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Iran Names New Supreme Leader; Trump Says New Leader Won't Last Long Without His Support; Oil Prices Soar Past $100 a Barrel as War Escalates; Airport Security Lines Stretch for Hours Amid DHS Shutdown. Aired 8:00-8:30a ET

Aired March 09, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY), FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: ... 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. And so, you know, my approach has been very much on the sanctions side of things, which is why we're going to have another sanctions bill coming forward next week when we come back to Washington that I've introduced to expand the capacity of the administration to target sanctions.

I think striking the oil fields in Iran, you know, needs to be done very, very cautiously.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Congressman Mike Lawler, thanks for coming in.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news, the Wall Street Journal writes, the long feared Persian Gulf oil squeeze is upon us. Oil prices soaring with refineries on fire, shipping frozen and the war impact spreading.

Airport TSA lines topping an hour or more in Houston. Passengers asked to show up four to five hours early. No paychecks for TSA workers due to the partial government shutdown.

And Los Angeles police arrest a woman they say shot several rounds from an assault rifle into Rihanna's home while she was inside.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: All right, the breaking news this morning, gas prices in the United States soaring 50 cents higher than they were a little over a week ago when the war with Iran started. After a new wave of strikes on oil refineries this weekend left streets in Tehran just lined with fire, as you see there.

We also have an answer to a major question that's been lingering since the war -- since the war with the U.S. and Israel striking began and killed Iran's supreme leader. Who will lead that country? Iranian state media is saying now Mojtaba Khamenei will succeed his father.

Video from Iran's state media shows people celebrating the announcement in the streets of Iran. He was selected by the country's 88-member assembly of experts, as it is known, a choice that President Trump had called unacceptable even before it was announced. The president then telling ABC News this weekend that he must personally approve of the new leader and the quote that he gave, if he doesn't get approval from us, he's not going to last long.

Back to those gas prices. They have now soared to the highest level of either Trump presidencies. The average prices per gallon in the United States is now $3.48, an increase of about 17 percent since this all began 10 days ago -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, joining me now is CNN political and global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh and CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas. Thank you both for being here.

Sabrina, I'll start with you. On 60 Minutes, Pete Hegseth just last night, reiterated President Trump's statement that they are not ruling out sending soldiers on the ground into this war. When you hear that, what do you think?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, I think this goes against what the administration and Republican Party specifically said at the beginning and the outset of this war. And so I think if you're going to put boots on the ground, that's really going to change the dynamics of the war. And frankly, it is going to put our service members at tremendous risk.

I mean, we do operations, we have the best special operators that can embed and conduct missions like you saw in Venezuela. But really putting boots on the ground in a country that is 90 million people big with very strong, deep-rooted IRGC military capabilities, that is going to put our service members at risk. And I think there really needs to be a conversation here about a war powers authorization that the administration should seek through Congress.

SIDNER: Alex, Iran has a new Supreme Leader, the son of Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba Khamenei, is now taking over. And President Trump weighed in saying he's an unacceptable choice. And if he doesn't get approval from us, this is from President Trump, he's not going to last long.

Does that tell you basically that the United States will back Israel in its promise to kill any Supreme Leader from now forward?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think it's going to be a wait and see with the new Supreme Leader. And here's why. He was just installed yesterday.

I mean, his wife, his mother and his father were killed in a strike just a week ago. You know, he served in the IRGC in 87 to 88, tail end of the Iraq-Iran war.

[08:05:00] He was in charge of the besiege in 2009, when they violently repressed some of the uprisings. He was associated with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former president, very conservative. And there's been some writings to suggest that perhaps he would support the acquisition of a nuclear weapon.

If all of that is true, that really doesn't leave policy room to work with the United States. But he's not really given public speeches before, so we don't know where he stands on anything. He's supposed to give a speech in a few hours.

So I think whatever comes out of his mouth is going to be very telling and short of him or someone else who's a moderate, whether that be a cleric or an individual, according to sources within the administration. Unless someone like that steps to the microphone and says, hey, we've got a new government with new policies that are going to be friendly towards the United States or Israel and not be a security threat and focus on our domestic issues, it's going to be unacceptable. And yes, then I think he'll be pursued.

SIDNER: Sabrina, I do want to ask you about what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz, where we're barely seeing any kind of movement. Iran threatening to blow up any ship that goes through there. The United States saying, hey, we're going to protect ships and we're going to start getting them to go through the Strait of Hormuz.

How dangerous and volatile is the situation there?

SINGH: Well, just look back to what we did during the Biden administration, where we had our destroyers escorting commercial shipping through the Red Sea. And during that time, the Houthis were attacking U.S. ships, our ally ships and commercial ships. So widen that out to the Strait of Hormuz.

The same thing is going to happen. You're going to see the same type of missiles or drones being launched towards our ships. And we were successful in shooting them down, but that doesn't mean that's going to happen every time.

So the chokehold that's happening in the Strait of Hormuz, as you've covered for the last few hours, we're seeing this rise in oil prices. And I think the question that we need to be asking ourselves is, is this all worth it? You know, the case that hasn't been really made to the American people of what is the end goal here and what does success look like?

And so I think what we need to be asking is what is the off ramp for lower gas prices. And frankly, the issue of affordability is going to hit home domestically if that Strait of Hormuz does not open soon to allow shipping to continue through it.

SIDNER: Alex, I want to ask you about the capabilities of Iran now, as this now stretches into a second week and we're seeing a lot more use of drones and a lot less use of ballistic missiles. What's left? Because they have been hit so hard over and over and over again.

What are the capabilities? Do we have a sense of that?

PLITSAS: We do. We've had some statements that have been released by both the Israelis and the United States. They estimate somewhere around 120 ballistic missile launchers left.

As you can tell, the number of attacks has subsided, but it's still happening. And to Sabrina's point that was just made, when it comes to commercial shipping and things of that nature, that is the more dangerous threat right now with the drones. They're much harder to defend against and they can be launched in swarms, potentially overwhelming defenses. The Department of Defense has actually launched a task force to acquire new unmanned sUAS system countermeasures to be able to fight back against those.

But the problem that we have now, just to expand on what Sabrina was saying, because I think she's 100 percent right, when we look at the chokehold in the Straits and the fear there is that they're going to launch drones against commercial shipping because it's part of a broader strategy that Iran has. So they're using drones and missiles to try to maximize U.S. casualties. They are attempting to elongate the war because they don't think the president wants to hold out for it. They're attempting to divide his cabinet and the MAGA base and also increase the cost of goods and oil. After speaking to sources in the region, as well as folks in Tehran, that is what the strategy is at this point.

So the fear is over the next 7 to 14 days, if it doesn't get under control, that oil prices will spike somewhere between 100 to 150. It dropped a little bit this morning at the prospect of the Strategic Reserve being released. But over that time, it's unknown.

So there's about 20 million barrels that come out of there on a daily basis. Only about a million and a half sort of come to the U.S. The rest of it goes east. As Sabrina was mentioning, there's a possibility for the U.S. Navy to escort and an insurance vehicle that's being built by the U.S.

So we'll see what the shipping owners do. Hearing perhaps the Greek and Chinese shipping owners may be able to get in, their max capacity is 4 to 5 million barrels a day if they all go in and there's no ships that are struck. And that's only 25 percent of what needs to come out. So we'll see where this goes.

SIDNER: Yes, there's so many complications in war, that being one of them. Alex Plitsas, Sabrina Singh, it is a pleasure. Thank you both -- John.

BERMAN: All right, one airport telling passengers to show up four to five hours early. Four to five hours. TSA lines stretching and stretching from the partial government shutdown.

New severe weather warnings as deadly storms rip through parts of the country, killing at least eight people.

And a student now facing homicide charges after what was supposed to be a toilet paper prank takes a truly tragic turn. [08:10:00]

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BERMAN: All right, breaking news this morning. Oil prices soaring. West Texas crude now hovering around $100 a barrel. You can see this chart over time. The last time it was this high was when Russia invaded Ukraine, and that height was in June of 2022.

But I want you to look at the very end of this chart, an almost vertical increase over the last two weeks, an incredibly quick rise over a very short period of time.

[08:15:00]

It could get even higher, experts say, by the end of March, maybe even $150 a barrel if travel through the Strait of Hormuz does not start flowing again. That flow of oil through that critical waterway has effectively ground to a halt. It's only a 20-mile stretch of sea between Iran and Oman and actually only a two-mile wide sea lane.

The president shrugged off the rise in oil prices, calling it a very small price to pay for USA and world safety and peace.

CNN's Matt Egan is with us now. In these prices we've seen overnight, the sharp, sharp increase, more than 10 percent in one day, Matt. That's pretty staggering.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, it is absolutely staggering. Look, oil prices are going through the roof. And you know, oil is a notoriously boom-to-bust market, but even by those standards, this is just a historic spike.

Look at this. Oil prices nine months ago, all the way on the left side of your screen, that was the last time there were tensions with Iran and a conflict. And that looks like just a tiny, tiny increase compared to what's going on now.

Before the war started, U.S. oil prices were trading at about $67 a barrel. At one point overnight, they got to $119 a barrel. Now, let's look at a live look at oil prices.

You can see they have pulled back from that peak, just over $100 now. However, 11 percent increase, a $10 increase. In terms of dollar amounts, at one point this morning, U.S. oil prices were on track for their biggest one-day dollar increase in history.

Now, as you mentioned, the problem is the fact that this war has disrupted the supply of oil out of the Middle East. And it's not just that the Strait of Hormuz effective closure is delaying the shipment of oil out of the region. It's the fact that oil producers there, they have nowhere to put the oil.

They're literally running out of room to store it all, so they have to slash production. And you look at gas prices, $2.98 before the war started, $3.48 a gallon right now. That's the highest level since August of 2024, quite the move in just the span of a little over a week.

And you know, this is another look at gas prices as well. Zooming out, you can see how it's just going significantly higher. Now, it's not just gas though, John.

Jet fuel, right? Jet fuel prices have skyrocketed. United Airlines CEO warning that that could raise the cost of airfare.

And diesel as well. Diesel prices they're actually up by even more than gasoline on a percentage basis, 24 percent increase. This is a three-year high.

And look, this is bad news for farmers, for railroads, for trucks, and ultimately, John, for consumers because everyone is indirectly paying the cost of diesel when they're buying stuff. So this is a significant situation.

And look, the White House is arguing, the President has said that this is hopefully just a short-term glitch and that prices will eventually crash. Hopefully, he's right. I think the bottom line here is how long does this last, right?

The duration. Because if this is just a few days of $100 or so oil, this could end up just being a blip economically. But if this is something that lasts in terms of weeks or even longer, then you're going to start to hear some people really concerned about a potential recession caused by higher energy prices.

And look at U.S. stock futures. They're down, but not dramatically lower, given the scale of the spike in oil prices.

BERMAN: Again, when I woke up overnight and prices were at $120 a barrel, there was, I don't want to use this word loosely, but there was borderline panic at the steep increase in just a few hours.

EGAN: Absolutely, there's no other way to look at it.

BERMAN: People were on the edge of their seats for a few hours. Matt Egan, thank you --

EGAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: -- very much for that -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Stand by and buckle up. Let's see what happens when markets open in a short time. We're also standing by for an update from investigators this morning after that explosive device was thrown at the official residence of New York City's mayor.

The FBI says they're now investigating this as a possible act of terrorism. Again, we're getting an update from NYPD. Let's see what they tell us now.

And what led a customer to pepper spray a teenage worker at a fast food drive-thru? We've got an update on this.

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BOLDUAN: Airports across the country are reporting hours-long lines at TSA checkpoints as the partial government shutdown drags on. TSA agents are now working without pay, while Congress remains at a stalemate on the future of funding for the Department of Homeland Security. And that means staffing shortages are setting in.

In New Orleans, lines stretched all the way into the airport's parking lot on Sunday. That is not a scene anyone wants to come upon. In Houston, people are being told to arrive some five hours before their flights to ensure that they make it through screening in time.

CNN's Pete Muntean tracking this one for us. And the longer it stretches on, Pete, the worse it gets. What are we looking at?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're talking hours- long lines again this morning, Kate. Just check Houston Hobby, the line to get into TSA, already two hours long. I want to show you what it looked like yesterday.

Remember, Hobby is a huge hub for Southwest Airlines. And the airline usually ups the number of flights around now for spring break. Now, I want you to think if you're one of those millions of travelers flying on Southwest, getting this alert from the airport.

This is the post from Houston Hobby Airport yesterday, which said you should arrive four to five hours ahead of your flight. That is so early, you can't even drop off a bag to be checked for Southwest policies. Why is this happening?

Well, it really all comes down to staffing. Remember, TSA agents are considered essential and currently reporting to work without pay during this partial government shutdown that specifically targets funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which the Transportation Security Administration falls under. So, a few TSA agents not reporting to work because they can't pay for childcare, for example, and need to stay home can have a really outsized impact.

This is not an isolated problem, though, Kate, happening across the country.

[08:25:00]

I want to show you that line again at New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport. The line for TSA was so long, stretched into the parking garage. And I want you to listen now to what some of passengers have to say as they're going through all of this, New Orleans, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long have you been waiting in line?

GAL JURIK, PASSENGER: About 45 minutes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where did the line start when you got here?

JURIK: It started deep inside the garage there, and it circles around seven times before you even get to this part.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: We're also learning our problems at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport and Charlotte at Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The list keeps growing. Just some context here.

Big political pressure point when it comes to TSA lines. TSA agents not reporting to work was partially responsible for the end of the 35- day government shutdown, 2018 into 2019. We saw sick calls increase during the most recent government shutdown just this past November.

We're nibbling at the heels of the start of spring break travel. And so if you're one of the millions with plans to get out during the spring break travel rush, then the end of this really can't come soon enough. We will see how long this goes on -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: And this is -- I know that let's see how long it goes on. But this is just beyond ridiculous. And this isn't I'm not blaming any airport, anyone.

I'm not blaming any TSA agent. But like in the United States of America, a security line that's stretching into a parking lot and people being told to show up five hours before your flight, like we got to be better than this. This is crazy pants.

MUNTEAN: Dramatic.

BOLDUAN: Yes, to say the least. It's good to see you, Pete. Thanks so much -- Sara.

SIDNER: The official word crazy pants. That's how you could describe what's happening with gas this morning. This morning, oil anxiety and surging prices.

The war in the Middle East is causing gas prices to jump. How high are they going and how is the market going to react?

Plus a major scare for superstar Rihanna and her family. A woman is arrested after shooting a high powered rifle at the singer's home. Those stories and more ahead.

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END

Aired 8:00-8:30a ET