calculation here. if iran can throw, i don't want to see everything but the kitchen sink but if iran can throw significant attacks in israel with airbnb ballistic missiles, groans, christmas. and not to >> sandra: let's not forget as trainings has been reporting over the past hour breaking in the last hour gunmen shooting a people dead at the tel aviv train station and the terror attack. it was wrong was bombing. it was situation we are watching there as well. he will be joining us at the top of the hour. we are going to reset what just happened a little over an hour ago in israel.

[sirens wailing] >> john: that's what's been happening in israel over the last couple hours. air raid sirens, alerts blinking red all across the country. as iran throws the full might of its ballistic missile arsenal of israel. you see a couple impacts. they look like they might have gone down into the mediterranean sea just to the west of tel aviv. no significant casualties, no significant damage that we know of and for all intents and purposes this appears to be over. at least for the moment because air spaces have reopened. people have been told they can depart the bomb shelters that they've been in.

to wait out what iran had to throw at israel. here we go again. last time this happened was back on april 13th. didn't result in any significant casualties or damage and that appears to be the case tonight. >> sandra: this is coming from iran. still reporting what we are seeing. per a senior iranian official to reuters, the u.s. was alerted by iran through diplomatic channels shortly before these attacks took place. also per that senior iranian official telling reuters tehran had informed russia ahead of these missile attacks. a's really are defenses did shoot down dozens of iranian missiles that flew over syria, john. the syrian army sources telling writers this at this hour after iran launched this salvo of ballistic missiles at israel. a lot was happening at once. we are watching all of it and

now you wait and update any moment now we've got the live shot at the white house of the white house press briefing room. we expect to see how the white house is reacting to this shortly. screen left, the state department, also expected to brief shortly. >> john: let's get the latest and go to trey yingst in haifa. interesting information from iran. that it did give the u.s. through diplomatic channels a heads up that this was on the way. that would seem to mirror the attack against the al-assad air base several years ago in response to the takeout of qassem soleimani. >> yeah, absolutely. it's very interesting. when we think back to that attack, i was in baghdad at the time in the days after the drone strike that killed iranian general qassem soleimani. that attack against the airbase included 13 ballistic missiles. tonight's attack conducted by iran against israel, according to initial reports, includes

more than 180 ballistic missiles. we are still waiting to confirm the exact number. the israeli military briefing tonight that they do believe this initial wave and attacked by iran is over. they are telling people they can leave their bomb shelters. they are urging people to stay nearby. we do know according to the syrians that many of the ballistic missiles incoming were actually intercepted by israel's arrow 3 system. specifically in southern syria. some of the intersections that you solve live from our camera being intercepted over syria. this was a widespread attack that sent millions of people to bomb shelters across this country. we understand that israeli defense officials are meeting at this hour in close coordination according to senior sources in israel with their american counterparts to determine what exactly the defensive posture needs to look like tonight and into tomorrow and what the

possible israeli response will be. the americans and israelis have been cordoning closely on preparation for such an event. the israelis understood that by taking out the leader of hezbollah, hassan nasrallah last weekend in the capital of beirut, alongside a deputy commander in iran's irgc that there could be iranian retaliation. that's exactly what we saw tonight for the top question, how will israel respond to this attack against their state? a clear violation of their sovereignty. as we look forward we can expect more comments from israeli officials in the coming hours. israel's top spokesman speaking tonight trying to reassure the israeli public that is really air defense did indeed work, the arrow 3 system was able to intercept much of the incoming fire and the israelis say at this moment there are no casualties being reported across the country. there are initial reports of a serious injury and the palestinian city of jericho peer

will be continuing to follow that development. with the latest information out of israel, massive iranian ballistic missile attack targeting this country. much the fire intercepted by israel's missile defense system. the arrow 3 system. many video circulating online right now of pieces of a ballistic missile that landed in different areas across this country, shrapnel falling from the sky that's why the israelis are urging people to stay close to their shelters tonight. >> sandra: an update, the u.n. security council the of just been updated is expected to convene tomorrow to discuss iran's unprecedented attack on israel. this is the update. from israel's ambassador to the u.n., he says "tonight iran carried out the largest and most violent missile attack against the state of israel to date. he says we are ready and prepared. the student israel will take all necessary measures to protect the citizens of israel. as we previously made clear to

the international community, any enemy that attacks israel shouldn't expect a painful response." that's just in from the international spokesperson. as we continue to get reaction. the world will be watching to see what the initial words are from the white house when this briefing takes place shortly after we know that the president and vice president, trey, convened in the situation room at the white house. >> absolutely. the americans understand the israelis will respond in some capacity to attack this large on their country and they may be in close communication about how exactly they will respond. there has been this escalation ladder over the past year. all parties involved have been trying to avoid a broader regional war because the consensus was that it doesn't actually benefit anyone to go to that war. slowly and surely, this conflict has escalated from what started

as an attack on october 7th, hamas entering southern israel and the israelis entering gaza to a war with hezbollah in the north to israeli air strikes on a daily basis over the past week targeting the lebanese capital beirut and taking out top hezbollah officials. iran's largest proxy in the region and now the iranians for the second time this year launching ballistic missiles toward israel. the real concern for the israelis is the iranians are close to developing a nuclear weapon. you have nuclear watchdogs indicating that the iranians have enriched uranium's close to weapons grade material. if they're able to create a weapon in a matter of weeks and that's the breakout period that israeli officials say they are working with, they could attach that weapon into a ballistic missile and logic towards israel as they did tonight and that's part of the pressure put on this situation and it's part of the reason that back in april when

iran attacked israel with ballistic and cruise missiles the israelis responded, striking the air defense systems outside of iran's largest nuclear facility. because as we look at a possible response, there are many options on the table. but the consensus at least among officials that we have spoken with over the past week here in israel who are from the same party as israel's ambassador to be u.n., the same party israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu and the defense minister belong to, the consensus is the israelis will respond in some capacity and even tonight, senior officials talking to local media saying this is not a question of if israel will respond but rather went. john and sandra catesby to trey yingst on the ground for us. we will check back with you shortly. thank you very much. >> john: we have a pentagon briefing on the books but it's been pushed back to 3:00 so it will be a little while. in the meantime let's go to our

chief national security correspondent jennifer griffin for what she's hearing from the pentagon. i would think since this is the second time iran has tried to attack israel, without any kind of success at all, it would appear if you are in israel, obviously it strikes terror the hearts of given what you've got to feel pretty good about your position in the world in terms of your ability to be able to defend yourself. >> absolutely. they didn't do it alone. the u.s. military had so many assets based in the eastern mediterranean that we were told were involved in some way. we are still getting an assessment of how they were involved. and the jordanian military appears to have been involved. this was done with alliances. excellent missile defense system. the pentagon had positioned three u.s. guided missile destroyers in the eastern mediterranean to help defend israel if needed. we are still awaiting word as to whether any u.s. assets were involved. once again, israeli missile defenses worked incredibly well. the uss arleigh burke, uss cole,

uss bulkeley, which are currently in the eastern mediterranean, all have the capability to shoot down ballistic missiles from iran to tel aviv, as we've been reporting, ballistic missiles takes about 12 minutes to travel, not a lot of warning time. iranian officials were saying there were two waves that struck israel. in april, the ussr only burke and uss kearney shot down more than 81 attack drones and at least six ballistic missiles using its ballistic missile interceptor. from the eastern mediterranean. the sm3 has a range of up to 1,550 miles. a u.s. official tells fox that iran has been in a state of readiness to launch an attack on israel within 12 to 24 hours since early august following the july 31st assassination of hamas leader ishmael haney.

iran started moving these missile launchers in recent days we are told following the killing of lebanese hezbollah leader, hossein nasrallah, killed in beirut on friday. u.s. officials said preparations for iran's attack looks similar to the attack in april. during that attack there were 300 ballistic and cruise missiles and drones fired. u.s. central command says it deployed twice the number of fighter aircraft, warships and defensive missile systems to the middle east as it had back in april during the last iranian attack against israel. some of those forces, some of those squadrons arrived in the last 24 hours. >> sandra: it's sandra, getting an update here that the israeli military has ordered the closure of the new military area in northern israel. that's coming to us just now. i wanted to get that out there also, getting word, it appears the british my master has gotten

on the phone with benjamin netanyahu. it's so fresh that the world was still reacting. >> it's notable we are going to hear from the state department in the white house. clearly the u.s. and allies like britain wants us to move to a diplomatic track. they do not want the pentagon to come out first and make statements about what occurred today and tonight in the middle east. you have the u.n. security council meeting call tomorrow to criticize iran for this attack. there's going to be a large effort i am sure to try to convince israel not to respond. as we saw last time in april, remember israel did respond but it was a very limited strike that showed iran they could reach out and touch them by hitting their air defense systems around their nuclear facilities. will israel strike a larger target this time, since nobody was killed and that in most of the ballistic missiles were intercepted? it's not clear.

trey says according to his israeli sources they will respond. the question is how large a response and will it send the middle east into an escalatory latter that the u.s. has been trying to avoid for over a year now. speak to jen griffin live the pentagon. we will check back with you. >> john: senior vice president for research of the foundation for the fence democracy a and te former terrorism financial list analyst of the department of treasury. he joins us. iran, like it did several years ago when it through seven missiles of the al-assad air base, through diplomatic channels told the u.s. we are going to do this. literally all the missiles were shot down or landed harmlessly. how do you -- how do you analyze what iran did here and how israel might possibly respond? it looks like it's another one

of those cases where iran felt it had to respond in some way, knowing it was going to be completely ineffective and embarrassed itself really on the world stage. none of that gets distributed to the iranian people. the eight iranian people know they attacked israel. >> that's right and is a bit of posture here but we need to be fair and note there was probably a higher success rate than what we saw in april when iran fired something like 400 different missiles and drones at israel. a handful got through. i think moore got through tonight. i think the learned from the last go around. they had a higher success rate but i still don't think they were able to hit anything significant. will what i think they've done is kicked the hornet's nest. the israelis, they are saying it now and we've heard from israeli officials, from their spokesperson a half-hour ago that israel has capabilities and plans already put in place. they had a pretty good sense

this was coming some six or seven hours ago. i was getting wind of this early this morning. they are pretty well penetrated right now into the iranian defense establishment. i think they have some very specific plans. the last time in april the u.s. prevailed upon israel to only fire one or two shots at the iranians to let them know that they could hit deeper into iranian airspace. i think we are going to see a much tougher response right now from israel. >> sandra: adding some more reaction off the wires. welcome to you and thanks for joining us in our live coverage. hamas praises iranian missile strikes, avenging the deaths of those hezbollah leaders. that's the way that's coming across right now. you can only imagine the response with hamas leaders to this. jonathan. >> of course the entire iranian axis, the houthis, hezbollah,

hamas, shiite motions in iraq and syria, they are going to be cheering. if you look at the way the iranian regime has talked about over the last hour or so, the messaging is, this is a response to the killing of ishmael haniyeh, the response to the killing of hossein masala in the attack on friday. some of the other senior iranian officials have been killed as well. some of these israeli attacks, these targeted attacks. you're going to see people cheering across the iranian excess but i think if we look at what has happened over the last five days or so, the israelis have done immense damage to the iranian axis and i think very little damage was done today. we still need to wait and hear from the israelis about what was hit and what wasn't. there were some missiles that fell inside israel but i think

most were neutralized by that iron dome, david's sling, an arrow defense system, the three layer defense system israel has built with american assistance. >> john: daniel hug ari set a couple fell in the southern part of the country and we saw some that have appeared to fall intoe mediterranean. with israel so heavily involved in gaza and now taking on hezbollah in quite an effective way, going after the pagers, backup radios, targeting leadership, taking out nasrallah, very, very bold move. does israel really want to get involved in iran right now? or doesn't want to sit back and wait? >> for the last 11 months cannot remember israel has been fighting seven fronts, at what they've been hearing from this my houses we don't want escalation. don't take this any further. israel has been listening largely to what the white house has been saying and what that's

done is brought more violence. hezbollah has fired 8,000 rockets in israel. iran fired all these missiles, these shiite militias out of iraq and syria firing rockets and drones and missiles. the houthis have been doing the same. holding back has done very little for israel. when i think they are now of the opinion that it's time to go on the offense and reestablish deterrence. >> john: if you go on the office, what do you do? >> use those targeted strikes, intelligence driven operations site they have taking out people like nasrallah. taking out 75% of hezbollah's top leadership or possibly taking out some of iran's nuclear facilities. you really using intelligence, using advanced weaponry, showing the iranian access that there is no way to win. they need to force iran into submission here. that is something that i think the israelis have arrived at this conclusion.

i think that's the only way this war ends. otherwise the israelis fight a war of attrition and the u.s. gets dragged into it. we have been hit by the houthis, by the sheet militias, this needs to end and it cannot continue in perpetuity. i think that's what the israelis are saying. >> john: will keep watching and waiting. jonathan, thank you. >> sandra: this is the live scene where we are waiting on white house response to all of it. the pentagon shot is up. we were told it was pushed back until after the white house press briefing so next up we should be hearing response from the white house as the president and vice president are in this situation room. we are told at least that was the case that last hour this was the scene in israel just over an hour ago. let's watch together.

[sirens wailing] that was the scene as iran launched what we are told was hundreds of missiles raining down. the president and founder of the oma research and education center. thank you for joining us. your thoughts on what you and all of us have learned so far. >> the first and we have learned, iran didn't hesitate to be direct. [indistinct] second, we learned iran didn't make a decision to abandon hezbollah even though it failed. it made a decision to escalate.

>> john: it's john roberts in washington. 181 ballistic missiles that iran fired at israel. that would make it according to our lucas tomlinson, the largest ballistic missile attack anywhere in history. and yet, israel managed to intercept most of the rockets. some of them fell harmlessly it would appear into the sea. others did fall into the interior of the country but according to the rear admiral, no significant casualties. israel has got to feel pretty good that iran controls the worst at it and israel can fend it off. what does that say about the potential for israel responding to iran? knowing that the person you're about to hit really can hit you back gives you a lot of confidence. you can launch a punishing blow. >> i must say in order to decide

how to respond when he to take into consideration the other fronts that we have especially the northern one. we just started an incursion there. as you reported, seems to be evolving. we don't want to harm the chances that this incursion will achieve, complete its mission, which is to clear the area's next of the from any capabilities. many of these were found and published this afternoon. second, i think we shouldn't judge the missile attack only by the outcome of how many people were killed. 8 million israelis that ran to bomb shelters today. it's a huge disturbance to their daily life. we cannot continue to tolerate missile attacks even though very few people are getting killed or injured. it means that the whole country

is paralyzed. damage to the economy, damage to our mental health, damage to education. that's the situation. hospitals are going underground. we need a normal life and we should stop counting how many people are getting killed. we should look at how estate can function, including the airport. >> sandra: thank you very much for joining us. appreciate your time. thank you. joining us now, rejoining our coverage, keith kellogg, fox news contributor and former national security advisor to president trump. thank you for joining us. update from the white house. the meeting of the situation room is concluded. the vice president has exited the west wing. got in two a waiting suv and is departing. i don't know if we can conclude that means the president has

left the situation room. we are awaiting an update from the white house. that will be important. the messaging we sent from here, general, what do you anticipate? >> what i anticipate is not very much. needs to come to peace and conclusion and a cease-fire. that's not going to happen. people need to go back and listen to what benjamin netanyahu said just last week at the u.n. general assembly. he talked about it in biblical terms when he talked about iran and talked about moses and blocked about appeasement and that appeasement must end. he was talking about iran. this is where he believes they are going to have to bring this to a conclusion. john brought up a really interesting point, the fact is this has been the second time iran has hit israel. it's been negligible. not much has happened right it should give the israelis competence they can strike hard. they can strike deep, they can defend themselves against any

type of iranian missile attack that's going to come back at them. their integrated system has proven to be very, very good air defense system. there's two parts. people should step back and say when people like netanyahu says things like that they should listen. it goes back to what golda meir said years ago. somebody said they want to kill you, believe them. this is israel's response. i would have liked to have seen the united states say we are with israel, full stop and leave it at that and let the israelis do what they need to get done. they are trying to bring it to a conclusion. the conclusion favorable to them, conclusion favorable to the region, and i believe a conclusion favorable to the entire world. >> john: the white house keeps talking about cease-fire, cease-fire, cease-fire. you want to leave iran with the

key ability of doing what it did today any tenant wants? if you're looking at israel, it how do you live your life like that? you have to r run the bomb shelters in a moment's notice, if your kids don't want to go to school. you're living under threat from outside and not just from one country but several countries. isn't it incumbent upon you as a leader of the country to try to do something to neutralize the threat? if you think israel is not going to let this go. i don't think israel -- but they could say iran fired 181 ballistic missiles and didn't really do any significant damage, aren't we great? or you can same they fired 181 ballistic missiles and there's no way we are going to let this slide. we're going to hit them back hard. if they choose the latter path, what do they do? what do they hit?

>> home i'm talking -- this is a disproportionate response. saying okay, what kind of targets to hit? factories or something? you need to go with what's going to hurt the regime. the number one crown jewel of the iranian regime is the nuclear buildup and capacity. this is one of those we say okay we are going down hard. we're going someplace. i wouldn't put it past them to say especially with they did recently, what they did with nasrallah, hezbollah. it's one of those, the supreme leader said we're going going to make it very clear attack. go back to it that yahoo. he said overtime iran is going to be defeated and the people of iran will take over any talked about the old relationship between the persian empire and the people of israel. the attorney to see that.

when people make comments like that especially with netanyahu, he doesn't make them idly. there's a reason he's using a biblical reference, if there's a reason he's using what he saying to making sure everybody understands the impact. whether you like netanyahu or not. he is becoming the winston churchill of the middle east. his leadership, his fearlessness, israel is fighting back in multiple directions. via god, you've got to give him credit on the personal and professional level what he's doing in leadership and we should stand behind him. they are fighting the good fight and we need to acknowledge that and support him. >> john: this is interesting, this tension between the united nations and the state of israel. secretary general antonio guterres of the united nations issued a statement earlier today said i condemned the broadening of the mideast conflict with escalation after escalation. this must stop. we absolutely need to cease-fire

to which israel's minister of foreign affairs responded "we condemn your inability to string together a tweet which holds iran responsible for firing 181 ballistic missiles at 10 million israeli civilians." israel's got to feel like they are alone in this. the united nations can't even condemn iran. israel has got to feel completely justified in saying we are not going to let this stand. we are going to do whatever it takes to neutralize the threat. >> of course. go back to what's happening in lebanon right now. 2006 they were supposed to have hezbollah disarmed. they put 10,000 peacekeeping troops inside lebanon. created a u.n. interim force. they have done nothing and i don't blame the israelis for going back against the u.n. they are absolutely emasculated. they haven't done anything. that's the reason the

united states has no opportunity to leverage this. and bring some type of piece to the region and work in with other allies in the region. we shouldn't let them fight alone. this is our fight as well. i know that's hard to say i'm some people go, we are expanding the war? this is a war that needs to be fought and it's being fought now. the question is, when does it end. that's the reason i keep going back to what netanyahu said. he has said it repeatedly. he looks at this in biblical fashion. it's a fight to the end, a fight between good and evil and it's a fight to the finish. we should acknowledge that. sometimes we talk in diplomatic speak and we think it's going to be okay, we need to cease-fire. no. stokley to happen. this is going be a fight to the finish between good and evil and we should stand on the side of good and not on the side of evil. >> sandra: general kellogg, thank you for joining us. we appreciate that. we are going to assume we are

going to get response from the white house soon. this was scheduled to be a 1:30 briefing. we were told the vice president and president were in the situation room. the vice president has emerged. we are waiting on the president and white house press secretary. the pentagon has been pushed back to 30 minutes from now. gillian turner is at the state department with the latest on what she's hearing from there right now. hi, gillian. >> we are waiting the briefings that have been firmly put on hold for the foreseeable future. the iranian regime claims they gave the russian government a heads up before launching the missiles into israeli territory airspace. they are claiming they gave the u.s. government a heads up. obviously not directly but through certain diplomatic channels. we are planning to ask the state department in the upcoming briefing. we're learning when it comes to the other place, hot spot where

this conflict between israel and iran and its proxy groups are heating up in lebanon that the u.s. has not begun evacuating u.s. citizens and they don't have any plans to launch charter flights to try help trapped americans in the imminent future. there's about 80,000 plus americans, that might surprise you to hear, living in lebanon right now. many of them trapped. a few thousand have reached out to the state department to try and get help. getting out of the country. given their loved ones safe and secure. the turkish foreign ministry is moving forward. they put out a statement saying they are working with a consortium of 20 plus countries trying to evacuate their citizens from lebanon essentially asap because nobody knows how israel is going to respond to iran's provocation today. the situation on the ground is becoming more dangerous for foreigners by the hour. one thing but i wanted to flag for you, talking about the

missile attacks, iran is not just on the warpath against israel. we have to remind our viewers that in the last two months they have really taken on the united states in a very aggressive manner as well. over the summer, we just saw last week the justice department bring charges against iranian government officials for hacking the u.s. presidential campaigns, the harris campaign and the trump campaign. we had u.s. intelligence recently revealed iranian plots try to assassinate former president trump and a slew of senior officials who work on iran policy that serve in the trump administration and are still serving in the biden administration. the end of august we learned that under the radar the iranian regime drastically sped up its air uranium enrichment program bringing its breakout time to getting a nuclear weapon even closer than it had been.

it really sped up july and august of this summer and all of these when taken in context with today's attacks against the united states number one ally in the middle east, israel, it paints an alarming picture for officials here about what the regime is up to you, what they believe they can get away with. it's important to think about when we talk about our experts and guests and reporters, what an israeli response, u.s. response to today's missile attack might look like. >> john: we know that the biden administration, antony blinken had been calling for cease-fire, cease-fire, cease-fire every opportunity they get. it's the early going. do you have any idea with the state department position is over the posture is regarding a potential israeli retaliation against iran? talking to folks in the middle east i think the only thing israel can do is at the

very least to go after iran's nuclear facilities. general keith kellogg holds that position. or in the most extreme case try to take the ayatollah. if they are staying anything at this point, what is the state department's level of support for israel's retaliation. >> the first thing secretary blinken said this morning here at the state department meeting with morocco's foreign minister and he said the united states stands unconditionally behind israel is offering them full support. fully supports israel's right to self-defense but as you mention, essentially since october 7, the biden administration in the form of secretary of defense, secretary of state, national security advisor have been telling the israelis to avoid escalation at all costs. the president just said the

other day, and vice president kamala harris saying we don't want this to go any further. it's hard to imagine that changing based on the missile attacks that we saw today especially in the light of this reporting that those attacks are over. no civilians, mercifully, have been killed. i don't foresee a situation where the state department in particular would change its tone and its guidance and advice to the israelis on this. but we will ask about it at the briefing. quick to note, not changing the posture in terms of evacuating american citizens, insisting that the status quo remains. nobody is getting airlifted in or out of israel or lebanon. >> sandra: gillian turner without update from the state department. gillian, we just got an update that we are going to see jake sullivan from the state department at the white house press briefing. the update is that we will begin about 3 minutes for mass we will keep our eye on that.

meanwhile, from a short time a ago. okay, that was tel aviv. missiles all over israel. this was in the noon hour eastern time. obviously late in the evening there. lieutenant colonel darren goff, former army battalion commander. cofounder of restoring liberty joins us now. we will see what the white house responses when that briefing begins. first, i want to ask you about this statement. for a jordanian official to fox news. as you know, jordan remained steadfast in its determination to safeguard its airspace taking

all necessary measures to protect the sovereignty and ensure the safety of its citizens. they also attached a statement from their armed forces below. saying that due to the recent developments and military escalation of the region the general command of the jordanian armed forces has placed all units and formations on high alert to counter any potential threats to the kingdom's security and stability. that's how some of the statement reads. your thoughts on where this goes next and the message we will soon hear from the white house. >> thanks for having me on. the first thing with regards to jordan is to go back and remember that jordan did a very good job helping shoot down some of those drones and missiles part of the initial iranian attack. jordan is not interested in widening the conflict. they are considered mostly a u.s. ally along with nations like saudi arabia. they're concerned about this war potentially growing bigger and getting out of control.

can't blame them at all for putting their military handler just in case something else happens. the entire attack by iran. it comes as no surprise. i think we're going to continue to see nations realize how aggressive iran has been and will continue to be if they are left unchecked. >> john: leaving them unchecked, what does israel do to eliminate the threat? you can take out an oil facility but that's not going to eliminate the threat from ballistic missiles. you would have to go after their nuclear program and send it back to the stone age or go after the leadership itself. what you think israel would do. >> clearly nuclear facilities are the kingpin. it would have the greatest impact on iran credit wouldn't discount the ability to hit some of their oil production capability and shipping capability but because that's

how they got the money to pay for all this. when the sanctions were taken off they were able to sell oil to nations like china, enrich themselves, and here we are and they are capable of doing much more than they could do under the trump maximum pressure campaign. we need to return to some of that. i'm confident israel reach out with the long arm they have, like netanyahu said, and attacked something in iran that is of significance. the number one target should be nuclear, buildings. >> sandra: trying to bring viewers the updates we get as we get them. anticipating this briefing. this is crossing iran's civil aviation organization saying all flights are canceled until 10:00 a.m. wednesday local time. trying to piece together all these updates coming from the middle east. that one from iran. what it means for what we will see in the coming hours and

days, sir. >> that's anybody's guess right now. i would say the primary thing to be looking at is exactly what will israel do to strike back against iran? they cannot let this go unanswered. i think we are all going to be watching that very closely. >> sandra: okay. thank you very much for joining our breaking news coverage here. we appreciate it. >> thanks. >> john: let's go back to haifa. mike tobin this up late. what's the situation? >> the situation has been home. the last thing we saw were the slayers fire to the west of where we are part of them that there hasn't been a lot of activity. getting reports the airspace is reopened or about to reopen. good indication the israeli authorities think the immediate threat is over. however, the spokesman, the rear

admiral said the attack will have consequences. we have plans and will operate at the time and place we decide. it indicates the cycle of violence, aggression, the escalation ladder is still very much engaged. we knew there was a potential, there was one attack in tel aviv. the old neighborhood jaffa. there were two attackers. we saw pictures of an m-16 and also a knife. the latest figures that we have on that coming from nate foy on the ground, six were killed, nine injured without particular terrorist attack. the attackers were shot and killed. the early word from the authorities that they were neutralized. now we've got confirmation the attackers were killed. a tense night in israel, the north of israel as quickly as

things got very, very tense. seems to have calm down. you can hear traffic on the street but otherwise a quiet night. >> sandra: also getting an update from the u.k. after we did learn a short time ago that a phone call took place with the u.k. prime minister and benjamin netanyahu. with statement reads "the u.k. completely condemns iran's actions and calls for de-escalation across the region. chairman of the intelligence committee in washington has issued a response. closely monitoring iran's most recent missile attack against the state of israel. america's commitment to israel's security remains ironclad. list some of what we are hearing as far as reaction and we are waiting on the white house. >> okay. i just heard one loud noise. not clear what that was but

otherwise were waiting to see what the response is. you've got a lot of aftermath. a lot of people rattled, who went to the emergency shelters and came out of it uninjured. but they are shaken to their very core and they all have, they talk about the memory in their stomach from october 7th. these kinds of things rekindled the sort of trauma the people here carry with them for almost a year. when we talk about the relatively low number of injuries we have a report that someone was hurt in the west bank town of jericho. talk about someone who was hurt in jericho, very likely that's going to be a palestinian. seems he was hit from falling shrapnel. >> sandra: mike tobin with the update. see you again shortly. thank you. >> john: let's bring in morgan ortagus, former state department spokesperson and founder of polaris national security. you said the ex post the you put

out, he said in april after the last missile attack by iran into israel, biden told bibi netanyahu to "take the wind." he should not heed that counsel again. morgan. >> what i mean by that, it was a similar situation, we are still a little bit in the fog of war trying to see what are the casualty figures, what landed. that analysis is going to happen. there was a rush after the attack in april. i'm starting to see it now, to say this was a symbolic hit by iran. if this happened to any other country in the world, especially the united states, john, we would not take this as a symbolic attack against the united states especially with the amount we are seeing. i would continue to argue that the biden-harris administration's policy of managing escalation is not managing anything and in fact it is prolonging the wars not only the middle east but in europe as

well. if we look at raffa. and then we come to find out wind up rescuing some off hostage son found hamas leaders as well. you've seen israel go on the offensive. remember the prime minister has warned for a year since the rockets started from hezbollah on october 8 at most a year ago. 10,000 of them. bibi has said to hezbollah, you are next. >> sandra: i want to get your reaction to this. israeli media is reporting, citing israel's military, that the air force will continue conducting powerful strikes tonight throughout the middle east. we are also seeing that iran's revolutionary guards say they targeted three israeli military

bases in this missile attack. your reaction to both of those pieces of news. >> well, i think it follows, if israel is going to continue to strike, it follows the pattern over the last two weeks with hezbollah especially after the pager and walkie-talkie attacks whom you see the strikes that killed hassan nasrallah. israel is surrounded by iranian terror groups on all sides. hamas, hezbollah, they have the houthis in yemen who not only should ever israeli facilities but i would remind the awnings they have shot at u.s. diplomatic facilities in tel aviv as well. then you have -- it's not just israel. you have the houthis on these terrorist groups shooting at u.s. assets. u.s. military facilities, u.s. diplomatic facilities in the region, u of u.s. troops killed by iranian groans. not only do you have the houthis, hamas, hezbollah surrounding israel and hitting at them, you have that shiite

militia groups in iraq they go after our facilities, the shia militia groups. >> i can take a few questions. was is an ongoing situation and in and to get back to my desk. today iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles towards targets in israel. the united states military coordinated closely with the israeli defense forces to help defend israel against this attack. u.s. naval destroyers joined israeli air defense units in firing interceptors to shoot down inbound missiles. president biden then vice president harris monitored the attack in the response from the white house situation room, joined in person and remotely by their national security team. we are still working with the idf and authorities in israel to assess the impact of the attack.

at this time and i stress, at this time we do not know of any deaths in israel. we are tracking the reported death of a palestinian civilian in jericho in the west bank. we do not know of any damaged aircraft or strategic military assets in israel. in short based on what we know at this point, this attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective. this was first and foremost a result of the rationalism of the idf but in no small part because of the skilled work of the u.s. military and meticulous joint planning in anticipation of the attack. we are also aware of reports of a terrorist attack in jaffa that took the lives of a number of israeli civilians and wounded several others today. our condolences go out to the families of the victims and to the family of the palestinians in jericho. my update is based on earlier reports and we reserve the right to amend and adjust as necessary

as we gather more information. the word "fog of war" was invented for a situation like this, fluid situation. we will consult with the israelis on next steps in terms of response and how to deal with what iran has done and will continue to monitor for further threats and attacks from iran and its proxies. we are particularly focused on protecting u.s. service members in the region and with that i will take a few questions. >> is the administration making preparations to evacuate u.s. citizens from lebanon or elsewhere? >> it's been clear for some time that u.s. citizens should avail themselves of commercial means to depart lebanon, given everything that's going on. we have said that from this podium and multiple podiums and we continue to say that but we have not begun triggering a noncombat emergency evacuation. and do not have an intention to do so at this time. if that changes, we will let you know but we continue to reinforce the point, american

citizens in lebanon should follow the guidance from the state department which is to find civilian commercial means to depart because in extremis, we may not be able to get them out safely. >> what is the u.s. view on whether israel should retaliate and what is your concern about a wider escalation? >> we have had some initial discussions with the israelis in the aftermath of this at the military level and also at the white house prime minister's office. we will continue those conversations in the hours ahead. i'm not going to prejudge or get ahead of anything. we want deep consultations with the israelis and i will have more to report after the opportunity for deeper discussions. obviously this is a significant escalation by iran, it significant event and its equally significant we were able to step up with israel and create a situation in which no

one was killed in this attack in israel so far as we know at this time. we are going to look at what the appropriate next apps are secure forced and foremost american interests and promote stability to the maximum extent possible as we go forward. >> and april the president's message that april was to take the win when the u.s. and israel were able to intercept. is he recommending a similarly limited response? >> i will not from this podium share the president's recommendations. he will have the opportunity to share them directly. we will have ongoing consultations with the israelis. it's too early for me to tell you anything publicly in terms of our assessment or in terms of expectations of the israelis or the advice that we give them. >> we'll be -- will he be speaking with prime minister netanyahu? >> he is tracking this minute-by-minute. we are very much deeply in touch with the israelis insofar as we have cost her readout, will make sure to read them out.

last questions. >> in april after iran struck israel, the u.s. issued a number of sanctions as a consequence. this morning the president said there will be severe consequences if iran carried out this attack. what are those consequences question rick. >> the answer will come based on the conversations and consultations that we have with our israeli counterparts. too soon for me to stand before you today and give you an answer. whether i can tell you is this. we are proud of the actions taken alongside israel to protect and defend israel. there will be consequences and will work with israel to make that the case. thank you very much. >> thank you, jake. on to the rest of the programming here. this morning president biden was briefed by his homeland security advisor liz sherwood randall on the latest impacts of

hurricane helene. this afternoon he will receive an interagency briefing. >> sandra: what you heard from jake sullivan speaking from the white house from the state department, he did say the president is tracking what has happened minute-by-minute, calling this a significant escalation by iran, significant event. next steps will be for american interests and stability in the region. >> john: yes. who knows what israel is going to do in retaliation for all of this? i think it's pretty clear they've got to do something but let's bring back morgan ortagus, former state department spokesperson. we were talking off-line. if your neighbor keeps coming over to your lawn and soiling your lawn, you've got to stop them. israel faces that plate right now. unless it stops iran from its activities, it's point for an existential threat every day. i don't know how people in israel continue to live with

that. >> you're totally right. i agree with jake sullivan right there. he said it was a significant escalation by iran and the national security advisor is correct tonight -- that is the right way to face -- we can't get you to the fact that iran sends over 100 ballistic missiles and other missiles and weaponry into israel. in april when this happened when i was with you, i said that they had sort of -- they crossed the rubicon they mark them across a redline, iran in april had never physically attacked within israel from within iran. so we cannot make that same -- something commonplace, something that is normal just because iran the necessarily have the capability to hit where they want doesn't mean they tried. as a national security advisor just pointed out is with the assistance of the united states military and our assets in the region that we -- it looks like we were able to help fall some of

this. but again that malign intent, the ill intent to kill israeli and american civilians in israel was there by the islamic republic of iran. they are the ones escalating, they are the ones that have drag this out into a major all-out war. it's time that they are held accountable for the terror that they have inflicted in the region for over 40 years. this is not just happened in the last year, or in the last two weeks periods had happened for over 40 years, this is a theocratic, revolutionary regime at its core. the myth of the iranian moderate is dead. >> sandra: you know, morgan, he had some youth there he obviously confirming what we were already reporting that iran launched apparently the number is just under 200 missiles towards these targets in israel. we heard him promise consequences, he also confirmed they do not know of any the sin israel on the response to this. he went on to say this attack appears to be defeated and

infected. and it will be interesting to see how that is analysed if indeed this does lead to escalation, morgan. >> yeah. absolutely, sandra. in my opinion the escalation has been there in the. >> umpire: administration, this is a key point, under secretary of state mike pompeo we had a policy that if the united states was attacked by iran's proxy groups, their terrorist groups in the region, we would count it as an attack from iran itself, it's high time that israel and the united states started tweeting around that way. i would note the reports are out that the sheer militia groups in iraq that iran funds, trains and -- net posts sheer militia groups are saying that he will target u.s. assets in iraq as well be my this during the middle of a negotiation that bret mcgurk in the white house is making with iraq to withdraw u.s. forces within the next two years. so there's a lot going on around the region. i can tell you that we would

be in a different position if we didn't spend the last four years giving melissa dollars in sanctions relief and by the way within the first year of the, chair, demonstration those missiles that you see, we really still sessions at the one. >> john: there's a big argument about what iran is using the money for, may be if it just frees up funds to buy weapons, that is what it's doing. morgan and market to see you. thank you for the analysis, appreciated. >> thank you. >> sandra: so as he can see happening live at the white house, right now secretary antony blinken, he was scheduled to speak at 1:30, perhaps about something else, the attack happened either just weigh in on this moment ago. listen... >> iran for the second time in the space of five months launched a direct attack on israel. including some 200 plus stack missiles. this is totally -- busted michelle's grandma this is totally unacceptable and the entire world should condemn it. initial reports suggest that

israel with the act of -- active support of the united states and other partners effectively defeated this attack. we demonstrated once again our commitment to israel's defense. we will remain in very close touch with israel and other partners in the region and the hours and days ahead. >> sandra: terry blinken just moments ago, john. >> john: here's the thing, so before april, it was always around -- now iran has started doing it directly. i think the betting is not that rubicon has been crossed and that israel goes after iran directly. just can't sit back and let us continue to happen. >> sandra: yeah. jon anik our coverage will continue here with the breaking news on the fox news channel. thank you for everybody joining us here. i'm sandra smith. >> john: and i am john roberts. we will see you again tomorrow. who knows what that will hold. comak the story comak with martha is up next and continued or breaking news. >> martha: thank you very much, you guys. we do continue the