Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

U.S. Gas Prices Soar Amid War With Iran; Senate Expected To Kick Off Debate On SAVE America Act. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired March 17, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:30:00]

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: -- pass the sort of political litmus test. And that has been really difficult for a lot of people. So even if you show up with no legal experience, now you also have to get through the MAGA loyalty test, right? Are you going to be inside the building working against us or working for us?

And what I've seen over the past year or so is that has really been one of the biggest barriers to getting quality people inside. Now they're just trying to get anyone inside. But you still have that political litmus test. And remember, in about two-and-a-half years, there could possibly be a change in administration.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Really interesting. Paula, thank you so much for the great reporting. Still to come, oil prices taking another big jump and now analysts say the gas station won't be the only place where you could see higher prices.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: President Trump is now predicting that it won't be too long before the Strait of Hormuz is secure. That is the, of course, vital waterway where about 20 percent of the world's oil supply passes through. But, of course, the prices are affected by that globally.

Iran's chokehold on the strait has sent those oil prices soaring to levels not seen in years. Since the war began, the price of the pump has risen every day this month, according to AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded is now $3.79. And that is the highest price that we've seen since October of 2023.

Let's get some expert perspective on what's ahead here. Patrick De Haan is with us now. He's the Head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy. And I wonder, Patrick, as you hear the President trying to say, the timeline here is kind of short. I'm paraphrasing, but that's what he's indicating here.

How industry is seeing this, because you have allies of the US saying they're not going to help secure the Strait, at least so far. And a regime figure in Iran suggested the Strait isn't going to be safe for ships anytime soon.

PATRICK DE HAAN, HEAD OF PETROLEUM ANALYSIS, GASBUDDY: Yes, I don't think we've rounded the corner yet. This remains an active issue that will likely continue pushing oil prices up until there is clarity. Actions speak louder than words until we physically see ships transiting through with their ADS transponders on, the market is not going to view this as sufficient no matter what the lip service may be.

Until we physically see those oil tankers and other ships going through the Strait, we're going to continue to see this massive disruption. I mean, it's basically one of the largest ever in terms of this water way, the strait being the most vital waterway to the global oil markets. Twenty million barrels a day essentially stuck, not being able to transit through the Strait of Hormuz is having a massive impact on global markets.

And it's not just oil, it's fertilizers, petrochemicals, and of oil. It's not just oil, it's -- what we're all paying for at the pump. The national average now a dollar a gallon higher than where it was just over a month ago, diesel prices reaching $5 a gallon for the first time since 2022. And that's the hidden tax on consumers not only are consumers digging deeper to fill their tanks up, but the next time they go to the grocery store, the next time they bid out a construction project, the next time they buy food, they may see a higher price because all of that trickle down of this huge jump is going to impact them.

And by the way, the numbers this morning, GasBuddy now seeing this is the largest 14-day spike in the price of diesel even beyond what we saw in 2022.

KEILAR: That's significant. And you mentioned those other kind of knock on costs, right? But also let's talk about air travel, because Delta CEO said they have already raised airfares several times over the past couple of weeks. Jet fuel prices have actually doubled since the start of the war, adding about $400 million to Delta's costs, is what Delta saying. What can air travelers expect here in the months ahead?

DE HAAN: Well, anyone looking at the summer travel season and looking for a trip abroad certainly is going to be hit the hardest. It's those long haul flights that consume the most amount of fuel. I already compared an airfare I had booked prior to this, to Europe, late in the summer after the shoulder season, and it's 21 percent higher. Airlines have no choice to.

It's either their financial future or they pass these increases along. So, you know, certainly going to be a major hit to any summer travel. The US three biggest airlines don't really participate in fuel hedging like their European counterparts. That means that they're buying the fuel on the spot market at a much, much higher price and they will be shouldering the entire jump, whereas some of the European airline competitors may have already pre bought their fuel at lower prices.

They may be less pro price sensitive but any way you slice it, anything logistics, shipping, airlines, we're all going to be paying far, far more for this in addition to the costs that we're already seeing at the gas pump. And, Patrick, Iran is threatening US Naval facilities in the Red Sea

which is home to several Saudi ports that handle oil exports. They've been increasing their exports from that coast sort of as compensation here.

KEILAR: How is the industry viewing this threat? Do they think it is real? Are they preparing for this?

DE HAAN: Well, I think it's something you have to prepare for at this point. Although the first attack would certainly be the most shocking if they go through with this. As you mentioned, oil shipments have been rerouted into the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia, one of the world's largest oil producers, having the East West pipeline, essentially connecting the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea.

[14:40:04]

And that is now a lifeline to at least reduce the potential impact of the bloc that we're seeing in the Strait of Hormuz. So to see something like that would be a major escalation, and I would have to think that the Saudis would act if this is something that's carried out.

KEILAR: And Iran's Kharg Island, that could be a significant source of leverage to combat this Strait of Hormuz issue. The President said yesterday, the US has literally destroyed everything on Kharg Island. Except he said this, the tubes, I think he said, or the pipes, the island's oil facilities he meant.

He left the door open to targeting those as well. What happens if those facilities get hit?

DE HAAN: If they do get hit, Iran has nothing to lose but continue attacking and creating chaos in the Strait. So the President would be escalating the situation because we know it would likely draw an Iranian response. I mean, this is where the majority of Iran's oil flows out to the market, and attacking this would likely surely destabilize the price of oil for not weeks, but potentially months beyond this.

Iran will have a long memory, and certainly will go after US assets and the price of oil indiscriminately. And that could certainly escalate this to impacting gasoline, diesel and jet fuel prices for a far longer period of time. At that point, I would think that records could be set in the US if the US does carry out an attack on that Island, it could send gasoline, diesel and jet fuel prices to potentially all time record highs along with the price of oil certainly could get close to those record highs as well.

It's an ominous thought there. Patrick De Haan, thank you so much for your analysis. Still to come, Israel's defense minister says his country will "continue hunting" Iran's leadership, here which two powerful Iranian figures, he says, were killed overnight in strikes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:46:18] OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: We continue to follow breaking news on the war with Iran. Israel says it has killed two of Iran's most powerful officials in overnight strikes. The head of Iran's National Security Council, Ali Larijani, who an Israeli military official describes as the de facto leader of Iran after the killing of the supreme leader, and the head of Iran's Basij paramilitary force. Iran has yet to confirm either of their deaths.

But joining me to talk more about this is Karim Sadjadpour. He is a CNN global affairs analyst and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Good to see you.

KARIM SADJADPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good to see you.

JIMENEZ: Can you just help us understand how important Ali Larijani was here?

SADJADPOUR: Ali Larijani was probably the most important living individual official in the Islamic Republic, and that he's someone who had decades of both domestic and foreign policy experience. He had decades of institutional memory. And in the last four weeks, this is a regime which has lost a lot of their top leaders, including, of course, the supreme leader. And he was someone that they could not really afford to lose at this time.

And, you know, Israel's defense minister says the military will continue hunting Iran's leadership. And look, between these Iranian strikes and previous operations in Lebanon with Hezbollah, I don't know that anyone is questioning Israel or the United States strike capabilities. But more broadly with Iran, how many people need to be eliminated before the regime collapses or agrees to fundamentally change?

Because at this point, it seems one leader gets killed and then the regime largely has stayed intact.

SADJADPOUR: What we've seen over the last several weeks is that, this isn't a one assassination regime. Israel has assassinated dozens of senior Iranian officials and they're quickly replaced. What we haven't yet seen are any signs of internal fissures among the political and military elite, and what we also haven't seen are any signs that this is a government which is prepared to change its longtime ideology and its hostility toward America and Israel.

JIMENEZ: Well, and that's been the dynamic that's sort of been at the forefront of whether diplomatic solutions can actually happen, at least to where we are right now. Two senior White House officials tell CNN, Iranian officials have reached out to Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, trying to restart diplomacy. But the officials say Trump doesn't want to negotiate.

Now, how serious are the Iranians about finding a diplomatic solution right now in terms of do they have the leverage to do so?

SADJADPOUR: I think this war obviously is not fun for this regime. They're being decimated on a daily basis. But at the same time, there's a couple trends that they think is going in their favor. Number one, the price of oil keeps spiking. Number two, domestic popular opinion against the war is also trending downward, meaning fewer and fewer Americans are supportive of this effort.

So they are being obviously defeated militarily. But it's a regime which looks more cohesive than it was a few weeks ago. And for that reason, they may not fear right now that their existence is at stake.

JIMENEZ: And, of course, the main question -- the main piece of leverage has been the Strait of Hormuz and only letting certain ships pass to this point. But the Trump administration does seem optimistic they can eliminate Iran's threat to the Strait of Hormuz. Short term pain for long term gain as they've described it.

In your assessment, can Iran's threat to the Strait of Hormuz actually be eliminated without some sort of boots on the ground presence?

[14:50:00]

SADJADPOUR: I don't want to pretend like I'm a Navy expert, but you know, this is -- the way Iran has been managing this is military asymmetry. So we have in this, going through the Strait of Hormuz, hundred million dollar tankers carrying hundreds of millions of dollars of cargo, whether that's oil or natural gas, or fertilizer, and they're being harassed by $20,000 Iranian drones.

And so, I agree that that is not something which the President cannot end the war tomorrow with a pariah regime like Iran having the world economy hostage. But by all accounts, when I talk to military experts, they don't believe that this is a challenge which can be resolved overnight. It's probably going to take several weeks at least.

JIMENEZ: Karim Sadjadpour, really appreciate you being here. Thanks for the perspective.

SADJADPOUR: Thank you, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Of course. All right, still to come, President Trump stepping up the pressure on lawmakers to pass his so-called SAVE America Act, threatening not to endorse any Republican who doesn't support it. We'll have the details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:55:41]

KEILAR: The Senate is poised to kick off what is expected to be a fiery debate on the SAVE America Act. It is a Trump-backed bill that would primarily require voters to show photo ID and proof of US citizenship in order to register to vote. The ID and documents must have matching names. The bill passed in the Republican led House last year.

This morning, President Trump putting more pressure on Congress to pass the SAVE Act, calling the bill one of the most important and consequential pieces of legislation in the history of Congress. CNN chief Congressional correspondent Manu Raju is with us now from the Capitol. Manu, what are lawmakers saying ahead of this vote?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- are not there to pass this bill because it is not going to get the 60 votes it needs to overcome a Democratic filibuster attempt. And President Trump is demanding that Republicans do away with the filibuster in order to pass this bill. But there are a number of Republicans who are dead set against that. They have supported maintaining the filibuster because it is essential, they say, for -- if the day comes, when they are back in the minority, to block Democratic legislation.

As a result, this is all causing enormous tension in the ranks as Trump has called for this bill to become law, even though it has no chance of becoming law, and threatening to oppose any Republican who opposes this bill not support them in their reelection campaigns. One Republican senator who is retiring at the end of this year is, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

He says he's going to vote against proceeding to this legislation and he expresses frustration over the criticism that is being waged by members on the right flank of the GOP against the Republican skeptics of doing away with the filibuster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I quit my job to get a majority in North Carolina for the second time since the Civil War. So this is personal to me and when I see behavior that's leading to a worse environment than you normally have in an off year election, then I'm going to call out Republicans that are causing that. Because now is the time to get together and recognize. Us having the gattles (ph) is critically important for this president to be successful in his remaining two years.

And the other people, they all have in common -- what they all have in common, the people are saying that we should take this is they haven't passed a single legislative matter of any significance in the entire time that they've been in the US senate. I'm not going to take advice from people who haven't produced in the past because we've got to produce in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, Trump has called for a number of other provisions to be added to this bill, including a ban on mail in voting, something that a lot of Republicans support. He also has called for anti-transgender revisions to be added to this bill. Expect some Republicans to try to add that as an amendment on the Senate floor.

But again, that is not expected to get the votes. This is putting Senate Majority Leader John Thune in a difficult position. He essentially is allowing this bill to come to the floor that could dominate the next two weeks of action in his chamber, even as they want to move on to other pieces of legislation. But to appease Trump, he's going to allow for an extended debate even though the end of the day it is not going to get the 60 votes. But in the matter of hours, watch for the Republican opponents of this, how many Republican opponents there will be. Thom Tillis being one of them, Lisa Murkowski being another, Mitch McConnell, the former Senate Republican leader also might vote no. That could force JD Vance to come in and to break a tie just to open debate on this measure.

KEILAR: All right. Manu Raju, thank you so much for that. Omar?

JIMENEZ: Let's get you to some of the other headlines we are watching this hour. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in London today to shore up support for the war in Russia. He met with King Charles at Buckingham Palace and spoke with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte. Starmer said the focus must remain on Ukraine despite the US-Israeli war with Iran.

Also, large portions of the United States are digging out today after a sprawling storm dropped feet of snow. The storm also knocked out power with high winds and continues to disrupt thousands of flights. The powerful system left more than 600,000 people without power across the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid Atlantic.

More than a thousand US flights have been canceled so far today as severe weather continues to impact air travel across the country. And do you know what these are, these little red dots or LRDs?