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U.S. and Iran Reach Agreement to End War, Reopen Strait of Hormuz; Oil Prices Hit Three-Month Lows on News of U.S.-Iran Agreement; NTSB Investigating Missouri Skydiving Plane Crash That Killed 12. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 15, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The president is on his way to the G7 Summit right now, soon landing with what he says is a diplomatic deal with Iran in hand. One big question at this hour, what is Israel going to say and do about it?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Also, breaking overnight, the U.K. announcing a sweeping ban on social media for children under 16, saying it will give them their childhood back. The big question this morning, how will they enforce it?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And a missing child spotted struggling near a river shoreline. How police saved him from drowning in the nick of time.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: All right. The breaking news this morning, President Trump is now on his way to the G7 Summit in France after announcing a diplomatic breakthrough. More than 15 weeks into this war, the U.S. and Iran say they have reached a framework that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the U.S. blockade on Iran's ports, and pave the way for the much harder and more complicated, complex, technical, important talks on the nuclear issue ahead.

A signing is set for Friday in Geneva, but already there are conflicting accounts of what happens, well, after that, literally after the signing. Iran says a 60-day period of nuclear negotiations will begin only when the U.S. releases billions of dollars of its frozen funds. But a U.S. official says no funds will be released before Iran follows through on its own commitments.

Adding to the unknowns this morning, Israel. Iran says that the agreement includes an end to the conflict in Lebanon. Israel's defense minister just spoke out today, saying that the IDF is not withdrawing, though, from Southern Lebanon. And just before the agreement was announced, Israel hit Beirut. A U.S. official says that move angered President Trump, and he told Axios of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, quote, he has no f-ing judgment.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live this morning in Geneva, where there are a lot of moving parts. Where do things stand right now, do you think?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, absolutely. First, I'll start off with what I'm just hearing in my conversations with White House officials, Kate. One is they are celebrating this agreement. I'd remind you that the president, he's really wanted to head into the G7 Summit this week with a win on Iran. Specifically, I'd remind you because he lashed out at many of the European leaders who are going to be face-to-face with him in Evian-les-Bains in France for this summit this week.

The president wanted to go in touting an Iran victory and really kind of show them that they should have intervened on the Strait of Hormuz. That was what his anger with them really centered on.

And so they're celebrating this, I was told, last night right before they headed out for that UFC fight. But, of course, there's still a lot of fragility, I think, around these conversations. We heard the vice president, J.D. Vance, on Fox News last night saying that he is expecting to sign -- be in Geneva for the signing ceremony on Friday. He mentioned, however, that perhaps the president could extend his strip or be there as well.

We'll have to see who it ends up being. I'd remind you that Secret Service does not like to have both of these leaders in international, in the same place at the same time when it comes to being abroad.

But I think your point about what comes after this is also so crucial. We know that the memorandum of understanding, it outlines a few very key points. One, of course, the dismantling of Iran's nuclear program, the U.S. getting access to their highly enriched uranium, being able to destroy it on site, and then also the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

But it's what comes after that that I think has a lot of people wondering how it's going to work. We know that once signed, the agreement will trigger that 60-day period for highly technical negotiations. That is going to be a very tense time as well. That is going to be the specifics of how they are actually implementing this, about how they are carrying this out, and also the enforcement mechanisms to ensure that Iran sticks to their word.

Also, of course, what is going to happen with these unfrozen funds? To your point, Iran saying that they need to see some of those funds unfrozen before they can really get into those highly technical talks. The U.S., we've heard multiple officials now on several different points saying that they will only compensate Iran once they begin to show that they are complying with what is outlined in this memorandum of understanding.

[07:05:11]

But, again, hearing a lot of positive signs from the Trump administration today as they head here to Europe.

The other thing, of course, is what is going on with Israel. I think you could see in several interviews that the president did yesterday, his frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I think also worth noting that they are very much diverging here with their objectives. I think it was clear that the president negotiated a lot of this without Netanyahu directly involved or including in this.

And so we'll have to see how that dynamic plays out as well and if that could threaten things where they stand today. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes, that does remain a very big question this morning.

It's great to see you, Alayna. Thank you so much for being there. The president will be landing in Geneva later this morning. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Also breaking this morning, in a similar vein, oil prices dropping to their lowest point in three months after investors learned of the U.S.-Iran agreement and the imminent reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude, the global benchmark, is down nearly 5 percent, and the U.S. benchmark, WTI, is down more than 5 percent as well, just slightly above $80 a barrel. U.S. market futures pointing higher ahead of the opening bell. That is going to happen in a couple of hours. We'll bring that to you live.

But, first, we've got our Matt Egan here to sort all this out. I mean, $80 a barrel is still higher than in past years, but it is a heck of a lot lower than the, what, 116 we were at one point?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, absolutely, Sara. It does feel like the economy has dodged a bullet here, right? Because if diplomacy had failed over the weekend, we'd be looking at much higher energy prices, right? We'd be talking about the risk of $5 gas and $100 oil. Instead, as you mentioned, we got oil futures down by about 5 percent to $83 for Brent. $83, not cheap, but this is manageable, of course. And, yes, it is way better than what we had seen earlier this year. In fact, this is a three-month low for Brent. So, it does feel like things are moving in the right direction in this energy crisis, right? Instead of more war, we have this diplomatic breakthrough.

But I would just note, though, that even if things are moving in the right direction, it doesn't mean it's going to be a straight line, right? There could be bumps along the way, especially given just how complex all of this is. This is not like restarting your smartphone, right, where a few seconds later, you're back in business. It's going to take time to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. First off, you've got to make sure that all the mines have been cleared. You've got to remove the stranded vessels. You have to convince ship operators to allow empty ships to return, and you have to get insurers to go along with all of this as well.

Now, at the same time, we also have to see that Gulf oil producers, including in Saudi Arabia, that they restart that production that has been sidelined. And, look, there is still this race against time, right? The clock is still ticking because you still have global oil inventories falling rapidly, and it's that -- that it's not like all that oil is suddenly going to just hit those inventories, right? And so I talked to Bob McNally, a veteran oil analyst, over the weekend, and he told me he's not convinced that we're out of the woods when it comes to higher oil prices in July and in August. Now, meanwhile, we do see gas prices continue to come down. The new national average, $4.06 a gallon. Of course, that is significantly higher than before the war, but we're now talking about 25 days in a row where gas prices have come down. Over the weekend, GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan, he said that perhaps by the 4th of July, you could see gas prices go back down to $3.75 a gallon. But he also said it could take months or longer to repair all those global oil inventories that have come down significantly in the last few months.

So, look, bottom line, yes, things are moving in the right direction, but this is not going to be an instant return to those pre-war prices.

SIDNER: Which totally makes sense, you can't just flip the switch and have everything go back to normal after all this time.

Matt Egan, though, the good news is things are coming down when it comes to gas and oil. I do appreciate it. Thank you. John?

BERMAN: All right. We have new details this morning about a plane crash that killed 11 skydivers and the pilot. You can see the wreckage right there.

Breaking overnight, unprecedented sweeping action, an entire nation bans social media for children under 16. New questions about how this will be enforced.

And road rage in the middle of a busy expressway. One driver just punches out a window.

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[07:10:00]

BERMAN: This morning, the NTSB and FAA are investigating a plane crash that killed the pilot and 11 skydivers in Butler, Missouri. The plane went down moments after takeoff, just about 300 yards from the runway, very near a highway.

I want to get to CNN's Whitney Wilde for the latest on all this. Good morning, Whitney.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John. Well, this happened around 11:30 in the morning. It was a crystal clear day, perfect skies. And so there are a lot of questions about what happened here. But the theory from law enforcement at the moment is that the plane may have lost power shortly after takeoff, and the pilot was trying to land on the highway, but instead stalled and crashed.

Police looked for anybody who might have jumped out before the crash, but they did not find any survivors. Heartbreakingly, John, as you mentioned, this was a skydiving plane, so there were families on the ground who saw this crash happen. Here's more from the sheriff there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF CHAD ANDERSON, BATES COUNTY, MISSOURI: There were witnesses that were family members, yes.

Our hearts go out to them. There's nothing we really can say to make it better. We just pray for them and their loved ones and their friends and their family and hope that they can recover to some sense of normalcy. if we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: Just absolutely tragic, John, and their grief may be compounded by how long it's going to take to get real answers.

[07:15:01]

The final report here could take one to two years to be complete. The NTSB investigators will be on the ground today, John.

BERMAN: Details here just awful. All right, Whitney Wild, thank you so much for that update. Keep us posted when you get new information in. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Other news we're keeping an eye on, is Anthropic's newest A.I. model a national security issue? The White House is banning foreign use of Mythos, and now Anthropic's senior team is headed to the White House for a chat.

And then there's the cat that stole the show during the dramatic conclusion of Romeo and Juliet, playtime.

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[07:20:00]

This morning, Carolina fans are celebrating after the Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup for the first time in 20 years.

Coy Wire has all of the details. Hello, darling.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Good morning, darling. The only other time, Kate, the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup back in 2006. Rod Brind'Amour was their captain. Last night, he lifted hockey's holy grail again as their coach, first person since 1956 to win it with the same franchise as both player and coach.

Now, the Hurricanes, they rolled into Vegas for game six with a chance to clinch and they did not flinch. Taylor Hall lit the lamp just three minutes in, and the Canes kept coming in waves. Three goals on the night, while between the pipes, Brandon Bussey was a brick wall, 22 saves, a shutout on the biggest night of his career. 3-0 is the final.

And when the final horn sounded, Kate, whoo, 20 years of waiting came rushing onto the ice. The long 82-game regular season, the bloody noses, missing teeth, the Hurricanes were the last ones standing. And at 37, Jordan Staal becomes the oldest player to be named playoffs MVP.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JORDAN STAAL, CONN SMYTHE TROPHY WINNER (PLAYOFFS MVP): It's amazing. This is something I've been going after ever since we got the first one. I mean, you want to win it again and again and again. And what a feeling, what a battle, the boys were grinding today, my goodness, with so many individual efforts just to keep the puck out of our net, and it was an amazing ride. And I'm just so proud of these guys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now, Kate, check out these scenes. Back in Carolina, thousands packing the arena to watch from hundreds of miles away. They had multiple watch parties packed, and the moment the clock hit zero, the places erupted. Pure hockey heaven, absolute cinema.

World Cup action now, match of the tournament so far. Japan's Daichi Kamada scored on a header off of Koki Ogawa's corner kick in the 88th minute, sending fans into a frenzy in a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands in their World Cup opener.

Impressive outing for Japan, but what happened afterwards may be even more impressive. Japanese supporters stayed behind to help pick up trash. They gathered cups. We've seen this in the past World Cups, Olympics, et cetera. It's not a publicity stunt. It's a reflection of a deeply rooted culture built on respect and gratitude.

Meanwhile, in New York, Knicks fans already lining the streets when their champions arrived back home. The parade isn't until Thursday, but after waiting 53 years for this NBA title, they're keeping this party going. The Knicks authored the number one, number three, and number five biggest comeback wins in NBA Finals history, all in the same series.

And speaking of New York fans keeping the celebration going, a few of our crew members made a promise if the Knicks won it all. Here they are proudly supporting their jerseys --

BOLDUAN: That's right.

WIRE: Apparently saving money on sleeves. Warning, if you're eating your breakfast right now, some of these images may be disturbing. Look at those arms, baby.

BOLDUAN: I mean --

SIDNER: Let's go, boys.

BOLDUAN: -- New York has been waiting 53 years for a win. We have been waiting ten days for a gun show. And we finally got it. June 4th, the promise was made. If they went all the way we'd get a gun show. America, you are welcome.

SIDNER: Let's go.

BOLDUAN: Let's go. Lulu, Lulu, we did it. We did it, guys. We did it. I'm so happy.

You know who we are missing, though? Coy Wire did not show up for the gun show.

SIDNER: Yes, Coy, what's up? What's up?

WIRE: I'm waiting for my Buffalo Bills to make that happen and with the Sabres --

BOLDUAN: It's been a --

SIDNER: It'll be a while, buddy. It'll be a while. This is awesome.

BOLDUAN: This is all worth it. Thank you, Brunson.

SIDNER: It's been amazing. Thank you, Nick.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, Brunson.

SIDNER: Look at what you brought us, so nice.

BOLDUAN: So proud of you.

SIDNER: So cool.

BOLDUAN: So proud of you. You guys should have seen, they were doing pushups off set for like hours. Where do we go now?

SIDNER: This is going to make it on social media, but --

BOLDUAN: As it should.

SIDNER__ just so you know our next story is about social media. Britain is the first to take a major swipe at social media banning it, banning it for children under 16. So, they won't see this. They won't see this. They're missing some good stuff here. There's a lot of love here. We're really excited.

All right, and a special session that could reshape Washington, what is happening in Georgia this week that could change both the swing state's political map and how votes are counted there.

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[07:25:00]

BOLDUAN: After more than 15 weeks of war, the U.S. and Iran have reached a framework to end the fighting. A signing is set for this Friday, and what needs to be worked out before then, what they're actually agreeing to and what timeline and what's left to be worked out, is a very big question.

President Trump told The New York Times as part of this, the Strait of Hormuz will be, quote/unquote, permanently toll-free and threatened to restart military attacks if Iran fails to reach a final nuclear deal. The president also said that no frozen funds will be released until Iran delivers on its commitments.

But Iran's deputy foreign minister is offering a different take, saying that the 60-day window where they kick off these nuclear talks, that they won't begin until the U.S. unfreezes the funds.

And then there's Israel announcing today that the IDF is not withdrawing from Southern Lebanon, even as Iran insists that the agreement with the United States includes an end to the conflict on that front.

[07:30:05]

Joining me right now is CNN Senior Military Analyst, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander.