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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; New Explosions in Tehran in Recent Hours; Israeli Spy Agency Unveils Covert Operation inside Iran; Crews Scour Wreckage, Search for Cause of Air India Crash; Flyovers and Firepower Displays Planned for Army Celebration; Sole Survivor of Air India Crash Speaks. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired June 14, 2025 - 04:00   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): Welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and around the world, I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi.

Israel reporting new strikes on Tehran, claiming it hit Iranian defense arrays and other targets. And both sides said in recent hours that they have shot down a number of each other's drones.

Well, earlier explosions were heard over Jerusalem 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 earlier by falling debris in a separate strike east of the city. Iran says, in all, at least 78 have been killed and more than 300 people injured in the violence so far in Tehran.

State media now says there's no damage to the runway or that main building at the city's Mehrabad Airport. Reports say Israel targeted Iranian fighters, fighter jets stationed there, which caused a fire.

Well, evidence of the conflict is popping up in different places. The CNN crew ran into this projectile, still smoldering after it fell in southern Israel. Iran's supreme leader later had a warning for Israel's leadership, while Israel's prime minister addressed the Iranian people.

(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)

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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Tonight, I wish to speak to you, the proud people of Iran. The time has come for you to unite around your flag and your historic legacy by standing up for your freedom from an evil and oppressive regime. It has never been weaker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Nada Bashir monitoring developments from London, joining us now live.

And the word "war" being used now.

What do we know this hour very specifically about this war?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course, we are still seeing yet more escalations. We've heard from the Israeli military just in the last few hours, confirming that they have intercepted yet more drones coming in from Iran.

And, of course, what we have seen overnight is that continued barrage of Iranian missiles targeting Israeli territory. We've seen a number of those missiles intercepted.

We heard from the U.S. ambassador -- sorry; the Israeli ambassador to the United States speaking yesterday, putting the figure at around 150 missiles over the course of Friday, being fired from Iran toward Israeli territory.

But, of course, as we have seen, a number of them did indeed make landfall, hit their targets or apparent targets. And we have seen some civilian areas impacted as well.

Now the Iranian regime says it was successful, claims it was successful in targeting Israeli military industry centers as well as other military assets. What we've heard from the Israeli military is that they believe there were less than 100 missiles and that they were able to intercept the majority of them.

But, of course, as I mentioned, we have seen that impact in civilian areas. And as you mentioned, Becky, the death toll now stands in Israel at least three. And we have seen several more wounded as well as a result.

But in Iran, of course, we have also seen a higher death toll being reported by officials there. They have put the figure at more than 70 at this stage. And that includes top military commanders and top nuclear scientists, the apparent target of Israel's unprecedented attack in the early hours of Friday morning local time.

We've also seen the targeting of Iranian nuclear facilities. And this has really drawn widespread concern from members of the international community about the potential escalation into an all-out war.

We've heard from the United Kingdom, France and Germany, all joining together on a call on Friday, calling for de-escalation, calling for both parties to find a diplomatic resolution. And a similar message was shared yesterday by the spokesperson for the U.N. secretary general. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE TREMBLAY, U.N. ASSOCIATE, SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY- GENERAL: The secretary general condemns any military escalation in the Middle East.

He's particularly concerned by Israeli attacks on nuclear installations in Iran, while talks between Iran and the United States on the status of Iran's nuclear program are underway.

[04:05:02]

The secretary general asks both sides to show maximum restraint, avoiding at all costs a descent into deeper conflict, a situation that the region can hardly afford.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: Now U.S. president Donald Trump has seemingly attempted to provide some off ramp, suggesting that, if Iran were to come to the negotiating table and meet the U.S.' demands on that nuclear program deal, that there could be de-escalation.

But, of course, we've also been hearing from sources; speaking to our correspondent Jeremy Diamond, who have said that the strategy that seems to be being followed by the Israeli military at this stage is not a tit-for-tat strategy but rather they are focusing on escalatory military moves.

So real concern there about this conflict broadening, escalating and, of course, the potential for it to broaden to other military assets in the region, including U.S. military assets -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Yes, it's good to have you, Nada. Thank you.

Nada Bashir reporting out of London.

Ellie Geranmayeh is the deputy program director for the Middle East/North Africa with the European Council on Foreign Relations. She joins us from London today.

Ellie, let me just firstly and briefly get your perspective on what you see happening. This is an ongoing military operation from both sides.

ELLIE GERANMAYEH, DEPUTY PROGRAM DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA, EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Good morning, Becky.

Well, I think we've gone past calling this a military operation. My estimation is that we are now in an open conflict between Israel and Iran, of the type that the Middle East hasn't really seen or at least Iran hasn't seen since the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

And, you know, let me be clear to your viewers, especially those in the U.S. and the region. Prime minister Netanyahu has been waiting for this moment for over two decades.

And fundamentally, the timing of this, the first wave of strikes was, in my view, intended to derail diplomatic efforts. As your previous colleague mentioned, Iran and the U.S. were meant to meet in Oman tomorrow. These attacks came 48 hours in advance of that, putting Iran in an impossible position to show up for those negotiations.

Secondly, I think that Netanyahu is really attempting now to drag the U.S. into an open conflict with Iran through this escalatory dynamic that we're about to see and we're already seeing.

And finally, I think the gloves are off with Netanyahu. This is about regime change. And the assassinations of the military commanders we've seen indicates that it's about instigating regime instability in the country first.

ANDERSON: It's interesting that you that you bring up these scheduled talks in Oman, because, just in the past couple of hours, Iran has not ruled out actually turning up at these talks. They have kept the door open.

And if, as you have suggested -- and others have suggested -- that this, the timing of this Israeli attack on Iran, was to scupper those talks.

It may just be that Iranian -- the Iranians actually getting to Oman and meeting with the U.S. would be counter to what Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to achieve here, correct?

It could be deemed a very smart move, despite them being put in a very, very difficult, near nigh on impossible situation when it comes to these talks.

GERANMAYEH: So it's true that there is a scenario which is very rare in Iran, U.S. diplomacy, that we could have a parallel track of talks while kinetic action is happening and there's an open war between Iran and Israel. We haven't seen that before.

But it's certainly possible. And it's one way for Tehran to actually show its position of strength, that it is carrying out unprecedented missile strikes against Israel, which is a nuclear weapons country, while also keeping the door open to the United States and essentially not falling into Netanyahu's trap of trying to scuttle this deal.

My sense is that Iranians are in a politically very difficult position, given the hardliners' rhetoric that we're seeing coming out, that the U.S. cannot be trusted, that essentially president Trump greenlit these Israeli attacks.

But I think that if Iran can come to these talks with a position of strength, it will really demand a concession from the United States on this issue of zero enrichment, which is what dragged the U.S. and Israel in this position to begin with.

ANDERSON: Yes. And that red line, of course, introduced only in the past couple of weeks when these talks began, some two months ago. And this would have been -- this would be the sixth wave of these talks.

[04:10:06]

When they began this, the bottom line, the starting point was the Americans saying that Iran must not have a nuclear weapon. And that is something that this region where I am in the Gulf and the Middle East agrees with.

But this region also has better relations with Iran than it has had for many years and has an influence on Iran and what Iran might do next. Of course, the starting point of no nuclear weapons was changed with influence by Israel and Steve Witkoff, you know, some weeks ago talking about no uranium enrichment at all.

And that has really confused things, hasn't it?

GERANMAYEH: No, I think the Israelis have had immense success here in pushing the goalposts on U.S.' end game with Iran from no nuclear weapons to no nuclear program, which is a fundamentally a red line for the Iranian leadership.

And I think that, you know, in the same way that president Trump was perhaps misguided by his advisers into thinking that the military campaign against the Houthis in Yemen recently was going to be a quick win for the U.S. and then soon came to realize this was not the case.

He's going to very quickly realize that this military campaign against Iran, that this maximalist position on zero enrichment is not going to work. And we're talking about Iran. It's a nation state. It's not a non-state actor like the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas that Israelis have had this military onslaught against.

It's a nation state of almost 90 million people and a major army on the ground. So you know, this is -- this is not a -- it's not going to be a quick military showdown that makes Iran capitulate, in my view, on the zero enrichment.

ANDERSON: Yes. It's going to be fascinating to see what happens in the next 24 hours. Stay tuned. Ellie, always good to have you. Your analysis and insight are enormously important as we continue to report on what is, as you rightly point out, now an all-out war.

I mean, this is more than just a military operation from Israel and retaliatory action from Iran. We've gone further than that at this point. Thank you.

Iran says the U.S. is complicit in Friday's Israeli strikes. Ahead, we look into how much the White House knew in advance of Israel's attacks.

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ANDERSON: Attacks and counterattacks between Israel and Iran raising fears of a wider war in the Middle East. One missile hit a residential area just south of Tel Aviv. Two people were killed and 19 wounded in the past hours. Rescue crews are searching for any residents who might be trapped under rubble.

Well, other strikes in Israel killed one person and wounded dozens more. Iran says it was targeting Israeli military centers and air bases.

Well, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone on Friday. The U.S. says it was not part of the Friday attack on Iran. But questions remain over just how much the U.S. administration knew before Israel's initial strike. CNN's Kristen Holmes has more from the White House for you.

(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. 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.

[04:20:03]

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, Leslie Vinjamuri is director of the U.S. and America's Programme at Chatham House. She joins us now live from Prague.

And there are a number of outstanding questions, not least who knew what and when. Let's start with the U.S. administration.

And what's your sense at this point?

LESLIE VINJAMURI, CHATHAM HOUSE: Well, we don't know. I think there is a strong sense that the U.S., if it didn't -- if it didn't greenlight this, certainly yellow-lighted it up and had some level of awareness.

But again, it's a little bit murky at this point. And, you know, for a -- for a president who is trying to play multiple cards -- that's president Trump -- to be the peacemaker, the unifier, as he said in his inaugural address, who clearly wants to maintain very strong support for Israel.

But has really wanted to get a deal not only for Hamas and Israel but, in recent weeks, trying to push more for a deal on Iran and the nuclear card. None of this looks like it is playing to the president's agenda.

ANDERSON: Well, that diplomatic off ramp, which, by the way, the Iranians are keeping open in that they have said, just in the past couple of hours, that they haven't closed the door on talks in Oman on Sunday with Steve Witkoff and his team.

That diplomatic off ramp would be certainly a pathway that Gulf leaders, particularly the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, and the leader here, Mohammed bin Zayed, in Abu Dhabi, will be keenly pushing for.

And Donald Trump, of course, they have his ear. He wants to stay close with his allies here in the Gulf, just as, of course, he wants to be seen to be supporting Israel.

Just how much influence do you believe this Gulf region has on Washington at this point?

VINJAMURI: Clearly, we've seen, through president Trump's recent travels to the region, that he sees these relationships as absolutely top drawer for the United States.

But again, when we think about what the president is trying to achieve in the region, yes; he understands that he needs the Gulf actors to be -- the Gulf states and their leaders to be on his side.

He should recognize that that's become extremely difficult, given the position of their publics in the -- and the -- and given the devastation that we're seeing in Palestine.

I think, you know, if there were to be negotiations, there's a real question of, you know, what leverage does the U.S. bring?

What are its goals?

What is it asking from Iran?

If it takes a maximalist position, very difficult to see Iran agreeing to that. And really, in any negotiation, the U.S. should be exercising leverage not only against Iran but against Israel.

If it wants to see any kind of deal for Iran in this context, that seems extremely difficult for the U.S. to deliver on. And this is a president also, who, as we know, is facing multiple wars, multiple conflicts and has a very hollowed-out and weakened foreign policy team in the United States.

ANDERSON: I want to remind our viewers, because we can get quite complacent about these things, 30 hours into those initial reports of attacks by Israel on Iran, we are literally still getting reports of incoming fire from Iran on Israel. And we've seen the images overnight of missile attacks on key cities in Israel.

And so we are still getting reports of outbound operations from Israel into Iran. This is an ongoing operation and we will go further than that and suggest this is this is all-out war at this point. And it is -- we are being warned from both sides that this could go on for some time.

VINJAMURI: Absolutely. I mean, the risk here is extraordinary. The risk, of course, of the U.S. entering more directly into this war, which would lead to -- which would be a dramatic escalation.

[04:25:00]

That, of course, is what Donald Trump has not wanted to do. There are some in his, you know, who have his ear, who have pushed for that, many others who have pushed very hard against it. But it would be a very dramatic escalation.

We've seen, as you just reported, that the U.S. is helping to protect Israel because it has interests within Israel, not least American citizens but to -- but I anticipate the U.S. trying to really hold back.

This is a time when we need extraordinarily rigorous, serious and determined and incisive U.S. leadership to de-escalate a very hot situation. And that, again, it requires a deterrence that is directed both at Iran and at Israel.

And alongside this, the second track, which seems increasingly implausible in the short term, which is to pursue a negotiation, the goals of which are not clear, and they're certainly not aligned by the by the relevant parties.

ANDERSON: Yes, I would argue that we need that robust, you know, rigorous, sophisticated leadership, not just in Washington, as you rightly point out, but in Tel Aviv and in Tehran, as we sit at what is such a difficult stage in all of this.

Leslie, it's good to have you. Thank you very, very much indeed for joining us.

Right. You're watching CNN breaking news. When we return, I'm going to speak with a military analyst about Israel's strategy behind these attacks, get his perspective on what Iran is thinking and the ongoing retaliation from Tehran.

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ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson and you're watching CNN. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world.

All eyes on the Middle East right now as Israel and Iran ramp up attacks on each other. More explosions heard overnight in Tehran and in Tel Aviv as both sides traded missile strikes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANDERSON (voice-over): Well, video shows an apartment building sustained significant damage after that strike in central Tel Aviv. At least three people have been killed in Israel and dozens more injured, according to authorities.

A short time ago, the Israeli military says it intercepted Iranian drones after warning sirens sounded near the border with Jordan. This is ongoing as we speak. Iranian state media reporting Iran shot down Israeli drones that crossed its northwestern border.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Israel's spy agency, the Mossad, has pulled back the curtain just a little bit on what was the sophisticated intelligence operation behind those strikes against Iran.

They shared video 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. More now from CNN's Matthew Chance.

(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.

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)

[04:35:09]

ANDERSON: Well, 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, injuring more than 320.

Well, CNN's Clarissa Ward has more from her vantage point, which is 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 offramp on the table at the moment for either side.

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ANDERSON: That's Clarissa Ward reporting.

For more perspective, we're joined by Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst in defense strategy and capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

And it's good to have you here. Clarissa noting that this feels very different. And those I've spoken to in Tel Aviv today, those that my team has spoken to in Iran and around the region, agree with that.

How do you assess, Malcolm, from a military perspective, what is going on here?

MALCOLM DAVIS, SENIOR ANALYST, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Yes, look, I think that is correct. This time around neither side can afford to back off. Neither side is really seeking to manage the actions that they're doing in order to create off ramps.

Instead, the Israelis recognize that they have a window of opportunity to deal, certainly, a death blow to the Iranian nuclear ambitions but also potentially to create the conditions, whereby some sort of color revolution could occur that could lead to regime change and remove the Iranian regime once and for all.

From the Iranian perspective, they can't afford to back down, either. They can't afford to be seen to essentially surrender. That would be the end of the regime themselves. So neither side really has an off ramp and neither side is seeking an off ramp.

ANDERSON: Well, that off ramp is out there as a possibility. And it is these U.S.-Iran talks. The Iranians have not closed the door to turning up in Oman for the sixth wave of those talks, not yet at least. We've heard from the foreign ministry today that that the decision hasn't been taken.

And you could argue that, if Benjamin Netanyahu, if this was all about not wanting Iran to have a nuclear weapon, well, the JCPOA was preventing that. Obama had already put something in place for that. And Netanyahu convinced Donald Trump to pull out of that.

And then these ongoing talks are an effort to ensure that the regime doesn't have a nuclear weapon going forward and indeed may not even be able to enrich going forward. And these attacks may just scupper that.

So from your perspective, I know you're a military man.

But when you look at that potential for a diplomatic off ramp and you look at the timing of these attacks, where's your head?

DAVIS: Look, in terms of the original JCPOA, yes, it was -- it was a good agreement.

[04:40:00]

The problem was that it had a big Achilles heel in the sense that it sunsetted by about the early 2030s and removed all the constraints on the Iranian regime.

So that -- at that point they could very quickly move from within the constraints of the JCPOA to break out and get nuclear weapons. And I think that was the key disagreement of the Netanyahu government about that.

Now the current negotiations that the Trump administration were engaged in were focusing on trying to prevent the Iranians from having an enrichment capability. And as everyone knows, enrichment is the pathway to Iran having nuclear weapons.

The Iranians in the last few weeks have made it clear that they are not prepared to accept any agreement that denies them enrichment. That is the problem. And I think that is why the Israelis took this action now, because they recognized that the diplomacy was falling apart. It was not working.

And Iran was moving ever closer to nuclear weapons, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. That was a situation that the Israelis deemed unacceptable. So we're back then to the military situation that we have now, where neither side really can back down.

And there's no real effective diplomatic path, in my opinion, forward. If we go back into negotiations, the Trump administration is simply going to say no enrichment. And the Iranians are going to say that's unacceptable. So we're back to square one.

ANDERSON: Good to have you, Malcolm. Thank you.

Malcolm Davis is live in Canberra, Australia, for you.

And this news just coming in to CNN. Iranian state media reporting that 60 people -- 60 people, including 20 children, were killed in an Israeli strike on a residential building in Tehran. Iranian television showed live images of workers removing debris from the site of a 14- story building. Several bodies reportedly remain under the rubble.

And we will get you further details as they become available.

All right, well, I'll be back at the top of the hour with more of our breaking news coverage from here in the Middle East. But for now, Lynda Kinkade picks up things from Atlanta. Lynda.

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Thanks very much, Becky.

Well, here in the U.S., the nation's capital is preparing for a major military parade in the coming hours. Officially, it celebrates the Army's birthday and, coincidentally, the president's 79th. We'll have the details next.

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KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade.

In the coming hours, as Donald Trump celebrates his birthday, cities and towns across the U.S. expect to see a wave of protests. The No Kings day of defiance has been organized to reject the Trump administration and its policies.

Organizers say more than 2,000 events are planned on Saturday but that there are -- they are committed to nonviolence. In New York, police say more than a dozen different demonstrations are planned across the city. Authorities expect the groups to converge and make their way to Foley Square.

L.A. officials say at least 30 protests are planned for the metropolitan area. The city's mayor said the ongoing curfew is making a difference. Karen Bass told reporters at a Friday night news conference that there is no set date to end the curfew but added that, once ICE raids stop, quote, "the curfew will go away" in short order.

Well, as protesters march, soldiers will be doing the same in Washington, D.C., in what will be the largest display of military might since the end of the first Gulf War back in 1991. Officially, the parade celebrates the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary but it also coincides with president Donald Trump's 79th birthday. CNN's Brian Todd reports.

(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.

[04:50:00]

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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Dozens of veterans and military family members were arrested outside the U.S. Capitol on Friday night. Law enforcement authorities said some 60 people crossed a police line. They were part of a larger group that was demonstrating peacefully at the Supreme Court building.

The veterans and their families are protesting against today's military parade, as well as the deployment of the National Guard and the active duty Marines in Los Angeles.

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khaleh will stay behind bars in the U.S. A federal judge ruled on Friday that the Trump administration can keep him in detention as he fights possible deportation. His lawyers asked the judge to release him on a bond.

The judge found the government was wrong to detain him on the basis that his presence is against the national interest but he ruled they could hold him for allegedly failing to meet application requirements for permanent residency in the U.S.

Well, turning now to the Air India disaster, grief-stricken families are being asked for DNA samples to help identify loved ones. Investigators searching the wreckage have now uncovered the plane's voice and data recorders.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner went down just minutes after takeoff from the airport in Ahmedabad on India on Thursday. Officials say at least 290 people on the plane were killed. Incredibly, there was one survivor from that devastating crash. CNN's Tom Foreman has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Everything happened in front of my eyes. I don't believe how I survived."

In his first televised interview since the catastrophic crash, the sole survivor, Vishwashkumar Ramesh, told his harrowing tale of walking away from the wreckage to Indian public broadcaster Doordarshan.

Describing the first signs of trouble on a packed plane beginning its long trip to London.

"After the takeoff, within a minute, it felt like the plane came to a standstill for 5-10 seconds," he says.

"The green and white lights turned on in the flight. I could feel the engine thrust increasing to go up. but it crashed."

Ramesh is a British national who was returning home from India, traveling with his brother, who, some report, was seated on the opposite side of the plane. A cousin thinks otherwise.

AJAY VALGI, RAMESH'S COUSIN: Yes. They were sitting next to each other but we don't know what happened to his brother.

FOREMAN (voice-over): He is now being counted among the at least 290 people lost on the plane and ground.

So how was Ramesh alone spared?

Evidence points to his window seat in the first row of the economy section, 11A. There, he had a clear view of the flight attendant service area, where he says he saw crew members and others trapped and dying on the right side of the plane, which he believes was crushed up against a building.

But his seat, critically, was at an exit door on the left.

"When my door broke," he told Indian TV, "I tried to escape through a little space and I did. I don't know how."

In the fireball that followed impact, Ramesh notes he burned his hand. Otherwise, doctors say this man, who miraculously emerged from an inferno, is doing remarkably well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is very comfortable and under strict observation. No issues.

FOREMAN: This man will undoubtedly be a huge help to investigators, too, who often have no eyewitnesses to such events.

[04:55:04]

Let alone one who literally fell from the sky -- Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well, that wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Becky Anderson and I will be back with much more news after a short break. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.