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What We Know with Max Foster
Trump To Hold News Conference On War With Iran Today; CNN Speaks To Foreign Policy Adviser To Iran's Supreme Leader; UAE Has Been Iran's Biggest Retaliation Target; Violence Escalates Between Israel And Hezbollah In Lebanon; Oil Prices Soar As War In Iran Escalates. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired March 09, 2026 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:13]
MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: President Trump preparing to hold his first formal Q&A since the start of the war with Iran.
This is WHAT WE KNOW.
All eyes then, on the president with this war intensifying all the time, a news conference is coming very soon from a ballroom of his golf club in
Florida.
Plus, an adviser to the office of the supreme leader tells CNN that there's no room for diplomacy anymore.
And there are new details as well on the deadly strike on an Iranian girls school.
All that's ahead this hour. But we're going to begin in the U.S., where President Trump tells the NBC tells -- NBC News that having Mojtaba
Khamenei become Iran's new supreme leader is a big mistake. The president has previously said Ali Khamenei's son would be an unacceptable choice,
with Israel vowing to target any successor. We'll hear more from the president in a little more than two hours from now when he holds that news
conference.
CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House trying to figure out why it was called.
What do you think, Kristen?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It sounds as though president Trump is going to actually take questions from the large press
corps today for the first time since this war actually started. Remember, he has made public statements. He has taken questions from poolers at
various events, but he has not had an actual press conference. And one of the big questions is still, what is the end game here when it comes to this
attack in Iran?
You heard President Trump saying essentially that he and Israel will decide when this is over. But then he went on to say that its actually going to be
his call, that Washington will have final say and they have outlined this list of objectives of what they're trying to achieve in Iran but a lot of
them are hard to quantify. For example, putting an end to Iran's nuclear ambitions. Again, that's hard to decide when that has been done.
And of course, President Trump himself said that he wanted Iran to completely surrender, but then went on to say that the only -- what he
meant by that was likely that he would be able to know or determine when Iran was decimated enough in terms of their capabilities in nuclear or
their military, to actually be able to say that they had surrender, he would be making that decision, not the country itself. So that's one of the
things that there's questions about.
The other again, would be this idea of the fact that there is now a new supreme leader, and he has said he's not happy. He has said he wanted some
kind of final say.
And, Max, this all comes down to what he has kind of alluded to, the structure in Iran being, and he has said that he wanted a similar kind of
rollout to what happened in Venezuela this idea that there was already a leadership structure in place. And then Delcy Rodriguez was willing to work
with the United States he sees that happening, or he envisions that happening in Iran. But every expert that we've spoken to has said it's just
a completely different country.
It's a completely different system that doesn't really exist in Iran. And any leaders that they did have their eyes on to potentially work with.
President Trump himself has admitted have been killed in these various strikes. So likely some questions about that as well, as we are still
trying to figure out how long the United States is going to be engaged in this.
FOSTER: Kristen, thank you so much.
Well, in an exclusive interview in Tehran, CNN's Fred Pleitgen spoke with the foreign policy adviser to the supreme leader who says there's no longer
any room for diplomacy CNN is operating in Iran with permission of the Iranian government, but maintain full editorial control over what we report
there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Iran has a new supreme leader. What does that mean for your military effort and the
confrontation with the United States and Israel?
KAMAL KHARAZI, FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER TO IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER: That means the system is quite functioning.
PLEITGEN: So, the United States says it's drastically degraded the Iranian military the capabilities as far as missiles is concerned, drones are
concerned. How much longer can you do this?
KHARAZI: That is one of the false narratives that the United States government is producing. Iranian military is quite as strong, as you see,
because they have the motivation, they have the arms that they need, which are produced in Iran.
As a matter of fact, we are not dependent on any other country for weapons and arms.
PLEITGEN: So, your side is ready for a long war if the United States and Israel choose that. Do you consider this an existential threat to the
Islamic Republic?
KHARAZI: It is an existential threat to the Islamic Republic, and therefore we have to say, with full mind, as we are doing now.
PLEITGEN: Is your side seeking, or will you seek a ceasefire with the United States at this point in time and with Israel?
[15:05:03]
KHARAZI: I don't see any room for diplomacy anymore, because Donald Trump have been deceiving others and not keeping with his promises. And we
experienced this in two times of negotiations, that while we were engaged in negotiation, they struck us.
PLEITGEN: How does all of this end then? If you say, right now, there's no room for negotiation, President Trump says he wants complete surrender.
What does that lead to?
KHARAZI: There's no room unless the economic pressure would be built up to the extent that other countries would intervene to guarantee this
termination of aggression of Americans and Israelis against Iran.
PLEITGEN: Finally, what is your message to President Trump as we sit here, as the war is going on?
KHARAZI: That means that what is important for us is the end of this game, and we are ready to continue that game.
PLEITGEN: The end of this game, you mean how this war will end is?
KHARAZI: Yeah, the end of the game would be the time that American and Israelis would come to this understanding that this strategy is not
working, and they have to stop their aggression against Iranians.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Fred Pleitgen in Tehran there.
Well, Israel's foreign minister denies upsetting the Trump administration after strikes on Iranian oil refineries. Sources tell CNN the White House
is concerned by the scale of the destruction.
Here's what Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar told my colleague Bianna Golodryga.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An Israeli official says that the U.S. reaction was literally, quote, "WTF", and that a Trump adviser says
the president didn't like the attack because it spooked oil markets, which we've seen skyrocket in the last 48 hours alone. Are you needlessly
fracturing the most important relationship that you need and depend upon for this war?
GIDEON SA'AR, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: We have -- we have a very good coordination with our friends from the American administration, both in the
political and military level. And we are not handling that in the media. What I can say on the thing itself is we struck several fuel storage
complexes used by the Iranian military forces. So, it was the purpose of this strikes was to hurt Iranian military activity. It is -- in war, it
happened. And whenever, whatever we should say we say between us and our friends from the American administration.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Meanwhile, NATO air defenses have shot down another missile that was heading into Turkey. After being struck, the Iranian missile fell into
a relatively uninhabited area in southern Turkey. Last week, another Iranian missile was shot down as it headed towards Turkey.
The UAE has been amongst the hardest hit though, of about a dozen Middle East countries that say they've been struck by Iranian projectiles.
CNN's Paula Hancocks has more from Dubai.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The impact of strikes in the United Arab Emirates is far beyond the U.S. military and political
targets that Iran claims. Hotels, airports and energy infrastructure have been damaged by more than 1,700 missiles and drones fired since the start
of the war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Target destroyed.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): The Emirati military has intercepted more than 90 percent.
UAE President Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has visited the injured in hospital, giving rare comments warning the country's enemies.
MOHAMMED BIN ZAYED AL NAHYAN, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES PRESIDENT: Do not be misled by the United Arab Emirates' appearance. The UAE has thick skin and
bitter flesh. We are no easy prey.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): After decades of bitter rivalry between Iran and its Gulf neighbors, recent years had seen a rapprochement between Tehran
and Abu Dhabi. Trade was expanding. Around half a million Iranians call the UAE home.
So why is Iran seemingly firing more projectiles at the UAE than at Israel, the country who, along with the United States, started this war?
FAWAZ GERGES, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, LSE: Dubai is really the epicenter of globalization. It's a powerhouse. And any attacks on the
United Arab Emirates on Dubai is really a power multiplier from the Iranian perspective. It rattles the world economy.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Around 100 kilometers f water separate the UAE from Iran. Missiles do not take long to reach Emirati shores.
GERGES: Literally, it's next door. It's much easier to attack Dubai and the United Arab Emirates than to attack other countries, let's say Jordan
or Israel, because Israel is well protected by a -- an air defense system.
[15:10:09]
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Iran cites the U.S. strategic alliance as a reason to fire on Gulf nations. President Donald Trump was here last May, securing
pledges for $3 trillion worth of deals from the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have an Iran situation, which we're going to take care of -- one way or the other, we're taking
care of. It'll be taken care of 100 percent.
HANCOCKS: This is not how the UAE or any Gulf nation wanted it to be taken care of. They had lobbied Trump to favor diplomacy over war, and a refusal
to allow Trump to use its air bases or its airspace has not insulated the UAE from Iran's retaliation.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Relations between the UAE and Iran had been strained since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Three islands claimed by Abu
Dhabi are still controlled by Tehran, but the UAE did restore its ambassador to Tehran in 2022, signaling a cautious diplomatic reset after
years of strain.
A reset that has been shattered by Iran's decision to force its neighbors into this war.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Dubai.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Pain at the pump. How the war in the Middle East is hitting us in the wallet.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Fresh Israeli air strikes on -- airstrikes on Beirut this week.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
FOSTER: CNN's team there witnessing a large explosion, the latest of multiple strikes to hit Lebanon's capital today. Those attacks are sending
hundreds of thousands of people fleeing from their homes. UNICEF says nearly 700,000 people in Lebanon are now displaced. Some of them are
seeking shelter in Beirut's stadium.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv.
I mean, this part of the war is escalating much more quickly than many people expected.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, absolutely, Max. And in fact, I have new reporting on this second front in Israel's war with Iran.
Two sources -- two Israeli sources familiar with the matter telling me and my colleague Tal Shalev that the Israeli government is currently
considering deepening the Israeli military presence in southern Lebanon. In fact, one of those sources says that the Israeli prime minister is holding
a security consultation tonight to discuss that very issue.
The possibility of sending Israeli troops deeper into southern Lebanon, it's not clear how deep that additional engagement would be but it comes
following a wave of back and forth crossfire between Israel and Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border that included anti-tank missile fire from
Hezbollah militants that seriously wounded Israeli soldiers, and one of these sources telling me that there is a problem with these anti-tank
missiles and that they believe that you, quote, "cannot deal with only being a mile or a mile and a half inside of Lebanon if you want to
neutralize that threat," meaning that the idea is Hezbollah needs to be pushed back further inside of Lebanon, the Israeli line of demarcation
effectively needs to move up as well to further protect Israeli troops, but also those civilian residents who live in those northern communities inside
of Israel from the threat of anti-tank missile fire.
It's not clear whether this would be a kind of a widespread ground offensive of the kind that we saw back in October of 2024. But at this
point, at least considering deepening that presence as we are continuing to watch Israel carry out mass airstrikes not only in southern Lebanon but
also widespread strikes in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, where the Lebanese president now says that 600,000 people, more than half a million
people, are now displaced from their homes, as a result of these Israeli military evacuation orders.
In addition to that, the Lebanese president is also talking about the difficulty of his country and his government's position caught between, on
the one hand, Hezbollah whom he accused of not caring about Lebanon or the Lebanese people, and on the other hand, Israel whom he accused of carrying
out military campaigns that include widespread war crimes.
And so, clearly, his government, his country in a very precarious position, caught between the prospect of further Israeli aggression and a Iranian
proxy organization that has in many ways invited that aggression with the Lebanese people, of course, paying the consequences -- Max.
FOSTER: Absolutely. Jeremy, thank you so much for joining us from Tel Aviv.
We want to spend a few moments now on the way the war in the Middle East is impacting every single one of us. Oil prices are soaring to their highest
level since the Russian invasion of Ukraine four years ago. The price of crude oil briefly above $100 a barrel earlier. The problem is the Strait of
Hormuz, of course, that narrow water passageway next to Iran. On a normal day, about 20 percent of the world's oil supply passes through that strait.
But it's been closed since the war began.
Today, the world's largest shipping company, MSC said it was giving up on trying to bring shipments into or out of the Persian Gulf.
Richard is with me.
So, this shipping company has containers with just regular products in it. So it's going beyond oil now?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: Oh, it's way beyond. I mean, if you take a look at marine tracker and you see the sort of track the
amount of stuff that goes around the strait, it's not just oil tankers, its bulk carriers for grain. It is commodities.
And of course, it is container ships with goods because a lot of the don't forget, if you take Dubai in the free trade port of Dubai, that is a trans
shipment port, which means from Asia a zillion containers come in reshipped, re-sorted out, resent and then sent on to Europe. So, the Gulf,
particularly Dubai, the UAE, has made an absolute forte of this shipment, not just in terms of oil or oil and gas.
FOSTER: Take us through the oil price because there was a very sharp rise at the open.
QUEST: It was complete, complete panic over the thought of the destruction and the Strait of Hormuz and a knee jerk bump that that -- it comes back on
the idea that the G7 will eventually release oil and gas or oil from the strategic petroleum reserves. They will release it into the market but
that's only a short term measure.
FOSTER: Yes.
QUEST: It's a one shot wonder in a sense, because you do it and you may not even have to do it. The mere threat to do it could bring. But the
problem is there's no supply.
[15:20:02]
Those ships stuck in the strait, stuck in the whole area, can't get in or out even if you release the strategic supply. What happens after that?
FOSTER: Just explain this idea that the French have been touting today. The Americans have already done about the military escorts and whether or
not that will work.
QUEST: You're -- a guest I heard you talking to earlier summed it up perfectly. Nice idea. Now tell me how you're going to do it.
FOSTER: Yes.
QUEST: I mean, at the end of the day, fine so you put you put a convoy together and you move them through together. And yes, you hope that the
warships around will detract and will flare and all that sort of stuff.
FOSTER: Would be more of a target, wouldn't they?
QUEST: Well, it's a bigger target. But more to the point, which ship owner is going to do it?
FOSTER: Yeah.
QUEST: Which ship owner is going to say. And then they're going to turn to the government and say, right who's insuring all of this? And which
government is going to take the unlimited insurance? It's a great idea. And there are feasible aspects to it, but you're not going to be able to throw
this together in a day and a half, and you're certainly not going to be able to execute it without a great deal more careful thought in getting
people on board.
FOSTER: A lot of people obviously, concerned about travel at the moment as well.
QUEST: Yeah.
FOSTER: Is that the tickets going to rise because of these jet fuel prices?
QUEST: Oh, two questions there. Are tickets going up at the moment? Yes. But that's because demand is high and the algorithm is pushing the price
up. There's no -- there's no sort of person going I'm going to put the prices up. No, it's just the way that the natural algorithm of yield
management works.
Longer term, of course, if jet fuel, JP-4 goes up, that's going to cost more on the ticket. What you will see is what the airlines did during
previous ones. They put -- they put a surcharge.
FOSTER: Okay. They want to make it clear this is what -- but the repatriation flights are going ahead. My sister who's been stranded in the
region is on a repatriation flight we believe tonight. So, they are getting people out in tens of thousands. It's been slower than people would like,
but it is now happening and I think it will happen.
The problem is there's no obvious way that they can safely open the airspace for a long period of time. We saw that the other day with the
missile that hit just near the terminal in Dubai.
FOSTER: Okay, Richard, thank you so much. Richard back at the top of the hour.
Coming up, Pete Hegseth says the Pentagon is still investigating the strike on an Iranian girls school. Next, there's new evidence that suggests the
United States was actually to blame.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:25:55]
FOSTER: Now new video appears to show a U.S. missile targeting an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base next to a school where Iranian state
media say scores of children and their teachers were killed. The video, posted by a semiofficial Iranian news agency, shows missile striking the
area in southern Iran on February the 28th .
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the U.S. has not yet concluded whether its responsible for the strike. Here's what he told "60 Minutes" in
an interview recorded on Friday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: Have you made any conclusions about whether or not the United States inadvertently or not, was involved in any military strike at that
school?
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, we're still investigating, and that's where I'll leave it today. But what I will emphasize to you and to
the world is that unlike our adversaries, the Iranians, we never target civilians.
INTERVIEWER: There was a report late in the week from two officials that it was likely U.S. involvement. Is that report false?
HEGSETH: I've already said we're investigating.
INTERVIEWER: If you could tell the American public it definitively was not us, you would tell us, wouldn't you?
HEGSETH: I would -- I would say that it's being investigated, which is the only answer I'm prepared to give.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: There you go.
Isobel Yeung takes a closer look now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the moment a missile slammed into an Iranian base in Minab, a city in southern Iran just over a
week ago in this freeze frame, you can see it clearly. Weapons experts tell CNN the wings and tail are consistent with a Tomahawk missile. This new
video is the clearest evidence yet that suggests it was the United States that struck an elementary school next to that Revolutionary Guard's base,
killing scores of students.
The U.S. has been firing those Tomahawk missiles at Iran from ships and submarines for more than a week now. Israel doesn't use them, experts tell
us.
REPORTER: Mr. President, did the United States bomb a girls' elementary school in southern Iran on the first day of the war, killing hundreds --
TRUMP: No, in my opinion, based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran.
REPORTER: Is that true, Mr. Hegseth? It was Iran who did that?
HEGSETH: We're certainly investigating it.
YEUNG (voice-over): Iran also doesn't use tomahawk missiles. And using satellite images, it's clear the school was struck nearly simultaneously
with strikes on an adjacent Revolutionary Guards base. That suggests precision targeting.
CNN geolocated this video. We think this missile struck the military base, not the school. You can see that other buildings in the direction of the
school had just been struck when this was filmed.
YEUNG: CNN is still trying to gather visual evidence from the ground. And until we see actual remnants from the munitions itself, it's impossible to
be definitive. But this is the clearest evidence to date.
U.S. Central Command says they're still investigating.
Isobel Yeung, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: So, what we want to know is how can we figure out who was behind the bombing of the Iranian girls school?
Nilo Tabrizy is an investigative reporter and the author of "For The Sun After Long Nights: The Story Of Iran's Women Led Uprising."
Nilo, thank you for joining us.
I mean from what you've seen in that report, what do you make of it?
NILO TABRIZY, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Right. I think, as Isobel said, this is the clearest evidence that we have so far that the U.S. was potentially
involved in this strike. But we've had other clues as well. Over the past week. There was satellite imagery that showed strikes on multiple different
places, which again goes against the theory that this was an errant Iranian missile that just dropped out of the sky. And speaking with munitions
experts, they told me this is just simply not how munitions work. And since there were several strikes done in the same compound, that again points to
this being an issue of mistargeting rather than it just being a missile that fell out of the sky.
As well, the U.S. had a press conference last week where they showed a map of all the strikes that they had in the south of Iran, and they had two
strikes that were very close to the Minab school. So that was another clue for many of us investigators looking at this incident.
FOSTER: And as Isobel says, they were clearly very targeted strikes. So that makes it less likely that you would stray and hit a building you
weren't aiming at.
TABRIZY: That's right. Especially that there were more than one buildings in this complex hit. So the visual that was verified that we just saw that
showed the Tomahawk missile that hit what was potentially a building that was a medical center in the IRGC and the Revolutionary Guard compound. And
previously, the school had been hit you know, these are buildings that are very close together.
So, typically, when you have multiple strikes, again specifically on different buildings, that can rule out that this was just an accidental
missile that fell when you have that more than one time, you know, that suggests a targeting, that, in fact, it's targeting.
FOSTER: When Hegseth says they're investigating, would they have all the information they need to know whether it was them? I mean, do you
understand what the difficulty might be there with this investigation?
TABRIZY: Right. I mean, I'm not sure for -- so the materials that I'm working with and that many of us and colleagues at CNN are working with are
open source material. You know, this is information that anybody can access. So even when the strike first happened on the opening day of the
operation, when I looked at the school on Google Earth imagery, I saw that as far back as eight years ago, there were brightly colored murals painted
at the school. So it looked very obviously a school to me, and it should look that way to anyone else who was, you know potentially in charge of
adding this to a target list.
So, you know, we do have to wait to see what the U.S. says, because as Isobel also said, without having munitions recovered from the site any
types of remnants that were there, we can't definitively say. So, it really comes down to the U.S. and the information that they have to present to us.
FOSTER: But also the information we're getting from the Iranians, right, in terms of what sort of casualties there were there, we haven't been able
to verify that necessarily either.
TABRIZY: That's right. No, I mean, the connectivity has been such an issue in terms of reporting in Iran and trying to get connected to folks that are
in Minab, which is a small town in southern Hormozgan province. You know, we need that connectivity to be able to confirm each and every death.
But we're able to do so in other ways. We can do things like counting the graves that were dug for the young school girls, or there were visuals
shown of, you know, the bodies of young school girls, which is really horrible footage to look at.
But they had the names of some of these young girls that were killed. That's also something for us. Some of these funerals have also been held
publicly, which again has caskets with the names of the people killed. These are other places in which, you know, we can verify the numbers
ourselves from afar.
FOSTER: Okay. Nilo, really appreciate you joining us today. It's been a huge amount of work I know for you guys.
Now, it's the final moments of trade on Wall Street. And stocks are off the lows, actually, of the day and actually up. The Dow is almost a third of 1
percent higher around that. Anyway, the Nasdaq is down though.
This is our Business Breakout.
The head of the International Monetary Fund says investors need to prepare for the unthinkable. Kristalina Georgieva said the war in the Middle East
could push inflation higher around the world as oil prices continue to rise. She warned that that would also have a negative impact on global
growth.
Anthropic is -- Anthropic is suing the Pentagon and other federal agencies over the Trump administration's moves to label it as an official supply
chain risk. The Pentagon made that designation after the A.I. company refused to go along with its demands on how to use its technology at the
Department of Defense. Anthropic says it will continue to engage in dialogue with the Trump administration.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster have settled a federal lawsuit that accuses them of monopolizing the live music industry. The lawsuit claimed the two
companies merged in 2010 were helping to keep ticket prices high. The settlement avoids a breakup of the two and will let facilities use
competitors and not require them to work exclusively with Ticketmaster.
More than 32,000 U.S. nationals have now safely returned from the Middle East since the start of the war with Iran. And that's according to the
State Department spokesperson. Yet there are thousands still waiting to get out.
CNN's Bijan Hosseini is at Doha's airport, where Qatar Airways has started to offer flights for those desperate to get home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BIJAN HOSSEINI, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER (voice-over): At Doha's Hamad International Airport, departure boards that sat frozen for more than a
week are beginning to move again. The regional conflict forced Qatar to close its airspace after repeated missile and drone attacks.
HOSSEINI: For most of these travelers, their stay here in Doha wasn't supposed to last this long. A lot of them were just transiting through 10
days ago before finding themselves in the middle of an escalating regional crisis. But now, limited flight corridors are opening and they're finally
able to go home.
HOSSEINI (voice-over): Among the passengers leaving today, Derek and Madeleine --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- bag is there.
MADELEINE, TRAVELER: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will pick up.
HOSSEINI (voice-over): Their flight home to London couldn't come soon enough. Derek has a heart condition, and his medication soon ran out.
DEREK, TRAVELER: -- no complaints. That was fine until my tab was run out. So, we're now getting really urgent, and I've already missed two
appointments in England and through the delay. So, I got two serious appointments I missed. Yeah, so we're hoping to go today.
HOSSEINI (voice-over): The couple say help from home has been hard to find.
MADELEINE: I registered with the UK government, and we had an email and acknowledgement, and that's been it. Communication with them has been nil,
yeah, not impressed.
HOSSEINI (voice-over): Madeleine says many people have tried to make the unexpected stay a bit easier. Qatar is covering hotel stays and providing
food vouchers for stranded travelers.
MADELEINE: -- lovely.
DEREK: Lovely.
MADELEINE: The people couldn't be more helpful. They're lovely. Hope that --
HOSSEINI (voice-over): Derek and Madeleine are just two of the roughly 8,000 passengers who were stranded in Qatar, according to government
figures.
HOSSEINI: What have the last 10 days been like?
DARIA, TRAVELER: Nervous, because almost every day we got the alarms on our phones, like saying that it's dangerous and don't go out from the
buildings.
HOSSEINI (voice-over): Others say disruption has put their lives and livelihoods on hold.
MOHAMMED, TRAVELER: I was trying to connect with my company, you know, like, it can't work. They give me a leave of absence, one week notice, and
then we're going to terminate to work, right? So, there's a lot of pressure from different points, from my perspective, but I'm sure other people have
the same issues as well.
Yes, terrifying, man. You know, in addition to seeing all the rockets above your head.
HOSSEINI (voice-over): Officials stress these flights are operating under temporary authorization, and they don't mean that normal commercial
operations have resumed. The fragile reopening also comes as tensions across the region remain high, but for Derek and Madeleine, today is about
one thing, finally, boarding a flight home to London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, still to come, will the U.S. send ground troops into Iran? The secretary of defense isn't ruling it out. What he told CBS's "60
Minutes".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:40:09]
FOSTER: We now know the identity of the seventh U.S. service member killed in the Iraq war. The U.S. military says it is 26-year-old Army Sergeant
Benjamin Pennington of Kentucky. Pennington died on Sunday after being injured a week earlier at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. He was
assigned to a unit in the Army Space and Missile Defense Command.
The news comes as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. is not ruling out sending ground troops into Iraq. Here's what he said on CBS's
"60 Minutes" program, in an interview conducted on Friday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH: People asked boots on the ground, no boots on the ground. Four weeks, two weeks, six weeks. Go in, go in.
President Trump knows. I know, you don't tell the enemy, you don't tell the press. You don't tell anybody what -- what your limits would be on an
operation. We reserve the right. We would be completely unwise if we did not reserve the right to take any particular option, whether it included
boots on the ground or no boots on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: So, I don't know, is will American boots end up on the ground in Iran during this war?
CNN national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand joins us from Washington.
Obviously, a difficult question to answer when its not entirely clear what the -- what the object is here.
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and we just heard President Trump tell CBS that the war is basically completely over at
this point and that the objectives have been achieved. So, it's really unclear at this point what that actual off ramp might look like.
But in the meantime, Secretary of Defense Hegseth is still posting about how the mission continues, about how they will not finish the military
mission until all the objectives are complete again, unclear what that actually means. They have been largely hitting ballistic missile sites as
well as Iranian naval assets.
But this question of boots on the ground has continued to come up, particularly within the context of Iran's nuclear capabilities, and that
highly enriched uranium that it has stored at several nuclear facilities that the U.S. hit last year in airstrikes but that was unable to actually
penetrate deep enough underground to destroy all of that uranium, which, of course, can then be used to develop a nuclear weapon.
And so, the question among Trump administration officials has been, will we need to actually send elite special operations forces into those tunnels
buried deep underground inside Iran proper at those facilities to actually find and exfiltrate and if necessary, even destroy that enriched uranium?
So that has been the center of conversations, but no decisions have been made. And of course, it would be a huge step to send in ground forces into
Iran when the Iranian military still controls the country. They still have a stronghold on these facilities. Iranian officials have been trying to get
into these nuclear sites to try to recover the uranium for themselves.
So, any U.S. military presence on the ground could pose really significant risks, be hugely complicated, and likely would not just be a couple of
Special Operations Forces going in. They would likely require perimeter security. They would require air cover. It would be a huge undertaking.
And so that is not something that is necessarily imminent, we're told, but it is something that, you know, for better or for worse, they are hanging
over the Iranians head saying, look, if you don't give up this enriched uranium, if you don't come to the table, at some point with regards to your
nuclear program, then we reserve the right to send in those ground forces of course, the American public, largely opposed to such a move -- Max.
FOSTER: Yeah, Natasha. Appreciate it, thank you so much.
Now we're going to go to the improvised explosive devices that were tossed near the New York City mayor's home. Now, charges were announced just a
short time ago for two individuals. The 18 and 19-year-old suspects are accused of tossing homemade bombs into a crowd during two protests on
Saturday. Officials say one of them claimed ISIS as the reason for the attack, as he was arrested.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA TISCH, NYPD COMMISSIONER: He also told investigators that he had hoped to carry out an attack even bigger than the Boston marathon bombing,
which he noted resulted in only three deaths. These statements, as set forth in the complaint, make clear that this was not random violence. This
was a planned attack motivated by extremist ideology and inspired by a violent foreign terrorist organization.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Gloria Pazmino was watching that unfold.
I mean, this clearly was quite a dramatic moment and very focused on the on the motive here.
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Max. In fact, you know, it all sounds like this whole situation could have been a lot worse and a lot more
tragic and a lot more dangerous had these devices actually detonated in the way that they were designed to do so. In fact, it only took an hour from
the moment that these two suspects crossed across the George Washington Bridge, from having traveled from Pennsylvania right here into New York
City.
[15:45:06]
It took them an hour from that moment to when they were arrested. After they deployed those devices outside of the mayors home on Saturday during a
protest. Now, we are told these devices were removed and tested. They were found to have had explosive material inside of them. One of the devices
also contained nuts and bolts, screws and nails inside of them. So had it detonated, that would have acted as shrapnel, which would have been
extremely dangerous, potentially deadly for the people who were gathered at that demonstration.
Now this all unfolded on Saturday afternoon. There was a protest that was organized by a right-wing influencer billed as a anti-Muslim demonstration,
an anti-Islam demonstration that drew another set of protesters. And it was during clashes between the two groups that one of these two men launched
those homemade explosive devices.
Now, the two men facing five federal counts including providing material support to a terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction.
We are also told from reading the indictment, which was unsealed a short while ago, that one of the suspects told police that he had watched ISIS
propaganda on his cell phone and that he had been inspired to do this by ISIS.
I asked the police commissioner if there was any indication that these two individuals had traveled to New York City with a specific target, and she
said that they knew that this protest was going to be taking place outside of the mayors home. And they came here with the intention of targeting that
protest. This is, of course, all happening as New York city is in a heightened threat state because of the military action that is unfolding in
Iran. We are told that at this point, this is not believed to have a direct nexus to the military action unfolding in Iran. But of course, the two
suspects believed to have been inspired by ISIS. The commissioner saying the city remains in a heightened threat status. They have deployed
additional law enforcement source -- resources to sensitive locations around the city to keep guard and watch over -- Max.
FOSTER: OK. Gloria, appreciate it from New York. Thanks for joining us.
Still to come tonight, many players in the Iranian women's football team are fearing for their lives. We'll tell you what President Trump is now
saying about their safety
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:50:17]
FOSTER: Five players from the Iranian women's football team have applied for asylum in Australia. U.S. President Donald Trump also says he'll grant
them asylum if Australia doesn't, and there are questions around the players safety if they return back to Iran after they refused to sing
Iran's national anthem at a game last week.
Here's CNN's Christina Macfarlane with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They have not said anything publicly just yet. But as you say, developments have been coming thick and
fast on this story today. And I've been speaking to sources who are close to the players.
You'll remember, of course, after they took that stance not to sing the national anthem, Iranian state TV came out and branded them as traitors,
saying they were the pinnacle of dishonor and pressure had been growing on the Australian government since then to provide them asylum, to not have
them sent back to Iran. And there were questions, too, as to whether the players themselves would seek asylum after their play was done in
Australia.
Well, today, we heard that five players are now safe with the Australian police having left the team and the team hotel and they are saying that
they do not want to return to Iran and this tournament has been incredibly fraught for these players. We know that they have been closely monitored by
the IRGC and in fact, one of the traveling members of the team a man there is thought to be affiliated with the IRGC. And we know that their phones
have been tapped coming into this tournament and now many of them are facing an impossible decision.
The decision to go home and to be punished or even honestly face death because that is the charge for treason or to stay and risk the fact that
their families, their loved ones might also face similar consequences. And I was told by a source earlier today that three of those five players have
said that their families have actually been threatened already back on the -- on the ground at home in Iran.
So, you can just see how difficult fraught and urgent the situation is there on the ground right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Fearful of what could come next, but also hopeful for change, Americas to host a large Iranian community living in the diaspora
particularly in southern California. And while many are grateful for the U.S. and Israeli war that killed Iran's supreme leader, they're also
worried about what comes next, as CNN's Julia Vargas Jones reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is one of the largest communities of Iranians in the United States. It's the second weekend in a
row where this community has come out to say thank you to President Trump and to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for striking Iran. We were
here when they first heard about the death of the supreme leader Ali Khamenei last week.
Right now, what they're saying, what they're chanting is "long live the shah". They're referring, of course, to Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last
shah of Iran who many here believe should take power and lead Iran into a democratic era.
Now there is like any diaspora, a variety of opinions. And ever since last week, as we're approaching now eight or nine days of this war, a slight
change in a little bit more subtlety, more nuance on how Iranian Americans here in Los Angeles are seeing this war. Take a listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almost the same time I'm fighting against this regime, I was an anti-war activist. So that's very complicated. Of course, from the
killing of the Khamenei, I am excited. I cannot hide my feeling. War with no Khamenei is better for everyone, but at the same time, I don't like the
war.
Yeah, right now that's -- already that's -- we are moving forward. Khamenei is dead. That's a good thing. Declare the Victorian league (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump, although we're thankful to have a little bit. A long time and the Iranians lost a lot of lives. And I think now he has to
finish it.
JONES: Those mixed feelings, those mixed emotions, they really percolate throughout the Iranian diaspora, not just here in Los Angeles, but across
the United States. We've spoken to people who say they are very hopeful for this moment. They hope that this could bring change for Iran but they're
not very happy about how this is being carried out.
One of the things that I've heard from multiple Iranian Americans is that they're just very suspicious of the motivations for the United States and
Israel to carry out this war now. And they say they're fearful of what could come next morning, that they are afraid that their country could
become the next Iraq or Afghanistan, but still here in Los Angeles, the overall feeling of this particular part of the diaspora is of hope for
change in Iran.
[15:55:04]
Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: And before we go, a check on the markets for you, as stocks have taken a sharp turn higher now, would you believe whilst we've been on air.
The Dow solidly in the green. As you can see, after President Trump told CBS News that the war with Iran is in his words, very complete, that seems
to have given investors hope that the conflict might not be a protracted one. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are now also higher. The latter is up more
than 1 percent.
U.S. President Trump is due to give a news conference in around an hour and a half from now the first time that he's taken questions actually from the
media in a formal setting. Since this war began. We'll bring that to you live.
And Richard's going to break down these markets for you after the break. But I'm Max Foster. That's WHAT WE KNOW.
END
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