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U.S. and Iran Signal Progress in Negotiations to End War; Memorial Day Weekend Gas Prices Hit Four-Year Highs; Artificial Intelligence is Learning to Fly Airplanes; Trump Doubles Down on Paxton Texas Senate Race Endorsement; FIFA World Cup Returns to U.S. Soil Next Month. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 25, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: I just want to start out with a live look at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery this Memorial Day, honoring unidentified American service members who died in war. But the remembrance is especially important for the families of 13 U.S. service members who have died in the war with Iran since it began, really the meaning of a day like today.

Now, I talked about Iran. There are some details that we're still trying to work through right now, including Iran's chief negotiator and foreign minister have arrived in Doha, Qatar for talks. That's according to an official briefed on the matter. And it comes as both the United States and Iran say they are getting closer to reaching an agreement on a framework that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

I want to bring in CNN military analyst Colonel Cedric Leighton, also with us, CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas. Gentlemen, I just want to thank you both for your service on this Memorial Day, but also more importantly, I know you served with people who did not make it home and whose memories we are honoring today as well. Obviously incredibly, incredibly important.

But we do have some policy to work through. Alex, I want to start with you. It doesn't seem that we know much concrete at this point. There seem to be leaks, rumors, you know, officials that are putting out certain things, but based on some of the things that were swirling. I saw you posted on social media on X. Some things looked good, some things not so. What would be encouraging to you? What would you like to see?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So I think in order for the U.S. to get out of it what it wants, there are some concrete things that need to happen. The Strait of Hormuz needs to be opened up and it needs to be open without tolls or control. The Iranians today released a statement basically saying that, you know, it's de facto control, but the U.S. won't recognizing it, which sort of seems like a face-saving measure. The real test will be afterwards if it's open -- if it's tolled.

We definitely need to get the nuclear material out, the highly enriched uranium one way or the other, possibility to dilute it in country. The U.S. wants it out instead. That's still up for a debate. The right to enrich in the future, because Iran was able to keep the technology under the old deal that allowed them to enrich the uranium. That's something that's of concern.

We haven't seen much discussion over the drones and the missiles, which have proven to be problematic. And more importantly, there were 30,000 protesters that were alleged to have been killed in the protests earlier this year. Justice for them and what happens to the Iranian people, which was really at the heart of this, really hasn't been discussed at this point.

JIMENEZ: And the numbers of those protesters killed. We've seen different estimates at different points, but at the very least, a major concern from the United States perspective. Colonel Leighton, it does seem if this happens, it would be in strategic phases, starting with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and then getting to the nuclear material. But how much of this also comes down to what neighboring states and countries in the region think?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Omar, I think it's going to be a huge part of this because the neighboring states, their economies are basically in trouble. You have a country like Qatar, for example, which is really dependent on the exports of liquefied natural gas. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, both are dependent on petroleum and gas exports as well.

So this is a really important part of this, and I think that's why the leaders of these countries were in communication with President Trump and basically convinced him that he needed to pursue a diplomatic option. And Alex is exactly right. The other thing I'd add to what he said is that on the nuclear side of things, you have to have an inspection mechanism, and none of that has been detailed, at least publicly yet. And that's going to be a critical feature of any future agreement, whether it's in this memorandum of understanding, which is highly unlikely, or in the subsequent agreement that they're supposed to reach within 60 days.

JIMENEZ: So, Alex, you know, I hear monitors, I think JCPOA a little bit. I don't know where this ends up. I don't think anybody really does at this point. But some of the key tenets of that deal, and you alluded to it a little bit, was to keep the threshold of nuclear enrichment at a low level and then to have outside monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency come in and sort of consistently on a regular schedule, make sure that those enrichment levels are to those low levels. I look at this now, and an official told CNN this would be trust but verify on steroids.

And I just wonder, did you have any pressing issues with the JCPOA? And if so, what were they?

[08:35:00]

What would you like to see differently this time around?

PLITSAS: So when the U.S. withdrew from it, the Iranians decided to act, right? So the JCPOA allowed them, as I said before, to retain the technology.

JIMENEZ: To see differently this time around.

PLITSAS: So when the U.S. withdrew from it, the Iranians decided to act, right? POA allowed them, as I said before, to retain the technology to enrich well past levels that are needed for civilian energy purposes, which is what we saw at 60 percent headed towards 94 weaponization. It was clear the final IAEA report before the war over the summer made it clear that there had been nuclear material at sites the Iranians couldn't explain, and it looked like they were designing things for trigger devices, et cetera, according to the Israelis. So it's clear that more robust monitoring would be needed in this case.

One of the options that was on the table was instead of domestic enrichment, outside fuel would be provided so they could still run civilian reactors. But from what I'm told by multiple sources, the Iranians pushed back against that because that would leave them dependent upon the U.S. or other outside states, which could be used for leverage in the future.

So the concern is, can you give them the technology and trust them to keep it at low levels with sufficient monitoring and not have a breakout period in the future in which they produce fuel for a weapon? That is still the concern.

JIMENEZ: And Colonel Leighton, you mentioned this in your previous answer, that there would need to be some sort of verification process, again, the manner of which we do not know. But if there was one to take place, would Iran trust an American led process on that particular issue?

LEIGHTON: Probably not. I and that's going to be a very interesting dilemma. So the most normal approach to this would be the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Administration. Those people would be the folks that had done verification in the past in Iran and they would be the most likely body to do that. Any other body would not be trusted by any of the other sides.

And the thing about the JCPOA, as Alex was talking about, when it came to the verification process, it was a critical component. There were some holes in it, but it appeared as if the Iranians did not weaponize or move toward weaponization of their armaments during that period while the JCPOA was in effect. So you definitely want to get back to something that keeps their weaponization processes in check. And you also, if possible, want to eliminate that possibility. So that's, you know, that's kind of the dilemma that we're facing right now.

JIMENEZ: Colonel Cedric Leighton, Alex Plitsas, I got to leave it there, but it seems we still don't know a lot, but it seems like we're still just working toward the process to get to a process here. Stay tuned folks. Good to see you both.

All right meanwhile, new this morning, oil prices are falling as the U.S. and Iran negotiate on a potential deal to end the war. The deal would include reopening the critical Strait of Hormuz. But meanwhile, gas prices this Memorial Day falling overnight, the national average hitting $4.51, which is high, period.

But even if oil starts flowing through the Strait of Hormuz again, Analysts say prices are probably going to stay elevated through the summer. So I want to bring in Madison Mills, senior reporter with Axios, for us. So Madison, look, Americans are paying some of the highest Memorial Day gas prices in years. That is not a secret. But even if a deal is finalized, how long is it actually going to take for people to find some sort of relief here?

MADISON MILLS, SENIOR AI REPORTER, AXIOS: It could take months for all of this to normalize because of a variety of factors. For one thing, the oil market, it's trading like a commodity and that has a lot of volatility attached to it. People who are trading. oil in the futures market even right now, there's a lot of uncertainty for those traders about what the path forward for these geopolitical tensions is actually going to look like.

And sources continue to beat the drum on this and say that until there is true trust and clarity on this war being behind everyone involved, there is not going to be an end to these high gas prices. Even if yes, over this weekend, it is a key sort of metric that $100 per barrel, it's sort of a mental check if we get under $100 a barrel. But that is not necessarily going to be sticky and everyone sort of agrees who knows this market well that it's not going to be sticky and it's not indicative of oil prices coming down anytime soon.

JIMENEZ: Yes, we were following some analysts from JP Morgan predicting that it will probably be around $100 a barrel through at least the end of the year at this point, especially given how much it would take to get this sort of reopened. And I wonder, just how do you expect the market to react to just the news of a potential peace agreement? I mean, how fragile is sentiment right now?

MILLS: I mean, sentiment has continued to defy gravity over the past couple of years in particular. That's more of an AI story than it is about gas prices. We do tend to see a little bit of relief off the back of these headlines about tensions easing between the U.S. and the Middle East.

But traders are really focused on making sure they're not missing out on this incredible historic bull market run that is really concentrated to these tech names. Gas prices, geopolitical tensions, they do weigh on that narrative.

[08:40:00]

But investors who I talked to who are long term bulls on tech, they want to make sure that they're in these names for the long haul and these are stocks that are making up a large portion of the S&P 500. For those tech investors who are bullish on the AI trade, they don't want to get out of those names because of the war in Iran. They want to stay in it for the long haul.

JIMENEZ: You know, Kevin Hassett is arguing that ending the war will cause energy prices to fall. We've heard that from the Energy Secretary as well, that when one thing happens, then prices will go down. But interestingly, from the Hassett side of things, saying that it would open the door to Fed rate cuts. How likely is it that that we see that chain reaction follow through here?

MILLS: It could happen overtime. If gas prices go down over the next six months to a year and then more broadly, we start to see inflation rates coming down and we see more health in the labor market. Then those are the things that the Fed looks at. They've got a dual mandate inflation in the labor market.

So if we start to see those things come down then and calm down, then potentially we do have a Fed that can continue to cut rates. The problem now is that the bond market is pricing in rate hikes because of the inflation problem that we're having. There are some cracks in the labor market and those two things combined together make it hard for the Fed to justify cutting interest rates.

It's not something that they can and are prone to doing just because of one day of oil prices coming down. They need to see broader inflation rates slowing down in order to have the justification to cut, and right now the bond market does not think that there's a justification for the Fed to do that.

JIMENEZ: Yes, and all the while consumer sentiment hitting all-time lows last week as Americans watch on what's going on. Madison Mills, really appreciate you taking this time.

All right, I want to turn to this. Could AI become into the cockpit? And yes, I am talking about planes. Companies are now testing artificial intelligence to help fly airplanes With some systems handling key tasks in the cockpit, supporters say it could make flying safer and ease the strain on pilots and air traffic controllers, but not everyone is sold on how far this technology should go. CNN's Pete Muntean takes us inside one of these test flights.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I'm in the co- pilot seat of a Cessna. And I'm about to find out what happens when the pilot flying is not human but artificial intelligence.

Tim Burns is the chief technology officer at Merlin Labs, a Boston start-up developing a system that can be bolted into existing airplanes. Merlin says its system can fly the plane, talk to air traffic control and even help make decisions about weather and routing.

TIM BURNS, MERLIN LABS CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER: We're trying to capture the judgment and abilities of a real aviator.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Merlin says it has completed hundreds of test flights to see how the system performs in real-world conditions, though it is likely years away from carrying passengers.

In the back of the plane, one of the company's engineers is monitoring what the A.I. is doing in real time.

MATT DIAMOND, MERLIN LABS PILOT: I don't know if I know exactly what I'm in for here.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Alongside me is test pilot Matt Diamond, who on this flight won't be doing much piloting at all.

MUNTEAN: So this is just a manual takeoff?

DIAMOND: This is going to be an automated takeoff.

MUNTEAN: Oh, this is automated.

DIAMOND: Yep.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Meaning the AI system is flying the airplane from the very start.

MUNTEAN: Wow, nicely done.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): The next part of the demonstration, communicating with air traffic control. Merlin's system displays its language processing on an iPad as it listens to a mock controller, repeats the instruction, and then flies the airplane to match it.

CONTROLLER: Magic 01, turn left, heading 090, descend 2,000.

AI VOICE: Left 090 and down 2000 Magic 01.

DIAMOND: Could authorize.

MUNTEAN: We're at about 1,500 feet now over Newport, Rhode Island and we just turned on to the final approach here at Quonset State Airport. Now this is going to be an automated landing and the system will fly the airplane all the way down to the pavement.

DIAMOND: It's a challenging problem for the automation, but once you crack the code, it's so much easier on the pilot.

MUNTEAN: You seem pretty confident over there.

DIAMOND: Oh, yes.

MUNTEAN: You seem pretty relaxed. Should I be this relaxed?

DIAMOND: Yes.

MUNTEAN: OK, all right.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): As a pilot and a bit of a control freak, this is not exactly easy for me. But the system lines up with the runway and flies a gradual descent all the way to touchdown.

DIAMOND: Smooth, easy, right on center line.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Even still, putting AI in control of an airplane raises big questions about safety and trust. Merlin CEO Matthew George.

[08:45:00]

MATTHEW GEORGE, MERLIN LABS CEO: What we're building is certainly very sci-fi, but we're doing it in a responsible incremental way.

MUNTEAN: Will this put pilots out of jobs?

GEORGE: It won't. This is sitting alongside pilots, not necessarily replacing pilots, and enabling those pilots to do more of what they do best, which is operate aircraft safely.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): That could be appealing to airlines worldwide, which will need to hire more than 600,000 new pilots over the next 20 years, according to Boeing.

Merlin has already secured a $100 million contract with the U.S. Air Force to eventually fly cargo planes without pilots on board at all. But convincing passengers may be the hardest part.

MIKE TANNENBAUM, PASSENGER: As long as it's safe and more efficient and tested out in advance, I'm for it.

MEG MCKNIGHT, PASSENGER: I don't know if I trust AI in the air. I doubt I'd trust it.

STEVE COLEMAN, PASSENGER: I like the idea of humans having control. I don't like the idea of machines having control.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN: This whole idea is also gaining support here is Washington. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy just told me that he sees AI as a way to help the nation's struggling air traffic control system. But insists that human air traffic controllers will still remain in charge of the air space. At the same time, researchers tell me that it faces major public trust and public safety hurdles.

The head of the airline pilots association tells me that technological advances can make flying safer, but he says that two pilots, two human pilots must always remain in charge of a flight -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: As long as you're in the cockpit, I will feel good. Pete Munteen, appreciate the reporting and showing us the new frontier in aviation.

All right, coming up for us, a Texas showdown nearing its end. The bruising Republican Senate primary between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton will be decided tomorrow. What does President Trump's last minute endorsement mean for the race?

And Stephen Colbert makes a quick return to late night to host a public access program in Michigan. I'll tell you what that looks like when we come back.

[08:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) JIMENEZ: Right now, early voting is underway in Texas ahead of tomorrow's highly contentious Senate primary there. Ahead of the primary, President Trump is doubling down, renewing his support for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Senator John Cornyn. The president said, quote, "Ken Paxton was a great attorney general, probably the best in the country. He was also very loyal to your favorite President, ME."

Cornyn, for his part, said he thinks Trump chose to endorse his opponent ahead of the runoff election to send a message to lawmakers in Washington.

With me now is Axios senior contributor Margaret Taleb. Now, for starters, I think there are many that would have issue even within the Republican Party in Texas with saying Ken Paxton is the best attorney general in the country. But putting that aside, Cornyn says Trump endorsed Paxton to send a message to the Senate, adding, I really don't think it was about me. What message would?

MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, AXIOS: I think President Trump is sending a message to Republican senators that say, if you're completely loyal to me, you'll be rewarded. And if you break from me, whether it's personally or on policy issues or votes, I may let you go. And Cornyn, while overwhelmingly has stuck with the president and with the Republican Party on issues, there have been times when he has been critical of President Trump. And on a policy perspective after the shooting in Uvalde, what you know was in favor of some restrictions.

And so, as you say, look that this is where the rubber meets the road and we're going to find out what happens. But the betting markets have already made-up their minds. Not that we should judge elections on based on what the betting markets do but overwhelmingly predicting a Paxton win. And we saw former Senator Phil Graham from Texas actually choke up a little bit in introducing Cornyn at an event the other day to his supporters.

So there is a lot of concern among -- not just Phil Graham and John Cornyn -- but like literally every Texas incumbent and former politician who have overwhelmingly lined up behind Cornyn that all of their combined endorsements and Cornyn's quarter century record of leadership in the Senate will not be enough to survive this primary.

So it's not, you know, it depends on who turns out for sure. But the headwinds appear to have changed since the president's endorsement.

JIMENEZ: Well, and part of that feeling comes down to the fact that President Trump has really flexed his political muscle, at least within the Republican Party, over a series of primaries where he's essentially gone undefeated on that front. But most notably, Congressman Thomas Massie, who recently lost his primary to a Trump backed challenger, warned that Republicans will now be very vulnerable in the midterms. And I wonder, what do you see as the biggest risks for the parties beyond these primaries as we get into general election in November? TALEV: Yes, well, as the conversation shifts to the general election, you'll have a different electorate. Obviously, there will be Democrats voting. They'll also be. independents. And while independent voters tend to align more naturally with one party or the other, the independent voter is sort of a grab bag of a lot of different ideological strains.

The one thing that we know is that independent voters have really turned against President Trump in recent weeks, they're frustrated by the gas prices, by the inflation. So there are a lot of Republicans as well as Democrats who think that the Democrat in that race, Talarico, is, you know, much, you know, stronger and much stronger shape if the person he's running against is Paxton, who is sort of compromised by his background.

[08:55:00]

He has survived an impeachment and indictment and has quite a messy divorce. So these are all things Democrats think they can run against. On the other hand, look at some of the trouble that Cornyn has been having. It's not just the Trump endorsement, although that's important, but also John Cornyn is an incumbent in a year where incumbents on the Republican side are facing a lot of headwinds because of President Trump's policies. So you have this sort of double whammy and all of this feeds into this parallel issue that's going on in American politics this year, which is the rush for redistricting in both parties and particularly on the Republican side.

JIMENEZ: And not to mention, I mean, congressional members of Congress in both parties facing some pretty low poll numbers on top of what we've seen from the president. So a lot of hills to climb for folks running for re-election and trying to get into office coming up. Margaret Talev, appreciate the insight. Thanks for being here.

All right, also tomorrow, soccer fans are going to find out which players will make the squad for Team USA in next month's FIFA World Cup. But the excitement is already building for the first men's World Cup on U.S. soil in more than 30 years. The tournament is going to happen across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. And we already know which teams that Team USA will play in the group stage. Paraguay, Australia, Turkey. CNN's Danny Freeman and Fredricka Whitfield spoke to U.S. men's national team defender Tim Ream ahead of the announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: You've got World Cup experience. So what kind of advice are you giving the younger players in the lead up to the tournament?

TIM REAM, USMNT DEFENDER: The best advice I can give him is embrace everything that that the World Cup brings. It brings intensity. It brings passionate it. It demands focus on and off the field. It brings extra pressure. It brings extra expectations.

But these are all things that we have worked for to get to that and they're all things that we should embrace and enjoy. And you shouldn't shy away from it. Go out there and make everybody proud. We're looking to not just make ourselves proud, but our you know our family, our friends, our coaches, our teammates, our clubs and ultimately the you know the 330 plus million people that that make up our country.

WHITFIELD: I mean, just like A lot of those players who you're mentoring now mean they were kids, you know, watching the World Cup aspiring to you were a kid the last time the World Cup was in the U.S. You know what kind of memories do you have about that? And now here you are at this moment, you know, and possibly playing right here on the pitch in the U.S.

REAM: Yes, 1994 was the first World Cup that I can remember actually being aware of and watching and feeling the energy of. And it was inspiring. It created a, you know, coming from that it we created a whole league for, you know, the country. And, you know, for us it's -- we obviously need to perform, but we're also -- we're role models. We need to be inspiring kids to continue to play, to pick up a ball.

We need to be inspiring the group of young kids who have the dream and want to be a part of the national team. They want to be a part of the next World Cup and the World Cup after. So yes, it's a big responsibility, but It's one I think we're all really, really embracing, knowing that we can inspire, like I said, an entire country and inspire youth all over, you know, all over the country to pick up the ball and play the sport.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the fun thing is that you're not only inspiring youths by what you would do on the soccer field, but I understand this -- if we can put this up on the screen -- that you are a comic book character now thanks to a new collaboration with D.C. Comics and look at this. That is so freaking cool. I mean, what does it feel like you're a superhero hot and off the field now?

REAM: Oh, that's -- it's interesting what has come out of this collaborations and things happening. So I just saw this actually yesterday and I think it's you know it's cool. It's something you would you would never dream of as a kid, right? You want to want to be a professional athlete. You want to play professional soccer and you want to represent your country. And you grow up watching these types of shows and all of a sudden, you're on the on the cover with superheroes. So we don't consider ourselves superheroes, but it is a pretty cool collaboration to be there with them.

WHITFIELD: Well, you are a superhero, especially to all the fans too, and I'm wondering if you got a message for your superhero fans out there before this tournament kicks off.

REAM: I think the message is we're excited to get started. We're excited to have their support. It means everything to us to be able to play on home soil and have them, you know, in the stands and watching from home and supporting the team. We're going to do obviously everything that we possibly can to.