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Israel, Iran Halts Missile Attacks, Trump Lays Out Plans for a Total Victory; Spurs Win Game 3 of NBA Finals Despite Donald Trump and Visiting San Antonio Were Booed by New York Knicks Fans. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired June 09, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hey everybody, thank you so much for joining me. I'm Polo Sandoval, live in New York, and this is "CNN Newsroom."

The missiles no longer flying between Israel and Iran as President Trump lays out his new timeline for declaring total victory. We'll tell you what it is.

And Pope Leo wrapping up the first leg of his visit to Spain, the message that he had for the faithful in the grid.

Plus, why soccer fans in Mexico feel like they're being excluded from this year's World Cup.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from New York, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: Hey everybody, let's begin with new yet a familiar timeline from the U.S. President on ending the war in Iran. Donald Trump is now suggesting that the U.S. will be declaring quote "total victory" in the next two weeks. And in comments earlier today, the President also claimed that the signing of a quote "powerful deal" with Iran could be just days away.

All this comes as Israel and Iran agreed to halt strikes against each other following the worst escalation since April. Israel had been preparing a significant attack on Iran before President Trump then called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to back off strikes in response to an Iranian attack.

And President Trump also told "Axios" that he warned Netanyahu that he would, that he'd isolate himself if he continued to strike Iran.

CNN's Oren Liebermann joining me now live from Jerusalem with more on what's happening. Oren, it's good to see you. This pause, it must come with conditions, obviously. Just tell us a little bit of what they are and also the latest there.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, let's start with a perspective from President Donald Trump.

As you pointed out, we've heard him repeatedly say that he is close to a deal. In fact, according to a CNN count over the last couple of months, Trump has said nearly 40 times that the U.S. and Iran are about to sign a ceasefire deal that would extend and broaden the ceasefire and then prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. That is clearly what he's going for.

It is worth noting here that the Obama-era Iran deal also prevented Iran from getting nuclear weapons. So it's not some new accomplishment that Trump is able to get that Iran is committing not to have nuclear weapons. Now, a lot of this is the relationship between Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu had threatened more strikes on Iran. And in fact, just under 24 hours ago, Netanyahu was ready to launch a much larger wave of strikes against Iran following incoming ballistic missile fire. But it was a phone call between Trump and Netanyahu where Trump told him to call off those strikes or not to order those strikes.

And a short time later, it was Trump who came out and said that he, that Iran and Israel must stop shooting, in his words, immediately. That's led us to this situation where we are now with Trump once again claiming that a deal with Iran is closed. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They were going back and forth and now they both agreed through me to stop. And we're in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal that will not allow in any way, shape or form nuclear weapons, etc.

And the strait will open up right away. It'll open up immediately upon signing, which could be in two or three days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN: It's worth pointing out that Iranian officials have told CNN that there's a deadlock in negotiations as we see them drag on and on here. Iran and Israel both have threats on the table. Iran has said that if Israel continues to attack southern Lebanon or that they will once again attack Israel.

Israel has said, of course, that any incoming Iranian ballistic missile fire will be met with a forceful response. It's worth pointing out in the middle of all this that Israel has just issued more evacuation warnings for the city of Tyre outside of the Israeli- occupied zone in southern Lebanon. We have seen continued Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.

And according to the Israeli military, there was incoming Hezbollah fire at northern Israel just around midnight last night. Israel had said they would once again strike Beirut if that happened, and yet at least as of right now that hasn't happened.

So, Polo, you have this incredibly sensitive situation here after the most severe escalation between Israel and Iran since early April, but at least as of right now, the Trump-declared ceasefire between Israel and Iran is holding, that being said, with threats very much on the table.

SANDOVAL: It is very much a delicate truce. Oren Liebermann, thank you so much for all that reporting live from Jerusalem.

[03:05:04]

Joining me now from Bahrain is Hasan Alhasan, a senior fellow for Middle East policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Thank you so much for being back with us.

HASAN ALHASAN, SR. FELLOW FOR MIDDLE EAST POLICY, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: Of course.

So on Monday night, President Trump again said that a deal with Iran is near, that a signing possible within the next two or three days, said President Trump. But as my colleague just pointed out, according to one count, we've heard something similar from President Trump already for nearly 40 times already since the start of this conflict.

So in your view, does this seem any different? Where do you think we'll be by the end of this week when it comes to this war?

ALHASAN: Well, we have to remember that any negotiation is a two-way street. So no single party, not even the President of the United States, can really impose a timeline or an outcome to this negotiation. And I think the Iranians have clearly shown that they have what it takes, they have the resilience to see this through and to wait out the United States and to endure a very intense bombing campaign and a very intense blockade by two of the most powerful militaries in the world.

And so in a sense, I don't think that President Trump really has the ability to unilaterally declare the timeline or the outcome of these negotiations. Clearly, the Iranians have proved themselves not to be an easy target. And so we'll have to wait and see whether the Iranians see it the way he does.

SANDOVAL: Yes, the blockade you mentioned, we heard from President Trump just a couple of hours ago here in New York that in his view that that blockade is working, that he claims is putting some pressure on the Iranians.

Also, Hasan, when it comes to Iran, it seems that their efforts to link the Lebanon front to the negotiations, I'm wondering if I can get your perspective on that. How much longer do you think that that will keep the Israeli Prime Minister restrained from launching new strikes on Lebanon in his campaign against his bullet targets? I mean, do you think that this recent pause in fighting may actually hold?

ALHASAN: So without a doubt, the blockade that you mentioned and U.S. and Israeli military strikes have applied a great deal of pressure on Iran. The issue is that the Iranian regime sees this as an existential battle. And so the question is, how much pressure will it take to get that regime to capitulate?

And given the existential stakes that are here at play for the Iranians, it seems that they're willing to bear an unimaginable amount of pain and to inflict an unimaginable amount of pain on their population to ensure their survival. I think on Lebanon, clearly the Israelis have wanted to continue prosecuting this war against Hezbollah irrespective of the terms of the ceasefire that President Trump had signed with the Iranians.

So the ceasefire originally foresaw a stop to hostilities on the Lebanese front as well. But the Israelis have wanted to keep prosecuting the war and to de-link their war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, in southern Lebanon, and now increasingly in the capital city Beirut, from what goes on in sort of the U.S.-Iran front.

And the Iranians, of course, have been maneuvering to maintain that link. The Iranians have operated under a strategy that they call the unity of fronts. They want to ensure that they're able to link all of these various fronts in Lebanon, most importantly now, in Gaza to some extent, but not as much anymore, Yemen and Iraq, and to make sure that they can essentially bind all of their armed groups, all of the militias that they support across the region, in a single, unified strategy.

And, in fact, we're seeing that the Iranians are now having to protect those militias rather than the other way around. They had initially supported them as a means of deterring Israeli and U.S. aggression, and they're now finding themselves to be in a position where they actually have to make sacrifices to protect these armed groups. And so I think it's a question of, really, who gets to impose a new strategic equilibrium.

Will the Israelis be able to sort of solidify the state of affairs where they're able to prosecute this war in Lebanon and Iran and the U.S. continue in ceasefire negotiations and potentially end the war regardless? Or do the Iranians actually succeed in maintaining the link between what happens in the Gulf and what happens between Israel and Hezbollah?

So this is a battle of wills. The two parties are testing each other and they're maneuvering to try and solidify a state of affairs that is more amenable to their interests ahead of a permanent deal being negotiated. Permanent, of course, in quotes, between the U.S. and Iran.

SANDOVAL: Hassan, can we perhaps close also on focusing on some of the people inside Iran? We're over 100 days into this now.

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From your perspective, what is the feeling specifically among anti- regime Iranians at this point as these negotiations continue? I mean, do you think they've lost hope of any resolution that they can actually benefit from? ALHASAN: So I don't have particularly good insight into what goes on

inside Iran. I don't speak Farsi. But those who do would suggest that initially it seemed as though there was some hope, given the massacres that the Iranian regime had perpetrated against its people earlier this year, that perhaps an external intervention by the United States could topple the regime.

I think clearly early on, with the rising civilian casualties, with the scope of Israeli and U.S. strikes that have targeted not just Iranian military targets but also civilian infrastructure, it's difficult to deny, those, I think, have in a sense still the sense of fear that perhaps an external intervention is not necessarily in the interest of the Iranian people either.

So I think it's probably fair to say that the Iranian people or, you know, the portion thereof that opposes the regime are in a somewhat desperate psychological state where they're really caught between the Iranian, the brutal Iranian regime on the one hand, and the war that has had probably a devastating impact on their lives on the other hand, with no real sort of light at the end of the tunnel any time soon.

SANDOVAL: Hasan Alhasan, thank you so much for your perspective on all of these fronts. They're all extremely important. Thank you for your time.

ALHASAN: What a pleasure.

SANDOVAL: And Pope Leo, he had a very busy day on Monday in Madrid on the third day of his tour of Spain. He met with the Spanish Prime Minister, he addressed members of parliament, and he also spoke to bishops before hosting a gathering of some 70,000 local Catholics.

As CNN Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb reporting on the Pope's message to the country's political leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pope Leo giving an historic address to Spain's parliament. He's the first pope ever to address Spain's parliamentarians here in Madrid. Leo, in his speech, emphasizing that war is a painful defeat for negotiations.

His remarks coming at a time when Israel and Iran are trading strikes and the worst deterioration of violence since the April truce. Now, Leo gave a wide-ranging speech covering a number of topics, including polarization. Of course, Spain's political culture is very divided.

Leo emphasizing the importance of unity and also human rights. And migration was a theme too of the Pope's speech, calling for the defense of immigrants and refugees. Leo was greeted by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez when he arrived here.

And Pedro Sanchez is someone who is aligned with Pope Leo when it comes to the war in Iran. Sanchez has opposed that. And like Pope Leo, Sanchez has faced criticism from President Donald Trump for his opposition to the war in Iran.

Christopher Lamb, CNN, Madrid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Protests are growing in Albania over plans for a luxury resort linked to President Trump's family. Why thousands are flooding the streets ahead.

And we'll also be taking you to one of the host countries of the World Cup, where many fans are complaining tickets for the matches now cost more than their rent or even their mortgage.

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SANDOVAL; Welcome back.

A planned luxury resort is currently sparking a political firestorm in Albania. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest the project, which is backed by Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner. Critics are raising concerns about its environmental impacts, a lack of transparency, and also issues about possible governmental corruption. CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau with more.

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BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Albanians have been protesting in the capital, Tirana, after U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump confirmed on a podcast that she and her husband, Jared Kushner, are developing a luxury resort on a pristine island off the Albanian coast.

Now, the island sits where the Adriatic and Mediterranean seas meet just across the water from Italy and up the coast from Greece. Ivanka Trump said they discovered the island last summer.

IVANKA TRUMP, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: We were on a friend's boat and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that's how we found it. We swam to the islands.

We went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just evaded. And it stayed with us ever since. For me, this is, it feels more like a challenge than anything else.

The culmination of all of my experience in real estate.

LATZA NADEAU: The island and five miles of pristine coastline have not been developed because they house protected wetlands. But a change in legislation in 2024 has allowed luxury developers to skirt around those protections. That doesn't sit well with Albanians like this woman. UNKNOWN: Of course, I'm totally against it. Why would I want somebody,

a foreigner, to come and buy my island? The land, we've been here 2500 years. So how can somebody, you know, claim that she found an island all of a sudden and pretend to be her home?

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LATZA NADEAU: Albanians are angry at their government and calling for resignations. But the Prime Minister, Edi Rama, denied to CNN that a final project was even in place, saying they would not be pouring concrete on the heads of flamingos any time soon, and that the environmental impacts were being studied. Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, Rome.

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SANDOVAL: And now to Game 3 of the NBA Finals. The San Antonio Spurs, they have their first win of the series. And it happened right here in New York at Madison Square Garden.

Victor Wembayama scoring 32 points for the visitors. Jalen Brunson leading the Knicks, also with 32 points of his own. You see a couple of celebrities there, pretty excited early on.

This one went right down to the wire, but the Knicks, they were unable to convert on the three-point shot with only two seconds left on the clock and no timeouts. And the teams will not be going at it again in Game 4 on Wednesday at the Garden again. The Knicks now leading the series two games to one.

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And the visiting Spurs, not the only ones getting booed at the game. That's President Trump as he actually appeared on the Jumbotron during the "Star Spangled Banner." He was a guest of Knicks owner James Dolan, who you see in the orange jacket there, and also the President -- becoming the first U.S. President to attend an NBA Finals game.

And fans were asked to arrive at Madison Square Garden at least two hours early to clear security. Police and the Secret Service locking down a five-block area around Madison Square Garden.

And those watch parties that we usually see outside the venue, well, you see these fences while we're up there, and the Secret Service and the NYPD basically banning those parties this time around. Hopefully they'll be back though in two days.

FIFA has confirmed that a Somali referee has been denied entry into the United States and won't get to take part in the World Cup. Omar Abdul-Qadir Artaan made it all the way to Miami before U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

They deemed him inadmissible. Well, no word yet on why he was refused entry to the U.S., but Somalia is one of 39 countries affected by President Trump's travel ban. Artaan was named Africa's top male referee last year. Well, complaints are soaring over the astronomical cost of World Cup tickets and what's being called an unprecedented money grab by FIFA. You see, in Mexico, it means that many fans who thought they'd be watching in the stadiums will now have to watch it at home. Here's CNN's Valeria Len reporting from Mexico.

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VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For a country that lives and breathes soccer, this World Cup remains out of reach for many. Sky-high ticket prices and just a handful of matches on home turf, leaving many Mexican fans feeling left out. Francisco Ferreira compares access to Mexico's past World Cups to this one.

FRANCISCO FERREIRA, SOCCER FAN (through translator): It doesn't feel the same. Back then, it felt like Mexico's World Cup. Now, it feels like it belongs to the United States. And the ticket prices, they're impossible.

LEON (voice-over): The opening match in Mexico City, with some tickets now selling for as much as $16,000 on official FIFA sites and on resale sites even higher, a staggering amount that puts this tournament far out of reach for all but the ultra-wealthy.

LEON: In Mexico City, the average family earns just over $2,000 a month, roughly the cost of a single ticket. And in a city where many local fans were able to attend World Cups hosted here in 1970 and '86, many feel they've been priced out.

But the frustration started months ago. FIFA's lottery-style sales system, designed to manage global demand, left thousands without access even at base prices.

UNKNOWN (through translator): I haven't been able to get tickets, but if I do, I'll be there.

UNKNOWN (through translator): I hope Mexico wins. But either way, I just want it to be exciting. A good show, of course.

LEON (voice-over): At this rate, the cheers of Mexican fans will mostly be heard outside the stadium.

Valeria Leon, CNN, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And still to come here on "CNN Newsroom," Chinese leader Xi Jinping preparing to leave North Korea after meeting with Kim Jong-un. We'll have the latest on the so-called new chapter that both leaders are opening.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANDOVAL: Hi everybody, welcome back. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York, and these are today's top stories.

Israel and Iran, they have halted attacks against each other after trading strikes for the first time since April. Iran is now warning that its attacks will resume if Israeli strikes continue, including in southern Lebanon. Israel also threatening to respond with force if Iran launches more strikes.

A federal judge striking down President Trump's plan to charge U.S. businesses $100,000 for new H-1B visa applications. The judge ruled on Monday that the President has no authority to impose these new fees. He says it's something Congress must approve instead.

[03:30:00]

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is wrapping up his first visit to North Korea in seven years. State media saying that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are pledging closer ties and also a new chapter of relations. The announcement comes as both countries face strained relations with the U.S. over a series of global conflicts.

All right, let's go now to CNN's Beijing bureau chief, Steven Jiang, with more. Steven, it's great to see you again. This visit coming to a close. What does this supposed new chapter possibly entail?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Polo, you know, the two leaders did keep themselves busy on the second last day of Xi's visit to North Korea. We know they went to pay respect for the Chinese soldiers killed on the battlefields of the Korean War on Tuesday morning and then moving on to visit a school training government officials where they planted a tree together to mark the friendship between the two neighbors.

And all those visual cues on top of the pomp and pageantry that we saw on Monday very much trying to reaffirm the special bond between the two countries really forged out of the Korean War and often said to be as close as lips and teeth. So the message here is the two sides are still very much seeing eye to eye most things both strategically and ideologically despite that narrative that North Korea's growing ties with Russia come at the expense of its relationship with China.

Now, as you know, Russia can, of course, provide North Korea with security and military guarantees. But Russia's economy is simply in no position to give Kim the kind of economic benefits and support that he needs. So that's why China feels quite confident in its continued position as North Korea's biggest and most important ally.

Now, according to the Chinese readout, Xi Jinping made a point of saying no matter how the international situation evolves, this special bond will never change. And as you mentioned, he has also offered to deepen and expand bilateral coordination and cooperation on a whole range of things, not only on the economic front, but also notably on law enforcement, on diplomacy, on even the military front.

So what's also interesting here is what's not being mentioned, of course, that is the North Korea nuclear weapons program. As you know, after Trump's visit to Beijing, the White House put out a fact sheet claiming both Xi and Trump have confirmed their shared goal of denuclearizing North Korea, even though most experts say China has all but accepted North Korea as a de facto nuclear power even without saying so publicly.

So at this point, it does seem Xi doesn't want to spend any political capital on this topic. And not to mention, Polo, as some experts have pointed out, even though China may still be wary of a nuclear arm in North Korea, they may be able to use that as a buffer between itself and the U.S. forces in the region, especially those stationed in South Korea and Japan. Polo?

SANDOVAL: Steven Jiang, thank you so much for that live report.

The death toll has risen to at least 37 after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the southern Philippines early Monday. Officials are saying that at least a dozen people are still missing after the region experienced scenes like the one you're about to see.

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More than 200 people were reportedly injured as the quake triggered landslides and also caused buildings to collapse, including the one you just saw. More than 130 aftershocks have been reported since the initial quake, and authorities are now warning that more could follow near the epicenter. Tremors that were also felt in parts of northeastern Indonesia.

And while strikes between Israel and Iran are on pause for now, the larger conflict remains unresolved. Coming up on "CNN Newsroom," the very latest impact on global oil prices, as well as international airline profits.

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back. You're up to speed on your Asian markets, let's get to your business headlines.

Apple has launched a new A.I.-powered version of its voice assistant. The Siri upgraded -- the upgrade of Siri, I should say, it was actually unveiled during the Worldwide Developers Conference. Apple, hoping that this revamp will help it catch up to rivals like ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, this was Tim Cook's last conference as CEO after 15 years at the helm of the company.

And OpenAI has confidentially filed for an initial public offering. The tech giant behind ChatGPT says that it hasn't decided on timing yet, but the IPO follows a similar move from rival Anthropic. OpenAI was last valued at $852 billion, it's faced pressure to demonstrate that it can generate the match that valuation. British drugmaker GSK is buying a U.S. company that develops cancer

treatments, Nuvalent, based in Boston, Massachusetts, focusing on creating precisely targeted oncology therapies. GSK values the stock at $124 a share, and that makes the deal worth $10.6 billion.

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Well the International Air Transport Association is expecting annual airline profits to be cut in half this year due to the conflicts in the Middle East and also those rising fuel costs. It's now estimating that airlines will take in $23 billion total in net profit, and that's actually a downgrade from the $41 billion estimate some six months ago.

Our Richard Quest spoke with several major airline executives at the IATA general meeting in Brazil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTO ALVO, CEO, LATAM AIRLINES; Of course, we have the issue of fuel that everybody is suffering in a way. But demand has been very resilient.

NIKHIL RAVISHANKAR, CEO, AIR NEW ZEALAND: We've been able to recover about 40 percent of that incremental spend, so the 60 percent that we can't recover does burn a hole in the balance sheet.

BENJAMIN SMITH, CEO, AIR FRANCE-KLM: Based on the fuel price today, were going to be paying over $2 billion in incremental costs. What makes me comfortable is that we are hedged at the same level as our main competitors.

MESFIN TASEW, CEO, ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES GROUP: Within a few weeks, we faced a supply of fuel problem. Suddenly, we started importing our own fuel. So now, supply of fuel is not a problem for us.

MURAT SEKER, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, TURKISH AIRLINES: Our belief is that this escalated level of jet price is not going to last too long, but still it's going to have an impact on our margins.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Uber is partnering with British A.I. startup Wayve to bring the first self-driving cars to London, possibly by this summer. It comes during a time where self-driving cars have faced scrutiny over safety concerns.

A recent CNN investigation uncovered safety-related incidents involving Alphabet's Waymo robo-taxis here in the U.S. Wayve officials insist that their vehicles are safe, and that specially trained Uber drivers will remain behind the wheel before the vehicles operate without human drivers.

One luxury fashion house is planning its own foray into space by creating outfits for NASA astronauts. Prada revealing its latest space-bound design, an interlayer garment with ventilation tubes knitted in, the Italian company created it with the space infrastructure developer Axiom Space. Two years ago, it unveiled a spacesuit design for the Artemis 4 crew, which is expected to land on the Moon, possibly by 2028.

And while we can see auroras from Earth, we can't see them like this. NASA astronaut Jessica Meyer sharing this video of one of those southern lights as seen from the SpaceX Dragoncraft on Sunday.

Unlike the aurora Borealis, which is actually in the northern hemisphere, this light show is only seen in the southern hemisphere. It really is beautiful, right? Meyer posted the time-lapse on social media saying that she was in awe of how the aurora, quote, "danced and snaked its way directly below us."

Thank you so much for watching this hour. "World Sport" is next, and I'll join you again at the top of the next hour with more headlines here on "CNN Newsroom."

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