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Crucial Talks Between Iran and Europe as Mideast Conflict Escalates; Interview with Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO): Republicans Divided Over Whether Trump Should Strike Iran; Appeals Court: Trump Can Maintain Control of California National Guard. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 20, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

EVA LONGORIA, HOST, SEARCHING FOR SPAIN: They have an arroz with goat, that is a specific species of goat that is only found in the south of Spain. And then you have a chiringuito, which is a little restaurant on the beach, and you can have fresh fish that they just cook right there on the lena, on the fire, and they serve it to you. And you just have the most amazing meal looking at the sunset on the beach. Marbella is magical.

But let me tell you, it was so fun to be able to travel through Spain and eat and drink my way through these stories.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Does sound pretty awesome, right? Be sure to tune in. Back to back episodes of Eva Longoria, "SEARCHING FOR SPAIN" airs Sunday night at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

A lot of news this morning, a brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

All right, the breaking news, we're standing by for a meeting with Iranian officials, a brief chance for diplomacy as President Trump sets a new deadline for military action.

Breaking overnight, huge ruling on President Trump's use of the National Guard in California. An appeals court panel says he can keep control of the troops.

And a threat to human dignity. Pope Leo calls some of tech's top CEOs to the Vatican to issue a warning about artificial intelligence.

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

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, breaking news this morning. A high-stakes meeting is about to get underway in just an hour in Switzerland. It's a chance to step back from the brink of the U.S. entering the war in the Middle East, even as the conflict between Israel and Iran shows no signs of de-escalating. And President Trump buying himself more time before he makes a potentially legacy-defining decision on whether to plunge the U.S. military directly into the fight.

Coming to the table in Geneva today, Iran's foreign minister and his counterparts from the UK, France, Germany, as well as the EU's foreign policy chief. These key nuclear talks come as Israel says its emergency forces responded to fires near a tech park that houses a Microsoft office after an Iranian missile was intercepted.

Israel also says it struck missile production sites and a nuclear research facility near Tehran overnight.

Here at home, the White House says President Trump will make a decision within two weeks on whether the U.S. will attack Iran, citing the, quote, chance for substantial negotiations.

CNN chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour joining us now.

We are waiting for this meeting to get underway. It is now, we've learned, expected to happen in about an hour. When you look at what is happening, when you see what is going on between Iran and Israel and the United States, what do you think about whether or not a breakthrough is possible at this time?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, it's clearly what everyone wants in terms of the international community, the allies who've been involved in negotiating with Iran over previous nuclear deals and Iran as well. It's potentially not exactly what the Israelis want. But here's the thing.

This is a chance. Whether it works or not is very, very unclear whether the two sides can get together enough to be able to satisfy everybody's demands right now, is very, very unclear.

Let me just read to you what the current Iranian foreign minister, who is in Geneva or in Switzerland for these talks, said on the Iranian television network.

He said, Until Israel ends its attacks, we do not want to negotiate with anyone. He said the Americans want to negotiate and have sent several times messages. But we have clearly said there's no room for talking until this stops.

And he said that, you know, the United States is involved in these attacks. And so they consider them, you know, also implicated.

Now, the U.S. is not at the table, but clearly these European Iranian talks are happening with the consultation of the United States. The UK foreign minister, David Lammy, had been to Washington to meet with the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and now back in Geneva to bring that word back. And all the Europeans want to de-escalate this.

As you mentioned, both sides keep trading strikes. Israel says that Iran hit a hospital yesterday. Iran says it was aiming for something else, that technical park that you mentioned. And President Emmanuel Macron says that there should be, you know, no doubt that they will present Iran with what he said, a complete diplomatic and technical negotiation offer that Iran needs to show its willingness to join the negotiating platform. And they also want to talk about other things like ballistic missiles. What about the stockpile of Iranian enriched uranium, the 400 kilos or so of 60 degrees enriched uranium plus, you know, ballistic missiles and the like.

[08:05:00]

But he also warns that there is no chance, he thinks, of Israel alone ending Iran's nuclear program. And he's also, others are concerned, that this attack has happened when there is no intelligence that says Iran has made a decision to go for a nuclear bomb and that even if it did, it would be at least three years away.

Iranian foreign minister, the deputy, told me the same this week when I got an exclusive interview with him, that they want to negotiate, the war has to stop first, they are not going for a bomb, and they want to get back to the negotiating table, which they thought they were doing before Israel's attack started a week ago today.

SIDNER: Yes, I do want to ask you about enriching uranium, because that has been a red line for Iran, saying that they want to be able to continue to do that. The question is whether or not that will be part of this discussion with the United States saying, hey, we had a deal for you on the table, we made a proposal, and we'd like you to sign that deal. The chances of that happening over these next two weeks, as the president sort of considers here in the United States, whether or not to strike Iran?

AMANPOUR: Look, I think you have to accept that Iran has been weakened. Iran wants to go back to the negotiating table. The deputy foreign minister from Tehran told me that.

They want to negotiate with the United States. They believe before the first strike started early last Friday, that they were on their way to a deal. But he said to me, you know, anybody who tells us we had 60 days and on the 61st day, then we would be attacked.

He said it doesn't work like that. Negotiations sometimes can be long and difficult. And we were not under the impression that we had that kind of deadline.

The IAEA, the UN Nuclear Safeguard and Monitoring Agency, has raised issues about the amount of enriched uranium that Iran has, and what would actually happen to that in this interim. And I think you're right. The two sticking points are, will there be a stop in the military procedure right now to enable negotiations?

And will Iran and the West be able to come to some kind of deal on what enrichment capacity they're allowed or not allowed to have, and whether there's creative diplomacy to resolve that. Meantime, this war continues. SIDNER: Yes, Christiane Amanpour, it's always just so important to have your insight on all of this. Appreciate your time this morning from London for us -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Congressman Mark Alford, a Republican from Missouri, who we should note was a longtime morning news anchor. So welcome back to the Anchor Desk this morning. Great to have you here.

We heard Christiane and Sara talking about these negotiations taking place in Geneva right now, between the Europeans, largely, and the Iranians. What would be necessary for you in a deal in order for the United States not to conduct military strikes?

REP. MARK ALFORD (R-MO): I think more importantly, the question is, what would be acceptable to President Donald J. Trump? And I think he has drawn a line in the sand that there should be no nuclear enrichment for Iran. They certainly should not have a nuclear warhead.

Look, we have put up with this for 43 years. I was a kid watching CNN in the 80s, the Iranian hostage crisis. They have terrorized an entire region of the world. And this has got to come to an end, John. We have to finish the job one way or the other.

BERMAN: So no nuclear enrichment?

ALFORD: Look, they can say they're going to have nuclear enrichment for power and other sources. We cannot trust the Iranians. If they want to have nuclear power, they're going to need to import, I believe, from other countries that's verified by the United States to have that capability.

They should not have, I believe, the power to enrich their own uranium. Because once we give them an inch, they will take a mile and we'll be right back where we started.

BERMAN: And if they don't make that deal that says no enrichment at all, you would support a U.S. military strike?

ALFORD: Well, look, I would support what it takes to finish the job. This has been a weed of terrorism that has grown in this garden. And we keep chopping the top off of it, but the roots are deep and they keep sprouting back up.

Israel had every right, I believe, to go in and strike a preemptive strike. If and when the time comes for us to take part, that will be the president's decision. I think it's wise that he took a slight pause here.

The B-2 stealth bomber is in my district at Whiteman Air Force Base. They are capable, they are ready, and they are able at the president's call.

BERMAN: You know, so you do know there is some dissent within the Republican Party out there in the grassroots, but also in Congress to the idea of the U.S. getting directly involved. And I talked to your Republican colleague, Tim Burchett from Tennessee, not far away from Missouri, a friend of yours. Well, what he says is he says he believes you mentioned that the B-2 is based in your district.

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He says he feels in some cases that the presence of military production and the money associated with it is influencing votes. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): I would warn folks, though, that we need to vote about. We need to do about what's what's right and not what our stock portfolios say, because a lot of this military assets is a lot of people vote for these things because they have jobs in their districts. And and that's just the cold, hard facts of warfare.

BERMAN: So Tucker Carlson has called some members of your own party warmongers.

BURCHETT: Yes, well, I call them war pimps.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN (on camera): You said Tim Burchett is your friend. What do you say to that?

ALFORD: Well, look, I appreciate, Tim, the capabilities that we have to production for Boeing and others.

We make the JDAM that Israel is now using in Gaza that is made in St. Louis. That has no direct correlation on my decision or my my desire to wipe out the evil that is in Iran. It has to do with the simple fact that for 43 years they have been a threat to Israel. They were a threat to the United States of America.

And if we don't stop them now, if Israel goes, America will be next. We cannot wait, John, until they fit a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile. We could be hit with that.

BERMAN: Well, do you think they have a nuclear war right now?

ALFORD: I don't have any way of knowing that for sure, but I'm not going to wait around and find out.

BERMAN: The intelligence suggested that they certainly don't have a warhead and there's discrepancy over how long.

ALFORD: They're headed that way. They've made that threat. They want us dead. We're the great Satan in their eyes.

BERMAN: And do they have an intercontinental ballistic missile?

ALFORD: Not to my knowledge. I don't have any intelligence to suggest that. BERMAN: Because Tim Burchett again -- and these are his words here. He was noting that the Iranians right now can't shoot a missile, he said past Greece, you know, obviously they're hitting Israel right now.

But his point was that the United States, he does not believe is at a direct threat to the Iranian weaponry.

ALFORD: Well, look, it is best to to chop the head off the snake now before it turns into a Medusa. And once that starts, there is no turning back. I would rather deal with the situation now, a problem that we've been dealing with now for four to five decades.

And get a leader in Iran who can truly lead the people and the will of the people who want normalcy. And I was just over there in October in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, meeting with leaders, the president of Egypt, King Abdullah.

They want normalcy in this region. They want someone to deal with Iran. They won't come out publicly and say, remove the Ayatollah, but they want some normalcy.

BERMAN: Does the president, in your mind, have the power to do this without congressional authorization? Your colleague, Tim Massey, Democrat Ro Khanna, they would like to put a war powers vote on the floor.

ALFORD: Well, look, I don't think we should tie the president's hands if and when he makes the decision. We're not going to agree in Congress. We can't get 218 votes to say that the sky is blue right now. So and we're dealing with all these other issues.

This will be the president's decision with wise counsel that he is getting talking to the top generals. I assume he is talking to our chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Mike Rogers, they're friends.

This is not a president who is going to act out of ignorance. He is going to act out of informed, wise counsel.

BERMAN: Congressman Mark Alford, a former news anchor. I should let you sign off here. Thank you for coming into the studio. I really appreciate it.

ALFORD: I appreciate it.

BERMAN: This morning, quote, the fight does not end here. The new message from the governor of California after an appeals court rules that President Trump can continue controlling California's National Guard.

This morning, for the first time, the Minnesota lawmaker and his wife who survived an attempted assassination, they're speaking out, sharing new details about the attack.

And Pope Leo versus artificial intelligence. Big tech companies traveling to the Vatican to meet with the pope as he calls A.I. a threat to human dignity.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Breaking overnight, a federal appeals court says President Trump can keep control of California's National Guard after failing to get approval from the governor. The president sent guardsmen into Los Angeles amid protest against his immigration crackdown. But the legal wrangling continues today in a federal courtroom.

Now joining us, Los Angeles City Council Member Hugo Soto-Martinez. He is joining us now.

First of all, I just want to get your response to this ruling that Trump can keep hold of the National Guard, which has been out in the streets of Los Angeles, protecting federal buildings as protests continued.

HUGO SOTO-MARTINEZ, (D) LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCILMEMBER: Now, it's really unfortunate to hear that, you know, a lot of us were hoping that the courts would see this as pretty unprecedented and sort of an overreach of power. But, you know, the court systems are not with us right now.

But I still have a lot of hope that as we continue to appeal and move this process, that I think folks will recognize that this is -- what's happening in Los Angeles is, you know, the federal government trying to take away our city sovereignty. And so we hope folks can see past that in the future.

SIDNER: I want to ask you about a situation between the Dodgers and ICE. The Dodgers said that ICE agents tried to access the stadium parking lots.

And then ICE responded, posting this tweet saying, False. We were never there.

DHS has said that this had nothing to do with the Dodgers. CPB vehicles were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement.

Do you have any clarity this morning on who was there and why?

SOTO-MARTINEZ: Well, you know, luckily, we had folks on the ground as soon as we heard the reports.

[08:20:00]

And what we understand was that ICE or whoever, you know, they were working with, whether that's other federal agencies where they're trying to use that area as a staging ground. As we know, when they stage, that's where they deploy people and oftentimes bring them back. And that the Dodgers denied them entry into their parking lot, which I'm very happy to hear. I think the Dodgers need to go further and denounce and condemn these actions in the city in the strongest possible terms. But eventually ICE did leave or whoever was there, whether it's them or their federal agents. And we don't know where they went after that.

SIDNER: So you're basically saying you do not believe what DHS is saying that they were not planning to deploy ICE agents or federal agents to try and pick up immigrants who are undocumented.

SOTO-MARTINEZ: Based on the reports that I'm getting, I think that is absolutely false. There was a very large group of people there. They appeared to be to be ICE.

But as we've seen in many of the videos, they're not wearing anything that identifies them. But they looked and dressed very similarly to the people that did terrorize our community shortly thereafter. And we've seen this before.

And so, no, I don't think -- I think it's completely accurate that they were there, whether they're denying it. You know, I can't speak to that. But based on what we're hearing from the ground, there was a very large group there and they eventually did leave once the people started protesting them.

SIDNER: I want to ask you about this sort of battle that has come up. This isn't the first one between California and the Trump administration. Trump was asked whether he might take away fire relief monies.

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will your recent dust-ups with Governor Newsom impact additional wildfire relief out there. They've requested $40 billion.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sure, maybe. The man's incompetent. He shouldn't have fires like that. You clean the floor of your forest and you won't have any forest fires.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So you heard Trump saying that he might not give California what it needs, the $40 billion to deal with the terrible fires that went through much -- so many, so many homes, thousands of homes. Are you concerned about how much federal money Trump could strip from your state because of these battles?

SOTO-MARTINEZ: Well, you know, we know that Trump uses his tactic quite a bit. He's trying to withhold federal support or federal dollars, you know, to communities in Altadena, which is a predominantly Black community, and the Palisades, which is an incredible area in the city of Los Angeles. And we have never seen a president do this when we've had a disaster of this level. But, you know, I certainly know what he's trying to do. He's trying to bully us so that we can comply and help him in all his policies. But as the city of L.A., we were not going to be collaborating with many of his despicable actions. And, you know, we hope that he can correct course and do what's right. Although I'm not going to be holding my breath, but, you know, we'll see what happens.

SIDNER: All right. L.A. City Council member Hugo Soto-Martinez, thank you so much for taking the time with us this morning.

All right, ahead this morning, a key diplomatic meeting happening at any moment as Europe and Iran are set to hold talks in Geneva.

The talks coming as Israel and Iran continue to trade strikes and as President Trump is deciding over the next two weeks, he says, whether to strike Iran.

Also, a sweltering weekend is on the way for much of the country. Details on a dangerous heat dome that could raise temperatures to record breaking levels.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, developing overnight. CNN's team inside Iran witnessed a jump in anti-aircraft fire over the skies of Tehran. CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So what we've been hearing tonight is really an increase in aerial activity over the skies of Tehran. There's been a lot of outgoing anti-aircraft fire seemingly coming from Iranian anti-aircraft guns. We've seen in the skies the sort of burst of those munitions exploding in the skies.

It's unclear what the air defense forces here are firing at, whether or not there's drones or planes or something else that they're trying to intercept. We're also hearing quite a few thuds that seem to be coming from the ground or could also be from that outgoing anti- aircraft fire or even from outgoing anti-aircraft missiles. But it is definitely something that we're noticing.

There's a lot of noise tonight over Tehran. It's unclear whether or not that means that there's a big attack going on. But if we listen, we can hear the fire coming out.

So you can see those are the things that we've been hearing. Those are the things that we've been seeing as this evening has been progressing. There certainly is a lot going on in the skies over Tehran.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SIDNER: This morning, the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency confirms key buildings at Iran's Arak nuclear facility were damaged in an Israeli airstrike. The facility's reactor, though, is not operational and does not contain nuclear material, according to the IAEA. But Iran's foreign minister says the bombing goes against the UN Charter and is urging the Security Council to hold Israel accountable.

Joining us now, physicist and former nuclear weapons inspector David Albright. He's also the president and founder of Institute for Science and International Security. Thank you for being here with us this morning.

I want to ask you about some of the key sites that we've been reporting on that you just heard about, Natanz and Fordow. How critical are they to Iran's nuclear program? And when you look at just the images that we've been shown, how badly damaged are they?

DAVID ALBRIGHT, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY: Well, the program that's most worrisome is their enrichment program, and it's kind of symbolized by their rush in the last six months to make as much 60 percent enriched.