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American Fighter Jets Downed By Friendly Fire; Widening War. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired March 02, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:02]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's strange to be in a minority in the Republican Party.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Something Cornyn seems to recognize, as the Bush era Republican now aligns himself with Trump.

(on camera): Are you, in some ways, out of step with a changing Republican Party?

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): Politics doesn't -- never stays the same. It changes all the time. And, yes, if you run every six years, politics can change.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Thank you so much, Manu, for that report.

Thank you for joining INSIDE POLITICS.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And we do begin with the breaking news, an intensifying and widening war in the Middle East.

Today, President Trump warning of an even bigger wave of strikes against Iran, as explosions can be seen in Tehran and as Iran strikes back against its neighbors, like the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The U.S. military says four American service members are dead and 18 have seriously been wounded.

Last hour, President Trump made his first public statement since the war began and said this about his endgame:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will easily prevail. We're already substantially ahead of our time projections, but whatever the time is, it's OK. Whatever it takes, we will always -- and we have, right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. We'll do it.

Whatever -- somebody said today, they said, oh, well, the president wants to do it really quickly. After that, he'll get bored. I don't get bored.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's take you now live to Tel Aviv with CNN anchor Erin Burnett.

Erin, what is the scene there now?

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Boris and Brianna, look, there's sirens.

Then there's missiles. So far, this has been the deadliest in terms of some of those missiles breaking through, the death toll here than we have seen in any of this conflict if you look all the way back to October 7 itself.

And it is a widening war across the region. You know, even when you have a brief -- Dubai trying to just get some flights out, you have got more than 20,000 people stranded there from around the world desperate to just get on some of those flights, as air travel remains completely shut down and, as I said, the sirens and the missiles ongoing here, of course, but also around the region and in Qatar in this widening world.

We talk about Iran's counterstrikes in places like Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE. In Qatar, they said they shot down to Su-24 Iranian bombers, which they say would be the first Iranian bomber shot down since this war began.

Exploding, widening. That is the reality that we're seeing here on the ground, and a new front in the expanding conflict opening up as well where we are, when you look at Hezbollah and Lebanon. We are seeing that, Israel saying it retaliated earlier today.

And we heard some of that in the hours of darkness overnight. There was a military base in Northern Israel across the border from Lebanon hit by Hezbollah. Israel has been striking in the Beirut suburbs and saying that they will continue to strike, so yet another front opening up, of course, Hezbollah as an ally of Iran.

And I want to go to our chief international security correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh. He's here with me in Israel. He's up north in Haifa.

Nick, where you're seeing this front and also, of course, where you're standing, as near in Israel as you can get to the USS Ford carrier, which has been positioned for offensive and also, of course, defensive missile defense.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, absolutely. Look, I think it's fair to say we are in a relative calm here in

Haifa, certainly. But this is one of those unintended consequences potentially of the U.S. and Israeli decision to hit Iran, predictable, perhaps, frankly, that we would see an escalation in this area.

But I think many are indeed deeply surprised that Hezbollah, in its current state of, frankly, unprecedented weakness chose yesterday to release a statement saying they would avenge the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and then hours later to fire a limited number of missiles and drones across the border into Israel.

No injuries, but Israel quick to seize on, frankly, a chance it's been yearning for, some might say, for months to persist and take out what remains of a long-term irritant to its north, Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy militia.

Now, we have seen strikes in the Dahiyeh suburb of Southern Beirut. That seemed to have targeted an Al-Quds commander in the early hours of the morning, 90 minutes ago, another announcement saying that another senior terrorist, in the words of the IDF, was targeted again in Dahiyeh, and across the south of the country, the IDF again issuing evacuation orders, causing a flood of people to jam the roads out from Southern Lebanon up towards Beirut and even in Beirut itself as well.

[13:05:05]

Seventy targets hit there. And Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir of the Israeli military visiting Northern Command sites up here, essentially saying this is the chance to finish the job against Hezbollah.

An extraordinary moment for that Iranian proxy, because, as I say, they had been an ordinarily weakened since the late last year war with Israel, really struggling, I think in some sense, to retain the grip they had inside Lebanese society.

And apparently Israel did warn the Lebanese government that if it did not act it might hit Lebanese infrastructure. Now, that has resulted in the Lebanese government saying that Hezbollah must lay down their arms and not continue with any offensive operations. Unclear at the stage if that will be heard. It was rejected by a statement from Hezbollah.

But it's a key moment, because in the past I think when the Lebanese government has told Hezbollah to calm or restrain itself, it's been fobbed off. There seems to be the potential now, but the significantly weakened militia group may indeed find its options limited, but still the tension up here and now another front for Israel, a sign I think of how fast this can potentially escalate, and indeed too in this precise moment how Israel appears to have the capability to pursue not only its long-term objectives in Iran, but also those against what remains of Hezbollah to its north -- Erin.

BURNETT: Yes, absolutely.

Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much. And, Boris and Brianna, when you think about where Nick is standing in

Haifa, obviously up near the border in that new front, but, as I said, also it's off the coast there that the USS Ford, the newest state-of- the-art carrier that came into the region for missile defense, is posted.

And we have seen here, even in the hours of the night, sometimes, you will see large planes, perhaps C-17s, air refuelers, unclear, coming into bases here, and they fly in. They fly with all their lights off. In fact, no moon tonight, but it was a full moon last night, which is how we were even able to see some of them when we could not hear them -- back to you guys.

SANCHEZ: Yes, no doubt there will be a lot of activity as the days and potentially weeks move forward.

Erin, we will come back to you throughout the afternoon. Thank you so much.

This afternoon here in D.C., top lawmakers are attempting to get answers as they're set to be briefed. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier today delivered some fiery responses to reporters who were questioning the operation and ultimately what led to it.

KEILAR: CNN's Kristen Holmes is live at the White House. Natasha Bertrand is here with us in studio.

Kristen, let's start with what the administration is saying about the timeline and justification for these strikes.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, Brianna and Boris, when it comes to justification, I'm going to let Natasha report that out because it shouldn't come without our own reporting and her own specific reporting about the intelligence on the ground and the reality in Iran.

But he did say at one point that this was the last and best chance that the United States had to end the Iranian regime. Our colleague Kevin Liptak tried to ask a question to Pete Hegseth as he was leaving as to why this was the last and best chance. He didn't answer.

Now, in terms of timeline, you heard him there saying that they always believed this was going to be a four-week endeavor, that it could go four to five weeks. But he gave himself quite a bit of wiggle room there, saying it would go on as long as it took to achieve their objectives.

And then he laid out what those objectives are. And, briefly, they are to destroy all missile capabilities and the capacity to produce new ones, to annihilate the navy, to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions, and to ensure Iran can't continue to arm and fund terrorist armies outside of their borders.

I think the most important thing here, as we look at what President Trump said as he was speaking, was that this does appear to be the White House messaging now coming out about why the White House, why the administration used this opportunity to attack Iran with Israel.

We have heard varying degrees, varying accounts of what was behind the scenes going on. At one point, administration officials were saying that they had intel of preemptive strikes coming from Iran. That was something that later the Pentagon basically said was not true in briefings with the Hill staffers behind closed doors.

So this appears to be the formal layout from President Trump. We have also seen it start to be retweeted, reposted by other members of the administration who have been largely silent on what the justification was, what the timeline is, because, remember, all we knew about the timeline before was what he had said in these off -- behind-the-scenes interviews, three to five minutes with various outlets, and the objectives for this strike, this attack in Iran.

SANCHEZ: All right, Kristen Holmes, live at the White House, thank you so much.

Let's turn now to national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand.

Natasha, let's actually hear what the president said earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The regime already had missiles capable of hitting Europe and our bases both local and overseas and would soon have had missiles capable of reaching our beautiful America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:10:02]

SANCHEZ: Is that what you're hearing from sources, that there was an imminent threat to the mainland from Iran?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: So, this is a second justification that we're getting from the Trump administration about why they felt like they had to hit now.

This is contradicted directly by Trump's own Defense Intelligence Agency, which actually put out an assessment last year that said that, if Iran were to try to build Intercontinental ballistic missiles, they likely would not be able to have those ready for another decade.

And, in fact, we're told that Iran is not even currently pursuing such an ICBM program. So that does not provide the justification for the immediacy of the threat that President Trump has suggested here that required the U.S. to act.

And then the first justification that we heard on Saturday from senior administration officials for why they had to act now has also been debunked by Pentagon officials to members of Congress, congressional staffers in briefings who have said that there was no intelligence to suggest that the Iranians were going to preemptively launch a missile attack against U.S. forces and bases in the region. That is separate from, of course, the ICBM question. These are the

shorter-range ballistic missiles that are capable of hitting U.S. forces and that have been being lobbed against U.S. forces in recent days as a result of the joint U.S.-Israeli operation.

But the bottom line is that there was no intelligence, according to multiple sources, other outlets reporting this as well, that the Iranians were preparing to launch a preemptive strike against the U.S. unless Israel attacked them first.

There was intelligence to suggest that, if they were attacked first, then they would take it out on the U.S. and they would try to hit U.S. and coalition forces. So this obviously is a very evolving series of explanations that we have gotten from the administration, but it seems like the bottom line here is that they saw an opening, they saw the Iranian regime very weak, and together with the Israelis they felt like now was the time to act.

KEILAR: The opportunity that they took.

CENTCOM is now detailing the casualties here, which include four service members killed.

BERTRAND: Three U.S. service members were killed in the immediate attack on an installation in Kuwait. They were in a TOC, which is kind of like a makeshift operation center that they were evacuated to, we're told, during those strikes by the Iranians on Kuwaiti facilities.

And there were also five people that were seriously wounded, and one of them did ultimately succumb to their injuries, bringing the total as of right now to four. But as we have heard from President Trump, and even from this morning from General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, that number is likely to rise, unfortunately.

SANCHEZ: Sadly.

Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much for the reporting.

Still to come this afternoon: plumes of smoke over Iran's capital today. Big questions right now about who exactly is in charge in Tehran, as President Trump says he doesn't know.

Plus, Kuwaiti air defenses accidentally shooting down three U.S. fighter jets. How did that happen? We're following the latest there.

KEILAR: And, later, the economic fallout. We're following the market reaction to this war and what it could mean for you.

We will have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:16]

KEILAR: The Iranian Red Crescent society says more than 500 people have been killed across Iran since the U.S. and Israel began their attacks over the weekend.

Multiple rounds of new explosions were reported today in Tehran and state-run media has been showing what it calls the aftermath of new airstrikes on residential neighborhoods. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is calling on Iranians to take advantage of the opportunity for regime change after the assassination of their supreme leader, Ayatolli -- pardon me -- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei's death was triggering -- it has triggered a three-person leadership council that will hold power until a new supreme leader is named, and that includes the country's moderate president, who is seated there in the middle, the hard-line head of the judiciary, to the left of him, and also senior cleric who's there on the right.

CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen is live for us from Berlin.

Fred, is it clear who is in charge in Iran right now?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Brianna.

Yes, by showing that interim council there and putting out pictures of that as well, clearly, the power structure in Iran is trying to project and say, look, we are still very much in control and there is continuity, not just of the regular government, but then also, of course, of the role that the supreme leader had until he was killed.

And you're absolutely right. They did show those three figures in that interim council, including the moderate president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who, of course, himself also runs the government. But there are also other power centers that clearly have a lot of influence and a lot of sway right now.

One of them is the head of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who I actually interviewed in Tehran about three weeks ago. He's someone who is a hard-liner who also is very much very close to the military power structure, to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and to the military as well.

And then another figure who's probably the most important one right now is the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani. And he clearly seems to have taken the reins as far as the outside communication of the current power structure is concerned.

He's the one who came out and tweeted earlier today that Iran would not negotiate with the United States and is clearly saying, look, Iran is in it for the long run. And he's also one who was involved in the negotiations with the Trump administration, at least from the outside, to see whether or not a deal could be reached, so definitely also someone who's clearly very well connected, but also someone who is definitely more in the hard-line faction than in the moderate faction, Brianna.

KEILAR: And, Fred, an Iranian source told you that Iran is prepared for a long war and that it will not negotiate with the U.S. Tell us more about what you're learning and what this means for the

path ahead.

PLEITGEN: Yes some sources have been saying that.

[13:20:00]

But Ali Larijani, that of the Supreme National Security Council, he said that as well. He said Iran is prepared for a long war, unlike the United States. So, clearly, right now it seems as though, to them, there is not going to be negotiations, there is going to be these retaliatory strikes coming out.

They believe that their arsenal of missiles continues to be deep. There was an interesting post on social media from one of the top generals in Iran saying that so far they had only used their first- and second-generation missiles, so the older ones, and that their stockpiles still are quite full.

They also say that so far they have used around 10,000 drones, but, again, that they also have stockpiled that are definitely very full as well and continue to manufacture new drones. So the Iranians are saying they can go for a very long time. The big question, of course, is going to be what sort of attrition the Trump administration and the Israelis are going to bring on.

One of the things that we have heard from the ground, I have been in touch with folks in Tehran today, is that there was a lot of airstrikes in the Iranian capital. And there's very few people who actually are going out on the streets.

But what they have told me is that there is a lot of checkpoints also that have been set up, flying checkpoints that sort of pop up run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to make sure that things don't get out of control on the ground.

Of course, we know President Trump has called on Iranians to, as he put it, go outside and take their country back. Clearly, right now, the governing structure in Iran is trying to keep things under wraps there on the ground in Tehran, and definitely project that they are the ones who are in control and who own the streets, Brianna

KEILAR: All right, Fred, thank you so much for that update.

And as the war is unfolding in Iran, Tehran is fighting back. We will be live with a report from Riyadh next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:26:24]

SANCHEZ: The U.S. military is investigating what they're calling a friendly-fire incident over Kuwait that downed three American fighter jets.

Video shows what appears to be one of the jets falling out of the sky. Officials say the aircraft were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses.

KEILAR: Another video shows a pilot parachuting to the ground.

U.S. Central Command says that all six air crew were recovered, that they're in stable condition after they ejected safely.

CNN's Nic Robertson is with us now.

Nic, CENTCOM says Kuwait has acknowledged the incident. What more can you tell us?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, this happened when there was a ballistic missile, a drone attack around the air base across the city in Kuwait.

What happened shortly before, and this was seen on social media video, a lot of smoke pouring out from neighborhoods near the U.S. Embassy. So, this was a substantial attack that was under way. And these three F-15E Fighting Eagle two-man, two-personnel aircraft were in the air.

They were there to help interdict this incoming attack. And it appears that the Kuwaiti ground defense system misidentified, misrecognized, wasn't coordinating with the U.S. fighter aircraft. And that's what resulted in those aircraft being hit.

Look, I mean, part of the picture here is very clearly something went badly wrong. Fortunately, all the pilots ejected and survived. But the picture, the broader picture across the Gulf here is that these air defense systems that the Kuwaitis, that the Saudis, that the Bahrainis, the Qataris have been using to defend their facilities have been hugely effective because they do strike those moving targets in the air.

But this is clearly a case where allies working together need better to find -- to make sure that they're syncing up. And this seems to be what CENTCOM is saying, that this requires investigation. But this is a very active war zone. These are very real issues.

And we're getting to witness that right now. And, fortunately, no one was killed.

SANCHEZ: It also underscores, Nick, the fears that there are in the region of retaliatory strikes from Iran, including where you are in Riyadh. How far exactly can Iran strike and what defense systems are Gulf nations relying on?

ROBERTSON: Yes, they're relying on multiple different types of defense systems. The high altitude THAAD, that's the system that's in play here. The Patriot air defense system is in play.

And fighter aircraft are also another line of defense because you have these ballistic missiles that are really hard to -- for example, to shoot down with by a fighter jet. But you have the slower aircraft, like the drones, like the cruise missiles that are identified and engaged in many cases by fighter aircraft. But you rely particularly against the ballistic missile threat by

interceptor missile systems. And there's always possibilities, technical possibilities that they don't connect. But what Iran has more of than anything else, and what it's willing and shown itself willing to expend more over the past few days are drones.

And two drones were fired at Saudi Arabia today, and they were struck. They were taken down. But, again, the result on the ground is significant and serious. They were targeting Saudi Arabia's biggest oil refinery.