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Dozens Killed In Iran Protests, Foreign Minister Says "No Big Deal"; Powerful Storm Could Strain Already-Weakened Supply Chain; Typhoon Noru Slams Vietnam With Powerful Winds And Heavy Rain. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired September 28, 2022 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But despite all that, as we have seen over the nearly two weeks of these protests, the demonstrators were back out on the streets of Tehran and other cities last night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Nightfall in Iran brings protesters back onto the streets. A near-total internet blackout by the government is making it hard for us to know what's really going on, but video trickling out appears to show many Iranians undeterred by a government crackdown, the threat for arrest, or the bullets.

It almost feels like Iran has been a never-ending cycle of protests over the past two decades but those who know the country say everything about this time is different.

TRITA PARSI, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, QUINCY INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT: This time around, very quickly, almost from the outset, they started challenging not the policies of the Islamic Republic but the very structures of it. It's also different in looking at the demographics. These are primarily very, very young people -- a younger generation who have apparently completely lost faith that this Islamic Republic can be reformed.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): And on the streets, there have been varied calls for regime change. This video from the city of Mashhad, the birthplace of the supreme leader, shows protesters setting fire to the statue of a man considered one of the symbols of the Islamic Revolution. On Monday, this group marched through the capital Tehran chanting against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

But it is the powerful acts of defiance by Iranian women that have stunned the world. As protests enter their second week they're still out on the street, still demanding their freedoms and their rights lost with the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The Iranian government rallied its supporters in mass demonstrations, calling the protests a foreign plot -- the work of a handful of mercenaries -- rioters who forcefully remove the headscarves of women on the streets. But in reality, the countrywide protests were sparked by outrage, even among government supporters, over the death of Mahsa Amini in morality police custody.

The protests appear leaderless and spontaneous.

PARSI: The frustrations were so significant. It was brewing but they needed a spark and the spark was that. This is not something that came from the outside. This is not something that was cooked up from the outside. And that's why they were taken so by surprise.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): While many Iranians outside the country are holding onto the hope that this wave of protests may bring change, experts say the regime is far from collapsing.

PARSI: I don't think they are about to fall because we have not yet seen the full scale of their reaction. Unfortunately, I fear that we will see a lot of bloodshed before all of this is over.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Its full force may crush these protests but it won't be the end for a generation of Iranians more emboldened than ever.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KARADSHEH: And Christine, as we have heard from the Iranian foreign minister, as you mentioned, telling NPR yesterday that these protests -- he's dismissing them as quote "not a big deal" and reassuring in a message to his Western counterparts, sarcastically saying that -- he's reassuring them that the regime is going nowhere. That there will be no regime change.

But those who have been watching Iran very closely for years say that we are seeing a pattern. That unless the regime, even if it succeeds in crushing these protests -- if it doesn't change its ways, if it doesn't try to introduce some reforms and meet the protesters -- its people -- halfway, we are going to see more protests for years to come. And very likely, bolder protesters on the streets with more demands, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jomana Karadsheh. Thank you so much for that.

Just ahead, new shifts in America's housing market. And the latest on Hurricane Ian. What could the storm do to America's fragile supply chain?

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[05:38:38]

ROMANS: Florida's west coast bracing for potential devastation as Hurricane Ian nears landfall as a category 4 -- a strong category 4 storm later today. High winds, very heavy rain, life-threatening storm surge flooding expected. The National Hurricane Center forecast updated just a short time ago put Ian 75 miles west-southwest of Naples with a predicted landfall somewhere in the Fort Meyers area late this afternoon.

Hurricane Ian is not expected to pose a major threat to the national supply of oil and gasoline. Florida, not a major producer or refiner. And the Gulf Coast hub of refiners and producers is not forecast to be in the storm's path. Where there could be some high winds they have shut down those rigs already.

Oil prices jumped Tuesday, though they remain near 8-month lows amid -- down sharply over the past week.

There are, however, very real concerns about the already fragile supply chain. Consumers may have noticed it when they went to stock up ahead of the storm. People all over the country could feel it after the storm.

Let's bring in Douglas Kent, executive vice president for strategy and alliances at ACSM. Good morning. Thank you so much for coming by today.

How is the state of the supply chain, I guess, affecting hurricane preparation in Florida? Are critical supplies still accessible?

DOUGLAS KENT, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATEGY AND ALLIANCES, ASCM (via Webex by Cisco): Yes. I think you already hit on the fact that today, we're in an unprecedented state in the supply chain where it is really quite fragile. So when these events, like a hurricane or any other geopolitical event actually occurs, it just puts additional strain on an already-fragile supply chain.

[05:40:11]

ROMANS: Well, after the storm passes do you think people in Florida will have access to the recovery supplies they need?

KENT: Well, I think that's somewhat dependent upon the impact that the storm has relative to critical infrastructure. Of course, we're concerned about infrastructure hits relative to ports, but also the distribution corridor that runs between Tampa and Orlando, for example. So if shipping, rail, and cargo shipments across road are impacted, then that makes the shipment or availability of goods under a considerable strain until those reparations can be made.

ROMANS: I mean, I think -- you know, we get hurricanes in this country every hurricane season but it's so interesting the supply chains are still so tangled 2 1/2 years into this COVID pandemic. Talk to me a little bit about where we are in the supply chain and how something like a hurricane can just further exacerbate what has already been kind of a fragile system.

KENT: Well, it's -- as you mentioned, it's completely unprecedented that we'd have so many simultaneous demand and supply shocks to the system. Of course, it started with the pandemic but it certainly -- it certainly hasn't stopped there.

So, of course, from a supply chain perspective, our primary concern in a situation like this is the health and safety of the residents that get impacted. But then again, as you mentioned, it's how quickly can we recover because it's impacting basically our ability to support some of the major manufacturing, distribution, and agriculture entities that exist in Florida.

So the speed of that recovery under a strained supply chain is, of course, what's in question right now. And hopefully, we can -- we can become more resilient as we continue to face these unprecedented hits.

ROMANS: Well -- and, I mean, you make a very good point. Companies need to incorporate weather forecasts, right, into their risk management, and we need to learn from natural disasters so we can prevent problems in the future.

KENT: Absolutely. We just released our supply chain stability index and it really showed that vulnerability that you're talking about as we're two times more vulnerable in our supply chain infrastructure than we were just two years ago.

In addition, our additional research basically showed that corporations are unprepared and maybe having considered risk events that are geopolitical in nature in their enterprise risk management in the past. And this is necessary because they have to build both strategic and operational resiliency capabilities inside of the companies in order for the ecosystem to work effectively.

ROMANS: Sure.

All right, Douglas Kent. Thank you so much. Nice to see you today.

KENT: Nice to see you. Thank you for having me.

ROMANS: All right. Now to a major storm on the other side of the world. A powerful typhoon in Vietnam bringing catastrophic winds and heavy rain, forcing thousands of people from their homes. It's one of the most powerful storms to hit Vietnam in 20 years.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is tracking the story for us. She's in Seoul, South Korea. How are the Vietnamese coping here?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, this made landfall at about 5:00 this morning local time. And it was the equivalent of a high-end category 2 at that point, so winds near 109 miles per hour.

Now, they did have some warning. They had time to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people -- in particular, the vulnerable -- from the eastern coast. It was the resort area of Da Nang, the historic city of Hoi An, which had the worst impact.

And now, luckily, we have not heard of loss of life at this point. But we have seen the aftermath and we can see the trees and electricity lines are down, roads are blocked, and there is flooding in those particular areas. Officials trying to reach areas that could have been harder hit.

Now, over the next day or two, this weather front can still bring significant flooding as it goes across Vietnam into Laos and then into Thailand as well.

The prime minister, on Tuesday, did have an emergency meeting to put plans in place, saying quote, "Climate change is becoming increasingly extreme and unusual."

It's also a fishing area, so they had something like 60,000 boats that they had to find a safe shelter for because, of course, it's not just loss of life you're worried about, it's loss of livelihood in many of these places.

And this is the same typhoon that just hit the Philippines a couple of days ago and at that occasion, it made landfall on Sunday. But just before that there was an intensification -- a rapid intensification over about 24 hours, which turned it into a super typhoon -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Paula. Thank you so much for that.

All right, General Motors now trying to get workers back into the office. It's not going so well. And Shakira about to stand trial, accused of tax fraud.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:49:10]

ROMANS: Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning.

Looking at markets around the world, major Asian markets tumbling today. China's yuan sinking to record lows here against the U.S. dollar. On Wall Street, stock index futures at this hour are leaning lower again.

The yield on the 10-year government bond hitting four percent for the first time in more than a decade. The Dow and the S&P now falling to their lowest level since November 2020. Both are on a 6-day losing streak, sliding deeper into bear market territory.

The S&P is more than 24 percent below its record high set in January. The Dow -- it's 21 percent below. The Nasdaq has fallen some 33 percent since its high last November.

Gas prices up slightly -- $3.77 a gallon. Keeping a close eye on Hurricane Ian bearing down on Florida's Gulf Coast.

[05:50:00]

So, rising mortgage rates, of course, the main event in the housing market, but new home sales unexpectedly bounced back last month. Potentially, people jumping in ahead of even higher mortgage rates. Sales jumped more than 28 percent from August -- in August from July and fell just 0.1 percent from a year ago.

But here's evidence home prices may be cooling, finally. The Case- Shiller national index shows home prices up more than 15 percent in July from the year earlier, but that's smaller than the 18 percent price jump in June. It is the largest 2-month deceleration in the history of the index. It highlights how mortgage rates have doubled this year, pricing out many buyers and causing prices there maybe to cool off.

All right, General Motors walking back its new return-to-work mandate. A memo sent out late Friday said salaried workers would have to return at least three days a week later this year. Backlash was swift. Now, a second message clarified that the company won't be mandating specific in-office days, leaving that decision to individual teams. You've seen this repeated across corporate America.

All right. Just minutes ago, Ian becoming a category 4 hurricane just off Florida's west coast. Our teams are on the ground right now in the storm zone. The latest on the storm's track, next.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:55:40]

ROMANS: All right. Pop star Shakira set to stand trial in Spain on charges of tax fraud.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAKIRA, COLOMBIAN SINGER: Singing "Hips Don't Lie."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Spanish prosecutors accuse her of not paying nearly $14 million in taxes. They want an 8-year prison term if she is convicted of tax evasion. Shakira has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and rejected a deal with prosecutors to avoid going to trial. Her P.R. firm says Shakira paid all that she owed and millions more in interest.

Several football teams are having to adjust their plans as Hurricane Ian moves closer to Florida. Andy Scholes has this morning's Bleacher Report. Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Christine.

So, you know, the big NFL game this Sunday is Tom Brady and the Bucs hosting Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in Tampa. The forecast for Sunday in Tampa is 84 and sunny but the question is what kind of shape will the city be in after Ian passes by. The NFL says they are monitoring the situation. The game could be pushed back to Monday or moved to another location altogether.

The Bucs, meanwhile, have moved practices this week to Miami. Before leaving, Brady said he had to get his house prepared for the storm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS QUARTERBACK: I don't think that anyone is really prepared for this. I know I've been preparing all morning and getting all my stuff outside and try to put it inside. Try to get all the stuff on the ground level up a little bit higher. I'm right here on the bay so they're talking about pretty high storm surges. And it's a scary thing. I will say that -- it's a scary thing when it really hits your doorstep.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now, we have already seen changes to the college football schedule. South Florida, who plays in Tampa, will now play Saturday's game against East Carolina in Boca Raton. Florida and Central Florida are moving their games from Saturday to Sunday, while South Carolina is moving its game from Saturday to Thursday to get ahead of the storm.

All right, the U.S. men's soccer team, meanwhile, playing their final tune-up before the Qatar World Cup and the fins (PH) are not looking great after failing to get a shot off in a loss to Japan on Friday. Things didn't get much better yesterday. They only managed two shots in a nil-nil draw to Saudi Arabia, who is ranked 59th in the world.

The U.S. has only one win this year against a team going to the World Cup. Their Qatar campaign begins November 21 against Wales.

Brazil, meanwhile, was playing Tunisia in a World Cup tune-up in Paris. And after scoring a goal, Richarlison was celebrating with his teammates when a banana was thrown at him on the field. Richarlison tweeting that this type of racist behavior will continue as long as it goes unpunished.

The Brazilian Football Federation condemned the incident. The game was also stopped twice as the crowd was asked to stop pointing laser pens at the Brazil players.

All right, in baseball, Aaron Judge's quest for 61 is going to go another day after he was walked four times last night in Toronto. He's now gone seven games without a home run. The Yankees did, though, beat the Blue Jays 5-2 to clinch the A.L. East crown.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, also wrapping up the N.L. Central with a win in Milwaukee last night. St. Louis is in the playoffs for a fourth- straight year.

All right, and finally, 103-year-old Sister Jean coming out onto the Wrigley Field to throw out the first pitch at the Cubs game last night. The Loyola Chicago chaplain sporting the number 103 on her jersey before tossing it to the Cubs' mascot, Clark, there. The Cubs beat the Phillies 2-1.

And, Christine, Sister Jean never fails to just amaze me any time she can go out there and do anything like -- 103. Man, incredible.

ROMANS: I can tell you her connection -- my husband and all of his sisters went to Loyola at Chicago, right? They -- she is a legend there and has been connected with those students and now, the grownups, right, who used to be students there. She really is the real deal. Love her -- Sister Jean.

SCHOLES: She certainly is.

ROMANS: All right, thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): If you are in an evacuation zone, particularly in those southwest Florida counties, your time to evacuate is coming to an end. You need to evacuate now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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