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U.N. Nuke Watchdog Warns Strike Near Iran Nuclear Plant Could Trigger Major Radiological Accident; Trump Casts Doubt on Prospect of an Iran Deal; 1,000 Plus U.S. Paratroopers Expected to be Deployed to Mideast; Transgender Women Banned from Competing in Women's Olympic Events; TSA Workers Aren't the Only DHS Employees Working Without Pay. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired March 26, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: This just into CNN, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog raising serious concerns about recent military strikes that reportedly took place near Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, warning that any damage could cause a, quote, major radiological accident.

Let's go to CNN's Jim Sciutto, who's live for us in Tel Aviv. And Jim, we're learning this as Secretary Marco Rubio says there has been progress with negotiations.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, that's right, Boris. And that was after that cabinet meeting where President Trump talked about a lot of things. I'm sure you were listening. He talked about the renovation at the Kennedy Center. He talked about allegations of fraud in the renovation of the Federal Reserve.

He talked about Sharpie pens. He didn't give him much of a substantive update on Iran negotiations, except to say that in his words, in his view, Iran is, quote, begging for a deal. That was the most of what we heard there, as well as some further description as to what this gift Iran had offered the U.S. apparently to let a few oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.

But prior to leaving the U.S. for G7 meetings in Europe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he said that those ongoing conversations, though they remain indirect through intermediaries, that they are making some progress. Have a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: There are intermediary countries that are passing messages, and progress has been made. Some concrete progress has been made, as you've seen, and has been documented already. There's a growing amount of energy that's been flowing through the Straits.

Not as much as should be flowing, but some of it has picked up. So again, there's been some progress in regards to the exchange of messages, but that's an ongoing and fluid process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: We don't know, and he didn't define there what that concrete progress was before citing some ships going through that Strait, but certainly not the volume prior to the war. As Iran shows, it still controls the traffic there. Now, this complaint from the IAEA about strikes coming close to the Bushehr nuclear power plant, this is a sign of the danger of this war.

It may seem far away. It may seem largely surgical. But these strikes came too close for comfort, in the view of the IAEA, to Iran's civilian nuclear power plant at Bushehr.

It seems quite similar to the criticism they've given Russia for strikes around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in eastern Ukraine. And I'll tell you just one more thing, Boris.

Despite this talk of conversations between the U.S. and Iran, the pace of strikes on Israel in the last 24 hours has been a definite uptick. We've been in and out of shelters all day, going into last night. As those warnings come in, and some of those missiles, despite Israel's formidable defenses, they do get through.

So Israel still remains very much on alert, and, of course, the people of Iran still experiencing these ongoing U.S. and Israeli strikes as well.

SANCHEZ: Jim Sciutto, live for us in Tel Aviv. Thank you so much -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We're joined now by retired Major General Randy Manor. He is the former deputy commanding general for the U.S. Third Army in Kuwait. General, thanks for being with us.

I wanted to go through the four different military options the Pentagon is developing, according to Axios. There's the invading or blockading of Kharg Island. There's the invading Larak, an island that helps Iran solidify control of the strait, seizing the strategic island of Abu Musa and two smaller islands that are near the western entrance to the strait, and blocking or seizing ships exporting Iranian oil on the eastern side of the strait.

How are you viewing those options?

MAJ. GEN. RANDY MANNER, U.S. ARMY (RET.): All four of those options are going to absolutely result in American casualties, not just wounded, but killed in action. Why do I say that? Anytime you put military on the ground at a fixed location, remember that Iran could absolutely strike any facility anywhere in the Middle East.

And so the idea that it is degraded, their capabilities are degraded, is true. They still have substantial capability, as was mentioned by the previous reporter in Tel Aviv. So let's not be -- let's not mince words here. This would be an escalation of occupying Iranian soil, and it will result in the lives of Americans being lost, and of course the sorrow that will be experienced by American military families as well.

KEILAR: So when you see these soldiers from the 82nd Airborne deploying, and these two Marine expeditionary units deployed to the region, can you imagine a scenario where they are not used?

MANNER: Absolutely. I certainly hope that this is all about posturing, and I understand that because that happens through history so many times, is that you pre-position forces and you have the sense to be able to not exercise them. It's also something where, let's just say that there were 6,500, 7,500 soldiers and Marines, that's a drop in the bucket.

Whenever we went into Iran, excuse me, Iraq, we had nearly 200,000. So this is completely absurd to think that a small number of airborne, which are very, very lightly armed, airborne soldiers, as well as of course Marines, could do anything other than -- I mean, yes, they could take an island, but they will be absolutely targets. I was actually in the 82nd Airborne myself as a company commander a long time ago, back in 1979 when the Shah fell.

We were on alert to go into Tehran to be able to seize the airport. Cooler heads prevailed and they called off the mission because they knew that an airborne brigade dropping into the middle of tens of thousands of armed military, we would not have survived.

KEILAR: That's really, really fascinating and puts that into perspective. Allies of the U.S. in the Gulf are urging the administration against putting boots on the ground to occupy Kharg Island or to remove Iran's enriched uranium. That's what a senior Gulf official is telling CNN.

They are worried that this would prolong the war, that it would result in casualties and high casualties, as you are pointing out here, and also that it would trigger Iran to retaliate against those countries there in the region, against their infrastructure, which is so key, the long-term effects of that. How much do you think that should factor into what the U.S. is considering here?

MANNER: It will absolutely result, absolutely. I mean, I'm not a betting man, but this is a hundred percent certain bet that if we occupy any of those, Iran will attack our allies in the region, and they will probably start to attack power plants. And as I've said before on various outlets, my concern, the greatest risk to the region is if they were to attack the desalination water facilities in the Middle East, because power can be restored fairly quickly, so to speak, maybe weeks.

Desalination facilities are extremely complex. There aren't very many of them. And if you go without water, the people cannot survive, that's just the way that it is.

So it can get a hell of a lot worse than it is right now, and we need to have cooler heads prevail the way the president has already said many times, declare victory, and then let's negotiate how we're going to reopen the straits for everybody with Iran, and then let's move out.

KEILAR: General Manner, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

MANNER: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, the Olympics have created a new policy when it comes to transgender women competing in the Games. We'll have more on that next.

Plus, a woman hanging from a cliff, an officer saving a baby from choking, and a dog in a sinkhole. The dramatic rescues caught on camera.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The governing body of the Olympics just banned transgender female athletes from competing in women's events. The International Olympic Committee's new eligibility policy bringing it into alignment with President Trump's controversial executive order on women's sports.

The new policy stating eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports, is now limited to biological females determined on the basis of a one-time SRY gene screening.

SANCHEZ: It also restricts female athletes such as two-time Olympic champion runner Kastor Semenya who have medical conditions known as differences in sex development, or DSD.

Let's discuss with Christine Brennan, CNN sports analyst and USA Today sports columnist. Christine, great to see you as always. Talk about how the IOC came to this decision.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Boris and Brianna, this has actually been several years in the making, and while the IOC has done this today and has this big announcement that obviously is very important and controversial, people on both sides, you know, arguing about it, this actually has been happening within the Olympic world, this kind of decision, for several years now. Both World Aquatics and World Athletics, in other words, that's the governing body, International Federation for Swimming and Track and Field, two of the biggest of all sports, and of course summer Olympic sports, they made the same decision that once an athlete has gone through male puberty, they cannot compete in the women's category, a little bit different than the genetic test, but the same basic decision back in 2023.

So for anyone who watched the Paris Olympics, this rule was already in place throughout track and field and throughout swimming. So as you can see, these steps have been coming well before the presidential election in 2024 in the United States. KEILAR: No woman who transitioned from being born male competed at the 2024 Paris Summer Games. Do we know how many athletes this could affect?

BRENNAN: Probably not many, Brianna, and as Kirsty Coventry, the president of the IOC, the first woman to be president of the International Olympic Committee, two-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming, as she has said, they're talking about the elite of the elite here, talking about Olympic athletes qualifying for the Olympic Games. Obviously is just a very tiny percentage of athletes around the world. So the fact is that there was one transgender woman, a New Zealand weightlifter at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. And as far as we know, there were no -- at least there were no openly transgender women at the 2024 Paris Olympics in any sport.

So we're talking about very few. And one of the key aspects of this, I think that's important is as this conversation is playing out, is that Coventry made the point, the International Olympic Committee is not talking about grassroots sports here. They're not talking about recreational sports.

So for youth sports, for kids, for the kids playing in a neighborhood, this has nothing to do with that. They're talking about the very elite level, the very top of the top at the Olympic Games.

SANCHEZ: Could this IOC decision impact how other leagues and competitions operate?

BRENNAN: Certainly what President Trump has done in the United States, Boris, has had an impact. And I think, frankly, that will be a bigger impact, I think, certainly on the lives of many people who say who are watching us right now. The NCAA, again, same policy, and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee federally chartered went along with the president's executive order. So that's happened domestically.

What we've seen, as I said, is that several of these international federations, the big ones, especially swimming and track and field, already did this. They did this actually when Joe Biden was president. But of course, that would have nothing to do with their decision making internationally. They're not based in the United States. But we've seen other sports as well.

So my sense is now all of the international federations, both winter and summer, will probably now go along with the IOC policy. That would be the next logical step. As I said, that was kind of where many of them were headed anyway before this big news today.

SANCHEZ: Christine Brennan, thanks so much for joining us.

BRENNAN: My pleasure. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. Body camera video shows Maryland state troopers springing into action to save a choking child.

[15:50:00] Officials say the two troopers were on an unrelated call when a woman approached them screaming for help. After a few pats on the back using the Heimlich maneuver, the infant eventually started breathing again. The troopers told a local affiliate that it's all just part of the job.

KEILAR: Kind of got chills.

SANCHEZ: Look at that.

KEILAR: It's amazing they were there.

SANCHEZ: It's crazy.

KEILAR: Unbelievable. San Francisco fire crews rescuing a woman found hanging from a steep cliff face overlooking the city's Ocean Beach. You can see her there.

She was just in her bathing suit. She was clinging about 70 feet down the cliff. It's unclear how she ended up there, but firefighters managed to get her back up.

They first dropped a rescue cable so that the woman could secure herself, and then one of the firefighters rappelled down to bring her to safety.

And here are firefighters rescuing a yellow Labrador retriever named Tessie. Tessie was in a 12-foot sinkhole in Massachusetts, poor thing. Tessie's owner found her at the bottom of that thing after noticing she just hadn't come home and immediately called 911 upon noticing this. It took two dozen rescue workers to lift that Lab to safety. We're happy to report she had no injuries -- no, none.

Crews filled the sinkhole, which had been caused by hidden underground water drainage, and Tessie recovered with some pepperoni, which her family says really helped calm her down.

SANCHEZ: Heck yes. Pepperoni calms me down, too.

KEILAR: Right? I mean, it is just universally calming. Yes.

SANCHEZ: Yes. She was pretty happy to be out of there. A lot of -- I'm glad we have this set of headlines with a lot of good rescues, a lot of positive.

KEILAR: Lovely. We needed that, didn't we?

SANCHEZ: We do.

KEILAR: As we talk about the partial government shutdown that is impacting everything in a really terrible way, including the wallets of thousands of federal employees. TSA agents, they aren't the only ones who are going without paychecks. We're going to break it down next.

[15:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Tomorrow, the nation's 61,000 TSA workers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, are going to, again, see $0 deposited into their bank account.

KEILAR: It's now been six weeks since they received their last full paycheck, and when they got that partial one, some of them were just getting like $9, $13, really nothing here. They are not the only DHS employees, though, who are going without during this partial government shutdown.

We have CNN's Brian Todd covering this angle. Brian, tell us who else isn't getting paid right now.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, guys. You know, we see these long lines, TSA, and it's a nightmare all over the place at airports. There could be the perception out there that TSA employees are the only ones working and not getting paid.

Not true. Thousands and thousands of others are in the same predicament. Boris and Brianna mentioned the TSA employees, more than 60,000 of them working and not getting paid.

Also, FEMA employees, and by our calculations, roughly 84 percent of them are working and not getting paid. Also, civilians who work for the U.S. Coast Guard, not the military personnel, but civilians who work for the Coast Guard, not getting paid. In addition, people who work for the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency, also not getting paid.

For added perspective, you know, this shutdown began on February 14th, 40 days ago. Boris and Brianna mentioned how long they've been going without pay. Workers have missed their first full paychecks in mid- March.

They haven't had full pay since early February. You guys mentioned it. Some are taking out loans from their retirement accounts to pay their bills.

Others are depending on food donations and gas gift cards. And guys, we have accounts of sometimes travelers on these long lines giving them gift cards and stuff like that so that they can maybe just have a little bit of relief. Very tough.

SANCHEZ: There's some irony to this story as well because the shutdown started with Democrats demanding changes to immigration enforcement policy. And these folks are not being paid.

They're not getting funded unless DHS, Congress comes to an agreement to fund DHS. But ICE officers, they've been paid this entire time.

TODD: They have been paid this entire time. ICE also, Customs and Border Protection agents are being paid. We've got some graphics to show you some of this and who's being paid. Also sworn law enforcement officers in the U.S. Secret Service are being paid. And military personnel for the Coast Guard are being paid. We mentioned civilian Coast Guard personnel not being paid. Sworn in military personnel from the Coast Guard are being paid.

And it's all because of the one Big Beautiful Bill act of last summer. That funneled about $75 billion to ICE and about $64 billion to Customs and Border Protection. So that's how that money is coming through.

But again, a lot of this is causing some frayed nerves. And this, you know, to put it in the perspective, you want to kind of remind Americans, remind our viewers where all the battle lines are drawn here.

It's because of, you mentioned Boris, the fight over funding of ICE. The Democrats want to fund ICE only if there are restrictions on masks and on warrants. The Republicans have been pushing back on that, but they've been maybe budging on that a little bit.

But now negotiations have, as we said, have expanded because President Trump wants the Save America Act put in there as well, the election bill.

KEILAR: There's also some confusion, I think, the Coast Guard, of course, which is the smallest military branch, and it's housed under DHS instead of under the Department of Defense. They have been paid, but there's also some confusion about whether they'll continue to be paid. I know that some of them say they're expecting not to be paid when it comes to next week.

Just the confusion is so incredibly stressful, even if ultimately, they do get paid.

TODD: And from what we've seen, there's not been a lot of communication on that. And again, I think as the negotiations go along, maybe they can't communicate because they don't want to say, hey, you're going to get paid in two weeks or you're going to get paid in a week and a half and then we'll see it. But I don't think they can make that calculation and tell them definitively.

And if they do, it goes viral.

[16:00:00]

SANCHEZ: We'll see if something develops before Congress heads for a recess tomorrow. A two week recess with all these folks not getting paid and enormous headaches. Brian Todd, thank you so much for that reporting.

TODD: You got it.

SANCHEZ: "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END