Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Hits Iranian Coastal Sites after Shooting Down Drones; Lebanon's President Reprimands Iran; Putin Rejects Idea of Direct Talks with Zelenskyy; Japanese Civilians Help Family Search for Missing American; Massive Waves Surprise in Hawaii. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired June 06, 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]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): 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, negotiations at a deadlock. That's what one Iranian official tells CNN about talks with the U.S. to end the war.

Russia's president is refusing an invitation to meet one-on-one with Ukraine's leader. He says there's no reason to meet.

And the residents of a zoo in Mexico are getting ready for the World Cup by making their own predictions of who will win certain matches.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Ben Hunte.

HUNTE: Welcome.

We begin this hour with tensions rising in the Middle East, where the U.S. and Iran traded new attacks. The U.S. military says it struck surveillance radar sites on Iran's coast. That was after shooting down four attack drones that Tehran aimed toward the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. forces also intercepted a wave of ballistic missiles fired toward Kuwait and Bahrain, which triggered air raid sirens.

Iran says it targeted, quote, "enemy bases" in the region.

Nearly 100 days since the war began, President Trump is insisting that he is moving very fast. But in an exclusive interview with CNN's Fred Pleitgen, the senior military adviser to Iran's supreme leader said negotiations are at a deadlock.

We should note CNN operates in Iran only with the permission of the government but maintains full editorial control of its reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are the negotiations right now blocked, or do you think that a memorandum of understanding can be reached quickly?

MOHSEN REZAEE, SENIOR MILITARY ADVISER TO IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER (through translator): In my opinion, the negotiations are at a deadlock, and Trump must break this deadlock.

PLEITGEN: They are waiting for an answer from Iran.

REZAEE (through translator): Iran has openly stated that our assets have been frozen, and you must release them. The Americans are not telling the truth in this regard.

PLEITGEN: So the frozen assets are the big problem right now?

REZAEE (through translator): This is a sign of trust building. If Trump takes the negotiation seriously, $24 billion is not much to America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Iran also has a message for Lebanon, whose president slammed Tehran in an exclusive interview with CNN. Iran's foreign minister is denying that his country uses Lebanon as a bargaining chip, which president Joseph Aoun claimed in the interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

He also said his country has had it with the fighting on its turf.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm standing here on the balcony of the presidential palace in Beirut. Over my shoulder is the suburb of Dahiyeh. It has been a target of the Israelis for the last several weeks and it is destroyed in parts.

But also up to 800,000 people, maybe more, have evacuated. It is a ghost town. It's symbolic of what's happening in many parts of this country during this fighting and during this war.

We can hear Israeli drones overhead. I've just had an exclusive, global exclusive interview with the president, Joseph Aoun. And he has said very, very clearly that Israel needs to abide by a ceasefire.

He's also said very clearly that Iran needs to stop empowering Hezbollah. He rejected a recent statement by the IRGC in Iran that says it doesn't accept the ceasefire. He told them in no uncertain terms that this is not their country. This is what he told me about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH AOUN, LEBANESE PRESIDENT: IRGC, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, that they don't agree with -- they don't approve this agreement, what happened. It's not your country, it's our country. It's our obligation. It's not

your job to interfere into our country.

I reject the statement totally, because our people being killed, our people being, our houses being destroyed. They are using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation with the United States. It's unacceptable. And here also, Hezbollah must understand that. Hezbollah must understand that no other way but to sit and talk.

No other way to solve this problem and to save what's left, except through negotiation and diplomacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: President Aoun has been a military commander for eight years.

[03:05:00]

He's been head of the army here and he's had a four-decade long army experience. He's been in combat. He still carries the shrapnel in his body of having been wounded. He has sworn as president to uphold and protect the territorial integrity of this country.

And for a man who's been to war, he really means it. He's a very charismatic communicator. He knows that his power is limited. Not only is his mostly a ceremonial position -- he can authorize and engage in negotiations.

But he doesn't have as much executive authority because of the different ways the sectarian factions are aligned in this government. It's not a presidential system, in other words.

But he said he's going to use every power that he has to make this war end. And he says that it really takes two to tango. Israel has to stop, has to move back and Hezbollah has to stop. Both sides need to live in peace. The war needs to end.

And then he says there might be another further negotiation toward eventually normalization of relations. But the first step is an end to this war. And he says he's working on it as hard as he possibly can under very, very difficult circumstances and realities.

The key to note is that the majority of the Lebanese people, including the Shiites, who, of course, Hezbollah claims to represent, they want an end to this. They want the sovereign state to be in charge, not a non-state actor -- Christiane Amanpour, CNN, in Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: OK. For more, let's bring in CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau, joining us live from Rome.

Barbie, considering Israel and Lebanon were supposed to be heading toward a ceasefire but fighting is very clearly continuing, where do things go from here? BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, I mean, on Friday alone, 20 people were killed, which doesn't really underscore that this is a ceasefire. Now the Lebanese people are very much caught up in the middle of this.

And you've seen this pushback from the Iranian foreign minister, saying that the words that the president of Lebanon gave to CNN weren't accurate, that they're not using Lebanon as a bargaining chip.

But for those people who are evacuating their homes, who are trying to live a normal life in Lebanon, they feel very much part of a war that that they really don't want anything to do with. And so it remains a very tenuous situation there, as other players are essentially making decisions for those people of Lebanon, Ben.

HUNTE: And on Iran, what are we learning about the latest U.S. demands there?

Do they actually bring a deal closer or potentially push it further away?

NADEAU: Well, you know, it really depends who you listen to because you heard what the foreign minister said to our correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, about how this all just revolves around the frozen assets.

And then you hear from the U.S. administration that U.S. president Donald Trump is saying that it's getting very close to an end. Let's listen first to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We're at a point where we're going to come out of Iran very quickly and it's going to be very strong one way or the other, whether it's a piece of paper or the very tough way. OK. The very tough way is maybe the easier way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NADEAU: And, you know, listening to him, it sounds like certainly, in the eyes of the U.S. administration, it's getting very close to an end. But we've just had more military activity this morning, you know, the United States intercepting a barrage of missiles and drones that were headed for the Strait of Hormuz.

You've got the United States also attacking some strategic targets there as well. And, you know, it really does depend who you're listening to with regard to just how close things are to a ceasefire.

Certainly the people in the region, those in Kuwait and Bahrain, where alarm bells rang this morning because of the military activity they wanted to end, you know, the economic situation, obviously, is growing even more difficult. And yet the peace negotiations seem to be a little bit caught in the middle here, Ben.

HUNTE: OK. Thank you so much for that update, Barbie. We do appreciate it. Barbie Latza Nadeau in Rome.

We are just getting word of new Ukrainian strikes on St. Petersburg, just as Russia is wrapping up a major economic forum there. Russian officials say air defenses shot down more than 140 drones over the city in recent hours there. Debris fell in several areas. Emergency crews are now working to put out at least one fire in the region.

That is happening on the final day of the city's economic forum and that is a showcase event for president Vladimir Putin. Speaking at the forum on Friday, he rejected the idea of direct talks with his Ukrainian counterpart.

He said there's no reason to meet because the two countries should let experts come up with solutions first before the leaders potentially come to sign a final agreement.

[03:10:00]

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had proposed a face-to-face meeting to negotiate the end of the war. The new strikes mark the second time that St. Petersburg has come under fire in recent days. CNN's Matthew Chance has the story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It's on the -- in the aftermath of that ferocious assault by Russian forces against, you know, towns and cities across Ukraine, in which dozens of people were killed or injured.

And then, of course, a couple of days ago with the start of the sort of centerpiece of Vladimir Putin's sort of economic year, the international economic forum in St. Petersburg, SPIEF, as people were gathering their delegates from some 130 countries.

You know, we saw those black plumes of smoke hanging over the horizon as Ukrainian drones struck what the Russians said was infrastructure in the -- in the area. It was in the place where there was a dockyard and an oil refinery. You can see some of the ships there on the -- on that nose cone video that you're playing right now.

So the timing is very important. It also comes as Russia is struggling to make the kind of advances on the battlefield that it perhaps was expecting. And so it's a sort of, you know, really difficult moment for Moscow.

And I guess this is an attempt by President Zelenskyy, this open letter to try and sort of force a negotiation, force some kind of, you know, opportunity for compromise between the two sides.

Vladimir Putin, though, and the Kremlin have at least publicly rejected that. The Kremlin said that if Zelenskyy wants to meet Putin, he can come to Moscow. It's something they've said in the past and it's something that Ukrainian leader has ruled out. And then in the course of the past few hours, Putin has called the

letter rude and said that the real intention is him speaking at the -- at SPIEF in St. Petersburg. The real intention is to make sure that no meetings take place at all.

And he said his message to the letter, his response to the letter, would be a message to Russian soldiers, keep on -- fighting on the frontlines, keep working, brothers. And so a very defiant response from Vladimir Putin, who is showing no sign that he is prepared to back down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: A former senior U.S. military leader believes Mr. Putin is not hard pressed to end the war. Retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, who was a commander of U.S. Army Forces in Europe, spoke on CNN earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. BEN HODGES (RET.), FORMER COMMANDER OF U.S. ARMY FORCES IN EUROPE: Well, it's been clear for years that Vladimir Putin has no interest in actually winning the war. There's no incentive for him to end the war, no matter how badly it's going for him at this time.

And that's been the failure of the administration's approach to the peace negotiations is that they never put pressure on Putin to end the war. So, I think president Zelenskyy was smart seeing that the momentum of this war has changed to, once again, make an offer to meet and expose that Putin really does not want to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: A federal judge has struck down a series of Trump administration limits on asylum and immigration applications.

Last year, the White House suspended part of the asylum process and froze immigration applications for people subject to the administrations travel ban. The judge accused the White House of harboring, quote, "anti-immigrant animus."

The Department of Homeland Security general counsel blasted Friday's ruling, saying the animus claims are sabotage dressed in legal clothing.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the current Ebola outbreak has the potential to become the largest on record. The outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is already the fourth largest on record, with at least 60 confirmed deaths. Researchers say it could quickly surpass other historic outbreaks.

That's if strong public health interventions are not implemented rapidly. They say it could become as large as the 2014 to 2016 outbreak in West Africa that infected more than 28,000 people and left more than 11,000 dead. All right. Ahead, we are following Pope Leo as he kicks off a six-day

tour of Spain. We'll bring you the details of his high-profile visit and how he's confronting one of the church's biggest controversies along the way.

And an American student remains missing in Japan. His family says they are now getting extra help in their desperate search. We will explain everything when we return to see you in a moment.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:15:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

HUNTE: Welcome back.

Pope Leo is setting off on a six-day tour of Spain with stops in Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands. There he is. Earlier, the Vatican confirmed that the pope will meet with victims of clergy abuse during his visit.

But he will begin the trip by meeting with the Spanish king and queen on Saturday before holding an evening prayer vigil with Catholic youth in Madrid. Later in the week, Pope Leo will travel to Tenerife, where he'll meet with migrants and the organizations that support them.

The family of an American student missing in Japan say police have finished searching the dense forest that he was spotted walking around more than a week ago. His parents are now leading their own search for the 20-year old. Japanese civilians are also joining the effort. Hanako Montgomery reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Deep in Japan's forests, a search is underway. For Weston Higginbotham, a 20-year-old college student from Alabama who vanished during a family vacation.

So this is the type of trail that the Japanese police have been investigating to search for Weston.

He's known as an avid hiker, so they think that maybe he might have disappeared into the woods when he went missing on May 29th. Police are relying on K-9 units to sniff out any trace of Weston.

[03:20:05]

But the forest search ends for now with no answers. Just more anguish for a family still waiting for news.

NANCY HIGGINBOTHAM, MOTHER OF WESTON HIGGINBOTHAM: There are so many possibilities that we have thought through because as a parent, you don't want to think the worst. And you keep seeing these sightings here and there. It's like, well, maybe I don't know. I don't know.

MONTGOMERY: The day Weston disappeared, the Higginbotham's were vacationing in Kyoto, Japan, a major tourist destination in one of the world's safest countries.

But after a small disagreement with his mom, they agreed to give each other some space. Nancy, his mother, tells me it's not unusual for Weston to clear his head in nature. But when he seemingly turned off his phone location, panic set in.

HIGGINBOTHAM: Well, it was scary because that's not Weston. I mean, we're just -- we don't do that in our family. Even when we're mad, we don't do that in our family.

MONTGOMERY: Since then, Nancy has posted daily appeals on social media asking anyone with information to come forward.

HIGGINBOTHAM: He has a heart of gold and we all want him to come back safely.

MONTGOMERY: Strangers have answered her call, sharing Weston's photo and distributing flyers to help find him.

MANAMI NAKAGAWA, VOLUNTEER (through translator): The search ends when people stop looking. For as long as it takes. I'll keep doing everything I can until he's found.

MONTGOMERY: The police have told us that until they find Weston, they won't stop looking. And as the search continues, so does a mother's hope.

And today, the search is getting extra help. Citizen hikers are now heading to the mountains after Higginbotham's family organized a search and rescue party of volunteers -- Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Kyoto.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Five astronauts aboard the International Space Station were ordered to take shelter on Friday. That was amid ongoing leaks within the lab. NASA's order came after its Russian counterpart decided to move forward with a more extensive repair to fix that leak.

The U.S. space agency was worried that the repair efforts could put the lab's structure at risk. The astronauts were sheltering aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which would have allowed them to make an emergency escape if needed. The all-clear was given by NASA once the Russian space agency decided to delay repairs.

A Sherpa climbing guide has been discovered alive after officials believed he died on Mt. Everest. The guide had crawled back to near base camp after spending almost a week alone on a mountain known for its dangerous conditions, Derek Van Dam reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Missing for almost a week on Mount Everest, Nepali climbing guide Hillary Dawa Sherpa beat the odds, surviving six days without food or bottled oxygen on a mountain known not only for its brutal conditions but the number of lives it's claimed.

But Hillary Dawa miraculously isn't one of them. Frostbitten and exhausted, he was found alive by a cleaning crew on Thursday. Crawling near the Khumbu Icefall just above Everest Base Camp. He was airlifted to a Kathmandu hospital where he is stable and recovering. His family, thinking he was dead, had already begun funeral rites for him.

MENDO LHAMU SHERPA, HILLARY DAWA SHERPA'S DAUGHTER (through translator): At first, when we received the information, we weren't sure if it was him or not. Later, they sent the photos and it was confirmed that it was indeed him. And we felt happy.

VAN DAM (voice-over): Hillary Dawa's group was one of the last to descend the mountain, just as climbing season came to a close.

Other climbers say they last saw him on May 29th, just above Camp 3, located at around 23,000 feet, an area near the infamous death zone, where oxygen levels are so low, it's difficult to sustain human life for any extended period.

Search helicopters were deployed this week but couldn't locate the missing Sherpa. His family says they should have begun searching when he was first reported missing.

KARMA GELJE, HILLARY DAWA SHERPA'S NEPHEW (through translator): If he had been a foreign climber, the rescue would definitely have been organized much faster and prompt.

VAN DAM (voice-over): The family has filed a complaint with Nepal's Department of Tourism in a police case against Hillary Dawa's employer, the Himalayan Traverse Company, which has so far not commented.

Not much is known about how he survived for so long, alone on Everest's notoriously inhospitable slopes. That survival story for now is between him and the mountain -- CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: You are seeing some huge waves there that had people nearby screaming in Hawaii.

[03:25:00]

Officials say the waves were up to six feet high but witnesses say they were actually even higher. The massive waves began on Tuesday on the western coast of the big island of Hawaii.

Meteorologists say the strong waves were generated by a stormy weather system south of New Zealand last week. With the World Cup now just days away, some residents of a zoo in

Mexico are making their predictions known for some of the tournament matchups.

Elephants, gorillas, capybaras and even macaws weighed in, picking winners by choosing between team flags -- with the help of some treats. It seems the gorillas lean toward Uruguay over Spain, while a puma picked South Korea over the Czech Republic. Zoo officials say home team Mexico fared pretty well, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANAE VAZQUEZ, HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS, GUADALAJARA ZOO (through translator): Mexico is favored in two matches. Let me remember; Mexico versus South Africa, Mexico wins, according to Shaanxi (ph) and Kenya (ph), our elephants.

Then in Mexico, against South Korea, there's a draw. It was close. The capybaras were there, undecided, undecided. So it stayed undecided.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: As Barcelona's Sagrada Familia Basilica nears its structural completion, LEGO is unveiling its own version of the Antoni Gaudi masterpiece. Preorders are now available for the 12,000 piece miniature model.

It is LEGO's biggest set ever and costs around US$800. Now you can try your hand at building the UNESCO heritage site, LEGO brick by LEGO brick. Pope Leo is set to inaugurate the final tower this Wednesday, exactly 100 years after the architect's death.

Well, that is very exciting. OK, that's all we've got for you. Thank you so much for joining me and the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. "CONNECTING AFRICA" is next. I'll be back with you at the same time tomorrow. But don't go anywhere. There's more CNN in just a moment. See you tomorrow.