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Israel and Iran Trade Attacks after Israel Targets Nuclear Sites; U.S. Still Hopes to Hold Nuclear Talks with Iran Sunday; Crews Scour Wreckage, Search for Cause of Air India Crash; Flyovers and Firepower Displays Planned for Army Celebration. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 14, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Well, hello, I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. Let's get right to our breaking news.

And we begin with claims from both Iran and Israel that they have successfully shot down each other's drones. And the Israeli air force just said it has carried out a wave of strikes hitting defense arrays in Tehran.

Meanwhile, new explosions heard over Jerusalem in recent hours after officials there warned a wave of missiles was headed toward the country. The death toll in Israel has risen to at least three since these attacks began.

Two people killed and 19 others wounded when an Iranian missile hit south of Tel Aviv. Another person was killed by falling debris in a separate strike east of Tel Aviv earlier. Iran says, in all, at least 78 people have been killed and more than 300 injured in the violence so far.

State media said that a fire had broken out at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport and that several explosions were heard over the capital.

Well, all of this happening after Iran launched multiple waves of strikes on Israel, which left dozens more injured. In response to Israel's attacks on Friday, Israel hit Iran's nuclear facilities and eliminated a number of key military leaders. Iran's supreme leader later put Israel on notice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI KHAMENEI, IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER (through translator): 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) ANDERSON: Well, Nada Bashir monitoring developments and joining us live.

The military operations then continue both sides, Nada. Lay out exactly what we know this hour.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, just in the last few hours, Becky, we have had confirmation from the Israeli military that they have intercepted yet more Iranian drones heading toward Israeli territory; among them, drones intercepted near the border with Jordan.

And this follows, of course, a series of overnight attacks by the Iranian regime on Israeli territory. A number of missiles, according to the IDF, were intercepted. But, of course, we have also seen a number of them making impact and landfall, hitting targets, including in residential areas near Tel Aviv.

As you mentioned, we have seen a residential area just south of Tel Aviv being impacted by those strikes. At least two people are said to have been killed in that particular incident. Several also said to be injured, according to Israeli emergency services.

And, of course, we've also seen similar scenes in Iran, where we have seen yet more overnight strikes carried out by the Israeli military. And, of course, this has been a hugely concerning escalation that we have seen over the last few hours.

And overnight, of course, as we saw those unprecedented attacks by the Israeli military in the early hours of Friday morning on Iran, had targeted nuclear sites there, targeted senior military officials as well as top nuclear scientists.

But what we've also begun to see is potentially the expansion of Israel's focus when it comes to its targeting of Iran. We've seen reports from Iranian state media of a fire at the international airport in Tehran, suggesting perhaps that Israel may be expanding its focus to strategic civilian targets, as well as military and nuclear targets.

And, of course, we've heard those warnings from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying in a statement that there will be more to come, that these attacks will not end until the Israeli military has eliminated what he has described as the Iranian nuclear threat.

So clearly, this is not going to be a short crisis, a short situation in terms of the confrontation between Israel and Iran. And we are expecting to see yet further escalation.

And we've been hearing from sources, speaking to our colleague, Jeremy Diamond, who have said that this won't follow the tit-for-tat strategy that we've seen in the past in terms of confrontations between the two nations. But rather the Israeli military is following an escalatory strategy.

So we may continue to see the expansion of Israel's targeting of Iranian territory and potentially expanding into civilian areas. Likewise, in Israel, we've been hearing from the Israeli foreign minister, who has described Iran's targeting of civilian areas or areas near civilian areas as a red line, that there will be severe retaliation as a result of that.

[03:05:05]

But, of course, we've been hearing from Iranian officials saying that they have been successful in targeting military industrial sites as well.

Now when it comes to the amount of attacks we've seen, of course, we've seen the barrage of missiles overnight. We've heard from the Israeli ambassador to the United States, who has put the figure at around 150 Iranian missiles targeting Israeli territory overnight.

But yet we've been hearing less and less from the Israeli military, which has said about 100. So again, it remains to be seen exactly how severe the impact of Iran's targeting has been overnight.

And, of course, as we head into the morning now, there are fears, concerns around the expansion from the Iranian military when it comes to targeting of other military assets in the region.

We've heard those warnings against countries and nations that have offered support to the Israeli military, namely the United States. So there has been and there continues to be concern around potentially U.S. bases in the region as well.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you. Thank you so much.

Nada Bashir is monitoring developments in London for us.

Firas Maksad, managing director for the Middle East with the Eurasia Group. He joins us now from Beirut in Lebanon.

And is Iran declaring Israel has triggered a war?

Your analysis of what we are witnessing?

FIRAS MAKSAD, DIRECTOR OF OUTREACH, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Well, Becky, first, I think we need to take a moment and admit that the analyst class out there, myself included, got this wrong.

Most of us did not think that Israel will strike before the Geneva talks on Sunday but wait for these talks to fail. Most of us believed that president Trump would not allow that to happen.

Also, the consensus in the analyst class was that, if it did strike, Israel will go after Iran's military installation to degrade Iran's military capabilities and not to go for the nuclear sites, because, simply put, the belief is Israel is unable to finish off Iran's nuclear installation.

And by taking these shots at the nuclear facilities, risks that Iran would either make a mad dash toward weaponization or disperse much of his highly enriched uranium.

So why were we wrong?

I think it's important for us to reflect here. I think we were wrong because we underestimated Bibi Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister's ability to play to president Trump's ego.

Essentially, now we know he made the case 48 hours before the strikes, that the 60-day deadline that president Trump had given Iran to actually make those concessions and come to an agreement that those were over and that Israel can help president Trump stand at his word.

I think the danger ahead and what makes to make sense of all of this to finish the job. Israel, most analysts I speak to, former administration senior officials that I speak to say that it might want to try and seek to drag the United States into this.

Because still, most military analysts out there believe that only the United States has the ordnance, the MOABs, the big bombs, and the B-2s that need to be very skillfully employed to finish off Iran's nuclear program. So we might be looking at a situation where Iran is given a very difficult choice in the days and weeks ahead.

Either they come back to the negotiating table as president Trump wanted them to do -- very unlikely, given what Iran has been through -- or we see the United States enter this war in Israel, offering Trump to do the coup de grace, so to speak, to do the honor of delivering the final blow to the Israeli -- to the Iranian nuclear program.

So very difficult days ahead in an expanding war.

ANDERSON: What's your gut analysis, then?

You've just laid out where you believe the pathways might be.

What do you expect to happen?

MAKSAD: Well, Iran has very difficult choices ahead, Becky. I think for them to come back to the talks is nearly impossible. Having lost face, having lost leverage, it would be such an admit of defeat for the regime that they have to attempt something before that.

Last night, in many ways, was the opening stage of the retaliation. But that is very limited in terms of the damage that Iran can actually deliver directly in a direct confrontation against Israel.

The second step in that escalatory ladder is to employ the forward defense strategy, which is right now crippled but still arguably has some capacity to go at Israel.

Hezbollah in Lebanon, where I am, the Houthis in Yemen, perhaps the very reluctant militias in Iraq, to see them asymmetrically strike at Israel.

[03:10:02] Of course, the last step in that escalatory ladder is to go after American bases, whether it is in the GCC or perhaps even attempt to disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, where some 20 percent of global energy passes through. Those are very difficult choices, dangerous choices for Iran.

Because, if I'm Iran out there, I already have enough on my hands trying to take on Israel. You take on such steps as trying to close the Strait of Hormuz or going after American bases, you're up against the United States.

ANDERSON: CNN sources are being told that these scheduled Sunday talks in Oman between the U.S. and Tehran may still happen.

Look, I know you've been talking to your sources. I've been talking to sources around the region certainly in the past 24 hours. It seemed extremely unlikely and continues to seem extremely unlikely that that will happen. But the door is clearly still open.

What influence these Gulf states -- you very specifically spoke there to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, where I am -- what influence here from those capitals enforcing a diplomatic offramp at this point?

MAKSAD: Very little. These crucial states in the region that play an important role, as we obviously saw president Trump choose to make his first foreign visit to these countries, these countries are facilitators. They are mediators.

Certainly, Oman playing the key role here; Saudi Arabia being the country with the most geopolitical heft. But they cannot force Iran to the negotiating table. Even the United States arguably does not have that kind of leverage.

What they can do is advise, communicate, vary messages, offer the exit ramp. But the exit ramp has to be taken by Iran and Israel. Certainly, the United States is eager to talk. We know that president Trump, because of the more isolationist wing of his MAGA support base, still prefers not to have an American war on his hands.

And so diplomacy will continue to be dangled there as an option. But it's going to be increasingly difficult for the Iranian government to take that route without first striking a meaningful blow at Israel -- or at least trying.

ANDERSON: Yes.

And as we speak, we are just getting word that the Iranian foreign ministry has said it is still not clear what decision we, Iran, will take Sunday regarding this matter, Oman talks. So we will wait to see.

But you are making some extremely good points here and they're all important points that we -- that we must share with the viewers. Firas, always a pleasure. Thank you, sir, and stay safe.

Firas Maksad is in Beirut. 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 just how much the U.S. administration knew before Israel's strikes. CNN's Kristen Holmes has more from the White House for you.

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

[03:15:00]

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)

ANDERSON: Well, as the conflict between Israel and Iran heats up, our Nic Robertson finds smoking evidence of the attacks on a road to Tel Aviv. Details on that is after this.

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ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson. This is your breaking news on CNN.

Israel and Iran continue to trade deadly attacks following the initial Israeli strikes against Iran's nuclear program early Friday local time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON (voice-over): This spent projectile was left smoldering in the Negev Desert after a fresh wave of Iranian missile strikes against Israel. CNN's Nic Robertson came across it on the road to Tel Aviv.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Look at this rocket behind me here. This just came down. We were watching intercepts in the sky above me, the early morning sky and there was a lot of loud explosions and impacts.

And you can see here, this missile here, right behind me lying in the road here, it's still smoking. This came down. This was from the latest salvo of Iranian missiles intercept. It's not clear if this is an intercept missile or one of the Iranian missiles still smoking in the road here. Only just came down.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ANDERSON: Well, Israel's spy agency, the Mossad, has unveiled some of

the sophisticated intelligence operation behind its military strikes against Iran. They shared video that shows Israeli operatives smuggling weapons into Iran before Friday's strikes.

An Israeli security official told CNN how they created a base inside Iran to launch explosive drones. CNN's Matthew Chance explains.

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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.

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)

ANDERSON: Well, intelligence experts are weighing in on what the White House knew about the Israeli strikes on Iran and when. The Trump administration has stressed that Israel acted alone without American involvement. That has been underscored by the Israeli administration.

But John Miller, CNN's chief intelligence analyst, stressed this is the kind of situation that leads to speculation and even conspiracy theories.

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JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: It moves the needle closer to the red. Iran in particular and its surrogates, groups like Hezbollah, oftentimes do not separate Israel from the United States when it comes to interests against Iran.

And there will be questions about whether the United States knew, how long they knew. You know, the president had said they didn't support the attacks directly. But then there were the negotiations we were just discussing going on.

And there will be theories and conspiracy theories about whether that was a ruse. So it's -- it is not unheard of for Iran to target Jewish locations, Israeli government locations, U.S. interests, both here and throughout Western Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, of course, we continue to see new waves of attacks as we speak here on CNN.

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Earlier, I spoke with retired Australian Army General Mick Ryan and asked him about his take on the military strategy, the ongoing operations of both Israel and Iran. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), AUSTRALIAN ARMY: It's clear that Israel has planned for some time a sustained and deliberate military campaign to not only remove or at least degrade Iran's nuclear capacity but also its long-range strike capability, including its long-range ballistic missiles, upon which nuclear weapons might be mounted.

Benjamin Netanyahu also described how it's designed to take out Iranian leadership and have Iranian people rise up for their freedom.

ANDERSON: Iran's nuclear capabilities still exist. Its ballistic missile capabilities still exist because we've seen the evidence of that over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv just in the past hours.

So at this point, how would you assess the success?

Or how would you assess the -- assess the operation, from the Israeli perspective firstly and then the response from Iran?

RYAN: Well, from an Israeli perspective, I think they describe it as a campaign in progress and in its early days. I think they've been very clear that this is going to take some days, weeks of strikes to achieve their objectives, although we're not fully clear what they might be.

And it's also clear that the Iranian response was severely degraded by the strikes on senior military leaders, including, it appears, the leadership bunker for the Iranian air force. So the response from the Iranians, whilst it appears significant at

this point, is probably nowhere near as significant as it might have been, particularly when we compare it to the hundreds of missiles that the Russians rained down on Ukraine every day.

So I think it's having an impact but it will take some days for the Israelis to really significantly degrade Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, our breaking news coverage continues in a moment as we monitor a wave of new attacks between Israel and Iran.

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ANDERSON: Welcome back to CNN. Let's check today's top stories for you.

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ANDERSON (voice-over): And Israel has just announced that it conducted new strikes against Iran's air defenses in Tehran. That statement came hours after Iranian media reported a fire at one of the city's airports.

We are also hearing claims from both sides that they shot down a number of each other's drones in recent hours.

The mayor of Los Angeles says the curfew in her city will go on indefinitely. Karen Bass told reporters at a Friday night news conference that there is no set date to end the restrictions.

However, she added that, once ICE raids stop, quote, "the curfew will go away in short order."

And both the voice and data recorders have now been located from the doomed Air India plane that crashed moments after takeoff. The recorders will provide key information about the flight as investigators continue searching for clues as to what caused that plane to go down.

Families of passengers are also providing DNA samples to help identify the victims.

ANDERSON: Well, escalating attacks between Iran and Israel are raising concerns of an all-out war and a wider war breaking out in the Middle East. More explosions were heard overnight in Tehran and Tel Aviv as both sides traded missile strikes. A short time ago, the Israeli military says it intercepted Iranian

drones after warning sirens sounded near the border with Jordan. Iranian state media reports Iran shot down Israeli drones that crossed into its northwestern border.

Now Tehran's retaliation came swiftly after Israel targeted its nuclear and military sites on Friday, killing some of Iran's most senior and significant leaders. The Iranian president warned that there will be a price to pay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MASOUD PEZESHKIAN, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Of course, the Iranian nation and its officials will not remain silent in the face of this crime. The Islamic Republic of Iran's legitimate and powerful response will make the enemy regret its foolish actions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, Iran launched what it describes as hundreds of ballistic missiles in response to these attacks against its nuclear program.

On Friday, Iran's envoy to the United Nations says that the Israeli strikes had killed at least 78 and injured more than 320. CNN's Clarissa Ward has more from her vantage point on the ground in Israel for you.

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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.

[03:35:00]

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 offramp on the table at the moment for either side.

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ANDERSON: Well, that's Clarissa Ward reporting.

We've heard from the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who posted on X, quote, "Been a rough night in Israel. Had to head to shelter five times during the night. It is now Shabbat here. Should be quiet. Probably won't be. Entire nation under orders to stay near shelter."

Alon Pinkas is the former Israeli consul general in New York. He joins us live from Tel Aviv.

And Alon, thanks for joining us. Along with everyone else, I guess you've had a long night.

How would you compare this to last year's strikes by Iran?

And how different is this to Clarissa's --

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ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL, NEW YORK: Oh, there -- they're very different. First of all, this is an all-out war. I mean, in April of 2024 and then again in October of 2024, Israel and Iran exchanged salvoes of missiles and drones in a way that, in retrospect, looked almost scripted.

There was a coalition led by the U.S. and Britain and even some Arab Gulf countries and Jordan that intercepted most of the incoming Iranian missiles and drones. The idea was a, you know, to prove capabilities as a, you know, shot across the stern. That was then and this is now.

Now it's all-out war. It could escalate. Yes, when you speak about an all-out regional war, we're talking about a different scenario. We could discuss that later if we have time. But bilateral, a direct Israeli Iranian war is taking place as we speak.

So it feels completely different. And also the intensity of the -- both the Israeli attacks, obviously but also the Iranian retaliation is very much different than it was last year.

ANDERSON: Alon, I'm fascinated by your analysis and totally get the idea of last year's sort of, quote, "scripted" performance. And to your point, the involvement of so many other stakeholders alongside Israel and Iran, it is different this time.

What is Benjamin Netanyahu's objective here?

PINKAS: Well, first of all, one other dimension of how different this all is, that Iran has been significantly weakened geopolitically with the loss of Hezbollah, its prized asset or prized proxy organization in Lebanon, that was degraded militarily in a significant way by Israel throughout 2024.

And the loss and fall of the Assad regime in Syria, which then led to an exit of the Russian military presence in Syria. So Iran felt somewhat feels somewhat isolated.

On top of that, there were those attacks, those salvos that we just discussed. And so Iran seems to be weakened and isolated.

For Mr. Netanyahu, this seemed to be an opportune moment to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, which he did in the last 36 hours, which Israel did in the last 36 hours. Now there are two ways of looking at this, Becky. I know we don't have time to elaborate and delve into it.

[03:40:03]

But let me just run them by -- let me just run them by you. There are two ways of looking at it.

One is the simple way. Say Israel had to do what Israel had to do. You got to do what you got to do. You know, you choose your euphemism. Iran was very close to weapons grade material. It was a matter of decision, not of technological capability, know-how and fissile material; i.e. enriched uranium.

So Israel had to take it out. Parenthetically, of course, Iran is as close as it is to a military-grade nuclear facility or capability, rather, because Mr. Netanyahu himself encouraged president Trump in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw from the JCPOA. So it's on him, partly.

But there's a second way of explaining this. Mr. Netanyahu, when it comes to Iran, is messianic. This is not to say that he's not identifying a real threat. This is not to diminish from Iran's criminality or the vile nature of the regime and the terror-sponsoring and the threats to eliminate and annihilate Israel.

OK, putting that aside, Netanyahu thinks of -- for many years, by the way, irrespective of the last 1.5 years of war in Gaza and war with Iran, he thinks of Iran as -- he thinks this is 1938 all over again.

Iran is a Hitler. Iran is threatening Western civilization. He, Mr. Netanyahu, is the antidote. He's the Winston Churchill of his times. He's not only the protector of Israel but he's also the savior of the West.

And if the world doesn't get it, then history will judge him differently and history will be kind to him, according to him.

On top of that, there is his own calculation of how he will go down in history. This is a guy, who, as I just said, thinks of himself or thought of himself or has a self-image of this -- of a -- the protector of Israel.

That was tarnished almost indelibly. That was shattered on October 7th, 2023. His only way in his mind to regain that stature through -- to a position himself again in history, as that that guy is -- goes through Iran.

And with Iran weakened, I now go full circle back to the first argument. And with Iran weakened, he felt this is an opportune moment.

ANDERSON: Yes, this is all fascinating.

(CROSSTALK)

ANDERSON: -- very much that -- no, we left you time and I knew you would take it. And it's important stuff. Alon, it's always a pleasure. Thank you very much indeed.

Look, we're going to do some other news after this break. But I'm going to leave you with this.

As this action between Iran and Israel continues -- and as we can pretty much describe this, I think, fairly as a war between the two countries -- there are many questions outstanding.

What's been the extent of coordination with the U.S.?

Who knew what and when?

And who knew what and when around the region?

That's important.

And what of the timing, which clearly caught Tehran off guard Friday morning?

This operation started just 48 hours before scheduled nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran, which is leading some to say that Benjamin Netanyahu wants to scupper those talks. All of that to be discussed in the coming hours.

And more of today's other big stories with Ben Hunte in Atlanta.

I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. See you shortly.

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BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Welcome back. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta with a quick check of some other stories making news. Investigators have now recovered both the voice and data recorders

from the doomed Air India flight that crashed minutes after takeoff. This comes as crews continue to sort through the wreckage, searching for vital clues as to why the plane came down.

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 I'll-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.

[03:50:00]

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 -- Vedika Sud for CNN, Ahmedabad, India.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Sean Diddy Combs' federal criminal trial is on a weekend break. Testimony is set to resume on Monday. Combs is charged with federal crimes, including sex trafficking and racketeering. Prosecutors say they could wrap their case next week.

Combs' defense team should begin its presentation soon after. Kanye West showed up on Friday at the trial and a source close to Combs says West wants to show his support. That source also says West is working on music with Diddy's son, Christian.

New developments in the U.S. immigration crackdown. "The New York Times" reports that the Trump administration is ordering Immigration and Customs Enforcement to halt immigration raids targeting farms, restaurants and hotels.

These industries are extremely reliant on immigrant labor. And this move signals a shift in president Donald Trump's deportation campaign, one of the core issues of his presidency.

The guidance to scale back immigration arrests and raids comes as mass protests erupted in L.A. due to workplace raids by ICE.

In the coming hours, Washington, D.C., will see the largest display of military might since the end of the first Gulf War in 1991. Officially, the parade celebrates the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary. But it coincides with president Donald Trump's 79th birthday. CNN's Brian Todd has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump's vision for a grand military parade in the making for nearly a decade is finally coming to fruition.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's going to be an amazing day. We have tanks, we have planes, we have all sorts of things.

TODD: Dozens of Abrams tanks, Bradley and Stryker fighting vehicles and howitzers will be rolling down Constitution Avenue in Washington. About 7 million pounds of hardware, nearly 7,000 soldiers will March. There will be flyovers, horses and the Army's golden knights parachute team will descend and hand the president an American flag.

The largest display of military firepower in the nation's capital, at least since 1991, when a parade of troops and weaponry marked the American victory in the First Gulf War.

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: A generation later, we are going to see a parade to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army. But it. Comes at a time when the president has shown a deep. Desire to have a military parade.

TODD: CNN reports the president's team asked the Pentagon in late 2016 about using military vehicles for his first inaugural parade but the idea never took hold. Then a visit to Paris for Bastille Day in 2017.

Trump was enthralled when French President Emmanuel Macron treated him to the traditional display of firepower to celebrate French independence.

Trump's been pushing for similar pageantry in Washington ever since. Trump's critics say it's anti-democratic to politicize the military.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: He's ordering our American heroes, the United States military and forcing them to put on a vulgar display to celebrate his birthday, just as other failed dictators have done in the past.

TODD: The White House pushing back, one official telling CNN, quote, no one ever calls Macron a dictator for celebrating Bastille Day.

But there's another layer of tension surrounding this event. The recent anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles and other cities raising concerns about potential unrest in Washington.

How specifically did L.A. play into your planning for this?

Do you have it on the mind?

MATT MCCOOL, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, U.S. SECRET SERVICE: We're monitoring what's happening there. But to say that because of L.A. we had to change something, that -- that's not -- that's not the case because we plan for that anyway.

TODD: The Coast Guard and Secret Service showed us the massive security footprint for the parade.

MCCOOL: There will be double bike racks here.

TODD: Yes.

MCCOOL: And they'll be on the other side. So about eight feet of double bike rack.

TODD: Eighteen miles of fencing, concrete barricades, hundreds of law enforcement officers, drones and counter-sniper teams will be deployed. On the Potomac River, the commander of a coast guard response boat team told us they'll have eyes on threats from the water.

What are the biggest vulnerabilities on the water and along the shore?

CMDR. RYAN GOMEZ, U.S. COAST GUARD: Sometimes the biggest vulnerabilities are just the edges of those perimeters. So I think we've planned for this event. We've looked at what we need to cover.

TODD: Security officials tell us there are no credible threats to Saturday's parade but Secret Service Special Agent Matt McCool says the lone wolf attacker is always the wild card.

They'll be extra vigilant looking for threats like that. But he points out this city, with its multiple law enforcement agencies, all in close coordination, is uniquely capable of handling an event this size -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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[03:55:00]

HUNTE: The White House says Donald Trump has approved a partnership agreement between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel. In a statement on Friday, the company said they look forward to putting commitments into action to, quote, "make American steelmaking and manufacturing great again."

The partnership includes a national security agreement. That means the Japanese-based Nippon says it will honor U.S. Steelworkers' union contracts with mills in Pennsylvania and Indiana.

All right. That's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining us. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. Becky Anderson picks up our breaking news coverage from Abu Dhabi right after this break. See you tomorrow.