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Oil Prices Jump After Trump Says Iran Ceasefire Is "Over"; Maine Dems: Platner's Team Trying To Influence Replacement Search; Crews Race To Stabilize NYC High-Rise With Buckled Structural Columns. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 08, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:31:45]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, broken. President Trump says as far as he's concerned, the memorandum of understanding with Iran is over.

Oil prices, of course, surging in response. They were already on the rise after the U.S. launched fresh strikes against Iran in retaliation for Iran's attacks on commercial ships near the Strait of Hormuz. And the U.S. reimposed sanctions on its oil exports.

CNN senior business reporter David Goldman joining me now. This was the fear. This was the thing that everyone was sort of waiting and hoping did not occur. And so, the markets -- I mean, it's obvious how they're reacting.

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, it's big news. It's so big that I brought out the big guns.

SIDNER: Oh?

GOLDMAN: I got my iPad today. And, I mean, this is a huge increase in oil.

SIDNER: Yeah.

GOLDMAN: We haven't seen something quite like this in a long, long time. And I just think to give you a sense, we're at $78. That's the international standard. We generally -- when we're talking about oil --

SIDNER: Yeah.

GOLDMAN: -- we're talking about Brent. Look at where we were before the war, right? We were around $73.00.

SIDNER: So we were getting close to that.

GOLDMAN: Well, we're above that now.

SIDNER: Yeah.

GOLDMAN: And we're certainly above the lowest point from after the war where we fell below that.

SIDNER: Uh-huh.

GOLDMAN: But this is the thing that everyone needs to be concerned about is are we going to go back to where we were at -- you know, in mid-May when we were around $100. No one wants to get back down -- back up to there.

Now the thing is gas prices. Oil is one thing. Gas prices is what we actually pay for.

SIDNER: Right, we owe -- yeah.

GOLDMAN: And the thing is we have not come even remotely close to where we were before the war. These take time. We've always talked about rockets and feathers and how gas prices come down very, very slowly.

SIDNER: Right.

GOLDMAN: It's going to take a while to get down to that. And if gas -- if oil prices start to rise, this is not going to go back down to below $3.00 for quite some time. That's something that we need to watch out for.

Now, Iran bought itself some time in the three weeks. It was able to get 50 million barrels out of the Strait of Hormuz. That's an incredible amount of oil and that's all money that was funding the regime during that time. So Iran might not be able to continue to do that but that is certainly something that is a concern.

Another concern is the emergency stockpiles of oil --

SIDNER: Right.

GOLDMAN: -- continue to dwindle. We are now down 23 percent just from the start of the war. So we've lost a quarter of the emergency oil that this country holds. What if there's a hurricane and what if this is really the start of something big?

The other thing that we need to be concerned about is the commercial stockpiles. Only 19.7 million barrels in the Pipeline Crossroads of America. That's where all of the oil comes through. And the operational stress levels. That's like --

SIDNER: Oh, wow.

GOLDMAN: -- when the urn of coffee reaches that bottom and you have to kind of tip it to get it out. That's where we are right now.

All of this means there's a lot of pressure on the president.

[07:35:00] SIDNER: I like how you said urn of coffee instead of what we normally just call a pot that's been burned on the bottom and you're trying to get those last few drops out.

GOLDMAN: Well, I'm fancy and that's why I --

SIDNER: Clearly.

GOLDMAN: -- called it an urn. I know you had some coffee this morning. I can tell, yeah.

SIDNER: Yes, and it's unfortunate for everyone.

David Goldman, thank you so much. So observant, that David Goldman -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I see you had some coffee this morning.

All right, with us now CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas. Alex, good to see you this morning.

Look, the exchange of fire between the United States and Iran -- the U.S. hitting targets, you know, on the Iranian coast. The Iranians hitting inside Kuwait, inside Bahrain. The types of things we saw for several months but haven't really seen that much of the last month.

What do you think this will do, if anything, to influence Iranian behavior?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, DIRECTOR, COUNTERTERRORISM PROJECT, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: So by itself, I don't think it has influenced Iranian behavior in the past, and that's the reason we saw a larger number of strikes yesterday. And that's because the Iranians had been hit back after they struck ships previously and they continue to strike as we saw more strikes yesterday.

So the president ordered strikes on about 80 targets, as you just mentioned there, along the coast really to degrade Iran's capabilities to strike ships. And in response, Iran struck 85 targets, or at least they claimed to have struck. There doesn't appear to have been any damage at our Ali Al Salem Air Force base in Kuwait, and then the Fifth Fleet -- our naval headquarters in the area in Bahrain.

If you look at the numbers, it's largely proportional. The signal from the Iranians is it's proportional. We're not looking to escalate. But based on the president's comments this morning he's extremely frustrated.

BERMAN: Look -- and I will say this all has to do with controlling the traffic out of the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranians firing on vessels that are going out there and the U.S. not liking that. Iran still wanting to control to a certain extent the traffic there.

Alex, this is exactly what most critics of the MOU said was going to happen. That Iran was going to drag its feet. Iran was going to muck it up along the way. They're doing it. They're doing it. So what good is it? What would be enough to force the Iranians to change the way they behave?

PLITSAS: Well, that's a good question because at this point they believe that they are acting in good faith in the sense that their aversion or understanding of the MOU is that they control the navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and when ships do not obey their commands they somehow have the right to fire on them.

I was told by regional mediators after the last round of negotiations that went on pause for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral that the Iranians were trying to impose their vision of that. And so it's clear that U.S. military strikes to date have been insufficient to dissuade the Iranians of that.

So I'm not sure if more strikes are going to do it. You know, the last time we got to this position it was if you couldn't change the game, change the players. So it's unclear whether or not the president is going to take, you know, more military action, though he did decide to put the sanctions back on Iranian oil yesterday to hit them in the wallet and to try a different approach because the Iranian economy is hurting. So we'll see if that measure has a little bit more influence.

BERMAN: And again, this -- we're talking about the Strait of Hormuz. So we don't have the map here that's showing the live traffic here, but I can show you this version of it here. This is a much closer version of it. Iran obviously wants the oil to get out -- Iran wants to sell its own oil through the Strait of Hormuz but control what other oil passes through here.

And there has been -- there has been some traffic. Not up to what it was before the war but there has been some traffic over the last few months and I'm not sure it's going to stop completely.

Given that there is this trickle of traffic, does the United States have what it wants in the Strait of Hormuz? Does it need to do much more other than just allow a few ships to pass every day?

PLITSAS: Well, the problem is that if the Iranians continue to attack ships it's going to dissuade the larger shipping companies from sending boats through. Because the shipping company owners that I've spoken to said the red line is crew casualties. Unfortunately, the Iranians are still firing on ships and they're actually hitting them, which is the real problem here.

So, you know, the strait has been quasi open -- you know, still under duress from the Iranians and hasn't been completely clear without strikes for any sustained period of time.

And this really gets back to the Iranians needing cash. This is all about them looking to get tolls and fees and get their funds unfrozen because the combination of the war, the sanctions, and the blockade are actually having an impact.

BERMAN: And then shifting gears very quickly to what's happening at these NATO meetings with Ukraine. President Trump due to meet with the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And the situation in Ukraine is different than it was six months ago with Ukraine having some success albeit they have been hit hard in Kyiv over the last several days with Russian strikes there.

What does Volodymyr Zelenskyy want to get out of these meetings?

PLITSAS: President Zelenskyy is looking to get more support from NATO for air defense systems because they're short on Patriot missile interceptors.

And if you look at the map you've got up there, which is exactly right, the strikes on Kyiv have been hitting apartment buildings and he's really looking for more defensive positions.

Over there on the orange on the right-hand side, particularly the second province down, Donetsk, is what is really what Putin has been fighting for. There's a small piece of territory that on the other side of it right where that little white line is right there. It is basically a superhighway to Kyiv and he's been trying to get his hands on it for 2014.

And he wants that entire land corridor in orange down to Crimea, which is on the bottom because that's where Sevastopol is and that's where the Black Sea fleet is based out of -- a strategic naval base that allows him to basically counter NATO forces in the Mediterranean. So this has been a strategic fight for Putin and he doesn't want to give it up.

But Zelenskyy has been great with these long-range strike capabilities hitting those oil and gas targets. So he's looking to get more defensive support from the -- from NATO so that he can continue these offensive operations and basically cause Putin to have to end this war.

BERMAN: Alex Plitsas, it's good to see you this morning. Thank you very much -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also this morning growing calls for Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner to drop out after he was accused of rape by a former girlfriend.

And also now, growing anger among state Democrats in Maine who say even before he leaves the race Platner is now trying to meddle in the search for his possible replacement.

Here is the executive director of Maine's Democratic Party.

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DEVON MURPHY-ANDERSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MAINE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Graham Platner's team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner's team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate nor in determining what this process looks like.

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BOLDUAN: Quite something.

And joining us right now, Andrew Desiderio, senior congressional reporter for Punchbowl News. It's good to see you.

I mean, the hits just keep coming for Platner. I want to read for you -- for everyone how Politico Playbook put it today, and I guess I have to say to everyone, stay with me because it takes a second.

Since the rape allegation, "Platner has cancelled fundraisers and at least a half dozen public appearances. He's pulled online ads. He's lost nearly every backer in Congress and Democratic influencer on his side. He's lost the local party in Maine. He's lost his network of progressive support group. He's lost all funding from the national party apparatus. And more than three-quarters of all Senate Democrats have urged him to stand down."

So what then are you hearing about the messy scramble now, Andrew, to figure out how to replace him if when he eventually does get out?

ANDREW DESIDERIO, SENIOR REPORTER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: Well look, it seems that Graham Platner really is trying to sort of negotiate the terms of his exit from this race, which is what's rubbing a lot of Democrats the wrong way.

But I will say the more progressive Democrats in the Senate -- those who are not as aligned with Chuck Schumer and the establishment, for example -- are cheering on this posture from Graham Platner because they believe that regardless of the personal baggage that he obviously has here, he has tapped into a sense within the Democratic Party that the establishment and the way things have been in terms of trying to put the thumb on the scale for different candidates in the past -- the "more moderate candidates" in some of these races -- has failed them in general elections.

So they want to ensure that whoever becomes the Democratic nominee to take on Susan Collins in the fall is someone who is more in the mold of Graham Platner than in the mold of, say, Janet Mills, who is the sitting governor, of course, of the state of Maine who Chuck Schumer, the DFCC, the Democratic establishment here in Washington all wanted to be the candidate.

And so that's the struggle we're seeing right now, which is that, you know, the progressives are trying to maintain their credibility in all of this and ensure that whoever does replace Graham Platner is in his mold when it comes to the way -- the way in which he tapped into that frustration within the -- within the Democratic base.

BOLDUAN: It is quite -- it is quite interesting no matter, you know, what you think of the allegations or what Graham Platner has done in this race. The leverage that he may and his campaign now have of saying OK, we will get out if, but only if -- it's quite something to be seen playing out pretty publicly. But also, everyone -- every race across the country here is watching this. Do you think there's an impact from what we're seeing here on other

key races for Democrat Senate races, especially like the Michigan race?

DESIDERIO: Yeah, I'm glad you brought up Michigan because you have a candidate there in Abdul El-Sayed who is definitely Graham Platner- esque, but I would say just say without all the personal baggage, right? He's someone who Bernie Sanders endorsed early on. He's got a lot more Democratic senators supporting him as well.

And he's taking on, of course, Congresswoman Haley Stevens who is endorsed by Chuck Schumer, and she's also someone who has shown that she can win in these more red or purple districts. And she is the more "moderate" candidate, I would say, in that race.

So Democrats are trying to shift their focus to a race like that to be sort a litmus test for what happens going forward.

And, you know, progressives, in particular, want to show that, you know, the Maine Senate race was sort of an outlier in that respect, right, with Graham Platner. They want to make sure that they can refocus this debate on the more progressive candidates in these races being the most "electable," which I think electability is in the eyes of the beholder, of course --

[07:45:08]

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

DESIDERIO: -- and the conventional wisdom about who is more electable in a Democratic primary versus a general election has been flipped on its head this year.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, and long has been the debate of electability until the person is actually elected, right? You're not electable until you get elected --

DESIDERIO: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: -- is how we word it.

Let me ask you real quick, Andrew. Mitch McConnell has been absent from Congress for weeks now since he was hospitalized on June 14. And it's not just that; it's that his staff seems to have basically just been silent about what's really going on.

I mean, John Thune has been facing questions. He said he had -- I think the way he put it was, like, a lengthy and substantive conversation with McConnell.

What are you hearing about this?

DESIDERIO: Well look, it was fascinating because within about an hour's timeframe yesterday we heard from the teams of John Thune and John Barrasso, the number two Senate Republican, saying that they had had "lengthy conversations" with Mitch McConnell yesterday about all sorts of subjects, right? And the intention here was obviously to push back on some of these more outlandish speculation conspiracy theories that we've seen pop up online about McConnell's health.

But, you know, to be frank with you, McConnell's own team and the decisions they've made on the communication side of this have fueled a lot of that speculation about what actually is going on with him.

You know, just -- I can just say having seen him around the Capitol the past few months he has looked in rougher shape as time has gone on. And he's obviously retiring at the end of this year so it's not like we're talking about this is someone who is running for another term or something.

But, you know, the transparency element here I think is the most important. And as with all of these folks, like Tom Kean, for example, if they had been more transparent at the outset there wouldn't have been so much rampant speculation and really conspiracy theories as time goes on.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, and McConnell, you know, chairs an important Senate appropriations panel. So there is -- you know, there is aspects of that too what he's -- what he's actually --

DESIDERIO: Defense spending, exactly.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. I mean, there's a big debate going on right now about that.

It's good to see you, Andrew. Thank you so much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right.

Now to something crazy that's happening here in New York this morning. Multiple buildings in Midtown Manhattan are still under evacuation orders as crews race to try and stabilize a high-rise after some of its structural columns buckled. Crews worked through the night installing emergency jacks and adding new steel support. City officials believe the building is now stable.

The first signs of trouble came early yesterday morning. Look at those beams. That's one of the beams that's supposed to be holding this thing up. When those beams started to buckle at the 21st floor, they knew that there was a major issue here. Officials realized there was a possibility that the building could partially collapse and immediately evacuated the high-rise and surrounding buildings.

This is a major development project in the middle of one of the busiest, most congested areas of Midtown.

These are before and after photos showing the work crews turning office space into apartments -- it's a huge project -- and adding 19 floors to what was an existing building.

Joining me now is Eugene Gurevich, a structural engineer and architect. But let's be clear. You had nothing to do with this building. But we are talking to you because your capacity -- understanding how these things might happen.

What did you see from looking at the video and pictures that tells you where the engineering failed here?

EUGENE GUREVICH, PRINCIPAL AND TEAM LEADER IN FORENSICS, RAND ENGINEERING & ARCHITECTURE: Sara and the CNN team, thanks for having me on.

Now, I think it's early to say the engineering has failed. I think that the focus has been on stabilizing the building, life safety, and making sure that the response teams can, you know, comfortably enter and do the work that they have to do for the immediate safety of the surrounding area.

SIDNER: Look, we're seeing a picture of where this is. I mean, it is the most densely populated or one of the most densely populated parts of the city. And as you mentioned, officials have now said look, we have stabilized this building. But ultimately, how do you deal with this in the long term? I mean, does this have to be dismantled and if so, how would you do that?

GUREVICH: You know, now that things are reportedly stable, relatively speaking, part of the steps are going to be forensic engineering investigations and nothing really can be determined until that happens. There's a number of causes that could have contributed to something like this and, you know, that really has to be fully investigated before any kind of repair strategies can be -- can be handled.

I mean, that isn't to say that, you know, this building has moved. You know, you have several floors reportedly that have shifted --

[07:50:00]

SIDNER: Yeah.

GUREVICH: -- and, you know, some of that structure is going to have to be reconstructed.

SIDNER: And when you look at it, it really is frightening because you -- you know, you know how high that is if you look up from the bottom. And if that comes down, you know, that could really cause death and it certainly would cause injury, and that is why the area is evacuated.

There are so many questions as to how this happened. Maybe it was something to do with the materials. Maybe it was the engineering. But a lot of people are, you know, out of their homes and have to find somewhere to live for a bit, and businesses. So causing a lot of frustration here but for now they say it is stable.

Eugene Gurevich, thank you so much for talking us through that. I do appreciate you -- John.

BERMAN: So a cargo plane suddenly vanishes off of flight radar. What we know this morning about this missing flight.

And then a woman pregnant with twins narrowly avoids disaster. A metal rod smashes through her windshield just inches from her face.

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[07:55:25]

BOLDUAN: The quarterfinals of the World Cup are now set. Eight teams are left, including Argentina, after they pulled off one of the greatest comebacks ever at the World Cup, leaving Messi in tears after the game.

Also in tears, Andy Scholes. He's in Atlanta where it all went down. And Andy, you were there.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah, I was, Kate. I mean, it was incredible. So my lifelong best friend is Argentinian, and I went to the game with him. And the range of emotion from the despair of thinking that the defending champs' run was over and this was Messi's last World Cup game to the jubilation seeing Messi lead one of the greatest comebacks in World Cup history -- I mean, it was just amazing.

Now Egypt -- they took a 2-nil lead in the 67th minute, and this was after they had a goal reversed by VAR for a foul, so they actually could have been up 3-nil. Egypt -- they were actually very unhappy with the officiating in this match.

It was still 2-nil though into the 79th minute. Messi finds Cristian Romero for the header to give Argentina some life. Then just four minutes later, Argentina threatening again and Messi with an absolute missile in the box for the equalizer. This made all the Argentina fans just go crazy. The best player of all time with an all-time moment. And Argentina wasn't done. In the 92nd minute, Enzo Fernandez heads this one in. Three goals in 13 minutes.

And look at the reaction in Buenos Aires when Argentina went up 3-2.

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Argentinian fans cheering when Argentina goes up 3-2.

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SCHOLES: Just amazing.

Argentina would hold on to win by the final 3-2. This was the first time in World Cup history that a team won a knockout match in regulation after trailing by two goals after the 75th minute.

And for today's "What A Shot" brought to you by T-Mobile, look at the emotion from Messi after the match. The 39-year-old just in tears. The team also tossing Messi into the air during the celebration. I mean, just an amazing comeback and emotion there from Argentina. They now move on to face Switzerland in the quarterfinals. The Swiss

beating Colombia in penalty kicks yesterday thanks to a big save from goalie Gregor Kobel right there. Switzerland now in their first quarterfinal since 1954. Their game with Argentina is in Kansas City on Saturday.

Elsewhere, Novak Djokovic winning a marathon thriller at Wimbledon outlasting Felix Auger Aliassime in five sets yesterday. This match took five hours and 15 minutes. It was the longest quarterfinal match in the tournament's history. And at 39 years old, Djokovic is the oldest player to reach the semis in 50 years.

So Kate, it was a big day for 39 year olds yesterday. Djokovic and Messi both winning.

But Kate, I will say I'm a little sad today. You know why? It's the first day in 27 days that we've got no World Cup to watch. The first time we're getting a break.

BOLDUAN: OK. I was -- I -- we -- the schedule was up on the wall, and I was like wait a second, I don't see anything today.

SCHOLES: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: What am I going to do with my afternoon?

SCHOLES: Right. Get some yard work done.

BOLDUAN: Wow. That's your own plans. Don't start with me with those kind of suggestions for me, my friend.

J.B., your thoughts?

BERMAN: I'm going to nap. Like, I haven't slept in 25 days.

BOLDUAN: Exactly. We've lost sleep.

BERMAN: I will say if you've got, like, the 39-year-old best player in the world and you've got another big game coming up --

BOLDUAN: I've got an idea. Throw it in the air.

BERMAN: -- don't throw him up in the air. Like, maybe don't throw him up in the air. All right, thank you. That was great.

All right. Breaking this morning, a search and rescue operation underway for a cargo plane that went missing off of Pakistan. K2 Airways, which operates the plane, says five crew members were on board. The plane was flying from the UAE to Karachi when officials say it reported a navigation issue. Three minutes later it went into a steep descent before losing contact with air traffic control. Now it's not clear right now what caused the disappearance. Also not clear the fate of the crew.

A shockingly close call south of Los Angeles. A pregnant woman and her unborn twins are OK after a metal bar slammed through the window of the van she was driving. According to ABC 7 News, the bar fell off the truck in front of her. It went through the windshield, as you can see. Apparently, it did graze her abdomen but she and the twins both OK.

In San Diego an 8-year-old boy is accused of stealing a pregnant snake from a pet store. CNN affiliate KGTV says sheriffs received a report of a boy smashing a window and running off with a pregnant fire sand boa. Deputies caught him close by with the snake in his hand. Caught snake-handed, I guess you would say.