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Washington, Tehran Trade Threats Over Strait of Hormuz; U.S. Secret Service Shoots Gunman Near White House; Russia Tightens Security Around Putin Amid Assassination Fears: Report. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired May 05, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I'm Becky Anderson live from our Middle East programming headquarters in Abu Dhabi, where it is midday on Tuesday, the 5th of May.

The fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is being tested after both sides fired shots in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran reportedly striking the UAE, a move that could widen the conflict again. Emirati officials say an Iranian drone strike caused a major fire at an oil facility on Monday.

Three Indian nationals were injured in that attack. It comes after President Donald Trump launched what he calls Project Freedom to, quote, guide commercial ships through the vital waterway. President Trump warning Iranian forces that they would be, quote, blown off the face of the earth if they target U.S. ships or flagged ships. He also declined to say if the ceasefire with Iran is still in effect.

Well, we are hearing from top Iranian officials today. CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us more with that. Paula?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, we'd heard from Iran that what they considered the U.S. to be doing in trying to guide these ships through the Strait of Hormuz was a violation of the ceasefire that they had agreed upon. And this obviously led to the trading of fire between the U.S. and Iran.

We've heard from the parliament speaker who's a very influential man in Tehran, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. I'll read you part of what he has said. Quote, the new equation of the Strait of Hormuz is in the process of being solidified.

The security of shipping and energy transit has been put at risk by the United States and its allies through violations of the ceasefire, also pointing out that the naval blockade that they had put in place was a violation as well. So we can see the resistance there from Iran. There were conflicting reports from both sides about ships that had been targeted.

And we've certainly seen the U.S. president trying to downplay some of that, suggesting that he doesn't necessarily have the appetite to increase this temporary hostility into a more permanent situation.

We did hear as well talking about the political, diplomatic side from the foreign minister of Iran, Abbas Araghchi. He said that events in Hormuz make clear that there is no military solution to a political crisis, pointing out that these talks are still ongoing with Pakistan saying that the U.S. should be wary of being dragged back into the quagmire by ill-wishers and ends with so should the UAE.

ANDERSON: The statements coming in the wake of this activity in the strait of four moves and indeed attacks on the UAE in the past 18 hours just get our viewers up to date on what has happened.

HANCOCKS: So it was late afternoon in the UAE where the emergency alerts started on the phones, a sadly familiar sound for many residents here. As we understand it, there was a drone strike at the Fujairah oil industry complex on the east coast of the UAE, a major fire, according to authorities, from a drone strike there.

Three Indian nationals were injured, which India has weighed into and said it's unacceptable what Iran has done. And overall, the Ministry of Defense say that there were some 19 drones and missiles that they engaged on Monday. Bear in mind that's just over a period of several hours.

ANDERSON: Those were ballistic and cruise missiles, very specifically. Paula, thank you for that. Well, let's bring in Malcolm Davis, who's a senior analyst on defense strategy at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

I want to start, if we can, Malcolm, by just taking a step back and remembering that President Trump has been extremely frustrated all the way through this war by Iran's effective control of the Strait of Hormuz.

You'll remember in March, the president urged commercial tankers to show some guts and push through that critical waterway.

[04:05:00] Project Freedom that he's now launched is another salvage, try and break the gridlock. What can actually be accomplished in that operation, operation as the US now over the past 24 hours has been sort of trading blows with Iran?

MALCOLM DAVIS, SENIOR ANALYST, DEFENSE STRATEGY, ASPI: Look, I think the challenge with any operation through the Strait of Hormuz is that you have to somehow deny the Iranians the ability to launch attacks on commercial shipping. That strait is a very narrow strait. The actual navigable channel through which ships can move is even more narrower in terms of where they can move.

So those ships are incredibly vulnerable to Iranian attack, be it from small craft like we've seen in the last few days that belong to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy all the way through to land based drones and missiles that can be launched deep inland and attack shipping at sea.

So the challenge the Americans have with Operating Freedom, or Project Freedom as they're calling it, is to try and get and convince shipping, commercial shipping that are still inside the Persian Gulf, to actually make the move, to move through the Strait of Hormuz to escort them and not come under any sort of challenge from the Iranians. And as we've seen, the Iranians are quite prepared to challenge that operation.

ANDERSON: That's right. And there are hundreds of vessels and you can see the map here, both in what is known as the Persian Arabian Gulf and indeed the Sea of Oman on both sides of that strait, still parked up, still waiting to navigate that chokehold.

For Iran's part, its parliament speaker Ghalibaf says they are just getting started in the Strait after posting this map. And I want to show our viewers, you see these red lines that have been extended on this map to include Fujairah to the right or the east of this map. That's the key emirate here, where the oil facility came under attack yesterday.

When you look at that map of what Iran says is its area of control, what are you anticipating at this point?

DAVIS: That they're not going to give up control of the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranians understand that so long as they have control of the Strait, they have leverage over the US. They feel that they can outweigh the U.S. in terms of this conflict. They can essentially take their time. They can continue to inflict sufficient losses on commercial shipping such that shipping companies and more importantly the insurers, refuse to allow the ships to move.

So what the Iranians are doing is essentially playing a game of chicken with the Americans, essentially saying, we will keep this going as long as we have to and inflict as much economic damage on the U.S. and that has a political consequence, obviously domestically for the U.S. president, but it also has a global energy and economic damage as well. And the Iranians are quite content to try and outlast the Americans.

And the Americans have to decide at what point are they prepared to, you know, basically say enough is enough and go back into forcibly the straits.

ANDERSON: It is not clear whether the U.S. believes the ceasefire has been broken. From the perspective where I am in the UAE, it certainly feels like that these attacks can came thick and fast. Yesterday the Ministry of Foreign affairs said that the UAE and I quote here, will not tolerate any threat to its security and, quote, reserves its full and legitimate right to respond. What could that response look like at this point?

DAVIS: Well, clearly the UAE has been the subject of Iranian aggression. They will respond in terms of airstrikes on Iranian missile and drone forces where they can. They could also attack Iranian oil infrastructure to impose economic cost on Iran.

But I think that the moment the UAE starts attacking Iran, then the other Gulf states have to decide where they stand in this particular aspect of the conflict. And it will place even more pressure on the Trump administration to say the Iranians are not going to do a deal. We have to go back and relaunch the bombing campaign. And so, yes, the ceasefire is holding, barely, but I suspect it's increasingly fragile on fragile ground.

ANDERSON: Malcolm, it's good to have you. Thank you. While you're looking at images there of the fire at Fujairah yesterday after the drone attack there, oil hit its highest price of the year on the first day of the Trump plan to guide stranded ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

[04:10:04]

I mean, the effort on the part of the U.S. administration is of course to try and weaken Iranian hold on that Strait and pull back the price of oil, but that hasn't happened. A lot of skepticism remains over whether this effort will actually free up the flow of oil tankers. The straits, of course, been effectively shut by Iran for months now, choking off some 20 percent of the global oil supply. And oil expert warning that U.S. gas prices could hit $5 per gallon if the strait is still closed next month.

Eleni Giokos tracking what is going on in those critical waterways? She's live from Dubai. And I think the significance of the Iranian strike yesterday on that Fujairah oil facility, as we look at the sort of widening of what Iran says is its control of those waterways to include Fujairah by the well, by the way, is well worth discussing further.

What are you seeing there as you look at these tracking maps and data on shipping in the Strait?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So there's not much movement today. And I've reached out to both Kepler and Lloyds to get sort of a sense of the appetite from shippers. But all the messaging we're getting right now is that it's majorly confusing for shippers. They don't feel secure to cross the Strait.

The threat is still very much a reality. And you know, Lloyd's really pointed out there were over four vessels that have been hit since Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz, which of course just shows how dangerous it still is, despite the fact that you've got two U.S. destroyers that have now transited the strait saying that they are going to help guide the vessels.

Remember, this isn't an escort mission according to the Trump administration, but rather a humanitarian mission to a help guide vessels. And they were trying to sort of allay fears by saying there were two U.S. flagged vessels that transited the strait yesterday. Kepler says they couldn't see any of the tracking data because both of those vessels had the air turned off. So that's really important.

But then taking a wider view, the Fujairah industrial oil zone that was targeted yesterday by an Iranian drone that resulted in a fire and injuries of three Indian nationals. This isn't the first time one we've seen Fujairah oil terminal that has been targeted.

And this is a release valve, Becky, for a lot of the oil that is produced in the UAE to circumvent the Strait of Hormuz and then get into the Gulf of Oman. And I think a very clear message which we've seen frankly since the start of the war, the targeting, the consistent targeting of critical energy infrastructure here in the UAE and also across the region.

You've got 12 million barrels of oil that are shut in daily right now because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. I also just want to point out in terms of the prognosis, in terms of what analysts are expecting.

This is from Iman Nasseri. He's the MD of Middle east research at FGE Nexant. And he says the incidence yesterday on vessels and in Fujairah would mark the de facto end of an already fragile ceasefire currently in place. Although parties may opt to announce it was not and continue the pretend game. We maintain our base case being weighted towards a 12-week conflict, but with the risk skewed towards a much longer conflict, well into 2027, they see dated Brent hitting $130 to $140 a barrel on average for the month of May. And then daily prices can push much higher. You mentioned this, Becky. Brent crude hitting the highest level in 2026.

It's slightly lower today. We're waiting to hear more information about how this mission, this guiding mission of vessels is going to work and the appetite for shippers to actually transit at this juncture where clearly people are seeing this as an escalation on the maritime front and also on the territory in the UAE.

ANDERSON: Yes, it's good to have you, Eleni. Thank you. Eleni Giokos is in Dubai. I'll be back later in the hour with more Iran coverage. For now, though, let's get you back to Polo Sandoval who is in New York for you.

SANDOVAL: All right, Becky, we'll go back to you shortly. For now, though, let's bring viewers up to speed on other developments here in the United States. Authorities are investigating after a man allegedly fired a gun at Secret Service agents near the Washington Monument on Monday. The agency's deputy director saying that officers returned fire and were able to wound the suspect.

And they're also looking into whether he may have tried to access the White House entry point or at least one of the White House entry points earlier in the day. Here's CNN's Brian Todd with the latest on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: According to the Secret Service, the shooting incident occurred roughly around 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday when the suspect according to Matthew Quinn, Deputy Secret Service director, he said the suspect was spotted near the White House complex, which is just down that way a couple of blocks beyond those trees.

[04:15:00]

According to Matthew Quinn, the suspect was spotted near the White House complex with what Quinn called a visual imprint of a weapon. The suspect then fled this way, coming up this way. This is 15th Street in the District coming up toward Independence Avenue where we are here.

At this point, according to Matthew Quinn from the Secret Service, the suspect withdrew a weapon fired at officers. The Secret Service officers fired back, engaged him and wounded him. Also though, according to Matthew Quinn from the Secret Service, there was a bystander who was hit in the crossfire.

The bystander is a juvenile. That's all we know about the identity of the bystander. But Matthew Quinn says that person has non-life threatening injuries. I was separately told by an official with the Metropolitan Washington Police, the suspect that the bystander suffered a graze wound and has non-life threatening injuries.

But this is where the scene ended, where the suspect was actually shot at by uniformed Secret Service officers and wounded right about there. Matthew Quinn from the Secret Service says that shortly before this incident occurred, Vice President JD Vance's motorcade was traveling through this intersection. Vance was in the motorcade.

And I asked Matthew Quinn if this could be interpreted at all as a possible attack on the motorcade. He said no, he did not believe that was the case. But you did have a shooting here with a suspect who was identified with a weapon. He was first spotted by plain clothed Secret Service officers near the White House complex.

He fled on foot briefly, then withdrew his weapon and fired at officers and he was hit right about this area and wounded and transported to the hospital. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: To China now where President Xi Jinping is calling for all out efforts to find survivors after a deadly explosion at a fireworks factory. State media reporting that at least 26 people were killed and more than 60 others were injured during this incident and all of this happening in a small town in Hunan province that's known as a fireworks hub of the world.

It reportedly accounts for 60 percent of the global fireworks supply. But all manufacturing is now on hold there. Authorities are investigating the cause of the blast. State media saying that it was so powerful that it blew out windows in nearby buildings.

Well, still to come here on CNN Newsroom. Russian President Vladimir Putin has maintained a firm grip on power for decades in Russia. Well, now he seems to be fearing a coup. I'll tell you more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:21:17]

SANDOVAL: All right. Welcome back. Russia says that it will be observing a two-day ceasefire in Ukraine later this week to mark its annual World War II Victory Day celebrations. And this year's parade will be significantly pared back with no military hardware on display. The Kremlin says that that's because Moscow is facing what it describes as a terrorist threat from Kyiv.

But President Zelenskyy is announcing that Ukraine will begin its own ceasefire starting on Wednesday, saying that he believes human life is far more valuable than any anniversary celebration. He also warns that Russia's declaration of a ceasefire is not genuine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): A one day ceasefire, but killing our people beforehand, to put it mildly, is simply not fair. To stop the missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities and communities one day before the parade and say let's have a 24-hour ceasefire. That is not serious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And as Vladimir Putin's four year war in Ukraine drags on, there is now new intelligence that he's possibly becoming more paranoid about threats to his presidency and to his life. Here's CNN's Nick Paton Walsh with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): It is a rare pointed insight into one of the starkest secrets in Russia, President Vladimir Putin's security protocols. In it, a detailed intelligence report given to CNN by a source close to a European intelligence agency portrays predictably, a Kremlin in deep crisis.

Cooks, bodyguards and photographers working with Putin must have surveillance systems installed in their homes, it says. Putin has stopped visiting military sites this year entirely, it says, in contrast to last year, often spending time in fortified bunkers and keeping clear of some of his main lavish residences like Valday, a tactic aided by many of his appearances. And he is in the media a lot being pre-recorded.

His staff cannot use smartphones or public transport, the report adds. Visitors must be searched twice.

WALSH: Not all of this information is new, some of it rumored or evident before, but the massive detail is striking, as is the decision by a European intelligence agency to release a report like this, clearly an information salvo designed to stoke strife and paranoia at a time of perceived weakness in the Kremlin.

WALSH (voice-over): The dossier also suggests something staggering, that the measures may be designed to protect Putin from a potential coup, something he had a narrow miss with in June 2023 when mercenary boss and former chef to Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin led a failed march on Moscow.

The risk of a coup, it says now, is from another former confidant, Sergei Shoigu. Once his minister of defense but now secretary of the Security Council. He retains significant influence within the military high command, it says.

The report says a coup is more likely after Shoigu's former deputy and close associate Ruslan Tsalikov was arrested in March, which it calls a breach of the tacit protection agreements among elites.

But the report doesn't provide any evidence or explain why it has made this risk public warning the Kremlin. It claims the new security measures came after a series of assassinations among the Russian top brass, likely by Ukraine at an urgent meeting last year after the killing of Lt. Gen. Fanil Savarov in Moscow on December of 22nd.

The release of the report has convenient timing four years into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at a time when doubts about Russia's ability to sustain its war effort and its economic impact are growing.

[04:25:05]

Major internet blackouts, growing internal criticism of Putin himself and continued successful Ukrainian bombardment of targets deep inside Russia.

Especially ahead of the May 9th Victory Day parade, scaled back dramatically this year for security. There are plenty of reasons European intelligence would seek to destabilize the Kremlin, and much of this is hard to corroborate.

But it is rare detail and a confident presentation of a Kremlin in crisis that matches a moment of peaking criticism of Putin internally. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: All right, so let's discuss all that reporting. Vladimir Milov is a Russian opposition politician and also a former deputy energy minister. He joins me from Vilnius, Lithuania. Thank you so much for joining us.

VLADIMIR MILOV, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN: Hello. Great to be with you again.

SANDOVAL: It's great to have you with us. I'm curious if I could just get your initial thoughts on just how much faith you have in this intelligence report that is now seeming to suggest that the Kremlin is worried about an attempt to not just assassinate President Putin, but also about a possible coup. I mean, you just heard a Nick's report that this intelligence has little to no evidence, offers little to no evidence.

MILOV: Well, there are actually two parts to this report. First is not only right, but is being supported by many other independently verified evidence. And that part is about Putin's increasing paranoia and absolutely insane security protocols.

So basically it's very difficult even to even for the officials that are part of the Putin, Putin's inner circle, it is very difficult to actually get to attend his meetings. They verified and checked multiple times. And people have to wait long days to actually pass through all this security verification. Nobody knows where Putin is currently located and where the next meeting is going to be.

So the increasing paranoia part that is actually true. And I think Putin is getting increasingly nervous about Ukrainian strikes deep into Russian territory and increasing Ukrainian sabotage, which is targeting top officials.

Also, there is a lot of growing discontent in Russia with government's policies, economic downturn, internet shutdowns. So there's a lot to be worried about. However, I think it's premature to draw this direct line from point A to point B that there's going to be a coup.

We should appreciate that Putin has been for many years. Sorry, I'm being joined by one of my studio counterparts here. Putin has been building a system for years very effectively guarding him from any attempts to overthrow a president. And we saw that three years ago with Wagner revolt by Yevgeny Prigozhin, whom you mentioned, and the fact that it was relatively successfully quelled, actually is a proof of that.

It's extremely difficult to even get together like three, four, five, six top officials and discuss that they're going to topple Putin. It's going to be immediately recorded, reported. They're all under tight surveillance. So I think all these talks about coup is a bit premature, and I think it's a very raw assessment by intelligence.

SANDOVAL: I also found it fascinating, the mention of Sergei Shoigu, and he was mentioned in that report just a little while ago. Vladimir, how much of a threat to Putin is he, in your opinion?

MILOV: I think this is the part of the mentioned intelligence report which is probably the most wrong, because Shoigu obviously is an increasingly outcast person in the system of power. He never had any influence on most of the security agencies like FSB or Presidential Guard, FSO or the Ministry of Interior.

He was the Minister of Defense. But since he was dismissed, and that happened already two years ago, there was a pretty brutal cleanup of anybody who was even remotely affiliated with Shoigu. So these people face harsh jail terms. Arrests happened also very recently, you know.

So if anybody is mentioning Shoigu is the guy who is plotting a coup against Putin, big question is, where are his troops? Who's going to join him in that? He's pretty much alone. And he also had a very strong popularity rating among the conservative part of the Russian population before the full scale invasion of Ukraine.

But that has pretty much zeroed out now because Shoigu is essentially blamed for Russia's failures in the war and inability to win the war against Ukraine.

[04:30:00]

So an outcast lost all of his popularity. No friends, no allies.