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Trump Says, Iran Could be Taken Out If No Deal by Tonight; Iran Calls for Human Chains Around Power Plants Amid Trump's Threats; Artemis II Crew Describes 40-Minute Communications Blackout. Aired 7- 7:30a ET
Aired April 07, 2026 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:00:00]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Oil prices spiking, markets rattled again, and the clock ticks. The looming deadline threat from President Trump is now hanging over the entire Middle East saying Iran can be taken out in one night, and that might be tonight.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Homeward bound, the crew of Artemis II being sling-shotted toward Earth after soaring around the dark side of the moon, a truly great gig in the sky.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And it's good to be a Michigan fan, the Wolverines taking down UConn to claim their first national title and men's basketball since 1989.
I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN New Central.
BOLDUAN: This morning, well, today is the day that something is going to happen. It seems something's got to give when it comes to the war with Iran. Here's why. We're just under 13 hours to go until the new deadline that President Trump has set for Iran to strike a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. If that doesn't happen by 8:00 P.M. Eastern, he says he is going to blow up the entire country, destroy all of Iran's bridges and power plants, and he is brushing off the war crimes concerns associated with all of that.
This is what he did say just yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: The entire country could be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night.
We're giving them until tomorrow, 8:00 Eastern Time. And after that, they're going to have no bridges, they're going to have no power plants, stone ages, yes.
Burning, exploding, and never to be used again, I mean, complete demolition by 12:00 and it'll happen over a period of four hours if we wanted to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Giving pretty specific timing, even though he always says he doesn't -- he can't give that timing when reporters ask about this type of a thing.
As the deadline approaches, Israel's military has issued new warnings to Iranians telling them to not use trains and to stay away from rail railway lines. That warning going out on X, which is blocked across Iran, along with the rest of the western internet, so a big question of how many Iranians are getting that important message.
CNN's Betsy Klein is at the White House following all of this today. Do you have any indication of, well, anything of where this is headed this morning, Betsy?
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Kate, we are monitoring very closely for any signs or signals of diplomatic movement. But as we think about the Trump administration thinking on this, I think it's important to note that President Trump is very clearly emboldened by the successful operation over the weekend to rescue a downed F-15 airman, all of that factoring in quite significantly, the president now saying that power plants and bridges could be attacked by the U.S. if a deal is not struck by 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time. He threatens that Iran will be bombed back to the stone ages, in his words, within four hours.
Of course, diplomatic efforts are underway with the Vice President J.D. Vance, along with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, leading those negotiations on the U.S. side, moderated in part by Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey.
And I asked the president yesterday if he thought he might consider extending that deadline of those talks were bearing fruit. He couldn't say. But if this does not bear out, the president saying that he believes the Iranian people are willing to suffer. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: All I can tell you is they want freedom. They would be willing to suffer that in order to have freedom. The Iranians have -- and we've had numerous intercepts, please keep bombing bombs that are dropping near their homes. Please keep bombing. Do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KLEIN: The president was later asked whether that would amount to a violation of the Geneva Conventions, if it would constitute war crimes, really downplaying those concerns.
But at the heart of these talks is the Strait of Hormuz.
[07:05:00]
That is that critical oil thoroughfare that is responsible for 20 percent of the world's oil. And, obviously, we are already seeing gas prices rise ahead of this potential action, something that's factoring into the president's thinking here as well.
Trump told our colleague, Kristen Holmes, yesterday that reopening the strait is, quote, a very big priority, but he also conceded that it was different from some of his other stated goals for ending this conflict. So, there are a lot of open questions about what the president is willing to accept and what Iran is willing to accept at this hour. Time is ticking toward that deadline.
BOLDUAN: Yes, and how far apart they still are if they want to reach any kind of negotiated, I don't know, anything, ceasefire before this deadline.
Betsy, thank you so much for that. John?
BERMAN: Yes. So, we mentioned, you mentioned the Israeli warning to Iranians to stay away from trains and railways for the next 12 hours. Iran's Deputy Ministry of Youth and Sports called on young Iranians to form a human chain around the country's power plants.
Let's go to CNN's Jim Sciutto who's in Tel Aviv for the latest from the region. Jim, obviously, the hours, you know, counting down to this new threat from President Trump.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: And we should detail exactly what that threat is, John. That is the U.S. president and Israeli officials threatening to attack a whole range of civilian infrastructure in Iran, ranging from electrical power plants, bridges, and railroads. And this is something, when we look back, for instance, at the four years of war in Russia, that European officials, U.S. officials, lawmakers, have long accused and condemned Russia for doing in Ukraine. But you have a situation now where the U.S. and Israel are preparing it seems and threatening to do exactly that.
Iran seems to be taking those threats quite seriously. You have the leader of one of Iran's cities urging Iranians to stay away from railroads for the next 12 to 24 hours. As you noted, you have the youth minister there, it seems, in effect, calling on young people to create human shields around electrical power plants.
And Iran does have a history of drawing young people into war efforts. If you go back to the Iraq -- the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, and, of course, you have to raise the question whether that is indeed volunteering, right, what kind of pressure might young people be put under to do so.
So, it's quite remarkable circumstances. Iranian officials, leaders seeming to take these threats quite seriously, and the president encouraging you and me to take the threats quite seriously and say that by tonight, he will indeed order strikes on a whole range of civilian infrastructure in Iran. And the administration and some have argued that from a legal standpoint, they can make a legal claim that these are dual use infrastructure, pieces of infrastructure in Iran used by both the government and civilians. But, certainly, it would have an impact on the civilian population in Iran.
BERMAN: Yes, he has said all bridges and all power plants. That seems to be a stretch and the, you know, the dual purpose scale there, but it is not apparently a concern of the president's as we sit here this morning.
Jim Sciutto and Tel Aviv monitoring the situation, Jim, thank you very much. Sara?
SIDNER: All right. Just ahead, history has been made and the result, truly magical images of the moon this morning sent back to Earth by the Artemis astronauts. What's next for the crew after the successful lunar flyby?
Also closing arguments today in the trial the doctor accused of trying to kill his wife during a birthday hike in Hawaii, who also took the stand saying it was his wife who first tried to kill him.
And Rapper Offset in the hospital this morning. The member of Migos and Cardi B.'s ex-husband was shot at a casino. Details on the investigation in the case and the rapper's condition.
All those stories and more ahead.
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SIDNER: At this very moment, the Artemis II astronauts are being sling-shotted back home. They are about 240,000 miles after traveling further from our planet than any human ever has. They're seeing amazing sight never before seen with a naked eye.
As the crew swung around the far side of the moon, there was an expected communications blackout for about 40 minutes. Astronaut Victor Glover described what it was like to be out of contact with the rest of humanity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VICTOR GLOVER, ARTEMIS II PILOT: I said a little prayer, but then I had to keep rolling. I was actually recording scientific observations of the far side of the moon. You know, that is actually the time when we were the farthest and the closest to the moon. And so we were really able to make some of our most detailed observations of the far side of the moon up close.
And so we were busy up here working really hard, and I must say it was actually quite nice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: A little break from humanity. He says it's quite nice.
CNN's Randi Kaye is at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Randi, what happens now for these astronauts? I mean, all of us like a little time off of our phones, so, you know, communication for 40 minutes is fine. It's fine. RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'll take it, right? Well, the flyby, Sara, certainly was a success. They took something like 10,000 photos, 10,000 images. So, we hope to at least get to see some of those today.
The crew is getting some well-deserved sleep right now. They should be woken up about 10:35 by Mission Control -- 11:35, I'm sorry, this morning by mission control here at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
[07:15:00]
And just listening to them, as they did this fly by yesterday, you know, it's exactly what the lunar scientists here at Johnson Space Center wanted to know. You heard Christina Kochm, the mission specialist on board, talking about seeing these new bright craters and how they -- the moon looked like a lampshade with tiny pinpricks in it. That's exactly what they wanted to hear, what the human eye picks up.
And they did lose contact, as you mentioned, for those 40 minutes. And just to hear Houston say to them, we'll see you on the other side, was just remarkable. And when they did come around the other side, here's a bit of what Christina Koch had to say to Mission Control.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINA KOCH, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: Houston, we have you the same, and it is so great to hear from Earth again. We will construct science outposts. We will drive rovers. We will do radio astronomy. We will sound companies. We will boast our industry. We will inspire. But, ultimately, we will always choose Earth. We will always choose each other.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Integrity from Earth, our single system fragile and interconnected. We copy. Those of us that can are looking back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: And, Sara, just a little fun fact during that little blackout period. Apparently, the crew enjoyed Maple cookies in honor of mission specialist from Canada, Jeremy Hansen, who is on board with them. And they will debrief later this afternoon with the lunar scientists here at Mission Control.
SIDNER: I love it, little cookies and a sighting of the moon.
There was also this really sweet moment honoring Commander Reid Wiseman's late wife. Tell us about that.
KAYE: Yes. This crew, you know, they've been together for a few years training and they have clearly bonded. And at one point, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen asked that this new bright crater, they actually saw two new craters, but this one they wanted to name after Carroll Wiseman, Reid Wiseman's late wife. And this was that moment when they asked to do that for Mission Control. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEREMY HANSEN, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: And the second one, and especially meaningful for this crew is a number of years ago, we started this journey in our close knit astronaut family, and we lost a loved one.
And so we lost a loved one. Her name was Carroll, the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie.
And we would like to call it Carroll, and you spell that C-A-R-R-O-L- L.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Carroll Wiseman died in 2020 from cancer. And you can just see what a moment that was, Sara, for the crew. I mean, they really -- there were tears, there were hugs, and it was just really something special to think that that occurred far away in space.
SIDNER: Yes, you could hear the shaking in the voice and the emotion there, but it was quite a moment.
Randi Kaye, thank you so much. I do appreciate your reporting there from Houston. John?
BERMAN: All right. Here's a quote from one oil expert. If we continue on the path we are on, we will run out of fuel. A new look at the supply shock and where it's headed next.
And hail to the victors and hail to the giant party they no doubt had and may still be having this morning after some disappointments, Michigan NCAA men's champions.
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[07:20:00]
BERMAN: As they say in Red Dawn, Wolverines. They also say, avenge me.
CNN's Coy Wire live in Indianapolis this morning. There was a lot of avenging, Coy, after some futility from Michigan over the years, but they are now national champs, and you are really like right in the middle of it, feeling the sweat pouring off their faces.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, absolutely, incredible stuff. That stadium was jam packed of Michigan, John, looked to be at least 85 percent Wolverines fans. Michigan, as you mentioned, right in a new chapter on their storied past, pulling off a return to glory, stopping UConn's Quest for a dynasty in its tracks.
A back and forth first half, John, but in the second Michigan in control. Star guard Elliot Cadeau was on a mission, game high 19 points, tournament MVP. The bigs, Aday Mara and Morez Johnson, locking it down in the paint. And coach Dusty May grew up here in Indiana about an hour up the road, John, proof you can go from carrying clipboards as a team manager to cutting down nets, baby. A 69-63 win, giving Michigan their first national title since 1989. We got an exclusive walk-off with Coach May on his way to celebrate with the team.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Coach, I think you have some fans who are waiting to say hello to you, and they are, Coach.
DUSTY MAY, MICHIGAN HEAD COACH: No, they've been here for us all year. We appreciate them. They turned Chrysler into an amazing home court environment. We're going to take it to another level next year.
WIRE: Special group of young men, special group of young men, what will you remember most about this team?
MAY: How awesome their personalities are and how hard they work for this.
WIRE: You started carrying clipboards, the video guide. What does this moment mean to you, Coach?
MAY: It doesn't feel real. I'm still -- I don't know yet. I'm still numb.
[07:25:00]
WIRE: You know, you lead with love, you lead with kindness. What can the world learn from what's happening in your locker rooms?
MAY: That when you have a group that believes in each other through the ups and downs and they never waver, that great things can happen.
WIRE: And last thing for you, Coach, what do you have to say to Wolverine Nation?
MAY: I love you, guys. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Shout out to the backpedaling photojournalist extraordinaire Jay McMichael with producers David and Adam leading the way.
Now, on the last Michigan championship team in 1989, John, was Rob Pelinka, current general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers. I asked what he sees in Coach Dusty May as a leader. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROB PELINKA, L.A. LAKERS G.M., FORMER WOLVERINES GUARD: I am a G.M. in the NBA told him he builds teams as good as any of us, unbelievable job by Dusty May.
WIRE: How would you describe his leadership style and what he's been able to do with these young men? PELINKA: He's a humble guy, man. He leads with service. He cares about the guys on the team and develops them as young men first, as players second. So --
WIRE: And you know what these guys feel now as a national champion, as a Wolverine. What are they feeling?
PELINKA: On top of the world, man. I wore my ring tonight just as I remember in 1989, and I know these guys are going to celebrate. We'll celebrate with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Speaking of celebrating, check out the scenes, John, back at campus, Ann Arbor on and popping, confetti was dropping all over the place in a sport where madness is promised, last night delivered, John. Dreams, realized a journey fulfilled, Michigan are your 2026 men's college hoops national champions.
BERMAN: And I'm sure it didn't end last night. I'm sure what you're seeing here right is still going on this morning in Ann Arbor. They don't even need a reason, and now they have a good one.
Hey, Coy, that was a fantastic interview, I got to say. That's pretty remarkable television to have an interview like that with the winning coach as he is walking off the court, great stuff.
WIRE: Thank you, John. I appreciate you, brother.
BERMAN: All right.
SIDNER: And he so kindly gave kudos to Jay McMichael, who was a baller shot caller himself getting all those great scenes.
BERMAN: Yes, that was really impressive. I mean, there were no bumps, didn't bang into anyone, kept it going.
SIDNER: Smooth as ice.
All right, thank you so much, John.
Still ahead, who will replace Marjorie Taylor Greene? There is a critical special election in Georgia today that could have big impacts on the balance of power in Congress.
Also, Trump vows to destroy Iran if a deal isn't reached tonight. Details ahead.
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