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Israel: Iranian Ballistic Missile Hit Tel Aviv Suburb; Israel Vows Intensified Strikes On Iranian Targets; Source: Trump Reviewed Iran Attack Plans, Holding Off For Now. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired June 19, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:24]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, hello and welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and around the world. Wherever you are watching, you are more than welcome.

It is Thursday, June the 19th. I'm Becky Anderson in our Middle East programing headquarters in Abu Dhabi. Time here is 1:00 p.m. It is midday in Tel Aviv and 12:30 p.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 overnight on Israel causing major damage in a Tel Aviv suburb and at 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.

And you can see extensive damage to several buildings. Debris on the streets as emergency workers there tend to the injured. Israel's emergency services say at least 65 people were wounded in this and other attacks across the country in the past few hours.

Meanwhile, a hospital in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba was also extensively damaged, and a 60-year-old woman wounded there. 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 but is holding off for now to see if Tehran steps back from its nuclear program.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Iran's got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate. And they say, why didn't you negotiate with me before, all this death and destruction?

REPORTER: Have you Iranians reached out to you?

TRUMP: Yes.

REPORTER: 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 says his country will never surrender and threaten severe damage if the U.S. military gets involved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN (through translator): 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 detail then on what has happened. Very specifically over these overnight hours.

First, as CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson, near the scene of the hospital that has been damaged in Beer Sheva in Israel.

And, Nic, it is just after midday on day seven of this conflict. Explain exactly where you are and what you are seeing and hearing.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, Becky, this is a 1,200-bed medical facility, serves a population of about a million people in southern Israel. It is the biggest medical facility.

Soroka medical center took a direct hit, according to the director here. When I spoke to him a little earlier, he told me it hit the fifth floor of the hospital, that that was the urology ward, he said. Very fortunately, the hospital had been implementing slowly moving patients in recent days to lower ground, lower levels underground to make them safe.

And he said fortunately, the urology unit had been evacuated just yesterday, said if that hadn't have happened, the casualty toll could have been far, far worse. He said the hospital has had extensive damage. Right now, it is effectively shut while they are doing mechanical and engineering inspections of the whole facility.

There are tiny fragments of shrapnel all around on the ground here, but this being a hospital, the director told me he couldn't understand why it was hit. He said he was shocked that it was hit. There was no warning that it was going to be hit whatsoever. And we have seen a number of leading politicians in Israel arrive

here. The president of Israel is touring the site right now. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the right wing nationalist national security minister, has been here speaking as well.

And I spoke to the speaker of the Knesset, asking him if he thought that this was an intentional strike on the hospital.

[05:05:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMIR OHANA, SPEAKER OF THE KNESSET: Only hours ago, the ayatollah regime of Iran targeted this hospital, which is a civilian hospital in the center of this civilian city of Beer Sheva, which is an extreme war crime. Every time that they target civilians is a war crime. But this is a specifically, viciously one, and they will bear the consequences because we have not, and we do not have any intentions to target civilians in Iran.

And we made it very clear we are after the regime, the ayatollah regime that is repeatedly saying they should annihilate the state of Israel, that we cannot afford.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So, we're now into the seventh day of this conflict. It is the first time that were aware that a major medical facility in Israel has been hit in these strikes, and it is very clearly raising the political temperature, raising the political rhetoric, and that one of the direct repercussions has to been to raise the military tempo.

The prime minister, the defense minister, as you said, calling for the IDF to step up the pace of their strikes. More than 50 aircraft, we're told, by the IDF, were involved in strikes on Iran last night on a number of facilities, including nuclear facilities. It is very clear, as if there were any doubt at this time that Israel is in full front military mode.

If there is diplomacy being discussed, it doesn't appear to be crossing desks in Israel at the moment, Becky.

ANDERSON: Nic Robertson is in Beer Sheva, right outside that hospital that has been struck. Thank you, Nic.

Also in Tel Aviv, Miri Eisin is a retired colonel in the Israel Defense Forces and a senior fellow at the International Institute for Counterterrorism.

It's good to have you this morning.

I really want to get some insight from you with your long experience with military and defense. Thank you.

Defense Minister Katz has just said that he and Netanyahu have, quote, instructed the IDF to intensify strikes against strategic targets in Iran and against government sites in Tehran to, quote, remove the threats facing the state of Israel and, quote, destabilize the ayatollah's regime.

You will know better than most what those targets would be. So, let's start there. Can you provide us some insight into thinking here?

MIRI EISIN, RETIRED COLONEL, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: What Israel has been attacking since June 13th, Friday morning, and consistently not just going back to the same sites, but expanding it. I'm going to call it five different types of targets, and that's what we are targeting. We're targeting the nuclear sites.

We've attacked a lot of them. We haven't yet attacked all of them. We're going back to some of them. That's to really degrade and continue to demolish. Theres a variety of nuclear sites inside Iran.

The second element is that we have consistently been attacking different high ranking decision makers in the Iranian revolutionary guard. And in this case, when we say the regime, were talking about the mullah regime, and we're especially talking about that arm of the mullah regime, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which includes both all of the different missile, drone capabilities, what they're going to call air and space, and all of the nuclear decision makers there. So those are also targets.

What we've expanded and been doing more of are the different installations where they make weapons capabilities. All of the different elements in the nuclear weapon quest, in the missile, the long-term, long-range missiles. So, these are all different types of targets. And last but not least at all is we're consistently targeting air defense systems because what enables us, our capability to keep on attacking as we are only against all of these different military type targets, is our air superiority.

So, we're attacking the air defenses. The nuclear Iranian Revolutionary Guard figures, and everything that has to do with missiles and drones.

ANDERSON: I want to get your sense on whether you think that targeting the supreme leader is still a possibility, despite the U.S. president expressing opposition to that.

EISEN: Listen, Khamenei, for the last 35 years, and I follow his -- we call it X now, his tweets. I, in a sarcastic way, Becky, will say that everybody should follow his tweets because he's very clear. And this isn't from the last week. For the last 35 years, and ever since he can tweet, he calls for the annihilation of the Zionist entity.

He calls us. And I'm being sarcastic. I'm the one saying it, that we're the cancer, tumor of the world that needs to be eradicated.

[05:10:01]

I don't think that he is absolved and that we can't attack him. Having said that, he is, and he's been the figure for the last 35 years. He is an inspiration as the ideology, both on the annihilation of Israel, on backing all of the proxies that they both give the weapons to, give the ideology, to tell them to continue to attack. Remember me, the illegal Zionist entity.

And again, I apologize for being sarcastic. That never works well on TV, but I think that he is certainly somebody who could be attacked. I'm not sure how effective it would be, but it doesn't mean that he's immune.

ANDERSON: And to just press this point and I hear what you're saying there, how would Israeli officials be preparing for the potential aftermath of what would be a pretty seismic move?

EISIN: So even if we don't kill him and we may not, I'm going to be again just, you know, matter of fact, the man is 88 years old, Becky. He's not going to be here forever, thinking about who's going to replace Khamenei has been on everybody's minds for many years.

I think that this regime under Khamenei for 35 years is very well- structured to continue to be a harsh Islamic dictatorship over Iran. But let's be clear, it's Persian-speaking Iranians that are part of it. It's locals who are part of it.

I'm sure that there are lots of people who totally oppose it, but when you have the reigns of the regime, the capabilities, and you use it against your own people, whoever will come after him, the question will just be for me, is he just as extreme as Khamenei or less? I don't think that you can be more extreme than Khamenei, certainly, when it comes to the existence of Israel, but also in the way that he looks at all of the west. Just in the last few days, he's threatened the United States, the U.K., Germany, France that they shouldn't participate. And I'll remind you that the same missiles that have been attacking Israel, where we have air defense and where we're -- I'm not going to ever say were used to it, but where we know how to act, they can reach Berlin or London or for that matter, Beijing as well.

So just take that into account when we think about who comes after.

Yesterday, a message from Donald Trump to Israel, keep going and was what he said very specifically when asked by a reporter, Donald Trump, saying, though he may or may not direct the U.S. to become more militarily, militarily involved, I just want to hear or get our viewers this sound from an expert on this region, who I spoke to yesterday at this time, who described how she sees that decision by Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELLIE GERANMAYEH, SENIOR POLICY FELLOW, EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: President Trump currently has a choice of taking a diplomatic off ramp, which the Iranians are signaling that they are interested in actively pursuing through back-channel talks or to take a war of choice. Actually, maybe it's not even a war of choice. It's being dragged by Prime Minister Netanyahu kicking and screaming into this conflict with Iran.

And the thought that this is going to be a short runway or a quick hit and run, I think, just defies every single example of U.S. military intervention we've seen in North Africa and in the Middle East over the past two decades. Once you open up this pandora's box, we have no idea where things go. And this will most likely consume the rest of President Trump's presidency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: What do you make of Ellie's argument? And do you agree that if the U.S. gets involved militarily, that this conflict could consume the rest of the Trump presidency?

EISIN: Well, only thing, Becky, I'm never willing to make a prediction about is what President Trump will do next. So, I really don't know if he will or won't. What you asked was, if they do participate, what that will mean?

I disagree with the speaker before in a very respectful way, but I think that there are different opinions on where this goes out. For me, sitting in the Middle East and you're also in the Middle East right now, all of us are already in this war. And the fact that the outside forces are not this regime has consistently, for the last 35 and even 45 years, openly backed places, given supplies. I mean, Hezbollah, Houthis, Hamas and others fighting against Israel in its own way.

And I know I'm going to sound a little sarcastic. It's as if, as long as it's against Israel, it's not our problem. And to me, that's a -- that's not the way I look at it.

And so, I think that direct U.S. involvement is something that would not bring about a bigger conflict that this Islamic regime should be accountable not for the rhetoric, but for the actions of what they've done, at least over the last 35 years, with all of their different proxies, and over the last six days, as they fire at Israel.

[05:15:08]

But in general, they are the destabilizer both within the Middle East and outside and trying to change that equation is a better thing for the world, not a worse thing. And letting it be, letting it fester, for me as an Israeli is what brought about on October 7th. And the additional aspect is that, as long as they only attack Israel, then it's okay -- I have a problem with that as an Israeli.

ANDERSON: The perspective of Mary Eisen in Tel Aviv this morning. Thank you very much indeed for joining us.

CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen and his photojournalist Claudia Otto (ph) are the first Western journalists to enter Iran since this conflict began. 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: 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. Day seven, more coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:22:24]

ANDERSON: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanking Donald Trump for, quote, standing by Israel's side amid the escalating conflict with Iran. Excuse me. The U.S. president says he's encouraged Netanyahu to continue Israel's campaign even as Trump himself weighs U.S. involvement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I have ideas as to what to do, but I haven't made a 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)

ANDERSON: Well, the risk of miscalculation is very high and everyone is on high alert. That the view of one senior Gulf official that I spoke to in the past 24 hours, and that is a view reflected in official statements across the Gulf Arab region, where I am and beyond, across the Middle East.

Well, Hasan Alhasan is a senior fellow for Middle East policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He joins me now live from Manama in Bahrain.

It's good to have you, Hasan. And it's fair to say, I think, that everyone I talked to in this region supports an end to any attempt on the part of the Iranians to build a bomb. It is the approach that being very specifically a military, a military one, and the potential for miscalculation, not least U.S. involvement at this point. And the risk of a miscalculation that people are really concerned about.

One person that CNN spoke to in this region for some reporting that we've been doing that they are concerned about, for example, the possibility of strikes on U.S. bases in the region. Just what is your perception about this danger of miscalculation, and how concerned are Gulf States at this point.

HASAN ALHASAN, SENIOR FELLOW FOR MIDDLE EAST POLICY, ISIS: I think the possibility of miscalculation, of accidents, second order consequences of this war spilling over into the Arab Gulf States is extremely elevated. And I think that explains, in large part, why the Arab Gulf states, I think, have been against the idea of going to war with Iran from the get-go. There's been a universal condemnation of what the Gulf States have termed in no unambiguous terms, an illegal Israeli aggression against Iran.

And I think it's fair to say that, obviously, there's very little sympathy here among the Arab Gulf States for the Iranian regime, the nuclear program, Iran's ballistic missiles, its UAVs are obviously seen as a threat.

[05:25:06]

But I think there's clearly a much greater preference for a diplomatic solution to this than going into a conflict whose outcomes simply don't appear to be net positive for any of the Gulf States.

So, I think clearly, the Arab Gulf States have changed their approach to Iran over the past few years. They have emphasized diplomatic engagement and de-escalation over confrontation. And from their point of view, diplomacy has worked. The Arab Gulf States, with the exception of Bahrain, have stayed out of U.S. led coalitions and the Red Sea against the -- against Yemen. They've so far refused to become staging grounds for U.S. attacks against the Houthis or Iran. And in turn, Iran has kept its end of the bargain and have left them

out of its crosshairs. I think the point to remember here is that the Gulf States have been actively involved in trying to avert and preempt this conflict. Saudi Arabia sent its defense minister, Prince Khalid Salman, to Tehran, urging the supreme leader to sign on to a deal with Donald Trump and the Omanis, obviously, and the Emiratis have been facilitating U.S.-Iran nuclear talks and have been passing messages.

So, I think there's a broad desire to avert conflict, because I don't think anyone sees good outcomes coming out of this.

ANDERSON: And you make a very good point about this sort of change in approach to Iran from this Gulf region. The UAE, for example, has had a decade now of outreach to Iran and a very different approach pretty much since 2015.

And I'm told that it was bearing fruit at this stage. Look, I think it's also fair to say that there's no love lost for those regional foreign policy, those foreign proxies of Iran, no love lost here in the UAE after attacks from the Houthis back on January the 17th, 2022. And no real love lost for the regime itself.

But the potential for miscalculation, chaos, civil war, were this regime to either be, you know, the target of regime change or collapse at this stage is very, very worrying. CNN is reporting that the Gulf Cooperation Council has activated its Kuwait-based emergency management center.

I wonder from your perspective, does this indicate that Gulf leaders are focusing more on preparation rather than a return to diplomacy? I'm certainly hearing that diplomacy is absolutely the focus for those that I have been speaking to. What's the balance right now from your perspective?

ALHASAN: I think it's a two-track approach. I mean, clearly, we're seeing efforts by the Arab Gulf States to offer their good offices to in an attempt to defuse this conflict as soon as possible. But I think we have to be clear-eyed about the fact that the Arab Gulf States, I think, have very little ability, if any, to influence the trajectory and the outcomes of this conflict.

I don't think that Israel now having achieved almost total freedom of action in Iranian skies, is very much in a mood to compromise. And I don't think that President Donald Trump is willing and or able to push the Israelis towards a de-escalatory option.

So, I think, you know, with that in mind, I think the Gulf States have been well-advised as well to prepare for contingencies. There are multiple risks here, including a potential nuclear contamination of the reactor of Bushehr, were to be targeted. The potential for oil spills if Iran's energy infrastructure along the Gulf Coast were to be struck by Israel, and that would obviously have a negative repercussions on the Gulf States, water security, power generation and so on. But I think if we take a broader view and if you look at the potential

end points of this conflict, I don't think anyone wants to see Iran slide into chaos. And I think that there is a broader desire and preference to deal with one bad actor rather than multiple bad actors in a country that is large, that has that could be fractured and divided along ethnic lines, and that has a considerable stockpile of missiles, UAVs, and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear stockpiles that essentially could fall out of central state control.

This is -- this is a nightmare scenario. And the prospect of another failed state on the Arab Gulf States eastern flank, I think, is not an outcome that the Gulf states want to see.

Let's remember that when Netanyahu went to Washington, he talked about redrawing the map of the Middle East. And I think if we take a look at Gaza and the West Bank, I don't think we have any reason to believe that the outcome of that effort would be net positive for anyone in the region, but Israel.