Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
U.S. Assets Hit by Iran, Israel Launches 'Broad Wave' of Strikes; Pentagon Identifies 4 U.S. Soldiers Killed in War with Iran; Gonzales & Herrera to Head for Runoff in GOP Primary. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired March 04, 2026 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
[06:00:35]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, waves of strikes batter Iran as U.S. assets come under fire in the Middle East.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. We are in day five of the war with Iran. And there's a lot going on right now. Here's what we know at this hour.
Israel's 10th wave of attacks on Tehran now underway, Iran and Lebanon both hitting back. Now, this is new video of missiles being intercepted over Jerusalem.
And Israel's military also hit targets in Lebanon. This new video shows that smoke is rising near Beirut's airport.
American assets are under fire. A consulate in Dubai a CIA station in Saudi Arabia, and a U.S. base in Qatar have all sustained hits.
Now, we've learned also the identities of some of the U.S. troops killed in the early hours of the war. They include a heroic son and a mother of two who was days away from returning home.
And just two hours from now, we're going to get a new briefing from the Pentagon. Pete Hegseth will speak to reporters. That's happening at 8 a.m. Eastern.
Now, we're going to have live team coverage across the region and here at home. We're going to start with CNN's Nic Robertson, who is in Saudi Arabia.
Nic, I want to talk about what's happening in the region. What are you hearing?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes and Saudi Arabia, here in Riyadh, specifically, the U.S. embassy, State Department has authorized non-emergency staff to be able to leave the consulate in Jeddah. The consulate in the East of the country, in the oil-producing sector in Dhahran, were under shelter, strict shelter-in-place instructions through the day yesterday.
The Iranians continue their strikes and attempted strikes on Saudi Arabia. In the early hours this morning, nine drones were intercepted. Another drone was intercepted in the last couple of hours in the Eastern province.
And here in Saudi Arabia, they are watching for how Iran may be escalating their attacks. A lot of the intercepts that have been successfully intercepted here have been drone attacks.
But this morning, two cruise missiles, indicating an escalation of the type of attack by Iran on Saudi Arabia, were shot down successfully. No injuries reported, as far as we know, in a town just South of Riyadh. And right next to that town is a massive Saudi military air base.
And -- but in the last few minutes, we've heard that there has been an attempted attack again on Ras Tanura, the massive oil-producing facility here in Saudi Arabia.
And of course, the concern for the Saudis is that their oil sector is potentially vulnerable. They're defending it successfully defending it so far.
But there is a risk -- and they recognize this -- that a strike on their oil facilities could put pressure on them to be dragged potentially into the war here, something that they are not inclined to do; and something that they are concerned about and have given Iran strong diplomatic signals not to do.
You know, the option to respond if, you know -- if -- if they are attacked remains an option. However, this is feeling to the Saudis as if it is an escalation of Iran's attacks going on.
And I think the bigger picture that underscores there is that adds to the assessment here at the moment, that Iran still has command and control capability and can escalate its targets, pick and choose, as it did a little over 24 hours ago, to send four drones successfully hitting the embassy here in the center of Riyadh, the U.S. Embassy. And not just the embassy building itself, but hitting the CIA station there. Fire damage, the extent of which we don't quite know yet.
CORNISH: OK. And of course, people are watching this closely as the number of civilian deaths would rise. Nic Robertson, thank you so much.
I want to turn to this because throughout the program, we're going to talk a lot about the reasons the U.S. went to this war. But first, the Pentagon has identified four of the six U.S. service members who have been killed in an Iranian drone strike. This happened on Sunday.
Now, all four were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command Unit out of Iowa. The other two have yet to be identified. I've got CNN's Brian Todd here. Thank you so much for being here.
I was going online and seeing links to one of the -- the service member's mothers just distraught on Facebook. Can you tell us more about what you've learned about some of these soldiers?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Audie, this is the first information we're getting on these four who were killed, confirmed publicly, four who were killed. There are two others who were killed who have not been publicly identified yet.
But, as Audie mentioned, we are getting those names and a little bit of detail about where they're from. And Audie mentioned the unit that they're assigned from. They were all assigned out of an army reserve unit out of Iowa. They were killed at the Port of Sheba in Kuwait.
Again, two soldiers not identified, but of the four we know who have been identified, they are Captain Cody Khork, 35 years old. There's a picture of him. He is from Lakeland, Florida. Sergeant First class Noah Tietjens. He is 42 years old from Bellevue, Nebraska. Sergeant First class Nicole Amor, 39 years old, from White Bear Lake, Minnesota. And Sergeant Declan Coady, 20 years old, from Des Moines, Iowa.
Now, one reservist who served with Captain Cody Khork. This person, Sergeant First Class Brian Kochenderfer. He spoke with CNN affiliate WESH in Orlando about Cody Khork and what it was like to work with him in that unit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. 1ST CLASS BRIAN KOCHENDERFER, SERVED WITH CAPTAIN CODY KHORK: I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it. I -- look, I'm going to start tearing up.
God, you just hate, you know somebody you know. You see it on news, but when it's somebody that -- it hits home because you know the individual, you know, and you -- and you got to serve with them.
A tactician, solid leader, get the mission done. But however, on the back end of that, he cared about people. Hey, I'm not going to put soldiers in harm's way. That's what you look for in a commander.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Now these soldiers who were killed, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, were serving at what he called a tactical operation center that was fortified at the time of the attack, when he says a projectile made it through air defenses. And the attack, he says, came quickly and without warning.
Audie, we'll see if we can get some I.D. on the other two who were killed and some information about them in the coming hours.
CORNISH: Am I correct that Nicole Amor was a parent?
TODD: I believe she was.
CORNISH: Yes.
TODD: And I know that, at least we did have information that at least one of them -- I believe it was Nicole Amor -- who was very close to being sent home. She was, I think, near the end of her deployment.
Another one. And again -- I don't want to say the name.
CORNISH: You don't know. We're getting information.
TODD: But I know another one of them -- and it might have been Declan Coady was, I think, just recommended for a promotion. So, life- changing experiences coming up for at least two of those four. And of course, their families are just devastated.
CORNISH: Before I let you go, we are hearing reports of people trying to just get out of the region --
TODD: Yes.
CORNISH: -- who are foreign nationals. What does this mean? Trapped at the airport? Trapped in the hotel? People who lived there?
TODD: People trapped in various places.
CORNISH: OK.
TODD: We've been reporting on this all night, overnight and getting information about this. There are thousands of Americans, Audie, who are stranded in airports and other places in places like Doha Qatar, Abu Dhabi Dubai and other places in the Middle East. They are really frustrated not only over being stranded, but at the lack of information from the U.S. government.
Basically, the State Department, even though Marco Rubio gave a number for them to call if they need assistance. You call that number, you get a voice prompt.
I called that number, and I got a live person.
CORNISH: Oh, yes.
TODD: But basically, they are telling you there are no -- there are no evacuation points at this point. They are trying to get planes there. They're trying to get military aircraft and charter flights there, but they haven't gotten there yet.
CORNISH: Yes.
TODD: And you compare this to the efforts of other nations like the U.K., France, Italy, and Czechia.
CORNISH: How interesting.
TODD: They've gotten some planes in. They're scrambling also. But U.S. is really playing catch-up.
And thousands of Americans are really voicing frustration, not only over being stranded, but they are just not getting communication from their government.
CORNISH: OK, thank you. Thank you for that update. We're going to be following with Brian later today.
Now our breaking news coverage continues next. The group chat is going to be coming, because President Trump has outlined his worst-case scenario for Iran.
Plus, election results rolling in overnight from Texas. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett is out, losing her primary.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:13:24]
CORNISH: So, in just a few hours, the Senate takes a first step on a war powers resolution that could potentially rein in the Trump administration.
So far, the operation in Iran has already hit more than 2,000 targets. That's according to U.S. military officials, and hundreds have been killed, according to the Iranian Red Crescent, including the supreme leader.
Now, President Trump has been laying out his worst-case scenario.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I guess the worst case would be we do this, and then somebody takes over who's as bad as the previous person, right? That could happen. We don't want that to happen. It would probably be the worst. You go through this and then, in five years, you realize you put somebody in who was no better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, we're bringing in some experts: Peter Bergen, CNN national security analyst; Alexander Ward, national security reporter at "The Wall Street Journal"; and Jennifer Gavito, former deputy assistant secretary of state for Iran, Iraq, and public policy diplomacy, which is why I'm going to go to you first.
Because they've talked a lot about how much of the Iranian leadership they have decimated in this attack. But I keep hearing from other experts that Iran had built its deep state to, like, avoid decapitation.
JENNIFER GAVITO, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: Absolutely correct. And not only did they build the deep state, they already had it. I mean this is a well-defined bureaucracy, as we know it. This is not another Syria. This is not another Libya. Succession planning in the Iranian system goes four-deep. CORNISH: You say four-deep?
GAVITO: Four-deep.
[06:15:00]
CORNISH: OK. So, it's not 40-deep.
GAVITO: Well --
CORNISH: Like, there -- are there moderate moderates? I don't know what that means anymore. But like, what -- what -- when you talk about the factions within, who are we even looking at in terms of who's left?
GAVITO: So, I mean, we're looking at a continuation, largely, of the same regime. There are nuances, certainly, within the remaining framework, which -- I mean, I say four-deep --
CORNISH: Yes, yes.
GAVITO: -- but -- but that's specific to -- to existing planning for a single position, right?
CORNISH: OK.
GAVITO: I mean, the government is enormous, and it's not a centralized system. You've got -- you've got regional governments, et cetera.
And so, you -- you have relative unanimity of -- of views, with some nuance within them. So, the people that you have remaining don't necessarily differ from --
CORNISH: Yes.
GAVITO: -- from the supreme leader.
CORNISH: And for people listening, they're wondering when he says, worst-case scenario based on history, is it actually just the most likely? And I do not say that lightly, wishing that on the Iranian people. But he's raising this for a reason.
PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, I mean, history suggests -- I mean, Jen mentioned Libya. Obviously, Libya didn't have this deep bench.
But Libya went into a decade-long civil war after an air campaign authorized by President Obama --
CORNISH: Right.
BERGEN: -- who said it was the worst decision of his presidency not to plan for the day after.
And six countries got involved as proxy forces, including the United States, but also Russia, Turkey, the Emirates, Qatar. They all backed different factions. There's still two competing governments today, and that's 15 years later.
So, if -- if history is a guide, it's not perfect, but history suggests that this will not be perfect.
You know, actually, a great thing about President Trump is he often tells the truth in public.
CORNISH: Yes.
BERGEN: Which is that the definition of a gaffe in Washington. Which is that, you know, it could be just the same people five years from now. He just said that.
CORNISH: Which is meaningful, because lawmakers who are getting ready to have this war powers vote, I don't know if people really feel like it's going to pass, that they'll somehow curb or tell him mid-strike not to do it anymore.
But I want to play for you some of the Democrats' reaction yesterday, senators, as they came out of a security briefing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): They told us in there that this is an open- ended operation that hasn't even really started in earnest yet. There will be more Americans killed.
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): They offered no clear end game to this conflict. They have not answered the most basic questions.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Donald Trump still hasn't given a single clear reason for this war, and he seems to have no plan for how to end it either.
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): I am more fearful than ever, after this briefing, that we may be putting boots on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: I'm sure there's lots of Democrats who have long memories from the Iraq war, the ones who did not end up standing up and speaking out against it. Can you talk about the context for this? Can they do anything at this point about the strikes the president has set forth?
ALEXANDER WARD, NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": No. I mean, it doesn't look like the war powers resolution is going to pass in either the House or Senate, or -- and if it did, certainly not with a veto-proof majority.
But even, let's say, just for -- for let's play it -- let's live in fantasy land for a moment and pretend that this is going to pass. Trump somehow is going to abide by it.
CORNISH: Yes. WARD: Or you know, going to -- he can't do anything about it. Is Trump really going to stop the war, because Congress told him not to? Of course not. This thing is well in train. He's very -- he's very open about it. This could last many weeks.
Congress, over many decades, has ceded its foreign policy authority to the president. And it's just kind of -- you know, they're trying to claw some of it back.
CORNISH: Yes.
WARD: But the genie's out of the bottle at this point.
CORNISH: There's still the money. You know, Senator John Thune was saying, like, look, right now, we feel he's within the bounds of his authority.
But they always say this: power of the purse. I see your eyebrows went all the way up. But let me play for you Senator Mark Kelly, who brought up -- let's -- let's call it the math problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): My big -- biggest concern right now, what's the math? What's the math on this? How many ballistic missiles do the Iranians still have? How many interceptors do we have in the region? Is this math still in our favor? I don't think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: What does he mean by that? Can you help me interpret?
GAVITO: Sure. I mean, this is increasingly a war of attrition. There are a finite number of Iranian missiles. There are a finite number of American interceptors.
And so, each side is trying to game out how long the other can last.
CORNISH: Yes.
GAVITO: And then play the munitions and the defense that they have available in a way that allows them to -- to wait out the other party.
And so, you've seen, for example, in recent days, a real drop in long- range Iranian attacks. I think people are trying to figure out --
CORNISH: Yes.
GAVITO: -- does that mean that they're running out, or does that mean that they're trying to conserve, to -- to pull away some of the defenses that are available --
CORNISH: Yes.
GAVITO: -- in order to reserve those for the rest. CORNISH: We're going to talk more about this later. But I think one of
the takeaways that we hear is this constant reference to the past: that Americans are against endless wars.
Is it that Americans are against endless wars, or they don't want to be misled about the wars that they're brought into?
[06:20:04]
BERGEN: Well, they also don't want lots of body bags coming home if the war aims are not being achieved. And that was the problem in Iraq.
They don't mind -- I mean, I'm being very blunt here. They don't mind body bags coming home if the war is being won. That was a -- that was Bush's problem in 2005. And so --
CORNISH: Does having a long list of objectives allow the president to, at any given time, claim a kind of victory, since none of us fully may have a lock on what the top three benchmarks are?
BERGEN: I think the military objectives will be achieved.
CORNISH: Yes.
BERGEN: The question is, are the political objectives going to be achieved? Will we have a sort of somewhat readily friendly Iranian regime in the future? Who the hell knows?
CORNISH: Yes.
BERGEN: Least of all President Trump or the Iranian people. I mean, you know, we just don't know.
CORNISH: Yes. Which and by -- by definition, they mean safer, right? Somehow for the U.S. And the region.
All right, you guys. We are still following breaking news here in the states, including out of Texas. So, this is a political cliffhanger. You've got two Republican incumbents. They're now heading to a runoff to defend their seat.
And then we're going to return live to Israel. New strikes overnight targeting Iranian command centers. We're going to have more on that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:25:31]
CORNISH: So, CNN projects state representative James Talarico will beat Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in the Texas Senate primary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMES TALARICO (D), TEXAS STATE LEGISLATURE: Tonight, our campaign is shocking the nation. We -- we are still waiting for an official call, but we are confident in this movement we've built together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, Talarico expected to become the Senate Democratic nominee in November.
Now, on the Republican side, you've got two really tough races -- longtime Senator John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Well, it looks like they're headed for a runoff.
And then we have the same projection for Congressman Tony Gonzales and Brandon Herrera.
So, we're bringing in CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein to help us make sense of it.
First, I want to start with the Republicans.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.
CORNISH: Because the Democrats, there's a lot to say with this.
With the Republicans, it's interesting. Once border security is off the table, once you have a president who is delivering on that, well, now, it's all over but the fighting, right? Like, the shouting. Like, what do these guys have to fight about? And why is this tough for these voters?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I mean, look, what they were fighting about really was who was more loyal to President Trump.
CORNISH: Right.
BROWNSTEIN: And this was part of the ongoing process of squeezing out in the Republican Party, really to an extraordinary extent, anyone who is not identified as fully MAGA.
John Cornyn, though, did better than expected.
CORNISH: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: You know, normally -- normally, if you're an incumbent headed to a runoff, you would be a significant underdog, and probably, most people would suspect that Cornyn is an underdog. Because usually the assumption is if you don't vote for the incumbent in the first round, you're not going to vote for him in the second.
CORNISH: Yes. And then Wesley Hunt was making a strong showing.
BROWNSTEIN: Right, right.
CORNISH: So, you didn't know who he was going to pull from.
BROWNSTEIN: But the fact that Cornyn -- Paxton significantly underperformed here.
CORNISH: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: He underperformed the polling. And the fact that Cornyn led him -- while Talarico won, you know, setting up the possibility of what Republicans want the least, which is a Talarico-Paxton race, there might be enough here to -- to persuade President Trump to come off the fence and kind of, you know tap -- tap Cornyn on the shoulder.
CORNISH: Can I follow up on that one idea? Because the president did not come off the fence --
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
CORNISH: -- for the Crenshaw vote. Now, this is a vet. There's a whole world of people who are of that military generation --
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
CORNISH: -- who are in Congress as a result. But in the end, even he was not considered --
BROWNSTEIN: Because he's not all -- he has not been up and down the line loyal.
I mean, Trump loyalty is a one-way street for Donald Trump, right? Unless your last name is Trump and maybe not even then, you know, as I -- as I like to say.
The fact that Crenshaw lost this primary, someone who was seen as a rising star as recently as 2018 --
CORNISH: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: -- kind of a flamboyant figure. Again, I mean, there is just less and less room in the Republican coalition for voters who are not -- voters and elected officials who are not fully in line with Trump.
And, you know, look, that -- that is -- the flip side of that is that's what give Democrats at least the outside hope of making Texas competitive. You know, whether -- yes.
CORNISH: You know, let's talk about that, making Texas competitive.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, OK.
CORNISH: I've got some TikToks for you. That's usually helpful.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, here we go.
CORNISH: Here's Carlos Eduardo Espina, TikTok influencer. I think something like 14 million followers. Just give an example --
BROWNSTEIN: All right.
CORNISH: -- of his voice
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLOS EDUARDO ESPINA, TIKTOK INFLUENCER: And all we have left to do is listen to the man himself, the next senator from the great state of Texas, James Talarico, wherever he's at.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: I'm playing this because this guy was helpful.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
CORNISH: OK? We were talking. And you had Talarico running a faith- based rural outreach --
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
CORNISH: -- leaning into the Latino vote very hard.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
CORNISH: But what is the difference between what he was doing and what something like what Crockett was doing, who had a really, sort of, you know, history in the rural communities --
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
CORNISH: -- and who had national recognition?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, first of all, I mean, Texas was a one-party Democratic state from the Civil War until roughly --
CORNISH: You're taking it way back.
BROWNSTEIN: -- the 19 -- the 1970s.
CORNISH: OK.
BROWNSTEIN: It was a competitive state roughly from the late '70s to the late '90s.
It has been a Republican state ever since. Democrats have not won any -- not won a Senate seat since 1988, not won a governor since 1990, and not won any statewide office since 1998.
So, you know, the real -- the question for Democrats in every primary is, well, how do we get back in the game? And they offered --
CORNISH: Well, one of the questions is always Texas Latinos, the sleeping giant vote. How can we get them?
BROWNSTEIN: Well --
CORNISH: And is this a race they're now going to look at and go, hey, maybe that's a way to get them?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, the fight is -- the fight is always how do you become competitive again? And you had -- you had Crockett arguing that the way was to energize the base.
Talarico said that you had to build a broader coalition and kind of cut into those Republican suburbs.
