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Trump Claims Iran Agreeing To Most Of The 15-Point Plan, Iran Warns Of A U.S. Ground Invasion; TSA Employees To Finally Give Paychecks Under Trump's Executive Order; Artemis Ii An Attempt By Nasa To Land On The Moon For The First Time In More Than 50 Years. Aired 3- 4a ET

Aired March 30, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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BEN HUNTE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, wherever you are in the world, you are now in the "CNN Newsroom" with me, Ben Hunte in Atlanta, and it is so good to have you with me.

Coming up on the show, President Trump called negotiations with Iran very good, but Tehran is accusing Washington of secretly planning a ground invasion.

Lawmakers dig in over funding the Department of Homeland Security, as TSA workers look for their first paychecks in quite a while.

And the clock is ticking towards NASA's return to the moon. Why it's taken more than five decades to get there.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Ben Hunte.

HUNTE: Welcome.

We begin this hour in Tehran, where the Israeli military says it's currently striking Iranian terror regime military infrastructure across the capital. Meanwhile, the U.S. claims it's making diplomatic headway in ending the war with Iran.

Tehran, however, is accusing the U.S. of secretly planning a ground invasion. That's amid ongoing negotiations. Here's what President Donald Trump said on Air Force One earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: So we've had very good negotiations today with Iran, getting a lot of the things that they should have given us a long time ago. We'll see how it works out, but they're very good. Moving along very nicely.

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)

HUNTE: CNN has previously reported about the 15-point plan laid out by the U.S. and delivered to Tehran by Pakistan. It includes Iran committing to no nuclear weapons, handing over its highly enriched uranium, limits on Tehran's defense capabilities, as well as an end to regional proxy groups and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, of course. Pakistan now says it is prepared to host negotiations between the U.S. and Iran this week, after holding what it called productive talks with Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

While President Trump is claiming diplomatic progress, he sounded more forceful in a new interview with the "Financial Times," saying he wants to, quote, "take the oil in Iran," and once again debated seizing Karg Island, that is, of course, Iran's vital oil export hub.

Let's bring in CNN's Ivan Watson, live from Islamabad, Pakistan. Thank you so much for being with me, Ivan.

Trump says Iran has agreed to most of this plan, but Tehran still sounds defiant. Are we actually seeing any progress there?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think we're still hearing a lot of posturing, at the very least, from both Tehran and Washington right now. And trying to understand what's really going on is actually pretty challenging. We got some insight from the regional diplomacy, the crisis talks that were held here in the Pakistani capital Sunday evening, where you had the foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey meeting here with the Pakistani foreign minister.

And then the host was left to do the talking after those discussions, where he said all four of these regional players were in agreement that the war has to come to an end as soon as possible, that it will only lead to further death and destruction. And the Pakistani foreign minister suggested that talks between Iran and the U.S. are still on the table. Take a listen to what else he had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISHAQ DAR, PAKISTANI FOREIGN MINISTER: Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the U.S. have expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks. Pakistan will be honored to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in coming days for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now, I mean, when you look at what President Trump is saying, where he says we've accomplished regime change three times, I'm thinking about grabbing the oil. Iran is submitting to most of the demands that we have in this 15-point proposal.

And then you listen to what a senior Iranian security official has said to CNN, which is, hey, the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready for long-term operations with its missiles, that, quote, "this is our war. We will not stop defending until we teach Trump and Netanyahu a historic lesson."

[03:05:07]

That does not sound like two warring governments that are moving towards any kind of reconciliation. So let's just keep watching the signals coming out from the two capitals and from these potential mediators here in Pakistan. And let's see what happens, Ben.

HUNTE: So with all of this diplomacy, are there any signs of a de- escalation in this war?

WATSON: No, it escalated over the weekend with the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen announcing that they are now party to the conflict for the first time in this round of hostilities, firing missiles at Israel. That is clearly an expansion, with the U.S. military announcing that 3500 Marines and sailors aboard a warship have arrived in the region, and there are other Marines and U.S. paratroopers that are also on the way.

And the fighting is as ferocious and deadly as ever, with Israel announcing its carrying out fresh strikes on Iran, with an Indian national killed in Kuwait working at a power plant there. That was announced with ongoing fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Indonesia says one of its peacekeepers on the southern border was killed. It's condemned Israel for this and called for an investigation.

We see signs of fresh Israeli airstrikes on the Lebanese capital within the last hour or so, and the death toll there continues to mount, with more than 1200 people killed in Lebanon by the Israeli airstrikes and artillery. Among those civilian casualties are 124 Lebanese children killed by Israeli airstrikes and artillery in Lebanon.

HUNTE: And it is absolutely awful to hear about that. Ivan Watson, thank you so much for those updates. We appreciate it.

Iran says the U.S. is sending a message of diplomacy while, quote, "secretly planning a ground invasion." Iran's parliament speaker warns the country's forces are, quote, "ready to unleash devastation if there are American boots on the ground." Iran is now reportedly allowing participants as young as 12 to sign up for security and support roles too.

The White House has been deploying thousands of troops to the region, including an assault ship carrying 3500 service members, and another 1000 troops have been alerted to deploy to the Middle East.

Malcolm Davis is a senior analyst on defense strategy and capability with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. He joins me now from Canberra, Australia. Thank you so much for being with me, sir, I appreciate it.

Let's just start by bringing us up to speed on where things stand right now. We are hearing such mixed signals from President Donald Trump, talking about progress and holding back on strikes, but also speaking so aggressively. How do you read the strategy at this point?

MALCOLM DAVIS, MILITARY ANALYST, AND SR. ANALYST ON DEFENSE STRATEGY AND CAPABILITY, AU.S.TRALIA STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Look, I don't think there is a strategy. I think that's the short answer. I think that talk of peace negotiations and the war coming to an end is simply not credible.

At very best, very premature. I think that what you are seeing is a build-up towards probably the deployment of ground forces. But before we get to that point, the air campaign by the Americans and the Australians will continue to attack the Iranian missile capabilities and other targets across the country.

And then at some point, probably in the very near future, I would say within a week or so, you probably will see ground forces being introduced into the battle. So there's no way you can say that this is heading towards an off-ramp or peace.

HUNTE: As you say, we have seen a significant U.S. build-up in the region, thousands of Marines and sailors arriving there. What does a deployment of that size tell you about the direction of travel right now?

DAVIS: Well, I have to say it's a small deployment. If you really wanted to do a massive ground invasion of Iran, you'd need much more larger ground force deployments than what we're seeing. I think what we are seeing is sufficient ground forces to be able to do limited operations of the sort that could be deployed against Karg Island to seize the oil infrastructure there.

Potentially a ground force insertion into Iran itself to secure control of highly enriched uranium and extract that from Iran to deny Iran the ability to have nuclear weapons. Potentially ground force operations to seize other islands in the Persian Gulf and in the approaches to the Straits of Hormuz. But really nothing beyond that.

The size of forces that we're seeing at the moment being deployed into the region are not sufficient, for example, to ride towards Tehran.

[03:10:02]

HUNTE: There is growing focus on the critical energy choke points, including the Straits of Hormuz and potentially even sites like Karg Island now. How central are those to U.S. and Iranian planning and how risky would any move around them be?

DAVIS: I think the rationale behind seizing Karg Island is to deny Iran any sort of access to its oil revenue because Karg is the key location through which 90 percent of Iran's oil goes through.

So by seizing Karg supposedly the Americans could control that oil infrastructure and then deny it to the Iranian government and use that as a means to coerce the Iranian government into signing a peace agreement. I'm not convinced that it's actually going to work out as well as they plan. I think that the Iranians can probably sit back and attack the Americans on Karg Island and casualties will mount up.

So I'm not convinced that Karg is actually going to deliver some sort of peaceful conclusion to the war. In terms of the Straits of Hormuz, that's the critical area. So long as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the energy and economic damage at a global level will continue to rise and at some point the Americans do have to force open the Straits of Hormuz militarily.

That will demand a multi-week campaign to destroy Iranian defenses, to destroy Iran's ability to interdict shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, to clear the Strait of any sea mines and to attack Iranian forces well inland to deny them the ability to attack shipping as it enters the Strait. So that's another whole operation even beyond Karg Island, in my opinion.

HUNTE: On the defensive side, Israel and its allies are still intercepting large volumes of missiles and drones across the region. Is there a real concern about how sustainable that is?

DAVIS: There is a concern for the simple reason that both the U.S. and Israel are running low on interceptor missiles, the sort of missiles like Patriot and THAAD for the Americans and Arrow and David's Sling for the Israelis. As those magazines, as those stockpiles of ammunition get lower and lower, it's easier for the Iranians to get drones and missiles through. And these missiles like Patriot are very expensive to produce.

They cost about a million dollars each to produce. Compare that to the cost of a Shahed drone at $20,000 a drone. It takes a long time to produce these missiles, whereas it's very quick to produce the Iranian Shaheds.

So we've got a serious economic imbalance between defense versus offence that does need to be corrected in terms of how we defend against the drone threat, in particular in future wars.

HUNTE: Okay, well, thank you so much for that insight. We really appreciate it. Malcolm Davis, I'm sure, is speaking to you again very soon, thank you.

DAVIS: Thank you.

HUNTE: Onwards, there is no end in sight to the shutdown impacting the U.S. Homeland Security Department. On Friday, House Republicans rejected a bipartisan funding deal passed by the Senate. Then lawmakers left town, with Congress now on a two-week spring recess.

Some Democrats are placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of those House Republicans who claim their plan had the backing of President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ANDY KIM (D-NJ): What we know is that we had a bill that we passed through the Senate unanimously, a bipartisan piece of legislation that sits over at the House of Representatives. If that bill went for a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives, it would have been passed. I've heard that from Democrats as well as Republicans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Despite rejecting the Senate's efforts, House Republican leader Steve Scalise says the upper chamber still has a responsibility of reopening the DHS. He claims their funding deal had glaring issues, which some party members regretted accepting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): We actually read their bill, and frankly, a number of senators have expressed buyer's remorse with what they did at three in the morning. So we looked at it. One of the things that we had real concerns with is it actually defunds over 25 percent of the baseline operations of the Department of Homeland Security, 25 percent at a time when we're at a heightened threat level.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Got some good news potentially for some TSA officers, though. Many could be getting paychecks in the coming hours through an executive order that has been signed by President Trump. Long security lines continue to be an issue, though, at major airports, along with increased TSA agent callouts.

But as CNN's Rafael Romo reports, the wait times are actually improving.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The day started with very long lines here at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, especially in the pre-check area. But those lines were gone before 8:00 in the morning. And by 10:00, even the main checkpoint area here behind me was virtually empty.

[03:15:05]

There have been several developments in the last week that may have contributed to easing the lines. DHS confirmed Wednesday that some ICE agents deployed to airports have gone through what they call standard TSA training and have been checking I.D.s, guarding entrances and exits, and helping with logistics and crowd control. It's unclear whether ICE agents' presence has impacted wait times.

Also, some TSA agents have been flown from airports with low traffic to major hubs. We ran into a screener here at the airport who told us he had been deployed from St. Louis to help fellow agents in Atlanta.

The other development is that TSA screeners are supposed to start getting paid on Monday. They got a text message from their employer Friday night saying that, quote, at the direction of President Trump, TSA is paying all employees what they're owed, adding that employees should expect most of the back pay in their direct deposit starting on Monday, March 30th.

Many passengers remain angry at Congress for not coming to an agreement to fund DHS, including one traveler who used a colorful phrase to describe the situation at airports.

UNKNOWN: What I would suggest is that congressional staffers and aides don't get paid until the federal government is fully funded because we keep going through this dog-and-pony-show shutdowns. But if the staffers didn't get paid, I think the Congress would get the--

ROMO: Yes, we would see how that goes, right?

UNKNOWN: Yes, they'll see how real life is.

UNKNOWN: There's nothing that we can do, and the people that are working here are working hard. Okay? It's Congress needs to get their act together. And if they would just do it instead of playing games on both sides.

ROMO: According to DHS, more than 3560 TSA screeners did not show up for work on Friday. That's more than 12 percent of the total number of agents and the highest number since the partial government shutdown began last month. Everett Kelly, the national President of the American Federation of Government Employees that represents TSA screeners, said in a statement Saturday, he has never been more disgusted by the failure of elected leadership in his life.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: All right, up next, the war with Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz is causing oil prices to soar. We'll look at what to expect in the days to come. See you in a moment.

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[03:20:00]

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HUNTE: Welcome back.

Oil prices are rising as investors buckle down for a possible U.S. ground invasion in Iran and a drawn out war in the Middle East. Here's a quick look at Brent Crude Futures. Brent Crude is trading just above $116 a barrel as prices do remain very elevated there, and WTI Crude trading just over $101 a barrel. The International Energy Agency says the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is the biggest oil shock in history, and you're seeing why there.

CNN's Eleni Giokos joins me now from Dubai. Thank you again for being with me, Eleni. It is a new week, but with oil prices climbing, tensions still high. Are things stabilizing at all or is this still chaos? ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is a new week, it is day 31

of the war. There's still a lot of escalatory rhetoric that we're hearing. So it's really tough to sort of put your finger on it.

But I think let's just focus on the facts here. And let's look at what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz.

You have this huge blockage. We know the International Energy Agency is releasing record reserves of 400 million barrels. We know that there's some of that oil that's going to be passing through the east- west pipeline in Saudi Arabia to the Yanbu ports.

But then you have another front that is potentially opened up because the Houthis, that are Iranian-backed proxy, have now fired missiles into Israel, potentially blocking the Red Sea. And it's such an important maritime choke point because it actually handles around 12 percent of global trade.

And then vessels have to reroute. They go down the Cape of Good Hope. But I'm just giving you an indication of the potential blockages that we could see over and above what we're seeing in the Strait of Hormuz.

JPMorgan came up this morning with a report saying that, yes, Asian economies have felt the restrictions and the fuel shortages first, then it's going to be African countries, and then Europe, and then the United States. Because it's about the amount of time it takes for the tankers that left the Strait to finally get to these destinations.

We haven't seen a lot of vessels passing through the Straits for the last 31 days. It's basically been a trickle. And I wanted you to listen to an Indian farmer who says that it's not just about fuel, it's about fertilizer, it's about important products that are going to really dictate food supply for the rest of the year.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHATURNARAYAN PATIDAR, FARMER (through translator): If fertilizer doesn't come from outside, then where will it come from? Farmers will be hit badly. They will be very troubled. And even diesel and petrol won't be available if the war continues.

That will create more problems. There will be shortages on everything. Prices will rise when supplies don't come.

People will charge whatever rates they want. Fertilizer will become expensive, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: So markets are responding to all of these fundamental issues. You've got Asian markets tanking this morning. U.S. futures looking slightly positive, looking flat, Ben.

But the markets are really responding aggressively to what we're seeing because we just don't know how long this war is going to last.

HUNTE: No, we don't. But thank you for being on top of it. Elen Giokos in Dubai, thank you so much.

Okay, just ahead, we will bring you the latest on the White House's military strategy as the war with Iran enters its second month. Can you believe that? You are watching CNN.

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[03:25:00]

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HUNTE: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom," I'm Ben Hunte. Let's check some of today's top stories.

Some TSA agents could see more than a month of back pay hit their bank accounts in the coming hours due to an executive order signed by President Trump. Those agents and other DHS workers have gone unpaid since the start of the partial government shutdown in February. TSA workers are still unsure whether future paychecks will be handed out as usual.

Iran warns that the U.S. is secretly planning a ground invasion as it makes a show of diplomacy. Iranian leaders say their forces will rain fire upon American soldiers who do enter the country. The U.S. has sent thousands of troops to the region in recent days and hundreds more are on alert for possible deployment.

President Trump says that Iran has agreed to most of the 15-point list of demands from the U.S. to end the war. He also claims Iran has given the U.S. oil that will be shipped in the coming hours to, quote, "prove they're serious." This comes as Pakistan says it's ready to host talks between Washington and Tehran in the coming days.

CNN's Julia Benbrook has more for us on what the White House is saying at this stage of this war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is some hope for talks to take place in the coming days. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said that he thinks that there will be talks with the Iranians this week. And, of course, Witkoff has been heavily involved in this process, he led multiple rounds of talks about Iran's nuclear program prior to those first joint U.S.-Israel strikes against Iran, on the start of Operation Epic Fury.

In a recent statement, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said that the President's first instinct is always diplomacy. But she also left open the door for other next steps, writing this in part.

[03:30:01]

Now that the regime's ballistic missile capacity and Navy is getting annihilated by the United States, they are begging to make a deal. The President is willing to listen, but if they fail to accept the reality of the current moment, they will be hit harder than ever before.

Now, Trump has laid out various timelines throughout this. He's repeatedly said that this will come to an end soon, very soon. He has predicted that this could last four to six weeks in total.

We are now one month into the conflict, though, and there are still a lot of questions. One big question is, will we see U.S. troops on the ground? And according to recent polling, 62 percent of Americans oppose that idea.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently said that he believes the Trump administration can achieve its objectives without troops on the ground. But when it comes to the service members being sent to the Middle East, he said that the President has to prepare for all contingencies.

Traveling with the President in Florida, Julia Benbrook, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Let's bring in CNN's Paula Hancocks live from Abu Dhabi for us. Paula, things do seem to be shifting by the hour, but the war is still ongoing, even as we hear that a deal may be closed. What's the latest where you are?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ben, all the optimism we're hearing at this point does appear to be coming from the American side. We're not hearing that from the Iranian side. In fact, once the U.S. Central Command had announced that some 3500 Marines and sailors had arrived in the Middle East, we did hear from Iran's parliament speaker, Ghalibaf, who's becoming quite a powerful figure, it appears, in Tehran.

And he had said that Tehran is waiting for U.S. troops and that Iran believes that the U.S. is currently secretly planning an invasion.

Now, we do know from the Iranian side that they have acknowledged that there are talks that are ongoing, or at least there are messages being passed through Pakistan, including that 15-point peace deal. We have seen from state T.V., though, that what Iran is looking for is vastly different to what we believe to be in the Trump plan at this point. We understand that they want to have some acknowledgement of Iran's sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, something which the United States would not accept, and quite frankly, most in the region, given what has happened, would not accept either.

Also, state T.V. and press T.V. suggesting that they want reparations for damage that has been done during this war.

Now, we also had a senior Iranian security official telling CNN that it's not up to the United States when this war ends. It will end on Tehran's timetable, rejecting what we've heard from Trump and U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, talking about weeks, potentially, for this war to come to an end. Four to six weeks is just one of the timelines that we've heard from the Trump administration.

I'll read you part of what this security official told CNN, quote, "this is our war, and we will not stop defending until we teach Trump and Netanyahu a historic lesson."

Now, we've also heard President Trump saying that they still have more to do before troops leave, even at the same time as he's talking about the diplomatic outreach being successful. And we've heard from the Israeli military as well, saying that they believe that in coming days, they will have hit all of the targets in Iran that they consider a top priority. Ben.

HUNTE: Okay, thank you so much for that update, Paula. We appreciate it. Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi.

Onwards, you are looking at smoke from an Israeli strike rising over southern Beirut in just a moment. There it is. Israel says it continues to target Iranian proxies in Lebanon with, quote, tremendous force.

Israel's Prime Minister has also ordered the expansion of a security buffer zone in southern Lebanon to repel cross-border attacks. CNN's Jim Sciutto has the latest for us.

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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY ANALYST: I'm in Metula, northern Israel. This is Israel's northernmost town, and we're right on the border with Lebanon. That concrete wall there is the border.

And until a few months ago, those towns, those homes, buildings on those hilltops on the other side had Hezbollah firing positions. It would not have been safe for me to stand here. It's not 100 percent safe now because the fire still comes in, but from further away.

Why is that? Because Israeli forces are now operating inside Lebanon, in effect pushing the border north, creating what they're calling a buffer zone a few kilometers in to push those firing positions, to push the Hezbollah threat back further.

Of course, the trouble is that means the Lebanese people, families who are living in these villages, they've had to move back as well.

[03:35:06]

And the question is, for how long? Is this just temporary? Is it semi- permanent?

When we speak to Israeli families in the north, they want to know that their safety is ensured for the long term. It's a very open question as to how long those Israeli forces stay. And historically, Israeli occupations of Lebanese territory have been bloody for both sides.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Okay, as Moscow benefits from higher crude oil prices due to the war with Iran, Ukraine is ramping up its attacks on Russia's oil industry. All the details just ahead. See you in a moment.

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HUNTE: Welcome back.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is continuing his bid for defense cooperation in the Middle East. He arrived in Jordan on Sunday for quote, "important meetings with security the top priority."

Kyiv has sent more than 220 experts to advise several Middle Eastern countries. That's including Jordan on how to intercept drone attacks. Zelenskyy has also visited Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar too.

On his trip to Gulf nations, the Ukrainian President shared his knowledge of Iranian-designed and Russian-made Shahed drones. Such weapons, being used by Iran to attack its Gulf neighbors, have long been wielded by Russia against Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE (voice-over): Ukraine's port city, Odesa, struck again by Russian drones. It's a frequent target of Russian attacks because of its shipping lanes and energy infrastructure. And some residents say they know all too well the dangers flying overhead.

OLENA KUDRIASHOVA, ODESA RESIDENT (through translator): When you're scared and Shahed drones are flying you start to believe in anything and everything.

Last night I had the thought that God had blessed us. On the right, left, front, back, windows and doors were smashed. Our window survived.

We're so happy we made it through the night.

[03:40:02]

HUNTE (voice-over): Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia has launched more than 3000 attack drones against his country in the past week. Many of them Iranian-made Shahed drones, which are some of the same drones Iran is using against Gulf nations.

And Zelenskyy is trying to capitalize on what Ukraine has learned on the battlefield, making deals with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE to share its expertise on low-cost interceptors and other drone defenses.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We're talking about a 10-year partnership. We have already signed the agreement with Saudi Arabia and we have just signed a similar 10-year agreement with Qatar. We will also sign a 10-year agreement with the UAE.

HUNTE (voice-over): The agreements come at a critical time for Ukraine, which is facing a spring offensive from Russia as fuel prices skyrocket and Russian oil flows more freely on the market after the U.S. eased some sanctions on it. It's been a windfall for Russia but it's also made Russia's energy sector a target.

Ukraine hitting several Russian refineries and oil export terminals in the past week as part of a stepped-up campaign against Moscow's revenue stream. Ukraine is also accusing Russia of sharing intelligence with Iran, including satellite images of U.S. assets in the region. CNN has asked the Kremlin for comment.

It's a further blurring of the lines of two separate wars, with overlapping interests and alliances.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Okay, thanks for joining me and the team this hour. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta, the news continues after a short break.

For our international audience, I'll see you next weekend and "World Sport" is next. Bye.

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[03:45:00]

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HUNTE: Rescuers helping to free a stranded humpback whale off the coast of Germany are now hoping their efforts will bring success. According to one aquatic wildlife expert, the whale, nicknamed Timmy, is now being left to swim back to safety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE GROSS, INSTITUTE FOR TERRESTRIAL AND AQUATIC WILDLIFE RESEARCH (through translator): He is not stranded on the sandbank. He is in water deep enough for him to swim away from. And so the animal is being left in peace for now.

And we naturally hope that he is simply gathering his strength there and will be able to swim away on his own, and then hopefully eventually find his way out of the Baltic Sea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Humpback whales are not native to the Baltic Sea. And experts say impacts from humans often play a role in whales being stranded all around the world.

A grandmother in Tennessee is trying to rebuild her life after an A.I. facial recognition tool linked her to crimes committed in North Dakota. Angela Lipps was arrested last summer after police used A.I. software to wrongly identify her as a suspect in some bank fraud cases.

After more than five months, the charges were dropped and Lipps was released from jail. Bank records showed her in Tennessee at a time of those crimes. The police department didn't apologize, but did acknowledge a few errors in Lipps' case. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF DAVID ZIBOLSKI, FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA POLICE DEPARTMENT: The information that we received from West Fargo P.D. was their submission of the photo from an idea used in one of their fraud cases. Through their A.I. system, made that identification of Ms. Lipps, and forwarded that information, and I would say it's not an identification, it's a potential suspect, but they forwarded that information to our detectives who then assumed, wrongly, that they had also sent in the surveillance photos with that photo I.D.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: The A.I. tool used in the Lipps case was developed by a company called Clearview A.I. CNN has reached out for comment to them, but we haven't actually heard back yet.

Israel now.

Israel has now reversed course on preventing a Catholic Cardinal, who is the Latin Patriarch, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. This follows widespread backlash after the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem said church leaders were not allowed to enter to celebrate mass. CNN's Christopher Lamb is in London with more Palm Sunday developments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leo's first Palm Sunday since his election as Pope comes at a time of growing conflict in the Middle East, and during the Mass in St. Peter's presided at by the Pope, he had a strong message to those leaders seeking to co-opt God to justify wars and conflicts. This is what he had to say.

POPE LEO XIV, HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): Brothers and sisters, this is our God, Jesus, Prince of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying, even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.

LAMB: Now, Leo didn't name any names, but his remarks do come after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has quoted scriptures to suggest that God is on the side of the U.S. military intervention in Iran.

Now, of course, Palm Sunday recalls Jesus' procession into Jerusalem. That took place at the Vatican today, but it couldn't happen in Jerusalem itself. The traditional Palm Sunday procession was canceled, and the Catholic leaders in Jerusalem said that they were prevented from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem for the Palm Sunday Mass.

However, the Israeli police have said that those leaders were informed that it wasn't possible for them to enter the Church, as the holy sites in Jerusalem are off-limits at the moment.

[03:50:01]

Now, Leo made mention of the fact that Christians in the Middle East are unable to celebrate liturgies as they would normally do at this time of year. He appealed for reconciliation, peace, and dialogue. That is something that is likely to be repeated by the Pope as he celebrates this sacred week of the Church's year in the lead up to Easter.

Christopher Lamb, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Let's talk space.

NASA plans to return humans to the moon for the first time in more than half a century on Wednesday. Here's a look at the Artemis II moon rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Four astronauts will embark the spacecraft to journey on a 10-day mission to fly all around the moon. It is a test to NASA's rocket and spacecraft system as it prepares to get astronauts landing on the moon in a couple of years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINA KOCH, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: Really, the question is not should we go, but should we lead or should we follow? That's how I see it because everyone, many countries have recognized the value that there is in exploring further into the solar system to the moon and onto Mars.

They've recognized that not only can we gain all these extremely tangible benefits, but that we have the opportunity to answer the question that could be the question of our lifetime, which is are we alone?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Earlier, my colleague Polo Sandoval spoke with Sarah Treadwell, a NASA solar system ambassador. She explains why it's taken NASA more than five decades to return to the vicinity of the moon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH TREADWELL, SPACE CASE SARAH/NASA SOLAR SYSTEM AMBASSADOR: It's so politically tied to Congress and the flip-flop of administrations. It honestly kind of boils down to politics and the priority of NASA as a space agency.

So when people ask me, why is it taking this long? It's not because we haven't wanted to. It's just because there's been a lot of congressional ties to different plans and different things that we've had objectives to that has just kind of slowed us down over the years.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: And just based on my understanding here, which is please keep me honest here, but the whole point of this is it's a test flight, correct?

It's to get as close as possible without actually landing on the lunar surface, at least not this time. We could expect that potentially in 2028.

TREADWELL: Yes, absolutely. So when we had the Apollo missions, we had Apollo 8, which went around the moon first. That was to test all the systems.

So this is a whole new rocket, a whole new capsule that's going to take astronauts to the moon, and it's kind of the same thing, right?

We're going to take the whole capsule and the rocket system around the moon to see that everything works right first. And that's the first stepping stone to getting people back onto the moon.

SANDOVAL: Got it. It answered my next question, which is why not land this time around?

Also, just talk to us a little bit about the importance of this mission, especially when you look at it as a stepping stone for future travel to Mars.

TREADWELL: Yes, there are so many important stepping stones to this.

First of all, like I said, it's a new system. Whether that's going to be the wherever going through the Artemis program system is kind of to be determined, but it's a new system. We're going back, which is so exciting.

And then something that I think has been under highlighted is that we're also sending the first woman and the first person of color out to the moon. That's never happened before, and that to me is so exciting.

SANDOVAL: Tell us about the planning also that goes into this. I assume just like any other major project, it may hit a few challenges, a few obstacles, engineers having to go around that. As you've been following this closely, how has this mission evolved as we lead up to the launch?

TREADWELL: Well, again, it's kind of politically tied into what's happening with the politics. It's been interesting. Artemis has been an interesting thing to follow, especially because like I said of the politics and how things have kind of switched, especially recently.

We've had a lot of changes as to what the future plans of Artemis is going to do compared to what it was originally set to do. And also the capsule has had some challenges, and so I think that that has also delayed some things at some times, and that is just all kind of tying into the complexity of space. It's so cliche, but space is really hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:55:00] HUNTE: Across U.S., weather conditions are shifting after a strangely warm start to the spring season. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar has this week's forecast for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: After more record-breaking temperatures across the southwest this weekend, we're finally going to start to see a pattern change begin to take place as we head into the week.

Now, we notice at first across the northern tier of the country, a lot more of that cooler air begins to spread back down on Tuesday and Wednesday, but it eventually will take over much of the country, dropping those temperatures back to much closer to where they should be this time of year. It's also going to usher in several different systems, so this first one here early Monday will continue to slide east as we make our way through the rest of the day and into Tuesday.

This is going to bring some rain and much-needed snow to the west. It's not nearly enough of what they need for snowpack, but at this point, we'll take everything we can get. By late Tuesday, we start to see more of this set up across the eastern portion of the country, impacting areas of the Great Lakes and into the Ohio Valley.

The unfortunate problem is that front essentially stalls over many of the same states over a period of several days, and this means a lot of these areas are going to accumulate some pretty significant amounts of rain. Widespread totals of one to three inches, but it's not out of the question for some spots to pick up four or even five inches total by the time we get to the end of this upcoming week.

That means we could in turn have some flooding concerns. Now, it's going to impact several different areas, but Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday all have the potential for some excessive rainfall.

Tuesday, the main focus is really going to be across the Great Lakes region. Wednesday, we have a portion of the Midwest and also into the southern plains. That's going to shift eastward as we head into Thursday, going back once again across areas of the Midwest and into the Great Lakes region.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Brightly colored kites filled the sky at the annual Cherry Blossom Kite Festival in Washington, D.C. this weekend. Visitors had the chance to join in the kite flying or just take in the sight of the city's famous cherry trees in full bloom. The cherry blossom trees draw roughly one and a half million people to Washington, D.C. each year.

I need to go there. Okay, thanks for joining me and the team.

That's all I've got for you, I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. I'll see you next weekend.

CNN's "Early Start" begins after this short break. See you in a moment.

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