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Saudi Arabia Plans Retaliation After Houthi Rebel Attacks; Four Bodies Recovered After U.S. Family's Plane Disappeared Off Bahamas; U.S. Strikes Alleged Drug Trafficking Refueling Vessel in Pacific; Paintings Stolen From Renoir Museum. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 08, 2026 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:34:03]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": New CNN reporting today about the potential plans for the U.S. presence in the Middle East after the war with Iran comes to an end, assuming the Trump administration can achieve that objective. Sources say both military and intelligence officials are discussing cutting the number of people and facilities typically stationed in the region.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Several U.S. bases in the Middle East have come under fire from Iranian attacks in the six months since the war began, exposing some significant vulnerabilities.

CNN's Zach Cohen joins us now with the details. Zach, there are roughly 50,000 U.S. service members in the Middle East. How long are we anticipating that presence is going to last there based on what you're hearing from your sources?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, guys, U.S. officials have developed several different courses of potential action here with an eye towards changing the U.S. force structure in the Middle East as soon as next year, but obviously that comes as the U.S. and Iran are continuing to trade fire even as recently as now.

And that does raise a question, because all the sources we spoke to said it really doesn't make any sense for the U.S. to abandon the strategic locations in the region that it uses to launch aircraft and conduct these airstrikes on Iranian targets.

[13:35:00]

So as long as the fighting is going on, you can anticipate that at least some, if not all, of the forces that are in the region currently will stay there. But that being said, there is also simultaneously this discussion happening behind the scenes, quiet consideration of ways to scale down the U.S. physical presence in the Middle East and taking a look, a real hard look at the various military installations, the intelligence installations and facilities in countries like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, all these countries that currently house U.S. forces and intelligence officials and diplomats, but have come under pretty persistent attack by Iranian missile and drone attacks.

And that's something that U.S. officials say that they are really taking into account as they weigh these options, which they also acknowledge they're developing in an effort to try to anticipate what might be acceptable to President Donald Trump if and when the war does ultimately end. Trump has not articulated any sort of a vision for a post-war strategy as far as the U.S. forces in the region go once this conflict ends.

So they're really kind of guessing and coming up with different ideas about what may be palatable for the president, who has at times staked his political identity on this idea of reducing the amount of U.S. forces overseas. And so one of the primary objectives here is to try to shift the burden more onto regional partners for their own defense. That's going to take countries like Saudi Arabia, country like Bahrain, these Gulf countries that are going to have to see what tasks they can pick up and allow some American forces to maybe go home or to go to other regions where the U.S. military is actively engaging.

And we look at the lessons learned from the Iran war in particular that's really added some urgency around this. Iran has exploited what were known vulnerabilities to these U.S. bases across the region, but there was never really an urgent effort to address them until really the first few weeks of the Iran war when we saw, for example, the CIA outpost in Riyadh be, quote, "effectively destroyed" by an Iranian attack.

These are very specific sites, and Iran has really outkicked its coverage as far as demonstrating an ability to target those specific U.S. assets around the region, and they continue to. They use that as an asymmetric capability to retaliate against the U.S. for its military operations in the region.

So ultimately, the timeline here remains a little bit unclear. What the final picture will look like remains unclear, but President Trump is trying to follow through, it appears, based on the conversations happening behind the scenes with this effort to scale down the U.S. presence in the region.

KEILAR: Zach, great reporting. Thank you so much, Zach Cohen.

Now to another reminder of the threats that American troops and allies still face across the Middle East, a source telling CNN Saudi Arabia is planning to retaliate after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen launched major attacks on Saudi territory, including its oil facilities. The Houthis say they fired dozens of ballistic missiles and drones.

A Saudi military official says the attacks also wounded more than 70 people, including women and children. We're joined now by retired U.S. Army Major General, James "Spider" Marks. He's now the Head of Geopolitical Strategy for Academy Securities.

General, how do you see these Houthi attacks? Do you see them differently from the threat this group has posed in the past? MAJ. GEN. JAMES SPIDER MARKS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Not at all, Brianna. I think this is a continuation. Bear in mind that the Saudis and the Houthis have had it. It's been an interregnum over the course of the last four or five months where there's been a ceasefire in place. That's always very, very loose. But I think going forward, what we see -- from what we have seen from the Houthis in the past and the Saudi engagement, I don't think that's going to change.

Bear in mind, since about 2015, the Saudis have been really working diligently to try to collapse what the Houthis have been able to assemble in Yemen. And bear in mind that where the Houthis exist and how they control various pockets within Yemen, it's about where 70 percent of the population lives. So if you're looking to try to flip the regime in Yemen or you're trying to weaken the regime, it's all about going after the Houthis.

As a result of almost a decade of engagement, the Saudis have been unable to do that. So this is an incredibly difficult task. I don't see it changing. The complexion shouldn't change much going forward.

KEILAR: As you see the Iranian strategy of expanding the footprint of the war and the U.S., of course, continuing its blockade and the economic pressure on Iran, how are you seeing this discussion that CNN is now reporting on among military and intel officials about reducing the U.S. presence in the Middle East and looking for another post-9/11 strategy, assuming the Trump administration does succeed in ending the Iran conflict?

[13:40:00]

MARKS: Yes, several things wrapped up in the question. It's a great question. First of all, I think it's premature to even use and maybe a little bit a fool's errand to describe that the war is going to end. I don't think we're going to have a demarcation that says, you know, another mission accomplished kind of a deal. I think it's going to be very much a sloppy ending in that we've already determined that any type of a diplomatic solution with Iran is going to be abandoned by the Iranian regime in a heartbeat.

So how do you engage? You engage economically and you engage militarily. So I think there will be a military presence. It needs to be right-sized that gives the United States and partners the ability to go after the Iranian regime when it gets too frisky in terms of nukes, missile development and additional activity by the proxies as we're seeing right now with the Houthis in Saudi Arabia.

So I think -- I don't think we should describe this as an ending, but clearly the administration has to deal with what does this look like going forward? They've got to accomplish whatever they're trying to accomplish now. We're still not sure what that desired vision is for our presence and the status of the Iranian regime.

But clearly partners, as described by Zach's reporting, partners in the region need to stand up and there's kind of an inverse now of who takes the lead. And the Trump administration has been working on this for a while, which is really partner-led U.S.-enabled operations. That has to be worked out.

Look, the Chief of Naval Operations has already stated the personnel assigned to the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain are not returning. That has not been settled in terms of what they can accomplish in the region in terms of putting those families at risk again.

So the U.S. has got to make a determination in terms of how it intends to rebuild. Are they going to rebuild? Are they going to abandon? Don't think so. Or are they going to harden and maybe go underground in terms of what the appropriate sizing of those forces look like in the region? But clearly, we've seen they are at risk.

KEILAR: Yeah. And what wasn't as risky of a deployment, say, for service members before, obviously is we're seeing the threats of drones. When you see, you know, generally the U.S. military's approach to extremists in the region has been to a degree to kind of mow the grass, right, to keep it at bay, to keep it at a certain level.

Is there any way that you see the U.S. being able to, I don't want to say abandon that objective, but I mean fully shift it in a dramatic way to allies such that the U.S. is not involved in some very big way?

MARKS: Very hard to do, Brianna. I think the key is, and there have been a number of counterterrorism strategies and ideas that have really been percolating within this administration and certainly within think tanks which needs to take place. But clearly, you have to go to the root cause.

The only reason, for example, it's all about money, it's all about policy, it's all about protection, and it's all about that outer ring of support that these organizations have. You look at the Houthis, for example. They've grown over the course of the decade from about 100,000 to about 350,000.

As I indicated, they control about 70 percent -- where 70 percent of the population lives. They get their funding from the IRGC and Iran. That has kind of been shut down over the course of the last six months, but they've got enough stockpiles and they have enough skill sets to do their own creative manufacturing and maintenance of missiles, getting missile parts, building these into missiles that are capable, and then the drone and counter drone capabilities that are out there. Those are cheap weapons systems.

It's all about getting to the root cause, and that is not necessarily the idealistic and theology, if you will, of the groups. That's going to exist. You kill one terrorist, you recruit three. The deal is, how can you cut off the support that they're getting financially and politically from others? And frankly, Epic Fury and our presence in the region has put a lid on that for the time being. How do you now sustain that going forward where you're not out of balance?

Clearly, we have made a tremendous commitment to the region. That affects the readiness of other combatant commanders in the Indo-Pak, in the European Command, and elsewhere.

KEILAR: Yeah, and other threats around the world. Gen. Marks, always great to get your perspective. Thank you so much.

MARKS: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: Ahead, a tragic end to the search for a family that had been flying on a small plane from the Bahamas to Florida. What authorities are now saying next.

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[13:49:38]

SANCHEZ: Now to Breaking News on the search for an American family whose plane disappeared as it was flying from the Bahamas to Florida. Officials say the bodies of all four family members have been recovered off the Bahamian coast.

Let's get right to CNN's Ryan Young who's been following the story. So, Ryan, what have you learned?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Boris, in the last two hours, we figured out here live on CNN when one of the Bahamian officials told us all four bodies were found. This is obviously something family members did not want to hear.

[13:50:00]

This was a five-seat Piper aircraft that was trying to fly back from the Bahamas toward Opa Locka in Miami. Of course, Boris, you're very familiar with the idea. A lot of people like to travel back and forth between Miami and the Bahamas, but at this point, they may have encountered some heavy weather. We do have some flight tracker information. The plane dropped off the radar around 11 o'clock when the search actually started.

But recently, the family also released a statement that says, our relatives ultimately located our loved ones and had to bring them aboard their own vessel. We are now in communication, working with the U.S. Coast Guard to bring our loved ones home, safely with dignity. You understand how upset they are.

They felt like they had to get out in the water themselves and search for this plane and the plane wreckage. The Coast Guard also jumped in. But take a listen to Bahamian officials talk about this search.

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LT. DARIUS ADAMS, PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER, ROYAL BAHAMAS DEFENSE FORCE: So our initial investigation that came into our search and rescue operations team is that they left that area of the Berry Islands and they wanted to divert from inclement weather. And due to that factor, they would have ended up on that side of Andros, as opposed to going a different direction, heading to Florida.

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YOUNG: Yeah, Boris, again, you and I have talked about this before. We grew up in South Florida. We know the storms in that area can be sometimes very strong, and pilots a lot of times try to outrun storms. Not sure exactly what happened in this case, a five-seat Piper trying to maybe avoid that storm system, but then ultimately dropped off the radar.

What's sad about this is that entire family on board, you had the grandparents and the grandchildren on board. Now all four bodies have been found. Of course, we're not sure if they found the wreckage of this plane just yet or what may have caused this Piper to hit that water and to have this crash that ultimately took all four lives. It's something that we're continuing to search in terms of trying to figure out information. And now we know the Coast Guard is involved as well.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, sad update. Ryan Young, thank you so much for bringing it to us. Brianna?

KEILAR: Now, to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour. U.S. military officials say they destroyed an alleged refueling boat that supports drug trafficking operations in the Eastern Pacific. Yesterday's operation is the fifth such strike against these types of alleged refueling vessels. U.S. Southern Command says it removed the crew members before sinking the boat and will transfer them to Ecuador.

In Seattle, a student police officer on his first-ever shift helped rescue people from a burning building. He and another officer spotted flames coming from a second storey apartment window last Monday morning. Those officers smashed in the lobby door to get inside.

They ran up flights of stairs, banging on doors and yelling at residents to leave. This was especially critical because the fire alarm did not go off. As smoke grew thicker, more officers entered the building to evacuate residents.

The Seattle Fire Department began fighting the flames, each officer receiving a commendation for their part in the rescue.

And a Labor Day college football matchup between Florida State and SMU goes low tech, a power outage. Oh, look at that. Two little lights, a power outage in Tallahassee, prompting a lengthy delay, ultimately forcing the teams to play old school. They had no coach to player comms through helmets. There's no scoreboard, no replay. There was no public address system or even lights.

(LAUGH)

KEILAR: The outage was the result of a power shortage in the main transformer supplying electricity. Ultimately, SMU won the game, 27- 24. Just a few little lights on there.

Gone in less than five minutes, thieves making off with two Renoirs in the latest high-profile heist to hit a French museum. We have the search for the masterpieces next.

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[13:58:47]

KEILAR: French police are searching for a ring of thieves who stole four paintings from the Renoir Museum in southern France, so they tried to steal for at least. The theft took less than five minutes. The thieves actually dropped two of the paintings as they fled the scene. At this point, this kind of case, it's all too familiar to French authorities.

Last October, thieves disguised as construction workers stole historic crown jewels from the Louvre. CNN's Melissa Bell filed this report from Paris.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was less than a year ago that that brazen heist was carried out here at the Louvre Museum. Once again, a French Museum targeted this Tuesday morning and it involved the theft of four Renoir paintings from a museum in the south of France. Two of them dropped by the thieves as they fled, but two of these Renoir paintings still out there. The search continues for the thieves involved.

We're getting more details about the heist itself. It was in the early hours of the morning that they cut through the fence to the museum, went through the garden of this Renoir Museum in a small town not very far from Nice, made off with the paintings in less than five minutes after the alarm sounded, losing a couple on their way. It is of course, once again, for French authorities a hugely worrying development with more calls for greater security at French museums. And given what happened here at --