Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

CNN's Breaking News Coverage on Israel's Strikes in Iran. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 13, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): This is CNN Breaking News.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Polo Sandoval in New York and let's take you straight to our breaking news that we're following at this hour.

Israel says that it is expecting difficult hours ahead as Tehran promises to launch its retaliation for earlier Israeli strikes on Iran.

The Israeli military is saying that Iran had fired more than 100 drones already. An Israeli military official is saying that it has been able to shoot down some of them so far. And this coming hours after Israel said that it struck more than 100 targets related to Iran's nuclear program and went after top military leaders and scientists.

Iran's state T.V. says that strikes killed the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces along with the commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guard. Washington making it clear this morning that Israel has acted on its own.

Meanwhile, Israel has announced a state of emergency in anticipation of Iran's retaliation. Many shoppers you see here rushing to stock up on food and essentials to hunger down for the next few days. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's strikes on Iran are not over. He also said his country had no choice but to go on an attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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)

SANDOVAL: As we continue to follow this very fluid story, let's go now live to Paula Hancocks, joining us from Abu Dhabi. Paula, what are leaders in other parts of the region saying?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Polo, the overwhelming feeling among leaders in this region is concern that this could become a wider conflict, that these tensions could escalate. Now, we have heard condemnation across the board from the countries here against Israel's unprecedented strikes against Iran.

Saudi Arabia was among the first to respond, saying that they had strong condemnation and denunciation of the blatant Israeli attacks. We heard similar sentiment from the Lebanese, both the president and the prime minister. The President saying that he's really trying to focus now on stability in the region, this concern is really a recurring one across this region at this point.

Qatar calls it a dangerous escalation, the UAE condemned it, calling on the United Nations Security Council to work towards achieving a ceasefire.

So there really are concerns here that this could become even more unprecedented than it is already. We're seeing airspaces across the region being shut down, airlines saying that they are not operating in certain areas. And it's an obvious reason for that.

We've heard from the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that this will continue for a number of days. The Israeli military saying that they use some 200 fighter jets to strike more than 100 targets in Iran itself.

And as we know, the retaliation from Iran has begun. There were 100 drones that were fired towards Israeli territory. The Israeli military says at this point that they are in the process of intercepting, meaning shooting down those drones outside of Israeli territory.

So it's not entirely clear where exactly that was at this point. But the concerns here are very high about how far this could escalate.

Certainly, we've heard from the Israeli side that they see the Iranian nuclear program, what they perceive as the progress that has been made there as an existential threat, which is why they decided that they needed to act now, despite the fact that we were waiting for the sixth round of talks between the U.S. and Iran on Sunday in Muscat and Amman.

[03:05:00]

That diplomatic process was believed to be ongoing, although we had heard from the U.S. side less optimism, far less optimism than we did at the beginning of the process. Certainly the U.S. President Donald Trump saying that he was far less optimistic than he had been just a couple of months earlier. But we are also seeing from the U.S. an effort to try and distance

themselves from what has happened in the early hours of Friday morning. We did hear from the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying that there was no U.S. involvement, U.S. assistance in the strikes. Israel took unilateral action against Iran.

But two sources familiar with the situation have told us that the U.S. President and also senior White House officials were expecting these strikes. Polo?

SANDOVAL: The question now, though, will officials in Iran believe what we're hearing from the White House right now? Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi, thank you so much for all your reporting.

H.A. Hellyer is a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security. He joins us from Cairo, Egypt, with some analysis. It's great to see you again, H.A., on what's been a very busy morning thus far.

Let's dive straight in. I wonder if you could just put into perspective not only the scale but also the objective of these strikes.

H.A. HELLYER, SR. ASSOCIATE FELLOW, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE AND SECURITY: So they're very -- I have to say they're somewhat unrelated in the sense that the scale of the strikes are meant to be big. They're meant to be as noticeable as possible. There's nothing clandestine that's going on here on the contrary, as you mentioned this morning, as your report mentioned this morning, Netanyahu has made it very clear that he's going after several types of targets over several days, if necessary.

And I think that's telling, that the idea is to make this as big a noise as possible. And it's hard to ignore the expectation from many within the region that this is really about a political move. This is really about ensuring that the United States and Iran do not continue with any sort of successful deal, that attention is diverted away from including his own domestic political woes.

So I think that the aim in that regard has to be kept in mind. When it comes to the scale, of course, this will have struck quite a bit of a blow to different parts of the security apparatus, including the nuclear energy program, or rather, excluding in the sense that it's not part of the security apparatus in the same way, within Iran.

And the Iranians, of course, are going to respond. They've already started responding this morning. I fully expect that they will continue to do so.

So it sends everything into a bit of a spiral, which is why you've seen so many around the world come out in quite grave condemnation. And it's not out of some sort of newfound fandom or love for the Iranian regime. On the contrary, I think that there's a full realization that the Iranian regime is quite a dangerous one and has been a bad act in the region on many different issues. But if you take this sort of step, then all you do is invite more destabilization in the region. You invite war. You set into motion a set of events that you cannot control, you will not be able to control.

But as has been stated many times, including on CNN, Netanyahu is looking to forge some kind of, quote unquote, "new Middle East." And it's one in which there is a certain type of hegemony in place.

And, of course, it will not belong to the region, it will belong to Israel and its allies. I think we have to be very careful about the moment that we're going into right now.

SANDOVAL: And clearly, as you lay out, the prime minister has his very clear objective here. And keeping that in mind, do you think that there's any way to de-escalate this conflict or is it bound to really just spiral out of control?

HELLYER: So there is a way. But here's the issue. There's been a way multiple times, not simply when it comes to this sort of issue between Iran and Israel over the past two years, over, frankly, many more years beyond that.

But it requires quite decisive action from the United States. The United States is the most powerful actor in the region, especially when it comes to the Israelis.

You know, we haven't mentioned the war on Gaza yet. I'm sure that this will come up through the course of the day, because they are connected.

[03:10:02]

And the reality here is that if the United States made it abundantly clear to Tel Aviv that if you pursue certain actions, that we simply will not support you and we will withdraw some of our support. There's no way that the Israelis would have embarked on this set of events this morning had they not felt that they could count on the United States.

Despite the fact that, by the way, I want to be very clear here, the United States has been trying very hard to distance itself from these attacks this morning.

And I think that's genuine. I don't think that that's fake. I think that they were not happy about it in the slightest.

But does that translate into actual consequences for Israel following such an act? If the United States shows that there would be consequences in terms of the American relationship, then yes, de- escalation I think would happen absolutely immediately.

SANDOVAL: It's certainly telling that the U.S. was able to orchestrate their response quite quickly while everything else was playing out in the Middle East. H.A. Hellyer, thank you so much for your analysis, as always. HELLYER: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Well, the U.S. is distancing itself from Israel's attack on Iran, which President Trump explicitly warned against just days ago. The administration now looking to make clear that Israel acted on its own.

CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We've still not gotten any sort of direct response from President Donald Trump or the White House. But they are pointing to this statement from Marco Rubio, which is really serving right now as a statement for the entire administration.

I want to read it in full. It says "Tonight Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We were not involved in the strikes against Iran, and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region. Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense.

President Trump and the administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain close contact with our regional partners. Let me be clear. Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel."

That's a couple lines I want to point out here. One, they are clearly stressing the fact that this was unilateral action. The other part of this, we know that the United States had been concerned about U.S. personnel in the Middle East.

They'd already started trying to evacuate non-essential personnel from that region. In fact, Donald Trump was actually asked about this earlier today. The Israelis had given him any indication or any reasoning to withdraw those personnel.

And he said, no, they had not. But we are told that White House officials were expecting this attack. They were expecting this to happen, and they were bracing themselves for it.

Now, the other part of the statement that I want to point to is this line here. It says "Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense." The reason I'm pointing to that is because it's going to raise a lot of questions as to who informed the U.S.

Did Netanyahu talk directly to Donald Trump? The last known conversation between those two leaders was on Monday. And Donald Trump has both privately and publicly urged Netanyahu not to make any strikes or any moves towards Iran, particularly as these negotiations were going on between the United States and Iran.

As early as earlier today, we were told that Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was still expected to go to Oman to travel for the sixth round of these U.S.-Iran talks. Obviously, it seems as though they're very unlikely to continue at this point.

Now, one of the statements that Donald Trump made before this happened, but likely as his team was bracing and gearing up for these potential strikes, he posted this on True Social.

He said, "We remain committed to a diplomatic resolution to the Iran nuclear issue. My entire administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran."

So clearly here they're pointing to this, saying that they still wanted these negotiations to continue, and they're not fully supporting any kind of potential strikes from Israel here. So, again, a lot of questions as to who informed who when have these two leaders spoken.

Did Donald Trump at any point try to dissuade Netanyahu from actually launching these strikes? And that's what we're currently looking into.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And lawmakers in the U.S. are very closely watching this conflict, including the Democratic leader of the House who's reacting to news of Israel's strikes by describing Iran as the enemy of the world. Hakeem Jeffries telling MSNBC that he's got no intelligence briefing on the situation thus far, but he expects to get more information sooner rather than later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), U.S. HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: We certainly believe that Iran should never be allowed to become nuclear capable. They are an enemy not just to Israel, but to the United States and to the free world. But we also want to see a reduction in hostilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: The Democratic lawmaker also told MSNBC that President Trump's day one promise, at least mentioned President Trump's day one promise to restore peace in the Middle East, and he also called the whole Trump presidency, quote, "a complete failure."

[03:15:07]

Jeffries says that he hopes cooler heads will prevail in the region.

World leaders are reacting to news of Israel's strikes on Iran with a mix of alarm and also plenty of anger. Saudi Arabia calling Israel's, quote, "blatant aggression," undermining to Iran's sovereignty and security, calling the strikes a, quote, "clear violation of international law and norms."

Meanwhile, China's embassy in Iran calling the situation, quote, "severe and complex," urging Chinese citizens in the country to stay up to date on developments and also to take security precautions.

And also the Secretary-General of the United Nations condemning any military escalation in the region, urging both sides to show restraint.

Our breaking news coverage continues right after a short break. Stay with CNN with much more as Iran reels from Israeli attacks on dozens of military and nuclear attacks.

Senior Iranian military commanders killed in the strikes. We'll get analysis on what that could mean in the region coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Israel says that it's begun to put down Iranian drones that were launched in retaliation for an unprecedented series of military strikes. And that is our breaking news at this hour here on CNN.

Israel says that it struck over 100 nuclear and military targets across Iran, like this uranium enrichment site that you can see off in the distance, engulfed in flames with plumes of smoke rising from the scene.

Also, they hit nuclear and military facilities, as well as targeting some key personnel. The commander-in-chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, as well as six nuclear scientists, were among those killed in the attacks. And this may be just the beginning.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the operation will continue for days to come, while Iran's Supreme Leader is vowing to strike back. In this morning's evidence that that retaliation has begun, Israel's Army Chief-of-Staff is asking people to prepare for that retaliation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EYAL ZAMIR, ISRAELI ARMY CHIEF-OF-STAFF (through translator): Citizens of Israel, I don't promise you only successes. The Iranian regime will attempt to attack us in response. The absorption of incoming hits may be different than what we have gotten used to.

The IDF is prepared to defend the Israeli home front, and I ask you to demonstrate personal, family, and communal responsibility and adhere to instructions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Jeremy Diamond is CNN's Jerusalem correspondent, has been tracking developments from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Any one of these targeted killings would be major headlines in and of themselves, right? I mean, you're talking about the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. I mean, either one of those would be a major moment and would also probably prompt Iranian retaliation.

And we are already starting to get now some insight into what that retaliation will look like. The Israeli military spokesman, General Effie DeFrin, just spoke not long ago, and he said that there are over 100 drones that Iran has fired from its territory towards Israeli territory and that Israeli air defenses are readying to try and intercept those threats. We know from the other times that Iran has used drones against Israel that that will likely take several hours before they actually reach Israeli airspace.

And the key question now is what are the efforts being made, not just by Israel but by the United States and also by other countries in the region, both countries that have formal relations with Israel and those that do not, what efforts will they make to help Israel intercept those drones that are now headed for Israel?

We know in the past Israel has gotten a lot of support from a regional coalition to not only intercept, the actual interception of those drones and missiles, but also the intelligence, the radar signals that have been provided by other countries in the region as well. But we are now getting a first sense of the Iranian retaliation for this.

And again, as the Israelis are saying, that this will not just be a one-day operation, that there will be likely several more days of airstrikes ahead, that also could likely mean days of Iranian retaliation and a very dangerous tit-for-tat in a region that is already a tinderbox.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And experts have long warned that an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear capabilities could drag the region into a full-scale war and also trigger tremendous retaliation from Iran. CNN security analyst Beth Sanner explains why Iran's response could be like nothing we've ever seen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETH SANNER, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: I think that there's one way of putting where we are right now. I mean, Israel is at war with Iran. This isn't a strike -- this isn't a strike and a retaliation and a tit-for-tat. This is full-up war.

And so when Israel says it's going to keep going, this is where we are. And they started at the top, and they started very, very seriously, removing the chief of the general staff, in other words, like our chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, attacking basically what would be our, you know, senior military command. You can imagine what Americans would do.

The question is whether Israel's ability to respond has been affected by Israel trying to decapitate their senior military leadership.

[03:25:02]

But we should expect, and that's what Israel is expecting, a massive, much bigger retaliation than what they saw last time, because Iran now is under existential threat. And we should expect a response along those lines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And Israel says that Iran is retaliating for massive strikes on its nuclear and military targets. Officials in Israel already confirming that they've detected a series of drone retaliatory attacks. We're going to break all that down coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Polo Sandoval, in New York. Let's check in on today's top stories.

Israel says that Iran has fired more than 100 drones in retaliation for Israeli strikes on targets across Iran. Iranian response coming just hours after Israel said that it struck nuclear facilities and went after top military commanders and scientists in Iran. Israel's military said that it is working to intercept the drones and warned its citizens of difficult hours ahead.

An appeals court has ruled that the Trump administration can keep control of California's National Guard, at least for now. It paused a lower court's decision that said that President Trump illegally activated the National Guard amid protests in Los Angeles. A hearing with the appeals court has been scheduled for Tuesday.

And investigators are scouring the wreckage of the Air India crash as they try to determine exactly what brought down the passenger airliner. An Indian health official says that at least 290 people were killed on Thursday. Victims include all but one on board the doomed flight and dozens of others on the ground.

Israel says that it has launched -- it has intercepted I should say, some Iranian drones just outside of its territory a little earlier. The Israeli military said that Iran launched more than 100 drones toward Israeli territory and it was a retaliation for Israel's strikes against Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities just hours ago.

Israel has been placed under a state of emergency and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that really Iran has posed a threat to this country's existence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NETANYAHU: In recent months, Iran has taken steps that it has never taken before. Steps to weaponize this enriched uranium. And if not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time.

It could be a year, it could be within a few months, less than a year. This is a clear and present danger to Israel's very survival.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Meanwhile, the Israeli military has released brand new video into CNN showing American-made fighter jets that it says were used in the airstrikes on Iran. The U.S. has long been Israel's primary weapons supplier, you recall, and Israel says that U.S.-built F-35s, F-15s and F-16 fighter jets were among the 200 aircraft that carried out the assault on Iranian nuclear and military targets recently.

And that figure represents nearly 60 percent of Israel's combat ready aircraft and that's according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more on the situation and what's happening right now in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is vowing severe punishment for the Israelis after those strikes carried out by Israel on targets inside Iran.

Now, the Iranians are acknowledging that several of their top-level military commanders have been killed, as well as also nuclear scientists. The Iranians are also saying that there was damage to residential areas as well and that there were people who were injured on the ground as those strikes were taking place.

Now, some of the most severe casualties for the Iranians are definitely the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, the top general in Iran and certainly someone who was very powerful not just in Iran but in the entire Middle Eastern region. Of course, the IRGC is really very much the elite wing of Iran's military. However, the chief of Iran's general staff of the military, Mohammad Bagheri, was also killed in the strikes the Iranians are now acknowledging.

However, one of the things that we've seen in the past with the Iranians is that especially the Revolutionary Guard Corps certainly has a propensity and the capability to replenish their ranks in a very short period of time and continue their operations. And that is certainly something that the Iranians are vowing now.

We've been speaking in the past couple of days to senior Iranian officials and they've been telling us that Iran has already worked up a list of targets inside Israel that they would hit in case of a strike like the ones that we've been seeing by the Israelis over the past couple of hours.

The Iranians are telling us that on their target list there is also what they call clandestine nuclear facilities of the Israelis. The weapons of choice for the Iranians in the past, of course, have been their powerful ballistic missiles of which the country has a lot and then also drones which the Iranians have been using and also have been making better over the past couple of years.

The Iranians are saying that this response is going to be severe. However, the Iranians also in the past have shown that they are going to strike back at a time of their choice and also in the way that they see fit.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[03:35:08]

SANDOVAL: And joining us now is Uzi Rabi, he's a senior researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. Uzi, so nice to have you. Thank you for joining us.

UZI RABI, SR. RESEARCHER, MOSHE DAYAN CENTER FOR MIDDLE EASTERN AND AFRICAN STUDIES: Thank you for hosting me. Thank you.

SANDOVAL: So we've heard from other guests really discussing what is Prime Minister Netanyahu's intent here and his clear objective. I wonder if you can talk to us more about the timing, you've described this development as a calculated operation on behalf of Israel. Why carry out the strikes now while the nuclear talks were still pending?

RABI: Well, this is almost the 11th hour. We have been talking two decades about window of opportunities. It is something that was very close to the threshold, so to speak.

Iran was to cross the no return line and basically with our bitter lessons of the 7th of October atrocities, this time actually it was almost now or never. In my opinion, the time was right.

Let me just remind you that what happened in the recent year is that Israel has managed to weaken up the proxy network of Iran. We'll have to see actually what the implications are and to what extent Iran could use these proxies now. But basically, Iran got kind of a blow which was inflicted on its head by Israel in October.

It lost a lot of dominance in the region. The people there are eager to have a change and this is, in my opinion, the best window of opportunities to be capitalized on in order to make sure that Iran, which says days and nights, Israel should not exist or should not be recognized as a state.

This is a state that we should actually deal with that once and for all and we had to do that. Israel had to do that by itself with the kind and generous, I would say, consent and support from behind from the U.S.

SANDOVAL: Uzi, and just bouncing off that last point that you just presented here in terms of Iran's ability here, clearly it had been previously debilitated and now suffering a significant blow, not only getting its leadership hit but also its assets. How worried should Israel be about this retaliation that from multiple accounts has already begun?

RABI: In my opinion, very, you know, I mean, we are not trying to belittle Iran. It's a cunning leadership, very shrewd, cruel. We know actually that when it comes to Iran, this is something that has to be taken seriously.

But what I try to say is that in my opinion, Iran is much weaker when it comes to its conventional capabilities in comparison to what it had one year ago. Having said that, everything is certain but a response actually or retaliation, as you said, is in the offing and this is why actually Israel is putting a great and concerted effort to explain to its citizens that this is actually a very crucial time. Iran is about to retaliate.

I hope that Israel's defense capabilities, as was shown one and many times, is going actually to be there in order to better protect the Israeli people from the Iranian retaliation.

SANDOVAL: In the last few seconds I have with you, you just helped me really underscore the unprecedented nature of these strikes. We had seen strikes in the past year. How is this different? Why does this matter so much?

RABI: It is very different and I think that details about that are going actually to be disclosed later on and people will learn about it. It is fascinating what happened here.

[03:40:01]

It was so meticulous, so well organized, intelligence in its highest flower. In my opinion, this is something by which to open up, I hope, a new chapter in the history of the region because Iran is not a state by itself. It is a construction.

This is the construction of evil in the Middle East. If we would like actually to have a different Middle East, this is kind of a point of departure. I am not talking about the Iranian people, not at all.

I am talking about this lethal combination of Ayatollahs and people of the revolutionary guard. I hope that maybe this would also lead to a regime change in the end of the day, basically with the support of the world -- of the free world, and the people of Iran. But in any case, Iran is going actually to have kind of a lesson with which to know how to proceed.

Whether to an agreement with the United States or an overall war, Israel is being left with no choice. We cannot let Iran go nuclear because this would erode the end of Israel, just simple as that. And this is why Israel did what it did, what it had done, this morning.

SANDOVAL: Uzi Rabi, we have to leave it there. Thank you so much for all that insight. We really appreciate your time.

RABI: Thank you. Pleasure. SANDOVAL: All right. How about a look now at how some of these strikes could potentially be affecting the markets right now?

You see there a slight surge at least, a significant increase. As those oil prices appear to be soaring, Brent crude and West Texas intermediate are each up about five percent, you see there.

Also, how about the European markets, which have just opened? You see really quite the contrary there, an opposite response.

And at last check also, let's look at the U.S. futures to see what we could potentially see in the hours ahead, which you see also a significant increase by about 1.25 percent across the board.

All right. We're going to be right back with much more on a breaking news coverage right here on CNN. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Welcome back to breaking news coverage here on CNN.

I want to take you back to our top story at this hour. Israel says that it has begun to shoot down Iranian drones that were launched in retaliation for an unprecedented series of military strikes.

Israel said that more than 200 jets were used to hit over 100 nuclear and military targets across Iran. The strikes targeted both facilities and key Iranian personnel. The commander-in-chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, for example, as well as six nuclear scientists, were among those killed in the attacks.

Iran's Supreme Leader vowing to strike back at Israel. Israel's military says that Iran has already launched more than 100 drones in retaliation and also says that it has begun intercepting some of those drones just outside of Israel's territory. The Israeli Defense Minister said that the strikes against Iran have or at least defended those strikes against Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISRAEL KATZ, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): 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)

SANDOVAL: Let's get more now from Jasmine El-Gamal. She formerly served as a Middle East advisor to the Pentagon and joins us from London. Jasmine, it's good to have you. JASMINE EL-GAMAL, MIDDLE EAST ANALYST AND FORMER PENTAGON MIDDLE EAST ADVISOR: Thanks so much for having me, Polo. Of course. It's our pleasure.

SANDOVAL: So, Iran has, as they put it, vowing severe punishment. Just given the blow that they've been dealt just today alone, I mean, losing some of its military leadership, some of its assets as well. How much footing is the regime on in terms of issuing this threat and actually carrying through with that threat by launching some of this initial wave of drones?

EL-GAMAL: Right. I mean, this was obviously a devastating blow to Iran, both in terms of personnel and in terms of locations and in terms of nuclear-related targets.

This is something that the Israeli government has not done before. It has targeted military targets before, but not nuclear sites.

And so Iran is under a lot of pressure to respond and to respond proportionally. But of course, then that would invite even further retaliation and a further risk of regional conflict. So there are a few options that Iran is probably considering right now.

The first one is unlikely, which is that they don't do anything at all. Because they're severely weakened, because they don't want to invite further retaliation from Israel, they may just choose to do something symbolic. I think that's highly unlikely, given the gravity of what just happened to them.

So they're probably going to look at several options. One is just limiting their retaliatory strikes to Israeli targets.

[03:50:04]

The other, of course, is widening their scope of targets to include U.S. assets and personnel in the region, knowing, of course, that the U.S., if not supported Israel in this attack, would be there to defend it.

And as you know, the Iranian regime has always tied the U.S. with Israel. So they can take it further than just Israel with U.S. personnel and targets in the region, or they can limit it just to Israeli strikes. I think they will probably go for the latter, which is just retaliatory, what they call proportional, retaliatory strikes against Israel.

SANDOVAL: Jasmine, what questions do you have about the U.S.' involvement, to whatever extent? Obviously, we heard from the very beginning, the U.S. making it very clear that it did not have an active role, though it did have knowledge about this. So what's going on in your mind right now in terms of what this could potentially mean for the White House?

EL-GAMAL: Well, a couple of things. First, we know that Steve Witkoff, the special envoy for the Middle East, was set to meet with Iran in the sixth round of talks on Sunday. That is up in the air now, the Iranians are now saying they're not going to attend, even though Steve Witkoff says he's still planning on going.

So first and foremost, I think it sets back, and I think that's an understatement, but it sets back diplomatic talks between Iran and the U.S. to come up with a long-term solution for Iran's nuclear program and nuclear ambitions. Secondly, I think that you know, Iran basically is going to be scrambling right now to figure out what to do, and it's going to be trying to figure out exactly how much the U.S. was involved in this.

Now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio put out a statement, and it was worded interestingly, because it said that the U.S. was told by Israel that Israel believed this was an act of self-defense. He didn't put out any U.S. assessments on how close Iran was to a nuclear weapon or to having the capability to build a nuclear weapon. It was all about -- this is what the Israelis have told us, we are supportive of Israel.

He did not say that the U.S. had prior knowledge of this attack, but he did say that, and he didn't say that the U.S. was involved in the attack in any way, but he did say that the Israelis said that this was a self-defensive move, and he warned Iran not to retaliate against U.S. assets in the region.

SANDOVAL: Jasmine, in the last minute I have with you, I wonder if you could also maybe provide your analysis on what this could mean domestically for Iran. What are the conversations that are happening, not only among their citizens, which we've seen some pictures of rubble in residential areas, but also for the regime? I mean, this is more proof that they are incapable of protecting not just their senior leadership in the military, but their infrastructure as well. So what questions are being raised domestically?

EL-GAMAL: Look, I think that this is a moment in Iran where people are really scrambling to figure out what's happening. I mean, just looking on social media and looking at what many Iranians are saying, these are lives.

These are human lives at stake. And people are wondering what this is going to mean for them, whether Israel is going to continue with further attacks, if Iran retaliates, if that's going to mean something for them. I mean, this is a moment of great distress, I think, in the region.

Of course, there are some people, especially those who've been impacted by Iran and its proxies' activities over the decades, who are going to be happy to see Iran hit in this way. But largely, people in the region are waking up and just wondering what this means for them. And I think that question is really unclear.

The Iranian regime now basically could see itself as being in an existential threat. And we know that when people feel existentially threatened, they take reckless actions. And that's what people are really worried about, is recklessness moving forward from now.

SANDOVAL: It's such an important point to end on. Jasmine El Gamal, thank you, as always, for joining us. EL-GAMAL: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: Crews in western India, they are now sifting through the rubble of Air India Flight 171, after the world really now waiting to learn the cause of that deadly crash on Thursday. The Indian Prime Minister visited the wreckage earlier today and actually called it an unimaginable tragedy.

And Narendra Modi was born in the Gujarat region, where the passenger plane went down. And it is unclear if the black boxes or the flight recorders have been recovered yet.

[03:55:02]

We're told that the overall death toll there has reached at least 290 people and could still go up. The London-bound jet was carrying Indian, British, Canadian, and also Portuguese nationals. Dozens of people on the ground also died when the plane hit a hostel that was housing doctors and medical students.

Thank you for joining us, I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. I'll be right back with more breaking news coverage after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)