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Trump Agrees To Suspend Strikes On Iran For Two Weeks; Iran: Military Will Coordinate Passage Through Hormuz. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired April 08, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

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[04:00:38]

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Becky Anderson live from our Gulf and Middle East programming hub here in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. It is 11:30 in Tehran, midday here. Just hours ago, news of a temporary ceasefire in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran prompting celebrations in Tehran.

Well, huge pro regime crowds welcoming the news of a pause in the fighting. President Trump announced the agreement on social media before his deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz. And that vital waterway is key to all of this. Iran says its military will coordinate passage through the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump says the U.S. will be helping with the traffic buildup in the strait.

Pakistan helped mediate the agreement. The Prime Minister has invited the U.S. and Iran to Islamabad for direct talks on Friday. And in Lebanon, the Israeli ministry reports eight people have been killed and 22 injured in a drone strike. It is unclear if the U.S.-Iran ceasefire covers the fighting between Israel and the Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office says it does not.

And the IDF says it completed a wave of strikes in Iranian airspace overnight.

All right, let's get you bang up to speed. Eight hours after this ceasefire went into place. Paula Hancocks is live this hour in Abu Dhabi. We're going to begin though with Julia Benbrook who is in Washington.

Julia, what are you hearing from the White House this hour?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that Pakistan's prime minister has invited delegations from the United States and Iran for talks on Friday. Officials who spoke with our team have said that they are preparing for these potential talks and that they would likely include Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Vice President J.D. Vance. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did confirm that there were discussions about in person talks, but essentially nothing was final. Nothing was set in stone until we hear from the president himself.

And less than two hours before Trump's deadline, with the threat of targeting Iran's bridges and infrastructure looming. He announced that he had accepted a ceasefire proposal from Pakistan for this two week pause. And Trump said in that social media post, that Truth Social post where he announced this, that the 10-point plan from Iran was a workable basis on which to negotiate. Trump also claimed in that post that the United States had achieved or exceeded all of its military objectives.

Now, there are still a lot of questions here, but it is clear that the administration is looking for some sort of an off ramp. And Trump expressed confidence that there would be a definitive agreement. I want to pull up part of the wording that he used. In this post he said, quote, "Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the agreement to be finalized and consummated. On behalf of the United States of America as president and also represent the countries of the Middle East, it is an honor to have this long term problem close to a resolution."

Now, Trump said that a key condition to this two week pause was to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, that critical waterway where 20 percent of the world's oil typically passes through. Iran's foreign minister has said that its military would help coordinate the passage of vessels through the strait during the ceasefire. In an overnight post, Trump said that the United States would be assisting in some way. I have reached out for clarification on what that would look like.

[04:05:03]

ANDERSON: Julia, thank you. Let's bring in Paula Hancocks who is here in Abu Dhabi.

Paula, you've been monitoring what has been going on around the region, not least the response to this announcement of a ceasefire. What are we hearing?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, let's start with the Iranian reaction. We had an official statement from the foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, saying that this was going to go ahead if attacks against Iran are halted. Also saying that the military would be coordinating the movements through the Strait of Hormuz. That's one of the key questions, what exactly does that look like? But no clarification at this point.

There was also a statement from the National Security Council, a more fiery statement claiming victory. I want to play you part of that statement that was read out on state television in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Iran has achieved a great victory and forced America to accept its 10 point plan. America is committed to non-aggression, continued Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, acceptance of enrichment, lifting of all sanctions, termination of all resolutions of the Security Council and Board of Governors, payment of compensation to Iran, withdrawal of American forces from the region and secession of war on all fronts, including against the Islamic resistance of Lebanon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Now, of course, there is the element of propaganda within this as well. This is Iranian state television. It's not surprising that Iran is claiming victory either. But they were pointing out some of these issues in this so called 10 point plan which the foreign minister of Iran said that Washington has agreed and accepted the general framework of. Now clearly there are elements in that, that Washington will not want to agree to and will not be palatable.

And of course, there are issues within the 15 point proposal that the U.S. put forward that Iran won't want to agree to. But this is where the diplomatic path that now takes over with the Pakistan prime minister saying that he has invited both delegations to Islamabad on April 10 to try and hammer out these details. Now we also know that there is a lack of clarity, shall we say, at this point on Lebanon. We had heard from the Pakistan prime minister that Lebanon was part of this two week ceasefire. We have since heard from the office of the Israeli prime Minister that that is not the case.

We have heard nothing from the U.S. president about Lebanon and we have been seeing continuing attacks. Becky.

ANDERSON: Good to have you. All right, that's Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi. You heard from our correspondent in Washington.

Joining me now is retired U.S. Army Major General Mark McCarley. He is with us live from Glendale, California this morning.

It's good to have you, some, what, eight hours now into the announcement of this ceasefire. What do you make of what we've heard? And there are those who are suggesting that this is, and is likely to be fragile. Your assessment.

MAJ. GEN. MARK MACCARLEY (RET.), U.S. ARMY: As you've said, it is eight hours and I personally am keeping my fingers crossed. There are a number of what we call flashpoints that have certainly not been eliminated. If in fact, there is good faith adherence by both Iran and the United States to at least the concept and the maintenance of this ceasefire, that's going to be a positive. But for instance, one of the principal flashpoints remains the Straits of Hormuz. And as your contributors, your reporters have articulated, the Iranians continue to insist that their military will participate, assist, so it said, in the transiting of maritime commerce through those straits.

Now, on the other side, the president, President Trump, has come forth and said, yes, our military will participate as well in some unknown capacity. But the potential for something to go wrong to include a demand by the Iranian military forces, that those vessels seeking to enter and pass the straits must pay a toll, that's going to be a significant issue. ANDERSON: You are right to point out that President Donald Trump has said that the U.S. will be, and I quote him here, helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz. We know that there are hundreds of vessels on both sides, some of which are full, some of which are empty and are looking to get cargo, to get fuel, to get oil. What is U.S. help actually look like in practice to you then, given what you've just said?

[04:10:33]

MACCARLEY: It's what you call an interpretation of the circumstances. As I view the Straits of Hormuz, the massing of some say upwards of 800 vessels on both sides of the straits, meaning some remain in the Persian Gulf, others await passage. And so what U.S., our navy, could indeed contribute, if there is even a slight amount of cooperation, is perhaps provide guidance as those vessels navigate through what is essentially a two mile corridor going north and a two mile corridor coming south, and maintain some amount of what we call maritime discipline to facilitate the movement of all these 800 vessels. And as well, that movement remains safe. That's about --

ANDERSON: Right.

MACCARLEY: -- the extent of the participation.

ANDERSON: The U.S. objectives with this war did appear to shift at the outset from regime change to targeting military missile and drone infrastructure, the industrial base that builds that, and getting rid of the navy effectively. Did Washington ultimately achieve what it set out to do, to your mind?

MACCARLEY: That's perhaps one of the most difficult questions. I refer back even a couple of months ago, when the exact same question, perhaps by you to me at that time, revolved around the alleged or the pronounced success of the U.S. and Israel in bombing the nuclear facilities, the production facilities at Isfahan and Fordo. And there were statements, positive statements, that the nuclear capability of Iran had been significantly obliterated. And I think that that was the strong verb that was used.

Right now we have seen thousands of aerial sorties on the part of Israel and the United States that have struck significant, at least up until recently, significant military infrastructure within Iran. So from a positive outlook, if you're assessing what we call the battle losses on the part of Iran, yes, there has been significant degrading of the Iranian military capability.

Whether we have successfully addressed the nuclear, the status of those nuclear facilities that I just talked about, we just don't know. And there are individuals with great expertise who are suggesting that we still have 400 kilograms of nuclear material not too far away from ultimate enrichment. And that 400 kilograms is sitting a couple hundred feet once again in Isfahan or Fordo, ready to be extracted. So it's hard to say.

ANDERSON: Right. It's good to have you. Your perspective enormously important this morning as we continue to follow what is this breaking story. Major General Mark McCarley, thank you for joining us.

And, Erica, Israel wasn't part of these talks. If it breaches the ceasefire and strikes Iran, it is not clear how likely Tehran is to retaliate at this point. The Gulf States, of course, have been attacked over these past 40 days Iran saying in retaliation to U.S. strikes on it. If we don't see those U.S. strikes, will the Gulf be sitting in sort of clear water, as it were, at this point? There are an awful lot of questions still to be answered here, not least, as we've been discussing just in the past 10 minutes, what this ceasefire looks like when these talks begin, you know, even who will be involved in these talks and what the sort of framework really is for a ceasefire and deal at the back end of that.

[04:15:13]

But certainly this morning, let me just be quite clear from the perspective that I'm sitting in here as a resident of the UAE and as a journalist here, it does feel as if the sort of fear factor is somewhat lessened at this point. We will continue to cover this and we will obviously continue to keep our viewers bang up to date on what is happening in region. I'll be back later in the hour with more coverage. For now though, let's hand it back to you in New York.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Yes, Becky, look forward to that. Also ahead here this hour, a closer look at how the global markets are reacting to this two week ceasefire announcement. As Becky noted, of course, quite the headline. Need more information on the details. We'll see how those markets are reacting at this quick break.

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[04:20:27]

HILL: President Trump's ceasefire announcement making waves in the markets. Global oil prices plummeted following the news. Both Brent, as you can see there, and U.S. crude sinking as low as $95 a barrel earlier. As for physical Brent crude that remains high, reportedly hitting a new price record of $144 a barrel. We'll continue to watch those numbers.

In terms of the Asia Pacific markets, we saw a rebound there. U.S. stocks also surging in after hours trading with gains across the major indices, the DOW, the NASDAQ and the S&P 500. CNN's Eleni Giokos is now live from Dubai with a closer look at these developments. Certainly a lot of reaction.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of reaction. And I just want to focus on what we're seeing on Brent crude right now that is frankly plummeting around 13 percent, sitting at $94 a barrel. But you're very right to say what we're seeing in the physical market is completely different to what we're seeing in the futures market. And you've also got the U.S. benchmark, WTI, that's down over 15 percent. And this is on the back of the news of this two week ceasefire after we heard apocalyptic messaging frankly from President Trump.

Just in the nick of time, things changing dramatically. And what we're seeing is still very much fundamentally. Fuel shortages that are playing out. You've got jet fuel prices that are rising because physical oil is still not readily available in the market. But this really hinges on the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.

And President Trump had said it's subject to the opening of the straits. It's become a flashpoint, frankly, in this entire war. Abbas Araghchi, the Foreign Minister of Iran posted this on X. He says, "For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran's armed forces with due consideration of technical limitations."

Now shippers and ports are trying to decipher what this means, but ultimately it still shows that Iran has de facto control over who passes the Strait of Hormuz. Is it still going to be countries friendly to Iran? Are we going to start seeing other countries attempting this? And I spoke to a source, Erica, a short while ago who says everyone is waiting with bated breath to see who attempts the transit first.

And once that happens, my source says, the floodgates will open. You've got a backlog that has been around almost six weeks of vessels that have been trapped on either side in the Persian Gulf as well as the Gulf of Oman that want to get through. Cargo vessels as well as tankers as well. We've got a live image of what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz right now. Nothing really moving as yet.

We're watching the traffic. And as you can see, that critical choke point that's around 21 kilometers wide, nothing really happening at this point in time. So we're waiting to see. In the meantime, President Trump posting this, "The United States of America will be helping with traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz. There will be lots of positive action."

He says big money will be made. Now, keeping in mind that Tehran has been charging a toll fee of up to $2 million per vessel that passes through. Whether they're still going to maintain this toll fee remains to be seen. But keeping in mind, this is International Maritime Waterway. No one should be charging a toll fee.

Everyone waiting to see the role that the United States will play. High run plans to sort of, you know, sort out the rules of engagement here. But for the shippers and everyone else in this region, waiting to see how that actually transpires and works out as we still see emergency levels being, you know, tested in parts of Asia and especially in emerging markets as fuel prices rise as we start to see jet fuel shortages as well as fertilizer shortages feeding through into the international market, Erica.

HILL: Yes. Still so many questions at this hour.

Eleni, really appreciate it. Thank you.

[04:24:16]

Well, the country at the center of the Iran ceasefire deal is Pakistan. Working at the view from Islamabad just ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Right. Welcome back to Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson from our Middle East programming headquarters. Pakistan getting ready to host delegations from Iran and the U.S. later this week with hopes of hammering out a lasting truce. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote that both parties, quote, "displayed remarkable wisdom and understanding" in agreeing to the two week ceasefire which he says is in effect everywhere, including Lebanon. Israel, though, disagrees at this point. Let's get you to the Pakistani capital.

Sophia Saifi, following all of this from there. In the first instance then, what we know at this point is that talks are scheduled for Friday. Do we know who will be in attendance on both sides?

SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Hi, Becky. Yes, I mean, that's the million dollar question right now. We do know that there is obviously going to be an Iranian delegation and a delegation from the United States. There is a lot of speculation at the moment. A source has confirmed to CNN, but we've not been able to confirm it with other diplomatic or American sources that there is a potential that J.D. Vance, Vice President J.D. Vance, will be representing.

[04:30:00]