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National Average Gas Price Nearly $4 Per Gallon; Iranian State Media: Tehran Won't Accept Ceasefire; NASA Announces New Mars Mission. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired March 25, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Ed, I know you've been covering Texas for CNN for about 25 years or so and doing a great job I must say, but have you ever seen anything like this, whether in Houston or Dallas or any of the other major cities in Texas over these 25 years?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, and all my time at CNN, traveled all over the country as well, I've never seen lines like this in airports at any time. The -- like what we've seen unfold here over the last few days has been incredibly dramatic and I can't think of a time where we saw anything like this.

BLITZER: Yes, I've been covering these stories for a long time too. I don't remember a time when we've seen anything at all like this. Ed Lavandera in Houston for us, thank you very, very much.

Just ahead, could states help make gas cheaper? We're making it make sense, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:35:00]

BLITZER: Happening now, the national average price for a gallon of gas is almost $4 this morning. It's the highest in four years, but the price you pay at the pump could fall potentially if, it's a huge if, if states or the federal government suspended the gas tax.

CNN Business Senior Reporter David Goldman is here to make it make some sense. So, David, today's question is, without a gas tax, what would I be paying for gas?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Such a good question, Wolf. We love all of these questions and please keep sending them. Makeitmakesense@cnn.com.

Without a gas tax, what would I pay? Good question because we need some relief. $3.98 today. That's the national average. We're up more than 20 cents just in the past week. And look at this. Remember, $2.98. That's what it was right before the war. That felt pretty good. We would all love to go back to that. So, is there a way that we can get these prices down? Yes. Look, first of all, we're paying a lot more than $3.98. My goodness. $5.83 in California. $5.30 in Washington. $4.87 in Oregon. And it just doesn't feel that good if you're on the West Coast. I don't know how you're doing in California right now.

OK. So, let's take a look at the gas tax suspension. So, we get rid of the gas tax. This looks so much better now. Look at that. $5.22 in California. We're at $4.75 in Washington. I want you to take look at Oregon. Oregon, you're going to save about 40 cents if we get rid of that gas tax. I want to do the math for you. 40 cents per gallon. We're going to fill a big SUV today, Wolf. If we ran out of gas, we've got a 20-gallon tank to fill, that's $8. We just saved $8 if we're going to get rid of the gas tax in Oregon, fill our big SUV.

But hang on a second. It's not actually $8 because the gas stations set the gas prices, not the State of Oregon, not any of these states. And so, a gas station has to play ball. They have to lower their prices by as much as the state gas tax. That's why generally we're seeing about 80 percent of those savings go into your pocket, not the full 100.

Why do we even have a gas tax? It's a good question. Well, if you're driving on the road, that does a lot of wear and tear on the road. We need to build better infrastructure in this country. We all know that. That gas tax goes to fund that, roads, bridges, tunnels, that kind of thing. But also, we know that you create a lot of smog. We need better environmental protections. That goes in some states to fund that. And obviously, public transportation in big cities, we need to have that. And that offsets some of the cost of driving on the roads.

OK. What if we suspended the gas tax? $0.33 in Georgia just went away because Georgia did suspend the gas tax. $37 -- I'm sorry $0.37 for diesel. Remember, everything that goes on a truck gets more expensive because they're paying those high diesel costs. Five dollars in some places. It's very, very expensive. That adds a lot of money to everything that's sitting on a truck.

There's also a federal gas tax, $0.18. But there's a bipartisan bill to get rid of this. Is that going to happen? Wolf, you know what happens in Congress, not too much, probably not. But that could lower your prices even more. But I'm going to tell you right now some bad news. I don't think it's going to happen. We had the one big, beautiful bill act.

Remember, this took billions of dollars of funding away from states. That means probably not going to happen because states need the money from the gas tax to fill their coffers. Also, this is a long-lasting shock. This is much longer than we than in 2022. We think it's just not going to be feasible for states to lower that gas tax.

And I want to say one more thing about this. In 2022, it was a very, very different economy today. People are going into their savings. In 2022 people had a lot of savings because of all the stimulus. That's why people are asking this question. They really want to know, is there any way that we can lower their prices? I wish I had better news, but the gas tax could be one way if we decided to do that. Wolf. BLITZER: And it's true that and I want you to just go into this a little bit while I have you, David, that it's really -- it hurts the middle class and poor families, these gas taxes more than it does richer people because they can afford it. The poorer people, the middle class, it makes a bigger dent on their day to day than it does for wealthier people.

[10:40:00]

GOLDMAN: Well, that's exactly right. $3.98 doesn't mean so much if you have the money to pay for it. In fact, we know that we're in a K- shaped economy. What does that mean? It means that the top end of the K, the wealthiest people, they're spending like nothing is going on, but the people on the bottom end of the K, that line's pointing down, and this is a big reason because this eats into people's paychecks. We got a story today about how people are sacrificing meals to be able to afford this. It's a big problem.

BLITZER: It certainly is. All right. David Goldman, thank you very, very much. And if -- to our viewers, if you'd like David to help you make it make sense, email your question or send us a selfie video of your question to makeitmakesenseatcnn.com. It's all one word. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:45:00]

BLITZER: We're back with breaking news. Iran's state-backed media now says Tehran will not accept a ceasefire, calling it not logical to enter to talks with the United States. Earlier, Iran mocked the latest U.S. push to try to end the war. President Trump has expressed optimism over a deal, saying Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio are leading the negotiations.

CNN global affairs analyst and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Karim Sadjapour, is joining us right now. Karim, what does all this tell you about where things stand right now?

KARIM SADJAPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND IRAN EXPERT: Well, Wolf, President Trump is in a predicament because his goal wasn't to enter a long-term war in the Middle East. His goal was to turn a country which was a longtime adversary into a partner, as he did in Venezuela. And obviously that hasn't turned out as expected.

And Iran right now feels that it has the upper hand, given it's controlling this very key corridor of the global economy, the Strait of Hormuz. And as long as oil prices are trending up, that means popular opinion for the war is going to be trending down. And Iran feels that those trends are going its way.

BLITZER: Two regional sources, Karim, tells CNN, that Iranian representatives have informed the Trump administration through back channels that they do not want to reenter talks with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Following, the Iranians say they would prefer to engage with Vice President J.D. Vance. Do you view this as an attempt to try to undermine President Trump or a lack of trust in Witkoff and Kushner?

SADJAPOUR: I think it's the latter. And will they believe that J.D. Vance represents the more isolationist anti-war wing of President Trump's MAGA base and they prefer to directly negotiate with him. You know, ultimately, I don't think it makes that much difference because President Trump is going to be deciding. But certainly, I think there's a lot of mistrust and bad blood with Steve Witkoff.

BLITZER: I think you make a good point. I also want to ask you, Karim, about what we've seen online from both the U.S. and Iran. Both sides have taken to social media using things like A.I.-generated videos to try to promote their side of the conflict. What's your thought on this kind of messaging?

SADJAPOUR: This may be the first A.I. war, the major -- the first major A.I. war, in that there is so much disinformation that comes out all the time on social media and it's very difficult to discern, oftentimes, reality from, you know, fake news.

And so, the Iranians are focusing a lot on this as well and, as I said, really trying to influence not only their own domestic opinion but U.S. popular opinion as well to try to persuade Americans that they need to restrain the ambitions of President Trump.

BLITZER: Earlier this week, Karim, President Trump said the U.S. was having, quote, "very strong talks" and was dealing with the man who is most respected in Iran, his words. He declined to say who that was but said it was not the supreme new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. Who is in charge in Iran right now?

SADJAPOUR: The press reports, Wolf, were that the president had in mind Iran's current speaker of parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, who is a powerful force, powerful figure, an advisor to Mojtaba Khamenei, former senior Revolutionary Guard Commander.

But what I emphasize is that you're dealing in Iran with not just an individual. You're dealing with a regime which has a 47-year entrenched ideology and it's not going to be possible for any individual within that Iranian system to reverse 47 years of revolutionary ideology, especially in the aftermath of what's been a four-week bombing campaign and senior-level assassinations.

BLITZER: Realistically, Karim, do you see Iran agreeing to an end to this war anytime soon? And what might it take, especially when it comes to dealing with the sensitive issue of the Strait of Hormuz?

SADJAPOUR: Right now, Wolf, when both sides have articulated their end positions, their negotiations -- potential negotiations, they are miles apart. And so, I don't think that we're going to see a resolution to this conflict right away. And I don't think the president can simply declare victory so long as Iran is still in control of this really key energy corridor for the global economy.

[10:50:00]

BLITZER: Good point. Karim Sadjapour, as usual, thank you very, very much.

SADJAPOUR: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And coming up, mission to Mars, the new technology NASA hopes to use on the Red Planet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: NASA's new administrator is laying out a very ambitious vision that includes revamped plans for a base on the moon. Listen. America will never again give up the moon. Very ambitious vision that includes revamped plans for a base on the moon. Listen.

[10:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARED ISAACMAN, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: America will never again give up the moon. The moon base will not appear overnight. We will invest approximately $20 billion over the next seven years and build it through dozens of missions, working together with commercial and international partners towards a deliberate and achievable plan. Just as there was Mercury and Gemini before Apollo, there will be an evolutionary path to building humanity's first permanent surface outpost beyond earth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: This is the first time NASA has revealed a timeline and a roadmap for such efforts. The moon base was just one of several new projects and changes announced this week. CNN's Tom Foreman is joining us right now. He knows a lot about this. What do we know about these plans for a base on the moon?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a big reworking of the plan that we've been hearing about Artemis all along. The original plan for Artemis was that they would have a lunar station that would orbit the moon and that is what would take people to the surface. Now, they're pushing aside what was called the gateway station and saying, let's move right toward establishing a moon base.

The process, they say, would be to build this moon base. Then phase one would be to build it, test it, learn it. Phase two would be to establish early infrastructure on the moon. And phase three, enable long duration human presence with possibly, if they can get a successful moon landing out of the Artemis mission, maybe in early 2028, then they could start going to two moon landings a year.

Yes, at one point, Isaacman himself said, oh, NASA accomplished the near impossible before. You know, a lot of people will look at this and say, yes, this is also near impossible, but it's what he's talking about doing in terms of getting humans back on the moon.

BLITZER: And it was interesting, Jared Isaacman also announced a new Mars mission. What can you tell us about that?

FOREMAN: Yes, at the same time, which is also huge. This idea is to -- among other things, to engineer nuclear electric propulsion technology, to use it in space for the first time. What that is, is a process that is different from chemical propulsion. It tends to be sort of lower impact, but long, slow burn. It's what you would use to get to Mars. That's one idea behind it. They also want to deliver Skyfall helicopters to Mars.

You may remember the little helicopter called Ingenuity back in 2324, which they flew successfully there. This idea would be to drop these into the atmosphere there, have them searching for things like ice water, and importantly, landing sites if we get to Mars. And it would inform NASA's plans to create a fission reactor on the moon's surface. So, this is a lot of stuff that is substantially different in some ways than what we've been talking about for quite some time.

BLITZER: Very different. So, what does all this show us about Jared Isaacman's vision for the future of NASA?

FOREMAN: That it matches perfectly with Donald Trump's vision for NASA, in that these are big, big steps in an industry that with this kind of step, takes many years of development, a lot of setbacks are often cost overruns or also time overruns many of the times.

He's basically trying to say, we're not going to put up with that anymore. We're going to push forward. We're going to repurpose things that we already have. And we're going to make this a very dynamic environment where these kinds of advances can be made.

One of the goals here, Wolf, very clearly to get a big step that, I mean, frankly, in terms of President Donald Trump, that looks big and showy before Donald Trump is out of office. It's not that this kind of stuff cannot be accomplished, but there are a lot of people in the space and science community who would look at it and say, yes, it can be accomplished, but pushing the throttle too fast on this is not necessarily a good idea because that brings inherent risks. Space, space travel is risky and it's hard.

BLITZER: Very risky. All right. Tom Foreman, thank you very, very much. Good explanation. Also new this morning, the "Today" show anchor, Savannah Guthrie, sits down for her first interview since her mother went missing nearly two months ago. Authorities have said they believe Nancy Guthrie was taken from her Arizona home against her will, but a source tells CNN that investigators still have no leading theory about a motive.

Now, Savannah Guthrie is speaking to her NBC colleague and Hoda Kotb about what her family has been going through. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, CO-HOST, "TODAY": We are in agony.

HODA KOTB, CO-HOST, "TODAY": Yes. GUTHRIE: We are in agony. It's unbearable. And to think of what she went through. I wake up every night in the middle of the night, every night, and in the darkness I imagine her terror, and it is unthinkable. But those thoughts demand to be thought.

KOTB: Yes.

GUTHRIE: And I will not hide my face.

[11:00:00]