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Israel and Iran Trade Strikes; Damage At Iranian News Agency; Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) is Interviewed about the Iran Conflict; Trump Weighing Use of Bomb; Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) is Interviewed about Iran. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired June 19, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Freedom. And so these conversations have to happen. This is just one example of how they are.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: I've got to say, it was so touching. And even at a time when we're in a time of such vitriol, a time of, as you heard one of those women talk about, erasing history. And to see them both coming together, one black, one white, talking about a very difficult subject, but embracing one another and talking through it and wanting to hear each other's story, I think that is a huge step that we could all sort of look at as a roadmap, potentially, for what the rest of us could do in this country.

Victor Blackwell, what an incredible story that you and Devon have worked on. Thank you so much for bringing that to us on this day.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

SIDNER: And Happy Juneteenth to you too.

Now, you can, of course, watch Victor's show "FIRST OF ALL" every Saturday at 8:00 a.m.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL begins right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, for the first time, an Israeli leader makes an explicit push toward regime change in Iran, saying the supreme leader cannot continue to exist.

CNN has the first western journalists inside Iran at the site of an Israeli attack on a TV station.

And President Trump, we're learning, has reviewed attack plans on Iran. We've got new reporting on the questions he is said to be asking.

I'm John Berman, with Sara Sidner. Kate is out today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news. SIDNER: All right, the world watching and waiting for President Trump

to decide, will he order a U.S. strike on Iran? A source telling CNN the president has now reviewed attack plans for Iran, but he's holding off for now. He wants to see if Tehran takes a step back from its nuclear program first.

And while he weighs that decision, Iran and Israel launching new attacks on one another overnight. An Iranian missile strike in southern Israel causing extensive damage to a major hospital there. Israel says that attack crossed a red line, and the defense minister saying Iran's supreme leader cannot be allowed to, quote, "continue to exist" in the wake of that strike on the hospital. Just a short time ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the hospital site. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: We are committed to destroying the nuclear threat, the threat of nuclear annihilation against Israel.

He gave them the chance to do it through negotiations. They strung him along. And you don't string along Donald Trump. He knows -- he knows the game. And I think that we're both committed to making sure that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: All right, also this morning, the Israeli defense forces sharing a video of a strike on Iran's Arak heavy water reactor. A nuclear facility southwest of Tehran. The site is said to be inactive, and Iran says no serious damage was reported there.

CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House.

Where do things stand this morning as everyone waits to see what Donald Trump is going to do and whether or not he is going to involve the U.S. military in this conflict?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Sara, I mean, we have now heard this publicly from the president, but I continue to hear this privately as well, my conversations with sources here at the White House, essentially that the president has not made up his mind, that he is still weighing his options.

What is true is that he is closer now to wanting to involve the U.S. directly in a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities than he had been previously.

Now, you heard -- you played that clip right there of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, you know, kind of saying that the president won't be strung along. That's what Iran is trying to do right now.

I did ask the president directly yesterday about his conversations with Netanyahu. He told me that they talk every day. But he told me he maintained that he had not yet given him an indication that he had told Netanyahu that the U.S. is more willing or going to aid Israel more than they have already, you know, in their defensive capabilities and what they've been providing. So, honestly, it's still a wait and see kind of place right now with the president.

But just to give you some more insight into what I'm hearing as well about some of these discussions, I was told that as the president is weighing this decision, him and his team are having very serious discussions about how to potentially strike Iranian nuclear facilities without involving the U.S. in a prolonged war. Actually one anecdote we've now heard is how back in 2020, when President Donald Trump, during his first term, had ordered a strike on the Iranian -- Iranian commander, Qassem Soleimani, they said that they were able to do that, a very sensitive thing of course, but avoid war then. They're kind of using that as an example now to argue that they could potentially avoid war this time, even if they do ultimately go in and have more direct attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities.

[09:05:07]

All to say, this is something that has continued to be discussed behind closed doors here. We were told that the president is expected to be back in the Situation Room at some point today. Everyone kind of waiting to see what he ultimately will do and decide.

Sara.

SIDNER: Alayna Treene, thank you, there live from the White House with the very latest on what the president is mulling over.

Now, first on CNN, our team on the ground in Tehran. The first western journalist there since the most recent conflict between Iran and Israel began this morning.

Our Fred Pleitgen obtained access inside the state run news agency in Tehran, which was hit by an Israeli strike in the middle of a live broadcast, as we aired yesterday. At least two people were killed there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're inside the Iranian state broadcasting company, IRIB, which was hit by an Israeli airstrike a couple of days ago. And you can see the damage is absolutely massive.

I'm standing in the atrium right now, but if you look around, this whole area has been completely destroyed. All of the offices, all of the technology that they have inside here, the broadcast technology, everything has been rendered pretty much useless.

All right, so we're going to go inside the building now. They have told us that we need to be very careful because, obviously, there might still be unexploded parts of bombs in here or something like that. What we see here is the actual studio where an Iranian state TV anchor

was sitting and reading the news when the strike hit. You can see here, that is an anchor desk right there. And, of course, when it happened, the anchor was reading the news and then all of a sudden there was a thud. The studio went black. At the beginning, she got up and left, but then later apparently came back and finished the newscast and is now being hailed as a champion of Iranian media.

Some of the main bulk of the explosion must have been here, because this place is absolutely charred. And if we look back over there, that actually seems to be the main part of what was the newsroom with a lot of the desks, computers, printers, phones. You can see how much heat must have been emitted by the impact and by the explosion. The phones that they had here are molten. Here, also the keys molten, this screen, and there's actually someone's lunch still at their desk standing here, which probably they would have been wanting to eat until they had to evacuate the building. You can see there's a -- a spoon here that's also been melted away by this explosion.

All of this is playing very big here in Iran. There's a lot of public anger that the Israelis attacked this -- this site. And certainly, the Iranians are saying that they condemn this and that there is going to be revenge for this.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Fred and his team for being inside Iran, the first western journalist there. It is great to have them there.

With us now is Congressman Rich McCormick, a Republican from Georgia, who's on the Foreign Affairs Committee, also a veteran.

Congressman, thank you so much for being with us.

If President Trump picked up the phone and called you and said, you know, Congressman, you're on the Foreign Affairs Committee, I'm considering a military strike on nuclear facilities in Iran, what do you think I should do, what would you tell him?

REP. RICH MCCORMICK (R-GA): Well, first of all, I'm glad that nobody's considering putting boots on the ground and -- and actually going into the country. Serving 20 years in the military, and having sons that are military age, that's a big decision.

I think that we have a precedence. We've -- we've attacked other foreign countries that have threatened us openly. We've been at war with them for decades, whether we realize it or not.

Georgians have died from their drones and their capabilities that they've supplied to terrorists around the world. So, I get the threat.

It is a huge decision, though. It is literally a decision to go bomb a foreign country that is not openly going to invade us. And so, I understand the president's angst. I would give him the option of basically going after their weapon procurement facilities, just like they're considering right now. I think it's really on the table.

When you have a country that says they're going to wipe off an ally from the face of the earth, Israel, and they are developing 60 percent enriched uranium for nuclear grade weapons, that gives us one option, especially when you -- came to the table.

BERMAN: Yes.

MCCORMICK: This is a -- a terroristic supporting regime that cannot be trusted.

BERMAN: I think we know the options that the president is considering. Do you support a military strike right now?

MCCORMICK: If they won't come to the table, if they won't disarm, if they won't commit to not being a nuclear armed nation that wants to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, of course. I think it's on the table, and I think it would be seriously considered. I don't have all the information that the president has. I don't know exactly what they know. But -- but I can tell you that the posturing and -- and the verbiage and the weapon -- weaponization of that regime is very alarming. And I say, if you don't have another opportunity to take it out before they become actually a weapon -- a weapon of mass destruction pointed at an ally, yes, I think they need to be taken out.

[09:10:02]

BERMAN: I was speaking to your Republican colleague, Tim Burchett from Tennessee, yesterday, who his belief is that the Israelis are doing the jobs well themselves. He would not like to see U.S. involvement. And he doesn't necessarily see a direct threat, an immediate threat on the United States from Iran.

Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): They can't get past Greece with their missiles. I think if they had, they would have already launched them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, among other things, you heard him say there, they can't get past Greece. What do you say to that?

MCCORMICK: So, I -- I agree, the -- the immediate threat is not there to America. But realize, they've called us the great Satan. Israel is the little Satan. And -- and, by the way, if Israel can take care of the job, by all means, let Israel take care of the job. Even if we have to supply the weapons to do so.

I'd rather not be involved directly. But if there are no other options and Iran will not come to the table, they will not disarm their nuclear program and they continue to threaten both our lives abroad, as well as our allies abroad, they leave us with really no options because they have been at war with us, whether we realize it or not.

BERMAN: Well, you keep saying that, they've been at war, whether we realize it or not. Former Congressman Justin Amash, who was a Republican when he served, he wrote this on social media. He said, "there's not a single plausible argument that Trump currently has the authority to launch offensive strikes against Iran. Congress hasn't declared war against Iran, as the Constitution requires, nor has Congress otherwise authorized military hostilities in Iran."

What do you say to that? I mean the Constitution is pretty clear on war authority here, and Iran's in a different position than -- than the so-called war on terror and other things there. Do you think Congress needs to vote?

MCCORMICK: Well, this goes back -- I would love to see Congress vote, actually. I think that's the best thing for us moving forward because we haven't done that since World War II. Realize, we've been in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan without voting on war. This has been a -- a problem with the usurping of basically authority from Congress on multiple levels for a very long time. I'd like to see Congress grab -- grab back the representation.

And I understand the angst over this. And I don't have all the information that both Israel and the president have that they're acting on right now.

But what I do know is that we have been attacked overseas. We've been -- we've had American troops, including Georgians, killed by weapons produced by Tehran and distributed to the Houthis, to Hezbollah, to -- to Hamas, to other terrorist organizations around the world. They arm our enemies constantly, and they're producing weapons, not to harm anybody other than people that we are aligned with.

BERMAN: So, you do -- so Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna, two members of Congress, bipartisan, are pushing for a vote in the House on this. Just a vote on whether or not the president should do it. Do you support that move to vote?

MCCORMICK: I -- I -- I always like the move to vote. I think the -- the people should speak. But the president also has emergency powers that have been given to him by Congress, and that's why we've been -- it doesn't matter if it was President Trump or other presidents, and we've had both sides make big decisions for the United States based on what they knew and what they decided to do at the time. And that's why leadership is so important.

BERMAN: Congressman Rich McCormick, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, America possesses bombs that may be powerful enough to destroy the most fortified underground nuclear facility in Iran. A look at the capability of so-called bunker busters ahead.

And a wild ride intended to make you feel like you are in the cockpit in some of the fastest cars on the planet. The stars of "F1," the movie, talk to us about the thrill of the drive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:18:28]

BERMAN: This morning, as President Trump decides whether to launch a strike on Iran, military experts are saying the U.S. has the only weapon that could destroy the country's key nuclear facility. A bomb known as a bunker buster, a 30,000-pound bomb capable of hitting sites deep, deep underground.

CNN's Brian Todd has been looking into this weapon.

Brian, tell us about the capabilities here.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, it's a really intimidating weapon. And we have to say that the use of this is predicated on two major things. Number one, if the U.S. does decide to get involved in this conflict. And number two, we don't know if the U.S. has made the decision to use this bomb if they do get involved in the conflict. But if both of those things come to pass, it would be an unprecedented and ominous move on the battlefield.

The official name of this ordinance is the GBU-57 massive ordnance penetrator, also known, as John mentioned, as the "bunker buster." It is the largest non-nuclear bomb in the United States arsenal anywhere. The Israelis do not have anything like this, and they don't have the means to deliver them. Only the U.S. does. The means to deliver that is the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber. It is the -- it's capable of flying 6,000 nautical miles without refueling.

Here are the dimensions of the bomb itself. This bomb weighs 30,000 pounds. It has 6,000 pounds of high explosives. It is about 20 feet long. There is no public record of this bomb ever being used in combat. And one expert told us that's because the U.S. has never encountered a target that requires a bomb this size.

Now, again, if the U.S. does get involved in Iran and does decide to use the bunker buster, what would be the target?

[09:20:07]

Well, the most likely target, according to experts, would be a facility called Fordo. It is a highly fortified, deeply entrenched facility of nuclear enrichment deep in the mountains south of Tehran. It is buried underneath -- the key components of Fordo, the halls, tunnels and enrichment capabilities are buried underneath possibly 300 feet of rock.

Now, a key question is, the bunker buster can go down about, excuse me, can go down about 200 feet, possibly more according to experts. Now, if those key components at Fordo are 300 feet or more, can the bunker buster hit them? That's an open question. Some experts are skeptical about that. But one expert told us it would probably require two hits on the same target, one to cause the initial damage, then a second bunker buster to go into that crater and then get further down and hit the actual target.

But, John, if they have to do that, that would also expose the B-2 bomber or whatever does deliver that bomb to possible enemy fire. So, all of these things have to be considered.

BERMAN: And what about the possibility of a radiation leak if it is hit?

TODD: It's a key question, John. It's been asked for days now. And it's an important one. Experts we talked to, we talked to three experts yesterday about this. They all said that a radiation leak would probably be limited only to the immediate area. That's because this -- this bomb goes so deep inside and it would only be limited to the immediate area. It would not cause the catastrophic -- catastrophic effects that possibly bombing a nuclear reactor would cause. So, it could be limited, the actual radiation.

BERMAN: Brian Todd for us looking into this. Thank you so much for your work on this, Brian.

All right, breaking news this morning, an Israeli leader is making an explicit push toward regime change in Iran, saying the supreme leader cannot continue to exist.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:26:30]

SIDNER: The breaking news out of the Middle East this morning. Israel saying Iran has crossed a red line after an Iranian missile strike in southern Israel caused extensive damage to a major hospital in the wake of the attack. This morning, Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, is going as far as to say Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, cannot be allowed to, quote, "continue to exist."

All of this unfolding as President Trump continues to mull his next steps, indicating he has not yet made a final decision on whether the U.S. should involve its military in this conflict.

Joining us now from Capitol Hill, Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, who recently announced his bid for the Senate.

Thank you so much, Congressman, for taking the time with us this morning.

From what you have seen and learned so far, should the U.S. enter this conflict militarily or stay out of it?

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): I don't think it's that time and I think that first Congress has the prerogative to declare hostilities on other countries. That's extremely important. And I'm concerned about any actions that would violate the War Powers Resolution.

The second is, this is a moment where the U.S. should try its best to bring parties back to the bargaining table. Why? Because this is where Iran knows the consequences of not ending its nuclear program. It's going to be even more strikes by the Israelis. It's going to be even more destabilization and more economic chaos within Iran. And so, this is the time to actually bring the end to their nuclear program peacefully at the table right now.

SIDNER: Netanyahu, for -- for more than a decade now has said Iran is close to obtaining a nuclear weapon. This time he said Iran was fast approaching that goal. Trump is siding with -- with that assessment. But U.S. intelligence sources told CNN this week that their assessment is that Iran was at least three years away from being able to make and deliver a nuclear weapon. You are on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. What do you know? Where do you stand when you see these two conflicting assessments?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I don't want to get into classified information, but what I know is that the Iranians are a lot closer now than they have ever been. And they have enough enriched uranium to basically build a weapon should they choose to do so.

Now, you have to remember, Iran is also vowing for the destruction of Israel, death to America. And so, you can understand why the Israeli government would take the approach it does. However, at this point, not only would a military strike potentially be ineffective -- remember those bunker busting weapons, though very potent, may not be able to destroy the Fordo nuclear facility, and there might be duplicative facilities throughout the country, and you can't bomb their know how out of existence. They might reconstitute the program.

And so now, again, let's go back to the bargaining table. Let's make sure that we end this nuclear weapons program once and for all without widening into a regional war. And creating maybe more instability.

SIDNER: What is your most pressing major concern about what happens if the United States gets into this war using its military?

[09:30:05]

KRISHNAMOORTHI: My constituents don't want to get into another war in the Middle East. They don't want another.