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Soon: Trump Speaks as Iran War Triggers Global Oil Emergency; Iran Launches its "Most Intense" Operation Since War Started; Sources: U.S. Strike Likely Hit Iran Elementary School Due to Outdated Intelligence on Nearby Naval Base; Trump to Tout "Economic Victories" as Gas Prices Rise; New: Nearly 19 Million People Under Tornado Watches Across U.S. 3-3:30p ET

Aired March 11, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

SHAMS CHARANIA, CNN SENIOR NBA INSIDER: ... him get to Kobe Bryant's record. We're going to let him get and break Kobe Bryant's record. And once that decision was made around really the mid-70s mark, that's when the Heat moved forward. And that's where Erik Spoelstra said, listen, I'm not going to take him out of this game. And I think players around the league probably look at that and can respect Erik Spoelstra, but there's no doubt in the past guys have had 60 points have been taken out at different point. Joel Embiid, I think at 70 points ...

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yes.

CHARANIA: ... through three quarters and was taken out.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Shams Charania, thank you so much for joining us. Haters going to hate, the record stands 83, Bam Adebayo. Thanks so much Shams.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Pressure Point: Three vessels near the Strait of Hormuz are hit by projectiles. The waterway fast becoming the epicenter of a global economic crisis. President Trump taking his economic message to middle America, but will it land with voters who are watching the war drive gas prices higher and higher.

And a NASA spacecraft set to make an uncontrolled plunge back to Earth scientists worried. There's a chance. It won't completely burn up on re-entry.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Shortly, President Trump is going to be giving a speech on the economy as American gas prices soar. We just saw him (INAUDIBLE) moments ago. He took some questions as he was visiting a pharmaceutical plant in Cincinnati. Right now, though, Iran has effectively shut down a key oil shipping channel for much of the world's oil and this has triggered the large -- triggered the largest ever emergency oil release internationally. Iran has been retaliating after the U.S. military destroyed multiple Iranian ships there in the Strait of Hormuz.

Sources say Iran was beginning to line the channel with explosive vines. And earlier the President told Axios that the war would end soon because there is, quote, "practically nothing left to target." But here in just the last few minutes CNN recorded this new video of Iranian missiles seen from Jerusalem. Sources say Israel has been preparing for a possible significant expansion of attacks from Iran. CNN's Erin Burnett is live for us in Tel Aviv with more on this.

Erin, what are you expecting? What are you seeing?

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR, ERIN BURNETT "OUTFRONT": All right. So, our team on the ground here is reporting that they're -- that they expect this potential expansion of strikes from Iran to come over the night tonight. And right now, Brianna, about 9 o'clock local time when we have seen an uptick in strikes overnight, which is where we have seen much of the heavy activity in recent days has been in the overnight hours. And by that, I mean sort of between 10, 11 P.M. local time all the way until 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning.

So, it's unclear what we're going to see. But one thing that we have noticed is that sometimes we've been getting alerts and sirens more broadly when missiles are coming into a specific area, whereas days ago the actual siren alert would be a little bit more directly related to where the missiles are targeted and come in. So, that's something that we have noticed. We don't know exactly what this potential expansion might mean in coming hours, but it does come as Iran is also been threatening an increase in attacks. Not just in the Strait of Hormuz also talking about missiles underwater and potential capabilities that they may have from Russia.

I'm here with Jeremy Diamond.

And -- and Jeremy, you know, just talking about what we've experienced here and what sometimes now is a bit of a -- a mismatch and a bit of a confusion between sometimes where the sirens and where the missiles actually are that we've noticed in recent, I guess, maybe over the past 24 hours or so. And we have seen an increase in strikes that you were just talking about moments ago.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a lot of more incidents where we've seen some early warnings and then ultimately the sirens don't happen here in Tel Aviv at least, they've happened east of here. But what we are witnessing tonight certainly is that significant expansion or the beginnings at least of that significant expansion in terms of missile fire from both Iran and Hezbollah.

In fact, just now we had a very large barrage of missiles that was fired towards northern Israel. There were missiles from Iran and there were also, I'm told, dozens of missiles that were fired simultaneously by Hezbollah that Iranian proxy in Lebanon. There were several direct impacts in the north.

We're getting reports right now. I'm seeing two casualties in mild condition as a result of what appears to be flying shrapnel. There were -- was a hit on at least one home that I saw just before coming on air here. So -- but no fatalities that we're aware of at this stage, but it is one of the most significant nights that we've seen, a fire certainly from Hezbollah. We'll see whether that also translates to heavier fire from Iran directed at Tel Aviv later in the night.

But as this is happening, Israel is responding immediately. We're seeing heavy Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon. The Israeli military confirming that they are striking Hezbollah rocket launchers as they are preparing to fire on northern Israel, but certainly an escalation that we're seeing tonight.

[15:05:05]

BURNETT: Yes, and you know an Israeli official today, again, emphasizing -- saying to me as they've been saying in recent days, but continuing to say we're running ahead of schedule, right? We're doing more than we thought that we would do, even though obviously their outcome in terms of regime change is still different from what it appears it may be in Washington. But, you know, when they -- when they say that it does raise the question when Iran is putting out these statements about underwater missiles or other missiles -- types of missiles, you know, air missiles, is that just rhetoric or are there supplies locations in Iran that have not been located, right? What is the reality? We simply don't know.

DIAMOND: We don't know. Look, we do know that they have degraded their capabilities to a certain extent, but ...

BURNETT: Right.

DIAMOND: ... how much that is -- that is still missing from this picture. I think the question is, is this just a show of force from Iran that we're about to see tonight intended to try and send the message that they're still strong. They still have these capabilities even if it's just kind of in the short run. But either way, the Israeli prime minister tonight holding a situational assessment with his security team the Israeli government taking this very seriously.

So, this does seem to be a significant moment. I think the question is, is this a one-night event or is this something that's going to carry forward and take us into a new phase of Iran's kind of response to this initial Israeli American attack that now stands that, you know, almost two weeks ago.

BURNETT: Right, which might show a very different sort of reality of capability and we just don't know. All right, Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much as we're here in Tel Aviv. And Brianna, over these next few hours, we're going to see what significant expansion if it is imminent as we're told it is, what does that actually mean, back to you.

KEILAR: All right, Erin, thank you so much.

And we do have -- this just in -- two sources telling CNN the U.S. military accidentally struck that Iranian elementary school at the start of the war likely because of outdated intelligence about a nearby Naval base. CNN's Kylie Atwood is with us now. Kylie, tell us what you're finding out.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, this is according to two sources who are familiar with this ongoing military investigation and it's preliminary findings right now that the U.S. military accidentally struck that Iranian elementary school, the early days of this war, according to Iranian state media killing at least 168 children and more than a dozen teachers.

And according to the sources that my colleagues, Zach Cohen and others, spoke with, this was a result of what is believed to be outdated information that the U.S. had, intelligence that they had about a nearby Naval base, which, obviously, led to this targeting and this -- this -- this strike that killed so many of these school children.

Now, President Trump has over the last few days deflected to answer about responsibility for this strike at one point claiming that it could have been the Iranians who were to blame for this strike earlier today when Kristen Holmes our colleague at the White House asked him about these reports coming out that the U.S. was indeed responsible for this strike. He said that that was not something that he knew anything about.

So, we're watching to see, of course, what the White House says here, but we should know, Brianna, this is an ongoing investigation. So, we're set to learn more about what actually led to this striking and the erroneous targeting of this -- this school, this, of course, children in Iran. But this is breaking news that our colleagues have now discovered that the US was indeed responsible.

KEILAR: All right, Kylie. And also, just to note this -- as we notice -- what we're learning here, this has been days where we've kind of heard shifting rhetoric, right, from the Trump administration about the responsibility for this.

ATWOOD: And -- and the shifting in responsibility that we have heard has begged questions about if the administration is trying to you know, evade direct answers to those questions. We knew, of course, that there was an investigation into this the Pentagon said that in the early days following this strike. But U.S. officials were not being clear in terms of the possibility of the U.S. strikes having carried out this strike on this Iranian elementary school.

And, of course, that begs the question of if they were trying to, you know, build some sort of cover up here, but these preliminary findings are a very good indication that the U.S. military does believe though accidentally it was the U.S. military who carried out these strikes.

KEILAR: All right, Kylie. Thank you so much. Really appreciate the reporting. Boris.

SANCHEZ: Let's talk more about this strike with CNN Military Analysts, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Colonel Leighton, great to see you as always.

Talk to us about how something like this happens. It's being blamed on outdated data.

[15:10:01]

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Boris. This is, you know, one of the big tragedies of this war so far. And this really shows how important good intelligence, good data actually is to the war effort.

So, let's take a look at exactly what's going on here. So, this is the school that was struck right here. It is right next to a fence that they didn't -- there are some reports that indicate that they didn't know this fence had been built. This is a fence that separates the base from where the school is. So, this fence was relatively new although it's been there for several years now, so it should have been picked up by satellite imagery and imagery analysts.

The other thing that you have here are the basic buildings that were struck, all of these in yellow right here to include a medical clinic building. If it's really a medical clinic building that should also have been on the no strike list. So, one of the key elements here is that when it comes to intelligence and targeting it becomes really, really important to know exactly what these buildings are being used for.

It's one thing to get a picture. It's another thing to actually know what's going on inside of these buildings.

SANCHEZ: And we imagine that we will get more details as the investigation continues. I do want to ask you about the Strait of Hormuz because there are reports there that three vessels were reportedly hit by unknown projectiles near the crucial waterway. What is the IRGC's current posture in the Strait of Hormuz?

LEIGHTON: So, as far as the IRGC's current -- current posture is concerned this actually is a -- kind of interesting, because in the Strait of Hormuz you have a -- a lot of different vessels right here. But what they're trying to do is they are trying to control this kind of traffic right here. What we're seeing here are the results of the transponders.

And so, the IRGC is based here on Qeshm Island, which is this island right here. And they have the ability to very quickly -- this is only about 20 miles -- 21 miles across right here. The shipping channel itself is only about two miles across down through this area.

So, what they're trying to do is you can see all these ships are basically at anchor right here. And then, there are others that are at anchor right here on the other side of the -- of the Strait. And the basic idea that the IRGC has is if they mine this area, they can cut off any ship traffic this way. So, they have the capability of mining this area. The question is first of all, will they do it? And then, secondly, are they going to be able to eliminate that should they decide to go in and -- and, you know, use this -- because they're using -- they're losing a lot of their oil as well. So, it becomes a -- a very critical area, but they are right here ready and poised to conduct mining operations. SANCHEZ: So, as you hear that the President has indicated that some 20

plus mines have been eliminated. Does that give you confidence that the U.S. is capable of preventing more mines from being deployed, because it -- it's obviously much easier to prevent them from being deployed than to then go and try to collect all of them.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely. So, the key thing would be that they prevent them from being deployed. Iran is reputed to have up to 6,000 different types of naval -- well, different naval mines. They have various types. But the ones that they have can be used not only from, you know, their ships, but they can also be used from small boats, from dhows which are the -- the Arabic fishing boats. They can use those and they can really come in into this area and very quickly mine it because it's such a narrow passageway.

SANCHEZ: Colonel Cedric Leighton, appreciate the expertise. Thanks so much for joining us.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Boris. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, President Trump making a notable stop in the district of one of his Republican critics. We have details about his visit straight ahead.

Plus, survivors recalling the moment deadly storms ripped through their area leaving behind a path of destruction.

And later, growing concerns as fake A.I.-generated videos of the war with Iran are catching the attention of millions online. That and much more, coming up.

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[15:18:18]

KEILAR: Right now, President Trump is in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has been touring a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant and he'll be heading to Kentucky to deliver remarks on the economy. CNN's Kevin Liptak is in the Bluegrass State. He's with us now.

And Kevin, the President's visit is coming as concerns are growing about his endgame for the war with Iran and he's also in a very curious congressional district, right? What more can you tell us?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, that's right. And I think what he's doing here today is related to that very sort of tricky endgame that you're talking about. He's really trying to push ahead which -- with what had been his sort of domestic political agenda trying to go out into the country to tout his economic record. So, for instance, we saw him just now at a pharmaceutical company in Cincinnati. He's talking about his efforts to bring down the price of drugs.

But I think that effort and this sort of attempt to talk about the economy more is really certainly made harder by what we're seeing as a result of the war in Iran, you know turmoil in the oil markets higher gas prices, which is kind of erased what has been a very critical talking point for the President over the last year.

Now, the President has been somewhat nonchalant about this. I'll listen to what he said just a few moments ago about this question of gas prices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Forty-seven bad years we suffered with them. Not only us, the rest of the world. We're doing our job, so I had to take an excursion but it's doing well. The markets holding up well. I figured would be hit a little bit, but we were hit probably less than I thought and we'll be back on track in a pretty short while.

[15:20:03]

Prices are coming down very substantially. Oil will be coming down. That's just a -- that's just a matter of war, that happens very -- you can almost predict it. I would say it went up a little bit less than we thought. It's going to come down more than we -- than anybody understands.

LIPTAK: So, you hear the President relatively unconcerned about the rising price of gas, that isn't necessarily what you hear from many of his allies. Many Trump advisors recognize that this could potentially be a dire consequence for Republicans in an election year that had already been very much about the question of affordability about the cost of living.

You know, I talked to a bunch of people coming into this event today. Obviously, it's a self-selecting crowd. They were fairly sure that the President would get gas prices down again, but all of them did admit they have seen the price at the pump tick up over the last several days. But as -- in -- in the words of one woman I talked to, she trusts Trump to get it down.

You know, so often when the President is out talking about the economy, we talk about how he is sort of diverged into many different tangents including on his grievances and a lot of ways the event today is actually about one of his key grievances, which is the representative Thomas Massie. He's obviously been a thorn in Trump's side. We are in his district. The President has endorsed his primary challenger. Massie has opposed him on all manner of things including the war in Iran.

So, I think it's almost certain that we hear a lot about Thomas Massie in these remarks in a few hours from now. Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. We'll be looking to see if that's the case. Kevin Liptak, thank you so much. Still ahead. We'll hear from survivors of deadly tornadoes that hit overnight as the same areas are facing the risk of another round of severe weather.

You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:26:26]

SANCHEZ: Dangerous storms that have already dropped baseball-sized hail and whipped up nearly a dozen tornadoes are moving East across the Midwest and the Ohio Valley right now bringing the potential for more destruction in the hours ahead. Nearly 19 million people are under a tornado watch as we speak, violent twisters ripped through Texas, Illinois and Indiana last night. Neighborhoods were flattened and left with widespread devastation.

Let's go live to Whitney Wild who's in the town of Lake Village, Indiana where two people were killed in the storm.

Whitney, what are you seeing there?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is an immense amount of destruction here. I'll step out of the frame so you can take a look at what happened to this convenience store behind me. This is basically leveled.

And what's shocking about this scene, Boris, is there's a Citgo sign that's pushed into the back wall there. That gas station is about a hundred yards from this convenience store. And so, that gives you a sense of just how far debris was spinning in this area. There are multiple people here who are, you know, who are injured according to officials. They said that when they came out here after that storm ripped through just before 7 o'clock that there were people who were trapped in homes, that there were people who are severely injured.

As you mentioned two people sadly died an elderly man and an elderly woman. There are other people now in this moment picking up the pieces. They're trying to figure out how to move forward after their homes were damaged after trees uprooted from their yards. Here's what one man told our team.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Distress, lost everything, you know? I mean, roof's gone all in 20 seconds. You know, walked in a bedroom got knocked down, climbed in the closet. It's over. Come back out, crawl out and roof's gone and everything. So, you know trees are down, windows blown out and lost everything. It's not good.

I was looking out front window and I've seen a dumpster fly by, that's when I went for cover -- the garbage dumpster. So, I knew it was bad. So, I went to the bedroom, roof lifted off, the ceiling come down, knocked me down. I climbed in the closet. And that's where I come out and debris was everywhere. I mean the place is destroyed, windows blown out. My front door was wedged into the wall. That's how hard that sucker hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: We're expecting to hear more from the Indiana State Police later this afternoon. In the meantime, Boris, you know, the effort to clean up here continues, but the conditions are not good. It's 40 degrees here. It has been on and off pouring rain. That's only just now starting to lighten up.

But as you pointed out the storm threat is not over. There are more tornadoes in the forecast throughout the day and the rest of the evening. The severe weather is putting 65 million people under the potential for some kind of storm throughout the United States. And then, from the Gulf Coast all the way up through Western Pennsylvania, there are more risks of tornadoes, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Whitney Wild for us in Indiana. Thank you so much.

Still ahead, world leaders are trying to stem the economic pain as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed driving up the price of oil and gas. We'll go live to Tel Aviv with Erin Burnett when we come back.

[15:29:47]

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