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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Trump Speaks As U.S. Launches New Strikes On Iran; Oil Prices Skyrocket Globally Amid Disruptions In Middle East; Iran Prepared For Long War, Senior Iranian Official Says; Trump: Attack On Girls' School Is "Under Investigation"; Trump Downplays Oil Price Spike Due To Iran War. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired March 09, 2026 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:01]
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: They wanted to go a lot deeper. And they started the process while rapidly building conventional ballistic missiles. They were going to do it all at the same time that threatened our overseas bases and soon could have reached even our homeland.
The regime's intention was to use this exponentially growing ballistic missile threat to make it virtually impossible to prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon. So, as you probably saw, they had a tremendous number of missiles, most of which have now been used or destroyed, and very unsuccessfully used because we have been able, for the most part, to shoot them all down. What incredible technology, the Patriots have been unbelievable, and other things. And the laser technology that we have now is incredible. It's coming out pretty soon, where literally lasers will do the work of -- at a lot less cost, do the work of what the Patriots are doing or what other things are doing.
The situation was very quickly approaching. The point of no return, and the United States found it intolerable, in my opinion, based on what Steve and Jared and Pete and others were telling me, Marco was so involved, that I thought that they were going to attack us. I thought they would -- if we didn't do this at the time we did it, I think they had in mind to attack us.
And if you notice, they did something which was very foolish, very stupid I would say. They attacked their neighbors. And their neighbors were largely neutral, or at least weren't going to be involved, and they got attacked, and it had the reverse effect. The neighbors came onto our side and started attacking them, and actually quite successfully. If you look at Saudi Arabia, you look at UAE, Qatar and others, but they were strong and they were smart, but they got attacked. Nobody -- when I first heard it, I said, no, somebody made a mistake. There was no mistake. UAE had over a thousand missiles shot at it, knocked them almost all down.
On the very first day I came down the escalator in 2015, I said, quote, I will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, and all I'm doing is keeping my promise. Think of that. That was in 2015. I said it. It was a threat then and a much bigger threat now, but no longer a threat, not for a long time anyway. We want to keep it that way.
As we continue Operation Epic Fury, we're also focused on keeping energy and oil flowing to the world. I will not allow a terrorist regime to hold the world hostage and attempt to stop the globe's oil supply. And if Iran does anything to do that, they'll get hit at a much, much harder level. I will take out those targets that were easy and that I mentioned just before. We'll take them out so quickly, they'll never be able to recover, ever. If they want to play that game, they better not play that game.
In the long run, oil supplies will be dramatically more secure without the threat of Iranian ships, drones, missiles, nuclear menace, or anything. So, the Strait of Hormuz is going to remain safe. We have a lot of navy ships there. We have the best equipment in the world inspecting for mines. Again, most of their ships are down at the bottom of the sea. But we will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them to ever recover that section of the world, if they do anything.
In recent years, the regime and its terror proxies have launched attacks on hundreds of commercial vessels. We're putting an end to all of this threat once and for all, and the result will be lower oil prices, oil and gas prices, for American families. We've done that. We've done it. We've brought it very low. This was just an excursion into something that had to be done. We're getting very close to finishing that too.
In the meantime, during this brief disruption, the United States is offering political risk insurance to any tankers operating in the Gulf. So, we're putting up risk insurance, will perhaps go alongside of them for protection. We don't think it'll be necessary, if it is. And if they do anything, the price will be incalculable. It will be so great that they will have wished they never did it, because you have to keep the straits flowing.
With all of that, it affects other countries much more than it does the United States. It doesn't really affect us. We have so much oil. We have tremendous oil and gas, much more than we need. We have Venezuela now as our new partner, great partner. They've worked out so wonderful. We're working with the administration, the president, and it's a massive source of oil, gas, everything.
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But we're in a very good position, but very unfair to other parts of the world, like China as an example. I mean, we're doing this for the other parts of the world, including countries like China. They get a lot of their oil through the straits. So, we're doing this. We have a very good relationship with President Xi and China. I'm going there in a short period of time and we're protecting the world from what these lunatics are trying to do, and very successfully, I might add.
We're also waiving certain oil-related sanctions to reduce prices. So, we have sanctions on some countries. We're going to take those sanctions off until this straightens out. Then who knows, maybe we won't have to put them on. There'll be so much peace. But when the time comes, the U.S. Navy and its partners will escort tankers through the strait, if needed. I hope it's not going to be needed. But if it's needed, we'll escort them right through.
And we have the greatest mind sweeping ability. We have the greatest ships and all of the -- we know exactly where their place will get them out of there very fast. But we hope we don't have any of that. And, again, if they do that, if they play that game, we're going to hit them at a level that they have not seen before.
So, we're winning very decisively. We're way ahead of schedule. It's -- our military is the greatest in the world with the greatest equipment. They're the greatest people in the world. There's -- nobody's ever seen anything like it. Iran's a very powerful country. They were going to take over the Middle East. If we did not hit them, they were going to take over the Middle East. They had thousands and thousands -- since they last hit, they had thousands and thousands of missiles and everything else. Most are now destroyed.
They were going to take over the Middle East. Those weapons were aimed at Middle Eastern countries that had nothing to do with this. They were going to take over the Middle East and they were going to try and destroy Israel. So we stopped it with good timing, and we're very proud to be involved in this. And it's going to be ended soon. And if it starts up again, they'll be hit even harder.
Thank you very much for being here. Go ahead. Any questions?
REPORTER: Thank you so much.
TRUMP: Go ahead.
REPORTER: Do you approve of Iran new supreme leader? And, secondly, can you tell us more about your call with Russian President Vladimir Putin today?
TRUMP: Yes.
REPORTER: What did you discuss?
TRUMP: Yes. I had a very good call with President Putin. We had a lot of people on the line from our side, from his side. We were talking about Ukraine, which is just a never ending fight. And when -- look, there's tremendous hatred between President Putin and President Zelenskyy. They can't seem to get it together, but I think it was a positive call on that subject. And we obviously talked then about the Middle East and he wants to be helpful. I said you could be more helpful by getting the Ukraine-Russia war over with. That would be more helpful.
But we had a very good talk and he wants to be very constructive.
Yes. Yes, please.
REPORTER: Thank you. Mr. President. On Iran, you called it an excursion. You said it would be over soon. Are you thinking this week it will be over? TRUMP: No, but soon.
REPORTER: Are you talking about days?
TRUMP: I think soon.
REPORTER: Okay. And with respect to --
TRUMP: Very soon. Look, everything they have is gone, including their leadership. In fact, there are two levels of leadership, and even actually as it turns out more than that, but two levels of leadership are gone. Most people have never even heard about the leaders that they're talking about. So, it's obviously been very powerful, very effective.
REPORTER: To Cuba, you said that Cuba wants to make a deal.
TRUMP: Yes.
REPORTER: What would the United States get in return for that, and why should Americans trust Marco Rubio to negotiate it?
TRUMP: Well, Marco Rubio is doing a great job. I think he's going to go down as the greatest secretary of state in history. Look at what we've done as a presidency. Look at what we've done as an administration. They trust Marco, and so do -- the American people trust. He's been successful no matter where he has been. He also speaks the language, which is always nice and always helpful.
But he's dealing, and it may be a friendly takeover. It may not be a friendly takeover. It wouldn't matter because they're really in -- they're down to, as they say, fumes. They have no energy. They have no money. They're in deep trouble on a humanitarian basis, and we don't want to see that. But they were very, very bad to a lot of people, as you know, and a lot of people living our -- the Cuban American vote, which I got at record levels, very important, those people are very important to me.
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I know what they went through. They went through hell.
Some of them have gone on to be some of the most successful people in the country, Cuban American business people. Some of them are like the most successful in the country and a lot of them are friends of mine because I've been fighting this battle with them for a long time.
The Castro regime was brutal. They lived off Venezuela and now they don't live off Venezuela, sends them no energy, no fuel, no oil, no money, no nothing. They lived without Venezuela or they couldn't have made it, and we cut them off from everything else. So, yes, they're going to make either a deal or we'll do it just as easy anyway.
Yes, please go ahead.
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) tomahawk missile likely destroyed that Iranian girls' school. So, will the Americans, will the U.S. accept any responsibility for that strike?
TRUMP: Well, I haven't seen it. And I will say that the Tomahawk, which is one of the most powerful weapons around, is used by -- you know, is sold and used by other countries. You know that. And whether it's Iran, who also has some Tomahawks, they wish they had more, but whether it's Iran or somebody else, the fact that a Tomahawk is very generic. It's sold to other countries. But that's being investigated right now.
Yes, please.
REPORTER: Thank you. Mr. President, you've said the war is, quote, very complete, but your defense secretary says this is just the beginning. So, which is it? And how long should Americans be prepared for --
TRUMP: Well, I think you can say both the beginning. It's the beginning of building a new country. But they certainly -- they have no navy, they have no air force, they have no anti-aircraft equipment. It's all been blown up. They have no radar, they have no telecommunications, and they have no leadership. It's all gone.
So, you know, you could look at that statement. We could call it a tremendous success right now as we leave here, I could call it, or we could go further and we're going to go further. But the big risk on that war has been over for three days. We wiped them out the first -- in the first two days.
When you think about it, it's incredible. We wiped out a big navy, very powerful navy. You know, these were ships, these were serious ships. These were ships that you buy when you want to win battles. They're all on the bottom floor. The sailors are all running off the ships. They refuse to get on the ships.
The Air Force is gone. Everything's gone. The missiles are down to a trickle. The drones are down to probably 25 percent, and they'll soon be down to nothing. We'll have the -- where they manufacture the drones are under fire. As we speak, they're being hit. So, the rest is going to be a determination as to my attitude along with the people in the Trump administration, what we want to do. Thank you.
Yes, please.
REPORTER: Can I ask you, you mentioned you were going to waive certain additional oil waivers or sanctions. Can you talk a little bit more about that and address in particular --
TRUMP: Well, we're looking to keep the oil prices down. We went artificially up because of this excursion into a very positive thing. I mean, this was an excursion that a lot of people wouldn't have done. I knew oil prices would go up if I did this, and they've gone up probably less than I thought they'd go up. But I don't think anybody thought we were going to be this quickly successful. This was a military success, the likes of which people haven't seen.
We have the best military. We have the best equipment we have, I believe, the best generals we have the best, and this went very quickly. We talked about that with President Putin. He was very impressed with what he saw because nobody's ever seen anything quite like it.
You know, Iran was a very powerful military country, with all of the missiles. Now, you had the double attack. You had the original attack with us in Israel, and that knocked them for a loop. Then you had the B-2 bombers, which took out their nuclear capability, and they would've had a nuclear weapon within two weeks to four weeks, and they would've used it long before this press conference. And we might've had a much different press conference if we had a press conference at all.
But it's been amazing. The military success that we've had is truly unprecedented.
REPORTER: You said you've told your Congressional colleagues that you will not sign any piece of legislation until the Save America Act is passed. Does that include the confirmation of Senator Mullin as your next DHS secretary? Does that mean a DHS funding bill? And Senator Thune said today, it's not a matter of whether or not your Republican colleagues agree with the policy, it's about changing the process, in other words, getting rid of the filibuster to get there.
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TRUMP: So, in order to get it, you're going to need Democrat votes. And what we're saying is the Save America, not the SAVE Act, which nobody knew what it was, the Save America Act, the Save America Act, and that's voter I.D. We want voter I.D. When a voter -- we want to be able to see a picture of the voter. We want to be able to see that the voter's legitimate. We want, very importantly, confirmation that this voter is a citizen of the United States of America. And we want no mail-in ballot scams. So, we have exceptions for the military, for sick, for disabled, and for people that are away, business trips or whatever, even vacations. We will be very liberal in that.
We've added two things to it. No men in women's sports and no transgender utilization of our children. We don't want our -- it's utilization of our children and we don't want that. So, we added those two things. That's the five points. We have five very good points. It polls at 86 percent with Democrats. Think of that, the overall vote is 86 percent. With Republicans, it's 98 percent. And the only one opposed to it is a Democrat leadership because they cheat. They want to cheat. So, we added those two points. We're going for the gold and we're going to have to fight like hell.
Now, certain things will happen, certain things will take place. I'm here to do a great job for the country. But we don't have a country if we're going to have elections that are so corrupt and so dishonest, like we've witnessed over the last period of time.
You know, as an example, few -- I mean, virtually, nobody has like we -- nobody has a system of mail-in ballots like we have, no other country in the world. France went away from it. They all went -- you know why? Because it's corrupt. And Jimmy Carter, when he had a commission, frankly, I think it's probably the best thing Jimmy Carter did. He said, you can't have mail-in voting because it's inherently dishonest, and it's turned out to be totally dishonest. So, we're going to fight for it.
Yes?
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) activated any sleeper cells inside the U.S.? There's reports that they have pressed that trigger button to activate those cells at least abroad.
TRUMP: Well, we've been -- they've been trying for a long time. We've been very much on top of it. One of the things we have to do is get the Democrats to stop the Democrat shutdown, because, as you know, the apparatus that looks into that, Schumer and the Democrats have shut it down, which tells you they probably hate our country a lot. But the Democrats have to open that up.
But we've got very, very good intelligence into that. We know a lot of different things that have happened that have been very bad. A lot of them came in during the Biden open border period, but we have them under -- we've got them -- we're watching every single one of them. Yes, we know a lot about them.
The biggest problem we have is the Democrat shutdown. We know a lot about them. But the shutdown doesn't allow us to do what we have to do.
REPORTER: -- do you have to take him out? Does he have a target on his back?
TRUMP: You mean the new supreme leader? You mean the son?
REPORTER: How can there be an Iran without an ayatollah?
TRUMP: I don't want to say that, but, you know, I was disappointed because we think it's going to lead to just more of the same problem for the country. So, I was disappointed to see their choice.
REPORTER: Thank you. You've said you have someone in mind to be the new Iranian leadership, if not the ayatollah's son. What are you looking for in that person? Are you looking at someone internal, given that you just said that their leadership has been decidedly nd wiped out?
TRUMP: I like the idea of the, you know, internal and eternal, come to think of it. But I like the idea of internal because it works well. I mean, I think we've proven that so far in Venezuela. We have a woman, Delcy, who has been, you know, president of the country, very respected, very -- she's doing a great job. And it's, you know, no disruption.
We had, as you remember, Iraq where everybody got fired, the military got fired, the police got fired. The politicians got fired. There was nobody. And you know what they turned into? ISIS. And we don't want that. We don't want that. So, I would like to see people that are inside go now. They talk about the son of the shah. They talk about other people, but, you know, hasn't been there in many, many years. We have a formula that's been very good so far and I think it'll continue to be good.
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The relationship is extraordinary with Venezuela, smart country. And we've taken out a hundred million barrels of oil. It's right now in Houston being taken care of and made so beautiful. And you have to see this at work. They have -- it's brought to the refineries. It's being refined in Houston, which is made exactly for that product.
And so far -- but it's a hundred million barrels of oil and now they have another a hundred million barrels coming. And it's like a partnership. We're getting along so well with them. It's great for Venezuela and it's great for the United States.
Yes, please go ahead.
REPORTER: Mr. President, you just suggested that Iran somehow got its hands on a Tomahawk and bombed its own elementary school on the first day of the war, but you're the only person in your government saying this. Even your defense secretary wouldn't say that when he was asked, standing over your shoulder on your plane on Saturday. Why are you the only person saying this?
TRUMP: Because I just don't know enough about it. I think it's something that I was told is under investigation. But Tomahawks are used by others. As you know, numerous other nations have tomahawks. They buy them from us. But I will -- certainly, whatever the report shows, I'm willing to live with that report.
Yes, please.
REPORTER: You said earlier that we've already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough. What do you consider enough? What's your baseline?
TRUMP: Where they're not going to be starting the following day to develop a nuclear weapon, where they'll look at that man and some other people from the administration and say, all right, we're not going to do it. They were not willing to say that.
And when Steve called up and he said that to me, I said, well, here we go, let's do it the hard way. But the hard way I think is probably the easy way. When, basically, I can see that they will no longer have any capacity whatsoever for a very long period of time of developing weaponry that could be used against the United States, Israel, or any of our allies, we have great allies in the Middle East, great countries that are allies, and they were staying out of it until they got hit. Someday they'll have to do a story, why did he do that? Why did they do that? But they were going to hit them. If I didn't hit them first, they were going to hit our allies first.
I believe, upon information and belief, but I believe that he was going to -- they were going to take over the Middle East. They were looking to take over the Middle East.
Now had Operation Midnight Hammer not taken place that was definite, because they would've had a nuclear weapon within a matter of weeks. But that took place. That was a setback. But look at the number of missiles they were able to buy and make over the last six months. And those missiles were aimed at various countries. And when you look at a thousand -- over a thousand missiles shot at like UAE, they were looking to take over the Middle East. We got their first, lucky.
I'll tell you what, the Middle East and those countries, very rich countries, are very lucky that I was president instead of somebody else.
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) when it comes to U.S. action in Iran?
TRUMP: I don't think so. No. No. We get along very well on this. He was I would say philosophically a little bit different than me. I think he was maybe less enthusiastic about going, but he was quite enthusiastic. But I felt it was something we had to do. I didn't feel we had a choice. If we didn't do it, they would've done it to us.
I felt, based on the negotiations that were being had by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and Marco and Pete and everybody was involved, I felt that they were going to -- that they were looking to tap us along before they hit, and I thought they were going to hit. And if they hit us first, that would have been a very bad thing.
In the back, please, in the back.
About the strait, you mean? Yes. Well, I'm -- I want to keep it open. I want to keep it good. You know, it doesn't pertain to us so much as it does to China. We're really helping China here and other countries, because they get a lot of their energy from the straits. But, hey, look, we have a good relationship with China. It's my honor to do it.
Yes?
REPORTER: You have called him an unacceptable choice. So, does he have a target on his back and how can you say --
TRUMP: I don't want to say whether or not he does, because that would be inappropriate. But, hey, look, I had a target on my back, because, as you people wrote pretty, well, they caught the assassin that was after me.
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So, we just got them first. But they caught the assassin. They have him now in custody that was after me.
So, you know, but people don't like to mention that, but they did catch him. And I'd like to congratulate our military, Secret Service, FBI, all of the people that worked on that, but they did.
Yes, please.
Go ahead. No, go ahead, please.
REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President, you promised the Iranian people you would help them, but it sounds like you're willing to end this fight after your military objectives have wrapped up. Is that -- isn't that a betrayal of the people?
TRUMP: Will I help them? I'd like to if they can behave, but they've been very menacing. You know, they're great people. They have an amazing population. It's amazing, smart, brilliant, energetic. They have a great -- I'd love to help them, but they have to be in a system that allows them to be helped. And right now, they're in a system that only allows failure. And I don't want that. And I want a system that's not going to be attacking us. We want a system that can lead to many years of peace. And if we can't have that, we might as well get it over with right now.
Yes, please.
REPORTER: Mr. President, as of today, there have been eight U.S. military fatalities associated with the war in Iran. How many American deaths are you willing to have in this war?
TRUMP: Well, as I said before, when you have conflicts like this, you always have death. And I was at Dover yesterday. I met the parents and they were unbelievable people. They were unbelievable people, but they all had one thing in common. They said to me one thing, every single one, finish the job, sir. Please finish the job, and I'll leave you at that.
Thank you very much everybody. Thank you.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: You've been listening to President Trump in Doral, Florida, talking to reporters about the U.S. war on Iran. The president began his remarks by saying, quote, we're achieving major strides toward completing our military objective. And some people could say they're pretty well complete, unquote, which is, of course, a contradiction from what the secretary of defense and the Pentagon have been saying about how this is only beginning.
When pressed on whether he thought the war would be over this week, the president said, no, but soon. He didn't go into detail about what soon means.
When asked to explain why Secretary Hegseth said the war was just beginning, President Trump said it's the beginning of building a new country.
When asked by CNN's Manu Raju if the United States would accept any responsibility on that deadly strike on an Iranian school, if it was proven to have been caused by the U.S., the president suggested without evidence that it might have been Iran. Other countries have access to that missile, the Patriot missile, he said it's still being investigated. He later said, whatever the report shows, I'm willing to live with that report, unquote.
The president also says he was disappointed to see that Iran's new supreme leader named by the Council of Elders is the son of the ayatollah who had just been killed two Saturdays ago. The president said Iran should put in a leader who could do things differently for a change.
Let's bring in my panel of experts who are all standing by here, Kaitlan Collins, of course, foremost among them. Kaitlan, the president has been talking to reporters every single day with varying messages. He talked to Dana, he talked to me, he talked to CBS News just a few hours ago, in which he said, this is almost over. He seemed to be suggesting it's almost complete. What do you make of the tone he just struck?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the question that a lot of the reporters had were in the conflicting messages that we've heard from the Pentagon saying that this is a war that is just getting started, to what the president was saying to CBS News earlier when he was saying that it's nearly complete.
I thought it was interesting there during that press conference with reporters where he kind of set the bar at saying that Iran should have no capability of having weapons that can be used to attack not just the United States, but he also pointed out Israel and other neighboring countries, other U.S. allies that are in the region that we've seen obviously coming under fire from these Iranian missiles in recent days. That obviously seems to be a high bar. So, it's a question of what this looks like.
TAPPER: That means taking out all of their ballistic missiles, right?
COLLINS: Well, because obviously it's much easier to hit somewhere in the region, in Israel, for example, than it is the United States.
But another reporter followed up because the president did say he thought that the war would end soon and asked if he envisioned that being this week. He seemed to say no, but he did say that it could be over soon.
One thing though is that the president has obviously had a vested interest in who leads Iran and the new -- his son being named the new supreme leader. President Trump, just told reporters there he was disappointed by that.
I thought what was most striking though in the president's remarks also was he was pressed on these analyses and intelligence and reports that people have looked at on who was responsible for the strike on the girls' school in Iran that happened the first day of the war. The president said on Saturday to reporters that he believed it was Iran that was actually responsible for that.
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There's been more analysis since it has shown it was a Tomahawk missile, which obviously the United States --
TAPPER: Oh, that's what I meant, Tomahawk. Yes, sorry. COLLINS: That's what the United States has been using in this. I don't think Iran is known to have any Tomahawk missiles. I mean, I could be wrong on that, but that's what the public reporting suggests.
And so when the president was just asked about that by Shawn McCreesh, who was -- who followed up on Manu's question about it, he said, I just don't know enough about it. He said, whatever the report shows, I'm willing to live with that report, and noted that it is still under investigation. So, he didn't even seem as confident as he seemed on Saturday and that it was Iran that was behind that. Because, obviously, our analysis of the geo-located images and others, The New York Times, Reuters, has said that it was the United States military that was most likely responsible. Obviously there's been no confirmation of that yet.
TAPPER: Yes. And just earlier today, CNN reported that the U.S. hit an IRGC base adjacent to the school.
COLLINS: Yes, they're extremely close.
TAPPER: Yes. So, that could. Explain some of that.
Kaitlan, thank you so much. And don't miss Kaitlan on her show, The Source with Kaitlan Collins. It airs at 9:00 P.M. Her guests tonight include Democratic Senators Tim Kaine and Adam Schiff, and Cory Booker and Tammy Baldwin. They're all making a joint appearance. That's to discuss the strike on the grade school. Is that why or --
COLLINS: Well, they actually want to start holding votes on Capitol Hill if Senator -- if the Senate leader John Thon, is not willing to hold public hearings, where Rubio has to come testify and Pete Hegseth has to come testify on this. They said they -- the closed door briefings are not sufficient for them. They want public hearings. And if they don't get that, they're going to put up a bunch of votes where, basically, Republicans have to go on the record about what they support here.
TAPPER: Well, the more transparency, the better for the American people. That's tonight at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.
Let's go live to CNN's Fred Pleitgen. He's on the ground at Tehran, Iran, with photojournalist, Claudia Otto. And CNN, we should note, is operating in Iran with the permission of the Iranian government, as is required for any reporter in Iran. CNN is maintaining full editorial control over what we report. We are there because we think that you, the viewer, have the right to see what is happening on the streets of Tehran, and also see from that side the effectiveness of the U.S. campaign.
Fred, President Trump says he thinks the war will be over, quote, soon. How does that square with what you are seeing and hearing there in Iran?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're certainly hearing a lot of kinetic activity tonight. It was one of the interesting things that I picked up from that press conference is that, I think, President Trump was saying that some of Iran's capabilities were being hit even as he was speaking. One of the things that I can say is that there were massive airstrikes going on tonight, I would say, for about an hour or an hour and a half here around the Iranian capital. In fact, the building that we're staying in was really shaking for a lot of those times that we were hearing those thuds and we were hunkered down here for an extended period of time.
From what we're gathering right now, it seems to have been in the eastern part of the city, the northeastern part of the city. And then also there are reports that Iran's -- that Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, which is sort of the second city airport here in this city, was apparently hit as well. There's also reports of a town that's, I would say, about an hour's drive to the west of here called Karaj apparently also taking some pretty big hits.
But on the whole, Jake, one of the things we have to say is that the leadership here is definitely trying to project they still are very much in control. President Trump mentioned it. We know that there's a new supreme leader here in Iran, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, of course, the son of the late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was voted in yesterday. And today, there were big demonstrations here in Tehran and other Iranian cities with people pledging their allegiance to the supreme leader, obviously organized by the government. However, the turnout was certainly massive, at least from the event that we were in, which was in a place called Revolutionary Square here in Tehran, Enghelab Square.
So, clearly, the leadership is saying they have a president in place. They have a head of their Supreme National Security Council in place, Ali Larijani. They have a supreme leader in place as well. And they certainly have a military that they stay still capable of striking back and still as is capable of striking those missiles.
And one thing I want to add, Jake, one thing that we're not seeing here is the dissolution of public order here in Tehran. There's a lot of security forces that are on the ground. There's a lot of checkpoints that are on the ground. So, clearly, also here to the local population, to the Iranian population, the leadership of this country is also trying to project that they are still very much in control of this country. Jake?
TAPPER: Fred, President Trump said he was disappointed by this election of Mojtaba Khameini, the new supreme leader, the son of the recently killed ayatollah, as you noted. What does the selection of Mojtaba Khameini signal for the future of this conflict with the U.S. and Israel? He is considered over here in the United States to be a hardliner.
PLEITGEN: Yes. He is certainly considered to be exactly that as well here in Iran. Of course, he's much more of a known commodity here to the Iranians.
[18:35:01]
He's been in the orbit of his father, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for an extended period of time. He was in very high up in the office of the supreme leader for a long period of time as well.
And he's certainly someone who also has the respect of the military, and specifically of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which, of course, is that elite wing and also the military wing that's responsible for missiles and drones here in this country.
But I put that question also to the main adviser to the supreme leader for foreign policy, whom I'm interviewed today. And he said it shows that the state here is functioning, that there is continuity. But I also asked that adviser where all of this can end, how all of this can end, whether or not any sort of diplomacy might be in sight. And he, said quite frankly, he believed at this point there wasn't. Let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: Iran has a new supreme leader. What does that mean for your military efforts and the confrontation with the United States and in Israel?
KAMAL KHAZARI, FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER TO THE SUPREME LEADER: That means the system is quite functioning.
PLEITGEN: So, the United States says it's drastically degraded the Iranian military, the capabilities, as far as missiles is concerned, drones is concerned. How much longer can you do this?
KHAZARI: That is one of the false narratives that the United States government is producing. Iranian military is quite strong, as you see, because they have the motivation. They have the arms that they need, which are produced in Iran. As a matter of fact, we are not dependent on any other country for weapons and arms.
PLEITGEN: So, your side is ready for a long war if the United States and Israel choose that. Do you consider this an existential threat to the Islamic Republic?
KHAZARI: It is an existential threat to the Islamic Republic, and therefore we have to say with full might as we are doing now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: The adviser to the supreme leader, Kamal Khazari, who I spoke to earlier today.
I also asked him how exactly this whole conflict could end, and he said he believes it can only be through economic pressure coming from other countries. In other words, it seemed to us he was insinuating that the Iranians believe that they could, in fact, continue a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, of course, choking off some of those oil supplies and gas supplies and that they believe that then maybe countries of the region, but also globally could have put pressure on the U.S. to try and end the conflict. Jake?
TAPPER: Fred, one last question before I let you go. We had a guest earlier who said that the selection of the new Khamenei, the new supreme leader by the Council of Elders, this group of 88 individuals, that there were reports that council had been leaned on by the IRGC, the Revolutionary Guard. Is that what you are hearing too, or is that something that isn't getting attention in Iran?
PLEITGEN: Well, it's getting a lot less attention definitely in Iran. And one of the things that we have to point out is that the Council of Experts certainly is known to be quite an independent institution, but at the same time, of course, especially in times like now, when there is a conflict, as there is now, and there is, of course, a military confrontation between Iran, the U.S., between Iran and the Israelis, certainly, those institutions do consult with one another.
It's unclear to what extent that might have happened. It's unclear to what extent anything might have been influenced by that. But, certainly, one of the things that we can point out is that Mojtaba Khamenei is someone who has been within the state structure, within the leadership structure of this country for a very long period of time.
Also, under his father, he knows these institutions. He knows the leadership of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. And one of the things that I found interesting when he was elected, when his election was announced, is that very quickly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps put out a statement saying that they pledge allegiance to him. And then a little bit later, the Quds Force, which, of course, as you know, Jake, is the foreign operations wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also pledged allegiance to him as well.
So, it certainly seems as though the power structure here of the Islamic Republic is trying to project, is trying to show to the outside world that they are very much unified, very much capable of continuing the military confrontation for a long period of time. Jake?
TAPPER: All right. CNN's Fred Pleitgen and Photojournalist Claudia Otto live in Tehran, thank you both. Stay safe.
Much more of the president's latest remarks on Iran in moments. Our experts are standing by. We're going to squeeze in a quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:40:00]
TAPPER: And we're back with the breaking news. President Trump just wrapped a news conference focused on the war with Iran.
I want to bring in some of my experts standing by here. Jeremy Diamond Live for us in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Jeremy, President Trump's position today is that the war is almost complete, it's been a great success, but the U.S., of course, did not do this alone. Do Israeli officials think this war is just about over?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, I think for days now, Israeli officials have been watching like so many others around the world with consternation and trying to kind of parse through some of President Trump's language, as he has given kind of conflicting messages about exactly what his goals are in this war, how much longer he's willing to go for.
Israeli officials have made quite clear that they want to see regime change happen in Iran and that they're willing to allow this war to continue for basically as long as it takes. And today, the message that I think they're probably going to take away from President Trump is that they certainly have some more time for the United States to be joining them in this war against Iran.
[18:45:00]
But how much time still seems to be very much an open question. And while President Trump still indicated that he wants to see different leadership in Iran, you know, I don't think that he is as explicitly committed to the goal of regime change as Israeli officials were. Instead, the president seemed to be talking about this idea that he wants to see a regime that's, you know, not going to be able to threaten the United States, not going to try and pursue a nuclear weapon.
So still not something that is the current situation with this new supreme leader in Iran but again, some daylight still there between the United States and Israel's goals and some questions about what that means going forward.
TAPPER: CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas is here with us, too.
Alex, CNN's Manu Raju asked the president about that deadly strike on that Iranian girls school. I want to play some of that exchange
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's footage that show that a tomahawk missile likely destroyed that Iranian girls school. So will the Americans -- will the U.S. accept any responsibility?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I haven't seen it. And I will say that the tomahawk, which is one of the most powerful weapons around, is used by, you know, sold and used by other countries. You know that.
And whether it's Iran who also has some tomahawks, they wish they had more. But whether its Iran or somebody else, the fact that a tomahawk -- tomahawk is very generic, it's sold to other countries. But that's being investigated right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Alex, you have extensive background in military, national security. Is President Trump -- is that accurate? Lots of countries have access to the tomahawk missile? Iran has tomahawk missiles? ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: No, I think, you know, he may have been misspeaking there they do have land attack cruise missiles. But in the site that was struck, as was noted in an earlier segment, that was attached to an IRGC compound that was struck at least at one point. My understanding was part of that but that it's been a school now for about ten years.
Now, there are groups within the U.S. military whose job it is to de- conflict these types of targets to make sure that happened. So, if it was the United States which an investigation will figure out, there clearly would have been some sort of targeting failure there.
The Israelis have told me that they were not operating in the area at the time of that strike. They didn't have aircraft that were operating there. They don't have tomahawk cruise missiles.
So, at this point, the president has accused the Iranians. They don't have tomahawks, but they do have land attack, cruise missiles. And the Iranians have clearly said to the United States.
So it's not the Israelis, either the U.S. or the Iranians. And evidence is, at least at this point, pointing towards a potential accidental strike. But the Pentagon says it's still under investigation.
TAPPER: Tom Kloza is the chief oil analyst for Gulf Oil.
Tom, this has been a historically wild day for oil. I want to play a bit of what the president had to say about that topic. Take a listen
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: In recent years, the regime and its terror proxies have launched attacks on hundreds of commercial vessels. We're putting an end to all of this threat once and for all. And the result will be lower oil prices, oil and gas prices for American families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: How long do you see these high oil and gas prices lasting?
TOM KLOZA, CHIEF OIL ANALYST, GULF OIL: Well, based on what the president had said, I think we remain in a very bipolar market for the foreseeable future. I think people in the oil market who sold in the morning today, we're hopeful that we'd hear some particulars on opening up the Strait of Hormuz. The fact of the matter is, if that the flows in the strait are not restored by the end of this week, we're going to see higher prices. And we've seen that today.
He also said that he was surprised that oil didn't react as much as it did, and it went from $70 essentially in the end of last week to $120 this morning. So that's a little bit of a surprise.
TAPPER: Emily Schrader is an Israeli-American journalist. Emily, you've been talking to Iranians on the ground about the strikes and about Iranian leadership going forward. How do the Iranians you're talking to, how do they see the future unfolding in Iran?
EMILY SCHRADER, ISRAELI AMERICAN JOURNALIST: Of course, there's a lot of uncertainty and there's a lot of problems with the Internet still being shut off, although there is some limited use with Starlink and limited other options.
But by and large, the responses from Iranians that I've spoken to has been overwhelmingly in favor of the United States and Israeli action on the ground. They're very happy that regime targets many of them. The centers of suppression of the Iranian people. Many of these Basij, IRGC bases and forces are in fact, being targeted.
So, they're happy about that. The main complaint that I'm hearing right now on the ground is that they're witnessing, personally witnessing IRGC troops moving in to schools and mosques. I've received a plethora of photos from Iranians on the ground of exactly that, moving both the force, the manpower and weapons and equipment into school areas. So, this is something very concerning.
It's not new. It is a tactic of the Islamic regime and their proxy forces but it's definitely concerning for the future. And of course, there is some questioning about what President Trump does intend for the leadership.
[18:50:04]
The united call from the Iranian people on the ground is that they want the Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, to lead a transition government. After that, go to a national referendum, where they will choose the system of government.
But it's not clear yet where Trump stands on that issue. And we heard it in his press conference as well. He prefers someone inside.
The problem is, it isn't Venezuela. It's not the same system. And you have to deconstruct that system, the IRGC, in order to have genuine change and stability.
TAPPER: Interesting stuff. Emily, Jeremy, Tom and Alex, thank you all for your time and expertise.
You just heard President Trump trying to downplay the steep rise in gas prices that Americans are seeing because of the war with Iran. Are voters going to buy what he's saying? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Back in our politics lead. Just moments ago, President Trump, in his remarks to the press, seemed to downplay the global spike in oil prices as a result of the war on Iran.
[18:55:09]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I knew oil prices would go up if I did this, and they've gone up probably less than I thought they'd go up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Here now is the panel.
So, we just had the oil analyst from Gulf say politely, they went, they've gone up from 70 -- $70 a barrel to $120. So I don't know what he was expecting, but this is something Americans are going to feel directly at the pump.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I mean, not only are they going to feel it directly at the pump, I was astonished looking at the counter near my house, because within a few days, already it had just been climbing and climbing, climbing. You know, that's the thing about gas. People feel it, people feel it immediately and it makes people very angry when it moves.
And so, you know, this issue again hits to the heart of President Trump's affordability problem. This war is not helping with that.
FORMER REP. PETER MEIJER (R-MI): We're still well below where we were post-Russia invasion of Ukraine. Now this is the closure of the Strait of The Hormuz --
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I love the bar.
MEIJER: No, no, this is the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which when the president was saying, you know, this is less than we expected. This is absolutely less than you would expect.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Right now, we're one week in.
MEIJER: Which also means it's a relatively easy resolution. Now, there are things that are downstream that take a little bit of time to spin back up but fundamentally, if the Iranian regime said tomorrow, we will not attack anything else, everything can go through. Lloyd's brings that insurance back up, setting aside some of the things the ExIm Bank is trying to do to reduce that insurance costs, this will be a very rapid resolution in price.
TAPPER: But why would the Iranian regime ever do that? I mean, it's like -- it's a good pressure point.
MEIJER: It's their biggest point of leverage to date.
TAPPER: Yeah.
MEIJER: I mean, obviously, it's continued to inflict pain on the region, continue to keep air travel closed and then also continue to attack civilian infrastructure, including desalinization plants throughout the region. It is their leverage, but it's also their best means of saying, all right, let's get serious about a negotiation on what the future looks like.
TAPPER: One thing that looks that is very surprising is that usually when the U.S. goes to war, there is a rally round the flag kind of fervor that takes over the U.S. I'm not saying it's a good thing or a bad thing, but it just does happen. That's not happening here. A recent PBS News/NPR/Marist poll found 56 percent of the American people oppose U.S. military action in Iran.
Do you think the president needs to change how he communicates about this?
MEIJER: I think the president could be doing the best job possible and it still wouldn't matter. That 56 percent is the exact same as approval rating if you look at the Venezuelan support, it is --
GARCIA-NAVARRO: It's a different issue. The president has at no point tried to tell the American people why we're there, what is the purpose of this of this incursion. And also, he has done a 180 on what he always promised, which was that he would not drag America into foreign conflicts.
We still have a hangover from Afghanistan, and we still have a hangover from Iraq. The American people have not forgotten the disastrous effects of those war, and the president has done absolutely nothing to explain this to the American people in a way that they would could "rally around the flag", quote/unquote, and understand what they're doing there. Instead, they just see the cost.
TAPPER: And you fought -- you fought abroad. What are you hearing from your -- from your former battle buddies?
MEIJER: There's obviously some hesitation on how long things could last. And right now, we do not know anyone who served in Iraq. They look at the Iranian regime falling and they say, fantastic, please. They have the blood of so many of my brethren on their hands.
TAPPER: Because of the IEDs and such.
MEIJER: I mean, that was the number one threat that we were facing, at least in the time that I was there. And so, when it comes to, you know, making the case, you do not need to make the case to American veterans.
TAPPER: Interesting. I do wonder the president has communicated the issues, but I think he sometimes the scattershot nature of how he talks gets in its own way.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: It's incredibly muddled. On the one hand, it's -- we're doing regime change. Then, we're not doing regime change, but we're actually in there to get oil. Then, we're not doing it to get oil. Were there to help the Iranian people.
Then perhaps we're not going to help the Iranian people, we're going to just switch the regime out and maybe do business with them. If you are constantly changing the bar of what success is, of what the purpose of this is, then of course people aren't going to understand why we're doing it
TAPPER: So, the military commanders, General Caine, and others have said destroy their missile program, destroy their nuclear weaponization program, destroy their navy and, and kill the regime. So that's pretty clear. They're pretty close to doing that, I think.
MEIJER: Yeah. And then it's a question when it comes to destroying that regime, what does the future look like? And who is willing to step up and have it be a decapitate and delegate strategy, as opposed to what the concern is that it will be the regime change, endless wars, yada, yada, yada. That --
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Or civil war or a civil war that actually causes lots of mass displacement and plunges the region into more instability.
MEIJER: And the number one thing that I think Trump remembers when he's talking is he's obviously talking to a domestic audience. But even more importantly, he's talking to those Iranians who are going to be making those decisions, who want to figure out what the next days look like.
TAPPER: He's also made the point about, he thought de-Baathification. He didn't use the term. But when the U.S. went into Iraq and fired everybody, he thought that was a bad idea, and rightly so. He's right about that.
Thanks to both of you. Really appreciate it.
"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" live from Tel Aviv starts right now. Thanks again.
