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Nuclear Talks with Iran; New Polls on Primaries; Vance Wanted to Invoke the Insurrection Act. U.S. Men Open World Cup with Win; New Push to Upgrade Air Systems. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired June 15, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:31:37]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Finally, a major breakthrough after more than 15 weeks of war. President Trump announcing the U.S. and Iran reached a framework to end the conflict, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and lift the U.S. naval blockade. It's set to be signed Friday in Geneva, where the president will land very soon before heading to France for the G7 Summit. We're standing by to hear from him.

But the hardest part may still lie ahead. Iran says a 60-day period of nuclear talks begins after Friday, but only once the U.S. releases billions in frozen funds. The U.S. official says, though, that's not accurate. And then there's Israel, whose defense minister says the IDF will not withdraw from southern Lebanon, even as Iran insists the agreement with the U.S. ends the fighting there.

Joining me now, our CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas and CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier.

Alex, I'm going to start with you because you, we're told, have been speaking to some of the regional mediators and many of the different sides of this. What are you learning?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Largely, the substance of the agreement had been -- had been come to an understanding over the last couple of weeks. And it was really the sequencing of events that was the problem. Iran was really demanding liquidity upfront in the form of about $12 billion out of $24 billion in frozen funds. But they really didn't want to give anything up in return for that, which would have largely been returning the Strait of Hormuz to pre-war conditions for the sum of $12 billion, which was a political nonstarter for the United States.

So, there was a breakthrough the other day when the Qataris were in country and they came back with a revised proposal. Allegedly, this gives some sort of agreement at a high level about a ban on enrichment for a period of time, some sort of disposal or dilution of a highly enriched uranium opening of the Strait. But all of the details for that will then be worked out subsequently over a 60 day period.

SIDNER: Kim, give us a sense of, this isn't a deal, it's a framework and kind of what that means, like a memorandum of understanding, what that really means.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, this is the kind of agreement that you have to get the two sides into a room to nut out the difficult problems. You decide the agenda of the meeting, and it also, in this agreement, would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and lift the U.S. blockade. But as Alex said, some of the sequencing is still to be decided, or at least it's in dispute.

The problem is, it leaves all of the tough stuff for those technical behind closed doors conversations and the economic pressure that is on both sides right now and driving them to the negotiating table is about to get lifted. We can see the oil prices are recovering and Iran will soon get access to hard cash. Technical details TBD if this is to go through. And I'm not sure what will pressure them to resolve these tough issues like giving up nuclear enrichment, which is a sovereignty issue for Iran, in the next two months.

SIDNER: Yes, there's a lot of things to sort of chew on here. And giving the money is a big one, because that's something that President Trump roundly criticized the Obama administration for doing back when there was a deal eventually put in place.

Alex, back to you.

When you start looking at all of the different bits and parts, one of the big points that may be difficult is, what is happening with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel in all of this.

[08:35:09]

There have been reporting on "Axios" where we just heard from the reporter there, Barak, who says, look, multiple times the president cursed about the way in which Netanyahu has been dealing with the United States over this conflict. What do you make about what will happen if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't stop attacking Lebanon, for example?

PLITSAS: Sara, this is something Kim and I have been talking about over the last couple of weeks as well. I think, you know, the flashpoint in Lebanon is probably one of the biggest risks to the agreement outside of getting through some of these details. And as, you know, Barack rightly pointed out, you mentioned here, there's been a number of tit for tat responses that have led to escalations. And what happened yesterday in the latest round is a reflection of the discussions I've had with Israeli officials. The political establishment in Israel would much rather see this war rather sought through until its end, you know, destroy as much of the military capability as possible and really wants regime change. But that's not really realistic without boots on the ground.

So, the IDF, the U.S. military and the political establishment in the U.S. is pretty happy at this point with the level of damage that's been done to the Iranians that they no longer pose like a real existential threat to the Israelis or U.S. forces in the region. But yesterday, a few drones were launched in northern Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu responded by strikes in the Beirut suburbs, which was seen as a red line for Iran. The thing that made it difficult is they put the U.S. in a bind. The individual they killed was somebody I used to meet with in a prison in Baghdad. His name was Ali Moussa Duke (ph). One of the founding members of Hezbollah who was sent to Iraq to help stand up the militias during the U.S. war and was actually responsible for an operation that killed and kidnaped and executed -- execution style five U.S. service members. So, justice (ph) admitted out yesterday, but also at the risk of blowing up the deals that put the U.S. in a very difficult position.

SIDNER: Kim, I do want to get your take on this relationship between Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, and President Trump, which has been a very tight one. But now it's a very tense one. Where do you see this going?

DOZIER: Yes, you know, Netanyahu's got elections coming up and he has to posture to the Israeli people that if hit, he's going to hit back. However, there are a couple of things that could tamp down this violence in Lebanon. One of them is that Netanyahu needs the U.S. relationship. Part of the secret of his success with the Israeli voting public is they know he has a good relationship with Trump.

Trump swears about him, but that's also an indication that they have this very familiar friendship. They can yell at each other and possibly in a few days with one phone call tamp it all back down.

On the Hezbollah side, Hezbollah, right now, is largely run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. So, they have a certain amount of command and control over Hezbollah and can tell them to lay off. That will be a real sign of whether the IRGC is also backing this deal.

SIDNER: Yes, that is actually a really, really good point. Both of you, thank you so much for your expertise. There is so much to be worked out here.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: There's another big day of primaries across the country coming tomorrow, and there's new polling now showing that younger Americans, they're playing a bigger part in the outcome and are also in this polling not exactly happy with the current state of the country.

Harry Enten running the numbers for you. He's here with us now.

So, what's the mood among younger Americans right now? Set the stage.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't think that younger folks have ever been more pissed off or pessimistic in terms of what they're seeing from our government and faith in our country.

I mean, just look at this. Age 18 to 29, pride to the American, extremely or very proud. You go back a decade ago, look at this, the clear majority, 73 percent, said they were extremely or very proud to be an American.

Look at this now. Millennials felt one way when they were age 18 to 29. Gen z feels a completely other way. Just 31 percent. Just 31 percent of those under the age of 30 say they're extremely or very proud to be an American. That is less than half the level, less than half the level age 18 to 29-year-olds felt a decade ago.

These are some of the most worrying stats, some of the most worrying trends that I think I've seen in the polling data, how the youngest folks coming in the electorate feel about our country.

BOLDUAN: And the trend of it is quite something.

ENTEN: Oh, yes.

BOLDUAN: And also sticking out to is not just how they feel to be an American, but how gen z is feeling about our form of government in general.

ENTEN: Yes. OK. You think that these numbers are bad? Part of the reason these numbers are bad is because just look at this. Say our constitution-based government has stood the test of time. Overall, overall Americans, 50 percent, the majority, say yes, it has, in fact, stood the test of time, 46 percent disagree.

But look at those under the age of 30. Less than half of that, 50 percent, just 25 percent of those under the age of 30 say, in fact, our constitution-based government has stood the test of time.

[08:40:09]

Seventy-three percent, 73 percent, this little footnote at the bottom, disagree. So, part of the reason that the pride of those under the age of 30 is so low is because, simply put, they don't think that the government is working, this constitutional-based government, which has been going on now for nearly -- or over two centuries, nearly 250 years. Of course, the Constitution was passed after the Declaration of Independence, more than a decade later.

But what we're talking about is just they don't feel, those under the age of 30, gen z, do not feel that the Constitution-based government, which has been our government for a very long period of time, is working anymore.

BOLDUAN: Then I'm almost afraid to ask, then how do they feel about the parties?

ENTEN: They hate everybody. They hate everybody. That's what's going on. They hate everybody. Voters under the age of 30 disapprove of Trump, three in four, 76 percent. Dissatisfied with the Democrat Party -- Democratic Party, 74 percent. Bingo a, bingo b, they hate everybody. They don't feel that much pride to be an American. And they don't think that government is, simply put, working.

BOLDUAN: Quite a thing, Harry.

ENTEN: Oh, it is quite a thing. These, as I said, are some of the most troubling statistics I've seen. The youngest folks coming to the electorate, simply put, don't think things are working anymore. BOLDUAN: Wow. Thanks, buddy.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Good to see you.

ENTEN: Nice to see you.

BOLDUAN: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I believe the children are the future.

ENTEN: Oh.

BERMAN: All right, breaking this morning, a new report putting the focus on Vice President J.D. Vance and maybe his ambitions. This very much has to do with the future. New excerpts from the upcoming book "Regime Change" by "New York Times" correspondent Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. Vance reportedly aligning himself with more hardline elements in the White House, particularly during the immigration crackdown in Minnesota. This is a quote about a meeting, right. "Mr. Vance got to the point. They needed to invoke the Insurrection Act, swiftly, to crush the unrest in Minnesota. It would be painful in the short term, he said, but the message it would send -- that paid agitators could not get away with disrupting ICE operations -- would make sure no one tried it again. There was no evidence that either Mr. Pretti or Ms. Good," of course those two people that were killed there, "had been paid activists."

With us now, Alex Thompson, national political correspondent at "Axios," and CNN political analyst.

Alex, it's great to see you.

You are focused like a laser on 2028. You know, J.D. Vance, most vice presidents, want to be presidents. This alignment, as reported by Maggie and Jonathan there, maybe with the Stephen Millers of the world, with the more hardline elements, what does this portend going forward?

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, this book is poised not to just disrupt how this administration is going to operate in the future, it has the potential to disrupt J.D. Vance's political ambitions. Because there have been, in these early excerpts, Mr. Vance has been portrayed in some ways as conspiratorial and as you -- as you suggested, he's aligned himself with Stephen Miller, one of the most controversial members of this administration. One of its most hardline and was advocating, in some cases, for deploying the Insurrection Act, which the -- inside the White House, even some of the most firebrand, you know -- like very conservative members were saying this is just blatantly unconstitutional.

There's also a scene in there where Stephen Miller is saying, well, we haven't tested the limits of the Insurrection Act. And one of -- and the secretary of the White House had to push back and say, that's not true, Stephen. And the fact that J.D. Vance has aligned himself with the most controversial members could be a liability going into 2028. It's why so many of the members of the Trump administration are desperate to get their hands on this book early before it comes out next week because they don't know what's in it and how it could affect their own political standing.

BERMAN: They're nervous?

THOMPSON: Oh, yes. Absolutely. I mean you had reports that some of the quotes in this book are so verbatim that there is even speculation inside the White House that Maggie and Jonathan have got their hands on recordings, not just from inside the room, but inside the national security rooms, which they are not -- you are not allowed to bring recording, you know, devices into those rooms. That's how worried they are about this book and how explosive it could be in terms of disrupting, not just this White House, but to 2028.

BERMAN: And it's interesting to hear you, Alex, talk about a book and the anticipation for it coming out because you yourself know a thing or two about a book that can make waves, right, having written the book on Joe Biden last year with Jake Tapper.

OK, I want to talk about some of your own reporting here about jockeying inside the Democratic Party for 2028. Particularly, you've got some reporting on what Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the congresswoman from New York here, is doing to maybe differentiate herself from some other progressives in the party. What's she doing?

THOMPSON: She's acting very differently than Senator Bernie Sanders. Senator Bernie Sanders has endorsed dozens of left wing candidates all across the country, assembly seats, everything else. Representative Ocasio-Cortez has been a little bit more choosy in who she's endorsing and likes to basically come in at the very last second and come in and be, you know, the kingmaker. The closer, if you will.

And it's been very effective.

[08:45:01]

She has endorsed in several races, just the last month alone, four of her candidates from Montana to California to New Jersey have all won in their congressional primaries. And she is -- and I think it signals not just a little bit more of a strategic difference from Bernie Sanders, but also that her ambitions are not just in New York. Her ambitions are national. Increasingly, she is acting and sounding like a presidential candidate.

BERMAN: And you want to be backing winners if you are going to be a winner inside your party.

THOMPSON: Absolutely.

BERMAN: OK. Our friend Jonathan Martin now at "Politico," we're moving around the political journalism world here, has got reporting this morning on some other Democrats that people might be looking at in the primaries. He writes, "Democrats are approaching what could be their most wide-open presidential primary in decades, but I'd venture a confident prediction today: one of the two Georgia senators will be on the party's ticket in 2028." We're talking about Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, two men maybe on a mission.

THOMPSON: And both very much trying to insert themselves into a national conversation. Reverend and Senator Warnock has a book coming out this week. You know, a classic, when you're running for president, you write a book. And so he's trying to intertwine, you know, his faith and politics. Senator Ossoff has really got into the YouTube game, the short video game, you know, with these like little snippets of speeches that he gives like once a month, very highly produced. And I think in some ways it's a signal of sort of Democrats' frustration with their current crop of candidates. They're looking for a savior. They're looking for somebody fresh and new.

You know, Jon Ossoff is still in his 30s. Senator Warnock, you know, just has an unconventional biography. The fact that he, you know, is still a sitting pastor at MLK Junior's old church. You know, I think, this is -- and that's why Jonathan Martin is speculating that they could be on the ticket.

BERMAN: A wide open field. It's terrific that you are reporting on it. Great to see you this morning, Alex. Thank you very much.

Of course, last night at the White House we saw this big UFC fight. Some of us really saw it more closely, including our very own Sara Sidner. Do you have questions about this fight? Do you want them answered by Sara Sidner live?

SIDNER: Wait, why is that -- why am I the only one answering the questions?

BERMAN: Donie O'Sullivan will be answering them also. I'm going to be asking your questions. Here's what you need to do. You guys got to scroll back so I can actually tell people where to go on to send their questions.

SIDNER: I caused a problem.

BERMAN: Cnn.com/subscriberseries. Cnn.com/subscriberseries. We could, if we want to, put that on the screen so you can see it. But log into that site. There we go.

SIDNER: There it is. There it is. There it is.

BERMAN: There we go.

As Sara your questions. Ask Donie your questions. They were there. They will have the answers.

SIDNER: We will have the answers. We don't know if they are the right ones. I just --

BERMAN: Just answer. I didn't say they -- we have the right answers.

SIDNER: OK.

BERMAN: We'll have answers.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John. I know you weren't expecting me and this is really uncomfortable. This is my favorite thing to do because fight night, it's great.

BERMAN: Yes, exactly. I know.

SIDNER: All right, you can call it perfect timing. A cat stealing the show during "Romeo and Juliet." How cute is that?

And a brand-new discussion between two iconic actresses with great shoes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE LEE CURTIS, ACTRESS: We're both in show business long enough.

MARISKA HARGITAY, ACTRESS: I love that you call it show business.

CURTIS: Well, its show off business.

HARGITAY: It's so old school though.

CURTIS: It's show off business.

HARGITAY: Don't say show business. It's -- it dates us.

CURTIS: It what's us?

HARGITAY: It dates us.

CURTIS: Dude.

HARGITAY: Dude.

CURTIS: This dates us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[08:52:18]

SIDNER: Parents, pay attention to this. On our radar for you this morning, Nara Organics is recalling its baby formula sold nationwide at Target. It's linked to a multistate outbreak of infant botulism. The FDA says three babies have been hospitalized and treated. The CDC is urging people to stop using the formula immediately.

All right, new video this morning of an officer in Texas coming face to face with a different kind of suspect. The officer near Houston was sent out to remove a snake from a property. There's that sucker. The department adding, the suspect had no legs to stand on. OK, whoever that was, was kind of funny. Props to the officer for handling the situation delicately, although that looked to me, I'm no snake expert, like a rattlesnake. So, he knows how to handle just about any scenario. Good for him.

All right, this is very much orange cat behavior. I've had one. I know. A kitty wandered on stage, putting its own spin on the ending of "Romeo and Juliet." It happened during the Imperial Russian Ballet Company production in Turkey. He's like, you're not dead, Romeo, get up. I'm playing with your hair. The cat was right in the middle of an emotional moment when Romeo dies. Everyone, though, somehow remained in character. Yes, I mean, Juliet is really upset, but the cat knows better. The cat, I think, won that battle.

John.

BERMAN: Well, Romeo did, because Romeo's dead.

SIDNER: Romeo's dead. He's gone.

BERMAN: Romeo's very dead. And not even the cat can bring him back to life.

SIDNER: But she's got the cat, so everybody -- all's well that ends well.

BERMAN: I don't think the cat cares, because cats don't care. Cat just doesn't care.

SIDNER: They don't.

BERMAN: Romeo's dead. Eh, I'm going to lick my paws.

All right, this morning, we are awaiting kickoff for World Cup favorites Spain as they take up -- on Cape Verde. That happens in just a few hours. The games have been awesome. And security, tight. This morning, the FBI is cracking down on drones flying at or near the venues. Seems like a bad idea. They've seized more than a dozen already.

Let's get right to CNN's Rafael Romo with the latest on all this.

Good morning to you, Rafael.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning.

And I'm glad you were mentioning that, because here in Atlanta alone, the FBI tells us that as of last night they had already confiscated 15 drones because people are violating restricted areas where no drones should be flown, be it here at the Atlanta FIFA Fan Fest or near Mercedes-Benz Stadium. So, there's a warning there from the FBI for all of those people.

Now, I am here at the 2026 FIFA Fan Fest in Atlanta. This has been opened at the Centennial Olympic Park, which many of our viewers will know.

[08:55:03] This place was built for the 1996 Olympic games. And right now I have the place all to myself, John, because the doors don't open until ten. But it is a very nice place. As you can see, this grassy area will be filled with thousands and thousands of fans. There's the Atlanta -- "I love Atlanta" sign. Instead of a heart, though, there's a peach. This being Georgia, of course.

And then here behind me, you see the giant screen where fans will be watching the game later on today. And then on the other side, there's the stage where live bands will perform.

Now, soccer fever is spreading throughout the United States. That's because of the very convincing victory of the U.S. team over Paraguay. This team is playing against Australia on Friday. So, people very excited about everything World Cup related.

John.

BERMAN: The U.S. team played better than I've ever seen them play Friday night. The most auspicious beginning to a World Cup ever for the United States. Let's hope they can continue.

Rafael Romo, great to see you this morning. Have fun there. I've been at one of these parks for a game before. It's a blast.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, with several incidents at airports across the country in just the past months and definitely in the last year, there's a major push underway right now by the Department of Transportation to truly modernize the nation's air traffic control system. The agency wanting to phase out tiny strips of paper that the air traffic -- that air traffic controllers use to keep track of planes and to move the department fully into the digital age.

CNN's Pete Muntean has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eastern 392, runway 32 left --

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The airlines have changed, and so have the hairstyles. But the technology, not so much. Paper is still the backbone of America's busiest control towers.

MUNTEAN: Pen and paper.

AMEE PATEL, TECHNICAL SYSTEMS PROGRAM MANGER, FAA: Pen and paper and --

MUNTEAN: Old school.

PATEL: Old school.

MUNTEAN (voice over): Known as flight strips, these small printouts detail critical information for air traffic controllers, including the flight number, departure airport, route, and destination. They are physically passed from controller to controller and updated by hand.

PATEL: He has to physically get up and pass it to the local controller. The local controller then validates, gives all the verification, and then talks to the pilot and then gives them clearance to take off.

MUNTEAN (voice over): Amee Patel is leading the FAA's transition from paper strips to digital, the latest target of the Trump administration's multibillion dollar air traffic control overhaul.

PATEL: It's just old. We've been doing it for so many years, and there's a better way of doing it.

They're not heads up. We want to maximize their heads-up time so they're more efficient.

MUNTEAN: At least two of these strips are printed for each of the 55,000 flights in U.S. airspace each day. The digital replacement for these are at 17 different air traffic control facilities, and the goal is to grow that number five-fold by 2028.

PATEL: We've got all of our flights ready and queued up. Once she's confirmed, she's going to press it to go over to ground control.

MUNTEAN: OK, so now it's over here.

PATEL: Now you'll see over here, they can make any changes and edits. They now send it to local control.

SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Paper is great for taking notes, but not for tracking your plane in the sky.

MUNTEAN (voice over): Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy calls this just the start toward building a brand new air traffic control system by the end of 2028. Congress has already given the White House $12 billion, and Duffy wants another $10 billion for software upgrades. The Trump administration says crews have already upgraded half of all aging copper communication lines linked to last year's radar blackouts in Newark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our scopes just went black again.

DUFFY: Look at how fast we're building. Look at the technology that we're using. The way we rethought how we build. Give some faith, give us some money, and don't make us wait.

MUNTEAN (voice over): Though the cash may not convert controllers, convince the old ways are still the best. Dave Riley was a controller for 32 years.

DAVE RILEY, FORMER AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: I would definitely be very skeptical and would want to make sure that it does all the things that we can do with paper strips and have the reliability that a paper strip and a pen would have.

MUNTEAN: The FAA has promised to replace paper strips for more than a decade now, and this transition has not been seamless. At Reagan National Airport, just outside Washington, D.C., implementing the digital system did cause flight delays as controllers got up to speed. The head of the union of controllers tells me that can be a byproduct of this massive upgrade. But he insists it will make controller's jobs easier and flying safer in the long run.

Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: What a great look at what's going on there with air traffic control. We love our Pete Muntean.

All right, we also love this. A brand-new episode of "Variety's" interview series "Actors on Actors."

[09:00:01]

This morning, Jamie Lee Curtis is sitting down with Mariska Hargitay.

Here is a look.