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White House Set For UFC Fight; Inflation Rising; Trump Escalates Threats Against Iran. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 11, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: So much of what she does is based on her own instinct, her own intuition.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes.

BASH: And it's gotten her pretty far.

DOVERE: It has.

And, look, her team acknowledges that they're a little spoiled by how good she is at this on her own. But one of the people that I spoke to who's been in contact with her orbit a lot said to me, it's -- now it's a question of her and how -- she has all the talent. Can she build the team to do what she needs to do here if she decides to do it?

Because I do think, importantly, that quote, that line to David Axelrod, it's sincere.

BASH: Yes.

DOVERE: She has not decided what to do.

BASH: Great piece. Thanks for being here, Isaac.

Thank you for joining INSIDE POLITICS today.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: New threats and potentially a new target. President Trump says that bigger and more powerful strikes on Iran are coming, also suggesting the military could soon launch a risky operation to take Tehran's critical oil hub.

And just minutes from kickoff. The 2026 FIFA World Cup begins in North America today with a first of 104 games, the most of any World Cup ever. But the run-up to the tournament has been anything but smooth in the U.S.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And stepping into the octagon. A UFC match at the White House could be the most watched event in the sport's history. We will speak to a UFC legend about the fight. We're following these major developing stories and many more all

coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: President Donald Trump warning about a third night of strikes on Iran, saying it will be bigger and more powerful than before, also vowing to take over a crucial Iranian oil hub.

The president posting on social media the U.S. will soon be taking Kharg Island. Minutes later, though, he did acknowledge this:

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My preference has always been take Kharg Island. My preference would be that. I don't know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest with you.

You're going to make a fortune, but I don't know that America has the stomach. I think they would like to see us come home.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: It is widely believed that U.S. troops would have to be on the ground to take Kharg Island.

Let's go live at the White House with CNN's Kristen Holmes.

And, Kristen, you're learning more about the discussions within the Pentagon around a possible operation.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, this would be an enormous escalation if President Trump were to in fact order the military to try and take Kharg Island.

The White House and the Pentagon have had plans for months in -- to specifically take this island, but have continued to shelve them just because it's considered too risky, in part by what you noted, the idea that troops would have to be on the ground. And there's also a high risk for heavy U.S. casualties if in fact the U.S. was to go into Kharg Island, and, as you mentioned, those troops on the ground, which is likely what he's talking about when he says things like America might not have the stomach for it.

The thinking behind closed doors is that this would be a -- quote -- "endgame strategy." They believe that if they were in fact to take Kharg Island, this would diminish Iran's capacities to even fight in the war, it would completely bankrupt the nation.

But, again, there are so many risks. And the question now is whether or not President Trump believes that he is in that space, that endgame space, or if this is just another round of bluster, of trying to bring Iran to the table.

We were told that President Trump was furious that Iran, that the media were not taking his strikes the last two nights seriously, which is perhaps why you're hearing this from him now: (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP: There will be more bombing tonight. It'll be bigger, bigger, more powerful. Don't forget we have knocked out all of their anti- aircraft. They don't have any anti -- they have nothing. I mean, they may get lucky with a shoulder weapon or something, but, for the most part, they have no -- they have no defense.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, one thing is clear.

Whether or not they decide to take Kharg Island, the United States does appear to be entering a new phase of this Iran war, continuing a third day of what they're calling self-defense strikes. But, obviously, President Trump wants to make an impact.

SANCHEZ: And, Kristen, there's also new reporting on those two drinking facilities, drinking water facilities in Southern Iran that have been destroyed. What are you learning about that?

HOLMES: That's right.

So we have seen photos now that have been put out by these semi- affiliated Iranian news agencies. CNN has analyzed these photos, and it does appear that they were struck in Southern Iran by what is called a U.S.-made precision bomb.

Now it's unclear when exactly this could have happened. It could have happened two nights ago. That is what we had heard from the Iranians. It's also not completely clear that it was the U.S. who launched this bomb, despite the fact that this is a U.S. precision bomb. That's what the photos are showing.

There are other countries that do have these same bombs. And it is -- one thing that is known, though, is that the administration does not want to talk about this in any capacity. We have asked the Pentagon. We have heard that it's under investigation, that they have heard these reports.

[13:05:11]

Pete Hegseth blew off a question about this. And President Trump was, interestingly, talking about this and seemed to say that they hadn't done this in a very vague way when he was on FOX News. He said he heard them talking about water, but the one thing about attacking a water facility was that

That would impact people's drinking water and he doesn't want to do that, some kind of indication there that he didn't believe they had done that. But, again, what we are seeing in these photos that have been analyzed by CNN is that the -- there were strikes on these water facilities by a U.S. precision bomb.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes live for us at the White House, thank you so much for that update -- Brianna. KEILAR: Brand-new inflation data out today show wholesale prices jumping by their fastest rate in more than three years. That's two back-to-back days of reports that show inflation surging to numbers that we haven't seen since 2023.

Families and businesses across the country are feeling the pain, and economists say the higher prices are being whipped up by the high energy prices linked to President Trump's war with Iran.

Let's go to CNN's David Goldman for details on this.

David, take us through these latest figures.

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, inflation is intensifying.

How do we know that? Because we use the biggest font I have ever seen on this slide right here. And it's not just that. We also have a report that just came out on wholesale inflation. And it was not looking too good, 6.5 percent increase just over the past year.

That's the highest since November of 2022. Now, what is wholesale inflation? That's the price that businesses pay, not you and me. But -- we're going to get to this in a second -- there is some evidence that this number could be what you and I start paying in just a few months.

But let's take a look at what 6.5 percent means historically. Now, it is way bigger than this 1.7 percent that we had in 2011 to 2019. That is the historical average that we had pre-pandemic. But we are nowhere close to this 11.6 percent peak that we hit in 2022. So we're kind of right in the middle here.

And that's not a really comfortable place, but it's also much better than we were not so far back, when we were hitting that inflation peak. Now, when I was talking about consumers, what does this have to do with you and me if this is what businesses are paying?

Well, there's something called final demand goods. I know you know this, Brianna, but, for our audience, it means that this is the stuff that businesses are about to send off to consumers and retailers. And we hit 2.8 percent. This is the highest we have ever had. This index just started in 2009. That's the biggest we have ever had.

KEILAR: OK, that's not great.

GOLDMAN: Yes.

KEILAR: So we're also now learning how inflation fears are driving up mortgage rates. Take us through that.

GOLDMAN: Yes, so I had a feeling you were going to ask me about this. Mortgage rates just hit 6.52 percent.

Now, we missed the highest that we had in this year just by a 100th of a percentage point. That was 6.53 percent just a couple weeks ago. Why does this number matter? It's because the Federal Reserve is

looking at these numbers. And they're saying, wait a minute, we might need to hike rates. In fact, there's a 69 percent chance that they're going to do that by the end of the year, according to the market.

And when they hike rates, this goes up, because mortgage rates are pegged to interest rates. And that isn't good news for anybody who wants to buy a home.

KEILAR: No, it is not.

David Goldman, thank you so much for taking us through those numbers.

And still to come: CNN gets a first look at the UFC octagon at the White House. You have seen it there. It's huge. We're going to be joined by UFC Hall of Famer Georges St-Pierre. He's coaching one of the fighters who's going to face off on the South Lawn Sunday night.

And then, later, Sean "Diddy" Combs facing some new sexual assault allegations, this time from a former child actor.

We have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:14:10]

KEILAR: As President Trump threatens to seize Kharg Island, Iran is warning it will deliver a crushing response, sources telling CNN Tehran has been preparing to defend the critical oil hub for months.

We're told that, shortly after U.S. strikes on the island in March, Iran laid traps that include antipersonnel and anti-armor mines there. This was along the shoreline where U.S. troops would possibly land in a ground operation.

Sources say Iran has also built up defenses by moving in more military personnel and shoulder-fired and surface-to-air guided missiles. It's unclear if U.S. plans to try to capture the island were drawn up before or after these moves by Iran, but a senior Pentagon official tells CNN the plans have been repeatedly shelved because the operation has been considered too risky.

Sources also say President Trump has been told that an attempted takeover could result in heavy U.S. casualties.

[13:15:04]

But here's what the president said this morning:

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're finished. We can walk in there tomorrow. We could take soldiers. I don't want to have boots on the ground. But if I wanted to, we could put a small group of soldiers and take over the whole place. They're finished. (END AUDIO CLIP)

KEILAR: We're joined now by retired Army Major Harrison Mann.

Harrison, let's first talk a little bit about the president saying: "I don't know that America has this stomach. I think they'd like to see us come home."

I think part of the reason that America doesn't have the stomach for something like carrying out this threat on Kharg Island is because what that would entail. Just explain to us what that would entail.

MAJ. HARRISON MANN (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Yes, I'm going to say something that I rarely say, which is Trump is absolutely right here. The American people don't have the appetite for this. And they shouldn't. I have described it before as a suicide mission.

And it would be one for no good reason. It's this small island, just 15 miles off the coast of the Iranian mainland, which means any U.S. troops who land there, regardless of what's on the island itself, are within very easy range, not just of Iranian missiles and drones, but also conventional artillery and rockets that they really haven't been close enough to U.S. troops to use yet.

As you said, the Iranians have been preparing for this because Trump has been threatening it in leaks and now publicly for the first time for months now, which means there could be ambushes laid, there could be dug-in positions, things that U.S. forces would not be able to take out from the air and they wouldn't discover until they get on the island.

And then I got to add that the entire logic of this, that they would take over this oil terminal and that would be leveraged against Iran, just doesn't make any sense. You can imagine, if U.S. troops took this facility and it was already lost to the Iranian government, well, at that point, they have got no reason not to blow it up.

So that's not only a strategic failure, but it's unimaginable risk to the U.S. troops you would send there. And I can't really imagine anybody seriously entertaining this plan if you valued the lives of U.S. service members at all.

KEILAR: So, yesterday, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said: "If we need to negotiate with bombs, we will negotiate with bombs and we're very good at it."

Can they really negotiate with bombs?

MANN: He is not very good at negotiating with bombs. That's what they have been trying to do for three months now, right, 40 days of intense bombing and then during the very porous cease-fire that started in April, intermittent bombing to try and send a message and try and bring Iran to the table.

And it's exactly what Trump is threatening again now. We're going to hit them hard. We're going to do a really big bombing. And I don't think there's any evidence that this is going to work now, when it's failed for the past three months.

KEILAR: Iran knows the pressures that Trump is facing domestically, it's very clear. Iran is savvy to the fact that Trump wants progress or to project the idea of progress, because Americans would like for this to wrap up, right?

They're savvy that, the president, he actually wants to minimize conflict. That's why this cease-fire, which I put with air quotes, continues. He wants to have this idea that actually this is a different phase from the initial phase of military action.

And they seem to be kind of trying to exploit that, when you hear what senior Iranian officials are saying. Oh, the cease-fire is actually meaningless. And they're saying that, when the U.S. does strike Iran, they're going to make the U.S. regret that they did it. They're going to strike back more.

How are you seeing this kind of information warfare? How are you seeing that?

MANN: I think, between Trump and Iranian leadership, on one hand, neither side wants to go back to full-scale war, but the Iranians are much more willing, because the status quo where basically we see what we saw this week, U.S. strikes and then says, time-out, that was the end of it, is not acceptable to them.

They don't want the U.S. to set the tempo of when they bomb Iran. And so they are willing to strike back and escalate, even if it brings them into the same situation we saw in March. And so, unfortunately for Donald Trump, who kind of doesn't want to escalate more, both his partner, Israel, and his adversary, Iran, are much more willing to return to war than he is.

And, I mean, what we're seeing this week is the unsustainability of the kind of semi-cease-fire, but no peace, that he thought he was comfortable in for the past two months.

KEILAR: So, U.S.-made precision bombs appear to have struck two drinking water facilities in Southern Iran. That's according to images that were posted by Iran's semi-official news agency and an independent outlet analyzed by CNN.

A spokesperson for CENTCOM said they were aware of reports about the damaged tanks, they're looking into the situation. What do we need to know about this? What questions is this raising for you?

MANN: Unfortunately, CENTCOM, which is run by uniformed military personnel and is supposed to be a totally military nonpartisan organization, has not been entirely truthful since the beginning of this war.

[13:20:08]

They still have not explained openly what happened to the school that U.S. forces struck on the first day of the war that killed 168 schoolchildren. On the other side, we have seen President Trump repeatedly threaten to do war crimes, threaten to target civilian infrastructure. That's been part of his strategy. He said that out loud.

And so, unfortunately, it really is plausible, more plausible than I wish it was, that we have U.S. pilots deliberately striking civilian infrastructure.

KEILAR: What's problem -- what if that is seen as a dual-purpose target? I mean, how do you explain that? Because there's always, once -- we look at the law that governs this kind of thing, it seems very clear-cut until you actually get into it, right, in a situation, if there's something that is used by both the military and civilians.

But then there's also a responsibility on the part of the person who is attacking the target to make a very good calculus about that. How do you see that?

MANN: Yes, I mean, there's just -- that idea of military dual use does not apply to drinking water for a civilian population.

You can maybe make that argument if it's a bridge that's of critical military value, which is sort of what they pretended to do when they bombed a bridge a month or so ago. But, no, this is drinking water for people in small towns in the heat of summer in the Middle East.

Looks like this was deliberate and they knew what they were doing. And we don't really have to speculate that much, because Trump keeps saying, we're going to blow up your infrastructure. And he's not making any law of armed conflict arguments here.

KEILAR: Major Harrison Mann, thank you so much for being with us.

And in over two years -- in over 200 years of history, the White House hasn't seen anything like what's happening this weekend, or -- yes, we're going to speak with a legend of UFC about the match taking place there on Sunday.

Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:26:20]

SANCHEZ: CNN is getting a front-row seat to the Ultimate Fighting Championship arena set up on the White House grounds.

The haymakers and choke holds are coming to the South Lawn on Sunday night as part of America's 250th birthday, notably on the same day that President Trump turns 80.

CNN's Betsy Klein has the first close-up look at the octagon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: You have got about stadium seating for about 4,000 people in here. This is that storied octagon, that structure where the fight will take place.

It's not entirely clear where President Trump is going to be seated. But, right now, we are seeing lots of chairs set up. This table's right at the base of this octagon. There is also setup for staging for a band. We are expecting performances from military bands, as well as Zac Brown Band having a concert here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Let's talk about the big event with a member of the UFC Hall of Fame, a former welterweight and middleweight champion, arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time. Georges St-Pierre is with us.

GSP, thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

GEORGES ST-PIERRE, FORMER UFC CHAMPION: Thank you for the intro.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Of course. Of course.

So you're going to be coaching...

ST-PIERRE: It's a hell of a compliment.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: It's the truth.

You're going to be coaching your teammate and fellow Canadian Aiemann Zahabi on Sunday for the biggest fight of his career so far against Sean O'Malley. What advice are you giving him?

ST-PIERRE: Well, he's not the favorite.

But I told him to focus on what is important. Focus on the things that he only have control on, and not focus on things that could be a distraction, because it's a waste of energy.

SANCHEZ: Well, there are going to be a lot of distractions. I saw an interview that he did talking about adjusting to what conditions are going to be like Sunday, fighting not only outdoors, but in the humidity of D.C., where your breathing is different. The mat, the canvas is probably going to be more slippery.

And, on top of that, there's never been a UFC event like this. It's at the White House, and it's probably going to be the biggest audience that UFC has ever had. So how do you eliminate those distractions and focus on your opponent?

ST-PIERRE: Well, you have to think about the fact that it's the same octagon, the same rule set.

However, the fact that it's outside, of course, it brings a different element. The ability to adapt will be very important. Aiemann is very good and is very adaptable. And I think it's going to turn out to his advantage.

SANCHEZ: I wonder what you think having this huge event means, not only for UFC, but more broadly for MMA and combat sports.

ST-PIERRE: Well, for -- I can speak for myself.

I remember, in 2008, I fought in Montreal. UFC came in Montreal for the first time. I had lined the card. The next day, I saw in the newspaper they were saying, oh, it was a barbaric event and everything.

And now, 20 years later almost, less than 20 years, but almost 20 years, we're fighting at the White House. So it's just unbelievable how much it has evolved in a little bit -- in two decades, you know?

SANCHEZ: Yes.

And I wonder. I'm sure you have heard the critics about this event. There are people who think that having a fight like this outside the White House diminishes its prestige. What do you say to those critics?

ST-PIERRE: I'm just an athlete. I leave American politics to the American. I'm Canadian. And I'm thrilled and very excited to be part of this.

And, yes, it's an historical event. I don't think we're ever going to see that in our lifetime ever again, probably not.