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Hegseth: "Our Blockade Is Growing And Going Global"; Israel- Lebanon Ceasefire Extended As Trump Seeks Iran Deal; FDA Fast-Tracks Psychedelics For Mental Health Treatments. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired April 24, 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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[11:01:34]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: 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 with the breaking news that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports is expanding. He's describing a clear escalation as the war now stretches some 2,000 miles from Iran. Listen.

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PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: This growing blockade is also gone global. Just this week, we seized two Iranian dark fleet ships in the Indo-Pacific region that had left Iranian ports before the blockade went into effect. They thought they'd made it out just in time. They did not. We seized their sanctioned ships, and we will seize more. Our blockade is growing and going global.

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BLITZER: Going global, his words. We've learned the U.S. is also considering other options in case the ceasefire fails. Multiple sources now telling CNN the military is developing plans to hit Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz. Those targets would include Iran's small attack boats and mine-laying vessels.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And the Pentagon says the ship, the George H.W. Bush, is now the third aircraft carrier to arrive in the Middle East. According to Central Command, that's the most U.S. carriers deployed to that region since the Iraq War in 2003.

And President Trump is now saying a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon has been extended another three weeks. Yet the violence continues. Both Israel and Iran backed Hezbollah in Lebanon exchanged attacks just yesterday. CNN's Brian Todd is here with more. So you were at the Pentagon briefly. What more did you learn about the U.S. blockade?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, some real newsworthy items there about the blockade, Pamela, and also about the messaging on the blockade. You and I were talking about a report from the Iranians that some of the oil is getting through on Iranian-affiliated ships in and out of the Strait of Hormuz. That's exactly the opposite of what Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine just projected at the Pentagon briefing. They said that basically nothing's getting in, nothing's getting out, that the blockade is expanding and growing more ironclad by the day.

Those are Pete Hegseth's words. According to Pete Hegseth and Chairman Caine, 34 vessels have been turned around. Pete Hegseth characterizing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' maritime fleet as, "A gang of pirates with a flag," that that's just what they've been reduced to, that they're nothing more than criminals on the high seas that speed up to random ships and fire at them with AK-47s.

Also notable from this briefing that Pete Hegseth putting more Trump administration pressure on America's allies, basically saying they're not doing enough, that they spent all their time going to fancy conferences in Europe and especially the European allies, not stepping up and helping with this blockade the way Pete Hegseth and the President believe they should.

Now, on the timing of all of this and how long we may have to wait until there may be a resumption of hostilities or possibly a peace deal, Pete Hegseth again kind of parroting what President Trump has said in recent days, that they have plenty of time to work this out. Take a listen to what he said about that.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't want to rush myself, you know, because every story says, oh, Trump is under time pressure. I'm not. No, no. You know who's under time pressure? They are.

HEGSETH: We have all the time in the world and we're not anxious for a deal. And I hear him say it every day in private as well. Iran knows that they still have an open window to choose wisely. The choice is theirs. But with this blockade, the clock is not on their side. And as the President said, we have all the time in the world.

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[11:05:19]

TODD: Meanwhile, Pete Hegseth also saying that this blockade and the campaign against sanctioned ships in the Gulf and in the Strait of Hormuz, he says is going global and getting more aggressive. And General Dan Caine outlining two specific instances from this past week on Monday, April 20th, when U.S. forces, along with U.S. law enforcement, intercepted a motor tanker called the Tifani, which is affiliated with Iran in the Indian Ocean.

The Tifani is about the size of an aircraft carrier, he said, capable of transporting two million barrels of oil. He laid out some detail about how U.S. military and law enforcement went to that ship with rotary wing platforms and fast roped onto the deck and secured the ship, similar to what they did last weekend when they seized that Iranian-affiliated ship, the Tosca, near the Strait of Hormuz.

Also, Dan Caine saying that on Wednesday, April 22nd, U.S. Indo-PACOM conducted another interdiction of the stateless motor tanker Majestic X, which was another large crewed tanker and again using rotary wing assets to get onto these ships. Dramatic seizures of these ships, Pamela, with helicopters, marines rappelling down, that's three times that they've done that over the past week.

BROWN: Wow. All right, Brian Todd, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: I want to turn to the newly extended ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. CNN's Oren Liebermann is joining us now from Jerusalem, Oren. President Trump is inviting Lebanon's President, Joseph Aoun, and Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to meet in Washington at the White House. I assume all three of them will be getting together. Tell us a little bit about that.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, that is clearly what President Donald Trump is trying to make happen. And it would absolutely be a landmark historic meeting if he could get Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun together in Washington. But we're not there yet. In fact, Aoun just days ago had declined to take a call with Netanyahu as Trump was trying to push forward the ceasefire.

There has been now a second meeting between the ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon under the auspices of the Trump administration. And that led to Trump announcing that there had been an extension of the ceasefire. He said the meeting went very well. But this is still just a temporary ceasefire. Even if it now lasts only a month, getting to a permanent ceasefire, getting to a real peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon is still an incredibly tall order.

In the middle of all this, there are difficult diplomatic issues to work through. And despite the ceasefire, there are still exchanges of fire between Israel and Iran's proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah. The agreement itself is between Israel and Lebanon. But the war was and continues to be between Israel and Hezbollah.

And that complicates the Trump administration trying to move forward with a much broader agreement here. So, Wolf, we'll see if Trump is actually able to make a direct meeting between the leaders of the two countries happen.

BLITZER: Yes, let's see if he can do what Jimmy Carter did back in the 1970s when Anwar Sadat, the then-president of Egypt, Menachem Begin, the prime minister of Israel, were brought together. They went to Camp David with Jimmy Carter. They spent a number of days there and negotiated a peace treaty between Israel and its main adversary at the time, Egypt, a peace treaty that still exists to this very day. And all of them basically were awarded Nobel Peace Prizes.

If Trump wants to get a Nobel Peace Prize, if he can bring the president of Lebanon, the prime minister of Israel, together in Washington, negotiate a real peace treaty between Israel and Lebanon, that potentially could open the door. Oren Liebermann, thank you very much for that reporting. I remember covering that Camp David summit.

Joining us now here in the Situation Room, CNN political and global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh. Sabrina, truce in Lebanon has been extended for three weeks. But what do you think the chances are that if all of them get together, the leaders of Israel, Lebanon, and the United States at the White House, do you think President Trump could negotiate a real peace treaty between Israel and Lebanon?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR & GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, that would be an incredible step forward if all three leaders were able to get together and hash out some type of negotiation or peace deal. I think what Oren laid out is accurate, though, that is so difficult. And the ceasefire agreement is right now between Israel and the government of Lebanon, not Hezbollah, who is the one that has been firing its rockets and different capabilities at the Israeli military.

So can the Lebanese government hold Hezbollah back? I think that's what we're waiting to see in the ceasefire. Ultimately, if there can be a longer term peace deal that is negotiated by this administration, that would certainly be something to be celebrated. But to get all three leaders in the room and to hash that out is going to take a lot of time, and it's going to be very difficult.

BLITZER: If Trump wants that Nobel Peace Prize --

SINGH: Right.

BLITZER: -- that would be an opportunity for him to try to achieve it.

[11:09:59]

SINGH: Right. That would be a big opportunity, but again, very, very difficult. And I think that all sides right now are pretty far apart. I do think that this administration should be at least acknowledged that they have been able to get this extension of three weeks. Can it hold? That remains to be seen.

BLITZER: President Trump has extended his deadline for the Iran talks, as you know, several times over the past few weeks. But when we look back at the beginning of the war, here's what the administration has said about the timeline. Listen to this.

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TRUMP: We're already substantially ahead of our time projections, but whatever the time is, it's OK. Whatever it takes, we will always. And we have, right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks. But we have capability to go far longer than that.

I would say that within two weeks, maybe, two weeks, maybe three, we're hitting them very hard. Don't rush me, Jeff. You know, guys like you, you want to say, oh, so we were in Vietnam, like, for 18 years. We were in Iraq for many, many years. We were in for all the -- I don't like to say World War II, because that was a biggie. But we were four and a half, almost five years in World War II. We were in the Korean War for seven years. I've been doing this for six weeks. I don't want to rush myself, you know, because every story says, oh, Trump is under time pressure. I'm like, no, no, you know who's under time pressure? They are. I'm not under any pressure whatsoever.

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BLITZER: Yesterday, the President refused to give a timeline for resolving the war, telling reporters, and I'm quoting him now, don't rush me, you just heard him say that. Tomorrow marks, what, eight weeks of this war. How much longer do you see this dragging on and on?

SINGH: Well, yes, I mean, today, when General Caine was in the briefing room, he said this war has been going on for 55 days. That's almost eight weeks. And so when the President says, don't rush me, I have all the time in the world, the reality is, is that Americans don't feel that way. The gas pump and the prices at the gas pump, grocery prices, electricity bills, it's all being impacted by this closure of the Strait.

So while he can say that there's, you know, I have an indefinite amount of time, I don't think the American people here at home feel that. And frankly, global markets don't feel that. And I think when you saw, again, Secretary Hegseth saying the Strait is closed, but, or, you know, we have a blockade, but our European and Asian allies need to come and open it, they get all their oil from here.

The reality is that the energy markets are so interconnected and globally linked that gas prices and jet fuel prices all around the world are being impacted. I mean, we just saw this week, Lufthansa canceling 20,000 flights. That is going to affect Americans here at home and all over the world.

BLITZER: Sabrina Singh, as always, thank you very, very much for your analysis. Appreciate it very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, still ahead here in The Situation Room, what a new report reveals about that deadly collision at New York's LaGuardia Airport between a passenger plane and a firetruck.

[11:12:53]

BLITZER: And later, how the FDA plans to fast track the review of some psychedelics to see if they could treat mental health disorders that affect millions of Americans. Stay with us, you're in The Situation Room.

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BROWN: Breaking news, the FDA is taking a huge step toward approving some psychedelic drugs for treating mental health. The agency is giving three companies approval to study psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms and methylone. That's a drug similar to ecstasy. Let's go live now to health reporter Jacqueline Howard. What more do we know about this review process, Jacqueline?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Pamela, what the FDA is doing is basically accelerating the review of these drugs. So just to clarify for everyone out there, these drugs are not FDA approved yet. But this process puts them on a fast track to possibly considered for approval.

And how the FDA is doing this is they issued national priority vouchers to three companies like you said, Pam, to study psilocybin and to study methylone as potential mental health treatments. And this national priority program, it was just launched last year and it's intended to, again, fast track, accelerate the review process. And psilocybin, many people may know it as the active ingredient in magic mushrooms.

And as you said, Pam, with this national priority process, psilocybin is being studied for or reviewed for the treatment of depression among people who have not responded to traditional therapies and it's being reviewed as a possible treatment for major depressive disorder. Methylone is being reviewed as a possible treatment for PTSD. Another action the FDA announced today, Pamela, is that it's also allowing for an early phase clinical trial to study the psychedelic ibogaine as a potential treatment for alcohol use disorder.

And ibogaine, it's a psychedelic that is derived from the iboga plant in Central Africa and many military veterans have been advocating for its use as a possible mental health treatment but it is illegal here in the U.S., it's currently a substance one controlled or currently classified as a schedule one controlled substance. So this latest action by the FDA is the first time the FDA is allowing a clinical study here in the United States of ibogaine.

[11:20:05]

So all of these developments, Pamela, in the psychedelic space is a huge, huge development for the FDA here in the United States right now at this time.

BROWN: It certainly is. All right, Jacqueline Howard, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: Good information indeed. Up next, the brand new details we're learning about this deadly collision between a plane and a fire truck at New York's LaGuardia Airport last month.

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[11:25:08]

BROWN: Happening now, Louisiana authorities are still searching for suspects after a deadly shooting at a Baton Rouge mall that happened on Thursday. Police say there was a disagreement between two groups of people before they started shooting at one another. The shots at Frighten Shop were scrambling for cover. One person was killed. At least five others were injured. And according to a local official, the victims include three high school seniors.

Police say several of the victims were not involved in the dispute. No arrest has been made, but investigators are talking to five people who were taken into custody. Wolf? BLITZER: And we're getting new details right now about the moments leading up to a deadly crash on LaGuardia's runway last month when an Air Canada regional jet collided with an airport fire truck on the runway. There's now a new preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board, the NTSB. It says the air traffic controller who cleared the fire truck to cross the active runway also told the plane to land on that same runway just minutes before.

And according to the report, the controller tried to stop the truck when the plane crossed the end of the runway, but one of the firefighters told investigators he didn't realize the warning was for their truck until he saw the plane barreling toward them. CNN transportation analyst Mary Schiavo is joining us right now. So, Mary, what stands out to you from this report?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: What stands out to me is there were failures on many fronts. Obviously, the air traffic controller made a deadly, deadly mistake. But there is equipment at this airport and, you know, 25 to 30 others that is supposed to provide a safety net, a safeguard when air traffic controllers do make mistakes. And that's something called ASDEX. We call it ASDEX.

And it's a warning system that exists at LaGuardia because they are close on the intersecting runways and others like it. And what it does is it gives in the control tower real-time information about movement of vehicles, aircraft, even people on the runways. But in this situation, it did not provide the air traffic controllers any warnings.

And so that is a system that we rely on at some of the busiest high- traffic airports in this country. And that is going to be very important to figure out how we can make that system better. And one of the ways is to make sure every vehicle, including firetrucks, have warning sensors on them, have literally transponders on them that let them be visible in the system.

And another tragedy here is that the firetrucks did not have transponders, which would have made them visible on that warning screen that would have lit up with both an oral warning and a visual warning in the air traffic control tower that the firetrucks did not have those transponders. They're cheap, and the FAA should have required them.

BLITZER: What else can be done, Mary, to ensure that something like this doesn't happen again?

SCHIAVO: Well, you know, the report also, it's a preliminary report. There's so much more work to come. And the NTSB, I know the folks there well, and they will be hot and heavy on this one. They will be very fast to get this report out, because these changes literally are lifesaving.

I mean, this could happen again at any time. And, of course, they also mentioned in the preliminary report that the traffic had been delayed, and so the tower was busy. You know, we'd heard earlier from Secretary Duffy about a month ago that, no, the proper staffing in the tower wasn't overly busy, but because of the delays and because of the traffic that had backed up, the report did mention that there was a lot of traffic for this late hour of the night.

The most important is going to be the FAA, because what people don't realize is the fire services and emergency services at the airport, their plans, their equipment, what they intend to do in an emergency, all has to that plan has to be approved by the FAA. Why the FAA didn't review that and why they did not know that the emergency vehicles at LaGuardia, one of the air has had many complaints by pilots about near misses with trucks, even with a person last year, other vehicles, et cetera.

Why they didn't review that and make sure that the port Authority that LaGuardia had this equipment on, the trucks will be front and center. I think when the final report comes out from the NTSB, which will have the recommendations in it and there will be many.

BLITZER: And they got to learn the lessons of what happened at LaGuardia to make sure it doesn't happen at other airports around the country as well. Mary Schiavo, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

[11:30:02]

BROWN: All right. Wolf, just ahead, we're taking you to Lebanon where international groups are rushing to address a growing humanitarian --