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Iran Faces New Restriction As Internet Access Returns. Aired 4- 4:30a ET

Aired May 28, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:34]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, everybody. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York. And this is CNN Newsroom. And here's what's coming your way. A fragile ceasefire under threat as Iran and the United States trade new attacks, how the region is responding to this latest escalation.

Plus, the Justice Department launching a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, who accused President Donald Trump of sexual assault. And NBA ticket prices, they are shattering records as the New York Knicks head to the finals for the first time in years. We'll break down some of those costs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from New York, this is CNN Newsroom with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: Everybody, let's begin with escalating tensions between the United States and Iran as both sides trade new attacks. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says that it launched an attack on an American air base. However, it's still unclear which one. They do say that it's the same base that carried out the latest round of strikes in Iran. A U.S. official is telling CNN that the U.S. was targeting a military site near the Strait of Hormuz that was being used to launch attack drones. The official says that the move was purely defensive amid ongoing efforts to reach a peace deal. Here's what President Trump said on Wednesday about where those negotiations stand as of this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Iran is very much intent. They want very much to make a deal. So far, they haven't gotten there. We're not satisfied with it, but we will be. We will be.

Either that or we'll have to just finish the job. They're negotiating on fumes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And his comments are coming as Iranian state media report that Iran fired warning shots at ships that tried passing through the Strait of Hurmuz and that forced them to turn around, head in the other direction. Let's go to CNN's Oren Liebermann now who's joining me from Jerusalem. Oren, I also want to get the latest on the situation in Lebanon. But perhaps we start with this situation between the U.S. and Iran right now. These latest strikes. What is the latest? And are there any concerns that it could jeopardize these ongoing negotiations?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Polo, we have now seen the U.S. carry out strikes in Iran twice in just a few days here. The U.S. has tried to frame these as defensive strikes that don't violate the ceasefire. But that, of course, isn't only up to the U.S. it's up to Iran as well. And Iran has very clearly stated that it views these as a violation of the ceasefire and carried out strikes in retaliation. The U.S. targeted the key port city of Bandar Abbas, which is very close to the Strait of Hormuz.

A U.S. official says they targeted a facility there, as well as shooting down several drones. In response, Iran says they targeted the base from which those attacks were launched, although they didn't say in what country those attacks had taken place. Nevertheless, this puts the ceasefire on incredibly shaky ground, especially because the U.S. is putting forward a pattern here, carrying out strikes that it insists don't violate the ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Iran is still exercising and showing that it has control over the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media saying they forced four vessels to turn around because they didn't coordinate with the proper authorities, meaning the newly established Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which is what Iran set up to manage and control the Strait of Hormuz and passage through one of the world's most critical waterways. Of course, the U.S. finds that unacceptable and sanctioned the Persian Gulf Strait authority. So you now have not only military challenges to the ceasefire, but also diplomatic hurdles as well. And all that means that President Donald Trump saying Iran very badly wants a deal.

Well, that's little more than wishful thinking at this point. Iran not signaling they're in any rush at all to get to a deal because they feel like they're negotiating from a position of strength. And we'll wait to see how this continues here. Will the U.S. carry out more strikes and will Iran escalate its own responses to those strikes?

SANDOVAL: And Oren, to Lebanon, where ceasefire conditions are supposed to apply there. Nonetheless, though, another round of strikes.

LIEBERMANN: It's even harder to see a ceasefire in Lebanon than it is to see one between the U.S. and Iran. Israel announced that they're carrying out more strikes on the city of Tyre that is on the coast in southern Lebanon. But crucially, it's north of the Israeli occupied zone in southern Lebanon. And we are seeing an increasing number of strikes not only outside of that zone, but also in central or eastern Lebanon in the Beqaa Valley. As Israel said, it's targeting Hezbollah infrastructure sites.

[04:05:06]

Hezbollah, meanwhile, continues to launch drones and rockets at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and northern Israel. So even though there is supposed to be a U.S. brokered extension to the ceasefire, there is very much an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah on the ground. Israel carrying out waves of strikes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military just a couple days ago to intensify its operations in Lebanon.

SANDOVAL: CNN's Oren Liebermann with that live report from Jerusalem. Thank you, Oren.

In the meantime, there are millions of Iranians that once again have access to the internet. But there is a catch. According to the internet monitoring group NetBlocks, there are new restrictions on messaging and mobile app stores even after Iran restored -- after Iran's president ordered authorities to restore internet access earlier this week, Tehran started restricting some net access amid anti-government demonstrations months. The Iranian regime went into a near total internet blackout after the start of the war at the end of February.

Joining me now is Mehdi Yahyanejad. He's an internet freedom activist and also co-founder of NetFreedom Pioneers.

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

MEHDI YAHYANEJAD, CO-FOUNDER, NETFREEDOM PIONEERS: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: I wonder if we can just bring our viewers up to speed around the world in terms of what is the reality for Iranians. To what extent has the internet been restored?

YAHYANEJAD: The internet has been restored partially. It's a number of -- a number of important protocols have been -- still are blocked and people can now use them. As also you mentioned, Play Store and Apple Store are not fully accessible to a lot of Iranians. Messengers like -- such as WhatsApp or iMessage are still not accessible. So compared to what it was six months ago, the internet is even more restricted and more censored.

SANDOVAL: The Iranian regime still in control. The war is still ongoing. So why now?

YAHYANEJAD: Partially, I mean part of the challenge for them was the cost, economic cost. The estimates were Iranian government was losing somewhere between $50 million, $200 million a day because of internet shutdown. And considering that there are other sources of income such as oil exports have been embargoed at this point they couldn't tolerate losing more money because of internet shutdown. And also it seems they believe that the deal is closed. So they were -- part of the reason they shut down internet was to control the narrative both inside Iran and outside Iran.

That reason is less important considering that they feel that the deal is closed.

SANDOVAL: And in terms of controlling the narrative, that goes back to something I mentioned a little while ago, which is how we got here in the first place. I wonder if you could just remind our viewers what triggered the initial internet blackout, which actually predates this conflict.

YAHYANEJAD: Absolutely. I mean, there were major protests in Iran back in January, and the Iranian government killed a large number of Iranian protesters in tens of thousands. And that was the initial internet shutdown this year. So the internet shutdown went for weeks, and there was a very short period of time, maybe two or three weeks, that the internet was again partially back online. And then once the war started, they used the excuse of security reasons and they shut it down again.

Of course, a lot of people believe that this is because of controlling the narrative inside Iran and they wanted to portray themselves in control and leaving internet open to people would have challenged their narrative, and people would, of course, question their successes, the claim successes that they had in terms of the war.

SANDOVAL: I'm wondering, you know, in terms of controlling the narrative, ultimately it is in the Iran regime's best interest to continue that blackout. So I'm just curious, and you touched on that just a little while ago on the why now, you know, for the last 88 days I'm just curious if Iran's regime actually benefited from this blackout, you know, not only with controlling the narrative, because ultimately wouldn't this serve as a disadvantage for the regime even if they were to loosen, you know, loosen the reins a little bit on the internet?

YAHYANEJAD: So there are other, I think, issues going on inside Iran. They had whitelisted the number of Iranian government supporters to have access to internet during the war, and they pushed the Iranian government propaganda. But I think more recently, those supporters, most of them were among the hardliners in Iran, they became more of an issue for the Iranian government because the -- a lot of them are against the deal. And of course, at this point of the time, Iranian government wants the deal to happen.

[04:10:25]

And just leaving that portion of Iranian supporters, their loyalists who were even more hardlined at their current position, that wouldn't be wise. So that's why I think they realized that maybe if they ease the internet access and they let more Iranians come online, they might have a better chance of selling the deal inside Iran instead of just letting their own hardline supporters to be online.

SANDOVAL: So much at play behind the scenes here. Mehdi Yahyanejad, thank you so much for taking the time for staying up late for us.

YAHYANEJAD: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: All right, now to a story that was first reported by CNN. Sources are saying that the U.S. Justice Department has now launched a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, who's the former magazine columnist who's accusing president -- who previously accused President Trump of sexual assault. We're now learning that the probe is focused on whether Carroll committed perjury in testimony tied to her two civil lawsuits against the U.S. president. CNN's Paula Reid fills us in from Washington.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The investigation into E. Jean Carroll is just the latest in a series of moves that the Justice Department has made against President Trump's long term adversaries. Now this investigation, we're told, focuses on a 2022 deposition where Carroll said that she had received no outside funding. But her lawyers later informed the judge that she had received funding from billionaire Reid Hoffman for legal fees and other expenses, expenses ahead of the trial, the judge found no issue with her credibility and blocked Trump lawyers from even being able to ask about this funding issue. Now this case, we are told, is being handled out of the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has been recused from this case because of his work on the prior Carroll related appeal. We're told he has not been involved in any meetings about this or had any discussions about this investigation. I'm told that it was referred to Chicago because that is where Reid Hoffman's nonprofit is located.

Now, Carroll, who is 82 years old, is currently embroiled in multiple legal battles with President Trump. Juries have awarded her millions of dollars in damages, but President Trump is appealing those judgments. His appeal of a $5 million judgment in a sexual abuse case has been pending before the Supreme Court for quite some time. The court has deferred 12 times on whether it will hear that case. Now Carroll's attorneys declined to comment on this reporting.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

SANDOVAL: Legal experts are weighing in on the Justice Department's latest move. A former special counsel at the Defense Department was asked if this is an unprecedented situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN GOODMAN, JUST SECURITY CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: This is not usual for the Justice Department to go back into an old civil case from years ago and pick out one statement in a deposition that even the federal judge in that case said was not directly material to the ultimate conclusion in the case, and one in which her own lawyers said that she didn't recall at the time she was asked the question and that she had no direct contact with the nonprofit that provided those funds. So there's all sorts of complications as to why the Justice Department would never think of that as something that's a live case. She is now one of several who are going to raise the claim of a motion to dismiss to throw the entire case out for vindictive or selective prosecution. She will be able to list all of the times that President Trump has gone after her personally and has tried to say that he would lower the hammer on her.

There's a very strong case of this. That's why I think even the discussion as to what the strength of the case against her might be is going to end up being premature. There's a very high likelihood she'd win on that. And when I say that is such a rare thing. It is very rare for those kinds of cases to emerge of vindictive and selective prosecution. And just in the last few days, a federal district court threw out the case against Abrego Garcia, saying that it was based on selective and vindictive prosecution by this Justice Department.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Former first lady Jill Biden says that she was worried that her husband, then President Joe Biden, that he was suffering a stroke during the 2024 presidential debate. Her comment is a rare public acknowledgment that former President Biden delivered a disastrous debate performance that night. The poor showing ultimately doomed his bid for a second term. The former first lady opened up about the debate in an interview with CBS News.

[04:15:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANE PAULEY, HOST, "SUNDAY MORNING": Were you horrified as you saw it unfold?

JILL BIDEN, FORMER FIRST LADY: I wasn't horrified. I was frightened because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never.

PAULEY: Or since?

BIDEN: Yes. Or since.

PAULEY: You've never seen him like that.

BIDEN: Never. No.

PAULEY: What happened?

BIDEN: I don't know what happened. I mean, when I -- as I watched it, I thought, oh my God, he's having a stroke. And it scared me to death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: That interview had comes as Jill Biden prepares for a book tour of her forthcoming memoir about her time in the White House.

In Texas, the runoff is over and now the race is on for U.S. Senate seat. Democrat James Talarico kicking off a five-day campaign swing with a rally on Wednesday night in the city of Houston. He's taken aim at state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who won the Republican Senate runoff on Tuesday night, thanks in large part to President Trump's endorsement. CNN's Arlette Saenz has an in depth look at what we can expect the next few months on the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEN PAXTON, (R) TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: My opponent is the most extreme radical the Democrats have ever nominated. REP. JAMES TALARICO (D-TX), SENATE CANDIDATE: The most corrupt politician in America just became the Republican nominee for the United States Senate.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democratic state lawmaker James Talarico now locked in a matchup for U.S. Senate that could be one of the most expensive and bitter battles of the midterms. The MAGA aligned Paxton secured the Republican nomination Tuesday with the backing of President Donald Trump despite pleas from party leaders who saw incumbent Senator John Cornyn as more electable in November.

PAXTON: Everyone in Washington told him to abandon me and abandon the people of Texas. He didn't listen.

SAENZ (voice-over): Now the GOP is falling in line. The Senate Republicans campaign arm which bashed Paxton during the primary deleting posts criticizing the newly minted nominee, including one video slamming his time as attorney general.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): I trust the voters of Texas and they've made their decision.

SAENZ (voice-over): As the race enters a new phase, Paxton and Talarico are diving straight into attack mode.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Texas. This is not.

TALARICO: It is now existential that we try to reduce our meat consumption.

I've been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton's first indictment.

SAENZ (voice-over): Paxton has survived a series of personal and political controversies in Texas, but Democrats believe those scandals won't sit well with voters in November.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In between it all, the state's top attorney had a mug shot.

SAENZ (voice-over): The battle for Texas will be costly. Talarico brought in more than $27 million in the first three months of 2026, with a source telling CNN he raised $600,000 in just two hours after Paxton's win. Paxton is playing catch up in the money race, raising just $2.2 million during the first quarter of the year.

PAXTON: I need your help. We know James Talarico is going to raise more money than any Democrat in America.

SAENZ (voice-over): Despite Democratic optimism, Talarico faces a tough road ahead in Texas, where voters have not elected a Democratic senator since 1988, the year before Talarico was born. The party has sensed optimism before --

BETO O'ROURKE, (D) FORMER TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: We will be celebrating the victory of our lifetimes. SAENZ (voice-over): -- only to fall short. The question this year is whether Talarico can break that streak or will Paxton extend it.

PAXTON: If there's one thing I know about Texans is that we're not going to let them take it.

TALARICO: If we the people can come together to defeat the most corrupt politician in America, we can defeat this entire corrupt system.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAENZ (on camera): James Talarico is now on a five-day campaign swing that he's dubbed the People vs. Ken Paxton tour, starting with an event in Houston on Wednesday and ending right here in Plano on Monday. Ken Paxton will be off the campaign trail, but a Republican source tells me he will be in Washington, D.C. next week to attend at least one fundraiser.

Raising money will be a big focus for Paxton in the coming weeks. And there are very real questions about how much money the national Republican Party apparatus will decide to spend here in Texas, especially as they're balancing all of their cash reserves with very many other competitive races on the Senate map this year.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, Plano, Texas.

SANDOVAL: Joy and relief allows after five villagers are found alive in a flooded cave. But it's not over yet. Now comes a very difficult process of getting them out of there. I'll tell you how they plan to do it. Plus a treacherous task after a deadly rupture of a chemical tank at a U.S. paper plant.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:23:44]

SANDOVAL: And there is cautious optimism in Laos, where rescuers say that they are hopeful that they can soon begin bringing out five men who are trapped in a flooded cave. The group was found alive on Wednesday after spending a week underground in the dark. While two others are still missing, rescue teams are now preparing for that very difficult extraction process. Here's CNN's Randi Kaye to explain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Deep inside this cave in central Laos, lives are on the line. Not just the trapped villagers, but their rescuers, too. It all started about a week ago on May 19, when seven villagers entered the cave in search of gold. Before they knew it, massive rains triggered flash flooding which blocked their exit. Authorities were alerted to the trapped villagers by a member of the group who managed to escape before the exit was blocked, AP reported.

For days, specially trained cave divers tried to reach the group, diving deep into the 1,100 foot tunnel, winding their way through the cave's narrow passages, some just about 23 inches across. It is so narrow that you have to tilt sideways, duck low and crawl flat on your stomach to get through, one diver said. After hours in the dark navigating muddy waters, most days ended in disappointment as rescuers covered in mud returned without finding the villagers.

[04:25:06]

In this video, a diver reports he left the cave at nearly midnight after rain started again and they pulled out for their own safety. Helmets, breathing masks and gas monitors are also being used to monitor levels of oxygen and toxic gases inside. As rescuers pushed deeper into the cave each day, they made noise, trying to signal to the trapped villagers that help was on the way. Divers yelled into the darkness, is anyone there? Near the cavern where they thought the villagers were, the water just ankle deep.

Rescuers have been pumping water out of the cave. Finally, on Wednesday, this was the moment divers found five of the villagers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): OK, now I am Bonz here and this Mr. Mikko. We have now successfully located the five Lao nationals.

KAYE (voice-over): They reported all five are safe. On this finished rescuer's Instagram post, he asks each villager his name and how they feel. They tell him they are not ill, just hungry. The search continues for the two other villagers, but finding these five men is only half the battle. They still need to get them out of the cave.

As this rescuer said on social media, extraction is still ahead and it ain't going to be easy. The trapped villagers were given liquid and gel food, but some of the cave divers must head straight back the way they came to gather more supplies for the men so they can build up enough strength for the journey out.

The rescue operation started long before the cave diving. Crews had to hike about two and a half miles through the jungle to even find the site. Now, one diver told CNN more than 100 people have joined the operation, including 15 experienced divers and experts who helped save 12 young soccer players and their coaches who were trapped in a cave in Thailand in 2018.

Randi Kaye, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: The Coast Guard is asking officials in the Bahamas for permission to send divers to new locations in their search for an American woman who's been missing now for nearly two months. A U.S. official familiar with the investigation says that the request came after investigators found some inconsistencies between her husband's location data and his statements about where to search for his wife, Lynette Hooker. The 55-year-old mother and sailor went missing in early April. Her husband, Brian Hooker, told authorities that she fell from an eight foot dinghy in rough waters. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in his wife's disappearance.

Search crews are conducting the grim task of recovering nine people now presumed dead after an industrial incident in the U.S. State of Washington. At least two people have already been confirmed dead after a tank containing hazardous chemicals ruptured at a paper plant on Tuesday. Eight others were injured. Sherrell Hubbard with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHERRELL HUBBARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rescue efforts have ended. Now first responders say they've shifted into recovery mode after a chemical tank rupture in Washington State.

BOB FERGUSON, WASHINGTON STATE GOVERNOR: We're bracing ourselves for this being the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington State history.

HUBBARD (voice-over): The Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company facility is in Longview, about 130 miles south of Seattle. Tuesday morning it became the site of a fatal implosion after a 900,000 gallon tank containing a chemical mixture used in the paper making process ruptured. The blast, killing some and chemically burning others.

MARIE GLUESENKAMP PEREZ, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: First responders, emergency workers and nurses saw unthinkable horrors.

HUBBARD (voice-over): Officials have not released any names of those killed, injured or missing in Tuesday's incident, but one daughter identified her father, Gilbert Bernal, as one of the deceased, saying he was a beloved father and a one of a kind grandfather.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gilbert was always willing to help anybody.

HUBBARD (voice-over): Recovery efforts were halted Tuesday evening due to safety concerns about the unstable tank. Authorities said it was stable Wednesday, clearing the way for operations to continue.

MATT AMOS, LONGVIEW FIRE BATTALION CHIEF: Slow, methodical and deliberate, the priority is ensuring responder safety while treating every victim with the greatest dignity, care and respect.

HUBBARD (voice-over): Authorities did not say they expected to find any more survivors.

I'm Sherrell Hubbard reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And still ahead, a new study from the Federal Reserve finding troubling signs about the U.S. economy and the financial problems that are facing families throughout the country. We'll share that data in a moment. Also, New York's Democratic governor describing her relationship with the Trump administration and also her pushback against what she calls the overreach of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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