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U.S., Iran Set For Talks Amid Confusion Over What's In Ceasefire Deal; High-Stakes Talks Between U.S., Iran Begin Tomorrow In Pakistan; Vance To Lead U.S. Delegation In Talks With Iran. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 10, 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]

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: 79. I'm not saying that we're on a cusp of a peace deal, not at all. But I'm just saying that this is a very important moment in history. I don't know what's going to come out of this meeting. Obviously, this is JD Vance's big moment. He's going to the Super Bowl tomorrow, and, you know, let's see how he does.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You make a great point. It is extraordinary that the Vice President of the United States is meeting with the senior Iranian official. That's just something that has. Has never happened, you know, in nearly 50 years at this point. Barack, what do you think that each side has to lose right now that might be forcing their hand or guiding their hand, that they have more to lose by not finding a way to at least keep this paused?

RAVID: So it seems to me that at least at the moment, you know, at the moment, we are on day three of the ceasefire, at the moment, both sides still want the ceasefire. They don't want to resume the war. It doesn't mean that, you know, 12 days from now they might, you know, want to resume the war or, you know, they'll be compelled to. But I think there's also the scenario that this ceasefire will be extended because you cannot get a real deal on almost anything in two weeks, especially not with Iran.

So I think the issue is whether in those two weeks the parties will be able to resolve the issue of Hormuz that I think is crucial. If Hormuz is not open, the ships are not moving, then there's not going to be a ceasefire.

It's pretty clear President Trump will not be able to, you know, allow this thing to continue. And we saw his post. But if they manage to start, get ships moving in Hormuz, and if they can get sort of an agreement on what's the first item to agree on? Okay, not like all the comprehensive deal, what's the first item to agree on? And if they manage to move in that direction, then maybe those talks have a chance.

I still, I'm very skeptical. I think also I'm not sure how good of an idea it was to start the talks from the level of the Vice President. Usually, you need some preparation on lower levels. I think one of the problem is that there's a big trust issues between the Iranians and President Trump's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

So I think this is part of the -- part of it. It's not the only reason, but it's part of the reason that the Vice President needed to step in, but it will be, I think the crucial thing here is to see whether this is just a ceremonial photo op or the parties managed to at least get an agreement on an agenda of how to move forward.

A lot of leverage right now over the Strait of Hormuz. And when it comes to that, it's Iran that really has that leverage. Barak Ravid with Axios. Great to see you this morning. We look forward to reading more of your reporting, I'm sure, in the next few minutes. Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about that leverage actually, on the Strait and what it means now. Joining me is Amos Hochstein. He's a former senior adviser to President Joe Biden on national security, economic stability issues. He knows about the world's energy supply.

On what -- John was just talking about with Barak, Amos this leverage that Iran now has. I mean, I heard you say that no matter what you think, it is a fantasy now to think that going forward Iran will not continue to exert control in the Strait, that no matter what, we're on a time clock now for the next crisis to hit. Why?

AMOS HOCHSTEIN, MANAGING PARTNER, TWG GLOBAL: Well, good morning, Kate. Look, Iran, as your previous guest said, has all the leverage here. We've gotten to a point where the president said we had he announced a ceasefire that included the opening of the straits. The guns have seized, but the straits are closed. And so, they are now dictating terms. We have the vice president of the United States, the highest-level official to go to Pakistan to meet with the Iranians. When the Iranians are not living up to the terms that the President of the United States had dictated or had declared, which is the straits being closed.

They now have a new reality. In theory, we have all prepared in national security circles and in economic circles to what would happen in theory if the straits were closed. They are now closed on day three of the ceasefire.

And even if they reopen under these conditions currently, Iran will control how they are opened and how they function, which means they have control over all their Gulf neighbors because that strait is the lifeblood of that region, and they have a huge level of control over the global economy.

BOLDUAN: Is what you're describing then, the reality is like a worst- case scenario, no matter what the goals were going into this war?

[08:35:04]

HOCHSTEIN: So that's exactly what I think. I think we are in the worst-case scenario. We went to a war where we didn't really know why. Nobody told us what the real goals were. Was it about the protesters? Was it about regime change? Was it about the missiles?

Today, here's where we are today after many weeks of war. We have an Iran that is -- has a regime that is still intact and emboldened. It is. Its missile capacity is still there. It's degraded, but it's still very much a threat.

Its nuclear capacity and nuclear program is no different than it was before the war started. And most importantly, they now have a control over the waterway at the Strait of Hormuz that they did not have before the war. So now we're negotiating to solve a problem that did not exist six weeks ago. So, yes, I think this is the worst-case scenario for us.

BOLDUAN: And walking into these negotiations, I mean, this whole, what you are describing -- out describing right now is lending people to start asking the question, is the Trump administration setting itself up to get a worse deal than Donald Trump thinks that Obama secured in the last negotiations over the nuke, over the nuclear deal of 2014, 2015? And as someone who is involved in making that deal happen, what do you think of that and how -- what are you watching in order to measure any outcome here?

HOCHSTEIN: Well, the Iranians claim that they have not changed their conditions for these negotiations. They believe that they won the war. Survival and intact means winning the war. They stared down the greatest empire in the world, the United States, and the strongest military in the region, Israel, in a combined attack sustained for multiple weeks. And they came out on the other side. And now the vice president says is traveling all the way to Pakistan to negotiate with them.

They believe they won. If they're not -- if they did not have to concede defeat on the battlefield, there is no reason for them to believe they need to concede any of their negotiating positions in the negotiate -- at the negotiating table.

And so now we have the United States in a dilemma. Do you go back to war? Which ended largely because the president started getting nervous about two basic things. One, the markets and two, the political standing of himself and his party. And Iran knows all of that.

So now they're coming into negotiations in April. They'll probably want to push for time, which is what they always do. These negotiations take time. These are serious and difficult issues. With the midterms looming and the summer looming, will the president really want to go back to war and spook Global markets?

BOLDUAN: Amos, thanks for coming in. I really appreciate it. Quite a situation that he describes right now, John.

BERMAN: Yes. And we do have breaking news about how much this is costing you. Brand new inflation numbers just in the biggest jump in the annual inflation rate in nearly two years, and the biggest jump in month-to-month in about four. Let's get right to CNN's Matt Eagan here with the details on this. Again, pretty big increase.

MATT EGAN: CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes. John, look, we knew the war hit this economy like an earthquake. This is the first damage assessment, and it's not looking good. The fingerprints of the conflict all over this inflation report. So consumer prices up by 0.9 percent month over month. That is triple the prior monthly inflation rate, and that is the highest in any month in almost four years.

You got to go back to June 2022, back when gas was at $5 a gallon. The annual inflation rate bumped up to 3.3 percent. That's almost a full percentage point increase. That is when you look at the trend for annual inflation. Look at that.

BERMAN: Oh, wow.

EGAN: Going almost straight up. That's not what you want to see. In fact, John, that's the highest annual inflation rate. Yes, look at that moving the wrong direction. Highest annual inflation rate, as you mentioned, in almost two years and 3.3 percent. This is the highest annual inflation rate for any month of either of President Trump's presidencies. And remember, you're targeting 2 percent.

So, not what you want to see as far as why this happened. As you might imagine, a lot of this big increase in month over month was driven by the fact that gasoline went up at a historic pace. Right. The BLS says that about three-quarters of this monthly inflation rate increase is directly linked to gasoline. Gas prices up by 21 percent between February and March. That's the most in any month since they started tracking this back in 1967.

One other thing to call out here is airfare. Airfare got more expensive, significantly almost 3 percent more expensive month over month. But because jet fuel prices have basically doubled, we're going to probably see higher and higher airfare coming through. So that's not the whole story here.

So you put it all together, and you got the worst inflation report in years.

[08:40:01]

BERMAN: All right. I mean, the question is, how long might this linger? If the cease fire deal does take hold, the gas prices come down enough over the next month to maybe bring it down, but there will be some, I think, lingering effects. EGAN: Yes, absolutely.

BERMAN: All right, Matt, again, thank you very much.

EGAN: Thank you very much.

BERMAN: All right, shifting gears here this morning, a sneak preview of the brand new series starring friend of the show, Eva Longoria. This time, she is searching for France, learning about the culture, cuisine, and history of the various regions. I had the hardship assignment. I went to a French restaurant and had a gluttonous meal with Eva and talked about Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVA LONGORIA, ACTRESS: Sante.

BERMAN: Sante. So the first episode is Paris.

LONGAORIA: All the regions are kind of represented in Paris. So the cuisine in Paris is pretty eclectic.

And we're in Chez Josephine in New York.

LONGAORIA: Yes. Yes.

BERMAN: Named after Josephine Baker.

LONGAORIA: Josephine Baker is a hero to the French people. We actually visited a brasserie where she frequented. She was just the life of the party, but also very politically active.

BERMAN: She would want us to eat.

LONGAORIA: She would. This is a staple in brasseries. French onion soups. You pick a good brasserie to go to, they should do this right? Of course. It's topped with this Gruy cheese.

BERMAN: Sometimes I like to eat all the cheese first.

LONGAORIA: Do you?

BERMAN: But it's not very graceful. So tell me about croque monsieur. You went to Belleville?

LONGAORIA: Belleville, yes.

BERMAN: Belleville. My French is very bad. I got a D in French in high school. You laugh. It wasn't funny at the time, but thank you.

LONGAORIA: We were in Belleville in a little cafe that really served the traditional type of croque monsieur. The croque monsieur was actually popularized by the working-class citizens, and Belleville was an immigrant community. We went to a Mission Star restaurant that kind of turned it on its head and did an Asian inspired version of a croque madame. So instead of just bread, he did a shrimp toast.

It was so good, so delicious. But that's kind of the beauty of Paris is you have all of these other cultural influences.

BERMAN: What did you think Croque madame was named after before you did the show?

LONGAORIA: Croque madame has an egg on the top.

BERMAN: Yes.

LONGAORIA: And I thought it was a croque madame, which is the female version of a croque monsieur, because I thought that was a boob.

BERMAN: It turns out no.

LONGAORIA: No.

BERMAN: You did a whole show on patisserie.

LONGAORIA: A whole episode. Patisserie makes all of the desserts in these beautiful, artisanal, insane creations. The interesting thing about the Macaroon is the way it is today was not how it arrived in France. Catherine Medici brought this really light cookie to France and it evolved into the two-layer dessert that we know today.

BERMAN: And these are for funeral. Yes.

LONGAORIA: This is delicious. This is a staple in France.

BERMAN: Tell me about the boulangerie.

LONGAORIA: There's this huge competition in France. It's a baguette competition.

BERMAN: The grand prix de la Baguette.

LONGAORIA: Yes. And we got to visit the champion of best baguette of France. When you win, your boulangerie gets to deliver the baguettes to Elysees palace.

BERMAN: You literally showed up with the baguettes.

LONGAORIA: Yes. They didn't let us in.

BERMAN: To the presidential palace.

LONGAORIA: They were like, we'll take this from here. French people are so good at making bread because it was really the food of the poor. It was the one thing that every household ate. So you have this history of amazing bread makers that have evolved over time.

BERMAN: Here's to bread.

LONGAORIA: Here's to bread. God bless the French.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Oh man. We had eight courses and there was a wine pairing with every course. Eva Longoria Searching for France premieres with back to back episodes Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

Now, as Eva Longoria searches for France, we're searching for answers as to what caused what sparked the bizarre statement from the first lady, Melania Trump, on Jeffrey Epstein. And your next package could cost you more to ship. Details on the stamp price hike being proposed by the US Postal Service.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:48:06]

BOLDUAN: Congress is facing renewed pressure now to dig deeper into the Epstein investigation, and that's because of this statement from the first lady, where she denied any connection to Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell. Her message was a shock to even reporters in the room who were called for this event without any topic given.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELANIA TRUMP, U.S. FIRST LADY: The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today. To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice Maxwell.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: And then she specifically called out lawmakers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

M. TRUMP: I call on Congress to provide the women who have been victimized by Epstein with a public hearing specifically centered around the survivors. T

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: His statement all the more surprising because it appears to undercut her husband's message all along, which has been that he wants the country to move on from what he has repeatedly called a hoax. The first lady is now telling Congress to actually focus in more on Epstein's crimes with this statement and the women that he victimized. Joining us right now here in the studio is Gloria Allred. She is an attorney who represents several of the women abused by Jeffrey Epstein.

We are actually hoping and trying to reconnect with Alicia Arden, one of the women that you represent. We're having a technical issue with her shot right now. But, Gloria, thank you so much for being here.

What is your reaction, what you heard from the first lady?

GLORIA ALLREAD, ATTORNEY FOR EPSTEIN SURVIVORS: Well, first, I'm very glad that she suggested that it's important that Congress have a hearing and allow the survivors to testify. I'm in support of that. I know my client, Alicia Arden, and others would be in support of that. Not, of course, not all survivors agree with that. But I think it should be a choice for the survivors whether to testify or not. They should not be subpoenaed to testify.

[08:50:09]

They should be invited to testify and to say whatever they want to say about their abuse by every Jeffrey Epstein or anyone else they care to name. But I don't think they should be forced to answer questions. It should be their voice. It should be their day.

And I also think it would be very helpful and important if the first Lady, Melania Trump, had an opportunity and a desire to go before the congressional committee, as Hillary Clinton did, and testify. And I think that would be very important.

She feels she's been defamed. She denies any relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. She denies viewing any sex crimes against the survivors. And I think it would be important for her, as well as for the

Congressional record, to go ahead and volunteer to testify. I know the committee appears to -- would be welcome and open to having her testify. So let's make it happen.

BOLDUAN: She did say in that statement Jeffrey Epstein was not alone or didn't do it alone. I mean, she did say, you know, talking about CEOs who have been brought down because of this. So there is, was quite a lot in her statement.

But then you kind of run up against the reality of what we've seen so far, and what you have been speaking out of what has happened so far. Yes, renewed attention on the Epstein files. Yes, Congress did act, and files, the files are being released. But still the accountability, I mean, you just kind of like tick through the reality.

You've got Democrats and Republicans who've been pushing for hearings that, you know, that really have not happened. The attorney general just got fired essentially in part because of her failure to contain the fallout from the release of the files.

And now the Justice Department is saying that Pam Bondi, now former attorney General, does not have to testify because she's no longer in. She's no longer in, in the Post. And Ghislaine Maxwell remains really the one person who has faced true accountability around all of this. That's true. So do you think the first lady's statement changes is a change moment or hope will be lost?

ALLREAD: Well, I personally don't have any hope that there'll be justice from the Department of Justice for the survivors. And of course, there are allegations that they haven't released millions of files that when they did release, they had promised to protect the identity of the survivors. Obviously, they didn't do that. And we asked them to redact the names they released of the Jane Doe's. Those names should never have been released. Then they redacted them, then they unredacted them in the next dump, and back and forth. And it was tremendously traumatizing, damaging, harmful to so many of the Jane does who were promised by the Department of Justice. And I was there when they were promised that they would always be Jane Doe's and their name would only be revealed if they were called to testify at trial.

And they didn't have to testify at trial unless they wanted to. They would never be required to do that. That's why I'm suggesting the same arrangement for the Congressional committee. And so, let's leave it up to them. Let's let them get control of their lives, their pain and what happened to them. I don't call it their story. It's what happened to them.

Let's do that, and let's -- Melania take the lead and say I will testify under oath. By the way, if she's being sued by anybody, she's going to have to testify under oath anyway. Let's have her do that with the same strength and commitment and courage that she showed yesterday when she went before the public to clear her name.

BOLDUAN: I think I was just told by the control room, I think we have been able to connect with your client, Alicia Arden, one of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein.

Alicia, thank you so much. I'm sorry for the technical glitch here. Just, I want to get where is your head and your heart when you. This morning, in hearing this statement from the first lady from the White House.

ALICIA ARDEN, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: I'm really happy and really quite proud of Melania to call for a hearing, call for Congress to have a hearing. So then that lets, if we want to, if I want to testify before Congress about what Jeffrey Epstein did to me, the other victims can come with me. They can come and testify with me. I'm very happy that Melania is wanting to ask Congress for a hearing for us.

[08:55:07]

So I would be very happy to testify before Congress. And I think it's really great that she's wanting to do that for us.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Quite a moment. Alicia, thank you so much. Again, sorry for these technical issues, but it is so important to see your face, hear your voice as always. I really appreciate it.

Gloria, thank you for being here.

ALLREAD: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. John.

BERMAN: A dramatic air rescue in Minnesota. An injured officer from the Department of Natural Resources Enforcement was airlifted after falling nearly 20ft in a remote wooded area. Officials say she was trying to remove an illegal deer hunting stand when she fell and couldn't move. The terrain too dangerous to reach her by foot, so a helicopter team had to hoist her out there. The officer was rushed to the hospital and is expected to be okay.

A Florida school bus driver facing 29 counts of felony child neglect after a train clipped the back of the bus, which was filled with children. Authorities say Yvonne Hampton drove across the railroad tracks even as the warning lights flashed and crossing arms started to come down. Investigators say she was heard on the bus's internal audio saying she is not going to stop for no train. Fortunately, none of the 29 children on board were hurt.

The U.S. Postal Service is set to pause employer contributions to its pension plan. The Postal Service says it is needed to keep delivering mail and to make payroll. It is also they also want to raise the price of its first-class forever mail stamp by 4 cents to 82 cents. Regulators still need to approve this.

All right. In space, you are looking at live pictures as they are just hours away from the most dangerous part of the Artemis II mission that would be returning to Earth. The astronauts will hit Earth's atmosphere at about 25,000 miles per hour. And then all that separate -- will separate them from temperatures as high as 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit will be the Orion capsule's heat shield. Former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin is with us. He is the co-author of

the book Space Chasers to the Moon. Leland, great to see you. Always great to see you.

You know, you've done your own re-entry, albeit not from quite as far away as them. They went around the moon. You were sort of in nearer space here, but still it's a pretty dramatic reentry. What goes through your mind the day that you're coming back?

LELAND MELVIN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Hey, John, thanks for having me on. Great seeing you again. You know, we're coming back in. We had entry interface, and the shuttles are about angle like this. And I'm looking at the overhead window, can see this 3000-degree plasma going over the top of my head. And it's about this far from my head. And thank God for that window that can protect us from that.

But you're thinking about, you know, doing the -- doing your part in the mission to get on the ground safely, get back to your family. And I really think that these guys are, you know, they're getting ready to get their suits on. I'm honoring them with my pumpkin suit jacket today, you know, my honoring my astro peeps. But they're getting their head in the game.

They're getting ready to do all the things you have to do to reenter. But a lot of this is automated. So once they hit that entry interface and as you said, hitting up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, that ablative AVCOAT shield is going to do its job. And then they're going to have drogue shoots come out and then they're going to hit the water, and the recovery ship will come out, pick them up, and take them in to see their, you know, get ready to see their families.

BERMAN: What's the moment that the hatch opens? It was again a little different. The shuttle, because the shuttle landed on ground, they're splashing down in the water. But when the hatch opens, and you breathe, you know, Earth's air, what's that like?

MELVIN: So think about these four astronauts in a capsule, it's like a minivan or something, right? And you know, the toilet broke a couple of times, and just all these smells of your buddies that hopefully you kind of get out of your mind. But once you get that fresh air, and they're going to be in the ocean too. So the smell of the salt water, seeing the sunlight in a different way, and knowing that you're about to eat maybe a Chicago-style pizza or New York-style pizza or something that you haven't been able to eat on board, you know, and this, in this camping environment.

And so that's one of the things that kind of really makes your mind get blown again, because you're getting back to the senses of the things that you're used to.

BERMAN: How much do you care about danger? Danger is inherent in everything, but certainly much more in space. How much training goes into sort of coping with the knowledge of the threat?

MELVIN: You know, when we sign up for the job astronauts, we all know the things that can happen because we've seen what happened on the Apollo 1, on the ground. You know, Challenger, Columbia, all these things, but I think the biggest.