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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump On War With Iran: "It`ll Be Wrapped Up Soon"; Allies Resist Trump`s Calls To Secure Strait Of Hormuz; Trump Threatens News Organizations With Treason; Trump Rips Allies Who Rejected His Call For Help In Strait Of Hormuz; Iranian Drone Strikes Ignites Fuel Tank Near Dubai Airport, Flights Disrupted; Officials: 6 Iranian Drones Fired At Kuwait, 3 Intercepted; Iran Strikes Several Gulf Oil Sites; Pentagon Identifies Six Airmen Killed In Plane Crash In Iraq; Friend And Mentor Of Air Force Capt. Savino Who Died In KC-135 Crash In Iraq: "It Doesn`t Feel Real". Aired 8-9p ET
Aired March 16, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Her loss will forever be felt by those that knew and loved her".
Ashley Pruitt was 34 years old, and there were other Americans killed in that tragic accident. Major John Klinner, Captain Ariana Savino, Captain Seth Koval, Captain Curtis Angst and Technical Sergeant Tyler Simmons. We`re thinking of all of their families in their time of profound grief.
Thank you for joining us, AC360 begins now.
[20:00:30]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Good evening thanks for joining us. Topping our CNN global war coverage tonight, the President says the fighting will be wrapped up soon. Those were his words, even as the repercussions of it grow. And strikes by Iran continue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER DOOCY, FOX SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: If Iran, as you say totally obliterated, got the missiles, got the first two rounds of leadership, Air Force gone, Navy gone can we wrap this war up this week?
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Yes, sure.
DOOCY: Will we?
TRUMP: I don`t think so. But it`ll be soon. It won`t be long and we`re going to have a much safer world when it`s wrapped up. It`ll be wrapped up soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, as he was saying this evening in the Oval Office, Iran continued to strike its neighbors. (VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
COOPER: That`s an oil field in Southern Iraq one of the world`s biggest coming under fire. Also struck today one of the world`s biggest gas fields in the UAE. Iranian drones this morning also hit and oil tank farm near the Dubai airport and right now, the UAE`s defense ministry says air defenses are currently responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran.
The "Reuters" news service has also reported explosions tonight in Baghdad and the heavily fortified green zone, where the U.S. Embassy is located. According to "Reuters," the embassy was targeted. We do not yet know if it`s been hit. Yet today at two White House events, the President said over and over again that no one could have foreseen this sort of thing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They weren`t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East. Those missiles were set to go after them. So, they hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. Nobody expected that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Nobody expected that. They weren`t supposed to hit their neighbors he says. Well, keeping them honest, for starters, he certainly might have. As CNN and many others have reported, the President was briefed on exactly that possibility, as well as Iran shutting down the Strait of Hormuz. Yet today, even as he was suggesting that nobody could have predicted the exact sort of blowback he was told might happen, he was also saying this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Trump: I knew about the Strait that it would be a weapon, which I predicted a long time ago, predicted all of this stuff. You guys were very generous in that. I predicted all of it. I predicted Osama bin Laden would knock out the World Trade Center. And I said that`s a bad guy, you better get him. One year before, exactly, I wrote it in a book you can even check about a year before the World Trade Center came down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: First quickly, the 9/11 part is not true. He`s been saying that for years. As for Iranian attacks on shipping in the gulf and the strait, if he saw it all coming decades ago why is he now decades later, in 17 days into the war, trying to cobble together help dealing the very same, dealing with the very same problem he so long ago allegedly predicted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We strongly encourage other nations whose economies depend on the Strait far more than ours, and we get less than one percent of our oil from the strait and some countries get much more so we want them to come and help us with the strait.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Late today, foreign ministers from the European Union said no and even as she admitted that European interests were at stake, the E.U.`s top diplomat told reporters, "This is not Europe`s war". So, with key allies not interested at this point, the President is now appealing to China, citing its dependance on gulf oil.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: China is an example. Should be thanking us, but I don`t expect a thank you. But they should be thanking us. Japan gets 95 percent, China 91 percent. Many of the countries South Korea gets a tremendous percentage of their oil and their therefore their energy from the Strait and or as they call it the Strait. And they should be not only thanking us; they should be helping us. What does surprise me is that they`re not eager to help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The President today could not name a single country willing to join the effort. He suggested that some would be signing on shortly. Complicating that message, the President today also said the U.S. didn`t really need any help from anyone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don`t do a hard sell on them because my attitude is we don`t need anybody. We`re the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world. We don`t need them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:10]
COOPER: Now, you might think it`s an odd thing for President to say to countries he`s asking for help from which he said he was in that same press conference. Then again, he also said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It`s interesting. I`m almost doing it in some cases not because we need them, but because I want to find out how they react because I`ve been saying for years that if we ever did need them, they won`t be there. Not all of them but they won`t be there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, he said that about NATO. This is a NATO country saying it`s not their war. In the space of a day the President has said he wants help dealing with the repercussions of a war that nobody could expect, but which he predicted decades ago. He said that he doesn`t actually need the help that he is asking for, and says in some cases he`s only asking to see what the reaction will be of America`s allies. So, there`s all that from two appearances in a single day. Day 17 of the war with oil near $100.00 a barrel but there was also this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I`ve spoken to a certain president who I like, actually a past president, former president. He said, I wish I did it, I wish I did but they didn`t do it. I`m doing it yes.
REPORTER: Which president.
TRUMP: I can`t tell you that. I don`t want to embarrass him. It would be very bad for his career, even though he`s got no career left.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That`s the current President saying a former President told him that. Tonight, spokesman for former President Bill Clinton tells us that no recent conversations have taken place between the two aides to former Presidents Bush, Obama and Biden said there`s no record of any communications with the President. Jeremy Diamond starts off our coverage tonight from Tel Aviv. So, what`s the reaction been there to the President`s demand for the U.S. Allies to get involved in the Strait of Hormuz?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, there`s no question that in this region there has been a lot of questions about how exactly the Strait of Hormuz will get reopened. We`ve been hearing President Trump talking about this for days now, and yet no real allies or other countries have stepped up to join the United States and saying we`re going to send ships to that strait in order to get it reopened.
And a lot of that stems from the fact that President Trump ultimately decided to launch this war amid those negotiations that were still happening with Iran. Basically, just consulting with Israel and going in with Israel into this military operation that has now escalated into a pretty full blown regional war.
And so, there`s no question that many of these countries, Europeans in particular, don`t have the appetite right now to send their ships to assist in this effort, in part because they do very much realize that sending ships there likely means that those ships will get attacked, likely means that they will be dragged into a conflict that is already continuing to expand.
From Israel`s perspective, I think the real question is how long will President Trump be able to stomach the Strait of Hormuz being closed and oil prices continuing to rise?
There`s a keen understanding here that President Trump is very attuned to the effect that this is all having on global markets, on gas prices in the United States. And every day here, Israeli officials wonder whether President Trump is going to say, listen, that`s enough, I can`t stomach this anymore and bring this campaign to an end. Israel needs the United States in order to continue this war in Iran, which Israeli officials have indicated will continue for at least three more weeks.
COOPER: Well, leaders of Canada, France Germany, Italy and the U.K., they are calling for de-escalation in Lebanon. What do you know or what is Israel saying about possible plans for a ground offensive there?
DIAMOND: Well, today we saw that Israel expanded its current ground operations in Lebanon, which are really limited to the border villages inside of Southern Lebanon, along the Israel-Lebanon border.
One official today explaining to me as you know, troops were going a few hundred meters into Lebanon. Now, there are certain areas where there may be going a few kilometers into Lebanon, but it`s certainly still very much shy of the kind of all out-ground offensive that the Israeli military has been preparing for, and that the Israeli Prime Minister has certainly been openly considering in recent weeks.
The question is whether that is ultimately the next step that Israel will take. And as you mentioned, a number of European countries warning and urging Israel not to take that step. Over 100,000 reservists have already been called up by Israel. Some of those have been sent up north and already we know that Israeli operations inside of Lebanon have resulted in more than a million people being displaced.
The question is whether the discussions about potential direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon will actually come to fruition, or whether the Israeli Prime Minister will seek to continue to escalate the military options at his disposal --Anderson.
COOPER: Jeremy Diamond, thanks very much.
Joining me now is CNN global affairs analyst Brett McGurk, who served in senior National Security posts under the last four Presidents, including President Trump`s first term, and former Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. She served under three Democratic Presidents and five secretaries of state. She also led the team that negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
Brett, I just want to get your reaction to the breaking news you mentioned a moment ago from "Reuters," the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has been targeted again tonight by a drone attack. Security sources telling "Reuters" it involved two drones and a witness tells the wire service that a powerful explosion was heard in Baghdad. We haven`t confirmed that independently, nor do we have video of whatever may be happening there. How vulnerable is that facility to these kinds of attacks?
[20:10:27]
BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Anderson, I spent a lot of time at that embassy. It`s one of our most hardened embassy facilities in the world. But even so, when these Iranian backed militia groups decide to target it, they have a lot of capabilities. And that`s kind of where we are Iran has turned on all of its asymmetrical capabilities around the world. That includes Strait of Hormuz. It includes their proxies in the region it includes terrorism and were seeing that play out in Iraq.
U.S. Military forces did an airstrike against the most prominent Iranian backed group in Iraq over the weekend, against one of their leaders, who`s responsible for a number of American deaths. I have to say that individual, but there`s a tit-for-tat going on in Iraq, it`s quite serious.
COOPER: Ambassador Sherman, separately, do President Trumps request, if not demands from American allies to get involved in the region particularly in the Strait of Hormuz, does it make sense to you? Are you surprised by their reaction at all?
WENDY SHERMAN, FORMER DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: I`m not surprised. It`s really extraordinary. You know, secretary George Shultz, very popular Republican secretary of state under first, George Bush, used to tell officers, make sure you do the gardening. And what he meant by that is build your relationships with countries, because when there`s a crisis and you need them, it can`t be the first time you`re asking.
Not only has President Trump not done the gardening, but he`s disparaged all of these leaders. And so now he says, come rescue me from this. And he says also that these countries in Europe, in particular NATO countries, haven`t been there for U.S.
In fact, as you know, Article V of the NATO Accord says that an attack on one is an attack on all they have only invoked that once, and that was for the United States of America when lots of European countries join to help us in Afghanistan.
COOPER: Brett, the President has also said that the U.S. doesn`t actually need assistance and that he`s only asking these other countries just to kind of see how they would react, because it confirms what he`s always said about NATO and them not being for there when we need him, when we need them. Do you buy that?
MCGURK: Anderson, I`ve helped build coalitions over the last two decades. Whether the counter-ISIS coalition, a naval coalition in the red sea, we actually put together with almost 20 countries. Let me just say it is complex tedious, time-consuming work. I think in the best case here, even if you had countries lining up, we`re about a month away from actually seeing an effective naval military coalition in the Strait of Hormuz. I think we have to assume that time frame. Every capital has their own legal requirements, their own political constraints. And then you have to build the military coalition with rules of engagement. It is time consuming work.
So, in some ways, yes. I mean, we don`t need a coalition because right now, we`re not going to have one anytime soon. But if you look ahead, whenever the military campaign winds down, Anderson, we`ve been talking about it here over the last 17 days I think there`s still three to four weeks to go.
At the end of that road, I think you would like to have a coalition in place that kind of helps provide security. So, you want to try to get that work on going now. I just stressed even the best case, we`re like a month away from having anything effective in those waters in terms of a naval coalition, in my view.
COOPER: Ambassador, I mean, a month away, I mean given the, you know, the talk by the President of, of you know, it`s already over, it`s already won. Do you think this will go on that long?
SHERMAN: I do think it`s going to go on for a while. And it has a lot of knock-on effects. We saw that today when the President said he`s asked China to put off his meeting with Xi Jinping for a month, when in fact China really should be our number one priority, to get that relationship in the right place to compete where we must, but also to avoid conflict. Lots in the Indo-Pacific. And we`ve taken a lot of those assets out of the Indo-Pacific to deal with this crisis. We have the knock-on effect of, of course, the gas prices and what it means for the American consumer.
Even though the United States has a lot of oil, there`s no doubt about that. What matters to the American consumer is the price of oil and that`s not coming down any time soon. We`ve heard from the entire oil industry that, indeed, even when this is over, it will take time for recovery. And so, Americans, as they face the summer, as they face travel, as they face spring break, their gas prices are going to be higher.
COOPER: Ambassador Sherman, love to have you back. Brett McGurk, of course, as well. Thank you very much.
Ahead, in our CNN Global War coverage report, from where the Iran drones are hitting.
And next, with that happening, more on the administrations counterattack on the American news outlets reporting on it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:19:21]
COOPER: On day 17 of the war with Iran the President, some in his administration are opening up a new front in their assault on a free press. Over the weekend, the President lashed out on social media about a headline on the war that he called misleading and wrote "The New York Times" and "The Wall Street Journal" in particular, and other lowlife papers and media actually want us to lose the war.
Well, he didn`t specify which article motivated this. We believe the President may have been referring to this report from "The Wall Street Journal" with the headline: Five Air Force refueling planes hit in Iranian strike on Saudi Arabia. The article went on to say that the planes were, "damaged" but not fully destroyed and are being repaired.
The President in his post wrote: None were destroyed or close to that as the fake news said in headlines. I should note "The Journal" didn`t report that any were destroyed and has not issued a retraction.
Later that day, his FCC Chair Brendan Carr while visiting the President, Mar-a-Lago reposted the President`s post and added his own take that read in part: The law is clear broadcasters must operate in the public interest and they will lose their licenses if they do not.
The administration, of course has been critical of news coverage since the early days of the war. Back on March 4th, Defense Secretary Hegseth had this to say about the media reporting on six U.S. Service Members killed by an Iranian drone strike.
[20:20:36]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF WAR SECRETARY: When a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it`s front-page news. I get it the press only wants to make the President look bad but try for once to report the reality.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Then last night, the President wrote this 401-word post doubling down on the FCC threat. "I am so thrilled to see Brendan Carr the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, looking at the licenses of some of these corrupt and highly unpatriotic news organizations."
Then took things a step further, accusing unspecified news organizations of running A.I. generated video from the Iranian government. He wrote, "The story was knowingly fake and in a certain way you can say that those media outlets that generated it should be brought up on charges for treason, for the dissemination of false information."
Now treason, I`ll remind you, is punishable by death. He followed that with this on Air-Force One.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I actually think it`s pretty criminal because our media companies, who have no credibility whatsoever, are putting out information that they know is false and it`s a very dangerous thing for the country. I think they could be serious jeopardy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: For more, I`m joined by CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers and CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings.
So, Bakari for all the complaints about and threats against the media by the Trump administration, does this moment feel bigger to you when you have the government threatening during wartime to pull American news organizations off the air, even if that would be unconstitutional and likely go nowhere.
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I think it should feel big. I think the American public should feel rattled about it because what we`re seeing is we`re seeing fascism. We`re seeing all those things that Republicans have told you. Don`t dare call us that. That is what we`re seeing. And the fact is, Brendan Carr, for example, he`s not even talking about "Fox News," who just last week during a dignified transfer, they used the wrong video to display Donald Trump instead of Donald Trump wearing a hat, being disrespectful of those military men and women, they used the literal wrong video of the dignified transfer from years ago.
The same "Fox News" that actually got 780 some million dollars in a settlement that lied about the election. So, let`s actually call balls and strikes and what we`re seeing right now, the American public should actually be startled. They should be fearful. They should understand what is happening.
Brendan Carr and Donald Trump and many others like him are actually going after the First Amendment. That is what we`re seeing and I must admit, it has been an amazing ploy. It`s been very sound, but now they own TikTok, now they own X, now they own all of these other institutions that are putting forth and communicating our media platforms. And so that`s the way Americans are consuming news. People should be afraid of that.
COOPER: Scott Jennings, is it unpatriotic to say that six Americans were killed and identify who they are and talk about their lives?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, it`s not unpatriotic to report the news and report the facts. I think what The White House complaint is, is that in their view, there are a number of media outlets that are relentlessly anti-American. And also, I think they`re -- and this is an ongoing issue, they are relentlessly concerned about people who take information out of classified memos or classified briefings, and then present it in a certain way, it`s trying to put a negative spin on the war effort that they consider to be inaccurate.
My personal view is everybody has responsibilities here. The government has responsibilities to be as transparent as possible with the American people without, of course giving away any information that would help the enemy or put any soldiers in jeopardy. And the news media, I think, does have a responsibility to report the facts and be on top of the facts of the war but not try to put it in a light that is just relentlessly negative for the purpose of simply hamstringing Donald Trump politically, which I think in some cases coverage has reflected that.
So, I think this is part of a longer ongoing issue. I think The White House view is that the war is going well. I mean, they`re meeting all their military objectives and they don`t feel like that`s being reflected in the mainstream coverage.
COOPER: Right. Bakari, I mean, if you look back in history, there has been criticism of media`s coverage of war by just about every government that`s unhappy. I mean you look at the Vietnam War; I`ve been reading a lot about of books by Vietnam War correspondents just in the last couple of months. I mean it is relentless attacks on the American media for reporting things, which turned out to be true. Inflated body counts, you know, things not going as well as, as the rosy picture that was often put on it. Isn`t that the role of the media to report the facts.
[20:25:21]
SELLERS: I mean, respectfully Anderson, I would say that your job now is more important than ever. I wasn`t born during the Vietnam War, but I can tell you that this is probably apropos. This is something that a lot of people see parallels to.
The American public are asking the Secretary of Defense, they`re asking the President of the United States. They`re asking their leadership for transparency, they`re asking them for truth. And what I can tell you they`re not getting is those things. Pete Hegseth lied about 150 young girls being killed in a bombing in Iran, that he lied about it. The President of the United States further lied about it, right? That doesn`t build any type of honesty.
The fact is, were going to have to put boots on the ground because Scott knows this just as well as I do. You cannot actually destroy Iran`s nuclear program by simply dropping missiles on top because of the way that they`re buried into the Earth. Well, let me just tell you this, no one is --
COOPER: I believe it was the President who said that he believed it was not the U.S. that hit that hospital. When he asked Hegseth for confirmation, Hegseth said, you know, it`s being investigated. And he said you know, I want to point out Iran is the only people who target civilians. So, he didn`t say, no we didn`t do it but he also didn`t back up exactly what the President said.
But Scott, I mean, certainly Pete Hegseth does not like any coverage which does not, I mean, mirror the administration line word for word.
JENNINGS: Well, of course, I mean, and as you pointed out, administration`s fight with the media about war and everything else. I do think that their point of view is, is that we are seeing before our eyes the most successful military campaign, the most efficient military campaign we could possibly have in recent memory that this is the American military on full display and its full might doing everything right and doing everything within its power to minimize casualties, even though its war and unfortunate things are going to happen. And they`ve admitted that and Hegseth did say, were going to investigate this incident that Bakari referenced fully, but I think they feel like that the coverage of it, or at least the commentary around it, has been aimed at trying to portray this as some sort of a military failure, when in fact it is a massive military success story right now I mean, look at what happened with the great lobster hoax of 2026.
We had people going crazy about the idea that Hegseth was buying lobster and steak, turns out he was sending it to the troops which is military tradition. That`s one example in a lot of other examples. But look, I tend to think that everybody here has responsibilities and the governments transparency responsibilities, I personally think they`re meeting, they`re having regular briefings. Hegseth is answering questions, General Caine and other members of the military, the President`s answering questions about it. But I think they`ve been actually pretty accessible to the media when it comes to asking questions and finding out about how many targets are we hitting, how much are the enemy targets, you know, have we destroyed? How many ships have we sunk and so on and so forth? I don`t think anybody is really having trouble getting access to the administration when it comes out to finding the facts, the actual facts about the prosecution of the war.
COOPER: Although the President did just suggest treason punishable by death but Scott Jennings, we`ve got to leave it there. Bakari Sellers as well.
Up next, more on the Presidents attempt to round up allies to help in the Gulf. I`ll talk with Democratic Congressman and Navy Veteran Chris Deluzio, who served in the region and sailed through the Strait of Hormuz. We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:32:58]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We strongly encourage other nations whose economies depend on the Strait far more than ours. You know, we get less than 1 percent of our oil from the Strait, and some countries get much more. So we want them to come and help us with the Strait.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Another look at the President today suggesting NATO allies help secure the Strait of Hormuz. So far, a few countries have said they will help, but the President said he will, quote, "soon announce which ones will."
Joining us now, Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman Chris Deluzio. He`s a member of the Armed Services Committee and a U.S. Navy veteran who served in the Iraq war. Congressman, thanks for being with us. You sailed the Strait of Hormuz. How concerned are you about the U.S.`s ability right now in the strait and the response from allies?
REP. CHRIS DELUZIO (D-PA): Yes, it`s a critical choke point. It could be exactly that. The Iranians have long harassed shipping. I mean, I sailed through nearly 20 years ago as a naval officer. The proximity to the Iranians, their ability not just conventional weapons, but to bring to bear things even like small boats and others, they can harass shipping, which is why it`s baffling to me to see the reporting that the Trump administration did not understand, despite warnings from General Caine and others, that the Strait of Hormuz could be shut down by the Iranians.
And to now contemplate after the fact asking allies to participate seems to me you ask allies before you go to war of whether they`re going to be with you rather than roll the dice and finding out. And of course, we`re all paying the price as global oil markets have those prices spiking and we`re seeing it at the pumps all over the country, including in my district in western Pennsylvania.
COOPER: I mean, the President was briefed, obviously, on a whole bunch of different scenarios, as you suggest, not only in the Strait, but also what Iran`s reactions might be. He`s saying no one imagined that they would strike out at neighboring countries. That was something they obviously did very quickly. And, you know, as unfortunate as it is, it has been effective in shutting down the region and continuing to shut down the Strait.
[20:35:08]
DELUZIO: These are the exact scenarios that I`m sure smart people in uniform thought through and have been thinking about for a long time. The fact that those kinds of projections didn`t make their way to the President or Secretary of Defense or they just ignored them, I would guess it`s probably that, to be frank.
I mean, their recklessness with this war, we`re seeing it day by day. Remember, they`re contemplating now having Americans risk their lives to escort these tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. And that is about Americans risking their lives so that Middle Eastern despots can sell their oil principally to China.
We should be less exposed to these global oil markets, which is why, to me, it`s been such a disaster for this administration to cancel wind and solar and other projects that would make us less reliant and thus less exposed to global oil markets, oil coming out of the Middle East.
COOPER: What are you hearing from constituents, Republicans and Democrats in your district?
DELUZIO: Well, the thing that I think everyone, at least around here, is mad about is the gas prices. And we`re seeing it. I was driving around today north of $3.75 a gallon, which is a huge spike in western Pennsylvania. People are mad about that. No one, as far as I can tell, is happy to see Americans wounded and killed in this fighting.
And there may be some disagreement on, you know, what exactly the tactical decision making ought to be around this or that in the fight. But I think folks understand the polling I`ve seen. The country doesn`t think we need to fight, have started this war to see the President put us in. And I don`t think the President is marshalling any more support.
In fact, he`s seeing the public turn against him because his team doesn`t seem to know what the heck they`re doing and we are seeing $1 billion a day spent while things like the VA are getting cut while we`re seeing health care cuts from this administration and they`ve got plenty of money for war. And so I think folks are frustrated and want to see life more affordable at home not billions spent every day for a war of choice.
COOPER: Congressman Deluzio, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
Coming up next tonight, CNN`s Nic Robertson in Kuwait, one of the many Gulf States Iran has been trying to target. Later, my conversation with a friend and a mentor of Captain Ariana Savino, one of the six crew members killed when their refueling plane went down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:41:34]
COOPER: The strike this morning on the Dubai airport was not the last of it, as we reported at the top air defenses in the UAE are responding right now to another wave of incoming missiles and drones. And that`s not all. CNN`s Nic Robertson is in Kuwait for us.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Anderson, a little while ago, the air raid sirens went off here right in the center of Kuwait City. And you can see how busy it is now. Well, nobody ran for cover for the shelters. And that`s because people here tell us that they feel pretty safe with the missile defense system that the government has.
That said, the government said six drones fired at Kuwait today. They intercepted three of them. A couple of them did impact, but no material damage, they say. Further south in the Gulf there, Iran keeping up its attack, ballistic missiles on Qatar, drones on Qatar. The same for the UAE near Dubai Airport, big plumes of smoke early in the day when an oil storage tanker was hit.
And, actually, in the Gulf there, the Strait of Hormuz, Iran saying it`s not closed, but it effectively is for most countries, and Iran allowing vessels it says are not aligned in the war against it. We understand a couple of Pakistani and Indian oil tankers did pass through, Saudi Arabia today saying that almost 30 drones intercepted there.
And on the West Coast of Saudi Arabia down the Red Sea, another vital route where Saudi Arabia exports oil to -- into the global economy, vital for the global economy because, of course, the Strait of Hormuz is closed. Iran`s military spokesman today indicating that they might start attacking facilities in the Red Sea, that they support the USS Gerald Ford carrier strike group there.
So, that is a worry in particular for Saudi Arabia, that the war essentially could envelop the whole Arabian Peninsula. Anderson?
COOPER: Nic Robertson, thanks very much.
Joining me now at the map table here, Retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, CNN National Security Analyst Alex Plitsas, and Retired Navy Rear Admiral John Kirby, who previously served as a spokesperson for the Pentagon, State Department, and National Security Agency.
General Kimmitt, just going into now the third week of the war, the administration seems to be saying, look, you know, it`s going incredibly well. The stuff in the Strait, these other strikes, this is a sideshow. Is that accurate or is the Strait and these other things a sign of it`s not going as well as the administration would like it? BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, I think it`s important to understand that the air campaign has been going very well. The naval campaign is a different issue. What the Iranians are doing is they`re going after the economic targets. It`s all about oil at this point. Obviously, we`re talking about Kharg Island.
But as we said last time, very little of this is going to lead to victory, particularly the air component of this. So --
COOPER: Victory for the United States.
KIMMITT: Victory for the United States and defeat for the Iranians. The Iranians are withstanding this quite well candidly.
COOPER: You`re defining victory -- I mean, the administration could very well define victory as, well, we did what we wanted to. We degraded them. We mowed the lawn and we declare it a victory.
KIMMITT: Sure, but we`ve also heard terms like unconditional surrender. We`ve heard terms like --
COOPER: Regime change.
KIMMITT: -- regime change.
[20:45:03]
So I think truly my definition of victory is no nuclear program, no ballistic missiles, no proxy programs. I don`t think that, just like we talked about before, body counts didn`t make a difference in Vietnam, and plinking ballistic missile launchers isn`t going to win this war. It`s going to take a lot more than that.
COOPER: Admiral Kirby, do you agree with that? And as we`ve discussed in the past, I mean, you first joined the Navy, you were deployed as part of the so-called tanker war in the 80s, where the U.S. Navy protected merchant ships going through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. How much of this -- I mean the situation of the Strait, how much does that impact the entire war?
REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY (RET.), FORMER PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY, BIDEN & OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Well I think it`s going to get to a point where it is, in my view, the entire war is whether or not the strait can be reopened and oil traffic flow safely in and out. Because I think what the Iranians are going to want to do here, they can see the pressure that the administration is under both domestically and internationally and it works to their advantage to do these sort of one-off attacks in the region and in the Gulf specifically to prolong this, to make it harder for the administration here domestically at home. And I think they`re playing the Strait to a very strategic level.
COOPER: I want to show -- you know, we`re showing the map here of vessels attacked near Iran in the Strait and around. Alex, it doesn`t take a lot of attacks on some tankers to shut this thing down.
ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: No, it really doesn`t. And talking to the major banks and the oil companies over the last week, whether or not you physically mind, you know, to literally shut it down physically or you institute enough fear and risk as a result of these attacks that we`re seeing here and some that had come up, a couple of boats up, hit up near Iraq, that the oil -- the shipping companies literally find it too dangerous to send ships through.
So from an economic perspective, the results are the same. And that`s the problem. You know, the question you asked about is the campaign going well, there`s about three weeks left of strikes is what we`re hearing. But now --
COOPER: Is that`s from the original target list?
PLITSAS: From the -- yes, exactly, from the original target list is supposedly about three weeks left between the Americans and the Israelis to hit targets. Now we`re in a race against the clock, though, not with the Iranians. The biggest risk to success for the operation right now is what we`re looking at here in a potential choking off of the oil, because we`re looking at potentially $3 to $5 a day potential increases per barrel of oil the longer that this gets shut down. And then you got about a couple of weeks until it ends up being a, you know, a potential choke point.
COOPER: I was going to ask General Kimmitt, but I should probably ask a Navy guy, Admiral Kirby, what does it take -- I mean, how much would it take to get the Strait open?
KIRBY: To get the Strait open and keep it open, and those are two different things, that`s going to require an awful lot of military hardware. Certainly from a naval perspective, you`re going to need to be able to convince shippers that it`s safe to go through that Strait with escorted naval vessels with them and warships with them.
As I said before, the Navy does this better than anybody else, but it`s a smaller Navy than it was back in the tanker war. And we`re going to absolutely need allies and partners to join us in that effort to restore that sense of confidence in shipping companies. But also to keep that straight open, you -- it`s not just about the -- what`s on the surface of the ocean.
You`re going to be able to have to have constant eyes on above in the skies. And we certainly have air supremacy. I`m not too concerned about that. But that does require additional resources for an additional period of time. And it may actually require some introduction of ground forces, you know, certainly on the southern edge, but maybe even to eliminate coastal threats in Iran, if you`re going to try to endure this over the long haul.
COOPER: Let`s go back to the tight shot of the Strait because you really do get a sense of how close the land is when we zoom in on that other map. General, how, from your perspective, from whether it`s putting boots on the ground to try to kind of secure the land around it or combating drones or anything else they still have, how difficult it is -- is it?
KIMMITT: Well, first of all, I think the important thing to understand is how narrow this is. 21 miles, but ships normally keep about 1 mile to 2 mile separation from each other. So that naturally limits how much can come through at any one time. And in many ways, they`re setting targets.
Silkworms did it in the old days. They have ballistic missiles and drones that can do it now. So it`s going to be hard to defend. John was right. We don`t have the allies. We don`t have the equipment. I hesitate to say boots on the ground. But if you truly want to keep that thing open and you don`t have a negotiated solution with the Iranians, you`re going to have to do the unthinkable, which is put boots on the ground.
COOPER: So where do you put them?
KIMMITT: Well, first of all, the important thing to understand is it`s a large distance between Kharg Island and the land. In many ways, Kharg Island is like Taiwan. Iran is like China. I don`t think you`re going to have to worry about any massive attacks on Kharg Island.
[20:50:07]
But we know where the missile sites are. We know where the threats are. I don`t think we`re going to have to worry about troops invading across into Kharg Island. So I think what you just need to do is sort of have a -- if you were going to do that, you`d have to put troops in this area for the purposes of at least getting away from the Silkworm missiles that they still have and some of the other ballistic missiles.
COOPER: Alex, what do you think of that?
PLITSAS: No, I think the General`s right. I mean, but even to get to that point, you`d have to basically attrit the Iranians` capabilities to the point where aircraft, as Admiral Kirby was saying, the General`s point here, and the ship-based defenses would be sufficient to protect the ships that are coming through.
So right now, you know, CENTCOM is still busy working through a target set to make sure that they get rid of enough of the threat to create what we call a semi-permissible environment, because you`re never going to get everything. You`re not going to get all the drones, all the missiles that the General was mentioning. But you need to get enough of it to where the ship based defense capabilities and the aircraft are sufficient to take care of the ships that are going through.
COOPER: Admiral Kirby, how do you know you get -- you`ve gotten to that point? I mean, if you can`t go to the bunkers where those, you know, the drones may be, how do you know what they`re -- I mean, do you think the U.S. has an accurate assessment of how many drones, how many Shaheed drones and others that the Iranians have?
KIRBY: I think the -- I think Central Command has a good sense, Anderson, of what they`re up against here. And I think you can see in just the last few days they are increasing the level of activity and strikes against Iranian capabilities to keep the strait closed, going after not just missile launchers but drone facilities that are fenced industrial base.
I think they have a pretty good sense, but that doesn`t mean that they`re going to get it all. And I don`t think they`re arrogant enough to think that they`re going to be able to knock out every single drone and every single USV surface vessel drone that the Iranians have or frankly all the mines.
But they do know -- have a good sense of where these things are and I think they`re trying to get after it right now. But back to the earlier point, it really only takes fear to shut down the strait. I mean in the first few days of this conflict, the Iranians hadn`t fired a shot at the water and nobody was going through that strait just because of the fear and the intimidation then.
COOPER: Yes.
KIRBY: And so that`s the really -- that`s the biggest weapon that the Iranians have in their quiver right now.
COOPER: Admiral Kirby, thank you very much. General Kimmitt, Alex Plitsas as well. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.
Up next, a friend pays tribute to Captain Ariana Savino, one of six U.S. service members killed in the crash of that refueling plane last week in Iraq.
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COOPER: The Pentagon has identified all six U.S. service members who were killed in a plane crash in western Iraq last week. Among them, Air Force Captain Ariana Savino, who served as chief of current operations for the 99th Air Refueling Squadron. Her friend and mentor, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Nisperos, described her as an Air Force superstar. I spoke with him earlier.
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COOPER: Colonel Nisperos, I`m so sorry that we`re speaking under these circumstances. You were a friend, a colleague of Captain Savino. Later on, I understand you were kind of a mentor to her. What was she like personally and professionally?
ERNESTO NISPEROS, FRIEND OF AIR FORCE CAPT. ARIANA SAVINO: And real quick, before I say anything about Ariana, I wanted to make sure I paid tribute to the entire Zeus 95 crew. Every person on that aircraft carried more weight than most Americans will know.
Ariana, to me and others, she was a sweet, strong, spicy personality. And that was a -- that`s a quote from her mother when we were talking about that.
COOPER: I like that she`s spicy (INAUDIBLE).
NISPEROS: Yes, yes, I got it from mom. And that really is it describes her to a T.
COOPER: I`m wondering what went through your mind last week when you heard that the plane had gone down over Iraq.
NISPEROS: You know, it knocked the wind right out of me. It just -- it even -- it doesn`t feel real still. So --
COOPER: Yes.
NISPEROS: -- I fully expect her to just send me a message and scream out some, you know -- her phrase she sent me was the last message she sent me. She said, "wepa." So she`s very, very proud of her heritage and very proud of her parents` heritage.
COOPER: It was important for her -- I mean, service was incredibly important for her to serve her country. She comes from -- I understand, she came from a family of pilots and service members.
NISPEROS: Yes, that`s right. Her dad retired from Alaska Airlines. So in a lot of ways, you know, she was trying to be like dad. It was important for her to continue a legacy in her family. And, you know, she has relatives that were in the service before her. So it was -- it`s -- it was ingrained in her as part of her childhood and just as part of her nature.
COOPER: Is there anything else you want people to know or her family wants people to know about her life and the work she did, the legacy she leaves?
NISPEROS: I owe the family the opportunity to read some of their statement and it answers that a little. So she dedicated her whole life to a career that she loved. She made it her mission to be a role model, not only for her brothers and sisters who served alongside her, but also this next generation of youth, women, minorities.
They all had opportunities, and if they had their hearts set on a career in aviation, she was there to help them. They do wanted -- they wanted me to mention that they`re going to start an aviation scholarship for Latino youth and women that are interested in aviation.
COOPER: Colonel Nisperos, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us and sending along those messages from her family as well. Please give them our condolences, and I wish you the best.
NISPEROS: I appreciate that, and I think Ariana`s spirit is going to live on forever in the skies that she cherished. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, that is it for us. The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.
