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No Deadline Given for Iran to a Peace Proposal, Israel-Lebanon Peace Talks to Resume; Hong Kong Fire Survivors Visited the Site for the First Time after the Blaze; Drake Unveils Album Release Date inside an Ice Sculpture. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired April 23, 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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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, just ahead.

The White House says there's no firm deadline for Iran to submit a peace proposal. We will have a live report on the ongoing diplomatic discussions.

Israel and Lebanon are sitting down for more peace talks today, what we know about the expected negotiations and the tense situation on the ground.

Plus, for the first time since a deadly fire ripped through a Hong Kong high-rise, people are returning to see what's left, how they're coping with a devastating loss.

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

CHURCH: Right now it is 10:30 a.m. in Tehran, where Iran's President says his country still wants peace talks as the U.S. Navy keeps up its blockade of Iranian ports.

Masoud Pazashkian says, quote, "Breach of commitments, blockade and threats are the main obstacles to genuine negotiations." President Donald Trump now says there is no time frame for ending the conflict with Iran and the White House wants to see a unified proposal from Tehran.

Meantime, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps captured two ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday and Iranian state media released this video showing soldiers boarding one of the vessels. But the White House says President Trump does not consider Tehran's capture of non- U.S. ships a ceasefire violation.

CNN is covering all the angles of this story. Eleni Giokos is in Dubai with details of what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz.

But let's begin with Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi. Good morning to you, Paula. So, President Trump extended the ceasefire in order to get Iran back to the negotiating table. What is the latest on those diplomatic efforts?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, it's definitely a different kind of strategy that we're seeing from the U.S. President at this point. There have been weeks of deadlines and threats, deadlines which have been extended each time. And now he is saying that there is no time frame on this particular deal.

So it's definitely a change in strategy. According to the White House and officials familiar with what is going on, the reasoning behind it is that they believe that there is serious fractures within the Iranian leadership, that they're waiting for a unified proposal from Tehran.

Now, to some extent, that could be true. We've certainly seen, for example, in recent days that the foreign minister has announced something and then the Revolutionary Guard has announced the opposite, saying that's not the case. So we have definitely seen some fractures within the leadership itself, but potentially this is being overplayed because what we're hearing from the Iranian side is that it is the inconsistencies in the White House and the Trump administration that is keeping them away from the negotiating table.

Now, specifically what Tehran is pointing to at this point is the fact that the U.S. is continuing its naval blockade against Iranian vessels, against Iranian ports, Central Command saying some 31 vessels have been redirected.

I want to read you a statement from the head of the delegation that was leading these talks and the parliament speaker, and I'll quote part of it. He says, "A complete ceasefire only makes sense if it is not violated by the maritime blockade and the hostage taking of the world's economy, and if the Zionist warmongering across all fronts is halted, reopening the Strait of Hormuz is impossible with such a flagrant breach of the ceasefire."

So Tehran is very focused on the fact that they are unable to use the Strait of Hormuz at this point. We're hearing from the foreign minister believing that it's an act of war. We've also heard from Iran's U.N. envoy that if Washington were to lift this blockade, then potentially these talks would start very quickly.

So clearly the Trump administration deciding to put these restrictions on Iran is having an impact at this point. But when it comes to whether or not there will be imminent talks, it is not looking positive at this point.

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Tehran certainly pointing to the fact that this blockade is still ongoing as to a reason it should not be heading to Islamabad.

We have the word from the U.S. President pointing out that Iran taking over two ships in the Strait of Hormuz is not an impediment to be able to sit down at the negotiating table saying they weren't American ships, they weren't Israeli ships. And according to the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, saying that Trump does not view this seizing of two ships as a violation of the ceasefire.

So it really appears at this point as though the Trump administration is trying to keep the door open to these discussions. But as we've heard from a number of officials within the White House, there is radio silence from Tehran at this point as to when they will be willing to talk. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Right. And Eleni, what is the latest on the Strait of Hormuz? And of course, where does all this leave oil and gas prices?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I was just looking at Brent Crude and WTI and they are higher today, up around 1.5 percent. Brent Crude above $100 a barrel once again. And I think market participants are just looking very closely to see what happens in the Strait because this international maritime chokepoint that sees around 20 percent of oil products, of gas and crude is still being completely blocked off.

And now you've got a double blockade, right? You've got what the Iranians are doing and clearly upping the ante on threats and actual incidents. And then you have the U.S. naval blockade as well on the other side.

And as Paula says that, you know, President Trump doesn't see what we saw in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, where Iran allegedly seized two vessels as a ceasefire violation for the Iranians. They want to see the removal of the U.S. naval blockade.

So we're in a deadlock scenario. And you know, we don't know how this is going to transpire in terms of actually getting them around a negotiating table.

But I want to turn your attention to what's actually happening in the Strait of Hormuz. There were two vessels that have been under the spotlight. It's the Epaminondas, which is Greek-owned and Liberian- flagged, and the MSC Francesca, which is Panama-flagged.

And these two vessels, interestingly, have been part of Iran's targeting. The IRGC said they didn't only target them, but also seized them. And if we see the movement, they stopped very close to Iran.

And there we also saw the IRGC releasing video on state media showing the actual seizure, that's what they claim.

I want to turn your attention to what the footage actually shows, because it's very interesting. You've got a speedboat with an Iranian flag, you've got various aerial views of both of the vessels. And then you've got Iranian commanders boarding these vessels, holding machine guns.

And now there's a lot of questions around the validity of this footage itself. But it basically is scaring shippers away, knowing that this could be an outcome. And really important here as well, I have to say, it's just the asymmetrical warfare that Iran is using to scare shippers away from transiting the strait.

They're using these small little speedboats and, you know, they're inflicting a lot of damage on overall traffic in the strait, from our understanding and sources telling us that a lot of shippers are looking at these images and now really even more reticent to transit because they're not only worried about the Iranian checkpoint, but then also the U.S. naval blockade.

CHURCH: Alright, Eleni Giokos and Paula Hancocks, many thanks to you both for those live reports. I appreciate it.

Well the war with Iran is driving up energy costs across Europe, forcing new emergency measures. The European Union says it has spent an additional $28 billion on energy imports since the war started.

Consumers are also seeing higher prices for gasoline, groceries and air travel. The European Commission says even if the war ended this week, disruptions to energy supplies will persist for the foreseeable future.

And Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says if this trajectory is not addressed through a peace-focused approach, the damage from the conflict process will be much greater.

The second round of direct talks between Israel and Lebanon is expected to get underway in Washington in the coming hours in hopes of extending the fragile ceasefire. Now this comes a day after Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon killed at least four people.

Lebanon's Prime Minister is accusing Israel of war crimes after an airstrike killed one journalist on Wednesday and seriously wounded another. And he says Israeli forces prevented rescue teams from reaching the victims.

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Lebanese state media says newspaper reporter Amal Khalil died while at work, she is the fourth media professional killed in Lebanon by Israel since March. Israel says its forces attacked vehicles coming from a military structure used by Hezbollah. CNN cannot independently verify either side's account.

Fawaz Gerges is a Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and author of the book, "The Great Betrayal - The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East." I appreciate you joining us.

FAWAZ GERGES, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS, AND AUTHOR, "THE GREAT BETRAYAL": Thanks for having me, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Of course. So let's begin with that outrage over the latest strikes.

One journalist was killed and another seriously injured. Lebanon's Prime Minister is accusing Israel of war crimes for targeting journalists and obstructing access to rescue workers. And we're just hours away from the second round of direct talks between Israel and Lebanon.

How do you see this moving forward?

GERGES: It's not going too far at all. Since the ceasefire was signed, Rosemary, according to Lebanese authorities, Israel has violated the ceasefire more than 240 times.

240 times.

Yesterday, Israel killed five persons, five Lebanese, including a well-known journalist, Amal Khalil, and injured her photojournalist colleague, Zainab Faraj.

Just to give you the context to show you what we're talking about, Israel bombed a car in which a huge size has on it the press. And when Amal and Faraj, the two journalists, ran away to hide in a nearby building, Israel bombed the building. And when the Lebanese Red Cross rescuers tried to really rescue Amal and Zainab from the building, which had been bombed by Israel.

Israel basically attacked the Red Cross rescuers. And then it was not really until a few hours later that the Red Cross rescuers were able to get the body of Amal, who was buried under the rubble and died as a result of her injuries. And Zainab was, of course, injured.

And as you said, Israel killed four journalists in the last round. And Israel justification is that they're either basically they don't really intentionally target journalists or they're part of Hezbollah.

Final note on this question on journalists, we're talking just about journalist Rosemary. In the past five weeks, Israel killed 91 medical workers and healthcare workers in Lebanon and injured 240 medical workers.

And that's why the Prime Minister, you mentioned the Prime Minister of Lebanon, Nawaf Salam. For our viewers, Nawaf Salam was the top of the, he was the head of the International Court of Justice. He's a journalist, a jurist.

And quote, unquote, he said "the targeting of journalists and the hindering of rescue efforts constitute a war crime." And that's exactly what the Committee to Protect Journalists said afterwards.

It says the Committee to Protect Journalists, it was outraged by what Israel did in Lebanon yesterday. So we're talking about a ceasefire yet really Israel is doing whatever it wants under the guise of still fighting Hezbollah.

CHURCH: So just, I mean, this is the thing, isn't it? Because this ceasefire and the end of the conflict in southern Lebanon is really the base for going forward for the end of the war in Iran. So what happens if they can't start these talks again, the second round between Lebanon and Israel? What happens if that can't be resolved? GERGES: I mean, my reading, and I hope I am wrong, is that the Israel-

Lebanon talks are organically linked to the American-Iranian basically track. If there is a breakthrough on the U.S.-Iran track, we could really see a kind of consolidation extension of the ceasefire on the Israel-Lebanon track. And remember here, it's only President Trump who could really exert pressure on Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.

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It was President Trump who basically brought about the ceasefire by saying in a tweet, and this is now becoming very popular, he said, Israel is prohibited from attacking Beirut and the Beqaa Valley, enough is enough. But what the United States said to Israel is that, of course, you have the right to defend yourself, self-defense.

So Israel is using, quote-unquote, "its right to self-defense," and it extends its self-defense to include anyone, any citizen, any journalist who basically approaches the areas in which Israel basically occupies in southern Lebanon. So the talks in Washington today are not really very promising because everything depends on basically whether President Trump will pressure Benjamin Netanyahu and whether there is any progress on the Iran-U.S. track.

Final point on this question, Rosemary, and there's hardly any really mention and reporting on it even by CNN. What's happening in southern Lebanon is really catastrophic. Israel is a race against time to destroy all kind of habitat, race, villages, and towns, and all of growths.

And it has brought private contractors and bulldozers to really basically wipe out any kind of life in the 10-mile security zone, which Benjamin Netanyahu would like to establish in order to prevent inhabitants from returning to southern Lebanon. So all of us talking about the likelihood of the ceasefire being extended in southern Lebanon, while Israel basically raising almost 50 villages and towns in southern Lebanon and basically using this pretext of ceasefire to consolidate its security zone or buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

CHURCH: Fawaz Gerges, many thanks for joining us, I appreciate it.

GERGES: Thanks.

CHURCH: And we are following breaking news out of Denmark, where two trains collided in a head-on crash. Health officials tell Reuters that 17 people have been injured, four of them in critical condition, rescue service officials say nobody is trapped and everyone is out of the trains. The collision happened on a train line linking two towns north of Copenhagen.

Still to come, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks about the war with Iran and why he believes the focus on the war in his country is being lost.

And months after they were driven from their homes by one of the largest fires in Hong Kong history, residents are getting a chance to return and collect their belongings. We go along as one man sees what's left of his home. Back in just a moment.

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CHURCH: Ukraine's President says the war with Iran is taking the focus away from Russia's invasion of his country. Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN's Christiane Amanpour it would be a big risk to wait until the Middle East conflict is over to bring attention back to Ukraine.

President Zelenskyy said part of the problem is that the same U.S. negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are involved in both the Iran and Ukraine talks. He says Ukraine wants to resume trilateral talks with the U.S. and Russia, but he doubts there will be any high- level meetings for now.

In about two hours, Pope Leo XIV will hold his final event in Africa before heading home.

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The pontiff visited four countries during his 11-day trip, sometimes drawing crowds of more than 100,000 people. His final stop is in Equatorial Guinea, where he will celebrate mass at a stadium before flying to Rome.

Earlier, he visited what's considered one of the world's worst prisons. The Pope criticized the treatment of the inmates and also called out the country's income inequality.

For the first time since Hong Kong's deadliest fire in decades, people are getting the chance to go back to what's left of their homes. It was five months ago that a massive fire engulfed seven high-rise apartment buildings in the Taipo district, killing more than 160 people and destroying the homes of thousands of others.

Our Kristie Lu Stout spoke with one man who went back to see what he could salvage.

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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what Taipo fire survivor Doris Cheung saw when he returned home for the first time since the deadly tragedy five months ago. Blackened walls, broken windows, rooms in disarray.

DORIS CHEUNG, WANG FUK COURT RESIDENT: Many sad memories inside and when you think about like some of the people who died inside and it made me cry.

LU STOUT (voice-over): Cheung and his 88-year-old grandmother used to share this 450-square-foot apartment. She couldn't make the trip, but her grandson walked up 14 floors to get here and had only three hours to collect their belongings. It wasn't easy to work up to this moment. CHEUNG: I just slept for three hours and cannot sleep. Maybe too much

pressure about this. I'm so nervous and many uncertainty.

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LU STOUT (voice-over): Last November, the fire tore through seven high-rise residential towers in Hong Kong's Taipo district. They were home to more than 4000 people, 168 people were killed.

There is sorrow, there is trauma.

ODILE THIANG, CLINICAL ADVISER, MIND H.K.: Our home is our kind of psychological safety net and when we lose our home, we lose that sense of safety and all of a sudden everywhere seems unsafe, which makes it so much more complex and so much more difficult to digest.

LU STOUT: So the survivors, they're now returning home to recover their personal belongings. What should they be bracing themselves for?

THIANG: Coming back to the trauma. So all the trauma triggers, again, whether it's smelling charred materials, seeing the charred hallways or rooms, just seeing all of that and bracing for that sort of, one, emotional triggers, two, just understanding the scope of what happened.

CHEUNG: I found my running crisis like, or he's still here and not going, but I have to clean it.

LU STOUT (voice-over): Cheung also recovered his grandmother's cherished Bible study notes from decades ago. She hopes to return to the apartment one last time to see it for herself.

Authorities blame substandard renovation materials for stoking the inferno. Over a dozen people have been arrested on related charges for fueling a blaze that has taken so much from families who only now are starting to pick up the pieces.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

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CHURCH: New statements are coming out of the White House on when the war with Iran might end. What the press secretary told reporters about President Trump's latest deadline for Tehran.

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom," I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.

A source says Lebanese negotiators will push to extend the shaky ceasefire with Israel during talks in Washington today. We are told Lebanon wants another month added to the truce. Lebanon's President has called for a, quote, "complete halt to Israeli aggressions," and he thanked President Trump for what he called an opportunity that we must not waste.

It appears the two vessels reportedly seized by Iran's Revolutionary Guard in the Strait of Hormuz are being held in the waters off Iran. According to ship tracking data, they are not moving. Iranian state media says the Mediterranean shipping company vessels were operating without proper authorization and violated regulations.

The White House says President Donald Trump does not view the seizure of these non-U.S. ships as a violation of the ceasefire. Meanwhile, President Trump says there is no time frame on the Iran war after extending the ceasefire earlier this week. But Iran's President says the U.S. blockade and threats are obstacles to any negotiations.

Well, more mixed signals are coming from President Trump and the White House on when the war with Iran may come to an end. CNN's Kristen Holmes has details.

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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The White House today staying away from any definitive timeline when it came to both the blockade and the ceasefire, making it essentially an indefinite ceasefire. Now, we heard from Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, who had this to say about the timing around the ceasefire.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President has not set a firm deadline to receive an Iranian proposal. Look again, I'm not going to set a timetable for the President. He has not done that and I won't.

I know there's been some anonymous sourced reporting that there was maybe a three to five day deadline, that is not true. The President has not set a deadline himself. Ultimately, he will dictate the timetable.

And again, he is satisfied with the naval blockade and he understands that Iran is in a very weak position and the cards are in President Trump's hands right now.

HOLMES: Now, this, of course, comes as President Trump has set a number of deadlines that he has extended. In fact, on Tuesday, he in the morning said that he didn't plan on extending that deadline and then issued another, again, indefinite deadline. So it does seem like now they are trying to stay away from any kind of actual timeline to that that can be pinned to President Trump.

There was also a number of other things that Leavitt said during this kind of brief gaggle that she had with reporters. She talked about how, of course, the U.S. knows who it is that they're dealing with on the Iranian side, but also said that they haven't gotten any kind of unified proposal. Essentially noting that while they are talking to certain specific people, it wasn't clear if those were the only people that had power or who had the authority to make a final deal. So there are still a lot of questions that are not being answered

right now, in particular, how long Americans can expect to be in this war.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

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CHURCH: As the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports continues, the Pentagon made a surprise announcement on Wednesday.

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U.S. Navy Secretary John Fellin is stepping down effective immediately. Sources tell CNN there was tension for months between Fellin and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Fellin was told to resign or be fired.

His departure comes amid what one White House official described as President Trump's frustration with the slow progress of shipbuilding. Fellin was a businessman and major Trump fundraiser with no prior military service when he was tapped to be Navy Secretary.

The release date for rapper Drake's upcoming album was hidden inside a huge block of ice. Just ahead, what some fans did to try to dig out the date. That is next here on CNN.

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CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN, this is your Business Breakout. I want to take a look at the markets in Asia, and you can see they're a little bit mixed, but the Hang Seng down nearly one percent, the Nikkei lost 0.75 percent.

And these are the business headlines.

Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders are set to vote today on Paramount's $110 billion takeover bid. The deal is widely expected to be approved. It would give Paramount control over the Warner Bros. movie studios and HBO streaming service, as well as this network.

Spirit Airlines is close to getting a 500 million dollar bailout from the Trump administration. A source says a deal could be announced in the hours ahead. It's expected to include the federal government taking a stake in the struggling budget airline.

The Heinz company, known for its 57 branding, is starting a new tradition for this week's NFL draft. The inaugural Mr. 57 will honor the 57th pick in the draft with a lifetime supply of Heinz ketchup, a custom jacket and the chance to be a partner in future promotions.

A publicity stunt by Canadian rapper Drake drew thousands of fans to a massive ice sculpture in downtown Toronto this week. The rapper posted on social media that the release date of his new album "Iceman" was inside the ice block. Fans used flames, flammable liquids and even a sledgehammer to try to melt it or break it down to get the information.

Toronto's fire chief called the stunt dangerous as crews melted the ice with warm water. One determined fan found a blue bag in one of the ice blocks, revealing that the album would drop on May 15th. Toronto's mayor seemed to be at pains to criticize Drake, who was born in the Canadian metropolis and lives there.

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MAYOR OLIVIA CHOW, TORONTO, CANADA: It surprised us and Drake does bring, he supports our city and we'll chat with him, but I'll ask the chief and the fire department. But it was only one afternoon, I believe, and people were overly excited. So, but hey, it is creative and that's what arts and culture is all about.

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CHURCH: I want to thank you so much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "World Sport" is coming up next.

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