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CNN International: Iran: Oil Tanker Explodes After hitting Mines In Hormuz; U.N. Migration Chief In Yemen Talks Displacement Crisis; Harvard Poll: Young Americans Wary Of A.I.'s Impact On Jobs. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired September 15, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

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[04:00:40]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello, welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York. And this is coming your way here on "CNN Newsroom."

The fighting is intensifying in Yemen, forcing tens of thousands of refugees to flee their homes. We'll discuss the next chapter of a year's long conflict that's worsening the humanitarian crisis.

And President Trump calls to latest A.I. warnings, a hoax. While some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say that Congress needs to take action to regulate it.

And who footed the bill for Donald Trump, Jr.'s lavish wedding celebration in the Bahamas, at least part of it? Well, a new report is raising eyebrows in the intelligence community.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from New York, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: Talks between Iran and Gulf countries on reopening the Strait of Hormuz have been postponed indefinitely, but Tehran says, it's not behind the delay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ESMAEIL BAGHAEI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): Saudi Arabia requested that this meeting not take place for the time being. The war in the region between Islamic countries has only one winner, and that is no one other than the Zionist regime, which seeks to perpetuate tensions and insecurity in our region and among Islamic countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says that a super oil tanker exploded after hitting naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz. And that's according to state media. The IRGC says that the vessel was trying to cross through the so- called forbidden routes in the southern part of the critical waterway. They asserted that the Strait remains under Iran's, quote, "smart control."

Our Paula Hancocks joins us live with the latest from Abu Dhabi. So, we just heard right now, Paula, that's coming from Iranian state T.V. What are U.S. forces saying about this reported mine strike?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Polo, we've had a response from U.S. Central Command and they have said that the Iranian claim it was due to a mine is false.

I'll read you part of the post from social media where CENTCOM says, quote, "The Panama-flagged oil tanker was struck by an Iranian missile last month and rendered inoperable. This weekend, Iran struck the tanker again with a drone while the ship sat in waters off the coast of Oman."

Now, this really just underlines the -- the dangers for vessels trying to traverse the Strait of Hormuz. A critical waterway that -- that President Trump has said has been de-mined by the U.S. Navy and is open for business. The same waterway that Iran says is closed and will continue to be closed until the U.S. sticks to its commitments.

Just to point out how few vessels appear to be getting through at this point, Kpler has -- this is shipping data, has said on Monday, four got through. On Sunday, 10 managed to get through. There was well over 100 per day pre-war levels.

Now, of course, there are some who will switch off their tracking devices, switch off the AIS. So, of course, that number could be higher.

When we look at the -- the second critical waterway that Iran appears to be having influence over now, coming out of the -- the -- the Middle East, this is the Bab al-Mandeb Strait which effectively connects Europe and Asia when it comes to commercial shipping.

Now, we have seen the Houthis taking control of a number of port cities in that area. There really was a -- a lightning strike as they came down the -- the West Coast of Yemen and managed to -- to take control of a number of areas including Perim Island, which is in the entrance to that -- that key Strait.

This is, of course, a group that is sponsored, that is funded and equipped by Iran. And they have -- we understand from Reuters, been firing missiles and drones once again against Saudi Arabia.

Now, we heard that there were missiles and drones that were targeting the -- the aircraft hangers, radar systems, runways and ammunition depots.

Saudi Arabia has just given the all clear for about six cities which they believed could come under attack including a key oil depot just along the Red Sea along that coast. [04:05:08]

This was a way that Saudi Arabia was managing to get its oil out while the Strait of Hormuz was -- was having such significant issues. So, what we see at this point is we have seen the Houthi rebels themselves celebrating in the streets of Mocha. This is the port city on the West Coast of -- of Yemen. One of the first cities that they did manage to -- to take over as they carried out this -- this run of -- of -- of being able to take control of that really key coast along the Red Sea.

Now, we know that the -- the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is -- is heading to Egypt today.

CNN -- a source telling CNN that he also did ask the U.S. President Donald Trump for help in trying to repel some of these Houthi attacks, but that -- that the U.S. president declined to get involved. Polo.

SANDOVAL: CNN's Paula Hancocks with that live report. Thank you so much, Paula.

And -- and let's stay in the region now where thousands of Yemenis are -- are fleeing their homes. This fighting between Houthi rebels and Saudi forces continues to intensify as we just heard from Paula.

More than 2,000 refugees have arrived in Djibouti so far and more are expected as the fighting continues escalating.

The United Nation's migration agencies reporting that the ongoing conflict has now displaced more than 90,000 people across Yemen.

And the U.N. warned that the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, is at risk of deteriorating even further.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FARHAN HAQ, U.N. DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON: Humanitarian access and movement remains severely constrained due to insecurity. Humanitarian movements into and within several locations on the West Coast remain suspended, while key roads are restricted or impassable.

We call on all parties to protect civilians, respect the international humanitarian law, and facilitate safe and unimpeded humanitarian access so that urgently needed assistance can reach communities in need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Joining me now is Abdusattor Esoev. He's a chief of mission for the international organization for migration in Yemen. Abdusattor, thank you so much for joining us.

ABDUSATTOR ESOEV, CHIEF OF MISSION, INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION IN YEMEN: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: So, as you know, this conflict between the Houthis and -- and -- and the Yemeni government forces, that has been ongoing for some time now since 2014.

But -- but it seems that last week's renewed fighting has displaced at least 46,000 people from southwestern Yemen. That's according to the latest numbers from the U.N.

How is this new wave of clashes fueling this growing humanitarian crisis in the region?

ESOEV: Absolutely. You know, thank you, Polo.

I think that the situation has escalated for, I would say for the last few weeks. We have been seeing the displaced population since mid of July.

However, the peak of the -- of the -- of the people leaving or fleeing the -- the government, which is the West Coast of -- of Yemen, has been in -- since September.

So as of yesterday, we had over 94,000 individuals that IOM specifically tracking record shows have been displaced from their home, from the West Coast to other -- to other districts and to other governorates.

Of course, the majority remains in Taiz (ph) governorate, but also we have seen people being -- fleeing that is to -- to large governorates. Some are coming even to Aden, where I am now based.

So, we see that the -- the situation remains to be tensed and we may see more people to be displaced and more people to defect.

SANDOVAL: The sheer number, too, Abdusattor, is -- is alarming. The sheer number of displaced families. And then you take into consideration all the conflict that continues to go on right now in the Middle East.

So because of that, what options do these tens of thousands of individuals, if not more, have to -- to seek shelter? Where do they go?

ESOEV: People who are on the move and trying to flee the -- the places of residence because of ongoing hostilities are actually looking for safer spaces.

As I mentioned, they are trying to -- to -- to -- not to go too far from where they are -- they are -- they are -- they were leaving, hoping that they can return.

But, of course, the urgent need that we would like, we are now actually requesting and understanding from -- from talking to the people, they -- they -- they say mostly what they -- they need. They need the food. They -- emergency shelter.

They -- they -- the protection concern of these people are quite high because we see a lot of women and children among those people fleeing, families that are going there.

[04:10:01]

So, they are almost -- sometimes we see them in the open airs because there are not camps that they can be accommodated. So, therefore, they are on the move as we talk.

SANDOVAL: Yes. You mentioned young people. It's important also point out that since this escalation, the U.N. has reported at least 14 civilians, some of them even children who have been either been killed or -- or hurt. And again, that's just since this recent escalation.

Eventually, though, how is this resumption of -- of -- of fighting hampering access to medical care or perhaps some of the humanitarian aid routes that are established in the regions?

ESOEV: Yes, before the -- the situation has -- has escalated, the -- the needs of the humanitarian needs of -- of Yemenis, including those displaced population, were quite high.

So, the Yemen is one of the country that has the largest displaced population. So, 4.5 million of people have been displaced since 2014. And now this number has been added to those -- to those people.

And therefore, we -- therefore, the humanitarian assistance in this population is now -- demand is -- is quite rising. And therefore, we haven't seen actually reduced funding to the -- to the response, the humanitarian response, in general, in Yemen.

And for this new debate of the displacement and the new displaced population, unfortunately, the -- the needs are quite high. And the resources that humanitarian agencies have in place is -- is limited.

Therefore, we calling for qualified international communities to be looking back the needs of this -- of the Yemenis and especially now the (INAUDIBLE).

SANDOVAL: Well, clearly this now --

ESOEV: (INAUDIBLE). The food, house, all -- across all sectors of the immigrants.

SANDOVAL: Actually, I wanted to close on that too. Your organization, the IOM, is calling on all parties to guarantee safe and sustained humanitarian access in that region.

The last few seconds I have with you, perhaps -- perhaps you wanted to -- to really highlight that plea that you have for the international community. What would that be?

ESOEV: Yes. Well, as -- as we -- as our director general have been calling upon the all parties to allow us to access those people. And sometimes in some areas, we are not able to access into the same the needs of this population.

First of all, to allow these people to be -- to be provided by the humanitarian assistance, of course, to -- to safeguard civilians during this -- this conflict and calling all parties, of course, deescalate.

So that agencies such as IOM and other (INAUDIBLE) could -- could be able to go and -- and -- and access and -- and learn the situation and try to support these people as -- as the situation still remains tense.

SANDOVAL: Abdusattor Esoev, thank you so much for your time and -- and for giving us that valuable, yet, alarming snapshot of what is yet another humanitarian crisis in the region. Thank you for your time.

ESOEV: Thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: U.S. President Donald Trump says that Russia and Ukraine have reached an agreement. And according to him, both countries will stop targeting each other's energy infrastructure.

But Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that the deal isn't done, at least not just yet. He called it a strong proposal and said that an agreement would only come if the U.S. and other allies are, quote, ready to ensure that Russia genuinely refrains from striking Ukrainian infrastructure.

Here's what President Trump had to say about these recent strikes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The problem I have with Ukraine and Russia is that, you know, a lot of the diesel comes -- diesel comes, and that's the one where there's a -- a big up that comes from Russia. And the Russia plants are being hit by Ukraine. And I've asked President Zelenskyy not to hit the diesel plants, refineries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it potentially that --

TRUMP: Because that's what's driving it up. The -- the -- wait a minute. The diesel is being driven up by the fact that it's having a hard time coming out of Russia. And that's the case that hurts the world. We got to stop it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: But it doesn't appear that the agreement is holding. So, let's go live now to London. And CNN's Clare Sebastian is following that story. Clare, good morning to you.

So, President Trump is now calling on Ukraine to stop targeting Russia's refineries. What would that mean for the broader war?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That we've been having since the beginning of the war, Polo, which is, how do you pressure a systemically important oil producer to stop waging war?

Ukraine has, it believes, found a potential way by hitting these refineries. We're seeing fuel shortages in Russia, which had stabilized somewhat over the summer, now rearing again. [04:15:04]

And the governor of the Leningrad region said this week that he doesn't think that the queues outside gas stations that they're seeing there will be result until early October.

Still, though, it doesn't seem to have deterred the Kremlin. So, I think the reactions from both sides to the claim from President Trump on Monday that they had both agreed to stop attacking each other's energy facilities is interesting.

Ukraine has come out and said that it will, if Russia does, Russia has said nothing, so far, despite having welcomed over the weekend Trump's call for Ukraine to stop attacking its refineries. This is clearly a delicate situation for them since they appear to have no incentive at this point to stop.

But look, there is a difference between how we heard from President Trump on this, him saying that basically both sides have agreed and how President Zelenskyy has described the situation. Take a listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): There is also now a strong proposal from the United States for a mutual cessation of strikes against critical infrastructure.

And if this can become the first de-escalatory step, a step toward ending Russian strikes against our critical infrastructure and our retaliatory strikes and response, then Ukraine is ready to support de- escalation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So, look, Ukraine will take any glimmer of hope when it comes to a way to stop this massive escalation that we've seen recently in terms of -- of Russian airstrikes, this air war that both sides are now involved in.

Russia has promised that it's preparing massive strikes on Ukraine's energy facilities going into a fifth winter of war. They are extremely concerned of that, particularly given the lack of missile interceptors that they have. So, that's why you see this position from the Ukrainians.

He is also, as he said, worried that Russia might try to time some kind of energy ceasefire for their parliamentary elections, which are coming up at the end of the week. We've seen them try to do this in the past, but things like Victory Day, he said, that they -- they want to try and get an easing of the pressure on gasoline and diesel prices timed for that event. So, that is a concern for President Zelenskyy.

But look, on the Russian side, as of yet, no comment. We don't see any sign that they are deterred by the -- the fuel shortages they're seeing -- they're seeing from these Ukrainian attacks. So, it will be interesting to see how they handle this.

Polo.

SANDOVAL: Yes, it's certainly will. Clare Sebastian joining us live from London. Thank you so much.

Now to Donald Trump, Jr. and his wife. They are defending their lavish May wedding after "ProPublica" report from them revealed that it was partly funded by a secret benefactor, a Russian oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin. The couple tied the knot in the Bahamas, and what Bettina Trump said was an intimate event attended only by family.

Well, "ProPublica," though, reporting that oligarch, Umar Kremlev, was among 50 people who attended that wedding celebration along with a group of other Russian guests.

In a statement on Instagram, Bettina Trump described Kremlev as a dear friend. And she went on to say, quote, "Friendship doesn't require political motive. Generosity doesn't automatically come with an agenda."

Its -- in its report, "ProPublica" said that it appears that Trump, Jr., had just recently met Kremlev, who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on expenses for the wedding celebration.

And the report cites alarm among some national security experts who question what motivated a member of Putin's circle to spend so much money on the wedding.

CNN's Erin Burnett spoke with Jesse Eisinger of "ProPublica" and said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Jared Kushner was at the wedding.

JESSE EISINGER, ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR, PROPUBLICA: Yes.

BURNETT: OK. Jared Kushner has not been affirmed -- confirmed by any in any official role by Congress, yet, he is going back and forth to Moscow, negotiating face to face with Vladimir Putin about peace in the Ukraine deal. And he's attending this event with this guy whose close to Putin and getting these awards from Putin and we -- and we -- we don't know anything about it?

EISINGER: Well, this is what intelligence experts would be worried about and said that they were worried about when we told them about the story, which is that this provides an entree to the Trump family in a very intimate setting away from cameras, away from the public eye.

And who knows, over the course of multiple days, you know, there's, you know, liquor flowing at a wedding. And so this is the kind of thing that intelligence officials and experts say is absolutely a red flag. And in addition, on top of the money-changing hands, receiving this gift. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Still ahead this hour, the rise of A.I. is changing the calculus for college students, getting ready to enter the workforce. We'll ask the university president what students can do to be successful in the era of artificial intelligence.

And later, a night of surprises and historic wins for television. We'll bring you some of the biggest moments from the 78th annual Primetime Emmy Awards.

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[04:20:55]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back.

Turning now to the debate over what the government needs to do, if anything, to prevent a doomsday scenario brought on by artificial intelligence.

The CEO of one of the leading A.I. developers, Anthropic, is calling for an industry-wide slowdown, more regulation, and global cooperation. And all of this in an effort to stop out-of-control and potentially dangerous A.I. models from being developed.

Several major competitors, including Elon Musk and OpenAI's Sam Altman, have also voiced their support for more safety measures.

But President Trump is rejecting that push for more A.I. regulation. In this string of social media posts on Monday, the president called safety concerns a hoax, insisting that the bigger issue is preventing China from outpacing the U.S. when it comes to A.I. He says the only guardrail that A.I. needs is a strong, high I.Q. president.

CNN's Anderson Cooper spoke with Anthropic's Dario Amodei after his warning this weekend over the future of A.I. He explained one of the measures that he's committed to implementing to try to help avert any possible potential risks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:25:06]

DARIO AMODEI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ANTHROPIC: We already have evaluators who checked the finished model, who checked the finished product. But, you know, as -- as we know, you know, if you were going to inspect food or something, it's not enough to just check the finished product, you will also need to see the process whereby it's made.

And -- and so what we're doing here is we're allowing these -- these evaluators in to look at the details of how we train the models, the kinds of things they could see are, oh, these are -- here are some training environments that are known to be training environments that cause problems. ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The other thing you're calling for in this three-part proposal is -- is democratic coordination, which essentially democracy, all the companies that are under democracies, having these evaluators, having this coordination.

And probably the most important, because the argument is, well, if the U.S. companies are the only ones regulating themselves, what about does China get ahead? You're calling for global coordination. That's obviously a lot more difficult.

AMODEI: Yes, yes. You know, in this three-step proposal, each step is more difficult than -- than the one before. And Anthropic was kind of getting the ball rolling by committing to the first step. But we shouldn't kid ourselves that these next two steps are going to be more difficult and -- and we may not succeed.

And -- and so my -- my proposal was a proposal that we should try. Now, again, from all the agreement from others that I've seen in just the first few hours of putting out the essay, that creates some optimism, but that needs to follow up with results.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance also cast down on calls to regulate A.I. development. He also acknowledged the technology comes with some risks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are obviously risks to A.I. There are some benefits to A.I. I -- I have to say just personally, I feel a little bit weird about the fact that you have so many Frontier A.I. tech companies kind of coming to the government and begging the government to regulate them. It feels a little bit to me like a bit of a Trojan horse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Joining me now is Robin Holmes-Sullivan. She's the President of Lewis & Clark College, as we hope to tackle the question of how A.I. is influencing career paths for students. Robin, welcome to the program.

ROBIN HOLMES-SULLIVAN, PRESIDENT, LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE: Thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: I wonder if we can begin with a poll from the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School. I want to show it to our viewers.

It -- it says that it shows that A.I. continues adding uncertainty to the lives of college students. Some 59 percent of those polled see A.I. as a threat to their job prospects with 41 percent thinking that A.I. actually undermines the meaning of work.

With your expertise in higher learning, Robin, what's your advice, especially for undecided college students right now when it comes to the fields of study? You know, what can they study in order to have an added advantage over artificial intelligence?

HOLMES-SULLIVAN: Sure. And, you know, there's lots of news out there and lots of polls and lots of discussions about this.

And what we're seeing, pretty consistently across the country, is that, as you mentioned, college students are really nervous. You might remember that there was some booing and, you know --

SANDOVAL: Right.

HOLMES-SULLIVAN: -- kind of being upset with certain commencement speakers who were bringing up A.I. It's on students' minds. They don't want to feel as though their prospects are dimmed in any way, especially after they've committed so much to a college education. So, I understand that.

So, I think the thing to do, as educators, is to, you know, really just make sure students know that their prospects, in many ways, are going to be better than ever because the things that students can learn and do, especially those students who are coming from liberal arts colleges, such as my own, they can do things and they're going to learn things to be trained to do things that computers just can't do yet. And that's all the human components, the human skills that really are special and are needed in the workplace, now more than ever.

SANDOVAL: There was also some fascinating reporting too, Robin, that I saw recently in the "Wall Street Journal" that reported that writing that anthropology, mathematics, philosophy, also some ideal fields in an A.I.-dominated workplace rather than computer science, which I thought was interesting.

Do you see students in -- in the more traditional careers and tech or digital perhaps having a harder time landing jobs after graduation?

HOLMES-SULLIVAN: We are seeing some evidence of that. And partly that's because a lot of times college students, when they are first coming from their degrees, are landing those entry-level jobs. And those might be the jobs that are more likely to be taken up or changed because of A.I. So, those students might be a little bit worried, but they shouldn't be completely worried because there are still many things that even those who are training those more technical -- technical jobs can do.

But as you mentioned, it's interesting. It's almost as though the liberal arts are having a resurgence, right? Because --

SANDOVAL: Right.

HOLMES-SULLIVAN: -- the things that we're learning now are those majors that you just mentioned, people in the -- in anthropology or philosophy. Those -- those students are trained to think broadly.