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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump Weighing Options for Escalating War, none of them Ideal; Interview with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ); Trump Says He Will Sign Order to Fund TSA Agents; Trump Says He Will Sign Order To Fund TSA Agents; Israel: Iran's Top Navy Commander Killed; Trump Downplays Rising Oil Prices; Trump Says Taking Control Of Iran's Supply "An Option"; Bully Pulpit. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired March 26, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: And tomorrow, in part two of the interview, Savanah talks about why she wants to return to work, why she wants to be back at the "Today" show. I'm told she'll return sometime in early April, and she'll make that official tomorrow.
But whatever she does, however she moves on. I think people are going to want to watch and see. How is she able to return to something resembling normal when there's no such thing for her or for her family. Not just today or tomorrow, but for the foreseeable future.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Right, there was a before and there's an after and there's still no what was that between.
STELTER: Yes.
BURNETT: Brian, thank you and thanks so much to all of you for being with us. AC30 starts now.
[0:00:36]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Good evening, topping our Global War coverage from the newsroom, we have breaking news tonight, new reporting that President Trump is weighing options, none of them ideal for dramatically escalating the war against Iran should his latest push for diplomacy fail.
Sources tell CNN that those options would likely involve ground forces, but with no guarantee of ending the conflict. It comes with the President extending the deadline he'd previously given Iran now saying hell give them 10 more days before striking their power plants. His previous deadline expires tomorrow.
This extension came just 11 minutes after markets finished their worst day since the fighting began. Quoting now from his social media post, which landed at 4:11 P.M. "As per Iranian government requests. Please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of energy plant destruction by 10 days to Monday, April 6th, 2026 at 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time. Talks are ongoing and despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the fake news media and others, they are going very well." About an hour later, the President phoned into Fox with much more to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, the Iranians asked me to do that, and I was not happy with them because I made a statement that we're having productive negotiations. I don't know that they get there maybe they do, maybe they won't. I mean, look, in a certain sense, we've already won because we've knocked out their Navy, we've knocked out their Air Force, completely knocked out their Air Force just about completely knocked out -- we knocked out 154 ships and pretty good ships. In fact, I said, why don't we just take them instead of sinking them? We could have used them ourselves, right?
They asked for seven. You're going to say, oh, Trump's a terrible negotiator. They asked for seven and I said, I'm going to give you 10 because they gave me ships. We talked about the eight ships. You know, the present that I talked about the other day, but they asked for seven and I gave them 10. You've got 10 days and they were very thankful about that.
Now, they may say, oh, we are not speaking. I don't like that because that wasn't true the last time, as you found out. But we are speaking and it's going fairly well. And so, I gave them ten days
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The interview went on for about 40 minutes after that answer, which we had to condense for time. In addition to that, he held forth on whether Iran's Supreme Leader is gay. He boasted about ending his own rallies with what he called, quote, "the gay national anthem," which I'm assuming is "YMCA," though the band now insists it's not a gay song.
The President also talked about JFK, Jr. putting him on the cover of his magazine, "George" in New York in the 90s, and his new ballroom. All of it closing out day 26 of the war and an especially rough day on Wall Street.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
COOPER: All three major indexes fell sharply today, with each on track to record its worst month in a year. Oil prices rose, and though gasoline prices fell today by two-tenths of a penny, analysts in the market anticipate further price hikes to come.
At a Cabinet meeting this morning, after enduring the praise of just about everyone he turned to, the President again, said he expected that prices would have risen more than they have so far. He also said this about Iran's willingness to negotiate and his own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They are begging to work out a deal. I don't know if we'll be able to do that. I don't know if were willing to do that.
They want to make a deal. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to shit. I mean, I read a story today that I'm desperate to make a deal. I'm not, I don't -- if I was desperate, he'd be the first to know, Pete, let's get the hell out of there. I'm the opposite of desperate; I don't care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That notwithstanding, the war goes on. I want to show you this surveillance camera video of an Iranian missile strike just East of Haifa today. According to the "Times of Israel," nine people were hurt in what the paper reports was a seven-missile salvo, many of them armed with cluster munitions.
Israel, for its part, says it killed the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. Iranian authorities have not commented on that claim. Iran has, however, issued a warning to hotel operators across the Middle East, claiming that hotels and other civilian facilities housing U.S. Military could be considered, "legitimate defensive targets," their words, if such activity continues.
And as American forces continue hitting Iran by air, this is new video from CENTCOM, we have the new reporting on the President weighing options for escalating that fight.
Joining us with more on the military options being presented to the President, CNN White House reporter, Adam Cancryn. So, Adam, what more have you learned about the options President Trump is being briefed on?
[20:05:10]
ADAM CANCRYN, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, as we're now kind of finishing up week four of this war, there's just a perpetual question still that The White House needs to answer about how we get from here to some kind of clean end to the conflict, some kind of way that the President can declare victory.
And you've seen these kinds of dual tracks of trying to pursue diplomacy and at the same time threatening escalation. And among the options that we've learned that he's weighing this menu of options that the Pentagon has developed, some of them involve putting troops on the ground, whether that is to take key strategic islands to try to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or to go in and use Special Forces and try to get the enriched uranium that is in the country underneath these nuclear sites that we've bombed.
All very risky, all not ideal options when you think about the potential toll, casualties wise and the potential for Iran to retaliate and make this war even worse.
COOPER: Yes, I mean, the option of any kind of ground troops and again, a lot of questions would remain where they would go. What kind of force would it be? What would their role actually be? Any word on what the administration is anticipating Iran's retaliation would be? CANCRYN: Well, it could be really just an escalation of what we've seen a little bit of them doing to the kind of regional partners, regional U.S. allies, targeting, whether it's desalination plants or targeting energy infrastructure and any of that would just, you know, further prolong the conflict and also make the current issues worse.
We're dealing with a global energy crisis first and foremost, oil prices going up, gas prices going up.
If you now have Iran trying to take out infrastructure, that is critical to that oil flow, that's only going to make that energy crisis worse, not only has the U.S., but other countries --
COOPER: Has The White House responded to this report?
CANCRYN: Yes, what they've said essentially is Karoline Leavitt, The White House Press Secretary said, "it's the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the Commander-in-Chief maximum optionality".
She said it doesn't mean the President has made a decision. And as the President said in the Oval Office recently, he is not planning to send ground troops anywhere at this time.
COOPER: All right, Adam Cancryn, appreciate it from the D.C. newsroom.
Joining me now, "New York Times" White House correspondent Maggie Haberman and CNN global affairs analyst Brett McGurk, who served as senior advisor to the last four Presidents.
Brett, you heard the new reporting about the President's military options. Again, as we stressed, they're just options at this point. Does that line up with what you would expect any President to be briefed on?
BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yeah, it is the role of the commanders to give the President options. I think if you step back, can signal the noise, the signal here, Anderson, is continuity, this remains a very protracted crisis, not a crisis nearing an end-state diplomacy, they're trying it. Maybe you'll get a meeting, but two sides are very far apart. I think it put very low odds in diplomacy.
The military campaign is continuing a pace, the six-week mark of the air campaign was originally a four-to-six-week campaign is April 11th so that is continuing. Iran's continuing to get some missile strikes off. But Iran still controls the Strait of Hormuz.
I mean, the President said today ten ships have gone through that that was a gift that Iran allowed. But what that really demonstrated is Iran is rationing what ships can go through. So, they're controlling the Strait, which is a huge problem. And there's 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium still in Iran.
So that's where we are. I still think I'm kind of where I've been, Anderson, over the last month. This has some ways to go. And the President might be finding, given that report, that really the only way out here is through and that might mean an escalation.
COOPER: Maggie, the other way to look at that reporting is that there certainly is a reason why the White House may or people some people in The White House might want the Iranian regime to believe the President seriously considering ground forces if they think that would be something that might impact them at the negotiating table.
MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: No, Anderson, I think that's right and I think the President actually has essentially said that. I mean, he will say things like, you know, it's an option. I'm not certainly wouldn't tell you if I'm going to do it. He says it almost every time he's asked a question about this.
But clearly, he wants Iran to think that there could be a maximum pressure effort here that involves ground troops. There's obviously many, many downsides to that.
There is the human cost to the U.S., in terms of ground forces there have already been a number of service members who are lost. There is obviously the cost associated to a more protracted engagement, but this is indeed not proving to be something that looks like it's going to wrap up quickly. When the President says, look, he's clearly frustrated by his coverage, you know, and we see him frustrated by his coverage almost every day. And he follows coverage pretty closely and talks about it quite openly and a lot.
However, when he says we've already won, that's hyperbole, clearly, because it's still ongoing. But it is true that depending on what happens, although again, the longer this goes on, it is harder, as Brett said, to see this ending without any kind of a ground troop, engagement here.
But it is true that Iran has been pretty severely curtailed in terms of what it can do as a regional power militarily. Could it rebuild eventually? Sure. Is there still enriched uranium? Absolutely. But certain forces have been pretty picked apart, and that is something that the U.S. had wanted, and certainly Israel had wanted.
COOPER: And Brett there's no doubt Maggie is right in what she's saying. I mean, there have been more than, some 10,000 plus strikes. The damage is has got to be extensive. That being said, the Strait of Hormuz could still be shut down even with that extensive damage, as were seeing right now.
[20:10:53]
MCGURK: Yes, Maggie's right. This is actually, CENTCOM has executed a fairly brilliant military campaign and is decimating Iran's military industrial base. Their drones, their missiles and their command and control. And that is not insignificant. But what you will have done is removed Iran's deterrence, their air defense, their missiles and things. But they will have demonstrated their main deterrence of holding the global economy hostage through their access to terrain in the Strait of Hormuz.
This goes all the way back to like the great military theorists of Clausewitz; the defender has natural advantages. The defender just has to endure, the defender has terrain, so they are using that Strait of Hormuz and unless we can find a way to open it, it can be a strategic victory actually for Iran at the end of the day. And there's another strait, Anderson, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea that is also kind of a wild card here.
The Houthis, which control access to that strait with Iranian weapons, said today they might be prepared to get into the war if there's an escalation from the U.S. side. So very dynamic picture here. I don't envy anyone trying to navigate their way through this. It is incredibly complex. But the bottom line, I agree with Maggie. It's not approaching an end state, as far as I can see right now.
COOPER: Maggie, as we mentioned, the stock market had its worst day since the start of the war. Shortly thereafter today, the President announced, I think it was like 4:11 P.M. I think we said the President announced another 10-day delay of his already delayed threat to bomb Iranian power plants. Is it clear how much of this the threats, the delays, you know, talk of negotiations is rooted in actual strategy? How much is being done on the fly?
HABERMAN: The President has engaged in this particular term, you know, this presidency much more so than the first one. And for a lot of reasons, a lot of it has been, you know, reactive or gut and feel based on what he wants to do. He's clearly reactive to the stock market. And we know that we've seen that a number of times, but it's some mixture of both, Anderson.
I don't think the timing can be ignored about when he makes some of these announcements. However, you know, there is a real economic concern, right? I mean, that is that is one of the, the issues here in terms of the Strait of Hormuz, being essentially blocked. And the longer this goes on, the longer gas prices stay as they are, the longer, you know, gold futures are no longer seen as a safe haven the way they were.
That's pretty jarring for a lot of investors. I think if this ends relatively quickly. But again, I don't know how were defining relative at this point. It may not end up mattering to the President, you know, politically as much in November, although I still have to think it is going to matter to some extent to his party. The longer this goes on and it is hard to see it ending anytime immediately, it becomes much more problematic for him and he tries to handle things as they come up in sort of whack-a-mole fashion as the coverage is going on.
So again, it is a mix of both. There is much more conversation happening than I think people think there is based on what he says publicly. But yes, sometimes he is reacting as well.
COOPER: And Brett, the end, whatever it may look like, whatever shape it is, or, you know, treaties are signed or agreements are made, the control of the Strait of Hormuz, does that have to, I mean, for Iran, does it have to remain under their control?
MCGURK: That seems to be what they want and that is something I think, from the U.S.' vantage point and basically, it should be all of our partners, our Gulf partners, our European allies, everybody cares about free navigation. That is a completely unacceptable outcome. So, it does come down to this Strait of Hormuz issue.
It was probably predictable going in. It's going to be a showdown, whether it's resolved diplomatically, whether it's resolved militarily. One date, Anderson, on the calendar, the President said May 14-15. Xi Jinping, in China. I think this has to be over by then. You do not want to go into that meeting with this conflict going on. But at night, not being the President's control.
COOPER: Yes, Brett McGurk, Maggie Haberman, thanks so much appreciate it.
Coming up next, a member of the House Intelligence Committee on all we've been learning tonight and how it could play out as the President's new deadline for Iran draws closer.
Also, ahead with people waiting hours at the airport and TSA agents calling in sick or quitting outright because they're working without pay. The President says he's taking action to sidestep Congress and restore their paychecks. We'll take a look at how he might do that.
And later, the President turns dyslexia learning disability into a weapon against Gavin Newsom and kids everywhere who struggle with it.
[20:15:24]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Gavin "Newscum" admitted that he has learning disabilities, dyslexia. Everything about him is dumb.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:20:09]
COOPER: Continuing our Global War coverage, you're looking again at video that CENTCOM posted today of U.S. forces striking Iranian target. One of more than 10,000 hit by air since the war began.
Our breaking news, though, is about steps the President is weighing none ideal which would go beyond airstrikes. Among the possible scenarios that we've been talking about ground troops risking, obviously, the potential of heavy casualties with no guarantee of successfully ending the conflict.
Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee. So, Congressman, are you concerned about President Trumps looking into ground forces? Obviously, any President would be briefed on a full range of options. And this would be one of them. How concerned are you about that idea?
REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): Well, if it is a show of force, Anderson, right, as part of a negotiating tactic, then that's one thing. If it's obviously sending troops in and putting Americans in harm's way on the ground, that's a whole different scenario that I think I share the concerns of lots of my constituents who do not want ground troops.
But at the end of the day, you know, are we moving right now toward getting a solution? Where are the Iranians? Where's the government on the 15-point plan that's been outlined? Those are all questions, I think, many of us have, even as we continue and I think it's a good thing that we trust the government of Iran, and we make it very clear that whether you're talking about their ballistic program, you know, their missile program or their nuclear program or their terror program that they can't continue to exist going forward.
So, you know, there's a lot to balance here right now and not a lot of information.
COOPER: If Iran remained in control of the Strait of Hormuz, in whatever the resolution to this is, would that be acceptable to you?
GOTTHEIMER: No, I mean, I think, you know, they're demanding, as you were just talking about full control of the straits, which means 20 percent of the world's oil would be under their thumb and a constant threat to us and to the global economy. And so, I don't think that's something we can accept.
They obviously have other demands too. I know that are on the table. This is what happens in a negotiation. I think, you know, right now we still have the upper hand here. And I think we're going to have to continue to press ahead to make sure that in the end, we walk away here with something that's going to make sure that the leading state sponsor of terror and a clear enemy of our country isn't in a in a power position.
COOPER: What is the President's further delay on his threat to attack Iranian power plants indicate to you?
GOTTHEIMER: Well, you know, I think on one side you could look and say it must mean the negotiations are proceeding well, and there could be a diplomatic solution. And the other side, you could say were backing off threats and, and he understands what, you know, Iran threatened, which is if, if struck, they would strike back against not just, you know, against our interests, but also against those of our allies and friends in the region, which could have, as you know, a just debilitating effect on the economy on, on oil nationwide, not just in our country, but around the world.
COOPER: You're obviously a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Do you think the White House is sharing enough information about the war with Congress? We heard from Republicans and Democrats on the Armed Services Committee, who had concerns just the other day about the objectives and the timeline after their briefing?
GOTTHEIMER: I mean, Anderson, I think it's a very big deal that you have the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Republican in the House, saying he's not satisfied with the information he's receiving, right. And that's somebody who should be regularly briefed, just like we should on the Intelligence Committee.
We've gotten some information, but frankly, not enough. And I think, as you've seen and we've talked about this before, not only with shifting objectives, right, of what the, for an ultimate outcome here, whether it's missile, you know, weakening their missile program and drone program or their nuclear terror or regime change, right. What is the objective?
We also aren't getting enough updates. And, you know, I'm sure they'll come to us soon asking for additional appropriations. These are the kind of details that really matter. It's very important that we understand exactly where we are and get briefed in a classified setting on where we are.
COOPER: Congressman Gottheimer, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
Ahead in our CNN Global War coverage, more on the impact on oil and gas prices even if the war ends tomorrow. Next, though, breaking news from the President on paying TSA workers with lines at airports long and tempers flaring.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:28:45]
COOPER: The security line today at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, quite long, now, breaking news a possible way out. People there waited as long as four hours to be screened today. TSA officers there and across the country have been working almost six weeks without pay due to the partial government funding standoff over ICE reforms.
Late today, the President ordered his new DHS Secretary to pay the agents. CNN's Kaitlan Collins joins us now with more. So, how would this work? Do we know when this might happen, how it may happen?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN'S CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT AND THE ANCHOR OF "THE SOURCE": Yes, Anderson, that was our first question after the President announced that he was going to take this executive action to pay the TSA employees who have gone so long with without their paychecks, because obviously, typically these funds have to be Congressionally appropriated, which is why this entire fight is playing out on Capitol Hill right now.
What we have learned tonight since the President made this announcement is that likely these funds are going to come from that sweeping legislation that the President signed into law last summer, the One Big, Beautiful Bill. And so, it remains to be seen exactly how that's going to shake out. It's not finalized yet and what we're told tonight is that senior staff are actually still working through what this is actually going to, how this is actually going to happen in order to get these TSA workers paid.
But the people I've spoken with sound pretty confident that it will actually work and that this is a viable solution here. One thing that still remains to be seen, though, is as they're going through this internal review of legally how they can use these funds to pay TSA workers under the purview of DHS is whether or not they're actually going to get paid this weekend, because that's when they're set to miss that second paycheck.
That's part of what the President's announcement here is the TSA workers not getting paid. And also, I'm told he's been frustrated by these long lines that we've seen playing out at several airports every single day this week. And, you know, only likely getting worse as spring break is about to happen.
So, it's not totally clear how quickly this can happen. But we do know the White House staff is working on it right now, and that is likely where those funds are expected to come from -- Anderson.
[20:30:43]
COOPER: These lines are insane.
Kaitlan Collins, appreciate it. We'll see you at the top of the hour for The Source.
Back to the war now, as we reported at the top, yet another senior Iranian military leader has been killed. Israel says its military has assassinated Alireza Tangsiri, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval forces, as well as other senior Iranian naval command officials. The commander has been a key figure behind Iran's near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Now, Iranian authorities have not yet confirmed his death. Joining us is CNN Global Affairs Analyst Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. What's your sense of how the assassination of this naval commander might impact the war, particularly any change at the Strait of Hormuz?
KARIM SADJADPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I don't think, Anderson, is a game changer. He was an important figure as an architect of the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz. But the equipment they have to continue to do that obviously still exists, the drones, the mines. And so I don't think it really moves the needle for us in reopening the Strait.
COOPER: I mean, we've talked a lot about the kind of, you know, small boats that they have possibly available to them in the Strait. If they want to do extensive mining or attacks, that could be very devastating against any kind of ships or vessels moving through.
Do you know -- do you have a sense of how decentralized command of those smaller boats is? I mean, do you need a central commander or is it more kind of regional?
SADJADPOUR: Well, we know they have what they call the mosaic strategy in anticipation of the fact that both their political and military leaders would be assassinated. They've decentralized into kind of 31 smaller units of the Revolutionary Guards. And they have a lot of experience with this kind of harassment and both aerial harassment with the drones and naval harassment with the ships. So I expect them to be able to continue. You know, destruction and harassment is something that they have been honing for the last 47 years.
COOPER: Do you think -- I was talking to a professor from NYU yesterday on the program. He was saying he thinks Iran -- the Iranians understand the U.S. better than maybe the U.S. administration understands the Iranian regime. Do you think that's true?
SADJADPOUR: On one hand, I think that's true because they've been thinking about America for 47 years now. In some ways, they've been anticipating conflict with America for 47 years. Their slogan has been death to America for 47 years. Whereas, in Washington, it would be very difficult for you to find any senior official in the Pentagon, the CIA, the State Department or the White House who has set foot in Iran, who speaks Persian, who has any expertise on Iran.
COOPER: So if that's the case, do you think -- you know, if the President talks about potentially sending ground forces in, do you think the Iranian regime reads that as a threat to be concerned about or do they see that as an opportunity for more casualties?
SADJADPOUR: Well, it can be both, Anderson. The concern I have is that we're in a situation in which Trump can't end the war without opening the Strait of Hormuz. So he's issuing threats now to the Iranians to open the strait. They may call his bluff and think that he doesn't want to be a wartime President, call his bluff. And then he's perhaps forced to send troops.
If American Marines or Navy or a ship is shot down or sailors or soldiers are killed, then he may be forced to escalate in a much more real way. And then, you know, we're up the escalation ladder. And that is something which the Iranians are anticipating that Trump doesn't want to be a wartime President, that he merely wanted to have kind of a quick operation like Venezuela. And he'll be forced to back down because of American public opinion.
COOPER: Karim Sadjadpour, it's always good to talk to you, Karim. Thanks so much.
SADJADPOUR: Thank you, Anderson.
COOPER: Tonight, President Trump is downplaying the rising cost of oil and gas and says the closure of the Strait does not affect the U.S. It is certainly more complicated than that. We'll talk more next about how oil markets work and what that means for the prices that everybody pays.
[20:35:03]
Also ahead, the President once again attacking Governor Gavin Newsom's dyslexia, at the same time insulting millions of Americans who have it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't want a person with mental disability to be my president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I thought, frankly, I thought the oil prices would go up more and I thought the stock market would go down more. It hasn't been nearly as severe as I thought.
The amazing thing is we don't need the Hormuz Strait. We don't need it. We don't need it at all. We have so much oil. Our country is not affected by this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, the President today, well, it's true the U.S., the world's largest oil producer, gets only a small amount of crude from the Mideast. Oil prices are set on the global market. So with the effect of closure of the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off 20 percent of the world's supply, Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose again today to $108 per barrel, which is why gas prices have spiked about $1 per gallon since the war began, now costing nearly $4 a gallon.
[20:40:11]
I want to bring in Gregory Brew, a senior analyst covering oil in Iran at Eurasia Group. So Gregory, if the Strait of Hormuz remains basically closed or new hostilities break out, more oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf region is destroyed, what could that look like in terms of pricing?
GREGORY BREW, EURASIA GROUP SENIOR ANALYST COVERING OIL AND IRAN: Well, Anderson, the prices are already quite high. They're maybe not as high as they should be. The President does have a point there. At around $107, $108 a barrel. They don't really reflect the magnitude of this disruption.
As you mentioned, this is 20 percent of the global oil supply that has now been kept off the market for three weeks. And the physical effects of this disruption are only now just being felt in refinery runs, in markets like Australia and Asia. But if the conflict continues and if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and if we start to see more aggressive attacks on regional energy infrastructure, the destruction will get worse. The effects on the market will get worse and the price will climb probably over $120 a barrel pretty soon.
COOPER: This may be a dumb question, but can you just explain why, given the President keeps saying, look, we produce, you know, nearly all our own oil, we're doing great on that, we're not getting a lot of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. Why the price, why -- what's happening in the Strait affects U.S. prices?
BREW: Well, the oil market is a global market. Everyone is affected by disruptions, no matter where they might take place. It's why we've seen disruptions in the past. It's why Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 caused a massive spike in prices, prices over $120 a barrel.
They later came down in part because the disruption didn't end up being as significant as some people thought. And also because the U.S. took extraordinary measures, including releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Trump has done some similar things. We are releasing oil from the SPR. The U.S. does import quite a lot of oil still, even though we produce a lot from the Permian Basin in Texas and elsewhere. The U.S. imports oil from Canada, from Mexico. It does still import oil from the Persian Gulf, perhaps not as much as it used to.
But just as the rest of the world, just as other markets, Asia, Europe, are affected by this disruption, the United States is as well. And given the size of the disruption, no one can really escape the effects.
COOPER: President Trump earlier said today that the President of Iran gave him was to allow 10 oil tankers through the strait. That was more, I assume, of a kind of a goodwill negotiating marker as opposed to something that would actually alleviate the actual price of oil. Is that right?
BREW: Well, the President interpreted it as a goodwill gesture. The Iranians haven't said if they intended it to be that sort of thing. I mean, the Iranians are drawing a great deal of leverage from their ability to control traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. We know that they've been making deals with India, with Pakistan, with other states, and allowing a small number of ships through.
But the upshot of this, as far as the market is concerned, is very small. I mean, what we're seeing is a recovery to about 5 percent of pre-war volumes, five or six ships a day. Normally, it would be 100- plus ships moving through the strait. So even this gift that the President has noted isn't really going to move the needle on prices very much.
COOPER: Gregory Brew, I really appreciate you being on tonight. Thank you.
I want to bring in former U.S. Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite. He served in that role during President Trump's first term. He also is a retired Navy rear admiral and a former U.S. ambassador to Norway. Thanks so much for being here.
KENNETH BRAITHWAITE, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NORWAY: It's a privilege and a pleasure to be here with you.
COOPER: Yes, it's great to have you. I know you're a friend of David Urban, so you're --
BRAITHWAITE: David's my best buddy.
COOPER: -- very welcome here. You have a little more gray than David has. So what stands out to you right now about the situation in the Strait of Hormuz? BRAITHWAITE: Well, today, Iran controls the Strait, as we talked off- camera before we came on. If they're able to control by land-based or by mines or other unmanned surface vehicles, it makes it a real sporty endeavor to get through there.
COOPER: So any resolution to this conflict, does Iran remain in some sort of control of the Strait of Hormuz?
BRAITHWAITE: I believe they do unless --
COOPER: They will?
BRAITHWAITE: Yes, unless there's a regime change. Unless, you know, we go in and we decide that, you know, all out, the only way that this comes out in our favor is to remove the theocracy in Tehran.
COOPER: The President has talked about some sort of joint control of it. Do you see that in the cards?
BRAITHWAITE: I think we have a lot of leverage. I mean, there's no doubt that the United States Navy could run those straits. But it's, you know, political intent and national will. I mean, has the case been made for America to be in this war?
I will tell you that the greatest threat to our security is this theocracy, which has been fighting a shadow war with us for, Anderson, with us 47 years, right? So having been there, served in the Middle East, when the JCPOA was signed, I was just appalled, as I mentioned to you. And that's what literally led me to get back involved --
COOPER: Yes.
BRAITHWAITE: -- and to come back into government. I mean, we can never let them ever have a nuclear weapon. Because it's not that they may deploy that weapon, but they would use that weapon not only as leverage, but also through their proxies. And that would be extremely detrimental to our security.
[20:45:15]
COOPER: We had a professor on from NYU who was imprisoned in Iran for quite some time. We described it as a suicidal regime.
BRAITHWAITE: Yes, well, one of my professors in Annapolis. I graduated in 1984. And when I was there, one of the 52 hostages, when he was released, was one of our professors. So even before most of the things that have erupted in the Middle East, I learned as a young, you know, naval midshipman about what was coming with this theocracy.
COOPER: If there's not going to be regime change, which unless -- which in order to actually do -- I mean, the President says there has been already because there's new people in charge. But the actual meaning of regime change or their change in intent, their change in ideology, which seems unlikely, does it then become a situation where every several years there has to be, you know, whether it's by the U.S., others in the region, military action to what they call -- used to call mowing the grass in the region?
BRAITHWAITE: Yes. Well, David and I talked about that earlier today, about mowing the grass. But remember, you have to think also about the national will and the political intent in Iran itself. The night before last, I was in Washington at a big dinner, and I had a chance to talk to an Iranian businessman who continues to go back and forth. He hasn't been over there any time recently.
But as he was explaining to me, he said, you know, there's 20 percent of the population that's committed, right, to this radical regime. There's 20 percent that want, you know, democracy and freedom and rule of law. It's the 60 percent in the middle, Anderson, who want to get up every day.
They want to go to work. They want to provide food for their family, right? That's what the uprising was all about earlier this year.
COOPER: That's why it was different this time, because --
BRAITHWAITE: Yes.
COOPER: -- it was actually people who were business owners taking part. It wasn't just --
BRAITHWAITE: That's correct.
COOPER: -- that 20 percent.
BRAITHWAITE: That's correct. People who -- it was about quality of life, Anderson, right? It wasn't about regime change for them.
COOPER: The problem is --
BRAITHWAITE: That's why they have no gut for that right now. That's why they haven't stood up. That's why when the President was hoping that it would lead to, you know, a grander revolution, and then this regime would be thrown out of office, that's not happening --
COOPER: Yes.
BRAITHWAITE: -- because the 60 percent in the middle, they're not committed to that. They just want to live a normal life.
COOPER: And the 20 percent, the Revolutionary Guard, the besieged militias, they still have access to weaponry.
BRAITHWAITE: Absolutely. And they have access to money, and they have access to, you know, anything that comes into Iran that can still get there, which, as you well know, on the northern side and all the way around, they're receiving support from Russia. They're receiving support from China.
I mean, this is part of a true evil empire. I mean, you know, when we talked about the Axis powers, but this is the Axis of today. I just gave a speech last week in Savannah to a thousand people, and Governor Kemp came up to me afterwards, and he says to me, you know, that was electrifying, but you scared the hell out of me, Ken.
And I said, well, I don't mean to scare the hell out of you, but the reality is that there are a lot of similarities here. And it starts with the regime in Tehran, Anderson.
COOPER: The small boats, the, you know, the U.S. says --
BRAITHWAITE: U.S. --
COOPER: -- they've knocked out big boats from Iranian Navy, but these small vessels, the kind that, you know, blew up the USS Cole, they're still out there. They're still there.
BRAITHWAITE: They're a problem, right? The mines are a real problem. I mean, we lost three ships in the first Gulf War, right? We lost the Tripoli, we lost the Princeton, and we lost the Samuel B. Roberts. And we have the most sophisticated, the most capable Navy in the world, right? We don't have the largest Navy in the world anymore, Anderson. That's the People's Republic of China.
But we still have the most capable with the best technology. So we could run those straits, but you'd have to ask yourself, does the average American citizen have the stomach to see the casualties that would come from that?
COOPER: So where do you see -- how do you see this resolving? Some sort of settlement?
BRAITHWAITE: Yes. I think so. I think, you know, you saw the presidents and the Tripoli Amphibious Readiness Group over the 31st MEU. So we're going to put pressure. We've got two carrier strike groups over there. You know, we've got a huge presence that we're going to continue to build to be able to give us leverage.
But I agree, you know, I know Admiral Harwood, my friend, was on with you on Friday. The only way we're going to achieve regime change, that we're really going to get the goal, is going to be by putting boots on the ground. And I'm not sure the, you know, American public has the heart and stomach for that.
COOPER: Yes.
BRAITHWAITE: So we're going to mow the lawn.
COOPER: Secretary Braithwaite, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
BRAITHWAITE: Pleasure to be here, Anderson. Thank you.
COOPER: Up next, the President turning a governor's revelation about his childhood dyslexia diagnosis into a political attack line. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:53:58] COOPER: And with so much going on in the war with Iran, President Trump still found time today to insult millions of Americans, both adults and school kids who experience or have faced problems reading. For the record, I'm one of them. I had a mild form of dyslexia as a child. Reading did not come easy for me, and I still occasionally mix up B's and D's and S's and R's, and I sometimes stutter and stumble on words, as you may have noticed.
I was lucky, though. A teacher noticed it in the second or third grade, and I got help. A lot of kids don't. If you're wondering why the President would do this, it's because he senses political gain out of it. The object of his ridicule is California Governor Gavin Newsom.
The possible presidential candidate talked publicly about having dyslexia, which he struggled with as a child. The governor says he still doesn't read speeches because of how letters appear on a page to him. When he gives speeches, he does it from memory, speaking extemporaneously.
Here's what the President said today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Gavin Newsom, who is one of the candidates, I believe he took himself out of the running when he says he suffers from mental disability.
[20:55:02]
And a reporter said it was terrible that I talk that way about somebody with mental disability. I said, I have no problem with it, but I don't want a person with mental disability to be my president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It's not the first time Mr. Trump has been using dyslexia as a cudgel, implying it makes the governor dumb.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't want the president of the United States to have a cognitive deficiency.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
TRUMP: Right? When it comes to president, you got to be sharp. You got to be sharp as hell.
He admitted he had learning disabilities. Somebody said, well, what's wrong with that? I said, that's OK, but not for the president. You know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
TRUMP: I think a president should not have learning disabilities, OK? And I know it's highly controversial to say such a horrible thing. The president of the United States, Gavin Newsom, admitted that he has learning disabilities, dyslexia. Everything about him is dumb.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, the President shows his own ignorance when he claims that people living with dyslexia are somehow dumb. If the President actually read books or anything on the topic, he would know that he -- he would know that. He could also have asked Gary Cohn, his chief economic adviser, in his first term.
Cohn was profiled by writer Malcolm Gladwell as someone whose severe dyslexia forced him to develop remarkable memorization skills. Someone in the White House back then read that book because when President- elect Trump first announced Cohn's appointment, he -- the press release actually highlighted Cohn's dyslexia.
Quote, "In addition to his incredible business history, Mr. Cohn has an inspiring personal story. He was diagnosed at age 7 with dyslexia, which made it difficult for him to read and spell." Apparently, President Trump didn't read that either.
The list of highly accomplished people who had dyslexia is a very long one. Historians, in fact, now believe our 28th President, Woodrow Wilson, had it. At age 10, he still couldn't read, and he ended up being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which has got to kind of hurt. The President, a guy with dyslexia, gets it, but he had to Bogart one from an actual Nobel laureate.
Leaders on their best days, even those who don't have dyslexia, can still sometimes struggle with reading teleprompters and getting their words out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: God bless Israel. God bless the Palestinians. And God bless the United States.
I hope they now go and take a look at the oranges of the investigation, the beginnings of that investigation.
When they gaze upon Yosemites, Yoseminites (ph) towering sequoias, their love of country grows stronger.
And to avoid liability, shifting production to Thailand and to Vietnam.
To think that we settled Azerbajian (ph) and Albania as an example, it was going on for years.
The FDA will be notifying physicians that the use of, I said -- well, let's see how we say that, acetaminophen, acetaminophen, is that OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
TRUMP: Which is basically commonly known as Tylenol.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: There's many ways the President could have chosen to go after a political opponent. Doing it by stigmatizing millions of kids with learning disabilities, that seems to be just about the cruelest.
Moving on, in just about 15 minutes at 9:15 p.m. Eastern Time is my program All There Is Live. It's the new streaming companion show to my podcast. You can find it at CNN.com/AllThereIs. Tonight, in 15 minutes or so, my conversation with a remarkable woman and mother named Noreen Towsley.
She lost her three triplet sons on the journey to start a family. Noreen tells me she continues to include her angel babies in her family's life. Here's just part of our conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: One of the things you said when you called is you said, I no longer want to hide the fact that I had other children.
NOREEN TOWSLEY, A MOTHER WHO LOST HER THREE TRIPLET SONS: Yes. It's hard and I understand it because prior to going down this path of my life, I would not have been as comfortable to discuss babies dying and losing children and things like that. But the people nearest and dearest, it's such a struggle to communicate to them that they were every bit as much my children as my children, that they know and that they see and that they have memories and experiences with.
And I feel like I want to talk about them I had other children. And it's hard when people ask, like, oh, how many kids do you have? And there's a part of me that desperately wants to acknowledge them because they were here.
And I'm getting to the point now where it's just like this is a part of our family. This makes us who we are and their names need to be included and people need to know they were here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Noreen will be a guest on my show, All There Is Live, that starts in about 16 minutes. Online is the only place you can see it at CNN.com/AllThereIs. You can also talk there and communicate with other people who experience loss and grief.
That's it for us. The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.
