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The Brief with Jim Sciutto

CNN International: Mixed Signals on Iran; Rubio Briefs U.S. Lawmakers on Iran Deal; Quigley Announces Bid to Become Mayor of Chicago; Mixed Day for Trump at the Supreme Court; Zelenskyy: Russian Strikes Kill Eight, Wound Dozens in Ukraine; Paramount's Acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Still Pending; Putin Admits Ukraine Strikes are Leading to Fuel Shortages; 1,700 Plus Deaths Reported from Venezuela Quakes. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired June 29, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR, "THE BRIEF": Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington and

you're watching "The Brief."

Just ahead this hour, the U.S. and Iran give conflicting accounts on whether new peace talks will even happen this week. We'll hear from a U.S.

lawmaker who's just been briefed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The death toll from Venezuela's deadly earthquakes has now topped 1,700 people.

And the U.S. Supreme Court has expanded President Trump's power to fire independent agency officials although they keep Lisa Cook on the board of

the Federal Reserve. That story and plenty more coming up.

We begin with a potential meeting between the U.S. and Iran following renewed strikes over the weekend. President Donald Trump posted this

earlier saying the U.S. was set to meet with negotiators in Qatar on Tuesday. Iranian state media, however, says there will be no new

negotiations for now. They cite an official saying an Iranian delegation is headed to Qatar. They say it's seeking to release frozen assets under the

deal and that any visit by U.S. envoys to Qatar is unrelated.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to members of Congress this afternoon about the Iran agreement. It is the first time that most

lawmakers heard from the Trump administration directly about its negotiations to end the war.

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley from Illinois. He was in that briefing. Congressman, thanks so much for taking the time.

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): Glad to be back. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: So, did the Secretary of State, did Steve Witkoff answer any of your questions about the details of this deal?

QUIGLEY: Look, they answered questions, but I think if you had listened to this with your pencil and notepad, you probably wouldn't have written

anything down. I want to say I got nothing, and that is news. I mean, the fact is it's very similar to the Memorandum of Understanding. I'm not sure

the United States has gotten anything in these negotiations.

What's more disturbing is the fact that you just talked about there's supposed to be additional peace talks taking place, and that's disputed.

There's supposed to be inspections of the nuclear program afterwards. That's disputed. So, what exactly is concrete? What is the deal? Is there a

path to peace, a sustainable one? It certainly doesn't look that way.

SCIUTTO: Did you leave that room more or less confident that the U.S. won this war or gained something strategically from this war?

QUIGLEY: No, I left the call with the sense that there is frustration. The fact is, well, what was this all about? U.S. service members died. There

were injuries. There were innocents lost. There's an extraordinary cost that'll be with this country for years, if not perhaps a decade. I think

that our allies in the region are in a worse spot, particularly Israel. I think Iran's proxies feel emboldened as much as Iran does.

When we think about what this war was supposed to be about, which on the first night was liberation, then it was the nuclear program. We are in a

far worse position than we were when it began. We are certainly in a far worse position than we were before Trump pulled out of the JCPOA.

SCIUTTO: So, I wonder, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is, or has been at least publicly, an Iran hawk, was he pressed at all on his past

positions and how he is now supporting this agreement, which seems to grant so much to Tehran?

QUIGLEY: No. I mean, I just think this was general questions that basically, if you had read the Memorandum of Understanding, you'd glean

absolutely nothing else. The fact that they were there in a call answering questions is important, but it was unclassified.

[18:05:00]

We should be in a classified session getting the exact details of what does this mean. The only thing of any value was the fact that he was emphatic,

and now, therefore, on record, saying there were no side deals, that there were no secret deals, and that tariffs or fees or tolls to go through the

Strait would not be tolerated, and that no other country is going to accept that either.

But, again, that's disputed because we hear a different story from Iran, which makes you wonder, is there any agreement at all, and if there was,

would it be honored a day after the fact?

SCIUTTO: I spoke earlier today to the foreign policy adviser to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and I asked him about daylight

between the U.S. and Iran, I mean, even on their own public statements as to what this war was about, because, as you know, Israel said from the

beginning that if Iran's nuclear program is not dealt with, then the war's goals will not have been accomplished.

Do you see daylight between the U.S. and its ally Israel on this, and do you see Israel as a potential spoiler to any agreement if it calculates

that its national security interests aren't served?

QUIGLEY: Look, the president's let slip the dogs of war, and once you do that, they don't always come back. And if Israel feels it's in its interest

to say in southern Lebanon, and obviously, Lebanon is the sticking point, you know, the fact that the president went from unconditional surrender to

talking about Iran having some right to defend itself, issues of ballistic missiles, I've got to think that Israel feels far less comfortable, and

they also see that their Gulf partners are very nervous about this. Are the Gulf partners likely to help in the future when they realize just exactly

what's at risk here?

Again, if I'm leading Israel's efforts, and I disagree with most of their policies, they must think that this war has accomplished nothing, put them

in a far worse position. Sure, Iran's forces have been depleted, but they have in the past, and will again in the future rebuild, and unfortunately,

sadly, perhaps be stronger and more emboldened.

SCIUTTO: If I can, before we go, I want to ask you a question about domestic politics, because you recently announced your campaign for Chicago

mayor. As you know, we're seeing a rise of Democratic Socialist victories, certainly Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, but also a number of

Democratic primaries, one there, and now you have a race in Colorado as well.

Given past voter distaste for the Democratic Party nationally when it has moved too far to the left, do you see this as a problem for Democratic

candidates like yourself going forward, that voters will again see the Democratic Party as further left or too far left of most voters?

QUIGLEY: I think you have to look at previous elections, recent elections, where moderate Democrats, colleagues I served with, have been elected

governors of major states. I think Chicago recognizes that. We have to remember that Joe Biden was elected in what was a largely progressive field

at a time when he was needed to beat President Trump in President Trump's attempt to be re-elected.

So, I think the Democratic Party understands what it needs to do to win in November and two years from now. New York stands by itself. Again, I

respect the voters of New York. They made their choice. It's a big, big tent, and I think that's what makes us strong. I think the problem with the

Republicans is just the opposite. They've become the party of Trump, and that's not a very popular thing to be right now.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Mike Quigley, we appreciate you joining the program.

QUIGLEY: Anytime. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: All right. Joining us now is Puneet Talwar. He's a former U.S. ambassador to Morocco, also a senior White House adviser to President

Barack Obama, where he participated in past negotiations with Iran. Thanks so much for joining the broadcast.

PUNEET TALWAR, FORMER U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: Thank you for having me, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, back to the subject of the Iran war and these punitive negotiations. Several days ago, in an interview on CNBC, you said that the

U.S. had squandered its two greatest sources of leverage, both a credible military threat but also oil sanctions. Are you seeing that now play out in

the current negotiations, that in effect Iran is gaming this out, dragging this out, because they don't feel that pressure anymore?

TALWAR: Absolutely. They have emerged in a strategically stronger position. Four months ago, if you look at this, Iran was probably at its

weakest point since the Islamic Revolution.

[18:10:00]

They just had the largest protest ever. They gunned down thousands of young, innocent protesters in the street. And now, we fast-forward to now

where they have basically withstood a military assault from the two most powerful militaries, one in the world and the other in the region. They

have stood up to that. They have been able to respond against our bases, against Gulf allies. And most importantly, they've demonstrated an ability

to establish a stranglehold on the world economy by controlling the Strait of Hormuz.

So, they're in a pretty strong position right now, even though they have been set back militarily and economically.

SCIUTTO: So, how does the U.S. get back the upper hand? I mean, short of going to war again, I suppose. Doesn't seem like the president has appetite

for that.

TALWAR: No, and I don't think there's very much of an appetite in the American public for that either. So, this will take a long time, I think,

to reestablish our strategic position. I think this is the least bad option available to the president that we do have to follow through with the

ceasefire.

We have to do what we can to rebuild alliances in the region and around the world, reestablish trust in American leadership. I think our trust has been

diminished by the way we have mismanaged this crisis.

SCIUTTO: What is the incentive for Iran to come to agreement, you know, forget about the ceasefire, I don't know if we can get to that, but on the

larger issues, particularly on its nuclear program, if it calculates that the U.S. no longer has the leverage it had before, and perhaps might they

calculate that, well, President Trump's not around for a long time, why would I want to make a deal with him?

TALWAR: Right. And I will say that Iran has mistrusted the United States from the beginning. They've mistrusted every American president since the

Islamic Revolution. They think that our ultimate goal has been regime change. That became quite explicit a few months ago, and so you can't

necessarily blame them at this point.

But at this point, what we're left with, I think, is essentially offering Iran incentives. The MOU basically says that we're going to make our best

efforts to organize a $300 billion-plus reconstruction fund. It talks about lifting all sanctions. The JCPOA lifted sanctions exclusively related to

the nuclear program. If you look at the language of the MOU, it talks about all sanctions, including those related to human rights and terrorism,

presumably.

SCIUTTO: Yes. I just -- it sounds familiar to me, this kind of incentive plan, because it makes me think of the images of Jared Kushner sharing

these, you know, grandiose visions of Gaza with beachfront estates and, you know, hotels and all that kind of stuff, this idea that you could kind of

just incentivize groups or governments away from what they see as their strategic interests. I mean, part of -- one of the regime's strategic

interests is survival, right?

TALWAR: yes.

SCIUTTO: I mean, is the Trump administration repeating a mistake that it tried to apply to Gaza? I know that Gaza, they got to a ceasefire, but they

were no closer to settling the longer-term issues there.

TALWAR: I think there has been a lack of understanding of Iranian motivations, a lack of expertise brought into the room, and a process

breakdown, quite frankly, at the National Security Council.

You know, I served in the Obama administration, and I was in the National Security Council staff there. We inherited a process from the Bush

administration of five layers of meetings that were designed. And that doesn't mean five meetings, it mean layers of multiple meetings that were

designed to basically run to ground all these issues, particularly on a matter of war and peace, that's voluntary. We didn't respond to an attack,

necessarily. This was a voluntary decision. And each of those layers is meant to vet things and meant to stop stupid things from getting to the

president.

SCIUTTO: So, given your involvement in the JCPOA talks, the nuclear talks with Iran going back more than a decade, I covered those negotiations

repeatedly. And what struck me is it took a long time, right? And there were multiple layers of meetings. And if you read the final agreement, I

mean, you know, you'd be sitting there for hours. You know, the current, you know, MOU is about as long as one sheet of paper.

I mean, does that match -- does that lack of detail match the reality necessary to actually handle and deal with these hard-of-core issues?

TALWAR: No, not at all. And you covered those, as you said. And that took basically 20 months or so between the signing of the joint plan of action,

which I helped negotiate. I sat across the table from some of these players, including Abbas Araghchi at that time.

SCIUTTO: I've heard of those talks.

TALWAR: And I know how tough those talks were. And it took 20 months from that to get to the JCPOA. So, 60 days is not nearly enough. This is going

to be extended. We're going to have a lot of flashpoints emerging over this period, as we saw this past weekend. I suspect that will continue.

And Iran is going to be determined to hold on to its strategic sources of leverage, the Strait of Hormuz, its nuclear program, and its support for

its proxies, including its crown jewel in Hezbollah. It will compromise, but it will not completely surrender them.

[18:15:00]

SCIUTTO: You have a long history as a diplomat in the region. Where does U.S. credibility stand right now in the region, not just with allies, not

just with an adversary in Iran, but also U.S. allies in the region?

TALWAR: I think we're not in great shape right now. I think that we were seen as having started this and then not being able to complete it in a way

that would be at all satisfactory to people in the region. I think that Iran, by any measure, is a weaker power, and what people see has emerged

from this is Iran at least fighting us to a draw, and in that sense, it seems strategically stronger.

SCIUTTO: Right. From an asymmetric standpoint, that's a win, to fight the superpower to a draw. Puneet Talwar, appreciate having you on the program.

TALWAR: Great to be with you. Thanks.

SCIUTTO: Well, the U.S. Supreme Court has handed President Trump yet another significant victory, giving him the power to fire the heads of

independent federal agencies without cause. That move overturns a nearly century-old precedent, giving agency heads protection against the whims of

the executive branch. President Trump had this to say about that ruling earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: It's a big ruling that's been going on for almost 100 years. They've been working on this, and, you know, that it

comes down at my term is a very great honor, but it bestows additional powers or maybe the same power on the president. The president has the

right to do this, and that has to do with a lot of agencies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: The high court, however, took new steps to preserve the independence of the Federal Reserve. The court, in a narrow 5-4 decision,

ruled that the president cannot fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook while she fights mortgage fraud charges widely considered to be without merit.

In other key decisions, the court rejected a Republican-led effort to disqualify mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, and it rejected

Trump's appeal in the case of E. Jean Carroll, the woman who won a $5 million sexual abuse case against the president back in 2023.

Joining me now is Nate Persily. He is a professor at Stanford Law School. Nate, good to have you back on the program.

NATE PERSILY, PROFESSOR OF LAW, STANFORD LAW SCHOOL: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: Lots to go through here. I want to begin with the mail-in ballots decision because of its supreme relevance to the upcoming election. The

majority in this case noted in its decision, and I'm quoting here, as Alexander Hamilton put it, the Constitution lodges power over congressional

elections in the state legislatures primarily and in Congress ultimately. Given that quite explicit language, should this have been a close call, a

5-4 decision, in your view?

PERSILY: If this case had come up 20 years ago, it might have been a 9-0 decision. But the 5-4 decision that came out of the court today tells you

all you need to know about the level of polarization, both on the issues of election administration and also within the Supreme Court itself.

And so, the Supreme Court maintained the status quo, but as you're suggesting, right, it made what would seem to be an easy case much harder.

SCIUTTO: It struck me that in Alito's dissent in that case, he cited the danger of fraud. Understandable to be concerned about fraud, except that

reams of data over repeated elections have shown it's relatively rare, has never approached levels that might overturn an election, as the president

has repeatedly claimed.

What does that say to you about how Trump's repeated, debunked claims of election fraud have influenced the court, at least several members on the

court, to have that cited in his dissent in a decision such as this?

PERSILY: Well, it's clearly the case that members of the Supreme Court are echoing some of the concerns that President Trump has raised with respect

to mail balloting. But let's be clear, this was only a case about whether ballots that were received after Election Day could be counted. This is

something that's been happening for many decades, and we've had mail balloting in the United States since the Civil War.

And so, we have a long tradition of mail balloting, and if Congress or state legislatures want to change that, they could do so. But the only

question here was whether a longstanding practice of election administration was still OK under federal law, and the court said yes.

SCIUTTO: OK. Let's go to the decision about independent regulators. So, the court enormously expands the president's power here to fire regulators,

independent, the heads of independent agencies created by Congress to be independent.

And I just wonder, given you and I have discussed the court's decisions over the course of a number of years now, how does this conservative

majority reconcile its expansion of executive power with its often- expressed deference to Congress for making law? In this case, Congress made the law, and it made these agencies independent, but the court is saying,

well, the executive has the power to, in effect, overrule that act of Congress, right, to fire those heads.

[18:20:00]

PERSILY: On the one hand, this is a case that sort of aggregates greater power in the executive branch because it basically says that these

agencies, which were going to be one step removed from politics, that we were going to sort of vest expertise and independence in agencies like the

Federal Trade Commission, that now the president is going to have greater power.

But it also is aggregating and arrogating power to the Supreme Court, right? The Supreme Court is essentially taking power away from Congress and

now saying that it is going to decide that there are sort of very restricted means by which Congress can try to have some kind of independent

enforcement of the law.

And so, now it's sort of politics all the way down because if Congress gives, sort of tries to create an agency to enforce a particular law, now

the president has the ability to basically fire almost anyone in that agency.

SCIUTTO: That's remarkable. So, can you explain to me how the court carved out an exception for the Fed? Legally, right? I mean, I get the -- you

know, there's, you know, a lot of conservatives -- you know, if you read the Wall Street Journal editorial page, they're like, got to keep the Fed

independent, it's important to the markets. That's fine, but that's not a legal constitutional argument.

How did the court say, well, the Fed is different from those other independent agencies?

PERSILY: Yes. It does seem to have a little cognitive dissonance here. And I think that the court really doesn't engage squarely with that question of

how to try to explain why the Fed is so different. To the extent it does, it points to history, that there was a long history of having national

banks going back to the founding and this kind of consequentialist reasoning that you're suggesting, which is that if we remove Fed

independence, the consequences for the markets could be disastrous.

And so, there's this kind of asterisk to the otherwise sort of unitary executive theory that comes out of the FTC case, the slaughter case, where

they said that the president has seemingly unfettered authority.

SCIUTTO: Before we go, given the collection of decisions we've seen, not just in this term, but recent terms in over several years with a

conservative, a large conservative majority on the court, has it added to or lessened the impression among some court watchers that this court is

political to some degree?

PERSILY: Well, I think for a long time, pundits have been accusing this court of being political. And I think what's different now is that we have

this 6-3 consistent majority of conservatives on the court. And while there's been a kind of conservative Supreme Court for a long time, they

haven't been as aggressive as they've been in the last few years.

And so, whether it's abortion rights or whether it's these structural questions related to independent agencies, there's a kind of consistent

march in a very conservative direction that then is consistent with a lot of what President Trump's political program has been.

SCIUTTO: Nate Persily, Stanford Law School, appreciate having you.

PERSILY: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: Well, now to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, where authorities on both sides say that attacks are now killing civilians.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that a Russian missile killed at least five people in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. A strike killed three

others in Zaporizhzhia.

In Western Russia, a Ukrainian drone strike killed two people over the weekend, this according to a regional governor there. The attacks come as

the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has rejected Ukraine's latest proposal for a mutual pause in long-range strikes.

Well, President Putin, in a rare move for him, has acknowledged problems at home. He said over the weekend that a task force is working to alleviate

fuel shortages.

But as CNN's Zahra Ullah reports, lines at the pumps are growing. Actually, we don't have that piece right now. We'll get it fixed as soon as we can.

Still ahead, Comcast's big split. The media giant is set to spin off some of its world-famous assets, including NBC. Why all this could spark even

more media deals. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

SCIUTTO: To Business Breakout, U.S. stocks began the holiday shortened trading week with across-the-board gains. The Dow closed above 52,000 for

the first time. Another record. The NASDAQ rallied 2 percent and broke a five-session losing streak. Also, today, Alphabet shares rose almost 5

percent, as you see there, on its first day of trading as part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Another shakeup in the global media landscape, Comcast announcing Monday it will spin off its media and entertainment operations into a new publicly

traded company. That includes NBCUniversal and Sky, as well as its streaming and movie studio divisions. All this comes just months after

Comcast spun off its cable assets into a separate firm. Many believe the move could usher in a new wave of media deals, even as Paramount Skydance

looks to close its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, which is, we should note, the parent company of CNN.

Brian Stelter joins me now. So, Brian, I thought the prevailing M&A logic, given all these mergers, was that bigger is better, right? You need a giant

tent to capture and compete, you know, capture viewers and buyers and customers and compete. But now we're seeing Comcast go the other way.

What's happening?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST AND AUTHOR, "NETWORK OF LIES": We are. We're seeing Comcast decide to break up connectivity from content,

rolling back something that was presented 15 years ago as a vision for the future of media. Comcast, the biggest broadband provider in the U.S., a

growing wireless provider in the U.S., believed back then that it should also own intellectual property, you know, the "Jurassic Parks" and the

"Minions," all of those brands, and have them under the same tent.

Well, I think the conventional wisdom now says that having all of those brands and assets and channels doesn't actually do a whole lot for the

other side of the house, for the broadband side of the house. People don't decide to stay with Comcast's Internet connection because NBC is also owned

by Comcast.

So, what you see Comcast doing is breaking apart its company into two pieces, hoping that those are now going to be more valuable on their own

and probably, most importantly, easier for potential acquirers to come in and purchase. Now, right now, Comcast is saying that's not the plan, at

least not in the short-term.

But, Jim, it's a little bit like dating, I think. You know, people are the most attractive when they're unavailable. That's what Comcast is doing

here. They're saying they're not available, but that probably makes them more attractive to potential bidders down the line. Maybe a year from now,

that's when you will see potential acquirers come in for NBCUniversal or for the Comcast broadband side of the house.

SCIUTTO: Does that mean that the media pieces, too, might be targets? And could you see -- I mean, are folks talking about other kinds of media

merger? I mean, as I should note, CNN is about to be subject to one of those as well.

STELTER: And before Paramount was the winning bidder for Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix was trying hard to take over Warner Bros. So, there's

curiosity today about whether Netflix would be interested in NBCUniversal, specifically the Universal Movie Studios and those sorts of assets.

[18:30:00]

But you could imagine all sorts of other potential buyers, some of them from the tech world, Amazon, Apple, et cetera. You know, so there's lots of

bankers out there dreaming of fat paydays about what deals they could conjure up in the future.

But again, that's probably a year or so off. What I see Comcast doing today is taking the first steps they would need to take to make future deals

easier to achieve. You know, Comcast stock really popped in pre-market trading up 25 percent. By the end of the day, it closed down about 5

percent. Still -- sorry, it closed up 5 percent. But that was down quite a bit from the peak earlier in the day.

So, I think there was a lot of enthusiasm at first. Maybe some cooler heads prevailed by the end of the day. But this is a stock that was trading above

$50 five years ago. It's now below $25. Comcast felt pressure to do something. And this is the something. Break itself up, see if it looks more

valuable that way. And ultimately, it is the key question, Jim, what buyer might come in and want NBC, Peacock, Universal, et cetera?

SCIUTTO: Well, we know you'll be watching. Brian Stelter, thanks so much for joining.

We're now returning to Russia's President Vladimir Putin acknowledging, quite a rarity, problems inside his own country, in this case, fuel

shortages because of ongoing Ukrainian drone strikes. As CNN's Zahra Ullah reports, lines at the pump in Russia are growing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHRA ULLAH, CNN MOSCOW: Fuel shortages are spreading across Russia because Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries mean Russia is increasingly

facing supply bottlenecks. And with lines like this forming in the capital city, Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin could no longer ignore it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): You are well aware that problems persist for both drivers and businesses. Queues at gas

stations, unfortunately, also remain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ULLAH: Many hair tellers, they're fed up. They're frustrated. They've been driving around from gas station to gas station just looking to buy fuel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I've been driving around for over half an hour now, and I've been waiting about 20 minutes. Anyway, I don't

have much hope that this will end quickly, but I have no choice. I'm running out of gas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I was driving around last night, too, but I didn't find anything.

ULLAH: In some places, sales of fuel are being limited or rationed. People waiting here have told us they spent much of the day looking for gas at

various stations before finally joining this queue with no guarantee of when they'll be able to fill up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Our thanks to Zahra Ullah there reporting from Russia. Well, hope and despair as well in Venezuela. The death toll is growing even as

rescuers pull some survivors, in this case, a man alive from the rubble after 106 hours buried. We'll have the latest coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back to "The Brief." I'm Jim Sciutto, and here are the international headlines we're watching today.

The U.S. and Iran are giving conflicting accounts about the possibility of new talks this week. President Trump says the U.S. will meet with Iran in

Qatar on Tuesday, and Iranian officials says no new discussions are planned for now. U.S. officials says both sides have agreed to stand down, however,

after trading fire this weekend. Kuwait and Bahrain say they were targeted by Iranian attacks.

A gunman opened fire at a youth center in northern Germany Monday, killing four women and two men. The alleged shooter is under arrest. Police say

he's a 45-year-old Turkish citizen born in Germany. They say he had an appointment at the facility regarding custody of his three-month-old

daughter. Police are questioning the child's mother and another woman.

Parts of Europe are enduring a blistering heat wave. Now, some areas in the U.S. face the prospect of scorching temperatures as well. A sprawling heat

dome is said to linger over the East Coast well into the July 4th weekend. Daily record temperatures could be broken from the deep south all the way

to the northeast.

Well, in Venezuela, more than 1,700 people are now confirmed dead after a series of powerful earthquakes beginning last week, and it's not over yet.

Officials say more than 600 aftershocks have hit, and those, of course, reignite the fear. Rescue teams are frantically searching for survivors

buried in the rubble. The damage to infrastructure has been devastating. At least 855 buildings affected. Of those, some 200 disintegrated, according

to officials.

Still, some remarkable stories emerging from all this. Here, an 18-day-old infant rescued from a collapsed building, along with her mother, over the

weekend. A little sign of hope there.

Stefano Pozzebon reports from Caracas with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): As the hours and days go by since the two devastating earthquakes hit Venezuela, the window for

finding survivors is beginning to close.

There are still glimmers of hope, like this moment when a woman was rescued from under the rubble of a building in La Guaira, surrounded by family

yelling they love her. Her 18-day-old baby also found alive, cradled by the hands that dug through the dust and debris. Or this man, Antonio, pulled

from a collapsed building to the sound of cheers and applause.

Others continue to dig with the tools they have, hoping for a sign of their loved ones, growing frustrated and angry as rescue efforts stall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We want support. We want heavy machinery. We want to take our family members with us. I'm not the only one

in this situation.

POZZEBON (voice-over): Dozens of international crews are on the ground in Venezuela, bringing highly trained sniffer dogs, supplies, expertise and

compassion.

ADALBERTO PASTOR, MEXICAN RESCUE WORKER (through translator): At this moment, we're continuing with our search for possible victims. We have

conducted canine searches and we're now using electronic equipment, which allows us to be more accurate.

POZZEBON (voice-over): The so-called golden hour window, the 72 hours after an earthquake when the chance of finding survivors is greater, has

now ended. Many who survived are still shaken, and each aftershock brings stark reminders of everything they've lost.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Some of the lucky ones there. Our thanks to Stefano Pozzebon for that report. Joining us now is David Smolansky. He is a Venezuelan

opposition leader. Good to have you back. Thanks so much.

DAVID SMOLANSKY, VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN: Thank you for having me. This is devastating, if I can take a few seconds.

SCIUTTO: Of course.

[18:40:00]

SMOLANSKY: For the whole country, my nation, especially when you are outside, who are close to nine million people who have been forced to flee

largest migration refugee crisis right now worldwide and suffering this from the distance.

Having friends, relatives that, as we speak, are trapped under the rubble or we have learned that have died or are heavily injured. It's probably the

worst natural disaster that we have had in our history. And you cannot prevent nature, you cannot prevent two earthquakes, but definitely you can

prevent the -- or you could do better on the response.

SCIUTTO: Tell me, how has the government of Delcy Rodriguez responded to this disaster?

SMOLANSKY: There's no response, Jim, there's no response. It's the closest to a failed state. I remember when I was a student, I read an article when

the Haiti earthquake happened in 2010 and the article, the title was Haiti doesn't exist.

I wouldn't say that Venezuela doesn't exist because I'm so proud of hundreds of thousands of rescue workers and volunteers that are working

24/7 within the country and outside the country, but the armed forces are completely disappeared. The same armed forces that have been used several

times to repress innocents, to persecute innocents, to illegally detain and even kill innocents are not deployed at all to help Venezuelans who are

under the rubble.

Actually, there are some videos that we have seen members, specifically the National Guard, stealing, stealing things from some of the buildings that

remain, that remain -- that did not collapse.

So -- and if I may add, this is a consequence of 27 years of kleptocracy, corruption, where money was not used at all to invest on prevention and

rescue for this type of operation.

SCIUTTO: President Trump has claimed that he's running Venezuela and that all is fine since Nicolas Maduro has been removed. Does this response belie

that claim?

SMOLANSKY: Well, the United States has been responsive on the assistance, I have to say, and we're very grateful with the United States of America

and dozens of countries who are literally assisting more than security forces from Venezuela

And actually, the U.S. today announced an extra assistance, so there are $300 million that are in assistance, and at least 700 Americans are

deployed in Venezuela on doing work for rescue.

SCIUTTO: But that's aid coming in, which is important.

SMOLANSKY: That's aid, yes.

SCIUTTO: In terms of the government itself, the U.S. has supported this government. It said that this government is --

SMOLANSKY: Well, there's -- I think there's no better evidence than what is happening in Venezuela since June 24. This regime, for 27 years, sent

$64 billion in oil to Cuba in exchange for our repressive apparatus. This regime received in 20 years approximately $67 billion in loans from China,

largest in the world, by the way. Where's the money from those loans?

So, you know, Delcy, I have said it, she's not -- she's someone you can trust. She's not reliable in the long-term. She's a communist since she was

a teenager, and we are promoting a nation that needs to have strong institutions, rule of law, freedom, democracy, and definitely -- especially

Maria Corina Machado with our democratic leader.

SCIUTTO: Are you any closer?

SMOLANSKY: She represents that credibility, and she could be the main partner that the U.S. could have in the long-term.

SCIUTTO: She's just posted that she's not allowed to return to the country. Is Venezuela any closer to that kind of government, the

representative government?

SMOLANSKY: Well, the regime is blocking her to get in the country, but she has the right to be back in Venezuela, and she wants to embrace the people.

She wants to be with the people that are right now mourning the loved ones, and at the same time, she could articulate a lot of the international

assistance as well.

SCIUTTO: Sure. David Smolansky, we feel for your country and for the people of Venezuela right now. We appreciate you joining, and we hope we

can welcome you back as we learn more.

SMOLANSKY: I will highly appreciate that, because these meetings are very important for our country. Thank you so much for having me.

[18:45:00]

SCIUTTO: Well, still to come on "The Brief," South Africa on edge as anti- migrant protests intensify, and thousands of foreign nationals look to flee. We're going to take a look at what's behind this just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Thousands of migrants are looking to flee South Africa by Tuesday as the country braces for a surge in anti-migrant violence.

Anti-migrant sentiment has been increasing for months from groups and self- styled vigilantes who are now threatening more attacks on the undocumented beginning tomorrow. That's the date they've set a deadline for migrants to

leave. CNN's Larry Madowo takes a closer look at what's behind the anger.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Marches like these have driven some migrants from their homes in South Africa. Thousands of them have been

seeking refuge at their embassies. Places like Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana are now repatriating their citizens from South

Africa because they fear for their lives.

We're in Soweto in South Africa, where a few hundred people have been marching, asking undocumented, illegal migrants to leave the country by

Tuesday, June 30th. That is the deadline that's been set by anti-migrant groups like these.

You can hear that. They've been singing some songs celebrating Zulu pride. One of them says, who can touch a lion when a Zulu man is there. A lot of

them tell us they're just asking people to come to South Africa legally. They don't want them to come here and abuse the system. And they feel that

many of these undocumented migrants, many Africans, are taking advantage of South Africa's generosity and its draining resources here, leading to high

unemployment. The South African government says that they have a right to protest, but not to violence and intimidation.

KAGISO MVULA, PROTESTER: We are not against any foreigner, but we are saying you must come here legally. Yes, that's all I'm saying.

MADOWO: So, you don't think that South Africa is xenophobic?

MVULA: It's not xenophobic. It's not xenophobic. If I come to your house, I need to abide by your rules. I need to make sure that I follow each and

every rule that is regulating the country.

MADOWO: These protesters say they are not xenophobic or afrophobic, as some African nations have claimed. They just want South African law,

immigration law, to be respected.

But the big day is June 30th, when many migrants fear it will not be safe for them to continue living here.

Larry Madowo, CNN, Soweto, Johannesburg.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:50:00]

SCIUTTO: Well, a World Cup thriller came down to the final seconds. Brazil make it to the round of 16, avoiding a longer match against Japan. Not the

case for Paraguay-Germany game. Well, that's still ongoing. We'll discuss, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Joy for Brazil, heartbreak for Japan in the knockout stage of the Men's World Cup. Five-time World Cup winners Brazil are now through to the

round of 16 with just seconds left on the clock. They pulled off a win 2 to 1. Right now, still a tight one between Germany and Paraguay. They are in

extra time, tied 1-1.

CNN World Sports Don Riddell is here. Don, I mean, I've been watching almost every game. I mean, in each one, it seems like is more exciting than

the next one. But that Brazil one, I mean, they got away with it.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Hey, so the group stage was absolutely incredible. It's so, so entertaining. So, many great goals, great games,

great storylines, great narratives. Now, that we're into the knockout stage, it could hardly be tighter. I mean, let's just quickly wind the

clock back to Sunday when Canada beat South Africa with a goal in the 92nd minute. Then in this game, Brazil against Japan in Houston. The winner

didn't come until the 95th minute. Gabriel Martinelli scoring for Brazil, absolutely breaking the hearts of the Japanese team who had taken the lead

in that game.

But in the end, they are going home early. And it continues what has been a very disappointing World Cup for the Asian sides. Japan going home early.

The game that's happening now is even tighter. This you would think perhaps on paper would be a game that Germany would win. Remember, they're four-

time world champions. But they've had a disappointing couple of World Cups. They won it in 2014. They haven't even made it out of the group stage in

the last two tournaments, even though they won their group this time around. They've been kind of disappointing. A lot of alarm bells going off

in the German camp. And those concerns were validated when they fell behind to Paraguay in this game. Julio Enciso completely unmarked for a header to

put Paraguay ahead at the Boston Stadium.

Now, Germany equalized with Kai Havertz in the second half, a header from him, his third goal of this tournament. But this game is now into extra

time, as you say. It is one all towards the end of that first period of extra time. The Germans have just had in the last couple of minutes a

header from Jonathan Tarr ruled out.

But this one could be going to penalties. It could be a very, very nervous game for the Germans, although it must be said they have never lost a

penalty shootout in the World Cup, four wins out of four.

[18:55:00]

Then coming up next, I think this is the pick of the games of today, if not the pick of the games from the entire round of 32. That's in Monterrey in

Mexico, between Morocco and the Netherlands. And Morocco really are an emerging power on the world stage. They become the first African team to

make it all the way to the semi-finals four years ago. A lot of people think that they can build on that tournament here, but they've run into a

tough opponent early in their World Cup campaign.

The Netherlands, three-time finalists on the world stage. They've never actually won it, but they are one of those teams that often turn up to the

World Cups with the potential to really do something. They've had a lot of fun in the group stage. They've already scored 10 goals. And I think this

will be a really, really fascinating encounter. A real clash of the titans coming up.

SCIUTTO: No question. Yes, maybe high scoring too. I mean, it's been great to watch both the Dutch -- I mean both teams. It's been fantastic in the

early rounds. Don Riddell, thanks so much. Now, we all got to run back to watch that Germany-Paraguay game, see how that ends up.

RIDDELL: All right. Yes.

SCIUTTO: And thanks so much, all of you, for joining us. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. You've been watching "The Brief." Please do stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:00:00]

END