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U.S. Military: All Crew Members Killed In Refueling Plane Crash; Terror Attacks At MI Synagogue, VA University Rattle U.S. Communities; Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), Is Interviewed About Iran Ramps Up Strikes Against Ships In Strait Of Hormuz. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired March 13, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: A man rammed his vehicle into a synagogue in Michigan, and a deadly shooting at a university in Virginia in an ROTC classroom.

[11:00:10]

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

And we begin this hour with the war in Iran, and Iran's increasing toll on U.S. forces only moments ago, the U.S. Military Central Command confirming all six service members on a refueling plane, like the one you see here, are dead after it crashed Thursday in Iraq.

A second plane, the military says, was involved in that incident, was badly damaged, but landed safely in Israel. The U.S. Military Central Command says the crash was not the result of hostile or even friendly fire. CNN National Security Correspondent Natasha Bertrand is here with me in The Situation Room. She's been following the story for us. So how is the Pentagon responding to what happened here?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Well, Secretary Hegseth and General Caine, they did talk a little bit about the service members that were killed in that crash during their press conference this morning, General Caine paying tribute to them and Secretary Hegseth calling them heroes, but they didn't provide any more detail about what actually caused this incident, and that is still under investigation.

As you said, all six of those crew members on board that tanker are now confirmed deceased, and we are told that this involved two tankers, actually. One of them did ultimately land safely in Israel, but the other one, sadly, did crash. It's unclear if this was a midair collision situation or if the aircraft were trying to evade something when the incident occurred, but an Iranian proxy group inside Iraq, they have taken responsibility for what happened, but they provided no evidence that they actually did anything that brought the plane down.

At this point, you know, 13 service members have been killed, at least, in this war, and dozens and dozens more have been wounded. President Trump has said repeatedly to expect that toll to rise, and Secretary Hegseth said just this morning that, "Bad things happen in war." And so, clearly, you know, this is taking -- going to take a huge toll on the families of these service members, but the investigation is still playing out as to what exactly happened here.

BLITZER: Yes, very sad indeed. All right, Natasha Bertrand, thank you very, very much.

There's more breaking news we're following. The FBI now says that the terror attack on a synagogue near Detroit yesterday was a, "Targeted act of violence against the Jewish community." The Department of Homeland Security identified the suspect who rammed his vehicle into the synagogue as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali. He died after security guards opened fire. Officials say he had a rifle and a large amount of explosives in his car, and a security guard was hit by the suspect's vehicle and taken to the hospital. No synagogue school staff or children were injured.

With us now is the Oakland County, Michigan Sheriff Michael Bouchard. Sheriff, thanks so much for joining us. It seems to me miraculous that no one was killed in this attack. There were a few hundred kids and teachers and rabbis and others there at the synagogue. How do you -- what do you attribute that to?

SHERIFF MICHAEL BOUCHARD, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN: Training and preparation. You know, we all know that what happens around the world affects us. And so we constantly train, communicate, prepare. You know, we have been training together for many years after Mumbai, where we had multiple venues that were attacked. I brought all of the chiefs together in my county and said, we need to think about this coming to us. We hope and pray it never does, but that's not a strategy preparation is.

And so we started training back in 2006, putting together an organization. Every police officer in Oakland County trains together on active threat, active shooters. So we don't have to make a plan at the door. They know exactly how to move and how to go. And the biggest thing they have to do is get there as fast as they can and get in as fast they can and let the training kick in.

And in addition to that, we partner with our facilities, our synagogues, our private security. So I actually had communicated with that head of security from Temple Israel two days before this happened and gave him some information and kind of made sure he was on high alert. We hoped it didn't come here, but we were actually communicating and prepared that if it did, we were going to respond.

BLITZER: There's a large Jewish community, as we all know, in your county, just outside of Detroit. Are you taking additional steps now to protect synagogues, Jewish community centers, other Jewish schools, for example?

BOUCHARD: One hundred percent, yes. We fanned out across the county to protect additional facilities. We already had extra patrol and presence. As I said, I'd been communicating for weeks in advance of this. I had text the chief from this community a number of times over the last two weeks and a number of other chiefs that have large facilities or congregations in their jurisdiction. So we've been on top of this for a number of weeks. And now we're even at a higher level, if that's possible. [11:05:24]

BLITZER: Law enforcement officials are telling CNN that the authorities are now investigating reports that the suspect may have told people that some of his family members were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon in recent days. What more can you tell us about this?

BOUCHARD: Yes, there has been some chatter out there, social media and other kinds of things. But in terms of factual documentation, you know, the FBI and all the partners are working together to put actual facts together to make a determination, ultimately, of motivation, what put him into action versus, you know, being an angry person. You know, what was the motivating factor? That's obviously one of the things that will be investigated and considered and ultimately, you know, released to the public.

BLITZER: We heard from one of the rabbis at that Temple Israel school. This is how she described the incident. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RABBI ARIANNA GORDON, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, TEMPLE ISRAEL: We knew almost immediately that something was going on. We heard lots of loud noises and quickly everyone was instructed to shelter in place to lock down and everyone responded very quickly to that instruction. We did hear the sound of shooting. We smelled smoke. It was certainly terrifying for the teachers. I think the students didn't really have a great understanding of what was going on. They were being snuggled by their teachers and they were singing songs and they were being kept calm and distracted throughout the entire afternoon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Rabbi Arianna Gordon added the Temple Israel has been worried about these sorts of threats for years and had security on site because of what the world looks like today for the Jewish community, her words. How much does preparing and bracing yourself for a potential tragedy like this make a difference?

BOUCHARD: Day and night, instead of having, you know, a death toll here, we have one individual that perpetrated the act who's deceased and everybody else OK. Not one student, not one faculty member was hurt. We did have one of the lead security people who was injured when the car breached the building and we had over 50 police officers sent to the hospital and some are still there with smoke inhalation because the car did consume itself and much of the building in that area.

So they went in anyway with the smoke in the air and not being able to see because they had two missions. A, stop the threat and B, evacuate the innocent. And they did that even though there were horrific conditions and a lot of them are still at the hospital given that.

BLITZER: I want to play for you and for our viewers what the Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said earlier this morning. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): I want Michigan's Jewish community to know that we are with you. Violence in our houses of worship and in our schools and in our daycare centers like this hits especially hard. Yesterday's attack was anti-Semitism. It was hate, plain and simple. We will fight this ancient and rampant evil. We will stand together as we do it and we will call it out. We must lower the rhetoric in this state and in this country, especially at this moment where we have seen such a rise in anti-Semitism and more attacks on the Jewish community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Sheriff, what's your department doing to ensure the safety of worshippers at synagogues in your county? And we know there's a very large Jewish community in your county in the Detroit area. What are you doing to make sure that if they want to go to services, will there be Shabbat services tonight and tomorrow, for example, at the synagogues in your county?

BOUCHARD: Yes, we're fanned out across the county to protect facilities, synagogues, and we've been, as I said, training for a long time. We have hosted houses of worship training for active threats for years. And, you know, tragically, we've had, this makes our fifth major event that we've responding to in less than five years. We've had a mass shooting at a school.

We've had, there was a mass shooting and a casualty at a church. You know, we've done, sadly, a lot of these things. And so we prepare, we train, and then we also teach them.

As I said, we have gone and taught houses of worship a great deal about what they should think about. Having an emergency plan in place, having a safety and security team on presence, having physical changes or alterations that make and harden that building. It's something you hate to think about, but we have to.

And so we loop everybody in and we talk and we share, we train, we prepare, we hope it doesn't happen. The best way to get in front of these is we always see there's what we call leakage. Something got out. Someone saw or heard something that was concerning before the person is motivated to action. That's the only way we get in front of these is somebody shares that information.

[11:10:15]

And we'd rather check out 100 nothings and miss one real deal. But failing that, then it's respond and mitigate. And the A game was in place with the respond and mitigate. The security team, an amazing job. That building breach triggered them into action. They engaged the threat. They stopped the threat. And then the first responders were on scene in a short period of time and began secondary sweeps to make sure there were no other threats or no other perpetrators involved. And then immediately evacuate the innocents.

And a lot of those kids, when they were streaming out, were smiling. That's how unaware they were of what a horrific thing was playing out because the staff was so calming and reassuring. And as they were, you know, coming out of the building, they were escorted by either deputies or officers who were giving them arm protection until we knew the threat was truly done.

BLITZER: That private security system there at that temple saved a lot of lives, especially a lot of young kids who were going to that preschool there at Temple Israel. Sheriff Michael Bouchard, thanks for all the important work you and your team are doing. We're grateful to you.

BOUCHARD: Thank you very much.

BLITZER: And for more on this story, I want to bring in CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller. John, between these two terror attacks at Michigan's Temple Israel and the Old Dominion University in Virginia, what's your assessment right now of the safety of people in the United States?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, we're clearly in a heightened threat environment. That has played out. This is the fourth terrorist attack since the war began on February 28th. So the warnings that came at the beginning, which is we are likely to be in a heightened threat environment and we are likely to see the most likely scenario is an immediate reaction from lone wolf offenders.

And so far that's it appears what we have seen and the threats and drivers here, the war being a stimulus and what goes on in propaganda and chat rooms that stir people and urge people to violence are the drivers. So we may well be in for more of this.

BLITZER: So sad to hear the FBI is probing the Old Dominion University shooting in Virginia as an act of terrorism. And the shooter has actually served prison time for attempting to aid ISIS. What do you suspect authorities are doing here in the U.S. right now to ensure other possibly radicalized people can't pursue violent terror attacks like this?

MILLER: Well, that's a big challenge, Wolf. The individual involved in the Old Dominion case is someone who served seven years in prison for material support for ISIS, for allegedly buying guns that he believed at the time in an FBI undercover operation were going to be used in an ISIS attack on U.S. soil.

So one of the questions is this is an individual who went into prison radicalized and apparently came out of prison radicalized. The FBI is going to have to look back at where were his centers of radicalization if they can find them. Were they online? Were they among other people? Were they an individual? And they may have to ask themselves, were we keeping tabs on him through whatever his post-release requirements were from federal parole or wherever else he was supposed to be checking in and being monitored?

One thing that separates these two incidents, Old Dominion, that was students who reacted quickly, who were in a military training ROTC program and jumped on the gunman while he was still armed and still firing. One of them had a knife and ended up stabbing him, which led to his death.

But if you look at the case in Michigan, and I think Mike Bouchard, the sheriff, touched on this, this was all about preparedness, training, having a professional and armed security staff. The lead security director at that synagogue is a former police officer who was with one of the local departments up there and also served as their firearms and tactics training officer.

And frankly, you know, if you look at the sheriff, Mike Bouchard, he's been the sheriff there since 1999. He has deep relationships in that community. I went through the FBI's National Executive Institute with him just after 9/11. Where all of this response to terrorism was discussed and how to build that into your department, that is not -- that's second nature to the law enforcement community up there and their relationship with high-risk targets, including their Jewish community.

BLITZER: John Miller, as usual, thank you very much. We appreciate your expertise.

[11:15:02]

MILLER: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: And still ahead, Iran is ramping up attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. Should Americans be concerned about the impact? Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace, just back from the Middle East, standing by to join us live in The Situation Room.

And gas prices rising for the 13th straight day. Their highest price almost two -- in almost two years. Will the latest move from the Trump administration bring Americans any relief? Stay with us. You're on The Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:20:11]

BLITZER: New this morning, President Trump is weighing into how the U.S. could potentially assist oil tankers through the closed-off Strait of Hormuz. In an interview with "Fox News," the President said the U.S. would provide military escorts for oil tankers, and I'm quoting him now, "If we needed to." But he added that he hopes things will go very well and that the U.S. will wait to see what happens first.

His comments come as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed to commercial vessels as a, "Tool of pressure," sending prices soaring at the gas pump for Americans. Joining us now, Republican Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina. She sits on the House Oversight, House Armed Services, and House Veterans Affairs committees. And I should note she's also running for governor of her state. The administration, Congresswoman, is trying to hamper in that any ill effects experienced by the Strait's closure are temporary. But how can you be sure anything is temporary when Iran has shown absolutely no signs of allowing safe passage again? And there isn't a clear plan for the U.S. military escorting vessels through to avoid being attacked. What's your analysis?

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): Well, my analysis, I am very concerned that the longer the Strait of Hormuz is closed down, shut down, effectively prices are going to continue to rise. And we already know that this week Iran and the IRGC were trying to put mines underwater in the Strait of Hormuz to blow up ships that might try to cross. It's a very concerning situation.

I'm cautiously watching to see how this goes for the next couple of days. But it is concerning. And, of course, you don't want civilian ships getting blown up either and losing lives from any country in the region right now either.

BLITZER: We now know, Congresswoman, that all six crew members aboard that refueling aircraft that went down in Iraq have been killed, bringing the total number of U.S. service members killed in this war to 13. What's your message to their families and to others with troops overseas right now who are obviously and understandably worried a similar fate, God forbid, could happen to their loved ones?

MACE: Well, America's sons and daughters have signed up to give the ultimate sacrifice to fight for our country, our people, our allies, and freedom and democracy around the world. So as the daughter of an Army veteran, my heart goes out to these families. These families serve just as hard as the soldiers who are deployed overseas. They sacrifice everything for their families and their country.

And so I want to say that my prayers are with them as they walk a very long walk that's going to change their lives forever. But, America, we support them, we love them, and we send our blessings to all of these folks across the country. And I hope that we have no more deaths of American soldiers. And I want to say, Wolf, while I'm here talking and discussing this conflict with you, I don't want to see American troops on the ground.

I know that one of our senators said the other day he was going back to South Carolina to send -- South Carolina's sons and daughters into war. And I don't believe in that. I don't want that. I think we can do what we need to with our air support right now and our air superiority. But at some point, we need to figure out what the exit strategy is going to be and how long we're going to be there to ensure this is not a forever war and that we get in, we get out, we get out quickly, and we save lives, American lives.

BLITZER: And on that point, I want to play something your Republican colleague from South Carolina, Senator Lindsey Graham, said earlier this week about American military involvement in the war. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I'd go back to South Carolina. I'm asking them to send their sons and daughters over to the Mideast. What I want you to do in the Mideast to our friends in Saudi Arabia and other places, step forward and say this is my fight, too. I join America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Are you echoing a similar sentiment to your constituents at home? Do you think Americans are embracing the idea of sending their sons and daughters overseas to be part of this fight?

MACE: I'm from South Carolina. My family's been there for a very long time. I've raised my family there. I know the South Carolina people. They do not want troops on the ground in the Middle East. They don't want another Iraq or Afghanistan where we're spending trillions of dollars losing thousands of lives, and for what at the end of the day?

And so, you know, the American people in South Carolina, we're OK now with the conflict and how well it's gone for President Trump. But at some point, the American people and folks back home in South Carolina are going to want to know the full extent of the purpose of this conflict and how soon we can get out.

And I think there's a concern, too. And I met with leaders while I was over in the Middle East. I just got back at 2:00 a.m. this morning with an evacuation of American citizens. Listening to the Gulf States, listening to leaders overseas about the geopolitical consequences of having a protracted and elongated conflict overseas and what that might mean politically in the long term.

But also right now our focus should be on American citizens. There are thousands of Americans, Wolf, who are stranded in the Middle East right now. I know this because I've been there for the last five days working very hard to get the last South Carolina, you know, constituent out of the region. Then I learned about all of the young families with infants and babies.

[11:25:16]

Two days ago, Wolf, we were turning back pregnant women, pregnant American women and their families and their infants, and men, grown men with tears running down their cheeks who just want to get out of the region, don't want to get bombed, and want to get back home. And so that's where our focus should be, on rescuing and evacuating American citizens right now.

If I had four planes, Wolf, in the next 24 hours, I could evacuate over 1,000 American citizens out of the region. And I'm asking for help.

BLITZER: And you did really important work, and we're all grateful to you, Congresswoman, for managing to help those American citizens get out of the Middle East right now. And you brought a lot of them back home safely, and we appreciate that very much. Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina --

MACE: Thank you.

BLITZER: -- thanks very much for joining us. Thanks for all your important work.

MACE: And God bless you. Thank you.

BLITZER: Thank you. God bless you as well.

Up next, oil prices continuing to surge as the war with Iran disrupts global supply. We have new analysis on just how high prices could remain through the rest of the year.

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