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U.S. Strikes Iran Nuclear Facilities In Operation Midnight Hammer; U.N. Holds Emergency Security Council Meeting After U.S. Strikes; Interview With Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). Aired: 3-4p ET

Aired June 22, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:33]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, breaking news. Emergency meeting. The United Nations Security Council is meeting right now after the U.S. hit three nuclear facilities inside Iran.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in New York, and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BLITZER: This is CNN's special coverage of the truly historic, unprecedented strikes on Iran. This hour, we are learning new details about the U.S. attack on three Iranian nuclear facilities. Codenamed Operation Midnight Hammer, the attack lasted just over two hours, using more than 125 aircraft and including Tomahawk missiles fired from submarines.

The operation included a decoy operation of B-2 bombers deployed over the Pacific to try to draw attention away from the actual strikes, which came from the East.

Today, were also learning the President gave the final order to strike Iran just minutes -- minutes -- before the bombs dropped, and just a short time ago, some of the B-2 planes that took part in the operation actually returned to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. That's where they are based.

New images into CNN show the impact craters from the massive bunker- buster bombs dropped on the Fordow nuclear facility. The Pentagon's top general says the military's initial assessment is that all three sites had extremely severe -- "extremely severe damage and destruction," that's a quote, though a full review will take more time.

Today, Iran is accusing the U.S. of beginning a dangerous war and violating international law, saying, and I am quoting now, "We have to respond."

Right now, the United Nations Security Council is including an emergency meeting following the U.S. strikes on Iran. You're looking at live pictures coming in from the Security Council.

I want to go live to our correspondent, Julia Benbrook in Washington. Julia, what do we expect from this U.N. Security Council meeting?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the United Nations Security Council meeting is starting now. This is an emergency meeting to discuss the escalating situation in the Middle East and a U.N. source tells CNN that Iran requested this meeting, and it is taking place less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump announced the United States attacks on three nuclear facilities in Iran.

And prior to the meeting starting, the Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. thanked the United States for their action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANNY DANON, ISRAEL'S AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS: so, you know, we are very close coordination with the United States throughout the last few days before the attack, during the attack, and after the attack, and it will continue to be the same way. You know, I think, still, it is early to assess the attack, but we can tell you one thing, you know, the capability of the United States are the strongest one that you can find around the world.

You know, especially if you compare it to Israel's one. So I think not only Israel, the entire world is grateful for the U.S. for this very impressive operation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: And during his address from the White House last night, Trump, who had his Vice President, J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth standing with him, warned that the United States could take more action if Iran does not move toward peace.

Now, while full assessments are still taking place, Hegseth said that the operation, "obliterated" Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Now, this Council meeting taking place today, there are 15 members and five permanent members with veto power. That includes China, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. And the 10 other members, they are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms.

The stated goal of the U.N. Security Council is to maintain international peace and security, and take the lead in determining any sort of a threat toward peace -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Julia Benbrook, reporting for us. Julia, thank you very, very much.

Iran fired a new wave of missiles at Israel following the U.S. strikes. Israeli officials say about 80 people in Israel were hurt after some of the projectiles broke through Israeli air defenses.

[15:05:07]

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv and has details on this latest attack by Iran and what Israel is now bracing for.

[15:05:18]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As you can hear behind me, rescue and cleanup crews are still sifting through the rubble of the latest Iranian ballistic missile attack. And you can see behind me, I mean, the enormous level of destruction that has been wrought by this ballistic missile that struck in the early hours of this morning.

The entire facade of one of these residential buildings has been just completely peeled off. Other buildings across the street partially or completely destroyed. In the case of at least one of those buildings, and somehow there were no fatalities as a result of this strike, but dozens of people were injured.

This was one of more than 20 Iranian ballistic missiles that were fired by Iran in the first strike since the United States carried out its attacks on those three nuclear sites in Iran. A few of those ballistic missiles did indeed make their way through Israel's Air Defense System, but the question now is, what more are we going to see from Iran in terms of a retaliation?

Israeli officials are certainly expecting much more from the Iranians than just this one barrage of ballistic missiles that came several hours after the United States carried out those strikes. And for the U.S. as well, there are questions about retaliation towards U.S. troops that are stationed in the region.

There are tens of thousands of United States troops in the Middle East, currently, many of those much closer to Iran than we are right now. Some of them even just a few dozen miles away, meaning that Iran doesn't need to use its sophisticated ballistic missiles, it could use other types of shorter range missiles to go after those U.S. troops.

President Trump, for his part, making clear, of course, that the Iranians need to come to the table and making clear also that should Iran strike at U.S. forces, that there will be a U.S. retaliation.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: All right, Jeremy, thank you very, very much.

I want to go live right now to our chief global affairs correspondent, Matthew Chance. He is joining us from London.

Matthew, there is still a question of how effective the strikes were on Iran's three nuclear sites. With Iran's secretive nature, how much can we expect to learn about the actual level of damage?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think we can expect to learn quite a bit in the hours and in the days ahead. But, you know, this kind of battle assessment, it does kind of take quite a long time particularly because, you know, there were no U.S. boots on the ground.

There were no inspectors on the ground of any kind, and because these sites, for the most part, have been built deep underground, and so it makes sort of assessing what damage was done, particularly by those bunker-busting bombs that were from the United States that were dropped on the nuclear facilities, especially when it comes to sort of modeling them.

It is certainly the case that, you know, computer modeling about the effect of these kinds of weapons will play a major role in trying to work out what likely impact was had, the satellite imagery as well. That's going to -- some of that has already come into us. There is going to be a lot more of it, I expect that will be studied very closely. The latest satellite images suggest there was, you know, substantial damage to, you know, to the facilities, certainly a couple of them.

Eighteen destroyed structures at the Esfahan facility, which is the largest nuclear facility in Iran, so that's quite significant. And there were, you know, large craters that were detected and seen on the satellite imagery at the nuclear structure at Fordow, which is buried deep inside a mountain.

There will be other ways of assessing as well, communication intercepts, human intel, things like that. As the U.S. tries to build a fuller picture as possible of what the impact was of these strikes. But even if the nuclear infrastructure has been, in the words of President Trump, totally obliterated, that doesn't mean necessarily an end to the Iranian nuclear threat.

There have been hardline voices inside Iran for many years calling for a nuclear deterrent, a nuclear bomb to deter against exactly this kind of this an attack, and inevitably, those voices will have been bolstered in the aftermath of these U.S. strikes -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Matthew Chance reporting for us. Matthew, thank you very, very much.

Still ahead, Congressman Darrell Issa joins me next right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Why he says the operation will go down in history for its bravery and brilliance.

Stay with us. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:14:34]

BLITZER: We are back. Following our breaking news out of Iran, where U.S. airstrikes targeted three nuclear facilities.

Joining us now is California Republican Congressman Darrell Issa. He is also the Vice Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

What is your reaction to these historic U.S. airstrikes against Iran's nuclear facilities?

REP. DARRELL ISSA (R-CA): Wolf, thanks for having me on, and thanks for covering what will be historic events, but they're no different than the historic events under Reagan, Clinton, Obama in Libya, Iraq, Syria.

You know, this is the first time for Iran to feel the pain for their wrongdoing and their ambitions to enrich uranium far past any civilian use.

[15:15:23]

BLITZER: Some Democrats, as you know, Congressman, are accusing President Trump of violating the U.S. Constitution by not seeking formal congressional approval for these strikes on Iran. Listen to senator Adam Schiff of California earlier today. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): This was not constitutional. It was not lawful in the absence of a declaration by Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: How do you respond to that?

ISSA: Well, Adam and I came into Congress 25 years ago together, and he watched President Obama hit Yemen and Syria, and he didn't say a word. So let's get past the politics of it -- the politics are always good in a situation like this -- and let's get into the substance.

Have we had 46 years of Iran expanding terrorism and funding it? Have we seen an Iran that relentlessly continues to seek nuclear capability? And have we had an Iran that for many years now has literally shelled commerce of not just Israel, but, you know, when you look at the closing down of the Egyptian Suez Canal, effectively as a result of the Yemen bombing, what you see is you see commerce for all of us adversely affected.

So, yes, nuclear was the reason to go in now, but it certainly wasn't without other good reasons, reasons where we should get the attention of Iran and change their behavior. And that's the reason that President Trump is reaching out an olive branch after he got their attention. I hope he doesn't have to get more of their attention, but clearly he is willing to do so if that's what it takes to get him to the bargaining table to actually quit exporting terrorism.

BLITZER: But do you believe, Congressman, there was a "imminent threat" from Iran right now to the United States?

ISSA: Well, you know, a threat to the United States directly, is Iran an existential threat to us? Probably not. To the peace and to the ability of the world to operate? Yes. And that's been true since Jefferson went after the pirates in Tripoli. It doesn't have to be just the United States that an enemy is working, but rather the greater world that we have become an important leader in. And that was true, quite frankly, when you looked at weapons -- chemical weapons in Syria under Obama. Syria was not a direct threat to us, but they were, in fact, murdering their own and President Obama made that decision, and he made it unilaterally. And I would hope that all my Democrat colleagues would look and say, how do we engage positively together to support a President who is, as we speak, saying he'd rather negotiate than bomb, but he will do what he needs to do to get them to the table.

BLITZER: Republican lawmaker Congressman Thomas Massie, a man you know, had this to say to CNN. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): I think there is a conundrum there with the Speaker's assertion that there was an imminent threat. If there was an imminent threat (AUDIO GAP), not call us back from our recess. We were on recess last week, and I went to special effort to offer a war powers resolution while everybody was on vacation.

I was able to put it in the hopper during a pro forma session, but in reality, if Speaker Johnson thought that America was in danger imminently, he should have brought us all back to Congress, yet he did not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Do you think, Congressman, the President should have carried out these attacks without congressional approval?

ISSA: Well, he certainly should not have told us well in advance so that it could leak out and jeopardize the men and women who went in harm's way on behalf of America and the rest of the world. Was the Speaker made aware that a strike was imminent? I am sure he was. Does it make sense to tell 535 of us, all those secret items? No.

As a matter of fact, the unique effectiveness of sending B-2s out and having them discovered heading to Guam was a wonderful diversion that probably made those many aircraft, the 125 aircrafts safer in doing this job in a very surgical fashion.

BLITZER: Do you think the President should have at least notified the bipartisan, so-called gang of eight who are responsible for National Security in the House?

ISSA: Well, as Vice Chairman of foreign affairs, I am not part of the gang of eight. But what I would say is I was certainly well aware that a strike was imminent, that the President was making it clear that two weeks was the maximum, not the minimum, and that 60 percent plus uranium in large amounts that enriched uranium was many times more than would have civilian use, and therefore gave them a head start to going to war with nuclear capability.

[15:20:25]

And again, you know, look, I've listened to the words "two weeks" for a long time. It is not about two weeks, it is about the intent, the willingness and the continued progress that was happening 60 days ago, the President made all of us in Congress well aware of what would happen if Iran didn't take a turn toward peace. Two weeks was the maximum time, he ended up using two days, but that probably saved lives of our airmen who went in very much in harm's way.

BLITZER: Republican Congressman Darrell Issa of California, thanks so much for joining us.

ISSA: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And coming up, new CNN reporting right now, taking you behind-the-scenes of the Trump administration's decision to strike Iran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:25:31]

BLITZER: All right, we are following the major breaking news out of the -- out of Iran right now, where the U.S. military carried out airstrikes against three key Iranian nuclear facilities overnight.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is warning of a heightened threat environment in the United States, citing potential cyber threats and lone wolf attacks. The bulletin warns that pro-Iranian hackers are likely to attack U.S. networks, and that others affiliated with the Iranian government could issue similar attacks.

Let's go live right now to CNN's senior national security reporter, Zach Cohen, who is over at the Pentagon for us today.

Zach, you have new reporting on the behind-the-scenes efforts within the Trump administration about the decision to strike Iran. What are you learning?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Wolf, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine, the four-star general, stood side by side in the briefing room on the podium, doing podium today here at the Pentagon and really gave the first details about what is the most significant military operation of Donald Trump's presidency.

And look, while this was a moment where they both shed light on things and how this military operation was carried out, it was also a moment that really underscored the dueling approaches that sources have described to us, both behind the scenes and in the lead up immediately to this operation.

Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary spoke first during today's press conference to really lavish praise on President Donald Trump. Really also accentuating the immense success of the military operation targeting those three Iranian nuclear sites.

Of course, then Dan Caine spoke second, really a more subtle and sober view of both the operation itself saying it is too early to say just how successful the strike was, and that's consistent with what we've been told both men are like behind-the-scenes.

Hegseth really fits that image of what Trump looks for in some of his top officials out of central casting, as the President likes to describe it. He has been very visible, forward looking, but beneath the surface, he has also been mired in some controversy. You may remember nearly his job was on thin ice just a few months ago after that Signal chat was leaked.

Dan Caine much more behind-the-scenes focused, does not enjoy being in the spotlight quite as much, but as somebody who Donald Trump has leaned on significantly, especially in the lead up to this military strike on Iran.

So both men sort of serving different purposes in the administration, but we are told that combined, they were unified today as they presented what is already claiming is one of the biggest military successes of his second presidency.

BLITZER: Yes, it was really a fascinating briefing at 8:00 A.M. this morning over at the Pentagon with a lot of details, surprising details that were released as well.

Zach Cohen, thanks very much Zach is over at the Pentagon.

Joining us now to discuss more about these developments surrounding the U.S. attack on Iran, Retired U.S. Army Brigadier General James "Spider" Marks. He is a CNN military analyst.

General, thanks for joining us.

What is your early assessment right now of just how successful, successful these U.S. strikes were in disabling these Iranian nuclear sites?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, the strikes themselves in terms of the execution is quite phenomenal, and we should expect that from our military. I mean, the integration of all the various services, aerospace power from top to bottom was done extremely well. Two things stand out, primarily is the level of operational security and the notion of deception.

You know, the fact that there was a deception operation sending B-2s to the West while B-2s were enroute Iran. So it is too early to tell what the effect was of the operation. Bomb damage assessment will come over the course of the next hours and days. Imagery -- satellite imagery will reveal a lot, but there are also we can we can imagine with a degree of clarity that Mossad had some pretty significant penetration into the nuclear development R&D capacity of Iran and Mossad is probably going to be able to extract some of that intelligence, and we will know a lot more going forward, that will take a little more time.

But this will become pretty clear pretty quickly.

BLITZER: As you know, Iran has now responded. He has vowed to respond to these U.S. attacks. What kind of military capabilities does Iran actually have left?

[15:30:01]

MARKS: Well, they have the IRGC. We should be concerned about sleeper cells here in the United States, and certainly in the region. They have an ability, they still have a capacity to reach out and cause damage. And Iran also has launchers. They still have launchers and they still have missiles, mostly short range missiles, which can impact where a lot of U.S. presence is currently in the region.

So I think it is fair to assume with the increased force protection posture, not only in the United States, but in the region as well, that U.S. presence is going to be safe, but they'll have to be diligent, but Iran may choose to take an opportunity to go after those targets, but it would be counterintuitive because if they struck, if they achieved success, the United States would respond again.

And I think where we are right now, the United States did a tremendous job on the strikes that just took place. They are now handing the lead back to the IDF, to Israel to see what the next steps are. So I think Iran would be wise not to go after U.S. targets.

BLITZER: The U.S. as you know, General, has approximately 40,000 military personnel stationed across the Middle East, but a lot of those troops are very close to Iran in the Persian Gulf, whether the Fifth Fleet, which is over in Bahrain, the U.S. Navy's fifth fleet or the Al Udeid Air Base or the other bases in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, for example.

What kind of precautions or defensive steps will the Pentagon be taking to guard against the potential Iranian attack against these U.S. facilities and these U.S. troops?

MARKS: Well, first of all, there has been the threat, the very clear message from this administration that if Iran were to strike out again and try to take out or achieve some success against those targets, the United States would respond, so that's number one.

And number two, there is a very strong, very thick air defense capability that exists always over deployed U.S. forces. So that's a good defense obviously against any type of missile threat. And again, as we discussed earlier, the IRGC, the Islamic Republican Guard Corps, the Quds Force have some capabilities on the ground where they could choose to do an attack against those installations and that presence.

But all of those servicemembers are on heightened alert. Their units are on heightened alert. So they are going to take precautions accordingly.

BLITZER: And the U.S. has deployed three aircraft carrier battle groups to the region right now with a lot of planes, a lot of sailors, a lot of troops, a lot of Marines. So we are watching what is going on, on that front as well.

Earlier this afternoon, Hezbollah condemned the U.S. strikes. What role could they, as well as other Iranian proxies in the area play should Iran decide to retaliate against the United States?

MARKS: Well, for the most part, Hezbollah, those proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas, and certainly the Houthis down in the southern end of the Red Sea have some remaining capacity, but it is rather tepid. They are essentially have been removed off the board. So any proclamation by any one of those proxies is essentially a hollow threat with very little capacity to follow through.

Certainly, we have to pay attention to that. Certainly, there is -- you know, there is heightened force protection, but I am not too concerned about Hezbollah at this point.

I am concerned, and I know so are the regional forces, U.S. and coalition regional forces about Iran's next steps.

BLITZER: General Spider Marks, thanks, as always for joining us. Appreciate it.

MARKS: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And just ahead, the big question reverberating around the world after the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, how will Iran respond? How the U.S. military is now preparing? We have new information. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:38:43]

BLITZER: We're back with our breaking news coverage of the U.S. airstrikes on Iran. We are learning right now more about the damage to Iran's nuclear facilities after last night's unprecedented U.S. airstrikes, and whether they have been, "obliterated" as the White House claims.

International security expert Jim Walsh is joining us right now to discuss this and more. He has actually visited nuclear sites in both Iran and North Korea, and he is a senior research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Security Studies Program.

Jim, thanks for joining us.

Youve seen Iran's nuclear sites up close. What's your assessment of how damaging these latest U.S. attacks could actually be?

JIM WALSH, SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY'S SECURITY STUDIES PROGRAM: Well, Wolf, this is not your first rodeo, and it is not mine and I've learned to be a little cautious about early bomb damage assessment. Sometimes it is enthusiastic in the beginning, and then it gets revised downward. But I think if we step back and look at the broader picture, the fundamental question is whatever level of damage has been done to Fordow and let's assume it is destroyed. I haven't seen evidence for that, but let's assume that.

Assuming that, can Iran rebuild their nuclear weapons program? Can you bomb away their nuclear weapons capability? I think the answer to that is a resounding no.

[15:40:05]

I mean, this is a mature program. It has been -- they have had a civilian nuclear program and a military program back and forth for more than 15 years. Tens of thousands of centrifuges, thousands of kilograms of enriched material. You know, a few airstrikes, you know, it delays it, but if they are now determined, if they are walking out of this experience and that was something reported earlier today that U.S. Intelligence told Mr. Trump, if they're coming out of this experience and saying, oh, yes, well, then we are making the decision to go for the bomb. They are going to be able to do it. Maybe it is one year, maybe it is five years, whatever it is.

But you can't bomb the knowledge out of their heads and you can't bomb the experience that they've had. So they're going to rebuild if they put their mind to it.

BLITZER: But can you bomb out the nuclear enrichment programs that were targeted yesterday?

WALSH: You can destroy equipment, right? But equipment is replaceable and we don't know what precautions they took in advance. You know, they've been under this condition for a while. You would have thought that maybe they took some centrifuges and stored them elsewhere, took some material and stashed it somewhere. Have, you know, a set of centrifuge parts that they can be reassembled into centrifuges.

And weirdly, and this was weird, Wolf, and it was in "The New York Times" today, and no one noticed it when it first happened. After last week, after the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency censured Iran, the head of Iran's atomic energy program, said, oh, yes, well, we have a secret facility.

Now, you know, I don't know why that didn't get any coverage and I don't know why he is saying that, but it points to the possibility that they may have stuff that we don't know about, so that even if we destroy everything we do know about, they may be able to reconstitute the program.

You can replace equipment, right? And they know how to do the hardest part. The hardest part of making a bomb is producing enriched fuel, in this case, uranium, enriched uranium for the bomb. The rest is engineering.

And if North Korea can do it under its conditions, Iran a larger, more sophisticated country with 15 years of experience, they're going to get there if they make it their top priority.

BLITZER: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security today issued a bulletin warning of a "heightened threat environment" following the U.S. attacks on Iran. The warning includes the potential of cyberattacks, lone wolf attacks. How ominous is this warning for Americans?

WALSH: You know, it is not the same thing as hitting a U.S. military base and you know, killing a lot of servicemen and servicewomen. So it is -- you know, a cyberattack is bad. That could be bad. A terror attack or lone wolf -- lone wolf is no, you know, it is not great, but it means it is unorganized. It is someone who typically doesn't know what they are doing and the effects are limited. Not good, but limited.

You know, it is whether the governments fight each other and I don't think Iran has a lot of capacity right now. It is in a weakened state than it was a year ago, weaker beyond that than it was five years ago, but it gets to now -- now, it gets to choose how and when it will respond.

When Israel attacked and the U.S. attacked, they got to choose how they were going to do it and when they were going to do it. And Iran is going to -- they're going to -- they're angry, but they realize they're in a weaker position and they're going to choose what they do carefully.

It may be terror attacks or attacks on political and diplomatic assets abroad, you know, someplace which has maybe weakened security compared to the Middle East right now. They could hit U.S. bases, they could go after the Strait of Hormuz and I am sure there are surprises, right? There are surprises coming, whether it changes the game, I don't know.

The big game is between governments and I don't think unless this thing goes, you know, through the roof, fall out, then I think we are looking at more moderate consequences.

But in the medium term, as I say, the biggest consequence would be if they became a nuclear weapon state and then we would have Israel that owns nuclear weapons and Iran that owns nuclear weapons and a hostile relationship in a region following a war.

So, you know, we could be five years away from that. That would swamp anything that we are going to see over the next few days.

BLITZER: Yes, it would be a horrendous situation indeed.

All right, Jim Walsh, thanks very much for your expertise.

WALSH: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And coming up, Iran is accusing the U.S. of betraying diplomacy following the strikes on its nuclear sites, but the Trump administration is pushing for direct talks. We will discuss what those negotiations, if they take place, might look like.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:49:46]

BLITZER: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage of the U.S. airstrikes on Iran. We are getting new pictures right now of the B-2 bombers returning to the Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri from their mission.

We now know that President Trump gave the final order just minutes before the bombs dropped on those three key Iranian nuclear sites.

CNN's global affairs analyst, Kimberly Dozier is joining us right now.

Kimberly, we are now what -- about 20 hours or so out from those strikes and some Middle Eastern nations are now aggressively calling for a return to negotiations.

What are you hearing?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, they are condemning these strikes because in many ways, for them, while they did not want to see an Iran armed with nuclear weapons, this adds to instability and Iran's response could escalate things in a dangerous way.

Now, you've seen on social media a mixture of reaction from the Arab Street.

If you are from a country that felt like Iran was interfering in your affairs, you're actually tweeting something about being happy that Trump and co took out the nuclear facilities, but the larger response has been here is the U.S. again bullying us together with Israel and inflicting his will. And that makes it difficult for the Gulf and Arab leaders in the future to do something like expanding the Abraham Accords, that is presuming that this gets resolved in a peaceful way in the coming weeks and that, unfortunately, isn't likely.

BLITZER: Iran's top diplomat has arrived in Moscow to consult with Putin following the strikes. What do you think they will be doing? What are their objectives during the course of this meeting?

DOZIER: I think they are going to be coordinating how to respond next, and also asking Moscow, what are you going to do to help us restore our nuclear program? We know that North Korea has been very willing to sell technology, but Russia is much further along. It has been reticent to give Iran the bomb, according to officials that I've spoken to over the past few years.

But in this situation, Russia could see a situation to sort of set the table for the rest of the Trump administration, setting itself, plus China and North Korea, together with Iran as the new power point, offsetting the United States and it could convince Iran, you know, maybe do something small that won't escalate, plan for the future and we will help you get back on track. That is what I am fearing for the future.

BLITZER: Kim, listen to what the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson told our Fred Pleitgen in Tehran. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is this the end of diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran?

ESMAIL BAGHAEI, HEAD OF CENTER FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND SPOKESPERSON MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN: Diplomacy never ends. That's a rule. That's a principle for Iranians. We have never left the negotiating table. But now I think what we are witnessing, a betrayal of diplomacy by the Trump administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Iran has accused the U.S. of a betrayal of diplomacy, as you just heard. What does that tell you about the potential for future diplomatic talks?

DOZIER: Well, talks often succeed depending on either how much leverage one side has on the other or how much trust the two sides have in each other.

In a very real way, the White House has just given away some of its leverage by going through with the strikes, because why should Iran negotiate now? It has just had its crown jewel taken away. But there will be attempts to get them back to the table.

I think what you might see is Iran joining Russia at the U.N. in condemning these attacks and accusing the U.S. of a lawless attack on nuclear facilities, because under international law, you can make the argument that these were not building weapons, these were peaceful nuclear facilities, and therefore it is against international law to strike a peaceful nuclear site.

The U.S. would make the counterargument that Iran had enriched uranium to 60 percent, a lot of it more than it would ever need for a civilian program and it was well on its way to a bomb. So I think we are going to see a lot of that hot air exchange back and forth this week at the U.N. and beyond.

BLITZER: I suspect you're right.

Kimberly Dozier, as usual, thank you very much for joining us.

And coming up, CNN is on the ground in Tehran after the U.S. hit those three Iranian nuclear facilities. What Iranians are saying about the attack, we've got more on that, that's coming up.

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BLITZER: Happening now. Breaking news: The United Nations holding an emergency Security Council meeting at Iran's request after the U.S. struck three of its nuclear facilities and now the world is waiting to see how Iran will respond.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in New York, and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BLITZER: And this is CNN's special coverage of the breaking news. The unprecedented strikes on Iran.

This hour, we are learning new details about the U.S. attack on three Iranian nuclear facilities. Codenamed Operation Midnight Hammer, the attacks lasted just over two hours using more than 125 aircraft and included the Tomahawk missiles fired from submarines.

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