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First Purported Message from Iran's New Supreme Leader; At Least 8 Killed, 31 Wounded by Israeli Strikes in Beirut; Pro-Iranian Hackers Claim Cyberattack on Medical Device Maker. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired March 12, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, new purported messages from Iran's new supreme leader. Iranian state media just broadcast the first message they say is from Mojtaba Khameini since he took over after the U.S.-Israeli strikes killed his father.

Tankers ablaze, at least six ships have been hit in just the past two days, as Iran ramps up its attacks in the critical Strait of Hormuz. B-1 bombers and bunker busters, new video shows U.S. Air Force military planes loaded with bombs, some 2,000-pound bombs that can take out targets deep underground, a sign the Pentagon may be sending them over Iran right now.

Pro-Iranian hackers claim cyberattack, how they hit a major medical device maker here in the United States as concerns of more cyberattacks grow.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is off today. You're in The Situation Room.

We're following multiple breaking news stories this morning. Israel's defense minister is now telling the Israeli military to prepare for expanding operations in Lebanon after Hezbollah launched strikes in Northern -- into Northern Israel, multiple strikes. Rising prices, the war with Iran could soon raise prices beyond the gas pump. We're going to break down what other items may get more expensive as strikes on tankers increase.

And later struggling to get care, a new watchdog report details the longstanding complaint from many veterans they can't get through to their V.A. healthcare providers on the phone.

We have our reporters covering every angle of the war with Iran. I want to speak to lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, and I will over the next two hours.

Moments ago, Iran broadcast a new purported message from the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. This would be his first message to the world since his appointment. Notably, the message said, and I'm quoting now, certainly the lever of closing the Strait of Hormuz must continue to be used, end quote.

The message also addressed attacks on other nearby countries like Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The message read, and I'm quoting once again, the enemy has built military and financial bases in some of these countries. During the recent attacks, some of those bases were used and we targeted them without attacking those countries themselves. If necessary, we will continue to do so.

The message was read out on Iranian state T.V., but we did not see or hear directly from the new supreme leader. Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared in public in the days since his announcement over the weekend. A source familiar with the situation told CNN the supreme leader had suffered a fractured foot and other minor injuries on the first day of the U.S. and Israeli bombardment campaign.

Overnight, Iran ramping up its attacks across the Middle East, taking direct aim at the region's energy infrastructure. New dramatic video shows flames and smoke pouring out of an oil tanker hit by an Iranian missile, at least one other ship that was also attacked, forcing Iraq -- Iran -- Iraq, I should say, to shut down its oil port operations. And that's creating what's now being described, as I'm quoting now, the largest supply disruption in history.

Let's go live the CNN's Jeremy Diamond right now. He's in Haniel, Israel. That area was hit last night by a Hezbollah rocket attack.

As this conflict continues to spiral, Jeremy, what more can you tell us about this energy attack by Iran?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, in fact, this was not the result of an Iranian ballistic missile, but it was the result of a rocket fired by Hezbollah. We are in the town of Haniel in Central Israel, and you can see the kind of destructive power that Hezbollah still maintains.

This was the living room of a home. And inside of it, obviously, it's been completely torn to pieces. There are bits of glass inside, walls broken down, shrapnel along the walls that are still standing.

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And if you come this way with me as well, you can see a little bit better some of the direct impact from that rocket itself. This part of the wall broken down, there are piece pieces of concrete here that have fallen to the floor as well.

And this came after we saw the largest barrage of rockets fired by Hezbollah in a single night since Hezbollah entered this conflict last week. More than a hundred rockets were fired by Hezbollah towards Israel, mostly targeting Northern Israel, but one of them made it here. And that's important to note, Wolf, because we're about 60 miles away from that border with -- between Israel and Lebanon, and yet you can see what has what has taken place here.

I want to show you, Wolf, the direct impact that this rocket made. This is the crater that has been left behind as a result of that rocket striking here. And so not only was this home that I first showed you completely destroyed on its side here, but you can see the marks of shrapnel on the home that's adjacent to it.

And, surprisingly, there were no injuries, Wolf. And that's because as I just went inside this home, the bomb shelter held up. An 86-year-old woman and her caretaker, they were sheltering inside when those air raid sirens went off. They certainly felt the power of the blast, but they were safe because of that bomb shelter.

And, obviously, it goes to show you, Wolf, that here in Israel, when people do follow those home front command instructions and go to shelter, when those air raid sirens sound, they have a relatively good chance of staying alive and escaping unscathed. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Stay safe over there, Jeremy Diamond in Haniel, in Israel.

And in Lebanon, meanwhile, at least eight are dead and dozens more are wounded after an overnight wave of Israeli strikes hit the capital of Beirut. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz is out with a new message this morning warning the Lebanese government that if they don't take action against Hezbollah, the Israeli military will expand operations inside that country.

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ISRAEL KATZ, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER: I warned the president of Lebanon that if the Lebanese government does not know how to control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening the northern communities and firing towards Israel, we will take the territory and do it ourselves. The prime minister and I have instructed the IDF to prepare for expanding IDF operations in Lebanon, to restore quiet insecurity to the northern communities. We promised quiet insecurity to the northern communities, and that is exactly what we will deliver.

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BLITZER: Also new this morning, CNN at the scene of a residential building in Southern Kuwait that was hit by an Iranian drone overnight. Here, you can see just how damaged the building is from the strike.

CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson is reporting from the location of the attack.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. Just take a look at the apartment above me here, a residential building that completely ripped apart, blown out, debris strewn on the ground around here. I can see a shoe over there, twisted metal over here.

Two people were injured here, two civilians, Kuwaiti government officials tell us, were injured here. They've been taken away for treatment. There were multiple rounds of attempted attacks and attacks on Kuwait overnight. The sirens going off, defensive fighter jets put up in the air overnight. But I want to tell you something here that I think gives our viewers a real clue to how much of a threat Iran is and how their attacks are working. So, you see that impact behind me. Spin around here. And what are we looking at here? We're looking at the Persian Gulf. Iran is 50 miles behind me across the water there. So that drone flew in from there, straight into the building here.

A couple of hundred miles that way is a Strait of Hormuz. Just further north from here, closer to Iraq, two tankers, oil tankers, hit by an explosive device last night, both set on fire. So, right in the northern end of the Persian Gulf here now, you have Iran attacking oil tankers here, a few hundred miles to the south trying to choke off the Strait of Hormuz. They are putting this whole region into a sort of an economic chokehold. The Iranians are turning the sea here, the water, the Persian Gulf, effectively into a war zone, not just the buildings around here.

Kuwait as well last night -- we'll just spin back so you can again see the damage here, but Kuwait last night during those attacks, power lines came down and the attack that happened just a few hours ago in Kuwait targeting and hit Kuwait International Airport. Structural damage, we're told, no one injured, but that threat coming straight across from Iran, very close, very real.

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BLITZER: Nic Robertson on the scene for us in Kuwait. Nic, stay safe over there, thank you very, very much.

And we're learning more about that deadly strike on an Iranian school that killed at least 168 children and 14 teachers. Two sources briefed on the preliminary findings of an ongoing military investigation tell CNN the U.S. military accidentally hit the school. The sources say the mistake likely occurred because of outdated information about a nearby Iranian naval base.

Joining us now, CNN State Department Reporter Jennifer Hansler. Jennifer, I want to start with you. What more did this initial investigation find?

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, Wolf, according to these two sources who were briefed on that preliminary finding of the ongoing investigation, U.S. Central Command had used this outdated intelligence from the Defense Intelligence Agency to compile the strike coordinates for this deadly strike. Now, these strikes happened on February 28th when they were targeting an IRGC base in Minab, Iran.

However, back in 2013, the base and the school were all part of one compound, according to satellite images. Three years later, images showed that a fence had been constructed to separate the school from the base. And fast forward, Wolf, to December 2025, there was imaging of school children, people milling about a courtyard, potentially playing in that courtyard.

Now, the Defense Intelligence Agency said that there was an investigation ongoing. They would not comment further than that. U.S. Central Command pointed to that ongoing investigation. But, Wolf, all of this supporting the growing evidence that the US was behind that deadly strike on the school that killed some 180 civilians, including those 168 school children.

And there are growing questions now as to why that outdated intelligence was used to compile these coordinates. There is a group of Democratic senators who have pressed the Defense Department for answers on this, but this is an incredibly costly error in terms of civilian lives if it does play out in that final investigation that the U.S. was responsible for this. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Jennifer Hansler at the State Department, thank you very, very much.

Still ahead, one-on-one with the Republican Congressman Don Bacon. I'll get his take on President Trump's messaging, as some members of his party are growing wary of this ongoing war.

And global network disruption, an American medical device company says it's the victim of a cyberattack. Pro-Iranian hackers are claiming responsibility. What's being impacted? We're getting new information.

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: New this morning, what appears to be one of the first notable pro-Iranian cyberattacks here in the United States, to target a major medical device company that says it's experiencing what it calls a global network disruption. The hacking group that claimed responsibility says it was retaliation for that deadly missile attack on an Iranian elementary school at the start of this war.

I'm joined here in The Situation Room by CNN Cybersecurity Reporter Sean Lyngaas. Sean, what more do we know about the attack and its impact?

SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: Well, Wolf, just 24 hours ago I was saying that there we hadn't had a really big cyber attack from Iran yet, despite U.S. officials warning about that. Now that's changed pretty dramatically in the last day.

This medical device company, Stryker, makes all kinds of hospital equipment used across the United States, from oxygen masks to cots that ambulances use to wheel patients on, to I.V. machines. And an Iranian -- pro-Iran group that we believe, according to my sources, is strongly linked to the Iranian government has conducted a cyberattack that has disrupted almost all of their computer systems at this company.

So, we have the FBI and other federal agencies scrambling to determine the impact of this, but also hospitals across the country asking the company, should we unplug your equipment? Is it safe? And right now, they are assuring people that, yes, it is safe, it is okay. And they're trying to mitigate the damage.

But we still don't really know the broader fallout, Wolf. I obtained a message that the Maryland Emergency Medical Services Agency sent to hospitals in Maryland yesterday saying we think that the machine that is used to transmit data from ambulances to hospitals is down, so we need to do that manually. If you're on an ambulance provider, you need to get on the radio and say, this is what's happening.

So, this is a real world impact that U.S. officials had warned about, and we're still getting a real understanding of the broader fallout. Wolf?

BLITZER: I'm told that U.S. officials, cybersecurity officials, really believe that the pro-Iranian groups that are involved in this are very effective. They know what they're doing, and they potentially could cause a lot of disruption.

LYNGAAS: Yes, that's true. They're considered very effective and a big risk to critical infrastructure. They're generally right behind Russia and China in terms of top threats. And in this case, the Israelis and the U.S. have been pummeling Iranian government buildings to include where some of the cyber operators are. But, apparently, some of them are still alive and kicking. Wolf?

BLITZER: They're still there. All right, that's a problem.

All right, Sean, we're going to stay in touch with you. I appreciate it very, very much.

Coming up, oil tankers targeted. Is there anything that U.S. forces can do to stop these Iranian attacks? We'll discuss that and more with a key military expert. That's next.

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BLITZER: Breaking news, artificial intelligence tools are contributing to fake images and videos about the war with Iran. Those fakes are rapidly spreading online and racking up tens of millions of views.

CNN Senior Reporter Daniel Dale has more.

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: We've got a big two-part problem. Number one, because of A.I., the fakes we're seeing today are just much better than the fakes we used to see just a few years ago, for example, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

And, number two, because A.I. tools are so widespread and often free, we're seeing many more fakes than we used to. Dozens, if not hundreds of them are spreading online amid the Iran war.

Now, the fakes we saw after the Russian invasion a few years ago tended to be crude fakes, bad Photoshop jobs, video game clips or old clips wrongly labeled as new clips from the war. We're still seeing that kind of crude fakery amid the Iran war, but it has been joined by quite sophisticated, custom made video showing things like missile launches, explosions, people fleeing in terror, people mourning, even captured soldiers supposedly being held on the ground in Iran. So, this is wild stuff.

I'll give people one example to watch. This is an A.I.-generated fake, supposedly showing Iranian missiles raining down on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

Or take a look at this fake supposedly showing captured U.S. Special Forces troops being held at gunpoint by Iranian troops. That is quite good fakery.

But it's not perfect fakery. And thankfully for us, A.I. is not perfect today, even though it continues to get better. These videos often have telltale signs that they're not real. For example, if you go back and look at that video of missile supposedly hitting Tel Aviv, you'll see some oddly shaped kind of morphing images, some sound that doesn't quite sound realistic. So, there are subtle signs, if you look.

Sometimes those signs are more than subtle, they're obvious. For example, if you watch this video, people supposedly fleeing an Iranian attack on an Israeli airport, you'll see a man waving his arm in a strange, unrealistic way. You also conspicuously see suitcases moving themselves down a hallway, so obviously not true.

But often it's not that easy to tell something is fake. So, what do you do in those cases? Well, I spoke to one expert an academic named Hany Farid, not a journalist, who said, look, if you want to avoid being tricked amid wartime, do not get your wartime news from randomly scrolling through random social media accounts. Go read and watch credible established media outlets with a record of truth telling.

Of course, I like that advice as a mainstream media reporter, but even I am often aimlessly scrolling in wartime. So what else can you do? My number one tip is take a beat, take a breath before believing, and certainly before sharing a sensational wartime video. Ask yourself, does anything just feel, seem off about it? Does it square with what we know about the war? Is there anything strange about the images, the audio? Often you'll have a gut feel.

Number two, do a few seconds of searching to find if any credible media outlet or subject matter expert has addressed the veracity of the video. You can even check the comments on the post. Yes, average users can deceive, but often they're raising good skeptical questions. In addition, there are A.I. detection tools that themselves are not perfect, but they can help.

Now, one thing not to do is ask X's Grok A.I. chatbot whether a video is real or fake. Repeatedly during this war, it has told people that real videos are fake and fake videos are real. So, we have an A.I. chatbot worsening the problem of fakery by A.I. video. It's not an ideal situation.

Daniel Dale, CNN. BLITZER: Excellent report from Daniel Dale. Thank you very, very much. I agree with your analysis.

Also new this morning, Iran is stepping up attacks on oil tankers and other ships in the Persian Gulf. Just last night, two oil tankers were hit in Iraqi waters, and earlier this morning, a container ship off the United Arab Emirates reported being struck. These attacks are driving oil prices even higher.

I want to bring in CNN Military Analyst, retired US Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, thanks so much for joining us.

Is there anything that U.S. forces can do now to stop these Iranian attacks on these oil tankers?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it's going to be really difficult, Wolf. One of the things that they have to worry about is the sheer volume of attacks and the fact that they occurred in the latest case in just off the coastline of Iraq, which is very narrow. That particular area was the scene of a lot of activity -- the second Gulf War ended also during the first Gulf War and it was one of the areas where the Iranians and the Iraqis fought over during their war back in the 1980s.

As far as the U.S. military is concerned, they're going to have a real problem going after all of these kinds of attacks because the Iranians are using small boats (INAUDIBLE) these attacks, and that is going to be a real challenge. They can get a lot of those boats, but they probably won't be able to get all of them.

BLITZER: And, Colonel, we have some quite remarkable video of an American B-1 bomber being loaded with bunker-busting bombs yesterday at an air base in England. This comes as President Trump told Axios there is practically nothing left to target in Iran. Those were his words. Do you see any contradiction here?

LEIGHTON: Yes, there definitely (INAUDIBLE). There are still things (INAUDIBLE) that one of the reasons you would actually have (INAUDIBLE) is because there are still a lot of bunkers to bust.

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