America stripes.
The Biden administration
carrying out
a mass series of airstrikes
in both Iraq and Syria.
And I want to show you some new video
that we have just gotten in of
what's happening there on the ground.
This is the aftermath
of one of the strikes on the U.S.
We understand 85 targets.
You can actually see this in the air.
You can see the strikes on the ground
from this video here.
And you can hear it
and you can hear it as well as those
on those impacts. U.S.
hitting Iranian backed militants
who were responsible for the drone attack
in which three American soldiers
were killed
and dozens more were injured in Jordan,
according to the U.S.
Central Command.
U.S.
forces hit seven locations,
according to the White House.
The strikes lasted 30 minutes.
Now they are characterizing
this as successful.
But I want to be clear when we say
that that would seem to imply
that their success, that they're done
and it's nowhere near the truth.
President Biden
is clearly warning tonight
that this is just the beginning.
Statement that he put out
says, quote, Our response began today.
It will continue at times
in places of our choosing.
The United States does not seek conflict
in the Middle East
or anywhere else in the world.
Now, while Biden says U.S.
does not seek conflict
in the Middle East,
the leader of one of the Iranian backed
militias today
vowed to continue attacking U.S. targets.
All right.
This breaking news
coverage here continues
as we see what happens
in these early hours
of the morning in Iraq and Syria.
We've got a team of correspondents,
military analysts, standing by
for our breaking coverage.
I want to begin, though,
with Oren Liebermann,
because he is live at the Pentagon.
Oren, you have been learning more
and more details about these strikes.
What do you know now?
The U.S.
carried out strikes across
seven different locations.
Strikes that were carried out
over a period of 30 minutes.
Four of those locations were in Syria.
Three of them were in Iraq.
It appears one of them
you're seeing here,
although at this time,
the Pentagon in the Defense Department
not confirming the locations,
but in Iraq is a location
they have struck before.
Meanwhile,
the director of the joint staff
here, General D.R.
Simms, says that they are confident
in the success of their strikes
and in the targeting.
In terms of the list of targets,
85 different targets
across those seven locations,
more than 125 precision munitions used.
In terms of what was struck.
It's not just weaponry,
but it's also command
and control centers,
intelligence centers, logistics hub.
A clear attempt here
to go after the ability
of these Iranian backed militias
to continue carrying out attacks on U.S.
forces.
There is no expectation
that the attacks will absolutely stop.
But the goal of the administration here
was to send a more powerful message
that has been sent in the past.
This is the first time
we've seen the U.S.
carry out
strikes in Iraq and Syria simultaneously.
So that's part of the
more powerful message we were expecting
and the more powerful strikes.
The U.S.
says they did see secondary explosions
at some of the locations
that were struck, indicating
they did hit weapons facilities
and their attempt to go
after some of the weapons
that have been used to attack U.S.
forces.
The Biden administration,
the president himself,
the defense secretary, have promised
there would be a powerful response
after a drone strike killed three U.S.
service members
and injured scores
more in Jordan on Sunday.
So five days ago, the U.S.
held Iran ultimately responsible.
But it was a decision to strike
the Iranian backed militias in Iraq
and Syria.
The groups
that have been
carrying out these attacks.
That was the thrust
of tonight's operation.
As you point out, President Joe
Biden said this isn't the end.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
echoed those words when he said
in a statement shortly after the attack,
This is the start of our response.
So very much putting on the table
that though
these strikes were larger than others,
we've seen, there is more to come.
Erin, I will also point out that the U.S.
used to be B-1 bombers in this case.
Those are heavy bombers,
much larger than the F-15
and F-16 fighter jets.
We have generally seen
used to carry out these strikes, able
to carry a larger payload.
That in and of itself
is part of the message here that the U.S.
is willing to go further than it's gone
before in going after these militias
and in targeting with these militias.
The U.S.
also says
there are likely casualties
as a result of these strikes.
I think that was to be expected.
But in terms of how many
and where the U.S.
says it went after Islam,
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
And we'll find out more.
The conclusion
of a battle damage assessment.
All right.
Thank you very much.
Or an it or in as or when you get more,
obviously, we're going to
bring you back words
there at the Pentagon
talking to his sources.
So we'll let him continue to do that.
I want to go to the White House
now and M.J. Lee.
So, M.J., you know, here we are
as as in saying a true
show of force, Right.
B-1 bombers coming from the U.S.
to do this, not using F-16s, F-15s.
There's a very clear message here
and a very clear message
that this is just the beginning.
So what does that mean
in terms of this
being just the beginning?
What are you learning?
For right now, Aaron, the
White House is trying to make clear
that they believe the strikes
so far have been very successful.
But importantly, Aaron,
a senior administration official
telling me that the U.S.
strikes
are targeting places
outside of Iran and not inside Iran.
And in many ways,
that is not at all success.
That is not at all surprising,
given to what extent U.S.
officials in recent days
have been telegraphing
just how escalatory
that would be to strike
targets inside of Iran.
And they have said that
that would actually be akin
to basically starting a war with Iran.
And the White House has said repeatedly,
we do not want to start a war with Iran.
Now, in terms of the timing
and why the strikes took place tonight,
we are actually told
that they had known for some days
that they would begin tonight.
But that weather really played
a very big role in all of this.
They wanted to make sure
that they could avoid
any unnecessary
casualties, though,
as Oren just mentioned,
there are expected to be some casualties.
They also wanted to avoid cloud cover.
In other words, put simply,
they waited
for good weather
to maximize their chances of success
and having the best chance
of having these precision strikes
be as precise as possible.
Now, the president, of course,
has been updated throughout the strike.
He is currently at his home
in Wilmington.
We know that these strikes
had everything
to do with the three Americans
that were killed last weekend.
And he made very clear in his statement,
as you mentioned,
he said our response began today.
But it will continue at times
and places of our choosing.
But I can imagine, Aaron,
for right now, U.S.
officials not indicating in any way
when or where those future strikes
will be.
All right.
M.J., thank you very much.
And as M.J.
talks to her sources,
she will come back as well.
I want to go now
to retired Army Lieutenant General
Mark Hertling and Karim Sadjadpour,
Iran policy expert at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace.
Thanks so much to both of you.
General,
we now have the first video
in of these strikes,
at least of one of them,
indications of some secondary explosions.
Right.
Which could mean,
you know, obviously
weaponry or, you know,
explosives that were struck.
You were understanding
there B-1 bombers involved
that can carry heavy payloads.
That concern about F-16s or F-15s.
From what you know,
and obviously, we're told
this is just the beginning.
But what we know so far,
125 precision munitions
using B-1 bombers
flying all the way from the U.S.
mainland. What does it say to you?
Well,
first of all, Erin,
I will confirm that that photo
or those films you're showing right now
are definitely secondary
explosions from an ammo cache,
just the way the rockets are coming off.
But when you're talking
about a B-1 bomber,
that that bomber can drop more bombs
and even a B-52.
Many people find that unimaginable.
But the strike took 30 minutes.
That tells me there wanted to be
a simultaneous engagement
on all those targets to somewhat put
the various targets that they hit
in just an unbelievable state,
how fast they can be hit
by this one load of weaponry.
Secondly,
anyone that's saying
this is a proportional response
really doesn't
know what they're talking about.
This is the first stage
and it's more than proportional
of sending a signal
not just to the the Popular Mobilization
Forces on the ground in Syria and Iraq,
but also to the Iranian government.
This is telling them
we are coming after you.
We will not put up with these continual
harassing attacks
that truthfully
we've been putting up with
before the 7th of October.
This is something
the Iranian government
has been supporting for years,
if not decades, against U.S.
forces and against Israel as well.
This is the reason for those
for those PMF to exist
is to continue to be the
the axis of attacks
against Israel and all Western forces.
So I believe what we're seeing right now
is the first first set.
The first set of this campaign.
There will be more.
It will fall into an action
by the United States,
an anticipated reaction
by the Iranian government,
as well as some of the PMS,
and then a counter action
to follow on that.
I think it will last at least
several days, if not weeks,
but it will show them
that we're serious
about protecting our forces in the room,
obviously, as General
Hertling is referring to. Right.
The response of the Iranian government
is what matters.
Even though these strikes are in Iraq
and Syria,
specifically against
Iranian backed militias.
You know,
Reuters had reported a couple of days ago
that the IRGC, the you know, the elite
Iranian force
had been pulling officers out of Syria.
They were saying
because of Israeli strikes
that have been successful,
but that they had taken losses.
Raises the question perhaps
whether they anticipated
something like this.
We have no idea
who these casualties are
or what happened.
So how do you expect
the Iranian government, Karim, to reply,
respond now?
You know, Aaron, this month marks
the 45th anniversary
of the Iranian Iranian
revolution of 1979.
So we basically have a 45 year case
study of Iranian conduct.
And I would say that on one hand,
this is a regime
which is deeply committed
to its ideology.
It wants to evict
America from the Middle East.
It wants to replace
Israel with Palestine.
It wants to help bring down
the US led world order.
But they're also deeply committed
to staying in power.
They're not suicidal.
They're very good at testing US resolve.
They're constantly testing U.S.
redlines.
I suspect that
now what they're going to do,
given this massive U.S.
response, is to lay low a little bit.
I suspect we won't see
attacks in the near term on U.S.
troops.
But once we're again distracted,
whether it's
by our presidential elections
or the war in Ukraine,
I think they will start
to test this again, because, again,
they're committed to their ideology.