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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Iran And Proxies Launch New Strikes On U.S. Allies In The Gulf; Donald Trump To CNN: "Big Wave" Is Yet To Come In War With Iran; Trump Says Big Wave of Attacks on Iran is Coming; Rights Group Says More Than 700 Iranian Civilians Killed Since Saturday; Israel Striking Hezbollah Targets in Lebanon; Oil Prices Hit Eight-month Highs as Energy Markets React to Iran War. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired March 03, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:58]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to a special third hour of THE STORY IS with Elex Michaelson. I'm Elex Michaelson coming to you all week from CNN headquarters in Atlanta. We are following fast moving developments as we enter the fourth day of the Israel and U.S.'s war with Iran.

Just a short time ago, the Israeli military announcing it is conducting simultaneous strikes in Tehran and Beirut. We've got live images from the Lebanese capital, where Israel says it is striking Hezbollah targets. You see some smoke there on your screen, we have seen several different strikes happening within the last two hours of our broadcast.

The attacks come one day after the militant group launched missiles and drones at an Israeli military base, they say, in revenge for killing Iran's supreme leader.

Of course, Hezbollah has been an Iranian proxy for years. Beirut residents are fleeing after Israel issued a new Evacuation warning. Lebanese officials say more than 50 people were killed, dozens more wounded in IDF strikes on Monday.

Meantime, U.S. allies in the Gulf and across the region, are fending off the latest wave of revolutionary and retaliatory attacks, I should say, from Iran and its proxies. Hundreds of ballistic missiles, more than thousand drones have been intercepted so far, according to official figures.

In Saudi Arabia, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh says it is canceling all consular appointments Tuesday due to an attack on the facility. Essentially, they're closing the embassy for the day, that embassy had been struck by suspected Iranian drones. A source tells us that there were no initial reports of injuries. And in Kuwait, U.S. Central Command now says that six American service members were killed. An Iranian strike at a tactical operations center. We're also now learning that the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait is closing until further notice. "Due to ongoing regional tensions." The U.S. State Department has issued U.S. citizens and urged us citizens to depart now from all of these countries throughout the region you see on your screen right now, due to safety risks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: At the Department of State, our number one priority is the safety and the security of American citizens everywhere in the world. Now, with what's going on in the Middle East with Operation Epic Fury and the cowardly attacks that we're seeing from Iran against Gulf countries, I wanted to take this chance to speak directly to Americans who are in the Middle East about the work we are doing to try to keep you safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Meanwhile, in Iran, more than 700 civilians have been killed since the war began on Saturday, that's according to the latest figures from a U.S. based human rights group.

But that number could grow exponentially, as President Trump says, the big wave hasn't even happened yet. He said that in an interview with Jake Tapper earlier.

CNN's Paula Hancocks standing by in Dubai, where we've seen startling attacks. But let's begin with Oren Lieberman, who is covering the renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Oren.

OREN LIEBERMAN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Elex, as you pointed out, the Israeli military announced a short time ago they're carrying out effectively simultaneous strikes in both Tehran, the capital of Iran, and in Beirut, the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for dozens of villages in southern Lebanon, south of the Litani River, as they prepare to strike there that Hezbollah stronghold in in southern Lebanon, much as Dahieh in southern Beirut is a stronghold for Hezbollah there, and that's where the Israeli military has been carrying on strikes.

It's also worth noting in a briefing that's ongoing right now, the Israeli military says they have taken additional positions across the Israeli border into southern Lebanon in what they're calling an enhanced forward defense posture.

Keep in mind, for months now, the Israeli military has held effectively indefinitely onto several sites that they're using as observation points into southern Lebanon that they have occupied for months. Now they're expanding that position.

[02:05:23]

Now the military says this is not a operation or a maneuver. In other words, Israeli military is trying to say this is not an invasion or an incursion into southern Lebanon, but the military has made clear that option remains on the table.

In the past several days, Israel has called up more than 100,000 reservists to improve and enhance the soldiers it has at its ready, and some of that, perhaps much of that, has gone to the north.

Asked yesterday, if an invasion of Lebanon -- into southern Lebanon is on the table. The Israeli military spokesperson, Brigadier General Effie Defrin, said all options remain on the table.

A short time later, the foreign media spokesperson did say it's not an imminent step that Israel expects to take, but clearly it is part of the potential, depending on how this goes.

We have seen Hezbollah launch into northern Israel, including missiles and drones. That was effectively the excuse Israel needed to launch an operation they have been waiting for and preparing for for months, now that is a much broader campaign against Hezbollah, to try to disarm them, to try to effectively take them out and make sure they don't pose what Israel sees as a threat to Northern Israel.

What's interesting in the midst of all this, the Lebanese government has said that Hezbollah's military activities has declared those illegal after warning them over the past week or so not to engage in what the foreign minister called adventurism. We are seeing all of that, however, play out right now across the Israel Lebanon border.

And to underscore here, that's not even the main front, Israel continues to carry out strikes against Iran, saying they have expanded their air superiority over the skies of much of Iran, meaning that Israel can do whatever it wants when it comes to the strikes that it's continuing to take. Those are going after ballistic missiles, IRGC facilities and much more.

MICHAELSON: Oren, as we've been looking at this live picture from Beirut, and we see the smoke because we've been seeing these strikes over the last few hours. Talk to us about how much of a thorn in the side Hezbollah has been to Israelis for years, and this moment for Israel to be able to, you know, finally take them on in such an aggressive way.

LIEBERMAN: If we're going back all the way to 2006, that would be a major war between Israel and Hezbollah. That war ended effectively inconclusively, but it led to years of I won't say peace or calm, but I will say quiet along the border. There had been firing some across the border over the past several years, but then on October 8th, if I remember the exact date correctly, one day after the Hamas led attack on southern Israel on October 7th, Hezbollah began launching rockets and missiles, and Israel responded furiously.

That nominally ended with a ceasefire agreement in 2024 but Israel continued to carry out near daily strikes, certainly recently, against what they viewed as Hezbollah targets, largely in southern Lebanon, but also across the country, accusing Hezbollah of violating a ceasefire, crucially, of trying to rearm and rebuild its forces.

On Saturday morning, now effectively present day, the U.S. and Israel launched the campaign against Iran, but Israel knew that there was a possibility Hezbollah will get involved. And that happened about 24 hours ago, a little more than that, when Hezbollah launched a fairly small barrage from everything we can tell of missiles and drones, and what they said was a military base just south of Haifa, the largest city in northern Israel.

And given all the preparations that Israel had made, knowing Hezbollah was still in existence, Hezbollah still had some force. That was the only reason -- that was the only event Israel needed to carry out what we're seeing now, which is a much, much broader campaign against the Iran backed militant group that has carried and held so much power in Lebanon for so many years.

MICHAELSON: Oren Lieberman live in Tel Aviv as the action continues in Beirut at this hour. Thank you, Oren. Now, we want to go to Paula Hancocks in Dubai. Paula, what are you seeing in that region?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Elex, just in the past couple of minutes, we heard another blast overhead, which would have been an interception, either of a missile or a drone. So, it continues here in the UAE.

There was a sense yesterday that potentially things were quietening down. We certainly saw less missiles being launched against the UAE. But then overnight, there was a significant barrage in Abu Dhabi.

[02:10:03]

So, certainly, we are seeing the UAE is being targeted more than most of the other Gulf nations by Iran. You look at some of the figures from the Ministry of Defense, there have been 182 ballistic missiles, 689 drones that have been flown towards the UAE territory, and we are only on day four.

Now, the Ministry of Defense here says that they have intercepted the vast majority of them. The success rate is over 90 percent at this point, we do know three people have been killed on the ground that the injuries and the deaths are being caused by falling debris from the interceptions in the air.

But we are also seeing a number of different targets here in Dubai. This is an international commerce and travel hub. This is not a city, a country, that is accustomed to this level of military attack.

But we have seen hotels. We have seen the city centers, in the case of Dubai, hotels, airports, energy infrastructure being targeted as well. And we're, of course, hearing from the Iranian IRGC. Now that it is going to be all political American centers that are going to be targeted as well, so many people here in Dubai are taking the shelter in place. Warning very seriously. It is an extremely busy city. Usually it is not at this point, as people are staying inside, many trying to figure out how they can get out.

And of course, with that, the U.S. State Department warning for all Americans to depart. Now it's easier said than done. Here in the UAE, there are very few flights that are leaving. I think there was two dozen that left Dubai, and most of those were repatriation flights or repositioning flights, Elex.

MICHAELSON: Real quickly, you said that that an intercept just happened right before we came to you. How does that work? And in terms of what does that look and sound like from your perspective?

HANCOCKS: Well, this one, we could tell, was in that direction. It was further away, which is why we are still out here. When you hear one of those, you generally take cover. This is an incoming missile or a drone which the Ministry of Defense, the military here, is going to intercept. They have THAAD, they have patriots. They have significant air defense systems here.

And in fact, just before that, in a few minutes before we heard a couple of fighter jets up in the air as well. So potentially, it may have been a drone, because we know that they have been using fighter jets to try and intercept some of those drones.

So, the air defense system here in the UAE is among the best in the region, with the exception, of course, of Israel. But this is really the message that the government is trying to give to the people and the residents as well to try and ask everybody to stay calm.

MICHAELSON: Yes. Well, thank you for your brave reporting on a very tense morning in Dubai. Paula Hancocks, thank you so much.

Dalia Dassa Kaye is a senior fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations. She's also the author of Enduring Hostility: The Making of America's Iran Policy. She's not in Los Angeles. She's in Amsterdam right now, where it is morning. Good to see you.

DALIA DASSA KAYE, SENIOR FELLOW, UCLA BURKLE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Good to be with you.

MICHAELSON: When we talked last on the set of THE STORY IS back in Los Angeles, we were talking about the protesters in the streets in Tehran. Where are they now? What's going on with all of those people?

DASSA KAYE: Well, at the moment, I think there's a lot of fear, some hope, most likely, but there, the regime still seems to be there, and as we saw in mid-January, they have incredible ability to repress and we saw unprecedented killing back in January.

So, I think, you know, the people are suffering from all sides, from their own government, from U.S. bombs and Israeli bombs falling on them. I think about over 500 Iranians have been killed. There was an attack on a that hit a school.

So, you know, Iranians are under an internet blackout. I think it's a very tough situation in the country, and just lots of uncertainty about what's going to come next.

MICHAELSON: You've written so extensively about America's relationship with Iran after over the years, you could write an entire new chapter, a new book, based off of what we're seeing in the last few days. But based off of the way America has acted in the past, what is most likely next, and how much patience do you think the U.S. is going to have to stick with this for the long term?

DASSA KAYE: The key I think, point to keep in mind, having looked at this, as you said, relationship for nearly half a century, we've never been at this point. There's a reason no U.S. president has ever done this, because the kind of region wide impact that your reporters are, you know, are explaining in that -- in the setup piece there.

[02:15:13]

I mean, this is a region wide war health. This was the fear that if you put Iranian leaders in an existential moment, which is what they're in, this attack, combined with the domestic pressure and protest, they are going for broke, and so the fear was they would lash out across the region.

So, we've never quite been in this moment, because for all the years of the back and forth hostility, we've never, until June of last year, been in direct military conflict in terms of hitting Iranian territory.

You know, I think key lesson is that for many years, both sides wanted to avoid this because the costs are too high, and so the question moving forward is, who can hold out longer? The Iranians are the weaker party. They just need to survive to claim victory. The regime just wants to show that it can maintain its institutions and live to fight another day. Their top leadership has been wiped out, so it's not clear where things go, but so far, they're there and they're responding.

And for the Americans, I think it's going to be a question of the political and economic costs that President Trump is willing to take. And as the war goes on, those are going to mount. The costs are getting higher as we see casualties, as we see dire economic cost, commercial cost, and so forth.

So, you know, we really are in unknown territory right now.

MICHAELSON: Who's most likely to lead Iran going forward?

DASSA KAYE: That's the big question of the day. And I think one of the most concerning aspects of this whole operation, and is that, you know, the president has sent very mixed messages. We talked about this last time he, you know, we weren't really clear before this where what was the purpose, and since this started it -- the first message from the president was, you know, the people should rise up, take over. You know, weaken the government, and then you do the rest. Now the messaging from other administration officials and the president himself is focused more on degrading missile capabilities, finishing the nuclear issue, although that was supposedly obliterated in June, but clearly there's still work there.

And so, it's not clear kind of where the end game is, but if it is regime change, and given how expansive the targeting has been, and that the U.S. killed the Supreme Leader, the top leader of the country, the not just a political leader, but the top, you know, top Shia cleric, it's really a dramatic moment. So, now, it looks like there's a transition in Iran, a transition

council. There is a system to appoint a new Supreme Leader, but they're under such pressure, I think the real test is going to be, are we going to see that develop?

And then there's a lot of thought that maybe the IRGC, these militant forces within the country that are built to protect the regime, will play a very strong role in whatever government unfolds, and then another scenario could be total collapse and chaos and a vacuum, and that would be a very costly outcome, and that's something I think everybody wants to avoid.

MICHAELSON: Yes, and is there some leader that the U.S. can back the way they're backing Delcy Rodriguez in Venezuela too as that emerge? We'll see.

Dalia Dassa Kaye, one of the smartest people on all these topics. Great to talk with you as we all watch history unfold together. Thank you so much.

Funerals now underway for dozens of students killed in a U.S. Israeli strike on a girls Elementary School in southern Iran. Iranian officials say at least 168 students were killed in that attack early Saturday, soon after the war broke out. The school sits about 60 meters, just 200 feet from an Iranian military base. U.S. Central Command has said it's aware of reports that the school was hit and is looking into them.

We are getting mixed signals from people inside Iran, some are mourning the death of the Ayatollah. Others dancing in the streets. We will go live to Tehran next on THE STORY IS.

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[02:23:37]

MICHAELSON: New satellite images are revealing damage to Iran's largest uranium enrichment center. The damage to the Natanz Nuclear Facility appears to be minor compared to the two U.S. strikes in June of last year. But this latest evidence also appears to contradict the statement from the International Atomic Energy Agency that there was no indication any nuclear sites had been struck in Iran.

The new images come as President Trump refuses to rule out sending U.S. troops to Iran, "If they were necessary."

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that the conflict will not spiral into a, "Endless war."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: This is going to be a quick and decisive action, and we're going to create the conditions first for the Iranian people to get control of their destiny, to form their own democratically elected government, which will make Iran a different Iran altogether. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Israeli officials also say they expect Iran's ability to fire ballistic missiles will be severely impacted in the next 24 hours, as the U.S. and Israeli intensify their strikes.

President Trump meanwhile, touting the U.S. munitions stockpile, though he does say the supply count at the highest end is not where it should be. Live now to Los Angeles, where we're joined by Hal Kempfer, a retired Marine intelligence officer. Hal, welcome back to THE STORY IS.

[02:25:03]

LT. COL. HAL KEMPFER (RET.) U.S. MARINE CORPS.: Well, great to talk to you, Elex.

MICHAELSON: We have talked to each other in so many different content conflicts over the years. What sort of attacks from the U.S. should we be looking for in the next few hours? President Trump says the biggest yet to come.

You know, Elex, he uses the term this big wave. And what I'm assuming is that there's going to be a surge attack of some sort, and probably going after ballistic missile launchers and going after the drone launchers. You know, they have a lot of missiles, but they only have a certain number of launchers, and if they can take out those launchers, even if they have, you know, 90 or 100 missiles buried underground, if they can't launch them, then they can't use them for retaliation.

That's kind of what I'm anticipating. We're going to see something like that. And with that, of course, further to degrade their air defenses and everything else surrounding it in order to develop not just what they have now, which is their superiority, but air supremacy, complete air supremacy over Iran.

MICHAELSON: And what does that exactly mean, air supremacy, and what does that allow for?

KEMPFER: That basically means that you're flying over and you're uncontested, if you will. There's really no significant air defenses. There's nothing they can do that can really hinder your ability to fly and conduct missions all over Iran. That's kind of what the Israelis had last June. They kept calling air superiority, but it really was getting it area of supremacy, where they were completely unobstructed. They could fly anywhere, they could hit anything, and there really wasn't much that could stop them.

MICHAELSON: President Trump has not ruled out the concept of boots on the ground. Who do you think, though, is most likely to have boots on the ground in the war?

KEMPFER: Well, you know, interestingly, when we say boots on the ground, everybody thinks, oh, OK, we're going to have U.S. boots. And we, we immediately go back to, you know, Operation Iraqi Freedom when we went up to Baghdad, or desert storm or something like that. This might be boots on the ground, but it might not be U.S. boots, very likely.

And I would see maybe some special operations, some raids or something at some of these very difficult to get to sites that it might be Israeli commando boots on the ground that go in there. They wipe out or destroy whatever is there, and then they extract and get them all out of there, not a permanent presence.

Although at the end of this thing, I don't rule out, depending on what the new regime looks like, what happens there might be some peacekeeping presence. I don't know if that would be us boots or somebody else.

MICHAELSON: Our reporters throughout this hour have been talking about this concept of Americans being stranded in the Middle East because of all these different problems at airports. How does that go? And what you know, can the U.S. do to help get some of these people home?

KEMPFER: Well, it's really tough. As you know, the airports, a lot of them are shut down. And of course, Doha and Dubai are two massive global hubs. I, in fact, I just flew them through there a few months ago, and they that's to get everywhere, all over the world, not just to the Middle East or not just to Middle East and Africa, that's a -- that's tough for them to get out now. There's a couple of options they can look at overland. You know, one of the places not being attacked, of course, is Egypt, and there are some options there.

But the big thing is, if they haven't registered with the embassy, or if they haven't registered with the state department, in case the embassy is closed, now is the time to do it, you know, get online, give them a call, let them know where you are. If they don't know where you are, they can't do the planning to get you out.

Now, there might be something put together, some sort of, you know, way to pull people out. Of course, what they're telling everybody right now is, if you're in a safe place, stay where you are. Don't go someplace that's more dangerous to try and get out. Stay where you are.

But the first thing is, be aware. You know, travel.state.gov, get in there to look at the advisories, register with them. Know what's going on, and they'll provide the best avenue of egress to gal these countries.

MICHAELSON: Hal Kempfer, with us live from Los Angeles once again. Hal, thank you so much. Have a good night.

KEMPFER: All right, you too, Elex.

MICHAELSON: Still to come, we'll take you live to Doha Qatar for more on how U.S. Gulf allies have been fending off retaliatory attacks from Iran. A lot of concerned folks there. We go there next.

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[02:33:40] ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN HOST OF "THE STORY IS": -- Iran (ph) hasn't happened yet, but it is coming. Video from Tehran shows smoke rising over the Iranian capital in the early hours of Tuesday. A U.S.-based human rights group reports at least 700 people have been killed in Iran since that war started.

CNN can't independently verify that claim. There are also reports of widespread damage to homes, religious buildings, and military installations. We now go live to Tehran for the first time.

Abas Aslani, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies, joins us now. We've been having some internet challenges, but we got the signal to work. So let's hope it stays.

Abas, thanks for being with us. What are you seeing on the ground? What's it like outside right now?

ABAS ASLANI, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, CENTER FOR MIDDLE EAST STRATEGIC STUDIES: Elex, people mostly have been sheltering at homes and the city is a bit quiet. But we are seeing those who are commuting necessarily. And there have been back and forth from Iran and the U.S. and Israel. Early in the morning, we were hearing several explosions from different parts of the city. This is not just limited to Tehran.

Other cities also were targeted. And among those targets, also there are civilian casualties in residential buildings or a hospital was targeted here in Tehran, or in other cities, also schools were targeted and this is part of the tragedy, which is we are witnessing.

[02:35:13]

And the question now is that the country is now struggling in two fronts. One is to navigate through challenging times at home when the country has lost a leader, high-ranking commanders. And when you place this into the context, a foreign intervention coming. So, this is the second front that the country is dealing with. And this has created quite a sensitive and significant time for the country.

MICHAELSON: Do you know that the schools, hospitals were targeted, or did they just happen to get hit?

ASLANI: At least what we know that they were hit and targeted because I'm not sure there were casualties in those incidents or it is not just the hospital, but also residential buildings. You can see footages online and even -- or average citizens, they are asking why those areas and places and locations are being hit.

MICHAELSON: Do you feel safe right now?

ASLANI: For sure. Every moment, I'm expecting to hear a sound of explosion. I don't know where a new location will be hit, but I'm staying in the city. And so, I prefer to stay in Tehran rather than to go to different cities.

MICHAELSON: What are your friends, your neighbors, your family members, what are people saying? ASLANI: The point is that, you know, everybody is asking a question. What could be the future direction? Because when they look at what happened in Syria or Libya, they're afraid that this might bring the, let's say, likelihood of a civil unrest or instability.

So even those who have been critical of the political system, they are, you know, mostly, maybe if not all, they prefer to see more stability. And this is not -- they are not seeing the safe from a perspective of Islamic Republic, but the entirety of the country and Iran.

So they think that, you know, as we proceed, Israel and the United States might attack different parts of the country to weaken the defense infrastructure or bring chaos in order to change the ruling political system. And this can, you know, this instability is not welcomed by the majority of the people, even if they might be angry with the economic conditions or with the government, but they will not be willing to see a foreign intervention. And normally, foreign aggression creates a rally around the flag inside the society.

MICHAELSON: Yeah, there is so much of a sort of battle for the narrative that you see the different government leaders now doing. But as somebody who's actually there, who's not part of the government, what's the biggest misconception about what's going on? What's really going on right now in Tehran?

ASLANI: You know, there was an argument maybe in the United States or outside that Iran is very weak. That it's time to attack the country. This was mostly coming from Israeli side. But what we're seeing today in the region or even in the loss -- in the absence of the leader or high-ranking military commanders, we don't have the joint chief of staff, the defense minister, the chief commander of IRGC, the secretary of the defense council of the country.

But yet, we're seeing that the infrastructure that the country has built over decades is yet working and it is responding to American assets, Israeli, throughout the region. So, the assumption that Iran is that weak is not correct. And even the assumption that maybe the U.S. is that strong might not be correct as well. So, this has created a miscalculation that we're seeing this escalation and this might even increase in the coming days, in terms of the intensity and the scope.

Because Iran, we're seeing from Iranian side, a departure from the old playbook of targeting American military bases in the region. The scope has grown and this might also expand further in future.

[02:40:00]

They are also targeting, in addition to military bases, those facilities used by --

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

ASLANI: -- American forces or American interests. And this is, in addition to making the bank of targets bigger, that is also Iran is trying to dilute the effectiveness of American, let's say, defense system to war vis-a-vis Iranian missiles. So that's why Iran, as it was saying, that this will be a regional all-out war.

So, this is gradually happening. And we have been just about --

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

ASLANI: -- let's say, three days into this conflict and this is the beginning. We have to see how things proceed in the days to come.

MICHAELSON: Well, Abas, we hope that you and your family are able to stay safe through all of this. We appreciate you taking a moment to join us. We're grateful that the Internet was able to work, which I know is not happening for a lot of people. And it's really interesting to hear a perspective from within Tehran, as the entire world is focused on that city right now. Abas Aslani, thank you so much.

ASLANI: Thank you, Elex.

MICHAELSON: Up next, we stay in the Middle East. We check in live with our CNN reporter in Doha, Qatar. That story next.

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[02:45:25]

MICHAELSON: Happening now, Beirut is the latest front in Israel's military campaign against Iran and its proxies. Israeli forces are striking Hezbollah targets in the Lebanese capital today. The militant group launched missile and drone attacks against Israel on Monday in what it has called revenge for killing Iran's supreme leader.

Meanwhile, President Trump says the biggest wave of attacks against Iran hasn't happened yet, but it is coming. Video from Tehran shows smoke rising over Tehran in the early hours of Tuesday. For more, I want to bring in CNN Senior Producer, Bijan Hosseini, who is joining us live from Doha right now.

Bijan, what's happening in Doha?

BIJAN HOSSEINI, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Hi, Elex. We know that interceptions are still taking place here. We haven't seen or witnessed any interceptions. It's the first time this team here hasn't seen them. We experienced and saw and witnessed that the first three days, which means that these interceptions aren't taking place over the city center, at least for now, which is a sigh of relief for people living here.

And we got confirmation from the Ministry of Defense overnight that Iran is still attacking to date, which this all started on February 28th, so four days ago, to date three cruise missiles, 101 ballistic missiles, 39 drones and two Su-24 fighters have been fired into the country. A majority of that intercepted, successfully intercepted, the government says.

But that last number, those two Su-24 fighters, that is significant. It's the first confirmed instance we have of a Gulf country attacking and shooting down an Iranian aircraft. Obviously, a huge escalation in what is becoming a regional conflict. And we heard from ministers over the past couple of days saying that they reserve that right, that right to respond to Iran's aggression, and we saw that take place last night with that statement from the Ministry of Defense.

We also heard a spokesperson for the Qatar's Prime Minister Office talking yesterday to our colleague, Becky Anderson, saying that the number of injuries are up to 20, most of that from debris or shrapnel from these interceptions. And we know that there's some 8,000 passengers that were transiting through Doha, trying to get home at Doha's Hamad International Airport that are stuck here as the airspace remains closed.

We also know that there were two ships that are still docked in Doha's port. One of those ships, the Mein Schiff 5, it belongs to German cruise line, TUI Cruises. They put out a statement saying that people were still on board, asked not to leave, and that they were being well taken care of and looked after.

We know that the government here has complementary -- has provided hotels complementary to people that are stuck. And that cruise line, I might just add, the itinerary ended on March 1st, so those people were supposed to fly back, but obviously still stuck on board there as schools and airspace remain closed here.

MICHAELSON: Yeah, people stuck on cruise lines, people stuck in airports, people stuck all over the place, and not easy to get home. Bijan Hosseini, thank you so much for that reporting.

Coming up, the war with Iran starting to push global oil prices up. We'll look at what's driving that increase, how bad things could get. A live report on that front next.

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[02:53:02]

MICHAELSON: War with Iran taking a toll on energy markets. Oil prices spiked to their highest levels in eight months on Monday. Right now, crude oil trading above $73. Brent crude climbing to more than $79 a barrel. That's up even in the last hour.

Analysts say those prices likely to keep rising if ships are forced to keep avoiding the Strait of Hormuz. That narrow waterway between Iran and Oman is the main route for shipping crude from countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. About 20 million barrels of oil pass through that strait every day.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps says it will target any vessels passing through the Strait. Our Eleni Giokos joins us now from Abu Dhabi with the latest. Eleni?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, you just said it. We've got a three-front energy shock that's playing out right now. Firstly, the Strait of Hormuz, 20 million barrels per day pass through that choke point. Super important waterway, that is one of the biggest issues in terms of the disruption we've seen. And the question is, are we going to see a total closure? That is basically being priced into the market right now.

The second big issue that we've seen playing out is, of course, this drone strike in Qatar on an LNG plant. The country now stopping production completely. You've got to remember, Qatar is the world's largest LNG producer. And importantly, it really sends a lot of that gas to Asia. Asian markets today showing the effects of just the negative sentiment that's seeping through because of the energy price shock that we're seeing.

And the third big issue is we've also seen a strike in Saudi Aramco at an oil facility there. Even though they've continued production, it basically shows that critical oil and energy infrastructure is now fair game for the Iranians. Clearly, they're targeting this. And if you take capacity out of the system, that means much higher oil prices for you and for me.

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And importantly, if you look at the overall picture here, OPEC+ countries are trying to mitigate this by increasing oil production. The big question is, are we going to see a disruption in the way that oil is moved around the world? Now, most countries are looking at whether they have enough strategic reserves at play. They'll probably tap into that first.

Of course, currency issues also have a big game to play here. But importantly, at some point, the oil importers are going to eventually start to see much higher prices at the gas pumps. And that's going to be an eventuality if you see this tension, of course, continuing.

Analysts are saying that we're currently trapped in an escalation scenario. And of course, President Trump was saying this could last at least four weeks. If you see these prices maintained at close to $80 a barrel, and many saying it could hit triple digits very soon, it'll eventually filter through at the gas pump. It's going to impact inflation. It's going to impact companies. And of course, it's going to be a reality that the whole world is going to face.

MICHAELSON: Eleni, thank you. And thank you all for watching us for the last three hours of "The Story Is." I'm Elex Michaelson reporting from Atlanta. My colleague, Becky Anderson, picks up the coverage in Abu Dhabi right after this.

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