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One World with Zain Asher

Iran Launches "Surprise" Missile Attack on U.S. Forces in Middle East; Jordan's Military Says It Intercepted Five Missiles from Iran; U.S. And Saudi Arabia Launch Strikes on Iran-backed Militias in Iraq; Iranian Foreign Ministry Condemns U.S. And Saudi-led Strikes in Iraq; Rescue Efforts Ongoing After 6.8 Magnitude Japan Earthquake; Fauci Faces Grilling by Senators Over Origins of Covid Pandemic. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired July 29, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

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BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: Escalation in the Middle East as the U.S. and Iranian forces resume attacks. "One World" starts right now. The

U.S. thwarting a surprise attack from Iran and unexpectedly joining forces with Saudi Arabia to target an Iran-backed militia.

We're live at the White House with the latest. Plus, Dr. Anthony Fauci is testifying on Capitol Hill about lingering questions related to the COVID

pandemic response and invoking the Fifth Amendment. And Christians from Jerusalem to the West Bank say their communities are facing increased

attacks.

CNN's Clarissa Ward looks at how extremist ideology is reshaping life in the Holy Land. Hello, everyone. Live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga.

Zain is off today. You are watching "One World". Five months into the U.S. war with Iran, yet another new front is threatening to open up as fighting

expands across the Middle East.

U.S. CENTCOM says that its forces remain vigilant and at high state of readiness after successfully intercepting surprise Iranian missile attacks

on U.S. forces in the region. Earlier, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that it launched ballistic missiles at American military targets

in Jordan.

And now an Iranian-aligned militia says at least 20 people were killed and dozens of others injured early Wednesday after the U.S. and Saudi Arabia

conducted joint strikes across eastern Iraq. Meanwhile, in an interview with Fox News a short time ago, President Trump issued an expletive-laden

warning to Tehran, threatening to give them what he called a beating.

CNN's Betsy Klein joins me now at the White House with more. So, the president said we're going to be hitting them effing hard. Just talk to us

more about the White House response now to the surprise attack last night.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Bianna, there's certainly a lot of questions for the White House about their next steps,

and we're going to be watching very closely how they choose to respond. But I first want to take a step back and just lay out how we got here.

Five months ago, February 28th, this war begins. Then on June 17th, the U.S. releasing the text of that 14-point peace agreement with Iran. This

was aimed at creating a ceasefire, also reopening the Strait of Hormuz, that critical oil thoroughfare, and then setting the 60-day clock for those

thornier negotiations on nuclear issues.

Then on July 11th, that ceasefire completely breaks down and the strikes resume. 13 consecutive nights of strikes. And then for the first time

Thursday into excuse me Friday into Saturday of this week, those strikes halt. And President Trump saying earlier this week that he was doing so to

allow some space for those diplomatic talks to go forward.

That all ended last night, and the U.S. intercepted what it says was a surprise attack on U.S. forces.

The U.S. teaming up with Saudi Arabia to respond in kind, CENTCOM says in a statement, quote, U.S. and Saudi fighter aircraft struck multiple terrorist

logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours.

The unwarranted attacks against U.S. forces were not successful. It goes on to say the IRGC and its terrorist proxies must cease these attacks to avoid

further U.S. military response. Now, the president has been threatening massive attacks on critical infrastructure in Iran, things like roads,

bridges, that oil hub of Kharg Island.

He has yet to do so, so far, and some have warned that that could constitute war crimes. But our reporting indicates that the president, at

this stage, really has very little appetite for an escalation. We asked the White House what, if anything, these developments might mean for those

diplomatic talks, but the president suggested that an escalation may be in the works.

As you mentioned, he spoke with Fox News Trey Yingst earlier this morning, and he warned in very stark terms. And some of our viewers might find this

language offensive, but I'm quoting here, we are going to beat the fucking shit out of them. We'll be hitting them hard.

They're going to get a beating. We'll be watching to see what exactly that entails, whether that happens overnight tonight or at some future time. But

it also comes as we are getting some new polling about how deeply unpopular President Trump's war with Iran is, according to this new CNN polling out

this morning.

His overall report approval rating is at a 34 percent career low, and just 28 percent of Americans approve of his handling of this conflict. All of

that weighing on him as he plots that path forward, Bianna.

[11:05:00]

GOLODRYGA: All right, Betsy Klein, thank you. Let's dig a little bit deeper with Sabrina Singh, Former Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary and now CNN

Global Affairs Commentator. Sabrina, always good to see you. So, this attack wasn't in retaliation. This was what CENTCOM, the White House, are

both describing as a surprise attack by Iran.

The U.S. has not struck Iran in days. The president said that all signs for continued diplomacy were looking positive, and yet we have this last night.

So, does that debunk the premise that a pause in these attacks will actually lead to more de-escalation?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, the pause that we saw last Friday from the -- from this administration, I think, was a larger

calculation. One on trying to get diplomatic talks back on track, but two, I do think there was a real assessment, and from people that I've spoken to

within the building, of how much more an air campaign can really do in terms of getting Iran to give up control over the Strait of Hormuz.

I know that CNN and others have had reporting about U.S. Central Command saying that they had really hit all of the intended targets around the

strait. So, opening up other targets into you know Central Iran, the western part, would really widen the scope of this war.

Now Iran did say at a certain point like they might not you know respond during this time if the U.S. is not responding, but I think what you saw

over the past 24 hours is Iran basically saying we're not ready to negotiate, we're not ready to give up control over the Strait of Hormuz.

And in fact, we are rejecting the U.S. presence in the region, and we really want you gone from here, which is why you saw an attack on Jordan as

well.

GOLODRYGA: So, what options does the president have at this point? He says, as he we just reported in that interview with Fox News, that we're going to

hit them hard now. What could he do that could be more effective than the last round of strikes?

SINGH: Well, unfortunately, the president is in a bit of a between a rock and a hard place. I mean, no option is really great. There's, you know, the

first option that he can just leave right now. We can remove the naval blockade for the Strait of Hormuz and let, you know, he has said this, let

European allies and other countries deal with this.

I think that would be an extraordinary miscalculation and not the right path to go, and would really make I mean the United States look bad. The

second option here is to expand this war and expand some of the targets that Betsy was talking about, looking at some of those dual use targets

like bridges, roads, infrastructure that are used for military and civilian use purposes.

And then of course I think that the last option and the option that the president is trying to pursue, but that's proving to be very difficult, is

the diplomatic options. And coupled with all of this are always economic options, sanctions. What else can we pull -- what economic levers can we

pull to make Iran's economy hurt more?

We know that is something that could potentially move them. It is not the military right now, unfortunately, that is doing that to get them to that

third option, which is really negotiations.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, and there are some reports that the IRGC members who are calling the shots here and their leadership would rather prefer to continue

kinetic warfare than actually have to deal with governing a country that has suffered so much and continues to face such economic strife as well.

These joint strikes with Saudi were a first for the United States, but at the same time, there is concern about how Iraq is responding to this.

That's where some of these strikes that Iran had been leveling for U.S. bases had fallen upon. He has called this an unacceptable aggression.

We've got U.S. troops -- is there to that alliance and partnership? And what do you make of the U.S.-Saudi partnership here as well?

SINGH: Well, it's pretty significant that the U.S. and Saudi went in together on joint strikes within Iraq. I think that is a significant

escalation in the war. Saudi has predominantly tried to stay out of this conflict, and they were brought in. Their infrastructure was being hit, and

they said we're going to join you.

Now, when I was in the Biden Administration, we did have IRGC back proxy groups in Iraq attacking our forces that were in the region, and it was

something that we tried to impress upon the Iraqi government that they needed to do more. And we sometimes were met with deep frustrations that

they were not doing enough to protect our forces.

So, I think what you saw is that frustration built, and this administration and Saudi said, enough is enough. We're going to take action ourselves. So

that's why you saw those joint strikes. But just one more thing that you said that I thought was incredibly important is that you said that you know

the IRGC does not want to give up control right now, and they might not be interested in governing a country, but they want to retain these

capabilities and keep striking the U.S.

[11:10:00]

I think that's absolutely right. They have essentially been able to push back against the world's most powerful military and survived. Their

structure has been remained intact. Yes, there's been a change of leadership, but the IRGC structure remains. And so, I think that was really

important that they might not be interesting in governing, but they have the power and the leverage right now, and they're intending to use it as

they run out the clock.

GOLODRYGA: And yet, in terms of the clock being on one side's benefit versus the other, you have 90 million -- sooner rather than later have to

govern. We saw tens of thousands slaughtered that led ultimately to this war in January of this year, who were protesting --

Now you've got a situation where, if in fact it is true, the IRGC is just trying to stall to avoid a similar scenario, could they be overplaying

their --

SINGH: So sorry, you cut up for just a moment there, but I think what you asked is, are they overplaying their hand? And I think there is an absolute

possibility that, that does happen. We just saw in the last 24 hours public executions happening again in Iran. This was something that the protests,

you know, started back in December and late last year.

Were really all about the economic situations in Iran, and there were these public hangings that were happening in the country during that time. And

so, I think Iran does have the potential to overplay their hand both domestically, but also militarily with the United States.

Because at the end of the day, I don't think this president is going to walk away unless he feels like he can get a win. Again, we don't exactly

know what success looks like. The ambitions and the goals that were set out at the beginning of this war, when it came to addressing Iran's nuclear

program, very different today.

We're talking about opening the Strait of Hormuz, something that was open before. But I think if the president can say that the strait is open,

actually open, you know, we might see him pull back some forces and bring our men and women home in uniform.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, apologies. I don't know if you can hear me now. We were having some issues with my microphone.

SINGH: I can hear you.

GOLODRYGA: Basically, you just address the -- question of whether or not they are overplaying their hand in delaying having to govern some 90

million people that continue to suffer not only from a war campaign but also from economic strife that they've been suffering for years. Sabrina

Singh, thank you so much.

SINGH: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: And coming up for us, less than 100 days from the midterm elections, a new CNN -- poorly on key issues to Americans. Just how poorly,

we'll bring you those numbers ahead. Plus, pleading the fifth, Dr. Anthony Fauci invokes his right against self-incrimination. Details ahead on

today's heated Senate hearing.

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GOLODRYGA: Over in Europe, the devastating wildfires affecting parts of France and Spain are stabilizing, but the threats of severe heat remain.

With temperatures expected to soar past 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 41 Celsius. Hundreds of thousands of residents in southwest France have been

forced to evacuate over recent days because of the fires.

French President Emmanuel Macron says that it is the toughest situation the country has dealt with since the Second World War. And conditions are

similar in neighboring Spain. While the Spanish Prime Minister says the situation is evolving favorably. Local authorities in the capital --

The wildfire outside Madrid has scorched over 34,000 hectares alone, with 63,000 residents in the country's central region forced to evacuate. Let's

go to Spain now, where CNN's Pau Mosquera is on the ground near Madrid. So perhaps a bit of optimism there from officials.

Tell us what you're seeing behind you and what you're hearing from residents.

PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, there's a cautious optimism by the -- they say that both fires, the one that was raging across western

Madrid and the other one neighboring in the south and part of Avila Province are now technically stabilized.

And what you can see behind me, Bianna, this is San Juan Reservoir. This is a very popular destination for those who like to relax and enjoy water

during the summer time. But as you can see the flames got to this area a few days ago, and actually, what you can somehow get an image is the result

of the flames burning all the kayaks and boats that were in this area.

You can recognize it because those pieces that are covered in black in ash are the kayaks that the swimmers used to use just a few days ago when this

reservoir was still open to them? And I can tell you, Bianna, that from where we are, short distance, you can get a very strong smell of burnt

plastic.

It's very intense and a little bit disgusting, but also if you have a look around here, all this area, you can see how the flames reached all this

forest area and just reduce -- thing that was around. So, the ground, as you can see, black and completely charred. It is important to say, Bianna,

that today is starting the fourth heat wave of the summer here in the Iberian Peninsula.

And temperatures are expected to rise up to 40 degrees Celsius, which is more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. So, this is why the next few hours, fire

workers will try to control even more the wildfires around the country, because if not, things can get even more difficult as temperatures will

keep climbing from now, from today until Sunday, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Europe just can't catch a break. A fourth heat wave just this summer alone. Pau Mosquera, stay safe. Thank you. Turning now to southern

Japan, where at least 14 people have died in Tuesday's 6.8 magnitude earthquake. An urgent search and rescue operation is underway at a shopping

mall in Kumamoto Prefecture, where at least three people are considered missing or trapped.

The mall, which had about 3000 people in it at the time of the quake, partially collapsed after an explosion. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout has more.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the mood at the moment, as you can imagine, is quite somber. With the survivors of the earthquake

anticipating more aftershocks to come, they're hearing about the risk of landslides, and of course, temperatures are very hot right now there in

southern Japan, which is affecting not only them but also the urgent rescue work that is underway.

The race is on to find survivors, especially there in the shopping center that partially collapsed in an explosion after that massive 6.8 magnitude

earthquake struck southern Japan on Tuesday. This is an earthquake that has taken the lives of at least 13 people, dozens of people reported to be

injured, tens of thousands of homes are without power and electricity right now.

At least 300,000 individuals have been sent to evacuation centers. And you're looking at live pictures there of one scene we've been looking at,

watching very closely.

[11:20:00]

There are rescue efforts underway at this shopping center, and these are truly apocalyptic scenes of what happened after the earthquake, an

explosion ripped through, exposing just steel beams there, sending debris absolutely everywhere. And we also have, in addition to the aerial footage

of this shopping center, which is a massive shopping complex, some 200 stores are there.

We also have dashcam video that will show you the moment of the explosion, and according to one eyewitness, they said that the explosion was

deafening. Officials are looking into an investigation. It is believed because they sensed gas and the smell of gas was present.

It is believed that a gas leak is to blame. That needs to be confirmed, though. Also, it's not clear how many people remain trapped in the rubble.

Now we are also monitoring the rescue effort at a nearby paper factory, where there was a massive sort of industrial-sized chimney fell down.

Extensive damages there. Several people unaccounted for. Rescue efforts ongoing. It was not that long ago in 2016 when this southern prefecture of

Kumamoto had a devastating earthquake that took the lives of hundreds of people. Of course, this prefecture, in addition to the prefecture, Japan

lies in the Ring of Fire, the sort of U-shaped zone in the Pacific Rim of these volcanoes, of these ocean trenches that is susceptible to this type

of earthquake activity.

So much so that around 20 percent of the earthquakes that are magnitude 6.0 or higher take place in Japan. This is southern community that's no

stranger to devastating tremors like this.

GOLODRYGA: OK, we're going to take you to my colleague Wolf Blitzer on CNN Domestic as we try to work out some technical issues we're having here.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: -- to yesterday's pretty important meeting that Prime Minister Netanyahu had with President Trump.

DORON SPIELMAN, INTERNATIONAL SPOKESPERSON IN THE ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE: You know, Israelis from the very beginning, Wolf, see the United

States as really the cornerstone that is joining us together in this threat, defeating a major threat throughout the world, which is Iran.

I think the United States sees the same thing from Israel. I know from speaking to the prime minister, he and the president completely saw eye to

eye. In fact, when he came out of the meeting, I asked him how was the meeting. He said this was one of the greatest meetings I've had with --

BLITZER: -- Netanyahu said.

SPIELMAN: That's correct. That's what Netanyahu said. He said this was one of the greatest meetings I've had with the president, and they've known

each other for 40 years. And so, I think at this time, when by the way, those missiles that were fired could be seen over the skies of Jerusalem,

when the Israeli people see that and they see that we are in lockstep with the United States.

It gives a sigh of relief that both Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Trump, the American people, and the Israeli people are united in defeating

this enemy.

BLITZER: But you know, right now there seems to be a real serious strain in U.S.-Israeli relations, including relations between the Israeli government

and the Trump Administration.

SPIELMAN: I don't think so, Wolf. As a matter of fact, in getting brief from this meeting on all of the subjects that came across in this meeting,

and the meeting focused on Iran, the U.S. and Israel are completely unlocks it. You know, before these meetings, there's always reports the two men.

There's some type of fissure, as the prime minister said yesterday, I was in the room. It's as strong as granite. The two militaries are in touch

daily, if not hourly. The president, the prime minister speak daily. As a matter of fact, Wolf, I don't think we've probably ever seen two

governments.

Certainly not Israel and the United States more in lockstep since maybe even World War II.

BLITZER: But as you know, Americans seem to be growing increasingly sour in their view of the Israeli government right now. A recent survey from the

Pew Research Center found that nearly two thirds of Americans, 62 percent hold an unfavorable view right now of the Israeli government.

How concerning are these latest numbers to the prime minister and to you, for that matter?

SPIELMAN: You know, I think that for Israelis, when we see any type of waning support towards Israel, of course, this is a great concern. What

we've seen is in many of the factions in which there's waning support towards Israel, there's actually waning support towards the United States.

It's a very similar group of people who are associating both an anti-Israel sentiment with an anti-U.S. sentiment. There is a true parallel here, and

it's very concerning. Where does it come from? Today, when a nation exerts, let's say, some type of power against evil, it is automatically being

labeled as an oppressor, and therefore the evil.

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[11:40:00]

GOLODRYGA: All right, welcome back to "One World". I'm Bianna Golodryga in New York. We turn now to Capitol Hill, where U.S. lawmakers have spent the

morning grilling Dr. Anthony Fauci over his role during the COVID pandemic, it is the latest showdown between the retired scientist and Republican

Senator Rand Paul.

Paul looks to blame the pandemic and America's shortcomings on the Former Head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Throughout the morning, Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. And just moments ago, this dramatic moment between

Senator Paul and Fauci's attorney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you're not listening to the rules. That's the way you want to be remembered, and that's what you're going to do. You are not

recognized, sir. Security, please remove him from the room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: My next guest is the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital Philadelphia. Dr. Paul Offit is also the co-author

of "Vaccines and Your Family: Separating Fact from Fiction". Dr. Offit, welcome to the program. I know even before this hearing, you described that

this was going to likely be a waste of time.

I don't know what the public really gained from watching any of this, the constant back and forth between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats, for

the most part, defending Dr. Fauci. Republicans indicting him, blaming him for a host of issues. Perhaps some of those questions that they asked him

were legitimate, but he invoked the fifth to every single one of them.

I want to ask you, what did the public gain? I mean, having watched it as a journalist, I felt like I had to. But for those at home who do have serious

questions about how the government handled the pandemic? Did anyone learn anything?

DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR OF THE VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER AT THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL PHILADELPHIA: No, I think the public learned nothing. I think the

one of the jobs of Congress, Senate, and the House is to keep America safe. Now we've had three pandemic coronaviruses over the last 20 years.

The first one in 2002 in Guangdong, China, SARS one, then MERS in Saudi Arabia, now this virus in 2019 again in Wuhan, China. All were animal to

human spillover events. And in the case most recent case, it was in the southwestern section of the Hunan wholesale seafood market.

The animals they sold there were conduits from bats to humans. All the genetic evidence at that site in that stall is consistent with those early

cases, which all emanated from there. This couldn't be clearer. So, you -- because we've had three pandemic coronaviruses in the last 20 years.

Let's assume this isn't the end of it. Let's assume there's going to be another one. So, you would like to find out how to prevent that next one.

If they want to bring somebody into the committee, bring China there because they have now twice had these wet markets where animals are sold

illegally and under unsanitary conditions that have been the source of these pandemics, and there'll probably be another one that Dr. Fauci is not

to blame here.

GOLODRYGA: And yet, even just from an optics standpoint, the argument was made that Dr. Fauci had a preemptive pardon and testified some 200 plus

times prior to that, during and after the pandemic. What does it say to the public? Does it not make Rand Paul's point if he is now invoking the fifth?

OFFIT: I don't know what to advise Dr. Fauci to do. I mean, he's answered those questions over and over again. The purpose of this hearing was to

embarrass him, was to attack him and embarrass him. That's the strategy that he took was to evoke the Fifth Amendment, but certainly nothing good

came of this meeting.

Whether he answered the questions or not, nothing good would have come because he's answered them hundreds of times before.

GOLODRYGA: And you, we should note, have been one of the sharpest critics of the pandemic response. You voted against boosters for all adults in

2021. You were one of two votes against the bivalent booster, and you wrote an entire book arguing that federal health agencies got ahead of evidence

and lost the public's trust.

So again, this could have been an opportunity to have some serious conversation, as you said, focusing in on how China has handled it. This

would have been paramount, but the Trump Administration announced new gain of function restrictions just earlier this week, yesterday actually.

Does that make Americans safer? Was that the right thing to do?

OFFIT: I don't think it makes safer. I mean, I think gain of function experiments really are loosely defined. Where if you take one virus, and in

the case of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, was a virus called WIV one.

[11:45:00]

And what they did was they then mixed it or reassorted it with a series of eight different bat coronaviruses. Now no function was gained. You could

argue those were gain of function studies, but no function was gained. I mean scientists will often mix viruses all the time.

It sometimes they are done where you actually can gain function. So, for example, there was a group in Wisconsin that took a bird influenza and then

tried to adapt it to mammals, which is a bad idea because that could make it much more likely to be an epidemic or pandemic strain.

So that's a gain of function study that you worry about. The kinds of studies that were done in Wuhan were technically gain of function studies

where no function was gained. So, I don't think it really makes us any safer.

GOLODRYGA: I also wonder if the time spent today focusing on 2020 could have instead been spent focusing on what's transpiring right now. We

continue to see a decline in trust in vaccines in this country, from the head of the -- our health our top medical director on down.

There's a record measles outbreak in the country as well. Cyclospora, Ebola in the DRC. If we were to have a conversation just on the concerns you

have, what are your top concerns?

OFFIT: Right. What my concerns are is that, and this meeting shows it. This was like a theater of the absurd, for where the themes were anti-science,

anti-public health, and I think that's what's going on right now in this country. And I think, in many ways, it was generated by the first two years

of the COVID pandemic, where there was, I think, we leaned into this libertarian left hook when we did things like close businesses, shuttered

schools, restricted travel.

You couldn't go anywhere without your vaccine card in 2021, masking, isolating, quarantining, social distance. I think people felt that was

government overreach, and we could have done things better, as I have talked about before. But it's always easy in retrospect.

I mean, we all of us, and I was on the FDA vaccine advisory committee during the pandemic. We didn't always make the right decision, but we were

trying to make the right decision, and that's what I find so egregious about this hearing was they attacked Dr. Fauci as if you know he was in

some way trying to do the wrong things and was financially benefiting from doing the wrong things.

That's just not who he is. I mean, I've known Dr. Fauci for 40 years. He's a public health official who's trying to do the right thing, but

unfortunately, he leaned into this libertarian left hook, and I think this meeting was the result.

GOLODRYGA: Dr. Paul Offit. Appreciate the time. Thank you so much.

OFFIT: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: We'll be right back with more.

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[11:50:00]

GOLODRYGA: All right, the CEO of LVMH is pushing back against a series of articles written about his family and business. Bernard Arnault owns a

luxury empire that is home to brands like Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, and many more. A recent profile on the billionaire, suggested that

his family is locked in a battle to decide who will be taking the company over next. CNN's Saskya Vandoorne has the details.

SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN PARIS BUREAU CHIEF: Bernard Arnault is pushing back against reports of a bitter succession battle among his five children,

insisting that his family is united. His comments have caused quite a stir here in France, partly because the Chairman of LVMH is famously private and

rarely speaks publicly about his family.

But he broke that silence with a statement shared by LVMH, in which he responded to a major Le Monde investigation into Arnault's influence and

the future of the company. In a rare display of his trademark irony, Arnault mocked the idea of a family feud, writing, with the Arnault,

apparently there is no discussion, only plotting, no deliberation, only rivalry.

It's the stuff of novels. Arnault appears to be saying that the real-life plot of the hit show "Succession" exists only in fiction, not inside the

Arnault family. Now, the reason the speculation has been so intense is because this is not just a family story. It's about the future of one of

the world's biggest luxury empires, whose brands include Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Tiffany.

All five of Arnault's children hold senior roles within LVMH, fueling years of debate over who will eventually succeed the 77-year-old. And yet,

Arnault insists there's no drama behind the scenes. He says his children run the group's brands and even call each other on Sundays.

For now, Arnault has shown no sign of stepping aside, saying earlier this year that the question should be asked again in seven or eight years when

he reaches the company's age limit to be chairman and CEO. Saskya Vandoorne, CNN, Paris.

GOLODRYGA: Quite a stinging article in rebuke. All right. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:55:00]

GOLODRYGA: The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an extremely close call between two Delta jets that happened Monday in

Atlanta, Georgia. One Delta plane was trying to land when the pilot aborted the approach as another jet was taking off from a parallel runway.

An air traffic controller then instructed both pilots separately to turn right and climb to 4,000 feet. Almost immediately, anti-collision alarms

went off in both cockpits, warning the pilots to take evasive action. Frightening. All right, before we go, FIFA's President has announced a plan

to create a $20 billion private company to run the World Cup, and it's come under immediate fire from Europe's football governing body.

UEFA released a statement saying the tournament quote, is not FIFAs to sell, and that privatization crosses a line, not helping the optics, the

potential involvement of President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, his brothers among the private investors who want to form this commercial

subsidiary that would be called FIFA Forward Enterprise.

FIFA is currently a non-profit operation based in Switzerland. We'll stay on the story for you. All right, do keep CNN on. I'll have more "One World"

right after the break.

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