U.S. destroyers in Strait of Hormuz fight off Iranian attacks

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.