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Iran Issues Demands For U.S. Before Hormuz Reopens; Pentagon Urges Contractors To Ramp Up Weapons Production; Houthi Rebels Claim Deadly Attack On Saudi Forces In Yemen; Displaced Families Return to Battered Southern Lebanon; Study: Argentina Landfill is World's Top Methane Emitter. Aired 1-1:45a ET

Aired August 10, 2026 - 01:00   ET

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

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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. I'm Kristi Lu Stout here in Hong Kong. And ahead on CNN Newsroom.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. is still negotiating with Iran as the U.S. military works to restore their depleted munitions stockpile. Plus, defying President Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu REJECTS the latest U.S. backed peace plan for Gaza. And parts of western Canada are under a state of emergency as wildfires continue to burn quickly across communities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Hong Kong, this is CNN Newsroom with Kristi Lu Stout.

STOUT: And we begin in the Middle East where the U.S. and Tehran have differing views on the state of negotiations on the Iran war. In a phone interview with Axios, President Donald Trump says Washington is, quote, "Low keying negotiations with Iran." He also suggested the U.S. is increasing economic pressure on Iran, but Tehran says it will not engage in direct talks until the U.S. honors key parts of the memorandum of understanding that was signed back in June. Our CNN's Julia Benbrook has the details.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Iran has issued a list of demands that it says the United States must fulfill before it will reopen the Strait of Hormuz, that critical waterway that has been a key, key area of focus during this now nearly six month long conflict.

This list underlines the perception that Tehran believes it has the upper hand in some of these negotiations. It appears to go even farther than the Memorandum of Understanding, that agreement that was signed by both sides back in June but has since been suspended.

This list came in the form of a statement and it called for an end to attacks on Iran and its regional allies, the removal of the U.S. naval blockade, compensation for war damages, lifting of all U.S. sanctions, as well as unfreezing Iranian assets. This comes as there have been reports of a dwindling munitions supply. This was a key topic at a recent Cabinet meeting that took place at Camp David. And as we are learning that the Defense Department has urged U.S. military contractors to ramp up weapons productions amid these concerns.

In a memo that went out on Wednesday from Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, this called for industry leaders to have up to 21 days to submit plans on increased production and a more aggressive delivery schedule. This was first reported by the Washington Post and confirmed by CNN. And in a statement, a Pentagon spokesperson said this, quote, "Deputy Secretary Feinberg is a generational leader in that effort, driving the hard work of fixing our broken, antiquated and immensely complex acquisition system so we can actually produce the weapons our war fighters need at the pace the threat demands."

While Trump has in recent days admitted that certain munitions are, quote, "tighter," he has also been adamant that the United States has what it needs to continue fighting, if that is what he deems necessary. He has said that he has massive amounts of ammunition at his disposal.

Reporting in New Jersey. Julia Benbrook, CNN.

STOUT: The Iranian Houthis are threatening to escalate the conflict. The militant group has claimed a deadly attack on Saudi forces in the Yemeni port city of Mocha. The Red Sea port is controlled by Yemen's government and is close to the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait. And if that port were to close, it would cut off Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, from an alternative route to the Strait of Hormuz.

Now, in an unusual public break between the Israeli prime Minister and the U.S. President, Benjamin Netanyahu is rejecting the 15-point Gaza peace plan that Donald Trump had hailed as a major breakthrough. Netanyahu is demanding the full disarmament of Hamas before any Israeli forces withdraw. He also says that as long as he is prime minister, a Palestinian state will not be established. A senior official for Hamas says the group remains committed to the roadmap satisfaction set out by President Trump's board of peace. And they're asking the U.S. to pressure Netanyahu and his government to stick to the plan.

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Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza say all they want is peace.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voiceover): We were shocked by Netanyahu's rejection of Trump's plan on which we built hope to end the war killing, destruction, siege on us. We were surprised that he rejected the plan. We have no one but God to look for us. We want the war to end, for the suffering of Gaza, to end the killing, strikes, displacement. Every day there are assassinations. Every day there are injured and killed people. We want to live like the rest of people, live like the rest of the countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Joining us now is David Sanger, CNN politics and national security analyst and author of New Cold. China's Rise, Russia's Invasion and America's Struggle to Defend the West. David, it's so good to see you. Thank you for joining us.

First I want to ask you about the Israel.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Great to be with you, Kristi.

STOUT: Israel has, yes, Israel topic du jour has rejected America's latest peace proposal. Gaza under a cease fire remains very dangerous, a very violent place. So what is the next step to deliver a peace deal? And would a rift between Trump and Netanyahu get in the way?

SANGER: You know, this is a pretty remarkable rift because they go out of their way to make the case that they are fully in sync. And yet on Gaza, they really have not been since the day when the president went out to sign the initial accord that got the hostages back and ended that conflict, or at l,east ended that stage of it. And the president declared that a new age had arrived and so forth and he had to drag Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, to that.

Now, Mr. Netanyahu is engaged in a pretty tough reelection campaign. He's trying to sew up the right-wingers who have supported his government, and he basically just said, no, this does not amount to what he called a real disarmament.

STOUT: That as a result, we are still waiting for a peace deal for Gaza. David, I also wanted to ask you about Iran because Iran has issued this list of demands that the U.S. must meet before Hormuz can fully open. And so what's happening here is, is Iran sensing Trump under pressure? Is Iran sensing American weakness? Is that why we're here?

SANGER: I think the Iranians certainly sense that President Trump wants a way out of this conflict, that the U.S. is running out of munitions, it's running out of options, and fundamentally, it's running out of patience. The war does not poll very well, even among Republicans. In fact, this is the first war that was -- that most Americans opposed on the first day that the U.S. went into it.

The president promised five or six weeks. We are now in the sixth month. And so, I think the president is looking for any way that he can get the strait open and declare that he's won his victory and leave. And the fact of the matter is, they're making it very hard for him to do that.

STOUT: Yes. And a deal to reopen Hormuz remains elusive. We're hearing from Trump's top general. General Caine is said to be, quote, looking for an off ramp from the Iran war.

Is that possible? And what would a viable off ramp look like?

SANGER: Well, a viable off ramp would be to get the strait open and then somehow declare that the nuclear problem was solved by virtue of the fact that the fuel is buried deep beneath the Isfahan plant and other locations around the country. And the U.S. would see it if the Iranians dug it out.

The problem with this for President Trump is that was the exact situation when he started the war back on February 28th. The U.S. you'll recall, had bombed those sites back in June 2025. And fundamentally, the fuel's in the same place that it was. But that may not stop the president from basically saying, okay, we've had enough. Let's just declare that they can't become a nuclear power now and leave.

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STOUT: Yes. And the U.S. is under pressure and feeling it because it's burning through its weapons stockpile. The munitions stockpile, as a result of the war in Iran, is getting seriously depleted. So how is Iran, not only Iran, but how's Russia and China looking at this?

SANGER: Well, the Russians look at this with the question of would the U.S. have the firepower to go defend a small NATO country if the Russians decided to go 100 miles into Latvia, for example. The Chinese are looking at it and asking the question, would the U.S. be in a position to defend Taiwan?

Now, none of them are quite certain what the answer to that is. But certainly, there is a window of opportunity that the administration has created for both of these authoritarian leaders. And if one of them decided to take up on it, I think history might judge that Iran was for many reasons the wrong operation at the wrong time.

STOUT: Yes. And now we have to think about the situation in Ukraine then, you know, because despite its battlefield gains, you know, pioneering new tactics, being able to launch and to strike deep inside Russia, the people of Ukraine are suffering as a rising casualties from Russian long-range weapons. So, what happens when there are no interceptors for Ukraine to get hold of?

SANGER: Well, we're essentially at that position. I mean, the U.S. has said it would provide a few, but nowhere near what they need. So, the Ukrainians have done remarkable things in the past six months or a year. They are reaching deep inside Russia, as you suggest. And these missile attacks that they are now trying to fend off are going to become increasingly bloody because they are out of interceptors.

And the Russians now seem likely to aim at Kyiv's power plants to try to make this a very cold winter. Whether that would simply steal the resolve of the Ukrainians, I suspect it would. But boy, they're really going to go through a hellish time.

STOUT: Yes, the human cost here is devastating. No U.S. interceptors means a daily crisis for the people of Ukraine. David Sanger, we'll leave it at that. Thank you so much for your analysis, and take care.

SANGER: Great to be with you.

STOUT: Now, civilian death tolls are mounting in both Russia and Ukraine as the two sides continue trading aerial attacks. On Sunday, Russian authorities said five were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on the city of Belgorod. More than 20 others are said to be injured, including two children.

Meanwhile, a Russian strike on a residential building in Kharkiv reportedly killed two men and injured 27 people. During his weekly prayer, the Vatican, Pope Leo again appealed to Kyiv and Moscow to stop attacks targeting civilians.

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POPE LEO XIV, HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (voiceover): Painful news continues to emerge of innocent people being killed and injured in Ukraine and Russia. Tragic incidents keep happening. Indeed, they are multiplying, causing more and more civilian victims, including children.

In the face of such suffering, I renew my heartfelt appeal for humanitarian law to be respected and for both sides to cease attacks involving civilian targets. War only leads to more war and causes immense suffering. It is time to halt the spiral of violence and make space for diplomacy and dialogue to pave the way for peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Taiwan is in the midst of its 10-day-long annual military drills, preparing for a potential Chinese invasion. A part of Sunday's activities included a decontamination exercise with soldiers, tanks, armored vehicles put through a simulated nuclear, biological and chemical attack. They've also practiced repelling an air landing assault on the strategic Penghu Islands. And later, in a civil defense drill, officials will slow down mobile Internet speeds for the first time to test communications in case of a disaster or an attack.

Now, out of control wildfires are spreading quickly across western Canada. And still ahead, we have the latest on mass evacuations in British Columbia.

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STOUT: Welcome back. Now, Typhoon Dolphin has made landfall in eastern China and marks the strongest tropical cyclone to hit the country this year, receiving China's highest red al threat level on Sunday. And some coastal regions face 93 mile an hour winds or about 151 kilometers near the storm center at landfall. Torrential rain is forecast through Monday, prolonging the risk of widespread flooding and landslides.

Now high temperatures, gusty winds, and dry lightning are threatening to worsen wildfire conditions across western Canada where more than 100 fires are currently burning in British Columbia and among them the Bald Range fire which is already burned an estimated 33,000 acres. That's more than 13,000 hectares in less than two days. The fast- moving wildfire forced the evacuation of more than 20,000 people this weekend.

The province issued a state of emergency on Saturday. Local authorities are urging residents to follow official protocols as firefighters work to slow the spread of the flames.

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Now, in the last hour, I spoke with British Columbia's Minister of Forests, Ravi Parmar, and take a listen to how he described the intensity of the crisis sweeping across his province.

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RAVI PARMAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA'S MINISTER OF FORESTS: What you described with this Bald Range fire near Summerland, British Columbia, at the Okanagan, the central interior part of our province, is a very difficult situation. What we have is a wildfire that really acted like a bomb went off. And what we saw in a matter of an hour was a wildfire that started at about 50 hectares, grow to just over a thousand hectares in less than an hour. That led to an evacuation of a beautiful town called Summerland in a matter of just hours, of over 15,000 individuals.

At this time, we have over 20,000 individuals right across British Columbia dealing with evacuation orders. And without a doubt, what we are facing this year in particular is extremely extreme, extreme wildfire behavior driven by climate change and drought conditions.

STOUT: You say these fires are, quote, "like a bomb going off," extreme fires that are moving very fast. So what is your message to residents and visitors in the area? What do they need to do now to stay alert and to stay safe?

PARMAR: It's a great question. What we are asking all British Columbians is to know that the BC Wildfire service are hardworking. Wildland firefighters are working hard every single day doing their level best to contain this fire. But it is very challenging given the velocity of growth that these fires have seen as soon as they set off on a run.

What we want residents to know is every British Columbian has a role to play in a wildfire season. We need them to do their part. We need them to be fire smart. We need them to have go bags ready. We need them to support our Wildland firefighters by not having campfires, by not doing anything that would increase the likelihood of a fire occurring in their community.

Certainly, we are positioned well with resources from Mexico and Australia, as well as throughout Canada. But what we are experiencing with these fires in particular is that there is no number of resources you can put on a fire to deal with the level of growth that we've seen over the last 48 hours.

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STOUT: Ravi Parmar there now. There is no relief in sight from wildfire conditions as parts of Europe brace this week for the fifth heat wave of the summer. A wildfire in Spain's eastern Castellan region has forced a town of 700 people to evacuate, and officials say it's a precautionary measure, mainly due to the smoke and crews contained a small fire in a southwestern French town on Sunday.

With more heat expected, authorities are being careful to prevent another blaze in the area following a massive wildfire just a few weeks ago.

You're watching CNN Newsroom. Still to come, some of those displays from southern Lebanon are returning to find their homes and communities in ruins. Learn more on their stories after the break.

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STOUT: Welcome back. Now families are returning to their homes in southern Lebanon after months of displacement by Israel's war on Hezbollah. But for many, home is now little more than rubble, and the damage done by Israeli forces extends far beyond their destroyed homes. CNN's Nada Bashir reports.

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NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Clearing the debris of a home now turned to rubble, the result of a months-long Israeli military assault on southern Lebanon.

When the shelling started, my family fled, Abu Ali says, and when I returned, everything was destroyed. His family fled the village of Zoltar, which overlooks the Natani river in February and have only now been able to return following the withdrawal of Israeli forces. Inside what remains of their home, the remnants of this war lay scattered.

Israeli bullets, he tells us, walls completely blown out, bullet holes above where his grandchildren once slept. We want calm. We want security, we want a state, he says. We want to be protected by the military. We don't want to fight. But if Israel attacks us, we will attack them.

Abu Ali is far from alone among the more than a million people displaced from their homes by the war in Lebanon. Issam Hashem says he and his family of four returned to their village as soon as the military gave them the all clear after months spent sheltering in a school in Beirut.

Take a look at this scene, the destruction. The Israelis were sleeping here in this room, Hisam says. They even left behind their food and water. Through shattered glass and concrete, Hisam takes us to what was his children's bedroom. Out in the distance, he says, Israeli tanks are still positioned.

You can see them right in front of us, just a few hundred meters away, he says. Across (inaudible), the scars of this deadly conflict remain. Homes left crumbling, neighborhoods deserted. This monastery now bullet-ridden and desecrated. The scale of the destruction here is reflected across southern Lebanon, and the recovery process could take years.

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While members of this community work to rebuild homes and restore critical infrastructure, some wounds are more difficult to heal. Many have lost their livelihoods.

"Most of the residents here depend on agriculture. There was a harvest season right before the war started. People fled and left it behind," Abed Ezzeddine, the mayor of West Zawtar, says.

"I believe there is a big percentage of farms that are not fit for farming anymore, due to shelling and airstrikes."

For many, this is not the first time they've been forced to flee their homes, nor the first time they have returned to find utter destruction. Locals here know just how fragile a ceasefire can be, and how quickly everything can change.

And while some say they are putting their trust in the Lebanese army to protect them, others say they remain faithful in their support for another military force, Hezbollah. The Iran-backed political and military group has long dominated in the south.

"I'm proud that my husband, a fighter who defended his land, was martyred in his village," Israr Soor (ph), a mother and now widow, tells us.

She and her children fled the border village of Tair Harfa in October 2023, their community coming under intense Israeli bombardment after Hezbollah launched a series of attacks on Israel in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

"War with Israel," she says, "has impacted generations of her family, no stranger to Israeli occupations of the past. They killed my grandfather, my father was a prisoner of war," she says. "All my uncles were tortured, my entire village suffered."

Now, Israr says she is determined to carry on the struggle.

"Eventually, we will return to our village and if we don't, then our children will return. And if they don't, our grandchildren will.

Nada Bashir, CNN, in London.

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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. And up next, a new report identifies what researchers consider the

world's top methane emitting landfill. And we're going to tell you where it is and why this site's operator disputes the findings. Just ahead.

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STOUT: A new study identifies this massive landfill on the outskirts of Buenos Aires as the world's top emitter of methane, a powerful gas that is driving climate change. But the operator of this site disputes the findings.

CNN's Ivan Perez Sarmenti has more.

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IVAN PEREZ SARMENTI, CNN EN ESPANOL CORRESPONDENT: This is the largest landfill in Latin America, receiving over 400,000 tons of trash every month, nearly a half of all the waste generated in Argentina.

Now, a study by UCLA reveals it is also the highest methane emitting landfill in the world, based on satellite data collected throughout 2025.

JUAN PABLO ESCUDERO, RESEARCHER, UCLA AND UAI: Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with over 80 times the heat-trapping potency of carbon dioxide. And it's responsible for roughly 30 percent of global warming. So it's a big deal.

SARMENTI: Spanning over 1,208 acres, almost one-and-a-half times the size of New York's Central Park, this place, the Norte III facility, processes waste for 14 million people.

Satellites from Planet Labs and NASA have detected significant methane plumes over the site, occurring more than 21 times in a single year.

CNN reached out to the state-owned operator CEAMSE. While declining an on-camera interview, they released a counter-report questioning UCLA's methodology, arguing that satellite readings ignore the site's daily operational scale and its biogas to energy conversion plant.

"The ranking focuses on absolute emissions rather than relative intensity per volume processed. It fails to account for critical variables like daily tonnage, site capacity, and biogas capture systems," the company stated.

ESCUDERO: The main problem is how much organic waste and how we dispose that waste. We need to address that if we need to have less methane emissions. We need less organic waste and less waste in general.

So that's a cultural problem. And Latin America is particularly bad at that.

SARMENTI: Ivan Perez Sarmenti, CNN, Buenos Aires.

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STOUT: The annual international waterfall jumping competition saw some of the world's best cliff divers leap from a 22-meter waterfall in Bosnia-Herzegovina. For these competitors, the contest is a chance to show off their technique and their nerve, while also getting a break from all the heat.

Now, this year's winner, a Bosnian competitor, described the waterfall, and the diver's absolutely correct as, quote, "one of the most beautiful diving spots in the world".

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STOUT: Now, Italian divers, they have discovered a Roman era shipwreck just about five kilometers off the coast of Sicily. And while inspecting it, they found hundreds of well-preserved ancient wine jugs.

Officials say the wreck most likely dates back between the second and first centuries, BC. Sicily was once a major hub for ancient trade. And Italy's minister of culture says that this is one of the most significant underwater archeological discoveries in recent years.

And they aren't the fastest runners, but they may be the cutest. Dozens of dogs they raced for glory at the Corgi National Sprint Series in California.

Some of them, they charged straight ahead, while others maybe they paused. They paused to bark or tussle with rivals before crossing the finish line.

A total of 40 corgis competed in the heats, semifinals and finals. I can watch that on a loop.

Thank you for joining us. I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong.

"WORLD SPORT" is next.

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