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Isa Soares Tonight
President Trump Warns the U.S. Could Take Out the Rest of Iran's Infrastructure Within an Hour; Member Countries of the International Energy Agency Planning to Release 400 Million Barrels of Oil; Iranian State Media Reports Tehran Has Launched its Most Intense and Heaviest Operation Since the Start of the War on Israel and American Assets in the Middle East. U.N.: Middle East Conflict Threatens Humanitarian Supplies Worldwide; U.N.: Nearly 700,000 People Have Been Displaced in Lebanon; Israel Says Iran Operations Will Continue "Without Any Time Limit"; White House Sends Mixed Messages About Iran End Game; Trump Speaks from Ohio Pharmaceutical Plant. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired March 11, 2026 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:00]
ISA SOARES, HOST, ISA SOARES TONIGHT: Hello, and a very warm welcome, I'm Isa Soares. Tonight, we begin with a warning from U.S. President Donald
Trump, who says that the U.S. could take out the rest of Iran's infrastructure within an hour.
The President also told reporters just a short time ago that despite recent attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, he believes it's safe to
transport oil through it. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think they should use this though.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: In my opinion, look, we took out just about all of them, nine ships in one night. We're up to boat number 60. I didn't realize that, that big a
Navy. I would say it was big and ineffective. But every one of their ships, just about all of their Navy is gone to the bottom of the sea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Meantime, let me bring you up-to-date with all the developments in the war with Iran, and in an effort to boost global supply, member
countries of the International Energy Agency, the IEA plan to release 400 million barrels of oil, that is the largest release in its history.
Iranian state media says Tehran has launched its most intense and heaviest operation since the start of the war, with strikes targeting Israel and
American assets in the Middle East. And a western Intelligence official says Russia is helping Iran with advanced drone tactics to strike American
and gulf nation targets in what appears to be a new level of support.
We'll have much more on this exclusive reporting with our Nick Paton Walsh in just a few minutes. And a source tells CNN, Iran's new supreme leader
suffered a fractured foot and other minor injuries on the first day of bombing by the U.S. and Israel.
Mojtaba Khamenei hasn't been seen in public for days, fueling rumors about his well-being. Our Alayna Treene is live at the White House. So, Alayna,
just bring us up-to-date with the very latest, because I remember hearing President Trump saying to "Axios", just before we heard from him before
leaving to Ohio, that the war will end soon, and there's nothing left to target.
Suggesting to me as we try to read the tea leaves, that he may be looking for an off-ramp. At the same time as we just stated there, we're seeing
ships being attacked. Reports that Iran may be laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. How does the administration reconcile these two things here?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, well, a lot of this is honestly messaging, Isa, that is going --
SOARES: Yes --
TREENE: On behind the scenes. And my conversations with Trump administration officials, White House officials, what I've been told is, I
know that many advisors, and also, I should note, many people on the outside of the administration, the President has a lot of allies who are
not in the White House, who are calling him repeatedly about a lot of this.
But they've been urging him to try and make clear to Americans that one, that this is not going to be a long, drawn-out war. I think that's why
you've seen him in recent days, saying, you know, that potentially, the war could end very soon.
But also, to try and communicate a lot of the achievements that the military has had thus far with their objectives. But it's hard to square
that with, you know, some of the murkiness we've heard about a timeline.
And this also gets back to the conversations I've had, Isa, with people in that building behind me, which is that, you know, at one point, you're
having the President trying to say, you know, that they're doing so well.
Project optimism, saying that they could see this war wrap up fairly soon. They also are very hesitant to put a definitive timeline on this. And
that's because, I'm told they don't want to be putting themselves in a box.
But one thing that has been very clear, and I think this actually ties in to all of the chaos and concerns about what's happening in the Strait of
Hormuz is, they do not want Americans who are already wary of a protracted long-term military involvement of another long-term war.
I mean, I spoke with one person who said Americans have long memories of what happened, you know, back in the 2003 when the U.S. went into Iraq and
Afghanistan. They want to make clear that this is not going to be that, while also trying to tamp down the concerns about oil prices.
I think any American who has been to a gas station in recent days is seeing the impact this war has had on oil prices. And so, all of that, I think is
tying into what we've been hearing from the President even as we know that there is still so much on the ground being done.
[14:05:00]
You know, in Iran and seeing these strikes, all of that still very much uncertain as related to timeline, but at least, that's what I'm hearing a
lot of this messaging is coming from.
SOARES: Alayna Treene, thank you very much for breaking it all down for us there from the White House. Good to see you, Alayna.
Well, I want to take us into the region now, and a closer look at the flash point of the Strait of Hormuz. As we've been mentioning throughout here on
the show, the Strait is a key transit route carrying roughly one fifth of global crude oil shipments.
And for countries along the Persian Gulf, as you can see, this is increasingly unstable time. Our Nic Robertson is in Kuwait, and has more
details for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (on camera): Kuwait is right at the top of the gulf here, but the Strait of Hormuz is about 500
miles to the south is as important to them as it is to all the other gulf countries.
Because their oil, just like the UAE's oil, just like Saudi's oil, just like Qatar's oil, if it goes by ship, needs to go out through the Strait of
Hormuz. Fishermen I've been talking to here have been telling us, they're seeing far few tankers out on the sea, because the tankers just aren't
trying to get through.
One of the difficulties that the United States faces in trying to take down the Iranian Navy in that area, the Strait of Hormuz that we've witnessed,
that I've seen back in 2019 here, the Iranians used just fishing boats with a few people on board who can stick magnetic mines to tankers, just a few
tankers and those mines explode, they disable the tankers.
They create that pressure point that we're beginning to see now strengthening on the Strait of Hormuz, even taking out Iran's Navy will
still leave these much harder to catch fishing boats. With just a couple of operatives in them trying to -- trying to stop all that oil getting
through.
Another perhaps detail worth considering here, of course, the Houthis in Yemen are a proxy of Iran, and the Houthis in Yemen over the past couple of
years have been targeting oil tankers in the Red Sea, the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.
They've been doing it with missiles. They've been doing it with small fishing boats. They've also been doing it with unmanned boats, sort of
water drones, if you will. So, the Iranians have a lot of expertise in trying to bring pressure to bear on that strategic, important choke point.
Talking to people here, no one in Kuwait really has a sense pretty much like everyone else in the gulf, how long this war will last. But what they
do know is that the Iranians have a lot of experience targeting the Strait of Hormuz, have likely been preparing for it, preparing for it,
strategically, preparing munitions close to where they're going to need them.
All of that speaks to a potentially drawn-out conflict. Nic Robertson, CNN, Kuwait.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: And really picking up from what Nic was saying, really, is how the war is impacting the global economy. After days of wild swings, we've been
showing you, oil prices only slightly higher today, hovering around, well, close to -- high -- just almost close to 90 to 87 there.
That's WTI crude oil. And it comes after the U.S. military said it destroyed Iranian Naval ships near the Strait of Hormuz. A CNN examination
of marine tracking data shows that at least, six ships have managed to traverse the Strait in the past few days.
Some of the ships turned off their tracking systems, making them harder to locate. Several sent-out messages identifying themselves as Chinese owned,
which may have protected them from Iranian attack.
Anna Cooban is here with me to add more context to all of this. Let me just pick up, and I think for our viewers, Anna, to -- from what Nic was saying.
Just how important this Strait is, right? For not just, you know, this part of the world, but all our global oil trade, right?
ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS & ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, you can see it there, it's zoomed in, but if you were to zoom out, it's this tiny choke
point, that's the word that everyone has been using. And they mean it.
A 20 percent of the world's oil goes through there every single day around 20 percent of the liquefied natural gas goes through there every day. And
it's not just energy, it's the stuff that makes fertilizers. It's food, it's grain.
So, this is a huge issue at the moment. And normally, we can see there no vessels that we can see in this photo are going through the Strait at that
point.
SOARES: Normally, it's colored, right?
COOBAN: Normally, it's fully --
SOARES: Colored, yes --
COOBAN: Completely colored --
SOARES: Yes --
COOBAN: Completely covered, and S&P global market Intelligence, they say that on an average day, you get about 50 oil tankers going through that
Strait, whereas today or in the past few days, it's between zero and in the single digits.
SOARES: Right, yet, you know, we heard President Trump at the White House in this gaggle, basically saying oil producers should continue using the
Strait. Easier said than done as we heard from Nic Robertson, right? Because there are huge questions about safety, security, even insurance.
COOBAN: Completely. I mean, I just want to show you this graph here. These are the attacks, some of the attacks --
SOARES: Wow --
COOBAN: On oil infrastructure, so we aren't just talking about vessels right now, but infrastructure in the region. And that is a problem, Isa,
because if the war was to end, let's say, within the next day or so, this is still something that needs to be sorted out.
[14:10:00]
There still needs to be repairs of that infrastructure, and Kuwait is just one example of a country that's actually shut off some of its oil wells.
And you can't --
SOARES: So, what you're saying then, what you're saying, sorry to interrupt, is not -- the cost is not just what we're feeling when we're
filling our tankers, right? The cost is also infrastructure. So, could we see costs long term because of the infrastructure damage here?
COOBAN: Well, what's happening is that there are going to be some medium or even longer-term impacts on the oil market, and the damage to the
infrastructure is part of that. That will --
SOARES: Right --
COOBAN: Take cost to repair. But you mentioned the point about gasoline, the higher oil prices which we've seen over the past few days. I mean, look
at the difference. It's obviously fallen in the past day or so, but it's still so much higher than where it was before the war --
SOARES: OK --
COOBAN: There is a lag effect where oil prices feed into gasoline prices, which then feed into manufacturing costs. And then we saw the boss of Saudi
ARAMCO; the world's biggest oil exporter, yesterday talk about the catastrophic consequences for the global economy. Because there will be
this knock-on impact potentially raising inflation.
SOARES: Go back if you could, Anna, to the strikes that we've seen on infrastructure, because we're no -- we're not yet hearing any signs that we
could -- this could be ending any time soon, although we're trying to read between the lines where President Trump is saying.
As we see this continue to escalate with Iran, as we see oil prices continue to surge, we've now had the IEA with this unprecedented move. I
mean, how -- what -- how significant is it? And if this continues, will it have to -- is that -- does that suffice basically is my question?
COOBAN: So, yes, it's enormous. Four hundred million barrels is what the IEA said they're going to release. It's 32-member countries. Now, to put
that in context, they've only released five stocks -- oil from their emergency stocks in their history.
They mentioned the gulf war, the Libyan civil war, Russia's invasion of Ukraine four years ago. There was two massive releases, around 180 million
barrels. This is now more than double that. So, this is a huge issue. But I've been speaking to analysts and they say that that's necessary, but it's
not sufficient.
One analyst I was speaking to earlier said that, that will tie the global oil market over for the next 20 days. So, we're really in dire straits
right now.
SOARES: Very briefly, if you go back to the first map, what are you hearing then from the likes of Maersk and other companies about how
confident they are to actually make this move? President Trump initially had said, you know, we're going to send out the Navy to help and support
that.
That still hasn't happened. What are you hearing from them about the confidence at this point?
COOBAN: Well, I think confidence is pretty low. I mean --
SOARES: Yes --
COOBAN: We've seen attacks on vessels today, Iran came out to say they attacked two vessels, one with a Liberian flag, one with a Thai flag,
because they had ignored warnings. So, they're not directly involved in this conflict, but those vessels are still being attacked.
Of course, insurance premiums for any vessel traversing this real minefield at the moment. And literally, we're getting -- sources saying that mines
have been placed down there, it would be real insanity for many oil companies or shipping companies to be sending --
SOARES: Yes --
COOBAN: Their seafarers through.
SOARES: Anna, appreciate it, thank you very much indeed. Well, that is the picture of course, on the oil markets and the impact to the global economy.
Inside Iran, CNN's team on the ground had a close call as Tehran came under aerial bombardment on Tuesday. I want you to have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: OK, we're hearing jets overhead, there's anti-aircraft fire going on, we're told to
get out of here as fast as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Well, overnight, Tehran was hammered by a fresh wave of strikes. Let's get more from our Fred Pleitgen in northern Iran. And we should note
that CNN operates in Iran with the permission of the Iranian government, as required under local regulations, but maintains full editorial control over
what it reports. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (on camera): The U.S. and Israel's massive aerial campaign seems to be continuing in full swing overnight, and the position that we were, we
heard jet streaking overhead and then massive explosions in the distance.
It's unclear what exactly the target was of that aerial raid that we witnessed, but certainly, it wasn't the only one in the past 24 hours. In
Tehran, the Iranian capital, there were major airstrikes also overnight and into the morning hours.
Some of the targets appeared to have been in the east of the city in east Tehran. That's an area that's gotten hit quite a lot over the past couple
of days. But then also, once again, the area around Mehrabad Airport, that's sort of the second airport of the Iranian capital that is very much
within the city limits.
Also outside of Tehran, there's a satellite town called Karaj, which has been hit in the past couple of days, quite frequently, and apparently was
now hit once again. All this comes as the Iranian government is trying to project that it is in a strong position in its standoff with the U.S. and
Israel.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is, of course, the elite wing of Iran's military, sent out a text message to people here inside Iran,
detailing the costs to the United States of the ongoing war with Iran. The Iranians trying to say that they are the ones who are now in the driver's
seat.
[14:15:00]
Meanwhile, politicians here in Iran continue to say that right now, the Iranians are not interested in negotiations with the United States, and
instead, are gearing up for what could be a very long war. Fred Pleitgen, CNN in northern Iran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Well, Israeli officials are bracing for what could be a significant uptick in attacks from Iran and its allies, there is a growing
divide between Israel and the U.S. on how long this war should go on. Our Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv.
And Jeremy, I'm just seeing now from I think even your producer as well, you're seeing Iranian missiles being seen across Israel. What more can you
tell us?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. We just had a series of air raid sirens go off in different parts of Israel, both
in the center just to the east of us, where we are in Tel Aviv, but also in particular in the north where we're seeing not only ballistic missile
fire from Iran, but also missiles being fired from Hezbollah.
And the key difference there is that residents do not have that early warning when it comes to missiles from Hezbollah. They usually have about a
minute to get to shelter if they are in the north. For example, a minute 30 if you're here in Tel Aviv.
But this all comes as two sources familiar with the matter are telling me and my colleague that, we expect to see that Israel, I should say, is
expecting to see a, quote, "significant expansion" of attacks from Iran and Hezbollah tonight.
And in addition to that, there's also the possibility of the Houthis; that militant group that's based in Yemen, that is backed by Iran, but is not
considered as direct of a proxy. There is a chance that the Houthis also join in, in these attacks.
And that would be significant because so far, for the nearly two weeks that this war has gone on, the Houthis who did fire on Israel during the 12-day
war in June, this time, they have not yet fired on Israel. They have stayed on the sidelines.
But our sources are indicating to us that there are indications that the Houthis may now fire on Israel. And that would, of course, be significant,
as they do have ballistic missile capability to fire on Israel. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu for his part, he is holding a security
assessment tonight about all of this, as this front in the war appears to be heating up once again.
SOARES: Does not bode well, indeed, Jeremy, do keep us abreast of the latest, thank you very much indeed. Now, to a CNN exclusive. A western
Intelligence official tells CNN that Russia is giving Iran specific advice on advanced drone tactics.
Iran has been using domestically-designed Shahed drones to penetrate the air defenses of gulf nations. That's the same type of drone being mass-
produced by Russia in its war with Ukraine. The specific tactical advice indicates a new level of support between Moscow and Tehran.
Nick Paton Walsh joins me now from Amman in Jordan. And Nick, this is your exclusive. You broke this story. Give us a sense -- our viewers, a sense of
Russia's involvement here in this war.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we've known for a few days that U.S. officials have been concerned that there's a
general Intelligence assistance from Russia to Iran, talking about satellite images, potentially the locations of U.S. assets in the region.
What seems to have occurred that's concerning them more greatly, according to the western Intelligence official I spoke to, is that what started out
as general assistance is now more concerning. I quote what they said to me, that they're now looking at targeting strategies for drone attacks being
given by Russia to Iran based on their experience of what they used in Ukraine.
Now, that's key, because that's ultimately three years' worth of battlefield experience that Moscow has gained on the frontlines in Ukraine,
being delivered to Iran in a ten-day period. A startling battlefield advantage, potentially.
The official I spoke to didn't outline exactly what kind of targeting strategy had been handed over, but we have seen in Ukraine how Russia
launched waves of drones, sometimes a thousand in one night that I've seen them on radars doing loops, circles, appearing to go in one direction, then
suddenly changing direction, different altitudes.
This has been a constant game of cat and mouse for the Ukrainians and the Russians, and the skies over Ukraine, where the Ukrainians constantly try
and adapt to new Russian tactics, and put new interceptors into the field.
And in fact, it's just over behind us here, we've just seen a couple of -- a couple of it, possibly flashes in the sky here. The air raid sirens went
on just as we were about to come talk to you, Isa. But Jordan is one of the countries that has actually reached out to Ukraine, hoping for interceptors
to assist them with the potential threat of drones going forward.
But going back to my original point, the concern is that Russian expertise in the battlefield was essentially being handed now to Iran, and we've seen
around the region that there have been quite a lot of drones that have got through the air defenses.
[14:20:00]
And I think the concern here is that Russia is clearly into exact a larger toll on the U.S. in the region and their allies as well, and is happy to
hand over this -- what they refer to as tactical -- targeting strategies to give the Iranians an advantage. Isa?
SOARES: Let me tap in then further on your analysis, because you're covering this war, you've also covered the Ukraine war. Is it clear from
your vantage point what Russia is getting in return for their support?
I mean, we're already seeing -- talking potentially here within the U.S. administration, Trump administration talking about a potential easing of
oil sanctions. Is Russia benefiting from this war, Nick?
WALSH: The easing of oil sanctions is something separate -- it seems to be much more --
SOARES: Yes --
WALSH: Of an emergency stopgap by the U.S. Treasury to allow certain parts of the dark fleet, so to speak, to sell their oil, potentially to the
Indian market, to bring down the global price. Yes, that definitely benefits Russia.
But it's possibly not part of the broader geopolitical play here. Look, you can immediately look at Iran, a key U.S. ally -- sorry, a key Russian ally
getting hit this hard after Venezuela, a key Russian ally lost their President, Nicolas Maduro to a U.S. military raid and got hit hard as well,
and see it as Russia's geopolitical positioning getting pretty badly hit.
But Russia appears to have seen the sort of silver-lining to all of this. They're providing, it seems, assistance. President Zelenskyy of Ukraine
talked about them giving drones missiles as well.
And they essentially seem to be here to realize that they could potentially exact a price on the United States and their allies through a longer-term
application of aid to the IRGC.
Now, that's a characteristic we've seen of Russia's behavior. They see a longer perspective than Donald Trump, who is already after, say 11 or 12
days now, trying to call this at an end. But remember, too, that the Russians will see this from their perspective.
They didn't comment to our request about this new allegation. They will see that the United States provided Intelligence and weapons to Ukraine
throughout their invasion of Ukraine, and perhaps, see this as some kind of payback or tit-for-tat.
But just remarkably, as we're talking about this, Jordan, a country that's asked for interception help with its sirens on, and we've seen a couple of
flashes or at least, moving dots in the sky above us. Back to you.
SOARES: Stay safe, Nick, context and analysis from our Nick Paton Walsh there in Amman in Jordan. Thank you, Nick. And still to come tonight, a
chorus of condemnation is growing over the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Lebanon.
I'll be joined by the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, whose teams are on the ground in Lebanon as well as Iran and the wider Middle East. And
President Trump tells "Axios" there's practically nothing left to target in Iran, and the war will end soon, his words. But what exactly is the U.S.
strategy? We'll examine that later in the show.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:25:00]
SOARES: Welcome back, everyone. As we've been telling you on the show, a huge humanitarian crisis is unfolding right across the gulf region,
especially in Lebanon. I want you to take a look at some of the numbers that we are getting, both from Lebanese officials, but also the U.N.
Let me give you what -- tell you what they're telling us. Seven hundred and sixty thousand people are now displaced inside the country, forced from
their homes, many taking shelter in schools or in camps, some just really leaving with their clothes behind their back.
At least, 200,000 of them, bear that in mind are children. Doctors without borders is calling the crisis, catastrophic. In Iran, meanwhile, more than
1,800 civilians have been killed and 634 civilians in Lebanon have lost their lives due to the war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(EXPLOSION)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: The U.N. says that Israeli bombing campaign in Lebanon is killing ten children a day, and is important to note, Lebanon's economy has already
been on its knees, with widespread poverty long before, of course, the war began.
And now, we are hearing from an aid worker who says shelters across Lebanon are overwhelmed by the displaced, fueled by Israel's evacuation orders. A
Lebanese mother says she's grateful to find shelter in a school in Sidon, not far from Beirut. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The first day we arrived here, we slept in a car without blankets or mattresses or anything. It wasn't
until the second day that we came and were given rooms. They're providing everything, and we are very grateful.
But you know, our country is worth the whole world, sleeping on the ground in our country is worth more than anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Let's get more on all these lines, important lines. Jan Egeland is a Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, a well-known face
here on the show, former U.N. Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs.
He joins me now from Oslo in Norway. Jan, great to have you back on the show. I will get to Lebanon, and really, the truly staggering displacement
that we've been seeing there as we were just showing our viewers.
But first, give us a sense of what you are hearing from your teams in Iran. What is the very latest on the ground where we get so -- we get very little
in terms of information?
JAN EGELAND, SECRETARY-GENERAL, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: Yes, and then, I see we have 110 aid workers on the ground. We are running relief centers
now in eight provinces. And what we hear from our colleagues on the ground is that, this is an unprecedented bombing campaign all over the country.
It's nothing like in the previous times when they have attacked military and nuclear targets in Iran. They are all over, and in the densely-
populated city of Tehran, it's around the clock. So, my colleagues say that, you know, friends have been killed because they may have lived close
to a police station.
Another colleague said their local shopkeeper was killed, and the shop is gone. There is now a cascading effect on public services, because this is a
densely-populated urban areas that has this -- these thousands of air raids, the impact on the civilian population is enormous.
SOARES: And Jan, the communication you're getting from your team, are people staying where they are? Are there shelters for people to go to? Are
they moving elsewhere? Give us a sense of the movement inside the country.
EGELAND: No, there is massive movement out of --
SOARES: Yes --
EGELAND: Tehran, but also of several -- the other population centers. Tehran is a huge city. It's 10 million people. I've been there myself many
times, and the roads have been clogged up by people fleeing, they feel they're fleeing for their lives.
They go to smaller places because they believe it's safe there. And then these smaller places are also bombed. There must be several million
internally displaced people in Iran now. And that's on top of the country now, hosting, protecting, having welcomed 4.5 million Afghan refugees.
Nobody talks about that.
SOARES: Yes.
EGELAND: Iran is one of the largest refugees-receiving countries in the world.
SOARES: And on top of this, to add to all of this, of course, is also, from what I understand, growing health concerns, Jan, with people in Tehran
no longer just having to fear for missiles in the sky, but also, where are your rainfall after these fuel depots were hit?
EGELAND: Yes --
SOARES: Do you know any more about this?
EGELAND: Yes, they say the air is toxic now. There's been black rains, not raining at the moment as far as I have heard, but it was raining when they
bombed all of these oil refineries. And that's black rain, now toxic smells. People are traumatized, people are really afraid. This is very
different from what they had thought that would be.
SOARES: Yes. I imagine this is something we have heard as well from our team. I want to turn to the situation in Lebanon where amid these Israeli
strikes and sweeping evacuation orders that we seem to be getting every day, we're hearing more than 700,000 people have been forced from their
homes. Give us a sense of the displacement there.
Where are people going? This is not the first time, right? It's not the first time that we've seen displacement. You and I have spoken about it.
Many of them have been displaced twice over.
EGELAND: And more times.
SOARES: Yes.
EGELAND: It's again and again and again for the exhausted Lebanese civilian population, especially in the south. Of course, there are bad guys
from Hezbollah, and some of them have sent missiles into Israel, and they are indiscriminate. But the majority are children, women, the elderly,
disabled people. They have nothing to do with Hezbollah. And now, they're fleeing for their lives again.
And I have some bad news to you seen from a seaside. One hour ago, I was told that our own office in the ancient city of Tyre in southern Lebanon
has had a direct or indirect impact. Our office is really badly damaged because of an Israeli airstrike on a civilian house apartment block next
door to a hospital and just across the street to our office. This is the kind of warfare. This was, by the way, an office that was de-conflicted. We
have told the exact location of it via the U.N. to the Israelis.
SOARES: Your team? Are your team OK, Jan?
EGELAND: Yes, that's my office. I've been there myself in Tyre.
SOARES: Yes.
EGELAND: There was no one from my organization in the office at the time we did evacuate it. We will start operations in Tyre and nearby Saida as we
are now doing humanitarian work across Lebanon. But it just shows this notion that we're going to have a targeted campaign only hitting the
military in a densely populated area with thousands of air raids. It's a complete myth that you're not having a cruel impact on innocent civilians.
SOARES: And the reality is, you know, two weeks into this campaign, Jan, we are not hearing an end is any nearer. We've heard from Israel's defense
minister basically saying the war will continue. Let me play what he said. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISRAEL KATZ, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): We will continue to act and crush the regime as well as the strategic targets of
this regime in Tehran and across Iran, day after day, target after target. We will continue doing this also to enable the Iranian people to rise up,
take action and topple this regime. In the end, this is something that depends on them. This operation will continue without any time limit for as
long as necessary until we achieve all the objectives and win the campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: And that wasn't just directed at Iran. Also, of course, at Hezbollah. When you hear this, you know, you think what, Jan?
EGELAND: That these men with guns and power treat this as if it was some kind of military strategic chess game. We're stronger than you. You should
let us dictate what should end here. This is a mud wrestling match and we will win.
It's not. It's power exerted on millions of civilians. Millions are fleeing for their lives in Iran. 750,000 now in tiny Lebanon. Of course, if you had
played what the Iranians say or Hezbollah saying, it's the mirror image of this. We will win. We don't care about the civilian population. We will
just win because I'm strong. I have arms. It's very bad.
SOARES: Jan Egeland, always great to get your insight. So, good to have you on the show, Jan. Keep us posted with a team. We'll keep in touch. Jan
Egeland there from NRC.
EGELAND: Thank you.
[14:35:00]
SOARES: And still to come tonight, 12 days in, the U.S. end game in Iran is still unclear, as I was talking about there, amid mixed messaging from
the White House. What could a potential off-ramp look like for President Trump. We'll take a look straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOARES: Welcome back, everyone. Let me bring you up to date with the very latest developments coming out of the war in the Middle East. Iran is
warning if its ports are attacked, it will respond in kind. It comes after U.S. military said it destroyed Iranian naval ships and mine layers near
the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway is a critical choke point through which about one-fifth of the world's oil supply passes, as we showed you earlier
on the show with Anna Cooban.
Meantime, the International Energy Agency says it plans to release 400 million barrels of oil as it tries to ease concerns about oil production
and shipping slowdowns in the Gulf region. And while President Donald Trump is saying the war in Iran could end soon, Israel is giving a very different
assessment. The Israeli defense minister said there is no time limit, as you heard before the break, on how long the attacks could last.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth admits that Iran's attacks on its neighbors in the region caught the Pentagon a bit off guard. A New York
Times report says President Trump ignored warnings that Iran would target Gulf states and underestimated the impact the war would have on energy
markets. The president has sent mixed messages about the U.S. strategy in Iran, as we've been showing you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated. We've already won in many ways, but we
haven't won enough. We could call it a tremendous success right now as we leave here, I could call it, or we could go further, and we're going to go
further.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Well, I'm glad, very glad to make sense of this, to have Republican strategist Doug Heye here with us in London. He's a former
communications director for the Republican National Committee. Doug, it's great to have you.
DOUG HEYE, U.S. REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AND FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: It's good to be with you.
SOARES: I'm so grateful you're here. We could do really with your expertise every day this week as we try to make sense of kind of the mixed
messages from the administration.
[14:40:00]
Let me pick up first what we heard, not from that little clip, but from what we heard in those remarks from President Trump to Axios, where he said
the Iran -- the war with Iran will end soon, and that there is nothing left to target. Is this the clearest sign that President Trump is looking for an
off-ramp?
HEYE: I think this is the sign. We've heard a lot from congressional Republicans in leadership, privately, not so much publicly, that they want
to see an off-ramp. They want to get to a place where he can declare victory. It's just taken a while to get there. And he's seeing the same
numbers that we are, the same polling numbers, the same gas prices. And he gets, obviously, more private conversations from our allies, who are
increasingly nervous or under-target themselves.
SOARES: So, do you think that New York Times report then saying that President Trump ignored warnings, underestimated the impact of the war? I
mean, his rating wasn't great prior to the war anyway. Now, we've seen the oil impact that's having. Do you think he underestimated?
HEYE: I think he did. And if we go back to his State of the Union address, I think two things there that stand out. One, he didn't give the
explanation on why we might go into Iran if that's what we were going to do. A lot of people, myself included, wanted to hear what his case was
going to be.
The other is he touted the best gas prices, the biggest, most beautiful or lowest gas prices in our nation's history, which wasn't really true.
Certainly not true now. And so, when we've seen a 64-cent-per-gallon increase just in 10, 12 days, that is jarring to not just the president,
but every member of Congress who hears it when they're at home.
SOARES: Are Americans already talking about gas prices and seeing the impact? I certainly am already.
HEYE: Absolutely. And you don't have to fill up your tank to deal with it. You're driving down the road or you're in an Uber or, you know, even in
public transportation --
SOARES: You're seeing that.
HEYE: -- you see -- you drive past, you go past a gas station, you see that rise, and you know that that's going to cost you at some point with
anything that you may have shipped to you through Amazon or wherever it most may be.
SOARES: Right. Then let's move this along. I heard Senator, I think, Hawley said that the president should declare victory in Iran. I want to
play and we can get your take on this. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY, (R-MO): I mean, this has been a total success in whatever it's been, 11 days, and 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)
SOARES: Do you agree with that? And how does he sell victory to the American people? Because, of course, we've got -- we've had regime change.
That didn't happen. President was wanting to pick a leader. He approved that. That didn't happen. We have another Khamenei. And, you know, we're
seeing oil prices impacted. Every single thing he said that he wanted hasn't happened, besides the fact that he is debilitating the naval aspect,
the military aspect. So, how does he sell this to the American? How do you sell victory to the American people?
HEYE: He sells it the same way he sells anything else. He just declares it to be true and then hopes that we can move on. And people buy that? He's
had enough success with it that we know that that track record works with him. But as Senator Hawley shows, there's nervousness there. Let's declare
victory now means I don't want to be talking about this in a week, 10 days, another 12 days or longer.
Part of that is gas prices. Part of that is the Republican base is saying, forget what Democrats are saying. They're going to pose this by and large,
not all of them, but by and large. So, Trump is looking at his own party and the MAGA base very seriously does not like this. And we're hearing over
and over again, this isn't what I voted for. And Trump responds to his base probably more than any other Republican politician or Democratic politician
we've seen.
SOARES: So, very, very briefly here. How do you see this panning out? We expected to hear from the president a bit later. What is the messaging you
think is going to be? What kind of strategy shift are we likely to see from this president?
HEYE: Well, we haven't seen much strategy.
SOARES: No.
HEYE: That's the problem for Trump. And he hasn't been able to explain what victory means. So, he's just going to do it in very large terms. Big,
beautiful bill, right?
SOARES: Right.
HEYE: His legislation is going to be a big, beautiful win. We'll figure out what the details are later. And again, hopefully for Trump, he will
hope that we move on. And the Trump has shown us we move on time and time again. We forget so often on Thursday what we were talking about on Monday.
And if gas prices start falling, he'll talk about that as well.
SOARES: Yes. And midterm is around the corner. That is so important. Doug, great to see you.
HEYE: Thank you.
SOARES: Come back again. Really great to have you on the show. And we're going to take a short break. We'll be back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:45:00]
SOARES: Well, two former associates of Jeffrey Epstein put under the microscope on both sides of the Atlantic today. The U.K. government
releasing a raft of files related to the former U.K. ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson. They show Prime Minister Keir Starmer was warned over a
reputational risk of appointing him to the role.
Max Foster will have much more on that. The files also reveal Mr. Mandelson demanded a 500,000-pound payout after he was removed from his posting. The
former ambassador was arrested last month in suspicion of misconduct in public office. Police investigating claims he passed market-sensitive
information to Jeffrey Epstein while working for the U.K. government. Mr. Mandelson has been released on bail and denies committing any crimes.
And it comes as Epstein's long-time accountant testifies behind closed doors on Capitol Hill. Richard Kahn being deposed by the House Oversight
Committee over Epstein's financial dealings.
Joining me now to discuss the details is CNN's Max Foster. So, Max, talk us through what we got from these files regarding Mandelson. What more do we
know?
MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's one part of the documents they're going to release, and some of it's been excluded because there's a
police investigation. They're specifically interested in this part on how he was appointed to that role when the prime minister knew that he had a
relationship with Epstein.
SOARES: So, checks and balances?
FOSTER: Yes. But -- and it's pretty clear from this that the prime minister knew -- because the due diligence report is within it, the prime
minister knew that Mandelson continued contacts with Epstein after he was convicted, so that's one thing. And then they look into various different
parts of his very checkered political history, which we've talked about before, and they do look at the Epstein part, and they do -- you know, the
report that the prime minister received before he appointed him did talk about a general reputational risk.
So, the prime minister is clearly making the decision that the risk was worth it in order to get his particular expertise in that role, which, you
know, MPs were questioning as well. It's normally the career diplomat becomes Washington ambassador.
SOARES: I mean, that's not going to ease any of the pressure, is it, Max, from Prime Minister Starmer, right?
FOSTER: No.
SOARES: Why he took -- why he decided to give him this position.
FOSTER: His argument is that the extent and the depth of the relationship wasn't clearer until after that, and then he ultimately fired him. But a
lot of MPs saying, you had enough here, not to appoint him.
SOARES: Yes. Look, Laura, bring up that graphic again. I'm just going to ask my producer to bring up the graphic again that shows what else was in
that. And there's that second point I think is really interesting. Mandelson asked for 500,000 pounds plus payout after firing. He didn't
ultimately receive that amount, but the fact that he asked for it.
FOSTER: Yes. So, he was basically asking for the full salary for the rest of his contract, which was about $750,000. And the government's making a
very big point, this was their headline today, that we didn't give him that, we pushed back on that, we got it down to $100,000.
[14:50:00]
SOARES: But people would be saying you shouldn't be paying him anything.
FOSTER: Which has got a quite Mandel-esque spin, really, if you think about it, because the point is that the government paid him $100,000 after
firing him. And, you know, there's outrage that he was paid anything when he was being fired. He shouldn't have got any sort of payoff after that
event.
If you dig into these papers, you do see some sort of vague threats that they could go to an employment tribunal and get more money. So, the
government argument, really, is that they got him down from three quarters of a million dollars to $100,000.
SOARES: We're running out of time, but very briefly, 30 seconds or so, do you think the questions of Keir Starmer, do you think that's over now, that
this has cleared some of that up?
FOSTER: It didn't -- you know, if you look at the parliamentary debates, it didn't feel as though they learnt much more to put more pressure on him.
But there are more of these Epstein -- I mean, they're effectively U.K. Epstein files to be released.
SOARES: Yes. Indeed. Max, appreciate it. Thank you. We're going to take a short break. We'll see you in a bit.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOARES: Well, I want to take you straight to Ohio where U.S. President Donald Trump is speaking, taking questions from reporters. Let's listen in.
TRUMP: -- in the water. We have -- as an example, we had tremendous drugs pouring in through the water, through the sea. And now, we have almost
none. It's down 97 percent through water. Now, we'll do it through land. The land is easier than water.
But this is a great honor being here. It's a great company. I've known it for a long time. And you have done a fantastic job, and I'd like to
congratulate you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. It's the colleagues' work.
TRUMP: See, the colleagues. My associates, my colleagues, my -- what about people that just --
SOARES: Well, we'll be listening there to President Trump. We'll continue to monitor, of course. He's visiting a pharmaceutical company in Ohio.
We'll continue to monitor. Any key lines, of course, we'll bring that to you.
Meantime, a new wave of controversy for the Iranian women's football team. Earlier today, the team arrived in Malaysia after competing in a tournament
in Australia. Seven members had stayed behind in Australia and were granted asylum. But we've now learned one player has changed her mind. It is a
decision that's causing new concern for the other six. Our Christina Macfarlane has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN SENIOR SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: This is the Iranian women's soccer team arriving in Malaysia after the asylum case involving
some of the players in Australia took another twist. One of the players who had initially accepted Australia's offer to stay has now changed her mind.
Australia's home affairs minister said Mohadeseh Zolfi contacted teammates who'd already left the country and asked to rejoin them.
[14:55:00]
Australian officials say that Zolfi shared the players' secret location to the Iranian embassy after her teammates and coach advised her to contact it
and get collected. That decision meant the remaining players who had sought refuge in Australia had to be moved immediately from the secret location
where they were staying under police protection.
It's not yet known what prompted Zolfi's reversal, but this could be part of it. The head of Iran's football federation on state TV Tuesday night
saying that players who return home will no longer face punishment. The controversy began after members of Iran's team refused to sing their
country's national anthem before the opening match of the Asia Cup in Australia. Iranian state media later branded the players traitors.
Australian officials then offered members of the delegation the option for a private meeting away from Iranian government minders. Seven women, six
players and a member of the support team were granted humanitarian visas.
But Iran's football federation has continued to accuse Australian authorities of pressuring the players to seek asylum, something Australian
officials deny. Meanwhile, the rest of the team has now arrived in Malaysia where Iran's embassy says they will remain before returning home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Well, thanks to Chrissy. And that does it for us for tonight. Do stay right here. "What We Know" with Max Foster is up next. I shall see you
tomorrow. Have a wonderful evening.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:00:00]
END
