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Israel Ramps Up Attacks Against Iranian Proxies in Lebanon; Israeli Troops Seize More Positions on Ground in Southern Lebanon; Strikes Escalate Across Middle East as War with Iran Intensifies; U.S. Embassies in Kuwait & Saudi Arabia Close After Iranian Attacks; UAE Says It Has Munitions for Prolonged Conflict with Iran; Concerns Over Global Energy Security as Middle East War Spirals. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired March 03, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Well welcome to our Breaking News coverage of the war with Iran. This is "Connect the World" from our

Middle East programming headquarters. I'm Becky Anderson here in Abu Dhabi, where the time is just after six in the evening.

Let's get you bang up to speed on what we know. U.S. President Donald Trump doubling down on the war against Iran, posting on Truth Social quote, their

air defense, Air Force, Navy and leadership is gone. They want to talk. I said, too late. Meantime, Israel says it is conducting simultaneous strikes

in Tehran and Beirut.

New video from Iran shows huge plumes of smoke rising from multiple cities. And as Iran targets America's allies in the region. Gulf states are making

it clear they will respond. The UAE saying today it has enough ammunition to fend off attacks for a long time. Well in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, U.S.

embassies are closed after both were hit by Iranian strikes.

Israel bearing down on Iranian backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying the militant group still has missile stockpiles and launch capabilities. Let's

start this hour with Nick Paton Walsh who is in Northern Israel, where Israeli ground troops are ramping up their cross-border attacks. He spoke

with my colleague Kate Bolduan a short time ago.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Scenes over the Tehran skyline suggesting that a ferocious bombardment since this

morning have been underway, with the Iranian Red Crescent talking over 700 dead so far since the beginning of this U.S.-Israeli campaign. But you join

me here, though, on the border Northern Israel, connecting with Southern Lebanon.

In the last minutes before we started talking, I've heard what must be an Israeli jet flying low, the sounds of an explosion on the other side of

that hill, directly behind me is Southern Lebanon, and this is a new front in the war here. Some may have predicted, potentially, that Iran's long-

term ally, its proxy, Hezbollah in Lebanon will potentially come to its assistance, you might say.

But Israel has seized the opportunity to try and vanquish, frankly, the remnants of its long-term foe over the border here. Beirut, persistently

hit by explosions, what the Israelis called a center of gravity struck in the southern suburbs in the last hours. But on the other side over here, an

interesting development, the first land move, essentially, of this war so far in the region, not particularly significant.

But ultimately, a bid, it seems, for the Israeli forces to protect an area like this, Kiryat Shmona, which was evacuated in late 2024 with the major

Israeli assault against Hezbollah. They don't want that to happen this time. Signs of life clearly evident here. And instead, they are deepening.

They are widening the buffer zone along the border here, five Israeli positions have maintained since the ceasefire began, much with Lebanese

protest, but Israel says this morning that they will be putting more troops in, not to extend deeper into Lebanon, but to widen the area in which they

kind of have this buffer, essentially to protect an area like this.

But I think the extent of that Israeli ground force application gives you a sign as to how weak they perhaps think Lebanese Hezbollah are, indeed,

right now. They were heavily hit during 2024. We have seen some impacts, it seems, or certainly smoke along the skyline here on our way in.

That may be the result of the warnings that were given out by the IDF saying that were incoming rockets potentially on the way here. We do hear

drones above, which are likely to be Israeli, clearly intensifying Israeli action here, and so far, a comparatively muted Hezbollah response. We'll

have to see if that maintains in the hours ahead.

ANDERSON: -- Nick Paton Walsh speaking earlier. Once the scene on one of the active fronts of this war, I want to get you to two other key datelines

caught up in the regional escalation. CNN's Paula Hancocks is in Dubai, and Senior Political Reporter Stephen Collinson is in Washington.

And Stephen, let me start with you. We've just heard from Donald Trump posting on his Truth Social platform, they want to talk it's too late. The

president says, question is, what happens next, and is there a clearly defined strategy or end game at this point?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: I don't think there is. And the administration keeps coming up with new rationales for this war.

Almost every time an official comes out, we've had regime change. We've had this is only about getting rid of the missiles Iran's remnant nuclear

program.

And the Navy Secretary of State, Marco Rubio yesterday suggested that the U.S. acted because it knew Israel was going to act and that American troops

would be in the firing line of Iranian reprisals. So, there's mixed messaging on the rationale of the war. I think there's growing pressure,

even now a few days into this in Washington, about how long this is going to last.

[09:05:00]

The president, I mean, in some ways, he seems to be having the time of his life, calling up journalists and giving commentary on this war, almost as

if he's not a prime participant in it. He says that he doesn't know how long it's last. Others in the administration say this is weeks and not

months, but I think there is a political and economic clock on this.

It probably is in terms of weeks and months. But the problem, as the United States has found out in the 21st century, is that it's easy to start a war,

it's hard to end it. And I think the question here is whether the war aims that the U.S. does have in degrading Iran and potentially inciting some

kind of popular uprising, are they possible in the time that will be allowed by the politics domestically in the United States and the mounting

economic impacts.

ANDERSON: All right, thank you. Let's just stand by.

COLLINSON: Right.

ANDERSON: I do know that we've got Jeremy Diamond standing by, who is in Tel Aviv. And before I get to Paula. Jeremy, let's just bring you in at

this point. Where are you and what are you seeing there?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, I'm on the outskirts of Tel Aviv in the City of Ramat Gan. And what you're going to

see behind me is a scene of destruction caused by one of these Iranian ballistic missiles. But it is not a direct impact.

This is the kind of damage that you can see even when one of those missiles is intercepted, when shrapnel falls from the sky and hits a residential

building. This is a home here in Ramat Gan. And you can see the roof has been partially collapsed in by one of those pieces of shrapnel, likely a

very large piece of shrapnel.

When you consider the size of these ballistic missiles, you can have pieces of shrapnel that are as large as the length of a car, that can fall in

densely populated areas. I'm told that there were seven injuries as a result of this. Most of those were light injuries, but one of those

individuals is in moderate condition.

We actually race here with Israel's Magen David Adom Rescue Service in an emergency vehicle with a paramedic, got here very quickly on the scene. And

we saw the extent of the coordination and the way in which these paramedics, military officials, police were all kind of scouring the scene

to see if there were any more serious injuries than ultimately were revealed.

What we also found were people who were certainly in shock as they assess the damage. They recognize that they were alive and safe and OK, but the --

you know, the noise that one of these intercepts can make, makes you feel sometimes like there has been a direct hit.

Luckily, in this case, it was not a direct hit, but you can see all around here, you've got papers and debris, vehicles that are damaged, all of that,

again, just from the shrapnel of an intercepted missile. And Becky, we've also been talking in the last 24 hours about how Israel and the United

States are intensifying their strikes Iran.

A lot of that has to do with trying to degrade Iran's capabilities and its ability to fire ballistic missiles on Israel. I'm told that as of tonight,

Israeli officials expect that Iran will have a significant reduction in its ability to fire these ballistic missiles at Israel. That doesn't mean they

won't have any ability at all, but we will see whether those expectations come true.

And if we start to see fewer scenes like this, and of course, the more destructive scenes that we've seen as well, when one of those missiles

makes it through the air defense system and strikes directly on a target or a civilian area, as was the case here.

ANDERSON: Good to have you on the ground there. Jeremy, thank you. That's the story there in Israel. Paula, let me get to you in Dubai. The U.S.

State Department ordering non-emergency personnel to leave six Middle Eastern countries. I have to say that follows, frankly, alarming

advisories, one landing in the middle of the night, telling U.S. citizens around the region where I am and you are and beyond to evacuate their

countries immediately, in a region where many airports, of course, are closed.

And that will, of course, heightened anxiety. You and I have witnessed the interception work that the UAE is doing in taking out what they now say is

some 1000 missiles and drones over the last four days. We just heard from the government on that. Let's have a listen to their assurance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJOR GENERAL ABDUL NASSER AL HUMAIDI, UAE DEFENSE MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: We have strategic storage of ammunition which ensures continuity and

sustainability of interception in all types of weapons for long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: And an effort there to reassure the people of the UAE that they are safe and secure. And it has been a remarkable success rate, really,

when you consider just how much has been lobbed at this country, some more than 90 percent of those inceptions have been successful.

[09:10:00]

What are we seeing and hearing on the ground here and around the region today?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, we have really heard a lot of fighter jets in the air here in Dubai today, less so the interceptions.

Although we have heard a couple, I know, overnight in Abu Dhabi, there were a number of large interceptions as well.

So, as you say, there is a good success rate from the military here. But inevitably, the longer this war goes on, countries in the Gulf, the

residents will be asking about the availability of the interceptors. They're clearly not infinite around the world, and how much more they can

take from Iran.

So really that the message we've been hearing today from the UAE is one of reassurance, pointing out that they do have strategic reserves in

ammunition, and this can go on for a long time, and they can continue doing this in the same theme as well. We also saw the UAE leader and the defense

minister and the Crown Prince of Dubai on Monday night, walking through Dubai mall, speaking to some of the shoppers there, trying to show that the

city, the country, is still safe, giving a reassurance.

But of course, you mentioned that message overnight, which came overnight in the region, telling Americans to depart now because of risks of

security. And of course, many would like to, but it is incredibly difficult across the Gulf, across the Middle East, most of the air spaces are still

closed.

Now here in the UAE, we have seen some movement. Dubai, as of Monday night, has been allowing a fraction of the flights to leave that it ordinarily

does. We've just come back from the airport. It is generally the world's largest international airport. You have 6 to 700 flights that depart daily.

Tens of thousands of passengers, travel through that airport every single day. It was very quiet, but there were people there who had tickets, who

had been advised by their airlines to go and try and get on a flight. They didn't have a guarantee that, that flight was going to take off.

But we met an Irish businessman who was stuck here as he was here for meetings. We met a young family from Delhi who was trying to get home. They

were here on family on holiday, a family that was trying to send their parents back to Latvia. They were caught here on holiday.

So, there are many people who are trying to leave the region. It is far easier said than done, and consider Doha, this is one of the world's

largest transit hubs. We heard from officials yesterday that when the war started, there were some 8000 transit passengers who were in the process of

moving through that airport.

They are now stuck as well. So yes, there is this advisory for Americans to leave. It is far easier said than done, Becky.

ANDERSON: Paula, thank you. Let's bring Stephen back in, who is in Washington. And Stephen, Donald Trump, not the only administration official

we are hearing from. Take a listen to Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against

American forces. And we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launch those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties and

perhaps even hire those killed.

And then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn't act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Very confused messaging there as to why it is that the U.S. launched its attack in coordination with Israel, of course, on Saturday

morning. And what do you make of what you heard from the U.S. Secretary of State there?

COLLINSON: Yeah, that was quite a surprise, especially since it's coming from Marco Rubio, who is one of the more dexterous administration officials

and doesn't usually cause political storms. But this, I think, is important on two issues. First of all, sort of geopolitically, it seems as though,

according to his testimony, at least the United States was dragged into a major offensive war in the Middle East because Israel wanted to go ahead.

I think you can make an argument that there were things that, even if that was the case, that the administration could have done to protect American

troops without necessarily launching this massive onslaught on Iran. And it does raise the question of who is running U.S. foreign policy at this

point.

We've seen a lot of speculation about how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has been able to get Donald Trump to do a lot of things that he

wants to do across two terms. It's also politically problematic for the administration, especially in the MAGA base of the Republican Party, where

there's kind of a split between those who are sticking with Trump whatever he does.

[09:15:00]

But there's a small but growing faction that is increasingly critical of Israel, on the far right of the populist movement. And this comment, I

think, is going to cause a little bit of problem for the administration as it comes over the coming days to start trying to maintain its political

support within the GOP and within Trump's base for this war.

ANDERSON: Stephen Collinson is in Washington. Paula Hancocks is in Dubai, and you heard both from Nick Paton Walsh on the border of Northern Israel,

and from Jeremy there in Israel. Thanks to both of you. Let's connect you to Saudi Arabia now, which says it has incepted and destroyed eight drones

near Riyadh in the Central City of Al Kharj.

No word was given on any damage or casualties. It follows an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia, which was hit by two suspected Iranian

drones. According to sources, their consular appointments have been canceled today. New images are also showing the extent of the damage to a

refinery in Saudi Arabia.

That refinery caught fire after being hit by shrapnel from the interception of two Iranian drones. So, Nic Robertson is in Riyadh. He has the very

latest there, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, the embassy in Riyadh remains closed after those drones impacted last night. There was the

first round of drone strikes. There were no casualties. There was a fire outside the embassy. There was a warning that there were possibly more

missiles in coming.

And then, within a couple of hours, two more drones impacted near the U.S. Embassy inside of Riyadh. The embassy putting out Shelter in Place warnings

in that intervening period, not only to the embassy in Riyadh, but to the consular office in Jeddah in the west of the country, and to the consular

office in Dhahran in the east of the country.

And that Dhahran in the east of the country, U.S. consulate there, has been the direct focus of a very clear and stark message an hour or so ago from

the U.S. Embassy here, telling residents, U.S. residents in and around that city, not to go to the consulate, to not go outside, to shelter in place.

The same message for going for the consulate that there is an imminent, this was an hour or so ago, that there's an imminent possibility of drone

or missile strike there. So, the ongoing nature of the U.S. Embassy and consulate facilities in Saudi Arabia is an ongoing targeting effort.

It appears, intelligence of which the U.S. appears to have some four knowledge of the Saudi's and as you say, intercepting a number of missiles.

Five were fired at a very important and big Saudi military air base outside of, just outside of Riyadh, yesterday. The intercepts as well that showered

the Ras Tanura oil facility with falling debris which set light to some of the oil facilities, some of the facilities, they're being shut down as a

temporary precautionary measure, according to the energy ministry here.

So, the picture that emerges is Saudi Arabia finds itself being pulled ever more into this war that's perceived as being an Israel, U.S. led war

against Iran, a sense here that they don't understand what the final goals of the U.S. Administration are, a very fine diplomatic tightrope to be

walked in not wanting to get drawn in, keeping diplomatic relations with Iran the ambassador.

The Iranian Ambassador, is still here in Saudi Arabia, but at the same time, putting out a very strong and clear diplomatic message to Tehran that

we will protect our safety, security, territory, population, that we do have an option to respond to aggression, but the notion that Saudi Arabia

struggles with is, where is this going?

What happens? And the dangers of getting sucked into something that doesn't have a clear end goal, as far as they can see at the moment.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you on the ground there in Riyadh, Nic. Thank you. Ahead on "Connect the World". Who will lead Iran? Well, the son of the

Former Shah is, of course, making his pitch. I'll be speaking with an Iran expert about the leadership succession. What we know and what we don't?

After this short break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

ANDERSON: You're looking at video from Iranian state media showing large crowds gathered for a mass funeral. Parents saying goodbye to their

children today in the Southern City of Minab. Iranian officials say that's where at least 168 students and 14 teachers were killed in their

classrooms.

Soon after the U.S. and Israel launched their first attacks on Saturday. The school sits about 60 meters, or some 200 feet from an Iranian military

base. U.S. Central Command says it's aware of reports that the school was hitting is looking into them. As Iranians trying to cope with the human

toll of the expanding war, they are also wondering, of course, who will run the country after the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's death.

My next guest argues, and I quote here the regime's survival skills, the lack of clear alternatives in the Iranian opposition's disunity will make

U.S. President Donald Trump's war against the regime much more complicated than he may have imagined. For more insight on the leadership succession,

I'm joined now by Iran expert Alireza Nader, live from Washington.

And you -- thank you for joining us. You referenced the lack of clear alternatives and the disunity of the opposition as it were, why is that?

Who makes up that Iranian opposition, and why is it that you suggest that they are in such disarray?

ALIREZA NADER, IRAN EXPERT: Thank you for having me first of all. So, the Iranian opposition is very broad and diverse. Unfortunately, the most

prominent member of the opposition who has declared himself to be the leader of the opposition without any sort of elections.

The Former Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, I believe, has done a lot to divide the opposition he and his team. I think, Mr. Pahlavi, when I met him

and collaborated with him closely for 10 years, almost. Mr. Pahlavi talked about democracy, building a white coalition.

And now the Pahlavis are attacking anybody who doesn't accept Reza Pahlavi as the leader of the opposition. And I believe Mr. Pahlavi really wants to

become the Shah. He says he's the wants to be the transition leader. I don't believe that at all. Everything I've seen for him suggests to me that

he's trying to dominate the opposition with the support of elements of the Israeli government, and so you can get ahead and become the ultimate power

in Iran.

ANDERSON: So, you also wrote like it or not, not everyone in Iran is a monarchist. There are Republicans, there are Islamists, federalists, ethnic

parties, civil society groups, et cetera.

Reza and his gang want it all. They don't want to form a coalition with anyone who doesn't share their vision. Look, you've clearly no love lost

for Reza Pahlavi. Are there any paths towards what you might consider a compromise that would allow a watershed moment for Iranian opposition to

answer Trump's call to rise up.

And of course, we're sort of talking here about the, you know, those outside of the country, to a degree, coming back, which is what Reza

Pahlavi would be doing.

[09:25:00]

I'm not sure he's ever actually lived in the country. And then we're also talking about, you know, what's the sort of makeup of those internally? And

caveat all of this, there is a very, very deep bench in a regime which may have been decapitated at its top, but there's a very deep bench below that,

of course, which doesn't include any of those that we -- that I've just alluded to and we're about to talk about.

NADER: So, I think the Islamic Republic should not be underestimated. Just because Ayatollah Khamenei -- was killed, does not mean that the regime is

going to collapse. It has been greatly weakened, but I worry that this regime could last for several months and really keep doing what it's doing,

spread chaos, not just across the Middle East, but maybe even across the world.

And so, I would not underestimate the regime. It has a significant base of support.

ANDERSON: Yeah.

NADER: Maybe 10 to 20 percent according to some polls. And a lot of Iranian, from the Islamist to ethnic minorities, liberals, the intelligent

-- do not want a monarchy in Iran. Mr. Pahlavi promised a democracy.

ANDERSON: Yeah.

NADER: Now he's trying to make himself the Shah. I really do believe that, and I think international audiences really need to pay attention to not

what Pahlavi says, but what Pahlavi does, if the U.S.-Israeli plan is to replace the Islamic Republic with a monarchy, this will not what history

has shown that the Pahlavi family ultimately needs foreign support to stay in power in Iran, and Iranian will not tolerate.

ANDERSON: OK. So --

NADER: We do not want to be ruled --

ANDERSON: And it isn't clear at this point. It certainly isn't clear, or certainly neither U.S. or Israel is talking about who it is that they have

identified as a, you know, as an opportunity, as it were, going forward. And as you rightly point out, there is a very significant body of sort of

believers, as it were, of a population of 90 million.

There may be some sort of 15 million who support what is this regime that's been around for what, 47 years now?

NADER: Yeah.

ANDERSON: I want to talk about a report in Axios, and I quote here President Trump spoke by phone with Kurdish leaders in Iraq on Sunday.

There will be those who will wonder, firstly, why. And two, this is very early in this military campaign. What do you read into this? What would

Donald Trump want from the Kurds in the region at this time?

NADER: The Iranian Kurds are highly organized. They tend to be more unified than other parts of the opposition. They are armed. They've been fighting

the regime for decades. I believe they have the capability, once the regime really weakens, to go into Western Iran and take over Kurdistan, the

Kurdish territories.

Also, I have to mention something about the Kurds that I really find lacking in the Pahlavi's movement. A lot of the Kurds are willing to work

with other opposition groups. They don't maintain very rigid boundaries in terms of who they can collaborate with. I talked to Iranian Kurds.

I find them, quite a few of them, to be very democratic minded. And I think the Pahlavi's became very jealous once President Trump called the Kurds

because Pahlavi this week, I've heard, is really trying very hard to get a meeting in the White House with the support of Bibi Netanyahu.

He really fears that he's being excluded from the process and then others now are gaining more prominence.

ANDERSON: Yeah. Alireza, it's good to have you.

NADER: Thank you.

ANDERSON: Your perspective very important to us as we continue to cover what is Breaking/Developing news here. Alireza Nader, thank you very much

indeed.

NADER: My pleasure. Thank you --

ANDERSON: Right, we are minute or so away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Let me just get you a sense what these futures markets are doing 60

seconds ahead of that. And if they are any indication, we are going to see significant drops on the open for all three of these markets.

The markets relatively resilient in their Monday session, given that, that session was sort of straight out of the weekend, and what we've seen over

the weekend, but the European markets, the Asian markets, both significantly lower, and U.S. futures taking a steer from that.

So, watch these markets on the open. And I leave you with the oil prices, which are significantly higher. We're going to do more on this after this

short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

ANDERSON: -- I'm Becky Anderson with "Connect the World" from our Middle East programming headquarters here in Abu Dhabi. Time is just after half

past six in the evening here in the UAE, it is just after half past nine in the morning on Wall Street in New York.

Let's see how the stocks are getting on at the open and as expected and indicated by the futures markets. All three of these major indices, the

DOW, the S&P and the NASDAQ, are off by quite some significant numbers. One of the three quarter percent on the DOW and a similar vein on both the S&P

500 and the NASDAQ.

Oil prices again rising over fears the global supply could be at risk. This is how prices are trading at present. And this comes as the share prices

decline on markets around the world, not just these U.S. markets. We saw a similar drop on both the European and Asian markets in their trading day.

The Strait of Hormuz a crucial shipping lane that bypasses Iran is effectively closed. Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps warns that vessels

passing through it will be targeted. Amena Bakr is the Head of Middle East Energy and OPEC+ Insights at Kpler, and joins us now from Dubai.

Right. Let's talk about the direction of these oil prices. What do you see as you look at both Brent and WTI today?

AMENA BAKR, HEAD OF MIDDLE EAST ENERGY AND OPEC+ INSIGHTS AT KPLER: To be honest with you, Becky, I'm surprised. I'm surprised that the price isn't

much higher than it is right now we have a disruption in Hormuz. In fact, according to our tracking today, all we can see is just a few Iranian

vessels.

All other vessels are avoiding the strait because of the high risk, because of the high insurance costs. So, flows have really been to the bare

minimum. We are seeing facilities across the Gulf region being targeted by Iranian strikes. And then the most recent news that we just received right

now is that Iraq is shutting in some of its fields because it doesn't have enough storage, basically to accommodate this extra production so, shutting

in production from Iraq.

[09:35:00]

ANDERSON: This is fascinating, isn't it, we are also, of course, reporting on fears around global energy security after the fire at a major Saudi

refinery, Qatar halting production of liquefied natural gas after Iranian attacks on its key energy infrastructure. That was a decision made by Qatar

to close that massive production facility down.

Let's just talk about the wider impact on these energy markets. I mean, they were already squeezed by the Russia-Ukraine war, but when you say

you're surprised at how small these rises have been, as it were. You know, you and I have spoken over the last what three years about just how stable

these oil markets, at least, have been in the face of what has been an awful lot of challenges.

So, you know, given what we are seeing today. I mean, what are your forecasts going forward?

BAKR: Well, going forward, I think the market really needs to realize that there is a big risk of losing supply here, losing supply on both the oil

side and the LNG side. I mean, Qatar shutting in the Ras Laffan facility is huge news. And today they followed up, and they're halting even their

downstream.

So, once the market, I think, realizes that there is going to be constraint supplies, because I think the majority out there are thinking this is going

to be a short conflict. It's just going to end in a matter of a couple of days, and we're not going to get any substantial outages in supply.

And I think once that sinks in, Becky, that we might see prices go to 90, 100 and above. I just saw a JP Morgan report actually predict $120 oil.

ANDERSON: Let's go back to the Strait of Hormuz. We got a map showing what is being tracked there as we speak. Just how vulnerable is that, strait?

BAKR: It's very vulnerable. I mean, 20 percent of the world's supplies go through that strait. You have 20 million barrels a day, and yesterday, our

figure for the flows was close to 2 million barrels going through that strait. So, from 20 to two, that's a significant loss of supply there.

And Asia here is the most vulnerable. And I'm seeing right now that officials from Asia, and especially the prime minister in India, he's

calling all the Gulf leaders. I can imagine that there's a state of panic there, because India, for example, only has around 9 to 10 days of cover in

terms of stocks, and that's a real risk to them.

China, I would say, is better prepared. We've seen them aggressively stockpile last year. So, they're in a kind of better position. But overall,

I mean, this is going to translate to the consumer, and we all understand that President Trump and one of his objectives was to keep oil prices down.

So, I think once the oil price breaks into the three-digit territory, or even at $90 that's when perhaps we're going to see an end to this conflict.

ANDERSON: Yeah. Amena, it's always good to have you, and I just want to bring up the U.S. markets before we move on, because one of the things that

Donald Trump is not going to like at all is the state of these stock markets. He often talks about sort of Wall Street and its success since his

appointment as being a sort of bellwether for the state of the U.S. economy.

Well, if that is the state of the U.S. economy indicated by these markets today, it's not looking good. Amena, thank you. All right. Still to come

today on "Connect the World" with me Becky Anderson. Top Trump officials will be defending their military actions in Iran as they brief U.S.

lawmakers today about their strategy.

We are going to talk about that. We'll take a closer look after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

ANDERSON: We are keeping a close eye on Capitol Hill where Senior Trump Administration Officials will brief both chambers of the U.S. Congress

later today about their ongoing military operations against Iran. So far, Republican lawmakers have shown broad support for the U.S. and Israeli

military strikes on Iran.

Democrats have largely slammed the military action that comes without congressional approval, and question the Trump Administration's strategy.

Today's briefing comes as key Democratic members of Congress push for a war powers resolution, which would limit the president's unilateral use of

military force.

Let's get you more on this and bring in Jeffrey Sachs. He's the Director for Sustainable Development at Columbia University in the aftermath of

these strikes, it's good to have you. Jeffrey, thanks for joining us.

JEFFREY SACHS, DIRECTOR CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Good to be with you.

ANDERSON: Several Democrats have called for a war powers vote to force the president to seek permission from Congress before engaging in future

military action. From your vantage point, can trump senior officials basically knock that back and stave off that vote with today's briefing, do

you believe?

SACHS: Well, Trump has made a disastrous decision to back this Israeli war. It's going to backfire, politically, economically, militarily,

geopolitically. This is a disastrous move, and when we look at the reporting now, even at the admissions of Rubio and others, this is an

Israeli-led war, and the United States is doing Israel's bidding, not America's bidding.

Now we're entering a global economic crisis that is going to be blamed on the United States and Israel, and this will not go well. So, this is a

disastrous misstep. Trump owns it. No matter what happens, he's going to pay a very, very big price. We're all going to pay a big price, but he's

going to pay a big price politically.

ANDERSON: Well and that remains to be seen at this point.

SACHS: Sure.

ANDERSON: But I hear your perspective. I do just want to hear from Marco Rubio. Stand by Jeffrey.

SACHS: Sure.

ANDERSON: I just want to hear from Marco Rubio. We did play this at the top of the hour, but let's just have another listen to what he said late

yesterday. Do we have that? OK. We haven't got that. We played it at the top of the hour, but basically, you know, effectively saying that we went

in because -- OK, let's have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: United States is conducting an operation to eliminate the threat of Iran's short range ballistic missiles and the threat posed by their navy,

particularly to naval assets, that is what it is focused on doing right now, and it's doing quite successfully. I'll leave it to the Pentagon and

the Department of War to discuss the tactics behind that and the progress that's being made.

That is the clear objective of this mission. The second question they've been asked is, why now? Well, there's two reasons why now, the first is, it

was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone the United States or Israel or anyone, they were going to respond and respond against

the United States.

The orders had been delegated down to the field commanders. It was automatic. And in fact, it bears to be true, because, in fact, the within

an hour of the initial attack on the leadership compound, the missile forces in the south and in the north, for that matter, had already been

activated to launch.

In fact, those had already been pre-positioned. The third is the assessment that was made that if we stood and waited for that attack to come first

before we hit them, we would suffer much higher casualties, and so the president made the very wise decision.

[09:45:00]

We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that, that would precipitate an attack against American forces. And we knew that if we

didn't preemptively go after them before they launched, the United States has conducted --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: So, I guess, and this was what you were alluding to. So, I guess I sort of you know, return to my question, how does the Trump

Administration now strategize their way through the Democrats wanting to use these war powers or this war power resolution? Can they stave that off?

SACHS: I think the statement we heard from Secretary of State Rubio is the most pathetic statement I've heard from a U.S. Secretary of State in my

lifetime. Basically, if we just cut through, he said, well, we had to go to war because Israel told us to. Absolutely unbelievable.

How about the United States saying to Israel, don't launch an attack? How about that? Mr. Rubio, rather than saying, no, we have to go to war because

Israel is going to go to war, so we have to go to war. Who runs the show? Is it Bibi Netanyahu, or is it President Trump? And that's exactly -- who

runs the show?

ANDERSON: So, I guess, my question is, Jeffrey. Yeah. What happens next? But what happens next at this point, you know, if you were helping, sort

of, you know, provide strategy for the Democrats, who are, you know, coming up with pretty damning sort of statements about this decision? What would

you be suggesting? What would be your narrative?

SACHS: Yeah, I don't advise Democrats or Republicans. I state what's in the U.S. -- The U.S. interest is to stop the attacks and go home. That's all.

This is a disaster. Bibi Netanyahu said yesterday, this is his dream over 40 years, he has gotten the United States into so many wars, into the Iraq

war, into Libya, into Syria, now into Iran.

This man has been a disaster for the United States. The United States needs to stop this now before we go even more deeply into this.

ANDERSON: I have heard a lot of people suggesting that two things can be true at the same time, you can call the administration out on its decision

to launch this coordinated action with Israel. And at the same time, you can want to see the end of a regime which has been calling for the downfall

of both the States and Israel for 47 years.

What are your thoughts on that sort of you know, you can walk and chew gum, as it were?

SACHS: My thoughts are that this is the second time in a year, at Israel's behest, that the United States has bombed Iran in the middle of diplomatic

negotiations. This time it accelerated because Israel told it to do so, because the negotiations were reaching a positive end, as the Omani

mediator made clear, the U.S. has a bad habit.

It kills the people it's negotiating with. It's not a good way to negotiate. You don't lead to positive outcomes. This is a disaster that has

happened. This is an economic calamity and a geopolitical calamity. It's interesting that the Gulf leaders, who were they on the phone with today,

according to public reports, at least with President Putin.

OK, who are they going to be speaking with in the coming days, with the I'm sure, with Prime Minister Modi and with others, because this is a global

calamity that Israel has caused, and the United States has walked into. Trump can go further into this against the will of the American people and

against all logic and strategy.

75 percent of Americans don't want this. So, it's not about Democrats and Republicans. It is about American national interest.

ANDERSON: Right. Jeffrey, good to have you. Thank you very much indeed. That's the perspective of Jeffrey Sachs here on "Connect the World" with me

Becky Anderson. We're going to take a very short break back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:50:00]

ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson. Well, the joint U.S.-Israel attack on Iran has triggered Iranian strikes across this region of the

Gulf. Here's how many missiles and drones the following Gulf nations have intercepted so far, Kuwait downing 178 ballistic missiles and 384 drones

according to state media.

Here in the UAE, 169 missiles out of 182 have been intercepted, with the rest landing in sea. That's ballistic and cruise missiles and near 800

drone missiles, drones which have been intercepted. Bahrain state media reporting that 70 missiles and 76 drones have been downed.

Qatar intercepting 101 missiles out of a total of 104 as well as 24 drones. Well as air defense systems right here in the UAE are being put to the test

by a barrage of Iranian missiles and drones. We've just heard from UAE defense officials who insist they have enough musicians' stockpiles for a

prolonged conflict with Iran.

Last hour, I got the very latest from the Defense Ministry Spokesperson and had a close look at some of what has been intercepted, shot down as far as

Iranian hardware is concerned.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: I'm joined by Abdul Nasser Al Humaidi who's a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense here in the UAE. Sir, thank you for joining us. Can

you just bring us up to date on exactly the figures that you have for incoming strikes here from Iran?

MAJOR GENERAL ABDUL NASSER AL HUMAIDI, UAE DEFENSE MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: Yeah, we've announced earlier the numbers of aggression and attacks carried

out by Iran over the last few days. And what we have here is basically on the scene. Some of the missiles and drones were intercepted and destroyed

over the skies of the UAE by our air defense systems. And --

ANDERSON: Let's look at that. Yeah, let's take us through this.

HUMAIDI: We can start with an example, here. It's a tactical ballistic missile from class -- and it's basically a short range of a ballistic

missile. We've intercepted and destroyed hundreds of these over the last four days.

ANDERSON: What --

HUMAIDI: And if we move up in this area, this is cruise missile from buffet class. And those are really challenging for the military across the world

to detect, because of their small signature and high speed, and normally, typically they fly at the very low altitudes, but --

ANDERSON: So, talk me through how you detect that? How does the MOD here get that out of the sky?

HUMAIDI: Well, thanks to our advanced air defense systems and airplanes, we were able to detect and destroy them. And this is an example of a destroyed

cruise missile intercepted by our fighters.

ANDERSON: Yeah, intercepted by your fighters. Just explain how that happens.

HUMAIDI: -- UAE fighter jets. UAE fighter jets normally detect threats like airplanes, cruise missiles, the drones and so forth by its radars. And

after detection, they go after it by firing an air-to-air missile on them to destroy it.

ANDERSON: Talk to me about the ground to air missile defense system here. How does it work?

HUMAIDI: Well, we have a variety of air defense system from long range to short range, and the air defense system proved its integrity and capability

over the last few days with the attacks.

[09:55:00]

And it's proved by the number of destructions that occurred to all these threats.

ANDERSON: Just walk us through what we've got here?

HUMAIDI: Moving to this area, this is an attack suicide drone developed by the Iranians. It's called Shahad 136 it has a range of over 2500 kilometer

and we've intercepted hundreds of these over the last two or three days.

ANDERSON: One of the things that as a resident here, one of the things that is scary, shocking is to hear these booms, these thuds, which are the

interceptions, obviously, of these missiles or these drones that have been coming in. Can you just describe how high up those interceptions are?

Because at times, people will feel that they're very close to them, of course, particularly when it's the middle of the night.

HUMAIDI: Yeah, we repeatedly announced to the public that if they hear those sounds, they hear those bombs or popping sounds in the air. It's

basically a comforting signal, because it means the air defense system are working as supposed to, and it's actually doing its job by intercepting or

destroying those threats. So, if they hear those noises, they should be -- they should feel comfortable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Humaidi told me that those munition stockpiles will last for a long time in here in the UAE. The second hour of "Connect the World"

continues after this short break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END