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Iran Attacks Fully Loaded Kuwaiti Oil Tanker; Hegseth Says, Allies Should Learn How to Fight for Yourself; Supreme Court Backs Challenge to Colorado's Conversion Therapy Ban. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired March 31, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news. Gas prices hit higher than four dollars a gallon, and there is concern record high prices could be on the horizon if the war with Iran continues. What this means for you and your wallet.

Plus, malfunction moments after takeoff, the confusion and chaos and fear on a flight to Atlanta as flames erupt from an engine.

And all-time low, new poll numbers spelling trouble for President Trump's second term. What this could mean for the midterms.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And breaking news, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying the next few days will be, quote, decisive. Some major headlines just into The Situation Room, where things stand with the Strait of Hormuz and negotiations with Iran.

Plus, constitutional test, the nation's highest court, the Supreme Court, will look at birthright citizenship, how this could change more than 100 years of precedent.

And preparing for liftoff, the countdown is on for the historic Artemis mission and bringing us one step closer to the moon again.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

This morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth updates Americans on the war with Iran. Hegseth held a briefing with General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and it comes on a very busy day. Iran struck a fully loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker just off the coast of Dubai. No leaks or injuries are reported. And The Wall Street Journal is reporting that President Trump is telling aides he's willing to end the war with Iran even without reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Much of the world's oil shipping is being choked off, and Hegseth says the world needs to help out. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: It's not just a United States of America problem set. We've been willing to lead. President Trump's led the entire time, but it's not just us. So, ultimately, I think other countries should pay attention when the president speaks. He's proven that when he speaks, he means something, and he's pointing out, you know, you might want to start learning how to fight for yourself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We have a lot to report over the next two hours. CNN's Alayna Treene is over at the White House, our Chief National Security Analyst Jim Sciutto is in Tel Aviv.

Alayna, Hegseth putting allies on notice, pretty much echoing what President Trump said earlier today on social media. Tell us about that.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, I do want to reference what the president said this morning, because as you noted Wolf, what Hegseth said at that press briefing this morning is exactly what we heard from the president this morning.

Although the president's rhetoric was much more aggressive and went a little bit further. He called out European allies, specifically singling out the United Kingdom, and said, if you're having problems with oil, one, you could buy oil from the United States, but, two, and then he said, we have plenty, and, two, build up some delayed courage, go to the strait, and just take it. And he went on to say, you have to start learning how to fight for yourself. The USA won't be there to help you anymore. So, very clear language here from the United States.

I would note, Wolf, that many of these allies, European allies that the president is referencing here, were not consulted when the United States decided to join Israel in launching strikes on Tehran. They were not consulted before this war, and many of them said they do not want to get involved before hostilities end.

And so this is setting up a potential, you know, problem, of course, not only for allies, but for the global economy, which is we're seeing oil prices, gas prices, as you laid out, spiking higher the longer that the strait remains closed.

I will say, Wolf, from my conversations with people throughout the administration, they are still working on getting this reopened. They recognize how big of a problem it is, but it's also one without an easy solution. That's what I hear continuously in my conversations, particularly with those in the intelligence community who are looking at, you know, what they can do to try and force the strait to be reopened.

Meanwhile, of course, it could potentially take a lot longer to reopen the strait, and that would potentially bring this war past that self- inflicted deadline that the president has imposed, a self-imposed deadline, I should say, that the president has laid out for ending this war.

[10:05:06]

And so they are a bit of competing objectives here. And so I do think, you know, we are hearing the White House and the administration trying to say in so many words that while they will work on this, essentially, they don't want to promise it as a prerequisite for ending the war, and really trying to share a lot of that pressure with allies abroad.

BLITZER: All right. Alayna Treene over at the White House for us, thank you very much.

I want to go to Jim Sciutto who's in Tel Aviv. Jim, what stood out to you from this morning's Pentagon briefing based on what you're seeing on the ground? First of all, you're there in the Middle East, you're in Israel.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Two things. To Alayna's point, you see the president laying the rhetorical groundwork at least for shifting responsibility to solve a problem created by this war, right, that is the closing of the strait, to others, Gulf allies, Europe, you name it. Whether that means the president is ready to declare victory and move on, we don't know, but, again, seems to be laying the groundwork for that as well.

You heard Pete Hegseth say that in the coming days there might be decisive military action. The question is decisive by what definition? Because, of course, the goals of this war -- many goals have been presented by the president, the goals since reduced to reducing Iran's capabilities, which I think it's clear that they have, given the number of targets that have been struck. But, Wolf, I'll be clear from where I'm standing here in Tel Aviv, not eliminating those capabilities, because Iran continues to fire missiles at Israel that get through its defenses. Earlier today, one of those cluster munitions, those missiles with cluster warheads we've seen so often here, fired again and one of those munitions landed about 100 yards to our left here. We saw emergency services arriving.

So, Iran retains that capability. As you mentioned in the lead-in, they were able to strike a tanker. They were able to strike other Gulf neighbors. And they've shown that they can make U.S. personnel and assets vulnerable as well, the lost aircraft, the lost radar stations, the lost service members. So, the capability reduced by all those targets hit, but not eliminated, the next question then is, of course, is President Trump willing to declare the end of this war, claim a victory, and leave behind a lot of open questions? The primary one is for the world economy, what happens with the Strait of Hormuz, and who will take the responsibility to open it up?

BLITZER: What are the Israeli officials saying to you, Jim, about why these Iranian rockets and missiles, Hezbollah rockets and missiles are actually penetrating Israel's Iron Dome, its air defense missile system? They've got a strong air defense missile system, Patriot air defense missiles, all sorts of other equipment, but they're getting in. You say one of those rockets and missiles just landed, what, 100 yards away from where you are. You're right in central Tel Aviv.

SCIUTTO: Listen, they have multiple layers. Of course, they have Iron Dome, they have David's Sling, and then they have the Arrow system for the highest ballistic missiles, long range. And Israeli officials tell me that they get the vast majority of them, perhaps 90 percent or more, but that leaves a percentage that gets through. And those cluster munitions are the toughest because once that payload opens up and rains down more than a dozen of those smaller munitions, they are at a size and a speed and at a number that we've seen in the sky, they can't intercept all of them and might not even be able to try, right, because that's a lot of interceptors for one missile. And that shows that they're still able to inflict damage.

The good news is people here, ourselves included, tend to listen to those warnings and go to the shelters so that the casualties have been minimal. But I'll tell you, on the northern border as well, we were up there on Sunday. The fire from Hezbollah is relentless as well, 40 times a day. This remains a very dangerous multi-front war.

BLITZER: And I know in our next hour you're going to be having a special report from the northern border of Israel with Lebanon on what's going on, a very dangerous situation up there.

Jim Sciutto, stay safe. We'll be in close touch with you. Thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: And, Wolf, we are following this breaking news out of the Supreme Court. The court has made a ruling on conversion therapy.

Joining us now is CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid, CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig, and CNN Health Reporter Jacqueline Howard.

Paula, to you first, what can you tell us?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So this is one of the big cases they've been watching. This is a challenge to the state of Colorado's ban on conversion therapy. That's the discredited practice that purports to convert homosexual people to heterosexual people and transgender people to cisgender folks.

Here, it was challenged, saying it was a violation of the First Amendment. And during arguments, it looked like the conservative supermajority was willing to back those challengers and actually strike down this law.

[10:10:03]

But in the decision we got just a few moments ago, we really didn't get a final answer on whether this law is constitutional, but we did get some insight into what the justices are thinking. So, instead of making a final ruling, they are taking this entire case and throwing it back down to the lower court, saying that it needs to be reviewed, this question, with a heightened level of scrutiny.

So, while the State of Colorado is not really officially losing, it is likely that once this goes through another round of litigation and this issue comes back up, that this law very likely will be struck down on First Amendment grounds. But they are not deciding the bigger constitutional question here, and that's a little bit of a surprise. But the law will remain in place, this ban will remain in place for now, while they continue to litigate this under the new standard. But this has been one of the big cases we're watching. We don't get a final answer, but that happens sometimes at the Supreme Court. Some of these questions are quite technical.

BROWN: They are. And, Elie Honig, Paula notes it's a little bit of a surprise because during the oral arguments for this case, the conservative majority seemed pretty skeptical about this ban, Elie.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Right. So, it looks like this case is going to go down to the district court, as Paula said. And the instruction from the Supreme Court is that now the district court has to apply what we call strict scrutiny, meaning they have to take a very careful, exacting look at this law. And the gist of the main holding is what this law does is it discriminates based on the content of speech. It's about a therapy provider who essentially provides talk therapy to clients. And for that reason, the majority ruled, it's entitled to some First Amendment protection.

So, it's got to go now back down to the district court, the trial court. The trial court has to take an exacting eye to it. I think the most likely outcome, most of the time when you have strict scrutiny, is that laws do get struck down, but that hasn't exactly happened yet. That could be next, however.

BROWN: Yes, it's tough to win against strict scrutiny.

And, Jacqueline Howard, our CNN health reporter, tell us exactly what conversion therapy is and how many states currently ban it.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Well, Pamela, we know so far 23 states, including Colorado, do have laws in place that prohibit licensed providers from providing conversion therapy. And conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy in some cases, it's an approach that tries to, as the word implies, convert people from being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. And some providers may use this as a form of talk therapy, or sometimes you may see, like, historically, many people when they think of conversion therapy, they think of shock therapy.

But what we know about conversion therapy, according to many medical groups, it is a harmful practice according to research. Research shows that it can actually increase the risk of depression, anxiety, and even in some cases, suicide. And about 15 percent of LGBTQ-plus youth report being either threatened with conversion therapy or provided conversion therapy. So, we know it's still a widely used approach in many parts of the U.S. today.

BROWN: All right, thank you so much. We appreciate it, Paula Reid, Elie Honig, Jacqueline Howard. Wolf?

BLITZER: And still ahead, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says conversations with Iran are very real, ongoing, and active, even as Iran repeatedly says they're not even taking place. We'll discuss.

Plus, we're learning new details right now about Tiger Woods' arrest after crashing into another vehicle last week.

Stay with us, lots going on. You're in The Situation Room.

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BROWN: Breaking news just into The Situation Room, we're getting some new details about golf legend Tiger Woods' arrest after he crashed into another vehicle and failed several field sobriety tests.

Let's go straight to CNN's Isabel Rosales. What are you learning?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pam, for the first time, we are getting the arresting officer's perspective via a newly released police report, his conversations with the 50-year-old golf icon, and what happened immediately after this crash just last week.

Now, Tiger Woods told that arresting officer that he was looking down at his phone, he was changing the radio station, and did not notice the car in front of him had slowed down. He ultimately ended up clipping that car and flipping his own right there onto its side.

Now, the arresting officer noted that he observed several signs of impairment, that Woods was sweating profusely, hiccupping throughout the entire investigation, that his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and his pupils extremely dilated.

Now, Woods told them when the officer noted that he was limping and stumbling a little bit to the right, Woods told him that he had 7 back surgeries and 20 different operations on his legs. Now, Woods agreed to and ended up failing several field sobriety tests. And when they were arresting him and searching him, they discovered two white pills inside of his pant pocket that ended up being prescribed hydrocodone.

Now, Woods has a high-profile history here with crashes, the most serious of which was back in 2021, where he had emergency surgery following a rollover crash. And then you might remember back in 2017, where he was found asleep at the wheel, arrested on suspicion of DUI. He ended up saying in a statement at the time that he had an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications.

Now, I want to leave you with this, noting a new Florida law just passed back in 2025, where if you refuse a blood, urine, or breath test, it is an automatic misdemeanor and license suspension.

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Pam?

BROWN: Very sad, frankly. Isabel Rosales, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Also coming up mission critical, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the Strait of Hormuz is imperative to the U.S. military operation, but new reporting suggests otherwise. We'll discuss that and more when we come back.

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BLITZER: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth just a short time ago addressed questions about the state of talks between the U.S. and Iran over the war and who exactly the U.S. is negotiating with. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: On the talks, I can tell you, having been with Steve and Jared and the vice president and Marco and many others yesterday, they are very real. They are ongoing. They're active and I think gaining strength, and we appreciate that. As I said in my remarks, we would much prefer to get a deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Iranian officials have repeatedly denied there were any serious negotiations taking place or that any significant progress has taken place and called the U.S. list of demands unrealistic.

Joining us now, Aaron David Miller, he's a former State Department Middle East negotiator. He's a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Aaron, thanks for joining us.

Is it widely believed the U.S. has been in talks with Iran's speaker of parliament and why him?

AARON DAVID MILLER, SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Yes. I mean, two names have been mentioned. Well, thanks for having me. One is the foreign minister, Araghchi, who has participated with Witkoff and Kushner in the negotiations that preceded this war, and the other is Mohammad Ghalibaf, the former speaker of the Iranian Parliament and a former mayor of Tehran who I think self-styles himself at least abroad, as a so-called pragmatist, but is very much attached and associated with the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps.

BLITZER: Listen to what some administration officials have been recently saying about reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: They are exercising sheer desperation in the Straits of Hormuz, something we're dealing with, we have been dealing with it, and don't need to worry about it.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The full reopening of the strait is something the administration is working towards, but the core objectives of the operation have been clearly defined for the American people by the commander-in-chief.

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: The Straits of Hormuz will be open. When this operation is over, it will be open, and it'll be open one way or another.

SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: Over time, the U.S. is going to retake control of the straits, and there will be freedom of navigation, whether it is through U.S. escorts or a multinational escort.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Secretary Hegseth said it remains critical to the U.S. mission, but The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that President Trump is ready to end the war without reopening the strait. Would that essentially, Aaron, hand a victory to Iran?

MILLER: Wolf, if the war stopped tomorrow, the president announced frankly that he was leaving, we've won. And I'm not sure there's a single constituency that he cares about in the United States that would do anything other than breathe a collective sigh of relief if that was the case. But it would constitute no less, Wolf, than a major strategic defeat for the United States.

The two basic goals which would actually translate into something that would be enduring, one would be obviously the fracturing of the new regime and its replacement by another. And second, if in fact this ends with the Iranians having demonstrated, Wolf, that they can close, open the streets, grant -- straits, grant preferential access charge tolls, that's also a major strategic defeat.

So, I think the administration's really in a box here. A military operation to open their straits and keep them open is a months-long effort. And negotiations right now, Wolf, don't appear to be what I would call serious negotiations. Maybe indirect, maybe phone call or two through mediators, but you'd really have to sit across the table from the Iranian negotiators assuming there's someone in Tehran that could make decisions and basically has the legitimacy to take Iran into a deal and to stick to the deal.

BLITZER: Good assumption. President Trump posted on social media earlier this morning he's been criticizing the western allies once again for not doing more in this war with Iran and suggesting if they want more oil and fuel, then they should, quote, and I'm quoting Trump now, build up some delayed courage, go to the strait and just take it. You'll have to start learning how to fight for yourself. The USA, he continued, won't be there to help you anymore, just like you weren't there for us, end quote. Pete Hegseth also criticized the allies along the very same line.

Is this war doing permanent damage to the U.S. relationship with its NATO allies in the west?

MILLER: I mean, it's already underwater, and the fact is what I worry most about is the attack on NATO by the president. He can't unilaterally withdraw the United States from the alliance. That has to involve Congress. He doesn't understand NATO's a defensive alliance. And President Trump took this country into a war of choice. And the expectation somehow that NATO would deploy its forces or that any European power, having not been consulted, it would've been clearly against this war.

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