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The Situation Room

Iran Rejects Ceasefire That Would Include the Strait of Hormuz; CIA and Special Ops Among Those Involved in Airman Rescue; Ceasefire Proposal and Escalating Threats; Trump Comments on Rescue of U.S. Airman from Iran. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired April 06, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

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CRAIG MELVIN, NBC'S "TODAY": Coming back, our North Star. SG, come on out here. Come on back out. Come on back out.

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OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dressed in that yellow that -- I mean, it's reminiscent of, you look no further than the flowers that have been placed outside of her mother's home. Obviously, a job to do. The professional that she is and, you know, they continued with the show. But so much going on behind the scenes, as stoic as she was for much of the show, can't replace what she's dealing with off the set.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I hope it's healing for her to be back. Truly do. Omar Jimenez, thank you. Investigators are still asking for tips in the kidnapping of her mother, Nancy Guthrie. If you have any information that could help, call the number on your screen, 1-800-CALL-FBI. We'll be right back.

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[10:35:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Iran is rejecting a temporary ceasefire proposal that would include the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and pushing aside new threats by President Trump to attack its infrastructure and power plants. The back and forth follows the daring rescue of a U.S. airman who was shot down over Iran. We're waiting to hear directly from President Trump once again. He has a scheduled news conference later today coming up at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. We'll have live coverage of that to be sure.

Joining us now is CNN's senior military analyst, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, retired U.S. Admiral James Stavridis. He's also vice chair right now of the Carlyle Group, an international investment firm. Admiral, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for all your service.

Let's start with the rescue of this U.S. airman. It was involving the CIA, members of SEAL Team 6, U.S. Army Delta Force, among those involved. Talk a little bit about how all of this actually comes together in the formal operation.

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST AND VICE CHAIRMAN, CARLYLE AND FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: The way you need to think of this is like making a stew on the top of the stove. You just keep adding the ingredients until you hit the full flavor, if you will. And we've talked a lot on air, and we should, about how complicated and difficult and challenging to bring all these diverse elements together. But we train for all that. I'm really taken with two things here.

Number one, you mentioned it, but the CIA role here has been quite extraordinary. And as I look at the CIA over the last two or three years, they are really firing on all cylinders, doing a terrific job in staying off the political ridgeline. That's a very big deal.

And then secondly, and I say this, Wolf is an older guy talking to another older guy. This is a full colonel. So, this is somebody who's, you know, 45-plus years old, probably went to SERE's school a long time ago, who climbed 7,000 feet, uses his transponder, does it all on a broken ankle. I can't wait to see this guy. I suspect he's going to be annoyingly good-looking like a lot of Air Force pilots are. And I hope I get a chance to shake his hand one day. It's an amazing story. So, CIA and the individual all came together with the rest of the U.S. military.

BLITZER: And you have to give this airman enormous credit for being able to avoid capture by the Iranians who were sending thousands of troops to look for him.

STAVRIDIS: It's an amazing piece of work. And you can go back to a couple of different incidents, notably in the Balkan Wars. A pilot named Scott O'Grady, I think, managed kind of the same feat. He was in his 20s. This is pretty amazing for somebody at this age to get that kind of accomplishment. Again, I can't wait to see who he is.

BLITZER: Yes, we're all anxious to meet and welcome him back home. Iran, Admiral, is now saying no to a ceasefire proposal being put on the table by several third-party countries saying they want something more permanent. Why would Iran reject a ceasefire in 45 days or even more or less?

STAVRIDIS: For the same reason any negotiator shows they're willing to walk away. Iran wants to hold on to its high-value cards, number one, Strait of Hormuz closure, and number two, almost 1,000 pounds of enriched uranium. So, they still have cards to play. As you allude to, increasingly, Pakistan, China, Egypt, and Turkey, think of them as kind of a quad pack of negotiators, are trying to find some common ground. At the moment, it's a race against time if President Trump is going to hold to this philosophy of smashing up the entire Iranian infrastructure. We're down close to 24 hours. I'm hoping there's going to be a deal. Hope is not a strategy. What ought to happen here is everyone ought to get to the table to try and conclude this.

BLITZER: Would attacking civilian infrastructure inside Iran constitute potentially a war crime? Trump is threatening in that social media post that he posted over the weekend massive strikes on Iranian power plants and other infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked. What do you think?

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STAVRIDIS: Every strike we conduct is vetted not only by the operational commander but also by his or her JAG officer, Joint -- Judge Advocate General, who looks at each one of these in real detail. I conducted thousands of these strikes in the war against Libya, for example, and had to be briefed and coordinate with my judge advocate general. All the things you mentioned are individual and discrete. Each target is. Bottom line, I'll put it in three buckets.

If you go after desalinization, water production facility, I think that is almost certainly a war crime because it serves the population so directly. I think electric grid is kind of in the middle. If it's an electric plant or an electric grid serving the military, becomes a target despite the fact it may provide electricity. And then obviously military targets, ballistic missiles, all of that, hard to see those as illegal targets. Bridges kind of in the middle but more toward the desalinization.

And here's the point, Wolf. Each one of these strikes has to be vetted, constructively taken apart before it's approved. I'm confident our military will do that. Excellent analysis, as usual.

BLITZER: Admiral James Stavridis, thanks so much for joining us.

STAVRIDIS: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Wolf, coming up, can a ceasefire be reached amid President Trump's escalating threats? We'll discuss potential next steps after the break.

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BROWN: And we continue our breaking news coverage of the war with Iran. Countries that are working to end the conflict are proposing a 45-day ceasefire. Now, a White House official says President Trump has not signed off on the proposal, that they're looking at several different ideas here. And it comes as Iran faces a U.S.-imposed deadline of tomorrow evening to reopen the critical oil shipping lane, the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump issued this blistering, profanity-laced ultimatum on social media, dropping the F-bomb. The president says Iran needs to reopen the strait or face, quote, "living in hell." He's threatening to strike power plants and other infrastructure if Tehran doesn't lift the blockade.

Joining us now is CNN Global Affairs analyst Brett McGurk. He's a former Middle East coordinator at the National Security Council. Brett, thanks for being here. So, Iran, per our reporting, has rejected any talk of a temporary ceasefire. Iran wants a permanent end to this war. How do you see this playing out?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST AND FORMER MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA COORDINATOR, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: I hope there's a deal. I really hope there can be a breakthrough here. I am skeptical there will be in my dealings in negotiating with Iran or negotiating with Hamas.

I mean, here's how -- it's not Iran, but the decision-makers and the Revolutionary Guards and the IRGC. They are ideological. They believe in their revolutionary cause. They do not care at all about the Iranian people. They're willing to sacrifice the Iranian people. They will murder people to stay in power. So, when the threat on the table is we will destroy your electricity grids, your infrastructure, I don't think that's going to work with them.

I suspect what we're going to get is a set of maximalist demands will come in from Iran, and you're going to be at loggerheads. So, I think the showdown is very much coming. I hope I'm wrong about that, Pam. I hope the Iranians can come in with something that we can work with. But I suspect they know that their control over the Strait of Hormuz is the jugular for the global economy. That's what's building pressure on President Trump, and they're determined to hold it.

So, I do not think they're going to come in and say, OK, we'll have a ceasefire, go back to status quo ante bellum, meaning before the war started, arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz. They're determined to hold it, and I don't think the United States can accept that outcome of accepting a ceasefire with Iran metering which ships go through the Strait. So, that's where we are.

I hope diplomacy can succeed. I prefer diplomacy with Iran a little bit more behind the scenes, secret. Once you're posturing in public, it makes it even harder. So, I think we'll know more here in a few hours. But again, just to sum up, I think Iran will probably come in with very maximalist demands. I doubt the U.S. is going to be able to accept those. So, this deadline that's been opposed -- that's been proposed by the president, I think, is rapidly approaching.

BROWN: How much leverage does Iran have right now?

MCGURK: Well, I mean, militarily, they are -- if you talk to our military folks, they believe just in terms of the military campaign, it's actually going very effectively. We are taking apart Iran's defense industrial base and missiles and drones, everything else. That is going apace. But, you know, this is kind of first principles of warfare. The defender has an advantage because all they have to do is survive and terrain.

Terrain is critical in war, and Iran is using the Strait of Hormuz as its main leverage card. You know, it's very predictable. And they are able, because of new technology and drone warfare, you can fire a drone from 1,000 miles away, which can hit a slow-moving tanker.

So, it's a very difficult strategic equation, very difficult military equation. The question for the United States, now that we're here and we're in this, do we accept an outcome in which Iran is controlling that strait and metering and deciding which ships can go and which cannot and making a fortune by having a toll on what is an international waterway?

I think that's totally unacceptable. That should be unacceptable to the entire world. And I don't think this crisis can end with that outcome. That means a diplomatic outcome in which Iran agrees to go back to how it was, or this is coming down to a military showdown.

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BROWN: If the president carries out his threat here and specifically targets civilian infrastructure and power plants, would those be war crimes?

MCGURK: Well, again, the rhetoric is, I think -- I'm very uncomfortable with the rhetoric that's being discussed. I know how our target --

BROWN: Do you think it's an empty threat?

MCGURK: Well, I'll just say, Pamela, I mean, how our targeting is done, we have JAG officers. We're very careful in CENTCOM. We know how targets are selected. So, I'm fairly confident that if we carry out a target that it would be a military target within the laws of armed conflict. That's just how the U.S. military operates.

But, you know, again, this war's gone on. We're in the sixth week. It's about a six-week time frame from the beginning. So, you're getting to the point where the preset targets for the campaign, you're getting to the end of those, and over the course of the military operation, we've seen a lot more targets. So, that's what we're considering hitting now.

BROWN: Just very quickly, I spoke to an Iranian who fled who said that there's a lot of fear from the Iranian citizens that actually now they could be worse off than before. Initially, they wanted the help for President Trump, but they're worried they're going to lose their infrastructure and the IRGC is going to be still in charge and even more emboldened. Do you see that scenario?

MCGURK: I wish we know what the Iranian people are thinking, but, you know, the Iranian system, again, I don't think they're in that strong a position.

BROWN: Well, I'm telling you what an Iranian who fled told me who's in touch with -- still in touch with -- MCGURK: Well, they -- but we've had a blackout in Iran for months. I

mean, they are not allowing their people to communicate with each other or the outside world. I agree, I'm talking Iranians, too, and anecdotally, this is a horrific situation. Everybody wants this to end, but the Iranian people also want that system to end. So, it's --

BROWN: Right.

MCGURK: We're in a really difficult predicament, and I think this requires careful, deliberate thinking, and, again, I'm hopeful they're going to open here with diplomacy. I just -- right now, I don't see it.

BROWN: All right. Brett McGurk, thanks so much. Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks for me as well. And coming up, we're live in Indianapolis just ahead of tonight's Men's College Basketball Championship matchup. Our Coy Wire is on the scene for us there. Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Just hours away from tip-off, and we go one-on-one, and in one case, head-to-head with the coaches of Michigan and Yukon in the Men's College Hoops national title game here in Indy.

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[10:55:00]

BLITZER: Just moments ago, President Trump speaking at the annual White House Easter egg roll. Talked about the harrowing rescue of that U.S. airman. And the war in Iran. Take a look. Here's what he said.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: It's something that you rarely see, you know. You know, they were giving me a briefing about that. And they said normally when you're in very hostile territory. And I don't think it gets much more hostile than Iran. They're capable fighters. They're very tough people. And there are others like that. You don't mind when the enemy is weak. But that enemy is strong. Not so strong like they were about a month ago. I can tell you, in fact, right now they're not too strong at all, in my opinion. But we're soon going to find out, aren't we?

But when a thing like that happens where a pilot's shot down, in most instances, you're really not able to go in. Because you'll go in with 200 people and lots of jet fighters and helicopters. And you really don't have a chance, they get shot down. You lose 200 in order to pick up one. It's a horrible thing. But it's very rare that you can do it.

And what we did yesterday is we picked up not one, we picked up two. We kept the first one quiet. And we were able to keep it quiet for about a day, which made it a lot better. But those two pilots were incredible brave. And we thank them. And we're going to be having a news conference today at 1:00 at the Oval Office. And we look forward to it.

But I just want to say we have a great military. We're the greatest military, the most powerful military any place in the world. You saw what happened with Venezuela. And it's an honor. I built it in my first term, and I didn't know I was going to be using it this much in my second term. But it's my honor. And they're the greatest people on Earth. Our warriors are the greatest fighters on Earth. And they very much appreciate you and love you, and that's why they do it.

So, this is all about today, I must tell you. I came out, and I expected we were going to be talking about farmers. And we love our farmers. We were going to talk about so many different products. But you know what they want to talk about? Sir, this is about eggs, eggs, because we have the egg farmers of the entire country here and they are unbelievable.

And if you remember when I first got elected, my first news conference with the fake news, a lot of fake news here today, but I had a news conference and the first question, what are you going to do about eggs, sir? I said, what are you -- what's wrong with eggs? I just got this, my second day in office at a news conference, and they were screaming at me, what am I going to do about eggs? And I said well, it's like -- what's -- tell me what's wrong with eggs? The price was so high, it was four times higher than it was a year before.

I said, well, that sounds like a problem. Let me think about it. And Brooke Rollins, our great secretary of agriculture --

BROWN: All right. You've been listening to the president moments ago, talking at the White House for the Easter egg roll. Quite the dichotomy there, Wolf, seeing the Easter Bunny when he was talking about the war in Iran and that harrowing rescue of the two airmen, particularly the colonel who was rescued after about 48 hours and a crevice in the mountains in Iran.

BLITZER: And I don't remember a time when there was a --

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