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U.S. Blockade On Iranian Ports In Persian Gulf Underway; Israel-Lebanon Talks To Be Held In Washington Today; Artemis II Astronauts Share Moving Moments Of Coming Home. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired April 14, 2026 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:31:25]

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back. I'm Eleni Giokos live in Dubai.

Now the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf is entering its second day and the president -- and President Trump warned that the U.S. will sink any Iranian ship that comes near the blockade.

Meantime, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has vowed to retaliate, and Iran's president warns the blockade will have global consequences. Those include higher oil prices. President Trump's energy secretary says they're likely to keep climbing -- that's until tankers can get through the blocked straits. Chris Wright says that once ships are moving again in a meaningful way prices will peak, and he predicted that will happen sometime in the next few weeks.

Oil prices are currently close to $100 a barrel. You can see Brent crude is down slightly at $98 a barrel. And WTI, the U.S. benchmark sitting at just over $97.00 a barrel. Brent crude is, in fact, up around 40 percent since the start of the war.

Richard Meade is the editor-in-chief of Lloyd's List Intelligence and he's with us now live from London. Richard, good to see you.

You know, you and I have been talking consistently since the start of the war and there's been, you know, really interesting developments, specifically over the past few hours after the U.S. naval blockade came into effect.

We saw one Chinese-linked tanker that was sanctioned by the United States since 2023 transiting through the strait after initially had to, you know, back out and they moved through once again. What do we know about the Rich Starry and whether it was challenged by the U.S. Navy?

RICHARD MEADE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, LLOYD'S LIST INTELLIGENCE: Well, at the moment, we know very little. It's still moving which suggested it hasn't been challenged by the U.S. To be clear, we're not entirely sure that this was laden with Iranian

crude. It's been used as floating storage for a while. It entered back into the Gulf about 10 to 12 days ago from memory and then it was heading out of the Gulf this weekend and did a but of a U-turn at the point that Donald Trump announced the blockade. It then made a break for it last night and has exited.

Now this is, as you say, a sanctioned, falsely-flagged ship. It is nominally fraudulently flagged to Malawi, but we know it's a fraud. And this probably would be a target, but it seems to have got out.

We've also got a number of other shadow fleet tankers, one of which is sanctioned, heading in.

So it's going to be interesting to see how the U.S. responds to this but right now the vast majority of shipping is not moving on either side.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

So give me a sense of what shippers are telling you. You know, there's a lot of confusion about who to negotiate with. On the Iranian side -- I mean, it's been very clear coordinate directly with the Iranian forces. Now you've got the U.S. naval blockade.

Is there any appetite to move through the straits even if vessels are not at any Iranian ports or Iranian territorial waters?

MEADE: Right now, no. And I keep telling you uncertainty is reigning across the shipping industry.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

MEADE: That goes in peaks and troughs. If you'd asked me just before the weekend, I would have told you that there were at least half a dozen shipowners that were preparing their ships to move out. And we did see probably the busiest period of activity in terms of transit through the strait over the weekend. Around 30 ships transited and then the shutters then came down.

[05:35:05]

And as far as I can tell from most mainstream shipowners with their tankers still inside the Gulf, absolutely no appetite to move right now until they get some clarity. For those that were looking to get in, they are again waiting to see what happens over the next few hours.

You've got a double blockade essentially.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

MEADE: You've got the U.S. essentially blockading Iranian-linked tankers and then you've got, you know, the existing restrictions and threats. And if you do engage with the Iranians, are the U.S. going to get you and vice versa? The shipping industry is stuck in the middle right now.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

I mean, I also, you know, was looking at marine traffic data and in total since the war began there are around 450 vessels that have been able to transit through the Straits of Hormuz -- keeping in mind that it's usually 130 vessels per day.

The big question now becomes how many of these vessels paid a toll to Iran given that President Trump has said any vessel and any shipper that has paid will be indicted? What data do we have on who actually paid Iran directly?

MEADE: Very little direct evidence and that's deliberately so. I think everybody was very nervous about the tolls. Essentially, the money that was being paid was going directly to the IRGC, which is designated as a terrorist organization by certainly the U.S. and EU. No Western shipowner is going to want a paper record of that. And we know that settlement was being done in yuan or crypto. So I think probably there's a few nervous shipowners that we know to have paid, but I would stress that the vast majority probably haven't paid.

I think -- you know, you're looking at a three-tier system. There's the Iranian ships themselves. Obviously, they're not charging their own ships to go through.

There's the ones that got through with diplomatic agreements. So the Indian government has been absolutely clear that they definitely did not pay for any of their tankers to get out. And there are similar agreements with lots of other countries.

There are a small amount that we know to have settled at least a fee. Now in some cases that was a large fee -- right around $200 million for a couple of tankers that we know about. In some cases this was being passed off as an administration cost, more in the tune of around $150,000 to $250,000.

So I think probably there's going to be a few nervous questions as to how some of these ships got out, but that's for -- that's for tomorrow. Right now it's a question of what happens immediately and how we get the vessels moving.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

I mean, what -- you know, President Trump wants to see the strait opening up. Do you think that putting in a U.S. blockade is going to have that affect?

MEADE: It's a little bit early to tell, I think. I think, as I say, right now nothing is moving so I think to that extent it is --

GIOKOS: Yeah.

MEADE: -- having an impact. But we know that there's a couple of ships heading in westbound, but we don't know whether they're going to try to get into Iranian ports. We've just seen that there's one heading eastbound using what we call a zombie number. These are essentially tankers using identification of ships that have been scrapped years ago, trying to falsely, you know, give themselves an identity.

It'll be interesting to whether the --

GIOKOS: Yeah.

MEADE: -- U.S. Navy intercepts any of these. I think we're really now just waiting to see what the actual action is and the enforcement strategy from the U.S. side.

GIOKOS: All right, Richard Meade. Really great to have you with us. Always a pleasure to speak to you. You give us so much clarity on what's happening in the seas. Much appreciate it.

I want to turn now to the upcoming talks between Israel and Lebanese officials, and that's happening in Washington, D.C. later today.

CNN's Oren Liebermann joins us now live from Jerusalem with the latest. I mean, there's a lot of calls to try and get Lebanon included in the ceasefire. These talks are going to be pivotal. Give me a sense of what we're expecting.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: It is significant to get Israel and Lebanon to host direct talks and the U.S., at least it seems, is investing quite a bit of political capital here. That's because Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be attending these talks as well. So the U.S. wants to see these succeed but that doesn't mean they automatically will.

And we could see a repeat of Islamabad, Pakistan where we had a significant achievement in bringing the sides together. In that case, the U.S. and Iran; in this case, Israel and Lebanon. But that doesn't guarantee their success, and the talks may ultimately fail.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said he directly authorized these talks, has also said that he expects at least two outcomes from any agreement. First is the disarmament of Hezbollah, and second is a real peace agreement that he said would be able to last for generations. Now that's an incredibly high bar to set.

[05:40:00]

And other senior Israeli officials including, for example, the defense minister, have made clear that they are deepening Israel's grip on southern Lebanon and pushing further with its occupation of territory in southern Lebanon. So they are sounding a very different tune here in terms of what they see happening in the immediate future here.

So the talks themselves have an incredibly difficult task ahead of them to find some sort of agreement that Israel's current government would be willing to accept and that Lebanese -- that the Lebanese government can put into effect. That is a full disarmament of Hamas is not something the Lebanese government can -- has the ability to make a reality here. So incredibly difficult talks ahead and it's at the ambassadorial

level, so ambassadors from Lebanon and from Isreal will meet in the United States.

We'll see what comes of this and what pressure the U.S. is able to put on both sides here. Crucially, it will have to be President Donald Trump himself who puts pressure on Netanyahu to try to make any real agreement possible in an effort from the U.S. to try to end the war in Lebanon. And that, Eleni, of course, affects what happens in any potential efforts to try to negotiate something between the U.S. --

GIOKOS: Yeah.

LIEBERMANN: -- and Iran.

GIOKOS: All right, Oren Liebermann. Thank you so much for that update.

All right. And still ahead on CNN, it's man versus machine in Beijing. We'll preview the half-marathon happening this weekend between human runners and humanoid robots.

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BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to EARLY START. This is your business breakout.

More than 1,400 film and TV industry professionals have signed an open letter opposing a potential merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN's parent company. Signers include director J.J. Abrams and actors Pedro Pascal and Jane Fonda, among others. The letter makes many points about the potential deal, calling it a threat to competition in the entertainment industry.

A federal judge has thrown out President Trump's defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal. The president sued the Journal over a story about an off-color birthday greeting to Jeffrey Epstein that appears to have been signed by Trump. The judge says Trump failed to allege that the Journal acted with actual malice. President Trump says he will file an amended complaint.

The war with Iran has directly affected China's exports. Economists say they fell sharply in March, missing forecasts. Exports hit a five- month low as the war interrupted growing demand for AI-driven technology. Now, imports -- they rose nearly 28 percent though, hitting the highest level since November of 2021.

New this hour, a deal has been reached to avoid a strike in the second-largest school district in the U.S., the Los Angeles Unified School District. They say there's an agreement in principle with the local service employees union, which represents bus drivers, teacher aides, cafeteria workers, and other support staff. Two other unions struck deals with the district over the weekend. Officials say they are working to finalize the details of this latest deal, but it will allow L.A. schools to stay open. We will be right back.

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[05:52:25]

ABEL: Welcome back. I'm Brian Abel. Here are some stories we are watching today.

President Donald Trump is warning that the U.S. will sink any Iranian attack ships that come near its blockade, and Tehran is warning that provocative U.S. actions in the Persian Gulf could have dangerous consequences for global peace and security. Meantime, a source says Trump officials are discussing a potential second in-person meeting with Iranian officials.

Pope Leo is spending a second day in Algeria for a part of this 10-day tour of Africa. The pope pushing back on criticism from President Trump over his appeal for an end to the war with Iran. He says he's not a politician and his message from the gospel is to be a peacemaker.

U.S. House Democrat Eric Swalwell says he will resign from Congress. Now this comes just days after CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle reported multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against him, including rape. Swalwell has denied the allegations, but he faced pressure from fellow Democrats to step down as well as a possible vote for his expulsion.

Powerful storms are expected to batter parts of the central United States all week. Forecasters say heavy rains, winds, and possible hail and flooding could last through Friday, impacting a huge area from Texas all the way up to the Great Lakes.

Some of those damaging impacts are already being felt. At least 14 tornadoes were reported across the central United States on Monday. Three tornadoes -- one of them -- you see it here caught on video -- touched down in Minnesota. A scary situation.

Still to come, their 10-day odyssey captured the world's imagination and sparked hope for future lunar missions. And now, the Artemis II crew is showing us how good it is to be home.

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ABEL: It is home sweet home for the four astronauts whose history- making flight around the moon inspired the world, and they're sharing those poignant moments with the rest of us now.

Pilot Victor Glover, for example, arrived home to a hero's welcome. His entire neighborhood turned out to celebrate his safe return from space.

And astronaut Christina Koch shared this video here of her dog Sadie absolutely losing it with delight over her return home. Koch writing on Instagram, "I'm still pretty sure I was the happier side of this reunion." She also posted this video showing her splashing around with Sadie on the beach.

These images, of course, offer a powerful reminder that as remarkable as these missions are, there is no place like home.

Well, the new class of WNBA draftees is reaping the rewards of a labor deal signed just last month. The Dallas Wings had the first pick in Monday night's draft and picked UConn's Azzi Fudd. Fudd is set to earn half a million dollars this upcoming season. That is nearly seven times what last year's top pick and now-teammate Paige Bueckers made. Her rookie salary was just under $79,000.

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And dozens of humanoid robots will race against humans in a half- marathon in Beijing this Sunday. Now, the robots went for a test run over the weekend to work through some technical glitches and safety concerns. What a site that would be. The race will feature more than 100 robots: some fully autonomous, others remote controlled.

Last year, a human did cross the finish line first, but this year teams are pushing their technology to see if a robot can outrun a person.

Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Brian Able. "CNN THIS MORNING WITH AUDIE CORNISH" starts right now.