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CNN This Morning

Pres. Trump: Iran Will Be "Hit Very Hard" Today; Israel Says Another Wave Of Strikes Underway Against Iran; Iranian President Vows To Stop Attacks On Gul Neighbors. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired March 07, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: For targeting. Israel, meantime, says that it is using more than 80 fighter jets to carry out pre-dawn strikes in Iran already this morning. And at the same time, Israel says that it's intercepting waves of Iranian attacks. Iranian President Pezeshikan gave an address saying that Iran will never surrender. Not even a day after President Trump said that he wouldn't negotiate without a, quote, "unconditional surrender."

But he said Iran would quit striking its neighbors unless any attacks originated from their countries. It's unclear if that order went into effect since interceptions continued over surrounding countries shortly after he spoke. But despite ongoing attacks, the UAE says that it is resuming flights in and out of Dubai's airport. Airports in the UAE are key for connecting flights worldwide.

We are covering these new developments with our reporters around the world. Nic Robertson and Paula Hancocks are standing by. We'll check in with them in just a moment.

But first let's get to CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, air raid signals were just heard over skies. What more are we hearing?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. We just had air raid sirens going off and I've just heard a few different interceptions. In fact, the booms are still going off in the distance. It suggests that it's probably not in the Tel Aviv area itself, but perhaps further afoot. But certainly, it indicates that Iran still has just listening to the rumble here because there was quite a steady rumble here of intercepts, not a sound that we usually hear. Usually you hear one interception here, another interception there, but this was kind of a low rolling sound. So, we'll try and get more information on exactly what that was.

But certainly, Iran still has capacities to fire ballistic missiles. Those capacities have been severely degraded by Israel and the United States continuous attacks inside of Iran. They're targeting of Iran's ballistic missiles as well as the launchers that they use to send them out. More than 60 percent of those launchers have been destroyed over the course of the last week according to the Israeli military. And that's part of the reason why even though Iran is still firing missiles, the barrages it would seem, are getting smaller, which also means that fewer of those missiles are getting through Israel's air defenses.

We haven't seen any fatalities in Israel since last Sunday, since the second day of the war. And right now, we are on day eight of this war. Meanwhile, the northern front is also heating up. That's where my team and I were yesterday along the Israel Lebanon border and we encountered a very active situation cross border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, including some of which my team And I witnessed. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND: And it seems we don't have that sound bite but I -- oh, okay. So, we're going to put our vests on now because we just saw not one but two projectiles coming in. Still not clear exactly what that was, but we're now starting to hear the outgoing Israeli fire responding to it. And now -- okay. And that was hitting the same spot. Yes, getting very active here now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND: And so that was some of the cross border fire that my team and I witnessed just yesterday. We saw two projectiles going right over our heads, potentially anti-tank missiles that were being fired at Israeli an Israeli military base that was nearby. And indeed, there were eight Israeli soldiers who were wounded just yesterday alone by Hezbollah fire, five of them in serious condition.

In Lebanon, the Israeli military has been conducted one intense round of airstrikes after the next, not only in southern Lebanon where we could see and hear some of those airstrikes, but also in the Lebanese capital of Beirut where the Israeli military has been really pounding that area of the Dahia, those southern suburbs that are known to be a Hezbollah. But hundreds of thousands of civilians have also been forced to flee that area as a result of Israel's evacuation order there and the ensuing strikes. A humanitarian crisis that is also just starting to bubble to the surface in Lebanon as well.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And Israel putting more pressure now even just within the last hour on the Lebanese government do more to disarm Hezbollah. Jeremy Diamond, stay safe. You'll be covering all of this for us. Thank you.

Well, even as Iran's president apologized in what looked like a pre- recorded message this morning saying that Iran would stop hitting its Gulf neighbors, new strikes were reported. Iran's military says that it fired missiles and drones at U.S. sites in Bahrain and Qatar. And Saudi Arabia says that it shot down 20 drones overnight aimed at its Shaybah oil field. Shaybah is deep in the desert and pumps about 1 million barrels of oil a day.

[08:05:04]

Let's go now to CNN's Nic Robertson in Saudi Arabia. And Nick, it's important to note that all of these strikes against the Arab, the neighboring Arab Gulf countries there were unprovoked from Iran. Nonetheless, a barrage of incoming missiles and drones over the past week. Just talk about the reaction you've heard thus far from this message from President Pezeshikan and how seriously officials are taking it.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, President Pezeshikan's message is clearly going to get the attention of the leaders here. We've been speaking with sources inside the government. They say it's too early to have a comment on it.

It's very clear that they've been trying to study what the Iranian political leadership has been saying over the past week compared to what the military actions are against them. As you say, more than 20 drones intercepted around that one large oil field in the east of Saudi Arabia overnight. And by the accounts of the publicly announced intercepts by the Ministry of Defense here in Saudi Arabia, that was the largest amount of intercepts around one place that we've heard so far during the conflict.

I'm thinking back a couple of days here where Ras Tanura, the massive oil complex where there is refining, where product is pumped aboard, tankers are waiting that was targeted just a few days ago. And back then there was damage, burning debris from intercepts fell. Back then, the deputy foreign minister of Iran spoke on CNN and said Iran wasn't responsible for that.

So, the question is going to be very intensely scrutinized here. Does the president of Iran have any command and control over the military elements, the IRGC, other security elements, other proxies in the region? Thinking about the Iran backed proxies inside of Iraq who have been responsible for some of the attacks over the past week in this region. And that's how the situation is going to be judged.

And over the next 24-48 hours it will be judged whether the Iranian president can speak for the country and control the country or is he merely doing his best situation. And actually, it's the military with the weapons that can create effects on the ground. In Saudi, it is absolutely going to be actions, not words that will determine their response.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, and I think most experts would tell you it's the latter in terms of how they view president possession authority in that country. Most of the power still wielded there by the IRGC. Nic Robertson, thank you so much for your reporting.

And let's go next to CNN's Paula Hancocks in Dubai, UAE, another of the Middle East nations that Iran has hit with drones and missiles. Paula, what's been the impact there just today alone?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianna, we have seen emergency alerts and then heard blasts this Saturday morning about the same time as those comments from Pezeshikan were coming out. So certainly, it's unclear which came first, to be honest. But we did see some impact at Dubai International Airport here.

Now we spoke to one of the passengers that was inside the airport when there appeared to be a blast in the airport grounds, although official lines were still waiting for. But let's listen to what that passenger said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VOICE OF PAUL CRUICSHANK, DUBAI RESIDENT AT DXB AIRPORT: Well, shortly after 9:00 o'clock were at the Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport and there was a large impact. A lot of smoke could be seen from the glass. It seemed to be within the airport perimeter. But obviously in these situations it's quite difficult to tell.

There were vibrations, reverberations. What was extraordinary is that the way the Dubai authorities within the airport reacted, there was professionalism, there was calm, there was no panic. The passengers showed no panic either that I could see.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: So that impact actually stopped all flights incoming and outgoing from Dubai International Airport. We could see on flight radar the planes in the air were diverted from that particular area. But then it only took about half an hour before the all clear was given by the Dubai authorities saying that they were continuing flights in and out.

They're hoping to have more than 100 return flights from the Dubai airports just today. They're really trying to ramp up the amount of flights taking people out of here. There is certainly a backlog of people wanting to leave this city at the moment.

[08:10:05]

So, we've had updated figures as well as to how active the incoming has been this Saturday. 16 missiles have been shot into the UAE, 15 of them intercepted, and 121 drones, all but two of those intercepted as well. So, despite the call that Iran is not going to be targeting its neighbors, we are certainly seeing a fairly high number once again of incoming here. Residents and citizens certainly welcomed the announcement when they believe that this may be over for them. But of course, there is a lot of concern. There's a lot of nervousness and people are certainly going to wait a couple of days before they believe that this could possibly be over for them in the Gulf nations.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Nonetheless, the country, the region remains on high alert. Paula Hancock's, thank you.

Well, CNN is the first U.S. network reporting from inside Iran since this conflict began. Our correspondent Fred Pleitgen and producer Claudia Otto were in Tehran during the latest strikes. And we should note CNN can only operate in Iran with government approval. Here's Fred.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Obviously, a lot of connectivity and Internet issues here on the ground in Iran. At the same time as you catch us right now, we seem to be in the middle of a massive waves of airstrikes coming down on the Iranian capital. We've been hearing explosions, a lot of thuds I would say for the past hour, maybe hour and a half. So, it's certainly been a sustained wave of blasts that we've been hearing. From what we've heard, apparently a lot of it is coming from the east of Tehran, also from the central sort of southern part of Tehran as well. And we did see that the Mehrabad airport, which is a sort of second major airport here in Tehran, appears to have been hit or the vicinity of that airport seems to have been hit.

There's some video coming out on social media showing flames coming from the vicinity of that airport. So, it seems that might be one of the main targets. But really throughout the course of the day, Aaron, as we've been on the ground here in Tehran time and again, we've heard major airstrikes. In fact, earlier today were at a hospital that was hit that was damaged when there was an airstrike in the vicinity. And while we were on the ground filming there, we heard more airstrikes not too far away from us.

So, it is a pretty constant thing here on the ground in Tehran. Also major strikes, of course, overnight happening last night as well. And you can feel that the city here is a lot emptier, obviously, than it would normally be. A lot of people have decided to leave the city simply because it appears to be so dangerous.

Of course, while a lot of targets have been struck here, a lot of civilians have also been wounded. Some civilians have been killed on the ground here as well. The authorities today telling us, I was speaking to the head of the Iranian Red Crescent saying that many people have been wounded and have been killed as these strikes have been going on. So, this is clearly something for a lot of folks here on the ground, obviously very concerned about the situation. And you can really hear the thuds of those incoming strikes almost constantly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: Fred Pleitgen reporting there from Tehran. All right. In less than two hours, President Trump is scheduled to speak at the Shield of the Americas summit hosted by the administration. This is a live look at world leaders arriving at the summit in Doral, Florida.

We expect the president to speak around 10:00 a.m. right before he departs for Delaware for the dignified transfer of the U.S. service members who were killed in the Iran attacks. We will bring you President Trump's comments live when he takes the podium.

Meantime, back here, another major storm. We're tracking this morning, the weather. At least eight people are dead following severe storms throughout Central U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys are chickens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay safe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: This was in southwestern Michigan Friday afternoon where four people were killed and others injured as severe thunderstorm activity kicked up a destructive tornado. One video shows the tornado rapidly heading towards a store where people were sheltering. You can see the storm get close to them as it kicked up debris and building fragments in its path.

With me now is CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam. A really frightening video there. Obviously, tragic that lives were lost. Just talk about what the rest of that part of the country can expect in the hours to come.

DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST: Bianna, I want to talk about that video and other similar videos that we've seen come into CNN from this twister that touched down in southern Michigan. There was multiple sub vortices kind of wrapping around the main tornadoes. So, this is an indication how powerful it was and just how complex it was. Look at this debris getting lofted hundreds of feet in the air. And then notice how the twister actually crossed over a frozen lake. There was reports that some of the ice was actually taken off of the surface of the water and thrown to the side as well.

[08:15:10]

So, let's talk about how rare this was. We only get about 13 tornadoes throughout the state of Michigan and the entire calendar year. It's quite rare to have this powerful of a tornado ripped through early March in this part of the state.

Now you don't want to see this lone what we call a rogue supercell thunderstorm, kind of taking advantage of the environment around it. But this was part of the broader tornado outbreak that we had yesterday. 13 confirmed tornadoes. There were fatalities unfortunately in Oklahoma as well. Now, this line of thunderstorms marches eastward. We don't see as widespread or as potent of a severe weather event today. But there are two areas we're keeping a close eye on.

The upper Ohio River Valley, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, southward into Cincinnati. That's where we have our greatest chances of tornadoes today, although less chances than yesterday. But Texas, this is the region that we're anticipating the potential at least for some up to golf ball sized hail. There is a tornado watch across parts of Arkansas and northern Louisiana through about 9:00 a.m. Eastern this morning. There were tornado warned storms. Those have since dissipated. But as the system marches eastward, we'll keep an eye on the potential for more rotation in the sky. Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: All right, Derek Van Dam, of course, thank you so much. And coming up after the break, one week into the war now Iran is responding to President Trump's call for their unconditional surrender. But the comments from Iran's president tell us about how long this call conflict could rage on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:58]

GOLODRYGA: And breaking news to bring you. President Trump and leaders in Iran are escalating their rhetoric towards one another other with new threats. This morning President Trump posted quote, "Today, Iran will be hit very hard under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain deaths because of Iran's bad behavior areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting until this moment in time."

And just moments ago a senior Iranian official told CNN that Iran is looking for new U.S. assets to strike in response to the president's warning. The source told the official. The source said that quote, "For this reason, the Islamic Republic announces that it will seriously examine American regions, forces, and affiliates that have not yet been included in the Iranian armed forces target bank, and will take action against them in the event of an unwise action by the enemy."

Joining us now is CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid. He's also global affairs correspondent for Axios. Barak, it is really good to see you.

So quite the escalation in terms of rhetoric this morning between the president and now it appears Iranian officials in response. We know they have a history of conducting asymmetrical warfare including terror attacks. How seriously do you take this new threat from Iranian officials that U.S. assets will now be considered for more attacks?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, I think we sort of passed that point, meaning it's an all-out war. I don't think either side is keeping many targets off limits. Therefore, I think it mostly looks to me mostly war of words when the actual war is escalating by the minute, by the hour, by the day with both sides using more or less all they got to fire at the other side.

GOLODRYGA: Right. And here we are well into day eight here and you spoke with President Trump after he had said that he would accept nothing less than unconditional surrender. And then he elaborated that and said that it could simply mean that Iran no longer has the ability to fight.

Barak, we know that U.S. and Israeli officials say that at this point about 60 percent of Iran's missile capabilities have already been destroyed. Just give us a sense of where we are on that timeline to the point where President Trump may determine that Iran can no longer have the ability to fight.

RAVID: So, first, about the assessment, the U.S.-Israeli assessment about Iran's capability to continue to launch missiles and drones. I just think we need to, and not U.S. But Israeli and U.S. Intelligence officials need to be very careful in those assessments. We saw in previous conflicts that time after time, Israeli intelligence assessments were wrong about how fast the Iranians or Hezbollah or Hamas can recover or how many missiles they still have or how much they are still able to launch attacks. So, I think we should be careful when we hear those assessments because it is still very hard to know exactly how much the Iranians can still launch attacks.

Obviously, they were significantly hit, there's no doubt about it. But I just think that, you know, 60 percent, 50 percent, 70 percent, I'm not sure we can know in that kind of specific city. When it comes to President Trump's unconditional surrender demand. What I, what President Trump told me is that when he says unconditional surrender, it could mean, on the one hand that, you know, there'll be a time when an Iranian official will go out on TV and say, we surrender. But I think that's less likely.

What is more likely, and I think this is where he's aiming at, is that the Iranian military will get to such point that it can no longer launch effective attacks against U.S. forces or against countries in the region. And this is what the U.S. and Israel are going to do in the next, I think, 12 days. This is -- we're sort of like in phase two of this war. And phase two of this war is to basically just hammer Iranian military capabilities, missile launchers, missile stockpiles, missile factories, military industry in general, and to basically, in 12 days, bring Iran to a place where it has very little capability to launch attacks. Will it be successful? I don't know.

[08:25:47]

But that's sort of the plan right now. Which means that in 12 days, two weeks, Trump will have an exit point. Will he -- he'd be able to say we crushed them, we won. They basically surrendered because they cannot fight back.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. All of this while both Israel and the United States have virtually complete air superiority over Iran at this point. You also reported that President Trump wants to be personally involved in selecting whoever the next leader of Iran will be. This, as he made this threat today that they're going to be going after other assets, other perhaps targets and officials that hadn't been on the list initially. And remember what he had said earlier this week, that in terms of new leadership, people he thought would be the new leader had already been taken out. So how do we make sense of the role the president himself will have and who the next leader of Iran will be?

RAVID: So I think President Trump has the ability to tell Israel who to not kill, for example. And I think that's a very significant ability that he has. I'm not sure he used it until now, but he can decide at a certain point that he doesn't want Israel to eliminate this or that Iranian leader.

Another thing is that I think it's not only about who's the individual. What the president told me is that he doesn't want to reach a point where military operations are over. And the Iranians -- the Iranian regime has a leader that is committed to the same policy of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, which means animosity towards the U.S., towards Israel, regional, a very aggressive regional posture, nuclear program, et cetera. So, I think it's not only about who's the person, but what kind of policy is he going to lead.

If tomorrow -- I'm saying now, my personal opinion. If tomorrow, a person like Ali Larijani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council in Iran, who's the guy who's more or less running the show right now. If tomorrow he goes on TV and says, you know what? Forget about all this revolution stuff, you know, we just want to get along and improve our economy, we don't want the nuclear program, we don't want missiles and Israel is great, then I think he's a great it would turn him to a great candidate as the next Iranian leader.

Is this realistic that it will happen? No. So I think that's the problem here. Who's the leader who's willing to in Iran, who's willing to take a different route, who's willing to go for a different policy.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Not to mention how the Iranian people themselves, the majority of who've rejected this current regime in place, how they would feel about whatever the successor would look like. Barack Ravid, thank you so much for taking the time. Please do let us know the next time the president calls you. We'd love to know your latest reporting.

RAVID: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: All right. And coming up for us, I'll speak to an American family living in Iraq. They say that they believe they plan to stay in their home despite U.S. Officials warning of the threat of Iranian strikes there. We'll bring you their story. Up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:33:40]

GOLODRYGA: Right now, the U.S. embassy in Iraq is asking Americans to leave that country as soon as possible. Hours after sending that alert yesterday, a drone exploded near a hotel in Erbil. According to the Kurdistan Counterterrorism Service, the drone was one of four shot down by coalition forces. They say no one was hurt. A pro-Iranian Islamist militant group in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the drone attacks.

Even amid headlines like that, our next guests are Americans living in the Iraqi Kurdistan region who say they plan to stay put. Michael and Kayla Coons join us now live from Iraq. Michael, Kayla, thank you so much for taking the time. Good to see you.

So, Kayla, let's just talk first about what this past week has been like for you. Despite signing up for all the advisories and emergency alerts, you said you only realized something was wrong when you saw the interceptors in the sky.

Just tell us what you saw and what went through your mind in those early moments.

KAYLA COONS, AMERICAN LIVING IN IRAQ: Yes, were having coffee on our roof that morning, as is our culture here, and we saw the missiles in the sky. It came quite unexpectedly for ice. We're obviously aware that the U.S. military isn't trying to give civilians heads up on what they're doing, but it was a surprise to see the interceptor missiles in the sky. It came as quite a surprise for us here in Erbil.

[08:35:05]

GOLODRYGA: And Michael, we should make clear the both of you live in Iraq. You're there. You want to be there. You're not stranded. So what is life like in Iraq right now? And why not leave during this heightened crisis? MICHAEL COONS, AMERICAN LIVING IN IRAQ: Yes, I think it's a great

question. We, you know, we work with an NGO here, Light A Candle, and we are able to serve Syrian refugees as typically what we do, and we're able to really help people.

And so we think we are uniquely positioned that when all of this does settle down, that we are able to get into places of need and to serve people. And that is what we're here to do, and that is what we're going to do. We are not scared. We are going with joy, with peace. And that is our goal, is to go and serve the people in need as best as possible.

K. COONS: Yes, I think it's different than some Americans and other expats who might be for tourism or might be there on government contracts. We knew what we were signing up for here to meet the needs of those who have lived in conflict their entire lives and to meet their needs.

GOLODRYGA: Well, the work you're doing is so admirable, so our hats off to you for caring and thinking about others. But now, as this war is perhaps going to escalate and last for weeks to come, are you reevaluating your plans? Like what do you have in mind or what do you have prepared if, in fact this does start to affect you physically?

M. COONS: Yes, we definitely have a plan for exit, but we are not changing our plan. We are staying. We are planning on staying. We're not leaving. We're not afraid. We are very intentional about what we're doing, with wisdom. But we definitely have a plan in place, but it is not -- it is not time for that plan.

K. COONS: We've also been very impressed by the Kurdistan region's response, that every attack has been met with superior defense systems as well as military -- U.S. military presence here, that there haven't been the amount of casualties and injuries that one would expect from the amount of assaults that there have been. They've done a great job protecting our region, but we're here serving people who can't leave, even if they' were flights, even if there were openings to leave, that they can't leave.

And so for us, we feel a commitment to those people, to the refugees that we're serving, that we're here and that we will make a plan to shelter in place as the U.S. government recommends, but that we aren't planning to leave. This is our home. These are our people.

M. COONS: Light A Candle is ready to respond.

K. COONS: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: You mentioned the U.S. government, Michael. Have you been in touch with the State Department or U.S. officials at all?

M. COONS: We have -- we have some connections inside of the State Department. And, you know, they -- they have told us that while Erbil is not a hot target, if you will, obviously it is a little bit close to comfort. And you know it. Again, even if they were to say get out, we would -- we would probably still stay because we just have this commitment to these people, to serve these people.

And even if doors open for us to get into Iran, we would like to get into there and help these people because their innocence on both sides of this war in Israel, in Iraq, in Iran, there's innocence everywhere. So we want to serve the innocents as best as possible.

GOLODRYGA: Well, that is heartwarming to hear your dedication to those civilian lives there in the region. Please take care in the meantime, of yourselves as well. Michael and Kayla Coons, thank you so much for the time. Appreciate it.

K. COONS: Thanks so much.

GOLODRYGA: Well, there are new signs of strain in the U.S. economy. The new report showed a surprising loss of jobs and unemployment is ticking up. We'll explain why after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:43:35]

GOLODRYGA: All right. We want to update you on another story that we are following this morning. At least eight people have been killed after severe storms tore through the central part of the U.S. this week. Four people were killed in southwest Michigan Friday when a tornado struck there.

Several severe storms are still firing up across the country this morning. Here's a look at the radar. You can see that line stretching from the Gulf coast all the way up to Canada.

Well, hiring at American businesses plunged last month. The February jobs report showed that employers cut more than 90,000 jobs. The data also showed retail sales are down and unemployment is ticking up. CNN's Karin Caifa has a look at the job sectors that saw the biggest losses.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARIN CAIFA, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Hiring took an unexpected downward turn in February with businesses frozen by a cold snap across a number of states and months of economic uncertainty.

NATASHA SARIN, PROFESSOR, YALE LAW SCHOOL: We now know that the labor market has essentially stalled. We're in a situation where it is across all sectors. We are not seeing jobs being added.

CAIFA (voice-over): The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs during February, according to the Labor Department. Economists had expected some growth. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4 percent. The health care sector, which has stoked recent overall job growth, lost 28,000 jobs in February, much of that attributable to a nurses strike in California and Hawaii. That's expected to reverse in March.

Leisure and hospitality shed 27,000 jobs. Manufacturing lost 12,000 and construction lost 11,000.

[08:45:06]

REP. BRAD SCHNEIDER (D-IL): The numbers reflect what I'm hearing from people at home that the economy is not working for them.

CAIFA (voice-over): Now rapidly rising oil and gas prices are ramping up pressure on businesses and consumers.

SARIN: The nature of gas prices is really interesting because as oil prices rise, those increases fall through to consumers basically immediately.

CAIFA (voice-over): Crude oil prices continued their climb Friday amid the Iran conflict. And gas prices have reached their highest average level of either of President Donald Trump's presidential terms. Trump, in a phone interview with CNN Friday, said the rise is short term.

Even before the spike in gas prices, retail sales declined unexpectedly in January, the Commerce Department said Friday, raising other concerns about consumer spending, a major driver of U.S. economic growth. In Washington, I'm Karin Caifa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: And coming up next, the U.S. and Iran are escalating their rhetoric this morning, but there's a new message from Iran's president to its Gulf state neighbors. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:27]

GOLODRYGA: Iran's president is apologizing to neighbors in the Gulf for attacking their countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MASOUD PEZESHKIAN, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We do not intend to attack neighboring countries. As I have repeatedly said, they are our brothers. We must work with our friends in the region hand in hand to bring about peace and stability. And I am hopeful of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: So let's bring in Suzanne Maloney. She's the vice president and director of the Foreign Policy Program at Brookings. Suzanne, as far as I have heard, and I know from a lot of the reporting that I've done and from speaking with experts like yourself, President Pezeshkian actually wields almost no power in the country right now and historically has been one of the weakest presidents in that country's history and the regime's history for the past 47 years.

So that begs the question, who is in charge of the country now? Who is making the decisions? SUZANNE MALONEY, V.P. AND DIRECTOR, FOREIGN POLICY PROGRAM AT

BROOKINGS: Thanks, Bianna. I think that's a very important point that you've just made, that Masoud Pezeshkian, the individual who was elected to the presidency after the death of a hardliner in an unexpected helicopter crash in 2024, is really just a placeholder.

He now sits on the three-person council that was established in the aftermath of the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader. But even by the standards of the Iranian presidency, Pezeshkian is incredibly weak, has had no real prior experience in national security issues.

And what we've just seen is even in the minutes that have just passed, Pezeshkian's Twitter account, one of the few that is permitted under Iran's blackout of the internet, has seemed to walk back his comments that appeared originally a few hours ago to take a slightly more conciliatory line toward Iran's neighbors.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, and even after that pre-taped message was released, we saw Iran continue to lob strikes and missiles and drones at its neighbors there in the Gulf. President Trump has said that the only outcome that he would accept is Iran's, quote, unconditional surrender, and that he also says that he wants to have a role in choosing the country's next leader.

Realistically, how does that happen in a system like the IRGC that is built to survive?

MALONEY: I think it's very unlikely that President Trump would really have a way to influence the outcome of any decision making within the regime itself. If, of course, we saw complete destruction of the regime, that would be a very different story.

But realistically, the anticipation of most of those of us who have watched Iran carefully over the course of the past 40 plus years that this Islamic Republic has been in power, do expect that some version of the Islamic Republic, and especially one that is tightly controlled by the Revolutionary Guard Corps, will survive and they will determine the leadership.

I think what we're seeing in these remarks by Pezeshkian, the president, is that there may well be a power struggle already underway within the Iranian leadership. And I think it's quite likely that the hardliners come out on top.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, it does appear that some of the mullahs are pushing for a successor to the Ayatollah to be announced. We have yet to see that. You write in a piece foreign affairs that in a warning basically to the U.S. that not to let representatives of a discredited system shape post war talks.

Just a few moments ago, I spoke with Barak Ravid, who suggested hypothetically that if somebody like Ali Larijani came and said that he would be willing to work with the United States, that perhaps that is something that President Trump would consider.

Is he somebody that you think the United States should be considering, though?

MALONEY: Look, I don't know that we're going to be able to select who our interlocutors are. But I do think what's going to be absolutely critical is that we're very clear about what U.S. interests are at this time, and that is to ensure that no version of this regime is can continue to repress its own people and threaten its neighbors.

And that both of those priorities, the internal dynamics and the external behavior of any leadership that comes to power in Iran over the course of the days and weeks to come have to be twin U.S. priorities.

[08:55:03]

We have a tendency to focus on the external issues for very good reasons, but especially in the aftermath of the mass slaughter of Iranian protesters during the month of January. We really do have to focus on the kinds of conditions that will support the democratic transition over time that Iranians want and deserve.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, and we do know that Ali Larijani had a role in the government slaughter there of those protesters in January as well. Suzanne Maloney, good to see you. Thank you so much. We appreciate your perspective and analysis.

MALONEY: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: And thank you so much for joining us this morning. I'll be back at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, the CNN Newsroom, when we expect President Trump to speak at a summit of Latin American leaders. We'll bring you his remarks live. Smerconish, in the meantime, is up next.

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