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Pete Hegseth Holds Press Conference; Analysis of Hegseth's Press Conference; Oil Prices Fall; Amos Hochstein is Interviewed about the Oil and the Iran War. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 10, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: To the question shouted in the back, that it's not -- open source is not the place to determine what did or did not happen. We take things very, very seriously and investigate them thoroughly, which takes time and -- which is why it does take time. But ultimately, unlike Iran, who targets civilians indiscriminately, who we've seen in the intel moving rocket launchers into civilian neighborhoods, near schools, near hospitals, to try to prevent our ability to strike, that's how they operate. And then they set, you know, the targeting of drones and missiles toward civilian targets, hospitals, hotels, airports. We've -- CENTCOM's been very good about putting that information out. That's how terrorist regimes fight, they target civilians. We do not. And I can tell you this administration and this Pentagon focuses on that very, very closely.

REPORTER: And Iran, does it have Tomahawk missiles?

(CROSS TALL)

HEGSETH: Go ahead. Right there.

REPORTER: Does that mean you will hold someone accountable if it turns out that that was the U.S. munition that hit the school?

REPORTER: Thank you. Sir, this morning, the Iranian government is saying a lot. They continue to say they're prepared for a long war. If that's the case, what could you tell the American people as far as the steps the Department of War is taking to make sure our troops have the protection and the resources they need as the mission continues?

HEGSETH: I think there's one thing I can sleep quietly at night knowing is that we're giving every resource humanly possible to our troops on the front lines to ensure they're protected. In fact, as I said in that first press briefing, even before we set the offense, we set the defense. We made sure we had the ability to defend. And then we moved as many Americans off the bases and into other places as possible. So, as this progresses, the chairman -- or the question was asked of the chairman about how the enemy adapts. Well, of course, we adapt too in real time.

And to watch our warriors iterate on air defense, and interdiction on drones and missiles and how we get after it, it's incredible how they refine the tactics, bring in new assets, to find different ways of getting at emerging technologies. So, that is one of the things we're laser focused on every day.

Yes, we're going on offense. More effectively than any country in human history. But we're also ensuring that in every way possible we're defending the best Americans we have who wear our uniform, no doubt.

Let's do one more.

REPORTER: Thanks. Secretary Hegseth, the president has indicated that maybe the operation will wrap up sooner than he thought it was going to. What's the plan once the U.S. stops military action? Will the U.S. play a role in the aftermath or will they leave Iran to sort it out?

HEGSETH: Ultimately, the aftermath is going to be in America's interests, our interests. We -- we are not -- we won't live under a nuclear blackmail scenario of conventional missiles that can target our people, which is why the objectives have been scoped from the beginning. Missiles, missile production, defense industrial base, navy, all in service of ensuring they don't have nuclear power projection capabilities. That's what matters to President Trump. That's what matters to the American people. And ultimately, that's why we're so laser focused on ensuring those objectives and those objectives alone are met.

Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine, wrapping up a briefing at the Pentagon. They both talked about the seven U.S. service members who have passed away. They offered their condolences once again for them. And General Caine naming all of them. Their names are all now public.

I will say, the main headline that I took away from that is that Secretary Hegseth did not want to put any timeline on an end here. President Trump, who has been saying it is very nearly complete, this mission. Secretary Hegseth did not go anywhere near that, except to say that it's for the president to decide when it ends, and it won't be endless, this conflict with Iran.

Let's talk to our analysts and reporters on this right now.

Zach Cohen, first to you.

Again, you were talking about what you were looking for here. I will also note, Secretary Hegseth avoided direct questions about the strike on the school in Iran, which President Trump has said, without evidence, was carried out by the Iranians, didn't address that other than to say the investigation is still going on.

But, Zach, your major takeaways.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, John, like you, I noticed how Hegseth walked a fine line, declining to really put a time frame or a timeline on U.S. military operations in Iran, but also trying to emphasize that there will be, quote, "no half measures," and that essentially it won't stop until the enemy is totally defeated. So, not going outright and contradicting what the president said yesterday, but trying to reassert that the military plans to continue hitting its targets until President Donald Trump decides that the war is effectively over. And as you mentioned, Donald Trump saying yesterday, the war could be over in the coming days. Sooner than he expected.

And like you said too, I noticed Hegseth declining to really get into the specifics of the investigation into that strike against the school that killed over 100 children. It appears, again, the president saying yesterday that -- suggesting that Iran has the kind of missile that hit the school, when in reality the U.S. is the only country in this conflict using Tomahawk missiles.

[08:35:11]

So, other than that, Dan Caine, as you mentioned, spending a lot of time both opening and closing his remarks honoring the U.S. service members who have been killed in action. That's something that's been consistent.

And then both men reiterating the military objectives of this mission, which are to destroy Iran's missile capabilities, stockpiles, destroy the navy and permanently deny Iran a nuclear weapon. The last of those, though, it remains unclear how they're going to go about doing that from a military perspective.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Zach. Stick with us.

Let's go to General Steve Anderson.

Brigadier General, I'm curious about what we heard from Pete Hegseth when it came to the fuel depots. He was asked a question about those being attacked, and he said, "those weren't our strikes but not necessarily our objective. We're not getting pulled in any direction, we're leading." Is that how you see it? Because the inference is that Israel did those strikes. They were not necessarily behind those.

BRIG. GEN. STEVE ANDERSON, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, thank you for having me.

You know, my assessment is that, yes, there's considerable confusion on that point. You know, we're engaged, obviously, in a war of attrition. The ability of the Iranians to continue to fire missiles. And so, wherever they hit, you know, they're obviously a problem. I mean we estimate there's still about 120 missile launchers, not to mention the thousands of drones that they still have.

But my, you know, impressions, I totally agree with Zach. Everything he said. I mean, you know, the focus, though, unfortunately, was on the military objectives. There is very little on political or strategic level. And I think that shows a little of the weakness of Secretary Hegseth is that, you know, he's all about macho grandstanding and I'm a warrior and all that and sucking up really to President Trump. But he doesn't address the -- any of the political issues. You know, what's the long-range plan? What are we going to do? You know, how are we going to lead effectively? I mean we're going to take out a lot of military targets, but right now we have a uranium leader that's more radicalized than his father was. So, what have we really accomplished? That remains in doubt.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Nick Paton Walsh, one thing we heard from Hegseth was that he said, "today will be the most intense day of strikes yet." From your perspective, what did you hear in this, and how is that playing out from where you are?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, I think one distinction I heard in the goals delineated there was that the secretary of war was clear to repeat what we've heard from the White House again and again that this is about missiles, the navy, and preventing Iran having a nuclear weapon.

But the third point, when General Dan Caine talked about it, he talked about something slightly more expansive than the nuclear program, talking about degrading the military industrial complex, preventing Iran from building the drones and missiles, et cetera, that are then later fired. That was interesting to me. I'm not suggesting there's some enormous daylight here in policy, but it might be a reflection of the targets indeed that are being hit on the ground as well. And possibly the scope of the operation moving forward.

Now, it is interesting to hear the secretary of war go back to that sort of narrow series of goals, talk about how the timeline will ultimately be one that the United States decides. That leaves President Trump with the greatest scope of options he could possibly require here. But yet again, the idea of this next day of strikes being the most intense. We have heard this before, and indeed last night residents of Tehran told our teams there or told our colleagues that they were unable to sleep because of the ferocity of the strikes that were indeed heard.

But also too, Hegseth talked about this recent barrages from Iran. We've just heard sirens here in Tel Aviv, again, being the lowest missile numbers yet. So, we are at this point where the capability that publicly American officials talk about Iran having is continuing to drop. And the ferocity of the American's response is indeed rising.

And the goals that they say they are heading towards are still relatively narrow, although I did think it was of note that General Dan Caine talked about these wider strikes potentially against the military industrial complex, degrading Iran's ability to make the things that are harassing gulf neighbors or killing people in gulf neighbors as well. And I think also too, Hegseth pointed out that the mistake Iran had ultimately made about choosing to hit its neighbors as well, Kate.

BERMAN: I'm so glad, actually, Kate, that you brought up the fact that Secretary Hegseth said that today will be the day with the most strikes inside Iran, because that's not an operation that's over.

BOLDUAN: Right. Right.

BERMAN: At least today.

BOLDUAN: That's exactly right.

BERMAN: That very much indicates that it's as intense as ever. And that's something that maybe President Trump was trying to indicate yesterday that it would almost be over.

[08:40:03]

I was watching both the stock futures and oil futures as this was happening, this news conference. Oil prices ticked up a little bit, about a dollar a barrel, during the news conference itself. Maybe a little more at one point from about $89, as high as $91 now. It's hovering around $90. And stock futures ticked down a little bit while Secretary Hegseth was talking. Maybe because people did not hear any sign that this was over soon.

I want to bring in Barak Ravid, who is with us now from "Axios," who writes so incisively about this entire conflict.

One other thing Secretary said, Barak, that I don't know if -- was important to you was he said, when asked about Ayatollah Khamenei, or the new, I should say, supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei of Iran, he said, yes, he'd better not say that he wants to pursue nuclear weapons. And I'm wondering if that's actually a low bar in a way for Khamenei to achieve in Iran.

BARAK RAVID, GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, "AXIOS": Yes.

BERMAN: What's the latest you're hearing?

RAVID: So, it's definitely a low bar. And more than that, if that's the case, it's very different than what we heard from President Trump yesterday that said that he was disappointed that he was appointed, that Mojtaba Khamenei has been appointed. In some cases he hinted that he's not going to last for long. And here the secretary of defense basically said he treated Khamenei, the Khamenei junior, as the de facto leader. And as if that's the reality and it's not going to change. I think that -- I don't know if this is the new U.S. policy, but it was definitely very different than what we heard from President Trump yesterday when it comes to Mojtaba Khamenei.

SIDNER: Thank you so much, Barak.

Can we now go back to General Steve Anderson? I do -- do we still have him? We do.

I do want to ask about something that General Dan Caine was asked about, which is how Iran is starting to change and adapt during this war. He says, I don't want to get into it, but clearly he made an inference that they had adapted in some way. What did you glean from that conversation?

ANDERSON: Well, thank you, Sara.

Well, what Dan Caine did was try to address what we're trying to do against the IRGC. The IRGC is the center of gravity. This war really, there's not going to be political change until the IRGC either changes or is completely destroyed. And I think that it was an acknowledgment that they're continuing to thrive. You know, they've adapted a kind of a decentralized mosaic where they go underground. Their attempt is essentially to outlast the Americans, our will, continue to inflict damage upon our GCC neighbors, watch the price of oil continue to go up and outlast us.

And I think Dan, very rightfully, addressed that that's something that they really haven't attacked. They're taking out military facilities and whatnot. There are 200,000 of them. They're dug in, they're tough, they're resilient, and they want to outlast us.

BOLDUAN: One of the other things, Barak, that the secretary of defense was asked about was the phone call between President Trump and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, talking about Iran. Hegseth said, when it comes to this war, don't get involved. But he said, you know, to focus on peace with Ukraine. You have new reporting actually on Ukraine element of how they tried to offer technology, weaponry to the United States, what was it a year ago, kind of in -- ahead of what they're now dealing with in Iran. What are you picking up?

RAVID: So, this story is pretty remarkable in my opinion because seven months ago Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to the Oval Office, to a meeting with President Trump and European leaders, and he came with a PowerPoint presentation of a proposal, a Ukrainian proposal, to help the U.S. with the know how and technology that Ukraine has developed over the years for, you know, addressing the threat from Iranian made drones. And he told President Trump, we proposed that. We proposed to help you with that, and you will help us with weapons.

And President Trump actually told his team, yes, I want you to work on this, because he understood that this is a serious threat. And by the way, in the PowerPoint presentation, it was almost prophetic because there was a map of the Middle East and all of the different countries, different U.S. allies, where U.S. bases are located and that are attacked right now over the last ten days, they were all mentioned on this conceptual map. And the idea was to build some sort of a drone fighting hubs in the Middle East to protect U.S. bases.

[08:45:05]

And President Trump understood the threat. He told his people, I want you to work on that, but Ukrainian officials told me that there was just no follow up and nobody talked to them. This was in August. And now we see how Iranian made drones are one of the biggest threats for U.S. forces in the region and for U.S. allies.

BERMAN: We need to go, and I'm going to get in trouble for asking you one more question, Barak. But very quickly, if you can, what have you heard about how concerned the White House is about oil prices?

RAVID: I think a lot of what President Trump said yesterday about the war ending very soon, I think this was also one of the reasons he said that is to try and stabilize the markets, stabilize oil prices. And we saw that after President Trump gave several statements pointing to the war might be ending soon, we saw how the market stabilized, oil prices went down. And, you know, Wall Street stabilized. I think this was definitely, I'm not saying this was the only reason he said that, but it was definitely one of the reasons.

BERMAN: All right, Barak Ravid, General Anderson, Zach Cohen, everyone, thank you very much for being with us.

Obviously, got a lot more breaking news. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:51]

BERMAN: This morning, Saudi Aramco, the world's top oil exporter, warns there could be catastrophic consequences for the world's oil markets if the war with Iran continues. Taking a look at crude oil prices right now. You can see, down about five to six percent for the day, around $89 a barrel. I will note that it was a little bit higher while Secretary of Defense Hegseth was talking. It actually creeped up closer to $91 a barrel in the last 20 minutes or so. Gone back down again. But it shows you the volatility there as the oil markets are very concerned about the duration of this conflict.

Let's get to CNN's Matt Egan for the latest on sort of the bigger picture of what they're looking at.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, well, John, look, bigger picture, oil prices have thankfully moved out of the danger zone, right. As you mentioned, $89 a barrel. That's not cheap. Of course, it's way above where things were before the war. But, thankfully, it is also well below the almost $120 oil we saw between Sunday into Monday, right? That spike. And you can see it on your chart -- on this chart here. I mean that was setting off all kinds of alarm bells about damage to the economy, paying for consumers. We saw recession odds on prediction market Kalshi start to go higher. Some economists were starting to get more concerned about oil prices. But thankfully, they have come back below $90 a barrel.

Why did they pull back? Well, some traders think that this was overdone, right? This was just an extreme move. Also, the president, as traders were already thinking things were overdone, then the president came out and said that the war could be nearly over soon. And also some traders are bracing for the potential release of emergency oil stockpiles. That wouldn't solve the problem, but it could take some of the fear out of the market.

But I would just stress, John, that we are looking at a historic disruption in terms of oil that has been derailed coming out of the Middle East. And the real key is, when does the Strait of Hormuz reopen? Because we're looking at about 20 percent of world oil supplies that have been knocked off line. And so the key is getting that oil flowing once again as we look at U.S. stock futures set to open just modestly lower.

BERMAN: Right. They were totally flat when we spoke before the news conference.

EGAN: Yes.

BERMAN: Now ticking down ever so slightly since then.

EGAN: It's all about the price of oil, John.

BERMAN: Matt Egan, thank you very much.

EGAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, joining us right now is Amos Hochstein. He's a former senior advisor to President Joe Biden on national security and economic stability issues especially.

It's good to see you, Amos. Thanks for being here.

Background as we launch in for folks at home, all-time high for gas prices, June 2022, you know this better than anyone, just over $5 a gallon after Russia invaded Ukraine, and that landed on your watch. And you played a big part in working to stabilize prices after that. Now you look at the volatility in the oil markets now. What do you see in it and what do you make of the White House reaction to this?

AMOS HOCHSTEIN, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: Yes, good morning, Kate. It's good to be back with you.

Look, yes, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, here is the critical thing to think about as it compares to today. In those days we went up all the way to $122 a barrel and $5 a gallon here at home for gasoline. And that was on the threat of maybe we would lose three million barrels a day of Russian oil, which we actually never lost. But the markets were so spooked that just the concern alone raised the prices.

Today, we're seeing the greatest oil disruption in world history. This is more than, for those who remember or studied it, the 1973 Arab oil boycott against the United States in the west. This is worse than that. We have millions and millions of barrels that are disrupted because the Strait of Hormuz.

Yesterday, the market was very concerned about what this means, because it's not just about oil, it's about jet fuel and fertilizer and diesel that we -- that the whole world is reliant upon. And the map that your people are -- your viewers are seeing right now is that Strait of Hormuz is basically empty.

[08:55:00]

And so, the president, yesterday, got so nervous about, and I know a thing or two about presidents yelling at people getting nervous about gas prices, but he got nervous, so he called a couple reporters and told them the war is almost over. And immediately that was a market manipulation call, which I understand. I get the instinct. You've got to talk down the oil. But the physical part of the market, if the Strait of Hormuz stays closed for a little bit longer --

BOLDUAN: Right.

HOCHSTEIN: A couple more days, there's no way you can talk it down. It's just a crisis.

BOLDUAN: And that's why Aramco is saying catastrophic consequences are coming if this doesn't change now. Let me ask you about the strait, because the president also said yesterday that when it -- when the time comes, the U.S. Navy and its partners are going to escort tankers through the strait if needed.

They were just asked in this Pentagon briefing about that. General Caine saying, if we're asked to do it, we're right -- we're looking at plans to see, you know, what challenges we -- take on any problem that we're asked to take on. Do you think that, the U.S. Navy escorting tankers through, is a good solution at this point?

HOCHSTEIN: Look, I think if it was possible to do at this point, they would do it. The reason they're not doing it, they're keenly aware of how bad this crisis is and how it could evolve. The markets are underpricing it at the moment, but if they don't do something about it, the markets will go right back to $100 a barrel.

And the reason is because the drones are much harder to control if they're shooting at the straits, its closer and there's no real missile defense systems on -- available there. So, think about it. For American -- for Americans, there today they saw $2.80 gasoline two weeks ago. It's now at almost $3.60, probably going towards $4 a gallon very, very soon, the coming days. Diesel. Remember, in America, we are not a farm to table country. We are a farm to truck to table. So, everything that goes on a truck uses diesel, and prices go up.

So, I think the president is trying to look for alternatives. An SPR release, something to release from the reserves, is something that they don't want to do too early, and I understand them, because once you do it, you can't do it too many times.

And this is so massive of a disruption. This is millions of barrels per day. And now here's the thing to think about. When you are an oil producer and you can't export it, you fill your storage, you fill all your tankers. When you're done filling your storage, well, there's nothing to do with the oil.

BOLDUAN: You cut back on production.

HOCHSTEIN: So, you start cutting the production. It could take weeks -- days, weeks and months to restart these operations. So, it's not only, when does the war end. But once it ends, the further away you are from when you shut it down, the harder it is to bring it back up. And that's true for natural gas and for everything, all the other things that are coming out of -- out of that region.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Honestly, it's -- your perspective is one people will know this and they've seen you, you know what you're talking about for sure. You've been in the thick of it. But just how it's worse than people are likely letting on or seeing priced in right now is quite something to think about.

Amos, it's great to see you. Thanks for coming in.

We have a lot -- clearly, a lot of breaking news to cover. We'll be right back.

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