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Oil Prices Jump As Iran Ramps Up Attacks On Energy Supplies; Watchdog: V.A. Failing To Track Patient Calls Putting Veterans At Risk; CNN Live In Kuwait Outside Residential Building Hit By Iranian Drone; Iran War Threatens Fertilizer Supplies Critical To Food Production; New Mexico Authorities Search Zorro Ranch Formerly Owned By Epstein; Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 12, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:32]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The war with Iran now triggering a fuel emergency really around the globe. The price of crude shot back up to over $100 a barrel overnight before dropping then a bit. That came even after the U.S. and 32 other nations announced that they were taking the unprecedented step to release a record amount of emergency reserve oil into the global market to try and stabilize the markets.

Looking at prices right now, under $100, but it has been ticking up throughout the morning now above 90.

Let's get over to CNN's Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi for some perspective on this. And what is the perspective on what happened with oil overnight?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, we've certainly seen that the energy infrastructure is one of Tehran's top targets at this point.

If you have a look at what has been targeted, just in the last 24 hours or so, it is quite significant. We know on Wednesday that there were two foreign oil tankers in Iraqi waters that was hit, that was going into Thursday as well. Some significant fires that we saw efforts to try and put out.

And also, we saw in Oman a fuel depot was -- was targeted there. Now, Omani officials have said that it will take some time to be able to put that under control. Bear in mind, Oman was the mediator between the U.S. and Iran.

Now, we have heard something interesting from Iranian state T.V. as well. They have claimed that they did not target Iran, saying that it is highly suspicious and that they are investigating.

Now, also in Bahrain, we know an oil depot was hit, that we understand, is about under control at this point, but it is definitely a very significant target for Tehran at this point. Forty-two drones, according to Saudi Arabia, were intercepted on the way to the Eastern Province, on the way to -- to where all these large oil fields are in that country.

They also say three ballistic missiles that were intercepted on the way to the Prince Sultan airbase. It is a -- a Saudi military airbase, but we know that U.S. military jets have used it in the past.

And then in Kuwait, the international airports hit by several drones, according to officials there. The airspace in Kuwait, though, is closed, so there would not have been many people there at all, if any, and we know that there were -- there were no casualties.

And here in the UAE, there has been a number of waves of -- of different incoming drones and missiles.

Two -- on two occasions, we saw that buildings in Dubai were clipped by falling debris. We understand that -- that no casualties in that as well. But it just shows that there is no letup in this Iranian retaliation and their focus is very much on energy infrastructure. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Paula, thank you so much. Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi for us. Appreciate it. John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I believe we have Nic Robertson standing by for us in Kuwait? No. We don't have Nic Robertson standing by in Kuwait.

So now, I'm going to tell you this. Oil prices are surging, gas prices rising, the energy secretary says Americans will feel short-term pain, but it's worth it. This is what the Secretary of Energy just told Kate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WRIGHT, ENERGY SECRETARY: This was a -- a can that could not be kicked down the road one more administration. We need to defang, and we are defanging Iran's abilities to threaten American troops in the areas, its allies, its neighbors, and global energy markets. So, yes, you've got to go through short-term pain to solve a long-term problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:35:10]

BERMAN: With us now, Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware. He's on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Short-term pain. How well do you think the secretary is making the case for shared sacrifice?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): I just think that's nonsense, because frankly, the way he framed it, oh, we couldn't kick the can down the road any longer, doesn't describe what they're doing.

They've instead kicked over a hornet's nest, because Iran has the ability to continue firing some of its thousands of drones throughout the region to attack shipping American military facilities, civilian targets throughout the region to close the Strait of Hormuz and continue to create chaos.

I'll remind you, over decades, the murderous terrible regime in Iran has developed three very different tools, ballistic missiles and drones, the capacity to launch lethal cyber-attacks, difficult disruptive cyber-attacks, and distributed terrorist attacks around the world.

And so, part of the reason previous administrations have not gone into an all-out war with Iran to try and achieve regime change, which is what President Trump kept saying this was about, was because they can choke off the Strait of Hormuz and skyrocket energy prices. And it will be very difficult to stop them.

Even in classified briefings this week, the senior leadership of the administration can't give the same answer about means and ends for this war. The military seems to think it is fighting a short-term war with narrow gains, but Secretary Rubio and President Trump keep expanding those aims. And it's unclear how or when this war will end.

BERMAN: The administration announced a release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Do you support that move?

COONS: Look, in order to keep gas prices down, they had to do that. But the Strategic Petroleum Reserve should have been refilled while it was affordable before they started this war, and that's what they've got. Like, that is their one tool left.

What they're not doing, what they didn't do before launching this war of choice, was to build a coalition of allies that could be helping with escorting freighters and tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.

They didn't plan for the withdrawal from the region of American families, diplomats, civilians, and strengthening or hardening our bases and our facilities in the region. And what they didn't plan for was the inevitable consequence of declaring a war of regime change, which was that Iran would use every tool they've got.

BERMAN: What would happen if the administration took the famous George Aiken path from the Vietnam War, declare victory and go home? What -- what would it happen if they came out this week and said, OK, we're done?

COONS: Well, Trump's effectively already said that. In several press conferences, he's given conflicting answers. Oh, we've already won, but we're still fighting. They could do that, but as is often said in these circumstances, the enemy gets a vote.

They can say we're done and walk away, but it doesn't, in any way, and Iran's ability to continue to attack shipping, to attack our facilities, to attack our allies and partners in the region. They've mastered how to make and launch thousands of cheap, lethal drones.

And I'll remind you, earlier in Trump's second term, he went after the Houthis, who are an Iranian proxy in Yemen, who had been bottling up a passage through the Red Sea. We dropped a billion dollars of ordnance on the Houthis and didn't slow them down or stop them. They're still there, they're still capable, and we haven't heard from them yet.

So, President Trump could declare victory and walk away, but that would not end this war. And it wouldn't end the impact on Americans' pocketbooks. These energy prices are just going to keep rising, John.

BERMAN: So -- so, Senator, you're actually one of the few in the chamber who has declared (ph) running for president, or his intentions to run for president. But what would President Coons do?

What would you do? What -- if you had to -- if you were the decider on this, what do you do now?

COONS: Right.

BERMAN: What do you want to see happen next in this war?

COONS: Well, first -- first, I never would have taken us into this war without first consulting with our allies and building a regional coalition, without consulting with the American people and Congress.

Although ultimately, George Bush's war in Iraq was disastrous. He respected the Constitution. He got a declaration from Congress. He prepared the nation for what was a costly and difficult war.

He also made the mistake of having broader ends than we had means. And so right now, yes, I would be saying to our allies in the region, we need to sit down at the table with the Iranian regime and get a ceasefire and move towards a new nuclear deal that will give us real visibility into their program and get them to stop their program.

[08:40:02]

So far, what President Trump has accomplished is there's a new supreme leader of Iran who's likely harder line, younger, healthier, angrier and more likely to race towards a nuclear weapon whenever this war ends.

BERMAN: So, you would negotiate?

COONS: I would sit down as soon as possible with our regional partners, make sure that we are all aligned in terms of our military assets and our goals. And I would see if there is not some way to end Iran's attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

BERMAN: Senator Chris Coons from Delaware, thank you for being with us this morning. Appreciate your time. Sara?

COONS: Thank you.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning. A preliminary watchdog report revealing that the health of our nation's veterans is being put at risk because the V.A. is failing to track calls to medical facilities. The report also finding that nearly one million calls from veterans, needing care, went untracked over the course of a year.

CNN correspondent Brian Todd joining me now.

This is disturbing. What are you learning from this report?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, what the V.A. inspector general's office was doing here was trying to get to the bottom of a longstanding complaint from America's veterans that many of them simply cannot get through to their healthcare providers on the phone.

And we have to say this is a problem, not unique to the V.A. under President Trump. This goes back to the Biden administration and beyond.

Now, in a new preliminary advisory report, the V.A. inspector general's office documented an incident last year when the wife of a veteran urgently was trying to schedule an evaluation for her husband's cancer, which she feared may have spread.

According to the report, she made multiple phone calls that went to voicemail and received no follow-up within the promised 24 hours.

The V.A. inspector general's also discovered other cases when veterans were forced to drive to facilities in-person for answers when they could not reach V.A. staff on the phone to schedule or change appointments.

But here's another underlying problem the inspector general found. The V.A. actually has a hard time tracking the calls to determine the -- the sheer scope of this problem.

The I.G. found that 13 of the 15 V.A. medical facilities that sampled did not have important data tracking patient calls. The report says at those 13 facilities, they did not track what happened with nearly a million of the 2.1 million call attempts by veterans seeking specialized care over a 12-month period ending on July 31st, 2025.

That is a period that spans the Biden and Trump administrations. The report says those facilities didn't track how many of those million calls were answered, how many callers hung up before anyone answered, and they didn't have information on average wait times during those calls.

And many of those on track calls were at V.A. clinics where patients were seeking radiology and mental healthcare. The report says those are patients who are, quote, at high risk of adverse health outcomes.

Now, we contacted the V.A. for comment on this. V.A. press secretary Peter Kasperowicz sent us a statement saying, quote, "We appreciate the inspector general's review, which highlights issues dating back to July 2024 during the Biden administration. We look forward to working with the inspector general to vastly improve V.A.'s phone-based customer service and better track these efforts."

The V.A. inspector general is expected to issue a full report on this with recommendations by this summer. Sara?

SIDNER: Yes. It's really frustrating. Every single politician says, we really care about our veterans. But when you hear a report like this and the frustration when you need medical care, it is really something disturbing.

Brian Todd, thank you very much for that report. Appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Breaking news coming in. Our Nic Robertson is outside a building in southern Kuwait that was badly damaged after a drone attack this morning. Let's get right to Nic, who's on the ground. We've finally been able to reconnect with him. Nic, what are you seeing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. Just take a look at the apartment above me here, residential building, that completely ripped apart, blown out debris, strewn on the ground around here. I can see a shoe over there. Twisted metal over here.

Two people were injured here. Two civilians, Kuwaiti government officials tell us were injured here. They've been taken away for treatment.

There were multiple rounds of attempted attacks and attacks on Kuwait overnight. The sirens going off. Defensive fighter jets put up in -- put up in the air overnight.

But I want to tell you something here that I think gives our viewers a real clue to how much of a threat Iran is and how their attacks are working.

So you see that impact behind me. Spin around here. What are we looking at here? We're looking at the Persian Gulf. Iran is 50 miles behind me across the water there. So that drone flew in from there, straight into the building here.

A couple of hundred miles that way is the Strait of Hormuz. Just further north from here, closer to Iraq, two tankers, oil tankers hit by an explosive device last night, both set on fire.

[08:45:07]

So right in the northern end of the Persian Gulf here now, you have Iran attacking oil tankers here. A few hundred miles to the south trying to (INAUDIBLE) off the Strait of Hormuz. They are putting this whole region into sort of an economic chokehold.

The -- the Iranians are turning the sea here, the water, the Persian Gulf, effectively into a war zone, not just the buildings around here. Kuwait as well last night. We'll just spin back so you can again see the damage here.

But Kuwait last night, during those attacks, power lines came down and the attack that happened just a few hours ago in Kuwait targeting and hit Kuwait's international airport. Structural damage, we're told, no one injured, but that threat coming straight across from Iran. Very close, very real.

BOLDUAN: I mean, Nic, that is one terrifying the damage that you see just behind you, but also terrifying the perspective that you're importantly offering viewers of just how close the threat is and how the battlefield is coming right to the shores of all of the -- of -- of Iran's Gulf neighbors right now and what is unfolding does not seem a war winding down, but rather a war ramping up.

Nic Robertson in Kuwait for us. Nic, thank you so much.

Much more news coming up, right after this.

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[08:50:17]

BERMAN: This morning, the war in Iran, not just having an impact on oil and gas prices, though they are both up, it is also threatening fertilizer supplies critical for crops and food production.

The Middle East is home to some of the world's largest fertilizer plants. And it's a major producer of the raw materials necessary to make fertilizer.

Around 25 to 35 percent of the global trade in those raw materials, passes through the Strait of Hormuz, but right now, pretty much nothing is passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

With us now, Chris Abbott, CEO of the biotech company Pivot Bio. Chris, thanks so much for being with us.

Will you just explain better than I just did about why the Persian Gulf, why the strait is so important for fertilizer coming to the United States?

CHRIS ABBOTT, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, PIVOT BIO: Yes. Good morning, John. Thank you for having me.

So, I think context is important as you -- as you laid it out there. So, if we look at this, over the last 15 years of my time spent in commodity and capital markets, I've not seen this level of disruption before.

So, if we look at the critical inputs for us in the ag economy, about 20 percent of LNG, about 30 percent as you mentioned, the urea, that's our nitrogen fertilizer, and even more of sulfur. Sulfur is a key micronutrient for crops, passes through the strait.

Furthermore, the U.S. imports, this year, almost 30 percent of its fertilizer from foreign countries. And so you can start to imagine, how does that ripple effect take shape if you start to clog up the system at a time in which we're approaching planting?

Growers in the southern U.S. are already planting crops. And many of them, prior to last Friday, right, the day leading into this conflict, didn't have their nitrogen purchased.

And so what happens is you see that backup and it starts to show its ripple effect through the value chain. And as we say, it always hits the farmers first. And we've seen that.

Urea prices are up 50 percent since that Friday, before Friday, the 27th of February. And in places in the northern parts of the country, it's up almost 100 percent.

BERMAN: Talk to me more about the specific timing here. Why is the timing so challenging?

ABBOTT: Yes. Timing is tough on a number of respects. Number one, as I mentioned on the planting cycle, it's hard because we're starting to plant.

So the U.S. heading into this conflict had only bought about half of its fertilizer. If you look at the total amount of -- of fertilizer across all inputs, but in this case, nitrogen is really important, was about half purchased.

Then we woke up Saturday the 28th and everybody started scrambling. That's what led to that price spike that I mentioned to you, but we don't have a lot of time. There's only a few technologies and solutions that can really help a grower, right now, counterbalance some of those rising fertilizer costs.

Furthermore, though, we also have to take a step back and understand, farm bankruptcies were already at a multi-decade high prior to this conflict. I've seen stats as high as 170,000 farm bankruptcies in the last 12 months.

And so when farmers are losing money, if you spike their most critical input to drive yield, which is also their highest expense as an input cost, it puts intense pressure on the bottom line.

BERMAN: Yes. Look, I was at Farm Aid. This is the fourth (ph) year for bankruptcy they've had since the 1980s. I mean, this is a bad, bad time.

Just very quickly. Is this something that will hit consumers in terms of prices?

ABBOTT: It absolutely could, right? So farmers are in the unfortunate situation where they can't just take their price up, but what happens is you see acreage shifts. And so now, you have to look at the global commodity market because as oil and consumption around gasoline changes, you get fluctuations for ethanol. Frankly, that's the one bright spot in this.

Could ethanol actually come into higher demand, which could help buoy some of those commodity grain prices which have not moved?

And so this is -- this is just a tough time. I expect that whether that's food, fuel, fiber, dairy, protein, these things could all (ph) inflation if the prices stay this high. BERMAN: I want to call it ripple effects. But for farmers, this is more than ripple. This is like a giant wave.

Chris Abbott, thanks for explaining it so well. Really appreciate it. Kate.

BOLDUAN: That's a great point, J.B.

U.S. Coast Guard is now detailing a major drug bust that has pulled off a smuggling operation uncovered in the Eastern Pacific. And video released by the U.S. Coast Guard. You can see the crews stopping a submarine-like vessel. Officials say that -- that it was carrying more than 17,000 pounds of cocaine. That's more than six million lethal doses, they report. Four people on board were arrested.

There's also a new video in of a teenage pilot making an emergency landing in the middle of traffic on a road in South Florida with cars driving by. The 19-year-old says that the plane lost engine power and then his training kicked in. He's not only a licensed pilot, he's also a certified flight instructor. Yes, and a teenager.

[08:55:09]

No one was injured, very thankfully. And he says that he'll be back up flying very soon. Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you so much, Kate.

Reopening the Epstein case in one state. Now, law enforcement in New Mexico are searching a sprawling ranch there, formerly owned by convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.

The ranch is coming under renewed scrutiny because of details and newly released FBI files. Last month, the state's House of Representatives voted to create a bipartisan truth commission looking into allegations of criminal activity there.

Joining me now is a member of that commission. New Mexico state representative Marianna Anaya. Thank you so much for being here.

Look, you know, we were looking through the files and in late January, there was a 2019 email received by a local radio host that alleged that somewhere in the hills outside of the Zorro, the ranch, two foreign girls were buried on orders of Jeffrey and Madam G. That is what was written. That is, of course, an unverified allegation.

Do you know what authorities are looking for? Are they potentially looking for bodies there?

MARIANNA ANAYA, (D) NEW MEXICO STATE HOUSE: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me this morning.

You know, I think at this point, anything is in the realm of possibility. A big misstep that happened previously was that people didn't listen to survivors. People did not listen to tips that came in. And so for us, we are taking everything into consideration. Now in New Mexico, something that is true for us is that a lot of the history lives in our people. It lives in the land. And so it is not out of the realm of possibility for us to be looking for these types of things.

SIDNER: In so many cases, the police and justice system, as you just alluded to, it failed the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and -- and other men who took part in horrible deeds.

Do you know to what extent the happenings at the ranch there in New Mexico were investigated in the first place?

ANAYA: You know, to our understanding, there was never a full investigation that was done. And that's part of the reason we formed the truth commission.

We're actually working really closely with the -- with the New Mexico Department of Justice, which, of course, is the prosecutory (ph) arm. We are the investigatory arm.

And we know that not everything is going to rise to the level of a crime, but we do know that -- as a truth commission, we want to be sure that we are telling the entirety of the story, right? What does it mean for an entire community to have this happening in their own backyard? What does it mean to take responsibility for that? What does it mean for the state to take responsibility for any mishappenings? And what does it mean to hold people accountable for their crimes?

And so we're working together with the Department of Justice here in New Mexico to make sure that that happens.

SIDNER: I just want to ask you about that, because other countries are making arrests. We saw the arrest of former Prince Andrew. We're seeing resignations of very powerful people.

In your investigation, do you see any chance that the same will happen here in the U.S.?

ANAYA: You know, it's a possibility. I think at the federal level, there is so much disappointment and the fact that there hasn't been action taken.

But here in New Mexico, we're really proud that we are leading the way. You know, we are saying, you know what, we believe that there is truth in what the survivors are saying, and we're here to investigate it.

SIDNER: I lastly want to switch gears here for a second to ask you about something that we heard from President Trump, because you represent constituents there in New Mexico. And here's what he said about the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And draw our policies prices for chicken, eggs, cheese, butter, potatoes, and fresh fruit, are lowered today by a lot than when I took office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: He's been touting his economic prowess. Does that match what you and your constituents are seeing and experiencing there?

ANAYA: Absolutely not. Prices are absolutely out of control. And the people of New Mexico, you know, we have seen generational poverty.

And, you know, if you go to the store, if you ask anybody about prices, if you ask them about anything from the price of eggs to the price of rent, we are completely outpriced if you're in the state of New Mexico. And I'm sure across the country.

SIDNER: Marianna Anaya, I do appreciate you coming on. And in this investigation, we'll have you back if you have any findings that you think are relevant. Appreciate it.

A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BERMAN: We are in the midst of a significant disruption. That was the Secretary of Energy just moments ago to Kate Bolduan on the rising gas prices, the rising oil prices that hit $100 a barrel overnight. Tankers on fire and the Persian Gulf, the growing impact of the war on Iran.

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