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7th U.S. Service Member Killed In War With Iran; New Wave Of Attacks On Refineries In Middle East; Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) On Oil Prices Soaring Past $100 A Barrel As War Escalates. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 09, 2026 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[07:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump has said the choice in unacceptable and is not going to last.

Across the Middle East several strikes have targeted refineries. New video now out of Bahrain, a U.S. ally, showing a huge inferno after an attack on a refinery there.

We also learned from U.S. Central Command that a seventh U.S. soldier has been killed during operations in the Middle East.

CNN has team coverage inside of Iran, across the Middle East, and here at home.

Let us go to Zach Cohen who is in Washington for us. Zach, what kind of information are we getting about this seventh American service member who has died?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Sara. The U.S. military announcing that the seventh U.S. service member sustained injuries during that initial wave of Iranian retaliatory strikes last week, later dying from those injuries. This service member was in Saudi Arabia at the time they were injured during these Iranian strikes. And the name is being withheld for 24 hours while the family is notified.

But obviously this comes after President Donald Trump participated in the dignified transfer of the first six U.S. service members who were killed in Iranian strikes. This is something that he's been -- U.S. casualties are a reality that Donald Trump has acknowledged really since the beginning of these joint U.S.-Israeli operations. And he was asked again over the weekend about whether or not these casualties give him pause and he effectively said no, and that this is consequence of war.

But in a further demonstration of the risks U.S. personnel are -- in the Middle East are currently facing, the State Department also ordering all non-emergency U.S. diplomats to evacuate from Saudi Arabia. This is just the latest country in the region where U.S. diplomats have been required to leave due to the current dangers. And obviously the U.S. State Department has also evacuated thousands of American citizens from the Middle East as well. So as this conflict continues the risks and the dangers are very real.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much to you for that reporting, Zach Cohen.

Let's go now to Paula Hancocks. She is in Dubai with the latest on what is happening with the strikes that are hitting places like Bahrain and their refineries, and other Gulf nations. We heard from Iran two different things, one from sort of the political class. The president saying that they will stop doing this sort of thing -- sending drones and such to places like the UAE and to their neighbors. But then you heard something very different from the clerics -- the hardliners.

What can you tell us this morning?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Sara, we certainly know who is in charge in Iran and it does not appear to be the president who apologized and said there would be no more attacks on the Gulf nations. We have seen plenty of attacks since he made those initial comments.

Now we have seen in Bahrain a number of injuries. There was a drone attack here on a residential area. It was in Sitra, about five kilometers south of the capital -- maybe three miles south of the capital. Thirty-two people have been injured, four of them seriously. And we know that children are among those injured. A 2-month-old baby and two young boys, and a 17-year-old girl.

This are we understand was close to energy infrastructure. That really appears to be a key target of Iran over recent days, and it only appears to be becoming even higher. The National Communication Center saying that it caused significant damage.

And then elsewhere in an industrial area in Bahrain we also saw a fire burning at a facility of the national oil company there. So this really is becoming a concern as Tehran tries to target the key energy infrastructure of a number of these Gulf nations.

Now also here in the UAE we've had a number of interceptions. We saw this Monday morning two waves that impacted Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. They also have had a drone shot down. The National Guard shot that down. They say it was near a key facility, not specifying exactly where. So that was obviously something key on Tehran's target list.

And then also we understand that in the UAE here there are still many flights that are taking off -- many flights taking people out of this area. And certainly that is giving people hope here. But, of course, at the same time there is no let up in the retaliation from Iran -- Sara.

SIDNER: Yeah. We saw -- we're looking at some of the video in Dubai inside of the airport. Lots of people trying to get out. Sometimes their flights being stopped because of all that is going on in the skies over the UAE.

Thank you to you, Paula. Really appreciate it. Nick Paton Walsh now -- he is near the Israel-Lebanon border. What are you -- what can you tell us about what you're hearing and seeing on the latest wave of attacks involving Israel?

[07:35:05]

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that is Lebanon behind me. We have, since we got here last night, been hearing ferocious airstrikes in the distance during the night on the ground here, I've seen Apaches and jets. We've seen troops maneuvering tanks -- maneuvering as well. Not signs of a full- flown ground invasion that we're seeing here publicly being far from it, frankly.

But we are also learning from the Israel Defense Forces that they conducted their second targeted raid inside of southern Lebanon that may have been the extraordinary firepower we were seeing being deployed last night that at times lit up the sky targeting key facilities and commanders inside of southern Lebanon.

So clearly, Israel putting in ground troops on two occasions that we know of so far, the earlier being in the Beqaa Valley a couple of days ago now but not as we can see at the moment preparing for a more extensive assault.

Separately, far to the north of where I am, the southern suburbs of Beirut are being significantly pounded again. A huge blast heard there just recently.

And so this sort of separate chapter to the conflict absolutely related and inextricably connected because Hezbollah began this conflict by saying they would avenge the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Separately, it is pursuing, it seems, quite fast-paced. We've had these significant evacuation orders. We're seeing significant firepower certainly being deployed. It does seem to be more about targeted things that Israel is striking.

But the noise of outgoing artillery fire and, indeed, we've just had in one of the nearby towns here rockets flying in over our heads and interceptions that were extraordinarily close. Almost no warning, frankly. At the moment you hear a siren you have to take cover. But a real sense here I think that Israel is picking up the pace of the targeting.

You can perhaps see over there in the distance on the hillsides one of the artillery rounds we just heard fired has landed on the hill behind me. And I'm sure this microphone can't pick it up, but the sound of drones is omnipresent here as, to be honest, has been the sound of jets that we've been hearing too.

But Israel sustained their first fatalities of their assault yesterday -- the first two -- and we're now over 400 Lebanese dead here, nearly 100 of those children according to Lebanese officials.

So this separate chapter moving it seems quite aggressively towards Israel's goal. But as I say, I'm not seeing signs of a full flown ground invasion being prepared at this point, Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you for keeping an eye on that. Keep your head on a swivel, you and your crew. Thank you for being there to you, Paula Hancocks and Zach Cohen. Do appreciate it -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So this morning a CNN team inside the Iranian capital is reporting that they have heard the thuds from what appears to be airstrikes shortly after dawn there. Black smoke still hanging over Tehran.

The fires from oil storage tanks continue to burn after major airstrikes on them over the weekend.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen and his team is on the ground in Iran. A reminder, CNN operates in the country with the permission of the Iranian government but maintains full editorial control over what we report. Here is his report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's an absolutely apocalyptic scene here. We've just made it to the Shahran oil depot, which was attacked last night in a massive wave of airstrikes. We heard those going on for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half, with massive thuds and then explosions that we could hear.

And that thick, black plume of smoke -- we saw that last night and now we're actually seeing it up close. And what we're also seeing is that some of those destroyed storage tanks are still on fire. There are still flames originating from them.

You can also see here that the area around here is also completely destroyed. There is people here actually working on this electricity pole to try and get the electricity back.

And then this tanker vehicle here also that is right in front of the gate has been completely destroyed as well. The front gate of the facility also in complete ruins. The facility appears to be completely in ruins now after these massive airstrikes. And again, still on fire, still burning.

And you can see that thick, black smoke through the entire city across all of Tehran. It's been raining this morning in Tehran. There was oil mixed into the rain. So this is definitely a massive incident that is still going on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Our thanks to Fred for that.

So you have oil facilities on fire in and around Tehran. We've got oil facilities on fire in the Gulf island nation of Bahrain. What has that done to oil prices? Overnight, you can see oil prices topped $100 a barrel, up more than 12 percent. That's overnight. I have to tell you the prices were even higher at some point over the course of the evening, which caused jitters all throughout the markets. [07:40:05]

You can see what oil prices have done this year. Just in the last few weeks an almost vertical increase in the price of oil. Why? Well, a lot of this has to do with the Strait of Hormuz, which is all but frozen right now. Twenty percent of the world's oil passes through this narrow lane and gets exported around the world.

With us now former NATO supreme allied commander and retired admiral, James Stavridis. Admiral, thank so much for being with us. I'm so glad you're here because you, among all of us, have actually traveled through these straits many times on naval vessels and tankers.

This is a different look at them. This is Iran up here. This is Oman right here. This the 20-mile strait right there. And the key people need to see here is that it's empty. Nothing really passing through this narrow 20-mile strip. Ships backed up over here and over here.

How serious of a situation is that? What more could the United States do to open it up and what more could Iran do if they want to keep it shut down?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST, FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER, VICE CHAIRMAN, THE CARLYLE GROUP: John, you're correct. I've sailed the strait dozens of times. And you mentioned 20 miles. That's between land-to-land. It's actually two miles -- the channel -- the deepwater channel. The highway, if you will, that these massive tankers have to navigate. So this is very narrow and very challenging in a maritime perspective.

And Iran has options. They can use short-range ballistic missiles. They have still hundreds of speedboats that have rocket-thrown grenades, machine guns. They can use mines. That's what I worry about most of all. They have an inventory probably approaching 5,000 mines. So they can do all of that. They can also destroy the buoy system -- the navigational markers. And in a real extremist they could drive tankers into the middle of it and sink them.

So Iran has a lot of options. Your question is right. What can we do about it?

First, we need to destroy as much of their navy as we can, check. Number two, we need to find the mines wherever they are ashore and destroy those stockpiles. That's I think in progress. And number three, we can consider some things that I did back in the late 1980s escorting these tankers. My cruiser sailed alongside the tankers to protect them from the ballistic missiles.

So there are options out there. Iran hasn't pulled the pin in full yet. But you asked the question how concerned am I? Close that strait and you're looking at weeks if not months of real impact to the global economy.

BERMAN: Which would be serious, and you're seeing the jitters this morning with the price increases. I want to show you -- this is what's been happening inside Iran. Obviously, all these dots are strikes from the air, largely in this part of the country.

Admiral, the president continues to not rule out the use of ground troops. Secretary Hegseth also said, you know, we're not going to say no ground troops.

But if ground troops were to be introduced in some form or fashion, what exactly do you think the options are there. What are they talking about?

STAVRIDIS: Top of the list go after the remaining nuclear facilities. Most of them -- the big ones are kind of buried under rubble but somewhere are kilograms -- a lot of them -- of enriched uranium -- probably enriched to about 60 percent. That's the stockpile that still is essentially unlocated, at least to the west. So if we have good visibility on where that is and where it's held, that would probably be the top mission.

You could also use special forces to go after new leadership targets shall we say. You could also couple military special forces with CIA and the Mossad to try and organize the resistance. That trio of potential operations are I think what's rattling around the Pentagon at the moment.

Final thought, John. This is high-risk stuff and, of course, we're all very pleased with the way the Venezuela raid came about -- highly special forces. But we've had other raids in our past, including in Iran, Desert One back in 1980, which was a failure. And in Afghanistan around the time I was in command of that NATO mission -- a little before that -- we lost 19 special forces -- the best of the best -- in the high mountains of Afghanistan on a raid after Taliban, frankly, low-level leadership.

So these are high-risk operations. They don't always go as smoothly as something like Venezuela. I'm sure the president and the team are weighing all of that.

[07:45:05]

BERMAN: No doubt about that.

Admiral James Stavridis, thank you so much for being with us this morning -- Sara.

SIDNER: The Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning battled for a top spot in the Atlantic Division.

All right. Coy Wire is here with one of the most entertaining games. Would you -- is that how you would put it? The most entertaining games in the NHL this season or overall?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It would have taken half an hour to show all the fights that broke out in this game and all the goals. The feisty showdown with a phenomenal finish for the Atlantic Division, the Sabres and Lightning.

We're going to pick it up at the start of the second period. Gloves drop at the puck drop. Michael Kesselring and Erik Cernak -- these teams had already been in four brawls with 70 combined penalty minutes in the first period alone. Four seconds later Corey Perry and Beck Malenstyn. All these fights, all these penalties, but a heck of a game.

The Lightning fought back from a 4-1 deficit to take a 7-6 lead. They scored seven goals on 28 shots. But in the third Josh Doan, who opened the scoring closed the scoring with a powerplay goal. The Lightning had one more chance, but they couldn't come through. And, of course, it ended with more tussling. One hundred two penalty minutes in all.

Buffalo winning 8-7. The first regular season game in 40 years with 100 penalty minutes and 15 goals. That Buffalo crowd was loud.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RASMUS DAHLIN, DEFENSEMAN, BUFFALO SABRES: We're sure we could not have done this without the crowd we had. They kept us in the game the whole -- the whole match and it was an unbelievable atmosphere. I think that's probably the top I've experienced.

JASON ZUCKER, FORWARD, BUFFALO SABRES: My ears are still ringing so it was a -- it was pretty loud. It was pretty fun. It was a hell of an atmosphere and fun to be a part of. I'm just grateful to be a part of this group right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right. In women's college hoops there were 10 seconds to go in the ACC Championship game. Louisville up two but Ashlon Jackson sees Delaney Thomas who banks home the game-tying bucket. And in overtime Duke's Riley Nelson with the dagger three, sealing the Blue Devils' second-straight conference title with a 70-65 overtime win.

Check out this wild finish on the men's side. Boston University Naval Academy tied, but Austin Benigni and the Midshipmen take the lead with just four seconds to go. Don't sleep on Boston. Three seconds, two seconds, one, and Chance Gladden at the buzzer is good. The game- winner -- 73-72. The Terriers --

SIDNER: Wow.

WIRE: -- knocking off top-seeded Navy and the Patriot League semis to advance to the title game. They will face Lehigh.

It's that time of year. Get those brackets thought about. Selection Sunday is this Sunday, so you know March Madness is really about to be on.

SIDNER: I just love it. But if we can just quickly go back to the NHL for a minute. You know I'm a lover, not a fighter, but that was -- that was amazing. The crowd was trying to jump onto the court. I mean, the ice. It was a whole thing. WIRE: I mean, the penalty boxes were just full.

SIDNER: Nuts!

WIRE: Anytime someone would come out another brawl --

SIDNER: Two.

WIRE: -- would break out. These guys were out to try to prove a point.

SIDNER: Oh, man.

WIRE: -- and they were imposing their will on each other. Fifteen total goals in that game.

BOLDUAN: They're like too many people in the penalty box.

SIDNER: Right? It's full.

BOLDUAN: They had to open an overflow room for the penalty box.

SIDNER: It was like a boxing match. You've got two things, boxing and hockey. I love it.

BOLDUAN: What's also known as hockey.

All right, moving on. Coming up for us, another mess is unfolding at U.S. airports now. Airports across the country are reporting hours long wait times at security checkpoints due to the ongoing and yet again partial government shutdown. We've got an update for you on this.

And the marathon is 26.2 miles so why were racers at the Los Angeles Marathon given the option to finish at mile 18?

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:53:50]

BOLDUAN: So there are growing concerns about the economic fallout now from the Iran war as it continues to unfold. Overnight, U.S. stock futures just tumbled. And with oil facilities in Iran and in other places in the region now on fire the price of oil has continued to surge, now past $100 a barrel for the first time in four years. That's since just after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Prices are now more than 40 percent -- up more than 40 percent since February 27, the day before the U.S. and Israel launched the Iran attacks.

And as Axios points out -- and points to it this way -- that the war in Iran has disrupted 20 percent of global oil supply according to an energy analysis firm, and that's more than double the previous record set during the Suez crisis back in the 1950s.

This is translating already in the short term to higher gas prices in the United States for one, which President Trump is now speaking to, trying to calm fears and trying to downplay the impact, writing on social media, "Short term oil prices is a very small price to pay for USA and world safety and peace."

[07:55:00]

Joining me right now is Republican Congressman Mike Lawler of New York. He sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Congressman, thanks for coming in.

So you have the worst global oil supply disruption in history right now and gas prices are clearly going up. Are you concerned about this in the short and long term?

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY) (via Webex by Cisco): Well, it's certainly a concern and it's something that we need to be working tirelessly to address both in terms of the strategic petroleum reserve and the potential to be releasing that. I saw France is looking at, you know, releasing out of their strategic petroleum reserve. That, though, is a short-term solution.

Obviously, the larger issue here is the Straits of Hormuz and being able to release the flow of oil, you know, and allow for transit on ships out of the strait. So this is something that the administration obviously understands, which is why they have been decimating Iran's naval fleet across the strait and the surrounding area to make sure that they cannot block off, you know, the Straits of Hormuz and allow for the flow of oil.

But this is -- you know, we are obviously within the first two weeks of this conflict and so, you know, these are things that are being addressed right now. It is going to take a little bit of time and so obviously there's some sort-term volatility.

Long term, obviously, you know, the price of oil has a direct impact on the economy and so that's something that the administration is going to have to aggressively watch and respond to.

BOLDUAN: And in terms of response, you know, the question is how high is acceptable in a short term, right? The president's trying to say short-term pain, long-term gain but gas prices and low gas prices has been something that has been a real high point in the Trump economy.

Would a time period -- a period of time of gas prices being at more than $5.00 a gallon be an acceptable price to pay for taking on Iran right now in your view?

LAWLER: Look, obviously there is a volatility in the market that is directly impacting oil prices right now. But I look at this two-fold. One, removing the threat from Iran and in particular their ballistic missiles capability, their naval fleet, their pursuit of nuclear weapons, their financing of terrorism, the mass slaughtering of their own people -- that needed to be addressed.

And the ayatollah and the regime were unwilling to negotiate in good faith. They were not willing to cede on any of these issues in reality. And so President Trump made a decision to finally end the threat after 47 years. There obviously is a consequence to that in the short term in the market. What that translates to in terms of, you know, what is the pressure point, obviously we want to bring down prices across the board.

We saw under Joe Biden the disastrous cost of everyday goods, the disastrous cost of housing, rising gas prices. President Trump was able to bring that down.

Obviously in the last, you know, 10-plus days there's been volatility. This needs to be a focus of the administration and we need to make sure that we are addressing it. There are a lot of things that can be done.

Obviously, one of the things that has happened as well in the last few months is the shift in dynamic in Venezuela --

BOLDUAN: Right.

LAWLER: -- which will also help in terms of the oil markets as those -- as their oil comes back online into the open marketplace.

So there's a lot happening here, but I think --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

LAWLER: -- the administration needs to take it seriously and be aggressive on it.

BOLDUAN: How long it takes and how much of Venezuela's oil comes back online is a big question though, still.

Axios is reporting that Israel's strikes on 30 Iranian fuel depots Saturday went far beyond what the United States was expecting. A U.S. official told Barak Ravid of Axios -- said the U.S. military was surprised by how wide-ranging they were. "We don't think it was a good idea," a senior U.S. official said. And an Israeli official said the U.S. message to Israel was "WTF."

Do you see this as a problem that there are -- that U.S. and Israel might not be on the same page in terms of these strike targets now?

LAWLER: Uh, look -- obviously, that's something they need to be making sure they are fully coordinated on. And certainly when you strike at the oil refineries and the capacity, you know, that is going to cause a lot of damage within Iran.

From my vantage point the Iranian oil trade has been the source of their illicit financing of everything they have done. But from the standpoint of long term and being able for that country to have some level of stability, they do need their oil capacity.