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Iran Launches New Strikes; Iran Defies Trump; Oil Prices Soar; Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA) is Interviewed about Iran. Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired March 09, 2026 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We'll keep a close eye on that. Again, greatest chances for tornadic development south of the Chicago suburbs. But we cannot rule out the potential of a stronger storm in and around Chicago.
Nonetheless, there will be severe storms ongoing across the Tennessee Valley, all the way to central Texas, with heavy rain, large hail, and the potential for more damaging tornadoes. So, we'll keep a close eye on that. Very active weather coming again.
Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. Yes, thank you so much, Derek. I really appreciate you keeping such a close watch.
A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Oil prices soar to four year highs. Oil facilities on fire on both sides of the Persian Gulf, Iran, and U.S. allies with new questions this morning about how the United States will approach the new Iranian supreme leader.
We're standing by for an update on a federal terror investigation here in New York. Homemade bombs thrown outside the mayor's home. Sources say the suspects admitted they were inspired by ISIS.
And then passengers told to show up four to five hours early at one airport. New TSA choke points with the partial government shutdown.
I'm John Berman, with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with breaking news. Crowds gathered across Iran to pledge allegiance to the country's new supreme leader. While in the U.S., the war is driving gas prices to the highest level seen in either of Trump's presidencies. And Iran's state TV announced Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's 56-year-old son will succeed him as supreme leader. Khamenei was killed in U.S.-Israeli strike at the beginning of this war. The new leader was chosen without any input from President Trump, as he has demanded, and Trump has vowed the leader won't last long without his approval. The war is sending gas prices soaring. The average for a gallon in the
United States is now $3.48 and it's $0.50 higher since the fighting began. And oil hovering around $100 a barrel, though it did jump much higher overnight and then came back down. This has the stock markets on edge ahead of the opening bell, which is less than 30 minutes from now.
And it also comes as multiple attacks across the Middle East targeted refineries. New images out of Bahrain here you're seeing. That's an image of a fire and plume of smoke that's rising from one of the refineries there.
We also learned from U.S. Central Command that a seventh U.S. soldier has died from injuries received during an attack in Saudi Arabia on March 1st.
Let's go now to Nic Robertson. He is live this morning in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for us.
The State Department ordered U.S. officials to leave Riyadh overnight. What are you learning?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, the embassy is just a few miles away from us over here and the staff there, also at the consulate in Jeddah and Dammam (ph), in the east and the west of the country, have also been ordered, all non-emergency staff and families to leave the country. This is because a, quote," safety risk."
Last week, some staff in the embassy were allowed to leave voluntarily. This upgrades the risk level and the perception that Saudi Arabia continues to be a target, as it is, as we've seen it. Ballistic missiles early today at the Prince Sultan Air Base, where we understand U.S. forces are based. Also at oil fields around the country. And this has led to a very strong statement by the Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry here. It appears very much aimed at Iran and its new leadership, saying that attacks on civilian infrastructure here, that would be airports, that would be oil facilities, constitutes a breach of international humanitarian law. They say that is despite the fact that Iran knows that Saudi Arabia's bases are only being used, they say, to defend their country from Iran's missiles, to defend the region from Iran's missiles.
They're going on to say, and this is where the language gets really diplomatically tough, that any continued attack represents an escalation. That continued attacks are not the wisest course of action because it could lead to a wider escalation in which it says, the Saudi Arabian government says, in which Iran would be the greatest loser.
Saudi Arabia has tried to stay out of this war. Continues to want to stay out of this war. It is not threatening war against Iran. But this is very strong diplomatic language that amounts to, cease and desist the, or else, I think, is contained in that language.
The details on the service member who died in that strike just over a week ago, very few details.
[09:05:06]
We do know there was a strike that day at Prince Sultan Air Base, which continues to be a target. We don't know if there were any other casualties. But, obviously, it speaks to the nature of this conflict. And although most missiles fired at Saudi Arabia do get intercepted, some do get through it.
SIDNER: Yes, I mean, it's really stark what you're hearing from the Saudis now, basically a warning to Iran if they keep continuing to do this, they may see a response, something that none of the other neighboring countries have wanted to do.
Nic Robertson, thank you so much for your excellent reporting there. I do appreciate it.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: So, what is President Trump going to say about this new supreme leader that has now been announced? And the question also quickly becomes, what is he going to do about it? Here's the take from the former ambassador to the European Union in Trump's first term just earlier in the show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORDON SONDLAND, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE EUROPEAN UNION: I don't think I would be buying green bananas. He's absolutely telegraphed that he's not only going to continue his father's philosophy, but he's going to double down and triple down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: President Trump has said that the war itself will end when he, along with Israel, decides its over.
CNN's Kevin Liptak live at the White House.
Kevin, what are you hearing from your sources about the reaction that is going to be coming from the president on the announcement of the new supreme leader?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right. And the administration is certainly not viewing this as a positive step. In fact, we did hear very briefly from President Trump overnight. He said he was not happy about the installation of Mojtaba Khamenei as the new supreme leader. He said that in a phone call with Fox News.
And remember, just last week he was asked about the prospect of the son of the slain supreme leader taking up that job, and he said it would be unacceptable. The president has also said that he expects a say in who leads Iran going forward. He says, "if they don't get approval from us he's not going to last very long." Clearly the Iranian regime did not seek his approval in all of this. And so, I think you can see it as a repudiation of President Trump. One regional diplomat told me it was, quote, "a direct rebuke of President Trump." And it does seem to suggest that there is no room for compromise, that there are no off ramps, at least for the here and now.
And I think it does portend what will be a prolonged conflict, suggesting we may be closer to the beginning of this war than the end of it. And, in fact, we heard just that from Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, when he was on "60 Minutes" last night. He says that this is only just the beginning, that the U.S. will continue ramping up its attacks on Iran as this conflict enters a second week.
Hegseth was also asked about the potential that U.S. troops could go on the ground in Iran. Of course, President Trump has not ruled this out. Listen to what Hegseth said on that front.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: People ask, boots on the ground, no boots on the ground, four weeks, two weeks, six weeks, go in, go in. President Trump knows, I know, you don't tell the enemy, you don't tell the press, you don't tell anybody what your limits would be on an operation.
We reserve the right. We would be completely unwise if we did not reserve the right to take any particular option, whether it included boots on the ground or no boots on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIPTAK: Now, one potential mission for U.S. troops in Iran, if President Trump decides to go that route, would be to go and try and retrieve some of the highly enriched uranium that is buried underground. One of the nuclear sites that the U.S. took out back in June, that would presumably involve special forces commandos. It would occur at a much later date once the defenses -- once Iran's defenses are taken out.
President Trump was asked about this specific scenario over the weekend. He said it was something we could do later on. We wouldn't do it now. Of course, it would be enormously risky in a conflict that has already cost seven Americans their lives.
BOLDUAN: Yes. Kevin, at the White House. Thank you so much, Kevin. I really appreciate it.
John.
BERMAN: All right, with us now, CNN's senior political and global affairs commentator Rahm Emanuel, former ambassador to Japan, former Chicago mayor, former White House chief of staff under President Obama.
And, Ambassador, I want to lean actually on both sides of your expertise, domestic and also international. First domestically here.
Look, the price of oil soaring overnight to over $100 a barrel. And if you look at just the increase over the last few weeks, it's this last little bit over here, this almost vertical increase over the last two weeks. At one point last night it was actually almost at $120 a barrel. So, how does that constrain decisions when you're inside the White House?
RAHM EMANUEL, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, you have two factors, both the price of oil and the market declining. And it's basically the equivalent of a 24 second shot clock on the White House.
[09:10:04]
It's going to be impacting, especially with the fact that the president starts down on the economy, trust by people. They're seeing him divert all his energy on international affairs, not taking care of the knitting close to home. And energy prices have, you know, he promised as a candidate, inflation will come down, jobs will go up. Now we know inflation is up and jobs are down. So, it's going to impact the support he has and Republican performance since November election has been abysmal compared to energy in the Democratic primary. So, it's -- they will say no, but trust me, people out of the -- not only out of the corner of their eye, out of their right eye are watching that data and it's not good.
BERMAN: I got to say, it's an interesting framing, talking about the 24 hour second shot clock, an NBA reference there. Maybe as something as limiting the president.
Also want to talk about now, from the international --
EMANUEL: From a -- from a guy who's only 5'8".
BERMAN: Exactly. Probably a Bulls fan, which has been a problem for the last 20 years or so.
EMANUEL: Yes. All right.
BERMAN: Listen, when you're talking about oil coming out of the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz here, it goes through the Strait of Hormuz, this 20 mile gap between Iran and Oman, just a two mile shipping lane. But most of it, most of it goes in this direction out toward Asia, which, of course, you were ambassador to Japan there. So, how is this going to affect, I think, the global mood and the global situation as it pertains to the war with Iran?
EMANUEL: Well, there are two fact -- there are two factors. One is our allies, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Philippines, Taiwan, but also Singapore, India. This is going to have a dramatic impact because they are very dependent, unlike us, on oil from that region. And so it will have an impact there.
Also, you have to take into consideration our allies in the gulf beforehand advocated not to do this. They're getting hit. Their populations are getting hit. Their economy is getting hit. Their message to the world that we're a safe haven for investment is getting hit. So, what the White House does is not just post the military effort in Iran, but how does it reestablish trust with gulf allies having basically Israel win the president's heart and mind on this. They lost. And how do we reestablish trust to parts of the world that have done a lot for us, that are now actually their economies are going to take a hit. And they were innocent bystanders. So, you have to think about it from both perspectives.
We have a lot of diplomatic, political homework to do, not just in the region, not just in Iran, but among our gulf allies who are essential for America's security and interests and also for our Asian allies and European allies that may have an immigration problem out of this. And I really think the White House lost all ability in the -- not only the narrative, the thread that could have actually had support around this in the beginning days by making this political rather than strategic. And I'm willing to expand on that if you're interested. But I think they may -- I mean, from the White House, I would have done this a totally different way.
BERMAN: Yes. I do want to switch gears, if I can and --
EMANUEL: Well, John, if, in this way, think about -- OK.
BERMAN: Just very quickly, because I do want to get your take on one of the things we did learn overnight, which is that Iran has named a new supreme leader, the council of experts there. You know, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late supreme leader. What does it tell you, as you look at the decisions made from inside Iran, what does that tell you about the way they're thinking?
EMANUEL: Well, first, about a year ago there was a, not a literal but close to regime change. This, for years, decades, had been a mullah- centered government with the IRGC, the military wing supporting it. Today, for the last year basically, the IRGC has been the center of the Iranian government, and the mullahs have become more symbolic in support of that effort. There's been a role reversal between the two centers of gravity, of political power.
Now, I think there is a lot of symbolism, et cetera. But make no doubt about this, the reason -- the new naming of the new head, hereditary, which has also got a whole thing to unpack, that, in fact, is more symbolic. This is going to be run by the IRGC, both the war and going forward. It is now a different government than what it was the last 40 years. That has been true for the last year, and we were slow to appreciate the change in structure and the strange -- the change in the center of gravity, where all political decisions will be made.
BERMAN: Yes, watch who has the power, who is making the decisions. That is the key here.
EMANUEL: Yes.
BERMAN: Mayor Rahm Emanuel, great to see you this morning. Thank you.
EMANUEL: I do think -- John.
BERMAN: OK, quickly.
EMANUEL: Thanks, John. I, quickly, in the back of the heads in the White House right now is the failure to take military action on North Korea, when they made -- when they went nuclear and the -- and what we did in Libya with a broken state and in Iraq with a broken state. Those are your two ends of the field goal there.
[09:15:01]
And the White House, unfortunately, has not made a decision how to appreciate those kind of perspectives and how you pursue America's interests here and have, in my view, basically are driving 90 miles an hour over wet pavement, over sharp turns, with one hand on the steering wheel and the world, let alone the American people, feel that anxiety.
BERMAN: Rahm Emanuel, appreciate you being with us this morning. Thank you very much.
Sara.
SIDNER: All right, thank you, John.
Ahead, the oil prices, as you just heard, they are going up, up, up, rattling the markets. We're just minutes away from the opening bell. What's going to happen to your 401(k) because of all this.
And what another driver did when it became clear that someone else was driving next to them and they were passed out at the wheel.
Also, how much money Wendy's is willing to pay for you to taste their burgers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:20:31]
BOLDUAN: Overnight, and still this morning, investors around the world are watching and trying to nurse their jitters, to say the least, when it comes to oil prices. "The Wall Street Journal" headline today, the long-feared Persian Gulf oil squeeze is upon us. Oil prices have surged to a four year high over the disruptions and fears caused by the war with Iran. The U.S. benchmark has pushed past $100 a barrel for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Israel's attacks on Iran's gas and oil infrastructure, and the attacks by Iran on its oil rich gulf neighbors, which we're showing here displayed on this map, all of that has very clearly helped drag down markets around the world.
CNN's Richard Quest joining me now with the very latest.
Can you give us perspective, Richard, on just how bad it really was overnight and looking into today? And what do you -- what do you see happening now?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: What I see happening is these fears continuing because there are two -- it's a pincer movement, if you will, Kate. It's a pincer movement. On the one hand you have a complete shutdown of the supply through the Strait of Hormuz. Nothing's getting through. And that's just over a quarter of the world's oil supply.
So, nothing's getting through on that side. And on the other side, you have the infrastructure being blown up on both sides. You've got the Israelis blowing up the Iranian oil infrastructure. You've got the Iranians blowing up the Bahrainis and threatening the other infrastructure. So, when you put all that together, there you are, you're looking at the price at the pump. There is no reason for oil to stay down, except there was a glut of it before.
The saving grace, minor though it may be, is that coming into this war there was a glut of oil in the world, which is what was keeping it around $60 a barrel. And the other saving grace, arguably for the United States, which is a huge domestic producer of oil. So, it's going to be clobbered by overseas, but there's no real shortage at home because of the domestic supply. It won't change the -- the price will still go up, but at least the supply is there.
BOLDUAN: Richard, what does it mean that the G-7 finance ministers are now going to be getting together to talk about a coordinated release?
QUEST: They're going to try and fiddle the market. They're basically going to release or try to release some of the oil in the various reserves. The U.S., as you know, has vast strategic reserves deep, deep, deep underground in the caves. The president built up those reserves specifically and deliberately has been adding to them. Some of the Venezuelan oil was said to be going to the reserves. And the idea is that if you release it -- classic law of supply and demand, if you release it all, the mere prospect of it being released, if you're worried about shortage of supply, then the price will come down. It is only a short-term measure.
I'm glad you're showing the disruptions in history --
BOLDUAN: Yes.
QUEST: Because what we are seeing today is the worst disruption because it affects the most oil that we've ever seen.
BOLDUAN: Yes, the worst disruption to the global oil supply in history --
QUEST: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Is playing out as we speak.
It's great to see you, Richard. Thank you so much.
Sara.
SIDNER: All right, how long and how far is the U.S. willing to go with this war. Here's what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said about that to "60 Minutes" last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: People ask, boots on the ground, no boots on the ground, four weeks, two weeks, six weeks, go in, go in. President Trump knows, I know, you don't tell the enemy, you don't tell the press, you don't tell anybody what your limits would be on an operation. We're willing to go as far as we need to in order to be successful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: Joining us now, Virginia Congressman Eugene Vindman.
Thank you so much for being here.
You served in Iraq. So, what do you think when you hear this statement from Pete Hegseth about whether the U.S. will put boots on the ground?
REP. EUGENE VINDMAN (D-VA): I think it's outrageous. Yesterday, or on Saturday, I was at the dignified transfer ceremony for six Americans killed in this conflict in the first day. And I watched the coffins go by with the secretary, the president, the vice president, the architects of this conflict right in front of me.
[09:25:00]
And the thought that kept going through my head is, where does this end? How many more Americans will die? How much more treasure -- we're spending about $1 billion a day -- will be expended on a conflict that we have no idea what the objectives are. One day it's unconditional surrender. Another day it is destruction of the Iranian nuclear capability, which supposedly last year was destroyed in the strikes committed in the middle of the year.
And so, there is really no plan here. And it's run by a cartoonish figure, a meme secretary of defense, that has really no idea what he's doing. And that's what really bothers me the most.
SIDNER: I want to ask you about what -- something you just mentioned, which is the cost of the war. The Center for Strategic and International Studies calculated the cost of this war to be about $890 million a day that the U.S. is spending. Cost was a major point of contention for President Trump when it came to helping Ukraine. So, do you have an answer as to why the president is fine spending this kind of money on this particular war?
VINDMAN: Well, look, it comes down to, again, poor judgment, poor leadership, poor strategic planning. There was a report in "The Times" today that talked about U.S. officials thinking that this was going to be a much shorter term conflict. In fact, I think the verbiage was, they did not expect a sustained, robust response by the Iranians. Obviously, they've dug in with the selection of their new leader. And they expected some sort of Venezuela-like operation. All of the assumptions going into this were wrong. And when you have a poor plan, there's an old adage that says a tactics without strategy is sure to lead to defeat. And that's what we're laser focused on in the Congress, making sure we have accountability, have a sense of what this administration is looking to achieve before throwing more American lives and treasure at objectives that are just not achievable.
SIDNER: I do want to ask you about the new supreme leader. Iran has a new supreme leader, the son of Ali Khamenei. Mojtaba Khamenei is now at the helm. President Trump weighed in, saying he's an unacceptable choice. And if he doesn't get approval from us, he's not going to last long. Israel has promised to kill anyone taking up the helm of the supreme leader in an attempt to force regime change.
No matter how awful Iran's leadership actually is, what does give the U.S. and Israel the right to dictate who leads another sovereign nation?
VINDMAN: Well, this is really the point that's critical here is that Iran is a sovereign country. They get to choose their leadership. We're involved in a war now, and so we can target leadership, although it really hasn't been -- you know, ultimately we -- wars end in negotiation. Very rarely do they end in unconditional surrender. And we need to have somebody to negotiate with. And apparently this new leader is even more hardline than his father. And the Iranians are digging in. They're a sovereign country. They get a vote. The enemy gets a vote. And, you know, we're here three minutes away from the opening of a market. Oil prices are skyrocketing. The cost to the American people in both blood and treasure is going to increase without the president and the senior leaders in this administration having a clear exit strategy.
SIDNER: I just want to lastly ask you, because you had to stand there through -- watching this transfer of, you know, someone's children who have been killed in this attack, American soldiers. Do you know anything about the seventh soldier who has died?
VINDMAN: Look, I can tell you that the sixth service members that were killed are great Americans. They were mothers, fathers, brothers. There is an identical twin that was -- his twin brother was at the transfer on Saturday. And I feel that since my own twin was wounded in the Iraq War. And there were young children there. There's a real human cost to the lives lost here.
The reason I was there is there was a constituent from Spotsylvania County. And so, we're going to learn very shortly who the seventh person is. And there will be another dignified transfer ceremony. And I'm -- I just want to know when this will end. What is the strategy to achieve achievable objectives? And that's what we're waiting for from the administration. And until that point, this mission will not have my support.
[09:30:02]
SIDNER: Congressman Vindman, I do appreciate it. Thank you for coming on this morning.
John.
BERMAN: All right, two men are in custody this morning after an explosive was thrown outside
