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Israeli Officials: Hezbollah Rocket and Drone Barrage Injures 4; Trump Ups Pressure on Allies to Help Secure Strait of Hormuz; FCC Chair Carr Threatens Media Outlets Over War Coverage; Senator: GSK Profited by Pulling Asthma Inhaler Off Market. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired March 16, 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]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Iran's top security official is now urging Muslim-majority countries to back Tehran and its war with the United States. That call coming as the capital city of Tehran saw a new wave of strikes today. Iranian officials say United States and Israeli attacks are causing widespread civilian casualties, with more than 1,300 killed and thousands more wounded, though CNN can't independently verify those totals.

At the same time, Israeli officials say a barrage of rockets and drones fired from Hezbollah injured four people.

I want to bring in CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who's live in Tel Aviv for us. So Jeremy, can you just give us the latest from the ground there?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Omar, we're continuing to see barrages of ballistic missiles being fired by Iran. They are firing barrages of relatively small numbers of missiles, but they are now using these cluster munitions, which split off into multiple smaller bomblets that have been making impact here in the Tel Aviv area. We've seen several today, yesterday as well.

Now, while it is getting through Israel's air defenses, it's not resulting in any serious casualties or fatalities in the last few days, largely because people are listening to instructions here and going to shelter before those bomblets actually strike. We did see tonight in the northern town of Nahariya several people who were injured as a result of what the Israeli military said was a Hezbollah rocket striking a building there. So we're continuing to see these rockets and missiles coming in.

And sometimes Hezbollah and Iran coordinating their attacks as well. Israel is certainly bringing a lot of firepower to bear in Iran, carrying out more than 7,000 strikes since the beginning of this war, according to the Israeli military -- Omar.

[15:35:00]

JIMENEZ: And Jeremy, Lebanese officials have been saying more than a million people in the country have been displaced to this point by the war as Israeli forces expand their ground operation. What are you learning on that front? DIAMOND: Yes, that's right. I mean, this is a humanitarian crisis that's beginning to roil the country of Lebanon, a country that is already so, so fragile. And we've seen this number tick up over the course of the last week from half a million people first to now more than a million people, according to Lebanese officials.

A lot of these people are coming from southern Lebanon, but there are also many people who are being displaced from the southern suburbs of Beirut, this area known as the Dahiyeh, which the Israeli military has been relentlessly pummeling with airstrikes over the course of the last week and a half since Hezbollah began firing rockets on northern Israel, entering the fray and opening up another front in Israel's war with Iran. The Israeli military today announcing this expansion of its ground operations in southern Lebanon, but it's still sticking relatively close to the Israeli border, going after Hezbollah infrastructure in frontline villages in southern Lebanon.

That's according to the Israeli defense minister. But he also indicated that those hundreds of thousands of people who've been forced to flee their homes in southern Lebanon, that they won't be able to return to their homes until the Israeli military has finished the job of dealing a devastating blow to Hezbollah and ridding the southern area of Lebanon of any potential threat to Israel's residents in northern Israel. And we know that there are discussions underway about potential diplomacy between Israel and Lebanon to try and resolve this front in the war and to try and reach an agreement on how exactly to disarm Hezbollah.

But for now, those discussions have yet to actually bear any real traction. And Israeli officials focus much more on a military solution right now and still considering a broader ground operation that could see Israeli troops go deeper into Lebanon -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Jeremy Diamond, appreciate the reporting as always -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We're joined now by retired Army Brigadier General Ty Seidule. He's a professor at Hamilton College. He's the former head of the history department at the U.S. Military Academy West Point. And he's also the co-author of "A Promise Delivered, Ten American Heroes and the Battle to Rename Our Nation's Military Bases." General, thank you so much for being with us. I wonder historically how you're looking at the president's demands and just the kind of conflict and tension with U.S. allies over the Strait of Hormuz.

BRIG. GEN. TY SEIDULE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Yes. So thanks for having me. I really think that we have built a system of alliances over the last 80 years that has worked brilliantly for the United States of America.

And as Winston Churchill once said, the only thing worse than having allies having no allies. And we went into this war without consulting our allies. So the Trump doctrine in a way is move fast and break things.

And that doesn't allow us to work with our allies. So what are our allies feeling right now? Well, if you're Europe, you're worried about Russia.

You're worried about them and the hybrid attacks they're making into Europe right now. And the fact that now we've lifted the oil embargo, so that's providing money to them. Also our THAAD and Patriot missiles are now being used up that Ukraine can't use.

They're not being consulted. And Asia feels the same way. Seventy percent of their oil comes through the Straits.

The Japanese weren't consulted. The South Koreans weren't consulted. And now we're sending forces, the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit from Okinawa to the Mediterranean -- a correction, to the Gulf, which means that all those forces that we had to protect them against China are not being used there but being used in the Gulf.

So our allies now, and then we're going to ask them to participate in this. And no wonder they are worried about that because we have not put the work in previously to bring our allies into this. So it worries me that we're going to go into this with just our Israeli allies and not as part of a large coalition, which, again, will be a difficulty going forward.

Remember, the enemy gets a vote, and their vote is that we have a clock, but they have the time. And I think it's going to be very difficult to end this thing quickly.

KEILAR: Secretary Hegseth, actually, he spoke at the beginning of the war, and he was complimenting Israel and really kind of putting down past allies, particularly European allies who had worked with America. He was talking about the importance of capable partners compared to, quote, our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force. I wonder what your read is on that for maybe what the administration was expecting to need in terms of help from Europe and also how that kind of talk affects the dynamics here.

[15:40:00]

SEIDULE: Well, remember, it's a great question, we're a geopolitical power, we're a world power, Israel's a regional power and they may be close to being a regional hegemon, but if we need help against China or need help against Russia, we're not going to get it from Israel. We're going to get it from our Asian partners and from our European partners. So the idea that we would somehow denigrate them seems to me short-sighted and goes against the historical foundation of our great alliances.

Remember, how many allies does China have? One or two. How many does Russia have? One or two.

How many does Iran have? One or two. We have dozens and dozens if we use them properly.

But we have to respect what they want. So it worries me when Secretary Hegseth makes these pronouncements that denigrate these great allies who, by the way, who have died for America in Afghanistan. And he was there when we did that.

So I think that is incredibly short-sighted to go after them. Israel is very capable, but they're capable in the Middle East, not in the world.

KEILAR: Are you looking at sort of the alliances, the order post-World War II differently in light of how you see America relating to its allies in this conflict?

SEIDULE: I think so because I think we look at what they put in after 1945. We went into World War I and won that war and then left Europe. And look what happened with that vacuum of power.

Another World War came. After World War II, we created these series of alliances that served the United States incredibly well, served us best of all, not just militarily, but also economically. And so if we're going to break these alliances and break the post-war era, post- war alliance system, we're going to get into something that we don't want in the United States of America, which is ruled by the strongest.

But remember, that's not just us. That is China and Russia. And if we're looking at this at a world level, it's China and Russia that are the major powers that are a problem.

And if we're stuck in the Middle East, which it looks like we are to create, by the way, opening the Straits of Hormuz, which we had before the war started. So I worry that we're going to put all of our effort there, leaving Russia and China openings to start something even worse. And that's what our alliance system prevented, which is the ability for us to work around the world with our friends to create a global order.

Because if there is stability, the United States wins.

KEILAR: I wanted to ask you, because over the weekend we learned the identities of the six airmen who were killed when their aircraft crashed in western Iraq last week after an interaction they had with another aircraft. And that now brings the number of U.S. troops killed in connection with the war in Iran to 13. One of the people we learned was a father of young children.

I think he had a two year old and seven month old twins, which really drives home sort of what we're talking about here and the cost to these families. And we're getting a really schizophrenic reaction from Pentagon officials, top Pentagon officials, Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs in these briefings they do when it comes to how they talk about the cost of war or how to see it, you know. And I just wonder how you are reflecting on that right now.

SEIDULE: Well, I reflect -- it's a great question, and you know this because you're a military spouse, but my experience was going to Dover as a casualty assistance officer with a family with three small children whose soldier had died there in combat in Iraq and being there at the when the remains were brought out and then bringing that family back. And I stayed with that family for six weeks trying to get them ready for a period without their husband and father. And it was the most searing experience of my life to understand what a family goes through when they lose a loved one.

And there's nothing wrong with saying that you can understand the sacrifice that our soldiers, sailors and airmen are making and still say that you can fight the war. But to do that without recognizing their sacrifice, I think is both un-American and it goes against our values as humans to not recognize the sacrifice of families and loved ones across this country.

KEILAR: General Ty Seidule, really appreciate you being with us. Thank you so much. And we'll be right back.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: As the war in Iran enters its third week and scrutiny over the conflict intensifies, President Trump and his officials are ramping up attacks on news organizations and broadcasters. For example, Trump went on a rant against what he called corrupt media outlets, use his word -- and choose his words in a lengthy Truth Social post on Sunday night.

He falsely claimed that Iran has been working in close coordination with the fake news media --again to use his words -- to broadcast A.I. generated videos showing Iranian military victories.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I actually think it's pretty criminal because our media companies who have no credibility whatsoever are putting out information out that they know is false.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And then over the weekend, FCC chairman Brendan Carr threatened to revoke broadcast licenses over war coverage he deemed to be, quote, fake.

CNN's Brian Stelter has new reporting on this today. So, Brian, what are you learning on this front?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, when you look across the administration, what you see is a coordinated pressure campaign. It's a campaign by Trump officials to try to discourage and discredit independent reporting about the war effort. And all this noise is leaving some observers wondering, is the White House anxious about something?

Is the White House anxious about how the war is actually going or may be anxious about the unusually low public approval ratings for the war in the U.S.? We've seen several days of media bashing.

[15:50:00]

But when it comes to this weekend's threat from the FCC chair about station licenses, it's important to underscore the FCC has relatively little power to follow through. In fact, we've heard that in the past hour from the lone Democrat commissioner at the FCC. Her name is Anna Gomez.

Here's what she said in a new statement quote, "Out of the many politically motivated FCC investigations targeting perceived government critics, not a single one has resulted in an enforcement action." She says, "Broadcasters, journalists and the public should recognize these empty threats for what they are and fight to defend the First Amendment against any attempt to control or intimidate the press." So she's saying the bigger risk here is not government interference, but self censorship on the part of the press.

But frankly, Omar, I'm not seeing that happen. We are seeing reporters asking vital questions about the war effort.

JIMENEZ: Well, and one of the things that I mean, we heard the president bring it up today is these fake AI generated videos showing either more damage than there actually is from Iranian attacks. I mean, many organizations have reported on it, but it's something he's brought up repeatedly now.

STELTER: This is really interesting. He seems genuinely frustrated with these AI generated fakes coming out of the war zone. I find them frustrating, too.

This is a real chaotic information environment right now. There are many AI generated videos that portray Iranian military successes that have never actually happened, that have not occurred in real life. And these videos sometimes get millions of views on social media and on YouTube.

However, real news outlets like The New York Times and CNN are debunking those videos and sorting out fact from fiction. Trump is blaming the real news media for those fake videos, when in fact, the real media is trying to be part of the solution. He's saying the media is the problem.

He also had a really interesting exchange overnight with a reporter from ABC News who was asking very reasonable questions about the war. Here's part of the exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Who are you with? Who are you with?

REPORTER: ABC news.

TRUMP: One of the worst, most fake, most corrupt. You know what ABC news. I think it is, maybe, the most corrupt organizations on the planet. I thing they are terrible. I don't what any more from ABC.

REPORTER: Can you explain why we are sending five thousand marines and sailors? Can you explain --

TRUMP: You are a very obnoxious person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: So you saw the shush there, the shush is the entire story, that is what the president would like to do more broadly to independent coverage of the war and of his administration more broadly.

And this is not a one year story. It's a 10 year story that we've been documenting. His attacks against the media are often kind of a low, dull roar. Right now they're at a much louder level, which reflects his frustration and agitation with coverage of the war.

But that ABC reporter who was shushed on Air Force One, she continued to ask questions. She continued to respectfully follow up. She would not be shushed.

And I think that's kind of a perfect model in a situation like this for the American press corps, Omar.

JIMENEZ: And the question about military personnel, pretty reasonable question to ask in times like these. Brian Stelter appreciate the reporting, as always.

All right, coming up, a major drugmaker pulls a children's asthma drug off the market and a Senate investigation reveals the motives behind it.

Stay with us.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Thousands of families and doctors scrambled to find an affordable asthma inhaler after drugmaker GSK pulled the popular Flovent off the market. One senator launching an investigation to find out what happened.

JIMENEZ: And she shared her findings exclusively with CNN's Meg Tirrell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is about a drug called Flovent, which was one of the most commonly used asthma inhalers for kids. And early in 2024, GlaxoSmithKline, GSK, the maker of this drug, pulled it off the market and replaced it with an ostensibly identical what's known as authorized generic version of this drug. But it turned out that thousands of families didn't have the same insurance coverage for that version of Flovent.

And for some families, their costs went up two hundred dollars for one inhaler for their kids. And so Senator Maggie Hassan's office started investigating what happened here. And her report, which we got to see exclusively, show that there were impacts on families.

In one instance, a pharmacy benefit manager's data cited in this investigation showed that use of these drugs in general, known as inhaled corticosteroids, went down by 20 percent after this drug came off the market and was replaced. And hospitalizations related to asthma went up by 17 and a half percent in the months after this all happened. Senator Maggie Hassan notes that this happened after a law change that would have increased the penalties that drug companies have to pay to Medicaid tied to increases on drug prices.

And the price of Flovent, GSK, raised it by almost 50 percent between 2014 and 2023. And the investigation cites estimates showing that if GSK had kept Flovent on the market, it could have had to pay rebates to Medicaid of more than $300 million on that drug. Instead, for the replacement version, which GSK partnered with another drug company on, Medicaid ended up paying more than $500 million for that drug.

We talked with Senator Hassan about her warning that this could happen again unless Congress acts. Take a listen.

SEN. MAGGIE HASSAN (D-NH): Well, we are working in a bipartisan way to close this loophole. I think one of the things that Congress has to acknowledge is that if we don't make sure that pharmaceutical companies can't do this kind of maneuver, even though the maneuver is wrong, even though it really hurts people, that alone won't necessarily stop big pharma from gaming the system in this way.

TIRRELL: Yes, GSK told us that it's going to continue to engage with Senator Hassan's office and said in a statement, quote, "The company has always been and will continue to be strongly committed to ensuring patients, especially children, have access to the medicines they need, including to our wide portfolio of treatments for respiratory disease."

We should note that a true generic version of this medicine has just been approved. So hopefully access will continue to improve to it. But it was a real ordeal for many families who went through this in 2024.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: All right. Our thanks to Meg Tirrell for that.

And as we leave you, we are just letting you know we're keeping our eye on some really severe weather that is coming through the East Coast.

[16:00:00]

Still, this band of severe storms that has left a lot of snow in the Midwest but has now moved east with some tornado threats in much of that area across the East Coast. We'll keep our eye on it.

JIMENEZ: Yes, more much to keep an eye on. THE ARENA with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END