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CNN Team Crosses Border into Iran; Iran Launches Missiles toward Isarel; War Widens in the Middle East; Rep. Madeleine Dean (D- PA) is Interviewed about the War Powers Resolution; Six Soldiers Killed in Kuwait. Sam Asghari is Interviewed about Iran; Testimony Resumes in Utah Mom Trial. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 05, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:31:10]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A new nation now being drawn into the widening war with Iran. We're going to show you video that's just into CNN this morning. What appears to show Iranian drones striking an airport in Azerbaijan. Authorities there say two people were injured and a terminal building was damaged.

There's also new images coming in from central Israel. Emergency workers responding after a projectile fired from Iran landed east of Tel Aviv today.

I'm going to show you a map as well, and just how widely Iran is retaliating with its strikes and how wide and far they have been hitting. Everywhere from Cyprus now to Oman.

Our senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, and his team, they have crossed the border into Iran now. CNN is the first U.S. network allowed into the country since the start of the war. We will point out, though, that CNN operates in Iran only with government permission. Here's Fred's report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We just crossed the border and are now inside of Iran. The Iranian government has granted us a visa to come here and to report from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

We're now trying to make our way to the capital, Tehran, as fast as possible. But, of course, the distances in this huge country are immense. And we know it's going to take many, many hours for us to get there.

We also don't know what the situation on the road to Tehran is going to look like. How many checkpoints there's going to be. And, of course, we know, at the same time, there are massive combat operations also going on. The United States and Israel are continuing their huge aerial campaign

against targets inside of Iran. At the same time, the Iranians continue to retaliate, not just with their ballistic missiles, but with their drones, mostly hitting Israel, but then also American military installations, especially in the gulf region. But in general, in the Middle East.

In total, the Iranians are saying that they can continue this campaign for a very long time. They say that their missile arsenal is still immense, and they haven't even used some of their most modern missiles. But we also, of course, know that the place that we aim to go to, Tehran, has been under almost sustained attacks with massive airstrikes going on there and also huge damage being caused. And, of course, many people also having been harmed.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BOLDUAN: Fred Pleitgen and his team, thank you so much for that report.

CNN has teams throughout the region with all of the latest developments.

Let's get to Clarissa Ward. She's in Iraq. She's been there reporting with some critical new updates on the Iraq-Iran border.

What's the latest you're picking up from there, Clarissa?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Kate, all eyes are really on the border between Iraq and Iran now with reports that Iranian Kurdish forces are preparing themselves to enter into western Iran as part of some ground offensive, some type of ground offensive, with support from the U.S. and Israel, as we first reported just a couple of days ago.

Now, we have seen, in the last 24 hours, at least three of these various Iranian-Kurdish militia groups have been hit by drones and missiles from Iran. Iran's Ministry of Intelligence releasing a statement saying that they were striking what they referred to as separatist factions that were preparing some type of a ground offensive.

Just for clarity for our viewers, of the coalition of six different Iranian Kurdish groups, only one of those groups identifies as a separatist faction. The other groups are wanting to go into Iran to ensure that people in Iranian Kurdistan are safe and to try to help with the U.S. and Israeli efforts to effectively, although the metric has changed a few times from the U.S. perspective, topple the regime, create chaos inside, and slowly wear down Iranian regime forces.

[08:35:06]

Now here in Iraqi Kurdistan, there is a huge amount of consternation about this because the Kurdish government here wants to remain neutral. They do not want to be seen to be taking sides in this conflict. But obviously, in order for the CIA to be supporting these Iranian Kurdish groups, which are operating here inside Iraqi- Kurdistan, some kind of permission has to be granted.

So, there's been a little bit of back and forth, Kate, throughout the day with Iraqi-Kurdish officials saying that they want nothing to do with this. But nonetheless, those Iranian-Kurdish groups still saying that they are ready to go in at any moment.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And what the impact of that will be is a huge question mark in Iran right now.

It's great to see you, Clarissa. Thank you so much.

Let's get over to Nick Paton Walsh. He is in Tel Aviv for us right now.

And, Nick, we were just talking about, at the very top, about how there are new images coming in of emergency workers responding to another projectile fired into Tel Aviv. What are you picking up?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we've been hearing sirens and just about an hour ago saw a number of interceptions over behind me here, forming a pattern we've been seeing of attacks over the last couple of days. At this point, limited information about casualties. None significantly over the last 24 hours. Still learning about recent incidents. But it forms part of a broader pattern of information spiraling across the region.

Let me just run you through some of the things since this morning. Six injured after drones were intercepted over Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Missiles intercepted over Doha near the U.S. military base based in Qatar. There. Azerbaijan, as you were saying, they seem to have had a drone impact on a southern airport there, leaving two injured. Azerbaijan absolutely not involved in this conflict until this point. Unclear quite what Iran may have been doing trying to target there. Intercept of drones over Saudi Arabia as well.

On top of that, we've now just learned that the Israeli military, who are now prosecuting very aggressively a war against Hezbollah, that they substantially weakened in late 2024, they have given an evacuation order for -- I lived in Beirut for many years, a large swathe of the southern parts of the city. Parts essentially that are sort of the southern central area. That is, obviously, going to cause enormous panic in that massively populated city. Is already doing so. That's key.

It suggests a wide scope, potentially, of operation moving forward. They've been targeting areas in the south, issuing evacuation orders there as well. And we'll have to see exactly what intensity of operation Israel brings to this. Now 77 dead so far inside of Lebanon.

CENTCOM have just posted, though, that they believe that they are now reducing the ability of Iran to impact itself and its partners, saying that is rapid declining.

At the same time too, Israel has announced their 12th wave of airstrikes against Iran. Forty targets hit. Underground missile bunkers with ballistic missiles and air defense missiles too. I should remind everybody, the death toll we have inside Iran now is 1,100. That's from a U.S.-based human rights group. Clearly, many civilians caught in this violence.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Nick, thank you so much for pulling all that together for us. Great reporting, as always.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now is Congresswoman Madeleine Dean, a Democrat from Pennsylvania. A member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congresswoman, thanks so much for being with us.

We heard from the chair of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine, yesterday, who said that since this conflict began, the number of Iranian missile strikes on its neighbors is down more than 80 percent day to day and the number of drone strikes down more than 70 percent day to day. Does that indicate to you that, as Secretary Hegseth suggested, the United States is winning here?

REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA): Well, good morning. It is good to be with you. Certainly not about this wide-ranging war. Just from your own reporting just now, just think of the spidering of this war and how many countries and how many citizens are involved.

I have great respect for General Caine. I've had the opportunity to speak with him just this week following our classified briefing. And so those statistics are impressive and hopefully in the right direction. But that's not really what this is all about. What this is all about is we have six American military members dead.

[08:40:00]

And allow me to say their names. Captain Cody Khork, Sergeant First Class Nicole Amor, Sergeant First Class Noah Tietjens, Sergeant Declan Coady, Major Jeffrey O'Brien, Chief Warrant Officer Robert Marzan. We must say their names. They were killed in the first hours of this war of choice by the president and what I think is a very reckless secretary of defense.

Perhaps you heard the secretary of defense yesterday complain that drones go off a little tragic -- a tragedy happens and somehow that becomes first page news, front page news to embarrass the president. I have news for the secretary. I have news for the president. Everything is not about President Donald Trump. These are six dead members of our military who will be returning, I believe, as early as today, for the dignified transfer.

This is not a game. And they have given no coherent plan as to what was the imminent threat. We've been given nothing, whether in classified or unclassified settings. What is the actual mission? We've been given about six different ideas of what the mission might be. And finally, what is the end of this war of choice where many, many already have died?

BERMAN: Six have died. And the last two you mentioned, Major O'Brien and Chief Warrant Officer Marzan, those identified only overnight. We only learned their identities overnight. Obviously, our thoughts are with their family.

In terms of the mission itself, though, if Iran's missile and drone capability is diminished, 70 or 80 percent at least, as it is in terms of what they're firing, is that not -- does that not make the region safer?

DEAN: No, I don't think just from your very reporting that the region is any safer. This is something that is so incendiary and is spreading widely with the reporting of the CIA potentially backing the Iraqi Kurdish troops to go in. This is not getting safer. That we're eroding the military or the missile capability is a goal. There's no doubt about it. It is a goal.

But you know what we are losing on our side? So much of our weaponry. It is such a concern that the president has the defense industry coming into the White House today. How do we quickly replace this billions of dollars of equipment? We lost three fighter jets, each costing $100 million, and takes a long time to replace.

I'm wearing my pin today for Ukraine because I think of all this weaponry and how this weaponry should have been put as easily as possible into the hands of Ukraine to have ended this war, now four years in the making, and the deadly nature of it. And yet what we are doing is blowing up so much of our military might in the Middle East instead of focusing on peace.

This president ran to bring prices down and to bring peace. He's Orwellian in this. He's actually said that war is peace in his declarations around this.

BERMAN: Congresswoman --

DEAN: I am gravely concerned over what the president has done recklessly.

BERMAN: Very quickly, Congressman Tony Gonzales, a Republican from Texas, is now admitting to an affair with a staffer who later took her own life. What should Congress do? What congressional action would you support here?

DEAN: Oh, Mr. Gonzales should do it on his own. He should resign. What a set of tragedies of one's own making. I just think of the number of people who have been gravely hurt in this. The only correct thing to do is he should resign today.

BERMAN: Congresswoman Madeleine Dean, thank you for your time this morning. We appreciate it.

Sara. SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: As we just heard from the congresswoman, we've just gotten a picture now identifying the sixth soldier killed in Kuwait after that Iranian strike. Fifty-four-year-old Chief Warrant Officer Robert Marzan died in the suspected drone strike Sunday. He was killed along with Major Jeffrey O'Brien and four other previously identified soldiers. They are the first U.S. casualties of this war with Iran.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has more.

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SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A mother, days from returning home, a man known to be the life of the party, a 20-year-old Eagle Scout, and a father who shared a passion for taekwondo with his son. These are the faces of the first American troops to lose their lives in the line of duty in the war with Iran. All six killed in Kuwait.

Among them, Nicole Amor, 39 years old, was a mom to a fourth grader and high school senior in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

[08:45:03]

She was almost home. Her husband, who had spoken to her two hours before she died, said Amor was an automated logistics specialist who just a week before her husband said had been moved off the base out of fear it was going to be attacked. In a social media post her husband said, "the world is dimmer without her light in it, but her love and the impact she made will live on in all of us."

Sergeant Declan Coady, from Des Moines, Iowa, was just 20 years old, posthumously promoted from information technology specialist to sergeant. He had been updating his family throughout this past weekend, telling them he was safe until a fateful moment at their door.

ANDREW COADY, DECLAN COADY'S FATHER: I will say most of us started to wonder. And your gut starts to get a feeling. And we had just turned the lights off and went into the bedroom and the doorbell rang at 8:00 p.m.

SERFATY (voice over): Coady had recently told his father he'd been asked to consider extending his deployment nine more months. He was on track for a promotion and had set his sights on becoming a commissioned officer. His sister saying she still doesn't feel his death is real.

KEIRA COADY, DECLAN COADY'S SISTER: I just remember all of our conversations about what he was going to do when he came back.

SERFATY (voice over): Captain Coady Khork was 35 years old, from Lakeland, Florida, who felt a calling to serve from an early age. "He was deeply patriotic and took great pride in serving something greater than himself," his family said. "Those who served with him remember his leadership and care for his team." SGT. 1ST CLASS BRIAN KOCHENDORFER, U.S. ARMY: He cared about people.

Hey, I'm not going to put soldiers in harms' way. That's what you look for in a commander.

SERFATY (voice over): And Sergeant First Class Noah Tietjens was 42 years old, a devoted husband and father who stood out for his professionalism.

COL. JOSEF SUJET, U.S. ARMY (RET.): I hate to say this, but I don't think I ever saw the guy smile, but that's a testament to just how professional he was.

SERFATY (voice over): And mentorship.

STAFF SGT JONN COLEMAN, U.S. ARMY: He always took the time. You know, he made you feel important.

SERFATY (voice over): A black belt in taekwondo, his family were prominent members of a martial arts studio in their hometown of Bellevue, Nebraska.

Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: All right, just ahead, legendary football coach Lou Holtz passes away at 89 years old. A look back at the Notre Dame coach's life.

And how two toddlers found themselves stuck inside that same claw machine, do you remember this, within a matter of days. What the heck is going on?

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[08:51:29]

SIDNER: Hope, fear, uncertainty. Iranian Americans with family in Iran are watching the war unfold with a range of emotions. Our next guest, Sam Asghari, was born in Tehran and moved to the United States when he was 11 years old. He says he witnessed his three sisters, quote, grow up oppressed as young women, not even being treated as fully human. Asghari, an actor and producer, is now speaking out about what's happening in his home country, where the death toll is now more than 1,000 people. He still does have family in Iran, and he joins me right now.

Thank you so much for joining us.

There have been two really distinct reactions to the war in Iran from Iranians and Iranian Americans, anger and fear at the bombing of Iran, and the complete opposite, jubilation, celebration at the killing of its supreme leader and those around him.

What was your reaction when this first started, and to this day? SAM ASGHARI, IRANIAN-AMERICAN ACTOR AND PRODUCER: You know, as a child

growing up in the country of Iran, and moving here when I was 12 years old, it wasn't only me, it was, you know, Iranians across the world, Iranians in Iran that were waiting for this moment for 47 years. And it was a sign of hope finally.

SIDNER: Look, Los Angeles is known as Tehrangeles (ph). I lived there for a very long time. There is a lot of Iranian Americans there. We saw some of them in the streets celebrating, hoping that this is the end of this regime.

Do you think that this might be the end to the regime as the United States, Israel certainly making clear that what they want. The United States alluding to it.

ASGHARI: You know, it has been 47 years for the Iranians that have been oppressed under this totalitarian, evil regime. And they have been protesting throughout the years. But in the past three months or so, we have been protesting. And it had seemed like this was the closest that this regime was to ever to fall.

I was present in the protest, and I was, as you can see, holding the flag and using my platform to be a voice for the Iranians in Iran that were killed. You know, we had 40,000 people that were outside protesting for their basic human rights that were murdered by this totalitarian regime using war, bullets and weapons, to kill them just because they were asking for their freedom. And we were present and being their voice, especially when the internet got shut and their communication with the outside world was totally shut. We had to come out to the street, and it was beautiful to see Iranians outside of Iran protesting. And it was one of those to witness that in America we had a group of people to come out and protest and wave the American flag and wave the Iranian sun and lion, future and the past, previously to the Islamic revolutionary flag. And it was beautiful to see that. And finally, when this war had came out, and the ayatollah and the news of his death had came out, there was hope that there was going to be a change

SIDNER: I do want to ask you, and I know this is sensitive because, as you said, the Iranian regime that was in place slaughtered thousands, potentially some reports of tens of thousands of people who took to the streets unarmed to stand up against the regime in frustration.

[08:55:02]

But you do have family there. You do have friends there. Have you heard anything from them as this campaign by Israel and the U.S. is happening there?

ASGHARI: I have 90 million people that are -- that are considered immediate family. But to answer your question, I do have immediate family there. I have friends there. And it is absolutely brutal what's happening in Iran. I mean war is something that you never want. But this is what the Iranian people in Iran have been asking. You know, whatever it takes. It's sad that it's got to this moment where it does take something

like this in order to get a regime change. But the people of Iran, the people outside of Iran that have fled their country just to have their basic human rights, that it is absolutely sad that this had to happen in order for this regime that has been taking over this country for 47 years and have, you know, forced their ideology into this country, which is a beautiful country with multi-cultural multi-religious and everything that we have that are being oppressed and that are being forced to leave and are being forced to be quiet about everything that they believe and to really believe in one religion. And it's something that it's extremely sad to witness that something like this has to happen in order for hope.

SIDNER: I do want to lastly ask you, Reza Pahlavi would like to go back in the country, the son of the shah, as a part of leadership. Has there been any thought as to who the Iranians, especially those who fled and those in country, want to see at the helm?

ASGHARI: Absolutely. I mean in the past two or three months that you have been seeing his name rise in the Iranian diaspora and in Iran, and everybody is calling out his name and he is the leader to this revolution. And as someone that has the blood of Cyrus the Great, just like me, running through his veins, just like me and just like every Iranian out there, and we do have the protector of human rights engraved into our DNA, it is our obligation to do everything that we can in order to be a voice of those. And he is a leader. And he seems to be having everything put together.

I've had meetings with him. I've had the pleasure to be present at his Los Angeles and Orange County and across the world. And I have been seeing what him and his team are putting together. And his name is rising and people are having hope and asking for his name. So, I absolutely believe that he is someone that this administration should look seriously into.

SIDNER: All right, Sam Asghari, thank you so much for coming on at a very difficult time, but also one that you feel very hopeful about a change there. Appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: In Arizona, a scary situation. Three people were injured after a small plane crash in a Phoenix community yesterday. The FAA says the Piper aircraft was on its way back to a local airport when it went down. A fire captain says a pilot instructor and student were hospitalized with minor cuts and burns, but hopefully will be OK.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new testimony this morning in the trial of a Utah mother accused of poisoning her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl. The alleged boyfriend of Kouri Richins testified about their relationship and text messages. Richins has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and other charges.

CNN's Jean Casarez here with the latest on this. Jean, talk to us about where we are, what we've seen.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Robert Grossman took the stand late yesterday and this was someone Kouri Richins flipped homes and she put out a help wanted ad and he answered it, saying that he could do some work inside the home. So, she hired him. And he lived in the home she flipped. She didn't give him a salary, but gave him money every now and then. Bought him a truck. And then they started an affair.

And the texts are important here because the prosecution believes this shows the state of mind. Now, remember, on February 14th, prosecutors allege she tried to poison her husband. He got very ill on a sandwich, but he survived. The next day, on February 15th, Kouri writes, "like actually in love with me? If I was divorced right now and ask you to marry me tomorrow, would you?" And then, a couple days later, February 19, 2022, "I do want a future together. I do want you. Figure out our life together. If he could just go away and you could just be there. Life would be so perfect. I love you."

February 23rd, "I have a crazy dream. You quit your job. I divorce and come up with millions and millions. We buy midway" -- that was a mansion that needed a lot of work -- "and live in the guest house and rent out the huge houses as a big event center."

[09:00:01]

Now, March 2nd, two days before Eric Richins died. "Life is going to be different I promise.