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4 Israeli Soldiers Killed In Southern Lebanon; U.S. Navy Ends Blockade Of Iran's Ports And Coastal Areas; Andy Burnham Wins Makerfield By-Election; The U.S. Prepares To Celebrate Junteenth. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired June 19, 2026 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These increased hostilities overnight, these deadly hostilities as long as is necessary in order to protect the security of Israel.

What we've heard though from Iran is that there will be a harsh response if they continue to see these strikes against Lebanon. So this has become one of the crucial points of this, this memorandum of understanding. It's pointing point one of this 14-point plan that the cessation of hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon.

Now, we have been hearing increasing frustration from the Trump administration against Israel, against Prime Minister Netanyahu believing he is not doing enough to try and limit the amount of civilian casualties when it comes to firing against Hezbollah. We heard specifically yesterday from the U.S. Vice President, JD Vance. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JD VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. And he happens to be the head of state of the world superpower. If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Now we are hearing the far right elements of Netanyahu's coalition be very critical of this deal, even critical of the US President. That's what the vice president is referring to there. But we've heard from President Trump that Israel needs to do better when it comes to minimizing or preventing civilian casualties.

Now, from Tehran's point of view, they fought hard to make sure that the U.S.-Iran deal included Lebanon. And they have said that there will be a harsh response if they see a continuation of hostilities there. Salma.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula Hancocks there on the rising tensions, the escalating fighting in Lebanon, which may already have consequences in Switzerland where negotiations have been stalled or canceled today. Thank you so much, Paula.

The U.S. military has announced an end to its naval blockade on Iranian ports. But it says American ships will remain in the general area to make sure all aspects of the U.S. agreement with Iran are obeyed.

Part of that agreement is reopening the strait. One estimate suggests about 220 tankers and 500 ships were stranded in the Persian Gulf this week. Meanwhile, a British organization run by the Royal Navy has reduced its threat level in the Strait of Hormuz to moderate. This comes as Iran announced that its Gulf water was authority will be managing traffic on the strait.

It also said application fees to transit the waterway are on hold for the next 60 days.

I want to bring in Joshua Hutchinson. He is the chief commercial officer of Ambrey, a global maritime risk management group. He is also a former member of the British Royal Marine Commando. Good morning first of all to you.

JOSHUA HUTCHINSON, CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER, AMBREY: Good morning. Thank you for having me back.

ABDELAZIZ: Thank you. I just want to start by getting a read on what's happening right now on the Strait of Hormuz. Has traffic resumed as normal? Is it back to pre-conflict levels? Where does it stand? Is freedom of movement restored? Give me a sense of what it looks like right now on that waterway.

HUTCHINSON: Definitely, I would say it's pretty complex and it's pretty chaotic. You know we've had a mixed messaging come out from both the U.S., both from, as you mentioned, UKMTO, the Joint Maritime Information Centre ran out of Bahrain and also the Iranian media outlets, all saying something slightly different.

The MOU was very clear that in the next 30 days the U.S. would withdraw its military forces and with immediate effect that blockade would be listed. The U.S. blockade was focused on Iranian vessels, calling it Iranian ports with Iranian interest, Iranian cargo.

But the Iranians have said that within that 60-day period they will still control the straits on a no toll basis. And that is what's causing some confusion. Last night we heard radio messages targeting commercial vessels that were looking to leave the Strait Hormuz and the Iranians were hailing them saying do not leave and the U.S. forces saying actually it was free to leave. It is an international right, a free game.

So there's about 550 vessels, over 10,000 dead weight, all in the northern part of the Persian Gulf looking to leave. And across that you've probably got 10 to 15,000 seafarers that have been there since the start of this conflict, all looking to get out and go through.

[04:35:00]

Therefore, what comes next isn't about a quick operation. This is going to take several, several months of coordination. And that has to be a swift, mature, stabilized coordination between several states for these vessels to leave the area. And at the moment, I can't see that happening.

ABDELAZIZ: I mean, that sounds like a very confusing and worrying picture and I can't imagine how terrifying for ships to be told, no, you can't move from the Iranian side, yes you can move from the American side.

I also want to break down that toll, you mentioned it, that there's going to be a toll free system potentially for 60 days. Does that mean that there will be a toll later on? What does that look like? How would that function? What do you understand about how that would work and whether insurers would cover that cost? Just explain to me how this tolling system, if it takes place and when it takes place, how would it play out?

HUTCHINSON: Yes. So if we take a step back and look at what happened during the closure of the strait, we're aware that commercial entities and their brokers, or directly the delegates and embassies were paying a fee to get exclusive access and to leave the Strait Hormuz. And there were rumors that was in excess of $2 million for some particular vessels going through the Strait Hormuz.

And Iran has been very clear that they militarily control the strait and therefore they believe there should be a toll. They believe that toll is about rebuilding the damage within Iran, but also about maintaining infrastructure within the Strait of Hormuz.

And it's been critical that within the MOU that there is not at all. There is international -- under international law that is free for vessels to go in and out of that strait. And that's been mentioned within the 60-day notor basis. So that means that what Iran has done, they've set up what they call the Persian Gulf Maritime Authority, organizations are to contact that authority and to register their vessels for clearances.

This is something that, you know, six, 12 months ago, something that the Houthis did within the Red Sea, they had the HOCC was registered. You could contact them to make sure that you were registered at going through. It wasn't widely implemented and it didn't follow through.

But I believe that this is what Iran will do to increase their military and geopolitical power within the region is that this Persian Gulf Maritime Authority is here to stay. And within this window they will be controlling vessels going in and out the area. And those radio messages last night is a clear picture that they're looking to enforce that.

ABDELAZIZ: I want to go through one other thing that you mentioned in your first answer there, and that's the seafarers that have been trapped in that strait, some of them, since the beginning of the conflict. I believe you said it was about 10,000. But please let us know what is that number of individuals who are right now trapped in that waterway. You wrote in the past, there are humans who are the forgotten element in this situation of war.

What are their conditions? What needs to happen for them to be extracted?

HUTCHINSON: Yes, and I think the difficulty being is that is the large volume of vessels that are within this region. You know, the Persian Gulf states, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Emirates, you know, they have well established port infrastructure.

What they're not established to do is start supporting, you know, 500, 1,000, 1,500 vessels in an established, stable ecosystem is about going into port, getting resupplies and going through. Obviously, once you've got that, within that period of time, you know, there is a restriction on fresh water on board vessels.

Vessels have to move to make fresh water, obviously resupplies the amount of food having to go into those vessels and then additional fuel and obviously, you know, oil and fuel is a big thing within this conflict that's become under extreme pressure.

Prices, we've seen excess of $2,500 per ton, which is extreme points. So I think that creates an economic pressure of what then ship managers and ship operators can do for their seafarers.

On average, on these vessels, you've got between 15 to 20 seafarers, depending on the size of the ships living in that ecosystem. I think some of these will have established internet systems that they can communicate their loved ones, communicate with the ship managers. But we have heard some horrendous stories. Unfortunately, there was a story came out this week where, you know, there's been a fatality, a natural fatality on board of the vessel.

And, you know, the seafarers are having to use, you know, iced water bottles to keep -- to keep this -- this seafarer's body from decomposing. I mean, that's an horrendous story. And there are -- there are some fantastic charities that are trying to do work to get, you know, additional resource to get additional support to seafarers.

[04:40:00]

So I think the seafarer, the human element, the people that keep this -- this industry on our global economy moving are desperate to get out and they now see the light at the end of the tunnel. But as I said, there's still going to be several months before in reality, we start to clear that backlog that exists currently in the Persian Gulf.

ABDELAZIZ: Joshua Hutchinson there on the still harrowing situation on the Strait of Hormuz. Thank you so much.

Hutchinson: Thank you.

ABDELAZIZ: An election victory for one of the UK's most popular politicians. We're going to go live to England for details, including perspective on whether Andy Burnham will try for the Labour Party's top spot.

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ABDELAZIZ: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer could soon face a challenge for leadership of the Labour Party. His potential rival made a first step in that direction by winning Thursday's by election for Makerfield PM. Andy Burnham is currently the mayor of Greater Manchester and one of the UK's most popular politicians.

Generally, British by elections are just a check of the public mood, but this vote was triggered to clear a path for Burnham who wants the top spot in the Labour Party and the country.

We have our Clare Sebastian who joins us now from Ashton in Makerfield, England. Good morning, Clare. It's lovely to have you on. This was an election where Andy Burnham was basically putting himself forward as a prospective Prime Minister.

And he won. He won big. What happens next? How quickly could we see this turn into a leadership challenge for the top job?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, I think the decisiveness of this victory summer coming in well ahead of really any of the polls. They all had him ahead, but not this much. It was a 20- point lead over the Reform U.K. candidate, Robert Kenyon in second place. I think that strengthens his argument going forward that he will be the guy or could be the guy that can change this country and that can stabilize the Labour Party's grip on power.

[04:45:00]

Now throughout this campaign, part of what has made it sort of surreal to watch is that he has sort of studiously avoided mentioning too much, the ambitions he has to be Labour leader and Prime Minister, focusing really on local issues here. I think the whole situation, frankly, was made more surreal last night by the order in which they placed the candidates on the stage, which showed Andy Burnham standing in between Count Binface, who has essentially a trash can on his head, and another candidate dressed as a fox who is campaigning for animal rights. That was pretty surreal and a surreal night overall.

But as for what next? Well, look, he didn't say much about this, but he made it clear in his acceptance speech that he's going to shake things up. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY BURNHAM, WINNER OF MAKERFIELD BY-ELECTION, ENGLAND: But I do say to my own party, this is a final chance to change. This is what people said directly to me on the hundreds of doorsteps that I stood on. We must hear it. We must act upon it and we must get it right. There will be no second chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: Well, he's saying there will be no second chance, frankly, because the Labour Party is facing threats, as is frankly the Conservative Party, the sort of edifice of this two party system, are facing threats from different parties on all sides and in particular in this constituency from the populist right, especially Reform U.K., led by Nigel Farage.

So he is essentially saying, you know, this is the way to deal with that. As for sort of what we're going to see going forward, we expect a bit of a lull over the weekend. Everyone is going to take a breath, perhaps there'll be some behind the scenes wrangling.

But next week Andy Burnham will set off to London, we expect will take up his position as a Member of Parliament. And at that point we could see things start to move. But nothing is confirmed as of yet. So again, we're still in this period of uncertainty for British politics. Salma.

ABDELAZIZ: Clare there on Andy Burnham, a potential rival keeping his cards close to his chest. Thank you so much.

As the U.S. prepares to celebrate Juneteenth Black Americans take stock of what needs to be done to protect the progress made since emancipation. Details for you are just after the break.

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[04:51:02]

ABDELAZIZ: People across America are celebrating Juneteenth today. June 19th marks the day enslaved African Americans in Texas learned that they were going to be free. It was more than two years after the emancipation proclamation was signed.

While it's a celebration, it's also a time to consider what needs to be done to protect the progress made since then. Our Lynda Kinkade has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: What are you most proud of?

RASHAUN KEMP, GEORGIA STATE SENATOR: I'm proud of the fact that still to this day, folks like me are making history.

KINKADE (voice-over): For Georgia state senator RaShaun Kemp, freedom means leadership.

KEMP: I'm coming in representing 190,000 people in my district, 11 million Georgians, and I get to be a voice for them.

KINKADE (voice-over): For others, it's the chance to build a business.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To be able to live without restrictions.

KINKADE (voice-over): And for students, it's the support to reach their full potential. Ten years ago, Enrique says he barely spoke English and struggled with confidence. ENRIQUE, BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS AWARD RECIPIENT: I felt alone, excluded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 2026 Southeast Youth of the year is Enrique, from the Boys and Girls Clubs of St. Lucie County.

KINKADE (voice-over): Now, at 18, he's the top youth leader for the Girls and Boys Clubs of America in the Southeast, an organization that helps young people succeed in school, prepare for careers and develop leadership skills.

KINKADE: What has this club given you that other places couldn't?

ENRIQUE: The boys and girls club really gave me a step forward. For the first time in a very long time, I saw a group of people who wanted to listen to me.

KINKADE (voice-over): Enrique was an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, a nation shaped by its own complex history of slavery. Today, he's a shining example of what's possible with the right support.

KINKADE: You're a boss. You're a brand maker. You're a business owner.

CHANTEL POWELL, FOUNDER AND CEO, PLAY PITS: Yes.

KINKADE: What are you most proud of?

POWELL: I think the thing I'm most proud of is one my kids being able to see what's possible.

KINKADE (voice-over): For entrepreneur Chantel Powell, economic independence remains one of the clearest measures of progress.

POWELL: My kids can now go into stores like CVS and Target and see the product on the shelves, and they remember when I was making it in the kitchen.

KINKADE (voice-over): Her idea for a product began at home.

POWELL: Play Pits is an all-natural deodorant. Because my son at 6 was a smelly little boy, I wasn't able to find anything on the shelves, and so I wanted something that was safe.

KINKADE (voice-over): Hustling hard, she grew that idea into a nationally distributed brand.

POWELL: This is our top seller. This one is sugar.

KINKADE (voice-over): How many of these are you selling across the U.S. right now, on average a year?

POWELL: A year we're probably selling around 150 to 200,000 units a year.

KINKADE: Wow.

POWELL: Yes, yes.

KINKADE: And you are potentially going to expand this overseas?

POWELL: Potentially. One day maybe.

KINKADE: You're being pursued by at least two countries.

POWELL: Yes, yes.

KINKADE (voice-over): When a factory fire caused a setback, the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs stepped in to help.

POWELL: Having a space where I can take my meetings, connect with other people who've been able to help me in business has been really important.

SHAWN GRAHAM, EXECUTIVE V.P. AND COO, RUSSELL INNOVATION CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURS: There's a variety of products within this market for our stakeholders.

KINKADE (voice-over): Russell Center Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Shawn Graham says it's working to help more entrepreneurs succeed.

KINKADE: So in the last five years, on average, how many applicants are coming to you for help?

GRAHAM: I would say on an annual basis, anywhere, approximately six to 700 applications annually.

KINKADE: And each of those applicants get a grant, they get mentorship, and they get connection, Right? That's absolutely correct. Not all stakeholders will receive a grant.

However, they will have access to our facilities 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

KINKADE: The story of emancipation is often sold through history, but its legacy still shapes debates here at the Capitol and in communities across the US. Advocates say progress is measured by opportunity, access to education, economic mobility, and representation.

[04:55:05]

KEMP: We as Americans get to, you know, exercise our right through our votes. And I think that is the ultimate example of freedom.

KINKADE (voice-over): Yet many see the promise of emancipation as not fully realized. Senator Kemp points to renewed efforts to roll back voting access and modify election laws as evidence of the work that remains.

KEMP: With redistricting happening, you're seeing Southern states rush to redraw maps to erase black voices and representation.

KINKADE (voice-over): And bridging the inequality divide remains the biggest challenge.

KEMP: My Senate district is a perfect example of that. I represent Buckhead and Bankhead here in Atlanta, Georgia. You can drive a matter of seven miles and your life expectancy drops by 20 years. That is something that we have to address.

KINKADE (voice-over): From government chambers to classrooms and boardrooms, many say the next chapter of freedom is being written through opportunity.

KEMP: I am a perfect example of how far America has come, but I think that we have a great ways to still go.

ENRIQUE: There is so much power in giving a helping hand. I want to be that same kind of mentor for the next generation of Club Kids.

POWELL: Expect the nos and the nos, don't let the nos stop you. Like literally go and chase after your yes.

KINKADE (voice-over): Lynda Kinkade, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting pool's newly finished paint job is already peeling. Less than two weeks after the renovation was finished, visitors have spotted chunks of paint floating in the algae tinted water. As you can see there, the Trump administration had ordered the historic pool to be drained and refinished. It was part of a nearly $15 million project to revamp give a facelift to Washington, D.C. from President Trump.

Thank you so much for watching. I'm Salma Abdelaziz, CNN Headline Express is coming up after a quick break.

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