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Trump to Axios, I Am Considering a Massive Attack on Iran; 11 People Rescued After Seaplane Crash; Trump Targets Dozens of Countries With New Tariffs. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 24, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, quote, bigger than ever before. That's President Trump weighing a massive new attack on Iran as the U.S. strikes the country for a 13th straight night.

Plus, the growing cost of war, gas, groceries, your mortgage. How much more you're paying, we have the new reporting.

And crash caught on camera. A seaplane makes an emergency landing and bursts into flames. The incredible rescue.

Plus, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joins me in The Situation Room live. We'll talk about the future of the Democratic Party.

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 with the breaking news in the war with Iran. President Trump saying he's thinking about a major escalation in combat operations. He tells Axios, and I'm quoting him now, I am considering a massive attack, bigger than ever before. End quote. The president says he's close to making that decision. The United States has carried out a 13th straight night of attacks on Iran. The New York Times is reporting that Iran rejected a ceasefire deal from the U.S. Both Washington and Tehran are denying that report.

All this comes as the Pentagon website that tracks casualties of war removed four soldiers recently killed in the Iran war from the site, and that has raised new questions and some suspicions about the administration's accounting. The Pentagon says it was a mistake and blames a glitch in the computer system.

I want to bring in our panel to break all of this, all of this down. Our Senior White House Reporter Betsy Klein is joining us, CNN Senior Military Analyst, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Retired Admiral James Stavridis is with us, and CNN Political and National Security Analyst David Sanger.

Betsy, let me start with you. What would be the goal of a new massive attack if the administration chooses that option? Is it reopening the Strait of Hormuz, forcing new negotiations, or something else?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, it could be some combination of that, but it's worth noting that President Trump has been floating this idea of massive strikes on Iran for quite some time. He has threatened critical infrastructure, including roads, bridges, the key oil hub, Kharg Island, as well as Pickaxe Mountain, which is believed to be a nuclear site.

So, the president views himself as a deal maker. It is possible that he is using these threats as a point of leverage to get Iran back to the negotiating table, come up with a diplomatic solution, and get some of the concessions that the U.S. has been pushing for.

But at the same time, U.S. intelligence agencies have recently assessed that these consecutive 13 nights of strikes on Iran that the U.S. continues to carry out is unlikely to shift Iran's negotiation position, according to two sources familiar with the matter. So, the president really has limited options here. He can either follow through on those threats and escalate this conflict or maintain the status quo that's unlikely to change anything anytime soon. Wolf?

BLITZER: And, David, would a full-scale major new U.S. offensive force concessions from Iran, or would it drive Iran even further from the negotiating table?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, you know, that's the central debate. And in the first 38 or 39 days of war, President Trump was convinced that ever larger attacks, including on Tehran and of course the killing of a number of the country's top leaders, was going to force them, as he said, to cry uncle. And that didn't happen.

So, then he went to a ceasefire, got a poorly and somewhat hastily put together a memorandum of understanding together. That fell apart, and now he's sort of back where he was. And yet he has not yet explained to us why a massive attack would have a different result than what they tried before.

I mean, I'm sure every country has its breaking point, but the history of dealing with Iran suggests that the more they are attacked, the more they sort of dig in and revel in the fact that they've survived against the biggest military power on Earth.

[10:05:09]

BLITZER: Admiral, the president keeps saying that if he decides on a massive new attack, it would include strikes bigger than what we've seen so far in this war. What do you think? What would a massive combat operation like that look like?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: It would be well north of 500 strike points a day. The president's already moved tankers, as you know, air refueling tankers into Israel. That gives you the ability to cycle those strike aircraft, keep a tanker up, do a strike, bring them back, refuel them, do it again. You're showing a map there. It would be massively increasing the number of strike points.

The problem with that is it's very expensive in terms of ordinance, carries risk to the pilots and all the operators who are involved in it, and, as David said a moment ago, unclear it's going to move the regime.

The only other point I would add is the president is probably also considering shifting the target sets to go against more than just pure military targets. He'll probably go after more economic targets. He may use cyber, maybe some limited use of special forces, although putting boots on the ground is so far anyway, not mentioned publicly.

So, he can not only deepen the level of strikes, he can broaden the target sets, go after the economics. I think that's the best shot he's got. But as Betsy said, it's not a great set of options at this point.

BLITZER: Well, on that point, Admiral, are we beginning to see the limits, the limits of what a U.S. air war alone can achieve?

STAVRIDIS: Yes. Now, people will say, oh, no regime has ever been changed just from strikes in the air. That's not correct. For example, in Libya, we saw a regime change with airstrikes really pushing Muammar Gaddafi out, granted there were troops on the ground who were Libyans there. And similarly in the Balkans, airstrikes ultimately brought about the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, the dictator of Serbia.

So, it's conceivable, but I think very unlikely, and I think your point is well taken, more airstrikes going to be unlikely to simply knock the regime off. Ultimately, President Trump is going to have to confront the hardest option of all, and that is whether to put boots on the ground.

BLITZER: Betsy, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told The Wall Street Journal that the U.S. strikes will continue, and I'm quoting her now, until they come to the table in what President Trump deems a meaningful way, end quote. So, what will it take for the president to believe that Iran is committed to serious, meaningful negotiations?

KLEIN: Well, that quote really stuck out to me because I don't think anyone knows what it is going to take for both Iran to make clear that they are willing to have a meaningful negotiation and for President Trump to believe them.

But we know that at some level, talks continue, and there's not a lot of optimism at this point that another round of diplomacy can bear meaningful fruit. And, of course, as they had that much touted ceasefire deal, it only took a couple of weeks for that to fall apart.

So, this question of every time they come to the table and have some negotiations that make some sort of progress, Iran then going and carrying out strikes on commercial shipping vessels along with U.S. allies in the region, it's not enough at this point to build trust there.

Now, the one potential opening that the Trump administration sees is this idea that there is some internal division amongst Iranian leadership. There are the hardliners, as well as those who are more open to a diplomatic solution here.

BLITZER: Now, let me ask you also, Betsy, about that Pentagon website that tracks casualties of war. As we noted, it removed four soldiers recently killed in the Tehran war. What are you learning?

KLEIN: Right. So, that website, it's called the Defense Casualty Analysis System, and yesterday that count went from 18 to 14 U.S. casualties during this war. Reporters from The New York Times first highlighted this, and they offered some conflicting reasons for why that had been changed.

They spoke with three military officials who cited sensitive discussions over whether the four U.S. soldiers who were killed over the weekend counted in that count because they were killed after President Trump signed that ceasefire deal, as I mentioned, that has fallen apart. Ultimately, a Pentagon spokesperson says that this is a temporary data disruption, and it will be resolved.

[10:10:03]

BLITZER: All right, Betsy, David, and Admiral Stavridis, to all of you, thank you very much for your reporting and your expertise.

And still ahead, demanding answers. Protesters take to the streets for another night in Wisconsin as investigators identify the man at the center of that deadly officer-involved shooting that's rocked the Madison, Wisconsin community.

Plus, paying for the war here at home, prices at the pump going up and up.

And I'll go one-on-one with Pete Buttigieg as the midterm season and even the 2028 presidential race seems to be heating up dramatically.

You're in The Situation Room.

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[10:15:00]

BLITZER: Happening now, several people are recovering this morning after a seaplane made an emergency landing off the coast of Washington State. People nearby captured the moments leading up to the crash. Watch.

After the emergency landing, the plane caught fire prompting a multi- agency search and rescue operation. Listen to when emergency responders got the call.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lopez. EMS. ALS. Trauma. Plane crash. Respond to sheriff's boat for marine response to Sucia. Lopez. EMS. ALS. Trauma plane crash. Respond to the sheriff's boat for marine response to Sucia to assist San Juan EMS.

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BLITZER: All 11 people who were on board have been accounted for.

Let's go live right now to CNN law enforcement correspondent, Whitney Wild. Whitney, what more are you learning about this crash?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, there are just so many questions here. It's amazing that all of those people survived given the severity of the crash and given that this plane immediately caught fire basically as it was crashing, or right shortly after that crash.

What we know now, Wolf, is that it is not clear what prompted this emergency landing. What we know about the weather conditions that day is that it was windy and that rain was moving in. Other than that, we know very little about any other factors that might have, you know, prompted this emergency landing.

What we know is that the plane took off around 4:30 from Lake Union in Seattle. It was heading 100 miles north. It went down about 45 minutes after takeoff, and as you mentioned, it prompted this multi-agency response that included the U.S. Coast Guard, the Navy, and the Canadian Coast Guard, along with local officials.

This aircraft is owned and operated by Kenmore Air. They are the largest seaplane operator in the United States. They have now canceled all flights for today.

Wolf, that is the very little information we have for you this morning. We'll continue to stay on it, but, you know, look at that video. That is just a miraculous recovery. Back to you.

BLITZER: Yes, fortunately. All right, thanks very much, Whitney Wild reporting.

Also happening now in Wisconsin, the memorial for the man killed in a police shooting in Madison grows this morning, as do the voices of community members demanding answers and sharing their frustrations.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've given us this speech with, you'll deliver justice. Oh, we've seen the cameras. We've seen. It was a knife in this young man's hand. We don't want to hear that today. We didn't want to hear it when they put their neck on George Floyd's neck. We don't -- their foot on George Floyd's neck, and we don't want to hear it today.

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BLITZER: That protester was given the mic after interrupting a news conference held by the city's police chief.

And in the streets, people marched against police brutality and excessive force. Investigators have identified the man shot and killed by police as Corey Ruiz after investigators say he pulled a knife and injured an officer during a struggle on Wednesday. Ruiz's family has retained attorney Ben Crump, and they are calling on authorities to preserve and release all footage of the incident.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting.

And in New York, the NYPD is now investigating a stabbing attack as a possible hate crime. Two men, one Asian, the other Jewish, were injured in what's being described as an unprovoked attack. Witnesses and victims report that 51-year-old attacker yelled, Allahu Akbar, which means God is great in Arabic. That was the yelling during the stabbings.

The NYPD commissioner suggests mental health may have been a factor in the incidents.

And happening now, a teenager who shot and killed four people at his Georgia high school has changed his plea to guilty in court today. Nine others were injured in the shooting. Court records show 16-year- old Colt Gray previously admitted to the shooting, but he had originally pled not guilty. He pled guilty to 55 counts, including charges of felony murder, malice murder, and aggravated assault for each of the victims.

This year, Gray's father was convicted of murder and manslaughter charges. Prosecutors argued his father exhibited criminal negligence by buying his son a rifle for Christmas and leaving the weapon unsecured.

Also in court today, victims of the shooting are sharing how their lives have changed since the attack.

[10:20:03]

Listen here to the mother of one of the victims.

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BREANNA SCHERMERHORN, MOTHER OF MASON SCHERMERHORN: Although Mason is no longer here physically, I'm continuing to learn from him. Mason was so much more than a victim. He was a son, brother, grandson, and friend. He was deeply loved.

I want it to be very clear that I do not forgive Mr. Gray. However, I can acknowledge that there are two truths that can exist at the same time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And we want to remember those four victims, the two students and the two teachers who lost their lives that day.

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[10:25:00]

BLITZER: Happening now, a brand-new round of tariffs, which were announced yesterday, are going into effect this morning. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative says dozens of America's trading partners, dozens, from Europe to China and India, will now face new tariffs from 10 to 12.5 percent on goods shipped to the United States, and this will impact some 60 trading partners, which make up more than 99 percent of U.S. imports.

Also happening now, the price of oil is on the rise this morning amid the ongoing and escalating conflict with Iran, and that's pushing gas prices up, too. According to AAA, the national average price for a gallon of regular gas this morning is $4.11. That's up more than $1.10 since the start of the war back in February.

And look at this. Brown University now says the total consumer burden since the start of the war for gasoline and diesel alone is more than $73 billion and going up by the minute. All of this is having a massive impact on your wallet.

CNN Senior Business Reporter David Goldman is here to make it make sense for all of us. David, today's question, how much is the Iran war actually costing American families?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: It's a lot, Wolf. I mean, you were talking about gas prices. Now, this price, the 4.11, that's up almost 40 cents from where we were just a couple weeks ago, and that adds up. I mean, $305 is your average bill for the increase in gas prices, and 253 for diesel.

That really matters because everything comes on a truck, including your grocery prices, which have cost you an average of $240 more during the course of the war. Also, we're all paying for transportation, and that has added $110 to your average bill just to get around.

Now, it's not just gas prices that are raising costs for you. Also, mortgage rates because oil has raised bond yields, and this affects your mortgage, and now you're paying on average $200 a month more if you get a new mortgage because those rates have increased. We're up to almost 6.6 percent. We were below 6 percent just before the war. And when you have the median home price of $441,000 in this country, that really adds up.

But it's not just the cost to you as a consumer, it's also the cost to you as a taxpayer. And the average cost per taxpayer for the military cost of this war is $280 just over the past few months. Wolf, it's really starting to add up. We are now looking at a grand total of nearly $1,400 per average American household for the cost of the war.

BLITZER: Yes. And if the war continues to escalate, as it looks like it is, that's going to go up and up and up.

Yesterday, I had a chance David, to fill up my car with regular gas. And take a look at this, I took a picture, $5.59 a gallon, regular gas. What is the highest national average we've ever seen? GOLDMAN: Yes, that's quite a bit higher than the average that we had before. In 2022, we were at $5.02. Now, if you remember, there was a ton of inflation in 2022, so that is now almost $6. It was $5.90 in today's money.

So, clearly, we have a little bit of room to go, but people like you are paying something pretty close to this, depending on where you're getting gas. Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes, before the war, the average price for a gallon of regular gas was $2.98. And recently, it's -- right now, the average price around the country is $4.10. And when I was paying $5.59, that's way higher here in the D.C. area.

David Goldman, thanks as usual for making it make sense.

And this note to our viewers, if you want David to help you make it make sense, email your question or send us a selfie video of your question to makeitmakesense@cnn.com.

Coming up, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joins me live in The Situation Room. We'll get his take on what voters are now saying about the Democratic Party in the upcoming midterms in November, and the potential, his potential that is, for a 2028 presidential candidacy.

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