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Pentagon Gives First Briefing Since U.S. Blockade of Iran's Ports; Hegseth: U.S. Will Maintain Blockade for as Long as It Takes; Gen. Caine: Blockade Applies to All Ships Going To or From Iran Ports. Aired 8:00-8:30a ET

Aired April 16, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS TECH REPORTER: This comes as you said, amid this global push to better protect young people online, and in particular, we're seeing after Australia rolled out a ban on under-16- year-olds accessing social media, a number of other countries looking to follow suit, including Germany, France, Spain, Greece. We're seeing this push to keep young teens off of social media, and tech platforms have raised concerns about the practicality of age verification, the privacy issues that are inherent in collecting people's personal information. They've started to use AI in some cases to do that, but there's some accuracy issues there.

Europe says, no, we're going to do this, and they have rolled out this new app where users can upload a passport or an ID. It will give them basically a QR code, similar to those COVID verification vaccine apps that we all used a few years ago. And then tech platforms, when they want to access them, can essentially query the app, and the app will tell them, will tell that platform, is this user above or below a certain age threshold, 18 or 16?

Without actually sharing any of that user's personal information. So this is, Europe is saying this is a more private solution for users to verify their ages across the internet. And Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said there are no more excuses for tech platforms not to verify users' ages now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: That is fascinating. Quite a moment, and quite a move, and quite of a novel approach of trying to get to these big questions. Fascinating, Clare. Thank you so much.

DUFFY: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the breaking news coming any second now. We're standing by for a briefing from the Secretary of Defense and the chair of the Joint Chiefs at the Pentagon.

This is the first update we've had since the U.S. blockade began in the Strait of Hormuz and around the Persian Gulf. Central Command said it has completely halted Iran's trade by sea, and it comes after reports that thousands more U.S. troops are being sent to the Middle East.

This is a live look at the briefing room right now. It could begin any moment. The White House says it feels good about the prospects of a deal to end the war, though as of right now, no second round of talks has been announced.

With us now in the seconds we have before this briefing begins, CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid of Axios and commentator Sabrina Singh.

Barack, just very quickly to you, what is your latest reporting? We do not have Barak Ravid. Sabrina, to you, who has briefed on this stage before or near it, what questions do you have for the Pentagon this morning?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: I think there are many outstanding questions about the naval blockade. I mean, if I were, you know, in that room, I think a lot of reporters are going to ask how long can the U.S. Navy really sustain this blockade for? Our forces are already being tested on their readiness.

I think the U.S. Gerald R. Ford, which is one of the many carriers in the region, is having now its 279th day of deployment. That is the longest a carrier has ever been deployed.

And so that is going to really put a strain on our sailors that are out there, that are conducting these operations, that are conducting these missions. So as we've seen the president's comments over the last few weeks have said this war is nearly over, the U.S. military has struck over 13,000 targets. So what does this mean for the naval blockade?

How long can the U.S. military really sustain this for? And really, when is that strait going to open up? Because that is really what everyone is paying attention to, particularly when it comes to gas prices, high gas prices that we're feeling here at home.

BOLDUAN: And Sabrina, especially, those are important questions to be asked and answered. In addition to the fact that I believe it was just the last time we had the secretary of defense briefing, he declared in no uncertain terms victory.

SINGH: Right. And that's what you're seeing, this conflicting messaging from the administration. And I think particularly, Pete Hegseth, what you're probably going to see in just a few minutes is the secretary of defense take a victory lap over the U.S. military's operations in Iran and their ability to really decapitate Iran's military. But it looks like we're actually about to hear from him very shortly.

BERMAN: Sabrina, here he is. Yes, let's listen to the secretary of defense.

PETE HEGSETH, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, good morning. And as you may have noticed, the chairman and I are joined today by the CENTCOM commander, Admiral Bradley Cooper. He just returned from the front lines to see the troops and meet with allies, and this morning briefed us, just before this briefing, on the latest on all aspects of Operation Epic Fury.

So after the chairman concludes, we'll ask Admiral Cooper to share a quick update on the ground truth from his trip to the region.

[08:05:00]

As he continues to implement an ironclad blockade and ensures that our forces are maximally postured to restart combat operations, should this new Iranian regime choose poorly and not agree to a deal. And that is what we urge this morning, that this new Iranian regime choose wisely. Which is where we'll start with a message to Iran's military leadership.

To the Cage leadership and IRGC leadership, we're watching you. Our capabilities are not the same, our military and yours. Remember, this is not a fair fight.

And we know what military assets you are moving and where you are moving them to. While you are digging out, which is exactly what you're doing, digging out of bombed out and devastated facilities, we are only getting stronger. You are digging out your remaining launchers and missiles with no ability to replace them.

You have no defense industry, no ability to replenish your offensive or defensive capabilities. You only have what you have. You know that, and we know that.

You can move things around, but you can't actually rebuild. You can dig out for now, but you can't reconstitute. But we can.

We are reloading with more power than ever before. And better intelligence, even more importantly, better intelligence than ever before, as you expose yourself with your movement to our watchful eye. We are locked and loaded on your critical dual-use infrastructure, on your remaining power generation, and on your energy industry.

We'd rather not have to do it, but we're ready to go at the command of our president and at the push of a button. This blockade, which the chairman will detail this morning, is the polite way that this can go. Your energy is not moving and will not move, and we can do this all day.

But it's not destroyed yet. Your energy industry is not destroyed yet. You'd like to say publicly, Iran, that you control the Strait of Hormuz, but you don't have a navy or real domain awareness.

You can't control anything. To be clear, threatening to shoot missiles and drones at ships, commercial ships that are lawfully transiting international waters, that is not control. That's piracy.

That's terrorism. The United States Navy controls the traffic going in and out of the Strait because we have real assets and real capabilities. And we're doing this blockade, performing it with less than 10 percent of America's naval power.

The math is clear. We're using 10 percent of the world's most powerful navy, and you have 0 percent of your navy. That's real control, and we have a long track record of dealing with pirates and terrorists.

But there is an alternative. As our negotiators have said, you, Iran, can choose a prosperous future, a golden bridge, and we hope that you do for the people of Iran. In the meantime, and for as long as it takes, we will maintain this blockade, successful blockade.

But if Iran chooses poorly, then they will have a blockade and bombs dropping on infrastructure, power, and energy. And at the same time, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and our friends over at Treasury are launching Operation Economic Fury as well, maximizing economic pressure across the entirety of the government. To Iran, choose wisely.

The world watched, and so did you, as the U.S. military moved seamlessly from major combat operations to a world-class blockade. We can make that transition again, very quickly, and even more powerfully than ever. At the direction of President Trump, the War Department will ensure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon, never.

We'd prefer to do it the nice way, through a deal led by our great Vice President and negotiating team, or we can do it the hard way. We urge this new regime to choose wisely. Speaking of choosing wisely -- a note to the press, to the press corps, to the American media -- as I just can't help but notice the endless stream of garbage, the relentlessly negative coverage, you cannot resist peddling, despite the historic and important success of this effort and the success of our troops.

Sometimes it's hard to figure out what side some of you are actually on. It's incredibly unpatriotic.

[08:10:00]

This same press corps, not this exact same press corps, but at least an older press corps, bent over backwards during the Biden administration, to explain away, you explained away the disastrous and disgraceful Afghanistan withdrawal. You called it the greatest airlift in American history. It's almost like you're cheering only for one side.

This past Sunday, I was sitting in church with my family, and our minister preached from the book of Mark, the third chapter. And in the passage, Jesus entered a synagogue and healed a man with a withered hand. The Pharisees came to watch.

And as the scripture reads, they came to see whether he, Jesus, would heal him or he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. You see, the Pharisees, the so-called and self-appointed elites of their time, they were there to witness, to write everything down, to report. But their hearts were hardened.

Even though they witnessed a literal miracle, it didn't matter. They were only there to explain away the goodness in pursuit of their agenda. As the passage ends, the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel against him, how to destroy him.

I sat there in church and I thought, our press are just like these Pharisees. Not all of you, not all of you, but the legacy Trump hating press. Your politically motivated animus for President Trump nearly completely blinds you from the brilliance of our American warriors.

The Pharisees scrutinized every good act in order to find a violation, only looking for the negative. The hardened hearts of our press are calibrated only to impugn. I would ask you to open your eyes to the goodness, the historic success of our troops, the courage of this president, and this historic moment for a deal that could end the Iranian nuclear threat.

The incredible battlefield victory laid before your eyes. The not one, but two incredible rescue missions, miracles, you might say. Or a locked-in blockade.

Or how about historic recruiting numbers? Yesterday, we announced that the Air Force and the Space Force met new, higher goals in FY26, five months in advance of the end of the fiscal year. Five months ahead of time.

The Marine Corps and the Army will soon do the same. Two or three years ago, we couldn't meet lower recruiting numbers, not even close. Where are the reports on that?

Where's the coverage of the new spirit in the country, the new spirit in the ranks, the surge of Americans wanting to join the greatest military in the world? Nothing from the fake news. We sense a pattern.

You see, on the battlefield, these are demonstrations of uniquely American capabilities, strength and resolve. It's all around you each and every day. But in the press, you only seek the negative, earning each and every day the fake news label.

But the American people, with goodness in their hearts, see past the Pharisees in our press. They see the goodness. You watching, you see the goodness.

They see the success. They see the reality. And they don't demand perfection.

And perfection is not possible on any battlefield. But they see the incredible feats that our troops accomplish every single day. So to those troops, stay focused, block out the noise, stay aggressive.

You are showing the world what it means to be an American warrior. You are making this building and the American people proud. We pray for you every day, and we have your back in every way.

And to Iran, choose wisely. I pray you choose a deal which is within your grasp for the betterment of your people and for the betterment of the world. In the meantime, the War Department is locked and loaded.

Mr. Chairman, over to you.

GEN. DAN CAINE, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Mr. Secretary, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for being here today.

Last week, the President of the United States directed a ceasefire that temporarily paused major combat operations in Iran. The unprecedented effort by America's Joint Force during Operation Epic Fury set the conditions for this ceasefire.

[08:15:00]

And as the Secretary said, I'd like to emphasize during this pause that the United States Joint Force remains postured and ready to resume major combat operations at literally a moment's notice.

This morning, I'd like to give you an update on the ongoing blockade in the CENTCOM-AOR area of responsibility. On Monday, 13 April, at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, at the direction of the President, America's Joint Force began implementing a blockade against Iran under the leadership of Admiral Cooper and the team at CENTCOM. Let me be clear.

This blockade applies to all ships, regardless of nationality, heading into or from Iranian ports. The U.S. action is a blockade of Iran's ports and coastline, not a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Enforcement will occur inside Iran's territorial seas and in international waters.

In addition to this blockade, the Joint Force, through operations and activities in other areas of responsibility, like the Pacific area of responsibility, under the command of Admiral Paparo, will actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran. This includes Dark Fleet vessels carrying Iranian oil. As most of you know, Dark Fleet vessels are those illicit or illegal ships evading international regulations, sanctions, or insurance requirements.

More than 10,000 sailors, marines, and airmen, over a dozen ships and dozens of aircraft, are executing this mission. And let me walk you through this operation a little bit. Please go to the first slide.

First to the graphic. This is taken before the blockade began. North is up.

You can see the blockade line here in the center of the graphic, denoted by the red-dashed line. This map is a pull from our common operating picture that we use to allow commanders and key leaders to see what is happening in near real time. We just grabbed screen grabs to highlight the actions and activities.

What is not shown is how incredibly congested this area is and the incredible work that our sailors are doing to ensure that they can work in and around an incredibly busy water space. What is also not depicted here is the massive force of fighters, intelligence aircraft, helicopters, and other embarked forces to include aerial refueling tankers that are up overhead this blockade area. You'll note that the U.S. forces are in blue, Iranian ships are in red, and as we started this blockade, there were seven ships of interest that were of concern for U.S. Central Command.

Through a variety of intelligence tools and with the assistance of the Office of Naval Intelligence and other intelligence agencies, the force began to hunt for potential interdictors at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Next slide, please. It's now 12:40 Eastern Daylight Time, two hours and 40 minutes into the blockade, as attempted blockade runners attempt to hop the line. U.S. forces began to commit. Out in front of them was a range of intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and tactical assets, and immediately these runners began to see, sense, and feel America's combat power compressing upon them. The lead ship, normally a destroyer as depicted here, along with airpower off of the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group, began to move towards those ships.

At each point, the United States Navy will transmit a warning. A young sailor, normally on the bridge of one of those destroyers, a junior officer, picks up that mic and transmits, and I quote, "Do not attempt to breach the blockade. Vessels will be boarded for interdiction and seizure transiting to or from Iranian ports. Turn around or prepare to be boarded. If you do not comply with this blockade, we will use force."

[08:20:00]

And as this message is being transmitted, as I mentioned earlier, those shipmasters can literally see, sense, and feel the pressure around them. It's a finely tuned machine, rehearsed multiple times, and executed now 13 times since the blockade has begun. Next slide, please.

We're now 24 hours plus into the blockade. You can see the turning around of multiple ships, 12 of which stayed inside the blockade line, one of which not depicted, off to the eastern side, turned around before even attempting it. Any ship that would cross the blockade would result in our sailors executing pre-planned tactics designed to bring the force to that ship, if need be, board the ship and take her over.

And that includes a series of escalated force options, which could include warning shots and others. Next slide.

The final graphic shows taken at 11:20 p.m. the night of 14 April. You can see that the captains of all these ships have made the wise decision not to move, transit, or run this blockade. As I mentioned so far, 13 ships have made the wise choice of turning around. And as we continue to hold this blockade at the order of the Secretary and the President, any vessel that compares to comply with our instructions will be dealt with accordingly.

As of this morning, U.S. Central Command has not been required to board any particular ships. And I'll remind you that we are also conducting similar maritime interdiction actions and activities in the Pacific AOR against those ships that left that area before we began the blockade.

Before I turn it over to Admiral Cooper, I want to talk briefly today about the men and women enforcing the blockade, America's sailors and Marines, and today particularly our destroyer and surface forces.

When we talk about an American destroyer, it's important that you and the American people understand their capabilities. An Arleigh Burke- class destroyer are the backbone of the United States Navy surface fleet. Over 500 feet long, they displace 9,000 tons, and it is the sports car of the United States Navy.

From the keel to the mast, they stand nearly 10 stories tall, and their four gas turbine engines can drive the ship at 30-plus knots. These ships are armed to the teeth with surface-to-air missiles, land attack cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, anti-submarine rockets, torpedoes, five-inch naval guns, multiple electronic warfare systems, embarked helicopters extending the reach and capability of each and every one of these destroyers. But far and away, the most important weapon on board these ships is the American sailor.

Over 300 warfighters are the heart and soul of these warships. At sea, sometimes for months, and these ships out in the CENTCOM AOR have been out there for months, they operate around the clock in a constant state of readiness, always delivering for our joint force.

It's hot in the engine room. The engineering team keeps the lights on, and the ship powered and able to respond to the orders from the bridge. On that bridge, our sailors maintain a constant watch, maneuvering the ship tactically and safely through always congested water space. And there is a lot out there.

It is like driving a sports car through a supermarket parking lot on a payday weekend with thousands of kids in that parking lot as you attempt to maneuver through there to get to that ship that would attempt to run that blockade. Down in the Combat Information Center, the CIC, the Tactical Warfare Center of the ship, that is where the decisions are made. As threats appear, these young sailors are making real-time decisions on how to identify these threats and handle them, and they always deliver.

These ships are run by the youngest sailors in our Surface Warfare Navy. The helmsman, the sailor on the watch at the bridge, is normally just between 18 to 19 years old, and they are trusted to drive this warship through that supermarket parking lot without hitting anything. The conning officer, an equally young, commissioned officer who's normally just a few years out of college, is the ones that are giving that young helmsman the orders on where to take that American warship to execute the mission that the Secretary and the President has given us.

[08:25:00]

These are incredibly well-trained sailors. They are led by incredible leaders, salty, experienced leaders, and trusted with deep responsibility. And I'm so humbled and proud of America's Navy. These sailors choose to take the road less traveled, to go into the historic Surface Navy, and they deliver every single day.

Finally, as I often do, I want to highlight one of those Surface sailors today and remember our fallen. Today we remember Ensign Robert Thompson of the U.S. Laffey, who died on this day in 1945 in the Battle of Okinawa. He was killed while fighting a fire, along with 31 others, as two Japanese Kamikaze aircraft hit their ship.

He passed away one week after his 22nd birthday and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. We remember Ensign Thompson today and all of our World War II vets who continue to give us the gift of a great example. And those Surface warfare sailors who are out there doing the job right now take the courage, grit, and determination that those World War II vets gave us into these actions and activities that they're tasked to do every single day.

So now I'd like to turn it over to Admiral Cooper to give us a readout of his recent trip to the region.

ADM. BRADLEY COOPER, CENTCOM COMMANDER: Well, good morning, and Mr. Secretary, thank you for the kind invitation. And, Chairman, great to join you. It's a real honor to be here representing the more than 50,000 American service members deployed throughout the Middle East today supporting operations.

It's great to have the opportunity to highlight the tremendous efforts our warfighters operating forward and the important partnerships with regional allies that continue to thrive. In fact, yesterday I returned for my second trip to the Middle East in the past 15 days. Two very different visits, one during our offensive operations against Iran and the second in this most recent trip during the ongoing ceasefire, very different.

During both of my recent trips, I visited with our troops who were deployed across the region in more than 70 different locations in a distance that largely spans between Florida and Arizona. I've long believed that every success that we have starts and ends with our people, and boy, does this shine through brightly. During these visits, I had the privilege of personally recognizing more than 100 service men and women for their extraordinary valor, their courage, and their initiative under fire and delivering fire.

And every time I interact with these young men and women downrange, I am deeply inspired by their courage, their resilience, and their unwavering commitment. The stories are remarkable. In many cases, you've seen this play out over TV, fighter pilots who took out Iranian missile launchers in the moments prior to their launch against Americans and our partners, and who hit key military targets in and around Tehran on the attack more than 13,000 times.

I met with some of the teams that helped to bring our F-15 airmen home safely from Iran and heard first-person accounts of the stories. Absolute heroes. I spent time with our troops who were employing cutting-edge tactics and technology for the first time in warfare.

I won't be able to talk about what those are, but these young men and women are breaking new ground. It's incredibly inspiring. I met with teams who launched our own one-way attack drones into Iran.

These were originally Iranian-designed drones. We brought them back to America, took the guts out, put a Made American stamp on them, and fired them right back to Iran. Very effective.

I met with teams who were employing AI every single day to help us sift through vast amounts of information to help us make decisions faster. And importantly, humans are always in the loop in this process. I met with our Space Force teams and our cyber specialists, whose work cannot be discussed but who serve with indispensable impact.

I met with our logisticians and sustainers all over the region. There is just no military that executes logistics like the U.S. military. This group is doing exceptional work, moving thousands of tons every single day.

I met with our air defenders who shot down Iranian ballistic missiles. My message for this group in particular is that their actions most certainly saved thousands of lives across the Middle East during Epic Fury. And all told, my personal assessment is, after these couple of trips, is our troops are highly motivated, they're focused, they're vigilant, and they're ready.

And they're using this time to do a couple of things. We're rearming. We're retooling and we're adjusting our tactics, techniques, and procedures. There's no military in the world that adjusts like we do, and that's exactly what we're doing right now during the ceasefire.

And a little note about partners. My discussion with regional allies and partners, both at the senior civilian level and the senior military level, reinforced our shared commitment to regional security. But beyond that, having now fought together side by side, I assess that our military partnerships are stronger than ever as we continue to maintain a very active defense posture ...

[08:30:00]