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Iran Declares Strait Of Hormuz "Completely Open"; Senate Agrees To Short-Term Extension Of Surveillance Law; Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R- IN), Is Interviewed About Trump Admin Considers Unfreezing $20B In Iranian Assets. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired April 17, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And for his latest reporting, Wolf, he travels the country to learn why women of all ages are turning to cannabis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[11:00:04]

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Is it the general approach, say, look, we've tried everything, and now we're going to do cannabis? Or is it thought of increasingly as a first-line therapy?

DR. STACI GRUBER, DIR., MCLEAN HOSP. MARIJUANA INVESTIGATIONS FOR NEUROSCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY: I generally see people who have tried pretty much everything. I almost always say this is sort of like a last-ditch effort.

BRENDA TSUKAS, MEDICAL MARIJUANA CONSUMER: Can we grab your med cards, please?

GUPTA (voice-over): That was the case for Brenda Tsukas and her daughter, Anna Henson.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You also have $10 in loyalty points.

TSUKAS: Oh, awesome.

GUPTA (voice-over): They started using cannabis when it became medically legal in Oklahoma. Brenda has been a longtime sufferer of fibromyalgia, a painful autoimmune disorder which intensified during menopause.

TSUKAS: I felt instant relief.

GUPTA: Wow. Did that surprise you?

TSUKAS: Oh, it shocked me. It shocked me because I've been in pain for years.

GUPTA (voice-over): For her daughter, an Iraq war veteran struggling with physical pain and PTSD, cannabis turned out to be a better option than the pain med she was prescribed, especially now that she's in perimenopause. ANNA HENSON, MEDICAL MARIJUANA CONSUMER: I'm night and day. Before, I wouldn't come out of the house. I wouldn't do anything. I wouldn't go anywhere. It helps so much. It helps with everything.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And Dr. Gupta is going to join us next hour to talk more about this topic. And you can catch Weed8: Women & Weed. It's his eighth installment on the series on cannabis usage and trends. And it airs Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN. And you can also watch it the next day streaming on the CNN app.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And the next hour of The Situation Room starts right now.

BROWN: And happening now, breaking news. Iran declares a Strait of Hormuz is, "Completely open during the ceasefire." And on the hills of that, the price of oil drops more than 12 percent. And now President Trump says that Iran has agreed to never close the key waterway again. We are following these fast-moving developments.

BLITZER: And we want to welcome all of 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

BLITZER: And we begin this hour with the breaking news. A huge development in the Middle East. Just a short time ago, Iran's foreign minister made a stunning declaration saying the Strait of Hormuz is now completely open. And since we heard about that announcement, Trump pushed out a flurry of social posts. To be clear, the vital shipping route is expected to remain open only for a few days, barring a bigger agreement. But the immediate relief is very obvious. The world's oil prices have plunged.

BROWN: And President Trump, for his part, is celebrating the announcement. And just moments ago, he posted this, "Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again. It will no longer be used as a weapon against the world, end quote. He also says the U.S. naval blockade will remain in full force until the transaction with Iran is 100 percent complete.

And he also adds Iran and the U.S. have worked together to remove sea mines from the shipping route. We're still waiting to hear more from Iran about all of this. But let's go straight to CNN senior White House reporter Betsy Klein. What are we hearing from the president on all of this? He's on quite a spree on Truth Social this morning on these big developments, Betsy.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Pamela, President Trump and his team are watching this very closely, receiving regular updates from here in Las Vegas, where the President is making an economic push. But news that the Strait of Hormuz is reopening, very welcome. And officials are feeling optimistic as these talks are progressing in real time. President Trump reacting in that flurry of social media posts. Now, we are learning, according to reporting from our colleagues Alayna Treene and Kevin Liptak, that the Trump administration is also considering unfreezing $20 billion in Iranian assets as part of these negotiations.

I want to read to you from a post the President sent just a few moments ago. He says, "The USA will get all nuclear dust created by our great B-2 bombers. No money will exchange hands in any way, shape or form." Of course, this idea of Iran potentially benefiting financially from this deal, even if no money is exchanged, could lead to some criticism of President Trump, who has been critical of similar deals under the Obama administration.

But officials are hoping that a broader deal to end this conflict could be finalized as soon as this weekend. And they are watching those talks between Iranian and Pakistani officials very, very closely to see that if a potential second round of talks could take place in Islamabad as soon as this weekend.

Now, there are still some major sticking points. And that includes how long Iran has agreed to pause its uranium enrichment, as well as retrieval of Iran's nuclear material. That is what President Trump is referring to as nuclear dust. But all of this comes after the President yesterday announced agreed to pause its uranium enrichment, as well as retrieval of Iran's nuclear material. That is what President Trump is referring to as nuclear dust.

[11:05:07]

But all of this comes after the president yesterday announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, something that sources say really paved the way for these quickly progressing developments, as well as this announcement that the Strait of Hormuz is reopening.

President Trump has said that the strait blockade will remain in full force until that deal is complete. But we are already seeing oil prices go down, the stock market going up due to this news. It comes as the President is here trying to make that economic pitch. And people I've talked to are already feeling the crunch from this conflict, Pamela and Wolf.

BROWN: All right, Betsy Klein, thanks for the latest there. Wolf?

BLITZER: I want to go live right now to our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson. He's live in Islamabad, Pakistan, watching all of this unfold. So, Nic, first of all, what are you learning about this reopening of the Strait of Hormuz?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: There seems to be some conditionality with it, Wolf. The Iranian foreign minister tying it definitively to the ceasefire in Lebanon and saying that its duration of this unblocking by the Iranians of the Strait of Hormuz will last the duration of that ceasefire is also indicating that the shipping will go through previously agreed routes. Now, does that mean the route that the Iranians have been insisting that shipping take when they've given it the Seso (ph), which is a sort of northern route through the Strait of Hormuz, which is obviously much closer to the Iranian coastline? Is that what they're saying? But the sort of subtext and the other partial picture to this is that the Pakistani lead mediators who are in Tehran, they're in their third day of talks there, do appear to be making progress in their talks. The Iranians last night thanked the Pakistanis for their efforts to get that Lebanon ceasefire going.

Now the foreign minister laying off Iran's move here as a sort of, if you will, a thank you on that account. So as Alayna -- as Betsy was saying there, there are still sticking points and it does seem to come down to Iran's nuclear ambitions, the enrichment sites, who's going to get access to them, where does that material go? These are likely to be some of the difficult and core details that could be the stumbling blocks.

And of course, the Iranians have been asking for sanctions relief, they've been asking for unfrozen assets, they've been asking for war reparations, we're talking here about billions of dollars. So it's in a way, if what we are understanding from our sources, Kevin, Alayna at the White House, then it clearly indicates that this is another chink, another part of that picture that the negotiators in Tehran sort of have in their armory to move forward to a conclusion. And therefore, Wolf, it's making it more likely there'll be talks here, and this city already getting some tightened security ahead of that possibility.

BLITZER: As it should. All right, Nic Robertson in Islamabad, Pakistan, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf, now let's go over to London and CNN Business Editor-at-Large Richard Quest. Richard, thanks for being here with us on this breaking news. This has all unfolded very quickly this morning. How are global oil prices responding to this news?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: Well, just as they went up very sharply at the beginning of the war, so the prospect of it ending and peace breaking out sends them in the opposite direction. This is exactly what you would expect to see, bearing in mind the good news that we're hearing in terms of the Straits of Hormuz being reopened.

So the knee-jerk reaction is this sharp fall in the price of oil. That will only hold true until we actually start seeing that it is true. If it starts to look like there are no ships, that price will go back up again. On the stock market, it's just gangbusters. The market is in a good mood to start with. It has been looking for reasons and ways to rally.

The Nasdaq has been at an all-time high. The S&P 500 has been at an all-time high. And now you're seeing these sort of gains. We might even see the Dow close at a high as well tonight. So the ebullience that you're seeing is entirely justified based on the news that we are hearing. Whether it holds, that's the core question. And that will just depend on whether it turns out to be real or not. On the new -- this is a case of the news is good, the market's reacted, what will the facts show afterwards?

BROWN: Always the key questions right there. All right, Richard Quest, thank you so much.

And still ahead here in The Situation Room, as Congress absorbs the flurry of updates in this Iran war, we're going to ask one Republican for his reaction to the sharp pivot in the Strait of Hormuz negotiations.

[11:09:56]

BLITZER: And we're also going to ask him about a new push to investigate what some lawmakers are calling unusual trades in the oil market amid all this conflict. Stay with us, you're in The Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Breaking news, the Senate has just passed a short term extension for a key foreign surveillance program through April 30th. The measure already passed the House overnight. CNN's Lauren Fox is joining us from Capitol Hill right now. Walk us through, Lauren, the next steps of this debate. This is very significant. Where does it all go from here?

[11:15:11]

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, essentially, this is just a short-term extension. And, Wolf, it happened because, essentially, despite the fact that the White House and House and Senate leadership were pushing for a clean reauthorization for this important spying program that the U.S. relies on, what happened was Democrats and Republicans, many of them had deep concerns, and they believed that this program needed to be reformed.

Last night, in the wee hours of the morning, you had Speaker Johnson trying repeatedly to put different packages on the floor to try to pass this legislation before the April 20th deadline, and he was unsuccessful. The only thing that conservatives in his conference were willing to support was a short-term extension. This morning they kicked it over to the United States Senate, where just a short time ago they passed that extension, but it comes with a lot of strings attached.

I just talked to Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat who has been working on this issue for decades, and he said, finally, he believes that reforms are coming to this program, something that they have been fighting for, for the last several years without any success.

And this really is an issue that brings together odd bedfellows. You have liberals, you have conservatives, all working together who believe that this program needs to be reformed with warrant reforms. They also are arguing that just more needs to be done to protect Americans' information from not being swept up in the broad way that it is as part of this surveillance program.

So, Wolf, a lot more negotiations are going to have to take place in the upcoming days, but Wyden's saying he believes that this is the best chance that they've had for decades to actually reform this program.

BLITZER: Significant development indeed. Lauren Fox up on Capitol Hill, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf, there is some more breaking news. Iran's foreign minister says the critical Strait of Hormuz waterway is open to all commercial vessels for the remaining period of the ceasefire with the U.S.

Also, President Trump posted on social media, "Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again." We're yet to hear from Iran on saying it's open permanently, per the President. But all of this comes after a senior U.S. military official told lawmakers yesterday Iran still retains, "Thousands of missiles and one-way attack drones capable of threatening American and allied forces in the region, despite the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Tehran's military assets."

A lot happening this morning. Joining us now to discuss is Republican Congressman Marlin Stutzman of Indiana. I imagine you welcome this news of the critical waterway being open. Do you think that the President can trust Iran that it will never use the Strait of Hormuz as a weapon against the world again?

REP. MARLIN STUTZMAN (R-IN): Well, it is good news, and the markets are reflecting that, Pam. But I do think that every time we work with folks in Iran or even, like, the new regime in Syria, I've always said it's watching their actions, not always listening to their words. You have to watch what they do. But this is a great step.

The fact that both sides are saying the Straits are open, that's a good sign for all of us, and it's obviously a good sign that the market's like and that hopefully this is the beginning of the end of the war.

BROWN: And the naval blockade by the U.S. is still in effect, per the President, on those Iranian ports. We don't know what the Iranians' reaction is to that. But since the start of this war in February, President Trump has repeatedly said the conflict will end soon. Watch what he told "Fox News" earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this war over?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's close to over, yes. I mean, I view it as very close to over. You know what? If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country. And we're not finished. We'll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: So do you think we're now in week seven, entering into week seven, do you think this is it? This is the beginning of the end of this war?

STUTZMAN: I do. I think the Straits of Hormuz showed us the Achilles' heel for Iran. I mean, I'm a business guy. I know that when revenues start to dry up, that all of a sudden you start to scramble. And I think the Iranian regime realized that their cash flow was going to take a big hit when all of a sudden ships can't move in and out of the Straits of Hormuz.

And so I think President Trump did a brilliant job of taking that position. I mean, it was, you know, it seemed risky to everybody, but really it was the one that I think put them on their heels and said, look, we have to have that cash. We've got to find a deal. It'll be interesting, I think, at the end, who we're actually really dealing with. I know President Trump knows that, but as he works through that, what does this regime look like going forward, and who is it? We've got to move away from the extreme ideology that's been governing Iran for the last 40 years.

BROWN: Yes, you don't have clarity right now on who's governing Iran, who the regime is, exactly.

STUTZMAN: No, and again, I think that's why we watch their actions to see how they move, but we just do not -- and I know President Trump is firm on this, that they can't have a nuclear bomb and that he wants to see changes with the new government.

[11:20:06]

BROWN: And he just put out a flurry of social media posts this morning announcing the U.S. would acquire all of Iran's, "Nuclear dust."

STUTZMAN: Yes.

BROWN: And that money would not be exchanged in negotiations for that nuclear dust, as he calls it, from the B-2 bombers. But two sources are telling CNN this morning the administration is considering unfreezing $20 billion in Iranian assets as part of the negotiations. Really quick, I want to play what the President said earlier about the Obama administration's Iran deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And then, very importantly, I terminated Barack Hussein Obama's Iran nuclear deal, a disaster. Obama gave them $1.7 billion in cash, green, green cash. Took it out of banks from Virginia, D.C., and Maryland. All the cash they had flew it by airplanes in an attempt to buy their respect and loyalty, but it didn't work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Is it a good idea for the U.S. to consider releasing these funds to Iran? What do you think? STUTZMAN: Well, you know, we obviously were very critical of the way President Obama handled giving cash to Iran. I think it really depends on the negotiation that President Trump comes through with them. What are we getting in exchange? What are the security measurements that we're going to receive and have the assurances that they're not going to pursue any sort of nuclear capability? President Trump is a tough negotiator.

I mean, we've been really able to watch him negotiate almost as a general public through the Truth Social post, and there's days you're like, wow. But this is the way he negotiates. He's a tough negotiator, and he gets results.

BROWN: Including threatening taking out an entire civilization.

STUTZMAN: Well, and you know what? That was, you know, one of the things that, you know, as he said, they say, death to Israel, death to America. And I think we have to take them seriously. And while they are a much smaller country, and they don't have the capabilities that we do as Americans, we still have to take it seriously.

And I think that those were the types of words that they understood what those meant. I believe that he never intended to do that, but it was simply the rhetoric to put them in a position of he means really business.

BROWN: The bottom line is the U.S. has long pointed to Iran as being a state sponsor of terrorism, going back 47 years. And Trump, for his part, said that this war was initiated to prevent Iran from funding that, right?

STUTZMAN: Yes.

BROWN: So if the U.S. does ultimately unfreeze these assets for Iran as part of these negotiations and move the blockade away so the oil ports are open, does that essentially allow it to continue to be a state sponsor of terrorism?

STUTZMAN: Well, I hope not. I mean, I was born in 1976, and as long as I can remember, Iran has been a state sponsor of terrorism. I mean, they have killed thousands of Americans. They continue to fund these proxies in the Middle East, causing disruptions, whether it's Hamas or Hezbollah or the Houthis, and of course all of the instability in Syria and Iraq. Iran's always behind it, and that's why I really truly believe that President Trump knows this is the moment that there has to be a change in ideology in the government in Iran.

And that's going to take some time here, but I think the hardest part of the work is done, and now it's going to be a lot of diplomacy and also pressure where the pressure needs to be put in place to push in that direction.

BROWN: Yes, and you mentioned the ideology. I mean, that is an ideology that's pervasive among the IRGC and Iran against the West, right? And so, how do you change that ideology? And there's also this assessment from President Trump's head of the Defense Intelligence Agency that Iran still has sufficient military capabilities to harm U.S. troops if the ceasefire expires. Does that concern you?

STUTZMAN: It does, but I think, you know, we obviously show the ability that we have the military force to take out any sort of assets that they have. But at some point, you know, how it affects America is that we wanted to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon. We also need to empower the Iranian people. I believe the Iranian people are on our side on this.

I mean, it's so neat to hear the celebrations from the Iranian people that are thrilled that President Trump of the United States has taken these steps to free the country. But you know what? They've been living in very difficult circumstances. I mean, they don't have the ability to defend themselves.

BROWN: The IRGC is still in control.

STUTZMAN: That's right. And now the military that's there, you know, if somebody could, you know, tap in there and find a way to lead the military and go after the IRGC and flush them out, that's going to make a big difference.

The military there operates more like the police force or the National Guard here. And that's a large force as well. But this is a big country. It's going to take some time.

BROWN: Yes, it's like more than twice the size of Texas.

STUTZMAN: Yes.

BROWN: Are you surprised just very quickly as we wrap up, though, that, you know, with all America's military might and Israel's, that Iran still has thousands of missiles and these one-way attack drones?

STUTZMAN: I'm not surprised, because the amount of money that Iran has from their oil and gas sales, they've been storing this up for years. They've been building this up for years. And that's one thing that's different compared to Venezuela. I mean, these guys have been at it for many, many years, looking at the long-term on what their long-term goals were through their ideology.

[11:25:09]

And the amount of money that they've had, they've been able to build up for a long time. I mean, they were even able to go up to North Korea and help them as they started to develop nuclear weapons. And that's going to also put a stop to that by the actions that we've taken now.

BROWN: All right. Congressman Marlin Stutzman, a Republican, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

STUTZMAN: Thank you.

BROWN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [11:30:06]

BLITZER: We're following breaking news out of the U.S. Justice Department.