Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Iranian Minister Calls On Youth To Form "Human Chain" Around Power Plants Amid Donald Trump Threats; Artemis II Crew Returning To Earth After Lunar Fly-By; Trump Threatens to Jail Reporter Over Airmen Rescue Leaks; One U.S. Airman Rescued on Friday, the Second on Sunday; Dan Caine Says U.S. Aircraft Stuck in the Sand Had to Be Destroyed; Oil Prices Remain High as Trump Threatens Iran Over Hormuz; Vance Heads to Hungary Ahead of Country's Key Election; Savannah Guthrie Makes Emotional Returns to "Today" Show; Experts Warn of Health Risks as Marble Yard Wows Tourists; Designer Turns Food Waste Into Sustainable Fine Jewelry; Michigan Defeats UConn 69-63 for Men's Championship Title; Chicago Sky Trade Angel Reese to Atlanta Dream. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired April 07, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:40]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, everybody. It's great to have you with us. I'm Polo Sandoval joining you live from New York, and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

Here's what's coming your way: President Trump ramping up his threats against Iran if it fails to meet his latest deadline.

The Artemis II crew sets a new distance record after getting an up- close view of the dark side of the moon.

And a designer in London making some of these precious gemstones from expired food waste. We'll tell you how he does it.

ANNOUNCER: Live from New York. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: All right, let's begin with the U.S. President Donald Trump's warnings to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz ahead of Tuesday's deadline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're giving them -- we're giving them till tomorrow, 8:00 Eastern time, and after that, they're going to have no bridges. They're going to have no power plants. Stone ages, yes, stone age.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Iran's regime calling that threat delusional, and sources now telling CNN that Israel has approved an updated target list of energy and infrastructure sites in Iran. Here's what President Trump had to say when he was asked about these potential war crimes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How would it not be a war crime to strike Iran's bridges and power plants?

TRUMP: Because they killed 45,000 people in the last month. More than that, it could be as much as 60, they killed protesters. They're animals.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it seems like diplomatic talks are picking up, are you willing to hold off on attacking critical infrastructure?

TRUMP: Well, I want to say I don't even want to talk about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you concerned that your threat to bomb power plants and bridges amount to war rimes?

TRUMP: No. I hope I don't have to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are there certain kinds of civilian targets though, I'm thinking, schools or hospitals that you would say are off limits?

TRUMP: I don't want to tell you. I don't want to tell you that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: President Trump also called a recent 45 day ceasefire proposal a significant step, but not good enough. An Iranian source says that the Strait of Hormuz will not return to its previous conditions unless the war is permanently stopped. Despite this, President Trump says that there has been some progress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I can tell you that we have a active, willing participant on the other side. They would like to be able to make a deal. We have to have a deal that's acceptable to me, and part of that deal is going to be we want free traffic of oil and everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: But what is Iran's response? CNN's Paula Hancocks joining me from Abu Dhabi with that. Hi, Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Polo. Well, there has been plenty of response from Iranian officials this Tuesday morning. There is always in any war, a propaganda battle that works alongside it, and we are certainly seeing that very intensely in this war.

Now, what we've heard from one Iranian Minister, the Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports, is that they're actually calling on young people to form human chains around power plants, saying that this is a way of protecting them.

Now we have heard the IRGC, the Revolutionary Guard, calling for young people, in fact, people as young as 12, late last month to get involved in the war effort. According to Amnesty International.

Also, we're hearing statements from the Revolutionary Guard calling what Trump has been speaking of on Monday baseless, referring to his speech specifically, let's listen to the spokesperson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. EBRAHIM ZOLFAQARI, SPOKESPERSON, IRGC (through translator): The rude rhetoric, arrogance and baseless threats of the delusional U.S. president arising from the deadlock he faces it aimed at justifying the repeated defeats of the U.S. military will have no effect on the continuation of offensive and crushing operations by the fighters of Islam against us and Israeli enemies, and will not repair the humiliation of the United States and West Asia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Also, a senior Iranian security official tells CNN that Iran believes Trump is losing control of the war, telling CNN that they believe Iran has dealt Trump a strategic defeat, and Iran wants the war to end, but not in the way or the timeline that Trump is seeking.

Now, there was that proposal from Pakistan, from other countries, put together for a temporary 45-day cease fire. Well, the rest of the issues are sorted out. That was rejected by Iran, as they say that they want a permanent cease fire, and there is no trust between them and the United States.

[02:05:18]

Now, when it comes to the military aspect, overnight into Tuesday morning, there was still significant bombardments from the U.S. and Israel across Iran, footage coming through from state media in Iran showing buildings that have been destroyed, showing search and rescue teams searching through the rubble, trying to find survivors.

Now we've heard from the Iranian Red Crescent that civilians have borne a disproportionate brunt of this war at this point. We've also heard from the Ministry of Health talking about numbers, saying that some 220 children under the age of 18 have been killed since this war began, and 254 women.

Now, we cannot independently confirm those figures, but that coming to us from the Iranian Ministry of Health.

Now, we also know that Israel had said that it was carrying out a wave of strikes across Tehran and other parts of Iran. The Israeli defense forces also say that they have put together a list of energy and infrastructure sites in Iran in preparation as a contingency plan in case diplomacy does not work, moving towards this deadline that President Trump has put in that's according to two Israeli sources. Also, we know there is a lot of skepticism in Israel when it comes to

this potential cease fire or peace deal proposal, whatever you want to call it, saying that they want to make sure that the highly enriched uranium is handed over before any ceasing of hostilities, Polo.

SANDOVAL: Which is such an important key sticking point, especially for the Israelis. Paula Hancocks, thank you so much for that update. Let's get some analysis now, I'm joined by Fawaz Gerges, a professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics. He's also the author of the book The Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East.

Fawaz, as always. Thank you so much for joining us.

FAWAZ GERGES, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Good morning.

SANDOVAL: Good morning to you. President Trump clearly escalating his threats on Monday, saying that U.S. forces would blow up the whole country, as he put it, if Iran does not make a deal.

So, let's start off by perhaps getting your prediction on where we will likely be come Tuesday's deadline. Perhaps beginning with Iran, they have vowed to continue their fighting, calling these threats baseless.

GERGES: Well, I think it's impossible to really read President Trump's mind, but it's very apparent that President Trump seems to have lost really control of reality. He's out of control, especially in the world. The world is really on edge, waiting to see what president decision will decide in the next 24 hours.

But I think there's also consensus in the world that President Trump's rhetoric has become more blatant and more brazen, and it's a sign of desperation threatening to return Iran back to the stone ages, so we have to wait and see.

But if you ask me what my reading and I could be wrong, I think the odds are against a diplomatic solution, a diplomatic breakthrough, because President Trump is offering Iran utter surrender, submit to his demands, or basically bombing Iran back to the stone ages.

And the reality is, the question, the big question facing the United States and Israel the morning after Tuesday today, at 8:00 p.m. U.S. time. So, let's say that President Trump orders the American military to bomb -- to carbon bomb Iran's civilian infrastructures, including factories and universities and water plans and energy. And Iran still does not submit, Iran still does not surrender.

So, what will President Trump do? Will President Trump again authorize the military to use a tactical nuclear weapon? So, in a way, what the point I'm trying to say is that President Trump finds himself in a strategic box, really, he entrapped himself, and he is desperate to get out, but he cannot really find an off ramp out of this really war of choice, illegal, of course, and illegitimate. SANDOVAL: And this potential scenario that you lay out Fawaz, it's important to remember also that the nuclear material, for example, that would still be underground in Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, presumably would still not have any freedom of navigation as well. So, it seems that this crisis or this conflict would just completely unravel, if that's even possible.

[02:10:17]

I'm also curious if I could get your thoughts on something else that we heard from the president. He seemed to speak for the Iranian people, for Iranian civilians, when he was asked on Monday if attacking sites inside of Iran like water treatment plants, power plants, etcetera. And this is what he had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And it's suffering. They would be willing to suffer that in order to have freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: They would be willing to suffer in order to have freedom. And I'm paraphrasing there from the president. Do you think Iranian civilians would agree with the Commander In Chief?

GERGES: I think we should be very cautious about taking president words for granted, and I hope that many Americans are listening to our conversation today.

In fact, the evidence that we have from Iran is the reverse of what President Trump has been saying about Iranians. More and more Iranians who oppose the Islamic Republic have now are really asking serious questions about the aims and the goals of the American and Israeli war.

I mean, we talk about civilian infrastructure, the United States and Israel have been systematically and gradually targeting Iran's infrastructure.

Yesterday, Israel attacked Sharif University. It's referred to as the MIT of Iran. Israel has been attacking petrochemical factories, pharmaceuticals, the U.S. bridges and what have you in fact, what the United States is doing is not just attacking the Islamic Republic regime, it's attacking state capacity. It's destroying this very same infrastructure that Iranians would like to have in order to survive.

I mean, imagine a scenario where the United States destroys the power plants, the electrical plants, the factories, the universities, the bridges. This mean, really, basically a catastrophe for Iranians.

So, I don't know where President Trump really gets his information. It's basically, really pure falsehood. And here what you have when you have the top -- the top Democratic senator, Chuck Schumer, saying what he sees from President Trump, coming from President Trump, he said he rants like a madman, unbalanced lack of control. This is -- this is we're talking about the United States of America,

the most powerful nation, if the president is really genuine about finding a way out, he should really engage the Iranians in a diplomatic solution. The Iranians are willing to basically make major compromises. They want a permanent end to the war. They want an enduring cease fire, as opposed to a transitional, temporary ceasefire.

SANDOVAL: Fawaz, always enjoyed the conversation. Thank you so much for coming on as always, looking forward to doing it again.

GERGES: Thanks.

SANDOVAL: New details are emerging about the U.S. rescue operation in the mountains of Iran, how the CIA helped to facilitate the mission with misdirection campaigns against the Iranians.

Plus, the Artemis II astronauts, they are making history in more ways than one. What they saw on the far side of the moon, that's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:18:15]

SANDOVAL: The four Artemis II astronauts are heading back to Earth. They traveled the farthest from Earth than any human has ever gone and saw sights that no human has ever seen before. The crew completed their lunar fly-by on Monday, circling around the far side of the moon, and then took plenty of pictures of its previously unseen surface. Here's CNN's Ed Lavandera. Tell us all about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For roughly seven hours, the crew of Artemis II made history flying around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, witnessing up close, well 4000 miles away, some of the areas of the moon that have never been seen by human eyes and documented with thousands and thousands of photos that the crew took turns snapping as they were flying around the moon.

And what really struck out was listening to the descriptions that the astronauts were sending back to Mission Control, where they talked about the various colors, the browns and the greens that they spotted on the moon's surface, the terrain and the ruggedness of some parts of the moon as well, different craters that had never been seen before. All of these types of descriptions were just simply riveting to listen to.

And on the end of the day, they come around the moon and they see a solar eclipse that at one point, they could see the sun lighting up the back side of the moon, the Earth's glow lighting up the front, the moon was completely lit up.

And Victor Glover, one of the astronauts, described this as a moment like straight out of science fiction. They had a conversation with the President of the United States, and this is what and how they described what their day was like.

REID WISEMAN, ARTEMIS II COMMANDER: Proud to be a part of. I have to tell you, as we came around the near side of the moon, seeing all the sites that we've seen from Earth for all of our lives, but we're seeing them from a different perspective. And then we started to get a glimpse of the (AUDIO GAP) and we saw sites oriental, sites that no human has ever seen before, not even in Apollo. And that was amazing for us.

And then the surprise of the day, we just came out of an eclipse where the sun, moon and the entire dark moon about that big right out the window that we were watching, we could see the corona of the sun, and then we can see the planet train line up and (AUDIO GAP) Mars. And all of us commented how excited we are to watch this nation and this planet become a two planet species.

[02:20:37]

LAVANDERA: Now the Artemis II crew is on its journey home, and that is a journey that will take another four days. The crew will splash down off the coast of California Friday night.

Ed Lavandera, CNN at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And leading up to that fly-by the Artemis II crew, they shared an emotional moment up in space. They requested to name a crater on the moon's surface after the late wife of mission commander Reid Wiseman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY HANSEN, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: At certain times the moon's transit around Earth, you can, we will be able to see this from Earth. And so, we lost a loved one. Her name was Carol, the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie.

And if you want to find this one, you look at (INAUDIBLE), and it's just to the northwest of that, at the same latitude as home, and it's a bright spot on the moon and we would like to call her Carol.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Carol Wiseman was a nurse in a newborn intensive care unit. She died in 2020 at the age of 46 after battling cancer, she left behind her husband and her two daughters, Ellie and Katherine. The crew embraced in a hug after the dedication, and also there was a moment of silence that was observed back on Earth at NASA's mission control. The astronauts also named another crater integrity for their Orion spacecraft.

Let's bring in CNN Aerospace Analyst Miles O'Brien to talk more about what was just an absolutely historic Monday. Miles, thank you so much for making time for us.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AEROSPACE ANALYST: You're welcome, Polo.

SANDOVAL: So, from a scientific standpoint, Miles, give us a sense of some of the takeaways from Monday's fly-by. I mean, this was far more than just a scenic joy ride.

O'BRIEN: It was more than a scenic joy ride, but I caution people, there weren't any scientific breakthroughs that came out of this. This was an opportunity to see the moon with human eyes, unaided, in a way that humans haven't quite seen it before.

We have seen the far side of the moon, though, through various observatories and satellites. So, there weren't any outright surprises. There was no more of a sense of a little bit more nuance, a sense of adding a little bit of texture, a little bit of color, which is all part of the big tapestry that is science.

It's important to remember that this, above and beyond that, is a test mission to test out the rocket, the spacecraft and its systems. And so far, it's done pretty well, with the big notable exception being the toilet system, which is an important thing to get right.

SANDOVAL: Hence, this is a test flight. I was absolutely glued to the mission control feed all of Monday, and I was particularly excited when I saw that iPhone photo that was snapped by mission commander Wiseman, perhaps because maybe it offered us a preview of what I hope will be an eventual lunar photo dump. When we get all that material that was taken, we're showing viewers that shot that was taken from inside that dark cockpit.

I'm wondering just what you expect -- what we should all expect to see when some of the images that were gathered by the crew during that fly-by, what do you hope will eventually stand out when we see that material?

O'BRIEN: Well, I'm sure something is going to take our breath away, Polo, you know, a few generations ago, 1968 Apollo 8, they went around the moon, and there's this big blue orb rising. It was the first Earth rise captured by humans in a capsule.

And in many ways, it changed life on earth here. It helped, gave rise to the environmental movement, for example, and really took people back and made people think about our -- where we are in the world, the solar system, and our little place that we share.

It's interesting because I think the trips that we take to the moon tend to focus our thoughts just as much on our planet and the beauty and the rarity that we have here.

[02:25:01]

So, I suspect we're going to see some wonderful pictures of the moon, but I'm going to predict for you right now, Polo, the best pictures, the ones we remember the most, will have Mother Earth in them.

SANDOVAL: No, there are absolutely stunning pictures, and I have loved every second of what we've seen thus far.

I'm curious what happens next, though, between now and Friday, when the mission is scheduled to end and that splashdown off the coast of San Diego?

O'BRIEN: Well, it's all downhill from here. You know, their trajectory back to Earth was set a long time ago. This is what we call a free return ride, basically the gravity of the Earth and the moon combined are what bent the course of the spacecraft from going out to coming back in.

And so, now it's on its way back in, and as it comes back, it will pick up speed relative to the Earth, approaching well over 20,000 miles per hour. And as it enters the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean, temperatures will be on the order of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, so extremely hot.

And on the last Artemis mission, which was unpiloted, the heat shield did not perform up to spec. There were some problems with it. They've redesigned it. They've changed the flight path coming in, but this is going to be the last and perhaps most important test of this test flight to make sure this heat shield protects those astronauts from that searing heat.

SANDOVAL: I was looking far, far again. We have to take this a day at a time, but looking far into the future. It is our hope. It is NASA's hope, that we could perhaps see another lunar landing come 2028, just in the last few moments I have with you, just give us a sense of the to do list of some of the most important things that need to happen, that need to be developed before we even consider getting to that point?

O'BRIEN: Yes, there's a lot of wood to chop, Polo. Two years seems very aggressive to me. There is not a lunar lander design that NASA has bought into. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin are trying to develop them, but there have to be at least one unpiloted mission to the surface of the moon before any human beings will be put on it.

The architecture of any flight to the moon is still yet to be designed. The SpaceX lunar lander would, for example, require 15 in space refuelings to do its job, and no one has ever even tried a refueling in space.

And then on top of that, there is the need to develop a space suit. There isn't a space suit right now for astronauts to go outside of any craft on the surface of the moon.

So, there's a lot of development. A lot of money has to be spent. A lot of development between now and 2028 so I would say that's at best, aggressive, and there's probably a political component to that particular date, I think.

SANDOVAL: President Trump has recommended budget cuts, but at the same time, we heard from him on Monday, as he spoke to the crew, saying that he seems excited about the trip to Mars, so we'll see how all of that plays out. Miles O'Brien, as always, really appreciate you. Thank you so much for

walking us through all this.

O'BRIEN: You're welcome, Polo.

SANDOVAL: And when we return, we'll get you back to our continuing coverage of the war with Iran, the U.S. military sharing your details on the daring mission to rescue the airmen whose jet fighter went down in the mountains of Iran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:33:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Despite the peril, the officer followed his training and climbed into the treacherous mountain terrain and started climbing toward a higher altitude, something they were trained to do in order to evade capture. He scaled cliff faces, bleeding rather profusely, treated his own wounds and contacted American forces to transmit his location.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": That's President Trump as he praised the U.S. airman who was rescued after his F-15 fighter jet went down in Iran. He's also threatening to jail the journalist who reportedly leaked information on that story.

CNN's Jim Sciutto has the details on how this mission came together.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST (voice-over): With the missing U.S. pilot now safe, President Trump declared Sunday, militarily, one of the best Easters ever.

TRUMP: In the United States military, we leave no American behind. We don't do it.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): A U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down during a night mission over southwest Iran on Friday, forcing its two U.S. airmen to eject, leaving them wounded and stranded. The jet was from the 48th Fighter Wing out of Royal Air Force Lakenheath Base in England, according to a source briefed on the executive summary of the search and rescue operation.

U.S. search and rescue teams extracted one of the airmen shortly after the crash, but the fate of the second, a colonel, remained uncertain. For a harrowing 24 hours, he evaded Iranian forces, scaled a mountain ridge and awaited rescue.

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: When he was finally able to activate his emergency transponder, his first message was simple and it was powerful. He sent a message, 'God is good.' ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIES COMMANDER: This is a full colonel, so this is somebody who's, you know, 45 plus years old, probably went to SERE school a long time ago, who climbed 7,000 feet, uses his transponder, does it all on a broken ankle.

[02:35:00]

I can't wait to see this guy.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Due to the terrain and hostile Iranian forces in hot pursuit, senior officials describe the operation as one of the most challenging combat search and rescue missions. The CIA helped deploy a campaign of misdirection to confuse Iranians over the airman's location and condition.

JOHN RATCLIFFE, CIA DIRECTOR: We deployed both human assets and exquisite technologies that no other intelligence service in the world possesses, to a daunting challenge comparable to hunting for a single grain of sand in the middle of a desert.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): CNN has learned that the elite Army Delta Force and Navy SEAL Team 6 were among the hundreds of special operators and intelligence personnel involved in the mission. The president said the massive undertaking involved 155 aircraft, including four bombers, 64 fighters and 48 refueling tankers.

Because of the Iranian sand at the landing site, several of the aircraft could not take off again and had to be destroyed.

GEN. DAN CAINE, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: This was an incredibly brave and courageous mission and a testament to the courage, skill and tenacity of the joint force and our leaders. And especially a daylight option, having the guts to try, means so much to so many.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Our thanks to Jim Sciutto. And during that same briefing, President Trump also said that free traffic of oil must be part of any potential deal with Iran. And despite this, oil prices, they are still pretty high as the president doubles down on his threat to strike Iranian infrastructure as well as energy facilities. Brent crude, for example, which is the global benchmark you see there, it's up at a little over $111, about a 1.45 percent increase with WTI crude, a little higher there as well.

Let's bring in now CNN's Eleni Giokos, who's tracking the very latest developments from Abu Dhabi. Eleni, so I'm wondering if you could tell our viewers around the world as we wait to see pretty much what is in store for us the next 24 hours or so with this current deadline. What are markets doing?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, I just want to focus on what you just said in terms of Brent crude, which is the international benchmark, and then the U.S. benchmark, WTI, which is at a premium to Brent crude. Now, that's a rarity. That doesn't happen very often. And it indicates the availability of barrels right now in the market, and the U.S. has availability of Brent -- of oil, and that's so important now. The United States produces sweet crude, Brent crude, a sour crude, which is basically used to refine things into jet fuel. But it also is so important to note here, Polo, that the Strait of Hormuz is perhaps one of the most lethal weapons against the global economy.

And that is why President Trump has set this deadline that involves the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, despite the oscillating messages in the past that we've heard from President Trump saying, you know, the Strait is going to open up naturally. You know, if anyone wants the oil, they need to come fetch it. But at the end of the day, global markets are global markets and it's affecting U.S. pricing as well.

I want to just show you what we've seen happening in terms of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Two Qatari LNG tankers started the journey to transit through the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday. They then stopped their journey. They turn around and they go back. Now, we don't know why they turned around. But what we do know is that Iran has de facto control over the Strait.

It's allowing so-called friendly countries to pass through the Strait if they negotiate directly with Iran. And it's also said there's around a $2 million toll fee to transit through the Strait. The countries that have been able to make it through is Pakistan, India, Turkey. And we've also heard news that Turkey has -- that Iraq has received exemptions.

And also important to note that there's sort of a mechanism that perhaps is being negotiated between Iran and Oman as we're still hearing about a U.N. Security Council resolution vote that will perhaps happen at some point in this week, that will include any defensive measures taken by countries that adopt this resolution. That has been put forward by Bahrain. It's backed by the UAE. And of course, China and Russia has veto power. So we don't know what will happen there.

But there's definitely also diplomatic effort being conducted at this point to secure transit through the Strait.

SANDOVAL: Eleni, that's so interesting too, what you show us, those pictures of the marine traffic on the Strait there. Clearly, a reminder that there still comes with risk. Eleni Giokos, thank you so much for showing us that.

I want to turn now to CNN's Christiane Amanpour's story. She grew up in Tehran before moving to London with her Iranian father and British mother.

[02:40:00]

As CNN's Chief International Anchor, she spent decades reporting on and from Iran. Christiane takes a look back at decades of Iranian reform movements.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I'm Christiane Amanpour in Iran.

I've spent almost my entire CNN career covering Iran and one of the things that simply has not changed over all these decades is the desire, the fervent wish of the majority of the Iranian people to have their own freedoms, their own democracy. There was a moment back between 1998 and 2000, the early 2000s, when there was a reform movement. It actually did make a difference.

And I made a journey charting my own time in Iran. We called it revolutionary journey and I profiled, amongst others, a young girl called Leila (ph). That's what we called her for her safety and she took me to parties.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't check out if everything is OK.

AMANPOUR: There were boys and girls mixed, despite the rules and regulations, where they were drinking alcohol but it was backed by a serious belief that, this time, they could create some kind of new freedom for themselves.

In 2009, the reform movement was dead and the much-hated President Ahmadinejad was running for re-election. And it is generally believed that he lost that election, but the Supreme Leader weighed in and made him the official winner. Well, that sparked a massive uprising and it was called the Green Revolution.

Shouting, God is great! The people have now joined thousands and thousands of supporters marching down this main artery.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People in Tehran hate Ahmadinejad! People in Tehran hate Ahmadinejad!

AMANPOUR: That protest was crushed and the people went back underground, if you like, for their fight for democracy. It rose again in 2022 with the killing of the young woman, Mahsa Amini, who allegedly wasn't wearing her headscarf well enough. At the beginning of this year, there were huge unprecedented protests around Iran. This was sparked by poverty and people just could not make ends meet.

To my chagrin, being an Iranian, the plight of the Iranian people has gone off the boil because this war has basically escalated out of control right now. So we don't know where this is going to end but, for me, I really hope the people's dreams will somehow be realized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: U.S. Vice President, J.D. Vance, currently heading to Hungary just days ahead of the country's He's expected to hold bilateral meetings with Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, whose grip on power is currently facing a big test in Sunday's vote. Vance's visit is being viewed inside Hungary as an attempt to boost Orban, who received a strong endorsement from President Trump. "And it's good to be home," those words from Savannah Guthrie as she returned to the "Today" show for the first time since her mother's disappearance. Details on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:47:46]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, CO-ANCHOR OF "TODAY" SHOW, NBC NEWS: Pretty shot of the sun coming up. Good morning. Welcome to "Today." On this Monday morning, we are so glad you started your week with us. And it is good to be home.

CRAIG MELVIN, CO-ANCHOR OF "TODAY" SHOW, NBC NEWS: Yes, it is good to have you back at home.

GUTHRIE: Well, here we go, ready or not.

MELVIN: Yeah.

GUTHRIE: Let's do the news.

MELVIN: Yes, so good to have you back. All right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: That was the emotional return to the "Today" show for its host Savannah Guthrie, whose appearance on Monday morning came more than two months after her mother, Nancy, disappeared from her Arizona home. Now, the search for her, it is still ongoing.

CNN's Omar Jimenez reports from New York.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was really a big moment, the return of Savannah Guthrie to the "Today" show after it's now been more than two months since the disappearance of her mom, 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie. There were a lot of questions over how this day would go, if they would take the time to acknowledge it, to start the show.

And while there was a little bit of that, there was a lot of welcome home. That was what we heard from our co-anchor, Craig Melvin and then her as well, a lot of that sentiment. But they really just got right into the show as they would any other typical morning on that program.

It wasn't until the next hour that when Savannah Guthrie went out onto the plaza, as the "Today" show anchors typically do, and they're greeted by fans, many of them are holding signs of support, signs showing her mother. And that was really the moment where we saw for the first time, at least over the course of this program, those emotions actually break through.

I just want to show you a little bit of that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GUTHRIE: And these signs are so beautiful. You guys have been so beautiful. I've received so many letters, so much kindness to me and my whole family. We feel it. We feel your prayers. So thank you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now, to put things in perspective, the last time Nancy Guthrie was seen was back on January 31st. And here we are in April. And at this point, there really is no leading theory from authorities, despite the high-profile nature not only of this disappearance, but also the subsequent investigation, which is excruciating for any community or family to go through, but especially so when it's playing out in such a public way as we have seen with the Guthrie family here.

They've offered up to $1 million for any clues leading to significant progress here.

[02:50:00]

And while there have been bits and pieces of evidence that have come out that have sparked interest from the general public, potentially sparked leads for investigators as well, as I mentioned, nothing really substantial that we know of publicly that has moved this investigation forward to this point.

And you saw the reaction from Guthrie's "Today" show family. It's similar to many people online that have been cheering her on and supporting her throughout all of this. And while her professional work continues, the personal pain of what she and her family have been going through won't be going anywhere and perhaps only becoming more prevalent as time goes on. Back to you.

SANDOVAL: All right. Thanks so much for that report. Coming up next from the garden to your jewelry box. Just ahead, turning expired fruits and vegetables into sustainable, luxurious gemstones.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Welcome back. A marble slurry dumping yard in India is proving to be a hit with tourists, but experts are warning that it may be harmful to human health. Located in western India, the area has been compared to Switzerland by visiting tourists. But experts say that the slurry by-product produced during marble stone cutting could actually be impacting humans and may even have ecological consequences for nearby soil and groundwater.

A British-Chinese designer turning expired food waste into colorful gem-quality accessories for people to wear. CNN's Leah Dolan went to Anabela Chan's London showroom to learn more about this innovative jewelry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANABELA CHAN, JEWELRY DESIGNER: These ones are tomatoes. I tried for a long time with oranges and lemons, but they were so pale that we can't actually get the pigment to look visible enough, whereas with pineapple, that solved my problem.

LEAH DOLAN, CNN ASSOCIATE PRODUCER (voice-over): Fine jewelry once meant diamonds, rubies, and gemstones formed after millions of years in the earth. But recently, the industry has been disrupted by lab- grown alternatives. Now, an innovative new process is going one step further by turning food waste into luxurious jewels.

The stones in Anabela Chan's jewelry are made by drying, simmering, boiling, and grinding overripe produce, creating a pure pigment powder.

CHAN: Distilling it is a matter of days to a week or two weeks, and then bonding and stabilization, and it's done within a week as well. So it's a very short time frame compared to fossilized gemstone and mineral-based gemstone that take millions of years or billions of years in nature and within a laboratory, a matter of months.

[02:55:00]

DOLAN (voice-over): She's one of a number of jewelers redefining luxury by experimenting with sustainable materials like bioresin, recycled aluminum, and lab-grown gemstones.

CHAN: In the West, 40 percent of food available to us, perfectly good food, goes to landfill sites every year. That for me is staggering. So I thought to myself, what if we can create a gemstone using pigments from fruits and vegetables, infusing it into a bioresin similar to an amber, to recreate that sort of quite luscious ornamental stone that can then be casted or it can be cut, faceted, and polished, just like a mined gemstone.

So let me show you more from the collection. The center stone, it's a synthesized ruby made in a laboratory. And to get a ruby this size and scale from nature would have been near sort of impossible and so valuable. It is a price point made possible by using innovative new materials. More people can access it and more people can enjoy wearing it on a daily basis.

People will always be drawn to beautiful things. What if we can start a whole new movement of creating precious things, but with something as humble as a ripened tomato or purple sweet potato, essentially turning waste into hard luxury.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Fascinating. So Mighty Michigan, they held off UConn to win their first NCAA Men's Basketball Championship title since 1989. The Wolverines clawing their way to a 69-63 victory over the Huskies, coming out strong in the first half. They were led by Elliot Cadeau, the newly minted most outstanding player of this year's Final Four.

And then there's this shot from Michigan guard, Trey McKenney, who broke a lot of hearts with this one. UConn tried to come back in the second half, closing some of the gap, even getting within four points inside the final minute, but not enough to secure what would have been their third national title in four years. Again, the number one, Wolverines, winning their first title in 37 years.

And look at those huge celebrations happening in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Monday night. A lot of people taking to the streets with a big reason to celebrate. And one of the biggest names in the WNBA changing teams. The Chicago Sky have traded two-time All-Star Angel Reese to the Atlanta Dream in exchange for Atlanta's first round draft picks over the next two years.

Reese led the WNBA in rebounding last year and has averaged 14 points per game in her first two seasons. Reese says that she is beyond grateful to be moving to the Atlanta Dream and the Dream's head coach praising her, saying that she will thrive with her new team in Atlanta.

Appreciate you joining us. I'm Polo Sandoval, New York. "CNN Newsroom" continues after a short break.

[02:57:52]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00]