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CNN This Morning

Gulf States Respond to Iran's New Leader; Son of the Late Supreme Leader Named His Successor in Iran; Oil Prices Surge to 4-Year High. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 09, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news, a new wave of strikes in the war with Iran as Tehran names a new supreme leader.

[06:00:44]

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish.

In just a few hours, Iranians will be called to pledge their allegiance to the new leader. Mojtaba Khamenei will succeed his father, who was killed in a strike at the start of the war.

Now, video from Iran's state media just a short time ago shows people celebrating in the streets.

Israel met the announcement with increased firepower aimed at Iran. A rocket engine factory and several missile launches sites were hit. Today, there's a thick black smoke over Tehran and black rain after an oil depot was hit.

Refineries also targeted across the Middle East. The price of oil now surging past $100 a barrel. That's a four-year high. And new video showing fire and thick smoke at a refinery in Bairahn [SIC]. So -- in Bahrain.

Just hours earlier, 32 people were wounded by Iranian drones in Bahrain. The human toll, of course, is now climbing. The U.S. military says a seventh American service member has died from an attack in Saudi Arabia.

Over the weekend President Trump was there as six other fallen troops returned home.

And we have team coverage from around the Middle East and inside Iran. We're going to start with CNN's Nic Robertson, who is in Saudi Arabia.

And I want to start with kind of a regional question about how Gulf states are responding to the appointment of the new leader, who is, of course, the son of the past leader.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, there is quite a lengthy sort of diplomatic statement that's been put out by Saudi Arabia and reflected across the Gulf countries. And it, quite simply, to boil it down, says this: that Iran's attacks are against civilian targets like airports, like oil infrastructure are breaking international humanitarian law. That the words of the Iranian president hasn't been matched by action. So, it's very clear that they're judging this new Iranian leadership.

And I just go through here with you the last paragraph of this sort of lengthy, very strong diplomatic message from Saudi Arabia, from the Foreign Ministry here.

And it says, you know, "The continued Iranian attacks represent a further escalation with significant implications for bilateral relations now and in the future." Goes on to say that "The kingdom stresses Iran's continued actions towards our countries do not reflect wisdom."

It also says it serves or does not reflect wisdom or serve the interests of avoiding a widening escalation. And it's the last line that's the kicker here: "Do not avoid widening escalation in which Iran would be the greatest loser."

It is not a threat that Saudi Arabia is about to take action and join the fight they've been very careful not to do that. They don't want to get dragged into this conflict.

But it is a very, very clear message to the new Iranian leadership to stop these attacks. Saudi Arabia has pointed out multiple times that they are not used as a base for the U.S. Air Force to attack Iran. The aircraft that are based here, refueling aircraft, are used simply to defend the Gulf countries from incoming missiles, of which there have been more this morning; drones targeting oil fields; ballistic missiles targeting the prince sultan air base just outside of Riyadh.

And I think a very strong indication of where the United States feels that the tempo of what is happening here in Saudi Arabia and writ large across the Gulf. Due to safety risks, they are now mandating that all non-essential staff, diplomatic staff, and family members leave Saudi Arabia.

That's from the consulate in Jeddah, the embassy here in Riyadh, and the consulate in the East of the country in Dammam.

CORNISH: OK. Nic Robertson speaking to us from Saudi Arabia.

I want to bring in our folks here in Washington to talk about what we're learning: Susan Page, Washington bureau chief with "USA Today"; Brett McGurk, CNN global affairs analyst and former Middle East and North Africa coordinator for the National Security Council; Nancy Youssef, staff writer at "The Atlantic."

Brett, I can't help but start with you, because you know a lot about this region. And we've talked for the last week and a half about the layers of Iranian leadership, precisely because they were prepared for some sort of attack.

This new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, 56 years old, son of the assassinated leader. And it's, to be clear, much of the family of the original supreme leader has been assassinated at this point. What message is Iran sending to the U.S. with this choice?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, over the weekend, the most dramatic internal political developments we've seen in decades.

Iran's only had two supreme leaders since the '79 revolution. On Saturday morning, when we woke up here early --

CORNISH: Yes.

MCGURK: -- President Pezeshkian, the current president. And by the way, he's an accidental president, because the president for him, Ebrahim Raisi, who was likely to succeed Khamenei, was killed in a helicopter crash back in 2025.

CORNISH: Plane crash, yes. Which people didn't notice. It was a while back.

MCGURK: So, Pezeshkian is known as being, you know, somewhat of a moderate guy. That word is overused, but he's not really kind of totally aligned with the real hardliners.

He came out with a statement on Saturday morning apologizing to Gulf states, saying, we're going to stop these attacks; offering an off ramp, even.

And President Trump then put out a statement saying that, you know, they're basically surrendering when it comes to the Middle East states. But we're going to continue the attacks.

In any case, as soon as Pezeshkian spoke, within an hour or so, the hardline in Iran, the Revolutionary Guards said that is not our policy. And attacks against the Gulf continued.

CORNISH: But let me underscore what you just said. So, the president came out --

MCGURK: Yes.

CORNISH: -- and said one thing. But we have the world of the supreme leader, the guard, the people who are in charge of this violent police state saying, Not so fast.

MCGURK: Yes, exactly.

CORNISH: -- that's not the direction.

MCGURK: We are. We are in charge. You had Ali Larijani, who's a longtime advisor to the now deceased supreme leader. And then within a day yesterday, on Sunday --

CORNISH: Yes.

MCGURK: -- you had Mojtaba -- Ali Khamenei's son named. And that shows continuity of the system. And what does that mean for where we're heading? I think it closes

what President Trump might have hoped was a possible off-ramp in which you'd have a new leadership emerge and maybe be willing to talk to us.

CORNISH: Yes. Which, while you're telling us --

MCGURK: The Iranians have shut the door.

CORNISH: -- I want to show people Donald Trump's most -- one of his social media posts here: "There will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender."

So, as we're talking about off-ramps and where to go, I just want to show people.

MCGURK: So where are we? This is now -- I think this will not be a short war.

CORNISH: OK.

MCGURK: I think the doors have been closed, recently Iran's.

CORNISH: Nancy, what are you seeing in this choice or what are you seeing in what's going on with the sort of battlefield approach in terms of where the U.S. is targeting versus, say, Israel?

NANCY YOUSSEF, STAFF WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": So, short term with the new leadership, you know, his father was in power for 37 years. The question will be can he survive the next 37 days, because he becomes the top target for the Israelis and the United States?

If he's able to do that and survive that period, the question becomes, can he consolidate power to come across as a legitimate leader who can keep the current regime in place?

CORNISH: Yes.

YOUSSEF: He's never held a government position.

And we don't really know much about his positions. We know that he's been a hardliner in terms of going after protesters in the past, but his governance style, we don't have a window.

CORNISH: Yes. He doesn't have a bunch of videos or sermons or things like that, to --

YOUSSEF: That's right.

CORNISH: -- look at.

YOUSSEF: And then, in terms of the battlefield, I think what we've started to see is Israel and the U.S. going after energy infrastructure within Iran, which suggests that one of the ways they're going after the military is not just for their ballistic missile capabilities or their ability to hit drone production, but also the energy that supplies the military. The challenge with that is, how do you bring in the Iranian people who

will become increasingly frustrated with attacks that not only affect the military, but affect their day-to-day life, in a time when they're enduring strikes in their community?

CORNISH: We're going to talk about that more as we talk about the position of what it means to have a popular uprising.

We know here in the U.S., according to at least CNN polling earlier in the month, particularly independents didn't feel the president had quite a grasp on Iran and, like, the goals and what's going on.

When you look at the way the administration came out and talked over the weekend, do you have more clarity on what they would consider success?

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "USA TODAY": Well of course, the President Trump said that this would be an unacceptable choice for the United States as supreme leader. The Iranians have clearly paid no attention to that.

And there's some speculation -- and I'd be interested in what our experts here thought -- that President Trump missed an opportunity with the Iranian president's kind of conciliatory gesture there.

Would it have been possible to have encouraged that a little more as opposed to rejecting it? Maybe that --

CORNISH: Yes. To bolster that voice.

PAGE: Maybe that -- maybe that die was already cast.

[06:10:02]

You look at American public opinion. Americans were not prepared for this war. They do not understand why we have engaged in this war. That's a case the administration has yet to make.

And traditionally, in these kind of wars, approval is the highest at the beginning --

CORNISH: Right.

PAGE: -- before all the costs, the cost of blood and treasure begin to accumulate.

CORNISH: Though, in fairness with Iraq, because there was 9/11, I think that the public sentiment, we were all positionally in a different place.

Whereas this, people are unclear. And you have Hegseth, et cetera. People over the weekend saying we reserve the right for boots on the ground. They don't want to rule anything out.

PAGE: But with 9/11, as with Pearl Harbor, there was a reason that we went to war. CORNISH: Yes.

PAGE: And went to war then. And Americans understand that --Americans have no sympathy for this regime in Iran. But why did we go to a war now? That's a question that has yet to be answered.

CORNISH: Yes. OK. You guys stay with me. We've got a lot of people who are going to join us today to give us more context.

Our breaking news coverage is going to continue after this break. We are going to talk about those oil refineries being targeted and the fact that, as a result, some gas prices are climbing.

CNN is on the ground in Tehran, looking at the aftermath of one of those strikes.

Plus, why the Trump administration is kind of brushing off this panic at the pump. And the president has said the U.S. has already won. "Mission accomplished," anybody?

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[06:15:45]

CORNISH: OK, it's 15 minutes past the hour. I want to give you five things to know to get your day going.

So, we've got newly-released video showing a strike on an Iranian school. This is reported to have killed at least 168 children. And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. is quote, still investigating whether it's responsible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you could tell the American public it definitively was not us, you would tell us, wouldn't you?

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I would -- I would say that it's being investigated, which is the only answer I'm prepared to give.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: President Trump claims Iran is responsible for the tragic attack.

Analysis by CNN is showing that the U.S. had been targeting a nearby Revolutionary Guard base at the time of impact, and that the missile in the video appears consistent with U.S. Tomahawk munitions.

And the U.S. State Department says it has now brought about two dozen evacuation flights home from the Middle East. Since the war with Iran broke out, about 32,000 U.S. citizens have safely returned home from the region.

That number includes people who made their way home without government assistance.

And we're going to hear from New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani today, as the FBI's terrorism task force investigates a homemade explosive thrown near the mayor's mansion.

Now, this happened Saturday as anti-Islam demonstrators were met by counter-protesters.

Sources tell CNN two men taken into custody admitted being inspired by ISIS. An additional device was removed from a nearby car on Sunday.

Mayor Mamdani and his wife were not home at the time. He posted denouncing the far-right protests. Mamdani called the bombing attempt "the antithesis of who we are."

And travelers waiting three hours or more at major airports amid a TSA shortage. You're looking at the airport in New Orleans right now. Also, Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston. They all pretty much look the same, because agents aren't showing up as the Homeland Security shutdown drags on.

TSA workers will miss their first full paycheck next week.

And a woman is arrested after allegedly shooting a gun towards the home of Rihanna. Our affiliate says the singer was inside when it happened.

Police say between 5 and 7 shots were fired, hitting the gate of the home, but not the actual house. No one was injured.

And after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, our breaking news coverage continues from the Middle East. Six fallen U.S. troops have been brought back home. We're now learning of a seventh American killed in the war with Iran. We'll be right back.

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[06:22:36]

CORNISH: So, global markets disrupted this morning after crude oil prices topped $100 per barrel. This is the first time this has happened since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Stock futures also rattled; plunged this morning.

President Trump, though, is downplaying this rise in prices. He's telling Americans that this is short term and, quote, "a small price to pay for USA and world safety and peace."

Joining me now, Neil Atkinson, visiting fellow at the National Center for Energy Analytics. He's also the former head of oil industry and markets for the International Energy Agency.

So, thank you for being here, because you've got the president saying, look, no big deal. This is short-term.

So, are the markets just rattled or are they foreseeing something more long-term here?

NEIL ATKINSON, VISITING FELLOW, NATIONAL CENTER FOR ENERGY ANALYTICS: Well, I think the markets at the moment can't see an end to the blockage that we're seeing in the Strait of Hormuz. That is the main reason the markets are agitated.

You know, oil is not flowing through the strait, and we're now hearing reports that key producers in the Gulf -- in the Gulf, such as Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, and possibly even in due course, Saudi Arabia itself, are cutting back on production.

And, you know, that is a very, very serious situation which we have never seen before.

And what markets are looking for, I think, is some kind of indication that the -- that the Strait of Hormuz situation will be resolved and there will be a clear path towards an end to this conflict.

CORNISH: So, if the U.S. Navy, as it said, is starting to escort vessels through this choke point, does that affect things? Would that be seen as a positive development?

ATKINSON: Oh, for sure. Yes, it's a positive development. There's no question of that.

But I don't think anybody seriously believes that the U.S. Navy or, indeed, any other navy that might help out is in a situation to escort ships anything like the number required to resemble normal operations.

We need normal operations, which means there is no risk of ships being shot at; their insurance rates can go back to normal; and basically, we can return to business as usual. That alone is the only way in which we can take the heat out of this market.

And yes, welcome any steps the U.S. takes, such as the naval escorts.

[06:25:00]

CORNISH: In the meantime, I just want to show people who buys oil from Iran just so we can get a sense of what's going on in the market.

You know, in this scenario, in this war, who is benefiting, so to speak, in terms of oil prices? Is it Russia? Give us some context.

ATKINSON: Well, it's a rather perverse way of having to look at this, but pretty well anybody else that is producing oil and is able to sell it into the market is going to benefit.

I mean, other producers around the world are not going to give away their oil at discounted prices. So, U.S. producing --

CORNISH: Neil, the reason why I asked this is because, you know, the U.S., Trump has given India permission to buy the Russian oil that's already at sea, right? Offering this waiver. I don't know if that's an acknowledgment of sort of what's going on out there. ATKINSON: Yes, well, I was coming to that. Yes, a waiver has been

given. And that essentially means that about 140 million barrels that is thought to be sitting, sanctioned oil from Russian ships, which is thought to be sitting at sea, that can now, essentially, become supply to the market. So that will ease some of the stress that has been placed on the global market by lower supplies from the Gulf.

It will also ease India's situation, which is a big importer from the Gulf. Now, of course, India will be able to get this Russian oil in due course. It will get it at a very cheap price because, you know the quality of it and the -- the way -- the condition it's in may not be optimal.

But it will be able to get its hands on significant volumes of Russian oil. But of course, Russia will benefit from revenues that it had not expected.

So, you know, there's a double edge to this.

CORNISH: OK. That's Neil Atkinson. Thanks so much.

ATKINSON: Thank you.

CORNISH: Brett, can I ask you a question just upon hearing that? Because over the weekend, Lindsey Graham put up this post where he was sort of like, hey, Israel, be careful where you're -- where you're targeting, because the Iranian people have to live. This country has to stand up after this, and they need this oil infrastructure.

Can you talk about the difference between U.S. approach --

MCGURK: Yes.

CORNISH: -- and Israel's approach to targeting oil?

MCGURK: I'd say first, following up on Neil's report, any Iran war plan scenario, I think, had to assume, if you're going to remove the supreme leader of the country, Iran will seek to close the Straits of Hormuz. This has been an assumption for decades looking at Iran.

CORNISH: Right. Which is why we heard so much about the Navy.

MCGURK: Right. And here they have not -- you know, there was fears they might mine the straits. It's only a two-mile passage for ships, 20 mile total on a map, but two mile for ships. They have not mined the strait. Their navy has been destroyed.

But ships are self-deterring because of these threats.

And so, what you're seeing here in the markets, I think, had to be assumed going in, if you have kind of followed this issue for some time.

And now it's going to be a concerted effort this week to solve that Straits of Hormuz issue. On that strike in Tehran, what Israel is trying to do is go after all

the Revolutionary Guard's infrastructure. It includes their oil facilities, everything, on this hope that you can weaken the Revolutionary Guards, the kind of hardline elements of the system, which controls about 40 percent of the economy. And then maybe the more nationalist elements, the Artesh.

CORNISH: Yes.

MCGURK: They have a -- Iran has a conscript army. Maybe they can --

CORNISH: But once I saw a public admonishment, I was sort of curious.

MCGURK: I think -- yes, I think that's a dubious assumption. And I would really question those targeting decisions.

CORNISH: By Israel.

MCGURK: Yes. I just don't think that helps the overall -- and to try to, like, get a political outcome by the way you're -- you're targeting is, again, I think that is extremely --

CORNISH: Yes. Although that's the whole plan right now.

OK, listen. Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, our breaking news coverage continues. CNN is actually on the ground in Tehran at the site of an oil depot strike.

Plus, Iranians will be called to pledge their allegiance to their new supreme leader today.

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