Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

US Israel War On Iran; Kristi Noem Fired. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired March 06, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:32]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Erica Hill in New York.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Becky Anderson live from our Middle East programming hub here in Abu Dhabi, where the time is 1:00 in the afternoon. And we begin with breaking news on the war with Iran and what Israel calls a broad scale wave of strikes across Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Dramatic video from the Iranian capital shows huge explosions lighting up the skies overnight. And then there was this moment live on Iranian state media.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

There are reports that a popular shopping district and one of the busiest streets in Tehran were also targeted. And the Iranian Red Crescent Society says more than 3,000 homes in the capital have been damaged.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): Last night, first they hit several other places like Gandhi and Vanak. Then around 8:00 at night when they struck first, suddenly the power in these buildings went off. Even then, thank God, we got ready.

Then when the next strikes came, we heard as if something was falling. Then we came down the stairs. We went to the basement. When we came out, we saw people all around bloodied, and a man and a woman blood spilling down their head.

ANDERSON: Well, Israel also ramping up strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Residents have been fleeing from huge swathes of Beirut and its suburbs. Israel is also attacking parts of Northern Lebanon for the first time in the conflict. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he is not concerned about running low on munitions.

PETE HEGSETHM, US DEFENSE SECRETARY: Our capabilities are overwhelming and gathering still, as are those of our Israeli partners. Our munitions are full up and our will is iron clad, which means our timeline is ours and ours alone to control. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: We're covering this story from across the region. Paula Hancocks is standing by in Dubai on the attacks on the UAE and around the region. First, though, to Oren Lieberman, who is standing by in Tel Aviv.

And I want to start with what we understand to be the extent of these Israeli strikes on Iran. Pete Hegseth there suggesting that both the US and Israel have sufficient munitions at this point. It is less clear the extent of these strikes. So what do you have, Oren?

OREN LIEBERMAN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: So from a few different perspectives, first, Israel's military chief of staff said yesterday that Israel has carried out some 2,600 strikes using 6,000 munitions that would likely be bombs and missiles since the start of the campaign in Iran alone. That is since the start of the war when the US and Israel launched that opening strike on Saturday morning.

This is now the seventh day of the war. And I'll say that having covered both the Israeli military and having been in the Pentagon covering the US military, there is no such thing as unlimited ammunition or munitions, or nearly unlimited. Munitions stockpiles are something that every military worries about throughout every stage of a conflict and even when there is not a conflict. How fast you can produce weapons, how fast you can deploy them.

These are all major questions and logistical issues that every military has to deal with. So claiming that munitions are full up, especially on day seven of a war where we have seen the US and Israel carry out waves upon waves of strike, that's just absolute nonsense. Both militaries, the planners behind them, are looking at those stockpiles on every day of this conflict, especially as the US and Israel are warning that this will expand and escalate. And we are seeing that happen in real time here.

Israel's military Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, did say yesterday that they're moving into the next phase, although he wouldn't detail exactly what that was. Israel has made clear that it's going after the regime, and just about every arm of the regime in Tehran and across the country. But Iran is still able to fire back.

[04:05:04]

We saw this over the skies of Central Israel a short time ago, in fact, just after my last live sirens warning of incoming fire. We heard at least what sounded like seven loud interceptions over the skies of Central Israel, and saw the trails in the sky of interceptor missiles trying to intercept that incoming, what appeared to be an incoming barrage from Iran.

It's also worth pointing out that last night from this position, we saw what appeared to be cluster warheads breaking up over the skies of Central Israel with a group of flaming projectiles in the skies and the reports of some relatively minor damage in cities and villages across Central Israel. Turning for a brief moment to Lebanon, Israel says they have hit 500

targets since the beginning of the war across Lebanon as they've issued evacuation warnings for pretty much all of Southern Lebanon, south of the Litani River, which is a massive area, especially compared to the size of a relatively small country. And then for Dahieh, the southern suburbs of Beirut. This is evacuation orders or warnings for hundreds of thousands of Lebanese and we have seen them fleeing from what has been punishing Israeli strikes as they go after Hezbollah targets largely in the southern part of the country, but not only.

They now say they have struck Tripoli in Northern Lebanon for the first time as they say they went after a Hamas commander there who was in charge of training in Lebanon. So not only is there no off ramp in sight, it's not clear that anybody here is looking for an off ramp as the scale and scope of the strikes increases.

ANDERSON: Oren, thank you. Back to you as we move through the next couple of hours, important to get that perspective on the US-Israeli war on Iran and indeed Israel's action on Lebanon. Let me get you now, folks to Paula Hancocks who is in Dubai.

Paula, the Pentagon defining its military objectives earlier this week, saying that the US-Israel war on Iran would be throttling up. And we are seeing evidence of that now. This region of the Gulf, of course, where you and I are, is not involved. It continues to call for de-escalation ahead of this war.

It had been calling for these countries to pursue and to continue to pursue diplomatic off ramp. That hasn't happened. We see no evidence that is likely anytime soon. Meantime, the attacks from Iran on this region continue. What's the latest?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, what we've heard from US officials is that the number of missiles and drones that are coming into the Gulf nation have dropped significantly. They said ballistic missiles down 90 percent over 24 hours, drones down 83 percent.

What we've seen specifically here in the UAE, though, just on Thursday night, shows that Iran still has that capability to launch significant missile and drone threats to the UAE. We heard from 7:00pm till 8:00pm in Abu Dhabi, there really was a fairly consistent emergency alert followed by interceptions, another alert followed by interceptions, which shows that the threat from Tehran has not been eliminated.

Now, we have also heard a couple of interceptions and alerts here in Dubai as well across other areas of the UAE. Central Command also said that they have carried out a hit on an Iranian drone carrier. They said this is basically a ship, which they said was roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier, if that's a good indication for you. But it was a hit, it was on fire, it has been destroyed, according to CENTCOM. So they're trying to give the public notice that they are targeting the Tehran's ability to be able to threaten the US allies in this region.

Now, we had been seeing, dare I say it, a relative lull in some of these Gulf nations, specifically the UAE, over recent days. But certainly Thursday night for some, felt like they were back in the first couple of days of this war. So it shows that ability by Tehran has not been eliminated at this point, Becky.

ANDERSON: Paula, can you just get us up to speed on what we know about travel from this region at this point?

HANCOCKS: Yes. We did just get some fresh figures from Dubai airports, the two international airports here in Dubai. And they said that over the past 84 hours, so that's effectively Monday night when they started to gradually open up airspace from Dubai once again. 1,140 flights have been facilitated.

[04:10:08]

Now that's potentially incoming as well as outgoing from the area. They also say 105,000 outbound seats have been facilitated as well. So they are starting to ramp up the ability to get those people who want to leave the UAE out of here. We certainly seen far more commercial flights leaving.

The UK prime minister just on Thursday said that some 4,000 Brits had managed to get back to the country. And he said that was going to be increasing because they have charter flights. They also had seven more flights later that Thursday. So we are seeing a significantly higher number of flights coming out.

This is people, though, generally, Becky, being prioritized that already had a ticket, that had been cancelled over the past seven days to buy a new ticket now. We just had a look online to buy an Emirates ticket, for example, from Dubai to London. We couldn't get one until this time next week and it was $7,000 one way from Dubai to London.

So this is nowhere near what it should be at this point. It is very economically restrictive for people who do not already have a flight to get out of here. But we are seeing European nations in particular ramping up their flights from here, from Oman, to try and get their citizens out. It is nowhere near what it usually is. It is getting better, Becky.

ANDERSON: Right. Paula, thank you. All right, Paula Hancocks is in Dubai. Right.

Before we move on and talk about what is going on in this region and what might happen next, because that's important. This is a region that didn't ask for this war and is being drawn into it in a very frightening and horrific way.

I just want to pause for a moment because our correspondent, my colleague, Fred Pleitgen and his photojournalist and producer, Claudia Otto, are now in Tehran. CNN is the first US network in Iran since the start of the war. It is important to note that CNN is operating in Iran only with the permission from authorities there. This is Fred's latest report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's certainly been quite a kinetic morning here in the Iranian capital, Tehran. There were really heavy airstrikes. I'd say a little bit before dawn, we heard jets flying around this area for an extended period of time.

There were also some massive airstrikes and we saw thick black smoke billowing from one location which seemed to be in sort of the maybe southern central part of the city as we were driving around. That also went on for an extended period of time as well, clearly a very large airstrike that happened there, with that plume of smoke hanging over almost the entire city.

This, of course, happens as the United States and Israel continue their air campaign, not just here in Tehran, but in various locations around the country. They say that they're going to continue to try and degrade the Iranian military infrastructure and then also take out, as they put it, key leaders as well.

At the same time, the Iranian government is vowing not to back down, not to negotiate with the United States. And Iran's military says that it is going to continue targeting not just US assets here in this region, like military bases in the Gulf states, but of course, continue to target Israel as well. The Iranians are saying that their missile stockpiles are still very much filled, and their missiles are very capable as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: That's Fred in Tehran. Look, let me bring in Mina Al-Oraibi. She is the Editor-in-Chief of The National, a news organization based here in Abu Dhabi but a global footprint. And it's important to get Mina's perspective.

You and I are not only journalists here, we're residents here. So let's just pause for a moment and get your sort of reflections on this past week in the UAE and around this region.

MINA AL-ORAIBI, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE NATIONAL: Well, on the 1st of March, I completed nine years in the UAE. And I have to say as somebody who moved here, we always knew Iran is quite close. We always knew that regional tensions could end up having blowback for the region as they have for the world.

But to see the UAE subjected to drones and missiles, as you said, on a personal level is heartbreaking, but also incredible to see how the country has risen to the occasion. This is the ultimate test and they are passing so far touchwood with flying colors. And so, the only in terms of course, we're so grateful for the interceptions of the missiles and the drones, but also the information flow, the giving people comfort.

Doesn't matter where you're from, doesn't matter what your nationality is. You're here. We're on this land together and we'll get through this together. And I think that's been a real boost of morale for a lot of people.

[04:15:08]

Having said that, it's also been a moment where a lot of people haven't lived through this. You know, we all come from different experiences. My newsroom at The National, we have over 30 nationalities and people who have lived through different things. Some people, Iraqis, Syrians, Palestinians, Lebanese, have almost a sense of survivor's guilt because actually things are functioning so well here. It's so far removed from the reference point of what our own families and childhoods were like.

But then also there are those who have never lived through something like this. And I think at the initial phase there was a panic and then very quick adjustment to seeing actually things are functioning perfectly well.

ANDERSON: Iran continues to insist, and did so in a call with the Qatar foreign minister, who is also the prime minister, of course, in a call just 24 hours ago, that they don't mean to be hurting their brotherly neighbors, that this is as threatened retaliation against US assets, military assets in this region. That is simply not true at this point, irrespective of a war that is being waged by the US and Israel on Iran.

Iran is attacking military and non-military economic assets around this region. A region that was coordinated in its narrative, its statements ahead of this war, that he wanted to see de-escalation and was calling for a diplomatic off ramp. It still does that. It still insists that any option, any option for diplomacy at this point is the right option. Nobody around this region that I've spoken to sees a military solution as the right one.

The Europeans have thrown not just a lot of support in statements behind Gulf friends, but a lot of support, military support, in order to ensure that this region has enough sort of military asset in its right to respond. It hasn't decided yet what that looks like, it certainly is defending itself. So there is a self-defense sort of mechanism at this point.

It could switch at some point to an offensive combative role in support of the US and Israel. That's not clear at this point. What do you see happening next, now and next?

AL-ORAIBI: So when it comes to the Gulf countries, and it's incredible to see that every single one of the Gulf countries has been attacked, including Oman, which was the mediator in all of this. And as you rightly said, all the Gulf countries were very clear that they wanted a diplomatic solution and they had warned that, of course, this is not just the nuclear program that is problematic, but also the ballistic missile and the drones that we are now seeing the consequence of that military machine kind of ramping up despite all the years of sanctions.

And you see that clearly the sanctions didn't work on the military side of Iran. The people of Iran themselves suffered from them as a consequence. So it clear that the defensive posture is very much there and robust. European support is for that defensive posture, as is of course, other countries stepping in, helping the posture.

But again, for example, in the UAE, it is the Emirati military that is manning those THAAD missiles that is really at the front line here. So that's important to note. However, as you said, the UAE and the rest of the Gulf countries made it clear that they retain the right of response.

What does that look like? That doesn't just have to be offensive military which is on the table, there's also the diplomatic offensive. And you see that now countries from around the world, I mean, you see the number of leaders that have been calling in to Abu Dhabi, to other Gulf capitals to not only check in, but to sound solidarity and support, but also say, where do we take this from here.

And the UAE and the rest of the Gulf countries are very clear that they want to adhere by international law. They are looking at what international law gives them as rights and tools to respond. They're not going to do this without thinking, without thinking through all the international treaties and laws.

You saw in the UAE, they announced that they closed their embassy, they've pulled back their ambassador and staff from Tehran, have been very vocal at how much they reject the Iranian position that claims they're only targeting Americans. This is not true.

And so, I think what goes from here is, first, how long the Iranian military machine can continue with very targeted strikes from the Israelis and the Americans on this. So it depends how long it goes. Second, how those deliberations that are happening, not only GCC internal, but also wider with the Arab League and with Europeans and others.

[04:20:00]

And also then to think what happens next. Because yes, we're focusing on the Gulf, an important lifeline to the world in terms of energy, capital, technology, but also the wider Middle East. And so now we see Lebanon pulled into this, we see Iraq, Jordan was affected. So I think this is becoming very quickly, not only regional but of global ramifications, and their response will take that into account.

The GCC is an international player that wants to take into account where the internationals situation itself will set. And of course let's not forget Russia and China.

ANDERSON: Staying within the parameters of international law and building momentum towards a, you know, a full on response to this has been fascinating to witness from these Gulf nations and a real lead being taken by the UAE to that degree. I want to finally just take a moment to have you explain this, pulling in of other countries around this region.

Lebanon, we're reporting on that with our key assets from Tel Aviv. Let's talk about Iraq.

AL-ORAIBI: So Iraq, of course, is pending a government formation which everybody realized weeks ago that nothing was going to happen until we see if this war happens, which it now has, and where does the Iranian regime come out. You also have different strikes happening across Iraq daily. On the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Erbil is every day subjected to strikes. The airport, the US consulate and U.S. base there, that clearly is coming from either Iranian proxies or Iran directly.

And then you have inside of Iraq, there are different headquarters of different militia groups that are aligned with Iran. They're also being struck. Nothing is being confirmed by whoever is striking behind it. But it seems cold quite clearly that it is the Israelis that are striking there. And so, you have a moment in Iraq where different parts of the country are being subjected to strikes.

Basra has also been struck, which is in the south. And part of this onslaught on energy that we're seeing LNG supplies. And Qatar, we're seeing Ras Tanura in Aramco. You're also seeing strikes in Iraq that are affecting refinery and oil. And so again, this becomes a global problem because what happens.

So domestically in Iraq, there are militant groups that have declared that they are with Iran in this war. But the government and many of the political parties are trying to stay clear of it. They're trying to say we are not a party to this war, but they're being pulled into it. And how long they can continue to do that without making a clear break with Tehran is unclear.

ANDERSON: What do you make of the reporting that the CIA has co-opted Kurdish factions on the ground to lead a ground incursion to effectively be those boots on the ground that people are discussing as a possibility in Iran any time soon, what do you make of that?

AL-ORAIBI: Well, first, I think there was a miscalculation from the US and Israel in thinking that people are going to rise up when there's a live war going on inside of Iran. So they're not seeing that now. They want to see if they can get an element, a faction from within Iran, the Kurds in Iran, to be that kind of flurry that starts to rise up against the government and therefore to push Kurdish Iranians who are living in Iraq in opposition.

They've had a very complex history and they're not one group. They're also quite divided amongst themselves because they have been in Erbil. But actually, the Iraqi government has put a lot of pressure on them not to be armed, not to carry out activities against Iran. It has been a key ask from Tehran to Baghdad for years. It's a pressure point.

But the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has hosted them, has kept them there. And this is now, unfortunately, possibly a political card that can be played, but also a military card. And I say unfortunately because the Kurds have been burnt before. We just reported a few weeks ago about the Kurds in Syria who have been used as foot soldiers on the ground for quite some time, getting pulled back.

And so, I wonder if these assets, these Kurdish assets, think that they are going to have a chance of having their own autonomous region. No one's going to stand for that and they will end up having a very difficult administration. However, they will grab what opportunity they can.

And I think what we're witnessing in the region at the moment is, you do have different armed groups trying to get what opportunity they have, political actors trying to gain ground, gain political leverage where they can in the fog of war and the chaos that is currently emerging in certain countries like Iraq, like Lebanon. And so, I think they cannot be a fighting force on their own, can they be part of the weapons and the tools that the Americans are using to really pressure this regime to breaking point? Certainly, that's what we're seeing unfold now.

ANDERSON: Mina Al-Oraibi with me here in the studio, the editor-in- chief at The National for the IMI Group. It's good to have you. Thank you very much, indeed.

Well, back in the US. There's been a shakeup at a major government agency. Why President Trump fired Department of Homeland Security. Secretary Kristi Noem and who he has tapped to replace her. We'll get you more on that after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: A major shakeup at the US Department of Homeland Security. President Trump firing Secretary Kristi Noem, who you see here, amid a DHS shutdown, of course, growing scrutiny over her conduct as Secretary. Trump plans to replace her with Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma.

He says Mullin will take over at the end of the month. Important to note, though, he, of course, first has to be confirmed by the Senate. As that process kicks into high gear, Mullin says he plans to work to earn everyone's vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): Listen, I am super excited about this opportunity. It came at a, not a complete surprise, but it came at a little bit of surprise for us. And so the President and I, as you guys know, we're great friends and we get along great. I look forward to working with him and his cabinet. Of course, we still got to go this little thing called confirmation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Well, as for Noem, she will actually remain a member of the administration and will serve as special envoy for a new security initiative in the Western Hemisphere called the "Shield of the Americas."