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CNN International: American Mark 25th Anniversary Of 9/11 Terrorist Attacks; Iran-Backed Houthis Capture Yemeni Red Sea Port City Of Mocha; Putin Arrives In India Ahead Of BRICS Summit. Aired 4- 4:30a ET

Aired September 11, 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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[04:00:35]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello and a very warm welcome. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London.

Let's get to the headlines. It is a day of remembrance in the U.S. as the nation marks 25 years since the 9/11 attacks. We're going to hear from a firefighter who was on the ground that day.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels capture a key port along the Red Sea, potentially expanding Tehran's influence over yet another critical waterway. We're going to have the latest from the region for you.

Plus, Republicans wrap up their midterm convention. What was President Trump's closing message?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from London, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Salma Abdelaziz.

ABDELAZIZ: Today, not only Americans, but people across the world are marking the anniversary of the September 11th attacks. It's been 25 years since that somber day, when the course of history changed in just a single morning.

In the hours ahead, we will see four former U.S. presidents attend a 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero in New York City.

President Donald Trump, however, will not be in attendance. He will instead mark the occasion at the Pentagon. Sources tell us that's because he wants to give a speech, which is not allowed at the New York ceremony.

9/11 families, veteran groups, and others have been laying wreaths at the national 9/11 Pentagon memorial. They'll stay up throughout the day in honor of those killed on September 11th.

Orchestrated by Al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, 19 hijackers took control of four passenger jets, turning them into weapons in attacks on New York, Pennsylvania, and the nation's capital.

The nearly 3,000 people who died that day represent more than 90 countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN COCHRAN, DEPUTY ASSISTANT CHIEF, FDNY: We all know where we were on the day that it happened. And -- and 25 years on to be able to stand here, talk to you guys, ride with the guys, and it's just phenomenal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Commemorative events are set to take place around the globe today. Buckingham Palace will hold a speech, Changing of the Guard Ceremony.

And in Brussels, NATO officials are planning to walk to the 9/11 memorial for a wreath laying by U.S. soldiers.

In New York, authorities have put up an eight-foot fence around Ground Zero. It is the first time we've seen a barrier like this installed because of the higher level of security in place for the 25th anniversary.

CNN's Mark Morales has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK MORALES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: There have been a lot of high-profile events the last few months, so what we're seeing is that playbook, which means there's going to be a lot of streets that are going to be close to vehicular traffic, pedestrians that won't be allowed in certain spaces.

And what you're seeing is that they're putting an extra effort to make sure that the area is as tightly controlled as possible, which is why you're seeing a lot of these eight-foot gates being surrounding the 9/11 memorial.

And it's important to note that there are no credible threats, but this is why we're seeing what the police commissioner yesterday called one of the largest deployments for the 9/11 ceremony. It's because of this dynamic threat environment, which basically means that the threat could come from a number of different places.

There have been incidents here in New York City since the 9/11 attack. You think the Chelsea bombing, you think the West Side Truck attack, and others situations that were potential plots that never actually came to fruition. And that's what law enforcement is focused on now, constantly recalibrating so they can dedicate assets to figure out what plans are happening in these different scenarios and trying to get them before they -- they -- they come to fruition.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: To mark this somber occasion, I want to bring in now Richard Kolko. He is a retired supervisory special agent with the FBI. Thank you so much for being on with us because you were serving in the FBI on September 11, 2001.

Can you talk us through where you were that day and what you remember most vividly about the attacks?

RICHARD KOLKO, RETIRED SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT, FBI: Well, I remember most vividly is how the world changed so dramatically and so quickly. And while I had my role in it, it was the entire agency and many, many other people across the entire government, across the country that had some very, very significant role in it.

[04:05:59]

I was assigned to a Joint Terrorism Task Force, which we heard about down in Atlanta, Georgia at the time. And the way the room was set up, the television was in front of my desk. So, the first plane had hit and everybody came and gathered around my desk. We were just, you know, watching, you know, whether our jobs open and what was going on.

I'm not sure what had happened yet, but then we saw that second airplane hit and we knew that the world had changed dramatically and we went to work right away. Deploying people throughout the city, went to the airport, started doing all the work that investigators would do.

Interestingly enough, when you work on a Joint Terrorism Task Force, you work in a classified environment. So, we have the secret stuff. So, you have an extra lock on the door, so not everybody could come into that area.

While a lot of the agents that work criminal matters, investigations came down, knocked on the door of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and volunteered to help because we needed all hands on deck.

And interestingly enough, by later in the day, I just happened to get called to Washington, D.C. And for those that remember, the airports had shut down. Airlines were no longer flying. Airspace was closed. So, I had to drive to Washington and was heading up through North Carolina. That was night-time by the time I finally got going and heading up I-95 North towards Washington, D.C.

And I was going a little fast and got pulled over by a North Carolina State Trooper. And I still remember that. That's an interesting memory.

And he came up to the car and I showed my credentials to him and said, hey, FBI. I'm working. And he goes, where are you going? I said, Washington, D.C. And he took a step back from the door of the car, pointed up, I-95. And he said, "Go get him."

And continued our drive up to Washington, D.C. checked in at the FBI headquarters after looking at the Pentagon, which was still on fire. And I was put in a room and started going through an airplane manifest. And we were trying to identify everybody who had been on the airplanes on the 11th and then in previous days and months, looking for the hijackers, trying to identify him. And the investigation began. And -- and everybody -- everybody pitched in. Everybody played a role. And it was -- it was just a very difficult but amazing time seeing everybody pulled together.

And I spent the next couple of years, overseas, collecting evidence in this investigation.

ABDELAZIZ: It is so extraordinary to hear you talk about the details and -- and that story that you said stood out to you of the -- of the officer who pulled you over saying, go get them.

But at the same time, there was this duality, right? This sense of --

KOLKO: Yes.

ABDELAZIZ: -- we must fight back, but also shock, right? What went wrong? What were the failures here? How did this happen? Were you shocked in the moment? And what have we learned from those failures since 9/11? And what changes have prevented any further attacks like this one from happening?

KOLKO: I really wasn't as shocked then when more information came out and that 9/11 report came out. And we learned that there had been information in the intelligence system that could have helped tie some of the pieces together. That's when the -- the shock hit.

But in reality, previous to 9/11, the law enforcement on the federal side and the intelligence community, the information was what's called stovepipe. It stayed in your agency. The sharing was limited and that changed dramatically and quickly. Even went into -- into law where agencies had to share that information with others. It got rid of that stovepipe.

There became a phrase that became very common. We used to say when in doubt, get it out, which meant share that information that you gathered with the other federal law enforcement, federal state, local law enforcement, intelligence community, and it went back and forth. And that was critical to helping fight the potential of another attack.

And people that may not remember, we were very, very concerned about another major attack coming. Don't forget the anthrax attacks started right after that. So, it was just a very hectic time. And I think 25 years has changed our memory of that a little bit.

I was just looking online, as a matter of fact, 25 percent of Americans have been born since after 9/11. You go back to 1990, it's 40 percent. So, a huge portion of the population has no real recollection of the event at all, so.

And Director Mueller, it was his first week on the job. So, you know, he really got thrown into the breach. And he came up with a line which I -- I really thought was important. It's the Federal Bureau of Investigation. And investigation means you show up at the crime scene and conduct an investigation to try and determine who did it. Well, he really pushed the agency towards an intelligence-driven agency and it became -- disruption became the critical thing, not just investigating crime that happened, but trying to disrupt it before it happened.

And -- and there's a lot of success. There's some failures, but that work goes on today and -- and over 25 years, a quarter century, it's amazing. It's gotten much better and agencies are working much better. And it's just a -- it's a sad day, I guess. It's just -- it's a weird day for a lot of people today.

[04:10:10]

ABDELAZIZ: A quarter century where, as you just noted, there's been so much advancement when it comes to intelligence agency's work. But there's also been huge in advancement when it comes to technology and that's presented, of course, new threats that we didn't have 25 years ago from -- from cheap drones to A.I. being used as an operational manual to now we have these instant messaging apps that are encrypted.

Talk to me specifically about what those new challenges are for intelligence agencies and how you're facing them.

KOLKO: You're exactly right and it's changing so fast. The drone technology. We see the wars being fought in Ukraine and -- and in Iran and how the drones are played such a huge role. And now having to defend the drones and what drones can be used on the offensive side too and intelligence collection. A lot of valuable intelligence is gathered by -- by drones.

A.I., the FBI just came out the last week or so and said that they're really incorporating A.I. into how they resolve these threats. All threats go into a telephone number and a -- and a web address and an email to a part of the FBI that's actually located out in West Virginia. And now they're using A.I. to sort through those threats.

They literally get thousands every single day, not only from the United States but from around the world. And sorting through those threats has always been a challenge. Well, now they're using A.I. to help sort through them.

Every threats going to be looked at. The FBI always says that, but now, it helps them prioritize them and helps them tie them together. If one threat comes from one area and another comes from another area, and -- and you may not automatically see how they're connected, A.I. can go a long way towards helping that.

The messaging apps, they go all the way back, but that's certainly how people now are communicating, bad guys are communicating using these.

And it's really -- I think, another new word that we've learned is -- is the lone wolf. That's become a -- a huge problem.

When you -- when you look at investigating Al-Qaeda for 9/11, that was something that could be done because there was a -- a group and they were communicating and money and travel, and -- and there was just things that investigators could, you know, sink their teeth into and go look into.

When you talk about some of these lone wolves now, just people sitting in their basement just online doing things and becoming self-inspired by watching videos or listening to speeches and going out and doing something without talking to anybody or without having to get money from somebody else, that's always going to be a problem and that's one of the big things that the FBI and other law enforcement is really worried about.

ABDELAZIZ: Richard Kolko in the middle of the night in Virginia, thank you so much for sharing that very personal account from inside the counterterrorism units in the United States on the day of 9/11 and what has changed since. Really appreciate it.

KOLKO: Yes. I do. It's a big day, especially --

ABDELAZIZ: The U.S. is now ex -- thank you so much.

The U.S. is now expanding its military support for Saudi Arabia as the Kingdom fights Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. More than a hundred U.S. military advisors are on the ground right now in Saudi Arabia. They're providing intelligence and support for the Kingdom's strikes against the Houthis.

The increased U.S. support comes as fighting has intensified in recent days. The Houthis, on Thursday, captured a strategic port on Yemen's Red Sea coast. Control of that port could allow that militant group to threaten a key shipping waterway, that is Bab-al-Mandeb.

The Bab-al-Mandeb Strait has been a crucial alternative to the Strait of Hormuz during this conflict with Iran. And U.S. officials believe hundreds of Iranian military officers are working with the Houthis directly with the ultimate goal of shutting down that Strait.

And there are now reports the Houthis are trying to advance on other cities in a bid to seize the entire Yemeni coastline.

To discuss this more now with us is Paula Hancocks. She is live from Abu Dhabi this morning. Good morning to you, Paula.

Let's begin by taking stock of this, because it's been about a day since the Houthis declared that they have now captured the strategic port city of Mocha. What is the significance of that news and what happens next here?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Salma, this really threatens to disrupt a second critical waterway when it comes to commercial shipping out of the Middle East. We've been talking about the Strait of Hormuz and the issues there. And this is now a -- a second waterway which Saudi Arabia has been using to be able to get their oil out and divert it from the -- the Strait of Hormuz.

So, it is a critical location, very strategic. The Bab-al-Mandeb Strait, for example, is -- is really the gateway between Europe and Asia via the -- the Suez Canal.

[04:15:04]

So, if the Houthis were able to take control of that Strait and able to -- to disrupt commercial shipping in the way that they have said they will disrupt Saudi shipping in that area, it would be devastating for the world economy.

Now, what we've seen is the Houthis taking control of that -- that very key strategic location, this port city of Mocha, which does give them more access to this waterway.

It also gets them closer to -- to other islands that they could then try and disrupt and take over, which would put them in a -- in a more successful military -- military position.

We've heard from a number of sources within the U.S., familiar with what is going on, that the U.S. is now stepping up their involvement.

Now, they are being part of this very newly established joint forces command. It's only been established, we understand, from a U.S. official in recent weeks when they realized that Iran was given the Houthis so much support.

And what we will see is between 100 to 200 U.S. troops on the ground in Saudi Arabia. This is happening at the moment, we understand. They are giving intelligence sharing support, which they had been already, but they're really extending that support.

And they're also giving targeting support. We're told by one U.S. official, for example, they are being able to -- to give them a targeting tool which allows military officers on the ground to see in real time what is happening in the battlefield, so helping them in that respect.

They are differentiating though and pointing out they're not -- the U.S. side is -- is -- is not helping directly when it comes to strikes. They're not refueling Saudi warplanes or -- or giving operational support in that respect.

So, potentially, they're not giving as much support as some in Saudi Arabia would hope. But it really does highlight just how key and strategic this area is and the concerns that the Houthis are -- are taking control in the fact that the U.S. is getting involved in this limited amount of -- of -- of support on the ground. Salma.

ABDELAZIZ: Paula Hancocks there on the detail of U.S. military and intelligence support to Saudi Arabia as it combats the Houthis. Thank you so much for your time.

I want to go now to U.S. President Donald Trump, who says he has zero regrets about the way he's handled the conflict with Iran. The war is now in its seventh month and extremely unpopular in polls of American voters.

But he brushed aside a suggestion that Republicans would be cruising to a midterm victory if it weren't for the war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, you don't know that. No.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Any -- any regrets?

TRUMP: No. I think -- I think -- like I don't believe in the word regret. You can always question yourself a little bit. And a few people have asked me that. If I had it to do again, I'd do exactly as I did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Meanwhile, oil prices are sliding after they reach their highest level in months on Thursday. That's when Brent Crude climbed to $108 a barrel for the first time since May. West Texas Crude reached $103 before both prices dropped in recent hours.

Now, some global energy firms no longer assume that the war will end this year or that the oil production in the Middle East will recover in 2026.

Staying with the Middle East now, Israel says it has destroyed Hezbollah tunnels and underground infrastructure. This is in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military released video on Thursday that it says shows a strike on a key mountain ridge.

Lebanese state media says Israel carried out a powerful blast at the ridge, which was heard and felt across the surrounding areas.

Israel's military says the underground network stretched for more than two kilometers and housed command centers and dozens of weapons.

Now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli Defense Minister say the operation completed the consolidation of what they call a security zone in the area.

A fire on a cargo ship in China has killed at least 25 people. This is according to Chinese state media. The ship was docked in the Chinese port city of Qingdao for repairs. This is when the fire broke out. Forty-two people were aboard the vessel, five were injured and 12 others were safely evacuated. Chinese state media says, the ship was identified as the Ocean Melody sailing under a Liberian flag.

We have so much more news to come here on CNN. Russia's president prepares for talks with India after arriving there for the upcoming BRICS Summit.

Plus, Ukraine clinches a deal to get more desperately needed air defense interceptors courtesy of Canada.

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[04:20:58]

ABDELAZIZ: Russia's President Vladimir Putin is now in India where he is set to attend the BRICS Summit over the weekend. He arrived in New Delhi just a few hours ago. This is ahead of a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which is scheduled for later today.

BRICS is a group that involves 11 countries, including Russia, India and China. The discussions this weekend are expected, of course, to focus on economic cooperation, but also on the war in Iran, which is a BRICS member.

Not all members are on the same page about the conflict though, so they'll try to reach a consensus during this summit.

I want to welcome now Rhea Mogul, who is keeping an eye on this summit for us. She joined us now live from Hong Kong. Hello, Rhea.

Let's start with this meeting that we know is scheduled today between President Putin and Narendra Modi. What can we expect that Putin's message and demands will be to Modi? And how do you think he'll respond?

RHEA MOGUL, CNN SOUTH ASIA REPORTER: Well, Salma, at its core, I think Modi is going to want to preserve a relationship that is of incredible strategic importance to India. Russia is one of India's top suppliers of defense equipment and it's a huge energy partner.

[04:25:10]

And on the meeting for later today, we can expect a key -- several key items on the agenda. Some of them include trade -- bolstering trade deals, critical minerals, advanced -- advanced military technology.

So, really, what this meeting is about, it's about strengthening that partnership that has lasted for several many, many years. And it's a meeting that Modi is going to want -- you know, he's going to want assurance that Russia will remain a steadfast partner as the world continues to, you know, feel the repercussions of geopolitical tensions.

ABDELAZIZ: But, of course, Narendra Modi has been walking a tightrope. He's been maintaining his relationship with Russia while also keeping friendly with America. Talk to me about the state of India and Russia relationships, but -- but also how they keep that balance going.

MOGUL: Well, India and Russia's relationship dates back to the Cold War. And since Modi has come to power, India and Putin -- sorry, Modi and Putin's relationship has been one of key focus to commentators, you know, the -- the optics of what the two leaders describe as having a very solid friendship is something that analysts typically refer to when they describe the strengthening of India-Russia -- India-Russia ties.

At the same time, Modi has grown closer to the West. It's balanced its relations with Russia very well.

You know, I'll give you an example of this. Just last year, Modi was at a summit in China where he traveled for nearly an hour in Putin's private limousine.

And just last month, he told Putin at another -- sorry, just last week, I mean, he told Putin at another summit. He urged the leader to end the war with Ukraine.

Now, he's one of the very few leaders in the world that can actually do this. The relationship between India and Russia is something that they describe as being time and tested. And this meeting is just another example of how that relationship is strengthening and how the two leaders remain committed to one another and how the two countries remain -- remain committed to that partnership.

ABDELAZIZ: CNN's Rhea Mogul, I know you'll be watching that meeting between Putin and Modi later today very closely. Thank you for those developments for us --

MOGUL: Thank you.

ABDELAZIZ: -- from Hong Kong.

Now to Ukraine where a brief period of calm has ended. Officials say Russia resumed its strikes on Kyiv in recent hours, wounding at least eight people.

A nine-story building caught fire, as you can see there. The Kremlin paused its near-constant attacks on the city during a visit by U.S. envoys earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is hoping to get more desperately needed air defense interceptors after a new deal that was signed in Canada.

On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy inked a more than quarter- billion-dollar defense agreement with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. He said the deal would deliver interceptors through the U.S. JUMPSTART mechanism, but he didn't say anything about the timeframe.

Mr. Zelenskyy said, those weapons will help save lives.

We have so much more to come here on "CNN Newsroom." Today marks the anniversary of the September 11th attacks. How that tragic day is being remembered 25 years later.

Plus, Republicans wrap up their first-ever midterm convention. What they accomplished in Dallas and will it be enough to score them a victory at the polls in November?

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