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Trump Attends Dignified Transfer Of Six Soldiers Who Died In Kuwait; Israel Says New Wave Of Strikes Carried Out Against Iran Today; Trump Speaks To Reporters Aboard Air Force One; CENTCOM: U.S. Forces Have Hit 3,000-Plus Targets Across Iran; Iran President Apologizes To Arab Gulf Nations For Striking Them; Sources: Russia Giving Iran Intel On U.S. Military Targets; Trump: Iran Hit School That Killed 180-Plus People, Not U.S.; U.S. Gas Prices Surge As War In Iran Disrupts Oil Industry. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired March 07, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:12]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone! I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

And new tonight, President Trump speaking with reporters following the dignified transfer of six U.S. service members killed in the war with Iran. The President calling this a very sad day. He also said deaths are part of war.

The soldiers were killed when a drone struck their makeshift base in Kuwait. Those soldiers have been identified as the men and women you see here Major Jeffrey O'Brien, Captain Cody Khork, Chief Warrant Officer Robert Marzan, Sergeant First Class Nicola Amor, Sergeant First Class Noah Tietjens and Sergeant Declan Coady.

Meanwhile, President Trump also claiming tonight that it was Iran, not the U.S. behind a strike on a girls' school in Southern Iran.

According to Iranian State Media, at least 168 children and 14 teachers were killed. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also blamed Iran, telling reporters they are, "the only side that targets civilians."

Now, CNN previously reported the strike happened around the same time American forces likely carried out a strike on a neighboring IRGC naval base. That analysis, based on satellite imagery, geolocated videos and public statements from U.S. officials, and the assessment of munitions experts.

Also tonight, Israel carrying out fresh strikes on Iran. I do want to begin this hour in Tel Aviv with our chief international security correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, who is standing by there live on the ground in Tel Aviv.

Nick, what is Israel saying about these latest strikes?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: A military source telling us that this may be the next phase of their war, which seems in these first strikes, part of that phase to be going for part of infrastructure, namely, oil storage depots that the Israeli military say are essentially used by the Iranian military here.

But clearly now, a shift, it seems from mostly exclusively, it seems aiming at more high value military targets to now seeing the list potentially of targets for the Israelis, possibly the Americans, too.

We've heard American officials talking about, how Iran will be hit hard today, and possibly different elements hit hard, too. Now, looking at a wider definition of infrastructure. Desalination plants, Iranian officials have said have been hit. There clearly were hard strikes against a key airport in the capital, Tehran. That's been civilian in the past. The claims is it had military use of late as well.

So, a broadening it seems of targets potentially at the same time as well, President Trump has been busy really, I think outlining multiple parts of his thinking in all of this. He said just recently, just in the last hour or so, that he does not think that using Iranian Kurds as some kind of incursion into Iran is a good idea. So that looks like it is not going to happen.

He kind of scolded a long term U.S. ally, the United Kingdom, for its slow supply of help in the form of aircraft carriers in a statement where he also said that ultimately the war was, "already won," and also too has been strident in his statements about an earlier apology from Iran to its Gulf neighbors, essentially saying that that was their surrender towards their regional neighbors.

Remember, President Trump has said yesterday that he wanted to see the unconditional surrender of Iran, and his Press Secretary went on to say that he would ultimately define what unconditional surrender meant on his own terms.

So a lot moving today. I should also add, while we are talking here, that we've been hearing from Tehran, from senior Iranian officials, as well notably Ali Larijani, a key security official, a longstanding interlocutor with the West, prominent in security circles, giving a lengthy interview on television, but ultimately striking quite a hard line tone, trying perhaps to be the unifying voice of leadership maybe here for Iranians.

But important here as well, given President Trump's desire to be sure that the next Supreme Leader is somebody of his choosing, not that Larijani necessarily fits that bill, Larijani said, look they want to essentially avenge the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and that Trump must pay and that Iran would retaliate in kind.

So, we've heard that kind of rhetoric before. Obviously, death to America being a central chant you often hear in Tehran amongst regime loyalists, but a lot moving today. I just think it is interesting to hear President Trump outline his vision at this particular point and not hearing the phrase four to five weeks that often from him at this time. Back to you -- Jessica.

DEAN: Yes, all right, Nick Paton Walsh, the very latest from Tel Aviv. We really appreciate you.

As Nick was just saying, President Trump once again demanding to be involved in picking the next leader of Iran while also vowing to ramp up attacks on the country this weekend.

Let's now bring in CNN correspondent, Julia Benbrook, who is in Florida where the President is traveling.

[18:05:10]

What more is the President saying -- Julia.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, it has been a week now since the joint U.S.-Israel strikes against Iran and since President Donald Trump announced that Iran's Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah, and dozens of senior Iranian officials had been killed, and now reporters are pressing Trump. Does he want to be involved in the process to pick Iran's next leader? And Trump says, yes, he does want to play some role there because he doesn't want to go back in every 10 years.

Now, he did not discuss specific names or specific parts of the process there, but just said that he wants to be involved in some way.

Speaking on Air Force One, there were several other key takeaways here, one of them being the discussions surrounding a strike on an elementary school there in Iran that killed at least 168 children and 14 students. Trump looked to place the blame for that strike on Iran. But it is important to note that that contradicts some CNN analysis as well as analysis from experts that showed that the U.S. military was likely responsible for those specific strikes.

And these comments come as he was leaving Dover Air Force Base. That is where he observed the dignified transfer of the remains of the six U.S. service members who were killed in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait. And as trump left, he was asked, does he expect to come back to more of these dignified transfers? And he says he would hate to do it, but essentially it is a part of war that these things happen, that there are deaths in war.

So, just a lot of comments here as he is also warning that the United States is going to ramp up efforts. He had a social media post earlier today where he said that there would be new targets under consideration he said for "complete destruction."

DEAN: All right, Julia Benbrook from Florida, thank you for your reporting.

And CNN military analyst, retired lieutenant General Mark Schwartz is joining us now.

Thank you so much for being here with us. I want to go to that piece of news that Julia was just talking about. President Trump saying aboard Air Force One that Iran was behind the strike that struck the girls' school. That does contradict CNN analysis using a lot of data points and geolocated photos, et cetera. That points to it likely being the U.S.' responsibility. I just want to get your reaction to that.

LT. GEN. MARK SCHWARTZ (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I was surprised that that comment was made, given that, you know, just a couple of days ago, the Secretary of Defense and General Caine commented that they were, you know -- that the strike was under investigation and they were looking to see the if, in fact, the United States did it.

So, potentially you know information came out through the investigative process that was passed to the President. I don't know. But again, just a little surprised that that was brought up.

DEAN: How long does that sort of investigation take typically, do you know?

SCHWARTZ: I do. I've been involved in, frankly, thousands of them when I was on active duty.

DEAN: Yes.

SCHWARTZ: So sometimes it can take, you know, a few days, but typically not more than I would say seven to 10 days. You know, based on, you know, the aircraft and the targets that were assigned by specific aircraft that are going into a target area and the munitions that were dropped, obviously, most of it is caught on full motion video. So, it does not take long to make the determination in terms of what was struck.

And then what takes a little bit longer, Jessica, is you know, the analysis in terms of the Battle Damage Assessment that is called in military terms, not trying to, you know, discount the loss of human life but in this case to assess what actually did happen and if it was collateral or it was actually the result of a direct strike, for instance.

DEAN: Right, and so for the President to feel -- typically, for a President to feel confident enough to say something like that, in the past, it would be that they had gotten that analysis and that that was what they've determined.

But you know, again, we don't know yet exactly where that investigation stands, to your point, we knew that -- last we heard, it was ongoing. So, the question here probably is just what kind of evidence does he have to support that? Right?

SCHWARTZ: Correct and, you know, I don't think that you know, the President of the United States is going to, you know, get in a dialogue with the press and whatnot in terms of what that is, I think we would see that come from U.S. Central Command, that would be the most likely, once it is released.

DEAN: Okay. So, we will wait and see if they will release any of that information.

[18:10:05]

I also want to ask you about these comments from the President that he is pushing for what he categorized as unconditional surrender from the Iranians and that he is preparing to ramp up attacks. Where do you think this next wave of attacks could be focused and unconditional surrender? We still don't quite know exactly what that is, but how do you see this playing out?

SCHWARTZ: Yes, I think that the next major phase of targeting inside of Iran is going to be focused on a lot of the military production capability so a lot of the factories and things that are responsible for making their -- you know, their long range missile systems, certainly, the drones as well as --

What we haven't seen struck yet, although we've seen military installations hit, we haven't seen hardly any of the strikes hitting ground forces or, you know, motor pools, for instance, of vehicles and things like that. So, I think we could see an escalation there.

And then lastly, Jessica, what I think we are going to see is a more concerted effort, even beyond what we've seen so far of going after any areas where the joint force and the U.S. CENTCOM believes missiles can be projected into the Straits of Hormuz or, you know, just in the Persian Gulf writ large to go after shipping given the fact that we've completely stopped or, you know the Iranians have effectively stopped the maritime commerce, particularly oil going back and forth through the Gulf from our Gulf state allies and partners.

DEAN: Yes. I also want to ask you about this new reporting that we have that sources are telling CNN Russia is supplying Iran with intelligence on the location of U.S. troops, weapons. What kind of impact might that have?

SCHWARTZ: Well, any way that Iran can receive precision targeting, we know they have the ability to precision target, you know with their long range missile system. So, it is very concerning.

I mean, Russia is an adversary of the United States. We've got U.S. service members in harms' way, and this fight is difficult enough when you have, you know, a third party, and an adversary of the United States certainly, in my view providing intelligence to help enable targeting by Iran.

So ideally, we will see some action take place with you know, with our Congress to address this.

DEAN: And what might that look like? I know you're coming at it from a from -- oh, I am sorry, I am being told we do have President Trump. Stand by with us. Thank you so much for being here.

I do want to listen in to what President Trump just said aboard Air Force One.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: -- by a lot. We've decimated their whole evil empire. It will continue, I am sure, for a little while.

But, very proud of the people -- the parents. The parents were so proud of their boy, as they call him, "My boy." In the case of the young lady, the parents are so proud. Many of them are military parents, you know.

But it is always a very sad thing. The war itself is going unbelievably. It is as good as it can be.

We have Pete here. Pete, and then we have Steve Witkoff here. If you have some additional questions.

REPORTER: You're one week in now, sir. You're one week in at this point. How long as of now do you expect --

TRUMP: Well, I think we've accomplished more in one week than anyone thought possible. We've wiped out their Navy, 44 ships. Weve wiped out their Air Force, every plane. Weve wiped out most of their missiles. You see, the missiles aren't coming much anymore.

We've also hit the manufacturing areas where they make the missiles very hard. Their drone capacity is way down, and we've hit them where it hurts including about every form of leadership you can have, we've wiped out.

REPORTER: -- up to six weeks total?

TRUMP: I don't know. I don't know I never reject that. Whatever it takes. But we've -- the military is almost -- we could -- we hit the military itself very hard, but maybe we will, maybe we won't. We haven't made that determination.

REPORTER: -- gas prices right now.

TRUMP: Sorry?

REPORTER: Are you worried about gas prices right now?

TRUMP: No, this is a short excursion into something that should have been done for 47 years -- 47 years, it has taken to do this. And no president had the guts to do it.

REPORTER: Are you worried you're going to end up coming back to Dover for more of these such dignified transfers?

TRUMP: Sure. I hate to do, but it is a part of war, isn't it? Mr. Who are you with?

REPORTER: "The Washington Post."

TRUMP: Wouldn't you say it is a part of war? It is a part of war. It is a sad part of war. It is the bad part of war.

[18:15:08]

REPORTER: Mr. President, did the United States bomb a girls' elementary school in Southern Iran in the first day of the war killing innocent civilians?

TRUMP: No, based on what I have seen. That was done by Iran.

REPORTER: Is that true, Mr. Hegseth? Did Iran do that?

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF WAR SECRETARY: We are certainly investigating.

REPORTER: Still investigating?

HEGSETH: The only the only side that targets civilians is Iran.

TRUMP: We think it was done by Iran. They are just very inaccurate, as you know with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran.

REPORTER: Can you give us an idea of what unconditional surrender looks like to you? What do you want with Iran?

TRUMP: I said unconditional -- I said unconditional. It is where they cry uncle or when they can't fight any longer. There is nobody around to cry uncle, because we have wiped out their leadership numerous times already, so it means, if they surrender or if there is nobody around to surrender.

But they are rendered useless in terms of military.

REPORTER: (AUDIO GAP) is supporting Iran somehow in this?

TRUMP: No. I have had no indication of that whatsoever. If they are, they not doing a very good job because Iran is not doing too well.

REPORTER: What about the Strait of Hormuz? There is no traffic that are going through that --

TRUMP: You know the ships joins us, but we haven't cleaned out -- we have wiped out their Navy. Their Navy is now at the bottom of the sea, so that's a choice. This is an excursion.

We figured oil prices would go up. We said, well, they will also come down. They will come down very fast. We would have gotten rid of a major cancer on the face of the earth. We would all have taken out the cancer.

Don't forget, October 7th. Don't forget all of the things that have happened, all caused by these people, so what we are doing is a great thing, not only for our country, not only for Israel, not only for the Middle East, but for the world!

REPORTER: Secretary Bessent announced that the administration temporarily allowed certain Russian oil deals to India, so many of the other --

TRUMP: If there were some, I would do it, just to take a little pressure, but I think -- the oil pressure, but there is a lot of oil, there is going to be a lot of oil. Our country has a tremendous amount that we haven't -- there is a lot of oil out there. That will get healed very quickly.

REPORTER: Are we using the SPR? Is it going to be the SPR at some point?

TRUMP: Strategic reserve?

REPORTER: Yes.

TRUMP: Well, I am the one that built them up. Biden used them so that he can get some extra votes in the elections. It turned out, it wasn't even him that ran, it was Kamala. And she obviously didn't get any extra votes because we won in an absolute landslide. He should have used it -- he used it to get -- I filled it up, and he brought it down to the lowest level it has ever been.

We will start at the appropriate time, which is basically a gut instinct. We will start filling up the strategic reserves.

REPORTER: What are the circumstances where you guys send in ground troops? How are you thinking about that?

TRUMP: We don't want to talk about it now. It is -- I don't think it is an appropriate question. You know I am not going to answer it. Could there be? Possibly for very good reasons. There would have to be a very good reason.

And I would say, if we ever did that, they would be so decimated that they wouldn't be able to fight at the ground level.

REPORTER: What do you think about the oil facility -- the oil facility that they bombed close to Iran to be secured -- there was some speculation that --

TRUMP: I don't know what the speculation is, but I certainly would be able to tell you that, I'd be in trouble with myself if I told you.

REPORTER: Mr. President, do we need ground troops to secure the enriched uranium at the nuclear sites?

TRUMP: You will find out about that. We haven't talked about it, but it was a total obliteration. They haven't been able to get to it, and at some point, maybe we will. You know, it will be a great thing, but right now, we are just decimating them.

But we haven't gone after it. But it is something we could do later on. We wouldn't do it now, maybe later.

REPORTER: Sir, you want to be involved in the selection of the next leader of Iran? Can you talk about it?

TRUMP: Well, because I don't want to just come back every 10 years and mostly, you will have presidents, mostly, that won't do that because they don't get it. But we don't want to come back every five years or every 10 years and do this, so we want to pick a president that is not going to be leading their country into a war.

Any questions for Pete or Steve?

REPORTER: Mr. Witkoff, is there still space to do a deal in whatever is left of the Iranian government?

[18:20:08]

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST: I think there is. I think that is going to be up to the President. That's what I think.

But they just need to be very amenable in those first set of negotiations. You heard what they said. They said, we have the inalienable rights to enrich, they bragged about having 60 percent enriched fuel enough for 11 bombs. They told me and, Jared, we are not going to give you diplomatically what you couldn't take militarily.

So, you know I think they're going to need a change of attitude.

REPORTER: What sort of things do you want to see in a deal? I mean, do you think you have extra negotiating leverage at this point?

WITKOFF: I think the President has proved that we have.

REPORTER: Iran today accused the U.S. of --

TRUMP: We are now negotiating leverage, maybe maximum, but we are not looking to settle. They'd like to settle. We are not looking to settle.

REPORTER: Iran accused --

REPORTER: The British government has now offered you some -- the British government has offered use of some bases now. And you had previously said you were very disappointed in them.

TRUMP: -- aircraft carriers. I mean, did you see my response that I just put out? I just put out a response. They offered to send two aircraft carriers, maybe, maybe. But they're not sure. I just put out a response. I said, we don't need them. It is not the right time.

It would have been nice to have had them two weeks ago, but the response I put out, I think says it very well.

REPORTER: Iran is accusing us of hitting a desalination plant in Iran. And they said that that might open the door to other strikes on infrastructure, nonmilitary infrastructure.

TRUMP: I suppose so, open the door to other strikes against them. Look, let me tell you about Iran. They are among the most evil people ever on earth, they cut babies' heads off. They chop women in half what they did -- take a look at October 7th. Take a look at what they've done over the last 47 years.

So I know nothing about a desalinization plant, other than to say if they're complaining about desalination plant, we complain about the fact that they shouldn't be chopping babies' heads off, okay? REPORTER: Okay, Mr. Witkoff, have you communicated to the Russians not to send targeting information and other assistance to the Iranians?

WITKOFF: Strongly said that.

REPORTER: And do you believe that they are?

WITKOFF: I hope they're not.

REPORTER: But do you see any evidence?

TRUMP: We don't know, but it is not doing very well. If they are, it is not helping. If you take a look at what's happened to Iran over the last week, if they are getting information, it is not helping them much.

REPORTER: What would it mean to you if they were? I mean, even if it is not helping the Iranians particularly much, it is still involving themselves in a conflict --

TRUMP: I guess they'd say we do it against them, wouldn't they say that? We do it against them.

I don't know. Look, they can give all the information that they want, but people they are sending it to are overwhelmed. Russia would be overwhelmed, too. Anybody would be overwhelmed.

We have the greatest military on earth, and I built it in my first term. And unfortunately, I am forced to use it now. But when you look at what we did with Venezuela, when you look at what we did with the B-2 bombers, it was a very big moment because Iran was going to have a nuclear weapon within two or three weeks, and then stopped it, and it stopped it cold.

And you ask about maybe going back and getting that, something could happen at the right time.

REPORTER: Is Iran running out of missiles and drones?

TRUMP: I think so.

REPORTER: Do we expect those counterattacks to continue --

TRUMP: Not only that, manufacturing capability also have been hit, we hit the manufacturing very hard. They're at about nine percent of what they sent down in the first two days and we think that's because they don't have that much.

We have also -- we've knocked out about 70 percent of the rocket launchers -- the launchers are a big deal, very hard to get, very expensive.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF WAR SECRETARY: You want to talk about leverage, with every passing day, we have more and more leverage because we have more and more capabilities. We are hitting them harder and harder, and they have less of an ability to defend themselves. So, we are pressing the offensive every single day, creating all the leverage the President needs for the outcome he wants.

REPORTER: So, it sounds like you think they're running out of one or both of the drones.

TRUMP: I think when you look, they're sending it much less, much less drones. They're being decimated now.

You know, at some point I don't think there will be anybody left. Maybe to say we surrender. They're being decimated. And when you look also -- all of a sudden they apologized to the Middle Eastern states that they shot at them. I was very surprised to see they did that.

But you mark that down as a victory for us and for the Middle Eastern states, who are really friends of ours. But I guess they're not going to be shooting at them anymore. They apologized and we will see what happens.

[18:25:11]

But that's a big loss. That's a surrender right there. I called it a surrender today when they apologized and said they're not shooting at them anymore. That's really a surrender to those states and to us.

Is there anything else?

REPORTER: Sir, some Iranians are concerned that the Kurds will carve out kind of an autonomous region, as they did in Syria and Iraq.

TRUMP: We're not having -- we are not looking to the Kurds going in. We are very friendly with the Kurds, as you know, but we don't want to make the war any more complex than it already is, so no.

REPORTER: But do you rule that out?

TRUMP: We don't want -- yes, I have ruled it out. I don't want the Kurds going in. I don't want to see the Kurds get hurt, get killed. We've had a good relationship.

They're willing to go in, but we really -- I've told them I don't want them to go.

REPORTER: Do you think the map of Iran will change?

TRUMP: I just think it is -- the war is complicated enough without having -- getting the Kurds involved.

REPORTER: Do you think the map of Iran looks the same after this is all done?

TRUMP: That I can't tell you. Probably not.

REPORTER: Do you know of any shipping companies that have taken the U.S. up on its offer of insurance to go through the Strait of Hormuz?

TRUMP: We have it set up. We have a great insurance and reinsurance system. But I don't.

REPORTER: Sir, when you talk about --

TRUMP: When this ends, we are going to have a much safer world, you know that. So, you know this is a minor excursion. But when this ends, we are going to have a much safer world, and we will have gotten rid of a lot of sick and demented people, the leadership.

So, we got rid of the one leadership that we got rid of, the second level of leadership. Now, they're on their third or fourth level of leadership. And they have leaders right now that nobody even knows who they are.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

DEAN: You're listening to President Trump there with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. They were aboard Air Force One. They are flying following the dignified transfer of those six -- after attending the dignified transfer of those six U.S. soldiers who were killed in Kuwait.

And a really important exchange there that we heard and we alluded to just a moment ago, but we heard it there with President Trump and Hegseth. President Trump saying about that strike on an Iranian girls' school that the Iranian state media said killed well over 100 people, including many girls. He said that he believes it was done by Iran.

Again, CNN analysis that we had just published yesterday said based on a number of factors, it pointed to the U.S. in all of this. What was interesting is that after the President said that he believed it was done by Iran, the reporter you heard asked Defense Secretary Hegseth what he thought and he said, we are still investigating. And then essentially said the only people who target civilians is Iran.

So, again a really interesting moment to watch, and again, the question becoming, what is the evidence that the President is seeing?

We also heard from Witkoff -- Steve Witkoff when asked about the reports that Russia, again, reports that CNN has reported as well that Russia is sharing intelligence with Iran on the location of U.S. military and its members and service members. He said that they had strongly told Russia not to do that, and the President said if they are doing that, he doesn't think it is helping, but neither really expressed --

Also the President said that he's say that -- he believes Russia would say they'd do it against -- that the United States, does it against them, but neither of them coming out strongly against Russia for doing that, for targeting U.S. service members.

I do want to bring in CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant General Mark Schwartz. He was standing by with us. I am sorry to interrupt you earlier, but I am thankful that you stayed with us there.

I want to go back to that exchange between Hegseth and the President that you and I were talking about. You said you've been part of a number of these investigations, trying to figure out and ascertain what happens in some of these situations and it was interesting to hear the President sound confident in his assessment that it is Iran.

But we heard from Pete Hegseth that when he was asked, he said, we are still investigating, which would make you think that the investigation is ongoing.

SCHWARTZ: I would agree, I think, you know, in principle, you know, I think the president was saying that we don't target civilians. And, you know, we believe that it was Iran because of you know, the atrocities they've committed, you know, up to this date for years and decades.

And then to your point, when the Secretary said, you know it is still under investigation that tells me that it is not done and when U.S. Central Command is done, I would expect that we will see that either come from U.S. Central Command or it will be briefed at, you know, a future combined briefing between the Chairman and the Secretary.

DEAN: And so -- and that's good to know. Good context for how this normally goes. Is that typically, that's how we would get that information is that then there would be a briefing coming from CENTCOM explaining what they had found in all of this.

[18:30:27]

I also want to ask about Hegseth when he was describing the current state of the war with Iran, saying that in his opinion right now that our operations are giving the President more and more leverage for the outcome that he wants. What would -- what do you say about that kind of assessment of where we are?

SCHWARTZ: I would agree with that assessment. I mean, the fact that we -- we've had air superiority now for, I believe, about five days when CENTCOM first called that. And so, what that does is that -- that provides you a significant level of -- of not only collection capability, like, real time, not just, you know, not just through our satellites, but also through what we call collateral collect, which is basically aircraft up -- up and then being able to fly like combat air patrol to go after targets as -- as they emerge.

So, I would assess that right now CENTCOM has got that ability now with Central Air Force. And so, the ability to strike wherever both the United States and Israel chooses to strike, because there's really no threat to our aircraft based on the technology that we have and, obviously, the altitudes that are flying.

So, I think we do have increasing leverages each day as this -- this goes on. I would just also say that all commanders continue to reemphasize that, you know, complacency kills. And so there -- you never know what potentially could be being held back still because the command and control across Iran's security forces and specifically the IRGC, it's so dismantled now that there could be capability that has not yet, you know, been shot at the United States airframes or, you know, or -- or other capabilities, you know, in the Gulf. So, you always got to be cautious of that and stay extremely vigilant. DEAN: Stay vigilant. Good context. Good reminder. Lieutenant General

Mark Schwartz. Thank you so much. We really appreciate you sticking with us.

SCHWARTZ: Thank you and thank you for highlighting the dignified transfer today. That was -- that was really important.

DEAN: Yes, it was absolutely important. And -- and as we said at the -- at the moment, we do grieve with those service members and their families and thank them so much for their sacrifice. And thank you for your service and for being here with us. We appreciate it.

SCHWARTZ: Thank you.

DEAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:37:16]

DEAN: And welcome back to our breaking news coverage.

Iran has fired back at Israel with drones and missiles following a new round of Israeli strikes earlier today. You're looking at earlier video from Tehran. Now, strikes are continuing to hit Tehran.

Former State Department Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller is joining us now.

Good to have you, as always. There has been a lot of developments in this just in the last several hours. I do want to start first with this idea that the Iranian president apologized this morning for the strikes on neighboring Gulf states. And there is this question, and I'm interested what you think about this, between what the Iranian president is saying and what he controls and what the Islamic Revolutionary Guard is doing and controls.

AARON DAVID MILLER, SR. FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: I mean, I think -- thanks for having me, Jess.

I mean, he's part of the -- the -- I -- I guess the Transitional Leadership Council that was created in the death -- with the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. But, look, I think it's -- it's -- it's pretty simple here, even though Iranian politics is complicated. To run and control Iran, you need oil, you need money and you need guns. And the reality is, Pezeshkian doesn't have any of those things.

The IRGC, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the security services, elements of the -- of the Iranian military do. So, either this was a double-track strategy in an effort to appease, or, in -- in effect, Pezeshkian was undercut by the powers that actually do control the country and who are directing the war. I -- I suspect it's the latter.

DEAN: Yes. We also have been talking about -- we just heard from the President and -- and Steve Witkoff, the special envoy, when they were asked about the reporting that CNN has reported, among others, that Russia is helping Iran with targeting U.S. forces, that China is also preparing to step in to help. They really kind of dismissed that as, we told them to stop, but they're, you know -- and the President said, if they are, it's not helping. That was kind of what they said.

But connect the dot ...

MILLER: Right, the ...

DEAN: Yes.

MILLER: Yes.

DEAN: Yes, go ahead.

MILLER: No, I was going to say, yes, indeed. Look, the President's favorite leaders are Putin and President Xi. He admires -- he admires their authoritarian style. He's going to see Xi in early April, at the end of March. Clearly, the -- the -- the mediation effort that Witkoff and Kushner are undertaking with respect to Ukraine is fundamentally biased in favor of Russia.

Frankly, it's shameful and scandalous if, in fact, the Russians are providing real-time intelligence for precision targeting of American forces. Some people say, well, they've done -- they provide general information.

[18:40:02]

The President has enormous, enormous leverage over Vladimir Putin, and he can make this stop using Ukraine as leverage. Based on the -- the comments that you heard and I did, it doesn't seem he's got the will to do so.

DEAN: It -- it does not appear that he want -- right, that he wants to do that.

And then just more broadly, when we're talking about Russia in this, when we're talking about China in this, connect the dots for people about how that fits into what's going on in Iran. And -- and, you know, you can even try to weave together others, but -- but -- but specifically in Iran, there, you know, there are things that lead right back to China and Russia, as we've just been talking about.

MILLER: There are, and they have longstanding relationships, which are clearly under stress. Drone production, for example, the export of Iranian oil to China. But, look, the reality is the Americans are running the show here. It's American military power. We're not even relying, as the President's rather sarcastic comment about Keir Starmer and the Brits suggest, that they're now willing to -- to what? Deploy military assets, where were they two weeks ago.

The Americans are running the show here. And from a security and military standpoint, the Russians and the Chinese don't count. In fact, I -- I think it's fair to say -- and -- and you've noticed that there's been no action in the Security Council, certainly on the part of the Russians, to condemn what the United States is doing. In large part, Putin won't condemn because he wants Trump in his

corner on what really counts to him right now. And -- and it's not Iran, it's not preserving the -- the mullahcracy or the IRGC. It's maintaining and finding a way to brunt potential American pressure and a change in our mediation aspects in support of Zelenskyy and Ukraine.

So, again -- again, yes, China and Russia are important, not in this military confrontation.

DEAN: Yes. All right, Aaron David Miller, always good to have you. Thanks.

MILLER: Thanks, Jess. Appreciate it.

DEAN: Yep, still ahead, thousands of Americans are back home. Many are still stranded in the Middle East as the government faces criticism over how they're handling that situation.

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[18:46:27]

DEAN: President Trump tonight seeking to cast blame on Tehran for a strike on a girls' elementary school in southern Tehran. This contradicts analysis by CNN and other experts suggesting the U.S. military was likely responsible. Listen to what he said just moments ago aboard Air Force One.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the United States (INAUDIBLE) ...

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, (INAUDIBLE) at least, from what I've seen, that was done by Iran.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) ...

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: (INAUDIBLE) the targets, civilians (INAUDIBLE) ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: "We're investigating," Hegseth says. We're joined now by former CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

Barbara, thanks for being here.

You have a tremendous amount of experience reporting on these types of investigations. I want to get your reaction from that exchange. President Trump saying, I think it's Iran. We have CNN analysis that says it points to the US. The Defense Secretary, notably, there saying, we're investigating. What -- what do you think about all this?

BARBARA STARR, FORMER CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I thought -- so -- yes, I thought Hegseth interjecting was so interesting. He never contradicts the President. Look, this is an event, a tragedy, that is going to live in infamy across the region for many, many years to come. And the truth will be found, and it will come out.

And why do we say this? I think people probably, at this point, understand the U.S. -- when the U.S. bombs, it uses precision weapons. What does that mean? It means that the U.S. military knows when and where it has launched a weapon, whether it's a missile or an aircraft dropping the bomb. And it launches it against a particular target, a GPS point on the Earth, if you will.

So, they know where this missile or bomb was headed. They know exactly, and they know if they had something in the air that fired it. And they know if it went astray. These things are knowable on a highly classified level to U.S. military commanders. At the same time, Iran was responsible. That would be a significant military operation by the Iranians. And the U.S. presumably also knows what Iran has in the sky at a particular point in time.

If they launched a fighter aircraft or the bomb that could do that kind of damage or a missile, U.S. radars, U.S. intelligence should have picked it up.

So, this whole picture is getting knit together. We'll see how it comes out. I think the President is -- is going to have to offer some kind of evidence to prove his case if he believes Iran really was responsible.

DEAN: And we were talking with a retired military lieutenant general who has -- has participated in a number of these investigations. He said that typically it would be CENTCOM that ultimately will release its findings, to your point, have evidence supporting what they believe happened. Do you think that's what will happen here?

STARR: Well, I certainly hope that a senior U.S. military officer who is capable of doing a non-political briefing, so not Pete Hegseth, frankly, gets up there and does it. And -- and your previous guess was absolutely right. A number of years ago, there was a strike against a hospital, as I recall, in northern Afghanistan. It -- it was a bomb that certainly was not meant to strike that health care facility. A number of people were killed.

[18:50:02]

And at that time, the U.S. Central Command commander came to Washington, got up on the podium in front of the entire world, cameras rolling, briefed the entire incident, talked about what went wrong, what they're going to try and do at that time to ensure it didn't happen again. That's the way you build confidence in U.S. military operations, not through political statements, I think, but the -- the very specific facts and the release of intelligence on these kinds of matters.

DEAN: Right. Barbara Starr, we have to leave it there. I -- I could have talked to you about a number of other things, but we really do appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

STARR: Thanks, Jess. Thanks for having me.

DEAN: Good to see you. Really good to see you.

Still ahead, how Americans are reacting to the war's impact on gas prices.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:54:13]

DEAN: The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran is causing another disruption in the world's energy industry. Kuwait says it's temporarily reducing its crude oil production because of the ongoing attacks by Iran. On oil facilities in neighboring countries like this one in the UAE, and the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route, which normally handles tankers carrying 20 percent of the world's oil supply. And all of this is already causing U.S. gas prices to surge. CNN's Rafael Romo is at a gas station in Atlanta to talk more about this -- what this means domestically. Rafael, you're there at a gas station in Georgia. What are you hearing and seeing?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, let me tell you, here, $3.59 a gallon. And only a week ago, the average price of regular gasoline in Georgia was $2.79, according to AAA. We've been talking to drivers here at this ARCO gas station in Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood, where the price is, like I said, almost $3.60.

[18:55:10]

Nationally, the current average for regular gas is $3.41, according to AAA, up $0.09 from Friday and $0.43 from a week ago. People I spoke with here are wondering if the Iran war is going to push prices here in Georgia past the statewide record average of $4.49 a gallon set in June 2022, due mainly to Russia's war on Ukraine. This is what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAMIRA MONCUR, ATLANTA RESIDENT: The war, yes, the -- the -- the gas is because of the war and the oil. And, you know, we're going to pay for this. We're going to pay for the choices of other people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Jessica, the average retail price of gas at U.S. stations jumped $0.09 a gallon on Tuesday after gaining $0.11 on Monday. That's the biggest one-day increase in prices since Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005. Now back to you.

DEAN: All right, Rafael Romo with the latest. Thank you so much.

And be sure to tune in tomorrow night for "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper" as Sara Sidner delves into the decision to strike Iran and also weighs the fallout. That is going to air tomorrow at 10 P.M. Eastern. You'll also be able to stream it the next day on our CNN app. Be sure to stay with us. Our breaking news coverage of the Iran war

continues with John Berman after this short break. Have a great night, everyone.

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