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U.S. and Israel Launch Strikes against Targets in Iran Overnight as Iran Also Continues Launching Missile and Drone Attacks across Middle East; Iranian President Promises His Country Will No Longer Target Neighboring Gulf States, But Iranian Military Continued Such Strikes Immediately After Iranian President's Announcement; Israel Reportedly Seeking Regime Change in Iran; Potential Negative Political Consequences of Iranian Conflict for President Trump Examined; Numerous Tornadoes Damage Large Areas of Michigan. Aired 10- 11a ET.

Aired March 07, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN ANCHOR: -- artificial intelligence. Is the Pentagon not using artificial intelligence? I think it makes sense in a variety of circumstances, and it's going to be evolving, but would you rather that China has it and Russia has it and we don't?

Very quickly, one more, I think I can get it done. Go ahead. Lets go. "I don't care if the president is a Republican or a Democrat," I agree, "if you're bombing a country and they're returning fire and people are dying, that's a war." Yes, what else am I supposed to discuss it. The semantics relative to what's going on in Iran I find to be ridiculous.

If you missed any of today's program, you can always listen anywhere you get your podcasts. See you next week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. I'm Bianna Golodryga. You are in the CNN Newsroom.

We begin this hour with breaking news. President Trump spoke just moments ago from the Shields of America Summit. The summit is mainly focused on stopping narco-terrorism in Latin America, but the president did address the ongoing war in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: We're doing very well in Iran. You see the result, and it's, uh, it's been amazing. We've knocked out 42 navy ships, some of them very large, in three days. That was the end of the navy. We knocked out their air force. We knocked out their communications and all telecommunications is gone. I don't know how they communicate, but I guess they will figure something out. It's not working out too well.

(END VIDEO CLIP) GOLODRYGA: The war with Iran escalated this morning, with both countries trading threats. Iranian officials say they are looking for new U.S. targets after President Trump warned that Iran will be, quote, "hit very hard today." Trump posted on Truth Social that Washington would widen its targets in Iran and that certain areas and groups of people are now at risk of, quote, "complete destruction and certain death."

Well, both Israel and Iran launched new strikes overnight. Israel deployed more than 80 jets for the strikes. And at one point, Tehran's major airport was on fire. Israel also carried out a major operation in Lebanon. Authorities there say dozens were killed after the raid along the border. Israel says their troops were looking for a missing IDF navigator, Ron Arad, who has been missing for nearly 40 years in Iran.

In Iran, the president there apologized for recent strikes on neighboring countries and promised to stop them. But then those strikes continued even after his address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Witnesses caught the moment a drone fell close to the Dubai airport, as you see in this video. And other countries reported intercepting drones and missiles as well.

We are covering these new developments with our reporters around the world. Nic Robertson and Jeremy Diamond are here with me. First, let's go to CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv, a very busy morning there, Jeremy. Sirens had been activated earlier this morning, and we do know, as we had been reported, 80 jets over Iran taking out additional strikes, as well as to the north of you the ongoing conflict there with Hezbollah.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes that's right. There's a lot happening in the region at the moment, and we are witnessing indeed Israeli airstrikes in the skies of Tehran dropping, you know hundreds of munitions in Iran, targeting everything from Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps command centers to the internal security forces known as the Basij, as well as ballistic missile launchers and stockpiles, some of which are located underground in Iran.

We've seen continued Iranian ballistic missile attacks aimed here at Israel, but following the pattern of the last few days, there have been, today at least, no direct hits as a result of those ballistic missiles that we know of. And that is due in part to the degradation of Iran's ballistic missile capabilities so far.

Meanwhile, last night, the Israeli military continuing to carry out strikes in Lebanon, including a deadly series of strikes that accompanied a commando raid carried out by Israeli forces inside of Lebanon in the town of Nabi Chit. At least 41 people were killed as a result of these Israeli attacks that happened as Israeli commandos went on the ground in this operation, trying to locate the remains of this Israeli air force navigator, Ron Arad, who went down over Lebanon in 1986. His body has yet to be recovered or found, and it was not recovered in this Israeli military operation.

But you can see in some of the footage from the aftermath of the strikes that accompanied those that Israeli commando raid, massive holes in the ground, damage to buildings.

[10:05:03]

At least 41 people were killed according to Lebanon's health ministry. And it does appear like Hezbollah forces in the area engaged those Israeli soldiers and aircraft that were there, with Hezbollah saying that they targeted this force with, quote, "light and medium weapons" as commandos neared a cemetery in that village as they were, again, looking for the remains of that Israeli air force navigator.

But even beyond this one commando raid, we are watching as Israel is intensifying its strikes in Lebanon and as Hezbollah is also intensifying its fire to northern Israel. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: All right, Jeremy Diamond reporting live from Tel Aviv for us. Thank you.

Well, even with Iran's president apologizing in an apparently prerecorded message this morning and saying that Iran would stop hitting its Gulf neighbors, were hearing reports of new strikes. Iran's military says that it fired missiles and drones at U.S. sites in Bahrain and Qatar, and Saudi Arabia says that it shot down 20 drones overnight aimed at its Shaybah oil field. Shaybah is deep in the desert and pumps about 1 million barrels of oil a day.

Let's go to CNN's Nic Robertson in Saudi Arabia. And Nic, it goes without saying, no one really views President Pezeshkian as the decision maker, as having authority there in that country, especially over this past week. And that has only been confirmed, given that just moments after he issued that statement and that prerecorded video, saying that attacks on neighboring countries would stop, well, they were continuing just moments later.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, some of the heaviest, particularly around that Saudi oil field you're mentioning in the east of the country. More than 20 drones intercepted. And that's the highest that's been publicly acknowledged, at least by the ministry of defense here. And there were other efforts to hit Saudi, probably aimed at an air base, the Prince Sultan air base, three ballistic missiles intercepted there.

But it does, it speaks to the issue that everyone here, as you say, questions. Who is going to emerge in the leadership role in in Iran, and what command and control will they have over the various military security proxies in the region? And I don't think anyone would put President Pezeshkian at the head of a list of likely power figures within Iran that's going to dictate the way forward, given the IRGC's hardline stance, military hardline stance, given that the weapons are in their hands and the hands of proxies who they have the relationship with.

And we're just hearing reports of potentially some kind of strike or reports of explosions in Bahrain. Cannot confirm it. Checking it out with sources. But that would, if that happened again, that would fly in the face of what the Iranian president is talking about today.

GOLODRYGA: Completely. Nic Robertson, thank you so much. Please stay safe.

Well, the escalating rhetoric comes the same day as President Trump will honor the six service members killed in a drone strike in Kuwait. CNN's Julia Benbrook is in Doral, Florida, where President Trump is speaking to Latin American leaders. Julia, tell us more about what the president had to say this morning.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes President Donald Trump, he is delivering remarks at what the administration is calling the Shield summit. This is with Latin American leaders and focused on strengthening relationships there.

But he started these remarks focusing on what is taking place in Iran, that ongoing conflict. And he said that he would give his administration a 15 out of 10 when it comes to how things have been handled so far. Now, when he wraps these remarks, we do expect him to travel to Dover, Delaware, to observe the dignified transfer of those six U.S. service members who lost their lives.

And when Trump first announced that these strikes, the joint U.S.- Israel strikes against Iran were taking place, he warned that American lives may be lost, and he has continued to say that while he hopes that number is limited, that we will likely see more lives lost.

Now, I want to play for you some of his comments as he calls these service members great heroes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: After this, I'll be leaving for Dover, very sad situation, to greet the families of the heroes who are coming home from Iran, coming home in a different manner than they thought they'd be coming home. But they're great heroes in our country, and we're going to keep it that way. As always, when it comes to war, there's always that. But we're going to keep it to a minimum, I think, Pete.

[10:10:00]

And it's going to be something, a service that we're really providing, not for the Middle East, but for the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: In addition to the president, we do expect first lady Melania Trump as well as Vice President J.D. Vance and second lady Usha Vance to be in attendance there.

As far as the timing of all of this, how long this could go on, we have heard multiple different timeframes from the president throughout this, at one point hearing that this could last a couple of days, then through the week, then most recently, we've heard him saying somewhere between four and five weeks, but that it could go on longer, and that the United States is capable of handling this if it does go on longer. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: Julia Benbrook reporting. Thank you.

Still ahead for us, the United Nations has raised concerns that the fighting in the Middle East could expand into a full-blown regional conflict. We'll have more after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:41]

GOLODRYGA: We are entering the second week of the joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran. The United Nations has warned of concerns that the conflict that has spread across the Middle East could further deteriorate.

Joining me now for more on this war, we have Israeli journalist and scholar at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, Nadav Eyal, along with Dan Senor, Republican former advisor and coauthor of "The Genius of Israel" and also host of the "Call Me Back" podcast where Nadav is a regular guest. It is a podcast that I rarely miss, and I urge all of our viewers to listen in. I get a lot of my information from Nadav's reporting and Dan's podcast. So welcome both of you here to go through so much of what has transpired over just the last eight days.

Dan, let me start with you, because President Trump has said that there will be no deal with Iran other than conditional surrender, and that he also wants a say in who the next leader of Iran will be. I'm not sure the U.S. has a good track record in regime change in the region, much less that without a massive U.S. troop presence on the ground. You have a long history in experience in that region. How do we avoid the mistakes made in the Iraq war while also not allowing members of the IRGC to ultimately come out as leaders of whoever is going to be taking over this country?

DAN SENOR, FORMER ROMNEY CAMPAIGN FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER: I think the objective, if you strip everything away, is to ensure that whatever survives in Iran is a shadow of the threat, that what we've been experiencing over the last, you know, 40 plus years in terms of its threat to the United States, in terms of the threat to our allies in the region, in terms of a threat to the world.

Keep in mind, if you look at Iran's missile arsenal, it is within range, within reach of about one-third of the world's population. So this was a capacity that was wreaking havoc in the Middle East and in terms of our assets and allies around the world. And so I can't quite envision right now what succeeds this current

regime. The administration has not been clear on that front. It could be that you have some defections from within the current regime, and that they're willing to cut some kind of deal and basically turn on the existing regime, some version, not entirely, but some version of what we've experienced with Rodriguez in Venezuela, or you get some kind of uprising that actually brings down the totality of the regime. And then there's a replacement for the regime in that regard.

It's just not clear yet. What I do think is no matter where we land, this regime will likely be, as we as we know it today, will be isolated. And if it continues to pose a threat to the to the region, to the world, will be completely impoverished, and as I said, a shadow of the threat it has been.

GOLODRYGA: And Nadav, is that what you're hearing from Israeli sources as well? Because for the most part it does appear that the United States and Israel have been acting in lockstep in terms of what their mission is, and that is going after Iran's military targets, their ballistic missiles, their launchers, and drones. But the day after in terms of what the next leadership looks like, it seems crystal clear from Israel's perspective that anyone associated with the IRGC has a target on their back. Is that what the U.S. policy, from what you're hearing from Israeli sources, agrees with?

NADAV EYAL, INTERNATIONAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROFESSOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Well, Israel and the United States definitely diverge in the sense that the Israeli leadership, political leadership, has been clear that they want to see a regime change. And we have heard President Trump goals for this war. And it doesn't include a regime change. The U.S. has been extremely careful not to mention this as a goal for this war. And Prime Minister Netanyahu, on the other hand, has called for the Iranian people to rise up.

Now, does it mean that there is daylight? I'm not sure. I think that this is what Israel is playing, this is the part it's playing in this part of the war. We know that the Israelis have allocated resources in the last few years for the possibility of assisting a regime change or the opposition in Iran.

[10:20:00]

This was something that the Israeli defense has been doing for quite some time. And they want to see this change. Now how this change will look like, I agree with Dan that nobody has a clear idea. When I speak with military officials, they consistently are telling me, Bianna, that this is not what they're trying to do, that the IDF doesn't know how to bring about a regime change in Iran. What it knows to do is to degrade their military capabilities. And the aim of the IDF, which is very similar to the aim, identical actually, to the aim of the United States, is to bring to the Islamic Republic to a point in which they will not be a threat, as one senior military officials told me, for 20 years from now, they will not be a threat to their neighbors or to Israel or to the region.

GOLODRYGA: Dan there is a lot more pressure now here in the United States on the Trump administration from, obviously, Democrats, independents, and even some Republicans, though the majority, I think, are still behind the president here in this operation. But you see the poll numbers. There's concern about where oil and gas prices will go. Is there going to be a situation, in your view, where the president may say, listen, after two weeks here, I can't continue to sustain this type of pressure and see prices continuing to rise. We're going to call it a win and pull out, and leave Israel in a position where perhaps they're not quite ready to finish?

SENOR: Look, I'll say the coordination and the integration between the U.S. and Israel in this war is truly, I mean, it's a cliche to say it's unprecedented. It's truly unprecedented. It's not only unprecedented between the U.S. and Israel. It's unprecedented between the U.S. and just about any ally it has fought a war with. So on the operational side, the level of, let's call it in-syncness, is really extraordinary.

Could there be a point at which the U.S., as you say, Bianna, is ready to wind things down, and Israel had hoped that the war would go on a little longer? Entirely possible. I think that was the case, by the way, when the 12-day war wound down in June. But again, even if that's the case, you're just seeing it right now. You're seeing Iran's capacity to launch these rockets and missiles and drones while still wreaking havoc in the region. The numbers are coming down. It is clear that the threat from Iran is being seriously degraded.

So if at some point this winds down, and even if the U.S. and Israel are not completely aligned on when that should be, I do think the region is at the at some stage of being transformed. I can't tell you exactly what the transformation will look like, but Iran will certainly not be the hegemonic power that it aspired to be over the last, you know, since the revolution in 1979.

GOLODRYGA: OK, you mentioned the 12-day war, and there was a certain expletive the president used in terms of directing Prime Minister Netanyahu to turn planes around from Iran, saying, enough is enough.

Nadav we've heard from the leadership in Israel that that things are going according to plan. This does seem to be militarily executed that way. But is there concern that we may see the similar type of situation where the goals that leadership has and publicly states may not align with the reality on the ground from a military perspective, similar to what we saw in Gaza?

EYAL: Well, absolutely. And it really depends on the end result in Iran. If at the end of the day in Iran you will have the same kind of regime, maybe with a different leader, and you will have that different leader, I agree, the region has already been transformed simply by the strike against Ali Khamenei and those who have died with him. So at any rate, we will see a change in Iran.

But if this change is superficial, and they will try to rebuild, together with their reinforced narrative that they've been attacked by the United States and Israel and they have survived as a regime, the repercussions could be dire for the region itself. And we are looking at what's happening across the Gulf. We have heard Gulf countries, my Gulf sources, extremely angry with the Iranians, talking about joining the fight. Well, they have not joined formally the fight until now. They are also to some extent deterred.

And this is one of the reasons that the Israelis would want to see a devastating blow, more devastating blows to the Iranian military and to the IRGC. If we don't see that and it stops too quickly, as far as the Israelis are concerned, this could be dangerous and could actually serve the Islamic Republic long term. At any rate, they will be weakened. But in terms of their fundamentalist narrative, that could actually be reinforced.

[10:25:05]

GOLODRYGA: Yes, it is quite striking to see what a blow this has been to whatever plan Iran had in thinking that they could attack the Gulf countries and have the Gulf countries put pressure on Israel and the United States to stop. Thus far, that hasn't happened, and it was quite striking to see MBZ walking through the malls there in the UAE to show a force of defiance there, that the country is still standing. Nadav Eyal --

SENOR: And Bianna, it's also it's also moving and impressive to see now the IDF chief of staff in regular, almost daily communication with his counterparts at the heads of these militaries of these Arab countries. This is what Nadav and I man, we're watching a region be transformed, just that, that all these Arab states and Israel are fighting a war on the same side.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And perhaps even bringing Azerbaijan in with drone attacks there just a few days ago as well. Nadav Eyal, Dan Senor, thank you so much for the time, really appreciate it.

And still ahead for us, governments across the Middle East are working to help stranded passengers. We have live reports from the region.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:36]

GOLODRYGA: We are seeing more attacks across the Middle East this morning. And just moments ago, officials in the United Arab Emirates said the country was responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran.

Let's get to CNN's Paula Hancocks in Dubai. Paula, what are you hearing now? We were just having a conversation in the last few hours in response to this pretaped message from President Pezeshkian saying that these attacks and strikes would end. Clearly that's not the case.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Bianna. And it was the case of saying, let's see what happens in the hours ahead. So we now know what happens. An Abu Dhabi just an hour down the road from where we are, they have had emergency alerts and they have had explosions overhead, potentially interceptions of either missiles or drones. But certainly, there have been a number of blasts that have been heard by our CNN teams on the ground. In fact, we have a CNN colleague at Abu Dhabi airport, and they were all told to take shelter as well.

So this obviously answers the questions that we had as to whether or not what the Iranian president said would be taken into consideration by the individuals who are in charge of the missiles and the drones. We're also hearing that Bahrain has had an emergency alerts as well.

Of course, it was a question as to whether or not Pezeshkian actually had control of the armed forces, of the IRGC. It was widely expected that he did not. So even though he was saying that the three-member leadership council agreed this, it doesn't appear to have trickled down or been accepted by more hardline members. Let's just listen, though, to what exactly he did say this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MASOUD PEZESHKIAN, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): From now on, there should be no attack on neighboring countries or missile strikes unless they should wish to attack us from those countries. I think we need to solve this with diplomacy rather than fighting and having conflict with neighboring countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: That's exactly what the neighboring countries have been saying for the past seven days, angry at Tehran for taking out their retaliation on Gulf nations. Tehran claiming that they're only hitting U.S. military targets or American political centers. We have seen that the impact has been felt far wider, that the targets have been far wider.

Just this morning, in fact, we know that there was an impact at the Dubai international airport. We spoke to a passenger inside who saw the moment of impact, the blast, saying that the windows were reverberating and they were told to seek shelter as well. That actually grounded planes for some time. But after about half-an-hour, Emirates said that they were resuming those repatriation flights once again. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: All right, Paula Hancocks in Dubai for us, thank you so much.

Well, this week, while some in Iran were mourning the death of their supreme leaders, others in Iran and around the world are celebrating it and welcoming the possibility of regime change. One of those is Dr. Majid Sadeghdpour, who escaped Iran after the 1979 revolution. He watched his own brother get arrested and later executed for opposing the regime. Dr. Sadeghpour is now the political director for the Organization of Iranian American Communities and is joining me now live. Doctor, thank you so much for taking the time.

You have described a sense of conflicted emotion over this past week, the irony of seeing your homeland bombed while simultaneously seeing its predators weakened. Just talk to us about your thoughts on what has transpired, some of your concerns, and some of your hopes in the days and weeks to come. DR. MAJID SADEGHPOUR, POLITICAL DIRECTOR, ORGANIZATION OF IRANIAN-

AMERICAN COMMUNITIES: Well, thank you for having me. Well, I can't help but to think that we are here in this difficult circumstance, this irony, is because really, the international community has for more than four decades has been trying to negotiate with the regime and encourage it to change its behavior, while during that same span and really longer than that, 45 years, the people of Iran have been trying and dying to change the regime itself.

[10:35:15]

And I think that is really the divergence that is notable. The people of Iran since the middle of 1981, when the regime opened fire, the same IRGC opened fire on peaceful protesters, and later that year, in 1981, formed the National Council of Resistance of Iran, ever since then their leadership has been instrumental to try to bring change to Iran. That means the regime to be gone in its entirety. That's why we are happy that the president elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Maryam Rajavi, just a few days ago announced the formation of a provisional government that would handle transition period for a future free democratic republic in Iran.

GOLODRYGA: You have stated that foreign military intervention cannot bring about a peaceful transition. Now that the supreme leader has been killed, again, the IRGC seems to be somewhat intact, though militarily the country is weakened as you see, the U.S. and Israel continue to go after its missiles and drones. Internally, that might not be the case, though, because you have a well-armed military on the ground that is ready to go after any protesters or anybody that wants to come out and celebrate the murder, the assassination of the supreme leader. So what position does that put those civilians in, those that are desperate for change but perhaps don't feel safe yet to come about and take back their country as President Trump had asked them to do?

SADEGHPOUR: Well, let's put it in the proper space here. The people of Iran have been fighting, really, there has been a war imposed on the people of Iran by the regime since, like I said, middle of 1982 onward. And the people of Iran, and so the main war here is between the people, 92 million people inside Iran with the regime itself. But you're correct that that this regime is a highly entrenched, well- armed, well-structured in the neighborhoods and infrastructure inside Iran. And it is not going to go away with bombs from the sky.

This regime has to be fought with on the ground by the people of Iran, and the IRGC kicked out of Iran's neighborhoods. And to do that you need boots on the ground. That is why our community, including, by the way, today we are rallying in Washington, D.C., to support the provisional government Mrs. Maryam Rajavi introduced a few days ago, is because you need boots on the ground. And the NCRI has had boots on the ground for years, and the MEK resistance units are now really a budding national liberation army that is forming. They are obviously underground at the moment, biding time, waiting for the right moment. As bombs fall, there is no way for them to rise up and organize the next wave.

But this regime, make no question about it. Its political, economic, diplomatic infrastructure is fractured and destroyed. This regime no longer has a future. It never really had a future in the eyes of the Iranian people. But it no longer has a future in the eyes of the international community given what they did in January of this year, killing probably 30,000 people.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, and doesn't have, obviously, the legitimacy of the people as well, squandering the natural resources and wealth of that country and keeping it from being a flourishing country, which it very well could have been over the last 47 plus years.

Dr. Majid Sadeghpour, thank you so much for your time and your perspective, appreciate it.

Well, President Trump is ramping up his comments about what's next in the war with Iran and possible new targets. We'll talk more about the political fallout next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:43:37]

GOLODRYGA: This morning, a senior Iranian official says the country is looking for new U.S. targets to attack. Iran's response comes after President Trump warned Iran will be hit very hard today, saying the U.S. might target groups and people not previously marked for attacks.

Hours earlier, smoke was rising from explosions in Iran's capital of Tehran, but what are the potential political costs here at home in the U.S. as Trump ramps up his threats?

Let's bring in CNN senior political analyst and "Bloomberg" opinion columnist Ron Brownstein. Ron, it's good to see you. And let me just open it up with a quote here from Karim Sadjadpour, who is one of the preeminent experts on Iran and the region, and here's what he said. He said, "Iran is trying to restrain Trump by shaping American public opinion against the war. He is now the sixth U.S. president since 1979 consumed by events tied to Iran. Trump has long said that he was against forever wars, that they were stupid wars that both Republicans and Democrats had dragged the United States in. Yet here he is, eight days into this new war in the region in Iran." It could be a short- term war. We don't know how long it will last. He said maybe a few weeks. But what are some of the risks that come along with it here for him?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, he's in an unusual and unusually vulnerable position as it begins.

[10:45:01]

I mean, we've had three polls this week. NBC, 54 percent of Americans oppose the war, PBS-NPR-Marist, 56 percent, CNN, 59 percent. That is extremely unusual at the outset of a conflict, to have a majority opposition. And I don't think it translates into immediate political pressure on him to end the hostilities. Despite that overall opposition, you still have 80 or 85 percent of Republican voters saying they support this, and that translates into pretty much lockstep support from the Republicans who control the House and the Senate, as we saw this week.

But I think what it does drive, is that there is very little cushion for him in terms of public tolerance of costs of this war. Now, Iran's capacity to inflict a lot of casualties on U.S. forces or U.S. allies seems to be severely degraded. I think most Americans are impressed with the quality and the precision of the military assault. But higher gas prices alone, I think, are going to be a source of vulnerability for the president because they come against a backdrop when most Americans already believe he has failed to make sufficient progress on the issue they elected him, above all, to address, which is their cost of living.

GOLODRYGA: And do you think this for the president now has become more of a messaging problem in terms of what the next few weeks would look like, to try to explain to Americans why the United States has entered this war, despite some of the consequences and risks that comes with, first and foremost, the cost to American lives? But also economically here at the gas pump, we're seeing gas prices up 11 percent just last week alone. Is there a change in messaging that could perhaps soften some of the blows that he's received?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, first of all, I mean, I think you have to say that going into this war, the president made less effort to explain and much less persuade the country of why this was important for the United States to do than I think we have seen in any other major conflict. I mean, there was almost a kind of a cursory attitude toward the need to build consent among the governed. And I think it does reflect his broader vision of the presidency that is in many ways untethered from the traditional constraints of democratic accountability. And he is paying some price for that.

I think there is a reality here. I mean the higher gas prices are is something that Americans are going to feel right away. And politically, Bianna, in some ways the biggest cost is just the opportunity cost. As I said, we're now, what, eight months away from the election, and you have a predominant consensus in the public that he has not made the progress they expected on the economy. At the least, this means the next month or so is going -- his public communication with voters is going to be dominated by this war rather than beginning to try to change those economic perceptions. And as we say, if anything, the war will compound that sense of economic unease.

So that's where the political bite is. It doesn't feel to me as though the president, you know, is concerned enough about that yet to have it drive any decision making. But a few weeks of higher gas prices may make Republicans in Congress more anxious than they have kind of -- more concerned than they've displayed so far.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And yet the president is telling our Dana Bash that it's not stopping Iran, that that Cuba is next, too. So he doesn't seem to be as concerned at this point yet. We'll say things could change as soon as tomorrow. Ron Brownstein, thank you so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

GOLODRYGA: And still ahead for us, a dozen tornadoes ripped through portions of southern Michigan and Oklahoma. We take a look at the threat of severe weather that stretched into today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:53:31]

GOLODRYGA: Right now we are tracking another major story, the weather. At least eight people are dead following severe storms throughout the central U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys are chickens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lock it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: This was yesterday in southwestern Michigan, where a massive tornado during a round of thunderstorms killed four people and left others hurt. One video shows the tornado racing toward, straight toward a store where people were taking cover.

With me now is CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam. So frightening to watch that video over and over again now, for the fourth time. It's still just stunning that people had to witness that, and sadly, some were killed. Just talk to us about the forecast in the next few hours to come for the region.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: So, Bianna, the same storm system responsible for the tornadoes yesterday in southwest Michigan is marching eastward today and will bring a chance of severe weather, but not as widespread as what we saw yesterday.

I want to highlight this video. Again, this is coming out of Union City, southern Michigan. Look at the debris being lofted hundreds of feet into the air. This tornado actually crossed over a frozen lake, kind of the juxtaposition between the seasons, going from winter immediately into spring. Michigan only typically gets about 13 tornadoes in an entire year, so it's quite rare to have this powerful of a tornado this early in the season.

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Check out my graphics and you'll be able to see the recap. This is yesterday. Again, the tornado, this lone supercell that moved through the Three Rivers and Union City region, lifting, dropping a tornado occasionally, and creating the damage you saw on your screen just a few minutes ago. This is part of a wider outbreak of tornadoes that caused fatalities, unfortunately, across central portions of Oklahoma.

Now, where does it go from here? Well, the Storm Prediction Center just updated this, so we started to include portions of western Tennessee, including Memphis. This line of thunderstorms right now not as robust as yesterday, but still enough to issue a severe thunderstorm watch as you see here, extending into western Tennessee, northwestern Alabama, or Mississippi, rather, through about 3:00 this afternoon. And then on top of that, we've got our flash flood threat as the rain moves east. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: All right, Derek Van Dam, thank you so much.

And thank you all for watching. "THE AMANPOUR HOUR" starts after a quick break.

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