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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump Hints U.S.-Iran Talks Could Resume In Coming Days; Israel And Lebanon Agree To Hold More Direct Talks; U.S. House Reps. Swalwell & Gonzales Officially Resign; Official: Russian Missile Strike Kills At Least 5 In Dnipro. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired April 15, 2026 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:27]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I am Brian Abel in Washington, where it is 5:00 a.m.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Becky Anderson, live from our Middle East programing hub in Abu Dhabi, where it is 1:00 p.m.

And we begin with the very latest developments on a potential second round of U.S.-Iran peace talks. President Donald Trump teasing that something could be happening over the next two days. His words as the two countries try to hammer out a deal.

According to a U.S. official, quote, "Future talks are under discussion, but nothing has been scheduled at this time." Well, Tehran, for its part, says it will continue participating in talks despite believing Washington is, quote, not trustworthy. All sources tell CNN that Vice President J.D. Vance is expected to lead those talks if they take place and Vance himself says he is committed to fighting for the grand bargain, as he describes it, that Donald Trump wants with Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'd say in Pakistan, we made a ton of progress. But the reason why the deal is not yet done is because the president, he really wants a deal where Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon. Iran is not state sponsoring terrorism, but also the people of Iran can thrive and prosper -- prosper and join the world economy. I think the people we're sitting across from wanted to make a deal. And I know the president of the United States told us to go out there and negotiate in good faith. That's what we did. That's what we're going to keep on doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, that's the latest from J.D. Vance. All this is the U.S. military says it is continuing to blockade Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf. But tracking data does show multiple Iran linked ships have transited the Strait of Hormuz since that blockade started. Meantime, the Pakistani prime minister is set to visit Saudi Arabia,

Qatar and Turkey in a push to, quote, promote peace efforts in the region.

All right. Let's do a deep dive on this. CNN's Nic Robertson joining us live from Islamabad, where, of course, those U.N. -- sorry, U.S.- Iran talks took place over the weekend.

Nic, what do we know at this point?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think what we know is that two days to get talks going, wherever they would be would be unrealistic from a logistical perspective. And that's what we hear from our sources. And I think from the other point of view, President Trump does seem to now have leant into Pakistan as being the venue. Islamabad here has been the venue if and when those talks happen.

And that was sort of in question because yesterday, there was sort of rumors floating around that J.D. Vance had traveled 17 hours to get to Pakistan. The Iranian delegation had traveled a couple of hours. That sort of was disadvantageous to the U.S. there.

So, there was talk about a middle ground, a middle location, possibly somewhere in Europe. So, the president does seem to have settled it on Pakistan. And there does seem to be an element of willingness here. And I think it's fair to say behind the scenes efforts still are underway. Talks are underway behind the scenes to try to bring the two sides together. J.D. Vance left, saying he'd put the United States best and final offer on the table. So, the ball was in the Iranian court.

And at the moment, we're not hearing the Iranians saying we're not coming. I think what the sense that we're getting is, again, people are in discussion. They're preparing to come back. Both sides -- you know, there was that real sense of the weekend that they did come close, that there was a lot of understanding.

The Iranian side criticized the U.S. side for moving the goalposts at the last minute. Things were agreed. And then at the last minute, changes were made. And that's why things fell down.

In fact, you know, talking to sources here, there was a real sense that in the early hours of the morning on Sunday morning, there was almost a point where a signature was going to happen. That didn't happen. Precise reasons we don't know, but perhaps around the perceived moving of the goalposts. But J.D. Vance and his team have been very, very clear that its their nuclear aspirations of Iran to have a weapon that the United States absolutely, categorically wants to get very clear and wants steps to be taken that will make that impossible.

What are those precise steps and what are the precise steps that the Iranians would agree to is unclear. That seems to be the stumbling point. But, you know, you're talking here about the removal of that highly enriched uranium dust that's trapped under mountains.

[05:05:03]

The talk is about, you know, the possibility of centrifuges or what they contain and the ability and the commitment not to, you know, not to make highly enriched uranium, which puts the pathway to a nuclear weapon so much closer -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Understood. Good to have you, Nic. Nic is in Islamabad.

Well, Israeli and Lebanese officials have agreed to hold more direct talks following Tuesday's meeting at the State Department.

Now, Lebanon called for territorial sovereignty and a ceasefire to alleviate the humanitarian crisis caused by this current conflict. And while Israel conceded both sides were on the same page on the Iran backed group Hezbollah, Israel refusing to commit to a ceasefire. The Lebanese health ministry says Israeli strikes killed at least 35 people in the past 24 hours, and an estimate of 2,100 people or more killed since March 2nd. Officials believe that includes more than 160 kids and nearly 90 health workers.

Well, despite diplomatic efforts, many Lebanese people displaced by the conflict believe their future is bleak.

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MOHAMMED DOGHMAN, DISPLACED FROM SOUTHERN LEBANON (through translator): The current situation is hopeless. There's no -- we don't see any glimmer of hope for the future.

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ANDERSON: What the view of those who are displaced, perhaps?

On Tuesday, I spoke with Saleh El Machnouk, who is a lecturer in comparative politics at Lebanon's University of Saint Joseph and a non-fellow resident with the Middle East Institute. He's an influential voice in Lebanon. He's lived here all his life.

And I asked him whether there is enough support from the international community for a ceasefire in Lebanon, what his sort of sense is at this point.

Have a listen to his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SALEH EL MACHNOUK, NON-RESIDENT FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: I think prior to talking about the technicalities and the logistics of what Lebanon needs, we need to have a proper understanding of the problem.

Lebanon does need a ceasefire. Lebanon needs a permanent ceasefire. Lebanon needs a security agreement with Israel that makes sure that not every couple of years, you know, I'm a young person, but this is the sixth war between the Lebanese paramilitary group and Israel in my lifetime. The last war happened only 15 months ago, and here it is being

renewed.

So, simply asking for a ceasefire that probably will ensure another round of fighting in a year or two or three or five is not the ideal way to go.

We need a permanent solution to this problem, and E.U. powers, Great Britain, the United States, the Arabs and others need to put together a comprehensive framework whereby we ensure that Lebanese sovereignty is respected both by Israel and Iran, and we need to square the circle, Becky.

We need to make sure that this is the last war in our lifetime. Peace might be a long way to go, but I think in the meantime, we need the security agreement. We need that the Lebanese state enabled and empowered politically, diplomatically, economically, and vis a vis the military to make sure it can establish full sovereignty in a way that doesn't ensure, on the other hand, that another war breaks out in one or two or three years

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Okay. To note, not at the table, of course, in Washington, the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Joining me now to explore what really does lie ahead for Israel and Lebanon is Yezid Sayigh. He's senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former Palestinian negotiator.

A day after Israel and Lebanon held these first direct talks in decades, sir, Hezbollah launched around 30 rockets into Israel. What's the message Hezbollah is sending there, and what do you make of what you've heard out of this sort of first session in Washington?

YEZID SAYIGH, SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Well, it's clear that Hezbollah is opposed to any kind of peace deal with Israel or a security arrangement between Lebanon and Israel that confirms Israeli demands for the disarmament of Hezbollah. Hezbollah refuses to disarm. There is, of course, a domestic conversation to be had within Lebanon about how to separate or dissociate Hezbollah as a resistance movement from its claim to retain its arms. I mean, is there some other way of dealing with that?

The real question, of course, here is -- I mean, there's going to be a lot of negotiation through fire, both between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as we have also seen in different forums between the United States and Iran in the Gulf. There's going to be a lot of arm twisting.

The crucial question is whether the Lebanese government has enough political space domestically to proceed with talks and to push for a substantive understandings with Israel that allow what the Lebanese government crucially wants, which is to end the cycle of war -- sorry. Go ahead. ANDERSON: Just listening to Saleh El Machnouk, you know, he would

suggest, I'm sure, as will many, many people in Lebanon that they give the Lebanese government the space to deal with this. I mean, what do you what do you make of, you know, what were hearing from some 80 percent of Lebanese society? They don't just want to see a ceasefire, a short term truce. They want a permanent end to this.

So, what is the --

SAYIGH: Exactly.

ANDERSON: -- what is the next step?

SAYIGH: Well, so what I think the Lebanese government is probably pushing for is exactly that. A permanent end to the cycle of war. This does necessarily mean building on the current isolation of Hezbollah within Lebanon, as you mentioned, a majority of Lebanese are either hostile or at least opposed to continuation of war. And that does mean a more definitive resolution of the question of Hezbollah's weapons.

And I think the Lebanese government is trying to create the political space with American backing through negotiation directly with Israel to reach some kind of arrangement of that kind.

Of course, there is a question about what Israel seeks. Why, after initially ignoring the Lebanese offer of direct talks, why Prime Minister Netanyahu turned around and went for them. It will be very interesting to see if that is simply a tactical buying of time with an eye, to see what happens next in the Gulf, or whether Netanyahu will commit more realistically to a political process that will eventually result in the Lebanese government being able to assert its authority in Lebanon and reach some other kind of understanding with Hezbollah that ends its ability or readiness to fire rockets at, you know, not just temporarily but permanently in the future.

ANDERSON: The now Lebanese culture minister, Ghassan Salame, said to al-monitor in a podcast, quote, the idea that you can disarm just by making a couple of phone calls, checkpoints here and there is just an illusion, he said. And I wonder what you think of that. I sat down with the European council president, Antonio Costa, here in Abu Dhabi yesterday and discussed with him Europe's, sort of, position on these negotiations.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: What can you do to ensure the success of these direct Israeli-Lebanese peace talks brokered by the U.S. in Washington this week?

ANTONIO COSTA, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL: Well, we are crossed fingers, but at the same time, we are doing two important things. First, we are supporting the Lebanese army to give them to build capabilities to do what they need to do --

ANDERSON: Sufficient --

COSTA: -- to have the effective control of the territory, to disarm Hezbollah. And on the other side, we are giving 100 million euros in humanitarian aid support for the Lebanese people.

ANDERSON: Is Israel flouting international law at present in Lebanon?

COSTA: Yes.

ANDERSON: As they did you say in Gaza?

COSTA: Yes. Unfortunately

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Look, France, Europe, not at the table at this point. But can European support pressure Israel into doing a deal?

SAYIGH: I don't think that Europe, you know, is, able to exert sufficient political leverage on Israel that goes to the United States administration. And it's clear that there's a far closer alignment of views between the United States administration and Israel on most regional issues.

And I think the one crucial element that brings them together here with regard to Lebanon is that they're both determined to roll back Iranian influence, under all circumstances, in addition to whatever else is agreed with regard to the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian nuclear program, Israel, I think -- I think is determined to see an end to Iranian influence or hegemony in Lebanon.

And I think that's where there is, in fact, an overlap with what the Lebanese government and much of Lebanese society wants there. You know, the end to the kind of, being sort of hostage to Iran's strategic interests and it's striving for deterrence against Israel by backing Hezbollah in Lebanon. They want to break in that sort of logic.

So, Europe, I think, can help in ways that, as we just heard, humanitarian assistance and so on to the Lebanese government, to the army.

[05:15:06]

What may be a more important area for the Europeans to get involved in will be that no matter what, what degree of goodwill or good faith, let's say there might be between Israel and Lebanon vis a vis a future peace and security arrangement for South Lebanon. There's going to be a complex arrangement, I think, where Israel will want certain security guarantees in the south of Lebanon in return for enabling economic revival.

That's not going to be easy, and it will be easy to monitor. But that may be where the Europeans in particular can come in in terms of providing, you know, sort of good ambassadors as well as economic assistance and security monitoring. ANDERSON: Yezid, it's great to have you. Your perspective so important.

SAYIGH: Thank you.

ANDERSON: These are critical times. Thank you.

And a note, "Bloomberg" reporting that the IMF and Lebanon are in talks for rapid financing somewhere between $800 million and $1 billion. More on that as we get it.

Let's get it back to Brian Abel now, who is in Washington with some of the other stories that we are following today -- Brian.

ABEL: A great, nuanced assessment and conversation. Becky, thank you.

The resignations of now former U.S. Congressman Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales are now official. Swalwell, a Democrat, is facing several allegations of sexual misconduct, including now two allegations of rape. Gonzales, a Republican from Texas, stepped down after he admitted back in March to an affair with a staffer.

CNN's Manu Raju has the latest from Capitol Hill.

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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Congressman Eric Swalwell and Congressman Tony Gonzales both resigning on Tuesday afternoon after separate scandals involving sexual misconduct came to light through press reports and two separate situations. But two very similar outcomes, both seeing their political careers implode and Eric Swalwell case also facing the prospect of separate criminal probes that could happen outside of Capitol Hill. But now that they have resigned, they have avoided expulsion votes that were certain to happen this week in the House of Representatives.

It would require two thirds majority in the House to expel either of them. It was possible it could have reached that threshold. Just six members in the history of Congress have ever been expelled from the United States House. And the question will be if there will be others who could join them, two other members of Congress facing their own ethical issues, Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida, a Democrat, is also another Florida member, a Republican, Cory Mills, also facing pressure from their colleagues to resign or face potential expulsion votes.

But it was the Swalwell case in particular that caught so many people by surprise because Democrats viewed him as a very likely next governor of California. But after "The San Francisco Chronicle" and CNN detailed these allegations of sexual misconduct, allegations of rape, he has denied those allegations, that was enough to see his support collapse completely on Capitol Hill, and ultimately, his decision to step aside.

Tony Gonzales, too, had decided to step out of his race drop out for running for reelection in the House, but he did not face calls to resign from the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, said there should be an ethics investigation that should conclude first before deciding whether he -- before he made a decision on whether to call on John -- on Gonzales to resign.

But members of the House reacting to this news as they came back after a two week session, making very clear that the culture on Capitol Hill needs to change.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Washington should be a place where we are elevating and acting with integrity, and I think it's what the American people expect. These are positions of profound privilege and a profound responsibility. And I think the most important thing right now is to center these women and their bravery in coming forward. There is such a punitive culture here in Washington that silences people who have been victims of abuse. And -- and for them to do what they did takes a tremendous amount of bravery.

REP. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-CO): I think that they should have been expelled and not resigned. And I think that we need to actually, like, look into ways to censure with -- with other aspects to say, you can't have your pension, you can't leave here with all your taxpayer-funded benefits after you have created such shameful acts that you have to bow out and resign from Congress. There needs to be stricter penalties with that.

RAJU: Now, now that two members have resigned, Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales, the ultimate margin in the Republican-led House will not change. We expect there to still be one Republican defection. That's all Mike Johnson can afford on any party line vote, which goes to show you how significant every seat is in the razor-thin GOP majority.

[05:20:01]

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Pope Leo getting ready for the next stop on his tour of Africa. Ahead, the message he brought to Algeria and a look at his sendoff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is going on?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: What is going on?

Later, a North Carolina man finds himself in the middle of a shark feeding frenzy at sea. We'll tell you how he got himself mixed up in this maritime mess.

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ABEL: Pope Leo just bid farewell to Algeria and is heading now for Cameroon, the second stop on his tour of Africa. [05:25:05]

The pope left from Algiers, the capital of Algeria, where he arrived earlier this week, and a farewell ceremony wrapped up just a short time ago. On Tuesday, the pontiff made a personal pilgrimage to the Basilica of Saint Augustine. He helped plant an olive tree there as a symbol of friendship between Christians and Muslims. Saint Augustine inspired Leo to become a priest and was known for denouncing wars.

Leo XIV is a member of the Augustinian religious order and is the first Augustinian pope.

Ukrainian officials say at least five people were killed and dozens more injured after a Russian missile strike hit the southeastern city of Dnipro. Officials released this video here showing what appears to be medics providing aid on Tuesday. But both the location and the date of the video have not yet been verified.

CNN's Clare Sebastian joins me now from London with more on Russia's overnight attacks in its war on Ukraine. As Ukraine's president and NATOs leader are having separate meetings with allies, Clare?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Good morning, Brian.

A raft of diplomatic meetings expected today. We've got the Ukraine defense contact group, which is this grouping of 50 countries that come together to coordinate military support for Ukraine. That is happening in Berlin, co-chaired by the German and British defense ministers, President Zelenskyy continues with his sort of short tour of Europe. He's been in Berlin this week. He's in Norway and is expected to travel on to Italy.

All of this, he said in a post on X this morning, the top diplomatic priority right now, he said, is cooperation for the sake of air defense. This is going to be the common thread I think, that we see running through these diplomatic meetings because, of course, as you noted, Russian attacks continue unabated.

And the challenges of averting them are only increasing. I think partly also because the war in the Middle East has increased global demand for air defense interceptors, in particular, U.S.-made Patriot missiles.

So, I think we're going to see more pledges from allies. The U.K. going into this meeting has said that it will provide the biggest ever shipment of drones to Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion. Germany and the U.K. have already pledged more money for this NATO led initiative to buy U.S. made interceptors and other equipment.

But I think, look, if you look at what's happening now compared to, say, the similar meetings that we saw from Zelenskyy in European capitals three or so years ago, it is striking the extent to which Ukraine has flipped this sort of patron client relationship with its allies on its head through the pace of its own battlefield innovation. They are now looking just as much as what they can give to Ukraine, as what they can get from Ukraine in terms of battlefield data, in terms of knowledge, their joint ventures being set up and expanded. New deals this week on drone production in some of these European countries.

So, I think that is critical. That gives Ukraine leverage with its allies. But of course, the other elephant in the room here, Brian, is that the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has fundamentally stalled the diplomatic process to end this war. And we're starting to see growing calls to reinvigorate that.

ABEL: All right. Clare Sebastian for us in London, Clare, thank you.

More on our top story this hour. Just ahead, what we are learning from the White House about the next potential round of U.S,-Iran talks and the latest developments in the Strait of Hormuz.

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