Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Europe Keen To Keep Talks With Iran Going Amid Perilous Moment; Israel, Iran Launch More Strikes As Diplomats Meet In Geneva; Pro- Palestinian Activist Mahmoud Khalil To Be Released Today. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired June 20, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:02:20]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A push for diplomacy. Iranian and European leaders meeting in Switzerland as Tehran and Israel trade some of the most serious attacks yet. At least one Israeli official whose city was bombarded by strikes today says, President Trump's two-week deadline for a diplomatic solution is too long to wait.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, economists warn that President Trump's tariffs would drive up the cost of just about everything. But so far, that hasn't happened. So, were they wrong? And later, why were federal agents at Dodger Stadium yesterday? New details and an account from a witness are raising doubts about the Trump Administration's version of events. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

KEILAR: Talks just now wrapping up in Geneva, Iran's foreign minister met with his European counterparts today seeking to find a diplomatic solution to end the fighting with Israel. And a short time ago, the U.K.'s foreign secretary said this about those discussions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LAMMY, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: We were clear, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and the E3 in Europe have been clear for many years that that cannot happen. We are keen to continue ongoing discussions and negotiations with Iran and we urge Iran to continue their talks with the United States. This is a perilous moment and it is hugely important that we don't see regional escalation of this conflict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The urgency to get a deal done is growing after both sides traded punishing new strikes today. Let's start with CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who's live for us in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, what are officials there saying about this two week deadline from President Trump?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's no question that Israeli officials had been optimistic in recent days about the possibility of the United States joining in and delivering what many Israeli officials see as the final blow to the Iranian nuclear program. But now, with President Trump saying that he wants to allow up to two weeks of space for diplomacy, Israeli officials are reassessing what will come next.

We know that the Israeli prime minister has been very cautious in his approach to President Trump, trying to avoid outwardly and directly urging President Trump to carry out that strike, laying out instead Israel's military successes in Iran and hoping that President Trump would see a U.S. strike in Iran as being in the United States' strategic interests, effectively reaching that decision on his own.

[14:05:13]

But President Trump, for the moment at least, seems to be inclined to allow at least some more time for diplomacy to do its job. But what we are seeing in Israel today is the continued destructive power of those Iranian ballistic missiles. Today, there was a barrage of more than 20 missiles fired at Northern, Central and Southern Israel. There were several impacts in Southern and in Northern Israel, the most significant being one right near Haifa's Port, that caused a number of injuries. One person was seriously injured, two in moderate condition according to the local hospital, and more than two dozen others suffered light injuries.

Of course, it could be a lot worse had people not heeded those air raid sirens and gone into those bomb shelters. As you see the damage that was left by the power of that Iranian ballistic missile, not only to residential buildings in the area, but also to a mosque, as well as the surrounding area that was very close to Haifa's Port. And so, you can see the impact that all of this is having here as the Israeli public is now being told by the Israeli military's chief of staff to prepare for a prolonged campaign.

Not only is he talking about Israel's military successes in Iran, the destruction of half of the country's ballistic missiles in the Israeli military's assessments, but also making clear that as those strikes continue in Iran, we will also see more Iranian strikes here in Israel and that the public should be prepared.

KEILAR: Jeremy, thank you for that report, live for us from Tel Aviv. CNN's Kristen Holmes is live now at the White House. And Kristen, the president met with his national security team again today. What are you learning?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's possible they are still at meeting right now. We have seen some of those officials leave, but the Marine is still outside of the Oval Office in the West Wing here. So, it means that President Trump has not left yet. We are getting ready for him to leave for Bedminster for the night. He has a fundraiser later tonight.

But all of that meeting happening, much of it, while these ongoing negotiations were happening between Europe and the Iranians. And it's very clear that America, that the United States and not the White House, is watching these negotiations carefully. They care a lot about what happens in those -- in that room there. They want a deal on the table. And we are told that President Trump is very hopeful that something is going to happen in the next two weeks.

We talked a lot yesterday, after this kind of two weeks came out during that press briefing about why the U.S. was so confident. They do believe that Iran has become incredibly weakened by these missile strikes and that they might be more willing to make a deal. Now, obviously, we're going to get a little bit more of a readout after the European leaders have conversations with the White House as to what exactly happened behind closed doors. But again, there is a lot of hope here that they could still get to a point where they have an agreement with Iran and the U.S. could involve -- becoming any more involved than they already are in this conflict.

We are told behind the scenes, the president has said that he is looking for a way to not be involved in some kind of long drawn-out war or conflict in the Middle East, and they're hoping this is it.

KEILAR: All right, Kristen Holmes, live for us from the White House. Thank you. Boris?

KEILAR: Let's discuss all of this further with Barak Ravid. He's a CNN Political and Global Affairs Analyst, and a Politics and Foreign Policy Reporter for Axios. Barak, thanks so much for being with us. I just want to give you our viewers an update. We're getting new reporting from the ground in Geneva from CNN's Matthew Chance and Benjamin Brown some indications as to how talks went.

We're learning that according to an Iranian source with knowledge of the talks that at first, negotiations were very tense because both sides were making allegations against each other about the recent past, also about the conditions in which the United States first exited the JCPOA, the Iranian nuclear deal under President Trump in his first term. But after the break, the talks were much more positive. Also notably, when asked whether Iran was ready to give up the enrichment of uranium, this Iranian source said, "No, because that is a bold red line for us."

Barak, I wonder how you think the Israelis are reading all of this.

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, it seems that the meaning in Geneva, as expected, did not produce any real change or breakthrough. The Iranians are maintaining their positions. They did not -- the only thing that came out of that meeting at the moment is an agreement to hold another meeting. The Iranians still don't agree to directly engage with the Trump Administration. They don't agree for zero enrichment of uranium. They don't agree to discuss their missile -- ballistic missile program.

So, it seems that if anybody thought that this meeting would lead somewhere, it did not.

[14:10:00]

And I think this is exactly where -- what Prime Minister Netanyahu thought will happen. I don't think anybody is shedding any tears in Jerusalem about the fact that there's no breakthrough because they want to see President Trump moving more and more towards joining this war in order to finally eliminate the Iranian nuclear program.

SANCHEZ: President Trump essentially said that he would make a decision on that within two weeks. That was obviously, yesterday. I wonder if somehow there were a diplomatic breakthrough, would the Israelis actually trust a diplomatic solution.

RAVID: I think that's a good question. There are U.S. officials who say that even if they managed to get some sort of a deal with Iran, it's unclear if the Israelis at the current point, would adhere to it and would stop their attacks. But it's, to be honest, it's mostly theoretical. As long as the Iranian condition is that the attacks stop before they will engage with the U.S. directly, then it's obvious that nothing serious is going to happen.

SANCHEZ: What are Netanyahu's options if President Trump decides not to get involved militarily against Iran?

RAVID: I think what the Israelis are going to do is to try and maximize their achievements in this campaign. All the Israeli officials I spoke to said that they're very cautious and Netanyahu personally is very cautious about overreach and not get bogged down in this war, especially because this is not a war in Gaza or in Lebanon or in Syria, which is relatively close geographically. The toll this war is taking on the Israeli economy, on the Israeli society, it's not something that can be sustained for a long time.

And have to remember, Israel does not have an unlimited amount of air defense interceptors. We are now in a race between the number of rocket launchers and ballistic missiles that the Iranians have and the number of interceptors that the Israelis have. And at a certain point, the Israelis are going to run out of interceptors, and then the Iranians will be able to just do whatever they want and fire missiles without Israel having any air defense or missile defense. And this is why -- this is something the Israelis want to avoid. This is why it's not a war that can be sustained indefinitely.

SANCHEZ: That point you brought up, Barak, about Netanyahu and the Israeli government not wanting to get bogged down is fascinating because at the same time, you have Israeli officials publicly seeming to warm to the idea of regime change in Iran. And Netanyahu specifically was asked about this, he said, that may be the result, but it's up to the Iranian people to rise for their freedom and that Israel may create conditions that would help them do that. What does he mean by create the conditions that would help the Iranian people do that?

RAVID: Well, I think Netanyahu thinks that with the Iranian regime getting weaker and weaker because the IDF is launching those attacks against the Iranian Security Forces and the IRGC and the Iranian military, so this would encourage normal Iranians or like, I mean Iranian civilians to rise up against the regime. The result in reality, at least at the moment, is that because some of the strikes hit civilian areas and because some of the strikes were targeted at civilian targets, like the television -- the State Television, it created a backlash within Iranian society with many people who hate the regime, now hate at least the same amount what Israel is doing. And so, at least at the moment, you don't see any uprising against the regime. You see a lot of anger towards what Israel is doing.

SANCHEZ: Barak Ravid, thank you so much for joining us.

RAVID: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still to come. As the world waits to see what President Trump will decide, the U.S. military is already preparing for a potential attack from Iran, including positioning extra blood supply in the region. Plus, an eyewitness account contradicting the Trump Administration's claim about why federal agents were outside Dodger Stadium yesterday.

[14:15:00]

And later, a nationwide listeria outbreak has killed at least three people, causing one pregnancy loss and leaving about a dozen people sick. Is the contaminated product potentially in your fridge, we'll discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We are following breaking news into CNN. A federal judge just ordered the release of a pro-Palestinian activist and legal permanent resident of the United States, Mahmoud Khalil.

[14:20:00]

He's the Columbia University graduate who's been in ICE custody since March for taking part in organizing protests on campus. Khalil's wife, who's a U.S. citizen, gave birth to the couple's first child during the time that he's been detained. Joining us now is CNN's Mark Morales. So Mark, when is Mahmoud Khalil expected to be released?

MARK MORALES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTER: Well, Boris, from what we understand, it's definitely going to happen today. We're just not sure when we think it might happen, pretty soon, but we'll have to let that play out. And this is really significant because this brings to end this roughly over 100-day saga that Mamoud Khalil has been going through when he was arrested outside of his apartment near Columbia University.

And the judge made this ruling today. It was a long court appearance, but the judge really pointed to a couple of different factors as to why this was the right decision. He highlighted that there was no danger, that there was nothing in his record that indicated that Khalil was a danger to anyone in the community, that he wasn't a flight risk. And because of those factors, he called it highly unusual for the government to keep him detained in light of those factors.

The other interesting reason for why he released Khalil was because of bigger issues that were at play here because, as we know, there was a big First Amendment issue within this discussion about Khalil protesting at Columbia University. And the lawyer representing the government made the argument that this could open the door to other people who start using what he called magic words, saying they wanted to get out of whatever situation they were in by saying it was a violation of the First Amendment.

But the judge pushed back and said that it was clear that Khalil protested before, was going to make this -- was going to protest again once he got out and in this specific situation, it wasn't just magic words. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Mark Morales, thank you so much for the update there. Brianna?

KEILAR: As President Trump continues weighing his options in Iran, civilians across Israel were forced into bomb shelters during strikes earlier today. Israel says one person died of a heart attack in one of those shelters, and many others were hurt in the strikes. At the same time, the Israeli military says it is punishing Iran's military capabilities. Israel now says it has destroyed half of Iran's missile launchers. I'm joined now by retired Army Major General James Spider Marks. He is our CNN Military Analyst. General, first, just talk to us as well about the U.S. military's movements in the region.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Brianna, what we see with the U.S. is primarily a very defensive capability initially to thicken Israeli air defense capabilities. U.S. has had both ground-based and now, they will have a much more robust sea- based, but it's all connected capability in terms of air defense. So that's number one. Number two, those platforms, those carrier strike groups, which are not only aircraft carriers, but all the ancillary ships, the destroyers, the cruisers that go with them. The subsurface capability, most importantly in this case, is the aircraft, the attack platforms that exist that are available to take an offensive operation if that's required and directed by the United States. And certainly, that would be in conjunction with Israeli requirements and requests.

KEILAR: Yeah, so Israel obviously, sees an existential threat here with Iran. The U.S. relies on Israel in the region. How essential is it to U.S. interests that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon?

MARKS: Oh, wow. That's -- I mean, that's the issue. I think many, many administrations going back decades have said this is an unacceptable outcome, outcome for this regime in Iran to have a nuclear weapon and based on what they've declared as their objectives unequivocally, is the elimination of Israel and to go after the United States and all of its partners regionally. So, the United States and Israel are, I would say, are completely aligned in terms of the prohibition from Iran acquiring a weapon, a nuclear weapon.

However, now we get into the details. Is it required that the United States engage directly, drop the bunker buster, try to eliminate that capability, bearing in mind that if we did, we would then own this incredible messy problem. Would there be regime change? Would there be unrest? The answer to that is who knows about regime change? Unrest? You bet. And do we want to be a part of that going forward?

Let's be frank. Israel's achieving a number of its objectives right now, and based on what the president said yesterday in terms of a decision to be made within two weeks, whether that happens or not, we don't know.

[14:25:00]

What that really says is diplomacy may have an out and Israeli capabilities to continue to apply pressure can continue to exist as the option of first resort right now to reduce that possibility of a nuclear weapon being produced.

KEILAR: As the president considers U.S. interest in backing up Israel, of course, as he puts this two-week wait on deciding whether to attack Iran's nuclear program, he also has to consider U.S. interests in the region, the vulnerability, right, of 40,000 to 50,000 American troops in the Middle East. How at risk are they if the U.S. gets into this fight? What are the range of possibilities?

MARKS: Well, the possibilities certainly are what the Iranians have done before, but bear in mind, the antecedents to all of this existed when Iran had a full capacity with both Hamas and Hezbollah. And we've seen that and obviously Houthis down on the southern end of the Red Sea. Those capabilities have been degraded, if not eliminated, and taken off the chessboard. So, how Iran can now go after, what are those capability to go after us presence in the region? What are those eyes and ears that the Iranians have in the region? Let's assume they're extensive.

So, there is a capability that Iran could conduct direct strikes. IRGC has a reach, has capability to have boots on the ground in different places throughout the region. That makes the U.S. presence vulnerable. But we know that, we detect that. I'm sure we're prepared for that. But also, Iran has, as we've seen, ample supply of missiles that could be used against those targets as well. But where the U.S. is deployed, we also have our own organic air defense capabilities. And the risk assessment there is that we, the United States, will have a capability to resist that and to counter that were the Iranians to use missiles against our presence.

KEILAR: Yeah, a lot that the president has to consider. Gen. Marks, thank you so much for your insights.

MARKS: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: The Los Angeles Dodgers say they refused to let ICE agents onto stadium property, but the Trump administration claims ICE was never there. Today, an eyewitness is revealing what they saw and what federal agents reportedly told them. Plus, economists said, President Trump's tariffs would drive up prices. Were they wrong? We'll find out right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)