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Trump: "Very Close" To Having A Powerful Deal" With Iran. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 09, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

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[04:00:38]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, everybody. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. And this is CNN Newsroom.

Israel and Iran pausing military strikes as Donald Trump lays out his new timeline for ending the war. And Spencer Pratt falling short in the race for Los Angeles mayor as some Republicans attempt to sow some doubts about the California elections. Plus, why soccer fans in Mexico feel like they're being excluded for this year's FIFA World Cup.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from New York, this is CNN Newsroom with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: And we do want to begin with U.S. President Donald Trump as he again is striking an optimistic tone about ending the war with Iran, saying that the U.S. is very close to reaching what he calls a powerful deal. Well, he's also suggesting that the U.S. will be declaring, quote, "total victory over Iran in the next two weeks." Now, it's important to note that this is not the first time that the president has made such promises about how quickly he expects to see major progress or even an end to this war. And his comments, they do come as Israel and Iran agree to halt strikes against each other following the worst escalation that we've seen since April. Israel has been preparing a significant attack on Iran, or at least they had been when President Trump called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to back off strikes in response to an Iranian attack.

President Trump also telling Axios that he warned Netanyahu that he'd isolate himself if he continued to strike Iran. So what's next? Let's go to CNN's Oren Liebermann, who joins me now live from Jerusalem with the very latest.

Oren, so what is the latest on the strikes negotiations and this apparent pause? What are the conditions of it?

OREN LIEBERMANN, JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: President Donald Trump is once again sounding optimistic about the prospects of reaching a ceasefire deal with Iran. But according to a CNN count, at least 37 times since April 7, he has said that a deal is close. He made that claim one more time on Monday. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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 allow in any way, shape or form nuclear weapons, et cetera. 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 was Trump who demanded a ceasefire, saying on his own social media that he had required both Israel and Iran to stop shooting immediately. Israel had been ready for a much larger wave of strikes against Iran following incoming Iranian ballistic missiles, larger than we'd already seen in a couple waves of Israeli strikes before, when it was Trump who got on the phone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told him to call off that wave of strikes shortly before he demanded the ceasefire. Now, that being said, there are open Iranian and Israeli threats on the table. Israel has said it will strike if Iran carries out any more ballistic missile attacks.

Meanwhile, Iran has said that if Israel continues striking southern Lebanon, they will respond themselves with fire directly on Israel. Not just hours after that the ceasefire and that threat was put on the table, Israel carried out more strikes, killing at least five people, according to Lebanese Ministry of Public Health after strikes on the city of Tyre. Israel has issued more evacuation warnings for Tyre. As Netanyahu has made clear Israeli operations and strikes in southern Lebanon will continue. So you have these threats on the table here as Trump has demanded that this ceasefire remain in place in the pursuit of negotiations.

SANDOVAL: And Oren, late Monday night, the President confirming these reports of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter that went down near the Strait of Hormuz. Is there anything else that the U.S. military has released?

LIEBERMANN: We're still waiting for more information from U.S. Central Command and we have reached out to them for comment. Trump said a report would be coming at some point today. He said the two pilots of the Apache helicopter gunship are fine. New York Times reported that a -- an Apache had gone down near the Strait of Hormuz.

Apaches have been used for firing on Iranian fast attack boats in the strait, but it's unclear whether the Apache was down from Iranian fire or whether it experienced some sort of mechanical issue. So that's the key element we're waiting to learn here.

[04:05:05]

The U.S. has lost more than a dozen aircraft since the war began in late February. That includes five fighter jets, seven refuelers, a large number of drones that have been used over Iran, a search and rescue helicopter, and now it seems this Apache gunship.

SANDOVAL: Yes, it's all really good context. Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem. Thank you so much for that live reporting.

I go now to Fawaz Gerges. He's a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He's also the author of the "Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East." He joins me from London.

Fawaz, it's always great to see you. Thank you for joining us.

FAWAZ GERGES, PROF. OF INTL. RELATIONS, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Good morning.

SANDOVAL: Good morning to you. Before we get started, I'm wondering if you could just listen to President Trump and what he said on late Monday as he left New York City. He was asked about possible sticking points in these negotiations with Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't think there are any sticking points. We're very close to having a very, very good, strong, powerful deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: No sticking points, a positive outlook. But then listen to a portion of CNN's Fred Pleitgen's interview with the top Iranian official who was basically asked the same question. And here's what that official said.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What are the biggest sticking points now in the negotiations at all?

EBRAHIM AZIZI, HEAD OF NATL. SECURITY AND FOREIGN POLICY CMTE., IRANIAN PARL. (through translator): We do not see a serious will to reach a framework that could actually be implemented. And I think with regard to Iran's blocked assets, this is in fact a very clear and prominent example of that. As for uranium enriched materials, enrichment itself and nuclear issues, we are not currently negotiating on those matters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Of course, Fred and his team operating in Iran only with the permission of the government, but does maintain full editorial control of its reports. Putting all this together now, Fawaz, as I'm wondering if I can get your take on this. What is your assessment of what is holding up a deal from being finalized? I mean, yet again, two very different narratives that we're hearing.

GERGEZ: Well, I think the Iranian narrative has been very consistent. So this is we know there is a clarity on the -- what Iran wants. Iran wants that the United States releases its frozen assets with about 21, $24 billion, at least they want $15 billion released, which are in Qatar. Secondly, Iran wants a lasting end to the war as opposed to a limited ceasefire. They want international guarantees basically either from China or Russia or a Security Council resolution.

And they want also some management, a form of management of the Strait of Hormuz whether you're talking about fees or tools. And they want also an end to the war, not just between the United States and Israel on the one hand, and Iran, but also Lebanon. They want an end to the Israel's war in Lebanon. So all in all, in fact, there has really been no major progress in the past few weeks because as your correspondence interview with the Iranian official, Iran does not trust President Trump. And that's why they want operational, they want to verify.

And that's why, despite the president, President Trump's repeated positive statements, this tells you a great deal more about President Trump. He is desperate to find an off ramp. He wants out. He's in a terrible strategic bind, especially given the inflation, the gas prices in the United States and the pain in the world economy.

SANDOVAL: Yes. And on that last point, I've heard from other experts such as yourself and really point out the benefits to global markets when they hear the United States president express some optimism and some positivity that typically tends to be seen in some markets, even if it's short lived.

Fawaz, in your view, do you think that Iran is essentially more interested in stretching this out as long as possible for the sake of those concessions that you just lay out? Or do you think that they're feeling some of that pressure from the sanctions, perhaps from the blockade as well?

GERGEZ: You know, Polo, there is a great deal that we do not know, right? And we need to tell our viewers that there is no clarity. And Iranian decision making is extremely difficult to decipher. But I think myself, what I know about Iran and the Middle East, if I were an Iranian leader, I would really try to prolong the conflict as long as possible. I would run the clock on President Trump.

I know that President Trump miscalculated monstrously. He does not really want to renew hostilities. He is in a terrible bind. I know that he is suffering a great deal domestically. I know that the war is very unpopular with a majority of Americans.

[04:10:15]

I know that Americans care a great deal about their pocketbook. And I know that midterm elections are coming up in the next few months. So if I were an Iranian decision makers, not only I want to prolong this particular stalemate or standoff, but I also want to really extract as much concessions from President Trump because Iran knows it has leverage, it has influence.

I think what we are seeing now is that a more emboldened Iran, I think Iran now is no longer risk averse, it's no longer cautious and it's at its retaliation against Israel after Israel had bombed Beirut two days ago. This was unprecedented. Iran acting on behalf of one of its local allies in Lebanon. And this shows what, it shows really a different kind of confidence, the ability that's willing to risk a direct confrontation between itself and Israel or between itself and the United States.

And that's why regardless of what happens, how long this particular standoff will last, post-war Iran will be a radically different country. No longer really strategic patience, more willingness to really confront its adversaries and restore effective deterrence. Because Iran has come to the conclusion what the United States and Israel did twice attacking Iran, that its deterrence was shattered. And that's why the new Iran that's emerging out of the rubble of the war since, you know, the 2nd of February or the 20th of February, sorry.

SANDOVAL: Fawaz Gerges, always grateful for your perspective. I mean this is so important. And as you've also mentioned in the past, there's also Netanyahu's political future. Unfortunately we're out of time, but let's see if we could tackle that in our next conversation. As always, appreciate your time.

GERGEZ: Thanks for having me, Polo.

SANDOVAL: It's our pleasure.

To Los Angeles now where CNN can now project City Councilwoman Nidhia -- Nithya Raman will actually be facing incumbent Karen Bass in the race for mayor in November. Raman taking the second spot for -- from Republican Spencer Pratt, who's a former reality T.V. star. Pratt had the lead over Raman for several days after the June 2nd primary, but actually fell behind over the weekend after more votes were counted.

But because lengthy, typically a very lengthy process in California, President Trump is claiming without any evidence that elections there are rigged. He wrote on Truth Social, quote, "Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoff after the big lead he had. Third world nation," said the president, "rigged elections."

Well on Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson adding to that fuel also didn't really provide a lot of evidence here, any evidence whatsoever, adding fuel to the fire on these voter fraud allegations. He spoke to my colleague Manu Raju.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're saying it's rigged like the president?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), HOUSE SPEAKER: I'm not saying it's rigged. I'm saying it stinks to high heaven and everybody knows that. I think California is playing around with this.

RAJU: But what evidence is there to prove that there was this rigged?

JOHNSON: I -- look, I don't -- some of these efforts are so diabolical and so far upstream it is impossible to prove. But I think everybody knows instinctively something is wrong here.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SANDOVAL: The San Antonio Spurs, they are celebrating their first win of the NBA Finals. They beat the New York Knicks 115 to 111 at Madison Square Garden in game three. The Knicks still leading the series, two games to one with game four scheduled to happen here on Wednesday in New York.

You may have been able to make it out there that the Spurs weren't the only ones getting booed during Monday night's game. President Trump not getting a friendly reception by some at the game. He was showered with booze when he appeared on the jumbotron during the Star Spangled Banner. More on the tight security surrounding the event from CNN's Mark Morales.

MARK MORALES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTER: There was about 12 seconds left in the game when we started to see the first number of fans come outside of Madison Square Garden. By the time the game was over, you really saw the garden empty out and you saw the crowd spilling out onto the street. Now, it's important to note that the security posture here has been ever present throughout the entire day. And if you look over my shoulder, you'll see police officers there with a -- with those riot gear helmets. That's for crowd control just in case none of that was needed.

There was no -- there wasn't too much rowdy behavior outside of Madison Square Garden. There was a bit of a somber mood because they did lose this game and there was some rowdiness. But overall, everything wrapped up here without much issue.

[04:15:12]

Now, there was another watch party that was a further uptown over in Bryant Park. That one needed a specialized unit from the NYPD to respond and break things up. They did make some arrests. They -- there was one police officer that was injured, but that was mitigated rather quickly and the crowd was dispersed.

Now, that also goes to the idea of a watch party. Because of the counterterrorism plan that they had here, they could not have that watch party that's right next to Madison Square Garden because President Trump was here. So now for Game 4, President Trump won't be here.

As of now, the plan is to have a watch party at Madison Square Garden, but it's going to be a lot more secure and a lot more organized than it's been before. Back to you.

SANDOVAL: Thank you, Mark.

And soon, voters in Maine will be starting to cast their ballots in today's Senate primaries. Still ahead, how locals are feeling ahead of the election as they weigh in on Democrat Graham Platner's latest scandals. Plus, Ukraine saying that it now has the momentum on the battlefield and is reclaiming more territory than Russia is capturing. We have more on their latest gains in a moment.

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SANDOVAL: Democratic hopeful Graham Platner is still appears likely to win today's Senate primary election in Maine. But a recent flurry of scandals, it's now putting his campaign under some intense scrutiny. CNN's Arlette Saenz attended one of his latest rallies in Portland, Maine, on Sunday to hear how voters are reacting to these mounting accusations.

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GRAHAM PLATNER, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR MAINE SENATOR: The reason they keep getting everything wrong is they think this is a race about me. But it isn't. This is a race about us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Graham Platner.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In his final town hall before Maine's Senate primary, Democratic candidate Graham Platner faced a friendly crowd willing to look past his recent scandals. Whether that will be the case in November remains to be seen. And there's one group of voters who could be the deciding factor.

CHERYL CAMERON, MAINE DEMOCRAT: I wish I had brought a sign saying church ladies for Graham.

SAENZ: Yes.

SAENZ (voice-over): Female voters made up 59 percent of the electorate in 2020, and they were far more likely to back Senator Susan Collins than they were to support President Donald Trump at the top of the GOP ticket that year. In this year's Senate race, a poll conducted before the recent revelations came to light showed Platner leading Collins among women by double digits in a hypothetical matchup.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're definitely voting for him.

SAENZ: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I -- honestly, I would vote for a doorknob over Susan Collins.

SAENZ (voice-over): But Republicans are hoping Platner's latest controversies, including a New York Times report last week detailing allegations of unsettling behavior with past girlfriends and in one case, physically threatening behavior or an accusation that he knew a tattoo he got while serving in the military was a Nazi symbol won't sit well with voters.

PLATNER: Anything alleging physicality, anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was, these are the statements of someone who's politically motivated.

SAENZ (voice-over): Democratic primary voter Renee Barthelman is among those feeling Platner's past is problematic. RENEE BARTHELMAN, MAINE VOTER: The more and more, and the closer and closer we get to tomorrow, the less and less comfortable I've been.

SAENZ: And so what do you think you'll do in November if it's Platner versus Collins?

BARTHELMAN: Collins I'm not happy with everything Collins says. I'm not happy with the way she votes in Congress lots of times. So she isn't my first choice, but of the two, I would rather see her there.

SAENZ (voice-over): But many Maine women who spoke to CNN said they remain on board with Platner despite the controversies.

CAMERON: He's not a perfect guy, but I agree with his politics. And apparently -- if his wife can deal with it, who am I to argue?

SUSAN GORMAN, MAINE DEMOCRAT: The problems that are facing Maine in this country are too serious for us to focus on this purity politics kind of stuff.

SAENZ (voice-over): Platner is favored to win Tuesday's Democratic primary, but Maine's Gov. Janet Mills remains on the ballot despite suspending her campaign. Mary Sue Emhiser is among those Democrats voting for Mills anyway.

SAENZ: Why do you say it?

MARY SUE EMHISER, MAINE DEMOCRAT: It's the only person running against Susan Collins, I will support him because my whole goal is only to beat Susan Collins. With my nose pinched, I'll vote for Graham Platner.

SHARON PORTELANCE, MAINE DEMOCRAT: The comments that have been made about women, the relationships that, I mean, it just keeps sort of coming in that as a woman it's a little tiring. I was really concerned.

SAENZ: And so do you think that you would vote for him in the primary on Tuesday?

PORTELANCE: Chances are I will.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAENZ (on camera): Maine was always a central component of Senate Democrats strategy to try to reclaim control of the upper chamber. Democrats need to flip four Republican seats heading into November, really raising a lot of questions about whether Platner will be able to overcome these controversies and help Democrats in their quest to reclaim Senate control.

Arlette Saenz, CCNN, Portland, Maine.

SANDOVAL: Scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency say that they are under pressure to alter safety reviews of chemicals that are found in some of your common consumer products. CNN's Rene Marsh with this exclusive report.

RENE MARSH, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A lot of products Americans use every day, from household cleaners to cosmetics, contain chemicals that have never been fully reviewed by the EPA for their impact on human health and the environment. And now some longtime EPA employees tell CNN they're being pushed by supervisors to downplay the potential risk of some of these chemicals in consumer products. One employee said when a chemical is flagged as a risk, like after contact with both hands, a supervisor might ask, what if we dip one hand? What if we dip one finger in search of the smallest amount of contact needed to call the chemical safe? That's according to that employee.

[04:25:05]

Now the EPA has pushed back on this saying, quote, "It is implementing the President's Executive Order on Restoring Gold Standard Science across its risk evaluations and that it is using realistic exposure scenarios rather than defaulting to compounded worst case assumptions."

The employees CNN spoke to point to four former chemical industry lobbyists that the Trump administration has appointed to run these key EPA offices that regulate these chemicals. They say they are the driving force behind this shift at the agency.

Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.

SANDOVAL: Ukraine's president will soon be joining the Nordic and Baltic leaders' summit in Estonia in a matter of hours. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is hoping to shore up some support from European allies and this as his country tout recent battlefield victories over Russia. Military officials say that Ukrainian forces have already reclaimed more than 600 square kilometers or about 232 square miles that since the start of the year, nearly 100 square kilometers were retaken last month alone according to them. Russia, meanwhile, has seen a net territory loss for the second month in a row.

CNN's Sebastian Shukla joining me now from London.

Sebastian, good to see you again. So wondering if you could show our viewers the map. Where are these lines at the moment in of who's occupying what territory?

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, good morning, guys. The line of contact runs some 1,200 kilometers from that eastern part of Ukraine right down to the Crimean Peninsula. We don't know exactly where this 600 square kilometers of territory has been retaken, but we know that there are points particularly towards the southern end of the line there where the fighting is still particularly tense. But what I think is important to know -- to note, Polo, is that we're talking about 600 square kilometers here. That's what the Ukrainians say they have retaken, but the total area of occupied land at the moment by Russian forces is 116,000 square kilometers.

So we're talking about a tiny fraction here of land that the Ukrainians claim and we're not able to independently verify those claims to have retaken. What I think is important to note, as you mentioned, is that there is some sort of gathering and reclaiming of land by the Ukrainians more generally. That is always a good sign as they seek to exert pressure on Moscow.

And I think coupled with the sustained drone long range drone attacks, those attacks on oil facilities, those attacks that we saw last week on St. Petersburg coupled with these small incremental battlefield gains show that the Ukrainians at the moment feel that they have the upper hand in this war. And that may well be starting to show as we see little chinks in the armor coming from Moscow. We know that sanctions are really starting to bite. We see the air defenses are not as strong as they used to be. And the Ukrainian president even publishing this open letter that he did last week telling the Russian president that we need to talk.

All of the rhetoric seems to be that the Ukrainians feel that this might be a really good moment to really start to drive home the pressure on the Kremlin. And I think that's what we're seeing as well with the Ukrainian president touring the Baltic States as well. Today there is a summit that's taking place there. The Finnish and Norwegian leaders are also going to be there. And it's important because those states, although bordering Ukraine, have been feeling impacts of this war.

More recently, there has been a spate of unmanned aerial vehicles, both from the Russian side and from the Ukrainian side too, that have been diverting themselves largely through electronic warfare it seems to be, and then landing in these Baltic States. And also very importantly, they are key supporters to Ukraine more generally financially and militarily. So shoring up support and the Ukrainian president being there is just another way for the Ukrainians to gather the Europeans together and say what more pressure can we exert on Moscow? We'll see what the outcomes of that summit are is today.

SANDOVAL: It is such an important reminder that the impacts of this now years long war stretch beyond just Ukraine. Sebastian Shukla, thank you for that.

President Trump says that a deal with Iran it could be signed in the coming days. Still ahead, an update on simmering tensions after Israel and Iran agreed to pause strikes against each other.

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