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Trump Weighing "Massive Attack" On Iran, "Bigger Than Ever Before"; France Evacuates Cap Ferret Peninsula By Boat As Wildfires Rage; Secret Service Prepares For Second Press Dinner After Attack. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 24, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:30:03]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning the global oil market has been resilient but new pressure building in the Middle East, as you know, starting to weigh on markets on Thursday. Global oil prices topped 100 bucks for the first time since May -- a barrel. This morning Brent Crude sitting around $98 a barrel.

Gas prices, though, keep climbing. The national average now solidly above $4.00 a gallon, rising to $4.11 overnight. That is up 13 cents since last week. And diesel above $5.20 a gallon.

CNN senior business reporter David Goldman joining us now. Look, I think that there are two stories here. One, it seems resilient because it was above $100 and it has come down somewhat. But it's still high and people are still paying the price at the pump.

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Well, that's right. I mean, so resilient is a great word for it because as much as we've thrown at this market --

SIDNER: Yeah.

GOLDMAN: -- it hasn't even approached the 2022 highs, let alone the record highs that we had in the great financial crisis. And the thing that's keeping it below those levels -- well, that's starting to erode. So we've got a lot to watch out for.

Take a look at this. So obviously, the Strait of Hormuz has been blocked but now we have this issue --

SIDNER: Right.

GOLDMAN: -- in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the only way that you can get oil out of that Middle Eastern region is to go north through the Suez Canal. Not the best way --

SIDNER: No.

GOLDMAN: -- to get to Asia. That is a concern. The other thing that I think people are forgetting is that because we were rerouting that we got seven million barrels a day around through the Red Sea and out, and that prevented oil from going way high. We were getting a lot of oil out. But now we have this Houthi blockade.

Before, we had insurers saying you pay three percent -- that's hefty -- but we'll give you a policy so that you can get out of the Strait of Hormuz. Now you can't get coverage if you're going to pay Iran a toll, which they have said you have to do to get out. There's a lot of questions about what happens even if there is another memorandum of understanding with Trump.

Before, Russia was exporting 12 percent of the world's diesel. Now it has an export ban. You can't get diesel from Russia because of all the Ukrainian drone attacks. That's a big problem too.

Before, we had almost one billion barrels of oil in storage and that's fallen by almost 200 million barrels. And that still seems like a big number but I'm telling you that is close to the operational floor's physics starts to take over and you can't get all the oil out. That is a concern now.

And then the other thing is that demand has fallen and most of this is China. What happens when China decides that they are going to start importing oil again?

All of these factors have been weighing on oil prices and each one of them is eroding. That is a concern and that's why we might start to see oil prices start topping those records.

SIDNER: When you look at this as a whole it looks like we're careening towards something that could be a serious crisis if the situation in Iran and both of the straits now is not resolved.

GOLDMAN: Potentially. I mean, we keep talking about this though --

SIDNER: Yeah.

GOLDMAN: -- and then look at oil --

SIDNER: Right.

GOLDMAN: -- prices.

SIDNER: Right.

GOLDMAN: They are falling again today.

So we'll see, but that oil price monster is starting to break through its chains. We'll see.

GOLDMAN: David, thank you so much.

GOLDMAN: Um-hum.

SIDNER: Really interesting -- John. JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. With us now is Gordon Sondland, the former U.S. ambassador to the European Union. Ambassador Sondland, good morning.

There is reporting the president -- and it's visible -- is growing frustrated with Iran and its extended conflict. Thirteen straight nights of U.S. action against it.

And our friend Barak Ravid at Axios is reporting the president is close to deciding on what Barak reports would be a massive attack on Iran to try to change the nature of the situation.

What do you think a massive attack on Iran would accomplish?

GORDON SONDLAND, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO EUROPEAN UNION: Well, before I respond to that question, you know, the president did make an honest effort to try and make a deal. And the people with whom he was dealing, as we discussed a few days ago John, are sincere in wanting to eradicate the IRGC and bring the Iranian people into the community of nations. The problem is they don't have any power, they don't have any guns, they don't have any money. And so as sincere as President Trump was in trying to make peace it's not going to happen.

And now to your point. He is surging an incredible amount of U.S. armada into the venue -- into the theater and he is going to have a lot of options. And I think the Israelis are going to join this as well.

[07:35:05]

There is going to be probably another round of leadership decapitations. There's going to be an incredible amount of scrutiny to Pickaxe Mountain and a succession of GBU -- 30,000 bombs -- to really obliterate that.

I don't want to be in Iran right now because I think the president is done with the peace track at this point.

BERMAN: So -- and it would be news if Israel did join in this attack. Obviously, until this point, Israel has not been involved the last few weeks directly. But I will note that in the first few months of the war when it was the United States and Israel engaged in very regular, very serious attacks, it didn't do what the president wanted it to do. So why would it this time?

SONDLAND: Well, remember, you have 90 million people in Iran and only maybe a million of them are diehard IRGC people. There are many other IRGC people that are just what you would call ordinary soldiers. That the minute there's an uprising they will join that uprising.

And this is one of the main reasons why our Second Amendment in the United States is so important. If the average Iranian had household weapons, an uprising would be far more possible --

BERMAN: But Ambassador --

SONDLAND: -- than it is today. They don't have the guns. They don't have any way of -- yes?

BERMAN: Do you want to -- OK.

SONDLAND: Yes.

BERMAN: First of all, I'm going to come back to this. But my question is why would it work this time when it didn't work the first time? What would be different now, do you think?

SONDLAND: Well, here's what's different now. They were doing pinprick strikes while the negotiations were going on. In other words, John, they were dealing with the more moderate factions of the Iranian government.

BERMAN: But not before that. Ambassador, but not before that.

SONDLAND: And at the same time -- yes?

BERMAN: But not before that. We've done -- you know, we did the what the president called "massive attacks" before. So if that didn't achieve -- because it hasn't -- achieve what the president wanted it to, why would it now?

SONDLAND: Well, first of all, I will criticize the president and the administration, with due respect, that we did not obliterate anything. We slowed things down and we set things back a long way.

This time, with what's going into the theater, once the president gives the green light, if he really unleashes the force that we're massing, we will obliterate them. We absolutely will. There will be no doubt about it. And that's a political decision that the president has to make, and I think they're gearing up so that he has the option to make that decision.

But no, I --

BERMAN: It --

SONDLAND: -- agree with those on your air who have said the obliteration has not occurred. It has not occurred yet, but it will.

BERMAN: It sounds like what you're saying though is if the United States does do this again -- this massive attack -- it needs to be even more than the first time around. If the first one didn't do what you say --

SONDLAND: Far more. It needs to be far more.

BERMAN: So this one needs to be bigger.

SONDLAND: Yes.

BERMAN: And in reverse, the Iranians who, you are right --

SONDLAND: Absolutely. And it needs --

BERMAN: Go ahead.

SONDLAND: I'm sorry. We must have a little -- we must have a little delay. I'm in Europe.

It is also going to require peeling another layer off the onion, which is another level of regime decapitation. There are a few people that I'm sure they're going to spare who they know their hearts and minds are in the right place. But the others, like -- I wouldn't want to be Vahidi right now, who is running the IRGC.

BERMAN: Um-hum.

SONDLAND: He's got a big target on his back, and they know where he is at all times.

BERMAN: I just don't want to leave this hanging out there. It sounds like you are also saying that you would like to see the Iranian people rise up. President Trump, in the very beginning of the war, more or less suggested to them that help would be on the way.

Do you think the United States should be more directly overtly involved with trying to have some kind of uprising, giving direct assistance to the Iranian people?

SONDLAND: Perhaps you misunderstood my point. I'm saying the Iranian people are incapable of uprising -- or rising up, I should say, under the current scenario. They have no weapons. What they need to have is they need to have sympathetic members of the IRGC who will turn around and not shoot them when they start these uprisings. And we're not there yet because the militants are still in control of the Iranian Republican Guard.

BERMAN: We will see what happens next and if it changes things.

Former Ambassador Gordon Sondland, always good to talk to you. Thanks for coming on this morning -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Now to some politics domestically here. The White House issuing a blunt warning to Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president spoke about this directly yesterday. His patience is running out. He wants to see as much of the Save America Act passed as possible by the August recess. The House did its job. The Senate needs to do its job too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:40:10]

SIDNER: The senator, in the administration's eyes, has failed the president with his inability to get Trump's election overhaul bill that he calls the Save America Act over the finish line. That act would require proof of U.S. citizenship, like a birth certificate or passport, to register to vote in federal elections.

Thune pushed back, saying if the White House wants the legislation to pass it needs to get on the phone with senators.

With me now, White House correspondent for USA Today, Francesca Chambers. And White House correspondent for The Hill, Julia Manchester. Thank you both for being here.

Francesca, to you first. The White House, you heard there, says Trump's simply running out of patience with John Thune.

But could you give us some sense of the state of the relationship between the Republican Party right now, particularly the Senate, and the president, and what that's going to mean?

FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, USA TODAY (via Webex by Cisco): This frustration with Thune has been building for months now. I mean, the president has said that he's a good man and that he understands that he's in a tight position with the -- you know, the number of moderate Republican senators that he's got to convince here.

But, as you heard there, the White House, with the recess coming up and senators and House lawmakers then being gone for an extended recess, is getting very frustrated.

You know, I talked to House Speaker Mike Johnson about this in an interview a few weeks ago and he said that he just thought that President Trump and the Senate majority leader hadn't spent enough time together, so they don't have the same working relationship essentially as he and President Trump do.

But then they went to that fireworks show on July 3 together in South Dakota and still we see that, you know, they haven't been able to forge the kind of working relationship that would at least get the desired result for President Trump, and that may possibly be because the votes just don't exist.

SIDNER: That's what Thune has been saying -- I don't have the votes. And that is a convincing job that maybe he just cannot do no matter what the president does. We'll wait and see what happens.

Julia, to you now. We're seeing all these new tariffs affecting dozens of countries, including countries right next door, like Canada, some of our closest allies.

What's the president trying to accomplish with these new tariffs? We saw what some of the tariffs did early on to the economy and people are worried about affordability.

Why impose these now?

JULIA MANCHESTER, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE HILL (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah, that's right, Sara. There are two sets of tariffs that were announced by the administration this week.

Earlier this week we saw the additional 50 percent tariffs placed on Canadian goods. And on top of that you have President Trump saying he's taking a look at even more tariffs to potentially slap on Canada in response to their handlings of the wildfire up north.

But the latest tariffs that went into effect midnight on Friday -- those were announced yesterday and those are on 60 countries. And the administration says this is about, you know, these countries' handlings of labor, particularly forced labor. You know, President Trump is using Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act to implement this.

And this is after the Supreme Court overturned his initial vehicle to implement tariffs back in February. President Trump used a workaround between February and now that ran out at midnight. So this is a new set of tariffs.

But the big question is why is President Trump doing this at this moment at a time when you see inflation, even though there are some indicators it has somewhat improved? But you're seeing, for example, oil prices hitting $100 a barrel for the first time since May. You see inflation still a burden on Americans. Gas prices back up to $4.00 a gallon.

There is this financial concern among Americans. And I think, you know, the question is why are we adding additional tariffs that could add an even more -- more of a financial burden onto Americans? So that's the big concern.

The administration says this is about holding other countries accountable for their trade practices. But it's certainly I think, just chatting with sources, is a risky move ahead of the election.

SIDNER: Francesca, let me quickly ask you about Joe Manchin who was a Democratic senator for a very long time and then switched his party to be Independent. He is now looking to reenter politics and create kind of a brand new party -- an Independent political experiment, I think, as he put it.

Is there an actual constituency that he could -- that he could gather here?

[07:45:00]

CHAMBERS: You know, there's obviously a large number of Independent Americans who -- you know, who identify in polling as Independents. But we've seen in the modern, you know, political politics in America that it has been difficult no matter who the person is, right, to form one of these potential third parties or these third-party movements that compete against the Republican and Democratic Party.

And part of the reason that's just difficult is because of the way it just -- the politics in general work in the nation when it comes to presidential debates and the resources, right, that the national parties and the party committees have, especially with -- you know, when you have the White House and the president being able to fundraise, the vice president, et cetera.

So it has just always been very difficult to create those kinds of movements.

SIDNER: Yeah, it is fraught. We will see what happens with this one.

Francesca Chambers, Julia Manchester -- both of you -- thank you so much. Have a great weekend -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, France is evacuating a popular tourist destination, the Cap Ferret peninsula, and this is as wildfires are closing in. An estimated 40,000 people are being evacuated, some by boat. Wildfires have just been tearing through southern France, fueled by record-breaking heat waves.

Let's get right to CNN senior international correspondent Melissa Bell for the very latest on this. What are you learning this morning?

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, this wildfire that you speak of doubled overnight, hence this massive evacuation happening around the Cap Ferret peninsula. Think the Hamptons, sort of French style. It is on the Atlantic coast not very far from Bandol to give you an idea. Its population is tenfold in the summer of what it is during the winter. It gives you an idea of just how popular it is with tourists and people at this time of year on holiday.

Forty thousand people evacuated as of this morning because of the spread of that wildfire. Its extent really hadn't been anticipated. So there's a single road that links the Cap Ferret to the outside world. People have been using that. There have also been these evacuations by boat to try and get people across the bay into the mainland.

But this is just one of several wildfires that we've had in that particular region of France over the last couple of days. One near Bandol airport early this week that saw two fireman die. Another one has just been declared to the south of the Cap Ferret one and it has now seen the evacuation of some 23,000 people in the Laon region.

You're talking about huge pine forests that have -- are generally fairly flammable in the best of times. And, of course, what we've seen in France this summer has been heat wave after heat wave. The conditions have been getting so parched that it has turned into this kind of tinderbox.

For now, no sign that they're managing to get these fires under control. It has already this year, in France, been a series of records that have been set not just in terms of the temperature but the wildfires as well. There have been 300 in France this year. On an average year you'll see about 95, John.

BERMAN: And it may not be done yet. This could not be the end of the problems.

All right. Melissa Bell giving us an update. Thank you very much for that.

Tonight, boosted security in place for the now rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner. What they are doing differently this time after the attempted attack back in April.

And a wild rollover crash cripples rush-hour traffic. Look at that.

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[07:52:27]

BERMAN: All right. Cleveland pitcher Gavin Williams was immaculate last night, at least for one inning.

CNN's Coy Wire is here with us this morning. I love the idea of the immaculate inning. It's one of my favorite stats in baseball.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: You rarely see them, right John? Gavin Williams out there painting the corners like Picasso. An immaculate inning against the Twins -- a perfect nine pitches, nine strikes, three strikeouts. He's just the sixth pitcher in Guardians' history to pull off this pitching equivalent of bowling a perfect frame, right? He fanned 11 Twins over seven innings.

But the Guardians' bats never got the memo, so it went to extras. Twelfth inning, Trevor Larnach came through with the go-ahead knock and Minnesota escapes with a 3-1 win. The Twins have now won four straight extra-inning games, so if it goes into deep water with them against you team it might not go swimmingly.

Atlanta Braves -- they brought the fireworks. Four home runs against the Padres and pitcher Chris Sale brought the filth. Slider as dancing like Sidner doing the salsa. Look at that movement, John.

The Padres' hitters kept swinging and mostly kept missing. Sale struck out 11 as well and matched his season high. Nine of those came on the slider alone.

The Braves held on for 6-5 win.

The World Series champion Dodgers took their victory lap to the White House, celebrating last year's title. A couple of familiar faces. Mookie Betts and Kike Hernandez not in attendance.

But now retired Dodgers legend Clayton Kershaw stole the show when President Trump joked that Kershaw could still suit up if the Dodgers called, and Kershaw didn't hesitate. One word -- no. It's sometimes the funniest punchlines; also the shortest.

Now to Minnesota. You have to see this, John. First round of the 3M Open. Jake Knapp with a beautiful shot that became one of the closest almost hole-in-ones you'll ever see. One hundred seventy-one yards away, par 3. Nestles this thing within a whisker. He shot a 3-under 68. According to the rules, he can walk to the cup and have about 10 seconds to see if it would drop. He was probably hoping for a quick, stiff breeze to get that thing to go.

Ben Kohles has the lead in today's second round.

That reminds me of that movie "Happy Gilmore." Go to your home. Do you not like your home? It was so close for Jake Knapp.

BERMAN: That's when you just jump up and down, right. You jump up and down as much as you can trying to get the thing to roll in. That's clearly the play.

WIRE: Yeah. The good news is I guess you don't have to -- you know, the good news is you don't have to go back to the clubhouse and, as is customary after a hole in one, buy everyone a drink. So if there's any silver lining for Mr. Knapp that may be it. Look at that shot -- incredible.

[07:55:05]

BERMAN: He saved some money. Incredible.

All right, Coy. Thank you very much.

WIRE: Yes. You got it.

SIDNER: (INAUDIBLE) buy everyone a drink even if you didn't do a hole in one.

BERMAN: Right.

SIDNER: This guy has got some funds.

BERMAN: As long as it's before 10:00 a.m.

SIDNER: Thank you, John.

All right. A frightening rollover crash inside a tunnel in Boston -- John's favorite place on Earth. It backed up traffic for more than an hour. Massachusetts Department of Transportation just released this video. You can see the car flip and then careen into another vehicle before ending up upside-down. Unbelievably, everyone survived this. First responders took one person though to the hospital but just as a precaution.

All right. In Texas, an 18-wheeler was left dangling over a highway overpass -- yikes. It happened after a crash near Houston yesterday. The crash shut down lanes of the highway for hours as crews worked to try and safely clear that truck. Authorities say two people were taken to the hospital but again, only with minor injuries there.

OK. Controversial health shots you may have seen all over your social media are a step closer to heading to your local pharmacy. An FDA advisory panel voted yesterday to recommend adding the popular peptide BPC-157 to a drug compounding list, which brings it a step closer to being available with a prescription. The decision was far from unanimous. FDA experts themselves warned there is zero clinic proof peptides actually work and dismiss it as no better than a placebo -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Tonight in Washington, the White House Correspondents' Dinner is set to take place again at 8:00 p.m. with a new set of bolstered security measures. The dinner in April was shut down after a gunman -- would-be gunman rushed through a Secret Service screening checkpoint on the floor above where the dinner was being held and appeared to open fire.

President Trump is scheduled to speak tonight at the event.

With us now is CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former deputy director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe. So Andy, there are going to be far fewer people here. A lot of things aren't going to happen, like no red carpet. Way shorter overall.

What else do you think the Secret Service will do differently tonight?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF FBI (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah, John. I think what we'll see with the right perspective is a much increased, bolstered perimeter. You know, the perimeter is, of course, the place where that video that you just showed where the gunman was able to actually through from the dirty side -- the non-secure side -- into the clean side of the event.

Now, it's interesting that the Secret Service still maintains that this was a success, and from their perspective I think that's a fair headline. They say that's the point of the perimeter to keep people out, and this person was essentially stopped in that area. So therefore it is a success.

I think others could very reasonably argue not 100 percent success. This guy was able to come out of a stairwell with a shotgun to approach the perimeter and actually get through it. Not very far but through it with a pretty -- with a serious weapon that you can see there on the screen now.

So I think you're going to see a much tighter, smaller space. Likely more officers posted at key chokepoints.

BERMAN: And this is happening, Andy, at a time when the Secret Service says there's like a record threat level. Talk to me about that warning in general and the impact that has specifically on tonight.

MCCABE: Yeah, they are just absolutely swamped with what they call protective intelligence investigations and actual credible threats. They said there are over 10 -- they've opened over 10,000 cases just this year on protective intelligence investigations. That's when they receive some sort of a threat or a concerning communication, most of which come in through the internet these days. And ever one of those people has to be looked into to determine whether or not they pose a credible threat.

That process has led them to conduct 10 times as many interventions -- mental health interventions with the subjects of those investigations this year. So they are very frequently working with family members and mental health professionals to resolve some of those things.

But with that immense workload you just wonder how far can this relatively small agency be stretched and still perform at the 100 percent success rate that's required. BERMAN: You know, when we talk about the correspondents' dinner tonight, which will have a much different look than the one in April -- Andy, do you think events like the one in April will be able to happen again for the foreseeable future? Will we see anything that ambitious?

MCCABE: I think we will, and I hope that we do because in a free and fair and open democracy we depend upon events like that. We depend upon the president's ability to get out. To actually see the voters and the citizens and to make statements at all kinds of different venues.