Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Early U.S. Intel Assessment Suggests Strikes Only Set Back Iran Nuclear Program By Months; Zohran Mamdani Poised To Win New York City's Democratic Primary; Closing Arguments Begin Tomorrow After Combs Declines To Testify. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 25, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:32:43]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And the breaking news overnight. President Trump is now pushing back on the preliminary classified report that suggests the U.S. bombing of Iran nuclear sites, when all is said and done and they look through the information that they currently have, only set the country's nuclear program back by a few months -- a couple of months at the shortest and a few months at the longest.

Instead, the president says that Iran's nuclear capabilities -- he says have been set back by decades, still using the word "obliteration."

The president, right now, is meeting with NATO leaders in The Hague as the fragile ceasefire here in the Middle East appears to be holding this morning.

An Israeli assessment of Tehran's nuclear program -- and this is very important -- actually appears to match some of the U.S. report. What they call a BDA, a bomb assessment in Israel.

Nic Robertson is in Tel Aviv today. And Nic, what are you hearing from the Israelis this morning?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, I think a pretty clear statement coming from the military spokesman -- from the IDF spokesman -- saying they have achieved what they wanted to achieve. That they have set back Iran's nuclear program by years. It's also saying that they are still doing the full assessment of what they've achieved over the past 13 days -- over the past 12 days since June 13. So that -- the reference there I think is into the full spectrum of what they believed they've achieved.

But on the -- on the question of nuclear issue, pretty firm on saying they'd set it back years, which is what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other political leaders were saying even before the United States bombed Fordow. So their assessment is one that they've had for a number of days now coming from political leaders.

And we also heard from the finance minister here, Bezalel Smotrich, saying look, again, the assessment still in the works but taking out their top scientists, destroying a number -- a number of sites and facilities. Again, full assessment being worked out. And I think perhaps that is in keeping with what President Trump alluded to that Israel, he says, will have their own people on the ground, was the implication, who will be able to make an assessment there.

[07:35:00]

But the line here is very clear that Iran's nuclear capabilities have been set back by years.

BURNETT: All right, Nic Robertson. Thank you very much.

And I'm going to be joined now by CNN military analyst Major Gen. James "Spider" Marks, and former deputy Pentagon press secretary and CNN global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh. And it's great to see both of you.

Spider, let me just start with you because as Nic was saying, the Israeli assessment prior to the U.S. strikes was that they had set the Iranian nuclear program back years, and that was from the strikes that Israel had done over the past 10 days, right? Then the U.S. assessment comes out and they are saying that the, at least from their preliminary assessment, had come to the same conclusion that the U.S. strikes would only have added an additional months to setting the program back.

Now obviously, this is preliminary. We don't know a lot of information yet, General. So could you explain what a preliminary assessment is based upon, right? At this point, obviously, you don't have people going down deep under the ground under Fordow to do that sort of a formal level of assessment just to state the obvious.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST, HEAD OF GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGY, ACADEMY SECURITIES (via Webex by Cisco): Correct. There are multiple forms of intelligence that are being used to create a bomb damage assessment or to determine what the effects where of this raid and the efforts by the Israelis priori.

Look, the very first thing -- we're looking at it right now -- is imagery, and this is commercial imagery as well as military imagery. That can give you your very first step. So you take that, absent probably other forms of intelligence -- you take that and you bring it back. You mensurate that until -- that imagery. You look at it in great detail and you do your initial assessments.

And intelligence assessments are really an invitation --

BURNETT: Yeah.

MARKS: -- to disagree. But we should -- and CNN is doing a very good job of being --

BURNETT: Yeah.

MARKS: -- about being very measured about it. But this is the first assessment and it'll be banged around by other intelligence agencies. They'll come up with other ideas. Human intelligence will suddenly pop into this with greater clarity. Then you build that mosaic and you weave it all together.

So we're at the very first stages of how this process takes place over time.

BURNETT: The first stage.

And Sabrina, also just to keep in mind, the Israelis, when they had assessed from their own actions that they had set the program back in Iran by years, the -- two to three years is what we'd actually heard from the Israeli military -- you know, that context is important for what we've heard from Prime Minister Netanyahu in just the past 24 hours. He spoke to the Israeli people. He said this is not the time to take our foot off the gas. We are not stopping. That there is now a -- that the campaign against Iran continues even in the midst of what is right now a ceasefire. So -- and the ceasefire is holding where we stand. You know, a region that's been on edge and fear, it's holding.

But Sabrina, what does that mean when you hear the prime minister of Israel say the campaign continues? It's not now time to take our foot off the gas against Iran.

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR, FORMER DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Well, I think it's a bit of a conflicting message because at the end of the day the ceasefire is holding. I think what the Israeli prime minister is projecting to his people is strength and clearly, what they have been able to do very successfully --

BURNETT: Um-hum.

SINGH: -- is take out all of Iran's -- essentially all of Iran's air defenses. I mean, Israel does control the skies over Tehran, so I think that is important.

BURNETT: Yeah.

SINGH: But they are, of course, concerned and understandably about that enriched uranium where it's very possible that Iranians might have -- Iran might have moved that from that Fordow site.

So I think there is pressure to continue the campaign but at the end of the day I think we'd know that the only way to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, which is what no one wants to see, is really through diplomatic channels and diplomacy.

And so this administration is continuing to push forward for that ceasefire to hold. There is ongoing assessments of how successful these strikes are. We can't continue to bomb our way through everything. We do have to get back to the table and let diplomacy takes its course because that will ultimately be the off-ramp for Iran to never get a nuclear weapon and to ensure safety not just for the Middle East but, of course --

BURNETT: Yes.

SINGH: -- for the United States as well.

BURNETT: But General, I'm curious though because Iran to return to the table -- we have heard from the Iranian foreign minister. That's who -- Foreign Minister Araghchi, right? We heard from him during the ceasefire. There was a period of time where we didn't hear from the Iranians, then we heard from the foreign minister.

We have not yet heard from the supreme leader. The last post he did was a burning American flag prior to the ceasefire. We knew that he was in a bunker hiding at the time.

So I'm curious, General, who is calling the shots and whether we even know who's calling the shots in Iran right now because the absence of the supreme leader is glaring. And I understand from sources that during the ceasefire itself when the Iranians -- the foreign minister and others were trying to reach him to, you know, what do we do -- they weren't able to reach him, which is a pretty incredible thing to say when you are the supreme leader -- the religious leader for Iran.

[07:40:00]

What is the status of the Iranian leadership right now?

MARKS: Well, we don't know that he's not in AFib someplace dealing with some significant problems. I'm not trying to be facetious.

But the military campaign that the Israelis took on and then that the United States then got involved in and let's be frank, took a lead position have set the conditions for diplomacy as Sabrina discussed. But absent a leader that is going to speak on a political stage and try to achieve a policy end state, military leads you in the direction of a strategy and the accomplishment of a policy.

But absent that, the military campaign will continue until somebody raises their hand and says wait a minute, we have to have communication here. We must be able to talk about what those next steps look like.

BURNETT: Yeah.

MARKS: So the pressure will continue, but that doesn't mean that there has to be continual kinetic engagement. The Israelis own the skies. This is aerospace supremacy is what they have over Iran with complete impunity.

BURNETT: Yeah.

MARKS: They do what they want.

And so this is the initial -- I mean, this is the step where we are right now until somebody says, in Iran, look, we have to have a conversation.

BURNETT: All right, Gen. Marks, Sabrina. Thanks so very much to both of you.

Kate, back to you.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Erin, thank you so much. We're going to be getting back to Erin in the region shortly.

Joining us now to continue talking about a lot of what we were just discussing there, CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid. Of course, also the global affairs correspondent for Axios. Barak, it's good to see you.

So this morning President Trump said that the ceasefire is going very well. He said that Netanyahu should be very proud. But it was literally almost exactly 24 hours ago that Trump accused Israel of not knowing what the "f" they're doing.

What is the view among top Israeli officials today on where it stands?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, AXIOS (via Webex by Cisco): Well, I think they may be a little late but the Israeli leadership understood that yesterday when they planned this retaliation to the Iranian launch of one missile towards Israel, when they planned this massive retaliation they understood late that it was an overreach, and they understood only after Donald Trump came out both in private and in public against it.

And I think what I heard from a very senior Israeli official is that they -- Netanyahu got to the conclusion after his call with Donald Trump that maintaining a good relationship with Donald Trump is more important than another strike in Iran. And that's why they backed off and aborted most of the mission.

BOLDUAN: Wow -- you always have such great reporting and insight on all of this.

President Trump also said, and maybe this is one of those kind of moments of squishy language that he needs to clarify, but he also seemed to suggest today that Israeli officials or Israeli -- I don't know -- agents had already been on the ground to the nuclear facility sites that the United States hit.

Let me -- let me play this for everyone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Israel is doing a report on it now, I understand, and I was told that they said it was total obliteration. You know, they have guys that go in there after the hit, and they say it was total obliteration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: You have new reporting on what Israeli intelligence services believe, but what are you hearing about this?

RAVID: Well, I don't if Israel has anybody on the ground going into the facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan and looking up close what happened. I just -- I just don't know if that's true.

I do know that President Trump was accurate when he said that Israel is preparing its own battle damage assessment report. And several Israeli officials told me that they were actually a bit perplexed by how fast the defense intelligence agency produced their own battle damage assessment because for the Israelis it's still too soon to have those kind of specific conclusions of how far back the Israeli and U.S. strikes took the Iranian nuclear program.

What Israel intelligence does suggest is that all three big industrial nuclear facilities in Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan were significantly damaged.

Natanz, I heard from three Israeli officials, both above the ground and underground was destroyed. There was internal collapse in the underground facility. Isfahan, the uranium reprocessing facility, was completely destroyed. The tunnels -- it is still unclear. They were damaged but it is still unclear if they -- if there was internal collapse. And in Fordow there was also significant damage, but it was still unclear whether there was collapse underground.

[07:45:10]

I think that's the situation, at least as I heard it last night from Israeli officials.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, as this develops it seems there's going to be a lot of discussion around what's the definition of obliteration. What does significant damage -- what does that equate to in terms of the messaging coming from the administration and the assessment from intelligence services.

If the ceasefire between Israel and Iran is now holding, as it obviously seems to be, what are you hearing from your sources happens now?

RAVID: Um, I think there's a lot of focus on Gaza now. Seven Israeli soldiers were killed yesterday in an IED that was put under an armored personnel carrier. I think that both Israeli public opinion and parts -- big parts of the Israeli leadership want this war to be over.

The question is if Prime Minister Netanyahu's political calculations are such that he feels that after the successful war against Iran he can basically go against some of his coalition partners and go for a deal that would lead to the release of the hostages in Gaza and to the end of the war.

For now, it is still not the case. But I think if there's one thing to watch is this -- whether Netanyahu is now saying OK, we had a good run against Iran. Now I feel that I have the -- both the political space and the time to go for a deal with Gaza.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

Barak Ravid, it's always good to see you and always great to have your reporting. Thank you so much -- Omar. OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Ok, breaking overnight a major upset in New York City's Democratic primary for mayor. A 33-year-old state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani is now poised to win after former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was considered the frontrunner in the race, conceded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI, (D) NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I will fight for a city that works for you. That is affordable for you. That is safe for you. I will work to be a mayor you will be proud to call your own.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And it is a big moment and important to note that Mamdani did not reach the 50 percent threshold of the vote though, so the race will be decided by rank choice votes officially starting July 1, as CNN projects.

I want to bring in CNN's Gloria Pazmino who joins me now. OK, for those just tuning it how did this upset happen and what happens next?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Omar, I think of three primary points that we should touch on.

The first --

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

PAZMINO: -- I think is, of course, the historic nature of what we watched last night, right? Zohran Mamdani is a relatively newcomer legislator here in New York state. He's only served for two terms in the State Assembly. He's only 33 years old. But he is on track to make history here in the city of New York not only as one of the youngest mayors potentially ever to be elected to run City Hall, but also as the city's first Muslim mayor.

So that's the first thing.

Now, the second thing is that these were two vastly different campaigns. We had Andrew Cuomo mounting his political comeback and we had Zohran Mamdani who started out essentially polling at one percent in many of the polls. And little by little with each passing week he continued to inch upward.

Now, very different campaigns. Andrew Cuomo ran a campaign that sort of assumed his win in the end. As you said, he was considered to be the favorite many months during this primary campaign.

Zohran Mamdani really took it to the streets, and I think last night showed that it made a difference. He ran a very energetic campaign. On the Friday before the election, just to give you one example, he walked the entire length of Manhattan trying to connect with New Yorkers. He was very active on social media. And he really got the attention, I think very importantly, of young people here in New York City who gravitated towards his campaign. The third point I think what we are all watching for here this morning is how are national Democrats going to react because I do think that this race gives us something to talk about in terms of where is this Democratic going next. We have the establishment line up behind Andrew Cuomo, and the liberal left wing of the party line up behind Mamdani. Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed him.

So now we're going to see do the party leaders embrace him or do they say this was some sort of fluke and that they need to continue on the path they have been in recent months.

JIMENEZ: And what's interesting moving forward is -- I mean, the incumbent mayor in your city, Eric Adams, is running as an Independent. So we could have this set-up where the biggest clash for a general election actually really matters in New York City, so --

[07:50:05]

PAZMINO: Which is new in New York and it --

JIMENEZ: New in New York.

PAZMINO: -- shows that it's not over yet.

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

Gloria Pazmino, always appreciate it. Thanks for being here -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Still ahead for us Florida's attorney general is calling it "Alligator Alcatraz." The state's newest plan for detaining migrants is about to open and the AG is promoting it as being efficient since it's surrounded by pythons, panthers, and crocodiles.

Also ahead, closing arguments are set to begin tomorrow in the federal sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs. He's facing the chance of life in prison here as this case is about to head to the jury.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:55:00]

BOLDUAN: So this morning millions of people all along the East Coast are going to face yet another day of scorching hot weather.

CNN's Derek Van Dam is tracking this one for us, and it's a big area that you need to be tracking. These temperatures are insane, Derek. What are you seeing?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: OK, so we've got, Kate, a small fraction of northern New England that will get some relief today -- Burlington, Vermont and Portland, Maine.

But if you were on the ground in Boston yesterday, you'd be telling me that it was wicked hot because it was. In fact, the mercury in the thermometer has never reached this high. It got to 102 yesterday in Boston. Right now it's at 85. Look at New York City. It was 82 just a moment ago and popped up to 83. It hasn't dropped below 80 degrees in three days. That ties a record for most consecutive nights not dropping below 80 degrees. And by the way, the average high for New York City right now is 80, so we've already surpassed that.

So we've had longstanding centuries old records that were smashed yesterday. New York City officially got to 99 at Central Park. Look at the last time that happened back in 1888.

So there's still the heat alerts and advisories across the entire Eastern Seaboard -- the megalopolis. But notice to the north they've kind of removed those. That's because we have some slight cooling in this forecast.

But it's the humidity concentrated across the mid-Atlantic. The I-95 corridor from New York further south into D.C. and Baltimore where it will feel the stuffiest outside. Basically, the air you can swim in.

But there is relief in sight. Look at the forecast going forwards. Tomorrow New York City only 79. You'll notice a marked difference in the humidity levels as well. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the South. It'll still be hot and steamy for places like Atlanta all the way to Jacksonville.

Kate, we'll take the relief when it comes.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Take any we can get. Love the heat but sometimes it can --

VAN DAM: Right.

BOLDUAN: -- be -- this reaches into the level of too hot.

It's good to see you. Thank you so much, Derek -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: I've never been more thankful to be in an air-conditioned studio, Kate.

All right. This afternoon attorneys in Sean Combs' federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial will meet to talk about jury instructions. Then tomorrow they're back in court for closing arguments.

Yesterday both sides rested their cases after 28 days of testimony. In the end, Combs decided not to testify. And the defense didn't even call a single witness.

Now, when the jury wasn't in the room the judge asked Combs how he was feeling. He replied, "I'm doing great, Your Honor. I've been wanting to tell you thank you. You're doing an excellent job."

Joining me now, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson.

So Joey, I just want to start with as we head into closing arguments for people that might be wondering why would the defense not call a single witness here?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yeah, great question, Omar, but I think it was the right call. Why? Now, the defense never has a burden of proof. It's always on the prosecution.

So I think the defense is confident that through their cross- examinations they were able to establish their narrative, which was that this is not about RICO and a criminal enterprise. This is about an individual who may have engaged in flawed conduct, but it doesn't rise to the level of RICO.

And on the other issue with respect to sex trafficking that this was -- these were willing participant, long-term relationships. Now, that's a jury question, Omar. Ultimately, they will make that determination.

But I think through their cross-examinations -- that is, the defense -- they're confident they were able to get out that narrative and didn't want to muddy it up and cause potential risk by having a case go forward with the defense.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, it's always interesting from a legal perspective when you get to this point where you're ahead of closing arguments. You get to see how both sides 1) are prioritizing likely certain aspects of the case and how they sort of for the last time in front of a jury, present their case one way or the other.

What are you expecting here as we head into this phase?

JACKSON: Absolute fireworks. If you're the prosecutor you're going to say ladies and gentlemen, this was a criminal enterprise. How do we know it? Because of all this behavior that we showed you. And what was that? The extortion of Cassie Ventura's mom -- $20,000 home equity loan. And do you remember Kid Cudi's car and the arson associated with that? That's what people who run criminal enterprises do, saying nothing of the drugs and the guns, et cetera.

And by the way, long-term relationship or not, this was coercion as its finest. That's sex trafficking. And we've established the crossing of state lines.

The defense will say not so fast. Criminal enterprise? This is an icon. This is a person who was running a legitimate business. And while his private conduct may have been flawed this is not an enterprise. In fact, there were people he was concealing this from in his organization. And when do you have a criminal enterprise of one? Shouldn't there other people?

And what? Sex trafficking? These were consensual relationships. One, Cassie Ventura. He was with her for 11 years. The other, Jane, three years. These were people who were enthusiastic about engaging in this activity.

So call if unconventional, call it whatever you will. Call him whatever you will -- Mr. Combs -- but don't call him guilty because he is not of these offenses.

So it'll be the battle of those narratives and ultimately, Omar, it will come to the jury. And it may even come to a judge because a judge will have to assess if there's an appeal and if there's a conviction whether this is truly a RICO case or a sex trafficking case. Was this what the statute was designed to protect? Those are all open questions.

JIMENEZ: Ah, no further questions, Your Honor. Appreciate it, Joey Jackson. Thank you.