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U.S.-Israel War with Iran; Venezuela Earthquakes; Whaling in Iceland; North Korea's New Warship; Netherlands' First-Ever Red Alert for Heat. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired June 27, 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]

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, a fragile U.S.-Iran deal put to the test. Washington strikes Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz after an attack on a cargo ship.

A desperate search for survivors in Venezuela as the death toll rises after two deadly earthquakes.

Plus Germany records its hottest day as a major music festival is canceled in Paris.

Is there any relief in sight as the heat wave continues to bake parts of Europe?

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

HUNTE: Welcome. We are getting first reactions from Tehran after the latest round of U.S. strikes on Iran.

On Friday, the U.S. Central Command said it struck a series of Iranian military targets. It said it was a response to an Iranian attack on a cargo ship near the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, which president Trump called a, quote, "foolish" violation.

But Iranian state media say Tehran responded by targeting U.S. positions in the region, which Washington has not confirmed. A U.S. official tells CNN the latest strikes don't imply a return to major combat operations.

The attacks are testing the U.S.-Iran interim agreement signed only 10 days ago. In response to them, a top Iranian lawmaker slammed the U.S. saying the attack came in the middle of negotiations again. He called the strikes a reckless violation of the ceasefire that will lead to retreat and regret.

The attacks also suggest that the U.S. and Iran have very different ideas about what their agreement actually says. CNN's Kristen Holmes has more for us, including reactions from the White House

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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Vice President JD Vance, who has been the face of the negotiations of the deal with Iran, is now the face of this retaliation that were seeing from the U.S. after Iran launched its attacks on that commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. He posted this on Twitter, saying Iran signed a ceasefire agreement. We have honored it. If they have a disagreement about how the MOU, the memorandum of understanding, is being applied, they can pick up the phone. But violence will be met with violence.

And likely what he is referring to is that before Iran had actually attacked that commercial vessel, they had warned that any commercial vessels could only travel the routes in the Strait of Hormuz that Tehran had dictated. But it's unclear if that's actually part of the memorandum of understanding. However, it seems from this tweet that he is referring to that -- the fact that Tehran believes it can dictate the routes on the Strait of Hormuz.

Now from Central Command, we heard that they believed that Iran had violated the ceasefire. However, it seems as though they are acting in a fashion that the ceasefire is still holding, despite the violation, despite the retaliation from the United States. They said that they are going to continue to have a military presence in the Strait of Hormuz and in the area in order to ensure that Iran continues to comply with the deal, meaning the deal seems to still be in place.

Now President Trump seemed to be growing frustrated earlier today when he was asked repeatedly if Iran had violated the ceasefire and if the U.S. was going to respond. Take a listen.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't like the fact that they took a shot yesterday -- actually four, we knocked down three -- at a ship. Not an allied ship but a ship -- a very expensive ship. And it was fine but it took a little beating. They shouldn't be doing that. So you'll find out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will the U.S. --

TRUMP: I mean, you'll find out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will the U.S. respond?

What is your message to Iran?

TRUMP: Will we respond?

You're going to find out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, why do you think they did that?

If the talks you've said repeatedly they're going, well, what do you think the motivation is for Iran in attacking the ship?

TRUMP: They're a little bit different. That's why I think of it. 47 years. No president did what we're doing. So you just asked a question. You'll find out. OK, I think we had enough.

HOLMES: Now after just a short burst of questions on Iran, President Trump ushered those reporters out of the room. Very uncharacteristic for somebody who likes to take questions, usually for a lengthy period of time.

[03:05:00]

And just moments after that exchange, we heard reports from Iranian state media that there were sounds of explosions in southern Iran.

Obviously, that response had already been in place and had already taken place. Now, of course, we hear from Central Command that they believe that the ceasefire is still holding. But there are still a lot of questions about what this means for the negotiations, what this means for the deal moving forward.

We have been hearing from administration officials just how fragile and just how tenuous these negotiations were. Still unclear what these latest strikes are going to do for those tenuous negotiations. Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Meanwhile, diplomats say Israel and Lebanon have just made the first step toward a potential future peace deal. They signed an agreement with the U.S. on Friday after four days of talks in Washington. U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio said the agreement is a start of a long journey.

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MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: So as I said today, as I told all the parties here today, it's the beginning of the beginning. There's a lot of work ahead.

We don't in any way underestimate the difficulty of the task ahead but we understand the importance of it, how vital it is. And we are honored to have played a part in bringing this together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Under the document, Israel will pull forces out of the two areas in southern Lebanon and hand the sites to Lebanese military. But a Hezbollah member of Lebanon's parliament called on the government to retract anything that has been agreed with Israel.

Frustration is growing in Venezuela over the government's response to Wednesday's deadly earthquakes. New CNN video shows rescue teams working on the scene in the hardest hit area, where officials say more than 100 buildings have collapsed.

The country's acting president says the government is putting military in the area. The images show widespread damage as emergency crews sift through the rubble in search of survivors. More than 48 hours after the disaster, some residents say that aren't

enough rescue crews or heavy machinery, leaving communities to clear up on their own. Hospitals are reporting a shortage of critical supplies.

Venezuela's top lawmaker says at least 920 people were killed and more than 3,300 injured in two of the strongest quakes to hit the country in more than a century. Many people lost everything.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We are sleeping in the street, looking for food. We have no house, no home. The state is a total disaster and there are many children and many people who have still not been found.

We are surviving. We are asking for international and national help. But we need help because the need is very, very great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: CNN's Mary Triny Mena is in Caracas with more on Venezuela's humanitarian crisis.

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MARY TRINY MENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has been overwhelming, the situation over the past few days. Many people, as you said, left their home on Wednesday and they haven't -- have not returned home yet because they are afraid for the aftershocks.

As a matter of fact, we kept feeling those tremors every once in a while. It is not a sensation -- the authorities reported more than 300 aftershocks since Wednesday and this is something that, of course, is causing distress in the population also.

We went to La Guaira, which is the most critical place where thousands of infrastructures were damaged. And there's an ongoing operation to rescue victims in these events. So far, the government says we are facing critical hours. As you know, the first three days are important to rescue as most living people are as much as possible.

But right now, the help is entering Venezuela. More than 800 rescuers from all over the world are coming to Venezuela. The main airport has been alleviated (ph) because it was closed due to the earthquake but it's only working not for commercial flights but for rescuers.

And they are using commercial flights in other airports. Right now, the preoccupation is concentrated in the security because, at night, of course, there's people trying to take advantage of the situation.

So the authorities are saying that the state of La Guaira is militarized and is heavy presence of security forces there. And they are asking citizens not to go there. And also from today, they are sending all donations and making a registry of volunteers in Caracas they are asking to stay in place. [03:10:00]

Because those people wanting to go to La Guaira is blockading the aid that they can help, they can get.

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HUNTE: At least nine people have been killed in a building collapse in Lagos, Nigeria. The multi-story building contained residential housing, businesses and even churches. It was occupied when it collapsed on Thursday.

Heavy equipment has been deployed to reach people still trapped under the rubble. The building's owners are facing an inquiry and city leaders have called for structural checks on nearby buildings.

Whale hunting is back in Iceland after a two-year pause. That is despite hopes that the country was moving toward a permanent ban. The controversial practice has been fueling political tensions, and despite a drop in demand for whale meat, the nation's only whale hunting company says it will keep doing it.

The Captain Paul Watson Foundation has returned to Iceland to try and stop the company's vessels from hunting and killing the whales. And Paul Watson, the founder and director of that foundation, joins us now live from Paris.

It's good to see you, sir. Captain Watson, commercial whale hunting has returned to Iceland after a two-year pause.

But why now?

And why do you believe that this hunt matters to people beyond Iceland?

PAUL WATSON, FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, CAPTAIN PAUL WATSON FOUNDATION: Killing whales for commercial purposes is illegal under the International Whaling Commission regulations and has been since 1986.

So Iceland, Norway and Japan have been in violation of international conservation law and the governments of the world who are signatory to the IWC agreements have refused to sanction the country, so they just proceed with impunity.

There's no market for whale meat. The reason this happens is Christian Lawson, who owns the whaling company, is the wealthiest man in Iceland. And this is pretty much a hobby. He likes to kill whales. It costs him about over almost 2 million euros a year to do this. So it's really a hobby for him.

HUNTE: Your campaign is called Operation 86.

What exactly is the mission and what are you planning to do?

WATSON: The reason we called it Operation 86 is that, 40 years ago, in 1986, we sank half of Iceland's whaling fleet, destroyed their whale processing plant and put them out of business for a few years. We shut them down again in 2007 and 2014, 2019, 2023, '24, '25. And now they're finally going out and doing it.

And we will be there on Sunday morning with our ship. And our objective is to shut down their operations.

HUNTE: There are reports that the first fin whales of the season have already been killed.

How does that change your mission?

And do you believe that there's still time to stop more whales from being hunted?

WATSON: It doesn't change it at all. Once we arrive, the whaling will end. We've been delayed because of bureaucracy. Because we had -- Norway had our flag struck on our ship when we were in Brazil. It took us a number of weeks to reflag the vessel.

But we're on our way. The vessels will approach Iceland early Sunday morning and we will block, harass and prevent those whaling ships from killing whales. Our ship is faster than their vessels, more maneuverable. And, you know, we've got a long history. I've got 50 years of interfering with whale hunting.

We shut it down in the Soviet Union, in Spain, in Norway and other countries. We've been very successful at that. So I deploy a strategy I call aggressive nonviolence to aggressively intervene but without injuring anybody.

And after 50 years of operations, we never caused a single injury to anybody. But we have shut down dozens and dozens of illegal whaling operations, including driving the Japanese whaling fleet out of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

HUNTE: Can you tell us a bit more about what is actually involved in that intervention then?

Break it down for us.

WATSON: Well, it's pretty simple. We just have to blockade and prevent them from harpooning any whales. That's quite easy to do because we're faster than they are.

So we get in front of them. They'll have to harpoon us before they can harpoon a whale. So we're confident that we'll be able to stop them from doing what they're doing. They have said they're going to deploy the Coast Guard against us.

But you know, in the past, I've had confrontations with the Norwegian Navy, the Soviet Navy, the, you know, the Danish Navy. And we managed to outmaneuver them and keep going.

We're very, very experienced in this, the -- this campaign is being led by Rod Coronado (ph), who was the man who engineered the sinking of the two whaling ships back in 1986. HUNTE: Iceland's only active whaling company says it does intend to

continue and argues it's operating legally.

What do you say to people who believe that this is simply a lawful industry carrying on its business?

WATSON: Well, it simply is not. It's a violation of the International Whaling Commission regulations. And Japan said they were operating legally. We took them to the International Court of Justice in The Hague in 2014 and they ruled that it is illegal.

And that means that Norwegian and Icelandic whaling is also illegal. They can say whatever they want but the law is the law.

I mean, what's the point of having international conservation laws if everybody is going to ignore them and just say, hey?

[03:15:00]

It's perfectly legal because we say so. The majority of people in Iceland are opposed to whaling now, which is much different than '86, when almost everybody was for whaling. But they realized that this is not an Icelandic whaling operation.

This is a Christian Lawson (ph) whaling operation, one man who's responsible for this, who happens to be the wealthiest and most influential man in Iceland. And this is the reason it's happening.

And, you know, this guy describes himself as a modern-day captain Ahab. That's the kind of mentality he has.

And so we'll shut him down. I'm quite confident. You know, when we showed up in June of 2023, as soon as we arrived, they shut down their operations.

And in 2024, when we were on our way, they shut down our operations. We happened to be delayed this year because of bureaucratic problems. But we're going to be there and, as soon as we arrive, they're going to shut down their operations.

HUNTE: Your critics have accused you of potentially crossing the line on protest to direct action.

Where do you draw that line and how prepared are you to fully stop these ships?

WATSON: Well, we draw the line where we don't injure anybody. You know, back in 2011, I was invited to give a lecture to the FBI in Quantico. And one of the questions said that, well, you know, you're operating on a very thin line when it comes to the law.

And my response to that was, does it matter how thin the line is as long as you don't cross that line?

We don't cross that line. We are upholding the law. We're not breaking the law. In 1986, when we sank those ships, I turned myself in to the Icelandic authorities, to go on trial. They refused to arrest me.

And the reason they refused to arrest me was they knew that to put me on trial would be to put themselves on trial and expose their illegal operations. And this is what's happening now.

We hope that if they do arrest anybody this season, we'll go to trial and we will expose their illegal activities, because what they're doing is blatantly illegal, no matter what they say.

HUNTE: OK, Capt. Paul Watson, thank you so much. Please do stay in touch. Keep us updated.

WATSON: Thank you very much

HUNTE: People in Western Europe may get a break from extreme heat this weekend but the heat wave is not done yet. Details in a moment on how it's still impacting parts of Germany, France and other countries in the region. See you in a moment

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HUNTE: Welcome back.

North Korea is showing off its military might by debuting the largest warship in its history. The isolated country says they built the new destroyer on their own. But as CNN's Will Ripley shows us, there is more to this story.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: North Korea's largest ever warship, the Choe Hyon, can fire a salvo of nuclear capable missiles in seconds, state TV says. As seen in this multi- camera cinematically shot demonstration earlier this year.

A carefully choreographed show of military might starring North Korean leader Kim Jong U.N. and his daughter and rumored successor, believed to be in her early teens, Kim Ju Ae. She did not join her father at this week's grand commissioning ceremony, also broadcast on North Korean state television.

Kim donning a Panama hat in classic strongman style, inspecting his new destroyer's big guns. Crew members smile for a photo with their Supreme Leader. But nobody was smiling just over a year ago when a similar destroyer partially capsized during launch.

Satellite images showed a catastrophic failure. One side submerged parts of the hull draped in blue tarps.

Worse still, Marshal Kim was watching from shore. He called the botched launch a criminal act that brought shame to the nation. They arrested shipbuilders, engineers and military leaders but never disclosed their fates. The capsized ship was eventually refloated, launched again and began sea trials this month.

Now Kim is declaring a new chapter in North Korean naval history, an end to over 70 years of stagnation. He said, in terms of military hardware, the navy was the weakest of all the services of our armed forces.

Things have changed. Sanctions were supposed to stop Kim from building warships like this. Instead, North Korea says it built this destroyer entirely on its own. Outside experts are not so sure. How did they build a warship this sophisticated this quickly?

Some analysts suspect Russian assistance, pointing to Kim's growing military alliance with leader Vladimir Putin. Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has acknowledged any such help.

Some experts also point to similarities between North Korea's new warships and Russian naval designs. Kim says he wants to build two of these 5,000 ton destroyers or bigger every year for the next five years. As Kim sets sail on his quest to build a nuclear capable navy, whether North Korea can actually match those ambitions remains to be seen.

North Korea is still no match for the naval power of South Korea and the United States but this destroyer does mark a turning point. For decades, Pyongyang relied on submarines, fast attack boats and coastal defenses.

Now Kim Jong U.N. is trying to build a blue water navy capable of operating in deep ocean much farther from home and carrying his nuclear ambitions with it. Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Parts of Western Europe should see some relief this weekend from the record breaking heat that has been scorching the region. The heat wave is expected to peak in Germany in the coming hours on Friday.

Southwest Germany saw a record high temperature of 106 degrees Fahrenheit or 41 degrees Celsius. In the Netherlands, officials issued the nation's first ever code red alert for extreme heat on Friday and they extended the warning for several areas for Saturday, too.

[03:25:00]

And the dangerously high temperatures prompted French authorities to force organizers to cancel one of the country's biggest music festivals, which had expected more than 200,000 people over three days. France experienced its hottest day on record on Wednesday.

The race to reach the World Cup knockout stage delivered more drama on Friday, continuing one team's fairytale story and dashing the dreams of a tournament heavyweight. France finished at the top of their group with a 4-1 win over Norway

in Boston, capping off their group stage performance of three straight wins. Spain also locked up first place in their group, eliminating two-time world champions Uruguay with a 1-0 win in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Meanwhile, in Houston, a World Cup fairy tale heads to its next chapter after the team eliminated Saudi Arabia in a scoreless draw. Senegal also kept its World Cup hopes alive, routing Iraq 5-0 in Toronto. The win gives Senegal a chance to advance into knockouts as one of the best third place teams in the tournament.

In Vancouver, Belgium, rounded out their group stage with a 5-1 win over New Zealand, clinching the top spot and ending New Zealand's World Cup campaign. And Egypt made history in Seattle, reaching the knockout round for the first time after a 1-1 draw with Iran.

Team Iran must now wait for the final group stage results to learn whether they have done enough to advance.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, this tribute stands head and shoulders above the rest. A Bolivian artist has created a giant statue of soccer star Lionel Messi, soon to be sent to his home country of Argentina. The installation also features an oversize World Cup trophy.

Perhaps a little wishful thinking for Messi's sixth World Cup appearance. All right, that's all I got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. "Showtime" (ph) is next. I'll see you at the same time tomorrow. See you then.