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New Details On Potential Iran Deal Trump Calls "Great Settlement"; Inside Trump's Decision To Host UFC Fight Sunday At White House; USA Opens World Cup Play Tonight Vs. Paraguay In L.A. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 12, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And then let's take us through the week. Then early on Tuesday morning after the Knicks game, the president said a deal would be two or three days away.

Then came Wednesday. The U.S. launching brand new strikes on Iran after the downing of the U.S. Apache helicopter. Later Wednesday, Wednesday evening, President Trump leveled that threat to "bomb the shit out of them." And Iran -- "bomb the shit of Iran."

And then Thursday morning he kicked it up a notch by also promising to seize Iran's oil hub, Kharg Island. But then by Thursday afternoon, as we all know, President Trump was claiming that the U.S. had ended the war with Iran and that a deal could be signed as soon as this weekend.

So the whiplash continues and a lot of questions remain.

Joining us right now is CNN political and global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh, and CNN military analyst, retired Col. Cedric Leighton.

It's good to have you here, Cedric.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Thanks so much, Kate.

BOLDUAN: What do you -- I walked through all of this but give me the state of play of what you see in this moment.

LEIGHTON: So one of the key things Kate is that, you know, this is something that is very, very tentative and when it's --

BOLDUAN: To say the least, right?

LEIGHTON: Yeah, exactly.

And so, you know, what they're talking about is they can do this as early as this weekend, possibly in Geneva. You know, we've got some high-powered people coming, not the president himself. But you've got JD Vance, the vice president, and the negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner is supposed to be there.

So what does this do? Well, one of the things that, of course, they're all worried about --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

LEIGHTON: -- is the traffic right in here. So right now what we're seeing is a lot of ships that are in this area right here entering -- trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, and a lot of ships here trying to get out.

Now, the president has talked about this area where they're actually not using transponders --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

LEIGHTON: -- so they can come out undetected. That's great up to a point. But only about 20 percent or so of the air -- of the traffic that is supposed to go through this has made it through already. So that's being a little bit generous with the figures.

So given all of that, the key thing here is for this to be opened up. And if it's opened up, then what that does is it will alleviate things like oil prices and we're already seeing --

BOLDUAN: It alleviates the pressures that have been on --

LEIGHTON: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- them if this happens.

LEIGHTON: If this happens. So people are anticipating that it's going to happen --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

LEIGHTON: -- in this way, and if it does happen this way then we might see even further reductions in oil prices as we're seeing right now. But if it doesn't happen then the figures will turn a bit different.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, the whiplash continues.

And this is just an aspect of it. A critical part has become the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. But what we've got, Sabrina, is really, as Cedric is laying out, limited details of this framework. But what we do know is that it could extend a ceasefire for 60 days. As Cedric is getting to, reopen the Strait of Hormuz with no fees being levied by Iran.

Iran gets sanctions lifted and the blockade lifted as part of this. They continue to negotiate though then on the nuclear details.

If this is the framework Sabrina, what doe you make of it?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR, FORMER PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: That's right. This is really an MOU, a memorandum of understanding to get to further negotiations to get to a peace agreement. Now, President Trump, yesterday, said that the war has ended. That's

not the case. I mean, just last night CENTCOM -- U.S. Central Command actually shot down two drones that were targeting commercial ships in the strait. So this is still an active area where there is conflict taking place.

But again, it's just an agreement to get to an agreement to further hash out conversations around Iran's nuclear program and the enriched uranium that's still sitting there.

I think what was interesting too about the agreement yesterday is it kind of took Israel by surprise. Israel is not part of this agreement -- or potential agreement that could be negotiated, so that means that Israel could continue to still conduct operations in Lebanon because they're not a party signer which, of course, is something that Iran wants to see immediately halted and wants this peace agreement to include Lebanon as part of the ceasefire.

BOLDUAN: One of the most recent threats, Colonel, was the president saying that if they don't get a deal -- well, he actually said they were just eventually going to take Kharg Island. I pulled this up just to show people a reference of Kharg Island. And you have talked so well and helped break down why this is critical to Iran and the fact that the president is pulling back on it.

Do you think this was a smart -- has been a smart leverage -- piece of leverage for the president in negotiations?

LEIGHTON: In some ways yes, I do, actually. Because, you know, when you look at this and you're pointing out something really key here, Kate, right here. This oil storage facility is one part of this and then you have this natural gas facility up here. Well, 90 percent of Iran's oil traffic actually goes through here, so when they export stuff it goes through this area -- this oil storage facility, the power plant, the natural gas facility. All of that is protected by these military sites.

[07:35:00]

And the fact of the matter is that if this were to be captured then just the threat of that really could change the equation. And it's possible -- it's possible that the Iranians saw that said you know, he just might be "crazy enough" to do this. And if that's the case then we better reach some kind of an agreement.

Now, with an -- with an MOU like this --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

LEIGHTON: -- it might -- you know, it might just be a tacit form --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

LEIGHTON: -- of OK, I've got a ceasefire right here. I can build things up again and I can do stuff that, you know, is going to be -- going to be, you know, part of, you know, the whole equation. But there's -- there are a lot of moving parts to this and --

BOLDUAN: Well, and a lot of the moving parts are not addressed in this, at least from what we know, Sabrina, at all. What really is going to happen with the nuclear question?

When they say in the framework that Iran will agree to not have a nuclear weapon, I pointed out at the top of the show that was written in and agreed to as part of the JCPOA -- the Iran nuclear deal that President Trump tore up and threw out. So this would be essentially going back to what they already had.

So how big is kind of the remaining question when it comes to -- this is the entire point, or at least that was stated to begin with, and it doesn't -- no details on how much closer they are to getting any real answer or movement on preventing them from moving with their nuclear program.

SINGH: Right. I think -- I think Iran, you know, has already committed to that. I think, you know, the president's messaging when it came to Kharg Island, we don't know how much that moved the Iranians. But certainly if the president were to change his mind and go in and take Kharg Island, it's not just taking the island, as Cedric pointed out -- just the complexities there -- it's also holding the island. And that would really put our military -- our men and women at risk to hold that island for a significant amount of time.

So there's a lot that remains to be seen and hopefully we get an MOU that leads to a peace agreement. But obviously, the president has signaled that he's willing to go back on those words sometimes.

BOLDUAN: We will see together, maybe even in the course of this show this morning.

It's good to have you both. Thank you. I really appreciate it -- Omar.

SINGH: Thanks.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: New CNN reporting this morning. Just two days from now the big UFC fight on the White House south lawn and we're learning new details about the $60 million event and how President Trump decided to host it, who is going, and all the jockeying among the president's aides and allies to get a seat inside the claw. One longtime Trump ally called it the hottest ticket in Trump world by far. But there are also concerns about the spectacle Sunday and whether it could backfire politically.

CNN's Adam Cancryn joins us now with his reporting. So Adam, what are you learning about how this all came together?

ADAM CANCRYN, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, this is a spectacle that has been roughly a year and a half, even more, in the making -- something that President Trump has been involved in really every step of the way.

He started talking about this back right after he was elected in 2024 during that transition period, but it was really cemented when he went to Madison Square Garden. If you remember, this was one of the first big events right after he got elected. He went to this UFC fight at MSG and, you know, it was a -- it was a huge deal for him. He was treated like a rockstar, a standing ovation.

And what White House officials told us is that cemented this idea in his mind that not only did he want to do this again, he wanted to do it bigger and better at the White House. That is now what we're going to see -- the culmination of that this Sunday. Actually, a multiday event starting Saturday -- big fanfest. And then Sunday this UFC fight. We're expecting 4,000 people, about.

This is something where it's been a partnership between the UFC and the White House. The UFC getting control of most of the tickets. But really, in a sign of the importance that Trump has put on this, he has taken personal control of the tickets that's he gotten and is determining who gets to go. So we're expecting, you know, the entire cabinet to be there, first lady Melania Trump, and a whole who's who of kind of MAGA faithful. His real core supporters. Joe Rogan, one of the podcasters who endorsed him in 2024, will be there commenting the fight.

So really, just a huge deal for the president coming on his 80th birthday. He's billed it as a celebration as part of this 250th anniversary for America, but something that he has been really helping plan every step of the way and a huge deal for him, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Maybe the hottest ticket in Trump world. We'll see how it's viewed by the public at large. At large doesn't seem to be great for it but hey, we'll see how this plays out.

Adam Cancryn, appreciate the reporting -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: The World Cup officially underway and Team USA -- the U.S. team faces Paraguay tonight in their first match.

Let's get over to CNN's Andy Scholes who has got all of the details. How great are they?

[07:40:00]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I mean, Kate, it's finally here, right? We've been talking about it for so long, you know, ever since we were awarded the rights to host the World Cup alongside Mexico and Canada back in 2018, we've been waiting for this day -- a World Cup match on home soil.

Now, the U.S. open group play against Paraguay in Los Angeles tonight. Kickoff 9:00 Eastern. Now the oddsmakers like America's chances tonight and they're slight favorites to win the group over Turkey.

Now, the team features 13 players returning from the World Cup squad four years ago, and 13 new players. Now the last time we hosted, back in 1994, the U.S. made the round of 16 and now a new generation led by star Christian Pulisic, looks to go further.

Before tonight's match we caught up with some of the players on what this moment means.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIAN PULISIC, UNITED STATES FORWARD: I'll probably be looking up with my family and friends in the stands who have supported me throughout all this. So there will be a lot of emotions. It will be a proud moment representing the U.S. on home soil in a World Cup. I mean, very special.

SEBASTIAN BERHALTER, UNITED STATE MIDFIELDER: A very happy emotion and, you know, if tears come, tears come. But yeah, I'm -- I can't wait for that moment.

WESTON MCKENNIE, UNITED STATES MIDFIELDER: A full circle moment because, you know, as a kid dreaming about being in that position, wearing the crest, and being able to hear the National Anthem, I think it's something that, um -- yeah, it makes dreams come true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. And the tournament got underway yesterday in Mexico City and it was quite an opener. Mexico dominated South Africa from the start. Julian Quinones putting the host nation on the board in the ninth minute.

But the bigger story may have been all the cards. Three red cards handed out in a single match. South Africa seeing two of them; Mexico got one. To put that in perspective the entire 2022 World Cup only had four red cards total. We've already got three.

All right. Norway, meanwhile -- they open their World Cup on Tuesday against Iraq in Foxborough. Erling Haaland and the team -- they're training in Greensboro, North Carolina. So the squad went over to Raleigh last night to take in game five of the Stanley Cup Final and they got to see another great game from Hurricanes star Jordan Staal. He scored yet again. Staal is now the first player to score in each of the first five games of the final since 1973. The 37-year-old led Carolina to a 4-2 win.

The Hurricanes can now close out and win their first Stanley Cup since 2006 on Sunday. They lead the series three games to two. That game will be in Las Vegas.

And Kate -- you know, I mentioned tonight's game 9:00 Eastern kickoff. What's your plan? You going to mix in a nap? You don't have to work tomorrow so you can go hard tonight, right?

BOLDUAN: I can -- uh, yeah. Going hard is definitely what -- yeah. You know me so well, you know. I may be going in and out of sleep, but we could call that going hard, yeah. Um, definitely trying -- going to watch.

There's been such a buildup to it. It's such a -- it's such a -- I mean, the next few weeks are going to be bananas. Let's see if they fill those seats though, Andy. I have to channel my John Berman and complain about ticket prices for him. SCHOLES: Oh, there will be a lot of passionate fans there. Don't you worry.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely.

Good to see you, buddy. Thank you so much -- Omar.

SCHOLES: All right.

JIMENEZ: In and out of sleep, a classic Friday night activity, yeah.

BOLDUAN: It's like, well, post 10:00 a.m. in and out of sleep kind of defines my day.

JIMENEZ: Especially on this schedule, yeah -- no doubt.

Um, look, the U.S. is hosting 78 matches total across 11 cities throughout the country but as is usual with events like this the massive scale is presenting a major challenge for federal law enforcement as they work to secure each game. Homeland Security, for example, calling it a zero-fail mission.

I want to bring in Juliette Kayyem. She's a Harvard professor and CNN senior national security analyst. Also launching a new Substack called "Early Warning" that helps readers understand the risks behind the headlines. Good to see you.

You know, officials say there's no credible threat right now, but they are warning about everything from terrorism, targeted violence, cyberattacks, foreign Intelligence operations.

When you look at an event this large what is it that keeps security officials up at night the most?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, HARVARD PROFESSOR, HOST, SUBSTACK "EARLY WARNING" (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah. Well -- so just to give people the scope, 11 U.S. cities, 78 games over six weeks. Seventy-five percent of the games for the World Cup are being played in the United States.

So what -- you know, what makes one worried is a couple of things. One is just obviously purposeful attacks -- terrorism, drones, which there's been a lot of focus on. Something that would be disruptive. It doesn't even have to be a sort of high consequence event; it would just be something that would, you know, get a lot of play because it happens at FIFA.

I should -- you people who are wondering about this and worried about his -- you know, one of the benefits of FIFA's safety planning or the World Cup planning is it has been going on a long time. The Department of Homeland Security has been engaged with almost -- you know, with every city. I've talked to a lot of mayors. They are very complimentary of the Department of Homeland Security and Andrew Giuliani who has been sort of running this from the White House perch.

The other thing is nothing new is being built so that's something to remember. You know, sort of, here I'm outside of Boston. You know, the Gillette Stadium -- they're holding events all the time.

[07:45:00]

So unlike an Olympics or some new event that, like, doesn't really exist and they built things for, this is just a lot of people who have done this before doing it again for sort of a global audience in terms of first responders and stuff. And so that means that there's a lot of practice already in place.

JIMENEZ: You know, one of the unique things about the World Cup, obviously you have countries competing. But also, law enforcement bulletins specifically mention heightened tensions between certain countries, specifically surrounding the Iran conflict for one while Iran's national team is participating in the tournament.

What additional risks do geopolitical conflicts create because I mentioned Iran but that's not the only one that has tensions among countries?

KAYYEM: Yeah. So you have a couple of tensions going on. I would say in my opinion I actually think the threat from Iran or anyone visiting with the team is almost negligible. In fact, if you think about Iran in terms of their sort of terrorism, right, and their support of terrorism, they have no incentive to do something against the World Cup because the narrative right now is very anti-U.S. So it's a very odd way to think about it -- or not odd, but it is counterintuitive in the sense that, you know, are sort of now the sort of underdog when it comes to the World Cup because they were held back.

The United States is not letting them stay overnight so they have to fly in from Mexico just for match day, which seems -- which is inconsistent with the spirit of the World Cup and FIFA.

So there are these heightened tensions. The greatest tension is, of course, visitors and the narrative of what it's like to come to United States because of the immigration issues. We've seen a referee not be allowed in and we've seen -- but we've seen -- the one nice thing about this is we've seen foreigners and visitors from abroad may not like America right now but they certainly like Americans, and that is a part of the beauty of these global events.

JIMENEZ: Some of these fans learn about driving from state to state and driving from stadium to stadium and learning about parts of the country that they never would have seen from outside of the country, and that's part of the beauty of America.

KAYYEM: Yes.

JIMENEZ: Juliette Kayyem, appreciate it.

KAYYEM: That's a good -- it's exactly --

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

KAYYEM: -- right. It's fun to watch.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, always -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So this morning Republicans say that they will move quickly on President Trump's new nominee to be the next director of national intelligence. The reason being if the president didn't -- the reason president didn't go with his first pick has been very clear that he faced a pretty surprising level of pushback over it.

Let's start with the new guy. Jay Clayton is the current U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. He also served as the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC, during Trump's first term. In recent months, Clayton's focused on violent crime prosecutions and going after insider trading and prediction markets and even signed the indictment against the now former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

Republicans and Democrats alike were letting out a collective sigh of relief over this pick because the old guy -- the -- what Trump had in place -- Trump's pick as interim DNI -- he had literally no known intelligence or national security experience. And still, President Trump says that man, Bill Pulte, will keep the job until Jay Clayton is in place and confirmed. And even that isn't sitting well with lawmakers with some Democrats now refusing to vote to extend a critical surveillance law up for renewal because of it.

There's also this. Today marks 10 years since the horrific attack inside Orlando's Pulse nightclub, one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. Forty-nine people were killed and dozens more were wounded when a gunman opened fire inside the popular LGBTQ venue in 2016. In the decades since, survivors and families have continued to visit the site, of course, and continued to push for a permanent memorial to be erected to remember and honor those lost.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know it's been 10 years, but I want us to say let's keep that momentum going through the next 10 years because it's so important to honor their memory and it's so important for us to include the arts. To do these things that bring us all together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: There are remembrance ceremonies planned for today across Orlando and I'm sure in many other places -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

We're following a bunch of other headlines, including what's being called a growing threat. Several new cases of a dangerous flesh-eating parasite called the "New World screwworm" in the United States is sparking some serious concern from farm -- from farmers and lawmakers too. For example, 21 U.S. senators have sent a letter to the agriculture department expressing concern about new cases in the United States and the threat that this pest poses.

[07:50:00] The screwworm is a parasite found on cattle and had been eradicated in the United States for decades. Illegal smuggling is believed to be the source of how it returned here. But experts warn an infestation could cost the economy billions and raise beef prices when Americans are already paying record high prices. So a serious concern at the moment and it's something that we will monitor moving forward.

Still ahead, an 11- and 12-year-old robbed in the middle of the day at their lemonade stand. We'll tell you how they're doing and what we know about the suspects.

Plus -- coming up, what happens when bees take up residence in a sewer drain. You get sewer honey. How it tastes. At least I'll try to describe it. I'm scared to describe it. We'll talk about it coming up.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:55:10]

BOLDUAN: A 12-year-old boy and his 11-year-old sister -- they were robbed at gunpoint at their lemonade stand in Boston. This happened in the middle of the day. The victims told police that the suspects walked by the stand several times before then walking up and -- and this is what happened next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID BYRNE, LEMONADE STAND ROBBED AT GUNPOINT: He walked over here and he said, "I might need to take the box." And he grabbed it with one hand and then he showed us the gun, which is right here. My sister -- she put her hands up and I just said, "You could have it." But after that I just was like a little annoyed because we were 12 and 11 and you shouldn't really do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: They're 12 and 11. Those poor little nuggets.

You can see the masked suspects running away. Police say they are juveniles as well. The father says that they found the cash box a short distance away. There was no money left inside.

According to the police report, the thieves took off with about $50 in cash and terrified those poor little kids.

Four people, including two kids, were left dangling about 10 stories in the air for hours after a ride malfunctioned at Six Flags in St. Louis. The ride, called the "Sky Screamer," is a swing ride that circles high atop the park. Fire crews had to bring in a large crane to rescue them as a storm was moving in. All four were brought down safely to the ground after, though, nearly three hours.

No thank you, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Like, yeah, you get over it maybe. You're sitting there. It's a nice little swing. A storm rolls in. BOLDUAN: Just --

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: Just a good vantage point on --

JIMENEZ: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

BOLDUAN: No thank you.

JIMENEZ: A bad day gets worse.

BOLDUAN: I don't know even what to do at that point.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, let's talk about this. A South Philadelphia neighborhood has been buzzing over something unexpected, sewer honey -- and I'm literally talking about sewer honey. A beehive took up residence under the street in a drain.

For seven weeks beekeeper Mark Berman -- unrelated to John Berman -- worked to coax the colony out and relocate it safely. And once the hive was out, they sampled the honey. Berman -- again, not John Berman -- says the sewer was actually pretty clean and the honey --

BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE).

JIMENEZ: We don't know. He's not here.

BOLDUAN: John Berman, yeah. This is just editorial -- this is just editorial licensing. This is John Berman.

JIMENEZ: This is John Berman. You know what? Yeah.

BOLDUAN: John Berman's sewer honey.

JIMENEZ: John Berman tasted it and he said it wasn't bad. He said it wasn't bad. I trust him.

All right. In Butler County, Ohio a goat roundup. Deputies were called to -- after reports of suspicious trespassers which turned out to be eight goats that had wandered into someone's backyard. Deputies helped wrangle seven of them back to their owner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you screaming or is the goat?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: All right. So as for the eighth, he jumped off the roof and -- jumped off the roof of an SUV and then bolted into the woods. Investigators say the fugitive is short, stubborn, extremely mischievous.

You know what? I don't even know why I said that. Live free. Get outta here. Never see you again. BOLDUAN: A wee bit --

JIMENEZ: Go find your life.

BOLDUAN: A wee bit cute.

JIMENEZ: A wee bit cute.

BOLDUAN: A wee bit cute. And --

JIMENEZ: I'll share that.

BOLDUAN: -- I think jumping off the SUV is the least surprising, but I think that's what they're capable of doing quite well.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, yeah. There we go -- athletic, athletic. Fun times.

BOLDUAN: Omar is like I don't know what to do with myself.

Let's move to this. This morning a political showdown is brewing off the coast of California. President Trump is moving to dramatically expand oil production in the state, invoking federal emergency powers not to do it. But probably no surprise there is big pushback coming from California, and that is just the beginning of it.

CNN's Elex Michaelson has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR (voiceover): We arrived by helicopter --

CHRIS WRIGHT, ENERGY SECRETARY: We're excited to get after it.

MICHAELSON (voiceover): -- for a firsthand look at Sable Offshore Corp. oil platform located off the coast of Santa Barbara, California.

This pipeline, Santa Ynez, is once again actively producing thousands of barrels of oil due to an executive order issued by the Trump administration in March. The state of California now suing the administration to shut it down.

WRIGHT: President Trump is for energy addition and energy dominance. Gavin Newsom is for energy subtraction and energy submission.

MICHAELSON (voiceover): We speak exclusively with U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, atop the Harmony Oil platform at a moment when so many Americans are worried about higher gas prices.

DOUG BURGUM, INTERIOR SECRETARY: Seventy-two million cars could fill up their tank off the production coming from these platforms that are right here.

MICHAELSON (voiceover): On the helicopter ride to the platform we see miles of deep blue ocean. But back in 2015 this same waterway was coated black after that pipeline operated by a different company at the time ruptured, spilling an estimated 120,000 gallons of crude oil. All oil production stopped her for more than a decade.

ALEX KATZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE CENTER: This is going to be a fight.

MICHAELSON (voiceover): Alex Katz is executive director of the Environmental Defense Center.