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Iran Calls for Human Chains Around Power Plants Amid Trump Threats; Sources: Trump Officials Still Hopeful for Iran Negotiations; Artemis II Crew Holds Call with International Space Station Astronauts; OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Lays Out Blueprint for Regulating A.I. 3-3:30p ET

Aired April 07, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... backlog of FEMA money, including a lot of disaster aid that could not get out the door. And it frustrated a lot of lawmakers, including a lot of Republicans, two of them being North Carolina Senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd. Ted Budd was there today, sitting next to Mullin. And one of the first things he brought up, he thanked Mullin for eliminating that policy and making sure that money was getting out the door more quickly.

And as you heard there from the Secretary, he also talked about FEMA doing a great job. He had a very different tone -- tone than Noem had taken. And he said, you know, there's still room to reform and improve, cut red tape. But it seems like it might be a new day for FEMA. But, of course, we're in the early stages.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Early stages. We'll see how things move forward. Gabe Cohen, thanks so much for that reporting.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A stark warning, and experts say a war crime if realized. President Trump saying a whole civilization will die tonight if Iran doesn't make a deal and open the Strait of Hormuz. That deadline just hours away now.

Plus, a bold blueprint. The CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, is sharing a new plan. It's one that suggests how governments should regulate artificial intelligence.

And dancing in the Moonlight, the Artemis II crew taking the longest victory lap ever as they finish their lunar loop and head home. We'll learn more about their lunar flyby here in minutes as we follow these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Time is running out for Iran to make a deal with the U.S. That is the message from the President with just five hours to go before Trump's 8 P.M. deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The consequences that he's threatening if Tehran refuses are beyond sobering. He posted on social media, quote, "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will." The President vowing to destroy Iran's power plants and other civilian infrastructure. New video out of Iran shows civilians -- you see them here across a bridge. This is one instance where they are creating a human chain. They're doing it on bridges. They're doing it around other important assets like power plants in response. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live for us in Tel Aviv.

Jeremy, the U.S. and Israel say they've already conducted several strikes across Iran today, including one that damaged a synagogue in Tehran. What more are you learning about what's happened today?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. This was an Israeli strike in the capital of Tehran that appears to have severely damaged, if not completely destroyed, a synagogue in the heart of Tehran. Iran is actually home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the Middle East, several tens of thousands of Jews living in Iran. And in the rubble of that synagogue, you can see, you know, Jewish prayer books with Hebrew inscriptions in them lying in the rubble.

Now, the Israeli military acknowledged being responsible for this strike and said it, quote, "Regrets the collateral damage to the synagogue," but insisted that the synagogue was not the target, but rather that it was targeting a senior Iranian military commander nearby. So, again, expressing regret for this strike.

What we've also seen from Israel today are strikes on Iranian infrastructure, railways, bridges, highways, all infrastructure that Israel is accusing Iran of using in order to move some of its ballistic missile launchers and ammunition and other military supplies across Iran.

The United States, for its part, carried out strikes on Kharg Island, that key island just off the coast of Iran that processes some 90 percent of Iran's oil exports. The United States insisting that it only struck military targets on that island. This is the second time that we've seen the U.S. carry out those types of strikes on Kharg Island. But it all comes just hours before this critical deadline that President Trump has set, before he has threatened to wipe out Iranian civilization, he's threatened to carry out strikes against Iranian infrastructure targets, power plants, strikes that would severely affect not just the Iranian regime, but really Iran's, you know, millions and millions of people in its population who depend on those power plants in order to survive.

The -- it's not clear as of now what the status of those negotiations is. There is still some time before that deadline, and it appears that U.S. officials are hopeful that negotiations can continue up until that point. The Iranians haven't offered any indication of any potential breakthroughs that may be laying ahead.

[15:04:59]

The question now is whether there's a connection to those Kharg Island strikes that we saw and President Trump's threats. There's long been discussion of potential U.S. forces going on the ground and capturing Kharg Island. That could be potentially an option on the table. But regardless, all of the, you know, people in this region right now are certainly on edge, awaiting this real possibility for significant escalation in this region. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Let's go to the White House now, where CNN's Alayna Treene is standing by.

And Alayna, you have some new reporting about the negotiations with Iran. What are you learning?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, look, from my conversations today with some sources familiar with some of the talks that are happening here at the White House and throughout the administration, they tell me that administration officials are still hoping that continued negotiations through intermediaries between the United States and Tehran will be effective, and that hopefully a diplomatic solution could be found to, one, either delay this escalation of military attacks that the President has been threatening. Of course, we saw that aggressive post this morning, where he warned that a whole civilization will die tonight, or they say, at a minimum, try to see, you know, perhaps some minimized attacks or reduce the severity of the attacks that the President has been warning against.

Now, I will say, the statics of negotiations between the United States and Iran, whether indirect or direct, is very much unclear. When, you know, when seen that The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran had cut off direct diplomacy. We saw The New York Times report that even indirect talks are no longer happening. Tehran has denied both of those reports, and I will say that the United States, at least U.S. sources here, have said that they are still eager, the Trump administration, to find some sort of diplomatic off-ramp here.

So, we really are waiting to see exactly whether something like that could actually materialize by the 8 P.M. deadline that the President had set for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Now, I'd also say two of the sources I spoke with described some of that escalatory rhetoric we heard from the President this morning as, in some senses, trying to apply maximum pressure to the Iranians and really try to force them to the table here, force them to make a deal.

They warned, though, however, that the President is still very much committed to following through on those threats. All to say, it is still very much clear at this point in time what exactly the President is going to decide and whether or not negotiations could actually lead to a substantial enough compromise to stave off the attacks that he has been warning about.

I do want to read for you what we heard, though, from the White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, trying to just sum all of this up. She told me, quote, "The Iranian regime has until 8 P.M. Eastern time to meet the moment and make a deal with the United States. Only the President knows where things stand and what he will do." So, of course, we're still standing by to learn any more we can about whether this is moving ahead full force.

SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene live for us at the White House, thank you so much.

Still to come, the crew of Artemis II discussing their historic lunar flyby this hour. We're going to check in on their mission as they shift their attention to returning home.

And OpenAI CEO Sam Altman considers the future of artificial intelligence, spelling out what society has to do to prepare. We'll discuss in just moments on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:12:47]

KEILAR: The Artemis II crew is on its way home, having left the lunar sphere of influence. They captured some amazing photos of the Earth and of the Moon's surface. Even more exciting, the crew just held a ship-to-ship call with the crew aboard the International Space Station. CNN National Correspondent Randi Kaye is in Houston at the Johnson Space Center for this story for us.

And Randi, tell us more about this historic call with the ISS.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this was really something. Nobody really understood exactly how it was going to take place, but we knew that today the Artemis II astronauts were going to have a call with the astronauts aboard the International Space Station. I guess, you know, they have a lot to talk about. The views from up there and a whole lot more. Here's just a bit of that phone call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Integrity, this is the International Space Station. How do you hear?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, International Space Station and Jessica, we have you loud and clear. How about us?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have you loud and clear as well, and we have BME-TV (ph) up, so we have a view of you right now, and it is making us so excited. We feel like you're here with us, and this is really just making our entire week right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: How cool is that, right, for them to be able to talk to each other in space? And how cool are some of these photos that are coming in to us? They took about 10,000 images or so, we are told, while they were doing that lunar flyby, and we have some of them. I mean, it's incredible. You can really see the detail and the texture of the Moon and the lunar surface in that one for sure. You can see the craters, and -- and I'm told by Dr. Nicky Fox here, one of the top science officials here that some of those craters are 4 billion years old, and they found a new one that was 3.8 billion years old yesterday.

And they also have these shots like these, where you can see the Moon -- or you see the Earth dipping behind the lunar horizon.

[15:15:04]

And then they had an eclipse. They had a total solar eclipse there. And you can actually see these little specks of white to the right of that screen, and those were actually planets. There's another one of the Moon. When you talk about the texture of -- of the Moon, Victor Glover, the pilot on board Artemis II, was talking about how the -- the dark craters look so deep that he felt like he could, if somebody were to step into one, they would fall through it and come out the other side of the Moon. So, they had some really, really spectacular views and some images that they're sending our way.

And today, they will have a debrief with the lunar scientists here at Johnson Space Center in Houston. As they make their way, they get this free ride home, the slingshot and the pull of gravity from Earth as they make their way home.

KEILAR: Very cool. And what happens tomorrow and when are they getting back to Earth?

KAYE: Tomorrow, they're going to -- they still have work to do. They're going -- they're going to be pretty busy along the way. They're going to do one more manual pilot test. They don't expect to have to use that, but they like to make sure that they can manually pilot that capsule if they need to. And then, they will make their way back and they are expected to splash down off the coast of San Diego on Friday evening and come back home, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, very exciting trip so far. Randi Kaye, thank you so much for the report.

Still to come is workers' fear artificial intelligence could replace them. One industry leader has a list of ideas for the humans who control it. What Sam Altman is suggesting next.

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[15:21:12]

SANCHEZ: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is laying out a blueprint for how governments should prepare for artificial intelligence. In a new document, the tech titan outlines how to tax, regulate, and even benefit from the wealth generated by the changes A.I. will bring. Let's discuss with technology journalist and host of the Rip Current podcast, Jacob Ward.

Jacob, great to see you as always.

So, OpenAI is calling for governments to implement common sense A.I. regulation. Notable the timing of Sam Altman publishing this, no?

JACOB WARD: I mean, this is the big thing. I'm so glad you bring this up, Boris, right? This is coming out literally the same morning as a big New Yorker investigation by Andrew Marantz and Ronan Farrow that basically calls into question Sam Altman's professional trustworthiness. He evidently has a reputation among the people he's worked with in the past for saying one thing and doing another.

So, I will say, you know, Boris, this -- this proposal is full of good ideas, but its timing makes it somewhat suspect here.

SANCHEZ: So, on the substance of the proposal itself, first, what do you make of its approach and how do you think lawmakers will respond? Because Congress, historically, is fairly slow moving when it comes to new technology.

WARD: Oh, yes. Slow moving is one way to put it. At sea is another way to put it, right? They have been totally incapable of wrapping their arms around what this may represent. I mean, you'll remember, Boris, Andrew Yang, who once upon a time ran for president ...

SANCHEZ: Yes.

WARD: ... on the concept that we would all need to somehow draw from a universal pool of money because AI was going to wipe out all jobs. You know, we laughed at him back in the day. That guy must be drinking like a fish these days because, I mean, it is absolutely the case here that you now have this company saying openly that it's -- technology is going to create incredible upheaval, so much so that what it's proposing here is pretty interesting, Boris. I mean, it comes up with a number of things.

It suggests, for instance, that we should all be working a -- a four- day workweek with no loss of pay, that we should have a sovereign wealth fund, essentially, a kind of general fund that would help bring some dividends back to workers who currently aren't seeing anything. And this is a big one which breaks from other big tech companies, which is the idea that the government needs to stop depending on labor payroll as a source of income tax and instead create a -- a tax entirely on capital gains and corporate profits because basically what they're saying here is that you and I and our paycheck isn't going to be enough to support the government anymore. All that money is going to be vacuumed up into these larger corporations.

So, there's some good and interesting ideas here. But as you -- as you brought up so rightly, you know, the timing here, distracting, I think, from a big and embarrassing investigation on the part of the New Yorker is also worth mentioning here, Boris.

SANCHEZ: One -- one more question on the substance of the argument for regulation. Altman talks about superintelligence, the -- the point at which A.I. becomes so sophisticated that it would outcompete or outsmart even humans using A.I. How close do you think we are to that point?

WARD: So, I am not personally convinced that we are anywhere near that. I think that is some -- you know, the technical people that I speak to, including people who used to be at OpenAI and Anthropic and others of these big companies, basically say we're not on the path to that right now, that the kind of very smart parrot that we currently use to write our knock-knock jokes and our wedding vows is not going to put us toward a -- you know, an omniscient brain that's going to run all things.

But we are already on a path where job disruption is real, where human anxiety around A.I. is real. And so, what's interesting here is to see a company that is really at the center of that disruption calling this kind of a new deal for A.I., trying to invoke the -- the Roosevelt era.

[15:25:07]

But, of course, that was an era grappling with the depression, and this is the company that is essentially saying we may cause a depression here.

SANCHEZ: Right.

WARD: And so, we're going to need a national response to deal with it. There's -- there's a circular logic to this kind of ...

SANCHEZ: Yes.

WARD: ... statesmanship on the part of a company that really seems to be driving the changes forward about, Boris.

SANCHEZ: And when it comes to this New Yorker investigation, serious questions about the leadership behind it and -- and who may shepherd this new era. The piece itself revealed memos, internal memos, that allege that Altman misrepresented facts to executives and Board Members and deceived them about internal security protocols. Obviously, Altman is denying all of this. I wonder, from your perspective, what you drew from the details in the piece if -- if it leads to some caution surrounding him and his leadership overall.

WARD: Well, so I -- like all the people on my beat, were absolutely, you know, flabbergasted in November of 2023 when he was fired for a second there ...

SANCHEZ: Right.

WARD: ... for about 72 hours by his board for what they called a lack of candid communication. But what this investigation answers is all these questions that folks like I had around what was going on, because it turns out he did have a pattern, according to the people that he worked with, of saying one thing and doing another. And that is especially prominent on a day like today when we're talking about the need to -- to grapple with these larger human questions of how we're going to keep ourselves safe and keep ourselves employed and housed. When it turns out that, according to those people he worked with in this New Yorker report, he had a pattern of saying we're going to do, you know, this one thing, we're going to constrain ourselves, we're going to commit ourselves to safety research. And then, he would either dodge around it or commit fewer resources to it than he promised. This is part of why Dario Amodei, who runs Anthropic, which is

OpenAI's rival, left the company, according to this report. And so, it really speaks, you know, there's the -- there's the -- there's all of the kind of personality stuff that a guy like me wants to read, of course. But what's really important here is that there's a -- there's a tiny number of people who could conceivably absolutely determine the course of the next couple of generations here, Boris. And we have no democratic input on the decisions they make. And so, this kind of journalism, I think, is the -- really the last thing left when it comes to looking at the kind of effect these folks may have on us, Boris.

SANCHEZ: A fascinating piece, to say the least. Jacob Ward, thanks so much. Appreciate your time.

Still to come, Iran is firing back at President Trump's threat to destroy their civilization. A government spokesperson calling it a sign of ignorance. We're following the latest there. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

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