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Soon: Trump Attends WH Event Amid War with Iran; Trump to Attend Dignified Transfer for 6 U.S. Troops Killed; Sources: CIA Working to Arm Kurdish Forces to Spark Iran Uprising; WH Defends Lack of Warning for Americans to Leave MidEast; Pres. Trump Meets with Big Tech on Rising Power Costs; Soon: Senate to Vote on Limiting Trump's War Powers; Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) Discusses About Trump's War Powers 3-3:30p ET

Aired March 04, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, we do have breaking news on the U.S. war in Iran. Any moment we are expecting to see President Trump at the White House as we are learning more about his decision to launch Operation Epic Fury and what prompted it. Just over an hour ago, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared new insight about a phone call that President Trump had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend. Leavitt said President Trump, quote, "Had a good feeling Iran was planning to attack U.S. assets and military personnel in the region before the president took that call."

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: As the fighting intensifies and spreads across the region, Leavitt also announced the U.S. expects to have, quote, "complete and total dominance" over Iranian airspace in the coming hours. Earlier, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that could take days. We're also learning the president will attend the dignified transfer for six American service members who were killed in Kuwait. Four of them have been identified, including a mom who was just days away from coming home. Let's go live to CNN Anchor Erin Burnett, who's in Tel Aviv for us.

And Erin, as people wait to see and possibly hear from President Trump, what's the latest where you are?

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR, ERIN BURNETT "OUTFRONT": All right. So, we're obviously seeing incoming strikes throughout the day, but what we're also learning is that Israeli forces and U.S. forces right now, they say, are intensifying and accelerating their attacks on Iran, as well as the now ground war taking place to the north of where we are between Israeli forces and Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon.

We also are understanding from a U.S. human rights group just the toll of this. When you talk about those six American service members and that mom who was going to be going home to her nine-year-old daughter in just days. It is obviously incredibly difficult to hear and to see the images and we start to find out each of the stories of these individual soldiers. The death toll is rising. It is rising here. It -- there has been death in multiple countries. And in Iran, the U.S.- based human rights group now estimates over 1,000 people have been killed in the U.S. in Israeli strikes against Iran, obviously including many in senior Iranian government leadership, and now perhaps 150 or more off of that one ship, but also civilians.

I want to go to Clarissa Ward, because one of the things we've been reporting on, and Clarissa has done so much reporting on, in Erbil, Iraq, in Iraqi Kurdistan, is this effort by the CIA perhaps to encourage an insurgency, both of armed Kurds who could go over the border and also Iranian Kurds who are inside Iran in the northwest corner who might be ready to stage some sort of an uprising of a sort.

I mean, that's what the reporting is, I know, Clarissa, that you've been breaking. And I know you've had a chance to speak to a senior Kurdish regional government official. I mean, this is a crucial story. What are you learning from them?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're learning that the leadership here in Iraqi Kurdistan are, quote, very frightened and fear that we are in a, quote, very dangerous moment right now. They do not want to see their region to be used as any kind of a launchpad for a potential ground offensive into western Iran. I spoke to this man earlier. He said, you know, we're confused by President Trump's position. One day he says the goal is regime change. The next day it changes to something else. And we don't want to be left in a situation where we then bear the wrath of the Iranian response.

Now, just this morning, Erin, the Iranians fired a missile onto one of these Iranian Kurdish camps where they are based. A missile, not a drone. They've used drones in the past, but not a missile on one of these camps that did kill one Peshmerga fighter. And this clearly sending some kind of a message.

And the official that I spoke to said, listen, just a few days ago, the Iranians told us on the phone that if there is any fighter who crosses that border and goes into Iran, it is Iraqi Kurdistan that will pay the price for that. And we've also seen in Baghdad, because don't forget, Iraqi Kurdistan is part of Iraq.

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And so, you have the leadership in Baghdad now saying also, listen, absolutely, there can be no involvement urging the Iraqi Kurds to send their Peshmerga fighters to the border to ensure that Iranian Kurdish fighters don't cross that border. And we did also hear from President Barzani here in Iraqi Kurdistan, who spoke to the foreign minister of Iran and basically said, we are staying neutral and our territory will not be used for any kind of insurgency activity.

So, clearly, this has really escalated tensions in a country that already has so many sectarian complexities and considerations to be taken into account, Erin. BURNETT: Yes, absolutely. And as we just start to see the response to

that reporting, of course, that Clarissa has broken from the CIA. Thanks so much to Clarissa Ward. Boris and Brianna, back to you.

KEILAR: All right, Erin, thank you. And today, the White House is pushing back against criticism that it's been too slow in communicating and in providing help to thousands of Americans who are stranded in the Middle East.

SANCHEZ: And CNN National Security Correspondent Kylie Atwood joins us now. So, Kylie, what is the administration doing to provide assistance to Americans stuck there?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, the latest development is that the State Department just in the last few hours have put out a crisis intake form for Americans who are in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Israel and want information about getting out. So, effectively, what this means is that they're getting really detailed information about these Americans.

Now, it's not just phone calls, but they have this crisis intake form for those Americans. They're telling Americans in other countries in the region that they should still be calling that call in line that the State Department has been facilitating for Americans in the region. And we should note that this -- that the message that Americans were receiving on that call in line as recently as yesterday was telling them not to rely on the U.S. government for evacuation assistance.

But today, as we called in that line to check ourselves, it's saying the U.S. is committed to helping those Americans who want to get out of the region. The administration is pushing hard on this, that they're doing everything that they can. But there are questions as to whether or not they should have been doing more before the conflict actually began.

KEILAR: Yes. And also, the problem is when you say that you're doing something, people may be waiting for you to do something. But talking to some folks in the region, it seems they are still very much on their own.

Yes. I do want to ask you, because CNN has some new reporting that Iranian intelligence has sent word to the U.S. that they're prepared to open talks. What are you hearing?

ATWOOD: Yes. So, what we're learning, and this is reporting from our colleague Kevin Liptak, is that Iranian intelligence has sent a message to the Americans, not directly, but through a third country, that they are interested in having discussions about potentially a way to end this conflict. That's not publicly what we're hearing from Iranian leadership at all, so we should note that.

And it also comes as the Trump administration has said that they are going to double down on the military element of this war. They are not trying to look for engagement at this time with the Iranians, as far as we can tell. Steve Witkoff, who had been leading those diplomatic talks with the Iranians before the war broke out, he is not in touch with the Iranian foreign minister, who is his counterpart, as far as we know.

So, creating an off-ramp here doesn't seem likely in the near future, but this is a space for us to watch, because the administration has set out their military goals here, and one of them, according to the Secretary of Defense, is no nukes. And when it comes to the nuclear program that Iran has, these strikes by the U.S. can further diminish the infrastructure that tries to support that nuclear program that Iran has.

But when it comes to the know-how of military capabilities, that's still going to be maintained within the Iranian regime. If they are to remain in place, trying to make sure that they don't in the foreseeable future try and again develop a nuclear weapon, that will be diplomacy. That's not going to be solved by military action.

KEILAR: Yes, very good point. Kylie Atwood, thank you so much for the reporting.

And we are learning more about the six American service members who have lost their lives in this war, all killed by an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait on Saturday. Four of the six have been identified.

They are Capt. Cody Khork, Sgt. Declan Coady, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor and Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens.

Captain Khork was 35 years old. He was from Lakeland, Florida, and he enlisted in the National Guard in 2009 and had previously been deployed to Saudi Arabia, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Poland. His family says Khork was, quote, "truly the life of the party," known for his infectious spirit, generous heart, and deep care for those who served alongside him.

Sergeant Coady of Des Moines, Iowa, was just 20. His family says he was supposed to return home in May, but he was thinking about extending his deployment by several months.

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His dad recalled the moment that he realized something was wrong.

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ANDREW COADY, SON KILLED BY IRANIAN DRONE STRIKE: So, Declan had been sending us updates every one to two hours, like, hey, everything's still good. I'm good. Which goes to show you, you know, he was thinking about us, like, don't worry about me, and so forth. So, he had checked in with his brother, and kind of based off of timing, you know, and what we know so far, we don't -- we don't know specifics, but we're just making an assumption based off of timing that it was shortly after that phone call that he had gotten off with his brother that this is when that happened and his operations center got hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: His sister told CNN, the only thing I can think is that I wish I had called him one more time and told him I loved him. If you ever had the chance to talk to him about something he was passionate about you, you were lucky. He was so smart and could just talk your ear off for hours about what he loved.

SANCHEZ: Sergeant Amor was a wife and mom who was just days away from coming home to White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Amor's husband says she was moved off base and into the operations center that was struck just a week ago and says he talked to her about two hours before the strike that killed her. Amor was an avid gardener and loved cycling and rollerblading with her kids. She was 39 and had served since 2005.

This was Sgt. Tietjens, third deployment to Kuwait after enlisting in 2006. A fellow soldier says that he was always ready to help others and that his mentorship is the reason that he was able to advance in his own military career. Back home in Nebraska, the 42-year-old was a devoted husband and father as well as a prominent Taekwondo instructor. Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

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SANCHEZ: Right now, at the White House, President Trump is participating in a roundtable discussion with Big Tech giants. The talk is aimed to get tech giants like Google, Amazon and OpenAI to sign a pledge vowing not to pass along the cost of building AI data centers to taxpayers. It's an initiative that President Trump announced last month. He's not yet in the room, but the door is just open, so we anticipate that he soon will be. Let's go live to the White House with senior White House correspondent, Kristen Holmes with more on what we can expect at these talks.

Kristen, as folks in the room are rising, we are anticipating President Trump will say something about the ongoing actions in Iran.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, it is likely. Look, there are still a lot of questions. And President Trump often, in these situations, when the cameras are there and you see the reporters out, will take questions. Of course, we still have an enormous amount of -- of questions here. His issue that he is signing a pledge for and having these companies sign a pledge for is something that a lot of Americans are concerned about ahead of the midterms.

But obviously, as we've been reporting, a lot of Americans are deeply concerned about what they are understanding and learning about the essential war that we, the United States, is now engaged in with Iran. And we still don't have those answers. We just heard from the Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who essentially married what President Trump had said along with what senior officials had said, saying that President Trump had made the decision to launch these attacks on Iran based on a feeling that was based on fact. And she said that multiple times.

We know that President Trump has said that he had a feeling Iran was going to strike. But, of course, senior administration officials have said repeatedly that they had input, they had data, they had intel that they were -- that Iran was essentially not operating in good faith and had the power to retaliate swiftly against U.S. assets if they were to be attacked.

Now, the other big question is Americans are still stranded in the region. We still don't have a great understanding of what the White House is doing, what the administration is doing to get them out. Karoline Leavitt said that some warnings had been issued before the actual attacks took place. However, we went back and looked through the levels that they had put on these countries and they were not the same as what the White House had said.

So, again, a lot of questions still, and we still don't have several answers five days later.

SANCHEZ: Kristen, let's go ahead -- let's go ahead and listen in to the President who is talking about Iran right now.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, thank you very much. These are exciting times. I think you probably want to speak about war rather than this, but this is very important. This is very important, and we're doing very well on -- on the war front, to put it mildly, I would say. Somebody said on a scale of 10, where would you rate it? I said, about a 15 and we're going to continue to do well. We have the greatest military in the world by far, and that was a tremendous threat to us for many years.

Forty-seven years, they've been killing our people and killing people from all over the world, and I think we have great support. And I think if we didn't do it first, they would have done it to Israel and give us a shot if that was possible. And if we didn't terminate the worst deal -- one of the worst deals ever made, the Obama nuclear deal, I call it the Obama nuclear deal where he gave everything to Iran including a nuclear weapon, it was a road to a nuclear weapon. Bad things would have happened four years ago because they would have had a weapon four years ago if I didn't terminate that deal.

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So, we're in a very strong position now and their leadership is just rapidly going. Everybody that seems to want to be a leader, they end up dead and it's -- it's an amazing -- amazing thing that's taking place before your eyes because for 47 years, we were pushed around and we shouldn't have been. And I think I can say and you see it as well as I do, you see the tremendous progress that's being made. Their missiles are being wiped out rapidly. Their launchers are being wiped out, they're attacking their neighbors, they're attacking their -- in some cases allies or not so long-ago allies and you know it's really a nation that was out of control. And they would have used it on us if we let them, if we waited any longer.

A big -- a big factor was Soleimani, the killing of Soleimani in my first term. And maybe the biggest factor was the rebuilding of the military in my first term. And then the B-2s hit them -- and I use the word obliterate because it really was -- it was a complete obliteration of their nuclear potential. And that set them back very, very seriously.

If we didn't hit within two weeks, they would have had a nuclear weapon. If we didn't do the B-2 attack a number of months ago, they would have a nuclear weapon. And when crazy people have nuclear weapons, bad things happen. So, we're in very good shape now. I want to let you know that and we will continue forward. But, it's a great display of military strength, and I'm very proud to have with some of the people in the room, both senators and congressmen, we rebuilt and -- we rebuilt our military during the first term and we're using it a little bit more than I thought we would have to.

Venezuela worked out really great. We have a wonderful relationship with the president and the various representatives and we're taking out hundreds of millions of barrels of oil and that goes to our benefit and to Venezuela's benefit. And they'll be doing better than they've ever done before. And we will get a big piece of that and we'll also make life wonderful for the people of Venezuela who have been very, very badly hit.

So, that's a lot said in a short period of time, but you can witness it for yourself. And now, we'll get on to something that I'm very proud of because it was sort of my idea -- sort of my idea like ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very much so ...

SANCHEZ: You've been listening to President Trump as he meets with Big Tech leaders on an energy initiative, the President leading this meeting with these leaders by discussing the situation in Iran, vowing to do for Iran what he says his administration is doing to Venezuela which was ultimately regime change, even though he says that that is not a goal for the leadership in Tehran.

Asked how it's going, he said, he -- he told an advisor that it's a 15 out of 10. We're going to keep monitor the President's remarks and bring them to you. Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

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KEILAR: Today on Capitol Hill, the Senate is set to vote soon on a war powers measure to limit President Trump's authority to continue using military force against Iran without congressional approval. A short time ago, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that having U.S. boots on the ground in Iran is not part of the plan, quote, "at this time."

Some lawmakers are growing increasingly concerned about the scope of this war that has already claimed six American lives. We're joined now by Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. She serves on both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee. She's also a combat wounded Iraq war veteran.

Senator, thank you for being with us.

And you've had -- you've been briefed in the classified setting. Do you have a clear understanding from that of what the goal line is for this military operation, for this war?

SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): No, I do not. And I am deeply concerned that I don't think the Trump administration knows what their own goal line is either. They couldn't even convince the members that were in the briefing that there was an imminent danger to the United States that justified them launching a war of choice without congressional approval or oversight.

And when asked if they intended to have boots on the ground, what always happen next? What would happen next? And is it regime change or not regime change? They were unable to answer those questions.

KEILAR: Are your Republican colleagues concerned?

DUCKWORTH: There were some concerns from my Republican colleagues at the -- at the briefing. And some of them expressed themselves in front of all of us in that setting. But also, I think that there is a belief among some of my Republican colleagues that, you know, it's too late to stop him now. But frankly, we need to do our job as the United States Senate. It's why I'm here. The voters of Illinois voted for me to be here to provide those checks and balances. And frankly, President Trump promised no more wars, lower costs, and now he's marched us into a war of choice without any congressional oversight, without any plan for an off ramp.

KEILAR: The CIA is working to arm Kurdish forces with the aim of fomenting a popular uprising in Iran, according to multiple people familiar with this thinking.

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Could that work and what dynamics should they be ...