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U.S. Launches Tenth Straight Night of Strikes on Iran; Gulf States Bearing Brunt of Iran's Retaliation; Canada Facing New 50 Percent Tariffs on $20 Billion of Goods. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 21, 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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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, vowing revenge and escalating strikes. President Trump says Iran will, quote, pay many times over for killing U.S. troops, as Iran's president now says his country is in a full-scale war.

Plus, one-on-one with Mike Pence, the former vice president will be here with me in The Situation Room. I'll talk to him about the war with Iran and the future of his party.

And later, new shocking details of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse. A woman is now sharing her story of being assaulted by Epstein while he was on work release as part of his sex offense sentence. That exclusive CNN reporting is ahead.

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

Happening now, breaking news. President Trump set to meet with the president of Lebanon at the White House next hour. It comes as there has been a major escalation in the Iran war, the United States military launching another round of attacks overnight. It's the tenth straight night of strikes by the U.S. on Iran as President Trump warns Tehran will pay for the deaths of U.S. service members. All of this comes as the Pentagon now says that in just the last two weeks, nearly 100 U.S. service members have been injured in the war.

Let's go live right now to CNN Senior White House Reporter Betsy Klein. Betsy, the Pentagon says 96 percent of those U.S. service members who have been injured have returned to duty. What more are you learning?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Wolf, it's been a particularly violent moment for this conflict, the U.S. launching a tenth consecutive night of strikes in Iran, and this, as we are learning that the Pentagon has been very slow to report those injuries to U.S. service members throughout this conflict. But now, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell says that nearly 100 U.S. troops have been injured since the ceasefire broke down and the conflict escalated starting on July 7th. Now, he says that most of those injuries were minor concussions, but it comes after three U.S. service members died over the weekend. We are getting new details. That includes 30-year-old Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton, who was killed during a controlled detonation of a downed drone in Iraq, as well as 25-year-old First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, and 19-year-old Private Isabella Gonzales, both of them killed during Iranian strikes in Jordan.

The U.S. has also located unidentified remains after a U.S. service member was reported missing in action, and 18 total U.S. service members have died since this conflict began.

Now, we're going to be watching this very closely this afternoon as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, as well as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, take questions from senators as they are seeking an additional $86 billion in funding for, in part, this conflict with Iran.

This comes as the mediators between the U.S. and Iran are floating the possibility of a ten-day ceasefire to try to get diplomacy back on track. But a U.S. official telling CNN, quote, right now, President Trump is focused on making Iran pay for their violations of the memorandum of understanding and their continued acts of terrorism in the Strait of Hormuz. In addition, the president will make Iran pay for the recent deaths of U.S. soldiers. This official also says that diplomatic talks do continue.

Now, in terms of next steps, it is certainly possible that the U.S. chooses to pursue this path of diplomacy. But at the same time, President Trump has been threatening to target critical infrastructure in Iran, potentially bridges, as well as Kharg Island, that key oil hub.

The president, moments from now, set to meet with the new president of Lebanon here at the White House. He's also expected to attend that dignified transfer tomorrow at Dover Air Force Base. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Betsy Klein at the White House for us, thank you very much.

Also happening now, Iran's counteroffensive aimed at targeting U.S. assets and energy infrastructure in several Gulf Arab countries.

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Among those countries, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates, they have all been targeted now by Iran.

Let's go live to CNN's International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson. He's reporting from Jerusalem. Nic, the Iran-backed Houthi group in Yemen, as you know, has declared its own maritime blockade on Saudi shipping. This is a big deal. What's the fallout from this?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. The Houthis are essentially a proxy of the Iranians. The Iranians have closed the Strait of Hormuz. The Houthis are threatening to close the equivalent on the Red Sea, known as Bab el-Mandab. About 6 or 7 percent of the world's oil and energy supplies come out through Bab el-Mandab along the coast of Yemen.

This is mostly Saudi oil that's pumped all the way across the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz where it's blocked, and it comes out through the Red Sea.

So, this is a significant escalation. The Houthis are militarily ready for this moment. However, they have not taken, or so far not acted upon this decision to block the Saudis. If they do, then we can expect an escalation and a response from the, from the Saudis. That is almost unquestionable.

Israel here is not involved in the war at all, doesn't want to get involved necessarily, but is looking at its own preparations and readiness in case of escalation. It was Jordan just in the last few hours, a few miles -- dozens of miles from here that intercepted three Iranian missiles. The Kuwaitis are saying for the fourth night it was their water and desalination facilities that were hit again by the Iranians.

So, it's very clear what the Iranians are targeting there. They say that they're targeting U.S. service personnel at airbases there. But the Kuwaitis are saying, no, you're actually targeting the sort of lifeblood of the country, the water that people need.

So, that's the picture. But in that picture, as the United States strikes targets that, that it, whereby it wants to try to control the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranians each night seem to be able to come out of that situation and target another maritime vessel. And we had that in the early hours of today just off the coast of Oman, a vessel there hit. The crew had to abandon because it was on fire. The Iranians, in essence, proving they still have effective firepower that can block easy, safe transit of the Strait of Hormuz. Wolf?

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting, Nic, and I wonder if you agree, the, the assessment that the Iranians have been hitting all these targets in neighboring Arab countries, but they've avoided hitting anything in Israel in these last several days. Is that because the Israelis are warning that they'll react overwhelmingly if they if they are targeted?

ROBERTSON: Yes. The chief of the IDF today said exactly that. The defense minister said exactly that yesterday. If Iran strikes Israel, the response will be immediate. I think the Iranians are very clear in their minds that bringing Israel into the war by attacking them would massively escalate the amount of firepower being brought down on them.

It's been sort of clear until this moment that Israel is choosing or is being advised, asked, requested by the United States, so that's denied on all sides, to kind of stay out of the war. It does point to the potential for diplomacy. But at this moment that escalation no one's ruling it out. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Nic Robertson in Jerusalem for us, thank you very, very much.

Still ahead, escalating trade war, the sweeping new tariffs President Trump has just announced against Canadian goods. How they'll impact prices that you're paying in the United States.

A new Epstein probe, what we're learning about a new Congressional investigation to try to find out if Jeffrey Epstein was a foreign agent.

Lots going on, you're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: Happening now, Canada is facing new tariffs from President Trump. He's just announced sweeping new tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. The new levies will take effect in 30 days. The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, responded to the announcement, saying in a statement, and I'm quoting him now, this is the latest in a series of unilateral U.S. trade actions that began with the U.S. imposing a series of tariffs in direct violation of the Canada, United States, and Mexico agreement, end quote.

The White House says the new tariffs aren't related to comments by President Trump that Canada could be made to pay over wildfire smoke in Canada that created air quality alerts for millions of Americans as that smoke crossed the border into the United States.

Let's go live right now to CNN Business Senior Reporter David Goldman. David, what exactly will be included under these new tariffs?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, it's a pretty sweeping announcement, because we have all kinds of items that are going to be part of this, furniture, and you've got alcohol, machinery, hockey sticks. I know a lot of folks are going to be concerned about that.

Now, these are 50 percent tariffs, so that's significant. That's one of the highest levies that the United States has put on any country's goods.

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So, what are we looking at as an overall impact? Well, these items are $20 billion worth of the goods, but, you know, they're only about 5 percent of Canada's total exports to the United States. So, it's a lot of stuff, but it's still 95 percent are not going to be tariffed.

The key thing, though, is that these are not exempt from that USMCA a lot. Canada's avoided a lot of tariff threats because of that deal that Trump signed.

When does this go into effect? As you said, August 19th. Why is that significant? Because all of those tariffs that the president put in place when the Supreme Court ruled against his tariffs, those expire on Friday.

Now, we expect new tariffs to go into effect, but on top of that, these tariffs are going to go into effect. Why is that significant? Because this is a totally new way to impose tariffs. We have not seen any president use Section 338, so this is a big test. We'll see if Donald Trump can use this to start levying tariffs on other countries as well. Wolf?

BLITZER: So, it's going to wind up costing Americans more for all the goods that are imported, or at least a lot of the goods imported from Canada, right?

GOLDMAN: That's right. People who pay the tariffs are the consumers in the country that's imposing them. So, Americans pay the tariffs even though they're on Canadian goods when they get imported, ultimately, that goes to consumers, Wolf, that's right.

BLITZER: All right. David Goldman helping us appreciate what's going on. Thank you very, very much.

GOLDMAN: Thank you.

BLITZER: And coming up could multi-platinum singer D4vd stand trial for the killing and dismemberment of a 14-year-old girl? A hearing is set to get underway soon for a judge to decide.

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BLITZER: We're following the breaking news in the truly intensifying conflict right now with Iran. According to state media, the Iranian president says his country is, quote, engaged in a full-scale war, end quote. The U.S. hit Iran with a fresh strike for a tenth consecutive night, and now Jordan says its air defense systems shot down three Iranian missiles targeting the Jordanian kingdom.

Joining us now is Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. She serves on both the Senate Armed Services and Senate Foreign Relations Committees. She's also a Purple Heart recipient. Thanks so much, Senator, for your service. Thanks for joining us.

As you know, other Iranian officials, and even the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, have insisted that diplomacy with Iran is still an option. Do you think that's a realistic assessment in your view?

SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): Well, well if we would have to actually send in a real diplomat who could actually negotiate with the Iranians, but at this point, what we have is our vice president continually saying that he's reached an agreement with the Iranians in the next, you know, 15 minutes after our vice president makes an announcement like that, say, no, we don't have an agreement.

Right at this point, listen, it's enough is enough. We have 18 of our service members have been killed, and Trump isn't a single inch closer to getting out of this illegal war that he started that we should never have been in to begin with. So, yes, I think we should, you know, try to negotiate an end to the war, but at this point it doesn't seem like we have anybody of any competence negotiating.

BLITZER: An Israeli source familiar with the matter tells CNN that Israel now believes Iran has moved advanced centrifuges and parts of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to a fortified underground facility just south of Tehran after the 12-day war last June. How worrying is that to you that potentially that sets the stage for Iran to continue its nuclear weapons program?

DUCKWORTH: It is incredibly worrisome. Remember that Trump got us quit the JCPOA, which was the way that we were monitoring Iran, which allowed them to go ahead and immediately speed up their refining and their work towards an actual nuclear weapon. He claimed that he buried all of their uranium under, you know, hundreds of feet of concrete. That did not happen. And when he started this war in Iran, he says one of the things was to destroy their capability of advancing towards a nuclear weapon, and obviously that has not happened.

He then claimed he wanted regime change. The regime change he got was a worse ayatollah than we had before he started the war. The Strait of Hormuz is now mined. Americans are paying the price at the gas station, at our grocery stores.

You know, in Illinois, I, I talked to my farmers, the input costs have gone through the roof, that many farmers think, don't think they're going to make it through this planting sea- through this season to next planting season. And, you know, and if the deaths of our heroes weren't enough, don't forget the billions of dollars that's been wasted.

BLITZER: Yes. You make important points. A dignified transfer of the U.S. service members just killed in action in Iran in Jordan and Iraq for that matter, is expected to take place tomorrow at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

As someone who has fought and sacrificed so much for our country during your time serving with the U.S. military in Iraq, how are you reflecting on this loss of American life, and should the U.S. punish Iran right now for those deaths as President Trump is suggesting?

DUCKWORTH: Well, first and foremost, Trump is the one who started this war.

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Trump is the one who started this war without any actual plan for how he was going to execute the mission. So, the blame for those 18 service members' deaths lays at the feet of the president of the United States. It sits on the Resolute Desk in front of him in that gilded Marie Antoinette of, you know, Oval Office that he's, that he's turned it into.

He brags that he doesn't think that Americans' financial situations are important to him as he tries to hand Iran hundreds of billions of dollars, and he hasn't taken the responsibility for the deaths of those service members.

Look, our servicemen and women are the most important national treasure we have in this nation, and before we choose to ask them to sacrifice on behalf of each and every one of us, we need to be sure that we know what we're doing when we start a war. When we send them into war, we better have a plan, we better know how we're going to execute it, and we better know what the conditions are for the end of the mission. Trump has not done any of that.

And he also appointed the most incompetent secretary of defense in our nation's history, whose, all he seems to be worried about is testosterone levels in our troops instead of making sure that he actually has a plan to execute this mission in Iran and ending it before even more Americans get killed, even before our economy craters even further, and before we alienate even more allies and set Iran up to have nuclear weapons.

This whole thing has been an absolute disaster, and it shows what happens when you have an incompetent commander-in-chief who's being assisted by an incompetent secretary of defense.

BLITZER: And speaking of the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, they're both scheduled to testify about this renewed Iran conflict before the Senate Appropriations Committee later this afternoon.

I know you don't serve on that committee, but what specific questions do they need to answer?

DUCKWORTH: Well, two main ones, which is what have you spent so far and what is this costing? Because the last numbers that we received from the Pentagon was $35 billion, and that was well over a month ago. And that was only for the cost of munitions, I believe. They did not include the cost of repairing all of the U.S. basing in the Middle East that has been damaged. Then they came out and said, it's actually closer to $39 billion.

We estimate that that number is way beyond that now. It's, I'm sure, well over $100 billion if you count into the total number all of the other costs beyond just the use of the munitions. And simply throwing more money at an out-of-control operation is simply not a strategy.

The other thing I want to know is how many service members have actually been wounded as a result of the operations in Iran, and that includes what's happening in Jordan, what's -- the troops that are all over the Middle East. How many troops have actually been wounded? Because we're not getting real numbers from the Pentagon, and there's a report that came out today that looks like they're trying to suppress. The Trump administration is actually trying to suppress the true number of wounded.

BLITZER: Well, they're saying about 100 have been wounded so far, but 95 or 96 percent of them have since returned to active duty. But that's what they're saying right now.

I know you are interested in this next question, the defense secretary announcing just recently a new Pentagon policy to test U.S. troops for low testosterone. You actually wanted to extend hormone screening further. Explain what you mean and whether you've communicated that with Pentagon officials.

DUCKWORTH: Well, I mean, this is the ridiculousness of Pete Hegseth, right? We're in the middle of a war that he is failing to execute properly against Iran, and he's worried about testosterone levels for men in the military.

You know, it seems like -- to me it sounds like a gender-affirming therapy to me. And if he's going to do gender-affirming therapy, then let's also extend hormone testing to female service members so that if they have infertility issues, they can apply for and get coverage for IVF.

This administration and Republicans in the Senate have actively blocked access to in vitro fertilization for military men and women. And why is that important? Number one, humanely, it's important that military men and women should have access to IVF therapy if they need it through their healthcare system, which is through the military. But on the other side, in the more practical side, if you cannot start your family and you're a service member that we have sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into training, you are likely to leave the military in order to go start that family because you don't have access to those therapies while you're in the military.

We can't afford to lose fully trained service members that we've invested all this money in because we won't provide them with the healthcare that they need. So, if Pete Hegseth wants to extend hormone therapy to service members, he should extend it to all service members so that they can get the full range of their health conditions attended to, because we want them in the best fighting condition they possibly can be in to defend America.

BLITZER: And I just want to point out that the new defense bill does exclude the possibility of IVF, in vitro fertilization, for women serving in the military, and this is a subject very close to your heart, right?

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