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Sources Say, Israel and Hezbollah Renew Their Ceasefire; Sources Say, Trump Pick for Acting Intel Chief Eyes Mass Firings; 10 Million Under Flood Watches as Gulf Coast Expects More Rain. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired June 19, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, ceasefire renewed. Hours after an escalation in Lebanon, we're learning Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to stop fighting. We are live in Jerusalem.

Plus, flood threat. Rising waters force water rescues in the south, and more rain could make things worse this weekend.

And logging off, should kids under 16 be banned from social media? The states that are trying to restrict their access.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown. Wolf Blitzer is on assignment, and you're in The Situation Room.

Let's get to that breaking news. Multiple sources tell CNN that Israel and Iranian proxy Hezbollah have agreed to renew a ceasefire effective right now. Overnight, the two sides traded deadly attacks in Lebanon. Israel says an explosive hit a tank and killed four Israeli soldiers. Lebanon says Israeli strikes have killed at least 21 people.

Vice President J.D. Vance abruptly canceled his trip to Switzerland to begin the next stage of negotiations with Iran. So, a lot is going on this front.

Let's bring in CNN's Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem. Oren, Iran had asked for these guarantees that hostilities in Lebanon will end before it resumes the talks. What more can you tell us about this ceasefire and its impact?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: And that, Pam, is point 1 in the 14-point memorandum of understanding, that the war will end on all fronts, including in Lebanon, but that's not what we saw starting early this morning. In fact, just in the last few minutes here, we have heard from multiple sources familiar with the matter that Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to renew the ceasefire after mediation from the U.S., Iran, and Pakistan.

According to the Israeli military, shortly after midnight, a Hezbollah explosive device, potentially an anti-tank missile or an explosive drone, struck an Israeli tank in Southern Lebanon, killing four soldiers inside that tank. Israel then carried out a wave of strikes not only in Southern Lebanon but across the Bekaa Valley. The Israeli military says more than 100 targets were struck, and that led to more than 21 people killed, according to Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health, a number that may still rise.

So, we saw this intense fighting starting shortly after midnight into the hours of the morning here. That's when mediators stepped in to try to get the ceasefire back on track, and that's critical for President Donald Trump because Iran had basically said, we're not going to take part in negotiations in the next 60 days of talks following the memorandum of understanding signing if there isn't a cessation of the fighting in Lebanon. So, that's what we're seeing play out here as mediators stepped in to try to get the ceasefire back on track.

Now, of course, what happens from now is critical. We have seen multiple ceasefires put in place in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, including earlier this month, in April, November 2024, and they have fallen apart sometimes within days. In fact, there are some reports of Israeli strikes in Lebanon after the time the ceasefire was supposed to take effect at 4:00 P.M. local time here, which is just about an hour ago. So, we need to see if this ceasefire holds, because if it doesn't, it puts those U.S.-Iran negotiations in peril. Pam?

BROWN: All right. Oren Liebermann, thanks so much.

And let's go straight to CNN's Betsy Klein at the White House for us. Betsy, a source is telling CNN this morning that the U.S. and Qatar helped mediate this latest ceasefire. What more can you tell us about that?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Pamela, I don't think you can overstate how challenging this next round of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran is going to be. That memorandum of understanding that these two countries signed earlier this week just sets a 60-day clock for more technical discussions, and that is on the thornier remaining nuclear issues.

So, Vice President J.D. Vance's planned Thursday departure for Switzerland, where they were supposed to kick off these second set of talks in earnest with Iran, as well as mediators Pakistan and Qatar, was postponed.

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But a U.S. official telling CNN last night that that delegation is prepared to depart at the first available opportunity going forward. We'll have to see if that is able to happen as soon as today, if not this weekend.

But the major issue here, as Oren just laid out, is this continued violence in Lebanon, even though this U.S.-Iranian agreement is supposed to halt all of this conflict. Israel carrying out that wave of strikes in Lebanon today, that comes after Hezbollah attacked, that killed four Israeli soldiers. But Iran is asking for guarantees that the hostilities there will end before these talks can begin.

A U.S. official now telling us that Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to renew the ceasefire. It's unclear if this is going to be enough to get those talks back on track with Iran. Pamela?

BROWN: And also, Betsy, the president has made these new comments about Iran. What is he saying?

KLEIN: That's right. The president has been on the defense this morning, really trying to defend criticism of this deal with Iran, this memorandum of understanding signed earlier this week. He's saying in a post to social media moments ago, quote, we didn't meet out of desperation. Iran did. They are finished. We'll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not 10 cents. Of course, the president there referring to criticism around that $300 billion fund that regional allies are expected to create to help Iran redevelop. The U.S., he says, is not going to give Iran any money.

He also has weighed in on what he has learned during this conflict in a new interview with Axios. Listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What have you learned about not just the exercise of power, but the limits on your power as a result of the conflict?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: There are no limits.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No limit?

TRUMP: No, not-- I haven't learned that lesson yet. I know there are, but, you know, there are no limits. We defeated them totally militarily.

I did a naval blockade where not one ship was able to get through. Some tried. They didn't -- you know, it didn't last very long.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it certainly brought Iran to the table more than before.

However, beginning of conflict, you had talked about you only wanted unconditional surrender. And, well, MOU doesn't look like unconditional surrender.

TRUMP: Well, it really probably is unconditional surrender.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is?

TRUMP: I think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: The president there calling it unconditional surrender. But as we wait to see whether these technical discussions are going to get underway, some sources are saying that it is still possible that negotiators never reach a final agreement. Pamela? BROWN: All right. Betsy Klein live for us from the White House there. And new this morning, sources tell CNN President Trump's pick for acting intelligence chief is looking to cut hundreds of jobs at his department. Two sources tell us that Bill Pulte showed up to his new job a day early, surprising staff, including outgoing Director Tulsi Gabbard.

All right, let's bring in CNN Senior National Security Reporter Zach Cohen here in The Situation Room. So, the president himself said Pulte was not supposed to start until today. What are your sources saying about his initial interactions, why he showed up a day early, and the cuts he's looking to make?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes. I think you don't show up a day early for your new job if you don't feel empowered to start aggressively carrying out a mandate, which Bill Pulte does have from the president, to start carrying out these mass firings at ODNI, and potentially across the intelligence community writ large, as well as to investigate Donald Trump's grievances with the elections.

And so those are really the two pillars of what Pulte has been tasked with as acting DNI, however long he's in that role.

But even early on in these first interactions with intelligence officials, I'm told that Pulte is also demonstrating his lack of intelligence experience, and lack of experience handling classified information. We obviously reported previously that Pulte didn't have a security clearance prior to being tapped for this job, which is usually a prerequisite for somebody who's going to even temporarily lead the intelligence community. And even in the days since, in the days leading up to his first day on the job yesterday, he was asking about what level of a security clearance he actually had, whether it was top secret, whether it was lower than that.

He has been given an interim clearance, I'm told. But still, his lack of knowledge about what he has access to as acting DNI further underscores the concerns we've heard from Democrats and Republicans on the Hill about his lack of experience. And we're also told that Pulte asked if he could bring the president's daily brief, a highly classified compilation of national security issues, home with him on his first day at the office, and in his first briefing with ODNI officials. That really alarmed the people in the room, we're told, because, again, highly classified material, you typically know you can't bring that home with you. But Pulte seemed to think that he could.

And we're also learning that Bill Pulte seemed much more fixated on the logistics and the scheduling, and his access to travel as acting DNI, something that will dramatically change and become more complicated on the travel front.

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But he has requested access to a government plane. He's also wanted to know how easily he can travel between his three homes in Florida, D.C., and Chicago.

So, his priorities seem to be aligned with Donald Trump's mandate, but also his own personal, while the intelligence community has a lot of concerns about what's coming down the pipe for them as far as the mass firings go.

BROWN: Right, because now he oversees 18 intelligence agencies. Tell us more about the cuts he's looking to make. I mean, could he start firings today? What's the expectation?

COHEN: It's really unclear, and that's going to be an interesting thing to watch, and I think the primary concern here is that he will just initiate ad hoc cuts and not really realize who he's firing and what jobs they're actually in. Just his core mission is to dramatically shrink the size of ODNI itself.

And that is something that, you know, has been happening during Tulsi Gabbard's tenure as well. But intelligence officials I talked to are worried that he is going to just conduct these mass firings without any regard for who he's getting rid of.

BROWN: All right. Zack Cohen, as always, thank you for bringing your reporting here to The Situation Room.

And still ahead, weather wallop. The remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur now has millions of people under the highest flood risk.

Plus, guns and lots of ammo, the new photos from the investigation of a plot to attack the White House UFC fight.

You're in The Situation Room, and we'll be right back.

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BROWN: Happening now, 10 million people are under flood watches as remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur bring more threats of deadly floods along the Gulf Coast. A month's worth of rain fell in just a matter of days, and now three people are dead in Texas and Mississippi.

The system also churned up tornadoes in Southeast Louisiana, ripping homes apart, and there are water rescues this morning with more heavy rainfall ahead.

CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now. So, Derek, the Gulf Coast is already dealing with this catastrophic flooding. How long will this system last?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We've got another day of flood potential across the same hardest hit areas. It looks like no one was really spared from the flooding, including the animals. Look at these pigs trying to get to higher ground.

Look, there was so many instances of flash flooding, as over a foot of rain fell in many locations across Mississippi and into Louisiana inundating homes, businesses, changing people's lives forever.

But look at this rainfall accumulation. This starts since the beginning of the week, so we're going back to Sunday. You can highlight the areas that were hit hardest. But I'm going to point your attention to Southern Mississippi and Central Louisiana. You can clearly see where the rainfall totals stacked up more than a foot.

And then even into Louisiana, where the potential here, we're rivaling one of the state's 24-hour rainfall record, if it's confirmed, just incredible amounts of rain that fell. Some of our rain model numbers there showing over two feet of rain.

That is just significant. Okay, so here's a look at the weather alerts, the flood alerts across the Deep South. And I want to point your attention towards Dallas. There's a flashflood warning with a considerable tag. There have been reports of many flooded roadways. As it stands right now, this large area of showers and thunderstorms moving across the Dallas metropolitan region.

Remember, the atmosphere is so primed and ready to produce heavy rainfall right now, and it's all because of the remnants of what was Tropical Storm Arthur. We're calling this the ghost of Arthur. But it's leaving behind this moist atmosphere, and so it's taking advantage of that, and that is why we have our flash flood risks, unfortunately, Pamela, in some of the hardest hit areas from yesterday.

BROWN: Wow, and that video of the pigs, my goodness.

VAN DAM: I know.

BROWN: All right. Derek Van Dam, thanks so much.

Coming up here in The Situation Room on this Friday, while you might flip out when you find out how much a new iPhone is going to cost you, we're making it make sense, up next.

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BROWN: Happening now, your new iPhone, it's about to get even more expensive. Outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company plans to raise prices on its products.

So, let's make it make sense with CNN Business Senior Reporter David Goldman.

David, today's question, why are iPhones getting more expensive?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, you know, I think that everyone when they buy an iPhone gets a little bit of sticker shock. They're over $1,000. But you might need to pay a lot more for that the next time you buy one.

So, Tim Cook was interviewed by The Wall Street Journal and he said, well, unfortunately, prices are going to have to go up. It is unavoidable.

Now, how much is the big question. It looks like about 14 percent. That is not a small amount. That's according to the International Data Corporation. It's a tech company that does kind of research into what's going on in pricing. And the reason that you're seeing this is that A.I. is really taking a toll on chips. We're going to get to that in a minute.

What kind of price are you looking at? Right now, it's about $1,100 for an iPhone 17 Pro. Now, if the 14 percent is true, that would be over $1,200. We'll see what Apple actually ends up charging for it, but $1,200 is a lot to pay for an iPhone, for sure.

Now, you can get a better deal on an Android phone. They've been running under $500 on average the last few years. But that would lift the price above $500 if that 14 percent holds true across the entire market.

So, what is the deal? Why are these prices going up? It's for two reasons. You have memory chips and you have storage chips, both of which are in huge demand from A.I. data centers. And these are generally pretty inexpensive chips. I mean, you're talking about $39 for a smartphone memory chip, about $13 for a storage chip.

What's the big deal? Well, I'll tell you what the big deal is, because those are going up to around $145 for memory, $51 for storage, according to The Wall Street Journal's analysis of Tim Cook's comments.

So, what happens? Well, you've got a tsunami-like shock, according to IDC. This is going to make huge waves across the entire tech industry.

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It's not just smartphones. It's laptops, it's other devices as well that use those chips.

And the problem is it's not just for you buying your smartphone, it is certainly for me as well. I have always said, once you go smartphone, you never go dumbphone, Pam.

BROWN: I don't know. I know a lot of people who are now reverting back to the dumbphone and I'm hearing they're a lot happier because they're not on their phone as much. So, debatable, David Goldman.

And, by the way --

GOLDMAN: I love it. Embrace the old technology.

BROWN: Exactly. And great artistic work there with the tsunami.

GOLDMAN: Thank you very much.

BROWN: Who knew you're also an artist? All right, David, have a good weekend. And if you want David to make it make sense, email or send a selfie video of your question to makeitmakesense@cnn.com.

And just ahead here in The Situation Room, countdown to kickoff, we are live in Seattle as the U.S. looks to repeat a dominant performance on the pitch.

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