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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

U.S. Senate Moves To Fund Most Of Homeland Security Dept.; Trump Delays Strikes On Iran's Energy Sites By 10 Days; Asian Countries Grapple With Energy Crisis, Fuel Shortages. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired March 27, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

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[04:00:32]

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, hello and welcome to our viewers joining us around the world. I'm Becky Anderson, live from our Middle East programming headquarters here in Abu Dhabi.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Rahel Solomon, live this morning in New York.

We want to begin this morning with breaking news out of Washington. Forty days into the partial U.S. government shutdown, there is finally some real hope that it could end soon. During a rare overnight session, the Senate moved to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, everything but the controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, and part of Customs and Border Protection.

The U.S. House still does have to approve the plan, but pressure has been mounting on lawmakers to end the impasse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: I thought Democrats had learned their lesson on defunding law enforcement. But I guess we're right back there. Do they think that defunding law enforcement will be a winning issue for them in November? If I were Democrats, I might think twice before I assume that.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: In the wake of the murders of Rene Good and Alex Pretti, Senate Democrats were clear, no blank check for a lawless ICE and Border Patrol. This long overdue agreement funds TSA, the Coast Guard, FEMA, CISA, strengthens security at the border and the ports of entry, and keeps Americans safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Transportation security workers are poised to miss their second full paycheck this weekend, and many have not been showing up for work at America's busiest airports, which have caused massive lines, missed flights, and, of course, lots of passenger frustration. We're joined now by Michael Moran. He is a senior advisor to risk modeling firm Chantico Technology. He is also a lecturer in political risk at the Korbel School of International Affairs at the University of Denver. And he joins us this morning from Portugal.

Great to have you this morning, Michael, on this breaking news. Your first reaction to this news, it took 42 days, but it appears we are on the cusp of a deal here.

MICHAEL MORAN, SENIOR ADVISOR, CHANTICO TECHNOLOGY: Yes, I think, you know, political risk is kind of my thing. You look at the risks that both of these parties were involved with in terms of suspending, you know, funding at a time when, you know, there's a war raging. So Democrats appear to have come out fairly well from this because, after all, now most of Homeland Security will be funded.

They didn't have to put money into ICE, which is the great objection here. So to some extent, you could look at this as the Republicans saying, hey, we need to make a deal. On the other hand, you know, both parties were running real risks had there been some kind of an incident.

We already saw a plane crash during this period. Of course, that has nothing to do with this. But in the public mind, you know, they're thinking, well, here's an airport where clearly air traffic controllers appear to have been overstretched. Is it really very smart to be doing this to security personnel within these airports?

SOLOMON: I hear you say that perhaps the Democrats came out a little bit ahead on this. But do both parties come out a bit tainted from this? I mean, 42 days, you have, you know, thousands of people missing a paycheck. Millions of people who have had to endure more than a month of frustration at airports across the country. I mean, do both parties come out of this scathed?

MORAN: Absolutely. I think going back to the Clinton administration, when these tactics really started, the shutdowns of Congress, by Congress of the government, the party that really is hurt here is government in general. It is a further erosion of respect and trust for institutions.

Congress has very, very, very low approval ratings, regardless of which party is in charge of it. And similarly, the federal government is, you know, taken a beating in its reputation over the years. And this does not help at all.

SOLOMON: And Michael, can't help but to notice that you are in Portugal. I'm not sure if we interrupted a vacation or a family vacation, but you have clearly been through the airports recently. Talk to us about your experience. And I'm also really curious, I mean, having traveled abroad, what Europeans and what the people that you've experienced think of just what we've been witnessing here in the U.S. in terms of our funding dilemma and predicament.

[04:05:07] MORAN: Yes, I mean, my job takes me all over the place. And I have very recently been through the airport in Denver, in Newark, in New Jersey, as well as I was at Stansted in the U.K. just earlier this week. What's noticeable is that in the U.S., the -- there's a degree of discontent, you might say, with the TSA employees.

They seem to be doing their best, but the lines were much longer. They are noticeably longer than, for instance, in the U.K. Now, that's sort of ironic because the U.K. is much more likely, as is most of Europe, to, you know, see blowback from the Iran war because it's just a softer target. It's closer. There are much larger groups of expatriate, possibly nefarious people, you know, that might have been infiltrated into their societies.

So ultimately, security is up everywhere. That was also noticeable through the, you know, subways in New York City, for instance. But ultimately, you know, if you take it back to the politics, this is a real problem that has its stem in what happened in Minneapolis, really. And the Democrats took a real, you know, a gamble in doing this after ICE had been involved in those killings in Minneapolis.

And if you look at it from a zero-sum, you know, perspective, Schumer and his party have to be relatively happy that nothing happened in the meantime while they were holding DHS funding hostage. And now the Republicans have given in without forcing them to give money to ICE. That's an interesting outcome for the Democrats.

SOLOMON: Michael Moran, we appreciate you hopping on to help us parse through this breaking news. Thank you.

MORAN: Thank you very much.

SOLOMON: We're going to have much more on this on the hours ahead, and including what it means for anyone traveling by air. But for now, I want to send it back over to my colleague, Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi.

ANDERSON: Thank you. Really important news overnight. Thank you for that. Now to the war with Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump weighing options for dramatically escalating the conflict should his push for diplomacy fail.

Sources tell CNN those options would likely involve ground forces, but no guarantee of ending the conflict. Meanwhile, the President does say he is pausing strikes on Iranian energy sites for another 10 days as talks with Tehran are ongoing, he says. But he refused to answer questions about any plans for U.S. forces to secure, for example, Iran's uranium.

Here's more of what he said about talks with Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know if we'll be able to do that. I don't know if we're willing to do that. They want to make a deal. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to shit. I mean, I read a story today that I'm desperate to make a deal. I'm not -- I don't -- if I was desperate, he'd be the first to know me. Let's get the hell out of there. I'm the opposite of desperate. I don't care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, the President also said that taking over Iran's oil supply is an option, although he didn't want to talk about that. And he finally revealed what Iran's present to the U.S. was. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You know, I told you about a present, right? Steve, can I reveal the present?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can do whatever you want.

TRUMP: They said to show you the fact that we're real and solid and we're there. We're going to let you have eight boats of oil, eight boats, eight big boats of oil. Eight big tankers are going loaded up with oil right through. And I said, well, I guess, I guess they were right and they were real. And I think they were Pakistani flagged. And I said, well, I guess we're dealing with the right people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, CNN's Eleni Giokos standing by this hour in Dubai with more on what is moving through the Strait of Hormuz, the war's impact and the effect of fuel prices on the markets. I want to begin, though, with our Paula Hancocks, who is in Abu Dhabi.

Donald Trump then has said he will hold off on targeting Iranian energy sites for another 10 days as, "Talks are ongoing with Tehran." Paula, what does that time by in terms of this region?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, we know that sources tell us the White House was planning on having some kind of discussions with Iran, most likely indirectly, in Pakistan this weekend. It doesn't look as though that will materialize, or at least it seems unlikely at this point.

[04:10:14]

So what it does is it gives, according to the U.S. President, diplomacy a chance to play out without the extra pressure of that deadline, which does seem quite flexible. It was 48 hours, then it was a week, now it is 10 days. So we are hearing still optimism from the U.S. side. We are hearing scepticism from the Iranian side that there is no trust in the American word after they have had two rounds of negotiations, both of which ended in a war.

But what we are also hearing from sources is that the U.S. President is weighing up his options when it comes to the opposite side of what he could decide to do, which is extending the military activities, which could involve taking over certain assets, boots on the ground potentially.

Now, we understand that this next phase, if it happens, there have been scenarios drawn up, as you might expect. We know that there are still more troops that are incoming, but there are concerns among half a dozen people that are familiar with these scenarios that have spoken to CNN. There are concerns that these are high-risk strategies and that they could result in a number of U.S. casualties.

We have also heard from the Supreme Leader's advisor saying that any attacks on Iran will have boomerang retaliation to those countries that carried out those attacks.

Now, we are also hearing more threats from Iran through the semi- official Fars News Agency saying that their target list is extending, that they are also potentially now going to target hotels in the region where they believe U.S. military personnel are hiding. They have mentioned this in the past, but they now say, according to state- run media, that they believe this is beyond just the UAE and Bahrain.

Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister of Iran, had said that he understands U.S. military personnel had moved out of the U.S. bases, knowing they were a target, into hotels. So at the same time as you're talking about diplomacy, Becky, there are extensions potentially of the violence on the ground.

ANDERSON: Eleni, Asian markets mostly lower after the biggest drop for U.S. equity markets Thursday since the start of the war. Asian countries already among the hardest hit by this continued disruption in the Strait of Hormuz. What's the latest?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and it's very important to note that this conflict extends far beyond the battlefield. This is now turning into a global energy shock, a global energy crisis. And, you know, just looking at what's happening in the Philippines, where the foreign minister says there are only 40 to 45 days left of fuel supply.

You've got people out in the streets that are protesting because you've got higher oil prices, and then importantly, you've got rationing happening as well. And it's the Asian countries that are really feeling the effects of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

And then importantly, I want to take you through what we're seeing, you know, from big institutions, and we need to really pay attention to this. The OECD says that inflation for OECD countries, G20 countries in particular, are going to breach 4 percent. That includes the United States.

Growth predictions are also being downgraded extensively. The WTO says that this is the largest trade disruption in 80 years. And then we heard from the ECB president, Christine Lagarde, saying that we haven't fully taken into consideration the full extent of this crisis, of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and also the impact on critical energy infrastructure, Becky, across the region as well.

So the longer this continues, the bigger the impact is globally. And we also know we've heard harsh words from ADNOC CEO, Sultan Al Jaber, where he says that the whole world is held at ransom because of what we're seeing in the Strait. Again, there's talk that perhaps there's going to be intervention in the Strait, some kind of coalition. That has not materialized as yet. But the epicenter of what we're seeing right now is, frankly, the chain reaction across the world.

ANDERSON: Absolutely. Eleni, thank you. Paula, good to have you.

[04:14:30]

Still ahead, long lines then at gas stations in Thailand amid an energy crisis, as we've been discussing, caused by this war with Iran. After the break, Thailand's Minister of Foreign Affairs joins me to discuss the impact this is having on his country.

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ANDERSON: Countries across Asia are taking drastic measures as they grapple with what is this global energy crisis caused by the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz and the war with Iran. Thailand's government said it would reduce its subsidy on oil prices, which has led to panic buying.

Joining me now from Bangkok is Thailand's Minister of Foreign Affairs. It's good to have you. So, Thailand, thousands of miles from the conflict. You are, though, already seeing real economic pain. Just how serious is the impact on Thailand right now?

SIHASAK PHUANGKETKEOW, THAI FOREIGN MINISTER: Well, of course, the war in Iran and the crisis in the Middle East has impacted the countries here in Southeast Asia, Thailand included. And as noted by the Foreign Minister of the Philippines when she did the interview the other day, I think all of us have been impacted by the dramatic, rapid rise in fuel prices.

[04:20:21]

And as a result of that, you know, there are increased pressures on cost of living. And so we all have to manage. The Thai government, you know, we have emergency measures in place to manage the rise in fuel prices and also to minimize the impact on the people, the cost of living, and especially among the low-income earners. So we're doing our best to cope with the difficult situation.

ANDERSON: Thailand, as I understand it, Thailand has about 100 days of oil reserves left. Sorry. Thailand has about 100 days of oil reserves left, as I understand it. What does that mean in terms of everyday life, sir? And what are you doing to mitigate that impact?

PHUANGKETKEOW: Of course, I think we have to avoid panic among the people. As you mentioned, we have 100 days of oil reserve, and we're trying to manage that wisely. But of course, because of the concern among the people, there has been some panic buying. And right now, we're trying to calm down public sentiments that the government has, you know, policies to deal with the situation. ANDERSON: What's the damage to your growth forecasts at this point? And has this war exposed just how vulnerable Thailand and other Asian countries' energy security really is at this point?

PHUANGKETKEOW: Yes, that's very important these days, I think, energy security. And in fact, there was a special meeting of the ASEAN foreign ministers that was proposed by Thailand a week ago. And during that meeting, we expressed concern about the situation, reinforced our call for peace and peaceful resolution.

But most importantly, we discussed seriously about the need for the ASEAN countries, the 11 countries of ASEAN, to think about how we can cooperate in terms of energy security, especially in an emergency situation like this.

ANDERSON: Does this moment deepen Thailand's economic reliance on China?

PHUANGKETKEOW: I'm sorry, I couldn't hear the question very well.

ANDERSON: Does this emergency, this moment, deepen Thailand's economic reliance on China?

PHUANGKETKEOW: No, I think we have to rely on countries in the region. You know, it's a time where all of us will have to help each other. It's not about being dependent on any particular country. Even China is also facing, you know, an energy emergency as well. So it's not about relying on any particular country. It's about working together as a region and where we can help each other.

ANDERSON: I realize this is very tough. A Thai-flagged vessel was struck in the Strait of Hormuz on March 11th. The crew is missing. It's now run aground on an Iranian island. What can you tell us about that vessel and the status of its crew? Does Thailand now see itself as directly exposed or involved?

PHUANGKETKEOW: Well, the vessel came under attack from the Iranian side. We don't know the exact circumstances of what happened. The ship became incapacitated. And the Omani authorities helped with the rescue of 20 crew members. We still have three crew members that are unaccounted for on board.

Now I think the main thing is to bring the ship to the coast and try to rescue the three remaining crew members. And we're not sure about their fate right now. And of course we are in consultation with the Iranian authorities. We have protested strongly because we think that Thailand is not a party to the conflict.

[04:25:00]

And the ship, the vessel in question, was carrying normal cargo, commercial cargo. And usually when you're not a party to the conflict, under international law you have the right of safe passage, the freedom of navigation. So we urge the Iranian authorities to respect international law and those principles. ANDERSON: Foreign Minister, it's good to have you this morning to talk about the significant impact that this war is having on your economy and other economies of course around the region. Thank you very much indeed.

And we will have the latest just ahead, including new CNN reporting on U.S. plans to capture an Iranian island crucial to the flow of oil through that Strait of Hormuz. That is after this.

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