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Israeli Military: "Broad Wave" Of Strikes Underway In Iran; Backlash Builds Inside MAGA World Over War With Iran; Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) On The Goal Of The U.S. In The War With Iran. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 04, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:31:10]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are standing by for a briefing at the Pentagon. That begins shortly.

A series of new developments this morning. A U.S. consulate in Dubai, a CIA station in Saudi Arabia, a U.S. base in Qatar, the largest in the Middle East, all coming under fire. And just in to CNN, Turkey says NATO air defense systems shot down an Iranian missile headed for its airspace.

There are some concerns that the U.S. and its allies in the region may run out of interceptor's air defense. That includes the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense or THAAD interceptors. According to a Washington thinktank the U.S. used 20 to 50 percent of what was expected to be on hand last year. Each one costs nearly $13 million.

There are questions about the supply of Patriot missiles, which have been in use since the 1990s. They cost up to $4 million apiece.

CNN has teams across the Middle East.

Let's start with Nick Paton Walsh in Tel Aviv. What's the latest from there, Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. We've just heard from the Israel Defense Force -- a statement suggesting that the sirens that have been heard across Israel over the last, I would say, 20 minutes or so -- a threat that's now cleared -- was the first coordinated attack that they have seen from the Iranian ally in the north inside southern Lebanon, Hezbollah, currently being assaulted by the Israeli Air Force in a new wave of strikes across southern Lebanon and Iran's ballistic missiles itself.

Now that's a development that's just some elements of coordination here. Not enormously surprising, obviously given the history of alliance between those two particular groups.

But we understand that the threat here to Tel Aviv were drones. We saw plumes of smoke in the sky here that may well have been inceptions quite a distance, frankly, from those drones that penetrated all the way through to here. And the threat to Jerusalem may well have been ballistic missiles instead.

So a sign I think of the persisted threat here against Israeli territory and also possibly too of some bid at a greater sophistication by the Iranian missile program here.

I should point out at roughly the same time, too, colleagues in different parts of the Gulf were also receiving alerts about potential incoming there too. So a suggestion that maybe these assaults might be coming in something more coherent.

At the same time, I should also add as well we've heard this morning now that the Israelis -- while a spokesperson is saying they haven't territorially moved forwards from where they were yesterday they are saying that they've now asked everybody basically south of the Litani River in southern Lebanon -- and that's a significant part of the country -- to get out and not head south again. And we're now hearing that a new wave of airstrikes has indeed begun in that particular area.

Look, it's important to point out that Hezbollah, who many say remarkably ill-advisedly in their current hugely feeble state after their conflict with Israel in late 2024, got into this war to avenge the death of their sponsor Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are massively weakened. And so the strikes we're seeing in and across Beirut against infrastructure there and now it seems across southern Lebanon are not resulting, so far, in the similar kind of barrage that Israel endured when they launched the last offensive against Hezbollah in late 2024.

But still, a fluid situation and the alerts we've been seeing here showing that as this continues it's capable of something slightly more sophisticated rather than less as far as we can tell, John.

BERMAN: Nick Paton Walsh in Tel Aviv. Nick mentioned concerns in other Gulf nations.

Let's go to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Our Nic Robertson is there. And Nick, I know there has been warnings and targets all over the kingdom in the last couple of days.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, absolutely, and it's the same again today. In fact, it is escalating.

[07:35:00]

What we've seen so far today, at least 10 drones intercepted in Saudi Arabia. We know that one of the most recent targets today in the past couple of hours was the massive Ras Tanura oil facility in the east of Saudi Arabia -- of course, much closer to Iran. It has been targeted before. Back then, a couple of days ago, those two drones targeted and intercepted. Debris fell and set on fire. Some parts of that oil facility had to be put on hold briefly. It's not clear today if there has been damage. We certainly haven't heard about it and certainly not seen any video. But that's a key watcher if you will for the -- for the Saudis. Another key watcher for the Saudis is what precisely is Iran firing? And I mentioned those drones being fired -- the 10 that were intercepted so far today. Also on top of that, two cruise missiles were fired at a town very close to a massive Saudi air base just outside of the capital Riyadh here. Now they were intercepted and no reported casualties.

But in the Saudi calculus and the way they're looking at the situation here, in previous days it's only been drones. Now it includes cruise missiles, albeit slower and easier to shoot down than ballistic missiles.

To the Saudis that looks like a calculated step up the escalation ladder, and that's what they've been looking at. The calculation in Saudi from this weekend has been that Iran can still and is still operating with command and control deciding which targets, how to escalate, where to escalate, when to escalate. So this is a calculated program.

And, of course, for the Saudis and others in the Gulf, the concern that they are being inextricably drawn into this conflict is something they don't really want to do.

BERMAN: Nic Robertson for us in Riyadh.

Let's go to the United Emirates -- the United Arab Emirates just across, frankly, the Gulf from Iran. Very close and it has been a target over the last few days. Paula Hancocks is in Dubai. What are you seeing this morning?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well John, we have been seeing interceptions this morning here in Dubai. Above us we have just heard in the last five minutes or so interceptions in Abu Dhabi just about an hour down the road as well. So it is still coming in.

We did see overnight the U.S. consulate in Dubai not far from here -- the parking lot next to that building of the consulate was hit. We understand there were no casualties. We have also heard that there was no one inside the building at that point.

Now a source close to the matter says that they have closed the consulate and, of course, the embassy in Abu Dhabi as well, but they're working on an ad hoc basis -- so if there are emergencies. An example of that would be a newborn baby who needs a passport to be able to get out, of course.

They've also said -- this source -- that they have heard the directive to leave the Middle East. They are waiting for guidelines on what that looks like.

Now we have been hearing a lot more fighter jets in the air today and yesterday. One reason for that might be that we now know there are French fighter jets as well that are in the skies above the UAE. We heard from the French foreign minister. He said the French military base in Abu Dhabi was hit. They have sent fighter jets in to protect those military bases and also to help with the situation here. But clearly, there is still incoming, John.

BERMAN: The sheer number of nations involved at this moment is certainly notable.

Paula Hancocks in Dubai and our other reporters in the region -- Nic Robertson and Nick Paton Walsh -- our thanks to all of you -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you, John.

For now I am joined by CNN national security analyst Beth Sanner, and retired Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson.

Steve, first to you. I do want to ask you about Iran's capabilities right now because we are seeing all of this happen -- their really closest neighbors where they are striking different assets there.

Do they have a lot more long-range missiles and if not, what does that leave them and what should we expect?

BRIG. GEN. STEVE ANDERSON, U.S. ARMY (RET.) (via Webex by Cisco): Well Sara, what we're seeing play out here is essentially a war of attrition. It's the ability of the Iranians to launch missiles and drones versus the supply of U.S. and Israeli interceptors that can knock them out.

Now, President Trump said a couple of days ago and rather absurdly that there's an unlimited supply of missiles and interceptors and munitions, and that's simply not the case.

But there are some signs that the Iranians had a lot of capabilities but it's definitely being degraded. I mean, on the first day they launched 350 missiles. On the second day, 175. On the third, it looks like about 125, and only 50 yesterday. So there's still -- there's definite signs of it being degraded.

[07:40:00]

The other thing that they're working on is the launchers -- the missile launchers. We started the war with perhaps 450. The IDF is claiming perhaps at least half of them have been knocked out. But they still have a lot of drones and a lot of missiles. The drones can be very, very dangerous. And as we've seen play out in Ukraine --

SIDNER: Yeah.

ANDERSON: -- you know, of course the Iranians were providing a lot of drones to the Russians.

So it's probably going to evolve into a war of attrition. The ability of the Iranians to continue to mount attacks using their missiles -- what's left of them -- and the drones, and the United States racing against time to try to knock out their capabilities to deliver those munitions.

SIDNER: Yeah, it's a really interesting point because what you point out is the Iranian drones have been used a lot in Ukraine and this will have an impact most certainly on that war potentially.

Let me go to Beth now because we're learning that the CIA is reportedly arming Kurdish forces to try and start an uprising inside of Iran.

How do you see this sort of play here because clearly, this is another play for regime change?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah, although I think it's really hard for us to imagine that this group, which spans the border between Iraq and Iran -- it is very concentrated in that border area. And the idea that Kurds, which are, you know, really considered by Persians already inside of Iran as separatists, I don't really think that they could threaten Tehran.

So what we're looking at is that arming the Kurds in order to create almost like a separatist region and there are lots of ways that can go really badly.

First, you know, the besiege of this militia, very well-armed, and this is an area that is very, very militarized already. So I think it's going to be difficult for them.

And I just look back in history, Sara, and I think oh my gosh, how many times have we led the Kurds down the garden path? In the '70s we armed the Kurds in Iraq and then we dropped them like a hot potato --

SIDNER: Yeah.

SANNER: -- when the shah at the time and Sadam did a deal. And we did the same thing in 1991 when we encouraged them to rise up and then they were massacred by Sadam and we didn't come to their aid.

So I really am concerned. I hope that this better planned than what I suspect.

SIDNER: Yeah. This is one of those things where we have seen this movie before. We will see it there as a different ending this time.

To you, Brigadier General. Trump has threatened to stop all trade with Spain because Spain doesn't want to let the U.S. use its air bases in this war.

What kind of problem does that pose in the war in general?

ANDERSON: Well, probably not much of a problem. I mean, they're -- but they're a key component of NATO and, of course, we failed to get NATO support. We haven't built the coalition like we had back against -- when we went up against Iraq, and that's really one of the weaknesses. And we don't have a coalition of support in this war that we've launched against Iraq. But I -- Iran, rather.

But we -- I don't think that the -- it's more of a symbolic gesture that we are essentially calling out a NATO ally -- somebody that's been very loyal to us and that has provided boots on the ground for us, our opportunity -- our wars that we've fought previously in Iraq and Afghanistan. They've been loyal supporters of NATO. And to call them out like this is, I think, pretty reprehensible. And -- but I don't see it's going to have that big of an impact on what we're trying to do today.

SIDNER: All right. Steve Anderson, Beth Sanner, thank you both for your insight on this. It is much needed -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Five days into the war with Iran and President Trump's decision to strike is facing major blowback from some of his biggest supporters. Loud conservative voices like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly publicly breaking with the president over this.

And that statement from Marco Rubio on why the U.S. had to act now -- that is facing especially intense criticism from the MAGA base.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that would precipitate an attack against American forces. 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, they would immediately come after us. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: To that, pro-Trump social media figure Mike Cernovich wrote -- and he was one of many -- "Rubio's comments are a record scratch moment. He said what most guessed was the case. That he said it out loud is a sea change in foreign policy. There will be massive calls for a walk back."

Rubio did eventually backtrack claiming that reporters there misunderstood what he was getting at.

[07:45:00]

CNN's Steve Contorno has new reporting on all this and he joins us now. Steve, what are you learning?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Kate, there have been some deep divisions between Trump and some of the MAGA base for months over his alliance with Israel and they have only deepened in recent days.

We have seen a number of outspoken podcasters and influencers with massive audiences who have been using their platform to criticize the administration and express their deep skepticism about the messaging around this war and the timing of it, as well as whether or not it comports with what Trump promised in 2024 to be American first and no new wars.

But we have also see a counter push from some ardent Trump supporters with their own large audiences.

Take a look at some of the back-and-forth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGYN KELLY, HOST, "THE MEGYN KELLY SHOW": Being a conservative or being a Trump supporter or being part of MAGA does not mean you have to accept another Middle East war.

STEVE BANNON, HOST, "WAR ROOM": Is there no coordination in this? I think that has to be explained.

MARK LEVIN, HOST, "LIFE, LIBERTY & LEVIN": We are on a righteous mission. We have a righteous president. We have a real leader. This is what a real leader looks like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now Trump, so far, appears unbothered by this divisions. In fact, he told one reporter earlier this week that "Trump is MAGA."

But we are seeing some Republicans who question whether or not there is a purpose to this war. Take a look at the polling that we did earlier this week. Yes, 77 percent of Republicans approve of this attack on Iran, but 23 percent do not. And we also see that 17 percent of Republicans don't think that Trump has a clear plan. Now this says nothing of all the Independents as well who also supported Trump in 2024.

And here is the concern -- that the midterms are coming up.

And many of the people who have been voicing their displeasure have been pointing to the remarks over the past year by Charlie Kirk, the late conservative activist who was an outspoken critic of regime change in Iran, who was warning this administration both publicly and privately that there were many people, particularly young people, who did not support military action in Iran. They grew up in the aftermath of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and they were concerned about those kind of foreign interventions and also concerned about Israel influence on U.S. policy.

So that is something that Republicans are going to have to closely watch as we get closer and closer to November, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

Steve Contorno, thanks so much -- John.

BERMAN: All right. We can see these live pictures right here. That is the Pentagon. We're standing by for a new briefing there. You can see two lecterns -- presumably, the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the chair of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine. What do they have new to say this morning maybe about the Americans trying to get out of the war zone?

And then a camera that took a bullet for an officer almost definitely saving his life.

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[07:52:18] BERMAN: We are standing by for a briefing from the Pentagon this morning. You're looking at live pictures right there. You can see a monitor and an easel set up. It's possible they have some new video and displays to show us this morning. Expected to be the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the chair of the Joints Chiefs Dan Caine. So we are standing by to hear from them.

In the meantime, we did hear from the defense minister from Israel who wrote this morning "Every leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue and lead the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people will be an unequivocal target for elimination."

This comes after word that Israel yesterday struck a meeting of the so-called Council of Experts gathered to pick the next supreme leader in Iran.

With us now is Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican from Florida. Senator Scott, nice to see you this morning.

"Unequivocal target for elimination." That's what Israel says about Iranian leadership. You have been briefed now by Trump administration officials. Is that a goal of the United States as well?

SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): First off, it's not our goal. Our goal is to destroy the weapons that could target Americans here and abroad.

But let me start by first saying I'm -- my heart goes out to the service members that we've lost. We lost a Floridian, Cody Khork, and so my heart goes out to his family.

The -- no. I've been talking to Secretary Rubio since Saturday, and the goal is to make sure they cannot have nuclear weapons and also ballistic missiles.

What Secretary Rubio told me is that the negotiators from Iran were belligerent, they're arrogant. They said they're not going to limit their missiles and not going to limit their nuclear weapons program. And they told them basically, you know, go straight to hell.

So I'm proud about what the president is doing. I want to thank our military for their actions because I think it's making America safer.

BERMAN: Um, so eliminating every leader. Unequivocal targets for elimination is not a U.S. goal; it's an Israeli goal. Does that mean the United States -- have you been told whether the United States has weighed in or talked to Israel about Israel's goal and whether or not it approves of Israel's goals?

SCOTT: Well, I've had classified briefings and so I can't -- I can't tell you what was said in there. But the goal of the United States is to make sure that Iran stops killing American citizens. They've killed, you know -- you know, thousands of Americans over the years through themselves and through their proxies, and it's got to stop.

[07:55:00]

Their -- you know, they want to build weapons too because they want to destroy our way of life. I'm proud that the president has said enough is enough and we're going to start protecting this country.

BERMAN: Um, does it sound to you not from the classified briefings but from what out there -- is out there in the public, including these messages from the Israeli defense minister, that regime change is a goal of Israel?

SCOTT: Oh, absolutely. I mean -- I mean, they -- you know, if you're -- if you're sitting in Israel and live in that neighborhood and you've sat there with Iran and their proxies, you know, killing Israelis year after year after year, you sure as hell want to destroy every leader there and hope you finally get somebody that's going to run the country in a manner that doesn't want to destroy Israel and all of its neighbors.

BERMAN: What do you think Americans --

SCOTT: If it was Israel I'd want to destroy them.

BERMAN: Understood. I'm just asking if there's a difference between the Israeli war aims and the U.S. war aims because they're both involved in this and one would think that there is some perhaps agreement on what those goals are.

SCOTT: Well, I think -- I think if I was -- if I was an Israeli leader -- if I was Netanyahu I would want to destroy every leader in Iran.

As the American leader -- what I've been told is what we want to do is we want to make sure they do not have nuclear weapons, they do not have ballistic missiles to attack our troops or American citizens. And this killing of Americans by Iran's proxies has to stop and this president is going to make sure that happens.

BERMAN: Um, does that mean you're opposed to this being a regime change operation?

SCOTT: Well, I mean, I'm not the President of the United States. The President of the United States makes that decision. And if -- would I be happy if there was a regime change, absolutely.

BERMAN: Um-hum.

SCOTT: I'm sick of it. I mean, think about this. We've had -- we've had to spend unbelievable amounts of money because of the Iranian regime. This idea when Obama gave them pallets of cash to use against us and our -- and our allies was the craziest thing in the world. This is a despicable regime.

BERMAN: Um, Senator, I am sorry. I keep looking towards the screen here because there's some activity at this Pentagon briefing --

SCOTT: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- which is about to start. I think we have a few more minutes here.

What do you think the American people should be prepared to bear -- prepared for to bear in terms of costs here. I mean, gas prices have already gone up. They could rise even more. What's the cost do you think the American people should be prepared for?

SCOTT: Well, I think short-term, clearly, oil prices are going to go up in a short period, right? Uh, when Iran and the proxies shut down the Strait of Hormuz, that's what going to happen.

But long-term what we're going to see is we're going to see the world is a better place. No different than getting rid of Maduro. The world is a better place. It's a safer place for Americans.

And what we're going to see hopefully out of this an Iran that does not have -- ever have the ability to destroy American lives or attack our troops. Um, that's what we're going to get out of this. And maybe we'll be lucky enough to get a -- leaders there that want to work with Americans and stop all this death and destruction of their own citizens and American citizens.

BERMAN: I want to play for you a little bit -- there are --

SCOTT: (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: There are some -- the Republicans in polls have been largely supportive of the president's actions but there are some loyal supporters who are not in favor of what's going on there.

I want to play for you a little sound from them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST, THE TUCKER CARLSON SHOW: And so you're seeing this crazed -- hysterical, in fact, effort to purge anyone in the conservative movement or MAGA, whoever those are -- to purge anyone who had any doubt about the wisdom of this war.

KELLY: I've got serious doubts about what we're doing. I support the president. I voted for the president. I campaigned for the president, as you know. But that doesn't mean -- and being a conservative or being a Trump supporter or being part of MAGA does not mean you have to accept another Middle East war without questions. And anybody who tells you that can suck it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That was Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, Senator. I'm just wondering if you have a response to the questions, I suppose, that they're raising.

SCOTT: Well, I'm -- look, everybody has a right for their own -- what they believe in. I saw Tucker the other day. So everybody has that right.

Look, I believe what the president is doing is going to make our country and the world a safer place. I believe in what our military is doing.

Look, we -- I would hope this would be over today. It's not going to be. We don't know all of the -- everything Iran is going to be able to do. But I do believe this was the right thing to do. This appeasement that prior presidents have done has never worked. You know, you don't appease bullies. It's never worked.

And so what this president did was he said look, this is going to get worse. This is our chance to make sure they don't have nuclear weapons, and they don't have ballistic missiles and, you know -- so he actually had no choice. If his job is to protect American citizens, he made the right decision.

BERMAN: He had no choice in terms of when, do you think, Iran was going to strike U.S. citizens?