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Russia Launches One of Its Largest Attacks on Ukraine This Year; Iran Threatens Red Sea Shipping if U.S. Blockades Remain; Lebanon's President Aoun Declines to Speak with Israel's Netanyahu; U.S. Stocks Edge Higher on Investors' Bet War is Ending; China Sees Strong Start to Year as It Weathers Energy Shocks. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired April 16, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Well, this is the Julian scene. Let me start this again. Got the White House there, and the United

States says it is prepared to resume fighting with Iran. And I'm going to start again with where I really was.

This is the Julian scene in Bamenda in Cameroon, where we expect the pope to hold a mass soon. Pope Leo has, just moments ago, warned that the world

is being ravaged by quote, a handful of tyrants during a speech in his 11- day tour of Africa. More on his strong comments and what is happening in the world as we wait for the next round of talks between the U.S. and Iran.

02:00 p.m. there in Cameroon. It is 09:00 a.m. in Washington. You saw our shot from there, and it is 05:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson

from our Middle East programming headquarters. Apologies for the slight confusion at the beginning of the show.

You're with us. Also coming up, Lebanon's President declines to speak with Israel's Prime Minister despite U.S. President Donald Trump saying the two

would talk.

And Russia launches one of its largest attacks of the year against Ukraine, killing at least 18 people and injuring more than 100. Stock market in New

York opens in about 30 minutes from now. And futures certainly were indicating a positive start. Yes, they are still be. It slightly, sort of

muted.

These indices mostly erasing all of the losses during the near seven-week conflict, despite oil markets still being significantly higher than they

were before the outbreak of this war. Right, in the past hour, the U.S. Defense Secretary has said American forces are ready to restart combat

operations if Iran doesn't agree to a deal.

Iran is now threatening to shut down all shipping operations in the Red Sea, as well as the Persian Gulf and the sea of Oman. In response to a U.S.

blockade of Iranian ports, Pete Hegseth warning Tehran to choose wisely, he says, the U.S. military has the upper hand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Threatening to shoot missiles and drones at ships, commercial ships that are lawfully transiting

international waters. That is not control. That's piracy. That's terrorism. The United States Navy controls the traffic going in and out of the strait,

because we have real assets and real capabilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well on the diplomatic front, Pakistan's influential military chief is today in Tehran to meet with Iranian officials there. They are

discussing messages exchanged between Iran and the U.S. OK, that press briefing that you just saw Pete Hegseth Speaking from is where I want to

begin today.

And reaction from Washington. Let's bring in Zachary Cohen that those comments made just in the past hour. We also got new details on the U.S.

blockade of Iranian ports. What did General Caine, Dan Caine say about that?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine, really reiterating that the U.S.

blockade applies to ships going out of and to Iranian ports. It's not a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz itself, which is a key distinction here,

because obviously Iran is the one that continues to threaten vessels flowing in and out of the waterway that are not destined for an Iranian

port.

So, this is really an attempt by the chairman to emphasize that the move by the U.S. Navy to control and to limit the flow of vessels to and from

Iranian ports is really targeted towards Iran itself. Take a listen though to how General Caine described the U.S. Navy's ongoing blockade.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENERAL DAN CAINE, CHAIRMAN OF THE U.S. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: This blockade applies to all ships, regardless of nationality, heading into or

from Iranian ports. The U.S. action is a blockade of Iran's ports and coastline, not a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Enforcement will occur

inside Iran's territorial seas and in international waters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So General Caine also walked through how the blockade works from a functional standpoint. He said 13 times, U.S. destroyers and U.S. Navy

ships have warned a vessel they believe destined for an Iranian port to turn around or prepare to be boarded. General Caine said that as of now, 48

hours, almost three days into the blockade, the U.S. Navy has not had to take that step to board a vessel that it has approached, but said that they

are the U.S. Navy is prepared to do so and use additional force if necessary.

[09:05:00]

And this is all coming, of course, amid a ceasefire, a fragile one, as the U.S. and Iran continue to try to see if there is a diplomatic resolution

here, the other message, though, as you mentioned, Becky, Pete Hegseth, the Chairman, or sorry, the Secretary of Defense, along with General Caine and

Admiral Cooper, who runs U.S. Central Command.

All emphasizing that the U.S. military is using this ceasefire to re arm and is prepared to resume combat operations if Iran does not quote, choose

wisely and pursue a diplomatic resolution as Pete Hegseth says.

ANDERSON: Great. Good to have you, Zach. And more from that press conference, what we learn coming up in the next couple of hours on this

show. Good to have you, Zachary, thank you. Well as fighting continues between Israeli forces and the Iran backed Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon,

the Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is refusing to engage in diplomatic talks at this point with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Officials in Lebanon told Israel and the U.S. they will not see negotiations until a truce or a ceasefire is reached between Israel and

Hezbollah. Earlier today, Israeli officials said Mr. Netanyahu and president Aoun were scheduled to talk. Let's get more on this. CNN's Oren

Liebermann following the story for us from Jerusalem.

Oren, bring us up to speed on what we know at this point.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, it was President Donald Trump who announced on his social media that there would be a call, the

first in decades, between the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, that in and of itself, would be

an historic moment.

He said something like 34 years, although it's unclear what specifically he's referring to there. The last meeting in person was between -- was in

1982 between the then prime minister and the President-elect of Lebanon, who was assassinated two weeks later. So, any sorts of communications

between the leaders of Israel and Lebanon are a big moment, but it very much seems like Trump jumped the gun here.

We were told by an Israeli source that Netanyahu was expected at some point today to speak with President Joseph Aoun in Lebanon. But then we heard

from Lebanese officials who said there is no such call happening and they are not yet ready to engage in a direct call between Aoun and Netanyahu.

Earlier this week, there were direct talks between ambassadors under the auspices of the United States, with Secretary of State, Marco Rubio leading

these talks. And he said there would be more talks ahead, but it's not yet at the point where Lebanon is ready to engage in a direct call between

Netanyahu and Aoun.

And that just shows you the difficulties of negotiations here, especially as there is a war going on and we have seen continued Israeli strikes in

Southern Lebanon, according to the Ministry of Public Health there, 18 people were killed in the last 24 hours. And we have seen some continued

rocket and drone fire from the Iranian proxy Hezbollah coming into Northern Israel.

So, this remains very much a hot war. Now the U.S. has pressed Israel to scale back on its strikes. We have not seen Israeli strikes in the capital

of Beirut for the past several days. Nevertheless, we continue to see strikes elsewhere, and that's where this difficulty comes in.

Lebanon has said they will not negotiate under fire, whereas Israel has made clear it will not stop the war for negotiations. And that is the

scenario in which the U.S. is trying to make very difficult progress here. So noteworthy that they thought they had a direct call between the leaders

of Israel and Lebanon, but it doesn't seem like that's happening right now.

We'll see if U.S. pressure can change that scenario.

ANDERSON: Good to have you, Oren. Thank you. Well, more on the diplomatic efforts then to end the U.S.-Iran war, and some thoughts on what, Nic,

sorry, what Oren was just speaking to there. Nic Robertson is in Islamabad. This, of course, is Pakistan pushes for a second round of talks between the

U.S. and Iran.

So, let's start there, Nic, you're on the ground in Pakistan. What are you hearing from your sources about what we can expect in the days to come.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, I think Pakistan's diplomacy in Tehran has gone up a gear today, of course, when

the Field Marshal Asim Munir and the interior minister landed yesterday afternoon. They were greeted by Iran's Foreign Minister, the number two of

the Iranian negotiating team.

And they met with him last night and had discussions with him, and we don't know how those discussions went, but this Pakistan top level delegation

stayed the night. They'd always anticipated that any conversations with Iran a better run over a period of time.

So, some reflection overnight, perhaps on the Iranian side, but -- and I say going up a gear, because today, the Field Marshal, the interior

minister from Pakistan, met with Iran's top negotiator, the Iranian Parliamentary Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. So that indicates that the

sort of negotiations has gone back to the top level, the same people who were in the rooms here in Islamabad last week, but it's going to be the

core issues.

[09:10:00]

And I don't think the Pakistani delegation was expecting this to be easy. And clearly, they have a sense that there is, you know, ultimately, they've

got to try to find a way to convince Iran to make concessions it couldn't make here at the weekend. And I don't think anyone anticipates that to be

easy, but we've heard from Iranian officials saying the sort of dignity of Iran needs to be respected here, but also robustly.

We've heard from the military side in Iran saying that they can essentially up the anti-militarily. But that's not happening, and this is the space for

diplomacy. So, I think potentially these are very critical hours and minutes in Tehran, where these conversations are taking place.

And perhaps looking, then to the Iranians for what they say about it, and possibly, you know, a readout from Washington, because what the Pakistan is

trying to do is get Iran to shift position such that the U.S. can pick up and say, OK, it's worth moving forward in the talks or not.

ANDERSON: Yeah. From Pete Hegseth's perspective, he said just an hour ago, command and control in Iran is highly degraded. Their motivation of wanting

to stay in a ceasefire is very high, he said. They have a high incentive to stick with this. Let's see. Earlier, I spoke to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari,

Nic, you'll know him.

He's the Former Pakistani Foreign Minister. I asked him how much Pakistan's position, to his mind, is being shaped by its security alignment with Saudi

Arabia. Have a listen to what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILAWAL BHUTTO ZARDARI, FORMER PAKISTANI FOREIGN MINISTER: All countries have their own context, as far as the consequences of this conflict with

Iran. In Pakistan's perspective, vis-a-vis the GCC countries, by and large, and specifically Saudi Arabia.

We have recently entered into a security we've always had security arrangements to Saudi Arabia, but the most recent security agreement

between the two countries have an explicit understanding that an attack on either country would be perceived as an attack on the other.

So obviously that raises the strategic stakes of the current conflict, and potentially, if this conflict escalates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: I'm really interested to hear what you make of his comments there, and whether you believe these peace talks were they not to go

successfully. Could be a real concern for Pakistan about being drawn into a sort of wider regional escalation here.

ROBERTSON: Yeah, that's a genuine fear, and it exists, and it is a long- affirmed relationship with Saudi Arabia that got formalized not so long ago. And look, it works economically for Pakistan. You just had a couple of

days ago, on the eve of the talks, the Pakistan Prime Minister saying that this was sort of a make-or-break moment, but he was also informing the

Pakistan population that he was going to bring down the price of gas here.

And that came shortly after it had a meeting with Saudi's Finance Minister, and we've subsequently heard that loans will come from Saudi Arabia, which

will allow Pakistan to pay off loans to the UAE. So, there is a financial picture to this. And Pakistan is not a rich country, and it has a long and

strong relationship with Saudi Arabia, and it's tied economically, and it's tied in a military pact.

So, if Saudi gets into deep military problems, and -- that's going to pull Pakistan in the same direction. And they have a border with Iran, a

physical land border, and I don't think anyone on either side of that border wants to see tensions escalate between the two countries that you

know go back early 2024 they did have one day where they were exchanging missile fire -- to what if --

ANDERSON: We've got some communication issues with Nic. I think that, you know, you got the body of what Nic was suggesting there is analysis, you

know, really important at this point. Well, Pope Leo warning that the world is being ravaged by, quote, a handful of tyrants.

His comments come after the White House criticized the pontiff for his stance on the war with Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO, HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: -- manipulate religion in the very name of God for their own military, economic or political gain, dragging

that which is sacred into darkness and filth.

[09:15:00]

The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, yet often a lifetime is often not enough to rebuild. They turn a

blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing, on devastation. The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants. It is held

together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Pope Leo speaking on the Cameroon leg of his 11-day tour of Africa, large crowds lining the streets of Bamenda to greet the pope there,

many holding peace plants. The country itself is in the throes of a civil war that has been raging for over a decade.

Well, a three-day ceasefire has been declared while the pope visits. CNN's Christopher Lamb has more from Bamenda.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, thousands have turned out here in Bamenda in Cameroon for Pope Leo's visit. This is normally a

place that is a conflict zone, a no-go area, but the fighting here has stopped for Pope Leo. The conflict is between the Francophone government

and the English-speaking separatists.

Bamenda is the heart of the English-speaking part of Cameroon. There's been thousands of people have lost their lives due to the conflict, but today is

one of joy, waiting for Pope Leo to come to give what they hope is a message of peace and reconciliation. The fighting has stopped, and the

people have turned out with joy and excitement to see Leo the XIV. Christopher Lamb, CNN, Bamenda.

ANDERSON: Well next on "Connect the World", Russia launches one of its largest drone and missile attacks of the year on Ukraine, killing more than

a dozen people. Kharkiv is responding to those attacks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Will you join us from our Middle East programming hub here in Abu Dhabi. As the world focus is on the conflict happening around this region

of the Middle East, Russia's war on Ukraine is raging. Russia launching one of its largest drone and missile attacks the year.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry says the strikes killed at least 18 people. Ukraine's Air Force counts 659 Russian drones and 44 missiles launched in

just 24 hours. Let's get you to CNN's Clare Sebastian for the very latest. Where were these attacks, and how has Ukraine's military responded?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Becky, this was widespread, multiple regions. Deaths were reported in four regions, but President

Zelenskyy says that in terms of the missiles, and in particular the ballistic missiles used, those were mostly targeted at Kyiv, where we saw

major fires burning this morning, you can see them there.

[09:20:00]

And four people reported killed, including a 12-year-old child who was pulled from the rubble of a building in Odessa as well, we saw a

particularly deadly incident. A residential building came under drone attack overnight and then was hit by a missile in the morning, nine people

were reported killed there, and we have this clip from the father of one of those victims speaking in Odessa today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were awakened after the strike, and we were suddenly buried under furniture. The ceilings were collapsing. We were trapped under

the furniture, and my wife and I tried to get out. She rushed to our son. I checked their pulses. I couldn't feel a pulse in either -- or his fiance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So, we look, it was a terrifying night across many parts of Ukraine, but I want to draw your attention to those numbers that you put up

from the air force because of the 659 drones that were fired, according to Ukraine, at the country, about 96 percent they managed to avert or shoot

down that statistic.

That ratio is a lot lower when it comes to missiles, only about 70 percent were shot down or averted, which means 13 missiles did get through. And

this is something that President Zelenskyy has spent this week warning about. He's been touring European capitals looking for more pledges of air

defense interceptors, and this is now a global race, essentially, that he's in for these supplies.

Demand has surged because of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. So, he is again today warning about this, saying that he has urged his air force

chief, essentially, to try to talk to partners to make sure that these political pledges that Ukraine has been getting translate urgently into

deliveries, Becky.

ANDERSON: Before I let you go. Any idea why now? Why this uptick in intensity last night?

SEBASTIAN: Well, look, there is some speculation, of course, that we had that Easter ceasefire over the weekend, 32 hours, I believe, where there

were no drone attacks. And the concern always in Ukraine is that, that is an opportunity when Russia announces these unilateral ceasefires, which

frankly, haven't happened that often.

But in the few times that they've used that moment to reconstitute and the attacks in the immediate aftermath have been bigger. I think perhaps also,

there's a sense that Ukraine has some momentum on the front lines right now. Russia isn't making any major progress when it comes to a spring or

summer offensive that have started to materialize.

So, it has this major sort of domestic production of drones and missiles that it can call on to, of course, continue with this theme of a

nutritional war trying to exhaust and break the resolve of the Ukrainian population, Becky.

ANDERSON: Good to have you Clare, thank you. Clare Sebastian is in London. Let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories that we are

following right now. And FIFA's Chief, says Iran will compete in the 2026 World Cup despite its war with the U.S.

Gianni Infantino says it is important for Iran to participate in the competition, and that quote, sports should be outside of politics. Iran is

group stage matches scheduled in California and in Washington State. London Met says two people have been arrested on suspicion of arson endangering

life in connection to an attempted attack on a North London synagogue.

A 46-year-old man and a 47-year-old woman are in custody. Well, still to come. All eyes on Wall Street just minutes from the opening bell and

futures are higher as investors bet this U.S. war with Iran is winding down. We will discuss that after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:00]

ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson and Abu Dhabi. You're watching "Connect the World" from our Middle East programming headquarters. These

are your headlines. The U.S. and Iran may be getting closer to a deal to end their war and reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz.

Pakistan's Influential Military Chief is set to meet with Iranian officials in Tehran. They'll see if they can arrange a second round of in-person

talks between Tehran and Washington. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is rejecting a direct call with Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu.

Officials in Lebanon told Israel and the U.S. they will not seek negotiations until a ceasefire is reached between Israel and Iran backed

Hezbollah. Israeli officials have said the leaders were scheduled to talk. And Russia launched one of its largest drone attacks on Ukraine in a year,

or certainly this year.

Ukraine's Emergency Service says at least 18 people were killed, including a child, and more than 100 were hurt. The foreign minister says the attack

primarily targeted civilians. America's Defense Secretary is warning Tehran. The U.S. will enforce what he calls an iron clad blockade on

Iranian ports for as long as it takes.

Speaking in the last hour, Pete Hegseth said less than 10 percent of America's naval power is being used to implement the blockade. Well, CNN's

Richard Quest now explains what we know about it and how this blockade is being enforced.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: The U.S. military says it has completely halted Iranian shipping. What we need to understand is exactly

what that actually means. So here we have a map of the current situation. And the United States says that Iran's ports.

We're talking about all these ports, particularly Kharg Island and all the big ones, all of them there, over here, he says they are blockaded, but the

moment. But where is the U.S. actually doing the blockading from? Not from the straits itself, but the ships are probably somewhere outside in the

Gulf, in the Arabian Gulf, along there, keeping as far away as possible.

The U.S. says it is not blockading the Straits of Hormuz itself, and traffic not related to Iran may cross. But of course, that raises the

question of how much traffic is actually moving across. In terms of traffic that has actually managed to get across. If we take a look, you can see

some vessels, for example, the Christiana, have passed through the straits.

You can see it here. Others, the rich story, I'm just going to show you here. You can see it coming around here. Some of them came -- came all the

way around. The rich story, and then turned all the way back again. Iranian media says four ships have traveled to and from Iran today.

It is a tricky issue of getting around, but even if a port gets through the U.S. can of course, still intersect and interdict a vessel anywhere in

international waters. If you look at the blockade before the U.S. blockade, Iran rooted vessels north of the channel. Really interesting to see how it

did you came north of the channel and out to avoid mines.

Now Donald Trump says U.S. allies will start using minesweepers. CENTCOM has released audio of military's warning vessels in the Gulf of Oman taking

depending which route they're going, the northern or the southern, because that has been determined as the hazardous area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. has announced a formal blockade of Iranian ports in coastal areas. This is illegal action. All vessels are advised to

immediately return to port leaving, and discontinue transit of Iran if that is your next port of call. Do not attempt to breach the blockade.

[09:30:00]

Vessels will be boarded for interdiction and seizure, transiting to or from an Iranian port. Turn around and prepare to be boarded. If you do not

comply with this blockade, we will use force. The whole of the United States Navy is ready to force compliance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Whichever way this plays out in the days ahead, the economic damage is already baked in to a large extent, and the longer it continues, the

worse it gets. Richard Quest, CNN, London.

ANDERSON: Right, and you are just seeing the bell ring on Wall Street. I would want to get back to what Richard was discussing there. Despite the

uncertainty over the U.S. blockade, the markets are quite frankly, on fire this week, with the S&P 500 and then NASDAQ Composite hitting fresh record

highs on Wednesday.

Trading has just started, as you can see there, and we're going to get a sense of what these markets are doing on the open. Certainly, the

expectation was that they would be high, albeit a little bit muted today. Let's discuss this with Iman Nasseri, who's the Managing Director of Middle

East Research at FGE Nexant.

I just wonder whether you think there's a sense of sort of complacency here. Markets seem to be betting that this war is over with these markets.

Couple of them, you know, reaching hides and sort of giving back all their losses since this war began, oil is relatively contained, but still

significantly higher than it was before this war. Do you think investors are getting ahead of themselves at the moment?

IMAN NASSERI, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF MIDDLE EAST RESEARCH AR FGE NEXANT: The market is, as you said, basically hoping that this is the beginning of a

resolution this ceasefire, and certainly betting in favor of de-escalation, as you said, rightly the prices are still inclusive of risk premium.

The prices would not have been north of $90 if there was no outage. The market is short, the prompted the prices today are basically much higher

than what the forward market and paper market, which is basically trading and future, is meaning that the market participants are hoping that within

a few weeks, where the market is trading right now, the issue has been resolved, and the flows are back, probably sometime in May.

That's the basically the reading of future market, that today's market, in 110, $120 depending on which crude you pick, shows basically the extent of

market disruption and supply disruption today, and if the hope of a resolution and a resumption of flows at the end of a deal which could

emerge from the ceasefire period, if it didn't materialize, basically, we should see the paper market prices.

What we see now on the screen at 94, $95 Brent would certainly jump back to 120 and probably will emerge, will escalate to under towards under $50 by

as early as early May.

ANDERSON: If Iran follows through on the right to -- its threats to disrupt shipping, not just in these crucial waterways that we've been looking at,

but also in the Red Sea. How big of an escalation would that be, do you believe? And does it risk turning a regional conflict into what is already

a broader global economic crisis? But could -- is there a risk that could be much worse?

NASSERI: Closure of Bab al-Mandab by Houthis will certainly add more friction to trade. It certainly opens the other end of that basically

passage, which is Suez Canal, open for a longer journey through Mediterranean and around the Cape of Good Hope. So, the flows, the supply

disruption will not be as critical and unsolvable as Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz are, but it certainly adds to the trade friction and

certainly to longer journeys, meaning that less supply available for the in pain Asian markets.

But we have to, as you said, it will escalate the war further as the certainly it's not going to be a welcome move by Saudi Arabia, who will be

immediately and most impacted by such move, if the flows through Red Sea are interrupted.

[09:35:00]

ANDERSON: United Nations economist warning and I quote here, the clock is ticking on a looming global food crisis. as disruptions continue. The lack

of sort of access to the Strait of Hormuz really beginning to hit planting seasons worldwide. Is it time still to prevent that, or are the effects on

crops and food supply now already locked in?

NASSERI: I think we should expect some impact, but no in my knowledge, basically, we need these fertilizers. And the supply of what the

agriculture sector used to receive from the Persian Gulf countries within the Strait of Hormuz are supposed to be in the market in perhaps late May

and early June.

So, if this resolution opens the flows by the end of April and into May, I believe there is room to prevent majority of the impact on food supply and

agricultural output this year, but if we see the flows disrupted by as late as end of May, I believe the impact will be much bigger and less

preventable.

ANDERSON: Good to have you, sir, thank you. China's economy weathering the economic stock shocks from the Middle East from this war, better than many

of its neighbors. That is thanks largely to its strategic reserve of crude oil, despite that, though China still vulnerable to these rising prices.

Kristie Lu Stout with more now on the latest reading on the country's GDP.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: China had a strong start to the year. Its economy grew 5 percent in the first quarter from a year ago on the back

of strong exports. But the war in the Middle East is creating uncertainties for the world's second largest economy.

Look, China may be the world's largest importer of energy, but it's been able to weather the Iran energy shock far better than its Asian neighbors,

because China was prepared. It has an estimated 1.3-billion-barrel strategic reserve of crude oil that's more than four months' worth of

imports, and it's diversified its power generation to include solar and wind.

China also doesn't mind getting dirty. It still uses coal for energy and fertilizer, and as soon as the war broke out, China curbed exports of

energy like diesel, gas and jet fuel. China may be shielded, but it is still vulnerable to rising prices and slowing demand for its exports.

According to Xinquan Chen, he's a China economist, Goldman Sachs says this quote, China's exports remain a key growth engine in 2026, but the recent

energy shock has shifted the focus toward the sustainability of external demand, unquote. And there are already signs of strain.

In March, China's factory gate prices rose for the first time in more than three years. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

ANDERSON: Well, we have what many are calling the game of the season in the Champions League last night, Bayern Munich versus Real Madrid will tell you

who came out on top in what was a seven-goal thriller. Strap him for this one, more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

ANDERSON: Well, football fans may still be picking their jaws up off the floor today after a seven-goal thriller that saw Bayern Munich advance to

the Champions League semifinals over Spanish rivals, Real Madrid. Andy Scholes joining me now. I mean, any Real football fan doesn't matter who

you support, will have loved this game, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, Becky, a game of the season. I mean, it had it all. Right, I mean, unfortunately, Real fans are

kind of feeling they might have got a little cheated here at the end, because, you know, when it was 4-4 on aggregate.

You know, Camavinga, he gets that yellow card. That was a little questionable, maybe. And that's why you see this ruckus here at the end of

the game. Because Real was just not happy. He was sent off. They're playing a man down. And not long after that, Bayern scored, you know, the go-ahead

goal there.

So Real fans certainly not happy after this one. But hey, they've won the competition 15 times, right? So, you can't feel too bad for them. But we're

now going to get another great match up Bayern versus defending champs PSG in the semifinal, but we're going to show you how this all went down coming

up on "World Sport" definitely going to be a long highlight for you there, Becky.

ANDERSON: Good stuff. Well, I sell any Real football fan, obviously Real fans. But apart from Real Madrid, you know what a game to watch. Good to

have you on "World Sport", and we will catch up with you there after this short break. Stay with us, folks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

END