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Preparations for the U.S.-Iran Ceasefire Talks in Pakistan now Underway; Taiwanese Opposition Leader is in China for a Meeting with its President. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired April 10, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

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BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, wherever you are in the world, you are now in the "CNN Newsroom" with me, Ben Hunte in Atlanta, and it is so good to have you with me.

Coming up on the show. Fears that a fragile ceasefire in Iran could fall apart as the Strait of Hormuz and Lebanon take center stage.

A rare meeting between China's top leader and Taiwan's opposition leader. We'll have a live report from Beijing.

And the Artemis 2 crew is preparing for what could be the most dangerous part of their journey.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Ben Hunte.

HUNTE: Welcome.

It is noon in Islamabad, Pakistan, where preparations are underway for crucial talks this weekend to end the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran.

Security is tight in the capital, where Vice President J.D. Vance will lead the U.S. delegation, along with Special Envoy Steve Whitkoff and President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Among the key sticking points we're going to see, Iran's promise to open the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world's oil does indeed flow, and Israeli strikes on the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran insists any ceasefire must also cover that conflict.

We are, of course, following this story from across the entire region. Eleni Giokos is standing by in Dubai for us. But first, let's go to our Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi.

Paula, good to see you again. From the Gulf perspective, how are these upcoming talks being viewed?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, with some concern, clearly, Ben, there was relief when this two-week ceasefire was brought into place. But there are also questions about what comes next. It is a tall order, what we are going to see on Saturday morning in Islamabad with these talks starting.

And as you highlighted there, they're not talking about the nitty- gritty of getting a peace deal. The sticking points are very large. For example, the fact the Strait of Hormuz is not open, the fact that Lebanon is not part of this ceasefire deal, and two weeks is not necessarily a long time to be able to deal with such significant issues.

One of the issues that experts say has emerged from what we're seeing at the moment is the fact that there doesn't appear to be anything publicly available that's written down that can show exactly what this two-week ceasefire entails, what position the two, Iran and U.S., for example, are at this point. And that's led to some confusion about which proposal everybody is agreeing to, and how many points are even on that proposal.

Much of this has been announcements from social media, from the leaders of the U.S., Iran, and also Pakistan. So it will be difficult negotiations starting on Saturday morning. Now, one of those issues that could really undermine the fragility of this truce is, of course, Lebanon.

The fact that Pakistan and Iran believed it was part of the truce, which has been rejected by Israel and the United States. We've heard from Iran, the foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, saying that the U.S. really has to choose between continuing the war through Israel or including Lebanon in this ceasefire and ending it, saying the ball is effectively in the U.S. court.

Now, also we know that the Israeli Prime Minister on Thursday night agreed to direct talks with the Lebanese government. This is something that the Lebanese government had been calling for weeks, to talk about the issue of Hezbollah. The Lebanese government does not want Hezbollah to be operating on its territory.

In fact, we heard from the Prime Minister saying that the cabinet had ordered the military to ensure that all of the arms within the capital are state owned, so they don't have this militia that is able to operate within the capital itself. But it is a significant sticking point when it comes to these talks going forward.

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We are hearing more countries around the world pushing for Lebanon to be part of this overall ceasefire deal and to be discussed during these talks, certainly after the significant strikes that Israel carried out on Wednesday across the country, including in central Beirut, which killed more than 300 people, injuring more than 1000 people.

That really has sparked international condemnation and a renewal, of course, by many countries around the world that Lebanon be part of these talks as well.

Now, we understand from sources that the U.S. President has asked Benjamin Netanyahu to lay off a little, to actually talk about these direct negotiations. In fact, he told NBC News he'd asked Netanyahu to be, quote, "a little more low key." Ben?

HUNTE: Oh, yes. Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi, thank you so much.

Now to Eleni Giokos live in Dubai for us. Eleni, the Strait of Hormuz is another key to this U.S.-Iran ceasefire. Can you just tell us what is happening right now?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so perhaps one of the most pivotal points, I think, specifically for President Trump, who has been very vocal about the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and this two-week ceasefire is subject to the opening of the straits. In fact, he on social media was saying there are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Strait of Hormuz, they better not be. And if they are, they better stop now.

Now, there's a lot of talk around the Tehran toll fee that shippers have been paying to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran maintains that any movement through the strait needs to be coordinated directly with the Iranian military.

Importantly, we've also been hearing from tanker traffic experts. We've been seeing some of the vessels passing through, but it is just a trickle. And the latest news we have is some of these vessels have been Iranian linked or just friendly to Iran.

Now the question sort of becomes, are they paying a toll fee?

We've also heard from the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Sultan Al-Jaber, who says, let's be clear, the Strait of Hormuz is not open.

Access is being restricted, conditioned, as well as controlled. And of course, we know that this is having a detrimental impact across the world.

Importantly, Ben, we also have a bit of insight now in terms of the damage in Saudi Arabia to critical energy infrastructure. According to a Ministry of Energy source that was quoted in the Saudi Arabia, importantly, association -- the media association, they say that the recent strikes have taken out 600,000 barrels of production capacity.

And if we look at the east-west pipeline, which we've been talking about consistently, this is a release valve for some of the oil that now can move through the Red Sea and not be pushed through the Strait of Hormuz. That east-west pipeline was targeted just as a ceasefire came into effect.

Now, 700,000 barrels of oil is not able to move through that east-west pipeline, keeping in mind total capacity of movement is around 7 million. So what does this all mean?

Amina Bakar from Kpler spoke to me a short while ago, and she says that means regionally, the overall supply impacted comes to 12.1 million barrels of oil. What does that mean for me and you? That means we're going to have longer issues in terms of supply disruption, even if the Strait of Hormuz, Ben, does open up. We don't really know the overall impact of these attacks regionally on

critical energy infrastructure. Saudi Arabia coming out with these numbers today, we'd heard a few weeks ago from Qatar saying 17% of their capacity was wiped out. It's going to take them up to five years to recover.

And now economists and analysts are trying to just bring up the numbers to see how long we're going to be dealing with this pain on energy supply constraints.

HUNTE: Boo. Doesn't sound good for our wallets, does it? Yikes.

Eleni Giokos in Dubai, thank you so much, and Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi, we appreciate it.

Well, in our last hour, I spoke to Paul Salem, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. I asked him about the confusion over whether the ceasefire actually applies to Lebanon and whether that gave Israel space to escalate against Hezbollah.

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PAUL SALEM, SR. FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: I think the U.S. initially agreed to a ceasefire on both fronts, but then Israel pushed back very vigorously. And there was calls between the Americans and the Israelis, I think then the Americans backtracked.

On the other hand, the Israelis did agree to direct talks between Israel and Lebanon, which is something the U.S. asked the Israelis to do. So I think that was the scenario that played out.

Israel in general is not enthusiastic about the overall talks between the U.S. and Iran. It's afraid that President Trump might accept a limited deal and leave Iran quite influential and powerful in the region. Israel would prefer that the war and the campaign continue.

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Israel also, even if there's a ceasefire with Iran, Israel does want to continue its military campaign against Hezbollah. On the Iranian side, they're in a bind as well. The Iranians did agree to a ceasefire, but they are now basically blocking the Straits of Hormuz to put pressure on Israel to stop its attacks on its proxy in Lebanon.

But Iranian public opinion accepted that Iran was fighting a war to protect Iran. But to keep the war ongoing in order to protect the proxy in another country is a different matter. So I think it's a bit of a test of wills.

HUNTE: Talks are expected to begin on Saturday, but the two sides do seem miles apart. Are these real negotiations or more of a diplomatic holding pattern while both sides pair for the possibility of war resuming?

SALEM: I think there are three parties here. I think two of them want an end to this war. And those are President Trump on the U.S. side, and I think the

Iranian government or the Iranian regime, the U.S. for obvious reasons, because of the closure of the Straits of Hormuz and enormous economic pressure that impacts President Trump at home. The Iranians for obvious reasons as well. They've been hit the hardest they've ever been hit since the revolution of 1979.

So they want a way out. The third party is Israel and Israel does not want this war to end unless Iran sort of surrenders in a big way. So I think the way the talks are going, I think they're going in the direction of finding a way to end the war, even though I don't think they're going to come to some sweeping meeting of minds and some sweeping agreement.

I expect maybe a very limited agreement, maybe on the nuclear issue and on the Straits of Hormuz in exchange for the U.S. stopping its attacks on Iran, a sort of a limited thing that allows both sides, the Iranians and the Americans to declare victory and stop. That means the Israelis at war in Lebanon and potentially resuming war on Iran itself.

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HUNTE: The astronauts of the Artemis II mission are making the long journey back to Earth, less than 24 hours until re-entry and splashdown off the coast of California. A look at the preparations and all of the risks next. See you in a moment.

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HUNTE: NASA and the astronauts of the Artemis II mission are getting ready for their return to Earth.

The astronauts are more than halfway home right now. Their Orion capsule is on track to splash down off the coast of San Diego, California in less than 24 hours, shortly after 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. But the most daunting and precarious part of the mission is still ahead for them, re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.

CNN's Tom Foreman reports for us.

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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As Orion comes back into Earth's atmospheres, there may be no other part of this that is more important than the heat shield on the bottom of the space capsule here.

Why is that so important? Because this is coming in at 25,000 miles per hour. That means there's going to be a tremendous buildup of heat on the bottom of the craft, about 5000 degrees, half the temperature of the surface of the sun.

Now, this is an ablative shield. What does that mean? That means it is supposed to erode off against all of that intense heat.

But in the Artemis I mission, one of the things they noticed was that it was not eroding so evenly. That's it right over there. And that raised some safety concerns.

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

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HUNTE: NASA made adjustments to the re-entry trajectory for Artemis II following the Artemis I mission, and officials say they are now confident the astronauts will make a safe return. That's good.

Former NASA astronaut Daniel Olivas was one of the advisors. He spoke with CNN earlier about the intense moments of re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

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DANNY OLIVAS, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: I'm going to give you three numbers to remember for tomorrow: 25,000, 5000 and 10.

The Artemis Orion capsule can be coming in at 25,000 miles an hour and entering the Earth's atmosphere. During that time, it will be dissipating heat. The peak temperatures on Orion will reach 5000 degrees, and it'll have to pass through the thicker part of the atmosphere that fast. It'll take about 10 minutes to get through it all.

So once we get through the first 10 minutes of re-entry, then we're home free and past the peak heating area of re-entry.

What happens is that you're coming in so fast, you're basically tearing the molecules of air apart at that upper atmosphere and creating a plasma around the capsule. So it's hot, it's a very staticky (ph) environment, not good communications, but we're going to get them back safely. When we first started entering the atmosphere, I came back in the space shuttle time frame, the onset of gravity was gradual.

This is going to be a little bit more of a shock for the crew. They've been spending the past nine-plus days in a micro-g environment, floating around, having a great time. We've seen all the video and photographs of them just enjoying themselves out there.

But you know, gravity is a hard thing and it really comes back hard, especially on your way in. You haven't been used to being surrounded by gravity for that entire time.

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And once that starts to hit, you really start feeling very heavy. And when they splash down in the Pacific Ocean, one g is going to hit them and they're going to feel like they weigh a ton of bricks.

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HUNTE: All right, Israel blasts with devastating attacks, killing hundreds and leaving many more homeless. Details on the humanitarian crisis and why it's putting the Iran ceasefire in peril. See you in a moment.

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HUNTE: Welcome back, I'm Ben Hunte. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

Preparations are underway for talks this weekend aimed at ending the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran. Security is tight in Islamabad, Pakistan, where negotiations will take place. The Trump administration is sending Vice President J.D. Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and the President's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Uncertainty over those talks is sending oil prices back up. Brent crude futures have risen nearly half a percentage point to more than $96 a barrel as Iran continues to block ships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices had plunged on Tuesday after President Trump announced the ceasefire.

First Lady Melania Trump has blasted the quote lies linking her to Jeffrey Epstein. The first lady made a surprise statement on Thursday saying she had no relationship with Epstein. She called on Congress to hold public hearings, allowing Epstein's victims to testify on Capitol Hill; some White House officials were stunned by the timing of her remarks.

Onwards, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has instructed his cabinet to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon, with the goal of disarming Hezbollah. His statement came after the Israeli military launched its biggest wave of strikes against Lebanon since the war started. The Lebanese Health Ministry says the assaults killed more than 300 people.

Iran is condemning the latest strikes. It says talks aimed at ending the war are contingent on the U.S. adhering to its ceasefire commitments. That includes a halt to the attacks on Lebanon, the U.S. and Israel insist that was not part of the deal.

The World Health Organization is warning that hospitals in Lebanon could run out of life-saving supplies within days from now. That includes trauma kits with antibiotics, as well as medicines to treat chronic diseases. The WHO chief says it is operationally unfeasible to move patients from hospitals that are under evacuation orders, and the health ministry complex is home to five shelters accommodating more than 5000 people. Joining me now live from Beirut is Cyril Bassil, Communications

Coordinator for CARE International in Lebanon. Thank you so much for being with me. I really appreciate it.

You are in Beirut right now. Can you just describe to us what you're seeing on the ground and what's changed since those latest strikes?

CYRIUL BASSIL, COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR, CARE INTERNATIONAL IN LEBANON: So this morning we were at a distribution, distributing water and food and mattresses and blankets to people that were recently displaced because of the airstrikes. It is absolutely heartbreaking talking to mothers and fathers that haven't slept for many nights now, that don't know what to say to their children. And several of these children have spent the last two nights sleeping on the sidewalks.

And it's been very cold in Lebanon and raining heavily. So imagine all of these children and their families sleeping under the rain because they lost their homes. That is absolutely devastating.

HUNTE: It is devastating and just seeing the pictures while you're talking now is absolutely awful. You say there has been no real relief despite talk of a ceasefire. Why not? Are you surprised by that?

BASSIL: Because ultimately the people who suffer the most are the civilians in the midst of this crisis. And so ultimately we are at CARE requesting an immediate and permanent ceasefire so that the displaced people could go back to their homes.

But we are at a time today as of now where you have 1.2 million people that are displaced. So basically imagine the entire population of Dallas, you know, fathers, mothers, their children, elderly, completely and trying to seek shelter.

And whenever they are seeking shelter, sometimes they are displaced for the second time, the third time and the first time because of the airstrikes and immense insecurity. All of this adding to the severe deterioration of their mental health.

This morning we were talking to families that were not able to form complete sentences. They are so traumatized, their mouth is shaking, their hands are shaking and they are extremely afraid and scared.

HUNTE: It is just awful. And I know I'm hearing you speak about that quite factually, but it's really shocking the things that you're saying. And I hope our viewers really understand that.

You mentioned people sleeping in streets and parks and beaches. What does that tell you about the scale of this crisis and the capacity of shelters right now?

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BASSIL: So we work very closely at CARE with the government to support the people in need, to support the internally displaced people. So you have out of the 1.2 million people, several hundred thousands of people that have been able to access the shelters. So basically the schools that have been turned by the government into shelter.

But yet we do have, because of the rapid escalation, hundreds of thousands that are still sleeping wherever they can find a public space, be it a beach, a sidewalk, or sometimes in their car. And these people, a lot of them are elderly that unfortunately are struggling with chronic disease such as cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure. And this immense stress is only further deteriorating their physical health and their mental health.

Another moment that was really heartbreaking for us at CARE is when we met a mother who had just given birth to a newborn and she was sleeping on the sidewalk with her newborn in hand. You know, so imagine someone who just gave birth and she's currently sleeping on the sidewalk with her newborn in hand. So at CARE we were giving water, a mattress, and a blanket, and food for this mother and her child, but ultimately she needs a real change to her situation through a permanent ceasefire.

Another heartbreaking sight was speaking to a mother who was explaining to us that three of her daughters have had their periods multiple times in the last month due to the immense level of anxiety. And she's not knowing what to tell them and how to support them during this very horrible time.

And so this is why at CARE we offer also psychological first aid. So basically we have professional therapists in our team that give the space and time for these people that are going through immense suffering to express themselves, to talk, to release their fears, especially the parents because they have to be strong in front of their children. So during these moments with the CARE staff they're able to release their fears and their anxieties.

HUNTE: Okay. Cyril Bassil in Beirut, thank you so much for that and we appreciate you speaking to us.

Taiwan opposition leader Cheng Li-Wun is in China on a rare visit. A few hours ago she met with top leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. This is the first time in a decade that a sitting leader of a major party in Taiwan met with Xi.

Cheng says her visit is to promote peace in the region. The meeting is closely watched as China considers the self-ruled island as its own territory and has refused to engage with Taiwan's democratically- elected President.

For more on this, let's bring in CNN's Beijing bureau chief Steven Jiang. Thank you for being with me again, sir. Will you tell us about this moment?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Ben. Cheng just wrapped up her post-meeting press conference describing this as the first positive step in setting up a more regular, sustainable mechanism for dialogue and cooperation.

And the Chinese have also put out their own readout. And obviously given the extreme sensitivity of the issue in the eyes of the Beijing leadership, every word is carefully chosen.

Now actually doing their respective opening remark inside the Great Hall of People, we heard Xi unsurprisingly emphasize the shared historical and cultural roots of people between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and also reinforcing the message of the inevitability and his own confidence in the unification of the two sides.

And Cheng, who is known to be a firebrand, also very much sticking to her script and describing this trip as a historic journey for peace amid growing global conflict. And also at times she seemed to be trying to speak Xi's language using some of his favorite phrases like the rejuvenation of the great Chinese nation. Now that's why she was able to meet with Xi Jinping because her party and the Chinese Communist Party led by Xi both acknowledged this so-called one China position, even though it may be open to different interpretations.

But that's a stance rejected by Taiwan's current ruling party, including the island's President Lai Ching-te.

And the timing of this visit also very important because Taiwan is now facing not only pressure from Beijing with ramped up military exercises around the island, but also pressure from Washington as it tries to push Taiwan to pass a $40 billion defense spending bill.

A lot of money obviously goes to buying U.S. weapons, but it is precisely the opposition led by Cheng's party trying to block the passage of this bill because politics for sure, but also there is growing fear that Trump views Taiwan as nothing more than a pawn in the bigger U.S.-China relations and cares very little about the island's long-term future.

So Trump is very much the elephant not in the room during the meeting. And it's worth remembering he is coming here himself in just a little over a month for the highly anticipated summit with Xi Jinping and Taiwan is expected to be on the agenda as well. There is chatter actually Trump may be willing to make concessions on the issue of, for example, tweaking longstanding U.S. government language on Taiwan in exchange for better economic trade deals.

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So it is really interesting to see the potential implications impact of this meeting, even though it's largely symbolic on the Trump-Xi summit, given the very delicate and complex triangular relationship between Beijing, Washington and Taipei. Ben.

HUNTE: Okay, we'll leave it there for now, Steven Jiang in Beijing. Thank you for being with me the past couple of hours, I appreciate it.

Russia has announced a ceasefire in its war against Ukraine for the Orthodox Easter holiday. It will start on Saturday afternoon, will expire at the end of the day on Sunday.

A statement from the Kremlin said that President Vladimir Putin will, quote, "proceed from the assumption that the Ukrainian side will follow the example of the Russian Federation." For its part, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously said that he forwarded the offer of an Easter ceasefire to Russia through U.S. negotiators.

We'll be right back.

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HUNTE: Welcome back to CNN, this is your Business Breakout. And these are the business headlines.

If the fragile ceasefire with Iran fails to hold, prices at the pump could rise. Fitch Ratings predicts oil could top $130 a barrel. That's if the war escalates. Prices dropped sharply on Wednesday on word of a ceasefire. But they are starting to rise again as traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz remains low.

A new report says Elon Musk's SpaceX posted a loss of nearly $5 billion last year on revenue of more than $18 billion. Those figures were reported by tech outlet The Information. And it comes as SpaceX seeks a public listing at a potential valuation of more than $1.75 trillion.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the National Football League's online streaming model. It's looking into whether the NFL is forcing viewers to pay too much in subscription fees. The NFL says it runs the most fan and broadcaster friendly distribution model in the entire sports and entertainment industry.

Hawaii's Kilauea volcano is erupting once again, sending large fountains of lava into the air. This is actually a live look at the active volcano located on the Big Island in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

The U.S. Geological Survey has placed the area under a red warning, that means the volcano could pose significant issues for aviation if ash clouds start being released by it. The latest eruption has prompted park closures and evacuations too.

All right, that's all we've got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team, I'm Ben Hunt in Atlanta and I will see you tomorrow. "World Sport" is coming up next.

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