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U.S.-Israeli War with Iran Nears One Month, Disruptions in Oil Supply Now Experienced Across Asia; Hannah Montana Celebrates 20 Years with an Anniversary Special. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired March 25, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers from all around the world, I'm Rosemary Church.

Well we are nearly one month into the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran, and missiles were seen in the skies over Israel and the West Bank overnight. But U.S. President Donald Trump is claiming victory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, I think we're going to end it, I can't tell you for sure. You know, I don't like to say this, we've won this. This war has been won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Sources tell CNN about a thousand U.S. soldiers are expecting to deploy to the region in the coming days. As President Trump suggests, a mysterious goodwill gesture from Iran is helping with diplomatic efforts. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They did something yesterday that was amazing, actually. They gave us a present and the present arrived today. It was a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money.

And I'm not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize. And they gave it to us and they said they were going to give it. So that meant one thing to me would deal with the right people.

REPORTER: Was that nuclear related?

TRUMP: No, it wasn't nuclear related. It was oil and gas related.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: An Iranian source tells CNN there has been outreach between the U.S. and Iran and Tehran is willing to listen to suitable proposals to end the war. But an Israeli official says a deal, quote, "does not appear tangible right now."

So let's bring in CNN's Paula Hancocks, she joins us live from Dubai. Good to see you again, Paula. So what more are you learning about negotiations to end this war and Iran not wanting U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to be involved?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Rosemary, we're hearing from two regional sources that Iranian representatives don't want Witkoff or Kushner involved in these negotiations because there is, according to these sources, now these were the two envoys that were involved in the negotiations that failed some 26 days ago. And we're also hearing further afield from other Iranian officials that the trust between the U.S. and Iran is really at rock bottom.

We've heard from the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying that it's very difficult for Iran to believe these offers of diplomacy at this point. They said in an interview with "India Today," I'll read you part of it.

Quote, "we have a very catastrophic experience with U.S. diplomacy. We were attacked twice within a span of nine months while we were in the middle of a negotiating process to resolve the nuclear issue. This was a betrayal of diplomacy and it happened not once but twice."

So he's referring there not just to 26 days ago when the war started, but back in June of last year when negotiations were underway between Iran and the U.S. And that's when Israel and the U.S. started bombing the nuclear facilities.

We are though still hearing optimism from the U.S. President saying that he believes a deal can be done. One Iranian official has told CNN that there is, quote, outreach saying that they're not looking for a ceasefire, but they're looking for a concrete agreement between Iran and the U.S. to make sure that this doesn't happen again. But also pointing out that nothing has reached the level of full-blown negotiations at this point.

Now there is still this deadline we did hear from the U.S. President saying at the beginning of the week that there would be five days before they made a decision as to whether or not to carry out attacks on Iran's power plants. That threat over the weekend really did escalate rhetorically, the tension between these two countries.

And then looking at the military aspect of this, we are still seeing Israel and the U.S. carry out their bombardments in Iran. We know that overnight there have been strikes in Tehran. And when it comes to Iran's response around this region, we know in Kuwait they had a fuel depot hit by drones or by the intercepted debris of drones at Kuwait International Airport.

[03:05:01]

Now we understand that firefighters have been putting out a fire in that area, no casualties. The airspace is closed at this point. But there has been damage. We have also heard that Saudi Arabia has been intercepting drones

overnight as well. So at the same time as we are hearing an increased discussion about diplomacy, certainly the U.S. side sounding far more positive than any other side, we are seeing these attacks continue. But certainly when it comes to regional diplomacy, there is a lot going on.

We understand that Turkey, Pakistan and Egypt are all involved in trying to push the negotiations forward, to push diplomacy forward, to try and bring this war to an end.

CHURCH: Paula Hancocks in Dubai with that live report, many thanks.

Well the war's disruption to energy markets is now being felt in more countries around the world. In Chile, people rush to fill up their gas tanks before a sharp increase in fuel prices goes into effect on Thursday. The capital, Santiago, is looking at a 30 percent hike for regular gas and 60 percent for diesel.

In Kenya, hundreds of retailers say they are running short on fuel. Regulators recently froze prices, but consumers are expecting an increase next month.

So let's go live now to Dubai and CNN's Eleni Giokos. So Eleni, what is the latest on the impact of the war with Iran on global markets and oil prices? And how is the lack of fuel affecting many people in many countries?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's all across the world. Hearing those stories coming through from emerging markets and non-oil producing countries, it just shows the ultimate impact of anything that happens in the oil and specifically downstream supply chain. It has ripple effects around the world.

And to reverse that, it's not going to be like a switch that you can quickly turn on, supply, and then everything goes back to normal. What is interesting, and I'm watching the Brent crude price and WTI, and yes, it's come down because there's a glimmer of hope that there could be a diplomatic off-ramp, that they're focused on perhaps conversations between the United States and Iran. But the fundamentals haven't changed.

The Strait of Hormuz is still under the control of Iran and only a trickle of vessels going through if they negotiate directly with Iran. Then you've got the issue of companies declaring what we say force majeure, so not selling product because they can't get their refined jet fuel out and other products and even fertilizer out into the international market. What is interesting here is we talk about the contagion, so the spillover effect on emerging markets.

We're seeing that in Asia, but we're also seeing it across the African continent and any other low-income country or any vulnerable country that is susceptible to any inflationary moves is going to feel that.

Aliko Dangote is the founder of Dangote Refinery, he's also a huge industrialist on the African continent. And he's sounding the alarm of what it could do to Africa as a whole, where you're already talking about what they're going through in Kenya.

Are the African countries experiencing something similar? I want you to take a listen, Rosemary, to his major concern as this war continues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALIKO DANGOTE, FOUNDER, DANGOTE GROUP: For us here, where we are in Africa is going to really affect people quite a lot. Countries are suing heavy debt and then this is going to increase quite a lot of hardship, especially in terms of inflation, in terms of exchange rates, in terms of a lot of things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Look, you've got the International Energy Agency talking about, don't drive if you don't need to, stay at home if you can, don't take a flight. We haven't had this kind of warning about bringing down demand in decades.

So it is a very dire situation and that's why I think President Trump, as well as the other allies in this region, are perhaps looking at what comes next and how quickly can they come to some kind of resolution, Rosemary. In the meantime, pain is felt everywhere.

CHURCH: Yes, it certainly is. Eleni Giokos, bring us that live report from Dubai. Many thanks.

Well, there's growing concern across Asia over the rise in fuel prices and disruption to energy supplies. We've seen protests break out like this one in the Philippines.

The country's President has now declared a state of national energy emergency, warning of an imminent danger to the availability of energy supplies. The government plans to help some taxi drivers and transport workers with rising fuel costs as frustration builds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (through translator): It's overwhelming. It's a lot to deal with because tomorrow you'll never know how to adjust the money that you earn. Our earnings keep shrinking.

There are times when I think it's possible I stop working for now because I get home and not have enough and I get very exhausted. I then have to wake up at 5 a.m. early morning the next day and go home at 8 p.m. at night. Then I count my earnings and it's barely enough.

That is the most painful thing happening to us because of the rise in cost of diesel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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CHURCH: Countries are taking steps to try and limit the impact. Pakistan has announced austerity measures including school closures and work from home policies, South Korea has imposed its first fuel price cap in nearly 30 years, the Philippines said it's rolling out a four-day work week for some government officers, and now China has taken the rare step of adjusting its fuel pricing mechanism to limit the impact of rising global oil prices on its own market.

Joining me now from Melbourne is Liam Gammon, a research fellow with the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research at the Australian National University, he's also the managing editor of "East Asia Forum." I appreciate you joining us.

LIAM GAMMON, THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, RESEARCH FELLOW, EAST ASIAN BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, AND MANAGING EDITOR, "EAST ASIA FORUM": Thanks, glad to be here.

CHURCH: So as the war with Iran rages on, it's having a massive impact on Asian nations as we've seen, with the fuel shortage taking a considerable toll. How bad is it right now and how much worse could it get if this war continues for many more days, weeks, perhaps months?

GAMMON: I mean, that is, I guess, the multi-trillion dollar question.

I mean, in a nutshell, how bad is it? It's bad. Just how bad it will get is going to be determined.

Well, just how bad it does get, I should say, will unfold unevenly across the region, depending on countries' industrial profiles, how much reserves they have in the tank, their vulnerability to spot price movements, all that sort of thing.

And the key thing, the key side of uncertainty is what your previous speaker said, which is this isn't a sort of a tap that you can just turn on and turn off. The conflict could notionally end tomorrow. And still, you will still have a huge chunk of the region's energy imports just physically cut off for some time just because of the damage to the infrastructure.

And the key thing, of course, in East Asia being the dependency of a lot of countries for their electricity supplies on LNG and a lot of really crucial industries. So, we're talking about petrochemicals, we're talking about chips. So, even as the fiscal impacts and the inflationary impacts of a price spike are not going to be even across the region, the knock-on effects and all these really crucial production chains are really going to reverberate across the region, even if governments somehow find a way to cushion the blow immediately to consumers and industries through subsidies and use of reserves and the like.

CHURCH: And we did list how some Asian governments are responding to this fuel crisis. Which are doing a better job as supply drops and demand increases and what more do they need to do?

GAMMON: Well, I mean, I think that the government responses that you summarized earlier are a good sort of, I guess, an indicator of how serious the problem is. Depending on how long this goes on, prices are not going to be -- prices will eventually become the least of their worries. Because, as you mentioned, the supply shock, the actual running out of supply will be the bigger issue in terms of slowing or shutting down industries.

And so, it's very important, I think, the government's focusing on just controlling demand out of the precautionary principle. So, in the short term, there are going to be naturally some pressures in countries where fuel is heavily subsidized to control the price. That will only work so far -- that essentially will only work so far as there is supply.

If you can't buy fuel at any cost, well, then that's when you get into that zone of what economists call demand destruction. You are simply having transport networks grind to a halt.

You are having industries shut down. So, anything that can be done now to basically use what reserves they have, what is on domestic markets more efficiently, I think is a positive step.

Going further, though, one of the other things that we're going to see right in the immediate future is coal is really having a moment. You're seeing Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines all lean heavily back into coal as a sort of emergency measure. The concern would be is if that sort of sticks and that impedes what is a much more sustainable pathway to energy security, which is a progressing energy transition.

CHURCH: Right, and going forward, what do Asian nations need to be doing to become less dependent on imported fuel? I mean, particularly when you're about the Asian nations have access to the sun, solar panels, all sorts of alternatives. What sort of investigation is there with that and what sort of outreach for that?

[03:15:07]

GAMMON: Look, you're absolutely right. And I think it's well understood by technocrats and political leaders within the region that leaving aside any sort of moral or ethical questions about, you know, the needing to combat climate change, the energy transition is a crucial part of sustainable long term energy security.

The trouble is, it's very difficult to disentangle that at the domestic level with the idea that the green and the energy transition is a way to industrialize, to get jobs, to get factories. Everyone wants to build solar panels. Everyone wants to build their own electric vehicle, build their own wind turbines and so on.

But the reality is that if you want to accelerate this necessary transition, you are at least for a time going to be dependent on manufactured green technologies, solar panels, wind turbines and the like that are manufactured in China. So a really important priority is basically lowering barriers to the trade in those sorts of goods. Believe it or not, there are still tariffs and non-tariff barriers on a lot of green technology, green energy technologies.

So a really early, a really important priority step is to get together, use the multilateral trade agreements that are available to the region, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, ASEAN plus one FTAs. These are trade deals that are signed between ASEAN and its major economic partners, including China, Japan, Korea, and get those barriers to the trade in these goods down.

Then later on, we can have a conversation among that group about, well, how do you actually make sure that the production chains of these green energy tech actually spread outside of China? Bigger issue as well, along with the security of the critical minerals, but that's something that may have to be sorted out over the long term too.

CHURCH: Liam Gammon, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it.

GAMMON: Happy to. Thanks.

CHURCH: Thank you.

Well, Russia is ramping up its aerial attacks across Ukraine, still to come, the latest on the fallout after Moscow launched almost a thousand drones in less than a day, and without a war in mind. Back with that and more in a moment.

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CHURCH: Russia appears to have launched one of its largest attacks in the war with Ukraine so far. Ukraine's President says at least 40 people were injured across the country after Moscow reportedly fired almost a thousand drones in just 24 hours.

More than half of those strikes occurred during a rare daytime assault. According to Ukraine's air force, the drones mainly targeted the country's central and western regions.

One of the strikes damaged part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, a monastery complex in the western city of Lviv. The city's mayor says at least 22 people were wounded in the attacks.

Joining me now live from Kyiv, Ukraine, is the President of the Kyiv School of Economics, Tymofiy Mylovanov. I appreciate you talking with us.

TYMOFIY MYVOLANOV, PRESIDENT, KYIV SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Thank you.

CHURCH: So, after Russia launched one of its biggest attacks on Ukraine since the start of this war, President Zelenskyy said it's proof Russia has no intention of ending the war. He wants to see more pressure applied to Moscow to end it. But how will that happen while the world's attention is on the war, pretty much fully on the war with Iran right now?

MYLOVANOV: I think that's absolutely true and very unfortunate because Russia is using this opportunity, has been using the distraction of attention to escalate. And President Zelenskyy is absolutely right. I've been here in this war for four years, a full-scale invasion for years.

Non-stop, I'm used to missiles. But yesterday was pretty bad. It's for the first time it was during the day when people are at work, in traffic jams, you know, in shops.

This is actually much more deadly than before. So, I think we need to speak about this and to draw a connection that Russia is an ally of Iran. And then they are coordinating not only intelligence, but also technology and their military capabilities. So, I think we shouldn't view it in isolation.

CHURCH: Right. And of course, Russia fired nearly 1000 drones, didn't it, in just the 24 hours and during the day, as you mentioned, which can be very deadly, with residents working and living, walking the streets, directed at Ukraine's central and western regions. So, how bad were those attacks, and what is the strategy behind them, and how likely is it that the supply of Iranian drones could run dry for Russia very soon because Tehran needs them for its war?

MYLOVANOV: Yes, I'm hopeful that's going to be the case. But Russia so far has been using much, you know, many more drones and much more intensive approach than is used in Iran.

And so, in fact, I think, I hope it will never come to that in Iran, to that level of intensity. But yes, I think there are at least several very practical things which can be done. And one important of them is bypassing of sanctions on electronics for production of these drones.

I think the world can do much more in terms of enforcing and imposing secondary sanctions on those companies and individuals which facilitate production of these drones.

[03:25:10]

CHURCH: And what is your assessment of where the war in Ukraine stands right now?

MYVLOVANOV: So, I'm still thinking that we have a chance, about 50 to 60 percent chance, to get to some kind of ceasefire, whether it's formal or informal, this year.

It's not going to happen next week, obviously. It's not going to happen in a month. But it can happen before the midterm elections in the United States.

Unfortunately, I think if that window of opportunity closes, I think the war can go for at least another year or two, which is going to be devastating and really disrupting not only for Ukraine, but for the entire of Europe.

CHURCH: More on our coverage of the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran just ahead, including the IDF's move to ramp up operations in Lebanon. You're watching CNN. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom," I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.

U.S. President Donald Trump is expressing optimism that a deal with Iran may be in sight. He says Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are leading negotiations with Tehran, and an Iranian source told CNN that Tehran is willing to listen to sustainable proposals to end the war.

New details in the investigation into the deadly collision at New York's LaGuardia Airport. The NTSB says a fire truck, which was hit by an Air Canada jet, was not equipped with a transponder, which helps air traffic controllers identify and track vehicles. We've also learned the airport's surface detection equipment did not generate an alert before the collision.

More long security lines are expected at some U.S. airports in the coming hours. Houston's George Bush International Airport says travelers may be waiting at TSA checkpoints for upwards of four hours. Wait times have been increasing the past few weeks amid a partial U.S. government shutdown.

Israel is ramping up its offensive on Lebanon. The IDF said earlier it had targeted fuel stations across the country, this as Israel expands strikes on the capital Beirut and moves to cut off southern Lebanon. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has the latest.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: The Israelis say that they have blown up five separate bridges across that Litani River, which separates the southernmost area of Lebanon, which is considered to be Hezbollah stronghold, Shia majority area, from the rest of Lebanon. The Israeli military says that it is to prevent Hezbollah from smuggling weapons into southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops are increasingly encroaching on Lebanese territory.

But Lebanese officials say that this is also posing a humanitarian problem, preventing people from eventually being able to return to that area and preventing those who are still living south of the Litani River from getting the essential supplies that they need in order to live.

And this all comes as the Israeli defense minister and other top Israeli officials are indicating more and more that the future holds a ground operation for the Israeli military, a significant offensive into Lebanese territory. We know that Israeli troops are already operating, you know, a few miles into Lebanese territory.

But we've heard yesterday from the Israeli finance minister, the far- right minister, Bezalel Smutrich, today from Israel Katz, both of them kind of pointing at this strategy of controlling the entire area up to that Litani River, holding the territory in the future.

And we don't yet know if that means using ground troops to do so. But it does come as the Israeli government today raised the cap for the number of reserve soldiers that they can have up to 400,000 from 280,000.

Doesn't mean they're going to call all of them up. But it certainly does give the Israeli government the option to do so if they wanted to carry out a major offensive in Lebanon.

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CHURCH: A jury orders Meta to pay hundreds of millions of dollars over child safety violations. We'll have details for you after the break.

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CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN, this is your Business Breakout. So let's start by looking at the Asia markets. All in positive territory there, you can see that Japan's Nikkei has added nearly 3 percent.

And these are the business headlines.

Qatar Energy has announced a so-called force majeure on some of its long term liquefied natural gas contracts. The move gives the company the right to suspend its supply agreements because its facilities have been damaged in the Iran war. The state owned company sends gas to China, Italy, South Korea and Belgium.

An explosion and fire at a major oil refinery in Texas could make gas even costlier for Americans. The blast broke out at the Valero facility on Monday, the fire was still burning a day later. Wholesale gas prices were up about $0.10 a gallon on the news, the average retail price of a gallon of gas in the U.S. is now approaching $4.

Tech company, OpenAI, is shutting down its video generation app Sora just months after its release. The app drew criticism from copyright holders since it was widely using intellectual property and the likenesses of celebrities in the videos it generated. OpenAI says it will instead focus on other priorities.

[03:40:02]

Jurors in New Mexico have ruled against Meta in a child exploitation case. They found the social media giant failed to safeguard kids from child predators and did not warn parents about its platform's risks. The verdict marks the first time Meta has been held legally liable over these issues.

CNN's Clare Duffy has more details. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Really significant decision in New Mexico here. This case was filed back in 2023 by New Mexico's Attorney General accusing Meta of creating a breeding ground for child predators by failing to keep bad actors off of Facebook and Instagram, failing to prevent them from messaging teens and kids they don't know on the platform, and for failing to warn users and parents about these risks.

Now, Meta had pushed back saying that it is honest about the fact that some bad actors and bad content slip through its safety filters, but the jury here found Meta liable on all counts for violating New Mexico's consumer protection law, finding that the company willfully engaged in deceptive and unfair and unconscionable trade practices, and they've ordered Meta to pay $375 million in damages.

Now, Meta says it will appeal this decision, and I'll read you what a Meta spokesperson told me in response to this decision. They said, "We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal. We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and are clear about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors or harmful content."

And just to take a step back here, look, $375 million is sort of a drop in the bucket for a company as big as Meta, but this is nonetheless a very important moment. This company has for years faced concerns from parents and advocates and lawmakers over the risks to children on its platform, and this is the first time that we are seeing a jury hold the company accountable for those risks.

This is also just the first phase of this trial, so there will be another phase presented directly to the judge where we could see the company ordered to pay additional financial damages and also potentially to make changes to its platform. And I certainly think that you'll see other state A.G.s watching this result closely. Potentially, this presents an approach for other states to follow with the success of this New Mexico decision.

Back to you.

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CHURCH: A rare set of gorilla twins were born in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park. Newly released video shows a mother holding onto her two-week-old twins, one female, one male. Park officials say this is an extraordinary event because it's the second set of twins born at the park this year, they say the likelihood of endangered mountain gorillas having twins is less than one percent.

Miley Cyrus is celebrating the best of both worlds, the "Hannah Montana" star is marking 20 years since the show's launch with an anniversary special on Disney-plus. The special revisits the show's legacy with surprise guests, special performances and an exclusive interview, "Hannah Montana" follows the life of a teen who was also secretly a pop star. Cyrus says the special is her way of finally merging Hannah and Miley together.

Thank you so much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Enjoy the rest of your day. "World Sport" is coming up next.

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