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Iranian President Says Never Surrender; Iran Retaliates against New Wave of Israeli Airstrikes; Flights to and from Dubai Resume; Pezeshkian Vows to Stop Attacks on Gulf Neighbors; Iranian Minister Warns European Countries; Refugee Group Says 0.5 Million Displaced in Lebanon; Repatriation Flights Returning Travelers from Middle East. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired March 07, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to all our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Lynda Kinkade, live in Atlanta. We are following breaking news in the Middle East one week after the United States and Israel launched sweeping strikes on Iran.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All right. I've lost sound with you, Lynda. But I'm sure we'll get it back up.

I'm Eleni Giokos, live --

KINKADE: We are having some connection issues with Eleni right now.

Iran's president now says his country will never surrender as its military trades new strikes with Israel. It comes after U.S. president Donald Trump demanded Iran's unconditional surrender.

In a televised address on state TV, Masoud Pezeshkian said, quote, "They will take their dreams of our unconditional surrender to the grave."

He also apologized to Arab Gulf nations. He says Iran will stop striking its neighbors unless attacks originate from those countries. But it's not clear when that will happen.

Iranian state media reports that a combined missile and drone attack was launched toward Qatar and Bahrain today. Israel says another wave of strikes against Iran is underway after a night of heavy bombardment in Tehran and surrounding areas. The Israeli military says it used more than 80 fighter jets to carry out that attack.

Video shows Tehran's Mehrabad Airport on fire, although it's not clear if the airport was struck directly. U.S. Central Command says American forces have now hit more than 3,000 targets inside Iran. That includes ballistic missile sites and command posts of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia says it's taken down more than a dozen drones heading toward one of the largest oil fields in the Middle East. Shaybah field's operator says it produces 1 million barrels of crude per day. Saudi Arabia's defense ministry did not say where the drones came from.

Well, our reporters are covering all angles of this story. Paula Hancocks joins us from Dubai. But first, I want to go to CNN's Jerusalem bureau. Our chief, Oren Liebermann, is there in Tel Aviv.

Oren, good to have you with us. So Israel has launched a barrage of new missiles directed toward Iran. Iran is retaliating. Just take us through the latest.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF AND CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Israeli military announced just a short time ago that they are in the process of striking targets, not only in the Iranian capital of Tehran but also in the city of Isfahan.

Isfahan not the -- not the first time the Israeli military has said they have struck that city over the course of the past week of war. But it is noteworthy because it is the city with an Iranian nuclear facility that was a target of both the U.S. and Israel back in June.

Now whether they're still targeting that nuclear facility or are going after other Iranian regime targets, that we'll wait to see as the day goes on. But you get a very clear picture here of how broad the set of targets is, as the U.S. and Israel continue to target basically everything belonging to the Iranian regime.

And it's starting to look like it's happening across the entire country, from the list of places we have seen targets struck. U.S. Central Command says, so far, already they have hit more than 3,000 targets.

Israel said yesterday already they've hit more than 2,500 targets, using 6,000 munitions. So missiles and bombs. And there's no clear offramp here. Nobody is showing and certainly not the U.S. and Israel any interest in a de-escalation here as they simply work their way down the target list.

That includes the regime itself and its different arms. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the intelligence headquarters, ballistic missile arrays, ballistic missile launchers and much more.

Speaking of Iranian ballistic missiles, we still see incoming at least three times overnight from where we're standing in Tel Aviv, there were the alerts warning of incoming missiles and then the sirens that told us to get in shelters and stay there for a few minutes until the threat has passed.

What's interesting here is that, over the past few days, we have seen most of those sirens happen in the day. And the night was relatively quiet. Now that script has been flipped, at least over the course of the past several hours, with rounds of incoming happening overnight. So we'll see how and where this develops. But Iran has shown, even as

both the U.S. and Israel have tried to go after ballistic missile arrays, that they still have at least some capacity to carry out launches toward Israel.

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Meanwhile, I'll take you to Israel's northern border for a minute there. Israel is striking what it says are Hezbollah targets across Lebanon that, after, over the course of the past 48 hours, it has issued broad evacuation warnings for all of southern Lebanon, parts of the capital, the Bekaa valley as well.

My colleague, Jeremy Diamond, was on that border and saw the exchange of fire happening very close to the border itself. Outgoing artillery fire from Israel targeted within about a kilometer of the border. So very, very close there.

And incoming, what appeared to be perhaps anti-tank missiles or drones fired from Hezbollah. So that border in and of itself is incredibly active. And, of course, from the pictures we see out of Iran, the statements from the U.S. and Israel, we see that that front is incredibly active in kinetic as well, Lynda.

KINKADE: Oren Liebermann for us in Tel Aviv. Great to have you there. I want to throw back to our Eleni Giokos, who is in Abu Dhabi for the latest in the region.

GIOKOS: All right. Thank you so much, Lynda. I want to go to Dubai. We've got Paula Hancocks there for us.

And really important what we've experienced, not only in Abu Dhabi here, where I am, but also in Dubai. We had alerts this morning. We saw interceptions and, of course, in Dubai, Paula, an incident at the airport.

Now things have resumed back to normal. That is what we're hearing from Dubai International, from Emirates as well. Take us through where we stand at this point.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there were a number of interceptions. It sounded like, as you say, an impact on Dubai International Airport as well. I'll get to that in just a second.

One interesting point I want to bring our viewers up to date with is, as part of that apparently prerecorded statement from Pezeshkian, the Iranian president, he also apologized to the Gulf nations.

He says, I personally apologize, a remarkable statement from a leader, saying we do not intend to attack neighboring countries. Now he also said that the three-member leadership council had ruled that they would not attack neighboring countries unless there were attacks originating from those countries against them.

Now, of course, this came at around the same time as we were hearing alerts here in the UAE. We know that Dubai International Airport, there was an incident. It's unclear whether it was a drone that got through or whether it was debris from an intercepted projectile.

We did see, though, that operations at that airport were suspended for half an hour for security reasons. They have resumed now. We did talk to one passenger who was at the airport, a former CNN colleague of mine. Let's listen to what he said

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shortly after 9:00, we were at the terminal three at Dubai International Airport. And there was a large impact. A lot of smoke could be seen from the glass. It seemed to be within the airport perimeter.

But obviously in these situations, it's quite difficult to tell. There were vibrations, reverberations. What was extraordinary is that the Dubai authorities within the airport reacted. There was professionalism, there was calm, there was no panic. The passengers showed no panic, either, that I could see.

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HANCOCKS: So operations resumed at that airport as far as we know. They are trying to get as many planes out as possible, planes coming back to Dubai as well. So the statement from the Iranian president was interesting, saying that they would no longer target Gulf nations.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the coming hours and the next couple of days to see whether or not that statement filters down to those in the armed forces, to those who are firing these missiles and drones.

There have been thousands that have been fired toward Gulf nations over the past seven days here in the UAE. We've had well over 1,000 drones that have been fired. The majority, the vast majority, over 90 percent having been intercepted by air defense systems.

We had been hearing from Iranian officials that the armed forces, in some cases, had been decentralized. So even if the leadership was taken out that they would be able to continue with their operations, with their retaliation.

So certainly the hours and days to come will be very interesting to see in the Gulf nations if this incoming fire does stop. And if it doesn't, it raises the question of how much control the Iranian president has over those armed forces

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GIOKOS: Yes, exactly. It's a really important point. Masoud Pezeshkian also saying that we do not intend to attack our neighboring countries, saying that they are brothers. And, of course, we heard those alerts here.

We heard you know, from Bijan Hosseini, our reporter in Doha, also alerts there shortly after that statement. When it comes into effect and, as you say, importantly, whether that trickles down to the military, remains to be seen. Paula Hancocks in Dubai for us. Thank you so much.

Well CNN is the first U.S. network to start reporting from Iran since the conflict began. Our correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, and producer Claudia Otto were in Tehran during the latest strikes. We note that CNN operates in Iran only with government permission. Here's Fred for us.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Time and again, we've heard major airstrikes. In fact, earlier today, we were at a hospital that was hit, that was damaged when there was an airstrike in the vicinity.

And while we were on the ground filming there, we heard more airstrikes not too far away from us. So it is a pretty constant thing here on the ground in Tehran, also major strikes, of course, overnight happening last night as well.

And you can feel that the city here is a lot emptier obviously, than it would normally be a lot of people have decided to leave the city simply because it appears to be so dangerous., of course, while a lot of targets have been struck here, a lot of civilians have also been wounded. Some civilians have been killed on the ground here as well.

The authorities today telling us, I was speaking to the head of the Iranian Red Crescent, saying that many, many people have been wounded and have been killed as these strikes have been going on.

So this is clearly something for a lot of folks here on the ground obviously very concerned about the situation. And you can really hear the thuds of those incoming strikes almost constantly.

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GIOKOS: Well, joining me now from Saudi Arabia, we've got Middle East correspondent for "The Economist," Gregg Carlstrom. He's also the author of "How Long Will Israel Survive?: The Threat from Within."

Gregg, really good to see you. We've heard just this morning news that Saudi Arabia was able to intercept potential targets on another Aramco refinery.

We've seen critical energy infrastructure that has been hit across the region. Bring me up to speed in terms of the risk and the threat that still remains, despite Masoud Pezeshkian saying they do not intend to strike their neighbors anymore.

GREGG CARLSTROM, MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT, "THE ECONOMIST": Right. We've seen energy infrastructure increasingly become a target over the past week. This is, I think, the third or fourth time that oil facilities in Saudi Arabia have been targeted.

We've seen it in Qatar and other countries in the region. Iran has shifted over this week from using largely ballistic missiles on the first day of this war to using, increasingly, these small Shahed drones, which are not sophisticated weapons. They don't carry large payloads.

If they hit an airport or a hotel or residential building, the damage from that is relatively limited. But if they hit energy infrastructure, oil and gas installations, obviously a lot of flammable stuff in these sites. The damage from that can be quite severe.

So authorities in the region taking that threat quite seriously because of the impact to their own economies and the impact that that would have on the global economy.

GIOKOS: Yes, absolutely. I mean, we've seen the oil price shoot up over yesterday's session and that's after the Qatari energy minister came out and warned that we could see more pullback on production from the region.

We've seen that LNG facility in Qatar that completely called for force majeure, even on downstream products and so forth.

What is the sense where you are in Saudi Arabia, being such a significant producer of refined products, of crude in terms of the thinking right now, as hostilities are still pretty much reality?

CARLSTROM: So the Saudis have already begun piping oil across the country. They have what's known as the East-West Pipeline, which connects the oil fields, which are in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia, to a port on the Red Sea.

And so they're able to export probably between 5 million and 7 million barrels per day using this pipeline, moving the oil to the other side of the country. That's not their entire output. They can produce 10 million to 11 million barrels a day. So there's going to be a hit.

But at least the majority of Saudi oil output can still, for now, get to market. But I think the concerns are twofold. First, this ongoing threat from drones. We saw a few days ago a drone attack on Ras Tanura, which is a major oil refinery on the eastern coast. Didn't cause much damage. It was shot down.

But the debris that fell caused a small fire. And so that refinery was shut down. So there's this risk that, even if things aren't being directly hit, just the threat of drone attacks is going to make some companies in the region suspend operations out of fear for the safety of their personnel, the safety of their infrastructure.

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That's one worry. And then the second is just how long this is going to go on with this de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

I think one thing that we learned from the crisis in the Red Sea with the Houthis over the past couple of years is that you don't have to regularly attack ships to scare them away.

If Iran is able to, just occasionally, you know once every few weeks fire a drone at or seize or board a tanker in the Persian Gulf or the Strait of Hormuz, that is going to be enough to scare away firms, to cause insurers to revoke coverage or raise costs. And so it's not hard to maintain a de facto closure of a waterway.

You don't have to do much in military terms to enforce that. And it's very hard for the United States and its allies to stop the Iranians from doing that.

GIOKOS: Yes, absolutely. I mean Saudi Arabia has that East-West Pipeline. We also heard Iraq there, shutting down some of its production as well, because, you know, they don't have storage capacity.

President Trump was also talking about insurance guarantees as well as naval escorts, in a way that even Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary, was playing down the disclosure, saying, you know, they can circumvent all of this wartime.

Insurance rates are telling us a completely different story. You mentioned how long this will last. That four-week period that president Trump is kind of banking on right now, what is the sense on the way that Iran can continue to strike?

Because a lot hinges on that.

CARLSTROM: I think there's a political question and there's a military question there. On the military side of it, their missile capability has been degraded quite, quite severely over the past week.

There's a bottleneck around the number of launchers that they have that are able to fire ballistic missiles. Many of those have now been destroyed. But keeping up drone attacks is something that I think they can do for a prolonged period of time.

They have tens of thousands of Shahed drones. They're very cheap to produce. They cost something like $30,000 to $50,000 each to manufacture. They don't require sophisticated components. So the Iranians can keep churning those out and keep using them to attack shipping and other targets in the Gulf.

And then on the political side of it, I mean, we heard this statement from president Pezeshkian just now. I'm very skeptical of it, I think, for two reasons.

One is that it's unclear how much power he actually has right now in the Iranian system he's nominally in charge or part of a three-man council that's in charge. But everything I've heard is that he's something of a figurehead, as he was throughout his presidency.

And real power rests with people like Ali Larijani or Mohammad Ghalibaf, the speaker of parliament. They're the ones calling the shots right now, not the president.

And then these attacks are also part of a strategy for Iran. This is something that they have been preparing for years now, that, if they were attacked in this fashion, they would retaliate against Iran's neighbors in the Gulf to try and raise the costs for America's allies and for the entire world.

So he says, we're going to stop doing this. But this is a plan. This is a strategy that Iran has been preparing for a long time. And it's hard to imagine that they're going to wind it down while the war is still going

GIOKOS: Yes, it's a really good point. I mean, frankly, I think for many of us living in this region, it caught so many of us by surprise. It is unprecedented what we've seen here in Abu Dhabi, what we've seen in Dubai and various parts of the Gulf as well.

I want to talk about the overall impact, because, frankly, you know, when we look at airspace that has been impacted, we're starting to see a lot of flights coming through at the moment.

They're starting to get things back to normal. But I wonder what the longer term, not only economic impacts but perception of risk impact is going to be, not only where you are in Saudi Arabia but here in the UAE.

CARLSTROM: And it's an open question at this point. And I think to some extent it depends on how long this war continues. I think so far the Gulf states have demonstrated a lot of resilience, more than people might have expected, going into this conflict.

We've seen that in everything from how air defenses have performed to the fact that basic services are still operating life. It's hardly normal. But life is continuing in the Gulf countries, despite this really unprecedented situation.

If it goes on for another week or two and then it ends, I tend to think things will bounce back to normal pretty quickly across the Gulf. And there won't be that lasting reputational damage.

But if this becomes a more prolonged, drawn-out conflict, certainly if Iran continues to escalate its targeting say, beyond energy infrastructure, and starts aiming at power plants or water desalination facilities, the things that are critical for daily life in the Gulf.

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If that happens, that, you know, worst-case doomsday scenario, then I do think both the economic and reputational consequences of this are likely to be to be more severe and to be longer lasting.

GIOKOS: All right, Gregg, really good to have you on. Thank you so much for your insights today. Gregg Carlstrom in Riyadh for us.

Well, Iran is reportedly getting intelligence from abroad that can be used to target U.S. troops.

Still ahead, who is providing Tehran with information that could potentially cost American lives?

We'll bring you an update on that story right after this. Stick with CNN.

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KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade.

Iran's president says his country will never surrender, despite a demand from Washington to do exactly that. On Friday, president Trump said he would accept nothing less than an unconditional surrender to end the war in response, the Iranian leader said that's a dream that the U.S. can, quote, "take to the grave."

In a separate statement to CNN, Mr. Trump also said Iran doesn't have to become a democracy. He said he's not opposed to a new religious leader as long as he treats the U.S. and its allies well.

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Earlier, Mr. Trump called on Iranians to take over their government and gain their freedom.

Well, Russia is not playing a neutral observer in the war in Iran. According to multiple sources who spoke with CNN, they say U.S. intelligence shows that Moscow is supplying Tehran with intelligence about the location and movement of U.S. ships, planes and troops.

After the report came out Friday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told FOX News that it doesn't matter. CNN's Kristen Holmes later pressed her to explain that statement.

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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You just said on FOX that it doesn't really matter if Russia is giving Iran information about military assets.

Why doesn't it matter if U.S. military is being put in danger by Russia?

And is that what the president believes as well?

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What I meant, Kristen -- and thank you for giving me a chance to make it very clear -- is that it clearly is not making a difference with respect to the military operations in Iran, because we are completely decimating them.

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KINKADE: Let's bring in CNN's Gabe Cohen, who joins us live from Washington.

Good to have you with us, Gabe. So the U.S. says the war in the Middle East is expanding, with intelligence suggesting Russia is helping Iran target U.S. forces. Russia is denying that.

What are officials saying about Russia's role and is there evidence to back it up?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, so, Lynda these are sources familiar with U.S. intelligence reporting, that are telling CNN that Russia has been providing this intel about the location of American troops and assets to Iran so that Iran can target that.

Much of that intelligence coming from Russia's really sophisticated satellite systems, something Iran does not have, as they have seen their own military capabilities degraded day after day from all of the fighting.

What's not clear at this point is whether or not that intel has actually been used for any specific strikes. But look, these are two countries that, for years now, Russia and Iran, they have cooperated on various military technology, weapon development.

But what's particularly significant here is it's the first real indication that Moscow is getting involved in this war. Now we don't know if Russia's involvement could expand here, especially after this phone call that we learned about Friday between Iran's president and Russian president Vladimir Putin.

As you mentioned, the White House, for their part, they are really downplaying this story. They do not want to talk about Russia. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, he told CBS News that, of course, the president is well aware of who is talking to whom and that there is no immediate threat from Russia.

Though I will note, just a couple of days ago, Hegseth told reporters that right now Russia and China are, quote, "not really a factor in this war."

We also, as you played that clip, heard press secretary Karoline Leavitt say that, if Russia is sharing intel, it's clearly not making much of a difference, given the success of the U.S. operation thus far.

And president Trump himself snapped at a reporter from FOX News on Friday who asked about the story during an event at the White House about how to change college sports. Here's what the president said.

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QUESTION: It sounds like the Russians are helping Iran target and attack Americans now.

TRUMP: That's an easy problem compared to what we're doing here.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: But can I be honest?

It's just I have a lot of respect for you. You've always been very nice to me. What a stupid question that is to be asking at this time. We're talking about something else.

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COHEN: So we're not hearing the administration denounce Russia. They have really been laser focused on talking about the successes, the gains of the U.S. military in recent days.

Trump also telling CNN that, a week ago, Iran was powerful. Now they have been indeed neutered. But remember, look, the president, the administration, they have talked about this hopeful timeline of 4-5 weeks for this war effort.

They've said it could take much longer. We'll wait to see if that timeline could be drawn out more if other countries like Russia are drawn into the conflict

KINKADE: Yes, exactly. Gabe Cohen in Washington. Good to have you with us. Thanks so much. We'll talk next hour.

And we will have more on Russia's reported intelligence sharing with Iran. When we come back, we're going to talk to an expert about the implications of that relationship

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GIOKOS: Welcome back. I'm Eleni Giokos, live in Abu Dhabi now. Iran is reportedly receiving help from Russia in the ongoing war with the United States. Multiple sources tell CNN that U.S. intelligence shows Moscow is giving Tehran information about the position and the movements of U.S. ships, planes and troops.

Much of that information is reportedly coming from Russian satellites but it's still unclear if it was used in any specific Iranian attack on U.S. forces.

For more, we're joined now by Nicole Grajewski, a fellow with the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and she's in Paris for us.

Nicole, good to see you. There's so much happening. I want to talk about the intelligence sharing and Russia potentially talking directly to the Iranians about U.S. assets.

What do you make of this information that Russia is now having a hand in this war?

NICOLE GRAJEWSKI, FELLOW, NUCLEAR POLICY PROGRAM, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Well, it's not entirely surprising that the Russians are providing intelligence for the Iranians. They have quite extensive cooperation in that realm, existing especially when it comes to space-based assets.

The majority of Iranian satellites are Russian-made and there's some indications that there was an agreement prior to the war, which was actually stipulated in their strategic partnership agreement. So this seems to be more of a culmination of the Russia-Iran relationship than something completely out of the blue

GIOKOS: I also want to talk about what we heard from Masoud Pezeshkian a short time ago today in a televised address in Iran, saying they are not going to surrender but also importantly saying that they have no intention of continuing strikes on their neighbors and actually went as far as apologizing, which is quite interesting.

Because we've even had alerts since that announcement. The question is how centralized the government is. You know, how much power he still has, you know, whether they have communications with the military there, you know.

What is your assessment of this?

GRAJEWSKI: Yes. Well, I mean Pezeshkian and actually the Iranian government delegated responsibility to individual IRGC commanders, depending on the regional kind of control or the regional groupings.

So it could be that possibly the central government has lacked the ability to really control these regional commanders when it comes to operations.

[04:35:06]

Or it could just be kind of posturing for potentially some kind of diplomatic solution in the future. But it certainly does indicate that the Iranian government is not as cohesive as we perhaps have experienced in the past.

GIOKOS: We've also seen, you know, Israel launching massive strikes quite, you know, broad in terms of looking at Tehran assets as well as what they say, in Isfahan, which, of course, is the site of, you know, the nuclear program.

We also know the wording from, you know, the United States, that they've completely obliterated Iran's nuclear capabilities but they're saying there's something underground that they need to target.

So you know, my question comes, you know, from various elements, you know, how much has Iran's military been degraded and military capabilities but also, you know, whatever nuclear abilities they might have?

GRAJEWSKI: Yes, I'll start with military capabilities, because that's been the clearest kind of operational objective of this campaign.

Thus far the U.S. and Israeli strikes have largely dealt with the ballistic missile issue. So that's targeting Iranian bases in Western Iran, which, where most of the missile cities that hosted medium-range ballistic missiles are hosted. But they also targeted missile production facilities and any kind of,

you know, basic conventional military facility in the primarily west and southwest of the country. So by most accounts, this has been relatively successful.

And we'll likely see more strikes there in the future. On the nuclear program, there has been far fewer targets that have been distinctly related to nuclear.

So whereas the 12-day war in June 2025 really did deal and focus on a lot of Iranian nuclear infrastructure and did indeed set the program back quite significantly, these current strikes have been less so concentrated on that.

And that's partly because the current outstanding nuclear issues don't actually deal with, you know, a military solution. A lot of this is highly enriched uranium underground in rubble that needs to be excavated with international oversight or existing facilities that we don't necessarily know what's there.

So the nuclear issue is a little bit more difficult to solve. And it's not necessarily solved by military campaigns alone.

GIOKOS: All right, Nicole, we have to leave it there. But thank you so much for joining us today. Nicole Grajewski in Paris for us.

Now, Iran is warning other countries to not get involved in the war with the U.S. and Israel. Iran's deputy foreign minister says, if European countries join attacks against Iran, those countries will become legitimate targets for retaliation.

He says Tehran warned other Gulf states before the war started that, if the U.S. attacks Iran, then Iran would target U.S. bases and assets in the region.

Meanwhile, French president Emmanuel Macron is emphasizing the need to contain the escalation in the region. We've got CNN's Barbie Nadeau in Rome for us and she joins us now with more on the European reaction to the war with Iran.

And, of course, Iran saying that no one else should join in.

So how are Europeans reacting to this?

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Europeans don't necessarily agree in the best of times. So this is obviously a very personal decision for each country.

We've seen Italy, Greece and France actually sending military assets toward the Middle East to protect Cyprus and Turkiye. Now we've seen Spain absolutely say no to the use of U.S. bases on their territory.

And we've seen Germany really try to take more of a diplomatic stand on this. You know, there are about 40 bases run by the U.S. across Europe. We've got some here in Italy and Sicily that are mainly command centers. The Italian government saying we're not at war, we're not at war. But

yet they said, you know, that they would consider, if the United States made a request to use those bases for any military action. That hasn't happened yet.

Same thing in France. They said that they would in fact, you know, allow the U.S. or they would consider it if the request is made. The request, apparently, though have not yet been made. But the Germans are trying to take a more diplomatic approach. Now we have some of what the foreign minister of Germany had to say. Let's listen to that.

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JOHANN WADEPHUL, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Iran's behavior is absolutely irresponsible. We have clearly condemned it, including yesterday.

And a joint statement by the foreign ministers of the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council states, it is completely unjustified that Iran is attacking uninvolved states that did not participate in the attacks against Iran.

This applies to the Gulf Cooperation Council states, to Cyprus and to Turkiye. It is irresponsible and likely to cause an escalation that must be avoided at all costs.

[04:40:04]

NADEAU: And Eleni, when you're listening to that, it really does I think, underscore just how divided Europe is right now in their response and what they're, you know, a week into this, what the reaction if any, should be.

I think they're just trying to come up with a unified response and, hopefully, you know, there will not be any attacks on these U.S. bases here in Europe -- Eleni

GIOKOS: All right. Barbie Latza Nadeau, thank you so much, for us in Rome.

Now the conflict in the Middle East is leading to a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon. People are fleeing to escape the spiraling violence as Israel and Hezbollah trade attacks. We go live to Beirut. That's up next.

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GIOKOS: Welcome back. Now it is about 11:40 am on Saturday morning in Beirut, a city that's scarred by waves of Israeli strikes in recent days.

These are live pictures coming through from Beirut that you're seeing on your screen right now. Much of its southern side is now off limits because of Israel's evacuation orders.

And with no place to go, aid workers say many displaced residents are forced to sleep on the streets. Israel's far-reaching evacuation orders and strikes in Lebanon have displaced nearly half a million residents. And that is according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Many residents are fleeing Lebanon and crossing into Syria. Lebanese state media reports that Israeli strikes have killed more than 200 people and wounded nearly 800. Israel says it targeted Iran-backed Hezbollah command centers with fresh strikes on Friday.

The U.N. Refugee Agency is deploying teams to help people at the border crossing into Syria.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The strike was about 600 meters from us. Someone was killed. We knew this was coming and we prepared those suitcases a day before leaving. The house is gone.

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GIOKOS: For more on this growing crisis in Lebanon, I want to bring in Nadine Kfoury, the health program manager for Relief International.

[04:45:04]

And she's joining us now live from Beirut.

Nadine, I mean, we're seeing some of these images coming through from Beirut. We also see the enormous traffic as well. I want you to first tell me how you're doing, how you are coping and what you're seeing in Beirut right now.

NADINE KFOURY, HEALTH PROGRAM MANAGER, RELIEF INTERNATIONAL: Hi, Eleni, and thank you for having me.

Well, what we are witnessing on the ground is a rapidly deteriorating situation and like hostilities in Lebanon continue to escalate with consecutive days of evacuation orders, airstrikes and grounded clashes now.

And as you said, more than 2,200 people have been killed and nearly 800 injured. And unfortunately, those numbers are expected to rise. We are seeing massive displacement. Large numbers of families are fleeing northward to escape the violence.

As of yesterday, more than 100,000 people were sheltered in public schools that have been turned into emergency shelters. These shelters were never designed to host entire communities. And most of them are already at full capacity. The situation is very critical and the needs are very high.

GIOKOS: I can imagine. I mean, we're seeing some of these images and you're saying that, you know, schools are reaching full capacity and so forth. We're also hearing news of people having to sleep in the streets, you

know, trying to find a way out. Give me a sense of how people are coping with this as Lebanon's health system is also being stretched

KFOURY: Yes. So as you are seeing many families have to leave their houses and they are stay in the cars, like stuck in traffic for hours, with small children, with pregnant women, with elderly people. And they don't know if they're going to get to a safe place anytime soon.

And sometimes they arrive without finding any safe shelter to stay in, because, you know public schools are already -- most of them are at full capacity. And, of course, there are efforts to increase the number of shelters to host these people.

But it's not really that quick. Families are arriving after fleeing their homes with almost nothing. Many arrived traumatized, exhausted and uncertain about what comes next. The most urgent needs right now are access to medical care, medicines for people with chronic illnesses who left their medication behind.

Nutrition support for vulnerable groups such as babies, young children and pregnant women and basic hygiene supplies to reduce the risk of disease outbreaks in overcrowded shelters.

And beyond these immediate needs, psychological support is becoming critically important. Many people, especially children, have experienced extremely distressing events in a very short period of time.

GIOKOS: Yes, I mean, it's really quite harrowing to see these experiences. Nadine, I've got another question for you. I mean, you work at Relief International. I want you to give me an idea of, you know, the ability for NGOs to bring in the much needed supplies right now.

And whether you're seeing an influx of assistance or whether it's just not happening quick enough

KFOURY: Yes. So at Relief International, we have been working in crisis response in Lebanon since 2006. And this is really the hardest situation we've been in with a shortfall of funding for humanitarian response.

And like now, you know, the whole situation in the region and how it's hard to bring in supplies and medications, it's really, really difficult. We are mobilizing our medical teams, trying to respond with essential health care services, nutrition services and mental health services.

But it's not -- it's not that easy. It's very, very challenging. And the needs are very high there. Need -- we need really like a quick response from the international aid assistance, you know.

GIOKOS: So I mean, I'm looking at these images. It's absolutely distressing to witness. I can only imagine what it must be like for you and everyone there. We thank you so much for that update, Nadine. Much appreciate it for your time.

Nadine Kfoury for us. All right. We're going to a very short break. We'll be back right after this. You're watching CNN.

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KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade.

Iran's president says his country will stop attacking its Gulf neighbors. Those nations have been under near constant bombardment since the war broke out a week ago. In an address a short time ago, Masoud Pezeshkian apologized, saying Tehran will only strike countries where attacks originate from.

He also vowed to never surrender as Iran's military continues to trade strikes with Israel. It comes one day after U.S. president Trump said he would only accept an unconditional surrender from Iran.

Well, countries around the world are working to get stranded citizens home from the Middle East. British Airways has added departures from Muscat to London Heathrow. The airline says the flights are for customers in Oman and the UAE with an existing booking. It's welcome news but the travel situation remains very challenging.

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KINKADE (voice-over): A seismic shift in air travel. Dubai's international airport, operating at limited capacity that's slowly increasing but only at a fraction of normal levels. But across the border in Oman, Muscat International Airport is packed with passengers, a hub for many repatriation efforts.

The U.K. government is organizing charter flights from Oman. British Airways has added relief flights from there too, as well as Qatar Airways, which is operating limited flights from Muscat and Riyadh. An evacuee from Portugal says she waited 17 hours just to board her flight after a grueling trip to the airport.

MARIANA CARVALHO, EVACUEE: I'd say we're overwhelmed. The trip was completely exhausting. I think we've been traveling for 36 hours.

[04:55:00]

The ground transport from the hotel to Oman was really difficult. And then there was a wait at the airport.

KINKADE (voice-over): Flights are trickling out of the region but there are still risks.

A recent Air France repatriation flight was forced to turn back to the UAE because of missile fire in the area. A similar incident happened on Lufthansa over safety concerns.

CARSTEN SPOHR, CEO, LUFTHANSA: Our captain of the Riyadh flight decided together with our security department, not to fly to Riyadh but to turn back to Cairo because we believe that the security situation is such that this is the right decision.

KINKADE (voice-over): Some passengers are shelling out large sums of money to escape the region. FlightRadar24 says private jet activity in the Middle East has surged in the past week, accounting for 31 percent of flight operations from Muscat on Wednesday. The high demand causing prices to skyrocket.

ALTAY KULA, CEO, JET-VIP: The typical cost for a flight from Dubai to Istanbul was something around 50,000 and at the moment, we are close to $US 100,000, so we can say that the price has doubled.

KINKADE (voice-over): A travel nightmare as airlines and countries try to accommodate desperate passengers, some willing to pay a high price if it means a ticket home.

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KINKADE: Well, here in the U.S., at least eight people have been killed in destructive tornadoes that tore across the central U.S. The National Weather Service here tracked this tornado near Three Rivers, Michigan, Friday. A homeowner also filmed a tornado as it moved through Union City.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Holy ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There goes a house.

KINKADE (voice-over): Officials say at least four people were killed and 12 others injured in Michigan, multiple homes and barns were also damaged or destroyed.

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KINKADE: A round of storms killing two people in Oklahoma a day after a tornado killed a mother and daughter.

That's this edition of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade, live in Atlanta. I'll be back with Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi with much more of CNN's breaking news coverage of the crisis in the Middle East next.