Return to Transcripts main page
The Situation Room
CNN Obtains 14-Point Draft Agreement Between U.S. and Iran; Trump Meets With Indian Prime Minister at G7 Summit; Trump Takes Questions Amid Meeting With Indian Prime Minister. Aired 10-10:30a ET
Aired June 17, 2026 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:00]
PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, CNN obtains the 14-point draft agreement between the U.S. and Iran. What's in and what's noticeably left out, as we expect to hear from President Trump in the coming hour.
Plus, rushing to the rescue, bystanders jump into action after a small jet crashes on a Texas highway.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And CNN goes one-on-one with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani just ahead of the Knicks' big championship parade.
Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.
And we begin with the breaking news. At any moment, we'll hear directly from President Trump at the G7 summit in France. We will take his comments live. That's coming up. And we're also learning new details from a draft version of the U.S.-Iran agreement just obtained by CNN.
Here are some of the key agreements in the so-called memorandum of understanding. It calls for regional shipping traffic to return to pre-war levels within 30 days of signing. It ends the fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon, and it guarantees that Iran will never produce a nuclear weapon.
BROWN: And here's what's not included in that draft, the fate of Iran's nuclear program, including its enriched uranium, Iran's support for regional proxy groups, like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, that have attacked U.S. allies, and the ballistic missiles that Iran has fired at its neighbors.
Let's go live now to CNN Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak in Geneva, Switzerland. So, Kevin, we're going to hear from President Trump at any moment now. It's not clear if the text shared with CNN will reflect the wording of the document due to be signed in person on Friday. But what stands out to you from what you've seen?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: You know, I think taken in sum, the document really gives us a good picture of what the two sides are working from here. You're right, the language could change, potentially likely will change. The two sides are going to be meeting up in Lucerne before their formal signing ceremony. And so the actual words of this document could look different than what we have been poring through in this draft. But it gives you, I think, a really good picture of what the two sides have actually been discussing, and what they have not been discussing.
And when it comes to the nuclear program, I think this is where it's most stark. You know, the document says that Iran reiterates that it will never produce nuclear weapons. Now, that's something that they've committed to before, including in the preamble of the Obama-era nuclear deal. It goes on to say that they've agreed that the fate of the enriched material and the fate of all other mutually agreed nuclear-related issues will be addressed in the final agreement, and it puts that off to the next round of negotiations.
Now, we did understand that that's what this memorandum would do. It will put off some of the very thorny issues for the 60-day round of talks, but it does not include the fate of the highly enriched uranium. President Trump has been saying for the last several days that the United States would oversee the destruction of that stockpile.
Now, when you talk to American officials, and we've been discussing the language of this memorandum with U.S. officials, they suggest that the U.S. has actually received what they are suggesting are these backchannel commitments from Tehran about some of these issues. And it's kind of interesting what they've been saying.
One U.S. official told us that, quote, people shouldn't read too much into the language of the MOU, that, quote, what's more important than the actual document is the understandings we have with each other, suggesting that even though it may not be in the words of the agreement that the U.S. has received some of these commitments from Iran about what they're willing or not willing to do.
Now, I don't think that's necessarily going to placate a lot of the president's critics who are looking through some of these drafts and saying that Iran has not committed what it needs to commit for this to be a good deal. But American officials and President Trump himself are viewing this agreement as a triumph. You've heard that from him over the course of the morning. I'm sure we're going to hear it from him when he's with Narendra Modi, the prime minister, and during his press conference later today.
And so we'll have to see what the final text actually looks like.
[10:05:01]
But for now, I think we have now a, a better understanding of what precisely it is the two sides are talking about here.
All right, Kevin, I want you to stay with us. Our CNN Global Affairs Commentator Sabrina Singh is here with us in The Situation Room as well. Sabrina was the deputy press secretary over at the Pentagon. Sabrina, the draft text doesn't mention Iran's nuclear enrichment program, Iran's proxy groups, or its ballistic missiles for that matter. U.S. officials say the text itself is intentionally vague right now and does not reflect critical backchannel commitments Iran has made to the U.S. including on its nuclear program. Even so, do these omissions surprise you?
SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Yes. Candidly, this is very surprising, and I think this text really demonstrates a capitulation of the U.S. government to Iran. We are essentially giving Iran possibly access to $300 billion of a private fund, going to lift economic sanctions, allow them to have access to frozen funds, all to open the Strait of Hormuz, which was open before the war.
And this entire memorandum of understanding does not address some of the thorniest issues that we know was for the reason for this war, which was the highly enriched uranium, Iran's nuclear program, its ballistic and missile program, and support to its proxies.
Also, what's interesting that's not in this agreement is what about the humanitarian aid or addressing some of the humanitarian abuses that this regime is guilty of when it came to those peaceful protests that we saw in December.
BROWN: Hold on one second, Sabrina, we're going to get back to you.
SINGH: Yes. But president's meeting with the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi right now. I want to listen and to hear what they say.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: But we had in particular some very good conversations with Prime Minister Modi, India, and we're doing trade deals. We're doing a lot of things. A lot of things are happening between the United States and India. The United States is doing the best we've ever done. We have over $19.2 trillion coming in, and we're building factories, we're building everything. And prime minister's building a lot in the United States. He's spending a lot of money in the United States, so we appreciate that, jobs.
But I just want to say he's been my friend for a long time now, and we've always had a great relationship, and it's great to be with you. Thank you very much. Great to be with you.
NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER: Thank you.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, it's a pleasure to meet you here in Evian. We had extremely productive meeting in Washington last year, and since then we have given new speed a new energy to our relations and we are working together on a number of areas.
MODI: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we are also happy that our teams have also been working in close coordination and engagement and they have been working towards achievement of the targets that we had set for ourselves last year.
MODI: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, I commend you for your leadership on the progress that has been made in the efforts to restore peace in West Asia.
MODI: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks to your efforts, Mr. President, new hope for peace and stability in the region has been rekindled and I am confident that this will lead to a long standing peace in the region.
MODI: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, you and I agree that keeping the Strait of Hormuz open is vital for the global economy.
MODI: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: India has consistently emphasize the importance of ensuring freedom of navigation and we should work together and place a particular emphasis on that.
MODI: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, we are aware across the world Indian seafarers in hundreds of thousands are working and performing their duties across global maritime trade routes, including the Strait of Hormuz and their safety is of utmost importance to us.
[10:10:11]
MODI: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, you made tremendous efforts towards reaching this understanding and this agreement and I am confident that the issue of seafarers will receive the highest priority during the implementation of this agreement.
MODI: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, once again, I deeply appreciate and I deeply commend your efforts in ensuring the restoration of peace and making efforts towards restoration of peace and stability in West Asia.
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
MODI: Thank you.
TRUMP: Any questions?
REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. We just heard the prime minister praise your efforts, you know, the peace efforts in the Middle East.
TRUMP: Thank you.
TRUMP: Do you think you can carry the momentum from the Iran deal over to securing an end to the war in Ukraine? And can you tell us about your conversations with President Zelenskyy here at the G7?
TRUMP: Well, I had very good talks with President Zelenskyy and with President Putin. And we'd like to see that one end. I ended eight wars and, to be honest with you, I thought this would've been one of the easier ones, but they're not liking each other too much, and that makes it much more difficult. But we're working.
I had two good conversations with President Zelenskyy and with President Putin.
REPORTER: Will you let them build U.S. missiles or manufacture missiles, American missiles in India?
TRUMP: They would like to be able to do that. We'll take a look at it. They have --
Steve, Steve.
REPORTER: How close are you to a U.S.-India trade deal?
TRUMP: Very close. We've been there for a little while, and he's a very tough negotiator. He's one of the toughest, actually.
So, you look at this man, I'll give you a lesson. He's the most beautiful looking man. He looks so nice. He's like an angel, but actually he's as tough as he's a killer. I don't want to -- he's a killer. He's as tough as they come, but he looks so good, so he gets you by surprise.
There's few people like this. People say, he's such a nice man. I said, he's very tough. He's a tough trader, and he loves the Indian people, but he also loves the USA. We had Howdy Modi in Houston, remember? And the stadium was full. The stadium was full.
That was great. And we'll be going to India sometime in the future.
REPORTER: President Trump, when will you go to India, and how do you see (INAUDIBLE) as well? This is a grouping that was started under your first term, and this is a grouping that all the four countries are looking forward to.
TRUMP: Well, we had a great visit last time in India. We opened up that new stadium, and I think there were, 300,000, 400,000 people. It seated like about 150,000, and there were 250,000 outside, and there were 100,000 on the grass. That was -- I don't know if that record's ever been broken, but we had a great -- I had a great time in India.
REPORTER: President Trump, do you expect India to play any role in West Asia?
TRUMP: Say again?
REPORTER: Do you expect India to play any role in West Asia.
TRUMP: Yes, I do. I do. I think India plays a big role in everything, as long as he's the leader, India's going to play a big role.
REPORTER: You said many times that India has a great friend in United States, in Washington, D.C., in White House until the time you are president. But some of your decisions recently caused trouble concern in India. How would you like to assure people of India that India --
TRUMP: Well, I said, as long as I'm president, we have a great -- they have a great friend in the White House. I don't know where there might have been a trouble, but I don't think so. I can tell you everyone here, they love India. They have tremendous respect for this man, tremendous respect.
Go ahead, ma'am.
REPORTER: Are there going to be sanctions that are going, are there going to be sanctions that are going to be re-imposed on Russia now that the focus has once again been shifted to the Ukraine-Russia war?
TRUMP: We are looking at that. We're seeing how far the price of oil comes down. It's really tumbling. It's, I guess, $74, $75 right now. So it's down. It's soon going to be at the number that it was four months ago. It's pretty amazing. And on top of that, we will have an Iran without a nuclear weapon, which I can tell you, the prime minister feels very strongly about that, too.
REPORTER: Mr. President, have you heard from European or G7 leaders on Iran?
TRUMP: They were to a leader, and we had G7 plus many others came, as you know.
[10:15:00]
To a leader, they were thrilled. They could not have been happier. Well, this gentleman came, and that's a big get he came. And they are -- they could not even believe that it happened. It happened quickly, but it really didn't happen quickly. It happened -- it's been happening for a long time. It's been happening from my first term when a very evil man named Soleimani was killed. That's when it started.
And nobody else did this but Trump. You know, you look at our president, 47 years, Iran took advantage of the world, the Middle East, but the world. Nobody did anything. The Obama deal was one of the dumbest deals I've ever seen. It was a road to a nuclear weapon. My deal is a wall to a nuclear -- you're not going to have it. It's a wall to a nuclear weapon.
Yes?
REPORTER: On mine sweepers, do you want the Europeans to send mine sweeper folks? Did you talk about that?
TRUMP: We don't need them, but if they want to send them, I think it's good.
REPORTER: Has anyone committed to sending minesweepers?
TRUMP: Yes, all of them, all of them.
REPORTER: Which nations?
TRUMP: The ones that have that kind of equipment have. But every one of them have committed to being involved in some form.
REPORTER: And at this point, do you feel that Vladimir Putin is more responsible for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine?
TRUMP: Well, I don't want to comment on that because I'm trying to get it settled, and that doesn't make it easy.
REPORTER: Mr. President, you're on the cusp of making history with the possible peace in the Iran conflict.
TRUMP: I like this guy. Who is he? Do you know who that is? I like him. Your reporters are much nicer than my reporters. Go ahead.
REPORTER: But there is also a tragic loss of lives of Indian sailors recently, sir, in American strikes. Any words of condolences for the grieving families, sir?
TRUMP: Yes, I do. I heard about that. It's a rough profession. There's no question about it. And we work together on it with -- this has been happening throughout time, but we work together on it. Yes, certainly, we love all of those people, and they're great people.
Yes, please.
REPORTER: How long do you expect Bill Pulte to be acting DNI? What's --
TRUMP: Well, as long as it takes to get everybody else approved. I mean, they were doing a rush act, and we didn't get anything for it. Look, he's a very legitimate guy. He's very smart. He's a brilliant guy. Look at the job he did at Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac. I mean, it's worth probably a trillion dollars right now. So, we put him there. But all of a sudden it was like a rush act by the Democrats, and they said they were going to approve FISA.
And I said, but we want FISA approved, but we want the Save America Act approved, voter I.D., proof of citizenship, no mail-in ballots, with exceptions, like for the military, sick, you're sick you're traveling, disabled, very, you know, open and generous. We also want no men playing in women's sports, and we want no transgender mutilation of our children, none.
Those are five things that are 99 percent to -- I mean, that's all we want. It's not a lot. The Save America Act. And that can be passed any way they want to pass it, but I'm not going to sign FISA unless it's done. And this was like a rush act. And it was a rush act by the Democrats. All of a sudden they want to get -- and why are they afraid of this guy? I mean, they're so afraid of him, they'll do anything not to have Pulte go in there. He's a very capable guy, and they're worried about that.
REPORTER: Mr. President --
TRUMP: Yes, ma'am.
REPORTER: You said the deal, the Iran deal, the text is still being finalized. How confident are you that this Friday's signing will happen?
TRUMP: Are you talking about this one, on the deal?
REPORTER: Yes.
TRUMP: You know, deals are amazing. I've done them all my life. I've gone into deals that were 100 percent, and they don't happen. I've gone into deals that there was no chance of getting them done, and it happens, and they happen easily. So, you never know with deals, do you? But you're going to find out pretty soon. I think it'll be done. They want to sign. They want to get back to a normal life.
You know, we hit them very hard. Don't forget, you know, people talk about when this started. This didn't start three, four months ago. This started years ago when I took out Soleimani. That was a big event. There are those that say it was the biggest event in the Middle East in 50 years. So, we took him out, and they became a much different country.
And then we terminated -- I terminated the JCPOA. That's Barack Hussein Obama's horrible deal that gave them a nuclear weapon. And I terminated it, and I stopped it, and then I stopped it a second time with the B-2 bombers.
And these are all major events in the history of the world, in my opinion, because it prevented them from having a nuclear weapon. And now we're going to do it again, and we're going to see how it works out.
So, this is a memorandum of understanding, but it's a very strong one. This isn't just like a two-paragraph. This is a long, you know, pretty detailed memorandum that goes into a regular contract.
[10:20:03]
I would think they would do it. If they don't, then that's -- you know, that's okay. We'll have to start the process again, and we don't lose. We have the greatest military in the world. We have the greatest blockade. The naval blockade was 100 percent effective. And, again, they have no navy, they have no air force, all bombed out. I don't want to say the leaders, but first level of leader, gone. Second level of leader is gone. Some of the third level of leaders, gone. And they want to make a deal. They are so ready to make a deal.
You know what --
REPORTER: Mr. Trump, can you speak to the defense relationship between India and the United States? Sorry, I'm speaking (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: That's okay.
REPORTER: Can you speak to the defense relationship between India and the United States?
TRUMP: I think it's a great relationship. I can tell you this, without having a contract, and we don't have a contract. You'd have to write a contract. But if they were attacked, we would be there to help them.
REPORTER: How would you take that issue?
TRUMP: How is that? Is that a good statement? Okay? Come here, man. If anybody attacks that man, we're going to be there. Now, if there's a new leader, I'm not sure about it. If there's a new leader, I don't know about that. But if they're attacked and he's the leader, we're going to be there to help.
And we have -- and I will say this, and everybody says it. I had a great meeting three weeks ago with President Xi of China. We have the strongest military in the world by far, and I built it in my first term, and we're using it in my second term. And they gave some of it away stupidly in Afghanistan, as you know, and they spent a lot on Ukraine, $350 billion.
But we have the most powerful military in the world. You saw that with Venezuela, which was 48 -- think of it, 48 minutes. And now our relationship with Venezuela is great. We paid for the cost of the war 40 times, taking millions of barrels out. Venezuela's benefiting. We're benefiting. Venezuela's benefiting.
And then we go to Iran and, really, in the first week, militarily, we defeated Iran. Nobody thought that could be done.
Yes, please.
REPORTER: Mr. President, do you want Israel to halt its military campaign in --
TRUMP: No, I want Israel to be able to protect themselves, but I do want them to use good judgment.
REPORTER: Can we expect some highly skilled Indian professional to be getting more opportunities in the United States under your presidency?
TRUMP: What does that mean? What?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Highly skilled professionals to get more opportunities here in the U.S.
TRUMP: Oh, yes, sure. I mean, always. We've always had tremendous relationships in terms of employment with India, very talented people.
REPORTER: We've seen European leaders interact very warmly with you at this summit. Do you think that they're coming around to your worldview?
TRUMP: Well, I think they think I was right. I'm sort of always right. You know, when you get right down to it, I think they think I was right. They feel good. Now all of a sudden they all want to be involved. There's no reason to have them because it's pretty much over, but they all want to be involved. He'd be involved if I wanted, but we don't want to waste his time or his people.
No, the European leaders, the meeting we had today was, you know, just the leaders. I don't even say the European. The leaders that we had met with, in addition to the seven, we had quite a few come in, they all were willing to get involved.
Thank you. Thank you. But we had a great meeting on A.I. We had all the top people here, and it was a great meeting. And as you know, we're building tremendous numbers of plants. But A.I., we're building the biggest in the world. We're number one in A.I. by a lot, and it was a very productive meeting.
REPORTER: The negotiations with Anthropic --
TRUMP: He was here, going fine. I think it's going fine.
REPORTER: How is your energy cooperation? India is diversifying, buying more energy from across the world, including United States and (INAUDIBLE). How do you see India buying energy from you?
TRUMP: India can do anything they want with us. We have the best relationship. We cannot be closer than we are. Would you say that's right? I don't think we can be any closer. Both him and I and our nations, but it really starts with the two of us. We cannot be closer.
Thank you very much.
BROWN: All right. Listening to President Trump take questions from reporters amid his meeting with the Indian prime minister. He's also expected to hold a press conference there at the G7 in France within the hour, he said, so we'll be looking forward to that.
[10:25:02]
I want to bring in Kevin Liptak to just talk a little bit more about what we heard.
As you pointed out, Kevin, you know, the president is framing this memorandum of understanding that we've obtained, this 14-point memorandum, as very strong. He says Iran wants to make a deal, but that if it doesn't, then the military process will proceed. He also said he hopes Israel will use good judgment.
But even as the president is touting this memorandum, there are still a lot of outstanding questions, right?
LIPTAK: Right. And the president, I think, unwilling to answer them at this point. I thought it was interesting to listen to how Narendra Modi was characterizing this agreement, really lavishing President Trump with praise for helping get it across the finish line. And I think just watching this meeting itself, it really does underscore the strains that this Iran war has had on what otherwise would be very good relationships.
You know, President Trump and Modi have known each other for a long time. You know, as someone who attended both the Howdy Modi rally in Dallas and the Namaste Trump rally in Gujarat State, there is a lot of warmth between them.
But the Iran war has really driven a wedge. One, because India relies on so much oil that goes through the Strait of Hormuz from the Gulf, causing energy prices to rise, which is on top of energy price spikes because of the punitive tariffs that President Trump put on Russia. But also, just last week, the US struck an Indian tanker enforcing the blockade and killed three Indian sailors, which caused all kinds of outcry in India.
And so the war has had an effect on the president's geopolitical relationships around the world. This meeting was really kind of a reset, and you hear the way Modi is talking about this deal, almost a sense of relief that it might bring the hostilities to an end here.
And so the president, I think, very eager to tout it, but also his counterparts here at the G7 also eager to tout it, even though I think they still have some questions remaining about what exactly it will entail.
BLITZER: Kevin, I want you to stay with us. Our CNN global affairs commentator, Sabrina Singh, is still with us here in The Situation Room as well. Sabrina, you know, was the deputy press secretary over at the Pentagon.
In this Truth Social post that he just released, Trump, he said the trip was, in his words, a great success, but mostly what people wanted to talk about is the fact that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon and that the Strait of Hormuz will immediately be open. Those are basically the points. He thinks this is a great victory for the United States, but the Iranians think this is a great victory for them.
SINGH: I think both, you know, the president here at home and then of course the Iranians are trying to sell it to their own audiences. They're trying to sell this deal to the people there at home. I think the reality is that we don't actually have the text released from the White House.
But what is being reported is that why we went -- why this administration started this war in the first place was never about the strait, and yet that memorandum of understanding, all it does is try and get back to a pre-war status quo on the Strait of Hormuz.
It saves the thorniest issues for the 60-day period, which I think is frankly very aspirational, that you're going to address Iran's nuclear program, its highly enriched uranium, how does one get that out of the country, and then also, I mean, support for its proxy groups, ballistic missiles, that's still not addressed in the agreement. Also something that is not addressed, which I thought, you know, the president talked about Ukraine, he talked about his conversations with Vladimir Putin, nothing in that agreement addresses Iran's support to Russia as it continues supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine. So, there's a lot of discrepancies with what the president is saying.
And, lastly, what I'll say, what was interesting about what this conversation with Prime Minister Modi, you heard Prime Minister Modi say that freedom of navigation must be restored in the Strait of Hormuz, and yet what we're seeing is that Iran might charge some type of fee for ships passing through the strait.
That would not be a return to the status quo before this war started. That would be a toll, which would be illegal in, you know, international law.
BLITZER: It's an international waterway. It always has been. And now, all of a sudden, the Iranians are threatening to start charging fees, and Iran gets so much of its -- gives so much -- sells so much of its oil to India. That would be a huge, huge deal.
All right, stand by. Our chief international anchor, Christiane Amanpour, is in London listening and watching what's going on. What jumps out at you, Christiane?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, you know, I've been listening and watching and trying to parse or read through the leaks of the memorandums and the latest one that you've, CNN, has access to, et cetera. And, yes, as Sabrina says, we don't have all the details. I agree with a lot of what she just said to you, that there is a huge amount that's unclear, and that bit which is clear essentially takes us back to status quo ante February 27th, the day before the war was launched on Iran.
[10:30:01]
So, it's hard to see how it can be portrayed as a great victory by the United States.