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Russia-Ukraine Conflict and End of Iran War Tops G7 Leaders' Agenda in France; Iran-New Zealand Match at FIFA World Cup Ends in a Draw, But Iranian Football Team's Debut in the United States Sparks Controversy; Protests Continue in Albania over the Trump and Kushner- backed Luxury Resort Project. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 16, 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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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hi everybody, I'm Polo Sandoval, live in New York. Thank you so much for joining me here for "CNN Newsroom."

G7 leaders, they are currently huddling in France with Ukraine and also a possible end of the war with Iran topping the agenda.

Iran's national soccer team scoring a tie in their World Cup opener, but their appearance in this tournament, it is already seen as controversial by some in the U.S.

And also, we'll tell you how NASA is embracing digital media, hoping to connect with new generations.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from New York, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: 3 A.M. here on the East Coast, 9 a.m. in Evian, France, where leaders of the world's leading economies are currently meeting for a second day. Ukraine expected to top the agenda for the G7 summit. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is joining the session.

These are some live pictures coming from the region as, of course, this being the first G7 summit that we're expecting since the start of the war with Iran. We've seen the steady stream of leaders since yesterday arriving at that summit with the hosts lobbying G7 members to solidify their support for Kyiv and also perhaps to force Russia to try to negotiate an end to this war that's already raged on for five years.

We're going to continue our coverage here by going to CNN senior international correspondent Melissa Bell, who's in France for the very latest. So, Melissa, what is on tap for today? What are some of the priorities?

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're seeing now are those live images here in Evian, because the first item on the agenda is an important meeting between all the G7 leaders and President Zelenskyy. He's now here in this lakeside town.

The idea is that what the French presidency in organizing this visit had hoped would be that particularly now that President Trump's attention and the world's attention when it comes to Iran has been at least an initial stage sort of satisfied by the idea of this memorandum of understanding with Iran can now focus once again on Ukraine after being distracted for the last few months.

Now, Europeans and President Zelenskyy are keen that he can once again focus his attention. The Ukrainian President remains convinced below that it is only with American help that peace can be found. Europeans, for their part, are very keen to this time in any future rounds of negotiation, have a seat at the table.

You'll remember that over the course of the last few months in since the start of President Trump's second term, when those peace talks started, faltered, kept starting again, Europeans were essentially for much of that excluded.

What they point out is that it is their 90 billion euro loan that is essentially keeping Kyiv afloat. It provides two-thirds of its budget for this year. What the Europeans at the table here at the G7 and if you are hoping to get is more American support and other G7 support for that remaining third that Ukraine needs to find in order to stay afloat financially.

But really, they want help in finding a renewed push for peace. There was this phone call between President Trump and the Russian Ukrainian presence on Sunday night on the day of his birthday that said President Trump had gone well.

He spoke to this himself yesterday alongside President Macron after having covered Iran, saying that he believed that there was the possibility for peace, that President Putin, there was potential with it, that he was willing as well to be involved in that. And speaking to the fact that it is 25,000 people dying every day, most of them, he said, soldiers.

This, Polo, is now a war that has gone on for longer than World War I. And everyone around that table today, but mainly the Europeans for whom the architecture of peace on their continent is essential to secure, want the American President now very much to make that renewed push for peace negotiations. Polo.

SANDOVAL: CNN's Melissa Bell, do keep us posted as we continue to see these live pictures coming out of the region as these world leaders get ready to meet. Thank you.

U.S. President Donald Trump, he is also touting his memorandum of understanding with Iran. At the summit that Melissa was just bringing us up to speed on, the agreement was signed digitally so far with an official ceremony that's expected on Friday.

The President says that it will prevent Tehran from having a nuclear weapon. At least that's the administration's hope.

[03:05:03]

And he claims that the Strait of Hormuz will be completely reopened by Friday. The agreement has not yet been released, but Vice President J.D. Vance discussed a few details of the document. Here's what he told my colleague Jake Tapper on Monday.

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J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: So the MOU, Jake, is about a page and a half. So it is a very general document. But this has been very much part of the conversations that we've had with the Iranians. And on a number of issues, we are going to have to figure this stuff out during the technical negotiation phase.

The important thing about this agreement, Jake, is that everything from what Iran gives us on the nuclear program, and of course, that's the most important thing, is the commitment, verifiable, to never building a nuclear weapon. All of these things come along with benefits if Iran delivers and nothing if Iran doesn't deliver.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Joining us now is CNN's Paula Hancocks following the very latest out of the Middle East there from Abu Dhabi. Paula, you heard that key word just come from the Vice President just now, commitment. This is essentially a letter of commitment that they are going to proceed with those 60 days of negotiations.

Any idea what could potentially be in this page and a half, this document that the administration has not released publicly yet?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Polo, given the fact that it hasn't been released publicly, it does really give both sides a chance to say what they would like to happen. And we've certainly been seeing that and hearing that.

We've heard from the U.S. President that the Strait of Hormuz will be open permanently, toll free. We also heard from his Vice President that it is an expectation that it will be toll free. But the details have to be discussed and decided in the technical negotiations.

And then from Iran, what we've heard is that they claim they will control the passage and apply fees if necessary. So you have three different interpretations just on the Strait of Hormuz there itself. Now, the one and a half pages, as you say, has not been released.

We know the U.S. President is touting its success in France. We understand that many of the leaders there would like to see that text as well. We know that many of the lawmakers, including Republicans back in the United States, would like to see what their President has digitally signed for already.

What we have heard, though, from both sides is that it is a step forward. We heard from the Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian. He said it does represent a significant step towards halting the war and initiating negotiations.

Also pointing out, though, that a final agreement has not yet been formalized. So this is a letter of intent, effectively. He also said, though, that they're prepared for all options.

And this does follow months of discussions and continuous follow up. The foreign minister Abbas Araghchi of Iran also pointed out that the level of distrust is extremely high, saying that we have a history of broken promises, non-implementation and agreements being torn up.

So certainly Iran is not putting all of its beliefs into this deal. The same with the United States. Even though Iran has claimed many times in the past that it will not have a nuclear weapon, we've certainly seen agreements being broken there as well.

So what we've heard from the vice President is that it will be this two-step process, that there will be a verification that Iran has pulled back from its nuclear program. And then as far as he's concerned, that is when the financial benefits will come.

Talking about unfreezing billions of dollars of Iranian assets and also pointing out that the bigger issue is being able to lift sanctions and allow Iran to be back on the world economy. Iran has suggested it would like to see those billions of dollars before they make further commitments. So there is a lot that is still uncertain at this point, Polo.

SANDOVAL: Thank you so much CNN's Paula Hancocks with that live update from Abu Dhabi.

Let's discuss more on the shipping industry, how it's reacting to this expected reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and what we could expect to see in the coming days. I'm joined by Peter Sand, he's Chief Analyst for Xeneta, a company that provides market analysis for the shipping business. Thank you so much for being with us.

PETER SAND, CHIEF ANALYST, XENETA: Thank you so much for having me.

SANDOVAL: President Trump addressing the issue of the Strait of Hormuz from the G7 on Monday, he said, without providing any evidence, that it's partially open as they continue efforts to search for mines in that critical waterway. Just based on what you've heard, what is the operational reality on the water right now? Has there been any increase in movement since this agreement was announced on Sunday?

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SAND: Not at all. We are seeing exactly what we have seen now for more than a couple of months, with very limited activity in and out of the Strait into the Arabian Gulf.

So very much is the news that we hear from our shipper customers that they are in no rush to see supply chains re-established, but they want, of course, to see a permanent peace agreement in the making, making it possible once again to see trade flow as it always should. SANDVAL: And then, of course, there are those competing claims about

the Strait of Hormuz. You have President Trump said just recently he's touting toll-free conditions is what we should expect on the Strait.

Meanwhile, you have Iran that says that there will be fees that will be involved. What would you expect the conditions to be on that waterway once this deal is officially signed on Friday?

SAND: Well, very much looking forward to seeing the real deal, so to speak. As it has been mentioned, it's a page and a half and nothing revealed. Shipping executives, they need more than wishful thinking and words like we have seen now expressed for a long time.

I think you guys at CNN counted soon more than 40 times that President Trump said a deal is near. We need real change on the ground or on the water, so to speak, in the shipping industry in order to make that change, in order to get those ships in and out, in order to get, say, hydrocarbons, oil and gas out of there, to get containerized goods in there, demand that has fallen short by two-thirds since the outbreak.

So we need real change, not just words of intent expressed from those two parties, merely exposing a lack of clarity and a lack of, say, mutual understanding of what's actually been agreed.

SANDOVAL: So is it pretty much your understanding that a best-case scenario that we could see on the Strait of Hormuz would most likely not include the free navigation conditions that we saw earlier this year, before the launch of this war? Is that basically impossible to see again?

SAND: It's definitely not impossible to see again. On the contrary, it should be an absolute must-have because this is an area that cannot be anything but toll-free, cannot be anything but free for navigation. So it should be and so it will be also for free trade to once again flourish through the area, as it did prior to the U.S.-Iran war.

So that kind of reality needs to get back, right? Having said that, there will be no return to what once was. We will see a new reality going forward, but it must be one without any, say, ticketing structure or transit fees, because that's definitely completely unacceptable by the wider shipping industry.

SANDOVAL: Yes, the Iranians are very well aware of the power that they wield when it comes to that waterway. I wonder in the last few seconds I have with you, Peter, just how much time it would take for business to return to, you know, some semblance of normal on the Strait.

You have hundreds of ships that have basically been stuck there, oil production in the region to a certain extent. It's also been at a standstill. I mean, you can't just flip a switch.

SAND: No, let's just be positive for a moment, right?

Let's see a toll-free transit established as soon as possible. Then we need absolute certainty that the Strait is cleared of mines, and then we really need that confidence also with business executives to start bringing those shipping networks back, let alone, of course, the damage done to the infrastructure in oil refinery and LNG liquefaction facilities.

That would take years, but at first we look at perhaps weeks up to a month to clearing the Strait, and then a few more months also to get to that next normal of shipping in and out of the Strait. Fingers crossed it all goes well from there.

SANDOVAL: Yes, it's sobering. Perhaps months, according to your assessment, before we finally see a little bit of normalcy on that. Peter Sand, thank you so much for your time and for your expert analysis.

SAND: My pleasure, always.

SANDOVAL: Well, national teams, they are leaving it all on the pitch to kick off this year's World Cup, still ahead, a recap of Monday's biggest matches, and that includes Iran's highly anticipated debut here on U.S. soil.

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back. Monday saw another day of exciting World Cup action as teams vie for an early advantage in the group stage. For just the second time in FIFA history, all four scheduled matches ended in a draw. And maybe the most shocking one, one of the most shocking results on Monday out of the tournament so far, Cape Verde holding off European champion Spain for a 0-0 draw in Atlanta.

This was Cape Verde's first World Cup appearance and also an early stumble for Spain, a team that's heavily favored to win it all.

[03:20:08]

In Seattle, Egypt and Belgium battling to a 1-1 draw. Egypt's pharaohs, they held the lead until the second half when Belgium then managed to fight back with the equalizer.

And Saudi Arabia taking on Uruguay in Miami, that match also ending in a 1-1 draw. Saudi Arabia almost snatched the win, actually, until higher-ranked Uruguay scored their point in the last ten minutes of the game. That was a close one.

And politics, they loomed large over the pitch in Los Angeles on Monday. The game itself ended in a draw between Iran and New Zealand, but it marked Iran's tournament debut on U.S. soil, which will go down in FIFA history as the first time that a contestant is at war with a host nation.

Following the game, Iran's players and some of their staff, they had to travel back to Mexico. They're expected to commute across the border between every match after the U.S. refused to host the Iranian team due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Iran's participation in the tournament and also the team's presence in

the U.S., it has fans fairly conflicted. In fact, ahead of the game, hundreds protested outside of SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has a closer look at Monday's demonstrations.

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JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And here outside Los Angeles Stadium, we're seeing this community come together and those divisions become even more apparent as talks of a potential peace deal coming together in the coming weeks are emerging.

We heard people here chanting that they don't want a peace deal, that in fact, they want President Donald Trump. They're asking him by name to please finish the job. They want to see a regime change in Iran and they say none of this would have been worth it if that doesn't happen.

That was the great hope that Iranians had here in Los Angeles for months. We've been following them since the beginning of this war, since the first airstrikes that killed a Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei. We saw people celebrating in the streets here.

Now, it's not just the war that's dividing this community. There's two more things. One of them is the soccer team. They say that these players did not speak up when they could have, when protests in the streets of Iran were taking place earlier this year, and that therefore, these players don't deserve to be here, that they don't represent them. And then the third issue is the flag of Iran.

Now, if you see around me, you see many of these, excuse me, sorry, the lion and sun flag. That is not the official flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran, but it is a flag that has been come to represent the opposition to this government now, and it is a flag that has taken on political meaning, and activists here in Los Angeles say that they want to bring that inside the stadiums, bring these protests inside the stadiums so that the team themselves can hear their message.

Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And before we get back to World Cup happenings, we do want to get you some live pictures again out of Evian, France, where it's 9:22 a.m. Some European leaders meeting along with U.S. President Donald Trump. Also, it's our understanding that French President, who invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, they're on hand.

You see them there standing side by side. Of course, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, now going on five years, certainly going to dominate the agenda there as these world leaders get ready to speak, as will the working agreement between the U.S. and Iran. Again, we're going to get you back to the G7 Summit as soon as new developments happen there.

But in the meantime, though, let's get you back on World Cup and speak to "L.A. Times" sportswriter Kevin Baxter, joining me live from Seattle, Washington. Kevin, I really appreciate you staying up for us.

KEVIN BAXTER, SPORTSWRITER, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: Of course, it's good to talk to you again.

I know you and I talked some of our picks last week. And then, of course, we saw this game on Monday between New Zealand and Iran with the protests, the travel restrictions that you and I discussed just last week. Do you think that the political backdrop potentially distracted from Monday's match?

BAXTER: First of all, you talked about our picks. My pick, Spain, didn't do so well on Monday. But, you know, this Iranian team, it fought back twice from one goal deficits to wind up with a draw.

A pretty good effort by a team that has really, you know, sort of, you know, been put upon since it came into this World Cup. As you mentioned in the setup, the first team, first time a World Cup qualifier has played in a nation with which it is currently at war. But, you know, the bigger picture with all the political stuff going on in this World Cup, and certainly Iran is at the center of that, but we had a player from Ghana not allowed to enter Canada.

[03:25:05]

For some reason, he can enter the United States and play the games that Ghana will play here. We had the referee from Africa, the Somali referee, unable to enter the United States after FIFA had invited him to referee here. Conversely, Canada invited him there.

My point is, politics has become such a big deal about this, and the Iranian team not being able to stay in the U.S. is a big part of that. But there should be concern going forward that FIFA now has crossed the Rubicon, that in 20-- you know, when we go to Morocco in 2030, what if the Moroccans say, you know what, Israelis can't come in. Journalists, officials, players, they can't come into Morocco.

What can FIFA say at that point? Because it's allowed this kind of stuff to go on here. The Iranian, the pre-revolutionary Iranian flag being banned from SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, you know, that again opens a whole can of worms to what can countries, host countries, do in the future if they want to take a political stand against teams.

You know, I just think that this is a really bad precedent. The Olympics and the World Cup are supposed to be about politics. Of course, we know that's not true. But now, you know, it's not even, we're not even giving that, you know, a good show that that's the way we're supposed to go.

SANDOVAL: Well, Kevin, on that note, as I'm sure you heard, the A.P. is now reporting that Iran's coach after the match described his team as the most repressed in the World Cup. And he called on FIFA's President to essentially help them out here.

So, you know, to your earlier point, is there anything that the Football Association can actually do to, in this case, help Iran's team with the visa issues or, of course, these travel restrictions that have forced them to immediately return to Mexico?

BAXTER: Well, you know, one of the things that happened, people forget, four years ago, the Iranian team, there were protests in Iran during the World Cup in Qatar four years ago, and a couple of players on the Iranian team spoke out in support of the demonstrators. And they refused to sing the national anthem before the first game in Qatar. That was a big scandal.

The team did, in that case, side with the protesters. This time, you know, famously, the protesters in L.A. say they did not. But FIFA can definitely, you know, step in here.

First of all, Donald Trump or the Trump administration during the first term in 2018 signed a document saying that all teams, individuals, officials, fans would be allowed into the U.S. for the World Cup. Now, all of a sudden, they've decided that a qualified team cannot stay here.

So FIFA can definitely step forward and say, look, you signed these documents. This is part of our reason for being that these teams are allowed in. FIFA has decided, for whatever reason, not to take on Donald Trump, they've taken on everyone else.

You know, for a while, there was a ban on water bottles coming into the stadium. They've taken over stadiums. They run the concession stands now.

You know, they run the broadcasting rights. They're in charge of everything. So they could certainly make a point that these players need to be allowed to stay in the country, that Iran needs to have a fair shot.

Another thing with Iran, when the war started in February, they suspended their domestic season. The vast majority of their players play in the domestic league in Iran. So a lot of these players haven't played more than a couple of competitive games over the last six months.

This Iranian team, the fact that they were able to get a draw against New Zealand, a team that has never won a World Cup game. You know, I'm not trying to allow the Iranian team, but as a sports writer, looking at what they did was pretty phenomenal when you take into account what they had to do to get here.

SANDOVAL: Yes, what a tournament to cover. We've heard from members of the Iranian-American community here, too, that essentially putting some of those mixed emotions aside to root on their team. And we'll certainly see what kind of actions we see or don't see from FIFA, as you just highlighted.

Kevin Baxter, always a pleasure. Thank you so much for your time.

BAXTER: Thanks again. Thanks for having me. SANDOVAL: Of course. And still to come here on "CNN Newsroom," Ukraine's President says that Russia has committed a grave attack on history and on Christianity. Now he's pushing for more air defenses in direct peace talks.

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back, I'm Polo Sandoval in New York and these are today's top stories.

At least eight people, including two Boeing employees, were killed in a test mission at Edwards Air Base in California on Monday. A B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff. Air Force officials are saying that the crew was a mix of military officials, government civilians, and government contractors; they say that it could be six months before details on the investigation are made public.

The Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and Iran is dominating the G7 summit that's happening right now in France. President Trump is saying that it will prevent Iran from ever having access to a nuclear weapon. He says that the Strait of Hormuz will be completely open by Friday and that the full text of the agreement could be released pretty soon, he said.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is joining G7 leaders in France today, they're discussing French President Emmanuel Macron's initiative to solidify support for Kyiv. European leaders also want to pressure Russia into negotiations to end the war now in its fifth year.

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And President Zelenskyy says that his top priority at this G7 summit is securing more air defense capabilities. He also says that he'll be speaking with President Trump about how to push Putin to stop this war.

In fact, just hours before those comments among leaders, a Russian strike set fire to a nearly thousand-year-old cathedral in Kyiv. At least 11 people were killed in that strike. More now from CNN's Nick Paton Walsh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russia's savagery against Ukraine always seems to find new depths to sink to. Last night, one of Ukraine's oldest churches, the Kyiv -Pechersk Lavra, founded nearly a thousand years ago, rocketed. Almost certainly the target here, it sits quiet and alone on Kyiv's woody riverbank.

Ukraine's plight getting less attention during the U.S. war with Iran, but raging still. Nightly attacks across Ukraine as fierce as Moscow can manage, but not massively more effective. Instead, becoming more grotesque against the people and culture their invasion falsely claimed it wanted to save.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: We go now to the G7 meeting, first topic you see was the priority. The priority is air defense.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): Russian officials have claimed U.S. President Donald Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin during a congratulatory 80th birthday call in which Putin called him such a bright, remarkable person that he will pressure Ukraine and Europe at the G7 to agree to Russian terms for a deal.

But European officials see Russian desperation and weakness amid their outrage at these strikes and an opening as Russia stalls on the front line.

JEAN-NOEL BARROT, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): For us French, this would be the equivalent of bombing Notre Dame or Saint- Denis, something that is obviously unacceptable.

FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): Ukraine today finds itself in a new position of strength. Russia cannot win militarily, and moreover, its economy is in dire straits.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): Ukraine's deep strikes into Russia, like those we witness here, have caused huge damage and embarrassment. Some Kremlin allies have suggested Putin may now realize the war is going badly, or at least slowly, with a Western estimate of half a million Russian dead.

Even Putin, whose hometown was hit in early June by drones during a key meeting, briefly admitted to economic damage last week.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): As for the economy, yes, we suffer some damage, but everything is recovering quickly. They will not be able to create serious problems for us, but keeping in mind what they are doing, we should retaliate appropriately.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): And so the strikes across Ukraine keep coming, even as Ukraine's defenses improve against drones, but struggle with the ballistic missiles Moscow is throwing at them to make the desperate point it is not losing. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Tens of thousands of Albanians, they are back in the streets for a third week of protests. The movement started over plans for a luxury resort, but has since grown into a nationwide anti-corruption campaign. Here's CNN's Isa Soares with new information.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tens of thousands of people on the streets of Tirana demanding a new Albania. The largest anti-government protest the country has seen since the fall of communism in 1991.

GERALD XHARI, PROTESTER: So we don't have to sell our country, we don't have to sell our land to other investors.

SOARES (voice-over): The Flamingo revolution, as it's dubbed, started in response to a proposed luxury development, linked to President Trump's daughter, Ivanka, and his son-in-law and one of his chief negotiators, Jared Kushner. The real estate project includes two areas, Sazan Island on the country's Adriatic coast, and some of the beachfront near the Zvernec wetlands and the Narta Lagoon.

IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We were on a friend's boat and we stopped for a swim. We swam to the islands, we went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated.

SOARES (voice-over): The coastline is a protected area home to several endangered species and a nesting site for thousands of flamingos. Protesters fear the project will destroy their habitat, despite what Ivanka Trump has said previously.

TRUMP: We developed the opportunity to help realize its potential and transform it, but with a lot of restraint and care because the land is so beautiful.

SOARES (voice-over): Preliminary project documents seen by CNN show the project is intended to be massive in scale, with luxury villas, hotels with hundreds of rooms, a marina, and even a golf course, a casino and a water park.

[03:40:02]

They also reveal one of Kushner's partners in the Sazan development is the Qatari-based assets group, owned by Moutaz and Ramez al-Khayat, Syrian-born Qatari-based billionaires with deep ties to the Qatari royal family. Both were at President Trump's inauguration.

Their other brother Mohamed, not a stranger to Washington either, he lobbied Congress to lift sanctions on Syria, proposing to build a golf course with President Trump's name in Syria.

Sazan Real Estate Development LLC confirms Ramez and Moutaz are both involved, but said the project is still in its design phase and that they are prioritizing environmental stewardship. Their partnership very important for the Kushners, as was that of Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama.

JARED KUSHNER, SON-IN-LAW OF U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We were on our friend Nat Rothschild's boat. One of the nights there, Prime Minister Rama came to the boat. I had not met him when I was in government.

SOARES (voice-over): His and his government support key, according to Kushner. KUSHNER: And we felt like the environment was perfect, but without the

great work of the team on the ground, our partners on the ground, and the government really creating a very pro-growth environment, we would not have engaged in the project.

SOARES (voice-over): It's that so-called pro-growth environment demonstrators are now questioning, with protests demanding more transparency in other areas, accusing those in power of corruption and calling on Prime Minister Rama to resign. The Albanian Prime Minister has denied the accusations and in his weekly podcast rallied against protesters.

EDI RAMA, ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The fascist spirit is the spirit that says Albania belongs to the Albanians, so all the others outside are not welcome, just as Germany was for the Germans and became the black sheep of Europe for years and years.

SOARES (voice-over): Rama has vowed to push past the concerns of the thousands of Albanians who have come out in protest, claiming the project will transform the country for the better. But with demonstrations going into their third week, it's hard to see this flamingo revolution backing down. Isa Soares, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: The Trump administration ordering Anthropic to shut down access to some of its most powerful artificial intelligence models. Ahead, exactly what prompted this move and why Anthropic says that the government is overreacting.

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[03:45:00]

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back, I'm Polo Sandoval in New York and here are your business headlines.

Oil prices, they dropped to a three-month low after the U.S. and Iran announced an agreement that would also reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Both the global and U.S. oil benchmarks, they sank to its lowest settled price since March 4th. The stock market also responding favorably to the agreement, the Dow clinching a record high on Monday.

The European Parliament is expected to sign off on a trade deal with the U.S. later today. It will set tariffs on most European goods at 15 percent, while U.S. products coming into the bloc will face no tariffs. After E.U. lawmakers approved the measure, member states will need to give the final approval for it to take effect.

And some sobering new studies, it's now revealing that while some people are generally still interested in the news, the way that they're consuming it, well, it's changed dramatically. The 2026 digital news report from the Reuters Institute finding the consumers worldwide, they're shutting traditional outlets like newspapers and television.

And despite some concerns about fact-checking, many of them are turning more to social media and video platforms like YouTube for information. Senior executives from Anthropic, they are in Washington, talking with White House officials about export restrictions on its newest, most powerful artificial intelligence models.

The conflict began on Friday, when the U.S. ordered Anthropic to stop allowing foreign nationals to access its Mythos and Fable 5 models, citing national security issues. Here's CNN A.I. correspondent Hadas Gold with more.

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HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Anthropic's Mythos A.I. system is its most advanced A.I. system it's released, especially when it comes to cybersecurity. It's like having a million hackers or cybersecurity defenders working on your behalf 24/7.

It was found to be so capable that Anthropic actually didn't release it widely, instead choosing to release it to a select group of trusted partners who could use it to try and patch their own systems because of its capabilities. In fact, it even spooked the government as well as industries like banks because of how capable it is and what could happen if it gets into the wrong hands.

But last week, Anthropic released what they said was a version of Mythos, but with guardrails around it called Fable 5. But Fable only lasted a few days before the government called Anthropic on Friday, they said, and said that a trusted partner, who we now know to be Amazon, actually found a jailbreak or a way to get around some of those safety guardrails.

And according to a source, gave Anthropic 90 minutes to remove access to Fable and Mythos for all of their customers. And in the end, the government instituted an export control ban on Anthropic, saying that no foreign national can touch Mythos or Fable because of national security concerns.

And as a result, because no foreign national, including Anthropic's own employees, could touch this system, Anthropic pulled the plug for all customer use of Mythos and Fable.

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There is a bit of a narrative dispute going on about this jailbreak and how serious it is, as well as a narrative dispute from between the U.S. government and Anthropic on how seriously Anthropic took this directive from the U.S. government and how they responded to it.

About the jailbreak, though, Anthropic said that they worked with the government before releasing Fable and they got the okay to do so. And they say that the jailbreak that was discovered by Amazon is relatively simple. They say other models have the same issue as well. And they say that it did not demonstrate a flaw in their safety

systems. Anthropic also said that they disagreed with the finding that a narrow potential jailbreak could be the cause for recalling a commercial model deployed to hundreds of millions of people, saying if this standard was applied across the industry, we believe it would essentially halt all new model deployments for all frontier model providers.

There is an inherent tension going on right now because without clear A.I. regulations about what's allowed, what's not allowed, the government is sort of making things up as they go when it comes to trying to protect real concerns, national security concerns, concerns about how advanced these models are, with also the industry trying to develop at pace and essentially beat adversaries like China.

David Sachs, who is a senior Trump adviser who used to be the A.I. czar, he posted in a series of posts on X over the weekend that the administration hopes to remedy the safety issue, that get the export control lifted, and that Fable can go back into general release. He wrote the administration wants all of this to happen as soon as possible, but he also said that the administration is frankly bewildered that Anthropic hasn't wanted to comply with safety requests that it previously said were its highest priority.

Anthropic, of course, has disputed that, saying that they've always wanted to comply with safety requests. And sources with knowledge of the situation did tell me that Anthropic senior staff were in D.C. on Monday. They were sent to Washington to try and work directly with White House officials to try and remedy this because it's a very important business priority for Anthropic to get these systems back online because they are seen as so advanced.

But also other A.I. companies are watching this very closely, knowing that they full well could be the next one subject to such a ban if their systems are seen as most advanced. Hadas Gold, CNN, New York.

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SANDOVAL: Still to come, NASA is going all in on digital media as it looks to inspire the next generation of space explorers. More on their new space age in a moment.

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SANDOVAL: The summer travel season is almost upon us. And if you're looking to see the European countryside and don't mind going without Internet access, Poland may have just the ticket for you.

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Polish State Railways launching a new train service whose name translates to Unhurried. Passengers can take a relaxed and scenic ride through the country inside cars designed with a retro 1980s theme. The railway says that it's an alternative to Poland's popular high speed trains. But with tickets regularly settling out, you may have to hurry to actually grab one - '80s themes, no internet, count me in. It's also been a busy year for NASA and space exploration. Just last week NASA unveiled the primary crew for the Artemis 3 mission. CNN's Michael Yoshida has more on the new space age and NASA's push to inspire the next generation of astronauts.

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MICHAEL YOSHIDA, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): A historic launch, moon base unveiling and new crew announcement.

KJELL LINDGREN, NASA ASTRONAUT: We are in a golden age of exploration.

YOSHIDA (voice-over): Astronaut Kjell Lindgren says just as his imagination was captured by watching the Apollo astronauts, decades later a new generation is seeing what's possible.

LINDGREN: It is the human and human space flight that makes the endeavor so challenging, but it is also the human and human space flight that makes it so compelling.

YOSHIDA (voice-over): Helping make that connection, NASA's embracing digital media. In 2025 the agency overhauled its social media strategy to better connect with audiences. An effort evident during Artemis 2, bringing people along for the ride in ways prior moon missions couldn't.

NUJOUD MERANCY, DEPUTY ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR FOR STRATEGY AND ARCHITECTURE, NASA: How cool is that? We get their playlists, we get to see their videos, we get to follow along. The little things that happen during the mission make it real.

YOSHIDA (voice-over): NASA's Nujoud Merancy says going beyond polished, perfectly curated, influencer type content and sharing real, organic moments and emotions is key.

MERANCY: It's the crew being excited about seeing flashes of micrometeoroids on the moon. The bottle of Nutella floating through the cabin. It's those little things that I think have the most impact.

YOSHIDA (voice-over): And for those inspired, but aren't sure where they might fit in this new world of space exploration.

MERANCY: I hope they just keep following along and then let their curiosity guide them. There are so many avenues to supporting this and it's not just the traditional engineering and scientist roles.

YOSHIDA (voice-over): I'm Michael Yoshida reporting.

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SANDOVAL: Maybe your pets need a vacation and maybe you think your dog is spoiled. Wait until you see what's happening right now in Shanghai.

A growing number of pet owners there, they are enrolling their pups in doggy daycare like this one here. This facility offers a full day of activities including treadmills, swimming pools for some exercise, heck, even some live entertainment.

Facilities like this, they are driving China's pet care industry right now as owners increasingly treat their pet as family members, they are.

Thank you so much for joining me at this hour. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. I'll be right back with you in a moment with more of your headlines here on "CNN Newsroom."

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