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U.S.-Iran Ceasefire Tested Amid Confusion Over Terms of Deal; Wall Street Journal Reports, Trump Eyes Punishment for NATO Allies That Didn't Support War; Crude Oil Hovers Near $100 Again With Ceasefire in Balance. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 09, 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, President Trump's new threats. The U.S. military presence in the Middle East will stay in place until an agreement is reached or else the, quote, shooting starts. We have new reporting just in from the White House.

And later we'll go one-on-one with former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene as she and Trump trade jabs over the war.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And testing the terms of the ceasefire. Israel strikes on Lebanon and the restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz are setting up a very tense start to peace talks in Pakistan set for Saturday.

And oil price whiplash, prices inch up despite an earlier plunge hinging on hopes the ceasefire will stand. What this means for you at the gas pump.

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 this hour with the breaking news, a very, very fragile ceasefire very much in jeopardy this morning as Tehran accuses Israel of violating the deal with its bombardment of Lebanon. The U.S.-Iran peace talks are now scheduled for Saturday. The pressure, though, is building.

In a late night post on social media, President Trump warns that, quote, all U.S. ships, aircraft and military personnel will remain in place in and around Iran until there is a real agreement, real agreement in all caps. Then he warns, if there is no agreement, and I'm quoting him again, then the shooting starts, bigger and better, stronger than anyone has ever seen before, end quote.

We're covering all the latest developments of this very important story. Our correspondents are in place from the White House to the Middle East to New York.

Let's begin this hour with CNN's Alayna Treene over at the white. Alayna, how much concern is there for the ceasefire holding right now with these peace talks, what, only two days away?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, Wolf, I think that there's no question that this ceasefire is very tenuous, an already fragile ceasefire, I think, even more so tenuous today following what we have been hearing from Iran saying that they believe that it has been violated due in part, I mean, they listed three different main key reasons, but one of the biggest being Israel's continued attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Now, I do want to get into some of what we're hearing about, you know, exactly where they believe the breakdown began, because you heard the White House argue yesterday, Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said this definitively, that the United States believed that Lebanon was not included in the ceasefire. And then later in the day, you heard from the vice president, J.D. Vance, essentially calling it a legitimate misunderstanding and saying they were hoping they could find a solution, because as of now, of course, one of the key tenets of this entire ceasefire is that Iran would immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz to traffic. Well, that is not really what's happening on the ground today. It's been shuttered again because they believe that the attacks on Lebanon are a violation.

I want you to listen though to what the vice president said about this and how he described it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I think this comes from a legitimate misunderstanding. I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn't. We never made that promise. We never indicated that was going to be the case. What we said is that the ceasefire would be focused on Iran and the ceasefire would be focused on America's allies, both Israel and the Gulf Arab states.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, one of the things he said after that, that I found even more interesting, Wolf, is he said that Israel may check themselves. Those are the -- that was the language that the vice president used regarding their attacks on Lebanon.

All to say, I think a key question, of course, is what is going to happen at this meeting on Saturday in Islamabad. The latest I have heard from my discussions with officials that is set to continue and they are expecting it to be the first of likely several intense negotiations throughout this two-week span.

BLITZER: Alayna Treene at the White House where there's a lot going on.

In Lebanon meanwhile, the massive Israeli bombardment is being blamed for killing at least 182 people. Nearly 900 others were wounded overnight. More and more countries, as well as the United Nations are condemning Israel for the strikes. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, called the strikes indiscriminate and said they, quote, pose a direct threat to the sustainability of the ceasefire, end quote.

[10:05:05]

And check out this video. That's a solitary person wearing a blue shirt right in the middle of your screen, searching through the rubble of damaged buildings and crushed cars, dwarfed by complete destruction. One man spoke about why he stayed.

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ALI HIZAJI, BEIRUT RESIDENT: I am here in Beirut by choice and I will remain living in Beirut because that was a choice for my son to learn everything about this multicultural country, despite all what we are living through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CNN's Nada Bashir is on the ground for us in Beirut. Here's a glimpse of her reporting.

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NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the aftermath of an enormous Israeli military strike here in Beirut. This is one of the more than a hundred targets, according to the Israeli military, that they believe to be Hezbollah targets struck today. But you can see behind me these appear to be residential buildings, apartments. This is a very busy area, full of shops and a busy roadway. There would've been many people at this site and around the area at the time of the blast, and now emergency services are working to dig through the rubble for victims.

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BLITZER: And Nada is joining us now live from Beirut. Nada, what are you seeing today?

BASHIR: Well, Wolf, that misunderstanding, as the Trump administration has termed it, will provide no solace for many here in Lebanon who are depending on this country being included in the ceasefire agreement between the U.S., Israel and Iran. Many are still apprehensive as to what may lie ahead today, as we saw yesterday that huge wave of airstrikes carried out by the Israeli military here in Beirut, but also across the country.

They say they targeted what they have described as a hundred Hezbollah targets in the space of just ten minutes. But as you saw in our reporting on the ground there, and as we have seen across the city following the aftermath of yesterday's strikes, we have seen a number of residential buildings and apartment buildings that have been completely leveled or destroyed and damaged by those strikes.

And, in fact, we spent the morning today at one of Beirut's major hospitals, the Rafik Hariri Hospital, where we saw firsthand families there waiting for news of their loved ones. A hospital official told us that they received many patients, dozens of patients, many of them still in a critical condition, but they also received many of the dead. And we saw families at this hospital not only waiting to hear news of their loved ones with some waiting to be able to identify the bodies of the dead.

And the impact of this war is being felt across the city today. Once again, just in the last few moments, we have had a renewed warning from the Israeli military, an evacuation warning for a broad area of Southern Beirut, areas that have not been in evacuation orders in the past, including areas that are very close to Beirut International Airport. And there is real concern that we may continue to see heavy bombardments today, both in this city but also across the country.

BLITZER: All right. Nada Bashir in Beirut for us, one of our courageous journalists, Nada, stay safe over there. We're all worried obviously, but I know you're an excellent journalist, you can do the job. Thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: Now to another courageous journalist in Saudi Arabia, CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward in Riyadh. Clarissa, are there any signs that the Strait of Hormuz will soon reopen?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, for the moment, Pamela, it doesn't look good. According to one monitoring group that sort of examines just who or how many ships have been able to cross, only one oil tanker has passed through and five of what they call dry bulk carrier ships, and that was before Iran then went on to close the Strait of Hormuz. Iran doing this, according to Iran state media, because of Israel's devastating attacks on Lebanon yesterday.

Today, we saw in an interview that the Iranian deputy foreign minister did with a British news outlet some kind of explanations given or hedging, shall we say, that basically said Iran has a challenge right now. It can only allow 15 ships through a day because it has to guarantee safe passage through areas that have been heavily mined during the course of this conflict.

But here in the Gulf, there is certainly a feeling of broader alarm that Iran is effectively consolidating its control over the Strait of Hormuz, despite the fact that President Trump said that the strait needs to open immediately in order for this ceasefire to take place and for these negotiations to take place.

[10:10:05]

Now, on a brighter note, Pam, I will say that today is much quieter here in the Gulf countries. For the first time since the war started, the UAE reported that not a single attack took place on its airspace. So, that is giving some people cause for optimism here.

But, again, what you hear over and over as the U.S. and Iran prepare for these historic face-to-face meetings, that, of course, contingent on this issue with Lebanon's involvement in the ceasefire being resolved is this cry for the Gulf's security concerns to be incorporated into any agreement. Simply put, Pam, they want guarantees in writing from the U.S. that will address their security after the U.S. potentially leaves this region. Pam? BROWN: All right. Clarissa, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: And still ahead, doubling down on NATO. After meeting with the head of the alliance, President Trump wasn't shy at all about expressing his continued disappointment in NATO. We'll discuss the future of U.S. involvement in the alliance. That's coming up.

BROWN: And later this hour, former Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene joins us in The Situation Room after calling for the 25th Amendment to be invoked against the president.

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[10:15:00]

BLITZER: New this morning, The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that President Trump's team is exploring punishment for NATO countries that didn't support the war with Iran. And this comes as the president lashed out at NATO on social media once again last night, saying in part, and I'm quoting Trump, NATO wasn't there when we needed them and they won't be there if we need them again, end quote.

Joining us now, CNN Political and Global Affairs Analyst Barak Ravid. Barak, thanks very much for joining us.

As you know, according to this Wall Street Journal report, the president's proposal to punish some NATO members would involve moving U.S. troops out of the countries that he had deemed unhelpful to the Iran war effort. What do you make of this reported proposal?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I have no clue if it's true.

BLITZER: The NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met with the president at the White House yesterday. Here's part of what he said in an interview with CNN shortly after that meeting. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: Let me be absolutely clear. He is clearly disappointed and with many nature allies and I can see his point. But at the same time, I was also able to point to the fact that the large majority of European nations has been helpful with basing, with logistics, with over flights, with making sure that they lift up to the commitments. And there is also widespread support for defense, that's degrading the nuclear and the inter -- the ballistic missile capacity from Iran was really crucial and that only the U.S. was able at this point to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Barak, do you believe the secretary general, the NATO secretary general, was able to talk President Trump back from the ledge, or do you believe the president will move forward with punishing NATO allies? RAVID: Again, I don't know if President Trump even wants to punish NATO allies, if he's thinking about punishing NATO allies. He's clearly, you know, not happy with many NATO allies. He mentioned, you know, Spain several times. He mentioned France several times. He mentioned the U.K. several times. But I think a lot of it, as everything Trump does is -- and, by the way, as he himself wrote on Truth Social today, is that he's applying pressure to countries trying to get them to change their policy and change their behavior and align it more with what he wants.

And I think a lot of what he says is part of that pressure campaign. And he himself said today that NATO countries only understand when they're under pressure. And I think what we heard from the secretary general of NATO, you know, in his interview CNN, we heard the guy who's under a lot of pressure. And this is why he's saying what he's saying and this is why he's urging, you know, member states, NATO member states to do more.

And I think there are a lot of member states in NATO that are ready to be part of a some sort of multinational force in the Strait of Hormuz, but they want to do it once they know that this war is over. Not that they'll send their people in only to figure out in two weeks that Israel or the U.S. or both resumed the war.

BLITZER: Israeli sources, as you know, Barak, are telling CNN, that while the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, knew the ceasefire talks were underway, he did not know what path President Trump was going to take. Netanyahu said his country was not caught by surprise, and that the ceasefire came into effect, quote, in full coordination with Israel. But a senior Israeli official told CNN, and I'm quoting now, it is all one man's decision.

How closely aligned are President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu at this sensitive, crucial point of the war?

RAVID: I mean, first, Netanyahu cannot really do anything against Trump's will, okay?

[10:20:00]

They're joint at the hip. But as Trump told me once, there's a big brother and there's a little brother, and the big brother is Donald J. Trump, and the little brother is Benjamin, Bibi Netanyahu. Therefore, in most cases, if Donald Trump will say to Netanyahu, we have a ceasefire, Netanyahu will respect that.

It doesn't mean that Netanyahu hasn't managed several times to convince Trump to take his side, but at least this time of the ceasefire, Donald Trump wanted a ceasefire. He told Netanyahu. Netanyahu knew that there were negotiations. He doesn't need the U.S. to tell him that in order to know. Israeli intelligence knows everything that's going on in Iran. So, they knew that there were those negotiations. They got some updates from the United States. They didn't tell them everything. And they didn't have control over the process, which is, this is what, you know, in my opinion, a more serious thing that Netanyahu didn't have control of the process, that he, at the end of the day, had to accept a fact there's a ceasefire and there's nothing he could have done about it.

BLITZER: Very quickly before I let you go, Barak, do you agree with a lot of Israeli analysts who say that Netanyahu really can't afford to lose support from Trump because that would hurt Netanyahu's chances for reelection later this year?

RAVID: Yes, no doubt. Look, the relationship with Donald Trump are Benjamin Netanyahu's only political asset, not the most important one, the only one. Therefore, he cannot afford to get into a fight with Donald Trump.

Saying that, I think we should look carefully at what's going on right now in Lebanon, because it is clear from what we hear from the Iranian side, that the Iranians, regardless of whether Lebanon was part of the ceasefire, was not part of the ceasefire, that's all water under the bridge.

At the moment, what we see is that the Iranians still, at least publicly, claim that they want to ceasefire in Lebanon in order to start the negotiations with the U.S. and Donald Trump will have to decide whether Benjamin Netanyahu's military campaign in Lebanon is important enough for U.S. national security and foreign policy so that it could jeopardize the ceasefire negotiations with Iran.

BLITZER: Barak Ravid, as usual, thank you very, very much.

RAVID: Thank you.

BLITZER: Pamela?

BROWN: Coming up here in The Situation Room, Wolf, oil prices influx, but don't expect $3 a gallon gas anytime soon. Why the massive disruption in global oil markets isn't over yet.

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[10:25:00]

BROWN: Breaking News, the national average for gas prices rose slightly overnight to roughly $4.17 cents per gallon. Brent Crude, the global oil benchmark, was around $98 a barrel this morning. It reached triple digits, around $100 a barrel, at one point today. Yesterday, it settled around $94 a barrel following the ceasefire announcement.

For context here, the day before the U.S. announced its war with Iran, this same oil was at $73 per barrel.

So, let's bring in CNN's Matt Egan to make sense of what's going on here. When might drivers start to see some relief at the pump, Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Pamela, relief could come any day, but, unfortunately, that relief is likely to be pretty minor. And that's because oil prices, they remain very high. Yes, crude crashed yesterday by the most in terms of dollars that it's ever crashed by in any single day since futures trading launched back in the 1980s. However, look at this, oil prices are back up today. In fact, WTI, the U.S. benchmark, surging 8 percent, as we speak, at the highest levels of the day and returning above $100 a barrel for the first time since the ceasefire was announced.

Now, the fact that oil prices are going back up underscores the fact that this is not going to be fast or easy to recover from this historic energy shock. This is not like flipping a light switch back on. Energy infrastructure in the Middle East has been damaged. People have been evacuated. Oil production has been shut down. All of that takes time and money and confidence to come back from. And the most important problem, of course, is the fact that the Strait of Hormuz has not fully reopened. Vessel traffic remains very, very small.

Now, what does this mean for gas prices? As you mentioned, the national average taking higher today to $4.17 a gallon, that's the highest level in almost four years. Now, analysts do think that gas prices could start trending lower in the coming days, perhaps falling below $4 a gallon if all goes well. However, gas prices, they famously go up like a rocket, but they fall like a feather. This is something that takes time.

And so, look, Pamela, even in the best case, if this ceasefire holes, if the Strait of Hormuz fully reopens, we're likely not going back to those pre-war gas prices anytime soon. And if the ceasefire falls apart or the strait remains closed, then prices could stay high or go even higher. Back to you.

BROWN: Yes. And like you said, they go up like a rocket, go down like a feather. So, we'll be watching that closely.

Matt Egan, thanks so much. Wolf?

EGAN: Thanks, Pamela.

BLITZER: And coming up next, former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene joins us in The Situation Room to discuss the war with Iran, the state of the Republican Party, and her replacement in Congress.

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