Name: Two foreign oil tankers struck in Iraqi waters: Report
Uploaded: 2026-03-12T23:02:24.000Z
Duration: 5 min 43 s
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In breaking news from around the region, two foreign tankers carrying Iraqi fuel were subjected to unidentified attacks inside territorial waters, causing them to catch fire.

That's according to an official from the Iraqi port and reported to Reuters.

I want to bring in John Holman now, who joins us live from Washington, D.C.

so, John, there's still a lot of stuff happening in the region.

We've heard him speak on multiple occasions.

Is the message on when this is ending or how the mission is going getting any clearer?

I think part of his message, yes, is on when this is ending.

The second part of what you're saying, is it getting any clearer?

But he is labeling it now, little excursion, his words, as if it was sort of a day trip rather than a military operation or a war, as some people have called it.

He said that the military is far ahead of their scheduled objectives.

And that's basically been his message since the beginning of the week, saying that this is going to be over very soon, but

without actually giving a time frame from it.

I think the rest of what he's saying has been repeating the same lines, that we're hitting Iran very hard.

He said at one point that no country had been hit as historically as we're hitting Iran right now.

But that was in an address to sort of the faithful that he's been given.

I think he may even still be speaking now.

He's been enjoying speaking in Kentucky to Republicans and fans of his.

But I think perhaps the more telling interaction was when he was just setting off in Marine One, the helicopter, and

he was asked a couple of quite pertinent questions that he didn't want to answer.

He was asked, for example, can you declare victory if the son of the late supreme leader is still in charge?

And he said that basically he didn't have a comment on that.

We remember that just a very short time ago he was saying that it was unacceptable.

The leader of the late supreme, the son of the late supreme leader was an unacceptable leader, that he was a lightweight, that President Trump had to be involved in that decision making.

He was also be asked, he was also asked if he'd be willing to withdraw US Forces if Iran hadn't turned over the precursors, the ingredients for making nuclear weapons.

And he said he didn't want to answer that.

And I think since at the very start of this conflict, that was one of the major reasons for the United States actually going in.

That might be a shock or a surprise to some people?

Democrats who were in a briefing just yesterday were expressing that surprise when they came out of it that they said that what had emerged in that briefing, that that didn't seem to be one of the major aims of this conflict anymore.

He was also asked about military reports that a preliminary military investigation has found that the US did hit a girls elementary school in the south of Iran.

He'd been saying just on Monday, no, that was Iran that did that and he didn't want to comment on anything.

So sometimes, although the president's been talking a lot today, his silences have also been telling.

John, before we carry on, I just want to give our viewers a little bit more information on that breaking news we just had on two foreign tankers carrying Iraqi fuel subject to unidentified attacks inside territorial waters.

We're seeing some pictures of this now causing them to catch fire.

This is according to the Iraqi port officials.

Now, Iraq says that 25 crew members from the two vessels have been evacuated, but

the fire is still, still going on both of those ships.

So, John, this leads us into what my next question is for you, which is despite all of these issues with refineries, with production, with shipping, the president is maintaining confidence that oil prices are going to come down and come down quickly.

I think in part he's optimistic because that's something that he has has to say, that he has to project that sort of confidence.

He's obviously very sensitive to what's going to happen to the markets and the markets are all about confidence.

He also said when he was about to get on Marine One, that helicopter, he was asked, have you been talking to CEOs of oil companies?

Have you been telling them that they can go through the Strait of Hormuz, this strait, which Iran largely controls, a very thin body of water about 34 km wide in which ships have been attacked, tankers have been attacked, they've been leaving the Gulf and trying to get into international waters.

There were three tankers even before that were hit just today.

And he said, yes, that he thinks tankers should be going through there.

He said his justification for that was, well, we'd been knocking out Iranian mine layers in that area.

That number kept changing in the course of the day.

At one point it was 28 and at one point it was 60 as he went on his various different rounds and speaking engagements.

But what military experts have been telling us and telling and telling me here that it's actually more complex than that.

It's not just about mines and not having, and not having mine layers there.

It's about drones that Iran can also use to, to attack tankers.

And that might be one of the reasons that he's not having that success in, in making more tankers go through that Strait of Hormuz.

It's a major headache for the United States and for President Trump right now.

John Holman live for US in Washington, D.C. thank you very much.