On April 8, 2026, Washington Journal examines a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire between the U.S., Israel, and Iran contingent on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump's ultimatum to destroy a "whole civilization" preceded strikes on Iranian bridges and Karg Island, while Pentagon plans targeted uranium recovery and civilian infrastructure. Amidst calls for impeachment from Senators Ed Markey and Representative Yasmin Ansari regarding Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance warned Iran of further economic pain. Despite the truce, Israel continues fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon, highlighting the fragile stability of the region. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Iran Ceasefire Negotiations00:13:11
unidentified
On the Artemis II mission on its way back from traveling around the moon, the crew is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean Friday.
Then at 6, Colorado Congressman Jason Crowe and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at a forum hosted by Harvard University.
Over on C-SPAN 2 at 8 a.m., Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the chair of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Kane, brief reporters on the conflict with Iran after the U.S., Israel, and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire if Iran opens the Strait of Hormuz.
At 9, Ralph Nader and constitutional lawyer Bruce Fine host lawmakers, scholars, and activists to analyze impeachment and its modern-day implications.
And at 2 p.m., a look at defenses in eastern Ukraine, known as the Fortress Belt, in stopping Russian advances into the country.
You can also watch these events live on C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, and online at c-span.org.
Coming up on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, we'll talk about the latest developments in the war in Iran following President Trump's threats for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and his announcement of a two-week ceasefire.
First with Washington Examiner defense reporter Mike Brest, then with the American Enterprise Institute's Michael Rubin.
And later, we'll continue the conversation with Adam Weinstein with the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
We are on the air an hour early today because of major developments in the Iran conflict.
President Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran last night, about 90 minutes before the 8 p.m. deadline he had set for Tehran.
The pause is contingent on Iran agreeing to a complete and immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Pakistan brokered the deal, serving as a go-between for the two sides.
The president had warned earlier in the day that, quote, a whole civilization will die tonight if no deal was reached as U.S. and Israeli strikes hit bridges across Iran and the key oil hub at Karg Island.
We want to know what you think.
Give us a call and share your thoughts.
Republicans, 202748-8001.
Democrats, 202-748-8000.
And Independents, 202-748-8002.
You can text us at 202-748-8003.
Include your first name in your city-state.
And we're on social media, facebook.com/slash C-SPAN and X at C-SPANWJ.
Welcome to today's Washington Journal.
We're glad you're with us.
Before we get to your calls, we're going to speak with Mike Brest.
He is a defense reporter for the Washington Examiner.
So as you mentioned, about 90 minutes before President Trump's self-imposed deadline to make a deal or face total destruction, he announced that there had been a framework reached to pause the destruction he had warned about.
And he gave essentially a two-week ceasefire and announced a two-week ceasefire that was brokered by Pakistan.
And so at this exact moment, we're trying to understand how exactly the president has been able to rectify what we've seen as his 15-point plan versus the Iranian 10-point plan, which are very starkly different.
And so at this moment, we're trying to sort out exactly who's agreed to what as both sides are trying to sell that they won this negotiation and that they've won this conflict.
I was just going to say the Pentagon had been preparing for a major attack just in case that this agreement wasn't reached.
What was involved in that?
What do you know about what the Pentagon was planning?
unidentified
So there were several different options that seemed to have been on the table, ranging from whether we're talking about potentially a U.S. invasion of Karg Island or other islands that are in the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively shut down over the course of the conflict.
There were also possible talks within the administration about whether the U.S. should try to undergo a very complex mission to try and find and recover the 900 pounds of enriched uranium that is underground in Iran at the facilities that the U.S. destroyed last June.
So that was another possibility.
And we also heard from the president talks about the U.S. going after civilian infrastructure or potential dual-use infrastructure like bridges or railways, which can be used for military efforts about transporting supplies and munitions.
You also reported on the rescue of the airmen that had been shot down over Iran.
What can you tell us about that?
unidentified
So as you mentioned, there were two, an F-15 was shot down on Friday.
The pilot of the aircraft was recovered within a matter of about six hours.
The other person aboard that F-15 spent about 48 hours, or a little less than 48 hours, deep within Iranian territory as both U.S. and Iranian military officials tried to hunt for this individual.
And so the individual was able to disguise themselves and hide within a crevice in the rough terrain in that area until he was able to correspond or let his officers know that he was okay.
They had to verify that it wasn't a trap.
And then they eventually were able to go in and recover him and rescue him and take him out of Iran.
And this was a very complex effort.
There were over, according to the President and Secretary of War, over 100 aircraft involved in this operation.
And obviously, given the complexity involved, they had to shut down all other unrelated operations to ensure no one was hurt accidentally.
The article that you wrote about this, Mike, has the headline lingering questions from the F-15 crash and dramatic rescue operation.
What are those questions in your mind?
unidentified
So to me, one of the big things that this incident sort of showed was that even if Iran's capabilities had been reduced, they still have some capabilities and they still have potential technologies that we may not have seen yet in this conflict.
And so not only were the Iranians able to shoot down this F-15, they also were able to shoot down an A-10.
That pilot was safely able to eject into friendly airspace and was recovered and safely as well.
But to shoot down two U.S. aircraft within a matter of hours for the first time in a conflict that's now gone on for more than five weeks raises some questions about whether they are potentially getting assistance from some of their allies.
We've seen reporting that they've been in communication with Russia about targeting.
We don't know if there's any link there.
We also don't know exactly how degraded Iran's capabilities are versus are they instead actually potentially trying to conserve what they have left to take more direct or potentially more impactful attacks on the U.S.
Now, a lot of these questions at least have been put on pause as the ceasefire has gone into effect and we'll now see negotiations begin.
And what are you going to be watching over the course of this two-week ceasefire, Mike?
unidentified
So a big thing right now actually has to do with Israel.
How will Israel factor into this two-week negotiation?
We heard that they will abide by the two-week ceasefire in Iran, but they're still very much at war with Hezbollah and Lebanon.
And so I think there are a lot of broad-reaching dynamics that we're about to see unfold.
Something that is also, I think, important to note is that the IRGC or Iran's military capabilities and forces often are decentralized.
And so there's a possibility we could see attacks for the next couple hours simply because Iran does not have the infrastructure at the moment to be able to communicate with all of the field commanders all over the country.
So they might just not know about the ceasefire and continue fighting?
unidentified
Yes, so we've actually already seen that very briefly with we heard from the Kuwaiti government earlier this morning about a round of attacks, a round of drones and missiles fired at it.
And so this will likely cease in a matter of hours, but it is interesting to watch considering part of the decentralized nature of the IRGC has made it so difficult for the U.S. to eliminate the capabilities that they have.
If you're surprised to see us, we are taking your calls on the latest developments in the Iran conflict.
There has been a two-week ceasefire announced.
This is, you can go ahead and start calling in now.
This is the truth social that President Trump put out yesterday.
This is, well, this morning, right at midnight, right after midnight this morning, a big day for world peace.
Iran wants it to happen.
They've had enough.
Likewise, so has everyone else.
The United States of America will be helping with traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz.
There will be lots of positive action.
Big money will be made.
Iran can start the reconstruction process.
We'll be loading up with supplies of all kinds and just, quote, hanging around in order to make sure that everything goes well.
I feel confident that it will.
Just like we are experiencing in the U.S., this could be the golden age of the Middle East.
Three exclamation marks.
So that is what the President put out.
And this is what we're getting on our social media and our texts.
North Hill Audio on Facebook says, so what is the aim today?
Is it regime change?
Control the oil.
Open the strait.
Leave NATO.
Avoid Jeffrey.
This is Doug, who says, art of the deal can be messy at times.
Words and giant threats are often required to gain leverage.
Iran blinked.
And Heidi says, his notorious backtracking technique, when the right does not support his decisions and others are calling for the 25th, he's clueless, as always, and it's currently and clearly being reflected when it comes to his lack of knowledge of the law, rules of war, and making threats.
Well, speaking of that, this is Senator Ed Markey.
He is a Democrat of Massachusetts.
He put this on his ex-account this video, calling for the president's removal from office.
I'm sure you've seen Donald Trump's unhinged post from this morning.
He is completely unstable and dangerous.
Here's what needs to happen immediately.
The House must come back into session to bring up and pass articles of impeachment against Donald Trump.
Then, the Senate needs to remove him from office.
A war powers resolution is not enough.
Yes, we need to assert congressional authority and stop this illegal war in Iran, but Trump is clearly a war-hungry madman at odds with the American people.
Now, the lives of 435 people have been affected directly, and we've lost 13 people all for the whims of this guy who just does not seem to have a coherent thought in his head.
Do you think this ceasefire will hold for two weeks?
unidentified
No, I don't think it's going to hold at all.
I have absolutely no faith in the fact that this guy is not going to wake up tomorrow morning and have another brain burp that's going to put us into a position where we have to defend ourselves again.
This is what the Prime Minister's office put on X.
It says this: Israel supports President Trump's decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks, subject to Iran immediately opening the Strait and stopping all attacks on the U.S., Israel, and countries in the region.
And Mike Waltz is the ambassador to the U.N.
This is a portion of his remarks before President Trump's 8 p.m. Tuesday deadline.
So he spoke about the response of China and Russia vetoing the Council's resolution to reopen the Strait.
Well, today, colleagues, certain countries stood in the way of that future, and the United States voted to protect that future.
Mr. President, it is not lost on us that as we speak, your people, our allies across the Gulf, and American service members in the region are under a barrage of Iranian missiles and drones.
They and you have shown great bravery.
It is sad and unfortunate that Russia and China have not.
We have long known that these countries are capable of paralyzing the Council through obstruction and manufactured confusion.
Today's veto marks a new low, and it shows just how frightening a safer, more secure, more united Middle East can be.
Colleagues, the rejection of this resolution will be explained today.
You will hear today a number of excuses.
You will hear that this was part of the U.S. campaign to ensure that the world is free of Iran's nuclear program.
I will note: today's result does not restrict the United States to continue to act in its own self-defense and in the collective defense of our allies and partners.
And President Trump will continue the actions necessary to defend our people and the free world.
The request from Bahrain and from the region was not unreasonable.
They engaged every country on this council and took their inputs and thoughts on board.
It was a simple resolution.
Iran must stop attacking the Gulf, stop threatening its neighbors, and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Well, that's an important fact that's getting pushed aside.
Are we in a post-fact world where nothing matters anymore?
Only the spin in the propaganda coming out of this deranged administration with Vance over in a right-wing country trying to stir the pot against the allies, the EU allies?
He says, as I stated before, I prefer diplomacy if it leads to the right outcome regarding the Iranian terrorist regime.
I appreciate the hard work of all involved in trying to find a diplomatic solution.
At this early stage, I'm extremely cautious regarding what is fact versus fiction or misrepresentation.
That's why a congressional review process, like the one the Senate followed to test the Obama-Iranian deal, is a sound way forward.
Fair and challenging questions with a full opportunity to explain and a healthy dose of sunlight is generally the right formula to understand any matter.
Simply put, kick the tires.
Let's hear from Carol in Columbia, Maryland, Independent Line.
Carol, what do you think of the news on Iran?
unidentified
Well, good morning.
Oh, sorry, Carl.
I don't understand.
Carol.
Carl's a name.
Thank you very much.
Calling the Islamism a multi-century civilization is not correct.
It's a form of cognitive warfare to control the minds of the population.
I just don't see how that's called a civilization.
And secondly, recently I haven't heard death to America repeated time and time again from this so-called civilization.
Can you shine any light on what's going on inside of Iran?
Do you have friends or family still there that you're able to communicate with?
unidentified
I cannot communicate with many of them.
And I understand that they destroyed Pasteur Institute of Iran, which I once many years ago worked there as an advisor for research.
It's a huge country.
It's a huge institute and near the presidential complex.
They destroyed a medical system.
Then they destroyed recently I heard the Sharif University, which have the brightest researchers and people, many of them, who are in this country.
As I said, I voted for Trump with the hope to do something about the Democrat, registered Democrat.
I voted for Trump with the hope that he can do something about these disastrous maneuvers that has been happening for medical issues and with the help of Kennedy.
So he also said they're no longer saying death to America, death to Israel.
Is that true?
What's the sentiment?
I don't know.
You know, you said communication is limited, so I know you might not know, but what's the sentiment among Iranians on the street now towards America?
unidentified
I think it's mixed because they were tired of this regime.
However, they never wanted a country to be destroyed just to take out one or two leadership.
And I have a lot more to say if you allow me.
As I said, the madmans, only the madmans in Washington and in Israel want a country to be destroyed to take out a couple of people who they put in charge.
Remember that.
We always have to go back to the basic Israel saying debt to Israel or saying debt to America, you said that to Iran.
Why you should destroy the country?
That is a major civilization that we are destroying.
We already did.
It takes years and decades for Iran to recover.
Please listen to the 60-minute tapes that Mike Wallace had interviewed with Shah of Iran.
And Shah said that the Jewish people are very, very strong in all aspects of American.
I've got to move on to other callers, but I really appreciate your call.
The numbers are on the screen.
You can give us a call and join the conversation on the developments in the Iran conflict.
There was an agreement to a two-week ceasefire between among the U.S., Israel, and Iran.
We're also going to be bringing you a briefing from the Pentagon.
So you'll hear from Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman Dan Kaine.
We're going to bring that to you here at 8 a.m.
It is expected to start at 8 a.m.
We'll bring that to you as soon as it starts, and it will be in its entirety, so you can stay with us right here.
Johnny, Granite Falls, Washington, Independent Line.
Good morning.
unidentified
Good morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
I'm, of course, very happy that he didn't go ahead with his plans, you know, to bomb, do more bombing and all that.
But I think there's a very immediate problem here, and I think that Congress needs to get back in session immediately, not next week, not two weeks from now.
They need to get back to Washington and deal with Donald Trump.
He's obviously, I believe, unfit for office.
He's just unhinged, as people say.
And we need to have somebody who's in control of their faculties dealing with this.
I just would like to see somebody do something about this.
He says, if reports are true, it seems that under this deal, Iran will still maintain control of the strait.
A worse situation than before Trump began this war of choice.
And Senator Andy Kim, New Jersey, said Trump may have backed down for now, but he has shown how unhinged he is by threatening the death of a, quote, whole civilization.
I'm heading back to D.C. to try and get answers for the American people.
Congress needs to return to the Capitol immediately and vote to end this war.
This is Congresswoman Yasmeen Ansari.
I do not appreciate anyone, Democrat or Republican, taking this moment to make taco jokes to say Trump chickened out.
The president was threatening genocide against 90 million Iranians.
I'm grateful there's a ceasefire and scores of innocent people didn't die tonight.
And this is Senator Tammy Baldwin.
Diplomacy has always been the answer, which is why the president shouldn't have gotten us into this war of choice.
It's been reckless, cost U.S. soldiers their lives, and is raising prices on families.
A ceasefire is a start, but Congress needs to do our jobs and end this war.
And this is, we mentioned Representative Yasmin Ansari.
Here she is from yesterday on MS Now.
unidentified
I just hope it doesn't have to take committing genocide against a country of 90 million people for Republicans to speak up.
If you look at non-elected Republicans, people like former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, Candace Owens, people I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would agree with on anything, are reasonable and are sounding the alarm at the appropriate levels given the gravity of this moment.
They are calling for the 25th Amendment.
I'm thinking to myself, why does Vice President JD Vance, who has presidential aspirations in 2028, who always campaigned on ending forever wars, why is he not trying to orchestrate the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office?
He is mentally deranged and threatening crimes of this magnitude are going to get Americans killed.
So that is my focus today.
I think every single person in this country needs to be calling the phones of Republican members of Congress and senators relentlessly today.
Like of all of the issues that have come up over the last year, all have been devastating, but we are talking about the potential for nuclear war here.
That is the language that Donald Trump is using, and we should not pretend that it's not.
Yeah, and it's a big question whether or not voters are going to apply pressure here, but you're also calling for the impeachment of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
This effort, like the 25th Amendment, is most likely not going to move forward because Republicans are in charge of Congress.
Democrats have also struggled to coalesce around a strategy at times of confronting the president and his administration.
So why do this?
Why put forward these articles of impeachment against Hegseth?
What message are you hoping to send by moving this forward?
unidentified
I'm introducing these articles of impeachment because I think that is what is warranted and what even comes close to being responsive to how horrific current events are right now.
Think it is, quite frankly, just an absolute abdication of responsibility to just be tweeting or putting out statements about Donald Trump being deranged and moving on.
And on that topic, this is Axios reporting with the headline, House Democrat moves to impeach Hegseth over Iran war.
It says that Hegseth is emerging as Democrats' top target in the Trump cabinet following the ousters of Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Polls have shown Hegseth is among the least popular members of the cabinet, with the mounting costs of the Iran conflict placing further strain on his public image.
That's Representative Yasmin Ansari, a Democrat of Arizona, said she will be introducing articles of impeachment against Hegseth next week, quote, for repeatedly violating his oath of office and his duty to the Constitution.
That's at Axios, if you would like to read the rest of that.
We're taking your calls this morning.
This is Stacey, Waldorf, Maryland, Republican.
Good morning.
unidentified
Good morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
I just want to say that nobody wants to see the United States involved in any type of war.
We don't want to lose our men and women.
But it's amazing to me that people think that Iran hasn't been an issue for 47 years.
I mean, let's be honest, October 7th is what really kicked the thing off.
They have funded terrorist groups who have repeatedly attacked U.S. citizens, well, U.S. military bases.
And we've lost men and women because of this regime.
And we should have handled Iran years and years ago.
Every administration has always said our biggest threat to the United States is Iran.
We literally financially backed Ukraine when it came to Russia because everybody was screaming Russia was a threat globally.
Russia hasn't attacked the U.S. since it was a Soviet Union, but Iran has repeatedly funded terrorist groups that have attacked our U.S. men and women.
So I'm just kind of like, I don't even understand it.
So do you think what do you think is the best way to handle that threat, in your opinion?
Do you agree with how the president has operated this war?
unidentified
I absolutely do.
Now, don't get me wrong, like some of his tweets were just crazy to me.
Like, I mean, I can't even deny that.
But I feel like that we are in it now.
The bottom line is we're there.
So for us just to walk away and nothing, like no change at all, it's a really, really bad look.
We have to go in there and complete it.
We have to.
This regime is dangerous.
And like I said, it's not like, like I said, October 7th, they attacked, well, let me terrorist-funded groups backed by Iran attack U.S. military bases three times in 2025.
So it's not like we just came in there for no reason and just like, oh, here we go.
We're going to take over this.
They have repeatedly, for years, attacked us, whether it's the regime or it's these terrorist groups that they actually fund.
So when we come down, Stacey, to negotiating then an end to the war, what would you be willing to accept from Iran's 10-point plan?
Because this is what we're going to be starting from.
I mean, they're going to maintain control of the strait.
They're going to have all sanctions lifted.
unidentified
Definitely don't agree with that because that gives them all the power again.
And I just don't agree with that at all.
We have to take the power out of their hands because now they feel, whether it's politically, you know, just for showboating, but they feel like they've won this whole battle.
Yes, we went over there and bombed the hell out of them, but they've won.
They're still in control.
They don't need to be in control.
So I'm not acting like I'm an expert, but I just don't feel like they need to be in control.
So, Ray, your reaction then to because the people that are calling for the 25th Amendment are doing that in response to the president's post on a whole civilization will die, we will essentially destroy an entire country.
What was your reaction to that?
unidentified
I think the reason we got the ceasefire is because he spoke like that.
This is a group of people that only understand strength, and President Trump showed strength.
And again, we've been dealing with this for almost half a century now.
It just amazes me how the other side is going out of their way.
Were you happy that a ceasefire was announced, or would you have rather the president followed through on his threats?
What did you think?
unidentified
No, I was very happy there was a ceasefire.
I don't want everyone, you know, the problem with the you don't want to have innocents killed and anything that you can work out in a peaceful way.
But I think we would be much quicker to get into a peaceful situation if the other side, if Iran, saw that the country was supporting this instead of calling for the impeachment or the 25th Amendment, assuming that President Trump is crazy, he's crazy like a fox.
He's being smart, he's being tough, and he's trying to protect both us and Israel so we never have another 9-11.
And you believe that the cost was worth it to the United States, both in blood and treasure?
unidentified
But the cost, you've got people that want freedom all over this world.
And we are probably one of the biggest, only the biggest country that is free, that can help all these people out in all these countries so they can be civilized.
And we don't need these nuclear weapons for one thing, because I doubt very much of Russia or China.
We feed China.
China hasn't been in war for 50 years.
They don't want no part of this any more than Russia.
We do.
Russia needs to get out of Ukraine for one thing.
They need to have a ceasefire.
They need to stop this.
They need to stop all these wars.
And I think Trump is the one that can handle this.
And I think China president and him are going to get along to where they're going to settle this hopefully by this month.
I think they can really get this all done by April if they both put their heads together.
China shouldn't be supporting Iran because they know they use that Hamas.
They use that Mediterranean.
They need to get the oil.
We only get 2% of our oil.
We don't even need to go through there.
We're helping out other countries.
People don't understand this.
And if we don't, and if we walk away from this and we let them have a nuclear weapon, Israel's going to be destroyed.
I think we can stop most of them.
But why do we have to go through this and have Washington, D.C., D.C., or the whole state of Texas can be eliminated with one missile?
You know, I'm hearing your show, and I hear it seems like a lot of the sentiment and the remarks are echoing what I hear on television in the news.
It seems that people regurgitate and echo what they spew.
And it's like they, I hear a lot of these conversations about what our country needs to do in the world.
And I know even the Republicans had a, originally had a campaign based on campaigning for America first, and these were some of the trademarks that were used.
Obviously, Israel is involved in this war in Iran.
Republicans don't seem to ever mention this fact.
This is not some, This is not a comfortable topic, obviously, because of how far Israel has been entrenched in our government, entrenched in our media, and in our society.
And we have so many good Jewish people in our country that are obviously embroiled in the politics of the Israeli government and the byline between our government and what's happening in the world.
I have friends in Iran.
I have friends in Israel.
I have friends that were sitting in Abram tanks.
calling me FaceTime.
Ironically, I'm a unique individual, so I get calls from people who are in tanks.
I'm conversating with people while they're killing kids, and I'm like, what are you doing?
Oh, Chris, you don't understand.
Human shields.
I think we have to take a step back.
This opportunity with this ceasefire is just for us to take our differences and see what unifies us.
We all need oil.
Let's call it for what it is.
I have a question.
Why haven't Germans been the focus of the turnaround of what it took to take a nation from after World War II to opening its doors to the world the way it is today?
Why, as American people, Democrats and Republicans, we can't just realize that all of the gasoline in our country comes from where it comes from.
And if we work together, we might actually be able to get some kind of respect for one another.
I think this whole, I hear the Republicans were going to bomb them into the Stone Age.
This theory that Iranians are cave people or lesser than, these people have a trillion-dollar nuclear program, scientists from all over the world.
We have to stop dividing information.
We're not in a race with China with AI, okay?
This whole competition of what I'm saying is what I'm really trying to get at is the competition of nationality, nationalism needs to be removed.
Okay, because when you increase nationalism in our country, the way we're doing with Pete Hegseth, what happens is you're increasing nationalism abroad.
Fundamentally, what Iran is trying to do, because they've been defeated militarily, is they're trying to extract as much economic pain on the world as possible.
And the President of the United States is a man who recognizes leverage, that if the Iranians want to exact a certain amount of pain, the United States has the ability to exact much, much greater pain.
The President doesn't want to do that.
I don't want to do that.
That's why we're negotiating so aggressively.
But fundamentally, the ball is in the Iranians' court.
Now, I think the President has talked about this.
One thing I will say is that the Iranians are not, they were not the fastest negotiators before the war started, and they are certainly not the fastest negotiators now.
So we recognize there's some delay sometimes in transmitting messages from one person to another, but we feel confident that we can get a response, whether it's positive or negative.
We're going to get a response from the Iranians by 8 o'clock tonight.
I hope they make the right response because what we really want is we want a world where oil and gas is flowing freely, where people can afford to heat their homes and cool their homes, where people can afford to transport themselves to work.
That's not going to happen if the Iranians are engaged in acts of economic terrorism.
So they've got to know we've got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven't decided to use.
The President of the United States can decide to use them, and he will decide to use them if the Iranians don't change their course of conduct.
It's the vice president in Budapest, Hungary, yesterday.
Let's talk to Henry in Arlington, Kentucky, Independent.
Go ahead.
unidentified
Good morning.
Thank you so much, C-SPAN and your whole crew.
I know you guys woke up early this morning to cover this.
It's a really important thing.
C-SPAN is my primary news source.
As a truck driver, I live in my truck and I can't read articles because at night I'm sleeping, right?
So I get to listen to you guys and hear what's going on in the world.
So thank you.
It seems to me that there's a lot of political theater going on and kind of like showboating.
And I kind of don't know what to trust.
I considered myself kind of a Republican kind of guy, but I kind of don't know which side to be on here.
I guess the point I was trying, I guess the reason I called this morning was when Trump says he's going to knock out, he's going to end the civilization, I think targeting roads and bridges and power plants.
Yes, this is civilian infrastructure, but this brings a country to a halt.
As you're driving to work this morning, count how many bridges you go across.
If all those bridges were gone, how would you get to work?
And I think he was saying, hey, I'm going to retaliate by knocking out your transportation network within your country if you knock out this transportation network for all these goods.
If you keep holding this straight or her moose hostage, you're not going to be able to travel within your country.
And the way he says it, yeah, he's like a little teenager.
She says, Israel has already broken the ceasefire by firing into Lebanon.
So we'll see how long it lasts, unfortunately.
The U.S. needs to put our foot down and make them follow the ceasefire or lose all funding.
Regarding that, the Associated Press says Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it supports Trump's decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks, but it doesn't include the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
So we expect Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Hezbollah to continue.
We are going to be taking you in about an hour to the Pentagon for their briefing on the Iran war.
You'll hear from Secretary Hegseth and General Dan Kaine.
We will bring that to you in its entirety here on C-SPAN when that gets underway in about an hour.
Later in the program, we'll discuss the latest events connected to the Iran conflict with the Quincy Institute's Adam Weinstein.
But first, American Enterprise Institute's Michael Rubin will join us to give us his take on these events coming up next.
We'll be right back.
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Watch our special edition of America's Book Club, C-SPAN's bold original series.
Sunday, as journalist Evan Smith interviews America's Book Club host, David Rubinstein, about the presidency, Congress, and the state of the economy from the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University.
There's a lot of talk these days, David, that these necessary components of a functioning democracy are faltering and are failing us.
And that is why some people are concerned larger than the presidency about the state of things today.
I believe that the government of the United States has functioned reasonably well.
Think about this.
When this country was created in 1776, when really 1789 under the Constitution, we were a tiny little country and no one in the world thought we'd be a power.
And because of many things, natural resources, talented people, immigration, entrepreneurial spirit, a whole variety of things, this country became the most powerful country and most envied country in the world.
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Watch our special edition of America's Book Club with an interview of our host, David Rubinstein, Sunday at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on C-SPAN.
Lights, cameras, impact.
To celebrate the 250th anniversary since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, thousands of students across America started writing and filming for this year's C-SPAN Student Cam documentary competition.
Nearly 4,000 students from 38 states and Washington, D.C. created documentaries examining themes from American history, exploring rights and freedoms rooted in the foundational document, or tackling modern-day issues from the economy to immigration, criminal justice, education, and healthcare.
They researched, they interviewed experts, and they told powerful stories, exploring the enduring impact of the Declaration of Independence.
And now it's time to announce the top winners of Student Cam 2026.
The middle school first prize goes to Harper Hayden and Helena De La Hussé of Correa Middle School in San Diego, California.
Their documentary, This Is What Democracy Looks Like, about free speech and the No Kings movement.
The High School Eastern Division First Prize goes to Kessler Dickerson and Charlotte Liggin from Millbrook Magnet High School in Raleigh, North Carolina for Roots of Freedom, the struggles and tensions of rural American agriculture, about farmers and government policies that impact food production.
In the high school Central Division, Benjamin Curian of Oman Tangi Liberty High School in Powell, Ohio, won first prize for a right to health about health care policy.
And in the high school Western Division, first prize goes to Danaya Safi and Juhi Fari from Indercom High School in Sacramento, California for Dreamers Deferred, the American Dream on Hold about immigration policy and deferred action for childhood arrivals.
And we're happy to announce that Student Cam 2026 Grand Prize winner earning $5,000 is Irena Holbrook from Troy Athens High School in Troy, Michigan for her documentary, The Pursuit of Fair Pay about the impact of name, image, and likeness, known as NIL, on college sports.
And out of almost 4,000 students who participated this year, you've won $5,000 in this year's grand prize.
Grand Prize and Missile Concerns00:01:47
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Congratulations.
Thank you.
Want to see their amazing films?
Watch all 150 award-winning documentaries at studentcam.org and catch the top 21 winners airing this April on C-SPAN.
What was your reaction when you heard about the two weeks ceasefire?
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Well, I have more questions than I have answers on this.
Certainly, a ceasefire would be welcome, but there seems to be a lot of confusion here.
While the U.S. press is talking about 10 points to the ceasefire, the Iranian press is actually adding points which we're not talking about.
For example, Mimi, last night the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting said that the 10 points would also include enrichment.
One of my other concerns, and this harkens back to President Trump's unilateral ceasefire with the Houthis in Yemen, is that is this a separate deal or a more comprehensive ceasefire?
Because I don't see in the 10 points where Iran has to stop launching missiles at Israel.
And of course, last night after the deal was announced, Israel suffered another ballistic missile strike.
Now, in the 10 points listed by the Wall Street Journal, it does include this idea of continuing to enrich uranium, which you would think would be a huge non-starter for the United States.