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Israel, Iran Trade Attacks After Israel Targets Nuclear Sites; Crews Scour Wreckage, Investigate Cause Of Air India Crash; Organizers: 2,000+ Protests Planned Against Trump Administration. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired June 14, 2025 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:02]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to our viewers joining here in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta.

We are following breaking news this hour. Iran and Israel trading barrages of heavy fire with neither side slowing down. In the past few minutes, we heard an Iranian rocket struck south of Tel Aviv, killing one person and leaving 23 others injured.

Hours earlier, new explosions were heard over Jerusalem after officials warned a wave of missiles was headed toward Israel. And "The Associated Press," quoted Israel's paramedic service saying two people were killed when a missile hit central Israel, injuring 19 others.

Meanwhile, Iranian media said fire had broken out at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport, and that several explosions were heard over the capital.

Earlier, Israel said its first fatality of the conflict was a woman who was killed east of Tel Aviv. Israel's ambassador to the U.S. says more than 40 other people were injured in Israel. Those attacks were a retaliation for a wave of Israeli strikes on targets across Iran, including nuclear facilities and key military leaders. An Iranian diplomat at the U.N. said at least 78 people were killed in his country, and more than 300 were injured.

Tehran is now threatening to hit military bases of any country that's helping Israel defend itself. Israels prime minister spells out again why he launched those attacks in the first place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: We're in the midst of one of the greatest military operations in history. Operation Rising Lion, the Islamic regime which has oppressed you for nearly 50 years, threatens to destroy my country, the state of Israel. The objective of Israel's military operation is to remove this threat, both the nuclear threat and the ballistic missile threat to Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ABEL: Nada Bashir is monitoring developments from London and joins us live with the latest -- Nada.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it appears as though this crisis will only continue to escalate. And that is certainly the warning that we have been hearing from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. And we've been hearing from Israeli sources speaking to CNN, the suggestion at this stage or indication, rather, is that this isn't going to be the sort of tit-for-tat strategy that we may have seen in the past in any sort of confrontation between Israel and Iran, but rather the Israeli military and government appears to be following an escalatory strategy. And we've heard that warning, of course, from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that this these attacks will continue for days until Israel is able to eliminate what it has described as the Iranian nuclear threat, which has long characterized as an existential threat to the state of Israel.

But of course, what we have seen over the last few hours and overnight is the continued targeting of Israeli territory by the Iranian regime using ballistic missiles. We heard just in the last few hours from the Israeli ambassador to the United States, who has put the figure of missiles targeting Israeli territory at around 150 missiles. And what we've seen from our teams on the ground is, of course, many of them being intercepted, but several missiles making impact.

And of course, we've heard from the Iranian regime saying that they have been successful in targeting military assets in the region. But again, no comment on that from the Israeli military at this stage. But of course, this comes in response to the unprecedented attack by Israel on Iran in the early hours of Friday local time.

We've heard from the IDF, they said they used about 200 fighter jets to carry out that attack, dropping some 300 munitions, undisclosed munitions on Iranian territory. And of course, we have seen hundreds injured, according to Iranian officials, more than 70 people killed, among them, top military officials and nuclear scientists. We've also seen nuclear facilities being targeted and damaged as a result. But what we are also seeing developing now is those continued attacks on Iranian territory now seemingly expanding to more strategic civilian targets as well.

As you mentioned, we've seen reports now of a fire breaking out in Tehran's international airport. Concern there around the potential targeting of civilian infrastructure expanding as we continue, of course, to see these attacks over the coming hours, potentially over the coming days, if indeed that warning from the Israeli prime minister proves correct.

And, of course, what the fear is now is that the hope for any sort of attempts by diplomats to de-escalate these tensions are somewhat remote at this stage. This is perhaps the largest and most significant escalation that we have seen between Iran and Israel.

[00:05:03] And the fear is that we will continue to see this expanding into civilian areas as well. As you mentioned, we've already seen one person killed now in Israel as well. So real concern on both sides for the potential for this to continue to escalate.

ABEL: CNN's Nada Bashir -- Nada, thank you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMIR SAEID IRAVANI, IRANIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Those who support this regime, with the United States at the forefront must understand that they are complicit by aiding and enabling these crimes, by -- they share full responsibility for the consequences, the United States complicity in this terrorist attack is beyond doubt. The officials of the United States have expressly and brazenly confessed the willful aid and assistance in the crimes and gross violation that Israeli regime committed. As of last night, including the deliberate transfer of arms. We will not forget that our people lost their lives as a result of the Israeli attacks with American weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: That was Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, addressing an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Friday. The U.S. says it was not involved in the strikes on Iran, but it is helping defend Israel from Iran's retaliatory strikes.

For more on this, we are joined by CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton, who is also a retired U.S. Air Force colonel.

Colonel, we just heard Iran's U.N. ambassador there. We've also heard from President Trump basically saying we gave Iran 60 days. Israels attack was at day 61.

What role did the U.S. play in all of this?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Brian, as best as we know, the U.S., at the very least is providing defensive aid to the Israelis. And what that means is they are -- they positioned at least one destroyer in the eastern mediterranean to provide the kind of radar support that an Aegis equipped destroyer can provide as part of the air defense and missile defense system that is then connected to the Iron Dome and the other systems that the Israelis have.

So in this sense, the aid that we know about from a military operational perspective is defensive in nature. Now the question then becomes, you know, what actually did the United States know, or at least its senior officials know? And when did they know it?

And that gets a little bit murky, because when you look at the kinds of things that President Trump has been saying over the past week or so, it's not very clear. He seemed to not want the Israelis to go and attack Iran, probably because he wanted to see if he could get negotiations, nuclear negotiations not only started, but had to make some progress with the Iranians. So that's one part of it. But now that the Israelis have done this, it seems as if President Trump is happy to basically bask in the purported success of these strikes. And that's the kind of situation that we find ourselves in.

So we don't really know exactly what he knew and when he knew it. But we have an idea that he knew something before the strikes, the Israeli strikes occurred.

ABEL: And likely we'll get more insight in the coming days to that.

Colonel, was that first barrage of missiles from Iran tonight, the climax of Iran's response to Israels attacks? They said it would be a long night for Israel. Is that what we've seen?

LEIGHTON: Well, it's dawn, you know, past dawn now in Israel and in Iran. So, I don't think we've seen everything, but it'll -- it'll probably another 24 to 48 hours before we see a more of this kind of activity. I think the Iranians do have missiles in reserve. Their, you know, their inventory was purported to be over 3,000 or so missiles that could reach Israel in one form or another. And then, of course, they have the drones, particularly the Shahed drones that are have become infamous because of the Russia-Ukraine war.

So, the Iranians do have something in their arsenal, both in the sense of drones as well as missiles, but their ability to command and control those assets, to launch those assets and to, in essence, conduct a synchronized attack like they were able to do in October, and before that, during the previous summer, that is -- seems to be lacking. And I think that's partly the result of the way the Israelis, in essence, decapitated the Iranian hierarchy, the military hierarchy.

ABEL: Let's talk about the targeting we're seeing some of these images now. We've also seen the aftermath of the missiles that made it through the Iron Dome, at least one hitting a residential building.

Is there a method to the madness here, any specific targets? Or is it more so a strategy of throwing everything up in the air and seeing what makes it?

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LEIGHTON: Yeah. So that's a great question, Brian. But the Iranians did have a list. It's been reported through several sources that they had a list of particular targets that they want to hit.

But it's one thing to have a list and another thing to have the actual coordinates. The accurate geographic coordinates for these, these particular targets. For example, the Iranians probably had places like the headquarters for the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad, on their list. The headquarters of the Israeli defense forces, installations like that. But it seems as if, at least so far, it seems as if they haven't been able to accurately target those entities.

So, they may have the list, they may have an idea of what they want to hit, but they may not be able to accurately hit these targets with the precision that would be necessary to take them out. On the other hand, the Israelis have been very precise in a lot of the

targeting that they've done in this part of the operation. So there's a big difference in the way they are doing it. So, so far, the Iranian side is more or less throwing their assets basically in any way that they can toward Israel. The Israeli side is taking a more precise approach because they've basically planned this operation for a long time.

ABEL: Certainly a contrast of capabilities.

Colonel, if you were orchestrating the next moments for either of these countries, how would you be strategizing? What objectives would you be hoping to achieve and how would you get there? I guess what I'm asking is, what can we expect to happen next?

LEIGHTON: Yeah. So, if I were on the Israeli side, I'd be looking at, you know, what kinds of Iranian targets are still operational after the first several salvoes of attacks that have been conducted so far. So, are the nuclear facilities still operational? What parts of the nuclear facilities should I hit and which ones can I hit and what kind of damage can I inflict on them?

We know that at least one of those nuclear facilities is a deeply buried one, the Fordow site. The Natanz site has been hit. It may have been disabled to a fairly critical extent because of a strike that purportedly hit the power source for the area where the centrifuges are located. So that could be a significant thing.

So, if that's already hit, I wouldn't be going after that, at least not immediately, because it's already been damaged to the extent that I need it to be damaged. So that's the kind of thing I would do if I were on the Israeli side.

If I were on the Iranian side, I would want to orchestrate something where I would basically sequence both the missile attacks and the drone attacks so that they would hit at a time and place that would make it difficult for the Israeli missile defense systems like the Iron Dome to respond to those attacks. In essence, I would try to overwhelm those systems. Whether or not the Iranians can do that, of course, is a question.

They know -- we know they want to do that, but their ability to do that may have been damaged at this point.

ABEL: Colonel, I know you've been with us throughout this counterattack overnight in Tel Aviv. I appreciate your expertise, as always. Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Brian. Thanks for having me.

ABEL: Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone on Friday. The U.S. says it was not part of the attack on Iran, but questions remain over how much the U.S. administration actually knew before Israels strikes.

CNN's Kristen Holmes has more from the White House. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Much of Friday was trying to figure out what the United States knew, what the administration knew and when.

Because of that, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state's statement that we had seen on Thursday that really clearly laid out that this was a unilateral decision for Israel to strike Iran. The United States had nothing to do with it.

Also saying that U.S. personnel should not be attacked in any way, because, again, they were not involved.

However, we did start to learn some details on Friday that signified that that wasn't entirely accurate. One was that Donald Trump, we learned, had multiple phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including before those strikes.

At one point, Donald Trump told reporters he knew everything about what was happening.

And now the question is, what exactly are they going to do next?

Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump spoke again on Friday. No details yet. No readout of that call.

But we did learn that U.S. officials say that the United States is helping deter missiles that are coming into Israel now, as a response from Iran. And that official said that this is because there are tens of thousands of American citizens that are in Israel. They also said there's a lot of U.S. military assets.

So clearly here trying to say this is because they want to protect Americans. This is not necessarily because this is not a unilateral decision. But it's a little bit of splitting hairs here to say that they're not involved. The United States is not involved in any of this but they are protecting Israel.

Now, of course, the big question the administration is working on is whether or not they can still get Iran to the table and the Iranian nuclear deal talks.

[00:15:06]

They were supposed to have the sixth round of talks on Sunday in Oman.

Middle Eastern envoy Steve Witkoff was going to be present with Iranians. It is unclear if that's going to still happen. The administration says they still want to bring Iran to the table. They still think that they might show up.

And Donald Trump, for his part, has really been trying to push the Iranians on this, essentially saying it could be too late. Look at what's already happened. I gave you a lot of chances. Now Israel has bombed you. You better show up to the table, kind of giving a loose threat that things could be worse if they don't make a deal.

Some administration officials have cast doubt on the idea that Iran is going to show up at all, given these strikes.

But there are still a lot, within the White House in particular, that believe that this could still happen even as early as Sunday.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Israel's spy agency, is revealing rare footage of its secret operation inside Iran before it launched the military strikes there.

And later, he lived through the disaster that killed everyone else on board. The sole survivor of the Air India crash talks about those horrifying moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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ABEL: The sounds of loud booms heard in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem earlier as Iran launched what it describes as hundreds of ballistic missiles in response to Israel's military strikes against its nuclear program.

On Friday, Iran's envoy to the United Nations says the Israeli strikes had killed at least 78 people and injured more than 320.

CNN's Clarissa Ward has more from her vantage point on the ground in Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We had been anticipating that there might be some kind of a strike on Iran for days now. But I don't think anyone imagined anything like the scale, the breadth of this.

As you're well aware, the airspace over Israel is closed. The airspace over Jordan is closed. We actually had to fly to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt and cross the border that way.

And as we were driving toward the border, we could see the sky lighting up in the distance as those interceptors were intercepting those Iranian missiles. We have heard a lot of fighter jets also over in the skies. We heard a drone recently up in the sky. So a fair amount of activity going on here.

And it's interesting. We've only been on the ground for less than an hour. But when you talk to Israelis, they really feel it's different, too.

And while, depending on who you talk to, there's an element of pride at the kind of military and intelligence prowess that Israel has showed with this operation against Iran, there is also a great deal of anxiety because everyone senses that this is different to last summer, when you had that tit-for-tat between Iran and Israel.

This is different than when the Houthis in Yemen were attacking, when Hezbollah, when Hamas even were attacking. This feels very real. And particularly with those landfalls taking place in Tel Aviv, in areas around Tel Aviv, inhabited civilian areas.

There is absolutely a charged sense of anxiety here and I should say, not just here; across the entire region, as everybody is kind of girding themselves or bracing themselves for further escalation, with no real clear off-ramp on the table at the moment for either side.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Israel's spy agency Mossad has unveiled some of the sophisticated intelligence operation behind its military strikes against Iran. Mossad shared video with CNN that shows Israeli operatives smuggling weapons into Iran before Friday's strikes, and an Israeli security official told CNN how they created a base inside Iran to launch explosive drones there.

CNN's Matthew Chance has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Behind the unprecedented Israeli strikes across Iran, a sophisticated intelligence operation with Mossad releasing these rare images of what it says are its covert operations deep inside enemy territory.

In this video, two masked operatives can be seen crouching down, adjusting equipment. One Israeli security official told CNN, Mossad established a drone base in Iran ahead of the strikes to target the Islamic Republic from within.

This video appears to show a drone targeting a missile launcher. Another shows the crosshairs of a drone over a target, which appears to be a truck.

Israeli officials say precision weapons were smuggled into central Iran and positioned near missile systems. There are striking similarities with Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia earlier this month, where spectacular covert drone strikes destroyed valuable Russian strategic bombers.

But alongside the Israeli hits on Iranian military and nuclear targets, key leadership figures were also targeted and killed in pinpoint strikes, likely driven by highly accurate Israeli intelligence, including top commanders of the powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps and multiple nuclear scientists, according to Iranian officials.

[00:25:03]

But the ongoing Israeli campaign is high risk, already provoking serious retaliation across Israel, including on Tel Aviv.

And the escalating conflict could also bolster hardline Iranian calls for a nuclear deterrent, meaning this stunning Israeli intelligence coup may actually increase the nuclear threat it was meant to remove.

Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Trita Parsi is 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".

And he joins us now from Washington.

Trita, let's talk a little bit about that word in your book title there, diplomacy. It seems that President Trump still believes there's a path to it, at least on the nuclear front, even after the events of the last 48 hours. What do you think?

TRITA PARSI, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, THE QUINCY INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT: There certainly is a path. The problem is that Trump entered these talks, in fact, created the circumstances that allowed these talks by adopting a very reasonable starting point and red lines, which is no weaponization. But then a couple of weeks ago, he shifted to a completely different red line. No enrichment at all, essentially meaning, that the entire nuclear program had to be eliminated.

And we've already tried that for 20 years. It doesn't work. And quite predictably, it led to a stalemate in the talks which then the Israelis took advantage of to convince him to allow them to do these attacks. There is a pathway back to the table, and that is for Trump to go back to his original, much more reasonable and workable and realistic red line. And if that happens, perhaps there can be an exit out of this, because, as we have now seen from the Iranian retaliation, this seems to end up being a rather messy situation rather than this clean cut victory for the Israelis that many expected it to be after the initial attack by Israel.

ABEL: Well, aside from President Trump's potential moves that would need to happen, what other steps would need to happen now for the rockets to stop moving in either direction?

PARSI: Well, if the -- if the Trump administration puts pressure on Israel to stop, I think there will be easier to get the Iranians to stop as well and go back to the table. But as long as Trump has adopted this position that he's essentially allowing while also supporting what the Israelis are doing, there's no reason to believe that the Israelis would stop. We've already had experience with that in which the Israelis have done whatever they wanted in Gaza, because we have provided them with that impunity.

ABEL: We heard Netanyahu pitch to Iranians to stand up to the Iranian regime. Is that the end game for Israel here, you think for an uprising, maybe a regime change? PARSI: I think more than anything else, perhaps a regime collapse, in

which they're not really trying to change the regime to something else, meaning that they would be championing some sort of alternative because that would mean that they would own whatever comes afterwards. As the U.S. owned what happened in Iraq, and that was a disaster.

But regime collapse means that you just create chaos in the country, and there's no regime there at all. So, I think that potentially is something that they're looking for. But the idea that this would end up being supported by the Iranian public, I'm sure there's a segment of the public because of their tremendous, unjustified anger against the regime. But we have so far seen that the overwhelming reaction is the kind of rallying around the flag that tends to happen in any country when they're attacked.

ABEL: Trita, does this stay conflict between Israel and Iran, or does it spread?

PARSI: Well, there is a significant risk that this could spread. And one way that it could do so is that if this continues and the Iranians strike back and they're successful as they appear to have been, and this gets into a messy situation, a lot of casualties. Trump may grow tired of this. We've seen him do that before with Yemen and then just pull out. Or he may be under so much pressure to step in to help the Israelis that he enters the war and brings America into the war fully.

In that scenario, the Iranians will likely strike at the U.S. itself, meaning at American bases in the region. And that would then regionalize the war. It wouldn't just be a U.S.-Iran war, which in and of itself, I think would be a disaster, but it would also be a regional war.

ABEL: Trita Parsi in Reston, Virginia -- Trita, appreciate your expertise. Thank you.

PARSI: Thank you.

ABEL: Israel dealt a major blow to Iran's nuclear program and its military leadership when we return. More on which nuclear sites were hit and who was targeted.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:34:22]

ABEL: Welcome back. I'm Brian Abel.

Let's take a look at today's top stories. We are getting word of a deadly rocket strike south of Tel Aviv. As Iran and Israel trade strikes for a second straight day. Israeli emergency services say one person was killed and 23 injured when an Iranian missile hit near private homes. Rescue crews are still checking if more people are trapped under rubble.

Investigators now have the voice and data recorders from that doomed Air India plane that crashed minutes after takeoff. Crews have been scouring the scene of the crash in Ahmedabad, India, looking for vital clues as to why the plane went down.

[00:35:03]

Families of passengers are also being asked to provide DNA samples to help identify loved ones.

In Washington, D.C., getting ready for a parade celebrating the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary set to take place Saturday, which is also President Donald Trump's 79th birthday. It will be the largest display of military might in the U.S. Capitol since the end of the first Gulf War in 1991.

All eyes are on the Middle East right now as Israel and Iran ramp up attacks on each other. Iran says its missile strikes targeted Israeli military centers and air bases Friday. Police say at least one woman was killed when an Iranian missile hit near a group of homes.

Iran's supreme leader issuing this warning to Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER: Life will become bitter for them without a doubt. They should not think they struck and it's over. No, they started this and triggered a war. We will not allow them to walk away unscathed from the great crime they have committed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Iran's retaliation came swiftly after Israel targeted its nuclear and military sites. The country's U.N. envoy says Israeli strikes have killed at least 78 people, including some of Iran's most senior leaders.

The Israeli ambassador to the U.N. explains why Israel decided to launch these attacks now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANNY DANON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: The goal of our operation are very clear is to make sure that Iran will not have nuclear capabilities and to stop the ballistic missile operation, and I will elaborate on that. You know, they are producing hundreds of missiles. They wanted to get to a position where they can compete with Russia and the U.S. regarding ballistic missiles. So, we want to stop both the ballistic missile operation and the nuclear reactor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh takes a closer look at the initial strikes in Iran. He spoke with my colleague Isa Soares earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISA SOARES, CNN HOST: For more, I'm joined by Nick Paton Walsh, who's here to lay it all out for us. Nick, let's start off, first of all with what was hit and who they

targeted.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean certainly, look, let's talk about the nuclear facilities first, two of them clear here. Isfahan, it appears according to the IAEA, they say not hit, but Natanz, where a lot of the enrichment occurs, some satellite images posted on social media showed damage there. Iran says its superficial. I think we'll learn more because that appears to be the preponderance of where Israeli strikes hit the nuclear infrastructure, and then Tehran, too, where it appears multiple neighborhoods, some upscale, were hit as well. It appears targeting key parts of Iran's military hierarchy here. I mean, it's a devastating list, frankly, that seems to grow every minute or so.

(CROSSTALK)

SOARES: Yeah.

WALSH: I mean. Just imagine, waking up in the Iranian military and realizing that the head of the Revolutionary Guard Corps is dead. The chief of the army staff is dead. Khamenei, aide in charge of the nuclear negotiations, is dead, and the IRGC's air force commander killed it seems in a meeting of all of his other deputies to where they were hit simultaneously. This list continues to grow.

SOARES: It's a huge blow.

WALSH: And this is the reason why I think we'll see maybe a muddled or delayed a nonproportional response from the Iranians, because they will have spent the best part of this morning trying to work out who survived and appointing successors, and probably the rather worrying task of working out how were they all located.

It appears from some of the damage we've seen that apartment blocks were specifically targeted with pinpoint strikes, and that suggests people's phones were perhaps being followed. So, a lot of anxiety in Tehran amongst the hierarchy, and that will definitely be impeding their response.

SOARES: As we look at the regional map. And given what you've told me as well, I would have guessed this would have been months, potentially years in the making just.

WALSH: Also happens in a region that's completely changed in the last year. And so, so --

SOARES: Speak to the risk, then, speak to the risk.

WALSH: And reduced, I think enormously because last summer Israel in Lebanon launched those major attacks and the military operations afterwards, ruthless, brutal but effective dismantled Hezbollah to most degree. That was always the major worry for Israel that if they launched an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, the second strike capability would be Iran's proxy here in Lebanon. That's gone. The Iran ally of Syria, right next to Israel. Regime change. Now, not

exactly Israels perfect neighbor, but not the Iranian ally that was there before. In Iraq, the Iranian pro-Iranian militias, they're not the threat they necessarily have been in the past. And so, Israel, acting with greater freedom, certainly in this area, and also to in October, damaged a lot of Iran's air defenses, making it vulnerable to what happened overnight.

SOARES: So then so then, Nick, if you're in Tehran, you're weighing up the moment of how do we retaliate? Can we retaliate? How do we retaliate? And this is important given, of course, the number of troops, troops, U.S. troops across the Middle East.

WALSH: Yeah. I mean, look, I think the distance that's been palpable between this Israeli operation and the Trump White House probably means that were not going to see a full throated Iranian bid to hit U.S. military infrastructure around the region.

[00:40:11]

There's a lot of it, really. It's I think Iraq or Syria, maybe Jordan, that they're more vulnerable as far as we know at this point. But I would be really surprised if Iran, weak as it is after last night, decides to broaden its list of enemies to bring in the United States, who are kind of not on the shelf now, very full-throated support for the success of the operation from President Trump. But he wants to see diplomacy come from it.

So, the response I think we'll see, you may see more attempts by drones, perhaps like this. The Shahed, you preprogram it, used across Ukraine to devastating effect. If you can get enough of them in the sky to overwhelm air defenses. But the suggestion that maybe 100 drones have been launched today hasn't really appeared to get through to Israel at all.

And so, we're looking at a greatly diminished Iran trying to work out potentially what it can do against an Israeli enemy with the F-16, the F-15, as well. Technologically way more advanced, depleting their air defenses on every given move. And as we saw at the start, an Iranian military command who were all over the place this morning.

SOARES: Incredibly dangerous moment. Nick, appreciate it. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Abbas Milani is the director of the Iranian studies program at Stanford University. He is also a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and joins us now from Stanford, California.

Abbas, it seems to most people who may have been listening that Israel's actions toward Iran were telegraphed, at least the potential for them since President Trump was publicly urging Israel to not interfere, to not attack, they did. Was the success of that attack a surprise, given the signs in the lead up to it? ABBAS MILANI, RESEARCH FELLOW, HOOVER INSTITUTION: To me, it was a

great deal of surprise because as you said, there was very much an anticipation that an attack is imminent. The Iranians apparently expected it on Sunday, but it came a couple of days earlier, but they were utterly unprepared for it. And that's why almost 3/5 of their hike control and command structure is destroyed. So, the top leaders are destroyed. It is remarkable how to me, unprepared they were and they have paid a heavy price for it.

ABEL: When you look at the timing of all of this, what do you see? Why now?

MILANI: Well, I think on the one hand, Mr. Netanyahu has been saying for some time that he thinks Iran is at its weakest point. In some ways, I think he's right. Iran is at the moment, I think the weakest, is the most isolated.

The economy is in shambles. There is a strikes -- bus-- truck drivers, strikes. The regime is regionally isolated. As your program earlier indicated, it has lost almost all of its proxies. The people are profoundly disgruntled with the regime, and I think the regime had been because of, I think, this weakness openly talking in the weeks before the attacks about how they are capable of developing a bomb. If push comes to shove.

And I think Netanyahu used that narrative to then create the excuse for the attack. And I think they also were worried that maybe President Trump would make a bad deal, that they would be unhappy with. And this was, in a way, an attempt to make sure that that deal doesn't happen.

ABEL: They cut that off at the pass. Let's talk about the people of these two countries at the moment. We heard Netanyahu making that plea to Iranians to step up. What role do you see civilian Iranians and Israelis playing with their views on what's happening?

MILANI: Well, I think Iranian civilians are living in extremely oppressive regime, an oppressive regime that has shown in the past that at times of crisis, it cracks down on people rather forcefully. And there are signs that they are trying to do that as well.

But I think where the people play a role is that the people are no longer supporting this regime. If this happened, this attacks had happened 15, 20 years ago, I think there would have been a great deal of popular uproar. There might have been popular support for the regime. There is very little indication that the people are rallying around the flag.

In that sense, I think the people can play a very important role. And in Israel, I think we know that there is a fairly large number of Israeli citizens who want an end to the wars, they want an end to Gaza. They want an end I think to this year-long war that has been going on, and they might put more pressure on Mr. Netanyahu to bring the war to an end sooner than later.

[00:45:01] ABEL: Now, Abbas, that we have the Israeli attack and then these counterattacks on Israel, what's the next chess move here for either side? And what needs to happen for the game to stop?

MILANI: I think to me, the strange thing is some of the rhetoric that has come out of Tehran in the last 24 hours about hitting anyone who supports Israel, hitting the bases in the region, essentially threatening the U.S. bases, implied a threat to Saudi Arabia. The regime can't afford to do that. If anything, they need to find more allies, so they tend to be doing the exact opposite of what they should be doing.

I don't think they want to continue this war. They can't afford to continue this war. I think they know they're outgunned, and they want to bring it to an end in a way that is not an utter defeat for them.

That's why I think they will go through the attacks. They will make sure the attacks are not such that it will get the United States involved. They will, I think, make every effort not to get the United States and the Europeans on the side of Israel. It's going to be very tricky trying to do that, but I think that's what their endgame is.

And also, within the last few hours, Iran has indicated that it might rejoin the nuclear negotiations in Oman, which is a contrary to what they had said, 24 hours ago. That, to me, indicates that they might be trying to maybe bring Mr. Trump into a negotiation and some relief of sanctions that would then give them a better occasion at home in this very, very fraught moment for them.

ABEL: All right. Abbas Milani -- Abbas, thank you.

MILANI: Thank you.

ABEL: Cities and towns across the U.S. are getting ready for a wave of protests Saturday with so-called No Kings rallies and events planned in all 50 states. The story after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:51:53]

ABEL: The price of oil surged Friday following the escalating tensions between Iran and Israel. West Texas Intermediate rose more than 7 percent, ending at $72.98 a barrel. Brent crude also gained 7 percent, settling at $74.23 a barrel. This is the largest single day increase since Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Meanwhile, U.S. stocks fell, sending investors into a scramble. The Dow falling 770 points, or nearly 2 percent. The Nasdaq dropping 1 percent, 1.3 percent and the S&P 500 falling more than 1 percent.

Turning now to the Air India disaster, and grief-stricken families are being asked for DNA samples to help identify loved ones and investigators scouring the wreckage have recovered both the cockpit voice and flight data recorders. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner went down just minutes after taking off from the airport in Ahmedabad, India, on Thursday.

Officials say at least 290 people were killed. Incredibly, there is one sole survivor from this devastating crash. He spoke to Indian state TV, Doordarshan.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

RAMESH VISWASHKUMAR, SOLE SURVIVOR OF AIR INDIA CRASH: I can't explain. Everything happened in my eye. I can't -- emergency door is broken.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

VISWASHKUMAR: My seat is broken.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

VISWASHKUMAR: Then I see the pace (ph) a little bit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

VISWASHKUMAR: Then I will try to come out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

VISWASHKUMAR: Yes, that's why.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So did the aircraft catch fire before you came out?

VISWASHKUMAR: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

VISWASHKUMAR: A little bit of fire. After I'm out, then blast.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

ABEL: Vedika Sud filed this report from the crash site before the cockpit voice recorder was later found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VEDIKA SUD, JOURNALIST: I'm standing on the terrace of a residential building in India's western city of Ahmedabad, where on Thursday afternoon local time, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into that building right behind me, just meters away. That's the tail of the plane. All that remains on top of the building, nestled in a precarious position.

That is a hostel for medical students. The latest on the investigations, we're being told that a black box has been recovered from the rear end of that aircraft. You can hear a plane go by. This is perhaps the same route that was taken by the ill-fated Air India aircraft that was headed to London. Now telling you about the black box, a crucial piece of evidence that can help the Indian authorities who have launched an investigation into the crash. There are dozens of family members who are now thronging the hospital.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Friday morning local time, had visited this crash site. And then went on to meet the injured in the hospital. He even met with the sole survivor, the British national, who had walked away from this crash site on Thursday.

These families may have to wait for very long because the DNA samples being matched with the remains of their loved ones could take days or even weeks.

[00:55:08]

Vedika Sud for CNN, Ahmedabad, India.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Cities and towns across the U.S. are preparing for a wave of so-called No Kings protests against the Trump administration on Saturday. Organizers say more than 2,000 events are planned and are committed to nonviolence. Los Angeles mayor says the city's curfew will remain in effect at least through the weekend. Officials say at least 30 No Kings protests are planned there.

In New York, police say they expect more than a dozen different demonstrations across the city. Authorities expect the groups to converge and make their way to Foley Square.

I'm Brian Abel. Thank you for joining us this hour. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.