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Three U.S. Warplanes Accidentally Shot Down; Mixed MAGA Reaction on Iran Strikes; Large Explosions over Tehran; Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) is Interviewed about Iran. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 02, 2026 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

BRIG. GEN. STEVEN ANDERSON, U.S. ARMY (RET.): And until we do that, until we break them (ph) --

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: But can their loyalties be divided? Will there be groups -- you're nodding. Do you -- is -- are people hoping that there will be some general who breaks away from the Mujahideen.

SHIRIN NARIMAN, HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATE: I don't think that they would -- they would -- the generals, but, you know, the lower ranks, maybe when they see that they are defeated, they don't see any more reason to fight. And they, you know, they -- and also Maryam Rajavi has called on IRGC personnel to turn in your weapons and leave and ask the army to join people to stand up with the Iranian people.

So, I think we are going to -- moving forward, these are the times that we have to be patient, go through everything, because things are forming.

CORNISH: Yes. But I'm asking because this is also the brutal force that put down the protests just a few weeks ago. That massacre. People are talking about deaths in the tens of thousands.

ANDERSON: Yes, they've killed 30,000 perhaps. They'd be highly motivated because a regime change is an existential threat to them. They know that there are going to be repercussions for what they did to the Iranian people. So, they're going to be highly motivated to stay alive.

CORNISH: Even through the president, U.S. president is out there saying there's going to be some kind of immunity for you?

ANDERSON: Amnesty.

CORNISH: Or amnesty.

ANDERSON: Or immunity. Yes. Well, that's easy to say, hard to do. They know the people on the streets know what they did. And they're going to be highly motivated to stay alive and to continue to fight and continue to support the regime for as long as they possibly can. So, that's why they're the center of gravity. That's why we got -- we got to do everything we can to take them down.

CORNISH: Do you believe the president has put the people of Iran in the position for a populist uprising? A successful one?

NARIMAN: I think it definitely cracked the regime. You know, Khamenei was the glue. And he's not there. So, people are -- if there is a right opposition group, which it is, and resistance units, they -- yes, we are going to be seeing more uprisings. It's not going to be during the war. We saw it in the 12-day war. Nothing happened. It happened afterwards.

So, after -- I don't think this will take more than a week. But after it is done, we are going to be seeing progress and also what we can see is that the popularity -- people in Iran, after what happened in January, they realized that they have to fight back this issue (ph). Yes, we have to fight this regime in the streets, on the streets around, you know, Iran. We have to fight the regime. And that's why we need resistance units.

CORNISH: Yes.

NARIMAN: We need national liberation army, which is forming. And we are hearing that it's expanding. More and more, more people are joining because even the ordinary people on the streets, they have realized they have to fight this fight.

CORNISH: Yes.

NARIMAN: And it's not going to be easy.

CORNISH: No.

NARIMAN: It's not going to be tomorrow.

CORNISH: And I think we're --

NARIMAN: It's going to take time.

CORNISH: We're all going to be listening -- the definition of fight, what that will involve and how that will break down.

Thank you both so much for being here.

NARIMAN: Thank you.

CORNISH: OK, straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, multiple U.S. jets crash straight out of the sky in Kuwait. The Pentagon now telling us more about what happened. We're going to have a live report on that next.

Plus, later this morning we'll hear from top members of the Trump administration. Pete Hegseth is going to lead a conference, a news conference, at the Pentagon. That's happening in about 90 minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:37:34]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news. CORNISH: Breaking news.

This hour we're hearing from the Pentagon about this remarkable new video that we've been showing you this morning. Take a look. A U.S. military jet seen falling from the sky in Kuwait about ten miles from a U.S. air base. U.S. Central Command now says three U.S. jets were accidentally shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses.

Joining us now, Haley Britzky, CNN national security reporter.

Haley, just start by telling us what the U.S. is saying about what happened.

HALEY BRITZKY, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, so, like you just said, I mean, this is a remarkable thing, not just one fighter jet, but three fighter jets, F-15 strike eagle jets. that were accidentally shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses. So, U.S. Central Command saying early this morning that all six aircrew safely evacuated the jets, that they are in stable condition. They said that this happened during active combat. That they -- that the combat included, they say, attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones when these three jets were shot down.

So, certainly something that we're going to be wanting more answers on, how this happened, how those pilots are, where they are. As you've been talking about this morning, we have an 8:00 a.m. briefing with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine. I'm sure this is going to come up and be something that reporters are wanting more answers on.

But certainly wanting some answers on what happened yesterday in Kuwait, when three U.S. service members were killed in an apparent drone strike in the country. There's a lot of questions that we have about this operation as it unfolds. This operation dubbed epic fury between the U.S. and Iran. But certainly top of mind right now are these six air crew that evacuated their jets as they came down because of this apparent friendly fire incident.

CORNISH: OK, that's Haley Britzky. We're going to have more this morning as we are waiting on that news conference with Pete Hegseth.

I want to bring it back now to the group. Joining the chat, CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier.

Kim, first of all, I wanted to talk to you because you have a connection to Iran.

KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes.

CORNISH: We just saw the death of the supreme leader. Can you talk about what you're seeing through your particular lens?

DOZIER: Yes. I was there as a kid. And we got evacuated. And we were in Tehran trying to get out on the evacuation flights when the shah left and when Khamenei came in.

[06:40:02]

And I try to tell people, don't underestimate the country. Full of highly educated, very sophisticated people who aren't going to fold. If we were talking about the U.S. just collapsing and giving up after three days of bombing, people would laugh at you. Try to think of Iran the same way. It's going to take a lot more to dislodge them. And it's not going to happen with just air strikes.

CORNISH: But isn't the country more vulnerable now? Tremendous amount of leadership taken out.

DOZIER: Yes.

CORNISH: I don't think we've seen yet a closing of the Strait of Hormuz, which would -- which would be a pretty big deal.

DOZIER: But they said -- they have such command and control that they've said they're not going to do that.

Look, they've got -- it's an Islamic Republic. It's led -- it's guided by a constitution. The clerical class is about 50,000 strong in government. They have a deep bench to replace the supreme leader, and they have a million strong military. Two hundred thousands roughly of that is Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. And we also learned through an interview with the foreign minister in al Jazeera, he said, oh, yes, one of the units attacked Oman because they're operating independently with orders they got before the conflict began. That means this military is a planning military that knew they might lose communication with the head office.

CORNISH: Yes.

DOZIER: And they are proceeding independently. That's called following commander's intent. That's the kind of thing that western military, NATO trained militaries, do.

CORNISH: One more thing. When we see this friendly fire situation happening with the U.S. jets and Kuwait, it's a reminder that Iran has responded by hitting many places in the region, right?

DOZIER: Yes.

CORNISH: They are, in a way, and please tell me if I'm misreading this, also trying to draw in some of the Arab allies, maybe of the U.S., to bring down some pressure.

DOZIER: Yes. This idea of targeting the gulf states, hoping that you'll have -- get the bank shot of them pressuring the U.S. to stop. I think instead it could blow up in Iran's face because we're seeing those gulf states make a statement this morning, together with the U.S., saying, stop hitting us.

CORNISH: Yes.

DOZIER: And we might see this as a driving force leading eventually towards an expansion of the Abraham Accords. CORNISH: So --

DOZIER: Because they'll eventually fight together because they're under attack together.

CORNISH: I want to bring in you, Joel, because you look like you're about to jump out of your seat. What are you hearing here?

JOEL RUBIN, AUTHOR, "THE BRIEFING BOOK" SUBSTACK AND FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: I mean, look, I mean to Kim's point, Iran's behavior right now is unifying the Arab world against it. And, quite frankly, the question about the regime and what will the people do? The question is, always in my mind is, if the people do begin to put pressure on, if groups inside Iran do put more pressure on, if there is a breakup in the leadership, what will we do? Will we become the air force of these factions and of these protests in trying to overthrow the regime? Or will we be looking more at regime collapse? But I don't think we're going to be getting on the ground.

CORNISH: Yes.

RUBIN: And so all of these factors are a part of the discussion.

CORNISH: Yes.

DOZIER: Yes.

CORNISH: And that's important because I think that has become a key talking point for those who oppose foreign wars. So, we're online looking at MAGA reaction as the president, who called himself the president of peace, launches this war on Iran. You've got some Republican members rallying behind him. Other leaders have some concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): And I am so proud of President Trump and Admiral Cooper for finally making this regime pay a price. The largest state sponsor of terrorism is going to be no more soon. The mothership of terrorism, Iran, is sinking. And the captain, the ayatollah. is dead.

ANDREW KOLVET, SPOKESMAN, TURNING POINT USA: My blunt assessment is that this war was not sold sufficiently to the U.S. public. I have no problem saying that. It's -- I think that's just -- that's our conclusion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: You're seeing something similar, Jameel. Not sold sufficiently.

JAMIL JAFFER, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SECURITY INSTITUTE: Well, I think that's right. I mean the president hasn't come to the American public and said, here's the entire case for war. He didn't do it before the -- before this war. He hasn't gone much on TV since. He's done -- he's done a number of media conversations, as you said, with individual reporters, he's put out a couple of videos, but he hasn't made the case aggressively to Congress or to the American public.

CORNISH: The supporters of the president say he has always said how he feels about Iran. He has always said that this is a possibility. Are you saying that that -- there is still something to be said for somehow turning to the American people directly and explaining, asking, what is the difference to you?

JAFFER: Well, I think historically presidents have done that. Presidents have gone to Congress, have gone to the U.N., have gone public and said, here's the case for war, here's why we're doing it, here's why there's an imminent threat. He doesn't have to do that, but if he wants to survive the political pressure that's coming around him, the MAGA base, as well as progressive Democrats, he's going to have to make the case more aggressively, particularly as we see more American soldiers killed. The president said last night, we're likely to see more -- maybe substantially more casualties.

[06:45:01]

CORNISH: He did. Yes.

JAFFER: That's going to come at some political pressure to him here domestically because he said he was (INAUDIBLE) the president peace (ph).

CORNISH: Susan, let me play something for you because a lot of people have been looking back into the archives to see how the president used to talk about this issue of no more wars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (February 13, 2016): We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East.

They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction. There were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction.

TRUMP (August 26, 2024): We're uniting forces to end the endless foreign wars.

TRUMP (September 7, 2024): I will expel the warmongers from our national security state and carry out a much needed cleanup of the military industrial complex to stop the war profiteering and to put always America first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: This has been a core part, right, of being MAGA, frankly, is not being the neocons who went to war way back when.

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "USA TODAY": Twenty-three years since the invasion -- the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And some parallels here. A war of choice, not one that was forced upon the United States. The president talking about regime change. But the difference is, George W. Bush made a public relations campaign before launching that invasion, persuaded a fair share of Americans it was the right thing to do. Although when things went bad, it cost him. It undermined his presidency.

CORNISH: It did. But also people look at it as a faulty explanation that came back to haunt him.

RUBIN: Right. And he also did get congressional authorization. And he did go to the United Nations and get support. And so, when we look back at it in retrospect, it's amazing how much consensus he sought to go and launch an invasion.

But to Susan's point, it did go south. It went south badly. And it has left the taste in the mouth of the American people that any intervention at all is negative. And I would say that in this case, with Iran and these strikes and the strikes in June, it's a different kind of war from what we did in Iraq and what we did in Afghanistan. We should not be thinking that it has to be like those past wars, but it does need to have a rationale, and the president needs to lay it out.

CORNISH: Yes.

DOZIER: I think the dangerous thing that could happen is that the people in Iran don't, quote/unquote, rise up. And President Trump, who's already signaled his willingness to do a delce (ph), to find someone to just take over --

CORNISH: To leave behind a violent regime. Yes.

DOZIER: Exactly, leave behind a violent regime that is now determined to get a nuclear weapon as long as it takes them and that, you know, maybe they'll talk, but those talks will go nowhere, and now we've got a generation of Iranians who, at least on the supreme leader side of things, who want to destroy the United States.

CORNISH: Yes. Now, I know there's a lot of what ifs here, but I do think that a lot of people care because of this history. You guys, thank you for hashing it out.

I want you to stay with us because next on CNN THIS MORNING we're going to talk about the explosions rocking gulf cities. Tehran ramps up its retaliation across the region.

Plus, today, the Trump administration is going to face top lawmakers on the path forward for the war with Iran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:52:15]

CORNISH: Breaking news this hour, new video just into CNN shows new explosions over Tehran today.

Joining us now with the latest, CNN's Salma Abdelaziz in London.

Salma, tell us what you're hearing from these gulf state bombings.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And let's just start with that video that we have playing on our screen right now, because it was just obtained by the news desk just behind me here just a short time ago. It's a very short clip, just 17 seconds, but it just shows those explosions over the sky of Tehran.

You have to remember that we're getting very limited information because of the internet blackout in Iran. So, images like these of the skyline, where you see these massive plumes of smoke begin to give us a consequence or a sense of the consequences of these strikes on the country. But the brunt of the retaliation is actually being felt in the gulf states. For the first time in the history of the GCC, these are the six important gulf states, all six have been struck within 24 hours by Iran. This is a rivalry and a connection. They have tried to keep this very fine balance, trying to mediate efforts at times, including countries like Oman, which was struck by Iran, trying to maintain a balance between their interests with the United States and trying to keep peace with their neighbor, Iran. So, for all of these countries, again, to be struck by Iran has been outstanding.

It's not just American bases and American assets that's being struck in these countries as well. That is what Iran initially said, that it was going to target U.S. bases, U.S. assets in these gulf states. But it's gone far beyond that. You have oil refineries right now in Saudi Arabia that are on fire. You have a high-rise residential building in Bahrain that was set alight. You have hotels that -- where missiles nearly landed. You have Qatar's foreign minister, who said that 100 missiles and scores of drones were fired at the country.

Why does all of this matter? Why is all of this important? Because it could change that calculus. As I said, they have been walking this tightrope, trying to balance their different interests. Could this tip them to get more involved in the -- in America's campaign? Right now that's the question as you see these strikes happening across the gulf.

CORNISH: OK, that's Salma, reporting to us with the update on some of the attacks in gulf states.

Now, in just a few hours, the Trump administration is expected to brief top lawmakers in Congress on this ongoing military operation against Iran. Top Democrats in the House and Senate, well, they're calling for an immediate vote on a war powers resolution to rein in the Trump administration. Democratic Senator John Fetterman tells CNN he believes the operation is legal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): I'm open to a better opportunity for more peace and prosperity for the Iranian people, for more security that Israel deserves that.

[06:55:02] So, that's a point. And, you know, this was not an illegal war based on terms of what the War Powers Act is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining the group chat now to talk about this, Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, Democrat of Virginia.

I want to talk to you about something he mentioned, the War Powers Act. There is going to be some kind of vote this week. What is your vote? Do you think that vote is going to have any crossover?

REP. SUHAS SUBRAMANYAM (D-VA): Yes, this vote is a war powers resolution. The bipartisan one that Khanna and Massie are bringing together. I'm going to vote yes. I have seen -- we had a caucus meeting last night. Everyone that spoke said they were going to vote for it too. Leadership's going to support it. And it's very clear, it's because the president has not made the case, a clear case, for why he has started this war.

He did not come to Congress. He briefed eight lawmakers. But that is not coming to Congress and consulting with Congress. The American people want an explanation too, and he has not given that to us and so we want answers. Certainly these briefings, we're interested to hear what the clear and present danger was to United States that would drag us into a war with a power. One that is probably the most sophisticated technologically in the past maybe since World War II that we've ever attacked.

And so, this is a very serious thing. Our allies are being attacked. Even France is looking at getting into war now because they're within range of Iranian missiles. This is a very serious thing that's going to cost American lives and American money. And we need a better explanation than that.

CORNISH: What things do you need to hear from the secretary of war? Pete Hegseth is going to speak today. You said you're going to get a smaller group briefing today. What are your two questions going in?

SUBRAMANYAM: I want to know if every diplomatic option was exhausted. Remember, this president scrapped the Iranian nuclear deal when he came into power, and he said we didn't need it. And then he was trying to do the same thing over the past year and seems to have failed, or seems to have purposely failed. But that's one thing.

I want to know every diplomatic option was exhausted. That there was a clear and present danger to our country. Not a -- I mean a potential danger, but a real danger that was imminent. And I haven't seen either -- evidence of either of that to date.

CORNISH: The others might have some -- Susan, do you have a question?

PAGE: You know, the War Powers Act has not been a particularly good weapon. It's been more of a talking point. Do you expect that to be a talking point for Democrats looking at the November election? And I wonder to what degree you think this attack on Iran reshapes the midterm election debate?

SUBRAMANYAM: This is an unpopular attack, an unpopular war. You know, one in four Americans only support, the rest are unsure or oppose it completely.

CORNISH: It's very early days yet. So, we should say that.

SUBRAMANYAM: Yes, very early. But usually, when you see we deposed the leader there, this is the height of popularity in a war, when we're winning in the beginning. And so, I think that's because of the lack of justification. And that's -- I'm hearing from Republicans and Democrats alike how uncomfortable they are with this attack and the -- what's the ramifications of it, because the ramifications are going to be, not just weeks, not just months, years. And so, when we're getting into this, we need to make sure that we know what's -- we're getting into and why we're getting into it and what the goal is. I haven't seen any of that. And that is -- you know, the War Powers Act is one thing. Another thing is, this is going to go past 60 days regardless in some form of warfare. We need better justification than this.

CORNISH: And Joel.

RUBIN: Yes, well, I'm just wondering then, in the alternative, we, as Democrats, put it on the table in that way. What are we proposing that should be done about Iran right now? And that, to me, is why I'm struggling with this question of the military action because the Iranian people were in the streets. They were massacred by the thousands by this regime. They have been threatening their neighbors. And now bombing all these Arab countries. And as Democrats, we also need to make sure that we're staying focused on that.

SUBRAMANYAM: Yes, absolutely. Look, two things can be true. You know, this Iranian regime is bad. We want the Iranian people to stand up and fight. Certainly that wasn't working out very well. But Iran's regime was weakening at this point. We were in a good spot. We were making progress. I thought that, diplomatically, we could have done far more. We could have gotten to a point where they were weakened to a place where they might be deposed themselves.

But if we went around attacking every single regime that we didn't like, being world police, the American people have fought back against that. They have said they don't want that. And President Trump campaigned on not doing that. But here we are, another promise made, a promise not kept.

CORNISH: Before I let you go, we know -- we have these service members who were able to eject from this falling jet, but there is clearly the threat of potential casualties. The president said that. What are your concerns going forward?

SUBRAMANYAM: One concern is how cavalier he's been in his videos about the service members. I mean he has said negative things about our veterans and military in the past.

CORNISH: Yes. SUBRAMANYAM: But to say, oh, yes, it's going to happen, it's just part of this business, so -- just -- he's so detached from what's happening on the ground and how it affects real people. We saw the bombing as well. On both sides, everyone's going to get hurt.

And so, again, exhaust every option in the beginning. I don't think they've done that. Instead, they've done something that could have ramifications for years.

[07:00:02]

CORNISH: OK, Congressman, thank you for being here. You're going to hear more today and you're going to hear more today because Pete Hegseth of the Defense Department is going to be doing a news conference. That's coming up at 8:00 a.m. Eastern.

In the meantime, stick with CNN. We have all the headlines, including an update on what happened with the jets that fell over Kuwait. We have some details now about that.

I'm Audie Cornish, and the headlines are next.