Iran claims striking US warship as Trump pledges ship passage

0:00 Iran's state media now claims

0:01 that the countries that country's navy has prevented

0:04 you the US military and US military ships from entering the straight of Hormuz.

0:10 This is just as President Trump as I mentioned says

0:13 that American forces will begin guiding ships through that very same straight.

0:17 A note here, a US official tells CNN that guiding is not

0:21 the same thing as escorting as has long been discussed and not implemented,

0:25 which yes, raises a whole host of questions about how this actually works.

0:30 Now, and so far, shipping data shows almost no traffic is moving there still.

0:35 On this announcement from Trump,

0:37 Iran responded by publishing a new map of the straight.

0:41 The red lines that you see right there,

0:44 those are the boundaries of the expanded zone that Iran

0:47 now claims it controls and warns that well the quote

0:51 is any foreign military force will be attacked if

0:55 they try to approach or enter the key oil route.

0:58 Overnight gas prices ticked up about a penny, but the national average,

1:02 remember we've been tracking over time,

1:04 has jumped 35 cents in just a week to 446 a gallon.

1:08 Let's go to CN C CNN's Kevin Liptag.

1:11 He's live this morning for us at the White House to start us off.

1:15 What are you hearing about all this?

1:16 There seems to be quite a bit happening as we speak.

1:19 Right.

1:19 And I'll start with some of those claims that we've

1:23 seen in Iranian state media over the last hour.

1:26 You know, I've been talking to officials.

1:28 No one had heard that an American ship had been struck,

1:31 which was one of the claims that you heard

1:33 uh from one of the Iranian state media sources.

1:35 Now, Central Command just in the last few seconds coming out

1:38 with a statement denying this, saying that no US Navy ships have been struck.

1:43 US forces are supporting Project Freedom and enforcing

1:46 the naval blockade uh on Iranian ports.

1:48 So, trying to clear up at least one of the pieces of information that's

1:52 out there as the president tries to get

1:54 traffic flowing again through this critical waterway.

1:56 You know, in the past,

1:58 the Iranians have claimed to have struck American vessels.

2:00 It turned out not to be true,

2:02 but I still think it underscores some of the risks that are inherent here

2:07 as President Trump tries to get vessels

2:09 flowing uh through this uh straight of Hormuz.

2:11 It has the possibility if the Iranians fire back of breaching the ceasefire,

2:16 which is still in place,

2:18 but obviously something that the president doesn't want to be

2:21 affected as he tries to pursue a diplomacy uh with Tyrron.

2:25 You know, it's not precisely clear what some of the American assets that SenCom

2:30 has said will be involved in all this uh will actually be doing.

2:33 They say it will involve guided missile destroyers,

2:37 more than a 100 aircraft, drones, 15,000 uh service members,

2:41 but how all of those assets sort of play

2:44 in uh to reopening the strait isn't precisely clear.

2:47 An American official said that Project Freedom was not an escort mission.

2:51 And so, we don't know exactly what guiding will mean.

2:54 And I think the suggestion is that the military will

2:58 essentially coordinate with these ships uh to show them which uh

3:02 channels in the strait are the safest and sort of through

3:05 their presence in the region provides some reassurance to these vessels.

3:09 But of course this claim today by the Iranians

3:13 I think just underscores why so many uh shipping companies

3:17 and uh ship pilots don't want to cross through

3:19 the straight of Hormuz because they believe it is unsafe.

3:22 So, a number of challenges I think for the president that's underscored

3:26 by what we've seen in the shipping traffic uh just this morning.

3:30 Uh they have shown that virtually no tankers or cargo transiting through

3:34 the straight despite what the president said would be going into effect today.

3:38 Of course, you also have the diplomacy at play here.

3:41 Yesterday, the president uh saying that he was disappointed.

3:44 he thought their Iranian proposal was insufficient,

3:47 but also at the same time saying that this discussions are very positive,

3:51 saying that they could lead to something very positive down the line.

3:54 And so I think a lot of conflicting

3:57 information here as this new initiative takes effect.

3:59 We have conflicting reports, flank, frankly,

4:01 and we're trying to figure out what's going on.

4:04 US Central Command is denying claims by Iranian state media that a US

4:08 warship was struck by Iranian missiles near the straight of Hormuz.

4:12 This is happening just as President Trump said that American

4:16 forces will begin guiding ships through the straight beginning today.

4:20 Now, we should note that a US official tells

4:23 CNN that guiding is not the same thing as escorting.

4:26 So, it's really not clear how all of this is supposed to work.

4:30 Iran does claim that it has prevented

4:33 US military ships from entering the straight today.

4:36 It also published a new map with red line showing

4:39 the expanded zone that tan now says it controls in the state.

4:43 So you can see an area both inside and outside the straight of Hormuz.

4:48 Iran warns that quote any foreign military force will be

4:52 attacked if it tries to approach or enter the straight.

4:56 So far shipping data shows almost no traffic is moving there.

5:01 The straight, as far as we can tell, is effectively still closed right now.

5:06 Overnight, gas prices ticked up a little bit.

5:09 The national average has now jumped 35 cents in just one week to 446 a gallon.

5:16 Kate, let's talk about all these conflicting uh

5:20 details coming in and just the state of things,

5:22 especially in the state of Hormuz.

5:23 Joining us right now is Democratic Congressman Su Ha Subramanium of Virginia.

5:27 Thanks for coming back in on this move announced by the president.

5:31 Do you want the US Navy starting to guide

5:34 ships from foreign countries through the straight of Hormuz?

5:37 Because the president's talking about it as a humanitarian gesture,

5:41 though it's apparently does not include

5:43 US Navy ships actually escorting other vessels.

5:46 Yeah, it's still unclear to me how that's helpful,

5:51 whether that will get more ships uh through the strait.

5:55 Certainly if we can pull off a scenario where we can

5:58 get ships safely through that is a good thing for our country.

6:01 It's good thing for the war, good thing for the entire world.

6:04 But the reality is this was not an issue before this war started.

6:08 And Iran has gained leverage throughout this war

6:11 by claiming the trade of hormones and by controlling it.

6:14 And so anything we can do to undermine that control is a good thing.

6:17 Uh but let's remember that this was not an issue before this war

6:21 and more reason why this war has been a disaster so far.

6:24 Congressman, if this is essentially to challenge

6:26 Iran's effort to control the strait,

6:28 a senior Iranian official is saying that any US interference in the straight

6:31 of Hormuz would be a violation of the ceasefire that the US had agreed to.

6:36 Do you think that's the case?

6:38 No.

6:38 No.

6:39 I think any ship should be able to go through the straight hormuz.

6:43 We do not recognize Iran as being in control of the straight hormuz.

6:46 And so ships should be able to go through and any

6:49 act of war by Iran is a break of the ceasefire.

6:51 if they fire upon a ship that's trying to get through the straight of Hormuz.

6:55 So, I reject what Iran's trying to say.

6:57 They're trying to use this as leverage.

6:59 The the issue here is that they didn't

7:01 have the straight hormuz as leverage before this war.

7:03 They were trying to get nuclear weapons

7:05 as a way to gain leverage over the world,

7:08 but this war has given them new uh uh ways of gaining leverage over the region

7:13 and the world and and so anything we can do to undermine that is a good thing.

7:17 European leaders are meeting today kind of talking about

7:20 the path forward now and reacting to the sudden

7:24 announcement from the Trump administration that they are

7:28 pulling 5,000 US troops from their station in Germany.

7:32 The German chancellor downplaying it.

7:34 Um though other European leaders say the timing is did come as a shock.

7:40 What's your reaction?

7:42 Is this a smart move?

7:44 Does this help further US interests abroad?

7:48 Uh it does not help further US interests.

7:52 Uh the reality is we are treating our allies very poorly.

7:57 This has been a trend in this administration.

8:00 And if this administration wants to build consensus

8:03 and gain support for this war across the world,

8:06 uh undermining its allies is the opposite of what they should be doing.

8:10 uh they should be working handinhand with our European

8:13 allies but instead we have undermined that relationship.

8:17 This is once again a failure of diplomacy.

8:18 This entire administration has been a failure of diplomacy and so

8:21 this absolutely undermines our own interests in the region and in the