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The Situation Room

Trump Tells CNN That "Cuba Is Going To Fall Pretty Soon"; Israel Launches Fresh Strikes On Tehran And Beirut. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired March 06, 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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[11:00:47]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news. Major explosions in Kuwait as Iran unleashes a fresh wave of attacks against American military bases. The U.S. and Israel, meanwhile, intensifying their attacks against Tehran, as President Trump says, and I'm quoting him now, unconditional surrender, his words, unconditional surrender is the only way this war will end.

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

All that coming up. Well, let's begin this hour with President Trump's comments just now about Cuba made this morning to our colleague and friend, Dana Bash, as the war in Iran intensifies. The President also now clearly has his sights on Cuba as well, saying this, Cuba is going to fall pretty soon. This is a quote, by the way, unrelated, but Cuba is going to fall, too. They want to make a deal so badly. They want to make a deal, and so I'm going to put Marco Rubio over there and we'll see how that works out. We're really focused on this one right now. We've got plenty of time, but Cuba's ready after 50 years.

Let's go live to Havana right now where Havana bureau chief, Patrick Oppmann is joining us. This seems to be, Patrick, the clearest signal yet from President Trump about his intentions as far as Cuba is concerned. How is the government there where you are in Havana reacting to this?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: You know, for days now, the government in Havana here, officials that I've talked to said they're willing to resist, as they have for 67 years. And it doesn't matter what President Trump says or does. The reality is, Wolf, is this island literally is on fumes.

You know, just getting here today, I barely had enough gas. And that is how most Cubans are experiencing this crisis in the dark. They're not able to watch President Trump's comments, even if they had seen it in their homes, because most Cubans right now simply don't have power in their homes.

We have dealt with a near island-wide blackout in the last 24 hours. It is becoming more and more frequent as President Trump has put in this oil embargo that is preventing any oil from coming to this island. And so the lights are essentially flickering out.

It is checkmate, Wolf. So officials say they are holding strong here, that they will not be bullied. But the reality is they are painted into a corner. And when President Trump talks about, you know, Cuban- Americans coming back, perhaps having more political rights, retaking property that was lost to them when the revolution took place, you know, that is something the government here has resisted for so long.

But at this point, it's hard to see what is there any other way out for them other than sitting down and making a deal, the kind of deal that they've resisted in the past, but now may be necessary.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens. Dramatic development indeed, Patrick Oppmann in Havana for us. Thank you very much.

We have a lot to discuss. And joining us now here in The Situation Room, CNN military analyst, Cedric Leighton. He's a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, New York Times White House and national security correspondent and CNN political and national security analyst, David Sanger, and CNN Global Affairs commentator, Sabrina Singh. She's also a former deputy Pentagon press secretary during the Biden administration. Thanks to all of you for joining us. First of all, David, what do you make of the president's comments on Cuba?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: You know, there were two remarkable things. I think he said, Wolf, to -- in the interview that Dana Bash did with her. One is Cuba, where the question essentially is, is he going to go try to knock them over or, as he said once just a few weeks ago, he thinks they'll probably collapse on their own.

The fact of the matter is that because they've lost their biggest patron here in Venezuela and their biggest source of oil and everything else, it's possible they could collapse without him having to do very much. Right now, the President seems to have his hands full.

I think the second remarkable thing he said was the unconditional surrender line about Iran, that he's waiting for Iran to unconditionally surrender. I'm trying to imagine what that looks like. This is not quite like the end of World War II. This is not quite like the end of the Civil War. There's not going to be a signing ceremony. So the question is, what does he mean by that?

[11:05:17]

BLITZER: So you think it's unrealistic?

SANGER: I think that, you know, Iran, the government could fall and say we can't fight anymore. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't become at some point an essentially an Iraq-like insurgency.

BLITZER: Sabrina, what do you think? SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: I agree with David. I mean, if he wants the government to completely fall, I mean, that's not going to be done alone just by air power. And so I think some type of boots on the ground would be needed. And just the President inserting himself and saying, I'm going to solely pick the leader is exactly in contrast to the video message that he put out last Saturday when he said it's up to the Iranian people to decide their future. And that's how it should be.

And you see no calls for democratic change or values that America espouses all over around the world about democracy. You don't see that from this administration, which I thought was something that really stood out to me in that in that interview that he did with Dana.

BLITZER: Very interesting. Let me get your thoughts, Colonel, on what the President said about Cuba. And how do you think that's going to play inside Cuba, especially within the Cuban military?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think the Cuban military, Wolf, is going to resist. They're going to try to resist at least. But they've got a few problems. And it kind of reminds me of what East Germany was like just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, when you had what appeared to be, at least on paper, an extremely strong military, one that could actually do some damage to NATO forces in the case of East Germany.

Cuban military is on paper, pretty strong, was able to project power to places like Angola back, you know, a few decades ago. But that is no longer something that they can do. And without fuel, they are nothing. So they're going to have some really serious issues if they're going to try to resist any effort to stem a collapse in Cuba. But what could happen is they could revert to guerrilla type campaigning, just like Fidel Castro did when he assumed power.

BLITZER: And getting back to the war in the Middle East right now, what did you think of the President's remarks that the only way this will end is unconditional surrender, his words, unconditional surrender by Iran?

LEIGHTON: Well, like David, I think this is a bit unrealistic. I mean, I've got visions of Appomattox Courthouse and Grant and Lynch showing up, you know, different garbing, modern guys here. But that's that is not a way to conduct this kind of an operation. And there doesn't seem to be a military plan that would result in the actual unconditional surrender of Iran.

So that that is going to be a real problem to make that a real policy aim for the administration. It's one thing to state it on social media. It's quite another thing to realize it in real life.

BLITZER: You think unconditional surrender, Sabrina, is realistic or is it just political posturing?

SINGH: I don't. I think it'd be very difficult just for the reasons that were sort of outlined here without putting some type of boots on the ground to ensure some type of change. The IRGC structure pretty much remains intact. So I do think it is more political posturing. I think the President wants to signal that this is going to be a win, that he's going to have a significant role in this. He's sending like that strongman sort of look to the American people.

But there's a very different reality playing out on the ground. And I think American forces are making extreme gains when it comes to destroying their military infrastructure in Iran. But how long can we sustain this fight for? I think really remains to be seen.

BLITZER: How long?

SANGER: Well, I'm sure that we could keep the battle tempo up some. But for weeks, months, as the President has said, though, clearly they're going to be some shortages. But, you know, I think Sabrina and Cedric are getting to just the right point. What happened after the unconditional surrenders at Appomattox on the Missouri with Germany? We put in an occupation force that lasted for years. That is exactly what President Trump and his base, the MAGA base, wants to avoid. That's the prescription for forever wars.

BLITZER: The President said that the U.S. military operation against Iran right now is on a 12 or even a 15 on a scale of one to 10. Some Republicans are facing challenging midterm elections coming up in November. Should this add to fears of another George W. Bush claim of mission accomplished?

SANGER: Well, what are we to tell? Certainly right now, it looks like the military has accomplished a lot of what it wants to go do. They've executed well. They've also been surprised by a couple of things, including the depth of the resistance, the effectiveness of the drones and so forth.

So it's a little -- you know, we're only six days in. This is more Cedric's territory than mine. But you don't make military judgments about how well we performed based on six days in. You know, the Russians perform miserably going into Ukraine in the first six days. But they came back pretty well a year and a half later.

[11:10:16]

BLITZER: Six days is pretty early. You're right. The President also told our Dana Bash that he's not worried about rising gas prices right there -- right now. What do you think?

SANGER: If he was celebrating the gas prices that he said he saw from his limousine at 1.99. I haven't run into those yet, Wolf, but let me know if you find the place. Call me.

BLITZER: I see a lot of places where it's $3.

SANGER: Yes. But there's been an 11 percent increase in the past week. That is probably where he's headed into some issues on this, particularly because unlike most presidents, he's going into this war with it already being unpopular before it's even gotten going. Most presidents start wars with high approval rate, even the Iraq war.

You remember, there was overwhelming public support for it before it cratered. So he's got to be a little careful on this.

BLITZER: How is the Pentagon corresponding? The approval at the beginning of Operation Desert Storm was about 95 percent approval, if you remember those days --

SANGER: That's right. Yes.

BLITZER: -- as I do. What do you think?

SINGH: I mean, the fact that the President said gas prices, if they rise, they rise is just so flippant to what people are feeling, you know, in their pocketbooks at home. And I think across the country in Democratic and Republican districts, the fact that gas prices are higher in that they've ever been in this President's term and even in his first term, I think Republicans are going to feel incredible anxiety going into the midterms.

And it's something, of course, that Democrats are going to make a campaign around because Donald Trump came in on the promise that he was going to lower costs and groceries, electricity and now gas prices are up.

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting, Colonel, the U.S., the administration, the U.S. Navy now says it will escort ships going through the Strait of Hormuz dealing with oil flow and all of that. The Iranians say they will shoot and try to destroy any U.S. ship in the Strait of Hormuz. This is a big deal.

LEIGHTON: It's a huge deal. And, you know, building upon what Sabrina and David have been saying, one of the things that you're looking at is the fact that 20 percent of all global oil comes through the Strait of Hormuz. This has been a choke point, you know, since time immemorial.

And it is one area where the Iranians actually can control quite a bit because they don't have to have naval vessels to actually affect a closure of the Strait of Hormuz. They can do that from land because it's only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point and they can do some major damage to any shipping going through the area. So what that really means is that we're going to have our hands full when it comes to protecting tankers and other ships, because if commerce to the Persian Gulf region is stopped, that's going to impact all of those countries on the southern edge of the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf, as they call it.

And that's going to make a huge difference in not only the war effort, but also support for the war effort in those countries, as well as here in the United States.

BLITZER: All right. Cedric, thank you very much. David and Sabrina, thanks to you as well.

Still ahead, explosions in Beirut as Israel carries out very heavy airstrikes against targets in Lebanon and Iran. Our reporters are there on the scene. They're on the ground.

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And we're getting new details on President Trump's vision for a new Iranian leadership, what he told our Dana Bash and what it means for America's involvement. Republican Congressman Carlos Gimenez, who sits on both the Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, standing by to join us live right here in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: Back to our major breaking news, the widening war with Iran. Israel is now saying its forces are moving into the next phase, their words, next phase of the war stepping up strikes on Iranian-backed Hezbollah targets inside Lebanon. Meanwhile Tehran residents describe what they call the worst night of airstrikes by Israel in the United States on Iran's capital yet.

Iran retaliating and hanging back overnight launching attacks on at least five Gulf states and targeting a U.S. airbase as countries from around the world including the U.S. work to try to repatriate people stranded in the Middle East right now. I want to go live to Nick Paton Walsh. He's on the scene for us in Tel Aviv.

Nick Israel is unleashing new attacks on Iran and on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. What's the latest from your vantage point?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, the Israeli defense, I'm sorry, the Israel Defense Force here saying clearly that their air force is now in the 15th wave of attacks against Iran now that is added to the 2,600 targets They said yesterday that indeed had been struck and as our colleague Fred Pleitgen is reporting in Tehran along with some residents as well, there's been obviously since dawn pretty heavy strikes there as well.

Iranian state media reporting that 3,000 residential buildings have been hit as well. But it's important to point out as we see here there seems to have been something of a dip of Iranian missiles heading towards I was woken by loud interceptions this morning, less so far in terms of alerts during today, this may just be a pause, unclear. But it also coincides with Israeli officials suggesting there has indeed been a dip in Iranian rocket fire and possibly comes on the back to of the Pentagon saying about 80, 90 percent of drones and missiles. They're seeing a drop in those launches as well.

[11:20:18]

So to the north clearly the Israelis, and we might describe as a sort of separate but related chapter in this conflict, moving ahead with their operation against Hezbollah. The Hezbollah appear according to Israeli officials to have fired 70 rockets into Israel since this began. And there's a reports to five Injured Israeli soldiers as a result of the Hezbollah attack as well, so clearly a lot of moving up there.

Important to point out that Hezbollah are somewhat diminished come after the assault of late 2024. And at this point too, there isn't a major indication that we're seeing a significant ground incursion by the Israeli military. They retain five posts inside after the ceasefire and they seem to have embellished parts of that. But it is predominantly air power that seems to be hitting the 500 targets that Israeli officials said, have been struck inside of Lebanon.

And a lot of this focus now to is on the southern suburb of Beirut, Dahieh where explosions have been heard overnight and where we are now seeing hundreds of thousands of Lebanese many of them in no Hezbollah affiliation ordered to get out, about half of the southern suburbs frankly of Beirut entirely, so startling scenes there as well. And here in Israel a Sense of the Hezbollah war being something that they planned for, for months and Hezbollah's decision to step in and avenge the death of ultimately their sponsor, Ayatollah Khamenei, has opened this sort of separate chapter. But still also as well prosecuting ferociously their assaults across Iran as well.

BLITZER: All right, Nick Paton Walsh in Tel Aviv, stay safe over there. Thank you very, very much.

I want to go live to see this Nic Robertson is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for us. Nic, Iran is retaliating with fresh attacks on neighboring Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia. How serious are these latest new strikes?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: They're very serious and we heard from the Qatari energy minister today saying that this can have, if it continues, an effect on the global economy, that there will be a shortage of some products. The longer the war goes on with the inability to export oil and LNG the way they would hope to normally through, through the Straits of Hormuz countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, others, must consider offloading some of their output into storage and that storage has a limited capacity.

So there's a lot of time frames in play here. What we've seen happening in and around Riyadh today is different. I think to the past five or six days an increase in Iranian strikes of multiple different formats, appearing to target one area south of the capital here, the Prince Sultan Airbase, an airbase that the United States Air Force has used historically in the past.

Indeed in the last hour, the Saudis have intercepted a cruise missile that was taken down in that general vicinity. But the attacks on it began this morning and actually the Saudis for the first time announcing making public that they shot down Ballistic missiles, three ballistic missiles they said were fired at that airbase. Then a little bit later, a drone was shot down that was in the vicinity of that airbase. A little bit later, it was a cruise missile that was shot down near there. Then a little bit later, three drones. Then a little bit later, another drone shot down there.

So it really seems that Iran is able to bring together different types of missile systems the drones that the cruise missiles, the ballistic missiles, which gives a picture particularly if you're in Saudi Arabia that there is some command and control that there is some linkage between these different elements in Iran.

And of course it all drives to that point that there is a very strong air campaign going on in Iran the effects are still being felt, targeting critical infrastructure in the region.

BLITZER: Quick question are the Iranians simply targeting U.S. facilities, U.S. troops, U.S. bases in these Arab countries in the Persian Gulf area or are they hitting much wider targets going directly after Kuwaiti targets or Bahraini targets or United Arab Emirates or Qatari targets?

ROBERTSON: Yes, and look, it appears, Wolf, that they're quite prepared to go after energy targets of those countries. It was Bahrain last night where an energy facility was hit. Similarly, Qatar has been affected similarly. The Emirates have been affected. I think look one way we can look at the metrics ever so briefly here on the missiles that are coming, a lot of firepower concentrated on Kuwait, a relatively tiny country, 212 ballistic missiles in the first four days, 394 drones in the first four days, 6 -- 86 ballistic missiles the first day, 68 of them intercepted.

[11:25:20]

But four days later that's down to 27 ballistic missiles, all of them intercepted. It says that Iran is firing less than it is firing a lot less. But it also shows that they're concentrating a huge amount of firepower in places that are critical in energy terms, but also important to the United States.

BLITZER: All right, Nic Robertson in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for us. Stay safe over there as well. Nic, thank you very, very much.

We're going to stay on top of all the breaking news coming out of the Middle East. This war is exploding right now. But there's other important news we're watching, including an unexpectedly weak jobs report amplifying worries about the U.S. economy, this as gas prices are surging to their highest point of either Trump administration. We have new reaction from President Trump himself. That's coming in. Stand by.

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