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The Situation Room

U.S. Strikes Iran for Third Night as Tehran Attacks Gulf Nations; Supreme Court Justices Testify on Need for More Security; 26- Year-Old Colombian Father Shot and Killed by ICE in Maine. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired July 14, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

We're monitoring several significant events happening right now. Two United States Supreme Court justices are testifying before Congress in a very rare personal pitch to lawmakers requesting tens of millions of dollars in additional security funding. And they're likely to face questions about more than just the money after the end of such a divisive Supreme Court term.

Also up on Capitol Hill, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, is holding a news conference on the party's agenda after GOP hardliners brought legislative action to a halt.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And we're also watching the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, facing lawmakers this morning testifying on the state of the economy in his first appearance before Congress in a critical hearing that could set the tone for how the Fed tackles inflation in the coming months.

And all eyes are on the White House, where President Trump is preparing to greet the prime minister of Iraq as the White House escalates attacks on neighboring Iran and shifts its policy on the Strait of Hormuz.

BLITZER: Also happening now, breaking news, new strikes. The U.S. military says it launched a brand-new wave of strikes across Iran overnight. Iranian state media is reporting explosions in Bandar Abbas. That's a key port city on the southern coast of the country.

Meanwhile, Tehran is targeting U.S. regional allies with missile and drone attacks. A U.K. maritime agency said this morning that two tankers have been reported hit by missiles in the Strait of Hormuz.

And just hours from now at 4:00 P.M. Eastern Time today, the U.S. military says it will officially resume its naval blockade of Iranian ports. This as President Trump says he wants the United States to become what he calls the, quote, guardian of the Strait of Hormuz. Let's go live right now to CNN Senior White House Reporter Betsy Klein. Betsy, what more is the president saying this morning about this dramatic, powerful escalation?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, there are certainly no signs of de-escalation for this conflict as President Trump is preparing to meet with a key U.S. ally from the region. The U.S. overnight launching a third consecutive night of strikes against Iran, Iran retaliating with attacks on nearby Gulf countries.

But the Strait of Hormuz, that critical oil thoroughfare, remains the main point of contention here. Prior to this conflict, no one had a formal authority over the strait, but it has something that Iran has sought to use as a key leverage point as they have targeted ships trying to traverse that waterway, President Trump announcing that he plans to resume the U.S. naval blockade of all ships going to and from Iranian ports. At the same time that he says the U.S. is now going to impose a 20 percent fee on cargo ships in the strait for the security services that he says the U.S. is providing.

Now, listen to the president on all this.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We're taking out all of their capability for anything having to do with the strait, with the Hormuz Strait. And I think in the end we will end up just controlling the whole thing.

We're protecting a very rich portion of the world. We're spending money. And so what we've done is we are going to be reimbursed for protection.

We'll have it under control very quickly.

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KLEIN: Now, officials, including the president himself, have questioned whether this comports with international law. Listen.

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MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: It's an international waterway. No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway. That's existing international law. That's the way it is in international waterways all over the world, and that's the way we expect it'll be here.

REPORTER: How strenuously will the US fight to keep tolls out of the strait and keep any fees away from the future strait commercial traffic? And are you going to leave it to the Gulf States to kind of fight this battle?

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, we believe international waterways should be free of tolls.

TRUMP: We want it free. We don't want tolls.

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It's international. It's an international waterway.

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KLEIN: Now, CENTCOM says that this blockade will officially begin at 4:00 PM Eastern Time, just a few hours from now. And all of this comes as President Trump has formally notified Congress that the U.S. military plans to resume military action against Iran. All of this prompting major questions about the president's strategy going forward. Wolf and Pamela?

BLITZER: All right, Betsy Klein at the White House with an update. Thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: And, Wolf, with us here in the situation room is CNN Military Analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. So, Colonel Leighton, we've heard a lot about drones being used in the Iran war, and for the first time, CENTCOM says that the U.S. used a sea drone in combat. Tell us about the significance of that.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, that's really significant, Pamela. One of the key things here is when you look at the actual explosions that are a part of this. This is a dry dock that the Iranians used, and you can see the sea drone moving forward into the dry dock area. And the dry docks are used for maintenance for ships, and here you can see the color view from the sea drone's perspective. That looks like a mini submarine that was in dry dock there.

And blowing that up is, of course, a very significant thing. It allows us to get in there using these sea drones without risking personnel. It allows us to get in there you know, without really putting in danger not only the forces that would have to take over this particular area, but also air crews potentially who could be used in an attack like this. So, this is a major achievement from the Navy's perspective.

And it kind of mimics what's going on in the Ukraine war because the Ukrainians have been able to use sea drones to great effect against the Black Sea Fleet. They've basically eliminated the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and they're now going after commercial vessels in the Black Sea. Here, what we're doing is we're going after those small boats and those submarines that even mini submersibles that the Iranians have, and that, of course, is a very significant thing.

BROWN: Yes, it was interesting because I was just overseas on the USS Abraham Lincoln, and the military officials I spoke to said they learned a lot from Russia's war on Ukraine in terms of drone warfare and how much it has changed modern warfare. Tell us -- warfare. Tell us more about that.

LEIGHTON: Yes. So, one of the key things here, this is a Saronic. This is one of the U.S. Navy's under -- above surface drones. And it was actually used in the rescue operation for the Apache helicopter crew that was forced to ditch their aircraft in the Persian Gulf. So, it's used for search and rescue missions. They did that for the first time. It's also, of course, used as an attack platform.

And because it is part of that, it really is, you know, an evolution from what we had before. When you look at how we started out with things, we started out with the Predator back in the late 90s, early 2000s, that became first in the intelligence community, was part of the mix that they had. But then it was used by the Air Force not only for reconnaissance purposes, but also, for example, using Hellfire missiles and Tomahawk missiles to go after the various elements that, you know, would be potentially providing danger to U.S. forces, and also as an offensive weapon that it can be used to go after those areas that that would be there.

And then, of course, we also had the Global Hawk. This was a high- altitude platform. The Predator was a lower altitude platform. This has a huge range of 12,300 nautical miles, can stay up for 34 hours, and it -- you know, it is a good launch platform and also a great reconnaissance platform as well. So, that's how we started.

But then when you go back to some of the things that we can do nowadays the Saronic is an example of that, of vessels that are not only surface vessels, but then we also have of course much smaller drones that are in the air as well.

BROWN: So, the U.S. is using drones obviously, but also Iran is, and it's really been trying to use that to its advantage because they're significantly cheaper and sometimes the U.S. has to use these more expensive weapons to take down the threat. Tell us about that.

LEIGHTON: That is so true, for example, the Iran Shahed 136. So, it's a relatively small aircraft when you look at it but it's still noticeable. It's 8.2 feet with its wingspan, has a range of about 1,200 miles, costs only $20,000. So, that's an important number to keep in mind here.

And, you know, when you see the Shahed take off, it is, you know, an aircraft that that can be seen in a way that you don't you don't normally expect an aircraft to fly, but it is a fairly effective weapon.

Now, when you look at the Shahed 136, we mentioned the $20,000 cost, a standard missile or a Patriot interceptor, they cost between $3 and $4 million apiece. So, that's the difference.

Now, having said this, there are U.S. weapons systems that are being used that cost much less than this. For example, there's a weapons system that's being used on actual missiles that -- and rockets that are fired by aircraft that costs only $40,000, not quite the $20,000 that we have with the Shahed but much cheaper than $3 or $4 million.

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BROWN: All right. Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you so much. And actually to your point, coming up, we're going to play some sound from the interview I had with an admiral on the USS Abraham Lincoln about this uneven cost of warfare with Iran. You're going to hear more of my exclusive reporting from two Navy ships in the Arabian Sea. Wolf?

BLITZER: Pamela, thank you.

And still ahead, outrage in Maine after the deadly shooting of a 26- year-old father by ICE agents. The Department of Homeland Security is finally addressing this fatal incident. What we're learning from the scene in Maine. That's next.

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BROWN: All right. Right now, we have some breaking news. As you see right there, Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett of the Supreme Court, they are there on Capitol Hill testifying in a budget hearing. This is a very rare appearance. The last time a Supreme -- a justice testified before Congress was in 2019.

So, they're there to ask Congress for tens of millions of dollars for security funding, for additional security funding. But we're told by aides to lawmakers that the questioning will likely go beyond just their budget and security, and go into some of the questions after this divisive Supreme Court term that just wrapped up. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Pamela. Happening now, officials are demanding transparency this morning after a 26-year-old father was shot dead by an ICE officer in Maine. It's the second fatal shooting by the agency in a matter of only a few days, and authorities now say the Colombian man, identified as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, was not the target of the operation.

An immigrants rights group said he was authorized to work in the United States and was even issued a Social Security number. Surveillance footage from the scene gives us a glimpse into how the situation unfolded. We want to warn our viewers, some of the video you're about to see may be disturbing.

Here's CNN's Yahya Abou-Ghazala.

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YAHYA ABOU-GHAZALA, CNN REPORTER (voice over): A 26-year-old Colombian man, Joan Sebastian Guerrero, was shot and killed in an ICE- involved shooting Monday morning in Maine. For now, official information is scarce, but a CNN review of photos and videos of the scene offers new insight into the timeline of the deadly incident.

It's the second fatal shooting involving ICE agents within a week, coming just days after a Mexican man was killed in Houston. The latest shooting happened at this intersection in the city of Biddeford. Guerrero was driving this white Kia. There's still a lot that's unclear about what led to the shooting, but here's what we do know. At 7:17 A.M., a doorbell camera from a nearby home captured the sound of gunshots. You can hear five shots fired in just over a second in the distance.

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that ICE was conducting targeted surveillance of an illegal alien. Then it says an illegal alien departed the residence in a vehicle. Notably, they don't specify whether that's the same person they were targeting. DHS says that the vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.

The statement did not explain why the ICE officer thought the driver was a threat. U.S. Senator Angus King said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the man was not the target of the operation. Surveillance video, which appears to have been captured seconds after the shots were fired, shows Guerrero's car entering the intersection and then slowly moving in circles.

In another angle, you can see two federal agents standing outside the car as one of them has his hand on the driver's side door, apparently trying to bring it to a stop. Behind the circling car are at least two federal law enforcement vehicles blocking the road with their lights flashing, indicating where the shooting may have started.

The car keeps spinning for over a minute, making at least four and a half revolutions. Then there's a cut in the video. When it resumes, you can see agents use one of their vehicles to stop Guerrero's car. We can see in this photo that it was pinned by an unmarked federal law enforcement vehicle. You can also see four bullet holes in the car's windshield on the driver's side.

Two federal agents are then recorded outside the car. One of them pulls Guerrero onto the street. He appears limp and his head hits the ground. Then officers appear to handcuff him. In other footage, one of the agents can be seen wearing a vest that indicates he's an ICE agent, the other a Border Patrol agent. Three other agents, all wearing ICE vests, could also be seen around the car.

Then at 7:21 A.M., local police arrive on the scene as one ICE agent kneels over Guerrero. By 7:23 A.M., about six minutes after the shots were fired, both local and federal officers are seen providing medical care to him.

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BLITZER: And our thanks to Yahya Abou-Ghazala for that special report. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Let's go live now to CNN National Correspondent Jason Carroll in Biddeford, Maine. So, Jason, this is the second ICE-involved shooting in less than a week. Officials say neither of the men killed were targets of the enforcement operations. How is the community there reacting?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me explain a few things, Pamela. We were actually out in the, the area of Portland, Maine, back in January, just to give you some perspective, because there were a number of people in the community who were concerned about what they called is ICE's aggressive tactics in dealing with the community.

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And so that was then. Now, fast-forward to where we are now, and yet we have this incident occurring right here at this intersection behind me.

So, when you ask about how the community is reacting, I can tell you that this is a community that was already distrustful of the Department of Homeland Security, distrustful of ICE agents. This shooting happened in an area around a number of apartment buildings, a number of homes. There were plenty of people who actually either heard or saw what happened. I want you to listen to one man's take on what he heard and what he saw.

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DANIEL BOUCHER, WITNESS: He started coming down the street again, driving, I don't know how, and then the SUV hit him again to try to -- and then that's when he stopped. ICE agent got out, tried to open the door and had a difficult time, but eventually opened it and pulled the guy out. His face was bloody. His head was bloody.

And I clearly heard the victim say, I tried to stop, clearly heard him say that.

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CARROLL: So, there, that's one man's of account of what he heard and what he saw, saying that Mr. Guerrero said that he tried to stop, that he tried to stop. This is why so many people out here are asking for transparency and accountability when it comes to this investigation. The issue is it's just that there's just not a lot of faith in the federal government that they're going to get what they're asking for. Pamela?

BROWN: And earlier this morning, Jason, Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree responded to the agency's initial statement in the shooting. Here's what she said.

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REP. CHELLIE PINGREE (D-ME): This wasn't somebody who was targeted. He was just going to work. Originally, Homeland Security was saying that the officer feared for their life.

But then we heard 12 hours later in the day that they feared for public safety. This man was shot four times through the windshield, so there was an ICE officer shooting him directly in the face.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: What more are you learning, Jason, about the justification here from DHS, particularly when there aren't body cameras to show exactly what happened?

CARROLL: Yes. Well, what the congresswoman was talking about in terms of public safety, of course, she's talking about the statement that DHS put out.

Now, it took them some 12 hours before they finally put out a statement about what they say happened out here at this intersection. Part of it read, ICE law enforcement attempted to conduct a vehicle stop. The vehicle attempted to flee the scene, and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.

Of course, Pamela, the question is, is there's a big difference between fearing for public safety, which -- versus fearing for your own personal safety? And as we understand it, that personal safety, that is part of the threshold for using deadly force, which is why we need to see a thorough investigation and why so many people out here, not just people in the street, but local lawmakers as well, are calling for DHS to be more transparent about what they're uncovering. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Jason Carroll, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: CNN Legal Analyst and former Federal Prosecutor Elliot Williams is here with us in The Situation Room. He's also the former Assistant Director of Legislative Affairs for ICE.

Elliot, the Colombian embassy now -- the embassy here in Washington, in the United States, says it has now formally requested what they call information and clarification from the Department of Homeland Security about yesterday's shooting in Maine. What details do you think they're looking to try to clarify?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, there's a few different buckets here. The Colombian government, as an entity that has diplomatic relations with the United States, ought to be asking questions about how its nationals are being treated in the United States, so everything from due process, how did the police conduct their operations, and so on.

Now, law enforcement has a whole host of things that they need to answer questions for to American authorities, both being the big question, and Jason talked about this, what did DHS mean when they said fearing for public safety? The legal standard for the use of force by ICE officers or by any federal officers is, is there an imminent threat of danger or death to an individual, to the officer or, or the public? This idea -- this vague idea of public safety without more at least as they've defined it is not sufficient to have justified deadly force. So, more information --

BLITZER: And as I mentioned, you used to work for ICE, so you know that agency.

WILLIAMS: Pretty well, yes. And, of course, you know, the law certainly protects law the decisions law enforcement officers make, and even the lethal force decisions they make if they are supported by law. And the law requires some level of imminence, some fear of threat to the officer's safety, and merely fleeing in a vehicle is not itself sufficient.

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Now, if there's more, of course, that could, in some circumstances, justify the use of lethal force. But simply driving away from an officer is not enough.

BROWN: So, then what do you make of -- and as you're looking at the pieces we have now in this investigation, again, there's no body camera footage for this, which I want to ask you about in a second, but what do you make of that witness saying that the victim in this case said, I tried to stop?

WILLIAMS: That is a very valuable piece of information. Well, number one, those are the words of the victim, and you certainly don't hear that too often. Number two, if this were to ever come to trial, you know, long ahead in the future, a statement like that actually could be admissible. It's the rare bit of hearsay, because it's a hearsay statement, that could be admitted in court because it's the declaration of an individual as he believes he's dying.

And if he's saying, I tried to stop, that is itself evidence that undermines DHS's argument that he was, you know, in some way, posing some sort of threat to public safety.

BROWN: So, officials said body cameras are going to be rolled out for ICE officers not long after the deadly shootings in Minnesota. But a DHS spokesperson just released this statement blaming government shutdowns for a slower rollout, saying that they've been deployed to more than half the field offices with the remaining half to receive them the next 60 days. From a legal standpoint, what do you make of that?

WILLIAMS: This has been a fight that's been going on for years. I remember it when I was at the Justice Department, not just ICE. Under federal law or under the federal government, officers are not required to wear body cameras. It's an agency-by-agency decision.

Look, I have an op-ed on this in The Washington Post from 2021 calling for federal officers to wear body cameras because it is good both for the officers and for the public. All the information's out there, and, ultimately, you know, we avoid having to litigate by cellphone video as we're happening here in this case.

And so, certainly, DHS can put them out. They've been asked to put them out be, you know, put them on officers before. Some officers are resistant, but often law enforcement officers do support the idea of wearing body cameras just to avoid the kinds of fights we're having about something like this.

BLITZER: Elliot Williams, thank you very, very much. Pamela? BROWN: All right, Wolf. Coming up here in The Situation Room, why Tylenol is heading back to court over lawsuits claiming it has links to autism.

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