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Vance En Route To Pakistan To Lead U.S.-Iran Talks; Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) Discusses About War Powers Resolution; U.S. & Iran Prepare For "Make-Or-Break" Talks Tomorrow; Artemis II Crew To Splash Down Tonight In Pacific; NASA Making Final Preps For Artemis II Crew's Return To Earth; U.S. Inflation Triples In March On Record Spike In Gas Prices. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired April 10, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

KELEI WALKER, ACTING FIELD OFFICE DIRECTOR, ICE ERO MIAMI: TPS, Temporary Protective Status, was never designed to be a permanent stay in the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, the victim has not been publicly named by the Fort Myers Police Department. We know from our CNN affiliate, WBBH, who spoke to community members and friends and family that she's a member of the Bangladeshi community in Fort Myers. She's described as a loving mother, someone who was very devoted to her faith.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Yes.

ROSALES: Omar.

JIMENEZ: It's an awful -- awful attack and ...

ROSALES: Yes.

JIMENEZ: ... awful video as well. Isabel Rosales, appreciate you taking us through that.

All right, new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Setting the Stakes: President Trump says that if ceasefire negotiations with Iran fail, quote, "we're loading up the ships." We'll have a preview of those truce talks ahead.

Plus, Sticker Shock, inflation hits its highest level in nearly two years. And some economists warn things are only expected to get worse.

And Ready for Reentry, the Artemis II crew nearing the final phase. The dramatic conclusion to their historic mission is just hours away.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Some fresh saber rattling today as the U.S. prepares to deploy diplomacy with Iran to end their month-long war. President Trump posting on social media today, the Iranians don't seem to realize they have no cards other than a short-term extortion of the world by using international waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate.

Right now. Vice President J.D. Vance is flying to Pakistan. He's leading the American delegation for these talks tomorrow. But before he left, he offered Iran a bit of advice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're looking forward to the negotiation. I think it's going to be positive. We'll, of course, see, as the President of the United States said, if the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we're certainly willing to extend the open hand. If they're going to try to play us, then they're going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: These negotiations begin as both sides are looking to clarify major confusion about the current two-week ceasefire, including whether it covers Lebanon. Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel continue to fight. And the Strait of Hormuz is largely still closed. CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson is live in Islamabad ahead of these talks.

Nic, Pakistan's prime minister calls this a make-or-break moment. How are both sides approaching this situation?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, I think there's a real sense of expectation here. The eyes of the world are on Pakistan. That's what you hear from people on the streets. And, indeed, just as you were giving your intro here, we were hearing fighter jets in the sky. We're expecting the Iranian delegation to be landing very soon, right around this sort of time, U.S. delegation landing tomorrow.

Clearly, they're coming into this from completely different perspectives, from a position of a breakdown in trust, from a position of completely disparate narratives, the Iranians considering that they actually do hold the cards. Indeed, there's an -- an assessment here that Iran does believe that it could weather more military action by the United States and Israel, and that, actually, Iran does preserve a significant portion of its drone and ballistic missiles, that it could continue in the fight.

The Iranians are coming into this saying that they want Lebanon, the ceasefire there, to be folded in with the biggest ceasefire that -- with -- between Iran and the United States. And -- and Israel -- that Israel's attacks on their proxy, Hezbollah, in Iran, in -- in Lebanon, must stop, too. And also, they're saying that they want sanctions relief, their frozen 00 frozen assets, to be -- to be released.

Confidence-building measures of -- of that sort of magnitude of release of funds would be a significant way to get Iran to the talks table as well. But the gaps are big. The talks are expected to be proximity talks, are expected to start on Saturday. The -- the Iranians come in with a 10-point plan. I think the perception here is that if a number of those points on the plan, five, six or seven, could be sort of nailed down, then there's a possibility that the ceasefire could be solidified.

But I think everyone recognizes right now that this is still incredibly high stakes. It's not done yet. But both -- but confidence trying to be built by Pakistan that's playing this key interlocuting role.

KEILAR: Nic Robertson, thank you. Obviously, a critical time ahead of these talks this weekend. Omar?

[15:05:00]

JIMENEZ: Let's talk more about these negotiations with Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts. He's a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman, thank you for taking the time.

I want to start with a group of Democrats ...

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): Thank you.

JIMENEZ: ... renewing a call to force a War Powers Resolution vote. You tried that last month. And while you voted for it, it was rejected in the end. Do you support going in that direction this time around? And are you any more optimistic in its success?

MOULTON: I do support it, of course. And I'm slightly more optimistic because I hear a lot of concerns from Republicans behind the scenes. Now, the ultimate test, of course, is whether these Republicans have the courage to say what they say privately in public and take a tough vote that might anger their president.

But absolutely, behind the scenes, when you sit in classified briefings on the Armed Services Committee, there is a lot of concern among Republicans, as there should be, because we are losing this war.

JIMENEZ: And you know, on those Armed Services Committee briefings, you know, I've heard from some in your party that haven't quite been satisfied with the briefings on the war itself. Gregory Meeks, a ranking member of House Foreign Services, comes to mind. Do you feel you have been properly briefed on what's been going on? Is there more you're looking for?

MOULTON: No. No, not even close. And -- and not only have we been improperly briefed, as in not shared -- you know, not shown the full answers of plans or anything else that's going on. We've been lied to. We've just been outright lied to. I mean, they come in one week and they tell us something that's completely contradicted, but what -- by what they tell us the next week.

So, it shows you two things. One, this plan -- this -- this administration truly has no plan. The President's got no strategy. The administration has no plan. They're really stuck in this war. And that's why the President is begging at this point for negotiations. But it also shows you that they just are flat out lying. And if they're lying to Congress, it means they're lying to our troops.

And as an Iraq War veteran myself, someone who was critical of the war, at least I wanted to have the faith in my commanders that they were telling me the truth. Even if I didn't agree with a strategy, even if I didn't think we should be at war, I wanted to be able to trust that my commanders were being honest with me.

Well, when the President of the United States says that you've -- that they've eliminated all of Iran's anti-aircraft capability just 24 hours before they shoot down an F-15, everyone out there fighting in the Middle East wearing our uniform today has to know that the administration is lying to them every day.

JIMENEZ: Well, and that brings me to a question of -- of where the U.S. is going here, because I know you don't support the way President Trump has gone about the war, but we are here regardless. And as of now, the Iranian regime hasn't really changed. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed or at the very least impacted. And I just wonder, what do you believe would be the meaningful solution here as the vice president heads to Pakistan for potential peace talks?

MOULTON: I mean, it's kind of extraordinary that the President has been losing this war. Yes, we created some military damage for the Iranians, but they're projecting power more effectively. They've closed the strait completely. They've doubled oil prices. And they now have a real convincing case to want to renew their nuclear program. So, on almost every count, we're losing the war.

But what's incredible is now we seem to be losing the ceasefire. I mean, is it even a ceasefire if only one side ceases firing? Because the Strait's still closed. Iran is still attacking -- sorry, Israel is still attacking Lebanon. The only people who have cried uncle and stopped is the United States of America. In fact, it sounds a little bit more like an unconditional surrender on our part.

But at the end of the day, unless we want to actually, quote, you know, "take over Iran" like we did with Iraq, totally change the regime. The only way to end this is through a negotiated agreement. So, while I think it's pretty sad where we are, that we're losing the war and losing the peace, at the end of the day, it's still the right thing to do for the Vice President or whoever else to go and carry-on negotiations with the Iranians to bring this to an end before we lose even more.

JIMENEZ: Well, and on the potential of any deal, there's the question of how would that deal be actually secured? I mean, the President has been pretty critical of NATO to this point, their role in all of this, saying NATO wasn't there when the U.S. needed them. But also, the war seemed to have caught Europe by surprise in terms of the initial strikes and their subsequent extent as well. What do you assess as NATO's role in helping secure the Strait of Hormuz in the long-term, or at the very least, helping secure whatever is negotiated in the long-term, if we even get to that point?

MOULTON: I mean, it's a really fair question, because NATO clearly didn't want this war. They were not consulted about it. And let's not forget, the Strait was open before Trump started this war. So, now he's trying to solve a problem that he himself created.

[15:10:03]

NATO didn't create that problem. No other American president created that problem. He was just dumb enough to start a war that Iran is winning. And so, at the end of the day, I don't think they -- that NATO feels a lot of responsibility for doing any of this. And I think that's pretty understandable. But what NATO should be doing is supporting these negotiations to get to a point where Iran will actually have a meaningful deal that -- that incentivizes them to keep the Strait open.

And if we can incentivize them through their own economic incentives to do that, then that's probably the best we're going to get.

You know, it's also an important time to note that this whole saga started when Trump tore up the Iran nuclear deal that Obama put in place. And although it wasn't a perfect deal, it prevented them from ever having a nuclear weapon and it did include checks, constant electronic monitoring and intrusive inspections that prevented Iran from breaking out, from breaking the deal without us knowing.

And Trump's own first administration certified that they were following that deal. So, actually, that kind of gives you a pretty good roadmap for the kind of deal that we need. Both a deal put back in place to constrain their nuclear program, but perhaps a deal along the same lines to keep the Strait open as well.

JIMENEZ: And one that likely will have to be executed by a third-party country that is not the United States, Israel or -- or obviously Iran as well. But we are a long way from that point, Congressman ...

MOULTON: It's a good point, yes.

JIMENEZ: ... as -- as these talks just get underway here with the Vice President heading over to Pakistan. I appreciate your time, Congressman Seth Moulton. Thanks for being here.

MOULTON: Good to see you.

JIMENEZ: All right, still to come, it is the final countdown for the Artemis II crew as they prepare to return to Earth in a very fast splashdown. We'll have the details coming up.

Plus, the war with Iran is driving prices up and consumer confidence down. We'll dig into the latest numbers.

And later hear why White House staffers are being warned against insider trading. That and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:15:32]

KEILAR: Happy Splashdown Day. We are full of excitement and nerves as the world is anticipating Artemis II's return to Earth.

JIMENEZ: This is a live look from the Orion capsule as the astronauts make some very important preparations before a critical portion of this journey, splashdown into the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of San Diego tonight.

The Navy is hard at work preparing for the astronauts' arrival. Crews aboard the USS John Murtha recovery vessel are standing by for retrieval efforts and to provide medical evaluations.

KEILAR: CNN National Correspondent Randi Kaye is monitoring preparations at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and CNN's Elex Michaelson is standing by at the Naval Base in San Diego.

Randi, to you first. The excitement where you are, the anticipation of what this is, that must be palpable there.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is, Brianna. There's a lot of anxiety here as well. We're watching them, of course, basically reconfigure the cabin so it's set for reentry, because after launch they reconfigured it while they were in space and now they have to change that up again. They did this burn to make sure that they can pinpoint their trajectory to the Pacific Ocean, make sure they hit that target very, very specifically. And now they are getting ready because the show gets really serious in just a little while from now. About 7:30 P.M. they are going to have the service module will separate. That has life support systems in it as well. And that is going to go into the atmosphere and disintegrate while the capsule makes its way towards the San Diego area.

Then, at 7:53 is the reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. This is the real test for the heat shield. This is the heat shield that's on the bottom of the spacecraft. It's supposed to protect the astronauts and the Orion capsule from extreme heat going up to as much as 5,000 degrees outside that capsule. And that happens at about 400,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean.

And then at 8:07, just 13 minutes later, is splashdown. Now, the thing to point out here is that in those 13 minutes, mission control here at the Johnson Space Center is going to lose contact for about six minutes with the astronauts while they are in space during that reentry. So that's going to be a very, very tense period, but they do expect it will be just fine.

And then, of course, the parachutes -- 11 parachutes in all, will bring them down to the Pacific Ocean. Brianna, Omar?

JIMENEZ: A lot of moments. We'll be holding our breath throughout all of this.

Elex, I want to bring you in because obviously there are a lot of preparations happening up in space right now. The reentry is so critical. But then here on Earth, naval preparation is also important. How are things looking right now?

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's talk to the guy who's in charge of that, Captain Neil Krueger from the U.S. Navy, the operations officer for the Expeditionary Strike Group 3.

You, for the last year or so, have been planning this mission ...

CAPTAIN NEIL KRUEGER, U.S. NAVY: Yes.

MICHAELSON: -- which is to retrieve Artemis.

KRUEGER: Yes.

MICHAELSON: So, walk us through how it's going to work.

KRUEGER: Okay. Yes, gladly. So, the capsule will hit the ocean about 20 miles an hour at 5 o'clock tonight, about 50 miles off the coast. And the first step is really to get the astronauts to safety.

[15:20:00]

So, we have mobile dive teams, medical teams who will go out on small boats and retrieve the astronauts from the capsule. We build a little floating raft called the front porch that we will get the astronauts onto that, kind of assess their medical ability to be hoisted up into a helicopter.

MICHAELSON: Mm-hmm.

KRUEGER: And then, get hoisted within the first couple hours, try to get back to the ship where they have more extensive medical care.

MICHAELSON: And the ship is huge.

KRUEGER: Yes, the ship is ...

MICHAELSON: This is the USS John Murtha.

KRUEGER: Yes.

MICHAELSON: It's been ready since the mission started, but it's been out for the last few days.

KRUEGER: Right, correct.

MICHAELSON: This has all happened in about 50 miles ...

KRUEGER: Yes.

MICHAELSON: ... off from where we are right now.

KRUEGER: Yes.

MICHAELSON: And why that ship in particular?

KRUEGER: So, the John P. Murtha is an amphibious transport dock ship. Amphibious capabilities has a well deck where we can recover the capsule. Has a very large flight deck so we can have air support. Very good medical capabilities, which the astronauts will probably need. And then comms suites for NASA to communicate with both Cape Canaveral in Florida and Johnson Space Center in Houston.

MICHAELSON: So, they'll get medical care there.

KRUEGER: Yes.

MICHAELSON: And then eventually they're helicoptered from there.

KRUEGER: Correct.

MICHAELSON: Back here (INAUDIBLE) ...

KRUEGER: Yep, to Naval Station North Island where a NASA jet will take them back to Houston and then they'll carry on from there.

MICHAELSON: What does this day mean to you?

KRUEGER: Well, super exciting, first of all. Also, a great deal of satisfaction and pride. As you said, I've been really working on this for about the last year. In earnest, the last six months with the teams out on the ship. I'll monitor from here, but this is huge, right? We haven't been in space with people in a long time and to be able -- to be a part of recovering them and seeing this to completion after all the hard work that's gone into it, very satisfying.

MICHAELSON: Thank you for your service to our country.

KRUEGER: Yes.

MICHAELSON: Best of luck today.

KRUEGER: All right, thank you very much.

MICHAELSON: We're all rooting for you.

KRUEGER: Okay.

MICHAELSON: All right, we'll have live coverage from here throughout the day. Back to you guys.

KEILAR: Very exciting to hear all those details. We are also rooting ...

\JIMENEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: ... for them.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: I'm so nervous.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

KEILAR: I'm so excited. I've been following this like everyone.

JIMENEZ: I know.

KEILAR: What a ride it's been.

JIMENEZ: I know, I take comfort in knowing they are so much smarter than I am.

KEILAR: Yes.

JIMENEZ: Like whatever they're doing right here, I can't even begin to comprehend. And that's a good thing. They're the ones that should be able to comprehend.

KEILAR: They're doing it live.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: That's -- that's my contribution.

JIMENEZ: Yes, and I still ...

KEILAR: I can tell you they're doing it live.

JIMENEZ: And I can't get a cell signal in certain parts of my apartment and we're getting this in live.

KEILAR: Maybe they can help you with that.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: Again, as you heard Elex say in there, be sure to tune in because we have special coverage, CNN tonight at 7 P.M. Eastern, Mission to the Moon: Artemis II Returns. You can also watch it on the CNN app.

Meanwhile, here on Earth, the war in Iran is driving up prices. In the U.S., inflation is now at the highest level it's been in nearly two years. Next, why some economists think it's only going to get worse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:22]

JIMENEZ: Inflation now stands at its highest levels in nearly two years, driven up by surging oil prices from the war with Iran. I want to bring in CNN's Matt Egan, who joins us now.

So, Matt, can you just break down these numbers for us? How significant is this?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Omar, this is the highest that inflation has ever been under President Trump. In either of his two terms in the White House, and the impact from the war in the Middle East is all over this inflation report. So, we learned today that consumer prices surged by almost 1 percent between February and March. That was basically in line with expectations, but this has tripled the inflation rate of the month before.

In fact, this is the highest in almost four years. Annual inflation rate, 3.3 percent. That's actually a touch lower than expected. However, as you mentioned, this is the highest level in almost two years. And when you look at the annual inflation rate change, this is the trend over the last two years or so. You can see that things were moving in the right direction, and then boom, the war hit, and inflation started going sharply higher.

So, no surprise that the biggest culprit here is gas, right? We know that gas prices have skyrocketed because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that gasoline prices were up by 21 percent month over month. That's the most since they started tracking back in the 1960s. But it's not just about gas. Delivery prices have also gone up 3 percent in the last month. That could be related to some of those surcharges linked to high fuel costs. Airfare also up significantly. That's something that could continue because we know jet fuel prices have almost doubled since the war started.

Other things going up include toys. And that may be linked to the fact that a lot of toys are imported, and we know the President has slapped massive tariffs on imports. The news wasn't all bad, though. Grocery prices overall, they actually fell slightly, and eggs continue to go down significantly in price. I would just note that the prices at the grocery store, they may not stay down because we know that diesel has gone up in price, and that's going to lift prices at the grocery store potentially.

So, you put it all together, and this is a disappointing report on the cost of living. And this is not just an economic problem. It's also a political problem for the White House. We know that President Trump, he promised to tackle the cost of living, but Omar, the latest inflation report shows that inflation is going in the wrong direction in large part because of the war in the Middle East.

JIMENEZ: Well, and especially as that translates to consumer sentiment hitting a historic low as well. Matt Egan, appreciate the reporting as always.

Now, coming up, President Trump says U.S. ships are being loaded up with weapons just in case a deal is not reached with Iran this weekend.

[15:30:05]

A defense analyst will join us with his perspective on these talks next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)