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New Strikes In Israel, Iran As Conflict Enters Second Week; Netanyahu: Conflict With Iran To Last "As Long As It Takes"; Trump: Two Weeks Is "Maximum" For Decision On Iran Strike; Aired 2-3a ET

Aired June 21, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:30]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN BREAKING News.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of our viewers wherever you are watching in the United States and around the world. I'm Brian Abel.

Israel and Iran have been exchanging new strikes as their conflict enters its second week. Israel says its air force has started attacking Iran's missile storage and launch infrastructure. This video that you're seeing here shows the Iranian city of Ghom. Iranian state media says a strike on a residential building here killed two people and injured four others. The city is close to Iran's Fordo fuel enrichment plants.

In Holon, Israel, just outside Tel Aviv, a building catching fire. Israel says it was hit by shrapnel from an intercepted missile. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he won't back down in the fight against Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: As long as it takes. That's the answer. As long as it takes. Because we face an existential danger, a dual existential danger, one from 20,000 such rockets. 20,000, not one. This is one rocket, one missile. And the other is, of course, atomic bombs in the hands of this mad regime.

Iran is the preeminent terrorist regime in the world. It must not, cannot have nuclear weapons.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Meanwhile, President Donald Trump says his decision on whether or not the U.S. will strike Iran could come in less than two weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I'm giving him a period of time. We're going to see what that period of time is, but I'm giving him a period of time, and I would say two weeks would be the maximum.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ABEL: CNN Senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes has more on

the president's position.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump stopping to talk to reporters about the conflict between Israel and Iran on the way to his New Jersey golf club in Bedminster, saying about calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and asking him to stop the fighting for at least a brief period to bring Iran to the table.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: Well, I think it's very hard to make that request right now. If somebody's winning, it's a little bit harder to do than if somebody's losing. But we're ready, willing, and able. And we've been speaking to Iran, and we'll see what happens.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And now this, of course, again, was in response to the Iranians saying that they would talk to the U.S. directly about diplomatic conversations about a possible nuclear deal, but only if the U.S. got Israel to stop its attacks on Iran. So it doesn't sound like that's going to happen. Now, President Trump was also asked about this two-week period. He said it was enough time to get people to come to their senses, but also said that was the maximum amount of time indicating that something could happen in terms of U.S. involvement before the two weeks was over.

And one more interesting thing to point out that happened is he once again went against his director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who back in March said that Iran was not developing a nuclear weapon, saying she's wrong. Emphatically, she is wrong.

Of course, we have been reporting that there has been somewhat of a rift, at least from President Trump, when it comes to his DNI because he believes that she is, quote, "off message". Kristen Holmes, Cnn, The White House.

ABEL: As you heard, Kristen just mentioned there, President Trump says his director of national intelligence is wrong about Iran's nuclear capabilities. He was asked about it on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What intelligence do you have that Iran is building a nuclear weapon? Your intelligence community has said they have no evidence that they are at this point.

TRUMP: Well, then my intelligence community is wrong. Who in the intelligence community said that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

TRYMP: She's wrong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Now, Gabbard says the media is taking her congressional testimony about Iran out of context. In March, she told members of Congress that Iran is, quote, "not building a nuclear weapon", end quote. But she posted this on social media Friday.

"America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months. President Trump has been clear that can't happen. And I agree."

Gershon Baskin is a former hostage negotiator and the Middle East director for the International Communities Organization. He's joining us live from Jerusalem. And there's a lot to talk about. Let's start with this.

We have the U.S. Saying any deal must include prohibiting uranium enrichment. Iran says that's a red line, and they won't come to the table until Israel backs down. They're requesting that Trump make that ask of the Israelis.

[02:05:03]

Trump says it would be very hard for him to make that request of Israel. Meanwhile, you have Israel not backing down, launching a new wave of attacks on Iran just hours ago. Is there any recipe in here that could lead one to believe there is a chance of a diplomatic solution in this two-week window given all of those seemingly nonstarters?

GERSHON BASKIN, FORMER HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: Well, I think that it's very clear that President Trump has the ability to tell Israel to give a break for a ceasefire, to return to the negotiating table. It would be very difficult for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government to go against a direct request from the President. I would negate what the President is saying, that Israel is winning, and therefore it's difficult to ask Israel to have a ceasefire. There are no winners here.

It's clear that the Iranians are losing more than the Israelis are. But this is not a win for Israel. When the entire population of Israel is locked down in bomb shelters one or two or three times a day, and billions of dollars of damage has been done to infrastructure, to buildings, to homes, to a research center at the Weizmann Institute, to a hospital.

So I think it is appropriate for the President to use diplomacy. He said he's going to end wars to try and get the parties back to the table. We don't know what a deal would look like, but it is not unreasonable to expect Iran to demand to have some enrichment capabilities, at least to 3.5 percent for civil nuclear energy. That would be a reasonable request.

It would have to include what was agreed to in the original deal done by President Obama that enriched uranium beyond the 3.5 percent be removed from Iran. And that's part of a deal that the Iranians accepted in the past and they could probably accept once again. ABEL: Gershon, given Israel's attacks on key elements of Iran's

defense and nuclear capabilities. Is the nuclear enrichment point a moot one? Just how far back, if at all, has Israel's offensive pushed Iran's nuclear program?

BASKIN: Well, it's very difficult to know. You know, Iran is a very sophisticated country. It's a scientific country. Their main facility for enrichment for do is deep into a mountain and requires the U.S. capability of the bunker bombers to be able to destroy it.

Israel has done significant damage to the Iranian military, to the Revolutionary Guards, to the scientists who run the nuclear program. But at the end of the day, it is the enrichment facility which determines if Iran has enough nuclear material to produce a bomb. Israel probably can do significant damage, but not totally destroyed. And only United States has the capability of doing that, I think.

ABEL: Okay, so aside from shutting down its nuclear program, what does Iran have to offer if they did come to the table? Because from multiple analyses, Israel has the upper hand militarily.

BASKIN: Israel has the upper hand militarily. But there's a question of the economics of weapons use. Israel has not an unlimited supply of defense rockets for protecting the skies of Israel. And we've seen how Iranian missiles have penetrated the Israeli defense capabilities.

According to what's been in the Israeli media, the amount of defensive missiles being shot by Israel is at a faster rate than Israel's ability to produce more missiles or to get them from other sources like the United States. So there's a calculation that needs to be done by Israel on how long they can carry out this operation. Additionally, there's a question. We don't know what Iran has up its sleeve and how many weapons, ballistic missiles, they have, their ability to shoot.

I think, though, that every day that goes by is a risk to innocent people who are getting killed on both sides of this conflict, probably more in Iran than in Israel. And there's a question of do we need to continue to carry out this war or can we move it to the diplomatic path that was started by the United States before the war began? The sixth round of talks were supposed to take place in Oman before Israel launched its attack against Iran.

ABEL: Gershan, what about U.S. Concessions? What could those be, if there are any? And would any of them get Israel's approval?

BASKIN: Well, since Trump is transactional, the conditions could be that the U.S. would sell the Iranians a nuclear power. This is something that the Russians have been doing. And perhaps President Trump would like to replace the role of the Russians in building nuclear power plants for the Iranians. They would like to be less dependent on their oil, although they are very oil-rich country. We know that the oil-rich country is a fossil fuel company.

Countries are looking to diversify their energy sources. This is something that's transactional, that could go right up with Trump's belief that everything has a price to it. And the United States would be happy to sell almost anything to anyone.

ABEL: All right, Gershon Baskin in Jerusalem. Gershon, thank you.

[02:10:11]

BASKIN: Thank you.

ABEL: Israel and Iran continue to trade missile strikes. Europe is still pursuing diplomatic efforts, but there have been no tangible results so far. CNN's Nic Robertson was in Haifa, northern Israel, as an air raid warning sounded. This is what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERSTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And we're going underground now.

LEONID REZNICK, HEAD OF EMERGENCY PREPARATIONS, HAIFA MUNICIPALITY: We're going underground.

ROBERTSON: Into this bunker.

REZNICK: Exactly. It's a bomb shelter bunker.

ROBERTSON (voiceover): It's Haifa's war room.

REZNICK: It's very quiet in here right now.

ROBERTSON (voiceover): Almost 24 hours since the last missile strike.

REZNICK: We are trying to let the people at least to go to their houses to buy something and to be little with the families.

ROBERTSON (voiceover): We don't know it then, but they'll soon be running back here. Haifa's missile response and resiliency in their hands. Back out on the streets, people enjoying the lull until the sirens go off.

ROBERTSON: People are running for the shelters. The sirens have just gone off. It's the middle of the afternoon here, and everyone's going to try and take shelter.

ROBERTSON (voiceover): Iranian missiles have killed three people here in the last week.

ROBERTSON: We're just going to follow the people where they're going to a shelter.

ROBERTSON (voiceover): It's a desperate rush.

ROBERTSON: So we've followed everyone. And this is where we've come to. It seems like it's an underground car park underneath a shopping mall.

ROBERTSON (voiceover): Life on hold. People with babies and pets waiting, scouring their phones for news of what's happening above ground. A week of missile strikes taking its toll. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's my first time here.

ROBERTSON: Really, why now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just couldn't stay at home anymore. I was too scared.

ROBERTSON (voiceover): And with good reason. While we were underground, a missile struck about a mile away.

ROBERTSON: Just arriving on the site less than an hour after the blast. You can see here water pouring out, the damaged cars here as well. This is a scene of the aftermath of a strike here. And then looking at the damage. It's big. Just turning the camera over here, you can see here the building has been blasted. Rubble everywhere.

ROBERTSON (voiceover): Already, the rescue teams coordinated by the war room on site. Sniffer dogs to locate those trapped in the rubble. Drones to scour the debris. Then the rescue teams looking for unexploded missiles. The city's mayor who runs the war room, one of the first officials to arrive. Where is diplomacy not working fast enough?

ROBERTSON: President Trump waiting two weeks to make a decision. What do you think about that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's too much.

ROBERTSON: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we have no time. You see what's going in the middle time.

ROBERTSON: Well, there's more destruction.

UNKNOWN MALE SPEAKER: They have to sit now and negotiate and design a treaty. It's not a big deal. And do it.

ROBERTSON (voiceover): Israel's foreign minister next on the scene. For him, a deal with Iran nowhere near in sight.

ROBERTSON: And what's your understanding of the diplomatic talks between the Iranian foreign minister and the European foreign ministers in Geneva? Are they making progress? What is your assessment of what's happening there?

GIDEON SA'AR, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: Well, frankly, I was always skeptical with regard to diplomatic talks with the Iranians because they are misleading. And even until now, we hadn't heard anything from them which hints that they want to change direction.

ROBERTSON (voiceover): By morning, the roads here will be open again, the path to lasting peace still blocked. Nic Robertson, CNN, Haifa, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ABEL: CNN is also on the ground in Tehran where massive crowds are

protesting the Israeli strikes and the Trump administration. That's next.

Plus, the U.N. is again warning of an impending famine in Gaza. With aid supplies limited by Israel, some Palestinian families say the deep hunger is driving people to turn on each other. Their stories are coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:18:17]

ABEL: Demonstrators march in Beirut, southern suburbs and other parts of Lebanon on Friday to show their support for Iran in its conflict with Israel. Many chanted slogans are waved the flags of Iran, Lebanon, and the Iran-backed group Hezbollah. Israel's defense minister warned Hezbollah against getting involved in the conflict on Friday. The group has made no explicit pledge to join the fighting, but on Thursday, Hezbollah's leader said it will act as it sees fit against what he called brutal Israeli American aggression against Iran.

Another show of solidarity with Iran and Iraq. Protesters there turning out in Baghdad and Basra chanting slogans against the U.S. and Israel. You can hear some of it there. Most were supporters of Iraqi Shiite Cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr. They denounced what they called Israeli aggression against defenseless Iranians.

Thousands of people in Tehran and other Iranian cities are venting their anger over Israel's attacks on their homeland. And CNN's Fred Pleitgen is the first Western journalist to enter Iran since this latest conflict began. He reports from Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Massive crowds have turned out here in central Tehran to protest against Israel's strikes against Iran, but also against the policies of the Trump administration as well. Many of them were chanting death to America, were chanting Death to Israel. We saw them burn American flags and burn Israeli flags.

PLEITGEN (voiceover): Punch the United States and Israel in the mouth. He says, Trump, you are threatening my leader. This woman says, Don't you know my nation believes death is sweeter than honey. What do you have, Israel?, he says. You have nothing. You are occupiers. Unreligious. You're killing people, killing women. You kill everyone. You're terrorists.

[02:20:21]

PLEITGEN: So you can see that anger here being voiced by many of the folks who are walking here in this protest. Whereas the Iranian government has said that as long as the Israelis continue their bombing campaign of sites here in Iran, there will be Iranian missiles flying towards Israeli territory. They're calling on President Trump to try and end this direct confrontation. Otherwise, they say there could be a direct military confrontation between Iran and the United States.

The Iranians say it's not something they want, but they also say it's something that they're ready for. Fred Pleitgen, CNN Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Iran says a U.S. strike against it would violate the United Nations Charter. Iran's ambassador to the U.N. addressed the U.N. Security Council on Friday. He said Iran would continue to "exercise its right to self-defense."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMIR SAEID IRAVANI, IRANIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Madam President, Iran has exercised its inherent right to self-defense under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter. Our response have complied fully with international law, including humanitarian law. We have taken all necessary precautions to protect civilians. Iran will continue to exercise this right as long as the Security Council failed to discharge its primary responsibility under the charter and until the Israeli aggression is fully and unequivocally terminated.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: But Israel's ambassador lashed out at his Iranian counterpart as he took the floor after him. He accused Iran of pursuing what he called a genocidal agenda. And he added that the Iranian ambassador is not a diplomat, but a wolf pretending to be one. The Israeli representative also said his country is doing everybody's bidding by striking Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANNY DANON, ISRAEL AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We are doing what these councils should have done long ago. We are acting where the international community hesitated. We are stopping a threat that endangered the entire world. Though our homes, our families, and our children are under threat, we will not stop, not until Iran's nuclear threat is dismantled.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Russian President Vladimir Putin says the group of oil producers known as OPEC is increasing their output due to the conflict between Israel and Iran, but doing it gradually. Iran is the third largest oil producer in OPEC and analysts fear that hostilities could disrupt supply and increase prices.

Mr. Putin told the St. Petersburg Economic Forum on Friday that the conflict has driven up oil prices but not enough for OPEC to intervene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (voiceover): We see that the current

situation in the Middle East related to the conflict between Iran and Israel has led to a certain increase in prices. While this growth in the opinion of our experts is not significant. Well, what it is now $75 per barrel and it was $65. It rose by $10 and is stabilized at this level.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: The U.N. is again sounding the alarm about the pervasive hunger and dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza as Israel's war with Hamas drags on. The U.N. says the enclave is on the brink of famine, and civilians continue to come under attack while they attempt to access the scarce food supplies that Israel allows in. CNN's Paula Hancock's has more and there is a warning her report it does include material that may be distressing to some viewers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Mohamed al-Darbi is 12 years old. He has a message for the world. Mohamed walked eight hours with his father to a flower distribution point in Gaza City. He finally collected two kilos of flour, but thieves attacked him and stole it.

He says, I saw the journalist filming and I asked him to pass on my message to the world that I was robbed and I ate sand because I had no flour and I was so depressed. Muhammad's mother says she uses old dried bread used for animal feed, soaks it with water and bakes it over and over to feed her children.

[02:25:14]

His father says people are killing each other over a bag of flour. Five or six individuals attack each other because people want to eat, and they have become monsters due to the lack of food. Mohamed and his family. Only two of tens of thousands of stars starved Palestinians risking their lives to feed their families. Dozens have been killed by Israeli fire this week as they waited for aid, hundreds since Israel lifted an 11-week blockade on Gaza in late May, allowing a trickle of aid in, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The Israeli military says it operates to minimize harm to those seeking aid while maintaining the safety of its troops.

Be the United nations warns the entire population of Gaza, more than 2 million people, face impending famine without a drastic increase in aid. Paula Hancock's, CNN Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Some prisoners of war from Russia and Ukraine are headed home after a second prisoner swap between the countries in two days. Neither side said how many troops were involved in Friday's exchange, but Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is saying that some of the released Ukrainians were held for more than two years. The two countries have conducted a series of similar swaps since starting their direct talks in Istanbul last month.

President Trump says the United States should not have to pay 5 percent of its GDP to support NATO. He has repeatedly said all NATO countries must meet the defense spending threshold. But on Friday, the president said the U.S. shouldn't have to pay anything now since it's been supporting the military alliance for so long.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly made the false statement that the U.S. was paying nearly 100 percent of the NATO budget. He is expected to attend the NATO summit next week. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta.

For our international viewers, African Voices Playmakers is next. And for viewers in North America, there is more CNN Newsroom just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:33]

ABEL: Welcome back into the CNN Newsroom. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta.

We are following breaking news in the Middle East, where Israel and Iran are showing no signs of slowing down their attacks. Iran State media reports Israel targeted the country's largest nuclear research complex overnight. A facility in Isfahan has been struck by Israel before.

An Iranian official said there was no threat of hazardous materials leaking out, but did warn people to avoid the area. Meanwhile, new video out of Israel shows a building on fire in Holon near Tel Aviv.

Officials say it was hit by shrapnel after a missile was intercepted. No injuries were reported thus far. On Friday, both Iran and Israel's U.N. Ambassadors said that their countries will continue to fight Israel.

Strikes have not only taken out top Iranian leaders, they have also caused civilian deaths. CNN's Kitty Polglase breaks down that human toll at the locations where top Iranian officials were targeted.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KITTY POLGLASE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Hitting the heart of Tehran. Israel's campaign expands every day. CNN has been analyzing these Israeli strikes using satellite imagery, video, and publicly available data. We found some were extraordinarily precise, taking out key regime members in their own apartments, while others destroyed whole buildings, killing and injuring civilians.

This video shows an apartment building hit by missiles in Tehran on June 13. We geolocated it to this residential street in the center of the city. We then cross-referenced the location with a list of addresses of key political and military figures from a public database leaked by activists. The address matched that of a nuclear scientist, Ahmed Reza Zolfaghari. Iran confirmed the scientist's death, but aftermath footage shows the human toll could be far greater than one person. A whole building turned to rubble.

That same night. This residential building collapsed after a strike, though it's unclear if it was Israel's intended target or collateral damage. The building is here in Chamran, an upmarket Tehran neighborhood. And just 1,000 feet away is a military complex, multiple buildings, all belonging to Iran's Ministry of Defense and still standing.

Once again, aftermath footage indicates the likelihood of a heavy civilian toll. Medical staff reported at least 40 people died in this attack, including as many as 15 children. By the second day of its assault, Israel claimed it killed over 20 members of Iran's security apparatus, including senior commanders. And over the following days, they hit more key institutions, like this oil depot on the outskirts of town and the Iranian state broadcaster under fire while live on air.

But throughout the civilian toll grows, these strikes, which we geolocated here to Orkide (ph), a wealthy neighborhood in central Tehran, killed a young Iranian poet along with her entire family. The strike was likely targeting Abdul Hamid Manoo Chahar, the head of nuclear engineering at a university who, according to Iranian media, lived in the building. As rescue workers dug through the rubble of his home, his university confirmed he had been killed.

Israel's recent strikes on Iran follow their operations in Lebanon and Gaza that also took out key military and political leaders. Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, pictured here in Gaza in this now infamous drone video, seconds before his assassination. But the civilian toll once again prompts questions around Israel's proportionality and decision making on striking targets in such densely populated areas. Kitty Polglase, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Let's bring in attorney and retired U.S. Army Major General Mark MacCarley. He joins us now from Glendale, California. And Major General, you just were listening to that report there by my colleague. As terrible as it is, civilian casualties are a part of war. I'm curious from your experience being in a command role during both Iraq and the Afghan wars, when a military mission is being planned, what is the consideration for collateral damage and the tolerance for it? Is there a point where, from a meeting the objective standpoint, it's not worth that expected civilian toll.

[02:35:11]

MAJ. GEN. MARK MACCARLEY, U.S. ARMY (RET.): That is exactly what we are dealing with now regarding the question of the continuation or the reopening of negotiations between Iran and Israel. Last night, as we had the conversation similar to this, I went to bed with a glimmer of hope that perhaps after listening to President Trump and some responses from Iranian members of its Ministry of Foreign affairs, that there would indeed be negotiations and those negotiations would commence shortly. That is not the case. It's very depressing that today the information really from both sides, from Israel and from Iran is no such negotiations at this point.

Now, I do want to caveat something. We have conversations, I'm participating in conversations, as are members of the CNN team and other contributors, and we're discussing negotiations. But in reality, such negotiations, if negotiations were ever to lead to some sort of resolution, the best negotiations are those that are and do take place behind that curtain, because to negotiate in front of a couple billion people in this world, each of which have different views and impressions, will not, quite frankly, work.

Now, to finish up this line, I will say that both sides, at this point, my view, do not have the immediate incentive to stop hostilities. If we look at Iran, firstly, we have the statements made by the supreme leader about continuing to fight. We have those snippets of statements made by those in the town square, Tehran town square, in which this phrase death is much sweeter than honey, which seems to suggest that Iran is a theocratic state, meaning grounded on allegiance to a supreme leader, who is, in fact, also the supreme leader of Iran's interpretation of Islam.

ABEL: Major General, I want to let you -- I want to have you finish that thought. But I do want to go back to the civilian casualty idea for a moment. What precautions can be taken. And we just saw that report that is this horrible to see? And are we seeing those precautions from either Iran or Israel?

MACCARLEY: That's a -- I'm going to have to say that is a very difficult question because the fundamental obligations on the part of military planners is to reduce collateral damage. And that's one of the benefits, so to speak, of our smart weapon systems, meaning we have the ability now, with the type of cruise missiles and even drones to pinpoint an individual, that individual is eliminated, and nothing else in the close proximity is harm.

In this case, with the fuselage of attacks on both sides, the probability of hitting civilians has increased multidimensionally. And so we're beginning to see that this war has a direct impact on those who are living civilians, not members of the military, in both Iran and Israel. And can we stop it? No. The only way you stop it is at some point either we have a negotiated settlement or one side raises their hands and to use a term brought forth by President Trump, this sort of unconditional surrender, at least as it pertains to the weapons of mass destruction, the nuclear capabilities of Iran.

I do want to ask you about the pace of this conflict because for the past week straight it hits this hour and we are talking about Israel and Iran trading strikes each night. How long can this pace continue, do you think, and what's the breaking point?

MACCARLEY: All right. Great question. It was at the back of one of my analysis that we did in anticipation of this interview. And the problem that Israel is having right now, which is more open source than the information we get out of Iran, is that Israel is beginning to come up short in terms of the sophisticated missile systems, especially on the air defense side. There are conversations now between Israel and the United States, and those conversations relate to we need additional force packages in order to defend our cities against the onslaught of Iranian missiles.

[02:40:01]

This is why if you look at how this conflict could be waged not only for the next two weeks and hopefully people come to their senses. There's no comment as to the probability of that. But if this is waged over the course of time, a couple of months, a year, a couple of years, then all of a sudden, you're going to have Iran moving forward, continually shooting whatever remains its inventory and trying to pursue what we call an attack approach, meaning you kill with a thousand cuts, meaning you're not able to take out Israel instantaneously.

But if you prolong this agony for years and years, even the people in Israel will reach that point of complete frustration and urge their own government to move quickly to negotiations. But this is far up front and to the right at this point.

ABEL: General, aside from the U.S. flying B2s and dropping those bunker busters, what other military options does the U.S. have here that could draw this conflict to its end without the U.S. getting dragged into something deeper?

MACCARLEY: The immediate response, and we did use it in Iraq, and that's an interesting conversation. We had a lot more time. I talk about the parallels between the two, but we could establish no fly zones. So you could basically have a no fly zone at the north of Iran and a no fly zone toward the south. Anything that penetrates that would in fact be removed by either U.S. or NATO aircraft, assuming that there is some form of agreement that would be effective.

Of course, if you get this super GBU-57, the great bunker bomb, As I talked earlier, while we look at this as a game changer, I'm just suggesting that weapon system has not yet been used in actual combat. So we don't know if that thing will reach 400 feet. It might. And then we can all stand up or the Israelis can stand up and start cheering that they have accomplished their objectives.

If they don't, and there's residue of nuclear material, enriched material, way down in the bowels of Fordor (ph), then this war could go on forever and Iran would latch onto the fact that it still has the ability, quite secretly, to resume its nuclear activities.

ABEL: That is really interesting that this hasn't been used in theater yet. What does it look like, General, post conflict for Iran, Israel and the U.S.

MACCARLEY: Yes. For Iran, how does Iran become a participant in the family of nations? The easiest answer to that which has been suggested, and I'm not any proponent of this, I'm just a contributor, is regime change. Because if in fact that's achieved by reason of everything that's taking place in Tehran, and Iran itself and the ayatollah and those in his government, theocratic government eliminated, maybe we have a chance with new leadership. And that new leadership would embrace at least European, Western European values. That's the best case. As to Israel, if Israel waves the flags, the Israeli flag, after a

triumphant elimination of Iran's nuclear capabilities, so be it. But in the back of my mind is always a concern that even if we think we've eliminated that capability, it could, like a phoenix, rise up again a couple of months or a year from now, which again suggests, and then I'll finish pretty quickly, is that part and parcel of those negotiations have got to be the installation of some sort of inspection team, whether it's the International Atomic Energy Agency or some neutral agency.

Certainly, IAEA has participated both in Iran and in Iraq. But there's got to be inspection. Otherwise, everything that Israel might tout as an accomplishment in the last seven days goes up in flames.

ABEL: Mark MacCarley, appreciate your expertise as always, sir. Thank you.

MACCARLEY: Thank you.

ABEL: After months in custody over an immigration fight pro- Palestinian activists, Mahmoud Khalil was finally freed from an ICE detention center. Those details are just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:47:44]

ABEL: The Palestinian activist who's been at the center of a long running deportation fight is now free. You may remember the arrest of student activist Mahmoud Khalil on Columbia University's campus back in March. On Friday, Khalil was released on bail from an immigration detention center in Louisiana. CNN's Mark Morales has the latest.

MARK MORALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Palestinian Activist Mahmoud Khalil was released from ICE custody. This now ends an over 100-day saga for Khalil, who was taken into ICE custody outside of his apartment near Columbia University. Now, lawyers representing both Khalil and the federal government had to come to an agreement for his release. Part of that agreement includes Kahlil giving up his passport. He is getting a certified copy of that passport back. He's also getting a copy of his green card.

He's limited to travel to only a handful of states that include New York, New Jersey, Louisiana. He's not allowed to travel internationally. And this all stems from a judge ruling that Khalil was both not a danger to anybody in the community and also not a flight risk.

The judge was also commenting about the duration of time that Khalil was in ICE custody, mentioning that it was highly unusual to continue to detain Khalil because he was not considered a danger or a flight risk. The federal government tried to push back with their lawyers arguing that this could open the door to what they call the usage of magic words where if anybody wanted to get out of any sort of situation, they could use the First Amendment as a shield in order to protect themselves from any sort of enforcement action. But the judge pushed back, saying that Khalil has made it very clear that he protested before he was taken into custody.

He plans on protesting now after that he's released. And at least in Khalil's case, it's not magic words. Mark Morales, CNN, New York.

ABEL: During a visit to Los Angeles, Vice President J.D. Vance seemed to take a swipe at Senator Alex Padilla. That's the California Democrat who you may remember, was forcefully removed from a news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last week. The vice president called the senator Jose instead of Alex. Vance's spokesperson responded with sarcasm, saying he must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.

[02:50:18]

Vance was in Los Angeles defending President Trump's decision to deploy National Guard troops, which has been upheld for now by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

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JD VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: The president has a very simple proposal to everybody in every city, every community, every town, whether big or small. If you enforce your own laws and if you protect federal law enforcement, we're not going to send in the National Guard because it's unnecessary. But if you let violent rioters burn great American cities to the ground, then of course we're going to send federal law enforcement in to protect the people the president was elected to protect.

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ABEL: A heat dome over much of the United States will be sending temperatures soaring into the triple digits this coming week. Just ahead, what Americans can expect and why it's so important to find ways to cool off.

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[02:55:00]

ABEL: In the United States, nearly 100 million people are under heat alerts. The first dangerous heat wave of the season started in the Great Plains states but is expected to spread eastward, all thanks to what's called a heat dome. Meteorologist Tyler Mauldin explains what's ahead.

TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The summer's first heat wave is upon us thanks to this massive heat dome that is expanding across the eastern two thirds of the country. This big blue H puts a lid on the atmosphere. The air underneath it sinks, it compresses and it heats up to temperatures like this.

When you combine the air temperature with the humidity, you're looking at temperatures that will feel like they're well above the century mark. Case in Point, Washington, D.C. By the time we get to Monday and Tuesday of next week, it will feel like 108 degrees. Records. Yes, we're going to see records be broken later this weekend and early next week probably extending into mid to late next week, too.

Now, when you do take the heat and the humidity, that's going to stress your body out, it's going to put a lot of stress on you, especially when we don't see the temperatures cool down all too much during the morning hours. So make sure if you don't have to go outside over the next seven days, don't do that. If you do have to go outside, play it safe, find plenty of shade and make sure you drink plenty of water.

What's riding the northern edge of this heat dome? It is a lot of thunderstorms. We are looking at strong to severe thunderstorms potentially over the weekend across the Great Lakes on into the Northeast. Main threats here, strong winds, large hail and yes, the potential for some isolated tornadoes. Back to you.

ABEL: Tyler, thank you. And thank you all for joining us. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta. More CNN Newsroom straight ahead in just a few minutes.

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