Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump's New Warning: "Won't Be Anything Left" Of Iran; Israel Official: Netanyahu Held Call With Trump On Sunday; Source: Trump Met National Security Team On Iran War; Finnish Diving Experts Join Search for Four Missing Italians; Investigation Underway after Two U.S. Navy Jets Collide; Fans Welcome Dara Back Home Bulgaria. Aired 1-1:45a ET

Aired May 18, 2026 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:01:03]

KRISTIE LU STOUT: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong.

A stern warning to Iran. U.S. President Donald Trump's patience to negotiate an end to the conflict appears to be wearing thin. The Ebola outbreak in Africa is sparking the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to send resources to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

And top divers are joining in the search for Italian tourists who are presumed dead after diving to an underwater cave in the Maldives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Hong Kong, this is CNN Newsroom with Kristi Lu Stout.

STOUT: U.S. president Donald Trump is issuing a new warning to Iran as he considers resuming military strikes there. He posted on his Truth Social account that if Iran doesn't act quickly, quote, "There won't be anything left of them."

Meanwhile, an Israeli official tells CNN President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Sunday. The call comes just one day after Trump met with his national security team to discuss the path forward on the war. And top Iranian officials hosted the Pakistani interior minister and underscored what they describe as the U.S.'s destabilizing presence in the region.

Now, CNN's Alayna Treene has more from the White House.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS: President Donald Trump, fresh off his high stakes visit to China earlier in the week, convened a meeting with his top members of his national security team on Saturday. He met with members including the Vice President J.D. Vance, the CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Senator Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his special envoy Steve Witkoff, among others, at his golf club in Virginia to discuss the path ahead on the Iran war. Now, this meeting came just one day before the president posted on Truth Social quote, "For Iran, the clock is ticking and they have better get moving fast or there won't be anything left of them. Time is of the essence." He wrote before signing off. President DJT.

Look, all of this comes as in my conversations with different Trump administration officials. They tell me that Trump has grown increasingly frustrated not only with the perceived divisions within Iran's leadership that he believes is preventing them from coming to a compromise on a potential deal, but also is growing impatient with the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz. He's also been in recent days closer to wanting to resume combat operations in Iran than he has been throughout the cease fire, my sources tell me.

Now, I will note that the China trip was a question. You know, a lot of people said he was waiting to make a decision on how to proceed to see if diplomacy was perhaps more viable after he sat down face to face with Xi Jinping.

However, he returned to Washington with the state of play on the Iran war seemingly unchanged. Now he has a major decision to make about whether to go forward and order more strikes or to try and continue to give negotiations a real chance.

Now, I will say my sources tell me that he wants and prefers to strike a deal with Tehran. But also we know that the Pentagon has put together a different menu of options really for the president to move forward if he does order more strikes. Among the targets, I'm told, include strikes on energy and infrastructure inside Iran.

Now, all of this comes as we're told that the president is expected to convene again with his national security team early this week. Alayna Treene, CNN, the White House.

STOUT: Okay. Just days after Donald Trump's trip to China, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin is set to kick off his own visit on Tuesday. Putin is set to hold talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. During the two-day trip, the Kremlin says the two leaders will discuss bilateral issues as well as ways to strengthen their partnership and strategic cooperation.

[01:05:04]

The Russian president is expected to discuss the U.S. President's recent visit. Now, two shipping giants are suspending services to and from Cuba amid the ongoing blockade by the U.S. together. They handle as much as 60 percent of Cuba's shipping traffic. The French company CMA, CGM and Germany's Hapag-Lloyd cited President Trump's executive order issued on May 1st. The measure broadened sanctions on companies and individuals providing assistance to Cuba.

As the U.S. blockade against Cuba continues, the island's energy crisis is worsening as the population struggles with blackouts, and this has led to social unrest in some places.

Now the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is mobilizing resources to Central Africa in response to the deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

It also says that efforts are being made to relocate a small number of Americans directly affected by the outbreak who reportedly may have been exposed to the virus. Health officials say at least 80 people have died among more than 200 suspected cases. There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for the rare strain of this virus driving the outbreak.

Earlier, CNN spoke with a professor of pediatrics and molecular virology at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Peter Hotez. And here is how he is addressing the risks posed by this outbreak.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. PETER HOTEZ, PROF. OF PEDIATRICS AND MOLECULAR VIROLOGY, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: It's looking like this public health emergency of international concern coming out of the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo for Ebola virus. That's looking like a pretty big deal. It's extensive. We have roughly 250 cases.

There was a delay in reporting it. And you know, working in that part of the world is very complicated because it's a conflict zone. There are very few roads. People don't have access to treatment. And of course, the U.S. government has pulled out of USAID. So that's let down our ability for diagnosis.

So that's what I'm watching very closely, particularly with the World cup coming up and people are going to be traveling all over the world. This one, you know, put your tray table in the upright position, your seatbelt, fast. And this is going to be a complicated one.

But when there was a very large one in eastern DRC, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2019, we had a vaccine available because it was the Zaire strain for which we had a very effective, 90 percent effective vaccine using the vesicular stomatitis virus technology. This particular Ebola epidemic is about 60 to 70 percent homologous in terms of genome. And probably that vaccine won't cross, protect. And so I'm worried not going to have a vaccine to stabilize things in Central Africa, and that's what really concerns me right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: Dr. Peter Hotez there. Now, the cruise ship at the center of the deadly hantavirus outbreak is expected to arrive in the Netherlands in just a few hours after it spent weeks at sea. Dutch officials say quarantine facilities are being prepared for the 25 remaining crew members and two medical staff still on board. And once the ship arrives, it will undergo a full biomedical cleaning and it will be disinfected.

Meanwhile, global health authorities continue to monitor and contact trace those who have already disembarked, including a newly announced presumed positive test for one of the four Canadian passengers. Ukraine targets Russia with hundreds of drones.

And up next, we'll be speaking with the military analysts in Australia about the significance of that move and, and about Ukraine's recent successes on the front lines. Plus, we got details on a massive drug bust by the Mexican navy in an operation targeting labs tied to a notorious cartel leader.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:13:30]

STOUT: At least four people were killed after Ukraine launched a massive drone attack on Russia with state media calling it the largest attack on Moscow in more than a year. Russia's Defense Ministry says it intercepted 556 Ukrainian drones overnight on Sunday with Moscow' mayor saying air defense has shot down more than 120 drones. This came as Russia launched nearly 300 of its own drones at Ukraine.

Ukraine says its forces had targeted facilities in the Moscow region including an oil refinery and two oil pumping facilities.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (voiceover): Today. The activity indicators show that our proactive operations per day are higher than those of the Russians and this is a very serious result. We will increase all forms of supply for our army, drones, ground robots, shell all resources to maintain proper protection and our active frontline operations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: CNN's Anna Cooban is following all the developments from London.

ANNA COOBAN, CNN REPORTER: Ukraine's massive attack on Moscow involved over 500 drones fired toward the Russian capital. That's according to Russian state media agency TASS. And TASS says that this was the largest attack on Moscow in over a year. This comes a few days after over Wednesday Thursday we saw a huge bombardment of Russian drones and missiles towards Kyiv, the capital Ukraine where at least 2025 people died. According to Ukraine authorities, this attack involved over 1.500 drones and over 50 missiles.

Now it's paints a stark picture from where we were a little over a week ago when there was a limited three-day ceasefire agreed between the two sides, an agreement to exchange prisoners, and comments from Putin that suggested that he believed the war was nearing its conclusion. But quite clearly, with huge attacks over the past few days, it seems the war is very much raging on.

[01:15:22]

Now zooming out, it's important to note that Ukraine's had some recent successes, or at least Russia has been stunned, stalling in its territorial gains. Last month, for the first time since August 2024, Ukraine managed to liberate more territory than Russia was able to seize. However, it is still a deadly war that's raging on. Last year, according to the UN, marked the deadliest year for Ukrainian civilians since 2022, which is the year the war started. And Russia still controls around a fifth of Ukrainian territory. Anna Cooban, CNN, London.

STOUT: And now to Brisbane and Mick Ryan, who is a retired major general in army and a senior fellow for Military Studies at the Lowy Institute. Sir, thank you very much indeed for joining us here on the program.

MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN: Thank you.

STOUT: Now, President Zelensky, he was active on social media and last week he hinted at this shift in regards to these drone strikes. How significant is it that Ukraine is launching this wave of drone strikes inside Russia?

RYAN: Well, it's very significant. We've seen for some time now that these long-range strikes have been gaining momentum against Russia. At the same time, the Ukrainians have been destroying Russian air defenses to widen the number of Russian targets that are available to them. And for Zelenskyy, this has important economic outcomes, depriving Russia of funding, but is also designed to show other countries like the United States, Europe and others that Ukraine has a real prospect of winning this war. And Putin's war can't get any better than what it already has been.

STOUT: Zelensky says that the wars are turning to its, quote, "native harbor." So what does he mean by that? Is Ukraine deliberately bringing the conflict not just to energy facilities in Russia, but to Russian civilians?

RYAN: What he's doing is taking the war back to the Russian heartland. The war was initiated from politicians and leaders in Moscow. The war has now returned to Moscow. And I think every time there has been a Ukrainian attack on Moscow, which has been several times throughout the war, Zelensky has returned to this theme that the war is returning to those who began it.

STOUT: And you're also monitoring the reaction on Russian social media, Russian netizens, they are shocked, they are upset. So what do these drone strikes by Ukraine mean for the Kremlin? How damaging is this for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin?

RYAN: Hey, I think the surprising thing is not that Russian citizens are putting on social media that this has occurred. It's that they're able to get through some of the systems that the Russian government has put in place, so they can't share images of Ukrainian tax. They know that they can be fined or worse for doing such. So, the fact that they're still willing to do so says something about their lack of confidence in the Russian government and how this war is now impacting on them.

STOUT: That's interesting. Cracks are showing Russian netizens voicing their displeasure, Russia losing ground, taking more casualties. Are we approaching a turning point in this conflict?

RYAN: Yes, I think there's certainly a glimmer of a turning point where they're actually at one or not remains to be seen. There's a long time to go in the spring and summer fighting season in Ukraine, but it now appears Ukraine is sending more drones to attack Russia on a weekly basis than Russia is sending at Ukraine. Ukraine has seized more territory than Russia has for nearly two months running now. And I think perceptions in Europe and elsewhere are certainly shifting in favor of Ukraine.

It's all a good trend, but we need to see how the next few months go.

STOUT: Yes. So Ukraine is sending more drones. Ukraine, as you said, is gaining more territory. Cracks in this war are starting to show. So what are the options now for Vladimir Putin? What can he strategize next?

RYANL: Well, he probably is starting to understand, if he's getting half as much information as the Ukrainian president is that things probably can't get any better than what they are already. Things are going from bad to worse with Russian casualties. The Russian people are starting to see this war come home to them. They will start asking more questions, as will the Russian elite, about prospects for Russian success in this war, which is almost zero.

So we may see him starting to do more. Reach out to the President of the United States and others to negotiate a ceasefire on current territorial holdings in Ukraine.

[01:20:11]

STOUT: And meanwhile, what's next for Zelensky and Ukraine's battle plan? Should we expect to see more deep drone strikes inside Russia or a different phase of the war altogether?

RYAN: Well, Zelensky has said after these strikes on Moscow that they will continue and step up this long-range strike campaign. But we're also seeing the Ukrainians undertake operations to cut off Russia's land access to Crimea. They now have drones that can range over the highways to cut off Russian supplies getting to Crimea. So, we may see more in the southern front there.

But we will also see the Ukrainian government do more work with the EU and hopefully the Trump administration for when there are peace talks and they favor Ukraine more than what they have so far.

STOUT: Yes. And could those, could that be undermined, though by more Ukrainian action, by targeting supply lines, targeting Russian energy installations? Reports suggesting Ukraine may be launching more drone strikes into Russia. Is there a risk that this type of Ukrainian action could risk further escalation as opposed to an easing of the conflict?

RYAN: Well, I think there's always a risk of these kind of things. But for four years now, we've been told that, you know, any kind of long- range strike into Russia risk escalation. That actually has not manifested. We've seen Ukraine strike 2,000 kilometres into Russia. Russia has not been able to escalate the war. It has chosen not to do anything more awful than what it's already done.

So, I think, you know, those escalation risks that we saw in the first year of war were unfounded. And the Ukrainians appear to have the upper hand at this point in time.

STOUT: And it looks like this is a turning point in the war. Major General Mick Ryan, thank you so much for joining us.

RYAN: Thank you.

STOUT: The Mexican navy says it seized more than a ton of methamphetamine in a massive drug bust across three states. Five secret meth labs were also dismantled in this operation. The seizures were linked to audios. Flores Silva, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel known as El Jardinero, or the Gardener. Silva was arrested in a sting last month.

The U.S. state Department says Silva was one of the most wanted drug traffickers in the world. You're watching CNN newsroom. Still to come, a high-risk underwater recovery mission is about to get underway in the Maldives. And we'll be speaking to the chief of the Divers Alert Network Europe about what it's going to take to find the four missing Italian divers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:27:27]

STOUT: Now some of the world's top divers have joined the dangerous recovery mission in the Maldives. The Maldivian Coast Guard has been carrying out the search for five Italian nationals who died in a scuba accident last week and so far only one of them has been found. And now a team of expert Finnish diversity they're about to begin their operation. CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau brings us more.

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The divers who are part of the Divers Alert Network are experienced in deep cave diving. On Friday, a 43-year-old rescue diver from the Maldives also perished while searching the underwater caves. The body of Gianluca Benedetti, the instructor who led the fatal dive, was recovered at the mouth of the cave after the group failed to reemerge from their excursion to the caves on Thursday.

The other victims include Monica Montefalcone, an associate professor of ecology from the University of Geneva, and her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, who was a student in biomedical engineering at the institution. Federico Gualtieri, a marine biologist and researcher, Muriel Oddenino also perished in the tragedy.

An investigation is now underway to determine why the experienced divers had surpassed the 30-meter depth limit down to the caves. Some 50 meters below the water surface, according to an Italian prosecutor who has opened an investigation into the incident. The 20 Italians who were on the Duke of York boat but who were not part of the cave dive were flown back to Rome on an Italian military flight on Sunday, according to Italy's foreign Ministry. Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, Rome.

STOUT: Now, Laura Marroni is the CEO of the Divers Alert Network Europe, whose expert team of divers is now searching for those missing Italians. And she joins us now from Rosetto, Italy. And Laura, thank you so much for joining us on the program and many thanks indeed you and your team for the incredible work that they will soon be undertaking because this is a dangerous mission.

This will start in about half an hour from now. Could you tell us what your team in the Maldives is doing to prepare and to protect themselves for this operation?

[01:29:37]

LAURA MARRONI, CEO, DIVERS ALERT NETWORK EUROPE: Yes. Good morning, and thank you for having me. The team has prepared all the dive gear this morning. They are using technical equipment, including rebreathers with gas mixtures and underwater scooters to undertake this dive.

It's going to be a complex dive, a depth starting from 55 meters. And that could go even deeper inside the cave.

The environment is an overhead environment. So it's a sea cave, but we know that there are multiple parts of the cave where there is no light from the outside. So this makes the operation quite complex.

But the team that we have selected has a wide experience in these kind of missions. They are professional rescuers and they lead other operations of this kind many times in Europe and elsewhere.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Laura, we're screening the video that you sent to us earlier showing the specialized equipment that the team is using for this recovery operation. Could you tell us more about this equipment that they're using for this dive?

These are -- these are specialized tanks that go far beyond standard dive tanks, right?

MARRONI: So yes, it's not really about the tanks. It's the breathing apparatus that they're using is rebreather. So a closed circuit, breathing apparatus.

This means that when they breathe from the -- from the -- from the tanks -- from the -- from the gas tanks then there is a filter that recycles the air that they're breathing and gives again clear, clean air back to them.

So this means that they can actually use the same tank much longer than with the normal open circuit breathing apparatus. And this is what makes --

(CROSSTALKING)

STOUT: Yes, they're using this specialized breathing apparatus. That's right. For this -- this mission, which is again very dangerous. And at what point, Laura, does it become too dangerous? Because, you

know, after the tragic death of the military diver over the weekend, at what point does the team decide, you know, what the cost of the mission, it outweighs the need to recover the remains of the victims.

When do you make that decision to say, no, we need to cancel this?

MARRONI: So DAN, Divers Alert Network, is a safety organization. This means that safety is of utmost importance for us. The team knows that they do not have to put themselves at risk.

And this also means that if there is any condition that they deem to be too dangerous, they would stop the dive, go back to surface, replan, and then dive again the next day or whenever possible.

Situations of this sort could mean that there is too strong current, underwater current or that the cave, because they don't know the cave. So whenever they enter into the cave, they will understand if the morphology of the cave is safe enough for their -- for their planning, for their dive planning.

If it's not, like I've said, they will need to redo the plan. And then abort the dive and dive again after that.

STOUT: Yes, absolutely. It's safety first for this critical mission -- a very, very dangerous and high risk one at that, recovering the remains of those missing four Italian divers who died in this terrible accident.

Your team about to go underwater momentarily in just under, what, 25 minutes from now? We wish them the best of luck.

Laura Marroni, thank you so much for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM.

STOUT: All right. You're watching CNN.

MARRONI: Thank you.

STOUT: And still to come here on the program, two navy fighter jets, they collided during an air show in Idaho. Incredible video. We'll bring you the latest details just ahead.

[01:33:38]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUT: An investigation is underway after two U.S. Navy fighter jets collided during an air show in Idaho on Sunday. And officials say all four crew members on both jets ejected safely using a parachute, and they're being evacuated by medical personnel.

The Gunfighters Air Show was taking place near the Mountain Home Air Force Base, and the base went on lockdown after the crash. The remainder of the air show was canceled.

And in Arizona, this video was taken from the wing of a plane making an emergency landing in Phoenix. This video was made public recently. It shows a World War II era sea plane forced to land on a street back in April. No injuries to the three passengers on board.

Early findings from an investigation reportedly suggest that the plane's exhaust tailpipe separated from the manifold leading to that hard landing.

And the Bulgarian pop star Dara is celebrating her Eurovision victory now that she's back in Bulgaria. And fans greeted her by cheering and singing along to her hit song that won the contest, "Bangaranga".

It was the first time in ten years that the juries and the public both agreed on the same winner. Dara's win also marked the first ever for Bulgaria, and here's what some fans had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSTISLAVA RUSEVA, FINANCIAL SERVICES WORKER (through translator): I cried a bit. I still can't believe it. I'm waiting to see the trophy and then we'll see if it really sinks in. We still don't know if we fully grasp that we've actually won.

[01:39:48]

ELENA STOYANOVA, PHYSICIST (through translator): I was so happy because we manifested this victory. At her sendoff, the three of us gave her a doll, a figurine of her holding the trophy. And I'm so glad that she managed to fight for and win that award.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had some hopes that she would win, but weren't very confident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Catholics gathered in Poland for a unique annual tradition, blending dancing with sacred artworks. They participated in an annual pilgrimage to a religious site in northern Poland's Kashubian ethnic region on Sunday.

The pilgrims performed the tradition of bowing. That's when they dance with the sacred paintings called feretrons. Now, the artworks feature images of saints, martyrs and scenes from the bible.

I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong.

"WORLDSPORT" is next.

And then there is more CNN NEWSROOM at the top of the hour.

[01:40:46]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)