Return to Transcripts main page
CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
Sources: Car With Explosives Rams Michigan Synagogue; Iran Escalates Attacks On Key Oil Route As Trump Claims "We've Won"; Oil Prices Spike As Iran Chokes Off Global Supply. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired March 12, 2026 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yeah. We understand from sources on the ground, law enforcement officials, that a security guard was struck by the vehicle as it burst through the facility there. But fortunately, that security guard was rushed to a hospital and is expected to be okay.
We're going to continue to stay on top of this breaking news.
THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT starts right now
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Breaking news as we come on the air, a violent attack on a synagogue near Detroit. Police in West Bloomfield, Michigan say a suspect is dead after a vehicle rammed through the doors of the Temple Israel synagogue, which also holds a childcare center and school.
Law enforcement sources tell CNN the suspect had a rifle and that emergency responders found what appears to be a large amount of explosives in the back of the vehicle. Police say everyone in the synagogue is accounted for and safe, and that one security guard was taken to the hospital, but that he is expected to be okay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF MICHAEL BOUCHARD, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN: We have deployed resources all across the county just in case out of an abundance of caution that there may be a secondary site, but we don't have any information at this time to believe that. So, we want people to take a breath. No one was hurt. We're on top of it.
The chief and his team got here fast. Everything that was supposed to happen happened. Security did their job, and then the responders did theirs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Let's get off the sidelines and head into THE ARENA. My panel is going to be here, but we're going to get started with CNN senior crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz, CNN senior law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller, and the former assistant director for the FBI, Frank Figliuzzi.
Shimon, I want to start with you. What more are we learning about what happened here?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: So right now, investigators are going over the scene, obviously trying to identify this suspect. There was a fire. So potentially ID-ing the suspect may prove difficult, at least for now. But they are certainly working on that and trying to definitively narrow down a motive.
Obviously, this was a targeted attack against this synagogue in the afternoon when children were there, daycare and also children. They're learning. And what police say happened was that this suspect rammed his truck, got inside the school and actually drove it down the hallway so he made his way, the suspect made their way inside this school and was only stopped. Apparently by security. Armed security at this synagogue, and obviously preventing a just horrific, horrific scene. What were told is that investigators are looking are looking at whether or not there are explosives. They believe inside that vehicle.
So, obviously, if this person would have been able to detonate any of those items inside the car, we could be looking at a much worse situation. And so, now, the FBI and the ATF are on scene investigating this going through the information that perhaps they're trying to find on this suspect. But obviously, you know, I was getting call from someone in the community. There was a lot of concern very quickly about what was happening here.
But early enough, at least for some of those parents and some of those community members, they heard from police very early that they had this under control, that this was not an active situation, that they were able to neutralize the suspect. And so, there was some relief there but, you know the trauma is still going to remain for these families and for the faculty and the staff of this synagogue because they have been on such edge over concerns over antisemitic attacks, as we've seen an increase in those.
And so, this is what this community is now going to be grappling with, and that their own community, their family members, have now been subject to this kind of attack.
HUNT: Very dramatic rise in antisemitism across the country in recent years, for sure. Terrifying incident. But of course, as you point out, relief that it wasn't worse.
John Miller, you've been describing this incident as a layered attack. Can you explain what you mean by that?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT & INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So, this appears based on what they have found so far, to be the kind of attack that required pre-operational surveillance of the location? What door could you actually crash through using a vehicle and successfully drive down the hallway?
The idea of a ramming attack, if there was anyone in that hallway to run them over, the idea of having a firearm on hand to start an active shooter attack, and the idea of whatever caused that fire in the vehicle and whatever caused the explosives that appear to be in the vehicle, not to go off.
But it appears that whoever this individual is, whether they were acting alone or with others in the planning of it wanted this to be a ramming attack with a shooting component and an explosive component. So, this was thought out. And because of the extraordinarily quick work of the security staff probably contributed to why it failed in terms of what the body count was probably intended to be from this action.
[16:05:11]
HUNT: Yeah. Intended to be much higher, it seems.
Frank Figliuzzi, you, of course worked in counterterrorism in the FBI. How do you understand what investigators will be looking for in terms of saying that this was an act of terrorism versus potentially not?
FRANK FIGLIUZZI, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Yeah, the investigation really goes off in various directions at the same time. So, first, the entire U.S. intelligence community is scrubbing all of their holdings, intercepts, source information, technical and human. Has anything come across their radar screen that indicates there was something about to happen in this part of Michigan?
Number two, the speed with which they're trying to identify this suspect and then determine whether he was in anybody's database. And that is a sinking feeling. Kasie, if you -- if you run a name in something like this and you see them staring at you on the computer screen because you've looked at them before they'll be looking at that. And of course, search warrants being executed likely for his devices his home storage facilities and dozens, if not hundreds of interviews will be conducted with coworkers, family friends and neighbors all trying to determine, is this a lone actor or has this been directed by a terrorist organization.?
HUNT: And, John Miller, so there's another entirely different deadly shooting and, of course, we've been talking about situations with terrorism ties. I understand you have some breaking news on this shooting at Old Dominion University?
MILLER: Yeah. So, Kasie, we've confirmed with multiple law enforcement sources that the suspect who opened fire and was killed after shooting two people to death at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, has been identified as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh.
Now, Jalloh was arrested in 2016 as a member of the National Guard, and he was charged with material support for the Islamic State, ISIS. by attempting to obtain weapons that, according to the federal charges he believed were going to be used in an ISIS attack on U.S. soil and attempting to travel on behalf of ISIS.
Now, Jalloh was arrested by the FBI. He was put in jail in 2016. He was sentenced to 11 years, but he got out in September of 2025. And I don't know what he has been up to in that time, but he showed up, walked into a classroom.
Today, we are told by law enforcement sources asked if that was the ROTC classroom when it was confirmed that it was, he opened fire, killing the instructor and another student before someone else in the class was able to take him down.
What that means, Kasie, is we have whipsawed in recent days from two weekends ago, an attack in Austin, Texas, against a nightlife district by an individual that has been determined to be a very likely terrorist attack connected to the beginning of the war in Iran. This past weekend, outside the mayor's residence in New York City, an attack against an anti-Islamic demonstration by two individuals who threw powerful bombs into the street, which fortunately did not function but were set to function and would have been deadly. To this incident this morning, in Old Dominion in Virginia, to this incident this afternoon, at this largest synagogue in Michigan. And the pace of it should be somewhat concerning.
I mean, I'm sure Frank would agree that we haven't seen a pace like this in recent memory.
HUNT: Yeah, remarkable state of affairs, for sure.
All right. John Miller, Shimon Prokupecz, Frank Figliuzzi, stand by for me.
I do want to bring into the conversation, Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingell who, of course, Congresswoman, you are deeply embedded in your southeastern Michigan community. This is something that clearly is a devastating and terrifying event for people there.
Can you talk a little bit about what you have been hearing from the community, from others, and whether we really are seeing and are you feeling this heightened state of division that seems to be, as John was just laying out, leading to this increased pace of really difficult events
REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): So, Kasie, I'm going to answer that in a couple of different ways.
[16:10:00]
First of all, Michigan has two very strong communities in both the Jewish community and the Muslim community. And they -- the Muslim community came out very strongly today opposed to what had happened feeling for their friends, their fellow community members that were hit by this today. But if you're in Michigan right now, you are raw you cannot go into a synagogue or a Jewish federation or a Jewish event where they do not have to have strong security.
I thank those that saved them from being far more damage than there was today and our law enforcement at all levels are incredible men and women who support every single community.
And unfortunately, were preparing for something like happened today so, but it's not just the Jewish community. There have been many threats towards the Muslim community and they're both communities that matter. An important part of our state's population but it's Ramadan. And people have been very afraid, iftars.
And I just have never seen -- and I've been around. Let's just be honest, I was in this community post-9/11. The wrongness and the fear and quite frankly, fear that there will be more incidences has never quite been like it is right now.
HUNT: Well, the fact, of course, that the synagogue was protected the way it was, I mean it speaks to the level of antisemitism that has been present already here.
Is the community feeling like that is still continuing to get worse, especially considering world events?
DINGELL: This most definitively, there's been an increased awareness, concern, fear of something like this happening and I have been to this synagogue, but I live in the county next to this county and in Ann Arbor on the campus. Both people are very, very concerned. And I actually go to a synagogue down the street sometimes, and their security has been very high for weeks.
And post the Iraq war, my friends and neighbors are scared. My community members are scared. And I think that people are more willing to show their hate there. To see this kind of despicable rhetoric but what you worry about the most was just talked about is the person that you don't know about, not the people that are making threats.
And the threats are very real right now. I've had some directed at myself in the last week that are a little scary, but is that lone ranger that you don't know about. And these times are contributing to making them feel more hostile, more -- I don't know the word to use to how to describe what we're watching.
HUNT: All right. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, thank you very much for spending some time with us. And I, too, share. It is a real challenge to come up with the right words for some of the terrible things and terrible realities that we're currently living through. So, thank you, I appreciate it.
John Miller, Shimon Prokupecz, Frank Figliuzzi, thanks to you all as well.
Coming up next here in THE ARENA, the days other breaking news that we've been following, Wall Street closing in the red today as gas prices climb again as Iran chokes off a critical waterway for the world's oil supply. And the president giving another timeline for the deadly war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me tell you, we've won. You know, you never like to say too early. You won. We won. We won the bet. In the first hour, it was over.
(END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:18:12]
HUNT: Right now, the global economy facing a moment of crippling uncertainty as a defiant Iran escalates attacks on one of the world's most important shipping lanes.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
HUNT: This video showing the moment an oil tanker was attacked last night in the Persian Gulf. Today, Iranian state media shared what it says is the new supreme leader's first public message. In it, Mojtaba Khamenei says the critical strait of Hormuz will remain closed as a, quote, "tool of pressure".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Let me tell you, we've won. You know, you never like to say too early. You won, we won. We won the bet. In the first hour, it was over. The main thing is we have to win this thing, win it quickly, but win it. And there are many people I'm just watching some of the news. Most people say it's already been won.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Most people say it's already been won that message doing little though, to reassure oil and shipping companies watching tankers go up in flames almost two weeks into this war. At least six civilian ships have been attacked in the last 48 hours, and it's contributed to oil prices jumping again to $100 a barrel.
President Donald Trump, however, says that's not so bad. This morning, he posted, quote, "The United States is the largest oil producer in the world by far. So, when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money," end quote.
Higher crude oil prices, however, also mean higher prices for gas as you've no doubt noticed. A gallon now costs 65 cents more on average than it did just a month ago.
But it's not just fuel that's getting more expensive. It's anything that gets transported using that fuel, which is, let's be real, pretty much everything we buy in this globalized economy.
[16:20:07]
Fertilizer and animal feed likely to hit early, which means higher prices for almost everything at the grocery store. Plus, plastic will become more expensive to manufacture. What was the last thing you bought that wasn't wrapped in plastic?
The list goes on and on and on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRIS WRIGHT, U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY: We're going through short-term energy disruption for just huge long-term gain. You're seeing Iran's behavior. They're attacking every country in the region --
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Could that hit -- short term mean $200 a barrel?
WRIGHT: I would say unlikely, but we are focused on the military operation and solving a problem.
(END VIEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. I want to bring in CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. He is live for us in Jordan.
And, Nick, you wrote this new analysis piece and it kind of walks through why President Trump may not be able to end the war, even if he wants to. And it seems like he's starting to say out loud that he wants to, which you point out in your piece is kind of a problem.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, look, ultimately, you can declare victory as many times as you want or say that you are -- you have won or achieved your goals. But if the people you're fighting are still in the fight and are still ultimately attacking you, or in this case, have the Strait of Hormuz closed and you just heard there the possibility, not outright rejected, of $200 a barrel oil, then that's a big problem because your enemy are not accepting your victory.
And this has been a long-standing issue for many American and other presidents too, to be sold essentially, the idea of a military operation that will be fast, quick and secure political goals that will be longer lasting. We saw that in Iraq, in the invasion in 2003. We've seen in Afghanistan partially as well. Even Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine under the belief that it would take a matter of weeks and secure a long-lasting change to his neighbor. He's still fighting that war.
So, President Trump isn't alone in being told of the potential efficiency of an operation. It's still exceptionally early days now. So, you know, it's hardly a forever war, but he's left with this serious problem where he wants to declare ultimately victory it seems, or has already begun to declare it.
And ultimately, that points the messaging towards the fact his mindset on the end of the war, coupled with that, to the fact that the Iranians are saying they're in this for the long endurance haul, its ultimately a case of if Tehran manages to survive and keep the missiles and the drones firing, that kind of suggests they're getting a bit of a victory as well.
So, a really tough one here for a president to navigate the sense of an ending here that's a win and justifies the expense and the loss of American lives here, while at the same time finding some method of getting the Iranians to stop what it is they're doing -- Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Nick Paton Walsh for us live in Jordan -- Nick, thanks very much for that.
All right. Our panel is here in THE ARENA. CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams; CNN political commentator, Republican strategist and pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson; former Democratic congressman from South Carolina, Joe Cunningham; and CNN's senior political commentator Scott Jennings.
Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here.
So, Scott, global oil prices settled above $100 today for the first time since August 2022. How long is President Trump going to be able to tolerate this?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, you don't want to exit this situation without meeting all of your military objectives. No ballistic missile and drone program.
HUNT: He just said that we won.
JENNINGS: No nukes. No --
HUNT: Would that not suggest that all these things are done?
JENNINGS: No exporting of terrorism and no aggressive navy. And right now, what we're seeing is that they're willing to commit acts of terrorism on the high seas. And so, that's what we have to take control of. And that's what we have to do to finish the job here.
Ultimately, you want to go to the American people at some point and say, we have military objectives, we had targets, we've met them all. We took out all the targets. We're confident they cannot continue to do the things we don't want them to do.
Part of that is they're not going to be able to commit this kind of terrorism and keep the strait shut down. So, when they're able to take control of that and eliminate this threat, that's when you would see an end game here. But you can't -- you can't exit this prematurely and leave them in a situation where they can do what they were doing before we entered the situation that caused us to go there in the first place.
HUNT: I think the thing I'm stumbling on here is if as you say, they need to go to the American people and, you know, tell them hey, this is why this is important, how can the president go out and say, we've won and simultaneously say, we need to keep going?
JENNINGS: Well, I think he's communicating that militarily. We have absolutely crushed most of what they are able to do. Theres still obviously able to commit acts of terrorism here on the high seas, which is causing trouble in the Strait of Hormuz.
But as a general matter, you know, we've sunk their navy. We've taken out over 90 percent of their ballistic missile and drone program.
[16:25:02] I mean, we have absolutely crippled these people. But that's the thing. You know, we have to finish the job. You don't want this to be unfinished because they're fanatics and they're going to keep trying day after day after day. So that's why you have to get all the way there and make sure they can't reconstitute it in short order.
HUNT: Kristen Soltis Anderson, how do you see the landscape here? Let me play for you. This this was Caroline Sunshine talking about MAGA support for this or lack thereof. And we'll talk about on the other side.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROLINE SUNSHINE, DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: Social media is a more accurate representation of public sentiment. You can track it in real time versus polling. So, this idea that 90 percent of the coalition supports that just quite literally isn't possible when you look at the wide swath of people, independents, moderates, Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan, young men who all joined President Trump's coalition specifically because they were really excited about the promise of no new wars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So she claimed social media more accurate than --
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, that was bait. You're trying to bait me. I see what's going on here.
HUNT: But no, I would like to know what you are actually seeing in your numbers about how Americans are feeling about this and what you think the real sense is.
ANDERSON: There is no doubt that there is a swath of the American public that is a typically younger piece of the puzzle that is very skeptical of the American projection of power abroad. Younger Republicans tend to look more askance at it. They don't remember the cold war they don't think as highly of what America could do abroad.
But we're talking about a difference between 80 percent and 90 percent support among Republicans. It's very small differences here, because by and large, Donald Trump still has an awful lot of sway with his base. I think if it was anybody but Donald Trump pursuing this, there would be a lot more sort of backlash among those young Republicans saying, hey, I don't know about this.
But right now, how do you feel about Donald Trump basically dictates how you respond to a poll about this war.
HUNT: Congressman, what are you hearing from people in South Carolina? I want to play for you what Senator Lindsey Graham had to say about gas prices and the impact there. This isn't, of course, what he said about boots on the ground, which is another thing we can also talk about. But let's look at what he said about gas prices. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): If you think gas prices are high now, give the ayatollah a nuclear weapon to terrorize the region, to threaten the Straits of Hormuz, he will control gas prices forever. That regime would if they had a nuclear capability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, there's that argument. But then there's the question of why now? And also, whether South Carolina's sons and daughters should go to war, which he said he was going home and telling people that they needed to do. What do you find?
(CROSSTALK)
JOE CUNNINGHAM (D), FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA CONGRESSMAN: I don't want sending my kids when they're growing into the Middle East for something like this, I think there's -- to say there's reluctance about this is an understatement. There's not much appetite for this at all for a few reasons.
Number one, I mean, Scott talked about success. How is that defined? Because first, it was described as regime change, and then it was suppressed in terrorism. On the back end, you also have, fresh in everyone's mind, Iraq and Afghanistan, in my generation who just do not want to go into a war without clear cut objectives to which Americans don't feel directly threatened.
And on top of that, the billions of dollars were spending every single week, which ultimately could add up to trillions of dollars to our national debt. There's just a lot of reasons to kind of view this as a bad idea, and I think its I just don't think the appetite is there. And I don't think --
JENNINGS: I don't understand your vibe. We're at war with people who have been at war with the western civilization for 47 years. And you appear to me to be, you know, sort of cheering against American success.
I hate to -- I hate to break it to you, but for 47 years, they have killed American troops, maimed American personnel, waged war on the civilized world. They have missiles, they have drones. And they told our own negotiators they have material for 11 nuclear bombs, does this not seem imminent to you?
CUNNINGHAM: This is a false choice, Scott, you push. You can be against Iran. All the terrorism they support, you can be against Maduro and toppling them, but --
JENNINGS: You just don't do anything about it.
CUNNINGHAM: Let me finish. Let me finish, but when it comes down to strapping your kids and send them off to war and spilling their blood and adding billions and trillions of dollars to our national debt whenever we have our problems here at home, health care is out of control. Our roads are crumbling, we have a lot of problems here at home so --
JENNINGS: To me, that's the false choice
HUNT: He sounds a lot like Donald Trump on the campaign --
(CROSSTALK)
CUNNINGHAM: Hold on. But hold on to simply engage us in something without a clear objective. And the administration has not been clear on what their objectives are. It changes simply by the day.
Maybe you want to engage in endless war, Scott, I don't. We've been there. I don't really want to engage in another Iraq or Afghanistan, even though President Trump --
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: -- endless.
[16:30:03]
CUNNINGHAM: -- set out -- set out they wouldn't do this, and now, he's changed his tune. So, this has and this has broad bipartisan support. I think Republicans are appalled that he's doing this.
JENNINGS: That's false. That's hundred percent false.
CUNNINGHAM: Okay. Well --
JENNINGS: We have a pollster sitting right over there.
CUNNINGHAM: Well, that all Republicans are in support of this --
ANDERSON: And it's true that Republicans are generally behind Trump right now, but Republicans also aren't the only voters. And that's why I say it's not necessarily a political slam dunk at all for the president. Right now, it's very much a reflection of do you trust Donald Trump? Then even if you're skeptical of American intervention, you're kind of willing to let this see this play out.
But if you're not a fan of Donald Trump, then you're saying this is just another reason why I don't like him. It's very much how you view him is how you view --
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: All of the reasons that have been put forward for this military operation are entirely valid ones, whether it's regime change, whether it's oil, whether it's liberating the people, whether it's stability in the Middle East, whether it's preventing terrorism worldwide, they're all entirely valid.
The problem is that the administration has shifted its definition, or at least its explanation, multiple times out of the president's mouth than other people. And I think that level of uncertainty is what's making people pretty uncomfortable.
HUNT: I think this might be the third time I've said this on the air in the last week. What, if you're explaining, your --
WILLIAMS: Losing.
HUNT: Losing.
JENNINGS: Kasie, you said you want explanations, but then when you get explanations, you say that's losing.
HUNT: Oh, no, no.
WILLIAMS: It's been clear.
HUNT: Scott, that is not fair.
JENNINGS: They have an aggressive -- they have an aggressive navy. They have a nuclear --
HUNT: Yes, they have.
JENNINGS: -- ambition. They have drones, they have missiles, and they export terrorism. And they say, death to America.
HUNT: It's president of the United States has had a number of different types of explanations. He has mentioned many of the things you just laid out.
JENNINGS: And can all be true.
HUNT: At different points --
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: They all can be true. But I think when the public is uncertain, I think that's when there's unease. When if more American kids start dying, if gas prices go up, if there's instability in the region, this uncertainty that people have is going to be problematic for the president.
But like, to your point Scott, they're all valid reasons. It's all, you know, these are okay reasons to launch military efforts across the country if they're just not explained well, that's when people start losing patience. That's all I'm saying.
CUNNINGHAM: I don't want to be spending money over in that area or packing up men and women in boxes and send them back home to their families over something like this. And it's my generation who went over to Iraq and Afghanistan, it's still fresh in their mind. Maybe you want to go to war with countries, there are a lot of bad actors around the entire world, but we have our own problems at home.
HUNT: All right. It seems like the Democratic seat has turned into the America first seat at the table, at least for this conversation.
All right, coming up next here in THE ARENA, much more on the war in Iran with one of the president's top allies on Capitol Hill. Republican Congressman Jim Jordan will be here with us live. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Iran just said that the world should be ready for oil at $200 a barrel. You don't agree with Iran on anything, but do you agree that people need to be prepared for that?
WRIGHT: We're going through short-term energy disruption for just huge long-term gain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:37:26]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The situation with Iran is moving along very rapidly. It's doing very well. Our military is unsurpassed. There's never been anything like it. Nobody's ever seen anything like it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: President Trump, just a few minutes ago at the White House commenting on the war in Iran, saying that it's moving along, quote, "rapidly".
The cost of oil also moving rapidly. Global prices just now settling above $100 a barrel today. That's the first time that that has happened since August of 2022.
Last night, the president told a crowd in Kentucky that the U.S. has, quote, won the war, but that it's not over yet. The White House has been relatively cautious about avoiding an Iraq war "mission accomplished" moment.
But listen to the House speaker who said this just this afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Well, I think it will resolve quickly. I mean, the president has said in the last -- you know, 12 hours that he expects the operation in Iran to come to a close soon. The mission has virtually accomplished now as it was defined. And I think that will happen. That's his intention. And he's saying the same thing to us privately as he says publicly. So, we think this gets resolved quickly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Joining me now is Republican congressman from Ohio, Jim Jordan. He is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for being here in THE ARENA. Always appreciate it.
REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): You bet, Kasie. Good to be with you.
HUNT: What does soon mean to you
JORDAN: Well, I don't know for sure but -- look, we're -- we want -- we want all the above. We want low gas prices. We want Iran not to have nuclear capability, and we want this thing resolved as soon as possible.
But I think the American people -- American people have common sense and they understand, to stop this regime that for 47 years has killed Americans, killed Israelis, killed others, and killed a number of their own people, to stop them from getting a nuclear weapon is a worthwhile objective.
And President Trump is committed to achieving that goal. And if that means prices go up for a short time, I think Americans understand. We can -- we can -- we can -- we can live with that. But in the end, we want all that to happen and we want it all to happen in in as quick as time as it possibly can.
HUNT: So, you say we should be willing to live with higher prices. Would you say to your constituents in Ohio that this is worth sending their sons and daughters to the Middle East potentially to put their lives on the line, to achieve what you just laid out?
JORDAN: Do we want this regime and all they have done, the killing of American servicemen over the last 47 years, the killing of Israelis, the killing of others, the taking of thousands of lives of their own -- do we want them to have a nuclear weapon? I mean, I think the Americans say that is something we need to stop.
President Trump -- you can go -- listen to what --
(CROSSTALK)
HUNT: -- boots on the ground -- American boots on the ground in Iran to stop it?
JORDAN: We need -- again, no one's talking about that. What they're talking about is, is it reaching the objective of making sure this regime doesn't get nuclear capability? And I would say this --
(CROSSTALK)
HUNT: How far would you go to achieve that objective? How far would you go?
JORDAN: President Trump makes decisions -- President Trump makes decisions that are in the best interest of our country. President Trump does what he said he would do. He told the American people he'd secure the border. He did. He told them he cut taxes. He did.
And he told the American people --
HUNT: He told them that he wouldn't start any new wars. JORDAN: -- he'd make sure this regime didn't get nuclear capability. And hes making sure that is going to happen, that they do not get that capability in any way, shape or form, because that would be, as Senator Graham said, I think would be devastating for the price of oil and for all kinds of other reasons. That would be a bad outcome.
HUNT: So, you talked a little bit there about what the president said. I want to show you some of the things he said on the campaign trail. And even before he ended up on the presidential campaign trail. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate.
We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East.
We more and more are not wanting to be the policeman of the world.
I will expel the warmongers from our national security state.
We're going to end these endless wars, endless wars.
They're drafting you to go and fight in some country that I've never heard.
They said, "He will start a war." I'm not going to start a war. I'm going to stop wars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I'm not going to start a war. I'm going to stop wars.
How is that an example of President Trump doing what he said he was going to do?
JORDAN: Kasie, he tried to. Go listen to the interview Mark Levin had with Steve Witkoff, they tried to negotiate with Iran, with the largest state sponsor of terrorism. They were willing to sit down with and try to figure this out, try to negotiate.
And they could tell from those, quote, "negotiations" that Iran was committed to pursuing and getting a nuclear weapon. And they said there is no other alternative. Listen to that interview from the guy who was in the room with the people who run that country or who did run that country.
So that is what -- President Trump has done more than all the presidents combined, so, you know, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Biden, all -- Obama, all the presidents combined and stopping. He's done more to stop Iran from getting this capability than all those other presidents combined. And he is also doing what he said on this, but he said --
HUNT: But is he not failing by his own metric? I mean, he said when Obama was president --
JORDAN: -- during the campaign -- he said during the campaign he would not allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon.
HUNT: -- our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. That is what he said about Barack Obama.
Then he comes into office. You're saying, well, they tried to negotiate. He failed at negotiating, so he had to do the war that he said that he wouldn't do?
JORDAN: No, he said -- he said -- no, Kasie, he said he wasn't going to let Iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorism, get a nuclear weapon. And that's what he's determined to do.
And that is -- that is the objective. That is the goal. And I think the American people understand that goal.
We don't want higher gas prices. We don't want to have boots on -- we don't want all these things. But we also don't want Iran to get a nuclear weapon.
HUNT: How long do you think we should be willing to let this go on?
JORDAN: I think until we reach the objective, reach the goal. I mean, that -- I mean, well, ask it in the alternative. Do you want Iran to have a nuclear weapon? I don't think the American people do, not when you've seen what this -- what this regime is capable of doing.
All the -- all the proxy terrorist groups, they sponsor, Hezbollah, all the others they sponsor around the Mideast and around the world, I don't think we want them getting a nuclear weapon. So that is the goal here.
HUNT: No one is arguing -- no one's arguing here that Iran is a -- is a good actor on the world stage. I think the question -- and part of the question about the nuclear weapon situation as well, is that, of course, there was a very successful operation earlier in the president's term. But they then said, got rid of the weapons.
JORDAN: But, Kasie --
HUNT: Hold on. I want -- I want to read this to you from the editorial board of "The New York Post". It's not necessarily --
JORDAN: But you can't have it both ways. You can't say no one's arguing that. And then say the alternative, oh, we shouldn't do anything. That's just like, no, no, just like the same with Maduro. Oh, we shouldn't take out a narco terrorist.
HUNT: I'm just saying that as were having this conversation, it is entirely -- you are -- you are saying to me, Iran does all these bad things on the world stage. I'm saying acknowledged. Right. They have been a very bad actor in so many ways on the world stage. The question is, what should America be doing about it? Because
obviously, Democratic and Republican presidents have made different decisions, and the president made many of them have had this war plan, right, in the books at the Pentagon.
Here's what "The New York Post" wrote on March 11th. They said this, quote, "Somewhere between the White House and the Pentagon, the nation's leaders need to start giving the public a regular clear, concrete sense of how Operation Epic Fury is proceeding. It's as if the administration expects the public to think the occasional high gloss social media video is enough."
[16:45:02]
Do you think this administration is doing enough to explain what -- why they're doing, what they're doing, how it's going, and how it ends?
JORDAN: I do, I do.
HUNT: "The New York Post" is not a liberal institution necessarily.
JORDAN: I do. Again, you do not want this, this, or this -- this country, this regime to have the capability -- to have a nuclear weapon. We just don't want that to happen. And all the things they were doing to create an environment where they could get to a nuclear weapon with a missile sites, the launch sites, the drones, everything else they were doing was to enable them to get to that.
We tried to negotiate and they weren't even willing to do that. That's how committed they are to getting this. And this is the one president who said, we are not going to let that happen, because it's in the best interest of America, the best interest of our ally Israel and our other allies, the best interests of the world and frankly, in the end, I think it's in the best interest of the Iranian people.
That is the decision the president made, and he was willing to do it --
HUNT: All right.
JORDAN: -- when previous administrations were entering into all kinds of agreements where they gave -- Obama gave cash to the Iranians for goodness' sake. So, we saw how that didn't work.
Here's a guy who is as commander in chief said, I'm going to protect America. I'm going to step forward and do what has to be done. Even though it's tough, even though there will be some tough times as we reach the objective. But I think the American people understand it.
HUNT: All right. Congressman Jim Jordan, thank you very much for being here. Always appreciate the conversation.
JORDAN: You bet. Thanks, Kasie.
HUNT: All right. See you soon. JORDAN: You bet.
HUNT: Coming up next here in THE ARENA, former Pentagon spokesman, White House national security communications advisor John Kirby is going to be here with us live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:50:59]
HUNT: All right. More now on the war in Iran, as Tehran is now threatening to set the region's oil and gas infrastructure on fire if its energy sites are attacked.
Joining us now, the former White House national security communications advisor under President Biden, the retired Navy Admiral John Kirby.
Admiral, thank you so much for being here. It's always great to see you.
You, of course, have experience both in the White House and also in the Navy, in the Persian Gulf. As you are watching what is unfolding here in the Straits of Hormuz, how much control do you think President Trump has over this situation at this moment? Can we wrest control of this strait back from the Iranians if it keeps going this way? What is your view of this?
ADM. JOHN KIRBY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR: I believe that militarily, the United States and hopefully partners and allies in the region will help with this, can absolutely restore a sense of confidence in shipping companies to begin to have the traffic flow in and out of the strait. But it is labor intensive and time intensive, Kasie, especially if you're talking about escorting convoys of tankers in and out. That's the mission that I was -- that I was ordered to do and I was a young ensign back in 1977, '88.
It's dangerous work, but it can be done and nobody does it better than the U.S. Navy. But it's going to -- it's not going to be cost-free. You're going to have to move ships from elsewhere and hopefully get allies and partners to join you.
And it's also not danger-free because even though the mines are not the big threat right now, the drones certainly are and the Iranians, from all I've seen, still have many thousands of them at their disposal. And all it takes is one drone to hit one ship, to shut down that strait for a lengthy period of time.
HUNT: I've talked to a couple of sources who I would describe as center left Democrats, who tend to be national security minded, and they have been listening to what the president has been saying out there saying we've won, but it still has to go on, among other things and seen him under pressure, political pressure to end this quickly.
But some of them are arguing privately that actually we need to see it through because if we don't now, well end up in a worse situation than where we started. Is that how you see this? I mean, would you urge the president to see this through at least a little bit farther, or would you like to see it stop now?
KIRBY: Well, obviously, nobody wants to see war and people suffering. So, I mean, I join everybody in wanting the war to end as soon as possible, but now we're in it, Kasie.
And I think the military has done a very good job of laying out what they describe as limited objectives. There's three or four of them. They're very concrete. Every time General Caine gets up and briefs the press he reiterates that. Secretary Rubio has. Even Secretary Hegseth has.
And I think they want to be able to finish that work, which is about degrading Iran's capabilities -- military capabilities in the region and their ability to export terrorism. And so now that we're in it, I think we absolutely have to make sure the military has the tools and the support that they need to accomplish those limited military objectives and to pull the plug now would only mean that those risks and those threats don't go away and also only encourage the Iranians to continue to conduct these sort of one-off terrorist attacks, which they're trying to do.
I think that the Iranian calculus may very well be that President Trump may tire of this may, under political pressure, want to pull the plug early. And that actually plays right into their hands, because I think what they would like to do is draw this out for as long as they can.
So I really hope what we see is strong political support backing up the military mission, the limited military mission that that the Pentagon is pursuing right now.
HUNT: Yeah. Really interesting.
Very briefly, sir, the White House has put up a number of videos on social media that suggest almost the gamification of war. What impact does this have?
KIRBY: I think it's -- it's never a good thing to try to minimize war and peace and the kind of the -- the seriousness with which our men and women are going to war on behalf of this country and in defense of, of the mission to some sort of meme or, social media.
[16:55:09]
I just -- I wish we could elevate the discussion a little bit higher than that. I don't think it's helpful.
HUNT: All right. Admiral John Kirby, really appreciate your time. And of course, your service to our country in a variety of capacities. Thank you very much.
KIRBY: Thank you, Kasie.
HUNT: All right. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNT: All right, thanks to my panel. Really appreciate you all being here.
Thanks to you at home for watching as well. We really appreciate you being here.
Don't go anywhere though. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.
