Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Iranian Ballistic Missile Hit Tel Aviv Suburb; Iranian Capital Mostly Empty; Trump Weighs U.S. Involvement in Conflict; Hurricane Erick Threatens Mexico. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 19, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: Well, hello and welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and around the world. It is Thursday, June the 19th. I'm Becky Anderson at our Middle East programming headquarters in Abu Dhabi. Time here is 12:00 p.m. It is 11:00 a.m. in Tel Aviv. 11:30 a.m. in Tehran. And we are following breaking news out of the Middle East.

Here's what we know this hour, the latest Iranian strikes on Israel causing major damage in a Tel Aviv suburb and a hospital in Southern Israel. CNN is on the scene of a ballistic missile strike on a commercial area near Tel Aviv, home to Israel's Diamond District. You can see extensive damage to several buildings, debris on the streets as emergency workers tend to the injured. Israel's emergency services say at least 65 people were wounded and this and other attacks across the country in the past few hours.

Meanwhile, a hospital in the southern Israeli city of the Be'er Sheva was also extensively damaged and a 60-year-old woman wounded, according to authorities.

Israel's deputy foreign minister called it a deliberate attack on a civilian target and urged the world to speak out. All that has prompted top Israeli officials to instruct the military to, quote, "intensify strikes" against strategic targets in Iran. Earlier, Iranian state media reported attacks on the Arak heavy water reactor and nuclear facility to the southwest of Tehran.

U.S. President Donald Trump still refusing to say if American forces will get involved in this conflict. A source tells CNN the president has reviewed attack plans for Iran, but is holding off to see if Tehran steps back from its nuclear program.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Iran's got a lot of trouble and they want to negotiate. And I said, why didn't you negotiate with me before all this death and destruction.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have the Iranians reached out to you? TRUMP: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what did they say?

TRUMP: I said, it's very late, you know. I said, it's very late to be talking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, Iran's supreme leader warning of irreparable damage if the U.S. military gets involved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN: Surrender to what? The Iranian nation cannot be surrendered. We have not been subjected to anyone and we will not accept any kind of submission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: All right. Let's get you more information in detail on what has happened in the past couple of hours. I want to get you first to CNN's International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson. He is outside of that hospital that has been damaged in Be'er Sheva in Israel. Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Becky. I've just been talking to the leader of the Knesset here to get his assessment of what has happened. Literally spoke with him a couple of minutes ago. I think we have that video that we're able to bring to you right now. And my first question to him was, was this a direct hit or was it a result of intercepts and fragments hitting? He said it was a direct hit. This is what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was actually a direct impact right there on the hospital.

ROBERTSON: The Iranians say that there was an Israeli military base nearby. Where is it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you show me anywhere in this radius a military base? There is none.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So, what he and other government officials, as you have heard, the president as well, accusing Iran intentionally targeting a hospital. This is a hospital that serves a population of about a million people. I've been here before for other reporting at other times I've been to other locations that are close by here. And I have to say that in driving in and around here, I've never witnessed a collection of military or a military site nearby. We don't have vision of everything, of course, but that's just an observation.

As far as the casualties here, a concern. We understand that it was just one woman in her 60s who was lightly injured we were told by shrapnel. I found a piece of shrapnel lying around here just a minute or so ago, and it looked pretty large. And if somebody had been hit by it, it potentially would've been lethal.

[04:05:00]

We've seen while we've been here, some of the patients who were in the hospital being taken away by their families. Most hospitals or the majority of hospitals, particularly in urban centers over the past couple of days, have put their patients in the basements, in the car parks underneath the hospital. And the debris that could be seen inside here on the ground floor, at least, was broken glass, broken equipment, smoke in the corridors, rescue workers going through.

And I don't know if Sanjif (ph) on the spur of the moment here is going to be able to zoom in a little bit behind me, but there is an area in the center of the building between those two towers where you can sort of see the under part of a collapsed walkway there. Somebody walking across the walkway right now. So, the structure not that badly damaged, but we haven't yet been able to get inside the building there, haven't been able to look at other floors in the building, haven't been able to make a further assessment. But certainly at ground level, there was a lot of glass to be seen.

And I think by the fact that we've been -- that the leader at the Knesset has been here to speak, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national securities minister has been here as well, it -- and we've heard comments, you know, from the defense minister, the prime minister, to up the number of strikes on Iran now, to up the pace. I think -- and the way that the messaging around the hospital here is that it is clearly, according to Israeli officials, a direct strike not anything else, according to them, a direct intentional strike by Iran.

It is clear that this is really going to amp up the rhetoric, the strain on anyone trying to sort of bring about a ceasefire at the moment. When a hospital gets hit, it is emotive all round, and certainly, that's the case today, Becky.

ANDERSON: Good to have you, Nic. Thank you. Well, Nic Robertson in Be'er Sheva in Israel. Back to Nic as we move through the morning. Let's get you now to CNN's Jeremy Diamond also in Tel Aviv, who is standing by in the aftermath of a strike in a residential area. I understand, Jeremy, that the location is relatively close to the stock exchange for those who may know Tel Aviv. Just explain where you are and what you are seeing at this point. What happened?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are just on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, and you can see behind me this is the building that was struck by that Iranian ballistic missile. We actually went into the building. We were able to see the impact site, which was just on the side of this building, right where you can see that the whole facade here has been torn apart by the power of the blast of this ballistic missile.

And I think we can probably walk into this site as well. And I can show you a little bit the destruction that is all around here. You can see these vehicles that have been damaged by the power of this blast and debris lying on the road that would be leading to the underground parking lot beneath this building.

This is also, you know, a busy commercial residential area. The building that was struck has apartment buildings. It also has offices. And here you can see that there are shops. There's a barber shop right here that was damaged by the blast. A corner store, you know, where people might get their basic provisions.

Oh, my goodness. And as you can see, still quite a dangerous situation. Debris -- with debris still falling. That man was just struck actually by a falling -- I hope he's OK. He was just struck by a falling signage on the side here. So, you know, that's why we're wearing this helmet, this safety equipment, because we are still seeing windows falling, pieces of metal collapsing as well.

As rescue crews continue to work here, to not only clean up the debris, but to ensure that it is safe once again for people to walk here.

ANDERSON: Jeremy, can I ask, just -- you know, from those you are speaking to, clearly this is, you know, a site of extensive damage, what are people telling you about how they feel? I mean, this is pretty unprecedented stuff for us to see, or it's extremely unprecedented for us to see this sort of destruction in Tel Aviv from strikes.

DIAMOND: Absolutely. I mean, people in Tel Aviv have not seen you know, anything close to this level of destruction since the 1991 Gulf War when Scud missiles were fired on Tel Aviv. But already I think it's pretty clear that a week of Iranian ballistic missiles has already eclipsed the damage that people saw in 1991.

[04:10:00]

And we have seen at least two dozen people who have been killed as a result of these missiles as well. And that's why we are seeing Israelis, you know, treating this situation quite differently to rockets being fired from Hamas or rockets and missiles being fired by Hezbollah, and even the previous two barrages that we saw of Iranian ballistic missiles last year and then in October as well.

You know, we saw the last few days delivered much smaller barrages of ballistic missiles. We didn't see any casualties or fatalities for the three previous days. And then, today, we have seen now four different impact sites as a result of those Iranian ballistic missiles. And once again, a wakeup call to people that this certainly is not over, and that even as the Iranian ballistic missile capacity has been degraded, it certainly has not been destroyed altogether. And the Iranians today showing that they very much are still able to strike at Central Israel, including right here on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

ANDERSON: Yes, Jeremy, thank you. Jeremy is on the outskirts then of Tel Aviv. We've got a statement from the defense minister today, Israel's defense minister, after the strike, you have been -- we've been reporting on what he references, what he calls the cowardly Iranian launching, quote, "deliberate attacks at hospitals and residential buildings in Israel." And Israel Katz says that that's a war crime and that Khamenei will suffer for it. And he goes on to say, quote, "The prime minister and I instructed the IDF to intensify strikes against strategic targets in Iran and against government sites in Tehran in order to remove the threats facing the State of Israel and destabilize the Ayatollah's regime," he said, according to the statement.

Well, CNN Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen and photojournalist Claudia Otto are the first Western journalists to enter Iran since this conflict began Friday last week. They filed this report a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Last night we did see and hear a lot of anti-aircraft fire in the skies over Tehran. We also heard some thuds and impacts, although it's unclear whether or not those are potential Israeli airstrikes or whether or not that was Iranian air defenses at work, maybe air defense missiles being fired off by the Iranians. A lot of that happened towards the west of Tehran over there, where in the skies you could see that anti- aircraft gunfire bursting in the skies above the Iranian capital.

But it did also appear as though some of the thuds came from the north of the Iranian capital, right up there near the mountains. And that of course, is an area where there have been a couple of airstrikes since the Israelis began their aerial campaign a couple of days ago.

In general, on the ground here in Tehran, one thing that you notice is that the city is pretty empty. There's not many people who are on the streets. There are some people who are on the streets. Also, a lot of the shops do remain closed, but basic services are still very much working.

On the whole, we drove through a substantial part of the country to get here to the Iranian capital, and it appeared as though in most parts of the country, it is still business as usual. There was traffic on the streets, but not too much traffic. There were factories that still appeared to be working. There were trucks delivering goods. So, it certainly didn't appear as though there was any sort of panic here on the ground and that this society is being destabilized by that aerial campaign that is going on.

Of course, the Iranians have vowed to continue the fight. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying that the Iranian nation would never surrender. And of course, what we have been seeing over the past couple of days, as well, is the Iranians firing back, shooting missiles towards Israel.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Yes. That is Fred Pleitgen on the ground, first Western journalist, along with his photojournalist to get there since the attacks started for the strikes from Israel last Friday on Iran.

Well, still ahead. The U.S. president has a message for Israel, keep going. More on Donald Trump's comments as he weighs whether or not to intervene in the Israel Iran conflict that is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:15:00]

ANDERSON: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is thanking Donald Trump for, quote, "standing by Israel's side" amid the escalating conflict with Iran. U.S. president says he has encouraged Netanyahu to continue Israel's campaign, even as Trump himself weighs U.S. involvement. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more for you now from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: After one more meeting with his National Security Council, President Trump retired to the residents of the White House on Wednesday evening. We are told still not resolved what his plans will be in terms of the U.S. lending a hand to Israel's attack on Iran. Will the United States lend the firepower to decapitate and destabilize the Iran nuclear program? That's very much an open question.

Of course, President Trump began the day saying, I may do it, I may not do it. No one knows what I'm thinking. But he also, in the Oval Office on Wednesday, offered a window into his mindset heading into this major decision.

[04:20:00]

TRUMP: I have ideas as to what to do, but I haven't made it final. I like to make the final decision one second before it's due, you know? Because things change. I mean, especially with war, things change with war. It can go from one extreme to the other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Going from one extreme to another, that certainly is an understatement. But the weight of this decision clearly weighing on this president who has long campaigned against American engagement, particularly in the Middle East. His whole American first agenda, of course, was about, you know, not intervening in other country's affairs.

Of course, the president says keeping Iran from developing a nuclear bomb is very much in America's interests. But going forward here, I'm told some key questions are, can the U.S. authorize a strike? Can the president authorize a strike without entangling the U.S. government into a long, drawn out war? That is very much an open question.

Many advisers to the president believe he can indeed do that. But history is also on the other side of this. I'm also told that the aftermath of a strike is part of the president's decision making as well. What would go into that in terms of fortifying U.S. forces in the region, some 40,000 forces in the region.

So, the question here as the president weighs this big decision, will he listen to supporters of his who are urging him to strike at this opportunity or will he listen to some of his MAGA supporters who say, do not do this, or will he follow his own guidance? There's no doubt it's the biggest decision facing President Trump.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, as the Israeli-Iran conflict then shows no signs of slowing down, sources tell CNN that some U.S. embassy personnel and family members were evacuated from Israel on a U.S. military airplane on Wednesday. Embassy workers also left the country by land traveling to Jordan.

Meantime, the embassy in Israel says it has no announcements about assisting private U.S. citizens to leave Israel at this time. This comes after U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said the embassy was, quote, "working on evacuation flights and cruise ship departures for U.S. citizens."

All right. Joining me now from Hamburg in Germany is Dr. Ali Fathollah-Nejad. He is the founder and director of the Middle East -- or sorry, Center for Middle East and Global Order. It's good to have you, sir. First, your contacts on the ground in Iran, friends, family, associates, what are they telling you this hour?

DR. ALI FATHOLLAH-NEJAD, FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR MIDDLE EAST AND GLOBAL ORDER: Well, this hour, I'm not sure, but for the past few hours, you know, and also for the past few days and exactly since Sunday, there's a lot of worries of course from the societal perspective. Although, the Israeli operations may be targeted at regime installations and military installations, there are, of course, civilian ramifications from it. Because you have to understand that many of those installations are in civilian areas or during the short time, for instance, you know, the military facilities may have been outside of the city, but because of urban expansion, they've now, you know, inside the city.

And of course, daily life is extremely difficult in terms of social services. Things are very difficult. There's a sense of panic, especially in Tehran, but also in other major cities where people, you know, try to get out in order to be safe from, you know, this war. So, this is, you know, very difficult, a very extremely difficult situation for the civilian population.

On the other hand, among Iranians, as you know, there's also a sense of satisfaction over the -- you know, over the way that the regime is hit very hard. So -- and this time, you know, as I said also earlier, we have to allow for complexities and contradictions because it's not easy to pin it down in one simple --

ANDERSON: Yes. No, you make a very, very good point. The Israeli defense minister has said in the past few hours that he and the prime minister, and I quote him here, have "instructed the IDF to intensify strikes against strategic targets," as they describe them, "in Iran and against government sites in Tehran in order," they say, "to remove the threats facing the State of Israel and destabilize the Ayatollah's regime."

That is the Israel defense minister making clear the regime -- that regime collapse is a goal here. What do you think that that will look like in terms of targets inside Iran? What do you make of that statement?

[04:25:00]

DR. FATHOLLAH-NEJAD: Well, that statement is in line of previous statements over the last few days. We have to look at, you know, the wide spectrum of regime affiliated targets. So, we've seen, you know, in the -- on the first day of the war targeted killings against top military commanders. So, 20 probably of them. Those very close to Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, the top commanders of the RGC. So, kind of military decapitation. Also, some political intelligence figures were target killed. Then we've seen sustained operations against Iran's military infrastructure, especially its ability to launch missiles.

Also, we've seen some of the attacks being directed at the nuclear sites. Also, we've seen attacks on -- based on Islam Republic of Iran Broadcasting, which is the main propaganda armed or the TV station. We've seen attacks on different parts of the internal suppression or security apparatus, including the police, which is also a main arm of suppression.

So, this is the quite -- you know, the wide range of you know, attacks that the Islam Republic is enduring. So -- and the result is, it is extremely weakened.

ANDERSON: Although, of course, the regime still has the ability to launch strikes, deadly strikes, not least those that we've seen overnight on Tel Aviv, the center of Tel Aviv and suburbs of Tel Aviv. I mean, this is unprecedented stuff, certainly for Israelis and for those watching around the world.

Israeli officials, the son of the last Shah and others have suggested that this is an opportunity to rise up against the leadership, the regime. But others have said that Iranians at home are more likely to rally around the flag the longer this goes on. And we have seen on the streets of Tehran those sort of demonstrations. To your mind -- and I know this is very nuanced, this is complicated, but to your mind, what do you believe Iranians will do next? Iranian citizens will do next?

DR. FATHOLLAH-NEJAD: I think both of the narratives that you have mentioned, in my view, are problematic. What I believe is that, first of all, there is a wide if not unbridgeable gap between states and society in Iran. Even during those bombardments we've seen that Iranian society in occasions has displayed its distaste and its opposition to the regime. So, things are not easy or they're complex.

So, I don't think you're rallying around the flag that we usually, you know, understand is going to happen. At present conditions, I don't think that we're going to see a mass uprising because of this security situation for the civilians. But if -- hopefully, the war will end soon. And if that point comes, then there is, in my view, a strong likelihood that Iranian society going to make its voice heard in opposition to the remnants of the regime and try to bring about change. Something that, as you know, Iranian society has been consistently calling and revolutionary uprisings since 2018.

Where, you know, in my view, the start of a long-term revolution process in Iran. So, I think this is going to continue because the Iran society knows very well they have a responsibility of their own authorities to bring about this disaster upon them.

ANDERSON: Ali Fathollah-Nejad, good to have you and your perspective. So, important to us. Thank you very much indeed for joining us.

All right. We will get you to MJ Lee in Washington after the break for some of the other top stories that we are following. Here on CNN, including the latest on Hurricane Erick. Now, an extremely dangerous category four storm in the Eastern Pacific. Standby.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:00]