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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Trump Says Big Decision Looming On Iran Following Talks; Rubio To Travel To Israel To Update Netanyahu On Iran Talks; Fears Of U.S.- Iran Military Action Looms Over Middle East; Bill Clinton Releases Video After His Testimony On Epstein; Top Oversight Democrat Calls On Trump To Testify; President Trump - I've Been Fully Exonerated; Oversight Committee Member On Future Of Investigation; Trump Gives U.S. Agencies 6 Months To Stop Using Anthropic; Israel Launches Attack On Iran; Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 28, 2026 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN HOST: Happy birthday, Pikachu and Ash. The popular media franchise Pokemon turned 30 on Friday. Pokemon started out in Japan in 1996 as a video game called Pocket Monsters. Since then, it has become the world's most valuable franchise with an animated TV show, movies, trading cards, figurines and more. Pokemon's total estimated revenue exceeds $100 billion. A $100 billion per year for Pokemon. We're all in the wrong business, right? Thanks for watching. The next hour of "The Story Is" starts right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "The Story Is" tensions with Iran. President Trump says he's got a big decision to make.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does he go for something much larger, something intended to take out the Iranian regime?
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MICHAELSON: Colonel Cedric Leighton is live with U.S. to break it down.
"The Story Is" Bill Clinton's new response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: No person is above the law, even presidents.
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MICHAELSON: The former President speaks about his testimony on Jeffrey Epstein.
And "The Story Is" a CNN exclusive. A Democratic candidate for Governor of California is trying to take the state in a very different direction than Gavin Newsom. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT MAHAN, MAYOR, SAN JOSE: He's practical, and he just cuts through the performative baloney that we all see out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Los Angeles, "The Story Is" with Elex Michaelson.
MICHAELSON: And welcome to "The Story Is." I'm Elex Michaelson. It is 10 o'clock here in Los Angeles. And the top story is tensions over Iran. The President of the United States says that he is considering his next move, including possible military action, following diplomatic talks this week with Iran over its nuclear program. President Trump says he is not happy with how the discussions are playing out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have a big decision to make. You know that not easy. Not easy. We have a very big decision to make.
We haven't made a final decision. We're not exactly happy with the way they negotiated. They can -- they cannot have nuclear weapons, and we're not thrilled with the way they're negotiating. So we'll see how it all works.
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MICHAELSON: The president's pessimistic tone there is notably different than what the key mediator between the U.S. and Iran says about the state of negotiations. Here's what Oman's Foreign Minister said on Friday.
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BADR ALBUSAIDI, OMANI FOREIGN MINISTER: The most important achievement, I believe is the agreement that Iran will never ever have a nuclear material that will create a bomb.
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MICHAELSON: Top U.S. diplomat Marco Rubio is set to travel to Israel on Monday where he plans to update Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the talks with Iran. Meanwhile, the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier has arrived off the northern Israeli coast after departing Greece on Thursday as President Trump has repeatedly suggested he might take military action against Iran.
And new warnings to Americans in the region, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel telling non-essential embassy staff that if they want to leave the country due to a possible U.S. strike on Iran, they should leave, "Today." Joining me live from Washington where it's after one o'clock in the morning is CNN Military Analyst, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, thanks so much for being here on "The Story Is." Thanks for staying up late for us.
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You bet, Elex. Anytime.
MICHAELSON: So that State Department travel warning to Israel, staffers told leave today, what do you read into that?
LEIGHTON: Yeah. Usually when something like that happens, it's -- there's a perhaps a precursor there that something might be going on. Now this is non-essential personnel supposedly, and that's kind of standard in a case like this. But it's certainly an indicator that something else might be happening. We also know that the British embassy evacuated its personnel from its embassy in Tehran. So that is another indicator that tensions might not only be rising, but that some other things might be happening at this particular point in time.
MICHAELSON: When we see this much military buildup in the region, first off, how much does that cost, like per day to do this to have two aircraft carriers there and everything else that comes with this?
LEIGHTON: Yeah. Well, when you're looking at, you have to not only count the flight hours that the aircraft are using up, basically, and the fuel that they're using up, but also what the carriers are doing. So you're talking several -- probably several $100 million a day when you put everything together. So it's expensive. And by the time these deployments end, you could spend north of $500 million easily for some kind of a -- for operations of this type.
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And it's something that people have to take into account when we put our forces in places like this because it is pretty expensive.
MICHAELSON: So how often do you spend $500 million as a bluff? I mean, if that's happening, is that an indication that that probably something's going to happen?
LEIGHTON: Usually, it is. Yeah. Because not only is it expensive, but once you put so much firepower into a particular area, there is this tendency to actually want to use it, and it's basically like a coiled spring. And you're getting ready. You have some targets in mind before you do something like this usually. Now in this particular case, I think we're looking at certain different sets of targets.
Leadership targets are possible. The nuclear sites, once again, is another possibility. So it seems as if they've got several target sets in mind, but they probably haven't decided. The Trump administration, that is probably hasn't decided exactly which ones it wants to strike and what the possible consequences of those strikes are.
MICHAELSON: There have been a lot of weekends, especially at this time, late Friday night, early Saturday morning where we thought this is going to be the weekend when this happens, and then it doesn't happen. Is there any reason to think that it's more likely to happen this weekend?
LEIGHTON: Well, I think part of it is that a lot of assets are now on station. You have a lot of aircraft that have gone into the area. You mentioned earlier that the Gerald R. Ford, the USS Gerald R. Ford is now off the coast of Northern Israel. That really shows that all of these different assets, both the naval assets and aviation assets are in place in one, basically, one region of the world. And when there's that much concentration of firepower, that usually indicates that something's going to happen.
Now it's possible the -- that the president could call them back, but there have been a lot of sacrifices made along the way, in terms of what the service members are going through right now. And in many cases, the end result has been at least historically, that there's a move forward to at least strike something, maybe just a symbolic strike, but it's a pretty expensive symbolic strike if that's what -- what's going to happen.
MICHAELSON: Well, if anything happens this weekend, CNN will be on it, and no doubt, colonel Cedric Leighton will be one of the first calls that CNN makes, and he will be on it as well. Thank you for your expertise through all of this. It is coming to get your perspective in a time that can be very tense. We appreciate it.
LEIGHTON: You bet, Elex. It's always a pleasure to be with you.
MICHAELSON: Now let's talk politics. Republican Lawmaker Lauren Boebert posted a photo that appears to show former President Bill Clinton during his closed door deposition tied to the House Oversight Committee's Jeffrey Epstein probe. It seems to show the former President inside the deposition room. It comes after Clinton shared this video.
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BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I did it for two reasons. First, I love my country, including our constitution. And America was built on the idea that no person is above the law, even presidents, especially presidents.
The second reason I was there is that the girls and women whose lives Jeffrey Epstein destroyed deserve not just justice, but healing. They've been waiting too long for both. Though my brief acquaintance with Epstein ended years before his crimes came to light, and though I never witnessed during our limited interactions any indication with what was truly going on, I offered the little -- I do know in the hopes that it would help prevent anything like this from ever happening again. I know what I saw and, more importantly, what I didn't see. And I know what I did and more importantly, what I didn't do. I saw nothing and I did nothing wrong.
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MICHAELSON: By the way, Lauren Boebert posting that picture. There was not supposed to be any photography during that deposition today or yesterday when Hillary Clinton was also testifying. Boebert posted a picture of Clinton yesterday and now posted this picture of Bill Clinton today. Both Clintons, Hillary and Bill wanted there to be cameras inside and wanted the whole thing to be put out live. Republicans in the committee said no, but Boebert both days put out her own pictures anyways.
Meanwhile, sources say Clinton seemed at ease and comfortable during his deposition. More now on the whole thing from Sherrell Hubbard.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 79-year-old former President Bill Clinton was questioned under oath Friday for more than six hours before the House Oversight Committee in a deposition tied to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
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The meeting was closed door, but inside Clinton said in his opening statement that he, "Saw nothing and did nothing wrong." Committee Chairman James Comer told reporters afterward that the Clinton's testimony was riddled with denials.
JAMES COMER, U.S. HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CHAIR: Many times the Clinton's couldn't recall or didn't know or denied that they were pertaining to them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The former President did not take questions from reporters afterward as his wife did the day before where she denied having met Epstein or knowledge of his criminal activities.
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I don't know how many times I had to say, I did not know Jeffrey Epstein. I never went to his island. I never went to his home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A photo from the Epstein files earlier made public by the justice department shows Bill Clinton in a jacuzzi with a woman whose face is redacted. When asked about the photo, Clinton told lawmakers that he did not know or have sex with a woman according to two sources familiar with the testimony. A top Democrat on the committee said the Clinton's depositions should pave the way for President Trump to testify too.
ROBERT GARCIA, U.S. HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEMBER: He appears in the Epstein files next to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell almost more than anybody else. I'm Sherrell Hubbard reporting.
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MICHAELSON: So you heard there the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Robert Garcia, pushing for President Trump to testify, saying the Republicans have set a precedent with Clinton's historic deposition. But he insists President Trump insists that he knows nothing.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I don't know anything about the Epstein files. I've been fully exonerated.
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MICHAELSON: The Chairman and Members of the Republican Led Committee who heard testimony from the Clintons were asked whether they agree with President Trump that he's been exonerated and he's got nothing to add.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you agree that he is exonerated at this matter?
JAMES COMER, U.S. HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CHAIR: From all the evidence I've seen, he's been exonerated for a long time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And would that preclude your committee? Is that your position from your committee calling him?
COMER: We'll discuss that as we move forward. Obviously, we've got more people to bring in, and we'll see if any new evidence arises. But right now, I haven't seen anything. And if anybody just --
NANCY MACE, U.S. HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEMBER: Can I just say this? The Epstein victims have exonerated president Trump. This is a trope that you guys are a rabbit hole. You guys are going down, but he has been exonerated over and over again by Epstein victims.
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MICHAELSON: But there were no direct ties of Clinton either, and they brought them. Calls are growing for the U.S. Commerce Secretary to testify after this photo was briefly removed from the justice department's website. It shows Howard Lutnick alongside Epstein on the late sex offender's private island. The DOJ says the photo is now back online after it was flagged during a review process. Lutnick has not commented on the image.
Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Stephen Lynch. He's a Senior Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Congressman, welcome to "The Story Is" for the first time.
STEPHEN LYNCH, U.S. HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEMBER: Good to be with you, Elex.
MICHAELSON: So you're on the committee that did the big hearing today. You weren't yourself inside the room for it, but I'm sure you've talked to your colleagues. Did you learn anything today?
LYNCH: Well, we had gone through the documents and there was very little there in terms of connections with Clinton. There were some pictures. We had also talked to a half dozen of the survivors, maybe eight of the survivors, and they had indicated there was no -- there was -- they did not make any accusations against him. So it more or less went the way we thought it would, but it's good to have his testimony on the record.
MICHAELSON: Where does it go from here? And are your Republican colleagues willing to bring any high profile Republicans?
LYNCH: I think so. I think there is some bipartisan support for bringing in Howard Lutnick. We also on the democratic side, we would like very much to have the President Trump testify, under oath because more than anyone, he's all over these files, and there's a fairly long standing friendship that he had with Epstein. And there's at least a couple of cases where young women were trafficked from Mar-a-Lago to Epstein's estate. So that's very troubling.
MICHAELSON: In terms of the Epstein investigation sort of writ large, where do we go from here? Because we see some other governments the way that they're reacting, and there is a sense of accountability in other places.
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Do you see anything like that coming here? And do you know of any potential criminal wrongdoing that deserves prosecution?
LYNCH: Well, obviously, there were many hundreds of cases of abuse. So we've identified the victims, and we know what the perpetrators have been accused of. So, yeah, there's been plenty of criminal activity here. But for a very long time, those individuals have been protected. They were protected down in Florida when the U.S. attorney down there deliberately refused to prosecute and instead arranged a sweetheart deal, a non-prosecution agreement. That was Alex Acosta. He did that with Epstein and with Maxwell.
So, the crimes were committed, but people along the line have refused to bring those individuals to justice and have refused to protect these young women. So we have to do that, but it's a very long timeline from when those first abuse instances occurred. So we've got to go back. That's why we've got 6 million documents we've got to go through, some of which that that connected to Trump that that the justice department refused to give to Congress.
So we see obstruction in that and also in the other things that that Pam Bondi and others have perpetrated during this investigation.
MICHAELSON: Congressman Stephen Lynch, joining us from Boston tonight. Thank you so much for your time, and have a great weekend.
LYNCH: Thank you, Elex. You too.
MICHAELSON: Coming up, living amidst the rubble of a devastating war, the children of Gaza are eager for some sense of normal.
How a network of schools is working to educate young Palestinians using art, while teaching them about a different kind of future, but lots of help from Jewish donors. It's an amazing story, and it's next.
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MICHAELSON: While some aid organizations have been denied access inside Gaza, there are others on the ground still providing aid and relief to the most vulnerable there are. One of those organizations is the Gaza Children Village. The group has partnered with Jewish donors to bring a network of free private schools to kids in Gaza.
Joining me now is Dr. David Hassan, Founder and CEO of the Gaza Children Village and Academies of Hope. Thank you so much for being with us. Thank you for the work that you do. These children are often -- war orphans or deeply traumatized. What kind of psychological care are they receiving?
DR. DAVID HASSAN, FOUNDER & CEO, THE GAZA CHILDREN VILLAGE & ACADEMIES OF HOPE: We're the only group, Elex, in Gaza. Even started back as early as July of 2025, which when the blockade was removed we provide a holistic approach and that includes a curriculum, a daily hot meal, an on-site clinic which have a pediatrician and male and female nurse and a psychotherapist.
So we try our best to provide this holistic approach to each individual and you could see right here we try and do that by restoring and rebuilding their childhood. We try to feel -- make them feel like again as children where they can have fun, enjoy, express themselves. We do as a group psychotherapy, we do it as classes of yoga activities like you see in these videos, but also painting. We had found -- we found out that when they paint they are able to express a lot of feelings that they couldn't express before.
And we took advantage of that, Elex, by creating a solidarity with schools, almost Jewish schools around the world. And so we're able to take images of these paintings and share it with schools in Mexico, France, Italy, Germany, Norway. And the kids in these schools and these countries did a -- they reciprocate back by painting and showing solidarities. And also sometimes they sing to each other, the group sing in French for the first time. And so we try to create that. For individual kids that we find they're still really struggling, we try to do one on one.
MICHAELSON: Talk about sort of how Jewish donors are incorporated. How do you keep that that balance?
HASSAN: So we were able to create that comfort for each other to talk. What we own the people inside Gaza is honesty and transparency, and we told them from the beginning. And when I came and spoke with the elders of the clans and the head of the families, big families that I work with Israelis and Jewish, they care, and they accepted that, because remember before October 7th, a lot of Israelis were helping Gaza.
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So they come in and pick up kids from the border and take them to hospitals, get it treated, and bring them back. So there was a good relationships between the Israelis and Gaza at one point, and we're just doing this restoring that.
MICHAELSON: Well that is such important work and these conversations are so interesting and crucial. Dr. David Hassan thank you so much for what you're doing. Have a great weekend.
HASSAN: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: And thank you for watching "The Story Is." For our international viewers, Quest's World of Wonder is next. For our viewers here in North America, I'll be right back with an exclusive interview with California candidate for Governor Matt Mahan and Rick Caruso from the Palisades. We'll see you then.
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MICHAELSON: A rough end of the week and month on Wall Street. U.S. stocks fell across the board due to a number of worries. The NASDAQ and S&P hitting their worst month since last March. Stocks with fewer connections to AI seem to perform better. The Head of ChatGPT creator a OpenAI says his company has made a deal with the Pentagon to deploy its models into the military's classified network.
Sam Altman posted on X that OpenAI has reached agreement with the U.S. military that honors OpenAI's most important safety principles prohibiting mass surveillance of Americans and human responsibility for the use of force including for autonomous weapon systems. The OpenAI deal comes as President Trump is giving all federal agencies six months to stop using technology from AI giant Anthropic. The company rejected the Pentagon's demands to allow it to use Anthropic's Claude AI system for all lawful purposes.
Similarly to OpenAI, Anthropic had voiced its unwillingness to allow Claude to be used in autonomous weapons or for the mass surveillance of U.S. citizens. The Pentagon says it has no interest in using AI for either purpose and that it simply needs the freedom to use the technology it is licensing without limitations. Anthropic says it will challenge the Pentagon's decision in court.
A shortage of aircraft mechanics is causing --
All right we are now going to go to breaking news.
We have major breaking news here into CNN. Israel has launched what it calls a preemptive strike on Iran. That news just in from the Defense Minister of Israel as a state of emergency was declared across the country of Israel. The government declared the state of emergency because of the expectation of Iranian retaliation with drones and ballistic missiles.
There's still a lot we do not yet know about this attack, but it comes as President Donald Trump has been considering a U.S. military action against Iran. The U.S. and Iran have been engaged in diplomatic talks for weeks now about Iran's nuclear program, are trying to reach an agreement over the matter.
Let's go live right now to Cedric Leighton, who is joining us. We just spoke with you a short time ago about the possibility of an attack. We were hinting, that an attack was imminent, but now it appears that Israel making the first move. What do you make of that?
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah. That's right, Elex. And one of the key things here is that, it looks like one of the plans that had been talked about here in Washington about, Israel possibly making, the first move in this particular case has actually come to fruition. So what appears to be happening is that the Israelis are striking a series of targets. We're not sure exactly which ones, but one of the guesses would be that it would be some of the ballistic missile sites, would be a distinct possibility in this case.
And what they're doing here, Elex, is they're trying to, basically get rid of those, so that they won't affect Israel, first of all. But secondly, they're also going after any air defense assets, that, the Iranians have, and that would the idea there, of course, would be to protect not only their own aircraft, but any possible U.S. aircraft that might, go in a subsequent wave against Iranian targets at this point.
MICHAELSON: Is there any way that Israel is doing this without communication and coordination with the United States of America?
LEIGHTON: It is possible, but I think it's unlikely in this particular case. Now there have been instances in the past where the Israelis have actually done something like this without, coordination with the United States. There have been several instances in history like that. But in this particular case, it seems to me that the Israeli government is working with the U.S. government. Now what's interesting is I don't think Secretary of State Rubio, has quite made it to Israel yet.
I think he was supposed to go there on Monday, if I remember correctly. And that that -- that's kind of an interesting wrinkle in all of this, but it all seems to fit with the ambassador Huckabee's statement to his embassy staff that the non-essential personnel should leave Israel today. He said that yesterday, of course. So that that -- that's one aspect of it.
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The other part of it is that it seems as if the Israelis have put things in place that would allow them to mount these kinds of attacks. So I believe this was a coordinated effort between the two countries. And what the Israelis expect now is that the Iranians are going to lob some missiles and drones in their direction. And that's why, as you mentioned at the start of this breaking news, that there would be an Israeli -- there is an Israeli alert right now for that, and this is where then the United States would work alongside Israel and help protect the country using Israel's iron dome and the other air defense and missile defense systems that they have, and that will then lead to U.S. -- possible U.S. role in all of this. MICHAELSON: Yeah. Cedric, standby as we take this live picture right now from Tel Aviv. We want to tell people what's going on right now in Israel. There have been sirens sounding. People are being told to seek shelter. We know folks in Israel are used to the idea of going into bomb shelters. This is not a drill often there, and this is not a drill that is happening right now.
Let's take you live to Israel. Jeremy Diamond joins U.S. live right now from Tel Aviv. What are you seeing? What are you seeing, from your perspective? What are you hearing right now?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Elex, about 20 minutes ago, Israelis across the country were woken up by the sound of air raid sirens. These were not sirens indicating that they need to immediately go to shelter, that incoming missiles are here, but rather it was to alert Israelis to the fact that Israel is now in a state of emergency. And that's because the Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, has announced that Israel has launched a preemptive strike against Iran in order, he says to "Remove threats to the state of Israel."
And as a result, he says that Iranian retaliation is expected in the form of missile and drone attacks against the State of Israel. This is very similar to how things played out back in June when Israel launched a strike against Iran, and sirens immediately then as well sounded across Israel, warning Israelis of this new state of emergency. It would be hours later when the Iranians would retaliate initially with drones and then subsequently later that night with ballistic missiles.
And we expect that a similar scenario will likely play out today. How quickly the Iranians retaliate is another question altogether. It does appear that the Iranians are more prepared for this attack than they were back in June. And so while last time, we saw drones within a few hours, but the ballistic missiles didn't come until at least 15 hours later. This time it is possible that that Iranian retaliation could come more swiftly. But this is an enormous moment in The Middle East right now and one still fraught with a lot of uncertainty.
I mean, we have been talking for several weeks now about the possibility that the United States can -- could conduct strikes against Iran. We have been waiting to see whether President Trump has decided that diplomacy still has legs, that the diplomacy could still go forward, or whether he has decided that he has lost patience with that diplomatic effort and he would carry out strikes.
But instead, what we are seeing at this moment at least is not yet strikes by the United States that we know of, but rather a decision by Israel to carry out strikes. Now the question will be whether or not Israel and the United States coordinated this attack to have Israel be the first to launch these strikes followed by or at the same time as the United States also carries out strikes against Iran. We do not yet know that yet.
What we can tell you is at this stage, Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran. Israel is expecting retaliation from the Iranians, and we do appear to be entering another major conflict between Iran and Israel. The question is the United States involved and how much wider will this conflict become?
MICHAELSON: Jeremy, what do you make of the fact that Israel is leading the way on this and it is not the United States striking first?
DIAMOND: It's very interesting. We had heard that notion begin to leak out in the last few days about the possibility of Israel going first. As I said, it's difficult to know at this stage whether this was fully coordinated, whether this was Israel kind of wanting to strike before the United States.
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We also know that there are different interests at play, that the United States is far more concerned about Iran's nuclear program, retaliating perhaps against Iranian leaders for the killing of thousands of protesters last month in Iran. The Israelis, on the other hands are certainly most concerned about Iran's ballistic missile program, which represents a significant threat to the State of Israel because it is within the range of those ballistic missiles. But we know that the United States and Israel have been coordinating very closely in recent weeks, and it is difficult to imagine that Israel would move forward with such a strike without coordinating with the United States and certainly without notifying the United States. But we're just beginning to get some of that information in, and so I want to be cautious in my language.
MICHAELSON: Thank you, Jeremy, for that. I'm seeing the Associated Presses is now reporting and "State television in Iran as saying that an explosion happened near the offices of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei." It was not immediately clear if Khamenei was there in the offices, but that's state television in Iran now reporting that there have been explosions near the offices of the supreme leader.
Cedric Leighton, as we bring you back into the conversation, I'm curious what you see as the potential strategic imperatives here, and what would be the potential targets that they would be going after?
LEIGHTON: Well, Elex, one of the things that we have to look at is the possibility of that, in fact, the supreme leader might have actually been a target of this action. So what would be really interesting to know at this particular point in time, is this a unilateral Israeli action to go after the supreme leader, or was it coincidental that these explosions occurred near the supreme leader's compound? Or is there something else afoot here? So there are several unknowns here, but it does seem like the target list included the hierarchy of the Iranian government of the theocratic Iranian state. So that is a significant ratcheting up of the kind of target sets that we've usually seen in this particular in these particular scenarios.
In June, we went basically after the nuclear areas, and the Israelis tended to concentrate on military targets, radars, and of course, those ballistic missiles that I mentioned earlier. In this particular situation, the targets set may be a little bit different, and they would have to go after similar things such as radar installations and communications nodes and things like that. But it seems like one possibility at least is that there was more to it this time that the regime itself is actually a target. And if it is the Supreme Leader, that of course, is a very, very big deal at this point.
MICHAELSON: Yeah. This is much closer to home for the Supreme Leader than that last attack was. Back to Jeremy Diamond now. We've got new reporting here at CNN. We were wondering whether the U.S. and Israel coordinated on this attack. A source now telling CNN that, in fact, the U.S. and Israel coordinated on this attack, and so we have to wonder whether the U.S. will now be attacking next.
DIAMOND: Yeah. That's right. And it's important to note the distinction of what we know here, which is that Israel coordinated the attack with United States according to an Israeli source, but it is unclear at this stage whether this was a unilateral Israeli strike or if the United States also took part in an attack. It's -- we know that in the past, even when sometimes these are just Israeli fighter jets carrying out the strikes or Israeli bombers hitting targets in Iran, they have at times, used the assistance of U.S. air refueling aircraft.
And just yesterday, we saw at least nine U.S. air refueling aircraft, these KC-135 planes that were positioned at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport just on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. And so that is a notable data point here as we try and parse through all of the information. Beyond that, of course, we know that the United States has a massive military buildup in The Middle East right now. Something that's taken place over the course of the last month and change, but has really accelerated over the last 10 days or so with dozens of fighter jets positioned at bases across The Middle East.
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I mean, you have jets in Jordan. You have jets here in Israel at a base in Southern Israel, about a dozen F-22 fighter jets. You have planes that have been positioned on the two aircraft carriers as well that are now in the Middle East. You have, of course, the USS Abraham Lincoln is closest and in striking position to Iran. But also the USS Gerald Ford carrier strike group was arriving last night in Northern Israel, likely to play more of a defensive role in being able to defend Israel against retaliatory strikes from Iran.
So this this does not seem to have been any accidents as unexpected as it may have been to see Israel carry out the strike first this morning, given all of the talk about the United States striking. This is not something that will have caught the Iranians entirely off guard most likely. And we know, of course, that the tremendous posture of U.S. assets in the region means points to, if not immediate U.S. involvement, so then at least the possibility of it and certainly a role for the United States in carrying out air defense measures once those Iranian drones and ballistic missiles begin to head towards cities in Israel like Tel Aviv where I am now.
MICHAELSON: Jeremy, we know that the supreme leader of Iran has called for the death of America and the death of Israel. We know that the U.S. and Israel coordinated on this attack. We don't know to the extent of which they coordinated. As somebody who does this for a living every day, can you sort of break down the -- where the U.S. and Israel, are on the same page when it comes to Iran and where they may not, where their interests align and where they don't?
DIAMOND: Yeah. It's a good question, because on many of these issues as it relates to Iran, the interests do converge quite closely especially with President Trump in office who has been willing already to carry out strikes against Iran. Remember back in June, we saw the United States send seven B-2 stealth bombers in a pretty unprecedented mission to strike using these enormous bunker busting bombs, three different Iranian nuclear sites as well as the assistance of Tomahawk missiles that were also fired by the United States.
And so we have seen this convergence of interests under President Trump's administration with Israel in terms of the seriousness with which they view the Iranian nuclear threat and the willingness to take military action. That doesn't mean, however, that there is a 100 percent convergence of interests, and that's largely driven by the fact that for the United States, the main threat is the nuclear threat from Iran.
And you'll recall when these negotiations began between the United States and Iran, Israel was pressing the United States to not just focus on the nuclear issue, but also to talk about ballistic missile -- Iran's ballistic missile program, as well as Iran's support of regional proxies, meaning groups militant groups like Hezbollah, like Hamas, even the Houthis in Yemen to a certain extent as well. And the United States has been squarely focused on the nuclear issue and diplomatic talks so far largely because the Iranians refused to discuss the other two buckets.
That being said, the United States also understands the threat of those issues, likely would want to address them, but focus on the nuclear issue first. So there's a lot that we still have to learn about exactly what led to this decision to strike, whether it was ultimately coming down to a U.S. decision, whether President Trump lost patience with diplomacy. I mean, yesterday, we heard a lot of comments from the President in the afternoon U.S. time where he was talking about the fact that, look, he would prefer diplomacy, but he said sometimes you have to get it done through military action. And you could see him either in the process of making that decision or having made that decision kind of laying the groundwork for the potential for military action.
And again, at this stage, we know that Israel is carrying out strikes in Iran. We know that Israel coordinated those strikes with the United States. We do not yet know the extent or the existence of any U.S. involvement in those strikes, and we are now in Israel bracing for the expectation of Iranian retaliation in the form of drones and also those very powerful ballistic missiles.
MICHAELSON: And because of that, Jeremy, Israel has now closed its airspace after those strikes on Iran. So no planes flying over Iran. And we've got to think about now what kind of military response Iran might carry out.
[01:50:00]
Let's go back to Cedric Leighton now as the military expert here, to talk about what potential does Iran have. We know in the past when they were attacked by Israel and the US, it was sort of an attack. It seemed like everybody was kind of on the same page. They did a response that wasn't a full on response. It was in order to sort of check a box, but it wasn't -- we're giving them everything we got. Do you expect that that could be what we see now from Iran? And if that is what happens, what is everything they got?
LEIGHTON: Yeah. That's a great question, Elex. And one of the key things here is what's left over from what happened in June. So depending on how successful the U.S. and Israeli operations were in June, that's going to really determine what the Iranians have in terms of their capability to strike back at Israel. So what I would expect is that they actually do have something that's left, that's something in their -- that's not there's something in their arsenal. I -- what you can see is you'll probably get some of the longer range missiles, to head toward Israel at this as soon as the Iranians can get them ready.
Now in some cases, as Jeremy mentioned earlier, it'd take about 15 hours or so, to see that. That's very possible. It might take longer in this case just because of the situation that the Iranians find themselves in.
Now if a lot of their assets were destroyed, then that weakens that particular capability. But one thing that you can definitely expect is for them to send a swarm of drones toward Israel and try to overwhelm the Israeli air defenses. The Israeli air defenses, air and missile defenses are basically a three tiered system. The Iron Dome is the most famous one, and everybody kind of talks about that as being the end all and be all of Israeli air defenses, but it's actually more than that. That's kind of the lower level system that they have.
And then you have basically David Sling, which is the next level up, and then you have the arrow system. So each one of these is designed to go after a slightly different threat. Everything from short range missiles all the way to and drones all the way to the more sophisticated longer range missiles that the Iranians and some of their proxies actually have.
So the other thing that we can expect, we can see some of this stuff come from Iran, but the other things that might show up here are what with the Houthis, for example, one of the proxies that Jeremy mentioned in -- that the Iranians have. The Houthis in Yemen have been using some of their missiles at times to go after targets in Israel. We could see them do something.
The one thing to keep in mind is that, other proxies like Hezbollah and Lebanon have been severely weakened by what the Israelis have been able to do over the past year and really two years, and that has made a significant impact on the ability of the Iranians to conduct attacks. So those are the kinds of things that I would expect to see at least in the kinetic world.
The other thing that we can possibly see is cyberattacks. The Iranians may try to mount cyberattacks against Israeli targets and also possibly American targets. So that's another thing that we'll have to be prepared for.
MICHAELSON: And interesting, that the Israeli defense forces, has put out on X basically saying, as of this morning, they're asking people to essentially suspend doing non-essential activities. So they're asking people, a prohibition on educational activities, gatherings, workplaces, except for essential sectors, essentially trying to keep people off the streets of Israel and sending many people to shelters at this point in fear of retaliation.
We have not seen actual retaliation yet in Israel. What we are seeing, as you're watching live here on CNN, is an Israeli attack which is ongoing right now as we speak in Iran, including in Tehran itself, near according to the Iranian state TV, near the offices of the Supreme Leader of Iran. The 86-year-old Supreme Leader, unclear, if he was in that office at the time, unclear what damage has been done. We do know though, that there is damage. Those Israeli strikes targeting, Iranian ballistic missiles and missile launchers, which Israel has viewed as a serious threat to the nation.
So that is the intention, Jeremy Diamond, at least so far what we know of in terms of what Israel is targeting. And Israel has seen Iran potentially, Jeremy, as an existential threat to the country.
[01:55:00]
DIAMOND: Yeah. Without a doubt. That is always how the Israelis have viewed this issue, how they have framed it. We have seen also a unity of politics in Israel as it relates to the issue of the Iranian threat. During the previous war in June, you saw members of the opposition, like the opposition leader Yair Lapid, also joining in and supporting Israel's actions -- military actions against Iran.
In the lead up to these strikes, we have seen a similar kind of unified front on the Israeli political spectrum as it relates to attacks against Iran. And Israelis have really been preparing and wondering when this war would start for weeks now, really. Yesterday, you certainly got a sense that it seemed like we were in entering the window, during which those strikes could legitimately happen. All of the indicators yesterday were pointing towards the possibility of strikes.
And when you're reporting those in the moment, you don't want to say for sure because there's always the possibility of misdirection. There's always the possibility of over preparedness. But now in hindsight, it was quite evident yesterday that something was about to happen.
When you look at not only the staging of those U.S. refueling aircraft at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, a dozen F-22 stealth fighter jets at a southern base in Israel, which is unprecedented as far as we know of. And in and really, one of the most telling indicators to me was the U.S. embassy directing non-emergency personnel that they could leave the country with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee saying, if you want to leave, you should do so today, and writing today in all capital letters.
And following that, you saw a number of other countries including close U.S. intelligence partners issuing travel advisories for Israel, for multiple other countries in The Middle East. And I do have some breaking news for you as well now, Elex, which is that the United States is also striking Iran. I'm told this by a U.S. official who tells me that the United States is indeed carrying out strikes against Iran. This is not solely an Israeli action. And this official also tells me that it is not a small strike. So we can expect that the United States military is currently bringing massive air power towards striking Iran at this stage.
We don't know the extent of those strikes as of yet, but it is clear that the United States is carrying out strikes alongside Israel against Iran. Those strikes are currently ongoing, and the United States official now confirming that to me and stressing that this is not a small strike. A lot more details we expect to soon follow, but this is an enormous moment right now in The Middle East with entering a major conflict that could really escalate into a major regional war.
The Iranians have made clear that they would not be carrying out kind of symbolic strikes in retaliation in the way they did against a U.S. base in Qatar back in June, they made clear that should the U.S. carry out large strikes against Iran, the retaliation would be swift and the retaliation would be severe, and it would be on multiple fronts. We know that there are U.S. military personnel positioned across the Middle East. Their presence has been reduced at some of those bases in the region, because of that fear of retaliation. But there are certainly a large number of U.S. military personnel, U.S. assets that are within the range of those Iranian missiles, not only the ballistic missiles, but also the shorter range missiles that Iran has. And so this is a moment of peril right now in The Middle East.
MICHAELSON: Yes. Indeed. It is. As we approach the top of the hour, this is Elex Michaelson along with Jeremy Diamond. Cedric Leighton here with major, major breaking news unfolding as we speak here live on CNN. We are going to stay on the air throughout the night and throughout the day as we cover this breaking news.
The United States of America and Israel are currently striking Iran. Those attacks are happening now according to Iranian state TV. At least some of those attacks had been aimed near the offices of the Supreme Leader of Iran. According to Jeremy Diamond's reporting right there, the attacks from the United States are not expected to be small. We do not know exactly what they're targeting or what is being hit. We do know that those attacks are underway. And because of --
