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Iran Launches Dozens Of Drones At Israel, US Official Confirms; Biden Meeting Now With National Security Team In Situation Room; Hezbollah Says It Fired Dozens Of Rockets At IDF's Air Defense HQ; U.S. Officials: U.S. Intercepts Some Iranian Drones; Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) Discusses About Iran Attack On Israel. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired April 13, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[17:59:55]

NORMAN ROULE, FORMER US NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE MANAGER FOR IRAN: For example, some countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan, would not want Iranian missiles transiting their territory are running drones. They may not all want to be very public about shooting it down, but they have a responsibility to protect their territory, and how that might play out requires the conversations that would draw in the senior most officials of CENTCOM.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: All right, I want everyone to stay with us. Our breaking news on CNN continues right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

MARQUARDT: And tonight, if you are just joining us, dozens of Iranian drones are bound for Israel leaving all of the Middle East and beyond on edge. There are also reports that cruise missiles as well as ballistic missiles are also headed towards Israel from Iran.

Israeli forces are planning to intercept as many of those as possible with the help of the United States, but at this moment, we do not yet know what the results of these attacks may be or what the targets are.

We have reporters and analysts all over the map as we track this news. I want to get straight to Jeremy Diamond on the ground in Jerusalem, who has some new reporting.

Jeremy, what are you learning about what Iran is undertaking in this retaliation right now?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alex, over the course of the last several hours, we've been reporting that Iran has launched the waves of drones in the direction of Israeli territory. More than 100 drones currently making their way to Israel with multiple hours of travel time before they are expected to hit their targets or to try and hit their targets within Israeli territory.

But now Iranian state media is reporting that in addition to those drones, Iran has also fired ballistic missiles. That is a much more significant threat facing Israel for two key reasons. First of all, they represent a more significant threat in terms of the payload that they carry, the impact that they can have if they make it through Israel's air defense assets.

But in addition to that, they travel much, much faster than these drones, which were anticipated to take hours before they could reach Israeli territories, and so now, with Iranian state media reporting that Iran has fired those ballistic missiles, we could be significantly closer to a potential targeting of Israeli territory.

Whether that will be -- whether those missiles will be intercepted or whether they will hit their targets on Israeli soil is another matter. We know that Israel, in addition to its significant air defense assets, has been cooperating very, very closely with the US military, and that both the US military and Israel are aiming to intercept many of these various threats from Iran, not only above Israeli skies, but in fact, I was told by an Israeli military official earlier tonight that Israel is going to try and intercept these drones before they reach Israeli airspace.

And certainly, they will have that opportunity as these drones are travelling at much slower speeds than these missiles would, and we know of course that the United States has significant air defense assets deployed across the region, including, for example, in Iraq which is one of the countries over which these drones will likely fly over.

But this is without a doubt, Alex, a very significant moment of tension, a very significant inflection point. We have been watching this war unfold over the course of the last six months, and one big question has loomed over this entire war, and that is whether or not Iran will be -- will come into this conflict, come into direct conflict with Israel whether or not this war between Israel and Hamas could explode into a much more significant and a much wider regional conflict.

And certainly these actions by Iran could point things in that direction, but now the question will be, where exactly do these various threats from Iran hit? Do they make impact on Israeli soil? What are the targets going to be and then how will Israel respond?

MARQUARDT: Yes, no doubt, this is a turning point. This is a new chapter in this war with these strikes on Israel directly emanating from Iranian soil.

We are looking at pictures of the skylines of both Jerusalem and of Tel Aviv. It is just after 1:00 in the morning there as Jeremy was noting, these ballistic missiles, in addition to cruise missiles, we believe and drones are now flying directly towards Israel.

And because of how fast they go, we could see some kind of impact or interception in the coming moments, this will all be coming to a head rather soon and it is expected according to the White House to play out over the course of several hours.

I want to bring in our Clarissa Ward in Tel Aviv. Clarissa, this is such a remarkable moment. This is not surprise attack. We knew, to some extent, that this was coming, that it was only the matter of when. There were all kinds of different scenarios that were being bandied about. Perhaps the most significant is the one that we are seeing unfold right now, and that is a direct attack by Iran on Israel.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and it appears to be potentially a significant attack. And so, there is a sense that there has been a failure if you will, Alex, to actively deter Iran from engaging in this.

There is a sense of heightened alert at the moment. I think before everyone had expected that Iran would feel compelled to retaliate in some way, now, I think there is a very real concern that this portends a significant escalation, that we are entering uncharted territory.

No one wants to be alarmist here. No one wants to set off a panic, but certainly there is a heightened sense of anticipation. The Israeli's have closed the airspace. The War Cabinet has been in session.

We are staying in a hotel. I just saw a bunch of families who have been leaving for the airport coming back with their suitcases. GPS has been scrambled. I tried to look on Google Maps. It currently says that I am in Beirut, Lebanon and everybody is waiting to see what will happen in the coming moments, in the coming hours.

We are expecting, as you've been hearing from all of the other reporters and analysts that intercepts or impacts could happen anytime from now in the coming moments and certainly in the coming hours.

We know that the US has actively been trying to work with Israel to intercept any missiles or drones before they actively enter Israeli airspace. But there is certainly a broader sense here that we are on the precipice of something very different, something that nobody quite has their arms around yet, because as much as Iran has telegraphed this, as much as it was expected, there is now concern that it becomes difficult to control what the unintended consequences of an escalation like this could be.

So, as I said before, not a sense of panic, but certainly a sense of heightened alert, and I think many people starting to come to terms with the fact that this looks like a broader, larger, and potentially more significant attack, than had been anticipated -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: And a major question right now of what Iran's intended targets are. This is, of course, in retaliation for the Israeli strike against what Iran calls its consulate building in Damascus that killed seven senior members of the revolutionary guard, including a top commander.

So as Clarissa was just saying, this is the long expected retaliation for that strike that took place almost two weeks ago. We now have reporting from Iran state media that Iran has fired its first wave of ballistic missiles towards Israel. Israeli media is reporting that cruise missiles have also been fired. I want to show some new footage that we just got into CNN. It appears to show and we cannot verify this, but this is apparent footage of Iranian missiles crossing over the sky in Southern Iraq heading towards Israel.

Again, we cannot verify this video, but you can see those glows in the sky in Basra, Iraq from earlier this evening of apparent Iranian missiles heading towards Israel.

For now, what we know is that it is Iran carrying out this attack on Israel.

Ben Wedeman, I want to bring you in. You're in Beirut in Lebanon, which is the home of arguably the most formidable Iranian proxy in the form of Hezbollah. Hezbollah yesterday fired dozens of rockets at Israel, which they've been doing for the past few months.

What concern is there that Hezbollah will get involved in this retaliation that Iran is carrying out right now?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the concern is very high. Now, we heard from a source very close to Hezbollah a few days ago that the Iranian response to the Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, would be Iranian, that Iran's other allies and proxies in the region would not be involved.

However, what we've seen is, this evening within about the last half hour, according to Hezbollah, which put out a statement, they targeted with according to the statement, tens of Katyusha rockets. Israeli Air and Missile Defenses in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

[18:10:00]

And what we've also seen in the evening is an intensification of Israeli activity, bombardment and Hezbollah counterstrikes along the border, as well as a very intense Israeli air presence over the southern part of Lebanon.

So, definitely, there is a very real danger that even though we heard the intention that Iran would be the author of the response that its allies could very well become quickly involved in this Iranian-Israeli confrontation.

And of course, this has set off much uneasiness here in Lebanon. We understand in the southern part of the country, there are queues outside petrol stations of people stocking up, Lebanon has closed its airspace as of 10 minutes ago, and at least at the moment, they say it will be closed for the next six hours, but certainly Lebanon closing its airspace.

We know Jordan has closed its airspace, Iraq has closed its airspace, so really all the countries around Israel are bracing for perhaps something much more than simply an Israeli -- rather an Iranian counterstrike to Israel. This is really a dangerous moment in the Middle East where things could go in a very bad direction if there is not some sort of control by the belligerent parties -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: And a number of countries have told their citizens not to travel to Israel and several surrounding countries. In addition to what Ben was saying about Hezbollah in Lebanon, of course, you have the Houthis farther south in Yemen. And then other proxy groups in Iraq and Syria.

So Israel is to some extent surrounded by very significant Iranian- backed forces. I want to bring in our MJ Lee at the White House.

MJ, the president cut short his weekend to come back to Washington to essentially manage this crisis.

MJ LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Alex. And within the last 30 minutes or so, a US official confirmed to CNN that the president was in the Situation Room meeting with his top national security advisers to assess the situation, and of course, figure out what comes next.

The White House has been in preparing for this possibility for days now, really, in the aftermath of the Israeli strikes in Damascus that ended up taking out several top of Iranian commanders, and there was a notable line in the statement that we got from the National Security Council, which said that the expectation was that this attack was likely to unfold over a number of hours.

Certainly suggesting that we expected to see waves of attacks. And of course we have since seen Iranian state media reporting that not only was it drones that were launched against Israel, but it was also ballistic missiles as well.

And the other part of the statement, of course, was a reaffirmation and reiteration of what the president has been saying all along leading up to today, and that the US' commitment to Israel's defense and security.

And to that end, as we have been talking about, US officials have been very clear. Again, leading up to today that the US would do whatever it could to try to intercept any weapons, if possible in the region. And that is of course a part of why we had seen US assets being moved into the region in preparation for this very kind of scenario.

Now as US officials assess sort of the full scale of these attacks, one of the things that they're going to be watching out for is whether ultimately any proxy groups, affiliated groups end up getting involved in these attacks with the important caveat that Iran can ways sort of predict or even have full control of what these proxy groups always do in the region.

So that could certainly lend to even more sort of unpredictability and volatility in the area and I think just one more space that is worth watching, too. Alex, is how us official so today, in these last few hours have been a corresponding and communicating with Israeli officials, their counterparts there, given that at the end of the day, one of the big goals for the US right now is containing this situation if that is at all possible.

So will they be urging their Israeli counterparts to give a response that is proportional, whatever that might mean for the Israelis.

So all of those spaces are worth watching, but again, the top focus right now for the president is getting a clear picture of the situation that is unfolding, and then of course, figuring out the US' involvement in all of this -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: And this comes at a moment, of course, where the Biden administration's frustration with Israel, with how it is conducting its war in Gaza is really quite high, but at the same time, for the past few days, in anticipation of this Iranian retaliation, we have heard President Biden and other top officials repeat over and over again that the US backing of Israel is ironclad.

[18:15:17]

And we are about to see over the course of the next few hours that backing, that support play out as the US is expected to come from Iran.

I want to get back to our Jeremy Diamond in Jerusalem.

Jeremy, we understand that there is a in new development. What have you heard?

DIAMOND: Yes, Alex, I mean, in addition to messaging via its military assets, Iran is also using diplomatic means and we've just gotten a tweet from Iran's mission to the United Nations, which is -- I just want to pause on this real quick, Alex, while we verify this account.

But we do know that Iran has made clear that this attack is indeed in response to Israel's strike on what they are describing as a consular facility in Damascus, Syria. We know that Israel conducted the strike that killed a senior Iranian commander as well as several others, but -- so, certainly Iran has been trying to telegraph that its response will come in the context of that viewing that attack on that diplomatic facility as something that is equivalent effectively to its own territory under international law.

We are still waiting to see when these Iranian drones and missiles will arrive in Israeli airspace if indeed they make it to their targets. Israeli officials have been telegraphing throughout the night and over the course of the last several days that their forces and their air defense assets are certainly at a heightened state of alert.

MARQUARDT: Clarissa Ward, if you're still with me, could you speak to that? All right, I am going to go back to General Mark Hertling, who was with us.

General Hertling, to what Jeremy was just talking about right there. And the fact that Iran says it is carrying out tonight's retaliation because of that strike against the alleged consulate in Damascus, to what extent do you think Iran is going to limit its targeting at official government military targets rather than what we are looking at right now, which is downtown Tel Aviv?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, it is hard to tell right now, Alex. I would have thought that this would have been a tit-for-tat kind of operation. They hit a consulate which everyone knew from the intelligence perspective was actually a headquarters of the Quds Force in Damascus. It wasn't truly a consulate, it was a building.

But what we are seeing now with the number of weapons in the air that we have been able to count so far, it just seems to me this is not going to be the kind of strike you would expect as a counterstrike.

You know, you always have to, in a military operations, there is always an action then a reaction and a counteraction. I am very surprised at the number of weapons that Iran has put in the year both the drones and the missiles against Israel and again, I think we are going to see more from Lebanon and from the Houthis, as well as the PMF forces.

So this is more than just an attack to counter one attack that Israel had against the Quds Force. Do I think it is going to hit more than military targets? Unfortunately, I do.

With this number of weapon systems flying toward Israel, they have to hit more than just military outpost or military facilities or intelligence centers. Some of these are going to likely hit civilian populated areas, and I hate to stir that up and to cause fear, but there is just too many weapons coming across the border for them to not hit locations where civilians are.

So yes, it concerns me and what also concerns me as how Israel will retaliate if it does.

MARQUARDT: And I should note the biggest military target, arguably inside Israel is in downtown Tel Aviv, the HaKirya, as its known, which is Israel's Pentagon is in a very populated, dense business area of Tel Aviv.

So if Iran were to go after that target for example, there could be some significant political damage. I want to bring in Hagar Chemali, who is a former spokesperson for the US mission to the United Nations.

Hagar, thank you so much for joining us.

Right now, we know that President Biden has been meeting with top national security advisers in the Situation Room.

Could you take us inside that meeting. Obviously, the US has a role -- a significant role in this. So what would the president and his advisers be doing in this moment as we await, really, these drones and missiles to get closer to Israel?

[18:20:28]

HAGAR CHEMALI, FORMER SPOKESPERSON FOR THE US MISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Sure.

Well, in times of crisis like this, you're going to have all the policy people all hands on deck trying to look at the array of options they have and looking at the pros and cons of those options, meaning, what are the military responses? What are the contingency plans? What are the red lines that if this happens, what would -- what would go to the United States into responding itself?

And that is going to be the biggest question here, because Israel is an ally of the United States, it is a non-NATO ally since 1987. It is not written down exactly what would need to happen for the United States to enter a war on Israel's behalf.

It is one of those things that is deemed that whatever the US used to do for Israel's survival, it will do, and so that is what they're going to have to be deciding here.

This is, as the general noted. I am also surprised by this response. It feels very disproportionate to me in response to Israel's strike, supposed strike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus.

There have been other strikes on Iranian top general, including in Iran. Four years ago, Israel, we assume assassinated Iran's top nuclear scientist inside Iran, and Iran ever responded. And so why now? Why this attack in particular?

Clearly, they viewed this strike on the embassy as something that was an act of war. Nevertheless, this response is significant, is major, and to me that says that they also are not threatened -- they don't feel threatened. Iran doesn't feel threatened by the US response, so that is also something the US is going to be figuring out is what would drag us in and also what are we going to communicate to both Israel and Iran to try and de-escalate as soon as these missiles are struck down hopefully, or as the attack is over.

MARQUARDT: Hagar, I want you to stand by. We need to get back to our Oren Liebermann, a correspondent at the Pentagon.

Oren, you have new reporting about how the US is helping intercept some of what Iran has fired at Israel.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Alex.

According to two US officials, the US has intercepted and engaged a number of Iranian drones that were launched at Israel. So taking those down, of course, before they were able to reach their target, it sounds like before they were even able to reach Israeli airspace, this had been the plan. The US had committed to Israel to try in whatever ways it could to intercept and stop these launches before they reached Israeli air space and were able to strike their target.

Again, we have now learned from two US officials that the US has been able to intercept and engage a number of those drones. What we don't know right now is a couple of pieces of information.

First, how many as of the latest update, there were more than a hundred drones launched, so this is an incredibly large barrage that was launched and it is unclear how many of these were shot down by US forces.

Second, we don't know how they were shot down. There are ground-based aerial defense systems that could have engaged the drones depending on their altitude, their speed, what sort of direction they took, the routing they used to try to get from Iran to Israel.

And we also don't know if it was an aerial system essentially, a fighter jet.

We know from flight tracking websites that there was a US tanker in the air, an aerial refueling platform, and that strongly suggests there were US fighter jets in the air in the region. Tankers don't simply fly around the Middle East for no good reason.

So we don't know how these were shot down, but crucially, the US here stepping in as we expected they would, as we reported yesterday, they would try to do to intercept some of these Iranian drones that were heading towards Israel.

Now we have not gotten word on cruise missiles yet. Those obviously move much faster. Potentially, they can be much stronger. We don't know if those were intercepted. So that remains an open question here, something we will work to find out, but at least from what we know at this point, this barrage, this frankly massive barrage that has been launched by Iran toward Israel, at least some of that, some of those drones have been intercepted and picked off before they were able to make it to their target.

Alex, one last point I will make here, we have seen US fighter jets be able to intercept these types of drones and that from the Red Sea.

US FAA fighter jets launched from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower have been able to intercept Houthi drones and Houthi missiles, so this capability has been shown before at a different part of the region, and it is being shown once again.

MARQUARDT: And certainly not to downplay what we believe has just happened, but the drones are moving slower of course than the ballistic and cruise missiles, so to some extent, those are easier targets, we believe, and there is a lot more firepower that is heading towards Israel.

I want to get back to Clarissa Ward. Clarissa, there is a good chance in the coming minutes and hours, certainly, we will be asking you what you're seeing and what you're hearing.

We are looking at that skyline of Tel Aviv.

[18:25:08]

Major questions right now about what Iran may be targeting. But I want to ask you about your impression of what Iran has been telegraphing over the past almost two weeks since that strike, in Damascus. There was a very public message to the US essentially saying, stay out of it.

WARD: I want to start, Alex, by just touching on this potential targets because we have heard from the IDF, they are telling people in specific parts of the country to stay very close to secure shelter. They are talking about the Golan Heights that is territory that Israel seized from Syria after the six-day war in 1967 along the border between Syria and Israel.

They are talking -- they are telling people in Dimona, which is a nuclear site. They are telling people also in Nevatim near the air base there that is where the F-35s are based crucially.

So it does appear that these are strategic targets.

Now, we don't know if any of these missiles or drones will get anywhere near those targets, but what we do know is that this is a significant escalation, Alex and you asked about what Iran has been telegraphing.

They have absolutely been telegraphing that there would be a strong response, that there would be punishment, but privately, there has also been behind closed doors, a flurry of diplomatic activity, and there was a kind of consensus or a belief that cooler heads would prevail, that the ideal objective here was to try to find that Goldilocks spot, that kind of carefully calibrated retaliation that does not devolve into escalation and a full blown regional conflagration.

But as we are starting to see the shape and scale and scope of this assault coming into clear focus, that is raising real questions about what Iran's objective is with this assault, and whether at some point Israel will feel compelled to respond, not necessarily out of a direct desire to escalate further, but potentially to act as a deterrent.

And so you do see a region really holding tight and looking at the edge of a precipice. This is not a place that we have quite reached in the last six months despite all the focus on the region, despite the ratcheting tensions and now, I think you're seeing an almost frankly surprise from many officials, both in Israel and regionally, who certainly expected some type of response, but who did not necessarily anticipate the likes of which we appear to be seeing, taking shape in the early hours of this morning here in Israel -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: All right, Clarissa Ward, I want you to stay with us and I want to get Norm Roules take on this. So what Clarissa just said.

Norm, this is not a country, Israel that is, full of shrinking violets. They are well accustomed to incoming rocket fire from Hezbollah, from Hamas, and now you have the Israelis, according to Clarissa, telling residents in certain areas to seek secure shelter in the Golan Heights in Dimona, which is near a nuclear reactor.

Nevatim that's near a military base and Norm, on top of that, we are reporting that Hezbollah has claimed that they have fired dozens of Katyusha rockets against an IDF Air Defense headquarters in the Kaila barracks. That's also in the Golan Heights. So Norm, when you take all of that together, what does that tell you about what Iran is targeting this evening?

ROULES: Well, I think we need to keep a couple of basic ideas in mind. Iran needs to punish Israel. That means it needs to show that his damaged Israeli structures and Israeli territory.

Iran, is a problem. Israel is very successful at air defense and the United States has brought in some of the finest military operators on the planet to assist that.

So the idea that Iran might expand its attack force might be consistent with that. Second, Iran isn't used to an awful lot of international punishment for its actions and it sees that Israel and the United States are working together, but there aren't an awful lot of European actors standing with Israel involving military personnel right now, so that you don't really have an reason for Iran to believe there will be a significant pushback by the international community if it chose to expand its force.

Last one, Hezbollah, I do believe Hezbollah needs to show it is putting skin in the game, but at the same time, Hezbollah is not firing major weapon systems or the type of weapon systems that would risk an Israeli response against Hezbollah leadership.

[18:30:10]

MARQUARDT: Mark Hertling, what do you make of the fact that Hezbollah appears to some extent to be getting involved? I mean, this is not new. Of course, Hezbollah has been firing rockets daily at Israel. Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border have had to move out. Now we understand that it's dozens of Katyushas that are being fired.

But if Iran were choreographing this, which we believe to some extent they certainly did, is this the stage in this response where the other proxies would now get involved as those Iranian weapons, the drones, the missiles are getting closer to Israel?

HERTLING: Yes, I think so, Alex. And Mr. Roule would be the best to ask this. But I actually thought Hezbollah would act much sooner and actually prep the way.

You're going to see not only Hezbollah, but also the popular mobilization forces or fronts in other countries probably chime in. It doesn't necessarily mean that Iran is controlling their actions or telling them what to do. What we've seen in the past in this area is they just do it because they want to contribute, much like we've seen the second front they've opened up as Israel has gone into Gaza. No one has told them to do that. They're just doing it.

So, yes, it's not surprising at all. But again, I go back to what several of your guests have said. This is more than a proportional response. This is significantly greater than a proportional response and not - I, for one, did not expect it to be as significant as it is. MARQUARDT: All right. I'm going to ask you all to stay with me as we bring in Congressman Jason Crow, a Democrat who is on the Intelligence Committee.

Congressman Crow, thanks so much for joining us this evening. You and I have spoken about this conflict many times over the course of the past six months. I want to pick up where Gen. Hertling just left off in terms of his surprise about what we're seeing this evening with multiple waves of different kinds of weapons coming from Iran. And now it appears more rocketry, Katyusha rockets coming from Hezbollah. Your reaction, sir, to what we're seeing?

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Well, it's a significant response, Alex. There's no doubt about that. I share General Hertling's surprise as to the level of response, both in terms of the quantity and also that they have launched attacks directly from Iran, which is significant, given that Iran historically relies on proxy forces and forces outside of Iran to conduct its attacks. So this really signifies a significant shift in their aggression, there's no doubt.

So from our perspective, the United States has to make sure that Americans are protected in Israel, that U.S. facilities, U.S. service members are protected, that's our immediate goal. I understand the President is assembling the members of the National Security Council right now to look at what is the full breadth of our intelligence and information about these attacks and then what, if anything, we need to do to defend our ally Israel here.

MARQUARDT: As a member of the Intelligence Committee, what can you tell us about how much was known about what Iran could do following that Israeli strike in Damascus?

CROW: Well, I can't tell you much, not and I - because I don't necessarily know, but because we obviously protect our sources and methods. You know, there's no secret to the fact that Iran is an adversary of ours and that we keep very close tabs on what they're doing and that we have a close intelligence-sharing relationship with Israel.

So this doesn't necessarily surprise me, but the - I would say the quantity and the fact that they've struck from Iran does signify a major shift in their strategy and their approach here.

MARQUARDT: After tonight, what do you think Iran's intention is for its role going forward? Do you think it is going to try to take - carry out this retaliation and then go back and step back and be in the shadows, essentially where it's been lurking for the past six months or do you think it's now going to be taking on a more proactive role?

CROW: Well, Alex, you've identified one of my really big questions here, right? Because the nature of this attack and the size of this attack does, in my view, represent a significant shift in how Iran has historically approached its regional aggression. The question that I have is, has their risk tolerance for a broader Middle East conflict changed recently? Are they now looking for a broader conflict with the United States and our allies?

Because before this, they really haven't been - they have been content to engage in destabilizing efforts, to use their proxies to conduct attacks. They just want to keep United States and Israel and others off balance, and work through their proxy forces and their forces that allow them to have non-attribution, right, that give them an arm's length distance.

[18:35:06]

This is a major shift, so the big question in my mind is what is their strategy going forward and are they looking for a broader conflict. And if the answer to that is yes, then, of course, we have a different situation on our hands. We have to figure out how we de-escalate and prevent that from happening.

MARQUARDT: Congressman, obviously, the Pentagon hasn't put too many details around what it's doing to support Israel tonight. We know that they have moved assets into the region. There were already ships in the eastern Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, are you happy with the level of support? Do you think that the U.S. is doing a - is going to do an effective job at protecting Israel, helping protect Israel from what is incoming right now?

CROW: Well, time will tell that. What I can say is that we have been doing all the things in preparation to defend against an attack that I think were necessary, surging resources into the region. We've had a long-time collaboration with Israel on the development of the Iron Dome system, which is a jointly developed system. This is a system that the United States and Israel has put a lot of time and effort and resources into and I'm very glad that it exists. It's going to protect Israelis. It's going to protect Americans living in Israel.

So we have long-term preparations we've put in place, as well as the shorter-term surge of resources. But we're going to keep a close eye on it, and I'm going to get the first available briefing that I can, and I will see what, if anything, I would push the administration to do differently.

But right now, all I have to say is I am very glad that President Biden is in the White House, and he has a very serious and very competent group of national security advisors who know what to do and know how to handle this and I know that they will take the right steps, at least in the interim.

MARQUARDT: All right. Congressman Jason Crow, thanks so much for joining us this evening. We know that you are watching this very closely and we'll be in touch as this unfolds.

I want to go back to Jeremy Diamond in Jerusalem.

Jeremy, a fairly significant bit of news out of the Iranian side. They are claiming that their retaliation is essentially over. What more are they saying?

DIAMOND: Yes, Alex. This is that tweet from Iran's mission to the United Nations that I wanted to ensure that we verified before bringing it on air. But Iran's mission to the United Nations, at the same time as these launches have taken place, as this escalatory military action is taking place from Iran, Iran's mission to the United Nations is trying to tamp things down, saying that this attack that it has carried out tonight is in response, a direct response to Israel's strike on its consular facility last week, and now saying the matter can be deemed concluded.

I certainly think that a number of high ranking Israeli officials, namely the Israeli prime minister, will certainly disagree with that notion. But Iran is also including a warning in this tweet, saying, however, should the Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran's response will be considerably more severe. It is a conflict between Iran and the rogue Israeli regime from which the U.S. must stay away.

So also a warning there to the United States. But it is in interesting, Alex, of course, as Iran is communicating through its military means, communicating through more than 100 drones and reportedly some missiles, which it has now launched and fired in the direction of Israeli territory. It is also communicating through very public diplomatic channels, trying to suggest that it has carried out this attack, which is quite a large scale attack, in order to respond to an Israeli strike last week and now saying that this matter can be deemed concluded.

We - Israeli officials, of course, in recent days have made very, very clear that should Iran carry out an attack on Israeli soil, that Israel would indeed respond in kind. Of course, we will have to wait to see how many of these drones and potentially missiles actually make it onto Israeli territory and to what extent that shapes a future Israeli response.

MARQUARDT: All right. Jeremy Diamond in Jerusalem, thanks very much.

I want to get back to Norm Roule.

Norm, you have been deciphering Iranian messaging for decades. What do you make of this message from the Iranian mission at the United Nations, in which they say that this matter is deemed concluded and then warning that should the Israeli regime, they say, make another mistake, that Iran's response will be considerably more severe? Does that mean that this is over for tonight?

ROULE: It is likely over from the Iranian perspective, but a couple of points remain. First, Iran does not seek a conventional war because a conventional war or even a longer-term conflict involving Israel in Iranian territory would embarrass the regime as Iran - as Israel, in essence, destroyed a number of tangible, visible sites within Tehran itself.

[18:40:08]

The second point is Iran needs to punish Israel, preferably by showing damaged territories in Israel or at least claiming that to its own people for its domestic narrative. But at the same time, Iran has now crossed a red line. It has said, we will attack Israel directly when we believe doing so has a good reason. Well, that cat is out of the bag. And what they haven't done is they haven't allowed, in essence, Israel to be able to do the same thing against Iranian territory itself, other than the alleged consular building, a Quds Force intelligence center. And I think we are in a new place in the Middle East, no matter what Iran has said.

MARQUARDT: All right. Norm Roule, please stay with us. Lots more to discuss. But for the moment, I want to bring in Jonathan Conricus. He's a former spokesperson Israeli Defense Forces.

Jonathan, our viewers certainly will recognize you from the past few months of discussing the Israeli war with Hamas. But tonight, this is a different at least a different side to this conflict that we're discussing. What do you make of that message just now from the Iranian mission at the United Nations saying, all right, essentially, we fired what we were going to and now it's over?

LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS (RET.), FORMER SPOKESPERSON FOR THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: Yes, thank you for having me. I would say not quite. That's typical Iranian. The attack is very out of form and not Iranian because they are now, for the first time, masks are off and they've attacked Israel from sovereign Iranian soil and they will face the consequences for their attack. The consequences, of course, will depend on how much damage is done in Israel, as your previous guests have very eloquently said.

But I think that Iran gets to say both to launch an unprecedented, massive attack against Israel with more than 100 drones and ballistic missiles from various locations at Israel, and then to say, you know what, that's it. That doesn't make any sense. And I think that Israel already has contingencies ready in order to retaliate against Iran. And I think that we are actually on day one of a new Middle East where Israel, the U.S., and Sunni states in the region who are peace- oriented and prosperity-oriented have an opportunity here to finally address the root cause of instability, violence and terror in the Middle East, and that is Iran.

And by Iran stepping out - yes?

MARQUARDT: Sorry, I just wanted to ask - sorry to interrupt - I wonder if you have heard of anything happening in Israel tonight. We have reported that the U.S. had intercepted some of those drones. Those were the first wave of weapons to be fired by Iran. Clarissa Ward also reported that Israel is telling residents of certain areas, particularly around military areas, to seek shelter.

But have you heard of any strikes, any impacts or any interceptions inside Israel itself?

CONRICUS: Yes. You also alluded to it before when you spoke about Hezbollah rockets that were fired from Lebanon towards the Golan Heights and towards the border between Israel and Lebanon. Most of those incoming rockets and UAVs were intercepted, and that's being looked at now.

But as unfortunately has become the norm over the last six months, Israel is under attack from various locations simultaneously. And there were alarms and explosions in northern Israel. I am not aware of any reported damage to military or civilian facilities in the Golan Heights in Israel. And there were alarms in the south as well, the area around the Gaza Strip, but no reports of casualties or any damages.

But another night from that perspective in Israel, what is very different is, of course, that the Iranians are attacking with a very large-scale attack, which we have addressed here, which really is a game changer. There is no talking this back, and there is no saying that from an Iranian perspective that we have done this now and that's it. Let's call it quits. That doesn't work. That's not how business in the Middle East works. And I think that we are in a watershed moment in Middle Eastern history.

MARQUARDT: Yes, it certainly is. Iran has been very careful, I think, to telegraph, including in this latest statement, that this was this retaliation for the Israeli strike in Damascus. But no doubt, Iran carrying out such a significant attack, as we believe is unfolding right now, these are live pictures.

[18:45:00]

It's unclear exactly what we're looking at, but you can see those streaks in the sky. They look like shooting stars. They could quite easily be missiles, but I don't want to speculate too much. Let's take a listen.

Nic Robertson, if you can hear me - Nic Robertson in Jerusalem - what are you seeing? What are you hearing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I'm seeing intercepts in the sky, third big detonation. It looks - I see a lot of tracer fire and rockets. I've seen at least a dozen rockets, tracer fire, intercepts lighting up the sky here.

MARQUARDT: This is a familiar sight for you, Nic, and for those of us who have been following this war.

ROBERTSON: Can somebody shoot this? It is ...

MARQUARDT: Nic, does this look the same as the Iron Dome intercepts that you've been seeing for the past few months? How different is this?

ROBERTSON: It's a little different. It's hard for me to assess. There's the sirens now. Guys, are we on air?

MARQUARDT: And those are the sirens. Nic Robertson, you are on air. Those are the sirens that are sounded by Israeli authorities to warn residents, in this case of - in Jerusalem, of incoming rocket fire. What you're looking at there are live pictures of Jerusalem, the hills of Jerusalem, just before two o'clock local time in the morning.

It has been several hours since we first reported that Iran had launched more than 100 drones at Israel from Iranian territory, followed shortly thereafter by cruise missiles, and then a wave of ballistic missiles. It has just been a matter of time until we believed that that combination of firepower would be arriving at Israel's doorstep. We know that the U.S. has helped intercept some of those drones. I believe these are the first sirens for this evening, indicating that there may be some incoming drone or rocket fire.

Nic Robertson, if you're still there, is there anything more you can tell us about what you're seeing?

ROBERTSON: We're continuing to see multiple intercepts in the skies above me, coming from multiple different directions. It's hard to determine what is potentially an incoming missile, and what is an intercept at the moment. So I'm just going to back up and look out here. That's a bright white light flying in here. That's scudding - that just got intercepted. So coming in from this side, it appears to be - well, that was a bright white light. So that appeared to be the incoming missile I saw it intercepted.

The siren's now gone off. I'm searching the skies here to see more intercepts. I'm hearing barrages of what sound like Iron Dome interceptors, but more in the distance, that perhaps that phase of missiles that was intercepted over Jerusalem close to us, that phase of missiles is moving through now and being intercepted somewhere else. But those explosions that we could see in the air behind me, and I'm hearing multiple, multiple detonations, again, of what sound like intercepts in the sky.

I am not, and I should be very clear about this, I am not hearing the sound of impacts. I am not hearing the sound of things hitting and detonating on the ground. What we're hearing at the moment are the detonations of the outgoing, it sounds like, Iron Dome intercepts. We're seeing intercepts in the sky, and we're hearing the detonations associated with those intercepts in the sky.

But I have to stress, it's a little hard to pick out the precise dynamic of what's happening. That was another white flash. And I'm seeing more, yes, more amber, orange tracer fire, possibly intercept missiles in the sky above us and behind us here. So this is ongoing. That was another big detonation and rumble there.

This is an ongoing situation. I would say, while we've been talking here, we've witnessed 20 to 30, perhaps, intercepts. Now, we don't know what's being intercepted in the skies above us. But I haven't - that bright white light that I told you I saw tracing through the sky over here a couple of minutes ago, I haven't seen something like that in the skies here above Israel.

[18:50:07]

It was not something that we've witnessed around Gaza. So I would estimate and this is an estimate because we're - the moment there's a level of uncertainty about precisely what we're seeing. But I would estimate that that bright white light that flew slowly across here was potentially an incoming missile of some description and it appeared quite large. It was certainly not what I'm familiar with in terms of the amber light that you see, the amber glow that you see with the interceptors. And the interceptor did intercept with that bright white light. But again, stressing, it is difficult to assess.

I'm not hearing many explosions or that distant explosions at the moment, so it is hard - it's hard to precisely assess what we've just witnessed here. But it seemed like a phase of missiles. And I'm hearing distant intercepts in this direction. It seems like we heard a phase of missiles pass through, and the intercepts are happening perhaps elsewhere on the outskirts of Jerusalem right now.

MARQUARDT: Yes, these are remarkable images. If you're just joining us, it is just before two o'clock in the morning, our - in Jerusalem. Our Nic Robertson is right there on the ground. We've been watching these incredible scenes play out in the skies above Jerusalem. You can see right there those streaks, those glows in the sky. Nic has been describing what appears to be interceptor rockets going up, presumably to try to take down anything that may be incoming.

Of course, these are scenes - similar scenes we've been playing - see play out over the past six months as Hamas and other groups inside Gaza have been firing rockets all across Israel. But Nic, I think it's important in this moment to remind everyone that this is a far, far different kettle of fish, if you will.

The rockets, the missiles, the drones that are being fired by Iran tonight are far superior, far more deadly and damaging. And you can hear those sirens going off again in Jerusalem. And Nic was just describing those interceptions. Nic, what are you hearing aside from the sirens? Have there been more of those explosions?

ROBERTSON: We are seeing more of the explosions. These - and the missiles that are coming from Iran are way different from what Hamas has fired out of Gaza. Hamas' rockets are not directional. They fire a handful or a few dozen, and they're mostly readily intercepted. And they're like, in a way, they're oversized metal tubes that might look like the metal tube of a lamppost that you would have standing at the side of the road lighting a highway.

These missiles are different. These Iranian drones are directional. They have - are able to fly by GPS coordinates, which we know the IDF is blocking tonight. They've said that. But they have precise information loaded inside them to hit precise targets. They have a lot more explosives than Hamas' rockets.

Hamas' rockets, if you will, are dumb rockets. They fly in a general direction and land in a general area. These drones go to specific targets. That's what they're aiming for. And they can pack a far more powerful punch. Now, we don't know everything we're seeing right now. We don't know all the missiles that are in the sky. We know that Iran, in its arsenal, also has cruise missiles. The interceptor systems here would be able to intercept them.

Israel has a range of interceptor missile systems. But this is a dynamic and ongoing situation at the moment. But as you say, everyone here and the audience should fully understand that these weapons that are coming into Israel's airspace and flying over densely populated civilian neighborhoods like Jerusalem are weapons that can be far more devastating than anything Hamas has fired into Israel over the past six months.

MARQUARDT: And Nic, I just want to underscore this remarkable moment because we have heard just moments ago from the Iranian mission at the United Nations saying essentially this is over, that their retaliation for the Israeli strike against that building in Damascus last week, as far as they're concerned, it's over. But it's really just getting started where you are. It's been several hours since we've been on the air reporting this Iranian attack against Israel. And there is this delay where you have several hours for the drones to get to Israel and so what you are experiencing now just before two o'clock in the morning in Israel may just be the very beginning of what Israel is going to be going through for the next several hours.

[18:55:05]

ROBERTSON: The IDF briefing an hour or so ago said they believe that the wave that we've talked about incoming to Israel, that is perhaps the wave that we've just seen flying over and being intercepted, is only one. They suspect of what could be several waves. So the expectation is there is more to come, that the IDF has told people to stay in their shelters in both the north and in the Golan and in the - and in Dimona and other locations in the Negev desert.

So it is clear and a lot as well, they've told them to stay in shelters, stay close to shelters there, right in the south of the country. So it is clear that these barrages of weapons are coming to multiple, the IDF believes they're coming to multiple different locations and may come in multiple waves.

Now, the IDF said they wanted to intercept as many as possible outside the country. Clearly, many, many, many have got inside the country and are incredibly, if you consider where Jerusalem is in the geography of Israel. We don't know where these weapons systems crossed the border, but they have - by the time they have reached Israel, will have been in Israeli airspace for many, many minutes.

So they will have been flying over Israel, the West Bank for a period of time, perhaps coming from the north, perhaps, but they will have been in Israeli airspace for some time. And it is only here that they're getting intercepted.

Now, that may be because Israel has determined it should use other assets to patrol its borders for perhaps other types of missile systems. We don't know how Israel is dividing up its sophisticated air defense systems and choosing what to target and where to target it.

But I don't think anyone was expecting to see intercepts - so many intercepts over Jerusalem. Again, a densely populated city that I think has - is not something people were expecting. But to stress again, we have not heard any impacts on the ground here where we stand tonight. We had - don't have reports. Yet, as I understand it, of casualties from - in and around the Jerusalem area. So perhaps these were missiles passing to somewhere else intercepted over here.

MARQUARDT: Yes. That's right, Nic. So far, we at least in CNN have not seen or heard any reports of impact or damage or deaths and injuries on the ground. Nic Robertson in Jerusalem, I want you to stand by.

I'm going to go quickly back to Gen. Mark Hertling.

Gen. Hertling, what do you make of what Nic was just describing? Obviously, the sirens are that - we've heard that before. But he was talking about things that he has not seen before in the past six months in terms of the interceptions and the explosions. What do you make of that?

HERTLING: Yes. I wish I was inside the integrated air defense center of Israel right now, Alex, because if - you have a better feel for that. You don't know but from what I'm seeing from the picture in Nic's description, I would suggest it's probably not Iron Dome intercepts. It could be aircraft intercepts or even arrow or David's Sling intercepts.

But it's now - I'm looking at my clock and it's three hours since the reported first launch of the of the drones. That would have given them enough time to get to Jerusalem, I think, Jerusalem being more toward the eastern side of Israel. So, this could certainly be some of those drones. The Iron Dome is not as effective against drones as it is against rockets that have a parabolic strike shape. So I would guess that this is some other system, perhaps even aircraft shooting them down.

And even looking at the video right now, it appears that it doesn't have the telltale Iron Dome launch and intercept. It - but it could be it appears that it's being launched from in the sky itself. So this could be either Israeli or U.S. aircraft intercepting some of those incoming devices.

MARQUARDT: General, we only have about a minute left, but I'm looking at the timing of this. And we first got the reporting about the ballistic missiles just over an hour ago. Those go pretty fast, so where do you expect those are right now? Is that what we could be seeing in terms of the interceptions?

HERTLING: Yes, it certainly could be. And these would be the more - the targets that would be more high value to the Air Force to knock down. Plus, it's almost like an air to air engagement because those cruise missiles do take on a flight pattern of a Learjet or a smaller jet, whereas the drones are moving about the speed of, as I said before, a Cessna aircraft. So you would have aircraft intercepting some of those cruise missiles.

[19:00:00]

It certainly could be a cruise missile that's entered into Israeli airspace.

MARQUARDT: All right. Gen. Mark Hertling, everyone else, I want you to please stand by.