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Iranian Drone Hits Fully-loaded Kuwaiti Oil Tanker; Israel & Hezbollah Engage in Intense Fighting in Southern Lebanon; Israel Reiterates Plan to Control Parts of Lebanon After War; U.S. Gas Prices Hit $4 Per Gallon for First Time Since 2022; Gold Prices Are More Than 18 Percent Below All-time Highs in January. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired March 31, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: The price of U.S. gasoline hits a Trump era high, $4 a gallon as the U.S. President renews

his threat to blow up Iran's oil facilities. It's 09:00 a.m. in Washington. It's 02:00 p.m. here in London. I'm Christina Macfarlane, and this is

"Connect the World".

Well, stock market in New York opens in about 30 minutes from now. Here's a look at how things are. All indices up there in the green at the moment.

U.S. futures on the rise, on the hopes that President Trump is looking to end the Iran war. Well as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran enters its second

month.

The U.S. Defense Secretary says regime change in Iran has occurred. Pete Hegseth and U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine addressed reporters a

short time ago at the first Pentagon briefing on the war in almost two weeks. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: But if Iran is wise, they will cut a deal. President Trump doesn't bluff and he does not back down. You can ask

Khamenei about that. The new Iranian regime should know that by now. This new regime, because regime change has occurred, should be wiser than the

last.

President Trump will make a deal he is willing, and the terms of the deal are known to them. If Iran is not willing, then the United States War

Department will continue with even more intensity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well meantime, Iran is reporting another day of Israeli strikes with more than a dozen people killed. This video shows huge explosions in

Isfahan and power outages have been reported in the capital Tehran. Iran is striking back at Israel and its Gulf neighbors. A fully loaded Kuwaiti oil

tanker in Dubai Waters was hit by an Iranian drone attack.

No oil spilled from the tanker. Meanwhile, back in Iran, the funeral for the assassinated commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps. He was a

key figure behind Tehran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which remains choked off by most shipping traffic.

Well, all of this coming as U.S. President Donald Trump blasts other countries for not helping in the war effort, telling them to take the

strait on their own and buy oil from the U.S. Jennifer Hansler is in Washington joining us this hour. Matthew Chance is in Doha.

So, Jennifer, let's get straight to what we just heard from the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth there just a few moments ago, essentially doubling down on the

U.S. is intention to escalate this war if Iran do not back down, saying as well that regime change has happened. Just give us your take on what we

heard.

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Well, Christina, he is making clear in his remarks that they are trying to bolster these

U.S. negotiation efforts with this intense military operation. He at one point said they would continue to negotiate with bombs as this diplomatic

process is playing out, and he called on the Iranian regime to come back to the negotiating table.

This is a tactic we have seen repeatedly used by the Trump Administration over the course of this conflict, as well as last year during the 12-day

war. They had taken aggressive, aggressive military action to try to drive Tehran back to the table here, of course, all of this coming as President

Trump is saying that he is dealing with a more reasonable Iranian leadership.

But we have heard from sources that it's unclear if the folks that the U.S. is engaging with, is exchanging messages with, will ultimately have the

decision-making power, and this way with the new Ayatollah to actually drive any sort of deal here. There are also questions that Secretary of

State, Marco Rubio raised yesterday, of whether the Ayatollah is actually still in power.

He claimed no one had seen him. No one had heard from him. So, there is a lot of murkiness around these diplomatic negotiations. At the same time, of

course, there is this threat, as Hegseth doubled down on this morning of that increased military action, Trump has threatened to strike

desalinization plants, electrical grids.

Both Caine and Hegseth were pressed on the potential civilian harm of these strikes.

[09:05:00]

And General Caine said that they consider all potential risks when they are taking out these targets. But of course, striking civilian infrastructure

is considered by international law to be a war crime, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. Well, Matthew, you, I believe, at a news conference with the Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson today, tell us what was being said

there.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, you don't get much access to officials in this Gulf region, and so this weekly

Foreign Ministry Press Conference in Qatar is one of the few sources of information we've got directly from the government.

But look, I mean, this is a region which is under attack. They've seen oil tankers, energy infrastructure, sites, airports, civilian buildings,

residential compounds, all struck over the course of the past month since the Iran war began, by Iranian drones and missiles in retaliation, of

course, for the pounding that Iran is receiving by the Israelis and by the United States.

And it's caused an enormous amount of damage economically, first and foremost, in these Gulf, Arab states like Qatar, but also like the United

Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia as well. And you know, I asked the spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry what he felt would be the

impact.

What was the assessment of the impact if President Trump gives the order to put U.S. boots on the ground, for instance? And although he refused to be

drawn on that specific strategy, he did say that Qatar was absolutely against any further kind of escalation. He said that, that was a view that

was shared by all of the Gulf states that have suffered such heavy economic losses in the course of the last month.

He spoke repeatedly about the need to hold back from striking energy infrastructure, desalinization plants. Desalinization is what President

Trump called it in his recent Truth Social post. And he's talking, of course, about those threats from the White House to attack those

installations in Iran, partly.

But he's mainly talking about, you know, those installations being attacked in Qatar and the other Gulf states. That's the big fear, that if this

situation, if this conflict, escalates, Iran, which has already been striking, as I say, targets in the Gulf region, could really turn its guns,

its drones and its missiles on the very vulnerable energy infrastructure sites in this region and cause profound and long-lasting damage to this

country's -- this region's economy.

And that's what there's so much apprehension about and concern about right now, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, and Jennifer, just as Matthew was saying, there is fear grows over escalation. What that could spell for Gulf nations, further

attacks in the Gulf? I mean, there was a lot of focus, rightly so, on what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz.

Did we hear anything more from the United States on what their strategy might be here to force the strait open, other than demands, which is what

we heard over and over for Iran to, you know, give in and essentially do what the U.S. are asking?

HANSLER: Well, we've heard the United States certainly rationing up the pressure on its allies to sort of take the lead in reopening that critical

waterway. We saw that post from Trump on Truth Social this morning saying they should just go for it. They should rally their courage and just go

into this incredibly hazardous strait right now.

Hegseth echoed those comments in his press conference earlier today. Rubio took a more pragmatic approach. He said this is a coalition that would be

formed after the fighting finished, that this was something that the U.S. would take part in and not necessarily lead on, but in terms of the actual

brass tax, of how this comes to be reopened.

There has not really been a strategy that has been laid out by the administration, other than trying to gather its allies and figure out a way

forward, whether that is pressure right now or something that comes after the guns are silenced there when there is a ceasefire, but as of now, Iran

continues to snarl the strait.

MACFARLANE: All right. Jennifer Hansler, Matthew Chance, thank you both very much. France is calling for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security

Council after the two U.N. peacekeepers were killed in Southern Lebanon on Monday. It follows another fatal incident over the weekend involving U.S.

peacekeeping personnel.

The U.N. has launched an investigation and has not blamed anyone yet for their deaths, secretary, Israel military says four soldiers were killed

today in combat in Southern Lebanon, where its forces are clashing with Hezbollah fighters. CNN's Jim Sciutto joins us now from Tel Aviv.

[09:10:00]

So, Jim, these latest IDF casualties come as Israeli forces are expanding their military operations inside Southern Lebanon, which of course, is a

traditional Hezbollah stronghold. What more are you hearing? What are you reporting on this latest fighting?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think we should look at this as another war, right? I mean, in other times, if the U.S. and

Israel were not currently at war with Iran, we would be discussing much more about how Israel is, once again at war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

And not just from the air, but on the ground, extensive operations inside Lebanese territory, across that Northern Israeli border, with Israeli

officials speaking quite openly now about extending that up to the Litani River in Southern Lebanon, so about 20 miles into Lebanese territory.

And holding those positions for some time, they have already forced the evacuation of many tens of thousands of Lebanese civilians from that area,

but the intention is to push the firing line from Hezbollah back further. And when we were in the north yesterday, on Sunday, I should say, when

you're up there, that fire is coming in constantly.

We spent some time in a community there. They say they got about 40 air alarms, air sirens every day. We were there for at least a couple of them

had to go into a shelter, and in an attempt to lessen that threat to the north, make it safer for the people there, Israel is trying to push that

line back.

The question, Christina is unanswered to this point is, how long? How long will they be there? Is this a temporary deployment? Is the aim to simply

destroy or degrade Hezbollah positions, or is it to hold that territory over time? We don't know.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. And to your point, Jim, of course, we had Israel's Defense Minister, I think it was earlier today, reiterating plans to keep

parts of Southern Lebanon under -- until after the current IDF operation ends there. But look, I just want pivot to a different issue that we want

to focus on today, because on Monday, the Israeli parliament finalized a controversial bill that would effectively expand the death penalty for

Palestinians convicted of terrorism and nationalistic murders.

I mean, this is a lot of reaction coming in today from European nations on this. What more can you tell us?

SCIUTTO: I spoke yesterday evening to Mustafa Barghouti, who's a member of the Palestinian parliament, of course, long time commentator on Israel and

Palestinian issues. And he described it straight up as an apartheid law, right, a law that applies differently in his view and the view of others,

to Palestinians, as opposed to Israelis accused and convicted of similar crimes.

That's the issue here. So, a tremendous amount of outrage. And of course, this happens as you've seen other acts in the West Bank, with Israeli

settlers attacking, frequently, Palestinians there and not getting the legal punishment that you would see that Palestinians get, and some of them

getting no legal punishment at all.

So, there is enormous concern here about additional, growing evidence of a double standard, how Israelis are treated and how Palestinians are treated,

and that decision regarding the death penalty just one of the most pointed demonstrations of that.

MACFARLANE: And just briefly, Jim, do we know how often the death penalty has been applied in the past?

SCIUTTO: Well, one thing we know for certain is that from a -- if you're a Palestinian accused of violence murder, you're far more likely to face

legal consequences than an Israeli. That's just simply a fact.

MACFARLANE: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: And even Israeli civil rights groups and human rights groups have made that point quite clear. So, the question now is, how do Israeli courts

handle this? It will be appealed. There will be a chance to review, and we'll see if the if the law stands.

MACFARLANE: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: But the reaction to the passage of the law has certainly been understandably outraged by many in the Palestinian community.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, and we're all eyes on the Supreme Court to see what they will do. Jim Sciutto, appreciate it. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

MACFARLANE: All right, ahead on "Connect the World" more pain at the pump for Americans as U.S. gas prices hit a Trump era high. A closer look at

that and why the oil markets is so volatile, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:00]

MACFARLANE: All roads lead to higher prices and slower growth. That's a warning from the International Monetary Fund is sounding the economic alarm

over the war with Iran, and it comes in a blog post. You can see part of it here, showing how tanker traffic has plummeted in the Strait of Hormuz.

The IMF also notes that large energy importers in Asia and Europe are bearing the brunt of higher energy costs. And countries at risk of food

insecurity are feeling more pain from higher food and fertilizer prices. The war with Iran keeps rattling the markets, the oil markets, and now the

price of a gallon of gas in the U.S. has topped $4 for the first time since 2022.

Some analysts say the markets have been getting quote, mixed signals over the last 24 hours. Here's how Brent crude, the international oil benchmark,

is trading right now, up almost $117 a barrel. And in the West Texas crew, the U.S. bench March, settled above $100 a barrel on Monday for the first

time, also since July 2022.

Here's how it's sitting. As you can see, just over $100 a barrel. So, let's head to Dubai and CNN's Eleni Giokos, eye watering numbers, Eleni, let's

start with those gas prices.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah.

MACFARLANE: $4 a gallon, enough, of course, to make any American driver feel very upset right now.

GIOKOS: Absolutely. And I think, you know, we just have to take a step back here and note that this isn't just a war that's contained in the Gulf. This

has become a global energy shock. What this war has done is expose the Achilles' heel of the entire world, and that is the energy markets.

And it first started in Asia, where you saw fuel shortages and price increases. Now it's moving west, and it's very evident in terms of the gas

prices in the United States now hitting above $4 a gallon. And I was looking at the monthly increase, that's 35 percent up, Christina, so 35

percent more expensive than a month ago.

And it's also the largest increase we've seen in the United States, even compared to the other two major shocks, even compared to when Russia

invaded Ukraine. So, this major concern here, and it really comes down to how long this war is going to last. And I think when I look at what Brent

crude is doing right now, what I look with WTI is doing right now, they're not liking the messaging that is coming through from a Trump

Administration.

It's been oscillating rhetoric. It's yes, we're going to finish the war. Then you heard "The Wall Street Journal's" reporting about they're willing

to end the war, even if the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is going to be very much a reality, but it's feeding through into everyone's reality right

now, because 20 million barrels of oil per day essentially blocked off because of the straits closure.

And according to Kpler data, it's actually around 11 million barrels of oil per day because some countries have been able to find alternative routes.

That's still a massive amount of oil that has been taken out of the market.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. And as we see, President Trump can't really stop posting at the moment about America's great wealth of oil.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

MACFARLANE: And is now encouraging everybody, it seems, to buy from the U.S. I don't know.

[09:20:00]

We've got a snapshot of his latest Truth Social post there it is saying that.

GIOKOS: Yes.

MACFARLANE: All the countries that can't get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz. I essentially invite you to buy from the U.S. We have plenty,

and two, build up some delayed courage. Go to the strait and just take it. Well, the second point aside, Eleni, I mean, this is just bravado, isn't

it?

GIOKOS: Yeah.

MACFARLANE: At this point, especially given the price of oil and gas in the United States right now.

GIOKOS: So, of course, and you've got to remember, even though the United States is energy independent, a massive exporter of crude products. You

know, oil companies and oil producers will be looking at this and say, OK, what is our excess capacity to be able to fill that gap of supply that has

been taken out of the market?

The answer isn't that very clear. It's not that easy, and you can't get oil to move around. You've got to remember, the International Energy Agency has

also released a record number of reserves of barrels that, you know, countries keep for emergencies that's still not filtering through.

You've got policy makers trying to find a way to tap into their reserves around the world that's still not making an impact on what we're seeing in

the oil market right now. And I just have to focus on the second point as well. We say, you know, countries have to pluck up the courage to go

through the Strait of Hormuz we've heard this before.

And I just want to remind everyone that President Trump and the administration in the first week of the war said, you know what, we're

going to offer security guarantees and insurance guarantees, and we're also going to look at naval escorts that is not materialized. In fact, he's

trying to draw in other countries to figure out how they're going to create a coalition to bring in those naval escorts.

It's not that easy. Iran still has de facto control of the Strait of Hormuz. It is the lever that they have to apply pressure, not only to the

United States, but everyone across the world. And it is, in fact, working right now. And also, this morning, we had a tanker that was just off the

coast of Dubai, around 31 nautical miles north west, not even in the Strait of Hormuz.

There was a drone attack on a tanker, one of these large crude vessels. And importantly, Christina, just shows that the Iranians are saying, you know

what? We're going to attack. We're going to create so much fear, just the threat of the fear, and then you've got the strike on this vessel.

And of course, ship is going to be like, well, you know, maybe we do need to negotiate with the Iranians to find a way through. Some ships have been

getting through, specifically Chinese ships, Indian vessels, as well as Pakistan flag vessels. But we also know that in the undercurrent of all of

this, they're paying a toll to get through the strait.

So, opening up the strait is going to be so important to alleviating the pressure we've seen in the oil markets, and that's affecting everyone

around the world frankly.

MACFARLANE: It's a good point, and it's one we're going to discuss next, Eleni for now, we really appreciate it. Thank you. Well, as Eleni was

saying, the key to oil and gas prices is the Strait of Hormuz, which is a critical point of leverage in this conflict. And in a new move, Tehran is

seeking recognition of Iranian sovereignty over the strait as part of its demands to end the war.

Tehran has also approved a plan to establish a tolling system through the waterway as something U.S. calls illegal and unacceptable. CNN Middle East

Editor Abbas Al Lawati has been covering the story for us. Abbas, great to have you with us. So, as Eleni was saying, there the Strait of Hormuz, if

you'll pardon the pun, is very much becoming a sort of trump card in all of this for the United States, because it is being used as a lever to apply

pressure against the U.S.

So, let's talk about the move to formalize the tolling the payment of the Strait of Hormuz. How significant is this?

ABBAS AL LAWATI, CNN MIDDLE EAST EDITOR: So, it's significant in that it is whether the Trump Administration, international law likes it or not. It is

happening in practice at a low level, but it's still happening. We know that a growing number of importers are using this new method to seek

permission from Iran and pass through.

We the -- so the states that rely most on Middle Eastern oil are India, China, Pakistan, and we know that ships from all three have passed. Over

the weekend, I think Pakistan, for the first time, acknowledged that it had 20 ships passed with the permission of Iran. They said it was, we didn't

with, in coordination with Iran.

This morning, China said three of their ships were passed. It said with coordination with, quote, unquote, relevant parties -- name Iran. But so,

the point here is, is this illegal? A lot of people say yes. Is are people protesting? Yes. But it is happening in practice. The longer Hormuz stays

closed, these importing states, oil importing states will need somewhat, some way to power their economies.

And they will, they hence they are doing this. Now, what this does, I think, is it creates a huge dilemma for Trump. Does he allow Iran to do

this, therefore allowing for more oil to be released onto the market, into the global market, reducing the economic pain that this is causing the

global economy?

[09:25:00]

Or does he insist on not -- on this being illegal, and we have seen Trump Administration officials increasingly use -- international law and say that

this is illegal. You cannot do this. And keep fighting on and watch as oil price climbs more and more. So that's a dilemma for Trump.

Do you de facto recognize, allow it to happen quietly, and de facto recognize this new regime as legitimate? Now we know that these states that

are not necessarily, I mean, well, the biggest importers are importing now, but what remains to be seen is whether more states adopt this.

MACFARLANE: Yes, because at the moment, we're not sure that sort of, obviously Western nations are not involved as yet. But it could be that, as

the you know, they continue to feel the pinch of the global oil supply, they too might agree to Iran's terms on this.

LAWATI: Yes. I mean, so it's worth keeping in mind that Western nations don't import as much Middle Eastern oil as those three nations that I spoke

about earlier do, but this would I mean, we have Spain, Italy and Greece that import some Middle Eastern oil. So, the European Union as a whole does

rely on Middle Eastern oil.

But I think there's a symbolic significance to weather, so I think that what we need to do is the wait and see right now.

MACFARLANE: Yeah.

LAWATI: Is whether Western states adopt this kind of method, and that will be a symbolic blow to Trump. And then what we discussed Trump's tweet

earlier, when he tells some of his allies that he's upset with to go get your own oil, is he essentially saying, figure it out yourself, which

means, could that translate into Western nations, also going up to Iran and saying, let us pass.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, it's an interesting moment when we will continue to watch. Thanks very much, Abbas. And now so to come on "Connect the World"

the commodity market, we'll take a look at how the conflict in the Middle East is affecting prices now and into the foreseeable future, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. I'm Christina Macfarlane in London, and you are watching "Connect the World". These are your headlines. U.S. President

Donald Trump is once again criticizing European nations for not stepping up more in the war with Iran. On social media today, Mr. Trump suggested that

the UK, which says it can't get jet fuel, should go to the Strait of Hormuz and just take it.

He also said countries would need to start learning to fight for themselves, because, quote, The U.S.A. won't be there to help you anymore.

At a pentagon briefing last hour, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters regime change has occurred Iran.

He also advised Iran's leadership to make a deal with the U.S. U.S. government says it's been talking with Iranian leaders, but there's been

uncertainty as to whom speaks for the Iranian government. An Iranian drone struck a Kuwaiti crude oil tanker located off the Dubai coast, according to

the UK maritime authority.

[09:30:00]

Dubai officials say they successfully put out fire on the Al Salmi and the 24 crew members are safe. They're still assessing the extent of the damage.

And ringing the opening bell confectionary company Hershey, best known Hershey kisses, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

Let's take a look and see how stocks are trading at the open. And futures are most definitely up there, the DOW JONES at 1.19 percent. This is a

short trading week because markets are closed on Friday for the Easter holidays. And of course, with continued tensions with Iran and the

effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, that's really adding pressure to prices and volatility in the commodities markets.

Oil inventories are running low, and that could force even higher prices to ration demand before stocks are refilled. Meantime, gold prices are more

than 18 percent below their all-time high in January, with high-rate expectations now. Broader commodities gain close to 15 percent year to date

on metals like copper as well.

Joining us from Zurich, Commodity Analyst for UBS, Giovanni Staunovo. Giovanni, great to see you. Let's first take a look at oil, because oil

product inventory is running low in various economies. What does that mean in terms of prices? And what do you see as a sort of worst-case scenario

here?

GIOVANNI STAUNOVO, COMMODITY ANALYST FOR UBS: When it comes to the oil market, the biggest relevance is, how long does this trade remains closed?

So, the flows coming out of the region is significant. So, we were before the conflict started exporting around 20, 21 million barrels per day.

Now we are significantly down. There are countries bypassing those -- trade by using pipelines, effectively, if we cannot get that oil, it means you

reduce inventories. And the amount that is disrupted is at the moment, similar to the demand destruction we had during COVID in April 2020.

So, we need to see a significant demand destruction to bring that back the market imbalance, and the only way to fix that is via higher prices and

demand destruction.

MACFARLANE: I mean, if the destruction for the Strait of Hormuz last longer than a month, which you know, who knows at this point, but there doesn't

seem to have been much progress here. Where do you see Brent -- what level do you see Brent trading at?

STAUNOVO: Assuming that there is no alternative bypassing from current levels, essentially, we are requiring a level that triggers demand

destruction. It's difficult to say what price level it is, because we already see now that some of the prices of refined products, like jet fuel,

is already trading above $200 a barrel.

MACFARLANE: Yeah.

STAUNOVO: Diesel or gas oil trading at $180 a barrel. So, it has already some impact on some economies. But from a Brent perspective, I would say we

should expect prices to trade above 150 in that scenario, if the situation doesn't improve and flows remains restricted.

MACFARLANE: Goodness. Well, gold prices have also been under a lot of pressure as well, and normally, of course, they've been seen as a bit of a

haven in times of trouble. So, what do you assess has happened this time? Are we likely to see a recovery here?

STAUNOVO: We still hold the positive outlook, so we still expect that prices should recover, the drive of the correction where probably two. One,

was on the interest rate side, yes, oil prices rose, inflation expectation rose. Market participants started to price in rate hike expectation by all

major central banks.

So, the view was this disruption is temporary, so high inflation and the economic growth side remain fine. The result was a stronger dollar, and

that meant lower gold prices.

MACFARLANE: Yeah.

STAUNOVO: Now the market is shifting again. Is expected against some rate cuts. The other element is probably that some central banks have sold some

gold to generate liquidity. We have, for example, from Turkey, the desire to protect their own currency by using gold as -- by doing swap agreements.

So that probably was another factor some sovereign selling some gold holdings.

MACFARLANE: Giovanni, very good to have you, get some -- give us some clarity on all of this. Everything seems so turned on its head right now.

We appreciate your analysis. Thank you.

[09:35:00]

Well, as the war rages in the Middle East, AI infrastructure is getting caught in the crossfire. And it's also threatening President Donald Trump's

vision for tech in the region. Last spring, Mr. Trump toured Gulf states along with the who's who of big tech CEOs making deals that would help

bring the Gulf into the global AI race.

Well in August, research and advisory firm Gartner projected that technology spending by Middle East countries would reach $155 billion in

2025, that's nearly a 70 percent jump from the previous year. But now the region's AI ambitions are facing new uncertainty as Iranian attacks have

hit critical data centers in the UAE and in Bahrain.

CNN Business Tech Editor, Lisa Eadicicco joins us now from New York. So how big of a setback do we expect this is going to be for the Middle East AI

plans?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: Well, Christina, it really depends on how long this war lasts. How long the Strait of Hormuz remains

closed. Those are the key questions that analysts are kind of thinking about right now that I've spoken with, because really, while there are a

lot of things to consider here, like you mentioned, the threats to physical infrastructure, like data centers, in the big picture, what's really going

to matter is the economical impact of the war on spending by these big tech companies.

And that's something that we won't really get the answer to right away. One of the analysts that I spoke with, Dan Ives, who tracks the tech sector for

Wedbush Securities, mentioned that if this is something that gets resolved in a matter of weeks, then it likely won't make a big impact.

But if this is something that drags on into the coming months, like deep into the spring or even into the summer, then these tech companies might

have to really reassess their spending plans and perhaps go back to the drawing board and figure out what to do from here.

And I expect this will be something that we hear a lot about on earnings calls coming up in April.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. And do you think that might push companies to relocate from the Middle East entirely?

EADICICCO: So, I think it's hard to say, but it doesn't seem likely, because a lot of these investments are really long-term bets, things that

they're investing in for years and years to come. And the Middle East is such an attractive option for a lot of these U.S. tech giants to be

investing, because there is a lot of resources there that are needed, like plentiful land, cheaper energy, access to different markets.

It really is a long-term play. So, I do think if this gets resolved relatively soon, I don't think we're going to see a big impact in the long

term, especially because a lot of these projects that have been announced in the past year, they might not have even really gotten started yet.

So, we don't really know if this is going to impact investment in that region in the long term. But based on the conversations I've had, it

doesn't seem likely, but we'll have to see.

MACFARLANE: All right, we will continue to watch this AI space. Lisa, appreciate it. Thank you.

EADICICCO: Of course.

MACFARLANE: Now the Final World Cup spots are up for grabs. Will Italy be there in June, or is it going to be a third straight World Cup without

them?

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[09:40:00]

MACFARLANE: We are getting a look at what the proposed Donald J. Trump presidential library might end up looking like. Members of the Trump family

have been circulating this rendering, and it shows a towering glass skyscraper with a gilded gold entrance in downtown Miami.

And Trump's name would be, of course, prominently displayed under the red, white and blue spire. The building would feature a massive atrium,

seemingly large enough to hold Air Force One, a large golden statue of the president and a big ballroom. It will also include a replica of the Oval

Office with all of Trump's recently added gold trimming.

The library's foundation hopes to raise nearly a billion dollars for the project. Now just 72 days to go until the start of this summer's FIFA World

Cup. Goodness, it is coming around fast, and on Tuesday, the final six spots will be confirmed as qualifying matches taking place across the

world. And I think a lot of eyes Amanda are going to be on Italy.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah. Can you believe this qualifying campaign started all the way back in September 2023. And now here we are 70

days to go that draw that took place in December, and these final six spots finally going to be awarded, three, four of which will come from Europe and

then two from the Intercontinental playoffs to the likes of Democratic Republic of Congo, playing Jamaica, for example, in that one.

But yeah, Italy and Bosnia, Herzegovina, you have to say, both looking for a return to their first World Cup final since 2014. For Italy, this is

history repeating itself, and not in the right way. They have gone out at this stage for the last two editions of the tournament, which is quite

incredible for the four-time world champions.

MACFARLANE: -- Yes --

DAVIES: It's yeah, it's not how it should be, as football traditionalists think anyway. But this is a huge moment their coach, Gennaro Gattuso, a

World Cup winner as a player, in charge as coach this time. He admitted they got their tactics wrong in the semifinal last week, although they did

ultimately make it through.

But this is the big one that, if they were to not make it through again, there are going to be some serious, serious questions asked.

MACFARLANE: Yes. Well, they'll certainly be a huge reaction out of Italy tonight. We look forward to that, and perhaps to some Olympic news as well,

Amanda. "World Sport" coming up after the break.

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