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Any Moment: Trump To Address War With Iran; U.S.: Kuwait Accidentally Shot Down 3 American Fighter Jets; Lebanon: At Least 31 Killed, 140 Plus Injured By Israeli Strikes. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired March 02, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:02:01]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news. Any minute now, President Trump will speak about the war with Iran as we learn that four American troops have been killed.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We'll have live coverage to be sure. Plus, the Dow falls while energy prices surge. How a regional war is being felt worldwide.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown and you're in The Situation Room.

We begin this hour with the breaking news. President Trump is about to address the war with Iran. This will be the first time he's spoken live on camera since the war began. We'll bring those comments to you live once they begin. You're seeing pictures, reporters and others getting ready in the -- over at the White House.

BROWN: And his comments come as we learn that four American troops have been killed and 18 have been seriously wounded in the Iran operation. President Trump just spoke with our colleague Jake Tapper saying, "We're knocking the crap out of them. We haven't even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn't even happened. The big one is coming soon."

BLITZER: And this morning, the U.S. Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, laid out America's objectives in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: This is not Iraq. This is not endless. I was there for both. Our generation knows better and so does this President. He called the last 20 years of nation building wars dumb. And he's right. This is the opposite to the people of Iran. This is your moment. There were -- the world was seized by these crowds and then seized by the reality of this regime killing tens of thousands of innocent protesters. So we saw the nature of the regime yet again exposed. We saw many, many of the Iranian people seek a change there. This is their moment to take advantage of it for sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: CNN White House correspondent Alayna Treene is here with us now. So as we await to hear from President Trump, I want to go to you on the press conference we heard from the defense secretary where he made clear that the objective here isn't regime change. That's not the first objective.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, what I found so interesting about that press conference this morning, first of all, is that this was the first time we actually heard from administration officials since the strikes began from Hegseth and, of course, the joint chairman of the chief staff, Dan Caine.

And what -- one of the things from that, and I think your point there about this not being a regime change or is exactly what I took away, the messaging has been so inconsistent throughout this entire weekend as people are really trying to get a better sense of where is this going? What is the objective? What is the necessity justifying the strikes? Those are all questions that they are still kind of struggling to answer.

And for Hegseth to say that this isn't a regime change war, that this is really more so about neutralizing the nuclear fleet, the ballistic missiles that Iran has, it does sound very different to what we heard from Trump. Because, you know, just in the immediate aftermath of those strikes on Saturday morning, that video message he shared declaring the U.S. military involvement, he effectively called for regime change.

And so that, to me, is such a key question. Now, I will say, from all the conversations I've been having with people at the White House, and we're hearing this as well from the President, he actually just made some of this clear in that interview with Jake Tapper, is that they do still believe that it is up to the Iranian people to try and, you know, overthrow the government. Those are the exact words that Trump said, but that's exactly what I'm hearing behind closed doors too, is that they want to work with the Iranian people, but that they don't necessarily see themselves as being the ones having to put them in place.

[11:05:10]

But still, there's so much more that is still going to happen. As the President has said, this is going to be not just even days more of U.S. attacks, but weeks. And we're going to have to see what that looks like with how the U.S. is going to be talking with who the next potential leadership in Iran could be, and also with trying to make sure that, you know, one of the biggest goals of this is to make sure that these strikes aren't futile, that, you know, what they have done this weekend and what they're going to do in the weeks ahead is something that could mean more lasting and permanent change in Iran, not just something that only takes out the missile threat and the nuclear threat in this temporary way.

BLITZER: And we're showing our viewers the pictures from the White House, the President getting ready to participate in this Medal of Honor ceremony over there, but at the top, we're told by his aides he's going to be speaking out about the war in Iran, right?

TREENE: Yes, and we're told that it's going to be pretty brief remarks, we'll see. I mean, you know this President, he's very unpredictable. What I'm really eager for is if he'll actually take questions. He's clearly been talking to several different people, including CNN and Jake Tapper throughout the weekend. But it'll be good to hear from him on a stage like this, because this is what I think so many Americans have been waiting for.

Because again, a lot of -- the White House, I'd remind you, you know, up until this weekend they were saying that diplomacy was really the priority, and there hasn't been a lot of time where they've been, you know, trying to gain buy-in from the American public like you would in a situation where you're literally going to war with a foreign adversary. And so --

BROWN: Without congressional authorization.

TREENE: Without congressional authorization, and again, without kind of the buy-in, really, from American people. They have not really sold this yet. And so that is something that they are still working on. It's also why it was so notable to me that yesterday they didn't have any of senior administration officials go on any of the Sunday shows. That is not typical for this administration. And why I think this morning having Hegseth and Caine come out was so important, and to actually take questions. And that's why I'm really hoping the President will actually take questions today and not just give these remarks before heading into the Medal of Honor ceremony.

BLITZER: We'll see how this unfolds. We'll have live coverage, not only of the president's remarks, Alayna, but also of the Medal of Honor ceremony. And he's going to be honoring Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds of the U.S. Army, posthumously Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis, Medal of Honor recipient, posthumously. And a third honoree right over here, Staff Sergeant Terry Richardson, who himself will be there. Two of the three posthumously, but one not posthumously is still alive, thank God. So we'll have live coverage of all of this.

It's always, especially for those of us who covered the military over the years, it's always so emotional to hear this. And just one quick note, Staff -- Master Sergeant Roderick Edmonds, or Roddie Edmonds, who is going to be honored first, I think, by the president. What did he do? One of the things he did, and why he's getting this award, I think the President will mention this, is he was a prisoner of war being held by the Germans.

There were about 1,200 American prisoners of war. And of those 1,200, 200 were American Jewish prisoners of war. And Staff Sergeant Edmonds helped save the lives of those Jewish POWs during the war, because the Nazis said, we want all of those prisoners, those Jewish prisoners of war, to come out. And they were about to be shot and killed. And Staff Sergeant -- Master Sergeant Edmonds insisted that all 1,200 American prisoners of war walk out, not just the Jewish prisoners of war. And he effectively saved the lives of the Jewish prisoners of war. So it's a very, very emotional, moving moment for that family, indeed, for the country right now. BROWN: Yes, and she could have just mentioned that this also comes at a time when four U.S. service members have lost their lives.

BLITZER: I'm sure the President will be mentioning that as well.

BROWN: Right, exactly. Alayna, welcome back from West Palm Beach. You were covering the president of Mar-a-Lago. Good to have you back in Washington.

TREENE: Thanks for having me here.

BLITZER: And this war has now seen its first apparent friendly fire incident involving American forces. The U.S. military says Kuwaiti air defenses mistakenly shot down three American F-15 Eagle fighter jets. One of them was seen falling from the sky. All six crew members ejected from the planes, and they are safe, thank God. CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is following the story for us. He's in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, not too far away. What more do we know, Nick?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: So, look, while we're waiting for the President to speak about his views on how the war is going to unfold, there's a reality here in the Middle East at the moment. And I think, you know, just focus on Saudi Arabia, to give you one piece of that slice of that picture. One incident today, two Iranian drones fired at a massive oil refinery here, an escalation and intentional and calculated escalation by Iran in the Saudi perspective.

[11:10:15]

No civilians killed. Drones shot down. They did set fire to equipment. Some of the equipment there at the oil refinery had to be turned off. But the picture that emerges, the sense that comes from here in Saudi Arabia about Iran's position, there's a -- they understand that, from what Iran is doing at the moment, that there is a very clear pattern, a clear pattern of intentional escalation, and a clear pattern, it appears to them, that Iran intends to play this out over quite a number of days, using their stockpile of munitions, not just all in one go, not in a big splurge, but in a very calculated way, targeting the British in Cyprus.

But from Saudi Arabia's perspective, the Gulf community's perspective, they had a very strong diplomatic message to the Iranians over the past 24 hours, where they allow for an option to respond to aggression. And the Iranians are ignoring that. That speaks to escalation. And the interpretation is that's what Iran appears to want right now.

BLITZER: All right, Nic Robertson in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for us, Nic, thank you very, very much, Pam.

BROWN: And Wolf, also this morning, the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah has now entered the war. It launched strikes on an Israeli army base, and Israel retaliated. Sources tell CNN that Israel threatened Lebanon's government with strikes on its infrastructure unless it took steps against Hezbollah. So let's bring in CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who has been tracking all of this from Tel Aviv. Jeremy, has Lebanon's government reacted to these threats?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: They have indeed, Pamela, and it seems to have followed some pressure from the Israeli government. Israel, after opening up this new front in this war with Iran by striking back at Hezbollah after Hezbollah fired a series of rockets toward northern Israel last night, the Israeli government then sent a message via the Cypriot authorities to the government of Lebanon, threatening that there would be strikes on infrastructure targets in Lebanon unless the government took action to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization or ban the group in some form.

And, indeed, today, the Lebanese government is announcing that they have banned Hezbollah's military and security activities, declaring them to be illegal. This is a major step from the Lebanese government, a Lebanese government that we have seen go farther than any Lebanese government before towards taking steps against Hezbollah.

Over the course of the last year, we have watched as this Lebanese government has prepared and then undertaken efforts to disarm Hezbollah in the southern part of the country. But it is important to note that these Israeli strikes that are now underway in Lebanon, including in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, are not only devastating at this moment and risk to continue to escalate in the coming weeks, but they also are something that the Israelis have really been preparing for, for some time.

And Hezbollah, by firing rockets and joining in this multi-front war that is engulfing the Middle East at the moment, gave Israel the perfect pretext to be able to go on the offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, an operation that they had prepared for, for quite some time and now are very much executing, as we are seeing tens of thousands of Israeli reservists being called up and the Israeli Air Force now striking targets across Lebanon.

BROWN: All right, Jeremy Diamond, bringing us the latest there from Tel Aviv. Thank you.

[11:13:45]

And in just moments from now, we're going to hear from President Trump at the White House. He's expected to address the war. We'll see if he takes questions from reporters. Of course, we will bring that to you live. More of our breaking news coverage when we come back.

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BROWN: And we continue our breaking news. We are waiting for President Trump to speak on the war with Iran. Here you see the East Room of the White House. We're waiting for him to take the podium and make some remarks. We will see if he takes questions from reporters since the U.S. launched a war against Iran. A very big deal and we haven't heard from President Trump in a public address yet. So this will be a very significant deal and of course we'll bring that to you live. BLITZER: And the President will be speaking at this Medal of Honor Ceremony as you point out in the East Room of the White House. We'll have live coverage of that as well.

Also this morning the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine held their first news conference of this conflict. Hegseth says the goals of the mission are clear. Eliminating Iran's Navy, Iran's missiles, and Iran's nuclear ambitions. He also said this will not be a prolonged conflict like the Iraq war was.

And Iranian media is now reporting that Ayatollah Khamenei's wife has died from injuries sustained in the U.S.-Israeli attack. CNN Military Analyst Colonel Cedric Leighton is here with us in The Situation Room. So what are your thoughts on what we heard from the Secretary of Defense earlier today?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well Wolf, I think one of the key things here is that he really spent some time trying to kind of put out everything what was going on. So if we can switch to a map real quick, this actually shows the kinds of targets that we've had. And when you look at the area right around here, the northwestern part of Iran and the area around Tehran specifically, this area right there, that really was the concentration of everything. So when Secretary Hegseth was talking about each of these different target sets that they got, the real concentration was there because that's where the regime is.

[11:20:28]

You have a major city, 10 million or so people that live there, plus the center of all of the Iranian activity. So when they came in and did this, they really took a key look at that target set. And that target set was really critical because what it does is it decapitates the entire regime. And that's what this was all about. No matter what he said in that press conference, this was actually a series of decapitation strikes with over 40 people in senior leadership being eliminated, including the Supreme Leader and now apparently his wife. That really was the key effort here was to get rid of the top leadership.

BLITZER: Sounds like an effort at what we call regime change.

LEIGHTON: Yes. And of course, he very specifically said that this was not regime change, which is rather interesting because when you take out that amount of leadership in an operation of this type, you really end up at the very least taking out the top echelon. That top echelon then will probably be replaced by subsequent people. But those subsequent people may not have the experience, but they may be ideologically committed to the current regime.

So it may be an attempted regime change, but whether or not it actually becomes effective in terms of actually changing the structure of the Iranian state, that is a completely different issue.

BLITZER: A very significant development earlier today, three U.S. fighter jets, F-15 Eagles, very significant planes have crashed in Kuwait, but all six crew members were able to eject safely. The U.S. military says Kuwaiti air defenses accidentally shot down the three U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets. You're a retired U.S. Air Force colonel. How does this happen?

LEIGHTON: Well, this is a really key question because when you look at the F-15 and its capabilities, it has actually the capability to suppress what are known as enemy air defenses. So this would -- shouldn't have happened even with friendly air defenses. So what we have in this particular case, Wolf, is a friendly fire incident. And what it tells me is that the coordination between the U.S. flying operation and the Iraqi air defense authorities was lacking.

It could be an issue of training. It could be an issue and certainly is an issue of misidentification, at least as far as we know right now. And that, of course, is a serious issue because you have to be able to de-conflict the type of aircraft that are flying in there. The only aircraft that were likely to be flying in that airspace were American aircraft at that time, American and Kuwaiti aircraft. And not to de-conflict that is a serious mistake at this particular point in time.

BLITZER: You would think there would be better coordination between the U.S. military and the Kuwaiti military, a strong U.S. ally, especially involving F-15s, a plane I'm very familiar with, and you are much more familiar with it. These planes cost tens of millions of dollars, three of them now destroyed.

LEIGHTON: Yes, absolutely. You're talking probably north of $100 million in lost weaponry right here. Thankfully, the pilots and their electronic warfare officers were able to parachute out of, eject from these aircraft, the downed aircraft. But when you look at the specific, you know, areas of the F-15 itself on this graphic, you can see that the aircraft itself was developed for strike and attack missions, and those strike and attack missions are absolutely critical to the ability to conduct this operation because it's such an air- centric operation.

And when you don't have that capability, when some of it is taken out like it was here, it becomes an unnecessary not only expenditure, but it also puts a lot of lives at risk, and that's the real danger of this. We got, in essence, we got lucky in this particular moment in time, but the fact that this happened really illustrates that there is some real shortfall here that needs to be addressed from an operational perspective and as well from a training perspective.

BLITZER: They have to do a complete investigation to learn from this blunder and make sure it doesn't happen again.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely, Wolf, that's 100 percent correct.

BLITZER: Colonel Cedric Leighton, as usual, thank you very, very much.

BROWN: Fortunately, those pilots survived, as noted. Yes.

BLITZER: Thank God. Yes. [11:24:29]

BROWN: Up next, stocks fall and energy prices surge as the war with Iran intensifies. What this escalation could mean for gas prices here in the United States.

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BROWN: And we continue our breaking news. Look right here, a live look at Beirut, Lebanon. We're seeing new attacks there as Israel is targeting Hezbollah and Lebanon and Hezbollah is of course an Iranian proxy and this has been going on for several hours. Hezbollah entering this U.S. Israel war against Iran shows just how widening this conflict is becoming. And we are waiting for President Trump to speak on the war with Iran. We're going to bring that to you live the moment it starts.

[11:29:45]

BLITZER: The war in Iran is already disrupting gas prices and oil shipments. Sunday, airstrikes blasted an oil tanker moving through major shipping routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, according to Oman officials. The Strait of Hormuz sits right off the southern coast of Iran. And 20 percent of the world's oil supply moves through there, making the strait a critical factor in oil prices.