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Kushner Meets Hamas Chief Ahead Of Gaza Talks With Netanyahu; U.S.-Iran Interim Agreement Expires With No Deal To End War. Aired 4- 4:30a ET

Aired August 17, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:36]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, everybody, thank you so much for joining me. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York. And here's what's coming your way here on CNN Newsroom. President Trump's son-in-law making the rounds in the Middle East hoping to advance the president's Gaza peace plan. We'll examine the chances for success.

And the president also announcing that he's scaling back joint military exercises in South Korea. What Iran has to do with the move. And an unexpected death. Remembering the 36-year-old actress Hayden Panettiere.

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

SANDOVAL: Right now, President Trump's son-in-law is in the Middle East. He's hoping to find a way to get the Gaza peace plan back on track. Sources are telling CNN that Jared Kushner met with the new leader of Hamas and today he's expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has rejected President Trump's 15-point peace plan for Gaza. Foreign ministers from seven countries in the region and Indonesia all released a joint statement condemning Israel's rejection. And they're warning that it could undermine efforts to end the war and achieve a lasting political settlement.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is joining me from Abu Dhabi with the latest.

So, Paula, what do we expect to come out of these meetings, these talks?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Polo, we understand from a diplomatic source that there will be a meeting between Jared Kushner and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later this Monday. Now, he also will be accompanied by the Board of Peace director, Nickolay Mladenov. And we will wait to see what exactly comes out of that meeting. But effectively what they're trying to do is to keep this process going.

The fact that the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected President Trump's 15-point peace plan means that there is effectively a stalemate at this point. So this -- these meetings to try and push the process forward. Now, we know on Sunday in Egypt that Jared Kushner and the delegation he is with met with the Hamas leader, Khalil al-Hayya. We don't have a readout of exactly how that meeting went, but it is a rare meeting between a senior U.S. envoy and Hamas leadership.

We know that Jared Kushner, for example, last October met with Hamas. This is the only reported meeting between the U.S. and Hamas at this level that we know of. And this is when they were trying to secure that cease fire and the release of hostages from Gaza. So we also know that he met with President El-Sisi in Egypt. We had a readout from there where El-Sisi's office said they discussed, quote, "the need for all parties to fulfill their obligations under the agreement to stop the war in the Gaza Strip."

Now, at the end of last month, we heard from President Trump, he announced this 15-point plan. He called it an historic agreement, saying that it was a monumental step towards lasting peace and security. It was a plan that had sequenced steps within it, that it was going to involve Israel ending attacks in Gaza, Hamas completely disarming, and the Israeli military pulling out of Gaza. There was a week of silence from Israeli leadership and then the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, publicly rejected that peace plan, saying that they will not pull any military out of Gaza until Hamas has been completely disarmed. So this is why we are seeing this effort now to try and get past this stalemate.

There is a complicating factor though, and that is that there is Israeli elections in October and Prime Minister Netanyahu is highly unlikely to give any significant concessions to this peace plan to Hamas before that election. He has a number of ministers in his far right coalition pushing for him to not only reject this peace plan, but also to reoccupy Gaza and to resettle it with Jewish settlers. So he is a lot of pressure internally, domestically not to accept this peace plan at this point. But it will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes out of this meeting later today between Kushner and the Israeli Prime Minister. Polo.

[04:05:10]

SANDOVAL: Yes, we'll see if he feels the pressure coming from the White House in turn. Paula Hancock, thank you so much for that reporting.

Let's go to political analysts now. Dahlia Scheindlin joining me from Tel Aviv. Dahlia is also a fellow at the Century Foundation, as well as the author of "The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel."

Dahlia, as always, thank you so much for joining us.

DAHLIA SCHEINDLIN, POLTICAL ANALYST: Thank you for having me on the show.

SANDOVAL: Of course. So you heard some of the reporting from my colleague now and you know, many questions that are still unanswered about this series of meetings. Can you help me highlight the significance of these talks, both Kushner's rare meeting with Hamas's leadership and his upcoming visit with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? What could come out of this?

SCHEINDLIN: Well, we don't know what could come out of it because there's so much that involves a kind of tension between the interests of the two sides, particularly Mr. Netanyahu and the American government. And Mr. Netanyahu, as your correspondent said, is under pressure not to show anything like withdrawals. And so the entire 15- point plan as the original 20-point plan from October, hinges on a quid pro quo of Hamas disarmament and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in general in total. But of course, there is no one shot withdrawal. This will involve phases.

Israel is currently officially holding up to what we call the yellow line, which is about 53 percent of Gaza, but has also expanded its effective control to what is sometimes called the orange line, which makes up about 67, nearly 70 percent control. And so I think that, you know, the hardline government would like for there not to be any single withdrawal from any inch of all the area the IDF controls. And the American government would like to eventually reach the full 15- point and the original 20-point plan from last October.

Between that and the fact that elections are coming, as your correspondent noted, I think the best we can expect will be that Israel will maybe make some sort of gesture that is frankly technical and very, very incremental so that Netanyahu can try to satisfy the American government that he's showing some goodwill while not effectively really giving up Israel's very strong presence in Gaza. And I should just point out that the idea that this is going to lead to some sort of lasting, effective peace is completely remote from a reality in which these agreements are partial, incremental and focus only on Gaza for now, the long term vision of Palestinian self- determination eventually in the form of a state that is mentioned in the 20-point plan from October, is completely remote at this point. And I think that's the only thing that will eventually lead to something like Trump's hyperbole about long term peace.

SANDOVAL: And you started answering my next question, which is the pressure that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu no doubt will feel from Washington. But you know, that lingering question, which is will it be enough for him to do more than just, you know, as you point out, a sort of a symbolic gesture?

SCHEINDLIN: I mean, I don't -- you know, the responses of Trump are always somewhat unpredictable. But I think we do need to see this in the context of increasingly tense relations between Netanyahu and President Trump himself. With -- this has been a very up and down relationship ever since President Trump took office again. They -- Netanyahu is constantly on the defensive, trying to argue that this is a very good relationship. But Trump has at points both pressured him into actual diplomatic steps that he didn't want to take, such as this ceasefire deal that involves a withdrawal, and at times publicly berated him, not to mention forcing or essentially, you know, coercing Israel into accepting ceasefires with Iran and with Lebanon, which Netanyahu didn't want either. And for the same reason. He's got the hardline government, he's got a hard line population who thinks that there must be, you know, a decisive victory in all of these areas where Israel has not managed to achieve it. And for all of those reasons, he is stuck in the polls ahead of the election, his coalition is doing poorly relative to the opposition parties. And that relationship with Trump might have at one point have been a positive factor that he could use to boost his campaign. But in my analysis at this point, the relationship is going badly enough.

Even if he tries to claim it's very good, that I don't think he stands to gain very much. And if the Trump administration or Trump himself does continue to pressure him, it might actually damage him in the elections, or at least prevent him from getting any late stage boost that could help him possibly retake power, which is looking increasingly unlikely right now.

SANDOVAL: Understanding that we still haven't received an official readout from that Jared Kushner meeting over the weekend with the head of Hamas. Hypothetically, if he is able to secure tangible commitments from that group that it will disarm, that it will relinquish governing authority, you think that that could be enough for the Israelis to offer tangible commitments of their own?

[04:10:05]

SCHEINDLIN: I have to tell you, this is a bit of speculation, but in my analysis, you will not see that kind of response from the Netanyahu government that is currently in power ahead of the elections. It could be the case if there is a future government run by the current opposition leaders or the main opposition competitor who is not in government just now, who is not in, you know, who's not -- his party is new. Gadi Eisenkot is leading the opposition now. If there is a government after the elections formed by those current opposition parties, they could conceivably respond in that way.

But I do not expect the Netanyahu government to do this because Netanyahu, I think, is against it himself, possibly. But more importantly, his entire coalition is so deeply committed to staying in Gaza. They say it at every opportunity that they expect to be holding onto Gaza, annexing rebuilding settlements very openly and repeatedly, including ministers from Netanyahu -- from Mr. Netanyahu's party itself. This is not just what we call the hard line or extremist parties in government.

So I do not see them going anything -- doing anything that involves a much real substantive commitment to long term, full withdrawal from Gaza before the elections.

SANDOVAL: Dahlia Scheindlin, we have to leave it there. Great analysis. Thank you so much for your time, as always.

SCHEINDLIN: Thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: Joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea kicked off today, just hours after President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to substantially scale them back. In a social media post announcing the change, the president cited his positive relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying that the drills send a signal that is, quote, inappropriate and hostile to North Korea. The president also cited Seoul's lack of assistance with Iran, saying that he recently asked South Korea's president if they'd like to join the, quote, "denuclearization of Iran," and that they said no. CNN's Gage Goulding is following developments from Hong Kong.

Gage, the president packed a lot into that post, into that Truth Social post. Help us unpack it and get a better understanding of how this potentially impacts some of these very important alliances.

GAGE GOULDING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, to understand that post, I think we have to go to yesterday's post, the president posting on Truth Social something very quick. Just a photo of him and the North Korean leader. They were kind of mean mugging with straight faces. And he said, look, you know, despite this photo, we actually have a great relationship.

And that kind of teed up the social media post today where the president basically said that the operation, the exercise that's happening, Ulchi Freedom Shield, it's an annual summertime exercise between the South Korean military and the United States military based in South Korea. He's calling it hostile and inappropriate and that we have a great relationship with North Korea, we as the United States. And you know, this is an operation that the president is aware of.

I'll go back to his first term in office in 2018 and 2019, President Trump then scaled back the operation mainly due to citing costs. And then it was also scaled back in 2020 and '21 due to COVID 19. So the president is familiar with this operation.

What's interesting though, in Polo, you said there's a lot to unpack and I think that's true because there's kind of two points here. There's the fact that, hey, you know, the president saying we have a great relationship with North Korea, we want to scale back this operation, and on the other hand, taking a little bit of jab of South Korea, saying, when we asked you for help with the denuclearizing, excuse me, Iran, the South Korean government said, no, thanks.

Now, in a statement to CNN, the Blue House, which is the official government agency, the head of the governments there in South Korea essentially said that that's not necessarily the case, that, you know, they hope that this open communication between the North Korea and the U.S. will lead to, quote, "meaningful talks between the two countries." And they went on to say that they are actually working to try to help kind of solve the problem, the ongoing conflict, if you will, in Iran and open the Strait of Hormuz. So they didn't necessarily take a jab back at the president because they are good allies. Which also raises the question as to why exactly would the president do that. Now it could just be trying to extend an olive branch to the North Koreans and trying to set up another summit.

Because again, going back to the president's first term, there was three different meetings. Actually, President Trump was the first president to ever step foot on North Korean soil. Fast forward to now the second term that hasn't been the case. And in the past, President Trump has extended invitations or interest, if you will, to try to meet with Kim Jong Un, that has been met with silence, crickets. So this could be an opportunity for that.

Does that mean that he's looking for a diplomatic win? Possibly. But on the other hand, for the South Korean side, this could be the president saying, look, we asked you for help with Iran and you didn't. You know, our protection goes beyond the South Korea -- the Korean peninsula and we need your help beyond the Korean peninsula.

[04:15:11]

However, with all of that said, the focus on that exercise, right, the South Korean government says that it actually started today, the 10- day operation started today as planned. So it's going to take some time to fully understand, one, are they actually reducing the amount of exercise that they're doing? And two, what kind of fallout, if any, will happen on either side of the Korean Peninsula?

SANDOVAL: It was just months ago President Trump was lambasting European allies for not getting involved in this conflict. So perhaps South Korea's next. Gage Goulding, thank you so much for that reporting.

And we are following breaking news from the entertainment world. Actress Hayden Panettiere has died at the age of 36. The actress and mother of one is best known for her roles on television in the science fiction show "Heroes" and also the country music drama "Nashville." While the circumstances surrounding her death remain unknown, Panettiere's father told CNN, quote, "She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her and to the millions who watched her on screen."

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[04:20:13]

SANDOVAL: Tropical storm Lala has moved away from Hawaii, but parts of the state are still seeing some heavy rain and strong wind gusts. Officials are saying that the most serious threat right now is flash flooding and mudslides, especially in some of the higher elevated areas. Lala made its closest approach to Hawaii's Big Island on Saturday as a Category 1 hurricane and it left all of this devastation behind. Hawaii's governor says that at least 100 homes have been damaged or lost and wind gusts toppled trees and knock down utility power lines. The result, some 165,000 customers now without power.

And they've been warned that the outages could last a while. Officials are saying that the danger from the storm is far from over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. STEPHEN F. LOGAN, ADJUTANT GENERAL, STATE OF HAWAII DEPT. OF DEFENSE: We still have a lot of rain, we have a lot of flooding, we have a lot of road closures and we still have a lot of high winds. Although it's been recategorized to be a tropical storm, it's still on the upward level of the tropical storm with winds, you know, in excess of about 70 miles an hour.

The widespread power outages is creating, you know, a lot of problems for a lot of our residents now. With the road closures also people are, you know, either having to take an alternate route or they're unable to get, you know, to the destination that they need to get to. So we're urging everybody to stay home insofar as possible that they're able to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Widespread heat alerts are in effect across parts of the U.S. as millions face triple digit temperatures well above average. CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar with your forecast.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Roughly 50 million people are under some type of alert across the U.S. with the bulk of it really focused right here along the southeastern portion of the country. Now when we take a look at the heat index, that is the air temperature plus the humidity in these regions, this is what the feels like, temperature is expected to be 105 in Atlanta on Monday, 109 in Jackson, 107 in Jacksonville, Florida. But again, even progressing into Tuesday, these numbers really don't drop off all that much. And in some cases they actually go up a little bit.

This is going to be a prolonged effect for many of these southern cities. Take Atlanta for example. The average high this time of year is 89 degrees. They will spend every single one of the next seven days at or above that marker. And even worse for a place like Dallas where the average is 96.

Every single one of the next seven days that temperature is expected to be in the triple digits.

SANDOVAL: Thanks, Allison.

Still to come here on CNN Newsroom, a critical deadline in the U.S.- Iran conflict has expired with no either in place. On the very latest on that in a moment.

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[04:26:08]

SANDOVAL: The memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, which gave the two countries a 60-day window to negotiate a permanent end to the war, would expire today. But it seems that neither side is really in a hurry to get back to the negotiating table. Iran's foreign minister says that Iran has not decided whether to resume talks with Washington, and Tehran's top negotiator has declared the U.S. and Israel have failed to achieve their goals.

Meanwhile, the White House has made it clear that its current strategy is to inflict maximum economic pain on Iran. The U.S. Treasury Secretary has said that unprecedented economic measures against Iran could go into effect as early as this week. H.A. Hellyer joining me now from Cairo. He's a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies.

H.A., it's always great to see you. Thank you so much for coming back.

H.A. HELLYER, SR. ASSOCIATE FELLOW, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE: Pleasure. Thank you. Always good to be on your show.

SANDOVAL: As we mentioned, HA, and as you know well, that 60-day window that was agreed to in June, it's now expired. And the purpose of that was to try to sort out some of the more complicated issues in this conflict to address those. How do you see, though -- I mean, do you see any concrete advances the last two months from either side?

HELLYER: Well, yes and no in the sense that there have been advances in discussions between the Iranians and the Omanis. And of course the Omanis are acting on behalf of the rest of the GCC and by extension the international community. Not formally, of course, but I think everybody understands it as such. But when it comes to discussions between Tehran and Washington, that's an entirely different proposition.

And there are two major problems here. One is that both sides want to present themselves as having one, right? There's no sense here of either side feeling that they're in a losing position. The Iranians have their narrative about this, the Americans have theirs.

And because they both feel that they're in pole position, they feel that the other side should compromise in order to reflect that. So that's one. The other is that both sides, again, see the waiting game as actually being something that works to their advantage. The Iranians, I think, see the midterms in the United States coming up in a relatively short period of time and figure that, OK, if this goes on for longer, then there's going to be a price that the Americans pay and Trump in particular pays for this war. I think, by the way, that's correct.

I think that what is incorrect is thinking that it would mean that Trump would be in a more agreeable position following the midterms. Maybe he ought to be, but I don't think that's really how this White House operates. So the calculations and the assessments on both sides about the other side, I think are quite skewed. Of course, within Washington, there's this constant idea that, well, if we just put more pressure on the Iranians and they'll buckle. But the Iranians see this as an existential war, so, no, they won't buckle.

I don't think that's really how they're considering all of this. Maybe they should. Maybe they should compromise, but it doesn't matter what they should do. It matters what we think that they actually will do and how they see the situation.

SANDOVAL: When the 60-day period expired a few hours ago, H.A., the first thing that came to my mind was a very simple question with a very complicated answer, which was, what now, right? Does this basically now mean yet another stalemate? HELLYER: Well, yes and no. Again, I'm sorry.

[04:30:00]