Return to Transcripts main page
The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Remembering 25 Years Since 9/11; Trump & Hegseth's 9/11 Tribute Wades Into Defense Of Iran War; Iran-Backed Houthis Seize Island In Vital Global Shipping Route. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired September 11, 2026 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: Is there anything else you want people to know?
ALEX ROMERO, FATHER KILLED ON 9/11: The only thing I'd want people to know is that if you're grieving somebody, it's OK. It's OK to cry. It's OK to be sad. It's OK to be angry. It's OK to feel that. You're not being dramatic. You're not holding on to the past. You're simply human. It's OK. So, that'd be just my message. It's OK to feel how you feel.
COOPER: Alex, thank you.
ROMERO: Yes. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And thank you for watching.
That's it for us. The news continues. "THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" starts now.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN HOST, THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS: For the Americans who lived through it, it's hard to believe it has been a quarter of a century since that day that changed everything. There's life before 9/11 and life after 9/11.
For an entire generation, either too young to remember or many not even born yet, it's probably hard to believe images, like these, are real. For the survivors and for the families who lost someone that day, 9/11 isn't just a horror that they saw on television. It's the day that someone they love never came home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emmanuel Akwasi Afuakwah.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alok Agarwal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mukul Kumar Agarwala.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joseph Agnello.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: David Scott Agnes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joao Alberto da Fonseca Aguiar, Jr.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Robert G. McCarthy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stanley McCaskill.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Katie Marie McCloskey.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juliana Valentine McCourt.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ruth Magdaline McCourt.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joseph Roberto.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leo Arthur Roberts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michael E. Roberts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michael Edward Roberts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Walter Robertson, Jr.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: This morning, in Lower Manhattan, many of the people who were reading the names of their loved ones never got a chance to actually know the people that they were there to honor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And to my uncle, the uncle that I never got to play basketball with, the uncle that I never met, and the best brother that my mom could ever have asked for, we all miss you very much, and every waking day is painful without you.
DINA AMATUCCIO (ph), JOSEPH AMATUCCIO'S DAUGHTER: And my father, Joseph Amatuccio, I never had the chance to know my father. His life was taken before we could -- before we could meet, before we could build the memories every child deserves. But that never stopped me from loving him.
DANIELLA DE LA PENA (ph), EMY DE LA PENA'S DAUGHTER: And my mother, Emy De La Pena. I was only a 11-months-old when you were taken from me. I miss you and I love you so much.
KIERSTEN HAUB (ph), MICHAEL HELMUT HAUB'S DAUGHTER: And my father, firefighter Michael Helmut Haub, Ladder 4, Engine 54, Battalion 9. Dad, I was only 16-months-old when you were taken from us. I may not remember you, but I've spent my entire life getting to know you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: It's hard to even listen to that. Because really, it speaks to how much was lost on that day. Their words are wrenching, and the poise of those who did not even get to know their loved ones that were killed on that day, is just remarkable.
This year's ceremony added a new somber tradition, which was a moment of silence for so many who have died in the years since 9/11, from the toxic dust that they inhaled on that day and in the days that followed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(VIDEO - REMEMBERING 25 YEARS SINCE 9/11)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Tonight, there are beams of light that are filling the skyline of New York City, where the towers once stood.
We're living, obviously, on this moment -- in this moment, in a deeply divided country, and deeply divided nation. There was a brief moment during the ceremonies that stood out today to us. This one, where New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani approached and shook hands with Rudy Giuliani, who led this city 25 years ago, and a few days ago said this about the city's first Muslim mayor.
[21:05:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Having lost friends there, and being very close to many of the families, it offends me that he's coming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, Mamdani was there this morning, regardless of what Giuliani said.
President Trump was not in attendance, though every other living president was there, as well as the Vice President JD Vance.
Our sources say that the President's decision not to go was in part because he would not be allowed to deliver remarks today, something no politician does at this annual ceremony.
The President himself has denied that reporting, and instead he chose to speak again this year at the Pentagon, where another hijacked plane crashed that day, killing 125 people in that building and 59 more aboard American Airlines Flight 77.
Now, 25 years later, the Pentagon is still at war in the Middle East, but a very different war than the one that the U.S. launched into Afghanistan and then Iraq after 9/11.
And today, as he honored those who were killed on that day, 25 years ago, the President used the occasion to also honor those that he has sent to fight a new war, a new war that he had pledged to avoid. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: In the generation since 9/11, American sons and daughters have traveled to the darkest corners of the earth and done battle with a shadowy enemy, so that our children might once again know carefree days and cloudless skies.
We salute the service members working right now to ensure the world's number one sponsor of terror. The Islamic Republic of Iran will never ever have a nuclear weapon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Today -- was also held at the field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where another hijacked plane that day, that was headed toward Washington, was brought down by the brave souls on board, United Airlines Flight 93, sacrificing their own lives to save so many, countless others.
We want to start the hour tonight with someone very special. That is retired Air Force Major, Heather "Lucky" Penney, who was a rookie pilot in the D.C. Air National Guard on 9/11, and as the attacks were unfolding, was given a mission to intercept Flight 93 before it could reach the nation's capital, even if doing so meant sacrificing her own life by ramming the plane itself.
And Major Penney, I'm honored to have you here tonight. So, I just want to say thank you for joining us on this day.
And as you look back 25 years later, what do you remember about that morning at Andrews Air Force Base?
MAJ. HEATHER "LUCKY" PENNEY, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.), FORMER F-16 PILOT, D.C. AIR NATIONAL GUARD, SENIOR RESIDENT FELLOW, MITCHELL INSTITUTE FOR AEROSPACE STUDIES: That morning was totally ordinary and every day.
My fighter squadron, which was the District of Columbia Air National Guard, was min manned because we had just gotten back from a major exercise. So, we really didn't have the pilots, the maintainers, the personnel to launch into the combat operations that we would embark on later that morning.
You have to remember, in this moment after the fall of the Soviet Union, the nation had slashed our air force in half. And while my unit once upon a time had sat alert, we were no longer an alert asset. So, we had no live weapons. We were not plugged into command and control. We were not part of the NORAD response and responsibility to control and secure our skies.
COLLINS: Yes, I think some people might hear what happened with you and think, Was there not a plan to scramble planes to put them in the sky or have this in that moment? And it's pretty remarkable that there wasn't. I mean, so what did you -- how did you know what to do in that moment, amid such chaos and confusion? PENNEY: Well, first, there were only five units around the United States, the Contiguous United States. And so, there were alert units in Norfolk and an alert unit up in Massachusetts, but not one dedicated to D.C.
But we knew what needed to be done because we had seen the images on the television. We had seen the airliners crash into the towers, aim and crash, and we could see the smoke coming out of the Pentagon from our flight line. So, we knew our nation was under attack, and we knew that we would need to do whatever it took to protect and defend.
COLLINS: So, you get up in the sky, and what was going through your mind?
PENNEY: It took us too long to get airborne because we -- since we knew what the -- what the target would be, what the threat would be, an airliner, a hijacked airliner full of innocent Americans, we had to wait until we had the appropriate authorization to get airborne.
[21:10:00]
And when we finally did, Marc Sasseville, who was my flight lead -- I was just a young wingman -- our mission was clear: to protect and defend, and we would do whatever it would take to make sure that no more harm came to our countrymen, came to our country. And because we didn't have any missiles, we knew that that would be a suicide mission.
COLLINS: What was it like for you, as someone as young as you were on that day, to be up in the sky, thinking that that could be your last mission?
PENNEY: I was doing my job. I had sworn an oath to protect and defend. And honestly, if God had put me in that moment, then that was my purpose. I was just a small thing compared to what this nation means.
And if you remember the days and the weeks that followed 9/11, where we came together as a nation, and it didn't -- none of the things that are dividing us today, none of that mattered. But we knew that we were neighbors, that we were human, that we all had families and loved ones and dreams, and we all cherished our freedoms and what this nation has allowed us to be able to do. That we all came together. That's so much bigger than what I was. And to me, that was worth, and still is worth, giving my life for to protect.
COLLINS: It just is a remarkable story. I mean, there are so many different stories from that day, of bravery and heroics.
And I wonder what went through your mind when you realized what had happened on Flight 93 that you were prepared to sacrifice your life to take that plane down, thinking it was hijacked and was going for a major target.
When you found out that it was the citizens on board, the moms, the dads, the salesmen, the kids on that plane that decided to sacrifice their own lives to protect other people once they realized what was going on. What was it like for you to hear that?
PENNEY: Those passengers, the decisions that they made, their heroic actions gives me hope. It gave me hope back then, and it gives me hope today. Because none of them were veterans, service members, first responders, volunteer firefighters. They were just ordinary Americans, and yet they chose to make that ultimate sacrifice.
And that that kind of heroism is in ordinary Americans, that they realize that there are things in this world that are more important than ourselves, and that this thing called America is something worth -- something worth it. That gives me hope. That gives me hope for our nation that even today, as divided as we are, that we can come together and really, the e pluribus unum.
COLLINS: Yes, I just -- the Let's roll story, I mean, I think every year is something that makes everyone emotional.
PENNEY: Todd Beamer, yes.
COLLINS: As Todd Beamer had made that call, and they charged to the cockpit and took that plane down.
Major Penney. Heather "Lucky" Penney. It is an honor to speak with you tonight, and I just want to say thank you for joining us on this year, this anniversary, and thank you for your service as well to this country and for what you did on that day and what you were prepared to do.
PENNEY: Thank you. Serving has been my privilege.
COLLINS: It's a joy to hear from you tonight. Thank you.
And I should note that on that moment, 25 years ago, Major Penney went up in the sky that day, preparing to sacrifice her own life to take down that flight. Ended up escorting Air Force One in the sky that day, which of course is where President Bush was flying later, after he had been told, while he was in Florida, that the nation was under attack, as he was sitting in that Florida classroom.
It was one of the most unforgettable scenes from that day. And my next source tonight was actually one of the few people who experienced it firsthand, how it played out from the President's perspective.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER JENNINGS, CANADIAN-AMERICAN TELEVISION JOURNALIST: ABC's Ann Compton is with the President at the moment, and we have her on the telephone.
Annie.
ANN COMPTON, FORMER ABC NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Peter, it has been a frightening couple of hours for President Bush.
We don't know much about what's gone on, on the ground, but he has been able to see some of it on a very fuzzy television picture. President Bush is here at the home of the Strategic Command. This is the area -- this is the base where those big doomsday aircraft are kept.
JENNINGS: Ann Compton, who's been with the President all day, in a very tight group of people with the President, is on Air Force One and can talk to us at the moment.
Annie, can you hear me?
[21:15:00]
COMPTON: Yes, Peter, I can. We're just getting off of Air Force One. He has arrived back in Washington with a dramatic flight with F-16s and F-15s on either wing as he came into Andrews Air Force Base.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And former ABC News White House correspondent, Ann Compton, joins me now.
Ann, I get chills just listening to your reports from that day, and what it was like watching that and reporting on that and doing your job. And I wonder what you're thinking about, on this day, 25 years later.
COMPTON: There are a couple of things, Kaitlan, that come back more clearly now than they did 25 years ago.
When the President got that whisper in his ear, It was two planes, the second tower, and America is under attack, is what his chief of staff said.
And at that point, we knew, for years, the U.S. had been tracking bin Laden with units at the CIA and the FBI. And the President, just a month earlier, saw in his daily intelligence briefing that European sources believed that Osama bin Laden might want to use aircraft to hit America.
So, that look on his face in the classroom told me that he was beginning to connect the dots. He had only been president for seven months.
COLLINS: So, you could see on his face that expression that you now look at and can kind of see, you know -- I mean, I can't even imagine what it's like to be told, as the President of the United States, something like this, while you're in public, reading in front of a classroom and, to your point, knowing the intelligence that they had and putting those dots together.
COMPTON: And it was a day, Kaitlan, when people kept telling him no.
In the school, he said, I've got to address the American people, and I've got to go back to Washington. And we got on the aircraft. But just then the Pentagon was hit. Well, there was no way they were going to fly that military jet into American -- into Washington airspace. So, we flew for hours and stopped once in Louisiana. Fuel -- plane needed fuel, and the President wanted to speak, and he did come to our camera and make a -- make a statement, and we weren't plugged into anything. We had to hand the tape off.
It was when the President demanded to go back to Washington, saying he had to speak from the White House, to reassure the American people. The Secret Service told him, Mr. President, that's not your call. That's our call, and we're not going back to Washington.
It was not until mid-afternoon that we arrived at the Strategic Command headquarters. He went down in a nuclear-protected bunker, and that's the first time all day that he finally got to see the PEOC, the President's Emergency Command Center at the White House, where Dick Cheney -- Vice President Cheney was working, and he got to see the CIA, and he finally was told the manifests of the planes, three known al-Qaeda figures were on those manifests.
And that's when the President said to the -- the video, he said, OK, I'm coming home. And I think it was Condi Rice, the National Security Advisor, said, We recommend you do not do that. And he said, Fine, I'm coming. It had been six -- almost eight hours, and the President finally got his way.
COLLINS: What was it like when you finally returned to Washington? I mean, the Pentagon must have still been burning. I mean, returning in that moment. What was that like for to you?
COMPTON: Remember, we -- Kaitlan, we had seen nothing all day. We had very shaky video on the plane. And we landed at Andrews Air Force Base. And the President got on Marine One, and had to fly very low because they didn't want him up high in the air. And he looked over, he's coming up the Potomac River, and he sees the Pentagon, and the smoke still rising, and he told, I believe, Secretary of State -- or Chief of Staff Andy Card, he said, That's the face of warfare in the 21st century. It was a whole new world.
COLLINS: I think that's a good point about being on the plane. You can't see what's really going on. I mean, even now, reporters on the plane don't have access to Wi-Fi unless the White House chooses to turn it on for the reporters at the back of the plane. You're kind of, in this silo, when you're there.
Balancing this as a reporter, you know, in that moment, you're also an American who is realizing what's happening to the nation. I wonder what, like -- and how did you do that? How did you do your job while also realizing the moment that you were in, in history?
[21:20:00]
COMPTON: The history was so important; I couldn't lose sight of that. But we got back to the White House, which had been evacuated earlier, and I finally opened my laptop, and I looked at my own email. And the first message was from my two sons, Bill and Ted, at Vanderbilt University, Mom, our fraternity brother Ted Adderley was on the 93rd floor of the first tower. And suddenly, the day had a face that I knew, my kids' friends, and that's the moment when I sat down and I cried.
COLLINS: I mean, I can't even imagine what that was like for you, to have been in that tunnel vision of working--
COMPTON: Now--
COLLINS: --and then read that email.
COMPTON: Yes, the -- I think the worst moment of the day is when on the plane, we saw the first tower begin to crumble and then the second, and we thought 20,000, 30,000 people in there, who knows, and feeling powerless to do anything about it, but being determined to tell the American -- show the American people, and the President was determined to tell the world that he was not going to let -- he was going to insist that democracy would be defended.
COLLINS: Is it hard for you to believe that it's been 25 years since that happened?
COMPTON: Of all the people I have recently met and even been interviewed by, who have no memory of this, I am grateful that the story we've been telling year after year for 25 years, still not only resonates but has as deep a meaning now, for the United States of America, despite domestic politics, despite economics, that the story of what America went through is a seminal part of our history. This is the 250th anniversary. Those struggles, early on, were. This struggle is as well.
COLLINS: Ann Compton, I always love having you on the show. Thank you for joining us tonight.
COMPTON: Kaitlan. Thank you for doing this, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: It's so great to have Ann Compton and Major Penney here both.
Up next. In remembrance of 9/11 today at the Pentagon, as we heard the President, he talked about the current war that is underway in Iran. What he said about that and how he tied it to that fateful day 25 years ago. My political panel and experts are here right after this.
[21:25:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: With the events of that morning, 2,977 beautiful souls were ripped from our world, and many more died in the weeks and years after.
Today we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago. We will never, ever forget. That's why we fight today.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COLLINS: That was President Trump today during that solemn Pentagon ceremony, marking the September 11th terrorist attacks 25 years ago. In both his remarks and the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's own remembrance of the nearly 3,000 lives that were lost that day came their defense of the current war against Iran 25 years later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We salute our first responders and law enforcement, and we love them. And we salute the service members working right now to ensure the world's number one sponsor of terror. The Islamic Republic of Iran will never ever have a nuclear weapon.
(APPLAUSE)
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Over the past six months, we have laid waste to the world's most prolific state sponsor of terrorism. Our warriors have fought an Islamic theocracy that has wished us death for nearly half a century. That cheered on 9/11.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: I'm joined tonight by two of my top political sources.
Former Obama administration official, Van Jones.
And former Republican congressman, Charlie Dent.
And Van, when you hear the President's remarks there, do you think that's appropriate?
VAN JONES, FORMER OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't. I think it was in poor form.
Look, I was down there today. It's emotional. It's really powerful. And there were obviously people who had lost family members. They were touching the marble where their family names were and taking pictures.
I don't think it's a time to try to whip up support for your new war. And by the way, Iran and Iraq are not the same country. Iraq is a Sunni Muslim country. Iran, mainly a Shia Persian country. And neither had anything to do with 9/11. So, what are you doing? I think it was in poor form.
But I'll tell you, that was a great day when Americans did come together, and you saw it today in New York City. And I think he was out of touch with the feelings of most Americans today.
COLLINS: The President was.
[21:30:00]
JONES: I think the President was out of touch. I don't think -- I don't think anybody out there today was celebrating this war, or any other war. I think people were grieving loss and honoring real heroics. Real heroics are when you run into a building, knowing you may not come out, trying to save somebody else. It's not beating your chest about another ill-advised war that had nothing to do with 9/11.
COLLINS: Yes.
Charlie, when the President went to the Pentagon, last year, and gave a similar speech in remembrance of it. I traveled with him because we were the pool with him that day. And a lot of the people in the audience there were family members of survivors or people who currently are at the Pentagon. I mean, it's not like a political rally where the President is speaking to his base, like he was in Dallas this week. I wonder what you made of that.
CHARLIE DENT, FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN (R-PA): Well, 9/11 is a solemn day of remembrance. I participated in a ceremony this morning at the U.S. Capitol, commemorating what happened. But the Capitol was an intended target at the time. And this is a day where we think about the families, and the victims, and the survivors.
And for me, it's very personal. My cousin was on the 91st floor of the North Tower, and that's what I talked about today. He got out. Everybody above him was killed. He saw all the stairwells that were blocked, going up. He knew they couldn't come down. And you know, so that's why -- where I am.
I don't think this is the right time to make political statements. As Van pointed out too, there's a lot of nuance here between Iran and al- Qaeda. You know, al-Qaeda is Sunni, and of course, Iran is largely a Shi'ite nation. And Iran is guilty of many crimes, but they weren't responsible for 9/11.
So, I -- but -- again, I'd stay away from that. I would have stayed away from it and just focused on these victims. Because you know what? For all of us, it hit us so hard. I was just -- I was coming to Congress a few years later, but it affected everything, our way of life and how we view the world. And the world changed.
And I think that's really what we should be talking about. But especially remembering all those victims and the first responders, and the -- Bill Sugra Jr., a guy from my hometown, whose mother was my daughter's elementary school teacher. He was a few floors above my cousin, Steve McIntyre, who thankfully made it out.
COLLINS: Yes.
DENT: But all these people were killed, and that's what we should be talking about.
COLLINS: Yes, I think that's a good point in terms of the focus, especially at these ceremonies, and what the intended point of them is and who everyone is remembering.
And Van, there was a moment where the President is now -- he was there this morning. He gave this speech. A few hours after he left the Pentagon, to commemorate that day, and all the Americans and the lives who were lost. There wasn't really any explanation, but he posted the video that he had shared on social media on January 6th.
JONES: Yes. Yes, I saw that. I also--
COLLINS: He reposted it. This is the video, for people who don't remember. It was where he's telling the rioters to go home, and he's saying, We have to have peace. Go home. We love you. You're very special. To the people who had ransacked the Capitol.
JONES: Yes, I -- I was kind of thrown by that. I don't understand what -- so, these are people who are not patriotic, who are not heroes, who are traitors, who are treasonous, who attacked our Capitol, and you're reminding us of this, on a day when we should be celebrating the actual patriots and the heroes of 9/11. So again, I just think sometimes the President just -- is just not in sync with where the American people are.
I don't think there's a single person today who woke up and said, You know what I want to talk about today? January 6th, that's what I like. Who does that?
COLLINS: I mean, Charlie, that's a good question. What went through your mind when you saw that the President had shared that today, of any days or any day he was sharing it.
DENT: Well -- well, again, 9/11 was about a terrorist attack designed to disrupt our way of life. January 6th was a mob trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. The two really aren't related, as far as I'm concerned. And frankly, from a political standpoint, I don't know why you would try to mix your messages.
Again, this is a day; it's a solemn day of remembrance. It's about the victims. It's about the families. We should be thinking of them, and not getting onto other issues--
JONES: Can I--
DENT: --and especially one like that that also was--
JONES: Yes.
DENT: It also was also a horrible day, too. By the way, January 6th was a horrible day, just as 9/11, but for completely different reasons. And so, I just don't understand why he would throw that into the mix here. It certainly didn't add to what was discussed earlier in the day.
JONES: I do just want to say one thing that was special today. There were some people who were -- you know, anti-Muslim protests and that type of stuff. The fact that 25 years later, we have a Muslim mayor in this City of New York, whether you like his policies or not, you have a Muslim mayor. That says more about the American spirit, that says more about the American character, than anything that was said today in front of the Pentagon.
[21:35:00]
We, I think, we are a great nation, and we're going to have to work hard to stay strong and free. But part of the great nation is you heal and you don't blame people because of their faith -- the faith of some bad guys, and then you want to attack everybody else? That's the most un-American thing that happened today. The most American thing is that a young Muslim mayor shook hands with Giuliani. I mean--
COLLINS: Yes, Van, what did you make of that moment?
JONES: I think it's an important moment for the country. A lot of people have criticisms of Giuliani and Mamdani. But they both put the country first, and that's what it's about. They both put the country first. And I think we've got to get back to that. We've got to keep that spirit going.
And again, the idea that people are protesting Mamdani because he's Muslim, not because of his policies, because of his faith? That is the most un-American thing you can do in this country.
And I was very proud to see that scene today.
COLLINS: Van Jones. Charlie Dent. Always great to have both of you here. So, thank you for joining us tonight.
DENT: Thanks.
COLLINS: Up next. Speaking of the Iran war. An island that was seized and a key pipeline was just targeted. There are two really big developments actually that are going on in the Middle East, both of which could affect what you are paying for gas, and also potentially, according to experts, give Tehran more leverage when it comes to the United States. We have an excellent global affairs source here, right after this.
[21:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We are following some breaking news tonight, as the Iran- backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have seized a small but vitally strategic island, which could mean massive disruption to global oil and shipping markets.
Perim Island in the Bab al-Mandab Strait sits next to a critical shipping route, right next to where the Red Sea meets the Indian Ocean. The waterways surrounding it became a backdoor for global oil exports amid the Iranian threats on the Strait of Hormuz that we've been covering so closely. But combined with the Houthis capture of several other strategically vital locations alongside the Red Sea, that door could now be totally shut.
And it comes as there's two U.S. officials who are telling CNN tonight that a key oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia was attacked and forced to shut down. You can see the extent of damage to the facility in the satellite image that was captured here today.
Joining us tonight on all of these developments and how to break them down is CNN Global Affairs Analyst, and Iran expert, Karim Sadjadpour. And Karim, obviously, you have followed this extremely closely with us for the last six months. Given these two developments, what stands out to you, and what is your biggest takeaway from this tonight,
KARIM SADJADPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, IRAN EXPERT, SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Kaitlan, it is a significant development for energy markets.
So, the Houthi control over the Bab al-Mandab is a major blow to Saudi Arabia. That's a very narrow corridor, about 18 miles. And now that they control this Perim Island, there's videos of Houthi commanders saying, We don't need missiles and drones anymore to go after these ships; we can do it with machine guns.
And it is pretty remarkable when you see these Houthi fighters. They're often times wearing sandals or barefoot. Saudi Arabia has enormous resources, but the Houthis have had far more effective fighters and greater resolve.
And so, what Saudi Arabia had effectively been doing was the oil they couldn't get out of the Strait of Hormuz; they transported to the Red Sea.
But we also saw another development, which was Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias in Iraq launching these strikes on Saudi oil pipeline, which shut down that oil pipeline. So, this is a pretty significant development for global energy markets.
COLLINS: Well, and when you look at it in the context of sources that are telling CNN. The Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince actually called the President twice yesterday and asked him, urged him, to strike the Houthis, but the President didn't agree to it. The U.S. did not strike them.
I wonder what that tells you and how you think that MBS is going to respond to that rejection.
SADJADPOUR: Well, it's just an example, Kaitlan, that those who have paid the highest costs for this war has not been the United States. It's been our partners in the Middle East and the people of Iran.
Meghan O'Sullivan, a colleague at Harvard University, I thought said something quite astute, which is, America is now the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas. So, a lot of our major decisions were immune from the impact of these decisions. This disruption of oil is actually going to affect a lot of countries in Asia far more than the United States.
COLLINS: Yes, we can see those impacts felt far and wide.
Karim Sadjadpour, it is always great to have your expertise, especially on these major headlines that are coming through today. Thank you for joining us tonight.
SADJADPOUR: Thank you. COLLINS: And speaking of that moment, 25 years ago today, longtime Pentagon correspondent and former CNN reporter, Barbara Starr, she was inside the Pentagon as a producer, when American Airlines Flight 77 hit the building. She'll join us right after this.
[21:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: It was 25 years ago today, at 09:42 in the morning, when the news first broke on CNN that the terror attacks the world was watching unfold in New York City had also reached our nation's capital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chris Plante, a CNN producer, is at the Pentagon, where there is a significant fire.
Chris, you're on the phone. Can you hear me OK?
Voice of CHRIS PLANTE, CNN PENTAGON PRODUCER ON 9/11: Yes, I can hear you just fine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell me what you know.
Voice of PLANTE: Well, arriving at the Pentagon a short time ago, there was a huge plume of smoke, which continues to rise from the west side of the Pentagon. It's impossible for me to say from this side of the building whether the building itself is on fire or up in flames, or exactly what caused this. I did not hear an explosion, but there is certainly a very, very significant fire in this enormous office building on the west front.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: That was just five minutes after American Airlines Flight 77 had crashed into the Pentagon, killing 125 people in the building and all 59 who were on board.
CNNs longtime Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, who was a producer at the time, was actually inside the Pentagon that was filled with confusion and fear about what had just happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA STARR, FORMER CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT, SENIOR FELLOW, USC CENTER ON COMMUNICATION LEADERSHIP AND POLICY: That morning, we'd been watching the attacks unfold in New York. I came out in this hallway, and suddenly there was a Pentagon policeman coming from that direction, running down this hallway, yelling, Get out. Get out. Everybody, get out. We've been hit. Get out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[21:50:00]
COLLINS: And Barbara Starr joins me now. She is now a Senior Fellow at the USC Center on Communication Leadership and Policy.
And Barbara, I love having you on the show.
But in this moment, reflecting on what that was like 25 years ago. When you had evacuated the Pentagon, what did you see?
STARR: Well, I went out that west front door and was confronted with a wall of orange flame that rose all five stories above ground in the Pentagon -- in the Pentagon. And we didn't really know the extent of how far the plane went. And we knew it had been a plane. We didn't know how far the plane had gone into the building. We didn't know the extent of the casualties.
And as we're standing there, it was so quick to get out that we didn't even have in those initial moments the fire trucks, the ambulances, the first responders. So, somebody launched a call for military people who had medical training to try and help those who were pouring out of the building on that side, who were injured, and not a moment's hesitation. Dozens and dozens of military people ran forward.
I had met a young army officer on that side of the building who went back in, to rescue a disabled member of the housekeeping staff that he knew was still inside. I met a female officer who jumped out a second- story window into the arms of a navy officer waiting below.
What I want to say the most about all of this is, as I look at it now after all these years, I look forward, not back, and I see a U.S. military force of honor, integrity, the dead and the wounded tended to for so many years. And really, it's a force where the diversity of the force, and I know I could not disagree with Secretary Hegseth more. The diversity of the American military is its strength. It was its strength on that day, it's been its strength all the way through, and I really truly believe will be going forward into this new era of very modern warfare.
COLLINS: Yes, I think that's a great point in terms of the reflections of what you had seen and what it signified.
And I mean, just as a producer and a reporter in that moment, I imagine you probably did not ever expect where you worked, the Pentagon, to be hit. I mean, there's a -- there is an illusion of safety, I think, when you're at the White House, or on Capitol Hill, or on Air Force One, of safety because, of the people who are around you and who you're covering and how high profile they are.
STARR: I say this really, actually, quite seriously. I think I must have been the most oblivious person in the United States that morning when I got up and went to work. Never ever this -- this just didn't even occur in my consciousness that this could possibly happen.
And there were people outside who were already saying, within minutes, that the nation would be at war. And I guess I really thought back and thought, Well, this reminds me so much of what we learned about Pearl Harbor, that attack, that sudden attack.
But at the Pentagon, what was so unbelievable was the response, and I think the thing that I recall the most and the deepest, if you will, Secretary Don Rumsfeld. Say what you will about in the ensuing years how the Iraq War emerged and how he handled all of that. But on that morning, in that place, he went out to the site. He helped carry stretchers of the wounded.
And he was advised very strongly to shut the Pentagon down. And being Don Rumsfeld, will you tell him to do something, he flat out refused. He would not shut the Pentagon down. It was full of smoke, flame, water from the firefighters pouring down the walls. Don Rumsfeld didn't go anywhere, and he didn't shut it down.
And so, Kaitlan, it can be recorded in our nation's history on that day of the worst attack in so many decades, the headquarters of the U.S. military never shut its doors, never shut down. It went to work and started planning a response that, you know, a lot of people see a lot of flaws in the wars that ensued. But on that day, I think it is very much worth remembering the Pentagon never shut down.
[21:55:00]
COLLINS: Well, yes, and hearing that and the through line between that and him saying, No, we're not going to shut the Pentagon down, and George Bush saying, No, I am going to go back to Washington.
Barbara Starr, it is always excellent to have you here, but especially to have your reporting on a day like today. So, thank you so much.
STARR: Thanks, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: And when we come back, how you can support those who were impacted by the terror attacks 25 years ago.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Faustino Apostol, Jr.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Frank Thomas Aquilino.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Patrick Michael Aranyos.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: David Gregory Arce.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[22:00:00]
COLLINS: And you hear the names read today as they did of the nearly 3,000 people who were killed on 9/11. And when you think about the thousands more who died in the days after, in the months and years. There are countless families who still live every single day with the pain and the lasting impact of what happened that day.
If you want to help, CNN has made that an option for you. For more information about how you can support first responders and the families who are impacted by 9/11, you can still go to CNN.com/impact to do so.
Thank you if you do so. And thank you for joining us tonight.
"CNN NEWSNIGHT WITH ABBY PHILLIP" starts now.
