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U.S.-Backed Iran and Ukraine Talks Resume Today in Geneva; German Chancellor Visits China. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired February 26, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, Just ahead.

It's a day of diplomacy in Geneva as the U.S. is involved in two sets of talks. What's at stake for Ukraine and how Iran hopes to de- escalate tensions with the U.S.

And a deadly shooting off the coast of Cuba, what we know about the altercation between border guards and a speedboat full of Cuban nationals.

Plus, A.I. firm Anthropic is rolling back key safety principles while the firm is changing the rules in the midst of a fight with the Pentagon.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us.

And we begin in Geneva where U.S. and Iranian delegations are expected to begin indirect nuclear talks shortly.

The Iranian foreign minister has discussed Tehran's position with his Omani counterpart who is mediating the nuclear talks. The U.S. says not discussing Iran's ballistic missiles is a big problem, but the current talks will focus largely on Iran's nuclear program.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: After their nuclear program was obliterated, they were told not to try to restart it, and here they are. You can see them always trying to rebuild elements of it. They're not enriching right now, but they're trying to get to the point where they ultimately can.

The other thing I would point you to, however, is that Iran possesses a very large number of ballistic missiles, particularly short range ballistic missiles that threaten the United States and our bases in the region and our partners in the region. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The Trump administration has imposed new sanctions on more than 30 individuals, entities and shadow fleet vessels. It says they enable Tehran's illicit petroleum sales, ballistic missiles and weapons production. Iran suggests it is hopeful about the talks, but the Foreign Minister says that a deal is, quote, "within reach," but only if diplomacy is given priority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBAS ARAGCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We have learned lots of lessons from the last war, so we are even more prepared. And that means, by the way, that the aim is to prevent the war.

When you are prepared for a war, you can prevent it. Otherwise, you are inviting it to your home. So we are fully prepared, not because we want war, because we want to prevent the war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us live from Geneva, Switzerland. So Fred, talk to us about what can happen here, or what are the expectations, given we know that the United States wants zero enrichment, but Iran is saying we want to enrich for peaceful purposes. So how will they come together on this?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi Rosemary. Yes, how to bridge that gap certainly is going to be the big question here at these talks in Geneva. I'm actually right outside the venue.

We have seen what might be one of the delegations arriving a little earlier. We're not sure whether or not both delegations are in place yet and whether or not the talks have actually started just yet. But certainly, this appears to be where things are going to happen, the residence of the Omani ambassador here in Geneva.

And if you will, the Iranians have put forward a proposal. They've put together a proposal they are going to present to the American side here today at these talks, which they hope will bridge that gap where the U.S. wants zero enrichment. As you've stated, President Trump has said that, several of President Trump's closest advisors and staff have said that as well.

When the Iranians say they believe they have an intrinsic right to enrichment, that that is something that is enshrined in international law. And one of the ways that they might try to bridge that is for the Iranians to keep some form of smaller enrichment, token enrichment, as the United States has put it.

At the same time, the United States can say that that enrichment can never lead to a nuclear bomb. That's obviously what President Trump has been saying over the past couple of days, he wants to ensure that Iran never is able to obtain a nuclear weapon.

The Iranians are saying that they have no desire to build a nuclear bomb. They say that's something that they don't want to do now. They'll never want to do in the future.

But at the same time, they also say that they do believe that they have that right to nuclear enrichment and they are going to preserve that right.

So that's going to be by far the biggest issue here in the talks. And you were already alluding to the fact that the United States has in the past said they don't only want to talk about Iran's nuclear program, don't only want to talk about nuclear enrichment, but also, for instance, about ballistic missiles and proxy forces in the greater Middle East.

[03:05:03]

But from our understanding, these talks, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said, are indeed only about Iran's nuclear program, whereas the issue of ballistic missiles and proxies is something that the Iranians and the USA, something could possibly be discussed down the line, but certainly not here. The Iranians, in fact, have said at these talks they are definitely not speaking about anything except the nuclear issue.

All of this, of course, comes as the tension in the Middle East right now is extremely high. We've seen the United States, of course, put that massive force into place in the greater Middle Eastern region, two aircraft carriers, dozens of warplanes, with President Trump very clearly stating that his finger is on the trigger and military action against Iran could be launched at any point in time.

The Iranians have warned the United States that if the U.S. does take military action, there will be a strong response from Iran, that the U.S.' military bases in the Middle Eastern region certainly will all be targets, with all the consequences that that could have, not just for U.S. forces, but of course for all the countries in that region as well.

And one thing that the Iranians have also pointed out is that if military action begins, triggered by the United States, that a confrontation between Iran and the United States is not going to be a short affair. It's going to be something that's going to go on for a very long time and could then potentially draw the United States and drag the United States into a major conflict in the Middle East that it will not be easy to get out of.

So certainly the stakes are extremely high. Both sides seem to understand that the stakes are extremely high. At the same time, we've heard from both delegations, from the United States, but also from the Iranians, that they still believe that a compromise is possible, that a deal is possible to avert what could be a very dangerous situation in that part of the world, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Fred Pleitgen, joining us there live from Geneva. We'll wait to see what comes out of those talks. Many thanks for that report.

And Geneva is also the site of another big meeting. Negotiators from the U.S. and Ukraine will be holding talks later today. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he spoke by phone on Wednesday with President Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

According to Russian state media, the Kremlin says there are currently no plans for Vladimir Putin to speak with President Trump. A spokesperson went on to say that a meeting involving the Russian, U.S. and Ukrainian leaders is possible in the event of a peace deal. One veteran diplomat says the ongoing talks are cause for optimism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENS STOLTENBERG, NORWEGIAN FINANCE MINISTER: I think it's far too early to say when and how this war can end, but it is a positive sign that at least there are talks. We do not know when the war will end, but what we do know is that the stronger Ukraine is on the battlefield, the more likely it is that President Putin will realize that he cannot win the war and has to sit down and negotiate and accept an end to the war where Ukraine prevails as a sovereign and independent state. So the important thing is to provide military support to Ukraine to help to end the war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Orysia Lutsevych is the Deputy Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program and Head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House. She joins me now live from London. I appreciate you talking with us.

ORYSIA LUTSEVYCH, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, RUSSIA AND EURASIA PROGRAM, AND HEAD OF UKRAINE FORUM, CHATHAM HOUSE: Of course. Good to be with you Rosemary.

CHURCH: Wonderful.

So as U.S. and Ukraine negotiators prepare to meet in Geneva in the coming hours, in an effort to end Russia's war in Ukraine, what are you expecting to come out of these talks?

LUTSEVYCH: Well, to be honest, not very much, because I think the strategy that President Trump is pursuing is unlikely to lead to Putin negotiating in good faith. And this is the main stumbling block. It's his position and his senior leadership in still believing that they can win militarily, that they could curtail Ukraine's sovereignty and they can split Europe over support to Ukraine.

Because let's remember the whole of 2025 was exactly that. When United States stopped providing military assistance to Ukraine and started being a mediator, Putin really pushed at information, cyber threats against European countries, especially France, Germany and United Kingdom, who are creating this coalition of the willing to back Ukraine. So as long as America treats Russia lightly and pressures Ukraine to this model of land for peace, it's unlikely that we're going to have an agreement.

CHURCH: And I did want to talk to you about that point, because Ukraine's President Zelenskyy said that he spoke on the phone Wednesday with President Trump, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. And that call coming, of course, after Zelenskyy has said publicly that he would like Trump to be on Ukraine's side and that he feels more is being asked of Ukraine than of Russia when it comes to certainly making territorial concessions.

[03:10:07]

So presumably that made for a pretty difficult conversation. What likely played out? And this is the sticking point, isn't it?

LUTSEVYCH: I mean, I think more broadly speaking, Zelenskyy appeals to Trump not to be just on Ukraine's side, but to be also on the side of justice, because this is an unprovoked and illegal invasion that has been said so by nearly all countries around the world and especially supported by 50 global democracies. That's roughly how many countries are providing all kind of assistance to Ukraine to resist Russia.

The problem is, I think President Trump wants to reset relationship with Russia, wants to deliver something for the midterm elections quickly and keep setting this deadline for Ukraine and for Russia to end the war, he's in a hurry, while Putin has a long term strategy and is manipulating in all kind of ways United States diplomatic team and also offering a big business deals that are honestly, a lot of them are hot air balloons because companies know that they can rarely make good business in Russia, where the kind of state crony capitalism allows for all assets to be seized at any whim of the Kremlin.

So it's Zelenskyy hopes that Trump can see clearly for what Putin is, that he is bluffing and that he is not willing to bring peace to Europe, but actually is more prepared to escalate.

CHURCH: How surprised were you to hear that a Kremlin spokesperson said that a meeting involving the Russian, U.S. and Ukrainian leaders is possible in the event of a peace deal? Are they words just to keep President Trump happy, to give him a false hope that maybe there would be a deal out of these talks?

LUTSEVYCH: Well, I think you're right, all these year of negotiations, nearly now a year, have been two sides not trying to upset Trump and to show that they're willing to negotiate. And we do have some marginal progress, let's be honest, regarding how the ceasefire could be monitored.

Because let's remember, Ukraine has already made quite a large compromise, saying, look, we agree to cease the war along the current front line. We pledge not to retake it militarily. Let's stop here and then keep talking on big political issues.

But this is not what Russia wants. Russia actually put ceasefire last and wants to use military pressure, bombing of Ukrainian cities as the leverage of a negotiating table to get more favorable conditions from Ukraine.

And Zelenskyy cannot give it because society at large supports him. More than 60 percent of Ukrainians are against this retreat from its own sovereign territory. They want to have a strong security guarantees from the United States and Europe and wants to have foreign troops on Ukrainian land to protect from new re-invasion.

CHURCH: Orysia Lutsevych in London, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate you sharing your analysis and perspective.

Well, Cuba says its border guard troops have shot and killed four people on a speedboat in Cuban waters who were trying to, quote, "infiltrate the island nation."

The Cuban Interior Ministry says the boat was registered in Florida and was carrying Cubans who live in the U.S., one of whom allegedly opened fire on those Cuban forces. Six others on the speedboat were apparently wounded and are now detained. Havana accuses the group of trying to infiltrate the island for, quote, "terrorist purposes" and says another person from the U.S. was arrested and confessed to the scheme.

The incident happened Wednesday off Cuba's northern coast, and it comes amid weeks of simmering tensions between Cuba and the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has confirmed that no U.S. government personnel were involved, but says the U.S. will do its own investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: But we're going to find out exactly what happened here and then we'll respond accordingly.

Suffice it to say, it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that. It's not something that happens every day. It's something, frankly, that hasn't happened with Cuba in a very long time.

And but we're going to find out. We're not going to base our conclusions on what they've told us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: We get more details now from CNN's David Culver.

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DAVID CULVER, CNN SR. U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Cuban authorities say four people aboard a Florida-registered speedboat were killed after they claimed someone on that vessel opened fire on Cuban border guards. Six others were injured.

Now, the Cuban Interior Ministry says the group intended to carry out what it calls a terrorist infiltration. U.S. officials are not taking Havana's word for it.

[03:15:06]

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. Embassy in Havana is seeking access to anyone detained and working independently to verify who was on board and what happened. This comes at a really sensitive moment. There's no question. I mean, this week marks 30 years since Cuban fighter jets shot down

two planes flown by Brothers to the Rescue, killing four men and igniting one of the most explosive chapters in modern U.S.-Cuba relations. Just last week, in fact, I was with several South Florida lawmakers who are again calling for the indictment of Raul Castro, arguing that he ultimately gave the order in 1996. And they told me had that happened today under President Trump and with Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, they believe the United States would have responded with force.

Now, Rubio is being really careful here, saying that the U.S. will respond based on facts, not speculation. But the parallels are hard to ignore. You've got a Florida-registered vessel, deadly force at sea and rising tensions between Washington and Havana.

And until the U.S. confirms who exactly was on that boat and what led to that exchange of gunfire, this incident is likely to add another layer of strain to an already fragile relationship.

David Culver, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The North Korean flags were flying during a nighttime military parade. We will have a live report on that and new warnings from leader Kim Jong-un. Back in just a moment.

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CHURCH: Now to a new show of force from North Korea, a military parade with goose-stepping soldiers marching through the streets of Pyongyang and a promise to strengthen North Korea's nuclear capabilities and weapons production. Leader Kim Jong-un and his daughter presided over the event wearing matching black leather jackets, and state media also issued a new warning to the U.S.

CNN's Will Ripley, who has made multiple visits to North Korea, is tracking this live from Taipei. He joins us now. So, Will, what does a North Korea with more nuclear weapons mean for the region and indeed the world?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, North Korea has been growing its nuclear weapons arsenal, Rosemary, as you know, for years now. And Kim Jong-un, by appearing with his daughter both at missile launches and military parades and high-level meetings, he's basically signaling to the world that the Kim family will continue to rule this country for the foreseeable future.

And they have this growing arsenal to protect them from what they feel is a threat from larger powers like the United States trying to somehow threaten their sovereignty. They feel the nuclear weapons are almost like a threat to them. It's almost like an insurance policy for the government there.

I want to show you these pictures that have just come in from this parade, Rosemary, because it was pretty spectacular. There were paratroopers circling in the skies with flares before landing right in the center of Kim Il-sung Square. There were synchronized marches in different formations, including the symbol of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.

One thing, though, that we did not see, we saw 14,000 troops, many of them goose stepping, but we did not see any weapons. There were no intercontinental ballistic missiles or hypersonic weapons or giant missile launchers, the kind of thing that we saw rolling through Kim Il-sung Square just four months ago for a massive parade to mark the ruling Workers' Party's 80th anniversary.

Perhaps the reason they didn't show weapons this time around is because they had just done it fairly recently. And these parades are pretty expensive and logistically difficult to put together and maybe they didn't want to diminish the impact of some of the new weapons that they showcased last time around, including their biggest ever ICBM or it could be because of the timing.

President Trump had his State of the Union within hours of this military parade. And while those two events are not connected, and in fact, President Trump didn't even mention North Korea in his speech, it is noteworthy that he is going to be returning to this region at the end of March into early April, visiting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Kim Jong-un, in his remarks talking about the importance of bolstering North Korea's nuclear arsenal, did also leave the door open, slightly cracked open, for talks and diplomacy with the United States if the United States does not insist that North Korea give up those nuclear weapons. He says the U.S. needs to change its attitude, more or less, is what the translation said.

So does that mean that Kim is signaling he'd be open to meeting with President Trump when he's in the region?

The chance is probably pretty slim, given that the two sides haven't been talking, Rosemary. But I suppose anything's possible.

CHURCH: Yes, we are learning that. Will Ripley, joining us live from Taipei with that report. Many thanks, I appreciate it.

Well, China is hosting yet another Western leader this week. This time, it's German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who's looking to reset trade relations. We will have a live report after a short break, stay with us.

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom," I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.

Cuba says its troops shot and killed four people on a speedboat in Cuban waters who were trying to, quote, "infiltrate the island nation." The Cuban Interior Ministry says the boat was registered in Florida and was carrying Cubans who live in the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has confirmed that no U.S. government personnel were involved, it says the U.S. will do its own investigation.

U.S. and Iranian delegations are in Geneva, Switzerland, this hour for indirect nuclear talks. The Trump administration imposed new sanctions on more than 30 individuals, entities and shadow fleet vessels ahead of the talks. It says they enabled Tehran's illicit petroleum sales, ballistic missiles and weapons production.

Talks between U.S. and Ukrainian diplomats are also scheduled to resume today in Geneva. Ukraine's President says he spoke by phone with President Trump, Jared Kushner and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff about the talks. The next trilateral negotiations involving Russia are set for early March.

[03:30:10]

Well German Chancellor Friedrich Merz toured the Forbidden City in Beijing on the second day of his trip to China. The chancellor has called for partnership and dialogue with China aimed at resetting trade relations.

So let's bring in CNN's Kristie Lu Stout, who's live from Hong Kong. Good to see you again, Kristie. So this is Merz's first visit to China as chancellor, what's he hoping to get from Xi Jinping?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it took a while for the German chancellor to finally visit Beijing, but he is there. He's visiting Hangzhou today. And the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is there to reboot and reset the trade relationship with China amid a soaring trade deficit.

On Wednesday, he met with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, and there he told the Chinese leader that he wanted to deepen the, quote, "comprehensive strategic partnership between Germany and China."

China recently overtaking the United States as Germany's largest trading partner. Trade is at the very top of the agenda of this visit. In fact, the German chancellor arrived in Beijing with a plane load of business executives from top German firms, including Volkswagen, including BMW.

They visited Beijing on Wednesday. Today, they're in Hangzhou, which is the high tech capital and high tech hub of China, visiting factories as well as Unitree, the well-known Chinese humanoid maker.

But there are a number of skeptics watching this visit very closely because not everyone believes that China is the land of economic and trade opportunity. In fact, Germany's trade deficit has soared. Last year, it's reached a new record high of $106 billion. And a number of German and European business executives have long been

accusing China of unfair trade policies for keeping the yuan, the renminbi, artificially low, for overcapacity, flooding European markets with cheap Chinese goods, and also for massive subsidies that have distorted the markets.

I want to share with you a position paper that was released right before Merz embarked on this trip to China. And in this paper, and this was released by the Asia-Pacific Committee on German Business, they said this quote, "Chinese competition, systemic risks, dependencies and distortions of competition have intensified significantly and have become a key challenge for prosperity and security in Europe," unquote.

However, a statement that was released last night by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs after that meeting between Merz and Xi struck a much more optimistic tone, emphasizing this deepening strategic partnership between these two economic giants. In this MOFA readout, let's bring it up for you, it reads as follows, quote, "the greater changes and turbulence the world faces, the more important it is for our two countries to enhance strategic communication, strengthen strategic mutual trust and look for new progress in China, Germany, all around strategic partnership," unquote.

China wants to present itself as a reliable partner to Germany and to all of Europe, especially now, as Europe navigates a very rocky relationship with the United States. Rosemary.

CHURCH: Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. Many thanks for that live report, I appreciate it.

One of the top A.I. companies is ditching its flagship core safety principles and the timing comes right as the company faces growing pressure from the Pentagon. That story and more business news after the short break.

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CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN, this is your Business Breakout.

And let's take a look at financial markets in the Asia-Pacific region, a bit of a mixed bag there, but the KOSPI up more than three percent at 3.67 percent. The Hang Seng dropped nearly 4.5 percent.

And now for a look at today's business headlines.

Tech giant Nvidia beat expectations again in its quarterly results. The chipmaker reported $68.13 billion in revenue, nearly two billion higher than expected. The company at the backbone of the industry also reporting record quarterly and full year revenues.

Self-driving cars will be hitting the streets in more American cities this year. Waymo announced its expanding access to its car service to Orlando, Florida and three cities in Texas, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. That means Waymo vehicles are now available in 10 U.S. cities.

Samsung's new line of flagship smartphones have more A.I. options for users. The company says its new Galaxy S26 phones feature A.I. agents designed to predict what a user wants to do next and accomplish tasks on their behalf. There's also new screen technology that prevents bystanders from seeing your sensitive data.

A.I. firm Anthropic is rolling back its core safety principles in response to competition, and the change comes as Anthropic is in the middle of a dispute with the Pentagon over red lines in its A.I. CNN's Clare Duffy has more now from New York.

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CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Right. A source familiar with the matter is now telling CNN that this move by Anthropic to change its core safety principles is unrelated to its ongoing discussions with the Defense Department.

But of course, the timing here is really interesting. It was Tuesday that Anthropic CEO Dario Amede met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

[03:40:05]

Pete Hegseth has given the company a 5:00 p.m. Friday deadline to acquiesce to the Defense Department's demands, which are essentially that Anthropic shouldn't put limits on how the Defense Department can use its technology. Anthropic, meanwhile, does not want the department to be using its A.I. models for automated weaponry or for mass surveillance of U.S. citizens. And we have no indication that Anthropic plans to back down on that red line.

But the company did this morning scale back its core safety principles. About three years ago, the company committed to pausing development of its A.I. models if it worried that there was a risk that it couldn't control or control the safety of those models.

The company now doing away with that commitment and it explained this by saying that it had hoped that policy would encourage other A.I. model makers to take a similar approach. It wanted to create a race to the top rather than a race to the bottom for this development of this technology. But that is not what's played out here and Anthropic said it believes it's actually safer for it to continue moving forward with development in light of the fact that other model makers are surging forward with their development.

Now, I do think that this fight with the Defense Department puts in really stark relief what the stakes are here. You know, you've got a company saying we're not going to pause development of our technology, even if we have safety concerns.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has threatened to use the Defense Production Act to require Anthropic to hand over its technology and essentially let the Defense Department use it however it wants. And so you see how we could end up in a really potentially dangerous place if the companies are moving forward with this development of their technology and then a government, the U.S. or otherwise, forces them to hand over that technology and let go of control over how it's used.

Now, we should say that Anthropic is certainly not moving away from safety. The company framed this as a progression of its safety policies. It talked about how it's going to continue to have testing and benchmarking and transparency measures in place. But certainly, I think we'll look back on this moment in this conflict with the DOD as something that is very consequential in the development of this technology.

And we'll be watching closely as the company figures out how to respond ahead of that 5:00 p.m. Friday deadline. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Metallica fans, mark your calendars. The rock band is set to play an eight-show residency titled "Life Burns Faster" at the Sphere Entertainment venue in Las Vegas in October. The group says the new concert experience will feature songs from their entire catalog.

In their announcement, Metallica said the residency is a chance to reinvent how they interact with fans. And you can buy tickets for a single show, a weekend of shows or even one ticket good for every show in the residency. General tickets go on sale next week.

I want to thank you so much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "World Sport" is coming up next.

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