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Israeli Military Launches New Strikes in Iran and Beirut; Gulf Nations Report Fresh Aerial Attacks as Criticism of Iran Mounts; Saudis Accuse Iran of Attacking Them Based on False Claims; New Video Appears to Confirm U.S. Airstrike on Iranian Military Base Adjacent to Girls' School; Oil Prices Soar as Iran War Chokes Global Supply. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired March 09, 2026 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:31:55]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR, ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT: And we are back with our Breaking News coverage on the widening war with Iran. I'm Erin Burnett in Tel Aviv this afternoon. Israel continuing attacks on Iran and Lebanon today as global oil prices soar, right now, seeing they are in the midst of perhaps the highest number of strikes yet on Iran and in Lebanon, multiple airstrikes hitting the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Israel saying it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. Today, Lebanon's president called for ceasefire talks with Israel, vowing to disarm Hezbollah. Meantime, Gulf nations are reporting another fresh round of aerial attacks, accusing Tehran of escalating the conflict with those retaliatory strikes, which you know there had been a brief break of a few hours which didn't know what to read into when there was first news of a new supreme leader in Iran. But that pause has been broken.

And we have a team of CNN correspondents covering these developments for us. Nic Robertson is in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia tonight. I want to begin with Matthew Chance though, just north of where I am, in Beirut. Well, Matthew, we can hear the thuds and the back and forth all day. You are in the center of it in Beirut. What are you hearing? And what are you learning about this shift here, this call by the government in Lebanon to try to call for a ceasefire with Israel?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Erin, on the airstrikes, they've been intensifying throughout the course of the day. We've been standing on top of this building, close to South Beirut, overlooking those southern suburbs which are controlled by Hezbollah, and all day, there have been airstrikes pounding various locations in that densely populated area of the Lebanese capital.

It's apparently banks or financial institutions tied to Hezbollah that the Israelis say have been attacked. So, they're sort of broadening out their sort of web of targets away from individuals and strongholds of Hezbollah to take in these financial institutions as well the Israelis say help fund Hezbollah. Obviously, there have been casualties as well, not just here in South Beirut, but also across the country, nearly 400 people killed. Those are the latest figures at least that we have from the Lebanese Health Ministry. More than a thousand, of course, 1,100 or so injured.

In terms of that offer from the Lebanese President, Joseph Aoun, to have ceasefire talks with Israel, well, that's something that's obviously leading the news agenda here in Lebanon because a lot of Lebanese people are incredibly angry and frustrated that because of Hezbollah's attacks on Israel drawing it sort of into the Iran war and sort of Inviting these kind of responses from Israel in terms of airstrikes and potentially, ground operations as well.

In the south of country, Lebanon has been plunged into this crisis with hundreds of thousands of people essentially being forced to leave their homes across the country.

[13:35:00]

The Lebanese president very critical of Hezbollah as well. He's already banned -- the government here has already banned the military activities of Hezbollah some days ago, but very critical in his remarks today, the Lebanese president saying basically and I'm paraphrasing here a bit, basically the people who fired these rockets into Israel and he's talking about Hezbollah, of course, they wanted to inflict damage on the country at the behest of the Iranian government.

So, reflecting a lot of the public anger and frustration that Lebanon is once again being drawn into this broader conflict. Erin?

BURNETT: All right, Matthew Chance, thank you very much. And Matthew, of course, in Beirut in Lebanon. And now, I do want to go to Nic Robertson. He's in Saudi Arabia. And Nic, obviously, multiple strikes there both by drones successfully against the U.S. Embassy, which is now -- you know, you've seen the impact there, then Ballistic missiles that that have come through, some targeting U.S. oil infrastructure. Saudi Arabia now accusing Iran of attacking it based on false claims of basically, it allowing U.S. jets to refuel and use Saudi as a base for strikes on Iran. What can you tell us about what's really happening?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, but Saudi Arabia has been trying to get this message across the Iranian leadership. At the end of this week or over the weekend, there is a new Iranian leadership and a new message from Saudi Arabia, which doubles down on their old message, which says very clearly Iran knows that the Saudi bases are being used for defensive purposes only. Those fighter jets those refueling aircraft that take off from Saudi bases are only being used as a defensive means, to defend against the missiles that are coming in here, not just defending Saudi Arabia, defending other countries inside of the Gulf.

But it's a very strong diplomatic language that was used in the communique from the from the Saudi foreign minister today, accusing Iran of breaking international humanitarian law by hitting civilian targets, airports, oil infrastructure. We've also seen very tough language in that same statement, telling the Iranians that if they continue with these strikes, that amounts to an escalation that this will potentially lead to a wider escalation, which they say is not the wisest choice by Iran. They say that if this wider escalation happens, i.e., Iran keeps attacking, then ultimately, Iran will be the biggest loser.

Saudi Arabia doesn't want to get involved in the war, isn't saying that it's about to join the war, but this is this is pretty specific tough language and the timing of this message is specifically to the new leadership in Iran. And as you say, U.S. Embassy staff here, non- emergency families here in the consulates in the east and west the country being ordered to leave because of heightened safety risks, that speaks to the way the perception on the ground here is the conflict is going.

BURNETT: Yeah, and other countries as well, I mean, I know we're hearing it from the Qatari government. They do not want to get involved despite their frustration and anger at Iran. Sources say Emirati government saying the same thing. It will see if that changes, right Nic? And anything could change at any time, but right now, a united front among those Gulf countries of trying not to get directly involved. Nic Robertson in Riyadh, thank you so much.

And ahead, new video this hour has surfaced of an airstrike right next to that girls school in Iran and the clues it could provide about who was responsible for the deadly attack are crucial, an absolutely horrific loss of life. Stay with us.

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Some new video appears to show a U.S. airstrike on an Iranian military base right next to the elementary school where Iranian state media says more than 160 girls were killed. CNN's Isobel Yeung looks at the video and the evidence that suggests the U.S. may be responsible for that strike on the school.

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ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the moment a missile slammed into an Iranian base in Minab, a city in southern Iran, just over a week ago. In this freeze-frame, you can see it clearly. Weapons experts tell CNN the wings and tail are consistent with a Tomahawk missile. This new video is the clearest evidence yet that suggests it was the United States that struck an elementary school next to that Revolutionary Guards base, killing scores of students.

The U.S. has been firing those Tomahawk missiles at Iran from ships and submarines for more than a week now. Israel doesn't use them, experts tell us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, did the United States bomb a girls' elementary school in Southern Iran on the first day of the war, killing (inaudible)?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: No, in my opening, based on what I'm seeing, that was done by Iran.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that true, Mr. Hegseth, it was done by Iran?

PETE HEGSETH, UNITED STATES DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're certainly investigating it.

YEUNG: Iran also doesn't use Tomahawk missiles. And using satellite images, it's clear the school was struck nearly simultaneously with strikes on an adjacent Revolutionary Guards base. That suggests precision targeting. CNN geolocated this video. We think this missile struck the military base, not the school. You can see that other buildings in the direction of the school had just been struck when this was filmed.

CNN is still trying to gather visual evidence from the ground and until we see actual remnants from the munitions itself, it's impossible to be definitive.

[13:45:00]

But this is the clearest evidence to date. U.S. Central Command says they're still investigating.

Isabel Yeung, CNN, London.

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KEILAR: Let's talk about this with former Defense Secretary and CIA Director under President Obama, Leon Panetta. Sir, thank you so much for being with us, because this is just a heartbreaking story where it appears the U.S. hit this base right next to the school and you hear the president there blaming Iran. Notably, Hegseth did not confirm that. But the white house press secretary last week, cautioned reporters against believing Iranian propaganda. How are you seeing this?

LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY AND CIA DIRECTOR UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well the problem is that when we're engaging and dropping a lot of bombs and air attacks, it's critical that there be accurate and reliable intelligence as to the targets. It appears that there was a serious mistake here and that instead of hitting a military base, they hit a nearby girl's school. And the problem with that is that, you know, if in fact we're trying to get the Iranian people to be able to rise up and to be able to get a new government, this doesn't help when you hit a girl's school and kill a number of innocent people.

Collateral damage is what ultimately hurt our efforts in Afghanistan because that kind of collateral damage gave impetus to the Taliban to come back. And the danger here is by hitting these kinds of targets, what you're doing is helping the regime stay in place.

KEILAR: Yes, I mean speaking of Afghanistan, I was thinking back to that 2015 U.S. attack on the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz. And I, mean the story did change initially coming out of the U.S. government, sort of evolved over the course of a few days before we got a better sense of what was going on. But President Obama ended up personally apologizing a few days later for that strike. Families were paid a compensation. There was an investigation. It was not an independent one, which is what the non-profit desired. There were military careers that were ended over it, though no one faced a court- martial and there were a lot of folks who said there should have been more.

But there were those steps and I wonder why you think it's important that an administration take responsibility from the top to the bottom for something like this?

PANETTA: Well, I've often said and (inaudible) truth is the first casualty of war. And that seems to be the case here. It's much better, I believe, when you see what the truth is. For the president of the united states to speak the truth, because the last thing you need right now in the middle of a war is a president that loses his credibility when speaking to the American people and speaking to the world. And so, I believe that it would be far better because you're dealing with a number of issues here. You're dealing with a number of challenges.

If you just simply lie about some mistakes that are being made, that will come back to undermine your leadership. And so, the president needs to learn the lessons of war and obviously, he's not.

KEILAR: There are obviously things that are off limits and civilian targets, right, are one of them, this school.

PANETTA: Right. Absolutely.

KEILAR: Does this strike demonstrate the limit? I mean they're talking -- as we hear the president talk about this is sort of a strike that can be conducted from the air, does this particular strike demonstrate actually the limitation of conducting war from the air where maybe you don't have all of the information that you need?

PANETTA: Well, one of the lessons we've learned is that air attacks and bombs from the air and missiles don't necessarily achieve the objective you're after. We bombed the hell out of the Houthis in Yemen continually and they're still in power.

[13:50:00]

And if you're not careful about the targets that you're trying to hit, and if you miss and create the kind of horrible collateral damage that we saw here, then what it does is it undermines the faith of the American people in whatever you're doing. And right now, the American people don't like this war. They don't support this war. And when they see that our military, for one reason or another, is shooting at the wrong targets, that hurts as well.

Look, we're in the second week of this war and I think there are things that are becoming clear. One is we have a new leader in Iran and the likelihood is that the regime is still well entrenched and likely to continue. And that means that any kind of regime change is not a realistic objective. Secondly, we're feeling the consequences of this war. We have a regional war on our hands. There are 12 other countries. It's impacting on oil supply. This is probably the worst oil disruption we've seen in recent history. Prices are going up. Our economy is going to be damaged.

The president has to seek a supplemental because we're running out of money. There are consequences here. This is a moment when the president has to understand, whether he likes it or not, he is a wartime leader and he's got to exercise the leadership and the honesty that wartime leaders have to exercise.

KEILAR: Secretary Panetta, we're at a crucial moment here. Thank you for being with us to talk about it.

PANETTA: Good to be with you.

KEILAR: Boris?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. The U.S. military has blown up another alleged drug boat, killing six men. The U.S. Southern Command posted this video on social media, showing Sunday's strike in the eastern Pacific. This brings the death toll in the Trump administration's campaign against alleged narco traffickers to at least 157. Often the administration has carried out these attacks without providing proof of drug smuggling and many legal experts argue that the strikes are illegal, saying the military can't target civilians who don't pose an imminent threat of violence even if they're suspected of criminal activity.

Also, a woman has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly firing a gun toward pop star Rihanna's Beverly Hills home. Los Angeles Police say the 30-year-old suspect fired as many as seven shots toward the singer's home, hitting the outside gate, but not the actual house. We're told that people were inside the home at the time. But thankfully, no one was injured.

And a major announcement that could affect how much you pay to see your next concert or sporting event, Live Nation and Ticketmaster just reaching a settlement with the Justice Department days after their antitrust trial began. Under the terms, Ticketmaster will allow venues to use competitors like SeatGeek and StubHub to sell tickets independently. Live Nation is also being forced to sell some 13 amphitheaters and states that sign on to the settlement could get some $280 million. So far though, dozens plus the District of Columbia are rejecting it.

Ahead on CNN News Central, long lines and short tempers as the partial government shutdown impacts our nation's airports, TSA shortages leading to hours-long delays. We'll get the latest from Pete Muntean next.

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SANCHEZ: Travelers are having to pack their patience as they spend hours in TSA lines at airports across the country. We're talking wait times up to three hours at some airports.

KEILAR: Now, packing your patience is free, but it's annoying. The TSA is seeing staffing shortages as the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security closes in on one month here. TSA workers are about to miss their first full paycheck. We've CNN Aviation Correspondent, Pete Muntean with us now.

I mean, this is just so tough for those folks that are working so hard and they're not -- you know, they're looking toward not getting paid. What's going on here?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, you have to think and approach this with a lot of empathy.

KEILAR: Yeah.

MUNTEAN: They yeah have to take time off in some cases to care for kids because they simply can't afford to pay for daycare. Here is the latest on the delays, the hours-long delays not over yet. And the latest from Houston Hobby Airport, one of the worst in the country, is that the way to get through TSA is about three hours long right now. That's the worst nationwide. New Orleans reporting two-hour long waits. DFW, 37 minutes; Atlanta, 32 minutes; Miami, 30 minutes. Those numbers really pale in comparison to what Houston Hobby looked like yesterday.

Hobby, a major hub, really the headquarters for Southwest Airlines, and traffic is ramping up right now for spring break. The airport has been posting about this, telling passengers to arrive for their flight four to five hours early. That is so early that Southwest would typically not even accept a bag if you were dropping one off to be checked, but Southwest tells us it's now making special exemptions for travelers to do that and the airlines also put into place a travel waiver, meaning those flying through Hobby can change their plans for free.

Remember though that TSA agents are considered essential personnel during this shutdown, meaning they're currently reporting --