Mideast War Intensifies

0:00Rinse knows that greatness takes time, but so does laundry. So rinse will take your laundry and hand-deliver it to your door, expertly cleaned. And you can take the time pursuing your passions. Time one spent sorting and waiting, folding and queuing, now spent challenging and innovating and pushing your way to greatness. So pick up the Irish flute or those calligraphy pens, or that daunting beef Wellington recipe card, and leave the laundry to us. Rinse, it's time to be great. This is CNN Breaking News. Breaking news this morning, Israel carries out simultaneous strikes in Tehran and Beirut as the U.S. promises to hit Iran even harder. Good morning, everybody. I'm Adi Cornish, one day four of the war with Iran. This is video just into CNN, showing a massive plume of smoke after a strike in central Iran. To the north and Tehran, tell CNN every moment they expect to hear an explosion.

1:02The U.S. State Department, warning Americans to leave the Middle East immediately, Iran continues to target U.S. allies across the Gulf. This for example, a video from a short time ago in Doha, the sound of explosions as incoming missiles are intercepted above. The death toll for U.S. forces now stands at six, President Trump has warned of more casualties. He's also told CNN's Jake Tapper this over the phone, we haven't even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn't even happened. The big one is coming soon. So we're going to be bringing you team coverage from across the region. We've got reporters in Doha, Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi, but here's where I want to start the latest in Haifa, Israel. CNN's chief international security correspondent, Nick Peyton-Walsh, is with us. Nick, thank you for being with us today. We're hearing more about this wave of attacks. Can you talk about the scale of it? And how wide Iran's retaliation is sort of reaching across the region?

2:04Yeah, it is extraordinary, it seems, how this Iranian retaliation has chosen to create more enemies for the already embattled autocracy into Iran. Now, as of last night, two explosions at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, this morning, Oman, a country that tried to mediate between Iran and the United States until this conflict broke out. It's Dukham Port, an oil tanker targeted there, Americans told the shelter in place in Iran, explosions in Bar-Rut, Bahrain, Kuwait, sustained as well. And also too, as a result of Israeli moves here, explosions heard in Beirut, with the Israeli armed forces saying they're targeting Head's Blast Center of Gravity in that area. Let's not forget, obviously, importantly, to Tehran, where there are reports from the Iranian Red Crescent that maybe over 700 people have been killed since the start of this conflict. Extraordinary plumes of smoke and damage there, as the United States says clearly that it believes it will be escalating its military operations there. The timeframe of all of this so hard to truly understand how much more capacity does Iran

3:08have to spread this retaliation across a region, across nations, many of whom simply did not want to see the United States take this military action, at least in their public statements. And now, I think, putting the Tehran government, or what's left in it, in an exceptionally tight corner as to whether they can continue to escalate and retaliate in this way, or need some sort of off-round. Howdy. Nick, I want to ask you one more thing, because this is a joint strike in war with the U.S. and Israel, Netanyahu went on to Fox last night to speak directly to Americans. We're going to talk about that later. What is the conversation within Israel right now in terms of how long they are bracing to be in this war, especially opening it up in other fronts? Yeah, I mean, look, it's important to point out the Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday was talking about regime change, and what might follow in Tehran would be a form of democracy. No timeframe put on that, and there's a long term is Rayleigh Gold, frankly, to see their

4:10enemy in Tehran removed, and something more sympathetic in its place. It's a long shot, frankly, it was being at the best of times. At the same time, too, though, Israel has seized upon an opportunity presented to it by another long-term irritant, the Lebanese militia and Iranian proxy across the border to the north of me here, Hezbollah, they fired a barrage of rockets that started, or missiles and drones that started an Israeli military operation that has of this morning developed significantly in terms of the symbolism. Israel, since its war with Hezbollah in late 2024 held five positions just inside Lebanese territory, we understand from the Israeli military that their buffer zone, so to speak, is somewhat widening as they've sent more ground forces over the border. This is not a land invasion, this so to speak, it seems to be there phrasing more of a tactical repositioning, but that coupled with the barrage of strikes across Lebanon and Beirut, and a continually widening evacuation orders for southern Lebanon, clearly,

5:11Israel sees in the opportunity here to strike Hezbollah as hard as it can, while it can, exactly what strength Hezbollah has to fight back. Well, we have heard of some damage done to a northern series of houses here, no casualties, light injuries, but that playing out fast now. Okay, that's Nick Peyton, we'll watch out the border between Israel and Lebanon, where there's quite a bit going on, so I want to bring in CNN military analyst, Cedric Layden, he's a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, I'm glad you're here, because this is an attempt to bring about change in the region using air power alone, at least for now. First, when the president says something like this, and we're just going to show folks cover of the New York Post, the big one is coming, what is the big one? What are military folks saying in your chats? So that's actually a big mystery for a lot of people, but what it could be, is there is a facility near Natans in Iran, which is called Pekax Mountain. And Pekax Mountain. Pekax Mountain, that's the the Western

6:13or American term for it. It's had an Iranian name, but the big deal here is this is a hardened and deeply buried target of supreme significance, because it's part of the Iranian nuclear system, their research system, their weapons development, potential weapons development system. So that could be a target that would fit with the big one is coming. The other thing that the president might be talking about, Audi, is the idea that there would be a further wave of airstrikes that would replicate kind of what we saw during the first days of this, the first hours of this particular operation. So when you look at those possibilities, you could see they might restrike some of the targets, they might go after command and control, some of the leadership functions that are still in existence. Can I jump in here there? Because I get to the question of munition stockpiles. How long both the U.S. Israel can keep this up? How long Iran can keep intercepting? Can you talk about what is known

7:18about everybody sort of stockpile going into this situation? Well, there's always, you know, like an economic, there's always a shortage, right, of everything, but especially with the war in Ukraine going on, right? The U.S. had been supporting Ukraine with some military support. Well, one example of that is the Patriot missile system and the batteries that are associated with the Patriot missile system, that the munitions that are used for that are in prime demand for the Ukraine war. The problem that you have now is that the industrial base in the United States has not really kept up with the demand. Yeah, these are images of the Iranian drone stockpile, I think, which are used all over the world. And I think we're exported to Russia in that war. So these are weapons that other places are having to reckon with. So there's, so on the Iranian side, you know, you've basically got this connection between Iran and Russia and also Iran, Russia, and China. And the key thing here is that the Iranians have perfected a low-cost

8:22drone manufacturing system. They're a shahed family of drones. I are now well-known because of the Ukraine war, and they have also been used in this particular conflict because they've gone after some target areas on the other side of the Persian Gulf in Saudi Arabia. For example, the oil-facillated russinura was attacked by drones, by Iranian drones. And so they're also attacking targets in Iraq. They probably were responsible for the attacks in Kuwait, maybe even the one that killed the six Americans. So this is a critical element because those drones are actually one of the power projection capabilities, a cheap power projection, but effective power projection capability for the Iranians. I have one more thing. I want to show you some maps here, looking at Turkey, where Iran has done some strikes around the region. We are seeing civilian targets being hit, Iran accusing the US of hitting a civilian target. President Trump said that one aspect of this war widening is he was surprised. He was surprised at how

9:28immediately there was this sort of aggression towards other Arab states. Will we see those states being pulled? Because we know they didn't want to go into a wider conflict as a result. This is a primary risk of this particular situation because those Arab states, as you correctly pointed out, Audi did not want to be a part of this. They even abandoned the US from using their facilities to conduct attacks on Iran. They said you can't do that from places like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, etc. But that has changed now. And that has changed big time because these countries are angry. They, in fact, have given the green light to launch certain strikes from their territory, and they are also willing, it sounds like, at least for the moment, to ban together as part of the Gulf Cooperation Council and move forward into Iran using doing offensive operations of their own. Okay, that is interesting. Stay right there because I think that's an idea we want to come back to later. Retired Air Force, Colonel Colonel Layton. Thank you so much, Cedric Layton. Now,

10:30coming up on CNN this morning, we're going to have more breaking news coverage in the Middle East, Iran and Israel trade blows as this war ramps up. Plus, we're going to talk about global oil prices. They are up as the war with Iran threatens crude oil supply. And the White House setting the tone on the war with Iran, but not offering an exit strategy. So, what is the end game? We're going to talk about that today. There's just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict with no clear end inside and no clear objective. Hey everyone, it's Audi, and I've got another special episode of The Assignment For You. I was at the podcast festival known as On Air Fest. That was in Brooklyn just last week. And for this, I knew I wanted to bring along a friend because we're going to talk about work spouses and mine for a very long time was Ari Shapiro of NPR. You heard us on the radio being very serious. And during the eight-minute segment when our

11:34mics are off, we would cackle about the latest thing that we had found on Reddit or on Instagram or whatever was bubbling up in the culture. And we never really got to laugh like that with each other and finish each other sentences on the radio in quite that way. No. Listen to The Assignment with me, Audi Cornish, streaming now on your favorite podcast app. Hey, I'm Anderson Cooper. On my podcast, all there is we explore grief and loss in all its complexities. You'll hear deeply moving and honest discussions with people who have faced and are living with life-altering losses. Gavin Newsom is the governor of California. He's written a book about his life called Young Man in a Hurry, a memoir of discovery. There's this thing, just this notion of this letting go. And just accepting things I can't control, just accepting them, things I can taking account and responsibility to be better and more. Do you feel grief? I feel loss. I feel regret. I feel inadequate. I guess human.

12:39Talking grief, building community. That's what the podcast is all about. This is all there is. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts. This was our last best chance to strike what we're doing right now and eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime. President Trump says he wants to eliminate the threats by the Iranian regime. Some of his top officials say it is not a regime change war. Another says it could kind of be. Whatever happens with the regime in one form or another, it's incidental to the president's primary objective here, which is to make sure the Iranian terrorist regime does not build a nuclear bomb. Plan for the U.S. to at least play a role in whatever government comes to. I mean, we might. We'll see how circumstances play out. It's just something we can do to help them down the road. We're obviously be open to it, but that's not the objective.

13:42This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change. Joining me now in the group chat, Sabrina Seng, CNN Global Affairs commentator, former deputy Pentagon press secretary, Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst and national political correspondent for Axios and Vivian Salama, staff writer at the Atlantic. Thank you all for being here. I think you guys all have different perspectives. You would have heard different answers yesterday for what the U.S. is doing. Pete Hegseth gave a lengthy kind of commentary yesterday. What did you hear from how he was trying to position it as defense secretary? Well, I think he was trying to lay out the objectives of what this mission is, but he was also setting the goal posted to continue to move. Essentially, he was laying the groundwork for Donald Trump to essentially claim victory at any time. It could be today, could be in a few days, could be in a few weeks. He basically was saying victory is here because we are doing everything that of the

14:42mission, but then you heard competing sort of stated mission objectives from Secretary of State Mark Rubio and even the president himself. I mean, the president in his two taped social media addresses never actually said what the clear objectives were. Yeah, and we have to say that first of all, we have some polling. So CNN has started to go out and call people and ask. And right now, the opinion of U.S. air strikes against Iran among U.S. adults, that number is creeping up to 60 percent. It's at 59 percent disapprove. The other thing is, does Trump have a clear plan for handling Iran in this situation? And we were looking at this number creeping up again to 60 percent. So the true social posts are not working in terms of people thinking, we know what's up. I want to play one more thing for you. Senator Mark Warner, Vice Chair of the Intelligence Committee, lawmakers were briefed yesterday. They came out with a list of objectives and reasons why.

15:45And here is how, here was his takeaway on Monday. We have seen the goals for this operation change now. I believe four or five times. A week ago, it was about the Iranian nuclear capacity. A few days later, it was about taking out the ballistic missiles. It was then about regime change. And now we're here. It's about sinking the Iranian fleet. So this is based on what he heard with a briefing with military officials. Well, there are different objectives because there are different parts of the Republican Party that also do have different objectives. There are some people in the Republican Party that are very just focused on preventing a nuclear Iran. There's also part of the Republican Party going back decades that really wanted the Iowa to go and part to take away the threat against Israel and part because the Iranian regime had killed U.S. soldiers. So what you are seeing in the sort of

16:46differing answers is reflective of the larger sort of coalition the Republican Party that all had a similar objective, which was to attack Iran, but for different reasons. Yeah, there's also a difference between an operation and a war, right? You can have a successful strike in operation if you're limited. That does not mean you have a plan for a war. What are you seeing in your reporting? Well, Pete Haggs that yesterday came out and he really stressed this notion of we are not out to do nation building. We are going in for a limited operation. The president yesterday saying five four to five weeks potentially and they are really stressing that they want to get in and they want to get out. Yeah, but obviously it's easier said than done and we've seen that play out throughout history, throughout modern history, where you go in there and you break it, you buy it. At that point, you have to try to figure out what comes next. But we've also heard who wasn't somebody said, I forget who it was. Maybe it was Lindsey Graham over the weekend who said, I don't buy the whole, if you break it, you buy it. I don't think that applies here and I do hear them trying to make a distinction between the Neocon era and what they're doing right now. They are. And they are trying to kind of lay the foundation for something to come after.

17:51For the Iranian people potentially to take over after these military operations are done. Again, a lot more than a clear distinction is they don't need the regime to change, to consider it a success. They just need whatever happens after to be nuclear-free. Which is very similar to what we saw in Venezuela then. Where you have this caretaker government that was already in place, someone with good graces that is going to be working with the United States to be able to then see a transition take place. As you know, the nuclear program, if that is one of the objectives to completely dismantle, that will require some boots on the ground. I mean, those three nuclear facilities that they claim were obliterated, does still hold in regime. And so who is going to do that if the president is now wavering on putting troops on the ground? I think that is a huge long-term commitment that if you break it, you bought it. I mean, you have to. You have bought it. J.D. Van says there's just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict with no clear end-inside and no clear objective. So they are trying to make

18:57a distinction. It's not clear if the American people are seeing it. I want to show you one more poll number before we move on. Which breaks down independence Republicans, Democrats. The question of is a long-term military conflict between the U.S. and Iran likely. You've got independence again that number creeping up to 60%. They are not looking at this and saying this is going to be short. And I think that only matters because this is an administration that campaigned on no more foreign entanglements. I mean, the most interesting number in there to me actually is the Republicans are evenly split. 44 and 44. You have people and Tucker Carlson obviously got some attention over the weekend by telling ABC News that basically this attack was evil. But even people like Megan Kelly who sort of sit on the fence post between MAGA and more traditional Republicans, she's been very critical, very skeptical of what just went on the last day. Yeah, and it sort of counter messaging. Okay, I want you guys to stay with me. We're going to have a lot of great voices on here who can enlighten us more about what's going on after the break on CNN this morning. You've got

20:00missiles intercepted and falling from the sky over Qatar. So as the war spirals across Gulf states, we're going to talk more about what that means. And the president, of course, still urging Iranians to quote, take back their country. What would that look like? So if I got news for your ears, the podcast, I am your host, Michael Ian Black. Because you know what? Here comes the clip. He said, Wang, our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime. He did say eminent. As opposed to imminent. So well respected, well respected, right? The bombs are very, very highly regarded. Some of these bombs have multiple degrees. Have I got news for your ears releases new episodes every Wednesday? Don't miss an episode. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts.

21:03Over night, CNN capturing this video, the sky over Doha after Qatar intercepted incoming Iranian missiles, leaving objects falling. So CNN's team on the ground reports hearing loud booms over the city. Joining me now is CNN's senior producer, Bijan Hussaini in Doha. Can you give us the latest on these strikes? Hi, we're a bit halfway into the fourth day of what is Iran's retaliation. It's nearly 2.30 pm here. I know you see that video that just played out. Those were interceptions happening last night. We also got word from the Ministry of Defense last night tallying the number of attacks from Iran to date. We have a three cruise missiles, 101 ballistic missiles, 39 drones, and two SU-24 fighters that the government says has been launched from Iran. They successfully intercepted nearly all of those, but the important number there is that two SU-24 fighters that I mentioned at the end. This is a significant escalation.

22:05It is the first time we've seen a Gulf country confirm shooting down Iranian aircraft, obviously helping inflame the regional tensions that we're seeing play out right now in this region. And we heard from a number of Qatar ministers over the last couple days that they reserve that right. That is their right to respond to what they're calling Iran's aggression, and we clearly saw that play out last night. We've also seen a report from the government media office suggesting that rumors about them running out of missile defense systems. They pushed back on that. They said that is absolutely false. They have a large supply of Patriot missile defense systems in their arsenal. Adi? Okay, Bijano Seni in Doha. We're going to check in with him later today. In the meantime, the U.S. and Israel, of course, urging the people of Iran to, quote, take matters into their own hands. I call upon all Iranian patriots who yearn for freedom to seize this moment, to be brave,

23:05be bold, be heroic, and take back your country. Cute Iranian citizens don't miss this opportunity. It's once in a lifetime opportunity. Because soon, there's going to be a moment that you'll have to go to the streets. The meantime in Iran, there are warning civilians, quote, any activity undermining security would be considered direct cooperation with hostile forces and would face a firm response joining us in the group chat, Holly Dagger, senior fellow at the Washington Institute's program on Iran and U.S. policy. Holly, I'm glad you're here. You've talked to us in the past of what's left of kind of the opposition in Iran, who that might be. And first of all, I'm hearing this analogy, this will be similar to Venezuela, where there was a person the U.S. could turn to, in terms of opposition. At the end of the day, they sort of stuck with the regime leader,

24:06who had been, you know, chicken jowl with the dictator there. So, what are your concerns? Well, I should voice the concerns I heard in January, right before the unprecedented massacre, when there was an anti-regime uprising that wasn't successful, before there was a communication shutdown that led to that mass, that covered that massacre. I saw, I heard from anti-regime protesters that there wasn't worry about a Venezuela scenario, that the United States would make a deal with the regime they don't want. With the remnants of whatever the regime is left? And that was really exactly the sentiment then, and I imagine is now. And so, when I hear the president saying, oh, well, three of them were killed, it means that he is trying to deal with the upper echelons of the clerical establishment. And that's something that Iranians do not want. They want this regime gone. And we should mention, right now, no internet. Also, a few months ago here in the U.S., there were a lot of cuts to the programming that would have supported opposition figures. You're nodding. Do you know about this? And whether it's a voice

25:09of America, Persia, Radio Farta, but also money that would have gone to propping up the internet in these situations. Well, I mean, we fund those organizations for cases like this to disseminate the message of whether it's democracy or if Donald Trump is saying to the people of Iran to rise up, I mean, these are the outlets that you would push pro-democracy messages. But because of the cuts of this administration, you don't have that apparatus in place anymore. I mean, we did see this administration turn on Starlink terminals during the protests, but even now, you know. And if that helped, I should let you jump in. What are you hearing? Well, I think Starlink has been key, but this has been going on since 2022, the woman life freedom uprising. There's been Starlink smuggled by ordinary Iranians. There's about 50 to 60,000 terminal users, but we did see a Wall Street Journal report that the administration had smuggled in about 6,000. So let me follow up with this Senator Mark Warner, Democrat, came out of a briefing yesterday. And he raised this question that I want to put to you. The question I have is if the Iranian people, and I shed no tears

26:18for the death of the Iranian leadership who have been awful, but if the President of the United States is asking the Iranian people to rise up in the streets, and then the Iranian revolutionary guard who are brutal, murder 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 Iranian protesters, do we have any further moral obligation then to go in to support them with even potentially boots on the ground? Does the U.S. have a moral obligation since the President called Iranians to the streets? Well, you know, I talked about the unprecedented mass occurrence in January where tens of thousands have reportedly been killed according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran, and the President said there were about 32,000. So we've got about those numbers. There was a growing call from Iranians inside the country for R2P or responsibility to protect, including from prominent human rights lawyer Nasser Nutsu today. We also heard from the outside from Nobel laureate sheen Ebaaddi for this call. And that's why it might have been jarring

27:21for outsiders to see that there were Iranians celebrating the initial strikes. And of course, the death of Hamine and the streets. So I think that's- But, Holly, I don't mean to pin you on this, but it's one of these things where do do Iranians, is there a sense that if you go out in the streets right now, someone will come and back you up when things go sideways? I think they certainly thought that somebody would back them up, and that's why there's been this anticipation within the country for weeks. I mean, it's very- it's really jarring because in their eyes, this is an armed government, and that's why you've been seeing, like I said, the celebration that they thought they would have air cover. But with no boots on the ground, that's the promise right now. Is it just hope for? I mean, I think that they're thinking that the United States and Israel are going to take out this regime. But again, as these casualties get bigger, because there happens civilian casualties, the group human rights activists in Iran have reported at least 700 civilians killed. I think that mood, that hope for change from bombs from the sky would really change over time,

28:21because this is war. This is war time. Okay, we're going to follow up with you as we hear a lot of opposition groups, especially in the diaspora, talking about what they want for Iran going forward. You guys stay with me. We're going to talk a little more of this hour, straight ahead on CNN, the back and forth of the attacks, between Iranian-backed proxies and Israel. Plus, US troops killed in Kuwait in an Iran drone attack, as the White House has yet to rule out sending more boots on the ground. Jackson Hewitt handles your taxes and your stress. Inhale, on no surprise price of 149 or less. Exhale, paying more for complicated taxes. You won't. Inhale, new tax law knowledge. Exhale, missing out on your biggest refund. Certainly not. Don't miss paying 149 or less. Rest easy. Jackson Hewitt's culture taxes. Guaranteed. Limited time offer for new clients on the drones,

29:23but it's waiting locations in the next time the Jackson Hewitt dot com slash 149. This is CNN breaking news. Israel carries out simultaneous strikes in Tehran and Beirut. One high rise building collapsed in southern Lebanon after an Israeli strike on Monday. In the capital of Beirut, streets were packed with people trying to flee the city as Israel targets Hezbollah forces in the country. Now, Israel's prime minister spoke to Fox News last night about this whole operation. I hear the people are taking away. You're going to have an endless war here. You're not going to have an endless war. This terror regime in Iran is the weakest point that has been here since it took hijacked Iran from the brave Iranian people 47 years ago. So we're this is going to be a quick and decisive action. Joining us now live from Tel Aviv, CNN Jerusalem bureau chief, Orin Lieberman, Orin. We are following right now the death tolls. What are you hearing out of Israel?

30:26Audio. We're seeing an intensive hit intensification on virtually all sides of this conflict here on day four. President Donald Trump has promised a quote big wave attack is coming from the US against Iran. America certainly still has the forces in the region. So we'll wait to see what comes a frankly what is a threat against the Iranian regime that is still in place here. Although they certainly lost their top leadership on day four. Meanwhile, Israel has continued to strike targets in Tehran, belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the intelligence ministry according to the Israel Defense Forces. They also say they've expanded air superiority across parts of Iran, which basically lets them do what they want. This as Iran lashes out with its remaining forces and its remaining capabilities against countries and the Gulf and the State Department acknowledges that because of that it is very difficult for American citizens who want to leave the Middle East right now and that includes here in Israel. Meanwhile, we are seeing an escalation on the northern border of Israel as Israel has widened its campaign against Hezbollah. Israel, the Israeli military that says it has seized more posts along the border

31:31between Israel and Lebanon. Keep in mind Israel has held on effectively indefinitely at this point to five posts in southern Lebanon that it's used to look into the country. Israel now widening that in what it calls an enhanced defense posture as we see punishing strikes from Israel against Hezbollah in Beirut. Audi. Okay, that is Orin speaking to us. Thank you so much, Orin. I want to turn now to Danny Dunon, Israel's ambassador to the UN. Thank you for being with us ambassador. First, I want to play for you something that we heard yesterday from a lawmaker who came out of his security briefing. His name is Mark Warner and here's what he heard as the sort of explanation for why the U.S. decided now to do these particular strikes. Here it is. There was no imminent threat to the United States of America by the Iranians.

32:34There was a threat to Israel. And if we equate a threat to Israel as the equivalent of an imminent threat to the United States, then we are in uncharted territory. Can I get your response to that? Audi, we tend to believe the Iranians. When they chant death to Israel, we believe them. When they pay the proxies to attack us, we believe them. And I think President Trump showed leadership when he also believed the threats coming from Iran for good reasons. They tried to assassinate the U.S. President twice. They actually fed proxies who attacked a U.S. target for generations, for years, and where the American were killed by Iranian forces. So I think the President took the right decision to believe the Iranian regime. And you know, we see what's happening in the last 24 hours where they are lashing attacks

33:35against Europe, Cyprus, against countries in the Middle East, with ballistic missiles. Let me call them for that. Let me call them for that. Let me call them for that. Let me call them for that. Yeah, on that particular question, hold on one moment. Mr. Ambassador, hold on one second. I want to ask you this question because you're talking about Mr. Ambassador, Ambassador. Yeah, but please hold on one moment and I will let you finish your point. So here it is. President Trump says this could last four to five weeks. Is that your expectation? I will finish my point. Just imagine that Iran had today nuclear capabilities assembled or thought ballistic missiles. That would be a threat not only to Israel, not only to the Gulf country, though, to the European countries. It would have been a threat to the American people. For President Trump took the right decision for the American people, not because they wanted to help Israel, or the Gulf countries, or Europe. You know, we are in the front line, but those radicals. I think the concern is people don't want to have to imagine.

34:38They want to know if there was an imminent threat, and if there is concrete evidence of that threat, not to imagine if perhaps there had been. I want to let you answer the question from earlier. What is the specific end state you believe you are trying to achieve? Is there a particular thing that you are trying to achieve at the end of this war? If it's just the nuclear program, we understand, but are there other things there? It is very clear, you know, both five minutes of Netanyahu and President Trump mentioned the goals of this operation. First, to make sure they don't have nuclear capabilities. Second, to dismantle the ballistic missile threat. And it is a threat. Look what's happening today in Dubai, in Riyadh, in Doha, in Tel Aviv, in dozens of capitals around the world. It is a threat, so I'm sure that after we will finish the job, they will not have those capabilities to threat so many communities around the world.

35:39And also the network of foxes. Iran spent billions of dollars on terror. I believe that after this operation will be complete, they will not have their possibility and their ability. And hopefully, we cannot guarantee that. But we hope and we pray that the Iranian people will have a better future, a better regime. That in the end of the Iranian people to decide what they are doing when they are taking control of the future. But that's something they will have to decide about. And right now, they are still under a crushing regime and a violent regime that has threatened them from going out in the streets. I know that some US officials have expressed some willingness to potentially talk with whatever is left of Iran's leadership going forward. Is there anyone around right now that Israel would feel comfortable dealing with would trust in any kind of diplomatic capacity from Iran? Well, already diplomacy is always better than war.

36:41We exhausted diplomacy, which right it for four years. Also, the US, the Europeans, so many dialogues with the Iranian and they delayed and delayed and delayed. But if there will be genuine efforts with the real guarantees that they are not able to actually continue with the deception and the lies, I'm sure diplomacy will come into action. I don't think it's going to be a very long war. And after this operation will be over, you're going to have to go to diplomacy and get the guarantees, make sure you have the inspectors, make sure you have the mechanisms that will not allow Iran to continue on the same track as they were in the last 47 years. Okay, that's Ambassador Dunant. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. At this point, six US troops have been killed in Kuwait in an Iran drone attack. The White House not ruling out sending more troops into the line of fire. In an interview with the New York Post, President Trump said he would put boots on the ground in Iran if they were quote,

37:42necessary, a similar message from the Pentagon. Are there currently any American boots on the ground in Iran? No, but we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do. We'll go as far as we need to go to advanced American interests. Okay, group chat is back. I wanted to talk about this. First, I don't know if anyone heard anything from the ambassador that they wanted to follow up on. Please do in this conversation as well. I think you made his point. Yeah, yeah, in terms of what? Oh, he just kept repeating. I want to make my point. I want to make my point. Well, I want to follow up on this because we are joined at the hip with Israel in this fight. It is part of part and parcel of why we were there. The troops on the ground issue has always been seen as some kind of red line. When I'm reading MAGA sort of online conversation, I'm hearing people say, chill, stop worrying about this. He hasn't put boots on the ground. We are okay with this.

38:43Yeah, I think for the administration to achieve the objectives that were outlined yesterday, those four objectives, as we were talking about earlier. I don't know that an air campaign alone is going to achieve all of those objectives. If you want to just complete what's never been done before, that doesn't mean it may not, but right now there's no historical comparison. But I think what's also what this administration has not explained is just the economic impacts that this war is having. I mean, already today we're waking up to higher gas prices than we were yesterday. And they're continuing to rise in states that are actually having primaries today. So I think the administration also needs to make the case for how they're going to extract the U.S. from this war. How they're going to open that straight of hormones that is effectively, has shipping traffic has been completely rerouted, which is impacting global markets all over the world. And just one more thing that I would say here is that Pete Hegsett said, we're not going to lay out our objectives to the American people, to our adversaries. We're not going to give you any indication.

39:43But the Defense Department demands the biggest budget and taxpayer dollars. They do deserve an explanation. Is there a reason why... Let me put it to you this way. I don't think the Bush administration in the end feels like it hasn't heard the last of all the things they said going into Iraq, right? That is continuing to be fact-checked to this day. Right. Is the Trump administration just trying to avoid that? Like why show up with power points and a laser pointer when you want to be able to declare some kind of success at some point? Partly avoiding it because President Trump promised to, partly because it's costly, partly because it's not popular with the base. The base does not want to show some polling while you're talking about that. And so, you know, this is ultimately what their goal is, but I am old enough to remember the George W. Bush administration also wanting to win hearts and minds in the region, you know, to Sabrina's point. You go in there and you launch an operation even if it is successful, even if it is short-term. What's to say that America is safer as the administration

40:45is arguing when you tarnish America's image abroad. You go in there, you drop a bunch of bombs and then you leave. That does not necessarily help America's image. You say it's a longer term and so that is another element that they need to make the case for. That Americans are safer and that these people who now, you know, are struggling to pay for gas and put food on the table because of this war, thousands of miles away are safer. Well, even if they make the case, I have to say that lawmakers are not going to be leading into this. Mike Johnson saying he thinks he has the vote to protect the president's abilities in terms of war powers. Well, and the hearts in mind, I think, is a key distinction between the, you know, George W. Bush's war and tear the Iraq war and this one. And part because, you know, you are not hearing any democracy talk, any sort of rebuilding a entirely new government, even Libya, where you have the Obama administration, sort of do regime change, but through the air, there was a clear militarized opposition taking over the government. There is not that, and there's been no talk and Trump has shown that he is actually, in some ways, more comfortable dealing with sort of more authoritarian figures that have,

41:46you know, control over the country. And you could see him making a deal with a similar figure in Iran. Yes, I don't know if Israel will, but yes. I was just going to say to Alex's point, sorry, I did not mean her, but to Alex's point, you know, President Obama did think that going into Libya in a very targeted way and toppling the Qaddafi regime would lead to change. And it obviously, as we know today, Libya is still fighting a deep internal civil war. All right, you guys stay with us because you mentioned some things a couple times here, such as oil prices, right? We are seeing them go up as this war escalates. And then Israel's Prime Minister trying to persuade the world, this is ultimately the way towards peace, what needs to be done to convince the U.S. public. Europe on edge with a conflict in Iran, Israel's Prime Minister is trying to convince the world, this is ultimately the way, towards peace. We achieved, in fact, four breakthroughs for peace, brokered by President Trump working together with me.

42:47We brokered, we brought forward the Abraham Accords, which was four peace treaties with four Arab countries. And now, working together against Iran, we'll be able to bring many, many more peace treaties. So this is not an endless war. This is a gateway to peace. It's the exact opposite of what people are saying. Joining the group chat now to talk more Gordon Sondland, former U.S. ambassador to the European Union under President Trump. I wanted to talk about this argument that what we're looking is actually a pathway to peace. First, what did you hear in the way Netanyahu is framing this for the public? He's absolutely right, it is a pathway to peace. Because first of all, if this war weren't as fraught as it is, there wouldn't have been any reason for it in the first place. It's sort of a circular argument. But people are concerned that if you create more chaos in the region, just by definition, Iran is already hitting targets elsewhere, that risks a larger, more complicated conflict, and even possibly terror attacks, right?

43:49Adi, the status quo doing nothing is creating chaos, because then it becomes a situation where Iran, at their time and place of choosing, can decide who to strike, when to strike, you can see even with this decapitation, even with thousands of authorities having been flown already, the kinds of conventional capabilities they have, it's staggering. I wish our manufacturing were that good. I think it is pretty good, that's the hope. So we know Iran's three-member council for interim rule still standing, so it's not as though this thing has fallen apart completely. And as of what time? As of what time. The president's war objectives, as we've heard the count this morning, destroy missile capabilities, annihilate the Navy, end nuclear ambitions, and to stop arming militant groups in the region, and then there is this giant question mark about what happens after. Well, you don't know what's going to happen after, because this is a very fluid situation,

44:52and the first thing you have to do is you have to degrade their capability. It's one thing for Jared and Whitcoff to sit down with the Iranians when they have what they had a week ago, versus three or four weeks from now, when 95% of their capabilities are gone. Their naval fleet is at the bottom of the med or at the Gulf. Then you have a very, very different conversation. And when you decapitate the top 40 or 50 people, the odds are it's like spinning the dice, the odds that the next 40 or 50 people coming up may have a different view than the first 40 or 50. Yeah, is that true what people think of when they look at the Iranian regime, which has a lot of contingencies? I mean, the Iranian regime is founded in layers. I mean, they have different contingency plans, and so that's why the IRGC remains so intact, because they can go deep down into their structure. I think the point that I'd put back on is what does success actually look like.

45:55I mean, we thought the war in Gaza, when they killed Sinwar, would end with that. Yeah, what was the main problem? Here's the problem with the Trump administration. They have not explained thoroughly enough how fluid this really is. This is not a compartmentalized thing where you can say, first we're going to do this, then we're going to do this, and then all of a sudden, everyone's going to lay down their arms, and there's going to be queuing by God. What you have to do is you have to take the guns out of their hands, and by the guns, I mean the missiles, short-range, long-range drones, but I also think the guns, the people that are able to crawl the protesters, you also have to take their guns. How do you do that? Well, thank God we have a second amendment here in the United States. So you are in for boots on the ground? Well, I'm not for boots on the ground unless the conditions call for it. And they're a long way from calling. Okay, well, in the meantime, to your point, U.S. opinion of airstrikes against Iran right now is still in the disapproved area.

46:57So to your point that you mentioned earlier about the explanation and how people are receiving it, it clearly still matters. It hasn't been explained well, and it hasn't been explained how important it is to get control of Iran, because the amount of peace that will break out in the Middle East between Saudi Arabia and Israel and other countries that still... Yeah, it's a question right now. I will say I'm not going to make predictions as you, my Gordon Sondland. Thank you so much. I do appreciate it. We have to leave it here, as we're at the end of our hour. Thanks to the group chat. Thank you for waking up with us. The headlines are next.