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Trump to Meet Iran's Supreme Leader If There Will Be An Agreement; CNN Visits DRC's Mining Town Where the Ebola Outbreak Started. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired June 05, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, wherever you are in the world. You are now in the "CNN Newsroom" with me, Ben Hunte in Atlanta, and it is so good to have you with me. Coming up on the show.

The U.S. President says he would meet with Iran's new supreme leader if it was tied to a peace plan.

Ukraine's President is calling for Russia's leader to meet with him face to face.

And CNN visits the mining town in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the first case in the current Ebola outbreak may have occurred.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Ben Hunte.

HUNTE: Welcome.

It is 3:00 a.m. in Washington, 10:30 a.m. in Tehran. And we begin with a surprising statement from U.S. President Donald Trump. He says he would be open, even honored to meet with Iran's new supreme leader if there is an agreement to end the war.

The President says the Ayatollah is probably a professional and has a very good reputation in some circles. But Mr. Trump went on to say if Iran killed U.S. troops, that would be a good reason to restart the war.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is live in Abu Dhabi for us with the latest. Paula, with everything that we have learned over the past few hours, how close do you think Washington and Tehran actually are to reaching a deal?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ben, if we look back over the last week, there has been a lot said by the Trump administration, by the U.S. President. But anything concrete is really missing. There hasn't appeared to be much movement at all when it comes to this memorandum of understanding that the two sides have been working on. Now, we heard from the U.S. President last weekend. He said that he

believed there could be an agreement this week. We heard on Thursday the President saying he believes it could be this weekend.

But we have been hearing this optimism and these suggested timelines for weeks now, and nothing concrete has come of it. You look at what we're hearing from the Iranian side as well.

The foreign minister, Abbas Aragchi, saying that there is no formal negotiation ongoing, but there are messages that are being passed back and forth between the U.S. and Iran through a mediator, but has said that there has been no significant progress. We did hear, though, as you say, from the U.S. President on Thursday. Let's listen to what talks are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: You're going to find out what the deal is, but the main parts of the deal is that it can't have a nuclear weapon.

The strait will open immediately. You know, it's going to open immediately. I think we're doing very well, but we're going to see if we're going to win one way or the other.

We're going to win on paper or we're going to win military. One way or the other, it's going to be militarily or on paper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: So what we understand from officials that this memorandum of understanding contains is an opening -- a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. It appears, though, that the details of how the nuclear program in Iran would be restricted going forward would be left for another date -- a later date.

And we understand that the U.S. President has sent back some requests that he wants stronger language. We understand from U.S. officials when it comes to the reopening of the Strait and also stronger language when it comes to compromises that will be made when it comes to the nuclear program.

But when it comes to seeing exactly where these talks are, how close potentially we are to any kind of memorandum of agreement between the U.S. and Iran, there is nothing concrete that we can point to at this point. Ben.

HUNTE: And on Lebanon, is there any realistic path forward from here?

HANCOCKS: Again, we've been hearing positive signs from the U.S. President. He said that good progress had been made. We did see that this week the U.S. had been mediating these conversations between Israel and Lebanon.

Hezbollah was not part of these discussions. They did agree, though, on a framework of a ceasefire. [03:04:58]

But we have since heard from the leader of Hezbollah that he has rejected that deal, pointing out that it is what he calls a, quote, "farce and insult and would amount to surrender."

Now, what we have heard from the U.S., from Israel, of this ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is that it would require Hezbollah to put down its arms. It would require Hezbollah to move further away from the border with Israel as well. It hasn't at this point suggested that Israel has to give anything up.

In fact, we've heard from the defense minister that they will continue to fire and that they would keep troops in Lebanon as long as needed, Ben.

HUNTE: Okay, Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi. Thank you.

Maha Yahya is the director of the Carnegie Middle East Center. She joins me now from Beirut.

Just yesterday, Hezbollah rejected the latest U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal agreed by Israel and the Lebanese government, too. How significant was that rejection? And does it effectively kill the deal in its current form?

MAHA YAHYA, DIRECTOR, CARNEGIE MIDDLE EAST CENTER: Good morning, Ben. No, it doesn't, honestly, because Hezbollah is not even party to this discussion. The discussions are happening between representatives of the Lebanese government and the Israeli government.

And it's not even a deal, in all honesty. It's a kind of memorandum of understanding of sorts, some principles that have been agreed to. And the problem with what was put out is that it's very much tilted towards Israel perspective of things.

So there's no time frame. There's no -- the ceasefire is, again, unilateral. It's contingent on the withdrawal of Hezbollah, the disarmament from certain areas, disarmament.

So a lot of the conditionalities in the deal itself make it very difficult for it to be implemented and accepted on the Lebanese side. And then you add to the mix the fact that Hezbollah itself is under, frankly, the control of the IRGC in Iran.

And so long as Iran doesn't agree to any kind of a deal or to accept any kind of cessation of hostilities without getting whatever political leverage it wants in return, we're not going to see any kind of ceasefire, effective ceasefire or a broad ceasefire, where Israel really does stop firing on Hezbollah also.

HUNTE: All of that considered, what are people in Lebanon telling you right now? How would you describe the mood in the country?

YAHYA: Very anxious, very tired. I mean, people here are just exhausted of conflict. They want this over and done with. People understand that the post-conflict period is going to bring tremendous challenges. There are direct threats to Lebanese sovereignty. Israel today, in 2024, when that conflict ceased, if you like, to some extent, in November 2024, Israel was occupying five hilltops, which it absolutely refused to leave, and then between 2024 and the latest round, there was a constant infraction of the ceasefire agreement at the time on the Israeli side.

Now today, we've gone from five hilltops to occupying almost one-third of southern Lebanon, close to 15 percent of Lebanese territory. This is not a buffer zone. This is occupied Lebanese territory and this destruction is enormous. So we're talking, I mean, the last figure I saw, which was more than a month ago, was something like 63 towns and villages had been totally eradicated.

So there's genuine concern that, A, Israel is planning a long-term occupation of southern Lebanon, and, B, even if it were to withdraw from some areas, the possibility of return is incredibly difficult, if not impossible in some cases, because there's nothing left to return to.

So there's a lot of anxiety, a lot of concern, and people just want this over and done with. We're tired of war.

HUNTE: After everything that we have seen over the past couple of days, who do you think has the most leverage right now, Israel, Hezbollah, Iran, or potentially the U.S.?

YAHYA: The U.S. Depends leverage on whom. Leverage on Israel, it's the United States. President Trump is the only one that can pull off a real cessation of hostilities in Lebanon, an actual ceasefire, and can pressure Israel to begin withdrawing, to wind down its military campaign, and start to work with the Lebanese government to put whatever is needed in place to both disarm Hezbollah, among others.

[03:10:04]

But also to put the security measures that are needed for Lebanese as well for Israeli security. There need to be guarantors there.

So President Trump is the one, frankly, it's the United States that has the most leverage. Iran obviously carries significant leverage also, which is why what happens in Lebanon.

Lebanon is just a sideshow for the bigger conflict between the Iranians, Israelis, and Americans. So what happens in Lebanon is very much influenced by the ongoing negotiations between Iran and the U.S.

HUNTE: Okay, well, thank you so much for that insight. We need to leave it there. Maha Yahya in Beirut, thank you.

YAHYA: Thank you, Ben.

HUNTE: CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Tehran, and we should note CNN operates there only with the permission of the government, but maintains full editorial control of its reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're at an event here in Tehran to mark the death of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini. And as you can see, a lot of people have turned out here to pay their respects.

Now, in this year, as Iran is in this conflict with the United States, of course, this event also has a special meaning for the people who have come here. There's a lot of people that we are seeing who are waving red flags that say revenge on them. Because, of course, there are still a lot of people here who want revenge for the killing of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

And that's also something that was voiced here by the crowd.

UNKNOWN (through translator): We don't trust America. Never. Ever.

UNKNOWN (through translator): There is no reason for the Islamic Republic of Iran to grant concessions.

SEYYED AHMAD KHOMEINI, KHOMAINI'S GREAT GRANDSON (through translator): We have no reason to back down from our position. We were not defeated in war, nor have we been defeated in diplomacy. We demonstrated that we are capable of resisting and that we are highly resilient.

PLEITGEN: At the same time, of course, the context that all of this happens in is extremely important. There are talks that are going on between the U.S. and Iran, where both sides say they are trying to get to a memorandum of understanding that would then pave the way for broader peace talks to try and end the war between Iran and the United States for good.

Also, though, of course, the security situation, especially in the Persian Gulf, remains extremely volatile, with the U.S. hitting some targets on some Persian Gulf islands, the Iranians, for their part, saying that they were hitting targets affiliated with the United States in places like Kuwait and in places like Bahrain as well.

So the security situation is very volatile. The ceasefire is very fragile. At the same time, both sides say that they are trying to find a way out of the impasse.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Okay, coming up, John Bolton reaches a plea deal with prosecutors over the mishandling of sensitive national security information. Details ahead.

Plus, Ukraine's leader makes a direct appeal to his Russian counterpart to try to put an end to the war. See you in a moment.

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HUNTE: President Trump's former national security adviser turned adversary, John Bolton, is planning to plead guilty to one felony count of illegal retention of sensitive national security information. That is, according to three sources familiar with the deal. One source says Bolton also agreed to pay a more than two million dollar fine that could allow him to avoid some prison time.

The court docket shows that Bolton's plea deal with the U.S. hearing is set for June 26th. This plea deal doesn't include charges related to allegations that Bolton took home or shared classified documents with two unauthorized individuals, his wife and daughter.

The U.S. announced new economic sanctions on Thursday targeting top Cuban officials, including Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel. The sanctions also target some of the President's family members, along with former President Raul Castro's son and grandson, too.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration is going after those who, quote, "sustain the regime's malicious campaign to subvert and destabilize U.S. national security," end quote. This is the latest move by the U.S. in its pressure campaign against the Cuban government.

Ukraine's President is urging his Russian counterpart to meet face to face and negotiate the end of the war. Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a proposal in an open letter to Vladimir Putin on Thursday. The Ukrainian leader wants a firm date for the meeting, which would be held in a third country, and he's calling for a ceasefire during talks.

In response, the Russian leader questioned Mr. Zelenskyy's legitimacy as President. Some experts say it would be politically difficult for Mr. Putin to agree to meet the Ukrainian leader.

In the coming hours, Russian President Vladimir Putin will take center stage at his showcase economic forum in St. Petersburg. He is set to make what the Kremlin calls a grand speech at the event, which is often called Putin's Davos. The statement says he will focus on economic problems and political issues, too.

But the forum gave Ukraine an opportunity to snub Mr. Putin in a way that's impossible to ignore. Ukrainian drones struck St. Petersburg just hours before the event began on Wednesday. As Clare Sebastian reports, Kyiv is increasingly taking the war to Russia's major cities.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): War on Russia's doorstep. As Putin's Davos gets underway, Ukrainian drones rained down on the country's second largest city, St. Petersburg.

[03:20:07] Russia's main cities have largely been shielded from the daily realities of the war in Ukraine. But Kyiv's long range strikes are now changing that.

YELENA, RESIDENT (translated): (The drone) fell on this canopy, and then burst into flames, black smoke started coming.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Last month, at least three people were killed in the Moscow region after a large-scale drone attack. One drone struck Yelena's apartment block in Zelenograd, damaging several floors.

YELENA (translated): We started pouring water on the black smoke from the balcony. And then, we went in to get some water again, there was an explosion. And then, I told my son let's grab the dog and run away.

Here everything crashed and all the glass was shattered.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Now, in its fifth year, Russia's war with Ukraine, which the Kremlin calls a special military operation, has brought widespread devastation for Ukrainians. Ukraine regularly refers to its drone strikes on Russia as long-range sanctions. President Zelenskyy calling the wave of strikes on the Moscow region in May entirely justified.

Next door in Zelenograd, Maxim was away for the weekend when the drone struck. When he came home, he discovered authorities had broken down his door to assess the damage.

MAXIM, RESIDENT (translated): I'm half Lithuanian, my entire family in Lithuania is simply shocked by the fact that Ukrainians and Russians are dying. That's what matters most. Slavs are killing slavs.

I'm all for this to end as soon as possible, damn it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: A journey to the heart of an epidemic. CNN travels to the remote African town where experts believe a growing outbreak of Ebola got started. What they saw coming up, see in a moment.

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HUNTE: Welcome back, I'm Ben Hunte. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

President Trump says he would restart the war of Iran if they kill any U.S. troops. Mr. Trump also says he would be honored to meet with Iran's new supreme leader if there's an agreement to end the war. The President called the Ayatollah probably a professional with a good reputation in some circles. John Bolton, President Trump's former national security advisor turned

adversary, intends to plead guilty. That's over mishandling of sensitive national security information and according to three sources familiar with the plea deal. One source says Bolton also agreed to pay a hefty fine that could allow him to avoid some prison time.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is indicating he's not buying into a proposal to meet his Ukrainian counterpart. On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a face-to-face meeting to negotiate an end to the war. In response, the Russian leader questioned Mr. Zelenskyy's legitimacy as President.

Okay, CNN is getting a first look inside a remote mining town where it's believed the first case occurred in a growing Ebola outbreak. There have been more than 300 additional cases of the disease and 60 deaths confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo since then.

Our Clarissa Ward and her team traveled to Mongbwalu to see firsthand the growing frustration, fear and mistrust in the area.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We are heading to Mongbwalu, a remote gold mining town deep in the lush forests of eastern Congo and the epicenter of this Ebola crisis.

WARD: From up here, you really get a sense of the challenges in fighting this outbreak, the vastness of the terrain and the total lack of good roads.

WARD (voice-over): The World Food Program now operates a daily helicopter to deliver supplies to the beleaguered community. On this day, they're bringing a much needed mobile testing lab. Days without results here have cost lives.

WARD: You can see they've sent security for us. That's because yesterday villagers were throwing rocks at a convoy of aid workers.

WARD (voice-over): We drive quickly through the town. Suspicion of aid organizations runs deep here with conspiracy theories swirling as the death toll mounts.

We jump out of the car to talk to local journalist Gar Mumbesa.

WARD: So he's saying that there's a feeling among the community as well that aid workers who are coming here are actually coming here to profit from this crisis, not to help.

WARD (voice-over): He spends his days trying to educate the community about the outbreak.

WARD: So he's saying that the reason he's frightened of this hospital is because everybody who goes in there sick, they don't leave, they come out dead.

WARD (voice-over): Inside the hospital, a small team is holding the line. Logistics coordinator Nafel Dridi is preparing to disinfect another body.

NAOUFEL DRIDI, LOGISTICS COORDINATOR, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS (through translator): It's like you're in the front lines where the bullets are flying. But with Ebola, you can't see it.

WARD (voice-over): That invisible enemy is everywhere here.

[03:30:00]

Workers carry the first body to the morgue. A grim procession disinfecting the path as they go. A second follows closely behind.

A woman can be heard wailing from inside. My child, she cries. I remember my child.

WARD: So he's explaining to me that the two bodies that we just saw being brought in, one of them was an 11-year-old child and the other one was an eight-month-old baby. And you can hear, we've been hearing the wails of the family. It's just -- it's unimaginable.

WARD (voice-over): The bodies keep coming, six in total this day, each one a family destroyed.

The mayor of Mongbwalu is overwhelmed. His town has never seen anything like this.

WARD: Can we talk about when this all started? When did you first understand that there was something terribly wrong going on here?

SESEREKI MANDRO ISRAEL, MAYOR OF MONGBWALU, DRC (translated): The date was February 22nd when a body arrived from Bunia in a coffin.

WARD: The 22nd of February.

WARD (voice-over): That's more than 11 weeks before the outbreak was declared.

ISRAEL (translated): Two or three weeks later, people started to die here. The death in two weeks, there were 48 dead here in Mongbwalu.

WARD (translated): 48?

ISRAEL (translated): Yes.

WARD (voice-over): The virus continued to spread, silently, invisibly, through this town and beyond. Healthcare workers are now playing catch-up to contain the outbreak, and the people of Mongbwalu are still paying the price.

Clarissa Ward, CNN, Mongbwalu, Democratic Republic of Congo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: The U.S. Coast Guard has taken custody of the small boat linked to its criminal investigation into an American woman's disappearance in the Bahamas. It is the dinghy where Lynette Hooker's husband said he last saw his wife. The 55-year-old woman has been missing since early April.

Police say her husband, Brian Hooker, told them she fell from the dinghy while they were navigating back to their yacht. The Coast Guard has been searching the waters and the shoreline this week for any trace of her. Brian Hooker has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in his wife's disappearance.

A massive search is underway in Japan for an American college student who went missing six days ago. James Weston Higginbotham was traveling with his family in Kyoto when he disappeared. His family says the Auburn University student went into the woods to blow off steam after an argument, they haven't seen or heard from him since.

Our Hanako Montgomery has more.

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HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nancy and Keith Higginbotham can only think of their missing son.

NANCY HIGGINBOTHAM, MOTHER OF MISSING AMERICAN: Every single second you think about your kid and then you have the flashbacks of when he was two, when I was breastfeeding him, the birthday parties we've thrown for him.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): The family of four is on a first-time holiday across Japan. But 20-year-old Weston Higginbotham left his parents and brother on Friday night and they haven't seen him since. The college student appeared to have switched off a GPS function on his phone and is believed to have taken a train away from Kyoto.

N. HIGGINBOTHAM: It's not unusual for Weston to blow off steam going to, you know, the woods, so, and just exploring. That's his happy place.

MONTGOMERY: But it was unusual that he turned off his location.

N. HIGGINBOTHAM: When he turned off his locations and that was so concerning because it's so out of character for him and I just felt it.

KEITH HIGGINBOTHAM, FATHER OF MISSING AMERICAN: It's mother's intuition. She kept saying something's not right.

HIGGINBOTHAM: I said something's not right. I knew something was wrong.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Weston is a keen outdoorsman, a vegan and an environmentalist. His mother said they had bickered after Weston got upset with her for using ChatGPT because of A.I.'s environmental impact.

MONTGOMERY: Weston was last seen at this train station on May 29th and since then the Japanese authorities have been searching the woods in this area where they believe he might be. Torrential rain and typhoon winds have stopped the search at times.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): While strangers have reached out to help the family despite the language barrier.

Many of us can't even imagine.

[03:35:02]

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Vigils were held back home in Alabama for a young man described as both popular and caring. The search for him continues but without any new leads.

K. HIGGINBOTHAM: I don't want anybody to think that we're thinking of him in the past because we're not.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Hope that Weston is okay, trapped or lost in the Japanese forest.

Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Kyoto.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Okay, we'll be right back.

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[03:40:09]

HUNTE: Welcome back. Here are your business headlines.

A new U.S. jobs report is due out in the coming hours and it could show an important shift. Experts believe the U.S. economy will have added 105,000 jobs in May. That would mark three straight months where more than 100,000 jobs were added, suggesting a stabilization in the labor market.

Canada is unveiling a new AI strategy it says will help create a quarter million new jobs over the next five years. Prime Minister Mark Carney says the A.I. for all plan includes $360 million in funding to help Canadian A.I. firms grow and compete with U.S. tech giants. The government predicts the program will help increase Canada's GDP by three percent.

Mass protests and last-minute construction have caused chaos in Mexico City ahead of the 2026 World Cup. Teachers and other groups have staged marches and sit-ins unrelated to the tournament, residents are also dealing with road closures and construction causing long delays. Mexico has six days before its inaugural World Cup match on June 11th.

All right, in Brazil, Catholics marked Corpus Christi Day with a combination of spirituality, sustainability and art too. At the feet of the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, people laid elaborate carpets made with patchwork technique.

Volunteers made the rugs with recycled fabrics sewn together to form larger cohesive designs and religious images. During the mass for Corpus Christi celebration, the cardinal prayed for peace, fraternity and understanding among people.

A new study reveals bumblebees are actually much smarter than you might think. Researchers in Finland found that insects were able to roll a plastic ball underneath a fake flower and then climb over the ball to reach the flower for a sugary reward.

The study's lead author says it proves that bumblebees can solve a novel problem without being trained to do so. Researchers say the experiment illustrates a certain flexibility in behavior that could help bees and other pollinators cope with those challenges as their environments do change.

Well, that's some exciting research, isn't it? And that is all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team, I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta.

"World Sport" is next and I will see you back here tomorrow at the same time. See you then.

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