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IDF: All of Israel is Under Fire from Iran; Iran State Media: Hundreds of Ballistic Missiles Launched at Israel. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired June 13, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: ... first air missile program as well. You'll recall in 2019, the Iranian shot down a U.S. drone over the Gulf of -- over the Strait of Hormuz. And that was also the work of Iranian air defenses that were produced in Iran. So certainly a very important figure as far as that's concerned.

And for the Iranians, the ballistic missile program and the drone program is really what they've been seeing or hoping to be their great equalizer. There was a senior Iranian general who at the time told me that the Iranians were looking at ways to try and stay on par with the Israelis and the Americans.

And they realized because of the sanctions that creating, for instance, their own jet fighter aircraft was simply not feasible. So they were thinking that ballistic missiles and drones would be the way forward. And it's clear the direction that they've gone into, creating ever more sophisticated ballistic missiles that could fly further, that they say are more accurate and that can carry a larger payload.

So whether or not we're seeing that kind of plan being put into action right now is obviously still very much unclear as the Israelis are saying dozens of missiles are headed their way or have been heading their way. But certainly, that is the thing that the Iranians, we believe, would be relying on if this is really the start of the big retaliation that they had been talking about. Of course, as you just mentioned, the Iranians are saying that right now their response is underway.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, Fred, thank you so much for that.

And as Israel is saying -- Israeli officials are saying that all of Israel is under fire. We are looking at live pictures here from Tel Aviv.

But let's take a look at what happened just moments ago as Iranian ballistic missiles came into the airspace there. I want to bring in former Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren.

Ambassador, how are you? What are you seeing here? And how do you think that people outside of the region should be viewing what they have been witnessing here over the last day?

MICHAEL OREN, FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: My family and I are in our safe room, Brianna. We're OK. The building shook not a little bit a couple of minutes ago.

And we've received warnings on our cell phones, very sophisticated warnings, that tell us exactly what to expect and where to go when the expected arrives. And the expected did arrive. Apparently, 100 rockets fired at Israel.

And Israeli news is reporting that seven have hit in the greater Tel Aviv area. So that, by the way, is not an unusual number. Our missile defense systems, which are multilevel, it's Iron Dome is the bottom, but it's David's Sling for middle-range rockets, Arrow 2 for suborbital rockets, Arrow 3 for orbital rockets.

These are joint Israeli-American missile systems, anti-missile systems. They're about 90 percent to 95 percent effective. And so if Iran has fired 100 rockets at us and five to seven hit, that's par for the course.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And ambassador, as you were speaking, Iranian state media is now reporting that Tehran has fired hundreds of various ballistic missiles toward Israel in what it's calling the beginning of its crushing response to the Israeli attacks on the country, beginning late last night.

I wonder what you make of this retaliation thus far, in light of what Israel has done to Tehran and its proxies in the region over the last 12 to 15 months. Do you anticipate that Iran is going to continue doing this? Do they have the capacity to?

OREN: Well, it's a multifaceted question, Boris, and it's this. On one hand, the response of 100 rockets fired is a lot less than the two other instances which Iran fired at us in October and April 2024. In each of those cases, Iran fired over 300 ballistic missiles at us in response to a far lesser provocation than Israel's attacks in Iran over the last 17, 18 hours.

However, however, if Iran maintains a steady drizzle -- and I say that not ironically -- a steady drizzle of missiles that keep our airport closed, that keep our economy frozen, keep most Israelis indoors, that could have a prolonged effect. And that is something that looks much more like a war of attrition. And so over the last 17, 18 hours, the Israeli Air Force and other forces have opened a cordon from Western Iran into Central Iran, free of anti-aircraft batteries.

And so the Israeli Air Force can operate pretty much with impunity.

[14:35:00]

There have been no losses of reported aircraft during the course of the day, which is quite an extraordinary feat, given the fact that some 200 aircraft were in the air, traveling about 1,000 miles from Israel. And now those aircraft will be able to operate with impunity.

So the war of attrition cuts two ways. It also gave Israel be able to strike at Iranian targets, Iranian rocket launchers, arsenals. And as we know, Israel has intelligence assets on the ground in Iran, directing these strikes. KEILAR: Ambassador, if you could stand by for us, and it's good to hear that you and your family are safe there as you were sheltering.

And Cedric, I saw you nodding as you were listening to the ambassador talking about some of those air assets. What are you thinking?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: So I think, Brianna, you know, the ambassador correctly pointed out to the Israeli air defense and missile defense systems, and it's really important to understand this is a layered approach that the Israelis have. Now, what they're doing is obviously defending their territory, but the fact is that the Israelis have basically achieved what we call air supremacy over Iran. That means that they're basically unchallenged.

When their aircraft fly over Iran, they are not being challenged by Iranian assets, at least not as we can see at the moment. So that's a really important thing. That means the Israelis can strike Iranian targets basically at will, and that matters.

SANCHEZ: Colonel, if you could please stand by. We want to go to CNN's Jerusalem bureau chief and correspondent, Oren Liebermann, who is in a bomb shelter right now as these ballistic missiles are being tracked on their way to Israel from Iran. Oren, what are you hearing now?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, we just got a statement a short time ago, an additional statement from the Israeli military. I'm just going to read this as it is.

The attack is ongoing. Dozens of additional missiles were launched toward the state of Israel, and then they say the Home Front Command order to stay in shelters, which is an order pretty much across the country, remains in effect.

So the country is still in bomb shelters, as you can see, as are we down in the basement of our building in the bomb shelter here. As the Israeli military warns, the attack, the Iranian ballistic missile launch at Israel is ongoing.

From what I understand, our producer told me just a moment ago that in the live pics you have that show us areas across Israel, we may be able to see additional incoming or potentially additional interceptor missiles that have been fired to try to intercept more incoming. We don't have an exact number on how many ballistic missiles have been fired at this point, but we now have two statements from the IDF. Both of them say dozens of missiles once, and then again, it's possible we're reaching the point where this is getting near 100 missiles, and that leads to the question of how much longer does this last, and is this just the beginning of what we expect to see playing out over the next hours and potentially days, or is this, at least for now, the bulk of it?

What we know now is that we are in a bomb shelter, and the country itself is in a shelter right now.

I'll give two more pieces of information. Magen David Adom, which is effectively Israel's Red Cross, they put out a statement eight minutes ago saying their teams are searching seven reported sites in the Don area.

That's a broad term for central Israel, an indication that missiles have gotten through and have landed in central Israel. The question is, what have they hit? What have they targeted?

Our affiliate, Con11, reports that there are military and civilian sites that appear to have been targeted by this missile strike. Again, more missiles are incoming at this time, and then I'll also say we had a statement a short time ago from Israel police. This is just six minutes ago.

A short time ago, Israel police received reports of fallen munitions in one of the communities within the Tel Aviv area. At this stage, no injuries have been reported. The property damage has occurred.

Again, these are police on the scene, and Israel's version of the Red Cross, Magen David Adom, this is just the beginning of their ability to get out there and see what happened, and on top of that, the Israeli military says there are more missiles incoming, so we will wait to see as this is updated how many missiles have gotten through Israel's aerial defense. What have they hit? Are there injured? Are they killed?

This is effectively what Israel has been expecting now since they launched their attacks some 18 hours ago, and we will see how this plays out and the scope of it. How many missiles are there that we expect to see over the course of the evening as we remain in the shelter here waiting for the latest updates, and they are at this point coming pretty frequently. That order to stay in shelters remains in effect.

KEILAR: And Oren, a spokesperson saying that another wave of dozens of missiles has been launched towards Israel. That's according to the IDF. The attack, they say, is ongoing.

We are obviously looking, Oren, and just put this into perspective for us because the live pictures that we are looking at, of course, are of Tel Aviv, but give us, again, that sense of just the entire country as you have Israeli officials saying that all of the country is under fire.

[14:40:00]

LIEBERMANN: We're getting the red alerts on our phone here from, which warns of incoming, and just to give you a sense, I'm going to hold this up.

I wonder if we can zoom in on this and you'll get a sense of just a list of places where the red alerts are going off that warn of incoming rocket fire. Normally, you see one or two of these pop at a time. This is just lists upon lists of --

KEILAR: Oren, hold on just a moment because we actually can't see what you're trying to show us. So we're going to try and pop up a small picture of you so that you can show us those red alerts. Guys, can we get a big little in there so that we can see Oren on the screen, what he's trying to show us?

OK, Oren, go ahead.

LIEBERMANN: This is, normally, these are the red alerts. These are lists of locations that warn of potential incoming fire. Normally, you'll see one or two locations. This, I frankly have never seen of the list completely fill my entire phone here as the warning of incoming rocket fire continues. The red alert going off all across the country. We have the live pictures from Tel Aviv and the Tel Aviv area, but it's not only there.

And as the red alert shows, there is much more of it, much more warnings of incoming rocket fire. Some of this is in the north, for example, Safed. Some of these other locations also in the north.

So it's not just central Israel, which is, frankly, where a majority of the population of the country lives. It is well beyond that, and it looks like there are still warnings of incoming coming in on red alert here. Meanwhile, the latest update is that the command remains, or rather, the order remains to stay in shelters with warnings, and I just got another red alert listing more locations that now have potential incoming warnings.

So you see now the scope of what's playing out here. The retaliation, dozens at first, dozens more, triggering red alert sirens across the country, sending us to the bomb shelter in our building, sending others to shelters as well, and the order remains to stay in the shelters and stay close to the shelters.

Now I'm seeing red alerts for southern Israel. Be'er Sheva is a major city in southern Israel. So you really see quite easily here how much this is pretty much across the entire country, and to give everyone a sense of that, Israel is roughly the size of New Jersey, give or take. So you get a sense of the area, the size of New Jersey is under warning of incoming rocket fire with the population right now remaining in shelters.

Again, we don't have a sense of, we're not able to see the live pics of what's happening out there, but you have described incoming missiles, outgoing missiles, so it gives you a feeling for what's unfolding right now across the country.

SANCHEZ: And we are seeing, Oren, our very first live images of Tel Aviv right now, and what appears to be some damage. There's a building, you can see it, it's on the right side of your screen, right under where it says Tel Aviv, Israel, where it appears that flames are emanating from the building. This is video taken moments ago, and I want you to know that you can see shadows of people moving inside this building.

I'm not sure if it's going to pop up exactly on this clip, but we saw moments ago, so there were folks inside this building, unclear their status right now, but we should point out that so far, no injuries have been reported, according to an Israeli police spokesperson. They are confirming that Iranian munitions fell on a community within Tel Aviv, but as of right now, with police officers and bomb disposal experts on the ground trying to isolate those sites, and you see some lights moving at the bottom of that building, apparently doing some kind of inspection, perhaps, of the damage. No injuries reported thus far.

We still have Colonel Cedric Leighton with us, and Colonel, I wonder, as we were hearing former Ambassador Michael Oren describe what could become a war of attrition if Iran continues these waves of dozens of ballistic missile strikes, how long could they maintain that kind of pace?

LEIGHTON: The Iranians could maintain that pace for a while because they probably have a lot of their missiles in storage in hidden areas, and as a result of that, we're kind of seeing the results right now, and in fact, it looks like there's another set of incoming missiles possible right now, and so the Iranians are going to try to use what they have to overwhelm the Israeli defense systems, the missile defense systems, the ones that the Ambassador described, and if we have that kind of a situation, this could overwhelm those air defenses, and it could result in some major changes to the way in which the Israelis have to defend themselves.

I mentioned they had air supremacy earlier, but what they're going to have to do is they're going to have to find a way to target the missile launch facilities, and that's going to be the next phase of this operation if this continues.

[14:45:00]

KEILAR: Cedric, looking at that building, I mean, what do you see? We've seen in the past -- and there we see Jerusalem, we're seeing a ballistic missile coming in. There, you see, it looks like Iron Dome may or may not have intercepted in time. But as you were looking at the damage to that building, what did you see?

LEIGHTON: So it clearly struck what appeared to be an apartment building there in Tel Aviv. One of the things that the Iranians had said, and Fred Pleitgen had mentioned this in his reporting, was that the Iranians had a set of targets. They had a target list of significant Israeli installations.

So what I don't know is whether or not this particular building was in close proximity to something like the Israeli Military Defense Headquarters or some other defense node that would be important from a command and control perspective for the Israelis.

When you look at this building, you see clearly a hit similar to what you often see in Ukraine, where the missiles come in and hit apartment buildings. Whether or not this was a deliberately targeted area or it fell there by accident or as a result of being knocked by the Iron Dome or David Sling or one of the other systems that the Israelis have, that is something we'll have to see what the assessments say.

But the basic thing, Brianna, is that, you know, a lot of these areas are, especially if they're close to any of these installations, any important government facilities for the Israelis, they're going to be at risk during this period. SANCHEZ: And again, if you're just joining us, these are Iranian missiles, ballistic missiles, waves and waves of them, dozens at a time being launched from Iran toward Israel. The IDF reporting, as we're watching video from moments ago of them descending and being intercepted in the skies over Tel Aviv, that all of Israel, they say, is under fire. And Colonel, you're pointing to something?

LEIGHTON: Yes, so as you can see, Boris, the missiles are coming up from the Iron Dome system or the David Sling system. And there is one that just goes, as you see going in there, there's probably a shot a little bit too late as it goes up into the sky trying to intercept a missile.

But basically, some of these systems are designed to hit the missiles by proximity. In other words, they don't hit the missile directly, but they'll come close to it and explode and knock it off of its trajectory.

In other cases, what you'll see is them hitting the missile directly and knocking it out of the sky. So it depends on the exact system, but that's the kind of thing that we're observing right now, them intercepting or trying to intercept the incoming missiles from the Iranians.

KEILAR: And Colonel, I do want to read this and get your reaction to it. At least two Israeli warplanes, according to Iran's official news agency, have been shot down in Iranian airspace. That's what they're claiming as of this evening here.

CNN cannot verify the claim. We've reached out to the IDF for comment on that. What do you make of what you're hearing there?

LEIGHTON: So it's certainly possible. We have seen exaggerated claims by the Iranians before, but sometimes they are accurate. And certainly if Israeli jets were shot down, that indicates that they did not achieve the type of air supremacy that they need in order to fly with impunity through the skies of Iran.

So there's some danger there. It appears as if they have not really knocked out everything that they need to knock out in order to achieve all of the goals of this operation.

SANCHEZ: I want to go to CNN's Jeremy Diamond now. He's a correspondent based in Israel for us, though he's not currently in the country.

Jeremy, I wonder what you make of the targets that Iran is potentially looking at and how this compares to the last ballistic missile strikes that we saw launch from Tehran back in October.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are a number of significant potential targets near in the Tel Aviv area that the Iranians may be going after. You know, obviously we are seeing, the pictures we're seeing on our screen right now seem to be of a residential building. So keep that in mind as I tell you what they may have been targeting and also the fact that some of these missiles clearly are hitting residential areas.

Within Tel Aviv itself, you have the Israeli military headquarters known as the Kiryat, which is in central Tel Aviv. Just north of Tel Aviv, you have Israel's intelligence headquarters, the headquarters of the Mossad, as well as its domestic intelligence service, the Shin Bet. And then of course you are seeing right now that there are missiles being fired and air raid sirens going off in southern as well as in northern Israel where Israel has several of its key air bases.

And those were also targeted during Iran's last attack back in October.

[14:50:00]

You have the Ramat David Air Force Base, for example, in northern Israel as well as several others. You have air bases in southern Israel near the city of Be'er Sheva.

We did see that Iran successfully hit those air bases during that October 2024 attack. In fact, you know, we saw similar pictures in October when Iran launched some 200 ballistic missiles, including several direct hits from those missiles in the Tel Aviv area. Somewhat miraculously though, there were no injuries as a direct result of those strikes. One man in the West Bank was struck by falling interceptor shrapnel.

But in terms of those hits that left enormous craters just north of Tel Aviv, very close to the Mossad headquarters. You know, I was there on the ground and when you saw the size of those craters, had that struck a building, you would be talking about incredible damage, enormous numbers of casualties. And so the Israelis did get quite lucky, I think is fair to say, back in October.

And the question now is as we are seeing these explosions, as we are seeing these hits, whether we are in for a similar picture to October or perhaps a much deadlier and more devastating picture in terms of casualties on the ground.

You know, the sources that I've been speaking to in Israel over the course of the last 24 hours have all made clear that they expected that Iran's retaliation this time would look quite different, that it would be much more significant than what we saw in October. And while we certainly haven't yet seen that in terms of the numbers of missiles that Iran appears to have fired, at least according to the information we have right now from the Israeli military, it certainly is looking like those Israeli officials were right when they predicted a very significant Iranian retaliation.

And then of course, you have to keep in mind that this is likely going to continue for days, if not weeks.

You know, the Israeli military, the Israeli prime minister has made clear that Israeli attacks in Iran will not be limited to a one-day operation. We have seen, of course, Israeli jets in the skies of Tehran once again today. And so that means that the back and forth here of what is very much looking like a war between Iran and Israel is likely to continue.

And of course, the cost on human beings living in both Iran as well as in Israel is likely going to continue to rise. But make no mistake, this is an extremely, you know, fraught moment for the Israeli population right now who are hunkered in their bomb shelters, knowing that while they do have some protection from those shelters, a direct hit from one of those ballistic missiles on most bomb shelters in Israel will not save the people inside. And so, you know, there is only so much safety that people can have right now as they obviously, you know, are hoping and praying that Israel's air defense system knocks out many of these missiles.

They're hoping that their bomb shelters provide them with protection, but they also know that this is a very, very dangerous moment and a very frightening moment for many civilians in Israel right now.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly. And we are looking right now at these pictures coming out of Tel Aviv where Iranian counter-strikes appear to have hit residential buildings. You can see significant damage to the one there farther away from the screen and damage as well to the one a little nearer.

I want to go to Oren Liebermann as we are watching this scene, these Iranian counter-strikes following Israel's unprecedented strikes overnight on Iran. Oren, you have some reports on injuries.

LIEBERMANN: We've now gotten our first statement on injuries from again, David Adom, that is effectively Israel's arm of the Red Cross. And keep in mind, this is only at this point, the first bit of information teams and the police are out on the street looking at the sites where missiles got through and impacted. This is in what Israel calls the (INAUDIBLE) on the major metropolis in the center of the country. Just a short time ago, again, David Adom sent out a statement saying they are treating five injured individuals, one in moderate condition and four lightly injured to shrapnel, likely as a result of missiles that were intercepted and the shrapnel from them falls.

Again, that's just the first report we have, but it gives you an idea of the task here ahead of the emergency responders, not only in first, making sure people stay in their shelters, but also then when a missile gets through, finding out the impact of it.

We have seen pictures on Israeli media, certain damaged buildings. We've seen pictures of emergency responders on the streets of what looked like Tel Aviv or one of the parts of that major metropolitan area right in the middle of the country.

[14:55:00]

So the missiles have, at least to some extent, gotten through where Israel has not only a lot of its population, but also where Israel has some of its most critical military bases. That is the Kiryat, Israel's version of the Pentagon, is there, the Ministry of Defense.

Mossad headquarters is north of Tel Aviv, and then there are other military facilities. As we see the pictures coming in from around, we see the intercepts. But again, some of those dozens upon dozens of missiles, according to the Israeli military, have gotten through in the first reports of injuries coming in just a moment ago.

SANCHEZ: Again, we are going to continue tracking the news, these live images coming from Tel Aviv, the IDF saying that the entire country of Israel is coming under fire from Iranian ballistic missiles, wave after wave, dozens of missiles at a time. You're looking at the damage in Tel Aviv at what appears to be a residential building, clearly an unprecedented moment, not only for Israel and its strikes on Iran, but also for the broader Middle East.

KEILAR: Certainly, and we have much more of CNN's special coverage ahead. Stay with us for that.

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