Return to Transcripts main page

The Amanpour Hour

Interview With United Nations General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock; Interview With "Stolen Revolution" Co-Author And "The New York Times" Iran Correspondent Yeganeh Torbati; Interview With "Stolen Revolution" Co-Author Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; The Dads Who Found Each Other Through Football And Grief; Interview With IRC Regional Vice President For MENAU Sherine Ibrahim; Interview With "The Pitt" Actress Sepideh Moafi; The Refugees Risking Everything On The High Seas; Excerpt Of Interview With Equal Justice Founder And Executive Director Bryan Stevenson. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired June 20, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:38]

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, and welcome to THE AMANPOUR HOUR.

Here's where we're headed this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm the boss.

AMANPOUR: A victory lap from the U.S. President but is Iran's Islamic regime making hay? As a Memorandum of Understanding is signed between them, the president of the United Nations General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, joins me on the diplomatic fallout.

And has anything changed for the Iranian people? Journalists Yeganeh Torbati and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin on the current state of the regime and their new book, "Stolen Revolution".

Also ahead, amid World Cup mania how football is bringing together dads suffering unfathomable losses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is nothing more masculine than a group of lads sitting around crying, hugging each other, supporting each other. That's manly.

Then on World Refugee Day, star of "The Pitt", Sepideh Moafi, talks about her journey from Iranian refugee to TV's hottest show. She joins us with the International Rescue Committee's Shireen Ibrahim.

SEPIDEH MOAFI, ACTRESS, "THE PITT": I have lived with the stories and the journey of my parents and the pain of displacement and exile my whole life. And this has fueled my advocacy work and my work as an artist.

And from my archive, what a refugee crisis looks like up close. My report from the Mediterranean at the height of this crisis in 2015.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Welcome to the program, everyone. I'm Christiane Amanpour in London.

And it seems that some of the world's largest powers are learning a bitter lesson. Do not underestimate your less powerful foes.

In their Memorandum of Understanding this week, Iran seemed to get almost everything it wanted out of Washington. The immediate ability to export its oil and a potential future lifting of all sanctions in exchange for an end to the war. An open Strait of Hormuz, which, of course was the norm before the war began in February.

Now, Russia, too, is facing the reality of underestimating Ukrainian resistance. President Putin has been lashing out in increasingly risky ways. Here in the English Channel, a Russian warship fired warning shots at a British yacht this week.

I spoke to one of the most experienced European foreign policy officials, the president of the U.N. General Assembly and the former German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Annalena Baerbock, welcome back to our program.

ANNALENA BAERBOCK, PRESIDENT, UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Thank you so much for having me on the show.

AMANPOUR: So, there are big issues that are being talked about right now, issues that are not just global, but also very pertinent to the United Nations.

Let me ask you first about what you think is going to be the result of this MOU between the United States and Iran. What do you think it's going to lead to?

BAERBOCK: Hopefully to more peace and ending the consequences all around the world, because ending hostilities, ending a war is always a good thing.

Yet we have to be very honest to ourselves to see where the world stood before February 28. And some of the dramatic consequences will be felt even in months after.

Fertilizers not getting to different parts of the world, especially to those who need it most, will be consequential for the poorest around the world, not having the harvest they should have.

Also, the energy prices hit the poorest most. And we should not forget about the people of Iran demanding freedom for themselves for a very, very long time. And therefore, a ceasefire, an end of war, an end of hostilities is always very important, is always the best we can achieve. Yet we should not ignore that the reasons after this war and also that the secretary-general and I called immediately to everyone that the charter is not optional, but that there's a reason that member states should settle their disputes peacefully, should be one of the strongest reminder of the last months.

[11:04:45]

AMANPOUR: Let's talk about Ukraine, which you were very involved with when you were Germany's foreign minister in the aftermath of the full- scale invasion by Putin. But it appears that Russia is becoming -- I don't know, it's being described as maybe more desperate, maybe Putin more paranoid. All sorts of activities are being blamed on Russia.

Right here in the U.K., for instance, in the English Channel, they're blaming Russia-backed arsonists for damage against properties connected with the British prime minister. All those things are going on.

What do you think the U.N. can do about it, given that Russia is part of the Security Council and has a veto, and the General Assembly, which you're president of, doesn't have that power to constrain a member state?

BAERBOCK: This is a big challenge of the United Nations. This institution was, as one secretary-general said at the beginning, not built to bring humankind to heaven, but to prevent it from hell.

And it's in the hands of the member states, the 193, to follow up on the principle they all signed back 80 years ago.

And if a permanent member of the Security Council, which is, by definition, responsible for upholding peace and security around the world, is violating that charter by itself, an institution like the U.N., which doesn't have any preceding powers, cannot solve this problem alone.

And this is why the debates within the United Nations, in the General Assembly, by 193 member states, are so crucial.

And therefore, the majority of the General Assembly has made very, very clear in all the last years that this is a fundamental breach of the charter of the United Nations, that Russia has to withdraw their troops, that we need just and lasting peace. And having a refocus on these debates is extremely important, because people are dying every day.

And as you mentioned, this is a hybrid warfare. We see the consequences again all around the world with regard to, in the past, grain prices, with also energy prices, but also, as we saw, for example, in Romania, where a drone hit a civilian place, even in the territory of the European Union.

AMANPOUR: We're talking at a time when the U.N. has been struggling to assert its legitimate and historic positions on the world stage. The United States' current administration kind of sidelines the U.N. to a great extent.

It's the United States which has cut all of this aid, especially to the U.N., especially in humanitarian affairs, particularly around the Ebola breakout. We also see the Board of Peace is a U.S. construction, and the director of that has said in his own words that despite six months or more now of the ceasefire in Gaza, there are, quote, "no recovery in Gaza". 80 of the buildings destroyed, no reconstruction barely begun. Israeli forces now control up to 60 or even more percent of the strip, well beyond the line, the ceasefire was supposed to bring them back to Palestinians. At least 980 have been killed since the ceasefire.

I mean, isn't that a slap in the face to the United Nations?

BAERBOCK: The heavy cuts by member states, which you mentioned, are dramatic, and we should not sugarcoat. People are dying because of that.

And we even have aid in warehouses which cannot be delivered to infants, for example. And we have to ask also ourselves at this moment, why are we endangering all the successes from the past?

I mentioned ebola. Another example is HIV/AIDS. This was one of these global diseases more than 30 years ago, where the world did not know what to do. They joined hands. We managed to control it. And now we are on the edge of destroying the success at the last miles, because the cuts are being so heavy.

But to be frank and open, it's not only the U.S. The U.S. is one of the biggest donors because of their size, and the non-payment by the U.S. is dramatic, as I described.

Yet also other member states did not pay yet full, and definitely not in time. So, it's a fundamental discussion which we have to have in the United Nations about the funding system itself.

AMANPOUR: Annalena Baerbock, president of the U.N. General Assembly, thank you for being with us.

BAERBOCK: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: So the U.N. really needs to get back and up being fit for purpose.

And coming up next, the U.S. promised regime change in Iran, but their agreement to end the war falls far short of that goal. How it fits into more than a century of Iranians rising up against their rulers.

And on this Fathers' Day weekend, how the beautiful game is helping bereaved dads heal.

[11:09:45]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.

It began as an effort to break the regime, but the war on Iran seems to be ending with a return to the status quo. This week, President Trump claimed he, quote, "never cared about regime change".

So where does this leave the Iranian people? Recent history suggests that moments of crisis have only served as opportunities for the state to adapt and endure.

[11:14:53]

AMANPOUR: In their new book, "Stolen Revolution", journalists Yeganeh Torbati and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin chronicle half a century of upheaval from the 1979 Islamic Revolution to the Woman Life Freedom Movement.

It follows the stories of six citizens who lived through the decades' long struggle against the regime, and the endless cycle of hope and disillusionment that came with it. I spoke to the authors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Welcome to the program.

BOZORGMEHR SHARAFEDIN, CO-AUTHOR, "STOLEN REVOLUTION": Hi, thanks for having us.

YEGANEH TORBATI, CO-AUTHOR, "STOLEN REVOLUTION" AND IRAN CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Thank you so much, Christiane.

AMANPOUR: So, what do you think, given the title of your book is "Stolen Revolution," and we'll get more into that, what do you think immediately will be the political manifestation of a post-war Iran, vis-a-vis the people of Iran?

SHARAFEDIN: For the Islamic Republic, it's going to be a difficult task to sell this deal internally, because it's -- for the hardliners, we see that they are very critical of the deal. And for them, it doesn't make sense for the Islamic Republic to make a deal with the U.S. only a few months after they killed their leader, the supreme leader.

I see that the way they are trying to sell the deal is that this is going to give the Islamic Republic a breathing space to rebuild its offensive and defensive capabilities to get ready for a full-on confrontation in the future.

So, that's the -- from the Islamic Republic perspective, it seems that they think that this is a good deal, because they can regroup and rethink their strategies and plan ahead for the future.

But I think for the Iranian people, the outcome is quite disappointing, because in the eyes of many Iranians, the war didn't start on February 28. It started from January, when thousands, maybe millions of Iranians came to the streets, and President Trump told them to remain on the streets because help was on its way. So, for -- in the eyes of many Iranians, they were expecting this military campaign to be a way that they will overthrow the Islamic Republic with the help of Americans.

So, in the question of -- on the question of the regime change, in the eyes of many Iranians, the regime hasn't changed, only it has changed to a worse version of itself.

AMANPOUR: Yeganeh, you know very well that many of the opponents of this regime, inside Iran, outside Iran, never believed in reform. They said it's just a joke, it's just a ruse, there's no way of reforming this particular system.

I don't know whether you have a comment on that, but I'm really interested in your view on why, not just from 1979, but even before, under the Shah, even going all the way back to the, you know, to the constitutional revolution, back at the beginning of the 20th century, Iranian regimes and leaders, whether they're monarchist or not, or secular like Mossadegh or whatever it is, have apparently never been accountable to their people. They just have not had that kind of popular legitimacy.

And every time there is a -- you know, an uprising, they get crushed, and obviously in the last nearly 50 years as well.

Do you see it that way, and do you have an answer for why?

TORBATI: It is true that over the last 100 plus years of Iranian history, we've seen this repeated kind of aborted attempts at greater freedom, starting from the constitutional revolution, going through Mossadegh's movement, through 1979, which, you know, we document in the book, and many others have as well, that there were elements and large parts of that revolutionary movement that wanted greater freedoms and believed that getting rid of the Shah would bring them those freedoms politically.

And instead, what they got was greatly curtailed social freedoms and eventually very, very, very restrictive political space as well.

And so, I think, you know, what we sort of try to trace in the book is the fact that the Iranian people keep trying in different ways, and they turn to different methods, whether it's first voting, you know, in 1997, voting in this very unexpected way, really for the first time for a candidate that was not openly favored by the supreme leader.

We took the system by surprise. Then when that was stymied, you know, they turned to peaceful street protests, and they vote again in the Green Movement.

And then over and over in the last 10 or 15 years or so, we see round after round of protests. And, you know that -- I don't expect that impulse to go away.

AMANPOUR: So, Bozorgmehr, finally, you don't just, you know, focus on leaders and the like, but also on ordinary people.

[11:19:47]

AMANPOUR: For instance, the story of Hila Sedighi, a teenager who you report was trying to organize poetry nights, only to have it shut down over and over again. But she keeps pushing.

Eventually, one of the bureaucrats signs the permit and tells her, I'm lighting this fire both for you and for me. It's a small act of resistance, obviously, from her, but also from him.

So, tell me about that and where you think the people of Iran are going to find themselves now in post-war Iran. Do you think this regime will understand that they need to respond to the people's needs or else get kicked out?

SHARAFEDIN: Yes, I think the way I see the Iranian society is like a frozen river. So, because on the surface, we see this ice and we see the political system is very, very rigid.

But deep inside, we see a flow, a stream, a very strong stream of cultural and social life. And I think Hila Sedighi represents that and that culture that how Iranians in deeper layers of the society are fighting for freedom.

In the book, we didn't want to limit ourselves to the political level because the full Iranian experience, it also includes the cultural and social and also economic layers of the Iranian society, which we explain in the book.

Hila represents that social and cultural parts, that how she tries to -- tries really hard to find some freedom in the cultural space. She goes through negotiations with many government officials to create some safe space for appropriating culture.

Of course, she is disappointed over and over. But as we see and as we see in her personal life, she comes back and only fights stronger.

And I think that that shows the spirit of the nation, that whatever is the result of their attempts, if it's failure, they will come, they will go and reinvent themselves and come back again.

AMANPOUR: Yeganeh, obviously one of the biggest was Women, Life, Freedom. Do you have hope for Iranian women?

TORBATI: I think, you know, we point out in the book that although Women, Life, Freedom failed in its political efforts to unseat the regime, it had a lasting and huge social impact, possibly more than any other movement we've seen in Iran's modern history.

And I think that shows you the strength of the Iranian women's movement and their willingness to keep fighting for what they believe are their rights.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: And they are bound to keep fighting.

Coming up, the beautiful game -- how football is helping dads to bear the unbearable. That report next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll be honest with you. If it wasn't football, I never would have made the phone call, sent the message kind of thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:22:36]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back.

Now, just about everyone everywhere is being swept up in World Cup fever. We're seeing the unifying power of soccer or football, as it's called, all over the world, the beautiful games rallying people at a time of great division.

Now, in this special report, we see how it's able also to build community and become a place of healing in even the most heartbreaking circumstances.

Correspondent Christina Macfarlane meets a fathers' support group to help with the grief of losing a child. It's in the Forget-Me-Knot Football Club, and she starts her report by talking to one of the members.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANTHONY SUTCLIFFE, MEMBER, FORGET-ME-KNOT FC: There is nothing more masculine than a group of lads sitting around crying, hugging each other, supporting each other. That's manly.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Football has given these men a reason to be here. Perhaps a way in the door without admitting vulnerability or weakness.

NICK BAMFORD, MEMBER, FORGET-ME-KNOT FC: I'll be honest with you. If it wasn't for football, I never would have made the phone call, sent the message kind of thing. But yes, football was our thing.

MACFARLANE: Nick's son, 10-year-old Jayden, died after a long battle with cancer 18 months ago.

What has it been like sharing your story with these guys?

BAMFORD: Them all hearing what I've been through and me hearing what they've been through, you realize you're not alone with it.

MACFARLANE: That's exactly what founder Sean Coleman hoped for when he started the club last year.

SEAN COLEMAN, FOUNDER, FORGET-ME-KNOT FC: It's ok to grieve. There's no stigma. And that's what I'm trying to break, like the stigma of men's grief, men's mental health, and maybe loss itself. It's all stigmas that need to be broken.

MACFARLANE: While we're there, the team received a message from Premier League player and local Aaron Ramsdale. His wife Georgina miscarried on a flight home following England's 2022 World Cup campaign.

AARON RAMSDALE, SOUTHAMPTON FC GOALKEEPER: Yes, I thought I'd give you a message and just say well done and we're all in different situations. But when things like this happen, we're all in the same boat.

MACFARLANE: Support from players like Aaron is a small step towards Forget-Me-Knot FC's new goal, expanding from Port Vale Football Club to other professional football clubs across the U.K., something Aaron Way is trying to spearhead while navigating his own pain.

Last year, Aaron and his wife Jemma suffered the tragic loss of their baby girl during labor.

[11:29:47]

MACFARLANE: Here, in the place where Willow should have been, precious memories spent with her are cherished.

JEMMA HALL, LOST BABY DURING LABOR: We haven't got Willow. We weren't able to watch her change or grow. The only things we have got are those memories from the time that we had with her. She's our daughter. She lives in everything that we do.

MACFARLANE: In the darkest months of their lives, Aaron said the club pulled him out of a spiral of gambling and depression, and enabled them as a couple to try again for a baby.

AARON WAY, MEMBER, FORGET-ME-KNOT FC: Without having Forget-Me-Knot, and having the dads that are involved, and especially like the likes of Sean who helped set it up, I don't actually think I'd be here in, in all honesty.

But it's also to know that you're around like-minded men that have gone through exactly the same journey.

MACFARLANE: Christina Macfarlane, CNN, Stoke-on Trent, England.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: So sports and football, of course, has the power to really gather a community. And even in the United States, where there were so many concerns about what this World Cup might look like there, it has certainly this first week energized and uplifted people's spirits there and around the world.

Coming up, it is World Refugee Day. I speak to actress, Sepideh Moafi about how her family's escaped from Iran and her work with the International Rescue Committee shaped her role in the hit series "The Pitt", and she joins me with the IRC's Sherine Ibrahim. That is after a break. [11:31:19]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back.

Now, how about this stat? Every minute, 20 people are forced to flee their homes in search of safety from war, persecution, violence and other crimes. It is a situation that no one would choose.

And yet today, as we mark World Refugee Day, some 118 million people are displaced. That's one in every 70 people on this earth. And in a year of record high levels of armed conflict, the crisis is expanding.

America and Israel's war has displaced over 4 million people across Iran, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It's an experience that our next guest understands. She is Sepideh Moafi, who was born in a refugee camp after her family fled Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Now she's an actress best known for her role in the hit series "The Pitt" and an ambassador for the IRC. She joined me along with their regional vice president for the Middle East, Sherine Ibrahim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Sepideh and Sherine, welcome to the program.

MOAFI: Thank you for having us.

AMANPOUR: Let me start with you, Sherine. I want to get your reaction to what the E.U. has just legislated. The parliament there has approved the strictest ever migration, you know, law in decades this week. It apparently allows E.U. countries to set up deportation centers outside the E.U. itself. Sort of return hubs, they're calling it.

Do you know what this is all about? And what is your assessment of it?

SHERINE IBRAHIM, REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT FOR MENAU, IRC: So, thank you, Christiane. Obviously, we are still trying to understand the implications of these decisions.

But we, as the IRC, call on governments, whether they are the U.S. or within the European Union, to make sure that they preserve access to asylum and refugee resettlement programs.

And people who seek that asylum or seek that resettlement opportunity have safe and dignified pathways to do so. Because what we are seeing is that people go to great lengths and risk their own lives to get to other shores.

So, that is important for the IRC, to make sure that asylum and refugee resettlement are safeguarded. AMANPOUR: So, just to continue, because there are millions of refugees who need to be settled. The UNHCR, Sherine, says that for the first time, though, in a decade, the total number of forcibly displaced people has declined.

Do you buy that? I mean, declined, you know, over the last year.

IBRAHIM: So, I think there is room for optimism, but we also have to see the nuance of these figures.

U.N. figures are telling us that there are 118 million forcibly displaced people globally. Today, you know, as we look at 2026 numbers, we can celebrate that 14 million people have returned to their homes. So, displacement figures are declining.

However, on the flip side of that, Christiane, you also have 14 million newly-displaced people just this year alone, as a result of new wars and shocks.

So, even though we have an optimism today, this number may see an increase in the very near future if wars and climate disasters continue.

AMANPOUR: Well, keep an eye on that.

Let me turn to you, Sepideh. You are now incredibly well-known in the United States for many things, but on the back especially of "The Pitt" on HBO.

[11:39:47]

AMANPOUR: But you also have been a refugee. You were apparently born in a refugee camp after your parents fled the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

So, talk to me about what you remember from that experience and why you decided to become a special ambassador for the IRC.

MOAFI: Well, Christiane, my lens on the world was forged by how I entered it. My parents were both political activists in Iran fighting for democracy. My father was actually imprisoned under the reign of the Shah.

And then after the Islamic Revolution with the rise of the Islamic Republic, as you know, repression became much more brutal.

Many of my parents' friends were imprisoned, executed, and yet they continued their activism until they were forced to flee.

They left their home with nothing more than a suitcase and my older sister in hand and fled to Turkey where they sought asylum. And then lived across refugee camps in Germany, at the time it was East and West Germany. And I was born in Regensburg in a refugee camp.

And so, I was still a baby when we came to the United States and were ultimately granted asylum. But I have lived with the stories and the journey of my parents and the pain of displacement and exile my whole life. And this has fueled my advocacy work and my work as an artist.

I simply can't separate my parents' story and our journey to the United States from the 118 million displaced people around the world and their stories.

And so, I've been a longtime admirer of the work that the International Rescue Committee does. I started by donating in high school whatever small amount I could.

And then about seven years ago, they invited me to be an ambassador where I help amplify the incredible work that they do to help refugees and displaced people around the world survive, recover, and rebuild their lives.

AMANPOUR: Did this experience you've just told me about, was it -- did it inform your role in "The Pitt"? You play in "The Pitt" in the second season, Dr. Baran al-Hashimi. And before you -- you know, you come to "The Pitt", your story is that you worked with Doctors Without Borders in Afghanistan.

So, the whole humanitarian landscape where you would have met, you know, all these people who we're talking about right now, refugees and the most vulnerable.

MOAFI: Yes, absolutely. I mean, it takes a particular kind of person, character to do such selfless acts, to go to places like Gaza and Lebanon and Afghanistan, some place that my character served, and go to these areas where in some cases, entire cities are seemingly one continuous emergency department where resources are scarce and the need is overwhelming.

And something that moved me that I layered into this character was that across the board, anyone who I've talked to or anybody who I've seen or read, speak when they come back from having been deployed, talks about despite the horror, despite the destruction and death, they would go back in a heartbeat because even in the depths of darkness, they witnessed these extraordinary acts of courage and solidarity and generosity.

And so for me, it was so important for this character to hold the voices of her colleagues that she's left behind to hold their practice in her own practice.

And I think this detail gives a specific gravity to this character in the world of "The Pitt".

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: And coming up, my report from the heights of the European migration crisis, when I joined a refugee rescue mission in the Mediterranean, after a break.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: It is incredible to see with your own eyes a boat like that, not big. It's being crammed with 290 people, and of them, 21 are children.

[11:43:48]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back.

A decade after the peak of Europe's migration crisis, thousands are still risking everything to cross the Mediterranean and other seas. 2026 was the deadliest start to a year since records began, according to the U.N.

It follows years of efforts to tighten asylum rules, strengthen border controls and crack down on smuggling networks.

Just last week, a new overhaul of immigration policy came into effect across the E.U., as nations find themselves under pressure from far- right nationalist parties.

Back in 2015, I joined an Italian navy operation on a rescue mission. Here's my report from then.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: It's a sunny day so the pilots of this navy helicopter expect it to be a busy day in the Central Mediterranean not far from the Libyan coast.

And barely 30 minutes into our flight the pilots tell us they've spotted a boat, possibly full of migrants.

And there it is, miles away, steaming towards Italy, they hope. The warship Sphinx (ph) takes off to rescue them. Now they've all been given those distinctive orange life vests.

[11:49:48]

AMANPOUR: We return to the task force frigate Virginio Fasan and join the crews there preparing to assist the seaborne rescue underway.

The crews are dressed in masks and hazard suits in case of infectious disease.

It is incredible to see with your own eyes a boat like that, not big; it's been crammed with 290 people, and of them, 21 are children.

Now the Italian navy has offloaded them all and now the last batch that's been unloaded by the Italian navy is ready to get on one of these warships and safety.

What do you think of the Italians who saved you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is very good, we are in a nice region, a nice country. We know that before -- when we are coming, we know that.

AMANPOUR: And then we walk over to the other side, where women and children were separated, seeking shade and sleep where they could.

Twenty-five-year-old Juri fetches water for her travel companions and their kids. She says they all spent a long time waiting for this in cruel conditions in Libya.

Were you afraid on the sea?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I really am. We are afraid but we pray (INAUDIBLE) also. God is good. They saved our life.

AMANPOUR: So God came in the form of the Italian navy?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes. Like yes. I'm happy.

AMANPOUR: Back on the busy bridge of the Fasan, Commander Marco Bagni directs this and other operations and every rescue takes hours to accomplish, even on calm waters. There are up to 1,000 crew at sea all the time.

Task Force Commander Admiral Ribuffo has one special mission, aside from saving lives, stopping these merchants of death by keeping empty fishing boats out of the traffickers' hands.

You have called these boats, weapons of mass destruction.

What do you mean?

ADMIRAL PIERPAOLO RIBUFFO, DEPUTY COMMANDER OF ITALIAN NAVY: Yes. They are because, of course, it's quite provocative, but in terms of human losses, they have been causing, just one journey is extremely fruitful for a criminal organization. We're talking about 1 million euro per journey.

AMANPOUR: Really?

RIBUFFO: Yes.

AMANPOUR: One million euros per journey?

RIBUFFO: Yes.

AMANPOUR: Indeed, heavily armed special forces and Marines take off at top speed -- soaking us but making sure no trafficker was coming back for this wooden boat.

And while they all await further orders under a new E.U. military mission, the human toll on young crews and even experienced naval commanders is immense.

RIBUFFO: I think that Italy and Europe in the next future will do the right thing. So I'm proud of that.

AMANPOUR: Yes. I can see it makes you emotional.

RIBUFFO: I would say yes, because confronting yourself with people is quite heartbreaking sometimes. AMANPOUR: Christiane Amanpour, CNN -- aboard the Virginio Fasan in the Mediterranean Sea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Now, when I spoke to then-Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi about that crisis, he told me, quote, "We must absolutely avoid the Mediterranean becoming a cemetery. It's a sea, not a cemetery."

And yet it is still a cemetery for so many people in the Aegean Sea around Greece, for instance, in the English Channel that separates France from the United Kingdom. So these tragedies continue over ten years later.

When we come back, as celebrations take place across the United States for Juneteenth, what Bryan Stevenson told me about this unique holiday where a celebration of survival comes hand in hand with a remembrance of trauma.

[11:53:52]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: And finally, this weekend, many Americans are celebrating Juneteenth. It commemorates when enslaved people in Texas finally learned they were free in 1865 on June 19th, which was more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

The activist and lawyer Bryan Stevenson explained its many complexities best, telling me how he celebrates while also remembering the enduring pain of the legacy of slavery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAN STEVENSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: We are the heirs of, yes, a lot of that trauma and abuse and degradation. But we also are the heirs of people who learn to persevere. People who were resilient, people who found a way to resist, people who knew their humanity and their dignity despite what the law said about them.

And that is something to celebrate. The strength and power of enslaved people I feel empowers me, energizes me. And I think both of those realities can be contained within this holiday.

The grief, the mourning of people who were treated horrifically, abused and denied freedom, but also the power, the capacity of people to love despite all of those hurdles, that's something to celebrate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: And just a note, of course, Bryan Stevenson has created incredible, powerful memorials to the legacy of slavery in Alabama.

[11:59:50] AMANPOUR: And this year, Juneteenth comes amid an unprecedented rollback of progress. The Voting Rights Act eroded, diversity initiatives designed to counter centuries of racism are being undone, and even Black History faces erasure, perhaps making this historic weekend of celebration more important than ever.

That is all we have time for. Don't forget, you can find all of our shows online as podcasts at cnn.com/audio, and on all other major platforms.

I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you again next week.