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The Situation Room

CIA Working to Arm Kurds to Fight Iran?; Kristi Noem Grilled on Capitol Hill; Interview With State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired March 04, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Breaking news: "We are just getting started."

Defense Secretary Hegseth is touting the U.S. operation in Iran and promising strikes even deeper into that country.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Plus, Iran unloading a huge new wave of strikes overnight, taking aim at civilian and military targets across the region, including striking the biggest U.S. base in the Gulf.

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.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROWN: Breaking News: Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine says the U.S. will now begin to strike deeper inside Iran, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warns, the U.S. operation there is still in its early days.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is struggling to evacuate Americans stranded across the region, Secretary of State Marco Rubio telling reporters this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We have identified and continue to identify charter flights, military flight options, and expanded commercial flight options, meaning working with the airlines to send bigger airplanes with more seats.

The problem is or the challenge we are facing is airspace closures. If a country closes their airport -- for example, in some cases, the airports have been hit. So the airport in Kuwait was hit. So if an airport's been attacked or the airspace is closed, then we can have the planes lined up to go, but we can't get them to land because we don't have the permissions to land there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Some of those U.S. citizens stuck abroad tell CNN they've been frustrated with the lack of information from the State Department during this time, one person telling CNN -- I'm quoting now -- "I feel just like a sitting duck."

Joining us now is the principal deputy spokesperson at the U.S. State Department, Tommy Pigott.

Tommy, thanks so much for joining us.

Can you provide an update on the latest numbers of Americans who have been evacuated from the Middle East, at least so far, and who still need to be evacuated?

TOMMY PIGOTT, STATE DEPARTMENT PRINCIPAL DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON: What I can say is that, since this began, over 17,000 Americans have left the Middle East and returned to the United States.

We are actively providing travel guidance to almost 3,000 Americans who have called to register. We are also proactively identifying charter flights, charter buses. That clip you just mentioned, for example, of where airspace is closed, we're identifying options so that Americans who call and register will be able to move from areas where airspace is closed to where airspace is open, where they can either board a commercial flight or a charter flight.

We're actively every single second identifying additional options to help the American people who wish to leave the Middle East.

BLITZER: When do you expect the first U.S. government charters, for example, to depart the region with Americans on board?

PIGOTT: What I can say is that right now, assisted departures are ongoing, whether that is buses or otherwise. I'm not going to get into operational details for security reasons.

But what I can say is, those operations are continuing, they're ongoing, they're expanding, every single second, like I said, identifying additional options. Important here, for those Americans that need assistance, want assistance, please call +1-202-501-4444 and also register at STEP.State.gov.

There are security alerts that are sent out multiple times a day based off the country where you're in.

BROWN: Many Americans stuck in the region, as you well know, say they have been frustrated by what they see as mixed messaging from the State Department, alerts to shelter in place, while also telling them to depart now. What do you say to them?

PIGOTT: What I say is, for the latest travel guidance, go to Travel.State.gov or the embassy.

And rest assured, let there be no mistake, that every single second we are working to identify options to assist the American people. Call that number, register. We will proactively reach out to you. We will help you. The State Department is working 24/7, experienced personnel across the region, overcoming security challenges, a dynamic security situation to help the American people in every single way that we can.

BLITZER: You mentioned, Tommy, the phone number people should call if they need help and thousands. And Americans are desperate right now.

Here's part of the message you would get if you called this morning. Listen to this.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "The U.S. is committed to helping U.S. citizens who want to leave the region to do so. If you are calling for assistance with travel, please stay on the line.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BLITZER: So what can Americans who registered for assistance expect to hear from the State Department? Do they need to call again?

PIGOTT: 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. The security situation, as the secretary described, is dynamic and we are overcoming security challenges in the region in order to help the American people.

So, when you receive that call about a bus, about a flight, please be ready to go. We are proactively reaching out, identifying additional options every single second.

[11:05:00]

BROWN: All right, I want to listen to what Secretary Hegseth said just a short while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We have from the start put the protection of our troops ahead of everything else. Before we very publicly built up offensive combat power, we quietly ensured that our defensive posture and power was in place.

And as we built up offensive combat power, we moved the vast majority of American troops, over 90 percent of Americans that were on our bases, what we say off the X, out of the range of Iranian fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: What about the diplomatic corps? Was there a failure of interagency planning there?

PIGOTT: There was not. We have had plans in place. We have authorized departure or departures that are responding to dynamic situation in the region.

One thing I want to stress, though, as we're seeing reports of embassy closures or otherwise, that does not mean the operations in those countries are ceasing in terms of helping the American people. I don't want Americans seeing those reports and thinking that we are not there to help them. We are.

So we are seeing authorized departures. We're seeing ordered departures. We're seeing travel guidance being issued responding to the dynamic situation. And we see brave and experienced personnel in the region, in D.C., across the world working to identify those options, overcome security challenges, help the American people.

We are here 24 seven, our highest priority being the safety and security of the American people.

BLITZER: How concerned, Tommy, is the State Department about possible Iranian retaliation against U.S. citizens abroad, including here in the United States?

PIGOTT: Well, the president has spoken to this. We have seen updated travel guidance in terms of the security situation we have seen. And the security challenges are part of what we are overcoming in order to help the American people, the secretary talking about the airport being hit, the secretary talking about certain airspace closures.

We are constantly identifying those additional options to help the Americans who need it. That's why we encourage Americans to go to STEP.State.gov, register for those security alerts, check the embassy Web site, as well as call. Please call. I have said it before. I will say it again, because of how important it is in order for us to know if you need that assistance and then be able to proactively reach out with those charter flights, those charter buses, those commercial options when they become available.

BLITZER: I mentioned yesterday, Tommy, that the British government has been activating military personnel, military aircraft to go into some of these countries to land at various military bases and evacuate their citizens.

But, so far, the U.S. government, I haven't seen any evidence that you have authorized the U.S. military to deploy cargo planes, other huge aircraft, for example, to Israel or Kuwait or Saudi Arabia to evacuate U.S. citizens.

Even if the airspace is closed, there are military air bases where they could land and you could inform U.S. citizens, go to these bases and you will get on a military plane and come back to the United States. Why hasn't that happened?

PIGOTT: Well, what I can say is that we have seen the assisted departure of hundreds of Americans from Israel, for example. Those numbers are continuing to grow, the secretary talking about how we are looking at options, including military flights.

I'm not going to get into operational details or preview what those might be, for the security concerns that are evident in this. But, rest assured, when you call, we will proactively reach out. That's also why that advice is so important. Be ready to go, be ready to move when able so that we can overcome the security challenges. But we are looking at every single option. We have seen Americans that

have been assisted departure. We have seen the 17,000 Americans that have left the Middle East and returned to the United States since this began. And we also see that tailored travel guidance to Americans that call and register.

So, please call. We're looking at every single option to help the American people. This process has begun and will continue to happen as long as Americans need assistance.

BLITZER: But, in Israel, for example, there are Americans who are escaping Israel and getting out of Israel. But the only way they're doing that is to get in a car and drive to Egypt, for example, through Sinai and go Sharm el-Sheikh, or someplace else. There are no flights that they can get out. They have got to drive 24 hours or something to get out.

Is that true?

PIGOTT: Well, what I can say is that we're looking at every single option. And I'm not going to preview operationally all these different details that we're looking at, but we're looking at every single option. I'm not going to do that for the clear security concerns that are evident here.

But what I can say is that, where flights are not possible, we are looking at ground options in order to move people to areas where flights are possible. That is something that we're looking at. So we are overcoming these security challenges every single day, responding to this dynamic security environment to help the American people.

These assisted departures have been happening. They will continue to happen. We are here 24/7. Every single option, we are exploring to help the American people. Please register. We will proactively reach out. We will help you.

BLITZER: The United States has closed its embassies in a number of Middle Eastern countries right now after several of them were hit in Iranian strikes. Nonemergency government personnel at these embassies have also been instructed to leave.

Have you been able to safely relocate all these nonemergency personnel from these embassies and get them out of those countries?

[11:10:07]

PIGOTT: Well, this is an ongoing process, and I think also, when you're talking about embassies that have been hit, these are part of the security challenges that the brave, experienced personnel in the region are working on overcoming.

They are overcoming this to help the American people. We see the assisted departures. We see these different statuses. Again, to stress, when we see reports of closures, that does not mean that operations to help the American people in those countries have stopped. The State Department, the Trump administration is here to help. Please

call. Please register. So, when you see reports of those closures, responding to the security environment, rest assured that we are still working, we are continuing to work 24/7 in this interagency task force to help Americans in those countries to leave, should they decide to do so.

BROWN: All right, State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott, thank you so much.

And I want to bring in our national security correspondent, Kylie Atwood.

Kylie, you have been tracking all of this so closely. What are your thoughts on what we just heard?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, what stood out to me from what the spokesperson Tommy Pigott just told you guys is that there are U.S. operations that are ongoing to get these Americans out, but he didn't cite any planes, any flights that have evacuated from the countries in the region to date.

He said -- he noted that there are some buses running. That is one thing that we are watching incredibly closely, because the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said yesterday when he was on the Hill that one of the challenges that the U.S. government is facing right now is that there are airspace closures, obviously, in the region because of kinetic activity that is happening.

So some of the flights have tried to go in. They haven't been able to land and get these Americans on board. We're watching to see how they're going to deal with that challenge. It's a stark one, obviously, because it could be dangerous for these flights to go in.

But these Americans really do want to get out. I think it's important to note, however, that he told Americans, and this is a key thing, that they need to be ready to go so that when they do get these messages from the State Department that they have an option for them, whether it's getting on a commercial flight that's opened up, whether it's getting on a U.S. charter flight that's opened up, or getting out by land and then potentially getting on a flight, that they need to be ready to go once they receive that contact.

He didn't give an indication that Americans who have already reached out to the State Department now need to reach out again. He indicated that they are already -- they have that working list of the Americans that want to get out. But we still don't fundamentally know how many of the Americans in the region who want to leave have received assistance to do so from the U.S. government.

He said that since, this conflict broke out, there are 17,000 Americans who have left the region, but he didn't say how many of those Americans have actually received assistance from the U.S. government to do so. And that is one of the frustrations that we're hearing, that the State Department is telling Americans to leave. They're also telling them to shelter in place, but they're not

providing them with really measurable ways in which they can get out of the region at this point.

BROWN: All right, Kylie Atwood, thank you so much.

BLITZER: And just moments ago, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, spoke about all of this to reporters. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): The president has a responsibility to make the case to the American people as to the justification for this war, but has provided no evidence that there was an imminent threat to the American people here or abroad.

It's the president who said just several months ago in June of last year that Iran's nuclear program had been completely and totally obliterated. That's the president's words. Did he lie to us then or is he lying now that he's claiming that Iran was acquiring the possibility of being able to threaten us with nuclear weapons, a nuclear program he had claimed was completely and totally obliterated?

The president has indicated that he's interested in regime change, but we know that regime change wars have never worked out for the American people and have cost thousands of lives of our patriotic heroes in uniform. That was the case in Vietnam, in Iraq, and in Afghanistan.

So I'm thankful for the leadership of the chair, the vice chair, and these distinguished members of Congress, patriots who are standing up for the American people, standing up for our brave service men and women in uniform, and standing up for the Constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Strong words from Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, very different than what we heard from the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, just moments ago.

BROWN: Yes, he was pointing out the inconsistencies in what the administration has said over the last several months, when President Trump initially said that Iran's nuclear program had been obliterated, and now changing the tune of that to justify this war on Iran.

[11:15:12]

So we have heard from Republicans and Democrats in recent hours, and we will continue to track everything. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:20:00]

BLITZER: We continue our breaking news on the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Multiple sources now telling CNN the CIA is working to arm and assist

Kurdish forces. The goal, we are told, is to fuel a popular uprising against the regime inside Iran.

CNN's chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward is joining us live from Erbil, Iraq, right now.

Clarissa, you've been in Iraq now for a few days. What can you tell us?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Wolf.

We are now learning from a senior official here in Iraqi Kurdistan that this CIA operation to support these Iranian Kurdish forces has been going on now for a few months. We spoke to a senior leader with the Iranian Kurdish militia groups yesterday who told us that they believe they are going to be participating in a ground offensive into Iran in the coming days and that they are going to be doing it with the support of the U.S. and of Israel, though he would not say what exactly that support will look like.

He said that President Trump himself had actually called the leader of one of these Iranian Kurdish opposition groups. And as if in response to this reporting, Wolf, this morning, the Iranians hit one of those Iranian Kurdish militia bases with a missile. This is the first time we're seeing them use a missile. They've used drones to attack these bases in the last couple of days, but this was a missile.

At least one Peshmerga fighter was killed. And there is now very real fear here in Iraqi Kurdistan with the leadership that Iran could launch massive retaliatory strikes if this ground offensive goes ahead. The leader here who I spoke to said that the Iranians had warned Iraqi Kurdistan just a few days ago that if a single Iranian Kurdish fighter crosses that border, there will be hell to pay.

He also said that one of the issues they have here in Iraqi Kurdistan, even though they have a very good relationship with the U.S., even though they have very little love for their neighbors in Iran, is that they feel the U.S. policy or the strategic objective of this war keeps changing.

This source told me, one day, President Trump says it's regime change, one day, he says something completely different. And so they have a really strong concern that among this shifting policy they could effectively end up getting thrown under the bus, so to speak.

And it's important to remember -- and I know it gets confusing, Wolf, for our viewers -- that there's a difference between the Iraqi Kurdish leadership here in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Iranian Kurdish forces who are being supported by the CIA with the goal of going into Iran and launching some kind of an offensive that they are hoping could foment stability and unrest, and the Iraqi Kurdish leadership here worrying that they will pay the price if this does indeed go ahead, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Clarissa Ward on the scene for us in Erbil, Iraq, for us.

Stay safe over there, Clarissa. Thank you very, very much -- Pamela.

BROWN: Just ahead here in THE SITUATION ROOM, the U.S., Israel and Iran aren't just hitting one another with bombs and missiles. They're also using massive waves of drones to strike targets. How drones are completely changing modern warfare -- up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:28:07]

BROWN: Happening now, a heated hearing on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee grill Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over a number of issues, including the deadly encounters between ICE and protesters in Minneapolis.

This right here is just one exchange between the committee's top Democrat, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, and Noem. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

We're fighting for American citizens, Madam Secretary...

KRISTI NOEM, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Today, you are.

(CROSSTALK)

RASKIN: ... because your ICE agents shot them in the face and killed them. And each person you see up on this dais today represents 800,000 American citizens. And you should know that as a former member of Congress.

Now, her brother said that Renee Good was someone who could make you believe things were going to be OK, despite all the hardship, because she chose optimism. Alex Pretti was a Boy Scout, a choir member, an outdoorsman from Green Bay who lavished attention on his beloved dog, Joule.

His sister called her brother someone who would wave, lighting up every room that he walked into. But only a few hours after they were gunned down by your agents, you called Renee a domestic terrorist. You said Alex committed an act of domestic terrorism.

Alex's parents responded to your calling their son a domestic terrorist. They said: "'The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting."

And I want to give you a chance before the entire country to correct your false and defamatory claim. Based on what you know today, Madam Secretary, were Renee Good and Alex Pretti domestic terrorists?

NOEM: Congressman, what happened in Minnesota in those two incidents was an absolute tragedy. (CROSSTALK)

RASKIN: Were they domestic terrorists, as you said to the country?

(CROSSTALK)

NOEM: ... my condolences to their families, because I know that their lives will never be the same after that happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:30:00]