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Oil Prices Skyrocket As War With Iran Triggers Biggest Oil Disruption In History; Israeli Military Launches New Strikes In Iran And Beirut; Crowds In Iran Pledge Allegiance To New Supreme Leader. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired March 09, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:54]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, global price pressure. The U.S., Israel and Iran are now trading strikes on energy infrastructure. And markets around the world are falling as investors face the possibility of an energy crisis.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And inside Iran, CNN is the first U.S. network in Tehran since the start of the war. What a top Iranian official is now telling us about the new Iranian supreme leader as thousands are taking to the streets to pledge their support.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown and you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin this hour with the breaking news. Oil prices around the world are skyrocketing right now as the war with Iran triggers what experts are calling the biggest oil disruption in history. Oil has topped $100 a barrel right now. That's the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine back in 2022.

BROWN: And new figures show that the conflict is impacting some 20 percent of the world's oil supply. And the effects are being felt at the pump already. Right now, the national average for a gallon of regular gas is $3.47. That's up nearly 50 cents from one week ago. And with oil topping $100 a barrel, experts say those prices are likely going to keep going up.

BLITZER: But President Trump, meanwhile, is downplaying the increases, saying, and I'm quoting him now, "If they rise, they rise," and describing the cost escalation as a, "A little glitch."

BROWN: So let's go straight to our Matt Egan in New York. Matt, when do these prices go from a, "little glitch," as the President called them, to a serious economic concern?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Pamela, I think we may have already passed that moment a few days ago. This is a serious economic situation, and it's one that if it lasts, and that's a big if, but if it does, it could do real damage to the U.S. and, frankly, the world economy.

Just look at where oil prices are trading this morning, $100 a barrel up another 10 percent, or $9. Keep in mind, oil was trading at just $67 a barrel before the war started. So that's quite the move in just six trading days.

And look at this chart for oil prices. They're basically going straight up. And, of course, the problem is that the war has disrupted supplies out of the Middle East. Not only is the Strait of Hormuz closed, but you have a situation where some of the OPEC producers, they're literally running out of room to put all the oil. And that has forced them to cut production, and that includes in Kuwait and in Iraq.

Now, this is a historic disruption. Now, according to estimates, about 20 percent of the world's oil has been disrupted. Veteran analyst Bob McNally, he says that is more than twice as big as the next closest oil disruption, the one that happened back in the 1950s. And when you look at consumer prices, gasoline, as you mentioned, already feeling an impact, $3.48 a gallon is the national average.

That's the highest since the summer of 2024, up by 50 cents since before the war started. And it's not just oil. Jet fuel prices are going up. Some airlines are warning of higher prices there. And look at diesel. Diesel prices are up by 24 percent since the war started. That is bad news for farmers, for truckers, for railroads, and ultimately for consumers.

So, look, I think the bottom line here is the key is duration. If this is something that only lasts for a few days, it may look like just a blip for the economy. But if this is something that lasts for much longer, for weeks or even months, then you may start to hear some significant and real concerns about a recession in the U.S. economy. Back to you, guys.

BLITZER: All right, Matt Egan reporting for us. Matt, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: And breaking news right into The Situation Room, seven U.S. service members have been killed in the war with Iran. Army Sergeant Benjamin Pennington of Glendale, Kentucky, was just 26 years old. He was wounded a week ago at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia and died from those injuries.

[11:05:08]

Vice President Vance just said the dignified transfer for Sergeant Pennington will be tonight. And the other six Americans who have been killed include Captain Cody Khork, Sergeant Declan Coady, Sergeant First Class Nicol Amor, Sergeant First Class Noah Tietjens, Major Jeffrey O'Brien, and Chief Warrant Officer 3, Robert Marzan.

Let's go live now to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, for the latest on the war scene. As Matthew Chance is there, Matthew, bring us there on the ground. What are you seeing? MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, a lot of airstrikes, because remember, as U.S. forces and Israeli forces are striking at targets inside Iran, Israel is also hitting the Hezbollah militia group here in Lebanon, because Hezbollah is a proxy of Iran and it fired missiles and rockets, has continued to be firing missiles and rockets at targets inside Israel across the border as well. So it's sort of like another front in that Iran war.

Those airstrikes from Israel, though, have been intensive. Just behind me, we're overlooking the southern suburbs of Beirut, and they've come under heavy airstrikes over the course of the past day. We've been standing here on this vantage point, this rooftop, watching the explosions fill the horizon with billowing gray smoke.

That area, along with other areas in Lebanon that are seen to be Hezbollah strongholds, Israel has ordered their evacuation from the hundreds of thousands of people inside. That's created another crisis, a crisis of displaced people. So we've got the military confrontation on one hand, in which nearly 400 people have so far been killed and 1,100 people injured.

Those are the latest figures from the Lebanese health ministry. We've also got a kind of internally displaced refugee crisis as well, which is seeing hundreds of thousands of Lebanese families, people and families, leaving their homes in the south, in the Beqaa Valley in the east, and in south Beirut to other more safe areas. And the authorities here are under increasing pressure to -- and struggling to find them accommodation and food in that new sort of refugee crisis.

And so a double whammy, if you like, for the Lebanese as this country gets increasingly drawn into the effects of the Iran war. Pam?

BROWN: All right, Matthew Chance, thank you so much for bringing us the latest there. Wolf?

BLITZER: I want to go to Saudi Arabia right now, and it's capital Riyadh. CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is on the scene for us. Nic, tell us a little bit more about Iran's most recent strikes against energy sites in Saudi Arabia.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, they've been targeting two waves of drone attacks against a very important oil field in the south and east of Saudi Arabia, close to what's known as the Empty Quarter here. They were all intercepted.

Iran has had persistent attacks recently towards that oil field, and it's something that Saudi is telling the Iranian leadership that it breaks international humanitarian law to target civilian infrastructure, airports, and oil fields like this. And it's telling Iran that if it continues with these strikes, then this is going to escalate tensions between the two countries. It's going to deteriorate any shreds of relationship between them.

And, in fact, there's a very clear warning that the Saudis are saying to Iran, these types of attacks do not reflect the wisdom of trying to avoid a wider confrontation, a confrontation Saudi is using very strong diplomatic language to Iran, saying that Iran will be the greatest loser in that confrontation.

Look, Saudi Arabia has tried to stay out of this conflict, is not saying that it's going to respond militarily at the moment, but is making very, very clear that Iran's continuation is leaving it open to receiving an increased level of strikes against it, not saying where those are going to come from specifically. We've also seen ballistic missile strikes, attempted strikes today at Prince Sultan Air Base, again, another continuous target of Iran here.

All those ballistic missiles today intercepted, but, of course, at the base, we now know where Sergeant Benjamin Pennington from Kentucky, who was from the 1st Battalion of the 1st Space Brigade, which is part of the missile defense architecture within the U.S. military, where he was hit a week ago, died of his injury, as we understand, yesterday. We also understand from CENTCOM that nine other U.S. service members at that Prince Sultan Air Base, that continues to be a focus of Iranian attempted strikes, those nine other service members had serious, serious injuries as well, Wolf.

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BLITZER: It's very sad, very worrisome indeed. All right, Nic Robertson in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for us. Nic, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: Those service members killed.

BLITZER: Yes. I think so too.

BROWN: Breaking news, crowds are gathering across Iran to pledge allegiance to the new Supreme Leader chanting support for Mojtaba Khamenei. He's the second son of the former Supreme Leader who was killed in the U.S.-Israeli strikes. Mojtaba Khamenei's wife and mother were also killed in the same airstrikes. The 56-year-old has kept a low profile and has never held government office. He served in the Iran-Iraq War when he was just 17 years old.

He has strong links with the security establishment and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2019. The U.S. Treasury Department said he was working to advance his father's, "Destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives." President Trump had previously called him, "Unacceptable" as Iran's new Supreme Leader. A former Pentagon advisor says Iran chose him as a direct message to Trump and Israel.

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JASMINE EL-GAMAL, FORMER PENTAGON ADVISER: It's an absolute act of defiance. It is a message to the Trump administration, to the Israeli prime minister, that Iran is not backing down, that it does not intend to surrender, as Trump said they must, and that it is going to continue defending its existence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: An Israeli official tells CNN, "I doubt the Iranian people want to replace one Ayatollah with another Ayatollah."

BLITZER: Also this morning, multiple Israeli officials are now making it abundantly clear Iran's new Supreme Leader is a target as well. Last hour, I spoke with Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, he told me anyone calling for death to Israel and the U.S. should watch their back. Israel's foreign minister had similar comments.

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DANNY DANON, ISRAEL AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Promoting those radical ideas. We're sending terrorists to attack our communities. So he's on the top of the list.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Is Mojtaba Khamenei now a target for Israel?

GIDEON SAAR, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: Well, you'll have to wait and see. But it is clear that he continues the very extremist and mad policies of his father. He's a hardliner, he's anti-American, he's anti-Western. And you can see already the cracks inside this regime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Israel -- Iran's previous Supreme Leader was killed in the first wave of the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes back on February 28th.

BROWN: And Wolf just in, President Trump is weighing in this morning, calling on Australia to give members of the Iranian National Women's Soccer Team asylum. The team was in Australia for a tournament.

Joining us now is CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak. So tell us more about what's going on here, Kevin.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, the Iranian Women's Soccer Team is over in Australia. They're participating in the Asian Cup. They have been there actually since before the war in Iran began. Before a match last week, the team had refused to sing the national anthem, which was viewed as an act of protest.

And, in fact, Iranian state T.V. called them wartime traitors, which has all led to an enormous amount of concern, of course, for their safety if they are meant to go back to Iran. There have been these private discussions underway about what exactly to do next. And now President Trump is weighing in on the whole situation.

He wrote on True Social, "Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Women's Soccer Team to be forced back to Iran," where he says "they will most likely be killed. Don't do it, Mr. Prime Minister. Give asylum. The U.S. will take them if you won't."

Now, CNN understands that at least some of the players on the women's soccer team have left the hotel where they were staying and are now with police, which has given their supporters sort of optimism that they are being taken care of and perhaps won't be forced to go back to Iran. There was sort of a scene when their bus was out and about earlier.

A crowd formed around it chanting, save our girls. And so their situation and their future, I think, at this point remains very, very unclear. But clearly President Trump is trying to give a signal to the authorities in Australia that he is willing to grant them asylum.

Now, the other question that isn't necessarily answered is whether these soccer players actually want asylum. We don't know that yet. They haven't stated that clearly.

[11:15:07]

We don't know the number who may want to return to Iran. We don't know the number who may want to remain in Australia. But it is a developing situation, a lot of uncertainties, both with whether or not they will be forced to go back to the country, but also how they would go back to Iran, even if they wanted to, given that air travel is restricted.

There's some concern that potentially they would be forced to go to a third country, be it China or Russia, where their fate might not be as clear as if they remained in Australia. And so a lot of uncertainties, but President Trump very much making clear that he thinks their return to Iran could be very, very dangerous.

BROWN: All right, Kevin Liptak, thank you. Wolf?

BLITZER: And still ahead, new video emerging of that deadly strike that Iran says killed more than 160 children. What the video could reveal about who is likely responsible.

BROWN: And a homemade bomb hurled outside of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's home. The NYPD commissioner calling it ISIS-inspired terrorism. A counterterrorism expert and former Pentagon official will join us right here in The Situation Room. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

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BROWN: Breaking news, we are getting new video that appears to show a U.S. airstrike targeting an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base right next to an elementary school. At that school, at least 182 people were killed, including 168 children, according to Iranian state media.

This video is in addition to CNN and expert analysis of evidence that suggests the U.S. was likely responsible for the strike that hit the girls' school. Here's how top officials in the Trump administration responded to questions about the strike.

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MARCO RUBIO, STATE SECRETARY: Well, clearly the United States would not deliberately target a school. We would have no interest and frankly no incentive to target civilian infrastructure. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the United States airstrike a girls' elementary school and kill 175 people?

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Not that we know of, Sean. And the Department of War is investigating this matter.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, in my opinion, based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran.

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're certainly investigating. But the only side that targets civilians is Iran.

TRUMP: We think it was done by Iran. Because they're very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran.

MIKE WALTZ, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: For one, let's let the investigation play out. Number two, again, as a veteran and special operator, we never deliberately attack civilians. If civilians were injured, it's always by accident.

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BLITZER: CNN international correspondent Isobel Yeung has more on the growing evidence that the U.S. was behind the strike.

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ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just over a week after a strike killed scores of students in Iran's Minab, it seems more and more likely that the U.S. was responsible.

A new satellite image shows an Iranian Revolutionary Guards base and an elementary school in southern Iran. Here you see craters in several of the buildings, including the school. They were hit in their exact centers, suggesting precision strikes, experts say. A wall separates the school and the base.

Satellite images from December show dozens of people in what appears to be a handball court at the school. "Reuters" now reports that U.S. military investigators believe U.S. forces were responsible, though they haven't yet reached a final conclusion.

N.R. JENZEN-JONES, DIRECTOR, ARMAMENT RESEARCH SERVICES: It paints a picture of multiple simultaneous or near-simultaneous strikes. It looks like these were delivered with explosive munitions, probably air-delivered. I think the most likely scenario in this case is that it's a U.S. or Israeli airstrike gone awry. It's probably a targeting failure somewhere in the targeting cycle, an intelligence failure.

YEUNG (voice-over): The Israeli military say they weren't operating in the area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To date, we've hit over 2,000 targets.

YEUNG (voice-over): American military officials say they carried out extensive strikes in this area and released this map showing strikes in southern Iran. The base and the school in Minab are located here.

HEGSETH: We, of course, never target civilian targets, but we're taking a look and investigating that.

JENZEN-JONES: The damage we've seen is quite significant. It's unlikely it was something like an air defense missile fired by the Iranians, for example.

YEUNG: When we try to assess who is responsible for airstrikes, we typically try to examine the weaponry fragments left behind. But in this instance, there's an Internet blackout in Iran. It's been really difficult to obtain that. And so this investigation is still not conclusive.

Isobel Yeung, CNN, London.

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BLITZER: And in response to CNN's findings, a U.S. military spokesperson said, and I'm quoting now, "It would be inappropriate to comment given the incident is under investigation."

[11:24:43]

BROWN: Up next here in The Situation Room, long airport security lines across the country, people spending hours waiting to get through. This one right here stretched all the way out to the parking lot. We're going to explain why and find out how long the delays could last.

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[11:29:37]

BLITZER: Happening now, frustration at airports all across the United States right now. The partial government shutdown is causing extremely long waits in the security lines. It's because TSA agents are not getting paid. And airports are closing some checkpoints because they don't have enough staff. Travelers are being told to get to the airport several hours earlier than they normally would. People flying out of Houston yesterday, for example, spent up to three hours simply trying to get through that TSA security line.