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Israeli PM Heeds U.S. President's Call to Avoid Attacks on Iran's Energy Facilities; BTS Releases New Album After Four Years of Inactivity Ahead of their First Worldwide Concert Event in Seoul. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired March 20, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta, and we're beginning this hour with the war in Iran and new reports of drone strikes targeting countries all around the Middle East.

The Saudi Defense Ministry says it shot down at least a dozen drones over eastern parts of the country. Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates are also reporting new missile and drone attacks too.

Israeli sources confirm an Iranian ballistic missile struck an oil refinery in the Israeli port city of Haifa. So far, no injuries have been reported.

Israel's Prime Minister says his nation acted alone in the strike on Iran's South Pars gas field on Wednesday. Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to hold off on any future attacks after a request from President Trump.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I told him don't do that and he won't do that. We didn't discuss. You know, we do, we're independent, we get along great, it's coordinated, but on occasion he'll do something and if I don't like it and so we're not doing that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Let's go live now to Dubai and CNN's Eleni Giokos is there again for us. Eleni, thank you for being with me.

We are almost three weeks into this now, even just while I was reading the headlines there to see the images from this region is just absolutely inciting. What is the latest where you are?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it absolutely has been over the past few weeks, very unprecedented, and we've seen a consistent striking on energy infrastructure. Just this morning, this coming through from Kuwait, the Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery was struck again. It was attacked by several drones on Friday morning, according to authorities, engulfing the refinery with flames as well as smoke.

Firefighters trying to control that fire. No injuries as a result of this attack, so super important here, but we've actually seen countries around the region intercepting drones and missiles.

It is Eid, it is the end of the holy month of Ramadan. It is an important holiday and we're seeing consistent attacking by the Iranians. The Iranians earlier this week had said that the red lines of this war have changed and that's after Israel struck its South Pars gas field, it is the largest gas field in the world and we've seen more attacks on critical infrastructure because of that escalation within the region.

The other big piece of news is that Haifa, a gas field in Israel, was also struck by Iran in conjunction with what we saw in Qatar. The Qataris coming out and saying that it's Ras Laffan, an LNG export facility, has lost around 17 percent of capacity. It's going to take them at least five years or up to five years to get things back up and running at full capacity.

So we're talking about supply destruction across the region. If I look at all the energy infrastructure that has been targeted since the start of the war and we've seen the pictures of smoke and flames engulfing critical parts of the supply chain, it creates a lot of concern of what it's going to mean for the energy prognosis down the line.

Energy prices, gas prices, as well as Brent crude spiking yesterday and Brent testing that $119 a barrel, it's down now because President Trump as well as Prime Minister Netanyahu are trying to allay fears and even one of the big paradoxes of what we've seen is that Secretary Scott Bessent was saying that they're considering lifting sanctions on sanctioned Iranian oil that is currently out at sea.

That would be a significant move because they're trying to create some kind of release valve of the supply constraints that we've seen because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Again, it really comes back to how long this war will last and President Trump was saying that he's going to ask Pentagon for another $200 billion to fund this war. The price tag is enormous, not only domestically for people in the United States but also people here in the Gulf region and importantly what we're seeing on the energy price front, Ben, it's going to impact everyone around the world.

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HUNTE: Oh yes, that is so much money. So much money. Eleni Giokos in Dubai, thank you so much, I appreciate it.

Onwards, Israel's Prime Minister is speaking candidly about his goal of regime change in Iran. He answered a number of questions from CNN's Jeremy Diamond at a news conference in Jerusalem on Thursday. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: You assassinated Iran's Supreme Leader and dozens of other senior Iranian officials. The result of that so far has been the appointment of a new Supreme Leader considered to be even more hardline than his father. The Iranian regime is not showing any signs of collapse as of now.

So I wonder what do you say to those who say that killing those individuals is in fact empowering the hardliners in Iran and are you confident that your strategy will still lead to regime change?

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: What we see is that there's a lot of tensions inside the people who are edging for the top. I think it's important that they know that if they think they're going to target the world, target the President of the United States and so on, they themselves are being targeted. That creates a lot of uncertainty.

I think the authority and the hold that Khamenei has had is not going to be translated to anyone. Not to Mojtaba if he's there and not to anyone else. But I think this is part of the effort to crack the regime.

We're seeing some defections. We're seeing fear and trepidation in the IRGC units that are manning the ballistic missiles.

You know why? Because they're afraid to die, they're not all suicidal. In fact, most of them are not.

So we're seeing cracks, but we're going to hit them again and again. The minimum thing we want to do is, again, erase the industrial capacity that they had to produce these weapons. They'll have to build it from a start and that's very hard.

It's very hard to do underground too. So they're not going to be able to just take the pieces and move them below the earth. It's going to be a lot harder for them.

But ideally, if it cracks enough, and with some other things that I won't get into, yes, the regime could change.

Is it guaranteed? No.

And is it up to the Iranian people in the final accounting to make use of the conditions that we're doing in weakening this regime? We'll see. I cannot tell you.

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HUNTE: Well, earlier I spoke with Benjamin Raad, a political scientist and senior fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations. I asked him whether he thought the war with Iran was escalating into a wider conflict.

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BENJAMIN RADD, POLITICAL SCIENTIST AND SR. FELLOW, UCLA BURKLE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: I think as we're seeing Iran expand its operations and continuing to attack the Gulf States, it's showing an increased desperation on their part. They've been successful with some of these attacks. We know that they've hit some targets.

We know that apparently the F-16 that was shot down today or shot at earlier. So they have capabilities. But I think by extending this, continuing to extend it, targeting energy infrastructure in these other states, and we've seen some more aggressive pushback, at least verbally by the Saudis, I think it's showing that Iran is right now losing its ability to fight the kinetic warfare and is relying on these sort of strategic strikes to play the energy card, really is the only thing it has left.

And if it turns out that the nations involved in this, the United States, Israel, and maybe the other Gulf States, take more aggressive action to minimize the risk posed to these energy sectors, then I think we're nearing the end of what Iran can do before it simply has to stop fighting.

HUNTE: President Trump continues to describe this as a short-term operation, right? But we're seeing the conflict spread across multiple countries and growing global involvement too. Based on what you're seeing, does this still look like something that can be contained and quickly?

RADD: I, at this point, would urge anyone to discount what Donald Trump says on a day-to-day or an hour-by-hour basis.

I don't mean that glibly. I'm saying in the sense that it's not an indicator of what's happening on the ground, or I should say in the air. It is maybe his assessment, we don't know how attuned he is to what's happening minute by minute.

I think when we get updates from the Pentagon, when we get updates from other sources, especially international sources, we get a better sense of it. The Secretary of War said it was outright, I believe he was the one that said it, that this is a four-to-five-week operation, might have been the chair of the Joint Chiefs. And I think four to five weeks is a good window to see if what the United States seeks to accomplish can be done.

And just to remind our viewers, it's the objective to neutralize Iran's nuclear enrichment program, to put an end to its ballistic missile capabilities, and also insist on its ceasing support for proxy groups. So I think those are the three objectives, and those can be achieved in four to five weeks if everyone's aligned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: There was a bit of an awkward moment in the White House as President Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday.

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A Japanese reporter asked why he didn't notify Japan and other allies about his plan to attack Iran. In response, Trump invoked the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: One thing you don't want to signal too much, you know, when we go in, we went in very hard and we didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Okay?

Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor? Okay? Right?

He's asking me, do you believe in surprise? I think much more so than us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: He was, of course, referring to Japan's surprise attack that pulled the U.S. into World War II and left more than 2000 Americans dead. Takaichi didn't comment on that reference.

For the first time since the U.S. and Israel started the War of Iran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth opened his press briefing by acknowledging the sacrifices of American service members who have been killed in action. But he quickly returned to touting military accomplishments and attacking the media for its coverage of the war. Hegseth reflected on Wednesday's trip to Dover Air Base, where he and President Trump honored six of the 13 U.S. troops that have been killed in action to date.

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PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: What I heard through tears, through hugs, through strength, and through unbreakable resolve was the same from family after family. They said, finish this. Honor their sacrifice, do not waver, do not stop until the job is done.

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HUNTE: In our last hour, I spoke with military analyst Malcolm Davis. He's also a senior analyst in defense strategy and capability for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. He says the Trump administration appears to be moving towards putting U.S. troops on the ground against Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALCOLM DAVIS, MILITARY ANALYST: You have two amphibious ready groups heading towards the region on U.S. Navy ships, helicopter assault carriers. You don't deploy that sort of firepower and that sort of manpower for nothing.

Essentially, you do it because you're anticipating the possibility of using ground forces. And I think there's two scenarios that people are talking about.

The first would be to seize Karg Island, to control Karg Island and deny it to the regime, to cut off their access to their, essentially, their oil that gives them funding to sustain them in power. The second would be to seize control of the coastal region around the Straits of Hormuz to assist the U.S. in opening up the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.

Both are high-risk operations, both are logistically very challenging, but that would be the two likely scenarios that we could see ground forces going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: The death toll keeps rising in Lebanon as Israel intensifies military operations there. Ahead, we'll ask a humanitarian worker about the price that innocent civilians are now paying, and that's for a war that's not of their making. See you in a moment.

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HUNTE: Lebanon's prime minister says his country has had enough as Israel pushes ahead with its offensive against Hezbollah. He says after weeks of fighting, at least one in five people in Lebanon are displaced and the death toll has now surpassed 1,000 people. That's according to Lebanese officials.

This CNN video from southern Lebanon shows some areas practically flattened by heavy Israeli bombardment. Look at those images. The Lebanese Prime Minister is now urging the U.S. President to step in and help stop the fighting.

We are now joined by Karolina Lindholm Billing, the U.N. Refugee Agency's representative for Lebanon. And she is in Beirut for us. Thank you so much for being with us, we really appreciate it.

As this conflict does continue, what are you seeing on the ground in Lebanon right now? How serious is the humanitarian situation becoming there?

KAROLINA LINDHOLM BILLING, UNHCR REPRESENTATIVE IN LEBANON: It's very serious. I mean, as you said, a fifth of Lebanon's population has been uprooted from their homes in just two weeks' time from around 14 percent of the territory that's now under evacuation orders. And what we see is that the people who are fleeing, men, women, children, older people, they're fleeing without bringing anything because they're really terrified to be caught up in these attacks.

So they're arriving with just the clothes they're wearing, with traumatized and seeking shelter. So, I mean, just a week ago, the Prime Minister of Lebanon said that he's afraid of a looming humanitarian catastrophe. And I have to say, I share that fear.

HUNTE: You just mentioned some of the displacement there, but we have seen reports of people being displaced by the fighting in southern Lebanon and tension along the border. What have you heard from families who are being forced to flee? Where are they going? What are they going through?

LINDHOLM BILLING: So the majority have so far tried to find safety in Beirut and the Mount Lebanon area, but others in the Bekaa, in the north of the country.

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Most are trying to find somewhere to stay with friends or relatives or renting accommodation. But we also see the prices quickly rising, as in other parts of the world. Around 134,000 have currently found shelter in one of the shelters that the government has opened, mainly in public schools, to accommodate displaced people.

But these are also becoming overcrowded. You have many families sleeping now on the floor in the classroom and without the privacy and with the trauma that they're bringing with them. So to find somewhere to stay is one of the most immediate needs that the displaced have.

HUNTE: It's just so sad. And we're seeing images while you're speaking there. It's awful, absolutely awful stuff.

Lebanon was already facing a severe economic crisis before all of this. How much more strain is this conflict now putting on basic services like health care and electricity and access to essential supplies?

LINDHOLM BILLING: Well, it's a lot. Because now more than a million people are being pushed into a smaller territory where they are putting that pressure on all the services you mentioned.

And also remember that these people, they haven't just left their homes behind, they've left their jobs behind, their incomes behind. And now prices are rising, not just of food, but also of bread and basic items. So it's adding to the pressure on people's survival.

And what really worries us is if this does not stop soon, the immediate needs for, again, somewhere to stay, psychosocial support, really the basics will lead to frustrations and tensions among people and communities.

HUNTE: And of course, humanitarian aid is not going to stop the conflict and bring peace. But it can help mitigate some of those further tensions from rising. Are you expecting to see this develop into a broader refugee crisis across the whole region?

LINDHOLM BILLING: I mean, if people who are fleeing now currently within Lebanon are not able to meet their basic needs, I mean, they will need to seek support somewhere.

We've already seen around 120,000 of the Syrian refugees who were hosted in Lebanon returning to Syria in a rush, and around 15,000 Lebanese going to Syria because of fear of the violence and the conflict in Lebanon. So we have to therefore support the immediate needs quickly so that people feel that they have found safety inside Lebanon. But also, this can really grow into a very serious and more humanitarian catastrophe, as the Prime Minister said, if it doesn't stop soon.

HUNTE: I've got about 30 seconds left. I'm hearing my producer say, from a humanitarian perspective, what are the biggest challenges right now in actually reaching people, assessing needs and delivering aid safely? And also, what can people do if they want to help out?

LINDHOLM BILLING: So it is, the biggest challenge is just the scale and the importance of supporting the humanitarian needs quickly. Because for every day that goes by that displaced people don't have somewhere to sleep, that cannot afford to buy food, hygiene items, and have the privacy they need in order to, you know, prevent further exploitation or others, needs will grow.

So people can support. The government is leading the response, UNHCR and other agencies are supporting them in this effort. And it's important to quickly get aid in.

HUNTE: Thank you so much for being with me, Karolina Lindholm Berling. We really appreciate it in Beirut. Thank you.

LINDHOLM BILLING: Thank you.

HUNTE: Okay, coming up, Saudi Arabia says it shot down at least a dozen drones in the past several hours. It is just one of several Middle Eastern countries fielding attacks from Iran, latest ahead soon.

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HUNTE: Welcome back, I'm Ben Hunte. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

Several Middle Eastern countries say they're intercepting new drone strikes. Israel's military identified missiles launched from Iran and says its defense systems were working to intercept them. Meanwhile, Iran's state media reported its defenses were activated against hostile targets in Tehran.

A Japanese prime minister says she has specific proposals for how to calm energy markets that have been rattled by the war in Iran. She met with U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House on Thursday. The two leaders are expected to announce joint investments in nuclear and gas energy in the U.S.

Muslims around the world are now celebrating the holiday of Eid al- Fitr as the holy month of Ramadan comes to a close. Tens of thousands of worshippers are gathered for special Eid prayers at the Grand Mosque in Mecca. You're seeing some live pictures there, which is home to the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site.

Morocco now. Morocco is taking on the challenge of upgrading and expanding its rail capacity.

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It will spend about $10 billion to build high-speed rail lines between financial and tourist hubs. Morocco's plans aim to ease daily travel and serve as an example for the rest of the continent. CNN's Victoria Rubadiri reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VICTORIA RUBADIRI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With each departing train, Morocco is moving one step closer to realizing its rail revolution.

NACERA BECHARI, MARKETING AND STRATEGIC MANAGER, ONCF (through translator): Investment in rail is strategically important on several levels. From an economic perspective, it supports urban development, creates jobs and establishes an economic corridor from Tangier to Marrakesh. From a territorial perspective, it will better connect cities and ease congestion.

RUBADIRI (voice-over): The nation's rail operator, ONCF, says in 2023, 53 million people and 17 million tons of goods travelled by rail. And they're bracing for that number to continue to increase rapidly.

BECHARI (through translator): If we consider the entire network, including other regional trains and intercity trains, today we have about 56 million passengers. We will go to more than 120 million passengers by 2030.

RUBADIRI (voice-over): With its eyes also set on co-hosting the World Cup in 2030, the country has announced a nearly $10 billion rail expansion project. It includes adding more than 600 kilometers of high-speed rail to connect Qunitra, a city in the northwest of the country, with the tourist hotspot of Marrakesh. It's buying 168 new trains, 18 of which will be high-speed.

Once complete, ONCF says its network will connect 43 major cities, linking 15 international airports and 12 ports.

BECHARI (through translator): We consider rail to be the backbone of sustainable mobility that facilitates connectivity, connection and transport between different cities. At the African level, the potential is even greater because it will make it possible to further develop economic relations between African cities and create intra- African corridors, all while promoting environmental sustainability.

RUBADIRI (voice-over): With an ambitious goal of completing the project by 2029, the ONCF is hopeful that their vision for high-speed rail can be replicated across the continent.

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[03:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNTE: Welcome back to CNN, this is your Business Breakout. Let's take a look at the Asia markets. The Nikkei is down more than 3 percent, the Hang Seng is down almost 1 percent and the KOSPI in Seoul is up about 0.3 percentage point, you see on your screen there.

And these are the business headlines.

On Thursday, global benchmark Brent Crude surged to $119 a barrel before settling at $108 for the day. That is the highest closing level since July 2022. The U.S. benchmark settled at $96 a barrel after hitting $100 earlier.

The co-founder of SuperMicro Computer and two others are charged with conspiring to smuggle $2.5 billion worth of NVIDIA A.I. chips from the U.S. to China. The chips were in service, but the men allegedly used dummy servers to fool auditors. The various charges include conspiring to violate export laws, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

A group of U.S. attorneys general is filing an antitrust lawsuit challenging a merger that would create one of the biggest T.V. station ownership groups in the country. This after Nexstar Broadcasting said it has completed its acquisition of Tegna, a deal that would give Nexstar stations in 44 states. Critics say the merger will weaken coverage of local news.

BTS is making a comeback. The super popular pop group released a new album called "Arirang" a short time ago, this is their first album after taking off for four years to complete mandatory military service. The new album is a modern take on a beloved traditional Korean folk song of the same name, which focuses on themes of love, loss and separation.

CNN's Hanako Montgomery joined us live now from Seoul, South Korea. So this seems like huge news, but just how massive is this news, Hanako?

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes Ben, it's a little bit hard to hear you right now because there are just so many people around me here using their cell phones to document this historic moment when the seven-member group BTS is making a comeback after a four year hiatus. So right now, I'm actually right by the stage that they're constructing for the special concert set to take place tomorrow on Saturday.

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You can actually see some of the blue lights going right now as dozens of people are constructing this stage. I'm very excited to see all of this coming together for that one special event on Saturday.

Now also Ben, I do want to show you here, this concert venue, which is in a public square, is actually in front of this historic temple in Seoul. And it is reported that the BTS members will be exiting from this palace where the king used to reside when heading to the stage and performing for, again, the first time in four years as a whole group. Now we've spoken to several fans who are just so excited to see their favorite boy band come back and perform for their millions of fans.

Listen to this one fan who said she just had no words to express her excitement.

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UNKNOWN: I cannot put it in words. We waited for them for almost four years, and I became an ARMY almost eight years ago and it's my very first time to see all seven of them on stage. I saw them in their solo concerts, but never as a group.

So it's my very first time to see all of them on stage and I cannot put it in words. It's impossible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Now, of course, Ben, as I mentioned, this is a huge undertaking for Seoul given just how popular the band is. The city is expecting over a quarter of a million people to show up to the Saturday concert, even though a fraction of them only have tickets. But a majority of people are actually expected to occupy the spaces around the stage to try to get as close as possible to BTS to hear them perform, hear them sing and dance after a four-year break.

Now, Seoul is deploying thousands of police officers on Saturday to help with that crowd control. You can already see fences like this one right next to me to protect the individuals coming to the concert, making sure that certain places don't get too crowded and get overwhelming for these fans.

But then again, just to really emphasize how big of a moment this is for K-pop, BTS has really set the scene for what K-pop can be as a cultural export from South Korea to the world. And right now, with their newest album, "Arirang," they are emphasizing their Korean roots, the importance of their heritage and their culture, and they seem, as a group, also very excited to share that with their millions of fans worldwide. Ben.

HUNTE: Love it. Well, thank you so much for that, CNN's Hanako Montgomery, I appreciate it.

Crews at the Kennedy Space Center are rolling out the Artemis 2 rocket as they prepare it for launch as early as April 1st. This is a live look at the 12-hour process as they slowly shuttle the towering rocket on track to Trent from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad. The Artemis mission will take a crew of four astronauts on a 10- day trip, looping around but not landing on the moon.

Okay, that's all I've got for you. Thanks so much for joining me. See you tomorrow.

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