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Israel-Lebanon Talks; Severe Weather Hits Central U.S.; Will Iranian Negotiations Resume?. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired April 15, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Potential talks and a timeline. We're standing by for a White House press briefing, as the president hints at another round of negotiations with Iran and a potential end to the conflict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Is this war over?

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

We'll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We're also hearing a significant development from Iran's state media. They're reporting that a key Pakistani negotiator is now in Tehran with a message from the United States.

Keep in mind, there are just six days left in the cease-fire, and we're learning that U.S. officials have not yet formally agreed to an extension.

Let's go to the White House now with CNN anchor and chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins in the White House Briefing Room.

No doubt a lot of questions on these negotiations coming up, Kaitlan.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Yes, there are some Cabinet officials who are coming out here with Karoline Leavitt today.

But, obviously, Boris, there are a ton of questions about where these talks, about a potential second round of talks with Iran stand in this moment, especially after you heard what the president said in that interview that aired this morning, that he believes this war is close to being over and that it could end immediately as soon as they do come to an agreement, as he suggested this notion that there could be talks in the additional days.

He had said that previously. It has not materialized yet, but that is still an open question, and, of course, questions about what they have agreed to, to sit down at the negotiating table once again, after doing so for 21 hours over the weekend and not coming to an agreement during those talks that were led by the vice president, J.D. Vance.

And they were also joined by Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in- law, Jared Kushner. And so questions about who exactly would be going to the second round of talks, where they could be taking place.

One significant development is that the -- Pakistan's military chief is in Iran right now, because, of course, he's been a key intermediary here who's gotten high praise from President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance for the role that they have played in these talks, suggesting where that second round of talks could potentially happen.

And so still a lot of questions, though, about what's going to happen to the enriched uranium that is in Iran that the president has made clear he wants to get out of there before this war is over, Iran's desire to develop a nuclear weapon and where that stands in terms of this agreement, and also, of course, what is going to happen and who is going to control the Strait of Hormuz by the end of this, which has been Iran's biggest point of leverage so far in these talks.

So, all of that remains to be seen. And we will see if there is anywhere closer to actually suggesting or confirming that these talks could be happening and what that means for this war, as of course, as you know, Boris, the cease-fire that the president announced is set to expire just next week.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we will be checking in on the press briefing, which is set to start at any moment.

Kaitlan Collins from the White House, thank you so much -- Jessica.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Happening now, Israel's Cabinet set to meet this hour, with a source telling CNN they will discuss a possible temporary cease-fire with Lebanon.

It comes just one day after direct talks between the two countries here in D.C., those first direct talks in 40 years. Israel arguing Lebanon is not part of the current cease-fire with Iran, and its military says it struck more than 200 Hezbollah infrastructure sites in Southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours.

Now, Iran has said it will not agree to a peace deal with the U.S. until those Israeli strikes stop. President Trump telling reporters he's pressured Israel to pull back.

Let's bring in CNN's Oren Liebermann, who has more now on today's meeting -- Oren.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Jessica, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to convene his Security Cabinet, and that meeting is set to start right about now, where, in that discussion, according to an Israeli source, Netanyahu will discuss the possibility of a cease-fire with Lebanon.

This comes one day after the first direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in some 40 years, held under the auspices of the Trump administration in Washington, D.C. And you can see that President Donald Trump wants to invest political capital here, Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking part in these talks.

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And although the first day of discussions between Israel and Lebanon were more about setting a framework for future discussions, there are at least or there is an intent for the discussions to continue.

Given that framework and given the desire of the Trump administration to see a cease-fire in place, the U.S. has already put pressure on Israel to scale back its strikes on Lebanon. Israel has over the past several days refrained from striking the capital of Beirut and at least appears to have diminished the number of strikes somewhat.

And yet it is still a very hot war. Earlier today, the Israeli military said they had carried out in the past 24 hours some 200 -- some strikes on 200 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Meanwhile, earlier this week, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said 35 Lebanese had been killed in a short period of time.

So you see that the war across the Israel-Lebanon border is still very much playing out. But the Trump administration is trying to invest effort here, knowing that it has some measure of leverage over Netanyahu to try to get a cease-fire in place -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Oren Liebermann with the latest, thank you.

We are standing by for the White House press briefing. We will bring you that live as it happens.

Plus, Los Angeles officials saying they're now investigating former Congressman Eric Swalwell after a new accuser came forward alleging he raped her at a hotel in 2018.

And a little bit later: federal prosecutors paying a surprise visit to the Federal Reserve, as President Trump threatens to fire the Fed chair.

That and more coming up right here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour.

The U.S. says it carried out yet another strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Pacific. U.S. Southern Command says the attack killed four people on board the boat. To date, this makes at least 174 people killed in U.S. strikes since September. The Trump administration says the attacks are meant to deter the flow of drugs.

And Reuters is reporting that a new study indicates Tylenol use by pregnant women is not linked to autism in children. A nationwide study in Denmark finds that less than 2 percent of kids exposed to the drug while in their mother's womb were later diagnosed with autism. Those not exposed to Tylenol during pregnancy were diagnosed at a higher rate, 3 percent.

The study was published Monday in "JAMA Pediatrics." A 2024 Swedish study also found no link between autism and pregnancy use of Tylenol.

So we are standing by for the press briefing at the White House, but we have one more headline to share with you. A beloved banyan tree in Hawaii is thriving again nearly three years after it was badly burned in the deadly Maui wildfires.

That tree looks amazing, I promise you. It was on screen for a moment. Now we're again looking at the White House.

There's the tree. This Instagram video shows it flourishing thanks in part to recent rains. The tree is more than 150 years old, one of the largest of its kind in the U.S., rising more than 60 feet.

Still to come: There is misery across the Midwest. We're tracking severe storms and the damage they have already caused.

Plus, more heartbreaking testimony out of Texas, where Camp Mystic directors are being questioned about the deadly Fourth of July flooding that killed 27 counselors and campers.

On top of all of that, we are watching the White House, and we will take you there as soon as the briefing begins.

Don't go anywhere. CNN will be right back.

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DEAN: We continue to await the press briefing at the White House.

In the meantime, we're watching for more severe weather after two days of punishing storms affecting multiple states, parts of Iowa and Wisconsin enduring baseball-size hail and tornadoes as well. Take a look at what it looked like on Tuesday in Milwaukee, high waters submerging roads, trapping drivers in their cars.

And, in Colorado, police responding to a major highway pile-up, a crash involving at least 75 cars shutting down parts of Interstate 70 in both directions.

So, now we get the latest from Derek Van Dam, who's in the CNN Weather Center.

What is the latest, Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Jessica, this is the heart of severe weather season. And this week has just proved it. We have got more chances of severe weather today, and then ramping up as we head towards the end of the workweek.

Look at these really astounding videos captured over the past 24 hours. This is coming out of Northern Lower Michigan, the Burt Lake area. This is a combination of melted winter snowpack, but also repetitive rounds of heavy rainfall.

Then, the big elephant in the room, right? This is straight out of "The Wizard of Oz." This rope tornado really just caught us all off guard. Impressive sight. Did little damage, but, wow, look at that incredible rotation and this video captured by drone. This is a rare sight to see from an aerial perspective, the vortex as it kind of swirls around, picking up the dust.

Can be a little bit deceiving, because these still can be a very powerful tornado, even though they look small. Now, check out the chances of severe weather for today, some of the same areas that got raked yesterday. So we're talking about the Great Lakes through the Central Mississippi River Valley, all the way to the Southern Plains, large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes, not as high of a risk as yesterday.

But it's certainly there. And, in fact, this is new from the Storm Prediction Center within the past 30 minutes or so. They have kind of connected these areas, which were two distinct regions for the highest chance of tornado development today, now from Des Moines, southward to Springfield and Oklahoma City, that hashed area, as well as Cleveland.

These regions here have our greatest chances of stronger tornadoes if they do develop today. It's all thanks to this stationary frontal boundary that continues to eject the kind of impulses of storms that we have seen over the past couple of days, the magic ingredient, the daytime heating from the sun.

So watch how these storms blossom through the afternoon. So, heads-up Chicago to Kansas City. This evening, we need to be weather-aware, have multiple ways to receive your weather warnings, because these storms will come through. And if we get any of those isolated kind of rogue supercells, that's when the potential for dropping a funnel from the sky could exist.

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So, tomorrow, we get a bit of a reprieve in terms of the severe weather chances, maybe Northern New England with a slight risk. But I want to point your attention to Friday. This is where we have a enhanced risk already, two days out.

So this could be another big-ticket, high-end severe weather event as we look forward into the end of this workweek. Also, the other part of the story, Jessica, the flooding that's ongoing across Wisconsin and Michigan. Quite a sight. DEAN: Yes, a lot of dynamics there.

All right, Derek Van Dam, thank you.

Up next: a new danger to the global economy, as Tehran threatens another critical waterway if the U.S. doesn't relax its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.

We will have that next. Stay with us.

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SANCHEZ: As President Trump hints at new talks over the war with Iran, the standoff on the Strait of Hormuz is putting increased pressure on potential negotiations.

U.S. Central Command now says that the blockade of Iranian ports has been fully implemented and that U.S. forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea. Some new intelligence from the platform Kepler shows that at least two vessels have passed through the strait, stopped at the same point in the Gulf of Oman, only to turn around.

Joining us now to discuss is retired Air Force Lieutenant General S. Clinton Hinote. He's a former senior air strategist in the Middle East.

General, thank you so much for being with us.

I just first want to get your assessment of how this blockade is going, whether you think it is creating significant leverage for the United States.

LT. GEN. S. CLINTON HINOTE (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: Well, Boris, it's great to be with you today. I think that the blockade is doing exactly what it's intended to do.

There's been such a big shift that has happened just in the last few weeks. At the beginning of this war, the military was the supported part of our national strategy. And now it is very much the supporting part as we apply economic pressure, all in the effort to get the Iranians back to the negotiating table.

And from that point of view, the joint force led by the U.S. Navy, they know how to do a blockade. Blockades are very important, and it appears this one's working.

SANCHEZ: Yes, CENTCOM says that there are some 10,000 personnel working on this blockade. Would you describe it as an especially dangerous mission for the personnel?

HINOTE: Well, it's probably not quite as dangerous as what we were doing when we were actively bombing Iran, at least for the entire joint force. But it's never easy, and there's always danger, especially when we're

dealing with combatants. So far, the cease-fire appears to have held. I hope that continues, but our folks have to always be ready for escalation at any moment. So it's still very tense.

SANCHEZ: If the blockade does continue, Iran's military has threatened to shut down shipping operations in the Red Sea, as well as the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman.

Given what we have heard about the status of Iran's navy, do you think they have the operational capacity to do that? Do they need conventional naval ships to do that?

HINOTE: Well, when we hear those types of threats, we're not expecting them to do these things in a conventional way.

SANCHEZ: Right.

HINOTE: We have heard a lot about asymmetry and asymmetric warfare. And that's exactly what they would use in order to increase the economic pain, not just the United States, but folks who are our friends.

I heard this morning the Australians were running short on oil, as an example, and also people that might be close to Iran, may be influential with Iran. So that might be China. But I would not expect that they would try to do it with a navy. I think they would do it with the threat from missiles and mines.

And we have already seen that threat can be very serious.

SANCHEZ: Do you think that the United States should do more to deter them? How do you see that playing out?

HINOTE: Well, I think we have done a lot to deter them.

As we look at -- and the Strait of Hormuz is a good example of this. We see that in order to stop the shipping, all Iran has to do is create a credible threat to the tankers that are going in and out. That doesn't mean that it has to do a lot.

In fact, in many ways, we can suppress 90, 95, 99 percent of the threats with things like firepower, airpower, sea power. But, in the end, that 1 percent still matters. And this applies to all the world's choke points. This is why it's so important to have control of the seas, because the choke points of the world really do control the economic flows.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

After CNN reported on a U.S. intelligence assessment that Beijing was preparing to send some Chinese air defense systems into Tehran in the coming weeks, President Trump said that he exchanged some letters with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and that Xi essentially told him that China wasn't doing that. Do you believe him?

HINOTE: Well, that's a good question. And I haven't seen the intelligence reports. It would be important to know what we know.

But, as we think about what China is trying to do, it seems very much like they're trying to play both sides. That's pretty normal for China, especially in a place like negotiations. They're pretty comfortable with negotiating both sides.

And I do think it is important that we watch and see what kinds of weapons are being supplied, not only by China, but also by Russia and others, because, as this cease-fire continues, it might give Iran some time to receive some weapons, clandestinely, more than likely, and to be able to reconstitute and use those if the fighting breaks out.