Welcome back. Its now 11 00 a. M. Eastern, 8 00 a. M. Pacific. I am Ana Cabrera in for jose diazbalart. A senior white House Official telling Nbc News, quote, the United States has Indications Iran is preparing to imminently launch a Missile Attack against israel. This comes as we are closely watching the Israelilebanon Border as israeli launched a Ground Mission in lebanon. This morning, Secretary Of State Antony Blinken said this about the situation right now in the Middle East. Were, of course, Tracking Events in the Middle East very closely and the United States is committed to israels defense. We are watching all of this, as i said, very carefully. Now joining us is Richard Lingual from lebanon. What can you tell us about this potential strike from iran . Reporter in many Ways Iran has been forced to take this move. Iran has been embarrassed over the last several weeks. Health is its strongest proxy in the region and strongest Militia Group and its losing that Militia Group as we speak. Irans leadership has been dealt a huge blow with the loss of the leader, and many are blaming iran for not defending its allies. Some were saying iran potentially sold out hezbollah and sold out nasrallah to save itself and it could be a Facesaving Gesture by iran, where if it doesnt act or do something when its most powerful proxy, hezbollah, has been so badly hit then other proxies in the region will ask, are they next . Does irans support mean anything . Its an enormous gamble. Theres a possibility where we could have an April Scenario and iran seems to protect this could happen and israel and the u. S. Have tremendous air defenses, but theres no guarantee there will be a repeat of april. If you remember what happened in april, theres a projected attack and it was shot down and iran fired back in a symbolisic way and things moved on. And this is different. Prime Minister Netanyahu just yesterday made an address to the iranian people in which he sort of suggested that Regime Change could be coming and could be coming soon. If iran does take this move to impress its other proxies and save face, it could get a different reaction from israel than it did in april. Raf, you have spoken with officials there, i imagine. What are you hearing in terms of what an iranian retaliatory strike, you know, could mean, and is it part of their considerations as they move forward going into lebanon . Reporter absolutely, ana. I think you might be able to hear the sort of rumble behind me and thats the israeli artillery going into the hreb lebanese border. It knew it was risking the possibility that iran would, as richard said, it would have no choice but to swing in behind and support its most powerful proxy, hezbollah. According to u. S. Officials iran has made that decision in just the last hour, the chief spokesmen of the military made a statement, and he said at this Point Israel has not detected any missile launches from iran. He said, as you can imagine, Israels Air defenses are at Peak Readiness and warplanes are in the sky already ready to intercept the incoming missiles if they do come. We are, as richard said, potentially looking at a Snap Back to what happened in april when you had this coalition of american, israeli, European Nations with some support from arab states, some of whom israel does not have relations with, they were able to shoot down the incoming wave of 300 missiles, drones and cruise missiles. The officials speaking to Nbc News say iran is preparing a significant Missile Attack, ballistic Missile Attack and it only takes 12 minutes to reach israeli airspace, and they are much faster than the cruise missiles. Israel has asked citizens to be on alert and at this time there are no missiles in the air. That could change and it could change quickly. You can imagine how compressed the timeline is. The spokesman goes up and could tell the israeli public that we have six minutes, five minutes until the attack. As we speak we believe there are right now israeli forces on the other side of that Border Carrying out this Ground Operation against hezbollah. Courtney, what did the u. S. See to warn israel that iran was warning to launch a ballistic Missile Attack against israel . Well, in april, as we all remember, iran and some Proxy Groups launched about 300 projectiles towards israel. What we are looking at that is likely to be different this time, if and when iran launches this, is we expect there to be more Missile Ballistics involves, and why thats significant because even if the total number of projectiles are smaller than in april, the firepower is significant. We are talking about faster missiles that have a higher pay road. Officials are hopeful, if not confident, that the missiles will be fired toward the government, and believe it or not the u. S. Has ramped up the number of Military Assets they have in the region that could potentially protect against something like this. We are talking about ballistic missile ships in the mediterranean and other groundbased assets. In addition to that, the u. S. Has a pretty robust component of aircraft there that could shoot down other projectiles that could be coming in like munitions or drones that could be coming in. That gets me to the second thing where we are trying to figure out how that could be different from april and thats allies in the region, whether they are going to help with the defense of israel here as we saw in april or if they will even allow over flight of their countries for u. S. Military and other potential allies to shoot down some of the incoming projectiles. As raf mentioned, we still dont have any Confirmation Anything started here and we have no Confirmation Iran launched anything off but he said it could come quickly. Another thing that could be different from april here, ana, is you will recall the iranian response was it came in waves. They launched off things like drones that are slower and would take longer to get from iran and from some of the Proxy Groups to israel. Those were launched first and the missiles were launched last, and if this is more of a missilebased barrage against israel, and we are not talking hours between launch and potential impact, its more like minutes. Right. Gabe, what is the White House saying . Any reaction yet . Hi, there, ana. As you have been reporting, u. S. Officials tell us this attack could be imminent and i want to put up a full statement from a white House Official which you eluded to earlier. The United States has indications that iran is preparing to imminently launch a ballistic Missile Attack tkpwepbsz israel, and we are actively supporting defensive preparations to defend israel against the attack. We have asked what the severe consequences could be and as you might expect the White House not talking about that at this point, ana, but the biden administration is in a different political position here because especially over the last few days, President Biden is ramping up his rhetoric about calling for a ceasefire while at the same time reiterating israel has the right to defend itself and so in some ways, it could be painting itself into a corner here. Administration officials are looking to see what the scale of this attack will be as compared to april. We still dont have a firm answer on that yet. President biden, we dont have any indication he may speak later today to address these developments in the Middle East. Its too soon to tell. Again, Administration Officials stress they are monitoring these developments closely. We do expect to see President Biden later today when he delivers virtual remarks to a group of rabbis here. Again, no indication whether he might address this. He was asked about whether he was aware of these latest developments in the Middle East and aware of whether israel might yesterday whether israel might start the Ground Incursion into lebanon, and he said he was aware, as you might expect, but also that he was comfortable with israel stopping. Of course, we know they did not and now the administration must deal with the fallout here. Again, it says it will carry severe consequences for iran if iran follows through with this, ana. Richard, the u. S. With that strong language threatening severe consequences if iran goes forward with this, and courtney and as we have all been discussing, the Drone Attack and Missile Attack back in april, some 330 missiles drops and almost all intercepted and no injuries or severe injuries or damage from the attacks, but is this time different when we talk about whether allies would participate in a defense of another iranian attack . What is the regional dynamic now compared to then . What would an iranian attack now mean for this region . Reporter well, it has the potential to be very significant. It has the potential to escalate all the way to Regime Change in iran if you want to go that far. I have been speaking to senior arab diplomats a short while ago and asked what they expect and the answer was they really dont know. They expect iran might do something that israel will respond to irans response, but will this be the pretext that israeli prime Minister Netanyahu uses to launch a fullscale war of Regime Change against iran potentially with american support at this moment with a Power Vacuum in the United States, and the United States is going through a transition of leadership. Prime Minister Netanyahu seems to be acting the way he wants to act and feels unconstrained. The u. S. according to two u. S. Officials yesterday said they urged for a ceasefire and clearly things are heading in the opposite direction and we are in the midst of an escalating Ground War here in lebanon. A short while ago i heard israeli jets breaking the Sound Barrier over the city where i am now and there were explosions over the hillside behind me, and israel is telling people to leave South Lebanon and go north of the law taupby river, and it specifically told people to leave immediately in more than 30 villages along the israel lebanon border, and there are displaced israelis forced out of Northern Israel because of the Hezbollah Fire according to the lebanese government. There are about A Million people in the country who are displaced and when i walk around the city where i am now, you hardly see anybody on the streets. People are very frightened. Hezbollah said its ready for the next phase of the Ground Offensive and wants israeli troops to come into lebanon and said it would be better equipped to face them in a Facetoface Fight than to fight with missiles and drones. It could be bluster. Hezbollah has been deeply damaged. All of this to say is the regional dynamic now is very different than it was in april. Israel feels much more empowered and prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is acting in a much more empowered way. Hes wrapping up his Ground War in gaza focusing now on lebanon. Will this be the trigger that allows him to focus on iran, which he has been talking about very publicly, including a fiery speech at the United Nations just a couple days ago. Thank you all. Please stay close. Joining us now is peter learner, a spokesperson for the israeli defense forces. What information does israel have about the attack from iran . Well, we received the information from the allies in the u. S. And, of course, theres a possibility that will happen so we are prepared for any scenario, and our forces are on high alert in Case Something heads over from iran. Of course, we need to be very accurate and cautious and thats precisely why the idf chooses the renewed rules about people gathering in one place at anyone time. We take it seriously, and we are confident we can defend ourselves and we are in correlation with our american friends in order to try and field off any attacks that can originate from iran. This is not the first time this has happened so we understand the types of threats we face. The situation remains that we are focused currently on pushing hezbollah back in lebanon in order to restore safety and secure to israel, and thats what the civilians living out of their home for more than a year now deserve. It could be a ballistic Missile Attack, as our reporters described it, these are missiles that can go launch to impact in 12 minutes from iran into israel, so they are faster and have more firepower than maybe some of the missiles deployed the last time we saw a direct attack from iran into israel back in april. How soon could this come and are you all maneuvering differently with this news . In april, there were different missiles and drones and each have their own flight time from iran to missile. 12 minutes is a short time but long enough for our aerial systems to identify and intercept and thats how we were successful in april. We are holding a very highlevel of Readiness And Preparedness to confront anything that could come our way. I think its not something new, but we do need to be vigilant and prepared. I think most importantly we will be able to keep our civilians here and israel safe and secure and aware as things can change from one minute to another. Does the prospect of an iran attack complicate the goal in lebanon . I think we revealed today extensive footage of what we have revealed from the lebanese side of the border. The Staging Grounds, the weapons caches, the plans themselves to infiltrate into israel. All of that considered, we have no choice but to make sure that hezbollah does not reside and loom over us from the northern border. That is why the government instructed the idf to go on the offensive after a year almost of negotiations of trying to come to a negotiated agreement that would get hezbollah out of this area. Unfortunately, it did not succeed and thats why we are currently moving forward. Yes, there are currently complications and when we see iran getting involved, it reminds me of the 8th Of October Last year when hezbollah decided to get involved. I would say to iran, look cautiously and carefully about how we decapitated hezbollah last week, taking out their operational commanders and strategic assets in a vast majority of those and look closely on how we dealt with hamas on the other hand. Nobody has an interest to first escalate that in the region. We want our citizens to go back home and live security. We are currently operating in the Border Area or in the targeted precise and limited location areas, and precisely to deliver that. I would say that we would operate on one hand to defend our skies from any potential iranian threat but absolutely push forward to make Sure Hezbollah Cannot Launch Attacks and breach the Border Area and perhaps try and conduct an Infiltration Or Invasion into israel, because from the plans we found that is clearly what they were planning to do, breach the Border And Storm into the border with their special forces, come into our communities, abduct, Kill And Massacre in the northern communities and towns, and that, from our perspective, of course, is unacceptable. In the aftermath of October 7th with hamas attacking the south, its a very sore Spot And Israel cant tolerate the concept that hamas or Hezbollah Or Anybody on any of our borders will pose such a threat ever again. Coming back from the threat from iran and the development we are learning more this morning in the u. S. i am learning where prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a direct statement towards tehran saying if you strike us, we will strike you. That is a quote. What is israel prepared to do in response if iran launched this ballistic Missile Strike . I will not hypothesize about what we can do, of course. If we want a glimpse into the operational capabilities, we flew our Fighter Jets all the way to yemen, 1,200 Miles Away from israel. Iran and tehran are within our reach if need be, and the prime ministers words were clear. Iran should not mess with us. We have shown we have the abilities, the capabilities and we have the resolve to defend the people of israel. As the operation is underway in lebanon, how long do you anticipate that operation will last . You called it localized and targeted. Its so the israelis can get home and that is reached. That is the primary goal and thats the cause and what the israeli government instructed us to do. We need to make sure its safe enough for them to come back. The Amount And Extent of their infrastructure they built the last 20 years to conduct the infiltrations and Missile And Tank attacks and drones attacks, they need to be gone. I am confident the delivery of our security can be delivered. I think we need to be patient. It wont be done by dinner. I think theres an understanding that theres a Terrorists Organization that has been built under the nose and watchful eye perhaps ignored by Unifill Located in Southern Lebanon for so many years, and its not going to be over quick. We need to make sure that this is no longer a threat. The u. N. in fact, called this and said any crossing into lebanon would be a violation of lebanese sovereignty. What do you say to that . Since the 8th of October Hezbollah has been launching daily Rocket And Missile and Drone Attacks. In the first month of the war in october and november, there were seven attempts to infiltrate our border like on October 7th, so we have been waiting for a diplomatic situation for a year now and that diplomatic solution has not been reached until now so the government charged the idf to restore Safety And Security to the north to make sure that there are conditions that israelis can go home. I would basically and fundamentally say you wouldnt like it if you had to be evacuated from your house for Security Reasons from an imminent terrorists threat. You would not like it even more if it took a year to try and resolve. And you wouldnt, like any decent human being, demand from the government to restore Safety And Security for me, my family and for everybody. I would say, yes, there are operations ongoing. We have been conducting Covert Operations as we revealed earlier today here in israel of the extent of what we found of the Staging Grounds of the plans of the munitions, the weapons, the tools for terror and death, thats all they wanted to do. All of t