Iran attacks Jordan, Bahrain & Kuwait, defying Trump's warnings

0:00The U.S. military also says its strikes across the country were responding to Iran's recent attacks on U.S. troops in the region and commercial shipping in the Strait of Ormuz. Iran quickly defied President Trump's warning to not retaliate and launched ballistic missile attacks on Jordan, as well as we see here, Jordan saying it intercepted 10 missiles from Iran and another three felon remote areas. The Kuwait and Bakrane say they intercepted drone attacks from Iran. CNN's Kevin Liptak is joining us right now from the White House. What are you hearing, Kevin, this morning from the administration? Well, President Trump certainly does not sound like a man in a hurry to get this conflict over with despite the spike in oil prices and despite concerns from many of his Republican allies that this could hurt them in the midterm elections. You know, this latest round of tensions began on Sunday when the U.S. attacked Iranian positions on Iraq, Ireland that it said were preparing to launch mines into the Strait

1:03of Ormuz. That prompted Iranian retaliation, which prompted U.S. retaliation, which prompted Iranian retaliation back to this familiar pattern of back and forth strikes that has drawn in almost every country in the region that houses those tens of thousands of U.S. troops. Now President Trump wrote on true social that he is not trying to get the Iranians back to the negotiating table. He says, instead, that quote, I like our position now much better with almost total control of the Ormuz Strait and their economy totally collapsing. The President said they are just playing out the inevitable when are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight. Now, that last bit calling on the Iranians to overthrow the regime is almost exactly his message on the night this war began and there is no signs yet that the regime has lost its strength in any way. Remember just last week, the administration signaled that it was moving away from a military strategy and more towards an economic strategy to try and choke off the regime.

2:06Scott Besson, the Treasury Secretary, saying back then that sanctions on Iran's largest trading partners would mean that there would, quote, be not a need to go back to large-scale kinetic restart. He said yesterday the plan was to quote economically, expixiate the regime so far. There is no evidence that Iran's trading partners are immediately cutting off their ties. Just yesterday, the Russian President Vladimir Putin meeting with Iran's president and vowing continued economic support. All right, Kevin Liptec at the White House. Thank you very much. But joining me right now is kind of the state of where this lands then with the war with Iran. And senior military analysts retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis. It's good to see you again. St Com says that the U.S. strikes, they were a response to the Iranian strikes against commercial shipping in the state of Hormuz, which continues on and on. Another round of strikes and still the straight is still not really open, Admiral. Where are we now?

3:06We are still mated with both sides kind of going back and forth. Iran attacking commercial shipping that keeps insurance rates high. It keeps the flow of oil low. It therefore keeps oil prices high, which Iran, I think, correctly judges puts pressure on the Trump administration over here on team Trump, quite logically, Admiral Brad Cooper and the U.S. Central Command are going after the Iranian capabilities to close this straight, going after drones, going after short range ballistic missiles, going after mind-ling capabilities. So both sides are using kinetic force, Kate, to try and put pressure on the other side. But so far, it's not creating any change in the current stalemate and lack of negotiations. I mean, take me 30,000th of view of just how far this has come in six months away from

4:08talking. I mean, there is literally no conversation pretty much anymore about Iran's nuclear ambitions. Yeah. That's been parked off to the side in a distant parking lot, thinking that perhaps one day, get there. All focus now, Kate, as you well know, is on getting the straight-of-form moves fully re-open, meaning 130 ships a day passing through there. That's when you'll see oil prices start to come down. That's the center of gravity right now. So in order to get Iran back to the table, to frankly get us back to where we were before the war started, the Trump administration is putting a blockade on Iranian ports, kind of crippling that Iranian economy. Maybe that'll get Iran back. I'd say that's months away at best right now. Let's get more insight now. We see it in political and national security analyst David Sanghe.

5:11He's also White House and national security correspondent for the New York Times. And it's always good to have you on. David, thank you for making time for us. Let's start with that post from the US president. He says he likes the US's position right now. What do you make of that? And does Washington have the upper hand at this stage? I think the president thinks that things are turning a bit. In part because of the economic pressure, Becky, on the Iranians. Iran is obviously taking off there. It's not quite up at the levels that we've seen in places like Venezuela, but it's pretty severe. And I think that the Iranians recognize that while holding the straight of Hormuz is extremely valuable to them right now, over time it's going to be a diminishing asset as the Saudis,

6:13other oil producers come up with alternative ways to get their oil out. That won't happen right away, but of course that does set a time on this clicking away for the Iranians. And he may have a point. I mean, there is no doubt that the new sanctions announced this week on what Scott Besson, of course, described as economic D-Day for Iran launching what the administration called sort of Operation Economic Outcast are certainly having an effect or certainly will have an effect alongside that military blockade. I wonder how much pressure this campaign will have on China to get involved. Of course, we know that there are threats against another global bank involved in doing business

7:21with Iran. And China, of course, gets 90% of its oil from Tehran. What do you make of China's position in all of this? Well, the Chinese, as you pointed out back here, they are sort of the mystery member of all of this. They reacted very strongly against what the President and Secretary Besson announced last week. They are coming up with alternatives to Iranian oil. It's a bigger deal for Iran to be able to ship to China because 80 to 90% of their shipments in 2025 went to China than it is for the Chinese who have got some other alternatives. But at the same time, China does not want to see the United States gain the upper hand here. And what's making all this more delicate is the fact that Xi Jinping is coming to Washington on September 24th.

8:24And the President wants this to be a really successful visit. And as a result, he doesn't really want to press the Chinese too hard and have a blow up on this issue as likely to happen when they were going to be on the meeting this week.