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U.S.-Israel War with Iran; Negotiators Extend Fragile Ceasefire in Lebanon; Iran Turns Bombed Karaj Bridge into a Symbol of Resistance; U.S.-China Summit; Eurovision Controversy. Aired 3-3:30a ET
Aired May 16, 2026 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to all of our viewers watching from around the world. I'm Ivan Watson.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended, though fighting has not really stopped during the truce.
The U.S. is ramping up pressure on Cuba, preparing to indict former leader Raul Castro. This as everyday Cubans suffer under the sanctions imposed by the U.S.
And the Eurovision final is coming up later today. But this year's edition of the song contest is not without controversy.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Hong Kong. this is CNN NEWSROOM with Ivan Watson.
WATSON: All right. Those stories are coming up in a moment. But first, U.S. president Donald Trump's latest signals about what lies ahead in the war with Iran. He says the first sentence of Tehran's latest proposal was, quote, "unacceptable."
He claims Iran had agreed to give up its nuclear dust, referring to enriched uranium, but then backtracked. Iranian state media reports the country's foreign minister says uranium enrichment is currently not on the agenda and will be addressed in later stages. Meanwhile, president Trump posted on social media that his military campaign against Iran is, quote, "to be continued," suggesting he's considering resuming attacks. The president discussed Iran with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and he spoke about those talks to FOX News.
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BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS HOST: You said that the -- president Xi said he would offer assistance on Iran. And specifically --
(CROSSTALK) TRUMP: I also said we don't need assistance.
BAIER: No, you don't and you didn't ask for it. You said he was offering it specifically to open the Strait of Hormuz.
What do you think he will do?
TRUMP: I think he's been very nice about it. He gets 40 percent of his oil there. He didn't send anybody. He didn't send ships. He didn't send ships with big fat guns on them that we would have had to repel. We would have. They cannot have a nuclear weapon because the --
(CROSSTALK)
BAIER: The president of China agrees with you on that.
TRUMP: And he agrees with me on that. He agrees with me that he wants to see it end. He'd like to see it end. He would like to help. If he wants to help, that's great but we don't need help. And you know the problem with help, when somebody helps you, they always want something on the other side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: What some in the region consider a ceasefire in name only will be extended in Lebanon for another 45 days. The U.S. made the announcement on Friday after Israel and Lebanon wrapped up their two- day talks in Washington.
A truce has already been in place for almost a month but it didn't stop the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon says close to 400 people have been killed and more than 1,100 have been injured during the ceasefire. For more, Leila Gharagozlou joins us from Abu Dhabi.
Great to see you, Leila. You know, this diplomacy between the Israeli and Lebanese governments is kind of historic, frankly. But there's one key party missing to the talks and that is Hezbollah, the powerful militia backed by Iran.
What is Hezbollah saying about this diplomacy?
LEILA GHARAGOZLOU, CNN PRODUCER: So Hezbollah has been not particularly vocal about what they're saying. They did tell CNN this. They said that they have informed the Lebanese president indirectly that they're prepared for direct ceasefire if the Israelis agree to one. So that does leave quite a lot of room for what could come in the future.
Now we have seen over the last week that there has been an increase in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. We've seen the Israeli forces push further into southern Lebanon and cross the Litani River. So a ceasefire should theoretically be welcome for Hezbollah. But those talks haven't happened as of yet.
Right now, we just have that extended ceasefire between the Israelis and the Lebanese government. Now as you said, that's a 45-day extension that is set to begin on Sunday, when the last one was set to expire.
So it still remains to be seen where we're going to go from here and what role Hezbollah will actually play and whether we'll see a more firm ceasefire.
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Rather than this shaky, kind of tenuous ceasefire with hostilities.
WATSON: Serious hostilities, I mean, Israel expanding its occupation of southern Lebanon, daily deadly airstrikes and then Hezbollah firing back. So that's one to really watch.
Another one to watch is what's going on between Iran and the U.S. And it sounds like we've gone from, just a week or so ago, president Trump being pretty optimistic about the possibility of a deal to now almost talking about the possible resumption of hostilities.
GHARAGOZLOU: Yes. So last week, as you said, we were waiting for the Iranian response to this one-page U.S. proposal. They responded on Sunday last week. And president Trump and the White House have said that this is an unacceptable response.
So we are seeing this slow move toward a possible escalation. But fundamentally, as I had said last week -- and I think a lot of people have talked about throughout this conflict -- is that this becomes an issue of trust for the Iranians.
They don't trust the Trump administration. And I think that there is a massive hurdle between the two sides. Now president Trump has had some harsh words since then. He said the following to FOX News. Take a listen.
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BAIER: Why are we where we are?
Did you underestimate the pain tolerance that Iran has?
TRUMP: I didn't underestimate anything. We hit them unbelievably hard. Look, we left their bridges, we left their electricity capacity. We can knock that all out in two days. Two days, everything.
We left Kharg Island other than I said, hit it except for the valves where the oil comes out. Because when you hit that, that means you're going to lose a little oil.
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GHARAGOZLOU: This escalatory rhetoric coming from president Trump is something that the Iranians are going to take note of. We're going to have to see where this goes.
I do think it's important to mention that hitting critical infrastructure, like energy facilities, is considered to be a humanitarian crime. So we just have to wait and see where this goes and if something can come out of this. Ivan.
WATSON: Yes. I think wiping out an entire civilization is also considered somewhere in the area of war crimes. Leila Gharagozlou, thank you very much for your update from Abu Dhabi.
And let's stay with Iran because CNN's Matthew Chance and his team are reporting on the ground there. And they've gotten rare access to the site of Iran's Karaj B1 Bridge, which was heavily damaged in deadly U.S. airstrikes in April.
President Trump has warned he could target more bridges in Iran. But for now, local officials say they are focused on rebuilding. And we should note that CNN operates in Iran with the permission of the government. But CNN also maintains full editorial control of its reports.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A rare glimpse of the tightly controlled Islamic Republic. We drove out of Tehran, the bustling but still tense capital, past anti- American slogans daubed along the route, to the town of Karaj and one painful scar left by the latest U.S.-led war.
When finished, the B1 Bridge was meant to be a symbol of Iranian engineering prowess, the tallest in the region. But for now, it's become a battered monument to ruthless American air power.
CHANCE: Wow. Well, you really get a sense of the incredible destructive force that was at play with these U.S. airstrikes that smashed this concrete look and twisted all this reinforced steel. Let's take a look so we can get closer, a bit closer to the edge.
I mean, look at the concrete pylons that have been absolutely shattered. And down here, I mean, it's a huge drop of 450 feet. This was, as I mentioned, the highest bridge in the Middle East. And there were people down below who were caught up in this and killed. CHANCE (voice-over): And the Iranian official who was sent to show us around insisted this targeting of infrastructure and the killing of innocent civilians was a war crime that should be punished. It's an allegation U.S. officials categorically deny.
CHANCE: The Americans say that this was a legitimate military target, that this bridge would have been used for the transport of drones and missiles and therefore it was fair game. How do you answer that?
DR. ALI SAFAR, IRANIAN LOCAL OFFICIAL (through translator): That's a false narrative from President Trump. This bridge hadn't even opened. Not a single car had driven over. It was built for the use of our people and was just called a military target so it could be bombarded, demolished and destroyed.
[03:10:03] CHANCE (voice-over): Back in April, Trump posted video of the attack on his Truth Social platform, urging Iran to make a deal before it's too late.
Now after his state visit to China, there's still no deal and Trump is raising the issue again amid concerns the fragile ceasefire with Iran could soon break down.
TRUMP: We haven't knocked out other than one bridge and we did because they misbehaved but we have bridges we could knock out. We could knock out their bridges and their electrical capacity. Within two days, we could knock out the whole thing.
CHANCE (voice-over): It's a terrifying possibility but one that doesn't seem to be giving Iran much pause.
CHANCE: Why is it important for this country to rebuild the bridge now, when there's the possibility that the Americans could strike it again in the near future?
Why now?
DR. SAFAR (through translator): We're not thinking about that. Our focus is on the reconstruction of our bridge. It was designed and built by our engineers, despite many difficult years of sanctions.
CHANCE (voice-over): And amid growing tensions with the U.S., Iranian officials insist this symbol of the Islamic Republic will rise again.
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WATSON: All right. U.S. President Donald Trump says a major ISIS leader has been killed in an operation in Nigeria. He posted hours ago that U.S. and Nigerian forces had tracked down Abu Bilal al Minuki, the group's second in command.
The post says he will no longer terrorize people in Africa or plan attacks on Americans and that his death has greatly reduced ISIS global operations. Last December, Mr. Trump ordered another strike on ISIS in Nigeria after accusing the group of persecuting Christians.
The U.S. is increasing the pressure on Cuba by preparing to indict Raul Castro, the Communist country's former president. That is according to sources. And this comes just days after CIA director John Ratcliffe met with top intelligence officials from the ministry of the interior in Havana.
Now the 94-year-old Raul Castro is the brother of the late Fidel Castro, who, of course, led the Cuban revolution in the 1950s. He may face various charges, including over Cuba's shootdown of two planes in 1996, in which four people died, including three Americans. The planes were owned by a Cuban American exile organization.
Meanwhile, the energy crisis continues to worsen in Cuba, causing widespread power failures. Things are so bad, one Cuban mom tells CNN that women across the island fear not being able to feed their children and many of them are even losing weight.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The children don't have food to eat and aren't going to school. We're desperate. The women, we've already lost 20 pounds and we are anxious because we don't have a way of supporting our kids.
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WATSON: CNN's Evan Perez has more on the potential indictment of Raul Castro.
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EVAN PEREZ, CNN SR. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The Justice Department is working to secure criminal charges against former Cuban president Raul Castro. The exact nature of the charges are unclear but, if approved by a grand jury, they could come as soon as next week.
Cuba celebrates its Independence Day on May 20th. Federal prosecutors have examined a number of possible charges, including some related to the Cuban military's 1996 downing of two planes belonging to the Cuban American exile organization Brothers to the Rescue. Four men, three of them American citizens, were killed in that attack.
Cuban American Republican lawmakers have pushed the Justice Department to bring charges.
In a February letter to then-attorney general Pam Bondi, lawmakers, including representative Mario Diaz-Balart, urged the Justice Department to prosecute Castro, citing evidence.
Including reports that there was a, from that era, that there was a recording of radio traffic that included the Cuban MiG pilots that shot down those planes, indicating that Castro, then the defense minister, ordered the shootdown of the planes in international airspace.
Now the potential U.S. criminal charges come amid rising tensions between Cuba and the United States. CIA director John Ratcliffe traveled to Cuba on Thursday to meet with government officials as the government, as the Trump administration has been tightening sanctions that have worsened Cuba's severe economic crisis.
Including fuel shortages and near daily power outages. The Justice Department declined to comment for this story -- Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.
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WATSON: All right, stay with CNN. We'll be right back after this break.
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WATSON: Welcome back. I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong.
President Donald Trump is back in Washington. He's hailing the U.S.- China summit as a historic moment. But the meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which were held over two days, ended without any substantive agreements announced on key issues.
President Trump says he and she spoke at length about releasing former Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai from prison. He was sentenced to 20 years earlier this year after being convicted of national security and sedition charges here in Hong Kong.
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TRUMP: I brought up Jimmy Lai and I would say the response to that was not positive. He said that he's been, you know, said he's been his worst nightmare. It was, you know, opposition. He went through a whole thing.
And I said, well, we'd appreciate if you would release him. He's gotten old and he's probably not feeling too well. It would be nice. And I did not feel optimistic. I have to be honest with you about that one.
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President Trump says Taiwan was the most important issue for Xi during their talks and that a pending $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan is a, quote, "very good negotiating chip." CNN's Will Ripley reports from Taipei.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Leaders here in Taiwan are responding cautiously right now after President Donald Trump declined to commit to a major new U.S. arms sale following his summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Taiwan's foreign minister says Taipei is maintaining excellent communication with Washington and stressed longstanding U.S. policy around Taiwan remains unchanged. He also reiterated Taiwan's position that China remains the primary source of threat to regional stability.
But Trump's comments are already drawing attention here in Taipei. Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump said he and Xi discussed Taiwan in great detail and revealed that Xi directly asked whether the United States would defend Taiwan in a conflict. Trump said he refused to answer. Trump also said he has not yet decided whether to move forward with the major U.S. arms sale package for Taiwan, despite it already being authorized by his administration.
And then there was the comment that raised a lot of eyebrows across Taiwan when Trump said he has to speak to the person who is running Taiwan. Trump did not mention Taiwan's president, Lai Ching-te, by name, leaving questions here about who exactly he meant.
All of this comes at a politically sensitive moment for Taiwan. The island's opposition control legislature just passed a scaled down defense package after months of bitter political fighting.
The original roughly $40 billion proposal backed by president Lai was significantly reduced, preserving major U.S. weapons purchases but cutting parts of Taiwan's domestic defense buildup, including drone programs.
The ruling DPP here says Taiwan must urgently strengthen the deterrence against China. The opposition, KMT, says Taiwan also needs more dialogue with Beijing to avoid becoming what the opposition leader said was the next Ukraine.
Now Trump's ambiguity on arms sales and military defense is adding even more uncertainty to this already deeply divided debate here in Taiwan -- Will Ripley, CNN Taipei.
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WATSON: And now to a worrying development in central Africa. Africa's top public health organization has confirmed a new Ebola outbreak in a remote province in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 65 deaths have been recorded and there are 246 suspected cases. Some of those cases have been reported near the border with Uganda.
Africa CDC says it's concerned about the risk of spreading because of insecurity in affected areas, which are close to Uganda and South Sudan. The Ebola virus is highly contagious. It's spread through bodily fluids and it's often fatal.
The acting director of the CDC in the United States says it's coordinating with the governments of Congo and Uganda to track and help with the outbreak. The World Health Organization says it's working with Congo to contain the Ebola outbreak.
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DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Well, we know very well what the country has experienced. But the region where it is happening is highly volatile with the humanitarian situation going on and the population moving around from South Sudan to Uganda and other parts.
So our response is to stand with the regional government, with the regional government and the country neighbor in terms of solidarity, to show, again, that they can control this outbreak.
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WATSON: OK. The grand finale of this year's Eurovision song contest gets underway in the coming hours. Contestants from 25 countries will take the stage in Vienna, Austria, for the pop music showdown. But this year's contest is unfolding under a shadow of controversy, as CNN's Isa Soares reports.
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ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: United by music and divided by controversy, the Eurovision song contest currently underway in the Austrian capital.
Vienna is traditionally a good natured and campy pop music showdown. But tensions over Israel are threatening to overshadow the annual competition. Eurovision organizers have faced mounting pressure in recent years to ban Israel over its military activities in Gaza.
There have also been accusations that the Israeli government unfairly influenced the results of the last two contests by promoting a mass voting campaign. The European Broadcasting Union never commented publicly on the allegations.
And this year, the decision to include Israel prompted five other countries, Spain, The Netherlands, Iceland, Ireland and Slovenia to withdraw from the contest in protest, making it the smallest Eurovision competition in more than two decades.
SIMON BENNETT, PRESIDENT, OGAE INTERNATIONAL: Obviously, there's been a lot of controversy over the last few years. We've got some countries who've pulled out. Some fans have kind of gone sour a little bit on the contest. Some are sitting it out to see what will happen.
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And whether the fun will come back into it.
SOARES: Even with tensions flaring in the city, fans inside the host venue remain excited to cheer on their favorites during the grand finale. A total of 35 countries started out participating in this year's contest. That number is now whittled down to 25 competing for the grand prize.
Traditionally, viewership for Eurovision rivals that of the Super Bowl, an estimated a 166 million viewers last year compared to nearly a 128 million for the Super Bowl. Those numbers are expected to be down this year after the withdrawal of those five national broadcasters. But despite the political divisions rippling through the wider community.
Many of the fans flocking to Vienna ahead of the grand finale said the focus should be on the music and the spectacle of Eurovision, not the controversy.
MAREIDE BACH, EUROVISION FAN: It's the unity of the countries around and the music and the happy and joy it brings.
SOARES (voice-over): Isa Soares, CNN.
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WATSON: Staying with pop music, K-pop supergroup BTS are returning to the San Francisco Bay area for three big stadium shows this week. Diehard fans are lining up already. And that queue that you see on screen right now, that's just for merch sale ahead of the shows.
These concerts are part of BTS' highly anticipated comeback tour after the members completed their mandatory military service in South Korea.
The SpaceX Falcon Nine rocket has lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, launching a Dragon spacecraft. It is carrying nearly 6,500 pounds of cargo and scientific experiments for the International Space Station. The Dragon capsule is set to dock autonomously with the ISS on Sunday.
All right. Thanks for joining us. I'm Ivan Watson. "THE LINK" is coming up next.
