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Trump: War Will End "Soon...Practically Nothing Left To Target"; AAA: Average Gas Prices Jump 20% To $3.58 A Gallon Since War Began; Iran Launches It's "Most Intense" Operation Since War Began; Trump Looks To Minimize Political Damage From Surging Gas Prices; Sen. Cornyn: End Filibuster To Pass GOP Voting Bill. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired March 11, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN CO-ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: It's the second highest single game scoring total in NBA history, only behind Wilt Chamberlain, very iconic 100-point game. To make the feat even more amazing, Adebayo is largely known as a defensive player. His previous career high was 41 points. That's also pretty good.

And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning. You can always keep up with us on social media @wolfblitzer and @pamelabrowncnn. I'll see you back here tomorrow morning, every weekday morning, 10 am eastern for two hours. Inside Politics with our friend and colleague, Dana Bash, starts right now.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: A wave of strikes targeting the world's lifeline for oil. How is President Trump adapting? I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

It is day 11 of the war in Iran. Public support is low. Gas prices are high. These two political realities are deeply connected. And this morning, President Trump is signaling again that he wants to bring the war to a quick conclusion. In a new interview with CNN analyst Barak Ravid of Axios, the president said that there's quote, practically nothing left to target. He went on to say quote, little this and that, any time I want it to end, it will end. These new comments add to the mixed administration messaging that keeps bouncing between the war is over and it's just beginning.

Today, at least three ships were struck near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran claimed responsibility for two of the attacks. It is a new vivid warning about Iran's ability to choke off global oil supply. Sources tell CNN, Iran is laying minds in the crucial waterways responsible for moving 20 percent of the world's crude oil.

I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters here today. Jeff Zeleny, I want to start with the political moment that we're in right now.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, I mean, President Trump campaigned and really arose to power against everything that we are seeing, and that is the beginning of his political challenge here. He campaigned against the forever wars. He campaigned against the idea of this intervention in a way that supplants the America First thing.

So now, Republicans are left, sort of scrambling to try and catch up and explain what is actually going on. And really by the day, sometimes hour by hour, he's losing some support of key voices like Joe Rogan, for example. Yesterday, he was very supportive of the president, raising serious questions about what the U.S. is doing there.

And I think part of that is because President Trump still has really yet to explain, in a coherent, a consistent view, what the objectives are here. They've sort of been all over the map. When it's going to end, when it's not, what the objectives are. So, the administration also, clearly is not necessarily helping him. I mean, it's so striking the degree to which the cabinet secretaries, for example, have been not necessarily consistent with their comments either.

Like the energy secretary, for example, Chris Wright is the New York Times reporter this morning, and we reported as well. I mean, he was essentially sending the signal that the gas prices, the oil prices, that's not going to be an issue here. Well, look, it absolutely is an issue here. So, it is -- even the cabinet did not appear -- prepared for what was to come.

BASH: Yeah. And of course, part of the challenge that this cabinet has is following the bouncing ball, and the bouncing ball seems to be what the president is saying and what his message is, never mind the actions at any given moment. Our colleague David Goldman has terrific analysis on cnn.com this morning.

The headline of his story is, Trump can't taco out of the Iran wars, oil price shock. And he is talking about several realities here. In talking to analysts. A week or two -- it could take a week or two to fully restore production, a bottleneck for a month or longer, returning the Strait of Hormuz to typical traffic, could take one to three months. And these are conversations that he's had with various commodities experts and analysts.

MAEVE RESTON, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: And I mean, there is nothing that Americans are more sensitive to right now than gas prices and affordability in general. I mean, this is such a massive headache for the Trump administration in an election year. And it seems as though they really didn't expect there to be this amount of meddling that we're starting to see in this aggressive push back from Iran.

And I don't know -- you know, I don't think any of us know at this moment whether -- whatever their -- however quickly they're promising to make things go back to normal, could actually happen. I mean, it's all uncertain, and that's going to really rattle Americans who are already not in support of this war.

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BASH: And despite the bravado from the president, which he tends to do and feels like he needs to do to try to calm things down. What are you hearing from your Trump sources behind the scenes? JOSH DAWSEY, POLITICAL INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: He doesn't have an appetite for a long-term war, at least according to my sources that I've talked to. He's looking for ways to sort of message, we've done this, we've done that. Now it's time to leave, right? The question is that may have said, how much of that can he control, right?

If he says, we're out of here, and then, let's say the Iranians keep attacking with the missiles or a drone that they have left. What is a president do? The president has a lot of power. He's obviously, you know, the -- in a lot of ways, the most powerful figure in the world, but he can't control everything, right? And some of these things are beyond his control, but he wants to get out at some point.

If you -- if he watches the markets closely, you see when he makes comments, when he wants a market to sort of to go back up, he watches the markets closely. He watches all prices closely. He watches the MAGA supporters closely. I mean, Joe Rogan, I can quite tell you. The president notices that he's watching voices. He's watching polling, and his party is watching the midterms. And I don't think he has an appetite for a long term, sustained conflict with Iran, at least, according to what I'm told by folks inside the White House.

JASMINE WRIGHT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, NOTUS: And if you just look at the messaging from the people in the White House, I mean, I know Josh and everyone also preview these conversations too, with White House officials. But for the last six months, when we're talking about the economy, they would both publicly and privately tout gas numbers, making up, saying that these figures were down to $2, 1.99 (Ph).

In some cases across the country, saying that even if some of the issues that they ran on weren't exactly where they wanted to be, of course, blaming the Biden administration. Gas prices were exactly there. You're not hearing that, either in public or private. When you talk to these officials, they're saying it's a temporary pause. They're saying just wait. They're saying this pain is worth it.

But the question is whether or not the American people feel that the pain is worth it? And I think you're seeing those polls, which the White House is seeing too, by the way, that show that American people right now don't feel like it's worth it.

BASH: And just back to the economic pain and what it stems from, which is first and foremost, from the Strait of Hormuz, where so much of the world's oil sort of goes through. Senator Chris Murphy posted on social media, the Strait of Hormuz, they had no plan. He said, suffice it to say, right now, they don't know how to get it safely back open.

Senator Rick Scott, you mentioned the way that Republicans are trying to respond to this. Senator Rick Scott had some kind of response to this, at least they're trying to figure out how to navigate it. Here's an example.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): So, I mean, we all want gas prices to come down. Nobody wants gas prices higher. This president doesn't want gas prices higher, but we have to be realistic. If you believe that Iran was going to use nuclear weapons against us. We had no choice but to do this. And there are problems short term.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: I mean, there was an if in there, if you believe Iran. I mean, so that is still, I guess, back to the fundamental thing that President Trump did not prepare the nation for what was to come. I mean, so in every conflict and war that we have seen in our lifetimes covering this as reporters, and certainly in recent history, there's largely a public support, at least at the very beginning.

I mean, obviously, as it wanes on, it's not but that's what's sort of different about this. There was no predicate laid for it, but I'm hearing from some farm state senators, some red Republican members who are hearing from their districts, as spring planting is beginning with farming and things, the cost of fertilizer, for example, through the roof. So that is going to be another sort of issue in places where Republicans were hoping to hold ground in the midterms.

BASH: I love when Nebraska's Jeff Zeleny comes through with his experience growing up on --

ZELENY: That's true. I heard it from two senators. They're really worried about.

BASH: No, no, I'm not -- I don't mean to -- but you know what you're talking about. You literally did grow up on a farm.

DAWSEY: A point, the presidents always have to do a lot of things at the same time. But this president, at times, doesn't seem, I mean, he wants us a war, and then he goes to a MAGA fundraiser, where he pulls everyone in the room. Do you think it should be J.D. Vance or Marco Rubio. That's what he does the first weekend.

He's done college football events. He goes in the White House and he's talking about the ballroom. I mean, I'm not saying he's not focused on the war. I'm just thinking he has so many other things that he's talking to people about, and they don't seem to be making as aggressive as the case as you might think to the public of why you support the war.

He's doing all sorts of other things. When he spent two hours on Friday afternoon at college sports in Ohio (Ph) roundtable, he had all these celebrities, he's talking to them, not saying president couldn't weigh in on that. A lot of people care about college sports, but I mean, it's sort of discord it from what's going on in the world.

BASH: Which is why, real quick, I do want to play Josh Hawley talking about, maybe saying out loud what a lot of these Republicans are saying privately about what should happen.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): I thought the president's remarks last night that he could declare victory today, and it would be a 100 percent victory. I think it's true. I think we ought to say to our heroes, thank you for a job well done. This has been absolutely amazing. It's been astounding. It's been historic and now it's time to declare victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: And interestingly enough, you heard the president in that interview with Barak, kind of parody that -- I mean, pared that language, saying that we basically hit everything we can hit, except for ins and outs. Now I think maybe the American people are wondering what those small little things are.

And maybe people who are allied with the U.S., or in some kind of conflict, negotiating with the U.S. are going to question, you know, if the U.S. can be in negotiations and then hit the -- hit, start a war and then stop a war and then start a war, what type of kind of continuity we would have in that case.

But, you know, I think that Josh is right, the president is looking for and out what time that comes, and how you can control that exit. Of course, as we saw from Afghanistan, is kind of a huge question.

BASH: Well, as we saw from every war that the U.S. has been involved in, it's lot easier to get in than it is to get out. Coming up. We have new information from an intelligence official detailing how Russia is helping Iran target U.S. forces. Plus, presidential endorsement or bust. Texas Senator John Cornyn does a 180 in the hopes of getting the president's coveted endorsement.

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BASH: The strategically and economically crucial Strait of Hormuz is at the center of the war in Iran. Iran's Islamic revolution guard says it struck two commercial ships, trying to traverse the strait, which is key, really key for the world's oil supply. It is day 11 of the war. The Iranian regime says it launched the quote, most intense and heaviest operation since it began. The U.S. also intensified its attacks near the critical waterway. The Pentagon says armed forces destroyed 16 Iranian ships that could lay mines to block commercial traffic.

Joining me now is Washington Congressman Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Thank you so much for being here, sir. Let's start with the Strait of Hormuz, and I wonder what your understanding is of what's really happening there militarily.

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): Well, it seems like the straight of her moves is pretty much closed. I mean, could a commercial ship sneak through, perhaps, but none of them are going to want to take the risk at this point. And obviously that impacts the global oil and energy supply, because 20 percent roughly, of the world's oil comes through that straight.

So that's pretty much all shut down. I don't see that changing until the war comes to an end, and that has a number of impacts. You have all of these oil producing states that now they're running out of storage space. They have to stop pumping. I mean, this is potentially disruptive for a long time, even if the war were to end tomorrow.

But right now, it seems like that that main shipping port is, is shut down, and the impact on oil, and there are other things that are shipped through there as well, but oil in particular is going to have a huge impact, obviously, on the Middle East, but I think on the entire global economy.

BASH: And my colleagues, Natasha Bertrand and Fred Pleitgen are reporting that Iran has started laying mines. The U.S. military said it destroyed 16-mine layers. What is your assessment of that threat that Iran poses in this crucial waterway?

SMITH: Yeah, we don't have it confirmed yet. How many mines have been laid? What our ability is to clear them? What more ability Iran might have, but whether it's mines or the missiles that they fired at those ships right now are just the ongoing war.

The risk is simply too high for a commercial ship to decide they're going to try to run that gauntlet and see what happens. We don't know how many mines are there, neither today, and they don't want to find out by running into one of them. So, I think it's the wider war right now that is -- that is shutdown the Strait of Hormuz. So obviously, before that's going to change, the war is going to have to end.

BASH: Well, let me ask you about that, because in the last segment, we were talking here at the table about something that Senator Josh Hawley said, which is that we ought to say to our heroes, thanks for a job well done. It's been astounding. It's been historic. Now it's time to declare victory. Is that a good strategy?

SMITH: Well, I think it's time to stop the war. I'm going to disagree strongly that it was any kind of victory. But look, I mean, there's three basic pieces to this. One, we wanted to degrade Iran's military capability. So that's one objective. The second objective, and this was central to this war. It was central to the reason that it was launched was we wanted to fundamentally change the Iran Ian regime.

Now, some wanted the regime out and to have brand new people come in others, and I think this was sort of Trump's position was, even if we don't change necessarily, the ideology of the regime, we will have broken them. They will be so afraid of us and won't dare oppose us. That objective, very clearly, is going in the opposite direction, you know, with them picking the ayatollah son.

The hard liners seem to have consolidated power, and the likelihood that Iran is going to be any more amenable to the U.S. after this, it doesn't seem to be succeeding. But third, there's the cost, the part that Trump seems to dismiss without even thinking about it. Already seven service members dead, over 150 wounded, apparently many, many civilian casualties, the absolute tragedy of the bombing of the girls' school in Iran that has killed apparently 175 innocent civilians.

[12:20:00]

The spike in gas prices, the impact on the global economy, 14 different countries have been dragged into this. You've seen U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, you know, suffer civilian casualties as well be hit with missiles. It has been a massive disruption to accomplish what to degrade Iran's missile capability for some period of time. You know, is it six months? Is it a year? We don't know, but it seems unlikely that it has any sort of permanency to it. It weakened them, sure, but it weakened them at an enormous cost.

BASH: Is there a world in which, if I know, you don't support this, but if this military action continues, the degradation of Iran's military capability can be pursued even more to the point where, you know, I don't know if eliminated is possible, but close to eliminate it, which seems to be part of the president's goal.

SMITH: Yeah. I think it's highly unlikely that you're going to be able to eliminate it. I mean, they've got missiles, they've got drones. They haven't talked about drones. I mean, drones are pretty easy to build and also pretty deadly. So, eliminated. I don't even think the most ardent supporters of the war would argue that.

Now you get into a question of degree, how much has it been degraded? Certainly, we could degrade it more. But the real critical question is, how much can we degrade their ability to rebuild, and that's where the China and Russia piece, but particularly the China piece becomes so important. China has incredible technological capability. They can ship dual use technology. They can work with Iran and really help Iran to rebuild fairly quickly. And we also haven't heard anything about the nuclear side of this.

There's been no statements about strikes on their nuclear facilities, and Trump has said their nuclear facilities were going gangbusters. And as he said, was it two days ago? You know, if I hadn't done this, they'd have a nuclear weapon by now, and they would have used it by now. The last part of that is insane, of course, but you know, we haven't heard anything about how we are degrading their nuclear capability, given that the president has said it was such a grave threat before this war started.

BASH: Let me just go back to oil for a minute and also connect it to Russia, because the president announced that he is going to waive certain oil sanctions to help reduce oil prices, the average price of gas here in Washington, D.C. -- excuse me, not in Washington, D.C., where you are in Washington state, you probably would say the real Washington is $4.72 that's up 66 cents from a month ago. Do you support easing sanctions on Russia to get those prices down in the short term?

SMITH: No, no, I don't. And by the way, it's always been my position that every square inch of the United States of America is part of the real America. Divide it up and say, oh, it's Trump's America. No, it's all America.

BASH: Of course.

SMITH: Can we please just bring it all together? But no, I don't support easing sanctions on Russia, and that's another downside to this war, is it's given a bit of a lifeline to Putin, and no one's paying attention. But Ukraine has not just stopped Russia and Putin in their tracks. Now they're retaking territory. Russia is substantially weakened that the ability of us to pressure Russia into ending this war is greater now than it's been.

And if we ease the sanctions, if we give them an economic lifeline, so it prolongs the war, that too is an enormous cost. So no, I don't support easing sanctions on Russia. As Russia continues to bombard Ukraine and attempt to take them over through an active force, I don't think that's a smart policy right now.

BASH: Congressman Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee who represents the state of Washington. Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it always good to talk to you. Up next, President Trump flexes the power of his endorsement. He had a pick in advance of Georgia's runoff in the congressional race. So, the question is whether or not the candidates have the stamina for what's ahead.

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BASH: Republican Senator John Cornyn really wants to lock in a Trump endorsement in one of the country's most competitive Senate primaries. So much so, he's now supporting ending the Senate filibuster to pass the president's top priority. Cornyn op-ed titled Why the SAVE Act matters more than the filibuster was published this morning in the New York Post, yes, the New York Post, not widely read in Texas, probably, but very much read in the Oval Office.

Senator Cornyn acknowledged his shift quote, I spent years defending the filibuster because the 60-vote threshold was a net benefit to Texas and our nation on these critical issues at this critical hour, the old procedures no longer align with the core American principles we must defend. Cornyn told reporters this morning that his new found opposition to the filibuster has nothing to do with his Senate race.

My panel is back now. I will say, I mean, sure, just like, you know, I'm not wearing makeup because I'm not tired, you know. But I talked to somebody who is a Republican strategist, who very much is in the business of trying to get Cornyn to win, who said, the survival instinct is a powerful one.

RESTON: It sure is. And, you know, I mean, you think of someone like Cornyn who is such an institutionalist, who has defended this for so long, just twisting himself into

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