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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Global Prices Spike Amid Strait of Hormuz Disruptions; Dubai Airports CEO Discusses Travel Disruptions; Cuba Struggles To Restore Power After Nationwide Outage. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired March 18, 2026 - 05:30   ET

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

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KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: And that's one of the countries that the United States has had discussions about providing support for it to open the Strait of Hormuz, though Japan has not given any indication that it is prepared to provide any kind of substantial support to that effort.

Kylie Atwood, CNN, Washington.

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ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR: OK.

So, so much going on around the Strait of Hormuz -- how to reopen it, what it will mean during times of conflict, and whether we'll get back to normal volumes seen before the conflict started.

I want to bring in Richard Meade. He's the editor and chief -- in chief of Lloyd's List, an institution that provides news and analysis on the shipping industry. Richard, great to see you.

And frankly, you and I have been talking consistently over the last few weeks since the war started and what's really consequential here is this whole notion of naval escorts. You've always been in the position of saying, you know, we're going to need a lot of warships to be able to bring through tankers into the Strait of Hormuz.

Lay it out for us in terms of why it's going to be difficult even if a coalition of countries come together to try and escort tankers through the strait.

RICHARD MEADE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, LLOYD'S LIST INTELLIGENCE: I think it's really important to understand the numbers. So in a -- in a normal time you would be seeing around 20 million barrels of oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz and that's before you even start thinking about the box ships, the bulkers, and everything else that's moving.

We're now seeing a fraction of that. You're seeing a trickle of oil coming through, largely Iranian, on shadow fleet tankers. We've seen since the beginning of March just over 100 ships in transit. Now, normally on a daily basis, you'd be seeing 120, 140, possibly 160 ships on a daily basis, so that gives you some idea of what has been lost here.

Now, if you have naval transits that is possible. You could transit convoys of between five to 10 vessels with, you know, say, around eight to 10 destroyers providing water support with aerial support.

But this is going to be slow and best case scenario you're looking at around 10 percent -- probably less than 10 percent of normal oil flows going through simply because it is going to be very slow, very labor intensive, and very dangerous as well if the Iranian defenses are not completely destroyed. They still have drones, they have unmanned aerial and waterborne vessels. They have the potential of mines. This is not going to be a quick fix getting naval escorts in place.

GIOKOS: So Richard, I want -- I want to get an understanding of what shippers are sharing with you in terms of the risks that are now pretty much a reality, and also how that's been juxtaposed against potentially, you know, communicating that directly with the Iranians and getting the clearance that clearly some tankers have been able to, you know, get over the past, I think, few days.

We've seen, you know, publicly a Pakistan-flagged vessel getting through as well as an Indian-flagged vessel getting through.

MEADE: Yes. I think the details are emerging still on this one. We know that there are negotiations at a diplomatic level with India and we think Pakistan. Certainly, China is talking. There's suggestions that Iraq and Malaysia are also looking for safe passage for some vessels.

And what we're seeing is the exiting ships following a very specific pattern very close to the Iranian coast and the assumption is that there has been a negotiated safe passage here. Whether or not that has involved payments we're not sure yet but there is certainly an acceptance that if you follow that path and you have nothing to do with either Israel or the U.S. then you are deemed to be safe.

Now, the vast majority of shipping is yet to actually accept those terms because, you know, apart from anything else it is not yet clear whether the Iranians yet have the ability to differentiate between what is considered safe and what is not.

If you look at all of the ships that have been damaged over the last two weeks -- there's about 18 ships that have been damaged -- there is no real pattern there. It's not like they are just targeting U.S.- NEXUS or Israeli-NEXUS shipping. The method here is to disrupt the entirety of one of the most important energy chokepoints in the world.

GIOKOS: So we've also seen the United States striking what they say were key military capabilities along the straits. We've also heard the news about the mining issues in terms of Iran laying mines in the strait.

What is your understanding about Iran's military capabilities versus, you know, what we're seeing in terms of the strait ultimately opening up? I mean, I guess, what is going to help de-risk it overall because you have said very clearly that Iran has control of the straits. There's no question with regards to that.

MEADE: I think that's right at the moment for all the political rhetoric the reality is Iran is in control of the strait. There are no ships beyond the Iranian ships. They're obviously now shooting their own ships. There is still Iranian exports coming through but the vast majority of the rest of it is not moving, and that's due to the Iranians.

[05:35:08]

We don't know, is the short answer, what capabilities are left but I think it's very important that we don't just look at the visible naval capacity that has been sunk. I mean, clearly, the Iranian defenses have been damaged.

But it's the asymmetric warfare capabilities that shipping is worried about. These are cheap drones. These are fast-attack boats swarming on ships. The potential of mines. These are the invisible parts that we're not entirely clear what has been destroyed and what has not been.

And I think even if you do get naval escorts you are going to need to see some time and a pattern of safe passage before shipping is confident enough to start moving through, and that is a question of weeks, not days. And right now that is going to be damaging both in terms of oil prices, in terms of supply chains, in terms of fuel availability.

GIOKOS: Fuel availability for downstream products. It's a whole lot of issues right now that are plaguing world markets and the center of it all is the Strait of Hormuz. And a lot of the critical energy infrastructure that has been struck, frankly, across the Gulf region as well.

Richard Meade, so good to have you with us. Thank you so much. All right, that was Richard Meade. He's the editor-in-chief of Lloyd's Intelligence.

I'm going to hand you back to Rahel Solomon who is standing by in New York for us.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Eleni. Thank you.

And still ahead for us the war with Iran has drastically disrupted air travel in the Gulf region. The head of Dubai's Airport Authority talks about getting flights back on schedule in an exclusive interview with CNN coming up next.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back to EARLY START. The time now is 5:41 and this is your business breakout. Let's take a look and see where U.S. futures stand ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street. And all the major futures are up, let's call it a half a percent or more, with the Nasdaq leading the way as investors wait to hear what the Federal Reserve does with rates. The expectation though is that they will keep rates unchanged.

All right, let's take a look at some of the other business headlines this morning.

Oil prices spiked Tuesday and will likely continue to rise as Iran intensifies its attack on energy assets across the Middle East. A senior Iranian official suggesting that the critical Strait of Hormuz would not become safe for ships anytime soon. Crude oil prices remain about 40 percent higher than before the U.S. and Israel launched the war with Iran nearly three weeks ago.

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to reinstate more than 1,000 employees at the Voice of America by next week. They were put on administrative leave last year as President Trump sought to dismantle the U.S.-based broadcaster and other government funded media agencies The court order mandates that VOA reporting and broadcasting must be restored by Monday.

The AI company Anthropic is getting support from retired U.S. federal and state judges in its lawsuit against the Trump administration. The company would not allow the Pentagon to use its technology in fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance and so the government labeled the AI startup a supply chain risk. Well, more than 150 former judges filed an amicus brief against the action. A court hearing is now set to take place next Tuesday.

Several European airlines continue to cancel flights to the Middle East, including to Dubai, Qatar, and Tel Aviv. British Airways said that it was due to airspace instability. Air France mentioned the security context at the destination.

Dubai Airport CEO Paul Griffiths told our Becky Anderson how they're handling the disruption that the war is causing for flights and travelers.

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PAUL GRIFFITHS, CEO, DUBAI AIRPORTS: Well, the first thing obviously is safety and security and the communication down our lines of command has been so effective and efficient we've been able to get everyone to a place of safety very, very quickly. The civil defense were there within minutes and -- to contain the situation and, you know, the normal operation I think resumed fairly shortly thereafter.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: I used the airport in Abu Dhabi very early on Sunday morning. It was a seamless experience. I flew back into Dubai that same day. I have to say a seamless experience, very efficient, very effective. So as a -- as a resident here who was coming home, I have to say I have firsthand experience of the way that this airport is operating. And it was good to see the shops open, the restaurants open. What sort of impact do you believe this might have on the operations here going forward? I'm thinking a little bit more long term. How do you bounce back from this?

GRIFFITHS: The aviation ecosystem in the Middle East is incredibly important to the world. When you consider the amount of capacity that comes through the hubs in the region the world cannot do without that. I mean, one-third of the world's population is within four hours flying time of Dubai and two-thirds within eight hours flying time. So that capacity in world terms is incredibly important.

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And we will bounce back from the current situation very, very quickly. Of that I'm very, very convinced.

ANDERSON: When the missiles stop -- and they haven't yet -- thankfully, there are less inbound and they are being intercepted at an incredibly efficient rate. When those stop, how quickly can you bounce back to normal operations?

GRIFFITHS: We are doing everything we can to preserve both the capability and the confidence to bring our operations up to 100 percent capacity as quickly as we possibly can.

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SOLOMON: Our thanks to Becky Anderson.

Still ahead, President Trump muses about taking over Cuba as the country slowly restores power from a nationwide outage. We're in Havana, coming up next.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. I'm Rahel Solomon, and here are some of the stories we are watching for you today.

Security officials in Iraq report some damage around the sprawling U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad. The facility inside the heavily fortified green zone came under fire from rockets and drones for a second consecutive day. The Iraqi army is vowing to track down what it calls the outlaw groups behind the violence.

President Trump has confirmed that his planned trip to China this month is now postponed amid the war with Iran. He told reporters on Tuesday that the new meeting date will take place in five or six weeks. This comes are the U.S. has urged Beijing to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. China's Xi Jinping has not committed to that.

And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have agreed to a new military industrial partnership. The two leaders met at Downing Street on Tuesday to sign the declaration. The new partnership is meant to help boost the supply of drones and also ensure that AI is used effectively on the battlefield.

Officials say that at least two people have been killed in central Israel following a new wave of missiles strikes from Iran. The aerial barrage appeared to have cluster munitions and authorities say that falling debris hit multiple locations.

To the north, Israel says that it is targeting Hezbollah's rocket- launching infrastructure.

At least 17 people were killed and dozens injured by Israeli airstrikes across the country on Tuesday. Lebanese authorities estimate that over 900 people have died as a result of the renewed conflict and more than one million more internally displaced.

Cuba has a new warning to the Trump administration. Cuba's president says that any attempt by the U.S. to take control of the island nation will be met with "impregnable resistance." This message coming after President Trump, on Tuesday, suggested potential U.S. action could be happening soon.

Cuba is struggling to restore electricity following a nationwide blackout. The country's power grid collapsed on Monday weeks after a U.S. blockade of oil effectively shut off supplies.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann is in Havana with the latest now on the recovery from the power outages.

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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After more than 24 hours of an island-wide blackout power is coming back to many parts of Havana. Still there are other parts of the city -- many parts of the island that are still without any electricity.

And the underlying causes of this blackout, an aging electrical system that is collapsing and an oil blockade on the part of the Trump administration on this island. Those are still there. The power could go out again at any point and that's really the concern here.

And so the Cuban government says they are negotiating with the United States. They are trying to work out some kind of deal. But we've heard Donald Trump say that he plans on taking Cuba, essentially being the one to call the shots here. And Secretary of State Marco Rubio say that in his opinion the officials in charge of this island aren't able to resolve the problems that they have here and that they need to leave.

So while talks are going on it is clear that the Cuban government is being pushed to do much more than up until now, they have been willing to do, and very soon officials here could be facing an ultimatum from the U.S.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

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SOLOMON: All right. Still ahead for us, a rare fireball was spotted in the daylight sky. Coming up, where it was seen straight ahead.

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[05:58:10]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

NASA confirms that a bright fireball that crossed over several U.S. states was a meteor. Video captured this extremely rare shooting star crossing the daylight sky in the eastern U.S. The American Meteor Society says that daytime fireball sightings are unusual since they have to be brighter than those at night. NASA says that they burn as bright or brighter than Venus.

The fireball was observed from Virginia all the way to Ohio, and it triggered a sonic boom heard in the Cleveland area when the fast- moving meteor broke through the sound barrier.

A new study shows eating a combination of two award-winning diets can help slow aging in the brain by over two years. The brain-focused eating plan is called the "Mind Diet" and it combines the Mediterranean and DASH diets. The plan restricts salt and focuses on specific ingredients thought to help reduce the risk of dementia. This includes berries, beans, whole grains, and leafy greens, as well as fish, poultry and nuts. Food with saturated fats, such as butter, cheese, and red meat, are extremely limited.

Venezuela now the best in baseball after winning a hard-fought final against the U.S. in this year's World Baseball Classic. Venezuela got out to an early two-run lead but in the bottom of the eighth inning the U.S. tied the game with a two-run homer. Venezuela would ultimately reclaim the lead in the ninth, driving home a run to seal the victory 3-2. For now, Venezuela holds baseball bragging rights as the U.S. loses its second-straight WBC Championship.

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And U.S. soccer has unveiled the country's -- unveiled the country's new uniforms ahead of this year's World Cup. Nike collaborated with Team USA players to make two jerseys -- one stars, one stripes -- that will both be featured in matches this summer. Fans will see the new kits in action for the first time when the U.S. men's national team faces Belgium and Portugal and Friendlies this month. And later this spring Nike and U.S. Soccer will also launch a streetwear collection inspired by the jerseys.

All right, that will do it for these two hours of EARLY START. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. Our thanks to Eleni Giokos and her team in Dubai. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.