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Iran Says Strait of Hormuz is Open; Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) is Interviewed About Iran; Oil Drops after Strait Announcement. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired April 17, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Allows many fans to separate the flawed man from the artistic icon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He gets bracketed with some of the things I think you really love, like Disney movies and other kind of childhood, "Peter Pan," as kind of that halo of childhood. And everybody was a kid once.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM (on camera): It should be noted, the Jackson estate initially approved the inclusion of those darker allegations after admitting its oversight. "Variety" reports the estate paid for the reshoots, not the studio.

Meantime, the two accusers in that documentary by HBO, which is a sister company to CNN, have sued companies tied to Jackson, arguing they didn't do enough to protect the plaintiffs. Those companies deny the claim. That case is expected to go to trial next year.

Sara

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And, Stephanie, I know you have some news of your own. You are leaving us. Everyone here is sad to see it from your exuberant coverage of the eclipse, to the difficult coverage of the fires and the protests that we have been in throughout the years together. I want to say, thank you for being my friend, helping me through cancer, and being a sister really. Like you have been a sister to me. CNN has brought us together but ain't nothing going to tear us apart. Thank you. Thank you for all your hard work.

ELAM: Oh, you're not getting rid of me. I love you. I love you guys. Tell everyone there, the stage managers, everyone there, I love you guys. It's been a joy working with you all.

SIDNER: All right. You know, we'll be hanging. Thank you, Steph.

ELAM: Yes.

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

BERMAN: All right, we've got some major breaking news just in. The foreign minister from Iran just announced that the Strait of Hormuz is completely open to all commercial traffic. This because of the ceasefire in Lebanon. We've just looked at oil prices. We'll get them up here in a second. Oil prices are plummeting. Huge drops in oil prices. Eight or nine percent on this word from the Iranian foreign minister. Much more on that coming up.

A singer arrested, accused of killing a 14-year-old girl whose body was found dismembered in his car. What the lawyers are now saying.

And new from Florida, a near fatal rollover crash after hitting a nine-foot alligator.

I'm John Berman, with Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We do have breaking news coming in this morning in the war with Iran. We are just -- as John was just talking about, learning from -- that the Iranian foreign minister on X says that the Strait of Hormuz is open for all commercial vessels. We're just learning this right now. I can -- let me read what we are -- where we are getting this from, X.

The foreign minister saying, "in line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of the ceasefire on coordinated routes, as already announced by ports and maritime organizations of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

But this is a huge announcement coming from the Iranian foreign minister about what has become a central part of the negotiation, getting the Strait of Hormuz open and safely.

And so we're going to bring you much more as we get this in, literally coming in as we -- as we're talking about it.

As we are getting this, we also have a new report that claims the United States is also considering a $20 billion deal that would help to end the conflict. This is a report from "Axios," co-written also by CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid. Let me read a quote from this reporting now coming in. "The U.S. and Iran are negotiating over a three-page plan to end the war with one element under discussion being that the U.S. would release $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds in return for Iran giving up its stockpile of enriched uranium. This according to two U.S. officials and two additional sources briefed on the talks."

A lot of breaking news here. Let's get to Nic Robertson, he's in Islamabad, on this breaking news first.

Nic, what do you make of it?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Look, it seems to me we're getting some positive breakthroughs. The fact that the Iranian foreign minister has said the Strait of Hormuz is open to all commercial vessels really seems to indicate that the talks that the Pakistani mediators are having, and they're going into their third day of talks in Tehran right now, are beginning to bear some fruit. Sources I've been speaking to involved in all of this are sounding and looking very positive about where the talks are at the moment.

Of course, I'm not getting an indication of what other hurdles there may be to overcome, but it has been one of the things that Iran has wanted. One of those points they want -- they want assets unfrozen.

[09:05:03]

They want to see sanctions lifted. They want money for war reparations and damages. We've been talking here about billions upon billions of dollars. Last weekend at the talks, the Iranians said they'd asked the United States for $8 billion in unfrozen assets. At the time in the talks last Saturday into Sunday, the White House knocked down the suggestion Iran was going to get that. But it's always been part of Iran's core demands.

Iran's now lifted, it seems, their blockade, their own blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. Is that in exchange for money? Are they expecting the money to come? But what the -- what the Iranian foreign minister has said, and I think this is very, very telling, and we were talking about this just yesterday, that the reason that the Iranians have lifted their blockade on the Strait of Hormuz for the duration, the remaining duration of the ceasefire. That probably is the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, which has about five days to run. He said this is because that there is a ceasefire in Lebanon. These things have been inextricably linked in the Iranian mind. So, while the Pakistani lead negotiating team has been in Tehran talking, of course that Lebanon deal came through yesterday. We were saying that that was going to aid and benefit the talks in Tehran, and it does seem to be the case now.

What remain the sticking points, the nuclear issue, that enriched uranium. Iran's commitment and desire for a nuclear bomb, that's always been at the core of U.S. demands. That's what President Trump was saying yesterday. He said Iran had set -- forsworn that it didn't -- that it wasn't going to have a nuclear weapon. He also said Iran had agreed to hand over the nuclear dust (ph). We don't have details on that yet, but these moves, at the moment, sound like that Iran is softening. It sounds like a deal gets closer into view.

BOLDUAN: Yes, absolutely. And, Nic, on the other side of the screen we're looking at, right along with you is, we're seeing -- looking at oil prices right now dropping over nine percent, brent crude as well as WTI, as standard in the states. Oil markets reacting, understandably, to this news coming in. There's a lot to digest here.

Nic Robertson, tracking all these developments, in Islamabad for us.

Let's get over to the White House now. Alayna Treene is there as well.

A lot of elements here, Alayna. You got the announcement coming from the Iranian foreign minister about the Strait. You've got this reporting from Barak Ravid of "Axios" about a $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds that could be part of the discussion. Something talking about frozen funds, frozen funds being handed over. Something President Trump has been highly critical of, of the previous nuclear deal in the past.

What are you hearing from there right now?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, highly critical is definitely right. I'd remind you that under the Obama administration, when you had that Iranian nuclear deal, they had handed over $400 million in cash to the Iranians during that agreement.

But look, from everything that Nic laid out and that "Axios" report, is lining up with the conversations that I am having, which is that there is a lot of optimism right now in that building behind me, Kate, about where things stand around a potential deal.

Now, I don't want to be, you know, too optimistic. You hear a lot of this talk among Trump administration officials about how positive they are. There are, of course, still sticking points that remain, as Nic laid out. You know, this idea of the length of time that the Iranians would agree to suspend their enrichment of uranium and also a deal on having the U.S. or some sort of country going in and retrieving the nuclear material still in Tehran's possession.

But they are hopeful that they are getting to a place now where really an agreement is in sight. And I know from the conversations I've been having that Trump administration officials are really working toward and hoping that a potential second round of these talks, of this meeting, could happen in person between the U.S. and Iranians as early as this weekend. Again, things are very fluid. So, we have to see what happens today.

But today is also a very important day because we know that the Pakistanis have been meeting with Iranian officials in Tehran. The Pakistanis, of course, the key intermediary here between Washington and Tehran. The Pakistanis have been in touch with top Trump administration officials throughout this process. And so really the goal of those talks in Tehran are to try and get the Iranians to a level of significant compromise, where, again, the contours of a potential agreement really could be reached.

And that is the goal they are working toward. I'd remind you, the ceasefire, the two-week ceasefire expires on Tuesday, April 21st. And there's been -- you know, there had been talk earlier this week of a possible extension. But from the conversations I've had, Kate, with White House officials is, they want to try and formulate some sort of deal before the ceasefire ends. A very ambitious goal, but it does seem, as, you know, today, with this latest news about the Iranians reopening the straight thanks to that ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, that they are actually moving closer to that goal.

[09:10:12]

And just to go back to that ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that, of course, President Trump announced yesterday, I am told that that had a positive effect on some of the talks that are going, of course, between the U.S. and Iran, through the Pakistanis, on a broader agreement.

And so, a lot of different developments today that we are learning of. We have to see, I think, you know, these negotiations are continuing. I think a lot of these reports, we have to be careful with because things are fluid. These negotiations are not over. An agreement has not been reached. But that's certainly, I think, adding to the level of optimism that this Trump administration feels today as we move into the weekend.

BOLDUAN: Yes, there is -- there is movement, there is breaking news on this front in this moment that -- that clearly is getting reaction all over the world already.

Alayna, thank you very much.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: What's so interesting there, if we can keep those numbers up for just a second, huge drops in oil prices of more than 10 percent. That's just this morning.

And then the stock market, you know, an impressive, positive opening. But to a certain extent, I think the stock market has already taken into account that a deal or progress was likely between the United States and Iran.

But those drops in the oil prices, let's just keep those numbers up. You don't see movements like that almost ever. Now 11 points down just in the last ten, 20 minutes.

With us now is Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois.

First, your reaction to the news, the announcement from the foreign minister of Iran that because of the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, the Strait of Hormuz open to all commercial traffic. To what extent do you think Iran blinked?

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Well, I think, remember, they said that they're going to keep it open until Tuesday, essentially, until the ceasefire is over. And I think the most kind of telling issue here is that they have control over the Strait of Hormuz. We, in this process of this war and bluster, have exposed a tremendous vulnerability for us, which is Iranian kind of leverage with regard to our energy supplies and control over our oil supplies. And so, I think that's a huge, huge problem for us. It's welcome that they say that maritime traffic can now travel through the Strait of Hormuz, but they still have a chokehold on our oil supplies.

BERMAN: And I do -- should note that we have to watch and monitor traffic because when the ceasefire was initially announced, there was a notion that the Strait would be open and there was not traffic. But now this appears to be different in tone. I really do think this is different in tone, Congressman.

And to what extent do you think that the move from the Trump administration to blockade Iranian ports perhaps forced the Iranian's hands?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I don't know. But I think that what we do know is that, at this point, the Iranians have basically three things that are problematic in light of our war, our illegal and unconstitutional war. I believe that they have a more militarized regime compared to before. Secondly, I think they have accelerated their nuclear ambitions in the last ten years. And third, again, they have discovered new weapons against us, including control over the Strait of Hormuz and basically being able to launch attacks on our friends, partners and allies on the region, which is a huge vulnerability for us.

BERMAN: The president just posting himself. "Iran has just announced that the Strait of Iran is fully open and ready for all full passage. Thank you." I'm not sure if the president meant to say "Strait of Iran," but maybe that is fairly telling because it does show that Iran does have a certain amount of control over the Strait. The Strait of Hormuz open.

But again, this is something that is different. This, I think, is seen as progress in the negotiations and for all those shippers and all those countries dependent on oil that's been stuck for seven weeks.

Congressman, also reporting from "Axios," the possibility that in the negotiations for this deal, Iran would agree to turn over its nuclear material in exchange for $20 billion of released Iranian funds, which had been held up. So, what's your feeling on that?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, this sounds very familiar, right. This was part of the JCPOA framework which Trump criticized and pulled us out of more than seven years ago. And since then, things have gotten worse for us. And I think, at this point, the fact that Trump is saying nothing about their ballistic missiles program, saying nothing about their support of proxies, and now talking about essentially the framework of the JCPOA program again now is telling.

[09:15:13]

And in the meantime, unfortunately, the human and economic costs are mounting for America. You don't have to go further than your gas pump to see that. And again, our adversaries are cheering all the time -- all the -- all the while, including people like Vladimir Putin, who's laughing all the way to the bank with higher oil prices.

BERMAN: All right, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, thank you for rolling with us. We're getting a lot of news in just over the last few minutes. We appreciate your time.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, speaking of the news that we're getting in. After this announcement, we are watching oil prices reacting in real time after news that the Strait of Hormuz has been reopened.

CNN's senior reporter, David Goldman, here with me now.

I mean we're watching these prices in real time drop pretty significantly.

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes. Yes. This is really good news for the oil market, right? So, we've been seeing prices over $100 for quite some time. So, a little bit of relief. Now the question is, when are we going to see this? And so there's a couple things --

SIDNER: You knew I was going to ask that, right, at the pump (ph)?

GOLDMAN: I -- see, I know you so well by now.

SIDNER: You know.

GOLDMAN: I think that what you need to remember is that this has been going on for six, seven weeks. So, I think one of the questions that we have is, first of all, is this really it or is the Strait of Hormuz open permanently now? So, that's something that we need to watch.

But also, when does production start to come back online? Are the tankers moving out of the Strait of Hormuz and getting to their destination on time? Is this going to be a situation where were talking about weeks and then everything goes back to normal-ish, or are we talking about a period of months? So, that's something that we need to watch just in terms of turning back on production, because, remember, it doesn't come on like a light switch.

SIDNER: Right.

GOLDMAN: This is a pretty interesting and complex engineering feat that needs to happen in the Middle East. But --

SIDNER: It's intricate in order to do this.

GOLDMAN: It's very intricate.

SIDNER: I do have this question because, I don't know, it sort of annoys me. You know, it annoys me because you have this announcement, right, or you have an announcement that's in the negative, and the markets immediately seem to react to it. But it's not happening right this second.

GOLDMAN: Yes.

SIDNER: So, why do we see this? Is this because of emotions or because of hope or what is it? What is it?

GOLDMAN: OK. It's such an important question, right? So, this is the paper price of oil. This is the market saying we think that if we're going to buy a contract for a future delivery of oil, that's about what we want to pay for it, right? But it's more complex than that because then if you own that contract, right, you need to actually get the wet barrel of oil and then you sell that to someone else.

SIDNER: Right.

GOLDMAN: You're not drinking this oil. This is something that you need to offload, right? And the price of that oil has been significantly higher than this --

SIDNER: Right.

GOLDMAN: Because there was demand for the oil. But something really interesting happened over the past few days. That price, which was like 140 something dollars a barrel, fell to just over $100 a barrel. Why did it do that? And that's because demand for oil has started to fall.

The problem with oil prices, as high as they were for as long as they were, means that there are people who were saying, forget it, I'm not going to go on that trip. I'm not going to fill my car anymore. I'm going to make permanent changes to my lifestyle, or businesses saying, we're going to make big changes to how we're operating. And so, it could take a while for that to recover. And that's factored into why oil prices are falling too, because the demand side is weaker as well as the supply side.

SIDNER: Wow.

GOLDMAN: Now we've got more supply, those prices are coming down.

SIDNER: You had countries, you had, you know, countries in Europe telling people to conserve and trying to get people.

GOLDMAN: Right.

SIDNER: So, there is a whole policy, or at least an ask of citizens.

GOLDMAN: We were talking about the possibility of rationing jet fuel just, you know, an hour ago.

SIDNER: Right. Literally like less than an hour ago. Yes.

GOLDMAN: So, that's the situation that we found ourselves in. That doesn't get resolved just like that.

SIDNER: David, it's so good to have you on this breaking news. Really do appreciate it.

GOLDMAN: Anytime.

SIDNER: All right, we'll be right back with much more breaking news and analysis ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:23:34]

BOLDUAN: All right, we've got a lot of breaking news that we are tracking right now, including that Iran has now announced and declared that the Strait of Hormuz is, in the words of the foreign minister, "completely open," following the announcement of the ceasefire setting in, in Lebanon.

President Trump also posted about this just moments ago, saying that "Iran has announced that the Strait of Iran," yes, I did not misspeak, he called it, "the Strait of Iran is fully open and ready for full passage."

We've got this covered for you. And what this means in this moment as we're also following oil markets and stock futures.

CNN's international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, is in Islamabad, Pakistan. We have Alex Plitsas with his perspective we're going to get to in just one second.

But, Nic, let's start with you. Bring us up to speed on this breaking news.

ROBERTSON: It's a significant development. The Iranians are framing it as a result of the ceasefire in Lebanon. That was something that they wanted to have. We have Pakistan's top mediators in Tehran now entering the third day of talks with the foreign minister, with the head of the parliament (AUDIO GAP) the head of their negotiating team that met with the president, as well as they've met with a military general. And they have been trying to narrow the differences between the United States and Iran.

And, of course, from the Iranian perspective, getting a ceasefire in Lebanon was big.

[09:25:02]

They thanked the Pakistani negotiating team for achieving that yesterday.

And when we sort of think in diplomatic terms of breakdowns of trust that happened over the weekend, the Iranians leaving Islamabad, when J.D. Vance said it put the final and best offer on the table, and the Iranians saying, but you've moved the goalposts. A lack of trust. Then you get to confidence building measures. The Lebanon ceasefire was a confidence building measure for the Iranians. That's helped them. And it appears now, and they're saying this explicitly linked to them opening the Strait of Hormuz for the duration of that ceasefire in Lebanon, which is ten days. So, they're linking their goodwill to that ceasefire holding in Lebanon.

But it also indicates that the Pakistani mediators in Tehran are making some progress. But it's not a done deal yet. And the thorniest of issue is that core issue of uranium enrichment. What happens to those enrichment facilities? What happens to that nuclear dust, as President Trump calls it? Who goes into Iran, if they do, to get it out? What country it goes to. Who oversees all of that? These are going to be the thorniest of details.

And in the background to all of that, Iran has been demanding war reparations. They've been demanding sanctions be lifted. They've been demanding that they get access to frozen assets as well. Billions and billions of dollars. This is what they've been asking for. They even said that they've talked about it in the talks over the weekend, eight billion of frozen assets they wanted given over. The White House knocked that down over the weekend. So, the precise details of what's going on inside those talks in

Tehran, we don't know. What we do know is so far they've -- there's been slow, but sure, but steady progress.

Now, can those really big, final hurdles of achieving what a J.D. Vance and the president want to see, which is Iran say we're never going to have a nuclear weapon and handing over all their assets that could make it, that's the hurdle that we seem to be standing in front of. And of course, in any negotiation, it is those final yards that are the hardest yards.

BERMAN: All right, Nic Robertson for us in Islamabad.

I want to bring Brett McGurk in on this discussion. He is on the phone with us, our global affairs analyst, who obviously was involved, Brett, in so many negotiations in and around Iran over the many years.

So, I want your reaction, Brett, to how much progress this is, because we can see the oil markets clearly think it's a lot of progress. This is a major move. How close does this get the United States to a deal with Iran? And Brett, if you can also, comment on the reports from "Axios" that the U.S. and Iran are reportedly discussing releasing as much as $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds in exchange for Iran giving up its enriched uranium. And I ask this because back in the original U.S.-Iran deal, the cash delivery to Iran was so controversial politically in some quarters.

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (via telephone): Yes. Yes, John, it's great to be with you. A lot obviously breaking, so we have to see how it unfolds.

Look, I would say this is Iran -- Iran just blinked. And I think they blinked. They can say it's about Lebanon, but I really think it's about the blockade on their ports. But classic Iran negotiating style, it's not a full blink. I would say it's a blink with one eye because I'm reading carefully the statement from Abbas Araghchi, who's the foreign minister, and he says the Strait will be open.

But on the -- and this is his quote. On the coordinated route as earlier announced by Iran's port authority. That's basically the route up by Iran's border. That is not the international route. So, they seem to be saying, any ship can now go through. That's good news for the global economy. That takes a lot of pressure off the White House and the global economic picture. But they also seem to be saying, it's only through our route and not the international route. I think we should make sure the Strait is open full, including that international route. So, that's something to watch here I think over the coming -- the coming day.

On the potential parameters of the deal, John, not totally surprising. There's always that issue of the frozen funds and then how they're allocated, what they're allocated for. It could be for humanitarian, food, medicine. It could be for just the transfer into Iran. This was always part of the negotiation. So, I'm not surprised to see that.

The key issue is, what happens, as you and I talked earlier this morning, John, to the stockpile of highly enriched uranium and the enrichment program. And we have to see.

But back up, bottom line, this is good news. This is good news. This releases pressure on the global economic system. It removes a card that Iran has been -- really been holding, this lever card since the start of this conflict. And I think it gives a lot more space here for the diplomacy to proceed.

[09:30:01]

BERMAN: All right, Brett McGurk, on the phone with us.

We do have a new Trump Truth Social post here, yes?

SIDNER: Yes. So, I'm just going to read this to you. This literally just happened a few seconds ago.