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Suspect In Minnesota Lawmaker's Killing Is Captured; Israel And Iran Broaden Attacks As Conflict Enters Fourth Day; Israel: At least Five Killed In Latest Iranian Strike; Israel Urges World Leaders To Denuclearize Iran; J.J. Spaun Wins 125th U.S. Open. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired June 16, 2025 - 01:00   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: This is CNN Breaking News.

BEN HUNTE, CNN HOST: Hello wherever you are in the world. You are now in the CNN Newsroom with me, Ben Hunte in Atlanta. And we're beginning with breaking news in Minnesota when a 57-year-old suspect in the killing of a state lawmaker has been caught.

The police chief called it the largest manhunt in the state's history. Investigators say they are interviewing Vance Boelter at a law enforcement facility after his arrest in rural Sibley County. Authorities believe that he acted alone. He's the suspect in two separate shootings targeting Minnesota state lawmakers in their homes. Melissa Hortman and her husband were both killed early on Saturday morning. She was a top Democrat in the Minnesota House.

Officials say state Senator John Hoffman and his wife were also shot, but they survived the attack and are recovering. Police say Boelter crawled to law enforcement officers as the searchers closed in on him. Governor Tim Walz was one of the speakers who gave an update. A news just last hour, law enforcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D) MINNESOTA: Have apprehended Vance Boelter. That's 48 hours that law enforcement involved in a complex and dangerous manhunt spent Father's Day away from their families to deliver justice for Melissa and Mark Hortman and their children who spent this Father's Day alone.

To the law enforcement who stand here and the hundreds who are involved in this, the state of Minnesota owes you a deep grit of gratitude. Thank you. You ran towards the danger and you served the state of Minnesota. This is a great example of coordination and collaboration.

Multiple agencies, federal, state and local coordinating together in a way to protect the public and close this hunt around. Multiple agencies were there as FBI laid hands on it and Minnesota State Patrol put the handcuffs on. One man's unthinkable actions have altered the state of Minnesota.

Melissa Hortman was the core of who our values were. She had a hand in so many things that happened. The building that we stand in she helped usher through so that we could respond from the state emergency operations center with the professionalism and giving the tools necessary to law enforcement to do their job.

To Melissa and Mark's family, I cannot fathom your pain and the grief that you're going through. We'll take solace in the memory and the work that Melissa did. And you can rest assured that we will put every ounce of effort that the state of Minnesota has to make sure that justice is served and the individual responsible for this serves the time for the unspeakable act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Let's dig deeper into this. Steve Moore is a CNN law enforcement contributor and retired FBI supervisory special agent. He's joining us now from LA. Let's get straight into this. Thank you so much for being with me.

We saw the press conference just over an hour ago and we learned that the suspect was taken into custody within 43 hours of the incident. And officials called this the largest manhunt in the state's with hundreds of detectives solely working on this case. What were some of your big takeaways from the press conference we saw?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Ways were that he had planned the crime so well that he hadn't planned his escape hardly at all. I mean, he had a second car that he could take away, but he didn't do anything imaginative, he didn't do anything tricky. And I believe that they had a line on him at least as far as people he was talking to early on. I'm kind of surprised at his lack of preparation for evasion.

HUNTE: Wow. Well, let's talk a bit more about that. What made this suspect so difficult to find?

MOORE: Well, what happened, Ben, is you've got this huge area. I mean, the attack happened in one area. But logically, once you haven't found him for six to 12 hours, you have to assume that he's gone into a much larger perimeter, which could include parts of Wisconsin, parts of Iowa, things like that.

And so, what was crucial is finding the car. And that was good police work.

[01:05:00]

And then you can again dial in to a focus in on a much smaller area, which means you can bring immense resources into that small area. It's really not even useful to try to search an entire state with the equipment you have. But I believe they had aircraft, I believe they had all sorts of electronic aids working with them once they found the vehicle. HUNTE: And were just seeing on the screen the photo of the moment that

the suspect was arrested. Can you just talk us through what your first thoughts are when you saw that picture and what's going to happen to him next?

MOORE: It brings back memories. What apparently happened is he was at least cited by -- I'm suspecting he was cited by airplanes using FLIR equipment and the FBI SWAT was brought in. If you saw they were wearing night vision goggles, they probably used a lot of technology to locate him. Then they called him out. That was the crawling part. Crawl to us, don't walk to us.

And what comes now is kind of tricky because it's whether you're going to prosecute him for murder under Minnesota law or you're going to prosecute him possibly for terrorism under federal law. And the issue there is that Minnesota does not have a death penalty, but federal terrorism does.

HUNTE: Wow. And while the suspect for this incident is now in custody, he did create a so called kill list of other people who he could have targeted. So what happens to them now? Are those people now out of some sort of danger?

MOORE: You know, I believe they are. You know, I know that it's easy for me to say they're the ones whose name were on the list and I certainly can't imagine what that was like for them. But I think they've got him. I think the police and the law and FBI are going to go through and determine and assure themselves that there is no -- there are no accomplices, that this was a lone wolf attack.

But I will tell you this, I think this was a serious, you know, obviously it was serious, but I think everybody on the list was potential because he didn't have people in New York or Los Angeles or things like that where people who don't like progressives or leftists would have targeted. He had a functional list that was within driving distance basically of his house.

HUNTE: OK, Steve Moore, we're going to be speaking to you, I'm sure a lot more over the next few hours. For now, appreciate it. Thank you being with us.

MOORE: Thank you.

HUNTE: We are also following breaking news in Israel this hour where at least four people have been killed and dozens injured in the latest round of missile strikes launched by Iran. Israel's National Emergency Service says multiple locations were hit on Monday morning.

Strikes were heard around the Tel Aviv area along with warning sirens. Central Israel's power grid was also damaged in the latest of the back and forth strikes over the weekend. Here's what we know, Iran's state affiliated news agency confirmed an Israeli strike in Tehran on Sunday resulted in the deaths of two high ranking officials, the intelligence chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and his deputy general.

At least 224 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since Friday, according to Iran's Ministry of Health. Israeli officials say at least 18 people have been killed there since Iran's retaliation began.

The IDF targeted multiple weapons production sites in Iran on Sunday, including a site that produces navigation and missile systems, one that makes fuel for various types of missiles and another that produces missile engines. Israel's military chief of staff says strikes will only get more intense from here.

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LT. GEN. EYAL ZAMIR, CHIEF OF STAFF, ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES (through translator): We will continue to intensify our operations and in doing so strengthen our security for years to come. Defending our home front is a critical component of this campaign. As I told you from the beginning, there will be difficult moments. We are in the midst of a challenge unlike those we have faced in the past. We knew there would be a price and it underscores why we act now before it became too late.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Iran's president says their response will escalate, threatening more innocent lives.

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MASOUD PEZESHKIAN, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Israel knows no boundaries. They intrude wherever they want with permission from America. We are by no means seeking to expand the war, but naturally, as our army, our powerful IRGC and our dear people have shown appropriate responses have been given so far. The more they try to escalate, naturally the responses will become tougher and more severe. More innocent people may lose their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Well, Jeremy Diamond was at the scene of one missile strike in Tel Aviv and fired this report just a short while ago.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: I'm at the site of an Iranian ballistic missile attack in central Tel Aviv. This ballistic missile struck this area in the early hours of this morning, severely damaging three residential buildings right behind me. As you can see in this whole street is littered with debris as rescue crews move in and out, still trying to assess the damage to find anybody who might be trapped under the rubble and also to get people out of their apartments.

There are also folks who have arrived here to try and get back inside to get some of their belongings and to make sure that their loved ones are OK. This is one of four ballistic missile attack sites in central Tel Aviv alone. In addition, there was a ballistic missile attack in northern Israel in Haifa as well.

More than 70 people were injured in these attacks according to Magen David Adom, Israel's National Rescue Services. And of course, we are seeing that these attacks are continuing to escalate and concern is rising here in Israel about the number of casualties and how many more may come. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: OK, still to come tonight, leaders of the world's largest economies are gathering in Canada and the Israel Iran conflict is expected to take center stage there. More on that just ahead.

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HUNTE: A day of death and destruction in Tel Aviv and Tehran due to the conflict between Israel and Iran. Four people were killed in Israel, according to emergency workers, after a barrage of missiles fell in multiple sites around Tel Aviv overnight. Residential areas were among the locations hit. Explosions and fire were seen, and a CNN correspondent saw one residential building that partially collapsed.

It comes after Israel carried out a series of strikes on Iran on Sunday. Iran's state affiliated news agency confirmed that two high ranking officials were killed. The intelligence chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and his deputy.

At least 224 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes since Friday, according to Iranian authorities. Well, let's dig deeper with Alon Pinkas. He's formerly served as the Israeli Consul General in New York, and he joins me live from Tel Aviv.

Thanks so much for being with me. Let's get into this. So Israel is still processing the trauma of October 7th, and now we're seeing images of fire literally raining from the skies. Is the country actually ready for the psychological toll of even more destruction and even more deaths?

ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL-GENERLA: The short answer is no. But, you know, the public is always resilient in these instances. But any way you look at it, Ben, it depends on the, you know, on the durations.

I mean, if we're going to have five, six, ten more nights like last night, then my answer to you would probably be somewhat different. People will question the wisdom of this entire war. People will ask, what exactly is the political objective? And people will be asking, why has all this settled into a cyclical status quo? Meaning Israel is attacking targets during the day. Iran is launching salvos of missiles that are pretty effective during the night.

Yet Iran's nuclear, military nuclear program has not been eliminated. If this goes on, if this status quo settles in, then the national psyche will change, obviously. HUNTE: Iran's retaliation was massive. Hundreds of drones and

ballistic missiles. How alarmed should we be by Iran's current ability to strike back? And what does it reveal about the country's military strength right now?

PINKAS: Well, I think, you know, even before the war, Israel knew how many and what type of missiles that they have. And, you know, people need to understand our viewers, that is. But these are not the rockets that were lobbed, thousands of which were lobbed from Gaza from October 23rd until recently. Those rockets are deadly, yes, but they are inaccurate and they tend to explode in the air and so on.

We're talking here about hundreds, perhaps thousands of ballistic missiles. Some of some are cruise missiles. And Iran even has supersonic missiles that to the best of my knowledge, have not been used yet, but I don't know if that is necessarily the case.

And so people knew -- when I say people, it's not just the public, obviously, decision makers and the military intelligence in particular, they knew. But if you've noticed something very peculiar, Ben, that until now, Israel is not targeting in a massive way Iran's military.

It is, you know, naval bases, air force fields, airfields and army bases. What Israel is targeting are either Iranian Revolutionary Guard installations, which is paramilitary, it's a political military wing of the regime and the military nuclear uranium enrichment, to be exact, infrastructure.

And so these missiles, while Israel is trying to get to them before they are launched, we knew that this would be coming. On top of that, it's always good to remember that, you know, Iran is not next door. Unlike Gaza or even Lebanon, Iran is 1,000 miles away. And to sustain an aerial campaign a thousand miles away when aircraft are carrying both fuel and very heavy munition payloads, that's a very difficult thing to say.

And Israel doesn't have, you know, thousands of jets. So you have to assume that some missiles statistically are going to penetrate the air defenses. And Iran's capability or ability, going back to your question, to launch them, I don't want to say remains intact, but it's still very formidable.

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HUNTE: What do you think Israel's real endgame is right now? Is it still just about dismantling Iran's nuclear program or has this operation evolved into something much bigger?

PINKAS: That's a very good question, because my answer is I don't know. And I don't know because I don't think, Ben, there is a political end to this. Now, supposedly, ostensibly, Israel's aim here was a preemptive strike against Iran's nuclear program, which was on the precipice of breaking out from being a so called threshold state into a matter of weeks or months that they can manufacture a bomb. But there was another issue here, and that was the nuclear talks that

were going on in Oman that President Trump engaged Iran in. And Israel felt whether it was right or wrong depends on how you see this. Israel thought that if negotiations proceed, it'll essentially be going back to the Obama agreement of 2015.

I mean, with all the bluster, and I'm a great deal maker, and I'm the great Donald Trump nonsense, this deal would have been basically going back to the deal that the same Trump abandoned or unilaterally withdrew from in 2018. So the idea behind this was to strike as much as possible.

Bear in mind, Ben, that Israel cannot dismantle, cannot eliminate Iran's nuclear infrastructure, because some of it, particularly the enrichment facility in Fordow, which is just south of the capital, Tehran, that is not only fortified, but it is dug very deep, 80 meters, almost 90 yards down into a mountain.

And in order to neutralize that, in order to destroy that, you need munitions that Israel doesn't have and the ability to carry them with bombers that Israel doesn't have. So going back, my too long of answer to you.

I think that Israel's political -- Mr. Netanyahu's political game here, political objective here, was to lure or drag the U.S. into the war. Now, if that results in regime change, that would be a bonus according to Mr. Netanyahu. But I don't think that was the explicit aim or objective at the outset.

HUNTE: You kind of just touched on it. But I want to ask anyway, President Trump said this week that talking can still work. In your view, how realistic is that? Does anybody actually believe that has potential?

PINKAS: There are two ways of looking at it. The good news is that he's the President of the United States of America. And if he wants -- if he puts his mind to it and applies the necessary pressures and presents Iran with some kind of a so called off ramp or a golden bridge, some plan that is both face saving and respectable, yet at the same time ends the war, he can do this.

On the other hand, there's also bad news because this is Donald Trump. And he said the same thing about Ukraine, about the war in Ukraine, that it should stop, and then said that I can stop it in 24 hours. And six months later, guess what? He didn't. And he said that the war in Gaza should stop immediately. And guess what? Six months later, it didn't.

My point is, yes, there is room to do this. But if you notice, and I'm sure you have been, Trump says two different things every day. It begins with, the war must stop and we need to start talking. And then it ends with, well, perhaps, you know, sometimes two nations need to fight it out and the Iranians should know that more is coming. So which Donald Trump are you going to pay attention to here? It's very difficult, almost impossible to, you know, to analyze this rationally. HUNTE: Learn so much from that. We appreciate it. And this is only beginning. So we are definitely going to be speaking to you again soon. Alon Pinkas, thank you so much for now. I appreciate it.

PINKAS: Thank you, Ben. Good.

HUNTE: OK. It's still ahead. Police catch the suspect in the Minnesota shootings. The latest on the arrest and investigation when we come back.

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HUNTE: Welcome back. I'm Ben Hunte updating you on the breaking news from Minnesota. The capture of the suspect in the killing of a Minnesota state representative and her husband. Police say the two-day manhunt ended without violence or injury. This is how a member of the Minnesota State Patrol described the arrest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY GEIGER, MINNESOTA STATE PATROL: The Minnesota State Patrol along with countless other partners were responsible for this arrest. The collaborative effort, I cannot stress enough how outstanding that was, helped ensure the suspect's arrest did not result in the injury of any law enforcement that was down there and in the area.

We had special response teams on the scene 200 streets in Sibley County, several partner law enforcement SWAT teams positioned to form a perimeter at that point in time. The State Patrol also provided the air support that was talked about earlier today.

The suspect crawled to law enforcement teams and was placed under arrest. At that point in time, there was no use of force by any member of law enforcement that was out there and the suspect was taken into custody without any use of force.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: And now to the conflict between Israel and Iran. The two sides traded attacks on Sunday with more death and destruction on both sides.

A barrage of missiles fell around Tel Aviv overnight. The missiles landed in multiple locations in and around Tel Aviv, including in residential areas. Five people were killed according to emergency workers, bringing the total in Israel to 19 since the strikes began.

A CNN correspondent saw that one residential building had partially collapsed. Rescue workers combed through the rubble looking for survivors.

Earlier, Israel killed two high ranking Iranian officials in a series of strikes. On Sunday, Iran's state affiliated news agency confirmed the death of the intelligence chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and his deputy general.

[01:30:06]

And Israel now says it has struck command centers belonging to the Quds Force, a clandestine wing of the IRGC. At least 224 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes since Friday, according to Iranian authorities.

Let's dig deeper. CNN's Paula Hancocks joins me from Abu Dhabi. Paula, things are moving so quickly across the region. What's the latest that you're seeing now?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Ben, what we're seeing and we'll start in Israel is that as light has broken, the police, the military are trying to find those that may potentially be trapped in the rubble of buildings that have been impacted.

Now, we saw in the early hours that barrage of hundreds of missiles that hit different areas. We know that there was central Israel, coastal Israel that was impacted. And also, as you mentioned there, Tel Aviv as well.

So the cleanup has started, but also search and rescue to see if there are any more survivors in any of those buildings that have been impacted.

Now, we know that also in Haifa, which is further north along the coast, there are a number of fires that are still burning there. Over the weekend, there were attacks from Iran which affected close to one of the oil refineries in Haifa as well.

We've been hearing from the chief of staff of the Israeli military saying that from their point of view, the military operation that Israel is carrying out in Iran is only going to get more significant, saying that it will strengthen the security of Israel for years to come.

But of course, what this means for people in Iran, particularly in Tehran, is that they have been impacted by the airstrikes that we have been seeing over recent days.

We're seeing gridlock on the streets of Tehran as residents are desperately trying to leave the city and to head north towards the Caspian Sea.

It's a more rural area, more isolated, where they believe they will be safe. And we know that that there is gridlock at gas stations and a real panic to try and get out of the city center.

Now, Israel has warned Iranian residents that if they are living close to a weapons production facility, then they should evacuate immediately. That was a warning that came Sunday and then just a matter of hours later, Iran -- Tehran gave a similar warning, saying that if residents of Israel are living near any military installations, they too should evacuate, both claiming that they are targeting the military aspects of the other country. But as we are seeing, many residents are being caught up in the

violence, Ben.

HUNTE: And just tell me, what's your sense of Israel's real end game here? Is it a clearly-defined military goal or potentially something bigger? And is it actually achievable in the short term, or could we be looking at a much longer confrontation?

HANCOCKS: Well, there was talk at the beginning from the Israeli prime minister of this lasting days. I think the sense now is that it will be longer than days.

This is the fourth day already that we're seeing these attacks happen. Israel publicly says that its end game is to set back, if not destroy, the nuclear program of Iran. Now, they have said Israeli officials and the prime minister that there's an existential threat to Israel and that that Iran was getting close to really the point of no return.

They haven't provided the evidence of exactly what triggered this decision. But certainly Israel felt that now was the time to act.

Now of course, whether or not that is possible to destroy the nuclear program completely, it is -- it is unlikely, according to most experts.

Certainly if Israel is just using its own weapons and is just the only player that is -- that is fighting against Iran. If the U.S. doesn't get involved with certain aircraft, with its bunker busters, which could target the underground elements of the nuclear program, then they are unlikely to be able to destroy it single-handedly.

Now we have seen the latest satellite images from Natanz, for example, the largest part of the -- of the nuclear program in Iran.

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HANCOCKS: We understand from these images there is damage and much of the above ground facilities there have been destroyed, the electrical infrastructure. And this is where they are -- Tehran was enriching uranium.

But of course, over the years Iran has been building and shoring up its uranium enrichment facilities and many parts of its nuclear program underground to try and keep it safer from these airstrikes.

So there is an overwhelming feeling that there will need to be participation from the United States with these bunker buster bombs to be able to destroy the program completely, if that is even possible.

Bear in mind that Israel has carried out a number of airstrikes targeting the missile production facilities, the missile launchers, and yet Tehran is still able to launch hundreds of missiles, ballistic missiles against Israel.

Israel has been targeting the top military leadership in Iran, and yet they are still able in Tehran, to organize themselves to carry out these salvos against Israel, Ben.

HUNTE: Ok. Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi, thank you. I'm sure we'll be speaking to you again within the next few hours. Appreciate it.

Coming up, Donald Trump is in Canada for the G7 summit, where leaders are expected to address the growing crisis between Israel and Iran. That's coming up.

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HUNTE: Welcome back.

As Iran and Israel escalate airstrikes against one another, Israel is urging the international community to denuclearize Iran.

On Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited the site of a deadly Iranian strike in the city of Bat Yam. He demanded leaders attending the G7 summit to take a stronger stand against Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISAAC HERZOG, ISRAELI PRESIDENT: I call upon the leadership of the free world. You really want to deescalate? Then enable. Enable to -- enable us and work with us to get the nukes out of Iran. The nuclear capability, the nuclear technology, its risk to the world and of course, its missile capability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: The Israel-Iran conflict is expected to be the top issue at this week's G7 summit in Canada. U.S. President Donald Trump has just arrived there.

CNN's Kevin Liptak has the latest for us.

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KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: The G7 this week here in Canada will be the first international summit of President Trump's second term and it will be a good window into how he plans to use these international gatherings to address some of the world's stickiest issues, the biggest of which is this conflict between Israel and Iran. That will really be the overhang.

I think a lot of the world leaders who are gathering here want to hear out and suss out President Trump on exactly how he sees that conflict going.

Of course, he says that he thinks there is still room for diplomacy, but there are a lot of questions about how exactly that would proceed.

And in fact, earlier Sunday, President Trump said that he thought the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, might be able to mediate this conflict. But already at least one other G7 leader, the French President Emmanuel Macron, has said that he doesn't think that that's a workable option. So already you see some differences emerging even before the summit begins.

You know, discord and acrimony really colored these kinds of summits during President Trump's first term in office. And I'm thinking specifically back to the last time Canada hosted a G7 back in 2018, kind of the enduring image of that summit was of President Trump sort of glowering with his arms crossed. And the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, sort of leaning over him as they tried to hash out this joint statement that President Trump later tore up as he left the summit site.

The hosts of this week's gathering do want to avoid that open level of acrimony. And to that end, they don't plan on releasing a joint communique. They'll release some shorter individual statements instead.

And instead of sort of these large, lengthy group meetings that sort of go on and on, they're planning more one on one time for the president to meet some of his counterparts.

Of course, Ukraine will be a big topic at the G7, just as it has been for the last three years. President Trump has made clear his differences with some of the European leaders, particularly when it comes to applying new sanctions on Moscow.

Of course, trade talks are the other big topic that have caused divisions between President Trump and his counterparts. And we are approaching that July 9th deadline that the president has set to negotiate all of these new trade deals in order to avoid some of the harsh new tariffs.

And there are leaders here that are in active conversations with the president about trade, whether its Ursula Von Der Leyen, the president of the European commission, or Mexico's president Claudia Sheinbaum, who is an invited guest of this year's G7.

Now, whether President Trump is actually able to make progress on those trade deals or whether this will continue to be a point of contention I think remains to be seen.

But certainly it is a very stacked agenda for President Trump and his counterparts as they gather here in Canada for the G7.

Kevin Liptak, CNN -- near the G7 site in Alberta, Canada.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Let's dig deeper on that. Julien Barnes-Dacey is the Middle East and North Africa program director for the European Council on Foreign Relations, and he's joining me now from Madrid.

Julien, thanks for being with me.

This crisis will obviously dominate the summit. What are the real risks of escalation that G7 Leaders are trying to prevent, and why is there such urgency right now?

JULIEN BARNES-DACEY, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA PROGRAM DIRECTOR, EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Yes. I mean, we are in the middle of a -- of an ongoing war as we speak, and we can talk of escalation. The situation is already escalating on a day-by-day basis.

We see missiles flying past each other into the two respective countries, and obviously there is a significant concern that the wrong missile could widen the situation quite significantly, could either hit civilians.

There are stockpiles of weaponry on both sides that could really take us past the point of no return. So we are in a very dangerous moment here. We already have significant casualties, particularly on the Iranian side.

[01:44:48]

BARNES-DACEY: And for those that are looking for a diplomatic solution, for those that want a political pathway to get rid of Iranian nuclear capacity, there are concerns that this could be pushing the situation in the opposite direction.

HUNTE: While the G7 appears generally aligned behind Israel, is there a goal behind the scenes to lean on Trump, to press the Israelis to de-escalate at all? And is that even a realistic aim at the moment?

BARNES-DACEY: Well look, I think everyone understands that Trump is the only figure here who can put pressure on the Israelis to stop, if there is a desire to get the Israelis to stop.

And frankly, I'm not sure there is. There does seem to be a lot of international backing for what the Israelis are doing here, and we should be clear about that.

But even if there is a push to get to get Trump to try and lean on the Israelis, I don't think anyone really knows where Trump himself is.

One day he says he didn't know about the attacks. The other day, he seems to suggest that the Americans were partly behind this.

One day he's calling for a political deal. The next day he's saying they need to fight it out.

I think everyone is fairly lost, and I think that's why there is a lot of concern here. The Israelis are pounding away, but they don't seem to be having much success in terms of the nuclear capabilities.

There's a risk that Iran could continue to escalate with more ballistic missiles, and the Americans seem to be floating above this without much sense of a clear strategy.

HUNTE: Well, on that, how close are we to the U.S. being fully dragged into this? And what does the G7 hope to diplomatically do to avoid that? BARNES-DACEY: Well, I think the Israelis are now putting public and

private pressure, it would seem, on the Americans to get involved. It seems that there is a need for U.S. military capabilities to help target some of Iranian nuclear capabilities. Some of these bunker bombs that only the Americans can deploy usefully.

So I think people are very wary from the other side of the -- from the other countries that actually the Americans are going to get sucked into a wider conflict here.

Trump himself doesn't seem to want that right now. That seems to be one firm line for him not to have the Americans pulled in. And clearly there's a lot of pressure within his MAGA base not to draw the Americans into a new regional war. But it's a slippery slope.

And now that the Israelis are moving in and in and in, but unable to deal with the nuclear capabilities, it would seem so far, there will be potentially mounting pressure on Trump to get involved militarily.

HUNTE: And we've seen Trump mention how negotiations are key here. But do you think there actually is any pathway back to diplomacy, or has that door firmly shut for now?

BARNES-DACEY: Well, right here and now it seems shocked. But I think the reality is, is that there's a good chance that these strikes are going to push Iran to make a strategic decision to potentially weaponize its nuclear program more so than was previously the case.

So if the military strikes are unable to get rid of and firmly kill off Iran's nuclear program, then you're going to have to get a political deal to address that threat.

And I think eventually we're going to circle back around to that point. I think the question is how much damage, how much civilian casualties and how much of a wider regional war are we going to have to push on through before we get back to that point?

I mean, negotiations were supposed to happen on Sunday between the Americans and the Iranians. And I think one of the Israeli strategies here was actually to kill off those negotiations.

My view is that we need concerted international pressure to get us back to the political table, because if not, there's a real risk that Iran will choose to weaponize its nuclear program.

HUNTE: Ok. Well, Julien Barnes-Dacey, we'll see what happens. Thank you so much for joining us. For now, we appreciate it.

The U.S. Open -- A storybook finish for J.J. Spaun, whose stunning comeback delivered him the championship. Stay with us on CNN.

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HUNTE: J.J. Spaun won the 2025 U.S. Open thanks to a back 9 for the ages. The American clinched his first major title on Sunday at Oakmont Country Club with a dramatic finish following a chaotic final round.

CNN's Patrick Snell caught up with the new champion.

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PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORTS: J.J. Spaun, U.S. Open champion. How does that sound?

J.J. SPAUN, 2025 U.S. OPEN CHAMPION: It sounds amazing.

I would have never kind of thought that in my life. But, you know, I've kind of always had to battle and overcome adversity. And, you know, just about a year or two ago, I was struggling just to get into these championships. But here I am with my own trophy.

SNELL: We have to talk about a certain putt, that putt, an amazing finish. Take us through your emotions. And what were you thinking as you approach that putt to win it? What is surging through your mind?

SPAUN: So many things. I knew the importance of the putt. I didn't know exactly. I didn't want to look at the leaderboard because I still wanted to execute the putt how I would if it was, you know, during a practice day or on Thursday.

But it's funny, the last thing I said to myself before I stepped into my routine was, this is $100 make, which, you know, me and my caddie do for fun. During practice rounds, we go to random parts on the putting on the green during the practice round.

And you know, they're long -- 50 plus feet. And if you make one, you get 100 bucks. So you know, it was kind of like a fun little moment where I was like, ok, I've done this before because I've taken a few hundred bucks off of him making those putts.

SNELL: A fun little moment, but a life-changing moment for you.

SPAUN: Yes. I mean I think that's the best thing you can do in such a high intense pressure situation is just to try to dumb it down, to get you to feel comfortable and to, you know, still -- still want to perform how you'd like. But the expectation can make things even more tough.

So to have a little fun with it and have a nice little kind of thought before I ended up hitting the putt, I think could have been the key.

SNELL: Tell us what you've had to overcome along the way, because you once considered walking away from the sport. How tough did it get for you?

SPAUN: Yes, it's just such a mental grind. You're trying to not only play good golf, you're trying to be a dad trying to provide for your family. You're on the road 4 to 7 weeks in a row, not seeing your family. And it just takes its toll.

And, you know, sometimes you got to realize and have a good perspective on what matters most. [01:54:47]

SPAUN: And then, you know, eventually that can help you turn the corner on the things that you don't really expect, which for me was golf.

SNELL: Your big win coming on Fathers' Day. How special to share the moment with your loved ones.

SPAUN: Yes, it was unbelievable. It's kind of a story, you know, that you can't write any different script to see my girls there waiting for me at the end of the green, running into my arms. It's just everything that you've seen, you know, in past championships with fathers and their families.

So to have my own special moment with them is something I'll cherish forever.

SNELL: You're a major champion now. Where do you go from here? The bar is high. What are your goals? What do you think?

SPAUN: Disneyland. Who knows? I mean, it's so great to be in this kind of realm of golfers that have achieved major history. And I would have never thought that I would actually accomplish this. I've definitely dreamed it, but I would have never thought I'd be here. But I'm so grateful to be the U.S. Open champion.

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HUNTE: Ok, that's all we've got for you for now. Thanks for joining me for this hour. I'm ben Hunte in Atlanta.

I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after this quick break. See you in a moment.

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