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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
U.S. Submarine Sinks Iranian Warship in International Waters; U.S. Senate Blocks Bid to Curtail Trump's War Powers in Iran; First Confirmed Evacuation Flight Facilitated by U.S.; White House Says "More Than Enough" Weapons to Wage Extended War; Israeli Strike Targeting Hezbollah Hits Beirut Hotel; Israeli Strike Targeting Hezbollah Hits Beirut Hotel; Travelers Stranded by Flight Disruptions in Middle East; U.S. Basketball Player Home after Sheltering in Israel; U.S. Using Tehran's Drone Know-How in Strikes on Iran. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired March 05, 2026 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson, live from CNN global headquarters in Atlanta.
We are following breaking news. Our top story once again, the war with Iran. We want to bring you the very latest developments at this hour.
Israel says it is launching a wave of flyover strikes across Tehran, targeting the Iranian regime's military infrastructure. Video released by the Israeli Defense Forces shows Israel planes on their way to carry out those attacks. The IDF also says Iran has launched a fresh barrage of missiles towards Israel.
The son of the late Ayatollah Khamenei is among the top candidates to be Iran's new spiritual leader. Israel says any new leader would be a, quote, "unequivocal target for elimination."
The U.S. says one of its submarines sank an Iranian ship in international waters in the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka says 80 Iranian sailors were killed in the attack, destroying Iran's Navy has been a primary objective for the U.S. military.
Meanwhile the White House press secretary is offering insight into President Trump's decision to strike Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: President Trump does not make these decisions in a vacuum. The president had a feeling, again, based on fact, that Iran was going to strike the United States, was going to strike our assets in the region, and he made a determination to launch Operation Epic Fury based on all of those reasons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the operation against Iran is in its early days with complete control of Iranian skies expected in less than a week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Death and destruction from the sky all day long. We're playing for keeps. Our warfighters have maximum authorities granted personally by the president and yours truly. Our rules of engagement are bold, precise, and designed to unleash American power, not shackle it. This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they're down which is exactly how it should be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: CNN has team coverage around the world. Brian Todd is in Washington, but we begin with Ivan Watson in Hong Kong.
And Ivan, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also talked about an Iranian ship sunk by a Marine. Here's some of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH: An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II. Like in that war, back when we were still the war department, we are fighting to win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Ivan, what more do we know about that?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, this happened in international waters near Sri Lanka. And the target was an Iranian frigate called the Dena. Now, the Sri Lankan Navy, coast guard and air force have all been part of search and rescue operations since they received a distress call from the vessel.
The Sri Lankan Navy says by the time they showed up, there were no signs of the ship anymore. Presumably, as you can see in this video, not only was it hit very, very hard, but presumably it has sunk. The Sri Lankan Navy spokesman said that all that was left was an oil patch on the ocean and then some life rafts.
Let's take a listen to what else the Sri Lankan Navy spokesman had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COMM. BUDHIKA SAMPATH, SRI LANKAN NAVA SPOKESMAN (through translator): When we were carrying out search and rescue work, we were able to rescue a group of people who were in the sea. By talking to them, it became clear that they were from an Iranian ship and needed urgent medical attention.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: So the Sri Lankan authorities have confirmed that they've rescued 32 people thus far. They, the Ministry of Defense, says the death toll has reached actually 80, and there were believed to be a crew of about 180 people on board this frigate, the Dena, the Iranian ship. Now, we've done some digging. The ship had actually been in India just two weeks ago.
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It was part of an international naval conference hosted by India that the U.S. Navy was actually invited to as well. You can see the ship before its destruction there. It was part of a review that was attended by India's president. And we believe that sailors from the same ship participated in a parade that the entire goal of this conference, according to the Indian hosts, was multilateralism.
We've learned from the U.S. Navy that a U.S. admiral did participate. But according to the Indian hosts no U.S. warships attended because of the tensions at that time, two weeks ago with Iran. And now we've learned that that ship has been destroyed. And it sounds like most of its crew have been killed in that U.S. submarine torpedo attack.
Now one of the initial objectives, the Trump administration has garbled some of its messaging on the objectives of this war in Iran, one minute, calling for the population to rise up and for regime change, the next kind of saying no. But from the get go, the Trump administration has said one of its goals has been to destroy the Iranian Navy. Central Command says it sank 17 ships and now, I believe an 18th ship very far from Iran, showing that all of these vessels are particularly potentially targets for the U.S. military right now -- Elex.
MICHAELSON: Yes. And Ivan, we just showed you, I want to show it again, the live picture of that hospital that you were talking about in Sri Lanka, where we do see some activity happening right now. You think of all the folks impacted by that strike. Meanwhile, what do we know about the Israeli targets in Tehran and Beirut? A lot of activity on that front right now.
WATSON: Right. I mean, Beirut and Southern Lebanon are coming under continued Israeli bombardment. The Iran backed militia in Lebanon, Hezbollah, has claimed that it has engaged in several dozen operations and attacks on Israeli targets both inside Southern Lebanon and across the border in Israel as well. The end result of this, because Israel has called for the complete evacuation of the entire civilian population north of the Litani River.
So that's all of Southern Lebanon, an area that Israel, the Israeli military, occupied for years in past decades. And that has the Lebanese government, it has created conditions where more than 80,000 people have been displaced. More than 70 people killed in the ongoing Israeli bombardment thus far. And even though the Lebanese government has outlawed the armed actions of Hezbollah they clearly haven't had the capability to stop the militia.
This powerful militia, from engaging in this war with Israel. The situation in Iran, sustained bombardment as well. More than 1,000 people believed to have been killed since the U.S. and Israel launched their joint air war on Iran on Saturday -- Elex.
MICHAELSON: Ivan Watson in Hong Kong, thank you.
To Washington now, U.S. Senate Republicans rejected an effort to rein in President Trump's war powers in Iran. That resolution would have required that he seek congressional approval for future American military actions against Iran. The measure failed 53 to 47.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): We are at war now with Iran. There's no mistaking it. The president calls it a war. So does his secretary of defense or secretary of war and others in the Cabinet. There's no doubt about this being war. And I think Republicans both don't want to own it themselves because they know this could go very badly but at the same time, they're not willing, at least at this point, to stand up to the president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: So the voting was mostly along party lines, with Republican Rand Paul voting with the Democrats, and Democrat John Fetterman voting with the Republicans. The House will vote on the same issue in the coming day.
CNN's Brian Todd live in Washington now with more -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Elex. As you just mentioned, the political battle lines regarding this war here in Washington are developing pretty much as we expected. The support for this war is really falling along party lines.
As Elex just explained, the Senate has basically just rejected a measure that would have limited President Trump's ability to wage war against Iran without congressional authorization. The vote was 57 -- excuse me, 53 to 47 in the Senate.
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The Republicans just had the numbers on this one. Just one Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky voted with the Democrats in favor of that resolution that would have limited the president's authority. And a Democratic senator, John Fetterman, of Pennsylvania, voted with the Republicans to vote against it.
The central debate of course is whether the president has the authority to order these strikes in Iran without Congress's approval. It is a debate that has been raging throughout several administrations when a president has ordered strikes against another country. One -- some Republican senators believe that the president does have almost unlimited authority to order these strikes including John Thune, who's the Senate majority leader.
Our Manu Raju caught up with three prominent members of Congress, Utah Republican Senator John Curtis, from the House, Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska. He is a Republican. And Manu also spoke with a Democrat, Greg Landsman of Ohio. Here is part of his conversations with those three members of Congress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN CUTIS (R-UT): I don't care how just the war is. I don't care how important it is. Of course we're worried. You know, our servicemen's lives are at risk. Others' lives are at risk. Of course, that's always a concern. No matter how we get into this or how justified it is, I'm always going to be concerned about that.
REP. DON BACON (R-NE): I think the ultimate goal here is to get a government that we don't have to worry about them nuking somebody and that's been the ultimate concern with this regime and the leadership. I always spoke in this, you know, end times, using nuclear weapons to bring the end times here. That's scary.
MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. But nation building has not gone well with the United States --
BACON: It's not gone well. I don't think that we should be doing it.
REP. GREG LANDSMAN (D-OH): To me this is a no brainer. They had a window of opportunity to take out very specific military assets in order to defang the Iranian regime. We will be safer as a result. However, if it goes beyond that, they need to come to Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: So you can see even among Republicans who are supporting the president, that there is concern in some anxiety over whether this war is going to be open ended and whether the president is going to just continue this as long as he deems appropriate, even with possibly messy or open-ended continuation of this war.
The House is expected to vote on a very similar resolution on Wednesday in the coming -- excuse me, on Thursday in the coming hours. And that is not expected to pass either. That resolution limiting the president's authority to wage war without congressional approval -- Elex.
MICHAELSON: Yes, Democrats just don't have the numbers on this one.
Brian, when you joined us at this time last night, you were trying to get some answers in terms of what are Americans supposed to do who are stuck in the Middle East? You made some calls, tried to get information. Any update on that front tonight?
TODD: We do have an update, Elex, and it's a positive one. We can report that the first chartered flight of Americans has left the Middle East. We got that word about four hours ago. It is the first confirmed evacuation flight by the -- facilitated by the U.S. government since the conflict began five days ago. We have reached out to the State Department just a short time ago to ask them where that flight is landing and when.
We have not heard back from them on that. The State Department says they're going to surge additional flights throughout the region. But again, this one flight, we don't know where it's going and when it's landing. We are pressing the State Department on that. They are reluctant to give many operational details of these flights.
And we can also report, Elex, that hotline that Americans were urged to call that I was telling you about 24 hours ago which didn't offer much hope or assistance, has been modified since the time we reported that. They have updated that call message line that we reported on the message. When you call that number that you see there, 202-501-4444, when you call that, the message now says, quote, "The U.S. is committed to helping U.S. citizens who want to leave the region to do so." And they ask people to stay on the line for assistance.
So they are at least also improving that service as well. But, Elex, when you think about this, you know, we are now five days into this, the war started early Saturday morning, East Coast Time. It is now overnight Wednesday into Thursday, East Coast Time. And we are now just getting word of the first confirmed evacuation flight of Americans. Five full days into this conflict, Elex. It is not a great optic.
MICHAELSON: And do we know where in the Middle East it took off from?
TODD: We do not. We're pressing them on that as well. They are very reluctant to give operational details of that and for good reason of course. You know, the safety of these flights is paramount and airspace is tight. Other flights are really not leaving. I mean, the airspace around the UAE, Qatar, it's almost empty right now. So these flights are going to be conspicuous when they leave. That's another reason for some operational silence here on the part of the State Department.
Certainly understandable. You know, you want to protect these flights as they leave. And so you don't want to, you know, you know, tip your hand as to whether, where they're taking off from and when and exactly where they're landing.
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But, you know, once they get, you know, further toward the U.S. maybe they'll be, you know, more inclined to give us some information as to where and when that flight will be landing.
MICHAELSON: And how those particular people got the tickets on that flight.
TODD: Right. I mean --
MICHAELSON: And so many others have not.
TODD: You're going to be very anxious to talk to Americans who are on that flight.
MICHAELSON: Right.
TODD: To just to talk about every detail of their experience. How did you get on? How long did it take? What were the problems? I mean, that's going to be a font of information that we're going to be very eager to get.
MICHAELSON: Hopefully you can be back with us on THIS STORY IS again tomorrow for that, but we will see you throughout the evening.
Brian Todd in Washington, thank you.
TODD: Sure.
MICHAELSON: The White House says the U.S. has more than enough weapons to wage an extended war with Iran. That comment from the press secretary coming just days after President Trump complained that supplies were not as extensive as he'd like. The U.S. is less than a week into the war, President Trump originally said it would last four to five weeks but that there was capability to go far longer.
General Dan Caine, who's the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Wednesday addressed concerns that the U.S. is digging too deeply into its munitions stockpiles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. DAN CAINE, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF CHAIRMAN: I know there have been a lot of questions about munitions. We have sufficient precision munitions for the task at hand, both on the offense and defense. But I want to tell you, teammates, as a matter of practice, I don't want to be talking about quantities. And I know there's been a great debate about that, and I appreciate the interest, but just know that we consider that an operational security matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Joining me now live is retired General Wesley Clark, a former NATO Supreme Allied commander Europe, and founder of Renew America Together.
General, thank you so much. Welcome to THE STORY IS for the first time.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME COMMANDER EUROPE: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: What do you make of what General Caine said right there? And what President Trump has said about munitions?
CLARK: You know, it's exactly what General Caine said, we're not going to get into numbers on this thing. The truth is that when you start an air campaign like this, you probably are using standoff weapons. By the time you finish, you've dismantled the enemy's air defenses. You're not needing those standoff weapons. You've got precision strike that doesn't need missiles behind it, like joint direct attack munitions, JDAM, and you can use a plain old iron bombs like the B-52s are doing, and do a heck of a job when you're not contending with enemy air defense. So I think he's on very solid ground in what he says.
MICHAELSON: What do you think about a notion that's out there of potentially arming Kurdish opposition to help topple the regime in Tehran? Is that a good idea?
CLARK: I think it is. I think it's one more means of pressuring the government in Iran.
Look, when we did the Kosovo operation in 1999, the Kosovo Liberation Army was there. It forced the Serbs to defend themselves. It made them targets of NATO air power to some extent. And it was -- it was part of the campaign. So in this case if you want the Iranian people to take back their government, they're not going to do it without arms. That's for sure. You've got a million Iranians under arms for this regime, both the regular army and the Revolutionary Guards and the Quds Force.
So it's a little unrealistic to expect NATO bombing and then some unarmed protesters out in the street, and suddenly the regime is going to surrender. I hope that will happen but I think it's unlikely, and so I think it's a natural thing that Iranians would take up arms against the regime, whether they're Kurds or Persians or Azeris or Baluchis or members of different tribes. Inside Persia there are weapons in there.
And I think that this regime has lost the support of the Iranian people. I think they are going to call on their family members that are in those security forces to get out. And I think the -- they could well disintegrate. But if they don't, there will be fighting. And unfortunately, that's what happens when you have a tyrannical government such as Iran has had for 47 years.
MICHAELSON: But are there potentially unintended consequences of arming an opposition? Certainly the U.S. has done that before and it hasn't always worked out so great.
CLARK: May not work out. It's one of those things, you don't know how something is going to end when you start, but I think this was an inevitable war. And I think -- I hope that our friends in Europe and around the world will understand that when a nation's sole purpose is to acquire weapons to destroy another state that eventually a war will come to that state because that's what the Iranian ayatollahs wanted.
They started from the beginning, identifying Israel and the United States as Satans.
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They've used terrorists. They've gone into Europe to attack us. They've attacked us throughout the region. They killed hundreds of our soldiers when we were deployed in Iraq, and I think the best estimate when you talk to people who are from Iran, who understand the region up close, they will tell you, if the ayatollah had nuclear weapons, he would use them. Not for deterrence. He had a mission and that was to destroy Israel and if he could get to it, the United States. So I think you have to look at it from that perspective.
MICHAELSON: So you think that this war was inevitable because we've seen so many presidents, including presidents that you've served who have been unwilling to go as far as President Trump has gone here. You think this was a good thing that what the president has done?
CLARK: Well, put it this way. We always believe, at least I certainly believe, that you should use force only as a last, last, last resort. But it was clear from the strong efforts of the Obama administration, from what happened afterwards, from what we know has happened since really from the beginning that Iran has wanted nuclear weapons. They flirted with them. They've talked about it. They've negotiated.
They've worked with the IAEA. They've worked against the IAEA. And each stage they got closer and closer. We always knew there was going to be a problem. If you went after these weapons and didn't get them the first time, then Iran would certainly do its part to get them the next time. So we went after them and in June we didn't get all those enriched uranium. And so I think, I think what you're dealing with here is a government that was bent, determined to get nuclear weapons and would have used them.
And you say it could be deterrence but you understand that what they might have considered deterrence is for us a provocation and given their expressed intent, we simply couldn't let this go by. So I can't predict what the outcome will be. I'm not on the inside doing the planning. I'm not getting classified information. All I can tell you is, as a student of history and someone who's participated in these operations in the past, and watch this very closely as it's emerged over 47 years, I think this war was inevitable.
And I hope that it will end quickly. And with the end of the Iranian regime and with a minimum loss of life on everybody's part.
MICHAELSON: Really interesting perspective.
General Wesley Clark, thank you so much for joining us. And thank you for your many, many years of service to our country.
CLARK: Thank you. Thank you very much.
MICHAELSON: An Israeli strike targeting Hezbollah ends up pummeling a hotel in Beirut but the owner is now telling CNN about that attack just ahead. Plus, an American professional basketball player is out of harm's way after being stranded in Israel. Destiny Littleton will be joining us live to share her harrowing story. Still to come on THE STORY IS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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MICHAELSON: The White House says President Trump will attend the dignified transfer of the six U.S. troops killed in Iranian drone strike. Their remains will be transported to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the ritual ceremony. Hours ago, the Pentagon identified the two remaining fallen soldiers as Major Jeffrey O'Brien of Indianola Iowa, who is seen here, and Chief Warrant Officer Robert Marzan of Sacramento California, whose final identification is yet to be conducted by medical examiners.
The other four soldiers killed were identified previously as Captain Coady Corey -- Cody Khork, Sergeant 1st Class Nicole Amor, Sergeant 1st Class Noah Tietjens and Sergeant Declan Coady, who was posthumously promoted. They were killed in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait on Sunday.
Israel is intensifying strikes across Lebanon. This is a live picture right now from there. Lebanese officials say at least 74 people have been killed since Monday. This is a look at Beirut. New video shows an Israeli helicopter firing a missile from Northern Israel across the border. An Israeli strike also hit a hotel in Beirut.
All this part of a wider campaign against Hezbollah raising alarm that Lebanon could be pulled deeper into war.
Matthew Chance reports from Beirut.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the Iran war coming to Lebanon. Israel says it's targeting the Iranian backed Hezbollah militia here in Southern Beirut. The group launched revenge attacks on Israel after the killing of Iran's supreme leader last weekend.
MAGUY CHEBLI, BEIRUT HOTEL OWNER: Any territory outside our Lebanese army, I'm against.
CHANCE (voice-over): But the owner of the small Beirut hotel wrecked in that overnight strike insists just ordinary families were staying as guests. No Iranian citizens. And definitely no Hezbollah, who she blames for the spiraling violence.
This is where it happened, is it?
CHEBLI: This is where it happened. It started from the roof, the fourth floor, and it came down to here. Here was the room of the receptionist.
CHANCE: Yes.
CHEBLI: As you can see.
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CHANCE: I mean, look at this. It's -- it's, I mean, utter devastation. So, it was a pretty big explosion, wasn't it?
CHEBLI: It was. We had no one here. We had no -- any Iranians or any Hezbollah armies here. And we are not that stupid to -- to check them in. We are not that stupid. We live here. It's our home.
CHANCE: How angry are you?
CHEBLI: I am angry. Of course.
CHANCE: With Hezbollah right now?
CHEBLI: I am angry with Hezbollah and Israel and Iran. But Hezbollah more. You know why?
CHANCE: Why?
CHEBLI: Because they are Lebanese. They should be Lebanese. They are not. They are hurting us. They are hurting our homes, our children.
CHANCE: And they are dragging this country --
CHEBLI: They are dragging us to war --
CHANCE: -- into the Iranian war.
CHEBLI: -- that we don't want. And we're not ready.
CHANCE (voice-over): Across the Lebanese capital, tension and thick smoke is hanging over the city, with Israeli airstrikes pounding Beirut's Southern suburbs, some dangerously close to the international airport, one of the few still operating in the war-ravaged Middle East.
In the Lebanese city of Baalbek, another Hezbollah stronghold, rescue teams worked to reach people trapped under the rubble after authorities say a residential apartment block was struck.
And as this U.S. and Israeli war with Iran escalates, Lebanon appears increasingly drawn in.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Just ahead, an American content creator is stranded in Doha as the war with Iran wages on.
His story, plus Destiny Littleton, who just arrived back in Los Angeles. You see her standing by live right there. We'll hear her amazing story from Israel. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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MICHAELSON: Some stranded travelers in the Middle East are starting to return to their home countries. The first U.S.-facilitated evacuation flight left the region on Wednesday.
The State Department did not provide other details for security reasons of where it took off from and where it's going. But State Department does say flights will be surged throughout the region.
Meanwhile Spain's defense ministry says a flight carrying more than 170 citizens left Oman on Wednesday. One of several countries scrambling for flights home for nationals stranded abroad.
Not all travelers have had the same luck, though. An American content creator is stranded in Doha after flights were grounded when U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran shut down the airspace there.
Oliver Sims' flight back to Texas was turned around mid-flight, and now he's among thousands stuck in travel limbo. Bijan Hosseini reports from Doha.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OLIVER SIMS, AMERICAN STRANDED IN QATAR: We took off, and about an hour into the flight, I noticed on the map that we had turned around over the Persian Gulf.
BIJAN HOSSEINI, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER (voice-over): Oliver is one of thousands of travelers stranded as tensions escalate across the Middle East.
HOSSEINI: Have you heard any of these interceptions or any of these attacks from Iran?
SIMS: Yes, I have. I actually was woken up out of my sleep from it.
HOSSEINI (voice-over): Here in Qatar, authorities say 8,000 transit passengers were unable to continue on with their journeys.
HOSSEINI: In addition to all those passengers who were caught during transit, there's also these two cruise liners at Doha's old port behind me.
This big one right here, that's the Mein Schiff 5. We know that they have a capacity of 2,500 passengers and 1,000 crew. That itinerary finished on March 1, but we know that passengers are still on board, waiting until they can fly out.
HOSSEINI (voice-over): Some tourists, however, are trying to make the most of an unexpected delay, venturing out to explore the city, even as officials urge people to stay indoors.
Others are far less relaxed about the situation. This group of Polish tourists say they've had little communication from their government about when they might be able to leave.
HOSSEINI: And how is everyone feeling? Are you feeling OK? Are you feeling scared?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no. We are very sad. Very sad and --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Frustrated. Just frustrated that we cannot. There is no information and we just need to wait.
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: With up-to-the-minute safety and security information.
HOSSEINI (voice-over): The United States is urging its citizens abroad to register with the State Department and to reach out if they need assistance. But for travelers like Oliver, help has been limited.
SIMS: I went to the number that they had provided, and I called it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you are calling about the crisis in the Middle East, please press one.
SIMS: Yes. So, then this music was on, and whenever this music was on, I was waiting for, like, 30 minutes. They eventually answered, and they said, you know, just sign up for the STEP program. We really don't know what we can do.
HOSSEINI (voice-over): For now, thousands of tourists remain in limbo, waiting for tensions to ease and flights to resume.
Bijan Hosseini, CNN, Doha.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: An American professional basketball player is back home in the U.S. after being stranded in the Middle East. You're looking at her there.
Destiny Littleton plays on a pro team in Jerusalem, and she was in Israel when the war with Iran broke out on Saturday. She has been posting updates about her ordeal on Instagram. Here's some of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DESTINY LITTLETON, PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYER: We are in an active war situation, and we have to just stay in place and stay in shelter.
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All we can do is just stay the course and follow directions when they come.
Look, look, look. Over there, over there, over there, over there, over there. Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Destiny Littleton is now back home in Los Angeles. Welcome to THE STORY IS for the first time.
LITTLETON: Thank you. Thank you. Wow, that video gave me chills.
MICHAELSON: Yes, well, describe what was going through your mind as you filmed it. What was happening there?
LITTLETON: Yes, especially the one where you can see the interceptor missiles do their job. That was a very scary moment for us. It was late at night, and you know, we're -- we were sitting on the
couch just watching TV. And one of my teammates went out for fresh air and said, oh, my gosh, there's these red things in the sky.
And so, we all jumped out there. There were no sirens, no alerts, and that scared us even more. And then the more we looked, they just felt closer and closer. And, you know, we can hear them. We can see them. It was more and more coming in the sky. And that night -- that night was probably one of the rougher nights.
MICHAELSON: Because a lot of Israelis who have lived there for a while or lived there their whole lives, they've seen a lot of the Iron Dome at work, basically intercepting missiles as they come in. Had you ever seen anything like this before?
LITTLETON: Only on movies. It was honestly surreal to me. And you know, in the -- in the video, you heard me say, are those drones? I didn't even know what those were.
And, you know, obviously later, after I posted the video, people informed me that that's the Iron Dome doing its job. But in the moment, we didn't know what that was.
MICHAELSON: You're pretty grateful for that Iron Dome?
LITTLETON: One hundred percent. I mean, it kept me safe. It kept my teammates safe.
And you know, it wasn't 100 percent effective. It did touch down, actually, in the city, maybe ten minutes away from us. So, you know, we were pretty lucky.
MICHAELSON: Yes, some do get through, despite that Iron Dome being pretty effective most of the time.
What did you get a sense in terms of the mood of -- of Israelis? Are they feeling scared?
LITTLETON: Honestly, I don't think they are. I mean, the outpour of support that they've given me was, hey, I've been through this before. I live -- I've lived here all my life. You're OK. The Iron Dome is safe. You're going to -- you're going to be OK.
And, you know, it was a realization, like, but I don't live -- I'm not used to this. And you know -- and then obviously, in the normal life, you know, you see people playing on the swings and driving their cars. And, you know, I'm scared to just take a step foot on the patio.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
LITTLETON: So, it's definitely a drastic difference in lifestyle.
MICHAELSON: We just saw how difficult it is for folks to get home in different regions. How difficult was it for you to get home? Talk to us about your journey. LITTLETON: It was a long journey. I mean, we had zero to none, little
to none communication about what was going to happen. And you know, all we knew is that El Al flights were canceled. And that was -- I had a flight scheduled for the fourth.
And so, you know, eventually a plan came, and we took the trek, four- hour bus ride to Egypt. And then from Egypt, we crossed the -- we crossed the border into Egypt, flew out of Taba, which Taba is not really even an operating airport like that. They just opened up so that, you know, certain flights can leave.
That was a whole mess. And we waited there pretty much for six hours all day, waiting to just get on a plane. And it was crazy, because there were about four flights that day that departed; and every single time a person's flight got called, the entire place erupted in cheers. And they were just so happy to be able to board the plane.
From there we went to Serbia, and we landed in Serbia around 10 o'clock. And then from Serbia, I flew to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to L.A. So, it was a very, very long trip.
And, you know, just -- just that flight going from Egypt to Serbia, I was extremely scared and nervous. I still wasn't calm. And then when I touched down in Serbia, I kind of felt a little relief.
MICHAELSON: And what did it feel like when you touched down in America, getting off the plane?
LITTLETON: I think, like, I -- my instant glow came back, and my smile came back. And just everything about me; just knowing that I'm safe and, you know, surrounded by familiar people and faces and noises.
And I think the noise is part. Will -- will probably need some work on -- but -- because noise is still -- still, I jump a little bit. But yes, it was a relief.
MICHAELSON: Yes, triggering. Would you go back? Would you go back to Israel? Would you play there again?
LITTLETON: Probably not. You know, I loved Israel, you know, up until the war started. It's an amazing country, amazing people. They were great to me. I had an amazing basketball season.
But I just -- the war put a lot of stress on me. My body couldn't take it. And I don't want to put my body through that anymore. And I don't want to, you know, wake up in the middle of my sleep to bombs going outside of my -- my window. That's just not a life that I want to live.
MICHAELSON: Well, Destiny, thank you for joining us. I don't know if folks can see this. Maybe we take down the banner, but you've got a great necklace on. I love the -- I love the basketball hoop that you got going on there.
LITTLETON: Thank you. MICHAELSON: And -- and for people that were just watching, like me, that are graduates of the University of Southern California, we saw you playing for USC in some of those pictures.
LITTLETON: Fight on.
MICHAELSON: So, fight on to you and --
LITTLETON: Absolutely. Fight on, fight on.
MICHAELSON: -- I'm glad that you're back home and safe. We're all rooting for you. Thanks, Destiny.
LITTLETON: Thank you so much.
MICHAELSON: We have this just in. More than 17,500 American citizens have now returned to the U.S. from the Middle East since the war began on Saturday. That is according to a State Department official who says their task force assisted nearly 6,500 Americans with security and travel assistance.
He says many more across the Middle East, Europe, and Asia still remain abroad or in transit. We'll be back with more of them and their stories right after this on THE STORY IS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:50:46]
MICHAELSON: Welcome back to THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson. Let's take a look at today's top stories.
Israel says its latest airstrikes have dismantled dozens of Iran's ballistic missile arrays. U.S.-based humanitarian rights group reports more than 1,000 people have been killed in Iran since Saturday. CNN cannot independently verify that number.
Meanwhile, the IDF says Iran launched a new barrage of missiles towards Israel early on Thursday.
U.S. House Oversight Committee has vowed to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify about her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Republican lawmaker Nancy Mace introduced the motion as part of the committee's investigation into the late convicted sex offender. It passed 24 to 19 Wednesday, with bipartisan support. Legendary college football coach Lou Holtz has died at the age of 89. He's the only coach to lead six different teams to bowl games.
With Holtz at the helm, Notre Dame's Fighting Irish won 100 games over 11 seasons, including the national championship in 1988.
Holtz won nearly 250 games across his career. His cause of death has not yet been released.
The U.S. is putting a new drone into combat for the first time in the war with Iran. The LUCAS drone was actually built using Iran's drone expertise.
U.S. CENTCOM calls it American-made retribution. CNN's Tom Foreman explains how it works.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let's take a look at what the U.S. is doing right now. They are building a previously unused military asset.
And I'm going to show you a life-size model that we bring into our virtual studio here. This is the LUCAS drone. Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System.
It is, as you can see, about ten feet long, about an eight-foot wingspan. It weighs about 180 pounds. It's powered by a propeller back there, which means very low heat signature, hard to track. And up front, it can carry about 40 pounds of high explosives.
It is also, interestingly, based upon a clone of an Iranian drone, the Shahed 136 Kamikaze. The Iranians have been working on this for years. The U.S. got ahold of one. They had engineers take it apart and say let's build a better version of it. That's what they have done.
And yet, the Iranians continue to rely on this and many other types of drones. But this one in particular they rely on for several reasons.
One, compared to a missile, which requires a great big launch platform that can be targeted and taken out, and then the missiles are no longer useful. This can be launched from the back of a truck, from the middle of a field, from a boat, compared to a missile which requires a big production facility, which also can be targeted and destroyed. These can be made in many covert locations all over that are hard to track down.
And compared to a missile, which will cost at least $1 million, sometimes several million, this is cheap. Only about $20,000 per unit.
So, when we look at these maps out here, where you see places where drones have hit or missiles have hit, every time a drone is hit, it doesn't necessarily mean just one drone was launched there.
Instead, squadrons of things are launched. They send many of them in. Because if you have a system out there that can't stop all of them, you only need 10 percent to get through to do a tremendous amount of damage, as we have been seeing in these videos in various places.
One of the concerns here is also that the cost of the systems to stop these is higher than the cost of the drones.
In many ways, military analysts say the Iranians have been preparing for many years for just this type of conflict. So, though they didn't want to have a war necessarily, now that the war has come to it, their use of drones is forcing the U.S. to fight a type of battle that the Iranians would prefer, even as the U.S. tries to turn that weapon back against them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Tom Foreman, thank you. Thank you to the CNN graphics department. I don't know what's more impressive. The drone technology or the graphic technology. That's amazing. Thank you for that.
We've got more coverage of our war with Iran coming up as we go to break with a live picture from Doha. We'll have live reports from the region still to come.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:59:36]
MICHAELSON: Market are digesting the turmoil caused by the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran. Here's a look at key markets in Asia right now, and it's good news. Look at them, all trading higher.
Investors are keeping a close eye on the Middle East and disruptions to energy markets and global shipping. Asian markets had closed sharply lower on Wednesday.
Thanks for watching this hour of THE STORY IS. The next hour starts right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
