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Iran-Gulf Talks Without U.S. Participation On Reopening Strait Of Hormuz; Ukraine Carries Out New Strikes In Russia; "Black Widows": Women Accused Of Marrying Russian Army Recruits To Claim Death Payouts. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired August 06, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

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[04:01:15]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Polo Sandoval, live in New York, and this is CNN Newsroom.

Iran and Oman, they could be nearing an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz as U.S. Vice President JD Vance warns that talks with Tehran will be messy. Ukraine carries out new strikes in Russia as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls for more aid from Western allies. Plus, artificial intelligence goes rogue again. Meta says one of its AI models hacked into another company's system during testing.

All for you to speed on the details.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from New York, this is CNN Newsroom with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: Well, in just the last few hours, President Trump has taken to social media to insist that the U.S., quote, "has massive amounts of munitions." This post coming just days after sources told CNN that senior military commanders are warning that some key Pentagon stockpiles are dangerously low, they said. Iran is reporting progress in talks with Oman over the Strait of Hormuz, saying that the two sides are close to finalizing a proposed framework. Iran's Foreign Ministry says that the two countries have now agreed on the coordinates of a proposed safe shipping route for commercial vessels. The two sides have been negotiating over the past two months.

A senior Gulf official says that there is now a 50-50 chance that Iran and Oman will reach a deal by this Friday. Iran insists the talks with Oman are strictly bilateral, denying current negotiations with the United States. But still, Vice President JD Vance said the diplomatic efforts will, quote, "take some time."

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JD VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do think that where we will ultimately land, it's going to be messy and it's going to take some time to get there. Where we will ultimately land, as you see, oil I think was at $79 today, those oil prices are going to come down and stay down. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon and the United States will be in a stronger position, but we're kind of in the middle of the game and I think people are trying to prejudge exactly how this is going to go. I can tell you with confidence it's going to go in a place that is good for the United States of America.

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SANDOVAL: Let's go live now to CNN's Leila Gharagozlou, who joins me from London.

So Leila, just bring us up to speed on the latest.

LEILA GHARAGOZLOU, CNN PRODUCER: Hi, Polo. Yes. So as we've been talking about throughout this whole week, the key element that we're looking at in this conflict is this potential agreement between Iran and Oman. A very specifically, according to the Iranians, bilateral agreement to help find another pathway through the Strait of Hormuz and also assert the sovereignty of both Iran and Oman over the straight.

Now, the Iranians have time and time again throughout the week said very specifically that the U.S. is not involved in this. The U.S. has said that they are involved in these talks. And we're not really sure how much involvement the U.S. could have, but it's unlikely that we would have a bilateral agreement around such a important waterway without any sort of input from the U.S., particularly on the Omani side.

Now, President Trump again has said this throughout the week, that the Iranians are talking to the Americans. And he did say because they're talking, he has held off on further attacks. Take a listen.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We were all set for the biggest attack since World War II and they called me and they said please don't do it, let's talk. And then they don't. They said we never said that. We are talking, let's see what happens. But they respect us.

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GHARAGOZLOU: Now, as he said, the Iranians, according to him, are talking. The Iranians are saying we're not talking, we're just talking to Oman, our neighbor, and that's how we're going to do it. In the meantime, people are reading this potential bilateral agreement around the street to be a form of de-escalation in a conflict that continues to ramp up and then ramp down and then ramp up again. So it could be the first kind of progress and pathway that we're seeing towards maybe a more substantial deal down the line.

[04:05:16]

Now, you played that sound from Vice President JD Vance. He said that it's going to be a messy journey to a deal. This is something that analysts and experts have said again throughout this war that any sort of deal is going to take a lot of time. That was one of the key issues with the memorandum of understanding. One of the main reasons it fell apart was a very tight turn around, around some of the most difficult issues facing Iran and the U.S.

And it's a long road ahead. For the meantime, it is good to see things kind of ramping down when it comes to this conflict.

SANDOVAL: Yes, and the promise of a potential deal when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz. Leila Gharagozlou, thank you for all of your reporting.

And right now, we are still waiting to see the talks between Israel and Lebanon will resume. And this follows Israel's new strikes in southern Lebanon. The country's national news agency reporting multiple strikes this morning, including near the town of Tyre. At least four people were wounded and the negotiations in Rome ended early on Wednesday after a separate barrage of Israeli attacks. Sources told us earlier that the talks were still expected to resume today, but the new developments on the ground could derail them.

The negotiations aim to advance a framework agreements that hopes to end the hostilities, but Hezbollah opposes those talks.

And there's no sign of a slowdown in Ukrainian strikes on Russia's oil industry. This video is showing the apparent new attack on a refinery located about 250 kilometers northeast of Moscow. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from Ukraine has just posted on social media about this, saying that the attack is part of Ukraine's campaign to limit Russia's oil ventures. And the regional governor in -- back in Russia calling it its largest drone strike that the area has ever seen, claiming that Russia shot down all 88 Ukrainian drones.

Meanwhile, Kyiv is dealing with the fallout from a Russian strike that killed at least 17 people. Officials say dozens of others were wounded overnight into Wednesday as Russia fired more than two dozen missiles in the region. As Clare Sebastian reports, the attack exposed a major shortcoming in Ukraine's air defenses.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was the latest in a series of drone and missile barrages, particularly targeting the capital Kyiv that have been growing in frequency and ferocity throughout the summer as Russia tries to exploit what is now a well-publicized lack of defenses in Ukraine, particularly against ballistic missiles. Now this attack involved some 24 ballistic missiles and four anti-ship missiles, which are almost as difficult to bring down. So it's specifically designed to be as difficult as possible for Ukraine to deal with. And as a result, none of these missiles were brought down by air defenses according to Ukraine's Air Force.

Now, according to CNN's calculations, there has been an increasing difficulty for Ukraine in tackling these attacks involving ballistic missiles. In July, Ukraine was able to avert only about 23 percent of the ballistic missiles that Russia fired. And so far in August, Russia has fired some 56 ballistic or similar missiles, of which only one has been brought down according to CNN's calculations. So this led to more urges and pleas from President Zelenskyy today to his partners to increase supplies of interceptors for ballistic missiles to provide Ukraine with the licenses that it needs to produce them locally. He warned that supplies have dropped threefold since 2025.

Now, this attack was also striking because of the targets involved here. We know that Ukraine has been hitting e-commerce warehouses inside Russia. This was clearly designed as a response. We saw many different logistical and warehouse facilities hit. Six people were killed in warehouse belonging to the operator of Ukraine's biggest supermarket chain.

There were also reportedly three killed at a sorting center for the Ukrainian Postal Service. But perhaps the most gruesome scenes of all came at a train station in a suburb of Kyiv, where eight people were reportedly killed. They were said to be waiting after a delay in a train waiting, having missed the last train there. So the big picture context here is that, look, July was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since April of 2022. August already shaping up to be a brutal month.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

SANDOVAL: In the last hour I spoke to Alexis Sarokin, deputy chief editor at the Keef Independent, and I asked him to describe the situation in Kyiv this morning after the latest round of deadly Russian strikes.

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ALEXIS SAROKIN, KEEF INDEPENDENT DEPUTY CHIEF EDITOR: Well thank God last night was peaceful in Ukraine. Not all over Ukraine and Kyiv specifically, obviously at the front lines Russians continue to attack and some other cities like Odesa, Russian bombardment is daily, unfortunately.

[04:10:11]

SANDOVAL: What has made Russia's ballistic missile attacks especially deadly in Ukraine for the last several days and weeks, really? I mean, we have seen some of these escalated attacks and unfortunately, so many Ukrainian civilians getting caught in the middle of it.

SAROKIN: Well, unfortunately ballistic missiles are the hardest missiles to shoot down, right? So Ukraine can still shoot down drones, cruise missiles. Also, when Russia launches drones or cruise missiles, there's more time to prepare. And the Ballistics, the only valuable solution to shooting them down is the Patriot interceptors that right now Ukraine doesn't have. And President Zelenskyy has been actively pushing the U.S. to provide licensing for Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles because we know that everywhere there's a major shortage of Patriot missiles due to the conflict in the Middle East and so on.

And unfortunately, Ukraine is still getting a no from the U.S. And right now, there is no other options for Ukraine than to just bear with those attacks that Russia is launching every two, three days.

SANDOVAL: Yes, let's actually stay on that topic, Alexis, which as you mentioned, President Zelenskyy has been pleading with nations, if they cannot get those air defenses, then at least they should be able to manufacture their own. And it's already been almost a month since president from NATO summit promised to allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot interceptors, which the U.S., as you mentioned is low on. Has the glimmer of hope that we saw from that Trump statement about a month ago, has it faded for Ukrainians? Do they think and do they expect that the U.S. and other partners will deliver on that promise?

SAROKIN: Unfortunately, Ukrainians don't know because President Trump later said that there's no agreement yet, so he changed his opinion again, unfortunately. The selling point here for Ukraine is that when Ukraine producing missiles, right, it will free up the Americans to produce their own missiles and use them wherever they want. And also Ukraine is pitching different forms of contracts, right? Ukraine can produce missiles only during the war or during the next -- the next few years. So there's multiple avenues that Ukraine can take.

And unfortunately the U.S. is currently not budging here. And the main issue is that every day that the U.S. holds on with the licensing, more Ukrainians die because of Russian attack.

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SANDOVAL: When Russia controversy is growing around the so-called Black Widow scams. Women allegedly entering sham marriages with soldiers to claim their death benefits if they were killed. CNN's Matthew Chance with that story.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mass wedding of Russian soldiers before they're packed off to the front lines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (through translator): I want to shake your hand and thank you for not running away, for not being scared.

CHANCE (voice-over): But not all marriages offer love. Russian Military Wives get thousands of dollars compensation if their husbands are killed in action. And officials say ruthless scammers dubbed black widows now tricking vulnerable recruits into wedlock.

The father of Maria from Saint Petersburg died after being shot in Ukraine last year. She told me she only found out her dad had joined the army after he was killed. And then he then did he had a new wife.

CHANCE: How did you feel when you found out that your dad had got married just days before he went off to war?

MARIA, DAUGHTER OF RUSSIAN ARMY (through translator): It felt unreal. When I was being issued the death certificate, they asked if he was married. I said no, but they told me he was. I never even managed to contact a woman. I simply didn't know what to say to her because I suspected it was a scam.

CHANCE (voice-over): It's just one suspected case in a growing number scandalizing Russia.

CHANCE: With the war in Ukraine now in its fifth year and casualty rates at catastrophic highs, it's hard to imagine there are people out there marrying vulnerable men and encouraging them to join the military just so they might financially benefit if they're killed on the front lines. No wonder there's outrage across Russia but the spread of these Black Widow scams.

[04:15:01]

CHANCE (voice-over): There are numerous allegations of recruits honey trapped before dying on the front lines, even marrying on their deathbeds in hospital. This woman who married a soldier 10 days after meeting him, then posted images of herself with other men, was branded a Black Widow in the Russian media and denied compensation when her husband was killed before their divorce went through. She denied any wrongdoing, saying the allegations had blackened her name. But there's growing public anger at how cynical some Russians have become about the war. The Kremlin calls it's special military operation.

If I want an apartment, where am I supposed to get the money, the host of this podcast asks. It's simple, the guest who's a real estate agent responds, find a man serving in the special military operation, and when he's killed, you get 8 million rubles, she laughs.

Podcasters were prosecuted and forced to apologize, a rare intervention by the Russian courts.

Back in Saint Petersburg, Maria takes us to the block where her dad's old apartment has now been sold off, convinced he was also scammed out of his home.

CHANCE: Do you know who the new owner is? How long? How many years did your dad live here?

MARIA: Five years.

CHANCE: Five years? This is it. It's open.

CHANCE (voice-over): Behind the broken door, the new occupants insist it was a legitimate sale and that they never even met the seller. It means the money and the widow, just like Maria's dad, are now long gone.

Matthew Chance, CNN in Saint Petersburg.

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SANDOVAL: London's Metropolitan Police say that a 47-year-old woman is in custody, suspected of stabbing 4 men in the city's famous Covent Garden shopping district on Wednesday. Investigators say that they believe that stabbings were part of a -- what they're describing as a mental health related incident. The two victims were released from the hospital, while two others are still recovering from non-life threatening injuries. Access to guns and other weapons is strictly controlled in the U.K., but knife crimes have been a persistent problem. U.K. officials recorded more than 40,000 such offenses in the 12 months leading up to this past March. More than 1 percent of those were homicides.

Bruised but not beaten because FIFA's president is getting some powerful backing. I'll tell you some more. Also, a narrow victory for progressive Abdul El-Sayed in the state of Michigan, putting Democrats on their heels. He spoke with CNN about how we plan to secure a seat in the U.S. Senate.

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[04:21:51]

SANDOVAL: FIFA's presidents is fighting to stay in power after scrapping that massively controversial plan to sell private stakes in future World Cups. But on Wednesday, Gianni Infantino, seen here, got a huge show of support from other FIFA leaders during a crisis meeting and they issued a statement saying that they intend to restore trust in the organization and also proceed in a more transparent manner. Many on the outside are still furious though. In an op-ed published in the Daily Mail and obtained by CNN, Portuguese football legend Luis Figo calling Infantino's conduct, quote, "the lowest, most deceitful and cravingly self-interested behavior I've ever witnessed." He also wrote, "He should go now."

Here's World Sports Don Riddell.

DON RIDDELL, CNN ANCHOR: Infantino is presenting this as a win despite this growing chorus of calls for him to step down. It sounds like he doesn't plan on going anywhere and he will now continue through until this election in March. I mean, the last couple of weeks have just been quite extraordinary. Remember, going into the World Cup tournament, it was widely assumed that he would stroll this election in seven months time, giving him a fourth term as FIFA president. But everything just turned on his head with that proposal, which was quickly scuppered when he realized just how much opposition there was to it.

And a statement or a part of the statement from FIFA certainly acknowledges that the whole thing was handled rather badly. This is an excerpt. It was agreed that it was not the intention for the FIFA Council and FIFA member associations to feel excluded from the process and that the process should have been handled differently. It was further acknowledged that errors were also made after the proposal was leaked to the media. So an acknowledgement of sorts that this was not the way it should have gone.

But when you remember what Figo said, which you've acknowledged and what many others feel within the game, I'm not sure they're going to be thrilled with this outcome of this meeting. I mean, Figo didn't pull any punches at all in that op-ed. He referred to Infantino as a relic of the game. And he said I could write 10,000 words about Gianni Infantino, but only three other solution, Infantino must go. SANDOVAL: Don Riddell, thank you. The political clock is ticking here in the United States as Democrats are scrambling to get behind their new U.S. Senate nominee for Michigan. And that's ahead of the approaching November midterms.

Progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed stunning the Democratic establishment, beating his more moderate opponents, Congresswoman Haley Stevens. It happened during Tuesday's hotly contested primary. More than 1.5 million votes were cast and El-Sayed won by less than 15,000. He's expected to now face former House Republican Mike Rogers in November Senate race.

And the big challenge now for El-Sayed is trying to get as much Democratic support as he can and mend that growing rift within his own party. CNS Kaitlan Collins spoke with Abdul El-Sayed about his narrow win on Tuesday and also how he plans to ensure a victory come November.

[04:25:13]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This seat is so critical for your party to win control of the Senate in Washington. We've heard some Democrats who are worried that you cannot defeat Mike Rogers come November. How do you plan to address those concerns from people in your own party?

ABDUL EL-SAYED, (D) MICHIGAN SENATE NOMINEE: We don't need worry, we need work. You know, we took on $70 million of outside spending and 11 to one funding gap, spending gap on the airwaves and we took it on because we did the work. Twelve thousand people knocking nearly 10,000 doors a day. We started this campaign 15 months ago, having conversations in rooms of five or 50 people at a time. And so that's how we're going to beat Mike Rogers the old fashioned way, brick by brick.

So if you're worried right now, get to work. That's the work that we need to do. And I can tell you on our campaign, we're going to be out there knocking doors, having those conversations that are what our democracy is about. But worrying and Democrats worrying is not going to solve the problem.

You heard Donald Trump at the top of this show, this is a guy who can't even focus on our affordability, is more interested in saying my name in an interesting way or calling me a lovely gentleman, then he is interested in actually solving our problems. We have to stand up to that. Which means let's go get to work. Let's go talk to our fellow Michiganders about who we are and who we want to be and what it takes to take on the most corrupt president in American history and his lackey who licks every boot he possibly can of that man, Mike Rogers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Still ahead, a Mexican social media influencer shot and killed in the middle of his live stream. What we know about the brazen murder. Plus, researchers in Britain say that they've never seen anything like it. And AI agents going rogue trying to trick people into using fake identities.

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