Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

CNN International: Missiles Fired From Iran Toward U.S. Bases In Qatar & Iraq; Source: Iran Gave Qatar Advance Notice Of Missile Launches; Gulf States Close Airspace Iran's Missile Attack. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired June 23, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:01:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: Well, I'm Becky Anderson in our Middle East programing headquarters here in Abu Dhabi.

Iran says it is still committed to warm relations with Qatar and its people, even as it targets a U.S. military base in the country.

We're following an escalating conflict here in the Middle East after Tehran launched powerful missiles at a major American hub near the capital of Doha. Qatar's defense ministry said its air defenses, quote, successfully intercepted an attack targeting the Al Udeid Air Base and that there were no deaths and no injuries.

A source says Iranian officials gave Qatar advance notice about a pending attack.

Earlier, Iran vowed that the U.S. will directly pay for those weekend strikes on three of its nuclear facilities. Iran says the number of missiles used matches the number of bombs fired on its nuclear sites. A senior White House official says the Trump administration was anticipating retaliation, adding that the president does not want more military engagement in the region.

We've seen several nearby Mideast nations react to Iran's retaliation. Qatar has closed its airspace, grounding flights into and out of the country. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait have also closed their airspace, and Bahrain went a step further, urging citizens to stay indoors and avoid using the main roads.

All right, let's get you straight to Tehran. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is standing by.

Fred, what can you tell us at this point?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Becky. There was a couple of hours ago that the Iranians came out, and this was both the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, but also Iran's national security council, the supreme national security council here as well, saying that Iran had fired barrages of missile at that Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which of course is run by the United States.

Now, the Iranians, first of all, made clear, as you said, that the amount of missiles that were fired matches the amount of bombs that were thrown at Iranian nuclear facilities, of course, by those U.S. bombers, just a little over a day ago, seemingly trying to indicate that this is a tit for tat response. The same time, they were also saying that this was not an attack against Qatar, that they are friendly with the Qatari people. They consider them to be noble people, but at the same time saying that this was a destructive response, as they put it, against what they call aggression by the United States, that Iran would not let that stand.

The Iranians are claiming that this was, as they put it, a robust and successful attack. In fact, we were watching Iranian state media as all of this was unfolding and the latest information that they were putting out is they were claiming that six of those missiles had actually hit their targets. Of course, it's very, very difficult to independently verify all of that from our vantage point right here. But that's the message that Iranian state TV, IRIB, is putting out.

There's also a semiofficial news agency called Tasnim, Becky, that is claiming that a base in Iraq was also targeted. U.S. base in Iraq was also targeted by Iranian missiles as well. Of course, we know that U.S. officials are saying that apparently intermediate range and short-range missiles were used for this strike on the Al Udeid air base. Of course, being in that region, Becky, we all know that Qatar and Iran are very close to one another. The Persian Gulf, not very wide at that point. There's even a major gas field that the two countries share.

So, certainly, even those shorter-range Iranian missiles would be able to reach that U.S. base. And at the same time, Becky, what we've been seeing here on the ground in Tehran over the past, I would say hour and a half or so is an increase in Iranian anti-aircraft outgoing fire here over Tehran. It's unclear whether or not they might have been firing at drones or possible Israeli aircraft. We did also hear some thuds that could be from airstrikes, but that's also impossible to verify here.

[15:05:01]

But it's certainly something that we noticed is that there was more outgoing anti-aircraft fire over the Iranian capital tonight, especially in the past couple of hours since the Iranians announced those attacks on that U.S. base in Qatar, Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah. That is interesting because clearly, if that is the case, they still have the capacity to repel. They also clearly have the capacity to launch missile attacks. This is capacity that the Israelis have been trying to degrade.

I just want to show our viewers some video that is purportedly, according to the Iranians, video of the short and medium range ballistic missiles being fired. This is the launch, according to the Iranians, the launch of these missiles.

What do we know about what Iran still has in its arsenal, Fred?

PLEITGEN: Well, the Iranians are saying that they still have a lot in their arsenal. It's actually quite, quite an interesting question because I was speaking to a senior Iranian official just yesterday, and they were saying that the Iranians still have the capacity to produce a lot of missiles. And they also say that they still have the capacity to introduce new missile base building sites as well, launching and missile producing sites and storage sites. So ,they clearly say that in their arsenal, there still are a lot of missiles left.

They also claim that they are actually still producing missiles. And there was also something, Becky, that a senior Iranian source told me earlier today is that they say that they have the capacity for a long conflict with both with the United States and also with the Israelis.

They said that they were gearing up for a conflict that could be as long as two years with both the United States and Israel saying that they wanted to make the U.S. pay for those attacks on those nuclear facilities, and at the same time saying that their armed forces, they believe right now have the backing of the population, that morale is still very high, despite the fact that, of course, you have had a series of Israeli airstrikes going on over the past couple of days, and the Iranians feel that they are in a position to repel both the United States and also repel the Israelis as well.

So clearly, the messaging that's being put out here in Iran is that the arsenals are still intact. The missiles can still be fired, are being fired at targets in Israel, and also that these missiles are actually hitting their targets. Of course, we know the Iranians are claiming that they hit that base in Qatar. But also, of course, we've seen the impact on Israeli territory by those longer range Iranian missiles as well, Becky.

ANDERSON: Let's just talk very briefly about those strikes. Then on Iran, very specifically on Tehran earlier today by Israel, targeting sites like the Evin prison, for example, and others. I mean, you were there, you witnessed what was going on. It looked pretty terrifying, I have to say, from your report that you filed.

What's the goal here, do you think?

PLEITGEN: Well -- well, I mean, the Israelis were saying that they wanted to strike places of the Iranian government, of the Iranian power center. Evin Prison, of course, one of those places, which they also said that they struck. It's unclear what exactly the Israelis are trying to achieve. But one of the things that they had said that they wanted to achieve is to weaken the Iranian power structure, and certainly weaken the part of the Iranian military that can threaten Israel, as they've put it.

The Iranians are obviously saying that that's not something that's working. They're saying that their military is still very much intact. Their leadership is intact, and a lot of the generals, of course, that have been killed by the Israelis have already long been replaced, and that the Iranians are now very much firing back. But you're absolutely right. Today saw a series of strikes here on the

Iranian capital, and it was definitely something that we also noticed with thick plumes of smoke over the Iranian capital. And there was a series of airstrikes, I think it was 2 or 3 airstrikes that were very close to the location that that that we stay in where we heard jets flying overhead over our location.

We then heard very, very heavy detonations that really shook the walls of the building that we were in. We then took cover in the basement of the building, and once we emerged from there, after we'd sort of seen that things seemed to be clear. We did see a thick plume of smoke over the northwestern part of Tehran, but those impacts were very close to our location. They were very powerful, and there was a series of them.

So definitely there was a marked increase today of Israeli attacks on central Tehran. And there are also a lot of people, quite frankly, that we spoke to afterwards and that we have been speaking to over the past couple of days who are extremely angry that the Israelis are doing this and who are saying that, if anything, this really solidifies the support given to Iran's leadership, given to Iran's supreme leader, and, of course, given to Iran's military as well.

We were at a at a demonstration yesterday against these strikes. There was one Iranian parliamentarian who said, look, of course they understand that there are people here who are against the Islamic Republic.

[15:10:07]

But they say even those people are now going to these demonstrations condemning the Trump administration and also condemning the Israelis as well, Becky.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you, Fred. I'm going to let you go.

I want to bring in Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv.

Before you and I speak. I just want our viewers to get a sense of the oil price here, because we have seen a significant decline in the past couple of hours, Jeremy. And this is important to note, the price on Brent down some 7 percent at one point, down about six and three quarters percent now. Sorry, 5 percent, 6 percent now. And WTI crude off about 6.25 percent as well.

And there does seem to be some real relief in the markets since these strikes by Iran on the U.S. airbase hosted in Qatar that this may be or this is the one and done, as it were horrible phrase, but the sort of one and done by the U.S., by the -- by the Iranians that this is perhaps as limited as anybody might have imagined. This is not on oil installations. This is not the closing of the Strait of Hormuz.

So, if this is the extent of the response at this point, certainly some relief in the markets and Brent and WTI down significantly.

Let's talk to you about what Israeli officials are telling you about, firstly, this attack by Iran limited in nature as it was on the airbase in Qatar. How much they knew and what happens next?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, you know, the market seems to be reading what the entire region is feeling as well. And that is a whole lot of pressure seeming to be released. It is ironic, of course, that it would come following an attack, but if you read all of the signals here, this very much seems to have been an effort by the Iranians to carefully telegraph this attack. They notified the Qataris ahead of time, who likely were able to notify the United States as well.

We saw Qatar close its airspace. We saw the Americans tell citizens in Qatar to shelter in place hours ahead of this attack. All of that intended to kind of minimize the possibility of regional escalation and in turn, what it may very well do is put the region on the path to de-escalation with a potential off ramp now presenting itself, depending on what the next diplomatic steps are.

Now, in terms of what I'm hearing from Israeli officials here, and this very much lines up with that as well, is not only that, you know, as of now, they haven't seen Israel included in this kind of Iranian retaliation for those U.S. strikes in Iran, which we should note would not have happened without the week of Israeli strikes that preceded it, without the Israelis laying the groundwork for the United States to take that action, that doesn't mean that we won't see further Iranian ballistic missile attacks in in Israel, in the same way that we are continuing as of just a few hours ago, I'm told by an Israeli military official to see Israeli strikes happening in Iran.

But nonetheless, Israeli officials now telling me that they feel like they may be able to reach their objectives, their military objectives in Iran in the coming days and that that will provide the possibility for a pathway for some kind of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. I'm told that the bank of targets that Israel had set out to achieve over the course of this conflict right now, that that bank of targets may very well be exhausted in the coming days, and therefore you may have a diplomatic off ramp.

We will see how that actually pans out, as there is still uncertainty about how President Trump will react to this Iranian attack, whether or not the Iranians decide to carry out additional actions in the region. But if the United States shows a similar restraint moving forward, and if the Iranians are done now with this retaliation, then again, it does seem like we could be on a path towards de-escalation.

ANDERSON: Those strikes on Qatar happening just 2-1/2 hours ago. And if this is the sort of conversation, the discussion that we are having at this point, you know, well sourced around the region, if this is escalation to de-escalate, which for many people may feel sort of counterintuitive, but it's not the first time that you and I will have witnessed this. Then perhaps, just perhaps, we might expect, you know, some optimism in region going forward.

[15:15:10]

And we need -- we need that at this point. Jeremy, it's good to have you. Thank you very much indeed. Well, as we reported earlier, the Trump administration was

anticipating Iran would retaliate after their strikes. President Trump was due to talk to national security officials today.

CNN's chief U.S. national affairs correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, is at the White House.

Jeff, what do we know at this point?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, we do know, as you and Jeremy were just discussing there, it is too early to say if it is a de-escalation, but it is clear there has been no at least verbal response from the president to the attack on the Al Udeid Base. And we are more than two hours on here. Of course, we do expect some type of a comment at some point, but certainly there is a sense that while all eyes were on that, defense officials are telling us that there were no casualties, perhaps even no injuries there.

So, there is a sense of a pause, at least for the moment. But there's also a sense of a defensiveness, a continued defensiveness from the American president at the actual strike, from the weekend and the degree of damage it did to the nuclear program. The president, just a short time ago, is being defensive in a post on a Truth Social. He's saying the sites that were hit in Iran were totally destroyed and everyone knows it.

Well, the reality is that is not yet clear. In fact, far from it. The bomb damage assessment is not yet in. Of course, that will take some time to go through all of this.

He used the word "obliterated" over the weekend. His own Defense Department officials said, "severely damaged", at least at Fordow. So, the White House, clearly on the defensive posture on that.

But, Becky, you just get the sense that there is a deep divide among the president's own supporters about the wisdom of a wider war. That would lead me to certainly believe the potential of no response to this. Of course, we will see. Retaliation is something that often does not happen immediately, but you're just getting the sense by no media report from the president that there is a sense of de-escalation here as well.

ANDERSON: Yeah, you could argue that this retaliation then on the U.S. base coming as it did, as you rightly point out, just, you know, 2.5 hours ago, could or should or might be taken as a win by Donald Trump and his administration. That's certainly what one analyst, one expert in the region suggested tonight. Your thought on that.

ZELENY: It certainly could be. And look, Becky, this is a base that the president was actually just on last month when you and I were both in Doha for the president's trip to the Middle East. He went to Al Udeid and he visited with forces there and troops there, and stood, in fact, in front of a stealth bomber and gave his remarks there. So that certainly was on the mind of the White House officials who were watching these come in. But the fact that the missiles were intercepted and the fact that it

looks like there was no at least loss of life or, or injuries because much of the base had been dispersed. You just have to wonder if there will be a sense of de-escalation. Certainly, that is what some of his supporters and officials believe.

There's also deep questions now, again, about the urgency of the attack in the first place, a House Democratic leader here is saying, look, there's still been no briefings, no congressional briefings. So, we are expecting them tomorrow, a classified briefing. But that is still the central question here. When you sort of sort out all the other discussions, how successful was the operation on early Sunday morning in Iran? And what is the state of the nuclear program?

And that is something that this White House has not talked much about today, Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah, absolutely.

All right. Jeff, it's always good to have you. Thank you very much indeed.

Iran says it is still committed to warm relations with Qatar and its people, even as it targets a U.S. military base in the country.

We are following breaking news for you. Natasha Bertrand is at the Pentagon.

What are your sources there telling you, Natasha?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, I mean, this is not the first time that Iran has hit a U.S. base in the Middle East with ballistic missiles. They did so as well in 2020, in retaliation for the United States assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. And at the time, you know, the Department of Defense was saying that there were no injuries, there were no casualties of any kind in the immediate aftermath of that attack, very similar to what they're saying now.

[15:20:01]

But in fact, over 100 U.S. service members at the time did sustain traumatic brain injuries, and there were pretty significant injuries as a result of that attack. And so, I think its important now to look at this Iranian attack on Al Udeid in Qatar in much the same way. It's unclear at this point whether U.S. troops were evacuated from that base prior to this Iranian strike.

But of course, U.S. officials were very much expecting that Iran would be doing this. And so, they did, in fact, move aircraft out of that base. That that base was essentially emptied of all air assets over the last week because they were anticipating that Iran, either in retaliation for U.S. strikes that we did not yet know about, of course, or in retaliation for these strikes on Iran, that they were going to hit an American base or at least try to. And so, not only at Al Udeid were assets evacuated, but also ships

were evacuated from ports in Bahrain, where the U.S. Navy has a presence. And so, the U.S. was clearly ready for this. They were positioning for it. And we have heard that all the missiles were actually intercepted.

But still, you know, preliminary assessments from the Department of Defense about no casualties, no injuries at all. I think that we need to be a little bit careful of that, given DOD's history of not either knowing immediately whether there have been injuries or anything serious or choosing to downplay in the immediate aftermath, because, of course, the Department of Defense does not want things to escalate any further either.

And so, we're waiting for more concrete readouts from the region about just where U.S. troops were, if they were not evacuated, whether they were sheltering. And, of course, if there were any other attempted attacks anywhere else in the region. We did hear of one ballistic missile that was headed towards the U.S. base in Iraq, the same base that was hit by Iranian missiles back in 2020.

So, still awaiting word on whether any U.S. service members were hurt or whether that missile actually struck the base -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Good to have you, Natasha. Thank you. Natasha Bertrand is at the Pentagon.

Well, Colin Clarke is the director of policy and research at the Soufan Group.

Colin, it's good to have you.

First, let's get your assessment, your analysis of what we've seen just in the past. What, nearly three hours since Iran launched ten missiles at the U.S. air base in Qatar.

COLIN CLARKE, DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND RESEARCH, THE SOUFAN GROUP: Thanks for having me. Well, were hearing a lot of the same terminology used by experts and pundits escalate, to deescalate, that this attack was a face saving mechanism for the Iranians, that it was highly choreographed.

But I think there's a couple of wild cards here that we need to take into account. One is President Trump. He's notoriously unpredictable. He says so himself, and his decision-making process is unorthodox, to say the least. So, we're not exactly sure how he's going to want to react to this.

The other wild card is the Israelis. Clearly, they have not taken their foot off the gas. They were relentless in attacking targets all over Tehran today. And so that's still very much an open-ended question. Are they pushing for regime change in Iran?

ANDERSON: So, I just wonder, there's two things here. The use of short-term medium range ballistic missiles. Clearly, Iran still has the capability to launch those despite the efforts to degrade that capability by Israel.

So that's one thing we've been talking tonight about what its arsenal still looks like. And I wonder if you can give us some insight on that, Colin. And then secondly, where does this go next?

CLARKE: Well, look, in terms of the missiles, I think Iran is probably keeping a very close eye on its stockpile, right? And potentially maybe even hoarding some missiles. Theres been a lot of threats. There's been a, you know, a lot of kind of boasting. We haven't seen major follow-through on those.

In terms of what could happen next. I mean, I had an op ed in "The New York Times" just yesterday, which I think was titled what Iran does next. The first thing I laid out was attacking U.S. bases in the region. We've seen that happen.

Other -- a couple of other possibilities are, you know, interfering with the strait of Hormuz, although there's real drawbacks there with Iran's ally China. And what that would do to global energy markets. And then there's the most extreme and probably the most unlikely scenario, which are some kind of attacks outside of the region by Iran backed groups.

Again, I think the probability is low, but the impact would be high if we see something like that. Theres been numerous Hezbollah operatives arrested in the United States over the years for surveilling targets. I think that's a nightmare scenario that the FBI and other homeland security officials are concerned about right now.

[15:25:03]

ANDERSON: It's good to have you, sir. Thank you.

Colin Clarke with you tonight. All coming up as Iran fires a retaliatory strike against a U.S. base in Qatar. How are gulf states reacting? Talk to an expert who said they've been caught between a rock and a hard place. More on our breaking news after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Updating our breaking news now.

Now, a source says Iran gave advance notice to Qatar that it would launch missiles towards a U.S. military base in the country. U.S. defense official says there are no reports of casualties, and Qatar says the security situation remains stable. Qatar's defense ministry said its air defenses intercepted the missile attack. Iran says it's retaliation for U.S. strikes over the weekend against its nuclear facilities.

Well, joining me now is Sanam Vakil. She is the director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House.

We must start with your initial reaction, if you will, to this Iranian response. SANAM VAKIL, DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA PROGRAMME, CHATHAM

HOUSE: Good to be with you, Becky.

Certainly, Iran's strike against the Al Udeid Air Base was calibrated. They telegraphed, they warned the Qatari government. They also passed messages to the United States. But the attack was very symbolic.

Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar is the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East. And Iran wanted to show that it has the daring to make such a strike at such a heated and dangerous moment. And there is, of course, a broader risk that President Trump could respond.

[15:30:01]

And Qatar, that has been such an important supporter or partner or interlocutor for Iran, has expressed condemnation and clearly angered by the violation of its sovereignty at this critical moment.

ANDERSON: Yeah. And to your point, it has been an incredibly important interlocutor, not least just this past weekend, where the prime minister of Qatar, who is also the foreign minister, was in Istanbul with the Iranian foreign minister. The effort was to get the Iranians back around the table. I was told that those efforts were going well until the point at which the U.S. struck Iran's nuclear sites in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

Look, oil prices are sharply lower since this attack on Qatar, indicating some relief by investors thinking that this might be the extent of Iran's response to the U.S. at this point. And if that were to be the case then this is very limited in scope. And to many who are looking at this, they will assess this as a rather weakened Iran at this point. We knew it was weakened, but this is a rather weakened response.

VAKIL: Iran is weakened, as you said. It's been under attack for over a week now. It has also been hit by the United States and its capabilities across the region are weakened.

There is not much Iran could have done, but it needed to respond to save face. It also needed to show daring -- I think this was also a message that it could do more. It's willing to do more, but simultaneous to that, it's looking for some sign of de-escalation should the United States government and President Trump himself be willing to pick up on it.

So, the ball sits now with Washington. What worries me, of course, is that Iran did strike in the Gulf. And of course, the Gulf has played an important role over the past number of weeks. And this will certainly impact public opinion in many Gulf countries that have been watching and now been impacted by these strikes.

ANDERSON: Yeah, and the anxiety levels have been very high in this region. You know, I'm -- I can tell you that as somebody who lives and works here. I mean, you know, there was a real palpable sense of anxiety. I mean, you know, if people believe this is a limited response and this provides an off ramp and a de-escalation that will put people's minds at rest. But it is, you know, clearly a concern.

CNN has learned that Donald Trump's Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, has remained in contact with Iranians since those U.S. weekend strikes. What does that tell you about this moment in this conflict?

VAKIL: I think it really speaks to the fact that both Tehran, but also the Trump administration and the president himself are looking for off ramps. And the fact that their channels open, direct or indirect lines over multiple parties from the Omanis, the Qataris to the Turks, there are many countries trying to find ways to bridge the divide. That's very important.

What's really urgently needed is an opportunity for the Iranian foreign minister and Steve Witkoff to speak, perhaps without so much pomp and circumstance. But privately, discreetly, to take the temperature down and to find ways of de-escalation.

There is a moment right now where the Iranians have clearly signaled they're looking to de-escalate. President Trump appears to look like he's willing to climb down after having struck Iran in an unprecedented way. So, it's about giving space for that de-escalation to happen. And then, of course, building out what the diplomatic discussions will be and what both sides can agree upon at the negotiating table.

ANDERSON: Yeah. I mean, this was the Iranian retaliation on the U.S. on an air base hosted in Qatar.

[15:35:02]

Some arguing and perhaps it's just worth raising again that Washington may be very sensible to take this as a win at this point, move on and work out exactly where these talks might go, or certainly where this diplomacy might go in the very near future.

Sanam, it's always a pleasure having you on. Your insight and analysis so important. Thank you very much indeed.

More on our breaking news in just a moment. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: We continue to follow breaking news. Iran has begun to retaliate against the U.S. in response to this weekend's airstrikes. According to Iranian state TV, the country launched a missile attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar. Qatar's defense ministry said its air defenses successfully intercepted that attack, targeting the Al Udeid Air Base and that there were no deaths or injuries. A source says Iranian officials gave Qatar advance notice about an attack.

The government there has condemned the Iranian attack on the U.S. base. A senior White House official says the Trump administration was anticipating a retaliation and that the president does not want more military engagement in the region.

Let's bring in Nick Paton Walsh, who joins us now from London. Nick, we've been talking about the extent of this strike. No damage

done, no, certainly no casualties or injuries as -- as we understand it. And just your assessment, then what -- some three hours after that attack of what we witnessed and what happens next?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, I think it's important to put into context here that this is a moment that I think many people had feared would come for days. We've been here before, and we've again seen this retaliation round that Iran is a weakened force in the region, and they have chosen this to some degree performative, if indeed the information we have is complete and accurate at the moment. Performative display of short range missiles fired at a country that had forewarned. Indeed, the U.S. embassy forewarning U.S. citizens hours earlier they had some inkling this was happening, too, the airspace closed by Qatar, almost designed by choosing the Al-Udeid Air Base, evacuated of major aircraft and most personnel days earlier, designed to create no casualties or a reason to respond for the United States.

And that in itself is not Iran showing its strength and then deciding to move on. It's Iran trying to, I think performatively put on the idea that it retains some agency in this process. Whilst also desperately keen to be sure it doesn't cause the United States to escalate back. Now, that's not a position of strength. That's an acceptance of their weakness and their need to try and essentially claim a retaliation. So perhaps they can move towards the diplomatic table here.

It echoes what they did in 2024 after Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader. You and I reported on that together, Becky, was killed in central Tehran by the Israelis. And it's very similar to what we saw in 2020 when General Qasem Soleimani, the most sort of celebrated military figure back then, was killed by President Donald Trump after an attack on U.S. troops in the region as well.

This seems to be how they deal with the United States when the U.S. shows its extraordinary, outsized military power, in the case of Soleimani, in an unprecedented attack, which many analysts felt was reckless at the time, it was clear after that that the Iranians simply didn't have the muscle to face the United States. Many knew that. But so much of Iran's strength regionally has been to project a larger version of itself than perhaps conforms to reality.

And so, we've seen Iran heavily damaged by Israel over ten days. It's military command and infrastructure torn apart, frankly. I mean, they were on their third commander of the IRGC land forces in the past week or so. They then faced these U.S. strikes on their nuclear facilities. Unthinkable, frankly, just about two weeks ago, and are now facing a moment where they had to show they could do something, but be sure that what they did was not going to cause their situation to worsen.

It's a remarkable reversal of the United States crossing a red line. They're hitting the nuclear facilities and trying to play down how significant and damaging that indeed was, and move on. Instead, Iran having to suggest that they had power, that they indeed did not. Look, it is possible in the hours and years or months ahead that we

see Iran make a race for a nuclear weapon. It is indeed possible that Khamenei doesn't stay in power, and the fatwah that he gave out to prevent that nuclear weapon being achieved dies with him. There's so much that could still potentially change.

But what we've seen, I think, in the last few hours, is Iran again, accepting that it doesn't want a full out confrontation with the United States, but doing it from an even more weak position than they first made that choice in 2020 or in 2024. They are, I think, really struggling at this point with their own medium range ballistic arsenal that can hit Israel. They use shorter range missiles in this instance, and they fired it at an empty base without warning.

I mean, it's not a sign of a regional power. It's a sign of somebody trying, I think, to show they still, as I say, retain some skin in the game or agency here, whilst ultimately accepting as little they can do, Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah. Nick Paton Walsh with his analysis. Nick, thank you.

Right. We're going to take a short break. Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:47:55]

ANDERSON: Welcome back. Right. We continue to follow breaking news.

Iran has launched a retaliation against the U.S. in response to this weekend's airstrikes. It fired short to medium range ballistic missiles at a U.S. base in Qatar. This is a move that has been condemned by Doha and by countries around this region of the Gulf and beyond.

We have heard from the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the past few moments. He has posted online: "We will not surrender to anyone's violation. This is the logic of the nation of Iran," he wrote.

That was a statement on his X account, which included this illustration of a burning American flag.

Well, former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaking out on the conflict. The former senator once led talks on Iran's nuclear program during the Obama administration. A short time ago, he spoke to our Christiane Amanpour, reacting to these strikes by Iran on that base in Qatar. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: But clearly, Iran had to respond in some way, and they made it clear that they would and I think the administration anticipated that.

The real question now is what's the impact? How big is this a serious effort to counter in a warlike way, or is it a message? Is it a sort of message sender? And then people will work in, in good faith to try to get to the diplomatic table.

I mean, what's important to remember here is there's no military solution to this. This can go on and on. It can get uglier and uglier and more and more dangerous, with greater and greater implications for global basis. This is very dangerous.

My hope is that this is more performative than consequential and that it will satisfy their need to be able to respond.

[15:50:00]

I think President Trump needs to clearly, you know, be very judicious about measuring that and understanding it, and hopefully take the higher ground of getting back to the table for the simple reason that we don't have any visibility anymore, insight or real. The depth of insight that we had with the nuclear agreement that we put in place.

I mean, with the nuclear agreement we put in place, we had a huge insight as to what they were doing. We had stopped them from developing in whole sectors. We destroyed their plutonium or at reactor, which they were weeks away from being able to have bomb material. We were able to have, you know, tens of thousands of centrifuges destroyed. We required them to destroy the core of what existed in Fordow.

And they did. They dismantled the -- under watchful eyes from the international community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Right. Let's get you CNN's chief U.S. national affairs correspondent, Jeff Zeleny. He's at the White House.

And, Jeff, we've just heard from the Iranian supreme leader. He posted this online. We will not surrender to anyone's violation. This is the logic of the nation of Iran.

That was the statement on his X account, which included an illustration of a burning American flag. This is certainly the first response that we've heard from the supreme leader for some time, at least since those U.S. strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran at the weekend, which has resulted in this retaliatory action by them on the U.S. base in Qatar tonight.

Your thoughts?

ZELENY: Look, I mean, that certainly is an extraordinary image there. As we can see it on screen. However, think of the image that it would have been had the missiles aimed at Al Udeid Air Force Base been more successful or deadly. That would have been an extraordinarily different moment than a flag burning.

Of course, this is symbolic. This is something that obviously the White House and the president will see. But what a former secretary of state, John Kerry, was just saying there, it was his hope that it was I think his words were more performative than consequential. We shall see.

The early reports are that there was no injuries at the Al Udeid Air Base. All the missiles were intercepted. Of course, the base had largely been cleared out. So, this was anticipated.

The question now is, is this going to be a retaliatory for tat that goes on and on and on, or will the U.S. simply try and move on? There's plenty of evidence or reason to believe. I think that President Trump certainly does not want to engage in a wider war. Weve not heard from him, though, directly on this attack yet. This strike.

ANDERSON: Unusually silent for somebody who enjoys messaging.

All right, Jeff, it's good to have you. Thank you, sir.

Let's -- get you more after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:55:58]

ANDERSON: Well, our breaking news tonight Iran has fired missiles towards an American military base in Qatar. There are no reports of casualties. Explosions were heard around Doha just a few hours ago after Iran fired the missiles at the Al Udeid Air Base. A source tells CNN that Iranian officials gave Qatar some advance notice of the attack, although there is no suggestion from this source that this was in any way coordinated.

I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. Our breaking news coverage continues on CNN after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END