that report after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:50:16]
SOARES: Well, a massacre in Burkina Faso has left up to 600 people dead, far more than previously thought. That is according to a French government
assessment of August Jihadi attack in the West African country. Our Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh has the details. And
we want to warn you, this report contains graphic sounds and images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): You're driving to the site of one of the worst massacres in years filmed by one of the killers. First reports said Jihadis shot dead 300
people here in rural Burkina Faso in August. But CNN has obtained a French government security report that says up to 600 were murdered slowly here,
echoing survivor accounts.
Civilians, women, and children all told by the military to dig a trench like this to protect their town, Barsalogho, from jihadists. The men shot
dead for doing so by those same jihadists. The shovels laid down, you can see here, as civilians then lay face down in the dirt themselves,
suggesting they surrendered before being shot.
Al-Qaeda-linked JNIM are raging unchecked across this area of Africa, the Sahel, where the French military were kicked out after military coups.
Here, before the attack, locals were filmed being told to take charge of their own security and dig the trench network. You can see on these
satellite images how vast it is. One survivor talked to CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I started to crawl into the trench to escape, but it seemed that the attackers were following the trenches, so I crawled out and
came across the first blooded victim. There was screaming everywhere. I got down on my stomach under a bush until later in the afternoon hiding. How
can you cry if there are no tears to shed? We the survivors are no longer normal. I see my late friends when I'm asleep. It's more than 300 dead.
Anyone who denies it should come and see me.
WALSH (voice-over): The French government report adds the president, coup leader Captain Ibrahim Traore is recently himself hard to spot in public.
His personal bodyguards supplied by the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, the report says, was shipped off to Russia to stop the Ukrainian advance in
Kursk, leaving him yet more isolated.
Traore launched the trench digging program here in June.
IBRAHIM TRAORE, PRESIDENT, BURKINA FASO (text): All the villagers need to dig the trenches. We don't have machines to do that, so everyone needs to
work together.
WALSH (voice-over): And the army they, fled the massacre the report adds, suffering already a huge credibility gap after their so soldiers were
filmed engaged in cannibalism here apparently of a dead jihadists body parts. Across the region, horrors unimaginable, yet commonplace enough they
sink into obscurity fast deepening the spiral.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:56:03]
SOARES: And finally, tonight, a new twist on a classic puzzle. Japanese toy maker Megahouse has unveiled this miniature Rubik's Cube, making it the
smallest in the world. It's so tiny that you might actually need a pair of tweezers to solve it. Each face of the cube measures just five millimeters
across. But the Hefty price tag mean it's likely to be a collector's item, selling for more than $5,300.
And that does it for us for tonight. Thanks very much for your company. It has been a very busy hour of breaking news. Do stay right here with CNN.
"NEWSROOM" with Jim Sciutto who I believe is still live for us in Tel Aviv will have much more course on the strikes that we have been seeing
throughout the day in Beirut. But also, the latest comments we heard from President Biden as to how you would like to see Israel respond to Iran's
missile strikes. Have a wonderful weekend. Bye-bye.
END
