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Israel Launches Strikes On Iran's Nuclear Facilities; Netanyahu: Natanz Nuclear Facility Among Israeli Targets; Netanyahu: Operation "Rising To Continue "For Many Days"; State TV: Chief Of Staff Of Iran's Armed Forces Killed In Israeli Strikes; Iran's Supreme Vows "Severe Punishment" On Israel. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired June 13, 2025 - 00:00   ET

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

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LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much, and thank you all for watching our breaking news coverage of Israel's strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. It continues now with Jim Sciutto in just a moment.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF U.S. SECURITY ANALYST: Hello, and welcome to CNN's breaking news coverage.

I'm Jim Sciutto in New York. We begin with breaking news out of Iran whose supreme leader says Israel should now expect, quote, "severe punishment for its ongoing strikes on his country."

Hours ago, Israel said it had begun military strikes targeting Iran's nuclear facilities as well as missile sites. And leadership, in statement said Israel went after dozens of targets related to its nuclear program and ballistic missiles.

Iranian state media are now reporting that the top commander of the country's Revolutionary Guard, General Hossein Salami, was killed. Washington is making it clear that Israel acted on its own and that the U.S. was not involved.

While in Israel itself -- air raid sirens over Jerusalem, the country in a state of emergency amid fears that Iranian retaliation could come at any time. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the targets included Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz.

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SCIUTTO: You see video of a burning site there. Prime minister Netanyahu also says Iran made so much progress with its nuclear program that it became an existential threat to Israel.

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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival.

This operation will continue for as many days as it takes. We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear enrichment program. We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear weaponization program. We targeted Iran's main enrichment facility in Natanz. We targeted Iran's leading nuclear scientists working on the Iranian bomb. We also struck at the heart of Iran's ballistic missile program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: CNN's Oren Liebermann joins us now from Jerusalem. And, Oren, as you reported a short time ago, Israel recently launched a wave of strikes. Do we know if the target list is expanding as these strikes continue?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: The target list perhaps is expanding, but essentially the set or types of targets we believe is from that original list, and it is quite extensive. So even with dozens of targets, there are certainly plenty more that Israel could attempt to target, especially if there are successive waves of strikes.

That is nuclear facilities, ballistic missile sites, and then some of the top leaders, as you mentioned, General Hossein Salami was killed in in one of these strikes as are, at least from reports, several other top military leaders in Iran. And there is some speculation that that may delay the retaliation here that is very much expected.

Still, as you just heard from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at least from Israel's perspective, this isn't over yet, and the goal is to make sure that Iran's nuclear program is essentially knocked offline. Whether it's destroyed completely or degraded significantly, we'll see as Israel assesses the progress of its own military operations.

But a short time ago, Netanyahu issued another statement here. He said, in a short statement, we are after a very successful opening strike, with God's help, we are going to have many more achievements. So the threat very much on the table now that the strikes aren't over yet and that there are many more, potentially to come.

The question, of course, now, when is Iran's retaliation coming? Iran has made it abundantly clear that that will come not only against Israel, but also against U.S. assets in the Middle East. Israel is bracing for potentially something much larger than what we saw in Iran's previous two retaliatory attacks on Israel.

And those involved hundreds of ballistic missiles, hundreds of drones in the case, essentially a massive challenge for Israel's air defense system, and this is expected potentially to be larger and last longer. And that's why you see home front command shut down Israeli airspace with no timeline on how long it will remain shut down.

Hospitals are getting ready. The public here told to be ready to move to shelters on short notice if that's necessary. We were out in the street a short time ago. Normally, on a Friday morning, especially where we are in Jerusalem, it would be absolutely bustling, but it is quite empty there.

We saw a video from Tel Aviv where people are rushing to mini markets to grab supplies in case they need to spend, essentially extended time in shelters. So the country from the government on down is getting ready for this retaliation. The question now, Jim, when does it come?

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SCIUTTO: Yeah. In previous Iranian strikes on Israel, twice last year, it was a web of defenses that that defended Israel. Not only Israeli missile defenses, but U.S. assets in the region and other allies in the region, including allies that that didn't necessarily advertise, right, their participation, countries such as Jordan and others.

Is Israel confident that that same coalition as it were exists, in these circumstances that, that all those partners would act again to help Israel defend itself against the potential Iranian retaliation?

LIEBERMANN: I think it's a critical question right now, and it's one we don't have an answer to. Even if the U.S. made it clear it wasn't part of this offensive strike, it's hard to see a scenario in which the U.S. doesn't help on the defensive end when Iran launches that retaliation, and that includes FAD, air defense batteries that are stationed not only in Israel but across the region.

It has included U.S. Navy destroyers that have missile defense capabilities, but I'm not sure those are near or in the right position right now to help with missile defenses. And then you're right. Because Israel acted unilaterally here, the other countries that helped detect and in some cases shoot down the Iranian barrage simply may not be willing to do so, and that means what is expected to be a very large barrage maybe even more difficult to intercept, and that would be a tremendous challenge for Israel.

We'll try to get a better sense of where countries stand on whether they'll participate or not. Jordan put out a statement a short time ago saying they won't tolerate violations of their airspace. But whether that means they actively shoot down Iranian missiles, that's a whole different question. They may try to do so quietly or frankly, they may not get involved, and that would be a major problem for Israel.

SCIUTTO: Oren Lieberman in Jerusalem, thanks so much.

Well, just before Israel launched this attack, President Trump reportedly convened a cabinet level meeting aimed at focusing on the U.S. response to the situation. U.S. officials have been growing increasingly concerned about the threat of an Israeli attack throughout this week even as President Trump posted on social media this afternoon that his entire administration had been directed to negotiate with Tehran.

In a statement on X shortly after the attacks began, Secretary of State Marco Rubio worked to distance the U.S. from the strikes, writing that Israel took, quote, "unilateral action" against Iran with no U.S. involvement. He stressed that the administration's top priority is now protecting U.S. forces in the region.

For an Israeli perspective on these strikes, we're joined now from New York by Danny Danon, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations. Ambassador, thanks so much for taking the time.

DANNY DANON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Thank you for having me, Jim.

SCIUTTO: First, I wonder if you can describe the objective of these strikes. Is it just to attempt to take away Iran's nuclear capability, or given the strikes on Iranian military leadership and others, is there an attempt here to bring about regime change in Iran?

DANON: Jim, the objectives are very clear. We have two objectives. One is to dismantle the nuclear capabilities. We found out that they are moving very fast, you know. They're trying to acquire nuclear capability then assemble it on different bombs.

And the second goal is to dismantle the ballistic missile industry of Iran. We have seen them sending hundreds of missiles into Israel. It will probably will happen again in the next few days. So we are determined to make sure that Iran will not pose a threat, not only to Israel, but to the entire Western civilization. Those are the two goals of this operation. It's a preemptive attack to make sure we will not be caught by surprise once Iran has already acquired those weapons.

SCIUTTO: As you know, President Trump was continuing to pursue a diplomatic solution and talks were planned for this Sunday. Did Israeli leaders not have faith in those negotiations?

DANON: We do. We don't have faith at the Iranians. You know? Look what they did in the last decades. They were negotiating, signing agreements, playing the game. But as they were doing that, they were actually able to produce enough material to come with more than 15 bombs. They have the technology.

So, basically, it was up to them to decide when they want to actually try it or use it and use it against us. So for us, there are two options. Either we wait to see whether they are serious about their intentions or we take those attacks. We decided not to wait. It's too risky for Israel to take chances.

And, you know, today, it's not -- in 40s when we had no state, no military, no air force. Those days are over. Today, we have capabilities. We are capable of defending ourselves, and that's exactly what we are doing.

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SCIUTTO: Did the U.S. give a green light for this attack?

DANON: We talk with our allies. We speak with them. But at the end of the day, we take the decisions by ourselves, our government. We are an independent state. And I want to remind you, if you look back at history, twice we took decisions without the support of the international community.

The first was the attack against the nuclear reactor in Iraq in the 80s. And it took years for the U.S. and other allies to thank us for those actions we took against Saddam Hussein. The time was we when we took the initiative against Syria, which was developing also a nuclear reactor.

So I think, you know, if you look down the line 10, 20, 50 years from now, people will recognize that tonight was a historic night when Israel took the initiative and decided to stop the race of Iran to link nuclear weapon.

SCIUTTO: Are you saying that Israel carried out these attacks over U.S. objections?

DANON: No. I didn't say that. I said that at the end of the day, the decision is taken by the government of Israel. The elected leadership of Israel, they have the responsibility to defend the people. And we know after October 7, we learned the lesson. We are not going to wait for another surprise, especially when it comes to -- for a regime that have the capabilities, spends billions of dollars on proxies, in order to build capabilities against Israel. So we took the decision by ourselves, and we'll continue to take the right decisions to protect our people.

SCIUTTO: Israeli Ambassador, to the UN, Danny Danon, we do appreciate you joining us this evening. I'm sure it's a busy one for you.

DANON: Thank you very much, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Joining us now is Trita Parsi. He's the Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the author of "Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy." He joins us now, from Washington.

Trita, your reaction to these attacks, are Israel and Iran now at war?

TRITA PARSI, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, THE QUINCY INSTITUTE OF RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT: Well, if this isn't war, I don't know what war would be. So, yeah, clearly, they are at war. The question, of course, is what type of response the Iranians will give to this. And, clearly mindful of the fact that some of the losses that they have suffered, it may be delayed.

But if no response is coming at all, or a very underwhelming response smaller than what they did in October, then, I think that, the Israelis will be able to declare some form of a victory and have proven many wrong in terms of what a military strike could achieve.

However, I think we're very far from that because at the end of the day, even though, you know, much of the -- many of the scientists may have been killed, many of the military officials have been killed, we've seen that in other areas as well that is a major blow, but that is not the same thing, the type of a victory that I think Israelis are looking for. The question, of course, is what is Trump going to do now? Because he said that he didn't want this. Now the Israelis are saying that they were informing Trump. He had given an interview earlier today saying that he was in communication with them. If the Iranians conclude, which I think they very likely will, that the U.S. was in on this, regardless of what statements are, then that means that what Israel has done now dramatically increases the risk to the United States, because the Iranians may then retaliate against U.S. forces in the region.

SCIUTTO: But let me ask you about that because, Israel, at least made an attempt with these attacks to reduce Iran's capability to retaliate by targeting missile installations. Does Iran, in your view, have the ability not just to retaliate against Israel, but to bring the U.S. into this war in effect? Would that be a fool's errand for Iranian leaders?

PARSI: It certainly would be a fool's errand because at the end of the day, war with United States would not end up particularly well for the Iranians. However, if they believe that the U.S. is already at war with Iran, then it's not a question of whether they want to expand the war or not. It's a question on whether they want to strike back.

Now, prior to these attacks, we do know that the Iranians did have significant capabilities. We don't know how much of those capabilities may have been destroyed or the capacity of the Iranians to be able to use it. But if the, the outcome of this is somewhat limited, and we will find that that out when we see the Iranian retaliation.

If it is much larger than what it was in October, then that is in and of itself an indication that despite these many, many significant blows that the Iranians have suffered, they still have the capacity of striking back quite effectively.

And I think, as you said on your show earlier today, what the Iranians did manage to do in October was to penetrate many -- actually, all of the different layers of Israel's air defenses. So, yeah, there's a reason why the Israelis are right now waiting and holding their breath to see what that retaliation ends up becoming.

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SCIUTTO: The conventional wisdom -- and by the way, not just cocktail chatter, but assessments had been for some time that Israel could not significantly and lastingly damage Iran's nuclear capabilities by itself, that it needed the U.S., just because of the scale. Right? Not number of aircraft, ability to refuel, but also bunker buster bombs. Israel seems to have gone ahead, and attempted to take out those facilities on its own.

We don't know yet the extent of the damage, but is it possible that with these strikes and as they continue that Iran proved that thinking wrong -- sorry, Israel proved that thinking wrong that it could do significant damage on its own?

PARSI: I don't think so, because at the end of the day, the site that is the one that everyone thought Israel could not penetrate is not a site that the Israelis even have attacked. That is 800 meters, half a mile underground. The site that they have struck, Natanz, is only about 20 to 50 feet underground. And it would -- that was a much more vulnerable site. So the Israeli have a capability of striking that, but the Iranian program is not sitting in one single venue. It's not in one single site. So that is part of the difficulty that the Israelis have.

Now what it seems like the Israelis are doing is some sort of a regime collapse, strategy, which they're trying to take out the leadership, hoping that that would actually incapacitate the regime as a whole, potentially bring about an uprising from the population. They may be calculating that. I don't know if that is really what's going to be forthcoming. And that under those circumstances, find other ways to go after nuclear sites.

But when it comes to just strictly being able to hit Fordow, which is half a mile underground from the air, that I don't think we have seen any evidence in these attacks that these Israelis actually have the capacity of undertaking.

SCIUTTO: Trita Parsi in Washington, thanks for joining this evening.

PARSI: Thank you so much for having me.

SCIUTTO: Please do stay with us for much more on Israel's ongoing strikes on Iran. We're going to have the latest on the breaking news. Also, how the world is now reacting. That's coming up on CNN.

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SCIUTTO: We just have this breaking news into CNN, and that is the Major General Mohammad Bagheri, the Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces, was killed by Israeli air strikes this evening, Iran's State TV IRINN is now reporting.

Bagheri, a top commander in the Iranian military, is the senior figure known to have been killed in Iran's unprecedented ongoing -- Israel's unprecedented ongoing attack on Iran in the early hours of Friday.

Multiple Iranian state media outlets reported earlier that general Hossein Salami, the Commander in Chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was also killed in Israel's overnight strikes. Iranian state media reporting the death of the Commander of the Guard Corps as we noted there. This shows the extent of these strikes, not only the nuclear facilities being hit and missile installations, missile production facilities, but also senior leadership.

Removing -- analysts say that removing Salami is akin to taking out the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is considered an elite wing of Iran's military established following the country's revolution in 1979.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen joins us now live from Berlin. And, Fred, given your many travels to Iran, can you put into context the significance of these strikes on two senior leaders in the Iranian military?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they certainly are significant. They're certainly a blow to the Iranians as well, and I think that's something that the Iranians are also themselves acknowledging. It's quite interesting, because right now we have these reactions that are starting to pour in. Iran's supreme leader has issued a statement saying that there will be a strong reaction by the Iranians.

Also, Iran's military has come out and said that the Iranians are going to strike back in a major way to hit the Israelis. So, certainly, it is definitely a blow to the Iranians. Certainly, Hossein Salami is someone with the Revolutionary Guard for who is extremely powerful in Iran, of course, extremely powerful also in the entire greater Middle Eastern region, especially over the past couple of years as these tensions between the Israelis and the Iranians have ramped up.

But also, Mohammad Bagheri, who, as you've noted, has now, also been confirmed to have been killed as well, as the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces -- the Chief of the General Staff, he's also an extremely important figure merging all of the different military forces that the Iranians have, and he's also a very senior commander in the Revolutionary Guard.

However, Jim, one of the things that we've seen with the Iranians over the past couple of years is that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is that elite wing of Iran's military, that it does certainly have the propensity to replenish its ranks. They have succession plans in place. It's a huge organization. It's a well- funded organization and certainly one that has a lot of training, as well and one also that has the complete support of Iran's supreme leader.

And if we look back over the past couple of years, whenever senior figures who were considered by many in the West to be indispensable for Iran's leadership, like for instance in 2020 Qasem Soleimani, the General, who was the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Quds Force, the foreign wing of the of the IRGC. When he was killed, they found a successor very quickly.

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So the Iranians certainly very capable of replenishing their ranks and also very capable of conducting military operations even when top leadership has been killed. That's something that they've shown in the past and certainly something that they say they are planning to do now with these Israeli attacks by all accounts apparently still ongoing, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Frederik Pleitgen in Berlin, thanks so much.

Well, in Tel Aviv now residents, tourists as well, rushing to supermarkets to stock up on food and water as fears of an imminent Iranian retaliation mount in Israel. Some people say they're preparing to take cover in shelter rooms.

Amos Yadlin, he's the former head of Israeli military intelligence, and he joins us now from Prague. Amos, we do appreciate you taking the time this evening.

AMOS YADLIN, FORMER HEAD OF ISRAELI MILITARY INTELLIGENCE: Good evening, Jim. I'm glad to be with you.

SCIUTTO: Let me begin by asking if you could describe the overall objectives of this operation. How far does it go?

YADLIN: I think, Jim, we have to go to history for a moment. Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel in 1981, send eight pilot F-16 to destroy, Iraqi nuclear reactor. And the idea, the doctrine is any countries that call for the destruction of Israel will not get the tool to do it, a nuclear bomb. And this is exactly what happened tonight.

Israel decided that there is enough intelligence that Iran who accumulate, 60 percent enriched uranium and renew activity in weaponization, is very, very close to the bomb. And Israel decided to take out the nuclear facilities. And this is more important than the leaderships that you just spoke about in your program.

And I think what the length of this operation will be much more than 1981 or 2007 when Israel attacked a nuclear reactor -- a North Korean nuclear reactor in Syria. But it depends on decisions in two capitals, in Tehran, where Tehran is going to aim its retaliation only to Israel or also to American forces in The Gulf.

And second, what's the President of The United States will decide to do about this exchange of fire that now become more than one operation, a campaign, and I hope not a war.

SCIUTTO: How long -- can you characterize how long do you expect these strikes to continue? Is it days? Is it is it weeks potentially?

YADLIN: I think until -- Israel will strike until it will be -- there will be assurance that Iran nuclear program was rolled back enough. But it's also has to -- the next campaign is about stopping the Iran retaliation. It will be an antiballistic missile campaign, or drones campaign that Iran will try to launch towards Israel in the coming hours. So we are just in the beginning. And the development, as I said, depends on decisions and capabilities in three, capitals, Tehran, Jerusalem, and Washington.

SCIUTTO: The conventional wisdom, as you know, and not just the conventional wisdom, but the U.S. military assessment has been that Israel on its own can only do partial damage to Iranian nuclear sites. That without the U.S., its greater volume of jets, its refueling capabilities, but also crucially its bunker busting bombs that Israel can only go so far.

How far do you believe Israel can go in damaging Iran's sites? And can it go further than many imagined prior to tonight? YADLIN: Never underestimate Israel innovation and Israel, capability to surprise. I think Nasrallah know it very much, and now it's the turn of the Iranians to understand that they underestimate Israel capabilities.

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In the last year in Iran, they thought that the Americans has the capabilities, but they don't have the will, and Israel may have the will and don't have the capability. I think last night, they understood that they were with the wrong concept about Israel capabilities.

SCIUTTO: Is it an objective of these strikes to remove the Iranian leadership? Does the objective go that far?

YADLIN: No. We are not dealing with regime change. It is up to the Iranian people to see where this corrupt, radical regime taking them. Iran is a huge civilization. It's an old civilization. It's smart people, sophisticated people that can have much better country if it will not be ruled by this Islamic extremist regime.

However, it's not Israeli, goal. The Israeli goal is to protect Israel from nuclear bomb and to protect Israel from Iranian missiles and drone. And we are dealing with Iran maligning activities in The Middle East as we did in -- against Hezbollah in Syria.

SCIUTTO: Did Israel carry out these strikes over U.S. objections or perhaps short of that without U.S. approval?

YADLIN: I used to describe the approval of America by a traffic light with four colors. Red color, as it was during Obama and Biden and maybe even Trump in the last months. There is yellow, light which is saying you are a sovereign country, you can attack, but you are on your own. And then we are we will tell the Iranians that we are not part of it.

There is green light, which is the U.S. support the attack, know about it, and helping with tankers, with bombs, with intelligence, with diplomatic support. And there is another light, not on the road, but I call it a blue light, which is let's do it together.

I think we have been last night in a orange or yellow light, which the U.S. was not part of it. It's haven't vetoed it. There was no daunt. It was not red, but it was you are on your own, and we will see what happens as the president say.

SCIUTTO: Amos Yadlin, we appreciate you joining us this evening.

YADLIN: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Former head of Israeli military intelligence there.

Well, Jordan is now reacting to Israel's ongoing strikes on Iran saying, it will not allow any attempt to threaten its security or the safety of its citizens. The country's government spokesperson said, quote, "Jordan has not and will not allow any violation of its airspace, reaffirming that the kingdom will not be a battleground for any conflict."

Our breaking news coverage continues. After Israeli strikes have hit dozens of Iranian nuclear and military facilities, Iran's leader is now vowing his nation will strike back.

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SCIUTTO: Let's get right to the latest on our breaking news this hour. Israel has launched an unprecedented strike, multiple strikes on Iran's nuclear and military facilities and military leaders as well. Iran's main uranium enrichment site in Natanz was seen engulfed in flames, thick plumes of black smoke rising as you see there. An Israeli security source said top military leaders and nuclear scientists were also targeted in the strikes.

Iranian state media said that the Commander in Chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, its elite military corps, was killed. The attacks targeted dozens of sites across the country, focusing on nuclear sites as well as Iran's long range weapons program.

The attacks come just a few days before Iran was scheduled to resume talks with the U.S. on a potential nuclear deal. It is not clear if those talks scheduled for this Sunday will now go ahead. Israel is bracing for Iranian retaliation. Its military is calling up tens of thousands of soldiers. Israel's defense minister said the strikes were necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISRAEL KATZ, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER: We are at a critical juncture. If we miss it, we will have no way to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon that threatens our existence. We have dealt with Iran's proxies over the past year and a half, but now we are dealing with the snake's head itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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SCIUTTO: Iran's supreme leader says the country will strike back. In a statement released by Iranian state media, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Israel will face, quote, "severe punishment." Khamenei said, quote, "With this crime, the Zionist regime has prepared a bitter and painful fate for itself, and it will certainly receive it."

Jeremy Diamond is CNN's Jerusalem Correspondent, he joins us now from New York. Jeremy, you you've been covering this conflict for some time, and you've covered previous Iranian retaliation against Israel.

I wonder given the breadth of these strikes, how nervous is Israel right now about what it might face next?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's no question that right now in Israel they are bracing for an Iranian retaliation that many expect will be worse than previous Iranian strikes against Israel.

We have seen two of those, of course, over the course of the last, year and a half or so. And in October, for example, we saw Iran fire about 200 ballistic missiles at Israel. Several of those struck their targets, whether that was, you know, several air bases in Israel, or the areas around the Mossad headquarters you know.

Almost miraculously, we should say, no one was actually killed or injured as a direct result of those strikes, save for one Palestinian man in the West Bank who was injured by falling shrapnel from an interceptor missile.

But this time, my sources in Israel are telling me that they are anticipating that Iran will try and carry out a far more significant response and one that could result in significant damage in Israel as well as potentially casualties.

We know that Israelis, many of them have already rushed into bomb shelters. The Israeli prime minister is preparing them to spend extended amounts of time in those bomb shelters. And, for now, it seems that Iran is very much deliberating trying to figure out how it will retaliate.

And for the Israelis, it will also be a question of, you know, how much have they damaged Iran's ability to retaliate with this round of strikes?

SCIUTTO: Jeremy, you know, you listened to the Prime Minister, but also, for instance, just speaking there to Amos Yadlin, former head of Israeli military intelligence, and you hear an enormous amount of confidence, one, in Israel's ability to do significant damage to Iran's nuclear facilities, but also to do damage to Iranian missile and drone capabilities so as to minimize the threat of significant Iranian retaliation.

And I wonder in your experience, does that strike you as reasonable confidence, perhaps overconfidence?

DIAMOND: I think reasonable confidence is probably warranted in this case. I mean, you know, I was told that tonight in addition to the Israeli air force strikes on many of these facilities, again, there were three targets here. There was, the nuclear facilities. There was Iranian missile capabilities and other military targets. And then, of course, there were these strikes on senior, Iranian military leaders as well, it would seem, as, nuclear scientists in Iran as well.

But in addition to the air force's action, I'm told that the Mossad, Israel's intelligence service, has also been carrying out, an operation on the ground in conjunction with those air strikes, quote, "deep in the heart of Iran" according to an Israeli security source I spoke with earlier tonight. And those, operations by the Mossad inside of Iran were actually aimed, primarily, I'm told, at Iran's missile and air defense, capabilities. You know, and another thing that should be said here is to keep in mind that when Israel carried out its strikes back in October, one of its central targets at that time were Iran's air defense capabilities, in particular, those around nuclear facilities.

And that is also part of why Israel decided to carry out the strike at this very moment, because, that window of opportunity, I'm told, was believed to be closing with Iran, eventually regaining the ability to rebuild its air defenses around many of those facilities.

SCIUTTO: And perhaps some concern about potential progress in in U.S.- Iranian nuclear negotiations, if that got to a place that that Israel wasn't comfortable with, a deal that that they couldn't accept in effect.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much, for joining.

SCIUTTO: And our breaking news coverage will continue right after a short break. Please do stay with CNN.

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SCIUTTO: We are following breaking news in The Middle East where Israel says it has launched an ongoing attack on Iran that could last days. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country has already targeted military and nuclear sites along with military commanders and scientists working on the Iranian nuclear program.

Sources tell CNN, Israel is now bracing for significant Iranian retaliation. The U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says, the U.S. was not involved in the strikes. Oil prices surged after the news broke, on track for its biggest one day increase in at least three years. That goes back to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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Let's get more now on reaction in the region from Negar Mortazavi live from Washington, DC. She's a senior fellow for the Center for International Policy and the editor and host of Iran Podcast. Negar, thanks so much for joining.

NEGAR MORTAZAVI, SENIOR FELLOW, CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL POLICY: Thanks for having me, Jim.

SCIUTTO: First, I don't want to ask you to speak for all the Iranian people. But based on what you've been reading, and your experience there, how is the Iranian public likely to react to these attacks?

MORTAZAVI: Well, I think so far is just initial reactions. I've been in touch with family and friends sources in Iran. Horror, shock, people reported, the ground shaking, hearing explosions, jets flying overhead, and then waking up, seeing smoke and explosions. And from so far the news that has come in in many neighborhoods in Tehran, around Tehran, and in a number of other cities across Iran.

So I would say the whole country was shocked, whatever area nearby that they have been targeted. And, also, we're seeing that the casualties are being (inaudible) nuclear and military. You know, some of these were homes of people where their families also resided in residential areas.

I was just watching a footage of an apartment where there was a gas leak. That unit was targeted, but then other units were also on fire. So casualty numbers and the impact is still coming out as far as reporting. This was in the early morning, middle of the night kind of entire on time. But so far it seems like people have been devastated and shocked at this attack that is essentially the largest attack on Iran since the nineteen 80s, the war with Iraq.

SCIUTTO: Israeli officials are express expressing a fair amount of confidence at the degree of the damage they can do over the coming days, including doing significant damage to the Iranian nuclear program when, conventional wisdom has been for some time that, that Israel acting alone without the United States could not do lasting damage. Do you believe that that Israel is perhaps showing it can do more than many expected?

MORTAZAVI: Well, I mean, Israel is showing that they can cause a lot of damage, but none of this would be possible without U.S. support. You know, in the past two years and even before U.S. funding, U.S. arms that has continued to go to Israel in the war on Gaza and then beyond that. So in a way the Iranians see the U.S. at least indirectly involved in sort of supporting this.

At the same time, I think the signal coming from the White House is important, essentially saying very clearly that they want no part in this, at least in the open in an open war with Iran. And I think this also is similar, it goes along with the Biden administration's policy when they told the Israelis that they would support them in defense, but not in their offense offensive attacks on Iran.

It seems like that's something that's happening here. The administration and also the American people, as polls have shown, are not interested in an open war with Iran. So as far as Israel being able to continue the strikes and offenses against Iran without U.S. support, if the U.S. really wants to stay out of this, I'm not really sure. I feel like that maybe the strategy here in Israel is that they will eventually pull the U.S. in at a point of lower return.

SCIUTTO: You saw Secretary Rubio's statement putting distance between the U.S. and these strikes, saying that the U.S. is not involved. Do you believe that Iran believes that?

MORTAZAVI: Well, I think they have no choice. They have -- some Iranian officials have implied that they see the U.S. responsible. Anyways, they have messaged in the past two years that they also see the U.S. indirectly or directly essentially responsible in supporting Israel on the war in Gaza.

But at the same time, especially in the Iranian leader's message, we didn't really see that being directed at the U.S. And I think that's because the Iran realizes that that's a bad option. They don't really have any good options in front of them. (Inaudible). If they retaliate against Israel, there's a chance of escalation. But if they go for U.S., I think that's essentially the worst one, because that could potentially change public opinion in the U.S., and then, really, they will be the reason for dragging the U.S. into open war.

SCIUTTO: Negar Mortazavi, we do appreciate you joining us this evening.

MORTAZAVI: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: And thanks so much to you for watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York. I will be back with more news at the top of this hour.

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SCIUTTO: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all over the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York.