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Iranian State Media Says a U.S. Naval Vessel was Hit; Senior U.S. Official Denies Ship was Hit; Trump Claims it's Treasonous to Say U.S. is Not Winning the Iran War. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 04, 2026 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

MINA AL-ORAIBI, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "THE NATIONAL": The U.S. now with its blockade will stop any ships that Iran has allowed in, or to not to allow the Iranians to have control of the Strait of Hormuz, be the ones determining which ships can or cannot pass.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Mina, thank you so much.

I want to -- for those of you who are joining us, share this breaking news that we are talking about out of the Middle East. There's the Iranian state media, which is reporting that Iran claims to have hit a U.S. naval ship with at least two missiles.

Courtney, can I talk to you very briefly because you had been telling me what the U.S. Navy was actually sort of -- what was known about their capabilities in terms of escorting the ships?

COURTNEY SUBRAMANLAN, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "BLOOMBERG": Yes. The U.S. had talked about previously starting escorts through the Strait, but we know that the U.S. Navy is not able to protect more than 100 vessels at any point. Western defense officials have said this would absolutely require a multinational coalition, which the president, of course, has so far failed to put together. So, this feels like an effort by the White House to try and get more buy in from the international community.

CORNISH: All right.

And again, we are talking about this because this claim from Iran, from Iran local media, is that two missiles hit a U.S. Naval vessel, right? Like not an oil tanker. Not something -- not some other country's things. But going directly after the U.S. and its efforts to provide guidance or escorts.

And we're awaiting any news from the White House today to find out what may have happened, or U.S. CENTCOM, to talk about what may have happened.

Is there any sense that moving forward, that they had planned for this eventuality, meaning the attempted attack via missiles from Iran? SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You would have to imagine that

they're prepared for these contingencies because even almost immediately after the president announced this so-called Project Freedom, you know, you had Iran claiming that this would be a violation of the ceasefire. I don't think it was difficult to predict that something like this would happen so immediately after.

I would be really interested in seeing how, you know, our international partners respond. Because going back to Courtney's point, the president really tried to get NATO allies involved in using their warships to guide -- the guide -- guide these ships through the Strait of Hormuz, and they refused, which is actually what started this whole -- the latest anger from the president against NATO in the first place.

So, it will be interesting to hear the reaction from the White House. I actually just reached out to the White House myself, so.

CORNISH: Yes, we've actually reached out to the White House. We've reached out to -- CNN has reached out to CENTCOM. And then,, in the meantime, we actually have this statement from Iran, which reports that, quote, "following a firm and rapid warning by its Navy, the entry of what it described as U.S. and Israeli enemy destroyers into the Strait of Hormuz was prevented.

Obviously, if true, this could be a very severe escalation, giving that double blockades meant the Strait of Hormuz was at a standstill. And right as the president starts talking about getting things moving, Iran replies in this way.

SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: It is a huge deal, Audie, because right now, when Secretary Hegseth, from the Defense Department, is seated in front of Congress and urging them to consider more budget appropriations, one of the things that he said is, well, I don't need to really go to you for permission because we're in a ceasefire right now, right? We're not in an ongoing conflict. Well, if these reports are true --

CORNISH: Oh, Hegseth. Yes. Yes. Pete Hegseth.

FISCHER: Hegseth. This just recently happened.

CORNISH: Yes.

FISCHER: If these reports are true, then we are not in a ceasefire right now. And that there does need to be an act in which the executive branch is asking Congress for authorization of this war.

CORNISH: Yes.

FISCHER: And so, any effort to get this ceasefire ended by Iran or by the U.S. completely dismantles the administration's plans for getting more funding for the war.

CORNISH: Right.

FISCHER: That's why this is a big deal.

CORNISH: And we should underscore that, right? They were -- they're using the term kinetic for people who are hearing it. The idea that as long as missiles aren't flying, the clock is somehow stopped on us having to go to Congress and ask them for war funding. And now, if what Iran is saying is true, that they have hit a U.S. naval vessel, that they have done that in a missile strike, that certainly is going to change the literal math of how many days they have to have this conversation with Congress.

Now, right now we are hearing, like, conflicting reports. "Axios" is reporting that the U.S. officials are denying it. And again, our initial reporting had come from Iranian state media.

This is also a reminder of the fog of information war in the Strait of Hormuz. You have ships that are spoofing, meaning faking their position. You have other ships that are flying different flags or pulling down their flags, and then you have double blockades. It's actually kind of hard to know, for all those sailors who are trapped, exactly what is going on. And that's why the idea of guidance and this project from the White House was supposed to make a difference. And it's questionable, as we awake on this Monday morning, if it has.

FISCHER: We've talked about this before. The very first act of U.S. aggression in Iran was bombing a school when it should have been where they thought they were, bombing a military base.

[06:35:05]

That showed a level of distrust in our military's intelligence. So, when we hear the U.S. now denying that this even occurred, or the nature that it occurred, the first thing that my gut goes to is, you've gotten the intel wrong in the past. So, now I have to double check your math every single solitary time.

CORNISH: In the meantime, you've got this peace talk question more or less at a standstill. Strait of Hormuz is at the center of that. And I'm just going to bring back Mina from earlier. We were talking to her. And she was talking to us from Abu Dhabi.

And, Mina, I wanted to bring you back because it's one thing for oil tankers not to be able to get through that sort of thing, but regional allies are kind of relying on the U.S. and its military to protect them in this war where Iran has turned its weapons on its neighbors. Can you talk about the significance of this for them?

AL-ORAIBI: Well, I mean, first, you're absolutely right, the alliance with the U.S. in terms of military support is hugely important for the gulf countries, but also Jordan, other countries in the region.

However, here in the UAE, you'll find that many officials say we also defended ourselves. It was the UAE military that was largely manning the skies in terms of taking out drones and also manning the missile defense systems here on the ground.

Now, a development like this raises questions, one about, where does Iran want to go in terms of taking an attack to the U.S. Navy, is trying to bring back the war. We are in an incredibly fragile ceasefire, but it is a ceasefire. Everybody in this region wants to last and wants to solidify into a long-term peaceful outcome that includes a complete free flow in the Strait of Hormuz. So, there is concern about that.

There's also the element that an attack by Iran like this will mean that they are willing to go back to attacking neighbors that, again, from the very beginning, have said they do not want to be part of this war.

Now, the French and the Brits have come together. They have tried to get a coalition that's supposed to open the Strait of Hormuz. On the 17th of April, French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer met and they had 51 countries come together. Notably, the U.S. was not part of it. Saying they would work at opening Strait of Hormuz.

We are now in May and that has not happened. So, also this idea of an international coalition really won't have strength and umph without the U.S. There is hope that there could be a U.S.-led coalition that would open the Strait of Hormuz, but we're not seeing that materialized just yet.

CORNISH: And in the meantime, we are trying to learn more from U.S. CENTCOM and their position about whether or not this happened. At the moment, Iran is making all the claims about having struck a naval vessel.

You can read Mina's work in "The National."

Thank you so much for speaking with us.

Stay with us. We're going to have more detail on this news out of the Strait of Hormuz.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:45]

CORNISH: All right, we're following this breaking news. This report from Iran. They claim to have hit a U.S. naval ship.

But I'm bringing in CNN's Nic Robertson, who's in Islamabad, where there were attempts at peace talks just a few weeks ago.

So, Nic, we've got some conflicting information here from the U.S. and Iran. What are you hearing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. And look, the Iranians are claiming that they've hit this U.S. Navy patrol boat with two missiles. The base or the location they give for this is Jask, which is just outside the Strait of Hormuz. Jask is a port on the Iranian side of the Strait of Hormuz. So, the location here is an indication. It's sort of the outer perimeter, if you will, of what Iran defines as the area of the Strait of Hormuz that it -- that it controls.

We've heard this afternoon from the IRGC spokesperson saying that if any U.S. naval vessel tries to violate the Strait of Hormuz, then it will be attacked. So, there's been very clear lines coming from the Iranian leadership that if there was any effort by the U.S. Navy to come into the Strait of Hormuz, to somehow support in this Project Freedom effort, to guide civilian vessels from out of the gulf where they're struck, where they are stuck, as President Trump has suggested and said could happen, that the Iranians would strike back.

Now, we are also hearing from U.S. sources that this hasn't happened, that no vessel has been hit. It's not the first time that Iran has claimed that it's struck U.S. vessels. None of it has been proved in the past. But this will be the Iranians, it appears, to be doubling down on this threat of action by claiming action.

This is very strong pushback. You have, on the one hand, President Trump saying that there is some sort of positiveness in the diplomacy that Pakistan is still helping mediate in. And I think the ball at the moment, with the U.S. proposal gone back to Iran, up to Iran to respond. But on the twin track with that diplomacy is a very clear message from President Trump, the Project Freedom, that he wants to deny Iran what it wants, which is control of the Strait of Hormuz.

[06:45:10]

So, a verbal contest. Has it turned physical today? Iranians saying yes, U.S. saying no. But it really tells you that the state of diplomacy is in a very, very fragile place.

CORNISH: Nic, I just have to ask something here. Underline something. You said that Iran has claimed in the past to have taken actions that prove not to be true. And so, the timing of this sort of begs the question about whether or not this is about instilling fear in all of the cooperative corporations, insurers, whoever who were just starting to believe that the U.S. would be able to guide them through the Strait.

ROBERTSON: Yes, I mean, it really doubles down on the concerns that those shipping shippers, insurance companies, the maritime, the mariners themselves have about entering the Strait of Hormuz. The U.K. maritime agency that watches that waterway, and other waterways, but it watches that waterway reported earlier on today that a civilian vessel, a container ship, had been fired upon but with unknown projectiles. The crew was safe. There was no environmental damage. But that same agency warned, you know, commercial vessels that going into the Strait of Hormuz represented a huge danger. That if they did, they should try to stay close to the waterways of Oman on the other side of the Strait from Iran. The incident that the Iranians are claiming is much closer to the Iranian coastline.

But I think this sense and this warning and guidance that's being given to commercial vessels speaks precisely to that, their existing fears. And undoubtedly when Iran claims something like this, it will heighten those fears and concerns. And this is going to be a real space to watch. Will Iran's messaging

here put off those commercial vessels from transiting the Strait of Hormuz? And if it does, then in that context, over Project Freedom, Iran wins the day it would appear.

CORNISH: OK. Thank you so much, Nic.

And I want to turn to this on CNN THIS MORNING today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We get the radical left to say, we're not winning. We're not winning. They don't have any military left. It's unbelievable. It's actually -- it's actually -- I believe it's treasonous, OK. You want to know the truth? It's treasonous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: We're going to get some reaction on that from a former congressman who is also a veteran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:52:20]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We get the radical left to say, we're not winning. We're not winning. They don't have any military left. It's unbelievable. It's actually -- it's actually -- I believe it's treasonous, OK. You want to know the truth? It's treasonous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: All right, joining me now is former congressman and CNN senior political commentator Adam Kinzinger. He's also the author of a new book titled "That's What Heroes Do." We're going to talk about that in a bit.

But I want to ask you about this claim of treasonous. And the reason why is because I think there is an argument to be made that the more people are talking, certainly on a show like this, about how little of a plan there is, how little strategy there is, that the Iranians are watching that too, right? And when you see they're like Lego propaganda, they clearly get all the inside jokes and the cultural references. So, do we risk, just like talking about the economy, talking ourselves into an even worse position on the war?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You do risk it. I mean, that's a reality. But here's the thing is, the administration has to be spending the effort to convince the American people to fight their own information war. This is the craziest thing. And the thing to understand about their strategy here. So, in politics, or in foreign policy it's called the DIME model, diplomatic, informational, military and economic. One of the -- the military side, we're doing good. You know, the military's operating. It's doing what it needs to do. But information is key there. And so, Iran is putting out the Lego memes. And, in fact, Trump did a Uno thing yesterday, which was so stupid, and then Iran reacted.

CORNISH: Yes, we should show that a little. In this image he posted a Truth Social it says, "I have all the cards." And the cards are from -- of Uno. Which for people who have ever played Uno knows the goal is to have fewer cards.

KINZINGER: Right.

CORNISH: But to your point, this is -- I've been joking, Edgelord (ph), diplomacy.

KINZINGER: Yes.

CORNISH: Meaning, you have a White House through ICE, through the state, all kinds of State Department feeds that are constantly trolling and making jokes. And now we're somehow in a war in which the other side is doing the same.

KINZINGER: Yes. And, I mean, this is the point. So, Pete Hegseth said, you know, that the chief enemy in this is the Democrats and some Republicans. And you see that in the information strategy of the White House. Iran attacks us, you know, informationally, if you will, and the White House, instead of fighting back and doing their own Lego meme or something, I mean, that's a cell phone, the cards. Look, like, wild -- Iran puts out a draw four today. I could have seen that. I could have been a five-year-old going, you probably should do a draw four Donald Trump because a regular wild is beat by a draw four. It's like the greatest cell phone.

CORNISH: Yes.

KINZINGER: So, yes, I mean, it does damage the effort when people are talking about it, but we live in America and we have every right to question what our leaders do. It's what makes us special.

CORNISH: Which brings me to the CNN investigation, finding that the majority of U.S. bases in the region have taken on some kind of damage, to the point where some are unusable, that you've got some troops possibly operating out of hotels and apartments.

[06:55:07]

Can you talk about our position here, right, on the one hand saying we have all the cards. On the other hand we're counting on this drips and drabs of information and reporting about the reality.

KINZINGER: I mean, look, every time -- and, by the way, I know people that are deployed over there that are giving me some horror stories as well about some of the things that are happening. The reality is, if the administration is not transparent, then when we get information like CNN's amazing report about the damage that was done, that -- very important report because they're -- we're taxpayers, we pay for it, then you learn not to trust the administration.

There's only one reason, by the way, that some people are taking the Iranian regime at their word over Trump is because the Trump administration has been known to lie. So has the Iranian regime. But now you're sitting here going, OK, what now?

And so, the damage to the Middle East is very serious. Again, your taxpayer money is going to have to go to repair it. It doesn't mean we're losing. It doesn't mean we've lost. But I would certainly say we're not in a position right now where we can declare victory and be honest about it.

CORNISH: Now, I want to keep you here for a minute and have you join the group chat and find out what's in your group chat because I suspect it is your new book, which is a kid's book, right?

KINZINGER: Yes.

CORNISH: And it's called "That's What Heroes Do." I can only get you for a minute, but how do you define hero? I've got two little boys and I don't know how to explain it to them right now when they see people in positions of power maybe doing things that don't come off as so heroic.

KINZINGER: Yes, I mean, to me, hero is someone that's willing to do something for others above themselves. And that's what you see in the moral of the story of this book. It's not, yes, you have firefighters in there. Yes, you have military in there. But the ultimate thing is a hero is somebody that's living for somebody more than themselves. And you'll see, I don't want to spoil the end of the book, but it ends up being a good friend of his that ends up being the hero because she puts others before herself.

And so, it's just a message I think kids need because we're confused every day about what is good, what is right, what's moral, what's a hero. And it's obviously not political. You can't do that with a kid's book. And I wouldn't want to. But it just, I think, gives kids a good lesson in how to live for something bigger than yourself.

CORNISH: All right, Adam Kinzinger, thanks for sharing that. Really appreciate it.

KINZINGER: You're welcome. Any time.

CORNISH: Bringing back the rest of the group chat.

It's only Monday. I feel like I've been on a journey in this hour. What is in your group chat?

FISCHER: So, not all heroes wear capes. Some wear Prada. That is what is in my group chat.

CORNISH: Well played.

FISCHER: We had "The Devil Wears Prada" debut, the second film, over the weekend to big, big, big numbers. And that comes on the heels of the Met Gla coming tonight in New York City. It's always the first Monday in May. And it's a big deal, Audie, because Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez are the --

CORNISH: Yes. It's the tech gala I've been hearing.

FISCHER: It's the tech gala.

CORNISH: Yes.

FISCHER: I love that.

CORNISH: Yes.

FISCHER: But, you know, there's this feeling inside the fashion industry that it's being overtaken by celebrity and by money, as opposed to being focused on the actual art and on the fashion.

CORNISH: Or that it's influencing the taste.

FISCHER: Yes. Absolutely.

CORNISH: The whole thing has been about taste, which you can have whether you have money or not. And now it's like, well, if you buy your way in and you're not dressed well, what are we even doing here?

FISCHER: A hundred percent. And I think that was the criticism of Lauren Sanchez's "Vogue" cover back a few months ago.

But I'm in it just for the looks, Audie. I will be watching and ranking all the (INAUDIBLE).

CORNISH: I'm obsessed. We're looking images here. I suspect maybe from the camp (ph) years. I can't remember which theme these -- this was. But I am a person who's actually gone to the Met exhibit like after the show. I'm very into the fashion of it.

What are you guys into for your group chats?

SUBRAMANLAN: Well, just sticking with the affordability thing, I'm really interested in what the president is planning to do with his affordability agenda. What the state of it is right now. We started this year --

CORNISH: Is this like infrastructure week?

SUBRAMANLAN: Exactly. Exactly.

CORNISH: Like, is there actually a thing or is it going to be a couple of cereal boxes behind him at a press conference? Which has happened before.

SUBRAMANLAN: Yes. You know, and I think there's a new snag here with the security question raised after the white House Correspondents' Association Dinner shooting --

CORNISH: Yes. SUBRAMANLAN: Whether the president can continue to travel as he has across the country, will that undercut any efforts to help Republicans in the fall with the midterm elections? I think there's real questions about how this administration can bring down prices. And the window is very narrowing as we are six months.

CORNISH: Oh, for sure.

OK, Seung Min, last word.

KIM: Also, the Met Gala is in my group chat because it's the first Monday of May. So, how could anything else be?

CORNISH: Yes.

KIM: But what --

CORNISH: Because we can't actually afford anything we've seen on the red carpet.

KIM: Exactly.

CORNISH: This is where we just live it out, these fantasies.

KIM: Yes. Well, what I really like about it beyond the beautiful looks and the eye candy that we're going to see on the red carpet is just the conversations that it spurs after the fact.

CORNISH: Yes.

KIM: Obviously, the AOC tax the rich dress from a few years ago. That was a conversation starter for several days afterwards.

CORNISH: In this moment of billionaire taxes and movement around that.

KIM: Exactly. Yes. And you're seeing a lot of protests already against Jeff Bezos and his involvement in the Met Gala. So, I'm really interested to see what the conversation is like over the next several.

CORNISH: Yes, and whether "The Devil Wears Prada Two" will somehow cancel out or overtake it in the narrative, because Seung Min's right, lots of people have been saying this -- we're not into this, we -- we're not into this.

[07:00:05]

We're not into the message of this when it comes to money.

FISCHER: Yes, I think people think that fashion is a way that they can express themselves at any price point, whether you're a young girl, a young guy who's trying to get in, in his local store, or you're somebody later on in life, you have more money, you can throw at it. But this idea that you have to be rich to get involved doesn't sit right with anybody.

CORNISH: Yes. All right. We'll see how it goes. First Monday in May. Much more news this week.

Thank you for waking up with us. I'm Audie Cornish. And the headlines are next.