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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump Claims "We've Won" War with Iran, Offers No Evidence; Barrage of Rockets Fired into Israel; Interview with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ); Strait of Hormuz in Crosshairs of Iran Conflict as Attacks on Ships Escalate; Trump Claims We Won War With Iran, Offers No Evidence; FBI Memo to California Law Enforcement on Unverified Iran Threat; Intel Source Says Russia Helping Iran With Drone Tactics. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired March 11, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: ... weeks before a planned meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, a summit in Beijing expected to focus on trade, technology, and the situation here in Taiwan. For China, the war shows the limit of its clout and ambitions in the Middle East, Erin, but it also gives Beijing another chance to present itself as a force for peace and stability in stark contrast to President Trump's America.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right, Will Ripley, thank you very much in Taipei tonight.
And thanks so much to all of you as always for joining us tomorrow. AC360 starts now.
[20:00:42]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Good evening, thanks for joining us tonight. CNN Global War coverage begins with the declaration of victory from the President of the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We've won. Let me tell you, we've won. You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won, we won -- in the first hour it was over, we won.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: He said that this evening at a political rally in Kentucky. We won, not we're winning or will win this just we won. Had any President anywhere in front of anybody at any time ever said such words, it would be reasonable to conclude that the war was over, except it is not.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
COOPER: That is a drone hitting tank farm in Oman, part of what appears to be Iran's campaign against oil and gas facilities in the region. If the war were in fact already won, Iran's Revolutionary Guard would not be able to launch what it today called the most intense and heaviest operation of the war, but apparently it has.
If we've won, as the President said today, the enemy would not have been able to fire on and hit ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world's oil normally travels, but it is. This is new video of one of two oil tankers now burning in the gulf after apparently coming under attack in the waters off of Iraq.
And if the war was already won, the Strait were in "great shape", as the President just said moments ago. The Strait is in great shape, he said. He would not have also just announced that the country would be releasing 172 million barrels of oil from the nation's strategic reserves.
Victory would also mean the enemy and its surrogates would no longer be pouring missiles into Northern Israel, but they are again tonight. This is new video of it.
Yet the President declared victory today and then just a few minutes later, he kind of undeclared it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We don't want to leave early, do we? We got to finish the job, right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: He said it several more times. We've got to finish the job. Yet this morning, he also suggested there was little left to do telling "AXIOS" says Barak Ravid there was, "practically nothing left to target, a little this and that" and saying, "any time I want to end, it will end."
Now, if you're not already confused about that or whether we've won or not listen to the President also today on what to even call what we are or are not yet winning
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And we did a little excursion, we had to take this little couple of weeks, a few weeks of excursion, but it's been incredible. Our military is unbelievable, the job they're doing, I would say, to put it mildly, way ahead of schedule.
So, I had to take an excursion, but it's doing well. The market is holding up well. Oil will be coming down. That's just a, it's just a matter of war that happens very, you can almost predict it.
REPORTER: You just said it is a little excursion and you said it is a war. So, which one is it?
TRUMP: Well, it's both, it's both. It's an excursion that will keep us out of a war. And the war is going to be. I mean, for them, it's a war for us. It turned out to be easier than we thought. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Easier for him to talk about, perhaps. He had little to say, however, about the preliminary findings of the U.S. military's investigation into that strike on a girls' school in Iran, which blames American targeters, who sources tell us likely used outdated information about a nearby naval base accidentally hitting the school. You can see on this aerial photo how close the school is to the military facility, 168 children, 14 teachers were killed according to the Iranian State Media. CNN's Kristen Holmes asked the President about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A new report that the military investigation has found it was the United States that struck the school?
TRUMP: I don't know about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: You'll recall he's not always been so reticent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Mr. President did the United States bomb a girls' elementary school in southern Iran on the first day of the war and kill 175 people?
TRUMP: No, in my opinion based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran.
REPORTER: Is that true, Mr. Hegseth? It was Iran who did that?
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF WAR SECRETARY: We're certainly investigating it.
REPORTER: Still investigating?
HEGSETH: But the only the only side that targets civilians is Iran.
TRUMP: We think it was done by Iran because they're very inaccurate as you know with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:19]
COOPER: You'll notice the Secretary of Defense, what he calls the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, did not confirm what the President said, that it wasn't in the U.S. he just said it's being investigated and that Iran targets civilians.
That is the President on March 7th, two days later, when it became clear Tomahawk Cruise missile had hit the school, the President claimed that Iran had them as well, which is apparently not true. The President also just moments ago weighed in yet again on whether the war has been won.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The main thing is we have to win this thing, win it quickly, but win it. And there are many people I'm just watching some of the news. Most people say it's already been won. It's just a question of when, when do we stop? We don't want to let it regrow and ideally would like to see somebody in there that knows what they're doing. In other words, that can build a country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Most people is him earlier today and there he just said, we need to win it, implying it was not already won. I want to go to Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv.
Jeremy, what are you seeing in terms of or what have you even been seeing throughout the day in terms of incoming fire from Iran, as well as from Hezbollah in Lebanon.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, earlier tonight, two Israeli sources told us that the expectation among the Israeli security establishment was that there would be a significant escalation in the attacks coming from both Iran as well as from Hezbollah. Iran's proxy in Lebanon, and indeed tonight, in particular in northern Israel. There was a significant barrage of attacks, most of it from Hezbollah. More than a hundred rockets fired at the same time towards cities in northern Israel, accompanied by an Iranian ballistic missile attack that according to the Israeli military, was coordinated between the two parties.
Only two people were moderately injured as a result of the fire, with most of those missiles and rockets apparently being intercepted. But I've got to tell you, there has been a real sense of surprise and shock, frankly in Israel tonight about the extent of Hezbollah's remaining capabilities after Israel, you know, before the ceasefire that happened more than a year ago with Hezbollah, Israel had been pummeling Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon for over a year before that.
And following that, the Lebanese military was supposed to have disarmed Hezbollah south of the Litani. Well, tonight, I can tell you, I've seen videos of Hezbollah firing rockets from south Lebanon. And so, it does lead to a lot of questions here in Israel about exactly what had been accomplished in the previous rounds of fighting with Hezbollah and what may lie ahead.
COOPER: What more do you know about the scope of Israel's plans in Lebanon?
DIAMOND: Well, so far tonight, we've already seen an immediate response from the Israeli military to this round of rocket fire from Hezbollah. It came in the form of severe airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut , the Dahia, which is a Hezbollah stronghold. We saw several very, very large explosions as the Israeli military said it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure there.
In addition to that, of course, we've seen airstrikes in Southern Lebanon. And the question now is, amid this sentiment in Israel, whether or not there will be a push for some kind of a ground operation in southern Lebanon. We reported a couple of nights ago that that is something that the Israeli Prime Minister is indeed considering, at least to seize more territory in the very southernmost part of the country, to kind of expand what Israel calls a buffer zone in Southern Lebanon to distance northern residents in Israel from the risk of anti-tank missile fire. But it's also important to note that there has been a tremendous impact on Lebanon's civilian population as well with more than half a million people in that country currently displaced. Many of them living on the streets of the Lebanese capital -- Anderson.
COOPER: Jeremy Diamond, appreciate it, thank you.
Perspective now from President Emeritus of the Council of Foreign Relations, Ambassador Richard Haass. He's also the author of "Home and Away" on Substack.
Ambassador, I'm wondering what your reaction is to President Trump saying we won in Iran. Is it that cut and dry?
RICHARD HAASS, PRESIDENT EMERITUS, COUNCIL OF FOREIGN RELATIONS: It's a little bit like saying you won the game after the first inning. We haven't won yet. We haven't won anything yet. Yes, we've degraded, diminished Iran's military but Iran still has the will and the capacity to do all sorts of damage, hence you're seeing it with the straits, you're seeing it with the price of energy. So, to declare victory prematurely does not prepare the American people much less our allies in the region, for what has yet to come.
COOPER: It is entirely possible. I mean, unlike in previous conflicts, that this President might just say, I mean, tonight, tomorrow in the middle of the night, we've won. It's over, we're done and the definition of what winning or what the objectives are, are kind of have been, I mean, there's been a number of them. So, he could pick just any one of the ones he's talked about and say, we've accomplished that, and now we're done.
[20:10:18]
HAASS: Look, he might well say that and you're right, the objectives have been all over the place. We're clearly not going to bring about or almost clearly not going to bring about regime change. Iran still has certain capacities.
But again, you know, it only takes one country in this case the United States, Anderson, to start the war. It's going to take three to end it -- the United States, Israel and Iran. And so, the President can declare its over, mission accomplished. But Israel is going to want to continue the war and Iran gets a gets a serious vote here. And my own sense is Iran has no intention yet of stopping hostilities and stopping hostilities and stopping all that it's doing, which among other things, is going to continue to increase the price of energy. COOPER: Why do you think, I mean, if the U.S. were to stop, why do you think the Iranians would continue?
HAASS: It might be in part as an expression of domestic politics. You know, this is a regime that since 1979 has defined itself in part as its anti-Zionist but also anti-American, the great Satan. Nothing that's happened, shall we say, in the last two weeks, has changed any of that? They also want to show that they've got the ability and will to, to push back. They may want reparations. They certainly are going to want the relaxation of sanctions.
So, by continuing to act against energy, to make it impossible for tankers to go through the Strait, this gives them an awful lot of leverage. My own sense is, no matter what the President says, we are moving towards some kind of a negotiation with Iran, and they want to have some leverage. And by continuing the war that puts pressure on the United States. They read the polls, they look at stock markets, they look at the price of energy internationally. They know that by continuing the war, that gives them an awful lot of leverage.
COOPER: The whole idea of regime change, which was mentioned here and there by the administration, will anything really change in Iran as long as the Revolutionary Guard Corps, as long as the, you know militia force remain in power, remain with all the weapons? I mean, the army has weapons, obviously and they did turn against turn against the Shah long ago and so that could be a force but the Revolutionary Guard is the center of power now.
HAASS: Absolutely, and the clerical layer seems to be just that a layer. I think it's going to probably be bad no matter what for the people of Iran and one has to feel, shall we say, badly for them but --
You know, look, some people are helping out or holding out for some kind of regime change that maybe you get an authoritarian figure like we've seen in much of the Middle East that might be more pragmatic, but the honest truth is we have no control over that. So, pushing for regime change right now, I would call a hope, not a strategy. I'd put it right up there with continued military operations. I know we are up against diminishing returns.
So, if we want this war over, I don't think it's going to be through regime change or continued military operations. But I don't see a recognition of that coming from the President or those around him.
COOPER: Yes, Richard Haass, I appreciate your time, thank you.
Coming up next with a member of the House Intelligence Committee makes the Presidents victory declaration in a war that continues as we speak.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:17:56]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: We've won. Let me tell you, we've won. You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won, we won -- in the first hour it was over, we won.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: President Trump speaking this afternoon to a large crowd of his supporters in Kentucky without offering proof of victory. His comments are part of a series of contradictory messages including backtracking late tonight saying we have to win this thing.
Earlier, he flat out said of the war we're not finished yet. He then told reporters traveling with him that the conflict with Iran is both a war and an excursion. And he told AXIOS in a phone interview that any time he wants the war to end, he'll end it.
Chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins, anchor of "The Source," joins us right now. So, Kaitlan, what's been the reaction at the White House to the President saying we won and the various iterations of that?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN'S CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT AND THE ANCHOR OF "THE SOURCE": I think, Anderson, throughout this entire war, what a lot of people have been doing at the White House, which is kind of, you know, par for the course any time that they are dealing with the President is they're watching closely to see what he himself has to say about something and then trying to adapt their messaging to match that.
And so, you know, today, the President coming out and declaring victory on stage and saying that he believes the United States has won this war, it was less than five minutes later, in front of that same crowd in Kentucky where he seemed to backtrack on that. And then tonight, as he was getting off the plane at Joint Base Andrews, as you noted earlier, he was again saying, we have to win this thing. And then he seemed to be referencing the comments that seem very intentional to me that some Republican Senators have been making on television and in interviews, that they know the President is likely watching, where they say that the United States has already won and the President can declare victory.
I'm talking about messages from senators like Josh Hawley who have come out there and said, the President is at a place where he can declare victory, and that comes, Anderson, as we've seen a lot of Republicans on Capitol Hill become very concerned about oil prices and the tumult and chaos that were seeing as a result of this.
The key question that the President raised tonight, though, was what's going to happen in Iran going forward? Who's going to be running that country? Obviously, a new Supreme Leader. The former Supreme Leader's son has been elected. The President was again tonight expressing concerns about who's going to be running Iran. And I know privately he's still been talking about trying to find someone like a Delcy Rodriguez in Venezuela that they feel they can work with.
Right now, what we've heard from experts is that this has not happened yet. So, I think despite what the President said today, the question that still remains is how they get out of Iran, how this ends. And of course, what happens after that. Even from the President's own comments today, that doesn't seem to be clear yet.
[20:20:27]
COOPER: Yes, Kaitlan, we'll see you at the top of the hour with "The Source". I know Kaitlan's going to be talking to Democratic Senator John Fetterman.
Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer, who's a member of the House Intelligence Committee. The messaging coming from The White House today, how do you interpret the victory.
REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): Which hour, I guess, right? I mean, that's the point. I mean, you know, it depends, I guess, what the definition of winning is. And this comes back to what the biggest challenge for many of us has been, those of us who support and support of the President out of the gate of, of attacking, you know, our, I believe our top one of our top adversaries in the world who, you know, and the reign of terror is you need to understand what the objectives of the mission are. And that's been shifting by the day, right?
Is it a missile program degrading the missile defense program, which I think we've had significant impact on their missile program? Is it, you know, is it their drone program? Is it, are you trying to degrade their nuclear program? Do we want a regime change? And every day, depending upon who you hear from, including the President, it keeps changing.
So, it's very hard to judge what winning is and what we see from Iran, including today, is they're not backing down, right. They're continuing to fire.
COOPER: They get a vote. Iran gets a vote in this as well. in terms of how they respond and clearly, they are willing to, I mean, it seems like they are willing to try to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, even though economically it will hurt Iran, they have other objectives.
GOTTHEIMER: I mean, this is existential for them, right? This is the survival of the regime aside from killing the new Ayatollah's father and as well as his mom and his sister, you know, they've completely, this is a moment for them of survival. And so, you saw them today, as you point out, they attacked ships, commercial ships in the straits. They don't care the price are going up. I think they believe that's their greatest strength against the world.
Obviously, the President and some of our partners releasing oil reserves today, significant oil reserves. I'm not sure how much of an impact that's going to have on pricing, but they know people are feeling it at home and they're watching on T.V., seeing what's going on as it spreads in the north and to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
COOPER: It's interesting it does seem like Iran, you know, watches and has watched this President and knows, you know, the price of oil is a significant lever that they can try to manipulate that will directly impact the President.
GOTTHEIMER: Yes, I mean, let's think about it 20 percent of the world's oil is going through the straits. They know that if they can, and we've already backed off saying that were going to be able to protect all those ships. So, as each day goes by and the prices go higher and people are already feeling a lot of pressure at home, people I represent in Northern Jersey, right? They're already talking about how they're suffering with high prices on everything. The tariffs have hit them very hard on top of, you know, rent and food and everything else that they're dealing with from a pricing perspective. So, you add gas prices to utility bills and the midterms coming up.
So, there's a lot of political reality here the President's going to be facing. Listen, this should be more popular, I believe than it's been so far. That means though, the President has to actually lay out the case, make a clear argument. And when you're shifting objectives and mission by the day, and plus losing American lives, that adds up to be very challenging, even for those of us who naturally would be inclined to be more supportive.
COOPER: If the President does decide to call it a victory and stop, and assuming, you know, Iran has a say in Israel has to say as well. Does it then become a situation where every few years the United States decides it needs to launch a campaign to hit ballistic missile sites and whatever else they have rebuilt?
GOTTHEIMER: Well, I mean, I think we always need that optionality. I think they were as the Secretary of State talked about, had significantly upped their missile program, right, and their offensive missile program. And we know that he said more than a hundred a month. We know that interceptors are expensive and tough to make, and we don't produce as many. And that, you know, is a threat to us, to our allies, to our bases. And remember, this is the regime that's death to America, right? They've killed thousands and thousands of Americans, our allies, right and our servicemen and women, and attack our bases, including those they've killed in the last week.
COOPER: And thousands of their own, tens and thousands of their own --
GOTTHEIMER: Tens of thousands of their own people, right, so, you know, these are not good people. But you also need to understand what the objective is, or this thing will just continue to spread. And if he wants to declare victory, I think the President really needs to lay out what the mission is. Getting the full nuclear weapons or regime change is much different than degrading their missile capacity.
COOPER: Do you believe when the President said that they were on the verge of attacking the United States, they were on the verge of attacking Israel? And therefore this, the U.S. attacked first because of that?
[20:25:15]
GOTTHEIMER: I think, you know, without talking about things that I can't talk about, you know, I think certainly, as was disclosed, there were massively upping their missile program, I think in the, in the 12-Day War, we significantly degraded their nuclear capabilities, but it wasn't gone to zero.
So, you've got nuclear challenges, you've got a massive drone program and missile program. Those things are real. And they're afraid to use it as we've seen. So, that's real. Now, the question of timing and everything else and laying out the case we'll leave that, there are some things I can't talk about, but I believe there certainly was a threat.
And you know, the question now is what exactly is our objective? I keep coming back to this objective because being in Congress, that's what we want to understand. When you're spending these kinds of dollars, when you're talking about putting servicemen and women on the line, plus all of our all of our State Department employees in the region, you know you really want to understand what the goal is here and make sure we can achieve it.
COOPER: Congressman Gottheimer, I appreciate your time, thanks very much.
GOTTHEIMER: Thanks for having me.
COOPER: At least three ships in the Persian Gulf are attacked. We'll see why maritime attacks may be one of Iran's biggest forms of leverage right now in this war.
Also, California governor confirming he's been alerted that Iran affiliated groups may try to launch drone attacks based, on unverified intel. More on that as our Global War coverage continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:31:08]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST OF "ANDERSON COOPER 360": President Trump may say that the U.S. has won the war with Iran, but this photograph tells a different story. At least three ships were struck today near the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran claims it had fired on at least two of them, including a Thai flagged ship.
The Strait is the world's most crucial waterway for the shipment of crude oil. It's been closed since the war began. Now, intelligence sources said that Iran has mined it, but today, the president said he didn't believe Iran was successful in doing so.
I want to discuss it with CNN Global Affairs Analyst, Brett McGurk, who served in senior national security posts under the last four presidents, including during President Trump's first term.
So, Brett, how do you, first of all, interpret the declaration today that President Trump won, or that we won, in the words of the president, in Iran? What impact do you think it may have on U.S. decisions going forward, Israel as well, and Iran?
BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: And Iran, you just put a key point on it. This is why strategic messaging from a president in matters of war and peace really matter. It's not just explaining to the American people exactly what we're doing, why we have our men and women in harm's way. It's also strategic messaging to allies and to adversaries.
And tying this back into the Strait of Hormuz, I think what Iran senses, and I also -- I've negotiated with the Iranians, Anderson, they believe we have a short-term attention span and that they can do things to basically outlast anything we might throw at them.
So, they believe, I think, that President Trump might be looking for a way out, that they will shorten the clock if they really increase this economic pressure. And they've clearly now made a strategic decision, we saw today, with the attacks on actual ships, to really go after the ships even before they cross through the Strait. It's a very serious situation, Anderson.
You know, back in 2019, Iran did this. They attacked some ships. They attacked Saudi oil infrastructure. There was a big spike in prices back then. It was very short-lived.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Yeah, I just want to put on the screen the footage of the two oil tankers on fire in Iraqi territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, because this is significant. 38 crew members were rescued. Reuters is reporting an initial investigation by Iraqi security officials found Iranian boats filled with explosives had hit two of those ships. That's -- I mean, that's clearly part of the strategy that you're talking about by Iran.
MCGURK: Absolutely, they're not waiting for ships to cross the Strait. They're basically saying, we're going after what's in there now. And they are doing this, as we've discussed in earlier nights, Anderson, to increase economic pressure on the United States to stop the military campaign, because the military campaign every day inside Iran, as I understand it, we are methodically taking apart Iran's defense industrial base, their ability to produce missiles, to produce drones.
And over time, that is going to, that will have a strategic impact in terms of how Iran might recover from this. So they want that to stop. So that's what's happening. And I think the mixed messaging from President Trump, you know, it's just really not helpful. I have to say in 2018, Anderson, I was helping to lead the counter ISIS mission and President Trump tweeted that we had defeated ISIS, which we had not. He later reversed that decision.
So I've kind of lived through some of this. I just, look, we have crossed the Rubicon here, Anderson. We're in a very difficult situation. I believe it's important to carry out what is left of the military campaign. I can't put a timeframe on that. I'm sure within CENTCOM, they have a sense and they're probably briefing the president.
But if we cut this short and Iran has reconsolidated its hardline elements within the system, which they appear to have done, although we don't know exactly, and they can still reconstitute because they have enough of the capability on the missiles and the drones and maybe even the nuclear, we could be in an even worse position.
And a final point, you know, Iran has had a strategic policy for decades, Anderson, to spread the revolution through terrorism, through proxies, and to deter any blowback inside their own borders.
[20:35:00]
And they've done that through what they see as deterrence. They used to have very good air defense systems. Hezbollah, very strong, used to be very strong on Israel's border with hundreds of thousands of missiles and rockets and missiles, drones. So there was deterrence against an attack. It's one reason no president has ever actually done this.
If you've taken out those deterrent elements, but they have now restored their deterrence because they control the vital artery of the world and they've now demonstrated they can use it and it really bites, you might actually come out of this where Iran might be weaker, but they have deterrence against any future attacks.
COOPER: Yeah.
MCGURK: So I'm looking at this strategically. It's a really precarious moment, Anderson. And I think the president's mixed messaging is not helping.
COOPER: Yeah. Brett McGurk, thank you. Appreciate it.
Coming up next, what to make of concerns about drone strikes against the coastal United States in light of an FBI memo about alleged and as yet unverified Iranian aspirations to do just that. And later, the New York police chief who ran straight at one of the suspects in what could have been a deadly bombing here in New York City. We'll talk to him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:40:45]
COOPER: There was a drone strike in Oman today. It is not exactly news that the kind of coastal targets that Iran is flying drones at exist around the world. This, however, is an FBI memo to California law enforcement warning that Iran allegedly aspires to conduct a "surprise attack" unquote, using drones like these against "unspecified targets" in California. California's governor confirmed the existence of the memo today.
One source tells us that federal and state security officials have deemed the information to be "aspirational" in nature and don't currently believe there is an imminent threat. And federal investigators often share information of questioned credibility with local law enforcement partners just out of an abundance of caution.
Joining us now, retired FBI Special Agent, Richard Kolko. Richard, I'm wondering what do you make of that FBI memo? Because we were showing pictures of Shahed drones. It seems unlikely Iran would have access to Shahed drones in the U.S., but certainly commercial drones, jerry- rigged with explosives, we've seen that all over Ukraine.
RICHARD KOLKO, RETIRED FBI HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: Perfect example, Anderson.
Could the Iranians get their larger drones into the country or off the coast of California? Highly doubtful. But we heard them describe this as an aspirational thought. What we're really concerned about is it becomes inspirational.
This is California, the largest Iranian population in the United States. And there certainly could be several people that are sympathetic to the regime. So that's certainly one of the problems.
COOPER: So this threat, which was described as aspirational, not imminent, what is the intelligence threshold for when the FBI shares this kind of information with other law enforcement agencies?
KOLKO: Well, this is the job of the Joint Terrorism Task Force in every FBI office, every single day. They coordinate with all of their partners. In this case, it looks like this information came from the Coast Guard.
They collate this information. Again, we heard it's unverified, uncorroborated, no actionable intelligence. But in this day and age, they're going to share that information. They have no choice. Nobody wants to be caught sitting on any of this.
And we see that California has taken the appropriate steps. They're going to notify their emergency responders. All the police departments throughout the state are aware of this. And that means they'll just check their traps.
They'll talk to the people that they need to talk to, talk to any sources, research any ongoing cases, and look to see if anything like this is being planned.
COOPER: You know, we saw this attack recently in New York outside by Gracie Mansion the other day. Thankfully, the devices did not detonate as they very well might have. They had -- you know, they had ball bearings and nails and explosives inside.
Generally speaking, how concerned are you about the possibility of a terror attack by Iran or its proxies inside? Or by simply, you know, these two alleged perpetrators were allegedly inspired by ISIS. There doesn't have to be a direct recruitment these days.
KOLKO: Well, I think we should be very concerned as a country that there's going to be potential terrorist attacks ongoing because of this war going on in the Middle East. However, as an individual, your chance of getting caught in one of these attacks, obviously, very, very slim. So don't want people running around being all panicked.
You know, take the appropriate safety precautions that you should. See something, say something, be aware of your surroundings, all of those things. But is there going to be more inspirational attacks if this war drags on? I hate to say it, but I bet on it that there will be. COOPER: Yeah. Richard Kolko, thank you. Appreciate it. Coming up next in a CNN Exclusive, our Nick Paton Walsh reports that a Western intelligence official says that Russia is giving Iran specific advice on drone tactics. Nick Paton Walsh is in Amman, Jordan tonight.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, an indication of how Russia's assistance of the Iranians is indeed expanding. We've known for some days, U.S. officials concerned about basic targeting information being given, potentially from satellite imagery from Russia to Iran.
But a Western intelligence official I've spoken to, more specific, saying that there used to be general assistance, but now they are increasingly concerned that Russia is sharing targeting strategies, that it's basically employed in Ukraine, that learned on Ukrainian frontlines and giving them to the Iranians.
[20:45:00]
The official wouldn't specify exactly what they're talking about, but we've seen, myself on the frontlines in Ukraine, Russia launching waves of drones, sometimes a thousand every night. They'll go in one direction, change direction, go in loops.
Ukraine's air defenses have struggled to keep up. They've got news, very cheap interceptors that they're currently employing. It's basically a cat-and-mouse game of each side trying to outwit the other with a six-week innovation cycle. That's the period in which new ideas come to the battlefield.
I think the concern here is that if the Russians are taking their three years worth of battlefield real-time experience and delivering it to the Iranians to use against Gulf States and the U.S., who simply don't have that hands-on Ukrainian experience, that could be a real problem, Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Nick Paton Walsh, thanks very much, Nick. I'm joined now by retired U.S. Army General, former Head of U.S. Central Command, David Petraeus. He's also a former CIA Director.
General, appreciate you being with us. You heard Nick's report. What impact could it have on the war if Russia is indeed sharing advanced drone tactics with Iran and how capable is the United States' drone warfare?
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, it has a very substantial impact if they're providing the precision for targeting that appears to be happening. So this is a big issue. And by the way, as an aside, I think it's long since time that the U.S. Congress votes on the sanctions package that Senator Lindsey Graham has put forward and has, as I understand it, 90 of 100 Senators supporting it, which would do a great deal to punish the Russian war economy at a time when actually Russia is benefiting from this because they're going to get more oil revenue with the price going up and with the temporary lifting of sanctions on their sale because of concerns about the price of Brent crude. Look, our counter-drone capabilities, I've said for years that we should learn more, more rapidly from Ukraine. Ukraine has offered that actually to all the countries engaged here. And we're not seeing remotely the number of drones being launched at us and our Gulf State partners in Israel that happen every night in Ukraine. In fact, I went on a mission with a Ukraine drone interceptor team, flying drones like the ones you saw.
The pilot of that team had taken down over 100 drones that were in action every single night. And they're really doing quite well, but it's a very comprehensive approach. By the way, the UAE, in my view, has done this particularly well.
They have their own electronic warfare system that's proving to be very effective. They use attack helicopters, they use F-16s and other fast movers, guns and all the rest of that. And of course, we're augmenting all of that as well and do even more to help when it comes to the ballistic missile defense.
But this is the challenge of the future. I have an article coming out in foreignaffairs.com tomorrow that talks about the next challenge, by the way, which is no longer remotely piloted or in the case of the Shaheds, a GPS accurate drone, it is autonomous systems.
And those are not long from the battlefield. They're already being used to some degree in Ukraine. And we've got to get ahead of this with concepts that actually drive how we organize, what we buy, how we train and operate, how we educate leaders and soldiers and all the rest of this.
But this is the threat of the future. We're seeing a modest amount of it manifest itself here, but there's much more challenging issues to come.
COOPER: If the president decided to just declare victory, as he seemed -- I mean, he sort of did today and then sort of put some finer points on it later on. But if he just decided tomorrow, say, or sometime this week to declare victory, how concerned are you about what remains still intact in Iran, the Revolutionary Guards and others? And what does that mean for Iran's power in the region moving forward?
PETRAEUS: Well, we've done enormous damage to every single category of target, every mission the president has assigned the military is well along with a couple of exceptions here and there. One of those is just the drone stockpiles, which as you saw in the videos, a number of these are underground. We could deal with these as in the years ahead by a number of measures that we will take.
The big issue here and why Israel was going to attack, even if we hadn't, at a certain point, not at that point when we had the precise intelligence that triggered this, but it's because of the missile program. And we've taken out together probably 70 percent of the missile launchers, very substantial stocks of the missiles, and even the factories that make the various components that are assembled into those missiles. So a lot of achievement there, a lot of achievement against the regime forces of all different types. The naval force is basically sitting on the bottom, but they still are a significant threat, as you highlighted earlier, against civilian shipping and even our ships that are in the region.
[20:50:00]
The mine threat is real. The unmanned surface vessel, which hit one of those ships, that's real. There are short-range missiles and there are drones that are actually remotely flown because they have line of sight, especially when you get to the Strait, which is so narrow. But I think he could actually assess. There will be other factors though that will also lead to a decision to end the war.
And I think people keep asking me, you know, again, tell me how this ends, my question rhetorically on the way to Baghdad. It's when President Trump decides to end the war based on having achieved just about all that we set out to achieve, sometimes more, and the price of Brent crude and sentiment in Asia, the region, Europe, America, and so forth, all of these are valid factors for a president to consider.
But then you have the question that is the unanswered one. Will Iran stop shooting at us? And we just don't know. You know, we hoped for a Delcy Rodriguez-type figure and we got sort of Kim Jong-un Jr. And we don't know how hardline, we know he is the son of the hardline, ideologically driven cleric, who believed that mere survival is again a victory. Will he want to continue this? And that's when other forces will come in.
At some point, China needs to go to Iran and say, hey, you are devastating our economy. You know, we have strategic stockpiles of crude oil and we're going to release 400 million barrels of that. That's just 20 days out of the Gulf though.
We are -- there are no strategic stockpiles of LNG. There aren't massive stockpiles of fertilizers. There's many other related products that will have a huge effect if we are unable to get the confidence in the major oil companies that own these super tankers --
COOPER: Yeah.
PETRAEUS: -- the LNG carriers, and even other ships that carry commerce back and forth.
COOPER: General Petraeus, thank you. Appreciate your time.
Up next, the New York Police Department Chief being called a hero for chasing down a terror suspect and alleged would-be bomber, accused of tossing one of those makeshift IEDs near the mayor's residence the other day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASST. CHIEF AARON EDWARDS, NYPD COMMANDING OFFICER, PATROL BOROUGH MANHATTAN NORTH: I've been doing this for 22 years and you learn how to manage that. You know, there's a -- in policing, you know, they say there's hours of boredom and minutes of terror.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:56:27]
COOPER: This photo caught the split second when New York Police Department Assistant Chief, Aaron Edwards leapt over a barricade to chase down one of two allegedly ISIS-inspired suspected would-be bombers.
The moment has gone viral, even reposted by the NYPD with the caption, "Some heroes wear capes, Chief Aaron Edwards wears blue." I spoke with Chief Edwards earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Chief Edward, it's an honor. It's an honor to talk to you. What went through your mind when you realized what was going on, when you were jumping over that fence?
EDWARDS: You know, Anderson, there wasn't a lot going through my mind. There was a --
COOPER: It was just instinct.
EDWARDS: It was just instinct. There was a real serious threat in front of us and you know, I wanted to get to it. I wanted to make sure that we apprehend the suspect and nothing was going to stop me.
COOPER: In a situation like that, I mean, how do you not let adrenaline -- I mean, I've been in some situations where adrenaline just takes over and I mean I wasn't even thinking clearly in some situations.
How do you know how -- I mean, I guess it's just training that you know how to respond in an emergency situation.
EDWARDS: Yeah. I've been doing this for 22 years and you learn how to manage that. You know, there's a -- in policing, you know they say there's hours of boredom and minutes of terror, and you have to learn how to manage that.
COOPER: What was it that made you join the force in the first place?
EDWARDS: So when I was I was in college, the 9/11 terror attacks happened, and you know, that really touched me. I watched it on television and what I saw was all the first responders, particularly the NYPD just rushing in and trying to help people. And I thought that that's what I want to do with my life.
COOPER: Had you planned previously to be a police officer?
EDWARDS: You know, I had molded over my head. I was a biology major in college. I wasn't really sure but that solidified it. COOPER: And you have your colleague, Luis Navarro was also praised by city officials, Sergeant Luis Navarro. What did he do in this?
EDWARDS: Yes. So Sergeant Navarro, he actually alerted me to what was happening in front of us. He saw it first and we both began to run and what Sergeant Navarro did was, he started pushing people away. He ran right past that device and he started just moving people out of the way.
COOPER: I don't want to get too personal, but I understand your wife was not too pleased --
EDWARDS: She was not.
COOPER: -- with the photo that everyone else saw.
(LAUGH)
EDWARDS: She was not pleased. She sent me a nice text message.
COOPER: I understand she actually -- did she send you the actual photo?
EDWARDS: Yes.
COOPER: And what did she say?
EDWARDS: She said wrong direction, sir.
(LAUGH)
COOPER: I mean she's not wrong.
EDWARDS: Yeah, she's not wrong.
(LAUGH)
COOPER: What do you like about being on the force?
EDWARDS: You know, I enjoy just helping people, serving the community in this current role. It's a leadership position and I enjoy mentoring and training that next group of executives behind me.
COOPER: The thing I find so fascinating about police officers is, especially police officers who have been serving a long time in this city or any city, they know like the hidden history of every street. I think it's so cool that police officers kind of know that hidden history. And if you get talking to them, can tell you like they see the city in a whole different lens, which is fascinating to me.
EDWARDS: Yeah, definitely, definitely. And that's what you get when you know you have cops outside, you are footpost and you talk to people and just listening, hearing the stories. You get to learn a lot.
COOPER: Yeah. I know there's a lot you can't say about the incident because there's obviously ongoing court case. But I appreciate you coming in to talk a little bit about it. It's really an honor to interview you (ph).
EDWARDS: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Anderson. Appreciate --
