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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

President Trump Says Two-week Iran Timeframe Is The "Maximum." Officials: Iran Will Only Meet U.S. If Israel Stops Strikes. Hundreds Of Americans Have Fled Iran And Others Face Difficulties Leaving As Trump Weighs US Military Action. IDF: Israel Begins New Wave Of Attacks In Iran. Officials: Iran Will Only Meet U.S. For Talks If Israel Stops Strikes. CNN Analyzes The Locations Israel Targeted In Iran. CNN Investigates Israel's Strikes On Key Iranian Officials, And Their Civilian Toll. Pres. Trump Says Two-Week Iran Timeframe Is The "Maximum." Trump: Gabbard "Wrong" On Iran Intel. Hungry Palestinian Child: "We Have No Food, Have Mercy On Us". Aired 8-9p ET

Aired June 20, 2025 - 20:00   ET

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

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HILL: Good to see you. Thanks to all of you for joining us tonight, I'm Erica Hill. AC360 starts right now.

[20:00:34]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": And good evening again from Tel Aviv, where we have just come out of a bomb shelter, the second time we were in a bomb shelter. Today, the all clear just sounded after the latest missile barrage from Iran ended just minutes ago.

The nationwide alert went out about a half hour ago. We took shelter and here's what it looked like overhead.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

COOPER: It caps a day that began with more of the same here and across much of Israel.

Today, no breakthrough at peace talks in Geneva and the President speaking out on the Tarmac in Morristown, New Jersey, confirming that his use of the words within two weeks about when he decided on striking Iran was no accident within really means within, and not by the end of two weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Does Iran have two weeks or could you strike before that? Are you essentially giving them a two-week timeline.

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're giving them a period of time. We're going to see what that period of time is, but I'm giving them a period of time and I would say two weeks would be the maximum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, about the talks today between Iran's foreign minister and his European counterparts, the President said, and I quote, "Iran didn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Adding Europe is not going to be able to help. Now, for his part, Iran's foreign minister said his country wants to continue the negotiations and would even talk directly with Washington, but only if Israeli strikes on Iran stop. The President was asked about that today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: The Iranian foreign -- Mr. President, the Iranian foreign minister this afternoon said if the U.S. is serious about negotiations, that you would call up Israel and request that they stop their airstrikes, will you make that request?

TRUMP: Well, I think it's very hard to make that request right now if somebody is winning, it is a little bit harder to do than if somebody is losing.

But were ready, willing and able and we've been speaking to Iran and we'll see what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: The President was also asked about what appears to be a split with his own Director of National Intelligence over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: What intelligence do you have that Iran is building a nuclear weapon? Your intelligence community has said they have no evidence that they are at this point.

TRUMP: Well, then my intelligence community is wrong. Who in the intelligence community said that.

REPORTER: Your Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

TRUMP: Well, she's wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, this is not the first time he has said that about her. Also tonight, law enforcement officials tell CNN that intelligence and law enforcement agencies are reexamining known or suspected Hezbollah associates in the United States. This follows the warnings this week from Iran's supreme leader of reprisals for any American military strikes on his country.

As we said at the top and saw just moments ago, the strikes and counter-strikes here continue with the northern city of Haifa taking a serious hit today, 33 people were hurt there today, one seriously in all, according to Israel's national emergency medical service, 685 people have been hospitalized with injuries since the conflict began, 24 in Israel have been killed.

Again, a lot happening, including right now. We start, though, on the talking, not the shooting with CNN's Matthew Chance in Geneva.

So, Matthew, no breakthrough today. Was there any progress to speak of?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, Anderson, the talks didn't collapse. And so, that's kind of progress, I suppose. There was a very straightforward message delivered to the Iranians by their European counterparts, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany, who were at these talks along with the E.U.'s top diplomat, basically a diplomat with familiarity with what happened inside the talks, told me that this message from Washington was delivered to the Iranians.

Two parts of it, firstly, and we've just mentioned them. Firstly, the idea that uranium enrichment, if there's going to be a deal, is a red line for the Trump administration. They wouldn't accept anything that involved Iran still continuing with its uranium enrichment activities. That's obviously going to be a problem with the Iranians, who have made it clear publicly and privately that this is very much a red line for them. They see it as a right for them to have the ability and the facilities to enrich Uranium.

I tried to speak to the Iranian Foreign Minister about it earlier. I don't know whether we've got that video, but, you know, he was pretty -- okay, let's look at that for a second.

[20:05:16]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: Did you offer to end your Uranium enrichment capabilities.

What's Iran's voice in this? What is your message to the world?

Did you say you were going to end uranium enrichment, sir? Did you? Did you, sir? Have you agreed to meet the Americans, sir?

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHANCE: So he wouldn't talk to me, essentially. But these are the two

themes that came out of these talks. Uranium enrichment, a red line for the Iranians. The other issue, will the Iranians and the American officials, American negotiators meet. If there's any progress in these talks, that's answer your question, it was that both sides went away to, you know, decide and discuss whether there was going to be a pause in the fighting on the Israeli's side, on the Iranian's side as well, if that happens. And of course, it's a big -- if, then it's possible that the two sides could get together, the U.S. and the Iranians could get together for one on one direct peace talks -- Anderson.

COOPER: Matthew Chance, thanks very much. Back in the United States, as we mentioned, President Trump dismissed European diplomacy with Iran, saying, quote, "they didn't help." CNN chief White House correspondent and anchor Kaitlan Collins joins us now with more on that. Kaitlan, so is it clear what the President thinks will happen within two weeks that would convince Iran to negotiate? Or are there efforts to get his emissaries, Steve Witkoff anyone else to meet directly with Iran?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Well, we know this is a reliable metric that the President has often used, especially when facing a difficult deadline, Anderson. And he's kind of created this new deadline for himself, one that will result in a concrete outcome whether or not the United States strikes Iran or whether or not they don't.

And so, you heard him talking today. He said it may not be necessary at one point, that was a notable shift in language that we heard from the President compared to what he's been saying about his thinking, which has been pretty quite clear and out in the public, you know, as he's shifted here in all of this, especially over the last few months on Israel getting involved in Iran and the United States, potentially getting involved in this Middle East conflict.

And so, when it comes to what the President is viewing here, yes, they're hopeful that that diplomacy still does have a chance. We heard that from the European officials who were just meeting with President Trump's own top officials yesterday at the White House. But he was really dismissive of what was happening in Europe, basically saying they're not going to be the ones to broker anything, any kind of breakthrough here, Anderson. It's going to be the United States, in his view, that does that.

COOPER: And do we know -- are any entreaties being made? Do we know -- I mean, is offer out to meet with Steve Witkoff or whomever it may be?

COLLINS: That remains to be seen. We know Steve Witkoff was inside the West Wing yesterday. He was meeting with officials, meaning he wasn't -- had not been dispatched anywhere that we had known of at that point, obviously, with the meetings happening where you just saw Matthew Chance, was there was a question whether anything would come out of that.

And especially as these European nations are getting involved. And so the President is still holding out hope for this to happen. But I think also, Anderson, when you think about these two weeks, that also comes as the President is making these more dire assessments of where he believes Iran stands on the ability to produce a nuclear weapon.

Yesterday, we heard weeks from the white house briefing room. Today, you heard the President say potentially weeks, potentially a few months. I mean, he's not saying that it's this extended period of time. He's saying it's something that could happen quite quickly, which would be part of why he would need to act quickly based on what he himself has been saying publicly, whether or not he does remains to be seen.

But I also think, Anderson, you know, when people look at the Tulsi Gabbard dispute, they may say this is something that we've seen time and time again.

He's contradicting his spy chiefs, but this is his handpicked spy chief. This supposed to be different than the ones from his first term. And of course, the intelligence here is a critical backbone in the decision making process and he is outright undermining the person who is in charge of the intelligence community in his administration.

COOPER: Yes, not just once, but at least twice publicly. Kaitlan, thanks very much. We'll see you at the top of the hour for "The Source."

In Israel, the foreign minister said that he is skeptical of the Geneva talks on Iran's intentions, vowing the Israeli operation will continue. CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward is with me again tonight on this very busy night here in Tel Aviv.

Not much progress, it seems like. I mean, if you're in Israel, if you're in the White House looking at what happened in Europe, it doesn't seem like much came out of it.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It didn't seem like much came out of it in terms of concrete substance and certainly the view of Israeli officials has been pretty dismissive. I mean, as you were just saying, Israel's foreign minister has said that he's skeptical. We've heard from the chief-of-staff of the IDF today coming out and telling people to prepare for a protracted conflict. And the indications are that they have committed to this objective, this strategic objective, to essentially take out Iran's nuclear capabilities. And they're not going to stop until they achieve it.

[20:10:20]

Now, what's interesting, though, when you hear from former officials and sometimes they give a better metric of some of the behind the scenes considerations, and I was listening to an interview that the former head of Mossad did with an Israeli journalist, and he talked about the importance of, like, really articulating and being very clear from the Israeli perspective of what constitutes mission accomplished.

This is something that we still don't know right now. And he also talked about the sort of delta between the progress that you make in the first few days with a sort of audacious series of strikes like this, and then how that starts to degenerate with time the longer you keep a conflict going.

So, it remains to be seen whether that kind of approach is being taken into consideration by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But I think speaks to, you know, when you talk about this two-week timeline, that's a long time for the Israelis to be sort of floundering or trying to decide how exactly they continue to prosecute this phase in the conflict.

COOPER: It does seem like no matter what the Israeli objective is, and no matter what the, you know, if they continue the bombing, if they continue destroying the facilities at some point, unless they take over the entire country and occupy entire country, there has to be some level of negotiations with whomever is in power in Iran about where the enriched Uranium is, getting it secured, handing it over, whatever the process is, it's going to end up in some form of negotiation.

WARD: Ideally, that's how one would expect things to play out. And I think that, you know, again, when you talk to more considered voices, you will, you know, hear that articulated that at some point there will need to be a cease fire. At some point, the diplomatic process will need to play out.

But the rhetoric coming from Israel's military and political establishment at the moment is very much of we're going to fight this until the end. And there's been a lot of speculation as well, whether this is really about regime change.

And again, I think Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been circumspect on that front. He'll kind of throw it out there and then take it back. But it has raised the specter as to whether that could be potentially the goal with all of the incredible risk and danger that that would entail.

COOPER: Clarissa Ward, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

During today's talks in Geneva, we heard from Iran's Foreign Minister expressing concerns about the U.K., France and Germany's inaction in condemning Israel's attacks. This, according to Iran's state affiliated media.

Meanwhile, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations told CNN that what he called diplomacy, just for the sake of talks would no longer work.

Joining me now, CNN global affairs commentator, Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff in the Obama White House, former ambassador to Japan under President Biden, as well.

Ambassador, what are your thoughts about the President's within two- week deadline to allow for some kind of negotiations? What do you think the strategy is here?

RAHM EMANUEL, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all, everybody's looking at what's going on in Europe. My instincts is the President is also empowered a lot of Gulf nations to communicate with Iran. That, to me would be a much more interesting channel. I think it's in both the United States' interests. But given the Presidents proclivity to empower those countries.

There's no doubt Israel has good relationships there. So, I think there's a -- as noted, a back-channel, and it's not at a table with a lot of media.

Second, if you look at the history both in the Iraq-Iran War and the first days of the Gulf War of 2003, Iran made major concessions that everybody said they could never have done. So, my guess, whatever they're saying today is not what they're going to say at the end. If there's going to be a diplomatic solution at the end of the day, there has to be.

Third, if you notice over the arc of time, Iran is firing fewer and fewer missiles. If you think that the quantity is right, it was a guesstimate 2,000. The quality of those missiles is has been degraded. The production capacity has been degraded, and you're weighing now military efforts by Israel, what can you accomplish in these two weeks? They're probably diminishing returns. And what can you accomplish at the diplomatic table?

And I think if I was the President, I would say my team is going to be at the table. You choose not to come. That's your choice. But the price goes up. And this two weeks is the last.

I gave you 60 days. This is a two week extension, but it's the last extension.

COOPER: Is there a value, some have suggested, I think I saw General Petraeus on CNN the other day suggesting that if you're going to give a window of a time frame, there should be a clear course of action set for what will happen if a decision isn't made by the end of that window. Do you think the U.S. needs to say clearly what they would do or not telegraph that?

[20:15:10]

EMANUEL: Well, first of all, the Iranians know that potential exists. I mean, I don't know, outside of sending them a video of the exercises -- the B-2, they potential exists. I do think I would be aggressive in securing the 45,000 Americans that are all over the Gulf, from a military standpoint, you owe that to the men and women who are there across the Gulf.

Third is, Israel has articulated that they believe they have other options besides the United States. I would be clear about what you want to see at the negotiations.

You know, look, the option to get kinetic, to get military always exists. Once you take that option, the diplomatic gets harder. That's why you have to make the most of this time and be very clear.

My team is ready. put the onus -- the ball back on the Iranian side and I think before the United States, and I would say, I've said this before and I'll say it again for 80 years, Israel's have a military, has had an ethos. Nobody fights our wars. Were never asked anybody for that. Nobody spills blood for us. That is going to be a different world. If the United States engages with Israel, it's going to be -- it has served both countries well over the 80 years.

If you cross that, there's no going back and I think before you take that step, you make the most of this diplomatic effort, both behind the scenes and up front. I would be more aggressive up front. My team is going to be in Oman. You don't want to show that's on you and I think there should be more dramatic -- you were kidding, no doubt -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

COOPER: No, I mean just you've been chief-of-staff of the White House. The split between and the vocal kind of dismissal of Tulsi Gabbard by the President, his own director of National Intelligence, does that -- what do you make of that? Have you ever seen anything like that?

EMANUEL: Well you didn't -- You're not asking me here on a Friday evening to tell you that's abnormal, because that is abnormal. I don't think it's a good sign to show, you know, distance between the President and his intelligence community. As you saw, a flip came out. I think all of this is abnormal. I don't think just saying two weeks.

What do you want to see in those two weeks? What are you articulating those two weeks? What are you going to send to Israel for both defensive offensive capability.

You know, in the Dayton Accords, which brought kind of a peace and a reconciliation on Bosnia, also in the area of Serbia and that effort, we were very clear on the military capacity. We were very clear on the diplomatic capacity and locking people in. You need the coordination between military and diplomatic. Just saying, two weeks without articulating what it is, is just a two week pause for the United States.

It's -- you have to say, here's what Israel's going to get. If you want the video of our B-2 exercises, here they are. Here's what we're going to do with defensive or American positions and soldiers and sailors and airmen across the Gulf. And here's where the diplomatic corps -- here's they're staying. Here's their phone number. You should show up.

Iran has shown before when they need to, they will make concessions. They did it with a ten-point plan to President Bush 43, at the beginning days of the Gulf War, summarily dismissed by Cheney, Rumsfeld and the President. A big mistake and a costly mistake for the United States.

COOPER: Rahm Emanuel, appreciate your time. Thank you.

Coming up, the reality of any military action, including this one, of course, the fact that Israeli missile strikes not only killed top Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists incredibly effectively, they also caused civilian deaths. A new CNN analysis ahead.

Also with a new Internal State Department report, says about the exodus of hundreds of Americans, with the President weighing strikes in the country, and the latest from CNN's Fred Pleitgen in Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Massive crowds have turned out here in Central Tehran to protest against Israel's strikes against Iran, but also against the policies of the Trump administration as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:23:33]

COOPER: Israel's military missile defenses in action tonight over Tel Aviv, just moments before air time, day eight, of the conflict and despite Israel's campaign to degrade and destroy Iran's offensive capabilities with Israel saying they've destroyed half of Iran's missile launchers, air raid sirens here continue to go off. It happened twice today.

People here, ourselves included tonight, continue to take shelter in locations across this country do continue to get hit. Here's some of what CNN's Nic Robertson saw in Haifa earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (on camera): Just arriving on the site less than an hour after the blast. You can see here water pouring out, the damaged cars here as well. This is a scene of the aftermath of a strike here and then looking at the damage, its big. Just turning the camera over here. You can see here the building has been blasted -- rubble everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: CNN's Nic Robertson in Haifa, where 33 people were hurt today, one of them seriously.

Next to Iran, where Americans are fleeing and Iranians are taking to the streets on the American Exodus, according to new State Department internal situation report, hundreds of Americans have now left that country out of how many, though it isn't known. And the State Department today said that those leaving won't be getting any U.S. assistance, even though that internal report says departing Americans should, "be prepared to encounter checkpoints and questioning from authorities."

The report also says that numerous U.S. citizens have described delays and harassment along their exit route.

Looking at the streets of Tehran today, that is not hard to imagine. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is there.

[20:25:15]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(PROTESTS IN TEHRAN)

PLEITGEN (on camera): Massive crowds have turned out here in Central Tehran to protest against Israel's strikes against Iran, but also against the policies of the Trump administration as well. Many of them were chanting "Death to America," were chanting "Death to Israel." We saw them burn American flags and burn Israeli flags.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

PLEITGEN (voice over): "Punch the United States and Israel in the mouth," he says.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language.)

PLEITGEN (voice over): "Trump, you are threatening my leader." This woman says, "Don't you know my nation believes death is sweeter than honey?"

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

PLEITGEN (voice over): "What do you have, Israel?" He says. "You have nothing, you are occupiers, unreligious. You're killing people, killing women. You kill everyone. You're terrorists."

PLEITGEN (on camera): So you can see that anger here being voiced by many of the folks who are walking here in this protest. Whereas the Iranian government has said that as long as the Israelis continue their bombing campaign of sites here in Iran, there will be Iranian missiles flying towards Israeli territory.

They're calling on President Trump to try and end this direct confrontation, otherwise, they say there could be a direct military confrontation between Iran and the United States.

The Iranians say it's not something they want, but they also say it's something that they're ready for.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, protests were not only contained to Iran, and in Iraq, thousands took to the streets of Baghdad and other cities after a powerful cleric called for demonstrations against the war. It's a reminder that Iran's neighbors are closely watching, fearful in many cases of what military involvement by the U.S. could mean for the wider region.

Joining us now, CNN global affairs analyst, Brett McGurk, former Middle East and North Africa coordinator for the National Security council.

So, Brett, I'd like to check in with you pretty much every day because you and I have been doing this from the beginning. Where is your head right now, given what you saw coming out of Europe today, or perhaps not coming out of Europe today? Where do you think the U.S. is vis-a- vis action against Iran?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think, Anderson, I'd say right now we're like a steady state. I think this will continue for a few days. The Israelis have full control over Iran's airspace. They're continuing to air strikes at will and the Iranians every other day or so can get off one of these barrages. I think that's going to be diminishing over time.

I think that steady state will play out and let me say why. Because I think there's about three ways this can go. The diplomacy -- we all want a diplomatic deal. Geneva today was a big nothing burger. Absolutely nothing happened. And I think the President is right, end of the day, the Europeans are not going to be able to deliver this, but its notable Iran's foreign minister is showing zero urgency here.

He's holding on to very maximalist positions. He's leaving Geneva to go to Turkey for a meeting with Islamic countries. And then he's on his way to Moscow. I assume there are back channels. I very much agree with what Rahm Emanuel said here, the Omanis, the Qataris, others. But right now, Iran is dug in and they're not going to budge. So, the diplomacy is really stalled.

On the military equation, we are moving a massive amount of force, Anderson, into the Middle East. Our report is of three aircraft carrier strike groups. That's the first time we've had that since 2012. The backdrop for that, interestingly, was tension with Iran over the nuclear program and threats of Iran to close the straits of Hormuz. But we are moving that force in that is a signal to Iran that the end of these two weeks, we are prepared to do a strike.

And I think if we do the strike, it will be a huge mistake from Iran that they didn't try this diplomatic path, and they just have held out. The strike also offers a chance to end the crisis, because I think you basically make very clear to Iran, we're doing this strike, we're hitting the nuclear facilities and that's it.

Iran will surely respond. We'd have to contain that, but finally, another path here, Anderson, is this just kind of continues. It goes beyond the two weeks, and were in this steady state for some time. Iran maintains that enrichment facility in Fordow, and there's really no kind of conclusion point.

So, that's kind of where we are. I would really focus just if I could for a minute on the diplomacy. I might even think creatively. Sometimes in a crisis, you want to enlarge the problem set. We still have the crisis in Gaza. There is a deal on the table that the Israeli's support for a two-month ceasefire in Gaza if Hamas will release half the hostages, maybe tie that together, say, let's do that two month ceasefire in Gaza, maybe a pause on enrichment, the Iranians, for two months as we try to work out a longer term solution.

But in any case, where we are right now and this could change tomorrow. Diplomacy stalled and we're in a steady state, and we'll see where we are in the coming days. COOPER: That's interesting, I mean, it seems as somebody who's never

been a diplomat, it seems counterintuitive that you would enlarge the circle of issues that you would try to address through diplomatic negotiations. How does that sometimes work to break a logjam?

[20:30:26]

MCGURK: Well, this all ties back, Anderson, to October 7th and Hamas's attack into Israel and Iran's fateful decision to join in a multi- front war against Israel. You know, we talk a lot about American strategic mistakes and blowback over the years.

Iran is basically, right now, this is blowback on decisions that Iran has made from October 7th on. It supported Hezbollah, it supported the Houthis, it supported militias in Iraq and Syria, all to go after Israel. It launched two massive direct attacks on Israel last year, in April and October, disastrous decisions.

And it also, importantly, escalated its nuclear program, continuously, to the point where their nuclear program now is at a more advanced stage than it's ever been. These are fateful decisions Iran has made, and it is facing -- reaping the whirlwind of that. I think it's up to the Americans.

We have relations with everybody to try to manage it, support the Israelis, and try to bring this to a close diplomatically. But that's going to be tough. But we've got to keep the pressure on.

COOPER: Yes. Brett McGurk, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Coming up next, CNN takes a look at, investigates the tension in this conflict between achieving military goals and preserving civilian lives. We'll look at the incredible precision of some of the Israeli strikes on Iran, but also one in which an entire building was leveled, possibly to kill a single nuclear scientist. More on that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:36:32]

COOPER: We have more breaking news tonight. The IDF moments ago saying Israel has begun a new wave of attacks in Iran. The targets, they say, are missile storage and launch infrastructure in central Iran. We want to focus now, though, on some of the earlier strikes and a new CNN analysis of them.

You'll likely remember last week in the first hours of this latest conflict, the Israeli military fired missiles that left several top Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists dead, some in their apartments as they slept. The strikes and others have also caused civilian deaths.

More on that from CNN's Katie Polglase.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER (voice-over): Hitting the heart of Tehran. Israel's campaign expands every day. CNN has been analyzing these Israeli strikes using satellite imagery, video, and publicly available data. We found some were extraordinarily precise, taking out key regime members in their own apartments, while others destroyed whole buildings, killing and injuring civilians.

This video shows an apartment building hit by missiles in Tehran on June 13th. We geolocated it to this residential street in the center of the city. We then cross-referenced the location with a list of addresses of key political and military figures from a public database leaked by activists. The address matched that of a nuclear scientist, Ahmadreza Zolfaghari.

Iran confirmed the scientist's death, but aftermath footage shows the human toll could be far greater than one person. A whole building turned to rubble. That same night, this residential building collapsed after a strike. Though it's unclear if it was Israel's intended target or collateral damage, the building is here, in Chamran, an upmarket Tehran neighborhood.

And just 1,000 feet away is a military complex, multiple buildings, all belonging to Iran's Ministry of Defense, and still standing. Once again, aftermath footage indicates the likelihood of a heavy civilian toll. Medical staff reported at least 40 people died in this attack, including as many as 15 children.

By the second day of its assault, Israel claimed it killed over 20 members of Iran's security apparatus, including senior commanders. Over the following days, they hit more key institutions, like this oil depot on the outskirts of town and the Iranian state broadcaster, under fire while live on air.

But throughout, the civilian toll grows. These strikes, which we geolocated here, to Orkideh, a wealthy neighborhood in central Tehran, killed a young Iranian poet, along with her entire family. The strike was likely targeting Abdolhamid Minouchehr, the head of nuclear engineering at a university who, according to Iranian media, lived in the building.

As rescue workers dug through the rubble of his home, his university confirmed he had been killed. Israel's recent strikes on Iran follow their operations in Lebanon and Gaza that also took out key military and political leaders. Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, pictured here in Gaza in this now infamous drone video, seconds before his assassination.

But the civilian toll, once again, prompts questions around Israel's proportionality and decision-making on striking targets in such densely populated areas.

Katie Polglase, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

[20:40:07] COOPER: Again, tonight, new Israeli airstrikes now underway. Joining us now is CNN Military Analyst and Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, this air campaign has been going on now for more than a week. Is there anything that has surprised you, in some cases about the precision of Israel's strikes, in other cases the damage? We're told now, according to Israeli authorities, they believe they have wiped out half of the launchers for missiles.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think the most surprising thing was the rapidity with which the Israelis took out a lot of the Iranian air defenses, as well as the missile launch sites, Anderson. So the idea that they took out 50 percent of those missile launch sites is pretty extraordinary in a fairly short amount of time. And it's comparable to some of the things that we did in the first part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, or the second Gulf War, during the Shock and Awe phase.

So very precise actions and very key elements to getting the Israelis to achieve what would be known as air superiority over the western part of Iran. The enormous amount of military hardware, military capabilities, which are heading toward this region by the U.S., what does that allow the U.S. to do? What are they setting up a base to be able to do? I assume it's not just potential attacks against Iranian sites. It's also defense of U.S. facilities in the region.

LEIGHTON: Yes, that's exactly right. So it does several things. Putting this number of troops and aircraft carriers and airplanes into the region gives the U.S. a lot of flexibility from a military planning standpoint. Obviously, for offensive operations, it could support anything that the U.S. might decide to do in the region.

But more importantly, it's designed to protect the Americans that are stationed along the western shore of the Persian Gulf, for one thing. The other part, which you alluded to also, is the defense of Israel. If you remember during the first -- well, during last year, especially in October and also during the summer of last year, we supported the Israeli defense effort, the missile defense effort, with a lot of different aspects, different resources, among them the Aegis destroyers that the U.S. Navy has.

That allowed the systems like the Iron Dome, the Aero Systems, and David's Sling to perform even better against incoming Iranian missiles. And bringing our forces in will help the Israelis do this as well this time around.

COOPER: All right, Colonel Cedric Leighton, thanks very much.

Coming up next, more on the split between the president and his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, over the state of Iran's nuclear program. We'll talk to a former Iraq Weapons Inspector, David Albright, who joins us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:47:37] COOPER: We saw at the top of the program the president contradicting his own handpicked director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, on Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What intelligence do you have that Iran is building a nuclear weapon? Your intelligence community has said they have no evidence that they are at this point.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, then my intelligence community is wrong. Who in the intelligence community said that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

TRUMP: She's wrong.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: Well joining us now to discuss what we know about Iran's nuclear ambitions. David Albright, former weapons inspector and the president and founder of the Institute for Science and International Security.

David, thanks for being with us. Is Tulsi Gabbard wrong? I mean, President Trump has repeated today that she was wrong when she testified back in March that Iran was not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon.

DAVID ALBRIGHT, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY: Thank you. It's some semantics going on here, but there's also some reality. I mean, the unclassified version of the national intelligence estimate on Iran has always been this -- since 2007. It's been this kind of light switch. It's either the supreme leader is given permission or order to build nuclear weapons.

And if it's not, then somehow they don't have a nuclear weapons program. And the reality is that Iran has been for many years, in a sense, shortening timelines to build the nuclear weapons. In a sense, carving out space to work on things to make progress on building nuclear weapons without an order to build nuclear weapons from the supreme leader.

And one of the easiest ways to see that is how Iran has gone from being unable to make weapon grade uranium to being able to make it in a few days. And it's all been done in a safeguarded, perfectly visible nuclear program. But I think everyone agrees that that's a strong step toward building nuclear weapons. And the supreme leader did not have nuclear weapons yet.

So the problem with that assessment is it's brought us incredibly close --

COOPER: I think we have a problem with the transmission from David Albright. Unfortunately, we're trying to get that fixed and then come back.

Coming up next, we'll take a look at the reality on the ground from Israel's other military action in the war in Gaza, which continues in a message from a hungry Palestinian boy to the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:54:35]

COOPER: We fixed our technical troubles and former Nuclear Weapons Inspector David Albright is back with us with our apologies. David, what are the big unknown -- I mean, there's so much focus on, you know, is the U.S. going to hit Fordow or not? Do they have the capabilities to really damage it significantly?

What are the other unknowns about Iran's nuclear program? And is it known where all the enriched plutonium is? Is it -- you know, are there other things that the public is less informed about, about what would have to happen next in order to really dismantle their nuclear capabilities?

[20:55:07]

ALBRIGHT: I've seen -- and it's important to keep those things in mind. I mean, after the IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution saying Iran was in violation of its safeguards agreement under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, it came out and kind of said, well, by the way, we've built a third enrichment plant and we're ready to put centrifuges in it. Basically saying they have made another major violation of their safeguards agreement.

And so where are those centrifuges? I think we know where that site is, but where are the centrifuges? How many were made? Where are they now? Where are the stocks of 60 percent and 20 percent? When Israel hit the Isfahan nuclear site several days ago, it was I'm sure targeting or hoping to target stocks of 60 percent and 20 percent because over time, many kilograms of those materials have been stored at Isfahan.

And so, but they can't know for sure that that's the case. And I think the Israelis are seeking out, trying to hunt down these other kinds of things and then seize them or destroy them. And I think part of what they're doing is you can see Mossad has sent out, in a sense, offers. Iranians, you know, create a new life, give us information. And so they're trying to collect information.

And I think it's one of the reasons why I think it's good if this goes on longer is for Israel to use its incredible intelligence capabilities to try to track down some of these other materials that, in a sense, could pose more of a risk in the near term than the Fordow plant would.

COOPER: And, you know, we're told -- the IAEA was saying, you know, they've enriched to 60 percent. The weapons grade is 90 percent. But the jump from 60 percent to 90 percent, it's a lot quicker a jump than people realize. ALBRIGHT: Yes, it's -- you're essentially -- once you're at 60 percent, you're 99 percent of the way to weapon grade uranium or 90 percent. And so, in fact, that's been one of the disturbing developments is Iran's been since December, rapidly making 60 percent and for no good civil reason. And so it just looks and adds urgency to the problem that Iran is trying to reach a point where it can rapidly make weapon grade uranium in as few centrifuges as possible.

And so we're now in a situation where if those stocks still exist, they could produce enough weapon grade uranium for a bomb and in a few days and enough for nine within a month. And so it is important to nail down those stocks and eliminate the centrifuges --

COOPER: Yes.

ALBRIGHT: -- whenever -- where they can be found.

COOPER: Yes. David Albright, I really appreciate your expertise. Thank you very much. And I apologize for the technical problem.

With all this happening, there's also the war in Gaza. And along with it, the growing humanitarian crisis, the continuing humanitarian crisis. You're about to hear from a Palestinian boy at a flour distribution point in Gaza City. He was with his father who gave permission for him to speak on camera.

Here's Paula Hancocks.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mohamed al-Darbi is 12 years old. He has a message for the world.

MOHAMED AL-DARBI, GAZA RESIDENT (through translation): We in Gaza have no flour, every day, 24 hours. They tell us there are trucks coming and we come and find nothing. We eat this sand, we have no food, we have no food. We have no flour, we have no food.

Have mercy on us, we have no food. We are eating sand instead of flour. Have mercy on is, mercy, we are eating sand instead of bread. A loaf of bread costs 20 shekel, a loaf this little.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Mohamed walked eight hours with his father to a flower distribution point in Gaza City. He finally collected two kilos of flour, but thieves attacked him and stole it.

He says, I saw the journalist filming and I asked him to pass on my message to the world that I was robbed and I ate sand because I had no flour and I was so depressed.

Mohamed's mother says she uses old dried bread used for animal feed, soaks it with water and bakes it over and over to feed her children.

His father says, "People are killing each other over a bag of flour. Five or six individuals attack each other because people want to eat, and they have become monsters due to the lack of food." Mohamed and his family, only two of tens of thousands of starved Palestinians risking their lives to feed their families.

Dozens have been killed by Israeli fire this week as they waited for aid. Hundreds since Israel lifted an 11-week blockade on Gaza in late May, allowing a trickle of aid in, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The Israeli military says it operates to minimize harm to those seeking aid while maintaining the safety of its troops.

The United Nations warns the entire population of Gaza. More than 2 million people face impending famine without a drastic increase in aid.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COOPER: Well, that's it for us. The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.