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Iran Contradicts Trump, Calls U.S. List of Demands Unreasonable; TSA Workers Start Receiving Back Pay After Weeks Without Paychecks; Oil and Gas Prices Rise as War With Iran Enter Fifth Week. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired March 30, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news, the president says his favorite thing would be to take Iran's oil. Then overnight, oil prices surged. Markets concerned yhe war could be extended even more.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Maybe, possibly. Today, TSA agents will start seeing money in the bank once again. What does that mean for the long lines at airport security and also what does it mean for the fight that Congress -- in Congress that started this mess and definitely is not over?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And arrested because of A.I., a Tennessee grandmother spent five months in jail because artificial intelligence linked to crimes in a state she says she's never visited.

I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: This morning, whiplash over war. Oil prices soaring this morning after President Trump said overnight he would like to take Iran's oil.

Now, on the other hand, he says the two sides are having very good talks, both directly and indirectly, and claims Iran has agreed to most of his administration's 15-point peace plan.

Iran's Foreign Ministry now disputes that. Just moments ago, an official called the U.S. proposal, quote, largely excessive, unrealistic, and unreasonable, and he said, there are no direct talks.

This is what the president had said on board Air Force One.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We've had very good negotiations today with Iran, getting a lot of the things that we, they should have given us a long time ago.

I do see a deal in Iran, yes.

REPORTER: Mr. President -- TRUMP: It could be soon.

Well, they're agreeing with us on the plan. I mean, we asked for 15 things and for the most part we're going to be asking for a couple of other things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, compare that to what he told the Financial Times in a brand new interview, quote, to be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the U.S. say, why are you doing that? But they're stupid people.

The president says that if the U.S. does take Kharg Island, which handles about 90 percent of Tehran's oil exports, U.S. troops would likely have to be there, quote, for a while.

3,500 more U.S. sailors and Marines have arrived in the region. Iran says it is waiting for a U.S. ground invasion. And if that happens, it has vowed to rain fire on U.S. forces.

Let's get right to CNN's Alayna Trine at the White House this morning with mixed messages here, Alayna, to be blunt.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, absolutely, John. I mean, you are hearing very different things from both sides of this argument as you played from that sound on him of him on Air Force One last night. The president really trying to project optimism, arguing that the 15-point plan that was passed on through the Pakistanis to Iran was actually mostly accepted by the regime. Tehran, for their part, saying that's not true. As you said, they think it's largely excessive unrealistic and unreasonable.

Look, part of this, of course, is that we're seeing both sides really publicly take a different posture than I think what is happening behind the scenes. But I can tell you, John, from my conversations with White House officials and people in the intelligence community, the president still does sincerely believe and hope that diplomacy is an option here. He wants there to be some sort of negotiation as an off-ramp to the end of this war.

And I will say as well, we've heard now from the mediators in this war between the U.S. and Iran, countries like Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt who met this weekend saying that they're hoping -- we heard this from the Pakistanis -- they're hoping that they can get some sort of meeting on the books in the next few days, something we had reported they were actually working toward to hopefully happen last weekend, but looks like it's kind of extending on now.

So, we'll have to see whether or not that's even possible. That would include from my conversations with Trump administration officials, people from the U.S. side, including the vice president, J.D. Vance, but then also some of the Iranians themselves in person, and then, of course, these mediators. So, we're keeping an eye on whether or not that is possible. Now, if it's not, that's where we get into what the president is saying about Kharg Island and other potential targets that they are still eyeing.

[07:05:02]

And what I will tell you as well from the reporting that we have is that, really, if the president, and I know this is, you know, from my conversations with people in the White House, they want still a decisive end to this war. I'd remind you that the day that the U.S. initially launched those strikes with Israel into Iran, they had said that this would be a four to six-week operation. They recognize now there's a lot of pressure on them to try and meet that type of deadline and try to end this war swiftly.

But if you look at the options, and, you know, from my conversations with the sources who have seen the different draft plans circling around the Pentagon and throughout the administration, all of the military options that could end the war decisively would likely require ground troops. And that's exactly what the president said about this idea of potentially capturing or taking Kharg. But it's the same thing with reporting about going in to try and get the enriched uranium in Iran.

And so, really, they kind of are at a fever pitch here of whether or not diplomacy is going to be truly viable, because, if not, we could potentially see ground troops, boots on the ground in Iran. But all of that, of course, very much unclear at this point in time.

BERMAN: Unclear, exactly. Alayna Treene at the White House this morning, thank you very much.

BOLDUAN: Okay. Also, this morning, TSA workers are waiting and likely holding their breath a bit to see if they will finally start seeing money in their bank accounts, once again, after working without pay for some 50 days now. And after the president stepped in and signed an executive order, as it was clear that Congress was not going to get its act together anytime soon, House Republicans rejected a bipartisan Senate deal to reopen DHS, and both chambers have now left Washington for two weeks.

Over the weekend, thousands more TSA workers called out of work. Some 61,000 TSA employees have missed paychecks, now amounting to $1 billion in pay since February 14th.

CNN's Ryan Young is still back at, will never leave Atlanta's airport, he's here with us right now. Ryan, how are things looking there? What are you hearing this morning?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Unreal Kate, maybe Scary Movie 7 is finally over here at the airport. You can actually walk around here without bumping into anybody. Of course, last week this would've been full of travelers, especially sneaking down the side of this building trying to get ready to check-in here. We've seen more TSA agents here, more security lines open, people breezing through. In fact, they bumped into this couple who was walking by and you guys were concerned, and so you got here early. Tell me what were you thinking about the line?

JIM BROWN, TRAVELING TO HAWAII: Yes. I mean, last week and the week before, obviously, I mean, we heard horror stories of people waiting in like the pre-check line for six hours and still not making their flight. And it seemed like end of last week, you know, things sort of got ironed out. So, we're like, all right, three hours is probably good enough. And we walked in and we're like, well, we got here, you know, two hours early, seems like so.

YOUNG: I love that you said you could not miss this because of what?

JILL BROWN, TRAVELING HAWAII: It's our honeymoon, so got to make the flight.

YOUNG: Yes, I understand. Understand. Were you worried at all about making sure all the TSA agents were here or were you glad when you saw all the lines open?

JIM BROWN: Just glad to see all the lines are open, yes.

YOUNG: Fantastic. Thank you guys. Good luck on the thank you honeymoon. Have a good time. Congratulations.

JILL BROWN: Thank you.

YOUNG: Look, as we walk through -- thank you so much. As you walk through, one of the things we noticed besides the fact that some folks are going on a honeymoon, of course, last week, Kate, we talked to folks who were going to Jamaica, this is the real question here. When you look down this lane here, look at all these open lanes. We would've paid for this last week. There's really no one standing in line. There's a lot of people there. People are like smiling as they walk by at this point.

So, the good news here, even on a busy Monday here at the airport, easy-peasy, you can go all the way through. The ICE agents are still checking I.D.s. That's just what's happening here at the airport.

BOLDUAN: I mean, you just got a double peace sign and a smile from someone in a flak jacket. So, things are looking up.

YOUNG: I'll take it.

BOLDUAN: And things are looking up in Atlanta right now.

YOUNG: Absolutely.

BOLDUAN: And as you saw on that nice gentleman shirt, life is good.

Let's just start there on a Monday. I'm not entirely sure we can believe it, but we're going to go with it.

Thank you, Ryan.

SIDNER: It's the most I've seen Ryan smile all month. All right, breaking overnight the price of oil surging all the way to $116 a barrel after President Trump said he wants to, quote, take the oil in Iran. What that means for prices that you will see at the pump. We'll talk about all of that next.

Also, Epstein's survivors hitting the DOJ and Google with a new class action lawsuit alleging they, quote, outed approximately 100 survivors publishing their private information. We will speak with their attorney or the survivors.

And T-minus about two days until liftoff for the first human moon mission in more than half a century, what we know about the four astronauts set to make history around the moon.

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[07:10:00]

SIDNER: Breaking overnight, oil prices are rising once again, as the war with Iran enters its fifth week. And Iran warns it would retaliate against a U.S. ground invasion.

Brent Crude, the global benchmark, climbed to $115.19, you're seeing the numbers there overnight. It's now at $115, but it was at $116 at one point. WTI, the U.S. benchmark, is also trading over $100 a barrel.

Now, the International Energy Agency calling the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the biggest oil shock in history. And with rising oil prices come, rising gas prices. You know this very well. Now, we are inching one penny closer than we were last week to $4 a gallon on average.

[07:15:00]

California and Washington State are well above $5 a gallon now.

Senior Business Reporter David Goldman is joining me is joining me now. You are looking at this and it's exactly how you spelled it out. Every time we see that oil spike, the number for the gas goes up, which all makes sense. This is what happens when you have this situation where if oil prices are going up, of course, gas prices are going up.

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes. I mean, so we've been talking about almost hitting $4 for about a week. We're still talking about almost hitting $4. I think a lot of people are just --

SIDNER: Are you surprised we haven't?

GOLDMAN: Well, there's a few reasons why we haven't. So, at the middle of last week, oil investors started to get a little bit of hope, I think, that the war could end soon. And then toward the end of the week, they lost that hope because, you know, President Trump gave a four to six-week timeframe for how long the war is going to go on. We're at four weeks now. We're entering our fifth week. And so if this continues to go on, then, you know, you start to worry about when is it going to end, and that's when you start worrying about oil getting higher and higher and higher. So we're at $4. We'll see where we go from here.

SIDNER: The president talked about taking Kharg Island last night and said we may have to hold it, which, of course, you'd have to hold once you take it. You have to -- you sort of have to be there for some time. How much of an impact would that make?

GOLDMAN: Well, one of the interesting things that I think he said was that we want the oil, right? We're going to take the oil. And he said that same thing for Venezuela, and he said that one of the big, you know, problems with the Iraq war is that the United States didn't take the oil.

Here's the thing. We don't need more oil, right? We are producing more oil than we need in the United States. We are exporting oil. The rest of the world needs that oil.

Now, do we need more oil supply right now to get the price of oil down? Absolutely. But, you know, Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, said during the cabinet meeting last week that the world is adequately supplied with oil. And a lot of people said, how is that possible when oil's approaching $115 a barrel? And the reason is that there's plenty of oil, it's just in the wrong place. It can't get out of the Strait of Hormuz right now.

If the war ends, if the strait opens, then all of a sudden you're going to start to see oil prices fall because there is plenty of oil, it just can't get out right now. That's the big question.

SIDNER: And that is the big question. What will happen with the strait, how long this will go on? There are so many questions and not a lot of answers right now, David Goldman, which the market hates.

GOLDMAN: Yes.

SIDNER: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. John?

BERMAN: All right. A grandmother wrongly jailed for five months after faulty A.I. linked her to crimes in a state she never even visited.

And then I keep calling this one of the most stunning finishes of a college basketball game, but I'm going to get rid of the modifier here. This was the actual single most stunning ending to a college basketball game I have ever seen.

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[07:20:00]

BERMAN: Holy wow. I think I've watched it ten times and I can't believe it. I could watch it another a hundred times and I still wouldn't believe the end of the UConn-Duke game. Here's a look.

It is -- it just -- it like simply isn't believable. I know what's going to happen every time and I still can't believe it happened like that.

Coy Wire, explain it to me.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, John. Even Coach Dan Hurley, you could see he couldn't believe what had just happened. One of the most stunning endings in tournament history, the number one overall seed Duke up two with the ball, just ten seconds to go. All they have to do is inbound, hang on, maybe get fouled. And the Huskies, they need a miracle, and that's exactly what they got. The defense swarms, the ball is tipped. Braylon Mullins launches it, and there it goes.

He hadn't made a three-pointer all game, John. The Huskies pull off the unthinkable. Mullins is a freshman, he is now a legend, and UConn overcame a 19-point deficit to shock Duke 73-72 to reach the Final Four, heart of a champion. They'll face Illinois next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAYLON MULLINS, UCONN GUARD: I had the ball and I know A.K. had just hit one, so I threw him at four seconds left and man, he just threw the ball back to me. I knew I had to pull one up. So, man, I'm just happy that was the one that went down tonight.

ALEX KARABAN, UCONN FORWARD: When I saw him release it, I was like, that really might go in. And, you know, I went in and the Indiana kids sent us to Indianapolis. So --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: He knew he dropped barbs there, John.

Elsewhere, top seeded Michigan caught fire midway through the first half and went on a 21-0 run to crush Tennessee. All-American Forward Yaxel Lendeborg had a game-high 27 in a 95-62 win. Michigan's the first team ever to win their first four games of the tournament by double digits while scoring 90-plus in each. They're dominating. They'll face Arizona in the Final Four.

In the women's tourney, the overall number one and defending national champion, UConn Huskies, secured the school's third consecutive Final Four appearance, they too dominant.

[07:25:01]

Notre Dame over that one, 70-52, that's now 54 straight wins for the Huskies dating back to last season.

Lauren Betts dropped 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as UCLA stormed back from a halftime deficit to beat Duke 70-58. The Bruins returned to the Final Four for the second straight year, previously had never made it this far in program history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAUREN BETTS, UCLA CENTER: I'm just so proud of this team, our perseverance. I'm sweaty. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Sweaty and confetti don't go well together.

Inspiring story from Golf, John. 30 months removed from brain surgery to remove a tumor, Gary Woodland is a PGA Tour champion again at the Houston Open. He gets this incredible moment with his wife. He hadn't won a tournament in more than six years.

He was diagnosed with PTSD a year ago. The smallest sounds on the course would trigger it. He'd go to a bathroom to hide and cry, John. Here's his message for those who will hear his story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY WOODLAND, FIRST WIN SINCE 2019 U.S. OPEN: I tell you what we play in individual sport out here, but I wasn't alone today. Anybody that's struggling with something, I hope they see me and don't give up. Just keep fighting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: He went public with his PTSD earlier this month, and he said when he did so he felt a thousand pounds off of his back. That win qualifies him for the master job.

BERMAN: And I think everyone will be rooting for him there. That's a lovely story.

Coy Wire, thank you very much for that.

BOLDUAN: I knew nothing about that. Wow, what a story. That's incredible.

Coming up for us this morning, a Russian oil tanker has reached Cuba carrying nearly 730,000 barrels of oil. Why President Trump allowed the ship to break his own fuel blockade of the island.

And survivors of Jeffrey Epstein hit Google and the Justice Department with a new lawsuit saying documents released have outed about a hundred survivors publishing their private information.

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