they were desperate to tell the monitors about the government cra crackdown there. opposition activists say regime forces have surrounded the city for three days and that power and water have been cut. this was said to be the scene in the city. they cannot verify the images, but they are said to be of an opposition rally in support of military defectors known as the free syrian army. a message was delivered to bashar al assad during a visit to lebanon. today i say again to the president of syria, stop the violence. stop killing your own people. the path of repression is a dead end. meanwhile, syrian media report al assad said he s granting amnesty for the crimes. it s the top of the hour. the cnn newsroom starts all over again right now. we re following two major developments in the cruise ship disaster on the italian coast. two americans are among the missing. that s according to to the state department. 120 were reportedly on the ship. only 118 are accounted for. da
u.s. ship. and they didn t respond to signals or voices. they re threatening to close the strait of hormuz. it s a choke point, and as american officials have been warning privately and publicly, a serious flash point. what about if they decide to block us off at the straits of hormuz. we have made it clear that the united states will not tolerate the blocking of the straits of hormuz. we will respond to that. the question tonight is, what will iran do next? what happens then? what s being done right now to head it off. barbara starr is here, and on the phone, curt lithal, former commander of the u.s.s. cole. what do you believe to be the intent of the iranians. were they trying to bait the u.s. military, provoke an altercation? maybe just a little bit of both, anderson. the thinking is that the iranians were not looking for a shooting match. they were going to break off, but they were going to cause a little heart-stopping action before they did that. one of the thin
strait of hormuz. it s a choke point, and as american officials have been warning privately and publicly, a serious flash point. what about if they decide to block us off at the straits of hormuz. we have made it clear that the united states will not tolerate the blocking of the straits of hormuz. we will respond to that. the question tonight is, what will iran do next? what happens then? what s being done right now to head it off. barbara starr is here, and on the phone, curt lithal, former commander of the u.s.s. cole. what do you believe to be the intent of the iranians. were they trying to bait the u.s. military, provoke an altercation? maybe just a little bit of both, anderson. the thinking is that the iranians were not looking for a shooting match. they were going to break off, but they were going to cause a little heart-stopping action before they did that. one of the things here is look, the iranians gained intelligence by getting so close to u.s. navy ships.
it s a choke point, and as american officials have been warning privately and publicly, a serious flash point. what about if they decide to block us off at the straits of hormuz. we have made it clear that the united states will not tolerate the blocking of the straits of hormuz. we will respond to that. the question tonight is, what will iran do next? what happens then? what s being done right now to head it off. barbara starr is here, and on the phone, curt lithal, former commander of the u.s.s. cole. what do you believe to be the intent of the iranians. were they trying to bait the u.s. military, provoke an altercation? maybe just a little bit of both, anderson. the thinking is that the iranians were not looking for a shooting match. they were going to break off, but they were going to cause a little heart-stopping action before they did that. one of the things here is look, the iranians gained intelligence by getting so close to u.s. navy ships. they were able to