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U.S.-Iran Agreement to End the War Finally Signed; Kevin Warsh Begins Tenure as Federal Reserve Chairman; FIFA World Cup Completes First Round of Group Stages, DRC-Portugal Match Ended in a Draw. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 18, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hey everybody, it is wonderful to be with you, I'm Polo Sandoval, live in New York and this is "CNN Newsroom."

President Trump headed back to Washington after signing an agreement to stop the war in Iran, and will open a crucial waterway, why some Republicans are seeing it as an American surrender.

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And there you see it, Ukraine striking a key oil refinery in Moscow, and this is NATO defense ministers meet in Brussels. And little later--

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Jumping right out of their seats, a reaction from the DRC fans after their team scores their first goal in its first ever World Cup against Portugal, no less.

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

SANDOVAL: We do want to begin with questions about the U.S.-Iran agreement to end the war and also to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump is currently on his way back to Washington after attending the G7 Summit in France, and that's where he signed a hard copy of the agreement in Versailles.

Iran's President has also signed a hard copy of the plan, you see him there. The 14-point Memorandum of Understanding, it aims to end the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel has continued its offensive.

It will also get traffic flowing through the Strait of Hormuz only for the next 60 days. And it also lifts the U.S. naval blockade for Iranian ports. But it leaves a lot of the details to be addressed during the subsequent 60-day period of negotiations, that includes the future of Iran's nuclear program, not to mention its ballistic missiles.

And here's what Iranian officials and President Trump are saying about this plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. They can't develop it, buy it. They can never have a nuclear weapon.

ESMAIL BAGHAEI, SPOKESPERSON, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY (through translator): The Iran-U.S. Memorandum of Understanding is now officially complete and finalized. In the 60 days, the other parties should not increase military presence in the region or issue new sanctions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: CNN's Paula Hancocks is with me as she continues to follow developments from Abu Dhabi. Paula, how are nations right now responding to this MOU, especially there in the region, as Iran is essentially poised to receive billions simply for reopening the Strait of Hormuz?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're certainly seeing some mixed response. Less reaction at this point, certainly here in the Gulf.

But we heard from Canada's Prime Minister yesterday, for example, saying that he thought it was a very good plan. He was very pleased. We've heard Republican lawmakers in the United States saying that it is a dreadful plan.

So we really are seeing a number of different responses. And the focus that most people have is, of course, what this deal, this memorandum, I should say, gives to Iran. The fact that it will financially benefit Tehran if things go as planned.

The fact that there will be exemptions on sanctions immediately so that Iran can sell its oil. And then there will be discussions of lifting all sanctions. There will be discussions on unfreezing billions of dollars of Iranian assets.

And of course, this $300 billion reconstruction fund, which the United States say that they will not be putting money into. It will be the Gulf nations that will be funding that.

So we've had some response from Iranian officials. I want to read part of the response from Mohammad Ghalibaf, who's the parliament speaker. He was the main negotiator.

He said, quote, "Payment of service fees for passage through the Strait of Hormuz has been formalized in the MOU."

Now this is significant because this would be a major concession by the United States if in fact Iran was able to charge fees for vessels transiting through this crucial waterway. What it says at this point is for the first 60 days only that the Strait of Hormuz will be open by Iran and there will be no fees.

[03:05:00]

But it then says after that Iran and Oman, the two countries on either side of the Strait of Hormuz, will be discussing defining future administration and maritime services. So that's certainly something that Gulf nations will be watching very closely as the majority of them have to go through the Strait of Hormuz to be able to sell their oil and goods to the world. And they certainly don't want to see any service fees.

Another thing we heard from Ghalibaf was, quote, we told the mediator that the issue of Lebanon and the blocked frozen funds were among the main axis of the negotiations. Now Iran did manage to make Lebanon part of this deal, which Israel did not want to see. We understand from the U.S. President that he has sent a copy of this memorandum of understanding to Israel when it came to the 60 days that they are going to negotiate.

We also understand from the Swiss government telling Reuters they expect those talks to start on Friday, Polo.

SANDOVAL: Paula Hancocks, always grateful for reporting live from Abu Dhabi.

Let's go now to Sanam Vakil, who joins me from London to discuss more. She's the director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House. It's great to see you again.

SANAM VAKIL, DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA PROGRAM, CHATHAM HOUSE: Good to see you, too.

SANDOVAL: So, Sanam, you've seen this MOU. What's your overall assessment of the 14-point memorandum of understanding? We've heard from members of the presidency of an own party who are growing concerned that they fear that it may leave Iran better than it was before the start of the war.

VAKIL: Well, I think the memorandum of understanding is unfortunately vague, and that's why it is eliciting so much criticism in the United States from both parties, really. And that's really because the way the war went was not in favor of the United States, and thereby it's clear that there have been concessions made by President Trump to get out of this war.

But I would say, yes, the MOU looks like Iran has quote-unquote "won," but we're not quite at the finish line. There is this 60-day window, which certainly can be extended, and for Iran to truly win, it really needs to resolve its standoff with the Trump administration over its nuclear program.

There have been already multiple rounds of negotiations before both of the wars that we've seen, and if the nuclear program is left unaddressed and we stay in this post-memorandum status quo, where Iran exports oil but none of the issues are really resolved and the threat of war looms, it certainly foreshadows that we will see more war.

So there is an incentive for both sides to push over the line and make real concessions. And for the U.S. here, there is still continued leverage that it holds. It's military leverage, it's economic leverage, and those are important tools to use.

SANDOVAL: Yes, you raise an important point, is that this is now essentially just the pathway to the next chapter of negotiations. I did notice, though, that there really wasn't a mention of any sort of Iran's support of terror groups or even the human rights of its own residents. Issues like that, do you expect that potentially to be brought up during the subsequent 60-day negotiation?

VAKIL: Well, I think we have to think about what U.S.-Iranian priorities are, and fortunately or unfortunately, for the United States, the number one priority has always been, even going back to the JCPOA, the Iran Nuclear Agreement time, Iran's nuclear program.

The region, Iran's neighbors, are rightly concerned about Iran's longstanding support for proxy groups and, of course, its ballistic missile program is a perpetual threat, although it's very unlikely that it is going to make constraints on its program. The most we could see there is a non-aggression commitment across the region.

What's most troubling, of course, are the human rights issues that are perpetually neglected. The United States could have demanded the release of U.S. dual nationals that are being held in Iran, for example. Human rights issues are always left out of these sort of agreements, unfortunately, but it is a sort of way of where we are today, where human rights issues are at the bottom of the to-do list and countries have to prioritize the more urgent national security ones.

So I do not, in short, expect those three issues to be in any final arrangement.

[03:10:02]

It will be up to the region to try and come up with an arrangement on proxy groups and ballistic missiles, and it will be up to Iran's leaders and Iranian people to try and negotiate or, I fully expect, further protest on Iran's repressive capacity and capabilities.

SANDOVAL: Sure, and finally, on the issue of proxy groups, I remember when you and I just last spoke a few days ago, you shared some of your concerns about a potential agreement, including implementation mechanisms.

In a similar vein, we also heard on Wednesday from CNN's Global Affairs Analyst, Kim Dozier. We shared this on CNN. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: So the IRGC also has a built-in trigger. Anytime it doesn't like how the 60-day negotiations are going on, it can just have its officers who are on the ground in Lebanon fire south, order Hezbollah to fire south, and Israel strikes back, and then Iran can say, see, we can't talk right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: How worried should we be that Iran could essentially just use its proxies to either undermine or stall these next rounds of negotiations?

VAKIL: I think we should be worried. Iran has a couple of points of leverage across the region in its relationship with Hezbollah, groups in Iraq, and, of course, there is the Strait of Hormuz.

So it could continue to throw these sort of tantrums in order to exert influence. And that's why it's very important that negotiations begin quickly.

It's very important that regional states, as well as European states, prioritize and agree on a set of issues in order to move this forward. If everyone starts throwing in the baby and everything else, this is going to get stuck. This is a moment that we have to take advantage of, and the clock is ticking from now.

SANDOVAL: Sanam Vakil, it's so good to have you back with us. Thank you so much for all of your insight, as always.

VAKIL: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: And U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, currently in Brussels for the NATO defense ministers meeting. He addressed the summit just a short time ago, actually, alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. He said that the U.S. understands the, quote, "threats of this moment" and is ready to do something about it.

The U.S. Defense Department says that Hegseth will be pushing for NATO allies to increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP, among some other issues.

Let's get more now and head over to CNN's Sebastian Shukla standing by for us in Berlin.

Sebastian, I was listening to some of the remarks from the Defense Secretary a short while ago. We saw him essentially praising the Secretary General of NATO, but then he also called for the so-called return to hardline military alliance. Is he expanding more on what this means in terms of what we could see for this critical alliance?

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Well, I think for Pete Hegseth and for the Trump administration more generally, they've made it very clear to other NATO allies exactly what they expect, which is that the U.S. is going to take a step back and they want all of the other allies to fill the void that is going to be left behind.

And what the Secretary has been saying and will deliver today at these remarks at this NATO summit, which is being held in Brussels and which is a precursor to a huge NATO summit, which is taking place in Ankara in the first part of July, is that that message will be doubled down. And he delivered already on that just message as he arrived. Take a listen to what he had to say as he arrived alongside the

Secretary General, Mark Rutte.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: NATO 3.0 is post-Cold War recognition that it needs to go back to a real hardline military alliance that has real military capabilities capable of deterring right here on the continent and taking the lead for the conventional defense of Europe.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

SHUKLA: One of the things they're going to be discussing today, Polo, is the NATO force posture, which effectively means military hardware that all of the allies are able to call upon in times of conflict. The U.S. has said that it's going to withdraw troops from that. It would like the other NATO allies to be able to step up and fill what is left behind.

That is going to form a large part of the discussions today and the backbone of all conversations that all NATO ally members have with each other going forward as the U.S. really pushes NATO, not only on defense spending, but also in force posture and taking more of a burden sharing, as the U.S. likes to say.

SANDOVAL: CNN's Sebastian Shukla following those developments very closely. Thank you, Sebastian.

And still ahead here on "CNN Newsroom," the latest decision from the Federal Reserve on what to do about interest rates with a new chair in charge.

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Plus football fans around the globe, they are celebrating the performance of some of their teams in the World Cup. We'll have a look at the results from the last day and also a look ahead at what we expect in the next few hours.

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back.

Stocks, short-term bond and gold, they all fell after the Federal Reserve announced that it was holding interest rates steady. Now the Dow fell 507 points, nearly 1 percent, as you see there.

And according to FedWatch, traders are now pricing in a 45 percent chance of a rate hike in October. And this announcement from the Fed actually came after Kevin Warsh's first meeting as chair.

CNN's Matt Egan in Washington.

[03:20:09] MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Kevin Warsh has long called for regime change at the Fed. Today, he made clear that he is serious about that. He's not calling for subtle, incremental changes.

He's calling for sweeping changes. And Warsh said that he's promising a, quote, "new chapter and fresh thinking." And he launched five different task forces that could change how the Fed does everything from communicate to the public, to manage its massive balance sheets, even how it's measuring the health of the economy.

And the change here was immediate. This Fed statement was almost unrecognizable with the last one. It removed the forward guidance that investors have long used as a guide for what the Fed might do next.

And the statement was incredibly succinct. It was less than half as long as the last Fed statement. And one analyst said it might have been the shortest Fed statement on record.

Now, the other thing that really stood out to me is something that was actually the last line in the Fed statement, where the committee said that they will, quote, "deliver price stability."

And Warsh, he repeatedly mentioned this during the press conference, noting that for five years now, the Fed has missed its 2 percent inflation target. And he vowed to fix that. Take a listen.

KEVIN WARSH, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: Inflation has been running well ahead of the Fed's long stated inflation goal of 2 percent. That's been going on for more than five years.

Persistently, high prices are a burden for the American people.

But the recent past need not be prologue. I am pleased to report that members of the FOMC are unambiguous and unanimous. This committee will deliver price stability.

EGAN: And yet, despite that emphatic statement, the Federal Reserve is not moving to fight inflation, at least not yet. Even though inflation is at a three year high, the Fed kept interest rates unchanged, as was widely expected on Wall Street.

So the Fed is not delivering those interest rate cuts that the White House wants, but they're also not delivering the rate hikes that some of the inflation hawks want. However, the Fed did signal that an interest rate hike could be on the way. Nine Fed officials are penciling in at least one interest rate hike by the end of the year, and that would be designed to try to get inflation back down.

Now, this is a big change from March when the Fed was penciling in at least one interest rate cut. Bottom line here, Kevin Warsh, he made clear that he wants to make significant changes to the Fed and that he is serious about fighting inflation. Now we'll wait and see whether or not all those changes work to get inflation back down.

Matt Egan, CNN, Washington.

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SANDOVAL: All right, let's get to the latest now from the World Cup.

Uzbekistan scoring once in its tournament debut in Mexico City, but there were no match for Colombia. Daniel Munoz scoring late in the first half. Colombia adding two more to win 3-1

Ghana, they have notched their first win of the tournament. It came in a stoppage time goal in this match versus Panama. Ghana winning 1-0 in Toronto.

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And I was watching this game, I'm sure you were, too. It was incredible.

England fans, they are cheering on Captain Harry Kane, who scored twice in the team's 2026 World Cup debut. They beat Croatia 4-2 in Arlington, Texas. Kane is now tied for the most World Cup goals of all time by an England player with 10.

And the Democratic Republic of Congo, they are making their first World Cup appearance since 1974. And I want you to see how fans reacted after their first goal.

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That is so much excitement in one room in Houston, Texas, the Leopards playing Portugal in Houston on Wednesday, where they managed a 1-1 draw with a goal in stoppage time. It was also not the best game for Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo.

CNN's Patrick Snell has more on the rivalry between Argentina's Lionel Messi and the older Ronaldo.

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PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: He is 41 now, Messi's about to turn 39. There is this rivalry between them. They played it down, of course, over the years, these two icons of the sport.

But there's no question that Ronaldo would have taken the pitch today against D.R. Congo, absolutely fueled by trying to in some way not be upstaged too much by Messi.

[03:25:10]

But look, he didn't have a good game by his own standards. He failed to score. I guess that's any time he doesn't score and hit the back of the net, he would deem it an unsuccessful outing.

But what's concerning, I think, for Portugal is the fact that, look, they've dropped points. They look poor, I thought. And is it a question of Portugal now are trying to accommodate the 41-year old Ronaldo? You know, is the manager Roberto Martinez, is he when called upon, is

he going to be brave enough to, if not drop him outright, maybe just take him off during a game? Fabulous point.

First ever World Cup point for D.R. Congo. But Ronaldo now has gone ten straight games without scoring for his country in major competition. So that's got to be a concern.

He's brilliant, though. On his day, he could give him a chance, give him the chances and he'll take him. Portugal didn't do that, at least not often enough on this occasion.

And it's two drop points already for Portugal, who've never won the World Cup. They did win the Euros in 2016. Ronaldo has seen Messi win the World Cup four years ago in Qatar, he wants to follow suit.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Patrick Snell, thank you.

And get ready, there is still a full slate of World Cup matches that are scheduled for today, including co-host Canada and Mexico. The Czech Republic taking on South Africa in Atlanta, Switzerland will be facing off against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Los Angeles, then there's Canada and Qatar, they are looking for their first win in Vancouver, and Mexico taking on South Korea in Guadalajara.

And I'll actually be speaking a little later with an NPR reporter, Juliana Kim. Asked her about some of her new reporting about the fondness for Korean culture that seems to be growing in Mexico.

What's behind this wholesome bond between these two nations? We'll discuss on the way.

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[03:30:00]

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SANDOVAL: I want to get you back to our top story at this hour.

President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart, they have now signed hard copies of the 14-point agreement. This aims to end the war and also to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but it leaves the future of Iran's nuclear program for discussion. It will be discussed later.

Pakistan was a key mediator and its Prime Minister says that the agreement is already in effect. But we are also hearing conflicting reports from the White House and Tehran. Here's CNN's Kristen Holmes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There already seems to be some confusion around the signing of this document and whether or not that 60-day negotiating period has officially kicked off. I was just told by sources that President Trump, while at this dinner in the Palace of Versailles, signed a hard copy of the agreement. He then sent a photo or that photo was sent to the Iranians.

Now, what we are being told by a U.S. official, and I want to say this very specifically, they said on Sunday, the memorandum of understanding was signed digitally by Vice President J.D. Vance and Speaker Ghalibaf and witnessed by President Trump. Now it has been signed by both the President of Iran and President Trump. We had originally been told by a U.S. official pretty explicitly that President Trump had also digitally signed a copy.

Now what we're hearing is that this was the first time that he had actually signed a copy and it was a hard copy. Now, on the Iranian side, we are hearing something slightly different, which was that they had agreed to a digital signature. Sounds like the President of Iran has signed off on this, according to Iranian spokesperson.

But their understanding seems to be that now this 60-day negotiating period has begun. We have reached out to White House officials, U.S. officials, trying to get an answer if that is the general understanding, and yet we have still not heard back.

The other part of this is what exactly Vice President J.D. Vance is doing in Switzerland on Friday if everything has already been signed and this negotiating period has already begun. I was told that the vice President is still expected to travel to Switzerland and sign the document on Friday, but the Iranian spokesperson essentially said that whatever happens in Geneva it's not a signing ceremony, but indicated that there could be ongoing negotiations at that time.

So we're still trying to get to the bottom of what exactly is going on here, what has been signed in terms of digital and hard copy other than what we know, which is President Trump signed a hard copy during this dinner and sent that photo to the Iranians.

The other question, of course, being what does that mean for Friday? Will those be the start of the negotiations with Vice President J.D. Vance there on the ground and will there not be any form of a signing ceremony, which even just moments ago I was told was still happening.

So this has just happened and there are still an enormous amount of questions as to, one, if the 60-day negotiating period has started, that would also mean that all of the things that were supposed to happen immediately in this memorandum of understanding, including the opening of the strait, the potential lifting of sanctions, that would all have to start in place right now. And that is what we still don't have answers on.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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SANDOVAL: And Chinese state media now reporting that the country's top diplomat welcomed the U.S.-Iran agreement and said the dawn of peace has arrived, Tehran's top negotiators saying that Iran should lean more into its partnership with China. At a news conference after the G7 summit, President Trump praised Chinese leader Xi Jinping for staying neutral during these negotiations.

Let's go to CNN's Simone McCarthy, who is joining me live from Beijing. Simone, it's great to see you.

What else are you learning about China's reaction in this? I mean, as really the world's largest buyer of Iranian oil, they clearly have stock in what happens.

SIMONE MCCARTHY, CNN CHINA REPORTER: Well, that's exactly right. You hit the nail on the head with that, Polo.

I mean, China relies extensively on oil from this region. China, of course, has weathered the energy shock a lot better than its neighbors here in Asia.

That's down to its vast stores of oil reserves, as well as the fact that it's been very ahead in the green transition. A lot of drivers here in China are driving E.V.s, so they're not feeling the pressure at the pump.

That said, there's many reasons why China is welcoming this deal. One of them, of course, being that economic pressure. The higher price of fuel has been rippling through the Chinese economy, and that's at a time when China is already facing a depleted consumer demand, so they really don't need that at this moment.

Additionally, China is an export-driven economy, so if there's problems with the global economy, if there's weak demand there, that's also going to affect China's own economic growth.

But Beijing is also looking at this deal and counting its own diplomatic advantages. You just referenced those comments from President Trump on the sidelines of the G7 in France. Let's take a listen to what he had to say specifically about Xi Jinping.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: President Xi helped me, he tried to help, and I think he probably helped get it solved. You know, they get 50 percent of their oil from that location. So that wasn't that easy.

President Xi was fantastic. He tried to help me solve it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCCARTHY: So, China during this conflict has been presenting itself as a responsible global power, a proponent of peace. And having President Trump come along and make these kinds of comments certainly bolsters that messaging.

And additionally, as China has been a longstanding close partner of Iran, and it's continued to be a top purchaser of Iranian oil throughout the conflict, having the U.S. President come forward and make these kinds of comments is really a testament to China's arguably very deft diplomatic maneuvering through the course of this conflict and now as we're moving into its resolution.

SANDOVAL: CNN's Simone McCarthy, thank you so much for that live report from Beijing.

Well Russian state media saying that Ukraine has launched its largest drone offensive on Moscow in two years. One of the targets this morning was a key oil refinery in Moscow. It's a second attack on that site this week alone.

Video is now showing a huge explosion and black plumes of smoke rising from the air. You can see it in the distance there. Reuters is now reporting that Russian forces took down more than four dozen drones, but several still managed to strike that refinery.

And all this appears to be, this big barrage was all part of a larger Ukrainian attack across Russia. The defense ministry saying that their air defenses intercepted more than 500 drones.

Well to France now, where crews battled a massive warehouse fire in a suburb just northeast of Paris. More than 170 firefighters, they worked to put out these flames after a fire erupted on Wednesday.

Towering plumes of black smoke were visible above the French capital, no deaths have been reported. Authorities say that it's still unclear exactly what caused that fire or what is on fire.

And the crash of a small plane in Texas, it spurred onlookers to rush in to try to help. We told you about this yesterday. The small Cessna jet, it was carrying six people when that plane slammed onto a highway on Tuesday.

Locals, you see them jumping into action, some even trying to break the windshield of that aircraft to rescue the crew inside. Well, the founder of a tech startup was on board and was killed. Now five others who were on board, they were rescued and taken to a nearby hospital.

More "CNN Newsroom" in a moment. Don't go anywhere.

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[03:40:00]

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SANDOVAL: And welcome back. Let's get to your business headlines now.

Stocks, short-term bonds and gold, they all fell after the Federal Reserve announced that it was holding interest rates steady. The Dow fell 507 points, nearly 1 percent. According to FedWatch, traders are now pricing in a 45 percent chance of a rate hike in October.

President Trump says that Apple has agreed to partner with Intel to design and build chips right here in the United States, he made that announcement on Thursday on his true social accounts. Apple and Intel have not commented on this deal. The partnership could help Apple diversify its chip supply as demand for said chips continues to grow.

Now, deposits signed for the U.S. economy retail sales rose 0.9 percent in May despite rising inflation and low consumer sentiment. This was now the fourth consecutive monthly increase. And it's also well above the 0.5 percent gain that economists had predicted in a poll by data firm Fexet.

[03:45:03]

Qantas Airways is commissioning custom planes for what it calls the final frontier of aviation. They have this new initiative called Project Sunrise. It embossed a plan for the first non-stop service between Sydney and London and later between Sydney and New York, flights that could potentially take nearly a day to complete.

The Australian airline has been working toward this feat for nearly 10 years. However, the concept itself goes back much further. And as CNN's Richard Quest is about to show us, even the weight of the dinner plates on board is being considered.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT-LARGE (voice-over): For nearly a century, airlines have been trying to solve one problem. How do you get from Australia to the other side of the world without stopping on the way?

Qantas believes it finally has the answer. It's called Project Sunrise and now it's entering its final phase. It promises non-stop flights from Sydney to London and Sydney to New York.

To understand why this project is so important, go back to where the story began. It is called the Kangaroo Route.

A trip from Sydney to London that took four days with seven stops to complete when it first launched. It was the fastest way at the time.

Even then, airlines were dreaming of something more ambitious, the non-stop flight. Qantas is realizing that ambition by relaunching the Kangaroo Route as a direct flight.

VANESSA HUDSON, CEO, QANTAS: The objective of solving this tyranny of distance we've talked about, that is what Qantas was founded on.

QUEST (voice-over): The airlines specially modified Airbus A350-1000s are designed to fly from Sydney to London or New York without stopping.

QUEST: When you're flying from Sydney to London, every bit of weight counts, which is why Qantas has redesigned everything, trying to get it as light as possible. These are the usual bowls. These are the new ones, slightly smaller but considerably lighter.

Same with the mugs. Fine, that's the old. This is the new. Everything from cutlery to crockery has been redesigned and made lighter because whilst it may be a couple of grams of weight here or a couple of grams of weight there, once you put hundreds of these on the aircraft, pretty soon you're talking real weight.

QUEST (voice-over): The flights could last as long as 22 hours. It would be the longest commercial journeys ever attempted.

To achieve all this, Airbus has added an extra fuel tank and increased the aircraft's range by roughly 1000 nautical miles.

LARS WAGNER, CEO, AIRBUS COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT: This real ultra-long haul flight is more than just range. It's also about the cabin layout.

It's the cabin pressure. It's the humidity in the aircraft. We redesigned the whole cabin to make it really enjoyable for the passengers.

QUEST (voice-over): Very soon, the Kangaroo will be going from Sydney to London and New York, only this time in one hop.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And so the way the city that never sleeps, it isn't about to start anytime soon. New York, it is again turning blue and orange at this hour, and this as the Knicks championship parade gets ready to take over the streets in a matter of hours. We'll show you what people can expect in a moment.

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[03:50:00]

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SANDOVAL: Football fans in Mexico, they are getting ready for a marquee matchup today in Guadalajara, Mexico. Just South Korea, they're about to take on Mexico in Group A action. South Koreans living in North America, they've been speaking about this cultural love affair between the two countries.

Now remember, again, both Mexico and South Korea, they won their last openers, but the other action that's happening right now is off the field with this sort of wholesome bond that's developed between the Mexicans and the South Koreans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSHUA LEE, SOUTH KOREAN LIVING IN TEXAS: Oh man, I mean, you know, I see it here everywhere I go, like people want to take photos, and you know, there's that chant like, Coreano Hermano, there's a lot of that going on.

It's a lot of fun. I really like how friendly everybody in Mexico is.

ANNIE, SOUTH KOREAN LIVING IN CALIFORNIA: It's going to be tough. I think no matter what, both teams will still respect and love each other no matter the outcome. So I'm rooting for both.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Joining me now is Juliana Kim, reporter with NPR. Juliana, it's good to see you. Thank you so much for joining us.

JULIANA KIM, NPR REPORTER: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: I wonder if we can begin with this unique football bond that exists between South Korea and Mexico before we get to the politics that unite them. In some of your latest NPR reporting, you write, for all of the rivalries and bad blood that sports can foster, something different is in the air ahead of the Mexico versus South Korea match.

Juliana, start off by telling us, you know, what is that bond and how has it been developing for several tournament cycles already?

KIM: Yes, you know, on social media right now, there's a chant that's been going around, and it's Coreano Hermano, ya eres Mexicano, and it's Spanish for Korean brother, you are Mexican now.

And it's a callback to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Basically, Mexico suffered a shocking loss to Sweden, and it meant that its only chance of advancing to the next round would be if South Korea beat Germany. Mind you, Germany had won the previous World Cup, and South Korea was kind of on a losing streak.

But against all odds, you know, my home country beat Germany, and it was a major upset and it shocked the world, I'd say. You know, that being said, the wind wasn't enough for South Korea to kind of move forward in the tournament. But, you know, to grateful Mexican fans, I mean, they were hailed as champions.

SANDOVAL: What I also find fascinating, you also dive into this, which is, you point out that despite both teams being quite talented, both teams have really struggled to advance in previous World Cups. So, do you think that this relative underdog status that they each have, do you think that that perhaps also helps bring them closer?

KIM: Yes, no, I think it's exactly that, you know. Both teams have not made it to the quarterfinals in over 20 years, despite their rich talent.

I know I think another aspect to this on the field level is that, you know, they both have kind of other heated rivals to focus on. Like, I think about Japan for South Korea, or the U.S. for Mexico.

SANDOVAL: Yes, and then what I also think is interesting is this dynamic, it goes far beyond these videos that we've seen on social media recently of fan-loving Mexicans and Koreans basically partying together, mainly in Guadalajara, ahead of these matches. There are actual geopolitics at play that have actually brought us to this moment.

So I wonder if you could perhaps just expand a little bit on that, these relationships between both nations, down to the level of the diplomats of these countries even taking the field together.

[03:55:08]

It actually wasn't until the late 1980s that the two nations began making headway, you know, largely through trade and the arrival of Korean factories in Mexico. This also led to a wave of Korean migration to the country.

You know, now I think Mexico and South Korea are closer, arguably, than ever. You know, South Korea is one of Mexico's top trading partners, there are a number of Korean enclaves in Mexico.

And you know, we can't forget about the K-wave, which is, right, this global craze over K-pop and K-dramas. It's taking place in the U.S. too. You know, I can't imagine thinking about all of the kids who dressed up as "K-Pop Demon Hunters" for Halloween, right?

But in Mexico, this was a stat I got from Spotify. Last year Mexico ranked fifth among countries that played the most K-pop in the world.

And I think we saw how true that was last month when the President of Mexico invited the K-pop group BTS to the National Palace and they were, you know, met with thousands of screaming fans outside. I mean, it was such a spectacle.

SANDOVAL: Oh, no, I remember those images clearly, the sea of fans in Mexico's famous Zocalo, a crowd, they couldn't bear seeing them leave. They were excited to see them.

So it's a combination of factors. It's the geopolitics. It is certainly the cultural exchanges that we've also seen and at the end of the day, also, what we keep seeing is just one absolutely incredible party atmosphere that is taking place in Mexico right now.

And we cannot wait for today's game. As a proud Mexican, I'll be wearing my green, but I will certainly be rooting on the opponents during that game.

Juliana Kim, really appreciate your time. Thank you for your reporting.

KIM: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: And New York gearing up to celebrate the Knicks' first NBA championship in 53 years. Vendors already setting up to sell merchandise.

Of course, they were out there before the fans were as well. Signs have been put up. And also there's going to be so much security with some of the security rails already set up and the risers are in place.

Security very tight as everybody attend -- that's going to be attending will be screened. That screening process begins at 6 a.m. Eastern. So only a couple of hours.

Officials say that more than 10,000 NYPD officers will be on duty to make sure the celebration stays peaceful. And already we're seeing people that went out there overnight to line up.

And the Knicks owner, James Dolan, says that the team has accepted an invitation to the White House. They will be the first NBA champions to visit the White House during the Donald Trump presidency. Dolan says that the details of that visit are still being worked out as of this hour.

Thank you so much for joining me, I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. I will be right back with you in a few moments with more "CNN Newsroom."

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