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Isa Soares Tonight
Tehran Denies Having Any Dialogue with the U.S.; Police in London Investigating Anti-Semitic Attack After Jewish Volunteer Ambulances were Set on Fire; Colombian Military Plane Carrying Troops Crashes After Takeoff; Trump Touts Talks with Iran; Trump Delays Energy Strike Threat in Iran; Israel Expands Strikes in Southern Lebanon; Jewish Volunteer Ambulances Set of Fire in London; Power Returning in Cuba. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired March 23, 2026 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:00]
ISA SOARES, HOST, ISA SOARES TONIGHT: A very warm welcome to the show, everyone, I'm Isa Soares. Tonight, Donald Trump says the U.S. and Iran have
held productive conversations. But Tehran says there's been no dialogue between the two countries.
We'll have the very latest on the war in the Middle East. Then, police here in London are investigating an anti-Semitic attack after Jewish volunteer
ambulances were set on fire. We'll have a report from the scene.
Plus, a Colombian military plane carrying dozens of troops has crashed on takeoff. What more we know on that breaking story. This hour, we'll take
you to Bogota.
We do begin the hour, though, with a stunning reversal from U.S. President Donald Trump, who now says the United States is having productive talks
with Iran, convincing him to hit pause really on his threat, if you remember, to obliterate Iran's power plants if it didn't reopen the Strait
of Hormuz by today, today was the deadline.
The President now says he's pushing that deadline back by five days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But to determine whether a broader agreement can be reached. We've had very good discussions, very
good discussions. And you have to understand, I know my whole life has been a negotiation, but with Iran, we've been negotiating for a long time, and
this time, they mean business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: But it is important to point out that Iran's Foreign Ministry said there was no dialogue between the two countries, and Qatar indicated it has
not been involved in any mediation efforts. Of course, remember, Qatar was prior to, of course, to this war starting.
President Trump's about-face sent oil prices tumbling and markets soaring, look at the numbers. We'll have much more ahead on that. But it's quite a
different picture if you look at the S&P, the Nasdaq and the Dow, different picture from what we have been seeing in the last two weeks.
The Dow Industrials up almost 2 percent there. Meantime, Israel and Iran continue to trade attacks amid talk of possible diplomatic movement.
The IDF says it struck Iran's military infrastructure, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard's main headquarters, and it follows what the
Iranian Red Crescent says was an Israeli strike on a residential area.
Plenty for us to talk about here today. Alayna Treene is traveling with the President and joins me now from Memphis. Alayna, good to see you. Let me
then get started on these kinds of conflicting narratives that we have been hearing as the war, of course, enters its fourth week.
Let's start with what the President is saying about these negotiations and these 15 major points of agreement. What more can you tell us?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, I think that number, Isa, is so important to put a point on, because if he's saying that there are 15
points of agreement, and some of these negotiations, that seems to indicate that these negotiations are quite advanced in this point in time.
Of course, there's still much that would be -- need to be negotiated to actually see a substantial step forward in diplomacy. But I think your
point as well about how such a reversal -- how much of a reversal this is, is the key here.
I mean, just on Friday, when the President was speaking with reporters, when he was leaving for Florida for the weekend, he was saying that there
have been no negotiations with the Iranians, that he didn't believe that the Iranians were serious about diplomacy.
And so, he didn't want to talk to them. Clearly, that has now changed in just the course of a few days. And I think a lot of this comes, of course,
as you know, we did see the President say that he's holding back on this attack that he announced on Saturday.
His own self-imposed deadline, I should say, of today, where they would be attacking different energy facilities and energy infrastructure in Iran.
Now, pulling away from that, I think it's clear that part of this is him recognizing, you know, he's attuned to the markets.
He had been talking with his advisors over the weekend, seeing the markets react today, the surge that you talked about definitely heavy on his mind.
He also called in to a few business networks today, just to give you a sense of where his mind is on some of this.
But I also think, you know, you have to take a lot of what the President is saying with some level of skepticism, because again, that quick reversal
from what we just saw him saying days ago. But then also, you're hearing the Iranians say that there have been no negotiations.
Now, I will tell you from, you know, sources familiar with the matter tell us, tell CNN that the Turkish and the Egyptians have been involved in
passing messages back-and-forth between the Iranians and the U.S.
[14:05:00]
We heard the President say that Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have also been involved in some of these talks. But really, I
think there is a lot that would still need to be done to get to diplomacy.
The President now pushing that deadline, like I said, back to five days. We'll have to see where this all shakes out. But it is quite a stunningly
rosy picture the President is painting today of where he believes things are.
And really, this optimism he is showing for thinking that perhaps a deal can be had very different from where he's been thus far. Isa.
SOARES: Alayna, great to see you, appreciate it breaking it all down for us. Alayna Treene there in Memphis, where we have heard in the last few
hours from the U.S. President. We're happy to have with us here our Fred Pleitgen in the studio.
Of course, Fred, was the first western journalist covering this war for CNN, him with his -- with the -- with the camera crew, of course, terrific
reporting. Great to have you here, Fred. And help us make sense of these narratives that we have been hearing.
You heard Alayna Treene giving us the perspective of the U.S. President, those 15 points. Do you have a sense from the Iranian side on where this is
going, as we continue to see, of course, the strikes continuing. What are you hearing first of all, before we talk about this --
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes --
SOARES: On the diplomacy front?
PLEITGEN: Yes, a massive amount of strikes that are still going on. And certainly, what I heard from Tehran today is that there were big strikes
also in the Iranian capital once again, so that military campaign certainly seems to be continuing, as far as possible, talks are concerned.
I think the wording that we're seeing is quite interesting. You hear the Iranians come out very forcefully, saying, look, there haven't been any
sort of negotiation. There hasn't been any sort of dialogue, they want the United States to pay for what they say was the aggression by the Trump
administration.
But at the same time, that doesn't mean that messages aren't being passed. And I think one of the things that Alayna was saying that there might be
other countries involved --
SOARES: Right, Turkey(ph) --
PLEITGEN: That have been passing messages that maybe also passed a plan that maybe the Trump administration pushed forward. President Trump was
talking about 15 points. We hadn't heard anything like that from the Iranians just yet.
So, it doesn't mean that the two sides aren't in some way, shape or form communicating, and might not in some way, shape or form, be looking for a
way out of this.
And there's several things that we've been picking up on, not only the last couple of days, but really since -- I would say, after the first week since
the conflict began, is that you heard the Iranians say, and also the U.S. to a certain extent, that they don't just want a ceasefire.
They're not trying to get a ceasefire out of this. What they want is that if this ends, if this massive war that's --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: Going on right now, and that the Islamic Republic sees as an existential war for itself, it has to be a war that will end the conflict
between the United States and Iran. They want an agreement that obviously then will count for the -- for the wider region, and certainly one that
will mean that these two countries are not going to be at war again in maybe six months from now, or maybe a year from now.
So, it doesn't look as though the door is completely closed, and that there's not maybe messages being passed --
SOARES: Being passed certainly(ph) --
PLEITGEN: But certainly --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: It's angling for a wider deal, at least, as far as the Iranians are concerned --
SOARES: Let's talk about then who potentially they could be talking to, because we heard a President today saying they are having talks, they are
speaking --
PLEITGEN: Yes --
SOARES: To a high-level person in Iran. We know who they've gone after, right? We've seen the officials killed --
PLEITGEN: Yes --
SOARES: Both by the United States and by Israel. Today, we've heard, as we just mentioned, the IRGC, Israel going after a base of the IRGC. So, these
are the ones that have been killed. Who is left in terms of the ones that we know?
There's a lot of talk -- well, Mojtaba Khamenei, no, we haven't seen or heard from him --
PLEITGEN: We haven't seen him --
SOARES: Personally, right?
PLEITGEN: He's the new supreme leader. He's definitely the final authority on everything. When you speak to Iranian officials, they'll always say,
look, this is the man who is in charge. We obviously haven't heard from him yet.
And one of the interesting things that we saw when we were in Iran was that immediately after he was announced as the new supreme leader, the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps, which right now has become exponentially more powerful than even it was before, immediately pledged allegiance to him.
So, in any case, any sort of agreement, if there is one, is going to be -- have to be supported by him, whether or not we see him.
SOARES: There's a lot of talk about him, right?
PLEITGEN: The man in the middle is -- that is the big wild card right now, and that's definitely the most important guy --
SOARES: Why? Who is he?
PLEITGEN: That everybody is talking about -- That's Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf --
SOARES: Because we -- many haven't heard from --
PLEITGEN: So, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf is a very staunch hardliner, he is the speaker of Iran's parliament, so he's the chief of the parliament, but
also someone who carries a lot of weight in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Among the hardliners, he's a former general of the IRGC. He got a lot of street cred in Iran because a couple of years ago, when the Israelis were
bombing Lebanon, he actually flew a civilian airliner --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: Piloted it himself into Beirut, and then went on a tour of south -- of south Beirut. So, he's someone who's got a lot of credibility with
the hardliners, but also someone who is seen as flexible enough to possibly make a deal --
SOARES: So, possibility, I mean, when you heard President Trump today --
PLEITGEN: Yes --
SOARES: Say that they are speaking --
PLEITGEN: That would be my first guess --
SOARES: Is that your first guess?
PLEITGEN: That would have been my first guess, because also when -- after the initial strikes, after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed, a lot of the
other top leadership was killed. There were basically two people among the hardliners and among the real power base, the civilian power base of the
Islamic Republic, who were still communicating.
[14:10:00]
One of them was Ali Larijani; the head of the --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: Supreme National --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: Security Council, who, of course --
SOARES: Of course --
PLEITGEN: Since then, has been assassinated. And the other one was Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf. And today he came out and also said, there's no
negotiations going on --
SOARES: Oh, he put that on X, right?
PLEITGEN: Yes, he did. But that doesn't again mean that there aren't messages being passed. At the same time, it's also very much possible that,
for instance, the Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, even though his relations with Steve Witkoff are extremely difficult after the Geneva
process --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: Fell apart, that there wouldn't maybe be some sort of communication going on there as well. Abbas Araghchi is also the man who
came out and said no negotiations with the United States as of right now --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: But if there is an agreement, it has to be a full-on agreement to end everything.
SOARES: Let's talk then about, you know, this 15-point agreement that Alayna Treene was talking about, because President Trump still says that he
wants key parts, right? He wants missiles gone. He wants no nuclear warhead.
He wants -- he also called -- I think he called it dust, dust star, dust or whatever his word --
PLEITGEN: Well, I think he means the highly --
SOARES: Uranium --
PLEITGEN: Enriched uranium --
SOARES: The highly-enriched uranium --
PLEITGEN: Yes, the highly-enriched uranium --
SOARES: So, I mean, how likely is that going to happen?
PLEITGEN: Well --
SOARES: I mean, do we have a sense? Because you were covering the negotiations --
PLEITGEN: Yes --
SOARES: Prior --
PLEITGEN: Yes --
SOARES: To the attack --
PLEITGEN: I think the highly-enriched uranium is something that the Iranians were willing to give up anyway. I think that as part of any
agreement, the Iranians would have been willing -- and the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency said, we're willing to dilute the highly-enriched
uranium.
So, all of this talk that we've had recently about possible commando raids on Natanz, where the U.S. believes it is --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: But you don't know how damaged it is, whether the entrance --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: Is blown up. All of that would have been unnecessary if there would have been a deal. So, the highly-enriched uranium is certainly
something that possibly could be done. But again, these two sides right now, I think are looking for a wider agreement where it would be something
that would count for the entire region.
And of course, the United States has been talking about Iran's proxy forces --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: Has been talking about ballistic missiles. The Iranians --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: Have said they're not willing to put caps on that. However, if possibly, there was an agreement for the wider region between the Iranians
and the GCC states, not --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: Necessarily between the Iranians and the U.S., maybe they could come up with some sort of security agreement. I think the biggest issue, if
they try to come to an agreement --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: Is still uranium enrichment. And --
SOARES: Right --
PLEITGEN: The U.S. saying they need to give that up completely.
SOARES: You're sounding optimistic here.
PLEITGEN: Well, look --
SOARES: I mean, the --
PLEITGEN: I mean, I think --
SOARES: I mean, you know --
PLEITGEN: That -- look what's going on. Look what's happened in the past couple of days. You had President Trump threatened that if they don't open
the Persian Gulf --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: That there's going to be major strikes --
SOARES: The Strait of Hormuz is right here, yes --
PLEITGEN: The Iranians, however, have since then shown that they still have a command-and-control structure that's very much in place, and they've
shown that they can strike with devastating force. When the Israelis over the weekend attacked the Natanz nuclear facility --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: The Iranians almost immediately were able to fire back, and at least hit the village of Dimona with a missile that apparently even evaded
some of the interceptors and came through. So, they clearly have the force to be able to project power into Israel. And if they can do that, they can
--
SOARES: With Hezbollah there --
PLEITGEN: Definitely project power into the gulf region --
SOARES: And the Houthis are right there in the Red Sea --
PLEITGEN: And the Iranians have said --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: That if their energy infrastructure gets hit, the gulf region is going to go dark. They were talking about desalination plants --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: Also, power infrastructure --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: And of course, if you look at -- if you look at countries like Qatar, if you look at countries like the United Arab Emirates, their whole
business model revolves around being islands of stability in an unstable world. They have airlines --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: That are amazing --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: Around the world --
SOARES: Yes --
PLEITGEN: They have financial services; they have a lot of expats. What's going to happen if they don't have power for months on end, and they can't
export their raw commodities for months on --
SOARES: The economic pressure really speaking very loudly here. Fred, so important, so grateful to have your insight --
PLEITGEN: Thank you --
SOARES: And terrific reporting from you and Claudia Otto(ph). Thank you very much, Fred. Well, stocks did soar early today after President Trump
announced the U.S. would postpone further strikes on Iran's energy infrastructure as Fred and I were just discussing, pending, of course, the
outcome of negotiations.
I want to take a like -- a live look at how the markets are doing. And like I said, green arrows across the board, it was a very different picture from
what we saw over the past several weeks. Oil prices are dipping again after Mr. Trump pulled back on his ultimatum against Iran. Here's how the U.S.
oil benchmark, WTI is faring at this hour. As you can see down 10 percent or so.
All eyes are still on the Strait of Hormuz, Fred lining that up for us, making it clear how crucial is the critical waterway that has been
effectively closed, usually about a fifth of global oil and gas flows through the narrow Strait, and the head of the International Energy Agency,
or the IEA is warning this current energy crisis is worse than the oil shocks we saw in the 1970s.
Fatih Birol also points out trade of petrochemicals and fertilizers, sulfur and helium is interrupted as well. Let's get more from Anna Cooban, joins
me now on the volatility we are seeing. And Anna, such a different picture from what we have been covering, you have been covering for the last two
weeks or so.
[14:15:00]
But it's important to point out that the next deadline falls on Friday, and that's when markets close.
ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS & ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and we've seen an enormous amount of volatility already today --
SOARES: Yes --
COOBAN: You know, you talked about where we are with Brent WTI, but remember, earlier today, Brent was at $114 a barrel, now down to around a
$100, with the stock markets, there are at least, two indexes, the Nasdaq and the Euro STOXX 600; Europe's benchmark index which were heading towards
correction territory.
Which basically means that we were expecting to see a 10 percent decline from a recent peak pre-conflict. But now those stock indexes were up today
and it was real -- a real sense of whiplash. But of course, a lot of these reliefs for investors were -- had a lot of cold water poured on them
because the Iranians came out to say that we didn't have the talks, that Trump is sort of characterizing here.
And then also just zoom out, Isa, you know, we were at $70 a barrel for Brent before the war started, $60 at the start of the year. We're still at
around $100 a barrel, are $97 a barrel. So, we've got a long way to go before we really see some relief brought back into this market.
SOARES: Yes, and the optimism, I think that's the concern. How long is it going to last? There's also no clarity right now regarding the Strait of
Hormuz, especially given what we heard from President Trump about who is going to oversee the Strait of Hormuz. Makes a -- tell us what he said.
Frame that for us.
COOBAN: Well, Trump wants to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but it really doesn't seem like this is something that's going to happen at least
overnight. I was actually speaking to some shipping analysts about an hour ago, Isa, who were telling me that, let's say the Strait opens in the next
hour or a day or so, it will take at least 2 to 3 weeks to really see ships moving through that in a -- in a meaningful way.
Because we've got the worry about mines having been planted. So, you'd need these minesweepers to come in. You need to make sure that this Strait was a
100 percent safe before you send people through.
And some of the alternative options that are happening at the moment, we're seeing cargoes being delivered by truck and railway across the gulf, but
that is adding to the increase of shipping costs because of fuel, because these are routes that don't have the capacity, basically, Isa, to be
delivering these products to countries around the gulf.
So, despite some relief today, really the biggest thing that needs to happen is the reopening of the Strait.
SOARES: Yes, indeed. Economic pressures really, perhaps having an impact on President Trump's decisions here. We shall see. Anna, great to have you
as always. Anna Cooban there. We've got some breaking news to bring you from Colombia, where a military transport plane carrying dozens of troops
has crashed on takeoff.
That is, according to Colombia's Defense Minister who we've spoken to on the show previous occasions. It happened in Puerto Leguizamo, a town in the
south of the country as you can see there, close to Ecuador. The cause of the incident is not yet known.
Stefano Pozzebon is following developments for us. So, Stefano, what more do you know? What more are you hearing from the Minister?
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, breaking news here in Colombia started developing at around 9:50 a.m. local time here in Colombia, Isa.
That is about 11:00 a.m. up in New York or 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon, where you are in London.
We know that a Hercules C-130, which is one of the planes that are most used by the Colombian Armed Forces to move troops around the country,
crashed immediately after taking off from Puerto Leguizamo, which is these remote outposts on the border between Colombia and Ecuador.
And just a few minutes ago, the head of the Colombian Air Force, General Carlos Silva, updated reporters, saying a few more details about what
really happened, saying that this flight and this plane was flying from Puerto Leguizamo to Puerto Asis, which is a regional hub for that part of
the Colombian Amazon.
Carrying about 125 people on board, among them 11 crew members and 114 troops that were being carried from Puerto Leguizamo to Puerto Asis.
General Silva also said that preliminary figure revealed that about 48 survivors are being rescued and they're being treated at the airport -- at
the hospital, sorry, in Puerto Leguizamo.
And that air ambulances are on the way as they hope that, that number will rise in the upcoming -- in upcoming hours. He also said that at this point,
a team of investigators is traveling to Puerto Leguizamo to try and understand what happened there.
He said that the plane lost power and crashed immediately after takeoff, and ultimately, it crashed and took fire at about 2 kilometers from the
airport, where it took off in Puerto Leguizamo. Nothing here, Isa, is once again -- it's not the first aviation crash that I've reported here in
Colombia.
I was able to speak, for example, with some of the indigenous rescuers who are involved in the search and rescue operation down in Puerto Leguizamo.
They've done here before, it's a spotlight that aviation in the Colombian Amazon can be indeed very dangerous.
[14:20:00]
And as soon as we hear more from the authorities, we'll bring it to you. Isa.
SOARES: Yes, horrific crash. Do stay across it for us, Stefano. Stefano Pozzebon there for us in Bogota. And still to come tonight, an airplane and
a fire truck collide at one of the busiest airports in the U.S. We'll have the very latest.
And President Trump takes a drastic step to fix the long security lines plaguing U.S. airports. He's sending ICE agents to help.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOARES: And breaking news out of New York. One runway at LaGuardia Airport has reopened this hour, an expert says a second runway could take a week or
more to get back online. They were closed after a terrible accident on Sunday involving an Air Canada express plane that ran into a fire truck
that was crossing a runway.
The two pilots of the airplane died, more than 40 people were taken to the hospital. The fire truck was headed to a different plane that has reported
a suspicious smell. Have a listen to an air traffic controller trying to get the truck to stop. Have a listen to this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frontier 4195, just stop there, please. Stop! Truck one, stop. Stop truck one. Stop! Truck one! Stop.
Jazz 646, I see you collided with the vehicle. Just hold position. I know you can't move. Vehicles are responding to you now.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SOARES: Goodness. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is at LaGuardia Airport for us. And Shimon, a terrible and horrible accident. And that audio with that
little clip of the audio is just chilling to listen to. What more are you learning this hour actually happened here?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: No, it's certainly chilling. And you know, when you hear that air traffic controller saying,
stop --
SOARES: Yes --
PROKUPECZ: After giving clearance, the air traffic controller gave the fire truck permission to go -- to go on the runway. You know, before any
kind of movement on the runway, of course, you have to ask air traffic control.
And so that air traffic control, for whatever reason, decided at that second, at that moment, that it was safe for the fire truck to proceed. And
then within seconds, you can start to hear that air traffic controller saying, stop.
But it was too late. The Canada Air jet -- that Canadian plane was coming in at around 100 to 130 miles an hour. And, you know, about 18 minutes
after this collision and this crash, there's a moment where the air traffic controller realizes what happened here.
[14:25:00]
And he actually has -- he has communication, he's talking to a pilot from another airline. Take a listen to what he says there.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That wasn't good to watch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I know I was here. I tried to reach out to my staff, and we were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, man, you did the best you could.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
PROKUPECZ: And you can almost hear the grief on this air traffic controller's voice, saying that he messed up. What happens is that as this
plane is coming in, you know, there's video now that's been leaked online, and you can see the plane as it's coming in.
The fire truck is coming down the runway and it -- the plane tail bones that fire truck. The fire truck flipped several times. The passengers that
we have talked to and who have spoken about what happened here say, you could feel and you can hear the pilots braking, trying to stop, desperately
to stop that plane.
But it was too late. There just was no time, not enough separation to stop the two. Sadly, those two pilots, I mean, nothing was left in the front of
that plane, the nose of the plane where those pilots were, nothing is left.
It's completely shattered. And so, those two pilots, sadly were killed. And then there was a flight attendant who is in her seat in the front of the
plane, she somehow wound up outside the plane, still strapped to her seat, thankfully, we're told she's OK.
We're hoping to learn more about her and the pilots press conference here shortly, and then we'll have more press conferences later.
SOARES: Yes, I believe that we're hearing -- in the next hour or so, I know you'll be across for -- across it for us. Thank you, Shimon,
appreciate it. And we are going to stay in the United States because with security lines growing longer at U.S. airports, President Donald Trump has
ordered immigration agents to report to some of the country's biggest airports to help with security.
The move to send ICE to airports comes as TSA agents are going unpaid because of prolonged standoff, you remember, on Capitol Hill over funding
Homeland Security. The Atlanta Airport says more than a third of its TSA agents aren't reporting to work while they go unpaid.
It is unclear exactly how much the ICE agents will be able to speed things up. Houston's George Bush Airport reported today that it's taking up to
four hours to get through security lines. Our Ed Lavandera is at a busy Houston airport for us.
So, Ed, give us a sense of what the picture is like where you are, and just to help explain to our viewers around the world what kind of role ICE
agents will be playing here.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're trying to gather that as we speak. And quite frankly, from what we've seen, about two dozen
federal agents around this airport, and I'm not exactly sure how they are helping speed this process up.
We have seen them around the edges of kind of maybe handling some of the crowd, directing them where to go. But in terms of processing this mass of
people, we have not seen any indication that they're involved in that or speeding that up in any way.
But to give you a sense of just how chaotic it is here, 250 minutes, more than four hours. And I'm telling you, as I try to capture and show you what
this line, this security line is about, I'm not doing it justice.
And I'll be very frank, because what you see here is the very end of the line, and you still have to snake back-and-forth several times before you
get to the security checkpoints. But this is where you've been after hours and hours of being in this line. How long have you guys been waiting?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About three hours, and I just got rebooked for a 5:40 a.m. flight tomorrow morning --
LAVANDERA: Oh, good luck --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, I'm sleeping in the airport --
LAVANDERA: Good luck --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, man(ph) --
LAVANDERA: So, she's sleeping in the airport, we hear that over and over from people. This line goes -- winds its way through here. It goes down to
the next level, you have to get an escalator. It winds its way through that area and then it goes two levels down into the subway area of the tram.
And it goes for hundreds and hundreds of yards. This is the craziest security line I have ever seen in an airport. I've never seen anything like
it. I talked to one gentleman who got in line at 9:30 this morning.
So, that is right now, four hours later, and he is nowhere near being close to the end of the line. So, as you heard this woman say, many people just
trying to get through security and stay on the other side and plan on sleeping until they can get their flight out of here.
And that's what it's going to --
SOARES: Goodness --
LAVANDERA: Come to here.
SOARES: It does --
LAVANDERA: There's no indication that this is going to change or improve any time soon.
SOARES: It does not look good, four-hour wait. I imagine doing that with my kids. It's a stuff of nightmares. Ed, good to see you, thank you very
much indeed. And still to come tonight, what may be going on behind the scenes in efforts to end the war against Iran. We'll talk to a former
Pentagon official. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:30:00]
ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Welcome back, everyone. A quick check now with some of the latest developments coming out of the war with Iran.
Iran's foreign ministry said there's been no negotiations with the U.S., rejecting claims by President Trump that Washington and Tehran have made
significant progress in talks. Mr. Trump says renewed discussions with Iran began soon after he threatened to bomb the nation's power plants in
response to the president's comments on delaying military strikes.
All prices, as we showed you on the show, have dropped and U.S. markets have been soaring all in the green so far this hour. This as Turkey
stepping up efforts to end the war. A diplomatic source says the Turkish foreign minister held calls with his Iranian and Egyptian counterparts as
well as U.S. and E.U. officials.
Let's get more on this. Sabrina Singh is a CNN global affairs commentator and served as a deputy Pentagon press secretary during the Biden
administration, a well-known face here on the show. Sabrina, great to have you back. Good to see you.
Let me get your take then about these conflicting reports that we seem to be getting from the United States, where President Trump says they're being
productive and very good. I think he's had discussions, but Iranian -- the Iranian FM denies this. What is your sense of what is happening behind the
scenes here, Sabrina?
SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR AND FORMER DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: It's good to be with you, and it's really hard to parse
out what exactly is happening behind the scenes. I think what we can tell right now from what I'm hearing from sources is that there are some type of
negotiations happening through an intermediary source. It might not be necessarily the U.S. and Iran speaking directly, but there is some type of
diplomatic negotiations happening behind the scenes.
But I think with the president's words, what you saw today and from that Truth Social post that went out early this morning, is clearly the
president is trying to buy time. I mean, he set this 48-hour window that he said that the United States will start bombing Iranian energy targets, and
that really sent the markets into a spiral. And immediately, as soon as you saw that post go out and he speak in front of cameras, markets rebounded.
You saw stocks go up. You saw oil prices drop.
So, I think the president is very attuned to how the market is responding to this war and particularly his comments. So, I think he's buying himself
some time with now this five-day window, which of course is after markets close on yet again.
[14:35:00]
SOARES: Indeed, but then perhaps he has boxed himself in here, Sabrina. If after five days, what happens then if he doesn't get what he wants from the
Iranians, and he's got many, many points in his negotiations, what happens then? He will have to do something.
SINGH: Well, that's a good question. He also boxed himself in with that 48-hour window, and then we saw him extend it again. So, the goalposts with
this administration continue to move any given day. I mean, we really don't know that a deadline that he sets is going to be the end-all, be-all.
I think this administration sees that they need to engage some way diplomatically. Iran, though, has really demonstrated its asymmetric power
and its willingness not only to close the Strait of Hormuz, but its willingness to hit other Gulf countries and their energy infrastructure
that is going to cause not just weeks or months of delays, but possibly years. It's going to set back the global oil market years.
And so, Iran -- I don't know how willing Iran is willing to come to the negotiating table, but I think if there is a diplomatic off-ramp for this
war, it should be taken, and it's good that they're engaging in both sides.
SOARES: On that point, I mean, do you think that Iran wants a deal right now? Because like you were pointing out, over the past few weeks, we have
seen Iran surprising many, even at one point I think President Trump referred to that, with a scale, with a persistence of its ability to do
exactly that, and that is to disrupt the global economy, even going after the Strait of Hormuz, that chokehold.
Do you think it wants to do a deal? And how much do you think it will be prepared to give in here? You know, how much more are they going to get
where we were in the discussions, what, four weeks ago prior to this all starting?
SINGH: It's hard to say how long Iran is willing to go. In terms of the question on are they ready to negotiate, I think they are willing to absorb
costs and pain, even if that means more innocent people are dying in their country. I mean, we've seen them dig in and hardened on this stance against
the U.S. military power, and they are continuing to launch pretty aggressive strikes with their ballistic missile program and also their
drone capability.
I think in their mind, they do think they are winning in some way. But at the end of the day, I mean, the U.S. has exerted an incredible amount of
air power. It's just how long is Iran going to be willing to let this war go on. And it does, that timeline is uncertain, especially since we haven't
even heard from the supreme leader himself. So, it's hard to imagine who is making the decisions right now.
SOARES: Who -- do you have a sense of who he's talking to here? Because like you said, we haven't heard from Mojtaba Khamenei. I was listening to -
- I was speaking to our Fred Pleitgen at the top of the show. He was saying, you know, that the speaker of parliament's a possibility, but he's
considered a hardliner.
SINGH: It's hard to say. I think they are going through their intermediaries or a third party, whether it's Qatar or Egypt or Turkey.
There are back channels that someone like, you know, a Jared Kushner or Steve Witkoff can use. But it's hard to say who the Iranian side is
negotiating with through that third party. I think that will come out maybe in the coming days.
It's probably someone that is slightly less hardlined and wants to see this war come to a close, and knowing that the costs are pretty great for the
Iranian people. But it's hard to say who it is right now, given also we still have not heard from the supreme leader. But as President Trump said
today, that is someone that he's certainly not negotiating with right now.
SOARES: That's right. We haven't heard from him. We haven't seen him. Only a statement was read out. There's not much trust between these two sides.
So, we shall see. Sabrina, great to see you. Really appreciate your analysis. Thank you.
SINGH: Thank you.
SOARES: Now, Lebanon's president is condemning Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure, warning it could be a prelude to a ground invasion. Israel
is escalating attacks on bridges over the Litani River, and that is a critical waterway that divides southern Lebanon from the rest of the
country. The strikes are isolating civilians who remain in the south, cutting them off from food as well as medical supplies. Israel says it's
severing Hezbollah weapons as well as supply lines. It's also destroying more homes along the Lebanese border amid sweeping evacuation orders vowing
to end threats to northern Israel.
Well, Lebanon's president is urging the world to intervene, suggesting Israel could be planning to establish a buffer zone on Lebanese territory.
Our Nick Paton Walsh, met with some families who were forced to leave their homes for safer ground.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Something familiarly awful is happening here. Israel said leave to the town of Nabatea two weeks ago. Now, life is ground out of its streets.
[14:40:00]
WALSH: This extraordinary devastation just helps explain how the south is being emptied, ultimately a strategic part of the Israeli campaign here.
And those blasts distant, we're up on the hill here.
WALSH (voice-over): Even higher up still no calm.
WALSH: They deal with a constant noise of jets around them here, but also just overnight intensification of airstrikes. And because they're up on the
hill here, they feel and see everything. And of course, the injured from it come into here as well.
DR. HASSAN WAZNI, GENERAL DIRECTOR, NABATIEH GOVERNMENTAL HOSPITAL: All strike we hear here.
WALSH: You hear everything up there?
DR. WAZNI: Everything, yes, we hear everything. Like, yesterday was horrible. Yesterday many, too many strikes.
WALSH (voice-over): There are fewer people below, so fewer patients than at the start.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once we've got nine children together have been injured. Three of them died and the rest lost their families. 18 people
martyred in that strike, all civilians.
WALSH (voice-over): The burns unit treating a rescue worker who ran headlong into the carnage.
AHMEN AWADA, PATIENT (through translator): We moved towards it, the missile hadn't exploded yet. But the building was full, more than 30 or 40
people. We started evacuating them, and so on. Eventually, the missile went off.
WALSH (voice-over): And doctors, families have moved in as it's safer here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Are you getting scared here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): No, I don't get scared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): She isn't getting scared. I stay strong for my kids so they don't feel fear. Everything changed for them.
They used to have playroom, they played in the garden, ride their bicycles. Here there's nothing.
WALSH (voice-over): To the south, near Tyre, where we also filmed with Hezbollah's permission, life too is being squeezed out. Sunday, Israel
warned twice it would blow up all the bridges to the south, sparking panic. Which one would they hit first?
WALSH: And a shouting warning about the jets, which we've been hearing over the last half hour now, this one particularly low.
This, the force used. Twice again later. Yet more isolated now in Tyre is the entire village of Majdal Zoun, who we met earlier, and fled their homes
to this school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 50 family.
WALSH: 50 families.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 51 family. About 240 person.
WALSH (voice-over): Five of the men dead, two girls here without fathers, who sleep with their grandmothers here, but are still girls.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to tell you a secret they were fighting but they made up.
WALSH (voice-over): Although Zainab (ph) keeps pushing Yasmin's arm away still.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We build a secret bakery her and me. We can show it to you. It was ruined by the cats.
WALSH (voice-over): A million are forced from their homes in Lebanon and into anger. Imagination where these girls hide from horror even in the mud.
Mohamed (ph) is 16 and worldly.
WALSH: Well, what do you think of Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not good.
WALSH: Not good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bad, very bad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very, very not good. I have him. He's so bad. And we know that -- about the Epstein.
WALSH: Yes. The Epstein files.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
WALSH (voice-over): But no calm here either.
WALSH: So, they say that four days ago they got what must have been a fake warning, a telephone call to the people here to get out as quickly as
possible. So, they say they ran out down here as fast as they could and hid down on the beach for five hours until the threat had passed.
WALSH (voice-over): The city's old ruins sit silent and powerless as it keeps getting new ones.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, South Lebanon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: (INAUDIBLE) reporting there from my Nick Paton Walsh and team. And still to come tonight, the British prime minister has weighed in on an
antisemitic attack that has rocked London's Jewish community. We'll hear from people at the scene. That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:45:00]
SOARES: And just into CNN, we have brand new videos showing that deadly crash at New York's LaGuardia Airport that Shimon Prokupecz and I were just
talking about in the last 10 minutes. And as you can see, let me show you the video. An Air Canada Express plane hit a fire truck that was crossing a
runway. And this happened on Sunday. The two pilots of the plane -- there you go, you can see that that moment, the two pilots of the plane died in
the crash and more than 40 people were injured.
One runway has reopened today after the whole airport was closed. We are waiting to hear from a news conference at LaGuardia in the next, what, half
hour or so more details. But we just want to show you that latest surveillance footage that's coming from LaGuardia Airport. But we'll get
more detail from authorities in about 30 minutes or so. Max will have that in his show.
I want to turn our attention to U.K. because police right here in London are treating an arson attack on several Jewish volunteer ambulances as an
anti-Semitic hate crime. U.K. counterterrorism police are leading the investigation, though they have yet to confirm whether this is a terrorist
incident. And it happened in a neighborhood home to London's largest Jewish community. Surveillance footage shows three figures approach the ambulance.
You can see that shortly before the attack. Our Clare Sebastian visited the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even in a community already on high alert, few would have predicted this. Explosions raffling
this North London neighborhood in the early hours of Monday morning as fire engulfed four ambulances parked outside a synagogue.
GEDALE WEINSTEIN, RESIDENT: My wife and I got disturbed by a huge explosion at 1:45 a.m. Because we live literally 50 yards away from where
we are now. And we thought, OK, what's going on here? What's happening? And then 10 minutes thereafter, a bigger explosion sounded like a bomb.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): The fire brigade says the explosions were caused by gas cylinders igniting inside the ambulances. No one was hurt. The
U.K.'s counterterror police are now leading the investigation, which police say is focused on three suspects. CCTV emerged showing three masked figures
setting one of the ambulances alight.
KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is a horrific anti- Semitic attack. And of course, my thoughts, I think all of our thoughts will be with those in the vicinity, the residents who are understandably
very concerned, a Jewish community across the country deeply concerned.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): The ambulances belonged to a Jewish volunteer rescue organization serving both Jewish and non-Jewish residents in this
area.
[14:50:00]
DEAN COHEN, COUNCILOR: This is a direct attack on the Jewish community. You cannot get more low than destroying ambulances that are there to save
lives.
SEBASTIAN: Well, this is a very visible Jewish community here in North London. There are lots of synagogues and shops and Jewish schools lining
these streets. So, while people tell us that they are shocked and in disbelief, frankly, that ambulances would be targeted, they're also saying
that they were worried something like this would happen.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Security had been stepped up around Jewish sites across the U.K. after a deadly attack at a Manchester synagogue last
October.
DOV FORMAN, RESIDENT: Things could get a lot worse. This violent anti- Semitism is going to get worse. And this won't be the last attack against the Jewish people if we continue just to kind of try to tackle the spread
of the fire and not go to the roots of the anti-Semitism, the extremism that's running rife across society today.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Last year, it was Yom Kippur. This year, preparations for Passover marred by violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) save lives. Whether you're Jewish or not Jewish.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Anger and fear here rising that another Middle East war is worsening what they say is a climate of hate.
Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Just appalling. Thanks, Clare, for that report. Well, Europe saw multiple elections over the weekend, France held mayoral run-offs, which
are giving us a sense of the current mood ahead of next year's presidential race. Mainstream and hard-left parties completed a clean sweep of the
country's four biggest cities.
There was also a victory for former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in the port city of Lavre, further speculation that he will run for president.
Marine Le Pen's far-right party made a number of gains but failed to win in major cities. National elections wrapped up in Slovenia with no clear
winner in a race marred by claims of foreign interference. Prime Minister Regent Golov saw his Liberal Freedom Movement party edge out at a photo
finish. Parties are now having to hold urgent coalition talks. We'll stay across that for you.
We're going to take a short break. We'll see you on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOARES: Well, Cuba is working to restore power after the second nationwide blackout in less than a week, the country's grid operator says there was a
total disconnection and it happened on Saturday because of problem at a thermoelectric plant. Power started to return on Sunday with a priority
placed on vital surfaces, as you can imagine, such as hospitals.
[14:55:00]
The U.S. began blocking fuel shipments to Cuba from Venezuela earlier this year. The country's deputy foreign minister told NBC News that Cuba's
military is prepared for any military action from the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLOS FERNANDEZ DE COSSIO DOMINGUEZ, CUBAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER: Our military is always prepared and, in fact, it is preparing these days for
the possibility of military aggression. We would be naive if looking at what's happening around the world, we would not do that. But we truly hope
that it doesn't occur. We don't see why it would have to occur and we find no justification whatsoever. Why would the government, the United States,
force its country to take military action against a neighboring country like Cuba?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Deputy foreign minister of Cuba. And finally, tonight, a survey of caves in western Cambodia has uncovered several new species. They include
snakes, millipedes and lizards previously unknown to science. The survey took place between November 2023 through July 2025. It explored 64
different caves across 10 hills. Each hill and cave in the rocky landscape is isolated from the others. According to the conservation charity Fauna
and Flora, this results in each side holding its own distinct life forms.
And that does it for us for tonight. Do stay right here. "What We Know" with my colleague Max Foster is up next. Thank you for your company. I
shall see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:00:00]
END
