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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Iran: Missiles Fired At Israel, The Start Of A "Crushing Response"; Israel And Iran Trade New Attacks After Several Of Iran's Top Military And Nuclear Leaders Killed; Senior Official: Iran Will Target Regional Bases Of Any Country That Defends Israel; Reuters: Marine Detains Civilian In Los Angeles. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired June 13, 2025 - 20:00   ET

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

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: So, this is a significant change. And at this hour, it is still unclear why that specific man was detained, why a Marine would be involved. CNN has not verified independently the circumstances surrounding this incident. We just have this video, which is obviously crucial.

And we do understand that 200 U.S. Marines arrived in Los Angeles earlier today. It all comes on the heels of a judge striking down President Trump's extraordinary decision to send in National Guard troops against the wishes of the California Governor. Thanks so much for watching. AC360 starts now.

[20:00:38]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening, it is deep into the overnight hours in Israel and Iran, well into a night of more strikes and counter strikes by each on the other and just moments ago a senior Iranian official threatened to target the regional bases of any country that defends Israel, which is, of course, the United States already is.

In just the last several hours, air raid sirens have sounded in Jerusalem, in Tel Aviv and reportedly in the Southern Israeli City of Eilat followed a short time ago by the all clear. CNN's Oren Liebermann was on the air in the middle of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF AND CORRESPONDENT: And we just saw a launch right behind us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: In Iran, air defenses around Tehran have gone active. It seems like that one Iranian official's promise of a, "dark night ahead for Israel" is coming to pass, or at least a tense and difficult one. As is this, from Israel's Prime Minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: More is on the way. The regime doesn't know what hit them. They don't know what will hit them. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Benjamin Netanyahu leveled that threat in the middle of earlier missile strikes by Iran on Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and elsewhere. Much of it was blunted by Israeli and American air defenses, all of which followed Israel's audacious strike on Iranian nuclear targets, nuclear scientists and some of the country's top military commanders overnight, involving some 200 jets and hitting more than a hundred targets so far, according to the IDF.

Now, some of it was carried out, according to Israeli intelligence, from a drone base set up inside Iran, which is a remarkable feat given the repressive surveillance state Iran has long been. Now, what you're seeing is some Mossad video of some of that activity. The operation was designed, they say, to take out air defenses and hit air bases before Iranians could shoot down Israeli air force planes or scrambled interceptors.

However, it was accomplished, the first strike decapitated Iran's military leadership, at least for top military leaders. The commander of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the head of the Armed Forces general staff, the revolutionary guard's aerospace forces chief. Iran also says six top nuclear scientists were killed, including the man you see here who once led Iran's atomic energy organization.

As for the nuclear facilities targeted, Iran is minimizing the damage done. However, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency told the U.N. Security Council today that Israel managed to destroy the above ground uranium enrichment plant in Natanz and says Iranian authorities have notified the IAEA that facilities at Fordow and Isfahan were also hit.

Now, earlier today, President Trump weighed in with two social media postings on the as yet unproductive U.S. Iranian nuclear talks. In a post that also offers Iran an off ramp if they make a deal. Quoting now from the President, "Two months ago, I gave Iran a 60-day ultimatum to make a deal. They should have done it. Today is day 61. I told them what to do, but they just couldn't get there. Now they have perhaps a second chance."

Another post an hour earlier was darker, with the President warning, "Iran must make a deal before there is nothing left."

Joining me right now is CNN's Jerusalem Bureau Chief, Oren Liebermann. Oren, what are you seeing or hearing at this hour? What's the latest here?

LIEBERMANN: Well, Anderson, it's worth pointing out that this is pretty much the 24-hour mark from where this all started during your show yesterday as we hopped on air at the beginning of the first wave of Israeli strikes. That has very much continued, according to Iranian state media, with more strikes in and around Tehran occurring just a short time ago.

Meanwhile, we have seen just a short time ago from this very spot, a third wave of incoming Iranian ballistic missiles that once again essentially set off red alerts across the country and once again forced many Israelis and many citizens into bomb shelters here. We even saw interceptors launched right behind us -- saw what appeared to be intercepts, and certainly heard perhaps ten or a dozen or maybe even more intercepts in the skies behind us. Those incredibly loud, thunderous booms can be heard for miles, saw falling shrapnel with both Israel and Iran essentially promising one another and vowing to the wider world that this isn't over yet.

Perhaps, it is just beginning here, as we see more strikes from Israel carried out in Iran and Iran, promising to carry out more ballistic missile launches against Israel, we saw that begin with drone attacks much earlier in the day, but now Iran promising there will be more ballistic missile strikes to make sure that Israelis don't have a quiet night and that's very much what we have seen playing out over the course of the past several hours here according to Israel's emergency responders, seven injured in the latest round of Iranian attacks.

But again, Anderson, this could very well just be the beginning, even if it's not ground troops fighting, it is very much an air war here.

[20:05:31]

COOPER: Oren, I just want to be clear, because we're showing video from earlier today, when was the last time there was incoming from Iran to Israel hitting other -- taken out by Iron Dome or actually hitting on the ground, whether it be Jerusalem or Tel Aviv or elsewhere?

LIEBERMANN: I think it was just about an hour and a half ago. It is 3:05 local time here. It was right around 1:15 local time, maybe a little after that that red alarm and red alert sirens went off, not only in Jerusalem, but we could hear them throughout the surrounding area and we saw interceptors fired off behind us and saw incoming as well.

COOPER: We mentioned the threat from Iran to target regional assets belonging to any countries that help Israel, interesting, because last night, the initial statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which was the first statement we heard from the administration, was essentially pointing out that the U.S. was not aware of this, not involved in it. Clearly, that posture seems to have changed now. What more do you know about what the threat is coming from Iran right now about hitting other regional partners?

LIEBERMANN: Well, the U.S. statement was it seemed very carefully worded that the U.S. had not taken part in the offensive side of this. Israel was acting on its own. But we know, having talked to U.S. officials, that that the U.S. was very much helping Israel on the defensive side. Once there was incoming. There are U.S. THAAD batteries, also U.S. Patriot missiles stationed across the region and it seems some of that helped intercept the incoming Iranian ballistic missiles. So, it seems that's where the Iranian threat is pointed.

Yes, there are other countries that make up what U.S. Central Command created, which is a network of detection and interception. Other countries take part in that as well, not just the U.S. and Israel, some of the Arab States, too, but it doesn't seem like that's where Iran is really pointing the threat.

It seems like Iran is threatening U.S. bases in the region. And of course, there are significant bases. Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain. Air Force Central Command is based in Qatar and then there are U.S. Forces in Iraq and Syria that have come under fire from Iran backed proxies there. It seems that's where Iran is pointing this threat. The U.S. has already threatened back, essentially, and said if Iran attacks U.S. Forces, then the threat of U.S. getting involved becomes a very real possibility here. So, that's what we're watching as this develops past the 24-hour mark.

COOPER: Oren, we'll continue to check in with you throughout this hour.

Joining me right now, CNN chief White House correspondent and anchor of "The Source," Kaitlan Collins. Kate, what are you hearing from white house officials?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, what Oren just laid out there is a key part of this that they are very closely watching at the White House, which is whether or not Iran does go after U.S. personnel or U.S. interests inside the region, and whether or not that does pull the U.S. further inside of this.

It's actually a debate that has kind of been roiling President Trumps world today, the MAGA world today, at least some people who do not want to see the U.S. get more involved in this, while others are saying that the United States should be there to assist Israel as it defends itself from Iran. The question is whether or not that goes further than this.

And, Anderson, we did hear from President Trump today praising these strikes as excellent from Israel on Iran last night, even though just hours before he had publicly been saying he did not want to see Israel strike Iran because he was worried that it would derail those diplomatic talks that had been happening, those talks about a nuclear deal between the United States and Iran.

There is supposed to be another meeting on Sunday about that. And we still haven't gotten really a clear answer as to whether or not that is still going to go forward. The President, you know, was not in front of cameras today. He spent most of it basically on the phone and in meetings with advisers behind closed doors today.

He convened his National Security team inside the situation room for well over an hour earlier today. And, you know, I was in the halls of the west wing. I saw his Middle East Envoy, Steve Witkoff going from meeting to meeting.

And so, obviously, there's been a lot of activity happening at the White House as they have been watching this. But it is a notable turn to see the President praising this strike so much and just how far ranging it was after very publicly, he had been signaling that Israel should not take this step as he wanted to try to achieve a deal first. And so, we'll see, of course, what is the next step here and what's going to happen. As I should note, you know, just in the context of all of this, Trump is preparing to go to Canada on Sunday night.

He's meeting with world leaders at a summit there. And so, obviously, this will be a key issue and how this develops over the next few days.

COOPER: Yes, Kaitlan Collins, thanks very much.

Joining me now is CNN global affairs analyst Brett McGurk. He's a former middle east and north Africa coordinator for the National Security Council, also a CNN National Security analyst, former deputy director of National Intelligence Beth Sanner; CNN political and foreign policy analyst Barak Ravid, and CNN's Jerusalem correspondent, Jeremy Diamond.

Barak, what do you make of the targets that Israel has hit so far that we know about both the facilities that they have chosen to strike and also the ones that they haven't and the targeting of scientists, military, top military commanders.

[20:10:35]

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND FOREIGN POLICY ANALYST: Good evening, Anderson. I think what we can see clearly from the last 24 hours is that Iran has taken a hit. It has taken a big hit, mainly because Israel strikes are very pinpointed. It's based on intelligence. It's based on precision. And that's why it really hurt the Iranians, because Israel had a list of 25 top military commanders and nuclear scientists. I think at least 80 percent of those were eliminated, they strike --

COOPER: But it's not just they had the list. They also had their locations. I mean, they must have had the most up-to-date location on. They must have had eyes on these people in one way or another, it's extraordinary.

RAVID: Exactly.

COOPER: One of these guys is the guy they tried to kill back in 2010 with this sticky bomb on his car.

RAVID: Exactly, and I'll tell you something even more interesting. One of the key things that the Israeli's wanted to do is to neutralize all the top commanders that are in -- that will be involved in an Iranian retaliation, because the Israelis were concerned of a scenario that the Iranians will immediately fire between 300 to 500 ballistic missiles at Israel once Israel attacks.

And this is why the Israelis put their eye on the IRGC Air Force, and especially on its commander, General Hajizadeh, and the Israelis knew that once the Iranians know that something might be happening, Hajizadeh and his top lieutenants will go into the IRGC Air Force headquarters. And this is exactly what happened once the Iranians got word that something is happening, and then the Israelis launched their attack against the command bunker and took out all the senior leadership of the Iranian Air Force and the IRGC Air Force, and basically prevented the Iranians from -- the Iranians just didn't have anybody to give an order to strike back.

COOPER: Brett, I mean, what do you -- what stands out to you about the targeting -- you and I were on the air together when this started, and you had talked about the range of what the options might be. What do you make of what they have chosen to target? Because it doesn't seem like they have gone after the fuel reserves in Isfahan.

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Anderson, as this unfolded last night in that very dramatic fashion, I think I said a couple of things. Number one, this is on the high end of the escalatory scale we might have seen. I also said never underestimate Israeli capabilities and what we saw in the scope and breadth and execution of this operation is truly extraordinary. They eliminated the entire command structure, as Barak just laid out over the course of a single night. Really, over the course of about an hour.

They have now demonstrated total intelligence dominance inside Iran. They have Iran totally penetrated. The Iranians know it, and they now have total air dominance over the skies of Iran. So, the strategic equation here very much favors the Israelis, hugely significant. But right now, I think if I was in the White House, I'd be saying we've got to do three things.

Number one, focus on the protection of Americans. That's Americans in the region. Our embassies, also Americans in Israel and the defense of Israel. That means making sure were doing all we can to replenish and restock those interceptors. And the THAAD batteries and the Arrow batteries, and importantly, in missile destroyers in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

I remember the October defense very well because I was involved in that in the White House. We had seven missile destroyers in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. I don't think there's that many now, but you can get them there. We got to get those into place.

Second, you want to try to contain this between Iran and Israel and not have a broader regional conflict? I think that is a very achievable objective. And it's good to have an off ramp that the President put out today. I do not think you'll get back to the table immediately. But the Iranians, I'm told, are sending some signals that once they respond, they might be ready for diplomacy again.

And look, end of the day, the third point, Iran's nuclear program here now has to be dismantled. Their enrichment program, everything else. And I don't want to be assessing with the Israelis the effectiveness of their attacks. Your question, Anderson, is a key one. What did the Israelis hit and how effective was it when it comes to their nuclear program? You do not want to leave that enrichment capacity intact. Now that we've crossed this Rubicon and the big question there is, as we mentioned last night and discussed is Fordow, that is a deeply underground enrichment facility. Iran has very sophisticated machines there, and it's still unclear as we are still seeing this unfold, what the Israelis have done there. And at the end of the day, that's a facility that the U.S. would really know how to take out hard for the Israelis to do it. But given that they have now air dominance, they can kind of stay over it and do some significant damage. But that would be the three issues I'd be kind of want to talk about in the situation room tonight as we watch this unfold.

[20:15:50]

COOPER: Beth, it is remarkable when you just sort of sit back for a moment and think how changed Iran's power is right now in the region. I mean, Hezbollah -- you know, traditionally the concern was, well, if you strike these facilities in Iran, they're proxy actors, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Syrian Regime are going to, you know, align with Iran and do terror attacks or what have you -- Hezbollah has been, you know, if not decimated, severely damaged by those extraordinary pager attacks and other actions by Israel in years past.

Obviously, the Syrian Regime has fallen. Bashar al-Assad, he's now hiding out in Russia. Hamas is, as we know, obviously in Gaza, badly on its heels. The situation has changed a lot for Iran. They suddenly seem the most vulnerable they have been in a very long time.

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Exactly, and it's exactly why Netanyahu, you know, one of the reasons why Netanyahu wanted to strike now, it's because they have much more freedom of action. They're not worried about the threat from the proxy groups hitting Israel.

You know, the Houthis throw in kind of nuisance drones and certainly people have -- there's been, you know, at least one death from that. But, you know, there just really isn't that threat. So, now is the time from Netanyahu based on a number of things, you know, politically, Netanyahu wants to do this. He wants to stay at war, in my view, and Gaza he's under pressure on that.

And he does fear and has wanted to go after Iran's nuclear program. And so, that's where we are right now. I would say that I am a little skeptical about the idea that Iran is so weak that they're ready to go to the negotiating table and capitulate. Certainly, they might want to stall. Certainly they do not want the United States to join this war, right? And so, Israel wants us to join in, as Brett was indicating, because were the only ones that can really probably take out Fordow. But, you know, and maybe the Iranians want to tap us along as President Trump likes to say.

But I don't think that they're ready yet. And I also don't think that Israel is ready to stop yet.

COOPER: Yes, Jeremy Diamond, let's just talk the domestic politics, the considerations for Prime Minister Netanyahu. Obviously, there's the strategic posture of Iran, the feeling of imminent danger. The IAEA certainly was raising alarms about this in a way that that Israel clearly feel they wanted to act.

There are also, I mean, Netanyahu is a man who looks at things from all angles. He has domestic political concerns. You know, the long awaited reckoning of who was responsible in the Israeli government for failures of October 7th has yet to occur. This is certainly something which extends his political life and could give him a big victory.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, without a doubt. And look, I'm not going to say that its necessarily the primary consideration here, but it certainly is something that was on his mind. And that's because just this very week, you know, there were efforts to dissolve his government. There were considerations by some of the ultra-orthodox parties that are in his governing coalition to potentially bolt that coalition to force new elections. It wasn't clear that it was actually going to move all the way to that point quite so quickly. But it was clear that he was facing mounting threats to his ability to remain in power as prime minister and perhaps elections earlier than he anticipated.

But in terms of Netanyahu's political interests, I think what we have to think about here is his longer term vision of himself as prime minister and his legacy. Every single official who I've spoken to or advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu, past and present, has always said that the number one thing that he wanted on his legacy was to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat, and he has certainly taken his first significant moves to try and accomplish that.

COOPER: Jeremy Diamond, thank you. Brett McGurk, Barak Ravid, Beth Sanner.

Next, a live report from Southern Israel. And as we've been discussing more on the damage done and not done to Iran's nuclear program, the operation that is not yet over.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:24:32]

COOPER: Israel tonight, about an hour-and-a-half since the latest wave of incoming missiles from Iran, with a new Iranian threat on the table to the regional bases of any country now helping defend Israel. CNN's chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward is in a lot tonight in Israel, in the south of the country.

Clarissa, I know you just got there. Obviously, it is extraordinary what we have witnessed over the last 24 hours, particularly the targeting of nuclear scientists, the elimination of two top nuclear officials, as well as four top military commanders and a number of military officials underneath them and the changed status of Iran vis- a-vis some of the proxy forces it would have relied on to respond in the past to Hezbollah, Hamas and others.

[20:25:22]

CLARISSA WARD, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, you know, we had been anticipating that there might be some kind of a strike on Iran for days now, but I don't think anyone imagined anything like the scale, the breadth of this. As you're well aware, the airspace over Israel is closed. The airspace over Jordan is closed. We actually had to fly to Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt and crossed the border that way. And as we were driving towards the border, we could see the sky lighting up in the distance as those interceptors were intercepting those Iranian missiles.

We have heard a lot of fighter jets also over in the skies, we heard a drone recently up in the sky. So a fair amount of activity going on here. And it's interesting. We've only been on the ground for less than an hour. But when you talk to Israelis, they really feel it's different too.

And while depending on who you talk to, there's an element of pride at the kind of military and intelligence prowess that Israel has showed with this operation against Iran, there is also a great deal of anxiety because everyone senses that this is different to last summer when you had that tit-for-tat between Iran and Israel. This is different than when the Houthis in Yemen were attacking, when Hezbollah, when Hamas even were attacking.

This feels very real and particularly, with those landfalls taking place in Tel Aviv, in areas around Tel Aviv, inhabited civilian areas, there is absolutely a charged sense of anxiety here, and I should say, not just here, Anderson, across the entire region, as everybody is kind of girding themselves or bracing themselves for further escalation with no real clear off ramp on the table at the moment for either side -- Anderson.

COOPER: Yes, Clarissa Ward, thanks very much.

In attacking Iran's nuclear program, Israel seems to have succeeded against less deep and hardened nuclear facilities. Its killed, as we reported at the top, some of the country's leading nuclear scientists, as well as commanders of any would be nuclear strike. Israel has also succeeded in destroying a portion, we don't know how big a portion of Iran's machinery for enriching Uranium enough to turn into bombs.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says that Israeli forces destroyed the above ground pilot fuel enrichment plant in the Natanz Nuclear Facility, which is Iran's biggest enrichment center.

Also, the electrical supply to the facility, which may have the effect of stopping the centrifuges, which separate explosive uranium 235 from the non-explosive isotope U2-38.

That said, Israel did not strike the part of the country's largest nuclear site outside Isfahan, which is where the fissile material is actually stored. Now, earlier today, the IDF put out a statement saying they hit Isfahan in a second wave, but not the fissile material. You'll recall that Benjamin Netanyahu says that Iran had produced enough to make nine atom bombs, fission weapons similar to the ones dropped on Japan.

Joining me now with more on this is CNN National Security correspondent Kylie Atwood. What else are you learning about the damage to these nuclear facilities? Because it's really these two main ones that we're talking about. KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. So, you talk to U.S. officials today and they say that these Israeli strikes were extremely effective. These assessments are still in their early hours. But as you said, we are learning from U.S. officials that the electricity at Natanz, which is Iran's largest nuclear facility, was knocked out, particularly on the lower levels. And that's where the centrifuges are located that do the enriching of the uranium. When it comes to the news, we heard from the IAEA that those -- that above ground pilot fuel enrichment plant was also destroyed in this strike.

That's significant because that is the part of the plant where the 60 percent enriched uranium is produced. That is the fuel that is close to what Iran would need to develop a nuclear weapon. So, that has always been an area of concern for U.S. officials and of course, for Israelis.

But as you said, there are also parts of Iran's nuclear program that were not hit in the strikes that we have seen thus far. So, there are still clear targets for Israel, as they say, that this is going to be carried out over the coming days and potentially longer.

COOPER: Kylie Atwood, thanks very much.

As we reported earlier at the top of the program, the Iranian threat of retaliation against American bases is now explicit. Also a concern, of course, for reprisals in this country and elsewhere. Here to talk about preparations, CNN chief law enforcement, intelligence analyst and former NYPD counterterrorism official John Miller. Also back with us, CNN political and foreign policy analyst Barak Ravid.

What does all this mean for the terrorist threat level in the United States and the U.S. facilities overseas?

[20:30:04]

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND SECURITY ANALYST: So, it moves the needle closer to the red. Iran, in particular, and its surrogates, groups like Hezbollah, oftentimes do not separate Israel from the United States when it comes to interests against Iran. And there will be questions about whether the United States knew how long they knew. You know, the president had said they didn't support the attacks directly.

But then there were the negotiations we were just discussing going on. And there will be theories and conspiracy theories about whether that was a ruse. So, it's -- it is not unheard of for Iran to target Jewish locations, Israeli government locations, U.S. interests, both here and throughout Western Europe.

COOPER: There have also been instances of Iranian assets in New York and other places in the U.S. over the years.

MILLER: Yeah, and this was an intelligence gap that we faced. When I was in the LAPD, the FBI, the NYPD, the gap was always the same thing, which is if the ayatollahs pressed a button in Tehran and said, launch the terrorist attacks against America, who was on the other end of that signal on U.S. soil?

We didn't believe it was the people that we were investigating for fundraising for groups like Hezbollah. But in 2017, we had a breakthrough, right? There were two individuals, Samer El-Debek and Ali Kourani, that really opened a window for us into this case where we saw they were working for Hezbollah on behalf of Iran, surveying targets, Rockefeller Center, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, tourist locations, critical infrastructure, everything from the Panama Canal to military bases, 26 Federal Plaza, even the place where the Joint Terrorism Task Force was located at the time.

And that they were basically creating target files and sending them home so that when that button was pressed, they could choose the targets. And they already had people pre placed here as sleeper cells.

COOPER: Barak, I want to talk to you about the -- I mean, just Israel's capabilities inside Iran, which I just find fascinating.

I mean, we've seen, you know, 2010 a series of what they called sticky bomb attacks in in traffic in Tehran, nuclear scientists and vehicles stuck in traffic. Suddenly, a bomb attached to the outside of their car door and some died that way. The one of the scientists who was killed in this last strike last night, he barely escaped alive from that in 2010. There was a remote controlled A.I.-assisted sniper rifle fired from a sniper in some remote location that that killed a top atomic scientist as well.

I was in a repressive regime like Iran, it's fascinating to me that Mossad and Israeli intelligence, whatever other units are involved, can recruit and find enough assets to do this. I mean, clearly, they have incredible intelligence.

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL & FOREIGN POLICY ANALYST: Well, I think that because it's such a repressive regime and because there's such opposition to the regime. Theres a lot of potential for people who would want to help the Israeli Mossad. Obviously, the Mossad is also, you know, paying pretty well those people.

And I think that, you know, you know what? Let's talk about it through Gaza. For example, on October 7th, when Hamas went to the border and invaded Israel, 3,000 Hamas operatives crossed the fence in the first wave. The Israeli Shin Bet, who is in charge of intelligence in Gaza, did not have one Hamas operative to pick up the phone and say, listen, something is happening.

In Iran, if Israel would have all the 3,000 because it put so much effort over more than two decades into this country, into the nuclear program, into the IRGC, into the Iranian intelligence, into the Iranian missile program, all of it is full of Israeli agents. And I'll give you an example. You showed earlier those videos from the --

COOPER: They should show that Mossad video, which is fascinating, inside Iran.

RAVID: Yeah. So those people in the video, they're not Israelis, they are Iranian Mossad operatives. And the Mossad has dozens, even hundreds of those people in whole units that are, you know, Iranians working for the Mossad inside Iran and, you know, doing those clandestine operations.

COOPER: I mean, they were able to -- correct me on the year, I can't remember if it was 2022 or 2023. They killed a top Hezbollah official in Iran in a guesthouse, in a government guesthouse.

RAVID: Yeah. They killed Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas -- the head of Hamas political bureau in the presidential guesthouse. They put a bomb under his bed and detonated it, which is, you know, quite -- quite remarkable. And here, they did also quite remarkable stuff.

[20:35:02]

For example, they -- one of the operations the Mossad conducted yesterday was very similar to the operation the Ukrainians conducted in Russia just two weeks ago with, you know, bringing in drones, attack drones into Iran and from Iranian territory, sending them to explode on ballistic missile launchers. This way, again preventing Iran from launching an immediate retaliation to the Israeli strike yesterday.

COOPER: Yeah. It's incredible. Barak Ravid, thank you so much. John Miller as well.

Next, perspective from former national security advisor and Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster.

And Israel and Iran go into the second night of air and missile strikes.

More ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:40:26]

COOPER: Israel's combination of intelligence and operational prowess enabled last night's first strike in Iran to not only decapitate Tehran's military leadership, but also Iran admits killed six leading nuclear scientists. It is not the first time, nor necessarily even the most innovative.

Five years ago, Israel's believed to have been behind the killing of Iran's top nuclear scientist after at least 14 years of trying. His name was Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. It was done from a car parked on a roadside with a remote-controlled robotic machine gun on board and explosives meant to destroy the evidence. The sniper was at an unknown location, firing remotely.

Israel has also poisoned a nuclear scientist in 2007, blown up another with a remotely detonated bomb, used hit men on motorcycles and now airstrikes.

Joining us is Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, who served as national security advisor in the first Trump administration. He's now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.

It is remarkable to me. I mean, we were talking about this with just now with Barak Ravid, just their capabilities inside Iran and how weakened Iran seems right now. I imagine -- I mean, the supreme leader of Iran, who is in his 80s, has got to be in a bunker somewhere deep. Because I can't imagine he can trust a lot of the people in his own government if they can track all these top people.

LT. GEN. H.R. MCMASTER (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Hey, Anderson, great to be with you.

Exactly. And what this demonstrates is an extraordinarily high degree of competence and determination. What Israel has done across the last couple of years is dismantled Hamas's capability to threaten them from Gaza, the Palestinian Islamic jihad and Hamas capability to threaten them from the West Bank, and then the aggressive action they took against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon led to the collapse of the Assad regime and the proxy army that that Iran was assembling there.

So, they defeated the ring of fire strategy around Israel. And during that whole time, they've been firming up this infrastructure to be able to carry out these attacks inside of Iran. You mentioned the assassinations, but also these the astounding number of drone attacks that were initiated from within Iranian territory, something that is a little bit reminiscent of what we saw the Ukrainians do in Russia with Operation Spiderweb.

So, you know, this sort of operation is usually years in the making. And what this demonstrates as you've already mentioned, is a very significant intelligence and operational infrastructure within Iran.

COOPER: I mean, Iran has now just in the last hour or so, threatened regional partners, anybody who is helping Israel in in this attack or in the defense. What do you think their capabilities are? I mean, I don't want to underestimate their capabilities for a terror attack or something in the region or even here in the United States.

MCMASTER: Right. Well, Anderson, you know, we can just look to history and what they've done, really going back to the early 1980s. Remember the Beirut bombings against the U.S. Marine barracks and, and our embassy, our you know, our facilities are a lot more hardened now, but they, through their proxies, have conducted hundreds of attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities just in recent years. So that's an option to attack us and to attack our partners.

They could launch strikes against their Gulf Arab neighbors in an effort to disrupt their energy exports. We saw them do that against the Aramco facilities in recent years. We know that they can have an effect on shipping through the Houthis and the Bab El-Mandeb, or through the Straits of Hormuz.

They've conducted cyberattacks in the past, and in 2007, some cyberattacks against our financial institutions. So that's a possibility. And they have this worldwide network, which you've been discussing. Remember the attacks in Argentina in '92 and '94 --

COOPER: Was that Hezbollah though?

MCMASTER: -- killing over 100 people.

COOPER: Was that Hezbollah in '92 attack?

MCMASTER: Yes. Acting on, you know, acting, you know, as a creation of the Ministry of Intelligence Service, MOIS.

COOPER: Do you think Hezbollah still has those capabilities? I mean, we saw those pager strikes, which, again, was just from a technological standpoint and a kind of a strategic standpoint, which is kind of extraordinary. Does Hezbollah internationally still have those capabilities?

MCMASTER: I think they're still some significant, as your previous guest was talking about, sleeper cell type capabilities internationally. Of course, you know, there have been many assassination attempts in in the United States against U.S. citizens. I mean, Salman Rushdie, for example, and the various very courageous, very courageous Iranian dissident, Mahsa Alinejad, for example. So, I think, you know, they tried to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States in a prominent Georgetown restaurant until that that that plot was discovered.

So, I think these are all in the range of capabilities that they have, along with, you know, they'll try to continue with the drone and missile strikes. But of course, their capacity in this area is greatly diminished. Remember, before the attacks, the Israeli attacks against Hezbollah, they had 150,000 rockets, you know, pointed at Israel from southern Lebanon.

So I think you're right to conclude that the Iranian regime is fearful. They're in a position, I think, of unprecedented weakness. The Iranian regime has not been in this grade of danger than they have been since the 1980s, during the Iran-Iraq War.

COOPER: That's really interesting. H.R. McMaster, thank you so much. H.R. McMaster also is author of the book "At War With Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House". It's available now.

Thank you very much.

Coming up next, more on this historic moment involving Israel and Iran. I'll talk with former CIA director and defense secretary, Leon Panetta, ahead.

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[20:51:02]

COOPER: More on our breaking news. Israeli officials say at least 34 people have been injured around Tel Aviv tonight after several Iranian missiles penetrated Israel's Iron Dome. Iran's response comes in the wake of Israels multi-pronged attack that targeted Iranian nuclear sites, military leaders and scientists.

Joining me now, former defense secretary and CIA director for the Obama administration, Leon Panetta.

Secretary Panetta, is there anything about the size and scope of Israels attack that has surprised you, or that stands out to you the most?

LEON PANETTA, FORMER DENSE SECRETARY: Well, I do think that the Israelis planned well the effort to go after their command leadership and nuclear scientists. It -- that takes a lot of intelligence. It takes a lot of planning. They had to move drones into Iran and replace those drones and those explosives.

So, it was a well-planned effort. This didn't just happen. This -- that took months to basically prepare and be able to accomplish in the moment that they did.

COOPER: If you were in the Situation Room right now advising a president, what would you advise over the next 24 hours, the president or, you know, viewer at home watch watches for and looks for in this -- in this back and forth?

PANETTA: Well, I think that the responsibility of the United States is to try to make sure that this doesn't explode into a regional war and, you know, the danger here is that it could very well escalate and they could hit each other harder each time they strike. And ultimately be in a -- in a full-scale regional war.

That's not in the United States's interest. It's not in their interest either. I think the effort by the United States has to be to try to get them back to the negotiating table, to make clear that that's where these issues have to be resolved.

And that, I think, is what the United States ought to be pitching for, because, frankly, right now, Anderson, it's not very clear just exactly what Israels goal is. Is it to produce regime change and take down the Iranian government? Is it to try to get rid of all of their nuclear capability, which is difficult to do without the help of the United States? Or is it to try to limit these attacks in order to force Iran back to the negotiating table?

I'd like to know what their specific goal is, because otherwise, this thing is going to continue to escalate.

COOPER: From what everything I've read so far and seen so far, it doesn't seem like Israel has struck at the fuel stockpile in Isfahan, which if they wanted, eliminate Israel -- Iran's capabilities, would have to do that. Do you think that is intentional so that to possibly get them to go to a negotiating table?

PANETTA: I think so. They know that if they hit that target and you have some -- you put some nuclear waste into the air, you have crossed a line. And I think for that reason, Israel is being careful about targeting that facility.

They've been able to try to go after Fordow. They've been able to go after Natanz. They've been able to try to slow down their enrichment process. But I think what they're showing is that we have the capability to hit you where we want and when we want.

This is a moment not to continue to escalate, but to get back to the negotiating table.

COOPER: Yeah. Secretary Panetta, I really appreciate your time on this -- on this fast-moving night. Thank you.

Breaking news here at home, a U.S. Marine has detained a man outside a federal building in Los Angeles. That is next.

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[20:59:39]

COOPER: I want to give you a quick update on the situation in Los Angeles and a potentially big development involving the Marines deployed there by the Trump administration. Take a look at this video. It was captured today of a Marine detaining a man outside the Wilshire Federal Building in L.A.

According to "Reuters" who shot this, this is the first known detention of a civilian by active-duty troops in this deployment. The man appears to be zip-tied. The marines took charge of the mission to protect this building earlier today. CNN has reached out to the U.S. Marine Corps for more information.

That's it for us. The news continues.

"THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" starts now.