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CNN Crew Safely Heads Out Of Bomb Shelter In Tel Aviv After Authorities Give The "All Clear"; U.S. Assessing Damage To Iran's Nuclear Sites After Strikes; Iran Warns Of "Everlasting Consequences" After U.S. Strikes; Trump In New Post Suggests Iran Could Have "Regime Change"; Sources: Trump Directed Staff To Issue Two-Week Window To Conceal Attack Plans; Major Cities Across The U.S. On "High Alert" Amid Iran Conflict; CNN In Tehran After U.S. Strikes On Iran's Nuclear Sites. Aired 9-10p ET

Aired June 22, 2025 - 21:00   ET

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

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: It's a 10-minute warning of incoming missiles or something incoming from Iran. So now the location we're in has a verbal alarm telling people to go down into bomb shelter.

So, we have about a 10-minute window to get down into a bomb shelter and we'll continue to try to broadcast from that bomb shelter, even if we can't on the way down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(OFF-MIC)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Are we (INAUDIBLE)?

COOPER: Yes. I think we should all (INAUDIBLE).

(OFF-MIC)

COOPER: So again, you can hear the sirens going off. This is from the hotel. They're warning all the hotel guests to go down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dear guest, we (INAUDIBLE) in the next 10 minutes. Please (INAUDIBLE) to stay --

COOPER: This is the first time today that we have had an alarm like this. It's obviously something that many here in Tel Aviv have gotten used to over the last 10 or 11 days since this began.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: This was a very widespread alert over many parts of Israel. An Israeli official tells CNN only one missile was actually fired from Iran in that attack. This is happening as U.S. officials are working to assess the extent of damage caused by yesterday's massive targeted strikes.

They caution it is just too early to determine whether the country retains some nuclear capabilities. Bomb damage analysis and other methods are still being used. A CNN analysis of satellite images found the attack on Fordow left behind at least six large craters likely caused by those bunker buster bombs called massive ordnance penetrators which are designed to go deep underground before actually exploding.

In central Iran, the country's largest nuclear complex known as Isfahan was struck with more than a dozen tomahawk missiles fired by U.S. submarines. At least 18 destroyed or partially destroyed structures were seen above ground in satellite images. Now according to one senior U.S. lawmaker, the key question now is whether Iran has already moved any of its highly enriched uranium stockpiles from those facilities before this attack.

I'm here with senior Jerusalem correspondent Jeremy Diamond and senior chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward.

There is that question, Clarissa, of is there, you know, was all the nuclear material actually in those sites? There are satellite images of a lot of trucks being outside one of those sites several days ago. What are you hearing from?

WARD (on-camera): Well, what we're hearing from Israeli officials is that they believe it was a severe impact but they are still gathering intelligence as to the extent of it and I think there's been some daylight in terms of the exact verbiage between what we heard from President Trump who talked about totally obliterated and what we're hearing from U.S. military and some Israeli officials which is more along the lines of severely damaged.

But now the focus really, Anderson, is on how does Iran respond to this because there is a feeling that Iran has to respond. Iran's own foreign minister has said that. They have a lot of different tools in their toolbox that they can use. They can go with the option of some of their proxies in the region. They could go with a direct attack on U.S. bases, some 40,000 U.S. troops in the region. They've done that before after the killing of Qassem Soleimani, striking on the Al-Assad airbase in Anbar province in Iraq.

I've spoken to a number of officials in the region who think that Iraq is particularly vulnerable right now as a target so all eyes are there. We've seen the State Department evacuating 500 people. They could also go with an asymmetric option, cyber, terrorism or an economic option, the Strait of Hormuz, which is obviously so vital for, you know, the energy trade and oil prices.

So, a lot of different options but the overriding perspective that I'm hearing a lot from different experts is the idea that Iran knows it has to project strength in some way but it wants to do it in a way that will not incur so many casualties or cause so much disruption that it will invite further retaliatory strikes.

What exactly that looks like, whether they manage to find that kind of Goldilocks return strike, we just don't know.

COOPER: And Jeremy, President Trump has made clear there would be further retaliation by the U.S. if there were retaliatory strikes and the shorter-range missiles that might be used by Iran to hit U.S. bases in the region, those have not been as much of a target for Israeli forces over the last week or so.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Well, the Israeli military certainly has been trying to degrade a range of Iranian capabilities. There's no question, though, that they have been more focused on air defense systems in order to have that freedom of operation that they now have over Iranian skies and also, of course, those ballistic missile launchers, about half of which the Israeli military says they have now destroyed.

But you're right to key in on that because Iran has many more missiles, shorter-range missiles and other capabilities as well to strike at those bases, some of which are only dozens of miles away from Iranian territory compared to the hundreds of miles that separate us right now here in Israel from Iran.

[21:05:01]

We did see in the last hour this one missile that was indeed intercepted, according to an Israeli official. But in the early hours of yesterday morning, we saw this strike in the northern part of Tel Aviv that was part of a barrage of more than 20 missiles. I want to show you what we found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: A few hours after those U.S. strikes in Iran, a barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles came raining down on Israel. And this right here is the destruction that was wrought by just one of those ballistic missiles here in Tel Aviv.

DIAMOND (voice-over): More than 20 people were injured in this strike which sheared off the side of this residential building, laying bare the lives of those who once lived here. As cleanup crews push piles of debris, survivors return to grab what they can, many still shaken by what they have just survived and all they have lost.

JEREMY ZETLAND, LOST HIS HOME IN MISSILE ATTACK: Maybe I do need to take some of this these things.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Half a block away from where the missile struck Jeremy Zetland has spent the day picking through the debris of his childhood home.

ZETLAND: We used to put the DJ up there, and we used to have parties here our friends.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Moving from one destroyed room to the next, Jeremy has been trying to separate the things that matter from those that don't.

ZETLAND: It's just things. It's -- it's -- it's nothing this is not important, but it's just to -- wait.

DIAMOND (voice-over): And in that moment he is reminded of what is. ZETLAND: So, who you are the -- the -- the people and so that's what's important. This is not important, but it's just a symbol of how we're holding ourselves to be strong. It's hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND (on-camera): And Anderson although there have not been any fatalities in Israel as a result of those strikes for a week now, 24 people have been killed in Israel since the beginning of this latest escalation of the conflict. And in addition to that as you can see from -- from that man there, I mean there are lives being very much affected, homes that are being destroyed, people having to relocate and obviously dozens of people who have been injured in these strikes almost every day.

WARD (on-camera): I think as well when I watch that it just really underscores this idea if you didn't have this alarm system.

COOPER: Right.

WARD (on-camera): Right? If you didn't have these alerts, if you didn't have shelters, this is why we're seeing tens of thousands of people in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Iran --

COOPER: There are not shelters in Gaza that have been built there.

WARD (on-camera): There are not. There are not alarm systems. And you can imagine if that house that you visited had been full of people, how many lives would have been lost.

COOPER: Yes, it is a remarkably. It's easy to kind of take it for granted when you're here, oh, there's a 10-minute warning for an incoming missile, that's an extraordinary thing to have in a situation.

WARD (on-camera): And it's a luxury so many in this region do not have.

COOPER: Yes, sadly. It is true.

Clarissa Ward, thanks very much. Jeremy Diamond as well.

I'm joined now by Brett McGurk the former Middle East and North Africa coordinator for the -- the National Security Council. He's advised the last four presidents as an experience negotiating with Iranian officials.

We'll talk to him coming up next.

Brett we've been speaking on air nightly --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:11:57]

COOPER: Apologize for the technical issue. We went to break. Once again, I'm joined now by Brett McGurk, the former Middle East and North Africa Coordinator for the National Security Council. He's advised the last four presidents, has wide experience negotiating with Iranian officials.

Brett, I apologize for that.

You know, I've been speaking nightly since this began. We spoke 24 hours ago. What -- what stands out to you about where things stand right now tonight?

BRETT MCGURK, FMR MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA COORDINATOR, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: Yes, so I think Anderson a little bit behind the scenes. Obviously, I think people feel very good about the level of execution of this operation last night done with real secrecy, operational discipline.

But really important here if I was -- was advising the President cannot take a victory lap at all. We're now in the escalation ladder. So just for context when President Trump ordered the strike against Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Quds Force in early 2020, it took five days for Iran to decide how to respond. They fired about 15 ballistic missiles at U.S. facilities in Iraq. Doesn't say that's what they might do here, but that we're kind of in that window.

So we talked last night, Anderson, about turns and just to kind of put this in context last night focused on the U.S.-Iran situation was turn one, Americans did a strike. There's a lot of diplomatic activity right now. Messages going in Tehran making clear, no Iranians were killed in this attack. It's about the nuclear facilities. It can end here.

If Iran chooses to do a turn two, the Americans will have ready a turn three. And again, try to contain it there. You want to stop going up the escalation ladder.

So, diplomatic activity, ongoing messaging to Iran, including through our allies and partners. intelligence information. A massive amount would be coming in now through the Situation Room. You want to sift through that, prioritize, make sure you're seeing everything you can. And finally, military preparations. Making sure people are protected and we're prepared, should we have to do that turn three.

COOPER: We in -- in terms of -- of the -- what's happening on the ground in Iran with the nuclear material, is it clear to you whether all that -- I mean, there, there's a lot of reports that, that material nuclear, you know, enrich uranium could have been moved prior to these attacks, likely was to other facilities.

If that is the case, how will the U.S. be able to figure out exactly not just the what -- what the damage done at these sites is, but the capabilities that Iran still has, assuming the IAEA isn't going to be allowed to continue doing inspections.

MCGURK: Anderson, a key question. So, the battle damage assessment, which Cedric just talked about on your program, is going to unfold here over the coming days, maybe over the coming weeks.

On Fordow in particular, I know they're -- you're aiming for a particular aim point, so there's three little holes you're seeing. There'll be an assessment of whether they hit where you're trying to hit. But look, we will ultimately know from intelligence information, other sources the damage particularly to Fordow. I'm pretty confident what, from what I'm hearing when it comes to enrichment, their enrichment capabilities, significant, significant setback. It is a serious problem if the 60 percent uranium has been moved somewhere.

[21:15:05]

I suspect, again, I don't have knowledge of this directly, I suspect in working with the Israelis and others, we probably have a pretty good sense of where that material is.

But I say two things here that are very significant. Number one, Israel controls the airspace over Iran. We've talked about that the last few nights. And if you have to do a reattack, you can. And if Iran tries to restart its program or tries to rebuild centrifuges, I think the Israelis will be on top of that.

Another thing, importantly, on the diplomacy. We've talked in the past, Anderson, about snapback. The Europeans, the Brits, the French and the Germans can snap back all international sanctions on Iran. That power to do that is actually under the old Obama-era JCPOA, under a Security Council resolution. It expires in October.

My understanding, the Europeans are still prepared. Probably in the August time frame, if you do not have a deal to deal with all this material and to make clear that Iran cannot have a pathway to a nuclear weapon, they can snap back sanctions. That would be quite devastating to Iran's economy.

So that's a big diplomatic leverage point you have. And this will all be in play here over the coming months. The E3, the Europeans had a pretty strong statement today. And the President will be, I believe, at the NATO summit next week with allies.

COOPER: A number of members of the administration, Vice President Vance was out today on television and elsewhere saying regime change was not the objective here. This can end here. There should be talks after this. Then the President tonight on social media or this afternoon in the U.S. appeared to -- I mean, he talked about regime change. And she said, quote, 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, MIGA?

Does that muddy the waters?

MCGURK: I tell you, Anderson, look, we can all hope that this regime, which has so much American blood on its hands, ultimately ends up in the dustbin of history. But that's up to the Iranian people.

You got to stay focused right here, right now. After this operation, this historic operation, stay focused on the mission. And that mission is the nuclear material in Iran. I would not start expanding the mission.

We've talked about this over the past week, Anderson. Very important to stay focused, disciplined on what we're trying to do. And that is the nuclear program. I think if you try to expand the mission -- I saw that tweet. I'm hopeful that's not what that's about.

Last night the messaging was very good. This is about the nuclear process, the nuclear facilities in Iran, and also the ballistic missile capabilities that the Israelis have been going after quite effectively. It is not -- militarily speaking, it is not a regime change operation.

Let's not have mission creep. Stay focused, because we're not finished.

COOPER: We just -- Ambassador Bolton was on the last hour. He wrote an op-ed today, essentially saying, look, you know, in Iraq, George Bush realized you can't just attack nuclear programs from the air. You have to be on the ground looking at sites, searching out where nuclear material may or, in the case of Iraq, may not be.

He's -- Ambassador Bolton seemed to believe there should be regime change in Iran. There are others here in Israel who agree with that.

Can you just make the case for why -- I mean, the U.S. doesn't seem to have a great track record in this region on regime change? Libya is in chaos. It doesn't have a nuclear weapon, true, but it's in chaos. We've all seen what's happened in the region.

MCGURK: Anderson, we have not had American personnel on the ground in Iran for 46 years. The last American diplomats in Iran were hostages in 1979, 1980. Fred Pleitgen has more access on the streets of Tehran than American personnel diplomats.

We just cannot go down that road as an assertive American military objective. The unintended consequences, I think, are vast. I've experienced this directly myself. That is why I'm really opposed to declaring those types of objectives.

That said, we should have maximum support for the Iranian people. We should help them communicate through VPNs, through Starlink and other means. But to talk about, in the wake of what just happened, this very important military operation and we're still now in that window of escalation, a very serious moment, to start expanding the mission, I think, is very dangerous.

Let's stay focused here. The mission is not regime change. Let's avoid mission creep.

COOPER: Brett McGurk, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

MCGURK: Thank you.

COOPER: Just in, we have new details on the White House effort to make sure no one knew the U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear sites was coming.

CNN anchor and chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, joins me now with new reporting.

[21:20:00]

Kaitlan, what have you learned?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Yes, Anderson, we're learning more about just what went into the decision making process here for President Trump as he was very clearly telegraphing over the last several days that he was leaning toward military action in Iran and getting the U.S. involved here as of course, we saw play out last night.

But we're learning more about what he was thinking behind the scenes and what he was instructing his staff to say publicly. And of course, last Thursday, everyone remembers when Karoline Leavitt, the Press Secretary, came out to the White House briefing room, read a statement that she said was directly from President Trump, saying that he was going to ultimately make up his mind on what to do with Iran in the next two weeks, within the next two weeks was the key phrase that she used there.

Obviously, it gave the indication that the President had not fully decided, which he also told me in the Oval Office when I asked, and he said he would probably decide at the last moment or last second if possible. But we're learning more about what happened behind that. And basically, what I'm told Anderson is that the President instructed his staff to say publicly that he was going to decide within the next two weeks, even though he had largely already decided what to do here.

Because one, he was frustrated with the coverage that suggested that he was going to strike Iran and -- and particularly certain Iranian nuclear facilities. And two, he wanted to be able to conceal his plans ultimately from the Iranians. He didn't want them to have a clear indication of what he was going to do and -- and likelihood as we were very closely watching on Thursday night and Friday night to see if he was going to take those steps.

But really, he had already decided. So, it was essentially a ruse that the President had come up with, to try to throw people off what his ultimate plans were.

Now, we heard from officials today, including the Vice President JD Vance, who said the President made the final call seconds before the attack happened. I was told he made the final call yesterday during the day. That's after those bombers were already in the air. Obviously, he could -- he could have essentially stopped at that point, but decided to -- to go ahead.

And so, we are just learning more about how much he wanted this to be a, a surprise to the Iranians that the United States was going to get militarily involved here.

As for today, Anderson, the President, has been speaking with his national security aids. He's been very closely tracking the coverage and the response to these -- to these strikes and also has been looking at -- at what Republicans have been saying. Largely it has been praised and support from people like Senate Majority Leader John Thune. But you've seen criticism from people like Thomas Massie and the President has been fixating on that in particular.

COOPER: Yes, yes. Not happy, obviously with -- with -- with Massie.

Kaitlan Collins, thanks. Kaitlan's going to join us at the top of the -- the next hour at 10:00 p.m. Eastern anchoring CNN Special Coverage.

Our coverage right now continues taking a short break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:26:19]

COOPER: Israel's Prime Minister appeared today in a prerecorded press conference where he addressed what could come next following the U.S. strikes on Iran. He said that Israel would not end up in a war of attrition, but emphasized that the fighting would not stop until his country had achieved its goals of eliminating the dual threats of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons and their ballistic missile program.

Michael Oren, former Israeli Ambassador of the United States, joins me now. Ambassador Oren, thanks very much for, for being with us.

We've been reporting President Trump release a statement tonight suggesting regime change or talking about regime change. Is that one of Israel's ultimate goals here, do you think?

We're having trouble with the connection with Ambassador Oren. I'll give it one more try. Ambassador Oren, this is Anderson. Can you hear me?

We'll try to get contact with Ambassador Oren.

And I want to go to, CNN's John Miller who is standing by and talk about federal, state, and local officials are on high alert right now in the U.S. monitoring for any potential threats across the country in the aftermath of the strikes against Iran.

John Miller is our chief law enforcement intelligence analyst.

John, how high is the risk for threats right now and what are local federal officials looking at?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT INTELLIGENCE ANALYST (on- camera): Well, Anderson, you and I talked about this subject 10 days ago when conditions were different. It was -- does the fact that Israel has struck Iran, raise the risk of a terrorist attack against U.S. interest or in -- in the United States?

And the answer then was yes and maybe. Now the U.S. is directly involved and that is a game changer. So now the answer's just yes and yes.

So there has been advisories from the FBI, the state and local law enforcement from the Department of Homeland Security to state and local law enforcement from the NYPD to its law enforcement partners across the country, basically circling around for being mindful of target assessment Jewish locations, Israeli government locations, American government locations, symbolic targets, and to be on the lookout for any suspicious behavior, it's a see something, say something with two underlines environment we're operating in now.

COOPER: I saw that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned about the potential of sleeper cells in the U.S. How, how real is that?

MILLER (on-camera): Well, that's very real and it's a intelligence gap we wrestled with for years, and then finally around 2017, we started to really get into this question of if the Ayatollahs or the IRGC press the button in Iran saying attack in the United States, who would be on the other end?

We uncovered two individuals from Hezbollah stationed in New York. Their job for Hezbollah and thus for Iran was to assess targets, infrastructure targets, tourist locations, JFK Airport, Time Square, the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Plaza. And they would build these target files and then fly back to Lebanon, transmit them to Hezbollah. Hezbollah would share them with their Iranian handlers.

And basically, they wanted to know when it's decided that there is going to be an attack, that everything was already ready and that they had not just assessed the targets, but where they were most vulnerable.

So not theoretical, very real.

COOPER: In terms of how much law enforcement can -- can do about that. You know, we should also point out, President Trump had eliminated the Secret Service protection for a number of his former officials Ambassador Bolton, who he had on earlier in particular, that's got to be a concern to them.

[21:30:12]

MILLER (on-camera): Well, it is. You know, there was protection for Ambassador Bolton who was named in the Iranian revenge attack or punishment operation for the death of Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran's special forces, or IRGC who was taken out by a missile attack ordered by President Trump in his first term. So was former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a subject to that threat, and so was President Donald Trump, subject to that threat.

And we saw that renewed in recent months when an individual actually admitted to the FBI allegedly, that he had been paid by the Iranians to try and set up a plot against Trump while he was still a candidate before his security increased if he were elected, which he was.

So, we've seen a lot of activity, and this is how it works. The Iranians generally will use intelligence agents or cutouts from Hezbollah to recruit criminal elements in different countries, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the United States, and then try to get them the criminal elements. Gangs organized crime entities to carry out attacks on their enemies. It gives them a little deniability, but the target selection makes it obvious who's behind it?

COOPER: John Miller, appreciate it. Thanks very much.

We have more breaking news, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:35:19]

COOPER: And welcome back from continuing coverage from Tel Aviv. Michael Oren, former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, joins me now.

Ambassador Oren, appreciate you being with us. As we've been reporting, President Trump released a statement tonight suggesting or mentioning regime change this after Vice President Vance and others had been out on television in the United States saying, regime change is not what the U.S. is -- is after here.

Is that the ultimate goal for -- for Israel?

MICHAEL OREN, FMR ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE US: I think it's an implicit goal. Anderson, good morning. Prime Minister Netanyahu has stated and not once that the Iranian people have an opportunity to rise up and -- and change the regime.

I think Israel's major concern is that when this war ends and it will end around a negotiating table one way or another with one Iranian leadership or another. That -- that leadership will be fundamentally changed, that you can make an agreement to even dismantle Iran's nuclear program. But at the end of the day, if Iran continues to be the world's state's largest state sponsor of tariff, it continues to try to destroy the state of Israel, to -- to finance and train proxy terrorist groups to destroy the state of Israel than what has been achieved here. There has to be a very fundamental change.

I think Israel understands. I think Israelis generally understand that -- that what went on before where Iran was the primary financer and trainer of the terrorists who mounted October 7th, 2023. That has to change.

COOPER: What, what do you say to -- to people in the United States hearing this, who, you know, remember regime change in Iraq, regime change in Libya, you know, Afghanistan, there are a lot of unintended consequences when, you know, the U.S. or others take out a leader of a country. What do you say to Americans who are skeptical when they hear that?

OREN: And I understand their skepticism, certainly. I think that the two major differences, one, Iran is a country that's been around for thousands of years. It's a nation state. And that that other states like Libya, who were post-colonial states, put together by the UN Libby in the case was put together by the Italian fascists.

Had a har -- always had a trouble of cohering centrally the Iraqi -- Iraq country put together by the British. Iran's been around for thousands of years and Iran's going to stay Iran and Iranian people. Secondly regime change can't come from without. Yes, United States and Israel through military action can weaken the regime.

It could expose the regime's weaknesses. it's not a paper tiger, it's -- it could be a tissue tiger. But the chain has to come from inside by the people themselves. And yes, there could be a period of -- of chaos, but certainly from an Israeli perspective and maybe from an American perspective, I can't speak for the American people, the chaos would be preferable to a regime that is seeking to say, destroy our state or mount terrorist attacks against Americans throughout the world that is what has to change.

COOPER: Is that really true? I mean, chaos in Iran, a huge country, the army -- with a huge army, this revolutionary guards force possibly in rich uranium in sites we don't know about that may have been moved from some of these facilities that in the hands of some faction in a Balkanized Iran. Is that really better than -- than the -- the current regime?

OREN: You know, the old adage that the -- the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know. In this case, the devil that we do know it's so utterly satanic that the answer would've to be yes. That even the possibility of having enriched uranium in the hands of -- of different factions within Iran, or having Iran's military capabilities in the hands of a Balkanized Iran would be preferable to having that type of power in the hands of a government, which is committed to destroying a state, destroying my state, just committed to mounting terrorist attacks around the world.

I was listening to your previous broadcast about terror cells by Iran in New York City, attempts to assassinate American leaders, Mike Pompeo, the President of the United States an attempt to assassinate me several years ago in Washington, D.C. along with my Saudi counterpart. This is a country, this is a leadership, a regime that with that centralized power can have the power to kill leaders and citizens, American citizens, Israeli citizens with impunity.

COOPER: Offensive operations are still ongoing by Israel against -- against Iran. We saw one missile fired earlier this -- this evening nationwide alert people going down into bomb shelters.

[21:40:03]

What is the -- what -- I mean, what -- what -- when do you know it's time to stop offensive operations against Iran? Is there an end goal? I mean, short of regime change? What is the strategically, what is -- what is the stopping point here?

OREN: Well, I hazard to make a prediction. We've seen that the number of, of rockets generally have gone down and tonight one rocket just about an hour ago, we were all in our shelters here too was significant.

It's a big, it's a tremendous reduction from when Iran fired missiles at Israel in 2024, twice, and each of those barrages were about 300 rockets. This round of fighting began with 200 rockets down to 100, then -- then 60, 40, 20, and then tonight one rocket. And, you know, one rocket hits a building, these are rockets carrying 200 pounds of TNT.

It doesn't take down a building, it takes down the entire neighborhood. It's still very serious, but it's a -- a very sharp reduction from what Iran was capable of doing. Iran -- Israel has claimed that has our forces have destroyed well over half of Iran's missile launching and arsenal capabilities. That's quite significant.

The Israeli government tonight I understood, began to signal that it is willing to consider a ceasefire, willing to stop if Iran is willing to stop. I think that there's different messages coming out of Washington, but one of them was that the Trump administration wants to go back to the negotiating table.

I think the ball is really in Iran's court right now, Anderson whether it is willing to go back to negotiate and negotiate on the basis of dismantling Iran's nuclear capabilities and whether it will respond to these American and Israeli combined operations this week by launching terrorist attacks, by attacking American military personnel in the Middle East, or perhaps closing the Strait of Hormuz which would then precipitate a much larger American response. And if they keep on firing even one missile, Israel a night, Israel will also continue to press its military actions against Iran.

So, we're really at an inflection point right now, and this could go in a very different direction. We all hope it does, certainly, but we also hope that when it does end, it will affect a fundamental change in Iran's ability to destabilize the Middle East and to kill frankly. Iran's been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in the Middle East. Just a half a million people in Syria alone, if you remember.

So that is the change we hope will -- will occur. And it'll occur we understand, not by military, means at the end of the day, it's going to occur around the -- around a negotiating table.

COOPER: Ambassador Michael Oren, thank you for your time. Appreciate it.

There's been dueling answers about Iran's nuclear capabilities being obliterated, which is the term President Trump used yesterday.

For more on that CNN correspondent Natasha Bertrand joins me now.

Between what Secretary Hegseth is saying, General Caine saying it's too early to comment. And the CNN Isfahan reporting that the strikes may have left enriched nuclear material intact. What do we know where things stand?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Yes, Anderson. Look, I think you have the political reading of this, and then you of course have the military career, military reading of this.

And we got the former from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and President Trump earlier today, of course, Secretary Hegseth standing alongside the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine earlier today said things like the strikes devastated the nuclear program that President Trump dealt the final blow to Iran's nuclear program and that their nuclear ambitions have been basically obliterated.

But then you had Dan Caine, who's the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who is a uniformed military official, the most senior military advisor to the President, who gave a much more measured response when asked about the battle damage assessment and said, quote, I know that battle damage is of great interest. Final battle damage will take some time. And he said that it is still way too early to comment on what may or may not be there.

And so then in that sense, you kind of get a little bit more reluctance to state outright that there has been you know, devastating damage here to nuclear Iran's nuclear program.

And I think that that is the sense that we're getting from a lot of officials and experts that we are speaking to, that while there was significant damage done to Fordow, to Natanz, to Isfahan it -- it is too soon to say whether or not this has dramatically set back Iran's nuclear program, especially when it comes to Isfahan, because interestingly, U.S. military officials did tell us that those bunker buster bombs that the B-2s dropped yesterday, they were only dropped on Natanz and Fordow. They were not dropped on Isfahan, which is one of Iran's biggest nuclear facilities, and it carries almost 60 percent of that enriched material.

And so, if the -- if the strikes that the U.S. carried out did not cause significant damage to those underground hardened underground facilities at that at that installation, then it really raises additional questions here about whether Iran had of course moved some of the material to that facility before the strikes and if those remain intact. There are also questions about whether Iran was able to move some of the enriched material out of Fordow before the U.S. struck it with those bunker busters.

[21:45:06]

So, a lot of questions remaining and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also acknowledged earlier today about just where the nuclear program stands now. But for all intents and purposes, the administration is saying, look, this is mission accomplished for us. We see that we did significant damage to these facilities and we are hoping that it is enough at this point to at least get Iran to the table to talk diplomatically. Anderson.

COOPER: Natasha Bertrand, thanks very much.

For more on the strikes, I want to turn to CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Based on -- on the satellite data that we have so far, this is publicly available satellite data. What's the extent of -- of the damage at Tehran's most -- I mean the one we've talked about most, the most hardened one, Fordow? CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST (on-camera): Fordow. Right, Anderson. Yes. That -- that is one of the key things here. So, it -- it really depends on a lot of different factors.

So, when you look at kind of the before and after periods here, you see that there's a -- a very different setup here. This all looks very clear, but when you move it back to the after slide, this particular support building basically has a smoke damage associated with it. Plus, there's another area right here where you have these tunnels and these tunnels are clearly damaged by this.

Now what that doesn't do is it doesn't tell you anything what happened underneath. And so in this particular case, as Natasha was reporting, you really don't know yet exactly how far the massive ordinance penetrators have actually gone down and caused the damage.

So, what you need to understand when they do the bomb damage or battle damage assessment is how far the blast radius actually reached. How -- what kind of an impact it had on all of the underground facilities here, and how much damage it caused to everything in there, including the centrifuges.

So that's going to be one of the key elements here, is to determine exactly what happened underground at this particular site because it is so important to that. Of course, the same is true for some of the other sites, and that includes not only Fordow, but Natanz and Isfahan, where there's a lot of question as to exactly what was hit there.

COOPER: There are serious concerns, obviously about the risks now to U.S. military assets and personnel throughout this region.

What, you know, can you just give us a map of what areas are most vulnerable, what areas are of concern to U.S. officials?

LEIGHTON (on-camera): Yes, I think the most con areas of most concern include this part, the western side of the Persian Gulf. And you're particularly talking about Bahrain, where the fifth fleet is headquartered, plus Qatar, where you have Al Udeid Air Base and also an army installation there, plus Kuwait, which has several army installations associated with it.

So, these areas are probably the most vulnerable to Iranian incursions, Iranian attacks of one type or another, should the Iranians choose to do so. Basically, what you're talking about is they could activate some of their regional facilities. Of course, we also have troops up in Iraq still, and so those could also be impacted. But the big thing here is that everything that you see in this region falls within Iranian missile ranges, and that includes some of the long range missiles here, but also shorter range missiles, which could easily hit targets on this side of the Persian Gulf.

COOPER: It is extraordinary the amount of these bunker buster bombs that, that were used prior to the attack. We heard people talking about maybe using, you know, a handful of them. I believe it's more than a dozen, that there were a dozen used on the Fordow facilities my understanding, and I think it was two used on Natanz.

LEIGHTON (on-camera): Yes, that, that absolutely is true. So, what you end up having here is you know, you see a lot of you know, damage that was done as the GBU-57s were delivered by the B-2. The B-2 is -- is absolutely critical to this because it was the only aircraft that could do it. But in terms of the volume of weapons that was used here, you had basically a dozen GBU-57s go after targets in the Fordow area, plus two more that ended up hitting the Natanz sites.

So that indicates that you know, you had a clear idea that this was the most difficult target and needed the biggest impact, the biggest bang in essence for the effort here, and Natanz being the second one. When you look at the entire operation going you know, all over all these distances, they basically needed these weapons in order to bring all of this to bear.

But we can't forget one other thing, Anderson, and that's the fact that we use TLAMs, the tomahawk missiles, these right here are designed to do a lot of damage to certain pinpoint targets. It basically carries about a thousand-pound conventional explosives. And it was first used back in in Desert Storm. But these missiles are critical to hitting targets like the one that Isfahan, and it was used to that effect.

[21:50:04]

COOPER: Colonel Cedric Leighton, thanks very much.

Ahead, CNN is on the ground in Tehran. We'll have a report from there.

We'll be right back.

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COOPER: As Iranian authorities vow a response to yesterday's attack, civilians in Iran are torn between fear for their loved ones and livelihoods if a wider war breaks out and anger over what they see as an attack on their country.

Fred Pleitgen has been speaking to a number of people on the streets in Tehran getting reactions as the United States becomes involved in this conflict.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPODENT: Iran's leadership has absolutely blasted the Trump administration for bombing several Iranian nuclear sites. In fact, the country's foreign minister has come out and said that the United States has begun what he calls a dangerous war, and that there would be, as he also says, everlasting consequence.

Now we are in the Iranian capital in Tehran, and we've spoken to a lot of folks here on the street. And a lot of them say they are very angry at the United States. They voiced that anger to us and also absolutely ripped into President Trump. PLEITGEN (voice-over): They attacked us, she says. We were living our normal lives and they attacked us. If someone strikes the United States, would they not answer? Of course, they would. We are not doing anything but defending ourselves.

[21:55:05]

Iranian people are people of honor, and we will definitely give a strong response, this man says. We will stand strongly like we have been for the past 40 years.

There is no one dirtier than Trump, he says. First, he gives us two weeks time, but then after two days, strikes us. We do not have nuclear weapons. So why does he strike us? Such a guy only thinks about his own benefit.

I support the Supreme Leader with my life, he says. I approve of him really. Because he's moving forward for the sake of our land.

PLEITGEN: So as you can see, a lot of people saying that, if anything, this has strengthened their support for their leadership. All this, by the way, comes as a lot of folks are coming back to Tehran. A lot of shops are opening again after many people had left, fearing that there could be a big bombing campaign by the Israelis and by the Trump administration.

Iran's leadership has warned the U.S. that Iran has many things at its disposal with which it could resist as it puts it, the United States. One of the things, of course, that they keep talking about is the militias in the Middle Eastern region that are loyal to Iran. There's Iranian commanders who have said, look next to almost every American military base in the region, there is a militia that is loyal to Iran, and that could cause trouble for the U.S.

At the same time, Iran's leadership says it understands that right now it has entered into a phase of serious conflict with the United States.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Thanks for joining us this evening. I'm Anderson Cooper in Tel Aviv.

CNN's continued reporting from the region continues in just a moment. Our special coverage continues with Kaitlan Collins.

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