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CNN Provides Latest Updates on War with Iran; Oil Prices Soar as War Escalates; Iran School Strike Investigation; Black Rain in Tehran; Oil Prices Soar Past $100 A Barrel As War Escalates; Mojtaba Khamenei Selected As Iran's Next Supreme Leader; New Aerial Attacks Reported Across Persian Gulf; International Women's Day Marked Across The Globe. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired March 09, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): This is "CNN Breaking News."

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

We begin with breaking news this hour. U.S. President Donald Trump says he will decide with Israel when to end the war with Iran as the Israeli military launches a new wave of strikes in just the last few hours. Smoke could be seen rising over the Lebanese capital, Beirut, where Israel says it struck infrastructure belonging to Iran-backed Hezbollah. It also fired strikes at Central Iran.

Meantime, sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Haifa, and emergency services were seen in central Israel after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard says it launched missiles shortly 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, and Iran is now calling on the public to gather nationwide in the hours ahead to pledge allegiance to the new leader.

Ahead of that announcement, President Trump had said the next Iranian leader won't last long without his approval while the U.S. defense secretary discussed Trump's suggestion of Iran's unconditional surrender. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJOR GARRETT, CBS NEWS CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The president said recently there will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender. What does that look like, unconditional surrender? How will you know it's real?

PETE HEGSETH, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: That means we're fighting to win. It means we set the terms. We'll know when they're not capable of fighting. There'll be a point where they'll have no choice but to do that. Whether they know it or not, they will be combat ineffective. They will surrender.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Paula Hancocks is following developments and joins us live from Dubai. So, Paula, let's start with the latest information you have on the strikes on Iran.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, we have been hearing from Israel that they have just started a fresh wave of strikes against Iran, saying that they are striking missile launch sites and also raging infrastructure.

Now, what we have been seeing as well from the Israeli side and acknowledged by Iran is that they are focusing and have been on energy infrastructure as well. A senior Iranian official saying that they are aware that this is a target now in Iran, and they said that it will be reciprocal, that if the U.S. is targeting their energy infrastructure, then they are able to do that around the region.

Now we have already seen that Iran has been targeting energy infrastructure in a number of Gulf nations. Bahrain is just the most recent to suffer a fire because of a strike near one of its facilities. Now, we also know that Iran has been firing missiles and drones into Israel. No reports of casualties at least in the most recent few hours. So, this is continuing unabated at this point, at the same time as we see that Iran has a new supreme leader.

Now, what we're hearing from Tehran is, effectively, that this is a continuation of the Islamic regime as it was under the late ayatollah, Ali Khamenei. The same policies, the same legacy will be continued.

It is his son that has been chosen by the 88-member assembly of experts to take over as supreme leader. He hasn't held a senior formal position, but we do know that he is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. So, what we can expect from this, as it pertains to this current war, is that things will continue as they are. He is considered a hardliner. If he is close to the Revolutionary Guards, he is not considered likely to change the trajectory of this war in any shape or form or change any of his father's policies.

[02:05:00]

Now, as you mentioned, Rosemary, we did hear from the U.S. president that he had said last week that if this particular individual, who was emerging as one of the favorites, would be the new supreme leader, that would be unacceptable. He is under sanctions from the U.S. They brought those in about six, seven years ago. And he's certainly not the choice that President Trump would want to make as he had said that he wanted to be involved in the next leader.

We also know that Israel has already put a target on his back even before he was named officially. They said that the next supreme leader would be a justifiable target as well. Rosemary? CHURCH: Paula Hancocks in Dubai bringing us that live report, many thanks for that. Appreciate it.

Well, video from Iranian state T.V. shows celebrations in Tehran after Mojtaba Khamenei was named the new supreme leader. The assembly of experts that elected him is urging Iranians to maintain unity and pledge allegiance to the new leader. Here's what one Iranian woman says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The White House has not yet responded after the announcement of Iran's new supreme leader on Sunday. President Trump just last week said the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei would be unacceptable. And he has previously stated that one of the goals of the war was to wipe out Iran's Islamic regime.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Military has announced the death of a seventh service member in this war. U.S. Central Command says the soldier died of injury sustained during an attack in Saudi Arabia last week.

Well, the war continues to cause oil prices to soar, putting countries around the world on alert. Brent crude surge passed $100 a barrel on Sunday. It's the first time the global benchmark has crossed that mark since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. And here's where the price sits right now. You can see it there. So, WTI, the U.S. oil benchmark, also hit its highest level since 2022.

CNN's Mike Valerio joins me from Beijing with more. So, Mike, what will disruptions to energy supplies likely mean for most countries?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think, Rosemary, likely means for all of us, no matter where you're watching in America or here in China, likely higher prices because if it costs more to power our ships, to power factories, if there's a disruption in the major artery that sends fuel and energy supplies to this corner of the world, you're going to have scarcity, which means that energy prices are going up, as we've seen, and that means it's going to be more expensive to power the factories, to power the ships.

So, we've seen this reflected in the numbers of the markets throughout the Asia indices today. We're off the session lows. The Nikkei down around 5 percent, 6 percent. Well, I should say 5.49 percent that I see right here on my screen. KOSPI in Seoul was down around 8 percent at its session lows. Now, it is down around 6.62 percent.

But, certainly, why these all matters is because even if you're a driver, let's say in the United States, you're still going to be paying more for gasoline, for chips, for manufactured goods because of this chain reaction.

And just breaking over the past couple minutes, courtesy of super producer Gawon Bae who works for us at CNN in Seoul, and Laura Sharman, one of our great reporters in Hong Kong, we now have an example of this, of Lee Jae Myung, president of South Korea, saying that he wants gas price caps across South Korea.

That hasn't happened in almost 30 years since 1997, Rosemary. It is the last time there were price caps at the gas and petrol pumps in South Korea. Now, he's saying things may be getting out of control, so the government is going to step in and come up with a system to prevent prices at the pump from getting any higher.

South Korea is also saying that it's looking for new routes for energy besides the Strait of Hormuz because it imports something like more than 95 percent of its energy into South Korea.

We're also acutely focused on Taiwan. This is another island, another entity that imports so much of its energy. So, what we're able to report based on the past couple of days, Taiwan's cabinet is saying that they have a statutory requirement of 11 days of liquefied natural gas supplies.

[02:10:00]

And they've said to us, the cabinet, that their supply is OK for March, but there's somewhat of a question mark, somewhat for the month of April. They're trying to shore up their liquefied natural gas supplies. About a third of their supplies comes from Qatar, another third comes from Australia.

So, the point that we want to leave you with, Rosemary, is that none of these geographies are going to be out of oil, but when you have that huge disruption of a chunk perhaps missing from their energy equation, that could lead prices to go much higher as we enter into week two, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes. Everyone very shaky and concerned about this. Mike Valerio in Beijing, many thanks for bringing us up to date on all of that. Appreciate it.

Well, still to come, what the Trump administration is saying now about the deadly strike on an Iranian school. We're back with that in just a minute.

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CHURCH: We are gaining new insight into a deadly strike on an Iranian all-girls elementary school. This newly-released video reportedly shows the strike on February 28 that killed at least 168 children and 14 teachers in the town of Minab.

[02:15:00]

Over the weekend, President Trump claimed Iran was responsible for that tragic attack. But analysis by CNN shows the U.S. was targeting a nearby Revolutionary Guard base at the time of impact and that the missile in the video appears consistent with U.S. Tomahawk munitions. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. is still investigating the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

HEGSETH: Well, we're still investigating, and that's 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.

GARRETT: 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.

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

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Isobel Yeung has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A week after a strike killed scores of students in Iran's Minab, it seems more and more likely that the U.S. was responsible. A new satellite image shows an Iranian Revolutionary Guards base and an elementary school in Southern Iran. Here, you see craters in several of the buildings, including the school. They were hit in their exact centers, suggesting precision strikes, experts say. A wall separates the school and the base. Satellite images from December show dozens of people in what appears to be a handball court at the school. Reuters now reports that U.S. Military investigators believe U.S. forces were responsible, though they haven't yet reached a final conclusion.

N.R. JENZEN-JONES, DIRECTOR, ARMAMENT RESEARCH SERVICES: We paint a picture of multiple simultaneous or near simultaneous strikes. It looks like these were delivered with explosive munitions, probably air-delivered. I think the most likely scenario in this case is that it's a U.S. or Israeli airstrike going on. It's probably a targeting failure somewhere in the targeting cycle and intelligence failure.

YEUNG (voice-over): The Israeli military say they weren't operating in the area.

UNKNOWN: To date, we've hit over 2,000 targets.

YEUNG (voice-over): American military officials say they carried out extensive strikes in this area and released this map showing strikes in Southern Iran. The base and the school in Minab are located here.

HEGSETH: We, of course, never target civilian targets, but we're taking a look and investigating that.

JENZEN-JONES: The damage we've seen is quite significant. It's unlikely it was something like an air defense missile fired by the Iranians, for example.

YEUNG: When we try to assess who is responsible for airstrikes, we typically try to examine the weaponry fragments left behind. But in this instance, there's an internet blackout in Iran. It has been really difficult to obtain that. And so, this investigation is still not conclusive.

Isobel Yeung, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: In response to CNN's findings, a U.S. Military spokesperson said it would be inappropriate to comment given the incident is under investigation.

Israel says it has begun a new wave of attacks on Hezbollah targets in Beirut, and this comes hours after deadly strikes on Lebanon's capital. The IDF says it killed several senior commanders from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Quds Force. It says the Lebanon wing of that force serves as a key link between Hezbollah and Iran. Lebanese officials say the strike hit an apartment in a hotel building in the heart of Beirut, killing four people and wounding 10 others. The IDF says it took steps to limit harm to civilians.

Burcu Ozcelik is a senior research fellow for Middle East Security at the Royal United Services Institute, and she joins me now live from London. Appreciate you being with us.

Thank you.

CHURCH: I know we were talking about Lebanon, but I do want to start with Iran because when you look at these ongoing attacks on Iran, how far do you think the U.S. and Israel have gone in destroying the country's nuclear program, ballistic missile launches, and drone capabilities?

BURCU OZCELIK, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW FOR MIDDLE EAST SECURITY, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE: Well, it's fair to say that from the point of view of the United States and Israel, the joint forces, they have achieved a high level of success from an operational point of view thus far. That's not to say, however, that the Iranians have not been fighting back. They have and very hard from the early hours of the operation that's now over a weekend.

I think Iran has clearly focused on Gulf infrastructure, key assets there, targeting U.S. military bases and personnel and interests, but expanding the scope of their attacks across the Gulf, which has been causing significant pressure and resentment across the region as well.

[02:20:00]

So, it's going both ways. But from an operational military point of view, the United States and Israel appear to have a plan, which they are executing. But again, the war is ongoing and it still remains to be seen how this is all going to conclude.

CHURCH: And why is Iran continuing to attack Gulf states even after Iran's president apologized for those strikes and even pledged to stop them so long as attacks on Iran from those nations ended?

OZCELIK: That's right. And that statement by President Pezeshkian was shortly thereafter almost retracted. It was clipped when it was circulated within the Iranian media circles. I think this points to the issue of a fracture, of splinter in political authority within the Iranian system, with the IRGC clearly asserting a greater say over military planning and execution during this period of wartime, and we will likely continue to see that as we go forward.

The IRGC will determine the fate of what comes next, and this includes executing attacks against Gulf countries. This is where Iran feels as though it has the greatest leverage against the United States and, of course, more globally with respect to attacking energy production facilities, storage facilities, which has knock-on effects on global oil prices as well as other commodities that are linked closely to the price of oil and gas.

CHURCH: Let's go back now to Israel's attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. How much damage has likely been done to Hezbollah's military infrastructure and, of course, its capabilities?

OZCELIK: Well, it's difficult to quantify exactly. But I think at this stage, given the speed and expanded pace around which Israel has been striking Hezbollah-linked targets or infrastructure in the south and as far north as Beirut and its suburbs, it's fair to say that Hezbollah has suffered serious setbacks. And this is on top of the very many months of conflict that we had already seen, which had decimated Hezbollah's infrastructure and offensive capabilities.

I think the big question now is, what could happen, potentially, if Israel goes into Lebanon, the ground operation, potentially creating what it's called a buffer zone or a security belt along its northern front with Lebanon?

And there are fears inside Lebanon and across the region that this could lead to a potential -- a larger end game where Israel might look to remain inside Lebanese territory. Some are even calling it the early stages of what could look like annexation of Lebanese territory in order to create this buffer zone, as Israel calls it, deep inside Lebanese territory. I think that's a longer concern.

And the second concern, looking ahead, is what will become of Hezbollah and whether it enters into a phase of a deeper political transformation, becoming a national party within Lebanon, or whether it continues to erode in its credibility, its legitimacy as a Lebanese party, given that it strikes against Israel in the aftermath of this war with Iran, invited IDF or Israeli military strikes against Lebanon again. And so, the country now feels as though it is being dragged into yet another phase of war, which it was not in a position to be able to absorb these shocks. So, there many concerns.

And the third point, of course, is the extent to which the Hezbollah- Iran link will continue to survive and to be resilient in the face of the weakening IRGC inside Iran. So, a lot of moving parts and various factors to consider here. But important to keep in mind what happens in the mid to longer term on the relationship between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran as well as that proxy patron relationship.

CHURCH: Right. And big picture, where do you see this war going as it escalates and indeed expands across the Middle East?

OZCELIK: Well, the concern remains real. I think the concern is imminent. There is the risk of the war expanding horizontally. Further, we saw strikes or attempted strikes, intercepted strikes across in Turkey as well as Azerbaijan. So, there is real concern that the war can continue not only in its physical material impacts as Iran launches, Iran drone strikes, and allies try to intercept them, but also in the global energy price shocks, of course, that we're likely to see with the price of oil now having skyrocketed.

[02:25:02]

So, there are real concerns, particularly given that we don't have a sense of when this might conclude from the American and Israeli points of view, when success might be declared or when the criteria for success will be assessed to have been established by President Trump. So, it is that uncertainty about the end game that's causing great fear in the Middle East on a human level as well as geopolitical and, certainly, the markets as well are rattled.

CHURCH: Burcu Ozcelik, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

OZCELIK: Thank you.

CHURCH: Still to come, we will take a closer look at the fallout after US-Israeli strikes hit fuel and oil storages across Iran's capital. We will be back with that and more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Thick, black clouds and oil-saturated rain are now spreading over Tehran. This after Israeli-American missiles struck several fuel and oil storage tanks across the capital. State media reports some blazes are still ongoing and may take days to extinguish.

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

(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, 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.

[02:30:03]

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)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Joining me now is Felipe Elink Schuurman, CEO and founder of Sparta Commodities. Thanks so much for joining us.

FELIPE ELINK SCHUURMAN, CEO & FOUNDER, SPARTA COMMODITIES: Hi. Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: So as this war escalates and expands across the Middle East, energy supplies are at risk, causing oil prices to soar past $100 a barrel. And that's creating panic on global markets. What could this mean potentially, in the days and weeks ahead, as attacks continue on the energy infrastructure of Iran and refineries in most Gulf states, and as oil supplies remain stuck in the Strait of Hormuz?

SCHUURMAN: Well, yeah, this is unprecedented. Obviously, we saw this morning that crude went all the way up to $119, now hovering around $108. And no one really expected this to happen so quickly. I think the market initially called this a supply risk or more of a logistical risk, and then was catching up very quickly.

And now, it is an absolute supply disruption globally. I think the main story here is not so much around crude. It's much more around oil products as we entered this crisis with ample supplies of crude but a very limited amount of refining capacity.

So this is just week one. Let's see what happens over the next weeks. Trump is talking about a four week conflict and we are already seeing in many places in Asia where refineries are shutting down or they're calling for force majeure. So it is quite unprecedented.

CHURCH: And as you say -- I mean, the world has never witnessed energy infrastructure being attacked simultaneously across an entire region like this. So how likely is a global recession if these attacks on energy supplies continue? I mean, some people are mentioning the R- word.

SCHUURMAN: Yeah. I mean, it is -- you can expect that I would say the -- let's not forget that we're talking about 20 percent of oil supply coming from the region. And it's not just the supply because it's -- well, it's 20 million barrels that is supplied from the region, but we're already seeing some shut ins, so with oil fields or refineries that have been disrupted not only because of the impact of missiles or drones, but also mainly because of the fact that they cannot load.

So they because of those logistical constraints, they're forced to shut in. And we've seen this over the weekend with KPC, the Kuwaiti Petroleum Company, announcing that they would be shutting in all of their production. So that's 2.5 million barrels. ADNOC is claiming that they will be reducing output.

All of this is having an impact and what we're seeing now is that the products prices, particularly on jet kerosene and diesel are skyrocketing and much more than crude is and that is essentially telling the story that there is no product or there will be no product available or that refineries need to continue processing, which is difficult because they cannot get the supply they need. In essence, this will be resolved by reduction of consumption and that is what the market is telling consumers.

CHURCH: Right. And President Trump says that he will, along with Israel decide when this war ends. Where is the off ramp here? Do you think he could look at this sort of situation and think I need to get out of this?

SCHUURMAN: Well, one would assume that he would think that. But what we're seeing, at least over the weekend, is that the escalate -- well, it's escalating. It's not there's no off ramp discussion. They just announced Khamenei successor, his son, who's also a hardliner. The IRGC, you know, completely rallied around him.

So this is not telling you that we are in off ramp mode its actually the contrary were escalating the tension so my comment is that if in one week were already seeing the impact not just in the gulf coast but also in Asian refineries and Asian infrastructure, because again, they import 80 percent of the crude that is exported out of the region goes to Asia.

[02:35:05]

And we're already seeing that in what, in week one? What will we see in week four. And that is no one can tell at this stage.

CHURCH: Right. And of course, as you touched on of course, with oil supplies in the Strait of Hormuz, unable to move, that's storage issues right there. Production shutdowns in the gulf look more likely. And once that happens, it takes time to restart these operations. So how concerned are you about where this might be going. SCHUURMAN: Well, even if you -- let's say the Strait of Hormuz opened today, okay? And it would we estimate that the logistical impact it will take roughly two, two and a half months to go back to normal. If the vessel is now that is able to load and to ship away, it will take -- you know, first of all, there's a chaos with all the ships around the region. Loading normally you need to take one or two ports, two or three ports actually, to, to load the 2 million barrels of VLCC.

And then the question is, well, you need to restart those -- those oil fields that were shut down, and that takes another three or 4 or 5 days. The vessels in the, in the world are rerouted. You have a lot of vessels, you know blocked because they cannot move. And now refiners are buying crude from alternative sources, which take double or triple the amount of time to get to the destination.

So you have a very chaotic logistical scenario right now. And we estimate that it already after one week, would take two and a half months to restore.

CHURCH: Very sobering. Felipe Elink Schuurman, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

SCHUURMAN: Thank you

CHURCH: Well, new aerial attacks reported across Gulf states as a new week of the war with Iran begins. And we will have the latest from Qatar after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:40:06]

CHURCH: More on our top story. Israel and the United States war with Iran. Israel says it has launched new strikes on central Iran and on Hezbollah targets in Beirut. Meanwhile, Israeli air defenses are intercepting Iranian attacks.

Sirens sound in Tel Aviv and an Iranian projectile was shot down over Jerusalem. Gulf nations are also reporting strikes Monday morning. Iran's latest barrage of strikes come after it announced a new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the late ayatollah's son.

Israeli journalist Amir Tibon is the author of the book "The Gates of Gaza". He's also a correspondent for "Haaretz", and he joins us now from Haifa in Israel.

Appreciate you being with us.

AMIR TIBON, AUTHOR, "THE GATES OF GAZA": Hi. Good morning. Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: Of course.

So after Iran's supreme leader was killed at the start of this war, President Trump said the worst case scenario would be that somebody just as bad would take over. And now the son of the late supreme leader, a man who is even more hardline than his father, is the new leader. Where does this leave the United States and Israel's war with Iran, and of course, their goal of regime change?

TIBON: Well, first of all, I assume that just like when an opportunity presented itself to kill a supreme leader, Khamenei, I'm not sure there would be much hesitation on the Israeli or the American side to do something similar to the new supreme leader if there was such an opportunity. But I really think the question of the personality on top is the less important one. And actually the question we should be asking ourselves is whether the regime itself remains in place and stable and functioning after 10 days of war. And so far, it seems that the answer is yes. That doesn't mean it will remain this way forever, of course, because the sustained bombardment from both the American and Israeli air forces is continuing, and I think it may get even stronger. And that would put the regime to a great test.

And there's also a question of whether other countries in the region will join the war as active participants. And we've heard some conflicting reports, let's put it this way, about the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other countries who are being attacked by Iran. Perhaps considering to join. But for now on day 10, we do see through this announcement of a succession process that the regime in Iran is trying to assert itself and say, we are still here.

CHURCH: Right. And of course, President Trump now says that he will decide, along with Israel, when to end this war with Iran. But will they need to reassess what success means in this war and whether regime change is even achievable, and perhaps make the destruction of Iran's nuclear program, its ballistic missiles and drone capabilities the main goal here. That would be proof of success rather than regime change.

TIBON: Well, Israel went through, lets say, an interesting process around this question during the two years war in Gaza, because that war began with a clear goal of replacing Hamas and putting some other force in charge of Gaza and today, almost two and a half years after October 7th and four months or five, actually yeah, five months by now, after the cease fire that ended the Gaza war, Hamas is still in power in, let's say the populated half of the Gaza Strip.

So removing a regime, even after very, very heavy bombardments and great destruction is very difficult. And it requires, of course, an alternative that is ready and willing to take over in Gaza for various reasons that involve political interests. This did not happen. Whether or not it can happen in Iran, a country of 90 million people, I think it's really an open question. And there is a follow up question that should be asked, if not regime change, would the two sides, Israel and the United States?

Suffice with regime collapse situation where basically Iran descends into some kind of anarchy and civil war, and you still have armed groups, some of them perhaps with also access to drones and things like that. Would that be a good scenario from the American from the Israeli point of view? And of course, from the perspective of regional allies? And I think this is a very important question that is not being discussed enough.

[02:45:02]

CHURCH: Right. And Israel's military has just announced a new wave of strikes on central Iran and strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut. What's the goal here? And what more are you learning about where this stands right now?

TIBON: So Israel is fighting right now on two fronts, really. There is the main front, the main theater, which is Iran where the Israeli air force has complete control and superiority. The Iranians are unable to even slow down Israel's war plans.

And the second theater is in the north in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which has decided to join the war and has been bombarding northern Israel for nonstop, really for the last few days. And it looks like this is developing to be a war of attrition in between these two theaters. Israel uses a lot of firepower, and it goes after high quality targets. But both Iran and Hezbollah continue to fire missiles and rockets and drones toward Israel. And yesterday, we also had two Israeli soldiers killed in battle against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

We heard the chief of staff of the Israeli military, Eyal Zamir speak yesterday, and he basically told the Israeli public to prepare for a long war that could take weeks. And so, this is the situation as we speak this morning

CHURCH: Amir Tibon, thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate it.

TIBON: Thank you.

CHURCH: Iranians in Australia staged a show of support for their women's soccer team, which has been called "traitors" on Iranian state media.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

CHURCH: Expats chanted save our girls there as the teams bus pulled away. Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's last shah, has joined calls for the Australian government to ensure the safety of the team, and this comes despite the head coach saying she is eager to return home after the team was eliminated from Asian Cup play.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARZIYEH JAFARI, IRANIAN WOMEN'S SOCCER COACH: We are very impatiently waiting to return. Personally, I would like to return to my country as soon as possible and be with my compatriots and family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Despite her words, there are fears for the team's safety because players refused to sing the national anthem before a match last week. Well, the U.S. State Department has ordered all non-emergency

diplomats to leave Saudi Arabia, reflecting the growing security risks faced by United States personnel across the Middle East. U.S. diplomatic and military facilities have come under attack in recent days as Tehran continues to launch retaliatory strikes.

On Sunday, officials announced the death of a U.S. service member killed in attacks in Saudi Arabia, sources told CNN that both a CIA station and the U.S. embassy in Riyadh were attacked by suspected Iranian drones this past week.

Well, in the past few hours, multiple Gulf states are reporting incoming aerial attacks.

CNN producer Antoinette Radford joins us now live from Doha in Qatar with more.

What can you tell us?

ANTOINETTE RADFORD, CNN PRODUCER: That's right, Rosemary. So as you say, Saudi Arabia particularly hard hit overnight. What's happened is following the announcement of Mojtaba Khamenei as the next supreme leader of Iran, the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, announced a fresh wave of missile strikes on countries, including here in the gulf. They posted videos that showed various types of missiles being launched. One country that's particularly hard hit is Bahrain.

A drone strike injured 32 people in a residential area overnight. Of those injured, a two month old, two young boys and a 17-year-old girl. Now, they were injured in a residential area near energy infrastructure. And yesterday, Bahrain also had an attack on its desalination plant. Now, its desalination plant wasn't damaged to the point of no longer working. But what this points to is two attacks on civilian infrastructure from Iran in Bahrain.

Now, Iran has said its only targeting U.S. bases. It says that it's focusing its attacks on those areas. But we're seeing here clear examples of civilian and critical infrastructure being hit. It's day ten of the war, and here in Qatar, we experienced what felt like a period of sort of calm over the weekend from 6:30 Saturday until 3:15 this morning.

We didn't hear any warnings. We didn't have any further missiles being intercepted but at about 3:15 this morning, we received a warning to our phones of an incoming missile attack.

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I heard it take place overhead. And the apartment I'm in the building actually shook. The ministry of defense confirmed that missiles were intercepted. They've not yet said what sort of damage may have occurred, if any.

And despite that missile attack, flights have continued from Hamad International Airport this morning. This time last week, there were 8,000 travelers trapped here in Doha who were trying to get to other places when the airspace closed. So this is a relief for them that these flights are continuing via this dedicated air corridor.

This morning, numerous flights took off to different locations, taking people who have been trapped here back to their family, to their friends, to their loved ones. They're also bringing back people who want to be here in Qatar, back to their family here, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Antoinette Radford in Doha, many thanks and do stay safe there. We'll be right back.

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CHURCH: A huge fire in Scotland has engulfed an historic building in Glasgow and is causing major travel disruption. Dozens of firefighters have been tackling the blaze, which erupted near one of the country's busiest train stations on Sunday. This eyewitness video shows fire and smoke billowing from a building believed to be near Glasgow central station.

The fire service says the blaze began on the ground floor of a four- story commercial building, Glasgow central station, which connects regular rail services across the U.K. remains closed. No casualties have been reported so far.

International Women's Day was marked across the globe on Sunday as people came together to commemorate the ongoing battle for women's rights.

In Spain, thousands of women lined the streets of Madrid dressed in purple, where they called for further progression towards gender parity.

The Greek capital, Athens, saw mass participation in its women's march, with those involved expressing their solidarity with women in conflict zones around the world.

And in Mexico City, people marched to draw attention to violence against women. Just one in 10 cases of femicide leads to a conviction in the country.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think there are more now as women are more awake to demand and to make themselves heard. And I believe this is something we must continue supporting. We should be treated the same way, with the same rights. I know we have different roles, but I believe we equally deserve rights and justice.

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CHURCH: And finally, in Chile, tens of thousands marched in Santiago in a symbolic gesture ahead of the inauguration of far right President-elect Jose Antonio Kast.

I want to thank you for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church, and we'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after a short break.

Stay with us.

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