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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

NATO Allies Push Back On U.S. Pressure To Control Greenland; 1,500 Troops On Standby For Possible Deployment To Minnesota; Iranian President: Threats To Khamenei Seen As "All-Out War". Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired January 19, 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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RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Rahel Solomon. It is Monday, January 19th, 4:00 a.m. here in New York.

We begin this hour with U.S. President Donald Trump's latest approach to claiming control of Greenland. His threats to impose tariffs on key European allies who stand in his way have sparked widespread condemnation from leaders across the continent. On Sunday, Trump continued to insist that the U.S. needs Greenland for national security reasons.

He posted on social media late, Sunday, NATO has been telling Denmark for 20 years that you have to get the Russian threat away from Greenland. Unfortunately, Denmark has been unable to do anything about it. Now it is time and it will be done.

But Republican support appears to be cracking as some GOP lawmakers remain strongly against forcing the acquisition of Greenland, whether it's through the military or any other means.

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REP. MIKE TURNER (R-OH): There certainly is no authority that United -- that the President has to use military force to seize territory from a NATO country. And certainly this is problematic if the President has made this statement and has caused, you know, tension among the alliance. And there certainly is going to be, you know, continuation of a discussion among all of our allies.

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SOLOMON: And joining us now with the latest reactions from Europe live from Paris is CNN senior international correspondent Melissa Bell. Melissa, good morning to you. E.U. representatives met over the weekend for an emergency meeting on Sunday. What came of that? What do we hear? MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're waiting to hear officially from the European Commission what the fruits of their discussions were, what they've decided to do. But what we understand from a number of reports this morning, the European press, is that there was a great deal of unity. First of all, that was agreed upon outrage at this renewed threat of tariffs in response to their announcement that they would back Denmark in the protection of Greenland and refuse to buckle to Washington's pressure.

Now, there are a number of different tools at Europe's disposal. Its anti-coercion tool, which has variously been described as the nuclear bazooka option. But there is also, Rahel, the question of the 93 billion euros worth of retaliatory tariffs that had been frozen last summer once a trade deal had been reached with the United States and whether or not they could simply be reactivated in order to take effect.

Certainly what we understand is that at that meeting, European leaders were so outraged by this latest round of threats of tariffs that they have decided to look at some of the more serious options. They believe that they have what they need within their arsenal to respond in a way that would seriously damage the United States economy, given the size of the trading partnership that exists between the European Union and the United States.

So we wait to hear more officially on what their response to that is going to be. Certainly what we've seen over the course of the last few days from the sending of troops from seven countries beyond Denmark to support Denmark in its protection of Greenland, certainly a symbolic measure, still an important one to show solidarity amongst Europeans from the sending of those troops through that meeting on Sunday in response to that threat of tariffs, a good deal of unity here in Europe and determination to stand by Denmark.

Don't forget also, Rahel, that you've seen not only protests in Denmark last week, but substantial protests in Greenland this week against what the United States is threatening, Rahel.

SOLOMON: Yes, we should have a pretty good sense in a few hours of where Europe stands on this. I mean, as you pointed out, we'll have an update from that meeting yesterday, but critically, we're also expecting to hear from Keir Starmer in the next hour or so too. So a really interesting there. Melissa Bell in Paris. Melissa, thank you.

All right, now to Spain, where there has been an outpouring of grief following a deadly high-speed train crash. At least 39 people were killed when officials say that the rear three carriages of a train derailed and crashed into the front of a second train that was traveling in the opposite direction. It's one of the country's worst rail disasters in more than a decade.

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Firefighters, police and military emergency units were sent to help passengers, many of whom remained trapped for hours after the crash. Let's get to journalists, Atika Shubert, who joins us now from Spain. Atika, it sounds like the situation on the ground is still very much fluid. What's the latest there from what you've learned?

ATIKA SHUBERT, JOURNALIST: Yes, it's still very fluid in the sense that this is a really horrific train crash. Not only did you have two trains colliding head first into each other, but they were traveling over an embankment and fell over the embankment several hundred meters. So they've actually had to use giant cranes to try and pick up parts of the train and try and get to the people that were inside. It really is a horrific disaster.

What we know so far is that the Iryo train, which is a high speed train, was traveling from Malaga to Madrid when the first two cars apparently derailed and went straight into another train that was traveling south from Madrid to Huelva. Now, what we know -- we don't know exactly what caused the derailment, and it is a bit of a mystery. Spain's minister of transportation has said that it was a brand new train, possibly less than four, just been refurbished.

And it was also traveling on a perfectly straight track for several kilometers. There was no bend in the rail, nothing to indicate what would derail the train. So investigators are now trying to figure out what happened. In the meantime, they're trying to get to other people who are in the train and treat all of those people who were injured as well. Rahel?

SOLOMON: OK, Atika Shubert, we'll check back with you in the next hour as developments continue. Atika, thank you.

All right, back here at home, the Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active duty soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota. Demonstrations have continued throughout the weekend. Meanwhile, thousands of federal officers who have been conducting immigration raids and arresting people throughout Minneapolis.

The Pentagon's decision raising tensions even higher. In a statement, Minnesota's National Guard said that it is staged and ready to support local law enforcement in protecting life, property, and "the right of all Minnesotans to assemble peacefully." Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey condemning the possible deployment of active duty soldiers. Take a listen.

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JACOB FREY, MAYOR OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: This act was clearly designed to intimidate the people of Minneapolis. And here's the thing. We're not going to be intimidated. If the goal here is safety, we've got many mechanisms to achieve safety. And the best way to get safety is not to have an influx of even more agents, and in this case, military in Minneapolis.

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SOLOMON: CNN's Betsy Klein has more.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: What we know now is that the Pentagon has ordered 1,500 U.S. soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota. Those troops include two battalions from Alaska.

What we don't know at this stage is what tasks those U.S. soldiers would be asked to perform. But according to one U.S. defense official, it could include crowd control and other efforts to assist in supporting law enforcement on the ground in the Minneapolis area. President Trump has raised the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act.

I'll remind you, that is that centuries-old law that enables a president to deploy U.S. troops domestically. And we heard on Sunday from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. He said that there may come a time when that is needed, and President Trump has the full support of the Justice Department.

Multiple officials, however, stressed that this does not mean that a deployment is imminent or even guaranteed. But we do know that the White House and Trump administration more broadly is monitoring the protests in Minneapolis very, very closely. And they have a range of options prepared for President Trump, depending on how he decides to proceed.

Now, all of this comes as the Trump administration has surged federal resources to Minneapolis. That includes personnel from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as other federal personnel and a small number of FBI agents. We are seeing this immigration crackdown at the same time that protests are intensifying in the Minneapolis area after an ICE officer fatally shot Renee Good.

But I want you to listen to how Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons described the role that these supplemental agents are playing.

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TODD LYONS, ACTING ICE DIRECTOR: You hear about the 3,000 federal officers and special agents that deployed to Minneapolis. Majority of those, if not most, are to protect the men and women that are out there trying to make those arrests. And that has definitely changed our tactics, where we would go and have five to officers on an arrest team. Now you have to go with 10 to 15 just to protect those individuals that are trying to arrest a bad guy.

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KLEIN: Now, Lyons comments come after a federal judge ruled on Friday that agents cannot deploy certain crowd control measures against peaceful protesters or arrest them. Of course, the White House monitoring the situation very, very closely.

Betsy Klein, CNN, traveling with the President in West Palm Beach, Florida.

SOLOMON: All right, still ahead for us, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expected to hold a news conference later this hour as President Trump threatens new tariffs against European allies who stand in the way of the U.S. controlling Greenland. We'll have the latest on Europe's response, still to come.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. Iran's president warns that the U.S., that any aggression directed toward its supreme leader, will be seen as a declaration of, "all-out war against Iran." That warning comes after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested Iran look for new leadership different from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The supreme leader called Trump a criminal over his support of recent anti-government protests in Iran. One human rights group reports that more than 3,600 demonstrators have been killed in the last three weeks.

CNN's Nada Bashir following this story for us from London. Nada, good morning. What do we know about the latest communication between the Trump administration and the Iranian government? Where does that stand?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, we previously heard from U.S. officials saying that discussions behind the scenes, backchannel conversations and communications between the U.S. and Iranian officials painted a very different picture from what we are hearing outwardly from Iranian officials, from their leaders speaking on state media and addressing the nation.

But clearly, we are still hearing those hostile remarks from either side, U.S. President Donald Trump saying that he thinks, in his words, it's time for new leadership in Iran. And, of course, this is something that has been echoed by protesters over the last few weeks, taking to the streets, many of them risking their lives, calling for the regime in Iran to be toppled.

But, of course, we have also heard from the Iranian regime itself, the Iranian president saying that any threat towards Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would constitute, in their words, an all-out war. And there has been previous warnings around possible U.S. and foreign intervention.

In fact, the Iranian regime has consistently accused both U.S. and Israeli interference for being the instigator behind this protest movement. Of course, important to underscore that these protests began in late December over the country's economic crisis, over the fact that people weren't able to get by on a day-to-day basis financially.

And that quickly evolved and grew into something much bigger, something focused on the regime itself and the multiple growing grievances many people of different walks of life have with the Islamic regime in Iran. But, of course, this is something that the regime has repeatedly reiterated.

In fact, we heard from the supreme leader saying that, in his words, in a televised address, the rioters, as he's described the protesters, fall under two categories. The first, people supported, funded and trained by the U.S. and Israel, in his words. The second category, young people influenced by them. But, of course, as I have mentioned, this is a protest movement that really has spanned across the country to every province of Iran, to people of all walks of life, all backgrounds, with one key goal, it seems, to topple the regime. But many are protesting over a variety of grievances. And what we have seen in turn is a violent and deadly crackdown by the regime's security forces.

As you mentioned, Rahel, more than 3,600 people killed since those protests began, according to U.S.-based human rights organization. Some 24,000 others believed to have been detained. And there are still longstanding fears over their treatment in detention, even over the potential for future executions as a result.

And we have heard from Iran's judiciary saying that those arrested over their involvement in these protests will be fast-tracked, in their words, for trial and punishment. So, there is concern over those detained. And, of course, there is concern over what is unfolding now. We are still seeing an internet and communications blackout in Iran.

In fact, we just had an update in the last half-hour from the monitoring group NetBlocks, which has said that the internet blackout is now spanning its 12th day. They have said that metrics show national connectivity remains minimal. There has been some breaks in that restriction.

We have seen people being able to make contact to share harrowing testimonies of what is happening on the ground. But, clearly, this is just a small fraction of what is actually unfolding that we are able to hear about and witness.

SOLOMON: Yes, really hard to wrap your head around that. Nada Bashir, reporting for us here in London. Nada, thank you.

Syria's president says that an agreement has been reached with the mainly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces to end the fighting in the northeast of the country. The deal could also lead to the integration of Kurdish forces into the Syrian military. CNN's Ben Hunte has the details.

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BEN HUNTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A statue of an SDF fighter is toppled in northern Syria. Another victory for the Syrian military and its tribal allies in a lightning advance through territory once controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. But on Sunday, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa signed an agreement to stop the fighting and revisit a deal to integrate the SDF into the Syrian army. A similar deal struck last year never took hold.

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AHMED AL-SHARAA, SYRIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I recommend a complete ceasefire at this time. And I also urge our Arab tribes there to remain calm and peaceful and to allow for the gradual implementation of the agreement's provisions until we achieve complete peace in Syria. HUNTE (voice-over): The government now in control of the lion's share of SDF territory, including the key provinces of Raqqa and Deir ez- Zur, as well as all border crossings and the gas and oil fields in the region.

For years, the Kurdish SDF controlled many areas populated by Arab tribes, many of which have joined the fight against them. The SDF's power expanded after helping a U.S.-led coalition defeat ISIS's so- called caliphate, which previously ruled the region.

The U.S. envoy to Syria met with both Kurdish leaders and the Syrian government over the weekend and welcomed the truce, posting on social media that the U.S., "looks forward to the seamless integration of our historic partner in the fight against ISIS with the global coalition's newest member as we press forward in the enduring battle against terrorism."

Much of Syria's oil wealth now in the hands of the Syrian government, something that hasn't happened in more than a decade. But there was also an overture to the Kurds. AL-Sharaa issued a decree recognizing the Kurdish language and granting Syrian citizenship to Kurds who were stripped of it decades ago.

Ben Hunte, CNN.

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SOLOMON: All right, thanks to Ben there.

We want to take you now to Downing Street in London. That's where British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is getting ready to hold a news conference. This comes after Starmer told President Trump on Sunday he's wrong for targeting Britain and fellow NATO allies with tariffs. Let's listen together.

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: -- improvised. They were built patiently over time. And while we are pragmatic in how we pursue our interests, we are resolute in defending those values when it matters. So let me begin with the United States. The U.K. and the U.S. are close allies and close partners.

That relationship matters profoundly, not just to our security, but to the prosperity and the stability that people here depend upon. Under President Trump, as under previous presidents, we're determined to keep that relationship strong, constructive and focused on results. And that approach is delivering.

Through sustained engagement, we've seen significant U.S. investment into the U.K. economy, running into hundreds of billions of pounds, supporting growth, skills and jobs right across the country. Our cooperation on defense, nuclear capability and intelligence remains as close and effective as anywhere in the world, keeping Britain safe in an increasingly dangerous environment. We've secured good trading terms in key sectors, including cars, steel, aerospace and life sciences, protecting British jobs and manufacturers. That is why we take the approach that we do, because it delivers concrete outcomes in the national interest. I talk regularly to President Trump. My team is in daily contact with all the key figures in his administration. These relationships matter. They deliver concrete outcomes in the national interest. Mature alliances are not about pretending differences don't exist. They are about addressing them directly, respectfully and with a focus on results.

On Greenland, the right way to approach an issue of this seriousness is through calm discussion between allies. And let's be clear, the security of Greenland matters, and it will matter more as climate change reshapes the Arctic, as sea routes open and strategic competition intensifies. The High North will require greater attention, greater investment and stronger collective defense.

The United States will be central to that effort, and the U.K. stands ready to contribute fully alongside our allies through NATO. But there is a principle here that cannot be set aside, because it goes to the heart of how stable and trusted international cooperation works.

[04:25:04]

And so any decision about the future status of Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone. That right is fundamental and we support it. Denmark is a close ally of the United Kingdom and of the United States, a proud NATO member that has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with us, including at real human cost in recent decades.

Alliances endure because they're built on respect and partnership, not pressure. That is why I said the use of tariffs against allies is completely wrong. It is not the right way to resolve differences within an alliance, nor is it helpful to frame efforts to strengthen Greenland's security as a justification for economic pressure.

Such measures hurt British workers, British businesses and the British economy. And that is why I've been so clear on this issue. A trade war is in no one's interest, and my job is always to act in the U.K.'s national interest. That is why yesterday I spoke to President Trump, to European leaders and to the Secretary-General of NATO to find a solution rooted in partnership, facts and mutual respect, because that is how strong alliances protect shared interests.

The same is true on other issues. In the Middle East, we welcome President Trump's focus on sustaining the ceasefire in Gaza and moving on to phase two. We are open to participate constructively in such efforts. On Ukraine, I can be brief. We strongly support efforts to bring the killing to an end and secure a ceasefire as soon as possible. We recognize President Trump's role in pushing that process forward. And we will work closely with the United States, Ukraine and our other allies to apply pressure where it belongs, on Putin.

Finally, let me say why all this matters so directly to people here at home. In today's world, geopolitics is not something that happens somewhere else. It shapes the cost of energy, the price of food, the security of jobs and the stability that families rely on to plan their lives.

When war drives up fuel prices, it's households who feel it first. When supply chains fracture, it's small businesses and working people who absorb the shock. And when instability grows, it's rarely those with the most power who pay the price.

That is why this government's approach is rooted in a simple belief that we must use every tool of government, domestic and international, to fight for the interests of ordinary people. At home, that means active government. It means taking responsibility for economic stability so that inflation is controlled, interest rates come down and family budgets are protected.

It means stepping in where markets fail, strengthening resilience and ensuring that global shocks do not always land on the same people in the same places, the people least able to withstand them. That's why we've taken action to reduce energy bills, to freeze rail fares and prescription charges.

But tackling the cost of living today also means engagement beyond our borders. It requires shaping the world around us. Not retreating from it. It requires strong alliances, steady diplomacy, and rules that reduce uncertainty rather than amplify it.

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That is why our commitment to international law and to alliances founded on trust is not abstract or ideological. It's practical. It's about stability, predictability and fairness, the conditions that keep prices down, jobs secure, and economies resilient.