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Trump Says U.S. Bombed "Iran's Crown Jewel," Kharg Island; Strikes on U.S. Gulf Allies Continue; Death Toll in Iran War Climbs to 2,000+; Marine Expeditionary Unit Deploying to Middle East; FBI Opens Terror Investigation in Old Dominion Shooting; Michigan Governor Says Synagogue Attack Was Antisemitism; UAE and Saudi Arabia Report Interceptions on Their Territory; IDF Raises Prospects of Bigger Ground Offensive in Lebanon; Cuban President Confirms Diplomatic Talks with White House; Countdown to 98th Academy Awards. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired March 14, 2026 - 05:00   ET

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

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

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): I'm Becky Anderson, live from our Middle East headquarters in Abu Dhabi. We are getting new video showing smoke and small flames rising from a building near the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad. It's unclear what happened.

CNN has reached out to the U.S. State Department for more information. This incident, of course, comes just days after a suspected Iranian drone hit a U.S. diplomatic support center near Baghdad's airport.

Meantime, president Donald Trump says the U.S. bombed every military target on Iran's Kharg Island, which handles nearly all of the country's crude exports; military targets is what he specifically said afterwards.

State media said Tehran threatened retaliatory strikes on Gulf facilities owned by oil companies that cooperate with the U.S. or have American shares.

President Trump said he spared Kharg Island's oil infrastructure but warned it could get wiped out if Iran continues blocking ships from getting through the Strait of Hormuz. His comments come as the war enters its third week.

Israeli officials say Iranian cluster munitions exploded at multiple areas in central Israel and Israel, in turn, says it continues to strike Iran as the death toll surpasses 2,000 people. I want to start with CNN's Paula Hancocks here in Abu Dhabi.

And Paula, leaders in the region are standing firm against Iran's strikes on Gulf states.

UAE's minister of state spoke with NBC yesterday, saying, and I quote here, "We will not respond to bullying by backing down." Just get us up to speed on the latest.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, there is increasing anger among many in this region, the fact that they have been pulled into this war that they never wanted in the first place.

And we're hearing increasingly strong words from some of the ministers of these Gulf nations. Now just to wrap up what the latest is that we know at this point, you mentioned there the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Now this has been impacted, we understand, from Reuters, quoting security sources, that it was a missile. We don't know whether it was a direct hit or whether it was an interception and debris.

But what we do know is this is one of the biggest U.S. embassies in the world. It is part of the Green Zone, this heavily fortified area in Baghdad. And it is also come under repeated military and drone attack recently from Iranian proxies, from the Iraqi militia that are funded and supported by Iran.

We do know, though, that there were no emergency staff in there at that point. They had been sent home earlier in the month.

Also in Amman, we're seeing the U.S. State Department tell its non- emergency staff to leave with their families. Now that's significant because Amman was the mediator between the U.S. and Iran when negotiations were still ongoing.

Amman is a country that credits itself with not taking sides and has done a lot of mediation in different conflicts over many decades. So the fact that Amman also is being targeted is significant.

We are seeing targets across the rest of the Gulf nation as well, certainly interceptions overhead, although in some areas it does appear to be slightly lower than it has been, certainly over the past two weeks.

We've heard from Pete Hegseth, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, that missile strikes are down 90 percent, drone strikes down 95 percent are the figures that he gave in a press conference on Friday.

We've certainly seen a slightly lower level of incoming projectiles in many of the Gulf nations. But they still -- do still continue to be fired into these nations. Saudi Arabia, just overnight saying that they had some 19 drones they had to intercept, the vast majority of them heading toward their energy infrastructure, the oil fields in the east, Becky.

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ANDERSON: Just want to get our viewers up to speed on travel around the region. We spoke last hour to Matias Grez, our colleague in Doha. Qatar Airways getting -- increasingly getting flights moving, getting those that were stuck in transit out of the country.

And we are seeing a similar story, for example, here in the UAE, the gradual opening up of what was very limited airspace and more flights getting both out and, of course, back into the UAE.

HANCOCKS: Absolutely. Now we did see Dubai Airport open relatively early on. It was severely limited at the beginning. But we are seeing increasing numbers of flights managing to fly all over the world at this point.

We know that there were transit passengers at the beginning that were stuck here. There were holidaymakers stuck here and residents, expatriates, that wanted to get home.

For the most part, we are seeing that that crunch of trying to leave the country has eased. We're certainly seeing the prices of flights going down. They were quite prohibitive for most people at the beginning when the supply was far lower than the excessive demand that we were seeing.

So certainly in the region we are seeing this crunch easing somewhat. Of course, Doha, as you mentioned, since its airspace opened very recently, they are managing to ease the crunch there as well; 8,000 holidaymakers -- excuse me; transit passengers were caught when the war started.

So obviously there are many things that they have to do to keep these flights safe. They say they are safe and we are seeing more regular schedules, although still limited certainly here in the UAE, Becky

ANDERSON: Good. Paula, thank you for that.

Right. Let's speak to Malcolm Nance. He's following all of this very closely. He's a national security expert formerly with U.S. Navy intelligence. And he joins us from Montreal.

And I want to get your assessment of where things stand. Two weeks into this, we've been told by the U.S. and Israel that some 15,000 strikes have been carried out on targets in Iran, very specifically some 6,000 yesterday was the total that we were given yesterday from a press briefing at the Pentagon.

So just get me an assessment of what you think where we are at as far as the military objectives are concerned. Very specifically, you know, with your background, let's speak to the maritime and the Navy operations here.

MALCOLM NANCE, NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERT: Sure. Well, you know over this period of time, there are actually three wars being fought, not one.

First, there was the United States and Israeli strikes on Iran to decapitate the government, to hit the nuclear program, then to disarm the conventional military forces like the Iranian navy and Revolutionary Guard boats in Bandar Abbas port. Right.

Then we had a continuation of strikes, which were to get rid of the Iranian air force and then go after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and smash all of their infrastructure. That's been continuing, that's going on. Then the second war that started was Iran's retaliation against Israel

and then punishing the Gulf states with ballistic missiles and drones. And that's because they were sponsoring U.S. bases and were taking, you know allowing these bases to take part in the war.

Also to put gradual pressure on the Gulf sheiks, in order for them to limit the attacks for the United States, which was not going to happen.

We are now in the third component of this war, which now has a complete maritime angle. We are in the economic phase of this war, technically, the economic war. Iran is -- it can absorb every bomb that the United States drops against it.

There's -- until you can displace the regime and the people and the Revolutionary Guard, that's not going to change. Iran will stand. Iran, on the other hand, is punishing the Gulf states.

And they are punishing the world, by extension, to bring pressure on the United States by hitting places like, you know, the Al Afan (ph) pumping facilities, natural gas, Ruwais refinery. And now today hitting Fujairah again and attacking all of the ships in the Arabian Gulf and the Persian Gulf that try to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

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This strategy, which we've prepared for 40 years, is going to succeed.

ANDERSON: Well, let's talk very specifically then about strikes on Kharg Island and reports that the U.S. is sending a Marine Expeditionary Unit to the region.

So what would that be used for and where?

NANCE: Yes. You know, this is an interesting development because, one, if they really had understood the history of the region and all of the warfare the United States did over 47 years, these Marines would have been here with the initial force, just in case they needed to take small land or do raids.

President Trump has made it clear and, you know, that Kharg Island, he knows that's 90 percent of where all Iranian oil is transshipped, from put onto tankers and then sent down. During the entirety of the Iran- Iraq war, that island was pummeled daily by the Iraqis.

So Trump sees it as some sort of, you know, chip that he can take away from the Iranians. But what he did yesterday was he struck very small places. He cratered the airstrip, which was mainly used by the national oil company of Iran to move workers, a few small Revolutionary Guard Corps positions and barracks.

But he didn't touch the oil fields or the oil pumped and transshipment piers, which is the real lifeblood of this place.

Now with regards to the Marines, the 2,500 Marines, which will take about two weeks to get into the region, they would actually have to transit the Strait of Hormuz, which we're not doing right now because it's dangerous, right?

They would have to transit the Strait of Hormuz, get through there without the Iranians attacking or sinking a ship, then transit 12 to 15 hours up the Arabian Gulf to get near Kharg Island, if that was the objective. But again, this seems like an afterthought, like a knee- jerk reaction and it will not improve the situation.

ANDERSON: Malcolm, Donald Trump said Friday that he will know when the war with Iran is over, when he feels it, quote, "in his bones."

I mean, clearly the military objectives as provided by Dan Caine and Pete Hegseth will ultimately provide that steer, correct?

NANCE: Yes, yes. But meeting your military objectives does not mean that you've met your strategic objectives. The strategic objectives of this war were, day one, decapitate the regime so that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard leadership and the mullahs who control the country no longer control the country.

The second was to disarm their ballistic missiles and their production. When we know ballistic missiles are still out there, that's a harder pull. Getting rid of production relatively easy. But it can be reconstituted the minute the war stops.

And the third was the destruction of the Iranian navy, which showed that they understood the hard power of these ships in Bandar Abbas and their ability to interdict the Gulf.

But they completely left out the asymmetric power of Iran, which is Revolutionary Guard soldiers and getting into small boats, sea mines, anti-ship missiles, sea drones, underwater drones, like the one that just sank two ships in Basra just yesterday; suicide drone boats, which may have just sunk that ship off of Sharjah today.

This asymmetric capability will control the Gulf. And the Iranians are issuing political EasyPasses to countries that want to move their oil without nuisance just to fluster the United States

ANDERSON: Yes. The introduction of these seabound underwater drones and seabound drone boats, a real escalation in this war. Malcolm, it's good to have you. Thank you.

And a reminder that Gulf nations reserve the right -- Gulf nations and Jordan reserve the right to respond to what they see as these reckless and unprovoked attacks as enshrined in international law, following the adoption of the U.N. Security Council earlier this -- the U.N. Security Council resolution, of course, earlier this week.

We will have a lot more from the Middle East coming up. But for now, let's hand you back to Kim in Atlanta -- Kim.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: I appreciate it, Becky.

And as Becky mentioned moments ago, the Pentagon is sending a rapid response Marine unit to the Middle East now. It's not yet clear how the Marine Expeditionary Unit would be utilized. But the units, which typically comprise about 2,500 troops, could help support evacuations, amphibious missions or other contingencies.

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A total of 13 U.S. service members have been killed since the start of the conflict. Now earlier, CNN's Kaitlan Collins spoke with former U.S. House Republican, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said Americans didn't vote for war with Iran. Here she is.

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MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: These are 13 lives that I believe should not have been lost.

This was -- this war is not something that Americans voted for in 2024. As a matter of fact, we voted for the opposite. We voted for no more foreign wars, no more regime change.

And we were told by many members in the administration, throughout the campaign, JD Vance, Tulsi Gabbard and others, that they believed that going to war with Iran would be a terrible idea. It was something that Charlie Kirk himself had said over and over again.

And Donald Trump -- President Trump, I voted for him three times, fought for him to become president and I still want him to be successful.

But he told -- he told Americans for over 10 years and even longer that he thought foreign wars and regime change was really a bad direction for America to go in. And we trusted and believed him that we wouldn't be doing this.

But this was an unprovoked war and Israel pulled us into it, pulled America into it. And so those are 13 lives that should not have been lost.

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BRUNHUBER: Global oil prices are closing the week at their highest level since 2022. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, settled on Friday above $103 a barrel. U.S. crude finished just under $99 a barrel.

All told, Brent and U.S. crude are up by more than 40 percent since the war with Iran began. Now those rising markets are reacting to fears that the war in Iran will continue to disrupt the flow of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.

And drivers in the U.S. are seeing a surge in gas prices. The White House says the pain at the pump is only short term. But some commuters aren't sure they should have to bear the pain at all. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich reports.

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VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Gas prices here in the United States have risen by more than 30 cents in just the last week. That as oil prices have been flirting with $100 a barrel.

That is because the Strait of Hormuz, that critical passageway that moves 20 percent of the world's oil, has essentially been closed.

Here in New Jersey at this gas station, we've been talking to a lot of people from around the area, people who are commuting through here for work, coming from Connecticut, New York, transiting through New Jersey, going to Pennsylvania.

And no matter which state they've driven through, they have noticed higher prices at the pump. But now the Trump administration and president Donald Trump is saying that this is just short-term pain at the pump for long term gain in Iran. Here's what folks told us.

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YURKEVICH: Do you think that that is worth it?

PEDRO JACONE, NEW JERSEY RESIDENT: I don't think so. I don't think it's worth it.

YURKEVICH: Why?

JACONE: Because, I mean, we're -- like, we're paying the price of the war.

EVELYN RUIZ, PHILADELPHIA RESIDENT: He started this. He's the one who should be paying for it but he's -- it doesn't come out of his pocket. It comes out of our pocket. So yes, it's affecting us as Americans. Yes, it's affecting us in every way.

CHRISTIAN VANSEOTEN, NEW JERSEY RESIDENT: I don't think the United States should have any involvement in that whatsoever. I think the United States should stick with the United States and we should be focusing on our people, rather than going out to these foreign countries and fighting fights for them.

ALAN FLETCHER, MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENT: If we have to suffer through a little bit of gas prices going up, then we have to suffer through it. And it's a small pain to take for the rest of the world.

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YURKEVICH: No matter how drivers feel, according to GasBuddy, gas prices are expected to rise by another 10 cents over the next week and could get up to $4.00 in the next couple of weeks.

This is also the time of year here in the United States, when we transition from the winter fuel blend to the summer fuel blend, which is already historically more expensive. So that, mixed with higher oil prices, are making for pricier prices for Americans here at the pump -- back to you.

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BRUNHUBER: Ukraine's president is pushing back against the U.S. decision to ease some sanctions on Russian oil. During a visit to Paris on Friday, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the move will add $10 billion to Russia's war chest.

The Trump administration is trying to tame those soaring oil prices caused by the war with Iran. They say Moscow won't realize a significant benefit. But other European leaders are also concerned about the move to temporarily allow the delivery and sale of sanctioned seaborne Russian crude.

All right. Still ahead, new details emerge about the suspect in the attack on a Michigan synagogue. We'll look at why officials say the war in the Middle East could be looming over this incident thousands of miles away on U.S. soil.

Plus more questions in the deadly shooting at Old Dominion University in Virginia. New scrutiny over the suspect's previous conviction for supporting ISIS and his early release from prison. We'll have those stories and more coming up next. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: A developing story out of Amsterdam. The city's mayor is denouncing what he calls a cowardly act of aggression after an explosion struck a Jewish school overnight. The blast hit the outer wall of the building.

City officials tell CNN police have images of the person who allegedly detonated the device. No injuries were reported. The incident follows attacks on two synagogues in the Dutch city of Rotterdam and in Liege, Belgium, this week. Police have arrested four teenage suspects in the Rotterdam attack.

The FBI says Thursday's attack on a Detroit area synagogue was a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.

Congregants at Temple Israel gathered for Shabbat services at a nearby country club on Friday following the attack on their synagogue. Authorities say the assailant crashed a vehicle loaded with a large amount of fireworks and several jugs of what's believed to be gasoline, ramming the vehicle into the synagogue before opening fire.

Michigan's Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer says the attack was an act of antisemitism and hatred.

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GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): This is not a political moment. This is not a political debate. This is targeting babies who are Jewish.

[05:25:02] That's antisemitism at its absolute worst.

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BRUNHUBER: Law enforcement sources tell CNN the man who attacked the synagogue had previous links to the militant group, Hezbollah, though he wasn't believed to be a member.

Officials say he was a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon, who had lost family members in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon in recent days. CNN's Isobel Yeung has more details, reporting from Beirut.

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ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're getting new details about the suspect's family from here in Lebanon.

Just one week before the attack on the synagogue in Michigan, the suspect, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, his two brothers and two of his brothers' children were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the village of Machghara here in Lebanon.

That's according to the mayor of the village, who we were able to reach by telephone. The mayor also told us that the suspect's parents had also been injured in this Israeli airstrike, as well as two of his brothers' wives.

Now we've been looking at the IDF's X account and we can see that, on March the 2nd, there was an evacuation order from a specific building in this specific village. And residents were told to move at least 300 meters away from this building.

And on March the 5th is when this strike occurred. The mayor has told us that residents have been leaving the village. But they have also been returning more recently.

He's also told us that there have been three air strikes on this village itself, particularly on a Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution.

Now this village sits in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon and that's also where we've been visiting various villages over the last few days. And there is a huge amount of Hezbollah support in this area.

Not everyone is associated with Hezbollah. We have, of course, reached out to Hezbollah to find out if there has been any affiliation or association there.

But you know, there is also an increasing amount of anger from the civilians that we've been talking to, who are telling us that, you know, as these Israeli airstrikes are increasing, there is more and more anger, more and more frustration, more bitterness about the rising death toll.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: The FBI is investigating Thursday's deadly shooting at Old Dominion University in Virginia as a terror attack. Authorities say the gunman was a naturalized U.S. citizen and a former Virginia National Guard member.

The FBI says he killed one person and injured two others before students subdued and killed him. The Justice Department charged a man on Friday, accused of selling the gun used in the attack.

The suspect was previously convicted of supporting ISIS and was barred from having a gun. Authorities say he was still on court-mandated probation at the time of the shooting.

Officials have been pushed to explain why the attacker had been let out of prison about 2.5 years early and whether they had any idea of his movements leading up to the shooting.

Gulf states are now fending off new Iranian strikes. It comes as the U.S. Issues new evacuation orders in the region. We'll have a live report coming up after the break.

Plus, Israeli warplanes swoop down on Beirut with a payload of leaflets.

The message they sent?

When we come back. Stay with us.

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ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi from our Middle East programming headquarters here. Let's check some of the day's top stories for you.

And video shows smoke and small flames rising from a building near the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad. It is unclear what happened. CNN has reached out to the U.S. State Department for more information.

This incident comes just days after a suspected Iranian drone hit a U.S. diplomatic support center near Baghdad's airport.

Well, the war in Iran continues to impact global oil markets, sending prices higher. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, settled on Friday above $103 on the barrel. U.S. crude finishing just under $99. All told, Brent and U.S. crude are up by more than 40 percent since the war with Iran began.

Well, Tehran threatening to retaliate after the U.S. said it bombed every military asset on Kharg Island. That's according to Iranian state media, which reports no oil infrastructure there was damaged. The island handles about 90 percent of Iran's crude exports.

Iranian state media says new strikes hit U.S. bases in Kuwait and Qatar today, as Gulf states do remain on high alert. The U.S. State Department is ordering non-emergency government workers and their families now to leave Oman due to safety concerns.

Travelers are also being warned to reconsider visiting Oman due to this ongoing war with Iran. A level 4 "Do Not Travel" advisory was also issued for Oman's border region with Yemen. That is the State Department's highest warning for U.S. travelers, indicating life- threatening risks.

CNN producer Matias Grez joining me now from Doha and overnight.

Certainly air strikes there where you are, Matt.

Can you just get us up to speed on what happened?

MATIAS GREZ, CNN PRODUCER: Yes. Well, Becky, it had been a really quiet 36 hours or so for us here in Doha. We hadn't had any alerts of any kind on our phones since about Thursday afternoon.

But that all changed at around midnight tonight. The first in a series of incidents was an evacuation notice, issued at around midnight by the ministry of interior, urging people in two separate areas around the city to evacuate.

And then at around 1:30 in the morning, an emergency alert was issued, followed by a series of explosions overhead.

And then again just before 6:00 am, another alert and another series of explosions. And I have to say where, from where we are here in Doha's West Bay, those explosions we heard last night, in particular the ones around 1:30, were among the loudest that we'd heard so far.

Certainly it shook my building, not far from here, really hard. In this area here, we saw earlier a gun-mounted helicopter patrolling the skies. And Qatar's ministry of defense said earlier this morning that it had been subjected to two missile attacks overnight.

And this area is a really popular commercial and residential area where CNN is based. It's where a lot of our staff is based. And despite this increased activity, it has been a good sign that today Qatar Airways says they are continuing repatriation flights.

The country's ministry of interior last night said that nearly all of the 8,000 stranded tourists had been repatriated so far. And he said that up to 200 members of Qatar Airways staff have been helping stuck passengers here on the ground, with everything from emergency medication to lost luggage.

And we know that, over the last two or three days, there have been around 15 flights in and out of Doha every day, continuing that repatriation.

[05:35:06] And we spoke to Qatar Airways this morning and they said that, today, they're expecting 18 departures and 17 arrivals. And actually a member of CNN's staff has been trying to leave Doha to get back to London since Wednesday. He's had three flights canceled. But we've not long spoken to him. And he said that he's now through.

So it looks like he will be getting back home. And Qatar Airways has told us that they're continuing to urge people traveling to check the status of their flights online and to keep their emergency details updated, because, of course, this is a very fluid situation.

They said they're still in constant contact with the Qatar aviation authority, as they're still operating within a narrow flight corridor to ensure the safety of those departing and arriving flights every day.

ANDERSON: Good to have that information. Thank you very much indeed.

And just from the UAE side, national airports and carriers seeing a progressive and strategic resumption of flight activity, driven by flight, high-operational readiness and seamless air traffic management. That's the official line from the UAE.

And again, by just dint of word of mouth, flights getting in and out of both Abu Dhabi and Dubai, increasing number of flights moving in and out. And you know I'm hearing the airports are easy to navigate, very efficient.

And we're hearing that some of these flights to some destinations are not full, which does seem to indicate that the mass amount of people who needed to get out, who wanted to get out, have gone.

And things are beginning, at least on the flight basis, to be a more normal than certainly it was a week or so ago.

Well, Lebanon, reeling from the latest round of Israeli strikes as the fighting shows no signs of letting up. A short time ago, its health ministry reported a strike on a health care center in the south, which left 12 medical workers dead. One person was wounded and a rescue effort is now underway.

Israeli planes have also dropped leaflets over the city. They contained a message from an Israeli intelligence unit in charge of recruiting agents. The U.N. says more than 800,000 people have already been internally displaced because of the fighting.

Some experts say the number could reach -- soon reach 1 million as Israel raises the prospect of a bigger ground operation in the south. One humanitarian worker on the ground says the displaced residents still have something to rely on: one another.

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CARL SKAU, DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: The Lebanese people have been through this crisis before. They've been displaced before but that doesn't make it any easier. On the contrary, they are exhausted. They are afraid and frankly,

there is a sense of desperation here on the streets. The government is responding and we are supporting them to deliver with hot meals to the shelters, with cash to the people that have been displaced.

And really what we're seeing is Lebanese solidarity in action. Lebanese communities supporting Lebanese communities, Lebanese in our workforce supporting the Lebanese people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, it will not surprise our next guest that that solidarity is there in Lebanon, people helping each other. But times are really tough for, as we say, nearly a million people displaced there.

Fawaz Gerges is the author of "The Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East" and a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He joins us now from London.

And I do want to ask you, if you were writing a new chapter for that book -- and remind me when it was published; I read it. It's brilliant.

But if you were writing the new chapter on that, what would that chapter say?

Let's have that conversation after this. I do want to start in Lebanon, a country which had been appealing for support, not least financially for the LAF, the Lebanese Armed Forces, in their efforts against Hezbollah, which is now officially outlawed as a military organization by the government.

What do you make of what is happening there right now?

FAWAZ GERGES, PROFESSOR, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Well, what's happening in Lebanon is more escalation and more escalation and more escalation.

I think the next few days, I fear, we will see a major ground offensive by Israel in order to, basically, in the words of Israeli officials, to destroy whatever remains of Hezbollah's capabilities in south Lebanon.

But the larger picture, Becky, is the catastrophic humanitarian situation. We're talking about 800,000 people from south Lebanon, from the Bekaa Valley, from Beirut.

[05:40:04]

There is hardly an economy in Lebanon. The government does not really have the capacity and the resources to deal with this flood of refugees.

And I think what we need to tell our viewers is that Israel's blanket evacuation orders, according to human rights organizations and the United Nations, amount to war crimes because what Israel is trying to do is truly punish the entirety of the Lebanese population for the actions of Hezbollah.

Because what Israel is trying to do is to exert more pressure on Hezbollah by targeting its popular support base in south Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and Beirut. And I think the -- we don't see any diplomatic movement on the ground because the Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, has proposed direct talks between Lebanon and Israel.

And this is the first time ever a Lebanese president has said so. Yet neither the United States nor Israel has responded to President Aoun's proposal in order to begin the process of de-escalation and also the process of disarming Hezbollah, according to the Lebanese government.

ANDERSON: And we should -- and we should continue to pursue why it is that we haven't had that response, as you say, an unprecedented, historic sort of handoff or fig leaf from the Lebanese president.

Look, Faraz, briefly, you are the author of "The Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East" I would urge our viewers to read that book. It's extremely well written.

If you were writing the updated chapter for that today, what would it say?

GERGES: It will say, Becky, with all humility, that the United States does not really learn the lessons of the past, the lessons of history; that the United States doubles down on the blunders if historical mistakes.

And for your own viewers who do not really know much of the complex history of the Middle East, it was on August 23rd, 1953, when the United States toppled one of the most democratic leaders in the developing world, Mohammad Mosaddegh.

Everything, I mean, everything we've been talking about in the past 40 years between Iran and the United States goes back to that particular momentous event, when the United States intervened in Iran in order to destroy the institutional process.

Guess why, Becky?

Because Mohammad Mosaddegh nationalized Iran's oil industry in 1950. And even though he was very fond and very, very much into American politics and American institutionalism, American leaders decided that oil was more important than democracy in Iran.

And here we are back again, backing -- whether it's in Venezuela or whether it's in Iran -- its oil energy and power and domination, as opposed to really not only learning the lessons of history but realizing you cannot dominate, you cannot really subjugate other people.

And the big lesson so far, even though still a moving target, I think the United States and Israel have failed to force the Iranian regime to submit to their demands. The Iranian leadership is fully in charge. The Iranian regime is resilient, dynamic.

Yesterday, Becky, one image for me captured this particular lesson. So far, Iran's top leaders, Ali Larijani, the former minister, judicial officials were on the streets on the Quds Day, Jerusalem Day, walking without even security, I mean, help.

And this tells you a great deal, that they were not in their bunkers, that this war probably will go for a long time because not only the Iranian regime is resilient and in charge, I think president Trump is improvising and making it on the go. There is no strategy. There is no viable strategy, shifting tactics continuously.

ANDERSON: Fawaz, it's good to catch up with you. Your perspective invaluable as we continue to follow the developments here in region. Thank you.

I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi.

[05:45:00]

Do stay with us on CNN. My colleague has more of today's top stories after this short break.

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BRUNHUBER: A federal judge has quashed the U.S. Justice Department's attempt to subpoena Fed chair Jerome Powell. The judge says the DOJ hasn't produced any evidence that Powell suspected of a crime.

Instead, the evidence suggests the subpoenas were meant to pressure Powell into voting for lower interest rates or resigning. The U.S. attorney for D.C. says they plan to appeal the ruling.

But Republican senator Thom Tillis warns, an appeal could delay Senate confirmation of Kevin Warsh, who's president Donald Trump's pick to be the next Fed chair.

Cuba's president has confirmed for the first time that his government has been holding talks with the Trump administration. Miguel Diaz- Canel says the discussions with the White House are focused on finding solutions to the bilateral problems between the two nations. CNN's Patrick Oppmann is in Havana with the latest.

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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel acknowledging on Friday what had long been rumored, that his government is in direct talks with the Trump administration trying to forge a path forward as this island is suffering one of the worst energy crises in its history.

According to the Cuban president, no oil has reached Cuba for about three months now, essentially crippling public transportation, meaning many hospitals are shut down, unable to perform surgeries. We are seeing longer and longer Blackouts, sometimes lasting an entire day.

And so this is really verging on a full blown humanitarian crisis as many people say that they simply cannot live in these conditions, that their food is beginning to spoil. And that sense of desperation is creeping in here.

Previously, Cuban officials said they did not want to negotiate under these circumstances, that they felt the United States was strong- arming them by cutting off the supply of oil from allies like Venezuela and Mexico.

[05:50:06]

But they simply don't have any choice in the matter. And this is now a question of survival.

The Trump administration has said that they will take over Cuba the easy way or the hard way. And that while they don't think military force is needed, it's not off the table entirely, either.

So these negotiations, while they might buy some breathing room for the government here, it is not clear how long the Trump administration will allow the negotiations to go on here. Very clearly they are employing the carrot-and-stick approach. And for the moment, they are talking.

But officials in the Trump administration have said that they are willing to take tougher measures if needed to force the kind of change they want to see take place on this island -- Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

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BRUNHUBER: The Oscars are getting ready for their big night. Just ahead, CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister takes us behind the scenes of the red carpet. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: The excitement is rising as we count down to the start of Sunday's Academy Awards show.

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The biggest buzz is all about two of the movies that are competing for the top prizes. They're "Sinners," starring Michael B. Jordan, which was nominated for a record-breaking 16 awards, and "One Battle after Another," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, which is also up for more than a dozen Oscars. And we should note, both are Warner Bros. movies, the studio owned by

CNN's parent company. CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister is on the red carpet in Hollywood with a preview.

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ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: We are two days away from the Oscars and, as you see, I am on the red carpet. Right behind me is where all of the stars are going to be taking their photos in their gowns.

And I'm going to give you a tour now. But bear with me, because it is a construction zone, as you see. The red carpet right now is covered in plastic because they want to keep it clean. We don't want footprints here.

But you can see some of the red peeking out right here. Now if you look over to this side, this is where all of the press is going to be, including CNN. So if you're a nominee, make sure to stop by and talk to us. And as you see right behind the media, it is outdoors.

Why?

Because this red carpet is actually constructed right on Hollywood Boulevard, right on top of the Walk of Fame. The red carpet, by the way, is 900 feet. It was rolled out by Conan O'Brien, who, of course, is hosting the show.

He says that he is going to be taking some big swings this year. He'll be very ambitious and, as you see, nothing's ready yet, even Oscar, who's not dressed quite right for the occasion. He's still in plastic.

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BRUNHUBER: And you can catch Elizabeth on the red carpet on Sunday. CNN's teaming up with "Variety" for our special coverage. It starts at 4 pm Eastern, 1 pm Pacific.

All right. That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Thanks to all of our team here. "CNN THIS MORNING" is up next.