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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

New Israeli Attacks Target Hezbollah; IDF Strikes Iran's Missile Capabilities; U.S. Submarine Sinks Iranian Ship; Video Marks 100 Hours Of Iran War; CNN's Fred Pleitgen And Team Cross Border Into Iran; U.S. House To Vote On War Powers Resolution Today. Aired 5- 5:30a ET

Aired March 05, 2026 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:16]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers from the United States and all around the world. I'm Erica Hill in New York.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Becky Anderson live from our Middle East headquarters here in Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

And here is what we know right now in the war with Iran. And just within the past hour. Very loud explosions in the skies over Doha in Qatar as air defenses there intercepted a missile attack.

CNN's team on the ground felt buildings rattling as loud booms rang out across the city. And I'm going to get you there live in just a moment.

Meanwhile, Israel carrying out punishing new strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Evacuation orders have been extended and people there fleeing the Israeli bombardment.

Residents in Iran's capital report a new wave of explosions today. Israel says it is targeting the regime's ballistic missile capabilities. U.S.-based rights group now reports at least 100 civilians have been killed in Iran since Saturday.

The Pentagon says a U.S. Navy submarine sank an Iranian warship in international waters. At least 87 killed there, according to hospital officials in Sri Lanka. Iran's foreign minister calls the attack an atrocity.

And U.S. Central Command has released video marking the first 100 hours of Operation Epic Fury as it is dubbed.

President Trump says on a scale of 10, the military campaign is a 15.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The missiles are being wiped out rapidly, their launchers are being wiped out. If we didn't hit within two weeks, they would have had a nuclear weapon. If we didn't do the B-2 attack a number of months ago, they would have a nuclear weapon. And when crazy people have nuclear weapons, bad things happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: All right, let's get you straight to Doha, where just a short time ago, Qatar's defense ministry says that air defense systems were intercepting a missile attack.

CNN senior producer, Bijan Hosseini, joining us from Doha -- Bijan.

BIJAN HOSSEINI, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Hi, Becky.

Yeah, we've actually just ventured downstairs. We're in the parking garage right now, as we were given advice to seek shelter and have protection overhead. It was a bombardment that we just experienced here above us about 45 minutes ago. You know, we counted four waves probably the loudest and the longest series of interceptions that we've experienced since reporting from this location for the last six days.

We got an alert shortly after on our phones from the national emergency alert, saying the security threat level is elevated. It's the first time we've seen a message like that as well, in six days.

We know this comes on the back of confirmation from the ministry of interior last night asking residents near the U.S. embassy in Doha to evacuate. Even one of our CNN staff members, who lives just four kilometers away was asked to evacuate. He received a knock on his door around 3:00 in the morning from police. He evacuated shortly, you know, two hours later, he was allowed to return to his home as police said that he was safely outside of that security perimeter that they had set up.

We know that that was a precautionary measure last night. No one around the embassy saw or heard any interceptions taking place last night, but clearly a different story happening right now. As you said, the ministry of defense confirming --

ANDERSON: It was struggling slightly with the -- with the shot there, understandably, perhaps because Bijan is in the basement of a building seeking shelter after the defense ministry there in Qatar just released a statement in the past hour, and its just after 1:00 in the afternoon in Doha at present. That statement coming to us just about a half hour ago, confirming missiles being intercepted, from strikes from Iran.

We'll get you back there just as quickly as we can because it is clear at this stage that Iran still retains the capability to fire these missiles on at least the Gulf region.

Let's get you to CNN's Jerusalem bureau chief Oren Liebermann in Tel Aviv.

The pentagon yesterday providing a pretty clear steer, Oren, of what we might expect over the next 48, 72 hours. Pete Hegseth used the term we are throttling up on our attacks on Iran. This is just the beginning.

[05:05:00]

And the Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine providing some pretty clear military objectives. It is that missile capability. It is the military sort of infrastructure that the U.S. and Israel are going after at this point.

It is that infrastructure, of course, that is causing such havoc around the region where I am, not only missile attacks but drone attacks as well. We've seen less missile attacks, it has to be said, a significant reduction in ballistic and cruise missile attacks here in the UAE over the past couple of days, but an uptick in drone attacks here, but as we've just seen evidence in Doha, that capability still exists.

Your thoughts on what we are seeing now and what we should expect in the hours to come, Oren?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, the U.S. and Israel are clearly targeting Iran's ability to launch missiles and drones. And yet, despite six days of this now, Iran still retains at least some extent of that capabilities. And it's not just Bijan seeing it in Doha, or you're seeing it in the UAE. We're seeing it here as well. About an hour and a half ago, there were sirens and at least some reports of shrapnel falling around Ben-Gurion International Airport, that's significant because Israel is now trying to bring in flights in about one an hour, and that will expand if the flights can be brought in safely. So we'll see if that changes.

But there were also multiple rounds of incoming overnight, around 2:00 in the morning, 3:00 in the morning. So Iran retains at least some ability to carry out retaliatory strikes and to lash out across the region. At the same time, Israel and the U.S. and we heard it from defense secretary Pete Hegseth and the top U.S. officer, General Dan Caine. This is very much expected to escalate, especially as the U.S. and Israel establish more air superiority and the air forces can do effectively whatever they want and target whatever they feel is a required or necessary target. And we're seeing that play out on the ground in the videos were getting out of Tehran.

Israel made clear on day two or three I think it was that they have an expanded target list that they've been working on since June, and they are now working their way alongside the U.S. in going down that target list. And that's why were seeing such punishing strikes across Iran, and particularly in the capital of Tehran itself.

There is no indication that either side here is looking for an off ramp. Quite the opposite here. Hegseth made it clear that that from his perspective this is escalating now and they will keep striking and striking harder -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Can we just get the very latest, if you will, on what we understand to be going on in Lebanon? LIEBERMANN: Yes, of course. Israel carrying out strikes there as well. And the evacuation warnings have expanded from individual villages to pretty much all of southern Lebanon south of the Litani River.

Now, what Israel does in light of that remains to be seen Israel has said all options remain on the table, so a ground incursion, a ground invasion. That's certainly something we're looking for. Israel has already seized additional terrain there. Additional posts along the border it already held before this, five spots that it used to look into southern Lebanon.

So, its grip there, its entrenchment and its occupation of southern Lebanon is, at least from what we see right now, slowly expanding. Meanwhile, just as the strikes that Israel is carrying out in Iran are escalating, so too in Lebanon, where they're going after Hezbollah targets are what they say are Hezbollah targets in Beirut, particularly in the Dahieh neighborhood of southern suburb of Beirut that's viewed as a Hezbollah stronghold.

The Israeli military chief of staff has said they won't stop targeting Hezbollah until Hezbollah is disarmed. We have seen some missiles and potentially some drones coming from Hezbollah. So there is still somewhat of a threat there. But Israel has vowed it will not evacuate residents in the north as it has in the past.

ANDERSON: Oren, it's good to have you there. And your insight is so important. You're not just the Jerusalem bureau chief. Of course, you were at the Pentagon for CNN reporting as a Pentagon correspondent for CNN over the past what, four or five years. So that is the sort of insight that we will lean into as we continue to cover this breaking news story.

For the time being, thank you very much indeed.

Sources telling CNN, Iranian intelligence has sent indirect messages to the U.S. about the possibility of talks to end this war. They say those messages were conveyed to the CIA through a third country. U.S. officials say there are no negotiations underway, and Iran's deputy foreign minister denied any exchange of messages.

Still, we are told many U.S. officials are wondering behind the scenes if there is a potential pathway for diplomacy that would satisfy President Trump's conditions. But after the death of Iran's supreme leader, it is unclear who exactly would agree to any sort of talks on Tehran's behalf at this point.

[05:10:02]

Let's get you to Richard Dalton, Britain's former ambassador to Iran and Libya.

And it's good to have you, sir. Thank you for joining us this morning.

Your -- from your experience as ambassador, what can you tell me about these kinds of back-channel communications? And would you expect that they are happening as reported.

RICHARD DALTON, FORMER BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO IRAN AND LIBYA: I have no way of knowing whether they're actually happening. If they were, there are plenty of channels. There's the Swiss embassy in Tehran. There's the Omanis, of course, who mediated the talks which were going well when they were aborted by Israel and the United States.

There are plenty of volunteers for a mediatory role from South Africa to Turkey to the Gulf States. So the problem is not how to get messages through, but whether, as your correspondent said, either side wants to talk.

ANDERSON: Iran is denying that reporting. I have to make clear this morning their deputy foreign minister saying that they are in defensive mode and have not sent or received any messages, and there will be people watching this who will be asking whether that can be taken at face value. And so, I wonder could you just explain what your sort of sense is of the possibility that surviving Iranian government members would be speaking with one voice or not?

I mean, just talk about the sort of disconnect that that many people see when we consider the narrative and the messages coming out of Iran at this point.

DALTON: Well, the United States wants to combine in Iran the actions taken in Gaza and in Venezuela to destroy the capability of the Iranian state to function. It's deplorable that they appear to be starting a land war in the Kurdish areas. And nevertheless, there is plenty of time and scope, while the institutions of Iran are still functioning as they are at present for a negotiation to take place.

There is a council existing, meeting, responding to the requirements of the defensive posture that they are taking up. And that is perfectly capable using their foreign minister if necessary, of directing a diplomatic activity I don't think we're yet at the stage where they need a supreme leader to conduct diplomacy.

And after all, why should they appoint a supreme leader when against all canons of international law, the United States has vowed to assassinate any leader that pops his head up? Maybe that was Israel that said they would do that, but there's absolutely no trust in the United States' word anymore I suspect anywhere in the world, particularly as lies continue to come out of the president's mouth, such as that there would have been an Iranian nuclear bomb in a fortnight. That's simply untrue.

ANDERSON: President Trump says one day they want to talk, and I have agreed to talk. So I will be talking to them. That was I don't know now, maybe two or three days ago, a day later, posting that the Iranians are just too late, exclamation mark.

I do want to talk to you or ask you about U.K. involvement here. And that is alongside European involvement. Let's be very targeted about the U.K. at this point. The Prime Minister Keir Starmer has provided or said that they will provide support. The U.K. will provide support for Gulf friends. And is in action as we have already seen in defense, self-defense or defense of Qatar.

We are also seeing both the Italians and the French providing support for the UAE. At this point, none of those countries, and very specifically the U.K., is prepared to support this. U.S. Israel action on Iran, though, and Keir Starmer saying that is outside of the parameters of international law.

What do you make of the U.K. prime minister's position at this point?

DALTON: It's the right position. It is right that British forces should be committed if there is a sound legal base, but there plainly isn't for this illegal war of choice.

At the same time, British bases are being put available for what President Trump has described as the hardest blows that are still to come, which I suspect indicates a prolonged bombing campaign against any underground missile facilities, which the United States and Israel have detected. And this war is not going to end until those missiles are put out of action it would appear.

Personally, I would like to see the Europeans and Britain put much more emphasis on bringing about a ceasefire. There's been enough action to secure any threat that might have existed to Israel and the United States, though of course that was not an imminent threat. Claims that it was an imminent threat are lies, too.

So enough has been done to preserve the security interests of the United States and Israel and meanwhile, this is a bonus to Russia as the oil price goes up and it's disruptive to the world economy, and its severely harming western allies in the Gulf.

So it is time to put together a platform for a ceasefire. Now, all wars end in negotiations and how that negotiation with whatever authority emerges in Iran proceeds is a matter of vital and legitimate interest to a wider range of countries than the aggressors Israel and the United States, including the Gulf states, of course, Turkey, the permanent members of the security council, and any effort to achieve a ceasefire should be undertaken across a broad front.

And I hope that somebody is going to take an initiative to that end.

ANDERSON: Air defenses in the Gulf have so far intercepted the vast majority of these threats. It has to be said. And when I talk to sources here and around the region, you know, any -- any action that would curb the ability of Iran to project power towards this region going forward i.e., any action to take out that military infrastructure both its missile program and its drone program, would be welcomed around this region.

But as you and I are aware the gulf still continues though it says it has the right to respond to these attacks, it does continue to say that a military solution to this is not what it believes is possible, and it does continue as one voice around the GCC to look for a diplomatic off ramp at that point -- at this point, and whether that is, as we've been discussing possible or not, remains to be seen.

Richard Dalton, it is good to have you with us this morning. Thank you very much indeed.

Well, can Congress pump the brakes on Donald Trump's war machine, we'll look at whether two key votes could curtail his powers.

More on that after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:23:06]

HILL: We have this just in to us here at CNN. Our senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, and his team have just crossed the border into Iran. CNN is the first U.S. network allowed into the country since the start of the war.

And I do want to point out, CNN operates in Iran only with government permission.

Here's Fred's report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We just crossed the border and are now inside of Iran. The Iranian government has granted us a visa to come here and to report from the Islamic Republic of Iran. We're now trying to make our way to the capital, Tehran, as fast as possible. But of course, the distances in this huge country are immense, and we know it's going to take many, many hours for us to get there.

We also don't know what the situation on the road to Tehran is going to look like, how many checkpoints there's going to be. And of course, we know at the same time there are massive combat operations also going on.

The United States and Israel are continuing their huge aerial campaign against targets inside of Iran. At the same time, the Iranians continue to retaliate, not just with their ballistic missiles, but with their drones mostly hitting Israel, but then also American military installations, especially in the Gulf region, but in general in the Middle East.

In total, the Iranians are saying that they can continue this campaign for a very long time. They say that their missile arsenal is still immense, and they haven't even used some of their most modern missiles.

But we also, of course, know that the place that we aim to go to Tehran has been under almost sustained attacks, with massive airstrikes going on there and also huge damage being caused. And, of course, many people also having been harmed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: And that was, again, CNN's Fred Pleitgen reporting from inside Iran. Well, the Trump administration, meantime, is once again trying to

justify its attacks against Iran. The White House says President Trump was not going to, quote, "pass the buck of a direct threat to the next administration".

[05:25:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: President Trump does not make these decisions in a vacuum. The president had a feeling, again based on fact, that Iran was going to strike. The United States was going to strike our assets in the region. And he made a determination to launch Operation Epic Fury based on all of those reasons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Later today, the U.S. House is set to vote on a bipartisan resolution that would limit President Trump's military campaign against Iran. A vote on that same issue, though its important to note, failed in the Senate on Wednesday. That vote, 53 to 47, that measure would have forced the Trump administration to get congressional approval for future attacks against Iran. Even if the resolution passed both chambers, however, it would likely struggle to survive what would be an expected presidential veto.

CNN's Brian Todd is covering all of this live from Washington.

Even without a chance of this passing, Brian, this is an important symbolic vote.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really is, Erica. This is an effort by the Democrats to get the Republicans on the record as supporting this war. And the Democrats have succeeded on that front, even if these votes have not succeeded.

You know, this is a debate that is not unique to this war. This is a debate that has raged for decades during and after every American president who has ordered combat operations has given that order, whether the president has the absolute authority to order those combat operations or not. It has been a debate that has been ongoing as to whether it is up to Congress to actually authorize every bit of that combat operation or not.

And it's always seemingly interpreted differently by people according to their political leanings at the time. So this is what you've got here in Washington. It was predictable that it was going to play out this way.

To recap, the Senate on Wednesday rejected a measure that would have limited President Trump's ability to wage war with Iran without congressional approval. That vote, as Erica mentioned, was 53 to 47 against that authorization.

One Republican, Rand Paul of Kentucky, is the only Republican who sided with the Democrats in voting for that resolution. There was one Democrat, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who sided with the Republicans in voting against it. So that's how it fell in the Senate.

It is not expected to pass in the House in the coming hours, when the House takes its own vote on this. Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated he believes he has the votes to stop it.

But, Erica, this is really about the Democrats wanting to get every Republican who is supporting President Trump in this war, every single Republican on record, in the event that this war goes very badly, in the event that it's open-ended and that they can possibly make political hay out of this in November, in the midterm elections. This is what this is all about, getting those Republicans on record supporting this war. If it goes south, then they can hurt them over that in November -- Erica.

HILL: Brian, appreciate it. Brian Todd for us live in Washington this hour.

Well, global markets are adjusting to the ongoing war in the Middle East and the disruptions to oil and shipping.

Our coverage from Abu Dhabi continues, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)