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Satellite Images Show Several Large Iranian Ships are on Fire; Israel Says It Hit Iranian Intel Headquarters and Bases; Marco Rubio Speaks Before Briefing Top Lawmakers on Iran War; Interview with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ): Mission is to Destroy Iran's Ballistic Missiles Capability. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired March 02, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right, welcome back. I'm Erin Burnett in Tel Aviv for our breaking coverage of the Iran war, which is rapidly widening as I speak. We're seeing now some new images coming in of current destruction from the joint U.S. and Israeli strikes across Iran. We're also getting in some new satellite images.

I mean, take a look at what you're seeing here. This is dark plumes of smoke rising from multiple burning Iranian ships at a military harbor. President Trump has spoken about this.

He said today that one of the U.S. goals in these operations, as such that have been vaguely defined, is to annihilate Iran's navy. He talked yesterday about nine ships in their navy, saying that the job is essentially done and that they were at the bottom of the sea. But today, while sticking with the goal, seemingly indicating that it is not complete.

Joining me now is the retired Army Colonel Peter Mansoor He's also a professor now of military history at the Ohio State University. Colonel, I appreciate your time. I always appreciate speaking with you. Is there any way at this point

to gauge what's really happening versus what the administration is saying is happening when it comes to, I guess, annihilation or obliteration, words they would use, of Iranians' ballistic missile program, nuclear program, as well as its navy?

COL. PETER MANSOOR, U.S. ARMY (RET.): There really isn't. And this is because the Internet inside Iran has been shut off. And so we don't have any sort of independent confirmation from inside the country, from people on the ground, as to what's happening.

So right now, unfortunately, we're going to have to take the Trump administration's word as to what is occurring.

[15:35:00]

But I think it's highly unlikely that after only two or three days of bombing that all the objectives have been met. This campaign is going to have to go on for weeks if they really want to destroy everything that they say they want to destroy, and of course regime changes is another story altogether.

BURNETT: OK, and so separating those two, and I know they're inseparable, but for the purposes of this conversation when you talk about what they want to destroy. They're trying to lay out that this could take weeks, and the president has shifted his narrative there, right, from days to four to five weeks, whatever it takes he said. And yet on the other hand when you look at the reporting that's out there, the analysis, the reality, there is a missile defense issue, when it comes to the Gulf region specifically and more broadly, about how much time the United States has. How do you square that circle? How much time does the U.S. really have before the missile defense in place for the region, such that it is, because we know a lot is getting through. We know the Dubai airport is, you know, sworn with thousands of people who can't get out, right?

We have imminent issues here. How much time does the U.S. and Israel really have?

MANSOOR: Well, there's two things going on here. One is that the further the campaign progresses, the fewer air defense assets we have, just because they are being shot into the air in response to Iranian attacks. But also, the Iranians have fewer missiles to send because they're being targeted by the air campaign.

So this is going to be a test of wills and a test of attrition. One, the Iranians think that they can win in the long run, but the Trump administration now says they're willing to go a matter of weeks and longer if necessary. The real question for the Trump administration is, what percentage of the stockpile of U.S. munitions do they want to use in this one particular conflict? Because anything they use here is not available for use by Ukraine or in the defense of Taiwan.

BURNETT: And obviously, which is crucial, especially when you talk to possible materiel or munitions, ammunition being moved from the Asia- Pacific theater to here.

There is some breaking news I want to share with you, Colonel, just crossing in for our viewers. We're just getting this information from the Israeli military right now. They say that they have hit, their words, dozens of targets belonging to the Iranian regime and its intelligence services in Tehran. So they're putting that out there.

Now, we've seen evidence, right? As I mentioned, Colonel, we've seen some of the images, but they're now saying specifically dozens, and they're giving a bit more detail as I'm speaking here. They're saying that those dozens of strikes specifically targeted headquarters, bases and regional command centers of, and I'm quoting them, the Iranian terrorist regime's internal security bodies. Now, that's coming from a statement that the IDF has just put out.

Colonel, what's your reaction to that? There's a lot in there that they're laying it out. They're distinguishing between actual supplies, right, and intelligence services, but they're also putting in regional, not just Tehran.

MANSOOR: Yes. So this is interesting, because what it's showing is that we and the Israelis have a great degree of intelligence and targeting information, and that this air campaign is progressing down a list of targets, checking off the ones they hit, and then moving on to the next. And this just happens to be the day for the Iranian intelligence to be on the receiving end.

And so there's more to come here, but I'm pretty much really impressed with the degree of intelligence and targeting information that the U.S. and Israeli forces have shown, and that has given them the upper hand right now in the strikes.

BURNETT: Yes, it certainly appeared, at least from what we understand from the reporting, that the human intelligence so central to the initial strike here actually came from possibly a CIA intelligence agent on the ground, as opposed to Israeli, which we know, obviously, they have a deep network within Iran, but that that was a CIA specifically. Colonel Mansoor, do you think right now, if you had to think about how long this is going, given that there are multiple goals issued by the Israelis, the U.S. is vague on its goals, OK, do you think -- how long do you think this goes? Especially I want to context again with what we're seeing in the rest of the Gulf, having the world's largest airport completely shut down as a black hole in global air travel.

That is something that has a clock ticking on it.

MANSOOR: Well, let's take two of the objectives off the table. That would be regime change and Iranian support for militias around the region. That leaves three goals, which is their nuclear program, their missile capabilities and their Navy.

[15:40:00]

And to destroy all the targets associated with those three areas, I think would take four to six weeks at a minimum. And then, of course, we'll have to get the battle damage assessment and re-engage those that either we missed or that new targets pop up.

But it's going to be an extensive campaign. This is not going to be over in a matter of days.

BURNETT: Right, and of course, as you say, then it's the sort of up and down. What are you destroying? And is that taking away from their ability to fire back and that extremely limited missile defense capacity when it comes to the current run rate of use?

Thank you so much, Colonel Mansoor. Appreciate that analysis.

And we are standing by for Secretary Rubio. He is going to be briefing top lawmakers on the Hill. A crucial moment. We've got cameras taking out that briefing. Stay with us right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Let's go straight to Capitol Hill and breaking news. Here's Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill. Let's listen. MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: ... and in the north for that matter had already been activated to launch in fact those that already been pre-positioned.

[15:45:00]

The third is the assessment that was made that if we stood and waited for that attack to come first before we hit them, we would suffer much higher casualties. And so the president made the very wise decision. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces.

And we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties and perhaps even higher those killed. And then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn't act.

Going back to the purpose. The purpose of this is to destroy that missile capability. Why does Iran want that ballistic missile capability? What they are trying to do and have been trying to do for a very long time is build a conventional weapons capability as a shield where they can hide behind.

Meaning there would come a point where they have so many conventional missiles, so many drones and it can inflict so much damage that no one can do anything about their nuclear program. That is what they were trying to do is put themselves in a place of immunity where the damage they can inflict on the region would be so high that no one can do anything about their nuclear program or their nuclear ambitions. They are producing by some estimates over 100 of these missiles a month.

Compare that to the six or seven interceptors that can be built a month. They can build a hundred of these a month not to mention the thousands of one-way attack drones that they also have. They have been doing this for a very long time and by the way they have been doing it under sanction.

You see the attacks they are conducting right now? They are attacking airports. They are attacking hotels.

They are hitting not just military bases. They are attacking our embassies directly. They are attacking facilities that have nothing to do with war or with military and that is a weakened Iran.

That is an Iran despite years of sanction. Imagine a year from now or a year and a half from now the capabilities they would have to inflict damage on us. It is an unacceptable risk, especially in the hands of a regime that is run by radical clerics.

The Ayatollah is a radical -- was a radical cleric. That entire regime is led by radical clerics who do not make geopolitical decisions. They make decisions on the basis of theology, their view of theology which is an apocalyptic one.

That has to be taken very seriously as well. So that was the purpose for what this operation is all about. That is what it is focused on. As the President said earlier today it is on or ahead of schedule. I will defer to the Department of War to discuss the progress being made at a tactical level. But it was the right decision and an important decision for the safety and security of the world.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:

Why does Congress have to weigh in? Does Congress have to weigh in? Is the president declaring war?

RUBIO: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And does Congress know? And what did you tell lawmakers that there was an imminent threat?

RUBIO: There absolutely was an imminent threat and the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us. And we were not going to sit there and absorb a blow before we responded. Because the Department of War assessed that if we did that, if we waited for them to hit us first after they were attacked, and by someone else, Israel attacked them, they hit us first, and we waited for them to hit us, we would suffer more casualties and more deaths.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was forced to strike because of an impending Israeli action?

RUBIO: Well first of all, I mean two things I would say. Number one is, no matter what, ultimately this operation needed to happen. That's the question of why now. But this operation needed to happen.

Because Iran in about a year, or a year and a half, would cross the line of immunity. Meaning they would have so many short missiles, so many drones, that no one could do anything about it, because they could hold the whole world hostage. Look at the damage they're doing now.

And this is a weakened Iran. Imagine a year from now. So that had to happen.

Obviously, we were aware of Israeli intentions, and understood what that would mean for us, and we had to be prepared to act as a result of it. But this had to happen no matter what.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) the top choices to new run Iran were killed in the strikes. Does the United States have a firm plan for how they intend to handle this power vacuum in Iran, to ensure that hardliner does not take power?

RUBIO: So two things, and two things can be true. Number one is, our mission and our focus is the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities and their ability to manufacture them, as well as the threat posed by their navy to global shipping. That's our objective.

That said, we would not mind, we would not be heartbroken, and we hope that the Iranian people can overthrow this government and establish a new future for that country. We would love for that to be possible. But the objective of this mission is the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities, and of their naval capabilities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So are you saying, based on that, are you saying that there is no responsibility, no plan for the U.S. to at least play a role in whatever government comes next?

RUBIO: I mean, we might. We'll see how circumstances play out. But I'm telling you what the objectives of this operation are.

[15:50:00]

The objectives of this operation are to destroy their ballistic capability and make sure they can't rebuild it and make sure that they can't hide behind that to have a nuclear program. That's the objective of the mission.

That said, abundantly clear, we would love for there to be an Iran that's not governed by radical Shia clerics. As I've said myself repeatedly for years, the leadership of that country does not reflect the people of Iran, and I think that's been pretty apparent in the protests that you've seen. If there's something we can do to help them down the road, we'd obviously be open to it, but that's not the objective.

The objective of this mission is the destruction of their ballistic missile capability.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The regime change has not gone well for the United States for many, many decades. How do you assure the American public that things will not get worse for the next regime that comes in there and replaces the Ayatollah?

RUBIO: We would love to see this regime be replaced, and ultimately, as the President has said --

RAJU: How do you know that?

RUBIO: No, no, but let me finish my answer.

As the President has said, he would love for the people of Iran to use this as an opportunity to rise up and remove these leaders. They've been wanting to remove them for a long time. We've seen successive waves of protests, and we've seen them slaughter people, OK?

But the objective of this mission is to make sure they don't have these weapons that can threaten us and our allies in the region. That's why we're doing what we're doing now, and while we would love to see a new regime, the bottom line is, no matter who governs that country a year from now, they're not going to have these ballistic missiles, and they're not going to have these drones to threaten us. That's the objective of this mission is to deny them the ability to use ballistic missiles to threaten their neighbors, to threaten our bases, to threaten our presence in the region, and ultimately, as a shield behind which they can do whatever they want with their nuclear weapons ambition. We were not going to let them hide behind that, and that's why this was such a critical mission to undertake now, while they were at their weakest point, and not a year from now where they could inflict even more damage and perhaps already be behind that point of immunity.

Go ahead right here behind -- go you and then you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your critics in Congress have said that they should have a role, and they should be able to weigh in here, and there are going to be war powers, resolutions, votes in Congress later this week. Why not notify Congress ahead of this?

RUBIO: Well, we did. We notified Congress. I mean, we notified the Gang of Eight. We notified congressional leadership.

There's no law that requires us to do that. The law says we have to notify them 48 hours after beginning hostilities. We've done that.

I think the notification went today, but we did notify members of Congress in advance, but we can't notify 535 members of Congress.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vote to authorize the law.

RUBIO: The Congress can vote on whatever they want, but there's no law that requires us to do that, and I want to say something, because I see people on TV. Look, that's fine. If they want to take a war powers vote, they can do that.

They've done that. They've done that a bunch of times, but there's no -- people keep saying that we have -- there's no law that requires the president to have done anything with regards to this. To begin with, no presidential administration has ever accepted the War Powers Act as constitutional. Not Republican presidents, not Democratic presidents.

That said, we have followed the notification at 48 hours, and we're here today. I've done more Gang of Eight briefings than I got in the four years that Biden was president, and I was a member of the Gang of Eight. All of that said, we've complied with the law 100 percent, and we're going to continue to comply with it.

We've done the notification, you know, and we've -- officially to Congress, but we did notify members of Congress. We just can't notify 535 people.

That's not possible, but we did the Gang of Eight twice. I briefed them last week, and then I called them the night before the operation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell us what you know as the Secretary of the Administration about a strike in a building in southern Iran? The Iranians say it was a school, a large school, including children.

RUBIO: Yes, I've seen those reports. I don't have -- I would refer you, not to give them -- I'm not trying to answer your question, but I don't want to get it wrong.

The Department of War would be investigating that if that was our strike, and I would refer your question to them, and I'll make sure they're aware that you have that question. But we'd like to know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

RUBIO: Well, clearly, the United States would not deliberately target a school. Our objectives are missiles, both the ability to manufacture them and the ability to launch them, and the one-way attack drones. That would be our focus, and that's what we would be focused on.

We would have no interest and, frankly, no incentive to target civilian infrastructure. The Iranians are, on the other hand, targeting civilian infrastructure. You guys have seen it.

I'm sure you've seen it. They're hitting hotels. They're hitting embassies. They're hitting airports. They're hitting oil infrastructure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

RUBIO: Well, it would be very tragic, but I can't speak to the details behind it because I just don't have it. It would be a tragic outcome if it's happened. I don't have the details as to what led to it, but what is clear is that the United States would not deliberately target a school. They are, on the other hand, deliberately targeting civilians, as you've seen, because you know why?

They are a terroristic regime. They sponsor terrorism, and they participate in terrorism.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your message to Americans who are concerned about rising energy prices given the spiking of oil prices today?

RUBIO: Yes, and we knew that going in would be a factor, and so we have a program in place that will begin to be implemented by Secretary Wright, Secretary Bessent. We talked about it last night, again, about this program.

[15:55:00]

We talked this morning, and starting tomorrow, you will see us rolling out those phases to try to mitigate against that. Obviously, markets are going to be reacting to news about what's happening.

And again, a reminder, think about it, OK? This terroristic regime led by radical clerics has the ability, potentially, to shut off 20 percent of global energy.

That's the kind of leverage they have because of their navy. We're going to destroy their navy. But there is a plan in place.

We anticipated this could be an issue, and Secretary Wright and Bessent will begin to roll out those steps starting tomorrow to mitigate against the impact that could have.

I've got to do this briefing, so I've got a couple more. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you anticipate putting troops on the ground, and how long do you anticipate the conflict to last?

RUBIO: Well, let me say two things about it. Number one, the President always has the options to undertake whatever operations he decides to do as the Commander-in-Chief. That said, we believe the objective that we have set for this mission, which is the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities, both launch capability and manufacturing, can be achieved without ground forces.

Right now, we're not postured for ground forces. But obviously, the President has those options. He's never going to rule out anything.

But right now, our focus is on the destruction of their ballistic missile launchers, their ballistic missile stockpiles, and their ballistic missile manufacturing capability, as well as their one-way attack drones and their navy, because of the threat it poses to global shipping.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long, Mr. Secretary (INAUDIBLE).

RUBIO: I can only do one more. Right there in the middle. Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a diplomatic exchange going on right now between the U.S. and Iran? Any exchanges whatsoever outside of that?

RUBIO: No, not at this time. I mean, look, we always have people that reach out from inside of governments. You don't know if they're authorized to reach out or not.

They're suffering a tremendous amount of damage. Honestly, again, I'm not going to give away the details of our tactical efforts, but the hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military. The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now.

Someone was screaming, how long will it take? I don't know how long it'll take. We have objectives.

We will do this as long as it takes to achieve those objectives, and we will achieve those objectives. The world will be a safer place when we're done with this operation. All right?

Thank you, guys.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Really interesting there, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio was making the case there for that U.S. preemptive strike on Iran as a national security imperative. He was saying Israel was going to attack. The U.S. knew that Iran would hit American assets in response, so basically, they hit Iran to mitigate what Iran would do in an attack. He said this had to happen no matter what. But he, as other members of the administration have, Pete Hegseth, chief among them, getting really irritated at the media for not reporting the clear objectives. He seems to feel that they're clear.

In fairness, they're not clear. That's why there's been some muddiness around that question.

SANCHEZ: They were first articulated in that way by the president just earlier today, so that is notable.

Let's very quickly have a conversation with Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey. Congressman, we expected more time for the conversation, but obviously the secretary broke some news there, and he framed this operation differently than we'd heard previously, Congressman.

He said specifically that the U.S. learned that Israel was going to launch this initial attack and that Iran would then respond by attacking all sorts of U.S. assets and allies in the region. I guess the question there is, would you have anticipated that there might have been a moment where the president may have stepped in and said to Prime Minister Netanyahu, ostensibly, this may wind up costing the United States a lot? Is it your view that this decision by Israel to carry out the strike should then lead U.S. foreign policy?

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): Listen, I need to really, and this is why I've asked for a classified briefing, and I know we're getting one tomorrow. I should be getting another briefing today. That's why you want to get to the bottom of all the details.

I heard that clip, but I actually, I have a lot of questions exactly behind what you just said, and as I said on the Intelligence Committee, I've read for months about the situation in the region and the growing threat of their ballistics program, which the Secretary just talked about and then has been public that they're continuing to build up on their ballistics program, a threat obviously to our service members, to our bases, and obviously our allies.

So that's part of really what to get to the bottom of here and why it's critical that we get those briefings, especially now that the War Powers Act has been triggered.

SANCHEZ: Quickly, Congressman, before we go, Rubio's saying that we hope the Iranian people would overthrow the regime. How? I mean, they're constantly repressed.

We saw tens of thousands killed. Are you anticipating that in the middle of this war, they're going to go out into the street and somehow take control of Tehran?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, clearly there's a power vacuum right now, and you've got tens of thousands who were killed looking for freedom and democracy and hopefully having a different perspective, which they do, than the regime who for decades has said, death to America, right, and has killed our men and women, our service members, and attacked our allies and our bases through proxies, and you know, obviously, and announced their program. So that's the key. Those are the questions I have.

SANCHEZ: Congressman Josh Gottheimer, again, we apologize for the abridged conversation, but we thank you for your time. Thanks so much for joining us.

"THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

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