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3 Teachers, 3 Students Dead in Thailand School Shooting; Iranian Official: Iran and Oman Close to Hormuz Framework; Mitch McConnell Released from Rehab After He Fell; Meta's A.I. Model Hacks Another Company During Testing. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 07, 2026 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London.

I want to go back to our breaking news. A deadly school shooting in Thailand. Thai police say that a student opened fire earlier at a secondary school. This was just north of Bangkok. Six people were killed at the school. Those victims are three teachers and three students. There are 22 others who were wounded, nine of them critically. The youngest victim is only 12 years old.

Police say the suspect is 14 years old. And that suspect, his grandparents were found dead at the home he shared with them. They believe the suspect shot them before going to the school. Early reports said the shooter had killed himself, but police are now saying the shooter is still alive and in critical condition. Thailand's Central Investigation Bureau told CNN the situation is now under control. We're going to bring you more updates as we get them.

Iran and Oman are close to finalizing a proposed framework for commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Now, that is according to Tehran's deputy foreign minister, but he did warn that the potential agreement would not automatically reopen the vital waterway. Iran says it needs guarantees from D.C. before that could happen. A senior Gulf official familiar with the talk suggested that there's just a 50-50 chance of a deal between Iran and Oman today.

Meanwhile, data from marine traffic shows that shipping through the Gulf region remains muted, with only a few ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 36 hours. And investors are cautiously waiting for word of a deal.

I want to take a look at the oil markets now. As you can see there, the price of Brent Crude, the global oil benchmark, is up, and West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, also up.

I want to speak more on this with Colby Connelly. He is the head of the Middle East content at Energy Intelligence and a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. He joins me now live from Dubai. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

We're waiting, of course, for word of a deal. But I think that this episode, this conflict, has just exposed the Gulf's dependence on this one maritime choke point. Do you know, could you explain to us if Gulf nations are looking at alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz now?

COLBY CONNELLY, HEAD OF MIDDLE EAST CONTENT, ENERGY INTELLIGENCE AND SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDIE EAST INSTITUTE: Thanks, Salma. So, there are existing alternatives, mostly through Saudi Arabia and, of course, the UAE, where I am now. And there's been, of course, plenty of talk as well about what other Gulf states might do to try and take a similar approach. For instance, there's talk of potential pipeline projects from Iraq that would enable them to divert exports to the Mediterranean as well.

But it's worth pointing out that these projects take a long time. Expansion to the UAE's existing pipeline capacity was already underway before the war started. So, that's expected to be completed next year. But there's a lot of work that goes into execution of these projects. And so, they really can't be looked at as short-term solutions for any kind of reopening to the Strait.

ABDELAZIZ: So, overland routes, pipelines, those are not short-term solutions. Those are long-term plans that Gulf nations are looking at.

[04:35:00]

So, let's talk about the possibility of the Strait of Hormuz reopening because Iran says that even if they reach a deal with Oman that does not mean that traffic can resume. So, how quickly, if a deal again is reached, can normal supply flows and inventories be restored? And should consumers just expect that this is a lasting geopolitical premium on energy prices?

CONNELLY: Well, I'll address your second question first, and the answer to that is simple. It's yes. This is an issue that's not going to get sorted out anytime soon. I mean, of course, everyone recalls when the war started, it was supposedly, according to U.S. officials, only going to take a few weeks, and we're now months into this with really no end in sight.

So, when the Strait does reopen, there will definitely be some things that need to happen. Of course, one of the first and foremost is the issue of potential mines that are in the water. There's always been, I think, some debate about whether they are or aren't there. That's more beside the point to the fact that the risk of them being there is in some ways just as bad as their actual presence.

So, there will need to be tangible evidence of mine sweeping activities, whether that's done by countries from outside of the region or countries within the region themselves, in order to restore confidence that shippers can move through and not necessarily face those risks. There are varying estimates on how long that process may take. Most fall within the range of about a month. So, that's first and foremost.

But there are, you know, definitely a number of other clarifications that will need to be made once an agreement is reached. A lot of what Iran and Oman are talking about now deals with issues that were really supposed to be addressed in the Islamabad MOU that was signed by the U.S. and Iran weeks ago, but there were really deferring interpretations of what flows through the strait and management of the waterway was supposed to look like.

So, in that sense, we've kind of been back to square one, and I think that's a step towards getting that issue resolved, hopefully, with whatever may come out of the talks between Iran and Oman.

ABDELAZIZ: And we were looking at oil markets shortly before we spoke to you, and oil prices have fallen sharply from their wartime peak, even though, of course, shipping through the strait remains heavily restricted. Is the market pricing in a diplomatic breakthrough too soon here?

CONNELLY: Yes. Oman certainly looks that way. You know, this is a deal that's been imminent all week, right? So, I think eventually, sooner or later, there will probably need to be some proverbial cold water thrown on those expectations.

A lot of the sort of downward pressure that's been more consistent on prices throughout this conflict has come from very, very large volumes of releases from global oil inventories. That is something that's still taking place. It may decrease in the third quarter of this year, depending on who you listen to, but a lot of the projections being made are really, you know, they're linked to geopolitical outcomes, that the reality will be linked to geopolitical outcomes.

So, in a sense, those are just assumptions that kind of rest on a more imminent solution in the next couple of months. And with where we are now, there's no guarantee of that.

ABDELAZIZ: Colby Connelly there as the oil industry waits, watches, hopes for a deal. Thank you so much.

Coming up, it's been almost a year since the Trump administration began carrying out strikes on alleged drug boats. Still to come, CNN's Jake Tapper investigates who the Trump administration is targeting and why.

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[04:40:00]

ABDELAZIZ: We're close to the one-year mark since the Trump White House started its campaign against alleged drug boats carrying out military strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific. In a new report, CNN's Jake Tapper is shedding more light on who the Trump administration is targeting and why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: They're murder victims.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: That's Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine's assessment of the Trump administration's campaign targeting people that the administration calls narco-terrorists. In a letter to the White House this week, Kaine accused the Pentagon of going far beyond its original goals in Operation Southern Spear and killing people who are, "Entirely unaware that they are marked for execution."

Operation Southern Spear, which began nearly a year ago, has killed 221 people and destroyed at least 66 vessels. But the results do not seem to have been effective. U.S. Customs and Border Protection data analyzed by the think-tank the Washington Office of Latin America does not show a meaningful decrease in cocaine seizures.

During the 10 months before the boat strikes began, CBP reported seizing more than 56,000 pounds of cocaine. During the 10 months following the beginning of the boat strikes, September 2025 through June 2026, CBP's reported seizures actually increased 2 percent. Fentanyl, which President Trump claims this operation is targeting, is largely produced in Mexico, not Venezuela or Colombia, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency.

And CNN reporting shows military officials do not always know whom they're targeting, some of whom may even be innocent. Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo were believed to have been killed in the October 14th strike last year. Their families are suing the Trump administration for wrongful death and extrajudicial killing.

The complaint says, "Mr. Joseph and Mr. Samaroo were not members of or affiliated with drug cartels." And Trinidad's government says, there's no evidence drugs were on board. Chad and Rishi's families told ACLU attorney Jeffrey Stein they were fishing and doing farm work in Venezuela and boarded a boat to get home to Trinidad.

JEFFREY STEIN, STAFF ATTORNEY, ACLU NATIONAL SECURITY PROJECT: Rishi wanted to come home to help care for his elderly mother who had fallen ill. Chad wanted to come home to see his wife and three young children.

TAPPER (voice-over): In response to our request for comment on this lawsuit, the White House said, "All of these decisive strikes have been against designated narco-terrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores." But they have provided absolutely no evidence to back up any of the strikes, which is not to say everyone on these boats had nothing to do with the drug trade. Some were clearly fishermen trying to make extra money.

We sat down with two investigative journalists who have looked into who is being killed. They uncovered the stories of 19 of the dead.

[04:45:00]

JOSE LUIS PENARREDONDA, EDITOR, EL CLIP: Many of them are reporting shows, are somehow involved in drug trafficking business, in drug transportation business, in very low levels of the chain.

TAPPER (voice-over): Journalist Lorena Melendez told us one of the stories really stuck with her.

LORENA MELENDEZ, EDITOR, REBEL ALLIANCE INVESTIGATES: In the case of Juan Carlos, he was a bus driver. And he bought his bus damaged and he couldn't repair it. He said, I have to do bad things. So, he traveled to Trinidad.

TAPPER (voice-over): Juan Carlos, his wife told the journalist at consortium El Clip, she did not want him to get on the boat, but he insisted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'm leaving. I can't take it anymore, what desperation. I'm leaving to live or die, but I'm leaving. That's how he told me.

TAPPER (voice-over): She also remembered the moment she knew he'd been killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): But since I'm making empanadas here, the phone is ringing too much. When I see an international call, I say, no, something has happened. Something happened to Juan Carlos. The mistake was seeing the video they sent me where they were blowing up boats.

TAPPER (voice-over): Juan Carlos was believed to have been killed in the October 3rd strike. He leaves behind three children and a grandchild, according to El Clip. Does that sound to you like a narco- terrorist? Another victim was a fixture of his community. Here's investigative journalist Jose Luis Penarredonda.

PENARREDONDA: I think about a Venezuelan guy called, I mean, his name was Pichirilo, managed to speak to people who knew him very well. One of them told me, just tell everyone he was a super nice guy.

TAPPER (voice-over): Eduardo Jaime, or Pichirilo, was a beloved local athlete. A family member tells El Clip he was also on the boat that was blown up on October 14th. None of these individuals seem to have even been mid-level drug traffickers. At worst, they seem like couriers.

Remember when the U.S. struck what Trump called a drug submarine? There were two survivors. The U.S. military held them, then released them to their home countries. Again, raising questions about whether the Trump administration knew who they were targeting.

Andres Tufino Chila was one of those two men. His sister told CNN he was not a criminal. Last month, "The Los Angeles Times" followed the stories of eight fishermen from Mexico who vanished after the February 16th U.S. strikes. "The men sometimes earned extra cash by transporting gasoline to the high seas, where they would refill speedboats ferrying cocaine from South America." They were all killed.

A mass was held for the men at sea a few days later. This video provided by the "L.A. Times" shows mourners drinking beer and singing songs. There are many more of these stories from Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago. Maybe couriers caught in the crosshairs of the Trump administration's so far fruitless quest to end drug trafficking, often going after the lowest on the chain. Men who felt they had no other choice and were executed by the United States. TAPPER: We asked the Pentagon if they knew who they were targeting, exactly who they were targeting. And the Pentagon maintains, quote, "Targeting decisions are deliberate based on comprehensive assessments and reviewed through established processes. Every narco-terrorist killed in Department of War operations was an affiliated member of a designated terrorist organization actively transporting illicit material," unquote.

But U.S. Democratic Senator Tim Kaine tells me that the Trump administration is, quote, "lying" and the ending or transitioning out of Southern Spirit will make way for an 18-country collaboration to go after drug traffickers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell is back at home recovering after he was released from a rehab center. The 84-year-old Republican went to hospital on June 14th for what he later revealed was a fall. He said he did not suffer broken bones, a concussion or a heart attack, but did disclose that he was briefly unconscious after the fall and developed mild pneumonia. He says he is working at his job while taking physical therapy. Since he did not immediately reveal his condition, it led to speculation and many calls for him to resign.

Meta admits one of his A.I. models successfully hacked another company. Why this trend could be a warning sign for the future of A.I. when we come back.

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[04:50:00]

ABDELAZIZ: Meta says it will appeal a ruling in which it was ordered to pay $567 million into a fund to remedy its role in the youth mental health crisis. The New Mexico judge also ordered that the social media giant tighten its controls on children's accounts. This is the second time Meta has been hit with a hefty penalty. In March, it was ordered to pay $375 million in damages after being found guilty of engaging in unfair and deceptive trade practices. Meta issued a statement saying that it works hard to keep people safe on its platforms and that it will defend itself against claims that misrepresent the facts.

Now, add Meta to the list of companies with A.I. agents going rogue. An A.I. model from the parent company of Facebook and Instagram hacked into another company's systems during cybersecurity testing. CNN's Hadas Gold has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Meta disclosed that it also has an A.I. model that managed to hack into a completely different company's internal systems, an error that occurred while they were running cybersecurity tests on one of their models called Muse Spark.

Meta attributed this situation to a third-party testing platform called Irregular. A lot of these companies, when they're doing evaluations of their models, they'll bring in other companies to help them run the test. In this case, Meta said in a statement that a misconfiguration by Irregular, an independent testing company Meta uses, inadvertently allowed one of our models access to the internet during evaluation.

[04:55:00]

The model subsequently exploited a security vulnerability in a third- party service in a manner similar to a previous reported instances with other companies.

What they're referring to are these other incidents we're hearing from places like Anthropic, where these A.I. models are, in some cases, finding ways out of their testing environments. In other ways, they're just finding ways to the open internet and finding ways to hack into other company systems. In fact, Meta is the only company Anthropic, which recently disclosed they had three incidents of one of their models hacking into different company systems, also attributed that to a problem with Irregular. They also used them for cybersecurity testing.

This isn't so much, though, a problem with a specific company, because we're also seeing OpenAI, which said that one of its models escaped a testing environment, hacked into HuggingFace, which is an online repository for open-source A.I. and data sets, hacked into their systems. That didn't have anything to do with Irregular necessarily, but all of these are related to the fact that when these companies are testing their models, they remove a lot of the internal guardrails on these models. And these models are just getting really, really good.

And so, they're finding any possible exploit to get the job done, get the task done that they were set out to do in any way possible, whether they were told to use that method or not. Some of methods may involve hacking into other companies' internal systems. That's obviously not a great thing.

But what it means is that the A.I. industry needs to essentially catch up their testing capabilities with the capabilities of these models so that they can keep everything as safe and contained as possible, because the A.I. models that we have today are completely different than the A.I. models that we have even just 12 months ago. They are that much more advanced.

So, a lot of calls now for the entire industry to slow down the pace of their development so that the security and everything else can catch up and help keep everything as safe as possible.

Hadas Gold, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: Thank you so much for watching. I'm Salma Abdelaziz. CNN Headline Express is coming up right after a quick break.

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