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Trump Says Iran and Israel Agree to Staggered Ceasefire; Israeli and Iranian Media Say Ceasefire Has Begun; Five Killed Earlier in Iranian Strike in Be'er Sheva; U.S. Lawmakers Divided on Trump's Actions in Middle East. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired June 24, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:24]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you. Welcome to all of our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. We are following two major developments right now out of the Middle East.

The first, Israeli and Iranian media now saying that a cease fire is in effect. It's been so for several hours now, after announcement late Monday and again, last hour from U.S. President Donald Trump, but the exact details even hours later, they're still not clear.

Earlier, we did see a deadly Iranian missile strike on a residential building in Beersheba, Israel.

It gives you a sense of the speed and the intensity of the blast. Authorities say at least five people have been killed in that attack.

More than a dozen others were being treated for light to moderate injuries. Firefighters rescued three people from the rubble as search teams continue to look for more survivors at this hour.

And there are also fresh strikes in Tehran overnight, but before the cease fire was expected to take effect, and that's according to Iranian state media.

Let's bring in CNN's Brian Todd live at this hour out of Washington. Brian, good morning to you. What do we know about this cease fire deal, and also some of the differing messaging that we're getting from both countries right now?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Polo. Yes, we have a sign just now of just how fragile this cease fire could be. President Trump making his own appeal to the key players to keep up their end of the deal.

Just a short time ago, moments ago, really, President Trump posting this message on Truth Social, "The cease fire is now in effect, please do not violate it." And then he signs off. Donald J. Trump, president of the United States, he is appealing to Iran and Israel both to stick to their end of this bargain. It is a fragile cease fire.

We also have new information on how we got here. New reporting this morning from our colleagues, Kylie Atwood, Jennifer Hansler, Alayna Treene, Jeff Zeleny and Zachary Cohen, they report that President Trump and his national security and diplomatic teams worked furiously behind the scenes to broker a peace deal. This was in the hours just after Iran launched a missile attack on the U.S. Air Base in Qatar. That was on Monday. Trump and his team working furiously behind the scenes.

According to sources who spoke to CNN, the president himself communicated directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during those critical hours. And while he was doing that, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. Those three were working the Iranian side, communicating with the Iranians through official, direct and indirect channels to try to broker this cease fire.

The government of Qatar, according to our sources, also was a key player as an intermediary. Trump, at one point, speaking directly with the Emir of Qatar, Emir Tamim bin Hamam -- Hamad, excuse me, Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Trump again communicating with both the Emir of Qatar and the Israeli prime minister, while his team communicated with the Iranian side.

Now, this morning, there is also the battle over messaging, and specifically the messaging over, who is going to really get the credit for this cease fire? President Trump posted on Truth Social earlier this morning. "Israel and Iran came to me almost simultaneously and said, peace. I knew the time was now. The world and the Middle East are the real winners. Both nations will see tremendous love, peace and prosperity in their futures."

President Trump taking the credit for that, saying that the Iranians and the Israelis came to him, but of course, our own reporting saying that it was Trump and his team working furiously behind the scenes to try to broker the cease fire.

And a different message from Tehran this morning, the Iranian state media, one of their news anchors quoted as saying this, in a begging like manner of urging, Trump requested the initiation of a cease fire in the imposed Zionist enemy war against our country. So, the Iranians claiming that Trump begged them for the cease fire, Trump claiming that the Iranians and the Israelis came to him for a request, and CNN reporting that it was Trump and his team working behind the scenes.

Either way, Polo, we are here now, at this critical moment of this cease fire, the president, just moments ago again, saying in a -- in a post on Truth Social, the cease fire is now in effect and appealing to each side not to violate it.

Let's hope that in the aftermath of that horrible attack of the Iranian missile attack in Beersheba, Israel, with the now five people reported dead, that the cease fire does indeed hold. It is a critical few hours coming up.

[02:05:08]

SANDOVAL: As you point out exactly what led to the cease fire, it depends on what country you're asking. Brian Todd, thank you so much for breaking it all down for us this morning. Appreciate your reporting.

Iran's air defense is remaining active, following Donald Trump's cease fire announcement on Monday. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Tehran, actually filed this report earlier today from the Iranian capital. Take a look.

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FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we're seeing right now is extremely intense anti-aircraft fire over the skies of Tehran. If we look through here, you can see the tracer fire going up from those anti-aircraft guns. We've also heard some blasts, but as you can see right now, the skies over the Iranian capital absolutely illuminated with anti-aircraft fire.

Now, the Israelis have issued an evacuation order for the part of Tehran where we're seeing that anti-aircraft fire right now. It's unclear whether there's any strikes taking place, but we have also heard some thuds, seemingly coming from that direction.

This comes after a day where we saw intense bombardment here of the Iranian capital, especially central areas of Tehran, right here in the location that we are, there was an air strike very close to us that rocked the building that we were in.

We took cover, then came back to film the aftermath, and it was a thick plume of smoke in the skies. The Iranians also firing multiple missiles at a U.S. base in a Qatar saying that that was in response for the United States attacking several Iranian nuclear installations.

And there, again, you can see the fire in the skies over Tehran. That is that anti-aircraft burst fire coming from Iranian air defenses. And we've been seeing that happening over the past couple of minutes as clearly they are targeting something that is in the skies.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Let's get some analysis now live. Joining us right now is retired Major General Mick Ryan of the Australian Army. He is also the author of The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire. The General joining us live at this hour.

Sir, thank you so much for your time. I'm wondering, just as we're a couple of hours now into this apparent cease fire, what's your read thus far as it's now two hours into the to the effect of it? MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN, AUSTRALIAN ARMY (RET.): Well, what we've seen so far is both the Americans and the Iranians have confirmed that they are in a cease fire. We haven't seen any formal acceptance by Israel. Hopefully we will see that.

We don't know how long this cease fire is meant to last, other than President Trump's tweet about it being an extended cease fire, and we don't know any background conditions that Iran or Israel have imposed, but hopefully, the cease fire will hold and negotiations can begin.

SANDOVAL: What do you make of the Israeli government staying silent thus far after the U.S. president announced it?

RYAN: Yes, I think that's very interesting. They were very quick to support the American bomber attacks on the weekend. We're very happy about that. Well, this is the other side of that deal, that if America was to come in with a one and done bomber raid, clearly, President Trump wanted to use this as part of a negotiation. This is part of that, and I think Israel will have to think very carefully about going against any cease fire.

SANDOVAL: And as you just pointed out a little while ago, General, there are still a lot of questions about the actual parameters of the cease fire.

Just looking at it right now from a military perspective and tapping into your expertise, what would you expect to see in terms of ground rules in one of these and perhaps even the enforcement mechanisms that should be in place that you would like to see in place?

RYAN: Well, I think you'll see both sides want to pull back from offensive operations, but defensive activities, you know, ensuring their air defense missile batteries are reloaded. These kind of things will be taking place. You'll probably see pretty significant meetings of the military staffs and Israel and Iran just to ascertain what military capability is remaining should hostilities recommence.

It's uncertain how the U.S. might enforce a cease fire at this point in time, U.S. is certainly not going to be putting harsh restrictions on the Israelis, I don't think. But as Trump said, if Iran breaks a cease fire, he has said that there may be more to follow. He was very clear about that in his address to the nation.

SANDOVAL: Given the aggressions that we've seen the last couple of weeks, General, I'm wondering if you're as surprised perhaps as I am about the back channeling, if you will, that we've seen ahead of the U.S. intervention that we saw over the weekend and then yesterday as well, with the Iranians actually reaching out to Qatar and giving them an early heads up, obviously knowing fully that that would eventually make it to the United States as well. Is that normal? Is that typical from a military perspective?

[02:10:14]

RYAN: Yes, I think we see this in most of these kind of conflicts. We've seen it before in the Middle East, we've seen it in America's dealings with Russia and Ukraine, in the Ukraine war, trying to negotiate some kind of cease fire in those conflicts.

And in the Middle East, you know, what we weren't sure about after the American bombing was whether Iran was going to escalate in a big way or conduct some kind of performative attack, as we saw in Qatar today, which wasn't really designed to inflict any damage, just to say to their own people that they were capable of responding. That's what they've done, and that is within expectations of Iranian behavior at this point.

SANDOVAL: Right. Get it out of their system and essentially also presented internally to their -- to their own people, as you mentioned.

Major General Mick Ryan, really appreciate your time and your expertise.

RYAN: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: We're going to continue our breaking news coverage when we return.

Still ahead, the latest on the tentative cease fire between Israel and Iran.

And also, Gaza health officials saying that multiple Palestinians were killed while waiting for aid. Details on that incident, that crisis that also continues, when we return.

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[02:15:52]

SANDOVAL: And welcome back. We are continuing to follow developments out of the Middle East, where Iranian and Israeli media channels now reporting that a cease fire between the two nations has taken effect.

Donald Trump is also confirming that and urging the two sides not to violate it. Back just hours ago, the U.S. president took to social media claiming that the countries had reached out to him, in his words, almost simultaneously about peace.

The president's comment comments coming as sirens blared across parts of Israel after an Iran fired -- after Iran fired missiles toward the country early Tuesday morning.

Israeli officials saying that at least five people were killed when a residential building was hit in the southern city of Beersheba, both sides fired missiles before the cease fire was set to begin.

I want to get some analysis now from Mehran Kamrava, professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar. Professor, thank you so much for taking some time to join us.

MEHRAN KAMRAVA, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY IN QATAR: Thank you. Thanks for having me. SANDOVAL: I would love to get started by just getting just a sense of what people where you are are talking about. Fortunately, it didn't go beyond just some of the dramatic pictures that we saw of people running in malls, and also some of the debris falling towards the ground. Again, no injuries in that.

Still, though, what have people been talking about today after what took place after Iran launched this series of attacks?

KAMRAVA: Well, I think it's fair to say, we were all shocked last night when Iran attacked, and the sense of disbelief was palpable, the fear, the noises, the shaking, was absolutely shocking, and we all went to bed fearing for the worst. And then we woke up again, surprised, but this time for the better, learning that overnight the cease fire deal had been struck.

And so, I think there is a sigh of relief. As you know, Qatar is one of the world's safest countries every year on various indices. Doha comes out as the world's safest city. And so, people here are not used to this sort of development. And so, I think there is a huge sigh of relief this morning.

SANDOVAL: Now, what a contrast. You go to bed and then wake up the next morning to breaking news of a cease fire.

Professor, let's get into some of the policy now of it all. You have said that the regime change that the president has -- that the U.S. president has floated would be destined to fail. Why is that? Especially if you -- if you consider that the current regime is deeply unpopular among many of its own people?

KAMRAVA: Absolutely, the government is extremely unpopular, particularly in urban centers, among the middle classes, or what is left of the Iranian middle class and upper classes.

But I think it's important to note that popular discontent by itself is not enough for the collapse of the government.

First of all, this is a political system that has multiple dimensions. It has deep roots. It has various representatives. It also has the die-hard support of anywhere between 15 to 20 percent of the population that is motivated by the government's ideology.

And there's also a palpable lack of a viable opposition. So, I think effecting regime change. Change might sound good in theory, but in practice, it's not feasible.

SANDOVAL: So, that's Iran. Let's talk Israel for a moment. What do you make of that country's government remaining silent now two hours and 20 minutes into this apparent cease fire? I mean, could this be interpreted as Israel not being on board?

KAMRAVA: It very well could, and apparently, according to the terms of the agreement, Israel has a right to respond to the latest volley of Iranian missiles, whereby, while Iran does not. Now, that is a possibility. But I think it's important to keep in mind that the Iranians have actually proved the deadly effectiveness of their missiles and their ability to penetrate the Iron Dome. And I think that is not a lesson that is lost on Israeli military commanders and the civilian leadership. A civilian leadership, mind you, whose political position domestically, at least up until the outbreak of the war with Iran, was woefully precarious.

[02:20:28]

And so, I think the Israeli government now is taking pause and trying to assess its various options.

SANDOVAL: What about when you look at Israel's potential expanded objective here? We saw after the United States' intervention over the weekend, we saw that they continued with their campaign. Could that perhaps hint that Israel has expanded beyond just seeking a nuclear free Iran? Does it have perhaps even more objectives now?

Otherwise, I assume they would have actually held back their campaign when the United States launched their bombers.

KAMRAVA: Absolutely, in fact, statements coming out of Jerusalem indicate that they were after dismantling Iran's missile system. They were after decapitating the civilian leadership. And it would not be surprising if Israel wanted really to see turning Iran into where Libya is today, tragically, or where Syria was and has been during its civil war, and Iraq after 2003.

So, I think it would have -- it does serve Israel. Israel's interest, if Iran's political leadership is so weakened that it cannot exert control over the territory, over Iranian territory, that does not seem to have happened.

And so, Israel's objective, if we look at it that way, really was not met.

SANDOVAL: And just as we were speaking here, Professor, we just received a statement on behalf of the government of Israel, and in it they -- the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirming that, in fact, that they did convene the security cabinet together along with the minister of defense to address this that Israel, they say, has eliminated and dual existential threat.

Additionally, trying to just read through this as we speak right now, but essentially agreeing at least in part to some of these terms, apparently, of this cease fire.

I'm going to continue to go over this a little bit deeper, but just initially, the fact that Israel is now responding, could that be now a positive sign in these developments?

KAMRAVA: Absolutely, it is definitely a positive sign. When elephants fight, the grass suffers. It's the civilians in Israel, the civilians in Iran, that have borne the brunt of this, not the military or civilian leadership on either side. And so, what we have seen is nothing other than misery, fear,

trepidation, kind of existential fear. And I think it would be a wonderfully positive development if saying their heads prevail and there's an end, at least, to this hostility. Now, we all -- we have to worry about the genocide in Gaza.

SANDOVAL: And in that statement, Israel says that it has agreed to the president's proposal for a bilateral cease fire, however, they will respond forcefully to any violation of that.

So certainly, those tensions will continue, Professor, and thank you so much for offering your expert analysis in all of this.

KAMRAVA: Thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: Of course. On the wake of Saturday's U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, protests have been springing up around the globe.

This was a scene near the U.S. Embassy in London on Monday with demonstrators demanding de-escalation in the Israel Iran conflict.

In Athens, protesters they're gathering outside the parliament building, before marching to the U.S. Embassy to condemn America's involvement.

Major cities across Pakistan also seeing organized rallies denouncing the U.S. air strikes in Iran, protesters also criticizing the government's recent decision to nominate President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

To another crisis now, in Gaza, health officials saying that 21 people were killed by Israeli fire while waiting for food at an aid distribution site.

Now, a warning, some of the videos that we're about to show you are graphic, but it's a reality on the ground. Some of the video appearing to show the aftermath of the incident that took place at a Gaza humanitarian foundation distribution center, CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment. The GHFA program backed by Israel and the U.S. has been mired by controversy since it began operating last month.

[02:25:03]

Earlier this month, a CNN investigation pointed to the Israeli military opening fire on crowds of Palestinians as they made their way to that aid site in Rafah.

And we are tracking still developments out of the Middle East, Iran launches a deadly air strike on an Israeli city as President Donald Trump announces a cease fire agreement, plus more details on how that cease fire deal came together as President Trump prepares for the NATO Summit in the Netherlands in the coming hours.

Our breaking news coverage here on CNN continues after a short break.

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[02:30:00]

SANDOVAL: And we have new developments in the Middle East where a tentative ceasefire is now in effect between Israel and Tehran. CNN's Nada Bashir joining me live now from London at this hour. Nada, so far, we just heard from Israel a short moment ago saying that it has agreed to President Trump's proposal of ceasefire. What else do we know?

NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We've just received that statement from the prime minister's office. Of course, we had been waiting for official comment or remarks from the Israeli side with regards to President Trump's claim of a ceasefire being in place. The prime minister's office has noted that it was successful, in its words, eliminating a dual existential and imminent threats focusing on both Iran's nuclear capabilities, but also capabilities in terms of ballistic missiles as well, which we have used of course extensively in these attacks that we have seen across Israeli territory over more than a week now.

We've heard from the prime minister's office also saying that the Israeli military has been successful in gaining control over Tehran's skies as well. Of course, we have seen extensive airstrikes being carried out by the Israeli military across Iran, including in the capital Tehran. But what is important to note in that statement that has just come in from the prime minister's office is that they have said that they will continue to respond forcefully if there is any violation of this ceasefire agreement.

Now, we had heard previously, of course, from the U.S. President Donald Trump announcing that ceasefire mediated both by the United States and by Qatari officials working alongside the U.S. It's understood that the Qatari prime minister directly engaged in those mediation efforts with Iranian officials. And this had previously been expressed by Iranian officials themselves. We heard from the Iranian foreign minister, stating that Iran had continued its military operations against Israeli targets up until the last moment.

We certainly have seen the impact of that in the early hours of today, an Iranian missile strike in the southern Israeli city of Be'er Sheva, killing at least five people and wounding 20 people according to Israeli Emergency Services. And in the early hours of this morning, we did see those alarm sirens going off in parts of Israel as a warning of incoming Iranian missiles, warning civilians to enter their bomb shelters.

But of course, this was right up until the point of that ceasefire coming into effect. There have been questions, of course, as to whether we might see a response by Israel to those last-minute attacks by the Iranian military. Clearly, this latest statement from the prime minister's office would indicate that we are not expecting to see that at this stage. That is of course, the hope that this fragile truth will hold, that we will continue to see a ceasefire in place. That is certainly what President Trump wants to see. He has just put out a statement saying that a ceasefire is in effect, that he doesn't want to see it being -- coming to an end as a result of either side violating that agreement.

And the Iranian side for its part has said that it will continue to maintain and respect that ceasefire agreement, so long as there aren't any attacks by the Israeli military, beyond 4:00 a.m. local time in Tehran. Of course, we are well past that now. So, all eyes will be waiting to see whether or not this ceasefire holds, whether we continue to see any violations. And of course, we are expecting President Trump to make an appearance at the NATO Summit. So, we are expecting to hear more from him with regards to those diplomatic efforts as well.

And then of course, we'll be looking at the fallout of this, the actual impact. We know, of course, that the Israeli government is claiming success, saying that it has been successful in eliminating both the nuclear threat and ballistic threat in Iran. But of course, we will be waiting to learn more about the full extent of the damage sustained in terms of Iran's nuclear capabilities. Polo?

SANDOVAL: Still a lingering question, days after that U.S. intervention. CNN's Nada Bashir, reporting law firm London. Thank you. And a White House official says that the ceasefire agreement between Iran and Israel was "only made possible because of President Trump's strong leadership and perseverance for peace." CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more details on how this ceasefire deal came together.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Trump scheduled to leave the White House early Tuesday morning and head to the Netherlands for the NATO Summit, armed with a freshly brokered ceasefire deal between Iran and Israel. At least that is the hope and prayer of this White House. After an extraordinary day here on Monday, the president out of view for the entire day, talking throughout it on social media, but largely working the phones, we are told, working on this agreement.

He along with the Vice President, J.D. Vance, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and others in the Oval Office as well as many in the Situation Room, but it was the key phone calls back and forth with the U.S. getting Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to ceasefire.

[02:35:00]

But it was the Iranian side, of course, that was far more difficult. We were told the president, the U.S. president spoke with the Emir of Qatar to try and help work on the Iranian side. And that did apparently work after military strikes on Al Udeid Air Base outside of Doha, Qatar, the largest installation of American military forces. So certainly, some tense moments in the afternoon. But it turns out that was all part of what had to happen to reach this deal.

Now, of course, it is still very much a work in progress. There is no question about that. It's fragile in the words of one senior administration official. But the question here is going forward, how long of a ceasefire will this be? And what happened with the nuclear weapon program in Iran? It was just on a Saturday evening that the American president announced to the world that those strikes had happened. But of course, still an open question, how damaging they were. The president said, it was obliteration, unclear if that is a true. His Pentagon officials, said severely damaged.

But that is a question perhaps for another day. There is no doubt that there's a potential peace deal that's been brokered after about a 12- day war would be monumental if it holds. In one more extraordinary day, with the president set to travel to the NATO Summit and see his fellow leaders there on Tuesday.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

SANDOVAL: And U.S. lawmakers, they're divided at this hour over the president's actions in the Middle East. While many Republicans continue to show their support for the president, some leading members of the MAGA movement are openly criticizing him. Here's a range of some of the reactions from Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R-SC): What happens in the next few days is going to determine the course of history for the state of Israel and the region for decades to come. To our friends in Israel, finish the job. Do what you have to do to bring about the regime change that will allow your children to sleep through the night. To the American people, wake up, understand what we're fighting.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, (R-GA): Well, I got elected on the exact same campaign promises that President Trump got elected on. We promised no more foreign wars, no more regime change. We promised an America First agenda where we're solving American's problems and trying to claw our way out of this $37 trillion debt. And I've been very vocal, we don't belong in foreign wars. This is not our war, and it's perfectly OK for me to say that.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I believe that a president bombing and bringing this country into direct conflict with another nation state, without notifying, full notification of Congress, without congressional approval, endangering service members, U.S. military bases, not providing intelligence is reckless. I think the serious decision of entering the United States into direct conflict without any legal approval, unconstitutionally, is the grave decision that we need to be talking about right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Those are some of the internal politics in the United States. Let's talk some of the internal politics inside of Iran with my next guest, Arash Azizi. He's a contributor for The Atlantic. He's also authored several books in Iran, including "What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom." Thank you so much for joining us at this hour, Azizi.

ARASH AZIZI, CONTRIBUTOR, THE ATLANTIC: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: Of course, in this last piece that you write of, a revealing piece in The Atlantic, you offer some rare insights about -- speaking with several of your sources inside of Iran. They share that there's some high-level discussions right now that are happening to plan a future for Iran without the Ayatollah. What is that primary driver behind those discussions based on what you're hearing?

AZIZI: Ayatollah Khamenei has proved totally inept, no matter what kind of policies you want to follow actually, he's shown to be an inept leader. Of course, his policies have really brought economic ruin, internationalized relation, domestic repression, and now, this war that he effectively invited by years of his sort of inept policy in relation to Israel and the United States. But so, there are two groups of people I would say generally, who don't want to get rid of him.

There are those who want to take Iran into a direction where it would make serious concessions and make a lasting peace deal with the United States. And there are those who actually might want the opposite. They want more muscular (ph) Iranian policy.

[02:40:00]

They are maybe even thinking of building a nuclear weapon actually at some point. Both of them, none of them are very happy with Ayatollah Khamenei. And by the way, where is he, as we are speaking? After U.S. was attacked, after this, all this important moments, he's supposed to be head of a state. He is hiding in a corner. We don't know where he is. So, this explains why Tehran has been full of plots about wanting to get rid of him. And I wrote about one of them after I could speak to a couple people involved in it.

SANDOVAL: And based on your conversations with some of those people, do you feel that the U.S. intervention, for example, on Saturday, that that could even further threaten the future of the Ayatollah?

AZIZI: I think it did because the very fact of Iran being attacked by the United States added another negative point to Khamenei's track record. Since last year, Iran has been attacked by three nuclear-armed countries, Pakistan, Israel and the United States, and it's quite something. And I think he's accused of being on -- on one side, he's very rigid, but on one side, he's actually quite cautious, I would say to the point of cowardly. If you look, he doesn't usually respond to attacks.

So, Iran is going toward a very tough period. How it would now respond to this new post-ceasefire conditions are important. A lot of people in Iran are worried that the regime would not go after repressing them. That it would sort of unleash on them after this war and trying to find an Israeli spy after every -- in every corner, although, if it wanted to be rational, actually the reason where Israel could have such an extensive intelligence penetration of Iran was precisely the fact that the security forces were going, not after sort of proper security measures, but after everybody they didn't like effectively, every dissident, every singer (ph), every woman like, and arresting them.

So, these are some of the domestic worries in Iran, but the -- at the highest level of the Iranian security, political and financial establishment, there's a lot of conversations about Iran after Khamenei. He's 86 years old, so he was expected to pass away at some point at any rate. But, his position has been much more weakened now. So, I think it's not impossible that he would be sidelined before he actually dies.

SANDOVAL: Do you get a sense that he's actually in charge, though? I mean, you mentioned a little while ago, that he's in hiding, as we all know here, but what is that sense of command and control, that system inside of Iran? What does that look like right now? Who's making those decisions? Who signed on to the ceasefire?

AZIZI: The National Security Council is who signed on to the ceasefire. So, the thing about the Islamic Republic, whatever you say about it, is that in its institutions are pretty resilient. And frankly, it's impressive how they've remained resilient. For example, in the past two weeks, even in the midst of a war that really looked like apocalyptic at points. I mean, Tehran was burning on all sides. Iranian parliament met, it discussed and voted on an economy minister in the middle of it all. And the National Security Council, which has a very defined membership, is headed by the president and different military figures, have seats on it.

They -- it's the one who decided on it, and everyone knows that that's who gets to decide. It's the same council, Supreme National Security Council that had decided on important things. For example, the same council decided a few months ago, not to enforce the draconian sort of Hijab Bill that would enforce mandatory veiling on Iranian woman. It decided not to enforce it based on security consideration. So, it is something like the Politburo in the Soviet Union, it's late years. It represents some sort of a collective interests of the system and it's the one who gets to this -- have -- make these big decisions.

But at the end of the day, Head of State Khamenei, has been used to making very minute decisions and making those specific calls. So without him being in the scene, that is going to be a little difficult. And also because there is, as I said, ferocious factional fighting, the different factions don't agree. So while the National Security Council can agree on something as big as the ceasefire, there are other day-to-day issues that will be problematic without a head of state. So, something has to happen one way or the other.

SANDOVAL: How are the last 48 hours of developments being portrayed on State Media for Iranians? Like, what is the kind of news that they woke up to this morning? When they found out about the ceasefire, how is that being offered to them this morning?

AZIZI: Naturally, they're going to declare it a victory. They're going to try to declare it a victory. It's obviously not a victory in many ways because hundreds of Iranian civilians died. If you -- in a broader, look, we have to say Iran had no reason to fight Israel and the United States. But, hundreds of Iranians died in this war. Iran was really humiliated, the fact that Iran's skies were taken over by Israel. Israel showed basically that whenever it wants, it can take over the Iranian sky, it can pretty much kill whomever it wants.

[02:45:00]

It can attack wherever it wants. So, it's hard in many ways to show this as a victory. At the same time though, you could also say that the regime didn't collapse. These fantasies about social uprisings didn't come true. The institutions, as I said, remained resilient. People throughout, there was no real food shortage anywhere. There was no real collapse of order anywhere. So, it's not hard to see why they would try to see it in that way. And a spirit of Iranian patriotism did rise. And I think just social solidarity because Iranians found themselves at war and their country attacked. And they sort of came to help each other. And I think that was impressive for them.

SANDOVAL: And we'll have to see if these latest aggressions will lead the regime to potentially continue to pursue weaponizing their nuclear program. Arash Azizi, thank you so much for all your reporting and your insight. We really do appreciate it.

AZIZI: Of course. Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: Stay with us on CNN. We're going to have much more on our breaking news out of the Middle East after this break.

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[02:50:50]

SANDOVAL: And we are now hearing from Israel about the ceasefire with Iran, which it says it agreed to after its "tremendous military success." Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the ceasefire is now in effect, and urged both Iran and Israel not to violate it. But ahead of that, both sides fired a series of deadly missile strikes and that includes one that hit this residential building in the southern Israeli city of Be'er Sheva.

Israeli officials there saying at least five people were injured -- well, I should say five people were killed with 20 injured and the search for survivors continues at this hour. And Iranian State Media reporting that at least nine people were killed when Israeli strikes hit residential buildings in northwest Iran. And the Trump Administration really calling the U.S. strikes over the weekend on Iran a complete success, though we still don't have an actual clear picture of what damage was caused by this massive bunker busting bombs, when they were launched from -- by U.S. authorities. Still though, the highly complex and secretive mission took place without a single Iranian shot being fired. CNN's Tom Foreman walks us through this remarkable operation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A minute past midnight in Missouri, a fleet of B-2 Bombers takes off, a portion heads west as a decoy. But the rest --

GEN. DAN CAINE, JOINT CHIEF OF STAFFS CHAIRMAN: The main strike package comprised of seven B-2 Spirit Bombers, each with two crew members, proceeded quietly to the east with minimal communications. FOREMAN (voice-over): Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Steve Basham flew such planes.

LT. GEN. STEVE BASHAM, (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: These pilots, they know their mission for the first maybe 17 hours is to do the best that they can to not be detected.

FOREMAN (voice-over): The stealth aircraft are refueled in flight repeatedly as they cross the Atlantic. Their mission dubbed "Operation Midnight Hammer."

The two-pilot crews check every system and review their training of the coming attack, likely studied on detailed computer models. They have food, restroom facilities, even a small space to stretch out. But --

BASHAM: I would venture to guess that these pilots had so much adrenaline that, quite honestly, none of them were able to sleep.

FOREMAN (voice-over): As the bombers streak into Iranian airspace, they are joined by more decoy planes and fighter jets suppressing any potential defense systems. And at 2:10 in the morning Iran time, the first bomber drops its pair of 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrators, the first operational use of these weapons by the U.S.

BASHAM: And then when that first bomb releases from the lead aircraft and then, the subsequent six aircraft come in and drop their weapons, it is probably the greatest relief ever. You have a pretty good idea when the weapons hit the ground based upon what you're probably doing that they actually went into their target.

FOREMAN (voice-over): The bombers hit two nuclear sites, two dozen Tomahawk missiles from a U.S. submarine slam into a third. It all takes less than a half hour with not one shot fired at the American planes.

CAINE: Iran's fighters did not fly and it appears that Iran's surface-to-air missile systems did not see us. Throughout the mission, we retained the element of surprise.

FOREMAN (voice-over): U.S. intelligence officials are still assessing the full impact of the damage even as the Pentagon claims success.

PETE HEGSETH, (R) UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We devastated the Iranian nuclear program.

FOREMAN (voice-over): While others with more than 125 U.S. aircraft involved are marveling that such a large mission was pulled off in such secrecy, against a foe that surely knew it was coming.

BASHAM: Amazing. Is that not remarkable?

FOREMAN: Simply put, this all went pretty much the way military leaders wanted it to. Now, political leaders are watching the follow up developments and hoping they will end well too.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:55:00]

SANDOVAL: I want to thank you for joining me -- for joining us in the last hour. I'm Polo Sandoval, New York. I'm going to have more of today's top stories and the latest on the crisis in the Middle East after the break.

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