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IDF Says, Iran Launches About 180 Missiles at Israel; Biden and Harris Meet With National Security Adviser in Situation Room; White House Briefing as Iran Launches Missile Attack on Israel. Aired 2:30- 3p ET

Aired October 01, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our special coverage. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Anderson Cooper. We're following major breaking news, very disturbing breaking news right now, Iranian airstrikes on Israel, Tel Aviv, the major city along the Mediterranean. This follows Israel's incursion into Southern Lebanon. Anderson?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The strikes began about an hour and a half to two hours ago. The escalation of this crisis, which has been such a concern for the White House, we're expecting a briefing in moments. This, obviously, the scene was earlier this night, as I said, about an hour and a half or two hours ago the skies over Tel Aviv.

I want to go now to our Ben Wedeman, who's standing by in Beirut. Ben, explain what you heard from your vantage point in Beirut as these strikes were going on in Israel.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we saw, Anderson, was fireworks over the southern suburbs of Beirut, an area where Hezbollah has many supporters. We also heard a celebratory gunfire. And I'm watching, as I'm speaking to you, Hezbollah's T.V. station, Al-Manar, is running loops of incoming missiles hitting Israel.

So, clearly, there is -- among those supporters of Hezbollah, there is a certain amount of satisfaction seeing this happen, keeping in mind that two weeks ago, with the pagers attacks, the walkie-talkie attacks and since the over the last eight days, punishing Israeli airstrikes, and, of course, last Friday, the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. Certainly Hezbollah has taken just one body blow after another.

So, clearly, there are certain elements within Lebanese society that are taking satisfaction at what is going on at the moment, not necessarily the broader population in Lebanon, many of whom have just been sitting watching television with a certain amount of dread certainly over the last 24 hours, as we've seen Israel start limited ground operations so far into the south. But, certainly, this additional development of these extensive Iranian missile strikes on Israel certainly raises the level of concern to heights we haven't seen yet. Anderson?

BLITZER: Let me pick it up. It's Wolf, Ben. As you know, and all of our -- most of our viewers should know by now, the Hezbollah forces in South Lebanon have accumulated thousands of rockets and drones and missiles potentially that could be aimed towards Israel. I haven't seen a huge -- I mean, they've been doing it a lot. They started October 8th, the day after October 7th, they began, Hezbollah, launching some of these rockets and missiles towards Israel.

But given their capabilities of the assumption by U.S. intelligence, Israeli intelligence, was that Hezbollah always had a major threat, potential threat to Israel. Why haven't the Hezbollah forces in South Lebanon launched more of these projectiles towards Israel?

WEDEMAN: It's important to note, Wolf, that the projectiles they launched from Southern Israel tend to be short range, focused on Israeli military positions along the border. They have longer range missiles that we do not believe they keep in that area where, as we've seen, there's a high probability of an Israeli ground incursion.

[14:35:03]

Those are kept further north, away from the Israelis.

Why haven't they used them so far? That's a question many people here are asking. It probably has something to do with the fact that what we've seen going back to July 30th is the gradual and increasingly rapid elimination of many of the senior commanders of Hezbollah, and, of course, Hassan Nasrallah last Friday.

Now, yesterday, we did hear from one of the senior deputy of Nasrallah, Naim Qassem, who said on a television broadcast that despite these blows, Hezbollah has not collapsed, that they still are able to function. Now, the question is the fact that they haven't fired some of their longer, heavier weaponry, is it because of the elimination of the military command or is it because they're holding it in reserve in the event there is a full on invasion of Southern Lebanon?

And, certainly, we are getting indications from, for instance, warnings from on Twitter from the Arabic spokesman for the Israeli military about telling people essentially to go tens of kilometers north, away from Southern Lebanon. The indications are they may well be a full on Israeli invasion of the south, in which case there's a much higher probability that Hezbollah, which already feels crippled and cornered, may unleash its heaviest weapons yet. Wolf?

BLITZER: And some of those heaviest weapons potentially could reach not only Haifa in Northern Israel, but even Tel Aviv and perhaps even further south in Israel. And the Israelis have always been very, very worried about that possibility.

Ben, stay safe over there in Beirut.

Anderson, this is a dramatic moment we're watching right now, a historic moment and a very dangerous moment. COOPER: It is. And we're waiting to hear from the White House as well as the Pentagon and the State Department. Stay with us for that White House briefing. We've learned that National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will be joining the briefing. The White House responding to the Iranian strikes on Israel, we expect that at any moment.

We'll take a quick break.

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COOPER: Welcome back to CNN. Our special coverage today, Iran's response to Israel's actions in Lebanon.

BLITZER: And this was just one day after an incursion by ground forces into Lebanon, the Israeli military moving quickly on that front, the military response by Tehran. The White House expected to brief at any moment now. We'll have live coverage of that. We'll see what Jake Sullivan, the president's national security adviser, has to say. They've just all emerged, we're told, from a major meeting, a strategy meeting, inside the White House Situation Room.

I want to go to CNN's Jim Sciutto. He's joining us from Tel Aviv right now as we await for that. Jim, I assume we'll get some specific details from Jake Sullivan and other White House officials about how the U.S. will respond to what's going on where you are.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: No question, and you might expect a similar combination of words and pronouncements that we've heard recently from U.S. officials beginning with, we stand by Israel. He might even provide some specifics about U.S. participation in the response to this attack. I was told prior to the attack that the U.S. would help defend Israel from an Iranian attack and shoot down missiles as well, if need be, we might expect an update on that. But in addition to that, I'm certain we'll hear from him exhortations to all involved to attempt to not further escalate the situation.

Now, listen, you have the Israeli cabinet meeting quite soon. As I understand it, the cabinet meeting was delayed, but meeting quite soon where they will certainly to be discussing options on how they respond to this. Whatever words of caution that the U.S. might communicate to them, either from that podium or in the phone calls, I'm sure, going back and forth between Washington and Tel Aviv, it's hard to see where those words of caution might work anymore than the words of caution delivered prior, for instance, to Israeli boots going on the ground in Lebanon just last night or prior to the attacks that killed Nasrallah or the pager attacks.

So, it's difficult to see how this plays out going forward because the last thing the U.S. wants is a broader regional war. Specifically, it does not want open war between Israel and Iran. And also it does not want to get dragged into such a war. So, it'll be interesting to see how Jake Sullivan combines those messages from the White House podium. COOPER: Jim, the military escalation of this conflict has been a concern by the White House, which has tried to counsel patience for Israel obviously in this fight. We're awaiting that press conference from the White House.

I wanted to bring in former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark. General, as we're waiting for this press conference, first of all, what's your reaction to these strikes? Barack Ravid was on the program earlier talking with Wolf Blitzer talking about the Israeli cabinet meeting, discussing potential options for Israel to strike at Iran. What would those be? What would that look like?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: First of all, Anderson, I'm really surprised that Iran did this.

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The United States warned them not to do it. The Iranian government's very weak. It has a nuclear program. It's been fearful that the Israelis would strike and take that nuclear program out or set it way back. And so they had every incentive not to strike. So, they did strike.

So, Israel now is faced with a quandary. Do you accept this as a sort of fait accompli and stop, or do you go back?

COOPER: Let's listen to Antony Blinken, the secretary of state.

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: And the entire world should condemn it.

Initial reports suggest that Israel, with the active support of the United States and other partners, effectively defeated this attack.

We demonstrated once again our commitment to Israel's defense. We'll remain in very close touch with Israel and other partners in the region in the hours and days ahead.

On a happier note, let me say what a pleasure it is to welcome my friend here. I think we've seen just in recent weeks, once again, the incredible vibrancy strength behind the partnership that joins the United States and India. We had Prime Minister Modi here and actually in Wilmington, Delaware, for the Quad meeting as well as a bilateral meeting with President Biden.

COOPER: Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a meeting with the leader of India, the prime minister.

General Clark, I want to go back to you as we await the White House briefing, so I may have to interrupt and I apologize again, but you were talking about the potential for Israel striking back at Iran. Barack Ravid had raised the idea of striking back at nuclear facilities in Iran, which would obviously be a very dramatic move.

CLARK: You could take the nuclear facilities or what you could reach. Some of them are in the far southeast side of Iran, hidden and as far from Israel as possible. But Israel can reach most of Iran, I think. And/or you could strike at the oil export terminals in Iran and try to cut off their flow of oil or exports and cut off their flow of any foreign currency that they're getting. So, those are two options. Or you could stand by and you can count on the United States and its policy of let's don't escalate and hope that this is the end of it.

But my guess is the political pressures inside Israel are going to demand a response, even though, as Antony Blinken just said, the attack was defeated. It was blunted, but it was still an attack. And if something's not done, it'll come back again, stronger at a later time, perhaps with some nuclear weapons, if something's not done. So, my guess is Israel has to respond.

BLITZER: I just want to interrupt for a moment, General, we heard Tony Blinken, the secretary of state, say that Israel, as you correctly point out, defeated the attack with the active support of the United States and other partners. How significant is that that the secretary of state is saying that the U.S. and, quote, other partners helped Israel in defeating this Iranian ballistic missile attack?

CLARK: I think it's significant in that we have assets in other countries in the region, that we have Patriot batteries in these other countries that could have gone after these missiles when they passed overhead. And we always want to work with our allies. So, I think that's significant that Secretary Blinken is giving credit without naming them to our other partners in the region. I think that's important.

BLITZER: And I think we're going to go to the White House briefing. Karine Jean-Pierre is introducing Jake Sullivan, the president's national security adviser.

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I'm here to provide a brief report on the Iranian ballistic missile attack against Israel that occurred earlier today. I can take just a few questions because this is an ongoing situation and I need to get back to my desk.

Today, Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles towards targets in Israel. The United States military coordinated closely with the Israeli Defense Forces to help defend Israel against this attack. U.S. naval destroyers joined Israeli air defense units in firing interceptors to shoot down inbound missiles. President Biden and Vice President Harris monitored the attack and the response from the White House Situation Room, joined in person and remotely by their national security team.

We are still working with the IDF and the authorities in Israel to assess the impact of the attack. But at this time, and I stress at this time, we do not know of any deaths in Israel. We are tracking the reported death of a Palestinian civilian in Jericho, in the West Bank. We do not know of any damage to aircraft or strategic military assets in Israel.

[14:50:00]

In short, based on what we know at this point. This attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective. This was first and foremost the result of the professionalism of the IDF, but in no small part because of the skilled work of the U.S. military and meticulous joint planning in anticipation of the attack.

We're also aware of reports of a terrorist attack in Jaffa that took the lives of a number of Israeli civilians and wounded several others today. Our condolences go out to the families of the victims and to the family of the Palestinian civilian in Jericho.

Obviously, my update here is based on early reports and we reserve the right to amend and adjust as necessary as we gather more information. The word fog of war was invented for a situation like this. This is a fluid situation. We will consult with the Israelis on next steps in terms of the response and how to deal with what Iran has just done and we will continue to monitor for further threats and attacks from Iran and its proxies. We are particularly focused on protecting U.S. service members in the region.

And with that, I'll take just a few questions. Yes?

REPORTER: Thanks, Jake. Is the administration making any preparations to evacuate U.S. citizens from Lebanon or elsewhere in the region?

SULLIVAN: We have been very clear for some time now that U.S. citizens should avail themselves of commercial means to depart Lebanon, given everything that's going on. We have said that from this podium, from multiple podiums, we continue to say that, but we have not begun triggering a non-combatant emergency evacuation, a NEO, and do not have an intention to do so at this time. If that changes, we'll let you know.

But we continue to reinforce the point, American citizens in Lebanon should follow the guidance from the State Department, which is to find civilian commercial means to depart, because, in extremis, we may not be able to get them out safely.

Yes?

REPORTER: Thanks, Jake. What is the U.S. view on whether Israel should retaliate and what is your concern about this leading to a wider escalation of war in the region?

SULLIVAN: We've had some initial discussions with the Israelis in the aftermath of this, at the military level, and also at the White House to prime minister's office level, we'll continue those conversations in the hours ahead. I'm not going to prejudge or get ahead of anything. We want to have some deep consultations with the Israelis, and I'll have more to report to you after we get the opportunity for deeper discussions.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) in the region?

SULLIVAN: Obviously, this is a significant escalation by Iran, a significant event, and it is equally significant that we were able to step up with Israel and create a situation in which no one was killed in this attack in Israel, so far, as we know at this time. We are now going to look at what the appropriate next steps are to secure first and foremost American interests and then to promote stability to the maximum extent possible as we go forward.

Yes?

REPORTER: Back in April, the president's message to Israel was to take the win when the U.S. and Israel were able to intercept the barrage of Iranian missiles. Is he recommending a similarly limited response this time?

SULLIVAN: I will not from this podium share the president's recommendations. He will have the opportunity to share them directly. We're going to have, as I said, ongoing consultations with the Israelis this afternoon, this evening. It's too early for me to tell you anything publicly in terms of our assessment or in terms of what our expectations are of the Israelis or the advice that we will give them.

REPORTER: So, will he be speaking to Prime Minister Netanyahu today?

SULLIVAN: I don't have anything to announce from this podium, but I can tell you that he is tracking this minute by minute. We are very much deeply in touch with the Israelis. And insofar as we have calls to read out, we'll make sure to read them out with you.

Just last question, then I'll turn it over.

REPORTER: Thank you, Jake. In April, after Iran struck Israel, the U.S. issued a number of sanctions as a consequence. This morning, the president said there would be severe consequences if Iran carried out this attack. What are those consequences, and are they more severe than sanctions?

SULLIVAN: Totally legitimate question, and that answer will come based on the conversations and consultations we have with our Israeli counterparts. It's too soon for me to stand before you today and give you an answer.

What I can tell you is this. We are proud of the actions that we've taken alongside Israel to protect and defend Israel. We have made clear that there will be consequences, severe consequences for this attack, and we will work with Israel to make that the case.

Thank you very much.

REPORTER: Thank you.

REPORTER: Thank you, Jake.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Thank you, Jake. Okay, on to the rest of --

BLITZER: All right, we're going to continue to monitor this briefing. Karine Jean Pierre, the White House press secretary, now briefing. We'll listen to that, Anderson. But I thought it was very significant what Jake Sullivan, the president's national security adviser, said that the attack was defeated and ineffective, the Iranian attack, with all these ballistic missiles launched towards Tel Aviv and elsewhere in Israel. It was defeated and ineffective.

COOPER: It's also to point out, though, he called it a significant escalation on the part of Iran. If you compare it to the attack in April, not only in April, there were, I think, like 185 drones used, which are much slower moving, easier to knock down.

[14:55:11]

This was ballistic missiles. I think that's one of the reasons -- for as far as we know, this was exclusively ballistic missiles as many, nearly 200, according to Jake Sullivan. That is why they're saying it's a significant escalation in this attack and obviously Israel now trying to figure out how they are going to respond.

SULLIVAN: Yes. And he said that there's extensive consultations underway right now between Washington and Jerusalem, between the U.S. and Israel, with the prime minister's office, the defense ministry, the Israeli foreign office, and it's too soon to say what the consequences will be, what the U.S. will do, other than the fact that the U.S. will support Israel.

COOPER: Yes. Last time, again, in response to the April attack, Israel did count strike again against Iran, but it was largely viewed as a sort of symbolic response. The question is, this time, is it going to be different? Is it going to be a much more significant response by Israel, to what the U.S. is calling a significant escalation by Iran?

We're going to take a short break. Our coverage continues in just a moment.

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