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Sources: Netanyahu Was Preparing Significant Iran Attack When Trump Convinced Him To Stand Down; Scientists Describe Feeling Pressure To Change EPA Risk Reviews; Study: Childhood Egg Allergies Fall Early Introduction; Israel & Iran Halt Strikes Against Each Other After New Attacks. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired June 08, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Trading Warnings: After Iran and Israel exchanged strikes, both sides stand down, but not without threats that more strikes could come.

Zone Defense: President Trump heading to New York tonight to watch the NBA Finals. The Secret Service and other agencies are stepping up their game to keep everyone safe.

And this bot can do a lot more than fetch. Will robotic dogs be fans' best friend by keeping the world safe this summer?

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: Breaking news on the war with Iran. CNN is now learning that Israel was preparing to launch a new significant attack in Tehran when President Trump stepped in earlier this morning. An Israeli source and a U.S. official familiar with the matter say that President Trump told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on any more retaliatory strikes. This was during the pair's second phone call in fewer than 24 hours. Let's go now live to Tel Aviv with CNN's Jeremy Diamond.

Jeremy, what more are you learning?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Boris. Last night, President Trump did not succeed in his earlier conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu in getting Israel to hold off and not retaliate against Iran. We saw overnight two waves of Israeli strikes inside Iran, one targeting military sites, the other targeting a petrochemical facility after Iran fired multiple barrages of ballistic missiles.

But then earlier today, the two got on the phone once again, and President Trump again urged Prime Minister Netanyahu not to retaliate further against Iran. And despite the fact that Israel, according to these sources, had several additional waves of attacks planned in Iran, bigger even than what we saw overnight, the Israeli prime minister seems to have called those attacks off at the urging of the U.S. president. And then this is what Prime Minister Netanyahu told the public.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through interpreter): At the moment, the fire has ceased, because after we struck the terror regime in Tehran, it stopped attacking us. If the terror regime in Iran makes the mistake of attacking us again, we will respond with force.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And so while we have now reached a point where both Israel and Iran have said that they will not attack each other any further for the time being, there is still hanging in the air this very real possibility of this conflict resuming once again. And that's not only because of what you just heard from the Israeli prime minister, but especially because of what we've heard from Iran.

Iran's military command saying in a statement that should Israel attack Iran, but also should Israel carry out additional attacks in southern Lebanon, then Iran will retaliate and will retaliate with more force than what we saw in these initial waves of ballistic missile attacks over the last 24 hours. That is a very new and very concerning new red line from Iran, because it goes much further than what we had heard before.

Iran previously warned that should Israel strike Beirut, the Lebanese capital, then Iran would strike Israel. And that's exactly what happened last night. And so now for Iran to be saying that this red line has moved, that it's now about southern Lebanon, you know, presents the real possibility of this conflict resuming, because Israel is vowing to intensify its attacks against the Iranian proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, whose stronghold is indeed in southern Lebanon.

And so, this remains a very tense situation. That being said, in Israel, the restrictions on activity have been largely removed across the country. Students are expected to go back to school tomorrow after classes were canceled today. But again, Israel's military and the region at whole -- at large remains on a heightened state of alert, again, because of these threats as it relates to Lebanon. Boris.

SANCHEZ: It's notable, Jeremy, that Netanyahu did not actually mention the ceasefire in his statement. Do we know where talks stand right now? The last we'd heard there was an impasse. CNN reported through Fred Pleitgen, who is in Iran right now, that their position was that until the United States froze some $24 billion in assets, there was not going to be a memorandum of understanding.

DIAMOND: Yes, I mean, listen, President Trump seems convinced that they are still in those final stages of negotiations. But we've been hearing that from the President for several weeks now, effectively. But the President told -- said that to Prime Minister Netanyahu. It seems to have been part of his argument to the prime minister for holding off on additional strikes because he believes that a deal may be at hand.

[15:05:04]

So, you know, it's -- it's very hard to judge and to assess at this stage how close two sides truly are. It seems that there are still disagreements over some of the very same issues that there were disagreements over several weeks ago, over, you know, the state of the frozen assets, how quickly they would be released, as well as Iran's commitments to actually remove its enriched uranium that -- that remains inside of the country in further rounds of negotiations.

The Israeli prime minister, it should be noted, still has very little confidence in those negotiations actually going forward. And now there is still this -- there is this very real threat of additional Israeli attacks in Lebanon bringing forward another round of ballistic missile fire from Iran. And that could again complicate further these negotiations with Iran. That's why President Trump has been intervening directly to get the Israeli government to kind of pare back and scale back its attacks on Iran, its retaliation. All of this hanging in the balance right now, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Jeremy Diamond, live from Israel. Thank you so much for the latest. Brianna?

KEILAR: This is the final hour before access around New York's Madison Square Garden is sharply restricted and that is because this is a lockdown that's part of an extensive security operation surrounding Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs. And President Trump's attendance is prompting this heightened security both inside and outside the arena.

So, unless you've got a game ticket or you have some business inside the secure zone, you are being told to stay away at this point. We have CNN's Shimon Prokupecz. He's there. He's ready. He's standing his team outside.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I'm ready. I'm ready.

KEILAR: Oh, he's -- take it -- I mean, just take it away.

PROKUPECZ: I am. I am.

KEILAR: Tell me what's happening there. The excitement's building.

PROKUPECZ: No, I mean, I'm excited. I'm -- so, I'll be in the building. How about that? In about an hour or so, I should start to be able to go in. There's going to be a huge line. So, I'm very excited. I'm very excited to see people starting to gather out here. Everyone's trying to figure out how they're going to get inside. If there's any last minute tickets, if there's a way, perhaps, the prices will come down.

But we're not going to see those same kind of crowds that we would normally see before a game, because as you were talking about, the security here is going to be unprecedented. This is 7th Avenue here, Brianna. It's all going to be shut down. There's -- they're literally, for blocks, shutting everything down once we hit 4 o'clock, which is going to be a big nightmare, obviously, for traffic. There's already a lot of congestion out here.

But that's not stopping people from any of the excitement, of course. And they're all gathering here. They're all trying to figure out how to take part in this, how to feel this moment, this historical moment of a championship game, being back in New York City, the Knicks.

I was talking to people this morning here. There was a man here who was here the last time the Knicks won the championship and you could just feel the excitement. And -- and just to be here at this moment, to enjoy this again. And everyone's talking about how unified the city is right now. And that's mostly what we're seeing out here, certainly. But there's a lot of -- a lot of excitement here, a lot of nervous energy, of course, hoping the Knicks win tonight.

So, we'll see. I mean, people should start gathering to go in to the arena around 6.30. But I'm sure people are going to -- people with tickets are going to start streaming in here shortly. It's going to be an excuse for many people to leave work early. They got to get to the Knicks game.

KEILAR: Yes, of course. I can't wait because it's been so long since the Knicks were in this position that it was much more trendy to have a tighter uniform, a tighter jersey. So, everyone's going to be wearing their very tight jerseys.

PROKUPECZ: Oh, yes. Yes.

KEILAR: Cannot wait. Shimon -- all right, Shimon, we'll keep checking in with you. We'll keep monitoring the scene there. Still to come ...

PROKUPECZ: Okay, thank you.

KEILAR: ... we have much more news. It could send beef prices even higher, a second case of a flesh eating parasite. So sorry about this story, folks, but it continues. It's been detected in cattle in South Texas.

Plus, a CNN exclusive, scientists at the EPA say they're under political pressure to change safety reviews of chemicals commonly found in household products. And then later, how this year's men's French Open winner ended years of frustration, finally becoming a Grand Slam champion. We'll have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:13:57]

KEILAR: A CNN exclusive report reveals multiple and former career scientists at the EPA say they're being pressured to downplay the potential risks of chemicals contained in commonly used products.

SANCHEZ: They report being pressed to alter safety reviews for chemicals and consumer products like cosmetics and household cleaners. The scientists also say they're being told to stop considering the impact a chemical may have on specific racial groups. Let's get more from CNN's Rene Marsh.

Rene, help us understand how these employees say the process for reviewing these chemicals is being altered.

RENE MARSH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean these are thousands and thousands of chemicals that exist in products that we all use every day. What many don't realize is that most and many of these chemicals have not received a full assessment from the EPA to determine what is the health impact and even the environmental impact.

And many, we spoke to many longtime EPA career employees who say that the process of making those assessments is increasingly coming under political pressure. They say that they're being pushed by supervisors to essentially downplay political risks of some of these chemicals making them look safer than they believe that they are.

[15:15:07]

And they also point out if there is no risk then there is no need to regulate. And we know that the Trump administration on -- especially at the EPA has made it, you know, one of their sort of guiding lights to strip away a lot of the regulations that we have seen in the past administration. And so, there's great concern within that context.

Now, obviously these are big allegations. These scientists are saying that perhaps chemicals are in products that we use and they're not getting the full rigorous assessment that it should. We brought this to the EPA and they said in a statement to CNN, of course, pushing back on all of this. They say that the EPA is implementing the President's executive order on restoring gold standard science across its risk evaluations. And it went on to say that in practice that means using realistic exposure scenarios rather than defaulting to compound worse case assumptions.

KEILAR: Rene, thank you so much. This is incredibly important obviously for consumers to be watching. Thank you.

And still to come, how new research shows that a recent shift in guidance concerning children and food allergies appears to now be paying off.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:20:59]

KEILAR: Introducing your baby to solid foods is a big step for new parents. And for the longest time, experts advise them to keep things like eggs away from babies because of concerns about allergies. But that advice has evolved and experts say the results are positive. Let's talk more about this now with CNN Health Reporter Jacqueline Howard.

All right, Jacqueline, tell us more about this.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Yes, Brianna. So in a new study, we now see that the updated guidance to show or introduce your babies to eggs and other allergenic foods around six months of age, that's actually working. And how we know that in this new study is that researchers in Australia, they looked at data on more than 7,000 infants. They looked at the prevalence of egg allergy before guidance was updated in Australia in 2016 and after, and they found that the prevalence dropped after the guidance was updated.

Before the updated guidance, about 9.2 percent of infants had an egg allergy, but after that prevalence dropped to 7.6 percent. So, the researchers say this shows that the latest guidance is working to reduce the prevalence of egg allergy. And even though this research was in Australia, Brianna, the scientists say that the findings seem to mirror what we also see here in the United States. And it's reassuring to see that the guidelines are working and it's safe to introduce these foods around six months of age.

Because for parents, when you introduce solids for the first time, that can be a nerve-wracking experience. I mean, Brianna, as a mother, I'm curious to hear what your experience was like when you introduced solids to your youngest for the first time.

KEILAR: Yes, I mean, I remember just being kind of nervous and the guidelines are helpful because you know that you're doing it right. But it's also helpful to tell you it's important to introduce these particular foods. Like, I remember being specific about, okay, we have to do the eggs and we have to get the peanut butter introduced because we can then make sure that we're reducing the allergies later, which can be, that can be such a scary thing, the idea that your child has an allergy.

And for those of us who know people with kids who do have those, that is really scary, Jacqueline. It's certainly very scary. So, what's the impact for other foods?

HOWARD: Oh, absolutely. Yes, it is scary.

And it's interesting that similar research looking at peanuts actually found this same association where once the guidance was updated, there was a drop in the prevalence of peanut allergy, too. So again, Brianna, this is reassuring for parents that this guidance is working. It can reduce the risk of allergy and it's safe to do. So, what's recommended is you do want to start introducing solid foods around six months of age. It's not recommended to start before four months of age.

And when you start this introduction, of course, talk with your pediatrician about whether it's the right time for your own child and look for cues that they're ready for solid foods. So, that means they're able to sit up on their own. They are able to control their head and neck. You see them starting to put objects towards their mouth and they open their mouth when you start -- start to feed them. And you see that they're able to swallow objects.

So again -- or swallow liquids -- so this is another sign that your child might be ready. But as always with anything, Brianna, talk with your pediatrician so you both kind of come to the right game plan. KEILAR: Yes, I'm having like flashbacks now to chopped up hard boiled

eggs in those peanut puffs and stuff. You're bringing that back with this story.

HOWARD: Yes.

KEILAR: Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much.

Still to come, we are learning some new details about how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing significant retaliatory strikes against Iran before a phone call with President Trump. We'll have more when we come back.

[15:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:29:31]

SANCHEZ: We're following breaking news in the Middle East. Iran and Israel both say they've ended their attacks for now, after both sides launched fresh strikes in the last 24 hours. The worst flare up in hostilities since the ceasefire began in April. Today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to respond with force if Iran again attacks Israel.

The message coming as an Israeli and U.S. source tells CNN that Israel was preparing a significant attack today in Tehran before President Trump told Netanyahu to hold off on any retaliation.

[15:30:03]

The two have now spoken twice since Iran launched its first strikes on Sunday.