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What We Know with Max Foster

Sources: U.S. Rescues 1 Of 2 Downed Fighter Jet Crew In Iran; Frenche-Owned Vessel Passes Through Strait Of Hormuz; People Leo Carrying Cross During Good Friday Devotion; Artemis II Heading To The Moon After Leaving Earth's Orbit; China Races To Remake Its Nuclear Weapons Program. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired April 03, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:29]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN HOST: The U.S. fighter jet is down in Iran.

I'm Paula Newton, in for Max Foster. This is WHAT WE KNOW.

A search and rescue mission is ongoing right now for an American crew member who was on board a fighter jet downed over Iran. Another service

member was rescued and is currently receiving medical treatment.

Now, sources confirm the jet was an F15. Iranian state media released these photos of what appears to be wreckage from that aircraft. Iran is said to

be offering a reward for capturing what it describes as enemy pilots.

With us now is CNN national security reporter Haley Britzky and senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak.

Kevin, I want to go first to you. Weve not heard anything from the president, but what more are you learning, especially when it comes to this

search for a second crew member?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE yeah. And it is radio silence at the White House, which I think just reflects the sensitivity of the moment.

What a major implication this could have for the war. I think the president and the White House, wary of coming out with anything before all of the

details are known.

But as of now, we do know that one of those crew members that was aboard this F-15 has been rescued. These are fighter jets that are crewed by two

people, a pilot and a weapon systems officer. We don't know which one was rescued, but certainly that leaves open the question of what has happened

to the second crew member. Earlier, officials confirmed to us that this was shot down over Iran. This is the first time that this has occurred in the

course of this war.

And it does, I think, raise some questions about the claims that we've heard from President Trump and from other officials in the administration,

including the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, that the U.S. has air superiority, air superiority over Iran, that its systems have been degraded

almost completely. This seems to indicate that Iran does at this point have at least some capability to shoot down American aircraft. And, of course,

the implications are enormous, the military implications, the diplomatic implications about how this all proceeds going forward.

You know, President Trump has said that he believes this war will be over in two to three weeks. That's the timeline that he laid out during his

address to the nation on Wednesday evening. But certainly, the intelligence that we've been learning about just in the last 24 hours suggests that some

of these missile capabilities remain a somewhat significant. You know, we've learned that Iran still has half of its missile launchers still

intact. You know, it has thousands of one way attack drones that are still in place, and its cruise missiles that are defending the coasts, which are

part of what's leading to the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz, remains significant.

And so, all of these indicate that the military aims and the military objectives that the president laid out at the start of this conflict remain

in a lot of ways, unresolved and remain a danger to the Americans who are fighting this war and are fighting the war in the skies above Iran.

You know, we just heard this week from Hegseth that the U.S. had begun flying B-52 bombers over Iran. Those are far more cumbersome, lumbering

aircraft than the F-15 in a lot of ways. They would be much more susceptible to the kind of downing that we saw today of this much more

nimble aircraft, the F-15. And it leads to some questions about the safety and security of those pilots as well.

And so, a lot of unanswered questions still about what the fate of this crew will be and what their conditions will be. But it does seem as if it

will be a turning point in the war, even though there is this very successful rescue of one of the crew members, which I think is certainly

worth celebrating, here at the White House, a lot of questions about what the fate of the future pilots may be now that it's clear that Iran retains

some of these capabilities.

NEWTON: Yeah. It is the retention of those capabilities that is front and center right now.

Haley Britzky, you were a part of the team that brought us that exclusive reporting. I'm wondering what your sources told you, because it has been

many weeks now and again, at times it does not seem to really, correlate to what we've heard from both president and the secretary of defense.

HALEY BRITZKY, CNN U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, certainly. I mean, the intelligence that sources told us about in the reporting that we

published yesterday provides a very different picture from what we are hearing from administration officials who, as Kevin just laid out, have

made these kind of sweeping claims about the state of Iran's military that the U.S. can sort of fly with impunity over Iran, picking off targets as it

chooses and sort of having this air superiority over that area.

But clearly, as we're seeing today, we don't know that that is the case necessarily. And as the intelligence said, Iran still retains significant

capabilities. As Kevin said, not only roughly half of its missile launchers still intact, thousands of one way attack drones, which are extremely

destructive and can bring a lot of damage. We saw six U.S. service members killed in Kuwait at the beginning of the war because of a drone hit from

Iran.

So, certainly that is not a small capability. Sources said that Iran still retains hundreds, if not thousands, of unmanned surface vessels of small

boats in the Strait of Hormuz. Those are largely the capabilities that are laying mines there, that are harassing the ships and sort of keeping that

area closed, as are the cruise missiles as Kevin mentioned.

So, Iran still retains significant capabilities. Obviously, our thoughts right now are with the pilot or the crew member. We don't know if it's the

pilot or the weapon systems officer, who was rescued and who is still. The status of them is unknown at this point. But certainly, our thoughts are

with them and with the families back home who are, you know, awaiting news, worrying if their loved one is the one who was impacted by this.

And, you know, this is a significant escalation in this conflict at this point. This would be the first time that a U.S. aircraft has been shot down

over Iran. We reported last month that a U.S. F-35 was hit by Iran, but it landed safely at a U.S. installation in the region. So, this is a serious

escalation of this risk that U.S. forces are facing. Pilots are extensively trained in not only how to, you know, eject from these aircraft, but also

to survive.

They go through training, SERE training. It's called survive, evade, resist and escape. So they go through very serious training for what to do in

these situations if, God forbid, they ever find themselves in one. Certainly, the U.S. military is actively searching these search and rescue

crews are not going to stop until they find this second crew member, or get more information about where they are and their current status, but

certainly something we are continuing to ask about.

As Kevin mentioned, not a lot coming from the White House right now. We've had no public comments from the Pentagon or the military at this point.

NEWTON: And we certainly hope we do get more of that commentary in the coming hours. We'll continue to watch it.

Haley Britzky for us and Kevin Liptak, grateful to both of you.

Now, I do want to bring in retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Mark Schwartz for more, obviously, on what is still a search and rescue mission.

Good to see you again this hour. And we just had our reporters, you know, talk about Iranian capability. I do want viewers, again to see that image

that Iranian media released of that damaged ejection seat from that F-15.

I mean, General, can you let us know when we're looking at this picture right now? It clearly suffered some damage. We have no idea which seat it

is or who it belonged to. But what does that tell you about what kind of a landing this would have been when they did eject?

LT. GEN. MARK SCHWARTZ (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, you also can see in the background there's, you know, pieces of the parachute. So, my

estimation is that whoever was in that seat, it came down, they came down safely. Again, speculation, but you know, just based on what I can see and

then some of the damage that you can see on the seat itself, you know, that's caused by the very violent and, you know, there's a -- an explosive

charge that, you know, pushes the crew member outside of that aircraft to make sure that they're well and away before the chute opens from the

aircraft, you know, up and out as, as you say.

So that's part of the, you know, kind of the trauma that you see in damage that you see on the seat itself.

NEWTON: And, you know, you mentioned to us last hour that the fact that it is nighttime right now in Iran, that that's actually a good thing. Do you

want to take our viewers through that? And again, Haley was just mentioning it, but this whole issue that, you know, you including the forces that you

commanded, go through very intensive survival training.

SCHWARTZ: Yes. And Haley spoke to it very well. So, survival, evasion, resistance and escape and aircrew and special operations forces, they go

through the highest level of this training, a lot of tactical training, so that when you get yourself in a situation like were seeing play out over

the last several hours, you know exactly what to do. And then a lot of technical competencies in terms of how to properly signal and communicate

with, you know, the rescue element that's going to come and, you know, bring you back into -- into friendly lines.

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I talked about darkness because it truly is, you know, the best situation right now for this other isolated person that their ability to have

concealment from the darkness to move if necessary, if they're not in an area where they think they're, you know, the safest that they could be

based on, you know, the GPS that they're probably carrying and maps and whatnot.

So, and then also for the -- for the aircrew, let's assume they have communications with them. The rescue element doing it over, you know, in

the darkness is certainly a lot better, both for the safety of the crew that would come in and the rescue element as well as the, the person that's

currently isolated out there in Iran right now.

NEWTON: When you say the crew coming in, I mean it goes without saying, we don't know how the first rescue mission went or what happened, but safe to

say, there do need to be special forces there on the ground. Special forces, you know, like you commanded for years.

What would that entail in terms of having a force go in there and rescue this crew member? And perhaps they already had to do it for the crew member

already rescued

SCHWARTZ: Yes. And the U.S. Air Force has specially trained and organized units. So when you saw that HC-130J that refueling of those two, Pave Hawk

rescue helicopters, the individuals that are inside both the aircrew as well as, you know, in the back seat, there's individuals, the crew chiefs

that are trained to go in and facilitate a rescue.

In addition to that, Paula, the fact that we've got a marine expeditionary unit, one of the missions that marine expeditionary unit, special

operations, capable ground forces and air crews have is to go and facilitate the rescue of a downed airman. So, there's a pretty good set of

redundant capability that exists.

And the range of those tilt rotor MC or, excuse me, the tilt rotor aircraft that you see on the back of the, the CV-22 on those marine amphibious

boats, they can go a lot farther, a lot greater range, than what those Pave Hawks do and don't necessarily need that refuel capability that we saw

demonstrated in those photos that were captured.

NEWTON: Well, that's certainly good to know, especially given obviously everything that's being done and that can be done to try and rescue that

crew member. I want to ask you, given CNN's reporting about the capability that Iran retains here and the fact that it's all-important in terms of

protecting the Strait of Hormuz, but also getting Iran to the negotiating table.

I mean, what does this tell you in terms of how much longer this conflict can last? Everyone is looking for de-escalation. And yet even the shooting

down of this fighter jet would point to escalation, at least in the short term.

SCHWARTZ: Well, one thing I believe we can guarantee is any opportunity that Iran has to continue to employ its unmanned drones, its, you know,

shore based cruise missiles against, shipping and certainly its ballistic missiles, what they have remaining in their inventory, which is, you know,

estimated based on some intelligence reports of upwards, around 50 percent. So, there's a lot of capability left.

So, the fact that we may the United States and Israel may decide that were going to move away and, you know, declare that we've achieved our military

objectives. Iran still retains a considerable amount of capability to threaten not only maritime shipping, but also all of its neighbors, you

know, in the region there.

NEWTON: Yeah. And what it's doing to the allies in the Gulf as well remains a significant aspect of this conflict.

Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Mark Schwartz, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

Now, President Trump believes the United States could his words easily reopen the Strait of Hormuz with just a little more time. In a social media

post, he also suggested the U.S. could take the oil and make a fortune. Now, marine tracking data shows a French-owned container ship crossed the

waterway on Thursday. It is believed to be the first western flagged vessel to do so since the war began.

Now last hour, I spoke with Poland's foreign minister about trying to get that strait reopen. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RADOSLAW SIKORSKI, POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER: From the information gathered, it appears that some ships are getting through, of course, much less than

before the war, between a sixth and a fifth of the normal volume. And as President Trump said, there are channels of communication. We hope that

they will be successful and that -- that the U.S. and Iran come to some arrangement.

NEWTON: So, you would rule out any kind of offensive posture that there'd have to be some kind of a deal or some kind of cease fire in place before

this alliance of nation's would do anything in the strait.

SIKORSKI: Well, think back to Gulf War I and Gulf War II. To gather sufficient forces in the theater, it takes months. It took many weeks for

the United States to deploy its carriers and other capabilities. And as I think you've mentioned, we need solutions much faster than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: And we want to go straight to our Anna Cooban.

Now, Anna, you have been looking into this all-important choke point really, which has the eyes of the world on it right now.

ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS & ECONOMICS REPORTER: Yes. The Strait of Hormuz is what we've all been talking about over the past month. And as you can

see here, Oman and Iran are sort of highlighted. They jointly control this waterway. And we had reporting yesterday that Iran is in discussions with

Oman about setting up a sort of monitoring system for vessels even after the war is to end, which many countries around the world have really balked

at.

Now, what Iran has said is that it's going to allow and already has allowed vessels of non-hostile countries to go through, like Pakistan, India and

China. But what we've seen over the past 24 hours is a little bit of movement on that issue. This French vessel container ship owned by CMA CGM,

managed to pass through the strait.

Now, interestingly, if you look at the path that it took, it went very northerly up towards the coast of Iran, looping around Iranian islands and

back down. Now, this suggests we don't know for sure, but that Iran was aware of the passage of this ship. And we know that Iran has been allowing

some vessels to pass through, and we have lots of reporting out there about Iran imposing a certain toll system, so actually making vessels pay to go

through.

We don't know if that's what's happened here. But again, this is the first known instance of a western vessel moving through the strait. And

interestingly, to add to that, we know that three tankers, two oil tankers and an LNG tanker have also managed to go through the strait in the past

few hours.

Now, one of these tankers, the LNG, is owned by a Japanese company, and all three of them took an interesting route. So, the normal route that's taken

is kind of slap bang in the middle of the street. This is pre-war. And then, of course, we know that that French ship took this very this this

route close to the Iranian coast. But what these three tankers did that sailed towards Oman, they took this route that really hugged the Omani

coast.

So, again, it's uncertain as to whether Iran was aware that these went through. But we're seeing a little bit more movement. But really, we have

to put this in context. It's still a trickle going through. Kapler said that in the month of March, 53 million barrels of crude managed to pass

through the strait. Sounds like a lot, but when you zoom out, 440 million barrels of crude managed to get through in February.

Now lastly, I just think it's interesting to pause on the politics of this. Trump has really oscillated, gone back and forth about the responsibility

of the United States in reopening the strait. A few days ago, he was saying that countries that rely more heavily on the oil that comes out of the

strait go in and get the oil yourselves. But today, he's saying that the U.S. could easily open the strait.

So fundamentally, we're still in the same position, just a trickle of ships going through. But with this friendship and these three other tankers,

there seems to be a little bit more movement on this issue.

NEWTON: Anna, I'm really grateful to you for that explainer. Thanks so much.

Still to come for us, Pope Leo is leading Good Friday services right now in Rome, and he's going to do something that hasn't been done in decades.

We'll have the details for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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NEWTON: Many Christians right around the world are marking Good Friday today with Pope Leo the 14th leading his first Holy Week since becoming the

head of the Catholic Church.

We are now going to take you to some live pictures in Rome. The pope is carrying the wooden cross during the traditional Way of the Cross at the

Colosseum, and plans to do so for all 14 stations. Now, the last pontiff to do so was Pope John Paul II. That was decades ago.

Christopher Lamb is on the scene for us right now in Rome.

And, Christopher, we are looking at extraordinary pictures here again, a reminder that for Catholics, this is really the most important week in the

entire yearly calendar.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Paula. And I'm here at the colosseum and there are thousands of people gathered. You

can see behind me carrying candles and taking part service that recalls suffering way of the cross. It takes place at the Colosseum, which has got

added symbolism because, of course, it was here that many of the early Christians were martyred at the beginning of Christianity. And Pope Leo is

presiding (AUDIO GAP) in decades, emphasizing (AUDIO GAP) show --

NEWTON: Well, we apologize for the audio there. As you can imagine, Christopher Lamb is there in the colosseum, and there are so many people

that are there as well with their phones.

You are though, looking at those live pictures of what is an absolutely revered event, and you can see the kind of turnout for so many people.

They're wondering what the character and tone of holy week will be for this pope, this American pope. We are told that he wanted to do this, to carry

it through the Way of the Cross, through all the stations that he had been planning for. You see him there he is carrying the cross, and that he was

actually apparently practicing.

It may look easy, but as you can see, the way he's kind of holding it with his posture, it is not as easy as it looks. It is still something that he

wanted to do. Quite a scene there at the Colosseum.

Christopher, if you can hear me, he is walking now, with quite a bit of reverence here, not just from him, but from the crowd as well.

LAMB: Yes, that's -- that's right. I mean, this is a very solemn service and it's very reflective. And there are different stations of the cross on

this journey. Each mark part of the journey during his suffering and crucifixion. And each station, there's a reflection.

And these have been written by a Franciscan friar, and they cover various themes, including prayers for children who have been deported. So, a nod to

the crisis over immigration. Also, a call for those in power to remember that they will be judged and even says that those will be judged who are in

power, who start or end wars. So very pointed messages here at the Colosseum.

Pope Leo, keen for his first Holy Week and Easter to communicate a message that resonates to the world, not just religion services, but celebrations

and reflections that connect with what is going on in the war in the Middle East and Iran is very concerned about that conflict.

[15:25:15]

And spoke today with the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, where he urged him to try and find a way to end the conflict. And we are expecting Pope

Leo to speak again on Easter Sunday about conflict taking place in the world. We've seen Leo in recent weeks step up his criticisms of the war. He

blamed President Trump personally on Tuesday, when I asked him if (AUDIO GAP) given the potential for the war to expand in the Middle East.

So, at this first Holy Week and Easter, we are seeing Leo find a stronger voice as he approaches the one-year mark of his pontificate.

NEWTON: And rightfully so, Christopher, as you pointed out to us, he is preoccupied with this issue of war. And we will see again what is easter

message will be as we continue to take in these beautiful pictures, really from the Colosseum, as the pope continues carrying that cross. Christopher

Lamb, grateful to you being there for us.

Now, after two days packed with activity, things are a bit quieter today for those astronauts headed to the moon. Now they have to fire the ships

engines later today to do a very small correction. Sounds all very complicated to me. They will also perform some medical tests.

The astronauts have been sending high resolution pictures from space. They took these as they moved out of Earth's orbit, pardon me, and say they are

eager to capture similar images of the far side of the moon. You can catch those actually on CNN.com on a gallery. I highly recommend it.

Leroy Chiao is a former NASA astronaut. You've been to space a few times. I'm not embarrassed to tell you. I went through the photo gallery on CNN

like twice already, and I can't get enough of this.

This is just a test flight. Why do you believe it is significant as a test flight to the moon?

LEROY CHIAO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, the main purpose of this flight is to put the Orion through its paces with astronauts on board. They'll be

stressing the life support system, the thermal control system, communication system, and everything else. This crew will be flying farther

from the Earth than any other astronaut crew. And so, we want to make sure all that's going to work, especially the communications gear.

But it's significant because this is the first time in almost 54 years we've sent humans into the vicinity of the moon. So, it's a huge deal. I

think it's a big statement that the U.S. says, hey, we are still the human space flight leaders, and we are going to lead the effort back to the moon.

And this was the first step.

Big successful launch, successful translunar injection burn. And in just a few days, this crew should be swinging around the moon.

NEWTON: And we are looking actually at live pictures of the crew right now. They were woken up, you know, in the last hour again, to continue with this

mission. I mean, Leroy, you've gone through so many simulations before you actually went into space, you know, how does it feel to go through

something that you practice, you know, every intricate detail, but then be right there doing it?

CHIAO: Well, sure. There's nothing like the training to prepare you, but of course, it's not exactly like the real thing. And of course, there's the

excitement of the real, real flight day of getting there. So, you know, the training is similar enough to prepare you very, very well, especially for

those issues that come up and even emergency procedures. But then on flight day, you get the wonder of looking out the window and, and looking at that

spectacular view of the earth and the moon.

So, you know, I grew up in the 60s and 70s, I was inspired as an eight- year-old watching Apollo 11 to want to be an astronaut. And so, I'm living vicariously through this crew, you know, wondering what it's like to

actually be approaching the moon that inspired me so long ago.

NEWTON: Yeah. Leroy, I don't know why this shocks me. Every former astronaut we speak to keeps putting their hand up. Pick me. I'd go in a

second. So, I mean, clearly, it is special. There are only a few hundred people on the planet that have ever been to space.

When you look at the significance of going to the moon, though, does it shock you that it took us this long -- I say us as in humanity to say,

yeah, let's go back there again?

CHIAO: Well, not really when you look at it practically, you know, the in the 1960s, when President Kennedy challenged the nation to go to the moon,

we were in what everyone viewed as an existential, you know, race against the Soviet Union to show that our technology was better and we were better.

And we won that race, you know, hands down with six crews that walked on the moon, the Soviets never actually got any humans there.

[15:30:00]

And then the political need for it went away, you know? And, you know, the economy was in not great shape back then. So, budgets were cut. NASA was

focused on space shuttle and the Soviets focused on space stations.

And so, neither one of us really tried to go back. I mean, we had a few false attempts, you know, false starts on different programs over the

years, but only now, you know, have we finally, finally, finally, you know, launched an astronaut crew into what we call cislunar space or the area

between the earth and the moon

NEWTON: Leroy Chiao, former NASA astronaut, author of the book dinner with an astronaut. We will be speaking to you again in the coming days, and we

can also discuss, given the title of your book, what they have on board there as a menu selection, because it is interesting and I think better

than you had.

Leroy Chiao for us, thanks so much. Appreciate it

CHIAO: Thank you.

NEWTON: Now still to come for us. Why some of your favorite Reese's products, if they are your favorite, will soon be tasting a bit more

chocolaty. We will explain after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: Returning to our top story, sources say the U.S. has rescued one of two service members shot down over Iran. Video shows low flying aircraft

over Iran as a search and rescue effort for the second F-15 crew member continues. Israel has postponed planned strikes on Iran in order not to

interfere with those rescue operations.

Matthew Chance is in Doha, Qatar for us and joins us now.

You know, Matthew, given everything that we've learned in the last 24 hours, including CNNs reporting about the capabilities that Iran still

maintains, I am wondering how allies in the region are seeing this.

[15:35:03]

I mean, look, best case scenario was this was going to last a few weeks. It's now into months. And the strikes from Iran to those allies in the

region, including in the Qatar, continue.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And there's been a -- there's been a lot of concern expressed by those Gulf Arab states

in particular. But others as well about the fact that this Iran war, which was launched by the United States and Israel at the end of February, shows

no sign of coming to an end. We are still seeing daily barrages of missile and drone attacks coming in from the Islamic Republic towards Saudi Arabia,

Kuwait, here in Qatar, and United Arab Emirates, other places as well, targeting energy infrastructure, which is incredibly valuable and

incredibly vulnerable as well as, you know, military installations and airports and things like that.

And it's been enormously damaging. It's caused billions of dollars of economic losses so far, billions of dollars a day of economic losses so

far. And again, there's very little sign of that coming to a quick end. In addition to that, despite what the United States has repeatedly said about

the war being nearly won about, you know, the degradation of Iran's military capabilities. And undoubtedly it is being pounded by the United

States and Israel.

It still retains our capability to lash out at its neighbors. And as we've seen as well, it still retains the capability to shoot us aircraft out of

the sky. Although I have to say, this is the first time since the war began that a U.S. warplane has been downed over Iran. And so, it's significant in

that sense.

But nevertheless, the point still stands. Iran has had a battering, but it's still capable.

NEWTON: You know, we have heard conflicting indications here about which allies, whether its Qatar, Saudi Arabia or the UAE, and what they are

encouraging the United States to do. Do you have the impression that they want this over sooner rather than later, or that they're more interested,

obviously, in Iran's capabilities being curtailed? Because, as I said, from our reporting so far, they still retain a lot of military capability.

CHANCE: Well, I mean, look, this this gulf region is divided when it comes to how best to approach the Islamic Republic, how best to approach Iran.

Youve got countries that have been hard hit, like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which is a long standing regional rival of Iran, that

that have been pressing for the U.S. and Israeli campaign to really, you know, decimate Iran's military capabilities as much as possible before the

United States leaves and before the war comes to an end, to try and make sure that Iran does not pose a threat to it in the future.

But on the other side of that debate, which is taking place in the Gulf states, you've got countries like Qatar, countries like Oman, who are much

more conciliatory towards the Islamic Republic. And those countries, of course, have, you know, you know, a lot of, you know, gas and oil reserves,

their economies are heavily dependent on the production and export of those substances. And they've suffered economic catastrophes and a catastrophe is

how Qatar describes the economic pain that it suffered.

And they want business to get back to normal as soon as possible, even if that means dealing with a potentially belligerent Islamic Republic, that

has a much stronger strategic position in the Gulf region than it had before the conflict began.

NEWTON: Yeah, that is certainly at odds with what Israels goals are here. But we've heard conflicting things from the White House about this.

Matthew Chance, good to have you in the region. Appreciate it.

Now, the war with Iran continues to rattle stock markets and oil prices. They've been given a reprieve today with many markets in the United States

and Europe closed for the Good Friday holiday.

This is our Business Breakout. The U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in March, 178,000 jobs, in fact, were added last month following a

loss of 133,000 jobs in February. Now the report far exceeded expectations as the unemployment rate eased slightly to 4.3 percent.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance has a new job. Donald Trump says Vance will now be in charge of finding fraud in the United States. In a post on his

Truth Social, he announced that he would call J.D. Vance his fraud czar. The president adds the raids have already started in Los Angeles.

[15:40:02]

The average U.S. gas price, in fact, has hit $4.09 a gallon. That means prices are now 37 percent higher than they were before the war in Iran

began.

Now, some of your favorite candies will soon taste a little more chocolaty? That's because Hershey's says it will revert back to the classic recipes

for all its Reese's products. This after a backlash for shifting to cheaper ingredients. Now, right now, some Reese's products like mini easter eggs

are made with a coating that contains less chocolate compared to older recipes.

Now, the criticism was ignited by an open letter penned by the grandson of the Reese's founder.

So, what we want to know what makes good quality chocolate?

Registered dietitian and best selling author Abbey Sharp is with me now.

Abby, inquiring minds want to know, especially as its going into easter weekend. There are those old favorites, right? Like Reese's and you kind of

you read the label, but you don't really know what you're getting. How do you figure that out?

ABBEY SHARP, FOUNDER, ABBEY'S KITCHEN INC.: Yeah. So, I mean, the original recipe for Reese's was largely sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate or cocoa

solids. Some milk ingredients. And, you know, peanut butter and things like that, some less than some stabilizers, of course.

But what we're now seeing is in a lot of these specialty, kind of Reese's products is like the pumpkin shape or the egg shape versions. They've kind

of replaced some of those, the cocoa butter and the actual chocolate solids with some flavoring and a vegetable oil blend of palm, palm kernel, maybe

sunflower, safflower, just a combination of these vegetable based oils.

NEWTON: So, okay, were going to try something here. I've got a big Hershey's bar in front of me, okay? It's very large. So, if I'm at the

grocery store and I buy this, okay, I'm reading it off now. It says the first ingredient is milk chocolate, Abbey.

But then in brackets it says sugar and then milk and then chocolate and then cocoa butter. I mean, we've been through this before, so what would

you -- what would you say that we should look for? Not in terms of health. I mean, come on. At the end of the day, it's chocolate but in terms of what

might actually taste better.

SHARP: Yeah. So, I mean obviously this is up for debate. This is a personal preference. But obviously if you are getting more cocoa as the first

ingredients, more chocolate as the first ingredient, it's going to taste more like chocolate as opposed to, you know, perhaps trying to mimic the

mouthfeel of cocoa with a combination of vegetable based oils and some kind of chocolate based flavoring and a small amount of cocoa.

And of course, they do this because cocoa in itself is very expensive. So, this does save brands a lot of money when they're able to kind of use some

of these other ingredients, these vegetable based oils in place of real cocoa.

NEWTON: All right, vegetable-based oils. Okay. Now look, some of us have a taste for dark chocolate. Some of us don't. But dark chocolate is really

what's best for you.

Is there a percentage there that you should look for, or would you say instead look for the cocoa ingredient? Depending on what your taste is?

SHARP: Obviously, you know, at the end of the day, even though chocolate, dark chocolate has some benefits like polyphenols and things like that, we

still want to treat it as a treat. And so, if you love milk chocolate, don't drag yourself through a dark chocolate bar just because in the name

of health, there are far better ways for you to get your polyphenols and your antioxidants than through chocolate.

But at the end of the day, yes, there's a nutritional edge. But you know, sugar or sugar candies, candy, and a lot of these bars, you know, have, are

ultra processed foods. Regardless, they're low in nutrients. They're not really providing anything of benefit to the body. So, enjoy them as an

occasional treat, regardless of how kind of quote, unquote natural the ingredients are.

NEWTON: So, Abbey, we have to go, but I have to ask you quickly, did you notice a difference in the taste or did you not eat that kind of stuff? Or

did I mean, did you kind of look at the story from Hershey's and Reese's and thought, yeah, that just doesn't taste right?

SHARP: Well, it's really hard to know because obviously my memory of those kinds of chocolates when I was a kid was like, this tastes amazing. And now

as an adult, I'm like, this hurts my teeth.

So, of course, maybe if I were to try them side by side, I would taste a difference. But I think it's important to know that this, the difference

here is mostly in improving texture and flavor, not transforming these into kind of a nutritious snack because we're using more kind of, quote/unquote,

natural ingredients as opposed to these plant-based oils.

NEWTON: Right. Good to know.

Abbey Sharp for us, thanks so much for indulging. We appreciate it.

SHARP: Thank you.

NEWTON: Still to come for us, China's nuclear program is growing in significant ways.

[15:45:03]

CNN takes a look at the country's effort to modernize its technology.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:48:15]

NEWTON: So, as U.S. President Donald Trump gears up for a landmark visit to Beijing next month, CNN has new reporting on China's nuclear revival. We

used satellite imagery, 3D modeling, and a review of government documents to examine what the Trump administration has called the most significant

campaign to modernize China's arsenal in decades.

Here's CNN's Tamara Qiblawi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAMARA QIBLAWI, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This dome holds clues about how China might be building what U.S. intelligence

says is Beijing's next generation of nuclear weapons. It's part of a secret Chinese nuclear weapons facility constructed at blistering speed over the

last five years.

So what do we know about this building? Declassified CIA documents from 1971 tell us that this location has historically been used to build nuclear

weapons. For decades, there were few signs of growth here until this dome was built. But from up here, there's only so much that you can say about

the structure.

So we decided to take a closer look. We combined satellite images, over 50 snapshots from various phases of the construction process, to recreate the

view from the ground. Extensive piping snakes into a building with a tall ventilation stack and huge air handling units. That tells you that this

gigantic facility is designed to handle very, very toxic materials.

This is the centerpiece of the facility. The reinforced dome shaped like a pill. It's where we believe the components of nuclear weapons are being

made or assembled. We also see a tunnel just a few yards away. It's big enough to fit a large truck, and it disappears into the inside of a

mountain. Experts say there's no known nuclear facility that looks like it anywhere in the world.

[15:50:04]

JEFFREY LEWIS, DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR OF GLOBAL SECURITY, MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE: Well, the facility that we are considering is clearly a nuclear

weapons-related facility. What precisely it does, we don't know. But it is very large. And just the sheer scale of it suggests that this is part of a

very substantial investment in China's ability to produce nuclear weapons.

QIBLAWI (voice-over): This puts the Trump administration in a bind. U.S. President Donald Trump is set to visit Beijing next month, and he's

expected to start discussions about negotiations to contain Chinese leader Xi Jinping's nuclear ambitions.

QIBLAWI: But what we found is that China may already be establishing the facts on the ground. This is our nuclear production facility. It sits

within a complex, a network of bases strung along the sides of narrow valleys.

QIBLAWI (voice-over): Each of these sites, long considered by U.S. intelligence to be a cornerstone of China's nuclear weapons program, has

gone through a massive expansion in just five years. Take this one, for example. Two villages were demolished to make way for a new site that,

according to Chinese government documents, manufactures explosive lenses which surround the plutonium core of a nuclear weapon.

Now look at this one, around 50 miles away, over 600 buildings were torn down to expand a collection of labs known as Science City, considered to be

the brains of China's nuclear weapons program. This is yet another security challenge that Trump will have to contend with, and there are fears that

his ongoing war on Iran may harden China's resolve to expand its nuclear weapons program.

LEWIS: One consequence of what the Trump administration is doing in Iran is not going to be to cow or intimidate the Chinese, but it will be to

frighten them into building more nuclear weapons.

QIBLAWI (voice-over): Tamara Qiblawi, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Now, when asked about CNN's findings, China's foreign ministry said its unaware of the situation. China's defense ministry declined to comment.

And we will be right back with more news in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: And welcome back.

As we continue to follow those Good Friday services out of Rome, those are live pictures of Pope Leo XIV taking part in his first Holy Week since his

election as pope. Right now, he is leading Catholics through the traditional way of the cross. The pope is carrying the large wooden cross

during the entire route. That's what he's planning on anyway.

[15:55:00]

The last pontiff to do so was Pope John Paul II. And that was decades ago. I mean, incredibly profound pictures there from the Colosseum and beyond in

Rome.

Now, NASA says the Artemis II crew will skip a planned course correction. The astronauts headed to the moon were planning to turn on their engines

for about eight seconds in a couple of hours to make sure they were traveling on exactly the right path. But NASA says it's no longer needed

because the trajectory -- guess what? -- it's already precise.

The spacecraft is currently more than 170,000 kilometers from Earth. That's about 105,000 miles. The crew have been sharing some of the pictures

they've taken in space again, more stunning pictures to give the crew a little bit more time to indulge in some easter chocolate.

I want to thank everyone for joining us. That is WHAT WE KNOW.

Stay with CNN. We'll have more news right after a break.

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