responsibility for the launching of rockets at the al-assad air base inside iraq. we don't know the damage. we'll see what the u.s. does next. aaron ber net is going to pick up our special coverage. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> good evening. i'm erin burnett. iran taking credit for an attack on an air base in iraq. they are based there. this is according to iran state run press television, the al-assad air base. that is the one we're talking about. it is 120 miles west of baghdad, hit by ten rockets. according to what we understand, tens of rockets. we are trying to get the details and the information. and according to the white house at this moment, the president has been briefed on this counterstrike. we have a team of r standingy from around the

world. we are live in baghdad in tehran, the pentagon, and the white house. we are going to be going to our reporters for the latest here as this news is literally developing moment by moment. i want to start with arwa damon, she's near the air base. what are you learning on the ground? >> well, at this stage, all we are really able to confirm, and this is from a member of paramilitary force that is based not too far away from al-assad itself is that ten rockets did hit the base. we don't know if any casualties were caused just yet, but given the heightened tensions that exist here, there is a lot of speculation as to whether or not this is just a warning to the u.s. who you'll remember at this stage has not yet said that they will be withdrawing despite the fact that the iraqi government

set a force through parliament. this happens against the backdrop from a significantly high threat from any number of iranian backed proxies that operate on the ground in iraq and have significant capabilities and also worth noting that the u.s. military here has suspended its anti-isis operations, has suspended its training missions to be able to force on force protection. al-assad air base is a massive sprawling complex, the largest, i believe, in iraq that houses not only u.s. forces but iraqi security forces as well. it is potentially any number of targets that iran or its proxies in iraq could have had in its sites. but at this stage still really trying to get more details as to exactly what was fired, where was it fired from, and what sort of damage did it cause. >> all right. arwa, thank you very much. as i said, arwa in baghdad as she gets more information from

on the ground, she's going to bring that to us. i want to go to the white house where kaitlan collins is standing by. the president has been briefed. what are you hearing from the white house? >> reporter: yeah, he's been briefed. the white use is aware of the attacks though they're not confirming any details about them. the president is going to continue to monitor these attacks and the updates about them with his national security team. we know the secretary of state mike pompeo was here at the white house earlier, but we did see him leave earlier today. i do want to point you to a tweet we are just getting from speaker pelosi's office, one of her aides saying she did speak with vice president mike pence tonight just moments ago around 6:34 p.m. they say in this tweet and he briefed the speaker on the attacks. now, erin, we have a lot to learn as barbara starr was saying a few moments ago about the attacks and what's going on. but let's remind the viewers

about that threat from the president just two days ago where he said if iran did retaliate for the strike of that general that was killed and if they did retaliate by attacking an american air base, he said, quote, we will be sending some of that brand-new beautiful equipment their way and without hesitation, making a reference to recently purchased military equipment. so, the president essentially previewing what could happen if this was the type of attack that iran was going to go with. we're still learning more and we'll keep you updated on what the president is doing and what he has to say about this these attacks. >> thank you very much. as the white house has been silent thus far, we are hearing more from iranian state television and from the international revolutionary guard corps itself. fred liken is in tehran at this moment able to monitor that and those signals you're seeing. fred, what are they saying? >> reporter: well, they're obviously saying that the revolutionary guard corps is the

ones who are behind this attack on this air base. they say tens of rockets and missiles have been fired at that base. in fact, on the farce news network which is one of the state run news agencies here in iran, there is video proporting to show one of those missiles hitting the base. they are saying that was a ballistic missile hitting the al-assad air base. we're not able to independently verify that. but that obviously erin would be a significant turn of events. one of the things we've seen so far with attacks on american bases inside of iraq, some by proxy forces, is they've often used lower tech shorter range missiles. if this was a ballistic missile, it would be the revolutionary guard corps not just showing it's lashing out as the u.s. or taking revenge as they put it for the killing of qassem soleimani but them also show casing some of their military capabilities, essentially saying they don't just have proxy

forces that can wage low scale warfare but they also can use more conventional weapons like the ballistic missiles. of course the ballistic missile program has been a huge concern not just of the trump administration but many administrations before that and indeed of the international community. but i want to say a key thing i've been hearing from senior iranian commanders here over the past couple of days. they've told me they were obviously absolutely enraged by the killing of qassem soleimani. they said unequivocally there would be a military reaction, a military retaliation. they said that military retaliation would be against military targets. so this certainly does seem to fit that bill. the iranians are saying or have been saying through various channels that they don't want this to escalate into a wider conflict. they don't want this to turn into a war. they said they want to retaliate and they want it to end there. but it's not clear how long that retaliation is going to last and how big that retaliation is going to be. the head of the revolutionary guard corps came out and said,

erin, that there would be a strategic retaliation, that that tra steejic retaliation would happen over a wide geography. so, that seems to indicate this could just be the beginning and that it would happen over a longer period of time. >> we're going to be going back to fred throughout the hour. obviously he is hearing from people on the ground there, commanders on the ground in tehran and also able to monitor what they are seeing and obviously their television network is broadcasting what they say is the actual strike itself of what they claim are ballistic missiles. i want to go to doug jones here as our reporters continue to scramble the information together. senator, i appreciate your time tonight. this is not what we expected to be talking about. i'm sorry that this is, but nonetheless, here we are. we understand that at least ten rockets have hit that american air base. u.s. forces are there. we don't know anything about the scale of the damage or any possible casualties. we do know iran is taking credit

for it, direct personal credit. what is your initial reaction? >> well, i think we have to see what's going on. i think one of the things that we have to make sure we do is we've got a briefing set tomorrow, and i'm hoping to get more information. right now we're picking up the same information as senators that you are in the media. and what we know is that the president and the administration with the killing of soleimani has put americans at risk. and what i want to know is what are we doing now? we can go back and revisit what happened, why was therein imminent threat. but i'm really more important i've got an alabama men and women going over there. i want to know if they're going to be at risk and we need to i have a full complete briefing on what's going on in the near future. >> you have here, the iranian were clear, when i spoke to the iranian ambassador, they were going to strike. it was a time of their choosing, and here they are. do you believe this is their response? they indicated it would be at

military targets. that is what this is. do you see this as awe precursor to a real attack or as the attack? >> i think its early to tell right now erin. what i was listening to before you came to me was that these may be ballistic missile attacks. that ups the game considerably rather than just a rocket attack from a proxy group that may be in the area. i think it's really early to tell right now whether or not this is a precursor, whether we're about to engage in something more significant or whether this is going to die down tonight and something else will happen. what we know is we've got folks at risk, and that's what i'm sure the administration theis looking at now. >> when you say ballistic missiles will change the game completely, in what sense? does that justify a different sort of response by the united states? >> it's possible and it very well could. i'm not sure about that yet. but certainly ballistic missiles are coming from iran. we know they have that capability. there are so many proxy groups over there, you can never tell

whether or not this is something they're doing along with the iranian guard group or if this is just something that is coming directly from the top. i think this is so early right now, but the main thing that i think that we've got to make sure is our troops on the ground should have been prepared for this. they should have expected something. i know they've been looking for something. we'll see where we are. >> senator, please stay with me. we do have more breaking news. barbara starr joins me live with new details. >> reporter: erin, we have just received this statement from the pentagon. i'm going to go ahead and read it to everybody and explain what they're talking about here. the pentagon says that at 5:30 eastern time today, iran -- and i'm quoting from this statement -- iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against u.s. military and coalition forces in iraq. it is clear that these missiles were launched from iran and

targeted at least two iraqi military bases hosting u.s. military and coalition personnel at al-assad. so, let's go back a minute. this statement tells us that ballistic missiles were launched against american forces and iraqis, but against american forces, from launch points inside iran. this means a significant up tick in what the iranians have been doing. they have been supporting a number of so-called militia groups that have fired, pardon me, rockets and artillery that is relatively small. these are likely short to medium-range ballistic missiles. we'll have to find out. the only way the pentagon would know these are ballistic missiles at this point would be because they have the electronic

intelligence, the to llemtry. so, going back, this now, it is hard to see how president trump would not respond to this. there are no reports yet -- i'm just going on. we have no specific information yet on any casualties, killed or wounded. doesn't mean it hasn't happened, but they say in this statement that they are working on the assessment of any battle damage. but the really significant point here is that iran from inside iran, more than a dozen ballistic missiles were launched against the u.s. military and coalition. this is something that they had worried about for several days. we reported and we know that u.s. and military intelligence had information that iran had been moving short and medium

range ballistic missiles around inside that country. what they were watching for was any indication that those missiles had been fuelled up and were ready to go on to launchers and were ready to be fired. so, we will have to learn what intelligence the u.s. may have had just prior to launch. we'll have to learn whether they were able to use any patriot missiles or any defense systems at sea to try and shoot down any of these ballistic missiles. an awful lot to learn here tonight. but the basic construct is ballistic missiles fired by iran, knowingly obviously, against u.s. forces. this has not happened in recent years. i mean, in fact, i don't -- we'll have to get you the last time ballistic missiles were fired against u.s. forces in the middle east, erin. >> barbara, i think what you're laying out here, senator jones was referring to this, but this is a game changer in terms of

the way they're doing this. they're launching them from iran, not directed by iran, not because of iran, not by proxy, but launched there. we knew they had a deep stock pile but they were able to do this proudly. that this changes the symmetry here, right? this isn't -- >> it does. it really does. ballistic missiles are -- how to describe? if they work, if they hit a target, they can be weapons of significant destruction, significant human destruction. we saw this decades ago in the first gulf war, saddam hussein, remember he was firing scud missiles that were essentially very first generation ballistic missiles. but they were not very accurate, thankfully. when ballistic missiles are accurate, when they are guided to a target, they can be absolutely devastating. iran has a huge ballistic

missile inventory. if the united states is going to try and target its entire -- iran's entire ballistic inventory and go beyond it, i think it's safe to say they are well beyond the hundreds in both short and medium range ballistic missiles. that's an interesting question. we're going to have to see where the launch points were, how far away al-assad and ir bill were. i also want to mention as is very well understood that iran is working beyond even beyond short and medium, working on long-range missiles that could hit europe. >> barbara, thank you very much. as she gets more information, we're going to go back to barbara. senator jones, i know you were listening to her report now, but now confirmed more than a dozen ballistic missiles launched from inside iran targeting two bases

al-assad and you are biel towards the north. >> i think it is significant. i think it is a game changer. what i think the president and the administration need to do is follow through with their promise to brief the members of congress. that's the one thing that's been missing here is that a full briefing of the members of congress and the united states senate i think is necessary. before we take any further military action, i hope the president will come to the senate, will come to the house, talk about that, get an authorization for the use of done and this gets even greater and deeper into war than wt it appears that we may be headed to now. i think that is really important that we get a full briefing and get some kind of authorization, if he can get that, and see what it is that we can expect. i think that's an important question, erin. what is the end game here? what is the outcome that they're looking for here with regard to iran? we have not heard that from this administration as of yet. >> we have not.

i appreciate your time, senator. thank you very much for being with me tonight. our breaking news coverage continues now as we are getting more information now confirming these were more than a dozen ballistic missiles from iran targeting u.s. targets in iraq. the president of the united states earlier today promised to attack iran, he said in a disproportionate matter in a tweet on january 5th. so, what will he do now? into a smaller life? are your asthma treatments just not enough? then see what could open up for you with fasenra. it is not a steroid or inhaler. it is not a rescue medicine or for other eosinophilic conditions. it's an add-on injection for people 12 and up with asthma driven by eosinophils. nearly 7 out of 10 adults with asthma may have elevated eosinophils.

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. we are following breaking news, iran launching more than a dozen missiles. we do not yet know anything about casualties. this attack though is a game changer. according to the military, these rockets were fired from iran. they were ballistic missiles. there were more than two bases targeted. i want to go back to you, fred. we have just heard from the pentagon about these ballistic missiles. what more are you learning now? >> reporter: the iranians are coming up with more information now. the news network here, they are saying the second wave of rockets barrage have started against american bases. whether or not that includes the bases that we were just talking

about, the two already struck or whether or not there's other barrages that are still being fired by the iranians at this point is very much unclear. but they are saying -- this comes from a statement that the revolutionary guard corps put out, the statement is entitled "this is the beginning of" -- and i'm paraphrasing here -- of hard revenge. that's something the iranians wanted after the killing of soleimani, a hard revenge. it's what we heard from protesters as well. highly significant that you have these ballistic missiles being used. they are the weapon in the arsenal of the revolutionary guard specifically that they say are the most sophisticated. they've spent a lot of time, a lot of energy sophisticating these weapons. this is something where they are not only saying that they're able to strike the u.s. in iraq but they're able to do so with conventional weapons and not

just using proxy forces. also interesting, another thing that we're learning as well, a senior iranian official has come out and tweeted an image of the iranian flag which seems to indicate that he's maybe mocking president trump or taking reference to president trump obviously tweeting out the american flag after qassem soleimani was killed by that u.s. strike in baghdad, erin. >> fred, thank you very much. we're going to go back to fred in a few minutes as he's getting new information. colonel lateen is with us, military analyst, pamela brown, our senior white house correspondent, and jim sciutto, national security correspondent. what's your response here to what fred is just reporting now that one of the iranian news agencies is reporting now the beginning of a second wave and that this is, quote, the

beginning of hard revenge? >> clearly, erin, this is an escalation and if the iranian reports are true, then what they're doing is they're not only going with one wave of an attack but at least two waves whether or not there will be subsequent waves of missile attacks, that of course is an open question at the present time, but they seem to be asking for a u.s. response to what they're doing. there's no way that the united states can let this kind of an attack go unanswered. and i'm afraid we're approaching a point of escalation at the moment. >> colonel, how significant of a moment is this? >> it's very significant. the last time iran launched missiles at iraq was during the iran-iraq war. these missiles are potent. they could potentially kill americans, but they can also kill the iraqis that are stationed on those bases. so, they're in danger as well. and my guess is these strikes

are just the first in the number to come in the days ahead. i wod be amazed if they're going to limit it to a couple of waves. r more to follow. this will spark retaliation by the trump administration and potentially into iran proper. so, you'll have u.s. weapons landing on iranian soil. and that also is an enormous escalation. >> i mean, that, jim sciutto, is a war. >> yeah. >> and so, you have the president of the united states today saying that he would attack if he needed to for retribution. that was before this happened. you have this tweet from a couple of days ago where he said if iran should strike any u.s. person or target, the united states will quickly and fully strike back and perhaps in a disproportionate manner. >> couple things of significance. the idea these were missiles, not rockets, the potential for destruction but also loss of life is enormous. the fact it came from iranian

territory also significant. to this point iran has hidden behind proxies, largely the attacks on the tankers, attack on the saudi oil facility, the afak on the u.s. embassy. it would mean that iran -- and you see that even with tweeting out the picture of the iranian flag -- is not shy about saying this is coming from us. we're not going to hide behind anything. that of course then forces america's hand in terms of how it responds. to echo, likely on iranian soil. the president tweeted he has targets in iran. >> 52 targets. >> and as that would take place, you have to imagine that this becomes a serious military operation. of course the u.s. has the option of launching missiles as well, but it also has the option of attacks from the air. that would require taking out surface to air missile positions in iran. those staffed by iranian soldiers. when trump pulled back in responding to the shoot down from the u.s. drone, the target at the time included positions

in iran where he pulled back because he was concerned about the loss of iranian life. if you were launching an operation like that, that is a risk to iranian soldiers and then iran responds to that. you see quickly -- >> right, you end up in a point of no return. >> i want to go to alex in washington with breaking news here about the secretary of defense. what are you learning? >> in the past half hour as we were getting the reports and the claims of responsibility from the irgc, we know the secretary of defense, mark esper's office did reach out to the iraqi authority specifically to the prime minister office in baghdad. now, of course it is the middle of the night. i understand there are some difficulties getting through according to a diplomat source. at this point in the wake of this attack, there has been communication at the highest levels between the u.s. and iraqi governments. of course i imagine each side is going to be both asking questions and telling the other side what they intend to do. this entire episode between the

u.s. and iran has put iraq in an extremely difficult position. they depend on both, each country is a patron of iraq's. and now they find themselves essentially at ground zero for what could be a massive conflict between the two sides. that is not where they want to be if you think about what's happened in the past few months. they've recently kicked isis out of their country. now they find themselves essentially in the middle of these two sides with iraq -- with iran and the u.s. using iraq essentially as a staging ground for what can turn out to be a major escalation of violence, erin. >> alex, thank you. we have more news coming from from baghdad. we're going to go there in just ai mome a moment as our breaking news coverage continues. mike pompeo and the defense secretary, mark esper, have just

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here according to the pentagon, they have confirmed iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles targeting two bases in iraq where american troops are stationed, al-assad air base and erbil. these were fired from iran sovereign territory. this is the video showing the missiles coming into the air base in iraq. we're not able to independently confirm that's what this video is. nonetheless, this is what they're broadcasting and they're saying that is exactly what you are watching. we're learning that the secretary of state, mike pompeo, and mark esper are at the white house. the huge question is the president said he would attack iran in retribution if they strike back and earlier said in a tweet he could strike in perhaps a disproportionate matter is now facing an attack from iran which is a game changer in and of itself with

ballistic missiles targeting u.s. troops. any understanding on what they're talking about in terms of response? >> we know the president almost specifically previewed this happening saying if iran did strike an air base, that the united states would respond. of course you're right. the question is going to be how are they going to respond? a little under an hour ago the white house is consulting with the national security team, constantly being briefed and updated on the attacks. we now know that's happening in person because esper is arriving here, carrying a big bag with him. the secretary of state mike pompeo was seen arriving a few moments before. he was seen in the backseat of his car pulling up. pompeo was seen reading materials and then you can see the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff mark milley following all of them. all the top national security aids are inside the west wing with the president going over this. we're waiting to see how it is they're going to respond. the president is familiar with

one of these air bases because he visited it in 2018 and the vice president mike pence on the phone with democrats on capitol hill was there a few months ago when he visited the troops at thanksgiving. we're waiting to see how the president is going to respond but he's been foreshadowing how he would respond and maybe in a matter not proportionate to their attack. >> thank you very much kaitlan collins. i want to go live to baghdad now. arwa damon is out front there. we know secretary of defense has been in touch with the iraqi prime minister in baghdad. what are you hearing? >> well, we're just beginning to get a little bit of information as to what may have happened. this is from an iraqi security source who is telling us that there are casualties at the al-assad air base. he does not know at this stage how many, whether it is killed or wounded, but we are hearing that they are on the iraqi side.

this base, like many of the bases in iraq that houses u.s. forces also houses iraqi forces. al-assad itself is a massive, huge, sprawling complex that does have a u.s. and an iraqi side. so, at this stage we are hearing reports about casualties on the iraqi side. and in this kind of warfare that has been unfolding so far, whether it's when the iranian proxies here end up firing at u.s. locations or the other types of attacks that do take place, often times iraqi security forces, because they are co-located do end up also suffering casualties on their side as well. given the dynamics that have been unfolding here what we don't know is if this is the start of something bigger like iran and its proxies in iraq

have been promising, or if this is some sort of message to the u.s. because right now the iranian-backed proxies here have really begun upping their rhetoric when it comes to their desire to see american forces out of iraq. this is not just about revenge for what took place. this is about seeing, at least for them, american forces leaving. >> arwa damon, thank you very much. we're going to go back to arwa as she gets more. of course there are 5,000 american troops stationed around iraq at this moment. i want to go now to democratic congressman eliot engel of new york, chairman of the house foreign affairs committee. chairman, is this now war? >> well, it could very well be, and the president and his crew better figure out a way to sort of tone down everything because we could be in the middle of a full-fledged war, and i don't think that's something anybody wants. there's no doubt that america

would win any kind of war, but the casualties would be horrific. and i don't think the american people are ready for it. i know congress is not ready for it. and, you know, you had to expect that there would be some retaliation such as this. i don't like the regime in tehran, but i don't think we want to go to war with them. >> so, the president earlier today said he would attack. that's his word, he would attack, in retribution if iran were to strike any sort of an air base or anything like that. and he also, as i mentioned a few days ago, said that he would engage in a disproportionate response if he felt like it and it didn't matter what congress said, that he could do that. do you believe that secretary esper, secretary pompeo are going to be able to talk to him tonight and get him to not do something like that? >> well, i would hope so. you know, talk is cheap and bluster is cheap.

and we can, you know, all be the toughest guy on the block and dare someone to knock our head off, but that's really irresponsible. i think what we have to do now is tone down the rhetoric on all sides and try to see how we can sort of extricate ourselves from this nightmare because i don't think the american people want to go to war. and the irony is we talk about the iran and iraq, you know, the united states is really, in my view, is really responsible for making iran the hegemonic power in the region because by knocking off saddam hussein in iraq -- and you remember iraq and iran kept having these wars fighting each other. so, what we did was drove iraq closer to iran and made iraq -- made iran the hegemonic power in the region which is not what we wanted to do. so, i hope the president and his

aides are thinking this one through very carefully. i don't believe there's any ending if we're in a full fledged war. >> what should the president do? i mean, whatever you are -- whatever your feelings about how we got to this point, you have a dozen ballistic missiles fired where u.s. troops are stations. unclear if there are casualties, unclear if iran intended casualties. we don't know. this is a game changer. they launched them from inside iran. they launched at american interests. doesn't the president have to do something? >> well, the president has to do something, but he doesn't need to exacerbate the situation and make it tit for tat and before you know it we're in a full fledged war. look, you can't be belligerent and then when it doesn't work the way you had hoped turn around and just walk away. there are consequences here.

one of the things that i've had difficulty with this administration is that we don't seem to be utilizing any of our allies. we don't seem to care about any of the groups we belong to like nato. the president seems to trash them. and we could be using the help of some of our nato allies right now. and hopefully the president -- calmer heads will prevail and the president will do something like that. >> right. >> but, you know, again, they're not sweethearts in the government in tehran. but on the other hand, do we really want a full fledged war? i think the answer is no. >> thank you very much chairman engel. the panel is back with me tonight. also on the phone general mark kirk lg. what's your reaction here as this news is coming in, ballistic missiles from iran? they're threatening a second wave, unclear what that means, targeting two u.s. bases. >> couple things erin.

i'll start by saying -- preface everything i said by the fact it's very easy to fall into a war and to start a war. it's a whole lot more difficult to extricate yourself from it. what we're seeing now is how big the stratic game by iran. these are ballistics missiles as some of your previous folks have already said. this is very different than launching a couple of rockets at a military base which iran proxies have done in the past. this is a cross-border operation with a large ballistic missile, missiles that iran has a lot of that they've not only made themselves but they've also purchased from russia. second thing, they are sending very specific messages. as i see it, this attack started about the same time/day that soleimani was hit by a drone strike. so, there is even a message in that. the fact that you have some members of the iranian government tweeting out iranian flag is trolling at the strategic level to our

president. and then third i think one of the big things is that iraq is now right smack in the middle of this and they are strategically driving more of a wedge between the united states and iraq in terms of striking a target on iraqi soil. it's their very first attempt to counter the u.s. forces. so, that's sending a message to not only us but to iraq. if they are going to allow the u.s. to strike forces from off their soil, then be prepared to have more trauma within the government of iraq. and this is one of the things that their president has said specifically that he didn't want to see iraq go back into a cycle of violence. unfortunately because of what we now see as potential for a huge proxy war between iran and the united states, iraq is going to be pulled into it. and then you have just the fact that you just reported the majority of the casualties seem to be on the iraqi side. that's going to further inflame

not only the iraqi government but the iraqi people. >> which i think is a crucial point. that's very preliminary. we don't know anything on the american side. pam, what are you hearing about the president's response, what secretaries esper and pompeo are saying to him right now? >> this is a critical decision-making point for the president, the biggest decision essentially he'll probably have to make in his presidency beyond the strike against soleimani. and there's a lot to discuss here. of course they're looking at retaliatory options. it wasn't long ago, you keep pointing out, erin, that it was the president who tweeted if b iran strikes american interests or personnel, iran itself will be hit seeing we're the best in the world. the president drew a red line for himself and now we're seeing this play out. iran is retaliating after the strike, and now the ball is in the president's court in terms

of how he's going to respond. this is a president who has said many times he doesn't want to go to war with iran. he campaigned on this idea of getting out of foreign engineer tanglements and now he's in this position. it's also worth noting, erin, that some of the intelligence that led to the strike against soleimani, i'm told by a source, was concern about an imminent attack on the al-assad air base. it does also appear that iran is trying to send a signal that you may have taken off one of our key players, but we are still capable of causing great harm. >> stay with me. we are getting more information here about casualties. reporters are working on that. as soon as we are able to get that to you, we will. we are also learning vice president mike pence just briefed congressional leaders. we're going to give you what we learn from that. we're going to take a brief break and come back with everything as we gather it.

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all right. we are following the breaking news. more than a dozen missiles launched from iran, from iran's territorial territory, hitting two major bases in iraq where american troops are based. and we now just have video.

this, we believe, shows the moment some of the missiles hit the al asad air force base. this is cell phone video from someone who is there. we can't independently confirm it, but this is what we understand it is. i want to play it for you. [ yelling ] [ speaking non-english ] >> and you could see more of them coming in, as we said, more than a dozen. jim schuiutto is here with me. arwa's talked about the massive size of this base.

that's obviously cell phone video from the iraqi side. >> in the simplest terms, these were big missiles. the sound and the explosion. and this is, as we were saying earlier, the fact that they were missiles and not rockets, according to the pentagon, that's a more significant way to attack, with greater damage and greater danger to life. and the fact that the u.s. says that they came from iran means that iran is not reluctant to make clear that this is coming from them. they're not hiding behind proxies, as they have with previous attacks. and as we are now reporting, there are casualties, we believe, confined to iraqi forces there. so this is the use of potentially deadly force. all of those things qualify this as a significant response on the part of the iraqis to the killing of soleimani. the question is now, one, will there be other waves of attacks like this? two, also, crucially, what are the u.s. casualties here? we don't know. >> and they had, one iranian state tv saying a second wave was beginning. we don't know what that meant, whether that referred to what

we've already seen or perhaps what we've already seen. >> i can assure you, those bases are bracing themselves. >> we don't yet know the casualty situation. we do, though, know that we understand that there are casualties on the iraqi side. we don't know anything about the american side of the base at this point. however, when you look at what this is, sophisticated ballistic missiles launched from iran proper at a base, if they wanted to strike specific american troops, would they have done so? >> they have the capability to target specific parts of the base. i believe their ballistic missiles have the guidance systems to do that. so -- and we'll know more tomorrow when people wake up and can assess the damage, what exactly was targeted. but to my knowledge, the iranian missiles are guided. they're not simply like the old scud missiles that you fire and forget and hope for the best. >> all right. let me go to caitlkaitlan colli

the white house right now. kaitlan, you have a development from the president. >> reporter: that's right, erin. the president is meeting with his national security advisers that you just saw at the white house. we are now being told that urgent preparations are being made for the president to potentially address the nation on these attacks tonight. now, there is still a lot being learned, information is being gathered, as you see there. the defense secretary and secretary of state are meeting with the president right now, but two officials tell my colleague, jeff zeleny, that right now, they are preparing for the president to address the nation tonight from the oval office. now, we've got to express a lot of caution here, because sometimes these things can be delayed, as they are gathering more information about these attacks, but right now, we are expecting to hear from the president tonight, based on these current plans of which my colleague, jeff zeleny is reporting. now, this would be notable, because last week when that strike happened, we did not hear from the president beyond a tweet of the american flag, until the next day when they rushed reporters in at the last minute and he talked about that strike that killed that top iranian commander. but now, it does sound like based on what we're hearing, we

may hear from the president in the oval office tonight, which would be significant. i think it would be the second time we've ever heard from the president address the nation in prime-time from the oval office. >> general hurtling, as we prepare for this possibility and a very significant moment and night for this country, i want to put this question to you, because it may end up being important. we don't know anything about u.s. casualties, and that, obviously, is going to be hugely significant. if there were none, though, was that intentional? by iran, to not have there be american casualties? to provide an off-ramp? >> i don't think we can read into that, erin. i agree with what pete mansour said, that while the iranian missiles are a little bit better than the scuds, they don't have the precision-type of capability that many of our missiles have. they will hit a general area and i think that there was, the requirement or the desire to cause casualties, to strike a

target. and if it turns out that there were moment iraqis than americans that were either injured or killed by this strike, i don't think that was intentional. it was not a -- in my view, initial assessment, i'm sure others will be able to determine this. but it was probably not an intentional approach to strike iraqi versus u.s. targets. >> which is a significant -- look, it's a significant statement. it to go to fred pleitgen back in iran right now. fred, obviously, we're reporting that president trump may be about to address the nation with a message that will, of course, be seen in tehran. what are you hearing there? >> reporter: well, we've gotten the full statement by the ir kbrgc. we've heard, of course, before, on state tv here, you had banners sort of outlining part of the message from the revolutionary guard corps, which have said they are behind these ballistic missiles that have been fired at these u.s. bases. again, they -- in the title of the statement, say they pledge

hard revenge, as they call it, for qassem soleimani's death. and it's been so interesting, erin, over the past couple of days as we've been at the funeral procession for qassem soleimani, there were so many people there that had placards that simply had two words on th them, hard revenge or harsh revenge. this is something that seems to have been been building up to almost label this operation, this revenge operation. they say to thesatan, obviously referencing the united states, saying that the slaughters the regime is warned not to repeat its wickedness. essentially, what the iranians are saying there, erin, and i think this is key, because the senior adviser to the supreme leader told me the same thing as well, they are saying that this is their retaliation and they want it to end there. they don't want america to strike back and they said -- and they're essentially saying that they don't want this to turn

into a larger war. that doesn't necessarily mean that this is going to be the only retaliation or this is going to be the only strikes that we're going to see, but the iranians are essentially warning president trump and the u.s. not to continue and escalate the situation any further. they're warning any governments in the region not to provide the u.s. with any capabilities to launch attacks at iran, saying any governments that do so will also become targets for iran as well. they then threatened israel, saying they don't consider what they call a zionist regime to be separate from america. and then and finally, this is quite interesting, they urge the american people to call on american troops from the region to prevent further casualties and not allow essentially the trump administration to endanger their lives. obviously, essentially, telling american forces in that region not to follow president trump's orders, if those are to attack iran. so you can see, they seem to

have put this statement out or they seem to have drafted a statement, at least, well in advance. this does appear more and more, erin, like a very, very concerted and orchestrated retaliation by the iranians. >> extremely so. general hurtling, though, you heard what fred is saying. they're seeming to indicate that they don't want this to go further. but there's no way the united states -- go ahead. sorry. >> yeah, i agree completely with that. and the ore thing that i would point out is if this was a commanded strike, in other words, if the government of iran actually said, execute this strategy, and it certainly appears that it does, this being the first wave is something that i think the american military is feared in terms of our dealings with iran. because, first of all, if it's a strike from the government of iran, again, bringing the iraqi government into this and having a proxy war on iraqi territory, that's one dynamic that we can ill afford to approach. the other thing is, there are literally hundreds of proxy

forces, not with ballistic missiles, but just rockets. that could fire on u.s. forces throughout the middle east. and we're not just talking about iraq, but in places like yemen, in syria, in somalia, and we could -- the list could go on and on, to include potentially lebanon, jordan, and even israel. >> so, jim, we'll see what the president says tonight, but i think that it is important to emphasize to people watching how important two other people are tonight. mike pompeo and mark esper. >> absolutely. >> they are in that room with him, right now. >> and keep in mind, as well, that mike pompeo, to our knowledge, has been pushing for a forceful response to iran for some months prior to this and was apparently behind the soleimani killing for some time. so his poste, you might say, is more forward leaning. but again, both sides have opportunities to calibrate their responses here. it's possible iran calibrated theirs tonight. how does the u.s. respond? that's the key question. >> those are the crucial questions here at this moment.

every second counting, as we are learning more and still have so many questions. we do not yet know details about any american casualties. we do know, however, there were casualties on the iraqi side. unclear whether they are killed or wounded. a huge night unfolding. our coverage continues now with anderson cooper. >> good evening tonight. just days after a u.s. drone strike killed a top iranian general and terror organizer, american troops who come under fire in iraq and iran is claiming responsibility. according to the pentagon, more than a dozen surface-to-surface ballistic missiles were launched from iran, targeting at least two iraqi bases housing americans and coalition personnel. one at al asad, the other in erbil. president trump visited al asad a little more than a year ago. this is video from iranian state tv. we can't independently vouch for it, but it claims to be of missiles falling on al asad. the question is what happens next, of course. will the