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U.S. Border Czar Vows to "Regain Law and Order" in Minneapolis; Talks Intensify to Avert U.S. Government Shutdown; U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer Meets with Xi Jinping in China; Inside Tehran as Tensions with U.S. Soar; E.U. Placing IRGC on List of Terrorist Organizations. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 29, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Welcome to our second hour of the show from our Middle East programming headquarters here in Abu Dhabi. I'm

Becky Anderson. It is just after 7:00 in the evening.

And we begin this hour with what could be some big changes ahead for Minneapolis. president Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, is on the ground

there and admits, quote, "certain improvements" could and should be made.

The new chief of the city's immigration crackdown admits operations have not been, quote, "perfect" but that the crackdown has taken the lives of

two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Homan has declined to talk about that but he says he supports the right to protest and is adamant he is not in Minnesota to put on a political show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, TRUMP BORDER CZAR: I didn't come to Minnesota for photo-ops or headlines. You haven't seen me. I came here to seek solutions. I don't want

to hear that everything that has been done here has been perfect. Nothing is ever perfect and anything can be improved on.

And what we've been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient, by the book. And President Trump and I, along with others in the

administration, have recognized that certain improvements could and should be made. That's exactly what I'm doing here.

We will conduct targeted enforcement operations -- targeted. Matter of fact, I have staff from CBP and from ICE working on a drawdown plan. The

president, one of the words he said to me when I came up here, he said he didn't want to see anybody die.

We are not surrendering the president's mission on immigration enforcement. Let's make that clear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Homan's comments, especially about the right to protest, are a big departure from how other top Trump officials have referred to

protesters. And Reuters is now reporting the new internal guidance from ICE is directing officers to avoid engaging with them.

CNN's chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill. First, though, let's get to Jeff Zeleny, my colleague and chief U.S.

national affairs correspondent for CNN.

Jeff, on the one hand, we heard Homan acknowledge that ICE needs to improve. On the other, he has insisted that the fundamentals of Trump's

immigration policy are still the same.

So what are you read into this?

How much of a shift does this represent, if at all, in the Trump immigration strategy?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, there is certainly a shift. And the big thing is the fact that he is there in

Minnesota at all represents a dramatic shift from Gregory Bovino, who is the head of the Border Patrol, who's been there for several weeks. And

really, his tactics have been different.

So there is a shift in terms of leadership. And I think his comment there was interesting. He said certain improvements could and should be made.

However, he is still working for president Trump. He is still there on behalf of president Trump. And he made that clear as well.

So I think that Tom Homan was clearly trying to strike a bit of a balance here in terms of saying, yes, he is going to turn a page through a targeted

enforcement, going after specific people rather than these all-out neighborhood-by-neighborhood swaths and scans that they've been doing.

But also trying to make it clear that he is still a representative of the Trump administration. So there's not a full retreat, there's no doubt about

that. The president's base wouldn't allow that.

But there is also a sign that what has been going on there simply is not good politically speaking and also has not been effective. So without

question, there's a shift.

But I think there are limits to that shift. And coming up in the coming days, we will see how it plays out. But the fact that the White House has

retreated on this this week has been quite extraordinary to watch.

ANDERSON: Yes. It has, Jeff. You're right.

Manu, let me bring you in. Homan mentioned Congress in his remarks. Those remarks delivered about an hour or so ago. Let's have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOMAN: If you don't like what ICE is doing, instead of protesting in this building, go to protest Congress.

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Tell me what changes. You have your First Amendment rights, I support that. You have the right to protest. I'm just asking you to keep it peaceful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Get us up to speed on the concerns that we have heard both from Republicans and Democrats about ICE and how that is playing out in what is

this Democratic-led fight to change ISIS tactics before funding the government because we are looking at a partial shutdown at this point.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it would be a significant shutdown if it were to happen. Remember, we are at a critical

moment here in Washington. Friday, 11:59 pm Eastern time, that is the deadline to avert a shutdown of probably about 70 percent of the federal

government.

It is part of this package, it would fund the Homeland Security Department and the Homeland Security Department is what is in charge of ICE. And that

is where the fight is right now on Capitol Hill.

Democrats have demanded a series of changes on how ICE operates and said they will not support a bill in the United States Senate unless there are

changes.

They have the votes to block a bill, which is why Republicans, recognizing the outrage that has happened in the aftermath of the two people who were

killed in Minneapolis and president Trump himself, are moving in the Democrats' direction.

According to several sources telling both me and Jeff Zeleny about the movement of to potentially get a late deal and avoid a government shutdown,

all because of the shifting politics on this issue.

Now Democrats are demanding a series of changes. They want everything from ending roving patrols to making sure that ICE agents can no longer wear

masks and are required to wear body armor, changing how they're using force and how they're using warrants to search people's homes.

They want all that codified into law. And I talked to a number of them over the last several days and they made clear, including the Democrats who

voted against shutting the government down last fall, they are on board with their party strategy this time to draw a firm line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Trump said. We're going to do this on an executive level, just executive action.

Would that be enough for you?

SEN. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO (D-NV): No, because I don't trust this administration and their executive actions to hold true to their word.

RAJU: Last time you were one of the three who really stepped out here and broke with your party.

What changed for you this time?

MASTO: Well, there's a there's a difference now. First of all, I don't support shutdowns. Never have. The only one that we're questioning right

now is Homeland Security. And rightfully so, based on what we have seen, the excessive force and demand for accountability for these officers.

So there has to be a callout. There has to be a demand for transparency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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SEN. BRIAN E. SCHATZ (D-HI): We have been talking to Republicans who seem to understand the gravity of the situation societally. And I'm confident we

can land it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So the way this would ultimately work would be that, if a deal is reached, it would fund most of the federal government up until the end of

September. But then this Homeland Security department would be funded under a temporary spending bill.

And during that temporary spending bill, that short timeframe, that would give them time to negotiate new policies on ICE that Democrats are

demanding to be part of the bill and signed into law.

So even if they avert this crisis, another one around the corner. And it still doesn't mean there's an exact agreement about how ICE should be

changed.

But nevertheless, the shifting nature of this and the decision by the White House to negotiate and move in the Democrats' direction, is a sign of where

they view the politics are after getting significant blowback across the country in the aftermath of Minneapolis, Becky.

ANDERSON: It's really good to get that perspective from the corridors of power. You walking the shoe leather off your feet there, as ever.

Jeff, let me bring you in then on that negotiation with the White House.

What's the latest that you've been hearing?

ZELENY: Well, look, I mean, the White House clearly is in the mood to make a deal here, as Manu was just explaining there. I mean, the deadline on

Friday is really fast approaching.

And it's some 70 percent of the government, from the Defense Department to the State Department to the Department of Transportation, Health and Human

Services and on and on.

But the White House clearly wants to avoid that shutdown. They do not believe the politics are on their side at this moment. Unlike the other

shutdown, where they were holding firm, they realize -- and we've seen this big rhetorical shift, a political shift.

Again, we haven't -- we're not sure if we've seen a huge policy shift on the ground in Minneapolis but there is a rhetorical shift and a political

shift. That's why the White House is eager to work with the Senate leaders in both sides, to try and avoid a shutdown.

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So it's been somewhat notable that the White House is deeply engaged in this. Yet one more sign they believe that this is a midterm election year.

The president is obsessively thinking about the midterm elections. And they believe this is bad politics for them.

ANDERSON: Yes.

It's really good to have you both. Thank you very much indeed.

A 5-year-old boy from Minnesota has captured global attention after being swept up in this immigration crackdown. Liam Conejo Ramos remains at a

Texas detention center today. A federal judge has temporarily barred U.S. immigration from deporting him.

Now ICE agents snatched this little fella, Liam, and his father, from their own driveway on January the 20th, whisking them off to Dilley Detention

Center, which is 1,300 miles away in South Texas, where conditions are described as prisonlike.

This image of Liam has drawn widespread outrage over the Trump administration's immigration tactics and how it entraps even the very

young. U.S. Congressman Joaquin Castro met Liam and his dad on Wednesday, the first time anyone from outside had seen them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): It struck a deep nerve, his arrest and his detention. And, you know, he said that he misses his classmates and his

family and wants to be back at school. And he keeps asking about that hat and that backpack that are in the picture. I think they took that from him.

But I'm concerned with him, for him, because his dad said that he's been depressed and been despondent and isn't eating well and that he's been very

lethargic. And you can tell in that picture, you know, it was, by that time, 1:00, 1:30 in the afternoon. And he was asleep again. So he needs to

be released immediately. They should free him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, their lawyer says the family is from Ecuador and that they applied for legal asylum in December 2024.

Well, outrage also growing in Italy over the deployment of ICE agents to bolster security at the Winter Olympics in February. Protesters are staging

a sit-in outside the American embassy in Rome today to demand that these agents not be allowed into Milan events.

Some Italian lawmakers have staged other events, saying the government must set their own limits after two fatal shootings by ICE agents in the U.S. in

the past couple of weeks.

Well, up next, a report from Tehran. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is there.

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ANDERSON: Well, British prime minister Keir Starmer has met with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Starmer is the first British prime minister to

visit Beijing in eight years. He says it's vital for the two countries to build a more sophisticated relationship, as he described it.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: A good, productive session with real, concrete outcomes. And it was a real strengthening of the relationship. And

that's in the national interest because, of course, there are huge opportunities here in China. It's the second biggest economy in the world.

And that's why we've got such a big business delegation. We made some really good progress on tariffs for whiskey, on visa-free travel to China

and on information exchange and cooperation on irregular migration, focusing particularly on small boats and engine parts (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, Starmer is eager to reset relations with the world's second largest economy and reduce the U.K.'s reliance on the increasingly

unpredictable United States.

Xi Jinping says China is willing to develop a long-term strategic partnership with Britain for the benefit of both countries and the world.

As the United Kingdom looks toward China, the dollar is continuing to decline, the selloff happening as investors flock toward gold and silver,

both extending record-breaking rallies today. And Wall Street has been up and running for nearly an hour now.

We have seen some strong tech earnings this week. Those had provided some force underneath certainly the Nasdaq in the past session or so. But

despite those earnings, you've seen the Nasdaq off nearly 2 percent there. The S&P off just shy of 1 percent. And the Dow Jones industrials off about

a fifth or just less than that of 1 percent.

This may be a sign that investors are feeling just a little bit uneasy about what is going on out there.

Well, it's been Russian president Vladimir Putin in focus today, hosting his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates at the Kremlin today. Putin

told president Mohammed bin Zayed that he is closely monitoring the situation in Iran.

Moscow has said any use of force against Tehran could lead to chaos in the region. Putin is meeting with the UAE president, coming on the heels of

peace talks between Russia, Ukraine and the U.S., held in Abu Dhabi last weekend.

A second round of negotiations is set to take place in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Let's head to Brussels, where European Union foreign ministers have now approved new sanctions against Iran. They target those responsible for the

deadly crackdown on protesters.

And Reuters reporting that the ministers are also expected to place Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the bloc's list of terrorist

organizations. Meantime, tensions between the U.S. and Iran are still intense. Iranian state media reports that Tehran has added 1,000 strategic

drones to its military stockpile.

That move, according to one top Iranian general, made due to the threats of U.S. military action against his country by president Trump if Tehran

doesn't sign a nuclear deal.

Well, my colleague Fred Pleitgen visits Tehran's Grand Bazaar, where protests started in late December. Thousands were killed and at least

40,000 arrested in the subsequent crackdown, according to the U.S.-based human rights activists news agency.

And we have blurred some faces for protection. CNN operates in Tehran only with the permission of the Iranian government. We want to be absolutely

transparent about that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're in the area around Tehran's Grand Bazaar. This is where the protests started

several weeks ago that then, of course, spread throughout the entire country.

Then ultimately leading to that crackdown, where even the government acknowledges that thousands of people were killed. We spoke to some folks

around here and at least some of them said the despair continues. And they said they have very little trust that the government will be able to

resolve the issues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): In general, the situation is volatile in a way that the prices are crazy high and, for instance, just

yesterday, there was a 20 percent to 30 percent hike in prices.

PLEITGEN: Are you confident that the government can solve the economic issues?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Definitely not. We are certainly sure the government cannot solve it. This is something that I can say for

sure. Maybe it is dangerous. I feel this is the end of everything.

PLEITGEN: How deep is the trauma after the crackdown on the protests?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): In this situation, no one is able to do anything because you either have to go to the streets and be

killed by weapons or stay at home and die of hunger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: When the protests first started here at the bazaar in late December, it was especially the carpet sellers and jewelers who first

walked out. Now we did speak to some people here, who claimed that the situation is now under control.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Of course, the Islamic Republic can solve the problem. Actually it's done so; 99 percent of it is resolved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: All this comes as president Trump continues to weigh his military options here in this region.

[10:20:02]

Iran's leadership has said that any attack on Iran will be met with very strong resistance. But they've also said they're willing to negotiate;

however, not under duress -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Fred Pleitgen on the ground there in Tehran.

Well, our next guest, Payam Akhavan, is a former United Nations prosecutor and an Iranian human rights lawyer. Before we get to him, I want you to

take a listen to how he recently compared what is happening in Iran to the Srebrenica massacre back in 1995.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAYAM AKHAVAN, FORMER UNITED NATIONS PROSECUTOR AND IRANIAN HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER: I helped draft the indictment for the Srebrenica genocide, in

which some 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were massacred during July of 1995. By comparison, at least twice that number has been killed in Iran in half the

time.

This is an extermination and, unlike Bosnia, there is no war between military forces. There is only a war by the Islamic Republic against

unarmed youth crying for a better future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: And Payam joins me now from The Hague.

You've also called the killings the worst mass murder in the contemporary history of Iran.

Could you just share more of your findings on the scale and severity of this crackdown on protesters, sir?

AKHAVAN: Thank you. The excerpt that you played was from my testimony to the U.N. Human Rights Council last week on January 23rd, when I had alluded

to a figure of 16,500 killed.

Since then, the same source that I relied upon, which is a network of medical doctors within Iran who, through clinical and forensic records,

have estimated the number of killings, the figure now is that at least 33,000 people have been killed, twice the number that I assumed when I made

my testimony before the United Nations.

And we now have accounts that many morgues are running out of body bags because of the number of dead and that bodies are simply being taken in

refrigerator trucks and dumped in mass graves. So the scale of the killings is truly horrific. It is without any doubt the worst in the history of

Iran.

ANDERSON: I have to be quite clear that CNN can't verify numbers from the ground and it's good to get your perspective here. And we are, I think,

currently reporting those killed as around 5,800. But it's really important we get your perspective. And I just want to get --

(CROSSTALK)

AKHAVAN: Well, that is --

ANDERSON: -- the idea from you as to just how much of a challenge it's been to investigate these killings.

AKHAVAN: Well, 5,000 is the Islamic Republic's estimation. So that figure is a gross underestimation, both because of the pattern of misinformation

by the Islamic Republic but also the sources that were relied on.

As I explained, our medical doctors within the country, who document the number of people killed in hospitals, in clinics and morgues throughout the

country, I'm happy to share the report with CNN. So the scale of the killings is far in excess of 5,000.

And we don't know exact -- the exact number because of the internet blackout, because of the suppression of evidence. But we have to assume

that this is on a far larger scale than that which the Islamic Republic has admitted.

ANDERSON: Yes, thank you. I want to bring us back to the reported E.U. decision to add the IRGC to the terror list, citing that it plays a central

role in the violent repression of peaceful demonstrators and in serious human rights violations, extrajudicial killings and state-sponsored

terrorism.

And that is a quote. I wonder how -- what you make of that decision. I know that many would welcome it, say it's long overdue. Others will say it makes

even less sense. Entice -- or let -- makes it even less enticing for members of the IRGC to defect, whether or not. And it's very unclear as to

whether any or some are in a position at this point to do so.

AKHAVAN: Well, I'm not a political analyst. I'm a human rights lawyer. But I can say that the IRGC has been a central instrument of the Islamic

Republic's repression. It has been declared as a terrorist group in a number of countries.

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And the Quds Force (ph), the overseas arm of the IRGC, had a central role to play in the mass murder of civilians during the uprising in Syria

against the Assad regime. And now it has unleashed the same fury against the people in Iran.

And whether there are defections or not, I think is hardly going to be determined by whether the IRGC is declared to be a terrorist organization

or not. I think the motives of people defecting will be entirely different.

ANDERSON: Given your work which focuses, of course, on justice for regime crimes, I -- and I understand that you're not a political analyst here. But

we do sit on the cusp of something, it seems at present, with this enormous military buildup in the region -- and I'm broadcasting from Abu Dhabi, of

course -- by the U.S.

The U.S. president, we are told, weighing his options.

I mean, if you -- if you had an opportunity to speak to Donald Trump today, what would your message be?

AKHAVAN: I would say that the people of Iran have to be put first and foremost. Foreign powers have their own interests. The United States,

Israel, Russia, China -- I have an interest is the wish of the people of Iran to live in a country with freedom and prosperity.

I think that the external interventions are what they are. What I'm afraid of is that, in a situation of war, that the Islamic Republic will scapegoat

and retaliate against thousands of people, as it has in the past.

At the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988, some 5,000 leftist political prisoners were executed, based on a fatwa of ayatollah Khomeini. Basically

a revenge killing, revenge mass murder. I -- that is what I fear in any scenario.

And in a scenario where, let's say, other nuclear issue, a deal is made and then the regime turns around and begins to kill its own people and the

international community looks the other way because its interests have been satisfied, none of those scenarios are in favor of the Iranian people or in

favor of respect for fundamental human rights.

ANDERSON: Your work is incredibly important. Your perspective absolutely crucial. Thank you very much indeed for joining us on CONNECT THE WORLD

today.

I'm Becky Anderson. And, folks, do stay with us. "CNN CREATORS" today is up next.

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