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Wide-Scale Destruction In Tel Aviv After Iran Missile Attack; Trump Says Strike On Iranian Nuclear Sites A Spectacular Military Success; Iran Fires First Wave Of Missiles Since U.S. Strikes; Iranian Officials Downplay Damage From Us Strikes. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired June 22, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:31]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Becky Anderson from our Middle East programming headquarters in Abu Dhabi. Time here is 10:00 a.m. on Sunday 22nd June. It is 9:00 a.m. in Tel Aviv. It is 9.30 a.m. in Tehran. Let's get you right to the breaking news that we are following this hour.

An Israeli emergency services say there is large scale destruction in parts of the country after Iranian missile strikes. We're going to get the view from there. And we've got new video from this scene in Israel's central district. CNN's Nic Robertson is at one of the spots that's been hit and we'll check in with him in just a moment.

Also happening right now, Israel says it has launched new airstrikes on Iran. But right now, let's get you the latest on the U.S. strikes on the Iranian nuclear facilities overnight.

U.S. B2 bombers dropped a dozen bunker buster bombs on the Fordow site and two of them on the Natanz site. Meanwhile, U.S. Navy submarines fired 30 cruise missiles at Natanz and Isfahan. Iran, Saudi Arabia and the International Atomic Energy Agency all say there has been no increase in offsite radiation.

President Donald Trump said the strikes were designed to end the nuclear threat from Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.

For 40 years, Iran has been saying death to America, death to Israel. They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs. That was their specialty. We lost over a thousand people and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate. In particular, so many were killed by their general, Qasem Soleimani. I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will not continue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: I'll get you to Washington and to Tehran. Coming up. Let's start though with CNN International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson from Tel Aviv where there appears to be damage from an Iranian missile. Nic, what can you tell us?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Becky, I'm at a very crowded street just in Tel Aviv. There's a lot of emergency medical workers on site. Police, IDF, all here. I'm looking at an apartment building with windows smashed, parts of the building falling apart. I'm not at the precise location of the blast itself. I'm at the perimeter that the emergency teams have put up here.

There's a number of ambulances out on the street here. A lot of local people from the apartments around here all come to take a look. But the impact site here appears to be, and again, I'm just moving myself a bit more carefully here. And now I can see -- now I can see the building -- now I can see the building that was hit more clearly. It looks like a four-story building that's heavily, heavily damaged.

I don't see any windows. I don't see any window frames. I see concrete hanging off the roof. It's not clear to me at this moment how many people were injured here. The early reports we had at this site here in northern Tel Aviv was that two people were injured, but it's not clear if that number has changed. As I've been sort of walking into the site here, Becky, it's still a situation. It is very active, let me say at the moment, with the emergency rescue and recovery teams on site.

ANDERSON: And you will have heard the missiles incoming. The images that we have here show missile trails over Israel fired from Iran. We're now looking at new pictures.

[02:05:00]

ROBERTSON: Becky, I'm just going to put my phone up. This medical official is giving a detailed account of what you're seeing. Standby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But you also said that her head is like really severely injured and to get eliquis and you know, medications that can be abdominal hematoma. So we don't know.

In total we just 10 casualties.

ROBERTSON: How many casualties. So Becky just trying to give the update there for this medical official on site here. She's saying 10 casualties taken from here. Sorry for that. We'll try and get these figures as soon as we can. She's just come up -- she's just come on site. ANDERSON: It's good to have you, Nic, and it's important stuff. Just

describe the mood there if you will.

ROBERTSON: Are we live?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

ROBERTSON: Did they see us? You're streaming. Becky can talk to me. Becky can talk to me.

ANDERSON: Nic, I can hear you and I know we're trying to get your shot up. We are looking at live images of at least a site that's been impacted in Tel Aviv. I can't to be completely transparent, I don't know whether it's the site that you are at, but you've just heard from an emergency official there at the site where you are.

So once again, can you just describe what she just said and what the mood is there?

OK, it does appear that we have lost Nic. Look, he's just explained this is a fast moving situation. The images that we have into CNN show numerous missile trails over Israel fired from Iran. It is not clear at this point how many missiles Iran launched and how many got through the air defenses.

But these images are straight from Tel Aviv live as emergency workers, rescue workers there comb through the damage at an impact site. Nic, do we have you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No shelter there and the shelter that they are, you know, in wheelchair so they can't really arrive on time.

ROBERTSON: Thank you very much indeed. Thank you. So Becky, I don't know if you can hear me now. Becky, we're just as you know, just arriving here and getting ourselves straightened out. I'm just going toss back to you, Becky, in case you can hear me. I'm listening.

ANDERSON: I can hear you. Just explain what you're hearing, what you're seeing.

ROBERTSON: Yes, I was just talking to a medical official there. Ten people wounded with sort of moderate and other injuries, a few other people with lighter injuries. But this is a residential neighborhood that we're standing in. Know there's a school about half a block in this direction. There's a shopping mall just over to the side of me here.

Behind me in those trees over there, that seems to be the site where the missile impacted. It appears to me from here to be a residential building. It appears that the part of the roof is caved in. Four stories high, concrete's caved in at the roof. There are no windows and a window frames on the building at the moment. But what we're seeing here and this is sort of. Just pan over this way a little bit, Sanjeev, if you can just look here.

These are the medical emergency teams that are coming on site immediately. Look over there, and you can see that the army has a position set up over here. You can see the fire trucks over there in the distance as well.

And, Sanjeev, if you just follow me across here, we might be able to get a better view. If you come this way and just look my shoulder there. Sanjeev, if you look through the trees, you can. Yes. Just 30 seconds. Just look through the trees. You could see through the trees. That's where the impact happened on that building. It looks to me now, as. I can see it better, one side of its collapse. The building behind it maybe start -- the building behind it is about eight stories high.

And I can see that the windows are all blown out of that building. We have to just move here, Becky, because the IDF is telling us we just need to move to one side here. They need to keep -- they need to keep the roads open here. That's the impact. We're going to get more information.

ANDERSON: Nic, these strikes, of course -- yes. And these strikes, of course, follow U.S. strikes on Fordow, on Natanz, and on Isfahan in the overnight hours. Local time, regional time here.

Nic, how soon after we got confirmation of those attacks?

[02:10:00]

Did you hear incoming missiles? Did you hear the sirens? And did we get these impacts?

ROBERTSON: I would say it was about four hours afterwards. It was about 3:00 a.m. when we heard that Fordow and Natanz, Isfahan had been struck by the U.S. bombs and missiles and the -- I think the sirens. I'm just checking it's 9:00 a.m. here now, local time. The sirens went off about an hour ago.

And I would say from the shelter that were in, the bomb shelter that were in, you could hear at one point a huge impact. And actually the people in the bomb shelter sort of, there was a collective gasp in there. And this, I believe is probably that impact. And I say probably because this is the closest impact that we're aware of. The medical services are saying that they're responding to 10 impact sites across the country.

We know that there was somewhere in Haifa in the north where were yesterday that was hit. In fact, the site of strike on Friday was very, very close to the strike in Haifa today. A few casualties there. Again, the details are going to change.

A number of other sort of impacts in central Israel as well. What we understood from The IDF about 30 or 40 minutes ago was they said that there were 30 missiles incoming in that first barrage and they also flagged a second barrage of missiles coming in on Haifa as well.

So if, as the medical services say, they've gone to 10 different sites, and if, as the IDF say, there were 30 incoming missiles, it would appear that more debris missiles potentially got through than the sort of previous average, which is 10 or 15 percent of Iranian missiles got through.

This would seem to be higher than that, but we don't know why at the moment. We don't have all the details whether missiles fragmented on the way down or what exactly has happened. This building, though, here looks like it's taken a fairly direct impact. Becky, just, I'm saying that based on the fact the amount of destruction that I'm able to see.

ANDERSON: Nic Robertson on the sides of one of the Iranian missiles that is impacted in Tel Aviv. An emergency official just telling Nic, who has just arrived on the scene, that there on that side, there are 10 casualties at least. Nic, thank you for the time being.

We'll get back to you as you get more from there.

Iranian officials and media contradicting Mr. Trump's claim that their nuclear sites were obliterated by the U.S. strikes. An Iranian lawmaker claims the attack on Fordow nuclear facility was quite superficial. An Iranian state news outlet says that only the entrance and exit tunnels were damaged. CNN's Fred Pleitgen was the first Western journalist to enter Iran after the conflict with Israel began. He's in Tehran with Iran's early reaction to the U.S. strikes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIOANAL CORRESPONDENT: Iran is deeply condemning the strikes on its nuclear facilities by the Trump administration. Iran's Atomic Energy Organization has come out and called these savage attacks on these nuclear facilities. They also say that they are against international law and have accused the International Atomic Energy Agency of being complicit in all of this.

But one of the key things is that the Iranians are saying that this will not deter their nuclear program. And there is a senior Iranian parliamentarian who came out in the very early morning hours on social media and said that the United States, as he put it, can bomb facilities but cannot bomb knowledge, obviously also saying that Iran's nuclear program and Iranian enrichment will continue.

One of the things that we've been hearing from Iranian officials over the past couple of days is they say that they will continue enrichment in any case. It's a red line for them, they say. At the same time, of course, they are in the standoff right now with the Israelis we've been seeing over the past couple of hours. The skies here right now are fairly quiet. But in the overnight hours, there was a lot of activity by air defense systems here over Tehran.

Also some thuds which could have come from airstrikes, but could have been the air defenses being active as well. The Iranians are saying that they have various means of hitting back at the United States. It's not clear how they're going to do that.

They do, of course, say that there are militias that are on their side in the Middle Eastern regions in countries where the United States has bases. But in general, the Iranians are saying there are many methods at their disposal. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: That's Fred Pleitgen in Tehran. Some U.S. lawmakers got word in advance about the strikes on Iran, but the notification went along party lines. Sources say Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune got the early notice.

[02:15:03]

The same applies to the top Republicans on the House and the Senate Intelligence Committees. But their Democratic counterparts were informed later, despite the fact that they all are usually briefed on major military engagements.

Well, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is now demanding answers about the strikes from President Trump. Both chambers are expected to vote in the coming days on the limits of his war powers. CNN's Tom Foreman joining us now with more.

And Tom, high profile congressional Democrat Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez posting the president's disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and congressional war powers. Can we be clear? Did the president, the U.S. President need to seek congressional authorization before launching this attack on Iran?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is a debate that has been going on for many years. Generally, what happens is presidents will say in a case like this was an emergency decision. We had to act now. We had to act swiftly. We could not wait for congressional concurrence on all of this. It's a pretty murky area.

The truth is the United States hasn't declared war since 1942 in World War II. But we've had many, many actions like this, some with more congressional cooperation, advice and consent, some with a lot less.

Presidents, by and large, and Donald Trump has been one of them, have really wanted to lean to the side of saying, I'm the president, I'm the commander in chief, I can do what I want, I'll tell you about it, but this is what we're going to do.

This is unusual, though, Becky, this notion of him really only telling his own party and then telling the Democrats after the attack had happened, shortly before it was made public to everybody but after it had happened. So the Democrats are saying we didn't even get a chance to say anything about this.

Is there anything they can really do about that? No, but there doesn't seem to be. They can have some show votes, that kind of thing. But by doing it that way, Donald Trump has really kind of forced his party to own this, to make this a partisan military action on Iran, even though it's, you know, theoretically on behalf of the entire country politically, it could be put that way. And if things keep happening that are untoward in all of this, if this goes on, that could be a problem.

ANDERSON: Tom, what sort of support does he have in Congress on this? FOREMAN: Oh, he's got almost all the Republicans who have been pretty

much behind him in almost anything he does. There are a few who stood out a Kentucky Republican said that this is not constitutional. Some others have raised questions about whether this was a wise way to go about it. He's only got one Democrat on his side, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, who said this was the correct move for the president to make.

But basically it's right along party lines. And I will say, Becky, this is politically in this country a complicated issue. Americans by and large in polls have said they don't think Iran should have a nuclear weapon. But it gets a lot more complicated when you say should the U.S. actually do anything to stop that?

Especially, especially against the news we had this past week where the intelligence community had said, look there's no real evidence that this is on the doorstep. It may be getting close, but it's not right here. There's time to move forward. And yet Donald Trump said, no, we must act now. It's an emergency. That's really going to get a lot of debate here. And the political storm here is just beginning to rise over this. Becky.

ANDERSON: It is Sunday. Of course we will look to see what happens as we move into the week. Meantime, we are monitoring exactly what is going on the ground, of course, in Iran and in Israel. Thank you, Tom.

I want to bring the focus back to the region then, and I'm broadcasting from CNN's Middle East programming headquarters in Abu Dhabi. CNN has been reporting on the real concerns here of nuclear environmental contamination around this Gulf region.

So it is well worth repeating the news that we brought you at the top of this hour. Iran, Saudi Arabia and the International Atomic Energy Agency all say there has been no increase in offsite radiation as a result of these U.S. strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran. You're looking at the IAEA tweet to that effect.

[02:20:00]

With more on how the strikes by the U.S. then will impact Iran and the wider region potentially. We are joined by Mohammad Ali Shabani. He's a Middle East scholar and editor at Amwaj Media. And you are, Mohammed, very well sourced inside Iran. It is good to have you on your insight. Extremely important.

Your outlier -- your outlet Amwaj.Media is reporting that a high ranking Iranian source says the Trump team gave advance notice of bombings of nuclear sites and insisted they are intended as one off. Just explain what that tells us about this attack and what might happen next.

MOHAMMAD ALI SHABANI, MIDDLE EAST SCHOLAR: Becky, in many ways what we're seeing, to me at least having covered the 2020 assassination of force commander Qasem Soleimani in Trump's first term, is that he wanted to send a big message, get the headlines, show us resolve, but then avoid a wider war. At the time, he was ready to absorb an Iranian response, which was, I

think, highly choreographed. It was mainly symbolic. Iran fired ballistic missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq. No American soldiers were killed. I think this time the fact that he gave the notice, the fact that he immediately sent a message to Iran that I do not want to escalate this further. I think he sends the message that he understands that Iran needs to do a response, needs to carry out a response mainly to save face.

But beyond that, he doesn't want the Iran, Israel confrontation to expand into a wider war that may damage him domestically. But I think looking ahead, what potential options that Iran have. Please go ahead.

ANDERSON: What are your sources telling you and indeed, what is the official Tehran line on damage to these sites?

SHABANI: Well, so far I think we're still in the early stages. The preliminary information that they have is that they need to assess, basically evaluate what kind of damage there's been, there's talk about some of the entrances to the portal facility having been closed because of the U.S. bombings. We still don't know.

What we do know, apparently, according to sources we've spoken to, is that the majority of the enriched uranium that Iran has, the stockpile, is moved already to secure locations prior to the strike. And I think this is important because many people tend to think about the Iranian nuclear program as about a bunch of buildings and facilities.

To me at least, it's about the brain trust, about the human resources, the thousands of scientists that they have. And this is what they mean when they say that you can't bomb away knowledge.

On the other hand, it's also about the access to uranium which they have and which was mainly undamaged in these strikes. So I think for Iran, it's not that difficult to reconstitute their programs. Ultimately, I think the U.S. is not oblivious to this. They understand that they need a political solution.

In the end, there's no military solution to this problem. I think this is a lot of choreography, and essentially we're going to have to look at what may Iran do next to save face. So signal to the United States that's ready to talk.

ANDERSON: OK, we should talk about what Iran does next. Donald Trump gave this warning. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, we are not seeing Iran make peace. Exactly the opposite. We've seen new footage this morning of extensive damage in Israel, and it's only just becoming clear because only an hour or so ago quite how many strikes were launched and indeed what sort of impact those strikes have had in Israel. But certainly we are seeing significant damage. So how do you read that initial response from Tehran?

SHABANI: I think there's a need to separate between what Iran does vis-a-vis Israel versus the US. Iran and Israel have a separate confrontation that's been going on. I think that's a different conflict dynamic. What we need to look at is what Iran may do towards U.S. interests in the region and also global commerce.

So I think one interesting aspect of this U.S.-Iran exchange right now, the U.S. bombing of the nuclear facilities is that they were not launched from regional military bases. The Fordow facility was bombed by B2 bombers that took off from the United States, apparently. And the Isfahan and Natanz facilities were bombed through missiles fired through a submarine.

This means that bases in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, et cetera, were not used, which means that this limits Iran's retaliatory options. And here, this is why I keep mentioning 2020. What happened then when Trump killed Soleimani in Iraq at the time you want attack U.S. bases in Iraq. I think Iraq is the most vulnerable of all right now.

[02:25:00]

Beyond that, I think we need to look at other options for Iran to kind of save face and escalate and try to secure leverage. And here I think it's about monitoring. They're probably going to want to tell the IEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, we don't want you here. We're going to reduce your monitoring. You're going to have a much more difficult time seeing what we're up to right now and try to use that to get a deal ultimately.

Because I think all sides are looking for a political solution as the end game. I think Trump is not in the business of nation building, so to speak, and Iran understands that.

ANDERSON: And as we discuss options, we've seen Iran's regional proxies, of course, significantly degraded since the October 7 attacks. Iran still has its own military capabilities and militia, of course, in Iraq.

Assuming these U.S. and Israeli strikes couldn't take everything out. When you look at America's resources in the region, you've suggested that it is, you know, less likely that Iran will use, can use these U.S. strikes as a reason to hit back on U.S. assets because it seems U.S. Assets in the region weren't used. What are their other options at this point?

SHABANI: I think one of the nuclear options on the part of Iran could be to target maritime commerce, maritime trade. There are two major choke points. One is the Strait of Hormuz, for which about 20 percent of the world's seaborne oil passes. And the other one is the Red Sea, where its allies in Yemen just only recently signed a ceasefire with the United States. So I think they have the capacity to cause a shock in oil markets,

drive up oil prices, drive inflation, collapse Trump's economic agenda with basically making rate cuts impossible. But I think they're reserving that for further escalation.

I don't see them at this point going and doing something like that, because first and foremost, the number one victim of a measure like stopping commerce with the Strait of Hormuz will be Iran, which is reliant on that waterway export its oil, import food, et cetera. I think we need to look at, again, kinetic options outside the Gulf. What can that entail?

And also I think we need to look at, again, the damage assessment, how many Iranians were killed. If there were no Iranian kills in these U.S. bombings, I think it could be that they may be looking for a bloodless response, which is what happened in 2020. And I think both sides are looking for a way to find a off ramp from this political solution to this.

But again, Iran, even prior to these U.S. bombings, told the United States, told Trump, we're ready to talk to you, we're ready to find a deal, but you need to stop the Israeli attacks. We need to have a ceasefire first. That's become much more complex now. Iran needs to show a response to safe face. After showing a response, I think ultimately they would want to try to find a way back to the negotiating table.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you Mohammed and I know on your side on Amwaj.media, there is some analysis, deeply sourced on what is going on with the leadership. There is an inside story how Iran's next leader may be selected if indeed, you know, that is necessary at this point. Well worth a read for some analysis from that.

Mohammed Ali Shabani, thank you very much indeed for joining us. Our breaking news coverage continues next as first responders in Israel survey the destruction left by the latest waves of Iranian strikes. More on that after this.

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[02:31:51]

ANDERSON: Back to breaking news out of the Middle East. Israel's military says Iran has fired a fresh wave of missiles towards the country. Sirens sounded earlier as people were urged to enter bomb shelters. Search and rescue crews are operating in several locations across Israel after reports of fallen projectiles.

These are the first attacks launched by Iran since the U.S. struck three of Iran's nuclear sites overnight. A U.S. official tells CNN that American B2 bombers and Navy submarines hit facilities in Fordow, in Natanz and in Isfahan.

Iran's nuclear safety agency said it has no indications of radioactive contamination, according to state media. Saudi Arabia's nuclear regulator says there have also been no radioactive traces detected in Gulf Arab states. CNN's Larry Madowo has been tracking response to all of this. He's live out of London for you. Larry.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, we're hearing reaction from around the world. One of the most strongest has come from the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres saying he was gravely alarmed by this use of force by the United States in a region already on edge. And he says there's no military solution to this conflict.

And this coming just before the Iranian regime called for an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council. They want the U.N. Security Council to condemn the U.S. action and hold the U.S. accountable, which will be difficult.

We haven't heard officially from the Iranian supreme leader, but we've heard from some senior officials and advisers for the foreign minister, for instance, saying there will be everlasting consequences for this and that Iran reserves the right to defend itself after this.

They point out in Iran that this violates the international law as well as the U.N. Charter. And that's why you see this reaction calling for this emergency session of the U.N. Security Council to condemn the United States action and hold it accountable.

One lawmaker representing the region that includes the Fordow nuclear sites said President Trump was lying. He said this damage only affected the entrances and exits of the nuclear facility and did not make any major damage, accusing the United States president of lying.

But one senior adviser to the supreme leader said it's our turn, meaning it's the turn of the Iranian regime to strike back, as suggesting that they could hit U.S. Naval fleets across the Red Sea and close the Strait of Hormuz. And he ended with a line from the Quran, attack them wherever they are.

ANDERSON: Good to have you, Larry. Thank you. Well, joining me now live from Tel Aviv to explore these escalating tensions is the Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy. It's good to have you, Gideon.

These strikes by the U.S. happened overnight, earlier overnight, local time. And there have been -- there has been a series of strikes that followed that from Iran on Tel Aviv and other areas. Let's just start with where you are in Tel Aviv. What have you heard, what's being said, what's the mood there?

[02:35:06]

GIDEON LEVY, COLUMNIST, HAARETZ NEWSPAPER: I'm in the middle of a war zone. The rockets fall like few hundred meters from my home. I just came back now. The whole, I mean half of the neighborhood is totally destroyed. I never saw scenes like this except of in Sarajevo, in '96 or in Gaza. It looks bad, it is quite frightening. And this is the price, I guess. And we just hope it will be over very, very soon.

ANDERSON: Well, this is Benjamin Netanyahu a little earlier in response to the US Strikes. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: President Trump and I often say peace through strength. First comes strength, then comes peace. And tonight President Trump and the United States acted with a lot of strength. President Trump, I thank you, the people of Israel, thank you, the forces of civilization thank you. God bless America. God bless Israel and may God bless our unshakable alliance our unbreakable faith.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: That video release before these latest strikes on Israel. Can you just explain for our viewers what is going on behind the scenes, what you understood the Israeli prime minister and his team to have known ahead of these U.S. strikes and what else is being said at this point?

LEVY: So first of all, Becky, I really think it's too early to celebrate. I understand the Prime Minister, this is by far his best day ever in his career. This what he dreamt about all those years to see the Americans joining the Israelis attacking Iran. This was always his plan. He never believed in any kind of diplomacy or agreements. And here it comes.

And right now also in Israel, many are celebrating at least until the first sirens. People were celebrating, People were proud and happy and hoped that this will make it shorter now. But we are in the eye of the storm now and it will be very irresponsible of me to tell you that this is over. No, no, it's not over. First we have to see how big was the damage in Iran.

Secondly, we know nothing about the remaining capabilities of Iran and what they can do now. Iran is now a wounded animal which has very little to lose and it might be very dangerous. I don't know what other capabilities.

One second before the sirens started, I told my wife, finally I'm convinced that Iran is a paper tiger. And then came the sirens and 30 rockets fall on Israel. We have to wait and see. Now those who believe in military solutions must be very happy today, but I'm not sure it is a solution.

ANDERSON: Gideon, CNN's reporting leading up to this U.S. move was that Donald Trump wanted to avoid a drawn out conflict. Benjamin Netanyahu's previous rhetoric has been more about major change inside Iran started with the need to degrade the nuclear capacity completely, moved on to degrading the ballistic missile supply, which clearly at least at present hasn't happened.

But that is has really sort of pivoted or included pivoted to include major change inside Iran, even regime collapse. That would not be the quick wrap up that either you would hope for all that Donald Trump reportedly wants, correct?

LEVY: Absolutely. I mean they think and they might be right that those hits are enough to make the Iranians surrender. I wish this will be true. I really wish this will be true. But knowing a little bit this regime, I don't see this regime surrendering because surrendering means for them the end of their rule in Iran. And this will be suicidal obviously.

If they will be rational, they should now stop, go to the negotiation table and sign anything which will better than continuing the destruction. But I'm not sure this is the way that they see it and therefore we might face now still a long way. I agree that such a strike, like the Americans tonight might make it shorter. Might, but not necessarily so.

[02:40:02]

ANDERSON: Gideon Levy from Tel Aviv with his perspective this morning. Thank you, Gideon. Well, when we return, the latest on the U.S. airstrikes on the Iranian nuclear sites. What Iran says about the extent of the damage there, that is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Donald Trump says U.S. airstrikes have, quote, obliterated three of Iran's largest nuclear facilities. But Iranian officials are downplaying the impact. A lawmaker representing the city of Qom as the overnight attack on the Fordow nuclear site was quite superficial. That's his quote. He claims most of the damage took place above ground and that no nuclear radiation has been detected.

A U.S. official told CNN that the U.S. dropped a dozen bunker buster bombs on Fordow alone. Two other sites were struck by cruise missiles and more bunker busters. Despite the attack, Iran's atomic agency insists it will continue its nuclear program.

Earlier, CNN's Fareed Zakaria area the use of Fareed Zakaria Global Public Square weighed in on the U.S. entering the Israel Iran conflict. He explained how President Trump's stance on America's involvement has shifted in recent weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA, GPOS: It is extraordinary. I think Trump has managed to do something that he, to be fair to him, had always marked out, which was he did not want Iran to have a nuclear program. But what's clear is in the last few weeks he shifted ground on two issues.

The first was he had started out in a position which was Iran can have some enrichment, just has to be monitored, things like that. He moved to what was essentially the Israeli position, which was zero enrichment, and he outlined that in the middle about two weeks ago.

[02:45:00]

Second is that he seemed to have lost faith that the Iranians were negotiating in earnest. And he seems to have gotten frustrated because I think this was not his first option. His first option was a deal with the Iranians. But the maximalist condition he placed with zero enrichment was one the Iranians didn't seem willing to go to. And he was, I think he thought the Iranians were not negotiating earnestly.

So the result is you have this extraordinary move which almost certainly has destroyed almost all of Iran's enrichment. The question, however, is you still need diplomacy. You still need a political solution because the Iranians can rebuild. You know, remember this is a nation that has been pursuing nuclear energy for 70 years. The programs were first started under the Shah of Iran. They can rebuild. It will take them years. It will be difficult.

So the best way to make sure that Iran stays nonnuclear would be now to have some kind of agreement. And President Trump seems to understand that because the only part of that Truth Social post that's in all caps is now is the time for peace.

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ANDERSON: Fareed Zakaria speaking earlier. Well, this is breaking news coverage on CNN. The U.S. has struck three nuclear facilities in Iran using bunk buster bombs and cruise missiles. More is just ahead.

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[02:50:17]

ANDERSON: All right, here's the latest on the breaking news out of this region of the Middle East and indeed from Washington. Israeli emergency services say there is large scale destruction in parts of the country after Iranian missile strikes. And Israel says it has launched new airstrikes on Iran this morning. This all started with U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities overnight.

The U.S. used bunker buster bombs and cruise missiles to strike these three locations in Iran. Iran, Saudi Arabia and the International Atomic Energy Agency all say there has been no increase in offsite radiation.

Well, let's bring in professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, Fawaz Gerges. He's the author of the "Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East." And he joins us now.

For days followers, the question has been what will he do? Well, we now know that question is this. He did it. He says effectively this is a one off strike. He wants to get the Iranians back to the negotiating table. He didn't see enough evidence of that through the talks in Europe on Friday it seems. And so this is the results of that, three strikes or certainly a number of strikes on three facilities.

What do you make of what we've seen and what's your sense of the thinking in Tehran at this point?

FAWAZ GERGES, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: You know, my simple answer, dear Becky, is that I don't know. No one knows what will happen in the next few hours, next few days and next few months. And the reason why, with all humility. This is a fast moving dynamic story and talk.

But if you ask me to try to summarize for your own viewers, for CNN viewers worldwide, I would say America's strikes on Iran's three nuclear facilities. What President Trump tried to do, has tried to do is to say it's a limited attack, it's a single attack. And he compared America's attacks on Iran's nuclear program to his assassination of General Soleimani. He said it was a one time, one thing.

But my take on it all depends on how Iranian leaders process America's attacks on their nuclear facilities, whether they see the attacks as limited or whether they see the attacks as an all-out American basically campaign joining Israel in order for regime change to bring about regime change in Tehran.

And what president said, President Trump said, he said he and Benjamin Netanyahu worked as a team, never before he was celebrating the team working with Netanyahu. And here's the irony, Becky. Now the United States joins ranks with Israel as opposed to its own traditional European allies. Where's the United Kingdom? Where's France?

But the big point here again for your own viewers, we have not heard from the Iranian leadership yet because we know that Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, is in hiding. He has cut all his communications because the Israelis, he fears that the Israelis and the Americans are trying to kill him, even though the Iranian foreign secretary said today Iran has the right to protect his sovereignty.

Two final points. Quickly. I know I've spoken for too long. The first point is that Iranian leaders had made it very clear. They had already moved the weapons grade uranium a long time ago from the Isfahan laboratory. Because if I were an Iranian leader, surely I would not keep the, you know, weapons grade uranium in the nuclear facilities.

So in this particular sense, Iran's capacity to develop a nuclear weapon is not really -- has not been crushed and destroyed, as President Trump would like us to believe.

And finally, I would say, regardless of what happens, if I were sitting in Tehran today, the question for me, the existential question, how do I build a credible and effective deterrence? And the only way to build a credible and effective deterrence is to really build a nuclear weapon.

This moment could be seen really as the North Korean moment, as the moment when Iranian leaders decide to really make a dash and really a fast, secretive dash to build a nuclear weapon and have incredible deterrence.

[02:55:05]

ANDERSON: There will of course be people in Iran today who are terrified. There will be people in Tel Aviv and other parts of Israel who've woken up to missiles streaking through the sky, to sirens. They've been in bomb shelters and there is clear evidence of Iranian missile impact in Israel today. There will be people watching around the region where I am in the Gulf

who will have a sense -- a heightened sense of anxiety today from what you have heard from the Iranian authorities to date. And of course we still haven't got the supreme leader's response to all of this.

But given what we have heard, given what we understand to have been the strategy of the U.S., certainly analysis suggests that these regional bases were not used. What do you say to those watching this with this enhanced sense of anxiety today?

GERGES: Well, I would say I am anxious too, like you and all of us. I think the statement by the general secretary of the United Nations is very important because I think it's a very powerful statement. He said he is gravely concerned about the escalation because American escalation in Iran, according to the U.N. General secretary represent, he said a threat to international peace and security and the risk of a further regional basically escalation.

Here is my reading and I could be wrong. Just to caution your viewers. I think really what we have seen from the Iranian leadership in the past few years, they do not really want all-out war with the United States. They have really exercised considerable restraint and caution when it comes to their relations with the United States.

So my take on it, I think despite what President Trump did this early morning, I think the Iranian leadership will go out of its way not to trigger all-out war with the United States. I don't expect the Iranian leadership to target American bases all over the Gulf. But I think the war between Iran and Israel will most likely continue.

ANDERSON: Fawaz, it's good to have you. Thank you very much indeed. Your insight extremely important this morning. Thank you for watching folks. That is one hour done. We will be back with our breaking news coverage which continues after this quick break. Stay with us.

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