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Trump Attends National Security Meeting After Saying He Would Decide On Whether To Stike Iran within Two Weeks; Iran: Will Only Meet U.S. for Talks If Israel Stops Strikes; Judge: Pro-Palestinian Activist Mahmoud Khalil will Be Released Today. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired June 20, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:19]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Iran and Israel exchanging a new round of attacks as a high-stakes meeting ends in Geneva European officials pressing for a negotiated solution to the conflict that ensures Tehran never acquires a nuclear weapon. We have the very latest.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, after spending more than a hundred days in ICE detention, a judge now ordering pro-Palestinian activists and Columbia University grad student Mahmoud Khalil to be released. One of his attorneys will join us live.

Plus, Pope Leo warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence, especially against children and a message to tech executives gathering at the Vatican. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Thank you so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. I'm Boris Sanchez alongside Brianna Keilar in our nation's capital.

And right now, we're tracking a perilous moment for the world. A meeting just wrapping up between top European officials and the Iranian foreign affairs minister in Switzerland as the conflict rages on between Iran and Israel, Iran says it is willing to keep negotiating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again and once the aggression is stopped and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed. In this regard, I made it crystal clear that Iran's defense capabilities are not negotiable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The fighting now in its eighth day with Israel and Iran trading new missile attacks today.

KEILAR: As the tensions ratchet up, the world is waiting to see if the U.S. could directly get involved here. President Trump met with his national security team again today, after giving Iran that two-week deadline yesterday, opening the door for further diplomacy.

We are tracking the latest developments here. Let's start with this high-stakes meeting in Geneva CNN's Matthew Chance is there live.

Matthew, what are you hearing about what happened behind closed doors?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's been a very hectic session. It's been going on for several hours. It went on for several hours. It's now over the hotel in Geneva here outside of which I'm standing it has now emptied of all the delegations. But, you know, we've had word from officials inside the talks who've spoken to us about the sort of atmosphere inside and what was actually discussed.

One Western official telling me that the atmosphere was very, very tense at first, certainly for the first 75 minutes of direct talks between the European officials, that's the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany. The European Union's top diplomats and the - their Iranian counterparts. But after there was a break and the talks became a little bit more positive. That's how it was characterized to me by both Western officials and Iranian officials, who I spoke to after the talks ended.

I think the key takeaway has been this according to Officials inside those talks, that there was a direct message delivered to the Iranians by the Europeans from the United States, and that message was essentially twofold. The first is that - the - there would be no deal unless Iran stopped all uranium enrichment. Of course, that's a red line for the Iranians and Iranian diplomat here said that no such commitment was made during these talks. But obviously, the Iranian foreign minister who you heard there, saying that Iran was prepared to negotiate on issues and that is certainly the crux of the issue.

The other interesting thing that came out of these talks according to a Western diplomat who spoke to me after the talks were over is that there was a demand passed on from the United States via the Europeans to the Iranians for direct talks between U.S. and Iranian negotiators.

And the Iranians basically rejected that at this stage, saying they would not talk to the United States so long as there is Israeli military action underway against them. The Western diplomats and officials, you know, made it clear to the Iranians that the U.S. didn't necessarily have the authority in the power to stop Israel from carrying out its strikes, but they said they would go back to Washington. They would attempt to get a pause from the Israelis. In return, the Iranians said that they would go back to their senior leadership and try and negotiate a temporary pause to their bombardment of Israel as well.

[15:05:01]

If both of those things happen, there could be direct talks I'm told by diplomats inside these meetings between the United States and Iran. But we're still some distance away from that. You know, there is this window of opportunity that's been opened by President Trump of within two weeks, but it is, you know, not altogether a given that there will be more progress beyond today.

SANCHEZ: Matthew Chance live for us in Geneva, thank you so much for the update.

For the latest on what's happening on the ground in the Middle East, let's go live to CNN's Jeremy Diamond who's in Tel Aviv for us.

Jeremy, several strikes across Israel today. What are you hearing?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Iran firing a barrage of more than 20 ballistic missiles across Israel today as sirens rang out, every Israeli across the country went into bomb shelters. We saw several impacts in southern and in northern Israel, but the most significant one was near the port of Haifa where we saw one person was seriously injured, two in moderate condition and more than two dozen others with light injuries.

A nearby mosque was also hit damaged in the strike. It appeared that the Iranians were likely targeting that strategic port of Haifa which is strategic for its commercial purposes, also because there's an Israeli naval base there. But clearly not hitting that target and instead hitting a civilian area.

It was just the latest in a series of quite destructive Iranian strikes that have not resulted in any fatalities over the course of the last few days, but nonetheless have certainly shaken the Israeli public and resulted in a number of injuries and quite significant destruction. And all of this comes as Israelis are being told now that they're going to have to wait up to two weeks to see what President Trump will actually decide to do in this as the President has decided to allow more time for diplomacy to see if Iran now in a much weaker position following a week of very intense Israeli strikes in Iran, whether the Iranians will change their red lines and whether they will agree to the terms that President Trump is proposing that Matthew was just talking about there.

Certainly from the Israeli government's perspective, the Prime Minister has been very cautious not to push President Trump too hard on this issue. I'm told that he has not directly, explicitly urged President Trump to carry out a U.S. strike on that Fordo nuclear facility in Iran. But there's no question that the Israeli government has hoped from the beginning of this operation that the U.S. would be the one to come in and ultimately deliver that final blow to the Iranian nuclear program.

At this hour, though, that seems very uncertain. And so, we know that the Israelis have reviewed other options that they may have to try and destroy that Fordo facility. None of them quite as Certain and certainly a lot riskier than the option of U.S. B-2 bombers dropping those 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on Fordo.

And as all of this is happening, the Israeli military's chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, telling the Israeli public to brace for a prolonged campaign not only in terms of Israeli strikes in Iran, but also in terms of that continued Iranian retaliation here in Israel. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Jeremy Diamond live for us in Tel Aviv, thank you so much.

Joining us now to discuss this and more headlines is the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon.

Ambassador, thank you so much for being with us.

I want to get your reaction to this reporting that Iranian officials said they would not meet with a U.S. delegation for direct talks while Israel is bombing their country. Obviously, the United States does not tell the IDF what to do. I wonder if you think that Prime Minister Netanyahu would take that into consideration to allow these talks, these direct talks to go on.

DANNY DANON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Boris, thank you for having me today. You know, for the last few decades Iran has been playing with all those negotiations, deliberations. I don't think they understood that, you know, we had enough once we realize that they are actually planning to assemble a nuclear bomb. We took a preemptive attack to stop them and now there are two options.

You know, either we would have to continue to degrade their capabilities or that they would understand that they would have to give up with those vicious ambitions. It's not only the nuclear ambitions, it's all of the ballistic missiles. You know, yesterday we saw the attack on a hospital. You know, they will use everything they have against us, so - and against other countries. That's why we are so committed not to allow them to get to the point where they can assemble a nuclear bomb.

SANCHEZ: I do want to ask you ambassador about the attack that damaged the Soroka Medical Center, but I want to get some clarity from you on whether you believe that any diplomatic solution is possible at this point.

[15:10:00]

DANON: So, you know, let's analyze your question. You have diplomacy and you have solutions. If it's a diplomacy just for the sake of the talks, it's not going to work anymore. And Iranians are the master of deception. For so many years, you know, they did it with President Obama, President Biden and now they're trying to do again with President Trump. That will not work.

If they are committed to actually take out their capabilities, to neutralize them completely, not to enrich uranium, you know, today we had a session in the Security Council and we heard a report from the IEA. The IEA itself said very clearly, you know, the amount of uranium they enriched, you know, nobody can explain why they need so much. So, there's only one explanation for that, if they are willing to give away those radical ideas, yes, then they always pay for diplomacy after every military action, but I'm not sure that they are there yet.

SANCHEZ: The Iranian leadership has made clear that demands to end any enrichment of uranium in Iran is off the table. They say that this is a red line for them. If that's the case and they do not want to let go of any nuclear program, would you support pushing for regime change in Iran? Eliminating the Ayatollah as has been floated by several Israeli officials.

DANON: Well, I think that's up to the Iranian people, but I wish there will be a regime change. You know, I pray for the people of Iran. I even addressed them in Farsi the other day in the general assembly, because they are the one who suffered the most from this regime. They have been oppressed for so many years, for 46 years are oppressed in Iran.

So, I hope there will be a regime change. You know, look at the money they spent on the proxies (ph) almost $9 billion a year. You know, feeding terrorists in Yemen, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Gaza, you name it, but they don't invest it actually in Iran itself. So, I hope there will be a regime change. I think that the people of Iran deserve better leadership.

SANCHEZ: Ambassador, what do you say to critics of the Israeli government who argue that Netanyahu is trying to drag the United States into an unnecessary war.

DANON: So, you know, we are very clear about that, you know, we took our decision in order to protect ourselves. The U.S. and other allies should decide for themselves, what's good for them, what is the benefit for their national interest.

You know, I can tell you one thing, you know, when you see the chance in Iran, it's only - or not only death to Israel, it's also death to America, and death to the U.K., you know, and you understand that the threat is not only against us, you know, it's right to assassinate President Trump. They attacked U.S. military bases all around the Middle East. So yes, we are in the focus of the Iranians, but we are not the only one. But I would leave it to each government to take its own decision.

SANCHEZ: You previously spoke about the attack that damaged the Soroka Hospital. You've described it as a war crime. You've urged the U.N. to condemn Iran. Tehran claims that it was actually targeting a nearby command center. I wonder what evidence you have that this was a direct attack specifically aimed for the hospital.

DANON: You know, it's very clear, Boris. Let's look back about the last conflict we had with Iran. Back then, a few months ago, they targeted military facilities and Israeli Air Force bases. And by the way, they have a very good technology, accurate one, and they were able to send those ballistic missiles, the same one that they are sending today, into military facilities.

Today, it's exactly the opposite. Today, they are targeting civilian population hospitals using a special cluster munition which you know spreads, you know, a lot of damage in a very large area and they're sending it into our cities, 29 Israelis were murdered, hundreds were wounded and, you know, you see the amount of soldiers that were wounded is minimal because they are not targeting any military bases.

SANCHEZ: So, Ambassador, how do you respond to those who argue that Israel has committed war crimes by targeting hospitals in Gaza? DANON: So, you know, you cannot make that equation because, you know,

we chase terrorists and we allow people to evacuate those places. We tell them in advance. By the way, same in Iran, you know, we try to minimize civilian casualties to tell people not to stay in certain areas. In Gaza it's very so - complicated, but we always give a warning. We tell people to move out while Hamas is hiding in those facilities. It is not a similar case.

SANCHEZ: Ambassador Danny Danon, we have to leave the conversation there. We very much appreciate you joining us to share your point of view.

DANON: Thank you very much, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

[15:15:00]

Still to come, as President Trump delays his decision on whether to attack Iran for two weeks, some of his biggest supporters are at odds about the United States' role in the conflict. A decision that could divide his MAGA base.

KEILAR: Plus, a judge says, Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil will be released today, more than three months after he was arrested outside his apartment on Columbia University's campus. We'll have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:19:48]

SANCHEZ: We have breaking news just in to CNN, a federal judge has ordered the release of a pro-Palestinian activist, Mahmoud Khalil. The U.S. permanent resident has been in held in ICE custody in Louisiana for more than three months after he was arrested outside his apartment on Columbia University's campus. The judge says that Khalil will be released today.

Joining us now is Baher Azmy, Khalil's attorney and legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Thank you so much for being with us.

Have you had a chance to speak to Mahmoud and gotten his reaction to this news?

BAHER AZMY, ATTORNEY FOR MAHMOUD KHALIL: Not directly, hopefully very soon, but our team members have been in touch with him and he's elated.

SANCHEZ: He's elated and how's ...

AZMY: As - I think we all are frustrated that it was this long and coming. SANCHEZ: Understood. How soon do you expect him to actually be

released?

AZMY: We're working on the, you know, conditions of his release which the federal court should said - should be nominal and for example rejected any kind of GPS monitoring because of findings that we just - extensive findings of any flight risk or any dangerousness whatsoever. So, hopefully, it will be very soon.

SANCHEZ: So, where does his case stand right now?

AZMY: So, what the judge did, he's basically said that the foreign policy charges brought by Secretary Rubio namely that Mahmoud and other student activists are threats to U.S. foreign policy simply because of their constitution protected speech. The judge said that's presumptively unconstitutional. The government manufactured several other kind of post hoc pretextual charges, baseless charges that he made, you know tiny misrepresentations on his green card application. Those are still pending, but - and we'll have to litigate those.

But in the meantime, this is a bail decision and the court concluded there's no reason he should continue to be detained given the serious harms that are happening, the chill that is happening to his speech and other people's speech as a result of his detention and the need for him to no longer delay while we litigate the validity of these other pretextual charges.

SANCHEZ: I've been following the case soon - since soon after he was detained and it struck me that a lot of what the administration was saying publicly and accusing him of publicly was not necessarily finding its way into the courtroom. Did the government at any point actually present evidence that he was coordinating with any adverse group - adversarial group to the United States that his presence in the United States presented a problem of national security.

AZMY: Absolutely not. What the government admitted is the reason for his arrest detention and removal were nothing other than his activities and his activities were constitutionally protected speech in favor of justice for Palestinians, which the government said happened to be aligned with Hamas. I Isuppose insofar as he's criticizing U.S. foreign policy and demanding justice for Palestinians including a ceasefire, but there are absolutely no allegations of any connections or, you know, any sort of concrete foreign policy concerns. It is exclusively because of his constitutionally protected speech, a principle that could threaten anyone in this country.

SANCHEZ: Does he plan to continue protesting when he's out on bail?

AZMY: He is fully - he's a peace activist. He's an international human rights activist and he's Palestinian and I don't expect he will ever stop advocating for justice for the Palestinian people and an end to their continued slaughter and starvation.

SANCHEZ: I wonder what your message is more broadly not only to students like him that The administration may be seeking to target using the same justifications, but also to the administration itself. AZMY: Well, the administration has tried these charges against five or

six student activists and this is the last of those five or six cases in which federal courts have found such detentions to be unconstitutional and released people. It is the message of the administration is, one, this is illegal and, two, it is cowardly and so contrary to American constitutional, democratic conditions to be so scared of speech dissenting from U.S. foreign policy, so nervous that the message gets out than rather - rather than try and meet the message on its own terms to take someone in the middle of the night and send them thousands of miles away from family and attorneys and punish them and secret them, because you're so scared of their message.

[15:25:17]

A message, by the way, of peace.

SANCHEZ: Baher Azmy, thank you so much for the update. Please keep us posted. I know you - I heard at least a half dozen messages pinging on your phone. We'll let you go get to them. Keep us posted on ...

AZMY: Sorry about that.

SANCHEZ: ... no worries. Let us know what comes of my Mahmoud Khalil's, please.

AZMY: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We're back in just a few minutes.

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