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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
CA Sen. Padilla Forcibly Removed from DHS News Conference; Interview with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN); Israel Launches "Preemptive Strikes" Against Iran. Israel Launches "Preemptive Strikes" Against Iran, Defense Minister Says. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired June 12, 2025 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: As of late May, look at this, it was 46 percent, 53 percent disapproved in a state that Kamala Harris won by what 20 points? And it wasn't just all likely voters. How about Democratic voters? You can see his net approval rating had dropped significantly from the last time he was reelected, at 69 points down to plus 36 points. That's a 33-point drop, he was not all that popular for a Democrat in California.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: And we will see what happens in the next few weeks when those numbers are updated, see what swing we see.
ENTEN: We'll see what happens.
BURNETT: All right, Harry, thank you and thanks to all of you. Anderson starts now.
[00:00:29]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Tonight on 360, the fallout after a U.S. senator with questions for Trump Cabinet Secretary is hustled away by security taken to the floor in handcuffs today in Los Angeles. Senator spoke about it just before air time. We'll bring you the latest.
Plus the latest on the L.A. protests and others now popping up in cities across the country.
And the stunning video for the first time ever, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashes after takeoff. At least 290 people on the plane in the ground are killed but one man lived and walked away. How could he survive and what might have caused the fiery crash?
Good evening, thanks for joining us.
We begin tonight in Los Angeles, which remains relatively calm while still being as tense as you might imagine, after seven days of protests. Some of it violent, with soldiers on the streets and going out on ICE raids and California in federal court today trying to get the deployment declared illegal.
Also, 700 active duty Marines nearby training for street duty, which is now expected to begin tomorrow, according to the military's Northern Command. A commander-in-chief who continues to paint the situation in dire terms.
And protests spreading across the country, not just in the wake of this, but also ahead of the President's military parade in Washington on Saturday. That is just some of the backdrop to what happened today in Los Angeles, as DHS Secretary Kristi Noem spoke to reporters.
Now, you're about to see what her security did to one of California's two sitting United States senators, Alex Padilla, after he yelled questions at Noem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ALEX PADILLA (D-CA): Hands off, hands off. I'm Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the Secretary, because the fact of the matter is, half a dozen violent criminals that you're rotating on your -- hands off.
KRISTI NOEM, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: How many of our ICE agents have been doxed for doing their duty?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Now, you might chalk that up to an abundance of caution on the part of her security detail. What came next, though, might be different but before showing that, I want to play a clip of the Secretary giving her version of the incident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NOEM: We were conducting a press conference to update everyone on the enforcement actions that are ongoing to bring peace to the city of Los Angeles, and this man burst into the room, started lunging towards the podium, interrupting me and elevating his voice, and was stopped.
He did not identify himself and was removed from the room. So as soon as he identified himself, you know, appropriate actions were taken. But I would say that, you know, I had a conversation with the senator after this. We sat down for 10 to 15 minutes and talked about the fact that nobody knew who he was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: She said he didn't identify himself. You just heard him say, "I'm Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the Secretary." Now, whether her security knew he actually was a senator or wasn't sure, that remains to be seen. Whether he's one of only two of a hundred senators, one of just two California Senators.
She's visiting the state. It's not a lot of faces to remember. As to Secretary Noem's claim that as soon as he did identify himself, in her words, appropriate actions were taken. Take a look at this. Here's what that looked like.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: On the ground. On the ground. Hands behind your back. Hands behind your back.
PADILLA: Let me get on my hands. Go ahead, put them behind my back.
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: All right. Cool. One hand. Lay flat. Lay flat. Other hands. Other hand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So the senator identifying himself didn't stop those officers from forcing him to his knees, then the floor, then cuffing him again. Perhaps they weren't sure he was who he said he was. Then there's Secretary Noem's description of what he did as lunging toward the podium.
Now, whether or not you think that that's what you saw constitutes lunging, the administration and supporters have made it and variations of it, they're verbs of choice. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the senator, "recklessly lunged" toward the podium. House Speaker Mike Johnson today said Senator Padilla charged Secretary Noem. He also said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): When members go into these settings and act this way, that when they push law enforcement agents around, when they storm Cabinet Secretaries in a press conference, I think it is wildly inappropriate behavior, and I think it sets a terrible message and tone for the rest of the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: As for setting the tone, the President, as you know, has described Los Angeles as an almost apocalyptic tones, saying many times in recent days that the city would have burned to the ground if not for his actions and his DHS Secretary today painted the federal action in Los Angeles as a kind of counterinsurgency and regime change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NOEM: We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country, and what they have tried to insert into this city.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Shortly before airtime, Senator Padilla spoke with CNN's Erin Burnett. Here's some of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:29]
PADILLA: From the moment I entered the building, I'm being escorted by a member of the National Guard and an FBI agent. I asked, well, since were waiting, can we go listen in to the press conference? They escorted me over to the press conference. They opened the door for me.
Yes, I said who I was. I began to ask a question, and it was maybe half a second later before there was multiple agents on me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Joining me now is Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar. She serves with Senator Padilla on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration.
Senator Klobuchar, what was your reaction to seeing the video of senator Padilla being physically removed from that room?
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): It's just stunning. Alex Padilla is a dignified leader who is simply trying to represent his state. Let's look at what happened. He -- I watched his whole interview with Erin Burnett. He actually was escorted into that press conference. He was there for another meeting about this topic. He was in a secure building, go through security, the whole thing. Then he gets escorted into the press conference because his meeting is delayed and he then stands in the back.
And by the way, he is the senior senator of one of only two for the biggest state in the nation. The ranking Democrat on the Immigration Subcommittee. And the fact that she doesn't even know who he is when he announces who he is. That just -- it's more than stunning that she would not know who he is when he says who he is, that that doesn't jar her mind to realize this is the senator, one of two senators for the state, and I'm in that state.
And she should have simply taken his question because he was not getting answers to his questions about the President's decision to override the governor, who is the commander of the National Guard in California and the President wants mayhem, sends in the Marines, sends in the Guard over the wishes of the governor, who wanted to use local law enforcement.
COOPER: Let me just play Devil's advocate. He did interrupt Secretary Noem in the middle of a sentence that she was saying. He clearly didn't like what she was saying in her characterization of liberating California from -- I'm not sure the exact verbiage. It seems somewhat muddled there, but from, you know, liberal politicians, essentially, if does it matter -- if that security that we're seeing right now was unaware of who he was and, you know, he yelled, I'm Senator Padilla, they may not have believed him for all for all they know, if they don't actually recognize him, would that make a difference in how you perceive it? If those security people didn't actually know who he was or, you know, necessarily believe a guy who's yelling, I'm Senator Padilla.
KLOBUCHAR: Sure, I just go back to the fact that they let him in the security, escorted him, opened the door for him, and he said who he was. Then you have the fact that even after he kept saying who he is and he's in the hallway, they wrestle him down. And I just think all he was doing was asking a question. Yes, he wanted to get an answer and he wasn't getting it. He hasn't been getting his answers for weeks and so, he asked the question in an assertive way. That's all that happened.
But you know what? Really? I thought what Alex said that is worth remembering in this interview is that this President isn't looking out for public safety when he tries to create this mayhem. And in fact, all of this comes in the tail. This was Alex's point of his big, beautiful betrayal of a bill in so much trouble, kicking people off of Medicaid, all of this. And this is when Donald Trump decides to bring in the National Guard, not on January 6th, when over a hundred officers were injured.
But at this moment in time, he tries to flood the news with the story while we are in the middle of a debate over a bill that will -- amounts to the biggest cuts we've ever seen, to Medicaid, to food assistance, increases the debt as his buddy, Elon Musk has said is an abomination of $3 trillion. And he has, I will say, for days now, successfully made this a story. I think that's changing because I think what you're going to see next week is a major, major reckoning about this bill.
COOPER: Does it concern you not only the actions of involving active duty military personnel who are in training now for street action, coupled with what the President said at Fort Bragg in front of soldiers and getting -- encouraging soldiers to boo the former President, boo reporters. Politicizing essentially the military, which is a -- I mean, for people who have served they're there to protect the Constitution, not to pledge allegiance to Donald Trump.
[20:10:25]
KLOBUCHAR: Completely. When our soldiers are out there on a battlefield and they're looking out for each other, they do not ask the soldier next door to them if they're a Democrat or Republican. They are representing our country, and they sign up for patriotic reasons because they love America.
I was just at a troop deployment in a rural town in Minnesota about a week ago and just to see them and their families and why they sacrifice and how much they sacrifice, makes you realize that the last thing when you're an elected official, if you're a senator or a President or a governor and you're speaking there, the last thing you do is try to politicize their work and their sacrifice because they're putting their own lives on the line.
So, I have no idea why the President keeps trying to politicize every single thing that he does and tries to divide people, when in fact we should be doing the opposite right now.
COOPER: Senator Klobuchar, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
KLOBUCHAR: Thank you.
COOPER: Perspective now from CNN political director, David Chalian and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. Andrew, what's your take from what you can see in the video? Does it look like security overreacted? Were they just doing their job to protect Secretary Noem. How do you see it? ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes. So, I mean, I obviously can't say what was in these men's mind whether they recognized the senator or not. But I can tell you from my experience, and I did a lot of protective work for FBI directors when I was an agent in New York and then I had a protective detail when I was the acting director for some time.
And I can tell you that people on those assignments, I think it's likely that they did not recognize him. I don't believe there's any reason to assume that protective officers from the Secret Service would instinctively be able to recognize any senator, even a senator from the state that they happen to be in that day.
But what protective officers do is exactly what you see here, someone who is unknown to them and is not an authorized kind of part of the program, approaches the protectee. They're going to respond by putting distance between that person and the protectee. And that's clearly what happened here. Unfortunately, it turned clearly turned into a scuffle. I understand the senator was energized and frustrated by what was going on. But you can see there's a push and pull between the several protective officers and the senator. And at that point, they're kind of awareness and concern --
COOPER: Andrew, I'm sorry, I've just got to jump in. We'll get back to you. We have some breaking news from the Middle East and it is consequential.
Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem for us. Oren, what's the latest
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just got a statement from Defense Minister Israel Katz who says, I want to read this in full here. He says: Following the state of Israel's preemptive strike against Iran, a missile and drone attack against the state of Israel at civilian population is expected in the immediate future.
Two important parts to that sentence there. First, the Defense Minister is acknowledging that Israel has carried out what he calls a preemptive strike against Iran. This is what we've been looking for over the course of the past days. And frankly, something the U.S. has been tracking for several weeks now, the possibility that Israel will carry out a strike against Iran.
There are some social media reports of explosions happening in Tehran. Unclear what the targets are of those. There's still a lot more information we need there, but Israel's Defense Minister has acknowledged that they have carried out strikes against Iran, the first time in months that we have seen direct Israeli action against targets in Tehran. Again, unclear what those targets are, whether its Iranian nuclear facilities or other targets. So, we will wait to learn more about that.
But following that, the Defense Minister has said that Home Front Command has essentially shifted the entire country into an emergency status and that the population here is expected to follow the instructions of Home Front Command. A short time ago, we heard sirens going off here in Jerusalem behind us. We got messages on our phone related to those sirens saying Home Front Command is putting the country on alert, and the Defense Minister saying that Israel expects an imminent missile and drone attack incoming following Israel's strikes against Iran.
I will also read a statement we've gotten from Israel's military, the Israel Defense Forces, that says: Following the situational assessment, it was determined that as of today, at 3:00 in the morning, immediate changes will be made to the Home Front Command guidelines. As part of the changes, it was decided to shift all areas of the country from full activity to essential activity and that brings with it a prohibition on educational activities, gatherings and workplaces except for essential sectors.
So, you see the immediate shift coming from the government and from the military and the Defense Minister in light of what they expect to be a potential large scale response and retaliation from Iran, that may be incoming, at least according to the statement we're seeing here, imminently here.
[20:15:38]
And of course, you have to note the timing here. The U.S. was still intending to carry out nuclear talks. A sixth round with Iran just in the coming days here on Sunday in Oman. This is a remarkable move from Israel to essentially cut those off and carry out this series of strikes that will have reverberations across the region from this moment, from the impact of what's happening right now. We will certainly wait to see, Anderson, what more we learn about the strikes themselves as, of course, we wait to see and anticipation of what happens where we are in Jerusalem and across the country here.
COOPER: Oren, we -- as you said, we have seen strikes in the past from Israel. But those were more in response to strikes from Iran. Do you know anything about, I mean -- and the targeting of that seemed very precise to my memory the last time. This seems different, no?
LIEBERMANN: It does, and it depends on what was targeted. And that's what we don't know yet. The last time we saw Israel strike Iran, they went after ballistic missile facilities and air defenses. The time before that was a smaller set of targets essentially just to say, hey, these are the capabilities we have. This is what were capable of.
This potentially much bigger what the U.S. was looking for here, frankly, what the world was looking for and concerned about was whether Israel would make the decision to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.
There were concerns here about not only what was shaping up to be the nuclear negotiations, but also the existence of the negotiations themselves.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with President Donald Trump earlier this week. Trump told Netanyahu scale back on the threatening rhetoric, scale back on the warnings of an attack against Iran and the threat of military action. Clearly, that message was not taken to heart by Israel here and Netanyahu tried to make the point that Iran was not serious about the negotiations, according to a source familiar with the conversations, and that they were just buying time.
That speaks to the level of concern Israel had about Iran's intentions. And that led to what you see here. We'll wait to see what more we learn about the targets of these strikes. But Israel has made it clear, and Netanyahu specifically has made it clear that he has tried to put in the table a credible military option against Iran's nuclear program.
COOPER: Oren standby, I just want to bring in CNN's senior White House correspondent, Kristen Holmes in Washington. Kristen, are you hearing anything from the Trump administration?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, we have reached out. But I will tell you that I talked to a number of White House officials who seem to be on heightened alert that this could come tonight.
I was told this was going around the building, that this was a possible expectation for this evening. Now, of course, we believed that to be the case, or at least there was some heightened intel coming in, given the fact that the United States, the State Department, Department of Defense had started to remove any nonessential personnel from the Mideast region. And as Oren said, one of the things we've been focusing on so intently is these talks, the sixth round of talks between Iran and the U.S. that was scheduled for Sunday.
I was told as recently as today that those were still on, but we did sense a growing frustration within the administration when it came to Iran not coming to the table, not coming up with anything that would allow them to not enrich uranium. Remember, this has really been the sticking point. We did report a few weeks ago that in the last talks, Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff had presented a proposal that allowed Iran to enrich a little bit of uranium. Shortly afterwards, Donald Trump posted that Iran could not enrich any uranium, could not have any semblance of a nuclear program, which then threw this idea of ever coming to an agreement off.
However, they were still scheduled to sit back down on Sunday to have these negotiations. So how this is all playing into that is very important for the United States, as they have been seeking to try to come up with some sort of Iran deal. We also know that there has been kind of threats from Donald Trump towards Iran, saying that you need to come up with a deal or something could happen.
Now, today, Donald Trump was asked specifically what the Israelis had told him that had caused the United States to remove their personnel from the Mideast region. And he said they hadn't told him anything. But he did continue to say that a massive attack could be coming. He wouldn't use the word imminent, but he said it really could possibly be something on the horizon.
So, clearly they were tracking this, they believed that this was going to happen. And we have reached out to see what comments they have as this is unfolding.
COOPER: I want to bring back -- Kristen, stay with us as you continue to gather information -- I will bring you Oren Liebermann back.
Just in terms of a U.S. involvement, no indication of U.S. involvement at this point or is there? What are you hearing?
[20:20:37]
LIEBERMANN: Anderson, it is an excellent question because there's normally very close coordination between the U.S. and Israel, especially Iran and threats in the region. And we have seen that in previous rounds when it comes to, for example, the air defense of Israel against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. This time, it seems like there is at least some kind of shift here. We have just heard from a U.S. official that the U.S. is aware of the strikes, but crucially, there is no U.S. involvement and no U.S. assistance, an indication that Israel may well have moved on its own here.
A key question how much, if any, notification did they give the United States? It's a significant statement from that U.S. official because it shows the different tracks here, as the U.S., at least what we understand, was trying to pursue diplomacy. Israel had other intents preparing a strike over the course of the past several weeks. That's something the U.S. was watching closely and now ultimately making the decision to carry out that strike here, at least from what we understand, without U.S. involvement and without U.S. assistance, there is normally a tremendous amount of cooperation, especially on the intel and preparation side of these. But here, it doesn't seem like there was that level that we have seen in the past.
Perhaps it shouldn't be too much of a surprise. We have seen the U.S. act on its own without Israel several times, specifically, Trump making decisions on his own. And that would be, for example, here, a ceasefire deal with the Houthis. Sort of surprising Netanyahu in the Oval Office with talks on Iran. And there have been several other instances, for example, when Trump came to the region, he stopped in Saudi Arabia and other countries, but didn't stop here. That was the U.S. acting on its own. And it looks very much like these Israeli strikes in Iran are Israel acting largely on its own, it seems -- Anderson.
COOPER: Oren, I want to bring in CNN global affairs analyst, Brett McGurk. He's a former Middle East and North Africa coordinator for the National Security Council. We've seen in past years some remarkable efforts to slow the Iranian nuclear program, the assassination of nuclear scientists in Iran, some remarkably detailed and surprising assassinations, essentially.
What capabilities does Israel actually have for a very decisive blow if that's what this is an attempt to be or we don't know the nature of this attack? What kind of capabilities does Israel have to actually destroy the nuclear program?
BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I'd say, Anderson, we don't know the targets yet. So, let me go from like least escalatory to most escalatory. Least escalatory, there's a chance here -- there are reports of explosions around Tehran, that could be the Israelis taking out some new air defense systems that reportedly the Iranians are trying to get in. I think that would be least escalatory. Similar to the strike the Israelis did last October.
Second, there's a chance here that the Israelis are trying to take out some other capabilities. They could be going for a persona target. They could be going after some targets related to the Houthi missile threat that continue to come out of Yemen. The most escalatory, Anderson, would be a strike against the Iranian nuclear facilities. I think if Israel has done that tonight, we're going to see a significant escalation in the Middle East, and I hope that the U.S. military forces are prepared for that.
But right now, we do not know the target set of what the Israelis are going after.
COOPER: Brett, I want to come right back to you, but I just want to check in quickly with Kristen Holmes. Kristen, I understand you've learned some information.
HOLMES: Yes, that's right. So we are told that Donald Trump is convening a Cabinet level meeting tonight as these strikes are ongoing, these preemptive strikes against Iran. This is from a White House official and two sources familiar with the matter. This meeting is obviously expected to focus on the U.S. response to this and the developing events in Iran. Excuse me. I was trying to read and speak at the same time.
So clearly they were aware of this. They believed that this was coming. Donald Trump has now assembled his top officials to meet with him at the White House. Bring this together. One of the things that I had been told about meetings like this right now is that they're all done in person. Since what we saw with Signal-gate, with the communications that they were having online.
So, this was something that had clearly been planned. It's not a last minute scramble bringing these people into the White House to convene this meeting. About, one, U.S. response to this, but also, two, the ongoing developments, watching this, seeing how it plays out.
COOPER: Okay, Kristen, thanks so much. If we still have Oren Liebermann, I just want to quickly ask, Oren, a question. Oren, is it your understanding that this whatever this operation by Israel, is that it is over? And now they're telling people, you know, in Israel, be ready for some sort of response? Or is there any indication that this may be ongoing?
[20:25:30]
LIEBERMANN: We don't know that answer yet. We know simply from social media reports that there have been strikes in Iran. We don't know if this was one and done or if this is a longer operation. Obviously, Israel's capabilities to strike Iran are not limitless. They don't have the sort of range or reach that the U.S. would have to carry out long range strikes. This is a difficult, complex logistical operation, essentially at the -- at or near the edge of Israel's capability to carry out strikes like this. That makes it difficult.
So, it's unclear yet if this was one round or if were expecting more here throughout the rest of the early morning. I will say we've just learned from Israeli official that the National Security cabinet, Israel's National Security Cabinet, that is, was in a meeting throughout the night leading up to the attack in Iran. So, this obviously is something they knew was coming, they prepared for, and that the cabinet was watching as it unfolded.
COOPER: All right, we'll check back in with you. I'll go back to Brett. Brett, you know, you went through the range of options from most limited to most extreme, which would be direct attack on nuclear facilities. What would be the reason to have given the tensions that are high and the criticism of Iran that's been of late the last couple of days. What would be the point of having lesser strikes that might inflame things at a critical juncture like this?
MCGURK: I mean, Israel could be sending the signal again to the Iranians -- we can reach you anywhere, so you better get a good deal from the Americans, or else. That's one theory. But look, right now, we don't know.
One thing that concerns me, Anderson, I was involved in the preparing the defense of Israel after the massive Iranian missile attack in October. We prepared that for weeks and had everything really in place. I'm just concerned this is moving so fast. I have great confidence in General Kurilla, our CENTCOM commanders. I just hope everything is very much in place. But, you know, that could be -- Israel could be signaling here.
And this is in the backdrop, just a little context. This week, the IAEA actually today, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the board of governors, voted that Iran is in noncompliance with its nonproliferation obligations, 19 countries joined that vote. Very significant, it has not been done in 20 years.
In response, the Iranians announced very provocative nuclear steps, putting very advanced centrifuges to enrich in their underground facility at Fordo. They're going to declare a new underground enrichment facility, and they're really approaching the lines that Israel has always said, if they approach these lines, we're prepared to act.
But again, I just want to say there's no indication yet that these are strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities. If they are, I think we are in a very serious predicament here over the next week. I think we'll know a lot more here as the hours go through the night.
COOPER: Does Israel have the capabilities to really damage or take those out effectively without others helping?
MCGURK: I would never doubt Israel's capabilities, but I would say acting on their own, it is far more limited than what we could do. The United States can do either acting with Israel or on our own. So no, a military strike by Israel against the nuclear facilities will not resolve this problem. If that's what happened tonight, it will not resolve the problem.
COOPER: I want to go back to your earlier point, which was that you were involved in the defense of Israel in the wake of the Iranian attacks prior to this, that that was a very, I mean, from what I saw of it, that seemed a very complex defense of Israel involving a number of regional partners. And as you said, that was something that took a lot of time.
MCGURK: Yes.
COOPER: Would that have -- would similar things be in place now? If the U.S. did not know about this in advance, is it still possible to have cooperation from regional partners?
MCGURK: I have to say we put those defenses in place. We had missile destroyers in the Mediterranean. We had advanced missile destroying systems on land. We had cooperation from a number of countries, air forces in the sky in full coordination with the Israelis, who actually war gamed it with the Israelis for the worst case scenario, which we actually got 200 ballistic missiles in the air on the same night. It only takes 13 minutes for that flight from Iran to Israel.
That is extremely serious. I was in the Situation Room throughout all of that. Fortunately, there were no Israeli casualties. Most of those missiles were defeated, but this is now moving so fast, and it seems like the Americans were caught a little bit by surprise, given that there was supposed to be a meeting in Oman. It was reported with Steve Witkoff, the envoy, and the Iranians in Oman, again, a channel I used to run. So this came very fast.
We have to see, if Israel is trying to send a signal, taking out some air defense, doing something else, I think we'll see a for tat and then this will de-escalate and well get back to diplomacy. If this was a strike against the nuclear facilities, it's a very different order of magnitude.
[20:30:52]
COOPER: The capabilities of Iran, how extensive are they? I mean, we've obviously seen Iran send, you know, large numbers of missiles. There were drones. Some of that involved Yemen as well. In terms of response from Iran, how capable are they?
MCGURK: Well, we learned a lot in the last year. You know, on April 13th, Iran fired almost 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and about 120 ballistic missiles, nearly all of which were defeated. Again, thanks to extensive planning in the defense.
And then on October 16th, Iran launched 200 ballistic missiles. It's about the maximum of their capacity. And again, that attack was largely defeated. So that's kind of what they can do. But the cruise missiles and the drones take hours to reach from Iran to Israel.
The ballistic missile, again, takes 13 minutes, and you only have a few minutes to take them down. And so, what Iran could do is fire salvos of ballistic missiles. And I think we're seeing the reports in Israel now calling on people to stay in their bomb shelters, given what might be coming.
And again, I think we have to see how escalatory the strike from Iran -- sorry, from Israel was into Iran. But no doubt Iran will respond. If it is a limited missile or drone attack, that's very -- you can handle that. If it's another salvo of 200 ballistic missiles, again, which I lived through, incredibly tense, incredibly dramatic.
We got very fortunate in defeating that attack, thanks to a lot of preparation. But if that's what's coming, some of those missiles might get through. Then you have the risk of Israeli casualties, and then another Israeli strike against Iran.
So we are not out of this. These are very early hours. We don't know exactly what is happening. But I'm just thinking through in my own mind the scenarios, and I assume our military planners are doing the same scenario planning right now.
COOPER: And I think for our viewers who are just joining us, I think it's important to point out what we know and what we don't know. Oren Liebermann has reported that Israel has put out a statement warning their population of the potential for a strike from Iran in retaliation for an action by Israel against Iran.
We don't know the nature of that action by Israel against Iran. Brett's been running through a range of options, from, you know, a sort of symbolic strike, sending a message about capabilities of Israel, to a more extreme direct strike on nuclear capabilities or nuclear facilities in Iran.
We simply do not know. And I think it's very important to point that out, and we certainly don't want to be alarmist in any way. But Brett, in terms of the time for a response by Iran, that could come at any time.
MCGURK: Anderson, if they have been preparing the missiles, and that's something I think we probably would have picked up, they can launch the missiles within hours. So, yes, if they are prepared and the missiles are in their launchers, that can come very fast.
And if -- given that this has been playing out in the press over the last four or five days, there's a good chance the Iranians have been making preparations. Now, there's another chance -- I didn't say this in the scenarios -- that Israel actually saw those preparations and decided to take out some of the missiles before they could be launched. That might -- that's another scenario here.
I think that would also be in the least -- lower escalatory range. But we have to see. I -- right now, we don't know.
I will say, I mean, any time Israel is attacking into Iran, this is a significant event. I mean, we are reminded by -- they did it in October. They did it very effectively in October, and Iran did not respond, because I think Israel did a very effective strike against basically all of Iran's strategic air defense systems and a number of their missile production facilities. Iran was caught very much off-guard. They were surprised. And Iran to this day has not responded to that attack. I think Israel learned some lessons from that.
[20:35:03]
But again, Anderson, as you just said, it's really key. This is kind of -- this is breaking. We don't know exactly what Israel struck. The fact that it seems to be a fairly quick strike, I think, suggests to me this is not the strike on the nuclear facilities. But we have to see.
COOPER: Yes.
I want to bring in Naftali Bennett, former prime minister of Israel. He joins us by phone. Mr. Prime Minister, I appreciate you joining us. What is your reaction to the news? What information do you know?
NAFTALI BENNETT, FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: Well, the Israelis had a siren across the country indicating that Israel's Air Force is conducting a preemptive strike against Iran's military facilities and perhaps also the nuclear facilities. I want to remind you that Iran's about a week away from being able to obtain the amount of enriched uranium for 10 bombs.
So this is not me saying this. This is the international nuclear community. And the goal ultimately will be to remove the nuclear threat from the Middle East and hitting the head of the octopus of terror that's been causing all of the mess we've seen over the past couple of years in the region.
COOPER: Removing the military threat effectively and finally, does that from -- in your opinion, does that require more than just Israel directly engaging? Does it require the United States, other partners of Israel?
BENNETT: No, not necessarily. I think by and large, Israel has the ability to take this on itself. I can only assume that, you know, America knew about this or there was some degree of coordination, though I'm not in the know. I want to emphasize this.
I do want to say that Iran was warned endless times to stop producing uranium towards nuclear bombs, to stop the regional terror. I'll remind you that Iran attacked Israel twice with barrages of missiles last year. And Iran is responsible for funding Hamas, Hezbollah, essentially an octopus of terror across the Middle East, sending its arms everywhere.
Now it's time to hit the head of the octopus, and that's what's happening right now. We've been talking about this for years, that it's time to hit the head of the octopus, and now we're doing it.
COOPER: It seems Israel has been effective over the years at targeting specific individuals involved in the nuclear program. I assume you feel the time for that sort of action, that this requires more direct action now. BENNETT: That's correct. There's only so much you can do by, you know, tweezer-type approaches. At some point, you've got to hit the octopus on the head, and that exhausted itself, and this is the more effective action. This is a preemptive action to prevent them from acquiring nuclear weapons the way North Korea acquired nuclear weapons.
We don't want them to reach that point, and that's why we have to act. We did this twice before, by the way, Anderson. We did this once in Iraq in 1981 and prevented Saddam Hussein from obtaining nuclear weapons. And again in 2007, and we prevented Assad from obtaining nuclear weapons.
The whole Middle East and the world would become hell if Iran gets nuclear weapons, and then it would cascade to everyone because Turkey would want nuclear weapons, Egypt would want, everyone would want, and we'd have literally a nuclear heaven -- nuclear hell in the Middle East.
COOPER: Just to be clear, you do believe that Israel has the capability to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities that may be underground or otherwise hardened?
BENNETT: Look, you know, I finished being prime minister about three years ago, so I can't tell you precisely. I certainly believe that we have the ability to destroy major parts of the nuclear program and to throw them back a lot in their race towards acquiring weapons.
COOPER: Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, I appreciate speaking to you right now. Thank you.
I want to go quickly to Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem, I believe, who has more information. Oren?
[20:40:01]
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, we're now learning more about the targets of these strikes as well as the breadth and the scope of them from an Israeli military official who has begun to put out some information. This was indeed a strike against Iran's nuclear program and other military targets. That military official called it preemptive, precise, combined offensive in terms of the operation itself.
This series of strikes, it seems, went after its nuclear program and the regime's long-range missile capabilities. Dozens, quote, "dozens" of targets in different areas across Iran. In terms of the reasoning behind why Israel carried these strikes out now, especially right before the U.S. and Iran were set to hold their sixth round of negotiations when it comes to trying to reach a nuclear deal, Israel believed that Iran had significantly advanced towards obtaining a nuclear weapon.
According to Israel's intelligence, the military official says that Iran has been advancing its secret operation to accelerate obtaining a nuclear weapon and that Iran -- and we just heard this from former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, essentially a very similar line, Israel believes Iran has enough fusion material to create 15 nuclear bombs within days.
The Israeli military official said, quote, "We are nearing the point of no return and that thousands of missiles have been created," this is ballistic missiles, which are an existential threat to Israel. So there you have it.
And you might be able to hear that from my phone, that's the emergency alert going off, indicating that there is an alert coming in from Home Front Command. We'll take a look at that and let you know what it means in a second. But an Israeli military official acknowledging that this set of strikes, what the defense minister described as a preemptive strike, was indeed targeting Iran's nuclear facilities and its ballistic missile capabilities.
In terms of what Brett McGurk has said, this was on the far more escalatory side of the targets, the options Israel had at its disposal. And that means that the region has just taken a big step towards a much broader regional war. That's been a concern here for such a long time.
Now, of course, we wait to see how Iran retaliates for this. And we'll wait, of course, to see as the sun rises there in the next couple of hours, the damage from those strikes and how -- essentially how broad they were and their results.
COOPER: And Oren, I just want to make sure we have the wording right on that. Direct strikes on nuclear facilities and what?
LIEBERMANN: Iran's nuclear program and other military targets were the target of these strikes, quote, "dozens of targets in different areas across Iran."
COOPER: OK. Oren, continue to gather information.
I'm here with Jim Sciutto. We're also going to bring in Brett McGurk, if he's still available. Jim, what do you make sure -- what do you make of what is happening?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's significant that they are striking not just missile sites, as they did in prior attacks, but going after nuclear facilities.
COOPER: This is not just sending a message, it would seem.
SCIUTTO: Not at all. And this has been the debate for some time. When would Iran go so -- when would Israel rather go so far as attempt to take out Iran's nuclear program? Now, it is the belief of U.S. officials I speak with and even Israeli officials that Israel can only do so much when it comes to Iran's most protected nuclear facilities, which by design are very deep underground.
And Israel does not have the bunker-busting weapons that penetrate deep enough to destroy all the sites. It doesn't mean that Israel has no capabilities to destroy nuclear targets, just not to the degree that it could wipe out the program forever. That would require U.S. assistance. Now, with the caveat that Israel has shown quite extensive capabilities over the course of the last 12 months that has surprised the region, when you think, for instance, of the pager attack on Hezbollah leadership or taking out Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and their ability to take out many of Iran's air defense emplacements in their attack last year as well, that went further than many expected.
So it's possible that Israel is capable of taking out more than the conventional wisdom, as it were. But it is the U.S. belief that they simply just don't have the weapons to take it out entirely.
COOPER: By the way, I wanted to show if we were able to just keep a live picture up in Jerusalem, just so we have it, just in case there is a response. We want to be able to --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
COOPER: -- to go there right away. Obviously, it is -- it's night time. Nothing to see much there, but people have been warned. The warnings have gone out.
SCIUTTO: Yes. And there's precedent for this. I was there last October when Iran launched a massive missile strike on Israel in response for Israel's attack. You remember those moments as the missiles were coming in. And what's notable about that is that though Israel has quite capable air and missile defenses, three layers in effect, right, the Iron Dome going all the way up to David's Sling in the higher atmosphere, Iran has the capability to overwhelm those systems.
[20:45:09]
And we saw some of that in October in that they fired enough that some got through, right? Most were shot down, but some got through. One can imagine in response to an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear program that Iran will at least attempt to overwhelm those systems.
And there's ways to do that. It's not just in number, but it's also in phasing. You fire a wave and fire the next wave quickly enough before you can rearm those systems. That is what Israel certainly is bracing for tonight.
Kristen Holmes, I believe you have a statement from the Secretary of State?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. This is the first statement that we've gotten from anyone within the administration. Just a moment ago, the Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, reposted this statement. So clearly, this is coming from the administration as a whole.
It says, "Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran, and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region. Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for self-defense. President Trump and the administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners. Let me be clear. Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel."
Obviously, we know that this is a huge concern for the United States. We know that for days now, they have been removing non-essential U.S. personnel from the Middle East because they believe that this could happen. I was told that White House officials today believe that this was likely to happen tonight.
Of course, the big question here as well, it says that Israel and Netanyahu informed the United States that they believe that this was necessary. The question is going to be, did Donald Trump do anything to dissuade Netanyahu from taking this action? We know he has done that --
COOPER: Yes.
HOLMES: -- in the past. Did he -- in these most recent conversations, also no word here on the last time the two spoke. We have reported that they spoke on Monday morning. Did they speak again since this? Who is communicating here between the Israeli government and the American government?
COOPER: I want to go quickly to Oren Liebermann. Oren, I understand you have some new information.
LIEBERMANN: Three new pieces of information have just come in here to our bureau. The first one is perhaps the most important. According to an Israeli source familiar with Israel's planning, quote, "This is not a one-day attack." And Israel is planning for multiple waves of attack.
So what we're seeing now, and there are some reports of explosions coming out of Iran, this perhaps just the beginning, according to an Israeli source who says this is not simply a one-and-done operation and there will be more attacks in the hours, potentially, it seems, the days ahead. Again, that Israeli source saying, quote, "This is not a one-day attack."
In terms of the timing of it here, the Israeli government saw a window of opportunity to carry out this attack both militarily and diplomatically. But you just heard from Kristen Holmes that the U.S. is making it very clear Israel was acting unilaterally and on its own, believing, at least from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that this is something that Israel felt that it had to do. And you heard the defense minister calling this, quote, "a preemptive strike."
Two other pieces of information. First, Israel's transportation authority has announced that Israel's airspace is closed, at least for the time being. It's unclear how long this closure will last. We have seen flight trackers.
There are no aircraft in the air right now over the skies of Israel. So this confirms what we had suspected. Israel's airspace will be closed. The only indication they give is that there will be a six-hour heads up before the airspace reopens.
And then finally, just a short time ago, the last time I was talking to you, we heard an alert on our phones, that's Israel's Home Front Command putting out an emergency alert. And it essentially says, stay close to protected shelters. Stay close to shelters or somewhere to go for safety if there is incoming from Iran, whether that's ballistic missiles or drones or other options. But Israel clearly taking this very seriously.
In fact, our producer in Tel Aviv said people are going to the mini markets there and stocking up. So the country itself is bracing for whatever lies ahead here.
COOPER: All right. Jim?
SCIUTTO: From the beginning, when concern has amped up about Israeli plans to attack Iran, and we reported a little over two weeks ago that Israel was making these plans, that was the U.S. assessment, there had been U.S. officials who told us that they were concerned that Israel might strike without U.S. approval or even conceivably over U.S. objections.
It's not clear what happened tonight, whether there was an explicit objection or lack of approval, or perhaps there was a green light. We don't know that --
COOPER: It's an interesting statement, though, that we heard from the Secretary's office, making it very clear that the U.S. did not --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
COOPER: -- have knowledge of this and that the U.S. main interest is the safety -- the protection of U.S. forces.
SCIUTTO: It's a signal. It's a signal. And it's consistent with those concerns we've heard for the last couple of weeks, that the administration was not certain that Prime Minister Netanyahu and the defense cabinet, the security cabinet there, would look to the U.S. for approval before they would strike. So it's conceivable, we don't know.
[20:50:07]
And there are a number of options there. It was described to me by a senior Israeli official a couple of weeks ago that there's, you know, there's a green light. You could have a green light. It doesn't appear that we have the circumstances for that.
You could have a yellow light, which would be something along the lines of, you can go. We're not going to stand in the way, but we're not going to back you up. You could have a red light, where the U.S. might have said, don't go. And Israel overrules that, in effect.
It's not clear what happened here. But I will say that for some time, U.S. officials have been concerned that it would not be with U.S. coordination.
COOPER: Brett McGurk, I want to bring you in. First of all, it -- I wonder what you make of that statement by the Secretary of State that the U.S. was not involved in this and that U.S. forces are their main concern in all of this, no mention of Iran's nuclear program. And also, of the range of options we were talking about 20 minutes ago, it now seems -- what do you make of what we know was the target?
MCGURK: Anderson, this is a hugely significant event. It is the upper range of what I laid out when we were first hearing about these reports. I have three immediate reactions. Number one, the statement from the Secretary of State, that is really the U.S. distancing itself from this action.
And basically saying to Iran, we have nothing to do with this. Don't come after us. If you come after us, we'll respond. But it's likely Iran will go after Israel. I think that's to be anticipated.
I have a second question. The Israelis are going after the nuclear facilities. Here's the hard nut of this problem. They have to attack their enrichment facilities to really put a stop to the program. There are two enrichment facilities. One is Natanz. That is militarily vulnerable. The other is Fordow, and this is the deeply underground facility. And the Israelis could render it inoperable, very difficult to destroy it.
So as I said earlier, I think in Israel, only strike against the nuclear facilities does not resolve this problem. I anticipate, again, from that Israeli statement, they're going after probably leadership targets, individuals involved in the nuclear program. And this might go on for a few days. This is a massive escalation.
I've been working these issues a long time. It's almost unimaginable that the Israelis did this really on their own without some coordination with the Americans and in the midst of diplomacy. I think, again, the trigger here -- I mean, Iran really was playing with some fire when they announced putting these very sophisticated centrifuges and spinning them with fuel in the Fordow facility.
That's what they announced today and a new underground facility. But in any case, we're in the early hours of this, Anderson. I suspect Iran will respond. I discussed earlier the importance of setting up those defenses. That takes time. And I am not confident that's all in place right now.
So, again, higher end of the escalatory ladder that I had predicted. And now we have to see how this unfolds. But this is quite dramatic. And I'm surprised, honestly, that the Israelis chose to do this now without a coordinated plan with the Americans.
COOPER: Well, Brett, to that point, given the U.S. concern for a long time about Iran's nuclear facilities and the enrichment program and the various efforts, the various ways the U.S. and others have tried to slow it down or stop it, are you surprised that with this response, it is essentially the U.S. distancing itself, to your words? That they are not taking part in this --
MCGURK: Yes.
COOPER: -- or kind of joining in. MCGURK: That statement, very clear. A, hey, we have nothing to do with this. This isn't our attack. B, don't come after us. Come after us, it'll be a bad day for you, Iran.
But that also basically means it's anticipated now that Iran will respond significantly against Israel. We will be in that defense of Israel, I have no doubt. So there's a very high risk of the U.S. being drawn into this.
But I just think we're going to have to have some more information. I mean, again, Fordow to me is the key thing because Fordow, very difficult to destroy militarily. If you don't destroy it militarily, Iran can enrich to weapons grade in Fordow with the centrifuges they have in a matter of days.
And once they have a canister of weapons grade uranium, that's when you have a whole different problem. Right now, they don't. So we have to see what the Israelis were targeting. And I think Fordow right now is the big question.
COOPER: You said we will be -- we, meaning the United States, you said we will be involved in that defense, meaning the defense of Israel. Your earlier point is when you were in government and involved in the defense of Israel in prior attacks, there were -- there was a lot of planning in advance. If there hasn't been this planning in advance, how capable is the U.S. in helping in the defense of Israel if attacked?
[20:55:15]
MCGURK: We have significant systems in place. We have some of our most high-end air defenses in place, manned by American personnel in Israel. Those are deployed in the Biden administration. Those are still in place. We work side-by-side with the Israelis in the defense of Israel.
I don't think we have deployed the missile defense -- the missile destroyers that we had in the eastern Mediterranean that were very effective in the October attack. So I don't think we're deployed to the same extent. But no doubt, the Americans, I would anticipate, we will be involved in the defense of Israel, but we are not being involved. And Rubio's statement made clear, we are not a part of this attack into Iran.
COOPER: I want to bring in Retired Army Major General James "Spider" Marks. General, what do you make of this?
MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Pretty significant. Look, we have to look at this from the standpoint of what did Israeli forces see, what did the leadership in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem see that made them decide to pull the trigger at this point. Clearly, Tehran has been incredibly vulnerable.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah have been damaged considerably. Houthis are still out there. There were preliminary attacks earlier in terms of air defense capabilities that are in Iran. COOPER: Hey, General Marks, I'm sorry. I'm just told we have our first video out of Iran. I just want to play that, and I'm not sure what we're going to see.
It looks like some sort of fire explosion off in distance. OK. Not as advertised. Continue.
MARKS: True (ph). Well, primarily what Iran has been incredibly defiant in terms of its capacities to enrich its uranium, and they have developed that, as Brett has indicated quite clearly. But there are two facilities that they have. They are developing a third facility, very provocatively. IAEA has indicated they have missed the mark in terms of the standards necessary for them to be in compliance.
So all of this put together, and then the bellicosity of the regime in Tehran has put all this together to make it very, very clear to Israel that they needed to do something, and now is the opportunity. In terms of our relationships, United States relationship with Israel at this point, that remains to be seen.
I can only imagine that Israel kept the United States apprised of what they were about to do, and certainly did not necessarily ask for permission. But I can only imagine the United States was very much aware that this next step was going to happen, and it would be this level of attack.
And look, it's not only going after those enrichment facilities. You're going after R&D facilities. You're going after military facilities. You're going after distribution capabilities. If they have a capability, but they can't get the delivery means, you've gone after the missiles, the delivery. All of that is very, very likely targets.
COOPER: I want to jump in. Oren Liebermann, I believe, has more information. Oren?
LIEBERMANN: We're just learning more about the expectations of how this could play out, not only from the Israeli side, but also from the Iranian side. The Israeli military official who we had spoken with earlier, when asked how long could this take, we've already said this isn't a one-off and this will be in waves, but we now know more.
It could take a long time. We are prepared for that. These attacks were carried out by the Israeli Air Force using fighter jets that would effectively probably be at the very end of the range of that. So, logistically, it's difficult to carry out waves of attacks continuously. And we might expect to see this play out, not only as we have just seen, but also over and over again until Israel feels at least that it has accomplished the goals of this operation.
In terms of the response itself, how soon could that come? The military officials says it could come imminently, or they could take time in responding. Crucially, it is expected to be a larger response, or at least Israel has prepared for the possibility of a larger response.
When we saw Iran launch attacks on Israel twice in the past, it was essentially one major wave. Yes, it took a bit of time, but it wasn't repeatedly over and over again. Here it seems Israel might be preparing for that possibility. The Israeli military officials says, quote, "We are prepared to defend ourselves for longer periods than we have in the past."
And that's an indication of why you see the directives from Home Front Command the closure of Israeli airspace. Israel knows, of course, that when it puts out a statement saying there will be multiple waves of attacks, and we're going after some of the most valuable assets --
COOPER: Yes.
LIEBERMANN: -- the retaliation will be in kind.
COOPER: Oren Liebermann, thank you. Thanks to everyone who joined us on short notice.
The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.