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International Tensions Boil in Middle Eastern Waters; Officials Say Some Oil Ships Were Intentionally Damaged; Grammarians Sound Off on Neil Armstrong
Aired May 14, 2019 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: This Tuesday on CNN 10 strains, sabotage and one small step. I`m Carl Azuz, always glad to have you watching. U.S.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had been planning a trip to Moscow, Russia this Tuesday. Yesterday he cancelled it and instead headed to Brussels,
Belgium. That`s where the leaders of the United Kingdom, Germany and France were scheduled to discuss international tensions with Iran and the
U.S. Secretary of State decided to join them. U.S. military officials recently said they had intelligence that Iran and groups that operate
beneath its military were planning to target U.S. troops in the Middle East and at sea.
In response, America sent warships, bomber planes and other military equipment to the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage of water that borders
Iran. Now, U.S. intelligence indicates Iran may be putting missiles aboard small Iranian boats in the Persian Gulf and the U.S. is moving missiles of
its own to the region. An American military official says their defensive in nature but the U.S. says that the threat from Iran is still real and
credible and that America is taking it seriously. With tensions simmering between those two countries, an official with the British government is
calling for a period of calm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are very worried about risk of a conflict happening by accident with an escalation that is unintended really on either side but
hence it`s some kind of conflict. And so, we`ll be showing those concerns with my European counterparts, with Mike Pompeo.
AZUZ: As U.S. Secretary Pompeo meets with those officials in Belgium, Iran is flexing its muscles in the Middle East.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An Iranian naval show of force in the Persian Gulf just as the U.S. deploy an aircraft carrier to the region. A
senior Iranian revolutionary guard commander going on state TV saying American military assets are in their crosshairs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE TRANSLATED: Imagine this is their aircraft carrier he said, at least 40 or 50 aircraft are onboard and 6,000 personnel. Right
now they`re a target for us.
PLEITGEN: The U.S. says it urgently deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln to the Persian Gulf and sent both B-52 bombers and additional patriot anti-
craft batteries to the Middle East. After the U.S. said it detected Iranian military movement that could indicate a threat to U.S. bases in the
region. Before leaving for Brussels, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with a warning for the Iranians.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO: An attack on American interests from an Iranian led force whether its an Iranian proper or it`s a - - an entity
controlled by the Iranians, we will hold the responsible party accountable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: Iran accuses the Trump Administration of escalating the situation. Tehran accusing Washington of trying to bring Iran to its knees
through economic and psychological warfare. Iranian parliamentarians telling CNN talks with the Trump Administration are out of the question for
now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE TRANSLATED: Americans are not worth having a dialogue with.
PLEITGEN: - - this parliamentarian says.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE TRANSLATED: They can`t be trusted for talks. They`re not worth of dialogue and they lie about their intentions for meeting and
talking with us. If they want a dialogue, they wouldn`t have threatened us militarily.
PLEITGEN: With tough talk on both sides, many Iranians already suffering under tough U.S. sanctions are concerned the situation could escalate into
an armed conflict with devastating consequences. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Meantime, U.S. President Donald Trump is warning Iran not to take action against American interests saying quote,"if they do anything it
would be a very bad mistake. We`ll see what happens." If there is a confrontation between Iran and the U.S. the Middle Eastern country has
threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz. That could impact the global economy since about 30 percent of the worlds crude oil is shipped through
the strait. There was an incident earlier this week involving four oil carrying ships that were near the strait. They were apparently targeted by
an act of sabotage. International officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo are not saying Iran was behind it and Iran`s government called
the incident quote, "alarming and regrettable". But anxiety is high in the region.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we`re learning is that these four vessels, these commercial vessels that were sabotaged, one of them is this one the El
Mazuca, a Saudi registered vessel appeared to have had these sabotage incidents in the early hours of Sunday morning. We know - - we now know
that there were the four vessels, two of them were registered to Saudi Arabia, one registered to the Emirates and one registered to Norway. What
appears to have happened, what we`re understanding and learning is that a call was made in the early hours of Sunday morning saying that water was
perhaps getting into the engine room. That something out of the ordinary was happening.
And over the space of the next couple of hours, it appeared that four vessels out here in the Straits of Homuz, off the Port of Fujairah were
experiencing some sort of irregularities. The Emirate authorities begin investigating and that`s when they realized there were these incidents of
sabotage. Now, it`s not quite clear yet what caused these - - this sabotage, how it was perpetrated or even for that matter who perpetrated
it. Emirate authorities clearly investigating but what we - - what we know is that these four vessels out here and - - and you can see across the
horizon here about 100 or so vessels parked up here. That these four different vessels that were impacted by the sabotage were not in the same
place.
They were scattered throughout the area and of course this comes at a time when there`s rising tensions between the United States and Iran. The
Abraham Lincoln carrier battle group is on the way to the area. Her patriot missile batteries on the way to the area as well - - as - - as well
as B-52 bombers close to Iran not far away from here. So while the Emirate authorities continue to investigate and we`re awaiting the outcome of that
investigation. Not quite clear yet when it will come but while we`re waiting for the outcome of that investigation of course this - - these
sabotage incidents risk raising tensions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. What was the name of NASA`s last manned mission to the moon? Luna II, Apollo 13, Constellation or Apollo 17. The last
time a human set foot on the moon surface was during NASA`s Apollo 17 mission.
The first time someone set foot on the moon occurred 50 years ago on July 16th, 1969 as part of NASA`s Apollo 11 mission. NASA estimates that 530
million people around the world watched on TV or listened on the radio as Commander Neil Armstrong took the first steps. He also took a little bit
of heat over something he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEIL ARMSTRONG: The eagle has landed.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When Neil Armstrong stepped out to become the first man on the moon, not a soul on earth could have guessed he would
land in the middle of a cosmic controversy.
ARMSTRONG: That`s one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.
FOREMAN: The problem, the first part of his historic sentence, that`s one small step for man is grammatically incorrect. It should have been one
small step for a man and that missing "a" has been setting off grammarians ever since.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lift off. The final lift off of Atlantis.
FOREMAN: Through all the years NASA has insisted that he did say the "a" and modern microphones would have picked it up. Instead the word was lost
on scratchy old equipment operating nearly a quarter million miles away. And Armstrong, though he rarely gave interviews throughout his life agreed
with NASA. Many scientists have tried to analyze the recordings and breakdown the sound waves with inconclusive results. But now researchers
from Michigan State and Ohio State believe they have evidence that Armstrong`s utterance might have been shaped less by space than by
something very down to earth. The famous astronaut was an Ohio boy and these researchers studied hundreds of recordings of natives saying the
words for and "a" and they found almost 200 times the words were pushed together making a sound like "fra" so listen again.
ARMSTRONG: That`s one small step for man.
FOREMAN: Like the moon trip itself, the theory may be a long shot but it could also prove the final word on the words of the man on the moon.
ARMSTRONG: Beautiful. Just beautiful.
FOREMAN: Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Maybe you`re heard of gorillas in the mist, this video proves they don`t like the rain at least these gorillas don`t. A zookeeper recorded
this at the Riverbanks Zoo in South Carolina. The animals are apparently under an awning but where they really want to be is under their roof.
After one of them makes the trip, its not long before the others follow suit. For the primate in that "climate" it`s high "timeit" got more
"dryit". Makes them sigh if there`s a giant storm so violent they "revialit". Wonder why it won`t be "quiet", they could "riot". They won`t
"buy it" so to "tie it up" and give the ape a break. When the weather becomes "wetter" and you don`t want "helter skelter" get a "lean to", get a
"tin roof" for "gorrilla glue" it`s shelter. I`m Carl Azuz and that`s CNN.
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