you are in "cnn newsroom." thank you so much for joining us. there's lots of breaking news out of the middle east today. the u.s. and united kingdom have launched a new round of air strikes against houthi rebels hitting at least 30 targets. this comes a day after the u.s.

launched strikes against iran-backed militant groups in both syria and iraq following the deadly drone attack on u.s. soldiers last weekend. the u.s. says it hit 85 targets in the first round of strikes. iranian officials now warning the united states is making what they call a strategic mistake that could fuel further conflict in the region. let's get to oren. what are you learning about these latest strikes? these 30 different strikes against the houthis today? >> we just got more information in a joint statement from several countries. strikes led by the u.s. and the u.k., the third time we have seen those two countries carry out kinetic strikes together backed by australia, bahrain, denmark, the netherlands. here, they say our aim remains to deescalate tensions and

restore stability in the red sea. we will not hesitate to defend lives an the free flow of commerce in one of the world's most critical waterways in the face of continued threats. what did we learn about the strikes? 36 houthi targets across 13 locations in yemen. so you see there again larger strikes than we have seen the u.s. carry out on its own. here using the u.k. and other countries supporting as well. a number of different locations as well as dozens of targets. today's strikes specifically went after what they called deeply buried weapons storage pha sellties. that is the second time we've seen them target underground weapons storage facilities, as well as missile systems and launchers. so a powerful attempt to go after the houthi's ability to threaten international shipping lanes in the red sea. some of the most critical waterways there. one more thing about this

statement. it specifically mentions one incident that has truly caught the eye of this coalition. the january 27th attack on the marshall islands flight oil tanker. the reason that's important is because the houthis successfully hit that ship, set it on fire forcing it to issue a distress signal. the u.s. and other countries responding to that incident and that underscores the threat and the danger here that the u.s. and this coalition see in these ongoing houthi attacks on commercial sucvessels and u.s. warships. >> when it comes to the strikes on friday night in iraq and syria, we have seen u.s. retaliation in reiraq and syria before. this was the biggest response we've seen due to the deaths of the service members last weekend. but the administration is making clear that whatever destruction, whatever degradation of capabilities happened yesterday, that was just the first move. >> in the words of lloyd austin,

this is the start of our response. it's not over. they're certainly not telegraphing when further responses will come or what they might look like, but at least they're giving a hint that they will be more powerful than what we've seen. not only in the number of targets struck. more than 85 in seven different locations but also in the different platforms. not just f-15s and 16s, but here, use b1 bombers. flying them from the u.s. to the middle east and i believe back to the u.s. as part of this operation non-stop. those can carry a much heavier payload than fighter jets and the u.s. using that ability to go after iran's elite part of the irgc as well as the iranian-backed militias in the region. it didn't happen instantly. on operation of that size takes a while to put together. and has a number of

environmental factors such a weather that affect when it can play out, but the u.s. making clear that's not it. there is more to come. >> all right, thank you so much for your reporting. keep us posted. joining me now is cnn military analyst, colonel layton. give us more context on these strikes. where they took place. >> all right, alex. yeah, of course the key thing here is yemen. right here, this country is the one because it controls access to the red sea, which is this body of water here and this is the gulf of aden right in this area. so the key elements here as he was pointing out, at least 30 st targets were struck. ten locations. an underground weapons facility. that is key because when you're looking at this, there's a thing called hardened and deeply bu buried targets. this could be one where you have

a storage pfacility that had concrete placed over it. the other thing is that these of course are the weapons used by the houthis to target international shipping in this area right here. >> and what more do we know about the assets used in these strikes today? >> as far as we know right now, one of the assets, one of the most important, is the f-18. this is really the flag ship if you will in terms of fighter jets for the us navy. it is a mach 1.8 capable jet. it has early fuelling capability, precision guided missiles and a 20 millimeter cannon that can handle all these different types of weapons including laser guides bombs and attack munitions.

it can be used not only for combat air patrol, but ground attack. that's what this particular weapons system did for these attacks in yemen. >> colonel, the u.s. making clear the pentagon defense secretary saying this is just the start of this response. so what more do we know about the u.s. presence, the military presence across the middle east? >> as far as it's concerned, we're basically deployed through all of these areas here. so unone of the key things to ne is high concentrations in places like qatar, 10,000. bahrain, the fifth fleet. 9,000 troops. 13,500 in kuwait. basically about 50,000 troops deployed in either in or around the middle east. this doesn't count the navy folks in and around the red sea, the gulf of aden, red sea.

3,000 in jordan. 800 in syria. 2500 in iraq. these are important areas for the u.s. to be in because these are the people that protect u.s. interests. >> all right, right now, i want you to stay with us as we bring in the rest of the panel. i want to go to you first. what do you know, what do we know about what the administration is doing. how they are trying to walk this very careful line of deterrence while not ratcheting things up in such a way things will spiral out of control. >> this has been the line they've been trying to walk the entire time and there's no science to it, right? you are trying to measure how different they're going to respond. so far, based on what happened last night with the attacks in syria and iraq, i would have to say the responses have been pretty mild.

the iranian came out and condemned it. said as you noted earlier, the united states is making a strategic error. there was no vow of retaliation. every indication we got is that the iranian do not want to get into direct conflict with the united states or israel. they've got their own interests to protect. what we haven't seen yet is the proxy groups themselves saying whether or not they will back off as one of the most important ones. hezbollah earlier this week. now they did that under -- and we'll only know whether the deterrent part of this is working when we see what kind of response, if any, there is. i think the attacks today on the houthis are designed because the houthis have shown in the past they have not been deterred so the only choice really left is to try to take out all of their

weapon stores, which is a really tall order. >> kim, to david's point about iran indicating that they don't want a conflict either, how do you read the signals that we have heard from iran in the past week as they anticipated this u.s. response and what we heard from them since about the u.s. committing a strategic mistake. >> after the first volley of strikes in iraq and syria, their initial response was to condemn the action but not to promise retaliation. now we've got a series of strikes against their other major proxy in the region. the houthis. so i think as this drum beat of strikes goes on, it's going to be harder and harder for them to stay reserved. especially when u.s. officials specifically call them out saying we are hitting iranian revolution guard related targets and promised more to come.

>> and beth, i want to ask you about iran and the red sea. when you look at the proxy groups across the region and iran's influence on them, iran doesn't have a lot to lose by telling those groups to antagonize the u.s. in iraq and syria to tell hezbollah essentially to start scaring up a bit of a skirmish with israel along that northern border. but the red sea that is truly a global issue, so what pressure do you think that iran would now be feeling to in turn pressure the houthis to stop doing what they're doing because of their alliances, their relationships with countries like india and china. >> yes. well, you know, this was supposed to be a subject we heard from press reports between national security adviser sullivan and the most senior chinese communist party or

policy person during their meeting in bangkok last weekend. and we've heard that china has told iran that you know, you need to pressure the houthis to stop doing this, between china and europe. and we all know the chinese economy's not going so well, right? but we've heard the houthis saying we haven't gotten any pressure. so you know, obviously the -- being applied as a lever over iran from china or india. they're not threatening anything serious enough for iran really to go hard on the houthis. so pretty much everybody has to step up a lot more to get iran to threaten the houthis to stop. i don't think that's happened yet. >> and general hurtling, why is it so important for the u.s. to gather a group of other nations,

a coalition to carry out these strikes against the houthis? the u.s. is willing to respond to these groups in iraq and syria by itself and yet it has taken a lot of steps to make clear this is an international effort that it's leading. >> yeah. especially against the houthis because of their threats to the shipping lane, alex. one of the key points in all this, united states struck hard last night with united states assets in iraq and syria. today, and i was waiting for the report oren just gave and i expected to hear exactly what he said. it was a multinational coalition. that's critically important because it not only is a way to show we're protecting these global shipping lanes and there's the coalition right there, but it also says to iran there are a lot of nations aligned against you. and even some of your allies as beth just said, don't want you doing the things you're doing in

the red sea and gulf of aden because it is going to disrupt the economy. when you look at the list of different nations that contributed to strike, i would suggest and i don't know this for sure, but i'm guessing it was probably the united states and great britain supplying the strike aircraft. but all the rest of those other six countries were probably supplying intelligence, command and control of the aircraft from a wax, refuelling operation and intelligence. that tells me that the kinds of coalitions we've worked hard to build and to counter these kind of terrorist groups come together quickly. it also says to me and refutes all the commentary we've heard from some in our legislative body about why has it taken five days and why did you announce what you're going to do. this is the reason why. it's hard to put something like this together. you just don't snap your finger and have suddenly a bunch of jets taking off bombing targets.

the intelligence peckticture is there. they have the target packages but it takes time to pull these different air forces and naval forces together. the last thing i'd say, when cedrick was at the map a minute ago and showed all the places where the united states was, those aren't just soldiers. those are naval, air force, u.s. army forces in different country in great masses. i'll pick one as an example. the 13,000 forces in kuwait is the centcom reserve force. they are there to act upon a moment's notice when the centcom commander needs a couple of brigades to go into action. the same thing is true for the air force and naval forces. so all of these things are part of a bigger plan and again, because the nations are so complex in that area, the complications and the planning is tough, too. >> we have a lot more to discuss about these twin strikes by the u.s. not to mention the ongoing war

between israel and hamas. i ask you all to stay with us. we'll be right back with more breaking news coverage right after this.

we have more breaking news just in. iran has now responded to the strikes today against at least 36 houthi targets in yemen. nic robertson has the details. what is iran saying? >> yeah, iran's foreign minister was meeting in tehran with the u.n.'s special representative on yemen and told him specifically the u.s. strikes were going to make it harder to reach peace in the region. this is obviously an articulation of iran's view that the united states is backing

israel. that united states the part of the problem in the region and rather overlooks the fact that iran has, is widely seen as essentially convincing, if you will, the houthis to begin these attacks on shipping in the red sea. so what iran is saying by the united states trying to along with allies and partners, trying to keep these busy, important economic shipping routes open through the red sea, is going to make it harder to find peace across the whole region and by implication, i think we can understand the iranian mean in gaza with hamas which is also a proxy of iran. but this is quite a strong comment coming from the iranian foreign minister to put this in such blunt terms. it's not perhaps shocking and it's not perhaps entirely new, but this is a very immediate response to what iran is seeing, is seeing happening at the

moment with these u.s. strikes in yemen. >> beth, can i ask what you make of this statement? i'm reading the u.s.'s military approach has made it more difficult to reach a political solution. >> i think it's you know, kind of a threat. it's trying to get us to back down and to stop. and you know, okay, it's a little true, but you know, they are part of the equation. the houthis are part of the equation. hamas is part of the equation. this is about choices. i think that we have to understand that a lot of this is just threats, talks, bargaining, pressure, right? and you know, we just have to kind of keep doing what we need to do put as general hurtling just said, we have to respond. >> and david sanger, we now know there was significant kinetic

action taken last night. the pentagon, the administration saying this was just really a first salvo, that there will be more waves of this response. you have done a lot of reporting around what the u.s. and israel do against iran when it comes to cyber strikes. to what extent do you think cyber is going to be part of what the u.s. does now? >> it appears to have been part of a coordinated action with the kinetic strikes last night. but we haven't really gotten the dimensions of what that was yet. famously the united states in the past has hit the united nuclear program. the stuks neck virus that was 14, 15 years ago. that was a big covert program. this would be more of an overuse of cyber to go alongside the

kinetic action. the most interesting question, which we don't know the answer to yet, is did they do this inside iran. because for the kinetic activity, they were very careful to stay outside of iran borders. the next step up could be targeting irgc, the islamic revolutionary guard, or operations outside of iran. but we don't know yet whether they have been overt in their cyber strikes just in that region or inside iran yet. and it usually takes a few days, sometimes a few weeks before you understand whether or not that in fact occurred. >> that's a very good point. the u.s. may be willing to take kinetic action against iranian interests outside of the country while doing the same on the cyber front inside the country.

kim, we have perhaps predictably heard criticism of how the administration is handling this. coming from republicans saying that the administration is not being aggressive enough. we've heard republican senators who have been working the national security space for a long time urging the administration to strike iran directly. to strike inside iran. what do you make of those suggestions? >> well, the longer these strikes go on and more targets that are hit, even if they're outside of iran, it's gouing to be harder for the kgop to make the argument that the biden administration is just letting iranian inspired violence go by. but as the u.s. operators will tell you, what they're doing right now with these strikes is essentially mowing the grass. they did give top iranian

commanders who might have been advising these groups, several days to get out of the way. so what they're likely striking now are weapons that were too heavy to move. facilities that are bill in place. so that it will frustrate future attacks, but it's not going to prevent them. i would argue that even if the fighting in gaza stops, basically, iran has these groups programmed, primed across the region ready for whatever provocation that it decides is a reason to attack u.s. interests. so this might slow them down but from the perspective of iranian in tehran who have sort of a long view of this, this is the long war and the long game. they'll just wait for the next opportunity. >> stay with us. we're going to take a quick break. we have heard more from the white house about the recent strikes. we'll have more on that right after this break. stay with us. to duckduckgo on all your devie

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we are getting new information from the white house about the u.s.-led coalition strikes on 36 houthi targets in yemen earlier today. priscilla alvarez is in los angeles where the president is holding a fund raising event this evening. what are you hear ing from the white house? >> two senior administration officials tell me president biden gave the green light for these strike to happen earlier this week. now, they also stress to me that this is separate from those reta area torre measures the u.s. took on friday in response to service members being killed in jordan. those strikes hitting the 85 targets in iraq and syria. this is separate. this is part of those ongoing actions to defend u.s. and commercial vessels in the red sea as the houthis have

continued to attack those. of course, this is also part of that coalition that includes several countries and the u.s. here taking additional actions and senior administration officials tell me this is part of this ongoing campaign. this is the third set of strikes they have taken. it all goes to speak to the urgency of the moment and the urgency of the situation that is unfolding there. u.s. officials have said these actions by the houthis can really risk and threaten the global economy because again, it just affects the way that commercial vessels are operating in that region. now, it appears these strikes did happen when president biden was visiting his campaign headquarters in delaware earlier today. the president is currently en route to los angeles, but again, learning that president biden did give the green light for these strikes to happen earlier this week. that according to senior administration officials, alex. >> clearly anticipating more

axt activity in the red sea from the houthis. thank you so much from los angeles where the president will be. we are staying with this breaking news. we have lots more after a quick break. stay with us.

we continue to follow breaking news. the u.s. and a coalition of other countries has just struck more than 30 houthi targets in yemen. i want to bring our panel back in. this of course comes after friday's u.s. strikes against iraq and syria. against militants there, i should emphasize. but nic, this brings up the issue that the u.s. is now having with iraq or rather iraq is having with the u.s. we've heard a lot of anger from iraq about the u.s. carrying out

these strikes inside their country. most notably a strike in baghdad that took out a senior militant commander. where will that conversation go, do you think? >> well, it's already gone quite a distance because there's already been discussions between the pentagon and other u.s. officials with the iraqi government. the iraqi government is very heavily influenced, not only by these iranian-backed militias, but by iranian political strains, if you will. the iranian are leaning heavily on the iraqis to get u.s. forces out of iraq and the iraqi government is saying that the actions last night by the united states were a violation of sovereignty. violation of the u.n. charter. and this will probably further add to these discussions that are under way for the united

states to draw down its presence inside of iraq. which all troops were pulled out in 2011. it was only a couple of years later that isis began to take huge swaths of -- u.s. troops went back in to stamp out the isis threat which took quite a while. so the iraqi government being leaned on by iran is really going to double down on that message. iran's aim here is to get the united states out of the region. and it will further the military actions on the ground by targeting u.s. troops or its proxies and further it politically by pressuring the iraqi government to pressure the united states to pull its troops out quickly. this is an issue that is only going to get i think more worse if you will and more heated at the moment. >> colonel layton, how much would it diminish capabilities in the middle east if the u.s.

had to pull out of iraq? >> we would be forced to basically rely on qatar, kuwait, bahrain, to handle our military needs and requirements in the persian gulf area. for the greater middle east, we might be able to keep some forces in saudi arabia. it would also limit our ability to supply and to maintain our forces in syria right now. and the supply line for those forces goes through iraq. and that would really decimate the fight against isis at that particular point. >> and david sanger, we just heard from our white house correspondent who was telling us that the white house is clearly seeing today's strikes against the houthis in yemen and last night's strikes in iraq and syria as separate. do you think the white house truly believes all of this is

separate? that they can silo these when clearly all of these different flare ups happened in the wake of the october 7th attacks in israel? >>. >> i don't think you can silo them. they're playing a three dimensional chess right now. there's a political element to all of this, which is they've got to get some peace and quiet in the region if there's going to be any hope of negotiating with hamas on a cease fire or a pause and a prisoner release. it's a little bit of a chicken and egg thing because if you can get that cease fire, you might get more quiet in the red sea and among these hezbollah groups both in lebanon and in iraq and syria. and you might get that because

the palestinian issue and particularly the israel hamas war in gaza has been the inciting issue. but the second part of this is that there are a lot of election politics underway. you've been hearing republicans and former president trump make the case that president biden is has been too cautious. he's moved too slowly and hasn't gone after the head of the snake. meaning iran. well, neither did president trump. when he had the opportunity to go do that on several occasions and got concerned about escalation as well. so they are all related. that doesn't mean these attacks happen under the central command of the iranian. but we had a period of peace and quiet between the summer and october 7th thanks to a quiet agreement reached with iran. >> all right. i'm going to ask you all to stay

with us. up next, we're going to speak to a lawmaker, a member of the armed services committee. we'll be right back.

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he voted for trump twice and supported republicans for years, including far right conservatives. adam schiff, the leading democrat, defended democracy against trump and the insurrectionists. he helped build affordable housing, lower drug costs, and bring good jobs back home. the choice is clear. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message. u.s.-led coalition forces struck 36 houthi targets in yemen this evening just one day after a series of air strikes against militant targets in iraq and syria. that was last night. iran is now responding, saying that the u.s. strikes make it difficult to reach a political solution in the region. i want to bring in congressman

john gar mind. i want to ask you about the strikes in iraq and syria. these were the biggest ones we've seen in response to militant activity forces in iraq and syria. but how far do you think this first step goes in the administration's mission to deter these militants from further attacks? >> well, you said it very, very well. this is the first step. actually it's not the first step. over the last several years. this is another step but not the final step. the president's been clear there will be additional strikes. you need to keep in mind the houthis, which are operating in the red sea, are also part of the axis of resistance, which are these terrorists proxy

organizations set up by iran and now energized as a result of the hamas israeli war. so how much do you see these different fronts, iraq and syria, being one? yemen and the houthis being another. how separate do you see them? >> they're not separate. they're all part of the same strategy. as i said a moment ago, they call themselves the axis of resistance. resistance to israel. and the hamas israel war has energized that resistance. most of these recent attacks, 170 or so, really occurred following the october incursion by hamas into israel. and so now we're facing this entire region pushing back, sending a message. united states is sending an even

stronger message. first of all, don't mess with america. don't kill americans. there will be serious consequences and we saw that yesterday as well as today. we should expect the president to continue to order specific strikes against these terrorist proxy organizations. i do not believe we should nor do i believe the president will strike into iran. but certainly those elements of the iran operation that are in syria, iraq, as well as in the arabian peninsula in the yemen area. >> you noted, sir, that there were attacks by these militant groups in iraq and syria before october 7th, but am i understanding you correctly that if you think the war in gaza were to end, that these other regional flare ups would also go away? >> no.

no. they haven't. this dates back to the 1980s. when the marine barricks or hotel in lebanon was destroyed and a couple of hundred marines were killed. this is not new. this has been ongoing. the attacks on our embassies in tanzania and kenya all part of the same. and it all goes back to the same place. it goes back to iran. and they are the principle source of trouble. will it die down? well, it was certainly rose to a higher level as a result of the israeli hamas war. will it recede? possibly. but the united states is sending a very strong message now. that don't mess with america. that message is i'm sure being received on the ground in iraq, syria, and in the yemen area. also, we need to understand that

iran is creating problems in other parts of this region. pakistan specifically. and they've always been messing around in afghanistan. so how fundamental question here is what to do with iran. and we have opportunities available to us. and that is the alliance that has been built was in process of being made even stronger in the biden period. the abraham accords are part of that bringing together israel, the gulf states, saudi arabia, as well as recognizing the critical role that turkey plays in all of this and of course, egypt. and on the other further east, india. so those alliances are critically important and we should also be aware that iran is a major supplier of weapons to russia.

>> so -- >> there's the heart of the problem. >> if as you say this degoes ba to the '80s with iran, how would you like to see the president deter the efforts without crossing a line to essentially start an all out war with iran? >> well, start with the would have, could have, should have. the obama administration was working to terminate and to stop iran's progress towards nuclear weapon and in that process, there were other elements that were having some success and dampening down iran's enthusiasm. of course, trump term nainated t and now iran is continuing its nuclear weapons program. so that's one major problem out there. but again, it's the alliances

that we need to build in the area. isolating iran. unfortunately, the george w. bush administration decided to take on saddam hussein, who was a major enemy of iran, but that's yesterday and that's gone. so now we need to rebuild those alliances. we need to strengthen the iraqi government and allow that to be a bullwork against iran. so this is part of the long-term strategy. it's not going to be solved quickly. to get into a land war with iran would be a major and significantly greater effort than we had to do in both -- iraq as well as afghanistan. >> congressman, we only have a couple of moments left, but what would you like to see from secretary blinken as he heads to the region in terms of making

sure that a cease fire is reached? we only have a couple of moments. >> stop the bombing. get the cease fire underway. begin the process of building the two states. >> all right. congressman, thank you so much, sir. next, we are getting our first reaction from the houthis after this latest wave of air strikes. we will have live team coverage. that's next. stay with us.

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and you are in the "cnn newsroom." i'm in tonight for jim acosta. thank you so much for joining us. we begin this hour with breaking

news in the middle east. as the united states and united kingdom have launched together a new round of air strikes in yemen. the two countries hit 36 targets. senior biden administration officials say the president approved these strikes earlier this week. the secretary of defense is calling it a clear message and saying that the u.s. will not hesitate to defend the free flow of commerce in that vital waterway, the red sea. but iran warns the u.s. is fuelling further conflict if the region. all this coming just a day after the u.s. launched strikes against militant groups in iraq and syria backed by iran. that in retaliation, the administration says, for a deadly drone attack last weekend on u.s. troops in jordan that left three american service members dead. what more are we learning about these latest strikes in yemen? >> so, first in terms of how