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Iran Claims Photos Show Downed U.S. Fighter Jet; Sources Say, Intel Shows Iran Has Major Missile Launching Capability; Trump's New Budget Proposal, $1.5 Trillion for Defense. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 03, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news. Iran claims it struck down a U.S. fighter jet, as President Trump issues new threats to Iran. Possible targets, bridges and electric power plants. We are live in the region.

Plus, this just into the situation room, a trillion dollar ask from the White House. President Trump is asking Congress for roughly $1.5 trillion for defense. That is a 40 percent increase from last year.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And there's more breaking news coming into The Situation Room, beating expectations. The new jobs numbers and what they say about the health of the U.S. economy.

And stunning new photos, we're getting the first photos from the Artemis II mission, as the four U.S. astronauts, one Canadian actually, on board make their way toward the moon.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin with the breaking news on this very busy morning and a number of major developments of the war with Iran. Iran's military now says that is shot down a U.S. Air Force plane, an F-35 stealth fighter. These are the images being shown by Iranian state media. But military experts say this wreckage appears to be a different aircraft, an F-15, and it's based in Europe. CNN has reached out to the U.S. military's Central Command for a comment. We'll have much more on this coming up in just a few moments.

Also, President Trump goes on social media to tout this strike on a major bridge in Tehran. Local media say 8 people were killed and 95 more were injured. The president says, and I'm quoting him now, much more to follow.

BROWN: Right here is a satellite image of smoke rising from an Iranian port in the Strait of Hormuz. This image was taken yesterday. And Iranian media quotes port authorities as saying that the damaged properties here are fully commercial and attacking them is a violation of international law. Also, three sources are telling CNN that recent intelligence assessments show about half of Iran's missile launchers have survived five weeks of U.S. and Israeli airstrike. And thousands of one-way attack drones are still in Iran's arsenal. One source says Iran can still wreak havoc across the region.

So, let's begin our coverage with CNN Chief National Security Analyst Jim Sciutto. He joins us from Tel Aviv, Israel. Jim, tell us more about what you're learning about these claims from Iran that its forces down a U.S. fighter jet.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Pamela, I'm going to be very careful because the information we have at this point is incomplete, but here's what we know. Iranian state media is reporting that search and rescue operations are underway in Southwestern Iran by the U.S. for downed pilots. As you not noted, they previously claimed today that they had shot down a U.S. aircraft.

There are videos that had been circulating online, which appeared to show a refueling operation in the air, an aircraft refueling to helicopters would at least -- which would at least be consistent with the search and rescue operation.

Earlier, as you noted, there were pictures posted and shared by Iranian state media, which appear to show a piece of wreckage from a U.S. aircraft consistent with an F-15. CNN has repeatedly reached out to Central Command, U.S. Central Command, and has not yet received comment on whether a jet was indeed shot down and whether search and rescue operations are underway. We continue to seek comment from them.

I don't have to tell you, Pamela or Wolf, the seriousness of this, if it is confirmed that a jet has been shot down and that those pilots are on the ground, either been captured or that Iranian authorities are now looking for them. But, again, we're treating this with caution because the information is incomplete at this hour.

BROWN: All right. We will wait to hear more, particularly from U.S. Central Command.

Tell us more though, I had mentioned earlier in the show about Iran's capabilities that still exist even after five weeks of attacks from the U.S. and Israel.

[10:05:07]

What do we know on that front?

SCIUTTO: Yes. Well, and, again, with the story of a potential shoot down, it speaks to the ongoing capabilities that it appears that Iran has. Our reporting from CNN regards a U.S. military assessment that is found that even after close to a month of war now and the U.S. striking more than 12,000 targets in Iran, that Iran maintains a missile capability, that it still has 50 percent of its missile launchers, 50 percent of its one-way attack drones, as well as a significant percentage of its coastal defense missiles. Those particularly important because it allows Iran to project power over the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, to threaten shipping there, and not just shipping of oil fertilizer containers, et cetera, but also potentially U.S. warships operating in that area.

We're told that, according to the assessment, while the U.S. has had great success striking multiple ballistic missile targets, launchers, missile storage facilities, that it has been more difficult to strike mobile missile launchers and to strike both launchers and missiles that are stored underground. The response has been to try to strike the entrances to those underground storage facilities to block them in. And it seems that they've had some success there. But at a minimum, Iran maintains what I think you could call remarkable capability a month into the war.

And that helps explain the fire, the continuing incoming fire we've seen here in Tel Aviv. In fact, just a few minutes ago, we were back in the shelter here in Tel Aviv once again.

BROWN: Jim Sciutto, stay safe there. Thank you so much.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BROWN: Wolf?

BLITZER: I want to continue this conversation right now. Joining us, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and CNN Military Analyst Cedric Leighton, and Sabrina Singh, a CNN global affairs commentator, the former deputy Pentagon press secretary in the Biden administration.

Colonel, what do you make of Iran claims now of having shot down a U.S. fighter jet, a U.S. Air Force fighter jet?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Absolutely, Wolf. Well, it looks like it's real, unfortunately. And, you know, based on the pictures that we've seen so far, it is consistent with an F-15, not an F-35, as the Iranians have said, but an F-15.

So, one of the key things about this is the F-15 is not a stealth fighter. It's an, you know, older generation aircraft. It is designed for multiple missions, but mainly air superiority-type missions. And it is vulnerable to the kind of anti-aircraft fire that the Iranians are capable of conducting.

So, you know, in conjunction with the reporting from the U.S. intelligence community that says that the Iranians still have major capabilities, this is one more evidence, piece of evidence that they have those capabilities, and it's dangerous still for our pilots.

BLITZER: And especially if a pilot's ejected and they're now on the ground someplace in Iran right now. The U.S. would presumably be sending in troops to try to save those pilots.

LEIGHTON: Yes, exactly. Those are the search and rescue capabilities that the U.S. Air Force has. Those very capable elements from the first special operations wing based out of Herbert Field, Florida, and what they do, what they can do, is they can go in and try to rescue those pilots. And the key thing is there's probably a two-man crew -- BLITZER: On both of the F-15 and the F-35.

LEIGHTON: That is correct. Well, yes, that is correct. And the -- when it comes to the F-15, one of them is a pilot, the other one is an electronic warfare officer, but both of them have to be rescued at this particular point in time. There are some reports that an ejection seat has been found in Iran by the Iranians. So, the pilot, you know, the crew is not far away probably. So, that puts them in a very vulnerable position if those reports are accurate.

BLITZER: What do you make, Sabrina, because you used to release these Pentagon statements on a daily basis? The U.S. Military Central Command has not responded to our repeated questions about this incident? What does that suggest, if anything, to you?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: They're probably conducting their own investigation in real time. The first and foremost thing that the commander, I mean someone like Admiral Brad Cooper is thinking about is the safety of those pilots. So, they don't want to --

BLITZER: He's the head of command, the Central Command.

SINGH: Correct, a head of U.S. Central Command.

So, they're going to want to try to preserve the safety of those pilots and probably not release anything until they know more.

Often, when we did have something similar happen in the Eastern Med when I was in the Biden administration at the Pentagon at that time, we had two helicopters, you know, come to a collision and we did not release that information until we were able to gather some facts. And so what I imagine Central Command is doing is trying to gather facts, trying to find these pilots trying to conduct missions.

It's a little surprising that they haven't at least acknowledged, you know, we're aware of media reporting and we'll come back to you with more information, but, you know, this is an ongoing war.

[10:10:01]

There's so much happening on the ground. The first thing that the commander's thinking about is the pilots. So, they want to preserve some of that security for them as well.

BLITZER: That's priority number one. In fact, these pilots objected to save them and get them home safely, as quickly as possible.

Are you surprised at all, Colonel, by this latest U.S. intelligence assessment that Iran still has perhaps a half of its capabilities in terms of launching missiles and rockets?

LEIGHTON: I'm not, Wolf. And the reason I'm not surprised is that we know that the Iranians have various capabilities. First of all, as Jim mentioned in his reporting, they have mobile missile launch capabilities. And a lot of their missiles are basically designed to be launched from truck beds and other mobile platforms. So, that's one thing.

The other thing is that the Iranians have been doing this for years. They've basically built a bunch of underground shelters for their missiles. And those missiles, we know, are -- we've known for years have been on in these underground shelters. And they can hide them there very easily. And that's one of the things that it's very difficult to target a lot of these areas. Some of these facilities are not necessarily known to U.S. intelligence. And that is why the Iranians are still able to log missiles against the Gulf states, against Israel, and, of course, against U.S. troops.

BLITZER: I know sirens have been going off all day in Israel, Central Israel, other parts of Israel, Iranian missiles, rockets coming in. So, they clearly still have some impressive capabilities.

LEIGHTON: They absolutely do. And this also means that they can still control the Strait of Hormuz if they want to, and they do want to at the moment. So, the Iranians have a lot of capabilities and that present a huge challenge to the military. The military is doing a great job going through all the different targeting lists that they have. The problem is that the targeting list is probably the, you know, one piece, but it's not as extensive as the actual installations that the Iranians have, and that's going to be a key factor here.

BLITZER: Another sensitive issue that's come up, Sabrina, I wanted to get your thoughts, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has fired the top general in the U.S. Army and two other generals as well. As a former Pentagon deputy press secretary, how unusual are these kinds of firings of top generals in the middle of a war?

SINGH: Incredibly unusual, especially to see someone like General George, who has served under multiple administrations, has a wealth and depth of knowledge to be basically forcibly to set to retire by Secretary Hegseth during the middle of the war, I mean, that's something that you would not see.

I had the honor of working with General George when I was in the administration. He's incredibly professional, someone that really knows intimately the region. And so to get rid of him right now, I think, is incredibly damaging. And what you're seeing is Secretary Hegseth really taking issue with people that maybe are not in agreement with his plans or with an alignment with the strategy and people that do speak up. And so he's hollowing out the ranks of very experienced officers, which will have a downstream effect for years to come.

And I don't think people understand that to get rid of someone like that with that type of knowledge is going to come to a detriment of the military, for sure.

BROWN: (INAUDIBLE) impeccable credentials.

SINGH: Yes.

BROWN: Very good reputation I've heard from other people who know him -- BLITZER: He was a four-star general.

BROWN: Yes, absolutely.

I just wanted to follow up on the Strait of Hormuz because President Trump put on his Truth Social today, with a little more time, we can easily open the Strait of Hormuz, take the oil and make a fortune. It would be a gusher for the world. How easy would it actually be for the U.S. to reopen the Strait of Hormuz?

LEIGHTON: So, Pamela, what it would require is persistent overwatch over the area. And what that means is basically a radius of, you know, several hundred miles would have to be under total air control. And that would mean that they would have to dynamically re-strike targets. So, as missiles, you know, come up using mobile launch capabilities, they would have to have the capability of actually going after those missiles and knocking them out on a persistent and consistent basis. So, that's one aspect of it. In essence, what you need is not only the aerial capability to do that without, you know, major boots on the ground in this case.

And then the other thing that you would need is persistent intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance overwatch. So, the persistent ISR overwatch is critical to getting the information that you would need in order to keep that Strait open on a consistent basis. When we -- you know, the period just before this war started was one in which the Iranians let navigation go through this area without, you know, really it being contested for the most part. But now that we've basically stirred the hornet's nest, it's going to be a completely different equation and that could have significant impact on the world economy.

SINGH: And one other thing that Cedric alluded to as well is this their drone capability. I mean, we're seeing the damage that these drones can do, not just -- and coupled with their missile technology. The drones are wreaking havoc that we're seeing in the Middle East. I mean, I think, overnight, Kuwait, an oil refinery was hit and a desalination plant.

BROWN: Yes, that's a big deal.

SINGH: Yes.

BROWN: Because they rely on those plants for water.

SINGH: Exactly.

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And 90 percent of Kuwait relies on desalination plants for drinking water. So, this is going to have a profound impact. And the drone capability especially, I think, is something that is very hard to address right now.

BLITZER: Good point. Sabrina Singh, thank you, Cedric Leighton, to you as well. Don't go too far away. There's a lot of developments happening in this war with Iran and we're going to want your expertise coming up. Stay with us.

BROWN: And still ahead, on that note, in The Situation Room, breaking news, Trump's trillion dollar ask. The massive increase in defense spending and the president's budget. We are live at the White House.

You're in The Situation Room. We'll be right back.

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BLITZER: All right. There's breaking news coming to CNN. President Trump has just released his budget proposal for next year, including a truly massive boost in U.S. military spending.

Let's go live right now to CNN's Alayna Treene over at the White House. Alayna, what's inside this new proposal from the president?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, really a heavy focus on defense spending here, Wolf. What we're seeing is that they're seeking roughly $1.5 trillion more for the Pentagon. Of course, this is part of the 2027 fiscal budget request. This would be the highest boost to military spending in modern history. Of course, obviously given with the war ongoing with Iran, they're backing up the reasoning for this.

Now, of the $445 billion that the administration wants to add to the defense budget, the White House is proposing that $350 billion of it be passed in a reconciliation bill, essentially a Republican-only bill that they are trying to pass in Congress moving forward. That would include other things, like trying to fund Immigration and Custom Enforcement and CBP funding.

Now, I will say the budget proposal, by contrast, does seek to slash non-defense spending to 10 percent, that would be a $73 billion cut that we're told would fall primarily on housing, social services, healthcare, and other domestic programs.

Now, one thing I do want to just provide some context to, we see these budgets from the White House often that they send to Congress. This is a request. It's essentially a wish list that the White House has put together, does not mean that Congress is actually going to pass all of this, but it is kind of a framework that the administration provides to Congress, hoping that they'll follow suit.

BLITZER: Alayna, I also want to ask you about the upheaval right now in the president's cabinet after he fired the attorney general, Pam Bondi, yesterday. What are we learning today about who he could pick as her successor?

TREENE: Yes. This was a huge, huge move by the president. This is the second now cabinet official that the president has fired. He fired the DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, earlier this year. I should note though that something that is different. We've seen a couple high-profile moves by this president, really dismissals from their roles, and I mentioned Noem, but also Mike Waltz, the former national security adviser, who the president then made U.N. ambassador.

With both Waltz and Noem, the president actually gave them a soft landing elsewhere within the administration. He did not do that for Bondi. Instead, he is having her go to the private sector, which I think just adds to some of the thinking here.

And the reporting we have, what we've been hearing, Wolf, from our West Wing sources is he has been frustrated with Bondi for a long time. One of the main points of frustration has been her handling of the Epstein files, something that many people in the White House and throughout the administration have really blamed her for becoming such a weak spot, not only among the White House, but also Republicans at large. But he's also been frustrated, we're told, with what he sees as her lack of ability to go after some of his political foes. I'd remind you of that infamous post from the president back in September, where he kind of directed Bondi to move forward with indictments against people, like the former FBI director, James Comey. That was actually supposed to be a private message.

But quickly to your point of who could come next, we know that Bondi's deputy, Todd Blanche, also the president's former personal attorney, he is now leading the Justice Department, but in a temporary role. There are a lot of names flying around in that building behind me about who could replace her. Currently, the thinking is that the top choice under consideration is Lee Zeldin, the president's EPA administrator. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Alayna Treene at the White House, we'll stay in very close touch with you. Thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. And coming up just in, new photos from the Artemis crew members from Space. We're live at Johnson Space Center in Houston with a look at what's in store for them today.

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[10:25:00]

BROWN: And we have major breaking news on what Iran is saying is a down jet in their territory, a U.S. jet is what Iran is saying. And Jim Sciutto is here with more information on that. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Pamela, the breaking news is that three U.S. sources now confirmed that a U.S fighter jet has been shot down over Iranian territory and that U.S forces have now launched a search and rescue operation to rescue the downed pilots.

We should note that earlier, state-run Iranian television had claimed the same. They have said that, so far, a search for any missing crew had been unsuccessful, that coming from Iranian state T.V.

Earlier in the day, we saw images posted of a number of things, one, aircraft flying over the area, which appeared to be consistent with a search and rescue operation. One of those images showed a fixed wing aircraft refueling two helicopters. You would need to refuel if that search and rescue operation took some time. Earlier prior to that, we saw images posted by Iranian state media, which appeared to show the wreckage of an aircraft and the wreckage, we showed it to experts, appeared to be consistent with the tail section, the vertical stabilizer of a U.S. F-15. We should note that the F-15 carries two pilots. So, it is likely that when we speak of the search and rescue effort, it would be for two pilots that would've been downed here.

But, again, U.S. sources now confirming what Iranian state T.V. had been claiming prior, and that is a U.S. jet downed over Iranian territory, and now a U.S. search and rescue operation to rescue those.