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Israel on Edge Amid New Missile Launches from Iran; Potential Impact on Oil Prices; Militia Threatens to Shut Down Vital Strait of Hormuz; L.A. Dodgers and Trump Admin. at Odds. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired June 20, 2025 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MJ LEE, CNN ANCHOR: The Israeli military says its defensive systems have been working to intercept a new wave of missiles launched by Iran. Police say falling munitions sparked fires near a tech park in Be'er Sheva that houses Microsoft. Six people were reportedly injured. A major hospital in that same Southern Israeli city suffered extensive damage from an Iranian attack a day earlier. A spokesperson says 80 people were injured.

And Israel's prime minister says his country has the power to strike all of Iran's nuclear sites and intends to do just that. The U.S. president says he will decide whether to attack Iran within the next two weeks.

That hospital in Southern Israel has been closed to new admissions since the Iranian strikes. A hospital spokesperson says about half of the 80 people who were injured in the attack are hospital staff. CNN's Nic Robertson has more from the scene in Be'er Sheva.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: We're walking in here to right underneath where the impact happened. The ground is strewn with broken rubble, concrete off the buildings. The side of the building up here, take a look, literally ripped apart, debris everywhere on the ground here. The medical center director here told me it was a fifth-floor direct impact on the cancer and neurology ward. He said, very fortunately, the 25 patients, bedbound patients that they'd had there had been taken to the basement for their safety.

This direct impact on the hospital, he said, has caused extensive damage. 40 casualties here. Most of them with light injuries from broken glass. Most people taking shelter inside the hospital.

DR. SHLOMI KODESH, SOROKA MEDICAL CENTER DIRECTOR: This is not anything that has any rational explanation. I'll admit that I'm currently in operational mode. Feelings will come probably a bit later. But it is totally shocking.

ROBERTSON: I can hear water raining down. It looks like the fire crews are still up there above us, just dousing -- they're dousing the building. We know that the fire crews, I just saw them going back inside the building there, the recovery mission, the search mission for people who might be injured or trapped inside the hospital.

[04:35:00]

The fire guys up here are telling us we've just got to move back a bit. So, we're going to stay, keep talking to you. We're just going to move back a bit here. You get a sense of the destruction. Look at all this twisted debris around here. Fire trucks backed up as far as you can see. This has really raised the temperature on this conflict. The politicians who have been coming here have been talking very clearly, this was an intentional strike on the hospital by Iran.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Among them, Israel's foreign minister who rebutted claims by his Iranian counterpart who posted on X claiming the hospital was near a military target and was only lightly damaged.

GIDEON SA'AR, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: You know very well that all the casualties we have until this minute, all of them without an exceptions, are civilians.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighing in on what the U.S. may do.

ROBERTSON: Iranian officials say they were targeting a military facility near here, but what do you say to President Trump as he tries to make up his mind about whether to come in support of Israel?

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: He gave them the chance to do it through negotiations. They strung him along. And you don't string along Donald Trump. He knows. He knows the game. And I think that we're both committed to making sure that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.

ROBERTSON: This is one of those days where it's the political language that ratchets up the damage is done. Diplomacy seems to be pushed over the horizons. And we're just about to enter a second week of this deadly conflict between Iran and Israel.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Be'er Sheva, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: And Gideon Levy is a columnist for a Haaratz newspaper and a former adviser to former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres. He joins us now live from Tel Aviv. Gideon, very good to have you here. We keep getting more visuals of the damage in Israel, as we saw in Nic's piece just now, including to residential buildings in Southern Israel. Israel has never suffered an attack like this from the sky since the inception of the Iron Dome. I wonder what you think this is all doing to the national psyche. Obviously, this is a country that's still recovering from the October 7th attacks.

GIDEON LEVY, COLUMNIST, HAARETZ NEWSPAPER AND FORMER ADVISER TO SHIMON PERES: Absolutely. But it all depends on the length. If it is a question of few days or even few weeks, I think Israel will stand it. People are very obeying the instructions. The warning system is very efficient and most of the congression (ph), not all of it, are close to shelters.

But if it will go longer than this, into a war of attrition, then I'm very concerned because I don't see Israel standing it in terms of the economy, which is half paralyzed now in terms of the education system, the normality, the closed airports, all this can last for limited time, but not for a very long period of time. And this should be taken account when we do our calculations.

LEE: And I know you've talked about how ultimately it's only Donald Trump who can influence Prime Minister Netanyahu, whether it's on letting more aid to get into Gaza or now scaling back the conflict with Iran. What do you want to see President Trump doing? I mean, what are Washington's carrots and sticks, if you might, in this context of the escalating conflict?

LEVY: I was hoping you will not ask me this question because I'm quite torn, that's the truth. What I really would like to see, I would like to see Donald Trump signing a very reliable and good agreement with the Iranians without more bloodshed. This would be really the best outcome from this war. Anything else is very dangerous, very explosive, and nobody can tell how will it end? Will Donald Trump enter the war? Many Israelis are waiting for it.

But you know, again, it can get into an overall complication, regional war, world war, God forbid. Don't be enthusiastic about it. Will Donald Trump not get into the war? It might last for months and months and months now because Israel will not stop and nobody will stop Israel and the Iranian will not surrender.

LEE: So, Gideon, what you would like to see is a deal, is what you just said. President Trump, as you know, says he's willing to give it as long as two weeks for diplomacy to actually work. How likely do you think that is right now?

[04:40:00]

And do you think that Prime Minister Netanyahu is having a positive reaction to this push from the U.S. to diplomacy, or is that the opposite of what he would like to see right now?

LEVY: No, it's clearly the opposite of what he would like to see. He would like to see the two on the ways to the facilities to Fordow and to other places. And I'm sure that anything else will be very disappointing from the point of view of Netanyahu and his government.

But you see, nobody can tell who Donald Trump. Two weeks are almost eternity, in Israel and in this war. In two weeks, he promised also to put an end to the war in Ukraine, and those two weeks became two months and nothing is happening and the war is still there. So, it's very hard to trust those words and very hard to foresee and very hard to understand everything he says because it's one thing in the morning and one thing in the evening.

By the end of the day, this war calls for a real diplomacy, but it cannot start with humiliating the Iranians like he did, he calls them to surrender, calling it surrender without any conditions. I don't see the Iranian regime going for it. This is not beginning of diplomacy. This is beginning of making someone surrender without conditions. And this will not work.

LEE: And let me ask you to talk a little bit more about Prime Minister Netanyahu's calculations right now, because I think plenty of people are wondering what incentive does he possibly have right now to use diplomacy and get to a deal if he is feeling like he could be on the verge of significantly shifting the region's power balance in Israel's favor.

LEVY: Throughout all his career, Netanyahu never believed in diplomacy, never believed in compromises, and never believed in deals or in agreements. This must be said. And even the Abraham Accord, which he joined were not his initiative and they didn't take much of him to agree because there was no price for Israel to pay for it.

But with the Iranians for sure, diplomacy for him a lip service, nothing but this. He wants to see a military victory, the famous, total victory, achievable or not achievable. And for sure now when he feels almost in euphoria when all those right and wrong achievements in the battlefields are impressing so many people in the world ending Israel, the last thing that Netanyahu would like to see is any kind of agreement or any kind of diplomacy. He has to agree because he wants Donald Trump to be on his side. And as we all know with Donald Trump, you must be very careful because if you say the wrong thing, you might find yourself immediately in the wrong side. So, for Netanyahu diplomacy is the worst of all worlds.

LEE: Yes, that Trump-Netanyahu relationship is going to be a really key factor to watch in the coming days. Gideon Levy in Tel Aviv, thank you very much.

LEVY: Thank you for having me.

LEE: A powerful Iran-backed militia in Iraq is threatening to shut down a vital waterway that's used to ship oil from the Middle East to the rest of the world. CNN's Anna Stewart explains what could happen if the Strait of Hormuz is blocked.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the narrow body of water on Iran's southern coast, the Strait of Hormuz. It's just 21 miles across at its narrowest point, and it plays a huge role when it comes to global energy access.

One of the world's biggest oil producers is Saudi Arabia. It exports most of its oil through this narrow body of water. According to JPMorgan, if we look at Iraq, about 85 percent of its oil exports travel through here, and then you have Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar, for them, they're entirely reliant on the Strait.

So, actually, in total, if we look at it, about a quarter of the world's oil passes through the Strait, about a quarter of liquified natural gas as well. Here, we can see some of the all price spikes of the last 10 years. This one's very noticeable. This is the invasion of Ukraine. All prices were around $120. You can see the pandemic. This is where all prices actually crashed in the big rebound in 2021, 20 22.

Now, this one's harder to see, but it's really relevant for now. This is 2019 key oil facilities in Saudi Arabia were attacked. Houthis rebels in Yemen claimed responsibility, but the U.S. said it thought Iran was behind it, and oil prices here actually surged by 20 percent.

[04:45:00]

So, if the current conflict escalates in the region, this is what we could be looking at. Attacks in or near this Strait could lead to some tankers being unable or unwilling to make that transit. Iran could also simply close the Straight to antagonized Gulf States.

One reason not to is it would also upset its biggest customer, which is actually China by a long way when it comes to oil. It may not want to do that. Other key customers, when we're looking at these Gulf states, are also in Asia. We have India, we have Japan, we have South Korea. So, essentially, this narrow body of water could impact the Gulf producers, the Asian customers, it could raise oil prices around the world and that could bring domino effects, possibly stoking inflation, and reducing the likelihood of interest rate cuts for Central Banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Anna Stewart, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: And when we return, the Trump administration is speaking out after the L.A. Dodgers say they turned away ICE agents who are trying to access their stadium.

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[04:50:00]

LEE: Israel says it struck dozens of targets in Iran overnight, including missile production sites and a nuclear research facility in Tehran. The IDF reports more than 60 air force fighter jets were involved in the attack. And meanwhile, at least six people were injured when an Iranian missile hit near a business park in the Southern Israeli City of Be'er Sheva. That's the same area where an Iranian missile damaged a hospital on Thursday.

A federal appeals court is allowing U.S. President Donald Trump to keep control of thousands of members of California's National Guard. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the president's request to temporarily lift a lower court ruling that required him to relinquish that control. President Trump reacted on Truth Social shortly after Thursday's ruling, calling the decision a big win. It extends a pause the court had put in place while the legal battle plays out. About 4,000 National Guard members were called in to beef up security in Los Angeles amid unrest over President Trump's immigration enforcement.

The Los Angeles Dodgers say they blocked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from entering the Dodger Stadium on Thursday morning, but the Department of Homeland Security says the agents were not from ICE and their presence had, quote, "nothing to do with the Dodgers." The dispute comes as the city has seen an influx of federal agents and protests against President Trump's aggressive immigration agenda. CNN's Natasha Chen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Protestors gathered outside of Dodgers Stadium ahead of Thursday night's game. This has been a buildup of two weeks of anxiety and for some resentment against the Dodgers for having stayed silent in their opinion about the immigration rates happening throughout Los Angeles affecting a lot of the immigrant community that make up such a big part of the Dodgers fan base.

Now, these feelings really bubbled up and reached a fever pitch Thursday morning when federal agents were spotted at Dodger Stadium in tactical gear, in unmarked vans, wearing masks. The Dodgers organization said that agents showed up asking for permission to enter their parking lots and were denied entry.

Now, we also heard from the Department of Homeland Security after that saying that that was not ICE at all, claiming that it was Customs and Border Protection, that it was not related to any operation or enforcement and that it had nothing to do with the Dodgers. In fact, DHS said that CBP was here briefly on the grounds because of a car malfunction. So, a couple of different messages going on here.

Overall, it's clear that the community is extremely rattled by the presence of federal agents and also at odds in some ways with the team about what they are saying or not saying about the current climate in Los Angeles.

Natasha Chen, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: Hurricane Erick has weakened to a post tropical storm after slamming into Mexico's southern Pacific coast as a category 3 storm. It leaves flooded streets and serious damage in the State of Oaxaca. Some banana plantations reported props were ruined, but no deaths have been reported.

Erick made landfall over coastal towns around breakfast time on Thursday. In Puerto Escondido, it knocked down a historic statue of a sailfish being rescued by fishermen. Wind slowed to about 50 miles per hour as the storm moved inland. But intense rain threatens three Mexican states with serious flooding possible and possible mudslides. Erick is the first major hurricane to hit Mexico before July.

Serious storms tore through the U.S. East Coast knocking out power to nearly 700,000 homes and businesses. Wind gusts were up to 70 miles an hour. The storms affected air travel from North Carolina to New York. Airports in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. were hit the hardest. A few storms are still possible in the region, but the most of the severe weather has moved into the Atlantic Ocean.

[04:55:00]

U.S. President Donald Trump approved federal disaster relief for several American states After powerful storms. Trump posted on social media that he approved money for Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, and North Carolina. This comes as some of these states are still recovering from last year's Hurricane Helene.

Thanks for watching this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm MJ Lee, and I'll be back with more news in just a few minutes.

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