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Israel Delay's Planned Iran Strikes; U.S. Searches for Jet Crew Member; Cuba Prisoner Release; United Leaked Anthropic Memo Warns of Next Wave of A.I.-Driven Attacks. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 03, 2026 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Back now to our breaking news. Israel says it is postponing some of its planned strikes in Iran today as search and rescue efforts continue after a U.S. fighter jet was shot down over Iran.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: As CNN has learned that U.S. forces have rescued one of the two crew members, the status of the second crew member remains unclear. Let's go to CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who's live for us in Tel Aviv and joins us now. Jeremy, what are you hearing?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, that one rescued crew member from that downed F-15 fighter jet, he is indeed in U.S. custody and is receiving medical treatment, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The status of the second airman is still unknown, and search and rescue efforts, as we understand it, have still been ongoing in the skies above Iran, where we should note that it is now nighttime there. So, unclear what information the U.S. has at this stage about that second airman, whether or not he is alive, but it does appear that those search and rescue efforts have still been ongoing.

Israel, for its part, did not directly participate in the search and rescue efforts, I'm told, but it has provided intelligence to the United States to try and assist with the effort. Israel also postponed some of its strikes in Iran today in order not to interfere with those search and rescue efforts. But we did see that in the capital of Tehran, the Israeli military did carry out several heavy strikes in that area earlier today.

The Iranian state media, for its part, is reporting that it is offering a reward to its citizens should anyone be able to recover or capture this second airman, whose status is still unknown. So, the Iranians also clearly very interested in getting a hold of that airman. And if indeed they did, that would take the situation from bad to worse, representing a very significant escalation of this conflict.

But certainly, today's incident has revealed that even as President Trump talked earlier this week about the U.S. having decimated Iran's military capabilities, you know, for weeks we have heard Israeli and U.S. officials talk about more than 80 percent of Iran's air defenses having been destroyed or disabled. We are still seeing that Iran does retain some significant military capabilities. Downing an F-15 fighter jet is no easy matter, and it shows that Iran still retains some sophisticated military capabilities.

[14:35:00]

It raises questions, of course, about the future of this war, how much longer it will last, and is yet another indication that we have seen this week that this conflict is showing no signs of de-escalating, but rather it seems like escalation is more likely in the weeks ahead. And, of course, the continuation of this war with those negotiations, the potential for those negotiations having gone nowhere, it seems, in recent weeks. Boris.

SANCHEZ: Jeremy Diamond, live for us in Tel Aviv, thank you so much. The downing of the U.S. jet comes just two days after President Trump talked about the war coming to an end in two to three weeks, and as Jeremy pointed out, it's unclear how this might impact that timeline.

KEILAR: Certainly, and let's talk about it now with Elise Labott. She's the host of "Cosmopolitics" on Substack. This really is marking a significant moment in this conflict. There's no indication that Iran has this crew member, but the status of this second crew member is really critical at this moment.

ELISE LABOTT, HOST, "COSMOPOLITICS" ON SUBSTACK: The status is critical, and regardless of the fate of the servicemen, I think the U.S. is going to want to find that person and bring him home. So, that goes without saying.

But what it does is it makes it more complicated. As Jeremy said, the Israelis kind of stood down today, and the U.S. is going to have to stand down today. And it makes things more difficult for negotiations, because this is less about a ceasefire now. This is more about a hostage negotiation, if in fact the Iranians do have this serviceman.

And so, it just makes everything more complicated, not only the potential U.S. future strikes that they want to make, but also, I think the focus will turn to negotiations that are taking place, both with the Chinese and the Pakistanis, and also what you see going on at the United Nations.

SANCHEZ: This also marks the first time that Iran has shot down a U.S. vessel flying over Iranian airspace. I wonder, given what you just outlined, does that change the timeline that we've been given initially, four to six weeks, and then the president, as of two days ago, saying an additional two to three weeks?

LABOTT: Well, it certainly changes, you know, the considerations, what the U.S. is going to do here. Right now, they're not thinking of future strikes. They're thinking of getting this serviceman home, so it can push it out. They're not going to do anything until they know the fate of this serviceman, I'm sure. The Israelis are standing down. But it also, you know, maybe politically, here at home, this is the first serviceman that we don't know the fate of, and it just kind of brings home how dangerous this is. We were talking just yesterday about whether the U.S. was going to seize Kharg Island. You know, the president said no, but were they going to send a team of an expeditionary unit to go down and take that enriched uranium? This just brings home how dangerous it is. It was dangerous for this search and rescue mission that's going on right now.

You know, there's a chance that the Iranians could capture them if things don't go as well, although the U.S. has excellent search and rescue. But it just brings home how dangerous that is and the stakes here for the United States.

KEILAR: They're at a lot of risk when they are doing so. They're going in for an operation like this. I also wonder how Americans are thinking about this moment. The administration has said, the president has said that the missile capabilities of Iran had been greatly deteriorated, but they still have capabilities, and our reporting certainly shows that. And now, we are seeing what that can mean, right?

LABOTT: Right.

KEILAR: So, how critical is it, the American perception of the dangers, what Iran can do, what it can cost the U.S.?

LABOTT: Even if this serviceman, and we hope that he comes, you know, home safe, does come home safe, today all Americans are thinking about these two servicemen, the search and rescue unit, we're all thinking about America and what the stakes are. When President Trump uses words like decimated, or we're going to bomb them into the stone age, this is a lot of rhetoric. But you're right, it brings it home, and I think it makes the stakes even higher.

Another thing I want to point out is, we know that the Iranians are not exactly respecting international law and laws of war. We see that they have no hesitation of going after civilian targets that they've gone after all these years as a state sponsor of terrorism. They're going after civilian targets all over the region right now in the Gulf States. So, they don't respect international law. There are very strict laws about prisoners of war.

When the president uses some of the rhetoric that he does, the U.S. isn't exactly sending out a message right now that it respects international law when we're going to bomb someone out to the stone age.

[14:40:00]

So, the rhetoric doesn't help, and that's why I think, you know, you will see, I think, more diplomacy going on, an effort to wrap up this war.

You know, the Chinese are holding up at the United Nations, a U.N. Security Council Resolution, authorizing use of force to end the conflict, to open up the Strait of Hormuz. I think that's where people are going to be right now. Nobody is thinking, I don't think, in terms of how much more damage we can do to Iran. They're thinking of, how can we deescalate? How can we wrap this up? Because as you said, if this escalates, it could go on a lot longer.

KEILAR: Really important thing to watch. Elise Labott, great to have you.

LABOTT: Good to be back.

KEILAR: Thank you so much.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much.

KEILAR: Next, Cuba is releasing more than 2,000 prisoners as the economic crisis there deepens amid a U.S. blockade on fuel.

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[14:45:00]

SANCHEZ: In Cuba, an act of defiance amid U.S. efforts to enforce major economic and political reform on the island. Hundreds of activists parading on bikes and electric tricycles, joining President Miguel Diaz-Canel in a state-sanctioned march themed Here With Fidel. Earlier this year, the Trump administration blocked oil shipments to the communist-run country, recently carving out an exception for a Russian-led vessel weeks after the regime confirmed ongoing talks with Washington.

Today, the Cuban government announced it would free some 2,000 prisoners, the largest release of its kind in years, which the regime says is a humanitarian gesture, though some human rights advocates argue this release does not address Havana's detainment of political prisoners, some 1,200 of which are still believed to be behind bars.

Let's discuss with Javier Larrondo, the president of Prisoners Defenders, an independent organization which tracks political prisoners around the world. Javier, thank you so much for being with us. How are you reading this news? Does this indicate to you that Havana is poised to make the kinds of changes that Washington is seeking?

JAVIER LARRONDO, PRESIDENT, PRISONERS DEFENDERS: No, not at all. The announcement included a condition that the crimes against authorities would not be covered, such as all forms of contempt, disobedience, resistance or attempt. So, that means that 90 percent of the political prisoners, of the 1,214 political prisoners, would not be covered by this measure.

In fact, we have been auditing many prisons in Cuba, and in all of them they're draining ordinary prisoners and non-political prisoners. So, this is the same measure that the Cuban regime is carrying out, a prison drain similar to those conducted in 2015, 2019, for example. They do it every three, four years. They carry out these drains because they have the highest incarceration rate in the world, nearly the double of the rate in the United States, with more than 1,000 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants. I mean, 1 percent of the population in Cuba is in prison. So, that's impractical for a failed state like Cuba, who doesn't have any economy to sustain that.

SANCHEZ: Javier, walk us through what it means to commit a crime against authority, because as you pointed out, the Cuban government is excluding those kinds of crimes from releases. So, what constitutes a crime against authority?

LARRONDO: Yes. For example, in the demonstrations in the 11J in 2021 where dozens of thousands of people went on the streets in Cuba, specifically, the authorities went with bats, baseball bats, and all sorts of these wood sticks, hitting the population that was demonstrating, and then they charged them of attempt, resistance, contempt, disobedience, all sorts of these crimes that they fabricate, not to let anyone call them political prisoners, but the thing is that we have all the sentences, all the cases, and we have a study that very close, and all of them are poor people that were just demonstrating.

So, the political prisoners are condemned for common crimes where they haven't committed any of those. And that is, the crimes against the authorities is the most usual crime they charge on political prisoners in Cuba.

SANCHEZ: What are you hearing from the families of the prisoners that you keep track of?

LARRONDO: Well, I was talking to many families since yesterday and today. I talk every day with many of the families. That's one thing I do as a vocation. And the thing is that they are suffering a lot, and when the regime announces the release of prisoners, their heart goes boom, and some of them even have to go to the hospital after the circumstances that come later, which is that all of this is a trick for press and media to confuse everybody and game time, game time, because they know the regime is ending and they need to release the pressure and get help from the people who still believe that this failed state is something to protect somehow.

[14:50:00]

SANCHEZ: So, how do you think the Trump administration, the United States, should respond to this?

LARRONDO: Well, I don't want to -- I don't have the moral to say anything to the United States about what they should do or not, but humanity and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says it very clear. There's a supreme right above all, which is the supreme right of rebellion against tyrannies. And if -- and it puts it on human beings. It doesn't put it on the citizens of a certain country.

So, the responsibility to protect, which is signed by all countries in the modern world, should be something inevitable in the cases of, like Iran, in which 30,000 people were shot by the regime recently, or in Cuba, where we have more than 1,200 political prisoners, another 11,000 with pre-crime condemnations, because they are prone to commit a crime in the future, like "Minority Report," or Venezuela, or Nicaragua, or North Korea. So, in this case is the humanity, not only the United States. The problem is that the United States is the only one who is doing something, and that is tragic, because the rest of the humanity is not helping enough to get those tyrannies out of the world, because they are creating immense problems, not only for their citizens, but for regions, entire regions.

SANCHEZ: Javier Larrondo, thank you so much for the time. I appreciate your perspective.

LARRONDO: Thank you very much.

SANCHEZ: Brianna.

KEILAR: Now, to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour. United Airlines is raising the price for checked luggage due to rising fuel costs. It is boosting its checked bag fee by $10, which brings the cost of checking a single bag to $45 if paid at least 24 hours in advance. The cost at the airport will now be $50. Need to check three bags? Well, that could reportedly now cost as much as $200. This fee hike makes United's bag check the most expensive of the major U.S. airlines.

And the vice mayor of Coral Springs, Florida, has been found dead in her home, and police believe it may stem from domestic violence. Police arrested Nancy Metayer Bowen's husband, and he is now facing charges of premeditated murder and tampering with evidence. Her family released a statement saying Nancy's legacy will live on not only in the policies she helped shape, but in the countless lives she touched. Metayer Bowen was 38 years old.

And Luigi Mangione's federal trial in the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been postponed from October to January of next year. The federal judge announced the new date after Mangione's state trial was moved to September, which caused a scheduling conflict. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges in both cases.

And next, a new ominous prediction about the growing power of artificial intelligence from one of the world's most powerful A.I. creators.

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[14:55:00]

KEILAR: A chilling new warning about the growing power of artificial intelligence and it's the source of this warning that makes it so concerning. According to a leaked blog post from the A.I. company Anthropic, the next wave of A.I.-powered attacks on cyber security will be nothing like we have seen before and it will exploit vulnerabilities at an unprecedented pace.

CNN Business Tech Editor Lisa Eadicicco is with us now on this story. Lisa, what else do we know about this leaked blog post?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: So, the big takeaway from this leaked blog post is around Anthropic's next model, which it says will have cyber capabilities that are far ahead of other A.I. models on the market now. But I think the big concern here and the big thing that I took away from this leaked blog post and the experts that CNN has spoken with is that this isn't just something that is specific to Anthropic, it's about the state of A.I. right now and a wave of other models coming up likely from other companies as well, like OpenAI and Google that are going to be very good at cybersecurity capabilities.

And I think a lot of that is stemming from the fact that models are getting a lot better at powering A.I. agents, which are essentially A.I. assistance that can do multiple tasks strung together, autonomous. So, instead of giving it one instruction, it can kind of carry out a broad task instead of having to kind of give it a directive for every single thing.

And so, in the context of cybersecurity, the concern here is that can allow bad actors to kind of execute attacks and the software vulnerability exploits at a scale that is unprecedented and that they weren't capable of doing before. And for that reason, in this blog post -- this leaked blog post from Anthropic, it says that it plans to roll out this next model really slowly on a limited basis to organizations at first so that they can get familiar with the technology and plan to protect themselves.

KEILAR: Wow.

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