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One World with Zain Asher

Hegseth: "America Is Winning" In War With Iran; Source: Trump Administration Officials Told Lawmakers U.S. Air Defenses May Not Be Able To Intercept Iran's Attack Drones; Iranian Officials Working To Select New Supreme Leader; Frustration And Fear For Foreign Nationals Stuck In Mideast; Source: CIA Working To Arm Kurds To Spark Uprising In Iran; Israel Strikes Beirut Amid Iran War Escalation; Israel Emergency Services On High Alert For Strikes; Spain Defends Its Stance On Iran War; Weeks After Landing, American Scrambles For way Out Of Dubai; Aired 12-1p ET

Aired March 04, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:00:33]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. You are watching the second hour of "One World."

The U.S. Defense Secretary is touting the success of Operation Epic Fury, saying that America is winning the war with Iran as the conflict spreads

across the region.

And as we wait for a White House briefing in the next hour, here are some of the latest developments.

ASHER: Yes. Pete Hegseth says a torpedo from a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship in international waters. This video was shown at that

Pentagon briefing earlier.

GOLODRYGA: It comes as Israel launches the 10th wave of strikes against Iran since the conflict started Saturday. The death toll in Iran is rising.

More than 1,000 people have been killed according to a U.S.-based human rights agency.

ASHER: As Iran strikes back across the Middle East, Turkey says that NATO air defense has destroyed an Iranian missile headed towards its airspace.

Meantime, sources tell CNN that the CIA is working to arm Kurdish forces in order to spark a popular uprising inside Iran.

GOLODRYGA: At the Pentagon earlier today, the U.S. Defense Secretary said, this war is only in the beginning phase.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: America is winning decisively, devastatingly, and without mercy.

Iranian leaders looking up and seeing only U.S. and Israeli air power every minute of every day until we decide it's over. And Iran will be able to do

nothing about it. We are just getting started.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak joins us now.

And, Kevin, we heard both from the Secretary of Defense and also the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. And some notable points made specific as it

relates to details from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs talking about a significant reduction in the number of ballistic missiles that Iran has

been able to launch over the past five days, as well as a decline in the number of drones that Iran has launched, signaling that perhaps both U.S.

and Israeli kinetic actions and their attacks over the past few days on drone facilities, on the launchers themselves for the missiles, that they

have been very impactful and giving the U.S. an opportunity for the next phase of this war.

What did he say that will look like, Kevin?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. And he described it as sort of a munitions transition. They're going to be moving away from these

very powerful, they're called standoff munitions, essentially fired from outside the country and directed sort of along the borders into specific

targets and moving on to more high-level weapons.

Now, that could mean two things. It could mean that the U.S. thinks that they have accomplished everything they can with the standoff munitions, but

it also suggests that they are running in short supply, which is something that the Joint Chiefs Chairman and the Defense Secretary did try to sort of

insist that the U.S. still had the remaining stockpiles.

It's needed to wage this conflict, but certainly I think it does give you a sense that they are now trying to move on to use these other kinds of

weapons, you know, precision-guided weapon, laser-guided munitions, that sort of thing.

He also, General Caine, also said that they would be moving further inland to try and direct their weapons towards targets that are further inside the

country as the U.S. gains what he called air superiority over Iran.

You know, he did say that, as you mentioned, the Iranians were firing fewer and fewer missiles every day. He said it had been reduced by more than 80

percent, trying to suggest that so far the American initiative had been successful in degrading some of these missile capabilities.

But to be sure, there was not, I don't think, a clear endgame described in all of this. I think it was, in fact, quite the opposite. Hegseth saying

that this was really just the start of the conflict in previewing a much more intensive phase to come in the next days and weeks.

He did describe those two specific incidents, the torpedoing of an Iranian boat in the Indian Ocean. He said that was the first downing by the U.S.

using a torpedo since World War II.

[12:05:04]

He also said that a top Iranian official who had been orchestrating this assassination campaign directed toward President Trump had also been taken

out. So sort of ticking through some of these major initiatives over the last 24 or 48 hours that the U.S. can claim a success upon.

But still, I think a lot of questions, and these will come up in the White House briefing in an hour from now, about what precisely the overall U.S.

objective is in all of this. Is it just to take out the missile and nuclear sites and what precisely do they need to see in order to declare victory on

that front?

But also, what exactly the U.S. is doing when it comes to these assassinations of top Iranian officials, you know, starting with the

supreme leader, but also other top ranking security and military officials that have been taking out -- taken out. What exactly is the objective in

all of this? And where does the U.S. see that going forward? Who, for example, do they see taking those people's places?

So I think a lot of questions for Karoline Leavitt when she comes to the podium at one o'clock Eastern time.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Still not much clarity from the United States on their position on the chain of command and what would and wouldn't be acceptable

for them. Quite a stark contrast from what we've seen from the Israelis who've made it quite clear that they would make anybody an open target that

they view as consistent and keeping the current regime in place. So a lot of questions, as you note, to go towards Karoline over the days to come.

Kevin Liptak, thank you so much.

ASHER: Thank you, Kevin.

All right. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Het says the military operation in Iran just getting started and it's in early days. And the next phase is to

take complete control over the skies of Iran. We're learning that there may be indeed some limitations here.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And a closed door briefing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, a source says Trump administration officials told lawmakers that Iran's

Shahed attacked drones represent a major challenge and U.S. air defenses will not be able to intercept all of them.

ASHER: Separately, two sources have also told CNN that at least one of America's gulf allies is already running low on crucial interceptor

munitions.

Let's bring in Haley Britzky, joining us live again out of Washington. So one of the issues, Haley, with these Shahed attacked drones that Iran is

using is that they're designed to fly low and slow, which allows them essentially to evade air defenses.

Walk us through it and walk us through what sort of options the U.S. has to be able to counter that.

HALEY BRITZKY, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes. So like you said, these -- these can sometimes evade air defense a little bit easier than Iran's

ballistic missiles. And we know that attack drones are frequently used by Iran and its proxies throughout the region.

We've seen them target U.S. forces for -- for quite a while now. And Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of Joint Staff General Caine,

apparently telling lawmakers according to these sources that, you know, kind of downplaying the concerns about this, but at the same time saying

that they likely would not be able to catch all of them because Iran has so many of them.

And I -- I really have to iterate here how big of a deal that -- that is, how striking of an admission that is, given the resources, the money that

the U.S. has poured into the counter-drowned problem.

Since watching Ukraine's war against Russia, the U.S. military has been very aware of the threat of drones. They've been training on these cheaper

drones, getting defense industry to build more of them so that the U.S. arsenal had them as well.

So this was a -- a really big issue that the U.S. military has -- has seen coming, but essentially telling lawmakers that it was more of a problem

than they anticipated.

And we've seen the very real cost of this, right? Just a few days ago, six U.S. service members killed in what was a suspected drone strike on a

facility they were working out of in a port in Kuwait.

So these have very real consequences. And it certainly raises a lot of questions about how the U.S. military can better protect their forces

against these kinds of drones, how -- what -- what systems would be better to shoot them down?

We saw for weeks leading up to this operation, air defense capabilities being flowed into the Middle East. More forces, more air defenses certainly

coming in, in the next coming days.

So it raises a lot of questions that the military will have to answer about how to protect their forces and why those steps had not been taken enough

leading up to the beginning of this operation.

ASHER: All right. Haley Britzky, live for us. Thank you so much.

All right. The morning ceremony for Iran's late supreme leader is being postponed amid the war. That's according to local media.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. In the meantime, senior Iranian officials are holding virtual meetings to choose his replacements. But we are getting conflicting

reports on how soon someone will be named.

CNN's Isobel Yeung has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has been killed in U.S.-Israeli airstrikes, Iran's clerical regime

is quickly deciding who is going to succeed him.

[12:10:08]

This is obviously a very big role. It's the most powerful position in the Islamic Republic and one that Khamenei has occupied for nearly four

decades, ruling over Iran with a brutal iron fist.

Whoever is appointed matters because it's going to answer one key question, is this a regime that's going to double down on Khamenei's repressive

policies? Or will it take the chance to recalibrate?

These are the top contenders for the position. First up we have Mojtaba Khamenei. He's 56 years old, he's the second son of Khamenei and has strong

links with the Revolutionary Guards, as well as the besieged military forces which is important if he wants to continue ruling in the same vein

as his father had been.

He's been branded as the front runner, but father to son succession goes against the ideals of the regime which overthrew a hereditary monarchy in

1979.

We also have Alireza Arafi, a confidant of Khamenei. He was appointed to senior and strategically very sensitive positions and is part of the

clerical establishment. He's also part of the three-member leadership council which is currently running Iran. He's apparently very tech savvy

fluent in English and Arabic and is generally seen as more of a moderate. But he's not known as a political heavyweight and doesn't have close ties

to the security establishment.

Then you have conservative clerics like Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri or Hashem Hosseini Bushehri, less known publicly but reportedly more close to

conservative elements or the former head of the judiciary, Sadiq Larijani, whose brother Ali is currently the powerful national security head.

Outside of those runners, the picture gets a little bit more complicated but the likes of Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the

Islamic Republic who has traditionally been seen as closer to reformist factions of Iranian politics but obviously also carries religious and

revolutionary legitimacy.

His younger brother Ali has also been making headlines recently leading some analysts to suggest that he's positioning himself.

And finally, there's the potential of the system to pivot and go for someone like Hassan Rouhani, the former president who hails from more

moderate camps of Iranian politics but is still very close to elements of the security establishment to take the realms.

Whoever is appointed as the next supreme leader is going to need the backing of the IRGC or at least portions of it. And they'll need to act

quickly to consolidate power amongst the various elected and non-elected officials that have been ruling the country so far.

On top of that, their appointment could be short-lived as this person could be a clear target for Israel and the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump has weighed into speculations saying that several of the people his government had viewed as potential leaders are

now dead. He said, I guess the worst case would be that we do this and somebody takes over who's as bad as the previous person.

He says, we don't want that to happen.

Isobel Yeung, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: All right. Our next guest is Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American journalist who spent over 500 days imprisoned in Iran's notorious Evin

prison after he was arrested in the country back in 2014. He's now the director of Press Freedom Initiatives and joins us live now.

I want to start, Jason, obviously you have such a unique perspective, right? I just want to start by getting your initial reaction when you saw

the news on Saturday that not only had the U.S. began launching strikes across Tehran and -- and the whole of Iran, but that they had managed to

not just take out the Ayatollah but also several of Iran's senior leadership as well including for example the defense minister.

Your initial reaction as somebody that has obviously a complicated personal relationship with that regime just because you have suffered so much at

their hands.

JASON REZAIAN, DIRECTOR PRESS FREEDOM INITIATIVES, THE WASHINGTON POST: Zain, my own personal reaction was that it confirmed what I've been saying

for several years now which is that the Islamic Republic is a bit of a paper tiger. Incredible repression of its own people within its border but

not a threat to the United States or our allies or one that could mount a real credible defense of itself especially after the 12-day war with Israel

and the United States last summer.

I don't -- you know, I want to take that back. Not that it's not a threat but not a threat to our very existence. So, I think in that context, its

confirmation that this system is not invincible but on another level.

I -- I really understood and could empathize with the celebratory reactions of Iranians to the elimination of the person who's really symbolized

repression in that country for the last 37 years.

And yet, I also understood that this is not the end of this story. He represented and -- and led this system for a very long time, but there's

layers of repression and bureaucracy. And it's a system that although it's not invincible, it's designed to absorb deaths as we've seen since the

killing of Qasem Soleimani in 2020. And really, the -- the -- the decimation of its top leadership in the years since.

[12:15:27]

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And, Jason, first of all, it's good to see you and your voice is so valuable, especially as we are covering these -- these early

days of a very dramatic and potentially regional, if not global, changing type of war.

So it is great to hear from somebody like you. And you have said about this regime that their public confidence is often a mask for trembling in their

own boots.

And as you hear, both the Israelis and President Trump tell the Iranian people that now is their time, now is their opportunity to reclaim their

country.

Where does that leave the remnants of the IRGC as they are scrambling to maintain this regime in a much more zombie-like state?

REZAIAN: Well, Bianna, I want to caution people that I -- I think the notion that right now ordinary Iranians could and should try and take over

power. The question for me is with -- with what support, right?

At the moment, the IRGC and the besieged, the -- the plainclothes paramilitary, vigilantes that rule the streets of Iran are still there.

They're still armed. The people of Iran are not armed. And they're further hamstrung by a complete communications blackout.

You know, one thing that I keep hearing from people inside Iran is get us back up on the internet. And for the last 16 years, going back to the Green

Movement of 2009, every time there have been widespread protests or other sorts of conflict within Iran's borders, the regime's response is to shut

down the internet.

It makes it impossible for people to communicate with each other, to organize, to understand the threats that the -- that they might be facing

if they go out into the streets.

And they're also receiving text messages from the state saying, hey, if you come out right now to protest us or do anything that isn't state-

sanctioned, you're breaking the law, right?

So, I think the -- the idea that the United States and Israel can really support these people right now has not been tested. And I'd be very, very

concerned if thousands of people or millions of Iranians go out into the street right now.

But I want to hear more about that plan. And I haven't heard that plan of how we will support you moving forward. And I think that's a missing piece

of this conversation that -- that the Trump administration and -- and the Israelis and those that have been calling for this kind of action owe to

the Iranian people right now.

ASHER: Yes. It's not enough just to sort of say, hey, this is your chance. You have to sort of arm the opposition.

We are hearing some reports of the CIA may be arming Iranian Kurds, but we are certainly looking into that and sort of trying to gather more on that

issue.

As you point out, there are a lot of Iranians who are celebrating the demise of this extremely beyond oppressive regime.

However, for Iranians who had also seen the reports and experienced the -- the sort of fallout from the elementary school that was struck, that led to

the death of at least 150 young Iranian girls.

I mean, obviously, we're still looking into that. Pete Hegseth was asked about that. The U.S. is investigating. We don't know necessarily who was at

fault per se, but it would have been a very unfortunate and clumsy mistake.

Just explain to us whether that kind of era breeds a certain level of resentment also perhaps to the Americans and the Israelis. Because

obviously, that's -- that's one thing that, you know, the Israelis and the Americans would not want. They want the people to see them as -- as saviors

as opposed to wreaking more havoc. Just give us your take on that.

REZAIAN: This is one of the tragic fallouts of having capability of inflicting massive force onto -- onto a country. And I do think that it

breeds, not only resentment, but concerns, questions, more questions at a time when Iranians need more answers.

[12:20:09]

Because if we go back to June and -- and the 12-day war, there was a lot of destruction and -- and -- and civilian casualties then as well.

But the really impressive aspect of that was with the -- the precision with which they were able to eliminate some high-level officials who were very

much involved in the repressive apparatus of -- of the Islamic republic.

The longer this war goes on, the more and more instances of extreme human casualty and human suffering we will see. And until there isn't an

enunciation or explanation of what that is supposed to result in, what the end game is, what the hope is, I think people will have a very hard time

feeling comfortable about what comes next.

ASHER: Jason Rezaian, so appreciate you coming on the show and sharing your very unique perspective with us. We appreciate it.

GOLODRYGA: Please come back, Jason. Open invitation for you.

REZAIAN: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Still to come on "One World," governments around the world are scrambling to evacuate their citizens from a chaotic Middle East.

We'll look at options or lack of options to get out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: Uncertainty and fear are growing for thousands of foreign nationals across the Middle East who have been urged to find a way out but

remain stranded at least for now.

And at the moment, there are very few options for those who do want to leave. The U.K. says that it is working with authorities in the UAE to

evacuate its citizens on commercial flights.

And France has begun to fly its people to safety. Two planes took off on Tuesday, but there are still about 400,000 French in the region.

ASHER: In the meantime, the U.S. is urging Americans to contact the State Department, which says a variety of methods are being considered, including

using military aircraft and chartering commercial planes. This is the latest advice here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMMY PIGOTT, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: We will proactively reach out when charter flights, charter buses, other options

are available. When they call when they register, we have people right now, hundreds of people, proactively making calls. Advice for the American

people in the region is to be ready to go quickly once you receive that call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:25:06]

GOLODRYGA: Joining us now, CNN's Richard Quest. And, Richard, you have covered a lot of aviation chaos and traumatic events over your career. I

don't know that we've ever seen something that's a affecting so many people so quickly, even the United States, saying that they didn't have time to

alert their own citizens prior to this attack starting.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Yes, I think that's a large part of the problem, the speed with which it happened, but the other side

of this is where it's happening.

Now quite often when you get evacuation flights, they are in difficult parts of the world. They are fairly limited in size and scope. They're

often in war zones or in politically or strategically dangerous areas.

Look at this map and you realize we're not talking about that. We're talking about Dubai, Qatar, Bahrain. All areas which have got large expat

populations, large wealthy expat and migrant populations, and you've got large numbers of tourists.

So the size and scale and complexity of this is made much more difficult by the numbers and the types of people you've got and where they've got to go

to.

Where can you get out? Again, stay with this map. Where can you get to? Let's take the UAE, for example.

Well, you're driving down towards south, towards the border with Oman. But once you get there, how would you get out? All the hotels in Oman, around

Muscat, they're all full and have been for days.

Well, are there flights out? Not at the moment.

You can go west out towards Saudi Arabia. There you can drive to Jeddah or to Riyadh, but that's 20, 25 hours. What do you do when you get there?

People are having to make that choice.

If you're looking to go north through Bahrain and up towards Kuwait, same problem.

So as a result, you end up with this extremely large number of people, well to do in many cases, migrant workers in many -- and even more cases, and

everybody's stranded. Nobody what knows exactly how they're going to get out.

And that really is the problem at the moment. Limited number of flights. Give you an example. I looked at the -- before I came to talk to you,

Bianna, I looked at the -- the destination -- the departure board for Dubai DXP, almost nonexistent.

GOLODRYGA: Wow. Well, Richard, I think just in that minute and a half, you provided more information than a lot of government officials from around

the world have been able to provide their own citizens.

QUEST: They can't. You see, that's the problem. They -- they can't because they are -- there is not -- I heard Marco Rubio actually express it rather

well yesterday. You can have as many charter flights planned as you like. But if the air space is closed and there isn't a safe corridor to get in

and out, then it's not going to go anywhere.

The way forward here is one of two-folds, either of course, peace breaks out and everything goes back to normal. That's not going to happen for

several weeks as we know from the president.

Or you build these air corridors which are monitored there by, you have air safety, you have fly -- you have fighter jets, escorting and that's

complicated and also extremely dangerous in some cases.

GOLODRYGA: So after checking with their local, with their own personal embassies and their individual embassies, I would suggest that anyone

watching that a stranded follow Richard Quest on social media to get the very latest.

QUEST: You know, I would say -- I would say one other thing about this. It's the number of people involved.

And -- and -- and by the way, we're talking about our own colleagues here.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

QUEST: We're talking about our own colleagues with their own families. We - - we have large bureaus and production bases throughout the region. I've had for many years partners in those regions.

And so this is one of those occasions. We are not talking about the escape of Afghanistan and Kabul here. We are talking about large numbers of

tourists, large numbers of expats, all of whom have been living good lives there and are now wondering what on earth they do.

ASHER: Yes. Not to mention all the schools across the region that have been closed.

QUEST: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: And obviously first and foremost, come safety.

Richard Quest, thank you.

QUEST: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Good to see you.

ASHER: All right. Still to come here on "One World," high alerts. After the break, our team in Israel shows us how emergency services are responding to

the ongoing strikes as well.

GOLODRYGA: Also ahead, Israel targets Hezbollah in a new wave of strikes in Beirut. One local says the militant group is dragging Lebanon into a war

that they don't want.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How angry are you --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm angry, of course.

CHANCE: -- with Hezbollah right now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am angry with Hezbollah, Israel and Iran, but Hezbollah more, you know why?

CHANCE: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because they are Lebanese. They should be Lebanese, they are not.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:30:07]

GOLODRYGA: All right. Welcome back to "One World." I'm Bianna Golodryga.

ASHER: I'm Zain Asher.

As we reported earlier, sources say the CIA is working to arm Iranian Kurdish militia in an effort to spark a popular uprising in Iran.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. That has a senior Kurdistan regional government official in Iraq concerned about potential retaliation from Tehran, if Northern Iraq is

used as a launch pad for that effort.

We are live in Iraq with CNN's chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward is reporting from Erbil.

So, Clarissa, just in terms of the U.S.'s thought process, just in terms of arming the Iranian Kurds I mean, the Kurds have been loyal partners for the

Americans in previous wars and also they are sort of strong fighters.

But part of the issue when it comes to Iran is that it is such a diverse, multi-ethnic, pluralistic society and the Kurds in Iran represent what,

eight to 10 percent of the population.

Just talk to us about how ordinary Iranians would feel about the CIA and the U.S. arming such a small fraction of the population there.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think, Zain, you're touching on something really important, which is the irony is that

this strategy could backfire enormously in the sense that for many Iranians who detested the Supreme Leader, Khamenei, who were delighted to see him be

killed.

They are not necessarily going to welcome the idea of the U.S. and Israel working with Iranian Kurdish forces in a way that could be seen as trying

to factionalize the country, to try to break apart the country, to try to provoke chaos or endless war in the country.

This is not the kind of outcome that many Iranians want to see. And so I think that's one of many concerns as to why this strategy, if it goes

ahead, could end up having really negative impact.

[12:35:05]

From the perspective of the leadership here in Iraqi Kurdistan, there is just a desperate fear. I spoke to a senior official here who said, the

Iranians told us a few days ago that if a single fighter crosses that border, there will basically be hell to pay.

And they are keenly aware of how vulnerable they are. There's very limited air defenses here in Iraqi Kurdistan, some at the airport where there's a

U.S. true presence, but they are very vulnerable.

And as much as they value the relationship with the U.S. and as good and warm as that relationship is, and as little love as they have for the

Iranian regime, they still have to be pragmatic. They still have to be strategic. And they're still part of the bigger Iraq.

So you have this security agreement that exists between Erbil and Baghdad and Tehran, a lot of pressure coming from the Iraqi government in Baghdad

to make sure that this doesn't happen.

And for now, we just don't yet really have a sense. Has this plan already been set in motion? Is it already too late to stop it? Or will possibly

cooler heads prevail?

ASHER: All right. Clarissa Ward, live for us there. Thank you so much for that.

All right. The Israeli army is issuing evacuation orders for dozens of villagers in Southern Lebanon, as it intensifies its attacks on Hezbollah

targets. The emergency team searched through rubble in Beirut earlier while smoke billowed from heavily damaged buildings. The Israeli military say

that it was targeting Hezbollah positions in the city.

Meantime, Lebanese state media reports that one Israeli strike hit a residential building, killing five people.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Thousands of Lebanese citizens are fleeing the area as the Israeli attacks escalate.

One hotel owner whose building was targeted by the IDF tells us Hezbollah is dragging them into a war that they don't want.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have no one here. We have no any Iranians or any Hezbollah armies here. And we are not that stupid to -- to check them in.

We are not that stupid. We live here. It's our home.

CHANCE: How angry are you --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am angry, of course.

CHANCE: -- with --with Hezbollah right now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am angry with Hezbollah and Israel and Iran, but Hezbollah more. You know why?

CHANCE: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because they are Lebanese. They should be Lebanese. They are not. They are proving day by day that they are not Lebanese. They

are hurting us. They are hurting our homes, our children.

CHANCE: And they are dragging this country into the Iran war.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are dragging as to war that we don't want and we're not ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Powerful words there from that hotel owner who just wants to be left alone and out of yet another war.

Joining us now from Beirut is the Director of Carnegie Middle East Center, Maha Yahya. Maha, it's good to see you again.

And while it may be a bit of a surprise that even a weekend state Hezbollah has decided perhaps felt pressure to enter this war now as well. And I

believe we're expecting to hear from their current leader soon to give a public statement.

I think even more surprising perhaps is the sharp and aggressive nature with which the Lebanese government, a new government has taken in response

to this, basically banning Hezbollah publicly from getting involved and even ordering their military to confiscate weapons from Hezbollah members.

Bold statement, but can they actually follow up on those threats, Maha?

MAHA YAHYA, DIRECTOR OF CARNEGIE MIDDLE EAST CENTER: Good evening. Thank you for having me. It's good to be with you again.

Look, the -- what the government did is actually a paradigm shift. It's really in the way the issue of Hezbollah and all armed non-state actors is

approached. It's something that we never thought we would see in this country. So it's really significant that the government took this decision.

And it is trying to follow up and follow through on this. This is not going to be without caveats. It has its -- it carries its own challenges. Let's

not forget that Hezbollah is a, for the most part, a Lebanese entity.

Even though after the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the previous secretary general, we're seeing it more and more involved in the

micromanagement of particularly the military part of Hezbollah.

During the days of the -- of Hassan Nasrallah, they were involved more at the macro level. They were part of the Shura Council. Now, they're

micromanaging things on the ground.

So I think it's an -- it's an historic decision. It's an important one. And it's telling of where the country is today. People are tired. Enough wars,

we've been dragged into so many of them until now. You heard your person that was interviewed earlier.

[12:40:11]

There is a lot of anger across all communities, including the Shia community, that enough is enough.

ASHER: Yes, because, you know, you would expect that the sort of main base of their support would be among the Shia Lebanese.

So, what does Hezbollah actually risk by asserting itself in this way by joining into the war? I mean, obviously, we've touched on political

isolation and that's one big risk. But you have to think about the fact that they -- they have suffered severe sort of military degradation,

obviously the decimation of its leadership.

But, you know, we all remember the sort of pager explosions among Hezbollah military a couple of years ago. And then ever since then, they have been

severely weakened by this sort of extensive war with Israel.

So, what are they risk politically and militarily by making this decision to join in on this one side of Iran?

YAHYA: No, no, no. I think they -- they -- I mean, I've been trying to think of why they would, to my mind, undertake a quasi-suicide mission to

drag Lebanon into this.

And there are one of two explanations, if you like. One is that we've been hearing for quite some time that Israel is preparing for a ground invasion,

limited. We don't know, but it is preparing. It had already amassed about 100,000 troops along the southern borders. This has been going on for

months. This -- this rumor of preparations of -- of -- for a ground invasion.

As part of the strategy to force some sort of political settlement, but also to renegotiate borders, I mean, this has been in the -- in the

pipeline.

So the thing in Hezbollah's logic, it was, OK, we want to preempt this. We'll wait until they come in, we preempt this, which I think is a false

approach.

But my sense is that's where they were coming from. But it's also part of Iran's tactic. I mean, we saw Iran, and this is directly in Iranian

decision. This would not have happened without the -- the go ahead from the IRGC in -- in -- in Tehran.

We saw Iran go practically full speed ahead. I mean, it's day five. We never -- personally, I never thought that they would launch rockets at all

Gulf countries, including Qatar and Oman, who have been mediating on behalf of the Iranians.

So it's quite shocking that they escalated so quickly within their immediate regional environment. And I think part of it was to drag

everybody into the fray, create pressure on the U.S. and on Israel to end this quickly, but also to turn it into a more global conflict and not one

that is just about Iran versus the U.S. and Israel.

And now we're seeing European countries saying we're going to come into this, including France, Germany and the U.K.

France and Germany have been very -- sorry, France and the U.K. have been very clear in saying, we're coming in in a defensive posture. We're going

to help our Gulf allies defend themselves.

The French are already supporting the Emiratis, the Emirates, in -- in -- in defending itself. But it's starting to snowball. And I have a lot of

concerns in terms of where this can go.

And Lebanon is just one theater where the impact is really devastating. I mean, if you look at the pictures of the destruction, almost 84,000 people

have been displaced, deaths injuries. It's -- it's devastating for us.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And -- and we have yet to see any action from the Houthis, one of the few remaining proxies for Iran. So we'll keep a close eye on

that as well.

Maha Yahya. Thank you so much for your time today.

ASHER: All right. As this conflict widens in the Middle East, Israelis are on edge, threats of airstrikes are coming from both Iran and the Hezbollah

in Lebanon.

GOLODRYGA: CNN's Jeremy Diamond shows us how Israel's emergency services are responding.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: So all of that data is coming in on these screens right here?

URI SHACHAM, CHIEF OF STAFF, MAGEN DAVID ADOM: Definitely. The -- the different screens --

DIAMOND (voice-over): We're inside the nerve center of Israel's emergency medical services. Magen David Adoms now fortified dispatch center.

SHACHAM: This was built about a year ago. When we were preparing for a multi-frontal war, we said, we need to take our previous dispatch center,

put it underground where we can assure the continuity of the EMS services.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Built for a war, just like this one, screens here light up with projected points of impact.

SHACHAM: This barrage of rockets, we have almost 80, 80 potential hitting points.

[12:45:06]

DIAMOND (voice-over): Wow.

SHACHAM: Yes.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Within minutes, it's time to move.

DIAMOND: OK. So, we've just learned that there is a potential impact as a result of one of these Iranian ballistic missiles. And we're going to jump

in with the paramedics to the scene.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Paramedic Ori Lazarovich hits the gas.

LAZAROVICH: We had one rocket that struck very dense areas.

DIAMOND (voice-over): And this is a direct impact?

LAZAROVICH: Direct, apparently. Still we haven't gotten there, but it seems like it's a direct impact.

DIAMOND (voice-over): While speeding through traffic, Lazarovic is also processing a fire hose of information.

So we have an update now that wasn't a direct hit. It was a very big piece of shrapnel that hit -- that hit the building on the highest levels.

DIAMOND (voice-over): As soon as we arrive, he rushes toward the impact site.

DIAMOND: OK. So we just arrived on the scene, obviously, very chaotic. So this isn't a direct impact, but nonetheless, you can see the damage just

from shrapnel, of a potential interception here, part of this roof caved in.

DIAMOND (voice-over): A half dozen people are lightly wounded, but many more are shaken.

Irina (ph) was in a bomb shelter across the street when she suddenly heard a sharp sound.

And yet, shock here is also matched with another realization.

LAZAROVICH: If it were to be a direct hit to this building, we'd be seeing at least five buildings with fit with casualties inside.

DIAMOND (voice-over): And debris not so easily swept away.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Ramat Gan, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: Some European leaders are walking a fine line, as they try not to antagonize the U.S. president, while avoiding being dragged into a war

with Iran.

But we got a very clear statement earlier from the Spanish Prime Minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEDRO SANCHEZ, SPANISH PRIME MINISTER (voice-over): Nobody knows for sure what will happen now. Neither are the objectives for the first attack at

all clear.

But we have to be prepared for the possibility of this war spilling over and that there might be very serious consequences in world economic terms.

The position of the Spanish government can be summarized in these words, no to war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: CNN's Pau Mosquera has more from Madrid.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It may come as a surprise to some Donald Trump threats to Spain over military matters, but this is not the first

time that happens.

Some of you may recall how in June last year, Trump suggested doubling tariffs on Spain over Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's refusal to

increase the country's expenditure in defense over the five percent of its GDP.

[12:50:12]

Now in October, the United States president proposed a spelling of Spain from the Atlantic Alliance. Obviously, it didn't happen.

Now, on Tuesday, Trump proposed of cutting trade ties with the country over Sanchez's stance on the ongoing conflict in Iran.

Now, since Saturday, Sanchez has been very critical with the attacks from the United States and Israel against Iran, stating that those violate the

international law. But also, Sanchez denied the United States of using its military bases located in the south of the country to participate in the

ongoing conflict in any way.

So, after learning Donald Trump's remarks, a spokesperson from the government said to CNN that Spain remains as a key member of the Atlantic

Alliance, that Spain maintains a mutually beneficial trading relation with the United States.

And that if Trump wants to reveal the ongoing trading relation, he can do so, but he will have to respect both the international law and the

agreements between the states and the European Union.

Pau Mosquera, CNN, Madrid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: All right. Still to come for us, Americans in the Middle East are scrambling to find a way home. One couple trying to get out of Dubai

tells us their story. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: That is the moment a drone struck Dubai. Americans in the region are being urged to leave for obvious reasons.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. CNN's Paula Hancocks spoke with a couple who are trying to follow that advice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Watching the news to find out about a conflict they're in the middle of, Cathy from Michigan moved to

Dubai just two weeks ago to join her husband, now her government has told her to leave.

HANCOCKS: How did you feel when you saw that directive that you should depart now from the Middle East?

CATHY, AMERICAN STRANDED IN DUBAI: I felt well I better get looking on flights, but I knew that the airport was closed so I thought, how am I --

how am I meant to depart?

[12:55:09]

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Michael is a school principal in Dubai. Schooling in the UAE is virtual all week. He has managed to secure them a flight to his

home country, Australia, in a few days to reunite with their children.

HANCOCKS: Your children are older, 18 and 21. They know -- they understand what's going on. What have they been saying to you?

CATHY: They have been keeping in contact daily and wondering, you know, when are we -- when are we coming out and they're planning to meet me at

the airport. And so they're waiting.

HANCOCKS: Are they worried?

CATHY: Yes, they're worried.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Dubai Airport is prioritizing passengers whose flights were cancelled over the past five days. Even then, it's a lottery

to find out if they are assigned to one of the very few flights actually taking off.

Many own a cycle of booking, hoping them being cancelled.

There are some in Dubai, though, who appear to be taking the turmoil in stride, sunning by the pool in between alerts and interceptions.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Dubai.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: I hope they, at some point, sooner rather than later, find a way home in safety.

That does it for "One World" today. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher. We so appreciate you watching. "Amanpour" is up next. Do stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:00]

END