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Iran Vows Retaliation After U.S. Strikes On Key Oil Hub; Trump Claims Countries Will Send Warships To Open Strait Of Hormuz; Interview With Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY); Trump Claims Countries Will Send Warships To Open Strait Of Hormuz; Jewish Community On High Alert After Recent Antisemitic Attacks; Terror Attacks Rattle American's Sense Of Safety; United States On Alert After Terror Attacks At Synagogue And University; Hollywood Prepares For Star-Studded Night. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired March 14, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

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[17:00:04]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

And new tonight, the U.S. embassy in Iraq is issuing a new security alert urging all Americans to leave the country immediately as the war with Iran expands. The new warning coming after an attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad that happened earlier today. And that's the video you're looking at right there.

A security official telling CNN the embassy was hit by two Iranian drones. But the extent of the damage or whether there were any injuries is not immediately clear.

Now, this is coming just a day after the U.S. targeted Iran's Kharg Island. That is a key Iranian territory that handles roughly 90 percent of the nation's crude exports.

And yesterday, the U.S. hit military facilities on that island.

I want to bring in CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson, who is joining us now from Kuwait. Nic, let's start with Iran saying it's going to retaliate for these U.S. strikes on Kharg Island. Tell us the latest in the region.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, it's definitely, at least as far as Kuwait is concerned and down the rest of the Gulf, it appears to be the same. that Iran has put an uptick in its amount of targeting in Kuwait today.

Just in the past couple of hours, the international airport here was hit, according to Civil Aviation Authority's radar, equipment there was damaged. The military here earlier on said that seven drones had been fired into Kuwait -- three intercepted, two fallen in open area, but another two had hit an air base in the south of the country. Three service personnel injured as well in those strikes here. And when we look further south -- Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the sirens

were going off there. Air raid sirens just in the past hour or so.

Prince Sultan Air Base just outside the capital in Riyadh. Again, this is an air base where the United States has radar equipment, has KC-135 refueling aircraft.

Qatar has had ballistic missiles, drones fired at it. UAE taking perhaps the preponderance of the missile fire and this all coming after the Iranian foreign minister, the military spokesperson there as well, saying that Iran would target U.S. Commercial interests in the region, warned civilians, particularly in the UAE to get away from those sorts of commercial interests. that they would target oil facilities connected with the United States as well.

It's not quite clear what Iran has been targeting -- has actually been targeting, but the number of missiles has definitely sort of peaked above yesterday.

So it is indicative that Iran is following through on its threats, not clear how effective it's been though.

DEAN: Yes. And certainly indicative of how this continues to affect that entire region, Nic.

Tell us more about Kharg Island and why it's significant.

ROBERTSON: It's hugely important to Iran. It's a main -- export facility for exporting crude oil. 90 percent of that crude oil comes out of there. And it is at the northern end of the Persian Gulf here as well.

So it's about 130 miles from where we are, which kind of shifts the focus if you think of Strait of Hormuz, about 500 miles southeast of here, Kharg Island being in the north end of the Persian Gulf.

It means that the focus of Iran's activities kind of shifts to the north as well. It is important to them. It's got their sort of deep -- it's a deep-water terminal. Supertankers can get in there. 4 to 5 percent of the world's global oil needs are fed from Kharg Island.

It's not a big place, about a third of the size of Manhattan and the military bases being targeted on it is significant and significant as well, that the United States has very clearly said it's not targeted those oil facilities.

But it seems that Iran is interpreting that as a threat, and it's striking out or saying it's intending to strike back preemptively ahead of whatever may happen to Kharg Island.

But Kharg Island is absolutely a pressure point for the Iranians, vital for their economy.

DEAN: Yes it's really fascinating and interesting to note all of that.

All right. Nic Robertson in Kuwait, thank you so much for that. I want to bring in CNN White House correspondent Julia Benbrook, who

is in Florida, traveling with the president this weekend, to talk about the White House perspective on all of this.

Julia, we did just hear not too long ago from President Trump about the ongoing situation in the Strait of Hormuz. That is where Kharg Island is also located. What is the president saying about this?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a big area of focus right now. It's 20 percent -- roughly 20 percent of the world's oil travels through the Strait of Hormuz. And Trump has posted about securing this area twice now.

[17:04:50]

BENBROOK: In his most recent post, he reiterated a call for other countries to help secure the passage. He said that this should have always been a team effort and that the United States would help ensure that this process is done quickly, smoothly and well.

I also want to pull up a post from earlier in the day to add some context here. This is specifically what he was asking for. He said that they will do it and then later in the post he says that he hopes.

But in part he said "Many countries, especially those who are affected by Iran's attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending warships in conjunction with the United States of America to keep the strait open and safe.

We have already destroyed 100 percent of Iran's military capability, but it's easy for them to send a drone or two, drop a mine or deliver a close-range missile somewhere along or in this waterway no matter how badly defeated they are."

He added that he hopes that China, France, South Korea, the United Kingdom will send ships and that the United States will be bombing the shoreline in the meantime.

Now Iran's foreign minister has denied claims that they have blocked all traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, instead saying they're blocking vessels with ties to the United States and Israel.

DEAN: And Julia, what more are we learning about the presidents thinking just more broadly on this war two weeks in -- several weeks in really.

BENBROOK: Yes. Going into this third week now, Trump is here in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago estate. And that's where he was when he monitored those first joint U.S.-Israel strikes against Iran.

And according to some reporting from our CNN colleagues, there was intelligence that showed that Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and other top officials were going to be having meetings. And that led the United States and Israel to accelerate plans to attack in hopes of taking out the regime's top leadership at once. And those strikes were successful in taking out the supreme leader and

dozens of other top officials. But that also could have led to another potential issue, as some that the Trump administration were identifying as potential leaders for Iran in the future were also taken out.

Now as far as timeline goes going forward, there are still a lot of questions. There have been a lot of different predictions. Trump has most recently said 4 to 5 weeks, 4 to 6 weeks. But whatever it takes as long as it takes, essentially.

DEAN: All right. Julia Benbrook in Florida with the latest. Thank you so much for that.

And we're joined now by Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York. He serves as ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and senior member of the House Financial Services Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for your time. We really appreciate it.

I want to start there where we just left off with my colleagues, Nic Robertson and Julia Benbrook, and the current state of this war with Iran and the escalation we saw in the last 24 hours across that -- across the Gulf region, prompted by these U.S. strikes on Kharg Island.

I just want to get your thoughts on where things stand right now.

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY): Well, look, I think that there's a lot of questions still in the air. Clear, Kharg Island is really important to Iran, and getting those weapons there should be successful.

But then where do we go next? And that's been the question here all the time. So I see the war escalating throughout the Gulf region.

Iran says, and it has, started retaliating against our allies where we have bases located. And so I don't know what the end run is. There's going to come to a point that I believe you run out of -- once you get rid of -- if the president is correct and he has destroyed all of the military bases, all the launches, et cetera. And there's still fighting going on, then what is next and what is the end game and how do we get there?

This is what I think that should have been talked about and decided upon, and a plan for with the Strait of Hormuz also before the attack.

And just as was just reported, I think that just going in, as they did based upon information and knocking out a lot of the leadership without thinking what takes place next, knowing that there's succession, there should have been a greater plan or at least if there is a plan, that plan should have been articulated to Congress so that Congress and the American people know what it is.

But spending $1 billion a day, which is what we're doing now, and look, over -- this has been close to 14 days. That's close to $14 billion. We need to know what the plan is, how we get to the end game ultimately. And I don't think that we know that yet. Maybe the president doesn't know it yet.

DEAN: Yes. And the White House has certainly pushed back on that. We have reported that potentially they underestimated what the Iran's willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz. But we are certainly seeing the ramifications of all of this continuing to broaden out.

[17:09:50]

DEAN: And the Trump administration is now easing sanctions on Russian oil as a result of the rising prices that have been caused by all of this.

What do you think about Congress playing a role in those types of decisions?

MEEKS: Look, I'm absolutely upset and worried about him giving -- looks like he's working to, with his friend Russia, starting to remove sanctions. And Russia, our intelligence says its cooperating with Iran and telling Iran and giving Iran notices of where our ships are located, where our personnel is located, et cetera.

So here is a Donald J. Trump giving up sanctions on Russia. Russia will take the money that it's getting in to utilize that against Ukraine. And yet the president just allows that to happen.

I don't know, it seems, and that's what's concerning me, individuals who soon will start talking about that the United States is doing things very similar to the way Russia operates.

And that's not who we are, and that's not who we should be.

DEAN: I do want to ask you too, about the Department of Homeland Security. It has been in shutdown mode for a month as you all, as Democrats and Republicans, try to sort out immigration and get an agreement on that.

We know that affected employees, including TSA agents, have missed their first full paycheck. We're seeing long lines at airports.

All of this is coming as just in the last week, we have seen three separate attacks -- again, just in the last week -- inspired by extremists here in our country that have put Americans at risk. Two, said, you know, to be -- said to be inspired by ISIS. One has connectivity to Hezbollah.

Do you think Americans are at greater risk right now with DHS being shut down and these threats and these attacks happening in real time?

MEEKS: Yes, I am very concerned about the TSA individuals who are working hard every day, not getting paid. I'm concerned about other agencies within DHS.

We have tried to come -- Democrats have come with a bill to take all of them out, make sure that they are paid and let's continue to negotiate with reference to ICE. The Republicans have shut down the dialog and that conversation,

because we must have some reform to ICE. Remember, before the first shutdown, the goal was a negotiation.

The negotiation -- and Republicans have never negotiated at all in that regard. And so I would think that in the interest of safety for the -- for citizens of the United States and those individuals working with TSA, we should make sure they get paid.

In fact, DHS has over $76 billion that came in Trump's big ugly bill, that they can pay individuals right now to make sure that they're safe and/or come to the table and let's negotiate in good faith and try to get a deal done.

Because we all are concerned about the safety of Americans in that regard. But there has to be and we all agree -- most Americans agree that we must reform ICE and make sure that we don't have American citizens being killed by ICE as we've seen before, or arrested and people jumping out of vans without any kind of identification, in masks and things of that nature.

So I think that we should be, if the Republicans would just meet us, be able to negotiate, pay our TSA agents, pay those of the -- from the DHS that keeps us safe. And that's their job to move that and make sure that we reform ICE.

I think that's, you know, it should not be hard. It's not a hard thing to do if the Republicans would only step up to the table.

DEAN: All right. Congressman Gregory Meeks, thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it.

MEEKS: Thank you for having me.

DEAN: We're going to have much more breaking news still ahead. What will other nations do as oil prices spike around the world? A former deputy secretary of State joins us next to give us context around the war strategy.

Stay with us. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:13:58]

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DEAN: New tonight, President Trump claiming other countries will soon be sending their warships to the Middle East to help the U.S. reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The president, writing in a post on Truth Social, quote, "Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the U.K. and others will join the effort." It's unclear, though, whether any countries have agreed to that.

Iran, responding tonight with its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi warning the White House is, quote, "inviting rather than deterring trouble". I want to bring in former deputy secretary of State Wendy Sherman. She

served under three Democratic presidents and five secretaries of state. She also led the team that negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

Ambassador, we're so glad to have you here tonight. Thank you so much for your time.

We know that Iraq was a key senior negotiator in forming that nuclear deal, which you were a huge part of.

Knowing him, knowing Iran, what do you read into his statement and the current state of play here?

WENDY SHERMAN, FORMER DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, thank you for having me, Jessica.

I think the current state of play is terrible chaos. The president went into this without a coalition, without allies, just with Israel.

[17:19:52]

SHERMAN: Tactically our military, which is exquisite, has done an extraordinary job. But strategically, it's not clear what we're trying to accomplish and when we can exit.

We've been playing a conventional war effort. The Iranians have been using asymmetric means. It really reminds me of the Vietnam War when we used conventional means and the Viet Cong used guerrilla warfare and ultimately won.

So I think what's happening here is Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister, very smart, very tough, excellent negotiator, good English written and spoken. And he's basically putting the onus on the United States saying anybody can come through the Strait of Hormuz as long as it's not the United States or Israel.

But of course, we are firing against ships and boats because we don't want Iran to mine or further mine, I don't think we exactly know, the Strait of Hormuz, and ships are very wary of coming through there.

It would have been a good idea if you're going to go ahead and take this action that the president did two weeks ago to have formed an alliance, to have people ready to come through the Strait of Hormuz together.

To expect that after telling Prime Minister Starmer of the U.K. that he was basically worthless, to now say he has to send ships to help us out and help preserve world oil prices. Makes it really tough to see that happening.

DEAN: I'm curious what you were talking about, how the U.S. Is pursuing a conventional war and Iran is doing something different. Help people understand what you mean by that.

SHERMAN: What I mean by that is I think that the president didn't fully appreciate not only would Iran close down the Strait of Hormuz, which is a critical oil pathway, fertilizer pathway, various other goods through the Strait of Hormuz. But also have used drones, cyber, have attacked Gulf states, have attacked assets of the United States in the Gulf, has sort of broadened the war front, whereas we have been just pummeling Iran.

Now as I said, I'm sure that we've taken out a lot of their missiles. We may have even taken out some of their drone sites, we probably have taken out their ships, some of their ships, if not their entire navy.

But they have lots of boats. You can mine the Strait of Hormuz with dowels, which are small boats. So they are playing a very different strategy than the one that President Trump went in with.

And as you just heard from your own reporters, as well as Congressman Meeks, we are now facing having to have everyone leave the region, including now out of Baghdad after our embassy was hit.

We've been told by the president 14 countries Americans should leave. There was no plan in place to really help Americans to leave. Had to really hurry up and try to figure out how to help Americans get out.

And in those 14 countries, only eight have ambassadors because the president has left our many countries around the world without ambassadors. Whereas China, a major competitor, of course, has ambassadors virtually everywhere.

So let's talk about China for a second and how it plays into all of this, because a senior Iranian official has told CNN Iran would consider allowing tankers through the Strait of Hormuz if the oil cargo is traded in Chinese yuan, which is an interesting thought.

What does this tell you about China's influence around this war and on Iran?

SHERMAN: Well, there are reports that Iran is getting oil through the Strait of Hormuz to China, because China is one of the largest places where Iran exports their oil.

The president is going to China on the 31st of March. I'd hope this would all be over by then, because we really have to focus on the relationship with China. But I don't think at the rate we're going and having just said we're sending a marine expeditionary force out of Asia to the Persian Gulf, that'll take about two weeks. Ostensibly this war is not going to be over.

So the president's going to go to China at a very tough time where we look like we can't get done what we set out to do which puts the president in a weaker position at a time when we need us to be in a very strong position.

In addition, oil is traded in dollars. That puts us in a very strong place.

[17:24:49] SHERMAN: If Iran begins to try to change that, I doubt they'll be able to, but if they were able to change that, we're going to change the entire economic basket of currency around the world in a way which will be very unfavorable to the United States.

DEAN: And the White House and its allies, when you talk to them, will say this is all about giving the president leverage, keeping everything on the table. So when he goes to that meeting with Xi, he's got this leverage.

What you're saying, if I'm understanding you right, is that it's actually in your belief, the opposite.

SHERMAN: It is my belief that it will be the opposite. I think this will be a skinny-down meeting between President Trump and President Xi. I think it'll end up being about business deals in whatever way we can.

We know that Secretary Bessent and Trade Representative Greer went to Europe to meet with the vice premier to talk about trade. So I think it will be about trade, maybe about critical minerals, but sort of the bigger relationship building that I think the president had hoped for. Because although China is our chief competitor, it is also a country with whom we do not and should not seek conflict.

This is going to be a really tough time. The president's got a lot of decisions to make where Asia is concerned, including whether he's now going to allow Taiwan to go forward with the arms sale that's been on the table, that the president has held up, I think in part held up because he wanted to have a good meeting with Xi but now we'll see whether he'll, in fact, go ahead with that arms deal. It's quite important that we do.

DEAN: All right. Ambassador Wendy Sherman, thank you so much for your time. We really do appreciate it.

SHERMAN: Thank you.

DEAN: Still to come here, officials investigating what they say was a targeted attack on a Jewish school in Amsterdam. We're going to have the latest in a wave of anti-Semitic attacks that's left the Jewish community across the globe and here at home on edge. We're live outside a temple in Los Angeles. That's next.

[17:26:50]

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[17:31:13]

DEAN: Tonight, the Amsterdam mayor is denouncing what he calls a targeted attack after a bomb exploded at a Jewish school there. The overnight blast at the outer wall of the building, no one was injured, but city officials tell CNN, police have images of the person who set off that device.

After a wave of anti-Semitic attacks, one Dutch father, says he is now wearing a bulletproof vest when he goes to the synagogue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL, RESIDENT, AMSTERDAM (through translator): My five daughters went to this school. So, I wonder now, where is the government? Where is the safety? We have very good police in the neighborhood, which are doing their best for us. But now, I'm walking around in a bulletproof vest, you see. I don't dare go to the synagogue without it, because of all the tensions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The Dutch prime minister says there is no place for anti- Semitism in the Netherlands, and that the Jewish people must always feel safe.

Meantime, we are learning new information about the extremist ties of the man who rammed a car full of explosives into a Detroit area synagogue full of children.

Law enforcement sources telling CNN, the 41-year-old had previous links to the militant group, Hezbollah, though he was not believed to be a member. Officials say he was a naturalized U.S. citizen, born in Lebanon, whose family members were recently killed in an Israeli air strike there.

Now, the surveillance footage shows him buying thousands-of-dollars- worth of fireworks two days before Thursday's anti-Semitic attack. Authorities are combing through the video as they continue to investigate.

And these recent attacks have Jewish people fearing for their safety in the places of worship stepping up security measures. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones joins me now with the latest. And Julia, I know you've been speaking to members of Jewish congregations, and frankly, with the rise in anti-Semitism over the last several years, there has been this ongoing fear that has existed for a time now. And there has been armed security guards outside synagogues, like we saw in Michigan, which is who was able to stop that man from getting any further.

And now, there is even more fear. What are they telling you?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN NEWSOURCE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are saying, Jessica, basically, that they are exhausted of fearing for their lives and having to go through these extreme security measures. I mean, thankfully, in the case of Michigan, having that kind of security there saved potentially so many people's lives. But they are saying, it's just outrageous that they have to even think about these kinds of things before going to a place of worship.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANN HAYMAN, MEMBER OF JEWISH CONGREGATION: It's a very, very sad commentary on our world that this type of security is necessary. We are just, you know, the oldest organized religion, going around our business and trying to pray on a Friday night, and that this is necessary. It's just very sad.

JOEL NICKERSON, SENIOR RABBI, WILKSHIRE BOULEVARD TEMPLE: People are looking at the headlines every single day. What is happening in what Jewish community? That is not the way people should be waking up and scanning their Instagram to think about, well, where is the next attack happening? I mean, that's not the way our Jewish community should be having to wake up or go to sleep every night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And now, Jessica, in the case of Michigan, although, there isn't a clear motive yet specified, despite those ties that you mentioned there, the attorney general of Michigan did say that there was a very clear nexus between the war in Iran and the attacks here. She said, also, it's no coincidence that the synagogue that was targeted is called Temple Israel.

Now, speaking to this rabbi in the community here, there is the sense that they are paying for what's happening thousands of miles away from home, from -- here, from Southern California, it's a different world. And still, he did end with a very interesting message that, you know, the holiday of Passover is coming up in just a couple of weeks.

[17:35:05]

Jessica, that is the story of going through dark times to get to a better place. And he urged Jews around the United States to continue to show up for their religious practice, to show up for their synagogues. He said community is the best antidote to fear. Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Julia Vargas Jones with the latest there from Los Angeles. Thank you for your reporting.

And still to come, we are going to have a deeper look at how law enforcement across the country is ramping up security to prevent any future attacks. We'll have more on that here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[17:40:16]

DEAN: As the war with Iran continues, recent terror attacks in the U.S. are shaking Americans sense of safety. There were two separate attacks, Thursday, a deadly shooting and a targeted vehicle ramming. Those more than 700 miles apart.

Just days earlier, two men accused of throwing IEDs during two dueling protests outside the New York City's mayor's home told law enforcement they were inspired by ISIS. Two weeks before that, a shooter killed three people and injured several others in downtown Austin, Texas.

Again, citing ties to extremism. CNN's Holmes Lybrand joining us now.

Holmes, tell us about growing concern about these types of attacks and how law enforcement is responding.

HOLMES LYBRAND, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Jessica, and you laid it out really well just now.

We are talking about four attacks over the last two weeks since this conflict with Iran has started. So, that frequency is something that has law enforcement very, very concerned.

Another part of this, while lawmakers have been concerned about potential Iranian sleeper cells, what we are really seeing with these attacks is lone wolfs, and that is something that law enforcement does not want to see, because it is very difficult to predict when lone wolf attacks are going to happen, to know where they are going to happen, to know when -- all of that becomes way more difficult when you're talking about these more random lone wolf attacks.

Now, you do have police officers after these two Wednesday attacks. They are increasing across the U.S. patrols for places of worship.

Now, the FBI, also, when the war started, they tasked specific agents with looking at individuals who may be inspired by the Iranian attacks to kind of, you know, commit their own attack on U.S. soil.

So, those are the two big things that law enforcement are doing. But it's certainly a concern -- the concern for copycats is certainly high, and they remain vigilant for these sorts of attacks in the future.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: All right. Yes, Holmes Lybrand with some important reporting there. Thank you so much for that.

And I do want to bring in CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen to talk more about all of this.

And Peter, we just laid out the current situation. I'm curious how you would assess the threat level Americans face right now.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Oh, I think it's elevated. I mean, I think, Holmes made a good point, which is that the Iranian sleeper cells, if they exist at all, is a -- is a dog that hasn't really barked.

And if you think about the Iranian regime, we have heard reports of some kind of incitement electronically that it's not very clear exactly to whom it's directed.

But in general, the Iranian sleeper cell threat in this country is not nothing. Certainly, they try to kill an Iranian dissident in Brooklyn. But mostly it's been characterized by a certain amount of incompetence. Now, the lone actor threat, as Holmes laid out, obviously, that's hard, because usually they are not conspiring with a group.

We did have the example in New York of two people conspiring together, but that's not a large group, so, it's harder for law enforcement to penetrate.

On the other hand, the capacity of a lone actor, again, we seen in Greenfield, Michigan here -- the capacity of a lone actor to kill a lot of people is, you know, constrained compared to a group.

I thought it was very interesting, Jessica, you showed that footage of the Michigan perpetrator buying thousands of dollars of fireworks. Or to me, that would seem to be something that any kind of sensible purveyor of fireworks would be flagging to local law enforcement. Hey, maybe there is a -- there is a completely reasonable case for that. But it's not July 4th or before July 4th. That's the kind of thing I think that should trigger some, you know, a suspicious activity report, potentially.

Similarly, large purchases of hydrogen peroxide, which was used by the two perpetrators in New York, outside Gracie Mansion, they used hydrogen peroxide as the basis for TATP, which is highly explosive. Luckily, no one was killed in that attack.

But hydrogen peroxide, if you buy large quantities of it, you can kind of distill it down and turn it into a pretty, you know, very explosive, explosive.

So, I would also be looking for those kinds of purchases if I was in law enforcement.

DEAN: And in terms of law enforcement and the resources that they have, both mostly at the federal level, but, you know, obviously, local level as well, how prepared do you think they are? And do you think -- look, DHS is shut down right now, and you know, there -- we have done a lot of reporting about cuts made across the government. We had reported this week the Trump administration and DOGE's cuts to the federal government had hampered U.S. readiness for domestic emergencies.

[17:45:02]

How prepared do you think we are? How capable do you think we are of doing some of the things you just listed?

BERGEN: I think, that we are actually quite well-prepared in the sense that, you know, the DHS cuts affect things like TSA. They don't affect, you know, kind of the joint terrorism task forces around the country, which are made up -- they are led by the FBI. They are more than a hundred of them that -- and -- yes, they involve intelligence agents and from across the kind of law enforcement community.

So, you know, those -- that group is on -- those groups are on an elevated alert right now. So, I think they are pretty well postured.

However, you know, if somebody is not shown up before on the radar screen, now, in the case of the Old Dominion University attack that the perpetrator had been in prison for several years because of his support for ISIS. At a somewhat certain point, his sentence was served, and then, somehow, you know, he fell off the radar screen and carried out this attack and kill -- managed to kill somebody. So, obviously, it's not perfect.

But I do think that as a general principle, the FBI and the joint terrorism task forces around the country, you know, are well- positioned to try and deal with the threats. But there is always going to be somebody who will get through unfortunately.

DEAN: And connect the dots, for people, obviously, we -- the U.S. is at war with Iran. You know, we the perpetrator in Michigan has ties to Hezbollah, that is an Iranian proxy group. Others have said that they were ISIS-inspired. How does this all fit together?

BERGEN: Well, on the -- on the perpetrator of Michigan and his links to Hezbollah, you know, I think, it's worth mentioning that, you know, pretty much anybody from Lebanon might have links to Hezbollah, because Hezbollah is a major political party, has an army which is more effective than the Lebanese military.

So, that kind of -- those kinds of links don't necessarily suggest that somebody is going to carry out an attack. It seems, in that case that, you know, it may be just a personal thing, revenge for members of his family who might have been killed in Lebanon. But otherwise, you know, it's not -- we'll see how that pans out.

DEAN: Yes. All right. Peter Bergen, always good to have you. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.

BERGEN: Thank you.

DEAN: Still to come, heightened security in Hollywood tonight, as officials there prepare for the Academy Awards. We'll take you there. Stay with us here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[17:52:06]

DEAN: As we continue to cover the breaking news in the Middle East, security is being tightened ahead of tomorrow's Academy Awards in Los Angeles. This week, the FBI sending a memo to law enforcement that Iran allegedly planned to conduct a drone attack in California. That's according to several officials who had seen it.

California Governor Gavin Newsom says there's no credible intelligence about an imminent threat. Still, the L.A. Times is reporting federal and local agencies are working with the Joint Terrorism Task Force ahead of the Oscars to ensure iron clad security for that event.

LAPD's incident commander for the Oscars, says they have been preparing for months.

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RANDY GODDARD, INCIDENT COMMANDER, LAPD: We've planned for other things that we maybe haven't seen in prior years, but we have resources that will be on scene to address those unique circumstances that may occur, so that they can be addressed quickly and prevent anything from growing out of control.

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DEAN: CNN entertainment correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister is outside the Dolby Theater there in Hollywood. That's where the Oscars will take place tomorrow, and she's got a preview of what we should expect. Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jessica. So, tomorrow night expected to be an incredibly tight race. It really seems to be a showdown between "Sinners" and "One Battle After Another", which will be going head-to-head for Best Picture.

Now, "Sinners" has the most nominations coming in with 16, which, by the way, is an Oscars record. No other film has ever been nominated so many times in a single year. But the race to watch is really going to come down to "Sinner" star, Michael B. Jordan in the Best Actor race. Why? Because all eyes are on Timothee Chalamet.

Timothee Chalamet was considered the front runner at the beginning of Oscar season. He won the Critics' Choice Award. He won the Golden Globe. But he has lost some momentum, not just because of those controversial comments that he made about opera and ballet, but also because Michael B. Jordan came through and won the SAG Award. So, that is really the race to watch.

Now, let's also talk about the host. Conan O'Brien is back, and certainly, compared to Jimmy Kimmel, he is not a political comic. So, the question is, is will President Trump come up?

Will everything going on in the world come up? While Conan did address that this past week during a press conference with Oscar producers. Take a look.

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CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, ACADEMY AWARDS: It is a dance. It's a dance that goes on up until the show begins, and it's still evolving, because we live in a very fast paced world. So, jokes we thought of two months ago are irrelevant now. And there might be things that happened this week that will find their way into the show.

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WAGMEISTER: So, you heard it there from Conan. We do not know what you are going to get on the Oscar stage tomorrow night. But I do want to tell you that I am hearing the In Memoriam segment is expected to be the moment of the night. So many huge stars have been lost this year in Hollywood. Everyone from the iconic Diane Keaton to Robert Redford, who will be honored by a Barbra Streisand, who is expected to sing for her former co-star, and of course, the loss of Rob Reiner.

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I am told that there is going to be a huge tribute with many of his costars on stage tomorrow night, including Billy Crystal. A source familiar tells me that in rehearsals, there was not a dry eye.

So, a lot to look forward to tomorrow night. And Jessica, I also want to say congrats to you on your baby news. I am very excited for you. All right.

DEAN: Oh. Elizabeth. One boy mom. She is been giving me good advice on how to do this moving forward. Thank you so much.

Elizabeth Wagmeister, there on the red carpet.

And be sure to tune in to the "CNN AND VARIETY RED CARPET LIVE" show tomorrow, starting at 4:00 p.m. Eastern and on TBS and the CNN app.

And in the meantime, you can catch the new CNN special, "HOLLYWOOD AND THE OSCARS STILL GOLDEN" now streaming on the CNN app. We'll be right back.

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