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Vance: Some Gentlemen's Agreements with Iran are Written Down; Ukraine Launches Largest Attack on Moscow Since War Began; New York Knicks Celebrate Team's First Ticker-Tape Parade; Post-Tropical Cyclone Arthur Slams South with Floods, Tornadoes. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired June 18, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar in Washington, and we have breaking news on the U.S. agreement with Iran. Just a short time ago, Vice President J.D. Vance, taking questions at the White House as the new Memorandum of Understanding faces fierce backlash from members of both parties. Earlier, President Trump posted this, "... fools who think I haven't been tough enough on Iran are either jealous, bad people, or stupid."

But lawmakers from the president's own party are concerned that Iran will use the money it is getting in the deal for more than rebuilding its economy.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is live at the White House for us. Kristen, tell us what the vice president said here.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, that was something he actually addressed during this briefing, essentially saying that he was confident that the United States would be able to track where Iran was going with that money, meaning that if they were planning on funding terrorist proxies, the United States would be able to track that. So that was one thing he did say. Now, he declined to say where this $300 billion was going to come from, other than saying that Gulf partners want to be able to help making sure that this deal goes through.

And then he also said this. He said that he doesn't know how much money comprises the frozen assets that Iran would be eligible to receive under the terms of this peace deal. So all of that was incredibly interesting.

But what was most fascinating was what he told me specifically on these so-called gentleman's agreements that we had heard about from U.S. officials that are outside of the Memorandum of Understanding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: When it comes to highly enriched uranium, can you walk us through what's been secured, even in these kind of gentleman's agreements, on how exactly they're going to get rid of the stockpile? Are there agreements on low-grade enrichment?

How long is the moratorium on enriching uranium for Iran? And are any of these gentleman's agreements written down anywhere?

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So some of them are written down, but fundamentally, whether they're written down or spoken, this is why we structured the deal that we did, because we don't trust words. We trust action. And we trust conduct.

And so we're going to reward conduct, and we're not going to reward any words, whether they're written on a sheet of paper or not. There's a lot of discussion, the MOU, the gentleman's agreements, the final deal. Words don't matter, ladies and gentlemen.

We're about verification.

[15:35:00]

And so what we're going to do is to say, if they do the things that they have promised to do, they have promised not to enrich, they have promised that they would allow inspectors in to destroy that highly enriched stockpile, and then, of course, it's not usable anymore, you take it somewhere else. They promised a number of things, and that's why the deal contemplates a number of benefits if they do those things. But it doesn't do anything if they don't actually meet those promises.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES (on camera): The key here is that Vice President Vance saying that some of these quote unquote gentleman's agreements that we've heard about are in writing, which gives you an indication that there are some kinds of deals that were not made public. The other thing I have to get to here quickly, Brianna, is his scathing criticism of Israel, and particularly this message that he sent to Israeli cabinet members saying, why alienate the only last ally you have in the world, and saying that about President Trump specifically. President Trump then putting up his own Truth Social, which seemed a veiled threat, or veiled message to Israel, in which he said, we expect a complete ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel.

So that in itself, giving you some indication about the current state of play here in the relationship between the U.S. and Israel.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly does. Kristen Holmes, live for us there on the North Lawn, thank you.

And let's turn now to the major push from Ukraine to end the war with Russia, certainly to pressure Russia, Kyiv launching a barrage of drones in a blistering attack.

It's the largest since the war began. The strikes -- look at them here -- damaging a major Russian oil refinery, also other targets. And it's part of Ukraine's strategy to try to dismantle Russian energy infrastructure.

We're joined now by retired Army Major Harrison Mann. He's also the associate campaigns director for Win Without War. The pictures are pretty stunning to see. And that's the point. That's what Ukraine was going for here. So put this attack into context for us, just really a short distance from the Kremlin.

MAJ. HARRISON MANN, U.S. ARMY (RET.): I think this was a spectacular attack with optics in mind more than military advantage. And there were a couple of audiences that I think Zelenskyy was aiming to reach, some successfully, some not so much in my estimation. The timing of this is not a coincidence.

Yes, it's in response to a Russian attack on Kyiv, but it's also during the G7. Now today we've got the EU summit. So I think he wanted to portray Ukraine as a winner, to capitalize on some recent territorial gains, to shore up European support.

And I don't know how successful he'll be to show to the Trump administration that maybe he's the horse they want to back. The third audience he wanted to reach was Russian people and Putin by proving, hey, we can reach out and touch you the way that you've been touching us. And here I think he'll be a little less successful.

I can imagine this stealing certainly Putin's resolve, who's not going to back down yet. And on one hand, while it may be a shock to Russians who have not experienced firsthand the effects of the war the way Ukrainians have in their urban centers, it could have the opposite effect and steal their resolve, having been attacked many for the first time.

KEILAR: Yes, he said that if Ukraine is engulfed in flames, so will your Moscow be. Because among the other targets was this UNESCO World Heritage site, a monastery about a thousand years old in Kyiv yesterday. So they had a really tough day. Ukraine did, right?

He said this is about pressuring Russia into a path where diplomacy becomes the only choice. You're saying it's possible this could kind of go either way on that. Where's the role for the U.S. in that path right now? Is there one?

MANN: I think the best way we can facilitate a negotiation is you have to both show Putin that we're not going to totally militarily abandon Ukraine because that would allow him or encourage him to press his advantage. And at the same time, I'm not sure it's in U.S. interest to try and maintain this for years and years and years. And right now there's, you know, listen, this was a illegal imperialist war of aggression.

There's no question who's in the right and who's not in this conflict. And it could be quite difficult and costly for Ukraine to reclaim all of its territory. And ultimately, you know, it's up to Ukrainians what price they're willing to pay.

But what I'm kind of worried about, you know, coming on the fifth year of this war, a lot of people have noted that it's gone on longer than World War I. We might want to look to the Iran-Iraq war as an even more horrific example, where when the sides could no longer, you know, move their front lines, they just started attacking each other's cities and capitals. And we know from that historic experience and even from what we've just seen recently in Iran that when you bomb cities, normal people will suffer, but it doesn't necessarily make governments surrender or back down.

[15:40:00]

KEILAR: Putin does care about optics, right? And we were talking in the commercial break sort of about you can have a military success or you can have something that looks -- it explodes, you know? Yes, you hit something with a missile, but what strategically have you really achieved? And Americans should be looking at Iran and asking those kinds of questions and be familiar with them.

But Putin also does care about optics. You don't think that this is something that is a little egg on the face for him?

MANN: I think it is. And it does obviously shake his ability to project himself as like the defender of Russia and as somebody who can keep Russians safe when his own capital is getting attacked in a really, you know, explosive way, if you pardon the pun. But the problem is, since he cares about optics, what's he going to do next?

And is that going to bring the war to an end sooner? So you can imagine him searching for an even more spectacular target in Ukraine. And so that's what I unfortunately think we're going to see next.

And who wins that cycle of escalation is pretty hard to predict.

KEILAR: Yes, no, it's very good -- very instructive to look at sort of those past wars to see how it could progress from here. Harrison, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

And still to come, New York turning orange and blue as the city celebrates the NBA champs. We have highlights from the Knicks parade ahead.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: It was nothing but orange and blue skies in the Big Apple as the New York Knicks celebrated their first NBA championship in 53 years. Thousands of excited fans lining the parade route for miles to teams first ever ticker tape parade. Mayor Zohran Mamdani presenting each player and team owner with keys to the city.

Then finals MVP Jalen Brunson has this message for his haters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JALEN BRUNSON, NBA CHAMPION: There's a lot of people that have a lot of negative stuff to say. There's a lot of people who have a lot of opinions. But when you prove them wrong, you really don't have to say (BLEEP) to them.

KEILAR: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is still celebrating in the Big Apple. Shimon, you'll notice that we let Boris off the show today out of respect to you and your celebration and how he feels about the Knicks. You're a native New Yorker, diehard Knicks fan.

Wow. Is this a special moment? I mean, yes, for the city, but let's just talk about how special this is for you.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's been incredible, you know, this opportunity that I've had the last several weeks to cover the finals, to cover the playoffs, to be here today, to be on the parade route, to see the people out here since early this morning, 4 a.m., 5 a.m., getting in line, getting in a position just so they could wave to the players. This is the closest in many cases that they're ever going to get to these players. And so many kids, so many people out here this morning.

You know, on a more serious note, this was a big concern for the NYPD. They had 10,000 officers out here. Everything went extremely well and fans just had the most amazing day out here.

It was a day where we saw Jalen Brunson come up the Canyon of Heroes. Such an honor reserved for heroes of this country, of the world, for decades. Decades who came up this Canyon of Heroes over things that they did to make lives better, political figures, astronauts, and now the New York Knicks getting this tradition.

It was quite a moment, quite a day for fans out here now. Cleanup has begun and many people are just going back to their lives and just trying to enjoy the rest of the day and celebrate.

As for me, Brianna, I'm trying to figure out what's next. So I had an idea that maybe I could do this.

KEILAR: Yes.

PROKUPECZ: What do we think?

KEILAR: I love it.

PROKUPECZ: I love soccer. So I love World Cup. Hey, it's right in our backyard, so maybe this is the next thing.

KEILAR: Like you just said --

PROKUPECZ: But it's been such a joy.

KEILAR: That winning sentiment, you know, you can just transfer it, right? Just transfer it over.

PROKUPECZ: Yes, I can. Sports is life. What it does for people and what it does for community and the world.

Just can't put words on it. So anyway, go Knicks and we look forward to the next season and go New York.

KEILAR: Go New York. You're missing one thing. It's a beer.

I think Shimon, we're going to let you go.

PROKUPECZ: Later.

KEILAR: Yes, later. We're going to let you go.

PROKUPECZ: Thank you.

KEILAR: Finish your day and celebrate some more, Shimon Prokupecz. Thank you very much.

First, algae. Now, something else. We are live at the recently refurbished reflecting pool where a mysterious object has drawn a lot of attention.

We'll have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Arthur has now been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, but it's still unleashing dangerous, life-threatening flooding across the south. CNN's Melissa Nord is tracking where this storm is heading next.

MELISSA NORD, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Brianna, you can see the floodwaters inundating Slidell, Louisiana earlier this afternoon. We saw about a foot of water on the roadways there, but it's not just Slidell. There's a lot of locations in southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi as well, that have seen rainfall totals over one foot.

And the drainage systems are clogged up. The water has nowhere to go and more rain continues to fall. Some of these rainfall rates are in excess of two to four inches per hour, falling on saturated ground.

So more life-threatening flash flooding is likely through the evening, even into the overnight. You can see the flood watches on the map all the way through Friday stretch eastward into Georgia as well. Currently, there's five rivers in major flood states there.

Those are all the purple squares on the box.

[15:55:00]

A level four high risk of excessive rainfall today, which is only issued on four percent of days, but it accounts for one-third of all flood-related fatalities and also four-fifths of all flood-related damages here across the United States. So additional rainfall could be heavy at times through the overnight.

These are rainfall amounts through Saturday. Still some isolated totals that could be another four to eight inches there across southern Mississippi, Alabama, even locally higher than that. We've also got the threat of inland tornadoes as the remnants of Arthur push further northward.

We already saw some of those tornadoes touch down overnight and first thing this morning across parts of Louisiana. Tornado watches lighting up the map now all the way into the Atlanta metro area. You can see those rain bands spreading eastward through the overnight.

Now, as Arthur moves east, the moisture gets hung up. So there is more rounds of tropical downpours likely on Friday, and that could lead to more flash flooding.

KEILAR: All right, Melissa Nord, thank you so much. "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END