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Hegseth and Caine Hold War Update; Iran Ceasefire Deal Reached; Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) is Interviewed about Iran. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 08, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

REPORTER: Enrich any future uranium being non-negotiable for the U.S.?

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Look, it's always been non-negotiable that they won't have nuclear capabilities. And so right now it's buried and we're watching it. We know exactly what they have. And they know that. And they will either give it to us, which the president has laid out, we'll -- they'll give it to us voluntarily. We'll get it. We'll take it. We'll take it out. Or if we have to do something else ourselves, like we did in Midnight Hammer or something like that, we reserve that opportunity. But what's clear, what the Iranian -- the new Iranian regime knows is they'll never have a nuclear weapon or the capability to get a path to one.

As far as the new regime, you heard the list that I read. It's a new group of people who've seen the full capability of the United States military and has a new calculus about what it means to negotiate with us, hence why they came to the table wanting a ceasefire and the shooting to stop. So, this new regime, which the regime has been changed, has a different interaction with the U.S.

Right here.

REPORTER: Mr. Secretary, thank you. Of course --

HEGSETH: Oh, I was going in front right here.

REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. Secretary and General Caine.

Mary Margaret with "The Daily Wire."

Two questions. Iran has said that safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible in coordination with Iran's armed forces and, quote, "technical limitations." What do you believe that means? And then we've also heard reports that Iran has continued striking targets well into this morning. At what point are we beyond a grace period? Are we giving them a grace period? Is there a miscommunication there? What's going on with that?

HEGSETH: What we know is that Iran is going to say a lot of things. A lot of people are going to say a lot of things, claim a lot of things. What has been agreed to, and what's been stated, is the Strait is open. Our military is watching. I'm sure their military is watching. But commerce will flow. And that's what you saw the markets react to is that reality.

As far as shooting. That -- we were monitoring it last night in real time. Of course we are. Iran would be wise to find a way to get the carrier pigeon to their troops out in remote locations, to know not to shoot, not to shoot any longer, one-way attacks or missiles, because this is -- it takes time sometimes for ceasefires to take hold. We're watching it. We're prepared, if necessary. But we hope and believe that it will hold.

Yes.

(CROSS TALK)

REPORTER: Thank you, Secretary Hegseth.

HEGSETH: Sorry.

REPORTER: Thank you.

(CROSS TALK)

HEGSETH: Excuse me. Why are you so rude? Just wait. I'm calling on people.

(CROSS TALK)

REPORTER: Thank you, Secretary Hegseth.

Yesterday in the president's Truth Social, he threatened to wipe out a civilization. That statement elicited a huge response in America. If Iran did not come to the table and make a deal yesterday by the deadline, was the president really prepared to wipe out Iran entirely?

HEGSETH: Like I said, we had a target set locked and loaded of infrastructure, bridges, power plants. Remember, this is a terror regime, a military regime, that used all of these things for dual use to fund their military, to fund their terror campaigns. We had a lot of legitimate targets. They knew exactly the scope of what we were capable of.

We hit some military targets on Kharg, which is a bit of a signal. They can't defend it. And so, the -- Iran ultimately understood their ability, their future to produce, to generate power, to fuel their terrorist regime was in our hands. It was in President Trump's hands. That's why they came to the table. He ultimately said, we can take it all from you. Your ability to export energy will be taken away. And the United States military has the ability to strike those things with impunity. That type of threat is what brought them to the place where they effectively said, hey, OK, we want to cut this deal.

Yes. Right here.

REPORTER: Good morning, Mr. Secretary and Mr. Chairman.

David Zere of "Real America's Voice."

During the ceasefire, what do we do when we see Iran rearming, regrouping, repositioning, weapon systems and air defenses? And also, have we confirmed the specific model type of air defense, or MANPADS, that took down our F-15? And is it still a threat for our patrols?

GEN. DAN CAINE, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: We're still working through the specific details around that particular shootdown. And the crews, when they normally return, go through a debriefing process, along with the other members of that flight that were out there. And they'll go back, as they always do, and forensically look at, what are the tactical lessons learned? Did we sense or see something? Could we have done something different? We do that, as I mentioned, in a prior press conference, every single time we take any loss like that so that we become a quick, learning organization.

On the other part of your question around the movement of Iranian military forces, U.S. CENTCOM will continue to monitor that situation. They will continue to have a series of response options. And if need be, we'll come to the secretary and to the president for guidance and be prepared to do the things that they're ordered to do so, against valid military targets in accordance with the normal procedures that we have.

[08:35:05]

HEGSETH: I would just note, it's a good question. The more Iran moves, the more Iran moves forces, the more they in place forces, the more easily targetable they are for us right now. Remember, we are able to look, we're able to see, we're able to sense. We know they -- where they -- so, if they try to pre-position, they're just creating riper military targets for us to strike should they make the wrong decision at the table.

Right here.

REPORTER: Mr. Secretary, Luis Martinez with ABC News,

First, a question to General Caine, sir.

In your personal opinion, were the risks of the Strait of Hormuz being closed because of the conflict, where they mitigated early enough in part of the decision-making process that led up to the decision to take action against Iran. And in your opinion, is Iran in control of the Strait of Hormuz? We just heard the secretary say that Iran is letting the ships through, which would imply that potentially it's not just -- the secretary also said that the U.S. -- that the Strait is open. He did say that, sir. But in your opinion, sir, how can the U.S. ensure safe passage?

And, Mr. Secretary, can you say today that the United States achieved -- the administration achieved the military goals that you were -- you've constantly delineated and -- but strategically is that a victory because of that?

And also, you said earlier that the president chose mercy. But you yourself had said three weeks ago that we will give no quarter -- no quarter to Iranian troops. How do you -- how do you correlate those two, and do you think that your comments may have put American troops at risk?

HEGSETH: No, I try to be nice up here, but you did listen to what I said, right? I laid out the objectives. We believe we've accomplished them. And it's a historic military victory. And President Trump has the option, as the commander in chief, to compel an adversary to the table, which is precisely what he did. And at the end, he chose to say, you know what, I'd rather talk to you at the table than obliterate your capability to export oil and fund your terror regime.

So, he did make that choice. That was his choice. He was a president of peace. And he's been willing to make those really tough calls that the American people elected him to do.

Nothing we've done, not a single thing we've done. This is a typical -- of course it's ABC. Not a single thing we've done has put an American troop in more of a harm's way. We've only set our troops up to harm Iranian military capabilities, which they've done to devastating fashion and to great success.

Mr. Chairman, you had a part of that question.

CAINE: There's a lot in that question. I'd love to take that offline and answer it, but it -- I'm struggling to find exactly what your question was. And that's probably me, not you.

REPORTER: Let me phrase it in a much more precise way, sir.

CAINE: OK. All right. Sorry about that.

HEGSETH: He said -- Mr. Chairman -- sorry. It was an indictment framed as a question. So, you're forgiven for not understanding.

CAINE: Oh.

HEGSETH: Go ahead. Please.

REPORTER: Can I -- can I frame it again, sir.

HEGSETH: No, you've had your chance.

Go ahead, sir.

REPORTER: Is the Strait of Hormuz open right now?

REPORTER: Thank you very much, Mr. --

CAINE: I believe so based on the diplomatic negotiation. So, I believe so. I believe so.

REPORTER: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. It is always nice to see you.

CAINE: Sorry. REPORTER: Mr. Rahim Rashidi (ph) from Kurdistan. I'm representative Kurdistan PD (ph) and "Kurdistan 24 Today."

I have a two questions.

Mr. Secretary, will your forces stay in the region and continue to defend and protect your allies and take the responsibility for their security?

Second question is, as you mentioned, many times, that you have full control of Iran airspace. Do you still have this control or not?

HEGSETH: Well, thank you for the question. The chairman mentioned the UAE and Bahrain and Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, who have -- who have fought shoulder to shoulder with us, especially in defense of our facilities, of our people, of their facilities. And we appreciate that. So, that coordination, of course, will continue.

And then when it comes to the skies over Iran, I would just -- again, I would point to exhibit a and exhibit b, seven hours in the day, seven hours at night. If any foreign adversary attempted to do the same over our soil, they would have no ability to do so.

Do -- will they have a system here or there? Maybe. Do they have a network, a system that's capable of defending their skies? No, they don't. It's -- as the chairman laid out, that's been dismantled, degraded and destroyed. So, it's a -- it's a -- it's a slight distinction but an important one.

Yes, right here.

REPORTER: Mr. Secretary, Iran --

(CROSS TALK)

HEGSETH: Go ahead.

REPORTER: General George (ph) in the middle of a war.

HEGSETH: Excuse me. You got a question? Go ahead. Yes. Yes.

REPORTER: Yes. Yes. Two questions, actually, for you.

So, during this time, is the president still -- are you still encouraging civilians to rise up against the Iranian regime, or are they -- or are they satisfied with this new regime change, or are they -- or is this two-week period to kind of see where that leads?

[08:40:05]

Also you talked about the enriched uranium going in there. Would that require -- would that require special forces or other military, our service members? Who would that -- who would -- who would be basically going in there -- trusted to going in there to get that uranium out? HEGSETH: Again, on the uranium, we're watching it. We know what they

have. And they will give it up. And we'll get it and we'll take it. If we have to, we can do it in any means necessary. So, that's something the president is going to solve for. We already have. Midnight Hammer, with where -- with the place we put them in. And the reason it's in the situation where it is.

The second one was about the people. Listen, I would love to see the Iranian people take advantage of this opportunity. They have been oppressed by the previous regime and they'll have a new opportunity with this regime. That remains to be seen. That was not our objective in this effort, but they're brave people. Horrible things have been done to them by the previous regime, tens of thousands targeted and killed and assassinated in a way that government never should. And we wish them the best, absolutely.

Thank you all very much. Appreciate it.

(CROSS TALK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A briefing at the Pentagon on the now two- week ceasefire in the war on Iran. The secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, began by honoring President Trump. The chair of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine, began by honoring the 13 service members lost in this war.

The secretary of defense said this was a decisive victory on the battlefield and that Iran begged for it. General Caine said that Iran's defense industrial base is ruined. It was notable, the secretary spoke very much in the past tense, calling this basically a war that did happen and is now over.

A couple of notable factors here. The secretary basically confirmed there is still nuclear material inside Iran, as there was before the war. And he initially said that Iran has agreed to remove it all, or hinted that Iran had agreed to have the United States remove it, or it would be removed by the United States as part of a deal. He really backed off that, hedging more, saying basically, in not so many words, that they better turn it over to the United States.

Finally, on the Strait of Hormuz. The secretary says it is open. We're trying to get a better sense of what's actually happening there in the Strait itself, if ships are passing through. Iran says it's subject to its military in order to get the ships through. And President Trump himself, today, did not rule out Iran collecting money for ships passing through there, only saying that maybe the United States would enter a joint venture with Iran, helping fund somehow Iran for keeping the Straits open.

Once again, there were really two briefings here, a political briefing from the secretary, who attacked reporters for their questions, and a military, factual briefing from the chair of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine.

Let's go to Natasha Bertrand, our Pentagon correspondent, who has been watching this very closely.

What did you see?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: So, there was a lot of talk, of course, about how the U.S. military achieved a total and complete victory here over Iran, something that Secretary Hegseth, of course, was always going to be emphasizing as the reason why we are now at this point of diplomatic negotiations. But in terms of what actually comes next, when it comes to the nuclear material that has been buried deep underground since at least last year when the U.S. conducted those strikes on the nuclear facilities and the Strait of Hormuz, it was all very wishy washy and unclear.

Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, he was asked explicitly, what is the status right now of the Strait? Is it open? And he would only say, I believe so. I believe it is open.

And, of course, Hegseth did not have any more detail either on just whether the U.S. is going to have any say or control over that key passageway, and just how they are planning to coordinate with the Iranians as part of these negotiations to keep that Strait open.

When it comes to the nuclear material, we also heard something that appeared to conflict with what President Trump said, which is that the U.S. and Iran are going to be working together to dig out that nuclear material. Hegseth said that they better simply turn it over.

He also said several exaggerated things, including that Iranian missile launchers are completely depleted and decimated. That, according to our sources, is absolutely not true. Over the course of four or five plus weeks of war, the Iranians were able to maintain at least 50 percent of their missile launchers according to U.S. intelligence community assessments, as well as thousands of one-way attack drones.

He also said that they -- the U.S. military decimated Iran's military and rendered it combat ineffective. We see, of course, they are still controlling the Strait. They are still attacking gulf countries with drones. And, of course, they still were able to shoot down U.S. military aircraft.

So, a lot of hyperbole, of course, on Secretary Hegseth's part.

[08:45:02]

Secretary -- Chairman Caine was a little bit more circumspect here. More about congratulating the troops for a job well done. But ultimately, the devil's in the details moving forward here. And that is what the U.S. military apparently is not able to answer for at this point.

John.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Natasha, stand by for us.

Let's go to Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv. Jumping off, Nic, of what Natasha's talking about here, I want to read

what Brett McGurk, a CNN, obviously, national security analyst, and has -- and knows this region so well just wrote, he wrote on Twitter, "signal to noise. As of this morning, there is no change in the Strait of Hormuz. Ships pass only with Iran's consent, and Iran is shooting missiles at the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain. Whatever is being said, this is what's happening."

What are you hearing from there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Look, I think there's a number of ways that the rhetoric that we've just heard from the Pentagon will be tested. Undoubtedly, Iran has taken a huge military beating. But to what overall effect?

First of all, the narrative is being tested by what Iranian officials are saying. And we've heard both J.D. Vance, the vice president, Pete Hegseth, the secretary of war, heard them both say that Iran is going to put out its own narratives. These are false narratives. So, it's being tested that way. Iran is talking about a ten-point plan, including points like all sanctions have to be lifted, things it seems very unlikely the United States is going to go along with. Then it's going to be tested by what actually happens physically in the Strait of Hormuz. Two tankers passed through today, as you say, with the compliance of Iran. Another 420 something petroleum oil tankers still stuck inside the gulf, 19 liquid natural gas tankers, 34 liquid petroleum tankers are still stuck there. So, there's huge figures there.

Then I think things will be tested diplomatically. If, as Pakistani sources say, that there will be a top level U.S.-Iran meeting hosted by them in Pakistan later this week, then both sides competing views will be tested. And then how do they move from there? If it's tested and it breaks, that there's disagreement, then you go back to the war scenario, which the Pentagon says it's poised for. But as Natasha rightly says, Iran's still capable of putting pain, as it has done several times today, on gulf countries again.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you so much. Stick with us, Nic.

Let's also bring in Beth Sanner, CNN national security analyst and former deputy director of national intelligence, and retired Brigadier General Steve Anderson.

Steve, I just want to get your thoughts on what's happening on the Strait of Hormuz. We heard from General Dan Caine that he believes that it is open, but we've also heard that the military, the Iranian military, is now in control of the Strait. I mean, are we in a worse position now than we were before the war?

BRIG. GEN. STEVE ANDERSON, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, thank you, Sara.

And absolutely we are in a worse position than we were before the war. The Strait of Hormuz was open. And as Nic just pointed out, there's like 500 oil tankers waiting to get through. And Iran has the -- has essentially shut it down.

And, oh, by the way, they're probably going to be charging some sort of a toll in order to get out. You know, so without a doubt, I mean, this has been the greatest geopolitical disaster in American history. We are much -- if you ask yourself the question, you know, are we better off now than we were 40 days ago? The answer is an unequivocal no. I mean American taxpayers are paying more at the gas pump. Our stature in the world has been seriously degraded. I mean, President Trump has acted like a deranged madman, threatening to destroy complete civilizations.

The NATO alliance is broken. Japan, Korea, Australia, the GCC is mad at us. I mean this is not gone well for us at all. And I think this press conference was really a disaster. And it showed just how badly that things are going for us right now.

BERMAN: Beth, what will the next two weeks look like? As things stand right now, both the United States and Iran are talking like there is a two-week ceasefire in place. What will be the markers that indicate to you whether or not this will last more than two weeks?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It's going to be a tough two weeks. I think that the idea of what we're seeing right now in the region is a combination of people not knowing the command and control not working. But I also think it's a matter of getting the last shots off and also proving a point.

[08:50:04]

There's some breaking news which, I don't, I can't completely confirm, but that there -- UAE may actually be attacking a petrochemical facility in Iran. And then we have, as was reported by Nic, a lot of things struck in the gulf, including oil and gas facilities.

So, part of this could be everybody just trying to stake out this -- their own deterrence in this coming period. But now, you know, will there be a meeting on Friday? Who will attend? You know, where will it be? OK, all of those things are pretty clear. But after the talks get underway, you would expect that at that moment that all the fighting, the offensive strikes, would stop. If they continue past that, it really does complicate things. And we do have a tough row ahead -- road ahead in terms of squaring very, very different perspectives.

But I -- but I have to say, despite this idea that Iran was the one that was begging for this, I think it's pretty clear in terms of the U.S. terms going with the Iranian ten points and also basically agreeing that Iran controls the Strait now, that we do not want this war to start again. And so, there will be a lot of countervailing pressure to restart it in terms of the U.S. position. It gives the Iranians a pretty strong hand to ask for some demands.

BERMAN: One of the things to watch for the next days is what really is the disposition of the Strait, what does happen to that nuclear material, what does happen to sanctions?

BOLDUAN: I think it's now going to become, what's the definition of the Strait is open? Like, that seems to be where this is headed. If it's open and Iran controls it, is that open enough?

BERMAN: We're watching it very, very closely. Thank you, one and all. Obviously, we're all over this breaking news.

Back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: All right, we continue to follow this breaking news. We just heard from the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, and the joint chief's chairman. The secretary of defense essentially declaring military victory, now, talking about this operation, this U.S. operation, in the past tense, saying they've accomplished all of their goals as this ceasefire, fragile, now is setting in.

Joining me right now to talk about where we are and where this goes, Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. He sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of course.

Senator, thanks for coming in.

A lot was said. We went through that. We were just having that discussion just before the break with some of our analysts. But Pete Hegseth declaring military victory. I mean, he, for the first time, I believe, since this war began 39 days ago, is now talking as -- about the operation in the past tense. It is over. Decisive military victory we have just achieved, he said. Operation Epic Fury was an historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield. Was. What's your reaction to that?

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): So, Kate, good to be with you.

Pete Hegseth is once again blowing smoke, trying to deceive the American people.

Look, there's no doubt that we are worse off today than when Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu started this war. The Strait of Hormuz was open then. Now Iran is clearly established that it can control the Strait and is even talking about charging tolls. We have a regime in Iran that is more radical, more extreme, more hardline than the one before.

[08:55:07]

And Donald Trump, in his post yesterday, said that we're going to be working off Iran's ten-point plan going forward.

We, of course, have lost 13 service members, hundreds wounded, thousands of civilians in the region. We are less safe today than when this war started, and we are worse off. This has been a complete and total disaster, costing the American taxpayers billions of dollars per day and, of course, disrupting our economy.

BOLDUAN: There seems to be agreement that Iran's military capabilities are greatly degraded in the short and immediate term. There is no question of some of the military successes we've seen. We've heard that on a factual basis recounted by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

On the other side of what this means in terms of the political strategy and what geopolitical landscape we're looking at now, let me talk about the Strait.

Jonathan Karl of ABC News has been posting this morning that he just spoke with President Trump this morning, and he said this about the Strait. Here's the quote from Jon Karl. "He told me, Trump told me," he said, "there may be a joint U.S.-Iran venture to charge tolls at the Strait. Quote, "we're thinking of doing it as a joint venture. It's a way of securing it. Also securing it from lots of other people."

The president seeming to acknowledge or accept, in this statement, that it would be acceptable to the Trump administration that Iran would maintain some control of the Strait and charge tolls for shipping moving through. Would that be an acceptable outcome to you?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, it would be an extraordinary win for Iran, which, of course, was not charging tolls before the war began. I will say, Kate, there was never any doubt that the United States military could obliterate Iran's military. I mean there was never a question there. The question has always been, to what purpose, at what cost, and at what risk. And if you analyze it at the strategic level there, that's where this is being a big loss. And when you're talking about essentially Iran being able to now take in revenue, charge tolls for ships going through the Strait of Hormuz, they're obviously going to be making more money now than they did at the start of the war. Another big winner, of course, has been Russia and Putin because oil prices have gone way up and we dropped our sanctions against them. So, Russia, Putin, big winner, Iran seems to be strengthened in the long run because of what Donald Trump and Netanyahu started.

BOLDUAN: And I know you need to run, but just real quick then, if that's where your view on this now, what would you -- will you need to see in order to view or declare this operation, this war, this effort, a victory and worthwhile in the end for the United States? Is there something you could see that could transpire in the coming two weeks plus?

VAN HOLLEN: Kate, I -- Kate, yes, I don't see any scenario where that happens, which is why, you know, I've said from the beginning that this was a huge mistake. I mean this has been a illegal war of choice by the president of the United States. He put American lives and treasure at risk and on the line. And at the end of the day, we are worse off than we were when this war started. And I don't see any scenario, any realistic scenario, where that assessment changes, which is why the American people are overwhelmingly opposed to this war. They recognize, this is not good for America.

BOLDUAN: Senator Chris Van Hollen, thank you so much for coming in this morning.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:00:00]