Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Bombs Iran Three Nuclear Sites; Iran Vows To Respond On U.S. Betrayal Of Diplomacy; Iran Fires Missiles On Israel After U.S Strikes; President Trump Suggests Regime Change In Iran; United Nations Security Council Hold Emergency Meetings. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired June 22, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Hello, and thanks for joining me on this Sunday. I'm Erin Burnett in New York, and we have the breaking news obliterated. That is the word being used by the United States after it bombed Iran's nuclear facilities and what President Trump is now declaring a, quote, "spectacular military success." They have not provided more information or details or evidence of exactly what was destroyed, but this is their description as the conflict is escalating and the world is waiting in anticipation for Iran's response.

The U.S. operation dubbed "Midnight Hammer" involving more than 125 aircraft, including multiple B-2 bombers. Those were the ones carrying the 30,000 pound bunker buster bombs, and they flew on an 18-hour journey from their base in Missouri. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealing that it was the plane's longest mission in more than two decades since the immediate aftermath of September 11th attacks.

The U.S. struck three Iranian nuclear sites, including Fordow, which, of course, is the fortified facility that is built deep underground in a mountainside anywhere from 300 feet to more than half a mile, depending on the intelligence. We're learning more about the commander-in-chief's consequential defy and legacy defining decision. Trump reportedly showing little anxiety at his New Jersey golf club on Friday night as the bombers were about to be airborne.

Twenty four hours later, from the basement situation with the White House, the president was wearing his "Make America Great Again" hat as he watched the strikes play out in real time surrounded by his most senior deputies. Now as the chance for diplomacy, well, now that the United States has dropped bombs on Iran, obviously, diplomacy seems to be a thin hope, but it's still a hope. And a top aide to the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, warns that, quote, the game is not over.

The country's foreign minister is accusing the U.S. of launching a dangerous war. But in Washington, the vice president, J.D. Vance, speaking and vowing this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're not at war with Iran. We're at war with Iran's nuclear program. Well, the president's been very clear, Kristen. We have no interest in a protracted conflict. We have no interest in boots on the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Well, let's get straight to CNN's chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, and she is out front in Tel Aviv tonight. So, you know, Clarissa, as you look at the situation where we are, foreign minister of Iran says his country has a variety of options when deciding how and, I suppose, when to respond to the U.S. bombs. So what does Iran have at its disposal that it can do right now?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, essentially, Erin, there are a number of different options that Iran could pursue. It could try to invoke its various proxies in the region to engage in some kind of an attack against U.S. interests. But those proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, have been vastly hurt by the conflict over the past one and a half years. And so the question is whether they're really in a position to carry out major attacks, and certainly, they've been pretty quiet so far.

I've been speaking to a number of officials over the course of the day, and the sense is that Iraq is probably the U.S.'s most vulnerable spot. There are a number of Iranian backed militias in Iraq. And Iraq is also, of course, where we saw after the U.S. killing of Soleimani back in 2020. We saw a large ballistic missile Iranian attack directly on the U.S. Al Asad airbase in Anbar Province. Perhaps unsurprising then to that end that at least 500 diplomatic personnel have been pulled out of Iraq, so that's one to watch.

But then there's also the possibility of something asymmetric, Erin. You could be looking at terrorism, for example. You could be looking at cyber. And then there's the possibility of an economic strike, which, of course, would be to try to close off the Strait Of Hormuz where 20 percent of oil shipping goes through and that would have a huge impact, across the region, but also in the U.S. on oil prices and then gas prices.

So there are many different options at Iran's disposal here. But from talking to a number of experts in the region, the feeling seems to be that Iran needs to do something to exercise some kind of strength or try to show the restoration of deterrent to its own political constituents domestically even.

[17:05:02]

But they want to try to find that sweet spot between doing something splashy that restores some kind of sense of pride, if you will, from their perspective. But to do it in a way whereby there are not too many, U.S. casualties, whereby they're not then invoking another round of retaliation. And then that would allow them to draw a line under this round, hunker down, and try to regroup and figure out what's ahead, Erin.

BURNETT: Alright. Clarissa, thank you so very much. Clarissa in Tel Aviv tonight. And now let's go to the White House where they are defending President Trump's decision to launch strikes against Iran even though it did not pose an imminent security threat to the United States. They are saying that he used, quote, "his legal authority as commander-in-chief."

Let's go to our senior White House correspondent, Kristen Holmes, who joins us now. So, you know, Kristen, what more are you learning about the president's decision to order strikes, which, of course, will come under, you know, incredible pressure given that he did so without congressional approval.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Erin. I mean, we're learning a lot about what went into this and what the background was. Now we are told that he didn't make the final decision until Saturday, but that this had been something that had been in the works really for weeks, that these talks about potentially becoming involved in a conflict with Israel against Iran began in earnest earlier this month during a meeting at Camp David with President Trump and some of his top security advisers who had drawn up plans, gone through them, really tried to work out the issues that several of the advisers had with some of the parts of the plan, in order to present a unified front and then presented this to President Trump.

Now again, the decision was not made in full until Saturday, but aides and advisers around President Trump said as early as Thursday, they believed President Trump had made up his mind to launch these attacks. Now I do want to mention one thing that Clarissa Ward was just talking about, which is this potential for retaliation and something that the U.S. is watching very closely.

We actually just heard from the UN ambassador, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who condemned Iran's actions to begin with and defended the United States' actions and said that any retaliation would be met with devastation. And then she said this. Okay. So I don't think we actually have that, but essentially, she was calling on the security council there to end Iranian's claims of death to America, of trying to annihilate Israel.

But really the focus now is on how to move forward and the White House, of course, is waiting for potential retaliation. Donald Trump, President Trump asked his advisers time and time again two things and we're going to learn really the answer to these in the next couple of days. One, if we strike these nuclear facilities, can we take them out? Can they make a difference? He was told by advisers, yes, we can.

Of course, we're still waiting for the final assessment on what those strikes did on those nuclear facilities. The other part of this is can we make a strike? This is President Trump asking those around him without them becoming involved in some kind of long drawn out conflict in The Middle East.

Right now, there's a reason you continue to hear people like Vice President J.D. Vance say we are not at war with Iran. That is because that is what President Trump was insisting behind the scenes not happen, but really only time is going to tell how this is going to play out.

BURNETT: So, Kristen, the president did just post on Truth Social just a few moments ago, the social media site, of course, in which he has an interest. He talked about regime change in Iran. What did he just say?

HOLMES: Yeah. Erin, this is fascinating because just on Thursday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about if the Trump administration supports a regime change in Iran, and she quickly brushed off this topic. She essentially said on Thursday, that's not what we're focused on. President Trump is not focused on that. He is focused on making sure Iran doesn't create a nuclear weapon or have access to create a nuclear weapon.

That is not what President Trump is essentially saying right now, on social media. He wrote, it's not politically correct to use the term regime change, but if the current Iranian regime is unable to make Iran great again, why wouldn't there be a regime change? And then he wrote out, M-I-G-A, Make Iran Great Again. Obviously, a play on Make America Great Again there.

This is really the furthest we've seen anyone in the administration go on talking about a regime change. Actually, when I've had conversations behind closed doors with various administration officials, they've kind of tried to play down the idea that the United States wanted a regime change, but President Trump out there posting about it now on social media.

BURNETT: Yeah. It's certainly something that it's been very clear that the prime minister of Israel also wants. He has been clear about that, although I know it's not a formal technical war goal here. Kristen, thank you very much.

[17:09:56]

And the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does say Israel has moved closer to its goals in Iran following those U.S. strikes.

Actually, before any of this even happened with the U.S. bombs, they had already said that they'd set Iran's nuclear program back two to three years. Well, so this would only make even more years to that. Let's go to Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv. And, Jeremy, what more is the prime minister saying?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, the prime minister has said that he believes that the Fordow nuclear facility was quote very badly damaged by those US. Strikes in the early hours of this morning here. But he made clear that the extent of the damage is still being assessed and we heard similar comments as well from the Israeli military's top spokesman saying that the military's intelligence units are continuing to pour over information to assess how badly damaged those facilities actually were.

And this will, of course, determine whether or not the Iranian nuclear program was set back for a period of time or whether it has truly been destroyed as it currently stands and would need to be rebuilt from scratch should the Iranians choose to do so. We've also heard from the IAEA, the international nuclear watchdog, which also noted that it has seen satellite imagery of damage to the Fordow facility, but could not at this stage assess the extent of the damage to that underground facility.

Now we also heard from the Israeli prime minister tonight about how much longer Israel is going to continue to carry out strikes in Iran as they have been continuing to do as of just a few hours ago. We've been told that the Israeli fighter jets have been flying over the skies of Iran, striking in Western and in Central Iran, going after missile warehouses, but also radar sites and air defense, systems.

The Israeli prime minister said that he will not be dragged into a war of attrition, but also noting that he will not, end this war prematurely, making clear that he wants to achieve all of the goals that Israel has indeed set out. And this leaves a broader question here that we are now starting to talk about, including with that tweet that Kristen just read from the president, which is, is the goal to destroy Iran's nuclear program, or is the goal to see regime change take place in Iran?

And we know, of course, that the Israeli prime minister in the days before this U.S. strike certainly was talking about regime change in Iran, at least creating the conditions for regime change on the ground. And so that also remains to be determined. Is that simply a leverage point that President Trump is trying to bring up here, or is that ultimately going to become some kind of a joint U.S. and Israeli goal?

BURNETT: And so, alright. And that that obviously brings back to so many what the U.S. went through and the world then subsequently went through, in Iraq. But Jeremy, Iran after the U.S. did all of those miss -- bombs last night, Iran then fired a barrage of missiles at targets across Israel. So that was just a few hours after Trump had had those strikes go forth in Iran.

And then as you mentioned in just the past hours after that, Israel has struck Iran. Right? Whether it's a missile warehouses, as they say, satellite facilities, radar facilities. So is the back and forth still going on?

DIAMOND: It certainly is still continuing, and I can tell you I saw, the enormous destructive impact of that back and forth, earlier today when I was in the northern part of Tel Aviv at -- in a residential neighborhood that was struck by one of those Iranian ballistic missiles. The damage was extensive from this strike. At least 20 people were injured in it. Those who survived only survived because they were indeed inside of those bomb shelters.

It was a barrage of more than 20 ballistic missiles that Iran fired shortly after seven in the morning local time. Since then, we haven't seen any additional barrages of Iranian ballistic missiles. And so we'll have to see, you know, what the pattern of those attacks is going forward, especially as these Israelis have said that they have significantly degraded Iran's ability to carry out those ballistic missile attacks.

BURNETT: Jeremy, thank you so much, from Tel Aviv. And now we're getting in some new satellite images that show the damage at the three targeted nuclear sites in Iran, those targeted by, of course, the United States. So let's look at those. We understand as we show -- go through this, I'll keep the satellite images up. Twelve bunker busting bombs on the Fordow nuclear facility. That's an enrichment facility. That's the one, of course, that they've built deep inside a mountain.

And those strikes appear to have left six craters. So you're looking at this from satellites. So those look like little pinpricks, but you can imagine how big they are given the distance at which this image was taken. There also appears to be significant damage at the country's largest nuclear complex, which is the Isfahan facility. That is in Central Iran. And we can show you before and after images at Natanz. Natanz is Iran's largest nuclear enrichment center.

[17:15:01]

So, showing those before and after images, you can see some of the destruction there. Now let's go to chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance because, Matthew, those images obviously are powerful, but without the context of knowing the full extent of what was there before or what was moved from there before the strike, it is very hard to ascertain how successful these strikes were putting aside what the Trump administration claims. What do we actually know about what those strikes accomplished?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, it's hard for us to assess from those satellite images, you know, what the impact of the strikes were. It's hard for military, you know, professional military assessors at this stage to see exactly what the extent of the damage was as well, and that's going to depend on a whole load of other factors.

The satellite images is just one of them. There's going to be human intel on the ground, communication intercepts as well, computer modeling about the kind of weaponry that was used and the possible sort of impact it could have had, you know, on these nuclear sites. A couple of problems, the main one being or main two being that the sites are, in many cases, in the case of Fordow, and the case of Natanz, buried deep inside the ground. And so that complicates the modeling.

Technically, we've got no boots on the ground. There's no U.S. troops there. There's no U.N. nuclear inspectors there. And so it's really just, you know, kind of, you know, quite speculative at this point here beyond the, you know, the differences in the before and after photos that you just mentioned. The big issue though, I think, is that even if, in the words of, President Trump, the nuclear sites have been totally obliterated or completely obliterated, whatever he said, that doesn't mean that that's an end to the potential threat posed by Iran.

In fact, there's good reason to think that, you know, for many years, there have been hard line voices inside the Islamic Republic that have been calling for a deterrent, a nuclear deterrent against exactly this kind of attack. It's easy to imagine how those voices have been bolstered in the aftermath of these U.S. strikes. And so, you know, the threat is still, Erin, very much there.

BURNETT: Alright. Matthew Chance, thank you very much. And next, the dueling roles. We have new reporting tonight on the key architects, the people who created the U.S. strikes on Iran, and the behind the scenes discussions before President Trump said go.

Plus, an exclusive interview from Tehran. Our Fred Pleitgen on the ground there speaks with the spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry. Crucial because finally, you can hear what they're saying. Their reaction to the strikes next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:20:00]

BURNETT: We're back with our breaking news coverage of the U.S. air strikes on Iran. More than 125 aircraft were used in an operation that the defense secretary says, quote, unquote, "obliterated" three nuclear facilities. This morning, Hegseth explained what new intelligence led to this decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: So, what new intelligence does the U.S. have since then that the Iranians have changed their position on nuclear weapons? And does this new intelligence come from U.S. sources and methods, or are we getting this information from other countries?

PETE HEGSETH, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, I would just simply say that the president's made it very clear. He's looked at all of this, all of the intelligence, all of the information, and come to the conclusion that the Iranian nuclear program is a threat and was willing to take this precision operation to neutralize that threat in order to advance American national interests, reduce the Iranian nuclear program, and obviously collective self-defense of ourself and our allies.

So he looked at all of it, understood the nature of the threat, and took bold action I think the American people would expect in a commander-in-chief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Alright. Well, you can hear the defense secretary in everything he said there, didn't answer that question about what evidence may have changed or situation may have changed on intelligence. Senior national security reporter Zach Cohen joins us now live from the Pentagon. Zach, obviously, the crucial nature of this is even according to the Israelis, right, who had a very, you know, imminent view of Iran's nuclear capability.

There was no way in which Iran was an immediate imminent threat to the United States of America with its nuclear program. And yet the president chose to do this, anyway at this time. So what are you hearing about that decision?

ZACH COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah. Erin, there was certainly a lot of debate in the lead up to this decision, which officials telling us today was made in the minutes before bombs dropped, to carry out this strike. And it is based around the discussions related to the underlying intelligence. How close was Iran to achieving a nuclear weapon, and had they decided that they wanted to even begin that final step of completing work on a nuclear weapon.

But still today, Pentagon officials in a briefing here, in the building behind me, really emphasizing that regardless of what led us to this point, that the strike itself and the operation itself was remarkably well planned and very carefully executed. It actually took -- put a premium on secrecy. Pentagon officials saying today that even decoys were used in the form of B2 bombers that were part of the initial group and split off flying the opposite direction of the main strike group, really to be a diversion of sorts, to maintain that operational security.

[17:24:57]

Obviously, you know, this caught a lot of people, including the Iranians it seems, by surprise. So that was really a primary objective based on what Pentagon officials characterized today with relatively varying degrees of success. Right? We heard from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who really echoing his boss and congratulating Donald Trump on a made for TV type victory. And then we also heard from Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, who was a little bit more tempered in his early assessment of how successful these regs were. Take a listen to what they said today during a briefing in the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: It was an incredible and overwhelming success.

DAN CAINE, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIRFS OF STAFFS: I think BDA is still pending, and it would be way too early for me to comment on what may or may not still be there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So that moment really does kind of capture what sort of describe to us as the dueling approaches Hegseth and Caine have sort of taken to their jobs and their mentality behind the scenes in the lead up to the strike. We know Pete Hegseth is sort of the made for TV type defense secretary. Donald Trump often values Dan Caine more behind the scenes, but really was leaned on for his expertise, his military expertise before the strike happened.

BURNETT: Alright, Zach, thank you very much at the Pentagon tonight. And coming up, I'm going to speak to President Trump's former national security adviser, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster. Is diplomacy with Iran still possible?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:00]

BURNETT: Alright. We're following the breaking news out of the Middle East where the U.S. military carried out strikes against three of Iran's nuclear facilities. According to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, what the administration is calling Operation: Midnight Hammer, quote, "obliterated" Iran's nuclear ambitions.

More than 125 aircraft took part. It was an unprecedented series of attacks that included seven B-2o bombers, refueling tankers, reconnaissance planes, as well as fighter jets. Vice President J.D. Vance insists that the United States is not at war with Iran even though it dropped bombs on the country. He says that the U.S. is only at war with Tehran's nuclear program itself.

Meantime, the Iranian foreign minister issuing a forceful response to the strikes tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEYED ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The world must not forget that it was the United States which, in the midst of a process to forge a diplomatic outcome, betrayed diplomacy. In accordance with the U.N. charter and its provisions allowing a legitimate response in self-defense, Iran reserves all options to defend its security interests and people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Joining us now, President Trump's former national security adviser and retired Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, also a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and now the author of "At War With Ourselves." General McMaster, I so much appreciate your time. Just because you have seen this over a long career when there is an operation, how it is characterized and discussed, from a political perspective as opposed to military reality, when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says that the operation obliterated Iran's nuclear ambitions. You know more about those ambitions than most. Do you think that word is accurate?

H.R. MCMASTER, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, it's not a technical military term, Erin, obliterated. But I think what he was getting at is that I think that this raid did block their path to the most destructive weapons on earth. This raid in combination with the sustained campaign by the Israelis who have really gone off -- gone after the entire supply chain that Iran had in place as they were developing a nuclear weapon.

BURNETT: So, General McMaster, when you look at the satellite images, and I'll put them up. I know you've had a chance to see them, so I'm not asking you to look at them right now. But, you know, you can see the six craters, and they're sort of they look like six pinpricks. You see the before and afters. You can see that it was dramatic, but, you know, they look like pinpricks because you're taking the image from so high up.

But when you see those images, do you think that the United States is able to fully tell, the United States and U.S. intelligence, Israeli intelligence, exactly what they destroyed and what they did not destroy or even get to?

MCMASTER: Well, Erin, I think we'll know in the coming days because what we've seen in Iran is how deeply penetrated Iran is by Israeli and I think U.S. intelligence capabilities. So what you'll see is a multi-disciplined effort to try to figure this out with imagery as you've already mentioned, and we can see so much of that now that's commercially available. But also with signal intelligence, continued surveillance to see, what's the movement in and out of these sites.

But I think human intelligence is going to give us a really good, a really good read on it as well. And there are other technical means, you know, just there could have been a seismic event associated with these strikes that would indicate the, you know, the collapse of subsurface infrastructure.

So, it's going to take a few days at least, but there'll be a sustained intelligence collection effort on this, you know, to see, hey, was any of this enriched uranium move? Where is it moved to? So this is a raid, but it's part of a sustained effort to block Iran's path to a nuclear weapon.

BURNETT: You know, general, I'm curious. You know, Israel has been, vague about their end games, about the war, you know, what their goals are, their exact deliverables. Right? And, you know, whether having -- what extent of destruction of a nuclear program would have been enough, as just one example, regime change being another. And, we know that there are many in the Israeli government that want regime change to be part of this even though they haven't formally put it as a war aim.

[17:34:56]

President Donald Trump posted on social media something tonight that I wanted to read to you in that context, general, if I may. He just posted, "It's not politically correct to use the term regime change. But if the current Iranian regime is unable to, all caps, MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be regime change?" He adds three X -- I'm sorry, three question marks to that and then uses the, MIGA for Make Iran Great Again with three exclamation points.

So, General McMaster, how is that seen right now? How is the post (inaudible) that seen among America's allies in Iran? And what are the implications of such a thing, of putting regime change so clearly on the table?

MCMASTER: Well, Erin, I think you have to put it in context of the four decades plus proxy war, you know, if Iran has been fighting against us. And for so many years, you know, we had this kind of mantra of de-escalation, you know. And what that essentially did is it gave Iran the ability to escalate on its own terms with impunity.

You know, this goes back to the marine barracks and embassy bombings in 1983, the Khobar Towers bombings, a series of terrorist attacks and assassinations internationally. You know, the hand that they had in at least 600 U.S. soldier deaths, you know, with the roadside bombs they developed and used to their proxies in Iraq. I mean, the list just goes on and on, you know?

So, I think this is the first time we've actually hit back in a way that imposed much higher costs on them that they anticipated because they've been able to get away with it for so long. So I think what President Trump is saying is, like, he doesn't -- if the regime changes behavior, if it stops its permanent hostility to the United States, Israel, its Arab neighbors, you know, then he can live with a regime like that.

BURNETT: So, general, I guess, just to be blunt, as you play out what happens here, and I know that nobody knows, of course, and that's why it is such an unsettling moment for the world, but do you think that Americans are going to die?

MCMASTER: Well, you know, Americans have died at the hands of the Iranians, you know, in large measure, you know, and they've created so much suffering across the Middle East --

BURNETT: Yes.

MCMASTER: -- and in their own country. Right? In their own country.

BURNETT: Of course. I -- and I totally -- I totally understand that. I mean, as a result of these strikes.

MCMMASTER: No. I don't think so. I mean, you know, that's -- if Iran has the temerity, you know, to attack U.S. forces, I think President Trump is going to act in a way that imposes cost far beyond the anticipated. I think that's probably the intention of his Truth Social post as well is to say, hey, if you come after U.S. citizens, you may have to pay the price personally, you know, Ayatollah Khamenei.

And it's also important to realize that capability exists. I mean, it's extraordinary, Erin, the degree to which Israel's been able to take out so many of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards core leadership, you know?

BURNETT: Yeah.

MCMASTER: And so it indicates a really deep penetration of these corrupt institutions within Iran. I mean, I think the Iranian people are fed up. I don't think, you know, bombing necessarily makes Iranians feel better, you know, about Israel and United States.

BURNETT: Yeah.

MCMASTER: But I think so many of them now realize this regime has caused them to suffer, has denied them, you know, the ability to prosper in a really -- which should be a really rich country.

BURNETT: Alright. Well, General McMaster, we appreciate your time, and thank you so much on this Sunday night. And our special coverage of Operation: Midnight Hammer does continue after this break. We'll take a closer look at the dozens of warplanes that were used to strike Iranian targets. I'll show you exactly which ones, how they were used, how it all came together, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:00] BURNETT: Back with our breaking coverage of the U.S. air strikes on Iran. U.S. officials say it's too early to have a clear picture of the damage done to the three Iranian nuclear facilities that were bombed by the United States. The Defense Department though, the defense secretary, of course, had already described them as obliterated, the program, the nuclear program has been obliterated.

And the Defense Department is sharing more detail about what went into the operation itself. Retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton is here to show us exactly what we're learning about the operation itself.

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: One of the key elements that we have here is the timeline that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff pointed out. Basically, the B-2 started out at Whiteman Air Force Base up in Missouri a little bit after midnight on the 21st of June. It took them a little over 18 hours to get to the target area, and that's this area right off the coast of Israel right here.

But basically, what they ended up doing was they ended up hitting the targets 18 hours and 40 minutes later. By 19 hours after their launch, they were exiting the Iranian airspace. They'd hit all their targets, and one of the key things that they ended up doing was striking these three areas, the site of Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.

And what they did during that time was they actually -- the Air Force package included not just the B-2s, but it had a series of decoys with it, fourth and fifth generation fighters that came in and basically confused the Iranian air defense system, what was left of it, because the Israelis had taken out a lot of it in this part of Iran.

[17:44:56]

And what we ended up having was a B-2 path to each of these targets that was in essence covered by the decoys. So the Iranians were confused by this. The B-2s could conduct their attack. And what they ended up doing with the B-2s, this right here shows what they normally do. But in this case, instead of having Mark 82 bombs, they had the GBU 57 bomb, which was the bunker buster. And that bunker buster hit this site, the Fordow site first because that was the site that they needed to get at because it is the deepest buried target that they had.

Tunnel entrances here, support building, and most importantly, the centrifuges buried deep in the mountain. And that particular thing is really important because what you end up seeing is the fact that you have a site right here that is, in essence, covered by an area that has on the 20th of June looked fairly normal. This area looked fairly normal because the strike hadn't happened yet. But by this morning, on the 22nd, all of these areas right here that were once whole are gone.

And the other thing that they did was they struck the tunnel shafts in this particular area. So that gives us not only the capability to go in and take care of these sites, but the other thing to worry about in addition to the nuclear sites that were taken care of is what is the Iranian response going to be. That Iranian response is going to impact the U.S. troops, about 40,000 of them that are deployed to this part of the Middle East.

And this side of the Persian Gulf is very much within range of Iranian missiles, and that very fact makes it one of those areas that requires a great deal of force protection and an increase in what they call the force protection conditions that will protect our troops in this region. Back to you.

BURNETT: Alright. Colonel Cedrick Leighton, thanks so much to you. And next, Iran is now accusing the U.S. of betraying diplomacy speaking out in an exclusive interview. Iran's foreign ministry speaking out to CNN, our Fred Pleitgen on the ground in Tehran, the only Western television crew there to hear what they have to say. That exclusive is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:50:00]

BURNETT: We're back with our breaking news story out of Iran where U.S. military fighter jets struck three key nuclear facilities overnight. And the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, in Tehran is speaking out. And why are we hearing from him? Because our Fred Pleitgen is there. He is in Iran and had this exclusive interview after the U.S. attack. Baghaei says the U.S. must bear, and he said, quote, "responsibility for the consequences of this war." Here's Fred Pleitgen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ESMAIL BAGHAEI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: Now, we are facing a situation. After two or three months of negotiations, five rounds of negotiations with Trump administration, suddenly, we came under a surprise attack by Israel. Instead of Americans trying to rein in Benjamin Netanyahu, now they are joining hands in attacking Iran's nuclear installations. That would be a detrimental blow to international law, to the United Nations.

And by the way, the United States is a founding member of the United Nations. The United States is a permanent member of the Security Council. The United States is the headquarter of this organization. Now they are attacking a non-nuclear weapon state in collusion with each other. And I think that would have detrimental consequences for international law, for international peace and security, and for the generations to come.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What is going to be Iran's response?

BAGHAEI: I'm not going to talk about our reaction. This is for our military people to decide. But what is completely sure is that Iran is entitled under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter to exercise its right of self-defense, and we will do that for sure.

PLEITGEN: President Trump came out in a statement after the attack and called on Iran to make peace and also threatened that there would be an even tougher response if Iran fires back. What do you say? BAGHAEI: I think this is complete bullying. You attack a country and then threaten it again with more attacks. I think this is a manifestation of systematic, institutionalized bullying at the global level.

PLEITGEN: How does this inflame tensions in the Middle East?

BAGHAEI: It is unprecedentedly dangerous because now everyone thinks, perceives this as a success for Benjamin Netanyahu in dragging the United States into his war. And I think the whole region is alarmed. We have very good relation with our neighbors, Islamic countries, Arab countries. They have been unified condemning this act of aggression by Israel and by the United States.

No one knows what will happen next, but what is sure is that the responsibility for the consequences of this war must be borne by the United States and by its ally, Israel.

PLEITGEN: Is this the end of diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran?

BAGHAEI: 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 is witness -- we are witnessing a betrayal of diplomacy by the Trump administrations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And our thanks to Fred Pleitgen for that incredible reporting there on the ground in Tehran.

[17:54:56]

As United Nations is holding an emergency Security Council meeting, the U.N. secretary general says that the world risks, quote, "descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation." We have an update there from the U.N. right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Alright. The United Nations Security Council is just wrapping up an emergency meeting following the U.S. strikes on Iran. During the meeting, the secretary general told the council, and I quote, "we cannot and must not give up on peace."

[17:59:59]

Our Julia Benbrook is following these developments. And, Julia, obviously, this happening here in just these past few moments. What can you tell us?