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G7 Leaders Support Agreement Between US and Iran; Russian Ship Fires Warning Shots At Yacht In English Channel; Murky Water in Reflecting Pool. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired June 17, 2026 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:32:30]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: The final day of the G7 Summit is underway. Iran has been a big focus of the meetings that have taken place the last several days and sources are telling CNN that Discussions about the US-Iran agreement have been frank and President Trump says that he plans to release the text publicly in a couple of days.

And questions around key issues, they do remain ahead of the signing ceremony that's scheduled for Friday, scheduled to take place in Geneva, Switzerland. And among them, Israel's conflict with Hezbollah. Iran is demanding Israel withdraw from Lebanon as part of this agreement. However, US officials say that is not part of the memorandum.

President Trump has promised that his Iran deal will be better than President Barack Obama's Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or the JCPOA, which President Trump tore up during his first term. So how do we compare the two?

Well, since the new memorandum of understanding is yet to be released, for some more insight, let's head over to Sina Azodi, the Director of the Middle East Studies Program at George Washington University. He's also the author of "Iran and the Bomb; The United States, Iran and the Nuclear Question." Cena, it's great to see you.

SINA AZODI, DIRECTOR OF THE MIDDLE EAST STUDIES PROGRAM, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Good to be with you. Thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: So, you know, let me start with some of this fresh CNN reporting. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney telling CNN on Tuesday that he has seen this memorandum of understanding, at least the text, and he confirmed that it does provide Iran with what the prime minister described as big financial incentive. So if that means sanctions really for Iran, I mean, how can that be seen as anything but paying Iran to allow for more navigation on the Strait of Hormuz? And that's if they even offer that as a concession.

AZODI: Well, if the reports are accurate and we're not sure what exactly those financial concessions are, that means that the United States would allow foreign banks to release some of the frozen assets of Iran, which are stuck and frozen in foreign banks in South Korea, UAE and so many other places that buy Iranian oil to basically unfreeze Iranian assets. So, again, so Iranians can withdraw from them.

This is something that President Obama initially did when he was ramping up the US and international sanctions on Iran because of the nuclear program. They were lifted under the JCPOA so Iran could access its own assets and frozen funds. And then once President Trump V1 decided to withdraw from the JCPOA and reimpose those sanctions, those funds were once again frozen and Iran could not access those funds.

[04:35:18]

SANDOVAL: Yes. Vice President JD Vance emphasizing that, as he claims, that no taxpayer money would be handed over to the Iranians, to your point that, these are Iranian assets. Supporters of President Trump's handling of these negotiations, they have been touting this yet to be seen memo of understanding that it will supposedly help ensure that Iran reaffirms its commitment not to seek nuclear weapons.

But I'm curious if you could just remind our viewers, I mean, wasn't some of that language already part of the 2015 JCPOA under the Obama administration, that commitment from the Iranians?

AZODI: So basically, this is the third time that Iran has been committing itself, and renouncing nuclear weapons in Britain. First time in 1968 when Iran officially joined the NPT, it legally deprived itself of the right to develop nuclear weapons. It basically renounced nuclear weapons forever.

Under the JCPOA, as you pointed out correctly, it once again reaffirmed its commitments not to ever develop nuclear weapons. And this memorandum of understanding once again reaffirms that Iran would commit itself never to procure or develop nuclear weapons. So it's basically for the third time, Iranians are saying that we will never, ever develop or procure nuclear weapons.

SANDOVAL: So in your view, what would a deal with Iran under the second Trump administration have to offer in order to be seen as perhaps more ideal than what we saw in 2015 under President Obama, you think?

AZODI: Well, I know that President Trump is sensitive to two words, Obama and JCPOA. But the foundations of any nuclear agreement with Iran would have to be based on the very same principles of what the JCPOA offered, and that was nuclear restraint in return for trade and commercial concessions and sanctions relief, of course. But I think that there are ways to improve the JCPOA, as everybody understands that no agreement is perfect.

The JCPOA was very effective. And in the words of the former director of IAEA, that's International Atomic Energy Agency, the most intrusive inspection mechanism ever imposed on a country. But it had sunsets, which meant that some of the limitations in terms of Iran's enrichment capacity would be lifted over time and Iran's file in the IAEA would be normalized, if you will. Now, a better deal could potentially, for example, eliminate those sunset clauses, which would, for example, mean that Iran would forever limit itself to enriching uranium, to low enriched uranium that's 67 percent. But, of course, in return, the United States could commit itself to sell nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor, which ironically, the US provided to Iran, and that uses 20 percent enriched uranium.

So something like that could be an improvement or an addition to the JCPOA, which had some limits.

SANDOVAL: And there is no shortage of skepticism right now about whether or not the Iranians would be willing to offer those concessions. Sina Azodi, thank you so much for joining us, to try to get a better understanding of some of the diplomacy happening behind the scenes.

AZODI: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Russia says that one of its warships fired warning shots in front of a UK-flagged yacht in the English Channel. Russia's defense ministry saying that the yacht was sailing on what appeared to be a collision course with that warship. The yacht did not respond to radio calls reportedly, and stayed its course before the Russian crew launched not only signal flares, but eventually some warning shots.

The British Defense Ministry saying that it is currently investigating this incident. Let's get more now from CNN's Sebastian Shukla who's following this story closely from Berlin. Sebastian, just an incredible story here. What else are we learning about what led up to and then what transpired during this incident?

[04:40:01]

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Well, the couple who piloted this vessel, the yacht known as the Bright Future, which was sailing from the UK southern coastline towards the northern French town of Cherbourg. I have actually spoken to the BBC and have spoken about the incident more broadly and what they viewed as being the situation that led up to these warning shots being fired. The Kelvey family have explained on BBC TV just about the run up to that incident. I want you to take a listen to what they had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANE KELVEY, YACHT OWNER: We were sailing from Lymington to Cherbourg, left at 4:00am this morning. And as we were coming about halfway across the channel, we saw in the distance a vessel. It wasn't showing on our AIS, so we couldn't identify it. And as we got closer, we saw that it was a warship. And as we got closer still, we saw it had credit lettering along the side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUKLA: As in all of these incidents, there's always a degree of conjecture about exactly what happened here. The Russian Ministry of Defense, for their part, put out a statement last night detailing three steps that they took to try to signal to the vessel, to the yacht, that they potentially were on a collision course. I want you to take a look at what they had to say.

They said that, first of all, they tried to hail the crew on a radio, which did not elicit a change from the vessel on its course. The second was that they sent signal flares that also didn't result in a change. And then finally, they fired those warning shots, likely five, once the boat was reaching around 150 meters away.

They say, the Russian Ministry of Defense say that there was a potential for a collision here. That is something that the Kelvey family disputes very heavily. But also, Polo, it comes at this time where there is increased, heightened tension in the channel, one of the major shipping lanes of the world, where Russian vessels, including the Admiral Grigorovich, which this vessel at the center of this has traversed multiple times already this year.

And that there is a feeling potentially that there could be retaliation from the Russians for that boarding of a Russian Shadow fleet tanker that happened last weekend. And therefore there is heightened military and political attention around anything to do with Russian vessels traversing international and British waters at this time.

But as I say, the British Ministry of Defense and the Russian Ministry of Defense are largely saying that this was very much an isolated incident, Polo.

SANDOVAL: Yes. Fortunately, no injuries there. Sebastian Shukla, thank you so much for that full update.

And still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM. Millions of dollars of renovations, they have not solved this big green algae problem at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. We'll explain why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:46:04]

SANDOVAL: We're just one day away from the grand opening ceremony of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. The Secret Service saying that the security level it's going to be much like any major national event. Fences and concrete barriers have already been set up around that building, and also closing off some nearby streets as well.

The event will be bringing together many global leaders as well as several performers, including Bruce Springsteen and Jennifer Hudson. The center itself, it officially opens to the public on Juneteenth, which is this Friday.

The Trump administration dealing with the same issue as past presidents, algae. It's been a persistent problem inside the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. President Trump recently spending 14 million taxpayer dollars to renovate the pool, but you see the algae is still there. In fact, they just finished filling it back up about 10 days ago.

It was supposed to be so called American Flag Blue. Instead, it's clearly green. Well, now the government is trying a new tactic to try to clear the water, as CNN's Sunlen Serfaty explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump's freshly renovated reflecting pool.

DONALD TRUMP, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: It will look far more beautiful.

SERFATY: Has been hit with a problem that has dogged administrations for decades.

TRUMP: It's called American Flag Blue.

SERFATY: The problem, algae. In just one week, this blue pool has grown into an increasingly murky shade of green. The very color in muck the president has repeatedly railed against.

TRUMP: The water is disgusting looking. It's not representative of the country.

SERFATY: The administration is now dispatching crews to vacuum up the clumps of algae and dumping gallons upon gallons of hydrogen peroxide in the pool to try to fix the hue. But algae experts say that's an uphill battle.

BARRETT BROOKS, ALGAE RESEARCHER, THE SMITHSONIAN: We're in Washington, D.C. in the summertime. This is a shallow pool with stagnant water, abundant sunlight. That creates a situation where opportunistic algae can really take advantage of the situation.

SERFATY: The renovations, which started in April and finished last week, cost more than $14 million, a far cry from the $1.8 million first expected, and included at least one no bid contract. There were a series of functional fixes, including repairing leaks and installing a filtration system for the first time to help clean the water.

And we're going to scoop up a water sample to see if we can get this tested.

CNN independently took the sample of water and consulted with a pool store that regularly tests water to help read the results. It showed phosphate levels far higher than what is recommended to keep algae at bay, based on estimates for a pool that holds 6.5 million gallons of water.

BROOKS: If there's already some phosphate fertilizer in the water, that's really opportunistic, especially for the blue green algae that can fix nitrogen. So they are having a field day out here probably.

SERFATY: The Department of Interior says they believe some of the initial problem was residual algae that had accumulated in pipes and insists the filtration system called the ozone nanobubbler is working. Due to deploying the advanced nanobubbler technology, the algae is dead and being vacuumed up as we speak.

A Department of Interior spokesperson told CNN the nanobubbler technology has successfully, successfully destroyed the algae bloom that has plagued every pool reopening. The hydrogen peroxide they say is being used as a milder treatment for the algae.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looks exactly the same to me.

SERFATY: At the reflecting pool today, mixed reactions to the latest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know a lot of money went into this, but I can clearly see algae growing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I look, it's getting cleaner, yes, in there because obviously I wouldn't see if it was still in not good shape, you wouldn't see a good reflection.

[04:50:00]

SERFATY: The Department of Interior tells us that they believe that the hydrogen peroxide is safe for animals and the environment. And they say it's much less harsh than chlorine that say would be in swimming pools. Experts we talked to today said that the hydrogen peroxide, the intention really is to go in and oxify the water, break up the cells of algae.

Now, this has certainly been a persistent problem for decades for many administrations. Back in 2012, after the Obama administration renovated this pool, very soon after they saw algae retreat turn. An expert telling me today the ultimate success of this project will be determined over the next months and weeks and years, potentially, not necessarily in the immediate aftermath after this pool was refilled.

Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And just a couple of weeks into this year's Atlantic hurricane season and a new storm system is forecast to become the first named storm. Tropical Storm Arthur over the next few hours.

Tropical storm warnings, they have been issued for parts of the Louisiana coast. Winds could reach up to 40 miles per hour. But the biggest threat in this system, as you see here, heavy rainfall. Flood watches have been issued for more than 26 million people from South Texas all the way up to Mississippi, and at least two people have already been killed by flood waters in Texas this week.

[04:55:11]

The Hurricane Center says that some areas could get up to a foot of rain. Here's CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam with your forecast.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We're monitoring two major weather stories today. First, the potential of a severe weather outbreak across the lower Great Lakes and into the Midwest region, kind of targeting Illinois and Indiana. We'll talk about that in detail in just a moment.

Other big story is the flood threat that's ongoing across the gulf states. This in particular throughout Louisiana, into Mississippi, Alabama and eventually into Georgia. There is just so much moisture surging in, a lot of tropical infused moisture and that is going to eventually spread north and east through the rest of the week.

This means the atmosphere is primed for heavy rainfall and we could easily pick up 3 to 6 inches even locally higher amounts, especially where some of these persistent rain bands set up, especially near the coastline as well. Lots of rain extending into New Orleans, the I-10 corridor into Atlanta eventually. This is a look at the rainfall accumulation right through Saturday and you can see that swath of heavy rainfall expected, localized flash flooding certainly a possibility.

The other major story is the severe weather outbreak expected later today. Look at that line of thunderstorms right around dinner time this evening stretching just south of Chicago, we believe Peoria, those areas stretching towards St. Louis. This is the region where we anticipate the greatest risk of severe storms that advances eastward and targets the Ohio River Valley as we head into the overnight hours.

In terms of temperatures, you can see a little bit too cool for severe weather standards, at least in Chicago. But just to the south, south of the front, we're talking about temperatures in the upper '80s and into the lower '90s. So a very warm and muggy day to the south, back to you.

SANDOVAL: Thank you, Derek. And thank you so much for joining me in the last hour of news. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. Our coverage continues next with CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.

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