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One World with Zain Asher
Two Cargo Ships Sunk in the Strait of Hormuz in 24 Hours; Yemen's Houthis Pledge New Strikes on Major Saudi Targets; Maduro to Be Arraigned on New Torture Conspiracy Charges; Judge Limits the DOJ's Access to U.S. Congresswoman's Records. Aired 11-11:30a ET
Aired October 15, 2026 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
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BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: Hello, everyone. Live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: And I'm Zain Asher. You are watching "One World". We want to start with an exclusive. CNN has learned that the U.S.
is considering using the so-called "Mother of All Bombs" on Iranian energy and nuclear sites.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, this is according to multiple U.S. officials who are familiar with the plan. The Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, is
the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal. While it has the power to blow up nine city blocks. Some officials question whether dropping the MOAB
would actually end the war.
ASHER: Let's bring in Senior National Security Reporter Zachary Cohen. I mean, that is the key question: how this leads to a de-escalation as
opposed to an escalation, as Bianna was mentioning, this is the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S.'s arsenal, and it is essentially the
equivalent to 11 tons of TNT.
Just walk us through if the U.S. were to use this, what sort of an impact that would have.
ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, guys, as you mentioned, this bomb is capable of inflicting serious damage on areas that
it impacts, but it is it is designed primarily as a surface level munition, not one that is intended to penetrate deep underground.
Which is interesting in the context of these recently developed military strike packages that were told by sources reference using the MOAB or the
mother of all bombs, in part to target Iranian nuclear facilities, like the one at Pickaxe Mountain, which we know is believed to have facilities
located deep underground, presumably out of the reach of this particular weapon.
And so that leads to the question of then to what end would the U.S. military or President Donald Trump want to potentially use this munition
against an Iranian underground site if it's not capable of destroying it. And we're told that this does overlap in part with what we've heard from
the president as recently as last night about a desire to bring about an end to this deeply unpopular war quickly in the short term, but also not
simply pull U.S. forces out of the region.
We're told by multiple Trump advisers that the president has voiced concern that that would create the appearance of accepting defeat. And so, in the
meantime, the military has been ordered to develop options that maybe can fit what Trump is looking for, and its sort of a dilemma that he's facing,
both wanting to bring about an end to this conflict quickly, but also not to accept do so in a way that would be perceived as a as a defeat.
And so, this is mostly about optics, and that is where using this mother of all bombs does also come into play. It's designed as an information warfare
weapon one that carries psychological effects that more conventional bombs in the U.S. arsenal don't have, and it's one that we've actually seen
President Donald Trump use in his first term.
He was the first president to deploy this munition back in 2017 against ISIS tunnels in Afghanistan. Now those tunnels were significantly more
accessible to this weapon than these underground facilities in Iran that we're talking about, and so it does paint this picture of where we are in
the conflict.
And I want to take a listen to what President Trump said last night, though, when he was asked about when this war might end ahead of the U.S.
midterm elections.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: There's never been the golden age of America, and the Iran war will end very soon. It's going
to end very soon, soon as I want it to end. It'll end, but it's going to end very soon. They'll never have a nuclear weapon, and oil prices will
drop like a rock.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: So, I'm also told by multiple sources that this is really up to the president. He has military options that he could use in service of whatever
strategy the White House is trying to lean into here. But it's also an open question, guys, that U.S. officials wonder if the White House has a
strategy at all at this point.
We're more than six months into a conflict that the president said would be over in a matter of weeks, and so there's significant concerns, significant
questions. But military officials at the Pentagon are continuing to try to provide a menu of options for the president if and when he decides to
resume combat operations against Iran.
ASHER: Right, Zachary Cohen live for us there. Thank you. Right for the cargo ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz, an end to the war simply cannot
come soon enough. In just the last 24 hours, two cargo ships have been sunk in the critical waterway.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, the first was the Singapore registered container ship called the GFS Pride. Singapore's Maritime Authority says the ship caught
fire and sunk after being hit by an unknown projectile. You can see here in this video on social media smoke rising from the ship and debris floating
in the water.
Iran says the ship hit a sea mine on an unauthorized route.
[11:05:00]
ASHER: Satellite views also show the scattered debris in a small oil slick as well. All crew. Members were actually were able to evacuate, another
vessel, the Cape Dao, sunk after being hit with a projectile on September 23rd, killing one crew member.
GOLODRYGA: We are getting new details about those deadly Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia's main airport in Riyadh this month. This as Yemen's Houthi
rebels vow to keep up their strikes on Saudi targets.
ASHER: Yeah, according to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, 17 people have been killed in attacks on Riyadh's airports this month. Meantime, Yemen's
internationally recognized government says that it will not negotiate with the rebels or agree to a ceasefire.
GOLODRYGA: Across Yemen, hospitals are struggling to keep up with the sharp rise in war casualties. The World Food Programme warns the renewed fighting
has cut off life-saving assistance to 800,000 people. Let's discuss with Nic Robertson, who is joining us live from London.
Nic, we may be getting reports of fresh strikes by the Houthis as well against Saudi targets. Just talk about what we're learning about the impact
of this escalation in the region, but particularly on Saudi Arabia, what it's having on Saudi Arabia.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, it doesn't seem that a few hours go by when the civil defense in Saudi isn't issuing an
alert warning citizen in whatever area, be it the capital, be it the south, be it the east of the country, that there's an aerial threat underway.
And Najran had a warning that's very close to the border with Yemen. Had a warning in the past 20 minutes. The warning cleared after about five
minutes. It's not clear if missiles were intercepted, but that's the civil defense essentially putting civilians on notice that they're under threat,
and that really is becoming a much more common occurrence in Saudi now.
The strikes can continue. Yesterday, it was impacting Saudi Aramco, or the night -- going into the night before, impacting Saudi's Aramco facilities
in the east, of course, Riyadh has been continues to be the target of Houthi attacks, and one that we're hearing about at the moment that is
significant, it seems, in its intent and location, is we understand, and these are early reports, so we're just looking at them.
Is on the what's known as the presidential palace in Aden, which is actually the home or workplace some of the time of the prime minister, the
Yemeni Prime Minister in Aden, that if where the sort of seat, if you will, of the leadership of the internationally recognized government.
So, if the Houthis have targeted that, it does seem that they're trying to sort of have a decapitation on the Yemeni leadership, the internationally
recognized Yemeni government leadership. And this perhaps fits into what the Houthis have been saying that they will essentially hit whatever the
Saudis hit.
If it's energy, they'll hit energy. If the Saudis hit airports, they'll hit airports. That they're targeting the presidential building in Aden seems to
imply that the Houthis think some of their leadership figures have been targeted. We don't have that from Saudi officials that they have been
targeting leadership figures, but certainly some of the casualty tolls that have been coming out have included some very senior military Houthi figures
over the past week or so.
GOLODRYGA: Right, Nic Robertson, thank you.
ASHER: All right, Ukraine says it is resuming strikes on Russian oil refineries after Donald Trump's self-declared energy ceasefire as Volodymyr
Zelenskyy angrily lays bare his frustration with the U.S. President, accusing him of betraying Kyiv and withholding critical support.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, last night, Zelenskyy said Russia launched a massive aerial attack at a time when Ukraine's defensive capabilities were being
artificially restricted. It follows days of what Zelenskyy says were gaps in Western intelligence sharing, and as the military version of the SpaceX
Starlink service curbed some satellite communications, hampering Kyiv's ability to intercept Russian drones.
A clearly exasperated Zelenskyy spoke to Piers Morgan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: It's a pity that we are losing. We are losing strong partner. So, this is my opinion, and --
PIERS MORGAN, BRITISH JOURNALIST: You think you're losing America?
ZELENSKYY: Yeah, but not because of us. We -- I mean this. We can't be weak, otherwise we can't survive. That's why it's painful when President
Trump chooses one side, not our side, but we are OK that he is in the middle. But if you are in the middle, you have to stay in the middle, not
on the wrong side. This is not right side of history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:10:00]
ASHER: A source in Ukraine's Defense Ministry says that the Starshield service has been restored, but questions are emerging about who is
responsible. Elon Musk, who owns and controls SpaceX, and said that all decisions restricting the use of Starshield were up to the U.S. military,
and ultimately the president.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment on that.
GOLODRYGA: And we're learning now that Kyiv is facing further setbacks that could have a profound impact on the battlefield. Source tell CNN
exclusively that Ukraine has run out of patriot defense missiles, leaving it more vulnerable to Russian attacks. For years, Zelenskyy has repeatedly
made urgent pleas to Western allies for patriot interceptors due to severe shortages.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins us live now from London. So, just in terms of the Starlink service, I mean, even a temporary disruption in that. When it
comes to air defense, when it comes to drone attacks, just walk us through what the impact of that is on Ukraine, as well as perhaps a temporary gap
as well in intelligence challenge from the U.S. even though the U.S. is sort of saying something quite different about that.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's get right to the interceptors because ultimately that is the third
thing to hamper Ukraine's ability to defend itself. That's ultimately, it seems, U.S. related.
We've seen this before in August, where they appear to have run out of interceptors. There, it's the United States that's the key supplier. It's
Donald Trump who suggested potentially he give Ukraine a license. Zelenskyy recently said they might be able to get a license, and that made decision
had been finally taken.
But now again they're out of intercept. So, even if they did get an early warning, the only way they get those early warnings is from the United
States and their allies. They're the reason the sirens go off in Kyiv. They have nothing they can intercept the ballistic missiles with.
Nearly 40 were fired just two nights ago at Ukraine. It is clearly horrifying already for ordinary Ukrainians every single night. So, the
ballistic missiles for Russia now have this extraordinary window of opportunity, where we know that Ukrainians have nothing to intercept them
with.
And at this point, for a number of days, according to their president, no early warnings from the United States. President Trump has denied they've
stopped intelligence sharing, but clearly something is amiss there. And then, as you mentioned, Zain, we had this issue about the Starlinks and the
Starshield, a Starlink-related military communications service.
At some point during the last 24, 48 hours, the speeds at which these devices could travel while sending information was drastically reduced.
Now, Elon Musk, who SpaceX are behind the Starlink and Starshield services, took the extraordinary measure of commenting on his own X.com platform to
say that decisions around the use of Starshield are made for him ultimately by the White House and U.S. government, distancing himself and his company
personally from the impact of this decision.
He went on to say that these commercial things shouldn't be used in offensive operations. But it's meant that longer and mid-range offensive
operations by Ukraine have been damaged. Their ability to defend itself from Russian drones has been damaged too, and of course, ordinary
battlefield functions.
Some of them have been impeded to that blip of the last 24, 48 hours, according to some sources, appears to be rectified, but getting back on
track to normality. So, we're in this extraordinary moment of 10 days in which we've seen this intelligence sharing technological benefits reduced.
Why? Well, two reasons, the diesel deal, which President Trump arranged with Vladimir Putin of Russia to get hundreds of thousands of Russian deals
back on the market around sanctions, that was meant to improve prices at the American pump before the midterms.
Many analysts said it simply probably wouldn't in the pace and quantity required, that sparked criticism from Zelenskyy. Then Trump unilaterally
declared an energy ceasefire. Zelenskyy said, that's news to me. The Kremlin struck targets of energy inside Ukraine a matter of hours later.
That fell apart, and then the threats to get Ukraine to adhere to it were ultimately this intelligence and technology sharing. So, we've had this
extraordinary 10 days in which the U.S.-Ukrainian relationship has ultimately unraveled. Hence, the outspoken comments you just heard from
Zelenskyy.
Where does it leave us? Well, we've been here before. We saw the blow up in the Oval Office in March. Zelenskyy is currently with European allies who
will do their best, I think, to ensure Trump does not experience some extraordinary strike out back against Zelenskyy.
But I think it shows Zelenskyy Ukraine ultimately exhausted by this seesaw of Trump support or no support, looking to its own internal production of
weapons to sustain itself on the front line, probably looking for other sources of intelligence too, and I think ultimately tired at this point of
putting a brave face on what Zelenskyy clearly thinks is the decision by Trump to support Russia and not Ukraine.
So, a remarkable moment, but the impact of this is not geopolitics and the sort of tea room chatter. It will be in the skies over Ukraine tonight when
they have no interceptors and they have no forewarning of ballistic missile attacks.
[11:15:00]
ASHER: Yeah, and speaking of how exasperated Zelenskyy is, I mean, you saw in that interview with Piers Morgan, he said, listen, it's one thing to be
neutral and to be sort of play it down the middle, but it's another thing, in his words, to be on the wrong side of history.
Nick Paton Walsh, live for us there. Thank you so much. All right, ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores are set to be
arraigned in Manhattan federal court this hour.
GOLODRYGA: Now they're facing new indictments accusing them of torturing political opponents and U.S. citizens to retain their grip on power. Those
allegations were added to a drug trafficking indictment brought against them months earlier. Maduro and Flores are expected to plead not guilty to
the new charges.
ASHER: Yeah, they were both captured in Caracas during a U.S. military raid back in January, and have been in federal custody ever since. Their trial
is expected to begin next year. All right, still to come here on "One World".
GOLODRYGA: A new nationwide Fox News poll spells trouble for President Trump. Voters are sending a message to the Republican Party just weeks away
from the midterms.
ASHER: Plus, Texas Democrat James Talarico made his pitch for Senate to voters in a special CNN event. Few moments from the town hall ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: All right, happening a short time ago, President Trump has called off the proposed live stream of the Fort Hood shooter's execution,
reversing an announcement from the Pentagon last week.
ASHER: Yeah, Trump posted on Truth Social saying that he will die as scheduled by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed. The Former
U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and wounded dozens more at a Texas military base back in 2009.
GOLODRYGA: President Trump is also facing a new warning sign heading into the midterms. In a new Fox poll, his approval rating is 36 percent. That is
the lowest rating he has ever received in a Fox News survey.
ASHER: The president's approval rating is even lower on specific issues like the economy and inflation, but voters across the country aren't
convinced either that the Democratic Republican Party has a solid plan to tackle the nation's problems.
GOLODRYGA: For more of this, let's bring in CNN White House Correspondent Alayna Treene. So, Alayna, the White House continues to put on a brave
face, saying that the president is well received and all of the stops that he's made traveling the country, campaigning ahead of the midterms.
But these numbers are quite brutal, especially given that they are a Fox News poll, and the number one issue continues to be the economy and prices
that is driving voters to question the direction this administration is headed in. Is there going to be any course reversal from what you're
hearing.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Look, for even you know, we have seen the president try to kind of dangle some of these carrots. I'd
argue in recent rallies when he's been you know addressing Republicans and his supporters.
[11:20:00]
He's talked about wanting to give all adults a $5,000 dividend checks. That's what he's been referring them to. Even though many people question
if that's something that's even possible, he's talked about $90 Medicare rebate things for certain seniors who've been issued. You know, a lot of
these different types of gifts.
I would argue that he's been trying to throw out there, but there's really not much they can do about the economy, with less than three weeks left to
go until November 3rd. And I would argue that one of the things that's been so striking from this Fox News poll, as you mentioned, is yes, his approval
rating is only 36 percent, but then you take in the context of that.
This is the lowest approval rating the president has received in a Fox News national poll across his two terms, he has never polled lower when it comes
to his job performance. So that, of course, is a major warning sign for people in the White House and really for Republicans at large, many of
whom, of course, are in these very tight races.
I would also see another bad sign from today was that we got another inflation report. This is the second, you know, pretty bad inflation report
for this administration in just two days. This report saying wholesale U.S. inflation had soared in September to its highest level in four years.
I mean, these are things that you mentioned. The biggest issue for a lot of these voters, time and time again, when you look at these polls, is the
economy, the high prices they're seeing across the country, and of course, inflation ties into all that. And if you do look deeper into this Fox News
poll.
It shows that 29 percent of those polled said that they approve of the president's handling of the economy. When you look at inflation
specifically, only 22 percent of them approve of that. So, this is a major issue that they are facing, and one that again, even if they try to argue
that they have done things to lower costs, you've heard the president try to refer to some of the things he's done to get rid of tax on tips and
social security.
What they've tried to do with keeping some of his previous tax cuts in place, a lot of that not doing much to assuage voters' concerns, and others
arguing that perhaps you won't even see the impacts of that until many months or potentially years from now. All of this to say, you're still
seeing the president hitting the road at a frenetic pace.
He was in Montana and Arizona yesterday. He'll be in Georgia tomorrow, Kentucky on Saturday. A lot of people questioning, is his presence there
even helping? We'll see. They are sticking to this strategy in the lead-up to November 3rd, Bianna and Zain.
GOLODRYGA: All right, Alayna Treene at the White House. Countdowns on to the midterms. Thank you.
TREENE: Yeah.
ASHER: All right, one of the closest and certainly one of the most expensive U.S. Senate races is in Texas.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, Democrat James Talarico met with voters at a CNN Town Hall on Wednesday, hoping to win support from the undecided. CNN's Jeff Zeleny
was there.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: James Talarico made a direct appeal to supporters and skeptics alike, pledging that he
would put the needs of Texas above his own party, as he is asking voters to do something they have not done in 38 years, that's elect a Democrat to the
U.S. Senate.
JAMES TALARICO, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FROM TEXAS: I have no problem sharing hard truths with my party if it's what's best for Texas.
ZELENY: Now, in the final days of his hard-fought race with Republican rival Ken Paxton, who has spent millions trying to brand Talarico as too
liberal for Texas. Talarico sought to present himself as a moderate, and he pushed back against the border policies of the Biden Administration and
said he does not support abolishing I.C.E.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TALARICO: No, and I never have. We need immigration and customs enforcement in this country, but that's not what we're seeing. What we've seen over the
last year is a secret police force, and that's what we don't want in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: In a remarkable exchange face to face with a voter, he invoked humility as he talked about abortion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TALARICO: We're both Christians, and the Bible is silent on the issue of abortion. It means you and I both have to look at different scriptures to
try to come to a conclusion.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to add that the Bible is not silent on abortion. There is the Ten Commandments, "Thou shall not kill".
TALARICO: If I believed if that abortion was murder, that it violated the Ten Commandments, then I wouldn't support it. And so, it's OK that you and
I come to different conclusions about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: But he also sought to move beyond the divisive cultural issues in this race back to more of a populist message, saying that he is a champion
for the working class.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TALARICO: The only minority destroying America is the billionaires. They are constantly trying to divide us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: Now early voting starts here in Texas on Monday. This is the final stretch of a consequential campaign that could hold the balance of power
for the Senate in its hands. Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Fort Worth, Texas.
ASHER: All right, the Trump Administration is targeting Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who immigrated to the U.S. as a Somalian refugee. It's an attempt to
strip her of her U.S. citizenship and potentially deport her, according to the Wall Street Journal. Prosecutors say it's an immigration probe.
[11:25:00]
Omar calls it a political attack.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, sources tell CNN, the Trump Administration pushed for the search on Omar's home to be unusually aggressive and involve prolonged
arguments with the judge. But the judge limited how the Justice Department could access her documents. Here's what the vice president said earlier
this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I did not have advance notice that her home was being raided. Look, I never. We try to run
our Department of Justice in a fair and honest way. We try to let the law follow the facts rather than creating facts just to prosecute people we
don't like.
And because of that, I think the president and I largely try to stay out of Department of Justice investigations and other prosecutions. Now, I do know
that there are some serious allegations against Ilhan Omar. We're going to look into those, and again, if there's a real case there, we're going to
follow the facts, if there's not a real case there, then we won't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: The congresswoman's cell phone, notebooks, personal computers, and passport were reportedly seized in the search. Sources say the probe is
focused on her citizenship documents, which she obtained as a minor back in the 1990s. Authorities issued multiple subpoenas to some of her relatives
as well.
GOLODRYGA: Right, do you stay with CNN. There's more "One World" in about 30 minutes' time, but CNN "Creators" is up next.
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