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What We Know with Max Foster
U.S. Consulate In Dubai On Fire After Suspected Drone Strike; Trump Admin Says It Is Working To Secure Military Aircraft To Transport Stranded Americans; Israel Claims To Have Hit Building With Iranian Leaders Inside; President Trump Denies Israel Forced The U.S. To Strike Iran. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired March 03, 2026 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:27]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: I'm Max Foster, following breaking news out of the Middle East this hour as the United States and Israel's war on Iran
continues.
Our breaking news is that the U.S. consulate in Dubai is on fire after a suspected Iranian drone strike. That's according to a source in the region.
Video obtained from X a short time ago shows black smoke rising into the sky in the area around the consulate building. You can see how it's that
built up area so very close to home for many people.
Nic Robertson is in Riyadh -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, this seems to be a systematic effort by Iran to intentionally target U.S. embassies, U.S.
consulates in the region. The U.S. consulate in Dubai tonight, dramatic images of huge plumes of black smoke rising over the skyline there.
Dramatic pictures that many people probably never imagined that they would see, even if the United States and Israel went to war in Iran. That is what
is happening the assessment here in Saudi Arabia is that Iran retains control, command and control of what it does militarily and its
systematically, carefully in a calibrated and calculated way, targeting things that it believes will cause maximum panic, maximum disruption and
maximum pressure on the White House to end the war.
Overnight last night, four drones impacted the U.S. embassy here in Riyadh. The embassy is now closed. In the afternoon today, there was an immediate
threat to the U.S. consulate in Dhahran in the east of the country. The warning went out that there are potentially ballistic missiles, potentially
drones, incoming shelter in place don't go to the consulate don't leave your home overnight.
Last night as well in Jordan, the embassy, we understand, was evacuated. The day before, the U.S. embassy in Kuwait was -- appeared to be the
target. Black smoke billowing around there. So, this is what appears to be happening. It is stark -- these images are stark we know that. We know that
Dubai. We know that the UAE, we know that Bahrain, we know that Saudi Arabia, we know that Qatar. We know that Oman. We know that Kuwait have got
air defense systems. They have been very effective.
Yesterday, Saudi shot down five missiles fired at a big air base just outside of the capital here. They shot down missiles, Iranian -- suspected
Iranian drones that were fired at a huge oil refinery. There was some damage, but the picture that emerges is somehow Iran seems able to get
drones through to key U.S. premises that send a voluminous signal and message across the region here, particularly, think of all those people
that are stranded in those gulf countries.
They can't fly out because the war is essentially shuttered, the airspace there, and now, they're seeing these prime diplomatic targets off limits in
times of war, under international norms of law being hit, it is -- appears to be Iran intending to put pressure on the White House and specifically on
the U.S. public. And of course, what Iran wants is an end of the war -- Max.
FOSTER: Nic, what are your contacts saying in the region? How much longer can these Gulf states accept these hits? You know, this is, as you say
symbolic. This is a city that so many people in the world know. How long can they take these hits without responding themselves?
ROBERTSON : Everything's calibrated. Everything's on a scale. You know, a country like Saudi Arabia, an apex oil producer in the Gulf region, huge
oil producer, let's say if Iran was to specifically target upstream, we call them upstream oil facilities.
So, it's not just like the last bit where the oil goes -- gets put on the tanker, but way further upstream. You, you know, I'm not going to -- it
would be wrong for me to put down information that perhaps Iran would like to use. Of course, they can make their own calculations, but an attack that
decimates oil production capability in any of these gulf countries is huge, and its significant.
And here, they don't want to get drawn into a war where Iran is smashing their oil infrastructure. They're smashing Iran's oil infrastructure
because ultimately this has to be built. Ultimately, they have to continue to live into the region -- so live in the region together when the war is
over.
[15:05:04]
But your question raises a fundamental point. How much more can they take? And that's a real and active question that's under debate. They will not
stand back. I don't think, and watch the decimation of their critical infrastructure. Saudi has said very clearly that it will protect its
sovereignty, its territory, its infrastructure, its people, its territories and they reserve the situation to respond to aggression.
But they don't want to get drawn into what they would calculate at the moment. Iran's intentional effort to draw them in, intentional effort to
escalate and from perhaps a real hard real politic position. At the moment, its only drones that are doing this damage that we see in Dubai tonight
that we saw in Riyadh last night, that we saw in Kuwait the night before. If it were ballistic missiles that Iran was using.
And Iran has an option here when it decides to target somewhere, it has an option what it should target, when it should target, what it should target
with. That's the assessment here in Saudi Arabia. So, the assessment would be at the moment, Iran's just using drones.
If Iran steps up the escalation ladder and starts using ballistic missiles to try to target, Saudi oil infrastructure, let's say, that would be much
harder to stop and potentially way more destructive than a drone. The game begins to change. So, you can see there's room if you will, to absorb more.
There's reasons to absorb more, but the image that's being created here is there is a threshold. We don't seem to be at it yet. We don't know quite
how close we are to it, Max.
FOSTER: Nick, thank you so much.
Let's go to Jennifer Hansler at the State Department.
As we look at these images, Jennifer, I mean this is -- I don't know quite how to describe it. The city that everyone knows, people are close to it.
It's central. It's the city that relies in large part on tourism.
What is the State Department saying about what happened here?
JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, we haven't heard anything yet from the State Department, Max. We heard from the UAE media
center, the Kuwait -- Dubai, excuse me, media center saying that no one had been hurt in this incident. We have not yet heard from the State
Department. If they have gotten full veracity on all of their personnel.
I should note that they were sheltering in place, the personnel in the United Arab Emirates, and it is one of several countries that were put on
an ordered departure yesterday. That means that the State Department has ordered all non-emergency personnel and their family members to leave the
UAE, along with five other countries in the region, as these Iranian retaliatory strikes continue to play out.
As Nic noted, this is not the first diplomatic facility to be hit by suspected Iranian drones. We saw the embassy in Riyadh be hit last night.
The embassy in Kuwait was hit both yesterday and on Sunday as Iran continues its retaliation across the region.
Now, I think there are going to be questions here, Max, about why these embassies were not put into ordered or authorized departure earlier. That's
when you're given the option to leave the country. That is always something that the State Department is considering in these high risk situations. So,
they finally did trigger that yesterday.
There are also, of course, a number of concerns about the American citizens who have been stuck in the Middle East since the start of these military
operations. We have finally started to hear some responses from the State Department today, saying that they are working to facilitate both charter
commercial flights as well as military flights out of the region. The UAE is one of the countries that the State Department said it is working to
facilitate flights for the Americans who are stuck.
But this is a very dangerous, very rapidly escalating situation for both American citizens as well as American personnel on the ground there, Max.
FOSTER: We have had the good news, if I can call it that as well, that the UAE are developing a air corridor -- safe air corridor, which will allow
flights to leave the UAE. So Americans will be able to get back to the U.S., but there's going to be a long queue, of course. They're going to be
pretty angry, aren't they, that they were left in this stranded position with events like this happening around them? Because there was no plan in
place for them.
HANSLER: Yeah. I mean, the president himself said today when asked in the Oval Office that they didn't have an evacuation plan because they weren't
expecting such a quick retaliation now, of course, that if -- that is in fact the case, that is a really, really shocking admission, because, you
know the state department, as secretary of states across the board throughout history, have said their top priority is protecting American
citizens abroad.
[15:10:05]
So it is typical that they would have some sort of contingency plan in place to help Americans. But we have heard from folks on the ground who are
incredibly frustrated and incredibly scared because they have been stuck in what has now essentially become a war zone for days and days. And we saw,
of course, yesterday, there was a tweet put out by the state department calling on Americans to depart now from some 14 countries in the region on
commercial travel, when there was virtually no commercial option available to them.
So, there is a lot of anger, a lot of fear among the people who are stuck. And of course, Max, as you mentioned, there's going to be a long queue of
people trying to leave, and there are concerns about how they might even be able to access these flights as there are shelter in place, orders in place
and, you know, the continued threat of Iranian retaliation.
FOSTER: Yeah. And there's the cost of all that as well, particularly the Americans that live in Dubai. And how are they going to get support going
forward? Thank you so much, Jennifer.
Now, Donald Trump says he doesn't even know who is still alive amongst Iran's leaders. Israel struck the building earlier today that supposedly
contained the group of Iranian leaders picking a successor to Ayatollah Khamenei. Iran claims the people inside the building were evacuated before
the strike, but it's worth noting that they also claimed Khamenei was alive until they admitted he wasn't.
The Iranian Red Crescent says the death toll from days of attacks by Israel and the U.S. is approaching 800. This as Iran continues to fire back at
both Israeli and U.S. bases across the region. The vast majority of those counterattacks are being shot down. Donald Trump says Iran's military has
been decimated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That is coming along as you see very well. They have no navy. It's been knocked out. They have no air
force. It's been knocked out. They have no air detection. That's been knocked out. Their radar has been knocked out. And, just about everything's
been knocked out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: But the conflict is expanding beyond Iran. Israel hit numerous targets in southern Lebanon and Beirut on Tuesday as it battles Iranian-
backed Hezbollah forces.
Now, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says his forces are ready to move into southern Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah from attacking Israelis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRME MINISTER: Hezbollah made a very big mistake when it attacked us. We have already responded with force and we
will respond with even greater additional force.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Jeremy Diamond joins us now from Tel Aviv.
How significant would a ground operation be, Jeremy?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've already seen some Israeli troops moving into positions in southern Lebanon, beyond the five
positions that we know Israel has continued to control since that ceasefire went into place more than a year ago between Israel and Hezbollah. The
question is, will they continue to go even further? You know, the last time Israeli troops went into Lebanon, over a year and a half ago I believe it
was we saw Israeli troops take up a thin strip of land in southern Lebanon.
Ultimately, they did not continue to march towards Beirut or anywhere approaching the Lebanese capital. And we've heard no indication that that
will be the case this time either. But what is clear is that Israel is intent on trying to destroy Hezbollah's capabilities in this latest round
of this conflict, once and for all, with the Israeli military chief of staff saying that they plan to deliver a devastating blow to Hezbollah,
framing Hezbollah's decision to enter this war in support of Iran as a serious miscalculation.
At the same time, we're continuing to watch as Israel and the United States are pummeling Iran, including the Iranian capital of Tehran. Today, we saw
this report of a strike targeting the assembly of experts. That's the group of 88 senior Iranian clerics that were supposed to be gathering in order to
pick the next supreme leader following the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the opening round of strikes on Saturday.
Israeli officials say that they're still waiting for the battle damage assessment from that strike. But the Israeli ambassador to Washington,
Yechiel Leiter, he said that he believes there is a very good chance that those electors will not be readily available for future elections, an
indication that Israel believes this strike was successful even as Iranian state media says that the meeting was evacuated prior to the strike -- Max.
FOSTER: Jeremy, thank you so much for that.
President Trump denying that the U.S. was forced into a war with Iran by Israel. The president making those comments earlier today in the Oval
Office. Instead, Trump says the U.S. may have instead forced Israel's hand, explaining that Iran was going to attack first and the willingness of the
U.S. to prevent that may have pushed Israel to join them.
[15:15:01]
Kristen Holmes joins us from the White House.
Because I can't keep up with the reason all of this started, Kristen.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and, Max, clearly pushing back there on Secretary of State Marco Rubio's remarks that
really changed the narrative yesterday afternoon. We had just had this briefing from the secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, as well as from President
Trump. They seem to be on the same page for the first time in public, taking questions at least in the case of Pete Hegseth, you had President
Trump speaking in public with a definitive line on why at least from their perspective, they went into this war or this attack and what the objectives
were.
And then you got to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who threw in this idea that perhaps it was because we were forced into it because Israel was going
to strike them no matter what, and that the United States had learned that Iran was able to strike back and retaliate and would against American
assets. So, because Israel was going in, we had to as well.
Now, this, of course rankled an enormous amount of people across the board, including in President Trump's own base who said that we were following
Israel into a war after President Trump had promised not to go to war and to instead end wars. It does seem though, as though they are all -- they
all being the White House, walking that back, I've gotten a number of clips sent to me of different parts of what Rubio said yesterday that stressed
the same objectives as President Trump. And of course, you have President Trump pushing back, saying, no, no, no, it was probably us that forced
Israel into this.
But they are remaining by this talking point that they believe that there was the development of a nuclear program, that they believe that there was
going to be eventually a capability of long-range missile strikes and certainly that they had and were gathering short range missiles. So, now,
it seems as though that is where they are going when it comes to the messaging.
But again, this comes after days of a back and forth. I mean, originally, we were told that there was that they had learned that there was intel for
a preemptive strike, which seems to have now been completely taken off the table -- a preemptive strike of Iran against American assets. So, they do
seem to be following the same messaging now after what we heard from Rubio today. Now, we have President Trump correcting the record, but they're
still very much you know, piecing together a narrative that they want out there.
And of course, one of the big questions that we've all been asking for the last several days is what happens now? What is the next day plan? And it's
very unclear.
President Trump was asked specifically, who do you want to lead Iran? And he said, well, most of them are dead now. So, it seems as though it's a
little bit unclear what the next steps are here, at least for the United States.
FOSTER: And it's enormously expensive, and there seems to be an awareness that this is going to backfire to some extent in the U.S. in terms of the
economy. Oil can't get out of the region, oil and gas, and that's driving up the price of oil and gas in the United States. But President Trump
addressed that, didn't he? Talking about escorting oil tankers through that key Strait of Hormuz?
HOLMES: Yeah, yes, that's exactly what he just said. He posted that that they might start doing that to escort these oil tankers through the Strait
of Hormuz. But he also noted, and this is something that none of these candidates right now in the United States are going to be running for a
midterm in November. Want to hear him say that the prices are likely to go up before they go back down?
And we also know that he was sitting down with the German chancellor, who said that all economies, the European economies, as well as the United
States were going to be deeply impacted by this, even though President Trump tried to brush it off. But clearly, now that he is putting out this
statement on potentially escorting these oil tankers.
FOSTER: Okay, Kristen, I'm going to interrupt very rudely. But Marco Rubio is speaking, so we're going to go to him.
MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: In need of assistance, it is very important -- and I asked this of the networks as well. It is important for
you to please put both the website and the phone numbers on your screens because we need people. We need to know where you are. We need to know we
need to have contact information for Americans that need assistance.
They have to register with us, because as these options begin to open up and as they open up, we have to be able to call you, we have to be able to
reach you. We have to be able to know where you're staying so we can get this information to you and coordinate appropriately.
And it will be a variety of methods -- charter flights, military flights and transports, expanded commercial opportunities, and in some cases, land
routes that will allow them to go to neighboring countries who might have open airports at that point. So, it's a lot of different things here that
need to happen in order to move people. But it all starts by knowing that you're there. It all starts by knowing that that where you are and how we
can get ahold of you.
So I'm asking the networks and all of the media outlets. Please publicize the two phone numbers that we've put out, as well as the website, so people
can contact us and register. Weve had, you know thousands of people call already. As I said, we've identified 15 -- almost 1,600 that are requesting
assistance with departure. But we need you to please be able to identify that.
[15:20:01]
As I came in, I also saw the media reports about Dubai's consulate. The last update I had with seconds before getting before these cameras was that
a drone unfortunately struck a parking lot adjacent to the -- to the chancellery building and set off a fire in that place, all personnel are
accounted for, as you're aware, we began drawing down personnel from our diplomatic facilities in advance of this and the cases, for example, of
Beirut. We basically drew down to bare bones as well as in -- as in Baghdad and in Erbil and a couple other posts as well.
So, we've been very fortunate, obviously, but our embassies and our diplomatic facilities are under direct attack from a terroristic regime.
With an update, I obviously refer you to the Department of War. Suffice it to say that our objectives remain as they've been identified from the
beginning and by the president, laid out clearly yesterday. Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, and we will now not allow Iran to hide behind the
immunity of a massive short term ballistic missile inventory, or the ability to make them or launch them.
And so, CENTCOM, in a joint operations is carrying out a systematic destruction of their missile belt, destruction of their launchers, and
destruction of their ability to make these, as well as the destruction of their navy. From what I've been told by the Department of War, everything
is on or ahead of schedule and proceeding on these objectives, we have every confidence in the world that these objectives will be achieved.
The last point I would make is and I said this yesterday, and I repeat what's about to, you know, you're about to see, you know, we're going to
unleash Chiang on these people in the next few hours and days. You're going to really begin to perceive a change in the scope and in the intensity of
these attacks as, frankly, the two most powerful air forces in the world take apart this terroristic regime and defang it and take away its ability
to threaten its neighbors or hide behind a zone of immunity that allows them to develop their nuclear ambitions.
This terroristic radical cleric-led regime cannot be ever allowed to have nuclear weapons. We saw what they were willing to do to their own people.
They were willing to slaughter their own people in the streets. Imagine what they would do to us, imagine what they would do to others.
Under President Trump, that will never, ever happen yesterday.
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: Mr. Secretary, yesterday, you said -- yesterday, you talked about Israel, Mr. Secretary, Mr. Secretary --
RUBIO: Please, guys, I can't hear them all. Yes?
REPORTER: Yesterday, you told us that Israel was going to strike Iran and that's why we needed to get involved. Today, the president said --
RUBIO: No, yeah. Your statement is false. So that's not what -- I was asked very specifically. Were you there yesterday?
Okay. No, were you the one that -- because somebody asked me a question yesterday, did we go in because of Israel? And I said -- you asked me that,
that follow up. And I said, no, I told you this had to happen, anyway.
The president made a decision, and the decision he made was that Iran was not going to be allowed to hide behind its ballistic missile program, that
Iran was not going to be allowed to hide behind its ability to conduct these attacks. That decision had been made. The president systematically --
made a decision to systematically destroy this terroristic capability that they had, and we carried that out. I was very clear in that answer.
This was a question of timing, of why this had to happen as a joint operation, not the question of the intent. Once the president made a
decision that negotiations were not going to work, that they were playing us on the negotiations and that this was a threat that was untenable. The
decision was made to strike them.
That's what I said yesterday. And you guys need to play it. If you're going to play these statements, you need to play the whole statement, not clip it
to reach the narrative that you want to do. All right.
REPORTER: This is your statement. This is your statement, Mr. Secretary
RUBIO: Go ahead.
REPORTER: What do you make of the war powers resolution that --
RUBIO: I mean, the Congress votes on those they can if they want. There's mechanisms for it. We've complied with the War Powers Act even though we
believe it's unconstitutional, as has every other administration, every other president has found the War Powers Act to be unconstitutional.
Nonetheless, we notified the Gang of Eight which is an appropriate mechanism by which to notify Congress. We sent the notification within 48
hours the way the law requires.
I'm here today to have, I don't know my sixth or seventh briefing before the entirety of the house and senate, which is far more than I ever got
from any administration in the time that I was here, certainly when I was a member of the Gang of Eight. And so, we've complied with all -- we've
complied with the law and what it requires.
This is an action by the president to address a real threat, a real threat. This is hostilities designed to eliminate a threat to the safety and the
security of the United States and to our allies.
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: Mr. Secretary --
REPORTER: Is there a plan in place to evacuate Americans before the attack took place?
RUBIO: Well, that's the plan we're trying to carry out. 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. So that's the challenge.
But rest assured, we are confident that we are going to be able to assist every American as I told you right now, we have about a little over 1,500,
maybe closer to 1,600 Americans requesting assistance. And we know that we're going to be able to help them. It's going to take a little time
because we don't control the airspace closures.
[15:25:04]
That said, there may be more people out there that need help. We need to know who you are. So please, I'm asking the media publicize the phone
numbers and the website because we need people to call in. So, we have their name, we have their contact information, we have their location and
their request. So, as these opportunities begin to open up, we can act very quickly to reach them and get them out of harm's way.
REPORTER: Mr. Secretary, I want to just clarify what you said. I want to clarify what you said because you said -- you said clarify, but you said --
RUBIO: No, but you have to read -- if you're going to read the whole statement.
REPORTER: Your quote is about, we knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that would precipitate an attack.
RUBIO: Yeah, I know I understand, but listen, all right, let me understand. That's what. But I had a very specific question from that
gentleman, right?
REPORTER: The president said -- the president said --
RUBIO: Hold on one second. I asked --
REPORTER: -- the Israelis.
RUBIO: Okay, but let me answer because this is my press conference. Okay. The you asked me, I was asked a very specific question. So, you guys can
misrepresent it, but I was asked a very specific question yesterday.
The bottom line is this, we -- the president determined we were not going to get hit first. It's that simple, guys. We are not going to put American
troops in harm's way.
If you tell the president of the United States that if we don't go first, we're going to have more people killed and more people injured. The
president is going to go first. That's what he did. That's what the president will always do. He will always put the safety and security of our
men and women in uniform and of all Americans before anything else. He's always going to do that. And that's what he did here.
In addition to that I would argue that this threat from Iran, they are hiding behind these missiles and hiding behind these drones. They wanted to
reach a point where you couldn't touch them, and then they could do whatever the hell they wanted with their nuclear program. And there was no
way in the world that this terrorist regime was going to get nuclear weapons not under Donald Trump's watch.
REPORTER: So, the U.S. attack nothing to do with Israel. It had nothing to do with Israel?
RUBIO: Hold on, go ahead.
REPORTER: This operation -- there's a general question of why the president gave the green light. And then there's a question of why did it
have to happen this weekend? Are you saying it had to happen this weekend because of that Israeli action?
RUBIO: No. This weekend presented a unique opportunity to take joint action against this threat. And I just -- we wanted this to have maximum
success. We want this operation to be successful at achieving its objectives.
I'll repeat the objectives. The president laid them out yesterday. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. It cannot have -- and therefore, it cannot
have the things it was hiding behind to have a nuclear weapons program. What are those things? Number one, we are going to destroy their missiles
and their missile launchers. We are going to destroy their capability to make these missiles and these launchers, and we are going to destroy their
navy.
Those are the objectives and this weekend, acting at this time gave us the highest probability of success in achieving those objectives. And as the
Department of War will brief you, we are on or ahead of schedule to do that.
REPORTER: So, the U.S. attack would have happened no matter what? Would the U.S. attack happened no matter what Israel is planning to do?
REPORTER: -- Israel was going to act --
RUBIO: The president had already made a decision to act. On the timing, the president acted on the timing that gave us the highest chance of
success. And that's what you're seeing play out right now. You're seeing it play out right now, and you'll see it in the days to come.
We will systematically take apart their missile program. We will destroy their ability to sponsor terrorism, by the way. We will destroy their
factories. We will destroy their navy.
Those objectives are going to be met. We're well on our way to meeting them. It will not be easy. There will be a price to pay for it. But that is
a much lower price to pay than having a nuclear armed Iran.
I got to go brief these guys -- hold on.
REPORTER: Can you clarify?
RUBIO: Yes. Yes, ma'am.
REPORTER: -- the administration meeting in June 2001 --
(INAUDIBLE)
RUBIO: What now?
(INAUDIBLE)
RUBIO: Well, that's not our notification to Congress. Our notification -- listen, let me explain to you guys this in simple English, okay? Iran is
run by lunatics, religious fanatic lunatics. They have an ambition to have nuclear weapons.
They intend to develop those nuclear weapons behind a program of missiles and drones and terrorism that the world will not be able to touch them for
fear of those things. And this is the weakest they've ever been.
Now is the time to go after them. The president made the decision to go after them, take away their missiles, take away their navy, take away their
drones, take away their ability to make those things so that they can never have a nuclear weapon. That's why the president made this decision. It was
the right decision. And the world will be a safer place when these radical clerics no longer have access to these weapons.
You see how they're using them now, imagine how they would use them a year from now if they had more of these.
All right. I got time for one more. Yeah, go ahead.
REPORTER: Several Democrats criticized what you said and --
RUBIO: Yeah, of course they could. The question is several Democrats criticized. They're going to always criticize. We've been doing this for
years, guys.
They come out. I'll tell you right now, they're going to come out after the briefing and say we didn't hear anything. We have more questions than
answers. You mark my words. But we still do these briefings.
Go ahead
REPORTER: Mr. Secretary --
REPORTER: Their criticism was on the timeline. They said that Israel is dictating the timeline for the United States.
RUBIO: No. The president --
REPORTER: As you know, several people on the right have also agreed with that. How would you respond?
REPORTER: Well, the United States made a decision under -- the president of the United States made a decision, this is intolerable. Iran cannot have
these missiles, cannot have these drones, cannot threaten the world. The president said this is the weakest they've ever been.
If we don't hit them now, a year from now, or a year and a half from now, no one will be able to touch them, and they'll be able to do whatever they
want.
And he made the decision to go, and he made a decision to go in a joint operation, because it gave us the highest chance of success.
[15:30:03]
And he made the decision to go first because he concluded that we were not going to get hit first. We were not going to absorb a blow from them. We
were going to go first.
He was not going to run the risk that they could attack us before we could hit them, because in addition to costing lives, it would undermine the
effectiveness of our operation.
All right, guys, I got to go. Thank you
(CROSSTALK)
FOSTER: Marco Rubio answering a whole list of questions there. First of all addressing that dramatic video that we've seen from Dubai of the U.S.
consulate there, saying there was a drone attack on the car park there, started a fire. Everyone has been accounted for in that building.
Then talking about the assistance that the State Department is now offering Americans has been a huge amount of criticism. After a statement yesterday
saying the state department can't offer any assistance. And now they are offering a mixture of charter and military flights as soon as they can get
the airspace he said, urging people, though, to notify the State Department that they are there.
Currently, they have a list of about 1,800 Americans wanting to get out, but he wants everyone to get in touch with State Department, so they know
that they're there. Finally, this comment that he made yesterday, which was interpreted as saying that America went into this conflict because Israel
was going to go in anyway. That was clarified by President Trump saying, actually, it was the other way around. You know, America was very much
leading on this Rubio saying, you know his message yesterday was basically misinterpreted, and he's on message with the president.
We'll be right back
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:35:00]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
FOSTER: Let's update you then on our breaking news this hour. The fire at the U.S. consulate in Dubai now extinguished after a suspected Iranian
drone strike. In the last 30 minutes, we've learned from a source in the region that the compound had been struck. And this is the scene in a video
on X from a short time ago showing black smoke billowing into the sky in an area around the consulate building.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says all U.S. personnel are accounted for and safe, and he adds the parking lot next to the consulate was
actually hit.
Joining us now, Kelly Greco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center.
Thank you for joining us.
I think Dubai, for many people really -- it does resonate for people because it's so familiar to people. And to see the smoke billowing up so
centrally to an area that people know is very alarming, isn't it? It really brings it home.
KELLY GRIECO, SENIOR FELLOW, STIMSON CENTER: Indeed. And I think that's exactly the point in some ways that the Iranians are trying to make. It
seems that they have decided that their best strategy is really a cost imposition strategy to try to raise the cost on Gulf states in particular,
and hope that they'll put pressure on the United States and Israel to cease operations.
FOSTER: So, we've also had some strikes on energy facilities which obviously hits those countries extremely hard. Are they trying -- are the
Iranians trying to provoke the Gulf states to fight back? I mean, that's a suggestion I've been hearing to draw them in.
GRIECO: Yeah. I mean, I think that's one of the risks that they're -- that they're taking right now is that that could be the result, that the -- that
the Gulf States decide that they need to go on offense as opposed to just self-defense.
Right now, though, the indications are that that's probably not going to be the case. I think really what the Iranians are thinking is that throughout
the last, you know, couple of years, they've really had a series of deterrence failures against Israel and the United States that each time
they've responded in some more calibrated way, it hasn't been rewarded with restraint in return.
And so, it seems that they've decided this time that they need to escalate in such some much more dramatic way. And the way they're doing that is to
regionalize this war from the outset to make it costly and to try to really drive up the costs that will lead to a change in calculations.
FOSTER: There's the suggestion as well they're trying to hit the economy of the region which will obviously have a knock on effect for the United
States. I'm just wondering how long it can go on for receiving -- these states receiving these strikes. There's going to become more and more
internal pressure, isn't there, to strike back. You know, you can't just allow another country to take out buildings which, you know at some point
there's going to be Emirati buildings hit, not just Americans.
GRIECO: Yes, certainly. You know, I think it's important to say that none of the Gulf countries are just sitting idly and not dealing with these
threats. They are all engaged in defense and self-defense. They're trying to defend their airspace using air and missile defense systems. They're
likely using aircraft and trying to intercept some of these incoming drones.
You know, so they're clearly -- they're clearly doing some -- some work to try to defend their airspace. I think the real challenge here, though, is
that they're limited in some very important ways. In terms of the depth of their stockpiles and how long they're able to sustain these kinds of
interceptions.
There's really a race right now between the United States and Israel trying to find this drone and missile infrastructure and destroy it so they can't
get as many missiles and drones into the air. And these interceptor stockpiles that are slowly being depleted. And I think in the coming days,
we'll see if the U.S.-Israeli strategy is working or not.
FOSTER: And the interceptors cost huge amounts of money, don't they? Each missile, as I understand it, costs -- can cost up to $1 million. But the
drones cost something like $35,000. So, is this part of the Iranian strategy to just you know, drain their much more expensive weaponry by
using very cheap weaponry?
GRIECO: Yeah. I mean, the reality is, with the United States, for example, we have a defense budget of over $1 trillion that even that cost asymmetry
which, as you note, is just terrible. The United States could, you know, in some sense you know, continue to afford that if it really wanted to with $1
trillion on defense, you know, it would chose to say, I'm going to pay those kind of costs.
The problem, though, is that we just don't have the stockpiles. That's the real limiting factor. And certainly, this is not sustainable. It's not a
smart approach.
You know, that -- a patriot missile that's being used to intercept an Iranian ballistic missile costs about four times as much as the as the
Iranian missile itself.
[15:40:00]
And these are not favorable economics. That's for sure.
FOSTER: Okay. Kelly Grieco, I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for joining us from D.C.
Top officials from the White House and the U.S. military are briefing the full Senate on Iran this hour, followed by the House, many Democrats and a
few Republicans are pushing for a quick vote on a war powers resolution meant to limit President Trump's authority to conduct military operations.
CNN's Manu Raju joins us from Capitol Hill.
How is this going to go there, Manu?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, we're seeing Republicans lining up against this effort to declare war. Remember
here in the United States, the United States Constitution gives congress the authority and the explicit authority, sole authority to actually
declare war. That happened back in the Iraq war, back in the Afghanistan war and has really not happened since, despite military conflicts that have
happened since then. And the question right now is how will Congress deal with this? Because Trump, Donald Trump of course, launched this military
campaign against Iran without any congressional vote at all.
And Democrats are pushing very hard to have some sort of vote when one vote expected to come up as soon as tomorrow is to prevent further escalation
with Iran, unless the president gets explicit authorization from Congress, that is getting support from Democrats. But Republicans control Capitol
Hill, and they're making very clear to me that they are not in favor of this vote, including one senator, Joni Ernst, who said there shouldn't even
been a vote to declare war to begin with.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Senator, so why shouldn't have Congress voted to authorize this war before it began, given that service members are losing their lives over
this?
SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): Yes. And I take that very personally. Obviously, I've served. My daughter serves on active duty now. But I would love for
anyone to name the last time Congress authorized operations or strikes in other countries.
RAJU: Iraq and Afghanistan, Iraq and Afghanistan. This is serious.
ERNST: We're just a few days in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: And there's Republican leadership in both the House and the Senate have made clear they are not in favor of any sort of vote here on Capitol
Hill. Democrats plan to force something in the Senate tomorrow under their power to do that but it would require 51 votes for approval. And Democrats
are in the minority 53-47 in the United States Senate. So, the math simply is not there in the Senate, and math is not there for them in the House,
which is one big reason why we expect this campaign to continue for some time as the president's party is mostly in line behind him, just as right
now, Secretary Rubio and Pete Hegseth are behind closed doors, briefing senators trying to keep the Republicans in particular in line despite the
concerns we're hearing about the impacts of this campaign and how long it might go on for, Max.
RAJU: Manu, we've seen you everywhere tonight. Thank you so much for joining us. They can't escape you. Thank you for your great reporting.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:45:57]
FOSTER: Let's update you then on our breaking news this hour. An attack on the U.S. consulate in Dubai by a suspected Iranian drone. Secretary of
State Marco Rubio says the drone struck a parking lot next to the consulate, and all staff have been accounted for.
Video obtained from X a short time ago showed black smoke rising to the sky in the area around the consulate building. Meanwhile, the United Arab
Emirates is setting up a safe air corridor to allow limited flights to restart. The UAE says it's capable of operating 48 flights per hour
according to the country's economy and tourism minister.
The next phase of the plan will see more than 80 flights per day, transporting more than 27,000 people, with airspace closed due to drones
and missile strikes. Hundreds of flights have been canceled, of course, stranding people looking to get out of the region and other travelers
planning to transfer through those busy Middle East hubs.
Some flights have been getting out, though. This is a commercial flight taking off from Beirut today, and as the camera pulls back, you can see
clouds of black smoke from Israeli airstrikes still hanging over the city. So, what we want to know is what should stranded travelers do during an
airspace shutdown?
Joining me now is Simon Calder, travel correspondent at "The Independent".
Simon, thank you for joining us.
We have had some news from the U.S. tonight. I mean, yesterday, they were saying they can't assist anyone. Now they are -- they're putting on some
flights. But they did talk about the challenges of closed air space. The --
(VIDEO GAP)
SIMON CALDER, TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT, THE INDEPENDENT: Well, it's clearly a matter of risk assessment, risk management, but something has to be done
because we're now, I'm afraid, getting towards the kind of humanitarian crisis stage of this, in the sense that on a typical day, flying in and out
of the big hubs, that's Dubai International, it's Abu Dhabi, it's Doha, you will have around 2,500 flights and that's carrying roughly half a million
people. And they cannot get in or out.
And clearly, as you've been reporting on CNN, there are many tens of thousands of people who are desperate to leave, U.S. putting on rescue
flights as are France, Ireland and the U.K. Those European flights will be going from Muscat in Oman with people being bused across the desert to get
there.
But honestly, I mean, I'm looking at the flights which have gone out so far in the past 12 hours or so from Dubai, and there's half a dozen Airbus A380
superjumbos going to places like Bengaluru in India, to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and to London Heathrow. But on a normal day, there are six of those
aircraft going to London Heathrow, one airport alone.
And so, this is simply scratching the surface, nothing moving in and out of Doha and very limited operations at Abu Dhabi. So yes, we are in a state of
almost total shutdown, and an awful lot of people getting very stressed, very anxious, very poor, because they're having to pay for hotel bills
while they're waiting to be flown back.
FOSTER: I think the UAE has been helping with the hotel bills, but I have heard stories about people booking multiple flights and obviously very
expensive. I mean, if you're sitting in a hotel in the UAE, for example, what's your advice to them, presumably not going straight to the airport?
CALDER: Unfortunately, wait and see. That's very much the advice. The U.K.'s foreign office is telling people to shelter in place. And just on
the subject of who's paying? Yes, the United Arab Emirates is paying hotel bills for people who are stranded.
However, there are tens of thousands probably now rising to hundreds of thousands of people who would normally be connecting through those Gulf
hubs on their way home.
[15:50:12]
And so, I'm talking to you in Sydney. I've been talking to a large number of people who are stranded here. They're finding all kinds of ways home
flying across the Pacific, many of them, to get to Europe because the demand is so strong. That is costing a fortune and pretty much all the way
down from Tokyo, down through China, through to Bali and here in Australia, around to India and South Africa.
There are just people waiting in hotels desperate to get out. And actually, a little bit of good news just popped in from Air Canada. They're trying to
help find a solution to this by actually doubling the number of flights between Delhi and Toronto to help people who are booked through the Gulf
who can't get there. So, Air Canada is going to be flying them nonstop instead.
FOSTER: It's a desperate situation. And because we don't know how long it's going to go on for, it's really hard to offer much advice, isn't it?
But, Simon, thank you as ever. Appreciate you joining us from Australia tonight.
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Before we go today, a quick reset on all the latest developments from the Middle East then. The U.S. consulate in Dubai, hit by a suspected
Iranian drone strike a fire at the building had been extinguished and the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, says all staff have been accounted for.
Video obtained from X a short while ago showed black smoke rising above the skyline there in the area around the consulate building. Rubio adds, the
U.S. State Department says its working to arrange charter flights in an effort to get Americans out of the Gulf region.
Meanwhile, Israel says it bombed the compound today, where senior Iranian leaders were gathering to pick a successor to Ayatollah Khamenei. Donald
Trump responded to that attack by saying he has no idea who is still alive amongst Iran's leaders. Iranian Red Crescent says the death toll inside
Iran from days of attacks by Israel and the U.S. is approaching 800.
Donald Trump today warned Iranian citizens that it's not yet safe for them to come out and protest against the government. He's said to stay indoors
for now. Meanwhile, Iranian media say huge crowds showed up on Tuesday for a mass funeral for more than 170 school children and teachers who were
killed in a strike on a girls school on Sunday.
[15:55:01]
An Iranian journalist says what's happening in his country is a tragedy/
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABAS ASLANI, IRANIAN JOURNALIST: Early in the morning, we were hearing several explosions from different parts of the city. This is not just
limited to Tehran. Other cities also were targeted and among those targets also, there are civilian, you know casualties in residential buildings or a
hospital was targeted here in Tehran or in other cities or also schools were targeted. And this is part of the tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. Do stay with CNN. We'll have more after the break.
END
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