syria to go after isis -- who is recommending that? >> i've seen a number of people who imagine themselves sitting in that office in 2017 who have advocated at least keeping on the table sending a large number of combat troops to iraq and syria. and they're certainly welcome to make that case. that is not a view that the president believes is in the best interest of the united states. >> and can i ask you about an interview that syrian president bashar al assad did with the bbc and perhaps you've seen this and taken note of this. but during that interview, assad says that communications have been occurring between the united states and syria through third parties, such as iraq when it comes to the telegraphing or communicating about air strikes that might be taking place in syria, so as to avoid any potential confrontations between the u.s. and syria. is that going on? >> jim, i can tell you that -- we have said this from the very first day that air strikes commenced against isil targets in syria -- that the united states is not coordinating our actions with the syrian government and we're not going

to. the simple fact of the matter is that prior to initiating strikes in syria, we did inform the syrian regime through the ambassador to the united nations and through our ambassador to the united nations to the permanent representative of the syrian people to the united nations. so we made clear that we were planning to -- >> hello. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. we'll continue to monitor this briefing at the white house. josh earnest speaking on several related issues. just after 1:00 p.m. here in washington. 6:00 p.m. in london. 8:00 p.m. in damascus. 9:00 p.m. in moscow. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us. let's get to the breaking news right now. the death of a 26-year-old american aid worker held hostage by isis. kayla mueller's family members say they have now received confirmation that she's dead and they are heartbroken. in a statement they said kayla

was a compassionate and devoted humanitarian. she dedicated the whole of her young life to helping those in need of freedom, justice and peace. that's a quote from the family. we don't yet know the details of mueller's death but just moments ago, the white house press secretary, josh earnest, you saw it live right here on cnn, he says isis is to blame. >> isil regardless of her cause of death is responsible for it, this after all is the organization that was holding her against her will. that means they are responsible for her safety and her well being. and they are therefore responsible for her death. >> our correspondent, ana cabrera, is joining us from mueller's hometown of prescott arizona, and pamela brown is here with me in washington. such a sad day for the family and the community there in arizona. ana, what are you hearing there? the reaction must be so sad. >> reporter: we're in prescott, arizona, a town of about 40,000

people tight-knit community. and this is a community in mourning today. everybody held out hope till the very end that kayla mueller would be alive and that she would be returned safely to her friends and family here. but this news just devastating. her family calling themselves heartbroken over the confirmation that she did not survive her captivity behind bars with isis. now, what we do know is that they are determined to keep her legacy alive. they do not want her to be defined by how she died but rather how she lived. this was an amazing young woman. we know that she had a generous spirit. she was always courageous. her family called her a real servant of the people who are most vulnerable. we know that she spent a lot of time working for a number of different organizations as a volunteer, as an activist for human rights for humanitarian organizations and traveled the world to do this work to help those and touch those who are suffering, to bring them a

better life. to promote peace through justice. and in fact always, always till the very end putting others before herself. we received and her family shared in a letter that she wrote during her time in captivity, the first time we're hearing from kayla mueller herself while she was being held hostage by isis. this is a letter that she wrote to her family. we believe it was delivered by other hostages who were freed. it's dated november of 2014. and i want to read you this quote which i think really speaks to the character and strength of kayla mueller. it says quote, if you could say i have suffered at all through this whole experience it is only in knowing how much suffering i have put you all through. i will never ask you to forgive me as i do not deserve forgiveness. i remember mom always telling me that all in all in the end, the only one you really had is god. i have come to a place in experience where in every sense of the word i have surrendered myself to our creator because literally there was no one else.

and by god and by your prayers, i have felt tenderly cradled in a free fall. and mueller goes on to talk more about the strength and the comfort she's finding in her faith. she implores her family to find the same and to reach out to others that may be able to help in this whole situation and truly just showing just what a remarkable young woman she was. >> amazing letter smuggled out of that prison that hostage cell where she was being held. ana, stand by. pamela brown is with me as well. the mystery right now is when she was actually killed. isis claimed the other day that it was a jordanian air strike although they showed no evidence to prove it. how she died. we still don't have those answers, do we? >> we still don't have the answers. the information that the u.s. government and family relied on to draw this conclusion were these pictures that isis apparently sent to the family over the weekend. and the fbi, forensic examiners,

authenticated those pictures over the weekend. and then that coupled with the notion that it's unlikely she would turn up alive after isis said she had died led the family and the government to this conclusion. bottom line we don't know how she died. we don't know when she died. but she died while held in captivity with isis. that's what should be remembered. isis is responsible. josh earnest addressed this also during the press conference. he said as far as the jordanian air strike, because of course isis claiming she died in the strike, he said there is no information prior to the air strike that there were civilians where the target area was. so giving the indication that -- fueling that skepticism that she didn't die in the jordanian air strike. but they don't know for certain. >> pamela, thank you. ana, we'll get back to you. let's get more on what went on behind the scenes before today. our kyung lah takes a closer look at how the family kept the kidnapping of their daughter quiet for more than a year while still trying to get her back.

>> he told me that the capture of kayla had happened just three or four days earlier. >> reporter: the man he's talking about, kayla mueller's father. it had been three to four days since isis captured kayla on august 4th 2013 the threat from isis talk about or release her name and they would execute her. her father in a fog of fear and pain happened to hear then arizona secretary of state ken bennett on the radio. >> he was totally desperate and didn't know what to do and turned to me just because i happened to be a few blocks away on the radio as he was driving home. >> reporter: bennett as arizona's secretary of state carries no international diplomatic pull. but he does have friends in power. bennett immediately connected mueller's father with senator john mccain and representative paul gosar on their personal cells and the diplomatic race was on to save kayla mueller. the muellers suffered an

excruciating silence, speaking to virtually no one about kayla. todd is a longtime family friend. >> it's not hard to keep a secret like this when demands of this caliber are being made. when you look across your breakfast table and there's an empty chair sitting there. >> reporter: for nine months deafening silence. then last may, isis sends proof of life confirmation. two months later in early july a daring rescue attempt by u.s. forces to save journalist james foley fails. but the military finds strands of hair believed to be from kayla. then isis announces it will kill kayla unless a ransom is paid. 30 days pass, again, silence. no word until this isis claim on friday that kayla mueller was killed in this building. >> kyung lah reporting for us. as we said we don't know when or how kayla mueller lost her

life. coming up, more on the breaking news. the american hostage kayla mueller's death is confirmed. cnn has learned isis has plans also to kidnap more westerners. how will this affect the overall u.s. strategy? and later, we'll take you live to ukraine where shelling continues, escalating indeed just hours before important peace talks begin. [ male announcer ] we know they're out there. you can't always see them. but it's our job to find them. the answers. the solutions. the innovations.

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we're back now with the breaking news the death of a u.s. aid worker kayla mueller now confirmed by her own family. let's bring in our panel to discuss what this means in the overall fight against isis. joining us bobby ghosh,

lieutenant general mark hertling and bob baer, our national security analyst. bobby, the horrific killing of the jordanian pilot, now the confirmation that kayla mueller has died. we don't know when she died, how she died. but how's all this is going to impact this overall new phase, seems like a new phase in this coalition war against isis? >> well it brings everything into very very sharp focus, doesn't it when you have a story, an individual story of tragedy there. isis has been killing thousands of people. but a story like this young woman with nothing but good in her heart and in her mind and a desire to do the right thing for people and suffering, goes over there and meets this tragic end. it brings into sort of sharp focus the need to fight against isis the need to defeat this very, very evil force. certainly here in the u.s. and

more generally in the west that's the kind of story that helps to define isis in the minds of people. >> what's going to be the impact general, on the military campaign? seems to be escalating in iraq right now. i'm not sure necessarily that's going on in syria. >> i think you'll see that because isis keeps raising the bar on how dastardly they are. you're talking about the continued murders of people with varying levels of goodness. seems from what we've just heard of ms. mueller's background, she is the best of the best. and first of all, it's a problem with sharia law. after last week emulating the jordanian pilot, now killing a woman, i think you're probably going to see a little bit more emphasis from some of the arab countries to continue to join the coalition campaign based on the violation of sharia in this. >> we did learn, bob baer the

family issued a statement saying they have confirmation that the daughter is dead the 26-year-old daughter kayla mueller. the white house confirming that she's dead. apparently the u.s. intelligence community went through whatever evidence there was. we're not exactly sure how they concluded this. but they don't seem to know for sure when she was killed or how she was killed. i assume they'll figure that out soon enough, right? >> well i don't know wolf. i think that it's -- i'll go out on a limb here and speculate that they probably killed her. there's no way for this group to have recognized jordanian f.-16s bombing. you just hear them and you hear the bombs hit. and the fact that they claim that no isis members were killed is very unlikely and they probably didn't want to go public that they killed her but i think they most definitely did. but without having the body i

don't think forensic scientists can tell. you can tell from pictures she's dead. but how, we don't know. u.s. intelligence clearly does not have people inside isis to give us that answer. so i think it may be a while before we finally figure out what happened here. >> bobby ghosh, the jordanians clearly have been mobilized. they're moving quickly not only in the air but maybe even on the ground. the united arab emirates over the weekend deployed a squadron of f-16s to jordan. started launching air strikes themselves. i assume the coalition of moderate sunni arabs is going to escalate their operations in the coming days and weeks, right? >> absolutely. i think particularly the murder of that jordanian pilot has already demonstrated -- stiffened the spines, if you like, in the arab world. and jordan is determined to get revenge. the trouble is that they can

increase these aerial attacks, bombing from the sky. but as you've said on your program for weeks and weeks now, that's only going to be half or maybe a third of the story. all that does really is rattle the cages. it may have an impact on the morale of isis. may have an impact on their recruitment abilities. but beyond that it's going to take boots on the ground to fix this problem. i'm not sure the jordanian military or the uae military is willing to go in there to participate in the fight. even if it were to do so whether they have the right set of skills. most of these arab militaries let's remind ourselves, are really built to protect regimes against domestic criticism or domestic rivals. they're very good at stamping down on home-grown dissents beating up an armed protesters. whether they can take a fight to a highly motivated group like

isis that's something we'll have to see. >> who will provide the boots on the ground to get the job done? by airpower alone, it won't get done. >> we've said it from beginning. but you'll see an increasing capability obviously within the iraqi army. we're already starting to see that. they're starting to be paid and better led than they were when they dissolved before. but i also think the important thing -- and bobby mentioned it to a degree -- based on my experience with the sunni tribes in various parts of iraq -- and i think that will carry over also into syria -- you're going to see this organization implode. it's already starting to do so. they are self-destructing as all terrorist organizations eventually become. and i think you'll see more and more of this just like al qaeda did in iraq where they will so infuriate the populace that there will be population centers and tribes and imams who will take up arms against these villains. >> but don't forget general, al

qaeda in iraq eventually became isis and isis controls a huge huge part of iraq right now, including the second largest city of mosul, a city of nearly 2 million people. so al qaeda in iraq was certainly not destroyed. >> but, again, wolf i'll go back to the point where the military forces of iraq dissolved because they weren't being paid they weren't being well-led and they weren't trusting in their government. as we again build those kind of institutions within all of those ungoverned spaces and we depend on the iraqi government to do that i think you'll see again the same kind of awakening you had in 2006 and '07 when the tribal areas rose up. it was then dispersed because they didn't have the support of the government. that's the problem. >> we'll see if this new government in baghdad really lives up to. there's a lot of skepticism that they will live up to it as well. let's see if they do. guys i want all of you to stand by. coming up they don't talk

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syria's president says his government is receiving messages on coalition efforts to fight isis. in an interview with the bbc world, bashar al assad said his regime has been getting information indirectly from third parties such as the iraqi government in baghdad. he added there had been no direct cooperation with the u.s. since u.s.-led coalition air strikes began in syria in

september. >> do you talk to the americans? there are american planes in the air above syria the whole time. do you coordinate? >> no. because they don't talk to anyone. they easily trample over the international law, which is about our sovereignty now. they don't talk to us. we don't talk to them. >> i'm curious at a time when there's the american military in the air above syria and your air force is also in the air above syria, there haven't been any incidents between the two. no shots seem to have been traded, no planes are being shot down. that suggests to me surely that -- >> that's correct. but, again, there's no direct cooperation. >> direct. is it via iraq? that's what some have said. >> through third party, more than one party. other countries. sometimes they convey message, general message. but there's nothing tactical.

>> they don't tell you, we'll be bombing at raqqa at 10:00 this evening, keep out of the way? >> we didn't know about the details of the campaign. >> is there a continuing dialogue you have through third parties? >> there's no dialogue. there's, let's say, information. but not dialogue. >> they tell you things? >> something like this. >> do you tell them things? >> no. >> our senior international correspondent, arwa damon, joins us from istanbul. arwa has covered this conflict extensively. intriguing to hear bashar al assad because he seems to be suggesting in the face of that questioning from jeremy bowen that the iraqis the iraqi government in baghdad which has of course relations with the united states but also has very good relations with the iranian government which is backing bashar al assad together with hezbollah in lebanon, that there's sort of an indirect dialogue going on about u.s. and

coalition air strikes to make sure that there are no mistakes or miscalculations. that would be my interpretation of what we're hearing. but i'm anxious to get yours. >> reporter: well that definitely does seem to be the case wolf not just using iraq as a third-party country but other nations as well. there has to be a level of coordination at the end of the day. we're talking about fighter jets and shared airspace. there have been no significant incidences no planes being shot down other than the incident of course that included the one with the jordanian pilot. but that was an aircraft that was shot down by isis not by assad regime's forces. seems on the one hand president bashar al assad is complaining about how the sovereignty of syria is being violated and yet on the other hand they are allowing this to happen. at this stage, isis is an enemy for both the coalition, the syrian people and bashar al assad.

so yes, there has to be a certain level of cooperation. but assad was also very clear that this does not mean that syria is going to be joining the coalition. put quite simply they will not become partners with anything that is being led by the united states because as he said we cannot be in an alliance with countries that support terrorism, wolf. >> we know that the iranians of course have a close relationship a supportive relationship of bashar al assad's regime. they've got their own fighters they're helping bashar al assad. but what kind of relationship has emerged over the past year shall we say, the new prime minister of iraq with the bashar al assad regime what kind of relationship does hadr al abadi have with bashar al assad? >> reporter: it's a very interesting dynamic. not only do we have the iranians backing bashar al assad and providing assistance on the ground whether it's through hezbollah or through some of their other proxies, but also

remember we have the iranians providing assistance to the iraqi government and to the iraqi security forces. no secret has been made of this. iran does have advisers boots on the ground on the front lines in iraq's battle against isis effectively putting them in some sort of indirect alliance with the united states in that battleground as well. the new prime minister of iraq is in a very tenuous and tricky situation where he does need to continue to maintain those channels of communications with damascus because baghdad and damascus at the end of the day are both facing the same challenge of trying to rid their territories of isis. but iraq also has to continue to maintain a relationship with the united states one that is very vital at this stage because as we know while we have u.s. advisers on the ground in iraq at this stage in an effort to try and call in air strikes and to try to defeat and degrade isis in iraq as well these two battlegrounds, syria and iraq

as much as the u.s. would want to try to differentiate and provide direct assistance on the ground in iraq these are effectively the same battlefield. defeating isis in one nation does not mean it is going to be defeated in the other. and there needs to be a strategy that's going to address the difficulty of defeating isis that is going to combine both iraq and syria. and that means a potentially uncomfortable situation for the united states where it is indirectly in allegiance with iran and also with bashar al assad. >> it's a very complex situation over there. i've spoken to some u.s. officials who are concerned that al abadi who is an iraqi shiite he may be more interested in maintaining a strong relationship with his neighbor iran than he is with the united states which he obviously doesn't fully trust in the aftermath of what's been going on in recent months. we'll see what happens. it's a very delicate sensitive situation right now. as you correctly point out, there are u.s. troops

increasing numbers of u.s. troops being deployed to iraq right now, supposedly as advisers to see if the iraqi military can get the job done against isis. thanks very much, arwa for that. we'll get back to you. president obama, meanwhile, looking to get authority for the use of military force against isis. but not everyone in congress is on board. will he get the support he needs to go after the terror group? we're going live to capitol hill for more news.

welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. we now have sad confirmation of kayla mueller's death and it comes right as the political battle heats up on whether congress should authorize the use of military force against isis. the white house will ask congress either today or tomorrow for formal approval to continue military operations against the radical islamist terrorist group. our chief congressional correspondent dana bash is joining us from capitol hill. what does the white house specifically want as far as new legislation authorizing the united states military to use force against isis? >> reporter: the irony here is that the white house has for a very long time insisted that they don't need this authorization. you mentioned this is already a mission under way and has been for six months. so they clearly feel they have the legal authority to do this.

but the legal authority and the congressional approval and having a debate among members of congress who represent the citizens of this country are two very different things. and there's been a lot of pressure on the white house from republicans and even some really vocal democrats saying they need to have their stamp on this. so what the white house is doing -- i should say as we speak, wolf the white house council is meeting with senate democrats to go over some of the gist of it. but it is going to be to authorize a mission to confront isis to cancel out that controversial 2002 authorization that allowed the war in iraq to begin with in the first place. but the key question is going to be what this says about ground troops that it's going to be the most controversial issue that is going to be debated when this thing gets started. >> and then there will be a long series of not only debates but eventually there will have to be some votes, right? >> reporter: yes. >> these could be potentially very sensitive votes for

republicans and democrats, whether they authorize in effect a new war. >> reporter: that's exactly right. now, you do see a lot -- i'm hearing, just been walking the halls talking to senators -- a lot of bipartisan support for the concept of authorizing it. but, of course, the devil is in the details. i mentioned the question about ground troops. the language that i'm hearing from congressional aides at the white house is going to send up will talk about an enduring offensive system or enduring offense against isis. the question is, what does that mean? and so when congress at least the democratic-led congress in december passed their own version of this they were very specific saying no ground troops at all except in three or four cases including rescue missions. sounds like from what i'm hearing, the white house is asking for something more broad. so what we may see is a bipartisan vote in that you'll probably see it pass whatever that turns out to be with

democratic and republican support because a lot of democrats will say, we don't want to support what is in effect another war that could include ultimately ground troops. >> it was a sensitive vote back in 2002-2003 leading up to the invasion of iraq. hillary clinton when she was a senator, for example, she voted for that authorization to go to war against saddam hussein. but that was pretty unpopular in her bid to get the presidential nomination. barack obama, then a state legislator in illinois opposed going to war. he eventually got that nomination a lot of people will be looking at that example, wondering if this is a smart vote for them or not-so-smart vote. we'll see. >> reporter: and how they craft it is really going to matter. >> it will be a sensitive issue. thanks very much dana. rockets rained down across eastern ukraine. but is the latest fighting tied to a new peace initiative? we'll go live to ukraine. nick paton walsh is on the ground.

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let's go to ukraine now where fighting has intensified ahead of tomorrow's planned peace talks. there are scenes from a government-controlled city in eastern ukraine. this is one of the two areas hit hard by rebel rocket fire today. the second strike hit the ukrainian military headquarters in the area. i want you to take a close look now at video shot inside a soup kitchen as rockets fell in another part of eastern ukraine. atives from ukraine's government russia germany and france the leaders of those countries will meet to talk about a peace plan. that would include the withdrawal of heavy weapons from

these areas and set aside a so-called demilitarized zone. president obama called the ukrainian president, petro poroshenko earlier today to discuss the situation there and the upcoming peace talks tomorrow. joining us to talk about all of what's going on in ukraine, our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto here in washington with me and our senior international correspondent nick paton walsh who's in donetsk in eastern ukraine. nick how much of the fighting right now is going on perhaps designed to strengthen the respective positions of the parties ahead of the talks in minsk, belarus tomorrow? >> reporter: that is very possible particularly if you look at the ferocity of that strike which i should point out, the ukrainians did it to themselves difficult to swallow. but 12 are now dead from that dozens injured, including dozens of servicemen on that airfield that was hit. i've been there myself. it's a series of trenches and

tents, very little protection. we saw today how the fight for a key city to the north of where i'm standing a lot of heavy shelling in the direction of that town which separatists say they have encircled but the ukrainians suggest they're still having a fight for the key access road in and out of there. the videos showed earlier, both one showing how civilians are hit on the separatist side and also the ukrainian side really show how civilians are caught up, frankly, in the middle of this. today no exception at all. the fears being if we don't see some sort of cease-fire results tomorrow the death toll will simply continue to rise. >> it's intriguing to me jim, that missing from the peace talks in belarus tomorrow in minsk will be these pro-russian separatists, no delegation representing them and the united states won't be there either. what does that say? >> the first point, the perception is russia controls those separatists. if russia is pulling the strings and they make an agreement, they'll be able to hold them back. there are plausible questions

about that because there had been previous splits or public comments by some of the separatist leaders in previous agreements saying, we're not pulling back. but they are being armed by russia so they hold the real leverage there. the u.s. not being presence u.s. diplomats say, we are in lockstep with our european partners our nato allies germany, et cetera if they're there, we're in agreement on how to proceed. but one area of disagreement is whether arming -- potential disagreement i should say, not in agreement on arming ukraine. >> so far, the u.s. is saying no decision has been made on whether to sentd so-called defensive lethal aid to the ukrainian army. >> reporter: it will take months to get to kind of weaponry the ukrainians need in service on the battlefield, unless you'll put u.s. troops in the battlefield here using them.

it's a complex task and potentially used more as rhetoric ahead of these diplomatic talks, taking that center division with the good cop, bad cop that angela merkel and barack obama aired earlier this week. there's a delegation being sent to minsk gubut not their top leaders. so much really undermining those talks on the battlefield here not in the least the fact that the separatists are open. they want all of the donetsk region here. one of them said recently they're taking no step back in minsk. it's going to be a tough job simply to stop the violence let alone hatch a long-term political settlement here given how far apart kiev and the donetsk separatists are now. >> nick paton walsh, be careful over there. jim sciutto, we'll have you guys back later today. thanks very much. coming up the prime minister of israel benjamin netanyahu, he's talking tough. only moments ago, he was very

very stern in saying this deal that the president of the united states and other members of the u.n. security council are trying to come up with iran on its nuclear program could endanger israel's very survival. he's mincing no words. we'll share what he says right after this. i've always loved exploring and looking for something better. that's the way i look at life. especially now that i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib a type of irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. i was taking warfarin, but wondered if i kept digging

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a major dispute involving politics protocol, and policy is playing out in the public spotlight right now. the israeli prime minister

benjamin netanyahu and president obama are at serious odds over the prime minister's scheduled visit to washington early next month. netanyahu has been invited to address a joint meeting of the united states congress. it's expected he will seriously criticize president obama's policy on iran. just a short while ago, the prime minister fended off criticism surrounding his upcoming speech. >> i'm going to the united states not because i seek a confrontation with the president, but because i must fulfill my obligation to speak up on a matter that affects the very survival of my country. i intend to speak about this issue before the march 24th deadline and i intend to speak in the u.s. congress because congress might have an important role on a nuclear deal with iran. >> all right. let's go to jerusalem right now. i'm joined by our global affairs

correspondent. the prime minister's statement was very strong. at one point, he says we do have today, a profound disagreement with the united states administration and the rest of the p5 plus 1, members of the security council in germany, over the offer that has been made to iran. then he says these very ominous words. this offer, this is the proposal that the president of the united states the secretary of state, presumably support, would enable iran to threaten israel's survival. those are strong words coming from the prime minister of israel basically saying that the president of the united states is going to if he goes along with this deal threaten israel's very survival. those are powerful words. >> powerful words, wolf. let's be clear, that agreement is not finished. the u.s. and the p5 plus 1 are still negotiating with iran but prime minister netanyahu has seen and heard enough of the afwreemt to know that he finds it unacceptable but he also

made a statement that this is not about president obama. there's been a lot being made about the relationship between these two leaders, which is bad and keeps gets worst every day. but he made this clear. this is not about me and president obama. i appreciate everything the president has done for israel. and i think the president also appreciates the responsibility that i have in coming and having to do what i need to do to protect the people of israel. so you talk to u.s. officials, and they acknowledge that there's a profound disagreement with iran with israel over iran but they feel that over the years, they've really been successful in talking to the israelis keeping them up to date, working with them on intel, working with them on the sanctions, and they say they'll continue to do so. >> but the president -- the prime minister is basically saying that president obama, if he goes ahead with this deal, that israel doesn't like -- would be complicit in threatening israel's very

existence. i don't remember a time where a prime minister of israel has basically laid out a charge as serious as that is against a sitting president of the united states. i know it's only going to be two weeks before the march 17th elections in israel and the prime minister is getting severely criticized by his political opponents over there, but that's a very serious charge that netanyahu is making against the president. basically he doesn't trust him, and he doesn't like this deal that's in the works. >> well it's a very serious charge and i think, wolf over the years it's been clear that the u.s. and israel see iran in some very clear terms the same way and some in different terms. for the united states as it's negotiating an agreement, it has to take into consideration its own national security interests and israel's. because the u.s. isn't close to iran it can accept a little bit more of a risk a calculated risk in terms of a nuclear program. they take that into

consideration. but i think they feel that as this deal goes on as they can put verification in place, that they'll be able to have a deal that israel can agree with. as you say, it is an election season and this is the issue that prime minister netanyahu is campaigning on. he knows this is talking to his base. that's what he's really doubling down to. this does not hurt him with that base wolf. it also deflects from issues he doesn't want to talk about, like the economy, which is a big issue here. >> prime minister of israel just said he thinks the offer that's already been made to iran by the united states and the other negotiators is an offer that would enable iran to threaten israel's survival. those are very strong words from netanyahu. if the relationship was strained between him and the president of the united states before it's going to be even more strained in the aftermath of the statement he made within the past hour. i suspect there's no doubt about that. all right, elise. thanks very much. we'll take a quick break. we'll be right back. ping online is as easy as it gets.

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one woman has apparently found a way to beat the high price of flying. get this. she stows away on board the plane. authorities in florida say 63-year-old marilyn hartman managed to sneak on board a plane from minneapolis-st. paul to jacksonville florida. renee marsh is here to tell us what's going on. what is going on? >> well investigators are still trying to get to the bottom of this. right now we know that tsa as well as airport officials, they're going through surveillance video to essentially confirm this woman's story. remember this is her story. she told authorities that she was able to board a plane from minnesota to florida without a plane ticket. so they're looking into that to see if that's true. if it is true this wouldn't be the first time she was able to pull off a stunt like this. about a year ago, she was able

to bypass document checkers in san francisco. we're talking about the tsa and the airline document checkers. she was actually seated on a plane bound for hawaii when the passenger whose seat she was in arrived, and she was arrested before takeoff. then six months ago, she pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge for stowing away on a flight from san jose to los angeles. again, she bypassed tsa and airline document checkers and she was able to fly without a plane ticket. you look at her mug shot she looks like, you know maybe someone's grandmother. >> how does she get through the tsa, the security over there without a ticket? >> so that's the problem. in at least one of the cases, tsa is saying it was a configuration of the airport essentially that made it very easy for her to do that. they've since changed that. but they're looking into this latest. >> they better learn to see what's going on. all right. thanks very much. that's it for me.

i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." for our international viewers " "amanpour" is coming up next. for our u.s. viewers "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right now. hi there. i'm brooke baldwin. you're watching cnn. thank you so much for being with us me. i want to start this hour with the heartbreaking news that an american hostage held by isis is dead. in one final and disgusting act, 26-year-old kayla mueller's family received a private message from isis with a chilling attachment pictures showing the body of this young aid worker who gave her life to help others. >> i am in solidarity with the syrian people. i reject the brutality and killing of the syrian authorities committed again