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US War With Iran; Outbreak On Cruise Ship; The Human Factor. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired May 05, 2026 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

VLADIMIR MILOV, FORMER DEPUTY MINISTER OF ENERGY OF RUSSIA: I think Shoigu is the wrong figure to look for if we are thinking about any potential plotting against Putin.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Vladimir Milov, thank you so much for all of that insight. As always, I appreciate your time.

MILOV: Great being with you. Thanks.

SANDOVAL: Thank you. Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, what we know so far about a drone attack on a major UAE oil facility as the US and Iran continue trading shots in that Strait of Hormuz.

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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Iran's key negotiator is accusing the United States of violating what is a fragile truce and jeopardizing shipping security in the Strait of Hormuz. That comes as the US moves ahead with plans to guide stranded vessels out of what are those strategic waterways. Both countries trading fire in the strait on Monday, and President Trump warning Iranian forces will be blown off the face of the earth if they target US ships.

Meantime, an Iranian drone strike reportedly sparking a major fire at an oil facility in the UAE on Monday. Officials say three Indian nationals were injured there. CNN's Nic Robertson is in Islamabad in Pakistan with the very latest remarks from Iranian officials.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. The Iranian foreign minister tweeted in the last couple of hours, and it does sort of feel slightly odd because he said, look, everyone should see from what happened today there is no military solution to this.

[04:35:09]

He praised the Pakistani mediators, but he said the United States and the UAE for that matter, should be careful not to get drawn into a quagmire because of people trying to sort of go for the military option. I find that fascinating because you also have today the Iranians saying that they didn't fire these 19 missile, the 12 ballistic missiles, the three cruise missiles, the four drones at the UAE that actually injured three people and put an oil terminal on fire.

It seems sort of in Congress you can have that narrative. At the same time that their military is trying to shoot up ships with missiles, US ships with missiles in the Strait of Hormuz is setting fire to commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. It really creates the impression that the moderates and the hardliners, right?

It's something we've heard a lot about in Iran before. But I get the sense that the hardliners here are winning the day. That's the narrative that emerges. Where's the sort of cease fire on shaky ground? Where's the diplomacy where the foreign ministry today in Tehran was working on a response to the US peace proposal that was put back across them over the weekend.

So the moderates are sort of doing their bit, but it seems to be being upended by the hardliners at the moment.

ANDERSON: Well, as Pakistan urges continued diplomacy, its prime minister has just posted a statement strongly condemning the missile and drone attacks on the United Arab Emirates yesterday, Monday, the largest attack on a Gulf state since the ceasefire, drones, ballistic and cruise missiles. That statement of condemnation from Islamabad follows a wave of condemnations and statements of support from Europeans and Canadians, and a phone call between the Saudi crown prince and the UAE president.

It is a notable show of support coming at a time when Abu Dhabi has frankly been questioning some of its regional alliances and has increasingly shifted towards its own strategic vision. We've seen the UAE leave OPEC just last week. And deepening cooperation with the US and Israel. That's arguably a departure from the rest of the Gulf states.

Joining me now to discuss where we are at is Bader Al-Saif. He's Professor at Kuwait University and an Associate Fellow at Chatham House's Middle east and North Africa Program. Taking all of what I've just reported together. How do you read this moment, Bader.

BADER AL-SAIF, PROFESSOR, KUWAIT UNIVERSITY: Becky, good to be back. Look, we're in limbo. Is it a ceasefire but not quite, a war but not quite, and we're trying to see different parties, both the US and Iran, trying to shake the stalemates. The US with Project Freedom is trying to strip Iran from its effective leverage. The Strait of Hormuz and the blockade, seeing that the blockade of the blockade isn't working fast enough.

And you see the Iranians going back to a tactic that we know quite well in the Gulf, which is plausible deniability. We've seen this prior to this war with attacks on Saudi and the UAE in the past, namely 2019 and 2022, where they deny any involvement. So that speaks to a critical moment. And don't forget that we also have baby concessions back and left, right and left between the US and Iran when it comes to the negotiations.

The situation is quite fragile. Are we at the precipice of conflict or resolution? We've yet to see how it unfolds in the next hours and days.

ANDERSON: And that is the question, what happens next? The UAE maintains its right to respond. Donald Trump has stopped short of suggesting that Iran has violated the ceasefire. There's been no official word from Israel on any of that. So what do you believe happens next?

AL-SAIF: Look, they need to sit down and walk it out and discuss it in a fair manner because the US has been going on a glut of operations. We started with epic fury, we moved into economic fury, and now yesterday it's Project Freedom. So I don't know how many more operations are going to be exerting in there before they come down to sitting with the Iranians and finding ways to concede.

Remember that this was a two week ceasefire. We're entering a month in a few days, Becky. That is a win to Iran and that they tried to extend the ceasefire to get to come to terms to where they're going. But I think what we're seeing between the moderates and the conservatives, the map that came out yesterday does not bode well from the IRGC.

[04:40:09]

They're trying to change geography and, you know, work with -- they need to work with informed cartographers when they expand their dominion over the Hormuz all the way to Fujairah (inaudible) in the UAE, this does not bode well. And these tactics are just there to exert pressure on both sides and they need to come down to terms, to talking to one another and getting a deal sorted.

ANDERSON: I've got two other questions for you. First is on the UAE- Israel deepening cooperation. One regional expert who you know well, H. A. Hellyer, arguing in foreign affairs. That's going to backfire, saying that Gulf governments are now "rejecting an assumption held by the US and Israel." The Gulf states could be incorporated into a regional security architecture premised on Israeli dominance. Your thoughts.

AL-SAIF: We're not on the same page in the Gulf, Becky, when it comes to the role of Israel and the balance of power that ensues after the end of this war. Certainly there has been clear bets from the UAE on envisioning a future in which there is collaboration across different parties, including Israel, but that's yet to be seen in the other Gulf states. And I think what we need to do is think of the end state that we want to be in.

Do we want to have prosperity for all? Do we want security and stability? And what roadmap takes us to that? Now, there will be different roadmaps, and that's not a problem. The problem is trying to come to terms with those differences and having them coexist. And we've seen those different versions of balances of power and security architectures coexist in the past, even though fragilely in the Middle East that will need to continue.

Trying to find an upending of, you know, radicalizing the way we look at things in the Middle East will not change overnight. It will take a process forward. ANDERSON: But finally, I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about the reality in Kuwait as well, where you are, with reports that crude oil exports tumbled from what, a billion barrels a day to zero in April. What more can you tell us about that in the context of OPEC members, including Kuwait now raising output by an extra 188,000 barrels a day?

AL-SAIF: This is not unprecedented, unfortunately. We've had certain crises in the past, including COVID and including the occupation of Kuwait, where we saw a drop in production as well. We stand strong when it comes to the reserves that we have in place financially across different capitals.

We have a sovereign wealth fund. We have a reserve fund that we're tapping into, and that we can continue to do so in the coming period. But obviously we would like to see a change on the ground because trying to find a mechanism to exit this whole blockade is necessary.

And you saw them meeting in Jeddah last week, Becky, where they proposed alternative pipelines across the Arabian Peninsula. I think working on those plans right away will benefit us in the long term until we sort ourselves out in the short to medium at the moment.

ANDERSON: Yes. And I misspoke, of course, it's a million rather than a billion barrels a day. It's a lot and a significant reduction. Bader, it's good to have you. Thank you very much indeed.

After the break, we're going to have the very latest on the suspected hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the Atlantic that's believed to be responsible for the deaths of three passengers. More after this.

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[04:46:58]

SANDOVAL: The cruise ship stricken by a suspected outbreak of hantavirus has been denied permission to dock in the capital of Cape Verde, an island nation just off of West Africa. Three passengers have already died and at least three others are currently sick.

Local health authorities have visited the ship. They've checked on those with symptoms. But for now, about 150 people remain stuck on board while officials figure out their next moves, including possible medical evacuations.

We want to get more now from CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joining us live from London. Salma, good to see you. So essentially this ship is out in the Atlantic, anchored there until they figure out what happens next?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. You have nearly 150 people stranded on that ship right now. Cape Verde, where they are docked near, has denied entry to the ship. So in the meanwhile, they're essentially waiting for other authorities to figure out an evacuation plan and to figure out next steps.

What does it look like on board? What did this outbreak look like? Well, we know that three people were killed. The first to die of this outbreak was a 70-year-old Dutch man who died on board last month.

His wife later died while she was trying to make her way back to the Netherlands. And then a third passenger, a German national, died just this Saturday.

We also understand that two crew members are symptomatic. It's unclear yet, of course, if those cases are confirmed, but that's the priority right now for both the Dutch authorities and the World Health Organization is figuring out those next steps in treating those who need treatment.

I want you to take a listen to an official from the World Health Organization explaining this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, WHO DIRECTOR FOR EPIDEMIC AND PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS: Right now our focus is on treating the patients and keeping the remaining passengers and crew safe. At the same time, we are working with authorities to understand the source of exposure through epidemiological investigations and doing contact tracing to identify any further cases. Laboratory tests are also ongoing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Now, what is hantavirus? It is an extremely rare respiratory disease. It's spread usually through rodents, which is why epidemiologists are stumped right now as to where this originated. The ship did leave from Argentina.

There appears to be no cases there, according to Argentinian officials. Authorities are still trying to determine the ground zero of these cases. But in the meanwhile, the World Health Organization says this does not present a public health threat.

What will evacuation look like? Well, the next step is that there should be planes that -- medical evacuation planes that will pull those passengers who are showing signs of infection, those two crew members on board, as well as another individual. Those are going to have to be specialized crews, specialized medical crews with specialized equipment.

So there's no clear timeline on when that happens, but that will be the first step. And then you can imagine that the remaining passengers will have to find another location to dock. So a lot of eyes right now on how this transpires. And if there's further cases or further signs of the virus spreading.

[04:50:06]

SANDOVAL: Yes, without a doubt. A lot of eyes and a lot of uncertainty on that ship right now. Salma Abdelaziz with that live report from London, thank you.

Well, AI seems to be winding its way into all facets of modern life. But some in Hollywood, they're drawing a line. After the break how the Academy is trying to preserve human creativity at the Oscars.

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York, where fashion's finest came out for this year's Met Gala. The theme was costume art. Attendees, they were encouraged to express their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form.

Look at Beyonce, one of the event's co-chairs. She returned to the gala for the first time in 10 years. She wore this pretty, stunning silver skeleton gown and was accompanied by her daughter, Blue Ivy. And then, look at Madonna's outfit featured a black ship on top of her headpiece as well as a long gray train that was held up by an assistant on the red carpet.

And then there's somebody that you may or may not recognize that's a global pop star. Pretty unrecognizable if you can't make him out. That's actually Bad Bunny looking much older there, much older than 32 years old as you walk the red carpet. Of course, he has been a presence at previous galas as well.

[04:55:08]

And as the world grapples with the ever increasing presence of AI, Hollywood is no exception. The Academy has opted to update the Oscars rules to define what counts as human creativity as CNN's Clare Duffy reports.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The Academy for the first time updating its rules to address artificial intelligence as we are seeing more and more people in and around Hollywood experimenting with how AI can be used in films and other types of storytelling. Interestingly, according to this rules update, the Academy says that the use of generative artificial intelligence will neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination for a film. But there are two exceptions to that and I'll read those to you.

In the acting category, only roles demonstrably performed by humans with their consent will be considered eligible. And in the writing categories, the rules say that screenplays must be human authored in order to be eligible. Now, this would seem to imply that an actor like Tilly Norwood, who we've talked a lot about, would not be eligible for an Oscar.

But I do think there are increasingly going to be edge cases that the Academy is going to have to grapple with. For example, the forthcoming film with the AI replica of Val Kilmer playing a role. Val Kilmer did sign on to participate in that film prior to his death, but the role is being played by an AI recreation of him. How would the Academy consider that?

I've also spoken with screenwriters who have said they use AI as a sort of writing partner to bounce around ideas. Where exactly do you draw the line between what is written by a human and what is contributed by AI? I do imagine that we will see these rules evolve over time, but in many ways I think this is a symbolic move by the Academy to underscore the importance of human creativity in this moment when we are seeing AI move into all areas of our lives. Back to you.

SANDOVAL: Clare Duffy, thank you. And thank you so much for joining us. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. Leave it here for CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.