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Israel Claims it Has Killed Two More Top Iranian Officials; UAE Temporarily Closes Airspace; House Republican Leaders Hold News Conference; Senior U.S. Intel Official Resigns Over Iran War. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired March 17, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Israel says it has killed two more top Iranian officials in an overnight strike on Tehran. The Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, announced that Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was, quote, "eliminated," along with the head of Iran's Basij militia. An Israeli military official described Larijani as, quote, "the de facto leader of Iran" after the killing of the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

Our Jeremy Diamond is joining us from Tel Aviv. Right now, Jeremy, Iran has yet to confirm Larijani's killing, but just how significant would his elimination be?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's no question that this is an extraordinarily significant assassination. The question is what the actual effect of that will be, particularly in the long term. Ali Larijani was one of the most powerful figures inside of Iran even before the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but certainly in the wake of it, he was considered in some ways to be the de facto leader of Iran.

He played a significant role in violently suppressing the protests that we saw in Iran earlier this year. He handled nuclear negotiations for Iran for a time. He handled the relations that Iran had with many of its allies, such as China and Russia. And so, there's no question that this will have a huge effect on Iran.

One Israeli military official calling this a significant blow to the regime's abilities to conduct the war and its ability to function. But there are also, Wolf, questions about exactly what the effect of this will be, because for everything I've just said about Ali Larijani, he was also viewed as a somewhat pragmatic figure, a relatively pragmatic figure inside the Iranian regime, someone who could be a counterweight of sorts to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

But now, with Larijani's death, with the elevation of the very hardline new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who is very close to the IRGC, there are real questions about whether this assassination will actually embolden that more hardline wing of Iran's regime going forward. That's certainly been the analysis of many Iran experts in the last couple of hours since we learned of this assassination. But again, no confirmation from the Iranians themselves for their part. And again, the other killing, also very significant here, the commander of Iran's Basij force, that's the paramilitary force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps that handles internal security, another move by Israel aimed at destabilizing this regime.

BLITZER: And you're in Tel Aviv. Are the Iranians and Hezbollah in Lebanon still launching strikes against central Israel, Tel Aviv, where you are?

DIAMOND: They certainly are, Wolf. Today we've seen several waves of Iranian ballistic missiles fired at Israel. There were several impacts as a result of these cluster munitions that Iran has been outfitting its ballistic missiles with, so relatively small impacts, but nonetheless some damage that can cause fatalities if somebody is outside. But most Israelis are staying in shelters when those air raid sirens come in, and so we haven't seen any serious casualties.

The question is really what happens tonight, Wolf, because the Israeli military has just issued a warning that it is seeing activity from Hezbollah, preparations for a very large barrage of rockets that could be fired towards Israel this evening. Israel says it is taking steps to try and thwart that barrage from Hezbollah, but the last time we reported on such indications from Israel, we saw a barrage of nearly 200 rockets in a single evening from Hezbollah. We could be in for something very similar tonight.

BLITZER: All right. Stay safe over there. We'll be in close touch with you. Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv, thank you. Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And, Wolf, we have some more breaking news. The UAE temporarily closed its airspace today after two strikes on the country's oil and gas fields. A ship off of the UAE's key oil port was also hit today but only sustained minor damage.

So, let's bring in CNN correspondent Paula Hancocks in the capital Abu Dhabi. Paula, this area has been repeatedly targeted by Iranian strikes.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela, this is the second day in a row that we have seen this area of Fujairah, the port, the oil industry area, being targeted. Now, we know that there was a fire that is being brought under control. The reason this is key is because the oil storage capability of this area is huge. It's one of the largest in the region.

[10:35:00]

And it's on the east coast of the UAE, which means it doesn't have to travel through the Strait of Hormuz to get the oil out. So, this clearly is why Iran is targeting it.

Now, we know that a tanker just off the coast of Fujairah was also struck. There was minor damage, but it was at anchor at the time, so it wasn't moving. And so, that makes it 21 vessels, we understand, according to the U.K. Maritime Agency, that have been impacted since the start of this war.

Now, we also saw the Shah gas fields. That's about three hours away from where I am in Abu Dhabi. They are massive gas fields. We know there's been an impact there as well by a drone attack, a fire that is being brought under control, and that has suspended operations, according to officials there.

So, what we heard over the weekend was Iran saying they are going to target ports and docks, and it is exactly what they are doing. They are going for civilian infrastructure, energy infrastructure, with very little, if any, connection to U.S. military and political issues at this point.

We also know that the airspace in the UAE was suspended for at least a couple of hours. That's the early hours of Tuesday morning, and that comes just a day after Dubai International Airport was down for several hours because of attacks. So, the fact that this isn't connected to U.S. military and political infrastructure shows that at this point, Tehran is trying to impact the economy of the UAE and, of course, its reputation. Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi, thanks. We'll be right back.

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[10:40:00]

BROWN: All right. Let's listen to House Speaker Mike Johnson about this partial shutdown at DHS. It's really impacting airports across the country.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): -- against terrorist plots, it undermines the integrity of our borders and it disrupts lawful travel through U.S. ports of entry, including the millions of American and international travelers through process at our airports every single day.

Now, it bears repeating. In just the last two weeks, we have had four jihadist attacks on American soil, all of which originated from perpetrators who are already inside the country. Every one of those attacks falls squarely under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security, and the Democrats don't want to fund it. And now, they're demanding we strip funding from the very agency responsible for stopping all of that. It's another dangerous game, a political game by Democrats that's as foolish as it is perilous.

I'll make one additional point. Democrats opened our borders wide to tens of millions of illegal aliens for four years under Joe Biden, including untold numbers of violent, hardened, and repeat criminals. That is an objective fact, and no one can refute it. They could have closed the border any time.

As you all know, I pleaded with President Biden after I became speaker to do it, and he pretended as though he did not have the authority to close the border. They chose that. They chose to keep the border wide open, and they looked away.

And that happened until President Trump was returned to office, and obviously we secured the border in a very short number of days because the law was always there. He always had the authority. And thankfully, we got a commander-in-chief who understands national security and safety.

And now, when our borders are finally secure and when criminal illegal aliens are finally being held to account for breaking our laws, now the Democrats want to reverse course. They want to go back to open borders. They want to defund the agencies that are responsible for keeping law and order.

And now, Leader Jeffries has claimed the latest proposal to defund CBP will just allow talks to continue. But you all know because you're tracking it every day, that's nonsense. Bipartisan talks were already underway before funding lapsed. It was Democrats who walked away from the table. They did it precisely so that they could take the Department of Homeland Security as their next political hostage. They've made a political calculation.

Their polling says they're not fighting Trump enough, and so they determined that Homeland Security was the place to throw down the gauntlet. It's so crazy. It really is. And since they shut down DHS, now over a month ago, we've heard nothing but political posturing from Democrat leaders. They're not serious about this. The answer is simple. They don't want to fund Homeland Security. They don't want to do it. They're perfectly content jeopardizing the security of our homeland and hurting the American people if it means protecting criminal illegal aliens, and there is no other way to explain this. Democrats have made that conscious decision repeatedly. You know them by their actions. They're doing it again.

In the fall, they shut down the government to try to give taxpayer- funded benefits to illegal aliens, and now they've shut down the government once again to reopen our borders and shield criminal aliens from our own laws. The American people are not on board with this. They're not going to have broken policies. They're not going to have us return to that, the broken policies of the Biden administration. They rejected that in the election soundly. The chaos that Democrats unleashed on the country, that was a big issue.

In fact, it was the number one issue in the election of 2024. We're not going back to that. The American people are not going to go back. The Republican conference is going to work every day to ensure that we don't.

I'll leave you with this thought and we'll take a couple questions. Listen, CNN had a story this week. They were talking about the Quinnipiac's latest polling, which is consistent with other polls around the country, the favorability of Democrats in Congress. They are at their lowest number in history, and the story led with lead, Democrats' favorability is lower than the Dead Sea. OK?

[10:45:00] They're at negative 55 percentage points of favorability, negative net 55 percent in the open polling. And among independents, Democrats in Congress are at negative 55 percent. They should just retire. They should just throw in the white towel and give us the Congress so we can fix this mess and stop the charade.

This midterm election that we're coming up on is a contrast election. This is not a -- I was talking with Newt Gingrich the other night, you know, he brought the contract with America. This is a contrast for America. That's what we have. This is common sense, the Republican Party and our policies versus crazy. This is crazy. It's crazy.

And I'll take a few questions. Yes, sir. Well, that's not a green tie. Never mind. Over here. Come on. All right. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. So, the president has said that the SAVE America Act is his number one priority.

JOHNSON: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When making the argument to Democrats to vote yes for this, because it will require Democrats to pass, can you give for me one example of fraud conducted in a previous election that the SAVE America Act would require?

JOHNSON: Look, we're not going to litigate all that. I can tell you what I'll tell Democrats. You should listen to the American people. Ostensibly, we're supposed to come here and represent the interests of the American people. This is a 90-10 issue in public opinion polling, and Democrats agree that you should be a citizen and have a photo I.D. to vote at a tune of about 70 percent.

So, it's -- there's no argument that you shouldn't do this. If they want free and fair elections, if they don't think fraud should be a problem, then they should vote to enforce federal law. It's already the law. It's already the law that you have to be a citizen to vote in American elections, and we should enforce that. And having a photo I.D., you have to have a photo I.D. to do everything in American society. Why not to vote? It's ridiculous for them to oppose it.

We are cheering along the Senate Republicans in trying to force this through. Hopefully, hopefully, we can get this to the president's desk for signature. It's a top priority not just for Republicans in Congress. Again, common sense versus crazy. It's crazy to say that you should not be a citizen or not have an I.D. to vote. And it is common sense, and it comports to the American people. Go ahead, all the way down. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

JACKSON: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This morning, former Congressman Joe Kent, who you campaigned for when he ran for Congress, resigned as the director of the Counterterrorism Center. He wrote that he cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. He writes, Iran posed no imminent threat to our nature. It's clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby. How do you respond to that and to those other Republicans who say that this war is actually putting foreign interests above domestic interests?

JOHNSON: Well, that proposition at the end is clearly wrong. I'm on the Gang of Eight. I got all the briefings. We all understood there was clearly an imminent threat, that Iran was very close to the enrichment of nuclear capability, and they were building missiles at a pace that no one in the region could keep up with. They were far outpacing our allies and friends and us in our defense capability because we had personnel installations, members of the armed services, and civilians in the region.

Iran was building up ballistic missiles at such a rapid pace, and we knew that their plan was to fire them upon Americans. The commander- in-chief and his administration had a very difficult decision to make. I don't know where Joe Kent is getting this information, but he wasn't in those briefings clearly because the secretary of state, the secretary of war, and everyone, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Caine, they had exquisite intelligence, and we understood that this was a serious moment for us.

Had the President waited, I am personally convinced that we would have mass casualties of Americans, service members and others, and our installations would have been dramatically damaged. And so, we had to, the president felt that he had to strike first to prevent those mass casualties. That's a summary. I can't tell you the classified part, but that's a summary that's made public and it's accurate. Yes. Manu.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been more than two weeks since this war was launched by the United States against Iran, yet the House has not had a single public hearing with a Cabinet official about the cost to American taxpayers and to American service members. Why has the House not heard testimony from a Cabinet official about this war?

JOHNSON: I don't know if you've noticed, but they've given us multiple briefings. Public hearings, not classified briefings. Well, it's still, we're in the midst of a couple of weeks long operation that's very sensitive in its mission and scope, and you cannot go outside of the classified briefing to give to the public the information because it would adversely affect our mission. They have well explained this to members of Congress in multiple briefings, both before, during, and after the operation commenced.

[10:50:00]

We had the auditorium full of House members. The American public is getting, I've just relayed to you, the summary of the non-classified information. All members are out talking about it around the clock. You're following them around with microphones, getting their clips and insights and their opinions. This is being watched very carefully, but we're in the midst of an operation that is winding down, according to the president himself. We are very close to having the mission completed.

The Strait of Hormuz is an ongoing issue, and he has, I think, rightfully called upon allies and friends and other nations who depend much more than we do on the Strait of Hormuz being open for their oil supply to step up and assist and put the terrorists and tyrants at bay because that's good for stability and calm around the world, and America stands for that. We are standing for freedom. We have taken out an enemy that was seeking to do us harm and wipe Israel off the map, and that's a good thing, and it will be a great thing for the stability of prices going forward and the calm around the world.

So, we ask our allies to step up and acknowledge that reality and help us out. I think that's a very reasonable proposal. Jake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On FISA, are you going to move a clean extension? Is that your plan?

JOHNSON: The plan is to move a clean extension of FISA. As you know, FISA in Section 702 is responsible for the large measure of intelligence that we use to protect and keep Americans safe. It expires in April, and we're looking at that deadline and hoping that we can get a clean authorization done for at least 18 months.

Now, why would we go that route? Because you remember, last time it was up for reauthorization, we instituted 56 substantive reforms to FISA. By every measure and review, those are working just as we planned. We've not had the abuses that were happening before those reforms, and everybody in Congress understands the necessity of ensuring that we keep the homeland safe, except for the Democrats, who, as you know, are choosing not to fund the Department of Homeland Security. One more.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. President Trump recently has said that the war in Iran will be over when he, quote, "feel it in my bones." What does he mean by that?

JOHNSON: Well, I think his bones are informed by the intelligence, OK? So, look, it's -- the commander-in-chief, whomever is the president, whomever is the commander-in-chief under our constitutional system is given a broad amount of latitude and authority. Their decisions are informed by all the intelligence and the experts, a large panel of them from the Joint Chiefs of Staff on down, who come in and advise the president. Every president makes a gut decision, and hopefully they make a prayerful decision.

I think this president will as well. He's getting great advice from great people, and I'm very encouraged about where we are. I think this will wind down quickly, and it's going to be in the best interest of America going forward and of the whole world. Thank you.

BLITZER: All right. So, there he is, the Speaker of the House, with his reaction to all these dramatic developments that have been unfolding, including the sudden resignation of Joseph Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who works for the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, complaining that there was no imminent threat from Iran to the United States, saying this entire Iran operation by the Trump administration is a waste and shouldn't be happening right now. And the Speaker totally rejected that, insisting there was an imminent threat to the United States. BROWN: Yes, I guess it's how you define imminent, right? Because what we just heard from the Speaker is that imminent threat was that Iran was very close to the enrichment of nuclear capability, even though, as you know, President Trump had said after the strikes last year that that had been demolished, and that they were building missiles at a pace that no one in the region could keep up with. So, that is how Speaker Johnson framed the imminent threat from Iran.

But it is significant that this top counterterrorism official is resigning, saying there was an imminent threat and cannot stay in the position in good conscience, and believes that the U.S. went to war with Iran because of pressure from Israel.

You heard Speaker Johnson also striking a more optimistic tone, saying he believes that this will wind up more quickly, that we're close to mission complete. And he did talk about, though, the Strait of Hormuz, and that being an ongoing issue and calling on allies to help, although allies, as we have seen, have been reluctant to do so.

BLITZER: And it's interesting, he also rejected what Kent is saying, that the entire U.S. military operation was due to, quote, "pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby." He rejected that notion as well. And we're going to have some analysis of his background, Kent's background, coming up in the next hour, right at the top of the next hour, on some background, where he came from. He was a member of Congress, and he had very strong views on a whole bunch of sensitive issues.

BROWN: All right. We're going to cover that after this break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BLITZER: 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 begin this hour with major breaking news. The head of the U.S. --

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