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Trump Floats the Idea of Taking Cuba; Afghanistan Says Pakistan Strike Hits Kabul Hospital, Kills 400; Iran State Media Reports More Than 50 Cultural Sites Damaged in Strikes; Trump Suggests Delaying Beijing Trip Amid Hormuz Impasse; South Korea Preparing for Worst-case Scenarios Amid Iran Conflict; War With Iran Upends Sports Schedules Around the Globe; DHS Shutdown Causing TSA & Airline Disruptions; Heavy Rain in Hawaii Causes Flash Flooding; UAE Temporarily Closes Airspace Amid "Security Developments"; Donald Trump Rips Allies For Refusing To Help In Strait Of Hormuz; Havana In Darkness As Massive Blackout Hits Cuba. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired March 17, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:42]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. We are now entering day 18 of the war with Iran. And across the Middle East, there have been fresh strikes, including in Iraq.

We want to show you some video that's coming in from Baghdad. It appears to show an explosion in the vicinity of the U.S. Embassy there, Iraqi officials say that the embassy and a hotel were targeted by drones, and that an oil field in southern Iraq also came under attack.

In the meantime, Israeli tanks, they could be seen inside southern Lebanon as the IDF expands its ground operation there, several Western leaders, they have warned against a major offensive, saying that it could lead to, "Devastating humanitarian consequences."

Since Israel intensified its attacks on Hezbollah amid the wider war with Iran, the Lebanese disaster risk management unit says that more than one million people have been internally displaced, these are some of them.

And all of this as President Donald Trump lashes out at U.S. allies for rejecting his call to send warships and help to secure the Strait of Hormuz. That vital waterway, as you know, it, has been effectively shut down by Iran since the U.S. and Israel launched the war.

And on Monday, President Trump refused to name the countries that he claims have agreed to help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have some that are really enthusiastic. They're coming already.

I have that from a number of them, and I'd like to say their names, but frankly, I don't know if they would want me to or not.

My attitude is we don't need anybody. We're the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world. We don't need them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: All right, so that's the latest from Washington. Let's get the latest now on what's happening on the ground in the Middle East, and head over to CNN's Ivan Watson, following developments from Hong Kong. Ivan, yet again, the Green Zone targeted, is there -- is there any word of any possible injuries there in Iraq?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Still waiting for updates on that. I was just looking at a report that a Pakistani national has been killed in Abu Dhabi in the UAE by falling debris from a ballistic missile that was intercepted. The UAE has suffered at least a half dozen casualties thus far as a result of this conflict, including Emirati citizens, Pakistani, Nepalese and Bangladeshis. And they're just one of the countries basically on the front line of this conflict.

There have been dramatic images of strikes and apparent strikes in the Green Zone of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital in and around the U.S. Embassy there of air defenses apparently firing. That looks like the Al-Rasheed hotel there, which is famous from the first days of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and was a place where the international journalists were at and the U.S. military as well.

And the attacks are not just today. In Baghdad, the U.S. Embassy has been a target of previous drone strikes, and there have been angry crowds that have gathered trying to breach fortifications into the Green Zone because Iraq is next to Iran. It was a proxy battleground during the height of the U.S. military occupation of Iraq, more than 15 years ago, and there are still to this day, Iranian allied militias on the ground there that have vowed to carry out attacks against the U.S. and other allied interests in Iraq.

A French soldier was killed last week by some kind of a strike on a French military base in the north of Iraq, and there have been air strikes carried out against some of these Iranian backed militias with dozens of their fighters killed in just the past 2.5 weeks.

So, this is just one of the many places across the region that have become violent battlegrounds as the U.S. and Israel continue their bombardment of Iran. Take a listen to what Iran's foreign minister has to say, totally striking a note of defiance more than two weeks into this war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[02:05:05]

ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (through translator): Let me reiterate that Iran has not signaled or requested a cease fire. This conflict must end on the condition that it will never be repeated. When we say we do not want a cease fire, it is not because we seek to continue the war. It is because this time the war must end in a way that the enemies never think of repeating the attacks.

I believe they have learned a profound lesson and realized what kind of country they are facing, a country that will not hesitate to defend its own security and is prepared to continue the war at any cost.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: So, listen to that, at any cost, and this is even as the Iranian top leadership has basically been wiped out in the first days of this war, and as the U.S. and Israel have free reign in the skies over Iran to continue bombing the country day and night, Polo.

SANDOVAL: And then these reports, Ivan, about Israel essentially expanding its ground operation in southern Lebanon. Any updates on that front?

WATSON: Sure. I mean, that is another major front in this conflict where you have, on the one hand, the Iranian backed militia in Lebanon, Hezbollah, which is battling against Israel, claiming to carry out multiple attacks, dozens of attacks a day. Even though the Lebanese government has declared Hezbollah's military activities illegal, it's unable to reign in this powerful militia.

And on the other hand, Israel, which already mounted into southern Lebanon and declared all of the South of Lebanon to be effectively a kill zone for its air strikes and artillery. And Israel continues to bombard southern Beirut as well as southern Lebanon and the east of Lebanon as well.

And on Monday, Israel announcing it was expanding its ground operations into Lebanon, the Israeli Defense Minister saying that the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians who have been forced to flee the south of the country are likely to stay be forced to stay out for a long time, until that band of territory, as he put it, is the threat is removed from Northern Israel.

And Hezbollah does continue to carry out rocket attacks drone strikes into northern Israel, up to a hundred projectiles fired a day, and they do continue to hit towns and cities and cause casualties.

Normally, injuries are being reported right now, but there is no sign to a let up in this conflict which is having a huge impact on the civilian population in Lebanon, with more than a million people forced to take shelter, forced to flee their homes, and more than 880 people killed, and polo among those killed are more than a hundred children who have been killed by these daily Israeli air strikes. Those numbers are probably going to continue to rise tragically.

SANDOVAL: Sadly, that crisis continues to worse, and Ivan Watson, always grateful for all your updates.

You just heard Ivan mention that volley of constant fire of those missiles, those drones coming from Iran, that continues, a vital oil export site in the United Arab Emirates is now coming under fire from drones and other projectiles. Authorities now saying that a tanker and a storage facility that they've been struck in just the last 24 hours. So, what else is happening there?

Let's go now to CNN's Eleni Giokos, who's live at this hour in Dubai. Eleni, it's good to see you. What do we know about this -- about this tanker strike?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so we've got you know information from the U.K. maritime authority saying that a tanker close to Fujairah Port was targeted. That would make it the 21st vessel that has been targeted in and around the Strait of Hormuz, so clearly showing the escalation with targeting vessels trying to pass the Strait of Hormuz, but not only on the Persian Gulf side, but also on the Omani side as well.

But then, importantly, you spoke about the Fujairah oil terminal, and this is so strategically important for the UAE. It bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, sort of an idea. It's about an hour and a half away from Dubai, and it's on the Omani side of the Gulf, and really fascinating to see how things have transpired there, specifically after the weekend and after the Iranians had threatened to target ports and critical infrastructure, as well as any U.S. assets in the region, because they claim that the launch points for the strikes on Kharg Island came from the UAE.

Now, Fujairah oil terminal, just so you understand, the capacity can store around 70 million barrels of oil and as well as refined products. It is the largest of its kind in the Middle East. It also bypasses the Strait of Hormuz and has key pipelines that connected to refineries as well as other producers in the UAE, and a very easy way to get oil and refined products out of the region.

[02:10:04]

So, we've seen fire and smoke billowing out of the Fujairah oil terminal and on a daily basis would normally account for around two percent. Two percent of global oil demand. So, we're talking about capacity that has been taken out of the system.

And just earlier today, the Abu Dhabi authorities also were talking about a fire that erupted at Shah gas field, following a drone strike there as well, they suspended operations. We've seen the continuous striking of critical energy infrastructure here in the UAE.

And speaking to some people, they say that this isn't related to U.S. assets. This is the clear targeting of civilian infrastructure and a clear indication that Iran wants to inflict economic pain, not only here in the region, but also that it sort of creates a chain reaction to what we see in the rest of the world, and it has.

Look at what WTI is doing. Look at the Brent crude price still settling above that $100 a barrel level, projections of $150 a barrel, the Iranians are warning of potentially $200 a barrel. You know that that is their target, as the Strait of Hormuz continues to be closed and controlled effectively by Iran.

Also quite important, we heard from the South Koreans this morning, and we also heard from Hong Kong. They're preparing for worst case scenarios on the oil price and when we can see continued strikes on critical energy infrastructure across the region and the inability to move refined products.

Remember, this isn't just about crude and raw oil. This is also about refined products. We're going to see price increases across the board, which is already filtering through, whether you're in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia, whether you're in Nigeria or in the United States, consumers are the ones that are going to be feeling the pain of this the most across the world.

SANDOVAL: Consumers who are certainly nervous at this point. Eleni Giokos, thank you so much reporting from Abu Dhabi.

And on Monday, though, President Trump refused to name nations, he says that he will soon announce the countries that have agreed to help the U.S. reopen the Strait of Hormuz. But his comments, they come as key European leaders, they signal their reluctance to enter this ongoing conflict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): Like the United States and Israel we want to see an end to Iran's nuclear and missile programs, but we will not take part in this war. We have said this from day one. That remains the position of the federal government. This also means that as long as the war continues, we will not participate in ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz by military means.

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We will not be drawn into the wider war. We cannot allow the war in the Gulf to turn into a windfall for Putin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And over the weekend, President Trump warned that NATO faces a very bad future if the Alliance does not assist the U.S. in helping them to reopen that final waterway, and this despite his previous stance that the U.S. doesn't need allies who, "Join the war after we've already won," said the president.

But on Monday, the president blasted the alliance for not backing U.S. naval forces in the region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We defend all these countries, and then do you have any mine sweepers? And they say, well, would it be possible for us not to get involved? I've been standing for a long time. This is the greatest thing to come out of this. We spend trillions and trillions of dollars on NATO to defend other countries, and I always said, but if it ever comes time to defend us, they're not going to be there. Many of them would not be there, and we're going to have to start thinking more wisely in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: That's President Trump on Monday. For more on this, let's keep the conversation going. Head over to retired Lieutenant Colonel Hal Kemper -- Kempfer, forgive me, he was an intelligence officer with the U.S. Marine Corps. He is now the CEO and also founder of Global Risk Intelligence and Planning and also the host of the Start podcast. Lieutenant Colonel, thank you so much for joining us.

LIT. COL. HAL KEMPFER (RET.), FORMER INTELLIGENCE OFFICER, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Thank you, Polo.

SANDOVAL: So, the president needs a Hormuz coalition, as he calls it, to secure that critical route. How does he do that? How can he put one together?

KEMPFER: Well, Polo, it's going to take a lot of diplomacy. You know, there's a -- there is some hard feelings, I would say, with the NATO right now, there's some real strong feelings about the decision to lift the moratorium, lift the sanctions off of Russian oil, which is basically a $10 billion windfall to Russia that they're going to get from that. The Europeans certainly are more than a little put out. President Zelenskyy and Ukraine was very put out by that.

So, it's going to take a while. One of the shortfalls we have in U.S. forces is we don't have a lot of mine sweepers. One of the things that our NATO allies in Europe have is more mine sweepers. So, that's why, specifically the president mentioned mine sweepers. That's something we really need for those NATO countries in order up to clear the Strait of Hormuz.

[02:15:16]

SANDOVAL: That's interesting. Essentially, the largest or most powerful navies in the world, certainly having to turn to its European allies for those capabilities. That's fascinating.

And then you have the president's call, the one that we just discussed, for assistance. And it seems to be falling on deaf ears when it comes to European allies. So, now, as you know, Lieutenant Colonel, he's turning to China. In your expert view, is there any chance that U.S. forces would participate in a coalition with China?

KEMPFER: When that first came up, and it came up a few days ago, I thought China was I just shook my head. I go, China?

Well, one of the things is that China is in a very, very difficult position. They are very dependent. They get about 90 percent of the oil from Iran. And even though some Chinese ships, or some ships, I should say, destined for China with oil, are getting through courtesy of Iran, not a lot and not enough to keep the oil prices down. And one thing that the Chinese looking at is they're going to lose

access to very discounted, sanctioned Iranian oil. That's going to change their price of goods sold for everything they do.

So, they're looking for some way to come out of this a little bit further ahead, because right now they're going to come out well behind.

SANDOVAL: There was something else that stood out, also from Monday's remarks from the president too, Lieutenant Colonel, which was when he said that nobody expected Iran to strike surrounding countries, surrounding Gulf nations. Do you -- do you accept that? Wouldn't that have been part of, certainly, the planning process for the White House, in conjunction with the Pentagon and even working with its intelligence counterparts overseas?

KEMPFER: It may have been discounted in the White House, they may have said, well, you know the number of these countries, which I will tell you, the countries in the certainly the Gulf Cooperation Council, but elsewhere in the Middle East, were very put out by Iran's response, they went and attacked him and these are countries like Qatar and the UAE that they have tried to maintain some level of cordial relations with Iran for years and years, and of course, they get the full brunt of the Iranian ballistic missile and drone assaults across the board. And they weren't going for just US bases. They're going for their critical infrastructure, their iconic places.

So, this has turned the whole Middle East against Iran. But I would not say that we weren't expecting that. I mean, I'm not a planning savant, but let's just say I've done a lot of planning in the military, and I've been focused on Iran since the mid '80s, and I can tell you that everyone fully expected at some point that they would probably turn, just like shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, that they would probably turn and attack the our allies in the Persian Gulf.

SANDOVAL: Lieutenant Colonel Hal Kempfer, thank you so much for that breakdown and all that analysis. Really appreciate your time.

KEMPFER: Thank you, Polo.

SANDOVAL: Millions of Cubans are facing a nationwide blackout after the collapse of the island's main power grid. How a new threat from President Trump could further complicate efforts to get those lights back on.

And Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of a deadly air strike on a hospital in Kabul. We'll have the very latest on the escalating tensions between the two countries in a moment.

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[02:22:59]

SANDOVAL: President Trump has again set his sights on Cuba threatening to take over the island as it deals with a crippling nationwide blackout. Right now, millions of people there in the dark right now, after the

island's power system suffered a total collapse. This is the first blackout since the U.S. effectively shut off the flow of oil to the island. On Monday, President Trump called Cuba a very weakened nation, and also suggested that he was open to taking it over. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I do believe I'll be the honor of having the honor of taking Cuba, that'd be good honor. It's a big honor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taking Cuba?

TRUMP: Taking Cuba in some form, yes, taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it. Think I can do anything I want with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: CNN's Patrick Oppmann is in Havana describing what life is like during this island wide blackout.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Cuba is once again in an island wide blackout, something that has happened frequently enough over the years. This time feels different because it is the first time since an oil embargo put in place by the Trump administration has led or contributed to this kind of island wide blackout affecting 10 million people.

At the moment, the Cuban government says they are working to restore power. The question is, can they because according to their own admission, no oil has come in for three months now, we have seen longer and longer blackouts.

But as this crisis has developed, where I live, sometimes it gets up to 20 hours in the last several days, we have seen people going out at night to protest banging pots and pans in one small town in the east of Cuba, people actually attacked the Communist Party headquarters over the weekend, tried to burn down the headquarters before police came in and firing shots in the air, broke up that protest.

But people are on edge here. People are wondering if the government can hold on. Certainly, the Trump administration has said they believe that the government here is in its final hours and that they should make a deal with the U.S. to allow some of that flow of oil, but the Trump administration is calling on the government here to make major concessions, no sign that that would take place and whether or not they could do it in time.

[02:25:20]

Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SANDOVAL: All right, so let's discuss this power grid collapse and

what this means. I'm joined by William LeoGrande. He's a professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University. William, it's good to have you with us again.

WILLIAM LEOGRANDE, GOVERNMENT PROFESSOR, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: My pleasure.

SANDOVAL: So, you monitor the situation and what's happening in Cuba right now. What if you could just bring our viewers up to speed on just how bad the situation is now, and if there's any sense of when the power may be back on this time?

LEOGRANDE: No, we don't know yet what the estimated time is that it will be out. This has happened on a few occasions in the past, and sometimes it has been hours, and sometimes it's been a couple of days before they could get the system back up.

This is a complete nationwide shutdown of the electrical grid. And because of the nature of the infrastructure there, it's a little bit complicated. You can't just bring it all back up all at once. You have to bring it up in segments very gradually, and if you sort of get the timing wrong, it can all collapse all over again.

So, this is just one more symptom of what a desperate situation Cuba is facing these days. Their electrical grid is just is really decrepit. It's many years past its useful life, and they don't have the money to even keep it in good repair, let alone begin to replace it.

SANDOVAL: And they don't have the oil, at least not right now. Do Cubans in general, some roughly 10 million people who live on that island, do they blame the U.S. government for this crisis?

LEOGRANDE: Well, you know, up until very recently, they were increasingly blaming their own government for mismanaging the economic crisis that's been going on, really, since COVID.

And you know the government's claim that, well, it's the U.S. embargo that's at fault was wearing a little thin, because they've been making that argument for many, many years.

It's true, of course, that the U.S. economic embargo does hamper the Cuban economy tremendously, but people were beginning to blame the government's mistakes.

Now, President Trump has been so explicit that he's trying to strangle the economy by cutting off all oil onto the island. That's really shifted some of the popular blame back to the United States again.

SANDOVAL: On Friday, the president in Cuba acknowledged that there were, in fact, some conversations and discussions that were happening between Cuba and the United States, have we seen that dialog lead to any sort of potential solution, progress or relief?

LEOGRANDE: Well, we don't quite know what stage that dialog is at. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, last Friday, said that it was at an early stage, and they were just beginning to set agendas.

While President Trump has been saying that while they're well advanced and the deal is really close, the Cubans have done several things as, I think, either parts of an early stage of the agreement, or, on the other hand, maybe just as gestures of goodwill to try to set a good atmosphere for the dialog.

But they agreed to release 51 prisoners, some of which, at least that have been released so far are political prisoners of the sort that the United States has argued for the release of. They've been cooperative and invited the FBI to come to Cuba to investigate that speed boat that tried to infiltrate the island a week or two ago.

And just today, Monday, they announced that they are opening up the Cuban economy to Cuban Americans for investment and even potentially joint ownership or joint investment in state enterprises, something Cuban Americans have been arguing for for a long time.

SANDOVAL: Professor, I'm wondering if I can get your assessment on the President's comments from Monday. He flirted the idea of taking Cuba. Obviously, there's very few of any details being offered right now from the White House, but given what we saw in Venezuela earlier this year, obviously the conflict right now that's ongoing in the Middle East. What could that actually mean? Could we perhaps see military action or pressure?

LEOGRANDE: We could see military action against Cuba. It really depends on whether or not the talks that are underway succeed, and that depends on whether or not there is enough common ground between the two positions.

You know, if the United States is willing to settle for an economic agreement, fundamentally that opens up the Cuban economy more to them --

[02:30:00]

WILLIAM LEOGRANDE, GOVERNMENT PROFESSOR, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: -- You know, if the United States is willing to settle for an economic agreement, fundamentally, that opens up the Cuban economy more to the -- more to markets and particularly to U.S. trade and U.S. investment, then there is a real possibility that a deal can be struck.

But if the United States is also going to insist on significant political changes in Cuba, I think that that's a bridge too far. The Cubans are going to see that as an infringement on their national sovereignty. And that's something, you know, they fought for 100 years to win their independence from Spain and then from the influence of the United States after we occupied the country after the Spanish- American War. So it's a very sensitive issue for them.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Yeah. It is sensitive. It is certainly delicate. I remember you telling me last month when we spoke that the biggest risk is that the island could go -- plummet deeper into economic depression. So we'll watch this together.

Professor William LeoGrande, thank you so much for your time and your analysis.

LEOGRANDE: Good to be with you.

SANDOVAL: Afghanistan says that a Pakistani airstrike on a Kabul hospital has killed at least 400 people. At daylight, it has revealed the extent of the damage that you see here. This is a hospital that authorities say primarily treated drug users. At least 250 people were injured in the strike.

Pakistan has denied striking any civilian site, saying that it only targets militant and military infrastructure. The incident marking a sharp escalation in the fighting between the two countries as cross- border clashes entered a third week.

Pakistan says it's in "open war with Afghanistan" after accusing the country of harboring militants that launch strikes into Pakistani territory.

President Trump and China's Xi Jinping, they are seemingly in a standoff over the war with Iran. Straight ahead on "CNN Newsroom," we'll be going live to Beijing with the very latest on Trump's decision to postpone a planned visit with the Chinese leader.

Also on the way, Iran reports its historic sites have been damaged in U.S. and Israeli strikes. I'll be speaking with an expert about the world -- actually, what the world stands to lose if some of these sites are destroyed.

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[02:36:54]

SANDOVAL: President Trump has been seeking China's help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and also ease the global oil crisis. But so far, Beijing does not seem to be playing along. Now, President Trump says that he may postpone his upcoming meeting with Xi Jinping by a month or so, said the president. CNN's Mike Valerio joins me live from Beijing. Mike, great to see you again.

So if this meeting gets postponed, seems it will, what are some of the issues that will have to wait to be discussed in person? Obviously, the war would be one of them.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I think that mostly it is trade and security. So let's focus on those before we go back to Iran for a little bit. So when we're talking about tariffs, China certainly wants them to be lowered. There are a lot of tariffs, Polo, that are still in place. Since the first Trump administration in 2019, fentanyl tariffs and section, if we want to get really complicated, Section 301, unfair trade practice investigation.

So China hates them. China does not want them in the picture to make it easier to trade with the United States. So that's probably priority number one. It needs advanced chips to better catch up with the United States in the A.I. race. They're going to talk about Taiwan, assumedly, and they're going to talk about soybean purchases.

Right now, the government here in China buys from American farmers in pretty big quantities, but the private sector here in China does not. And that is hurting a lot of American farmers and Chinese leader Xi Jinping knows that that is a point of leverage.

Iran, though, certainly would have been a very interesting underlying tableau and factor if these discussions went forward on March 31st into April 2nd. You know, our Bureau Chief here, Steven Jiang, asked China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, a couple days ago, back on March 8th, how this would play into discussions if the war were still happening when Trump was here in this town in Beijing.

And Wang Yi didn't address it directly, but he told our Bureau Chief, "What's required is for both sides to make thorough preparations, create a conducive environment, manage existing differences and remove unnecessary disruptions. So when you're thinking about remove unnecessary disruptions, that could certainly be extrapolated into a war that China has no part in, does not want any part in, being on the table, being part of the background during these discussions.

So, still no confirmation on when the meeting can be moved. But I'll add, Polo, as we're sort of waiting for that dust to settle and we're looking at the Asian markets today, Seoul and Hong Kong up, Shanghai and Tokyo trading lower, there seems to be, or at least there was greater enthusiasm in the earlier part of the day, that oil is getting through the Strait of Hormuz, even if there are no Asian nations that are taking Trump's invitation to help secure the Strait.

Oil prices are up around three percent when we're talking about Brent crude. And we're also looking at South Korea playing a part in preparations.

[02:40:00]

Lee Jae Myung, the President of South Korea, saying that the nation may need to go through worst-case scenario preparations with oil about $102, $103 a barrel, could go up in the days ahead. That could mean in South Korea, according to the President Lee Jae Myung, reducing cars on the roads. Maybe like even license plates, one-day odd license plates driving through Seoul, and Busan and all the other cities in South Korea another day and potentially expanding nuclear power capacity.

So a lot going on. Certainly the likely postponement of this meeting in Beijing is what's capturing most of the headlines. But there are a lot of different working parts on this side of the world in East Asia when it comes to what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz and how it's ultimately going to resolve itself with this energy crisis, Polo.

SANDOVAL: Yeah, it's absolutely fascinating, the potential measures there in South Korea with the license plates. We've seen that before in other countries, more to cut down on pollution. The fact that now they're doing this because of what's happening in the Middle East.

Mike Valerio, as always, really appreciate all your reporting.

Iran's state media reporting that more than 50 cultural sites across the country have been damaged in strikes from the U.S. and Israel. The Ministry of Cultural Heritage has strongly condemned these strikes, which reportedly include museums, mosques, and other historic buildings, including the Golestan Palace, which you see here on your screen.

It's actually a UNESCO heritage site, one of many. U.S. Central Command responding to the claim, saying that it does not deliberately target civilians. And the Israeli military says that they take all feasible measures to mitigate collateral damage to civilians and cultural sites in Iran.

D.T. Potts is a Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. Professor Potts, thank you so much for joining us to talk about this.

D.T. POTTS, PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY & HISTORY: My pleasure.

SANDOVAL: Multiple cultural and historic sites, they've reportedly been damaged in the war thus far, palaces, ancient mosques included. I wonder if before we get to the rest, maybe you could just bring us up to speed on what's in place to protect these kinds of sites during times of conflict.

POTTS: Well, Iran has a very highly developed cultural heritage organization, part of the Ministry of Culture. And so, there are a lot of people who are employed there and they would have tried, I'm sure, to safeguard the collections, take them off site and that sort of thing.

But when it comes to the shock from missiles and bombs, I don't know that they can do a whole lot to shore up these buildings, many of which are archaeological sites, many of which are extremely old, not too robust.

SANDOVAL: And that's at the local level, Professor. In terms of the international community, perhaps the U.N., I mean, do they have a stake in this as well? Perhaps even the enforcement of some sort of treaty or regulations to protect these sites?

POTTS: Well, they should. But I don't know how much of that is actually operable on the ground.

SANDOVAL: Sure.

POTTS: But of course, there are UNESCO conventions. There should be an awareness on the part of all combatants about the need to safeguard these cultural sites.

SANDOVAL: What are some of the sites, Professor, that that we should be worried about the most? And why is this so important?

POTTS: Well, Iran has got a huge number of extremely important archaeological sites and historical monuments that stretch back thousands of years. I only know what I've read in the press since there's a complete Internet blackout, so I haven't heard from colleagues in Iran for over a week.

But, you know, there's a very important mosque, the Friday Mosque in Isfahan that was founded in the mid-ninth century. So it's nearly 1,200-years-old. It's been continuously used and expanded and modified. It's right in the heart of Isfahan.

Palaces from the time of the Safavid Dynasty, which dates from between 1,500 and about the early 18th century. Palaces that were built in the early to mid-17th century, which have got fantastic murals and which are simply unique. And archaeological sites, we haven't heard a whole lot about that.

We've heard about sites in the area of the city of Khorramabad in Lorestan in southwestern Iran that have been damaged. But there hasn't been a lot of detail that's come out yet.

SANDOVAL: In a war, Professor, that has already taken lives, it has displaced millions of people.

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We're seeing an economic -- economic issues around the world. We're seeing a humanitarian crisis that continues to worsen. Professor, just remind us why this matters. This is essentially the story of these communities, of these nations, of these -- so, why does destruction or damage of some of these sites cause so much -- could be devastating for some of these communities, for the civilians in them?

POTTS: Yeah, this is -- you know, Iranian identity is very important. The modern-day Iranians, as they have for a very long time, centuries, identify very closely with the period of the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great, Darius the Great, also later empires.

There's a long history of extraordinary architecture there, and an archaeological record that is perhaps less well-known than the pyramids of Egypt, let's say, but which is extraordinarily rich. And scholars from all over the world have been studying this for, you know, the last couple of centuries.

And in more peaceful times, thousands upon thousands of tourists have gone to Iran and visited places like the Aali Qapu and the Chehel Sotoon Palaces in Isfahan. They've visited the Golestan Palace, which was the palace from -- in the 19th century, started by the Qajar Dynasty in Tehran.

And these are appreciated by people all over the world. So these are all part of the common human heritage.

SANDOVAL: Yeah, dozens of sites that I counted on UNESCO's website of heritage sites in Iran, some 30 of them, those sites considered as having universal cultural value, to that last point. Professor D.T. Potts, really appreciate your expertise. This is an important conversation to have. Thank you.

POTTS: My pleasure. Thank you so much.

SANDOVAL: And the war with Iran, it's also disrupting sports schedules around the world. We'll bring you the latest on canceled football matches and Formula One races. Stay with us. Watch.

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SANDOVAL: Well, there is no comparison to the growing death toll across the Middle East, but the war with Iran, it's also taking a toll on sports schedules around the globe. CNN's World Sport Anchor, Don Riddell explains.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: The war in the Middle East is starting to really impact the international sports calendar. Over the weekend, numerous events had to be cancelled. Formula One track (ph) races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia next month, both countries have been sucked into the violence after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran two weeks ago.

There will now be a five-week gap between the F1 races in Japan and Miami. Qatar has also been impacted. Next month's World Endurance Championship has been postponed. And MotoGP has decided to reschedule their race that had been due to be held on the weekend of April 10th. They've announced a new date in November with the CEO of MotoGP, Carmelo Ezpeleta, saying the priority is the safety and well-being of everyone involved in the sport.

But scheduling hasn't been possible with football's Finalissima, so the much anticipated meeting between European champion Spain and Copa America winners Argentina has been cancelled. The game on March 27th was meant to see a return to the Lusail Stadium in Qatar, the scene of Leonard Messi's epic World Cup Final triumph.

But the organizers, UEFA, have said that with the political current situation and with the football calendar in a World Cup year, finding an alternative date has just not been possible. So that's the situation and, of course, there is still no resolution about the situation regarding the Iran football team heading to the FIFA World Cup in the United States this summer or the Iraq team who are struggling to travel to their World Cup Qualifier in Mexico later this month.

The longer this war goes on, the more complications there will be. Back to you.

SANDOVAL: Don Riddell, thank you for that. Still to come, the U.S. airline industry now feeling the pinch when the partial government shutdown. We'll show you how travelers are reacting to the long lines and flight delays which could get even worse.

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SANDOVAL: Look at these pictures coming out of Hawaii as it's been hit with severe flooding, landslides, and power outages from a so- called Kona storm. It shattered a 75-year rainfall record on the islands. On Maui Island, significant rainfall is causing some dangerous conditions as floodwaters swallow up not just roads, but homes as well.

A couple, both of them about 80-years-old, they had their dream home taken from them by a flooded river. You see it here. Their home, it used to be some 75 feet from a stream. That didn't help. It still got swept away. They didn't have flood insurance because it was not in a flood zone. Couple says they are grateful, though, to at least have each other and they say they will be rebuilding.

And we're just a little over a month into the partial government shutdown here in the United States, and TSA agents, they have now missed their first full paycheck. The agency says that hundreds of workers have quit in the last few weeks and it's starting to show at the nation's airports, especially when you look at these lines.

There are many passengers, in some cases, taking as much as two hours to get through security, if not longer. Some lines even spilling into garages, as you see there.

Some bad weather, it's not helping the situation. It's making things much, much worse, delaying flights for many frustrated travelers.

And that's it for us. Thank you so much for joining us. My colleague, Rosemary Church, continues our coverage after a short break. Don't go anywhere.

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