U.S. destroyers in Strait of Hormuz fight off Iranian attacks
CBS Evening News
0:00 Back to the warzone tonight on that breaking news.
0:02 Three US destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz
0:04 fighting off a swarm of Iranian fast attack boats.
0:07 US forces also hitting back striking launch sites for Iranian missiles
0:11 and drones and all this according to officials at US Central Command.
0:15 Now just a day ago President Trump sounded
0:17 optimistic about a potential deal to end this war.
0:19 So what now?
0:21 Our Nancy Cordes is at the White House with more.
0:23 Nancy, good evening.
0:24 Tony, good evening to you.
0:25 US officials tell CBS News this firefight lasted several hours with the US
0:30 military deploying Apache helicopters and Hellfire
0:34 missiles to repel these Iranian speedboats.
0:37 CENTCOM says it is not seeking a return to war.
0:40 But this does underscore how volatile things are
0:43 in the Strait with growing implications here at home.
0:48 A warning from the nation's top air carriers.
0:51 CBS News has confirmed that former New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu,
0:55 who now heads the largest aviation trade group,
0:58 recently told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that airfares
1:02 will spike soon if the war doesn't end.
1:06 The average price of a domestic round trip
1:07 ticket is already up 21% from a year ago.
1:12 We're going to need a bailout for the entire airline industry.
1:15 Economic analyst Henrietta Treyz.
1:17 You're dealing with jet fuel prices that are
1:19 100% higher than they were before the war.
1:22 It was an unforeseen circumstance.
1:24 They couldn't plan for this kind of an event.
1:27 How big of a bailout are we talking about?
1:29 I would say probably somewhere in the five billion dollar range.
1:32 President Trump has insisted for weeks that the Persian
1:35 Gulf standoff paralyzing oil shipping is about to end.
1:39 Iran wants to make a deal.
1:42 They want to make a deal.
1:43 But another day went by today without
1:45 an Iranian response to the latest US proposal.
1:49 Here at home the CEO of McDonald's said he's bracing
1:53 for a drop in sales as low income customers conserve gas.
1:58 How high could the US price of a gallon of gas go?
2:03 We're at $4.56 right now.
2:05 We'll probably be at $4.90 by next week.
2:08 We could be at $5 by Memorial Day.
2:10 And unless this street reopens, we are going to go above $5.
2:15 And that's going to be very politically and economically painful.
2:19 With support for the war falling both at home and abroad,
2:23 Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a fence-mending
2:26 trip of sorts to Vatican City today.
2:28 Pope Leo gave Rubio a pen crafted from an olive branch after
2:33 weeks of tension between the pontiff and the president over this war.
2:38 Tony.
2:38 Nancy, thank you very much.