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Trump on Iran's Deadline, a Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight; Source Says, U.S. Has Struck Military Targets on Iran's Kharg Island; Vance Says, Strikes on Kharg Island Not a Change in Strategy. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 07, 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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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, quote, a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again, President Trump's drastic and frankly alarming new threat ahead of tonight's deadline to Iran. We're live at the White House with the latest reporting.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Also, key island attacked, the U.S. strikes military targets on Iran's strategic Kharg Island, the new CNN reporting from the region coming up.

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.

This morning, President Trump issues a brand new apocalyptic threat to Iran. He demands it reopen the Strait of Hormuz within hours or face annihilation. His grim, dramatic words that I'm quoting now, a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again, end quote.

This morning, there have been U.S. airstrikes on Kharg Island though through which almost all of Iran's oil exports travel. A U.S. official insists to CNN that only Iranian military sites will be targeted.

BROWN: And the president has specifically threatened Iran's infrastructure. This is last week's U.S. strike on a major bridge near Tehran. And this morning, Israel's military is asking Iranians to avoid all train travel and stay away from rail lines.

The president is also threatening to strike Iran's power plants. And today, one Iranian minister is asking for civilians to form a human chain around them.

Several countries have privately reached out to the Trump administration to warn against attacking civilian targets. And Iran's president shows no signs of backing down. On social media, he posted, quote, over 14 million proud Iranians have up to this moment declared their readiness to sacrifice their lives and defense of Iran.

BLITZER: In Istanbul, Turkey, meanwhile, there's been an attack near the Israeli consulate. A local official tells CNN that one attacker was killed, two others injured. Two police officers suffered minor injuries. The attack is under investigation, but Israeli authorities have reported an unprecedented surge in attempts to carry out attacks against Israelis and Jews abroad since the outset of the Iran conflict.

Our correspondents and analysts are all following all the latest developments for the Middle East to right here in Washington. Let's begin with CNN's Betsy Klein, who's over at the White House. Betsy, first of all, tell us more about the president's jarring social media post that, quote, a whole civilization will die tonight.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right, Wolf. President Trump over the past few days has been steadily ramping up his threats against Iran with very stark language, including that F-bomb over the weekend, but today, issuing this post that you earlier described as apocalyptic.

I want to read it to you in full. He says, quote, a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have complete and total regime change, where different, smarter and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen. Who knows? We will find out tonight one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world. 47 years of extortion, corruption and death will finally end. God bless the great people of Iran.

Of course, we know at this hour that diplomatic discussions are ongoing. Those have been led by Vice President J.D. Vance, along with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, mediated by Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey.

But the president laying out two paths here. One, he says, a whole civilization will die tonight, not a regime, not a nuclear weapons program, he says a whole civilization. We've asked the White House for more clarity on what exactly he means by that.

Separately, it's possible that diplomacy prevails. And we heard from Vice President J.D. Vance a little while ago say that there will be a lot of negotiation between now and that 8:00 P.M. deadline where President Trump warns that critical infrastructure could be targeted. Wolf and Pamela?

BROWN: Thank you so much, Betsy.

BLITZER: All right, Betsy, thank you.

BROWN: And, you know, Wolf, I spoke to an Iranian who fled after the war today just to get reaction to that Truth Social post, and this person said, why would the president put that out there and turn the Iranian population against him?

[10:05:07]

I want to go now on that note to CNN Chief National Security Analyst Jim Sciutto and the U.S. airstrikes on Kharg Island. Talk a little bit more about that, Jim, and how significant that development is.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Pamela, we've reached a critical point in this war with the U.S. president threatening a significant escalation in this conflict against a whole host of infrastructure sites across Iran.

But we should note also that with all the attention on the president's 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time deadline, that in fact today, strikes have already begun by Israel on a series of infrastructure targets in Iran, including railway lines, bridges, roads and other pieces of infrastructure. Earlier in the day, Israel in fact, warned Iranians to stay away from rail travel because of that. So, we're seeing attacks on infrastructure, perhaps a taste, if the president is to follow through on his broader threat of what might be to come for Iran and for the Iranian people.

For the U.S.'s part, it did carry out strikes earlier today overnight on Kharg Island. This, as Wolf was noting on the way in, where 90 percent of Iran's oil is exported from focusing those strikes, however, on military targets on that island, which the U.S. had struck in the middle of March as well.

But given that the president has also threatened at times to attack Iran's oil infrastructure. You might take these strikes on the island, on military installations on the island as something of a threat as to what else the U.S. can strike. If it can strike those military sites, which are right next to the oil strikes, of course, it has the capability of wreaking havoc on the oil industry there as well, which, we should note, consequences not just for Iran but for the broader oil markets and U.S. consumers.

It's quite a moment in this war. I've been here for a couple of weeks now in the midst of some quite difficult days, including attacks here on Israel. But given that the president has raised this threat and the rhetoric to such a high level, there's an enormous amount of anticipation and nervousness about how this war might escalate in the early hours of tomorrow local time, but in the next several hours.

BLITZER: Any more Iranian or Hezbollah strikes on Israel today, Jim?

SCIUTTO: Wolf, there has been incoming today. I spent some time in an underground parking lot earlier today in the midst of one of those air raid warnings, and there have been a few, and there have been a few every day. And it's good to remind people of that because despite, Wolf, the punishing attacks that Israel and the U.S. have carried out on Iran, including on its ballistic missile launchers and production facilities, et cetera, it does maintain a capability of striking out.

And Iranian officials are threatening quite publicly now to strike out harder in retaliation for any expanded U.S. attacks. It's quite a critical moment in this conflict.

BLITZER: It certainly is, and we'll be watching every step of the way.

Jim Sciutto, stay safe over there in Tel Aviv. We'll be back to you for sure.

I want to go to CNN's Paula Hancocks right now. She's in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, right across from Iran.

Paula, as you just heard Jim say, sources say Israel is target -- getting ready to target railways, bridges, highways across Iran, hours before President Trump's 8:00 P.M. Eastern deadline tonight. How is that being viewed across the region?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Jim mentioned there was nervousness in Israel, exactly the same here in these Gulf nations, because they know full well that if these attacks go ahead by the U.S. and Israel, Iran has been very clear that the retaliatory attacks will be focused on U.S. allies, which means these Gulf nations. It means Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait. So, they know that they are going to bear the brunt of what Iran has in store.

Now, we've heard this from a foreign ministry briefing in Qatar just about an hour or so ago. I want to read a quote from the spokesperson. He said, quote, we are close to the point where the situation in the region could spiral out of control. That's a foreign ministry spokesperson, a diplomat who is trying to explain to people just how tense the situation is.

So, certainly, countries here are feeling in limbo at this point waiting to see what is going to happen. We know that there will have been lobbying to try and prevent a military escalation. But, of course, many of these countries also try to lobby the U.S. president at the beginning to, to try and convince him not to carry out the war, so they know that their influence is limited when it comes to this.

Now, earlier, we did hear some response from Iran. This is before that latest social media post from Trump. And we heard from the Revolutionary Guard basically saying that the threats they heard on Monday from Trump were baseless and delusional.

[10:10:06]

An Iranian senior security also telling CNN that Iran believes that that the U.S. president has lost control of this war. They believe that Iran has provided a strategic victory, also pointing out that Iran wants the war to end, but not in the way or the timeline that Trump is seeking.

So, at this point, there is an almost a sense of fatality. But what we are hearing from Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president, who I should point out is considered one of the more progressive, if you like, or at least the more reasonable among this regime has said that that more than 14 million people in the country of Iran are ready to lay down their lives in order to protect the Islamic regime.

So, there is a lot of concern going into evening time here in the UAE and across the Gulf, knowing full well that whatever the U.S. and Israel decide to do, at the end of the day, the repercussions will be felt very strongly here. Wolf and Pamela? BLITZER: And I'll ask you, Paula, the same question I asked Jim Sciutto, any Iranian strikes coming into the United Arab Emirates where you are, or Qatar, or Bahrain or Saudi Arabia, some of the Arab states in the Gulf, very close to Iran, more strikes coming in today?

HANCOCKS: To be honest, we have seen days that have seen more strikes than we saw today, but we still did see some. Here in the UAE, there were alerts up in Sharjah, in Dubai as well. We know that there were interceptions in Saudi Arabia as well, but it hasn't been as active as it has been. Certainly over last weekend, there was a significant amount that was incoming.

BLITZER: All right. Stay safe over there, Paula Hancocks, I appreciate it very, very much.

Still ahead, we'll be joined by a CNN military analyst. We'll discuss President Trump's pressure campaign to try to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

BROWN: Plus, Vice President Vance is weighing in on the U.S. strikes on Kharg Island. Why he says it doesn't mark a change in strategy ahead of the president's deadline.

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

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BLITZER: Happening now, Vice President J.D. Vance is and Hungary right now. He's there to show his support for Viktor Orban, the country's hard line prime minister and close ally of President Trump.

Vance just commented on the U.S. strikes on Iran's Kharg Island. Listen to what he said.

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J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: We were going to strike some military targets on Kharg Island. I believe we have done so. The president's deadline has been followed by us and everybody else, and he said very clearly, we're not going to strike energy and infrastructure targets until the Iranians either make a proposal that we can get behind or don't make a proposal. But he's given them until Tuesday at 8:00. So, I don't think the news in Kharg Island represents a change in strategy or represents any change from the president of the United States.

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BROWN: All right. So, let's go live now to CNN Senior International Correspondent Melissa Bell in Budapest. Tell us more about why this visit is so important, Melissa.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's hugely important to Viktor Orban, this long-term MAGA ally here in Europe, the man who really wrote the playbook on how to turn western democracy into a liberal one, and this is by his own words. This is -- he prides himself on this. He's been in power now for 16 consecutive years. He is facing his toughest challenge yet.

Over the course of the weekend on Sunday, Hungary, will go to the polls and is Peter Magyar that polls suggests could finally see Viktor Orban out of office.

So, coming this close to an election day, this visit by the American vice president, extremely controversial here in Hungary, we've already heard Peter Magyar criticize it, suggesting that this political interference.

What we've heard from the American vice president beyond what you just heard. Of course, he was asked about the latest on Iran given this role that he's taken as being potentially one of the people who might be involved on those key negotiations, he was holding that press conference alongside Viktor Orban. He's on his way now to make his big speech here in Budapest, in support of the longtime MAGA ally.

But what he also had to say there was that, in fact, far from this being simply a visit to boost economic cooperation between Hungary and the United States. This was about moral cooperation. This was about defending Christian values and ensuring that the political interference that he argued came from Brussels is no longer allowed to help the opposition here in Hungary.

So, quite strong stuff from J.D. Vance, even as he arrived for a fairly controversial visit here in Hungarian capital.

BLITZER: All right. Melissa Bell in Budapest for us, Melissa, thank you very, very much.

BROWN: And still ahead here in The Situation Room on this very busy morning, sources are telling CNN that Israel is conducting strikes on transportation routes, railways, bridges, and major highways across Iran. We're going to be joined by CNN military analysts to talk about those targets and how it plays into President Trump's pressure campaign to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

We'll be right back.

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BLITZER: Breaking news, President Trump is ratcheting up the pressure on Iran to reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz by the U.S.-imposed 8:00 P.M. Eastern deadline later tonight, saying, and I'm quoting him, whole civilizations will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will, end quote. We're also learning that the U.S. struck military targets on Iran's Kharg Island overnight.

Joining us now CNN Military Analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel Leighton, thanks very much for joining us. So, the whole country of Iran now is basically on notice. What do you say?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. This is, you know, quite amazing rhetoric, quite frankly, from the president and when you are talking in civilizational terms. It actually kind of plays into the hands of the Iranian regime because they see their struggle for existence, their revolutionary struggle for existence as being an existential struggle against the forces of the west and against forces of non-Shia Islam.

[10:25:02]

They are, of course, the representatives they see as being the representatives of Shia Islam, and they believe that their job is to not only maintain their regime but to spread to their revolution and to spread the ideas of Shia Islam. So, when he couches, when the president couches this in civilizational terms like this, this gets into really their sandbox and it makes this, you know, a conflict between civilizations and that's a really dangerous area to be in.

BLITZER: Yes. And he says these words he posted overnight. He said, a whole civilization will die tonight. A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will, it probably will.

LEIGHTON: Yes, let's hope not. Because, you know, when you talk in such apocalyptic terms, that then increases the resistance on the part of, in this case, the Iranians. And the Iranians are going to do things like they've already asked their young people to circle train stations and to protect the rail lines and do things like that. Rail lines are, of course, going to be targets as part of the infrastructure. So, that's one aspect of this.

So, if you see, you know, a large number of civilian casualties, that then creates a real problem for the U.S. We already have a public relations problem in the world. This is going to exacerbate that. And it's going to make it really difficult for us to pull ourselves back from this if this goes forward.

This is -- you know, as the Qatari foreign minister said, this is a very dangerous area to be in, and we really have to step back here, because, if we don't, it not only exists the collapse of Iran potentially, which, of course, seems to be the goal of the administration's efforts, but it also risks the collapse of a lot of the Gulf economies in the Arab Gulf states. And that is something we don't want to have happen.

BLITZER: A U.S. official tells CNN that the overnight strikes on Kharg Island did not target oil facilities, but only military targets. That's what the U.S. officials said. Why is this island so significant to Iran right now?

LEIGHTON: Well, the Kharg Island, Wolf, is where 90 percent of Iran's oil is processed and then made ready for exports. So, it's a critical node in Iran's petroleum economy. It is also kind of a waypoint and kind of guards those southwestern approaches to Khuzestan Province in Iran. So, it is a critical military area. Their military installations are in the northern part of Kharg Island. The oil installations are basically in the central and southern part of the island. It's only eight square miles in terms of area. So, it's a very small place, but there's a significant amount of economic activity there. And that economic activity does in fact benefit the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian military.

BLITZER: And the U.S. has previously targeted military sites in Kharg Island.

LEIGHTON: Yes. And, in fact, we're re-striking some of the same targets that we hit earlier. So, a lot of this is striking, you know, the same targets over and over again. There may be a reason to do that or an operational reason, because they may have reestablished surface- to-air missile batteries or artillery batteries or, you know, to change their positions in terms of their -- the way they've put their ground forces in place.

But that very fact is, you know, kind of emblematic of the whole situation here because when you talk about destruction or obliteration or use terms like that, the fact of the matter is that they reconstitute, the Iranians reconstitute their forces fairly rapidly, and this is kind of a microcosm of their reconstitution efforts.

BLITZER: Ahead of President Trump's deadline that he announced today, Iran's Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports has called that as country's young people to form a human chain around power plants all around the country. What's your read of that?

LEIGHTON: Well, so what they're -- what the Iranians are trying to do is they're trying to make this war a war of their population against the U.S. forces that are coming into their country. So, they want to increase the possibility of casualties among their youth. You know, I hate to say it that way, but that's basically what they're doing.

They had their strategy all the way back to the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, where they used a lot of their youth to go in and clear mines that the Iraqis had laid in on their territory when they invaded Iran. And they're using some of the same tactics and techniques designed to basically increase the casualty rate and really increase international sympathy for Iran.

BLITZER: Colonel Cedric Leighton, as usual, thank you very, very much.

BROWN: Always very good analysis there.

Well, just ahead, homeward bound, the four astronauts who made history are now heading back to Earth. The new pictures from NASA from Artemis II's historic mission around the moon.

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