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Israel, Iran Trade Fresh Strikes As War Enters Its Third Week; Iran's F.M.: We Don't See Any Reason To Talk With Americans; FCC Chair Threatens T.V. Networks Over Iran War Coverage. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired March 15, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:47]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone.

Thank you so much for joining me. I am Fredricka Whitfield.

All right, we are following the latest on the growing conflict in the Middle East. Today, a "massive wave of attacks" from Israel. The IDF launching new strikes against what it calls Iran's terrorist regime.

Iranian forces retaliated this morning, lighting up the sky over Tel Aviv with missiles as they took aim at U.S. and Israeli targets. As the war enters its third week, the Israeli military says fighting could continue for at least three more weeks.

A spokesperson for the IDF telling CNN today thousands of targets remain, but as fears over economic fallout from the war continue to grow, the Trump administration says the conflict could end sooner.

President Trump says that while Iran wants to make a deal, he does not want to yet -- he doesn't want to rather yet, telling NBC News the terms of the agreement without mentioning details are not good enough yet.

The Pentagon has identified the six U.S. airmen killed when a refueling aircraft crashed in Western Iraq on Thursday. Their names are: Major John Klenner, Captain Ariana Savino, Tech Sergeant Ashley Pruitt, Captain Seth Koval, Captain Curtis Angst and Tech Sergeant Tyler Simmons.

The crew members are being remembered as outstanding airmen. Major John Klenner was a husband and father who leaves behind a two-year-old and seven-month-old twins. Friends call Air Force Captain Ariana Savino a great human, a future senior leader and a mentor to Latina youth.

Air force technical Sergeant Ashley Pruitt entered the Air Force in 2017. She oversaw the precise mechanics of mid-air refueling, according to the Air Force.

And Captain Seth Koval's family said that the beloved husband and father dreamed of becoming a pilot. He served in the Air Force for 19 years.

Air Force Captain Curtis Angst was responsible for worldwide air refueling, aeromedical cargo and passenger operations according to the Ohio National Guard.

Air Force Technical Sergeant Tyler Simmons known as the man with the million dollar smile. His mother says he had a passion for aviation.

The crew members deaths brings the number of U.S. troops killed since the war began to 13. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

All right lets continue now with CNN global affairs analyst, Kim Dozier.

Good to see you, Kim.

Israel and Iran are exchanging attacks again today with Iran appearing to get the brunt of it. How does Israel's calculus against Iran differ from the U.S. at this point?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, as you mentioned, the IDF spokesman said it is about three more weeks, possibly April, when they will have hit everything that they intended to hit and they will be wrapping up.

So, we would presume that U.S. operations would wrap up around the same time, but from the Israeli perspective, they can restart this anytime they need to.

They will start monitoring what happens with the regime afterwards. What we are left with is what will the Iranians do afterwards? The Iranians have now raised new demands, including that all Gulf states eject U.S. bases from their region and U.S. operations, so we could be left with the prospect of Israel stopping fighting, so the U.S. stops fighting. But Iranian attacks continue on U.S. bases in the Gulf or U.S. targets throughout the region.

WHITFIELD: The Foreign Minister of Iran says, you know, we are stable and strong enough and depending on our people and in this act of aggression, we don't see a reason to talk to Americans because we were talking when they decided to attack us.

[15:05:05]

And, Iran also says its Supreme Leader Khamenei, is in good health and manages the country strongly as questions continue to swirl over his well-being. He hasn't been seen at least publicly. So what does it mean that this new Supreme Leader has not been seen or heard? How do you interpret this?

DOZIER: Well, we know he was lightly injured. Iranian officials have admitted at least that much, though they say he is well. He could be worse. He could be injured in the face, for instance. And they don't want that picture going out to the world. We just don't know. But what is clear is that the Iranian regime hasn't apparently lost its control over its major levers of power. From when CNN's Fred Pleitgen was in, he was talking about the security on the streets where he was. We are also hearing that through various interviews that get secreted out to places like the BBC, people talk about not having internet access or having very sketchy access to it and not really knowing what is going on, but they are seeing security on all of their streets.

So you know, the Iranian government still seems to be firmly in power.

WHITFIELD: So the U.S. and Israel continue their attacks on Iran. Have a listen to Iran's Foreign Minister and what he said about this idea of making a deal to end the war in his own words here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We don't see any reason why we should talk with the Americans, because we were talking with them when they decided to attack us and that was for the second time.

There is no good experience talking with Americans. We were talking. So why they decided to attack us? So what is good if we go back to talk once again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The Foreign Minister had said, you know, in those talks that they were having, they were talking about these 400 kilos of 60 percent enriched material that would either be diluted or given away.

If diplomacy talks were to continue what would change in the rhetoric or the promise or deal making potentially?

DOZIER: Well, there are no talks right now. As the Foreign Minister said in that interview with Margaret Brennan, that that offer is no longer on the table.

You have to understand that every time Iran engages in talks, what we are seeing is the result of negotiations that have gone on behind-the- scenes between the political and diplomatic corps and the military corps. I think what we are hearing right now is that the military corps is in the ascendant.

They had said, you can't trust the Americans, especially a second time. But the diplomats tried to continue with these talks saying, no, no we can get somewhere. Well, they were proven wrong.

So right now, I think the military, the IRGC, especially just as U.S. Intelligence predicted, is very firmly in charge. And you've got to think about Mojtaba Khamenei if he is even lightly injured. He has just lost many members of his family. He hadn't been anointed as the future leader. He may be very easy to influence, and he certainly won't be able to push back like we heard over the years, that the previous Ayatollah did against the IRGC, for instance, saying, no we are not going to build a bomb right now. I am going to go with the diplomatic route.

We don't have a strong Iranian leader who can push back against his own military inner circle.

WHITFIELD: And you're right in that interview, the Foreign Minister did underscore the military will decide.

All right, Kimberly Dozier, thank you so much.

Good to see you.

DOZIER: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right, we continue to follow breaking news about the man who attacked a Jewish synagogue in Michigan.

On Thursday. 41-year-old Ayman Ghazali, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Lebanon, rammed a car packed with explosives into the Temple Israel Synagogue outside Detroit in what the FBI calls a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.

Today, the Israeli military says that Ghazali's brother was a Hezbollah commander who was killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon earlier this month.

We are joined now by John Miller, CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst. John, great to see you.

You actually helped break the news, you know, earlier about this possible connection over his brothers being killed in a recent attack in Lebanon, by Israel.

[15:1-:05]

So the IDF is now saying that one of those brothers was a commander. What do you need to hear to kind of confirm that or you know, how would U.S. Intelligence be treating this kind of information?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, there are a few organizations that understand more about who is who in Hezbollah than the Israeli Defense Forces, so the idea that they are confirming today that their missile strike against this individual who was, according to the IDF, he was the commander of a special anti-tank unit from Hezbollah. But according to the IDF, their main function in recent days, since the war started, has been to send hundreds of missiles against civilian targets over the border from Lebanon into Israel, which has caused the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.

In that instance, the IDF, took out locations that they said were associated with this command, killing him -- killing his brother, killing several of their sons. So, now you kind of cut to, you know, the Michigan area, West Bloomfield, the attack that occurred and we see a couple of things that tell us a lot.

Number one, travel records held by DHS showed that the individual who drove that truck into the school and set off that fire and gunfire last traveled to Lebanon in 2019. But coming back into the United States, Fred, he was flagged because assorted U.S. government intercepts and this would be on the classified side, had shown that he had contact with numerous people associated with Hezbollah.

I would suggest the likelihood was those were family members that he was talking to before and after his trip that flagged him for a secondary inspection. As a U.S., citizen, they went through his, his telephone they found the same contacts in his contact list, but as a U.S. citizen, he was admitted to go home.

One of the questions that will come up is, should he have been flagged for investigation by the FBI after that time? We don't have information that that actually happened.

WHITFIELD: Customarily, if there is that kind of information, such as, you know he was flagged, he may have been interacting with, it doesn't necessarily verify that he was actively involved in a Hezbollah or terrorist organization, customarily, would someone who has had interaction recently, especially abroad, be monitored? Watched?

I mean what customarily should have happened? Or is it your view that all the right things kind of happened?

MILLER: Well, it is hard to see because we don't have complete visibility looking back. It is the kind of thing that Customs and Border Patrol would have forwarded to the FBI that they did this stop, that they found these contacts. But it does get a little murky in that those intercepts that would have captured communications between him and Hezbollah members under the law as a U.S. person, the Intelligence Community, the NSA, the CIA are not allowed to collect information on U.S. persons or record their phone calls without special authorization.

So they wouldn't have known the content of those calls. Theoretically, in that interview, he would have said, oh, well, my family members, but they live in the area, but they're not Hezbollah. I am not Hezbollah. He was never listed as Hezbollah, which is a designated foreign terrorist organization. That's why it would require kind of a closer look, going backwards to see, well was it flagged? Was it flagged with a recommendation for investigation? Who was on the other end of that if it happened?

But at this point, what we do see is targeting civilians by Hezbollah and Israel caused the Israeli Defense Forces to take out these two individuals and some of their family members, which then spills into an attack on civilians in a Jewish school in the United States.

So, we see the cycle of violence here becoming quite international.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and we do know the investigation continues.

All right, John Miller, thanks so much.

MILLER: Thanks, Fred. WHITFIELD: Coming up, the FCC Chair is threatening to punish networks, news outlets after President Trump blasted their coverage of the war with Iran. Could that actually change what you are seeing on television? Our chief media analyst weighs in.

Plus, oil and gas prices are climbing as the war escalates. New reporting on why your grocery bill could be next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:19:40]

WHITFIELD: The Trump administration has been critical of how news organizations are covering the war in Iran, and now, FCC Chair Brendan Carr is threatening to revoke broadcast licenses yet again, this time, for news coverage he deems fake news.

Carr, echoing comments from President Trump in a tweet on Saturday, writing I am quoting now, "Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions, also known as the fake news, have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest and they will lose their licenses if they do not."

[15:20:22]

Joining us now is CNN's chief media analyst, Brian Stelter.

What does this mean exactly?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Well, he is talking tough, but he may not be able to match the words with actions. The FCC has relatively little enforcement power, but that doesn't mean Carr and Trump aren't going to try to punish stations.

President Trump has talked many times, especially in the past two years about wanting to punish networks, even though networks are not licensed by the FCC, local stations are. Trump wants to punish networks for coverage that he doesn't like, for news coverage or entertainment shows he doesn't like.

And it seems that Carr is now trying in some ways to follow through on that. Now, Carr was at the President's Mar-a-Lago resort yesterday, and he was seen talking with Trump there. I happened to see Carr at the airport in Florida this morning, and as he acknowledged to me, cable channels at this moment, like CNN, are not licensed by the FCC. Streaming platforms like Netflix are not licensed, but local stations are.

So his threats are about local station licenses. Licenses are only renewed every eight years. None of them are coming up for renewal until 2028. So this doesn't seem to be a short term threat, but it is possible the FCC could take more aggressive steps to try to force some licenses to be renewed earlier than 2028, and if that happens, there will be a long, lengthy legal battle, and the networks, the stations will probably defend themselves. But the mere threat, the idea of the threat being public seems to be the goal here. It seems to be an attempt to get media companies to self-censor or submit to what the government wants. And that is why so many critics this weekend are calling Carr's threat authoritarian and unconstitutional -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: It is fascinating. All right, and thank you for that breakdown.

Brian Stelter appreciate it.

All right, still ahead, oil is close to $100.00 a barrel. Gas is at a nearly two-year high. So, how is the war with Iran driving up prices? We will break it all down for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:37 ]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back.

The cost of gas in the U.S. jumped nearly 24 percent since the end of February, when the war in Iran began. The latest data from AAA showed the average cost of unleaded reached $3.70 per gallon. That surge in prices is directly connected to the Strait of Hormuz. It moves about 20 percent of the world's oil every day.

President Trump suggested yesterday that other countries will send warships to free up shipping lanes. Neither Beijing nor London confirmed any participation.

So why is the U.S., which has large strategic reserves being hit so hard?

Here is CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This conflict is far away. The United States produces a tremendous amount of oil and gas. So, why is it affecting your corner gas station?

Because we're talking about another part of the world that also produces a lot of petroleum products. Places like UAE, Saudi Arabia, huge producer, Kuwait, Iraq and, yes, Iran as well. And almost all of that has to come out through this body of water and through the Strait of Hormuz. About 3,000 ships a month, 20 million barrels a day.

And Iran is putting so much pressure, military pressure on those ships with a threat of attack that they're effectively closing the metaphorical gates here and saying, nothing can get out from this area at the time. How are they doing that? One of the ways is with the threat of mining the area which is believed to be underway in some fashion there.

We don't know exactly what kind of mines they're using at this moment or how effective they would be, but we know what they have. For example, they have these. These are called influence mines. They sit in the water and they wait for ships to pass overhead.

If they see a small boat, they might let it pass. A medium sized one, let it pass. But they see one of those big tankers that they're after that's when they'll blow up. We don't really know how effective they can be, but we know they've already disrupted the flow here immensely.

Now, most of this is going out to go to Asian countries, principally China. Why would that affect you? Because oil is traded on a global market. Let me fill the back of our hanger here with a bunch of barrels representing all the oil being traded in the world right now.

And because of the trouble around the Strait of Hormuz, 20 percent is now being held up. You simply can't take that out of the market without affecting manufacturing and shipping and trade and, yes, what you're going to pay when you try to fill up your car for this weekend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Tom Foreman, thanks so much.

So the U.S. and Israel strikes in Iran have elevated major concerns for American consumers with spikes in oil as well as gas prices and the financial hardship could soon spread from the pump to the grocery aisles. That's because the cost of transporting goods went up as diesel prices rocketed higher in the past week, and with businesses already absorbing tariffs, there is very little room for them to take on higher transportation costs.

I want to discuss this with Phil Lempert. He is a supermarket guru and editor of "The Lempert Report" Newsletter.

Phil, great to see you as always.

So how soon could all this play out when people are paying more on the groceries as well?

PHIL LEMPERT, SUPERMARKET GURU AND EDITOR OF "THE LEMPERT REPORT" NEWSLETTER: Well, Fredricka, first of all when it comes to perishable foods, we are already starting to see it. This is a food story. It is about fuel, fertilizer and packaging.

[16:30:07]

And for example, if we look at bagged lettuce, most of it is grown in either California or in Arizona and the cost to transport lettuce from California to New York, diesel is up as you have said, it is $1.14 since the start of the war, that means it is almost another $500.00 per truckload. Then you've got the fuel surcharge on top of that.

So somewhere between $1,100.00 and $1,300.00 per truckload, that translates right away to $0.12. a bag of lettuce, but that doesn't even include the cost of fertilizer. We know that that's a huge problem because to grow lettuce, nitrogen fertilizers are used, and that's up around 30 to 35 percent since the war began. WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness! And yesterday, we spoke with a farmer, a soybean farmer, and he really, you know, confirmed how the fertilizer cost increases is impacting him and so many other farmers across the country.

You know, and it is not just prices that will likely, you know, get hit on all of these things, including fertilizers and beyond, but the options available now on the store shelves will, you know, I guess consumers will feel the impact in that way.

Explain how.

LEMPERT: Absolutely.

Keep in mind, it is not going to be as bad as it was with COVID when we walked in the store and we saw empty shelves. It is not going to get like that. But because of this kind of reduction in fertilizer, in packaging costs increasing, in fuel, these companies are going to have to you know, basically ship less. That means were going to have a lot less, you know, supply that's out there.

And if we look at things like ground beef, which is the highest that it has ever been in February, it is up to $6.74 a pound, you know, the bottom line is between the transportation, that's going to add about $0.06 a pound to it, the increased cost of corn, which is the primary feed for these cows, that's going up $0.40 to $0.45 a pound.

The packaging goes up about $0.04 a pound, so what we are seeing is, we are going to see if this war goes on three to six months, about $7.50 a pound and just to give you a comparison, Fredricka, you know ground beef back in 2020 was only $3.99 a pound.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it is crazy right now. I think everybody agrees on that one.

So then, you know, the cost of diesel, all these things are going up. What kind of decisions are some of these companies, manufacturers going to make?

LEMPERT: Well the problem is, whether you be a farmer or a manufacturer you've got to think ahead. Youve got to think, you know, 12 months, 18 months out. So it is being planted now in the ground, we are not going to see, you know, harvested for a while so they're really very concerned.

The tariffs really spooked them to begin with because of the uncertainties there. They didn't know what to do. Now, with this war going on, these prices going on, a lot of them are just saying let's run down the inventory that we've got. And again, not perishable foods but I am talking about boxed foods and canned foods, those things that are shelf staple. Let's run that out and see what is going to take place over the next, you know, four or five weeks and hopefully the war is over and things can go back to normal.

However, having said that, it is going to take six months to get back to normal, especially when we look at fertilizer. WHITFIELD: Right, and you know, and we saw during COVID, I mean there were things that people would go stock up on -- toilet paper being one of those. While this is going on, whether it is three months, six months or more as you, you know just laid out, do you see that there are certain things people are going to end up stocking up on?

LEMPERT: Absolutely.

People are already doing it. I was in about three supermarkets yesterday and I saw people just panicking and buying all kinds of things because they feel that the prices are going to go up and they are going to go up. Theres no question in my mind.

And if we look at the added cost between, you know the diesel, the fertilizer everything in, it is estimated that from an agricultural standpoint, that's not including packaging or anything else, it is another $7 billion to $15 billion in costs.

Now, here is the good news, Fredricka. You know, for a lot of your friends who love caviar, don't worry. Only about one percent of our caviar actually comes from Iran. The good or the bad news is about 60 percent of our caviar comes from China, and that won't be affected.

WHITFIELD: All right, well, glad to have a little humor, I will tell this to my caviar-loving friends.

All right, Phil Lempert, thank you so much.

LEMPERT: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right up next, zero dollars, that's the amount that appears on the paychecks TSA employees received this week. I will speak to a union steward and TSA agent about what agents are facing as the partial U.S. government shutdown continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:39:47]

WHITFIELD: All right, as the partial U.S. government shutdown stretches into a fourth week now, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says 300 TSA agents have quit since funding for the Department of Homeland Security ran out last month.

[15:40:10]

Even with no funds available, 61,000 TSA employees are required to work and have now missed their first full paychecks. Federal employees are guaranteed to receive back pay once the shutdown ends, but getting by until then remains a challenge.

Joining us right now is George Borek, a TSA officer at Hartsfield Jackson Airport here in Atlanta. He is also a labor representative for the American Federation of Government Employees Union.

Great to see you, and so sorry, under these circumstances once again. I mean, you have called this moment really one of survival of the fittest for your colleagues. So how are people getting through this, including yourself?

GEORGE BOREK, TSA OFFICER AT HARTSFIELD JACKSON AIRPORT HERE IN ATLANTA: Well, Fredricka, thank you for having me on board.

Listen, this is a much tougher shutdown than what we had back in the fall. Reason being is that a lot of people do not know that TSA officers are working without pay. When we had the shut down in the fall, you had many other agencies.

Now, people really don't know until they get to an airport and they see the lines and they start asking questions that they realize that TSA agents are working without pay.

WHITFIELD: And then is the hardship on the TSA agents, you know, much more difficult because so many had to you know make ends meet or you know, reach out for assistance or perhaps there was more assistance available during the last shutdown. And now have a lot of those resources, are they not as available to a lot of TSA workers who are now working without paychecks?

BOREK: Well first, you have to look at, yes, it is -- financially, it is worse. You know, people were trying to dig themselves out of the previous shutdown and certainly as union representatives, we are trying to, hey, listen put some money away and so forth, but it is very difficult to come dig yourself out of the hole.

But also, the resources that we had in the fall are not the same, not available to us as we had in the fall. So, it makes it very difficult.

You know, officers come in --

WHITFIELD: What do you mean?

BOREK: Well, the different agencies that may have had food banks, you know issues of lending money, you know, for zero interest and so forth, those same things that we had in the fall are not available today.

WHITFIELD: Is it -- you know, what are your colleagues telling you about their frustrations about, you know, whether they want to continue being TSA workers or whether they're looking for other jobs because they don't know how long they are going to go without paychecks. What are you hearing?

BOREK: Well, listen, I have -- since I am a working officer in Hartsfield Jackson, I get people come up to me every day. You know they ask, you know they'll ask me, listen, what do you think? What do you?

You know, and I try to give them the best advice, but people are terrified, people are scared. They don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. A lot of them are trying -- you know, they are having mental breakdowns. They are having like, where am I going to get a meal? You know, yes, you know, I have to say that the administration, the airport administration has been instrumental in getting meals for the agents, but it doesn't feed the people that they have to feed at home.

So, there is a lot more stress right now going on and listen, every day is a new day and you just don't know what that day is going to bring, but there is a lot of frustration, it is just a very bad time.

WHITFIELD: Yes. You and your colleagues are missing paychecks because lawmakers in Washington are locked in a political standoff over federal immigration enforcement, but listen to what Democratic Senator Cory Booker told CNN about the funding battle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): Democrats have tried multiple times to try to get TSA, CISA, the Coast Guard funded. Republicans have refused time and time again to fund --

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, they want the whole agency funded.

BOOKER: They want the whole agency -- ICE is still out there doing reckless things in communities. I will not approve another dollar for ICE given all that they are doing, but we should be funding those TSA agents that keep us safe; CISA, Coast Guard and for Republicans who refuse to do it is unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Who do you blame right now?

BOREK: You know, I am not going to go blaming anyone. All I will say is that, listen, the powers to be have the ability to correct this tomorrow.

You know, it is like when you have people go around to different communities and say, you know, what are the kitchen table issues? You know, I would encourage that the people that can make that difference, the elected officials, they need to come to the different airports no matter what state you are, sit down at the table.

[15:45:08]

Speak to the officers that are trying to deal with this, understand what we are going through. But listen, people should make the right decision. You see what is going on in the country. You see what is going on in the world. We are not immune.

We are there for a reason, to protect the flying public, but we need the resources from them so we can continue doing our job to the best of our ability.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and I wonder, George, you know, every individual has to assess how much longer they can carry on. I wonder, are you starting to calculate that too, about how long you can hang in there as a TSA agent without a paycheck, you know, with this partial shutdown underway? BOREK: Listen, I will say this for myself. You know, listen I am in this for the long run because again, I feel how important this position is, me working at TSA. I mean, I am in it for the long run, but I am going to do everything I can to -- you know, listen, keep on surviving, keep on going, but also trying to help the other officers I work with because again, it just --

You know, it is sad to come in every day not knowing how many officers I am going to have to work with. Some days none; some days more. But we should not be put in this predicament.

WHITFIELD: All right, George Borek, hang in there. Hey, I travel a lot, as do a lot of our viewers and I think all of us, universally, are very grateful about the work that you all do at so many airports across the country.

So you know, this is very tough that so many of you are being put under these kinds of stresses right now. Thanks so much for what you do.

BOREK: Thank you so much.

WHITFIELD: All right, tonight is Oscars night and CNN and "Variety" are live on the red carpet for a special coverage that you won't see anywhere else. We are live starting at 4:00 Eastern. Live pictures right now. Some of the stars already on the red carpet.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:51:57]

WHITFIELD: More than 100 million people in the eastern half of the country will face an increasingly severe thunderstorm risk as a massive storm is moving across the country bringing with it potentially several feet of snow. High winds from these storms could also knock out power to parts of the Midwest and the Great Lakes.

CNN meteorologist, Allison Chinchar is here with much more, very severe and potentially dangerous weather.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. I mean look, the Midwest is used to snow. They get it. But we are not talking four to six inches in some of these places. We are talking two to three feet in some of these areas.

WHITFIELD: Oh my God! What a spring!

CHINCHAR: And in a very short period of time, too. So that's going to be the focus here. It is not just though the snow that is going to come down. We also have incredibly windy conditions. So it is basically going to take all of that snow that comes down and blow it all over the place reducing that visibility practically down to zero in some of these spots, especially where you see the orange color on the map. So the U.P. of Michigan, most of Wisconsin. You've got a good large portion of Minnesota, Iowa as well. That is where we have the blizzard warning, where we really anticipate those to have very strong winds.

Here is where the heaviest snow band is right now. That darker purple indicates the incredibly heavy bands of snow. You've also got that second wraparound area here kind of sliding through the Minneapolis area. All of this is going to continue to slide east, but very slowly, and that is what is allowing a lot of these areas to really hit some pretty high accumulation totals.

On the southern side, it is warmer so warm, in fact that were having to deal with a lot of severe thunderstorms. You've got these tornado watches in effect. Again, they stretch from Illinois all the way back towards East Texas. This is the main line of concern here. It is really just now starting to get going, so it is something we will have to keep an eye on here over the next several hours as it continues to make its way to the East.

All of these areas have the potential for severe storms from now until about 6:00 A.M. tomorrow. So, this does go through the overnight hours. So if you are in any one of these areas, make sure you have a way to get those emergency alerts on your phone to wake you up during the overnight hours, especially places like Atlanta, Nashville, Birmingham, Louisville -- all of these areas in this target point here because, yes, there is the potential for damaging winds, but also several tornadoes, some of which could be strong tornadoes.

Then the same system continues to push east on Monday. So here is where the concern is Monday. Now, you'll notice we even have that red color because this means we anticipate the threat to increase as we head into the day Monday.

So all of those areas that includes D.C., Richmond down through Raleigh, and portions of Northern South Carolina, all of those areas have the potential -- you're talking 60, 70 even 80 mile per hour straight line winds. But in addition to that, also the potential for strong tornadoes. We are talking EF2 or EF3 tornadoes for some of these areas, not just the red. Basically any of this area you see here. We could also see some small hail, maybe about quarters up to about golf ball size.

So, let's break down the timeline here. So here is where we are pretty much through the afternoon. And then there is that strong line of thunderstorms as it continues through the evening hours. The overnight, it does weaken slightly as it goes through the overnight, but then tomorrow, once we get the heating of the day, it ramps right back up right there, up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

And then yes, because colder temperatures are going to be coming through on the backside of this, you actually have a little bit of snow that will come in along the back.

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So after you're done with your severe weather, you could end up getting some snow right on top of it.

We are talking tremendously high amounts of snow. Some of these areas, one to three feet, especially where you see that dark purple color, which again, Fred, that not only is kind of a pain, but it can cause a lot of travel disruptions as well.

WHITFIELD: It sure can, one to three feet. That's very significant. And at this stage of the game of winter, you know, and spring on the way, we hope, right?

All right, Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.

And thank you for joining me today. I am Fredricka Whitfield. Our special coverage of the Oscars red carpet starts right after a quick break.

And here is a little peek on the red carpet of early arrivals.

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