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Connect the World
U.S. Carries Out New Waves of Strikes Against Iran; Trump Says Iran Released U.S. Woman Detained Since 2024; Isreal Approves $766M to Build New Jewish Settlements; Ukrainian Defense Minister Ousted in Government Reshuffle; White House Probes Leak of Air Force One Security Concerns. Aired 9-9:45a ET
Aired July 16, 2026 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: This is the scene from the White House as President Donald Trump weighs his options for expanding military
operations in Iran. It is 09:00 a.m. in Washington. It's 05:00 p.m. here in Dubai. I'm Eleni Giokos. This is "Connect the World".
Also coming up on the show, more air strikes against Iran leading to a children's cancer hospital to be evacuated, according to state media. Anger
in Ukraine after the defense minister loses his job in a government reshuffle. And Argentina will place Spain in the World Cup final after
beating England 2-1.
Right, we're around 30 minutes to go before the start of trade in New York. Let's check in on the futures, and it's not looking very good right now.
You've got S&P and NASDAQ taking a bit of a knock. NASDAQ down almost 1 percent Dow Jones flat with a slight positive buy.
We'll delve into why the numbers are pointing mostly down later on. But it's of course on the back of concerns around semiconductor sales coming
out of South Korea having a knock-on effect in the United States. In the meantime, we're hearing that Donald Trump has been receiving options for
expanding the U.S. military operation in Iran, according to two officials.
The U.S. President is now weighing a plan to take Iran's export hub, Kharg Island. The president has also said publicly he intends to strike Iran
harder over the coming week. Now, explosions were heard in several areas across Iran after another night of U.S. air strikes.
In southwestern Iran, a hospital that treats children with cancer had to be evacuated, and that is according to state media. And the latest clashes
also gave Kuwait a rough night, and its military says it intercepted a fresh wave of Iranian drone strikes a few hours ago. Tehran says it was
targeting U.S. bases in the region.
CNN's Betsy Klein is standing by at the White House with the latest developments. Betsy, good to see you. You know we've seen a lot of
escalation this week. In the meantime, we're hearing about details around President Trump weighing up options for ramping up operations further in
Iran. Take us through what you're hearing.
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right. Well, as you just laid out, we have seen in the last few days this conflict steadily escalating,
both in the strikes that both sides are trading back and forth, as well as this increasingly heated rhetoric from both President Trump and the
Iranians.
The Strait of Hormuz remains really the crux issue of this conflict, that critical oil thoroughfare, the waterway has become a key point of leverage
for Iran. They have been launching strikes on commercial vessels, while the U.S. has been launching strikes aimed at degrading those capabilities.
The U.S.-led blockade of ships traveling within the Strait of Hormuz to and from Iranian ports is also fully in effect now. But the president has been
threatening to target critical infrastructure, roads, bridges, drinking water facilities. Iran has been responding, and now they are saying they
will quote, destroy all infrastructure throughout the region.
Now, in the president's view, here the strategy is to put enough pressure on Iran to get them to come to the negotiating table and accept some of the
terms that the U.S. has been pushing for. But we are learning to that end that officials have been presenting President Trump with options to expand
the U.S. military operation in Iran.
Of those options, that includes a potential operation to take Kharg Island, that is a key oil export hub. Also, looking to potentially bomb underground
complexes at Pickaxe Mountain. Of course, that is expected, believed to be connected to Iran's nuclear program. Now, the president has been very
frustrated that Iran continues to restrict traffic throughout the strait.
All of this is having an impact on gas prices, which are creeping closely toward $4 a gallon after steadily de-escalating. The president expected to
address some of this in a speech tonight that is otherwise expected to be focused on election security, Eleni.
GIOKOS: Yeah, there's a lot going on, and importantly, as you mentioned, the Strait of Hormuz is just that flashpoint in all of this. Kuwait and
Jordan both had, frankly, scary nights downing Iranian missiles as well as drones.
[09:05:00]
Tehran, as you mentioned, threatening to crush the region's infrastructure. Give us a sense of what's behind the message and the threat here, because
frankly, both sides, and we've since -- seen this since the start of the war, are doubling down.
KLEIN: That's right. I think in this White House's view, they are hoping to apply maximum leverage. The president has repeatedly threatened critical
infrastructure throughout this conflict. He has threatened to take bridges, to take desalination plants that are critical to drinking water access, as
well as Kharg Island, again that oil export hub.
But has not really followed through on those threats, and that is in part because those threats have been what has led Iran to come to the table and
agree to some of these deal-making aspects that the White House is hoping to achieve, but it will really remain to be seen whether the president is
going to follow through on this or if it might have its intended effect on negotiations there.
GIOKOS: All right, Betty Klein, great to have you with us. Thank you so much. Now the investigation into a U.S. strike that hit a school in Iran is
at an apparent standstill. Sources tell CNN that leaders have not yet ordered a critical intelligence review to help what determine what actually
happened.
The strike occurred back in February, with Iranian state media reporting that at least 168 children and 14 teachers had been killed in the attack.
President Trump posted on social media that Iran has released a dual Iranian-American citizen who had been charged with spying and barred from
leaving the country since December of 2024.
She has been identified by her attorney as Dena Karari. Mr. Trump called Iran's move an act of goodwill. Now, President Trump plans to use part of
his prime-time speech tonight to discuss new findings about election security, among other topics. It's another chance for him to dispute the
2020 election results that he lost.
And sources say he'll focus on voting machines and alleged efforts by foreign nations to influence U.S. elections. The Israeli government
greenlit hundreds of millions of dollars for settlements in the occupied West Bank. Now that's days before its parliament is set to dissolve.
The total amount allocated for this is 766 million dollars. As part of that, Israel also approved an additional 330 million dollars to pay for the
construction of access to roads and settlements that have been built over the last three years. I want to take you now to CNN's Oren Liebermann,
standing by in Jerusalem for us.
Good to see you, Oren. Take us through the settlement that has been approved here and the timing of this. Very interesting.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: This comes just days before Israel's Knesset dissolves and the country heads to elections in October,
and we're seeing not only a number of major moves in terms of legislation meant to keep Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ultra-orthodox allies
with him, but we're also seeing a big push when it comes to settlements.
And the amount of money we're talking about here-some 766 million dollars- is designed for settlement infrastructure. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who announced this, said it was explicitly to strengthen
and build upon the settlements that have already been approved over the four-year course of this government, there have been the legalization and
approval of 104 new settlements in the occupied West Bank.
And this amount of money is to build infrastructure for them, not just as a one-time plan, but effectively as years of investment in settlements. So,
the money does break down a bit here, about 1.3 billion shekels of that, that's 433 million dollars-is to support what Smotrich calls pioneer
neighborhoods.
These are settlements, some of which haven't even gotten out of the legal and planning designation yet. That he is essentially trying to funny muddle
into to make sure that they are built. And he has explicitly said that part of the goal here is not just to spread settlements across the entire West
Bank, but to kill the idea of a Palestinian state.
A lot of the other money that was approved here goes towards settlement infrastructure. Meanwhile, the Palestinian National Council, which is
supposed to act as sort of a representative body of Palestinians, said that this move is quote, an unprecedented escalation of the colonial project
aiming to strangle the Palestinian territories, isolate dozens of towns and villages, create conditions for the displacement of the population, and
eliminate any chance of establishing an independent sovereign Palestinian state.
And all of this is happening as we see a surge of settler violence across parts of the West Bank.
GIOKOS: Yeah, and there's also a seismic shift that is occurring in the United States. Democrats voted to block billions of dollars in military aid
to Israel. I mean, that ultimately failed to pass, and you know, for the first time, a party majority voted against funding Israel. So, give me an
idea of how significant this is.
[09:10:00]
LIEBERMANN: The big picture here is that Israel has become a partisan issue, and part of that is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it a
partisan issue by blatantly and openly aligning himself with President Donald Trump. Now, it's not just that Democrats are far more open and
critical of Israel's war in Gaza, as well as Israel's actions in Lebanon and beyond, so this is a function of that.
That was about half of Democrats who voted to essentially cut off funding, U.S. funding to Israel. It's worth noting that this was sponsored by
Republican Thomas Massie, who is considered a maverick in his own party and is openly critical of Israel. That being said, he lost his primary, so he
won't be running for re-election in November.
But as you point out, it is noteworthy here that about half of Democrats voted to support this. As you see, a growing wave of Democrats making open
criticism of Israel a central part of their foreign policy, and this is a number that could very well grow. It was expected that even more Democrats
might have voted for this, but there was some criticism of Massie's bill here that it was too broad in moving towards cutting off Israel.
Still, you now see a growing part of the Democratic Party openly critical of Israel and of Netanyahu.
GIOKOS: All right, Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem for us. Thank you so much. Meanwhile, in Gaza, the United Nations is warning that humanitarian needs
remain severe, with families reporting ongoing shortages of food, clean water, and medical supplies. The U.N. says that nearly 1.5 million people
need long-term shelter support that includes 850,000 requiring emergency shelter.
Aid groups have delivered hundreds of thousands of housing supplies in the past month, but according to the U.N., they are running out without more
funding.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANE DUJARRIC, U.N. SPOKESPERSON: Living conditions continue to be severely undermined by insecurity, the absence of alternatives, gaps in
access to drinking water, food, healthcare, sanitation, and education.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Right, and coming up on "Connect the World", more overnight strikes hit the Ukrainian capital Kyiv as the defense minister is fired, sparking
protests. We'll bring you that story in just a bit. Plus, White House officials are among those asked to hand over their phones as President
Trump's inner circle hunts for the person behind a leak involving security concerns over an Air Force One jet. Our exclusive reports just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: To Ukraine now, where the defense minister has lost his job in a government reshuffle, Mykhailo Fedorov's dismissal has caused a stir as he
is being credited with an innovative approach to the war. It comes as Kyiv was struck by another wave of overnight strikes hours before the arrival of
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
[09:15:00]
Despite tensions in Ukraine, Russia has made little progress on the front lines. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Huge losses, tiny gains, and lies. That's the reality of Russia's war on
Ukraine. It's plain to see in the strategic town of Kostyantynivka, where last week Russia planted a flag in its center, claiming its capture.
But that's not true. Ukraine still holds lots of it, yet its fate over the past year lays bares the crisis at the heart of Russia's war.
Kostyantynivka sits right on what's known as the fortress belt of heavily defended towns in the Donbas, the capture of which is a key Putin goal.
Take it, and the other two remaining towns of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk are well within reach. But wind back a year, take a look at reliable
battlefield maps, and you see a story about Moscow's persistence, but also how much tiny gains cost. Last year, we saw the road in was lined with
fishing nets protecting from drones, but the town was under Ukrainian control and safe enough.
But by November, it was being hit hard here in the south west. With another drone video showing an air strike just a few streets away. Ukraine still
had troops casually in the city center, and Russia was still really on the contested south western outskirts. It's in the first week of the year that
the map records a big leap forward for Moscow.
But remember, their casualties across the whole front are estimated by the west at about 35,000 a month now dead and injured. The Ukrainians are at
this time still posting from the central railway station, but by February, white phosphorus is being used to horrific effect in the south west.
Even though the Ukrainians are still very much central, jump forward to April, and the damage done is horrific. Drone images right where we saw the
Ukrainians in November, as the Russians have slowly crept in. We saw how perilous it was to get in and out ourselves.
The netting we saw 10 months earlier now a graveyard for so many. Russian flags central this week, even if the maps show they're far from controlling
the town. One year of tiny, tiny steps and doubtless thousands of Russian dead for a town that is relatively tiny itself, Russia's real weak spot in
this war.
GIOKOS: President Trump is ordering federal agents to resume traffic stops in their effort to deport undocumented immigrants. Sources say the
president was furious about the pause ordered on Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security. It came after I.C.E. officers had shot and killed two
people in less than a week, one in Texas and the other in Maine.
Neither was the actual target of an immigration enforcement operation. The FBI is making new allegations in the shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo,
the Mexican national was killed by I.C.E. agents last week in Houston, Texas. CNN's Ed Lavandera has details.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There were already questions swirling around the validity of how federal investigators
described the shooting death of 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo last Tuesday in Houston.
And now there is renewed criticism of federal investigators and how they are handling this case. In a federal search warrant obtained by CNN,
investigators say they found four plastic bags inside Salgado's white van, and that those plastic bags contained a white crystal substance consistent
with methamphetamine.
Now we should be clear. This warrant also does not say that definitively it is drugs of any kind. We have reached out to the FBI to ask and see if that
substance has been tested. We have not heard back, but already there has been intense calls and questions about the validity of what is in this
search warrant.
A Latino activist very close to who has been working with the family over the last week says this smells of a smear campaign and a cover-up. The ACLU
put out a statement saying that the Trump Administration and the FBI lack the credibility to investigate itself in this case.
They say that anybody reading what is in the contents of this search warrant should be very skeptical of what they're reading, and they continue
to call for a full independent investigation. The Harris County District Attorney's Office say prosecutors were given access to the van by the local
FBI office there in Houston.
It's not clear whether or not they were able to watch the execution of this search warrant on this white van. That isn't exactly clear to us. But a
great deal of questions and accusations that perhaps the drugs were planted in the van, and a lot of criticism of the information detailed in this
search warrant.
The Salgado family has not commented directly about the accusations and the allegations in this search warrant. But we also did learn today that the
Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers, the state authorities here.
[09:20:00]
They say that they will be conducting an independent, separate investigation into the shooting death of 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo
as well. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
GIOKOS: All right. I want to bring you some new CNN exclusive reporting. We've learned President Donald Trump's Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and FBI
Director Kash Patel personally orchestrated a wide-ranging investigation from inside the White House last week.
Now, sources say Wiles and Patel are trying to find out who in the government leaked information about security concerns surrounding the new
Qatari gifted aircraft intended for use as Air Force One. Now, sources say some officials were asked to turn over their phones to investigators on
White House grounds as part of the probe.
CNN's Holmes Lybrand is following the story for us from Washington. Holmes, good to see you. Look, so this probe initially triggered last week by the
Justice Department after "The New York Times" reported on security concerns involving the Qatari gifted Air Force One. What more have you learned about
this investigation?
HOLMES LYBRAND, CNN REPORTER: That's right. So last Friday, FBI Director Kash Patel, he was actually called away from a trip he had planned to go to
Chicago. He was called to the White House, where a war room was set up next to Wiles's office. Now, from that war room and inside of the White House,
they began conducting interviews and taking the phones of individuals who were involved in the planning of that NATO trip, but also were in
attendance with Trump on that trip itself.
Now some officials did not hand over their phones, and in fact, outside agencies warned their staff that if agencies were to contact them, that
they needed to immediately contact their agency's attorneys. So, it's a very unique thing for the FBI Director himself to come back to the White
House and to begin and to start such a probe.
GIOKOS: All right. So, this probe, which we've ascertained by Wiles and Patel, really reflects the extent to which the White House is willing to
exert control over a law enforcement investigation. Give us a sense of how this is a significant breach of the Justice Department's historic
independence, and weigh on this further for us.
LYBRAND: Right. That's right. It's certainly unique for the FBI Director, as I was mentioning earlier, to be called in to the White House to
establish such a war room and to begin leading that probe himself. Now, as this probe continues, we'll see to what level Kash Patel remains involved.
But it certainly goes to Trump's frustration with this leak about this Qatari plane, which he has touted time and time again. Now, sources I spoke
with also were a bit surprised at this level of investigation, because it was widely known that the Qatari plane underwent such a rapid
reconfiguration with defense mechanisms and other mechanisms to be able to transport the president.
The secondary jet that old Air Force One was always relied on for more hot spots, more kind of more dangerous travel. Now that the last leg of the
trip, Trump was able to take the Qatari plane to Turkey, but the security assessment changed while Trump was at the NATO summit, and Wiles, herself
had to brief Trump on that security change to where he had to then leave the country in the old Air Force One.
GIOKOS: Yeah, and that actually raised so many questions because it really coincided with the Israeli intelligence around assassination attempts
against Donald Trump, and then him taking Air Force One back to the United States, not the Qatari plane. I mean, what are the security concerns that
have been mentioned around not using the Qatari jet to fly back to the United States, in particular.
LYBRAND: That's right, and you'll remember also it coincided with tensions with Iran as those started to spike as well. So, it's unclear exactly what
that threat assessment was, but it is certainly the case that in the past the Qatari plane has been cleared for more domestic travel as opposed to
international travel, especially to countries in more dangerous areas, for the president.
GIOKOS: All right, good to see you, Holmes Lybrand. Much appreciated for that update. I want to get you up to speed now on some other stories that
are on our radar right now. The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of weapon systems and related equipment to Saudi Arabia.
In a statement, the State Department said the sale worth $2 billion would help to improve the security on non-NATO allies as part of the national
security objectives.
[09:25:00]
The U.S. is set to impose tariffs of 25 percent on some Brazilian imports. Starting next week, the U.S. said a year-long investigation found that
Brazil engaged in quote, unfair trade practices. Brazil's President called the tariffs illegal and said he would take countermeasures.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he's rolling out a new program to test American troops for low testosterone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Today I'm authorizing a new screening program for testosterone deficiency for our service members, ensuring you
have the right testosterone levels to operate at your absolute best.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Hegseth says troops over 30 years old will be screened every year and receiving testosterone replacement therapy will be voluntary. It
appears he is planning to test only men for hormone irregularities. Right, we're a few minutes away from the start of trade in the United States.
We'll see how markets react to a fresh sign that the U.S. economy may be losing some momentum. Futures pointing to the downside today. A lot of
concerns around what's happening here in the Middle East. We've seen a lot of escalation this week. We've seen oil prices rising as well.
A lot to get through. We'll be back right after the short break. Stick with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Welcome back. I'm Eleni Giokos in Dubai, and you're watching "Connect the World". These are your headlines that we're tracking today.
Tehran is launching new attacks on Gulf states after a fresh wave of U.S. air strikes on Iran. Kuwait and Jordan say they intercepted Iranian drone
strikes early today.
Tehran says it was targeting U.S. bases. It comes as sources say, the U.S. President is weighing his options for expanding military operations in
Iran. Israel has approved plans to allocate more than $760 million to build new Jewish settlements and roads in the occupied West Bank.
As part of that, $330 million was also approved for construction of roads to new settlements built over the last three years. The decisions are part
of an Israeli push to expand its territory in the region. Right, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has arrived in Ukraine following a barrage of
air strikes overnight by Russia.
His arrival comes as the Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov lost his job in a government reshuffle. Fedorov has been credited with an innovative
approach to the war. Right, we're a few seconds to go before the start of trade in the U.S. And we're tracking those numbers. Futures were pointing
to a next start.
[09:30:00]
And always a lot of excitement when the bell rings on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, and importantly, markets are not looking very good
today. Specifically, S&P and NASDAQ. Let's see where they land in the first few seconds of trade. Of course, things weighing on investors' minds is
just what's going to happen here in the Middle East with the Strait of Hormuz.
The impact that's going to have on oil prices, Dow Jones opening slightly to the positive at this point, up around 70 points in the first few seconds
of trade, the NASDAQ and S&P a very different picture. We're actually seeing negative territory as they kick off trade on those two bosses as
well.
S&P down quarter of a percent, NASDAQ down around half a percent. We'll delve into those numbers a little later. But importantly, Brent crude and
WTI are ticking higher, and that is we start seeing less traffic through the Strait of Hormuz as Iran continues attacking commercial vessels.
And of course, doubling down, striking U.S. bases across the region, and of course the United States continuing to strike specific targets in southern
parts of Iran to try and degrade Iran's military capabilities, you've got WTI crude sitting at $80 a barrel. That's up half a percent, and Brent
crude also sitting higher today.
Now, the U.S. is opening the door for the United Arab Emirates to get some of the world's most cutting-edge AI technology. The Trump Administration is
easing export controls, giving approved UAE companies access to advanced AI chips and other sensitive defense technology.
That is after it says the UAE backed American security objectives, including its support during the Iran War. Now the move expands on a deal
signed in 2025 that paved the way for the Emirates to import up to 500,000 Nvidia chips each year in exchange for major investments in U.S. technology
infrastructure.
Mohammed Soliman is Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute. He has called the development a big milestone for the UAE's AI partnership with
the U.S. putting it on par with the United Kingdom, India, and South Korea. And Mohammed joins us now live from Rome.
Mohammed, great to see you. Much appreciated for your time.
MOHAMMED SOLIMAN, SENIOR FELLOW AT THE MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Thank you for having me.
GIOKOS: You know, this is really a significant move here. Yeah. Give us -- give me a sort of a real view and an understanding of the significance of
this partnership and what it means for the UAE.
SOLIMAN: Thank you for having me again, and greetings from Rome. To give an idea about why AI reclassification of the UAE is a big deal, this is a
classification that we have in the Department of Commerce regarding the dual-use technologies and which countries the United States work with on
dual-use technologies and advanced technologies deployment.
It's a list that usually reserved for NATO members, Five Eyes nations like Australia or UK, and of course Korea and Japan. And I would say recently we
had the reclassification of India in 2018 as an A5 nation, and that was a milestone. And I think the UAE is following this India model, a country
that's seen by the United States government as an AI partner, an AI infrastructure partner.
So, elevating the UAE from D3, D4 to A5 means that you are not going to have more weight in line to get license by license for transactions of
chips, like you said, so that makes it easier for the UAE to build AI infrastructure, especially if we want to build or the United States want to
expand its own compute infrastructure in the UAE, and with the US, UAE campus, the five gigawatt.
It was a bit harder for the Emirates to get a half a million chips a year, while you are getting deal by deal 35,000 chips. That was not really the
numbers that the Emirates would have wanted. It did slow them down, and I think right now that this will make sure that this AI infrastructure will
at least get a major push.
GIOKOS: Yeah, and it's really important because, frankly, the UAE is positioning itself as, you know, really a hub for AI infrastructure, and it
absolutely needs these chips to be able to make good on that ambition. But frankly, there have been a lot of concerns around protecting advanced AI
technology from being diverted or shared with adversaries.
The UAE, frankly, has worked very hard with the U.S. to achieve where we are right now. Could you expand on what happens behind the scenes to get to
this point where the United States has agreed to sell these chips to the UAE?
SOLIMAN: Excellent question.
[09:35:00]
Let me say that, the reclassification of the U.S. and A5, I would argue, that did not really start a few weeks ago. That has been the direction of
travel since the previous administration under President Biden. There was a concerted effort to bring the UAE to the AI fold of the United States.
So, we have seen a lot of agreements, including the AI, the Intergovernmental Assurance Agreement between the U.S. government and the
UAE government back in 2024, and the partnership between the UAE AI Champion G42 and Microsoft. That was a deal that was structured by the U.S.
government with a direct involvement with the Department of Commerce.
I think the next phase of that was how can we make this bigger in scale, and how can we make sure that we have more robust guard bills around
building major compute infrastructure in the UAE. If we're speaking about five-gigawatt cluster, that needs to be within certain guarantees to the
United States government regarding remote access to this compute, and on top of that diversion.
I think what you see in the BIS with the Bureau of Industry Security, the entity within the Department of Commerce that doing that sort of listing of
countries, that there is a major emphasis on this compute being part of this American compute. So, it's American hybrid scalers that are going to
be benefiting a lot from that sort of license.
GIOKOS: Yeah.
SOLIMAN: So, Google and Microsoft and OpenAI, and you're going to have two entities of the UAE G42 and Core42 that will also be treated as such. But
still, there is still some sort of license renewal that those entities will still have to go through every 270 days.
GIOKOS: So --
SOLIMAN: So, I think on the security front, I think the way that this is structured will give the U.S. government the assurances it feels that it
should have at the moment.
GIOKOS: Yeah, I mean the security question is one that is very pertinent within the AI space. But before you go, and I want to get off a little bit
off topic here, the World Cup final is set, and based on what I've seen, what you've posted on X, you're quite you know, very open and obvious about
who you support.
You're a Spain fan. What's your prediction for Sunday?
SOLIMAN: I hope it's Spain. I'm rooting for Spain with all my heart.
GIOKOS: Yeah. All right. Well --
SOLIMAN: It has to be. It has to be.
GIOKOS: I hope you're not getting too hot there in Rome. It has to be. Well, listen. Enjoy Rome. Enjoy the World Cup final. We'll speak to you
soon, Mohammed. Much appreciated. OK. So, Argentina has done it again. Another late comeback and another World Cup final for Lionel Messi.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Welcome back. England's World Cup semi-final against Argentina didn't end the way fans in London had hoped, but they did have some fun
celebrating one of their team stars.
[09:40:00]
Hours before Wednesday's match, crowds of young men gathered for a look- alike contest to see who most resembled midfielder Jude Bellingham.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is Marcus. Does he look familiar? Well, he just won a Jude Bellingham look-alike contest, where even Erling
Haaland showed up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, it's quite nice. Obviously, if I could be like Jude Bellingham, it's pretty great, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Jude Bellingham is one of England's soccer superstars, and so just hours before England played Argentina, this crowd
gathered to continue a now growing tradition of look-alike contests. These guys all threw their hat in the ring, but it was 24-year-old master student
Marcus who is crowned the Bellingham doppelganger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just round the corner pop with my sister, and she convinced us to come here. Yes, I think it was planned by her, if I'm
honest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Marcus won a Beatles record as Jude Bellingham's chant is hey Jude, and a food delivery voucher worth 1,966
pounds, as in 1966 when England won the World Cup. But most importantly of all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you single?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am single.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Although maybe not for long.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: England were so close to reaching their first World Cup final in 60 years, but a late comeback from Argentina and Lionel Messi dash those
dreams as their quest to go back-to-back goes on. Patrick Snell joins us now. I mean, what can I say?
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: What can I say, Eleni? 60 years of pain.
GIOKOS: What -- I mean, you know, I don't -- yeah.
SNELL: For England at least. I will say this --
GIOKOS: Exactly, but for Argentina, exciting times. Spain, yeah. Tell me.
SNELL: Yeah, I mean, I'm really looking forward to this World Cup final, which is Sunday in New Jersey. I want to pay full credit to Lionel Messi. I
was watching in the fan zone yesterday here in Atlanta, Eleni. There were thousands of fans who weren't inside the stadium either because they didn't
want to pay the pricing for the tickets or they just couldn't get a ticket.
But the next best thing has been these remarkable fan zones, and Atlanta has been a real hub for this tournament. But I just tell you what, there
was a carnival atmosphere. It appeared England were home and dry, but you should never write off this -- team, especially when it has a certain
Lionel Messi in their ranks.
By the end of the match, remarkably, he was kind of playing as a right winger, and he delivered that superb cross in the second minute of stoppage
time for Lautaro Martinez to power home the game winner. England will feel they should have seen the game out.
They didn't. There are question marks over the tactics employed by the head coach Thomas Tuchel. That perhaps is something that will be continued to be
debated.
GIOKOS: Yeah.
SNELL: But full credit to Messi. And look, he now has a real chance of a second World Cup title as he leads his team to face Spain's La Roja, but
what a game that's going to be.
GIOKOS: Well, Patrick, I have to say I'm glad to see you on air today. If you were listening and watching the game, it means you weren't shouting
that much because you still got your voice.
SNELL: I know I need to keep my voice, but there's a few Brits, a few English people in our office, pretty somber faces today. All right, we got
to go, Patrick. I got to go. You've got more after this break. Stick with CNN, everybody.
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[09:45:00]
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