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Police: 2 Men Charged With Using WMD, Supporting Terror Group; Police: NYC IED Suspects Admitted They Were Inspired By ISIS; Tehran Warns It Has "Many Surprises In Store"; Israel Launches Intense Strikes On Iran's Fuel Storage Facilities; Analysis: War With Iran Causing Biggest Oil Disruption In History; U.S. Gas Prices Hit $3.48 A Gallon, Up Nearly 17 Percent Since War Began. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired March 09, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: This is something that stretches far and wide in -- in this community.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, there's no question. If you're familiar with the, kind of, the -- the local culture there in South Texas, these mariachi programs are revered. All three of the -- of the -- of the children participated at various levels in -- in these programs and -- you know, they're just kind of beloved in all of that. The students had been going to school routinely. Obviously, a great deal of concern being taken into custody, how all of this is disrupted by what is happening right now, especially given the fact that their supporters say that they have no criminal history of any kind. They've been complying with the immigration process here in the United States, and that's why they're so angry about what's happened to this family.

KEILAR: Yes, a lot of people paying attention to this.

Ed, thank you so much.

And a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We begin this hour with breaking news. Moments ago, New York police revealed more details about a weekend attack involving what they say were weapons of mass destruction. It began Saturday during a protest outside the home of Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Federal court filings accused two Pennsylvania men of trying to use homemade bombs, one of which contained a dangerous, unstable material called TATP.

KEILAR: These documents also show that one of the suspects wanted to exceed the death toll of the Boston Marathon bombing, where three people were killed. This is actually something that apparently they asked this suspect about, and that was something that he retorted, according to law enforcement. The head of NYPD saying the suspects were inspired by ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JESSICA TISCH, NYPD COMMISSIONER: The defendants were inspired by ISIS

to carry out their attack. There should be no confusion about what ISIS constitutes. It is a designated foreign terrorist organization responsible for deadly terrorist attacks across the globe and has taken credit for mass casualty attacks in Europe, the Middle East and right here in the United States. And as alleged, both defendants have admitted that they acted on Saturday because of ISIS.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And we have CNN's John Miller here for analysis. Let's begin, though, with Gloria Pazmino, who has the latest.

Gloria, tell us what you're learning.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, it only took about an hour from the moment the two suspects crossed the George Washington Bridge after having traveled to New York City from Pennsylvania, where they live. It took an hour from that moment to the moment that they were arrested by New York police officers outside of Gracie Mansion, the mayoral residence here in New York City. They crossed the Washington -- the George Washington Bridge shortly around 11:30 in the morning. By 12:15 or so, they had joined a counter-protest outside of Gracie Mansion. They lit and deployed those homemade devices into the crowd.

The Police Commissioner detailing just how dangerous these devices could have been had they gone off as planned. The devices had explosive material inside of them, including nails and screws that would have acted as a shrapnel had the devices gone off. And she detailed the fact that these two suspects told law enforcement after they were arrested that they had been inspired by ISIS.

One of the suspects told police, Ibrahim Kayumi told police, that he had watched ISIS propaganda on his cell phone and that his actions on Saturday were inspired by the group. So, we're learning more about the timeline that the two suspects took on Saturday and also about the five charges in total that they are -- that they are facing, including providing material support to a terrorist organization as well as using a weapon of mass destruction.

Now, police commissioner Jessica Tisch making it clear that so far at this stage they do not believe this is tied to the ongoing military action in Iran. But she highlighted that the city is under an elevated threat environment because of the military action in Iran. I also just want to show you a video that we got just a short while ago which shows one of the suspects. And you can see the moment that Emir Balat approaches the crowd and appears to jump over one of the protesters. You see the moment in which he launches this device into the crowd.

Now, it landed near where police officers were gathered as well as some of these other counter-protesters.

I also asked the Police Commissioner just a short moment ago if there was any indication that these two suspects traveled here with a specific target. She told me that they knew about this protest that was organized by Jake Lynch (ph), the right-wing social media influencer, and that it is believed they came here specifically to target that protest.

[15:05:07]

SANCHEZ: John, obviously folks on the ground are so lucky these devices did not go off. We -- we heard from officials that they were detonated in isolation and that they could have caused immense harm. I wonder what your sources are telling you about the case.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the explosive mixture, triacetone triperoxide or TATP is known as a favorite recipe in the ISIS cookbooks of how to make different bombs and has been used by other ISIS affiliates before. I think we'll all remember the July 7th bombing attacks in the London underground and their subway system, where scores of people were killed and hundreds injured by TATP bombs.

The nature of this explosive, Boris, is, though, is it is so volatile that if you make it just the wrong way, it won't go off when it's supposed to. And if you make it just the wrong way in a different direction, it'll go off when it's not supposed to.

So, even transporting it was enormously dangerous. What they did wrong in their recipe contributed to the miracle that nobody was killed. Given the amount of explosives involved and the amount of shrapnel that was contained in those bombs, the nuts, bolts and screws, there would have surely been people killed within the distance we saw where it was thrown.

SANCHEZ: John Miller, Gloria Pazmino, thank you both for that reporting. Happening now, new reaction from President Trump following Iran's appointment of Ayatollah Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the country's next Supreme Leader. The President telling NBC News in an interview, quote, "I think they made a big mistake. I don't know if it's going to last. I think they made a mistake."

President Trump has previously said that the younger Khamenei would be an unacceptable choice.

KEILAR: Trump also weighed in as the world faces the largest oil supply shock in history, telling NBC News that it's, quote, "Too soon to talk about seizing Iran's oil. But he stopped short of ruling it out." CNN's Erin Burnett is live in the region. She is in Tel Aviv. Erin, what's the latest where you are?

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR, ERIN BURNETT "OUTFRONT": All right. Well, you know, it's -- obviously, in -- in the context of those comments, you have had salvo here, Israel, right now launching wide scale, a wave of strikes against Tehran. What they -- they describe as regime infrastructure targets in three areas of Iran. And that's significant because they say, of course, that that massive oil strike and those black clouds of smoke that -- that we keep showing outside Tehran that caused that acid rain, they say that that was an IRGC military target.

As the Turkey president -- Turkish President Erdogan, is also warning Tehran against any further provocative moves, because as we've talked about this widening war, NATO air defenses actually were activated today, shooting down another Iranian missile that entered Turkish airspace. Turkey, obviously a member of NATO and Gulf nations.

There are more strikes coming in Iran. There had been perhaps maybe a brief pause. I think it might be even too aggressive to call it that. But a bit of a slowdown. But it is now accelerated again. And the Iranian Red Crescent humanitarian organization says thousands of civilian structures across the country have been damaged since the war began. And they say that that includes 65 schools.

I'll bring in our Jeremy Diamond.

And Jeremy, I will just say, even from the incredible analysis done by Katie Polglase and the team in London, you know, we have seen -- they have seen multiple hospitals, schools, gyms that have been impacted by the strikes. So, obviously, that is crucial. Right now, as we speak, we understand a wave is going on in Iran that Fred Pleitgen can experience and hear some of that when he's able to communicate with us.

We saw a -- a noticeable uptick today in ballistic missile salvos here from yesterday. Some of those are cluster munitions, which I know you're doing a lot of reporting on. And we've seen sort of their impact on the ground when we go to the actual sites. But as I think everyone tries to figure out what's going on with this new supreme leader, Khamenei, we're seeing an expansion in this war. Very specific one tonight.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. Questions about whether the Israeli military is going to deepen its presence in southern Lebanon. We know that already for the last year amid the ceasefire with Hezbollah that was, you know, officially ended this week, that the Israeli military had five positions in southern Lebanon that they were holding on to.

Once Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel on Monday night, Israel then took over a few more positions. But they have held off on a deeper ground offensive so far.

BURNETT: Yes.

DIAMOND: But I'm told tonight by two sources telling me and my colleague Tal Shalev that the Israeli government is now considering a more significant ground operation inside southern Lebanon, deepening its presence there. And the Israeli security cabinet this evening is holding a security consultation with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

BURNETT: Right now, so as we speak.

DIAMOND: This evening to ...

BURNETT: They're with us tonight, yes.

DIAMOND: ... to discuss the very possibility of deepening Israeli troop presence inside southern Lebanon.

[15:10:05]

And it comes in particular after we saw several Israeli soldiers severely wounded by anti-tank missile fire from Hezbollah. And you'll recall we were talking about this on Friday after I returned from that area.

BURNETT: Yes.

DIAMOND: We saw some of those anti-tank missiles and how close Hezbollah was. So, this would be intended at pushing Hezbollah further back.

BURNETT: Yes. And a huge decision if you talk about the Prime Minister, Netanyahu meeting with the cabinet tonight of what they're going to do with Iran, who has named a supreme leader that both the U.S. and Israel view is unacceptable, but on its very most -- the most basic inherent level is the furthest thing from regime change that could have come after all of this.

DIAMOND: Absolutely.

BURNETT: Will they take him out or not?

DIAMOND: Yes. And the Israeli foreign minister was asked that very question today. He said, you'll just have to wait and see. I think there's no question that Mojtaba Khamenei has a target on his back.

Now, it's important to remember that in the same strikes that the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in, in that opening wave of strikes a week ago this past Saturday, Mojtaba Khamenei, his son, was wounded in that attack. So, Israel had intended to kill him as well. They killed his wife. They killed his son. They killed his mother as well, the wife of the late supreme leader. And so, I think there's very little question that he's now very high on Israel's target list. And as an Israeli official told me last night, they hope that the Iranian people will also rise up and not want to see one Ayatollah Khamenei replaced with another Ayatollah Khamenei.

BURNETT: And no evidence of any uprising to prevent that at this point in any way, to state the obvious. But obviously it is a crucial moment and a crucial decision that they have to make. But as you point out, very important also for everyone to know that we have not yet seen the new supreme leader, perhaps because he's injured, perhaps for other reasons.

It's very hard to find video of the man's voice over the years. So, this is a -- a huge mystery and an important one. All right, I'm here with Jeremy in Tel Aviv.

And still to come here this hour on NEWS CENTRAL, why the Trump administration is reportedly weighing whether to seize an island off the coast of Iran. This is, though, perhaps one of the most crucial islands in the entire Persian Gulf. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:33]

SANCHEZ: The Israeli military struck several Iranian fuel sites over the weekend.

These videos posted on social media captured explosions rocking Tehran with balls of fire and smoke shooting in the air. And this video posted early Sunday and geolocated and verified by CNN shows a street lined with fire in the Iranian capital. Dramatic images are also emerging from the scene at the Shahran oil depot, one of Tehran's largest fuel storage facilities, where the blaze triggered a rare phenomenon known as black rain. Axios is also reporting that administration officials tell them there have been discussions about seizing Kharg Island. This is a small Iranian island in the Persian Gulf that is critical to the country's oil industry.

Let's discuss with CNN Military Analyst, retired Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton.

Colonel Leighton, thanks so much for being with us.

Talk to us about Kharg Island. Why is it a focus for the U.S. right now?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, this is actually a really important island, Boris. And one of the key things about this is this is where Iran does all the trans-shipment of its petroleum resources. So, any type of petroleum that is processed is trans shipped on Kharg Island. This has been something that they've done. It is right here in the northern part of the Persian Gulf. This is Kuwait. Iraq is right over here. Saudi Arabia is right here.

And this is an island where basically all of about 98 or so percent of Iran's oil production goes through here. And then once it's done being processed, it is then sent down through the Persian Gulf and out through the Strait of Hormuz.

SANCHEZ: Could it be seized by the United States without ground forces? Is -- is an aerial attack enough?

LEIGHTON: No, it's not. Because if you're going to seize territory like this, you absolutely have to have some kind of ground force go in there and take it. And now, it's a relatively small island. But because it's got these installations and because it's actually been a scene of contention, even going as far back as the Iran-Iraq war, when I first looked at this, it is an area that would require not only ground forces to occupy it, but also ground forces to defend any beachhead or whatever we would have at -- on Kharg Island.

SANCHEZ: Can we look at the Strait of Hormuz for a moment? Because reporting indicates that usually we see some 60 ships pass through there every day. I believe in the last 24 hours, the last I saw, the indications were that only one had been able to get through.

So, as President Trump talks about eliminating Iran's navy in order to open up the Strait of Hormuz, he said they -- they destroyed something like 44, 45 ships. Is that complete obliteration? Because we've heard the administration say that, for example, about Iran's enriched uranium, and it later turned out to not be the case.

LEIGHTON: Right. So, it's not complete obliteration, even though, let's say, all of the ships that President Trump talks about are part of all the -- the surface vessels that the Iranian navy has. Let's just take that as an instance. And it's a large proportion of those vessels.

But the problem is what the Iranians have is they have vessels that have small -- anything from small dinghies all the way up to speedboats that they can use to emplace mines. They can do things like -- right in -- in this area right here, they could mine this whole area. They've got somewhere around 5,000 mines that we know about that they could potentially deploy. That would cut everything off right here.

What that means is that 20 percent of global oil that comes through normally through the Strait of Hormuz, that would stop immediately until mine clearing operations could take place.

[15:20:07]

SANCHEZ: Does the U.S. have the capacity through the U.S. Navy to do as the President has suggested is being considered and help escort some of the tankers that are trying to transport through that area?

LEIGHTON: Yes. The U.S. Navy absolutely does have the capacity to at least do a large proportion of the normal traffic that goes through the -- the Strait of Hormuz and into the Persian Gulf. They would have the capacity to do that. The question then would be how long could we sustain something like that? They've done something similar to that in the 1980s. They had operations that basically were tanker escort operations to protect them from both the Iraqis and the Iranians who were attacking shipping in the Persian Gulf at that time. This is back in the '80s. And now we'd have to basically replicate those kinds of operations, but keep the Iranians at bay while this happens.

SANCHEZ: Colonel, before we go, I did want to ask you about the new ayatollah that has been chosen, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of -- of the previous ayatollah. There have been some discussions about where he stands, whether he's a hardliner or a more moderate figure. It's hard to imagine that any leader of Iran right now is going to be more moderate and willing to deal with the West. Is that fair?

LEIGHTON: That's fair, because anybody who grows up in that system is going to be somebody who follows the dictates, the ideology of that system. And we have to keep in mind this is a religiously based system. It's a theocracy and it's designed to be a system where people like him who just became an ayatollah as well, in other words, a senior religious figure. He becomes somebody who is looked to in kind of in a spiritual sense as well as a leader -- a political leader.

So, he's going to be a little bit different than your normal run of the mill president of Iran who still exists as a separate office. And he's going to be somebody who is going to be connected still with the IRGC, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. And that's where the real power in Iran actually arrives -- actually resides. And that power is probably going to be the one that controls him to an extent as well.

SANCHEZ: That's a very interesting point. Colonel Cedric Leighton, always appreciate you joining us. Thanks so much.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Boris. Thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: The price of gas is up to $0.50 per gallon since the start of the war with Iran. President Trump says the rising prices, though, are just a little glitch. We'll discuss in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:01]

KEILAR: We are minutes from the close of markets. It has been a volatile day as oil prices surged past a hundred dollars a barrel for the first time in four years.

SANCHEZ: One analysis found that the war with Iran is impacting 20 percent, a fifth of the world's oil supply, making this the worst oil disruption the world has ever experienced. Let's dig deeper now with CNN Business Editor-at-Large, Richard Quest. He also anchors "Quest Means Business."

Richard, thanks so much for being with us.

So, that analysis I mentioned says it's twice the impact of the Suez Canal crisis of the 1950s. Why is this the worst the world has ever experienced?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR & EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Because the Strait of Hormuz is now being closed off. If you look at those other crises, they were related to one particular country taking one particular action, but the actual waterway itself was not cut off. If you look at the 1970s and the blockade and the -- the Saudi action that hit the United States so badly, again, it wasn't as if the supply generally was cut off. Only a certain element was cut off. That map that you're showing now shows exactly 20 percent of oil and gas has to go round that little knob at the top of the Strait of Hormuz.

And if it doesn't, then you're in trouble. If you add into this fact the way in which Israel has been bombing the Iranian oil depots and Iran has been bombing the Bahraini and others, you see that the supply has just about dwindled to nothing. Now, yes, there was a lot of oil sloshing around the world, which is why we had a price of about $60, $70 a barrel. But the prospect of it not happening further, that's what's really taken the market by surprise. It's the sheer size and scale.

KEILAR: So, I mean, just the last week has really been a shock for people, I think, when they go to fill up their tank.

QUEST: Sure. KEILAR: Gas prices are up by $0.50 since before the war started. How

much higher could they go, do you think?

QUEST: That's like how long is a piece of string to tie myself, you know, hostage to fortune, if you would.

KEILAR: All right, let me revise it, Richard. Let me revise it.

QUEST: Yes, yes, but hang on.

KEILAR: Look, okay, but this is what I want to know is because I've seen that it can go significantly higher, I guess, is what I'm getting at and also, that this could go on for some time. I'm not trying to pin you down.

QUEST: Completely.

KEILAR: But, you know, do you agree?

QUEST: Oh, please -- completely, yes. The short answer is it could go enormously higher because of this. And here is the interesting aspect. The United States actually imports very little oil and gas from the Gulf, roughly 4- to 5- to 6 percent. The biggest import it brings in is from Canada. So, this really does turn the twist in a sense.

The price is so high because the international exchange price has gone up.

[15:30:04]

And therefore, that's feeding right the way through the entire chain.