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New U.S. Carrier Strike Group Heads to Middle East as USS Abraham Lincoln is in Trouble; Nigel Farage Defeats Satirical Count Binface in a Highly Contested By-Election. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 14, 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]

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IVAN WATSON, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome. I'm Ivan Watson, in Hong Kong. Here's what's ahead on "CNN Newsroom."

Washington warns of never-seen-before measures against Iran as the situation remains stagnant in the Strait of Hormuz. We'll head to the region for the latest.

As the war rages, a new U.S. carrier strike group heads to the Middle East after reports of worsening conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Plus, Nigel Farage, leader of Britain's Reform Party, regains his seat in Parliament after a key by-election. What the results mean for British politics.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Hong Kong, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Ivan Watson.

WATSON: Okay, the White House is moving to squeeze Iran economically as the country refuses to budge after five months of war. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made this announcement on Thursday.

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SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: Watch this space for more announcements coming next week because we are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation on a country. It will be a combination of economic isolation like the world has never seen before and the continued blockade in the Strait of Hormuz that will keep anything from going in or out of the Iranian ports.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now his warning came after more vessels took fire in the Strait of Hormuz. An oil company based in Abu Dhabi says two of its ships were attacked Thursday night. The company says there are no injuries and it's still unclear who was behind those strikes. CNN's Paula Hancocks is following all the latest developments live

from Abu Dhabi. Great to see you, Paula. So, fresh threats from Washington. What is Tehran saying or have they responded yet?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ivan, we're waiting for a response to what we've heard from the U.S. Treasury Secretary which was, as you pointed out there, that there is going to be some economic isolation, the likes of which have not been seen before. So, it's uncertain exactly what this would mean and what exactly they have in mind.

But what we have seen, for example, just a week ago was further U.S. sanctions against individuals, against exchange houses and companies and in several different countries which the U.S. had accused of helping Iran's (inaudible) to move hundreds of millions of dollars around. So, potentially we could see more of these kind of sanctions. Now, we also heard from the Treasury Secretary that that naval blockade is going to continue.

This is the U.S. Navy preventing ships from approaching Iranian ports, trying to put a real stranglehold on the economics of the energy sector in Iran. And we've certainly seen from U.S. Central Command well over 50 boats have been redirected, a couple have been disabled as they are trying to get to Iranian ports.

And it follows what we've been hearing from the U.S. President as well. He told Axios recently that they're really only semi-negotiating because, as he said, we're just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact that they have no money.

Now, this does suggest that negotiations have taken a back seat and that they really are waiting to see whether the economy can be further crippled. In the past, we've heard Iran say, we have been sanctioned for decades and we've managed to continue. So, this isn't a plan that's going to work.

Now, when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz itself, we have seen, as you mentioned there, those two Emirati tankers that were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. We hear from ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, that there were no injuries and that the situation is under control.

But it does again go in the face of what we've heard from the U.S. President, that the Strait is open, that the U.S. is in control of the Strait. And certainly shipping data also shows there are very few ships that are willing to try and make that very dangerous trip.

[03:05:05]

It is a trickle, a fraction of what we have seen in the pre-war levels.

Now, we did hear from Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, talking to the fact that Trump believed the Strait was open, saying, "The U.S. has long miscalculated due to intelligence failures, case in point the war on Iran. Now, an even bigger miscalculation on the Strait of Hormuz, worse than fake news, is fake intelligence. Be careful."

So, at this point, both sides are still claiming sovereignty or control, I should say, of the Strait of Hormuz, both trying to use it as leverage. Ivan?

WATSON: Thanks, Paula. And I can't help but wonder, you know, economic isolation, the U.S. first imposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, after Americans were taken hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. So, this is a government that is no stranger to American economic sanctions.

Well, Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi, live, thank you so much for speaking with me.

All right, to another aspect of this conflict, the U.S. Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, is now pushing back on reports of a deteriorating situation on the USS Abraham Lincoln. A U.S. official tells CNN another aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, is headed to the region to replace the Lincoln in operations against Iran.

The switch is described as previously planned, but it comes after multiple reports of crew members trying to jump overboard from the ship. Family members say sailors and Marines are dealing with horrid living conditions on the vessel. Hegseth reacted during a trip to Central America on Thursday.

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PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Completely misrepresented. Listen, we make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment. Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: The USS Abraham Lincoln has been deployed since last November, and according to one U.S. senator, it has broken a modern day record for sailing without a port call. Despite Hegseth's denials, Democratic lawmakers are pushing for answers about the situation on the vessel.

CNN's Ivan Rodriguez has that story.

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IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been more than 250 days since the USS Abraham Lincoln left its home port of San Diego last November, with more than 5000 sailors and Marines. Its mission was extended to support U.S. operations in the war with Iran. Lawmakers are now demanding answers over concerns about deteriorating living conditions and service members' mental health.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): I don't think President Trump is listening to these alarming examples of how sailors have been pushed to the very limits. REP. GABE AMO (D-RI): We need to hear from senior administration

officials. How are they going to resolve this as soon as possible and deal with the disruption in the mental health and the physical health and the well-being of people serving our nation?

RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): News outlet Stars and Stripes and the Navy Times reported there have been multiple attempts by crew members to jump overboard, citing interviews with sailors and families of those on board who described the impacts of the lengthy deployment.

In a statement, the U.S. Navy says, "We have not observed an increase in suicidal ideations or attempts aboard the ship. We take every service member's well-being seriously and have religious, medical, and mental health professionals available to assess and address concerns as they arise."

CNN spoke to some of those aboard about a month before those reports.

RANDALL STONE, CREWMEMBER, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: It's hard. You know, it's hard in your mental state, being out at sea for eight months without being on dry land. It takes a toll on you.

UNKNOWN: I miss my family, and I'm ready to go home.

RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): I'm Ivan Rodriguez reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Okay, joining me now from Honolulu, Hawaii, is retired U.S. Navy Captain Carl Schuster. He's the former director of operations at the U.S. Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center Pacific.

Captain, great to see you. You are a veteran with decades in the Navy. What's your initial reaction when you hear that any ship has been at sea for more than 250 days?

CAPT. CARL O. SCHUSTER (RET.), U.S. NAVY: I think it's exceptionally difficult for the crew. I never did more than 90 days at sea, and I can tell you the minute you pass the 60 day mark, you're feeling tired of the deployment. It's not unusual.

Certainly in my day, we had one or two guys try to jump overboard at about the 50 to 60 day mark.

[03:09:55]

Being at sea on a carrier, particularly in the conflict situation, it's very intense. It places a very heavy psychological stress on you and physical, particularly for the guys in the propulsion spaces and the guys on the flight deck.

Their work is very intense, very hard and very stressful, and like in some cases, very dangerous. And everyone eventually reaches a breaking point. So we shouldn't condemn these guys, we should thank them for their service and give them all the help we can to get through the stress and situations they felt. I'm glad to hear carriers going out there to replace the aid. In a

perfect world, I would have sent her about 90 days earlier, but we have requirements these days exceed the number of carriers that we have. And so the human element of the Navy is paying for those decisions from a decade ago.

Also, there are no good ports to visit in that area. You can't go into Djibouti, it's a good place, but it's within drone and missile range of the Houthis. You can't pull into Dubai because you're within drone and missile range of the Iranians.

So the nearest safe port is Mumbai. Well, I've never been there, I've heard good things about it. But it's about four days steaming away and four days to come back.

So you face difficult choices and the crew is paying the price for that. I think you'll be glad to have them go home. It'll be great to see them replaced and get some relief, if you will.

WATSON: It's a good point. You mentioned Dubai. I've literally seen and been on board a U.S. aircraft carrier that made a port visit there in the past and clearly within range of the Iranian drones and missiles.

But I want to ask about these most frightening reports that you mentioned that you have seen and heard of suicide attempts in decades past, where service personnel try to throw themselves overboard. What are the realities of mental health in the Navy and particularly aboard ships where sailors and Marines are far from their families for months and months at a time?

SCHUSTER: It's particularly stressful. And in my day, we were somewhat lucky in a way in that we grew up in a society where you were surrounded by friends and shipmates. So you were accustomed to having almost a social network around you.

Today's young people are more isolated psychologically. And so that natural support network doesn't exist or it's not as great. We have chaplains, we have senior enlisted people and mid-level enlisted people who track these guys, talk to them.

But let's face it, 200 days is a period longer than that we've seen since World War Two. In my day, a 68 day deployment, I'm sorry, 68 days continuously at sea was considered stressful. We had a couple of ships do 90, but we never had anyone do 200.

And if you're down in the propulsion spaces working 12, 14 hours a day, you don't see the sun. And so you're very dependent on your relationship with those around you, your interactions, and you increasingly feel isolated.

So even minor things become a major issue over time. And as I said, each of us reaches a, shall we say, a saturation or breaking point at some time. The handful of sailors that this has happened to, clearly it reached their breaking point. In my view, we ought to rotate people off every 90 days or so. And if

you can't remove the ship, then maybe find people to put on the ship to replace those who take off and send somewhere to kind of decompress, if you will. Of course, that's logistically complicated and expensive, but you don't have enough ships.

Then you need to think of how you take care of the human element of those ships. Does that make sense?

WATSON: Yes, and it does raise questions about how ready the Navy was for a prolonged military operation in connection with this war in Iran at the start of the year. Retired U.S. Navy Captain Carl Schuster, thank you very much for speaking. And great to see you flying your Hawaii colors there and your shirt there.

All right, let's move on. Okay.

All right. Days after a massive earthquake, the death toll in Colombia continues to climb. The President says at least 281 people are confirmed dead, nearly 400 remain missing.

The chance of finding survivors drops sharply after 72 hours. And that deadline passed on Thursday morning. Colombia's government is only accepting help from just a few countries that have certifications, and that includes the U.S., El Salvador, Ecuador and Israel.

Rescuers from Mexico are ready to go, but they haven't been approved yet. And Mexico did send more than 19 tons of aid to Colombia.

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All right, he faced challengers from the, quote, official monster waving loony party and another who called himself Count Binface. But Bright Britain's Nigel Farage has triumphed and we will get a live report on this very bizarre election.

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WATSON: Welcome back.

Firebrand Reform Party leader Nigel Farage has won back his seat in the British Parliament. Farage called a by-election after abruptly resigning from Parliament last month.

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His most prominent challenger was a comedian who goes by Count Binface, who we're told got more than 9000 votes. Farage won upwards of 22000.

Now, CNN's Nada Bashir is covering this live from London. I do have to ask, do you think, Nada, that in the last minutes, Farage might have gotten a little nervous that he might have potentially lost to a talking trashcan?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There certainly was a lot of pressure on Nigel Farage, particularly given the fact that he, of course, triggered this by-election following that intense scrutiny over his finances.

Of course, the hard-right Reform Party leader has consistently denied any sort of wrongdoing with regards to his finances. And he framed this by-election as being an opportunity for the people of Clacton, his constituency, to judge his actions. He described this as an election that represented the people versus the establishment.

But this by-election quickly became a point of ridicule, despite the fact that 34 parties fielded candidates for this by-election in the constituency of Clacton. None of the major parties, including the Conservative Party, the Labor Party, the Liberal Democrats, fielded candidates. This quickly became a point of ridicule.

As you mentioned, Nigel Farage's main opponent, Count Binface, who has, of course, we've seen, been wearing a trash can as part of his outfit while campaigning for this election. He did win the credit for more than 9000 votes, as you mentioned, Farage coming away with more than 22000 votes.

But this really has become quite a bit of a circus, at least in British media. And, of course, there will be questions as to how serious Nigel Farage is taken in Parliament now following this by- election, when, of course, given the shifting tides that we have seen in Parliament, with now Andy Burnham leading the Labor Party, the more left-wing socialist Andy Burnham leading the Labor Party and as prime minister.

Again, he has come away with a significant number of votes in Clacton. He is expected to be sworn in Parliament once the House of Commons resumes in September. But, of course, as Parliament resumes and as he takes his seat as M.P. once again, those investigations into his finances are set to resume as well. Ivan?

WATSON: And I'm sure we're going to want to hear about how those investigations move forward. Nada Bashir in London, great to see you. Thank you so much.

All right, Palestinian families trapped in their West Bank homes as Israeli settlers block nearby roads and try to force them out. CNN is on the scene. Stay tuned for our report.

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WATSON: Welcome back. I'm Ivan Watson, in Hong Kong. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

The U.S. says it will take its economic pressure on Iran to a whole new level in the coming days. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Washington will announce new measures next week that have never been seen before. He says they'll combine an unprecedented isolation of Iran with a blockade of its ports.

A U.S. official tells CNN the Pentagon is replacing an aircraft carrier deployed for operations against Iran. The official says the USS George Washington is headed to the Middle East to take over from the USS Abraham Lincoln. That follows reports of horrific living conditions and worsening mental health among the Lincoln's crew.

Rescue teams in Colombia are still searching for possible survivors of Monday's earthquake; at least 281 deaths have been confirmed. The president says 379 people are missing. Experts say the chances of finding survivors significantly drops after 72 hours.

The U.N. Human Rights Office says the situation in the occupied West Bank is, quote, "beyond a boiling point" as Palestinian communities increasingly come under attack. In the town of Qusra, authorities say some 15 Palestinians, some of them children, were trapped in their homes in a, quote, state of terror after settlers cut off electricity and water and blocked nearby roads.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond visited the scene.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The view from this Palestinian home is the same from every angle. Israeli settlers everywhere you look.

For days now, they've set up camp and surrounded three homes on this hilltop in the occupied West Bank in a bid to force the residents out and take over. They've cut water and power lines and have tried to stop anyone from approaching.

All of this is illegal and yet this is what happened when Palestinian residents first called the Israeli military. Soldiers joined the settlers in prayer.

LOUI RIDDI, PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN FROM OHIO: They start hugging the settlers and they start praying with the settlers and absolutely did nothing to protect my brother and his son.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Loui Riddi owns one of those houses. A Palestinian-American, he's watched all of this unfold from Ohio.

[03:30:04]

And this is what he saw on Wednesday. The Israeli military trying and ultimately failing to remove the settlers from the area. Hours later, we drive up the hill to see if anything has changed.

DIAMOND: So these are actually the three homes that have been besieged by the settlers for four days now. We're going to try and climb up this hill and see if we can get past the settlers who are blocking the area.

DIAMOND (voice-over): The settlers are still there. So are two Israeli soldiers who order us to stop and turn off our vehicle. The soldier tells me this is now a closed military area and that we're interfering with military activity.

DIAMOND (translated): Why are we interfering and not them? I don't understand.

SOLDIER (translated): You can contact the military spokesperson. This is a closed military area.

DIAMOND (voice-over): An IDF spokesperson said the order does apply to the settlers, but it's clearly not being enforced.

DIAMOND: They're telling us that it's a closed military zone, that we're not allowed to be here. But at the same time, we're seeing multiple Israeli settlers who are here, who are not being made to leave and who are continuing to block the access to these homes.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Down the hill, we call Loui's brother, Qusai, who's been staying in his home.

DIAMOND: Qusai, this is the closest we're able to get to your home, unfortunately. How are you doing? Do you still have supplies?

DIAMOND (voice-over): The food I have is going to run out in two to three days. Beyond that, I have no food, nothing, he says. But at the same time, even if I run out of food, I will not leave the house.

DIAMOND: So do you have any hope that these settlers are actually going to be kicked out of this area?

DIAMOND (voice-over): Honestly, from what I saw today, the settlers were monstrous, he explains. They even attacked the Israeli army, forcing them to fire sound grenades and tear gas. They have their eyes set on the house and this hilltop, they want to take it.

The Israeli military says it is stepping up its efforts to rout the settlers, deploying an infantry battalion to the area to, quote, "protect the residents and maintain security." But Qusai's fears aren't abstract. In recent weeks, settlers in this area have set fire to a mosque and besieged this home.

DIAMOND: This right here is why those families are afraid to leave their home. You can see Israeli settlers on the rooftop of this house here. Three weeks ago, Palestinians were living in that house, but it's been taken over by Israeli settlers.

DIAMOND (voice-over): With a messianic flag now flying above it, these settlers want their presence known from one hilltop to the next.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Qusra, the West Bank.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: All right. A train derailment in southern England has injured 18 people too seriously. The accident happened 45 miles south of London.

About 150 people were on board when the last three carriages of the train left the tracks and tumbled onto their sides. Emergency services say 10 fire engines and rescue units responded to the scene.

It's not immediately clear what caused the accident, but inspectors are on site. Several train services were canceled or running at slower speeds because of heat reaching 95 degrees Fahrenheit or 35 degrees Celsius in the U.K.

An explosion at a port in Rotterdam, Netherlands, has killed one person and injured six others. The blast happened at an oil refinery and fuel terminal at Europe's biggest port. The company operating the facility says the explosion occurred during maintenance work on one of its storage tanks; police have described the incident as a workplace accident.

All right. Western Europe is being scorched by another heat wave as the first two months of summer have been the hottest on record, that's according to the E.U.'s climate monitor.

Londoners are facing high temperatures of 38 degrees Celsius or 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Most of Britain is going through a flash drought due to very low rainfall and constant heat.

The successive heat waves across Europe have strained water supplies and sparked wildfires in France, Spain and Greece. Residents and tourists had to flee villages in northern Greece. A blaze in a forest area triggered a series of emergency evacuations.

In the U.S., Indiana is bracing for more severe weather only a day after catastrophic flooding hit the state. Video from Yorktown shows the scale of the devastation as water rages over bridges, submerging homes and cars.

The storm that caused the deluge is being labeled as a once in a thousand year rainfall event. Indiana's Governor Mike Braun declared a statewide disaster emergency on Thursday and mobilized the state's National Guard to help with rescues and cleanup.

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Investors are suing Selena Gomez and her mental health startup. What they have to say about Wonder Mind and the pop star's involvement in the company, that's coming up after the break.

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WATSON: Welcome back. Here are your business headlines.

[03:40:02]

Okay, U.S. wholesale inflation slowed more than expected in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and that could be a sign of slower price hikes for consumers. But beware, the prices businesses pay each other aren't always fully passed on through the supply chain.

The S&P 500 is looking to capitalize on some positive momentum. The index closed at a record high on Thursday, fueled in part by technology stocks. Strong forecasts from Microsoft and Amazon have helped ease concerns about massive spending on A.I. data centers.

Legal trouble is brewing for pop star and actress Selena Gomez. Several investors are suing her health startup Wonder Mind. They claim they were misled about the company's success and her involvement in it. Gomez and the company did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.

Here at CNN International, we have a new streaming show called "Meanwhile in Asia." In it, senior producer Kunal Sehgal and I dive deep into the stories that make the Asia-Pacific region tick. And this week we're looking at overtourism and bad tourism and how different countries try to deal with having lots and lots of visitors all at once.

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WATSON: Look at you, sun hat and sunglasses.

LILIT MARCUS, CNN TRAVEL PRODUCER: I'm always in the mindset.

WATSON: There's a reason why I'm wearing this ridiculous shirt.

KUNAL SEHGAL, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, we are.

WATSON: Yes. But I think let's be honest, mine's way dumber.

The reason is we're going to be talking about tourism and what kind of impact did COVID have and how has it contributed to these issues of overtourism right now?

MARCUS: The minute that Japan reopened to foreign tourism, it was just this big whoosh. They called it revenge travel, which isn't a term that I love, but I get what they were trying to say is, hey, I spent two years quarantining and wearing masks and not getting to go anywhere. It's my turn, like, let's go.

I'm going to say as someone who covers the travel industry, you can about 50-50 split my email down when it comes from tourism destinations like cities or famous attractions getting in touch with me. I would say 50 percent of them are, hey, like, have you heard of our destination? You should write about it, you should tell people to come here.

Like, we need the money. We really want to grow tourism.

And the other 50 percent is never write about us. Please don't tell anyone that we're here. We have too many tourists, make them go away.

And one thing that Japan has tried to do, they know that they're not going to be able to stop tourism from happening. So, for example, JAL, which is one of the two Japanese national airlines, came up with this program where if you're flying into Tokyo or Osaka from another country for free, you can have a free connecting flight somewhere in Japan to another region of the country.

I don't have numbers from the airline about how it's working, but what I can tell you is the feedback that they're getting on social, which is everyone thinks it is a great idea for someone else.

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WATSON: Okay, you can watch that entire episode of "Meanwhile in Asia" on our streaming site, CNN All Access. So for now, thanks for watching, I'm Ivan Watson, in Hong Kong. "CNN World Sport" is next.

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