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Israeli Strikes in Lebanon Threaten Fragile Ceasefire with Iran; NASA Confident Artemis II Crew Will Make a Safe Return; Artemis II Crew Hours Away from Splashdown; Trump Posts Graphic Video of Deadly Hammer Attack in Florida. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 10, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: The fragile declared ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is facing more pressure today as Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah exchange another round of attacks in Lebanon.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And while Israel says it wants direct talks with Lebanon, Iran's parliament speaker says negotiations with the U.S. set for tomorrow in Pakistan cannot even start until attacks on Lebanon stop and Iran's blocked assets are released, that they be unfrozen.

Joining us to talk more about this is retired Army Lieutenant General Karen Gibson. She's former director of intelligence for U.S. Central Command. Those conditions, General, really interesting here. They're pretty big ones, obviously, the Lebanon one, but these frozen assets. And I wonder what you just make of Iran demanding this as preconditions.

LT. GENERAL KAREN GIBSON, U.S. ARMY (RET.): So I think that unfreezing the assets, we should always expect that that would have been one of their conditions of the ceasefire. But a tricky part of in this very initial part is what is the sequencing? Is it open the straits and then this is what needs to be negotiated?

Certain assets will be unfrozen or is it unfreeze these assets and then we open the straits? And the sequencing of all of the demands and even what are the demands that we're willing to negotiate. That's what needs to be worked through.

[14:35:00]

JIMENEZ: And on the other aspect of the precondition of the ceasefire is about a ceasefire in Lebanon, Lebanese territory at the very least. And Netanyahu has made it clear, at least publicly, that that is not happening. That seems to be a disconnect between what Pakistan has been saying and what Israel and the United States at this point has been saying publicly.

What is Israel looking to accomplish even militarily as officials from both countries begin to hold a round of prep talks?

GIBSON: Certainly. That's a great question. I think our ultimate aims are very similar.

You know, a curb on missiles, reduced support to proxies, but certainly extracting the highly enriched uranium and ceasing the enrichment or program of pursuing nuclear weapons. I think the U.S. and Israel agree that those are all foundationally what we want. But while we agree on the problem, we may not have the same idea of what the contours of the solution look like.

And in particular, because Israel is in a different position of risk. They are within range of the drones, of the missiles, of the proxies, and we are not. And so their willingness to tolerate certain aspects of a final accommodation may be quite different from ours.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: The U.S. seems very eager, whether it is J.D. Vance's very charitable explanation for the disagreement, you know, that it's just basically an honest disagreement on Lebanon. A lot of experts have read the president's very bombastic threat over the weekend is actually reeking of desperation. And America is still calling this a ceasefire.

There's a real desire for there to be a ceasefire. How does Iran see the negotiating position of the U.S. vis-a-vis them?

GIBSON: So I think that's another terrific question. Our principal leverage is the ability to impose very punishing strikes. Their principal leverage is an ability to choke the straits.

And releasing and returning to the free flow of commerce and navigation in the entire Gulf region is a situation of great urgency for the whole -- not just the region, but the whole world. And so getting Iran to renege on or to give up their leverage is a far more pressing issue than ours. And our leverage is part of the ceasefire.

I mean, you have a ceasefire because you're no longer conducting air strikes. And so what we can threaten to do and what they can threaten to do are very asymmetric.

JIMENEZ: And you know, one of the things that when you look at sort of the scenario here, and I'm looking far ahead, I mean, these talks haven't even gotten underway really with Vance in Pakistan. But if we do get to a diplomatic solution, I think a lot of people will compare sort of where we landed with the Iran nuclear deal. That was a diplomatic solution, had its critics, had its supporters.

Here, though, one of the tenets of that, though, was what seemed like a robust system to monitor the levels of uranium enrichment. And knowing that pulling out the uranium from a country like Iran would be logistically very difficult. What are sort of the yardstick intelligence measurements to where monitoring could happen?

Or just what is that reality looking like?

GIBSON: So not just monitoring the nuclear program, if we also want to curb their missile program, then there will have to be some kind of confidence building measures and inspections that occur. I would imagine probably by a third party, not by the United States or Israel, but by some other entity, for JCPOA, it was the IAEA, some other third party that would be willing to, and that is trusted by both sides. That's also important, that would be trusted by both sides to come in and verify that there is not work being done on these programs.

I thought the two-week ceasefire was a positive sign, lower the temperature, give some breathing space, ideally get quickly back to recommencing commerce and navigation. But a final agreement is going to take a very long time because of these complexities.

JIMINEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: General Gibson, great to have you. Obviously a really important time as we're looking at these weekend talks. Thank you.

GIBSON: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still ahead, we are counting down to this dramatic finale of the Artemis II lunar mission as the crew heads back to Earth. The father of astronaut and pilot Victor Glover joins us next as we go to break looking at these live pictures of the Orion capsule.

[14:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: All right, we've been tracking every step of their journey. This is a live look inside the Orion capsule as the astronauts who traveled behind the moon earlier this week are just hours from reaching Earth. They are making some critical preparations there as we're looking live.

In just minutes, the crew will conduct a critical maneuver, as I was saying. It's called a return trajectory correction burn, which ensures the Orion capsule is on track to get home safely. They will then embark on what is considered a very difficult part of the mission, reentry, when they are coming in extremely hot and fast.

We are talking quadruple digit temperatures and speeds reaching 30 times the speed of sound. CNN's Tom Foreman explains why the focus in these final hours is now on the heat shield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As Orion comes back into Earth's atmospheres, there may be no other part of this that is more important than the heat shield on the bottom of the space capsule here. Why is that so important? Because this is coming in at 25,000 miles per hour.

That means there's going to be a tremendous buildup of heat on the bottom of the craft, about 5,000 degrees, half the temperature of the surface of the sun.

[14:45:00] Now, this is an ablative shield. What does that mean? That means it is supposed to erode off against all of that intense heat. But in the Artemis I mission, one of the things they noticed was that it was not eroding so evenly. That's it right over there.

And that raised some safety concerns. So what they did was reconfigure the exact way that they're going to bring this back, thinking that that might avoid that problem or at least mitigate it, and allow the craft to slow down, slowly pop its 11 different parachutes and doing so get to a speed where it can safely splash down in the ocean with the four astronauts aboard.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: So much going into this. Our thanks to Tom Foreman for that report -- Brianna.

KEILAR: The Artemis II crew is making history in multiple ways. Among them, mission pilot Victor Glover becoming the first African-American to travel to deep space. I'm joined now by his father, Victor Glover Sr. It's so great to have you with us. I cannot imagine your pride. How are you feeling just hours to splash down?

VICTOR GLOVER SR., FATHER OF ARTEMIS II ASTRONAUT: Well, it's very exciting, but I would categorize it as a nervous excitement, you know, that as your report just showed, there's challenges with coming back through that atmosphere. But we have a lot of folks praying for them for a safe splash down. And so we're very excited here to watch it and to watch the astronauts finally come out of that capsule when they get back down to the Pacific.

KEILAR: Yes, no doubt. We have to hold these things, right? The excitement and also the worry because this is a serious risk.

I do want to tell our viewers, Victor, that it's your wife's birthday today, as I understand it. And you also got a birthday shout out from your son from space last Sunday. It's like NASA couldn't have scheduled this mission any better for some pretty cool birthday wishes for you guys.

What's your plan going to be for Splashdown? Are you going to get to watch it in some kind of way? And when do you actually get to see your son?

GLOVER: Yes, so we are actually at a hotel in Colorado Springs. We're attending a jazz event that we go to every year, which actually had been scheduled prior to all of this. And they have set aside some space for us to get together as a group and be able to watch the Splashdown as it takes place.

And I do give that shout out to my wife, Jeanette. It's her birthday today. Mine was on April 5th.

And she actually got an e-mail from Victor Jr. this morning wishing her happy birthday. But yes, we are, like I said, we have a group of 10 people here and we're going to get together and watch the whole Splashdown, watch them be lifted away by the helicopters. And then we will probably get to see him live and in person probably sometime next week.

KEILAR: That's fantastic. And I mentioned the barriers being broken here for mankind. But not only for mankind, there's this familiar refrain that we keep hearing as we're talking to astronauts who are watching this with us.

And that is that they say watching these moon missions from decades ago as children, that's what made them want to be an astronaut. And so I'm sure there are no doubt little kids, including little black boys and girls who are watching your son piloting Artemis, the first person of color on a lunar mission, and they're dreaming of themselves in space. They're seeing themselves in him.

How are you reflecting on the historic nature of this mission and your son's contribution to it and what he's modeling?

GLOVER: Well, you know, it makes me really, really, really proud of the fact that I know that there are probably millions and millions of young people around the country and around the world that will look at him and point to him and look at their mom and dad and say, I can do that. He is a picture of success for them. He's put in a lot of hard work to get to where he is today.

And he is that evidence that if you're willing to be diligent, if you're willing to work hard and you're willing to chase your dreams, anything is possible, whether it be astronaut, doctor, lawyer, whatever you choose to do, he will be that picture of success for so many young people around the world. And I'm really proud of that.

KEILAR: The reflections of these crew members have been so interesting, including from your son. He's also been, we should mention to the ISS on a prior mission. And he said that returning to Earth leaves astronauts with a choice. Are you going to try to live your life a little differently?

Are you going to really choose to be a member of this community of Earth as we have been watching? And I want to let our viewers know these are live pictures. As we have been watching for days now with so much excitement and awe.

[14:50:00]

How are you hoping people take that kind of sentiment to heart today?

GLOVER: Well, you know, the hope is that the oneness, I believe that has come from this mission for folks all around the world. The hope is that that will continue after splashdown, after these astronauts leave that capsule and have the opportunity to go back home to their families.

I hope that all of the folks that have watched this mission will remember the unity amongst the four astronauts and the unity that that can bring to all of us around the world and not let that sentiment get old and fall away after this mission is over with. KEILAR: Yes, let's hope. Victor Sr., very excited for you. Nervous, too.

We feel that as well to watch Victor Jr. and the crew come back. Thank you so much for spending some time with us.

GLOVER: Thank you for having me, Brianna. I really appreciate it.

KEILAR: We appreciate you, sir.

And be sure to tune in to CNN tonight. That will be at 7 p.m. Eastern for "MISSION TO THE MOON. ARTEMIS II RETURNS." You can also watch it on the CNN app -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Cannot wait. We'll be watching every second of it. But I want to get you updated on some other headlines we're watching this hour.

A dangerous outbreak of severe weather is threatening millions across the central United States this weekend. The storm system could bring days of heavy rain, large hail, strong winds and possible tornadoes. Major cities including Dallas, Chicago, Minneapolis and Kansas City could feel some of the effects. And the most severe threat is expected on Tuesday.

Also, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has approved changes to rules for a key vaccine advisory committee. Now, the group's charter focuses now on identifying gaps in vaccine safety research, including adverse effects following vaccination. CDC officials say the changes are routine and do not signal a broader policy shift. But it does come one month after a federal judge temporarily blocked the work of the panel and put some of its previous moves on hold.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Postal Service is set to temporarily pause contributions to its employee pension plan. It says it's needed to keep delivering mail and make payroll. The agency is also asking for a four cent increase in the price of its first class stamp.

It's a lot for first class stamps. Which would bring it to 82 cents if approved by regulators. Officials have said the Postal Service is on track to run out of cash by next February.

Still to come for us, President Trump shares shocking surveillance footage of a horrific attack in Florida, renewing his focus on the immigration debate. We'll have the details right after this.

[14:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: A Haitian man is facing a murder charge in Florida after he allegedly bludgeoned a woman to death with a hammer outside a gas station. President Trump is posting really shocking surveillance video of the killing on social media, calling it a result of former President Biden's immigration policies. I want to bring in CNN's Isabel Rosales, who joins me now. So Isabel, immigration officials, just held a news conference on this case. What is the latest here?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Omar, that news conference just wrapped up about 45 minutes ago. Last night, President Trump shared that extremely graphic surveillance footage of this attack, something that we're not going to show in full just because of how sensitive it is. But I can describe to you what happens in the video.

We see 40-year-old Rolbert Joachin hitting a car with a hammer. Here's his mugshot right here. And we see the victim right there in the pink exiting the store, the gas station.

She is a store clerk. And we can see where we're freezing right here, the suspect hitting her over the head. She falls to the ground, and he continues to hit her repeatedly, walking away and leaving her there on the ground. We know from arrest reports that police found her there on the ground, unresponsive and not breathing.

Now, in an e-mail back and forth between me and the Fort Myers Police Department, they told me that the attack was targeted, that while the victim and the suspect did not know each other, the two had had a previous encounter of some sort, something that they didn't go into detail about. Now, President Trump posted on Truth Social saying that the video was, quote, the most vicious thing that you will ever see, referring to the suspect as, quote, an animal.

He accused the Biden administration of allowing the suspect to stay in the U.S. after Haitians were granted temporary protective status, which we know the Trump administration has been trying to terminate.

Now, here's what we do know about the suspect's legal status. In August of 2022, he entered into the U.S. via a boat. That same year, a federal judge issued a final order of removal, but the government granted him TPS, which expired in 2024, and then he later reapplied for. So the question, was he legally allowed to be in this country? Here's how ICE described it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELEI WALKER, ACTING FIELD OFFICE DIRECTOR, ICE ERO MIAMI: When TPS expires, although expired, they still have protection until there's a decision on their renewal application, which he filed timely. So he had protection up until the moment that the administration revoked his protection, which happened just this week. So he no longer has that available to him.

Country conditions have improved to the point where Haitians can be returned safely. TPS, temporary protective status, was never designed to be a permanent stay in the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Now, the victim has not been publicly named ...

END