NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Monday, June 15, 2026

Episode Date: June 16, 2026

Eight dead after B-52 bomber crashes at California military base; Trump touts deal with Iran to end war sending oil prices plummeting; Vice President Vance speaks out after announcement of Iran deal; and more on tonight’s broadcast. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Breaking news tonight, the Air Force bomber crashing at a U.S. base, eight people believe dead. The massive plume of black smoke seen for miles. Emergency crews rushing to the scene. The airfield charred. No signs of wreckage. What happened moments after takeoff? Plus, the fighter jet falling out of the sky, the pilot ejecting just before the plane slammed into a hillside. Also tonight ending the war with Iran, President Trump touting the agreement.

The details in dispute tonight as stocks soar and oil prices plummet. And my one-on-one with Vice President J.D. Vance, what he told me is actually in that deal with Iran and when nuclear inspectors will be allowed in. California Governor Gavin Newsom saying the Justice Department is now investigating him and his wife and blames President Trump, saying he's trying to punish him for being a political enemy. Dangerous floods targeting millions. This car swept away. A highway overflowing, water rushing over the median, debris sent flying. Deadly skydiving disaster, a dozen killed just moments after their plane took off.

What went wrong? Amazon drone deliveries wreaking havoc. Homeowners say constant sky-high buzzing leaving their community on edge. This drone crashing into a home. Meteor light showed this blazing fireball shooting across the sky. Volnado strikes. the rare weather phenomenon caught on camera. How this happens over an erupting volcano.

This is NBC Nightly News with Tom Yovas. And good evening. It is great to be with you tonight. We begin with that major accident at a California Air Force Base, a B-52 long-range bomber carrying eight crew members, crashing on takeoff, and now a U.S. official confirming moments ago, all on board were killed.

This was the scene at Edwards Air Force Base in California. a aerial showing barely anything remaining, just that massive burn scar. The B-52 was on a routine test mission before the deadly accident. Another video which appears to have been taken on the base itself showing the immediate aftermath, the black plume of smoke shooting into the sky. And we're tracking yet another military aviation accident as well. This is the moment of Marine fighter jet went down in Washington State, slamming into a forest and exploding into a fireball.

the pilot ejecting and suffering only minor injuries. The resulting fire seen here from multiple angles with a helicopter trying to put it out. You see it up there. Liz Kreutz is across both these stories for us tonight and starts us off from outside Edwards Air Force space. Tonight, a tragedy in California after a massive military bomber crashed during a routine test mission in the Mojave Desert outside Los Angeles. We lost eight great Americans. This crash is deemed to be unsurvivi. thick black smoke seen billowing into the air for miles after military officials say the B-52 strata fortress went down shortly after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base around 1120 this morning.

The base says emergency crews immediately responded to the scene. Edwards has something going on. You can see here the charred landscape where the crash happened. It was a B-52 that was on initial takeoff supporting the radar modernization program. This was a mixed crew of military, government-servoir. civilians and government contractors. The eight engine B-52 is typically crewed by five people. It's a legendary part of the military's fleet used for decades from Vietnam to the current

war in the Middle East. The enormous aircraft can fly as high as 50,000 feet while carrying 70,000 pounds of weapons. The crash today comes just two days after another military plane crash in Washington State. The incident caught on camera, a Marine Corps F-18 Hornet slamming into a hillside on the south side of Mount Rainier, then erupting into a fireball. The pilot seen on another video ejecting just before the crash. Authorities say incredibly he only sustained minor injuries and was recovered by a sheriff's deputy. And Tom, back to the crash of that B-52 bomber. We are here

outside Edwards Air Force Base. The crash happened several miles to the east of us here. The plume of smoke is gone, but the investigation continues. Officials are still working to determine a cause of this crash and say tonight they're in the process of notifying the next of Ken. Tom. Liz, Croyd's leading us off tonight on that deadly accident. Liz, we thank you for your report. Our other major big story tonight, that major announcement, President Trump saying he's reached an agreement with Iran to end the war and stocks went soaring, oil prices plummeting on that news. But tonight, key questions remain. My interview with Vice President J.D. Vance in just a moment, but first, Gabe Gutierrez, with what we know about the deal.

Tonight, President Trump on the world stage at the G7 summit in France, touting what he sees as a diplomatic victory, a memorandum of understanding with the Iranian regime. It begins to end the war, with Iran agreeing to allow oil tankers to go through the critical Strait of Hormuz. I'm very happy to say, very signed the deal's all signed, and the strain is already partially opened. on Friday it'll be completely opened.

French President Emmanuel Macron praising the agreement. And it's a very important one because first it will fix the nuclear issue. A formal ceremony is now scheduled for Friday in Switzerland, likely attended by Vice President Vance. We got along very well with Iran. It's a different set of leaders, as you know. But some details are in dispute.

While senior U.S. officials say the agreement means the Strait of Hormuz will be open without tolls, Today, Iran said it will charge service fees to oil tankers. Still, stocks are soaring to record highs and oil prices are plummeting, down to around $80 a barrel. But we're getting close to the numbers we were before it all started, and the main thing is that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. They fully agreed to that with strong policing powers. The full agreement has not yet been made public. President Trump says it does not include money or sanctions relief for Iran. A senior U.S. official says that will only happen if the Iranian regime is willing to meet their commitments.

This framework now sets up a 60-day window for more detailed talks over the future of Iran's nuclear program. Tonight, there are mounting questions about whether any ceasefire would hold in Lebanon, where Israel plans to keep forces as it fights Iranian-backed Hezbollah. We do want to see if we can straighten out the Lebanon thing. So as well, we have to have to have a little talk with them. And Gabe joins us now from Geneva near where the president is attending that G7 summit. So Gabe, we're still waiting to see the text of this agreement released to the public. Yes, Tom.

Vice President Van says it's a page and a half and it will be released Friday after that formal signing ceremony. Tomorrow, meanwhile, President Trump will meet here with leaders from the UAE, Egypt and Qatar, key allies in the Middle East that have been hell. heavily involved in these talks. Tom. All right, Gabe, thank you. Vice President Vance has been a key player in these negotiations with Iran. I spoke to him a short time ago. Here's part of that interview. And we began with the issue of Iran's nuclear program,

President Trump's main reason for starting this war, vowing that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. Will nuclear inspectors be allowed back in? Yes, absolutely. That's, in fact, one of the core parts of the agreement is that the IAEA and the United States are going to help Iran destroy the highly enriched stockpile, and that's something that's spelled out very clearly in the MOU. Is there a date? Has a date been set on when inspectors will be allowed into Iran? Well, that's one of the things we're going to talk about on Friday when everybody

gets together, signs this agreement and kicks off the technical negotiations. But our expectation is that there's actually, because there's broad agreement on this, there isn't a whole lot of disagreement on this particular issue. That should happen very quickly. And again, if the Iranians comply benefits will flow to them, and that's what we hope to see. We want them to behave like a normal country. I want them to have a successful country, but only if they do what's necessary to commit long-term to not building a nuclear weapon. Mr. Vice President, you're speaking to the American people right now. I want to understand this in the simplest terms. What does Iran need to do before they can be rewarded? What do they have to do to get that money? Do they have to give up their

enriched uranium? Well, we're going to stagger it, right? So giving up the enriched stockpile of uranium, that's the thing that we have focused the most on. They will get benefits for doing that. The cessation of funding of terrorist organization, they will get benefits from that. Making their country investable, they will get benefits from that. So what this is set up as is as they perform their end of the bargain, then more and more benefits flow to them. If they do less, then less, potentially nothing flows to them. And that's the way that we've set it up. This deal sounds familiar to some, including to President Obama, who said this in a new interview, I want to play it for you. It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place and had worked for a long stretch of time.

What do you say to the former president? Well, first of all, I just think that's fundamentally not right. If you go back to the Obama JCPOA, what it did is it took an Iranian nuclear program that it accelerated, and it basically bribed the Iranians to stop that program. We're in a totally different position here. The Iranian nuclear program has been completely destroyed, and what we're saying is make the long-term commitment not to rebuild it, and you will get the benefits that come with that. There's a second major difference between the JCPOA and this Trump. peace plan, and it's this. The Gulf Arab countries, the countries that have been threatened the most by the Iranian regime over the past 47 years, they hated the JCPOA because they felt that it empowered Iran to be a bad regional actor. Do you know what those same countries say about the Trump peace plan? They say that it's amazing because it transforms the Middle East in a way that makes them more peaceful and more prosperous. Finally, the president has had some sharp words for Benjamin Dent, Yahoo, the prime minister of Israel. He's called him crazy, ungrateful, lacking judgment. He's used

some expletives while saying that. And then you have Netanyahu today saying something very different about this agreement, saying that with or without an agreement, they're not going to change their posturing. Why did the U.S. and Israel get so sideways on this issue? Well, I think fundamentally the United States, we have our interests. Israel is often a good partner. We also have aligned interests, but also sometimes we're going to disagree on issues from time to time. And I think that's totally reasonable. Even our closest allies from the United Kingdom to Israel, we sometimes have disagreements. But do you have buy-in from Israel? Isn't that a critical player in all of this? Well, what we know is that this agreement is going to make Israel safer. It's going to make the

entire region safer. We feel quite confident the Israel are going to be bought in on this agreement once we get a little further down the road. And you can see my extended interview with the vice president on top story tonight on our streaming network, NBC News Now. Tonight, California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is making new accusations, some big ones, against President Trump, claiming the Trump Justice Department is now investigating him and his wife because he might run for president. Kelly O'Donnell joins us now, and Kelly, the DOJ is now responding. That's right, Tom, and Governor Newsom made this public today in a video post himself, where he described himself as part of the president's so-called hit list as a frequent Trump critic and potential Democratic presidential candidate. The Department of Justice is declining comment. Multiple sources familiar with the probe do tell us there are investigations underway that arose from whistleblowers and state government and did not originate here in Washington.

Those sources also say the focus is on the governor's wife, Jen Newsom, and tax-related issues, a senior staff member of the governor, but not Newsom himself. However, the governor's office calls this a fishing expedition and also says it believes IRS and FBI investigators have obtained financial banking records, including some linked to Jen Newsom's nonprofit work. Tom? All right, Kelly O'Donnell for us. Kelly, thank you. We want to turn to that extreme weather, slamming parts of the South today with torrential downpours, triggering dangerous flash floods. Drivers were trapped in cars prompting rescues in the early morning hours. Priscilla Thompson with that video and in Texas tonight. Severe storms slamming the South. Watch as a person jumps from a tree as first responders

rescue those trapped by fast-moving floodwaters. That's the roof of a car. A busy Texas interstate near Waco washed out, leaving an 18-wheeler stuck. Rescuers in boats and on foot trudging through chest-high water, racing to reach trapped vehicles. There's a car just floating down the median. 18 million Americans are under floodwatches in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Some spots slammed with up to 5 inches of rain per hour. Part of a stretch of severe weather sweeping across the country.

Hail, pummeling parts of Pennsylvania. What is that? Whipping winds sending this tornado-like swirl across an Ohio turnpike. And in Kansas City, a tornado threat forcing England's World Cup team to stay inside on Saturday. And Houston's FIFA fan fest shut down. As the day's long, dayluge rages on. Priscilla Thompson, NBC News, Houston, Texas. And tonight we have an update in that deadly skydiving plane accident in Missouri.

All 12 people aboard killed when that plane crashed just moments after takeoff. And tonight we're learning who was on that plane. Maggie Vespas is at the scene and has the latest on the investigation. Tonight, mystery in Missouri with federal investigators combing through charred wreckage. This video capturing a fiery scene, a private plane in pieces, having crashed authorities say moments after takeoff Sunday, killing all 11 skydivers on board and their pilot. The National Transportation Safety Board saying they're investigating all possible causes. Complicating matters, they say the single-engine aircraft was largely destroyed in the crash.

Adding investigators don't know if it contained any kind of voice or data recorder, which planes used for skydiving are not required to carry. We will do everything we can to determine not just what happened, but why and how it happened. so this never happens again. Witnesses said the plane struggled to gain altitude, taking off at Butler Memorial Airport Sunday, and turned sharply left before plummeting. Tonight, families and colleagues honoring some of the victims,

including orchestra teacher Dave Hirshberger, Michael Shanahan, and Jennifer Sharp, who the U.S. Parachute Association called a remarkable force. Skydive Kansas City, who operated the flight, sending deepest sympathies to victims' loved ones, adding their focusing on assisting investigators. The NTSB is saying they expect to release a preliminary report on the crash within 30 days. Tom. Back you, Vespa for us.

When we return in 60 seconds right here, the Amazon drones making deliveries even faster, but residents in one Texas town outraged over the loud noises. That's next. We're back now with the growing battle in disguise over those drones, dropping deliveries off on doorsteps across America. But now one community is fighting. back seeing those drones are noisy and nonstop. Here's Emily Aketa. That inescapable hum isn't a plane, train, or car. It's Amazon's delivery drones, which tonight are the source of mounting concerns from some communities across the country. I can hear them even in my home

when I'm inside with the TV on. Richardson, Texas is one of nine cities where Amazon's up to 83-pound drones lift off from. Traveling as far as 7.5 miles for deliveries marketed as ultra-fast, safe and convenient. But their flight paths have neighbors calling it a highway of drones, claiming they fly too low, too loud, and that there are too many. They have been sometimes flying over my home every three to five minutes. Earlier this year, one resident captured a drone crashing into her apartment building. That does not sound good.

and smoking outside her window. While others have criticized the tech as heavy-handed, dropping this package near a running dog, Amazon warns on its website for shoppers to keep pets away from the selected delivery point. The retail giant also says their new drones at less than 70 decibels are no louder than a delivery van passing by and tells us they have increased flight altitudes as well as adjusted flight paths to reduce impact on residential areas.

Amazon, Walmart, and DoorDash are all expanding drone service to more cities by next year. As some residents hope their concerns aren't drowned out in the high-speed delivery race. Emily Ikeda, NBC News. Hope that little dog was okay. All right, we're back in a moment with the massive fireball. Take a look streaking across the sky. So what was it? That's next.

Welcome back. Take a look at this massive fireball flying over homes in high. in Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and even more states. NASA says it was a meteor that traveled 56,000 miles per hour and burned brighter than the planet Venus before disintegrating. And in Hawaii, a rare volcanic world when caught on camera or what some are calling a volnado. You can see massive fountains of lava shooting into the air from Kilauea. It happened as the volcano's high heat caused the ash and dust to rise into a funnel.

All right. That's nightly news for this Monday. I'm Tom Yamas. We thank you so much for watching. Tonight and always we're here for you. Good night.