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Texas Shooting Victims ID'd as Savitha Shan, 24 and Ryder Harrington, 22; Interview with Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA): House and Senate to be Briefed Tomorrow on Iran Strikes; Hundreds of Iranians Reported Killed in Joint U.S.-Israeli Airstrikes. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired March 02, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The autonomous Kurdish region, there are still U.S. troops at the airport, which is just over there, where we saw a large impact, followed by a fire for some hours last night, and also at a couple of other bases throughout this region. And the reason it is so tough, particularly for the Kurdish people living in Iraqi Kurdistan, Boris, is because they're now getting squeezed both by attacks from Iran, but also from Iran- backed militias inside Iraq. So people here very anxious, very much wanting this to end.

And important to remember for our viewers that here there are no air defenses. You do see some air defenses wherever there are U.S. troops at the airport and other places. But for ordinary civilian areas, there are no air defenses.

There are no warnings -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And important to keep in mind, Clarissa Ward, live for us in Erbil, Iraq.

We want to give you an update on something that happened over the weekend here in the United States. The Austin Police Department just gave more details about a mass shooting where two people were killed and 14 others were wounded.

Officials have been trying to figure out whether this shooting may have been motivated by the strikes in Iran, and they were asked about that today. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF LISA DAVIS, AUSTIN, TEXAS POLICE: So I think for our purposes, you know, as we're looking at the totality of this, and certainly as a police chief, and we're coming in and we're getting this information, and we see those indicators, we see the second shirt with the Iran, the picture of the shawl on that T-shirt as well. You know, we're thinking about events and what's occurring in the country as well. And so in addition to the fact that this was a huge, complex scene, we're calling in those federal partners to take a look at that as well. And so again, those, the motives, all of those things, that's what this investigation is about right now. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We're going to stay, we're going to stay on top of this story for you and actually have a reporter out there, Ed Lavandera, who's going to join us later this hour.

Still ahead this afternoon on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, the political fight over this war is also well underway as some lawmakers are calling for Congress to vote on a war powers resolution and potentially limit what the White House can do. That story is next.

[14:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Sources telling CNN the Trump administration is expected to brief top lawmakers on Iran this afternoon and update the full Congress tomorrow. And many Democrats and Republicans, they're angry that President Trump launched this attack on Iran without congressional approval. The House and Senate are expected to vote this week on efforts to curb President Trump's war powers.

Let's talk about this now with Georgia Congressman Rich McCormick. He's a Republican. He's a member of the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees. He's also a veteran who served combat tours, including in Afghanistan, during his 20-year military career.

Congressman, thanks for being with us. And, you know, first off, are you clear here on the objective? Can you give us the objective in a nutshell?

REP. RICH MCCORMICK (R-GA), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Sure I can. I mean, if you look at what Iran's done over the last several decades, killed hundreds of Americans through proxy Hezbollah and other groups with Iranian weapons, and what they've done to destabilize that region, what they have now, which is the development of nuclear arms. We know they had about enough enriched uranium to supply for two nuclear weapons.

They've talked about wiping the United States off the face of the earth, Israel off the face of the earth. This is a country that talked about as openly as the great Satan. And that's extremely alarming to us as a nation, when you have a country that's already proven that they'll kill Americans, and they can do it ad nauseum if they have nuclear means to do so, even if it's just a dirty bomb.

Imagine what a dirty bomb would do in downtown Atlanta to American conditions, let alone a nuclear arm.

KEILAR: So is regime change, as you see it, the objective here?

MCCORMICK: Absolutely. To me it is. And I know people are saying, we're not in the business of regime change.

But if you have a country that not only kills tens of thousands of their own people, jails another tens of thousands that they intend to kill, that has destabilized an entire region, but reaching out to our enemies here in the Western Hemisphere, who have said they're going to annihilate Americans, who have openly tried to kill Americans, and now they're seeking nuclear weapons, that is a regime that I can't see anything being worse than that. Now, it doesn't mean we're going to put in a proxy government.

It doesn't mean that we're going to do something like put boots on the ground necessarily. I don't think that's going to happen. But at least give those people the ability to rise up and not be killed in the tens of thousands.

It's a 90 million manned country. If they rise up and resupply -- I expect what's going to probably happen is somebody's going to take the reins, either a military leader or somebody who can take the reins, set up a democratic election process.

Maybe it'll be legitimate. Maybe it won't be. But it certainly won't be something worse than what we have right now. That's for sure.

KEILAR: So to you, it's a regime change operation. Hegseth today said this is not a so-called regime change war. But you look at the strike, and obviously it's a decapitation strike.

I guess the question is, Iran's a bit like a Hydra. So what's going to happen now that the Ayatollah is gone? And we're going to watch for that.

But is it possible that you do not get regime change, that you actually just get a different face from the same regime and the U.S. ends up dealing with them?

MCCORMICK: Yes, anything's possible.

[14:40:00]

But if you have a country that doesn't have the access to nuclear enrichment facilities, that doesn't have the weaponry, doesn't have the facilities to produce weapons, doesn't have a navy, doesn't have the ability to mine the Straits of Hormuz, that's a much better improvement from what we have right now.

KEILAR: The president told CNN's Jake Tapper today that the big wave is yet to come. So at this point in time, four American service members have been killed, 18 have been seriously wounded. At what point should Congress be dictating the scope of this war or, you know, at least be involved in some way other than just getting briefed?

MCCORMICK: We will get briefed. But quite frankly, there's never been a war that's been executed by Congress. We do have an approval process on declaring war.

But if you actually look at the way that we execute war, we have a commander in chief. We have a secretary of war. We have the individual sink commanders.

Congress would be a horrible way to run any war. As a matter of fact, if you look at the worst run wars, it's when you have somebody at the top that's fighting a political war rather than a military war. I hope we're past that.

I hope we learned our lumps from times we did that in Afghanistan, when we did it in Iraq, when we did it in Vietnam. Whenever we get politicians overly involved, it doesn't go well for us. I hope we do much better this time.

KEILAR: Do you think there's a role for Congress in this, though?

MCCORMICK: Of course. I think Congress has to be behind this. Ultimately, I guess you get to sort us out, see who actually believes in this mission and who doesn't.

We vote on it. That's fine. But the president has 90 days to do what he's going to do.

I think it's going to destabilize that government tremendously. I think it'll allow the people to rise up against him, hopefully. If not, once again, they'll have much fewer capabilities to harm the people in that region, to supply Hezbollah, the Houthis, Hamas with money, to destabilize the central government of Gaza, to come after us and the Israelis.

I think this is going to be a very positive overall. It isolates Venezuela even that much more. I think Cuba's next, quite frankly.

When you look at their support and the regime that they've had over their people, that horrible regime, I hope they also get toppled. I'm not saying by force. I'm not saying that at all.

But I'm just saying this is going to be good for the entire world when it comes to world peace.

KEILAR: But certainly, Americans look at this region, and they know that the U.S. has a history of not always seeing around corners, right, and not always knowing the sort of second and third order issues that regime change in the Middle East may cause. What unintended consequences are concerning you right now?

MCCORMICK: Actually, I'm very encouraged. When I look at the Saudi Arabians, when I looked at them in the 90s, when I was stationed over there in a couple of Persian tour, Gulf tours, they weren't that friendly. They had a lot of problems.

About half the people that went after our twin towers were from Saudi Arabia. Poverty basically results in terrorism. They've done a much better job of becoming moderate.

They actually are the largest investors by percentage of GDP into their military at about 7 percent. The only country higher than that is Russia at 9 percent. They basically have become a strong ally.

I hope they join the Abraham Accords. They're willing to use force against Iran and its forces. If you look at the uniting factor of the Middle East against Iran, I think Iran made a major miscalculation by attacking the countries around them.

I think this will prove to be something that unites us rather than divides us, ultimately leading to more peace, safer America, safer Middle East overall.

KEILAR: Congressman Rich McCormick, thank you so much for being with us on a critical day as we are watching this war widening. Thank you.

MCCORMICK: It's my pleasure. Semper Fidelis.

KEILAR: Still to come, we have much more on our coverage of the war with Iran. The fallout as President Trump vows that the, quote, big wave is still yet to come. Stay with CNN.

[14:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage live here from the Middle East. There have been new explosions around Tehran today, and we could see those on the skyline still during the hours of daylight. I mean, obviously, billowing clouds of black, acrid smoke.

U.S. Central Command says bombers are, they say, degrading ballistic missile capabilities in terms of exactly what they're striking, whether it be munitions, materiel, missiles unclear. But obviously, there have been a significant number of strikes conducted by U.S. and Israeli air forces through the day in Tehran today. And we've seen hostilities rising around the region, attacks in the UAE and Qatar.

The entire region is on edge. You know, the UAE, world's largest airport shut down. And someone who lives nearby just telling me, you know, that they, just the unbelievable nature of it, when they can actually see interceptions coming in there, they can hear the takeoff of some of the jets.

It is stunning to consider what life is like there versus what people would ever have anticipated. Israel, meantime, in addition to those airstrikes I mentioned in Tehran, has been launching new strikes on Hezbollah targets near here in Lebanon. Hezbollah tried to attack an Israeli military base across the border, according to Israel.

Now, we could hear some of that incoming here, then almost immediately the outgoing. Lebanese officials say Israelis counterattack has killed more than 50 people. And it's not just along the border.

It's been up in the suburbs of Beirut. And the United States has seen an increase in the number of service members killed, the Pentagon confirming now that four service members have been killed, in what the administration is calling Operation Epic Fury. Another 18 have been seriously wounded, it says.

And the president of the United States has said that the toll could go substantially higher as this continues.

[14:50:00]

He spoke about the war earlier today, talking about a conflict that he says could go four to five weeks. His numbers have been very inconsistent. But he's stuck with that time frame over the past 24 hours.

And then he said something incredibly significant to our colleague Jake Tapper. He said that, yes, here we are. But the big wave -- those are the words he used to Jake -- the big wave has yet to come.

The United States and Israel, where I am standing right now, have been doing this together. There's been no daylight between them. This is a completely joint operation. This is not just the United States providing some defense and protecting Israel when it goes out further on the limb. This is completely together in their attacks across Iran.

Joining me now is the consul general of Israel to the United States, Ofir Akunis. He's joining me from the consulate in New York. And I appreciate your time, Mr. Consul General. So, you know, when you look at where we are right now, our Jeremy Diamond here has been reporting that it is very clear -- I guess I'll say it this way first. While the United States goals here are still far from clear, Israel's goals have been very clear. And it has been very clear to anyone where I am and Jeremy's reporting that regime change is top of the list. How would you describe it, sir?

OFIR AKUNIS, CONSUL GENERAL OF ISRAEL IN NEW YORK: First of all, as you said, there's never been closer collaboration between the United States of America and the state of Israel. I think that it's very important. I think that we are in historical days.

We are all witnessing. And it's very important that in the end of this operation, we'll see a totally different world, a world without the Ayatollahs. We will not say to the Iranians, you know, we will not talk about the kind of their government or let's say their democracy.

We hope that they will do it. We cannot force them to do it. But as you know, we are doing what we need to do to save the Western civilization again.

And we talked during the last operation in the studio in New York. We talked about the intercontinental missile and the nuclear sites in Iran. So we are saving the Western civilization right now.

And we are doing it together.

BURNETT: Consul General, I am curious, though, and I think it is so important now in this context when you talk about the hopes for democracy. Obviously, in the immediate aftermath, there were some sporadic celebrations that did start. But we have not seen that spread.

We have not seen a mass uprising of the Iranian people. There is no entrenched, known, settled opposition. When you talk about democracy, do you have real confidence in that? If anything, when we have heard chants, it's been chants for a Shah who was a monarchy. Is there anything that's giving you confidence in democracy?

AKUNIS: Yes, I hope so. I hope that most of the Americans, most of the Israelis and the other and the Europeans are waiting for a real democracy, a real democracy in our region. Actually, these days and you are now broadcast from my hometown, from Tel Aviv.

And Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. Of course, we want the other countries around us will be democracies. We can't force them.

But we don't want the Ayatollahs will be there anymore because they changed the world. You mentioned Hezbollah a few minutes ago. You said that actually yesterday they launched a few missiles against the state of Israel.

The first one since a long time. Hezbollah, they are part of the Iranian proxies. The Houthis are a main part of the Iranian proxies.

We don't want them. I think that most of the people, at least 80 percent from the Iranians don't want them. Now about the Iranian exiles here in the United States.

Yesterday, I saw hundreds of them. They marched right here on the second avenue in New York. Today, there is a new one, as far as I know, in Times Square.

And we saw in London and other places around Europe, in L.A., of course, other places, the will to change the current situation. I think that it will happen. We cannot force them. It will be their decision.

BURNETT: All right, Ofir Akunis, I appreciate your time, Consul General in New York. And thank you very much.

Everyone, stay with us, myself, Boris, and Brianna here as we continue the breaking news coverage on the war with Iran. We'll be back.

[14:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Officials in Texas are investigating whether a deadly mass shooting in Austin was motivated by U.S. strikes on Iran. Two people were killed in the attack on Sunday. Fourteen others were injured.

Let's go live to Austin with CNN's Ed Lavandera, who was at the press conference that just wrapped up there. Ed, what more are officials saying?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, police here in Austin have identified two of the young victims in early Sunday morning's shooting attack here in Austin. They are Savitha Shan and Ryder Harrington. They say that more than a dozen others were injured, three of those remaining critical.

And the police chief here also says a third person could very well be taken off of life support later today. This is questions are still swirling around the motive ...

END