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CNN Obtains 14-Point Draft Agreement Between U.S. and Iran; Hantavirus-Stricken Cruise Passenger Still Quarantined; Africa Health Official Warns Current Ebola Outbreak May Be Worst Ever. Aired 11:30- 12p ET

Aired June 17, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: At any moment, we'll be hearing directly from President Trump at the G7 Summit in France. He's about to hold a news conference. The president suggests he's open to resuming hostilities against Iran if needed.

Trump's comments come as the U.S. prepares to sign an agreement with Iran laying out the terms of a ceasefire. CNN obtained a draft of the so-called Memorandum of Understanding and it includes shipping traffic in the region returning to pre-war levels within 30 days, ending the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and Iran's pledge to never obtain a nuclear weapon, among other agreements. The text of the draft agreement could still change, of course.

Joining us now here in the Situation Room is CNN Global Affairs analyst, former Middle East and North Africa coordinator for the National Security Council, Brett McGurk. Brett, I just want to start by asking you, what stands out to you from this draft memorandum, this Memorandum of Understanding, as it's called?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST AND FORMER MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA COORDINATOR, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: Yes, Wolf. I've been going through it this morning. I think, if I want to make the most charitable case, there is an article, Article 9, which says that everything is status quo. So, if you consider the military operation last June kind of knocked out the nuclear program, Iran is not enriching uranium, you could make the argument this basically freezes that, so Iran therefore cannot enrich uranium. That's not insignificant and that's different from when we were negotiating the JCPOA, when they were enriching and had an advanced nuclear program.

However, the crux of the deal, as you just said, is reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and it's kind of like a jigsaw puzzle. Certain articles unlock others. I've kind of gone through it carefully. Basically, Iran is committing to not fire at ships so that ships can go through the Strait of Hormuz. They're really making no other commitments in this entire text. I don't see any other commitments from Iran.

The U.S. is committing to actually very significant concessions that Iran has always really wanted, and particularly in the immediate term, with this exchange to open the Strait. We commit to waiving all oil sanctions, banking sanctions, trade in the petrochemicals. That's basically returns to what was in place under the JCPOA, under the Obama-era deal. That's massive revenue for Iran, Wolf, up to 60 maybe more billion dollars a year, according to some experts have looked at this. That's a lot. That's the kind of thing you do once you reach a final agreement, so that is quite significant.

Then there's a provision on frozen assets, and it's written carefully to suggest maybe that's not immediate, but there's an article of the agreement that says the talks, these 60-day talks in phase two, will not start until the frozen assets are released, and in the provision, the Iranian Central Bank gets to designate who the beneficiary is for those funds.

Just to explain this, because I've done this work, when we did a hostage deal back in September 2023, we were dealing with a small pot of $6 billion of frozen funds, and we said Iran could have access to those funds for non-sanctioned humanitarian designees. The Iranians always want to say we'll determine where the funds go, and we as the U.S. said no, only limited beneficiaries.

This agreement says Iran gets to say who the beneficiaries. That's a significant concession, the kind of thing Iran always wants that the U.S. usually doesn't give. So, we seem to be giving a lot up front in exchange for ships crossing through the Strait, and long-term management of the Strait also is not identified here.

So, that's just a quick brush, there's a lot a lot in here, but I mean that's the bottom line. We're giving an awful lot to open the Strait of Hormuz. Everything else is kind of kicked down the road.

BLITZER: And what jumped out at me was articles -- excuse me, Article 5, which specifically cites $300 billion to be made available to Iran in exchange for what they're supposed to be doing. In other words, paying them to get this deal done.

[11:35:00]

MCGURK: Well, Article 5 is linked to the final agreement, but here also --

BLITZER: And it specifically mentions $300 billion.

MCGURK: $300 billion --

BLITZER: That's a lot of money.

MCGURK: -- that we will establish. So, another, I think I would take issue with this text, is that the U.S. says in a final agreement, it says what we would do in a final agreement. There would be a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran that we will establish within 60 days. We also commit in a final agreement to lift all sanctions on Iran. That's what it says.

That would mean not just nuclear related sanctions, such as what was in the JCPOA, but terrorism and human rights sanctions and everything else. We commit in a final agreement to lift all sanctions, including giving Iran a clean bill of health under the IAEA, which relates to its prior weaponization work.

Bottom line, a lot of these issues are what, if you sit with the Iranians, they're always asking for. We've never given them. And we say in a final deal, we will lift all sanctions. Now, a final deal is contemplated only to be a nuclear deal, OK? If we are talking about a comprehensive deal in which Iran agrees they're no longer going to support Hezbollah, these groups around the region, they're not going to support terrorism.

BLITZER: That's not even included in this --

MCGURK: But that's not contemplated at all.

BLITZER: -- memorandum of understanding. A specific commitment to stop supporting Hezbollah or Hamas or the Houthis.

MCGURK: Not contemplated at all. Now, Iran could be telling U.S. negotiators something privately, but they often do that. Well, they'll say -- an Iranian negotiator will say, I've had this experience. Look, here's what we're going to do. We just can't put that in the text because we have our hardliners and everything. But to the Iranians, the text is what matters. What's in the text, they will read it very carefully. They will hold you aside to it. Particularly, this is a document signed by the president or the vice president. This will be the text that we have to live by. So, still some open questions?

BLITZER: Is the text they're going to sign Friday --

MCGURK: Yes.

BLITZER: -- the exact same text that they digitally signed the other day?

MCGURK: The president's alluding today to maybe not. Maybe it's not fine. Look, there's so many open questions. The rollout of this has not been, I think it's not going as smoothly as the White House might have liked. But just put the text out there so we can see what's going on.

BLITZER: Well, we have the text.

MCGURK: So, yes.

BLITZER: CNN obtained it. Yes.

MCGURK: So --

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we obtained it. They didn't willingly.

BLITZER: Right. We got it from a U.S. official. Yes.

MCGURK: So, see, Iranian media actually this morning, Wolf, was backing away from possibly sending a representative to this signing on Friday. So, even between now and Friday, things could change. We'll see. Look, I want the Iranian nuclear program to be put in cement, locked in cement forever. I want Iran's character to change for not supporting terrorism, doing all this stuff. I'm seeing no indication that this war achieved those objectives. If anything, that core of that regime remains very much intact. And I suspect President Trump will be dealing with this challenge throughout the rest of his term and his successor will also. It's a wicked problem that every president's dealt with since Jimmy Carter.

BLITZER: Yes. All right. Brett McGurk, thank you --

MCGURK: Thank you.

BLITZER: -- very, very much. Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Wolf, now to a Situation Room special report. CNN spoke moments ago with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in a wide- ranging interview discussing everything from the Knicks NBA Finals win ahead of tomorrow's parade in the Big Apple, the World Cup and, of course, politics.

So, let's go live now to CNN anchor and correspondent Omar Jimenez, who just wrapped up that interview. Omar, I understand the mayor spoke about an upcoming New York congressional primary, along with his recent decision to break with political tradition and not attend that annual parade honoring Israel. What more did he tell you?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, we talked about, as you mentioned, a wide range of things, including the Knicks, the World Cup. There's a big Knicks parade set for tomorrow here in the city. But we also touched on politics. The mayor is set to rally with Senator Bernie Sanders tomorrow night.

And so, it prompted sort of the questions about the future of the Democratic Party, which he believes should be focused on cost of living. But tied to that, one of the candidates he's endorsed, Brad Lander, here in New York City, he and Landers attended a Jewish-Muslim solidarity voter rally over the weekend. And so, I contrasted that to the mayor's decision to skip the Israel Day parade a few weeks ago, and why he believes that that was the right move, and the differences he saw in between one show of solidarity in one context versus another. Here's some of our conversation on that front.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: You were out with your congressional hopeful Brad Lander this past weekend, who also will be there at the Sanders rally. But you guys were at a Jewish-Muslim solidarity rally. And I bring that up because I contrast that a little bit with your decision not to be at the Israel Day parade, which you've been very public about why you did not want to be there. My question is, what do you see is the difference in those solidarity appearances? And do you think it sends the wrong message to Jewish members of the city who did go to that Israel Day parade?

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D-NY): You know, I've said time and again that I believe, as the mayor of our city, that the ability for a parade to take place, for it to be safe and secure, should not be contingent on whether or not the mayor is present.

[11:40:00]

There are a number of New Yorkers who attended that parade. My job was to prepare for that parade, to work with our police department to ensure it could be a safe experience.

And also, that solidarity with a government that is committing genocide is a very different thing than a question of solidarity with people of a specific faith. I'm proud to be a mayor of a city with the largest Jewish population in this country. And I'm prouder still of the kind of solidarity we've seen across the city. And to your point about former Comptroller and hopefully soon-to-be Congressman Brad Lander, he is such an incredible example of what that solidarity can look like and how we want this to be a city where we don't just ask ourselves, can we keep Jewish New Yorkers safe?

No, we want the threshold to be higher than safety. We want to ask ourselves, how can we celebrate and cherish Jewish New Yorkers?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And obviously a lot of debate over the term genocide by the Israel government, but at the very least, the mayor confident in his decision not to attend that particular parade and confident in the congressional candidate he's endorsed in Brad Lander.

BROWN: All right. And on a lighter note, that Knicks win ahead of tomorrow's parade. What did Mayor Mamdani have to say about that, Omar?

JIMENEZ: Well, as you might imagine, Knicks fan Mayor Mamdani has been excited about the Knicks every step of the way. But obviously, there's a balance between being an excited fan versus actually being the mayor of this city. So, for the parade itself, for example, they've got more than 10,000 officers assigned to this, which is said to be the largest for any event here.

And then on top of that, every single person is going to be screened as part of the security measures for this. I just want you to listen a little bit of our conversation about the Knicks and how he's looking at this week and the days to come.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: There's a lot of people watching this, though, who might not live in New York and think to themselves, All right. Knicks won a championship. Why is everyone going so crazy? How would you explain why this feels different?

MAMDANI: I think one is the weight. We're talking about 53 years since we last won a championship, 26 years since we were last in the finals. Then I think it's also a story about the full circle moment of this. In '99, we were up against the Spurs. Rick Brunson was on that team. We lost 4-1. Now, in 2026, his son, Jalen Brunson, is the captain of the team. We beat that same team 4-1. It feels like a fulfillment of all those hopes.

And I think also for the city, it feels as if the entire city has rallied around this team. And some of it is the weight. Some of it also, though, is that people are so excited to be outside with one another, are so excited to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

And what's a beautiful thing about this city is part of what we're talking about, the projections on the wall across the street, the impromptu viewing on the Link NYC kiosk, the walking by a guy with his trunk open and the TV on, it also speaks to the fact that this city is unique in that you can walk across this city. You can actually be outside and not having to drive everywhere. And part of that does give rise to these opportunities to be with people who you don't even know, who you've never met before.

Because I don't know about you, but when we see GTA pull a spin move and go up for the layup, I'm not just embracing one of my best friends to my right. I'm also embracing somebody I've never met before on my left, because we're just caught up in the joy and the moment of it. And I think people have felt alienated. They felt isolated for a long time. This is a moment that shows it doesn't have to be that way.

JIMENEZ: Critical question for you here.

MAMDANI: Hit me.

JIMENEZ: I'm from the Atlanta area.

MAMDANI: Sorry. Sorry to the Hawks.

JIMENEZ: Hey, hey, hey, we put up the most fight in this playoff, so hang the banner. We'll be back. We'll see you next year.

MAMDANI: Shout out to ATF.

JIMENEZ: But the main question is, has Victor Wembanyama overtaken Trae Young as New York City's biggest basketball villain? I'm not sure who the other guy is that you're speaking of. But Victor Wembanyama is the most recent villain that we have. Yes, vanquished.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Look said it plain and simple, and no shade to our Atlanta Hawks. But New York City is celebrating the mayor clearly top of mind. And for basketball fans, that is a big moment since Trae Young has sort of been the villain here in New York City, clearly moving on to a new chapter.

But there is one thing he said in there, too, that has been so apparent over the course of this playoffs run that has less to do with basketball, sort of talking about that feeling of being isolated and stuff. So many people have described the next run as turning New York City, the biggest city in the country to what felt like the smallest town in the country, where you could talk to anybody that you wanted, where on the subway, people were sharing in that same experience.

So, on top of the basketball on top of the parade that we're going to be watching over the course of tomorrow, that is the dynamic that you see play out on these streets. That was not so much apparent before this playoffs run, especially not so much before the finals.

[11:45:00]

BROWN: Yes, I love that. All right. Omar Jimenez. Thank you so much. More when we come back.

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BLITZER: Happening now, a passenger exposed to a rare strain of the hunter virus on the MV Hondius cruise in early May is still in federal quarantine. Angela Perryman was ordered by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to remain quarantined in a special medical center in Nebraska, even though she was previously cleared to return home to Florida by a federal health expert.

[11:50:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA PERRYMAN, QUARANTINED CRUISE PASSENGER: It's like being in a prison. This facility, the national quarantine unit is essentially just an administrative prison for the federal government. It's a place to put people under administrative orders.

We're not sick or receiving no medical care. The extent of our screening is somebody looks at the display on a thermometer twice a day when we check our temperature and delivers his meals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: An HHS spokesperson told CNN that Secretary Kennedy specifically considered the medical recommendations before deciding to continue the current order.

BROWN: And on a different virus, Wolf, the head of Africa's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning that the deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo could be the worst ever. That official also says the epidemic could cost billions of dollars to contain later if critical weaknesses and the response are not addressed quickly.

Joining us now to discuss his infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist Dr. Celine Gounder. She is also the editor at large for the public health at KFF Health News. Thanks so much for coming back on doctor. What is your view of this statement from the Africa CDC director general about this outbreak? Is it hyperbole or do you think it's a fair assessment of the situation on the ground there?

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST AND EPIDEMIOLOGIST: The situation is really dire. We've seen a large spike over the last couple of days, the largest single day increase since the outbreak was declared. And we're also seeing difficulty with contact tracing and diagnosis.

So, in terms of contact tracing, there's a tremendous amount of mistrust among communities on the ground. They talk about, quote, "Ebola business" from their perspective. And this is something I saw over a decade ago in West Africa as well. What these communities see are foreigners, outsiders arriving with lots of resources. None of those resources go into the local community. It doesn't go into the local economy, doesn't create new jobs. And they say that humanitarians are making a business off of this, making money off of it. So, you have that number one.

Number two, you have armed militants in the area, which makes it very difficult for the local population as well as aid workers to respond. It's very unsafe to travel in this area. And it's just a very difficult terrain. You're basically off roading to get from place to place. So, the contact tracing is very difficult under those circumstances.

And then on top of that, there's a diagnostic bottleneck. So, there has been some issues with respect to being able to process the testing to be able to say, OK, you're a contact, but now you've been tested. Either you have Ebola or you don't. And that also makes it very difficult to contain this outbreak.

BROWN: Wow. Just really a confluence of challenges here. And you've actually treated Ebola patients and past outbreaks in Africa. Share with our viewers what that was like and how this current epidemic and the Democratic of Congo is different.

DR. GOUNDER: Well, I think from my perspective, what I volunteer as an aid worker in this outbreak, what would really give me what does give me pause is the armed militants in the area and the threat of violence. And it's one thing to be dealing with patients who have Ebola where you're concerned about. Might I get Ebola or not?

But in some ways, that's a more controllable risk. If you've been trained, you understand how you use personal protective equipment. You understand the limits of how long you can be in an Ebola treatment unit without breaks to keep things safe. That's a more controllable risk. What other people do, what our militants do, what the community does, if they are very suspicious, if there are conspiracy theories, that is not as predictable of a risk. It's a lot harder to control and to protect yourself.

BLITZER: Yes. And I think as we're having this conversation, you know, a lot of our viewers are wondering whether this current outbreak has the ability to affect them, their families here in the U. S. And other parts of the world. Can you speak to that concern?

DR. GOUNDER: Yes. So, I think big picture. We're looking at a situation where this may become a very large regional outbreak, possibly the biggest Ebola outbreak ever. We're well on track towards that. That is very different from a pandemic. Pandemic means worldwide.

But, you know, I have to say this entire experience has been really triggering in terms of thinking back how this was -- I've had colleagues say to me, oh, it seems like the situation is getting better. Well, that's because the American Dr. Peter Stafford, who got Ebola, has been discharged from the hospital in Berlin. He was allowed to go home. And this makes me think back to 2014 after my friend, Dr. Craig Spencer, was discharged from Bellevue Hospital. After our midterm elections, Ebola fell out of the headlines, even though it took until 2016 almost two years later for that West African epidemic to be brought to a close.

[11:55:00]

And so, sure, an American doctor isn't sick anymore now or then. It's not. It wasn't a political campaign issue anymore. This time we have an administration that can control the response as it wants, and so it's fallen out of the headlines falling out of the headlines. People are shrugging their shoulders, and it's one thing to say it's not going to be a danger to you, it's another thing to understand that thousands of people may die.

BLITZER: Yes. And then that's why we continue to cover this on our show. Dr. Celine Gounder, thank you. Wolf.

BLITZER: And to all of our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning.

BROWN: Inside Politics Today with our friend and colleague Phil Mattingly starts after a quick break.

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