Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump Rules Out Help Of Kurdish Forces In The Iran War; Massive Strikes Hit Tehran; Trump Demands Iran's "Unconditional Surrender" In War, Iran Vows Revenge Over Ayatollah's Death; Trump Claims Iran To Blame For School Strike, Not U.S. Gas Prices Jump $3.41 A Gallon, The Highest Since August 2024; Interview With Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX). Aired 7-8p ET

Aired March 07, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:21]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm John Berman live in New York.

Significant developments tonight in the war against Iran, which is officially now in its second week. Iran is now warning President Trump that he will pay a price and that there will be no surrender. The Iranian president, though, did apologize to Gulf neighbors for striking them. But even after that, the attacks continued.

President Trump, for his part, is vowing to escalate the war and hit people and groups that have not been previously targeted. He also suggested that ground troops are possible. On Air Force One just a short time ago he blamed the deadly strike on an Iranian school that killed nearly 200 people on Iran despite reports and independent analysis that points the finger at the United States.

Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did the United States bomb a girls' elementary school in southern Iran on the first day of the war and kill 175 people?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In my opinion, based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is that true, Mr. Hegseth? It was Iran who did that?

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're investigating. Still investigating. But the only side that targets civilians is Iran.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: Notable as Secretary Hegseth said they are still investigating. They did not back up 100 percent what President Trump said, and President Trump did not present any evidence for his claim.

Also today President Trump attended the dignified transfer of the six U.S. service members killed in an Iranian strike in Kuwait.

We are on the ground in the region, in both Iraq and Iran. Let's get to CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward. She is in Erbil in northern Iraq, near the Iranian border.

Clarissa, earlier this week, President Trump said he would be, quote, "all for" the Kurds launching an uprising in Iran. But listen to what he said today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're not having -- we're not looking to the Kurds going in. We're very friendly with the Kurds, as you know, but we don't want to make the war any more complex than it already is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I know given where you are, Clarissa, this is one of the things you've been talking about, one of the things you've been watching most closely. What did you hear on what the president said? And what are you learning where you are?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you that the president appearing to reverse course here will be inducing a sigh of relief across Iraqi Kurdistan. There has been a huge amount of consternation here about the idea of U.S. and Israel supporting some kind of a ground offensive into western Iran with Iranian Kurdish opposition forces here taking part.

We have been speaking to senior officials here all week, John, who have just been saying this is dangerous, this is very frightening. And the reason they've been saying that is because Iran has made it very clear that any, any attempt to engage in some kind of a ground offensive will be met with a huge retaliation.

And we have seen night after night here as missiles and drones have rained down across Kurdistan, but many of them targeting some of those Iranian opposition groups. Now, we haven't yet heard any response from those groups, but I think it's fair to say they are likely to be somewhat confused and somewhat mystified by this because up until today, they were under the impression, some of them, that they were preparing for a potential ground offensive.

And they were also under the impression that they were beginning to negotiate with the White House to see what kind of support they would be given in order to undergo that kind of an offensive. But I think for the most part, what you will see here, John, is a huge amount of relief because this threatened to really accelerate this conflict in a way that few here wanted to see. And there were very real concerns as to what the strategic objective of sending in Iranian Kurdish opposition fighters to fight the regime would even be to mire them down in fighting or foment civil unrest, or even start a civil on war.

Real concerns from many analysts that that could even risk backfiring and rallying Iranians around the regime -- John.

BERMAN: Yes. And one can understand why the Kurds would be wary, given decades and decades of often being caught in the middle and being used by one side or the other and then left behind. So interesting that there may be something of a sigh of relief there.

[19:05:04]

Clarissa, you also mentioned the strikes that you have seen over the last week. How about the last 24 hours into the night? What have you been seeing frankly above you?

WARD: It's been a very noisy night here in Erbil. We heard explosions and intercepts. Apparently drone strikes on the airport that were intercepted and in Iraqi Kurdistan second city of Sulaymaniyah, a large number of drone strikes. They don't have air defenses in that city in the same way because there isn't a U.S. troop presence. And as a result we saw explosions, flames. No word yet on any casualties.

And then you have Baghdad, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, one of the most fortified compounds in the world, coming under rocket attack, apparently from eastern Baghdad. This, again, a dangerous escalation. We saw Iraq's prime minister saying that his security forces have been tasked with trying to find the perpetrators. Of course those rockets were intercepted by air defenses, but still a very worrying development -- John.

BERMAN: Clarissa Ward, great to have you there, giving this important window into this region that's right in the middle of all of this. Thank you very much for your reporting.

CNN is the first U.S. network allowed into Iran since the start of the war. Our team is there reporting with the permission of the government. CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen and his team they are in Tehran.

Fred, I understand there have been airstrikes in the area where you are. What are you seeing tonight?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, there have been a massive amount of airstrikes actually here tonight in Tehran. And in fact, one of the things that we saw heard and felt here from our position was a huge amount of really heavy thuds that we're not very far away from.

Also, we went outside. You heard jets in the air. So clearly there was a sustained aerial campaign going on. I would say for about an hour or an hour and a half that hit several targets, not just in the south of Tehran, but also in the east and the west of Tehran as well.

We saw huge plumes of smoke billowing over the city, especially in the western part and the southern part. It seems as though some of the oil infrastructure was hit there by either U.S. or Israeli jets. Certainly that's what it looked like. There was fires burning, there was thick black smoke coming up into the night sky.

What we're hearing from Iranian state television is that apparently oil storage facilities in the south of Tehran, large oil storage facilities have been hit. It's unclear how big exactly the damage was but certainly from our vantage point, it looked as though it was very, very big. And then also in the east of Tehran, apparently there was also an oil infrastructure that was hit there as well.

The other thing that we're hearing is that in sort of one of the satellite towns around Tehran that apparently there also an oil facility was also hit in the town of Karaj. There were also massive airstrikes going on there as well. So clearly a very busy night here obviously in the skies above Tehran, but also for the folks here on the ground, obviously having to witness all this.

And having been in the town here in Tehran today and yesterday, you do hear airstrikes very frequently, John. When you're going out on the streets here there's definitely very often the case that you hear those thuds from those bombs that are coming in. You hear jets overhead. That certainly is something that has almost become a daily part of life for the people who are enduring this -- John.

BERMAN: Fred, in your travels in and around Tehran, have you been able to speak to people? What are people on the ground saying?

PLEITGEN: You know, we did a lot of that today. We went around Tehran to some of the commercial districts. Today we went into some shops and spoke to people. One was a dairy shop, the other was a fruit shop. I would say that right now business is not screeched to a halt here in the city, but it is certainly reduced by a great deal. I would say about maybe 20 percent of the stores are open. A lot of them are shut down.

And the folks that we spoke to said right now, for them, it's extremely difficult. The one dairy shop that we were at, there was an airstrike very close to that a couple of days ago and they said it was absolutely terrifying. There were a lot of people who were wounded as part of that airstrike, but they also say that right now their sales are obviously down by a great deal because so many people have left the city.

This on top of the fact that, of course, Iran's economy was in big trouble even before all of this started. So the prices have been rising. People in general were buying less and now you have even less customers coming. And the store owner told me, look, he still has to keep the shop open because obviously dairy products are a daily necessity of life. But right now, for a lot of the people who are in the city, it certainly is very difficult to get by.

And one other thing that we need to point out is when you go around here, one thing that really sticks out is the amount of security checkpoints that you have to go to. You're driving in your car, all of a sudden a checkpoint will pop up. Cars will be stopped. Cars will be searched. So clearly the authorities here want to show that they're still in control and that's one of the reasons why they have those checkpoints in various places that also change location as well, pop up in the way and then obviously a lot of people get checked, get their I.D.s checked, get their trunks searched as the authorities here obviously right now on high alert with the situation continuing -- John.

[19:10:11]

BERMAN: Fred Pleitgen, in Tehran, it's so important to have you there. You're doing such incredible work. Thank you to you and your team, and please stay safe, my friend.

All right. Just a short time ago, President Trump said there is a possibility of using ground troops in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

TRUMP: I don't even want to joke about it. That's -- I don't think it's an appropriate questions. You know I'm not going to answer it. Could there be? Possibly, but for very good reason. There would have to 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Right here with me now, CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas.

Alex, thanks so much for being with us. We'll get to ground troops in just a second. But just to give people a sense of where we are now and actually where Fred is, I mean, you were seeing Fred in Tehran right here. He was saying there was a refinery hit, probably a little bit south of Tehran right there. All these red dots are places that have been hit from the air from the United States and Israel.

Just first, what's left? I mean, what's left to target at this point?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right. So the White House laid out four clear objectives earlier this week. They tried to clarify what the U.S. military objectives were. And the Pentagon sort of backed that up in their statements as well. And so we've seen four things that they're after. So one was thinking of the Navy so 47 boats have been sunk. The second was the ballistic missile program. The Israelis said today there's about 120 launchers left in their opinion.

The third are the proxies and then finally fourth are the nuclear sites. So if we look at what we see here in the very beginning of the operation, right, we saw some targeted strikes around Tehran. We saw leadership, and then we've seen a lot of strikes in this area here on sort of the western portion of the country, and they went after first intelligence driven targets, leadership, and then the retaliatory capabilities, ballistic missiles and drones. Now they're moving to infrastructure, bases and the security forces. BERMAN: Yes, this is a strike right now. We have video of an airport

strike inside Iran, not far from Tehran. But also we're getting word that these oil depots there were hit. What's the goal there, hitting Iran's oil infrastructure when to an extent, sort of the impact on the oil industry is something that's, you know, having a backlash in the United States?

PLITSAS: Right. So the oil infrastructure that the Iranians have been targeting in some of the GCC countries, the Gulf countries that we've seen, you know, so whether it's over, you know trying to target, you've got the UAE, you know, Qatar, Bahrain, you know, Kuwait here as we're looking and then obviously Saudi Arabia, there's a concern that they're going to go after production.

The Straits of Hormuz here, we've got all the oil sort of choked because the boats are not transiting because of security reasons. What was struck tonight in Tehran seems to be oil depots that were storage, which at least according to the United States is being used for military purposes to fuel vehicles.

BERMAN: And ground troops. Let's talk a little bit more about ground troops. I'll pull this map back up. And obviously we don't want to reveal any secrets that any of us may be privy to or not but how would the United States use ground troops if they're not, by the way, going to arm the Kurds and have the Kurds come in from Iraq?

PLITSAS: Sure. And purely speculative, just based on the objectives of the mission and what we're seeing here on the map, and find the president's comments which were just played a moment ago. He said, look, they would have to be decimated to the point where they couldn't really fight us on the ground. If we look at the map again here, what we see is we just highlighted where we have struck. What we haven't really talked about is where we haven't struck.

So it's this entire area of the country really hasn't been hit. And so if the intention really is by the president to go with regime change, the people in the security service are the ones with the guns. The people on the ground don't have any, your average civilian. So you'd have to target all the security services in that area. So you'd have to work your way across. That's a big scenario for troops.

You could also see surgical targeted U.S. special operations missions, provided that that was necessary. There is no real ability to occupy the country, a country of 90 million people. It's massive and we simply don't have the troops deployed. They're not literally not there.

BERMAN: Yes, we don't even know how many personnel, frankly, in the region. But you've heard numbers around 50,000 total U.S. troops, but that includes, you know, sailors and airmen and everything else.

PLITSAS: Yes, there really aren't very many ground forces at all. And they haven't been mobilized in the U.S. so if that's coming, it's not any time soon.

BERMAN: Alex Plitsas, thank you so much for helping us understand everything that we're seeing tonight, as this night continues.

Next, Iran vowing revenge against the United States and President Trump. What exactly might that look like? Also, the president says Iran is to blame for the bombing of an Iranian school. But the U.S. secretary of Defense didn't exactly confirm that when he had a chance to. So what does that mean? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:19:12]

BERMAN: All right. This is our breaking news coverage on the war with Iran.

Iran's top security official is vowing revenge against President Trump. In a post on social media, he wrote, "We will relentlessly avenge the blood of our leader and our people. Trump must pay and will pay."

Here with us now CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier and Joel Rubin. former deputy assistant secretary of State under President Obama. He's also the author of "The Briefing Book" on Substack.

And when I say Iran's security leader, he may very well be the, like, the functional leader of Iran completely right now even though he doesn't have the presidential title. There's the President Pezeshkian, who may be a weaker figure. Larijani who's been running things we think maybe for a few weeks or a few months.

He also said this, "The killing of Iran's leadership and more than 1,000 Iranian people will not remain an unanswered crime," and that, "Iran will not retreat until retaliation achieved in the aggressor is punished."

[19:20:05]

So, Kim, how seriously should the United States take that? What is the significance of Larijani saying that?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: He is former Quds Force. That's where the power lies. Politics, the political leaders in Iran are, in a very real sense, especially right now, window dressing. And throughout the day, ever since the president made those remarks, you've seen various hardliners, including members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, say, no, you don't make that call. We make the call on what we do next.

And we've also heard from Gulf countries. Yes, we hear what he says, but we're going to watch what the IRGC does. And what they've done is continue to bomb.

BERMAN: To what end?

JOEL RUBIN, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Well, look, they're clearly going to have strong words right now. He is trying to make sure that he doesn't get undermined from within. And there is a power struggle in Tehran. There is no clear successor. The supreme leader may have identified individuals but there's controversy even about the idea of his son taking place.

So they're all trying to show a very strong hand. These may very well be political lobbying, vote-getting arguments that he's making to try to say, I'm going to defend the country so make sure that I continue to stay in charge.

BERMAN: The number of missiles they're shooting is down, what, 90 percent?

RUBIN: That's right.

BERMAN: The number of drones down 80 percent. But, but, every day this goes on at all U.S. gas prices go up.

And, Kim, what do you think the -- whoever is running the show right now in Iran, what do you think they see there?

DOZIER: The most difficult part right now for President Trump is the fact that the Strait of Hormuz is shut and oil is backed up. You've got various Gulf countries, six or seven have already shut down some fields and are considering shutting down more. Once you've shut down an oil field, which you have to do once you've run out of storage, which they've run out of storage because there's no way to get the stuff out, it takes days to weeks to turn that back on, which means however long this goes on, however long ships are afraid to go through the Strait of Hormuz, and the IRGC is threatening to hit them if they do, prices are going to start spiking.

And even once things have calmed down, then it will take days to weeks to turn it all back on and to get rid of this bubble that we're going to have.

BERMAN: And so the other side of that is President Trump is demanding, unconditional surrender. That's what he wrote in a social media post. Today I want you to listen to how he explained what unconditional surrender is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's where they cry, uncle, or when they can't fight any longer. There's nobody around to cry uncle. That could happen, too, because, you know, we've wiped out their leadership numerous times already. So it's -- if they surrender or if there is nobody around to surrender. But they're rendered useless in terms of military.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Does Larijani sound like he's close to that?

RUBIN: Not in the least bit. It's not a very precise definition clearly. And I think the president is giving himself some wiggle room because he doesn't want this to go on forever. And he wants to claim victory at the same time. But, you know, the Iranians, they have a very thick, dense security apparatus in Tehran and in the country. The idea that somehow they're going to raise the white flag that is really a fantasy kind of goal.

So I think what this means for the president, he is going to have to continue to press and likely continue to work with the Israelis to decapitate leadership after leadership, after leadership, until they feel like they have really degraded it to the point where they can walk away.

DOZIER: I got to say, even then, as U.S. intelligence warned him ahead of time, this is a country with a deep bench and an organization designed to last. So every time he kills the top leadership they're going to be replaced until the last man. This is the country that in many ways taught the rest of the Middle East how to fight guerrilla warfare. That's one of their ways of asserting power.

They know how to do it. So if they don't have a missile, if they don't have a drone, if they don't have a tank, they will use a handgun and they will switch to blowing things up across the Middle East and everywhere else.

BERMAN: Is it frightening thought? We'll talk more about what that might look like and some of the other implications and all that. I know you're both going to stick around for that.

In the meantime, the president is now blaming Iran for the deadly strike on a school inside Iran, even though there are reports that suggest the U.S. is responsible.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:29:05]

BERMAN: A CNN analysis, and by the way analysis from other news organizations as well, suggests that it was the United States that was likely responsible, likely for the strike on an elementary school in southern Iran. The attack killed at least 168 children and 14 teachers.

Now, President Trump was asked about it today. This is who he says was responsible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Kim, what did you hear in that?

DOZIER: He doesn't want to think that it's possible that they could have made that kind of mistake but when you look at the satellite analysis, this school used to be part of a military base. Now there's a wall dividing it. But it's very possible that in the rush to lay out a whole bunch of targets, intelligence analysts didn't realize that construction on the ground had been done and it got hit. [19:30:06]

BERMAN: And one of the most notable things, Joel, was just after that clip you heard from President Trump, the reporters asked Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, you know, is that right? And Pete Hegseth, you have a sense would back up President Trump on almost anything.

RUBIN: Absolutely.

BERMAN: He didn't say yes, yes, the President's right. He said, were investigating.

RUBIN: Well, we have to investigate and he clearly knows that there's a real one going on. Our military does not like to make mistakes like this. And if we did hit the target that was programmed and the target was as Kim points out incorrect and inaccurate, we need to know that we need to have operational confidence in our operations and our military men and women need to also feel like they are being treated fairly. And so, I'm glad that Hegseth hedged a little bit and that he said, basically, there's an investigation going on. Hopefully that will come soon.

BERMAN: Yes, I mean it is a knowable thing I will say that this type of investigation shouldn't take long, given that we're talking about largely precision weapons and target packages. I want to ask quickly about gas prices, which were at $3.41 a gallon today, the last time I checked, they've been going up and up and up and up. How aware do you think the Iranians are about the domestic political issues surrounding gas prices in the United States?

RUBIN: John, this has always been one of their strategies for putting pressure on the U.S. to hedge against a potential strike. They had the militias, the proxies in the region, they had the military hardware, the missiles, they also had the intent of disrupting oil flows through the Persian Gulf. That's why they struck the Arab countries. So, I think this is intentional and they do want to make there be pain at the pump.

BERMAN: Do you think it underlies every decision President Trump makes going forward?

DOZIER: Look, they know what our pain point is and they're going to keep punching at it.

BERMAN: And they are right now. Okay, Kim Dozier, Joel Rubin great to see both of you thank you very much.

Next, we did just mention gas prices, which may be one of the central factors in this conflict as it continues. We're going to take you to a gas station live in Atlanta.

Plus, anger erupting in Lebanon at this war. And it's taking a significant turn there. This is one of the countries that actually been hardest hit, one of the regions that's seeing some of the most action right now. We have a live report from the ground coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:36:53]

BERMAN: So, gas prices surging since the war against Iran began. Today the average is $3.41 a gallon. That's a 14 percent jump in the past week. That's the highest price since 2004. It's the highest price in any Trump administration at any point that President Trump has been in office first or second term.

CNN's Rafael Romo is in Atlanta at a gas station. Rafael, what are you seeing there?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey John, well, people here in Atlanta and the entire state of Georgia are certainly feeling the pinch at the pump because price has climbed 15 percent to $3.22 per gallon since the beginning of the war according to AAA. People at this Atlanta gas station, by the way, $3.59 a gallon here have expressed concern about both the war and the impact it's having on gas prices in the metropolitan area and across the nation.

Nationally, John, 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, mainly due to Russia's war on Ukraine. This is what one of them had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAMIRA MONCUR, ATLANTA RESIDENT: So, I'm not even filling up right now. I'm just barely, you know, trying to get by with, you know putting 20 in but that's not going to last all week. So, yes, it's crazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And finally, John, if you allow me to put things into perspective, 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.

BERMAN: It's been very quick, very sharp, and not necessarily clear when it will stop as long as this conflict continues.

Rafael Romo in Atlanta, thank you very much.

All right tonight there is growing outrage in Lebanon as that country is dragged further into this war. Earlier, more Israeli tanks were seen staged along the border as the IDF was intensifying its campaign against Hezbollah, the militia that operates inside Lebanon.

CNN chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance, live in Beirut. I know you've seen so much activity there, Matthew. Give us a sense of what's happening now. MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're right. There is that sense of outrage and tension. We've got intensifying Israeli air strikes as they strike at Hezbollah targets around Lebanon, including in the city of Beirut. And, of course, hundreds of thousands of people have been forcibly moved out of their homes or told to leave their homes with evacuation orders coming from Israel to make way for military action. All of that placing Lebanon and this city under immense pressure.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE (voice over): In a city on edge tensions quickly boil over. But this anti-Israel rally in Beirut anger over airstrikes on Lebanon and Iran was soon directed at us.

[19:40:11]

CHANCE (on camera): Oh, we've just been told to get out. Because were not welcome here. So, we're going to go. Can we interview -- we're going, we're going.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Bleep) you America. (Bleep) Trump.

RANIA, PROTESTER: I'm trying to tell them, no, we need to deliver our message.

CHANCE (on camera): Yes.

RANIA: So, don't worry.

CHANCE (on camera): What message do you want to deliver here tonight?

RANIA: That Israel is all evil? We've been suffering from Israel since before 1948. We support all forms of resistance.

CHANCE (voice over): For a week now, Lebanon has been pounded. Israel says its targeting Iranian backed Hezbollah after the militia launched missiles and drones to avenge the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader.

MAGUY CHEBIL, HOTEL OWNER: This is where it happened. It started from the roof.

CHANCE (voice over): But the owner of one wrecked Beirut hotel in an upscale Christian neighborhood told CNN just ordinary families were her guests. No Iranian citizens and definitely no Hezbollah, who she blames for the spiraling violence.

CHEBIL: And we are not that stupid to check them in. We are not that stupid. We live here it's our home.

CHANCE (on camera): How angry are you --

CHEBIL: I am angry, of course.

CHANCE (on camera): --with Hezbollah right now?

CHEBIL: I am angry with Hezbollah and Israel and Iran but Hezbollah more. You know why?

CHANCE (on camera): Why?

CHEBIL: Because they are Lebanese. They should be Lebanese, they are not. They are hurting us. They are hurting our homes, our children.

CHANCE (voice over): It's dragged ordinary Lebanese, many ordered by Israel to evacuate their homes into the Iran war. Aid workers say they're now struggling to shelter hundreds of thousands on the move.

CHANCE (on camera): We've come to this school in the Center of Beirut. You can see the children's murals on the wall but it's no longer a school. It is a camp for people who have been displaced by the fighting in south Beirut and Southern Lebanon. And in each of these classrooms there are families who are escaping the fighting and they've come to come here for safety.

(ALI SHAMS speaking in foreign language.)

CHANCE (on camera): "The children woke up screaming," says Ali Shams, who fled the suburbs of South Beirut with his family. "We just ran carrying them through the night," he told me, "Now, we're all homeless."

CHANCE (voice over): It's easy to see why they left.

CHANCE (on camera): We've come into what is the most dangerous part of the Lebanese capital, which is a very important stronghold of Hezbollah, the Iranian backed militia group. It's the place where Israel has been focusing. And you can hear the gunshots outside there that Israel has been focusing its activity, its intensive campaign of airstrikes against the Hezbollah group. The destruction is massive and plain to see. Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah, as we found out, is still far from over.

CHANCE (on camera): Okay we've got to go because they said there's been a warning from the Israelis that there could be a strike coming in. So, we've got to get out of here, Alex.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: Well, John, that was the second time in a week that we had to make a very rapid exit from a potentially dangerous situation. It underlines that during this Iran War, Lebanon is such an unpredictable and volatile place.

Back to you.

CHANCE (voice over): Absolutely not at all a sideshow in a way, a central theater in this conflict. Matthew Chance, thank you so much for being there. Please, you and your team stay safe.

Next here, the surprising reaction by Americans to the war as we speak to a Democrat who broke party ranks to give the President war powers. Plus, the President is now threatening to attack a different nation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:48:07]

BERMAN: Want to take a closer look at what the American public is thinking about? What's going on in Iran. With us now CNN chief data analyst, Harry Enten. Harry, what are you seeing?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, John, look, we've gotten a bunch of polling back since the U.S. military started its most recent action against Iran and you know what? It's a bit of a confusing picture. It doesn't seem like one at first, but it's a bit of a confusing polling picture.

Let's just take a look right now at the overall average of polls. Okay, View of U.S. military action in Iran. And you take an average of CNN, Fox, IPSOS and NBC polls. What you see here is you see that the clear majority of Americans disapprove of the action. We're talking about 51 percent of Americans disapprove, just 40 percent approve. And I should note, all of these polls, all these polls came in between February 28th. They started on February 28th and then ended by March 3.

Now, you see this, you see this 11-point split but this actually hides some major disagreements between the different polls. Why do I say that? Take a look here, okay. This is the net approval rating. That's the approval rating minus the disapproval rating. And this is the net approval rating for U.S. military action in Iran.

Look at this. CNN, our own CNN poll shows that the net approval rating is -18 points, very similar to the IPSOS polling at -16 points. But then all of a sudden you see the NBC news polling and look at this; you see it at -11 points getting a little bit more popular. And then you look at the latest Fox News poll, and that's a split, a dead even split at zero points.

[19:50:36]

So yes, on average, the polling is showing that the move is unpopular, but that actually hides major disagreements between the polling. And I should note the polling questions are pretty similar and all conducted at about the same time. So, I'm not exactly sure what's going on.

[19:50:50]

But there's another reason why, John, you should take these initial numbers with a grain of salt, because I want to go back to the June airstrikes, right. Net approval rating, U.S. military action in Iran after the June airstrikes, initially in late June. Look at this, underwater at minus eight points but by July look at that. After the military option was deemed successful, it became much more popular.

Now, we're just going to have to wait and see what this current military action in Iran, how exactly the polling shifts. But right now, I would really take the numbers with a grain of salt. Keeping in mind that there's big polling disagreement and the numbers may change down the road. John, back to you.

BERMAN: Harry, thank you very much for that. Yes, polling does often track what people think is a successful or not successful operation. I'm joined now by Congressman Henry Cuellar of Texas. He was one of four House Democrats who voted against a resolution this week to curb the President's war powers in Iraq. Congressman, thanks so much for being with us. I don't know if you heard today, but the President, once again would not rule out using ground troops in Iran. What is your opinion of that?

REP. HENRY CUELLAR (D-TX): I disagree, taking American soldiers to go on the ground there. I disagree that it should be an endless war, but I do believe in military operational realities. We've got to give them a little bit of space so they can operate, but we certainly after 30 days, I think we need to review this and Congress needs to reassert itself again.

BERMAN: So, 30 days, you would take another vote and you might vote differently in 30 days?

CUELLAR: No, I won't. I mean yes, I will definitely vote differently. We filed some legislation, a resolution saying give him 30 days so we can handle what I call the operational realities. And at the end of 30 days Congress needs to assert itself.

BERMAN: Congressman, gas prices were at $3.41 a gallon nationally today, lower in Texas, that they're always lower in Texas with $3.41 a gallon nationally. That's higher than it's ever been at any point in either of President Trumps two terms. How high do you think the American people should be willing to have gas prices go because of this operation?

CUELLAR: And that's one of the things that was low compared to groceries you know, bread, eggs, everything has gone up except for the gasoline prices. Now, because were involved in the Middle East where there is a supply of oil, petroleum, that of course the prices are going to go up. But the American public won't take something that's going to last for a long time. And that's what I'm saying.

At the end of 30 days, we need to review this and have Congress get involved. So, prices have been low, but they certainly have increased. That was one of the commodities that has been low until recently.

BERMAN: How well do you think President Trump has explained the why here? Why he's committed U.S. Troops in this way, U.S. power in this way. How well has he explained that to the American people?

CUELLAR: I think he can do a better job. Look, you know, what we have to look at is why are we going in? How long are we going to be there? What's the exit plan? What are we calling an exit plan that's successful?

But look, we know that Iran has been the largest state sponsor of terrorism for a long time. We know that they killed American soldiers. We know they target Americans on our soil. We know the problems they cause for us for the last 47 days. But we have to explain that to the American public in a very clear and concise way.

BERMAN: Congressman Henry Cuellar from Texas, we do appreciate your time tonight. Thank you very much.

CUELLAR: Thank you, sir.

BERMAN: We do have much more on our breaking news. Major developments in the war against Iran, from the President's denial that the U.S. bombed a school there to his reversal on whether he wants Kurdish troops basically opposition forces inside Iran to rise up against the government. Stay with U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:59:45]

BERMAN: I'm John Berman in New York. We do have breaking news on the war with Iran. At this moment, a new wave of strikes has been slamming Tehran after President Trump vowed to hit Iran very hard today. His words complete destruction and certain death were coming.

We have seen several large explosions in the last few hours. Just a short time ago, flames were shooting into the sky after an oil refinery was bombed, an Israeli source tells CNN that targeting oil is the next phase of this war.

And tonight, we're hearing a lot more from President Trump on the possibility of U.S. troops on the ground in Iran. The President told reporters, "At some point, maybe, but not right now" he said.

And on the deadly bombing of a girl school inside Iran, the President said, it was done by Iran. Tonight, several reports have suggested the U.S. was likely to blame. Earlier President Trump flew to Dover Airforce Base to attend the dignified transfer of the six U.S. soldiers killed in Kuwait, after the event the President was asked if he thought he would have to attend more. His answer was, "I'm sure. I hate to, but it's a part of war."

[20:00:50]