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What We Know with Max Foster

Trump Takes Questions On War With Iran; Sources: U.S. Likely Hit Iran School Due To Outdated Information; CNN Team In Northern Iran Hears Loud Explosions; CNN Investigates Iran's Use Of Cluster Warheads; Longtime Epstein Accountant Testifies In Congressional Probe; Source: Russia Helping Iran With Advance Drone Targeting Of U.S. And Gulf Allies. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired March 11, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:32]

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: We begin with some comments just made a few moments ago from Donald Trump on the war in Iran.

Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When you're expensing, everyone loves it. And we did a little excursion. We had to take this

little couple of weeks, few weeks of excursion, but it's been incredible. Our military is unbelievable the job they're doing. I would say, to put it

mildly, way ahead of schedule. We've knocked out their navy, their military in all forms. We've knocked out just about everything there is including

their leadership. Twice, we knocked out twice their leadership.

And now they have a new group coming up, let's see what happens to them. But 47 bad years we suffered with them, not only us, the rest of the world.

We're doing our job. So, we had to take an excursion. But it's doing well. The market is holding up well. I figured we'd be hit a little bit, but we

were hit probably less than I thought, and we'll be back on track in a pretty short while.

Prices are coming down very substantially. Oil will be coming down. That's just a -- it's just a matter of war that happens very -- you can almost

predict it. I would say it went up a little bit less than we thought. It's going to come down more than we than anybody understands.

Now do you have any questions, Peter?

REPORTER: Yes, you just said it is a little excursion and you said it is a war. So, which one is it?

TRUMP: Well, it's both, it's both its a an excursion that will keep us out of a war. And the war is going to be a -- I mean, for them, it's a war for

us. It's a -- turned out to be easier than we thought. But think of it they had thousands of missiles, 7,000, 8,000 missiles. We

got many of them before they got to launch. They have drones all over the place, we got many. Now, we're knocking out the drone plants, as you know

going fast.

They started talking about mines. So, we hit 28 mine ships. As of this moment, 28 like using the same weapon, the exact same weapon that we use

against the drug dealers in the -- in the water. We have, as an example, we had tremendous drugs pouring in through the water, through the sea. And now

we have almost none. It's down 97 percent through water. Now, we'll do it through land. The land is easier than water.

But this is a great honor being here. It's a great company. I've known it for a long time and you have done a fantastic job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Donald Trump there moments ago, repeatedly using the word excursion to describe this conflict, this attack on Iran and the suggestion

there, really, that he sees it as a short-term mission. But we'll wait to see how long that goes on for -- less inclined to use the word "war" for

the United States.

Some other news just into CNN and initial investigation suggests the U.S. military is responsible for a strike on an Iranian school that state media

said killed at least 168 children and 14 teachers. Sources briefed on the investigation say the U.S. accidentally struck the school, likely due to

outdated information about a nearby naval base.

Kylie Atwood standing by for us with more detail -- Kylie.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so this news just in to CNN. According to two sources who have been briefed on the preliminary

findings of an ongoing military investigation into this incident, say that the U.S. military accidentally struck this Iranian elementary school in the

early days of those U.S. strikes on Iran and as you said, it was likely due to outdated information that the U.S. had about a naval base that was close

to the school.

Now, obviously, we'll watch to see how this investigation develops. But importantly, this was a strike that killed, according to Iranian state

media, more than 160 children, at least 14 teachers as well. And so, this has been a major point of questioning for the Trump administration, given

they have not said who was responsible for this strike.

President Trump, at times floating the possibility that Iran was responsible. Of course, questions about those statements. And earlier

today, when he was asked about some of these breaking news reports that the U.S. was indeed responsible for the strikes, he deferred, did not give a

direct answer as to what he had seen as this ongoing investigation continues.

[15:05:11]

FOSTER: Okay, Kylie, I appreciate it. Thank you with that news, just in to CNN.

Well, Iran says it attacked two ships in the critical Strait of Hormuz. Tehran claims it fired on this Thai-flagged carrier after the vessel

disregarded warnings and tried to illegally pass through. Iranian state media says a Liberian flagged ship was also struck. U.S. central command is

warning civilians to stay away from ports near the strait and U.S. President Trump says he doesn't think Iran was able to successfully place

mines along that waterway, and believes it's safe to transport oil through it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: You talk to the CEOs of various oil companies, encouraging them to use the Strait of Hormuz.

TRUMP: I think they should. I think they should. I think they should use the Strait.

REPORTER: Have they laid any mines in the Strait of Hormuz?

TRUMP: We don't think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Joining us now is retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan. He was the director of operations for U.S. Central Command and is currently

the distinguished military fellow at the military -- the Middle East Institute.

Thank you so much for joining us.

What was your -- what are your thoughts on what Donald Trump just said there, saying ships -- he thinks ships should pass through despite the fact

they have seen other tankers being attacked today?

VICE ADMIRAL KEVIN DONEGAN (RET.), FORMER DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: I think -- well, first off, I think the Straits of Hormuz

is going to be dangerous because of what the Iranians are doing right now. They're deliberately attacking ships in the vicinity of the straits to give

the impression that they control the straits. And in essence, de facto, the major shipping companies and oil carriers are deciding that the risk is too

high for them to transit through.

So that's really each individual company's decision to make. And I think what, what we need to see play out is the U.S. able to diminish the threat

to the targets that Iran is attacking around the straits enough so that ships can start passing again?

FOSTER: He also spoke more recently about what he described as an excursion for the U.S. He's implying that it could be over sooner rather

than later, I think. I mean, it's always difficult to tell, but he wasn't describing it as a, you know, ingrained war. So that would suggest if

things do calm down, then America could pull back. But that doesn't necessarily mean the Iranians will pull back. They may go in harder, right?

DONEGAN: Well, that's the question. You don't know what the answer is. We can talk about in a second, but just because the president -- well, first

of all, let's talk about what would get the president to stop. He's going to be listening to his commander in Central Command that he gave a very

specific mission to, and that was to dismantle the Iranian security apparatus, his ability to attack outside their borders. And that includes

the Straits of Hormuz. It includes the targets you're seeing them struck -- strike now which are, you know in some cases, civilian hotels and such.

So he'll be listening closely to the CENTCOM commander on how they're getting at that mission, which includes ballistic missiles. It includes

these drones to some extent, but they'll always probably be around the drones and then it also includes this capability the Iran has to say they

can control the straits.

That's why the focus right from the beginning also included getting after the navy. That didn't mean the navy only their ships. It meant their cruise

missiles, their mining capability, all the things that they have used in the past to hold hostage the straits to the global economy. So, I think

that's who he's going to be looking to let him know how we're doing against that mission, to decide to stop.

And then your other question is, does that mean the Iranian stop? Well, only the Iranians know that. But certainly, you know, their capability to

do what they could have done at the beginning of this is diminished.

FOSTER: Absolutely. We've seen that in the air, haven't we? Less missiles coming from Iran, but they are now focusing on this economic war

effectively, which is the Strait of Hormuz. And they don't have to do much to disrupt it.

They've said, you know, sources are saying they have laid some mines, but even if there's just one in there, that's going to be a real safety factor

for any ship going through. And the insurers won't want to secure those ships. So that's a very effective strategy isn't it, on the Iranian side.

And how did the Americans handle that? How do they find that one mine? That may be a real challenge here.

DONEGAN: Yeah. Well, you're right that they have focused now on trying to ratchet up the pressure economically, right? That's why they're attacking

ports, airports. They made a comment of potentially financial institutions.

You know, that's their -- you know, that's their -- their game plan, right?

[15:10:03]

To get at the will of the Gulf nations, to get at the will of the United States and the rest of the and to get at the will of you know even the

European countries to pressure the United States and potentially stopping. But your comment is, yeah, it doesn't take a lot to put a mine in the

water, but to have those mines be effective they're going to have to do a little bit more than just drop a few in because they can be dealt with.

If they start actually laying minefields or putting a lot adrift, that's a different situation you saw yesterday, I think a lot of Iranian ships that

could put mines in the water being destroyed, but it doesn't take much to put one or two in and then say it's mined. So your point is valid and the

United States would have to along with the other nations, show that, you know those mines aren't a danger

FOSTER: Okay. Retired Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan, really appreciate your insights on this. Thank you.

Now, President Trump says there's practically nothing left to target in Iran and the war will end soon. The president told "Axios" today, "The war

is going to is going great, and any time I want it to end it will end." Later, he refused to be drawn about where Iran's new supreme leader would

fit into the war's conclusion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Can you declare victory in this war if the supreme leader remains the ayatollah's son?

TRUMP: I don't want to comment on that. I don't want to comment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Kristen Holmes at the White House.

It does feel like he's not looking at another regime change, right? This is really about dismantling the architecture, the military architecture of the

country.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It is. But there's also a lot of questions as to what exactly he plans to do if he does, in

fact, dismantle that architecture. President, not president -- excuse me -- Secretary Hegseth was asked specifically what happens on day two if there

is regime change.

If the war is over, what then happens in Iran? What does America do? Do they have a role? And he wouldn't answer that question. He effectively said

whatever we do will be good for America. It is very unclear that they have a strategy beyond these strikes. And that's really what you started to see

here as the idea of a timeline has grown more and more murky.

I mean, just a reminder here, we have gone from four to five weeks, from three to eight weeks. That was something Hegseth had said to all. And the

war when I want to end the war coming from President Trump, and that is something we're hearing across the administration, they are putting this

decision squarely on President Trump at a time where now Americans are not only wary of the war itself of going into Iran, they're also wary of what

the effects are going to be on Americans themselves. The idea of these oil prices.

You have President Trump out there saying, well, it's only going to be higher oil prices for a short while. Well, how long is a short while? And I

will tell you, it's not just Americans in general who are concerned about this, but also those Republicans who are running for office in November who

know that the biggest issue for Americans is affordability. And now on top of the U.S. being involved in this war, that again, majority of Americans

do not want to be a part of. You're also seeing one of their greatest assets in affordability, which was lower gas prices being completely wiped

off the table.

So, what the end game here is, Max. I mean, I don't know that the administration themselves knows. And if they do, they have not outlined it

in any way for the American public

FOSTER: Okay, we'll keep looking for that. Kristen, thank you.

Iran's new supreme leader then, Mojtaba Khamenei, suffered multiple injuries on the first day of the war. And that's what a source has told

CNN. These injuries included a fractured foot and minor lacerations to his face. Khamenei has not been seen in public since succeeding his father,

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, following his death.

Now, meanwhile, Iran says it launched its most intense and heaviest operation since the start of the war today. Iran's Revolutionary Guard

Corps claims it used advanced long-range missiles to target Israel and U.S. military assets in the region. The speaker of Iran's parliament said the

attack proves the U.S. and Israel have failed to take out Iran's missile capabilities.

Inside Iran, CNN's team on the ground had a had a close call as Tehran came under aerial bombardment on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: OK, we're hearing jets overhead. There's anti-aircraft fire going on. They told us,

we got to get out of here as fast as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Overnight, Tehran was hammered by a fresh wave of strikes.

Let's get more from our Fred Pleitgen, you just saw there in northern Iran, warning you that CNN does operate in Iran with the permission of the

Iranian government, and that's required under local regulations. But we maintain full editorial control over what Fred reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: The U.S. and Israel's massive aerial campaign seems to be continuing in full swing.

Overnight, the position that we were, we heard jets streaking overhead and then massive explosions in the distance. It's unclear what exactly the

target was of that aerial raid that we witnessed but certainly it wasn't the only one in the past 24 hours. In Tehran, the Iranian capital, there

were major airstrikes also overnight and into the morning hours.

Some of the targets appeared to have been in the east of the city, in east of Tehran. That's an area that's gotten hit quite a lot over the past

couple of days. But then also, once again, the area around Mehrabad Airport, that's sort of the second airport of the Iranian capital that is

very much within the city limits.

Also, outside of Tehran, there's a satellite town called Karaj, which has been hit in the past couple of days, quite frequently, and apparently was

now hit once again.

All this comes as the Iranian government is trying to project that it is in a strong position in its standoff with the U.S. and Israel. The Islamic

Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is, of course, the elite wing of Iran's military, sent out a text message to people here inside Iran detailing the

costs to the United States of the ongoing war with Iran. The Iranians trying to say that they are the ones who are now in the driver's seat.

Meanwhile, politicians here in Iran continue to say that right now, the Iranians are not interested in negotiations with the United States and

instead are gearing up for what could be a very long war.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, in northern Iran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Israel is refusing to put a timeline on its war with Iran. The country's defense minister, Israel Katz, today saying strikes on Tehran

will continue as long as necessary. But he didn't lay out any goals for the war or how it might end.

Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv.

Jeremy, give us the update then on, you know, where we think this may stretch.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, what we are witnessing tonight appears to be an uptick in activity by both Iran and

Hezbollah over the course of the last hour. We have witnessed not only sirens and early warnings in the central part of Israel where we are, but

also in northern Israel, where Hezbollah just fired dozens of missiles in what appears to have been a coordinated attack, with Iran also firing

ballistic missiles at the same time.

But what we've been witnessing over the course of the last week has been something altogether very different. Smaller barrages of missiles fired by

Iran, but this time outfitted with a particular type of munition, cluster munitions that Iran appears to be using to try to evade Israel's air

defenses.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND (voice-over): Their orange glow streaks across the night sky. Each speck of light a small bomb carrying up to 11 pounds of explosives and

raining down indiscriminately, sometimes in densely populated areas. They are cluster munitions, and Iran is increasingly packing the heads of its

ballistic missiles, with dozens of them aiming to pierce Israels sophisticated air defenses.

DIAMOND: One of those small bombs struck the roof of this residential building, and you can see the hole is only a few inches wide. And yet this

is the kind of destruction that just one of those small bombs can cause one of multiple impact points from a single missile.

DIAMOND (voice-over): We confirmed nine separate impacts from that one missile. They include this strike on a Tel Aviv car wash that severely

wounded one man, and another in a neighboring suburb the impacts are spread out across seven miles of mostly residential neighborhoods, illustrating

why using these munitions in populated areas violates international law.

The next day, another cluster missile attack sends bomblets tumbling south of Tel Aviv. At least five impacts scattered across eight miles. One bomb

hit a street here. Nearby, two construction workers were killed the first fatalities in Israel caused by these weapons.

Israel's military, which has itself deployed cluster munitions in other wars, says about half of Iran's missile attacks use these munitions,

vehicles overturned. Shrapnel slicing through anything near the impact.

Iran's missiles are more destructive when equipped with a single large warhead, but the clusters are much tougher to intercept.

TAL INBAR, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, MISSILE DEFENSE ADVOCACY ALLIANCE: It's a mechanism to bypass an active missile defense. In some cases, you can hit

the target with an arrow or with a THAAD missile for example, but the bomblets will continue and will get to the target.

DIAMOND (voice-over): The Israeli military does try and intercept these bomblets, expending a costly and finite quantity of interceptors in the

process.

DIAMOND: So, if there is a strategy here by Iran, that could be it, to try and deplete Israel's air defenses, right?

[15:20:05]

INBAR: We know it. In some cases, the solution by Iran is a salvo of a very large quantity of even a single warhead, ballistic missiles. And try

to fire and coordinate the launch sites. I think Iran doesn't have the capability at the moment of orchestrating a large barrage of ballistic

missiles. So, if Iran wants to cause a lot of damage, even with a small number of ballistic missiles, then a submunition missile or missiles with

bomblets will be the weapon of choice.

DIAMOND (voice-over): The weapon of choice as Iran pursues a war of attrition, one missile at a time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Okay. Thank you so much, Jeremy, for bringing us that from Israel.

We're going to go to Capitol Hill now, where the accountant of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been testifying behind closed doors. Richard

Kahn answering questions from the House Oversight Committee over Epstein's financial dealings. The committee's chair describes khan as a big witness

for the investigation and says he wants to know if Khan was involved in creating any settlements for Epstein's victims.

Annie Grayer is standing by.

You would assume, you know, with money being at the heart of Epstein's life, that this guy would know something.

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, that's not what he is telling investigators. He's saying he had no knowledge of any of Epstein's crimes

and didn't witness anything. But Richard Kahn was at the center of Epstein's financial life. He oversaw all of the transactions that went in

and out of Epstein's accounts, and there are a lot of questions surrounding Epstein about how he made his money, why some of these large sums of money

were moving around without necessarily clear explanations.

And even in this deposition that's ongoing with lawmakers have learned so far is that there were at least five men who were at the center of

supplying Epstein with his, his most of his finances, including Les Wexner and Black. Mr. Black -- blanking on his last name.

And they are -- Wexner has already been interviewed by the House Oversight Committee, and the Oversight Committee has requested an interview with

Black. So, there's all -- there's continuing to be, you know, just a further web of questions as committee investigators ask more questions

about this.

But there's just this overarching question of how did Epstein make all of his money? And the witness today is talking also about some of the

settlements that were made that lawmakers have a lot of questions about.

So, really, Max, just more questions than answers. We do know that Mr. Khan is answering all the questions that committee members have for them, but

Democrats are saying that these answers are not satisfactory and not necessarily believable, that he had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes.

FOSTER: Interesting. Annie Grayer, I appreciate it. Thank you from Washington.

Coming up, Russia is helping Iran. We'll take a deep dive into the CNN correspondent who's got exclusive reporting on this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:20]

FOSTER: Live pictures from Beirut. You can see the smoke rising above the sky. A fire there in the foreground. This is southern Beirut, seen as a

stronghold for Hezbollah positions.

We have been hearing Jeremy Diamond, who's over in Israel, that there has been an uptick in attacks on Beirut. But the -- you know, very dramatic

scenes there for another night in Lebanon.

We're going to take you now to a CNN exclusive, because Russia is helping Iran with advanced drone tactics to hit U.S. and Gulf targets in the Middle

East. That is according to a western intelligence official who tells CNN, Moscow is giving Tehran detailed drone advice. Iran has been using

domestically designed Shahed drones to penetrate the air defenses of Gulf nations, and these are the same type of drone being mass produced by Russia

in its war with Ukraine.

That is the word from our source, but Donald Trump's top envoy says differently. According to U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, the Kremlin

denies helping Iran and that he trusts Vladimir Putin, with whom he met earlier this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY: I can tell you that yesterday on the call with the president, the Russians said that they have not been sharing.

That's -- that's what they said. So, you know, we can -- we can take them at their word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: So what we want to know is how involved is Russia in the war with Iran.

Our chief national security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh has more of CNN's exclusive reporting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: U.S. officials have said a few days ago that Russia was providing general

information to assist targeting of U.S. assets in the region. But western intelligence official I spoke to goes one stage further and says that while

this general assistance has turned into something they consider to be more concerning and that they believe that Russia is providing targeting

strategies to Iran based on their experience inside of Ukraine.

Now the official I spoke to didn't go into precise detail as to what these strategies indeed involved. But we know from seeing Russian drones in

action over Ukraine that Russia is employing all sorts of different tricks to try and get through Ukrainian air defenses. They often launch a thousand

drones in one particular night against Ukraine. I've seen them on radars moving in one direction, suddenly changing, going in loops at times as

well. Anything to evade Ukraine's constantly adapting air defenses.

And indeed, it's that issue, I think, of the adaptation that's key here because we've seen Russia adapting its tactics, Ukraine adapting its

interceptors. It now has $2,000 cheaper interceptors to hit the Shaheds that cost $30,000 each. And the idea, I think the concerns the official I

spoke to is that you could potentially take that three years worth of battlefield experience that Russia has gained in firing these shards,

originally of Iranian design, now mass produced in Russia. These Shahed attack drones at Ukraine and give it all to Iran in just a ten day period,

giving them a massive advantage.

Bear in mind, too, that the innovation cycle on the Ukrainian front lines, thought to be about six weeks. That's how fast new ideas come into action.

So this could be a significant advantage. We've already heard Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying that he believes Russia is giving

drones to Iran. He also thinks they're giving missiles, too.

And indeed, I mean, Jordan -- one of the several Gulf countries who have indeed asked Ukraine to send experts and indeed, technology to help them

with the threat of drones. That's something that Ukraine has complied with.

So, an evidence here, I think certainly, according to the official I spoke to, of a growing Russian involvement in a more real time, granular kind of

way to boost Iran.

[15:30:03]

The Kremlin didn't respond to our request for comment, but ultimately, they may see this after the U.S. intelligence and weaponry assistance to Ukraine

to fend off the Russian invasion as some kind of tit for tat. The official I spoke to, though also concerned about the increased threat of drones,

even low-tech fishing boats, dhows to be potentially used against U.S. carrier strike groups in that particular region as well.

A fast expanding, changing threat but one, it seems, in which Russia is keen to provide the up-to-the-minute assistance that it can to Iran.

Nick Paton Walsh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Nick Paton Walsh there.,

Let's have a look at the skyline then over southern Beirut, you can see several large explosions. So quite a sizable attack. This is a live image

for you, so that just happened in the last minute or so the actual drop of those missiles, we're assuming from Israel. But a very clear line up of

targets there looks pretty precise.

Let's see if we can see when it was carried out.

So very dramatic --

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

FOSTER: So that was the scene then just a few minutes ago.

Jeremy Diamond was watching it as well.

I mean, that was quite a sizable attack, Jeremy.

DIAMOND: Yeah. absolutely. I mean listen, we have seen the Israeli military carrying out strikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut this week.

This does appear to be quite a large series of explosions in Beirut. This was likely targeting the Dahieh, those southern suburbs that are also known

to be a Hezbollah stronghold. We've seen, of course, the Israeli military several days ago issued evacuation warnings, late last week actually for

those southern suburbs which has resulted in hundreds of thousands of people being forced to flee their homes.

Now, we also know that these strikes are coming amid an uptick in attacks by both Hezbollah and Iran we just saw a barrage of dozens of missiles that

Hezbollah fired towards communities in northern Israel. And in response to that, we immediately saw the Israeli military saying that they were

carrying out strikes not only in those southern suburbs of Beirut that we just saw there, but also targeting Hezbollah missile and rocket launchers.

I'm just looking down at my phone to see if we have any more information just here saying that they have begun a large-scale wave of strikes on

Hezbollah. Infrastructure in, again that Dahieh area of Beirut. That's the latest from the Israeli military, Max.

FOSTER: The broader -- yeah, the broader strategy here in terms of Lebanon is what, Jeremy?

DIAMOND: Well, certainly, the Israeli military has been trying to do a few things as it relates to Hezbollah. Weve seen them strike a lot of the

financial targets related to Hezbollah, banks that helped to finance the group, and that allows Hezbollah to pay salaries. We've also seen of

course, these widespread evacuation orders that have resulted in hundreds of thousands of people fleeing their homes, causing you know, in some cases

in Beirut, in particular, these, you know, widening some fractures in Lebanese society.

And we've heard at the same time, the Lebanese government striking out at Hezbollah rhetorically and noting the fact that they are finding themselves

stuck between Hezbollah on the one side and Israeli aggression on the other and all of this does seem intended to try and kind of isolate Hezbollah in

the social and political landscape of Lebanon, in addition to, of course, degrading Hezbollah's military capabilities and ultimately as Israeli

military and political officials have said in the last week, they want to continue this campaign against Hezbollah until Hezbollah is fully disarmed

and its capabilities no longer existed

FOSTER: Jeremy Diamond, thank you for talking us through those images of southern Beirut tonight and the smoke rising above.

We'll be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:38:09]

FOSTER: Live images coming into us from southern Beirut tonight after Israel said it began a large scale set of strikes across Lebanon. You can

see the fire burning, the smoke rising above. And this is what we saw just a few moments ago.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

FOSTER: We saw the anti-aircraft fire there in the background. Sadly, a little bit too late then for the -- those on the ground trying to defend

the city, but clearly a major operation being conducted in southern Beirut tonight.

Now, elsewhere in the region, 400 million barrels of oil. That is the pledge made today by the International Energy Agency, as it promised to

release oil from its emergency stockpiles in an effort to calm markets, worried about tankers being struck in the Gulf -- being stuck in the Gulf

rather.

Meanwhile, a CNN examination of marine tracking data shows that at least six ships have managed to traverse the Strait of Hormuz in the past few

days. Extraordinarily, some of the ships turned off their tracking systems, making them harder to locate, and several sent out messages identifying

themselves as Chinese owned, which may have protected them from Iranian attacks because Iran has been supplying China.

Now the strait is a key transit route, carrying roughly a fifth of global crude oil shipments.

[15:40:03]

And for the -- for the countries along the Persian Gulf this is an increasingly unstable time for them.

Our Nic Robertson is in Kuwait and has more detail.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Kuwait's right at the top of the gulf here, but the Strait of Hormuz is about 500 miles to the

south is as important to them as it is to all the other Gulf countries, because their oil, just like the UAE's oil, just like Saudis oil, just like

Qatar's oil. If it goes by ship, needs to go out through the Strait of Hormuz. Fishermen have been talking to here, have been telling us they're

seeing far fewer tankers out on the sea because the tankers just aren't trying to get through. One of the difficulties that the United States faces

in trying to take down the Iranian navy in that area, the Strait of Hormuz that we've witnessed, that I've seen back in 2019 here, the Iranians used

just fishing boats with a few people on board who can stick magnetic mines to tankers, just a few tankers.

And those mines explode. They disable the tankers, they create that pressure point that were beginning to see now strengthening on the Strait

of Hormuz, even taking out Iran's navy will still leave these much harder to catch fishing boats with just a couple of operatives in them trying to -

- trying to stop all that oil getting -- getting through.

Another perhaps detail worth considering here. Of course, the Houthis in Yemen are a proxy of Iran and the Houthis in Yemen over the past couple of

years have been targeting oil tankers in the Red Sea, the other side of the Arabian Peninsula. They've been doing it with missiles. They've been doing

it with small fishing boats. They've also been doing it with unmanned boats, sort of water drones, if you will.

So, the Iranians have a lot of expertise in trying to bring pressure to bear on that strategic, important choke point. Talking to people here, no

one in Kuwait really has a sense pretty much like everyone else in the gulf, how long this war will last. But what they do know is that the

Iranians have a lot of experience targeting the Strait of Hormuz, have likely been preparing for it, preparing for it, strategically, preparing

munitions close to where they're going to need them. All of that speaks to a potentially drawn-out conflict.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Kuwait.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Still to come, the fallout over Peter Mandelson's Epstein links continues to rock British government. Can the prime minister survive the

latest scandal to engulf Number 10?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:41]

FOSTER: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was warned of Peter Mandelson's links to Jeffrey Epstein prior to appointing him as U.S.

ambassador according to new files. The files reveal that Starmer was told Mandelson posed a reputational risk. Despite this, the prime minister

pressed ahead with the appointment before ultimately sacking Mandelson last September. Mandelson was arrested last month on suspicion of misconduct in

a public office, but has denied any criminal wrongdoing.

I'm joined by Bethany Dawson, "Politico's" London Playbook Diary reporter.

Hi there, Bethany.

This is, you know, just one of the files we're expecting to receive, right, and the -- it was very clear that Mandelson continued his relationship with

Epstein and the prime minister was aware of that when he was appointed.

BETHANY DAWSON, LONDON PLAYBOOK DIARY REPORTER, POLITICO: He was. And the issue with these files is, though they do give us new information they, of

course, don't tell us what we don't know. Keir Starmer has previously said that Peter Mandelson lied about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein he said

that there were things, you know, there were details about the friendship that were not told that we would assume would preclude him from being

appointed if the prime minister knew that. But we don't know what they are.

So, right now, we're getting a little bit of an insight of why -- of how, how the appointment happened. But those big questions about what wasn't

known are still completely unclear.

FOSTER: It's interesting that the government line seems to be that Mandelson was asking for something like $750,000 as a payoff after being

fired but isn't the point here that they you know, they said they didn't -- they wouldn't pay him that, but they did actually pay him something like

$100,000, which is actually the point here that they actually paid him off despite firing him.

DAWSON: Yes, he did get a payment. He got about 75,000 pounds. Now we you know, that is a lot less than he was asking for of course. But when people

at home, you know, in the U,K. were facing a cost-of-living crisis, see these numbers? I don't think they're necessarily going to be calmed by the

fact it wasn't more.

FOSTER: Yeah. Okay, Bethany, thank you. There'll be more files. So, we'll be back with you as you read through them. Thank you.

And we'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:39]

FOSTER: More breaking news, this time from the United Nations. The U.N. Security Council adopting a resolution demanding that Iran halt its attacks

on Gulf countries immediately. The resolution was adopted with 13 votes in favor, none against, although Russia and China abstained.

You're looking though at live pictures. I want to show you these explosions across -- these are the current images of southern Beirut. We know that

Israel had begun a large-scale wave of strikes, as they described it in this part of Beirut, the Dahieh suburb is an area that Israel certainly

considers a stronghold for Hezbollah.

Let's see what happened a few minutes ago as the attack started.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

FOSTER: Joining us now, CNN military analyst, Colonel Cedric Leighton.

I know you've only just seen these images, Cedric, but they really give a sense of the scale of Israel's operation here.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah, absolutely Max. And one of the things that you're seeing here is basically that opening

salvo in this particular aspect of the Israeli operation now, what Israel is doing is a multi-pronged effort to not only go after Hezbollah, but

also, of course, after Iran and the Iranian leadership.

So, as we look at these pictures, we can see that they're attacking the suburb that you mentioned. They're in southern Beirut, which is absolutely

a Hezbollah stronghold. But the other part of this is, is that they are all centered on destroying the effectiveness, the efficacy of Hezbollah as a

fighting force.

Israel has done a lot, of course to decapitate the leadership in Hezbollah itself. They've, of course, also done that with the Iranian leadership. So,

this is an effort to really mop up as much as they possibly can. And in essence, render the northern part of Israel safe from any attacks from

Hezbollah or any other group that's in Lebanon that is - that is supported by Iran.

FOSTER: Yeah. Our team on the ground there, thankfully okay. But they said they heard the explosions and they were significantly stronger than any

blast heard over the past several days of strikes.

Do you think that, you know, with the U.S. suggesting that it may not be a prolonged conflict that Israel is trying to achieve as much as it can

within this window?

LEIGHTON: I think that's definitely a possibility, Max. And one of the reasons they are doing this is President Trump has given some signals that

he wants to end the conflict with Iran, or least ended in -- on his terms. And that might mean that the Israelis will get less support in a actual

operational sense than they're receiving right now because the Iran operation is basically a joint U.S. Israeli operation.

The Lebanese operation, the one that's that were seeing pictures of right now is solely an Israeli operation. So that becomes a, I think, a major

factor, because if the Iran conflict ends, then the Israelis are not going to get the support that they are relying on right now in terms of real time

logistics, real time intelligence and possibly even the real time defense of their territory through systems like the Aegis system, which is the navy

-- U.S. Navy system that's deployed off the eastern of the western shore of Israel and the -- in the eastern Mediterranean.

FOSTER: Shortly before this, it was preceded by a barrage of rockets from Lebanon into Israel. Thankfully, only two people were mildly injured. But

it does go to show you know, Hezbollah isn't down yet.

LEIGHTON: Right. And Hezbollah is not going to be done by any stretch of the imagination because they have really perfected the art of in essence,

blending into the environment. So, what will happen is the Israelis will move forward.

[15:55:01]

They may occupy some territory in Lebanon, and then Hezbollah will kind of melt into the background, and then they'll come back out when they find an

opportune moment.

FOSTER: Okay. Cedric, as ever, thank you so much for scrambling to interpret those images for us that came in in the last hour.

I'm Max Foster. That's WHAT WE KNOW. Do stay with CNN. More after the break.

END

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