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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Missiles Fired From Iran Toward U.S. Base In Qatar Intercepted; Israeli Military Issues New Evacuation Warning For Tehran; Trump Announces Ceasefire Between Israel And Iran; Iran And Israel Yet To Acknowledge Ceasefire Agreement That Trump Announced On Truth Social; Mamdani Closes Gap Against Cuomo In NYC Mayoral Primary. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired June 23, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Phil Mattingly in for Jake Tapper.

We start with breaking news in our World Lead. Tonight, a U.S. military base in Qatar targeted by incoming Iranian fire. U.S. officials say the strikes resulted in no injuries and only one missile landed within the base. This just two days after American B-2 bombers dropped more than a dozen 30,000-pound bombs on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Back here in D.C., President Trump insists the strikes, quote, totally destroyed the targets and seems ready to put a pin in the escalatory side of this conflict, posting this afternoon in all caps, quote, congratulations world, it's time for peace.

But nuclear experts are warning Iran may have been capable or may have been able to protect some of its nearly weapons grade uranium stockpile.

Let's start things off with CNN's Clarissa Ward, who is in Tel Aviv for us. Clarissa, the president making clear he wants to move towards a diplomatic off-ramp of sorts, but Israeli officials seem to be saying they're going to continue military action.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Phil. They've actually just announced the IDF that they were calling for the evacuation of an area in Tehran, known as District 7. And we've been seeing in our own Fred Pleitgen, who is actually in Tehran, has been seeing with his own eyes that today has been a particularly heavy day of Israeli strikes in Iran, and particularly in the capital.

It's been quieter in terms of Iranian strikes here in Israel, though we have just seen broadcast from one of Iran's sort of semiofficial news agencies, an evacuation order for an area, Ramat Gan, north of Tel Aviv, that has actually been hit in the past on at least two occasions. We've seen the Iranians issue these kinds of evacuation orders in the past. It doesn't necessarily mean that a large strike is on the way. But certainly it doesn't feel like the situation is diffusing vis-a-vis the conflict between Israel and Iran specifically. Earlier, we heard from the spokesperson for the IDF who said, quote, we have many more strike plans. But at the same time, we heard recently from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was basically saying, I believe his words were, we are very, very close to achieving our strategic objectives. And privately, when you speak to officials here, there is a sense that Israel is getting closer to the end, at least, of this first phase of its operations against Iran.

There is, of course, an open question as to how diplomacy plays out, whether you will see some kind of a ceasefire agreement between the two. And even if there is a ceasefire agreement, as we have seen in the case of Lebanon, Israel will almost certainly reserve the right to continue to strike Iran when and if it sees fit, taking advantage of the air supremacy that it's been able to achieve over large swaths of the country.

But more broadly, Phil, I would just say based on conversations that I've been having with a number of experts and officials in the region, there is a sense of relief at the moment. They feel that the attack that Iran launched today was carefully calibrated, clearly telegraphed, and that was, simply put, the least escalatory option that Iran had at its disposal. So, the hope is that from here, things will continue to calm down as opposed to escalate. Though, of course, with everything we're seeing in terms of these new evacuation orders, anything can still happen, Phil.

MATTINGLY: Clarissa Ward for us, as always, thanks so much.

I want to turn now to CNN's Natasha Bertrand at the Pentagon. Natasha, 40,000 troops in the Middle East, walk people through which base here was targeted and how it seemed to not actually have significant impact on the base or us asset.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was the US base in Al Udeid, in Qatar, which is basically just outside of Doha. And, of course, that's just across the Persian Gulf from Iran. And the base was targeted, we are told by a defense official, by short and medium range ballistic missiles that were launched from Iran.

And we also got a statement from Central Command that said that Central Command was also part of helping to intercept these missiles, in addition to Qatar's air defenses as well. And so this was clearly an effort to intercept these missiles that was fairly successful because, according to defense officials, there were no injuries, there were no casualties of any kind. And so I think that US defense officials will consider that a fairly a successful interdiction of these missiles.

But it's worth noting that the U.S. has been preparing for this for quite some time now. They anticipated that Iran was going to retaliate, whether against U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, or even earlier than that, retaliate against U.S. forces in the region because of Israeli strikes on Iran.

[18:05:00] As we know Iran believes that the U.S. is, of course, the main backer of Israel, and so they perceive any strikes that Israel does on Iran as the U.S. being complicit in those.

And so the US has been preparing for this. They actually moved all of their non-sheltered aircraft out of Al Udeid Air Base just last week to protect those aircraft in case of any situation like this. They also moved a lot of Navy ships out of the port in Bahrain, another area where the U.S. Navy has a presence there in anticipation of possible retaliation by Iran. And so there were a number of steps that the U.S. military took, including putting us forces in the region on a higher alert level to prepare for the possibility that they could receive incoming.

But as of right now, it is still fairly early, I would say, to determine for sure whether there were no troops, for example, that sustained traumatic brain injuries like they did during the last time. Iran struck a military bases in the region in retaliation for the administration's assassination of Qassem Soleimani. But as of now, again, the administration saying they are not aware of any serious casualties anyway among U.S. forces in the region. Phil?

MATTINGLY: Natasha Bertrand for us at the Pentagon, thanks so much.

I want to bring in CNN Anchor Fareed Zakaria. Fareed, I actually just want to start by stepping back a minute because things have been moving so fast and it has felt so extraordinarily fluid and also that there wasn't a lot of precedent that the world could base this moment on. It seems there is a fairly widespread sense of relief, probably too strong a word here, but view that there is a diplomatic off-ramp at least potentially ahead. Is that fair?

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN ANCHOR: I think you're absolutely right that there is a great sense of relief. And I would say the relief comes primarily from the fact that the Iranian regime has responded rationally, not in a kind of highly ideological or emotional manner. Look, Iran is in a very weak situation, probably the weakest it's been militarily since it was invaded by Saddam Hussein in 1980. It does not have a lot of options. But that doesn't mean that regimes sometimes act irrationally. Sometimes they do things that are totally self- defeating.

But Iran seems to have done something that was calculated, that was calibrated, as President Trump points out in his Truth Social post, they signaled to the United States in advance that they were going to do this, so that they could make sure that there was essentially no casualties, minimal damage. They know that the American base has very strong air defenses. So, what all of that tells you that the Iranians recognize the situation they're in on making a rational choice.

But to your second part of your question, I think that's the crux. Does that mean they will now move towards the negotiating table? President Trump certainly hopes so. A dramatic change of tone from two days ago when he announced the strikes, if you recall, he was blistering about Iran, talked about them as the leading state sponsor of terror, 40 years of chanting death through America, all that kind of thing. Now, he's saying, guys, come back to the negotiating table. I'll use all my influence with Israel to get them to back off. Let's have peace. So, he's hoping that that's the direction they go.

But the Iranians are very tough negotiators and I would suspect that you're not going to get some very quick and simple negotiation out of this. This may be -- we may begin to see signs that they'll eventually start negotiating but it's going to be a long haul.

MATTINGLY: Fareed, as is often the case in our current news cycles, as you were talking, the president just posted on Truth Social moments ago saying, quote, a ceasefire has been, quote, fully agreed to by Israel and Iran. There will be a complete and total ceasefire six hours from now. Again, this just happened. I don't want to spring this on you, and we're trying to figure out exactly what it means. It's a rather lengthy post on Truth Social.

Again, we had been reporting -- Clarissa and I were just discussing that there were warnings about strikes in Tehran. There have been strikes throughout the course of the day. What do you think this means?

ZAKARIA: Well, it follows exactly what I was saying. Trump is now clearly trying to transition from warmaker to peacemaker, and he's used his considerable influence with Bibi Netanyahu. Let's remember the Israelis also did massive damage.

I would argue the Israeli strikes were probably more significant in setting back the Iranian program than even the American strikes because they got to 20 of the top scientists, 20 of the top military officials, degraded almost every facility, destroyed Iran's air defenses.

[18:10:00]

So, Israel feels like it can stop. Trump wants to move into a peacemaking role. He wants it to stop. The Iranians obviously have no -- I mean, it's only good for them because they have not been able to really respond in any sense to Israel's pummeling attacks because they don't have much capacity.

But then the question becomes, what do those negotiations look like? The key stumbling block has been this, President Trump began the negotiations saying Iran could have some enrichment capacity, but it couldn't be the kind that could be weaponized. The Israeli position has been no, zero enrichment under any circumstances. The Iranian position has been we have to have the legal right to enrich, which is our right under the NPT.

So, that's where you have it. You know, Israel and Iran were at complete loggerheads. The U.S. had a middle position. About two weeks ago, Trump moved to the Israeli position. So, the question is now that he wants to be a peacemaker is he -- is there going to be any give there or do the Iranians feel they're so weak, they have no option but to move to concede to the Israeli position? That is going to be the heart of the negotiations once they begin.

MATTINGLY: Yes. The incompatible red lines haven't changed to any degree that we are aware of at this point.

Fareed, stand by. I want to go straight to Jeff Zeleny over at the White House because, Jeff, we're all just digesting this in real time right now, and it seems there's a couple of caveats, a couple of elements in this. What do we know about what the president just posted?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know is the president clearly is trying to move on very quickly, not only to turn the page, but to try and close the book on this entire 12-week episode and we're seeing the message right there on Truth Social, which just came out.

And, Phil, I mean, never mind how extraordinary it is to basically explain what the president hopes would be the end of a war in a Truth Social post, rather than having officials actually explain it or the president himself, but the idea -- the question is that several come to mind, one, does the president speak for Iran here? I mean, he could certainly speak for Israel more likely that an endgame would be in sight, as we've been reporting. But it's a very much an open question what he knows that would lead to a ceasefire.

But separate of all of this, Phil, the same question remained right now tonight, as it did before this message was sent out, what about the Iran nuclear program? The president has insisted it was obliterated. The president has insisted that it was wiped away. There is no evidence of that yet.

So, you just get the sense that President Trump is trying to move on from this very quickly, as he often does on things that are somewhat controversial. This has been controversial among his movement. There's no doubt about that. There's a classified briefing on Capitol Hill tomorrow, many deep questions from both sides of the aisle about this. So, the president clearly is trying to put this in the rear view mirror.

Well, that would defy history in one respect, but also, again, the question of what is left of Iran's nuclear program. And we simply do not know the answer to that.

MATTINGLY: Jeff Zeleny for us at the White House, thank you very much. We're going to continue to follow all of this breaking news.

Joining us now from -- is Democrat from Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley, he's on the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman, as we kind of try and understand exactly what the president is laying out here on Truth Social, what's your initial reaction to the potential for a ceasefire that's being announced here?

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): Oh, look, I, we always welcome a ceasefire. There's always room for diplomacy. It's also important to understand how we got here. The hope is that they continue to move toward a negotiated agreement here, but that agreement sounds a heck of a lot like the JCPOA, right, the deal that Iran was in compliance with years ago, they weren't creating material necessary for a bomb. And President Trump pulled us out of that deal. And so Iran went forward developing that material, creating a threat, which he now has to go bring us to a brinksmanship form, totally unnecessary.

MATTINGLY: The administration was scheduled to conduct an all-member House briefing on their intelligence where things stood in the operation from the weekend. There were a lot of questions, not just Democrats, Republicans had as well, going into that briefing. What did you learn?

QUIGLEY: Oh, look, all we can talk about is the fact that those threats are there, that the fact of the matter is Iran is the one of the largest state sponsors of terrorism, and that this attack created a very real risk for our allies and the United States at home, and obviously great concerns for our 40,000 troops throughout the Middle East and those bases there.

And, look, as you're reporting just talked about, it's going to take some time before we know where the Iran nuclear program is.

[18:15:07]

I'll say this. It's extremely mobile.

So, I think it's beyond the realm of normal optimism to think that the system, the process and where they're going has been obliterated. There are still very real concerns, but we're going to learn a lot more in the coming days and weeks.

MATTINGLY: That's -- and, again, I'm very aware there are very significant limits to what you can say coming out of a briefing like the one you were just in. But it seems to be what you're saying is the president's contention that the program was destroyed, obliterated, no longer exists, does not track with your understanding of things after this briefing?

QUIGLEY: I would rather put it in a more general way. I've been on the committee over eight years, and whenever there's an attack like this, it takes a long time to fully assess what has taken place, what the actual results are. The fact of the matter is it's an area that we are denied and we, it's much tougher to get a true assessment.

And, generally, before the briefings, we all knew this stuff was very mobile. So, I knew when the president said it was obliterated, it is the hyperbole of the president on a typical basis that nothing is ever going to be maybe or halfway, it's going to be total. And that's just not the way these operations work. They're never completely successful. Again, it's a difficult mobile target.

MATTINGLY: It's really important context. Congressman, I really appreciate your time, especially coming out of that briefing. Thanks so much.

QUIGLEY: Thank you. Take care.

MATTINGLY: Well, coming up, I'll get more reaction on the other side of the aisle, this time from a Republican Congressman to the news just moments ago from President Trump about a ceasefire.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:00]

MATTINGLY: Back with breaking news on our World Lead. As we look live at Tel Aviv, just moments ago, President Trump announcing on Truth Social that a ceasefire between Israel and Iran will take place in six hours.

Joining us now, Republican from Missouri, Congressman Mark Alford, his district includes Whiteman Air Force Base, the home of the B-2 bombers that took part in Saturday's U.S. strikes on Iran. Congressman, I really appreciate your time.

Just to start with the breaking news, what is your understanding of what the president just announced? Has the House conference been briefed on this ceasefire?

REP. MARK ALFORD (R-MO): Well, no, we haven't. I just arrived back from our district and Whiteman Air Force Base and we'll get to that in just a little bit. But, look, Phil, this is what success looks like, for the president of the United States to take a strike against the nuclear capabilities of Iran, and now the ayatollah who has really run out of options, their missile defense system is depleted. And so they are running out of missiles to lob into Israel and Tehran. And I think this is a great move forward, this ceasefire that hopefully will bring lasting peace between Iran, Israel, and America.

MATTINGLY: It seems that the intelligence community, even the U.S. military, is still kind of getting an analysis assessment of what the actual damage was in these very significant strikes. You said earlier this morning it, the strikes had decapitated the nuclear capabilities of Iran. Do you have intel that shows that it's been decapitated?

ALFORD: Well, no, but I know that when I've killed snakes in the past, any attempt to chop off the head disables them severely. This is a snake of terrorism that has been alive for some 43 years since I was in college watching the Iranian hostage crisis play out on CNN in its infancy days. And we have had enough, Israelis have had enough, Americans have had enough. Donald J. Trump has had enough, and this was a blow to the head of the snake of terrorism.

And now the ayatollah has a choice, Phil. He can -- this is a time for choosing, much like President Reagan said in 1964 in his speech for Barry Goldwater, which really set then Governor Reagan up for his success in his presidential run, a time for choosing. The ayatollah can choose peace, or he can choose chaos. He can choose prosperity, or he can choose poverty. He can choose isolation from the rest of the Arab world or an international relationship where they can thrive once and for all.

MATTINGLY: If the choice is, in your framing of things, the latter, should the U.S. engage again? Should there be more U.S. strikes?

ALFORD: I think President Donald J. Trump, that will be up to him as our commander-in-chief. He has said that if targets had been struck or will be struck by forces in Tehran and Iran, that, yes, we will react, as we should. It was quite evident today that the missiles fired into Qatar. There was advanced warning to the United States and Qatar, that these missiles were coming.

The ayatollah, their whole society, their culture is based on saving face. It is a culture built on pride, basically. And I know what the Bible says, pride comes before the fall. I'm not sure if this is going to be the fall of this regime. I certainly hope so. I'm not pushing for regime change. But there are enough fed up Iranians in all over the world, including here in the United States of America, who want to see change. There are leaders in Egypt, the president, we talk with him, the king of Jordan, the royal family of Saudi Arabia, they want change. They want to see normalcy in their region, where they can get about the business of commerce and trade and peace. And that's what Donald J. Trump is bringing.

MATTINGLY: It's certainly a different approach and one that we'll see how it plays out going forward. One thing, and there's a lot of breaking news, so we got to go, but I do want to acknowledge, as you did at the beginning, your district has Whiteman Air Force Base.

[18:25:02]

I saw you there this morning and the B-2 pilots and the B-2 operations that flew out of there. It was an incredibly impressive operation. We'll see if it leads to what the president and you hoped for in the days and weeks ahead.

Congressman Mark Alford, I really appreciate your time, sir.

ALFORD: Thank you, Phil. Take care.

MATTINGLY: And up next, we'll continue to follow the breaking news. President Trump just announced a ceasefire between Iran and Israel, says it will begin in the next six hours. I'll get reaction from a former Army lieutenant general who has extensive experience in the Middle East. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: And I think the president really hit the reset button and said, look, let's actually produce long-term peace for the region. That's always been his goal. I actually think when we look back, we will say the 12-day war was an important reset moment for the entire region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: That was Vice President J.D. Vance on Fox just moments ago reacting to the announcement from President Donald Trump, who says Israel and Iran have agreed to ceasefire.

[18:30:06] Joining us now retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Mark Schwartz. General Schwartz, look, there's a lot we need to learn about this, and I want to kind of level-set that with everyone that we don't know a ton about the dynamics of this or how it's all going to work, but your initial reaction to this announcement.

LT. GEN. MARK SCHWARTZ (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Extremely, first, proud of, you know, the result of the military operation by the United States that took place and that enabled where we are now strategically with respect to, you know, a pending ceasefire within the next six hours. And it sounds like, diplomacy in earnest potentially restarting here following that. So, I think we're in a really good position.

So, I'm really proud of our Armed Forces and I'm really optimistic that we may have a chance to see stability in the Middle East, long overdue.

MATTINGLY: You also served as the U.S. security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority. If this ceasefire does come to fruition, as it's been laid out, how do you think that will influence the possibilities of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas?

SCHWARTZ: I think it will certainly inform it. There's a long way to go inside of Gaza to eliminate Hamas' ability to resist against the Israeli Defense Forces and, you know, oppressing the Palestinian population there. But the fact that, you know, Israel -- excuse me, Iran no longer is in a position to have influence over Hamas and, frankly, you know, absent of the Houthis and, you know, they've been pretty dormant since this offensive started, what, two Fridays ago now.

So, I think it will inform the way ahead, but, again, you know, make no mistake, the conflict that is ongoing in Gaza now we haven't had our attention on it. There's still a lot of lethal operations that are going to be necessary, but I don't envision Hamas capitulating, Phil.

MATTINGLY: Before this most recent news, of course, there was the Iranian strikes, the retaliatory strikes in the U.S. Air Force base in Qatar, a White House official, say, quote, we knew they'd retaliate. They had a similar response after Soleimani. It was in reference to the assassination of senior Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani in 2020, that was ordered by President Trump. What do you make of Tehran's tactics here and what they were intending to signal?

SCHWARTZ: Well, first, they certainly did not want to escalate the conflict with the United States, most definitely. And so the fact that airspace was closed down well in advance of the missile launches that took place, the fact that there's been extensive reporting that Tehran telegraphed to the leadership of Qatar that this attack was going to come, and that U.S. forces, in addition to what they had already moved out of Al Udeid last week, were in a position probably in the bunkers that exist there and were prepared to respond once these missiles were launched.

But you also saw the domestic rhetoric play out, you know, on Tehran T.V. that you reported very extensively. So, you know, they have their domestic audience to speak to, but they also did not want to escalate with the United States after they saw the capabilities, you know, that were demonstrated last Friday's period of darkness.

MATTINGLY: General Mark Schwartz, I appreciate your time, sir. Thanks so much.

SCHWARTZ: Thank you, Phil.

MATTINGLY: And coming up, some of President Trump's biggest supporters were divided over the decision to strike Iran. So, how might they respond to a Trump's report of a ceasefire? We're going to discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

MATTINGLY: We're back with the breaking news in our World Lead. A short while ago, President Trump saying, Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire just minutes after both nations warned of future strikes.

My political panel is here to discuss. Jonah, I am admittedly in the midst of trying to think through how to think about this without more information. What's your initial sense?

JONAH GOLDBERG, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: My initial sense is I'm waiting for you to tell me how to think this through without more information. You know, look I think all the caveats in the world apply. Will the ceasefire hold, will some proxy like Hezbollah or somebody do something that Israel says, well, wait a second, they're your attack dogs, that blows up the ceasefire. You know, so we don't know.

But if it holds, it looks to me, and I don't want to be crass about the politics of it, but it's the political panel, but this is just a very successful effort by the Trump administration pending more information about how the battle damage assessment and all that kind of stuff.

But I think this is going to be popular with Americans. It hasn't led to the -- you know, we are getting into this sort of Iraq syndrome where we thought we were going to have a replay of Iraq, if it doesn't turn into anything that looks like that, I think it's a win on the merits on national security. I think Trump was largely justified in what he did, I have caveats, and it's a win, politically.

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that there are still some questions that are out there. You saw that the president said they're obliterated, that you saw earlier on your show, they're talking about they're decapitated. We still don't know what Iran's nuclear capabilities are. We won't know that for quite some time. I think that's why, and Democrats also want briefings to see exactly what happened.

I do think that Trump often goes out and he claims success and he claims a victory. And the politics of this is that he knew that his party was on the brink of coming after him because they did not want to go to a war. The polling showed that the American people did not believe that we should be getting involved in this conflict.

And so Trump was looking for an out, actually, all parties were looking for an out, but in particular Trump. He needed to show that this was a win. He needed to show that this was success. And I think that -- frankly, I do think that he succeeded in doing that. With that said, I think there's still a lot of questions about what are Iran's nuclear capabilities like, does this hold, what does this look like in a few weeks in a few months, et cetera.

[18:40:08]

And I think that everyone should be asking those questions right now, because I always take Trump's word with a grain of salt when he's like, total victory. We don't know if it's total victory yet.

MATTINGLY: Yes. And to be clear, and I don't want to speak for you guys, but like the reason why I'm saying, I'm still trying to think through how to think about like, there's just a lot of detail plus decades of failed negotiations or pulling out or stringing along of these particular players and actors in this particular region.

You mentioned kind of the inter-party warfare/divide on this issue that the president has been trying to navigate. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who obviously has been one of the most vocal of those saying he shouldn't have done the strikes, she said this to Manu Raju just a few moments ago. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): And we saw President Trump's measured response and his message on truth social is exactly the same messaging that we elected him for. He wants peace, he wants us to end, and he's going to urge Israel that it's time to end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: I believe she said that to Manu before the president posted about the potential ceasefire. Of course, that comes a few hours, I think, after she posted on X, it feels like a complete bait and switch to please the neocons, warmongers, military industrial complex contracts and neocon T.V. personalities that MAGA hates and who were never Trumpers.

GOLDBERG: Yes. Well, that's stupid. You know, I mean, part of the thing is we just -- over, what, a month ago, Laura Loomer purged the last alleged neocons from the White House. There are no neocons, whatever she thinks a neocon is other than some sort of perfidious bagel-snarfing warmongers, there are none in the White House, right? They've all been purged. Anyone who's suspected of neocon, of being a neocon has been purged. This isn't the Nikki Haley people making these calls. This is Trump and his team doing this.

And I personally think that like Margie Taylor Greene is in a position, Tucker Carlson in is in a position where they're talking as if they have a massive base of support behind them for their position when, in fact, the polls don't show that. Israel is sort of a special case for a lot of Evangelical Christians. A lot of, you know, MAGA-types give a lot of allowances. And moreover, at the end of the day, Trump was kind of right. I mean, I don't like it, but Trump was right when he says, I get to decide what America first means, because, ultimately, the MAGA movement is a cult of personality and you can't sustain being outside off the team very long in that world.

MATTINGLY: For Democrats who have criticized a lot of elements of what we've seen over the course of the last 72 hours, the one constant kind of outlier has been Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania who said this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): For me, that's not a war. That was a very limited military exercise and it struck that, and then that's where we're at. So, really, it really wasn't about unconstitutional or it's anything like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Just his position right now?

HINOJOSA: So, I think that the concern, and it is -- when the action happened on Saturday, I think a lot of people were calling it a war, including President Trump. One of the things that Democrats were really worried about was escalation. And they were worried about going into a conflict, and as you said, making this like Iraq all over again. And so I think the vast majority of the Democratic Party is not with John Fetterman because we do not want another war.

And so I do think that John Fetterman is, you know, especially right out of the gate, kind of saying that he didn't see it as a war, we didn't know where this would go. We didn't know kind of the next -- we still don't know where this is going to go and what the next few days are going to look like. And I think sort of jumping to conclusions like that is not smart when you don't exactly know what the dynamics are going to be in a few days.

MATTINGLY: Just real quick, because we got like ten seconds left, Fetterman's role inside the party right now.

HINOJOSA: Yes, I think the Democratic Party is struggling to where Fetterman is at. I do think that there's a big question Fetterman is going to have to face about whether he's going to seek reelection and stay in the Democratic Party. I think there, he needs to think about his mental health first and his health overall and whether he wants to do that because it's obviously a big job, and I don't know where he's going to stand on that.

MATTINGLY: Thank you guys both very much.

Well, we continue to follow the breaking news. President Trump says, Israel and Iran have agreed to a ceasefire that could go into effect within the next day. We're also hearing reports of a big blast in Tehran. More on all of this, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:48:12]

MATTINGLY: We're back with the breaking news.

CNN teams on the ground in Iran are reporting a rather large blast heard in Tehran. This comes just after President Trump announced that Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire that will go into effect in just hours. We should note neither Israel nor Iran have acknowledged what the president announced.

Meantime, new video shows panicked shoppers earlier at a mall in Doha upon hearing that Iran had fired a missile at a U.S. military base in Qatar. This just the latest incident to cause panic across the Middle East.

Civilians in Iran and Israel now used to take -- now used to taking cover since Israel first launched strikes on Iran back on June 13th.

Joining me now is Nazanin Boniadi. My apologies. An Iranian British actress and activist.

You had a really, really powerful piece a few days ago. I've watched your interviews as well.

Do you have optimism based on what you heard from the president, or what you've seen from the president on a potential ceasefire?

NAZANIN BONIADI, IRANIAN-BRITISH ACTRESS AND ACTIVIST: I mean, I'm hoping for a. Cease fire. And the reason is simple, because nobody can organize under bombardment. No one can survive. They're so focused inside Iran of simply getting away from the repression, the increased ferocious repression that the Islamic republic is unleashing on citizens at the moment.

Because that's what happens. The first thing they do is unleash their fury on their own people. And that the internet shut down. And there are so many things that are stopping civil society from organizing.

And essentially what we want is for Iranians to organize, to be able to self-determine. And I hope that that can happen.

MATTINGLY: Do you have -- it's been so difficult to communicate with individuals inside of Iran based on the regime's actions.

[18:50:02]

Do you have any sense of how people are feeling right now?

BONIADI: Well, Iran is not a monolith. I can say that the vast majority of Iranians despise the Islamic Republic regime. They view that regime as an occupying force.

A dissident I spoke to in the first day of the Israeli strikes said it best. He said no one wants war. The Iranian people do not want war.

But if you're outraged outside of Iran, if you're outraged as to the cost of civilian lives and the pain that we're suffering happened just today, then your motives are political and they're not based on the desire for people to lead better lives. They're not based in humanitarian intentions or goals.

And so, I think that that sums it up, is there has been a 46-year war by the Islamic Republic on its own people. So, what we need to do in this moment is ensure that that wrath of that regime doesn't unleash on its own people, that the Iranian people get the right to self- determine, that there is a free election at some point, and that democracy prevails.

MATTINGLY: What are politicians, outsiders who throw around terms like regime change rather loosely without talking about the individuals themselves inside the country, the population? What do they miss? What do you want them to consider?

BONIADI: No one in Iran wants anyone outside of Iran to dictate the future of the Iranian people. The responsibility of the international community is to ensure that there's a peaceful transition to the type of governance that the Iranian people choose. And what they can do. And this is out of also out of self-interest, because a peaceful, Democratic Iran will mean not only a better Iran, but a more peaceful and stable region and world.

So, what we need to focus on is ensuring that there is a free, internationally monitored election at some point and that that that we empower Iranian civil society to towards that goal. Anything other than that anointing someone, trying to stop certain people we don't like with our own agendas to not be in that conversation.

That is not what the Iranian people want right now. That's not what I'm hearing, is let us choose our own destiny. Let us determine that destiny ourselves.

MATTINGLY: Nazanin Boniadi I would urge people to read the essay in time magazine. Really appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

BONIADI: Thanks for having me.

MATTINGLY: We're also monitoring major political news. New York City voters set to rank their choice for mayor. Why the results will resonate well beyond New York City. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:56:51]

MATTINGLY: Breaking news in our politics lead. We're just a few hours away from polls opening across New York City in the closely watched Democratic mayoral primary.

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who had held a commanding lead in polls for months, now faces a serious challenge from New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.

Mamdani has closed the gap significantly in the final days of the campaign, with New Yorks ranked choice voting poised to play a factor in deciding the winner.

Here's CNN's Gloria Pazmino.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW CUOMO (D), NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATED: Good to see you.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The 11 candidate Democratic primary for New York City mayor appears to be down to a two-man race.

UNIDENTIFIED MALED: Number one --

PAZMINO: Former Governor Andrew Cuomo launching a comeback bid supported by the Democratic establishment. And Zohran Mamdani, a progressive newcomer.

The race, seen as a proxy battle for the Democratic Party's future.

AD NARRATOR: Zoran Mamdani, a risk New York can't afford.

PAZMINO: And for the party's stance on Israel, Mamdani, facing scrutiny from multiple fronts after he defended the use of the slogan globalized the intifada.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE: To me, ultimately, what I hear in so many is a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in in standing up for Palestinian human rights.

PAZMINO: Cuomo accusing Mamdani of using hateful language that encourages violence against Jews.

MAMDANI: I've been clear that any incitement to violence is something that I'm in opposition to, and that the use of any language to that end is clearly something that I oppose.

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY): Southeastern Queens is in love with Andrew Cuomo.

PAZMINO: Many Democrats who called for his resignation have lined up behind Cuomo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to vote for --

PAZMINO: Cuomo, who has denied sexual harassment allegations that led to his resignation, served as New York governor for ten years. His campaign cornerstone experience and a record of going up against Trump.

AD NARRATOR: Trump's coming for New York. Who do you think can stop him?

PAZMINO: Cuomo is banking on the city's moderate Democrats, focused on affordability, hiring more police and their support for Israel.

CUOMO: We had a great record of accomplishment on the state. Now we have to do it for the city.

PAZMINO: Mamdani is a three-term assemblyman and self-described Democratic socialist, and a 33-year-old immigrant from Uganda. If elected, he would become the first Muslim mayor in the history of the city and one of the youngest to take city hall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like you're fighting for me.

MAMDANI: Thanks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like I feel like you speak for me.

PAZMINO: Mamdani is promising free busses, universal childcare, city subsidized grocery stores, and a rent freeze for the city's 1 million rent stabilized tenants.

MAMDANI: Because this is New York, we can afford to dream.

PAZMINO: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders are both backing the campaign. The big variable that makes this race so hard to predict, ranked choice voting. Rather than choose just one candidate, New York City voters can rank five in order of preference.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Do not rank Andrew Cuomo anywhere on it.

PAZMINO: Lending to candidate alliances and potentially drawing the process out for at least another week.

Gloria Pazmino, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Our thanks to Gloria Pazmino.

You, of course, can follow the show on X @TheLeadCNN. And if you ever miss an episode of the lead, you can listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" live from the United Arab Emirates, starts now.