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Trump Threatens Iran If Hormuz Not Opened In 48 Hours; Trump Threatens To Send ICE Agents Into U.S. Airports; Former FBI Director Who Led Trump-Russia Probe Dies At 81; Cuba Struggles Under Islandwide Blackout. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired March 21, 2026 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:29]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval, live in New York, where it is 11:00 p.m. early Sunday morning in the Middle East.

And we want to begin with President Donald Trump as he threatens to attack Iran's energy infrastructure. That's if Tehran does not allow the free navigation of the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. president posting a warning to his Truth Social account just a few hours ago. I'll read you a portion of it.

The president writing, "If Iran doesn't fully open without threat, the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours from this exact time," he posted that on Saturday evening, "the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various power plants, starting with the biggest one, first." A reminder, 20 percent of the world's crude oil passes through this vital waterway. But Iran has effectively closed that strait since the start of the war, which has sent fuel prices soaring around the world.

Meanwhile, a British maritime agency now reporting that an unknown projectile caused an explosion near a bulk carrier just off the coast of the UAE. President Trump's latest threat. This comes just really after he sent other conflicting messages that the U.S. is considering winding down military efforts in the region. While reports are now saying that there are thousands of additional troops that are being sent, there. Iran has launched its most devastating attack on Israel since the start of the war. Israels emergency response service declaring the strike a mass casualty event.

And now dozens were wounded and there are still people missing at the scene.

Let's get the latest now from CNN's Oren Liebermann, who's reporting in Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Two major direct hits from Iranian ballistic missiles in southern Israel on Saturday evening, within just hours of each other. First, take a look at this dramatic video from the city of Dimona. This is the city that is home to Israel's nuclear program. And you can see this missile streaking in as it makes a direct impact on a one story building. According to Israel's fire and rescue service, that building was destroyed. Israel's -- Israel's emergency response service, Magen David Adom says nearly 50 people were taken to the hospital as a result of that strike.

Iran's national broadcaster says they attacked the city of Dimona and the nuclear program there, after what they called a U.S.-Israeli strike on the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran. Now, the Israeli military says they weren't familiar with such a strike, but this is a facility that the U.S. Had attacked back in June during the 12-day war.

Now, just hours after that strike in Dimona, another Iranian ballistic missile hit the city of Arad, also in southern Israel, hitting a residential neighborhood there, you can see the damage to all of the buildings in the area. Walls ripped off of multi-story apartments, smoke pouring out of some of the buildings there. As emergency responders worked at the scene.

As of the latest update on Saturday evening, Israel's emergency response service says at least 74 people have been injured, including seven in serious or critical condition. But that number could rise, with search and rescue teams still working at the scene.

It is, or appears to be at this point, the single largest number of injuries we have seen from a single Iranian ballistic missile since the start of the war. Now, as the war has continued, Israel has pointed out that Iran isn't launching as many ballistic missiles as it was at the start of the war. Still, you see some of these missiles getting through, as the Israeli military has warned that the missile defense array isn't perfect, it's not hermetic. And some missiles can get through that array, as we saw on Saturday night.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, in Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Let's continue our coverage now and head over to CNN's Mike Valerio, joining me live from Beijing.

Mike, it's good to see you again. You have this threat being issued by President Trump, directed at Iran. What else is the latest coming out of the region?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So I think, you know, when were thinking about the latest and how to process this, there are really two buckets of what we're looking at. The first bucket we want to talk about is what the president is posting on Truth. And I think about, you know, coming into this shift, what we were looking at the beginning of the weekend is the president posting on Truth and talking to reporters at the white house saying that this is going to be no big deal, securing the Strait of Hormuz for our allies and posting on Truth that allies and Gulf nations, Polo, should be able to do this on their own. So, then we have this new truth that we started out the broadcast with

posts on Truth Social, with the president saying that he's going to launch these strikes at Iran's biggest power plant if the strait does not open up on its own. His words, not ours, certainly suggesting that this is not an easy task. So that's bucket number one.

[23:05:02]

And then bucket number two is what the allies are doing. Sort of an impressionistic, vague view that's coming into focus when we started the weekend of what could amount to a coalition trying to secure the Strait of Hormuz. And it's interesting, Polo, since the last time we talked about a day ago, you and I. South Korea has now added itself to the list of nations that are going to do their sentiments. Something at the appropriate time to help open up the strait. It started with the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan and Canada added their names to the list. Bahrain also added itself to the list as well.

Our reporting targets for today are going to be seeing if other nations like Australia, Estonia, Sweden are adding their names to that list as well.

But our own reporting from Washington, D.C., spearheaded by Kylie Atwood at the State Department, is saying that this is going to be such a difficult task with one nation not equipped to do everything on its own. It's not just going to be a parade of ships when they feel as though they're confident enough to escort ships, it's going to be nations or nations, plural, certainly, that need to gather intelligence and surveillance from the sky, according to Kylie's reporting, citing a senior European diplomat.

Intelligence from the sky, minesweepers, escorts, counter drone capability, warships, ships that are able to fire missiles to intercept other missiles. So, at this point, it's not clear what nation is going to do what. But this latest post that Trump is putting on Truth Social seems to suggest that the pace of sorting all of this out is slow, and that would align with what analysts are saying. You know, this is certainly taking up the oxygen of other geopolitical movements.

There was a big meeting between Xi Jinping, the leader of China, and President Trump, that was postponed here in Beijing because this war is sucking out the oxygen of pretty much everything else that's happening geopolitically. And oil prices continue to rise as we look at oil futures prices in the United States. Our friends in California are close to paying, on average, $6 a gallon. Oklahoma not as bad, $3.25, but the average is still closing in on close to $4 a gallon.

So, nothing can really move further in this conversation until the Strait of Hormuz is secure. And this is what we have, this 48-hour deadline from the president says the exact moment that he posted that latest message on truth, Polo.

SANDOVAL: Yeah. For the average consumer, nothing brings this conflict home than looking at that gas pump and then seeing that number rise at least $1 since the beginning of the conflict. Mike Valerio, appreciate it. Thanks for the update.

Let's keep the conversation going and talk a little bit more about the state of the war as we approach now day 23.

Joining me now is military analyst and retired U.S. Navy rear Admiral Andrew Loiselle.

Admiral, really appreciate you joining us again.

REAR ADM. ANDREW LOISELLE (RET.), U.S. NAVY: Glad to be here.

SANDOVAL: Let's pick up where my colleague Mike there just left off. And I'm curious if I can get your reaction to what we heard from President Trump on Saturday night. He is obviously no stranger to issuing ultimatums before. We saw that with Greenland earlier this year. But now he is essentially threatening Iran's power infrastructure if they don't fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, or at least allow for free navigation.

Do you expect the president will enforce this deadline?

LOISELLE: I do. I don't see any reason, but I see this more as a transition from solely military targets to potentially dual use targets that provide for both military and civilian. Obviously, everybody needs the power in order to function. And so, it's a transition in the targeting scheme to something that's they, up to this point, held off from doing because they wanted to prevent really, you know, damage to things that would impact the civilian population. But, you know, once you run out of military targets and the regime still hasn't capitulated, then that leads you to go on to your next set of targets to try and get the behaviors that you're looking to do.

But when you're talking about, you know, opening up the strait, that's a very, very difficult thing to do. And having, you know, Iran make some agreement that says, okay, you know, the strait is open now. Well, you know, they say an awful lot of things and very, very few of them can be believed. You know, we saw the strikes down in Diego Garcia where, you know, you're talking about twice the range that they had ever admitted that any of their missiles could travel. And now, all of a sudden, you know, you find them traveling over 2,000 miles.

And so not many of the things that they've said can be believed.

[23:10:01]

Now, that's one piece of it. But the other piece is that the strait won't truly be open until the insurance companies believe that the strait is open. And in order to do that, there's going to have to be some significant activity to clear potential mines from the strait in order to have that truly be open. And that will not happen within 48 hours.

SANDOVAL: Yeah. I mean, the administration has plenty of reason not to take Iran's word for anything they say if they even respond to this threat. And if they respond positively, if just hypothetically, Admiral, if Iran were to respond, offer a positive response to the White House and say that they would potentially back off from launching any sort of strikes against any vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, do you think it still would be wise then, based on what you just said, to continue with these potential escorts of these ships?

LOISELLE: I would certainly say that nobody is going to take them at their word for the you know, if they said they weren't going to target ships that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz, so I would certainly say that you would need to really kind of protect the convoys from threats in all domains, everything from intelligence assets and space, because we know the Russians and the Chinese are helping, to surface assets and because pretty much at this point in time, everything that floats coming out of Iran can be carrying a mine and is pretty much going to be assumed to be carrying a mine -- to the drones that are traveling in the air domain, to the mines that are probably already, you know, bottom moored or free floating mines that are already out there.

And so I don't think any statement from Iran is going to be believed and they're going to have to fully protect through all domains.

SANDOVAL: Let's revisit that assessment at the beginning to, Admiral, about, you know, in your view, how this threat from the president marks a potential shift, a transition, as you described it, away from military targets and perhaps more of the infrastructure. Just militarily, and based on your experience, what could that entail? Could we see strikes very similar to what we've been witnessing play out for the last several weeks? Or is this a significant game-changer when it comes to the way the military carries out these strikes?

LOISELLE: Well, I think it's going to be an incremental change after as long as its been going on now for, for a few weeks you eventually run out of purely military targets to hit. And so, if you haven't gotten the regime to change their mind about how they're going to act with respect to all of their neighbors and allowing free flow of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, then you do have to change how you're approaching your selection of targets. And so you -- as you saw in Kharg Island where they decided, you know, not to hit the oil infrastructure in particular, because they want to preserve that, you know, what they would love to see is, is regime change, obviously.

And nobody's going to believe that the Iranians aren't going to go after nuclear weapons again until this regime is gone. And so, they were looking, I think, to preserve the infrastructure necessary for a follow on. You know, group of folks that's in charge to be able to make money again so that they can have a legitimate government. But eventually, if that doesn't become possible, then you have to look at what you're going to do with a follow on set of targets that's going to influence the regime. And I think that's really what they're looking at next.

SANDOVAL: Really grateful to have that insight. Rear Admiral Andrew Loiselle -- thank you for your time, sir.

LOISELLE: Thanks. Pleasure to be here.

SANDOVAL: And still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, the war with Iran. It's also impacting travel plans for people not just in the U.S., but really around the world, especially now with airlines having to make some tough decisions. Why United Airlines is now having to cut back on some of their flights.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:18:04]

SANDOVAL: Back to the war with Iran now. Surging fuel prices from the war, it is now beginning to impact global air travel. You see, on Friday, United Airlines said that it will cancel about 5 percent of their planned flights, citing rising costs. The company's CEO, Scott Kirby, estimating that the jet fuel could actually cost the company an additional $11 billion per year at the current rate.

Meanwhile, President Trump is now threatening to send ICE agents into airports if a funding deal to end this partial government shutdown is not reached anytime soon. The shutdown, it has already caused TSA staffing shortages as workers have gone without pay now for over a month, and this has led to long lines at some airports across the country. It is not clear exactly what role these possible ICE agents will actually have at the airport, but the president says he plans to send them on Monday. Just a couple of days.

For more, I want to bring in now, Peter Greenberg, travel editor for CBS News.

Peter, welcome to the program. Good to see you.

PETER GREENBERG, TRAVEL EDITOR, CBS NEWS: Good to see you.

SANDOVAL: Let's start on the travel impacts when it comes to the war with Iran. In your assessment, Peter, how long do you expect these disruptions to continue, especially at some of these major travel hubs in the Middle East, like Abu Dhabi, Doha, et cetera.

GREENBERG: Well, this is the biggest flight disruption since COVID, and they're not going to be able to bounce back quickly simply because it's not just the fuel costs, it's the operating costs that go around the entire world with displaced planes, crews and schedules.

You mentioned the United Airlines cut back of about five percent. It's actually close to seven percent if this continues. And that one fuel bill of $11 billion for united, it's going to hit everybody overseas. Already, you're seeing the implementation of fuel surcharges between $50 and $200 per ticket. Other airlines have already taken their flights off the schedule.

[23:20:02]

SAS, the Scandinavian carrier, has already cut a thousand flights off their schedule for the next three to four weeks. And now the real existential threat will be for the LCCs, otherwise known as the low cost carriers like Frontier or Spirit in this country, because there's nothing low cost about their operation anymore. They're paying the same for their fuel that everybody else is, and all they have to compete with normally would be lower fares. They can't do that right now. So we're watching those two airlines very carefully to see what they're going to be able to do.

SANDOVAL: Yeah. If United is spending an additional $11 billion, it's impossible to -- for some of that to trickle down to the passengers themselves. In terms of your advice perhaps to people who are planning travel not just the next few weeks or months potentially through the rest of the year as we continue to see the conflict right now, the rising fuel prices, what would be your advice to them?

GREENBERG: Well, first and foremost, you've got to hedge your bets. What that means is look at the flights you want to take this summer. Book them now because it's almost inevitable that airlines like United are going to increase their ticket prices between eight and 10 percent. They have to be able to cover those costs. And United will not be alone.

Now, the good news about hedging your bets ahead of time is should airline tickets come down? And they might if people aren't flying this summer, that means you can always get a refund in the form of a credit and then rebook the flight at a lower fare and then get a credit for that. But anybody who waits to book a ticket right now is going to pay a higher price, inevitably, because those costs that the airlines are bearing are going to be passed on to you.

SANDOVAL: Yeah, you read my mind. I mean, I personally tend to do that. It's much better to just book now. And you could always get a credit, especially its an airline that you tend to frequent. And I know we're not giving up any frequent flier trade secrets. It is pretty commonly used, at least that approach.

Finally, obviously, as you know, there is this congressional fight that's impacting wait times at some TSA airport checkpoints we just talked about a little while ago.

Listen to what Lee Kair, who's a former TSA official, listen to what he told me yesterday when I asked if we could maybe even expect airports to close in the future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE KAIR, FORMER ASSISTANT ADMINSTRATOR FOR SECURITY OPERATIONS, TSA: Absolutely. So I think that is the concern is that this could get to the point where it's going to impact the ability for airports to operate, or to, you know, significantly restrict the amount of time that they're able to operate during, during times could be small airports because they don't have enough staff to open in the first place, or it could be larger airports where there's such delays that they start having to have flight cancellations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: So that's Lee Kair. I mean, he has roughly two decades of experience working at TSA. So what he says is certainly important right now. Where do you see things heading? GREENBERG: Well, we're already at a threshold moment for the simple

reason that if you listen to the DHS averages, which are not necessarily correct, they will tell you that the absentee rate right now is about 10 percent on average across the country for TSA agents. It's actually much higher than that. It's over 21 percent in Atlanta.

Yesterday at Houston's Hobby Airport, the absentee rate was 55 percent. So that's unsustainable. And the economic impact of that is severe weather. The smaller airports are going to close or not, probably not going to happen because let's start with the idea that they're small airports. They handle a much less load to begin with.

But the bigger airports, the choke point, connecting hub airports, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Dallas and others, that's the crisis. And they cant handle the loss of those staffers.

As for the ICE agents coming in, let's not kid ourselves. They're not trained as TSA agents. I have no idea what they're going to do except perhaps scare people to not come to the airport in the first place.

SANDOVAL: Yeah, and I was asking myself the same thing. Are they just simply going to be standing around, just providing additional security? I think we'll have to see.

Peter Greenberg, wish you safe and budget friendly travels in your future. Thank you for your time.

GREENBERG: You got it.

SANDOVAL: With the man who led the probe into Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 presidential race has passed away.

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, the latest on the life and the death of former FBI Director Robert Mueller.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:27:32]

SANDOVAL: Former FBI director Robert Mueller has died at the age of 81. He served in this role for 12 years under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Mueller served in the marines and was a decorated Vietnam veteran. But he is perhaps best known for leading the probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

While his investigation did not find that the Trump campaign was guilty of collusion, Mueller did not exonerate the president of obstruction allegations. Mueller's family says that he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2021.

Let's bring in one of Mueller's former colleagues, Richard Kolko. He's a retired FBI supervisory special agent and also served as the bureau's national press office chief under Director Mueller.

Thank you so much for taking the time to join us. I'm curious how -- how you see Director Mueller being remembered. We

curious if you can hear me?

Okay. All right. Tell you what? We're going to see if we can get back. We have some audio issues. We're going to give it another shot in just a few moments and go back and continue that conversation. On the loss of Robert Mueller in just a few moments.

But for now, I do want to get you some of your other headlines as well. But for now, though, let's take a very quick short break and 'ill join you shortly after that. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:32:02]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

We do want to get you back to the story, the loss of Robert Mueller, the former FBI director. I want to go now to one of the former colleagues of the director, Richard Kolko. He's a retired FBI supervisory special agent.

And as we mentioned, he served as the bureaus national press office chief under Mueller.

Richard, can you hear me okay now?

RICHARD KOLKO, FORMER FBI NATIONAL PRESS OFFICE CHIEF UNDER MUELLER: I can hear you. Fine. I hope you can hear me.

SANDOVAL: All right. We hear you loud and clear. Thanks for -- thanks for your patience with those tech problems. I'm wondering if you could just start off by just telling us how you believe that Director Mueller will be remembered. I know he was a bronze star veteran and FBI director. To you, what will be his legacy?

KOLKO: Well, my legacy is clear. I think he's a tremendous man. A hero was wonderful for the bureau and wonderful for the country.

And I've been here on my computer looking -- we have a alumni page for a former FBI personnel, and it's just a glowing comments about him and what he did for the bureau and what he did for the country.

You have to remember going back to 9/11, it was almost bait and switch. I mean, he was joining what he thought was the finest criminal investigation agency going and a week later, it had to become the finest counterterrorism agency going -- very big changes in his just his first week there.

SANDOVAL: And Richard, thank you for sharing some of your personal pictures too, that were sharing with our viewers right now of you, along with the director back, back when you served under him.

Do you perhaps have a personal experience that you would like to share that will give you? Give us some insight into what his relationships were like inside of the bureau?

KOLKO: Well, many things. First of all, he really saved the bureau. After 9/11, there was a strong desire for many people to, dissect the bureau, tear it apart into an intelligence agency and a law enforcement agency separate that would not model would not have worked in the United States.

And he fought hard to help save the bureau. He did that. It was good for the FBI and good for the country and good for our security. But he was the type of man who, while stern, very attention to detail, same kind of man who would show up on Christmas eve in the command post on his own time to make sure his people were doing well.

Always concerned about everybody I can read through a lot of the comments and people who went through personal tragedies in their lives. He was the man who reached out to them without any fanfare, just to make sure people were good. And you know what he did professionally from not allowing the enhanced interrogations after 9/11 to making sure the wireless warrants were not approved, the man went out and took risks all the time, for him, for the FBI, for the country. And I think every one of them paid off.

SANDOVAL: And as the head of the bureau, especially as you mentioned, you know, the enhanced interrogation controversy, the debate that was that was raging decades ago, how would he essentially navigate that criticism that perhaps he would -- he would have to face on, on all sides of many debates?

KOLKO: He was a man of principle and a man of character, and he stood up for both and for what he thought was right. I mean, even to the attorney general, to the president of United States. He did what he thought was best based on his training, his experience going back to his early days.

I mean, you think about it in the 1960s when many men were looking for ways to avoid military service after graduating the ivy league, he still was willing to join the marine corps and not just join the marine corps, but a combat position went and went and fought for our country in the jungles of Vietnam. Not your regular guy. And that character that personality and that that stood out his entire career.

And he will, he was missed in the FBI and he'll be missed, in our country.

SANDOVAL: And of course, in 2017, he was selected by the DOJ to, to lead that investigation that would make him the subject of so much ire, especially from the president.

What do you think made him the best person to lead that probe? It came with an incredible and intense spotlight.

KOLKO: A spotlight that he avoided. I know -- I know that the spotlight was on him, but throughout the entire time he was special counsel, I do not believe he had one single press conference. He never spoke to the media. Everything you saw, heard and read was other people talking about what he was doing and that -- and to get bashed for so long and never respond, but just do his job to the best of his ability.

Not everybody agreed with it and that's for sure. But you know that he did it to the best of his ability and led his team to the best of his ability. And that will follow him forever. That he did a good job.

SANDOVAL: We have time for perhaps one more memory here. I'm sure there were a lot of young, up-and-coming agents that would join the bureau. I mean, can you recall any instances in which he offered some advice to men and women who were looking ahead to a bright future at the FBI?

KOLKO: Well, I used to go to a lot of graduations down at the FBI academy in Quantico, and his speech was always just an excellent speech. He kind of used a lot of the same speeches or versions of the same speech, but you could tell that not only was he talking to the new agents that that were graduating and getting their badge and credentials that day, a very, very proud day in a young person's professional life.

But he was also talking to the families of those agents letting them know what their role was, how important their role was, and how proud they should be of their family member who had just completed a training at the FBI academy and was joining the finest law enforcement, intelligence and counterterrorism agency, not only in the country but in the world that had taken on a life of service to help protect their country. He was a great leader, and he will be missed.

SANDOVAL: And we are thinking about director Mueller's family tonight. Richard Kolko, thank you so much for sharing some of these memories with us. Really appreciate your time.

KOLKO: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: And lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, they are condemning president Trump's reaction to Mueller's death. In the Truth Social post, the president wrote, "Good. I'm glad he's dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people," wrote the president.

That statement has been met with immediate pushback from Capitol Hill. In fact, a top Democrat said that it was disrespectful. While Republican senators are now calling out the president for celebrating the death of the former director.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I think that that's a -- that's a sad statement about where we are in our political discourse, to be honest with you, I don't celebrate -- I'm pro-life. I don't celebrate any death, and I certainly don't celebrate the death of somebody who you could disagree maybe on, on certain matters. But this is a person who served this country and, deserves more respect than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And to many, those comments may not be so surprising as the president does have a history of making similar insensitive comments. Let's move on now. Economists calling it a black swan event, an

economic shock that no one can see coming. But it's so destructive that it affects pretty much everyone. And that kind of calamity it is currently playing out in countries around the world right now because of the spike in energy prices that were caused by Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

In fact, some Asian countries, they are resorting to emergency measures to try to save any energy they have. Pakistan, for example, they closed schools for two weeks. India, they're rationing gas supplies. South Korea that just added itself to the list of countries that are hoping to restore navigation on the Strait of Hormuz. Well, that country has imposed its first fuel price cap in decades. And then the Philippines, they're mandating a four-day workweek.

As Ben Hunte reports, the energy crisis, it is really just causing a lot of changes across the continent.

[23:40:05]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN HUNTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a shock to the system in Asia. The chokehold in the strait of blocking most fuel and energy imports from the Middle East to Asia, normally more than 80 percent of the tankers in the waterway carrying crude oil and liquefied natural gas would be bound for Asia. But barely anything is moving now.

Some countries like China, Japan and South Korea have sizable oil stockpiles to help offset shortages. But other Asian nations only have a month or two of fuel in reserve. And for them, it's crisis mode. There are long lines for gas, particularly across Southeast Asia, where there has been panic buying and a surge in gas prices. The cost of petrol jumping more than 20 percent in Vietnam on Friday.

In Pakistan, a similar price hike at a time when many people were traveling for Eid al-Fitr. Some people say they can barely afford increasing bus fares.

JAHAN ZEB, PAKISTANI LABORER: Look, I'm a poor laborer. Apart from this expense, I have to go further. I have to buy clothes, et cetera, for the children. So much money has been spent on bus fare. I don't understand what to do next.

HUNTE (voice-over): High costs also forcing some migrant workers in India to head home. These workers in Gujarat, India's textile hub, say they don't know when they'll return because cooking gas isn't affordable, if it can even be found.

INDIAN MIGRANT WORKER: We are returning to our village. For five days, we didn't have gas. The company we work for is also about to be shut down. So what can we do? We are starving to death.

HUNTE (voice-over): Other countries are limiting some official operations to cut energy costs. Sri Lanka says it's closing its government institutions on Wednesdays, but says ports and hospitals will still function normally. The Philippines has switched many of its government offices to a four-day work week, and Bangladesh has closed universities to conserve electricity and fuel.

Airlines, too, are feeling the pinch. The price of jet fuel is skyrocketing, taking ticket prices with it and with fewer routes available as airlines avoid war zones, tourism could suffer. Thailand's tourism ministry estimates it could lose over $1 billion if airspace closures last eight weeks, as the war stretches on, economic hardship will expand. Because what happens in Asia will certainly impact the rest of the world.

Ben Hunte, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: All right. Let's stay on the global ramifications of the Middle East war and head over to Josh Kurlantzick. He's a senior fellow for Southeast Asia and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Josh, really appreciate you joining us tonight.

JOSHUA KURLANTZICK, SENIOR FELLOW, SOUTHEAST ASIA & SOUTH ASIA, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Thanks.

SANDOVAL: Give us a sense of how the mood has changed among consumers in Asia, especially since the start of the war. How worried are they right now?

KURLANTZICK: Pretty much everywhere except Japan, which has and Brunei and Malaysia, which are actually oil exporters. The mood is disastrous. It's not only about people, not being, feeling like they have the ability to buy things because they don't know, whether their economies are going to crash. There's actually a significant risk of protests which are already happening in many countries turning into violent riots.

India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, all of those countries have a history of fuel price rises leading to protests and violence. In fact, the dictator Suharto was toppled in 1998 and a major reason that led to the protests that toppled him was a spike in fuel prices.

SANDOVAL: What Asian countries do you think are at biggest risk of oil shortages?

KURLANTZICK: Bangladesh -- I mean, there are countries that are, really small and so poor that they're enormous risk like Myanmar, which is basically a failed state, but Bangladesh, Thailand Vietnam, the Philippines and Pakistan, Pakistan to some extent.

The wealthier countries, some of the wealthier countries do have fuel stockpiles, oil stockpiles, and China alone has a very significant, renewables portion of their economy. Plus, they -- whether they saw it coming or not, or they just made a wise decision, they stockpiled a huge amount of oil well before the Iran war. SANDOVAL: Yeah. We're listing some of the impacts right now,

especially there in Asia, some of these countries that are urging people, some of the steps that people should be taking there. And you see the list and some of them are perhaps more conventional, right?

You have school weeks being reduced in some cases, but then you have, like Thailand's prime minister asking people to take the stairs instead of the elevator. I mean, that spells desperation right now. Are any of these sort of measures sustainable if this war continues?

KURLANTZICK: Well, I think its sustainable to ask people to take the steps for a little while or -- but the thing that's not sustainable is that most of the Asian countries, are subsidizing the price of fuel in some way. Either they're releasing their own reserve funds like Vietnam or they're just dipping into their budget like Indonesia, or they're just handing out cash, like in the Philippines. That's not sustainable.

Except for the very rich countries, these other states don't have the ability to, in the long term, continue to subsidize fuel. Like Indonesia's going to blow through its budget. It's -- it has a certain cap on its budget ratio to GDP. It's going to blow through that. Others are just simply going to run out of money to, to pay for subsidies. And when they stop, that's when you're going to have significant, significant potential unrest.

So, the subsidies is the unsustainable thing, like turning down the air conditioning. If you've ever been to a place like Thailand, like you go from outside, its 100 Fahrenheit and you go in a mall, it's like 60 Fahrenheit. You can turn on the air conditioning and ask people to take the steps, but you just can't pay for months for people's fuel.

SANDOVAL: No, it's a very real risk. I'm glad you highlight that, which is the potential for civil unrest that we're seeing in some of these countries. And like, I like to take the stairs maybe to improve cardio health, not to keep the lights on. So, it is -- it's an impressive way. It's a unique way that some of these countries are coming -- are going about this.

Josh Kurlantzick, I really appreciate your expert perspective on this. Thank you.

KURLANTZICK: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: It's our pleasure.

And we'll be right back with more of your headlines. Don't go anywhere.

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[23:51:19]

SANDOVAL: The island of Cuba experiencing its second nationwide power outage in less than a week, and that's now leaving more than 10 million people in the dark. Still, you can barely make out the city skyline there on Saturday. The power grid collapsed on Saturday following Monday's island wide blackout.

The U.S. started blocking fuel shipments to Cuba three months ago, and the island had been heavily reliant on oil from Venezuela. The Cuban foreign minister has said that his nation is open to talks to end the fuel embargo. But on Saturday, the Cuban president said that the country is preparing for a potential attack.

These are comments that follow President Trump's threats of, quote, taking Cuba.

Joining us now from Havana is Montreal based singer songwriter and producer Luka Hollinger, who actually lives in the Cuban capital part time.

Luka, really appreciate you joining us. Thanks for coming back.

LUKA HOLLINGER, SINGER, SONGWRITER, PRODUCER, CREATOR: Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure. How are you doing?

SANDOVAL: Look, you're showing us around and I see some lights. I mean, have you seen anything? Have things changed?

HOLLINGER: Things are changing on a daily basis. I had to come to the downtown area, and I drove through maybe ten boroughs and no lights anywhere -- anywhere.

SANDOVAL: And so some of the lights that we see behind you, these are buildings that have either solar powered batteries or other means of keeping the lights on?

HOLLINGER: So, yeah, I'm at like the Cuban central park. So, these are all the hotels around me in the main area. And it's the only buildings that have light right now, apart from the private houses that have generators or solar panels.

SANDOVAL: And when you speak to Cubans, I'm curious, Luka, what are they telling you about who they perhaps hold responsible for, for what's been happening?

HOLLINGER: Everybody wants to find someone to blame. And to never ending game. Some people want to blame the government for the United States or Venezuela or Russia. There's a million things that we could talk about. But they don't really have a say in what's going on. So, I think that's the most important thing is that they don't -- they cannot decide their own future at this moment.

SANDOVAL: And in terms of the situation on the ground, there were concerns that we could see some frustrations boil over. I mean, what is the situation like on the streets of Havana, for example

HOLLINGER: So, one of the main things that I noticed is that there's not enough gasoline for the garbage trucks to pick up the trash. So there's trash piling up everywhere. And people have had enough and they started burning the piles of trash. So, you'll see some clouds of smoke in the city that doesn't smell or look good. I think that's a big problem

SANDOVAL: No power means no refrigeration for food. Is that certainly becoming an issue now?

HOLLINGER: It's becoming a big issue. I'm very fortunate and lucky to be able to buy food. Some people cannot buy food or keep food right now. I bought myself a really nice piece of pork the other day and I couldn't keep it very long in my fridge. I had to go charge my phone today at a coffee shop. I'm living off my little portable charger.

So, I'm an extremely privileged situation compared to most Cuban people here.

[23:55:06]

And, it's very hard. It's very hard. People are getting very frustrated. I find, I think.

SANDOVAL: And finally, is there hope that things will improve sooner rather than later?

HOLLINGER: I always have hope because without hope, life just gets really sad. I was talking to one of my friends right now, asking him if there's anything that he could, you know, help me with how he feels. And he was telling me that no matter how much hope he has, it doesn't really change anything for his reality.

And I'm like, that's so sad because hope is sometimes all we have left. And if you feel like your hope cannot change anything or brighten up the future, that's a pretty dark situation right there, Polo. I'm telling you.

SANDOVAL: Yeah, we have hope to stay in touch with you, Luka. Luka Hollinger, thank you so much for taking us through the streets of Havana. We wish you the best, and we'll certainly stay in touch.

HOLLINGER: Thank you very much. Much love to everybody around the world. Stay safe. Find the light.

SANDOVAL: Thank you, Luka.

Well, human rights activists -- they are condemning the hanging of three men in Iran who were executed in connection with nationwide protests back in January. They included a 19-year-old wrestler, Saleh Mohammadi, that's seen on his Instagram page. Iran's news agency said that the men were convicted for their role in the killing of two law enforcement officers at a police station. Rights groups say that their trials were a sham and that the U.S. had previously raised concerns about this.

A former Iranian athlete says that he's devastated by these executions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REZA SOLEIMANI, FORMER IRANIAN WATER POLO PLAYER: You know, I don't know, I'm just speechless, to be honest with you, I cannot even say anything right now about it. It's really sad moment. I feel that, you know, what happened with that kid.

You know, I wanted to thanks to so many of those athletes. Stay strong. And we saw that in the two months ago. How they stand beside their people. I mean, we had over 100 athletes got shot on the street.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And with that, thank you so much for joining us. I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after a quick break. Don't go anywhere.

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