Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Unrest in Iran; U.S. Diplomats Visit Venezuela to Assess Reopening Embassy; ICE Agent's Cell Phone Captures Deadly Shooting; Switzerland Holds National Day of Mourning. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired January 10, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hey, everybody. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York. So glad we could start our weekend with you. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's coming your way.

Most of Iran is plunged into darkness as protests calling for the end of the regime swell across the country.

And energy executives remain cautious about investing in Venezuela despite Donald Trump's insistence that billions of dollars would just flow in.

And new video showing the lead-up to the shooting of a woman by an ICE agent in the U.S. state of Minnesota as these demonstrations continue to demand change.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from New York, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: Iran is in a near-total internet blackout amid widespread anti-government protests. Authorities cut off communication more than 36 hours ago and that's raising fears of a brutal crackdown to suppress dissent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL (voice-over): The demonstrations have already raged for nearly two weeks now. In fact, here's video of one protest in southeastern Iran, showing women chanting and marching as they chant "death to the dictator."

These have been Iran's largest protests in years.

And then look at this map. The green dots that you see here, they represent places where analysts have a high certainty that protests took place. The yellow dots only medium confidence; the red, low.

But when you look at this just look at the number of green dots as they continue to spread throughout the country. It seems that every day brings more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Meanwhile, U.S. president Donald Trump has weighed in on the protests yet again, delivering another stark warning directly to Iran's leader

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I just hope the protesters in Iran are going to be safe, because that's a very dangerous place right now.

And again, I tell the Iranian leaders, you better not start shooting because we'll start shooting, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: For more on what's taking place across Iran, I want to bring in now Paula Hancocks, joining us from Abu Dhabi.

Paula, as you've as you're closely following these protesters, their message is very clear that they want regime change.

What else -- what other factors are also playing into this movement?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Polo, we're certainly seeing some momentum here when it comes to these protesters. They did start almost two weeks ago now as economic protests, with the currency falling to a record low.

Prices were out of control in the country. And it was the shopkeepers, the traders that came out onto the streets to protest against the economic mismanagement, as they saw it, by the regime.

But this has become far more than that now. We are seeing the numbers of people coming out onto the street are significant, significantly higher. In fact, in every single province of Iran, we have been seeing demonstrations.

Some 100 cities, more that have been affected by these protests as well. And the message is changing. It is not just economic now but you are hearing, as you mentioned, those chants of "death to the dictator."

There are many on the street who want to see the Islamic regime collapse and want to see a change to the management of Iran itself. Now we did see a response. The first response, actually, public response from the supreme leader, ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

And he was speaking almost directly to the U.S. president. As we've seen, president Trump is threatening to get involved if there are peaceful protesters being killed, which we know there are at this point.

And Khamenei said that Trump should focus on the problems of his own country. We are hearing as well the authorities in Iran trying to differentiate between what they see as legitimate protests against the economy.

We've certainly heard from the Iranian president acknowledging that there are problems in the economy. But then the supreme leader pointing out that he believes that there are rioters and foreign mercenaries involved in these protests as well.

[03:05:04]

So we are seeing momentum building. We are also hearing more concerns about the crackdown by authorities on these protesters. For example, some of the rights groups that are coming out with figures, that obviously we can't independently verify.

But we have heard from the Norway-based Iran human rights NGO that say at least 45 have been killed, four children are -- sorry; eight children are included in that number. Hundreds have been injured, according to this NGO. And more than 2,000 have been arrested.

So the concern now, of course, is with this internet blackout that the authorities have put in place since Thursday night, it is harder to get the information out. It is harder for protesters to be able to show what is happening. And there are concerns that that could then lead to a to a more brutal crackdown.

SANDOVAL: Yes, without a doubt, harder for the world to see what's happening in Tehran. You mentioned some of the concerns from the international community, Paula.

Is the U.N. weighing in at all at this point?

HANCOCKS: Yes. We have heard from the spokesperson to the secretary general, saying that they are watching what is happening very closely and they are concerned about the video showing a crackdown by authorities and also the rising death toll. Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: I've got a couple of questions.

Do you have anything on Iran?

STEPHANE DUJARRIC, U.N. SPOKESPERSON: Well, I mean, we're continuing to follow the situation extremely closely. Very disturbed by the loss of life that we've seen.

It's -- in my answer to Deji (ph), people anywhere in the world have a right to demonstrate peacefully. And governments have a responsibility to protect that right and to ensure that that right is respected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: We're also hearing calls for more protests, including from Reza Pahlavi, the oldest son of the deposed shah, who was -- who was out of power back in 1979. He's calling on protesters today and tomorrow to come out onto the street in significant numbers. SANDOVAL: Paula Hancocks with that live report out of Abu Dhabi. As

always, appreciate your reporting. Paula.

Donald Trump emerging from a White House meeting with oil company execs, apparently short of a deal to invest tens of millions in Venezuela's oil industry.

While the president said that a deal had been, quote, "sort of formed," his Energy Secretary said that the execs, that they made no firm commitments, although they showed, as he put it, "tremendous interest."

Trump earlier said that oil companies would invest at least $100 billion of their money to build up Venezuela's oil infrastructure. Listen as the head of Exxon told the administration that the region is not quite ready to be invested in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARREN WOODS, CEO, EXXONMOBIL: If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela today, it's uninvestible and so significant changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks, the legal system.

There has to be durable investment protections and there has to be a change to the hydrocarbon laws in the country. We're confident that, with this administration and president Trump working hand in hand with the Venezuelan government, that those changes can be put in place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And then there's the possibility of restoring diplomatic ties. You see a team from the U.S. State Department is currently in Venezuela. And this is the first time since Nicolas Maduro was ousted.

The visit coming as the U.S. looks to reopen its embassy in Caracas and potentially reestablish that diplomatic presence in that country. Stefano Pozzebon reports on the focus that this U.S. delegation has.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Immediate priority is to assess how quickly it could -- it would take to reopen the embassy in Caracas. Let's give you a little bit of context.

The U.S. embassy in Venezuela, the U.S. embassy in Caracas, has been shut down since March 2019. We were there when the flag was lowered at the time of heightened tensions between Washington under the first presidency of Donald Trump and Caracas, back then, under the leadership of Nicolas Maduro.

From that moment, the interests of Venezuela have been covered from the embassy here in Colombia. And now the arrival of this team, we understand that we should not be calling them a delegation.

These are a team of State Department officials, led by charge d'affaires -- and which is the acting -- the acting ambassador to Colombia, Joe McNamara. They're trying to go there to assess how fast the diplomats could build a stable presence in the country.

We understand that, at this point, there is not a meeting with the acting president. Delcy Rodriguez is not being discussed.

[03:10:00]

However, of course, it's very fluid times between the two capitals, between Washington and Caracas, very fluid, because also we understand that an envoy of Delcy Rodriguez, the Venezuelan president, who has taken over after Nicolas Maduro has been detained by U.S. forces, well, an envoy of Delcy Rodriguez is indeed in Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Our thanks to Stefano Pozzebon for that report from South America.

Earlier, I also had a chance to speak to Brian Naranjo. He's a retired U.S. diplomat that was previously assigned to the embassy in Caracas before it closed in 2019. I asked him about the significance of this visit and if he sees it as a possible chance to help this fraught relationship between the U.S. and Venezuela. Here's what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN NARANJO, RETIRED U.S. DIPLOMAT: Across my 30-year, 30-plus years in the foreign service, I've always believed that diplomacy is a contact sport. And I've served in Venezuela.

You cannot do the job the same way if you're not present. OK. So I'm really elated to see that we've gotten back into to Venezuela. John McNamara is on the ground there. He's a close friend and colleague of mine. He's a superb diplomat.

SANDOVAL: In order to reestablish a diplomatic presence in Venezuela, in this case a full embassy, I mean, what absolutely needs to happen and where do you anticipate some possible disagreements or perhaps friction between the U.S. and Venezuela?

NARANJO: Look, the relationship is a fraught relationship. And it's been like that for some time. That is not going to go away overnight. OK. It's clearly a positive sign that the United States has been asked to come back and reopen its embassy. OK.

But it will not be smooth sailing right from the get-go. All right. I think the first thing that's going to happen here is you're going to have to get a charge d'affaires in place. You're going to get a small political team, security people and gradually they're going to grow out that mission.

Now we're fortunate in that we own the property of the embassy that is in Caracas and it hasn't been abandoned. We've had local employees working there since the diplomatic staff was withdrawn in early 2019. So there is a base to build from there. OK. The United States has maintained extensive contacts, albeit at a

distance. The big advantage right now is that, instead of having to look at Venezuela down the straw, through shower glass from Bogota, you're right on the ground there in Caracas. And you can talk to people and you can meet with them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Our thanks to Mr. Naranjo for his time on that.

And U.S. president Donald Trump, he seems to be doubling down on his threats toward Greenland. He said on Friday that he aimed to make a deal to acquire the Arctic territory and seemed to imply that he would take it by force if necessary.

Washington-based diplomats for Greenland and Denmark, they met with White House officials on Thursday, while Greenland insists it is not for sale.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not, if we don't do it in the easy way, we're going to do it in the hard way. We're going to be doing something with Greenland either the nice way or the more difficult way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RASMUS JARLOV, CHAIRMAN, DANISH PARLIAMENT DEFENCE COMMITTEE: It would be the biggest self-inflicted wound to the Western world in history. So I mean, I hope not.

But I mean, you have American officials, they're asked every week, are you going to invade Greenland?

And they refuse to say that it's off the table. So we can't rule it out. When the Americans are not ruling it out, we can't rule it out, either. But we don't think it's the most likely scenario because it's just simply too stupid. It would be such a disaster, so absurd that it's -- we still think that's, yes, unthinkable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Now to the third straight night of protests against the deployment of ICE immigration agents in the city of Minneapolis after one of them shot and killed a 37-year-old mother named Renee Good.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Police in that Minnesota city declaring an unlawful assembly and even made some arrests late Friday. The crowds began to thin out as crowd as officers arrived on scene.

And all of this comes as newly released video taken by the ICE agent on a cell phone shows a pivotal moment surrounding this week's shooting and a warning that some of this content is graphic. CNN's Leigh Waldman reports from Minneapolis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come talk to us later.

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cell phone video captured by an immigration and customs enforcement agent shows a different angle of the moments leading up to the deadly shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis Wednesday.

The Department of Homeland Security says the new footage confirms the officer was in fear of his own life, the lives of his fellow officers and acted in self-defense.

[03:15:05]

President Trump weighed in Friday afternoon.

TRUMP: You have agitators and we will always be protecting I.C.E. and we're always going to be protecting our border patrol and our law enforcement.

WALDMAN: The FBI is in charge of the probe but state and local leaders are still asking to be involved with the investigation.

MARY MORIARTY, COUNTY ATTORNEY OF HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA: While I respect the FBI process, our community's expectations are much different in terms of transparency. To that end, I cannot overstate the importance of a local investigation or at least access to the federal investigation.

WALDMAN: As the City of Minneapolis grapples with the events of this week in the ongoing immigration crackdown, the death of Good is fueling frustration in communities beyond Minnesota. Advocacy groups say more than 1,000 demonstrations are scheduled this weekend across the country, in Minneapolis, I'm Leigh Waldman.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Oregon state authorities and the FBI are both investigating the Border Patrol's shooting that wounded two people in the city of Portland, Oregon, on Thursday. The Portland police chief says the man and woman are in stable condition and continue to recover. However, they do remain in federal custody.

The shooting happened during a targeted vehicle stop, according to authorities. The assistant secretary of Homeland Security saying that the driver tried running over a Border Patrol agent, prompting that agent to open fire in self-defense.

The incident has renewed questions about the Trump administration's handling of its immigration crackdowns in some American cities. The United Nations is raising the alarm about the staggering suffering

in Sudan. After the break, the U.N.'s warning and the dangers faced by millions of children in that wartorn country.

And it started as a night of joy and celebration, young people partying at a bar to ring in the new year. But it ended in horror, heartbreak and death. Ahead, the latest on the blaze that left four people dead.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:20:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

SANDOVAL: The civil war in Sudan has reached the grim milestone of 1,000 days. United Nations aid officials are warning about what they call the staggering scale of civilian suffering. Estimates now suggesting that the conflict has killed more than 150,000 people.

A spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that nearly 34 million people need support. He said fierce fighting across one region is restricting food, health care and also access to farms and markets. The situation is even more dire for children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICARDO PIRES, SPOKESPERSON, UNICEF: More than 5 million children have been forced from their homes. That is the equivalent of 5,000 children displaced every single day since this conflict began. Many have been displaced not once but repeatedly, with violence following them wherever they flee.

Children continue to be killed and injured. Just this week, eight children were reportedly killed in an attack in Obeid, North Kordofan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And we will continue to follow that growing humanitarian crisis, which is a result of that conflict.

Elsewhere, at least 13 people are dead and 22 are injured in northern India after a bus ran off a mountain road and then plunged into a gorge. Local residents rushed to the scene to try to help, carrying the injured from the wreckage and transporting them to nearby hospitals.

Authorities are investigating the cause of this accident but they say that the roads in that mountainous area, they are notoriously dangerous.

Swiss authorities say they have detained one of the owners of a ski resort bar, where a New Year's Day fire killed 40 people. Prosecutors argue that Jacques Moretti is a flight risk and investigators are now looking into the possible charges of negligent homicide.

Meanwhile, a national day of mourning was held Friday for the victims. CNN's Christina Macfarlane with that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Church bells tolling across Switzerland Friday. A moment of silence and a day of mourning for the victims of a fire at a New Year's celebration that killed 40 people and injured more than 100 others. Half of the dead were minors, the youngest just 14.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Teenagers and young people lost their lives. They are blameless in all of this. As adults, as political leaders, the very least we can do is to apologize on behalf of the entire community.

MACFARLANE (voice-over): The fire broke out during the early hours of New Year's Day at a packed bar in the ski resort town of Crans- Montana. Officials believe it was likely caused by sparklers in champagne bottles that came too close to the ceiling and quickly spread. Witnesses have described the apocalyptic scenes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Outside, the scene is worse than a nightmare. The piercing cries echo in the freezing cold. The smell of burning is unbearable. It's an apocalyptic scene.

MACFARLANE (voice-over): Questions remain about oversight. The bar had not had a safety inspection in five years, local authorities say. The owners of the bar were summoned by Swiss prosecutors on Friday and say they're cooperating fully with the investigation, offering a tearful apology to the victims and their loved ones.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My constant thoughts go to the victims and those who are fighting today. This was an unthinkable tragedy and never could we have imagined this. It happened in our bar and I want to say I'm sorry.

MACFARLANE (voice-over): Meantime, a cloud of grief hangs heavy over the ski resort town. Residents and visitors alike light candles at a makeshift memorial to the victims. But for many, the questions that linger about what happened and why may never be fully answered.

EMMANUEL GULAN, FRENCH VISITOR (through translator): There's still anger behind all of this. It shouldn't have happened.

[03:25:00]

My daughters went to that bar. It was for youth. It was lively. It was inexpensive. But clearly there were some serious shortcomings.

RAFAELE RUSSOMANNO, ITALIAN VISITOR (through translator): It's awful to die at 14 or 15. Let's hope they didn't even realize what happened afterward. There are no words to explain something like that.

MACFARLANE (voice-over): Christina Macfarlane, CNN, London. (END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Storm Goretti swept through the south -- through the southern English coast with strong winds on Friday.

Look at the aftermath, its brutal weather causing extensive damage, destroying several coastal structures in the town of Folkestone. The storm has hurled gale force winds and heavy snow across much of northern Europe for days now.

The result?

Schools have had to be closed. Power outages and plenty of travel disruptions. High winds have grounded aircraft and also disrupted train service in the area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL (voice-over): But not stopping the Olympic torch relay, which made its way through centuries-old seaside Italian villages on Friday. Torchbearers, they carried the flame through Carrara, white marble quarries in Tuscany, along Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera.

What a sight. The flame making about a 12,000-kilometer journey across Italy. The relay will end in Milan in February, ahead of the Winter Games.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And the college football national championship, it is set after Indiana University trounced the University of Oregon in the Peach Bowl on Friday. It was an all-star performance from Hoosier quarterback, Heisman trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, who had five touchdown passes.

The Indiana defense, also three turnovers of their own and two fourth down stops. Final score of the game 56-22. The Hoosiers are now just one game away from claiming the title and winning it all. They will be facing against the University of Miami for the national championship, which is scheduled for January 19th in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Appreciate you watching. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York. We leave you with "CONNECTING AFRICA." Then the news continues with my colleague, Ben Hunte, in Atlanta.