Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / US sinks 3 Iranian tankers in Strait of Hormuz escalation

Transcript

US sinks 3 Iranian tankers in Strait of Hormuz escalation · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We are monitoring a significant escalation in the war with Iran.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: The U.S.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Military says it sank three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles toward
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: two U.S. Navy warships. CNN's Oren Lieberman has the details.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: What we're seeing over the course of the past week
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: is a return to some level of open conflict between
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: the US and Iran. Several rounds now of strikes and
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: retaliations between the militaries. This isn't the same level, of course,
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: as the beginning of the war in late February and
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: early March, but it is the first sets of strikes
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: we've seen between the US and Iran. in several weeks
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: now and that in and of itself is concerning especially
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: as neither Tehran nor Washington show any indication that they're
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: about to make concessions to get back to the memorandum
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: of understanding that was supposed to end this war or
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: to get back to negotiations even as some of the
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: mediators have tried in the background Oman, Qatar to try
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: to get some sort of diplomatic track going and that
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: leaves the open question and a great risk of escalation
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: that could spread what we're seeing to the rest of
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: the region. In this latest round, over the weekend, Iran
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: carried out attacks, missile attacks against two U.S. Navy warships
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: operating in and around the Gulf of Oman, the Strait
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: of Hormuz.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: The U.S.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: Retaliated by taking out three empty Iranian oil tankers. What's
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: really at play here is who controls the Strait of Hormuz.
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: Iran has insisted that any sort of negotiated agreement leave
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: them in control of part of it or having some
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: sort of authority over the Strait of Hormuz, which is
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: something the U.S. has refused. Instead, the U.S. has tried
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: to carry out and build up an operation to get
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: oil flowing through the Strait, and it has succeeded to
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: some extent. It requires tankers very often to go at
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: night with their transponders off and with the U.S. Navy escort,
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: and that appears to be that escort what Iran was
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: targeting here when they fired at U.S. Navy warships.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: But the U.S.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Isn't going to allow this Iranian targeting of U.S. warships
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: without a response, and that's what we see playing out here. Meanwhile,
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: the rhetoric from both sides, from the U.S. government, from
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: the regime in Tehran, clearly indicates at least a willingness
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: to to keep on going if the attacks and the
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: strikes continue. And that, as there's a larger issue at
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: play here of what authorities President Donald Trump is using
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: to continue what many in his administration, including Vice President J.D. Vance,
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: refuse to acknowledge is a war. Vance was even asked
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: how much longer could this go, and he wouldn't put
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: a timeline on it, which certainly seems to open up
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: the potential for a forever conflict in since many in
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: the administration refused to acknowledge it as a war. But
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: right now, with the ongoing strikes here and the exchanges
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: of fire between the U.S. and Iran, we are back
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: to that risk of a severe escalation in the region.
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: Thanks to Orrin Lieberman.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: I want to bring in Kenneth Pollack, who's the VP
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: for Policy at the Middle East Institute, who also served
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: as Senior Fellow. the American Enterprise Institute, and the Brookings Institution. Ken,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: good to see you. So, President Trump claims almost total
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: control over the Strait of Hormuz, yet, as we just heard,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: commercial ships are still facing Iranian fire and the potential
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: of Iranian fire. How much military capability does Iran actually
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: need to keep the Strait commercially unsafe?
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: Well, this is a great question, Bianna, and the bottom
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: line answer is not much, but it's I think the
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: best way to think about the Strait of Hormuz right
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: now is it's very much no man's land. People have
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: compared this conflict to World War I for a variety
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: of reasons. I think this is another good comparison. The
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: Strait of Hormuz is an area like the lines between
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: the trenches in World War I where both sides can
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: bring fire down, that both sides can attack each other,
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: but neither side really controls it. You heard Oren make
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: the point in his report, he's spot on, the U.S.
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: has mounted an operation to bring tankers through the Strait
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: of Hormuz. But to do so, it requires a lot
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: of U.S. military assets, destroyers on the surface, plenty of
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: drones and manned aircraft in the air, satellites. It is
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: a very big operation. And it is succeeding in getting
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: some tankers through, but it is nothing like normal. And
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: of course, there are conflicting claims between the Iranians and
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: the Trump administration, and other sources about just how much
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: is getting through the Strait. It's clearly some oil, but
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: it's also clearly not as much oil as the world needs.
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: The president says the Strait of Hormuz is under U.S.
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: Control.
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: Just yesterday, the U.S. struck three Iranian tankers in retaliation
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: for Iran firing missiles at U.S. warships. Meanwhile, the New
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: York Times reports that Iran struck at least 23 merchant
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: ships in the Strait in the last two months. Does
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: that sound to you like it's a situation completely under control?
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Our transit through the Strait is averaging over 9 million
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: barrels a day now. And with the access pipelines that
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: go around the Strait, we're probably two-thirds or more of
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: pre-conflict flows. So Iranians are still causing trouble, but the
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: United States Navy is winning that battle.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: On the United States Navy winning that battle, the United
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: States Navy is there, and it sounds like in order
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: to keep even the current flow of oil and tankers
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: through the Strait, the U.S. Navy is going to have
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: to stay there. Are you suggesting they're going to have
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: to stay there indefinitely?
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: I think we'll see a change in the Iranian regime
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: or certainly a change in their policy. If they want
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: to become a trading nation again and engage with the world.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: But they have not lightly given up their nuclear weapons program.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Thank God for President Trump's courage to take this on.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: He did not want to kick the can down to
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: the road to the next administration to deal with a
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: nuclear armed Iran. This is Iran without nuclear weapons. Imagine
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Iran with nuclear weapons.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: So, Mr. Secretary, is the U.S. Navy being in the
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: straight just the new normal now?
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Well, it is today, but I think as you look forward,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: other nations will come and work with us in this endeavor. Certainly,
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: trade for the world is important. It shouldn't be just
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: a United States responsibility. But until Iran changes their position
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: or changes their government, we'll have to deal with them.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: But slowly, their capabilities are being degraded and ours are
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: being enhanced.
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: So sort of what's unsaid in this discussion so far
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: is that it's just it's not safe. The New York
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: Times also says August was the deadliest month for merchants
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: in the Strait of Hormuz since March. Can you unequivocally
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: say that ships that want to transit through the Strait
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: of Hormuz can do so safely?
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: We're working cooperatively with fleets that do want to transit.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Some ships are transiting, and of course, that's their choice.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: But the United States is working with teams from all
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: the nations in the Gulf to get transits and to
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: continue to ramp them up. Iranian ships, of course, are
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: not transiting at all. That's a ticking time bomb for
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: the economy of Iran.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: But you're not saying that it's currently safe?
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: We're getting a lot of ships through, but of course
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: it requires the U.S. military to do that. We are
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: not pre-conflict levels, if that's what you're asking, Dana.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: Well, I'm just asking if, yeah, I mean, pre-conflict levels
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: or just bottom line, if a country or a company
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: wants to send its tanker through the Strait of Hormuz,
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: can they do so safely?
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: Well, if they want to work with the United States Navy,
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: I think they can. But look, we're trying to end
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: a 47-year conflict. as Iran dashes to develop nuclear weapons
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: and wreak havoc on their neighbors and threaten the world economy.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: Is there some effort involved in that?
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: Why, of course.