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U.S. Launches Strikes On Iran For Second Straight Night. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 11, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:39]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, everybody. Welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York. And here's what's ahead in the next hour.

The U.S. and Iran's latest exchange of attacks, testing an already fragile ceasefire. And this as President Donald Trump warns of more strikes if a deal isn't reached. Plus, the Knicks defeating the spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. And one of the greatest comebacks in NBA history will look back. And a nationwide fight against AI data centers is intensifying as Americans declare that they don't want them in their communities. A special report is on the way.

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

SANDOVAL: We do want to begin in the Middle East where a diplomatic source is telling CNN that talks to reach a deal between the U.S. and Iran are still on track. And this despite an overnight exchange of strikes between the two sides. Iran launched retaliatory attacks on American military targets across the region. Bahrain releasing some of these images showing damage they say was left behind by falling debris from intercepted drones.

Earlier, the U.S. Central Command said that the military completed a second straight night of strikes on Iran. And those attacks targeted Iranian military sites and also came in response to, quote, Iran's unwarranted and continued aggression. In the meantime, Iran says that the Strait of Hormuz is now closed to all vessels, though the U.S. has pushed back on that specific claim. A senior Iranian military official is warning that Iran could turn the region, quote, "into hell" if the strait is made insecure.

Let's begin our coverage with CNN's Paula Hancocks. She joins me live from Abu Dhabi with more. Hey, Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Polo. Well, what we saw from the U.S. Central Command overnight is that there were a number of military targets that were struck, and it appears as though many of them were in locations in or along the Strait of Hormuz. We saw Bandar Abbas for a second night being targeted. Also Qeshm and Kharg island in the Strait of Hormuz. The critical waterway which we have been hearing from one senior Iranian military official saying, quote, "You make the sacred Strait of Hormuz insecure, we will turn the region into hell for you from across Iran." Now of course, this is the sort of language we have become accustomed to, but it is showing the level of escalation for a second night between the U.S. and Iran. And for a second morning we have seen three countries being targeted. Tehran saying that they're focusing on military bases in Jordan, in Bahrain and also in Kuwait.

Those three countries coming under missile and drone attack once again. The Jordanian military saying that they intercepted some 20 missiles we're seeing in Bahrain. There was damage to certain houses and also cars set on fire. An 11-year-old girl slightly injured, injured according to authorities there. Most of that from debris from those intercepted missiles.

And Kuwait as well, an early morning wakeup call with emergency alerts again across that country. So what we're hearing from the U.S. side is another threat that if Iran does not sign this memorandum of understanding or agree to this memorandum, then the bombing will start once again tomorrow is what the U.S. president said. But we also heard from the Trump administration when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz that more has been transiting the strait than previously believed. Let's listen to the secretary of Defense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: The idea of running ships through the Strait of Hormuz, it never, never stopped. It just went underground to the tune of over 100 million barrels that have moved through and more in the middle of the night protected by the United States in a way that Iran can't stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: So we're hearing from Iran that they will close the Strait of Hormuz. There's pushback from Central Command saying commercial vessels are still transiting that crucial waterway. Polo.

[04:05:09]

SANDOVAL: Another question, will these latest strikes fundamentally change these ongoing negotiations? Paula Hancocks, thank you so much for that live update.

Let's dive deeper into that and head over to Brisbane with Mick Ryan. He's a retired major general in the Australian army and senior fellow for Military Studies at the Lowy Institute.

It's good to see you. Thank you so much for joining us. He also is the writer of "The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire." Thank you so much for joining us.

MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN, AUSTRALIAN ARMY (RET.): Good day. It's good to be with you. SANDOVAL: So I wonder if we could start right now with these latest strikes as the U.S. and Iran near that memorandum of understanding, potentially the U.S. striking -- you know, sending out these strikes yet again or launching these strikes. President Trump said that they're in response to Iran's continued aggression. What do you see as the message that the U.S. is hoping to send Iran by doing this?

RYAN: Well, I think there's two important messages that are being sent here. The first one is clearly political, that the Americans are after a deal and they want it probably faster than the Iranians are willing to negotiate it. But at the same time, they're sending a military message that the American military remains postured for offensive operations to not only just strike Iran, but potentially engage in a more intensive escort of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. And these strikes I think have been aimed to help facilitate that in the future.

SANDOVAL: So there's the military message that you mentioned, General. What about the sort of the diplomatic pressure that they are perhaps hoping to apply here. Do you see a situation where the Iranians may actually resist to this kind of pressure that we're seeing?

RYAN: Well, I think they believe they have time on their hands, although last week President Trump did say he didn't care about midterms when it came to negotiating a truce here. But I think the American side is keen to have negotiation agreement sooner rather than later to open up the Strait of Hormuz and to stop Iran's sponsorship of proxies in the region. So this is a very important diplomatic outcome being sought by the Trump administration and its regional friends and partners. And I think this is the primary outcome that's being desired from this latest range of what's being called self- defense strikes.

SANDOVAL: And we'd love to talk more also about that diplomatic process that you mentioned. If the U.S. s intention is to pressure the Iranians into moving negotiations along, in your view, do you think that there's a balance that the U.S. needs to actually strike if they hope for these negotiations to be successful?

RYAN: Absolutely. They have to be very careful to calibrate the amount and the kinds of strikes, the kind of targets they hit to move along or to pressure the Iranians into speeding up their negotiations, but not going so far that it gets into a kind of escalation cycle that is more difficult to control. Don't want to do too much that the Iranians will feel compelled to respond to and blow up the peace talks altogether. So it is a fine balance and it's a very difficult balance to achieve.

SANDOVAL: General, you've been kindness to help guide us through all of this already for months. When you assess where we've been and where this is all going, is it clear to you who may hold the upper hand if there's actually a side that is holding the upper hand by now?

RYAN: Well, I think at various times it's been either the United States or Iran. At the moment, it appears that both sides have different kind of hands. And, you know, both have strengths that cancel out the weaknesses of the other. So neither really are in the upper hand at the moment. Neither have a strength that is overwhelming towards the other.

So what we're going to see, I think, is these kind of tit for tat strikes and negotiations continue for some time to come. It's hard to see a resolution in the short term.

SANDOVAL: And we learned on Wednesday that Iran has announced that it is closing that Strait of Hormuz to all vessels. I'm wondering if you can close on your thoughts and what you expect is the next step for that critical waterway.

RYAN: Well, you'll, I think, see lots of countries wanting to negotiate with Iran separately to open that waterway outside the peace negotiations. So they'll get pressure there. But it's in Iran's interest for the waterway to be open. They also need to get their oil out. So I think we'll see the waterways start to reopen again quickly.

SANDOVAL: Retired Major General Mick Ryan, as always, thank you so much for your analysis and for your time.

[04:10:02]

RYAN: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: We do want to get to some breaking news now. Three Indian seafarers have been found dead in the Gulf of Oman. And this after a U.S. strike on an oil tanker linked to Iran. India condemning the attack and also summoning a U.S. diplomat to lodge a complaint. Twenty-one other crew members on that tanker were rescued.

U.S. Central Command is saying that precision munitions were fired into the ship's air engine room after the crew failed to comply with directions from U.S. forces. It's saying that the tanker was stopped as part of an ongoing blockade on vessels attempting to transport Iranian oil. So we'll certainly see what kind of impacts this has on those ongoing negotiations and efforts to reopen that critical waterway.

We do want to get some not so good news for the U.S. economy. Inflation rising last month to the highest level in three years. There's new data that's now showing inflation surged to 4.2 percent in May, driven by higher energy costs that have been caused by the war in Iran. Here's President Trump's response when asked about some of these pretty rough new numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITES STATES: I love the inflation. You know why? Because as soon as this war is over --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

TRUMP: -- it's coming down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know you can't -- TRUMP: It's going to come down like a rock.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: House Speaker Mike Johnson, defending the president's comments, telling CNN's Manu Raju that his remarks were taken out of context.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The president said today, I love the inflation amid these high economics.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), HOUSE SPEAKER: I (inaudible) remind you somebody was going to ask me that. It was totally out of context. You know what he was talking about.

RAJU: But is that the message that voters want to hear right now?

JOHNSON: No. The president is laser focused on the domestic economic situation. He is working to bring down prices. He is working to get the Strait of Hormuz reopened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Despite Speaker Johnson's assurances, some Senate Republicans are expressing concern about the president's comments and the impact of rising prices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): We need some relief and Congress can deliver some relief. And if Congress doesn't deliver the relief, you know, I mean, I think voters are not going to be pleased.

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): Well, it's, you know, people often vote their pocketbook. A lot of people think it's about other things. But at the end of the day, if people don't feel secure financially, they're, you know, they oftentimes obviously respond by choosing somebody else.

SEN. SHELLEY CAPITO (R-WV): Well, I mean, I think people are really feeling it. I mean, it's not just gas prices, food prices and other things. And I think there's a level of frustration. So I think the pressure is for the president to reach a peace, solution and move on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Wednesday's economic news, it comes as millions of American households are facing mounting debt. Here's CNN's Jenn Sullivan who looks at the numbers as well as some ways that you may be able to cut your costs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENN SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): The cost of living continues to get more expensive. The latest Consumer Price Index report, which measures the changes in cost for a variety of goods, shows yearly inflation jumped more than 4 percent in May. That's the highest increase in three years. Food, energy and shelter costs, which measures housing expenses, have all gone up in the last month.

JOHN KIERNAN, WALLETHUB MANAGING EDITOR: A lot of people were kind of on the edge of affordability previously and now energy costs and these kind of economic inputs are becoming more expensive.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): John Kiernan with personal finance site WalletHub says when life becomes unaffordable, people tend to put more expenses on credit cards and that can create more household debt. The latest data shows total household debt topped $18.8 trillion in the first quarter of this year, an all-time high. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the average debt per household is more than $155,000. But if most of your household debt is from a mortgage, Kiernan says that's OK.

KIERNAN: With a house, obviously you're building equity and there's a lot of value in that.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): He says it becomes a problem when too much is from an auto loan, student loans and credit cards.

KIERNAN: The problem is a lot of people end up spending paying 25 percent, 30 percent, 35 percent interest on their credit card payments.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): If you are worried about affording groceries and other bills, Kiernan suggests getting a credit card with 0 percent APR so you're not paying interest. You can also take advantage of a 0 percent balance transfer credit card to move your debt to a different card. But you typically have to have a good credit score to qualify.

For consumer watch, I'm Jenn Sullivan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Police in Northern Ireland, they are getting ready for more days of violent anti-immigrant protests. On Wednesday, they used water cannons against angry crowds throwing objects at some of their police vehicles. This is just the latest escalation after mass rioters broke into homes and said fire to buildings and vehicles in recent days.

Protests were sparked after a Sudanese man was charged in a brutal stabbing attack on Monday in Belfast. Well, since then, migrants have been targeted by rioters in what Northern Ireland's first minister has been calling outright thuggery. And the unrest comes at a time of heightened racial tensions in the U.K. and beyond, with social media and far right figures accusing or rather being accused of fueling some of these divisions.

[04:15:20]

Bill Gates is revealing new details about his ties to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The billionaire testified before the House Oversight Committee since being mentioned several hundred times in the Epstein files, he told lawmakers that Epstein tried to use information about his extramarital affairs against him. Here's CNN's Randi Kaye with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL GATES, MICROSOFT CO-FOUNDER: I'm glad to be here voluntarily to testify to help with the committee's work.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told the House Oversight Committee he was introduced to Jeffrey Epstein in 2011 and that the late convicted sex offender promised he could raise billions of dollars for global health. Gates has always denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein. Documents released by the Justice Department include several hundred references to Gates and reveal graphic unverified allegations. E-mails in the files detail meetings, meals, proposed phone calls, and attempts by Epstein to meet Gates.

"I enjoyed the breakfast a lot," Gates wrote Epstein in December 2014. Last December, the House Oversight Committee also released this photo from Epstein's estate. That's Gates with a woman whose face has been redacted. According to the documents, all the interactions with Gates occurred long after Epstein's 2008 conviction on prostitution related charges. In February this year, Gates addressed the allegations.

B. GATES: You know, it's factually true that I was only at dinners, you know, I never went to the island, I never met any women. And so, you know, the more that comes out, the more clear it'll be that although the time was a mistake, it had nothing to do with that kind of behavior.

KAYE (voice-over): The documents released also included two draft e- mails Epstein appears to have written himself in July 2013. In them, Epstein seems to suggest he facilitated sexual encounters for Gates and helped Gates get medication to hide a sexually transmitted infection from his wife at the time, Melinda French Gates. In this e- mail, Epstein claimed he'd helped Gates get drugs in order to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls and illicit trysts with married women.

B. GATES: Apparently, Jeffrey wrote an e-mail to himself. That e-mail was never sent. The e-mail is, you know, false. So I don't know what his thinking was there. It just reminds me, you know, every minute I spent with him, I regret and I, you know, apologize that I did that.

KAYE (voice-over): This other draft e-mail alleges Gates had tears in his eyes as he asked Epstein to delete messages referencing an STD and explicit personal details about his penis. The allegations contained in the draft e-mail are unverified and uncorroborated. There is also no indication the message was ever sent to Gates. Bill Gates has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing.

Gates shared his regrets about meeting Epstein with Anderson Cooper in 2021.

B. GATES: It was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of, you know, being there.

KAYE (voice-over): In February, during an interview with NPR, Melinda French Gates addressed the issue.

MELINDA FRENCH GATES, PHILANTHROPIST, DIVORCED BILL GATES IN 2021: Just unbelievable sadness, unbelievable sadness. For me, it's personally hard whenever those details come up, right, because brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage.

KAYE (voice-over): Today in his opening statement to the committee, Gates said, "I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct. I never went to his island, his ranch or his Florida home." Adding, "I have never victimized anyone." Gates also testified that his interactions with Epstein ended in December 2014.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Palm Beach County, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And still on the way here on CNN Newsroom, they are celebrating well into the night here in New York City, what's already being dubbed the miracle at MSG. Basketball fans chanting Knicks in five after a record breaking comeback at Madison Square Garden.

And this is where the World Cup magic will start in just a matter of hours. Some live pictures out of Mexico City and Estadio Azteca, which is getting ready for the opening. And eventually we are soon to see the first match. We'll have details on the opening ceremony in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:23:27]

SANDOVAL: New York Knicks fans will be waking up today to the possibility of the team's first NBA championship in more than 50 years. You see huge crowds fill the streets after the Knicks mounted the biggest comeback in Finals history in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night. Jalen Brunson with 36 points, their win over the San Antonio Spurs that now puts them just one win away from the title. Let's go to CNN's Omar Jimenez who reports from Madison Square Garden.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Man, what do you even say after seeing a comeback like that, such an improbable comeback on the biggest stage in basketball as the Knicks were down almost 30 points going into halftime. And little by little, they clawed their way back into the game. And then with some crucial opportunities, in the end, they made it happen, including a last minute tip in at the very last second to go up with what would be the finishing blow against the San Antonio Spurs.

Now look, this is a situation, it could have been 2-2. Now the Knicks are up 3-1 and the entire city is celebrating. Right after the game was over, everyone was singing, jumping, dancing. On the court, they were singing "New York, New York" by Frank Sinatra. They were singing "Empire State of Mind," any New York song you can think of, people were singing it here in this arena, celebrating again in a moment that they probably didn't think was going to come. In the first half, there were points where you could hear a pin drop in here.

It was so quiet, it felt like some of the energy had deflated. And then the second half was a completely different story.

[04:25:02]

And then you look across the city. I mean, people are celebrating in bars, their apartments, in parks, wherever they can because they realize now that the Knicks are one step closer doing something they have not done in more than five decades. And you can feel it in the energy here.

I've been talking to people over the course of this week. Spike Lee was one of them, and he told me that the difference in New York City when the Knicks are good versus other teams like the Yankees or the Giants is that sometimes the fan bases are split here. Giants-Jets in the NFL, Yankees-Mets in the MLB. And even though the Nets are in Brooklyn, the city of New York unites around the Knicks.

And CC Sabathia, New York Yankees -- former New York Yankees pitcher, told me that too, that when the Knicks are good, it's very different than when the Yankees are good. And they've been good a lot. But the atmosphere in here, unbelievable. And again, the stakes moving forward, can the Knicks get it done? They are one step closer.

Omar Jimenez, CNN, Madison Square Garden and New York City.

SANDOVAL: Eight years after FIFA chose Canada, Mexico and the U.S. as the future World Cup hosts the tournament, it is finally here. Hard to believe. All eyes will first be on Mexico City's legendary stadium later today. That is where the opening ceremony will be held in less than nine hours. That's a live picture of Estadio Azteca.

And that will also be followed by the opening match. Tournament co- host Mexico will be taking on South Africa in that game. And while excitement is building, it's not enough to erase all the controversies that we've seen leading up to these matches. Some over immigration issues and some foreign fans being denied visas, as well as the astronomical cost of tickets.

Earlier, FIFA's president told the people of L.A., quote, "You will be invaded by a horde of barbarians." But he said, "Don't worry, it's happy barbarians." He is of course referring to the influx of football fans that are expected to enter all of the host cities from Monterey to Philadelphia and all the way to Toronto.

And this is the biggest World Cup with 48 countries competing. In the last hour, I spoke with LA Times sports writer Kevin Baxter about this expansion and how this decision affects and perhaps even benefits some of these teams.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KEVIN BAXTER, SPORTSWRITER, LOS ANGELES TIMES: This is historically, this is the most complex, largest, most ambitious sporting event in history. Forty-eight teams, 104 games, three countries over 39 days, four time zones. I mean, this is an amazing, massive undertaking. And what FIFA says is that the more teams that participate in the World Cup, the more federations, you know, the -- federation that run the soccer team in different countries. The, the more federations that will be able to participate, the more money will be distributed to those federations.

And FIFA also looks at the more attention that comes to these countries. So for example, in this World Cup there are four countries playing in the World Cup for the first time, Curacao, Cape Verde, Jordan and Uzbekistan.

Cape Verde and Curacao are the two smallest teams ever to qualify for a World Cup. And the thinking is that as these teams have this target to chase, the federations will spend more money, will develop soccer, the game will grow in some of these other countries that have not traditionally invested in soccer. So that's FIFA's long term plan to get more money into the sport, more investment and more teams interested in chasing the dream of participating in a World Cup.

SANDOVAL: Yes, I'm so glad you mentioned Curacao. You have Iraq, the democrat -- the DRC as well. I mean, these are just nations that we're not used to seeing play on a World Cup stage. I wonder if we could also tell us just how the games will be broken up from group stage at the start of the tournament to the final because there's so many -- Kevin, how long is it going to take? How many games are we going to see per day?

BAXTER: Well, the tournament will take 39 days. And unlike past World Cups, past World Cups were pretty straightforward in that you had groups where two teams from each group would advance to the next round, to the round of 16. Then it became single elimination. In the group stage, each team plays three games. It's a round robin and the top two teams advance.

Then when you get to the knockout stages, it's single elimination. This tournament is different because of the number of teams, 48 teams, they've been divided into 12 groups. And so the top two teams in each group will still advance. But to get to an even number, to have a knockout round, this time it's a round of 32. To get to that number, eight of the 12 third place teams will advance.

So we're playing an entire two week long first round and we're only going to eliminate 16 teams. So all the fourth place teams and some of the third place teams. So getting to the round of 32 to the knockout stage is not nearly as difficult as it has been in the past. And we'll see a number of third place teams.

[04:30:00]