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CNN International: Three U.S. Troops Killed in Drone Attack in Jordan; Biden Vows to Respond to Deadly Drone Attack in Jordan; Israel, U.S., Qatar and Egypt Hold Talks on Hostage Deal; Dozens Arrested After Istanbul Church Attack. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired January 29, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Biden is blaming Iran-backed militant groups and vowing to hold them responsible.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Imagine a future where we restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again.

NIKKI HALEY, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He really needs to come face to face. Man up, Donald. I know you can do it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Job is not done. I mean, our job now is to prepare ourselves to play a good football team in the Super Bowl and try to get that ring.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, including the United States, of course. I'm Max Foster.

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. It is Monday, January the 29th, 9 a.m. here in London, at 4 a.m. in Washington, where U.S. President Joe Biden is vowing to respond to a deadly drone attack on U.S. troops in Jordan.

FOSTER: Three American soldiers were killed and more than 30 injured in the attack. It marks the first time U.S. troops have been killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. U.S. officials say the drone hit near the living quarters on base.

NOBILO: That outpost seen in this satellite image is located near the border with Syria. Mr. Biden is blaming Iran-backed militant groups for the attack, while in Iran, state media reports that Iran's permanent mission to the U.N. denies the country had any involvement.

FOSTER: CNN's Kevin Liptack has more on the U.S. reaction from the White House.

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KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Biden calling the attacks on U.S. troops in Jordan despicable and wholly unjust, saying that America's heart is heavy and vowing to respond at a time and in a manner of our choosing.

President Biden was on the road in South Carolina as this was all unfolding, briefed by his national security team, including the Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. And you can imagine in those discussions a talk about how to respond in a way that would deter these attacks from happening again, but also the imperative to prevent this conflict from spreading even further. And at the end of the day, President Biden does have quite a consequential choice to make here.

He is coming under pressure from some Republicans to respond directly in Iran to some of these attacks. But certainly, the imperative inside the White House has been to prevent this conflict from broadening. And the fear among American officials as these attacks had proceeded on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria is that it would eventually result in fatalities.

Now that that fear has been realized, the decision President Biden has is how to respond so that it doesn't happen again. And certainly, he will be making that decision over the coming days.

But in a statement, President Biden saying that the three American service members we lost were patriots in the highest sense, and their ultimate sacrifice will never be forgotten by our nation. Together, we will keep the sacred obligation we bear to their families.

Now, at the same time, the president is dispatching his top intelligence official, Bill Burns, to France for talks with his counterparts from Egypt and Israel on these hostage negotiations. Certainly, the hope among American officials is that these will be fruitful in securing the release of all of the remaining hostages in Gaza, paired with a prolonged cessation of hostilities.

And really the hope had been that this pause in the fighting could cause some space for American officials and Israeli officials, along with their counterparts in the region, to come up with a plan to end this conflict permanently. And certainly, the death of the American soldiers in Jordan will lend some urgency to these talks as the U.S. continues to try and come up with a solution to this conflict and eventually result in lasting peace.

Kevin Liptack, CNN, the White House.

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FOSTER: Donald Trump didn't waste time making this into a campaign issue. The former president and Republican presidential frontrunner said in a statement that if he was in the Oval Office, quote, we would right now have peace throughout the world. Instead, we're on the brink of World War III.

NOBILO: War seems to be what some Republicans in Congress are proposing. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina tweeting, hit Iran now, hit them hard. Representative Dan Crenshaw of Texas, quote, no more weak, quote, proportionate responses.

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Weakness invites aggression and escalation. Time to kill another Iranian general. Perhaps that might send the right message, end quote.

FOSTER: And a fellow Texan senator, John Cornyn, suggesting simply target Tehran.

NOBILO: Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General and CNN military analyst Mark Hertling weighed in on the growing tensions in the region and how the U.S. may respond to the deadly attack.

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LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: We will see additional strikes, probably a lot more kinetic activity on some major bases that belong to the popular mobilization forces that are the puppets of the Iranian government. Don't know how difficult that's going to be, because, as you know, in this kind of environment, you can go after some forces, but it's difficult to hit all of those that are trying to harm the United States citizens, the soldiers in the area.

So, there will be some more kinetic activity. And I would guess there might be some covert action, too, against not just the PMS and the Al Quds Force, but also possibly even some elements within Iran itself, because they know they have intelligence that Iran is behind this. Or so that's what the NSC has stated.

Everyone's counting the 160 strikes or so that have happened since October the 7th, when Hamas invaded or, you know, conducted terrorist attacks inside of Israel.

What we have to remember is this has been going on for a lot longer than that. Years of popular mobilization forces, the proxies of the Iranian government, have been conducting multiple strikes against not only the U.S., but also the Iraqi government. They have been fighting hard not just against ISIS in Syria, but also against the Kurds, the United States and anyone else that's trying to camp down ISIS.

So, this is an opportunity for Iran to use their proxy forces. And by the way, let me state for the record, Iran could care less about any casualties that occur with the Houthis or the PMS or Hezbollah or Hamas. They just know this is an opportunity to continue to conduct strikes against the West, against the United States, because they don't want the U.S. forces in any of these Middle Eastern countries.

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FOSTER: Joining us now from Berlin is David Sanger, CNN political and national security analyst. He's also the White House national security correspondent with "The New York Times." Thank you so much for joining us.

I mean, having heard all of those reports, I think the question coming into everyone's minds is, is America about to strike Iran? How would you respond to that?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYSTS: I think that President Biden will be very cautious about doing that, in part because he doesn't want to widen the war. But in part because other signals have suggested Iran doesn't want to get into a direct conflict with the United States and Israel either.

So, I think General Hertling laid out the options out here. There's the unsatisfying option of striking against a number of the proxy groups, including the one that launched this.

Unsatisfying because you're not going to get all of them. And because so far that strategy has not succeeded in stopping the attacks. And then there's the risky side of this, which is going after Iran itself.

Now, General Hertling suggested maybe some of that would be covert, which would presumably create a higher chance of sending a signal and a lower chance of bringing about a major response. Maybe it's against the supply lines of weaponry that Iran is sending to these different groups. And that would not necessarily require striking inside Iran but does require really explicit intelligence about what weaponry is.

NOBILO: If the suggestions from U.S. intelligence are correct, and this was conducted by Iranian proxies, is the implication that this is with the tacit approval of Iran? And how would that be the case if, as you say, it wasn't in Iran's interest to extend and escalate this conflict to draw the U.S. in directly?

SANGER: Well, the Iranians have been playing sort of both sides of the game here. On the one hand, they don't want to confront the U.S. directly. And you've seen that time and again, they could have ramped their nuclear program to full enrichment. They haven't. They could be launching attacks directly from Iranian territory. They're not.

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On the other hand, they're perfectly happy to have their proxies conduct these attacks for them. And that leaves vague the question of how much are the proxies coordinating with the Iranians? The evidence so far seems to suggest that the Iranians provide money. They provide arms. They sometimes provide intelligence, but they don't coordinate the individual attacks.

And that, to some degree, preserves some deniability for the Iranians. We've heard them exercise that now. And the question is, to what degree does President Biden want to take the risk of piercing that and going directly after Iranian forces? That's a really hard decision because Iran obviously has capabilities that go way beyond what the these proxy groups do. FOSTER: It won't just be military thinking that goes into this, will it? It will also be campaign thinking going into the election. That presumably puts more pressure on Biden to do something. But does that mean he'll have to be tougher than he normally would?

SANGER: You know, I'm sure there's pressure on him to do so. And you cited earlier the statements from a number of Republican senators, from Lindsey Graham, to Dan Crenshaw in the House of Representatives, to John Cornyn. And you're going to hear a lot of easy talk about let's just go right after Iran. And that's fairly easy coming from people who don't then have to go deal with the and then what questions that would arise from it.

I suspect that the president has already mapped out. I know the president has already mapped out what those options would be or his aides have. But my guess is you're going to find some in-between option chosen.

The politics of this are all bad for him because President -- former President Trump is out there saying this never would have happened if I was there. That would have respected me more. Well, things like this did happen. Of course, when President Trump was president. And it was President Trump who had to pull back from attacking Iran directly at one point. Wisely, I think, because he faced the exact same problems that President Biden does now.

FOSTER: OK, David Sanger, thank you so much, as ever, for your insight on that.

NOBILO: The main U.N. agency in Gaza is urging countries to reconsider cutting off funding over allegations that staff members were involved in the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel. Austria is just the latest to join the U.S. and U.K., among others, in suspending funding for UNRWA.

Israel joined high stakes talks with the U.S., Qatar and Egypt on Sunday. Officials are trying to work out a hostage release deal and a pause in the fighting in Gaza.

For more now, let's bring in CNN's Paula Hancocks. Paula let's begin with the latest on these discussions. Are we any closer to a potential ceasefire hostage release deal?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianca, it appears that we may be closer than we were a couple of weeks ago. At least now the sides are talking. There was that meeting in Paris between the intelligence chiefs of the U.S., Israel and Qatar and Egypt. And obviously those are the key players for any kind of deal to be done.

Now, we were told that the meeting was constructive. This was from a statement from Israel's prime minister's office, but also said significant gaps remain.

Now, we know that there has been tension as well between the players who are trying to negotiate this mediation. For example, Qatar has been critical of Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has criticized Qatar for not doing enough and being too much in the camp of Hamas and supporting Hamas, but not being able to bring the hostages home. So, there has been some animosity between the players.

But certainly, what we've heard from the Israeli prime minister's office is that the talks were constructive. So, they're ongoing, no breakthrough. The White House has not really called them negotiations at this point, not believing that we're at that point.

Now, also over the weekend, there was significant movement when it comes to funding and humanitarian aid for Gaza. As you just mentioned there, UNRWA, which is the group that looks after Palestinian refugees in Gaza, is calling on many countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Austria, Japan, and many others, to continue their funding for the humanitarian aid that's going into Gaza.

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We've even heard from the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, saying that there's two million people in the Palestinian territory of Gaza that are relying on UNRWA, and they have funding not quite until the end of February. So, it will come quickly. This crux and the head of UNRWA has called it shocking, saying that the funding would be pulled at a time of war.

Now, the UN has instantly fired nine UNRWA members after Israel alleged that they had involvement with the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel, and we understand two more are being looked into. Notably, two countries, Norway and Ireland, have said that they won't be temporarily pulling the funding for UNRWA. At this point, they believe it's more important to be able to continue this aid to Gaza, and they have put their trust in the United Nations to be able to investigate exactly what happened -- Max and Bianca.

NOBILO: Paul Hancocks in Abu Dhabi, thank you very much.

Just ahead, mass arrests following a deadly attack on a Catholic church in Turkey.

We're live from Istanbul next.

FOSTER: Plus, U.S. President Joe Biden has been campaigning in South Carolina ahead of the state's Democratic primary on Saturday.

NOBILO: And later on, the stage is set for Super Bowl 58. We'll have the highlights, the reaction, and the major story lines from an epic championship Sunday in the NFL.

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FOSTER: Turkey says it's arrested at least 47 suspects linked to Sunday's church attack in Istanbul.

NOBILO: Turkish security forces carried out more than 30 raids looking for two gunmen who opened fire during mass at a Catholic church. At least one person was killed.

CNN's Scott McLean joins us live from Istanbul. Scott, any idea who was behind this?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so according to the Interior Ministry and according to an ISIS-affiliated newspaper, it is the terror group ISIS that is claiming responsibility for this. The suspects, according to the Interior Minister, are one person from Tajikistan, one person from Russia. And according to AMOK, an ISIS- affiliated media outlet, citing an ISIS source, this was in response to a call that had come in recent weeks from an ISIS spokesperson released on an audio message calling on ISIS supporters, ISIS members, ISIS sympathizers, to target specifically Christians and Jews everywhere in the broader context of what is happening right now in Gaza.

So this happened yesterday at the Santa Maria Church. This is in the Sariyer district of Istanbul. This is in the far north of the city on the European side, not too far from the Black Sea, and about 15 kilometers or so from what you would consider central Istanbul. So not close to the center at all.

And there's actually security footage of the shooting itself that's widely circulated. We're not showing you the entire video, but we can show you a small section of the aftermath.

But I can describe what happens in that video. Basically, one person is seen walking into the back of the church. Two people, masked men, follow. That person is shot. They go down. The rest of the parishioners go down as well. You can see one of the attackers walking up the aisle. And then very quickly, they leave. The parishioners, one of them quickly runs and closes the door. And then you can see them slowly get up from the pews.

An absolutely terrifying, terrifying incident that happened. In the hours that followed, obviously there was a huge security presence in that particular area. And then a huge manhunt as well.

As you pointed out, the Interior Ministry is saying that there were dozens of raids that took place. Some 47 people had been arrested in relation to this. And obviously the two suspects had been arrested as well.

And this is especially significant, Max, because this is actually the first ISIS attack on Turkish soil since the 2017 attack on a nightclub in Istanbul that killed well over 30 people. And so, this is something that the Turkish government, the security service has worked very hard to try to prevent.

In fact, the Interior Ministry says that there have been, he says, describes them as operations. Not clear precisely what that means, but more than a thousand of them just since last summer. And several hundred people who've actually been arrested in those operations.

It is also important to note, Max, that this has been obviously condemned by all levels of the Turkish government, from the president himself to ministers right down to the mayor of Istanbul. And the list goes on and on. Obviously, Turkey is, the vast majority of people here are Muslim, but this country was founded on secular ideals that persist to this day.

And so, the Interior Minister made very clear that there are many faiths in this country and in this city, and he wants them to be able to worship in safety.

It was also, the Pope also mentioned this, saying that he felt closeness to the people in that church itself.

And I can also tell you, Max, that the Catholic Church in Istanbul is quite a diverse community. Obviously, it's attended by some Turks, some masses in Turks, but it also caters, many churches cater largely to foreigners with services in different languages as well.

FOSTER: OK, Scott in Istanbul, thank you for the update.

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley campaigned in South Carolina on Sunday, keeping up the pressure on her political rival, Donald Trump.

NOBILO: Plus, some U.S. cities are struggling to keep up with the stream of migrants being bussed in from the southern border. We'll show you what it's like at an overcrowded New York shelter.

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NOBILO: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.

Iran's state media says the country denies any role in the drone attack on a U.S. base in Jordan. U.S. President Joe Biden has vowed to respond to the strike that killed three soldiers and left several others wounded.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will be in Washington today as part of his visit to the U.S. He's expected to meet with several senior White House officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

NOBILO: U.S. President Joe Biden is courting black voters in South Carolina ahead of the state's Democratic primary on Saturday. He delivered remarks over the weekend at a historic church in Columbia that played an active role in the civil rights movement.

FOSTER: He also visited another church and a barbershop before returning to D.C. on Sunday night. Mr. Biden is also seeking to galvanize voters around reproductive rights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Republican try to pass the national ban on abortion, I will veto it and consider that a promise made and a promise will be kept.

If you reelect me and Kamala with a Democratic House and a bigger majority in the Senate this November, imagine a future where we restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: And Republican presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, was also in South Carolina.