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Oil Prices Surge; Trump Threatens to Destroy 'Whole Civilization' of Iran. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired April 07, 2026 - 11:00   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 HOST: Happening now: breaking news.

A shocking new threat. President Trump says -- quote -- "A whole civilization will die tonight" if Iran doesn't move fast to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the deadline just hours away.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Eight p.m. Eastern.

And supply shock. Oil prices surge as the U.S. launches fresh attacks at Iran's key export hub Kharg Island. New warnings that some countries could completely run out of fuel.

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.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: And we begin with the breaking news, President Trump issuing a brand-new, jarring threat to Iran. He demands that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz within hours or face extinction, his grim, dramatic words of a jaw-dropping post.

"A whole civilization," he writes, "will die tonight, never to be brought back again" -- end quote.

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

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

And the president is also threatening to strike Iran's power plants. And, today, one Iranian minister is asking civilians, as you see right here, to form a human chain around them. Here's a small gathering just a short time ago. Several countries have privately reached out to the Trump

administration to warn against attacking civilian targets. Now, ahead of the deadline tonight at 8:00 p.m., as we have noted, Iran's president is showing 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."

So let's go to CNN's Betsy Klein at the White House.

Betsy, tell us more about the president's, frankly, apocalyptic social media post this morning.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Pamela, I don't think apocalyptic is hyperbole here, as we have seen President Trump steadily escalate his threats against Tehran with escalating rhetoric, including that F-bomb over the weekend, this time in an existential post to social media this morning.

I want to read it to you. 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."

At this hour, we know that diplomatic negotiations are ongoing. Those have been led by Vice President J.D. Vance, who is currently traveling in Hungary, along with special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, mediated by Pakistan, as well as Egypt and Turkey.

The president laying out two paths in his post today. One, a whole civilization will die tonight. He's not saying a regime. He's not saying a nuclear weapons program. The president is saying a civilization. And we have asked the White House for more clarity on that.

Separately, a potential for a diplomatic path to move forward. Vance, for his part, says that there will be a lot of negotiation between now and President Trump's 8:00 p.m. deadline Eastern time tonight, about nine hours away now.

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All of this adding up to a very volatile moment for this conflict that's now in its sixth week, the Trump administration issuing this key warning that they will strike both bridges and other critical infrastructure like power plants, downplaying concerns about war crimes.

President Trump says that the Iranians, in his view, are willing to suffer for their freedom -- Wolf and Pamela.

BLITZER: All right, Betsy Klein reporting for us.

Betsy, thanks very much.

Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv for us.

Jeremy, so what's the mood in the region right now as this 8:00 p.m. Eastern deadline tonight bears down?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this is an extraordinary moment of anticipation, of concern and of real danger for this region, given the risks of escalation here, as President Trump is making these extraordinarily outlandish threats towards the Iranian government and also, it's important to note, the Iranian people here clearly as well.

And the consequences of those strikes would have enormous ripple effects throughout this region, as Iran would likely escalate its targeting of oil infrastructure in the region, of other countries in the Gulf, and, of course, here at Israel as well.

Already, today, we have seen that the United States has carried out these strikes on Kharg Island, but also the Israelis have already begun to carry out strikes on infrastructure targets inside of Iran. We have seen Israeli strikes that have targeted everything from railways, bridges and highways inside of Iran, targets that the Israeli officials are insisting are being used by the Iranian military to transport ammunition and missiles throughout the country.

We have also seen the Israeli military telling Iranians to stay away from the railways today, but Iranian officials making counterefforts there, trying to bring some of their supporters to some of these bridges, for example, what seems to be an attempt effectively to use those individuals as human shields.

The Israeli government, for its part, also carried out strikes on yet another petrochemical facility inside of Iran. But, Wolf, I'm told that there are preparations for a much larger list of targets inside of Iran, of infrastructure targets and energy targets that Israel would strike if President Trump gives them the green light.

Basically, if that 8:00 p.m. deadline comes and goes without a deal with Iran and President Trump decides to go forward with the kinds of massive strikes that he is looking at, Israel also has its own list of infrastructure and energy sites inside of Iran that it is preparing to strike -- Wolf.

BROWN: Wow.

All right, Jeremy Diamond, thank you for bringing us the latest there.

I want to bring in CNN national security correspondent Kylie Atwood just here in THE SITUATION ROOM, that we're learning that the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain is directing all U.S. government employees to shelter in place.

What more are officials saying? KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so this is an

alert that just went out from the State Department in the last hour here, Pam.

And it says that all U.S. Embassy employees and all Americans who are in Bahrain should shelter in place until further notice. It also says that those Americans should have resources with them. They should have food. They should have water. They should have their medications.

Not saying specifically what has prompted this alarming alert from them, but it does come just hours after President Trump made this very aggressive threat against the Iranian people, saying that U.S. strikes could target all of Iranian civilization, of course, if there isn't a diplomatic agreement by tonight.

And that brings us to the question of, where does that diplomacy stand right now? We don't have a great sense of that. We know that there have been back-and-forth messages between the U.S. and these interlocutors in Iran, the interlocutors being Pakistan, Egypt and to some extent some other countries in the region.

But this morning, we heard from Vice President Vance. And what he said is that there's going to be a lot of negotiation before the 8:00 p.m. deadline tonight. But he also went on to say that "We feel confident that we will get a response from the Iranians before tonight and the Iranians should be making the right response."

We don't know exactly what the U.S. is looking for. But, right now, it's very unclear if that diplomatic breakthrough is going to happen before this deadline that Trump has put in place and if the president might actually change that deadline, as he has in the past.

BLITZER: You know, it's an important announcement from the government of Bahrain, the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain recommending that all Americans shelter in place.

"To the extent possible," the statement says, "remain in a secure structure"...

ATWOOD: Yes.

BLITZER: ... and stay away from windows, have a supply of food, water, medications and other essential items.

The first thing that jumped out at me, there's a lot -- thousands of Americans who are in Bahrain. It's the home of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet...

ATWOOD: That's right.

BLITZER: ... which has a huge presence in the Gulf and very important presence right now. So all those sailors and Marines from the Fifth Fleet, they have to stay in -- shelter in place right now?

ATWOOD: The Marines would probably follow orders that would come from the Pentagon at this point. We don't know exactly what those orders look like.

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But, Wolf, one of the concerning factors for all of the countries in the region, Bahrain included, has been these threats that President Trump has issued against the civilian targets inside of Iran.

And now that we see that threat again this morning, of course, those countries are concerned that Iran could respond in kind and go after civilian targets in their countries, desalination plans, bridges and the like. They have warned the U.S. against doing these strikes in the past.

And now we're seeing that there could potentially be repercussions, given the State Department is making warnings which indicates that there could be some preparations under way for those types of strikes.

BLITZER: Yes, this is a dangerous situation indeed.

ATWOOD: Yes.

BLITZER: Kylie Atwood, thanks very much for the reporting.

BROWN: I wouldn't be surprised if other countries follow suit.

BLITZER: Yes, they want to err on the side of caution right now.

Still ahead: Diplomacy or destruction, that's the question now confronting Iran. What Vice President J.D. Vance just said about the state of the talks.

BROWN: And does President Trump's threat to wipe out Iranian civilization mean diplomacy is already dead? Our expert panel is standing by.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. We will be right back.

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BLITZER: Breaking news this morning, President Trump with new threats to Iran, saying that if the Strait of Hormuz isn't reopened, and I'm quoting him now, "a whole civilization" -- let me repeat that -- "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" -- end quote.

A U.S. official also confirmed that there have been strikes on Iran's Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf. The island is critical to the country's oil exports.

BROWN: With us now, CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier, CNN's national security analyst, Peter Bergen, and former NATO Supreme Allied commander retired General Wesley Clark.

Great to have you all on. General Clark, the U.S. says it has only so far hit military targets

on Kharg Island. What does that tell you?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it could be that we're softening them up to be able to put the Marines in there, or another force in there at some point.

So that makes sense because, before you go into some place, you're going to want to do everything you can to eliminate the opposition. But it also could be just symbolic, that we were holding the sort of crown jewels of Iran hostage, and we could shift those targets from military sites to the energy sites that are there, the petrochemical complex and storage facility and so forth.

So it's a dual message.

BLITZER: Let me get Kim Dozier into this conversation.

Kim, the president is sticking to his very, very tough language right now. Is he painting himself, though, into a corner if the Iranians don't accept the concessions that he wants?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: This could be a high- stakes negotiating tactic to try to get them to blink, but so far they haven't. They have proved consistently that they can take more pain, and they see themselves as gaining in political stature every time they force Trump to bypass one of his deadlines, which we might see tonight, the TACO, Trump always chickens out, syndrome.

Or we could see, as a Gulf official I just spoke to was worried about, a massive strike against many targets in Iran that then causes Iran to retaliate against the Gulf. So far, they have been doing destructive attacks, but they haven't unleashed the full scope of what Gulf officials think they could do.

BROWN: And, Peter, we have seen empty threats before from the president. This seems different, though. And if he doesn't follow through and -- or doesn't get anything tangible in the negotiations, what kind of a position would that put the U.S. in this war?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, actually, I'm reminded, in his first term, he said he could end the Afghan war in a week, but it would kill 10 million people.

So he's made these kind of very grandiose kind of threats before. In this case, obviously, this -- I -- who knows what's going to happen at 8:00 p.m. tonight? The only person who knows is the commander in chief.

I presume, if he wants to retain some form of credibility, he's going to have to do something, because these threats have been so over the top. But they could be limited and they could be dressed up as, well, the negotiations continue, so limited strikes and continued negotiations.

I mean, that wouldn't be surprising. BROWN: Yes.

BLITZER: Let me get back to General Clark.

General Clark, if the U.S. follows through on President Trump's threats, strategically, what would destroying bridges and power plants do for the U.S. and Israeli war strategy?

CLARK: One thing we haven't done, Wolf, is, we haven't really isolated Iran from outside support. So, one thing, going after the bridges and railroads and things like that does, it makes it more difficult for Russia or China to get overland support in.

We also haven't gone after the ports. And there's a report that a couple of Chinese ships are off-loading petrochemicals that could be used as rocket fuel today in one of these Iranian ports. And we don't get any report of striking it, maybe we're just not hearing about it.

But when you go after the bridges and things like this, they do have a military connection. They do isolate the battlefield and the various compartments. They make it difficult for Iran to maneuver its forces, to maneuver its anti-aircraft, to chase down pilots and so forth.

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So everything contributes. And you may know, historically, before Eisenhower invaded France, there were about two months of destroying transportation networks and power and everything that could be used to maneuver forces against the proposed invasion in Normandy.

And so all of this -- one of the things, Wolf, is, we're very impatient in this. We haven't been six weeks in this yet. And even my campaign in 1999 against Milosevic was 11 weeks. And we have got to understand that it takes a while to break the spirit of the opposing leader to make him understand you're going to lose.

And so that hasn't been done yet. They're still in the defiant phase, but eventually the weight of the airpower and the selective use of ground troops in certain cases will prove decisive. And there will be people in Iran who want to change that regime. It's early yet.

So our problem is that, in democracies, when you get started in something like this, people want it over with. And I know, when I was doing my campaign, it was like, from the fourth -- third or fourth night, it's like, when's this going to be over? When's this going to be over?

And it's going to be over when you convince the other side that they're losing and that they're better off cutting their losses now. We have a problem with the Strait of Hormuz in this case because they think they can hold it. But it's just going to be a matter of time. We're going to chip, chip, chip, chip away at those defenses in the Strait of Hormuz. They're going to lose it.

They should stop now while they can. BROWN: And on that note, Peter, bring us into the mind-set of the

Iranian leadership. They are Shia. They very much believe that the West is the enemy and it's existential for them, the fight against the West, right? It's a long game for them.

BERGEN: Well, as you know, the United States has killed many of the leadership, but a lot of the leadership that survived, their first...

BROWN: The IRGC, right.

BERGEN: Yes, the first -- their first sort of adult experience or even as teenagers was fighting in the Iraq-Iran war, which went on for eight years, in which a million people died, and which they didn't give up after year one or year two or year three, despite these massive casualties.

And they would send 15-year-old boys into clear minefields, believing that they would be martyred if they died. So, I don't -- the general is right. There are two ways these things can end. You either -- the other side loses and you have a surrender or you have a mutual recognition of a mutually hurting stalemate, which brings you to the negotiating table.

Where are we now? I mean, the general is right. It's only a few weeks in, but I -- history does not suggest that these this particular regime is going to give up very soon.

BLITZER: Kim, who do you think is going to blink at 8:00 p.m. Eastern tonight, the Trump deadline, for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz?

DOZIER: I'm worried that President Trump, after delaying this, I think this is his fifth time?

BROWN: Fourth.

DOZIER: Fourth?

BROWN: I think fourth, yes.

DOZIER: So, I think he will feel compelled to do something militarily tonight, and we're already seeing actions in that direction.

This could break our partnership with our other Western allies, in that what Trump is threatening to do would be considered under the Geneva Conventions that the U.S. helped draft war crimes. When you hit civilian targets in excess, not just dual-use stuff that the military can use, but things that the regular population needs to survive, that is considered a war crime.

And the people that support their European leadership, the leadership in Britain, they will not want to fight in battle with U.S. troops, for fear we would do something like this again.

BLITZER: All right, thank you very much to all of you, Kim Dozier, Peter Bergen, General Wesley Clark. Appreciate it very, very much. BROWN: Up next here in THE SITUATION ROOM: Oil prices are surging as

this war triggers a historic disruption of the global supply. Could we be on the brink of a real fuel shortage?

We're going to make sense of it all up next.

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BLITZER: Breaking news, gas prices going up another 2 cents overnight, AAA now saying the national average is now $4.14 per gallon. That's up 88 cents from a year ago, all of this as oil prices are surging this morning as well.

Let's go to CNN business and politics correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich.

Vanessa, these rising oil and gas prices are forcing some companies to pass the extra cost onto consumers all over the country. Tell our viewers what you're learning.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.

Oil prices, the price of oil per barrel is now well over $116. You can see that on your screen right there. That is a 100 percent increase from just a month ago. If you look at this line chart that hopefully we can put on screen, you can just see how the price of oil has taken off in the last month.