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What We Know with Max Foster

Mixed Messages Coming From The Trump Administration; Hegseth Warns Of "Most Intense" Strikes Yet; Around 140 Americans Injured; 760K Displaced In Lebanon; Global Oil Giant Issues Warning. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired March 10, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:29]

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: The U.S. says it won't relent in its war with Iran.

This is WHAT WE KNOW.

Tonight, Washington warns it strikes on Iran will only get more intense. The U.S. defense secretary says the United States will not relent until,

quote, "the enemy is totally defeated".

This, as the White House says, around 140 U.S. service members have been injured in the war so far.

In Lebanon, about 750,000 people have been displaced fleeing Israeli bombing.

And a global oil giant warns of a looming catastrophe if oil can't flow through the Strait of Hormuz.

First, though, to the U.S., where mixed messages are still coming from the Trump administration. We all heard the U.S. president say the war will be

over soon, adding that military operations are, quote, "very complete". Pretty much.

That was a day ago. Fast forward to today, and this is what Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth's warning to Iran was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Today will be yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran. The most fighters, the most bombers, the most

strikes, intelligence, more refined and better than ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Live in Washington now with CNN's Kevin Liptak, who is trying to make sense of all of this -- Kevin.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. And I think, you know, the briefing that we just got from Karoline Leavitt, I'm not sure

added much sense to what we've already heard. You know, you continue to hear sort of countervailing messages.

I think it was evident just listening to Karoline Leavitt, that there are some divergent impulses that she's trying to navigate. One is to try and

communicate the American people that this war is not open ended, that the administration does have a plan in mind for ending it at some point. She

said that the military is working very quickly ahead of schedule to complete their military objectives and she said that they would continue to

work all of those swiftly was her word but at the same time, it seems clear that she wants to leave all of the options open for President Trump to

essentially declare victory whenever he wants to.

So, she didn't actually quantify what all of these objectives were. She said, sort of broadly, that they wanted to degrade the missile program, the

nuclear program, annihilate the navy. But she didn't sort of provide actual details of what that actually looked like. And it does appear as if this is

all now resting on President Trump's own sort of impulse about whether or not Iran has surrendered. You know, she says that that will be up to him

and him alone. And it does seem as if they are trying to construct the scaffolding of an off ramp without actually taking it quite yet.

You know, she also talked quite at length about the state of the Strait of Hormuz and of oil -- the oil markets, talking about how the administration,

one, had expected the spike that were seeing in energy prices, and two, was using all of the options that it had to try and keep those low and to try

and keep navigation going through the strait.

Now she also had to sort of explain away an errant tweet that we saw in the few minutes before she walked out from the U.S. Energy Secretary Chris

Wright, saying that the U.S. navy had escorted a tanker through the strait. You know, that's something that President Trump has been talking about for

a week now. But we hadn't known that it was happening. And in fact, it's not happening.

The tweet was a mistake. So, she had to explain that away as well. And so, you know, it was a briefing and a day of briefings, really, I think were

intended to show the administration has a plan in place that President Trump knows in his own mind how this war might end, but without a great

number of details about what that actually looks like.

FOSTER: Yeah. Kevin, thank you so much for that.

Well, in Tehran, residents face terrifying strikes overnight. One person telling CNN it felt like one of the worst nights of the war. According to

Iran's U.N. envoy, more than 1,300 civilians have been killed since the war began at the end of last month.

Our Fred Pleitgen and his team are in Tehran. We should mention that CNN operates in Iran with permission of the Iranian government as required

under local regulations, but maintains full editorial control over what we report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's been heavy bombardment in Tehran over the past 24 hours, as we both

heard and felt.

[15:05:00]

This morning, we visited a site when all of a sudden, it was targeted again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we should go.

PLEITGEN: Yeah, we should go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We go, we go.

PLEITGEN: Yeah. Okay, we're hearing jets overhead. There's anti-aircraft fire going up. We got to get out of here as fast as possible.

So that just goes to show how fast things can turn bad here. We were filming at a site as apparently -- rid of this mask -- struck yesterday.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Earlier, we'd spoken to folks caught in the attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in the basement and was thrown against the opposite wall. I was under the rubble. That's it -- I don't know what else

to say. I'm sorry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The scene from CNN's cameras in Tehran.

Well, Israel is carrying out what it describes as targeted ground raids against Hezbollah in Lebanon. That's amid a potential deeper push into the

country by the IDF. Israel has issued evacuation calls in Lebanon, impacting hundreds of thousands of people.

Our Nick Paton Walsh is live for us in Tel Aviv.

I mean, this displacement is huge, isn't it, Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It's extraordinary. And of course, for many of these people, it is the second

time in 18 months that they've been told to leave their homes by the Israeli military, who again today reiterated they consider the south of the

Litani River in southern Lebanon a huge area to be an area that has to be evacuated and also to, I think, slightly enlarging the evacuation area of

the southern Beirut suburbs that they have been pounding relentlessly over the past days.

Now, over 500 Lebanese have been killed since the start of this particular wave of the offensive and we heard a change. I think, in some of the

technical nuance around the Israeli operation here. Of course, we've seen extraordinary air power being used to level buildings in Dahieh, the Beirut

suburbs to take out targets across southern Lebanon. The U.N. indeed warning that as many as ten children a day are being killed in this

violence.

But at the same time, the Israelis today said that they had launched targeted raids, plurals, against targets on the ground inside southern

Lebanon itself.

Now that is a change in what we've been hearing over past days. We were up at the border ourselves in recent hours and saw the intensity of the

airstrikes, certainly, but not really a significantly large enough Israeli ground force that we can see publicly to suggest a major ground invasion.

And so, these targeted raids that they're now talking about seem to be a way of trying to take out parts of the Hezbollah machinery that's left

inside southern Lebanon that can only really be combated through ground insertions.

We heard of two of those recently. Now it seems to be plural but it's important to stress, Max, how this particular chapter of the conflict here.

Israel against Hezbollah. Hezbollah beginning it through avenging, they said the death of essentially their sponsor, the Iranian Ayatollah Ali

Khamenei is potentially going to have a different time frame to that, which we see with the U.S., Israel bombing Iran.

It's obviously a longer term war here we've seen between that Iranian proxy and Israel, and Israel clearly trying to prepare people here for a longer

term conflict. I've just lost my IFB, Max.

But just one final thought here, too. It was interesting to hear Karoline Leavitt discussing the potential war goals here. We've heard the Secretary

of War Pete Hegseth, talk about removing missiles, damaging the navy, and preventing Iran from ever having a nuclear weapon.

At one point, Karoline Leavitt, though, did add the idea that Iran's proxies may have to be neutralized before this is considered to have been

achieved. That may potentially include Hezbollah. Does that tie the U.S. to the Israeli war aims here in the north? Unclear.

A lot of this changing, but those three clear central goals ultimately reiterated twice today and it's clear that the U.S. thinks it's getting

near them -- Max.

FOSTER: Okay. Nick, appreciate it. Thank you.

U.S. military planners say they are looking at how they can help escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz. The strait is critical as a shipping

route. One fifth of the oil consumed around the globe goes through it. And Iran has threatened to attack any ship that tries.

Iran security chief said Hormuz can be for peace, or it can be a strait of defeat and suffering.

President Donald Trump responded, saying that if Iran blocks the strait, the U.S. will hit back 20 times harder. The situation in the Gulf is

causing wild moves in the oil markets. Just yesterday, prices spiked to almost $120 per barrel, but they have tumbled today amid hopes the conflict

with Iran could ease soon.

Industry experts warn that if oil does not resume flowing out of the Gulf soon, prices will soar again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMENA BAKR, HEAD OF MIDDLE EAST ENERGY & OPEC+ INSIGHTS, KPLER: We've been seeing since the conflict broke out is just a few Iranian vessels cross the

strait, but mainly the remaining vessels -- it's just -- I mean, Hormuz has turned into almost like a parking lot for, for the remaining vessels.

[15:10:14]

I don't think the Qatari minister is completely out of line when he mentioned $150. And if we see a continuation of the strait being obstructed

like this completely with the -- with the near zero flows, yeah oil prices could easily climb up to that level.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Joining me now, Colin Clarke, the executive director of the Soufan Center. He's an expert in geopolitics and international security.

Thank you so much for joining us, Colin.

A hundred and fifty dollars a barrel. What do you think about that figure?

COLIN CLARKE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE SOUFAN CENTER: Yeah, I mean, I think it's entirely plausible, given recent events. The Iranians are clearly

fighting back much fiercer than anyone in the Trump administration expected. And if they do attempt to, you know, close the Strait of Hormuz

and begin mining operations, we're talking about maritime choke point warfare.

FOSTER: Yeah. So, when you say mining operations, that's planting sea mines or water mines in the water. Which would make it impossible for any

ship to pass through until it's been cleared by the military. And that's a long process, isn't it?

CLARKE: It's a long process to go through de-mining. There's also other options. Asymmetric means and layered defense that the Iranians would

likely employ everything from underwater drones to anti-ship cruise missiles this would be -- you know, given that the conflict is existential

for the regime, Khamenei has already been killed. They're pulling out all the stops and, you know, really are going to the mat on this one.

Everything's on the table for the Iranians.

FOSTER: Is there one base that the U.S. can attack which is responsible for looking after that channel or is it much more complicated than that?

CLARKE: So, the Iranians rely on what's called a mosaic defense strategy. It's this kind of decentralized approach to warfare. The U.S. and the

Israelis have gone after a lot of Iran's conventional military capabilities. But right now, you know, the effort would be at attempting to

go after the command-and-control node.

So, look, there's -- it's an extremely complex military operation from the American side. It's not only the hardware that's needed, but there's all

sorts of joint command decisions operational tempo and other aspects to consider as well.

FOSTER: When Donald Trump talks about taking control of Hormuz, what do you think of that? How long would it even take?

CLARKE: I mean, that's anybody's guess, to be honest. What he actually means by that, how he attempts to do that but like most other things with

this conflict so far, there's no explanation by the administration. We still don't know what the strategy is, and we don't know what ultimate U.S.

objectives are. We don't know if the war is almost over, as the president suggested yesterday, or just beginning as the secretary of war said. So,

the strategic communications and the message discipline from the Trump administration has been disastrous, to put it mildly, you know, American

citizens really don't know why we're fighting this war when it's going to be over and what we hope to achieve.

FOSTER: Just in terms of that lack of clarity, we, of course, had a social post from the energy secretary saying that the first ship tanker had been

escorted by the U.S. military, and that was quickly deleted. You know, you could discard it as a moment in this story, but actually, damage his

confidence, doesn't it? And the oil market is driven by confidence.

CLARKE: It's driven by confidence, transparency, reliability. And when the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, you have none of the

above. If the U.S. does begin escorting oil tankers, it also opens up a whole new range of vulnerabilities to the navy and to other assets that we

have in that part of the world.

FOSTER: Yeah. Okay. Colin Clarke, appreciate your time. Thank you so much for joining us.

Well, coming up, is it the beginning or the end? Next, Trump administration officials seem reluctant to put any sort of timeline on this war in Iran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:30]

FOSTER: Fresh Iranian strikes targeting countries across the Persian Gulf overnight on Monday and into Tuesday. In Bahrain, an attack hit one of the

region's largest oil refineries and killing one person in a residential building. The UAE consulate in Iraqi Kurdistan was also targeted. Kuwait

and Qatar also report intercepting missiles and drones.

Our international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson has the latest for us from Kuwait City.

I mean, there was a point, Nic, where the Iranians said they wouldn't be attacking their neighbors, but it does feel like particularly when it's

away from these U.S. installations.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: There -- there are, of which there are several here in Kuwait and this, of course, is a country

where U.S. service personnel have died. Six U.S. service personnel were killed in a direct impact on the logistics facility. They were working in

here. Some there are a lot of U.S. service personnel here and are a number of air bases and bases that U.S. service personnel work out of.

But the message that came from the emir here yesterday, particularly to the Iranians, are very, very clear. One similar to that we've heard from other

Gulf leaders, is that U.S. forces operating here, what they're doing is in defense of Kuwait and in defense of the other gulf countries from the

missiles that Iran is firing.

And actually, the emir said to the Iranian leadership, what are you doing? You know, we've been a friendly nation. We've had good relations with you

in the past. Yet here, and its just 50 miles across the sea there to Iran so they're very close to Iran. They have less time to see and intercept

those missiles. And they've had over 200 ballistic missiles, over 400 drones. More than 90 people have been injured here, four Kuwaiti service

personnel have been killed so far so they are bearing the brunt of it.

But I think going into tonight, there is -- you know, people are on the edge of their seats. They don't know what's going to happen. But last night

there were only and I say only two ballistic missiles, which can be hugely, hugely deadly if they impact. And one drone they were intercepted and that

was the lowest number of incoming projectiles that Kuwait has seen so far.

So going into tonight, the test for them is going to be what happens. Are we Iran's crosshairs. What's going to get hit? Government buildings here --

a government ministry was hit.

[15:20:00]

And I'm told, Max, that a lot of government workers now have been told work from home. It's not safe enough to come in to even government offices here

to work, Max.

FOSTER: It's unbelievable situation, isn't it?

Are the Gulf countries working very much together has this united them in the face of this threat?

ROBERTSON: They -- it really does seem to. They're working together. Their foreign ministers, their energy ministers, their leaders are having, you

conference calls. They're interfacing collectively with the European Union, with others. It's a very joined up message.

The emir of Kuwait, in his message yesterday, not only to the Iranians, but also the message was sent loud and clear to the U.N. as well, that Iran is

breaking international law, breaking the norms of humanitarian law. But the point that he made about the GCC countries is we are together we are united

and an attack on one is an attack on all.

And I think a lot of -- a lot of assessment is that if Saudi Arabia was to join the war which they have shown no inclination to do, then the other

countries might that they may move together. But at the moment, they're staying out of it. They don't feel that it's their war. They're caught up

in it. They don't want to join it because they think they could come off very badly.

FOSTER: Nic, whilst you've been speaking, we've just had confirmation actually about something. I was speaking to the analyst about earlier that

Iran has begun laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. This is according to two people familiar with U.S. intelligence reporting on the issue. And the

analyst was describing, how this adds a huge layer of complexity because they are so hard to clear. You're not going to get any tankers going

through if they think they're going to be mined and it's a big job, isn't it, for the military to demine them?

ROBERTSON: It's a huge job. I mean, we think back to World War Two, when there were a lot of mines and mines from then were being washed up all over

the place a long time after. Iran released a video purporting to show what mining the Strait of Hormuz might look like, and this would involve mines

that are anchored at different depths mines that are detonated, that can that can go off with certain amount of delay, mines that can be released

from the seabed and come up when they detect vessels overhead, mines that can move around. It's much more complex than, as we've heard, President

Trump and the U.S. secretary of defense -- Secretary of War Pete Hegseth say that they've essentially degraded Iran's navy so that it's combat

ineffective.

But mines are very hard to deter and beat, and it makes the process of moving in there much slower. We know there are aircraft carriers, we know

there are frigates, but you'd need to involve things like minesweepers that can detect and clear a path and how long does that path stay open? Because

of the tides and currents in that area? Not only that, but we've seen Iran in previous times, 2019, I was covering several incidents where Iran used

small boats, skiffs, really, to send -- you know, their military out to sea and all they had to do was stick a couple of large magnetic mines at the

sides of tankers, blow a few holes, and that essentially either damage the tankers so they couldn't work, set fires. But it made that that that Strait

of Hormuz, then a dangerous place to move through all of that with these mines, points to this being a very, very crucial part and focus of what

Iran had tactically set out to do, had planned to set out to do in advance.

So, when we hear President Trump use the language or his spokesperson used the language that the -- Iran's effective ceasefire will be when President

Trump says it is when Iran can't follow through on its threats. Well, if it's focusing them on the Strait of Hormuz, it's going to be hard to stop

them following through, particularly if it's mines, Max.

FOSTER: Yeah. Okay. Nick, thank you so much for responding to that. As we got that news.

Well, still to come, how a narrow strip of sea is sending financial markets into a frenzy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:45]

FOSTER: The White House now says it's confident the U.S. objectives in Iran will be achieved in, quote, "swift fashion". But there's still

confusion over the actual timeline for this war. In the past 24 hours, both President Trump and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, have struggled to

say whether this war is drawing to a close or is only just beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're achieving major strides toward completing our military objective, and some people could say

they're pretty well complete.

REPORTER: You've said the war is, quote, very complete, but your defense secretary says this is just the beginning. So, which is it? And how long

should Americans be?

TRUMP: Well, I think you could say it both. At the beginning -- it's the beginning of building a new country.

HEGSETH: This is not endless. It's not protracted. We're not allowing mission creep. The president has said a very specific mission to

accomplish. And our job is to unrelentingly deliver that.

And so, it's not for me to posit whether it's the beginning, the middle, or the end. That's his. And he'll continue to communicate that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: So, what we want to know is, does Donald Trump have a clear timeline for the war in Iraq?

Joining me now is our global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh, who was deputy press secretary of the Pentagon during the Biden administration.

Thank you for joining us.

I guess -- well, I think I can guess at your answer to this one, Sabrina

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Yes. Well, thanks for having me on. It's always nice to join you. Look, I think it's very clear

that the answer to your question is no, we don't have a definitive timeline from the president, because I actually just don't think the president knows

what he wants and what this administration wants. They keep moving the goalposts for what defines success.

They have laid out the military objectives pretty clearly. I think General Caine has done a very good job about that. It is about degradation of their

military and of course, their nuclear capabilities. But some of that is not going to be achieved by an air campaign alone. I mean, if you really want

to get to their nuclear facilities and capabilities, that is going to require some type of boots on the ground to dismantle that.

But when it comes to the larger strategic or political objectives, you know, the president has said everything from the Iranians. It's up to the

Iranian people to take back their country to I'm going to decide who's going to lead the country.

[15:30:01]

So, we don't really know what the end game is. All we know is that I think this president, at any given time, is going to declare success because they

keep moving the goalposts to whatever they make success out to be that day or that week.

FOSTER: Well, exactly. But you can't have success without naming the objective. But I guess he's going to name both -- both at once if we look

back on past experience.

SINGH: That's right and I think what's even worse here is that when you don't have a clear end strategy. I mean, when you are -- when you are going

to war you usually want to work backwards from what you want the end product to be, and it just does not seem like this administration can

articulate that, and nor have they articulated that to the American people, which I think is a larger problem for our military who is conducting air

campaigns every single day.

They are degrading Iranians, the Iranian military. But to what end? When does it stop? When do we declare a success? They have nothing, because we

continue to hear the president say, and Pete Hegseth, that their military, their air force their naval forces are decimated.

Okay, then why are we continuing this bombing campaign? It just -- it really is frustrating and I think it's frustrating for the American

taxpayer as well.

FOSTER: They have a very clear military strategy if you listen to the defense secretary. But do you think they've underestimated Iran's

asymmetric strategy, particularly their economic war that they're conducting right now? And we just heard that sources are telling us that

they;re laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. And, you know would that have come into their thinking? Because that could have a massive global impact,

just that one simple you know attack, if I can call it that.

SINGH: I have no doubt that someone within the joint staff and central -- U.S. Central Command did brief the president on what Iranian capabilities

could be, and that includes the mining of the Strait of Hormuz. And we knew that the Iranian navy did have that capability to close it off, which is

why you're seeing that 20 percent drop in oil going in and out of the strait impacting the market so much.

So, I think there certainly was an intel picture that we have a sense of their capabilities. I don't know that we underestimated them, but I think

what we have underestimated is that they are willing to continue this fight and try and inflict as much damage as they can, not just to the U.S., but

to their -- to their neighbors and that is, I think, a calculation that we didn't anticipate.

And frankly, I do think the Pentagon assessment is right is that by lobbing drones and ballistic missiles at other Arab -- you know, Gulf countries in

the region that actually has that brought them closer to the United States and not fractured their reliance on Iran.

FOSTER: If the oil price continues to surge and he decides to -- you know, stop this war sooner rather than later before its complete. What would be

the cost of that, do you think?

SINGH: Well, I think someone said it earlier this week. I think it was a representative from JPMorgan Chase that that mentioned this but it is it is

accurate. And I'll say it now, I think what really is going to happen when it comes to this war in particularly on markets, is its going to come down

to munitions, the markets and midterms.

And I think that given the oil prices where they are, I mean, they are surging -- they're getting closer to $4. We're seeing the cost of the

barrel of oil raising close but fluctuating around $100. We are talking about Americans here domestically that can't afford groceries, electricity

to pay rent. Affordability, we know, is an argument and a case that Donald Trump won on.

And I think in a in a year where you have many Republicans -- you have the House of Representatives up and Republicans up for reelection, this is

going to weigh on the party. And so that is going to have to be a political calculation that the president makes is how long is he going to allow gas

prices to go up because he's going to Ohio tomorrow.

And gas prices were $2.70 last week, and they're already upwards of $3.40 today. So, there's a lot of calculations that this administration is going

to have to make. And it's going to impact both politically and domestically for the Republican Party as well.

FOSTER: Okay, appreciate it. Sabrina Singh, thanks for joining us from Washington.

Let's get more on the oil prices. Then again, moving pretty widely today after reaching almost $120 per barrel just yesterday, they've moved

dramatically lower today as you can see. Many are hoping the conflict in the Gulf could ease soon. The U.S. is talking about using military escorts

to help ships safely navigate the Strait of Hormuz, with few ways to export their oil many Gulf producers have been cutting back production, and their

storage tanks are filling up.

[15:35:01]

Let's bring in CNN's Richard Quest with more -- because we've just heard from sources, haven't we, Richard, that they are mining the Strait of

Hormuz. What does that mean?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: Not good news if you're shipping in that area, obviously. Max, I think what's important here is

that the fall in oil that we saw over the last 12 to 18 hours was predicated on the idea that the war was going to come to an end largely on

the back of what President Trump said last night. President Trump talking about very complete. It's almost done, et cetera, et cetera. That's what

brought the price down, because frankly, the situation in Hormuz hasn't changed, in the strait, nothing's getting through.

Now if they're mining the waters as we've been hearing, and if its likely that nothing will get through foreseeable future, then the price is going

to go back up again. It's simple economics this, and there's no rocket science about it.

Whether or not it moves depends on how much we take seriously the idea that they are mining the waters and how much we take seriously the idea that

they could get things through.

But listen to what the CEO of Maersk told me, bearing in mind all this talk about escorting ships, guaranteed insurance, Vincent Clerc, the CEO, was

having none of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VINCENT CLERC, CEO, A.P. MOLLER-MAERSK: We are clearly in unchartered territory. I think the main concern we have more or less resolved today the

safety of our -- of our crews for the time being, to the best of our ability, we have solved for the cargo flows to the best of our ability. I

think the big problem that we have to solve now is with the strait being closed, there is enough oil in the world, but there is not enough oil

everywhere in the world. There is dislocations in the market where some areas have plenty of fuel and other areas could face shortages.

And we need to be proactive in moving fuel around so that when we come to ports, we actually have the fuel that we need to keep on powering our

network on. And that is something that is completely new. So I think for me, the only parallel that there is, is COVID, where something we hadn't

tried before either where we need to really familiarize ourselves with completely new areas, such in this case moving fuel around the globe so

that we have the right amount in the right time at the at the right price.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Max, this is fascinating. He's saying we need to move fuel so that we can power the ship, so that we can move other things and we can move

fuel. We've -- we're sort of heading into, into a very, very weird, bizarre environment. And until and unless the strait opened, it's not going to

change and it's going to get worse.

FOSTER: We were hearing earlier from Sabrina how gas prices are increasing in the U.S. Donald -- Donald Trump was saying it's nothing to do with us

all of this because we've got enough of our own oil. But just explain why U.S. oil prices do go up with the rest of the world, even though they might

not import as much as everyone thinks.

QUEST: Yeah, sorry for that. Well, because the reality is that oil is set on a global price, whether it's West Texas Intermediate or Brent Crude, and

they pretty much trade the same. They're the two benchmarks. There are a few others, but they're the two main ones.

If oil rises on the international exchanges, it doesn't matter if you are awash with it in Texas and in the United States from shale or Canada, which

exports to the U.S., the price rises. Both go up. It is not it goes up here but stays down over here, the whole lot goes up which is great absolutely

cracking for us oil producers who will now be getting and making off like bandits because they've got this higher oil price. They'll be delighted by

that.

And to a large extent, Max, the U.S. is self-sufficient. It needs imports of oil to help balance the heavy versus the light, the grades and all that

sort of stuff it gets that import from Canada. It really doesn't need the Iranian stuff or sorry, the Gulf stuff.

FOSTER: Okay. Richard, thank you so much for joining us.

Now it is the final moments of trade on Wall Street. And stocks are mostly flat, actually. The Dow has come back from some losses earlier in the

session.

This is our Business Breakout.

Planet Labs, one of the leading providers of satellite images, says it's restricting access to certain photos over Iran's war. The company says

images taken from the gulf will only be made available 14 days after they've been taken. Planet Labs says it is taking the action to prevent

Iran from using the images to conduct battle damage assessments.

A U.S. federal judge has scolded the Justice Department and Live Nation for a secret settlement talks. Live Nation is the owner of Ticketmaster, is

facing antitrust lawsuits by more than 30 state attorney generals. In court filings, states say they were only given one day to join the settlement.

Some states have now asked the judge to declare a mistrial.

[15:40:00]

A brief ground stop for JetBlue planes was lifted within an hour early on Tuesday morning. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has issued the

stoppage in response to a system outage. The FAA says it temporarily halted flights at the request of JetBlue.

The ongoing travel delays in the U.S. may not be getting resolved any time soon. Really, the Transportation Security Administration warns travelers

will face long lines for airport security whilst the partial government shutdown continues. Funding for the Department of Homeland Security ended

in mid-February, and now, TSA screeners are about to miss a paycheck. TSA employees are required to work during the shutdown despite not being paid,

but they don't always turn up, do they?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: You know, Max, the good news is the lines are subsiding now, but we're not out of the woods yet. You know,

you saw those huge, huge lines going into parking garages at some airports across the country.

Things are a little different now. And here's the latest TSA wait times. This afternoon, the worst lines are at Houston George Bush Intercontinental

Airport, up to 28 minutes there. JFK, 28 minutes. Orlando, 26 minutes. Newark, 25 minutes.

Notably, Houston Hobby was among the worst nationwide for long lines, now down to only 11 minutes. But even still, this is the alert from Hobby

airport which warns passengers to arrive three hours early for domestic flights, four hours early for international flights.

The issue here, according to airport officials, is that this is really hard to predict, and airports are saying that TSA staffing and wait times may

vary day to day, even down to shift to shift, which is really not good news for the millions of travelers packing flights right now for spring break.

We've also heard from union officials that represent TSA agents here in the U.S., and they say TSA officers are facing significant financial strain.

They got a half paycheck two weeks ago, and this week, they'll get a zero dollar paycheck.

Want you to listen now to what White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt just said about this during this afternoon's press briefing here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: So to any American out there who is struggling without a paycheck, we know there's more than

100,000 of you across the country to any American out there who is showing up to an airport and facing incredibly long wait times in lines, call your

Democrat member of Congress and tell them to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

That's what President Trump wants to do. And it's completely ridiculous that the American people are suffering as a result of these partisan games

that are being played by Democrats on Capitol Hill. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Just some context here, Max. You know this is a big political pressure point. And it was TSA agents not reporting to work partially

responsible for ending the 35-day government shutdown back in 2018. We also saw sick calls increase during that most recent government shutdown this

past November. The union of TSA agents says workers are really getting desperate now, and it says some are resorting to donating plasma and

picking up part time work as DoorDash drivers.

There have been efforts to make air traffic controllers immune from future government shutdowns. They're not impacted by this one, but the union of

TSA agents says the same now needs to happen for them -- Max.

FOSTER: Pete, appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Still to come, the impact of Elon Musk's doge cuts are still being felt. We'll look at how U.S. spending on the war with Iran is affecting money for

services like helping stranded U.S. citizens.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:46:38]

FOSTER: The U.S. military burned through more than $5 billion of munitions in just the first two days of the war with Iran. This comes as concern

builds over the Trump administration's ability to respond to emergencies due to sweeping DOGE cuts made earlier in Trump's term by Elon Musk.

Now, officials have told CNN that cuts have greatly hampered federal operations, including quickly helping U.S. citizens stranded abroad.

CNN's State Department reporter Jennifer Hansler has more from us -- for us rather from D.C.

I mean, the cost of this war is huge. I mean, America can afford it but, you know there has to be a cut somewhere to do so.

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Yeah, Max, I mean, those numbers are really startling. We've seen this trillion dollar Pentagon

budget as opposed to the much, much smaller budgets throughout the course of the federal government in all of these other agencies.

And what my colleagues and I found in the course of our reporting is that current and former officials have said that across the board, a lot of

these changes, the overhauls we saw last year, as well as the cuts put forward by Trump and DOGE have hampered some of their ability to respond to

the war that we're seeing playing out right now. For example, we have a number of examples, but just to give you a couple, there were cuts to

personnel and resources monitoring, cyber intrusions that Department of Homeland Security, these are folks watching for potential Iranian hacking

efforts into critical infrastructure here in the United States.

There was also a cut at the FBI of a team of people who was tracking counterintelligence monitoring threats from Iran. FEMA folks have told us

that cuts and changes to their structure last year may have left them more vulnerable and unable to respond to a potential attack here on U.S. soil

the voice of America which, of course is one of the few broadcasters that's able to get information to the Iranian public saw significant, significant

cuts under the Trump administration last year. They laid off a huge number of personnel and officials there, say current journalist and former

journalists say that has hampered their ability to get these messages, including that of President Trump, calling on Iranians to overthrow their

government to the people of Iran.

Here at the State Department, former officials said that this lack of institutional knowledge from people leaving due to cuts, as well as

retirements or choosing to leave, had hampered those initial efforts and caused a lot of the confusion that we saw in those early days. That left a

lot of Americans unsure and afraid when they were stranded -- Max.

FOSTER: Jennifer, appreciate it. Thank you so much.

This just in, President Donald Trump has now responded to reports that Iran is laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. On Truth Social he writes, "If

Iran has put out any mines in the Hormuz Strait, and we have no reports of them doing so, we want them removed immediately. If for any reason mines

were placed and they're not removed forthwith, the military consequences to Iran will be at a level never seen before. If on the other hand, they

remove what may have been placed, it will be a giant step in the right direction."

Now, ahead on WHAT WE KNOW, authorities say an attempted attack near the New York City mayor's home was inspired by ISIS. What the mayor is saying

about it after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:52:29]

FOSTER: Extremism and hatred of any kind will not be tolerated. That's a declaration today from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Now, it comes

after he was asked about two men accused of tossing makeshift bombs near the mayor's office or his home, rather, this past weekend. The two men now

face multiple federal charges.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is live for us from New York.

We're getting so much more detail over time, which makes the whole situation sound a lot more scary, Gloria.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And that it could have been a lot worse, Max. That's certainly what police officials told us yesterday

given what these two devices that were launched at the site of the protest that was taking outside, taking place outside the mayor's home. Those two

devices were found to have had explosive material in them, ad had they detonated, they had the potential to cause serious injury and death to the

people that were gathered there. That's what police told us about these devices yesterday.

These two suspects, Amir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, 18 and 19 years old, are now facing five counts of -- five federal charges, including one count of

providing material support to a terrorist organization, as well as using a weapon of mass destruction. You're seeing one of the suspects there after

he threw that device into the crowd running away from the police.

Now, we are also learning more about what the two suspects told police officers shortly after they were arrested. They said that they were

inspired by ISIS, that they pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. And one of the suspects told police officers that he had watched ISIS

propaganda on his cell phone.

Now overnight, Max, we are told that there was a search of a storage facility in Pennsylvania. This is where the suspects traveled from to New

York City. Inside that storage facility, which is located not far from where the suspects live, FBI law enforcement officials recovered explosive

material.

And I want to show you that moment from last night where the FBI safely detonated the material that was found inside that storage facility. Take a

listen.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

PAZMINO: So, you see the front of the storage facility there, and you can hear the bang playing out in the background. FBI and local police officials

saying the material was safely detonated.

[15:55:09]

So, Max, I think we're still waiting to learn much more about the background of these individuals. We know that they did not have previous

criminal history, that law enforcement was aware of, but we do know that they are facing these five federal counts. And as you said in the

beginning, Mayor Zohran Mamdani forcefully condemning the actions of these two individuals.

And emphasizing that people should have the right to protest, and about -- on anything they want as long as they do it without being violent -- Max.

FOSTER: Gloria, thank you so much.

I'm Max Foster. That is WHAT WE KNOW. Do stay with CNN. We'll have more after the break for you.

END

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