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U.S. Has Sturck Military Targets; Trump Comments on Deadline; Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) is Interviewed about Iran; Negotiations Still Continuing with Iran; Israel Targets Iran. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired April 07, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

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[09:00:49]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And the breaking news, new, extreme maximalist threats from the president and new attacks on Iran's key oil hub. The United States struck what it is calling military targets on Kharg Island, which handles about 90 percent of Iran's oil exports. This is hours ahead of the president's deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz. This is according both from a White House official and a -- and a U.S. official and a White House official, though that U.S. official adds the strikes did not target oil facilities.

Nevertheless, oil prices went up, spiking not long after word of those strikes, especially West Texas crude, which had been a little bit more flat, up at one point nearly three percent. The president is giving Iran until 8 p.m. Eastern to reopen the Strait or face basically what he's calling total annihilation.

There have also been reports of attacks on railway lines inside Iran. Israel has warned the Iranian people not to use trains.

There has been a new statement now, I think probably we should have led with this, this new statement from the president just a short time ago. He wrote, "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again." "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will." He goes on, "however, now that we have complete and total regime change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionary, wonderful can happen. Who knows?"

Let us begin our coverage with Jim Sciutto live in Tel Aviv with the latest on what you are hearing this morning. Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, John, we're hearing of Israeli strikes already underway prior, of course, to the president's evening U.S. time deadline. Israeli strikes already underway on infrastructure in Iran, including railway lines, bridges and roads. Earlier in the day, Israel had warned Iranians to stay away from railway lines, and some had clearly heeded that call. One city had told Iranians to stay entirely away from railways. And now those strikes being carried out. Not clear if that's in coordination with the U.S. at this point, because, of course, the U.S. has given until 8 p.m. Eastern Time before he unleashes, or at least he's threatened to unleash, broad attacks on Iranian civilian infrastructure.

Well, infrastructure, which he claims is tied to the regime, of course, opens a whole host of questions about what is legal here. They might claim dual use, but when you're talking about every bridge, every electrical plant, that certainly affects the civilian population. And, well, we'll be watching for that deadline.

Prior, a U.S. official confirmed to me that the U.S. has carried out strikes today, overnight, into this morning on Kharg Island. That, of course, is where Iran exports 90 percent of its oil. But this U.S. official specifying that was on military targets on Kharg Island, not oil infrastructure. And the U.S. has struck military infrastructure there prior.

I think, John, too, as we watch this unfold, you do have a U.S. president threatening a nation, not just with ending a civilization, his latest rhetoric, but threatening to bomb it back into the stone ages and to deliberately target civilian infrastructure.

You and I have covered Russia's war in Ukraine for these more than four years now. And those kinds of attacks by Russia on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure brought outrage and continue to bring outrage from not just European officials, but U.S. officials and U.S. lawmakers. So to see the U.S. making quite similar threats, and now to see attacks on civilian infrastructure underway already, this raises a whole host of questions going forward about the legality of this and just how far President Trump intends to go here.

BERMAN: Yes, how far indeed, Jim Sciutto.

Let's go to Betsy Klein at the White House, because, Betsy, the president's new threat, which he just issued, is that a whole civilization will die tonight.

[09:05:03]

A whole civilization will die. Now, Republican Congressman Mike Lawler assures me that the president doesn't really mean it. That he just means bridges and power plants. But has the White House made clear what the president means by a whole civilization dying?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: No, they haven't yet offered clarity on that matter, John. But I think we are seeing some very different rhetoric from President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance within the last hour, but the message here is essentially the same. The president saying in that Truth Social post that tonight will be one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world.

And they are both laying out two paths here. The president, in that post to social media, saying that a whole civilization will die tonight. He doesn't want it to happen, but it, quote, "probably will." Again, a whole civilization, not a nuclear weapons program, not a regime, but a whole civilization, he says.

Vance, meanwhile, says that it's possible that Iran doesn't come to the table, and then he says that there will be worsening economic conditions. Making those remarks during a trip to Hungary just the last hour.

Trump, in his post, then saying it's also possible that different, smarter and less radicalized minds prevail. Vance echoing that as he said that Iran could, quote, "choose to be a normal country," and previews the possibility of economic growth and trade. But all of this adding up to a very volatile moment for this five-week-old conflict. Vice President J.D. Vance, who's one of the key negotiators tasked with talking to Iran, says that there is going to be a lot of negotiation between now and that 8 p.m. Eastern deadline, about 11 hours from now.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, issuing that key warning with those strikes on Kharg Island, that key oil hub in the Persian Gulf. Notably has not hit oil infrastructure yet, but clearly this could be perceived as somewhat of a warning shot or a preview of what is to come. President Trump warning that they will take on critical infrastructure, bridges, power plants, among others, and really downplaying concerns about war crimes when repeatedly pressed on that issue yesterday, the legality there.

I also asked the president whether there might be some flexibility in that 8:00 deadline if it seems like those diplomatic talks are progressing. He did not rule it out. He also told our colleague Kristen Holmes that reopening the Strait of Hormuz, that critical oil thoroughfare, is a key priority. He did concede that it is different from some of his other strategic objectives here.

This as Vice President J.D. Vance said that the U.S. has essentially achieved its military objectives at this point. But we're already seeing oil prices rise today. All of that factoring into the president's decision. We'll have to see what they are willing to accept and what the Iranians are able to accept before that deadline hits.

BERMAN: Yes. Betsy Klein, at the White House, Jim Sciutto, in Tel Aviv, with all this new reporting. Thank you both very much.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you so much, John.

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman John Garamendi of California. He is on the House Armed Services Committee.

I'm going to get straight to what is a shocking statement from the president of the United States, where he said, "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will."

What's your response?

REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA): My response is that this is one thing upon another. Think back to Easter Sunday morning. His rant, unhinged. A text about foul language and some would say even worse than that. You add all this up. The president is simply out of control. Unhinged is probably a very good word to be used here.

Eventually, all of this bluster is going to have to be met with action. Action by whom? Well, perhaps, Iran will succumb to the threats and simply roll over and do whatever Trump wants. But there's nothing in the history of this regime dating back almost 47, 48 years now that they're going to simply roll over and do whatever Trump wants.

The problem is, we're at war. This is a war that was started by Trump. There was not a need for it. There were negotiations underway dealing with the nuclear issue and the other issues that are in play in Iran. All of those were tossed aside so that Trump and Israel could go to war.

And we are now way, way into this war. And tonight, how do you end a civilization? Well, I don't think there's any way to do that. And what's going to happen here is that the Iranians are going to hunker down. They're going to continue to hold the Strait of Hormuz, which is their principle card in their deck or in their hand. And we'll see where it goes. Will Trump actually carry out his threat? I would hope not.

It's time to back off. It's time to really move to negotiations and put an end to this unnecessary war that was started by Trump and by Israel for reasons that are not even clear at this moment.

[09:10:11]

SIDNER: One of your Republican colleagues in the House, Congressman Mike Lawler, just spoke to John Berman on what he believes the president really meant when he said a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.

Take a listen.

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REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): The president has to take necessary action to strike their energy and infrastructure. That is going to cripple the regime. That is what he is talking about.

BERMAN: You don't believe the threat? You don't take him at his word that he will end a whole civilization?

LAWLER: He is talking about the energy and civilian infrastructure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: First of all, is that how you read it? And second of all, are you OK with the president who has said he is going to take out all the bridges and all the power plants?

GARAMENDI: I am not OK with this war from the outset. This war was not necessary. There were negotiations underway that, by all accounts, were moving forward with regard to the nuclear issue. With regard to regime change, well, Israel took care of that with the assassination of the previous leader, and continuing assassinations.

But the reality is, this war must end. It's not a necessary war. Obviously, negotiations are very, very difficult. At the outset of this, the Strait of Hormuz was opened as the United States and Israel continue to attack, Iran played a trump card. And that trump card, interesting use of the word trump here, was to close the Strait of Hormuz, which they did. And now they control the oil -- 20 percent of the oil that the world economy needs.

And that puts the United States and Israel in a very, very bad situation. How do we deal with that? Well, we're going to have to negotiate our way out of this. We're not going to solve this with more bombs. We're certainly not going to end a civilization that's been in place for some 4,000 years. The Iranian people are there. They're not going to disappear. This war is just unnecessary.

And what we're getting from the president is, frankly, unhinged language and very, very dangerous language because eventually he is going to have to meet his bluster with action. And the action is likely to be more and more bombs. And that is not going to solve this problem.

We need to be aware that negotiations -- and there are countries that are helping us, that are helping all of us on these negotiations. We need to reach out to that. But all of the bluster following up on what was said on Easter Sunday morning with some of the foulest language, unbelievable language from the president of the United States. Who is this man that would use such language, in any situation, and particularly on Easter? And then following up with, he's going to wipe out a civilization. That's not going to happen.

What has to happen is to get to the negotiating table, put this war behind us, which is costing a fortune, and we can go into what that's going to be as we look at the upcoming budget. The military is looking for $1.5 trillion. One trillion, 500 billion dollars. That's 50 percent more money than they had last year. And that doesn't include the 200 billion that they need to pay for this war.

We need to put an end to this. And the Congress of the United States and the American people simply have to say, Mr. President, stop it. Stop the foul language, stop the bluster and stop this war.

SIDNER: You've asked, who is this man? It is the president of the United States. You have called him unhinged, saying that he's out of control.

Congress tried to curb some of his war powers. The Democrats were not able to get that through. So, what is Congress going to do if you are this concerned about some of the words that are coming out of the presidency now? SIDNER: Well, we're going to have to use the power that we have. We

have the power of the purse. There's a request, as I said a moment ago, for one trillion, 500 billion dollars. That's 500 billion additional dollars based upon last year. We don't -- we don't need to do that. We have the power of the purse.

Secondly, the War Powers Resolution, which are in Congress, are very, very close to having the necessary signatures to bring it to the floor. And I would suspect that there are going to be Republicans after this last weekend, and all of the bluster and all of the talk and all of the new bombing that is now taking place, both by Israel and the United States, that the Republicans are going to go, this cannot continue.

[09:15:03]

And they will join the Democrats.

And we've been at this from the very outset. This war is not a legal war. Congress has the -- not only the power of the purse, but we have the power to declare war. The president didn't come to the Congress, didn't talk to the leadership at the outset. He simply started a war without any authority from Congress. And we need to take that back.

Do we have the votes? I think we will in the week, by next week, when we return to Washington, D.C., I think we will have the votes in the House of Representatives to pass a War Powers Resolution to force the president's hand, to put a stop to this insanity.

SIDNER: He has a deadline tonight before he says he's going to unleash all hell on Iran. Next week may be too late. We will see what happens with these negotiations.

Congressman John Garamendi, thank you so much for speaking with us this morning. Do appreciate it.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have some more breaking news coming in. New images from the crew of the Artemis II and what the White House says are the first pictures and images from the far side of the moon.

We'll be right back.

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[09:20:48]

BOLDUAN: So, a deadline is looming. There are new strikes still being carried out. And the president of the United States just leveled a wild new threat at Iran, saying a whole civilization will die tonight if Iran doesn't meet his deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Let's get right to CNN's Matthew Chance, who is in Doha for us.

And, Matthew, the vice president, who's part of the negotiations, we're told he's traveling in Hungary and he just said that before this deadline hits there is going to be a lot of negotiations happening. What are you hearing from there?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think that's right, Kate, because no one, despite all this rhetoric and all this bombast about destroying entire civilizations, no one is really ruling out the possibility, however slim it may seem, that something could happen at the 11th hour to, you know, set back this deadline even further, or even bring to an end the conflict. Remember, this is the fifth deadline in a row that President Trump has imposed on his own threat. And so, you know, it's possible it could be a sixth time. That's certainly the hope.

And I've just come out of meetings with Qatari officials. I'm talking to you now from Doha. There is a lot of concern and alarm across this gulf region, which is very energy rich, and which is very concerned about what impact an escalation of the conflict in Iran is going to have. Yes, of course, this threat to -- by the U.S. military to strike at civilian infrastructure in Iran would cause untold damage to the Islamic Republic, but it would also potentially have a massive knock on effect across the region because Iran has vowed to retaliate in kind against the neighboring gulf states. They've all got very vulnerable energy infrastructure installations, oil rigs, gas production facilities, things like that, that can be struck very easily and would be very difficult to rebuild.

And, you know, already the region is losing, I mean, untold sums, billions of dollars a day in Qatar alone. If Iran is good to its word, and there's every sense that it will be, and retaliates against the regional infrastructure, that could have a massive impact on the regional economy, a long lasting impact, and would cause a huge impact on the global economy as well. And that's the real concern as we approach President Trump's latest deadline to send Iran back to the stone age.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Matthew, so thankful you're there speaking to the leaders that you are. Really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, still ahead, incredible new images of space. NASA's earth set and eclipse images taken during that historic flyby of the moon. That is so cool. More of those. And when those astronauts are going to be back on earth, ahead.

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[09:28:16]

SIDNER: Breaking news, the U.S. has struck what it is calling military targets on Kharg Island, which handles about 90 percent of Iran's oil exports, hours ahead of the president's deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. That's according to both a U.S. official and a White House official, though the U.S. official adds the strike did not target oil facilities. And a source telling CNN Israel is now targeting transport routes across Iran. Jim Sciutto is in Tel Aviv with the very latest.

What are you learning about these new movements now?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, with all the attention on President Trump's deadline for U.S. military action against infrastructure across Iran, we're already seeing attacks on Iranian infrastructure carried out by Israel on railway bridges, railway lines, as well as roads and other bridges around the country, does not to be -- appear to be as extensive as President Trump has threatened, giving -- given the language he's using now, a civilization will end, et cetera. But there are already attacks underway today on Iranian infrastructure used by civilians.

This, of course, raises a whole host of legal questions, both for these current strikes and whatever the U.S. might carry out after the president's deadline. Military lawyers will say that if there is a case to be made for dual use, that military forces use that infrastructure, it can be legal under international law. That said, the extent of what President Trump is talking about, every electrical power plant, every bridge, et cetera, raises, you know, quite serious questions about who will suffer from those attacks around the Iranian population.

[09:30:02]

As you mentioned, the U.S. did carry out strikes. A U.S. official confirming to me and also the White House confirming to my colleagues, on Kharg Island.