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Early U.S. Intel Suggests Strikes Did Not Destroy Iran's Nuclear Sites; Speaker Johnson: House Classified Briefing on Iran Set for Friday; Sean Combs Defense Rests After Half an Hour, Calling No Witnesses. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired June 24, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: ... turning in is one of a series really going back to the War of Independence of 1948. Great Israeli military prowess doesn't solve the underlying political issue. President says he doesn't want regime change in Iran, agree, that could be a lot of chaos.

But why can't these two sides, and especially the Iranians, why can't they agree to live in harmony in the region? Why do they have to want to destroy another country? And surely this is the most opportune time to pose that question to them.

Maybe President Trump can do it, maybe his emissaries can, maybe some other group of outsiders can put this on them, because this is a recipe for continuing war. The fact is that if they've got hidden nuclear materials, they're a wounded tiger. They're going to want to come back. And that's what they've shown year after year.

So this is a time to make a break with the past in the region. The ceasefire gives an opportunity, American presence, President Trump's prestige and determination to solve it should help.

But let's see if we can't go beyond just saying, hey, we got rid of it and there's a ceasefire and turn our backs and let's go back to business as usual. You can't do that anymore in this region, really.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Jon, what do you think as we are learning this from this early intel assessment?

JON WOLFSTHAL, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT OBAMA FOR NATIONAL SECURITY: So I do think we need to take the assessment with a grain of salt. It is the first assessment. It is likely to change the more intelligence is coordinated and built into a comprehensive assessment.

But there is a reason that President Obama and President Biden and first-term President Trump did not use the MOP deep-earth penetrator to destroy Fordow. It's because there was always uncertainty about whether or not this capability was able to destroy a deeply underground -- a deeply buried underground facility. The Iranians built it so deep down to make it hard to destroy. And so it should come as a shock to no one, let alone President Trump, that there was a chance this attack might not succeed and that might drive, as General Clark just said, Iran further underground. Iran has already declared that they were building another underground facility at Natanz, even more deeply buried than Fordow. On the case that the MOP might work, they had another facility ready to go.

And since Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear agreement in 2018, Iran has been preparing for this moment, squirreling away nuclear material or nuclear centrifuge components so that they could rebuild. And I worry that the only thing this attack has done is push Iran to make a decision that they need a nuclear weapon in order to deter Israeli or American attack.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And to that point, John, as the general described it, a wounded tiger that needs to respond. What options does the U.S. have, diplomatically or otherwise, to try to resolve this now?

WOLFSTHAL: So I think U.S. options are fairly limited. Donald Trump is left with the same choice he was facing before these attacks and before Israeli launched their assaults on Iran 12 days ago. He can negotiate a deal where Iran is able to maintain some level of enrichment for some period of time, or he can insist on absolute, complete denuclearization.

If he insists on denuclearization, he will fail, and Iran will be able to rebuild its capabilities and will then be faced with the prospect of bombing again. And if he accepts limited enrichment, he's basically getting the same sort of deal that President Obama did, which Bibi objected to, which is why he launched his strike.

So before the United States could at mediator and try to resolve these issues, now we're an active participant, and President Trump's credibility is very much on the line. If these facilities weren't destroyed, there will be significant pressure on him to attack again. And I worry, quite frankly, that the pressure will grow for the United States to actually put troops on the ground to try to secure Iran's nuclear materials, to look out for and secure any centrifuges or hidden nuclear facilities, which, quite frankly, is the same disaster that we stumbled into in Iraq and that should be avoided at all costs.

KEILAR: Do you see that happening, General Clark, this idea of perhaps boots on the ground, and considering that, what should the Trump administration be thinking of?

CLARK: I've always seen that from the beginning, even if the bombing had been successful. I mean, somebody's going to go in there and look at the site. It could be the IAEA, but maybe Iran says no, or maybe we think they're going to lie to the IAEA.

And so you're going to put a couple of Ranger battalions in, you're going to put the JSOC in, equipped with anti-radiation suits and Geiger counters, and you're going to go in and see where is in. But it's even worse now, because now that material may have been scattered all over and hidden all over Iran. This is a country two and a half times the size of Texas. It's not something you can occupy.

[15:35:00]

So I think there will be, at this point, there's really no way to put U.S. troops in at this point, because the sides are still in hostility. But if you could get to the Iranian government and persuade them, this is the end of the line. It's what John just said. It's just going to mount up more and more pressure to attack by Israel when this happens.

And they can't conceal it forever. And if they try to recreate this arc of resistance, Israel is going to go to the source, where the source is Iran. So it's been, you know, over 40 years of hostility, determination to wipe Israel off the map.

I think Israel has to come to the reality that all its military power is not enough. You can't bomb your way out of this. The two sides are going to have to work together.

And I dare say this, you're going to have to make an accommodation with the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank and Gaza. You can't deny the Palestinians their right. You've got to take away that as a cause.

You've got to go to the Iranian government and say, look, it's over. It's over. Stop making the point of your government the destruction of another state. You can't live that way in the 21st century.

Now, who can do this? That's the question. But surely the leverage is in place to do it right now, like never before.

SANCHEZ: General Wesley Clark, Jon Wolfsthal, appreciate the perspective. Thank you so much for joining us.

WOLFSTHAL: Thank you.

CLARK: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: We have much more on our breaking news right after this. Stay with CNN.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We're continuing to follow our breaking news.

Sources tell CNN that according to an early U.S. intelligence assessment, the U.S. military strikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy core components of their nuclear program.

KEILAR: Today, members of Congress actually had been gearing up for what were to be these first classified briefings from the Trump administration about those U.S. strikes on Iran. But then those briefings were postponed. And just moments ago, Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed the White House is going to hold a briefing for all House members that will take place on Friday.

CNN's Manu Raju has been speaking with more lawmakers today on Capitol Hill. Manu, what are you hearing?

MANU RAJU. CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Democrats in particular are the ones who have been upset, outraged, if you will, over this briefing that was supposed to happen today. Now, Mike Johnson is saying the House briefing is expected on Friday due to what he said, ongoing circumstances in the Middle East. Also, a Thursday briefing is expected for all senators.

But it's still uncertain the amount of information that has trickled down even to the topmost leaders in the House and in the Senate. I just asked Senate Majority Leader John Thune if he agreed with Donald Trump's contention that the nuclear enrichment sites in Iran have been completely and totally obliterated. Thune suggested he had not seen such intelligence, though he did believe that the nuclear program has been set back.

But then the question, too, for some of Donald Trump's staunchest allies is whether or not this effort to go after Iran and this ceasefire that is now taking place will be enough to stop Iran's ambition to obtain a nuclear weapon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): A ceasefire that leads to peace is a wonderful thing. A ceasefire that allows Iran to rearm and come back another day is a step backward. So what I'm looking for is a statement by the Iranians.

Not only they want a ceasefire, but they recognize Israel's right to exist. Until you have that moment, nothing really is going to change. If we can get Iran to change their behavior, then President Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize on steroids.

RAJU: What do you think about the folks on your party who are warning against it?

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I'd tell isolationists to go look and see what's happened every time there's been a period of isolationism in this country. It hasn't ended well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU (on camera): And that last comment coming from Senator Tom Tillis as part of that debate within the GOP, one of the more hawkish wing of the party, the more isolationist wing. And this all comes as the Senate still could vote as early as this week to try to constrain Donald Trump to taking further action against Iran. There's a vote that could happen later this week, but Republicans are confident they will beat back that bipartisan effort -- guys.

SANCHEZ: Manu Raju, live for us on Capitol Hill. Thank you so much.

We have much more straight ahead on the breaking news. Sources telling CNN that according to an early intelligence assessment by the Pentagon, the U.S. military strikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities did not destroy the core components of that country's nuclear program. We have new reaction coming in just moments.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: If you are just joining us, we're tracking breaking news into CNN.

We've exclusively learned that an early intelligence assessment from the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency finds that the U.S. strikes that were carried out over the weekend did not destroy the core components of Iran's nuclear program, likely only setting it back by approximately six months or so. The White House acknowledged the existence of this assessment, but the press secretary, Karoline Levitt, said it is, quote, flat out wrong.

KEILAR: Let's go to CNN's Fred Pleitgen. He is in Tehran. Fred, what are you hearing? What is your reaction to this new reporting?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Brianna. Well, the Iranians from the get-go after the bombings took place on those three nuclear facilities, Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz, had said that this would not set back significantly Iran's nuclear program. And there were basically three things that officials have been saying over the course of the past couple of days since these bombings took place.

You had, for instance, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency who said that Iran had long been preparing for something like that, that essentially all of those sites had been cleared out a long time ago, and there was therefore nothing of significance could have been damaged at those sites in the first place. There were others, like, for instance, an advisor to Iran's -- to the command of Iran's Revolutionary -- Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that came out and said, look, these sites simply can't be destroyed in one bombing run, saying that a lot of these sites are just so hardened that even those bunker-busting bombs from the United States would not be able to penetrate them.

And there's one other thing that the Iranians have also been saying, and this comes from several officials, saying that even if these sites were bombed and significant parts of these sites and the centrifuges in those sites would be taken out, that the knowledge about the nuclear program is still very much alive here in Iran and that everybody -- everything then could be rebuilt.

The bottom line that we've been getting from Iranian officials, guys, and this comes from the president, from the foreign minister, and from others -- is that the Iranians believe that they have a legitimate right to nuclear energy. They kept saying that they don't want and are not pursuing making a nuclear bomb. They say that's not something that's within their doctrine. There's even a religious fatwa against that, a religious decree against that. So the Iranians are saying their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but at the same time, they're also saying that they are not going to back away from it. Even now they're saying that they are going to certainly continue that nuclear program and, again, have been saying so far -- even as, of course, here in Iran, the battle damage assessment still is ongoing -- are saying they believe that the damage is not that significant and hasn't sent them back that far -- guys.

SANCHEZ: Fred Pleitgen, live for us in Tehran. Thank you so much.

Let's discuss with Washington Post writer Jason Rezaian. He wrote about his grueling detainment in Iran in his book, "My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison." Jason, great to see you, as always. I wonder what your reaction is to this early assessment.

JASON REZAIAN, WRITER, WASHINGTON POST: Boris, I was pretty skeptical when President Trump tweeted that the sites had been obliterated on Saturday night, not because I doubt the might of American bombs or the ability for our bunker busters to reach those sites, but because it was far too early to know. And I think we see this often with this president -- comes out early with, you know, the mission accomplished type message, only to have to walk it back later. I think the press secretary's -- his press secretary's response and statement is an indication of some egg on their face right now.

KEILAR: And Iran came to this ceasefire with Israel.

[15:50:00]

How, Jason, do you see Iran considering its interests right now, even if, you know, it is aware that it does maintain still some capabilities and that it may, as was sort of expected, have hung on to a lot of its highly enriched uranium? How is it considering its place?

REZAIAN: Well, Brianna, the bigger question is, how does Iran think it would defend itself against further strikes? And they are trying to avoid that. So I think we will see a kind of a measured attitude from them in the coming days.

But they're not going to back down from what they think is their right to enrich uranium. They're also not going to change the stated position that they're not trying to weaponize. And remember, we don't have intelligence that says Iran was trying to create a nuclear weapon.

We have intelligence that says they're trying to gather the material but not go over that hump of weaponizing. So, you know, there is a lot of devil in the details here. But at the end of the day, I don't think that Iran wants more missiles fired at them, more bombs dropped on them.

I don't think the United States wants to kind of escalate this even further. But I certainly don't think that Israel feels like they're done with attacking the Islamic Republic. SANCHEZ: We hear Iranian officials say that they're not seeking a nuclear weapon, and yet the level at which they're enriching uranium has no civilian purpose at this point. So there has to be some skepticism from not only Israel, but the West generally as to what their intentions are. How does that factor into what appears to be a diplomatic window?

REZAIAN: I think that they do have, you know, there's a lot of reason for the entire international community to be skeptical of those claims. But there is no indication that they've kind of crossed over that Rubicon. So I do think that the moment is now for diplomacy.

At the end of the day, though, an Islamic Republic that retains all of its ability to repress its own people, to continue to uproot security in neighboring countries, whether or not they have a nuclear weapon, is not a great outcome from this situation. So I think we're going to have to kind of go back to the drawing board and reconsider what our next steps are here as America and how we might want to mediate this situation that we've inserted ourselves in.

KEILAR: Yes, that's a very, very good point you bring up there. Jason, always great to have you. Jason Rezaian, thank you so much for being with us.

REZAIAN: Thank you.

KEILAR: And ahead, we do have even more breaking news. The defense has rested in the Sean Diddy Combs sex trafficking trial. We are live from outside of court next.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: We are following breaking news out of the Sean Diddy Combs federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial. The defense has just rested its case. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all five counts that he is up against, and he is facing up to life in prison.

SANCHEZ: Let's go to CNN's Kara Scannell, who's outside the U.S. courthouse in Manhattan. Kara, the defense keeping it pretty short.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They did. The defense case lasted less than 30 minutes. They didn't call any witnesses, but they read some text messages into the record, including a text message from Cassie Ventura, where Combs asked her what she wants to do, and she replied, be your little freak.

That is underscoring what the defense is to this entire case, that any of the sex that occurred between Cassie Ventura or Combs' other girlfriend, who testified under the pseudonym Jane, was consensual, the sex with the commercial sex workers. And so that is what the defense is trying to leave in the minds of the jury by a very brief case.

But they've made most of their defense arguments through the prosecution witnesses, trying to elicit testimony that is helpful to them and also to impugn the credibility of some of the prosecution witnesses.

Just before the defense rest their case, the judge, outside of the presence of the jury, asked Sean Combs if he made a decision of whether he was going to testify and asked him a series of questions, including how he was feeling today. Combs took the moment. He stood up and he said to the judge, I'm feeling great. I wanted to tell you, thank you. You are doing an excellent job. He also told the judge that he talked to his lawyer thoroughly, but it was solely his decision not to take the stand and testify in his own defense today.

This coming, of course, after the prosecution rested their case earlier today, they have called 34 witnesses over -- now we're in our seventh week of testimony at this trial. The jury heard from Ventura, heard from Jane. They also heard from two male escorts who said they were paid to have sex with Ventura. The jury also saw hundreds of text message exchanges. Also heard testimony from some of Combs' personal assistants who testified how they set up the hotel rooms and then cleaned them up.

These are the rooms where the alleged sex trafficking took place. So now this will get brought to the hands of the jury. Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday. And then at some point, deliberations will begin -- guys.

KEILAR: All right, Kara Scannell. Sorry, sorry, Kara. Sorry, Kara, we're having a little confusion about where we were going with that. And the siren also wasn't helping there. But tell us what can we be expecting from closing?

SCANNELL: So closing arguments is the government and the defense team's opportunity to pull all the evidence together in a way that they think best underscores their theories.

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So the government will tie together all these text messages, the sexually explicit videos that the jury has seen and testimony to say that this was coercive sex and to argue that Combs was involved in a racketeering conspiracy that involved bribery, arson.

The defense will do the same. They will pull together in a way that helps them and try to urge a jury to acquit him.

KEILAR: All right. We'll be looking for that. Kara Scannell, thank you so much.

We really appreciate that report from New York. And "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

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