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IDF: Wide-Scale Wave Of Strikes Targeting Tehran; Trump Vows To Hit Iran's Power Plants Over Hormuz Closure; Iranian Missile Carrying Cluster Warhead Seen From Israel; Cuba Suffers Second Nationwide Blackout In Less Than A Week. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired March 22, 2026 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:26]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN HOST: Hey, everybody. It's great to be with you. I'm Polo Sandoval, live in New York. And a warm welcome to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.

We do want to begin in the Middle East, where the sounds of explosions were heard in several parts of the capital in Tehran. The IDF says that it has begun a wide scale wave of strikes targeting the Iranian regime's infrastructure.

And this comes as Iran's military says that it is ready to close the Strait of Hormuz indefinitely. And that's if President Donald Trump carries out his ultimatum to hit and obliterate Iran's power plants if the critical waterway is not fully open to shipping by Monday evening.

And just hours ago, at least one Iranian missile carrying a cluster warhead could be seen above Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Let's go live now to CNN's Mike Valerio for an update.

Have we heard anything new from at this point from Iran?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think that the biggest development that we've heard is coming from the speaker of Iran's parliament, Polo, who has said that if this threat is carried out around 7:44 a.m., our time tomorrow and this side of east Asia, then infrastructure targets specifically belonging to the United States and Israel would be deemed legitimate targets. And we're talking about energy plants, power plants, desalination plants. Things that work for civilian infrastructure could be targeted if Iran's biggest power plant is targeted, if the strait of Hormuz is not reopened for free and fair navigation in that 48-hour time period.

So, it was interesting to hear Mike Waltz, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, try to talk about what specific targets could be in play in the picture. If this 48-hour deadline is not met. And of course, you know, he was asked, what is this biggest power plant that would be hit if this 48-hour timeframe comes and goes? And he declined to interview -- to speak to that exact power plant when he was interviewed by Margaret Brennan on CBS News's "Face the Nation". So really what the newest development is, we're talking about if this deadline passes, what targets are in the picture here, and then how that potentially leads to some sort of escalation.

And then also polo, we have international rights groups like Amnesty saying that if energy infrastructure, water heating targets are in play here, that could potentially and choosing our words very carefully here potentially lead to war crimes because of the potential for vast, predictable and devastating civilian harm. And you do have to think. And analysts who were speaking to as part of our CNN reporting are saying that if power plants are targeted in Iran and the lights go dark and the civilian populace is harmed, what does that do for the Iranian civilians who are glad that the United States is trying to change this regime?

Does this -- if the Iranian populace is in the dark for a prolonged period of time, perhaps turn sentiment against the United States among people who are glad that this attempt at regime change had been launched now, up to four weeks ago. So that is what we're watching. No new real reporting on this impressionistic, vague coalition of nations that are trying to reopen the Strait of Hormuz when the time is right.

But we were talking about Japan yesterday, the last time that you and I spoke and their foreign minister was saying that minesweepers could be added into the equation. But upon reviewing his comments that he gave to a Japanese TV show. It was very conditional. It was a very hypothetical statement. He said pretty much the extent of, hypothetically speaking, if there were a ceasefire, Japanese assets could be used to help clear mines. If mines are a problem in the Strait of Hormuz.

So, what we're trying to get at there is that it's still a very vague, unclear assembly of nations in terms of who's going to do what, when the time is right to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Polo.

SANDOVAL: CNN's Mike Valerio really appreciate that report. And certainly, yes, targeting those civilian infrastructure certainly brings a whole host of new questions.

For more now on how Asia is currently reacting to this widening conflict in the Middle East, let's take a quick look at some of the markets right now. It's Sunday evening, at least here in in the United States.

[23:05:03]

But let's actually go overseas and bring up some of those numbers right now. See the early indicators right now that do show markets across the board taking a tumble there. Investors certainly weighing this conflict that has escalated significantly over the weekend as Mike just laid out here, with that increased threat coming from the White House directed at Iran, threatening to target some of the power infrastructure there.

And meanwhile, Iran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz indefinitely. It has not helped oil prices come down. I mean, just look at that continues to climb currently. Brant crude futures listed at $112 a barrel, and again those numbers are on the rise.

For more, I do want to bring in now Sam Mundy. He's a retired lieutenant general of the United States Marine Corps.

Lieutenant General, thank you so much for taking the time to join us.

LT. GEN. SAM MUNDY (RET.), U.S. MARINE CORPS: Pleasure to be here, Polo.

VALERIO: I wonder if you see Iran's regime as degraded but not defeated. And if so, what are their current weapons and military capabilities? After weeks of war with the U.S. and Israel?

MUNDY: Well, I do see that Iran's military is degraded significantly. And of course, a lot of that is just based on what we hear coming out of Admiral Cooper and General Caine and their frequent press briefings, but also, you can see it in the, you know, the Iran's ability to fire missiles and drones. We've seen a steady decrease in those. And actually, I follow that pretty closely in the reports today show that tapering off, even more so degraded is, you know, it's a subjective term.

And the extent of the degradation, of course, is something that Admiral Cooper is looking at very closely. And along with his intelligence analysts. But you know, very clearly here we've, you know, while we, I think we were achieving the military objectives, obviously, those that have been stated, you know, the conditions aren't quite set for you know you know, the president to, to declare a state where we can move forward here. And so, the obvious elephant in the room on that is the closing of the Strait of Hormuz.

And so, that battle of the Strait of Hormuz, I think, is probably been joined already, judging from the attacks and the strikes over the last week or so that the U.S. Central Command has committed to start rolling back these Iranian forces that are controlling this strait, in an effort -- perhaps a longer term effort here to open it up.

SANDOVAL: General, Iran, since that warning was issued from the White House this weekend, Iran has shown really no sign that it plans to comply. If anything, it's actually doubled down and increasing its threats against the United States. Should the U.S., Israel or other allies -- should there be concerns about a possible preemptive strike from Iran, given that they are still quite angry and very armed?

MUNDY: Well, I think Iran has shown that its willing to you know, go to great lengths. It's attacked its neighbors to include countries that don't really have anything to do with this, Turkey and Azerbaijan, as you, as you well know, and they fired a missile apparently attempting to hit Diego Garcia. At least that was reported over the last 24 hours.

So, you know, it's quite possible that they -- they wouldn't stop at anything at this point. Principally because their number one goal is survival when it comes to regime survival, this is an existential threat that they face. And where, whereas our objective may be somewhat more limited, to them, this is as I heard Secretary Mattis talk about this just a, in the last couple of days, this is a total war situation for them. SANDOVAL: General, I'm also interested in getting some of your thoughts as a former CENTCOM commander, what's your assessment of these additional U.S. troops that have been heading to the region? And what do you expect their role to be, with the caveat that there is still so much uncertainty about the next 24 hours?

MUNDY: Yeah, just one correction. I was the marine forces central command commander. Understood it is a distinct difference. But so, yeah, I was in charge of all marines, and I think that's probably what you're referring to.

Look, the arrival of the marine expeditionary unit or MEU comes at a -- at a moment, as I said, tried to say earlier here where, perhaps there's an opportunity to change the equation and these forces could potentially be part of changing that equation. Going forward here just so your audience understands a marine expeditionary unit is a microcosm of the marine corps. If you took the entire United States marine corps and compressed it into a 2,200 or 2,500 marine force.

[23:10:04]

That would be a marine expeditionary unit. And the reason I'm saying that is because it's got a slice of everything that the Marine Corps can bring to bear. And that's everything from an F-35 Advanced Joint Strike Fighter in one end to a young marine rifleman with a bayonet and his rifle, who's been trained hard and is ready to mix things up and everything in between.

There's been a lot of focus on the use of these additional assets, the marine expeditionary unit to conduct seizures or Raids or something like that. And while that certainly is a possibility, it really distracts from the MEU's versatility and flexibility. Again, it has something from all parts of the Marine Corps. It can be used in a variety of ways.

And I wouldn't want to overlook that. That's everything from personnel recovery. If you remember the Scott O'Grady rescue in Bosnia in 1995, that was a marine expeditionary unit that did that. There's lots of other uses that this force could be employed.

In the current context and the current scenario, reinforcing embassies reinforcing security at our bases in the area, it's got air defense assets that could perhaps reinforce some of the current air defense efforts that are going on in the region, maritime security operations to go after the small boat threats that Iran presents up there in the Strait of Hormuz. Again, it's got a wide range of capabilities that can be employed. And I think most people are concerned and rightly so about the risks associated with employing them at sort of the higher end. But we have to keep in mind that they can, they can do a whole lot of other things as well

SANDOVAL: Yeah. Lieutenant General Sam Mundy, really appreciate all of this insight. And it goes without saying. Thank you so much for your service, sir.

MUNDY: Thank you. SANDOVAL: Still to come on the CNN NEWSROOM, the White House planning

to deploy ICE agents to help the TSA amid massive callouts. We're going to have the latest on how the partial government shutdown is affecting waits at some of America's airports

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:16:03]

SANDOVAL: All right, let's get you now the latest at airports throughout the country. TSA callouts, they are rising as the country enters. Now, the sixth week of the partial government shutdown. And now, some of the busiest airports in the country, they are certainly feeling the pinch as some of these lines get longer and travelers patience starts to run short. Some of these pictures, shot within the last hour or so coming out of Atlanta. Still, you can see crowds there late at night.

The Department of Homeland security says that more than one third of agents called out from multiple airports on Saturday, and that includes major hubs like New York's JFK. And this place here, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson international airport.

Overall, more than 11 percent of TSA staff called out from work on Saturday, and that is currently the highest percentage nationwide since the partial government shutdown started. And U.S. President Donald Trump says that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents that they will be deployed to assist the understaffed TSA.

And this comes amid a stalemate in Washington as lawmakers still have not been able to come up with any sort of agreement on funding for the Department of Homeland Security. ICE agents will be deployed on Monday, just a matter of hours, to airports throughout the country. The mayor of the city of Atlanta says that Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is currently expecting agents to assist with crowd management. President Trump has put border czar Tom Homan in charge of this operation. Homan says that ICE will continue conducting immigration operations and that agents will only help in areas that do not require specialized expertise. Here's what he told my colleague Dana Bash on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, BORDER CZAR: This is about going to -- helping TSA do their mission and get the American public through that airport as quick as they can. Well, while adhering to all the security guidelines and the protocols, we're simply there to help TSA do their job in areas that don't -- don't need their specialized expertise, such as, you know, screening through the X-ray machine, not training that, we won't do that, but there are roles we can play to release TSA officers from the non-significant role, such as guarding an exit so they can get back to the scanning machines and move people quicker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Joining me now is CNN's senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem. She previously served as deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Juliette, it's always great to see you.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: So, we're just hours away from what we expect to be ICE agents being stationed at some airports throughout the country. How could these ICE agents potentially alleviate the strain on TSA if their focus is expected to be on security and crowd control in the screening areas?

KAYYEM: Yes. Okay. I want to answer that question with a caveat. We just simply don't have a lot of details. It appears, and Homan sort of admitted it when he was on with Dana Bash, that the president announces a new policy. The secretary of transportation says one thing that they're going to be doing surveillance, identification, and then Tom Homan the immigration czar, says, no, they're just going to be doing essentially what you would call crowd control, which is just basically, you know, trying to move people.

And then -- and by doing that, the people from TSA who were in crowd management can then be moved to the specialized areas of that TSA line that require the identification, the surveillance. And then, of course, the baggage review. So that is the idea is that you'll just simply have an offset. It doesn't solve the fundamental issues that TSA agents are still not getting paid, nor does it answer the question that I think a lot of people are concerned of, which is what's ICE's rules of engagement at the airports? Will they be allowed to ask for identification?

Are they -- are they relieved of their immigration enforcement mandate, which is, you know, where they come from? And none of that has been answered yet.

SANDOVAL: I also was listening to Tom Homan's conversation with Dana Bash, and I found it interesting when he talked about how he laid out this scenario. Again, this was on Sunday morning for an operation or some stationing that's supposed to happen 24 hours later. And so, just speaking to so many questions there, but how he described the scenario where it is his hope that ICE agents would potentially relieve a TSA officer from the duties of guarding an exit so that they can then go to passenger screening.

I, at least in my experience, don't often see TSA officers working beyond just the immediate screening areas.

KAYYEM: That's exactly right. So -- and I mean, look, it's fair to say, because it's being reported that everyone in the operational side was caught off guard by Trump's announcement. So, we have a policy that is not planned out and whose consequences are simply not known. To your point, I'm hearing some people in the administration today. I will admit to you, I thought these people haven't flown commercial in a long time. Like I've been on for airplanes in the last five days. It's a -- it's an experience. You and I are probably very familiar with, which is there isn't a lot

of TSA agents sort of roaming around. You encounter TSA agent at the beginning of the line. Let's say if you have pre-clear, then they check again, your drivers license. But, but the bulk of it is really both the, the detection of the -- of the -- of the passenger as well as their luggage. That can't be delegated.

And that's clearly the holdup. So, one of these is, I think, sort of, you know, maybe wanting to relieve some of the duties. That won't be a majority of the duties at this stage that we know of.

The second is, you know, I was a stay at homeland security advisor, too. So, I spent a lot of time at Logan before I went into federal government. And there's an intricate safety and security like dance sort of between local, state airport security, TSA, state police. I mean, there's -- there's all these different entities. And one of the things that made me nervous about this announcement is it does appear that most of the airports are unaware of what's about to happen to them.

We heard the Atlanta Mayor Homan has said he can't disclose that for operational security. This is -- this is a public place. There's no secrets here. And so, I do worry about the integration of all these different pieces as you deploy very, very controversial law enforcement agency. Not one, not without its baggage, so to speak, coming to encounter the traveling public.

SANDOVAL: The lack of TSA resources has created now massive crowds, as we just saw in these pictures right now, Juliet, you essentially have people in the unsecured or respectively unsecured portion of the terminals of the airports.

I suppose having federal agents there could perhaps be a deterrent for anybody planning to carry out any sort of anybody with ill intent, I should say. Could that be an option for ICE agents?

KAYYEM: Yes. But any law enforcement could. So, you on the -- on the -- what we call the outside the screening process, you have state police, local police already. You see them when you go to airports. I mean, my -- I think one of the things to just look at over the next couple of days is, is this just the increase of bodies that actually, is either redundant or may even slow things because of the confusion about what their duties are.

And then as you say, you know, look, it is ICE. We can't pretend that there's a lot of criticisms of ICE. One of the things that I was surprised at the deployment of ICE as compared to, say, FEMA or Homeland Security investigators, I guess some of them will be deployed, is you really don't want the public engaged in any way with this process.

You know, like, like, you know, you go to a TSA line. Normally it's without emotion. You hand your ID over, they take a picture, you, you put your suitcase up. I mean, it's and ICE because of the politics behind what the administration has been pushing is one that has its detractors, its critics, people who are afraid of it. So this isn't like a benign deployment.

And the White House surely knows that. I think it was one of the reasons why Trump, in this political fight that that he finds himself in and the fact that that people really do want their airlines and the industry want our travel to work.

[23:25:05]

That kind of pressure led Trump to simply announce something last night with now everyone trying to figure out what will that look like tomorrow.

SANDOVAL: Yeah, it's remarkable, from announcement to deployment in about 48 hours.

We'll be watching this tomorrow. Thank you so much for helping us sort through all these questions, as always, Juliette Kayyem.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: We're also following some breaking news right now. London's fire services, they're responding to an incident right now in the northwest part of the city, with a spokesperson saying that they are currently managing a fire. This is London's Golders Green neighborhood, which is home to a large Jewish population, and this comes after unverified videos were shared on social media claiming that several ambulances belonging to a Jewish volunteer rescue service were on fire. Theres no word yet on a possible cause in this incident, but we're certainly going to stay on top of this.

But again, some of those pictures that are coming in out of London right now, showing a large fire there in that city, more developments as we get them into CNN.

President Trump's deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, it is drawing closer less than 24 hours now. We'll be discussing some of the political reactions to this ultimatum after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Welcome back.

We're now less than 24 hours away from President Trump's new deadline for Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz. In a social media post on Saturday evening, Trump threatened to obliterate Iran's power plants if the waterway is not fully reopened within 48 hours. The ultimatum over the critical shipping lane is s drawing some mixed political reactions here in the U.S., as lawmakers and administration officials debate the implications of that deadline, and also what may come next.

[23:30:04]

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says that the White House is keeping all options on the table right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: As President Trump always does, he's leaving all options on the on the table. We had a very successful bombing campaign against the military installations at Kharg Island, the nexus for all the Iranian oil supply. What could happen with Kharg Island? We'll see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And meanwhile, there are many in Congress who are skeptical of the administration's strategy, with some saying that this latest move is indicative of larger gaps in the White House's reasoning for the war.

I want you to hear now from House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: Donald Trump and Republicans haven't even made the case for why we are in this reckless war of choice right now to the American people. They've got no vision, no plan, no exit strategy. They clearly didn't anticipate some of the things that have happened, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. What you're seeing right now are gas prices are through the roof, and that's adding to an environment in America right now where life has already become too expensive for the American people because of failed policies by Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Joining me now is Representative Cory Mills from Florida. He's a member of the House Foreign -- the House Foreign Affairs and House Armed Services Committee, also an Iraq war veteran.

Congressman, thank you for your service. And as always, thank you for your time.

REP. CORY MILLS (R-FL): Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: So just right off the top, I'm wondering if I get your immediate reaction to what we saw play out over the weekend. And president Trump issuing that very direct threat to Iran. Would you be in support of potential strikes on some of Iran's energy infrastructure?

MILLS: Well, let me just go ahead and comment quickly on the wannabe dollar store version of Obama. Hakeem Jeffries, who wants to talk about exit strategies and wants to talk about all of this, you know, not having a plan. Well, where was he in 2011, whenever Obama was going in for seven months, having Libya become a failed state, which then actually unleashed an arsenal that found its way into Mali, where the French was actually fighting and resulted in the Sirte, Misrata, Benghazi, and all the individual militias that created a failed state. So, I'd say that wasn't a very well thought out strategy.

So when it comes to Strait of Hormuz, however, I would say that we can very easily do something very similar to what we did with the internationally recommended transit corridor, where we had a joint multinational security force called task force 151, that helped to prevent and stop Somali pirates from actually coming in and conducting piracy operations on military and commercial trade that was going through the red sea, so we could do something very similar to this.

But I think that Kharg Island is literally the global hub for Iran. That is exactly where they make and break all their GDP from that one location. And so, I think that this is the right point to be able to go ahead and put pressure on now that the military campaign is supposedly almost to its final procedures.

SANDOVAL: Would you -- depending on the circumstances, of course. Would you support potentially a conventional troop deployment specifically there on that island?

MILLS: I would support the idea of having that come to Congress. I think that that starts to become a little bit further out than what we were originally talking about. Now, we do have, obviously, the 2002 authorized use of military force, but I think there's other methods that we can utilize to, to even include some of our actual joint kind of multinational corporations that we have in the region who would be willing to be able to deploy and be able to do that for us.

And so, there's many ways to be able to secure Kharg Island without just putting boots on the ground. But right this time, I don't think that that would be a strategy in which I would look at as a recommended strategy to go forward on.

SANDOVAL: And on the topic of war-related legislation in Congress, the Trump administration is set to request an additional $200 billion in taxpayer money to fund the war with Iran. If a bill does come before you, Congressman, to further fund this conflict, would you vote for that?

MILLS: Well, that bill doesn't actually further the conflict, but that's doing is replenishing our storages and guaranteeing that were continuing to stay mission ready at all times. And so, this, in my opinion, is just a military replenishment is what that would actually be, not a supplemental package for any type of war, which, by the way, we haven't declared any war.

This isn't a war. This is the same thing that the Department of Justice and even the under the U.N. resolutions have actually said, which is that when innocent civilians are actually being threatened or they're being murdered, as they were in Iran, as they were in Libya and other areas, as the Obama administration utilized. This is more of a hostility than anything. And so, we're going in, we're preventing.

And we've just seen, President Trump has been right all along. And over 2,000, you know, nautical mile or 2,000-kilometer missile that was actually fired whenever they said that the, you know, range of their missiles couldn't' have reached some of the big cities in Europe. And now we find out that they could have hit Rome, they could have hit Paris, they could have hit the U.K.

So, I think the President Trump was right all along. And trying to prevent a nuclear armed Iran, which was looking to eliminate areas of Western civilization.

[23:35:00]

SANDOVAL: And on the issue of the nuclear stockpile in Iran, Congressman, do you see the president declaring victory without the U.S. or joint forces seizing or destroying that nuclear stockpile?

MILLS: Well, again, I think that what we're actually declaring is that the IRGC is being fully denigrated, that the fact that they have no longer a one-way drone manufacturing capability, which has been so successful with the Shahed 136, is that they no longer have an Iranian navy who can actually threaten people in the straits of Hormuz, which accounts for 20 percent of global trade through that area with oil and gas. And so, I think that when we look at the kind of overthrowing of this dictatorship that has just been so evil and so malign, has been targeting Americans since it took over in 1979. I think that -- that in itself is what the success is. The IAEA can go in and do all the further inspections on any of the nuclear capabilities.

SANDOVAL: And it's a regime that still does, at least at this point, maintain some influence over markets. Now, when it comes to the polls that we've been seeing, Congressman, there is an increasing concern among some voters because of this war. Where do you think the Republicans should be focusing right now if they hope to, especially if they want to reassure Americans that are certainly feeling the pinch?

MILLS: Well, I mean, I talked to Scott Bessent. I've also heard Secretary Wright also talk about the fact that this is a momentary lull that we have right now. The chairman of the DNC was on earlier today on the show, and he talked about the fact that we're actually open up the pipes to actually produce more oil, that we do have strategic petroleum reserves for a reason.

It's not to sell to China, as the Biden administration has done. It's to do exactly what we're doing right now to get us through a pinch point. But I think that, you know, if you listen to a lot of the other media outlets, you listen to a lot of the other analysts, they're saying this is a momentary lull and that actually our prices will come down very rapidly once the strait of Hormuz is actually secured.

SANDOVAL: Do you expect Iran to comply with these 24 hours left before their deadline?

MILLS: Well, I guess we'll see. But at last time they didn't comply. You saw where that got them.

SANDOVAL: Congressman Cory Mills, we have to leave it there. Always appreciate the conversation. Thank you for your time.

MILLS: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Well, Israel is accelerating the demolition of homes and bridges along the Litani River in southern Lebanon. Look at this.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS) SANDOVAL: That's some dramatic video there. The IDF says that two key bridges over the strategic waterway have already been destroyed. Israel says that it aims to sever Hezbollah's weapon and supply lines near Israel's northern border.

But Lebanon's president is now accusing Israel of preparing for a ground invasion and also pursuing Israeli expansion into Lebanese territory. So far, the fighting has already displaced over one million people in Lebanon and also cut off critical food and medical supply routes to civilians in the south.

And as the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensifies in Lebanon, CNN heard firsthand just how this conflict is impacting children and families.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you want from us? Children can't continue their education or do anything. You've ruined our lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: We'll bring you that report from the ground in Beirut in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

But first, the situation goes from bad to worse in Cuba after yet another blackout. We'll speak with the executive director of one organization that's assisting with humanitarian aid.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [23:41:38]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back.

Cuba's currently working to restore electricity after another nationwide blackout left more than 10 million people without power. The country's electrical grid suffered a total disconnection on Saturday, even as it recovered from a collapse less than a week before. And as of Sunday, Cuba's ministry of energy said that power had begun to be restored. The latest blackout comes as an international convoy begins to arrive in Cuba with humanitarian aid, including some much-needed medical supplies. You see that heading out from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.

I'm joined now by Bob Schwartz. He's the executive director of Global Health Partners, an organization that has contributed thousands of dollars worth of medical supplies to the convoy for Cuba.

Bob, thank you so much for taking time to join us.

BOB SCHWARTZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GLOBAL HEALTH PARTNERS: Thanks for inviting me this evening.

SANDOVAL: Can you give us an update on your organization's efforts right now to provide, to specifically provide humanitarian medical assistance to Cuba? Why is that so important? SCHWARTZ: Well, we've been working with Cuba for more than 30 years.

We're probably the largest or one of the largest global donors of humanitarian medical assistance to Cuba. We've shipped more than $275 million over the past three decades.

Why is it so important today? In large part because our government is punishing Cuba and it's strangling the Cuban economy. And that's creating, all sorts of problems for Cuba's public health system.

Cuba's health system today, I would say, is pretty much on life support. Things that we take for granted. Analgesics, antibiotics, insulin, asthma inhalers are scarce, if available at all. So that's something that we do

SANDOVAL: Yeah. I mean, you mentioned the system on life support. You're also talking about patients literally on life support. What are some of those treatments? Some of those can -- some of the medicine, the medication that is that is badly needed right now in Cuba, that has been virtually cut off the last few months.

SCHWARTZ: Well, I've named several of them just -- just a couple minutes ago. We did a campaign for pacemakers last year. If you can imagine, Cuba has a three-year waiting list for pacemakers for cardiac patients. And truth is, you don't last three years on a pacemaker waiting list. So were able to send, I think, 960 pacemakers to Cuba. That's 960 lives we've saved.

There's all sorts of assistance that we provide. Analgesics, for example, are in very short supply, meaning aspirins, ibuprofen. So we're accelerating our shipments. We're trying to this year ship more than $4 million worth of meds and medical supplies. You're seeing some of those in the video today.

SANDOVAL: Talk to me also about any possible I mean, does your organization get any sort of response from the Cuban communist government? Are they -- do they welcome this kind of assistance?

SCHWARTZ: Well, we've worked with the Ministry of Health for all 30 years that we've been there. So, of course, they welcome it. It'd be nice if they were able to go out and to buy this themselves. But due to the sanctions through their inclusion on the terrorist list, they can't access the SWIFT banking system. So, it's almost impossible for them to purchase any of these -- the equipment or the medicines.

[23:45:05]

SANDOVAL: Yeah. You know, there are organizations such as yours that are stepping in and offering that assistance, not just medical supplies, but other provisions as well. But ultimately, the question is, Bob, is this at all sustainable? Being that there's really no definite end at this point to this embargo and the crisis that Cubans are currently experiencing.

SCHWARTZ: Well, look, I'm not a politician. I think the embargo is immoral. It's wrong. It's illegal in a lot of ways, and it's killing people. So, I would hope that the Trump administration and the Cuban government could find a way of resolving this in a in a peaceful way that respects Cuban sovereignty.

As far as global health partners goes, we'll continue to accelerate our efforts to make sure, that they are as stocked as possible and that they can withstand this. But as you said, it's hard to believe that they're able to sustain this for as long as they have. This has now been going on for more than 60 years.

SANDOVAL: And we got your message right now to both stake holding governments here. What is your message to the people in Cuba? Especially those who may be on the verge of feeling forgotten

SCHWARTZ: Well, my heart goes out to them. They don't deserve this. Nobody deserves this type of punishment.

So, my message to them is to stay strong. And hopefully that the governments will resolve this in some respectful way.

SANDOVAL: My sense is that these kind of shipments won't stop anytime soon. Are these actually just to get a better understanding of the logistics involved? I mean, this is probably not easy at all. This is all gathered, shipped to, to, to a coastal area and then quite literally just shipped off to Cuba?

SCHWARTZ: Well, when you say a coastal area, were shipping directly to Havana when it's possible. A lot of our material is flown in. Logistically, the problem we have is there's no commercial air transportation any longer from the United States. And other countries are stopping cargo from going to Cuba.

So, it's challenging for us. The video that you're seeing right now is of a charter. How long that charter is able to provide assistance? I couldn't tell you.

We're also sending by container. There's still cargo service. So, we use a multiple ways of getting medicines in, all of our shipments go to the Cuban Ministry of Health. And what I can tell you, Polo, is that we don't find any diversion, any corruption in that system, because I know that's being floated around on social media. We see none of that.

And I can tell you, we've been in Latin America for over 40 years. We know -- we know what that looks like. I can tell you that the Cuban Ministry of Health is not involved in any type of diversion whatsoever.

SANDOVAL: Bob Schwartz, thank you. And the rest of the members of the organization for everything you're doing. And do check back with us as you continue with these efforts. Thank you.

SCHWARTZ: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: It's our pleasure. We'll be back with much, much more.

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SANDOVAL: After initially seeking asylum in Australia, members of the Iranian women's soccer team have returned home. One of the players said that she felt pressure from Australian authorities to stay in the country, despite being welcomed back in Iran. An exiled Iranian -- an exiled Iranian soccer player says that the lives of athletes can change in the snap of a finger.

Shiva Amini says that she lost everything after being photographed playing soccer with some male friends abroad. She also spoke to CNN's Don Riddell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHIVA AMINI,L FORMER IRANIAN SOCCER PLAYER: I exactly can understand what they are going through because I've been in their shoes. This is exactly what happened for me.

So, the regime basically put you in this situation that you have no choice and you have to think about or your freedom or about your family. So, this is a really hard situation and hard decision for them. I talked to some of them.

And you know what Iranian federation did with them and the regime after they threatened them and their family on television? So, they called them and they said -- they threatened them, their family, and they got hostage their family.

And yeah, I'm living with those soccer players, female soccer players every moment. And I'm crying when they said, yes, we want to stay. I was screaming, I was saying yes, guys, you have to stay please. At the same time, I had -- I felt guilty. No. If something happened to their family, you know, it's really complicated. It's really hard.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah. And so many people have to make so many hard decisions at a time like this. How concerned are you for the players who chose to get back on the plane and return home?

AMINI: I was talking with them because they still have internet and I was talking with one of them like, message her. And she was like, hey, we cannot talk on the phone because we are under control. And also just text me and delete that after 10 seconds. And, she said we are so tired. We are under massive pressure. We just want to go home and sleep. They were like, they're shocked.

RIDDELL (voice-over): Shiva Amini once played on Iran's national futsal team, and she played soccer in the Iranian super league, but her life was turned upside down in 2017 when she was traveling in Switzerland. Amini was pictured on social media playing soccer with male friends and without her hijab, the headscarf deemed mandatory for all women by the governing regime.

[23:55:07]

She knew that she'd be in danger if she ever returned home.

AMINI: These days I'm crying because I remember myself. What happened to me in Switzerland. I was in a situation that I was thinking -- I lost everything in a snap of a finger. You know, my family, my safety, my home, even my dog.

And, you know, I still have money in the bank in Iran, and I cannot -- nobody can get them. You know, this is a hard decision because you are in a new country with new people, with new culture, new language, and you have to start from zero. And -- but at the end of the day, you can have freedom, but not your family.

RIDDELL: Do you dream of returning to Iran and if so, how do you think it will feel if you go back one day?

AMINI: Yes, this is my biggest dream to get back to Iran. The first thing that I want to do, I just want to get a bunch of flowers and go up on my dad's grave and talk to him and -- I wish I can do that. That's it. I just want to apologize him. I feel so guilty and that guilt is killing me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: We do want to thank you so much for joining us the last hour of news. I'm Polo Sandoval. I'll join you again in just a quick break with more CNN NEWSROOM.

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