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Erin Burnett Outfront
Now: Israel Says Iran Launching New Wave Of Missiles; U.S. Officials: "Major Uptick" In Attacks In Coming Hours; U.S. Urges Citizens To Depart Middle East Countries "Now"; Death Toll Rises To Six U.S. Services Members Killed In Kuwait. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired March 02, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: And good evening. Welcome to a special edition of OUTFRONT. I'm Erin Burnett, live in Tel Aviv tonight, where this country and the region is bracing Israel, bracing for a new wave of missiles launched from Iran.
Israeli military, they are saying that they have been working to intercept a new wave of missiles launched from Iran. And we've got new video of what we just experienced here moments ago, a missile attack here in Tel Aviv. That new wave sent our crew into the bomb shelter in this building just an hour ago, where we've been sheltering in stairwells as we heard that the sirens and then, of course, impact after impact.
If you look at the images from Israeli military sources, it is showing where all the sirens are going off in the country today. And as you can see that, you -- it's essentially countless, at least as the eye can see.
All right. So, this is the experience that we're having right here. It comes as a senior U.S. official tells CNN that the United States is, quote, preparing for a major uptick in attacks against Iran. And we understand right now, understanding from our reporting here is that we are in the midst of what is likely the most intense series of strikes in this war, as I speak, happening right now.
And this phase we are learning will focus. They say Israel and the United States focusing on destroying Iranian missile production, drones and naval capabilities. The entire region around us right now on hold in the midst of a full scale war, waiting for Iran to retaliate the back and forth.
I mean, the United States State Department just putting out moments ago in what is very ominous simply because of its timing, urging Americans in the Middle East to, quote/unquote, depart now, the reason I say its ominous is because it's too late for people to depart from so many places.
This warning going to Americans and more than a dozen countries, that includes countries like Egypt, which currently does have commercial flights, but it also includes countries like the one were standing in now that does not the UAE, that does not, Qatar, all of these countries, that there are no commercial way to get out of right now.
Iranian warplanes for the first time, meantime, entered Qatar's airspace. They were quickly shut down by Qatar. It was the boldest move yet there. Those were SU-24 fighter jets from Iran.
And the IRGC, the Revolutionary Guard, tonight insisting that the recent losses to Iran including the death of the leader, the supreme leader, they say, have not shaken the country but rather made it stronger. Obviously, in many senses, that's patently false but what they're saying is the enemy should know that their happy days are over and they will no longer be safe anywhere in the world, not even in their own homes. An ominous threat.
And that threat is coming, as we're learning two more Americans were killed in that initial strike on an American base in Kuwait. And that means that six -- at least six Americans have died so far in this war. In that incident on that base, we understand that at least 18 others were seriously wounded, and that is all we know of their condition right now. We have new video that shows smoke rising from that U.S. facility, which we understand was sort of a temporary facility that had been used, a staging facility that was struck on that base.
And President Trump tonight is not ruling out what would seem to be an unthinkable escalation. But at this point, nothing is -- talking about sending troops into Iran. The images that we have seen so far, if that is the case, would be the very earliest stages of this war.
President Trump, in an interview with our Jake Tapper saying that the, quote, "big wave" is yet to come, part of a war that we have no idea how long it will be Trump is now saying that it could be up to several weeks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whatever the time is, it's okay. Whatever it takes, we will always. And we have right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. We'll do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And the crisis sending shock waves around the world. World's busiest airport shut, the impact to economies now extremely significant, as well as economies around the world with oil and gas.
An Iranian general announced tonight that they have closed the strait of Hormuz, which of course, practically they can't do. They don't control the entrance, but they can do in terms of its operation, 20 percent of the world's oil passes through it and the official warned that any ship trying to pass through will be attacked by Iran. That's when I say a de facto closing, and we have already seen explosions on ships there. Those were showing you some of that right now.
Today, I spoke to the CEO of an oil tanker who has three tankers right now along the edges of the strait, and he told me that they are right now focused on the most basic thing of all, keeping their crews safe and alive adding for the first time, I am worried now.
We have reporters fanned out across this region tonight as this war grows along with Jim Sciutto, with new reporting in Washington, Jeremy Diamond here in Tel Aviv, Matthew Chance in Beirut in Lebanon, and Clarissa Ward again in Iraq tonight.
I want to begin, though, with Jim Sciutto, because, Jim, the escalation here significant. We're in the midst of what we understand is the most intense series of strikes so far in Iran. We're starting to see perhaps some of the retaliation from that here in the past hour. Unclear if that was related or not. What are you learning?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NTIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: A senior U.S. official tells me, Erin, that the U.S. is preparing to begin a major uptick in U.S. strikes on Iran within the next 24 hours. The U.S. has assessed that the initial round of strikes was successful in eliminating or degrading Iran's air and missile defenses and the goals of this new wave of strikes will be a few things -- missile production, missile launch sites as well as UAV, unmanned aerial vehicle sites all these drones that we've seen have been fired with such effect. And in addition to that, naval capabilities.
So that says to you, Erin, this is a wide range of targets, and they're going to be using a wide range of U.S. assets to attempt to take out those targets. This fits with the pattern I've been told since the beginning of these strikes early on Saturday morning, that the U.S. would have waves of strikes, then have a pause period to assess the bomb damage assessment in effect, to see what effect those strikes had, and then pick new targets and begin again.
And what's notable about this one is it's meant to be quite bigger than what we've seen so far. I will say, Erin, that one pressure point throughout is the stock of U.S. missiles, particularly TLAMs. Those are tomahawk cruise missiles, but also SM-3 interceptor missiles which is a finite supply, frankly.
And as you've seen, Iran strike out, that supply has been gradually depleted. That is a pressure point. The U.S. is making efforts now to find ways to restock. But that's not an endless stock of those weapons. They can't be manufactured very quickly.
That will be a pressure point as the U.S. continues these strikes, which, as we noted earlier, the president has said could last some four to five weeks
BURNETT: Four to five weeks -- all right. Jim Sciutto, thank you very much with new reporting.
And I want to go to Jeremy Diamond here also with new reporting.
Jeremy, you know, here in Tel Aviv -- and we were just together during those last strikes that came into this country, that we are in the midst of, even in this current moment of silence, the biggest wave of strikes so far. JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and what Jim is
saying is very much backed up by some of the Israeli officials that I've been talking to as well. One of the interesting data points that I've heard is that in the first three days of this campaign, the United States and Israel have struck about 1,200 targets altogether, and were currently in the midst of an intense 24-hour period where by tomorrow, that number is expected to have at least doubled, according to those Israeli officials.
And what that also means is that it's going to have an effect on the ballistic missiles that Iran is currently firing at Israel. Israeli officials I've talked to have indicated that already. They believe Iran's capacity to fire those missiles has been degraded, but they say that by tomorrow night that number is going to start to drop off of a cliff, that you are going to see a significant reduction in the number of missiles that Iran is firing in, their capability to continue to fire those.
That is the expectation again, that is the assessment of Israeli officials. We will see by tomorrow night if that actually comes to fruition.
BURNETT: Yeah. All right. So, there's a lot of claims being made. And, you know whether it comes to the goals of the war itself, that keep shifting, claims that are being made about what's really happening and is very hard to know the truth.
Okay. What is your reporting about what the United States and Israel have actually hit in Iran so far? You talk about 1,200. They want to double that in the next 24 hours. They're saying we have accomplished so much. What have you been able to figure out in terms of the facts?
DIAMOND: Well, obviously, Israeli officials have been touting the decapitation strikes that they've carried out, not only the killing of the Iranian supreme leader, but some 48 other senior Iranian officials who they say they've been able to kill. And that was really in that opening wave of strikes that we saw on Saturday.
But since then what they've also been hitting is obviously these ballistic missile launchers, the batteries that that supply those launchers and also they're going after Iran's internal security forces, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. I'm told that those will be two key focuses of the strikes that were seeing right now happening in Iran.
In addition to that, we've obviously been seeing those ballistic missiles coming in, and we do have some video of one of those missiles that was coming in tonight.
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We've shown it to some experts. There's some indication that this could potentially be Iran using cluster type munitions. These are missiles that could break up in the air. We're not sure if this was intercepted or not. But the Israeli military has already accused Iran of using cluster type munitions over civilian areas. And they say that these are intended to do damage to civilian targets.
That's the accusation from the Israeli military. And in looking at this video, some experts suggest that that may be what we're seeing tonight even. Yeah.
BURNETT: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you very much.
And OUTFRONT now, Seth Jones and Nazila Fathi. We're going to be joined by "New York Times" senior reporter here in Tel Aviv in just a moment.
Seth, you know really important here between what Seth is saying and also what Jeremy's reporting. I mean, I'm sorry, what Jim Sciutto is reporting, and Jeremy, which is what's happening with Iran's capabilities.
Jim is saying that a senior official is telling him that missile stocks are running low. I mean, so let's just go through what you know, because so much of this, we know that there's a real limitation on the amount of missile defense that the United States has. Right. And it's getting degraded quickly at the rate its being used so then you're running a math game against how much they are able to degrade in terms of Iran's capability to come out bound and require the use of that missile defense.
So, what are you learning?
SETH JONES, FORMER ADVISER TO COMMANDING GENERAL., U.S. SPECIAL OPS FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN: Well, Erin, one of the things that we're learning from the U.S. is this is a race right now of U.S. attempting to degrade Iran's capabilities missile, ballistic and cruise missile and then drone capabilities to strike U.S. targets to strike Gulf states. And we've seen them go after the energy infrastructure.
The bombs that the U.S. is using are -- many of them are things like joint direct attack munitions, which are relatively inexpensive in the U.S., has a lot of stockpiles. But where Jim Sciutto is exactly right, it's the THAAD interceptors air defense systems, and it's the Patriot interceptor systems on the defensive side, where the U.S. does have a finite stockpile. I mean, U.S. ran through over a quarter of its entire THAAD stockpile last year, helping to defend Israel from Iranian strikes.
So, the quicker the U.S. can go after Iran's capabilities, the more it will be able to save those defensive systems.
BURNETT: Right and as you say, in that sense, truly a race against time, because when you see what's coming in and already breaking through here, you know, you've seen -- you've seen -- you know, higher death toll than in any other attack so far.
Ronen Bergman of "The New York Times" is also here with me in Tel Aviv.
And, Ronen, would you talk to your sources? You know, Seth's talking about this in a sense, race against time that the U.S. and Israel are trying to degrade Iran's missile capabilities at a faster rate than Iran can, you know, overwhelm the very -- the limited defense capabilities that the U.S. has.
What are you learning about Iran's capabilities right now? Its strength?
RONEN BERGMAN, NEW YORK TIMES CORRESPONDENT: So hi. Good night.
So, this race against time. So, the diminishing stock of interceptors on one hand, and Iran attempts to produce as many missiles as possible since the attack in June led Israel to initiate what they call is the biggest one strike in the history of the Air Force. On the first day after killing these seniors, the next thing that happened was 200 airplanes like going into a massive raid on mainly on Western Iran, trying to kill as many components of the missile project as possible mainly focusing on the launchers.
And this is the key -- the key point.
BURNETT: Yeah.
BERGMAN: They have more than 1,000 missiles but they came to the war with an estimate of 450 launchers. And you cannot launch without a launching pad.
BURNETT: Without a launching pad
BERGMAN: So they can have as many, as many as they can. But the launches are the key. They are the bottleneck.
They say -- the IDF estimate that they were able to destroy that day, something like a half. And they are even more optimistic estimate of how many. So like something like 200, maybe more.
This is the reason why we are seeing a inability of Iran to launch 30 together, 40 together. They were planning to launch 70 together and of course, every missile that crossed the air defense is horrific, but it's much less far, far less than what they wanted.
The other thing is that they have an ongoing shift of drones, of killing drones.
BURNETT: Yes.
BERGMAN: Twenty-four-seven and the skies of Iran, the Iranians are ballistic. They are crazy.
How Israel was able to maintain this kind of regime when Israel is far away, it takes a long time. The drone is slow.
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It needs to fuel.
But yet, they have drones over their head so every time that's the goal from the IDF. The Israeli air force point of view. Every time a launch -- a launching pad comes out of a tunnel, it is hit not necessarily, not always, but in many cases, and just diminishing the numbers.
BURNETT: It's such, such crucial detail that you're sharing.
And, Nazila, what does this mean in terms of what's on the ground? I mean, we know here in Israel, right that this has been more deadly than any strike so far, and that people have been killed in a synagogue. I mean, this is huge tragedy and in Iran, incredible tragedy, too, for civilians. I know you've got friends and family, you know, there and you've been talking to them.
But in terms of what Ronen is talking about right now, when they are going after everywhere they can, members of the IRGC, you're actually hearing about what that means on the streets of Tehran, when someone who you might not know lives in the IRGC, but then you find out because all of a sudden, your house is destroyed. What are you -- what are you finding out? What are you hearing from people inside the country?
NAZILA FATHI, FORMER JOURNALIST FORCED TO FLEE IRAN: Yes, Erin, unfortunately, people are finding it the hard way. I've spoken to people who have been forced to leave their homes because the house next door was shot, and now their homes are in unlivable too. And they had no idea that the house next door was an office for a Revolutionary Guard's commander.
I spoke to somebody else who said the police station near their home was hit and they were in a complete shock. People are telling me that they are under very intense bombardment, and they are left on their own. They have to fend for themselves. There are no sirens. There are no shelters.
They are getting no sense that there is any protection from the bombardment. So, you know, again, we go back to the same thing that Iranian people are the ones who are paying the highest price for what's happening. So far, over 500 people, mostly civilians, and among them over 100 kids have been killed.
BURNETT: I mean, the girls school, one of the -- one of the most horrific tragedies imaginable.
Seth, today, when we talk about right now in the midst of what they say is the greatest assault since this began, which is obviously hugely significant in the context of what Ronen's talking about. Right? Having those 200 planes ready, ready to go at the onset okay, that is all air, though, okay? Not boots on the ground.
And now tonight, the big development, President Trump is not ruling out putting boots on the ground in Iran. American boots on the ground in Iran. Do you believe, Seth, that that is a real possibility?
JONES: Well, Erin, I think the question would be what kind of boots on the ground would the president put? I mean it would be unusual for the U.S. not to have some types of boots on the ground. If folks remember, in 2001, in Afghanistan, the U.S., much of that the strike took place with air power, some naval assets as well, and U.S., CIA and special operations forces were on the ground.
In Libya in 2011, the air campaign. But there were small numbers of U.S. special operations and CIA units on the ground operating under what we call Title 50 authority which is a covert action program, which means the president actually does not have to tell the American public and in fact, can actually say quite the opposite. He can lie about that in public that that the U.S. has forces on the ground.
They would be very small in number but that is -- that is an option. And that would be pretty consistent. We saw, Erin, last year that that the Israelis had Mossad on the ground to launch drones inside Iran and for other activities. So, it would probably be the norm to have some small numbers of boots on the ground.
BURNETT: So, Ronen, amidst all of this is a crucial question, which is who's making the decisions in Iran? And we do understand already from some comments made by the foreign minister, Araghchi, who was out of the country when all of the senior leadership was assassinated. He probably would have been in that room, right? But he was alive and made a comment along the lines of, well, the commands were given before anything happened in case. And now the units are operating on their own.
So essentially, the decisions being made to strike and fire are being made in tiny pods, raising real questions about a command and control as were waiting for, you know, apparently some sort of a meeting to determine who would be the new supreme leader.
Is there anyone ultimately making the calls in Tehran right now?
BERGMAN: So Tehran is not speaking with one voice, but just going back a week. It sounds like a decade, but a week when my great colleague at "The New York Times", Farnaz Fassihi, who covers the Iranian regime, published that the late supreme leader had a contingency plan where he expected -- some people say he wanted to become a (INAUDIBLE) -- but he made -- he gave orders in case he is not around to give orders, then the very senior official, Lari Larijani -- Ali Larijani --
(CROSSTALK)
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BURNETT: Very important. He's in the center of everything.
BERGMAN: Yeah. And he was the speaker of the parliament and he was -- he was the head of the national security council. So, someone very senior, but not part of the IRGC, that's a main issue, will give the orders in order to have a continuity of the regime of the government. He will give orders until a new supreme leader is elected.
So, and the assessment inside the intelligence is that unlike the will of Ali Khamenei, they will choose one of his sons, probably Mojtaba. So Mojtaba Khamenei --
BURNETT: One of the sons of the former supreme leader. BERGMAN: Of the former supreme, the late supreme leader, to be the
next one to show symbolically that its continuing which is the one thing that they are trying to say to the world, it's not over. We are here and we are fighting, and we have someone to replace the guy that was killed.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you all very much. I very much appreciate this. As we are standing here now in the middle of the night here what we understand to be the greatest strikes since the war began.
Our breaking news coverage continues. Israel also now saying has a new front in the war striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. We're going to take you live to the ground, whereas only CNN can to all these places, including Beirut next, as we are also following breaking news out of Iraq this hour. Our Clarissa Ward just getting news of another attack where she is. We're going to go live there on the ground.
And also breaking, as we continue here, sources are telling us that the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was just hit by two suspected Iranian drones all the way in the center of Saudi Arabia.
Nic Robertson is there in Riyadh. We're going to take you everywhere, live.
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BURNETT: Welcome back to this special edition of OUTFRONT the war with Iran. And we begin here with breaking news. Just this moment, we are learning of an important development. The United States embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has just been hit. It has been struck by two suspected Iranian drones.
We don't know a lot right now. We don't have initial reports of injuries, but we're learning here as we go and we want to share it with you. But we do have a reporter in Riyadh right now, Nic Robertson. In fact, he is near the embassy in Riyadh.
So, Nic, as we're just hearing this happened but is there anything you guys could hear or see? What are you learning?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah. We heard about this first reported on social media here about an hour or so ago. We went out to the U.S. embassy. We've just been there. It's in a massive diplomatic compound area in Riyadh.
There are normally police checkpoints to get in there. We got through the first checkpoint. We couldn't get through the second checkpoint. I have not seen police activity around those checkpoints in the diplomatic compound like this since I was there when the there was a terrorist bombing in that area about 20-odd years ago.
So very clear something has happened. The police are on high alert there. We don't have -- we don't have more details other than it appears these two suspected Iranian drones have hit the -- hit the U.S. embassy here in Riyadh.
Of course, this comes on the heels tonight of the State Department warning citizens in 14 different countries, including Saudi Arabia, to leave the region. What we do know about this incident tonight is there were social -- there was social media video posted that appeared, appeared and was still running this information down, appeared to show a fire outside of the U.S. embassy here, striking in Riyadh. There have been attempts by Iran over the past couple of days to try to hit this city not quite clear what the targets were then. Those attempts have failed because there have been intercepted.
But the two drones are reported to have been involved, suspected Iranian drones, fits a pattern were seeing in Saudi Arabia today. The biggest oil facility here in Saudi Arabia Ras Tanura, was hit by shrapnel falling from intercept of two drones. This seems to be a tactic. It's an effort to make sure that the Iranians are able to defeat the defense systems, and that appears to be what has happened tonight.
It is a big deal in this city. It will be of concern for Saudi authorities that drones were able to get through, penetrate, penetrate a key ally -- and get to a key ally's embassy. So this is a worry here in the city tonight.
BURNETT: Absolutely. And the distance you're talking about -- from Iran all the way in the center of Saudi Arabia, it's so important. Nic, having spent so many times in places like this saying that he hasn't seen presence, police presence outside the embassy since 20 years ago, the massive terror attack, obviously hugely significant development, as we learn more.
We also have more breaking news from north of where I'm standing tonight in Lebanon, the Israeli defense forces are striking command centers for the Iranian linked militia group Hezbollah in Beirut at this hour.
And we've got new video from the scene that does appear to show the exact instant of the impact, where you can see the plumes of smoke rising basically instantly afterward. It comes as at least 52 people have been killed in Lebanon just tonight, as I'm speaking. We're talking about this across the region, 52 killed, 154 more wounded in a wave of Israeli strikes, as I said just north of where we are.
I want to go straight to our chief global affairs correspondent, Matthew Chance, because he is there on the ground.
And, Matthew, when we hear that and see that, you see these numbers of dead and injured. Tense situation. Escalation majorly so in strikes. And what are you seeing on the ground?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it does very much, Erin, feel like this is a second front that's opened up in the Iran war, because Hezbollah has always been such a reliable, such a powerful proxy of the Iranian regime. And it's because of its salvo of missile strikes and drone attacks across the border into northern Israel, a couple of days ago, that these Israeli strikes on Lebanon and on Hezbollah positions have really started to intensify.
It is incredibly tense here in Beirut tonight. Weve been talking about those airstrikes. We've been hearing them. Youve seen those images of them. There are drones almost constantly in the skies above us, 52 people dead, nearly more than 150 or so that have been injured.
But more than that, thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes, particularly in southern Lebanon, closer to the border with Israel, where you are and which are strongholds of Hezbollah. That's come under intense Israeli attack. And people have got in their cars, and they've come up to Beirut, where it's at least a little bit safer to try and get out of the firing line.
It's been -- there's been a strong reaction to from the Lebanese government. They've criticized Hezbollah's actions for drawing Lebanon into this Iran war by striking in revenge for the killing of the Iranian supreme leader over the weekend. They've actually taken the step of formally banning the military activities of Hezbollah.
Now, it sounds symbolic, but it could create tensions. It's certainly a risky strategy when it comes to the internal dynamics of Lebanon, but they've done that anyway in a desperate bid to kind of prevent further Israeli air strikes, to keep it out of this conflict.
But for the moment, Erin, it does seem that slowly Lebanon, through its proxy, Iranian proxy Hezbollah, is being drawn more and more into that Iran conflict.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Matthew Chance in Beirut.
And OUTFRONT now here with me in Tel Aviv, Eyal Hulata. He is the former Israeli national security adviser and served 23 years in the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad.
So, Eyal, I'm very grateful for your time. All right.
So, what do you see happening here? Just the reporting that we're getting from Matthew out of Beirut, where you now have 200 people dead and injured in strikes. It appears tonight and in the middle of Saudi Arabia, the United States embassy, we understand, hit by up to two Iranian drones just in this past hour or so.
EYAL HULATA, FORMER HEAD OF ISRAEL'S NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: So I think what this reflects is, is basically an Iranian decision to put everything they have in this conflict, to mobilize Hezbollah against Israel, even though Hezbollah is relatively weak in its capabilities. But this is the reason Hezbollah is there in the first place to be able to protect the Islamic revolution in this sense. And we can talk about what's happening in Lebanon later.
But the fact that Iran is, is firing at so many of the countries around them, I mean, now were reporting you're reporting on the drones on the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, they've been firing at the -- at the Emirates with a number of projectiles that only levels the number of projectiles they fired at Israel.
BURNETT: Yes.
HULATA: They even fired on Oman from all countries, on Qatar and Kuwait, on all of those on Bahrain fired civilian populations not only on American bases. I guess someone in Iran decides or maybe lack of proper decision making in Iran to expand this as far as they can. Maybe they think that this will create some pressure on President Trump. I think it's actually backfiring on them.
BURNETT: All right. So, what are the capabilities right now on the intelligence front? And we talk about how there has been, you know mass extinction event for leadership in Iran. Although some crucial players, Ali Larijani certainly -- first among them in position and in power. Pezeshkian obviously as well the president.
But when we look at what's going on with espionage, that there has been player after player, and what we're hearing from the Israelis is that they are systematically taking out every single member of the IRGC who would have been involved in any sort of espionage.
What are their capabilities, Iran's, that are left right now when it comes to intelligence and intelligence gathering?
HULATA: So, first, I think the major thing that Iran invested over the years is its ability first to have the intelligence internally, to make sure that they can protect the revolution in instances like large protests, as we've seen in January, to spy on their own people, to be able to calm them and to and to take them down as needed. We -- I think there is a lot of focus on those capabilities in line of the approach to try to create conditions for the Iranian people to be able to step up and do something at that and there is focus on that.
Their external intelligence is as -- has always been more limited than what Iran tried to portray.
[19:35:06]
And also, their C.I. capabilities have not proven to be very effective. Israel was able to penetrate their ranks since June of last year in ways that were there. But I think the focus is on depleting the Iranian capability to crack down.
BURNETT: And do you believe from the perspective of 23 years in the Mossad that Israel has actual human witting right, participating human agents throughout the IRGC at this point? Is that what we're seeing? I mean, in terms of the ability to target, in terms of getting into these meetings, in terms of -- and I understand the CIA had a crucial role in that.
But in terms of these strikes that we've seen, knowing where everyone lives, just showing up, is that -- are those human beings in Iran who are working with Israel?
HULATA: So, you know, there are many ways to gather that set of information. And I think specifically now, I'll still be careful of hinting how this is done. As you allude, the CIA are also doing a great job. Mossad is doing a great job and military intelligence are. There are many ways to gather that information.
And I think what has been very important is to make Iran guess how we do this, to make them feel vulnerable. Or human? How are they doing? How are we doing this? Where should they be? Worried that this will come next?
And I think it has proven to more effective than many people have thought.
BURNETT: Right. Eyal, thank you very much. I appreciate your time here in these early hours of the morning.
Next, we have following the breaking news out of Iraq, where our Clarissa Ward is on the ground reporting on an air base that has just been hit.
Plus, we are continuing to following the breaking news out of Saudi Arabia and a strike on the American embassy in Riyadh, one of the largest and most heavily fortified in the world for the United States hit by two suspected Iranian drones just moments ago.
We'll be right back.
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[19:41:00]
BURNETT: Welcome back to the special edition of OUTFRONT war with Iran.
And we have more breaking news this hour, in this intense night of strikes. A strike on the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, just moments ago by two suspected Iranian drones. Obviously, Riyadh, in the center of Saudi Arabia far, far away from Iran a lot of open desert there to go past, but that is what's happened.
We do not have any reports at this moment yet of any injuries but it comes as the U.S. embassy in Riyadh is telling all American citizens in Saudi Arabia to shelter in place immediately, and that alert is going out just right now, as I'm speaking, signaling a potential fast moving threat unfolding right now in Saudi Arabia, as we are also following breaking developments around this region, including in Iraq, where our chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, is tonight. She's on the ground in Erbil in northern Iraq, learning that an air base near her has come under attack.
All happening very close to where she is reporting from at this hour and unfolding so quickly. Clarissa and her team capturing a dramatic moment at the Iran-Iraq border earlier today. Let me show you what they just saw.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hoping you can see that now. An Iranian drone literally just flew directly over our heads from Iran into Iraq. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And Clarissa is with me now, our chief international correspondent. As I said in Erbil.
And, Clarissa, what are you learning about this -- this strike on a base?
WARD: That's right, Erin, there have been a number of attacks across Iraq, and particularly here in the Kurdish part of Iraq. Tonight, we're hearing that multiple drones struck the Harir air base that is about 30 miles outside of Erbil. Funnily enough, we actually drove past it earlier today.
Unclear whether there are any Americans at this base, but I can tell you that around the same time as this was going on, we were also hearing a lot of activity at the Erbil airport, which is just in that direction behind me. That's where we saw last night. Flames after a drone hit an ammo dump. We were hearing a lot of military helicopters in the skies for quite some time. Unclear, if that was related, but certainly it was a significant uptick in the kind of activity that we have seen.
We are also hearing reports of a drone strike on Khor Mor gas field. This has come under attack before. Its significant because, A, like much of Kurdistan, it does not have air defenses. The airbase does. And anywhere where U.S. troops are present for the most part does.
But this airfield this -- gas field, sorry, does not. And it's where 80 percent of the electricity that powers Iraqi Kurdistan is generated. So, that also very significant. And also to the south in Iraq, we are hearing reports of protesters once again trying to break into the fortified Green Zone compound, where the U.S. embassy is.
There were reports of flash bangs and smoke, and the protesters were dispersed. Also reports of protesters harassing staff at a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Baghdad, and generally just a sense that things are escalating. Tensions are rising and a huge amount of anxiety about where this is all going, Erin.
BURNETT: Yeah, embassy after embassy, U.S. embassies under some sort of attack, as we have seen over the past 24 hours.
Clarissa, thank you.
And OUTFRONT now, Democratic Senator Mark Warner, he is the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and was just part of the Gang of Eight briefing on the war with Iran.
Senator, I very much appreciate your time.
So, I guess let's just start right there with that briefing you received.
[19:45:01]
Did you learn anything in it that would convince you that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States that merited this war?
SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Well, first of all, Erin, you know, we now have at least six dead American casualties and our prayers are with those families. Our military is executing extraordinarily well.
But to your question, I have seen no evidence of any imminent threat to the United States posed by Iran. There were threats towards Israel, although arguably even whether they were imminent. But the idea that we had to act at this moment, at this time, because of a direct imminent threat to the United States, I have seen absolutely no evidence of that.
BURNETT: Just before your briefing, Secretary of State Rubio spoke publicly, and he said something that I want to play for you because it is perhaps a bit confusing, but also stunning. It's a new explanation for why the United States, he said, had to strike Iran when it did. Let me play the secretary for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: There absolutely was an imminent threat, and the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us, and we were not going to sit there and absorb a blow before we responded because the department of war assessed that if we did that, if we waited for them to hit us first after they were attacked and by someone else, Israel attacked them. They hit us first and we waited for them to hit us. We would suffer more casualties and more deaths.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, he's saying that the United States says they knew that Israel was going to strike and that Iran, in response, would retaliate in part against the United States. And so therefore, the United States needed to come with Israel and strike first. Does that logic, as he has laid it out, make sense?
WARNER: Well, does it make sense if we are going to outsource our foreign policy decisions and choices to another government? Listen, I am a extraordinarily strong supporter of Israel, but do I want Bibi Netanyahu making the decision of when and where Israel will strike and then bring Americans into a war? I think that's a -- that's an issue that needs to be debated.
This is Donald Trump's war of choice. The secretary, I think, has as much acknowledged that. And even with that, we have had now four different explanations of what our goals are.
First, it was to try to get rid of Iran's nuclear capabilities, which supposedly had been obliterated by the bombing seven months ago. Then it was to eliminate Iran's missile capability, which would threaten Israel or potentially our bases but no imminent threat. I heard today questions about sinking Iran's navy, which -- that's a new one.
And then we have this question as well, where the president at least based on his words, has said he wants regime change and has asked the Iranian people to rise up. The question I have is if the Iranian people and I shed no tears for the death of the Iranian leadership, who have been awful, but if the president of the United States is asking the Iranian people to rise up in the streets and then the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who are brutal murder, 5,000, 10,000 20,000 Iranian protesters, do we have any further moral obligation than to go in to support them with even potentially boots on the ground?
This is exactly why we have seen from our history starting a war in the Middle East. Maybe easy. Ending one is always difficult.
BURNETT: You just mentioned boots on the ground, and that is being talked about where I'm standing right now. It is now being talked about in Washington. President Trump and the defense secretary both refusing to rule out having actual American troops on the ground in Iran, of course, a country population 92 million.
You know, based on your briefing, Senator, do you think there are real -- there's real planning going on about this, that this is a real thing that they are considering? American boots, American soldiers on the ground in Iran?
WARNER: I would pray not, you know, and clearly, this president got elected on the basis of no more endless wars in the Middle East. But I sometimes think, you know, we know the president says rash things. I don't think he thinks them through.
But when the president of United States calls on the Iranian people to go into the streets and take back their government.
[19:50:03]
And if there's 100,000 protesters and then tens of thousands of them are killed by the Iranians because they responded to the American president's call to action, do we owe a moral obligation? I don't know.
I do know this, that you have to be careful with your words if you're president of the United States and this president is never careful with his words or his threats or his boasts.
BURNETT: Senator, I'll admit, you know, I've interviewed you many times over many years, and, you know, you seem a bit, I guess shaken might be the word. I mean, how do you feel right now when you see what's happening, when you see and hear what you were just briefed on? Some of which I know is confidential and classified.
WARNER: I just think that we don't have -- we didn't have to be here. I spent yesterday down in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, where 40 percent of the people I was talking to had sons and daughters and friends that were deployed on the Ford and these other ships where their loved ones are in harms way, and potentially future casualties. Because there was acknowledgment today that there will be more casualties. And if I can't answer them what's our goal? Why is my kid potentially
going to be put in harm's way? What is America's overwhelming interest that my son or daughter is going to be in combat and may perish? For what? And I can't give him an answer. Yeah, that is very, very sobering to me.
BURNETT: Well, Senator, I'm grateful for your time. And as you say, the president of the United States has said that the casualty numbers could go up and meaningfully so.
Thank you very much, Senator.
WARNER: Thank you, Erin.
BURNETT: And next, we continue to follow the breaking news out of Saudi Arabia, where the U.S. embassy has been struck by Iran. As far as we understand right now, the details just coming in. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:55:23]
BURNETT: And we are back with this special edition of OUTFRONT, "The War with Iran".
And what we understand is the most intense night of strikes since this war began. And we are continuing to follow the breaking reports of the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia which was hit moments ago by Iran. We understand, by suspected Iranian drones. According to sources, we don't have reports of injuries at this time, but very much a story in under development right now.
OUTFRONT now is Seyyed Hossein Mousavian. He is a former Iranian nuclear negotiator and also worked very closely with Ali Larijani, the man who is essentially running Iran right now.
And I'm very grateful for your time and your insight at this moment. So, you served as former foreign policy adviser to Ali Larijani. As I said, he is essentially running the country right now. "The New York Times" says he was designated by Ayatollah Khamenei to run the country in his absence, and I understand was perhaps in many ways doing so effectively before his death.
Is he someone, as you see it said, that the United States would accept as a leader of Iran?
SEYED HOSSEIN MOUSAVIAN, FORMER IRAN NUCLEAR NEGOTIATOR: Actually, he is not leading the country. He is a very important figure before and currently on security military issue, decision making. Nevertheless -- because he is the secretary of national security council.
Nevertheless, we need to understand the decision making system of Iran has three pillars on military issues, especially first is the armed forces, which they prepared the decision. Second is supreme national security council, which they decide about the decisions. And third is the supreme leader which has the authority to either to approve or to reject the decisions.
Therefore, I would say these three pillars are the key pillars on the current situation. Larijani is the secretary of supreme national security council, which has the most influential role or decision- making during the national security process. Nevertheless, we cannot neglect the other major factors.
BURNETT: So, in trying to understand where we are and obviously, Ali Larijani is crucial right now. Pezeshkian, the president is still there, the Foreign Minister Araghchi. But yet we know we understand from the IDF, from President Trump's claims that they eliminated 48 of Iran's top leaders on the first day of airstrikes. And obviously, so many of them were in that meeting in person together, including the Ayatollah Khamenei, the defense minister, the commander of the revolutionary guard. We understand they were essentially all in the same location on Saturday morning.
Obviously, it was not dark. It was early in the morning. Perhaps they felt that there was no cover of darkness so that they would be safe. And yet it seems so stunning.
Were you surprised, Seyed, that all of these people in this moment had gathered together so closely together?
MOUSAVIAN: Frankly speaking, I was also surprised because normally they knew -- they should have known that the U.S. and Israel, they may attack every day or every moment, and they should not gather all of them in just one location. However, we had the same situation when the U.S.-Israel attacked in June 2025, about 30 or 40 very high level, high ranking military security officials. They were assassinated. But we noticed how Iran immediately in one or two days could substitute and reorganize and start respond to Israeli attack.
And we have seen exactly the same. I mean, on Saturday, in the first hour, 30 40, 50, 60, they were assassinated. But Iran, in three hours started responding. Therefore, I think the decision-making system is intact and they have been able to respond to the aggression.
BURNETT: Yes, and that's such an important point. As you point out, the depth of the system, at least, that we have seen so far has been in evidence and on display and we'll see, obviously, if that continues and sustains.
Seyed, I'm grateful for your time, and thank you very much for speaking with us.
Thanks so much to all of you for joining us for our special coverage live here from the Middle East at war.
"AC360" begins now.
