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Thousands in Mourning in Iran for the Death of Qasem Soleimani; Trump Threatens Sanction and Targeting of Iran's Cultural Sites; Iran Votes to Get Foreign Forces Out of Iran; Foreign Powers Call for De- Escalation Over Tensions Between the U.S. and Iran; Mike Pompeo Justifies Trump's Decision Against Iraq; Iran Crisis and the Senate Impeachment Trial; Iran Vows To Retaliate Over Top General's Killing; Attack On Kenya Military Base Kills 3 Americans; Massive Evacuations Underway As Australia Fights Fires. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired January 06, 2020 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome everyone. We are following the breaking news, heightened tensions in the Middle East and new threats from the U.S. President. I'm Rosemary Church.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN HOST: And I'm George Howell. Welcome to viewers here in the United States and around the world. The consequences of the U.S. killing an Iranian commander are far reaching and they are still unfolding. Here is where things stand as of now.

CHURCH: Thousands of people are on the streets of Tehran mourning the death of Qasem Soleimani. In an exclusive interview, the military adviser to Iran's supreme leader said the response will be against military sites.

HOWELL: Iran also taking another step back from the 2015 nuclear deal. It announced that it will abandon limitations on enriching uranium. Tehran will continue to cooperate though with the nuclear U.N. watchdog.

CHURCH: President Donald Trump reiterated his threat to target Iranian cultural sites if Tehran retaliates for the strike. Attacking cultural sites could be considered a war crime.

HOWELL: And the Iraqi parliament is calling on the U.S. and other foreign forces to get out, to leave the country. In response, the U.S. president threatened sanctions against Iraq if troops are forced to withdraw. He said the troops wouldn't leave unless Baghdad reimburses pays for it -- Washington for an airbase there

CHURCH: And CNN is covering the story with our correspondents around the world. Our Jomana Karadsheh is covering the latest for us in Baghdad.

HOWELL: Our Nic Robertson is live in Riyadh. He has reaction to the Iraqi prime minister's comments that Soleimani was in Baghdad to talk about de-escalating tensions between Saudi and Iran.

CHURCH: And CNN's Fred Pleitgen is among the throngs of mourners covering the funeral of the Iranian general.

So let's start with Fred in Tehran. So Fred, as we mentioned, you are there. We can see you covering Soleimani's funeral. What's expected to happen this hour and what are mourners saying about the killing of their country's general?

FREDRICK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi there Rosemary. First of all, the turnout here for this morning ceremony has been immense. It's very (inaudible), by the way, the people here just broke out into chants, "Death to America" as I was starting to speak. It's something that happened here intermittently.

So, it's a giant crowd that has turned here for the mourning of Qasem Soleimani. They are obviously grieving a great deal. A lot of them are still (inaudible) great deal of pain but also there is that call for revenge that we're hearing from a lot of people.

There are people carrying placards saying fast revenge and harsh revenge so, surely a lot of anger as well. I want to pan around a little bit. You can see that these crowds are absolutely gigantic.

We believe that the coffin of Qasem Soleimani went past our location just a couple of minutes ago and the people here are literally been waving since the very, very early morning hours to come out here to pay their respects, but then also as you can see very clearly right now, to display their anger at the United States and specifically at the Trump administration.

They're very angry at President Trump for the target (inaudible) of Qasem Soleimani and others (inaudible) also very much swearing revenge the same way that their political and religious leaders have (inaudible). In fact, their main posted prayer at the coffin of Qasem Soleimani and the ceremony will happen only about 200 yards in that direction.

It was Iran's supreme leader who was very close to Qasem Soleimani, who is also one of the people who said that there would be revenge against the United States.

Of course, we heard from that interview that I had yesterday with the adviser to the supreme leader. They said revenge and that retaliation is going to be in military form and that revenge is going to be against military targets.

[02:05:00]

We have these chants going out here. As you can see, these crowd, very much riled up, very angry -- very angry at the United States. Now, we should (inaudible) that anger in a great deal. And just to (inaudible) what's been going on because this is obviously just one of several events that's been taking place over the past day and a half.

Qasem Soleimani's body arrived here in Iran early yesterday and pretty much in every location that the body has been brought to, we have seen it seems like this one, massive amounts of people lining the streets. Big displays of anger.

And certainly the crowds appear to be much bigger that even the religious leaders here in this country would have thought. Qasem Soleimani obviously (inaudible) nationally, a very controversial figure (inaudible) many, many people here in Iran, very much revered whether they are more religious, more conservative people or whether they are more moderate and more secular people.

This is certainly someone who did have a great deal of support among the many people here in Iran, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Absolutely. Our Fred Pleitgen, CNN's senior international correspondent reporting there from Tehran. We could barely hear him of course above the anger there from many mourners gathered on the streets in Tehran. Many thanks again.

HOWELL: The U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has her own plan to avoid further conflict. She plans to introduce a war powers resolution designed to limit the president's miliary action regarding Iran. Here's what Pelosi said in a letter to Democratic members of Congress.

It goes -- it reads this, the resolution, "reasserts Congress' long established oversight responsibilities by mandating that if no further Congressional action is taken, the administration's military hostilities with regard to Iran cease within 30 days."

This comes as Mr. Trump threatens to put sanctions on Iran if it kicks you U.S. troops out. He also repeated a threat to Iran. Sarah Westwood explains.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Trump returned to Washington on Sunday night against the backdrop of uncertainty surrounding his Senate trial and chaos in the Middle East after the president decided at his Mar-a-Lago resort to take out the commander of Iran's security and intelligence services.

And on Saturday, the president threatened to hit Iranian cultural sites Iran strike any American or any American asset. That threat has sparked a backlash among critics. But the president doubled down on that threat as he headed back to Washington on Air Force One.

I want to read you part of what he told reporters during that conversation. "They're allowed to kill our people. They're allowed to torture and maim our people, they're allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people and we're not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn't work that way."

Now, Democrats for their part have expressed skepticism that the intelligence the administration cited as a reason for taking out this Iranian leader was urgent enough to warrant this level of military action.

Democrats have also expressed concern that the administration has not thought through the implications of this move. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMNR (D-NY): I really worry that the actions the president took will get us into what he calls another endless war in the Middle East. He promised we would not have that and I think we're closer to that now because of his actions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: Now meanwhile, the future of the president's impeachment trial in the Senate remains in a state of limbo. While the president was at his resort for nearly two weeks surrounding the holidays, he was asking advisers and aides who were with him who should represent him during that Senate trial.

But White House officials have not been able to make concrete decisions about just what that strategy should look like, just who should play the exact top roles because Speaker Pelosi hasn't yet made a move. Sarah Westwood, CNN, the White House.

HOWELL: Sarah Westwood, thank you. From Washington now to the Iraqi capital, our Jomana Karadsheh is following the story live in Baghdad this hour. Jomana, we have seen the protests there. People angry about this targeted killing on Iraqi soil and now, there is a push to see U.S. soldiers kicked out of Iraq.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, and George, the Iraqi parliament did vote yesterday putting the ball in the court of the Iraqi government, telling them that they need to work now to get foreign forces, the coalition forces out of Iraq.

We saw the Iraqi prime minister in a very shocking, stunning move where you have the prime minister sitting in parliament making an argument for why foreign forces should leave Iraq. The same forces they requested to come and assist them a few years ago.

And as we heard from Prime Minister Adil Abdul-mahdi, he gave the background to reaching this situation, this decision saying that over the past few months' tensions have been rising between Iran and the United States. This proxy war has been playing out here in Iraq.

[02:09:58]

And now with this recent unprecedented escalation, you know, they are really concerned that Iraq is going to be caught in the middle, but the battleground for any sort of confrontation is going to be here in Iraq and the only way they can see to prevent this from happening is by asking foreign forces to leave.

He said there could be other options, like looking at some sort of an agreement with the U.S. forces, with coalition forces, to limit their movements here to kind of regulate their mission.

But he says considering the current situation, the threat levels here, Iraqi security forces are not going to be able to protect them, to protect their bases. So their only left with this really difficult decision to make and choice, and that is to ask them to leave.

Now, there are, you know, questions about how this is all going to happen. This is a caretaker government, some legislative and procedural issues that they're going to need to work with.

But of course most importantly, George, are the repercussions of a decision like this with Iraq is going to ask foreign forces to leave, basically handing a major victory to the Iranians who for years have wanted nothing more than seeing the United States and its troops out of Iraq.

And then there is ISIS that of course has been defeated territorially here, but the group is still active, it is still present. It still has the ability to re-emerge. And when you have such a chaotic situation like this, this is ground fertile ground for this group to re-emerge.

A lot of concerns about that especially after we heard yesterday from the U.S.-led coalition saying that right now they're halting their operations against ISIS to focus on protecting their forces here on the ground, George.

HOWELL: That is significant when you think about the resurgence, the regrouping of ISIS there in the region. Jomana, at the same time, Saudi Arabia, which also has a border, it really depends upon those U.S. forces there just to cross.

Here is the other question. Given the fact that the vote has taken place as you pointed out, given the fact that the U.S. president is promising sanctions against Iraq if indeed troops are forced to leave that country, look, it is 10:00 in the morning there. Are you hearing any reactions from people as they learn this news?

KARADSHEH: We are going to wait and see now reaction as people are waking up to this news, to the statement from the U.S. president. You know, George, I was talking to some members of parliament yesterday following that vote.

And all of them are describing the U.S. president as really not understanding Iraq. They're even saying the Unites States after spending 16 years in this country still does not understand Iraq and the Iraqi people.

Now, when it comes to that statement from the president, it's actually quite stunning, you know, when it begins with saying that, you know, they can't ask U.S. forces to leave this country and threatening sanctions against Iraq if it does do.

First of all, this is not an unoccupied force. This is a force that has been invited here by the Iraqi government. So, people here will be angered by statements like this one that have such disregard for Iraqi sovereignty and how Iraqis feel about something like this.

And then threatening Iraq, a key U.S. ally, George, with sanctions and telling them that there are going to be sanctions like they have never seen before. This is a country that suffered so much in the 90s, for decades under

those U.N. imposed sanctions where thousands of lives were lost attributed to these sanctions that stopped the import -- that limited the imports of food and medicine.

People have really suffered here. So to tell them that they will see sanctions like they've never seen before is only going to create and increase anti-American sentiments that we are seeing re-emerge again here, George.

HOWELL: As you point out a U.S. ally. Jomana Karadsheh, thank you for the reporting.

CHURCH: And it doesn't matter where you look right now. From the Middle East to Europe, Washington's allies and its rivals, it seems everyone is calling for both sides to de-escalate tension.

And just a short time ago, this joint statement came from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, where it says in part, "We call on all parties to exercise utmost restraint and responsibility. The current cycle of violence in Iraq must be stopped."

And our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He joins us now live. So Nic, world leaders calling for a de-escalation of tension and in the midst of this, Iraq's caretaker prime minister is suggesting that Soleimani was actually in Baghdad to help de-escalate tensions between Iran and the Saudis. What more are you learning about that?

[02:15:04]

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The Saudis have been very vocal publicly in the past few years in particular, saying that Iran should cease and desist what the Saudis hears as sort of hegemonic expansion of its interests throughout the region by using proxies, giving them missiles -- ballistic missiles such as giving them to the Houthis in Yemen and those have been used to fire at the capital of Saudi Arabia here in Riyadh.

So, the Saudis very publicly had been calling on Iran to stop this. Back channels however to de-escalate, I think we get a sense that those have been going on, I mean, particularly if you take a look at that Iranian attack on the Saudi oil facilities here in September last year, two terminals hit, more than half of the country's oil output halted because of these sophisticated drone and missile attacks.

But the Saudis stopped short of saying publicly what they believe privately, that this attack was not only inspired by Iran, but using Iranian equipment that took off from Iranian soil.

And the reason that they did not go public and make these very strong accusations publicly, although they bought international partners in to join the investigation and see the evidence for themselves, and that was supported by French, by British, by Americans. They chose to rather than go face to face with Iran and escalate the situation, to deal with it behind the scenes and back channels. And while we don't know the exact content of what the Saudis had said to the Iraqi prime minister and therefore what Soleimani might have been coming back and saying, you certainly understand that in this region here, there is no desire for escalation.

Everyone would lose. And that is a major concern and a concern today as the Saudi effective (ph) number three here, Khalid bin Salman, the brother of the crown prince, the son of the king, deputy defense minister will be meeting with the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington a little later today.

CHURCH: Nic, how much influence will this call from world leaders to exercise restraint and responsibility likely have on the next move taken by President Trump and by Iran and what might it signal in terms of what Britain, France, Germany and other nations 0might do next should this tension escalate?

ROBERTSON: There are so many calls going on and statements being made. That joint statement by Britain, France, and Germany has a component of a message to Iran, a component of a message to the White House as well.

You know, both insignificant, both the French, the Germans and the British are telling the United States that they understand what is at stake for the United States here and the threat that it has been under, that its forces have taken from Iranian-backed proxies in Iraq.

There is an absolute understanding there, but there is also this desire to telling them to de-escalate, but telling the Iranians to de- escalate too, telling the Iranians to get in compliance with the multinational nuclear deal that Iran signed up to in 2015.

So, you know, I think there is a real effort here to send this coordinated message and there is a separate phone calls that happened late from the French president yesterday for the Iraqi prime minister talking about the international coalition that's in Iraq to fight ISIS and how that might be shaped going forward.

So they're all using -- all these leaders are using direct channels to try to influence, try to bring the temperature down, try to see a way forward other than relying on President Trump and his very blunt and forceful messaging to Iraq about additional sanctions to Iran, about additional airstrikes.

They are really trying to use their direct contacts to bring the temperature down and just spin the timeline out here. The Iranian foreign minister has been invited by the European foreign affairs chief to Brussels for a meeting.

NATO today is having a North Atlantic Council meeting in Brussels. There's a huge amount of work being done here to coordinate and to send very clear and precise messages.

CHURCH: A very delicate situation for sure. Our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Many thanks to you.

Tens of thousands of mourners take to the streets of Tehran. We will look at how the U.S. killing of Iran's top general could play out on American election (inaudible).

HOWELL: That image that you see playing out there live on the streets of Tehran, plus the latest on what America's top diplomat has been telling CNN about the death of Qasem Soleimani. Stay with us.

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CHURCH: Recapping our top story, the escalating fallout from the U.S. killing of Iran's top military commander. We are looking at live aerial shots here. Mourners, thousands of them gathered in the streets of Tehran there in the wake of the death of Qasem Soleimani in Iran.

Tehran announced it will abandon the limitations on enriching uranium in the 2015 nuclear deal. The military adviser to Iran's supreme leader vowed his country will retaliate by striking U.S. military sites.

Now, President Trump repeated his threat to target Iranian cultural sites if there is any retaliation and he threatened sanctions against Iraq if U.S. troops are expelled from that country.

HOWELL: Again, those live images from Tehran. We'll continue to monitor at 10:24 there. These images that are coming across as people go to the streets angry about this U.S. action.

The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is defending the president's actions against Iran. Pompeo saying that it has made Americans, he says, safer in the Middle East despite the fact that the U.S. embassy in Baghdad is warning Americans to get out, to leave.

[02:25:00]

Our Jake Tapper asked Pompeo about that. Here is their exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: I keep coming back to the fact you keep saying its safer now even at the same time that the U.S. government is telling all Americans to leave Iraq. I mean, again, I understand the idea that in the long term --

MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: You don't seem to be Jake. You don't seem to understand that. You know, oftentimes I have heard you say Jake, America thinks just about the moment, it doesn't think about the long term strategic implications. This administration --

TAPPER: I don't think that I've ever said that about America. I've certainly said that about leaders of this country. POMPEO: Yes sir. This administration is thinking about exactly that.

We are setting the conditions for a successful and safe America. Prosperous American home, secure America (inaudible). This is our Middle East strategy as what we have done over these last three years in Iraq and in pushing back against Islamic Republic Iraq. We will not stray from that course, Jake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: So let's focus now on how this is playing out in terms of U.S. domestic politics especially at a time when we have both the impending Trump impeachment trial and of course the presidential election later this year.

And for that, we are joined by Jacob Parakilas with the London School of Economics Foreign Policy think tank IDEAS. Thanks so much for being with us.

JACOB PARAKILAS, ASSOCIATE, LSE IDEAS: Good morning.

CHURCH: So, as calls across the globe grow louder for a de-escalation of tension between the United States and Iran, some critics in the United States suggest that President Trump ordered last Friday's drones strike against Soleimani in Baghdad in an effort to distract from his impeachment woes. What's your reaction to that suggestion?

PARAKILAS: I think it's had that effect at least in the short term, whether or not that was the intent. Certainly, the conversation over the weekend has been almost exclusively about foreign policy and that's regards domestic politics.

There has been a sudden shift. Foreign policy hasn't really been a topic of great precedent in the Democratic presidential primary just yet, but all of a sudden the candidates are being forced to have detailed answers on how they would manage tension with Iran.

So, it certainly changed the conversation of whether or not that was the intent. Of course, as we have seen in the last few years, the news cycle moves quickly and the question of timing further events, how long it takes Iran to retaliate?

What form that retaliation takes, whether that retaliation is sort of something that makes its way into the public consciousness of Americans I think will have a lot to do on the degree to whether this is a game changing event or just another in a long series of sudden shocks of the last few years.

CHURCH: Right. And of course, at this stage, Iran is saying that any retaliation would be confined to some sort of military -- U.S. military interest. We will continue to monitor that of course. And I did want to ask you what impact President Trump's decision to have Soleimani killed will likely have on the next step for the Senate on Mr. Trump's impeachment trial?

PARAKILAS: Well, the Senate trial has been stalled over a dispute between Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell about what rules the trial would be taking under, whether witnesses would be called, who would be allowed to summon witnesses and a few other issues as well.

Pelosi have refused to send the articles of impeachment over to the Senate until she gets favorable concession from McConnell. So there is a stalemate and it's not entirely clear from the outside when the stalemate will be resolved.

So again, it's a question of timing that we don't really have the answer to. Obviously, if the impeachment trial begins at a time when there is a lull in tensions between Iran and the U.S., it will immediately resume being the item that everyone in the Senate has to respond to.

And it throws ratchet (ph) to the proceedings of the Democratic primary debate because a number of the leading candidates are members of the U.S Senate, would have to attend the trial and that could be complicated for Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in particular.

CHURCH: Right. And meantime, Democrats are very angry that they were not consulted before this targeted drone attack on Soleimani. Should they have been consulted on a strike like this, and what will likely become of the war powers resolution that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to introduce to limit President Trump's military actions regarding Iran?

PARAKILAS: The issue is last consultation than notification. The president should have notified, again, the bipartisan leaders of the intelligence committees in both the House and Senate as a matter of standard practice.

But as we've seen a lot of things, standard practice is not as rigid as we thought it was. It was not as defined as we thought it was. So, he didn't do that. He then on twitter announced that he was giving notification after of course the entire whole world knew that it had happened, which seems more like rubbing salt in the wound than like compliance with the spirit of applicable regulations.

Whether there is any real fallout from that though, I don't know. I mean, I think the House will almost certainly pass a more powerful resolution.

[02:29:54]

And the Senate, it's a bit hard to tell because there are some Republican senators like Rand Paul who have are more -- who have more sort of strident views about the balance of power on war powers between the Congress and the presidency, but it is still a Republican Senate and I think they are still inclined to defer to the presidency while Donald Trump holds it on matters like that. So it may not even land on the President's desk.

CHURCH: All right, Jacob Parakilas with the London School of Economics foreign policy think tank ideas. Thank you so very much.

HOWELL: At this hour, we have been reporting tens of thousands of supporters paying their respects to Qassem Soleimani as the United States braces for a potential response from Iran over the killing of its top general. The news continues after the break.

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CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN's continuing coverage of the escalating crisis in the Middle East. We are looking at these live aerial pictures of supporters there in Tehran in Iran, and they are supporting and paying their respects to Qassem Soleimani, Iran's top general, who was killed by a drone strike by the United States.

They are angry. They are out on the streets. They are calling death to America and they want their message heard by the rest of the world.

HOWELL: And, Rosemary, from every city that we've seen, you know, it seems these protesters, there are more and more each time. Tens of thousands of people as you pointed out there in the capital city of Tehran. We continue to monitor what's happening there.

Among other developments, the U.S. President, Donald Trump, is threatening sanctions on Iraq if American troops are told to leave that country. Iraq's parliament on Sunday called for the U.S. and other foreign troops to leave. This in response to Friday's killing of Iranian's top general Qassem Soleimani by a U.S. drone strike.

Let's now turn to Ronen Bergman. Ronen is one of Israel's lead investigative journalists, also the author of the book Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations joining us live this hour. It's good to have you.

[02:35:25]

RONEN BERGMAN, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: Hi. Thank you, George.

HOWELL: Ronen, so given that the threats coming from Iran that military sites could be targeted for retaliation by Iran, how concerned are people there in Israel that it could be dragged into this mess?

BERGMAN: Well, if listening carefully to the rhetorics used by the Iranian regime, as well as by Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of the Iranian proxy Lebanon, Hezbollah, they are mentioning only the -- only American targets for the time being. Mr. Nasrallah even said, I'm not talking about the American people, but only about the American army, who was behind the assassination of the Qassem Soleimani.

So the assessment now in Israel is that, at least for the time being, Israel is not part of this game of retaliation and revenge, and Israel will not be targeted by Iran. Iran would not try or want to open another front with Israel. Yet, the Israeli embassies and Jewish centers all over the world will put on high alert as well as the Israeli Air Force.

We know of times in the past where the Quds Force, the force that was commanded by the late Soleimani was assistant Hezbollah was leading the initiative on targeting Israeli embassies, and Jewish synagogues and others all over the world. Therefore, these places should be -- should be guarded. However, the Israeli assessment is that Iran will try to retaliate and

forcefully against American targets. The Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei has used a rhetoric that (AUDIO GAP) take revenge against America. He said, we will revenge, and the words of the highest volume, what's coming from Iran.

Therefore, I would expect Iran to retaliate. I wouldn't expect them to retaliate in missiles are using classical warfare because it's just playing into the hands of America striking back, but they can use many of their proxies, the proxies that the late Soleimani has developed and nurtures and established and work with throughout the world in order to attack American embassies or representations all over the globe.

HOWELL: Ronen, I want to ask this question. It really goes to the heart of the book that you wrote. But look, we know that this targeted attack at the Baghdad Airport, the reaction from it so far has been widespread. The ramifications still yet to be seen. What is your take on the U.S. decision to take this action?

BERGMAN: Well, the use of targeted assassinations, targeted killing is under question all the time. Is it beneficial? Is it effective? Does it make the world a better place the next day? Or is it ethically on and morally justified, which is the course you said of my book Rise and Kill First?

I think that the general assumption, the general conclusion of my research is that sometimes when it's done as an overall policy, as part of an ongoing strike against the enemy, and as part of a strategy then targeted killing could be a solution and in sometimes prevent war, prevent taking civilian lives when you target one person.

The question is what would President Trump do if the Iranians indeed retaliate? We saw the President Trump has not done anything against Iran after the Iran took down the drone over into -- the American drone over International water, after Iran hit many times since last May American allies like the strike against the Saudi oil facilities of Aramco.

Now if Trump would stand to his word and indeed take fierce actions against Iran, then it's one thing. If Trump would only satisfy himself with that one assassination, then the whole alliance that he tried to build against Iran would fall apart because countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates will just see that they don't have a backup from America and maybe trying to find channels to Iran for some sort of reconciliation. That was put the Middle East in a furthermore -- far more deteriorated, violence.

[02:40:05]

HOWELL: Ronen, we will see where this goes. There are a lot of possibilities for sure. Again, Ronen Bergman, investigative journalist and the author of the book Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations. Thank you again for your time.

BERGMAN: Thank you so much.

CHURCH: And new details are emerging on a deadly terror attack in Kenya that target American troops. We will have a reaction from the U.S. military but we're back with that in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: An attack on a military base in Kenya has claimed the lives of three Americans. The al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab has taken responsibility for the attack at a Kenyan military base used by U.S. Special Operations Forces. General Stephen Townsend issued a statement on behalf of the U.S. Africa command.

HOWELL: That statement reads as follows, "As we honor their sacrifice, let's also harden our resolve alongside our African and international partners. We will pursue those responsible for the attack and al-Shabaab who seeks to harm Americans and U.S. interests." It goes on to say, "We remain committed to preventing al-Shabaab from maintaining a safe haven to plan deadly attacks against the U.S. homeland, East Africa, and international partners. Our Farai Sevenzo this report from Nairobi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FARAI SEVENZO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In an audacious, brazen, and predawn attack that al-Qaeda affiliated terror group al- Shabaab attacked a Manda Bay airfield very near where United States troops at the U.S. Africa command train the African partners near Camp Simba.

Now, what we know now, is that one United States serviceman and two contractors for the Department of Defense were killed in that attack. U.S.-Africa Command also tells us that two further contractors were injured and at the moment they are stable and are being evacuated.

[02:45:17]

Now, Lamu County sits on the edge of the Indian Ocean. It used to be a very popular tourist place. It's also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but unfortunately, its proximity to the Somali border means that it is prone to al-Shabaab attacks.

Now, the Kenyan Defense Forces tell us that they repel the attack together with their American partners, and that they discovered five bodies of terrorists. They also find various weapons, RPGs, AK-47's, and things of that nature. Furthermore, several aircraft at this base were damaged according to the U.S.-Africa command to some degree including six contractor-operated civilian aircraft. We also know that they were also fixed-wing and rotary types of aircraft.

Now, why has this happened? Al-Shabaab has been ramping up their attacks. Remember, last week they attacked -- used a suicide truck bomb which killed over 85 Somalis in the capital, Mogadishu. The response of the United States-Africa Command and the Somali partners then was to strike at several bases for al-Shabaab. Now, indeed, al-Shabaab despite all these attacks, drone attacks,

airstrikes are still a menace in this place. Remember, this region, not just in Kenya, in Kenya as well, just last year, January the 15th, 2019, they hit a hotel here in Kenya's capital Nairobi, killing 21 people. It's -- everyone is baffled at the moment about how this attack could have happened. And of course, we do not yet know if there were any Kenyan Defense Force casualties, but the menace of al- Shabaab remains. Farai Sevenzo, CNN, Nairobi.

HOWELL: Farai, thank you. We are following the situation in Australia. Officials there trying to make the most of a small window of opportunity. CNN is live there as massive accusations are underway. Bush fires raging on.

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HOWELL: Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. Major evacuations are underway in Australia. That's where deadly bushfires have claimed the lives of 24 people since September. The conditions there are difficult. You can see how the poor visibility is making it difficult for even military helicopters to fly through these orange-red skies during this mass evacuation mission.

We're also seeing widespread destruction of homes and livelihoods on the ground there. Take a look at this image here. Firefighters shot this video as they drove through the flames there. Conditions though eased up in some regions on Sunday, but officials warned that it will likely get much worse in the coming days.

CHURCH: And Andrew Stevens joins us now from the national capital Canberra. Andrew, Australia's Prime Minister has come under considerable pressure for his slow response to the devastating fires in his country. And now he appears to be changing his view on climate change. What's he saying now and is there any understanding on his part regarding the role carbon emissions of playing in all this?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think there are two very distinct questions as you suggests there, Rosemary. Yes, Scott Morrison, the Australian Prime Minister, does admit there is climate change, there is a global warming. And he has said, and he said in the last 12 hours or so that he has always said there was global warming. What he hasn't said at least publicly is that there is a clear link between climate change, global warming, and emissions, man-made emissions.

Remember, Scott Morrison was voted in very much on a -- the back of people who work in the -- in the fossil fuel industry and the coal industry in particular, in the -- in the gas industry. So he does have a constituency there. But he is without doubt out of step with pretty much everyone else in the Western world.

Australia was seen as a pariah, the recent Madrid conference, the top 25 because it refused to back away from some controversial new -- or some controversial old levels of measuring carbon emissions which has given Australia have a very easy ride. A lot of countries were trying to say those scrapped, the Australians said no.

So there is a lot of international bemusement, astonishment even that while Australia was burning, the government was actually trying to pull back on any significant contribution to climate change as far as the madmen ambitions are going. So it's not only as Scott Morrison facing issues on that front, there has been an outcry about his whole handling of this issue.

He's appeared, and many commentators have said that he looks disinterested. He had a disastrous photo opportunity with a woman who'd lost everything in a fire at the weekend. He tried to shake her hand. She said she would only shake his hand if he promised more money for the fire service. He turned and walked away from that.

So, he is in a difficult position at the moment, anger hasn't eased. Even though he announced, Rosemary, today, a $2 billion fund for bushfire recovery. Obviously, the government hoping that's going to go some way towards swaging the anger being filmed here in Australia. But there's no doubt that he has made many, many missteps in recent days, and Australians have really taken notice.

CHURCH: Yes. And Australians were not willing to give them his photo opportunity in any instances there. Andrew Stevens reporting from Canberra, many thanks to you.

HOWELL: Lets now bring in our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri following all of this. Pedram?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: It's suggested here that potential there for a brief window and that's absolutely the case here. Look at the pattern here and in fact see some improving conditions over the next couple of days because we have a shot of showers across places such as Sydney over the next several days. Potentially five the next seven days seen a shot of showers.

And in fact, on Sunday high as 43 degrees Celsius. That's 109 degrees Fahrenheit, dropping down to 24 on Monday afternoon or about 75 degrees Fahrenheit. So a significant drop in temperatures in the coolest run of weather since December 23 across Sydney in particular. So we're beginning to see a little bit of a marine influence.

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And in fact, the latest update within the last hour has brought the total number of active bushfires across not only New South Wales, but also Victoria put together. That number was close to 200, about one hour ago, that is down to just above 150 at this hour. So certainly, seen some immediate improving conditions across the region and a frontier with again, an additional shot of marine influence here will give us more of an onshore flow.

So keeping those temperatures relatively cool compared to what we've seen in recent days. That goes through at least Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. And then you kind of look at this forecast carefully in Sydney. Yes, we do have windy weather and potentially another warm-up come Friday, but at least five, maybe six of the next seven days introduce a shot of showers and also just slightly below average temperatures which are into the middle 20 Celsius. And climatologically, we are in fact working our way into a wetter trend, typically February, March, on into April does introduce better chance for wet weather across this region.

So radar imagery, there it is, some rain coming down. Speaking to Andrew last hour, he said that rainfall certainly was heavy at times across portions of New South Wales. And that is certainly going to be good news here over the next couple of days.

Look at this, though nearly six million hectares of land consumed. For the American audience, that is the combination of the states of Maryland, Vermont -- Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey put together. That is the amount of land that has been consumed in Australia in a matter of just a couple of months. Certainly, a big story developing across that region, guys.

HOWELL: This is highly significant. We will continue to follow it. Pedram, thank you. And thank you for being with us this hour for NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. We will, of course, be back with another hour of news in just a moment. You are watching CNN. Do stay with us.

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