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Quest Means Business
Stocks Extend Their Losses As Oil Prices Top $90.00 A Barrel; Trump: No Deal With Iran Except Unconditional Surrender; UAE Billionaire: You Cannot Take Everything By Force; Israel Targets Hezbollah In Southern Beirut Suburbs; Repatriation Flights Ramp Up To Help Stranded Travelers; U.S. And Israel Escalate Attacks Against Iran. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired March 06, 2026 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:19]
ISA SOARES, CNN HOST: Stocks recovered some of their losses. The Dow closing down there, still more 450 or so, 453, almost one percent lower
after opening 800 points lower. Still it was a difficult day and a difficult week, it is fair to say, on Wall Street. Those are the markets
and these are the main events for you.
Fears over energy supplies are intensifying. U.S. oil prices spiked 12 percent just this Friday.
President Trump says there will be no deal until Iran unconditionally surrenders.
And gulf countries are examining their investments in the U.S. as the war threatens their economies. We will discuss the potential fallout.
Live from London. It is Friday, March the 6th. I am Isa Soares, in for Richard Quest, and I too mean business.
A very good evening to you.
Tonight, the price of oil has surged to more than $90.00 a barrel as U.S.. President Trump calls for an unconditional surrender by Iran.
The Dow falling more than 450 points as you can see there. Red arrows right across the board, finishing the week about two percent lower. The S&P 500,
NASDAQ also closed in the red, S&P down one and three-tenths of a percent. The NASDAQ, almost one and six-tenths of a percent.
Investors are concerned that rising oil prices could hurt the broader economy. This is something that we've been seeing the entire week.
The last time the price of Brent by the way -- Brent crude rose this fast was just after Russia invaded Ukraine. It is up about 50 percent so far
this year. Most of that increase took place this week and it could go higher still.
Qatar's Energy Minister told "The Financial Times" today that oil could reach $150.00 a barrel if Gulf producers shut down production over the next
few days.
Well, right now, CNN correspondent Fred Pleitgen and his producer Claudia Otto are in Tehran. CNN is the first U.S. network in Iran since the start
of the war, and it is important to note that CNN is operating in Iran only with permission from the government.
Here is Fred's report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Iran's leadership has gathered thousands of people here to Tehran after Friday
prayers to voice their anger about the U.S. and Israel's bombing campaign across the country, but of course, also to mourn Iran's late Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and thousands of people have indeed turned out here.
At the same time, we have to keep in mind, this is just a small snapshot of Iran's society and the people who come to Friday prayers here in Tehran
usually are political conservatives and religious hardliners.
At the same time, it does show that the government here is still able to mobilize masses.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We believe that if we are killed, we are martyrs, meaning that whether we stand by the revolution or become
martyrs, both are a victory for us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The blood of our martyr leader has been shed, but his path continues.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): With these killings and these martyrdoms, they will not achieve greatness, and they will not be able to
take even the smallest piece of our land.
PLEITGEN: All this is happening, of course, as the U.S. and Israel continue their massive bombing campaign, not just here in Tehran and the vicinity,
but indeed in the entire country.
The U.S. says that it is hitting military positions and trying to hit Iran's religious and also political leadership, while the Iranians say at
this point in time, they are not willing to negotiate with the United States and they also say that they have a missile supply and drones to
carry on military operations for an extended period of time.
So this is the Gandhi Hospital here in Tehran, which is pretty badly damaged after an airstrike. It seems as though a different building was
struck in the vicinity. But then this building also was damaged very badly.
I spoke to the head of Iran's Red Crescent about this. Here is what he had to say.
PIR HOSSEIN KOLIVAND, PRESIDENT, IRANIAN RED CRESCENT (through translator): Can you imagine if you were hospitalized in one of the wards here while it
was attacked? How would you feel?
PLEITGEN: The people on the ground who feel these airstrikes, who hear these airstrikes, hear the jets overhead, of course, for them it is a
really, really difficult time to go through.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Fred Pleitgen and team on the ground in Tehran.
That is the political picture, of course. Meantime, I want to give you the financial pictures we told you at the top of the show. The war continue to
derail, of course, the flow of energy out of the Middle East.
[16:05:00]
Tom Kloza is the chief oil analyst at Gulf Oil. He joins me now from New Jersey.
Tom, appreciate you being with us.
Oil prices, that we have been showing our viewers for pretty much the last 24, 48 hours are continuing to rise. Fears that Brent could cross $100.00,
and now we are hearing from Qatar's Energy Minister that the war could drive prices up to $150.00 a barrel.
Let me just tell you what he said to "The F.T." today: "This will bring down the economies of the world," those were his words, "And there will be
shortages."
I mean, how do you assess the moment we are seeing right now?
TOM KLOZA, CHIEF OIL ANALYST, GULF OIL: Well, if the Strait remains blocked or closed through next week, we will see $100.00 by the end of next week
and perhaps higher. You know the price of crude becomes an abstraction because we've never dealt with anything like this.
We dealt with some problems with the Iran-Iraq War, and we had escorts and some other things that were done to mitigate it and to allow for
transshipment, but things are different these days.
You can take out a billion dollars' worth of oil infrastructure with a $20,000.00 drone. So, we are really in uncharted waters at the moment.
SOARES: Right, and given how uncharted these waters are, how do you see then -- where do you see the biggest risks? Because the Strait of Hormuz is
pretty much at a standstill, crude exports all but halted. I mean, and then you have to deal with oil storage tanks, right? And the concerns over that.
So where do you see the biggest risk right now, Tom?
KLOZA: I think the biggest risks are Asia and Europe and in that order. North America by example is in great shape. We have so much crude oil and
natural gas we produce. We are going to get a reaction from the population here as gas prices go up above $3.50 and diesel prices go above $4.50. But
we are much better off than other continents.
I am not quite sure what Asia can do if they don't get oil from the Strait of Hormuz because they are very dependent on that. It is one of the reasons
why in the U.S., we are seeing higher prices on the West Coast, because the occasional cargo of jet fuel or gasoline comes into California. So, it is a
real messy situation but it is much messier for other continents beyond North America.
SOARES: Yes, and I am wondering, you mentioned Europe there. That was interesting to me because I wonder then what they turn to. I know that
Russian oil is something that no one wants to go near her in Europe, but I did see that the U.S. had given India, I think it was like a 30-day waiver
to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea.
I mean, do you see -- do you think -- do you see there is a bit of an irony here, right? Do you see this being an option?
KLOZA: Oh, there is tremendous irony and I am a little bit worried about that waiver because immediately after getting that waiver, the price of
Russian Urals Crude moved to maybe a $4.00 premium versus Brent, as opposed to being at tremendous discounts for most of 2026.
The other worrisome thing is we heard from some of the Indian delegates that they intended to find some ships to store oil at sea, and that's
probably the first instance we are hearing about hoarding oil.
For somebody that's worried about much higher prices you know, through March and into April.
SOARES: So how do you see -- what is then the plan, you think, the best plan to stabilize the markets? I mean, President Trump obviously had a plan
to escort oil tankers. How viable do you think that is? And we don't have a clear vision right now, Tom, of how quickly that may actually happen.
KLOZA: Yes, I don't know how quickly it is going to happen, and again, these are uncharted waters. To claim that you're going to have escorts and
to be able to do the insurance backing, it is interesting and it could happen at some point. We have to watch Iran here. If Iran continues to
strike out at other friendly countries out there, it can have some really, really dire consequences.
The other option is that somewhere down the line, the State Department says, hey we have accomplished what we were looking to do, and we are
reopening the Strait, and maybe peace will prevail.
But right now, that doesn't look like it is possibility in the first half of the month.
SOARES: Indeed, it doesn't look like we are close to that, especially given what we heard from President Trump saying unconditionally -- wanted Iran to
be unconditionally surrender.
Tom, appreciate it, Tom Kloza there live for us from New Jersey. Appreciate you for coming on for the insight. Thank you.
KLOZA: Thank you.
SOARES: Well, President Trump says the U.S. will continue the war until Iran surrenders unconditionally, as I mentioned to Tom. In a post on Truth
Social the President wrote: "Iran will be expected to choose" and I am quoting him here "... a great and acceptable leader after the war."
Mr. Trump says the U.S. and its allies will then work to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction.
[16:10:05]
The President tells "Time" Magazine that he believes his objectives in Iran could be achieved within four or five weeks, adding that he has no time
limits on anything.
Let's get more. Kristen Holmes is at The White House. So Kristen, do we have a sense of how the President defines unconditional surrender and
whether he believes he can achieve that via aerial bombardment?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We've heard today from the Press Secretary who kind of aimed to clean these comments up. The
idea of unconditional surrender, particularly in a case like this and in a place like Iran seems like something that is untenable.
So, we heard from the Press Secretary who essentially said that President Trump will decide when it is time or when Iran has unconditionally
surrendered. She was saying that once Iran has been destroyed enough, their weapons, their military, they are unable to build back, that could be equal
to unconditional surrender.
But President Trump would make that decision. So, obviously a little bit different than the actual term unconditional surrender there.
But you also saw what President Trump was saying about him wanting to be involved in picking the leader of Iran. This comes at the same time that
the administration has pushed this idea over and over again, that this wasn't about regime change, that that is not their focus. But President
Trump certainly seems to be focused on that.
And he has also said a number of times that he doesn't know who would lead Iran, because most of the people they had looked at were dead from these
strikes.
So the fact that he is so fixated on it when the administration says no regime change, we've asked -- we've gone back to them. We've asked what
they are doing in terms of leadership, they do not have any answers on that right now. It seems as though they are waiting this out to see what happens
next and what happens inside of Iran next.
But that's a little bit difficult because he wants both things. He wants to be able to say that he wants control of Iran and whoever the leader is, but
he also wants to be able to say that they are going to wait and let them figure it out.
So again, this is just yet another wrinkle in our understanding and how they are messaging what we are actually doing right now in terms and in
regards to Iran.
SOARES: It is quite a wrinkle, that's for sure.
Kristen Holmes, appreciate it. Thank you.
Well, some Gulf Arab states might be forced to review their foreign investments. Up next, we will look at how the war in the Middle East is
straining these economies and they might be forced to cut back their spending plans. We will bring you that reporting after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:15:08]
SOARES: Well, I want to take you to the Memorial Service for Civil Rights leader, Reverend Jesse Jackson, a towering figure, of course, where former
U.S. Vice President and presidential candidate, Kamala Harris is speaking. Let's listen in.
KAMALA HARRIS (D), FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: - - the founder, I think most would agree, the founder of the modern progressive coalition. Think about the work that he did.
In addition to the strength of his spirit and his determination, the leadership of Jesse Jackson was defined by his vision, dare I say, his
ambition to tap into what otherwise had been untapped in terms of the potential of a coalition of seemingly different people who could be brought
together around shared values and ideals and experience. That's what Jesse Jackson did. He modeled that for so many of us.
Over the past half century, that coalition strategy, his methodology has been the heartbeat for so many movements about progress in our country,
those movements born out of struggle but resulting in progress.
Think about, and it was mentioned, the women leaders that he elevated, like the self-described colored girls who have been a driving force behind so
many campaigns that have been about freedom and justice.
Throughout his life, Reverend Jackson reminded us that the many fights for freedom are interconnected. He saw not only the interconnection, but the
interdependence of the various struggles for justice and dignity on behalf of Black Americans, Native and Asian Americans, Latino, LGBTQ Americans and
Americans with disabilities. That was Jesse's rainbow, and he continued to grow it.
He gave us the language, the rainbow, to understand as has been said, the beauty that comes after the storm when we see what is possible and what can
be unburdened by what has been.
SOARES: You have been listening there to Kamala Harris of course, who was the Vice President and presidential candidate there making a eulogy of
Reverend Jesse Jackson, of course, delivering remarks.
The Civil Rights leader died on February the 17that , age 84. We have heard so far from former President Barack Obama. We've also heard in the last
hour from former President Bill Clinton, who actually said, "We may not have always agreed, but he made me a better person." Barack Obama also
said, crediting him for helping him pave the way to his presidency.
We will keep an ear out of course, for this moment of celebration, a people celebration, as a final tribute to Jackson and then a private service is
scheduled for Saturday.
I am going to turn our attention to the conflict in Iraq because it is putting major strains on the Gulf state economies. They are dealing with
lower energy production, supply chain disruptions and the potential loss of tourism.
One Gulf state official says: Regional economies might have to cut back their spending as a result, and that could jeopardize trillions of dollars
of pledged investments in the United States.
The news was first reported by "The Financial Times." CNN could not confirm which countries are reviewing their investments. Saudi Arabia's Finance
Ministry says its fiscal position is sound and that there is no price tag for defending its country.
Nic Robertson is in Riyadh. And Nic, last time you and I were talking, you were on the Main Street. It was a vibrant Friday evening. I wonder what are
hearing from ordinary people in Saudi Arabia, but also from officials about these concerns about the problem, if this is prolonged further, the impact
this will have on the economy.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. Look people are worried about this going long. They're worried about the potential for the
war to sort of get bigger, for more countries to get drawn in. And frankly, they are worried about the United States sort of at some point, President
Trump just walking away from it and leaving all the countries in the region to sort out the problems.
And you know, you get a sense of that's how far the Finance Ministers, the Energy Ministers are looking here, and they have to. They have very real
issues. They can't get their product to market. Their product is what makes money for the country.
They have investments that they need to support in the country. They have visions for their country. They have a vision for the region which is, you
know, stability, peace and therefore economic prosperity.
And they have to now consider well, how much money do they now need to set aside in those plans for repairs? For whatever damage may happen?
[16:20:10]
What sort of plans do they have to put in place to kind of offload in storage? Some of the extra production? When do they actually have to scale
back production? How long does it take to scale it back up?
There are very big costs and implications to be weighed here. I think for the population at the moment, particularly here in Saudi Arabia, because
the government has been able to intercept the vast majority of the missiles that have been incoming here, most people haven't been directly touched by
it. They're aware of it, they're concerned about it.
But they -- you know, this is one of those countries, and I think it goes without saying that this is the sentiment in a lot of Gulf countries here
where people on the street don't like to speak about politics. They don't like to speak about their leaders and what they do say is positive.
They do say that they're confident that their leaders can handle it, but underneath that or behind it, that there is a level of concern. And they
know and I was speaking to somebody just now. He said, look, this is going to potentially going to affect me. It is going to affect how much I pay for
my fuel, how much I pay for my food, so it can have a knock on effect for me. So people do see it at that personal level as well.
And the concerns are there, the longer it goes on, the government may have to tighten its purse strings. People here know they might have to tighten
theirs, too.
SOARES: And we saw officials and I think these Iranian officials telling CNN that Iran, Nic, is considering firms that buy U.S. government debt as
legitimate targets. I mean, so far you and I, when we have been talking this week, we've been talking about Gulf states having to balance this out
this week and have a more defensive posture.
What conversations are you having about if this war continues, if that changes. How are they managing balancing those two?
ROBERTSON: Yes, I think this is an area of sort of when I talk to officials here, when I say what if and how long, they say that's a hypothetical, we
don't want to speculate.
I think the calculations that they'll have to take, the economies that they'll have to take. Look, let's look at Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince
Mohammed Bin Salman has a very bold vision for the country, Vision 2030, the big city, Neom in the northwest of the country and other important
developments and investments. Everyone here in this country knows all about them and they've seen the economic investment and development and the
changes that the Crown Prince has brought to the country, and no one here wants to see it going backwards.
I mean, I will just give you for instance, we were looking at the underground rail network here. People are very proud of it. It opened up
about a year ago. They really like it. They don't want to see this country or any of the others here in the region going backwards. And I think that's
why you have a sense at least, I have a sense when government officials don't want to speculate, they don't want to start worrying their
populations. They don't want to start worrying their investors.
It is not a house of cards, but economics have some real, it sounds trite to say, but bottom lines, and they don't want to spook investors. Saudi
Arabia is a rich country, and it still needs investors.
SOARES: Nic Robertson, appreciate it, live from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia for us.
Well, a billionaire businessman from the UAE has issued an open letter condemning President Trump's actions in the region.
In a message posted on social media, Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor asked the U.S. President: Who gave you the authority to drag our region into a war with
Iran?" He asks, "And on what basis did you make this dangerous decision? Did you calculate the collateral damage before pulling the trigger? And did
you consider that the first to suffer from this escalation will be the countries of the region itself!"
Well, Erin Burnett spoke to Al Habtoor about his frustrations. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KHALAF AHMAD AL HABTOOR, CEO, AL HABTOOR GROUP: We don't want war. We don't -- we hate war. The corona is enough for us. You know, the financial crisis
happened. We controlled it. We controlled the corona.
But I mean, creating war without calculating, I mean, should be -- you have to -- when you build something, you have to make all the alternative
scenarios.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: You know, you also called out President Trump on something very specific. I wanted to share, Khalaf, that's the Board of
Peace.
You wrote: "Before the ink is dried on the Board of Peace Initiative that you announced in the name of peace and stability, we find ourselves facing
a military escalation that endangers the entire region. So, where did these initiatives go?"
[16:25:01]
Now, I know, Khalaf, you know Trump, he says this war is to let the Iranian people rise up. His words actually specifically, Khalaf, are "... to have a
prosperous and glorious future." Do you think he understands the situation?
AL HABTOOR I don't think -- I mean, maybe, he wished a positive thing, but not that way, you know? I mean, he is a builder. He knows about
construction. He knows a lot.
I mean, we calculated so many scenarios before we dig a hole into the ground and he knows that. I mean, we have to be very careful from any steps
we take forward.
I mean, what happened now? I mean he created people. I mean they hate to cooperate with the Americans, with everything, really, because of what
happened. He damaged a lot of relationship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: And you can see more of that interview in just a few hours on Erin Burnett's "Up Front," at 7:00 P.M. in New York, midnight, if you're
watching here in London.
Well, Gideon Rachman is the chief foreign affairs columnist for "The Financial Times," and he joins me now.
Gideon, good to see you.
We are hearing from one UAE investor, but you can clearly see as this war spreads, we are starting to see and hear growing regional unease that has
gone from the battle front, the economic front.
Just give our viewers a sense of what you are hearing.
GIDEON RACHMAN, CHIEF FOREIGN AFFAIRS COLUMNIST, "THE FINANCIAL TIMES": Yes, I mean, I think that's fairly widespread. I mean, obviously people
don't want to fall out with Trump, but there is this feeling in the gulf that this war was kind of sprung on them, and that they are the people who
are going to live with the consequences, both in the short term, because the missiles are raining down on them, and also in the long term, because I
don't think people really buy the idea that there is going to be some stable, peaceful transition to a glorious, prosperous Iran. They are
worried that Trump will leave chaos behind.
And as Trump often observes, you know, the U.S. is protected by big, beautiful oceans, but the nations of the Gulf, you know sit right next door
to Iran.
And so if their huge neighbor of 90 million people collapses into civil war, or if you have a successor regime that is still in place and very
vengeful against them, they are in trouble and so I think, it is understandable that they are pretty upset.
SOARES: Yes, and we've heard President Trump say today he wants unconditional surrender, we don't really understand, and our White House
correspondents have pushed the administration to define what that means because the aim seems to shift day by day.
But let me stay with what we are hearing from the Gulf, because I did see this report from "The F.T." that says Gulf states, Gideon, basically
reportedly reviewing their overseas investment and this of course, we all remember after President Trump secured trillions -- I think trillions of
dollars in investment pledges from the region, what more can you tell us about this?
RACHMAN: Well, I mean, you know, as reported by my colleagues in the Middle East. So, you know, I am reading it as well. But, I mean, I think that the
-- it may be a way of sending an indirect message to Trump. I think it is very difficult for the UAE leaders to say, come out and say look, we are
unhappy, we are going to sort of try to make you reconsider or try to make you bring this conflict to a close quickly.
But if they present it as like a pragmatic investment decision and say, you know, in the light of the new situation, we may have to reconsider these
huge investments. That is a way of getting Trump's attention because he is, as we know, very bottom line focused.
So, if he sees some of these promised investments, I mean, who knows if they would have actually materialized quite in the way that he hoped for.
But if he sees those numbers being rolled back, the markets falling, then maybe cumulatively, that's a way of getting their message across to him.
And I think the message is, you know bring this to a close as quickly as possible. We really don't want a prolonged conflict.
SOARES: Yes, and we are not sure. I mean, Secretary Hegseth have saying for six, eight weeks -- again, lack of clarity or no strategy that is being
communicated so far.
You are in London, so I do want to tap into what we've been seeing, not just in in the U.K., but right across Europe and Europe's position vis-a-
vis, Gideon, the war.
It had been, it has been reticent, I think it is fair to say, to get involved. But it is being forced to protect national assets, NATO assets
and we have seen very strong Prime Minister Sanchez taking a stand against President Trump.
RACHMAN: Yes, I mean, I think it is the case that Sanchez is a bit of an outlier. That because he has been, you know strongly critical of America
over Gaza, called very strongly for European autonomy from the U.S. and that may reflect his convictions or perhaps the kind of particular
political makeup of Spain.
[16:29:59]
And also, I think the fact that the Spanish, because they are a long way from Ukraine, are slightly less concerned about keeping the U.S. on board
for that particular war.
But I think, it is possible also that Sanchez is articulating things that a lot of European leaders think privately, but may not think its politic to
express in public.
And European leaders have gone backwards and forwards. I mean even Chancellor Merz, who was sitting in the Oval Office just a couple of days
ago and sounded pretty supportive of the war, has said today, well, look hang on, we really are not on board for breaking up Iran because we, in
Europe are the people that will, you know live with the consequences in terms of refugees, higher energy prices.
So the idea for example, that America may support the Kurds and fuel a civil war there, I think is one that makes Europeans very nervous.
SOARES: Yes, indeed.
Gideon, good to see you. Gideon Rachman, there. Appreciate it.
And when we return, and refugee groups says hundreds of thousands of people in Lebanon have fled their homes in response to Israeli airstrikes and
evacuation orders.
We'll bring you that story out of Lebanon. Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOARES: Hello. I'm Isa Soares. There is more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in a moment.
When the U.S. economy lost more than 90,000 jobs in February, as it braces for the impact of the war in Iran.
And CNN has made contact with people inside Iran despite an Internet blackout. You will hear what they had to say. Before that, of course, we'll
bring you the headlines this hour.
President Trump says there will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender. He wrote on Truth Social and spoke to CNN about his view of the
war. He says Iran's leadership has been muted, and that he wants a new leader that will treat the U.S. and treat Israel well.
Lebanon's prime minister is warning of a humanitarian disaster as hundreds of thousands of people rushed to escape intensifying airstrikes.
[16:35:03]
Israel is bombing Hezbollah targets after issuing unprecedented evacuation orders to Beirut southern suburbs and towns in southern Lebanon.
The IDF says it struck an Iranian command center today, among other targets. Funeral service is taking place in Chicago for the late U.S. civil
rights leader, the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
Some of the speakers of the memorial include former U.S. presidents, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton. Singer, Jennifer Hudson was among the
musical performers.
One of his Jackson sons pledged to continue his father's Rainbow Coalition. Jesse Jackson died last month at the age of 84.
I'm going to bring you more now on the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. In Lebanon, the Israeli military says it has dropped more than
500 targets since the war began.
Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv. And Jeremy, we are seeing huge displacement of people. I think that one NGO putting up more than half a million. We
have seen more than 200 people killed. You were close. You went in the Israeli side of the border. Give us a sense of what you and your team have
witnessed today.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. A very active situation at the border between Israel and Lebanon. A lot of fire
between both sides. We heard everything from artillery strikes, air strikes, to drone, and missile fire from both ends of the border.
All of this, as this new front in this war between Israel and Iran, very much heating up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIAMOND: Oh. Wow, that was a drone that seems to have just made impact here. There were no sirens warning, but we just heard an explosion right
here in Metula. We are right along the Israel-Lebanon border. And we just heard something come in fast over our heads and make impact.
OK. So, we are going to put our vests on now, because we just saw not one, but two projectiles coming in. Still not clear exactly what that was, but
we are now starting to hear the outgoing Israeli fire responding to it.
We are just seeing -- hearing a lot of activity right now, kind of going in both directions. In fact, as this new front in Israel's war with Iran is
very much heating up.
So, that smoke right there just came from Israeli artillery that was being fired from behind us. So, it went over our heads, we then saw it make
impact there, and you can see the smoke that's still coming up from the target location.
And now -- OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is just -- he is so used to it.
DIAMOND: And that wasn't hitting the same spot. Yes, getting very active here now.
Oh, here too.
So, we are seeing several areas now in southern Lebanon that are being struck by the Israeli military, and some of those positions that they are
hitting are within a kilometer of the Israeli Lebanese border. And that's significant, because all of these positions in the most southern part of
Lebanon were supposed to have been cleared of Hezbollah fighters over a year ago. And so, the fact that Israel is now having to hit position so
close to its border, suggests that Hezbollah is trying to re-infiltrate those areas, and obviously, Israel now fighting to try and rid those areas
of Hezbollah once again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DIAMOND: So, Isa, you could see and hear some of those cross-border attacks that took place today. We have now learned from the Israeli military that
eight soldiers were wounded as a result of some of those very same types of attacks today. Five of them are in serious condition. Three others were
lightly injured, according to the Israeli military.
Meanwhile, in Lebanon, we are witnessing the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, as the Israeli
military yesterday issued this fairly unprecedented order -- evacuation order for almost the entirety of the Dahieh, those southern suburbs of
Beirut that are known to be a Hezbollah stronghold.
The Israeli military carrying out intense strikes, not only in southern Lebanon, which we could hear from our position today, but also in the
capital of Beirut. And the question now is, where is this all headed? We certainly witnessed today an intensification of this aspect of the
conflict, and we know that the Israeli military has called up tens of thousands of reservists. They are occupying portions of southern Lebanon.
Question now, whether they will push even deeper. Isa?
SOARES: Jeremy Diamond, for us this hour. Thank you very much, Jeremy.
We are going to take a short break, but I will see you on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:42:23]
SOARES: Welcome back.
Iran's ambassador to the United Nations spoke in the last hour. Amir-Saeid Iravani accuses the United States and Israel of crimes against humanity. He
is calling on the U.N. to take action, and says Iran will continue to defend itself as long as necessary. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMIR-SAEID IRAVANI, IRANIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATION: Iran does not seek war. Iran does not seek escalation, but Iran will never surrender its
sovereignty.
Our ancient and proud civilization testifies that Iran has always been a peaceful, peace-loving nation, committed to coexistence, dignity, and
respect among nations, we will take all necessary measures to defend our people, our territory and our independence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: That's Iran's U.N. ambassador.
While repatriation flights from Middle East are ramping up. The U.K.'s first flight from Oman finally landed on Friday after some operational
delays. Carriers based in the region like Etihad and Emirates started resuming more services.
Emirates says 60 percent of its return flights from Dubai should be operating on Saturday. It all depends, of course, on safety.
The French transport minister posted on Thursday. Let me read it out that repatriation flight from the UAE was forced to turn around. You can see
there, "due to missile fire".
Let's get more, and Gary Grappo is with me. He is a former Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia. He is also a former U.S.
ambassador to Iran.
Ambassador, welcome to the show. Let me pick up, if I may, with these repatriation flight -- flights, which really have come under, under fire.
We have seen Democrats in Congress writing to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, criticizing the lack of planning. And quite honestly, the lack of
clear communication from the state department.
I understand, viewers will understand that it's a war breaking out. It's not a simple scenario. But why do you think, Ambassador, this has been so
difficult?
GARY GRAPPO, FORMER DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION, UNITED STATES EMBASSY, SAUDI ARABIA: Well, first of all, thank you for having me on the program. And I
have to say, this comes as a surprise and a very large disappointment to me, because United States, and in particular, the state department, with
the assistance of the defense department, has always had very developed plans on the go, both within the state department and at our embassies
around the world, for the evacuation of our employees and their families when necessary, but also of American citizens when necessary.
And so, the idea that we were unprepared for this, when the president supposedly had some notion of his intention to go to war, struck me as
really shocking, and as a reflection of what, perhaps, has happened in our State Department, which has been ravaged by the budget cuts and the
staffing cuts, the loss of experience and expertise.
[16:45:13]
SOARES: Yes, we heard from the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, I think it was just two days ago, when she was being questioned on
this because so many Americans have really been struggling to get on face, a way out. OK, any sort of clarity was that the reasoning was that it all
happened very quickly.
But still, it's -- you would have thought that this would have been communicators, as we have seen from many other countries who we -- who have
been repatriating their own people out much quicker.
GRAPPO: No. Absolutely. Weeks, in advance, notifications should have gone out. I mean, we certainly were aware, even before the war, the rise in
tensions and the likelihood, or the certainly the strong possibility that the United States, with Israel, would be going to war against Iran.
And notifications should have been gone out, and even an advice for Americans to leave the Middle East, and specifically, countries bordering
on Iran.
So, to be caught flat footed, as we seem to have been, as I said, is both a shock and a disappointment.
SOARES: Yes, and Ambassador, what we have been hearing from some regional sources is this line that this is not our war. Clearly worried that the
repercussions are likely to far outlast the Iranian drones and the missiles. I wonder what conversations, if any, are being had between Gulf
states and President Trump, and the fear, of course, the risk that this could have on U.S. relationship with some of these Gulf countries.
GRAPPO: There is no question that this is going to impact United States relations with all the countries in the region, and most especially those
in the Gulf, as to the nature of the conversations currently having -- currently underway between Washington and the capitals in these Gulf
countries.
It's unclear. Obviously, these countries were not a party to the decision to launch this war. They were not involved initially in the war. In fact,
they had made a point to avoid that and to not even allow the Americans to use some of our critical bases in that region.
That will probably change now that Iran has responded with attacks on these Gulf countries.
The global impact, I think, now, is being felt, particularly in the energy markets, but this is going to reverberate throughout the greater economy as
we move forward, particularly because of the constraints now on both oil and LNG.
SOARES: And do you think those pressures that we see, not with -- not just in your market, Strait of Hormuz, pretty much at a standstill. We have seen
stock markets down. We have seen oil prices up, and clearly concerns over investments by the United States.
Do you feel that this is enough? That this will put pressure on President Trump? Try to influence President Trump to step back? Because, you know, we
have been hearing from the administration, this could take anything from four, six, to eight weeks. He said today, unconditional surrender.
GRAPPO: Well, it would be a surprise to me if this hadn't been considered before going to war. There was obviously going to be an impact, an economic
impact, of a United States going to war in such a sensitive part of the world. The Middle East, which is the source, a significant source of the
world's energy.
And the first thing that's going to suffer is oil and gas, and indeed, it has very significantly. One of the interesting results in all of this is
that the Iran has responded, of course, with attacks on these Gulf countries, who, as I said, wanted to keep distance from this war, as
unreasonable as that may have been. And the signal that perhaps the Iranians were trying to send to these countries and even to Washington,
because several of them, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, had significant financial and business dealings with Mr. Trump, the Trump
family, and the Trump family of businesses.
And the message, perhaps from the Iranians may have been, hey, these dealings may not protect you now. And that's probably going to land with a
profound effect on some of these countries, who have been cozying up, at least financially, to Mr. Trump and his business enterprises.
SOARES: And that is what we are seeing already, or at least reporting from the Financial Times. Let's see if that pressure has any change, of course,
on where this war goes.
Ambassador, really appreciate you taking the time to peak to us. Gary Grappo there.
[16:50:04]
Thank you very much.
GRAPPO: My pleasure.
SOARES: And coming up right -- and coming up right here on the show, new data shows the U.S. lost jobs in February. We'll discuss the further
headwinds, of course, if they face as the war in Iran, as we're talking to ambassadors. That continue as more pressure on the U.S. economy. That's
next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOARES: Welcome back.
Well, the latest U.S. jobs report shows an unexpectedly weak labor market. U.S. employers shed 92,000 jobs just last month, and the unemployment
ticked higher to 4.4 percent. And economists were expecting modest gains. The numbers will complicate, as you can imagine, the Federal Reserve's path
forward when it meets this month.
The spike in oil prices is likely to stoke inflation, even as U.S. labor market falters.
Heidi Shierholz was the U.S. Labor Department's chief economist during the Obama administration. She is now president of the Economic Policy
Institute.
Welcome to the show, Barbara. Great -- Heidi, great to have you with us.
You know, we are looking at today's report showing another negative sign in the labor market that was already weakening. How concerned should we be
with these numbers? What's your take?
HEIDI SHIERHOLZ, PRESIDENT, ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE: That loss of 92,000 jobs? That's big. I always though want to caution, don't put too much
weight on one month of data. But when you step back from this, the broad trend is bad.
If you look over the last three months, the average job growth was just 6,000 jobs a month. And if you look over the last nine months, five of
those were negatives.
So, it is -- I just don't like what I'm seeing here. I think, the U.S. labor market is now in a very fragile place.
SOARES: Right. So, you've got the fragile potentially, you know, numbers from labor market and this comes over seeing energy prices are rising. Are
you concerned at all about a supply shock and potential impact to inflation?
SHIERHOLZ: Yes. I think, I mean, you said it. We are already seeing gas prices as a result of the conflict, the war in the Middle East. How bad
that really gets honestly depends on the duration, the intensity of the conflict. If it only lasts a couple of weeks, the negative impact on the
U.S. economy will be relatively small.
[16:55:01]
But if it lasts a month or two, we are going to see negative economic impacts that are non-trivial, i.e. not small. And if it lasts more than
that, the damage to the U.S. economy will be very bad.
And as you said, it's that would be damage on top of an economy that's already been weakened by the administrations slashing hundreds of thousands
of federal jobs.
SOARES: Yes.
SHIERHOLZ: Totally, broad and chaotic uncertainty, inducing tariff policy.
The -- just sort of on and on, kind of attacks on sort of fundamentals of the U.S. economy that has led us to this place that even before this war.
Things were looking pretty fragile, like, obviously, the effects of the war are not anywhere in this jobs report that we got today.
(CROSSTALK)
SOARES: Yes. Yes --
SHIERHOLZ: Because the reference reached for the jobs report was before the war began.
SOARES: But it does paint a concerning picture if we are already at that point. Right? And that is it.
SHIERHOLZ: Yes.
SOARES: We have got a weak labor market, potential inflation, and this, quite frankly, Heidi, this, is going to complicate the picture for the Fed.
Obviously, President Trump will want his nominee, Kevin Warsh, to push for rate cuts if he's confirmed. We know how he feels about that.
But do you think you will be able to do that given those inflationary, potentially, inflationary concerns here?
SHIERHOLZ: Yes, it is a very, very tricky place, where there is both inflationary concerns and a weakening job market.
And so, the -- it puts the Fed in a very difficult position, because, you know, the interest rates that they move if they reduce the interest rates
to support the economy, that can actually boost inflation.
So, they have a lot of, you know, like they are sort of navigating an extremely tricky terrain right now. I am glad that Chairman Powell is in
charge at this point. I think, he is doing a great job, but it's -- as we know, it's his term as chair is ending.
SOARES: We are running -- we are running on time. But how quickly do you think the headwinds from higher energy prices? Do you think, how long will
take to feed back into the economy and labor market?
SHIERHOLZ: Oh, that's a good question. I think, we are -- that's a very good question. I think, we'll start to see, we could even start to see some
of the effects on next month's jobs numbers. And then, really what will matter is how long the conflict in the Middle East lasts, for how deep the
negative impact on the U.S. economy ends up being.
SOARES: Yes, there is so many questions. So many unknowns, at this time, we have heard Secretary Hegseth, saying, four six, eight weeks. We shall -- we
shall see Heidi Shierholz, really appreciate you coming on the show. Thank you, Heidi.
And that does it for us here at QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'm Isa Soares.
"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
