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Iran Fires Missiles at U.S. Bases. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 23, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:02]

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But they still, particularly for their own domestic political audience, need to try to show -- or to save some face, if you will.

It is similar in a sense to after the 2020 killing of Qasem Soleimani, who was the former head of the IRGC. And when President Trump had ordered his killing, we saw a similar retaliation.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: By the way, also, we have just gotten -- sorry.

We have just gotten confirmation not only do they have -- where they fired it to Qatar, but also in Iraq as well.

WARD: In Iraq as well.

And in Iraq is what we saw after Qasem Soleimani's killing. There was ballistic missiles. The most notable one was on the Al Asad Air Base. Again, in that instance, the U.S. troops had sort of been given the heads-up. Iran had sort of telegraphed that this was going to happen. They were able to get to cover.

And, as a result, you saw a lot of traumatic brain injury or concussion, but you didn't see the kinds of injuries that you would normally with a direct missile hit.

COOPER: And, obviously, all bases in this region have been on high alert now for quite some time.

I want to bring in Becky Anderson, who is on the phone from Abu Dhabi.

Becky, I understand you have some new information.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

And I just spoke to somebody who briefed on the matter and knows what is going on. I spoke to them about five or six minutes ago, when the missiles were incoming. The booms that were being reported, at that stage, they said were likely the air defense systems working. But those missiles were very much directed at Al Udeid Air Base.

As you have been discussing, that is the very significant military presence in Qatar. That base has been evacuated over the past few days. And this source describes it as the following. They describe this as a very symbolic act by the Iranians. After all, the Qataris more than anybody else in this region of the Gulf have very good relations with the regime, even when the Saudis and the UAE didn't.

And those relations have got better over the past couple of days. The Saudis have a close relationship with the regime in Iran. And whilst there has been concern, frankly, all day that something was imminent potentially on this base or on any other bases around the region, including Iraq and in Syria, of course, they felt that, if there was an attack that Al Udeid wouldn't be the first because they retain such good relations.

In fact, I was reminded that just on Saturday the Qatari prime minister was in Istanbul meeting with the Iranian foreign minister, trying to get the talks between the U.S. and Iran back on track. And they felt like, I was told, that they were making very good progress on Saturday night.

And then, of course, the U.S. strikes happened on Iran in the early hours of Sunday morning regionally. So this is not a shock, because this has been telegraphed to Qatar all day, effectively. But they see this as highly symbolic. And whilst they say, look, going forward, this will probably be worked out diplomatically. I mean, the damage wrought to the relationship between Iran and Qatar will be significant.

The damage -- just the perceptual damage for citizens, the trust deficit that will now be in place between these two countries is really hard to overestimate at this point. I think it would be fair to say that the region is very much on high alert for further action. It is not clear whether these attacks that we are seeing now are one-off attacks.

The Iranians have certainly talked about proportional attacks. And the Americans have talked about their strikes on Iran being a one-off at this point. So it's very difficult to know what happens next, but certainly a real sense of shock, despite the fact that these were -- there was intelligence to suggest that all day this could happen.

COOPER: Becky Anderson, we will continue to check in with you.

I want to check in with CNN's Kaitlan Collins, who is at the White House.

Kaitlan, what are you seeing there? What is happening at the White House?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Yes, Anderson, right before we got confirmation that these strikes had been launched from Iran towards the air base in Qatar, I was just upstairs at the White House.

And as of right now, what we do know is that the Joint Chiefs chairman, General Dan Caine, is inside the Situation Room monitoring this as we speak. He's there with the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. I truly just got a phone while you were talking with Becky.

The president himself is not inside the Situation Room as of this moment. He is scheduled to have a 1:00 meeting in the Oval Office with members of his national security team. We will see if that and what's developing and playing out right now changes the location of that meeting and where they're talking.

[13:05:04]

But, obviously, right now, U.S. officials are just trying to get a sense of the scale and scope of this attack, because that is going to determine how the United States responds to this. One thing that the president has been warning about ever since he was toying with this idea of the United States striking Iran was saying that Iran cannot attack U.S. forces or U.S. assets in the region.

And this base that we're talking about in Qatar right now, the president was actually just there, Anderson, speaking to U.S. forces who were stationed there in the middle of May when he was on this multicountry Middle East trip. He went there and spoke with the forces. So it's obviously a base that he knows incredibly well as they are continuing to monitor this.

They knew that Iran would likely respond after they struck on Saturday night. But what they want to know is, how much a weakened Iran can respond and what exactly the extent of this looks like. And that has been the concern that we have been hearing from the president and his Republican allies who are skeptical.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: And, Kaitlan, we just got word that 10 missiles were fired at Qatar, one at a facility in Iraq. That's the latest word that we have right now. But continue, please.

COLLINS: Well, and with those 10 missiles, I mean, that is something that the Joint Chiefs chairman and the defense secretary are obviously going to be tracking to see what exactly the extent of that looks like and if they believe it's kind of a measured response.

Obviously, this happened when the president was in office the last time with the Soleimani strike.

COOPER: Yes.

Kaitlan, I have got to jump in. I have got to go to Fred Pleitgen. He is on the phone from Tehran.

Fred, what are you seeing there? There was -- there have been strikes in Tehran over the last 12 hours or so.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there certainly have.

There's been a lot of strikes actually on the Iranian capital, Anderson, one very close to the place where we're staying. I would say about a block down, maybe about 500, 600 yards from where we were, there was a massive Israeli airstrike and think plumes of smoke all over the northern part of the city here. But if we're looking at right now the Iranians certainly also very much saying that what they're calling this retaliation has started. I'm watching Iranian state TV right now, looking at Iranian state media. And they're calling this a robust and successful response to America's aggression.

And right now, if we're looking at media, they're only mentioning the Al Udeid air base in Qatar as a place that has been struck. However, they also say that there is going to be a statement from the military coming out very soon. So the Iranians are clearly also projecting this here at home on state TV telling the people that their response is now under way.

But it does indeed come, you're absolutely right, after what were a lot of airstrikes today on the Iranian capital, also west of the Iranian capital, and where you really heard throughout the course of the day several times that airstrikes had happened and some of them really rocking a lot of buildings in areas that we we're in as well, Anderson.

COOPER: Fred, just quickly, are they portraying this on Iranian state TV as strike, this is the response, or this is the beginning of response?

Because we're now -- we just got worried there was 10 missiles fired toward Qatar, one in Iraq. Was there an indication that this is part of an ongoing series of strikes or did they did they not specify?

PLEITGEN: Yes, well, they're not specifying this at this point in time. They're saying that the that the response has been launched.

But it's a interesting question, because we did hear from a senior Iranian official today, saying that they wanted to make the United States pay and that, in total, they're gearing up for a conflict both with the United States and Israel that could last up to two years, saying that they were prepared for something like that, saying they believed that they had the public backing for something like that as well.

So, clearly, the Iranians gearing up for what they could -- believe could be a longer conflict with the United States, an ongoing conflict that could involve military action as well. Whether or not in response to the strikes on the nuclear facility this is a one-off or this is something where the Iranians might launch further strikes as well, at this point in time, they're not saying.

But I think that they do believe that right now they are situated in a direct military confrontation, not just with Israel, but also with the United States, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Fred Pleitgen, appreciate that.

Of course, it remains to be seen what Iran's military capabilities still are. Israel several days ago said that they had eliminated as many as half of the launchers for ballistic missiles that Iran had. Obviously, Iran has a number of shorter-range missiles as well. It remains to be seen what their capabilities really are.

Retired U.S. Navy Commander Kirk Lippold joins us now. He was the commanding officer for -- the U.S. Navy commanding officer on the USS Cole when it was attacked by al Qaeda back in 2000. Also joining us, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

[13:10:02]

Commander Lippold, what do you make of this strike? We're told 10 missiles had fired toward Qatar, one in Iraq.

KIRK LIPPOLD, FORMER COMMANDER, USS COLE: Well, Anderson, I think what you're seeing is, in many ways, a symbolic attack by Iran. They had to respond in some manner to the United States taking out the three facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.

And I don't think that there will be much beyond this. I think that they felt a need to do something. But, by the same token, 10 missiles is not that much. Every one is dangerous. Every one could kill or maim Americans. But, hopefully, at this point, we're not going to see any further responses by the Iranian regime.

COOPER: And what you're seeing are missile interceptions over Doha. This occurred a short time ago or earlier.

Colonel Leighton, do you agree with that this seems mostly symbolic at this stage?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, at the moment, I do.

And now, of course, it could very well, Anderson, go into another phase of this. It really depends on what we do next, as far as the Iranians are concerned. So if there are casualties at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a place that I have been several times, that could, of course, up the ante and change things.

But, as of now, Commander Lippold is absolutely right. There's a certain symbology to this. There is a movement where the Iranians have to absolutely respond to what happened to them. But on the other hand, if they can control their reaction, then they wish, I think, for an off-ramp to some degree.

But this is something that remains to be seen if that actually becomes the way this goes. If we decide to respond more forcefully to this, then I think all bets are off at that point.

COOPER: Commander Lippold, in terms of Iran firing missiles toward Qatar or any other place, we have been told that Israel has command of the skies over Iran, not full control, obviously, because some missiles are still being launched here in Israel and, as we have just seen, to Qatar.

When Iran chooses to launch missiles, does that reveal something to Israeli planes in the skies over Iran? Do those launch sites then immediately become targeted? LIPPOLD: Absolutely, Anderson.

I think what you see is, every time they fire, we're going to learn about what vehicle or what launcher was able to get into position to be able to get the targeting data they needed to get uploaded into the missiles and actually shoot them. And while the Israelis may have air superiority, which means they can operate essentially uncontested over most of Iran, they don't have air supremacy, which means there is nothing that is going to be threatening anybody.

So, consequently, they are there, they can operate, they can continue to conduct their attacks coming out of Israel with relative impunity to hold the Iranians accountable for their actions over what's been now decades, but when you see these missiles launch, what you're actually seeing is they're kind of testing the water too, because I guarantee you, as soon as those missiles were fired, the Iranians are trying to figure out how quickly can we break down the equipment and move to another position to try and keep those assets safe?

And it's going to be up to both the United States and Israel to continue to do follow-up on the targeting data so that we know where they went and can then destroy them.

COOPER: Commander Lippold, Colonel Leighton, if you can, just stand by.

I want to go to CNN's Ms. Kylie Atwood with some new reporting.

Kylie, what are you learning?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, what we're learning is that the U.S. embassies in both Qatar and Bahrain are in duck-and-cover positions.

And what that means, Anderson, is that there is imminent danger that they are facing right now. Of course, we are reporting out that there are Iranian strikes occurring on Qatar right now. The indication from what we're learning here that U.S. diplomats in Bahrain are also under duck and cover is, there's some indication that there could also be strikes on U.S. facilities, on U.S. personnel in Bahrain.

We don't yet know that, but that is clearly the intelligence that the State Department, that U.S. officials are seeing right now. Obviously, we heard earlier this morning from the State Department telling all Americans in Qatar to shelter in place. They didn't say exactly why, but it was a dramatic shift from what they had been telling Americans just last week, to use precautions in their activities, but not necessarily to actually take cover at all.

So it was clear that U.S. officials had been tracking the possibility that Iran's retaliation was set to begin today, but obviously we're still in the midst of this, and we have to watch and see how this unfolds, what these targets look like, and of course, if any of these strikes are successful.

[13:15:04] COOPER: Clarissa Ward has some new -- more information -- Clarissa.

WARD: Yes, Anderson, we're just seeing a statement from the Qatari Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Defense: "Qatari air defense has intercepted a missile attack targeting Al Udeid Air Base. Thanks be to God and the vigilance of the armed forces and precautionary measures, there were no fatalities or injuries resulting from the incident."

So that's the first indication that we're getting that there are no casualties as a result of this. I think it's also worth mentioning, in terms of the scale and scope of this, 10 missiles, just by comparison, the first night here after Israel's attacks on Iran, we had some 200 missiles being lobbed at Israel.

So it's possible perhaps that Iran was trying to make a statement without doing something so audacious that it would result in major retaliation, although obviously we're still waiting to hear about what the situation is in Bahrain. That's home to the U.S.' Fifth Fleet, the reports of sirens there and, as Kylie was just saying, also the embassy staff being told to shelter in place.

COOPER: And we're told the one missile in Iraq. We're trying to find out more information about that.

If Commander Lippold and Colonel Leighton are still there, Commander Lippold, I'm just wondering whose responsibility is it to intercept missiles fired toward a U.S. base in Qatar? Is that the Qatari authorities who would be firing interceptors or would that be U.S. personnel from that base?

I assume they'd have to coordinate in some way.

(CROSSTALK)

LIPPOLD: Absolutely, Anderson. In many ways, it's going to be a coordinated effort. United States is always going to take the lead in something like that because we have the equipment, the ability, the training of the personnel that can do that, probably most effectively.

But we work with our partner nations around the world and especially in a place like Qatar, where they're trained, they're capable, we're going to make sure their intel folks are cut in on it. So while it's going to be a mutual effort to ensure that those bases are protected, the United States is ultimately going to be the one that is responsible for ensuring that our forces are protected by the best equipment in the world, which is typically going to be ours.

LEIGHTON: And if I could add, Anderson, one of the key things here is that the Qataris, as Commander Lippold mentioned, got their training from the U.S. on these systems.

They maintain the perimeter around the base often, and the U.S. maintains the area inside the base in terms of protecting it. We had a similar situation in Saudi Arabia, when we were at Prince Sultan Air Base, and the basic idea there was that we were responsible for everything inside the perimeter in the American area there. So similar rules apply to Al Udeid, and that's basically how they

handle the deconfliction for something like this.

COOPER: Commander Lippold, in terms of Iraq, what is the U.S. presence still in Iraq in terms of bases that might be targeted by either militias in Iraq or by Iran directly?

LIPPOLD: Well, we still have forces there to serve in a very kind of a passive role more than anything else working with the government. We don't have any real combat forces that are there that can actually go out and engage, but we do ensure that we maintain that presence there.

COOPER: All right, I want to bring in CNN's international security, Nick Paton Walsh, who is in London.

Nick, talk a little bit if you can about the significance of this base, Al Udeid, and were the U.S. troops there ready for this? Because certainly this seems to have been telegraphed really throughout the day. We heard U.S. citizens being told to stay at home, be near shelters.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

Let me just bring you some more information we're getting, indeed, it seems from the secretariat of Iran's supreme National Security Council, a lengthy statement, but one that says: "The number of missiles used in this successful operation were as many as the number of bombs used in the attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

"The base, which was targeted by powerful Iranian forces, is far away from urban installations and residential areas of Qatar. This action has no dangerous aspect to our friendly and brotherly country of Qatar and its noble people."

So, clearly a bid there by Iran to suggest this was exactly proportionate to that which occurred by the United States against its nuclear facilities over the weekend and to try and immediately defuse the tension with Qatar, Qatar having already said that there were no deaths and injuries as a result of this, and indeed that all the missiles had been intercepted.

Look, Al Udeid is really the bedrock of all U.S. aviation efforts in the Central Command area, the Middle East, the most busy part of the world, frankly, where the conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan have had so much air support out of.

But because of that huge importance and the size of it, it is vast, enormous, exceptionally hot there nearly all the time. It has clearly over the past week been cleared out. Satellite images show massively reduced numbers of aircraft there. That surely will also have been mirrored by the presence of U.S. personnel there, 9,000 or so.

[13:20:13]

They will have been obviously in a heightened state of alert since the U.S. strikes over the weekend. That will have been amplified in the recent hours by the telegraphing and what we have seen. We simply don't know if anything got through. The Qataris say that may not be the case.

And importantly too, Anderson, we don't know if there have indeed been successful attacks anywhere else in the region, suggestions potentially one missile fired towards Iraq.

COOPER: Yes.

WALSH: But, indeed, if this is the information as it stands now, as your previous guests have been saying, this does look like a carefully telegraphed, deeply symbolic, but possibly at this point not enormously destructive attack by the Iranians, who may be desperately hoping to draw a line under this themselves.

COOPER: And, Nick, just remind me, who -- Nick, just remind us who that statement you read from Iran was made by specifically.

WALSH: Yes, forgive me, sir.

I'm just going to pull it up here again, but that was from the secretariat of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. That seems to be the first cleared government official statement that we have received from our team in Tehran at the moment.

COOPER: All right.

Nick Paton Walsh, we will continue to check in with you.

I want to go quickly to Barak Ravid, CNN political global affairs analyst.

Barak, it's fascinating to hear Iran officially telegraphing and saying publicly to Qatar we used the exact number of missiles that were used on our facilities and this is it. Essentially, this is very targeted. We're not going after Qatar.

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, according to a source with direct knowledge, the Iranians coordinated this attack with the Qataris and with the knowledge of the Trump administration.

And I think one of the evidence for that is that all those press statements were prepared in advance. The Qataris five minutes after the rocket started flying issued a 500-word statement that was already just waiting to be sent. And as far as I understand from my sources, nobody was surprised by this attack.

And it really looks like a coordinated effort to on the one hand allow Iran to retaliate, but on the other hand try to close this incident and not allow it to escalate even further.

COOPER: I mean, that's incredible. That's really remarkable. Would this be it, though, total response from what we have seen the U.S. do in Iran over the last -- and what Israel continues to do? Is that -- is it your understanding that this is it from Iran?

RAVID: I don't know, but it definitely looks, again, if you put all the pieces together, first what I hear from a source of direct knowledge, this was coordinated, coordinated in advance between Iran and Qatar, and it was conveyed to the Trump administration, and the statements from both sides that were prepared in advance.

If you put all of this together, it looks like an attempt to try and shut it down here. Each side did its part, and now could be, could be the time for de-escalation going forward with some sort of a diplomatic track.

COOPER: Does Israel, at this hour, continue to hit targets in Iran? Do you know? I mean, we are -- obviously, Fred Pleitgen was on the ground there, is on the ground there. He saw earlier, I'm not sure how many hours ago it was, but strikes still continuing in Iran.

Are those operations still ongoing, do you know?

RAVID: As of now, they're ongoing. What I hear from Israeli officials is that they still have targets to hit.

The Israeli Cabinet is going to convene later today. There's definitely, let's say, a feeling among the military leadership in Israel that the big targets have been hit, and most of the war effort has already happened. So I think that we can see some kind of path towards maybe an exit point from this war.

COOPER: What would then be the next step? If that is the case, just play this out, how would -- what would be the next step? I mean, obviously, there has to be, at some point, some sort of diplomatic track, meetings of Iranian officials with some officials somewhere negotiating access to nuclear sites, whatever it may be.

[13:25:15]

Do you have any sense of what the next steps would be?

RAVID: Well, White House envoy Steve Witkoff has been in communication with Iran's foreign minister, including in the last few days, after the U.S. strike in Iran, proposing to start talking.

For now, the Iranians did not give a positive answer, but maybe now, after they retaliated, they would. I think this is what we need to watch for, whether the Iranians now come back to the U.S. and say, OK, now we're ready to talk.

COOPER: As far as I know, we have not heard, and correct me if I'm wrong, we have not heard from Iran's supreme leader. Is that correct, since this attack -- since the attack by Israel on Iran?

RAVID: Yes, for a few days now, we haven't heard -- yes. Yes. We haven't from him. He didn't put out any statement after the U.S. strike on Iran. I hear from sources that he's incommunicado, mainly for security reasons. I think the Iranians are very, very concerned that the Israelis could

still try and assassinate him. I think that's a valid concern. And this is why I think we don't hear from him for several days.

COOPER: Do you have a sense from how satisfied Israeli authorities are that you talk to, how satisfied they are with the level of destruction that they have been able and that the U.S. has been able to bring, to rain down on Iran?

I mean, you said they're nearing -- are they nearing the end of their target. Do you have a sense of how much longer that might go on for?

RAVID: Yes, I think they're very satisfied. A close aide to Prime Minister Netanyahu told me today that Netanyahu had a strategy. This strategy was first to take out Hamas in Gaza and destroy it militarily, which was, I think we can say, Hamas is not the same threat that it was before, then go after Hezbollah in Lebanon, degrade it significantly.

This has happened, then go after Iran and destroy its nuclear program and its -- and degrade its ballistic missile capability. That has happened. And the next step, this Netanyahu aide told me, is to go back to the diplomatic track and try to -- try again to move forward on peace agreements with Arab countries in the region, mainly Saudi Arabia.

COOPER: They think a deal with Saudi Arabia, which was -- from my understanding, was relatively -- was closer than it was farther away before October 7, and there's lots of evidence that October 7, Hamas wanted to stop that deal with October 7, that that is still very much within sight?

RAVID: I think -- or I don't think. What I hear from Netanyahu's people is that they think that now, after this war against Iran, the chances of getting to a peace deal with Saudi Arabia has increased dramatically.

COOPER: Barak Ravid, I really appreciate your reporting. Thank you.

I want to bring in Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi.

Becky, I understand you have a new statement from the Qatari minister of defense.

ANDERSON: Yes, and you have got the ministry of foreign affairs that Nick Paton Walsh just read out.

So let me just give you the very latest from the Ministry of Defense here, who have announced that: "Qatari air defenses successfully intercepted the missile attack targeting the Al Udeid Air Base. The vigilance of the armed forces and the precautionary measures taken meant that the incident did not result in any deaths or injuries. The ministry reiterates that the airspace and territory of the state of Qatar are safe and that the Qatar armed forces are always ready to deal with any threat.

"The Ministry of Defense advises citizens and residents to seek guidance and the latest developments from official sources."

And, look, it is clear that this had been somewhat telegraphed for some time, whether or not there is some reporting out there suggesting that Qatar were actually given a heads-up by Iran on this ahead of time. We can't stand that reporting up as of yet.