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U.S. and Israel Launches New Set of Strikes on Central Iran; Iran Urges Its People to Support Country's New Leadership; Oil Prices Soar Past $100 a Barrel as War Escalates; Black Smoke Fills Tehran's Skies after Oil Storage Sites Hit; Trump: Will Decide When War with Iran Ends; Iran's Government Structured for Longevity; Explosive Device Thrown New NYC Mayor's Residence. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired March 09, 2026 - 00:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[00:00:53]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, everybody. I'm Polo Sandoval, live in New York, and this is CNN's breaking news coverage of the war with Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump says that he will decide with Israel when to end the war with Iran, as we are now learning of new strikes and missile launches across the Middle East.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard saying that it launched missiles just hours after senior clerics named the next supreme leader. Mojtaba Khamenei has been selected to succeed his father, the late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a strike at the start of the war last week. And that announcement coming as the war with Iran seems to ramp up.

The Israeli military announcing that a new wave of strikes on central Iran is happening, and strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut also happening at the moment.

The human toll also is rising. U.S. Central Command now confirming a U.S. service member has died after sustaining injuries during an attack in Saudi Arabia last week. And that now brings the number of American troops killed in relation to the war to seven.

CNN's Ivan Watson joins us live from Hong Kong as he continues to follow the -- follow this latest round of Iranian strikes.

Ivan, what do we know about them?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, the war continues to rage, very much so. We saw dramatic images over the weekend of a fuel depot on fire in Tehran.

And CNN's reporter on the ground, Fred Pleitgen, describing oil quite literally raining from the sky as a result of this massive inferno. The Iranian government has vowed to retaliate and potentially expand

the conflict. In the past, we've had Iranian officials who said that they're purely targeting U.S. military bases and installations around the Gulf region. But Gulf countries -- governments have responded, saying that's simply not true, that they've seen oil fields, and airports, and other civilian infrastructure -- hotels -- targeted by Iranian drones and missiles, to deadly effect.

One example of the expansion of the targets here is we're hearing about desalinization plants, water desalination plants, both in Iran and in Bahrain that have been hit. And that is essential to the drinking water supplies for populations on both sides of the Gulf.

The death toll also continues to rise, where we have the first reports of fatalities in Saudi Arabia, at a city that's located near an air base.

At least two people killed in Dubai. A Pakistani national killed, as well. And a seventh U.S. service member killed, dying as a result of wounds inflicted on March 1 from Iranian drone and missile attacks.

The conflict also continues to expand in Lebanon, with the war raging between the Iranian-backed Shiite militia, Hezbollah, and the Israeli military, with reports of bombardments in the South of Lebanon.

Just in the last ten minutes or so, fresh air strikes, apparently in the Southern suburbs of Beirut, which the Israeli military demanded to be completely evacuated of hundreds of thousands of residents from there.

And the Israeli military also claiming responsibility for an airstrike over the weekend that it said killed a number of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps officials, commanders that it said had gathered for a meeting in a Ramada Hotel on the waterfront in Beirut.

The Shiite movement, the militia Hezbollah, continues to carry out strikes against Israeli targets across the border, even though the Lebanese government has declared these kinds of security and military operations by Hezbollah to be illegal -- Polo.

SANDOVAL: That's CNN's Ivan Watson with that full update from Hong Kong. Thanks, Ivan.

[00:05:06]

There's also video from Iranian state TV that's now showing celebrations in Tehran on Sunday night after Mojtaba Khamenei was named the new supreme leader.

The assembly of experts that elected him is now urging Iranians to maintain unity and also to pledge allegiance to their new leader. Here's what one Iranian woman shared.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It was a profound happiness. We truly didn't know whether to mourn the loss of our leader or rejoice at this election of the new leader. Mr. Mojtaba is a very much like his father. Of all the possible candidates, he was the most deserving and the one most similar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Ali Alfoneh is a senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute. He joins us from Washington, D.C. Ali, thank you so much for joining us.

ALI ALFONEH, SENIOR FELLOW, ARAB GULF STATES INSTITUTE: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Ali, what message is Iran sending to the White House with the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei? Remember, President Trump, he was urging the Iranian regime to -- to -- for an unconditional surrender. And then, they go on and announce their new supreme leader.

ALFONEH: The Islamic Republic is sending a message of defiance. What they are communicating is that you are capable of assassinating Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but we will give you another Khamenei, Mr. Mojtaba Khamenei.

But the regime is also communicating regime continuity, telling to the Iranian public, but also to the world, that the regime is capable of continuing its normal functions, and even election of the leader has gone through the normal procedures.

SANDOVAL: And of course, you just heard a little while ago, the Iranian regime essentially urging Iranians to galvanize support behind their new supreme leader.

How are Iranians on the street likely going to -- to respond to this? I mean, we've seen waves of protests in the past, and what we saw was just violent repression from the regime.

ALFONEH: The regime in Tehran is deeply unpopular. It has a problem with political legitimacy. That problem is not going to be resolved with the election of Mr. Mojtaba Khamenei, who many will argue does not possess the qualifications of being a leader.

And most likely, he has been elected for symbolic reasons. Defiance against the U.S., showing continuity of the regime, but also because the regime is trying to depict him as a living martyr, someone who has lost his parents and his wife in the war.

Now, is this going to solve the electricity shortage of the people or the water shortage? Unemployment and all the other problems that the regime is facing? No.

But it does send a message of defiance, and it is likely only going to satisfy approximately 10 percent of Iranian population which supported the regime in the latest presidential election.

The rest, they will remain unhappy, angry, and dissatisfied. And I will not rule out new rounds of protests. But for now, exactly because of the pressures of the war, the regime appears to be in control. SANDOVAL: So, you have that message of defiance that you just lay out

right now from the regime. You have U.S. and Israeli joint forces continuing with their military campaign.

When you look at all these moving pieces and the course of events, Ali, where do you see things in the next 2 or 3 -- 2 or 3 weeks, perhaps, especially if this regime shows no signs of surrendering?

ALFONEH: The strategists of the Revolutionary Guard believe that the United States is not going to engage in a ground offensive. They further believe that the regime is capable of suppressing the domestic opposition.

What they will be trying to do -- and they have announced it, and they declared it publicly -- is what they call punishing Israel and the United States.

They will do so by continuing targeting the regional energy infrastructure, hoping to increase the price of oil. This, they believe, is one of the few vulnerabilities of President Trump. Tomorrow morning when we will wake up, how is the Wall Street going to look like?

If the Wall Street is sending red numbers and bad signals to President Trump, he may even change his opinion and his approach towards Iran. This is exactly what they are hoping for, and this is what I'm expecting more of: attacks against the regional energy infrastructure.

SANDOVAL: Yes, no, I'm glad you mentioned that, what we could see -- and you're not the first expert to mention this -- is a potential relocation of the goalposts from the U.S. president as he sees those markets react.

I'm curious, if I can get your final thoughts, Ali, when it comes to potentially redrawing, or at least sort of a new -- what the president would describe as a victory when it comes to a political victory and a military victory. What's a best-case scenario, in your view?

[00:10:19]

ALFONEH: When it comes to military victory, the United States is already the winner. The -- the nuclear program is totally in ruins. Iran's missile program has suffered considerably.

But obviously, the Islamic Republic is also left being an angry, diplomatically isolated, and revanchist regime. So, this is one of the criticisms that I think some -- many people will raise against President Trump.

Because now you have a regime which is even more interested in creating some kind of deterrence against the United States and Israel. So, there will be not no more attacks six months away from now. And they're talking about this publicly. Mr. Mojtaba Khamenei leadership is going to continue this trend.

SANDOVAL: Ali Alfoneh, so grateful for your perspective. Thank you so much for your time.

Well, the war certainly does continue to cause oil prices to soar, as we just discussed. And that puts countries around the world on alert. In fact, Brent crude surging past $100 a barrel on Sunday.

This is the first time that the global benchmark has crossed that mark since Russia's invasion of Ukraine back in 2022. You can see where prices sit at this hour, with Brent crude already at close to $115 a barrel, about a 25 percent climb there, with WTI crude oil, as well, matching those increases, as well.

Now, well over 26 percent WTI, of course, the U.S. oil benchmark that hit the highest since 2022, as well.

And President Trump, he is trying to calm any of the fears of rising fuel costs in the United States. He took to Truth Social with this post. He wrote, in part, "Short term oil prices are a very small price to pay for USA and world safety and peace."

But those surging prices, they've been rattling some investors. I mean, just look at these numbers alone with U.S. market futures, ahead of what is expected to be another very busy trading week. All of them in the rare [SIC] -- in the red, across the board.

Traders are worried that a lengthy spike in fuel prices, they could cause inflation to rise and potentially even damage the economy.

And those fears, not just in the United States, but you can also see that happening when you consider some of these Asian market numbers, as well, already, as the trading week gets underway.

Let's dive a little deeper into what this means globally. Head over to CNN's Mike Valerio, joining me again from Beijing.

Distribution disruptions: what does it mean for people around the world, Mike?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it means higher prices, most likely. But, you know, it's not exactly a foregone conclusion in terms of how high the prices are going to go.

But if there's an energy disruption, if there's a disruption to energy supplies of major economies here in this corner of the world, especially when we are looking at those numbers -- Japan, South Korea, those indices down around 7 percent, or in the case of Seoul, down close to 8 percent.

That could mean, if these countries are having a disruption to their supply, that their economies slow down as a consequence, which means economic output slows down, which means that prices rise for the important stuff that we pay coming from these countries.

Think chips from Taiwan, from advanced manufacturing from Japan and South Korea.

But we want to focus on Taiwan a little bit more. We touched on it when we were with you, Polo, in the last hour. But according to our reporting that's been honed over the past couple of hours, Taiwan has a statutory requirement to have an 11-day supply of liquefied natural gas. Eleven days.

And as far as we can tell, Taiwan's cabinet is out with a statement saying that they are OK for March. But they're still, Polo, trying to shore up their liquefied natural gas supplies for the month of April.

Taiwan, critically important for all of the advanced semiconductors and chips that A.I. companies need, that companies from California to New York, everywhere in between -- Europe, South America, everywhere -- need for their industries.

So, when we're talking about the potential disruption to the Strait of Hormuz, Taiwan has about a third of its liquefied natural gas that comes from Qatar, another third that comes from Australia crude. About a quarter of it comes from Saudi Arabia. The other quarter, the biggest percentage, comes from the United States.

So, I want to just sort of impress upon our viewers that we're not talking about fuel running out, but we are talking about disruptions that could send prices higher.

Furthermore, just to wrap up here, Polo, when we look at Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world, our reporting shows that they have around 20 days of strategic reserves.

[00:15:09]

So, of course, Indonesia, a hub for manufacturing. If this continues, if the strait is shut down, as the energy secretary says, for a matter of weeks, that could be hugely detrimental to the economies in this part of the world -- Polo.

SANDOVAL: Without a -- without a doubt, this conflict sending shockwaves around the world, as you lay out.

Mike Valerio in Beijing, appreciate you walking us through that.

And still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, what the Trump administration is saying about that deadly strike at an Iranian school.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Welcome back to CNN's breaking news coverage of the war with Iran; 6:20 a.m. in Beirut, Lebanon, one of many in the region continuing to feel some of those strikes from Iran as violence in Lebanon, it continues to intensify as Israel and Hezbollah militants continue to attack one another.

According to the IDF, two Israeli soldiers were killed in Southern Lebanon by Hezbollah, fired -- after Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles on Friday. I should say that happened on Sunday. And those are the first Israeli military deaths since the war with Iran started.

[00:20:07] Meanwhile, Lebanese authorities say that an Israeli strike on a hotel

in central Beirut killed at least four people, and the attack also injured ten others, which happened on Sunday.

Israel says that it was targeting Iranian forces nearby with ties to Hezbollah, who reportedly were meeting at that hotel.

And the fighting is still causing some mass evacuations across Southern Lebanon, pushing an estimated half a million people from their homes. And that's according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.

And there's also some thick black clouds of smoke and also oil- saturated rain in parts of Tehran. And this after Israeli and American missiles struck several fuel and oil storage tanks across the capital.

State media reporting that some blazes are still ongoing and may even take days to extinguish.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen visited one of the hardest-hit oil depots and also brings us this report. A reminder that CNN operates in Iran only with permission from the government.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's an absolutely apocalyptic scene here. We've just made it to the Shahran oil depot, which was attacked last night in a massive wave of airstrikes.

We heard those going on for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. It was with massive thuds and then explosions that we could hear.

And that thick black plume of smoke, we saw that last night, and now we're actually seeing it up close. And what we're also seeing is that some of those destroyed storage tanks are still on fire. There's still flames originating from them.

You can also see here that the area around here is also completely destroyed. There's people here actually working on this electricity pole to try and get the electricity back.

And then this tanker vehicle here also that is right in front of the gate has been completely destroyed, as well. The front gate of the facility also in complete ruins.

The facility appears to be completely in ruins now after these massive airstrikes and again still on fire, still burning. And you can see that thick black smoke through the entire city, across all of Tehran.

It's been raining this morning in Tehran. There was oil mixed into the rain. So, this is definitely a massive incident that is still going on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: That's Fred Pleitgen, reported -- reporting from inside Tehran.

Well, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says that the U.S. is still investigating whether it is responsible for a strike on an -- on a school in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you made any conclusions about whether or not the United States, advertently or not, was involved in any military strike at that school?

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, we're still investigating, and that's where I'll leave it today. But what I will emphasize to you and to the world is that, unlike our adversaries, the Iranians, we never target civilians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a report late in the week from two officials that it was likely U.S. involvement. Is that report false?

HEGSETH: I've already said we're investigating.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you could tell the American public it definitively was not us, you would tell us, wouldn't you?

HEGSETH: I would -- I would say that it's being investigated, which is the only answer I'm prepared to give.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And as that investigation continues, this new video is surfacing, which reportedly shows the strike on February 28 that killed at least 168 children at that school.

President Trump claims that Iran is responsible for the tragic attack, but analysis by CNN shows that the U.S. was targeting a nearby Revolutionary Guard base at the time of the impact, and that the missile in the video appears consistent with U.S. Tomahawk munitions.

Now to CNN's Julia Benbrook, who brings us the White House's response to all of the latest developments emerging out of Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We have heard several updates from President Donald Trump this weekend when it comes to the ongoing conflict in Iran --

BENBROOK (voice-over): -- starting with timeline. He's thrown out several predictions since the start of Operation Epic Fury, starting with 2 to 3 days. Of course, we're past that now. He, at one point, said through the week. And then most recently, he's been saying 4 to 6 weeks.

When he was pressed on if that time frame holds up, he essentially said that the operation will last as long as it takes; whatever it takes. Then, there's the topic of Iran's new leader. Prior to the

announcement that the late supreme leader, the Ayatollah's, second eldest son, had been selected for that role, Trump had said that that pick would be unacceptable, that he could not support anyone who would continue some of those same policies.

He also said that he wanted to play a role in selecting the new leader. He was pressed on Air Force One, as he traveled back and forth here to Florida this weekend, on what it would take, what circumstances would be in place for ground troops to potentially be sent in.

BENBROOK: And he did not rule out the possibility but said that it would have to be for a very good reason. Take a listen.

[00:25:03]

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

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't even want to talk about it now. It's -- I don't think it's an appropriate question. You know I'm not going to answer it.

Could there be? Possibly, for very good reason; have to be a very good reason. And I would say, if we ever did that, they would be so decimated that they wouldn't be able to fight at the ground level.

BENBROOK: And then taking a step back here to the failed negotiations between the United States and Iran that took place before the beginning of this operation --

BENBROOK (voice-over): -- those were led on the U.S. side by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Witkoff was asked over the weekend if negotiations could ever restart with what is left of the Iranian government. This was before the announcement of the new supreme leader.

But he said that he did think it would be a possibility. but that that would ultimately be up to Trump.

BENBROOK: He added that the Iranians were not very amenable when it came to those early negotiations.

Traveling with the president in Florida, Julia Benbrook, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Well, slowly but surely, commercial flights, they are starting to resume in parts of the Middle East, hopefully helping some stranded travelers there.

Flights from Dubai International Airport, which is one of the world's busiest travel hubs, they picked up over the weekend, but they are still well below normal levels there. And with most airport -- airspace in the region still closed because

of the war, some passengers even have to pay some huge sums of money just to try to get a flight out.

In Oman, at the Muscat International Airport, it is now limiting private charter flights, giving priority to those flying government and commercial routes.

Well, stopping Iranian attacks -- Iranian attack drones, I should say, it's supposed to be -- it's supposed to be a pretty major challenge. Now, the U.S. may have a new tool to try to repel them. Experts from Ukraine. What we're learning about that. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:30:25]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back. I'm Polo Sandoval, live in New York, and let's take a look at today's top stories.

Iran's president visited civilians wounded in the ongoing war with the United States and Israel. Iranian state TV sharing video of him meeting with patients being treated at a hospital in Tehran on Sunday.

Iran's U.N. ambassador says that more than 1,300 civilians have been killed in attacks since the war started just over a week ago.

Ukraine sending experts to the Middle East to help repel Iranian drone attacks. Downing the troops [SIC], it has posed a significant issue for the military, just across the region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggesting that sharing resources would be a two-way street. That a clear reference to receiving U.S. air defense missiles as they take on Russia.

And Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is calling on President Trump to tap into the world's largest stockpile of emergency oil to lower energy prices.

Oil prices, they have been surging as the war with Iran continues to escalate, and Schumer says that the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is needed for moments just like this.

President Trump, for his part, told Reuters just last week that he was not considering using that reserve oil at this point.

More on our breaking news story now, on the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran.

Israel and Iran both announcing a new wave of missile strikes. Israeli military saying that it has launched a new wave of strikes on central Iran. And it also struck Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut on Monday morning.

And a senior Iranian official told CNN earlier that the war has entered a new phase. And this after Israel's attacks on a U.S. -- I should say on oil and fuel depots there.

Well, meanwhile, Iranian officials have named the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the country's next supreme leader. And that's according to state media.

In a statement, the IRGC issued its full backing of Mojtaba Khamenei. But U.S. President Donald Trump says that the new supreme leader, quote, "is not going to last long" without his approval.

Iran's new leader has kept a fairly low profile, but that's all about to change, according to reporting from CNN's Isobel Yeung.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As many in Iran celebrated, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's death, others mourned it.

But his second son, 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei, was planning to step into his father's shoes and into the heart of war with Israel and the U.S.

Mojtaba Khamenei is Iran's declared new head of state, the spiritual leader for a brutal regime his father came to embody before he was slain by Israel and the U.S. in joint strikes. Alongside his father, Mojtaba's mother and wife were also killed in U.S.-Israeli airstrikes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei.

MAHA YAHYA, DIRECTOR, CARNEGIE MIDDLE EAST CENTER: The signal the regime is saying -- is sending is continuation. We're still holding together. It's more of the same. And in fact, we're going to become even more hardliners than we were before.

All the military pressure, that is, that the country is under is not going to get us to shift position.

YEUNG (voice-over): Born in Mashhad in 1969, Mojtaba Khamenei served in the Iran-Iraq war and studied in the holy city of Qom.

Mojtaba Khamenei has strong links with the security establishment, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as the besieged paramilitary force. Relationships he's likely to foster if he wishes to rule in the same vein as his father.

But the junior Khamenei could struggle for legitimacy even among supporters of the regime. He's not a well-known cleric and has not held government office. And a father-to-son succession may not be palatable to the supporters of a revolution that overthrew a monarchy.

But the new Ayatollah's greatest challenge is the regime's current existential threat, posed by the war unleashed by the U.S. and Israel.

Israel has confirmed the new leader will immediately be an assassination target, if he isn't one already.

Trump says the U.S. and Israel have killed dozens from Iran's leadership circle since 28th of February. And they're far from finished, which complicates plans for a U.S.-preferred successor.

TRUMP: Well, most of the people we had in mind are dead. So, you know, we had some in mind from that group that is -- is dead. And now, we have another group. They may be dead also, based on reports.

[00:35:09]

So, I guess you have a third wave coming in. Pretty soon, we're not going to know anybody.

YEUNG (voice-over): The appointment of Mojtaba suggests that, at least for now, regime change has not been successful. A new Ayatollah and a new enemy of the United States and Israel with at least one advantage over his peers. He's still alive.

Isobel Yeung, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Joining me now is CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger. He's also White House and national security correspondent for "The New York Times."

Hey, David.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Hey, Polo. How are you?

SANDOVAL: Doing pretty good. And as we continue to follow these developments out of the Middle East, you've heard that reporting, President Trump saying that the new Ayatollah won't last long.

So, how difficult would it be for U.S.-Israeli joint forces to target the new leader, you think?

SANGER: Well, they can probably target him. I think at this point, the Iranians are going to do everything they can to, you know, keep him down in the bunkers.

We've learned from the 12-day war back in June and from the eight days that we've seen here that the Israelis are pretty good at sussing out where people are located.

But I think there's a larger point here, which is this has been a lot harder slog for the U.S. and Israel than I suspect that President Trump initially intended.

Obviously, the Iranians have done a fairly effective job at hitting targets all around the region, trying to make sure that the Arab states that were allied with the U.S. paid some price. We don't know how long they can keep this up or how effective the U.S. will be at suppressing them.

But the fact of the matter is that the U.S. and Israel are up against an enemy that is quite good at asymmetric return attacks. And it's not clear to me that the administration went into this with an end game, either on the regime or on the military side.

SANDOVAL: And because of that, David, do you, in the coming days perhaps weeks, see the Trump administration attempting to - to move the goalposts and try to redefine what both political and military victories look like?

SANGER: Well, we've seen a redefinition just about every day, haven't we, Polo? Right?

SANDOVAL: Yes.

SANGER: I mean, if you think back to eight days ago, the president, when the -- when this all began, said that he wanted the people of Iran to rise up and overthrow their government after the military work was done.

The next day, we asked him in an interview, a phone conversation with "The New York Times," who exactly the military was supposed to -- the Iranian military was supposed to surrender to. Because he had said that. And he said to the people. They should just turn over their arms, which seemed unlikely.

And then all week, we heard different variations that the -- from Secretary Hegseth, Secretary Rubio, all of whom said, no, we're just trying to fight a war to make sure that Iran can't exercise its power outside of Iranian territory. Well, that's a much narrower range.

And then the president, of course, said no, he would pick the next leader and that there had to be unconditional surrender. Well, that expanded the range.

So, they've just had a very difficult time trying to explain here what their political objectives are.

SANDOVAL: David, you've covered previous administrations and the decision making from these administrations when it comes to sending troops overseas, sending them into conflict zones.

We heard from President Trump that he continues to leave on the table the possibility of sending in a conventional troop deployment.

What conditions do you think would have to be met before Israel, the U.S., or both, decide to -- to even start planning that kind of deployment?

SANGER: Well, I think there has probably been planning done, underway. I mean, I'd be shocked if there hadn't been, just in case they needed to.

But I think that, when the president talks about sending in ground troops, he's not talking about it in the way the U.S. did in Iraq with a massive force.

I think the issue that animates them the most and which they have admitted they may have to do on the ground, is seizing the nuclear material that's stored largely at Isfahan. And that's the material that's near bomb grade.

And you couldn't get that without an on-the-ground Special Forces team. And then the question is, do you try to fly it out of the country? Do you try to neutralize it in place? How do you go about that?

[00:40:03]

And my guess is that that's probably more the kind of specific, narrow mission they're discussing than just an overall invasion in a country that's larger than Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

SANDOVAL: Yes, that poses another question how do you get, potentially, 450 kilos of nuclear material out of the country, or at least safeguard it? We will certainly be watching.

SANGER: Especially when it's that deep. Yes. Yes.

SANDOVAL: Absolutely. David Sanger, always grateful for your perspective and all of your reporting. Thanks for your time.

SANGER: Great to be with you, Polo.

SANDOVAL: Well, a body of 88 clerics has chosen Iran's new supreme leader. But with or without that new supreme leader, Iran's regime could still survive, as we just discussed. We'll explain how Iran's complex government is built to last. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:44:00]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back. Mojtaba Khamenei has been elected to succeed his father, the late Ali Khamenei, as Iran's supreme leader, elected by the 88-member Assembly of Experts.

Khamenei takes on a post that his father held for nearly four decades. That is, until he was killed in U.S.-Israeli air strikes.

But it's not just the supreme leader that's keeping Iran's regime intact, as CNN's Kylie Atwood explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first wave of the military campaign against Iran killed the long- serving supreme leader. But the regime is still operating as designed.

ATWOOD: Its governing structure is unlike any other political system in the world.

ATWOOD (voice-over): Unlike Iraq or Syria, where taking down the head of the regime made the whole system collapse, Iran is structured for longevity.

ALI VAEZ, IRAN PROJECT DIRECTOR, CRISIS GROUP: The Iranian political system is not a one-man show. It is a system.

ATWOOD (voice-over): President Trump told the Iranian people to --

TRUMP: Take over your government. It will be yours to take.

ATWOOD (voice-over): But that's more complicated than it sounds.

ATWOOD: Effectuating regime change in Iran will depend on big structural change, or even collapse.

ATWOOD (voice-over): Here's how Iran built its government to sustain attack.

While the supreme leader is the most powerful person in the Islamic Republic's structure, the country's constitution also distributes power throughout different layers of government, so it's not centralized.

The supreme leader appoints the head of the judiciary and oversees the president, who's elected by the people, as are members of Parliament.

And candidates for office have to be approved by the Guardian Council. This 12-person body is run by half religious leaders appointed by the supreme leader and half scholars appointed by the judiciary and approved by the Parliament. They have a lot of power and can help veto any of the Parliament's legislation.

Now when that happens, another body steps in, the Expediency Council. They help settle disputes between Parliament and the Guardian Council, but their main role is to advise a supreme leader, who also selects the members of the council.

VAEZ: The Islamic Republic is a hybrid political system born out of the revolution. That's why it has so many power centers, because the revolutionaries preserved some of the institutions of the monarchy, but because they didn't trust them, they created parallel institutions.

ATWOOD (voice-over): One of those crucial institutions is the Assembly of Experts. These members are elected to eight-year terms, and candidates also have to be approved by the Guardian Council. It's this group, comprised of 88 male clerics, who are supposed to be responsible for overseeing the supreme leader.

VAEZ: It's completely lost its value as an oversight mechanism and became a rubber-stamp mechanism just to praise the supreme leader.

ATWOOD (voice-over): While he's appointed to serve for life, the constitution gives the assembly of experts the power to get rid of him, if he's incapable of performing his legal responsibilities or becomes deficient.

If he is removed or if he dies, it's the experts who choose the next supreme leader as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, a three-person group of the president, head of the judiciary, and one of the legal scholars on the Guardian Council, selected by the Expediency Council, take the supreme leader's place.

ATWOOD: This entire system was designed for the supreme leader to be replaceable and for the regime to function without one, but it's still an incredibly powerful position.

ATWOOD (voice-over): The supreme leader commands the regular army, charged with defending the country, and the IRGC, which is in charge of defending the regime, its missile arsenals, and Iran's regional proxies.

VAEZ: Iran is one of the only countries that has two armies, because the army of the time of the shah, which was trained by the United States, was not trusted by the revolutionaries, and therefore, they created the Revolutionary Guards as a force loyal to the revolutionary system.

ATWOOD (voice-over): The well-funded, well-armed IRGC is considered the country's elite military force. It has more than 150,000 troops.

It's them, along with the police, who've carried out deadly crackdown on protesters and them who have fired retaliatory strikes on U.S. bases and Israel, and also on civilian targets throughout the region: hotels, airports, and apartment buildings.

After Trump's comments, the IRGC warned that protests would be treated as collaboration with the enemy.

VAEZ: The Islamic Republic is a deeply entrenched and also deeply benched political system. In order for it to be able to completely lose its control over the Iranian society, the U.S. would have to basically dismantle the Revolutionary Guards and all the other security forces: police, riot police, intelligence, which is a very difficult task.

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SANDOVAL: And we're back in a moment with more of your breaking news coverage of the war with Iran.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

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SANDOVAL: What are some Iranian expats shouting their support for the Iranian women's soccer team after they were eliminated from Asian Cup play in Australia on Sunday.

Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's last shah, calling on the Australian government to ensure the safety of the team. You see, there are fears for their safety when they return to Iran, because they staged an apparent act of protest against the Iranian regime.

Team members refused to sing the national anthem before a match last week.

The U.S. military carried out another strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Eastern Pacific. That's according to Southern Command, which says that the strike killed six people.

Officials say that the boat was targeted because it was on a route that's commonly used by drug traffickers. The government has not provided any proof or evidence that the vessel did, in fact, carry drugs.

So far, at least 157 people have been killed in a series of strikes from the U.S. military for -- against suspected drug trafficking.

An improvised explosive device was thrown near the residence of New York City's mayor on Saturday after opposing protest groups clashed.

It happened after tensions during an anti-Islam protest boiled over.

Police say counter -- that a counter-protester threw the explosive. The New York City Police Department said that the bomb was capable of causing serious injury or even death. Here's CNN's Gloria Pazmino with the latest on the investigation.

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GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this all started on Saturday afternoon after right-wing influencer and pardoned January 6th rioter --

PAZMINO (voice-over): -- Jake Lang organized a so-called anti-Muslim protest outside Gracie Mansion, New York City's mayoral residence.

That protest drew about 25 people and a much larger counter-protest.

Now, the two groups were separated during the duration of the demonstration, but there were several clashes throughout the protest.

At one point, the anti-Muslim protesters pepper spraying the other group, and a counter protester launching one of those incendiary devices into the crowd.

Now we are told that, while the device did not ignite, it did have smoke coming out of it when it was launched and when it landed near the crowd that was gathered here, as well as police.

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We've also learned from law enforcement sources that two of the six people that were arrested in relation to those incidents have said that they were inspired by ISIS.

We've also learned something about what was inside of those devices, which -- PAZMINO: -- they were the size of about a small football. We're told by NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch that there were screws and nails and bolts inside of those devices, and that they appear to have been made with a likely explosive substance.

She said that these items were designed to explode and to cause serious injury.

Now, on Sunday, about four blocks from Gracie Mansion --

PAZMINO (voice-over): -- there was a suspicious vehicle that was found by NYPD officers that were investigating after Saturday's incident. Inside that vehicle, they recovered a third suspicious device. That device was safely removed from the car, and it is being tested for what is inside it.

This investigation is being handled by the NYPD, the FBI, as well as the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

A total of six people were arrested. We're still waiting to learn more about what charges the individuals will be facing. They remain in custody.

And we have heard from a spokesperson for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, saying that both the mayor and the first lady, Rama Duwaji, were safe --

PAZMINO: -- at the time of the incident.

Gloria Pazmino, CNN, New York.

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SANDOVAL: I really appreciate you watching the last hour of news. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. I join you again in just a few moments as we continue our breaking news coverage of the war with Iran.

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