War With Iran Full Episode: Mon, Apr 4, 2026

[0:11] Good evening, everyone. I'm Lindsay Davis. Thank you so much for streaming with us. This is War [0:15] with Iran. Tonight, the regime faces a looming deadline set by President Trump or else. President [0:20] Trump is demanding a deal by tomorrow night at 8 p.m. Eastern, or he's threatening to destroy [0:25] all of Iran's bridges and power plants in a four-hour blitz attack. The president has [0:30] threatened complete demolition, stressing that a deal must include reopening the Strait of Hormuz, [0:35] which has been a major sticking point of the war. This is we're learning new details about [0:39] the daring rescue mission to save an American colonel after a fighter jet was shot down in [0:44] Iran. Mary Bruce leads us off from the White House. Tonight, President Trump's dire threat [0:50] to Iran. Make a deal by 8 p.m. tomorrow or the United States will launch its fiercest attack yet, [0:57] saying, quote, the entire country can be taken out in one night. We have a plan because of the [1:03] power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o'clock, [1:11] tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and [1:19] never to be used again. It comes after the president's profanity-laced Easter Sunday [1:24] message to Iran, posting Tuesday will be power plant day and bridge day all wrapped up in one, [1:30] adding, open the expletive straight, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in hell, [1:35] and ending with praise be to Allah. Bombing these civilian targets could have devastating [1:41] consequences for the Iranian people, but the president insists they would be angry if America [1:46] backed off. You've said Iranians would be mad if you stopped these attacks, but why would they want [1:52] you to blow up their infrastructure, to cut off their power? Wouldn't that be punishing Iranians [1:57] for the actions of the regime? They would be willing just, they would be, and it's suffering, [2:01] they would be willing to suffer that in order to have freedom. He says he's not concerned bombing [2:07] power plants and bridges could amount to war crimes. So just to clarify, [2:11] in order for Iran to successfully meet your deadline tomorrow, do they have to make a deal, [2:17] open the strait, or both? We have to have a deal that's acceptable to me, [2:22] and part of that deal is going to be we want free traffic of oil and everything else. [2:27] The president has repeatedly moved his deadline and shifted his timeline for how long the war will [2:33] last. Your messaging on the war has moved from the war is coming to an end to we're going to be [2:39] bombing Iran to the stone ages. So which is it? [2:41] Are you winding this down? I can't tell you. I don't know. I can't tell you. It depends what [2:46] they do. This is a critical period. The war now in its sixth week taking a toll on American [2:51] families. The average price of gas now $4.11 a gallon, up $1.17 since the war began. Crude rising [2:59] to nearly $113 a barrel. Airlines, including JetBlue and United, raising fees for checked [3:06] baggage, $10 a bag for United. Amazon adding a 3.5% fuel surcharge. [3:11] For businesses whose products they sell. Today, reporters asking the president what he says to [3:17] Americans who don't support the war. They're foolish because war is about one thing. Iran [3:24] cannot have a nuclear weapon. Mary Bruce joins us now from the White House. So, Mary, [3:30] President Trump set this deadline of tomorrow night to make a deal or the U.S. will start [3:34] bombing Iranian bridges and power plants, he says. So where do negotiations stand tonight? [3:39] Well, Lindsay, Iran has offered its own ceasefire, [3:42] the president today called it a significant step. But Iran tonight is blasting the president's [3:47] threats and demands, calling them, quote, rude, arrogant and baseless and giving no indication, [3:52] Lindsay, that they are willing to reopen the strait as the president is demanding. [3:56] Mary Bruce for us from the White House. Thanks so much, Mary. [3:59] Thank you. [4:00] Now to that dramatic rescue of that downed U.S. airman who was missing for 48 hours [4:05] after that American F-15 was shot down over Iran. That wounded airman climbed thousands of feet up [4:11] treacherous terrain. [4:12] Then how he signaled for help. Here's Martha Raddatz. [4:16] Tonight, remarkable new details about the 48-hour mission to rescue that American Air Force colonel [4:23] and the pilot before him trapped deep behind enemy lines in Iran. [4:28] The nightmare began at 10.10 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, 5.40 a.m. local time over southwest [4:35] Iran, when the president said a shoulder-fired missile struck the American F-15 fighter jet, [4:42] forcing the pilot and the weapons systems officer, that colonel, to eject. Both airmen armed only with [4:49] pistols. A search and rescue mission was launched immediately. Aircraft refueling midair, searching [4:56] in broad daylight for the F-15, call sign Dude 44. U.S. warplanes flying low and slow into hostile [5:05] airspace. C-130 transport planes and helicopters facing withering fire at close range. [5:12] All these videos circulating on social media. An A-10 Warthog attack aircraft hit and badly damaged, [5:21] the pilot making it to Kuwait, ejecting safely before his A-10 crashed in flames. But despite it [5:29] all, just seven hours after that F-15 was shot down, the president got good news. [5:34] This first wave of search and rescue forces successfully located the pilot of the F-15, [5:40] and he was extremely, extremely injured. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He [5:42] was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He [5:43] was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. [5:44] He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. [5:45] He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. [5:46] He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. [5:47] He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. [5:48] He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. He was shot down. [5:49] He was missing, bloodied, and miles away from where the pilot had been found. [5:54] He was injured quite badly and stranded in an area, teeming with terrorists. [5:59] Officials say that the colonel was likely injured during the ejection or landing, [6:04] but kept going in treacherous terrain, climbing thousands of feet up a mountain ridge, [6:10] repeatedly hiding from Iranians trying to capture him. [6:14] He scaled cliff faces, bleeding rather profusely, treated his own wounds, [6:20] and contacted American forces to transmit his location. [6:26] The colonel communicating only sporadically so as not to alert enemy forces, [6:31] finally activating his emergency beacon. [6:34] On Saturday morning, we achieved our primary objective by finding and providing confirmation [6:40] that one of America's best and bravest was alive and concealed. [6:45] In a mountain crevice, still invisible to the enemy, but not to the CIA. [6:51] Then the U.S. launching a second, even larger rescue mission involving 150 warplanes [6:59] to bring that colonel home. [7:01] Elite special operations forces aboard two C-130s near the location on a makeshift airfield, [7:08] a farm, the president called it, using MH-6 Little Bird helicopters [7:12] to reach the rugged mountains where he was hiding. [7:16] The weight of the C-130s left them stuck in the wet, sandy airfield, [7:21] forcing the troops to deliberately destroy the aircraft [7:24] and having smaller aircraft evacuate the colonel and rescuers. [7:29] Martha Raddatz joins us now. [7:31] Martha, what an impressive rescue. [7:33] Any word on the condition of that rescued soldier tonight? [7:36] Lindsay, there is word tonight that the injured colonel, [7:39] who courageously invaded capture by climbing thousands of feet up a mountainside, [7:43] is doing well and is expected to recover. [7:47] He remains in good condition and, of course, those combat rescue teams [7:51] proving once again they will leave no one behind despite the risk. [7:55] Lindsay? [7:56] Indeed. All right. Martha Raddatz for us. Thanks so much, Martha. [7:59] And now I want to bring in ABC News contributor Daryl Blocker, [8:02] former senior operations officer for the CIA. [8:05] Daryl, thank you so much for joining us tonight. [8:07] Let's start with the successful rescue mission of the colonel. [8:10] Today we heard the CIA director say that he couldn't really reveal everything about the covert mission, [8:15] but just give us your insight. [8:17] Can you tell us about what went into this kind of operation? [8:22] Well, Lindsay, I was excited to see that the WIZO was successfully extracted [8:26] and went back to my training in the SEER, [8:30] the same course that the pilot and the weapons system operator went through. [8:35] I went through as an Air Force officer, Air Force intelligence officer. [8:40] So the role of the intelligence is to prepare the pilots for this worst-case scenario. [8:45] They have plans A, B, and C backups. [8:49] Ways to signal. [8:50] And the resources were amazing in terms of what they turned out to bring this man home. [8:58] Central Command said that they've been able to hit 13,000 targets. [9:02] The fact that Iran was able to shoot down this U.S. fighter jet, [9:06] what does that tell you about Iran's fighting power more than a month now into this war? [9:10] I think we're seeing every day that it's diminished. [9:14] And the fact that they have to go to surface-to-air missiles, shoulder-fired weapons, [9:19] means that they have to remain as mobile as they possibly can. [9:23] They don't want to bring up radars. [9:26] And you can take down a plane, a F-15, with an SA-7, an SA-14. [9:32] And apparently the Iranians proved that is possible. [9:35] But it is very, very difficult. [9:37] And it just proves that the Iranians are becoming weaker and weaker. [9:41] As you know, Iran faces a looming deadline to make a deal by tomorrow [9:46] or else President Trump has threatened to wreak havoc, [9:48] even though experts have said that he's not going to make a deal by tomorrow. [9:49] And he's not going to make a deal by tomorrow. [9:49] And he's not going to make a deal by tomorrow. [9:49] How do you see things playing out? [9:55] Well, there are thousands, well, first of all, hundreds of power plants and thousands of bridges. [10:00] So there's no way in a four-hour period that all of those are going to be struck [10:05] or all of those are going to be hit. [10:07] I would hope that the focus will be on those that support those who are trying to keep down [10:13] the Iranian people and that they won't hit the civilian infrastructures that stop people [10:18] from being able to have clean water. [10:20] And hospitals run and that such matters. [10:24] Daryl Walker, we so appreciate your time. [10:26] Thank you so much. [10:27] Akira Phillips also talked to retired Lieutenant General Doug Lute about the president's threat. [10:32] From Oral Spring Inn, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, retired Lieutenant General Doug Lute. [10:37] So, Doug, I guess what I want to get to the rescue of the backseater in just a second. [10:45] Pretty remarkable details that we got today from the president, the head of the CIA, [10:49] also chairman of the Joint Chiefs. [10:51] But, you know, just back to President Trump and this deadline saying that he could take out [10:57] the entire country of Iran in one night and that one night may be tomorrow night. [11:02] Your thoughts? [11:03] Well, the president over the last week or even two weeks has from on a day to day basis [11:11] alternated between three possible options for the way forward. [11:17] I'd list them as the option to escalate the option to negotiate. [11:23] Or the option to evacuate and depending on what day of the week we're on, he seems to and [11:29] sometimes even in the course of the same press briefing, he seems to slide between and among [11:35] those three alternatives. [11:36] So it's very hard to predict. [11:38] I think he sees value in his his approach, his style of unpredictability. [11:44] And that has a certain weight within a negotiation. [11:48] But it also it also means it's very hard to predict. [11:53] It's very hard to rely on what he says. [11:56] Our thanks to cure for that coming up, the massive economic impact of the global energy crisis, [12:01] how it compares to past worldwide disruptions and when we should expect prices to go back down. [12:21] Welcome back, everyone. [12:22] Gas prices have been surging for weeks because of what's happening with the [12:25] Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war. [12:27] And now Americans are bracing for higher grocery bills as a trickle down effect. [12:31] But what about the rest of the world? [12:33] In tonight's By the Numbers, we take a look at the massive economic impact of [12:37] the global energy crisis. [12:39] Trade is losing momentum. [12:41] The U.N. expects global merchandise trade to slow sharply, dropping as low as one point five percent this year. [12:47] That would be a drop of more than three percent compared to last year. [12:51] The U.N. also predicts global economic growth to slow two point six percent, assuming the conflict doesn't escalate. [12:57] Crude oil supply shortfalls are around 12 million barrels a day, according to Atlantic Council, which estimates the global shortage [13:04] nearing 400 million barrels. [13:06] That's causing. [13:07] Liquefied natural gas prices to reportedly skyrocket as high as one hundred forty three percent in some regions like Southeast Asia. [13:14] Bangladesh imports ninety five percent of its energy needs. [13:18] So now government offices have been ordered to slash power use by 30 percent by doing things like cutting back office hours and limiting A.C. [13:25] In South Korea, there's a two day driving ban for public sector workers in order to curb demand. [13:30] And let's not forget, the effects are most severe in developing countries where three point four billion people live. [13:36] That's because the impact is compounded by rising import costs for energy and food on top of existing debt. [13:43] And of course, with the crisis still unfolding, the full impact is not yet clear. [13:47] With us now is Bob McNally, founder and president of the rapid and energy group. [13:52] He's also the former energy adviser to President George W. [13:55] Bush. Thank you so much for joining us, Mr. [13:58] McNally. Might the current crisis become worse than previous worldwide disruptions like the nineteen seventy three OPEC embargo or the nineteen seventy nine eighty quarter crisis? [14:06] Or the twenty nine eighty crisis caused by the Iranian revolution and Iran Iraq war? [14:10] Well, good to be with you, Lindsay. [14:12] Well, in some ways, it already is worse. [14:14] We've lost more supply than at any time in history. [14:18] The reasons that this crisis so far has not yet turned into the nineteen seventies is we haven't made the policy mistakes that were made in the nineteen seventies that exacerbated the oil price spike, such as central banks printing money. [14:36] Price controls and rationing is what led to gas lines. [14:40] But it's entirely possible if we make macroeconomic errors on top of this that we will end up in that kind of a situation. [14:47] Yes, we know that it took years for prices to return to normal after the crises of the nineteen seventies. [14:53] Could we now be looking at prices staying high for several years? [14:58] I don't think so. [14:59] You know, I've studied the history of oil price volatility and written a book about that. [15:03] And my conclusion is we tend to see booms. [15:06] Boom and bust price cycle price cycles when crude oil prices go high, they tend to do two things. [15:14] They tend to discourage consumption, sometimes by slowing economic growth, often by causing recessions on the one hand. [15:21] Secondly, they tend to encourage investment in supply. [15:24] So these price spikes, if you will, and we've seen this over and over again, you saw it in the late nineteen seventies. [15:29] You saw it about twenty five years ago. [15:31] You get a big oil price spike and then it undoes itself because it encourages. [15:36] More efficiency, less demand, on the other hand, more supply. [15:40] And down we go. [15:41] It's sort of like a Space Mountain roller coaster ride. [15:44] You go up, but then you go down. [15:46] If President Trump does make good Tuesday night on threats to destroy Iranian bridges and power plants, then what? [15:53] Well, then we likely transition into a much more serious escalation and level of destruction of energy. [16:01] So far, as bad as it has been, we have not seen yet the destruction of key. [16:07] Physical energy infrastructure, the type of loading terminals, other stabilization plans, the type of facilities in Saudi Arabia and Iran and the UAE that, if destroyed or damaged, would prolong the energy crisis, even if the Strait of Hormuz was reopened. [16:24] So neither side has gone that far yet. [16:27] If we start to see that escalation, then the damage gets much, much worse. [16:31] Oil prices go much higher and the economic damage will be bigger. [16:35] So in your estimation, would we be shooting ourselves? [16:37] No, you have to weigh the cost and benefit. [16:42] I mean, if we wait five or 10 years and we're confronting an Iran with nuclear weapons, doing what it is doing, attacking its neighbors, threatening the Strait of Hormuz, so important for energy, agriculture, industrial inputs. [16:55] I think it's a question of whether this was a an appropriate preventive war. [16:58] That is not in my lane. [17:01] But you have to consider it against that tradeoff. [17:03] Conversely, what happens to global oil and gas prices if there is a ceasefire or if President Trump just. [17:08] Declares the war is over suddenly. [17:10] Is there a chance that the Strait of Hormuz opens naturally, as the president likes to say, and shipments of oil and gas begin to flow freely again? [17:19] Well, there is a there's a good way and a bad way to open up Hormuz. [17:22] The good way is what the president wants, which is to have a ceasefire where we go back to the way it was before an international waterway, freedom of navigation. [17:31] Everybody can go in and out freely if that happens. [17:34] Consumers will see price relief pretty soon, even though it'll take months for all the fields. [17:38] To get back and the ships to work itself out, the market will start to improve in the terms of prices fairly quickly. [17:44] That's the good way. [17:45] The bad way is if President Trump just walks away and leaves Iran is sort of the terrorist extortionist toll keeper of Hormuz. [17:54] Then I think, first of all, prices won't go down that far. [17:57] Another conflict is just a matter of time since Arab countries there. [18:01] Israel will not tolerate Iran being in charge of that Hormuz Strait. [18:05] So we might get a little bit of relief for a while, but then I'm afraid another conflict. [18:09] So let's hope when it reopens, it's back to the status quo ante, free flow in and out. [18:15] Bob McNally, so appreciate your time and insight. [18:17] Thank you. [18:18] Thank you. [18:19] Coming up, more on the war's impact for Americans everywhere. [18:22] How we expect the trickle down effect of the oil crisis to hit grocery store prices. [18:43] More now on how the Iran war is costing Americans here at home. [18:46] According to GasBuddy, the average price of gas at the pump is $4.08 with diesel costing $5.58. [18:52] And now J.P. Morgan, CEO, is warning interest rates could rise. [18:55] With inflation going up. [18:56] All right, Kajachi, talk to Elizabeth Schulze about this. [18:59] Elizabeth, if Iran doesn't open the Strait of Hormuz, what does that mean for the rising prices consumers are already facing? [19:07] Yeah, you know, it's just not good news. [19:08] When you're looking at the price of the pump, $4.08, you saw that today in the national average. [19:12] We've been checking in with GasBuddy over the past month, and they do expect even by the end of today, we could be seeing gas at $4.20. [19:19] That's because of what's called price cycling, where you see stations basically adjust their prices to where oil is. [19:25] And as you pointed out, oil right now is at $112 a barrel. [19:29] That is up more than 70% now, Ike, since the start of the war. [19:33] And we are very quickly seeing how these higher oil prices are now rippling across the economy. [19:39] It's not just prices at the pump. [19:40] It is those higher diesel costs, which matters because companies are paying more to transport their products. [19:46] So everything from Amazon stuff you buy online to farming to manufacturing, those costs are going up. [19:51] And that's why you had that warning from Jamie Dimon, the CEO of J.P. Morgan. [19:55] Essentially. [19:55] Saying the risk here is that we see prices in the rest of the economy go up and that the inflation rate gets higher, which is something a lot of people don't want to hear. [20:04] We've been dealing with these stubbornly high prices already for years now. [20:07] And as you have those prices go up, we could see stocks go down, Jamie Dimon says, and you could see those interest rates go up too, Ike. [20:14] Our thanks to Ike and Elizabeth for that. [20:16] As the Strait of Hormuz remains closed with the ongoing war, economists warn the rising cost of oil and gas will have a trickle-down effect on food prices too. [20:24] Let's bring in Diane. [20:25] Diane Swonk, Chief Economist and Managing Director at KPMG. [20:29] Diane, thanks for joining me again. [20:32] Now, how is the war with Iran and its impact on oil connected to grocery prices? [20:36] Well, it really is important. [20:39] It's connected in a lot of ways, but one of the most important ones is diesel. [20:43] That hits right up front. [20:45] We heard already that it hits a lot of shipping costs. [20:47] Well, diesel costs, also refining capacity is very limited. [20:53] And because of that, diesel prices have gone up even faster than gas. [20:57] And that goes into everything that we ship. [21:00] Now, in terms of the grocery store, it's about four to six weeks from the increase in prices before they actually show up on grocery store shelves. [21:07] Their margins are extremely narrow. [21:09] And there's extra fees put on for shipping costs. [21:13] That is where we're getting into the sweet spot now that the war has gone on and the Strait has been shut for this long. [21:19] We're now getting into that phase where you're going to start to see that seeping into the prices at the grocery store. [21:25] We're also going to see later in the summer. [21:27] Of course, crop prices affected as well. [21:29] And everything, as we heard earlier on farms, is run by diesels as well as on diesel fuel, as well as fertilizer costs that have gone up, too. [21:39] Then you put one extra issue on there, and that's aluminum. [21:42] Aluminum is a major supplier is in the Gulf and is shut in right now due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and all those aluminum cans that we see on the grocery shelves. [21:54] Guess what? [21:55] Those are going up in price, too. [21:57] Diane, you just said a lot right now. [21:58] You said the grocery prices, they're going to go up in a few weeks. [22:02] Fertilizer is going to grow up. [22:03] You're talking about aluminum cans right now. [22:05] As consumers grapple with all of the trickle down of this war, is there anything people can do strategically to spend, will strategically spend and save? [22:15] Well, what we've seen is people are sort of trying to fill their tanks up. [22:18] I can't tell you how many texts I've gotten of, should I fill my tank up now? [22:21] Yes, you should. [22:23] But also going to the grocery store and loading up on the things that you can now before. [22:28] You see increases or before you see additional increases, because right now the Strait of Hormuz still isn't open. [22:34] And even once it opens, not only do we have the oil refineries and the oil that is in the ground, those have to be reopened. [22:42] They take several weeks to months to get everything in place, to get things to normalize. [22:47] So this is not going to be something that's over even once the Strait of Hormuz is open. [22:53] There's a large tail effect, and that's what's important as well. [22:56] Then, of course, the last issue is. [22:58] How much damage will be done to oil infrastructure? [23:00] We've seen some already on natural gas infrastructure. [23:04] And what we could see is more, especially as retaliation as the war escalates. [23:10] Our thanks to Ike for that interview. [23:12] And that is our show for this half hour. [23:14] I'm Lindsay Davis. [23:15] Be sure to stay tuned to ABC News Live for more context and analysis of the day's top stories. [23:19] Thanks so much for streaming with us.