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The Situation Room

Now, Homeland Security Secretary Testifies on Capitol Hill; Dow Tumbles 1,000-Plus as Wall Street Fears Prolonged War With Iran; U.S. Urges Americans to Leave the Middle East Immediately. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired March 03, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, leave now. The U.S. is urging Americans to leave the Middle East immediately.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Immediately, indeed.

Plus, Kristi Noem testifies. Right now, the Homeland Security secretary is facing serious questions from senators as concerns about Iranian retaliation against Americans clearly grows.

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.

And we're following the breaking news, the Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, is up on Capitol Hill right now. She's taking questions from lawmakers about protecting the United States during this war in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: And we work every single day with our intelligence agencies and law enforcement partners to make sure that we are investigating and finding any threats to the homeland here within our borders. We work with the FBI often, and Homeland Security Investigation specializes in this kind of work each and every day. Not only that, we go back and we are re-vetting some of the individuals in some of the programs that we may have concerns about, looking at social media, also going through those interviews that are necessary for some of our programs that the Biden administration abused and perverted under their time there as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has been closely following this hearing. What else have we heard from Noem about this?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this really got underway at 9:00 A.M. So far, she has been questioned by Senator Chuck Grassley, as well as Senator Dick Durbin. One of the first questions that she received was what you heard from her there, which was about the conflict in the Middle East and what the Department of Homeland Security was doing to ensure the safety of Americans and the homeland.

Her answer on that is exactly what you heard. She has not provided any additional details so far as to any concerns about sleeper cells or any additional work the department is doing on the immigration front there. She talked about the re-vetting of individuals, which has been an ongoing task within the Department of Homeland Security.

The questions he received from Senator Dick Durbin, more so about immigration, especially what happened in Minneapolis in January. One of her notable responses to those questions was whether or not she would retract your statements of calling Alex Pretti and Renee Goode, two Americans who were fatally shot by federal agents, whether she called them a domestic terrorist and whether she would retract that. She did not. She said that her information was coming from agents on the ground and that she offered her condolences. So, the secretary continuing to stick to her initial statement seemingly by not retracting there.

And Senator Durbin asking whether she would admit that she was wrong, whether she would be willing to do that, and she said that she's trying to provide the most accurate information. Of course, what happened in Minneapolis was those conflicting accounts, what we were seeing in videos and what the Department of Homeland Security was saying that led to a lot of controversy and tension within the department, but also outside of the department. So, we'll see.

This, again, just got underway, so we'll see what other questions she gets. But certainly, so far, they have been largely focused on her handling of immigration, a major task for the Department of Homeland Security.

BLITZER: She refused to apologize for calling those two Americans terrorists.

ALVAREZ: That's right.

BLITZER: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you very, very much. We'll stay on top of that hearing as well. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Breaking news, the Dow is down more than a thousand points right now. You see it right here on your screen. This is Wall Street fears a prolonged war with Iran.

So, let's go live to CNN Senior Reporter Matt Egan. What's going on here, Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Pamela, this war is sending shockwaves across financial markets around the world, and it has caused a historic increase in gasoline prices. So, you can see the Dow was down about 1,100 points, around 2 percent, the S&P and the NASDAQ also about 2 percent, and this is being triggered by the fact that oil prices are spiking for the second day in a row.

Oil prices are up by 8 percent, as we speak. That leaves them on track for their biggest one day increase since four years ago when Russia invaded Ukraine. And oil prices are now trading at about $77 a barrel. That's the most since last summer.

[10:05:01]

And because oil has gotten a lot more expensive, gasoline prices are going up across the United States. The new national average is $3.11 per gallon. That's an 11-cent increase just from yesterday. That's the biggest one day increase in gasoline prices since 2005 during Hurricane Katrina, just a stunning increase.

And, look, the risk is that this situation gets worse before it gets better. I talked to veteran energy analyst Bob McNally. He says, if the Strait of Hormuz does not open up to vessels in the Middle East soon, we could be looking at $100 barrel oil and $4 a gallon gasoline soon. Back to you.

BROWN: Wow, yes. It could impact all of us, right?

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: Matt Egan, thank you so much.

EGAN: Thanks.

BROWN: Wolf?

BLITZER: And we're also following other breaking news right now, the U.S. State Department telling all Americans in the Middle East right now to immediately leave at least while they still can. The U.S. embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have been shut down and are now completely closed. There are growing concerns and new warnings that more will be targeted.

BROWN: Six Americans have been killed. There was no warning and no siren at a makeshift operation center in Kuwait. This is video from that attack, smoke rising from what's being described as a triple wide trailer.

And in a reversal this morning, President Trump has posted on social media that Iran quote wants to talk, I said, too late after, saying just two days ago that he would be open to talks with Iran. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is saying, quote, the hardest hits are yet to come, echoing what we heard President Trump tell our Jake Tapper yesterday.

BLITZER: And we're also learning more information right now about that friendly fire incident after Kuwaiti air defenses shot down three U.S. fighter jets. All six crew members survived. Look at this new video we were just getting in from one of the pilots after she safely parachuted to the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're fine, really? You need something to help you. No problem. You are safe. You are safe. You're safe. Everything good? No problem. Thank you for helping us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Well, this morning Israel says it's conducting, quote, simultaneous strikes in Tehran and Beirut. This right here is new video from the Israeli military of a strike in Beirut. And we're getting this new video into The Situation Room showing a strike in Iran.

BLITZER: And Iran is retaliating across the region. This morning, Israel says it intercepted an Iranian missile. The debris from that interception hits Central Israel, causing serious damage and injuries.

We're also getting confirmation from the United Nations that a fuel enrichment plant in Iran was damaged in U.S. and Israeli strikes. This is a satellite image of the damage to the Natanz nuclear facility, one of Iran's most sensitive military installations, and its largest uranium enrichment center.

BROWN: We have correspondents around the world covering every angle of this war. We also have experts standing by to bring us analysis on the very latest developments.

BLITZER: All right. Let's continue our breaking news coverage this hour with CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson. He's joining us live from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where the U.S. embassy is now closed after overnight drone strikes from Iran. So, update our viewers, Nic. What's the latest?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think the assessment from here within the sort of Saudi officials is that Iran is still able to strike with an intention to escalate tensions in the Gulf. They're striking in a structured way. I think the interpretation is this is not Iran on a last gasp necessarily, but Iran targeting what it wants to target.

We saw that overnight last night. There were two drones that came in and hit right next to the U.S. embassy here in the center of Riyadh in a huge diplomatic compound, no casualties, set on fire. There were then reports, more drones coming towards the U.S. embassy again. Official message was embassy officials, consulate officials in Saudi Arabia for the U.S., shelter in place. Within half an hour of that warning, there were the, there were two more strikes at the U.S. embassy in Riyadh here.

Then today, a very stark message just in the past couple of hours concerning the U.S. Consulate in Dhahran, right in the east of the country, of course, much closer to Iran, and a very clear warning, don't go to the consulate, stay at home, stay indoors, shelter in place. There is an immediate threat of possible ballistic missile or drone on the U.S. -- attack on the U.S. consulate there. We don't have follow up information on that at the moment.

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But the picture that is being interpreted here, for example, yesterday, the Iranians fired two drones shot down at the big oil refinery in the Eastern Saudi Arabia, five drones fired, shot down at a major Saudi military air base just outside of the capital here in Riyadh.

The assessment is that Iran is still able to target the countries, the places that it wants to and when, and that is structured in such a way to go quickly up the escalatory ladder, but it's still an escalatory ladder. It can still go higher. That's one of the concerns.

BLITZER: Nic Robertson in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for us, Nic, stay safe over there. Thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: And, Wolf, we're learning more this morning about Sunday's Iranian strike that killed six U.S. service members in Kuwait. They were in a makeshift operation center that one source describes as a triple wide trailer.

So, I want to bring in CNN Senior National Security Reporter Zach Cohen to learn more about this. Now we're learning six service members killed.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, the U.S. military acknowledging the death toll, four U.S. service members, increasing steadily to the number six, after the remains of two additional service members who were previously unaccounted for were found. And, look, we're also learning that U.S. service members in Kuwait really had no opportunity to take cover before the makeshift operation center that they were in took a direct hit, according to a source, resulting in these U.S. KIAs.

And so it's interesting because Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, did describe a little bit about the location of these troops when they were hit. Take a listen to what he said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We have incredible air defenders. Every once in a while, you might have one, unfortunately, we call it a squirter that makes its way through. And in that particular case, it happened to hit a tactical operation center that was fortified, but these are powerful weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So, we're told that this was a suspected Iranian drone strike that was part of that initial wave of retaliatory strikes launched in the early hours of this conflict.

But Hegseth also describing this facility as fortified. We're told that the damage inflicted upon it though was pretty significant. A source saying that the facility remained on fire for hours after this strike happened, also told that the walls were completely blown out in the inside, totally blackened. So, Donald Trump warning of more U.S. casualties, potentially these Iranian drone strikes are expected to continue going forward.

BROWN: All right. Zach Cohen, thank you.

All right, coming up here in this situation where President Trump now says he doesn't know how long the war could last. And this morning, there are growing concerns about the strain this conflict is putting on U.S. supplies, assets and service members in the region.

BLITZER: And later, we're talking with Israel's ambassador to the United States, and we're going to ask him what Tel Aviv wants out of all of this and why it's launching this campaign right now.

Stay with us, lots going on. You're in The Situation Room.

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BROWN: Breaking news, look right here. These are live pictures from Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. You can see the smoke rising above the city as Israel continues to pound targets there. The IDF says it is targeting the militant group Hezbollah, opening a new battlefield for Lebanon as this war widens.

And for more on where this conflict stands and what the U.S. faces going forward, we're joined by retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster. He was a national security adviser in President Trump's first term and is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. Thank you for being here with us.

First of all, give us your assessment of where this conflict stands in its fourth day and where you see it headed.

LT. GEN. H.R. MCMASTER (RET.), FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Hi, Pamela. Hey, it's great to be with you and Wolf.

I think what you're seeing with the way that Iran has responded is the grave threat that they posed the region, continue to pose toward the survival of Israel, but also to U.S. assets in the region and now with these strikes against seven different countries, it's important to remember that they fired their missiles and rockets and drones against six countries in the region before this latest conflict.

So, I think what you've seen is Iran doing everything it can to respond to recover from that initial blow that took out 49 leaders. And now what you're going to see is a tailing off, I believe, of the drone and missile capacity available to the Iranians based on air superiority. What you're going to see now are, you know, F-16s, F-18s, F-15s flying with impunity over Iran, striking very importantly the missile launchers. So, it really doesn't matter how many missiles they have left. It matters really more how many missile launchers they have left, and, of course, going after these drones and the storage of these drones underneath the surface and so forth.

So, I think what you are seeing now is the effect you're going to see -- is the effect of air supremacy, and you'll see continued strikes on the leadership. There was just a strike on the compound where, you know, the council was meeting to try to determine who the next supreme leader is, how to structure the government. So, I think a sustained pressure on the regime is what you're about to see. BROWN: The administration has given varying explanations about the objective for this war yesterday. You heard Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth say it's not about regime change, even though Trump had hinted at it. The latest reasoning is from Secretary Rubio, who says the U.S. needed to act to ward off preemptive strikes against U.S. forces because Israel was going to attack Iran anyway.

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Given all the military assets in the region over the last several weeks, and the fact that Pentagon briefers told Congressional staffers that intel showed Iran would attack only after Israel attacked. How does all of this square to you? How is the American public supposed to understand this?

MCMASTER: Well, I think the first thing to understand, Pamela, this is really important, is Iran has been attacking us since 1979 when they took 52 hostages for 444 days. They've been attacking us since 1983. You know, when they bombed a Marine barracks and killed well over 200 U.S. Marines and bombed our embassy and bombed French commandos in 1983. The sustained campaign of terrorism that they've launched around the world, assassination plots in the United States, including against our own president, you know, the bombing of the Jewish community center in Argentina, the blowing up of a Panamanian flight, you know, the murders in Europe, the Khobar Towers bombing in '97 in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 servicemen and women. How about the 600 U.S. soldiers who died at the hands of Iranian proxies who were supplied with these deadly, you know, roadside bombs?

So, hey, you know, Iran has been attacking us, Pamela. And so --

BROWN: There's no question of that. That's not the question though. Go ahead.

MCMASTER: This is an effort to end a 47-year-long proxy war. And you know what hasn't worked? What hasn't worked is sanctions relief. What hasn't worked with were agreements with the Iranians, which they just pocket the sanctions relief continue to build these missiles, this arsenal that you're seeing employed now.

And so I think that -- you know, I think it was clear at this point, Pamela, that the risk of not acting was far higher than the risk and the cost that you're seeing of acting against this permanently hostile, theocratic dictatorship.

BROWN: Yes. And the administration argues that it's -- you know, it was important to act now why Iran is so weak. There's no question that over the years Iran has been a threat to America but there's a question about what the imminent threat was to justify President Trump doing this unilaterally without Congressional authorization.

The president said two days ago to The Atlantic that he would talk to Iran and that they want to talk. Today, he said, it's too late to talk to Iran. If you were advising the president right now, what would you be telling him? MCMASTER: I would tell them to, you know, continue this campaign and then to look for ways that to transition, as I'm sure intelligence community is doing, to some form of government that rejects this, again, permanent hostility to what they call the great Satan. You know what they chant? Death to America. You know, Ayatollah Khamenei got one more death to America in the day before -- you know, the day before the strike against him and 48 other leaders.

And so I think what's really important this talk about imminent. I mean, what are you talking about? I mean, they've been waging war against us for 47 years. And it was clear, Pam, that they were rebuilding their missile capability. They're about to reinitiate their nuclear capability. They were digging another deep site. They were flying in the, you know, the chemicals from China to be able to make more solid fuel for these missiles you see them employing. So, I mean, what is imminent? Do you want to just wait until they have the capabilities? I don't think so.

I mean, you have to take into consideration, I think a couple of things. One is the theology, you know, that drives and the ideology that drives and constraints this leadership and the record, again, of this 47-year-long proxy war against us.

And every time, Pamela, we've tried to deescalate. You know, that was our mantra, right, de-escalation, de-escalation. And you know what that does from the Iranian perspective is it gave them really the opportunity to escalate on their own terms with impunity. Now, we're acting like we know what the return address is for so much of this violence.

You said that, you know, that Israel is expanding the war into Lebanon. Hey, that's after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel to try to open another, you know, a second front.

BROWN: No, and we've been clear about that on the show.

MCMASTER: So, I think it's really -- I think it's important -- I'm sorry, say that again.

BROWN: We've been clear about that on the show that Hezbollah started that and Israel responded --

MCMASTER: Oh, I'm just talking about the phrasing -- I'm just talking about the phrasing in the -- not only just in the last report, but just broadly, this is how a lot of the news of the war is being framed at this moment is, hey, you know, it wasn't an imminent threat. I mean, hey, tell that to the Marines who were killed in Beirut in 1983. Tell that to the families of the 600 U.S. soldiers who were killed in Iraq during the Iraq war, you know, at the hands of these Iranian proxies. So, I just don't buy it, Pamela, this idea that, hey, it wasn't imminent.

BROWN: Okay. Well, I just to be clear, I wasn't framing it any way. I am just putting to you what the administration was --

MCMASTER: Oh, no, I'm not talking about. I'm not talking about you. I'm just talking about -- yes, I'm just talking about just kind of I think it's important to understand the context, right?

[10:25:00]

Because if you just focus on the U.S. and Israeli initiation of this campaign, you missed that really important context of, you know, the ideology of the regime, its permanent hostility, you know, the great Satan, the cancerous boils what they call Israel, and their Arab neighbors.

And look at what happened to the Gulf states. The Gulf states really tried to kind of placate the Iranians, right? I mean, the Qataris were kind of the bridge to the Iranians. You had, you know, the UAE for many years kind of turned a blind eye to a lot of their banking and financial transactions. You know, the Kuwaiti's had engaged in rhetoric that, you know, was supportive of the regime and kind of against action. Hey, where did that really get them in the long run? So, I think now is an opportunity not only for the countries in the region, but, you know, for the Iranian people.

The other element of the context, which people know, but I think is worth highlighting all the time now, is that just a month ago, they murdered 30,000 of their own people, you know? So, I think you should cast this as a humanitarian operation as well as an operation that could reshape the geopolitics in the Middle East in favor, you know, of the Iranian people, the Gulf states, Israel and the United States.

BROWN: All right, we'll see how it plays out. Thank you for your perspective, H.R. McMaster. We appreciate it.

MCMASTER: Hey, thanks, Pamela, great to be with you.

BROWN: You too.

BLITZER: All right, Pamela. We're going to get back to the war in just a few moments, but right now, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is asking serious questions to the Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem. This hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee is continuing. She's specifically asking about what happened to Renee Good, the American woman who was killed by federal authorities in Minneapolis.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): If you believe in federalism, in freedom and in liberty, you should be horrified by what the Department of Homeland Security did in Minnesota.

So, my first question is, having spoken to Mr. Homan, what is the exact number of DHS agents still in Minnesota?

NOEM: I believe that there is still close to 650 there, accounting the investigators that are there working to get to the bottom of the unprecedented fraud that has been found in the Medicaid funding and --

KLOBUCHAR: Was five-year-old Liam involved in that fraud? If you know, I am all in on prosecuting fraud. I put in place the U.S. attorney who exposed the fraud under the Biden administration and brought the bulk of the prosecutions, and also recommended to Mr. Blanche that Joe Thompson be the acting U.S. attorney who led those prosecutions and now has left the office because the Department of Justice asked him and many others to investigate Renee Good's wife instead of doing their jobs doing fraud.

So, what I want to know is when are you going to get down to the original footprint as promised to us?

NOEM: We're continuing to work at that, although those investigators will continue to stay there to get to the bottom of that fraud, to make sure that those vulnerable people that rely on those programs actually get services from those federal dollars that are spent, that it's not stolen by criminals and used by individuals to enrich themselves and send it out of the country.

KLOBUCHAR: Let's give one example, Secretary, Chong Lee Tao. Are you aware that agents bashed in the door of a U.S. citizen among elder with no criminal record?

NOEM: I can't speak to the specifics of that case.

KLOBUCHAR: Did you see the photos of that man being dragged out of his house in Crocs and in his underwear?

NOEM: Yes, I did.

KLOBUCHAR: Do you believe that he was involved in fraud?

NOEM: I do not know where that status of that investigation is.

KLOBUCHAR: Are you aware that he's a son of a beloved nurse that treated our soldiers in Vietnam?

NOEM: I believe that we have laws in this country that need to be enforced and need to be applied equally to everyone.

KLOBUCHAR: Your agent, speaking of enforcing the laws and following the laws, did they have a judicial warrant when they ram through an American citizen's door?

NOEM: Our law enforcement officers follow the same protocols and procedures that all law enforcement --

KLOBUCHAR: Are you aware that he tried to show his identification to show that he was American citizen and they didn't want to see it?

NOEM: Again, these officers conduct themselves in processes. If something was done inaccurately, then, certainly, we will make sure that we correct it and rectify it in the future.

KLOBUCHAR: Are you aware that the person they were looking for was in prison and had been in prison for years?

NOEM: Yes, I am. That's target -- yes, we do targeted operations going after and looking for --

KLOBUCHAR: Do you agree that it is unacceptable for your agents to ram into someone's door and drag someone out in their underwear and below zero temperatures when they have the wrong guy?

NOEM: Our officers conduct targeted operations and utilize the thought processes that are given to them and the tools --

KLOBUCHAR: You will not answer that you think that's wrong?

NOEM: They needed to identify that individual and that individual --

KLOBUCHAR: They couldn't identify him by looking at his identification. Instead, they had to drag him out, throw him in a car, and drive him around for an hour?

How about pulling off off-duty police officers, Madam Secretary, every single one of whom made clear who they were?

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