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One World with Zain Asher
U.S. Launches 10th Straight Night of Strikes on Iran; President Trump Meets with Lebanon's President at the White House; Trump: Iran Wants to Meet "Desperately"; Trump to Iran: They "Haven't Seen Anything Yet"; Lebanon's President: It's Time for Lebanon to be Stable and Secure; Judge Puts Temporary Pause on Paramount-WBD Merger. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired July 21, 2026 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: All right, coming to you live from New York. I am Zain Asher. You are watching "One World". Any moment now, the
U.S. President Donald Trump is set to welcome his Lebanese counterpart to the White House, and Joseph Aoun's visit comes at a very critical time.
Israel has partially begun withdrawing forces from Southern Lebanon under a U.S. brokered ceasefire, but it's not a done deal yet. On Monday, an
Israeli military official said the IDF would still operate to remove threats in Southern Lebanon. It is the first visit by a Lebanese President
to the White House in 17 years.
Meantime, as the U.S. and Iran escalate and expand their attacks and counterattacks, concerns are growing that this conflict is certainly
spinning out of control. And now a new front is threatening to open up that could jeopardize global oil supplies even further. Iran's President said
his country is in a full-scale war. At the heart of it so far has been the Strait of Hormuz.
But a second critical waterway in the region may also be closing too. Yemen's Houthi rebels, one of Iran's key allies, have declared a naval
blockade on Saudi Arabia, that is the world's largest crude oil exporter. The move threatens a critical lifeline for the Gulf, and one of the few
viable alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz.
Though as of now, it is unclear how that blockade is going to be enforced. It comes as the U.S. military is sending more fighter jets and refueling
tankers to the region, as President Trump weighs his military options on what comes next. We are covering the story from all angles.
We've got CNN's Nic Robertson in Jerusalem, but first, let's bring in Betsy Klein, who joins us live now from the White House. So, Betsy, we are
hearing that Iran's Foreign Ministry essentially presented proposals to revive the truce with the United States. Trump has rejected it, and also
adding that Iran will pay for every soldier that has been killed.
Just walk us through what more we know, because there are a lot of fears that this could turn into a protracted war, and that the U.S. has very few
options in terms of how to extricate itself at this point.
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well exactly, it's a very precarious and violent moment for this conflict. A 10th straight night of
U.S. strikes in Iran, and any moment now, President Trump is set to welcome a key ally from the region, the President of Lebanon, expected to arrive
any second now. We can hear his motorcade in the background, right behind me.
But this comes as throughout this conflict, the Pentagon has been very slow to report U.S. casualties, both injuries and deaths, during this conflict.
But yesterday, we learned, according to Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell, that since this ceasefire fell apart and the fighting escalated on July
7th, nearly 100 U.S. service members have been injured.
Now Parnell says that most of those injuries were mild concussions, but it also comes after 3 U.S. service members were killed over the weekend. That
includes we are getting some new information: 30-year-old Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton, who was killed during a controlled detonation of a downed
drone in Iraq, as well as two additional service members killed in Jordan over the weekend, that's 25-year-old First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan
and 19-year-old Private Isabella Gonzalez.
The U.S. has also located unidentified remains in Jordan, and that comes as one service member had been listed as missing in action. 18 total service
members killed since this conflict began, and we're going to be watching very closely this afternoon for any hints on next steps as Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, as well as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, are set to get a grilling from U.S. Senators on a defense spending
package that is in part going to fund this ongoing war.
And it comes as mediators between the U.S. and Iran have floated the possibility of a 10-day ceasefire to try to get diplomacy back on track.
But a U.S. official responding to that told CNN, right now, President Trump is focused on making Iran pay for their violations of the Memorandum of
Understanding and their continued acts of terrorism in the Strait of Hormuz.
In addition, the president will make Iran pay for the recent deaths of U.S. soldiers. That official says that talks will continue. But the president
could take the diplomatic off-ramp here. He also has threatened to target the critical infrastructure in Iran, that includes bridges, as well as
Kharg Island, which is this key oil hub. The president very angry, making that clear on social media.
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We'll have to see right now this meeting with the President of Lebanon is closed to press. We'll see if it opens up. He's also expected to attend
that solemn, dignified transfer tomorrow, Zain.
ASHER: All right, Betsy Klein, live for us there. Thank you so much. Nic Robertson, let me bring you in, joining us live now from Jerusalem. Just in
terms of President Joseph Aoun's priorities, I mean, obviously he wants full autonomy over his country.
Essentially, he's going to see if there's a way to negotiate with the U.S. President to try to get President Trump to put pressure on Israel to
completely withdraw from Southern Lebanon. And also, he's set to sort of put forth a plan to the U.S. President, showing how he thinks that his
country can disarm Hezbollah. Just walk us through that, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, he's going to want, and it has been said before, the sovereignty and territorial
integrity of Lebanon and to be respected specifically by Israel, and that was actually in the terms of the memorandum of understanding, which sort of
has been sidelined at the moment.
That carried through not just for the United States towards Iran, but it carried through the United States and its pressure on Israel to have that
respected in Lebanon. Look, what the Lebanese army lacks is the -- is an army that's capable of disarming Hezbollah, and that's what the Israeli
position and view of the situation is.
So, the deal that's in play right now is a pilot scheme. So just three villages, the Israelis say that they'll be pulling out of, which actually
is really only one village close to the Beaufort Crusader Fort, where Israeli troops are actually stationed in the village. The other two
villages, they just sort of have firepower that they can bring to bear there.
But this is an important pilot scheme because it will show in the one village where the IDF was that it's going to pull out of that the Lebanese
army is moving in that the Lebanese army can and is strong enough and coordinated enough to stop Hezbollah coming back in setting up again
building weapons caches using the area as a base to fire rockets into Israel.
From an Israeli perspective only on this. This is now in an election cycle, and it's a key election point for Prime Minister Netanyahu that he doesn't
want to sort of have a war flaring on his northern border, whereby missiles are coming in because his ceded territory to the Lebanese army that can't
hold Hezbollah back.
So, this, I don't think this is a suit, and the elections are at the end of October. So, I don't think this is something that we're going to see move
particularly quickly. And of course, that's what Joseph Aoun will be wanting from President Trump: the support for the Lebanese Army.
You know, the financial support, training support to put them in a position of being able to take on Hezbollah. But I don't think you think anyone
thinks that this is something that's A, going to happen overnight, or is even potentially you know something that can even hold the test of time.
ASHER: Let me just interrupt you because -- let me just interrupt you because we are looking at live pictures of the Lebanese President Joseph
Aoun arriving at the White House, there he is shaking hands with President Trump. As I mentioned, they have a lot to talk about.
One of the key priorities for the Lebanese President is, of course, trying to get President Trump to put some sort of pressure on Israel to withdraw
completely from Southern Lebanon, obviously Lebanon has been caught in the middle of this back and forth between Hezbollah and Israel for, of course,
many, many years.
Nic, we have to leave it there. I want to bring in Stephen Cook to break all of this down for us, just in terms of what we can expect from this
meeting. You know, Stephen one of the challenges. I think there are a lot of challenges, but there are major challenges when you are dealing with a
non-state actor like Hezbollah, like Hamas, like ISIS, for example.
I mean, even if you go back years, the FARC, the IRA, for example, so many challenges when it comes to dealing with non-state actors. I mean, what are
the challenges for Joseph Aoun just in terms of trying to disarm Hezbollah? That is one of the key priorities.
He's going to be laying out a plan, as I understand it, to President Trump. How he thinks Lebanon can actually work to disarm Hezbollah without
necessarily relying on Israel to assist with that. Just walk us through your thoughts on that.
STEVEN COOK, SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA STUDIES, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Yeah, I mean, this is the major message that President
Aoun is carrying to President Trump, which is that dealing with a non-state actor is very, very different from dealing with state actors, and that the
Israelis have it wrong.
That the Israeli military is sophisticated and can defeat any number of Arab armies in combination, but dealing with non-state actor requires
building up the Lebanese state, building up the Lebanese economy, along with disarming Hezbollah.
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And that is his major message to President Trump. What he's looking for President Trump is agreement to these things, and I think he has it. I
think he's also looking for President Trump to say at the press availability that Israel should withdraw from Lebanon. The Hebrew Press,
the Israeli press, is reporting today that the Israelis have already withdrawn from one of those villages and that the Lebanese armed forces
have moved in.
So, this is all good signals ahead of President Aoun's visit. But I think the important point you raise is that dealing with a non-state actor is a
very different thing and requires a variety of different lines of effort, economic, social, as well as military, in order to undermine Hezbollah's
grip on Southern Lebanon and its influence in the Lebanese political system.
ASHER: And when you have this sort of cycle that Lebanon has been trapped in for many years, whereby and I'm oversimplifying it here. But you have
Hezbollah essentially provoking Israel, retaliating, and then of course the Lebanese civilians they get caught in the middle of this, and they have
paid a very, very high price for this, and that is what continues to happen.
But there is a major problem with these negotiations, and that is, of course, Hezbollah is not a part of these negotiations. And you have, on top
of that, Joseph Aoun doesn't have direct relations with Hezbollah. He doesn't negotiate with them directly. They rely on, I believe, Nabih Berri,
who's the speaker, to perhaps serve as some kind of intermediary.
Just explain to us, you know, how does that work? I mean, obviously, no matter what is agreed to today between the U.S. President and Joseph Aoun,
when you have the main sort of actor in all of this, Hezbollah, not being a part of these talks, that is a major problem and a major obstacle to
overcome here.
COOK: Indeed, there are actually two major actors who are not part of this negotiation. It is Hezbollah and its patron Iran, which is determined to
save Hezbollah and ensure that Hezbollah maintains its influence and its arms in Lebanon, because Lebanon is an important piece of Iran's strategy
in the region.
But you're quite right that this is a major challenge that Aoun has got to face. His position is essentially that the Lebanese people are sick of
Hezbollah and sick of Iranian meddling in Lebanese politics, and that he has public support to dismantle and disarm Hezbollah. He is sensitive to
the obvious political issues that this involves.
There is a large Shia population that many of whom support Hezbollah, and Nabih Berri, the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, is his primary
interlocutor in this. Berri also wants to end the constant warfare in Lebanon. He has a somewhat different view, and that's why there are
negotiations going on not only between Lebanon and Israel, but also within Lebanon itself over the future of Hezbollah and how best to deal with it.
ASHER: All right, Stephen Cook, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it. Thank you. All right, still to come here on "One World",
what Britain's new Prime Minister says he'll do to tackle the rising cost of living as he hosts his first cabinet meeting. All details on that ahead.
Plus, on -- OK, OK, OK.
We're going back to the White House right now, where that meeting between President Aoun and Trump is taking place, let's listen in.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Previously, on numerous occasions through representatives, and the relationship is very
good. I think that Lebanon has been a very mistreated country for a long period of time. It's an amazing group of people, professors, doctors,
lawyers, great intellects.
And it's been hit hard for many, many decades really. It's been hit very, very hard. And yet, I have people that live in Lebanon, people that are
parents of friends of mine, many cases, and they would never leave. They would not leave under any circum. They love it. They love the country, and
it's probably a dangerous place in a lot of ways.
But they live in areas. They say we hear bombs going off all the time, but we want to live in Lebanon. They love the country. Very smart people, very
successful people, and they live there. But it has been. It's been a country of great intellect, great intellectuals. They still love it.
They want to be there, and we're going to help it. We're going to help it a lot. So, it's an honor to have the president and your representatives here.
We've already met a couple of times, and we've had some good meetings, and we are going to solve a lot of problems. We've already solved some of them
for Lebanon.
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As you know there's a Hezbollah problem, but we've done some things that I think the world will take notice. Again, it's been a very badly treated
place and country, and we're going to have it properly treated and treated with respect that it deserves. And Mr. President, it's an honor having you.
Thank you very much.
JOSEPH AOUN, LEBANESE PRESIDENT: No, thank you. Thank you. I've been looking forward to this visit for a long time.
TRUMP: Thank you.
AOUN: Meeting such a great president like yourself.
TRUMP: That's a very nice thing. See, he knows how to get to me. He can have anything. Now he can have anything. Would you like to say something?
AOUN: No, really, I would like to thank President Trump, really, and his team for the historic visit and for the historic achievement that we did
together by signing the framework with the ultimate objective of ending the state of hostility between Lebanon and Israel forever.
I think, Mr. President, this will be your legacy. Together, we'll be able to achieve this objective. It's about time for Lebanon and for the whole
region to be stable and secure. And I know your vision is peace. Your vision is stability, and I think my vision coincides with your vision. And
together, I think we will be able to achieve and to score success in that regard.
TRUMP: I agree with that. I do agree with that. You have tremendous spirit on your side. You have people that love that country, and they're going to
make it work.
AOUN: We're going to make it work.
TRUMP: Right. Thank you very much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have two questions. One for you. President Trump, as you work to expand the Abraham Accords, Lebanon still enforces a 1955 law
criminalizing contact with Israel for over 70 years. You previously stated you would push Lebanon on this issue, and people, there are some people
still going to prison last month. So, did you raise it? You will raise it with President Trump today?
TRUMP: I will. The Abraham Accords have been, I think, a tremendous success. I think you're going to see a lot of countries joining pretty
soon. As you know, we have our original group, and they are. It's so successful for them, economically successful. It's been that nobody left,
even during this time of conflict, so no, I think Lebanon has a very important place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is your level of concern of a blockade of the Red Sea by the Houthi rebels opening up another front in the war?
TRUMP: See what happens. So far, it hasn't happened; might happen, but we take care of things. If something like that happens, we take care of it.
You know, we've done that with the Houthis before, and we haven't heard from them in a while since we did what we did originally.
That was about 45 days of very powerful action we took against the Houthis. And we've had no problem with the Houthis. They've had no problem with us
for a long period of time, including during this conflict. I think that if there is something like that, we'll just have to take care of business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament rejected the agreement between Lebanon and Israel and said he said it's a sedition. It's
going to cause civil war. He's the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, and he speaks for Hezbollah. He's Hezbollah's big brother. What do you have to
say about that?
TRUMP: Well, maybe I'll let you speak to that.
AOUN: Actually, the framework doesn't require the endorsement of the Parliament. OK, it's part of our constitution. It's a prerogative of the
president. And we are committed to it, and I think the Speaker of the Parliament is really wants to see the end of this war. He is from the
south, and he knows he did his best to rebuild the south, but unfortunately, the south being destroyed in front of his eyes.
So, he is actually supportive of what we are doing, but we need to be careful. His position as the speaker and as a leader of the Shia community,
we have to understand how critical is his position. But I can tell you that Speaker Berri is a man of state. He is supportive of what we are doing, and
he is supportive of ending the state of hostility, ending the war once for all.
TRUMP: I think when he sees, because I've heard that he's a good person, good man, and when he sees the progress made, I'm sure he's going to come
on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From -- from Lebanon. I have two questions, please. When will the Israeli army fully withdraw from Lebanon? Is there a clear
timeline for that? And last question, please. Last week you met with the Iraqi Prime Minister and discussed him or described him as handsome and
saying he could become one of the best leaders in the Middle East. How you describe?
TRUMP: Which one are we talking about?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Iraqi Prime Minister. Yes. How you describe president?
TRUMP: No, I say he's handsome also. And I think he could become one of the most important leaders in the Middle East actually. We do this because
they've been doing trying to do this for decades, right?
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Decades and decades. So, if I made that statement about somebody else, I would put him in the same category.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the -- army withdraw from Lebanon, can you give a timeline for that?
TRUMP: They're in the process of doing that. They're in the process of redeploying other sections. And again, they get along very well. That was a
great agreement they signed with Lebanon, and they're redeploying.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, the Lebanese army needs help, and the United States said that it's very important for the Lebanese army to take
over the villages that Hezbollah withdrew from. How are you going to help him? And how the -- is going --
TRUMP: -- to be speaking about that today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure --
TRUMP: We'll be speaking about that today with your president. And we have some very concrete plans already in store for that, with others going in
and helping. But they're also becoming much more self-sufficient, and we will be speaking about that. That's one of the subjects we're going to be
talking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mr. President.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is: sorry, the Lebanese Army said today that Israeli forces opened fire in proximity to the Lebanese trying to
deploy in one of these pilot zones. This is day two of the pilot zones. Are you prepared to take any steps, additional steps, to put pressure on Israel
to withdraw? Which I believe President Aoun is planning to ask you.
TRUMP: Well, I'll look. I just heard about that before this conference just happened, and we'll be looking at that. Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, there are no signs that Iran is ready to stop fighting. So, so what is the plan? Is the plan to just keep bombing
until they give up?
TRUMP: There are no signs. What do you know something that I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, they continue to attack our allies.
TRUMP: You don't know what the dialog is behind the scenes that they want to meet desperately to try and end it because they're getting decimated.
You don't get that when you listen to your fake station. But you don't know. You don't know anything. You know something that I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, tell us.
TRUMP: I will tell you. They want to desperately meet, and until they're ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest in even.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, are you planning on putting any pressure or consequences on China for what you announced about them
meddling in the 2020 election?
TRUMP: Well, we're going to talk to them about it. It took place a long time ago. I think China is maybe a little bit different today than it was
then. But look, they do things and we do things to them. I'll be honest, we do things to them too. It's not a one-way street, but we'll be talking to
them. Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, it's something that doesn't get talked about a lot. But the Border Patrol recorded 14 consecutive months no
releases at the southern border. This is something you talked a lot about on the campaign trail that you couldn't run on the job that you did on the
southern border.
Do you feel similarly at this point in time, with midterms, considering how well of a job you've done, what is the lesson to be learned about border
patrol?
TRUMP: Well, thank you for that question. The fact is, and maybe it pertains a little bit with respect to you and borders and everything else.
We had a border that was totally out of control. I probably won the election at least partially on the border. Would you say?
And the border now. We literally in 14 months. I think it came out this morning. Actually, just announced that in 14 months we had nobody coming
through. 0, 0 people. I have to descend millions came through, and we had zero people come in illegally into our country, and that's made by people
that happen to be Democrats, largely Democrats, the people that do those stats, and I'm sure they don't like saying it.
But we really had virtually nobody coming in, and actually say nobody, not even virtually. So, it's amazing what's happened there, and very people
talk about that anymore. You know, they don't like talking about that. They don't like talking about Venezuela, where we lost no people.
I'll be going to Dover for something that I feel is -- it's a great honor for me to do it. These are people that want it, and they feel like I do
that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Very simple. It's a very simple dictum. They cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won't have. They're not
going to.
They have no chance of having a nuclear weapon. And as far as Iran is concerned, I'll let Pete maybe say a couple of words. But we are doing very
well. We are degrading them at levels that nobody thought was possible. They're being degraded really so seriously. They did slip something through
in Jordan, and if we had other operators, you know, would have not happened, unfortunately.
But we -- because we have the best equipment in the world. You know, we've stopped almost everything. But when you let other people do your job with
the United States, we let other people do the job, and sometimes it doesn't work out so well. But we're going to be going and paying our respects at
Dover. Pete, would you like to say just how we're doing generally speaking?
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PETE HEGSETH, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, it'll be an honor as well to join you at Dover to recognize these incredible Americans committed to the
cause, just like you are. Something no president's been willing to do. 47 years, they build up a conventional capability like the North Koreans did.
Remember, that's how North Korea made their way to a bomb. So much weaponry that no one was willing to stand up for them. President Trump was, and it
continues to, to this day. Iran's been given every opportunity to negotiate to show that they're reasonable on the Strait of Hormuz.
But if they're going to shoot a commercial shipping, then we're going to hit them as the president said 10 times harder, which every night we're
degrading them further and further, and the president has all the options necessary. If they want to talk, they can talk. Otherwise, they can deal
with the War Department, and we're prepared to do that.
TRUMP: And the blockade is up and fully. I mean, it's nobody gets through. Nobody gets through the blockade. It's like a steel wall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mr. President. Yesterday, there was another attack on an I.C.E. facility this time in New York City. What, in your
view, is prompting these attacks? And do you have a message for those who are attacking I.C.E.?
TRUMP: You're talking about the fire that was set in front of the federal building. Well, this is what's happening with the people that they allowed
to come into our country. They shouldn't have allowed them to come in. They shouldn't be here. They're radical lunatics, and I'm getting them out.
You know, we're getting them out at a pace. You know, we've gotten rid of more than any other. I read stories. They try and give you phony stats. I
was with Tom Homan this morning. He'll give you the statistics if you want. But we're getting bad people out of our country at levels never seen
before.
There's never been a time when more bad people and you take a look just here in Washington -- we got almost five. We took out almost 5000 hardline,
hardcore criminals, most of whom came in during the open border periods of the previous administration, an amazing statistic, and this is something
that I hate to be talking about in front of the President of Lebanon.
But he's got his problems and different problems. But we don't have any problems in Washington DC. We have virtually we've wiped out about 92
percent of the crime, and we're going to get very close to. I believe we're going to get close to 100 percent of the crime.
And if you take a look at this city and compare this to what it was 15, 16 months ago, this was a dangerous city. I don't know. I better not compare
it to Lebanon because I don't exactly have your stats, but it might have been Lebanon was safe. This was a dangerous city under the previous
administration, Biden, and now it's a very safe city.
There was an article that came out two days ago that Washington DC has made the greatest progress of any city in the nation. Now Memphis also, and New
Orleans also, and if they would ask us for help in Chicago, we would turn that around so fast. If they'd ask us for help in New York, we would turn
that around so fast.
Los Angeles, we would turn that around so fast. But the stat that's so amazing is that 2 percent of the people create 91 percent of the crime.
Think of that. It's a great stat because it was 70 percent of the people, that's a problem. It was 20 percent that's a 2 percent of the people create
91 percent of the crime. Think of that. 2 percent of the people, you can handle that easily.
So, Washington DC is now one of the hottest cities in the country. We have the hottest country in the world, but Washington is now hot. And I do have
to say one other thing. We just had the World Cup, as you know very well. And it was the most successful World Cup ever.
We didn't even have a protest. We had no crime. With all those events, was like having many, many Super Bowls, each one was like a Super Bowl, and
with all of that, we didn't have crime. We didn't have Bedlam. Everybody left here with a different opinion than what they read in the fake news.
They love this country. I saw Scotland. I saw Norway. I saw all these countries. I mean, the level of love that nobody wanted to leave, and I
just want to congratulate everybody. The job that we did, and all of us, everybody in this room, because everybody in this room was involved.
The vice president was very much involved. It was -- it was amazing. I was with Jonny the other day, who's the job he did is great, but he said he
never thought in a million years it could be so free of any difficulty. Think of it: we didn't even have a protest. Not only no crime.
Now there's a reason for all this, but part of it was that people just wanted to pull together. This country for -- like a four-week period, just
pulled together, really amazing. And I didn't want to say it before the final. I didn't want to say how well it was doing.
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I wanted to get the final up with because you never know. It only takes -- it only takes a bit more. But we just had the most successful World Cup in
history. Did five times the business of any World Cup in history, and I can't wait to get them back. But I think we won't be able to get them for
the next.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- here, especially with this upcoming, do you feel safe especially considering the attempts on your life?
TRUMP: I feel safe. Why wouldn't I feel safe?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm -- are you still speaking with Hezbollah? You said in previous interviews that you're speaking with Hezbollah.
TRUMP: I would say that, but I would speak to Hezbollah. I speak to everybody. I'll speak to people that a lot of people think I shouldn't be
speaking to, and things work out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President --
TRUMP: I would say this: If the president wanted me to speak to Hezbollah, you know, he's lived with Hezbollah for a long time. And if the president
wanted me to speak to Hezbollah, I would. You know, I would.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mr. President. Follow up on Iran: If the Iranians do not make a deal ultimately, how long will it take for you to
stamp out their threats to the Strait and enable full shipping?
TRUMP: So, if we left right now, it would take Iran 20, 25 years to rebuild. OK, and we're not finished at all. But if we left right now, it
would take them a long time-years, years-to rebuild, but we're not leaving right now. So, we've had a big impact on Iran.
If we didn't do what I did with regard to two things, the Iran nuclear deal done by Barack Hussein Obama, I terminated that. If I didn't terminate it,
you wouldn't have Israel right now because they would have had a nuclear weapon years ago.
And if we didn't do the B-2 bombers knocking out the nuclear sites a year ago, one of the first things we did early in the administration, they would
have a nuclear weapon. And you wouldn't have Israel, and in my opinion, you wouldn't have various other countries in the Middle East.
They'd all be gone; they would have been terminated, extinguished. But I believe that by doing what we did, by terminating Iran, who's very evil
people leading that country, you saw the number of protesters that they killed, 52,000 plus. I put a couple of them up today. Young kids, they kill
them.
They kill them like they're -- like they're candy. It's crazy what they do. They treat them so badly. They're just killing people just at random. Over
52000 people, and nobody talks about it. But if I didn't do the attack on their nuclear sites, or if I didn't terminate the Obama agreement with
Iran, which was an absolute -- that was an absolute hit on having them dead.
That was a road to a nuclear weapon, and our deal will be a wall. It already is. They can't have a nuclear weapon right now. It would take them
years to produce it. And we will absolutely attack. We -- you know the new site that they're talking about. I mean, how about these people?
They're in this because of nuclear weapons, and they're trying to possibly reconstitute a site. We'll hit that site. Any site where they're even
thinking about nuclear, we'll be hitting it very, very powerfully. Now, nobody knows, except the Iranians, the damage that we've done to them.
We have done damage that will take them 20, 25 years to recover from. So, if we left tomorrow, we had a big -- we had a big success, but we're not
leaving tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's ability to threaten the Strait --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- there is a bill right now that's being considered that would allow illegal aliens who are working in farming to get legal
status. Do you support that legislation?
TRUMP: I don't know about it. I'll take a look at it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- last night, the Canada terrorists. One, are those a response to the wildfires in?
TRUMP: No, no, no. That's separate. We're looking at that separately.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what is there anything Canada can do?
TRUMP: It's only response to the way they've treated our farmers and our people. Canada has been very, very tough on us over the years, for many
years, and no other president's done anything about it. I love Canada. I love the people of Canada.
Many friends that live in Canada. But their leadership from Trudeau to the current leadership-I mean, in all fairness to them, they need us to
survive. Without us, there's no way they can survive. So, but they've been very, very tough over a period of the last 50 years, actually.
[11:35:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- CITV from Lebanon. You still support Syria entering Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah?
TRUMP: You mean coming in and doing something with Hezbollah?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
TRUMP: Well, it's a concept, you know. We get along very well with the President of Syria. He's done a very good job. I wouldn't be surprised if
this gentleman's going to do a job just like that. He's done a very good job. He's pulled Syria together.
He would like to come in and do something with Hezbollah. You know, they've been fighting. He's been fighting Hezbollah for a long time. I think it'd
be very effective. So, it's something I think that --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, on tariffs, you increase the tariffs on Canada yesterday. Can you say if you still expect to impose tariffs on the
wildfire problem, and can you say when you might impose 301?
TRUMP: A lot of damage has been done. They're not managing their forests properly, and the wind has a tendency to blow right over New York City,
right over. You saw Detroit that had closed the whole place. Michigan was really affected. They had to close businesses for four days.
It's very serious what they're doing. And they don't seem to be able to do anything about it. If they manage their forests, they wouldn't have the
fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe that Iran is trying to impact the midterm elections by threatening the Strait of Hormuz?
TRUMP: They won't have any impact on me. I'm just going to do the right thing. I don't view it as gee wing having an election in a period of time.
Yet everyone says, oh, I'm doing something before no. The election I can't think about that having to do with this. I think people are very impressed.
I mean, we took over Venezuela. We now have a great relationship with Venezuela. We went to war with Venezuela, and the war ended in one day. And
we have now an incredible relationship with Venezuela. We're taking out millions of barrels of oil. They're making more money now than they ever
made before, ever, and we're making a lot of money.
We paid for the war many times over with Venezuela. We lost nobody. We lost nobody. We didn't lose one, and that was a violent attack, as you know. We
took out a man who was a very evil man. What he did was very evil, many, many -- in many different ways. We took him out.
But you know the Venezuela they said the same thing. When I did Venezuela, everyone said because look at the drugs. Look at -- look at what they did
where they took all of their prisons. They opened up their prisons and they have everybody in a prison come in through Biden's absolutely insane open
borders policy, and we did that in one day.
Think of it, and now we are working very closely with the administration, and we get along very well. Venezuela is a very happy place. Had a tragic
incident with the -- you know with the event that took place a couple of days ago, a couple of weeks ago. What a terrible thing that was?
They had a -- they had a movement, a shifting of earth that was unbelievable. Nobody's ever. They've never seen anything like it. A lot of
people were killed, so it's all unrelated. But by the way, we were the first ones there to help. We were there to help Venezuela. It was an
earthquake; I guess you'd call it.
It was a pretty massive earthquake, and we were able to do a lot of good. But they lost a lot of people. Venezuela, the people are so happy that
we're there. The jobs, everything's happening, and we're taking out many, many times the money that we spent on the war. This one. Iran is bigger.
It's more -- it's a more complex situation, but we're probably doing equally as well.
If you look at the damage that's been done. And again, as I said to the young man that just posed the question over here, if we left today, it
would take them decades to rebuild. And I don't believe they could ever rebuild. And honestly, they haven't seen anything yet. We've been nice.
We've been nice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Haley Boss (ph) Scripps News (ph). Thank you for the question. Do you believe that Iran has moved nuclear centrifuges into
Pickaxe Mountain? And when you say we're not done yet, what is left to finish?
TRUMP: Well, I think that they may have. We don't have it on record. All we do is read the fake news. You know, we see -- the news is so wrong so many
times. So, you know, maybe this one they have right, but it's OK. It doesn't mean anything unless they have the material.
You're talking about the centrifuges. It doesn't mean anything unless they have the material. They don't have. We follow the material. That's where
the action is. And we'll be hitting that area very probably pretty soon. And there's not a thing they can do about it.
You know, normally I wouldn't say. If I thought they could do something about it, I would never say that. But we'll be hitting that area pretty
soon and very heavily.
[11:40:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- two years ago, during the campaign, I interviewed you, and you told me on -- Lebanon that the peace will happen in Lebanon.
And every word you said during the interview, it's happening today. Like from the first day in the administration, you were working hard for peace.
I've been here daily.
TRUMP: I understood Lebanon. And I understood how horribly Lebanon has been treated as a country. They've been like a whipping post. What's happened
with Iran and with Hezbollah, but Lebanon's been treated very incredibly badly. And maybe I'm a little prejudiced in favor of Lebanon because I have
so many Lebanese friends.
AOUN: You love --
TRUMP: Well, no, but there's so many Lebanese friends, and so I know I understand Lebanon. Tom Barrack is Lebanese, the Ambassador.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Aoun, the Lebanese army currently have the funding, equipment, and manpower necessary to implement the agreement? Or
you are asking today, President Trump, for additional U.S. assistance today to do the job?
AOUN: Definitely, with the support of President Trump, and we spoke over on the phone, and I told him I need two things from you: political support and
supporting of the LAF, which is the LAF is the most trusted institution in the country, and it has the most powerful weapon, which is the trust of the
public.
And like any other -- any armed forces in the world, the Lebanese armed forces is the backbone of security and stability. We need to support the
LAF. The LAF maintain the country safe and stable. Without the LAF, everything will collapse. We don't want that. I think President Trump
doesn't want that.
In 1975, the first institution to collapse was the LAF, and as a result, we saw the emergence of many local militias, and the south was empty, allowing
the Palestinians to roam the south and launch attack against Israel. We don't want to see that back again. All we're asking is keep supporting the
LAF.
And they know that the LAF is doing great job performing its duty to the fullest. I fully trust the LAF. I fully trust the leadership of the LAF.
TRUMP: They did a great step forward with the recent signing with Israel. That was a big step.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Direct flight from America to Lebanon again. I'm Pedro from --
TRUMP: I don't see that happening, absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Question for President Aoun. Tommy (ph) from NBCI TV. So, Ambassador Issa, the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, told me
that the President Aoun, would not leave Washington empty-handed. What concrete outcomes will you bring him back to Lebanon?
TRUMP: You'll find out. Thank you all very much. We're doing very well with Iran. We're doing unbelievably with the economy. We have investment, as you
know, Toyota is coming in with the biggest plant I understand anywhere in the world. They're leaving Mexico. They're coming into our country.
It's going to come into Texas to be specific. We have more plants under construction now than at any time, by far, by many times. We have over
$19.2 trillion being spent in America. And they're going to be opening up in a year, year and a half. And there has never been a time like this in
America. Truly, it's the golden age of America. Thank you very much, everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, guys.
TRUMP: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, president.
ASHER: All right, you've just been watching a bilateral meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and the Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. We saw
a whole range of topics being covered during that bilateral meeting, from Hezbollah, from Iran to the Canadian tariffs to Houthi rebels, planned
naval blockade targeting Saudi ships.
I want to go straight now to Nic Robertson. We've got also Stephen Collinson, who's standing by for us. Nic, has been listening to this. Nic,
you know, when you think about the -- I mean, a lot of the bilateral meeting didn't cover some of the issues with Lebanon.
But when you think about some of the objectives that Joseph Aoun has as he meets with President Donald Trump, from securing a complete withdrawal from
Israel in Southern Lebanon, also having the U.S. trust Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah.
That's obviously a major priority, and strengthening the Lebanese armed forces to also getting some kind of economic cooperation from Donald Trump,
from the United States, to be able to rebuild so much of Southern Lebanon that has been decimated during this war.
I think one of the biggest issues is this plan to disarm Hezbollah. That is going to be a tall order. I mean, when you think about the fact that
Hezbollah, so much of its identity is really about its ability to confront Israel militarily. Just explain that process.
[11:45:00]
I think that one of Joseph Aoun's concerns has been that trying to sort of disarm Hezbollah could lead to internal conflict. They're not going to give
up their weapons easily. Just walk us through that process and what that process looks like, Nic?
ROBERTSON: Yeah, it was very interesting because he was asked a question about the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, Issa (ph) from
the Amal Group, not Hezbollah, but seen as a sort of a voice through which to hear some of Hezbollah's views.
And Michel Aoun was very -- Joseph Aoun. Michel Aoun is a historic Lebanese politician. Joseph Aoun, the President there, was very keen to say, look, I
respect Nabih Berri. He wants peace. He wants peace in the country.
But of course, the conundrum is that Hezbollah is a sheer group, but it's much more hard line than Nabih Berri's political organization. And they
hold the weapons, and they don't want to give them up, and they're supported by Iran. These are the fundamental things.
So what Joseph Aoun was speaking about there was wanting that political support, he said, from President Trump, but also the support for the
Lebanese army. And you know, he didn't say precisely what that support would be. But it is clearly to make them strong enough to be able to take
on Hezbollah.
But that doesn't happen without the political dimension moving forward in Lebanon. And that's sort of the hardest thing, if you will. And that comes
against the backdrop of Israel not wanting to cede ground because of its suspicions about Hezbollah.
But if President Trump and we've seen this here in the case of getting a ceasefire and getting to this point of actually having Joseph Aoun the
first time you know a Lebanese President's been inside the White House in 17 years, getting to this point has been because President Trump has put
enough pressure on Israel to make this happen, because it's part of getting a deal with Iran.
That this clearly is the axis for the Lebanese to try to put more pressure on Israel to you know to withdraw. But it has to come with an amazing
amount of international support, and there was a hint about that. You know, President Trump said they'd be discussing what some of this support might
look like, and there's a sort of a theoretical pathway forward for that.
But for the Lebanese army to take on Hezbollah in the short term, I don't think anyone really thinks that that is something that can be successful in
the short term.
ASHER: Yeah, we'll see what his plan says. I mean, he has a plan apparently to show President Trump that the Lebanese armed forces, that Lebanon, can
be in charge of disarming Hezbollah. But as you point out, Nic, it is not going to be easy. He has to also sell that plan. You bring up Nabih Berri;
he has to sell that plan to him and other Shia leaders as well. Nic Robertson, live for us there. Thank you so much.
Stephen, let me bring you in on this. We talk about the fact that Joseph Aoun is in a tricky position, not just in terms of trying to convince
President Trump that Lebanon can actually be strong enough to disarm Hezbollah, but he also has to sell what he agrees with Donald Trump to the
Lebanese Parliament, to people back home, to Shia leaders as well.
But Donald Trump is also in a tricky position too. I mean, obviously, you know, he talked about the fact that he thinks that Lebanon has been treated
horribly. And I'm sure he does based on that bilateral meeting. He has a lot of compassion for the Lebanese people.
But at the same time, though, he does have an allegiance with Israel. And Israel' their priority is to really stop the northern border or the
northern part of their country from being bombarded by Hezbollah. Benjamin Netanyahu has made that clear time and time again that the people of
Northern Israel, from his perspective, have also suffered as a result.
So, this is Donald Trump himself is walking a fine line through all of this too. Just walk us through that, Stephen.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, and this is a perennial problem. This is not something that just arose out of the war
with Iran. This has been going on for years and decades, and Lebanon's plight has been terrible, apart from a few periods of recovery since the
1980s.
It's always been ripped apart almost by its position in the Middle East and the different factions and allegiances to which you know that creates. I
think that you know it was interesting to hear Donald Trump say, well, I understand Lebanon. It isn't really clear that he does have a full
perspective of that history and the competing forces there.
If he did, he probably wouldn't be saying things like Syria should take a role in Lebanon, many Lebanese will remember the price that was paid in
blood for previous Syrian interventions in Lebanon.
[11:50:00]
I think what we saw here was one of those occasions in the Oval Office when Trump takes a picture of everything is going great, the economy is roaring.
The war in Iran is doing great. There are deals to be done, and then the problem is with this administration often there isn't the follow-up.
There isn't the implementation. We're seeing this in Gaza. The great fanfare of the deal that Trump did there to end the fighting with a big
summit in the Middle East, they still haven't got beyond the initial stages of that deal. So, when people hear him say things about helping Lebanon and
getting the region involved in helping Lebanon, and foreign countries coming in.
I think there's a reason for some skepticism. And we should also remember, of course, that Hezbollah doesn't want to do -- doesn't want this deal
between the Lebanese and the Israelis that is tentatively in place for some small withdrawals by the Israelis. It wants all this to be bound up in the
U.S. negotiations with Iran.
And at any point, Lebanon could erupt and further sour the hopes of diplomacy with Iran. So clearly, the administration hopes that by bringing
President Aoun here, they have a chance of at least mitigating that situation. But it's hard to be optimistic when you look at the unspecific
nature of this meeting.
ASHER: Yeah, and when you look at the history of Lebanon, as well, and what that country has been through? And the fact that it is trapped in this
really, quite frankly, awful cycle of violence. And it sort of feels as though they are powerless to some degree to stop it, and that is why Joseph
Aoun is meeting with President Trump today.
Stephen Collinson live for us there. Thank you so much. We'll be right back with more after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right, one of the biggest mergers in corporate history is now on hold. A U.S. judge has temporarily paused Paramount's buyout of Warner
Brothers Discovery, which is the parent company of CNN. 12 states requested the delay as part of a legal challenge to the deal.
The judge granted them a temporary restraining order at least until early August. Paramount says it's confident that the state's antitrust lawsuit is
without merit. The states will now seek a preliminary injunction, which could freeze the merger for months.
[11:55:00]
All right, a 10-year-old boy from Venezuela has become an inspiration as rescue efforts continue following last month's deadly twin earthquake.
Sebastian Corro has been working alongside his grandfather to help earthquake victims in La Guaira. He sifts through the rubble and helps
carry bags and water.
He has become well known among international rescue teams for his initiative. Sebastian says he hopes to become one of La Guaira's marine
firefighters someday.
All right, a story for all you Star Wars fans. Mark Hamill's original lightsaber with the severed hand, used on the set of "The Empire Strikes
Back" just sold for nearly $4 million at auction. That is the highest amount ever paid for a prop used in a Star Wars movie. All right, stay with
CNN. There is much more "One World" with my colleague Bianna Golodryga after the short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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