CSPAN - Washington Journal Open Phones Aired: 2026-03-09 Duration: 04:56 === Iran's Path to Surrender (03:54) === [00:00:22] This morning, Vice President Vance will address the International Association of Firefighters here in Washington, D.C. We're planning live coverage of his remarks at about 10:30 Eastern on C-SPAN, also on C-SPAN Now, our free mobile video app, and online at c-SPAN.org. [00:00:42] Get C-SPAN wherever you are with C-SPAN Now, our free mobile video app that puts you at the center of democracy, live and on demand. [00:00:51] Keep up with the day's biggest events with live streams of floor proceedings and hearings from the U.S. Congress, White House events, the courts, campaigns, and more from the world of politics, all at your fingertips. [00:01:04] Catch the latest episodes of Washington Journal. [00:01:07] Find scheduling information for C-SPAN's TV and radio networks, plus a variety of compelling podcasts. [00:01:13] The C-SPAN Now app is available at the Apple Store and Google Play. [00:01:18] Download it for free today. [00:01:20] C-SPAN, Democracy Unfiltered. [00:01:26] We start this morning with Iran. [00:01:28] Oil prices are rising across the country in response to that conflict, and the Iranian Assembly of Experts has chosen a new supreme leader. [00:01:38] I turn now to a New York Times article. [00:01:40] The headline is, in the first week, a punishing military campaign with no coherent endgame. [00:01:46] If you scroll just a little bit further down, it says that the Israeli strike among the Israeli strike also killed a group of Iranian officials who had been meeting in a different part of the compound. [00:01:59] Among them were people the White House had identified as more willing to negotiate than their bosses, who might help bring a swift end to the conflict, according to American officials. [00:02:09] That was after those blasts by the U.S. that killed Iran's supreme leader, by the Israelis that killed Iran's Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Alakhameni. [00:02:18] Now it goes on to say that the strike on the compound in Tehran was emblematic of a muddled reality of the war's first week. [00:02:25] A withering air campaign by American and Israeli forces against an overwhelmed enemy, but few answers about what victory might look like. [00:02:34] Iran, its government still in place, has remained defiant and expanded the battlefield across the region, inflicting the first American casualties of the conflict. [00:02:44] Defense Secretary Pait Hegseth was asked last night on 60 Minutes what a military win would look like for the president. [00:02:53] Take a listen here to his answer. [00:02:55] The President said recently there will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender. [00:02:59] What does that look like? [00:03:01] Unconditional surrender? [00:03:02] How will you know it's real? [00:03:03] It means we're fighting to win. [00:03:05] It means we set the terms. [00:03:07] We'll know when they're not capable of fighting. [00:03:09] There'll be a point where they'll have no choice but to do that. [00:03:12] Whether they know it or not, they will be combat ineffective. [00:03:15] They will surrender. [00:03:16] Typically, the understanding of a surrender is person to person. [00:03:19] Is that what would be required in a matter like this? [00:03:21] Well, there's a lot of different ways. [00:03:23] Whether they want to admit it or not, whether their pride lets them say it out loud or not, it's President Trump who will set the terms of that. [00:03:30] The President of Iran said yesterday that the U.S. demand for unconditional surrender is, quote, a dream that they should take to their grave. [00:03:39] There was a very long war between Iran and Iraq, almost eight years, and they never surrendered in that war. [00:03:45] And I'm just wondering if that factors into your calculus of the president's calculus. [00:03:48] I mean, there was a really long fight that I was a part of, and my generation was a part of in Iraq and Afghanistan, where a lot of foolish approaches were used. [00:03:56] This is war. [00:03:57] This is conflict. [00:03:59] This is bringing your enemy to their knees. [00:04:01] Now, whether they will have a ceremony in Tehran Square and surrender, that's up to them. [00:04:09] Something evolving today, of course, will be oil prices. [00:04:14] An Axios article published six hours ago. === Oil Tops $100 As Iran War Escalates (00:38) === [00:04:17] The headline is, oil tops $100 per barrel as the Iran war escalates. [00:04:22] If you scroll just a little bit further down, it says oil prices on Sunday crossed into triple digits for the first time since 2022, a stark sign of how the Iran war is throttling global surprise and raising consumers' costs. [00:04:38] Why it matters? [00:04:39] The psychological important $100 a barrel mark is going to increase pain for consumers, many of whom don't support the war and didn't have any real warning that it was coming. [00:04:49] It's also a political setback for President Trump, who has relished in touting lower gasoline prices on his watch.