Hey I used this code for something similar(I was also downloading remote image and uploading to WordPress site). Please have a look:
$image_url = $value;//This is the sanitized image url.
$image = pathinfo($image_url);//Extracting information into array.
$image_name = $image['basename'];
$upload_dir = wp_upload_dir();
$image_data = file_get_contents($image_url);
$unique_file_name = wp_unique_filename($upload_dir['path'], $image_name);
$filename = basename($unique_file_name);
$postarr = array(
'post_title' => $post_title,
'post_content' => $post_content,
'post_type' => 'post',//or whatever is your post type slug.
'post_status' => 'publish',
'meta_input' => array(
//If you have any meta data, that will go here.
),
);
$insert_id = wp_insert_post($postarr, true);
if (!is_wp_error($insert_id)) {
if ($image != '') {
// Check folder permission and define file location
if (wp_mkdir_p($upload_dir['path'])) {
$file = $upload_dir['path'] . "https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/" . $filename;
} else {
$file = $upload_dir['basedir'] . "https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/" . $filename;
}
// Create the image file on the server
file_put_contents($file, $image_data);
// Check image file type
$wp_filetype = wp_check_filetype($filename, null);
// Set attachment data
$attachment = array(
'post_mime_type' => $wp_filetype['type'],
'post_title' => sanitize_file_name($filename),
'post_content' => '',
'post_status' => 'inherit',
);
// Create the attachment
$attach_id = wp_insert_attachment($attachment, $file, $insert_id);
// Include image.php
require_once ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/image.php';
// Define attachment metadata
$attach_data = wp_generate_attachment_metadata($attach_id, $file);
// Assign metadata to attachment
wp_update_attachment_metadata($attach_id, $attach_data);
// And finally assign featured image to post
$thumbnail = set_post_thumbnail($insert_id, $attach_id);
}
}