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What We Know with Max Foster

Pakistan: "Peace Has Never Been This Close" For U.S. & Iran; Sources: Trump Paused U.S. Plan To Capture Iran's Uranium; SpaceX Goes Public, Making Musk World's First Trillionaire; Judge Indefinitely Blocks Trump's $1.8B Payout Fund; World Cup Opening Ceremonies Taking Place In Canada & U.S. Today. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired June 12, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:26]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: A deal between the United States and Iran for real this time.

I'm Christina Macfarlane in for Max Foster, and this is WHAT WE KNOW.

There are signs of optimism from both Iran and the U.S. that the two may finally be on the doorstep of an interim agreement.

Pakistan's prime minister says the U.S. and Iran have reached a final agreed upon text of the peace deal. He added peace has never been this

close as it is now.

A senior Trump administration official believes the majority of the Iranian leadership is on board, but it's still unclear whether Iran's supreme

leader has signed off on the agreement.

CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak's been following the story for us.

And, Kevin, I know you've been at briefings with White House officials in the past hour. What more are you learning about the framework that the US

have put forward here?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. And one senior administration official put the status of this about 85 percent, meaning

they're about 85 percent to getting this done and dusted. That still leaves 15 percent. And it does sound as if there is still some back and forth with

the Iranians about sort of the logistics of getting this finalized. You also hear some pretty stark discrepancies in how each side is

characterizing this deal, in part perhaps for domestic consumption, but still optimism from both sides that this will eventually get agreed to and

get agreed to relatively quickly.

And so the way the American administration is framing this is kind of in three different buckets. One is the Strait of Hormuz. They say that this

memorandum of understanding would immediately reopen the strait and lift the American blockade on Iranian ports that had been in place for quite

some time.

Second bucket is the nuclear program. American officials say that Iran has committed to not obtaining or acquiring a nuclear weapon. That in and of

itself is not new. Iran has done that previously.

What is new in this document is Iran agreeing to destroy its stockpile of highly enriched uranium on site in Iran and then moving that out of the

country. Now, the technicalities of that have not been arranged quite yet. Those will be discussed in a new round of negotiations that's set to last

60 days, but still some commitments, at least according to the Americans on the nuclear program.

And then the third is the question of financial relief that Iran can expect as part of this deal. And this is where the two sides do seem to have some

conflicting information. What the Iranian state media said earlier today was that Iran would receive $24 billion in unfrozen assets half of that

would go to them as soon as this agreement is signed American officials dispute that saying that Iran would have to fulfill some of its commitments

as part of this deal before it sees any of that money they say that the benefits would only accrue as they deliver on the plan.

So, clearly, some differences. You saw President Trump lashing out earlier at those reports in Iranian state media saying that the Iranians were

dishonorable people to deal with. But nonetheless, that doesn't seem to have derailed this. They do seem as if this is still heading in the right

direction towards some sort of signing ceremony.

Now, the thought now is that will occur in Geneva. That seems to be where all sides are converging. The G7 next week occurring very close to Geneva

and Evian-le-Van in France. And so that seems to be where they believe that this will happen. When that occurs, we don't know who will be there, we

don't know. But it's clearly some optimism today that this is all moving in the right direction.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, 85 percent optimism, perhaps.

Kevin, we appreciate it. Thank you.

Now, CNN has learned exclusively that President Trump paused an urgent plan to send U.S. ground troops into Iran to seize the country's highly enriched

uranium. So just how close was the administration to giving the green light to this incredibly dangerous operation?

CNN national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand, who brought us this exclusive story, joins us now.

Natasha, what are you learning about that and how close they were?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESEPONDENT: Yeah, Christina, just to set the stage for you a little bit on how this all played out.

According to our sources, the top U.S. general, General Dan Caine, who is the chairman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he was in Europe at a NATO

meeting, and he all of a sudden had to rush back very quickly to the United States in late May on May 19th. in order to attend this highly classified

and sensitive briefing by U.S. Central Command officials on the plan for moving forward with a U.S. military operation to go into Iran to find the

highly enriched uranium that Iran has buried deep underneath several of its nuclear facilities, primarily at Isfahan nuclear facility, and extract that

material.

[15:05:30]

This has been a key objective that the Trump administration has been because that is, of course, what the Iranians could use to build a nuclear

weapon if they decide to weaponize their nuclear program. So General Caine was on the ground in Florida, where U.S. Central Command headquarters is

located, for a matter of hours for the sole purpose of being briefed in person on this very sensitive military operation. And it was so urgent that

he then left to go back to Washington, D.C. to brief President Trump on the options for this mission.

Now, what we're told is that Trump realized pretty immediately that this could prompt severe Iranian retaliation. It could then plunge the global

economy further into turmoil, prolong the war even further. And so that kind of deterred him from giving the green light to this operation.

But apart from that, he was also told that this is an operation that could result in an extremely high number of casualties. A large number of

American troops could either be wounded or killed as part of this operation just by the sheer nature of it being in extremely hostile territory. The

Iranians, of course, heavily guard these nuclear facilities where these enriched uranium canisters are stored. It would be very difficult for them

to navigate the tunnels underneath these facilities where this material is.

And the IRGC, which is Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, they have people all around these facilities guarding them. And so it would be a

very, very dangerous mission. For now it's on hold, but we're told not entirely off the table, even though we see Iran and the U.S. perhaps coming

to some kind of agreement on what to actually do with that material -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, I mean, in light of what we're just hearing with the proposal for this new framework, that really is some stunning reporting.

Natasha Bertrand, thank you very much.

Elon Musk was already the world's richest man. Now he's the world's first trillionaire. SpaceX made a hotly anticipated blockbuster market debut

Friday.

You're looking at the first ever dual opening in Nasdaq history. SpaceX bosses ringing the opening bell in New York, and Musk from SpaceX's

headquarters in Texas.

The aerospace and artificial intelligence company now the sixth most valuable company traded in the U.S. Its valuation is now more than $2

trillion.

And there has been so much traffic on the trading sites. Some people have been experiencing reportedly tech issues. The polarizing entrepreneur says

he can't quite believe what's happening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, CEO, SPACEX: And let me tell you, if people had told me this was going to happen, I was like, man, you must be smoking some really good

crack. Because I think this company is going to fail. I mean, I gave I gave SpaceX less than a 10 percent chance of succeeding at all, to be clear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, so far shares have soared past their target price. SpaceX has set its official IPO price at $135 on Thursday and it is currently

trading at $166.23 as you can see there, you know, up over 20 percent and has been for most of the past few hours.

This IPO is kicking off a wave of mega tech listings.

CNN's A.I. correspondent Hadas Gold is joining me now live from New York.

So the share price opening above expected really, Hadas, its trading price there. What are you hearing about there being so much traffic that it's

actually been sort of stalling and they've been having tech issues going on in the background here?

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, even before this IPO launch, we were hearing that the IPO was oversubscribed by like four times. And now

we're getting reports from some of these trading platforms, including like Robinhood, that they were getting record-breaking traffic. And as a result,

some people were having trouble accessing their platform.

We heard from Charles Schwab. They said they had an unprecedented number of clients requesting shares. We heard from Fidelity as well saying that they

had something like 700,000 requests for shares.

So, really unprecedented demand for the largest IPO in history. There's just a lot of excitement around this IPO and around the company and of

course around Elon Musk and what he is selling and his vision for the future because for a lot of these investors, they are not necessarily

investing in the company as it stands today because when you look at the numbers, they don't actually look that great. I mean, it's making a lot of

money, but it's also billions of dollars and doesn't necessarily have the revenue that some of its other cohorts, when you look at the list of the

most viable companies in the world, just doesn't have the same amount of revenue.

But these people are buying into the future. They're buying into what Elon Musk is selling and that he says is going to happen. Not just about Mars,

not just about the moon, but a lot of investors are excited about this vertically integrated A.I. company because now that SpaceX owns xAI, they

not only own the models and training the models, things like Grok and xAI, They also are going to be owning and they also own the data centers. That's

also, you know, the engine that runs these A.I. models.

There's a lot of questions about, you know, needing more data centers, needing more space, needing cooling data centers in space is something that

they're talking about. And SpaceX owns not only the ability to get those data centers up into space, but also the satellite Starlink that can

communicate that data from those data centers in space. back down to Earth.

And so for a lot of these investors, that's what they are investing in. They're investing in sort of speculative future technology like data

centers in space that don't exist yet, but they're making a bet that it will pay off in the end, that actually it's all this infrastructure that

likely all these other A.I. companies are going to need to buy into. And that's what they're investing in.

We've got about 40 minutes left or so of trading. So we'll see what that price will look like at close today. It's about 25 percent. And that's what

you want with IPOs. You want them to pop around 10 to 30 percent.

So, they're doing quite well. Sometimes there's a tactic to sort of underprice your IPOs that you get that excitement, you get all the coverage

of how it's above the initial share price. But I do expect this excitement over SpaceX to continue and the excitement over it being public to continue

for some time.

MACFARLANE: Okay, and we haven't even got to talking about the fact that Elon Musk became the first ever trillionaire today, but we will do that,

get to it later in the show. Hadas, appreciate it. Thank you so much.

And now, a federal judge says she does not believe President Trump's plan for a $1.8 billion fund to pay his political allies has been permanently

sidelined. Today she issued an order indefinitely blocking the proposal to use tax dollars to compensate people who say they were wrongly prosecuted

by the government.

The Justice Department has argued the fund is dead and a court order was not needed.

Katelyn Polantz was at the hearing and joins me now.

So what more was said at the hearing and what does this mean, Katelyn?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, what became very evident in this hearing is that Judge Leonie Brinkema of the federal

court in Northern Virginia that she doesn't trust what the Justice Department is saying, that they are not going to have this fund move

forward in any fashion.

Now, that is what the acting attorney general told Congress previously, after there was a significant amount of blowback and lawsuits filed on this

plan by the Trump administration to put $1.8 billion of taxpayer money into a fund that could be distributed to people like January 6th rioters, others

that the Trump administration deemed were victims of so-called weaponization of the federal government.

But what Judge Brinkema said is that I'm putting a stop to this indefinitely in any form. There cannot be any anti-weaponization fund in

any manner under any name. Now, you may ask, didn't she do that before? We did get a court order that even the president announced publicly he was

quite happy with.

This judge had only done that in a very temporary or short way, but today this was a much more significant legal decision by the judge where she's

saying There's a pretty good indicator that there would be an incentive and a motive to go forward with something like this, because even while the

acting attorney general says there's no fun moving forward, the president is out there saying he still would like to see, say, the January 6th

rioters compensated.

And so now we have a court order. It was a pretty forceful morning in court from Judge Brinkema. And there still are questions about why hasn't the

Justice Department or Donald Trump himself or the Treasury Department formally said in writing they're rescinding this plan to create this fund.

Judge Brinkema, she wants a response within a week with something under oath from the secretary of the treasury and the two top lawyers at the

Justice Department, the Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, as well as the Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward. They've got to say under

oath that this is indeed not moving forward.

What they've said so far, it just wasn't enough for this judge.

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MACFARLANE: Oh, and we will wait to see if she gets that response within the week ahead.

Katelyn Polantz, appreciate your reporting on this. Thank you.

Okay, still ahead, co-host Canada now playing in the World Cup after a dazzling opening ceremony. We'll look at today's festivities, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Now we have been here many times before, but if Pakistan's prime minister is to be believed, we really are close to a peace deal

between the United States and Iran. Shehbaz Sharif posted earlier that peace has never been as close as it is now and said that Pakistan was

working to finalize the next steps. Pakistan, which shares a border with Iran, has been one of the central mediators between Washington and Tehran.

Fawaz Gerges is professor of international relations at the London School of Economics and author of "The Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom

and Democracy in the Middle East".

Great to have you back on the show again.

So I was speaking to a guest the previous hour who said that we are here very close to a deal or closer than ever before because neither side has a

good alternative and that despite the tough rhetoric we've been seeing between the two sides, there is a strong incentive to reach a deal.

So, how close do you think we are in this moment, given the rhetoric we've seen?

FAWAZ GERGES, AUTHOR, "THE GREAT BETRAYAL": Well, I mean, the first caution to our viewers is that we have heard this song before, haven't we,

Christina?

MACFARLANE: Yes.

GERGES: Many times, according to the CNN, President Trump used the term imminent ceasefire or peace deal almost 39 times in the past three months.

But I think what's different about the last 48 hours is that both Pakistan's Prime Minister Sharif and Iran's foreign minister have made it

very clear that significant progress has been made regarding the final text of a memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States, even

though the final text has not been finalized.

[15:20:16]

So we are almost there. We're not there yet. We're almost there. And as we know, the devil always lies in the details. So we have to wait and see

whether Iran and the United States can -- could finalize the tax in the next day or so.

The reason why I am a bit optimistic now, because I think both sides have a vast interest in de-escalation. Neither the United States nor Iran want

renewal of hostilities. So the fact is, I think both sides are coming to realize that any kind of escalation could basically trigger another round

of hostilities and another side wants to do so.

MACFARLANE: Yes. Can I ask what you make of the American officials' framing of this Iran deal as being performance-based, that the nuclear material

will first be destroyed and removed before there's any financial relief? And actually, in that point, what does seem to be new here, that Iran has

agreed to destroy its stockpile of enriched uranium.

GERGES: You know, Christina, again, we need to caution our viewers about the noise coming out from Washington and Tehran. Both sides want to declare

victory. Both sides will declare victory when and if the deal is signed.

And I think if there is one big point we know about President Trump, he is very allergic to any comparison between Barack Obama's 2015 nuclear deal

with Iran and the deal that he will sign with Iran if and when the deal is finalized. He is terribly sensitive because he basically has made it very

clear. I mean, both rounds of attacks against Iran, he made it very clear because the Obama deal, he said, was the worst deal ever.

And here is my take on whatever deal is signed in the next few hours or next few days. President Trump will most probably sign a much worse deal

than what Barack Obama did in 2015. Why? Because I think we're going back to the pre-war status quo, you know, before 28 February when the United

States and Israel attacked Iran. In fact, Iran will not discuss its nuclear program until the next phase of the ceasefire that's in the next 60 days.

And what we know about Iran, Iran now has leverage, it's much more assertive, it's emboldened. It has not been defeated by the United States

and Israel to the most powerful armies in the world. And in fact, Iran is going to get some of its frozen funds. The U.S. blockade of its ports will

be lifted.

And I think all President Trump really cares about his most important strategic priority is to have the Strait of Hormuz open for shipping. And

as we know, the Strait of Hormuz was open for shipping before the United States and Israel decided to attack Iran on the 28th of February.

MACFARLANE: And you're right to point out that this is not job done, that this will lead to a 60-day window where they will discuss many intractable

issues. But as you mentioned the Obama-era handling of this, I just wonder how likely it is that you think the Trump administration will get anywhere

close to, you know, what emerged from the JCPOA and also how strong the Iranian regime may yet emerge from this.

GERGES: Well, you know, Christina, one thing, one lesson we have learned about Iran is that Iran will not submit to President Trump's demands or

conditions, as we have seen in the past one year or so. And one thing we know about Iran, Iran masters the art of negotiations.

I mean, if you ask me as a scholar and academic about if I were to put myself in Iran's leadership shoe, I would say I will drag my feet. I will

prolong President Trump's strategic predicament. I will basically run the clock on President Trump. I know he has two more years to go. And if his

party loses the midterm elections, he becomes a sitting duck, quite very ineffective.

So the next 60 days are going to be very painful. Just to give your viewers an idea what happened in 2015, it took the Obama administration 20 months,

almost two years, to reach a nuclear deal with Iran.

[15:25:11]

Countless meetings and infighting and debates and what have you. So you could imagine what's going to happen to President Trump in the next 60

days. Iran is not going to give him everything.

And that's why what I'm trying to say is that whatever emerges, even if the deal is signed in the next few hours, The next phase is going to be

extremely complex, extremely difficult, and very painful for President Trump, who really wants instant gratification. He wants to win victory.

But I think, overall, it seems to me, I think we all are desperate to end this particular war. The entire world has been suffering as a result of

this war. American consumers are suffering. Even here I am in the U.K., inflation and the economy lost about $30 billion. Millions of people,

almost 45 million people have fallen into abject poverty as a result of really the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the lack of fertilizers and

the increase in prices of energy.

So all in all, it seems to me, even though it's going to be a very, very difficult and complex second phase, I think signing a deal, a peace deal, a

peace between the United States and Iran could really end this particular bloody face of war between them and create, hopefully, momentum and

goodwill and trust, and trust which really does not exist at this particular moment.

MACFARLANE: No. And of course, we hope for that. But as you rightly point out, Fawaz, I mean, Iran really does hold the cards in this moment, and

we'll wait to see if, you know, how much they look to assert leverage over the Trump administration over this 60-day period.

So great to have your analysis, as always, your clear-sightedness on this issue. We appreciate it. Thank you.

Okay, still to come, the trouble with trillions. How can one man build a fortune bigger than some countries? Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul

Krugman joins me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:39]

MACFARLANE: SpaceX's historic market debut has made it the largest IPO on record. SpaceX stock skyrocketed past its target price of $135. It's more

than $165 a share now. It's lifting the company's valuation above $2 trillion, making Elon Musk, who was already the world's richest person, a

trillionaire. His individual wealth now greater than most countries on the planet, including his native country, South Africa.

Well, when you think about a trillion dollars, you're dealing with numbers that the human brain struggles to comprehend. It is so much more than being

a millionaire, or even actually a billionaire. A trillion dollars is one million million -- look at those zeros.

If a trillionaire spent $1 million every hour of every day, it would still take more than 100 years to spend it all. Or put another way, 1 billion

centimeters would take it roughly quarter of the way around the circumference of the globe. A trillion centimeters would let you walk the

whole way around 250 times over.

Well, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders told CNN last week that people like Elon Musk are accumulating too much wealth and power.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): I think the concern all of the country about A.I. is that it is being. It is owned and directed by a handful of the

wealthiest people in the world, Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg and those guys. And nobody believes that they have the welfare of the American people at heart.

They want to get richer and even more powerful. So the question is, should we allow a handful of oligarchs to determine literally the future of

humanity?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: So what we want to know is, it morally right for someone to be a trillionaire?

Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize winning economist. His new Substack post this morning says Elon Musk is a human Ponzi scheme.

Look, just on that point, there has of course been a lot of talk today that people buying into SpaceX are really buying into Elon Musk. You know,

investors believing in a genius that you have said is not justified.

I mean, you've likened this to one big Ponzi scheme. Can you just explain what you mean by that?

PAUL KRUGMAN, NOBEL PRIZE WINNING ECONOMIST: Yeah, if you ask, you know what, suppose that Elon Musk had a moment of spiritual awakening and

suddenly left to spend the rest of his life in a monastery. What would the business look like? And it's a good, successful satellite launching company

that is not, however, that big a business which has bolted onto a basically unsuccessful artificial intelligence model that's basically its only

distinguishing fact feature is that it does non-consensual porn which is in turn bolted to a basically failing social media platform.

So why is this thing worth an amount that is comparable to giant, hugely profitable, actual running corporations? It's not that big a business. So

it's all about people believing that Musk is a success.

And the thing is that Musk has -- he's had some real achievements under his belt. Don't want to take that away. But he also has a long history of

promises that haven't come true.

The only reason people think he's this enormous genius is that his stock prices are way up. And the reason his stock prices are way up is because

people think he's a genius. So that's a Ponzi scheme.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, so it's sort of hype over profits really is what we're looking at here. And I guess on that rationale, the fear is then that if

this is one immense sort of Ponzi scheme, it will at some point collapse. And when it does, I mean, what will that spell not just for those who chose

to invest, but, you know, for average Americans as well who have been drawn into this?

KRUGMAN: First of all, a lot of people are investing in this without choosing to. It's index funds because they have they're breaking their own

rules to bring SpaceX into the indexes right away, that means that a lot of people are more of us being forced to acquire stakes. There's a lot of

institutional investors. I've been seeing that some universities have 10 or 15 percent of their endowment in SpaceX.

This wasn't a thing that ordinary people chose. And then on top of that, yeah, if this turns out, if this company were suddenly to be valued at what

would -- makes sense without the Musk mystique.

[15:35:03]

That would be a large capital loss and that would ramify through the whole economy.

MACFARLANE: Well, Paul, look, going back to what Bernie Sanders was saying just there about financial power being held in the hands of the few -- I

mean, Musk has basically just become the world's worthiest person, which means we need to consider what he's done, what he stands for, how much

influence he has in the halls of power. And I say that thinking of his spell in charge of DOGE under President Trump, the fact that we know he has

a product in Starlink that has the potential to shape global warfare. I mean, how concerned should we be as we stand on this precipice?

KRUGMAN: Oh, we should be enormously concerned. We would be enormously concerned even if he was clearly a wonderful, warm-spirited, pro-humanity

guy. And of course, he's a right-wing extremist. He's, you know, what, even if you agree with him, you should say, I wouldn't want somebody who shared

my values having that much power. It's, and he happens to be especially bad.

And by the way, what he did at DOGE, he basically destroyed US foreign aid, which has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. He promised to save $2

trillion and appears to have saved no money at all. So again, is this a guy you want to entrust with that much power?

MACFARLANE: Yeah, and I think as we all sit and sort of revere this moment, it's a sobering thought and worth contemplating what this means moving

forward. The sense of impunity, perhaps, that this might instill on Elon Musk as we move forward.

But Paul Krugman, fantastic to have your thoughts with us this evening. Thank you.

KRUGMAN: Thank you very much.

MACFARLANE: Now, in the final moments of trade on Wall Street, shares overall are higher. Two days of gains for the Dow means it could close

above 51,000. As you can see there, the Dow being up.

And this is our Business Breakout. Oil prices fell more than 4 percent as investors responded to news that the U.S. president called off strikes

against Iran. That helped boost stock markets in Europe and Asia, with the South Korean Kospi up 8 percent.

Consumers in the United States are finally feeling more confident again. The latest survey from the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment

rose 9 percent this month, the first increase since February. Sentiment had hit a record low in previous months as the war in Iran knocked consumer

confidence.

Elon Musk isn't the only SpaceX employee profiting from today's IPO. Thousands of the company's employees will be millionaires now that shares

have gone public. Tech firms often pay early employees in company stock, while the investment firm Hill.com estimates more than 4,000 current and

former SpaceX workers will be millionaires by the day's end. Quite a payday.

All right, still to come, the shooting that killed a seven-month-old boy in the West Bank. His family is desperately calling for answers. We'll share

their story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:41:18]

MACFARLANE: Israel says it is investigating a shooting in the West Bank last week when an Israeli soldier opened fire on a Palestinian family's

car. The bullet struck a seven-month-old baby boy inside the vehicle and killed him.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond spoke to the baby's family who are desperately looking for answers about how this could have happened. We have his report for you

now. We must warn you, it may be difficult to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amid shrieks and cries, a portrait of despair. A father cradling his bloodied baby, his hand

pressed to the seven-month-old's head as he looks around helplessly.

DIAMOND: You were trying to do anything you could to save him?

FAHD ABU HAIKAL, SLAIN BABY'S FATHER: Yes. That's right. All things. I saw my son was severely injured in his face and I didn't just, I want to go out

and carry him to the hospital.

DANIA ABU HAIKAL, SLAIN BABY'S MOTHER: I started shouting, they shot my son. They shot my son.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Their son Sam was sitting in his mother's lap in the back seat of their car when an Israeli soldier opened fire, striking Sam in

the head. He is the 13th child to be killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank so far this year, according to the Israeli human rights

group B'Tselem.

DIAMOND: So this is the place where the bullet that killed --

DIAMOND (voice-over): the Israeli military claimed its soldiers, quote, "perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them." But this video, obtained by

B'Tselem paints a different picture, showing Fahd's car slowing to a stop. The video has no audio, but the person who filmed it told B'Tselem this

soldier opened fire just as the car was coming to a stop.

Both Fahd and his mother, who was in the passenger seat, identified the same soldier and moment of fire.

FAHD ABU HAIKAL: I raised my hand. He shoots. I set my hand on the steering wheel, this area, and he shoots us.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Blood still stains the car, which Fahd says was close enough for the soldier to see through the windshield.

FAHD ABU HAIKAL: When you see something in front of you and aim at him and shoot him, it's not by mistake because you see him. He has a family. He has

his two sons and his wife and his mother and shoot, there is no mistakes in this situation. There is one shoots to kill.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Sam's grandmother has returned for the first time to the street where her grandson's life was taken. She still can't make sense

of it all.

FERIAL ABU HAIKAL, SLAIN BABY'S GRANDMOTHER: We expect that they will say to us, go out. Return. You must return. Shoot in the air. But they didn't

do anything, only they shooting.

DIAMOND: The Israeli soldier who opened fire was standing right about here, only about 10 meters or 30 feet away from the vehicle carrying baby Sam.

But we have limited video of what actually happened because Israeli soldiers then came to this area and confiscated all of the surveillance

video from this street.

The Israeli military says it's opened a criminal investigation into the matter. They also said that they expressed, quote, "deep sorrow" for any

harm caused to uninvolved civilians.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Amid her immeasurable grief, Sam's mother, Dania, is also recovering from her own painful wounds. Part of the bullet that killed

her son also went through her face, and pieces of shrapnel are still lodged in her chest. But she is also enduring another pain, one known only to

mothers whose babies have died.

[15:45:04]

D. ABU HAIKAL: When my chest is making milk for my son, it starts to hurt me and I start pumping the milk away from my body. I always cry because

it's a mother and son bonding. Yeah. He was all my life.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Beyond that grief and pain, there is also anger here and a determination to fight for her baby boy.

D. ABU HAIKAL: The Israeli soldier that shooted us, he should be punished. He shouldn't get away like always.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Hebron, the West Bank.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Just devastating, incredibly important piece of reporting there from Jeremy Diamond.

Now, Switzerland is set to vote on a referendum that could see them set a population limit. A vote on Sunday is asking whether 10 million people is

enough.

Sebastian Shukla has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The faces of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping on opposition billboards ahead of a

divisive vote on immigration in famously neutral Switzerland. "Break with Europe now" the posters ask provocatively "and become like these three?"

On Sunday, the Swiss people will vote on a simple question: Should the country's population be capped at 10 million? If it passes, Switzerland

would be forced to limit its population in the coming decades.

YVAN PAHUD, SWISS PEOPLE'S PARTY (through translator): Ultimately, what we want is to protect what we love, to ensure that Switzerland remains a

wonderful place to live in.

SHUKLA (voice-over): At the geographical heart of Europe, the Swiss nation has roughly doubled in size since 1950, surpassing 9.1 million people in

2025, over a quarter of those being foreign nationals.

JURG MULLER, DIRECTOR, AVENIR SUISSE: Switzerland is attractive. The economy is running well. The bulk of migration is coming from the European

Union, and this is based on the agreement of free movement of persons.

SHUKLA (voice-over): The vote is also another example of European right wing parties tapping into immigration anxieties. On the Yes campaign's

website, under a heading titled "The Loss of Culture and Identity", a woman in a hijab appears holding a Swiss passport alongside the phrase "creeping

Islamization" and a story about people from North Africa.

DELPHINE KLOPFENSTEIN, SWISS GREEN PARTY (through translator): It is utterly xenophobic. Ultimately, it makes scapegoats out of foreigners, as

if they're the answer to all of society's ills. It is dangerous because it is deceitful.

SHUKLA (voice-over): There is also heavy pushback from the business community. An umbrella organization for the sector called it the Chaos

Initiative and said what at first glance looks like a solution to immigration issues turns out to be a dangerous boomerang on closer

inspection. The initiative poses a massive threat to Switzerland's prosperity, supply, and stability.

A yes vote would also set up a showdown with the EU, as the result would be legally binding.

MULLER: I think in the short term, Not too much will happen because the referendum is set up with these thresholds that are not hit yet. But then

in the long run, the implications are possibly quite open, light reaching.

SHUKLA (voice-over): Once the population hits 9.5 million, the government would be forced to limit asylum and stop family reunifications. Once it

reaches 10 million, it would be obliged to withdraw from any commitment to the principle of free movement and thereby set it on a crash course with

the European Union.

Sebastian Shukla, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Now still to come, a huge moment for Team USA ahead of a 2026 World Club debut. We're live from California next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:52:09]

MACFARLANE: Canada and the U.S. are holding their World Cup opening ceremonies today, with Canada facing off against Bosnia-Herzegovina in

Toronto right now, and the visiting team is currently up 1-0. Canada is the second host nation to play.

Well, soon, it will be Team USA's turn to shine at the World Cup. Later tonight, the co-hosts will take on Paraguay in the Los Angeles area. And a

win here doesn't just put them on track for the knockout stage, it could also help win over a fan base that still hasn't fully embraced football, or

as Americans call it, of course, soccer.

But what we don't know is, can the United States meet the moment of their opening game?

Coy Wire is in Inglewood, California, where kickoff is due, I think, Coy, in just a few hours from now.

So we know that co-hosting creates pressure, doesn't it? I know you've been hearing from a couple of the U.S. men's national team there. What is the

feeling ahead of this game and their prospects of getting out of the group stages?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: These guys, they want to show out. It does not take long sitting, being around them and knowing they do not lack

confidence and they definitely understand the gravity of the moment.

As you mentioned, America spent decades knocking on football's door. Now this summer, starting tonight, they're going to try to kick it in. Thirty-

two years ago, America proved it could host a World Cup. Now this team hopes to prove it can help shape it. Somewhere inside of each one of these

guys on this roster is the kid who once pretended the backyard was a World Cup stadium. Now that dream is becoming a reality on home soil.

We asked the guys about what they'll be feeling in the moment. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIAN PULISIC, UNITED STATES FORWARD: Probably be looking up at my family and friends in the stands who've supported me throughout all this,

so there'll be a lot of emotions. It will be a proud moment representing the U.S. home soil in the World Cup. I mean, very special.

SEBASTIAN BERHALTER, UNITED STATES MIDFIELDER: Very happy motion and you know tears come tears come but yeah, I'm -- I can't wait for that moment.

WESTON MCKENNIE, UNITED STATES MIDFIELDER: Full circle moment because you know as a kid dreaming about being in that position wearing the crest and

being able to hear the national anthem I think it's something that -- yeah, it makes dreams come true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now the first guy we heard from there, Christina, was Christian Pulisic, the face of American soccer, nicknamed Captain America. He moved

to England for a year when he was seven years old when his mom earned A Fulbright scholarship. He lived in eight miles north of Oxford. He played

for a youth side.

His dad says that's where it all began. Pulisic is looking to write his redemption story. Tough club with his season with AC Milan, swirling

questions about his form and he got injured while scoring the winning goal against Iran in the World Cup match in 2022, watched the second-half from a

hospital bed. He says he still lies in bed today, imagining himself lifting that World Cup trophy.

[15:55:02]

Pressure can bust pipes. It can also create diamonds.

We asked Pulisic about the pressure heading into this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PULISIC: There is a pressure there. I'm human. I feel it. I want to perform well. I want to help this team win. I want to help this country be

successful in this World Cup. And I can only do the best that I can do and prepare as best I can, and I feel that that's what I'm doing.

So, at the end of it, I can hold my head my head high no matter what happens because I'm going to give it -- I'm going to give it everything we

got and luckily I have a team behind me who's going to support me so I don't -- I don't have to do it alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: So there you go, Captain America human after all Christina. Every superhero gets tested and starting tonight. This may be Christian Pulisic's

biggest test yet. The kid who dreamed of lifting the World Cup now gets his chance in front of about 70,000 of their closest friends here in Los

Angeles. The butterflies have arrived, unpacked their bags, and started paying rent. It's about to be on.

MACFARLANE: Oh, it's such a great story, Coy. And I know you'll be there watching on. Enjoy the moment. Thank you so much.

And that is it for us and WHAT WE KNOW. Stay with CNN. We'll have more after this break. I'm Christina Macfarlane.

END

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