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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

War With Iran; Israel Orders More Evacuations In Lebanon; European Nations Bolster Their Defense. Aired 4-30a ET

Aired March 10, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:32]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the US and all around the world. I'm Rahel Solomon live this morning in New York.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Becky Anderson live from our Middle East programming hub here in Abu Dhabi. It is midday here. We are now in the 11th day of the war with Iran.

And as we follow new strikes across the Middle East, US President Donald Trump is offering conflicting timelines of when this war could end. What is clear right now is, there is no let up to the strikes. US Central Command has released a video showing three strikes on what it says were Iranian missile launchers.

Meantime, smoke could be seen rising over Beirut today as Israel said it launched a series of strikes targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah. The Israeli military also issued an evacuation warning for residents in Southern Lebanon, again amid ongoing raids.

And Bahrain in the Gulf, the interior ministry says an Iranian missile struck a residential building, killing at least one person and injuring eight others. A top Iranian official is signaling that Iran is willing to keep attacking Gulf countries in an effort to persuade them to convince President Trump to step back from this conflict.

Well, let's start this hour, CNN's Oren Lieberman joining us now from Tel Aviv with more if you've got it, Oren, more substance detail on what we understand to be the ongoing Israeli strikes on Iran. And I know that you've just had an alert, so thank you for being with us. You are moving, I know, into shelter there.

OREN LIEBERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, we just -- a few minutes ago we got the alert warning of incoming missiles and of course that siren went off just as your show started. So we have come here to the shelter and as I talk to you here, we'll wait to hear if we hear that loud bang, the explosion of interceptions in the skies near Tel Aviv here.

As with all the other alerts, we'll wait here for a few minutes until we get the all clear, until the danger has passed and we'll step back out. Should we get another alert, we will, of course, head right back into the shelter here. In the meantime, Israel and the US continue to carry out strikes against Iran.

You pointed out President Donald Trump's conflicting statements and there was an interception I just heard a moment ago, probably not loud enough to be picked up by the mic. But President Donald Trump's conflicting plan, if you will, for how long this war will go on, whether it's about to end, whether he considers this victory but not enough victory. So that's a key question here.

From what we have heard from Israeli officials in conversations with the Israeli military, there is still a plan for more strikes against the Iranian regime, against the IRGC, the military. So from the Israeli perspective, this isn't at the point where Israel is looking at the end.

And you see that in the intensifying strikes not only in the capital of Tehran but also across the country as Iranian state media reports that the number of people killed in Iran has passed 1,200. Including Iranian state media saying a strike that hit a residential building, what they call a residential building, in a square and there was another interception in a square in Iran resulted in the deaths of 40 people. That's a number that CNN cannot independently verify.

But you see in real time how the war is unfolding and intensifying day by day here on the 12th morning of the war, Becky,

ANDERSON: I'm going to get to analysis on how this continuing war is affecting oil, stock markets, the global economy, what happens next? Before we do that, Oren, just get us bang up to speed if you will on the Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

LIEBERMANN: Israel has issued another evacuation warning for parts of Southern Lebanon. Keep in mind this is these are growing areas of Lebanon that have now come under evacuation warnings as the assault targeting Hezbollah continues. And we see that again day by day.

We've had our reporters up here including my colleagues Nick Paton Walsh and Jeremy Diamond. Meanwhile, two Israeli sources tell CNN that Israel is considering a further and deeper push into Lebanon, not an all out ground invasion. But keep in mind that Israel has held five positions along the border since the nominal ceasefire went into effect in November 2024.

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They seized additional positions at the start of this war and are now considering pushing deeper into Lebanon. There, as Lebanese state media says, nearly 500 have been killed in Israeli strikes. We've also seen two Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah projectile fire, likely anti-tank missiles. We've seen several of those wound Israeli soldiers along the border.

But there too there is no apparent de-escalation in the making. It is worth noting quickly, Becky, that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun put out a remarkable statement yesterday accusing Hezbollah of betraying the country, betraying Lebanon, working basically at the behest of Iranian masters and by its actions working to collapse the Lebanese government.

Aoun, in what is effectively a call for help, asked for the international community and called for direct talks between Israel and Lebanon to reach what he called a permanent cessation of hostilities and a final agreement on stability along the border. That is a remarkable statement coming from the Lebanese presidency.

The question will Israel be willing to engage on it, as I said, at a moment where Israel is considering a deeper push militarily into Lebanon.

ANDERSON: Oren, it's good to have you. Stay safe there, Oren Liebermann, who has just sought shelter as is the right thing to do when those alerts signal incoming fire into Israel. It's good to have you and we will speak with Oren in the hours to come. Thank you.

President Trump has promised a quick end to the war with Iran, while at the same time threatening an escalation. Now, he posted that Iran will be hit "20 times harder if it tries to stop oil from flowing through the Strait of Hormuz." Kristen Holmes has details now on his latest remarks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Before heading back to Washington, President Trump gave a press conference talking about the war in Iran. He indicated that it could be over soon. He said at various points that everything they have being Iran is completely destroyed, talking about leadership, talking about its navy.

Saying at one point that it could be just a short while until this war really wraps up, saying they were way ahead of schedule. But then he sort of changed his tune when asked about what would actually cause him to end the war, what metrics would have to be met. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)\

DONALD TRUMP, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: We've already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough. We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long running danger once and for all. Forty-seven years, it should have been done a long time ago. The world would have been a different place had some president had the courage to go and do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So clearly, they're indicating that there is more to be done when it comes to Iran. He did note that while thousands of strikes have happened, while big major entities in Iran have been struck, that the United States was holding off on some of these major entities unless they had to actually strike them. Unclear if that was some kind of veiled threat to Iran and when the United States would strike them. But there was another point that was very notable during this press conference, and it was when it came to the bombing of that school in Iran, that girls' school. President Trump over the weekend had seemed to be very defiant in the fact that he said that this was Iran's fault, that they were the ones behind the strike.

But right behind him stood the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, and when he was asked the same question, he demurred. He did not agree directly with President Trump, saying it's still under investigation, that they were looking into it, but wouldn't say who actually struck that school.

Now, President Trump seemed to soften his stance on that during questions -- during this press conference, essentially saying that he didn't know who was behind it, that there were still a lot of questions, that there was still an ongoing investigation. One point claiming that it was done by a Tomahawk missile and then saying that Iran had those missiles. We do have not seen intelligence that shows that Iran has that specific missile.

But he also said that the investigation is playing out and that whatever the result was something that he would live with. So that was an interesting kind of walk back as we've seen President Trump, instead generally compound statements when it comes to this war with Iran. This was an actual walking back of earlier statements. Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: The view in Washington, an Iranian official says Mojtaba Khamenei will lead the defense capability of Iran, and I quote them there, even through a long war with the US and Israel. Earlier, his foreign policy adviser spoke with colleague Fred Pleitgen in an exclusive interview. CNN operates in Iran with the permission of the Iranian government as required under local regulations, but maintains full editorial control over what it reports. Here is part of their conversation.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How does all of this end then? If you say right now there's no room for negotiation, President Trump says he wants complete surrender. What does that lead to?

KAMAL KHARAZI, FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER, OFFICE OF THE SUPREME LEADER: There is no room unless the economic pressure would be built up to the extent that other countries would intervene to guarantee this termination of aggression of Americans and Israelis against Iran.

PLEITGEN: Finally, what is your message to President Trump as we sit here as the war is going on?

KHARAZI: That means that what is important for us is the end of this game and we are ready to continue that game. PLEITGEN: The end of this game, you mean how this war will end?

KHARAZI: Yes. The end of the game would be the time that American and Israelis would come to this understanding that this strategy is not working and they have to stop their aggressions against Iranians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: And our team on the ground reporting heavy bombardment overnight. Well, concerns over rising energy prices have been felt around the globe. Some countries rationing or cutting back on the use of fuel as the war with Iran continues, others trying to figure out how much they have stockpiled, fearing a worst case scenario of a very prolonged conflict.

On Monday, crude prices at one point soared to almost $120 on the barrel. They later settled at under $100 after President Trump told CBS News he thought the war was "very complete." Well, here is where the price stands right now for the US benchmark WTI and for Brent Crude. Let's have a look at the global benchmark there as well.

CNN spoke with Israel's foreign minister about strikes on Iran's oil storage facilities. An adviser to President Trump said he was actually against those strikes since they have had a negative impact on oil prices. CNN asked the foreign minister if the war was putting Israel's relationship with the US at stake. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIDEON SA'AR, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: We have a very good coordination with our friends from the American administration, both in the political and military level. And we are not handling that in the media. What I can say on the thing itself is, we struck several fuel storage complexes used by the Iranian military forces.

So it was the purpose of these strikes was to hurt Iranian military activity. It is in war, it happened. And whenever -- whatever we should say, we say between us and our friends from the American administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Right. Well, of course, those trading these markets, watching these markets, concerned about this sort of whiplash effect on the global economy. Keeping a keen ear on what is being said both sort of publicly and trying to work out what is going on behind the scenes because we are getting to a degree conflicting messaging at this point.

Joining me now is Amena Bakr, Head of Middle East Energy and OPEC+ Insights at Kpler. And, Amena, let's just talk about these past sort of 12-24 hours. I mean, markets certainly extremely volatile. But since those comments from Donald Trump suggesting the conflict could wind down, we are seeing a significant fall in the price of oil.

WTI, for example, down at around 86 at the moment. Brent off a similar amount. Do these prices reflect the fundamentals or is these traders to a degree getting ahead of themselves at this point?

AMENA BAKR, HEAD OF MIDDLE EAST ENERGY AND OPEC+ INSIGHTS-KPLER: Becky, it's been a wild 24 hours that, I mean, Trump, if his objective is to bring oil prices down through these comments, I would say that he succeeded. Oil briefly touched 120. It fell down into the 80s yesterday and we're seeing a return to 90 now.

But traders are not looking at the fundamentals. These are all sentiment driven trades. And reality on the ground here, let's just remove the comments to one side and look at what's happening in reality, the war hasn't ended. Hormuz is still obstructed. A number of Middle Eastern producers still have their production shut in. So it doesn't reflect reality.

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ANDERSON: And let's talk about that, because, you know, ahead of this, there have been somewhat of a glut of oil in the world markets. The problem at the moment is, that oil can't be moved around, which is causing issues with supply and affecting the price of course. Just walk us through and remind us what has happened around this region where you and I are with regard the supply of oil very specifically.

BAKR: Yes, for sure. I mean, we've had a number of facilities in the region being targeted, and they continue to be targeted, Becky. We have facilities in Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain all being targeted. And so far, we have curtailment or cuts of oil production from Iraq. Prior to the conflict, their production was something like 4.2 million barrels a day, now they're at around 1.5, 1.3 million barrels a day.

And then you have curtailments in Kuwait. You have force majeure declared in Qatar, in Bahrain. And as well, like, the situation is very volatile in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where there they're having to reroute a lot of their supplies to make it to the market, trying to bypass that Strait of Hormuz. It's a dangerous situation. These supplies are still off the market.

Plus you have the obstruction of Hormuz, where normally you get around 20 million barrels of flow through that. And we're not seeing vessels become suddenly overnight a lot braver and crossing the strait just because Trump told us that he's pretty close to ending the conflict or achieving his objectives. That hasn't restored confidence in the market to do that.

ANDERSON: Yes. Growing some balls, as it were, which is Donald Trump's suggestion to these tanker companies and shipping organizations who are still parked up on either side of the Strait of Hormuz. Not necessarily working out. Insurers and shipping companies will be assessing the risks in real time across the Gulf.

I mean, could insurance costs and tanker availability become just as big a constraint on supply as this sort of physical damage at this point?

BAKR: Let's just make something clear, Becky, insurers are still insuring vessels to go through the Strait of Hormuz. It's the cost, of course, that have been going up, but vessel owners and agents just don't want to take that risk in crossing the strait.

What we've been seeing since the conflict broke out is just a few Iranian vessels cross the strait. But mainly the remaining vessels, it's just -- I mean, Hormuz has turned into almost like a parking lot for the remaining vessels, a lot of backlog there. So even when we start to see normality and that would can only be achieved through a complete halt of this conflict, this backlog is going to take some time to clear up.

ANDERSON: Briefly, $150 on the barrel is how the Qatar Energy CEO suggested we might see things in the foreseeable should this to an end. Amena, what are you forecasting there at Kpler?

BAKR: Well, I don't think the Qatari minister is completely out of line when he mentioned $150. And if we see a continuation of the strait being obstructed like this completely with the near zero flows, yes, oil prices could easily climb up to that level. And especially because countries in this region also are running out of storage, so we're going to be seeing even deeper cut in supply.

So yes, we're heading in that direction if there is no clear and fast resolution.

ANDERSON: It's always good to have you, Amena. Thank you very much, indeed. Amena Bakr is in Dubai for you, folks.

Well, European countries seeking to bolster their military defenses in response to this conflict in the Middle East. Ahead, we're going to get a live report for you from Berlin. Stay with us.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. As the war with Iran rages on, European nations are looking to defend their interests. French President Emmanuel Macron says that his country is deploying about a dozen naval vessels to the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, and potentially the Strait of Hormuz. He says that they'll provide defensive support to allies threatened by the conflict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translation): I want to tell the French people that France, at this time of great turmoil in the region, is operating calmly and methodically in the service of protecting its citizens, in partnership with its allies and in a strictly defensive manner, and in the service of freedom of movement to ultimately defend our own interests, our citizens, our security and access to the resources we need, as well as for the global economy.

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And to live up to our responsibilities, meaning to stand alongside our partners and those with whom we have defense agreements, nothing more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: For more on how European countries are responding to the conflict in the Middle East, we are joined now by CNN producer Sebastian Shukla, who joins us this morning in Berlin. Sebastian, good morning to you.

Two herds we heard a lot in Macron's comments were defensive. We just heard it again there, and also de-escalate. Take us through what was said and also what it means for Europe moving forward now.

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Yes. Good morning, Rahel. What President Macron said on the aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, was something he echoed while he was on Mainland Cyprus just a few hours before, which is an attack on Cyprus is viewed as an attack on Europe as a whole. And the words and posturing from the French president as well as other European allies in recent days have been defensive and also reassuring in their tone.

What they are trying to portray here is that, Europe is ready to defend its own assets, whether that's economic or military assets in the region, without getting sucked into this war any more than is absolutely necessary. And as we have alluded to, the reason that Macron was in Cyprus yesterday is because Cyprus did see a drone attack on that British airbase.

The Europeans are trying to stand in solidarity together, particularly with Cyprus, as that is the one member state of the European Union that is closest to this theater of combat. And what we're seeing today, Rahel as well, is the German foreign minister echoing and continuing that noise of support.

He just wrapped up a press conference in Nicosia, Johann Vodafone, where he said, we are witnessing profound shifts in the political landscape of the Middle East. It is vital that we as Europeans stand united today. That is the message coming from all European leaders and all the European Union more widely. No one is condemning or is sad to see the end of this regime or what could potentially be the end of this regime in Iran.

But they want to make sure that they are be able -- are able to protect and defend their own assets in the region, Rahel.

SOLOMON: And I imagine they also want to make sure that, you know, oil continues to flow freely to its constituents. Sebastian, talk to us a little bit about the Strait of Hormuz. It's been effectively shut down to commercial traffic. What is Europe's plan to get oil flowing again?

SHUKLA: Well, the first thing to note is that the G7 member nations have decided that they're not going to use their oil reserves to bring them back onto the market to bring down the price of oil. But what President Macron laid out yesterday is a vision for what comes after the war is over whereby he is prepared to commit French naval assets in the region to escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz to effectively unblock this blockage that goes through the world's -- one of the world's busiest shipping lanes for oil, and ensure that oil comes back online and is not doesn't see these huge spikes in all that we've seen in recent days.

That's something that remains to be seen. It is unfeasible at the moment that that was something that the French military would be prepared to do at the moment, but it's something that President Macron has now laid out on the table and we should see how that develops. But it can't happen until the fighting has really ended, Rahel.

SOLOMON: Yes. Which of course, is the big question mark when, of course, does this conflict. And Sebastian Shukla in Berlin for us. Sebastian, thank you.

And still to come, Israel has said that it will not stop its military operations in Lebanon until Hezbollah is fully disarmed. Coming up, a report from the Northern Israeli border when we return.

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