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U.S. Secretary of State Meets Russian Counterpart in Manila; Some Countries in the World Considering Either Total Ban or Limits on Social Media Access to Minors. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired July 23, 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: Hey, everybody. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York, and this is "CNN Newsroom."

Another round of U.S. strikes hit Iranian military targets. How Iran is responding through its proxies in the region.

Plus, new details about the meeting between the U.S. Secretary of State and his Russian counterpart. Did the top U.S. diplomat press Russia on Ukraine?

And which countries are set to follow France in banning social media for children? An expert joins me to talk about a new online reality for young people.

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

SANDOVAL: All right. Let's get straight to the Middle East where U.S. Central Command says that the military has completed now a twelfth straight night of strikes on Iran. The U.S. President and Iranian leaders continue trading threats.

Donald Trump now vowing to destroy Iranian bridges and power plants every time Iran strikes a ship in the Strait of Hormuz. Now, these are threats we've heard from the President before. Tehran says that any such U.S. attacks would be met with a powerful and decisive response.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis, they're claiming to have struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea. A Houthi spokesperson says that the ships violated the blockade that the militant group put in place on Monday.

And at an event in Georgia on Wednesday, President Trump claimed that Americans aren't against the war with Iran, even though the latest polling suggests otherwise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This is with the skirmish we have with the Islamic Republic of Iran. And I call it that because let me tell you, they're getting hit so hard and they want to make a deal. But I say they're not ready to make a deal. Because every time they make a deal, they want to change it and everything. They're not ready. They'll be ready very soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Let's begin our coverage now and head over to Leila Gharagozlou who is live from London. So Leila, is there any sign of this -- of Iran's so-called powerful and decisive response?

LEILA GHARAGOZLOU, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, so we've seen these ongoing retaliations from Iran in response to the U.S. strikes. And the Iranians, for their part, have said that they're going to respond in kind.

Earlier this week when we spoke, I mentioned that the IRGC-linked news outlets had essentially said that their plan was proportional responses based on the U.S.'s escalation. And we essentially heard that from Abbas Aragchi, the Iranian foreign minister, who posted on Exxon, our defense doctrine is clear, eye for an eye.

So Iran is going to retaliate to the U.S. if they do escalate hitting these bridges and civilian infrastructures that President Trump has essentially said that they would hit for every ship or tanker that's hit in the strait.

So we're going to likely see a very rapid escalation, which is already something we've seen this week with the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, with the Houthis. This is a very fragile situation. And even over the course of the last two, three days from the last time we talked, it has already escalated and it doesn't look like either side is necessarily letting up.

We did hear earlier this week that potentially there were some diplomatic negotiations happening in the background. That does not seem to have come to fruition at the moment. And so, we're seeing this kind of rapid expansion of the conflict follow. Polo.

SANDOVAL: Leila, thank you so much for that reporting.

And the U.S. has signed a deal allowing Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium for civilian energy purposes. But sources are saying that it does not include international oversight. And that is fueling concerns about the kingdom potentially developing nuclear weapons. President Trump has repeatedly said that Saudi Arabia's main regional rival, Iran, cannot develop a nuclear weapon. That's the subject of the ongoing negotiations, in fact.

And Israel has long been wary of Saudi Arabia accessing nuclear technology. Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett calling the deal a severe strategic failure.

Well, let's continue the discussion now and head over to London with Jasmine El-Gamal, founder and CEO of Averos Strategies, also the host of "The View from Here" podcast. She was a Middle East adviser at the U.S. Defense Department. Jasmine, always great to see you.

JASMINE EL-GAMAL, FOUNDER AND CEO, AVEROS STRATEGIES, PODCAST HOST, "THE VIEW FROM HERE", AND FORMER MIDDLE EAST ADVISER, U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT: Likewise, Polo. Good morning.

[03:05:00]

SANDOVAL: Good morning to you.

And just a reminder for our viewers that we still don't know the exact details of this nuclear arrangement between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, the assurances, the safeguards. However, those initial reports are that under the new civilian nuclear agreement with the U.S., the Saudis would not be required to sign up to the International Atomic Energy Agency's additional protocol. Do you think that's a dangerous precedent in the region?

EL-GAMAL: Well, that's certainly what critics of the deal are afraid of, that it would set a precedent, especially in light of the ongoing Iran-U.S. negotiations and the years-long struggle that the U.S. has had trying to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Now, for this particular deal with Saudi Arabia, this is a deal that essentially helps Saudi Arabia develop a civilian nuclear program to develop an alternative framework for generating electricity. This is something that the Saudis have wanted for a long time. It's part of their long-term vision for the future and for diversifying their energy resources.

And so from the Trump administration's point of view, they are looking at it in terms of whether, if Saudi Arabia is going to do this anyway at some point and it's part of their plan, is it better to do it with U.S. cooperation, oversight, opportunities for U.S. businesses, or do we wait until they do it with someone else like China, for example.

So the administration's looking at it from both an economic perspective and a geopolitical objective or lens as well. And President Biden had also had these talks with Saudi Arabia.

The big difference here, Polo, between the two administrations is that President Biden tied these conversations with Saudi Arabia to normalization with Israel, which President Trump is not doing. He's treating this as a bilateral issue between Israel, between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. And that is something else that critics of the deal point out, that this essentially takes the Israeli normalization path out of the question.

SANDOVAL: Yes, and in the face of that criticism that the Trump administration calling this a win. Meanwhile, you have Iran that's watching this. Do you think that this makes Iran less or perhaps more likely to continue their negotiations?

EL-GAMAL: Well, I think Iran is likely to point at this and say, look, if you're having these conversations with someone else like Saudi Arabia, why are you imposing such standards on us? And that's another point that's being discussed in the analysis here is whether this raises some sort of a double standard.

That said, though, Polo, Saudi Arabia has certainly not acted the way Iran has acted in the region, whether that means vis-a-vis the United States and Israel or its neighbors as well. So one can argue that Saudi Arabia has given no reason to -- for concern in terms of Saudi Arabia acting as a threat to U.S. interests or regional interests in the way that Iran has.

SANDOVAL: Yes, I know, that's a fair point. Unless there could be other regional powers that could see this deal and decide that they, too, need nuclear abilities.

I just quickly want to close on this persistent series of attacks that we've been seeing, strikes, I should say. I wonder if I can get your thoughts on that. I mean, do you see this pressuring Iran at all? I mean, we've already seen coming up on now two weeks of this sort of tit-for-tat exchanging of airstrikes.

EL-GAMAL: That's right. I mean, not really two weeks. I mean, this has been going on since February 28, and this tit-for-tat kind of each side trying to pressure the other through military action without really going into a full-fledged long-term conflict that neither party can afford.

So the real question here, Polo, that it comes down to is can the United States reopen the Strait of Hormuz by force, or is it going to eventually have to go back to the negotiating table? And what we've seen is that force is not having the sort of impact that the U.S. wanted it to have or thought it would have with the Iranians.

The Iranians feel that they can withstand these targeted attacks, even if they are consistent. As long as it doesn't escalate into a full- fledged war, it knows the U.S. can't afford that either. So we continue to remain locked in this battle of wills and battle of timelines that we've talked about before. Essentially, both parties are going to have to come back to the negotiating table if this is to be worked out in the long term.

SANDOVAL: Jasmine El-Gamal, always great to see you. Thank you so much for your perspective.

EL-GAMAL: Thanks for having me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Great heroes, actually. They said, and all of them said very strongly, we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.

They won't have a nuclear weapon. So we're going to honor them.

REPORTER: What do you say to the families of these fallen soldiers when Americans are strongly against this war. How do you ask them to --

[03:10:10] TRUMP: Well, Americans aren't against the war. A poll just came out. Americans don't want to have gasoline prices, but they're not against the war. That just came out loud and clear in a poll. Nobody wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And those comments coming from President Trump. The Commander-in-Chief attended the dignified transfer of four U.S. soldiers who were killed in the war with Iran. He invited the family of one of those fallen soldiers to fly with them aboard Air Force One, headed back to Georgia, where that family lives.

Now, President Trump, he offered a speech there on Wednesday afternoon, telling the crowd that dignified transfers are the toughest thing that he has to do.

All right. Well, the storm threat has passed for parts of West Virginia, but after historic flooding hit the region, a state of emergency is still in effect for all of the state's 55 counties. The governor of West Virginia is saying that officials are focused right now on search and rescue efforts, and they are concerned over possible storm-related deaths after hours of punishing rain and rising floodwaters.

In fact, crews conducted more than 100 rescues on Wednesday alone, and officials say that the full extent of the damage is difficult to assess, mainly because the storms washed out roads and cut off some access to some parts of the region.

And severe storms also produced multiple tornadoes and damaging winds in the states of Kentucky, Ohio, and in New Jersey.

Well, deadly flooding is worsening in India's northeastern state of Assam, where officials say at least 26 people have died this week after days of relentless rain. A major river there has risen above danger levels in several areas, triggering widespread flooding in communities, and forecasters are warning that more heavy rain and thunderstorms, as well as strong winds, are expected today across parts of northern and eastern India.

Well, France becomes the latest country and the first in the E.U. to ban the use of social media among children. Ahead, we'll take a look at the growing number of countries that are considering similar measures.

Plus Ukraine making a generational change at the very top of its military establishment, why President Zelenskyy fired his commander- in-chief and replaced him with someone much younger.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANDOVAL: U.S. officials are largely tight-lipped following a meeting between the top U.S. and Russian diplomats. It happened just a short while ago, that meeting. Marco Rubio and Sergey Lavrov, they held talks on the sidelines of the summit of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations in Manila.

After the meeting, the U.S. State Department only said that they discussed the U.S.-Russia relationship and the need to end the war in Ukraine. Now, Russia said that Lavrov warned that further arming of Ukraine is inadmissible and that Moscow is prepared for a diplomatic settlement of the conflict.

Diplomatic efforts are underway to put peace talks between Russia and Ukraine back on track. In fact, on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with top U.S. mediator Steve Witkoff as well as Jared Kushner, and he said that they focused on how to restart the stalled peace talks.

Well, inside Russia, I want to show you some video that captured a huge fire after Ukraine's latest drone strike on Wildberries, which is a major online retailer. Kyiv says that the company's warehouses are used to make drones.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is accusing Moscow of trying to hold global food security hostage. Kyiv says that the Kremlin struck three civilian cargo ships in the Black Sea on Wednesday, and it happened during the peak harvest period when Ukraine exports its agricultural products through Black Sea corridors.

But the fighting follows a second major change at the top of Ukraine's military leadership in just a matter of days. On Wednesday, President Zelenskyy fired the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces and also brought in a much younger replacement. The commander had clashed with Ukraine's popular defense minister, who was ousted last week.

Here's Nick Paton Walsh with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A generational shift. The younger Ukrainians doing the fighting now run by a general nearer their age, 43-year-old Mykhailo Drapatyi.

Out, Oleksandr Syrskyi, aged 60, who for years met the Soviet brutality of Russia with similar resolve and ruthlessness. Nicknamed "The Butcher," he became the face of the relentless ugly toll of the war on frontline troops. Sending people to die is something a wartime general has to do, along with always be winning to stay popular. And while Syrskyi had notched up enough small victories, they did not save him from modernity.

His wartime resume begins with the defense of Kyiv, where thousands of locals bolstered the city's rout of the Russians. The Kharkiv counteroffensive in late 2022 saw Russia collapse. A startling reversal, exposing poor command and supply lines, for which Syrskyi is credited.

OLEKSANDR SYRSKYI, THEN-COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, ARMED FORCES OF UKRAINE (translated): We need to end the enemy units in front of you. You've proved you can do it.

[03:19:57]

PATON WALSH (voice-over): But his rivalry with his boss, then- commander Valery Zaluzhny, many analysts have said, led Syrskyi to push a focus on the city of Bakhmut during the next summer and leave the main push of the counteroffensive, Ukraine's main chance to break Russia's road to Crimea with a flood of new western equipment, to falter.

Zaluzhny lost his job months later to Syrskyi, who swiftly needed a win after so many slow losses, including Bakhmut. The response was daring and stunning, if not strategically sound in the long run. The first invasion of Russia since the Nazis, Kursk, a major embarrassment for Putin and a turn in the narrative until Ukraine slowly left the next year.

Ultimately, the war changed around Ukraine and Syrskyi as a younger generation found tech could compensate for a lack of brute force and people.

Mykhailo Fedorov, the disruptor-in-chief and new minister of defense, leading the use of drones early to hit deep inside Russia. I.T., data, open tenders for equipment, transparency, questioning everything and robots and more robots. Nothing could be further from the Syrskyi way of war. But it began to work and gained popularity, the major metric in Zelenskyy's decision-making.

Fedorov, too popular, it seemed, when he openly clashed with Syrskyi, leaving the older general whose failings and frailty had been the talk of Kyiv for months, suddenly the victor when Zelenskyy etched out a rising star. That was until rare Kyiv protests switched to focus on Syrskyi, leaving Zelenskyy with another popularity crisis, his own, and in need of a new military commander.

A bizarrely open and fickle back and forth, democracy in wartime, some say, or the president ditching losers, or out with the old and in with the new. And whatever just happened, they too have to keep winning.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Still ahead here on "CNN Newsroom," the global push to limit children's access to social media. I'm going to ask an expert about the potential harm to young people and what parents can do to protect them.

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

U.S. Central Command says that the military has completed its 12th consecutive night of strikes against Iran, hitting dozens of military sites on land and maintaining a blockade at sea. President Donald Trump is now threatening that the U.S. will bomb and destroy a bridge or power every time Tehran targets a ship in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran is vowing retaliation if that happens.

Well, parts of Europe are enduring yet another wave of intensive heat, feeling more destructive droughts and wildfires. In southern France, hundreds have been forced to flee their homes as fast-moving fires continue to burn. In a separate fire to the west, at least two firefighters have died near the Bordeaux airport.

At least 26 people are dead after relentless monsoon rains have triggered severe flooding in India's northeastern state of Assam. A major river has risen above danger levels in several areas. Forecasters are now warning that more heavy rain and thunderstorms could worsen conditions across parts of northern and eastern India today.

Now, to concerns about the time that teenagers are spending on social media, it's prompting countries to adopt some restrictions, and in some cases even outright bans, as a fear for their well-being.

Well, France is just the latest to do so. Lawmakers are voting to ban social media use for children under 15. France, joining a growing list of countries that have enacted similar bans, and more are considering adopting their own measures.

Let's have a talk about this. Joining me now is Sonia Livingstone. She's a professor of social psychology and the director of the Digital Futures for Children Center at the London School of Economics. Sonia, thank you so much for joining us.

SONIA LIVINGSTONE, PROFESSOR OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, AND DIRECTOR, DIGITAL FUTURES FOR CHILDREN CENTER, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: It's a pleasure.

SANDOVAL: Good morning to you. So we saw a list of some of these seven nations, roughly, that are banning or limiting social media for young people. And then you look at the list of those countries that are considering similar actions.

Are we bound to see the number of countries that are enacting these policies continue to grow? And how are the countries that already have passed these, how are they actually enforcing this?

LIVINGSTONE: Well, those are two great questions, and I think they're connected. So several countries are going first. Australia, most notably, which banned children under 16 from using social media last December, and now France, and the others are kind of more announcements. I don't know if we're going to see more for two reasons. One, the bans

are not going very well. So in Australia, the numbers of children who are using social media has gone down, but still there are 61 percent who are using social media. And the problem seems to be that the platforms are not doing the age checks that are needed.

[03:30:01]

So in France, which has just brought in the ban, you know, announced it on Monday, they have weakened -- in the last minute in the parliament, they've weakened the requirement for age checks. And I think as every parent knows, if there's not a good age check, children will get back on social media, because that's the social norm. And that's how they see their friends.

So it's not clear it's going to be a successful strategy. And at the same time, Europe, more widely, is about to announce a Europe-wide policy, which I think would be not a ban, but something more thoughtful about ensuring that platforms finally take steps to keep children safe.

SANDOVAL: So Sonia, if these policies are just not, quite frankly, not cutting it, based on what we just shared, then what is the most ideal approach to try to limit children's exposure to certain content online? What do you think is just not really done right in these policies?

LIVINGSTONE: Well, for a long time, the policies have focused on content. And I think sometimes, of course, extreme content should be dealt with and platforms are taking some steps there, but definitely not enough.

I think where the focus should be placed, and is placed by at least European regulation, is on the algorithms that push and target and escalate problematic content, especially when it reaches the more vulnerable children. So a child who looks for something, perhaps depressing, or who's feeling sad, or who is feeling bad about themselves, they will find themselves the target of a kind of algorithmic push that makes them even more depressed and, you know, tells them how problematic their body is or makes them feel terrible.

So I think the algorithm is where the focus should be. And that's where the recent legal actions are, both in the United States, and also in Europe, there are now the governments are now bringing actions against TikTok, against Meta, against some other platforms for promoting a problematic feed.

And what children say in research is that they would like much better control over their feed, they would like to be set, they would like to be able to choose what content they would like to be able to exclude certain content, and they would like the service to be age appropriate. But that is going to take enforcement of existing regulation, and perhaps a new regulation to really make that happen.

SANDOVAL: Right. Yes, the wish to have more control over your feed, I think that spans multiple generations. I mean, speaking firsthand, and as you were speaking to, Sonia, we're showing viewers a list of some of those potential impacts, sleep disruptions, effects on schoolwork, family time, cyberbullying, we know that's taking tragic turns.

Let's close with, we mentioned what some of these social media platforms should be doing to address their algorithms. We talked about what some of these countries are doing, and in some cases, not really doing a very great job at trying to address it.

Let's close with what parents can do at home. What is within the parents control to try to help their children?

LIVINGSTONE: Well, you know, I don't love the idea that we're trying to kind of ban -- take things away from children, restrict children from opportunities to see their friends and to socialize and enjoy their culture. But I do think this is a moment when the challenges or the problems of social media are really top of mind for many people, and certainly for parents.

So this is a great time for parents to talk with their children about what and how platforms could be better, how they can reflect on their use of social media, and how together as families, and everyone can work towards finding alternatives, and better practices so that sleep is not disrupted and children can see their friends, ideally, not on social media, or not only on social media.

So it's a really good moment to say, can we shift the norms? What is really working for us? And how can we make things better?

SANDOVAL: Sonia Livingstone, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your expertise. I really enjoyed that conversation is very important one and let's keep it going. Thank you for your time.

One teenager in Florida dropping his addiction case against the parent company of Instagram and Facebook. And this was just days before the trial was set to start. He sued Meta and other social media platforms alleging that he suffered mental health challenges after their addictive design hooked him.

Well, the team settled his case with YouTube, TikTok, and Snap in recent weeks. But he dropped the case against Meta without receiving any payment according to the company.

[03:35:03]

Meta says that his claims, quote, "never held up." Meta and YouTube were found liable in a similar case earlier this year.

Artificial intelligence goes rogue. When we return, we'll explain how one A.I. model was able to break free and go online.

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[03:40:00]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back. Now to your business headlines. The European Union signing off on Paramount's merger with Warner Bros.

Discovery, the parent company of this network. Regulars -- regulators are saying that Paramount made several concessions, including an agreement to abandon a film distribution deal with Universal in Europe.

And Brazil's President says that he's tried to work with the U.S. government to avoid new tariffs but received no response. The U.S. imposed a 25 percent tariff on all Brazilian imports on Wednesday in retaliation for what the Trump administration calls unfair trade practices. President Lula da Silva says that he's still willing to negotiate but will also seek other markets for its goods.

Elon Musk is doubling down on his criticism of Christopher Nolan's hit film, "The Odyssey." Musk says that his A.I. platform Grok will make its own full-length version of the classic work. He says that it will be, quote, "historically accurate." Musk has criticized casting decisions in Nolan's film. He says Grok's version will be ready by the end of the year.

Now, to a new cyber attack that was carried out by artificial intelligence. ChatGPT maker, OpenAI, says that some of its experimental models escaped a test environment and then hacked into another company's servers. Both companies say that they are now working together to solve the security flaws that the model exploited.

More now from CNN contributor and tech journalist, Jacob Ward, host of "The Rip Current" podcast.

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JACOB WARD, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, TECH JOURNALIST, FOUNDER OF THERIPCURRENT.COM, AND HOST OF "THE RIP CURRENT" PODCAST: I think it is a pretty big deal. OpenAI says that it was essentially doing cyber research around these models, seeing what they could do, and it paired a couple of them up.

Those two models got it into their head to essentially find an escape hatch from the sort of closed sandbox it was in, got out onto the open web, used some stolen credentials to then get into another company where it thought it would find the answer to the question it had been assigned, and then went ahead and got in there using a bunch of nasty tricks.

And so that company, Hug and Face, has in fact -- they found that out last week without even understanding that this was an OpenAI product. And OpenAI yesterday announced that this was in fact them.

This is not a deviation from what the industry is after. This is in fact right on mission. We've been talking for a long time in the A.I. landscape about the agentic era, the idea that we're going to have these agents that are going to run through our lives and make our lives easier without stopping to ask us permission along the way.

They have been working on the idea of A.I. that doesn't check in with you for a long time. And so, on the one hand, yes, military applications, those are scary, but we're seeing those on the battlefields of Ukraine right now.

Ukraine has developed robots that do that. You have the United States military actively developing fighter jet drones that can dogfight in the sky. This stuff is definitely happening right now. But the idea that somehow what we're using at home and what is being developing there, that those have different strategies and different purposes, I would argue, is not right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: "World Sport" is next. Then I'll be back with you at the top of the next hour with more "CNN Newsroom."

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(WORLD SPORT)