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Early U.S. Intel Says That U.S. Strikes Did Not Destroy Iran's Nuclear Sites, Merely Set Back the Program by Months; Fragile Israel- Iran Ceasefire Appears to Be Holding; Ukraine Urges NATO to Keep Its Eyes on Russia; Trump in Netherlands for NATO Leaders Summit Today; Nigerian Nonprofit Helps Deaf Children Gain Tech Skills; Prosecution and Defense Teams Rest Their Cases in Sean Combs Sex Trafficking Trial; Zohran Mamdani Poised to Win Democratic Primary for New York City Mayor as Andrew Cuomo Concedes; Protesters Target Jeff Bezos' High-Profile Wedding; Axiom Mission 4 Lifts Off to International Space Station; Fragile Israel-Iran Ceasefire Appears To Be Holding; Early U.S. Intel: Strikes Did Not Destroy Iran's Nuclear Sites; Israel And Iran Trade Strikes Before Ceasefire Takes Effect. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired June 25, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:21]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We begin with brand new reporting on just how much damage U.S. strikes did or did not do to Iran's nuclear program. CNN has learned that a preliminary assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency now suggesting that it may be far less than the president and others said that it was immediately after the attack. That's according to seven people briefed on the early assessment, with two of them saying that Iran stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed or not obliterated as the president previously said.

One said that the enriched uranium was moved out of the sites prior to the U.S. strikes, and that Iran's nuclear program has only been set back by not years, but possibly, maybe a few months tops.

An Israeli assessment finding less damage at the Fordow facility than expected. They say U.S. and Israeli strikes have been set back, or at least have set back the nuclear program by two years.

President Trump claiming that CNN and the New York Times are now trying to demean the successful military strikes, which he says completely destroyed the Iranian nuclear sites. And that echoes what he and his administration have been saying all week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Iran's nuclear ambitions have been obliterated.

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have destroyed the Iranian nuclear program.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We are confident, yes, that Iran's nuclear sites were completely and totally obliterated.

TRUMP: Iran will never rebuild its nuclear. From there, absolutely not. That place is under rock. That place is demolished.

Couldn't have destroyed it more. Everyone hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And meanwhile, this fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel appears to be holding. CNN Salma Abdelaziz joining us live from London as she continues to track the very latest. Some of this early damage assessment, it is significant.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's absolutely, extremely significant. But let's begin with just the eyes over the skies of Iran in Israel this morning as we watch this fragile ceasefire continue to appear to take hold. That will be, of course, after both countries traded accusations that they had violated the truce in the hours after the ceasefire went into effect, we saw President Trump stepping out into writing, both nations essentially using an expletive to describe the ongoing conflict, emphasizing on social media that both countries need to hold to that ceasefire.

For President Trump, Polo, this is a done deal. He has repeated time and time again that the U.S. military has carried out the objectives that he set, which he says was, of course, to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities. Prime Minister Netanyahu in an address to his country also, of course, touted this as a victory. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We have toured Iran's nuclear project. If anyone in Iran attempts to revive this project, we will act with the same determination, with the same strength to cut off any such attempt. I say again, Iran will not have nuclear weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: But as you mentioned, of course, Polo, despite those that touting of victory, intelligence assessments from both the United States and Israel are limiting, playing down the actual impact of these strikes. A U.S. intelligence assessment, again, this is coming from multiple sources, this is an assessment from a wing of the Pentagon said that the damage to these sites was much less than expected, that much of the damage was actually done above ground.

You'll remember, of course, that the United States stepped in to use bunker busting bombs that were supposed to destroy nuclear components hidden deep underground. These assessments appear to say that did not occur, and that this only pushed the nuclear program in Iran back by months.

Now, an Israeli assessment also says that the damage, especially to Fordow, was less than expected, saying that the program has only been pushed back by two years.

But here's the thing, it is very early, of course, for an assessment to be made, especially without any on the ground mediators or any on the ground experts to be able to verify these assessments.

And so, that is the next step, Polo, how does the United States. How does Israel? How does the international community verify where Iran's nuclear program is? You would expect that that would require some level of diplomacy, particularly with the IAEA, which has said that it is too early for an assessment.

[02:05:11]

So, right now, you're looking at a President Trump who is insistent, and his administration is pushing back against any assessment that seems to again downplay the impact of these strikes.

But you're going to have to look at the long term here. How do you assess that? How do you maintain that? And how, of course, does the monitoring begin in Iran, if there is no diplomatic pressure to allow independent observers like the IAEA on the ground, Polo?

SANDOVAL: An assessment that, while it's not final, it is certainly telling as you point out. Salma Abdelaziz live in London. Thank you so much.

Let's get some analysis now from Glendale, California, specifically from retired U.S. Army Major General Mark MacCarley. It is always a pleasure to see you, sir.

MAJ. GEN. MARK MACCARLEY, ATTORNEY AND CONSULTANT, MACCARLEY AND ROSEN: My pleasure, sir.

SANDOVAL: So, certainly without and fully appreciating still just the remarkable availability of these pilots to fly in and out of Iranian airspace undetected and safely. Putting that aside for just a moment, I'm wondering if we could just talk about this, how we should -- how should success of this weekend's U.S. operation be gaged? The president has insisted that Iran's nuclear facilities that were obliterated using his word.

But on the other hand, I also heard from top House Republican Michael McCaul that said that said that he was briefed and that from the very start, the goal was never to destroy the facilities, but merely to set back their nuclear efforts.

So, General, what should have been the U.S.'s military realistic expectation from the start, you think?

MACCARLEY: I'm going to echo, firstly, your commendation of our men and women of the United States Air Force and the United States Navy, who, with extraordinary technical competence and bravery executed what was from the standpoint of a specific mission that was to bomb three Iranian nuclear sites. Success in that -- those sites showed damage from the weapon systems, the bunker bombs that were used.

But we have to go full circle. The real question is, was the stated objective obtained? And that's the objective that the administration has touted, and that being, yes, we obliterated Iranian capabilities, nuclear capabilities for the next generation or so. And so that countries in that vicinity of Iran, especially Israel will be free from the threats from the Iranian guard.

But in order really to try to understand this, we have to look into the tools that are used by the military, our Air Force, for instance, our Navy, both of which launched Tomahawk missiles for the Navy and, of course, the bunker bomb by the Air Force through the B-2s, and that's called battle damage assessment. And that term has been thrown around for the last couple of days, you've had a couple of interpretations.

But I'm going to go into a quickly, a little bit of detail concerning battle damage assessment.

Firstly, battle damage assessment sounds brand new, something that came out of some recent military literature. No, we've had battle damage assessment since the times that the medieval warriors, even earlier than that, chucked flaming balls of tar coated rocks from one position on the field of battle to another. And that determination of the extent of the damage could not be carefully ascertained.

But battle damage really came into its own in the Second World War, and let's just move up very quickly to this particular conflict. There are only a few tools that are used.

And first and foremost, right now is the satellite imagery. We have the commercial imagery, which a lot of us, CNN, of course, has access to. And then there's that imagery that comes from the higher definition satellite systems that the Air Force has placed into orbit for the purpose, quite frankly, of doing exactly what we would ask it to, and that is to get as much pinpoint definition of the extent of activity on the ground. And I made that broad, activity on the ground, I'm not just saying battle damage.

And then the tools include sensors determination of radiation, sensors to the effect of whether there was trembling as a result of the impact of the bombs in that particular area. And then these mathematical formulas that are used in which you calculate the size of the weapon, the location, the drop site.

[02:10:09]

But at the end of the day, the only way that anybody can have a high degree of confirmation that that type of bombardment really worked and eliminated the Iranian threat is what we call human intelligence, and quite simply, that means that somebody has to either a Mossad agent that's embedded in Iran or somebody that has close proximity to the Iranian leadership that's willing to talk and communicate to the extent do we have that level of definition and destruction. And I don't think we've seen that yet.

So, we're operating in limbo. But to summarize, we have to give credit to the administration for one thing, and that is that a couple of hours after the launching of the bunker buster bombs, we moved in. Trump having called Netanyahu and Al Thani from Qatar contacting Iranians, we have this ceasefire. And in the context of armed conflict, a ceasefire is a positive.

SANDOVAL: In the last few seconds I have with you, I'm wondering if you could leave us with a final thought here. Do you think that there's a military solution to stop a country from building a nuclear weapon, or is it eventually going to be all about diplomacy?

MACCARLEY: Yes, that's -- I expected a harder question. I think the east -- the only answer is diplomacy under the circumstances.

Real quickly, we have an opportunity that was created by reason of this attack. So, attack might have been helpful, but now, for instance, the trust in the Trump administration must take advantage of this period. It's very brief in which the Trump administration really employing such tomes as the art of the deal has to put on the table, something that in synthesizes the Iranians to come to the table.

We haven't even talked about sanctions, but that might be a realistic negotiating tool put by the administration in front of the Iranians. And say, this time, we're going to leave you alone, but you got to give us the inspectors. We have to have access. You're not going to build it, but no more sanctions.

Pretty radical concept right now, but diplomacy, as you suggested, is really the only way out of this.

SANDOVAL: As we wait to see what Iran's next move will be, retired U.S. Army Major General Mark MacCarley, always a pleasure hearing from you, sir. Thank you for your insight, and certainly for your service.

All right. So, Donald Trump currently in the Netherlands for a brief stop at the NATO summit. As he left Washington on Tuesday, he shared private messages from NATO Secretary General that he sent to praising President Trump's decision to actually launched U.S. strikes on Iran. And what the message is the -- he actually writes congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran that was truly extraordinary, adding that it makes us all safer.

Now, the Secretary -- the Secretary General also says that all member nations will commit to spending at least five percent of their GDP on defense, and that's up from two percent which you recall, is a long time demand from President Trump.

The NATO chief commending him again, saying that the spending commitment, "Will be your win."

Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, we will show you the aftermath of the last strikes that happened before the Israel Iran ceasefire took effect. Stay with us.

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[02:17:32]

SANDOVAL: Back to our breaking news coverage now. A ceasefire between Iran and Israel that felt so tenuous at this time yesterday, appearing to actually be holding today. And the hours before it took effect, the two sides kept up with the attacks, inflicting even more tragedy, more bloodshed during this conflict.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond filed this report from the site of a deadly Iranian missile strike in Beer Sheva, Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The final countdown to a ceasefire is often the deadliest. It certainly was in Israel's southern city of Beer Sheva, as the last volleys of Iranian missiles came raining down.

What's left is this picture of utterly avoidable tragedy, the final Israeli victims of this 12-day conflict, a graduating high school senior, her 18-year-old boyfriend and his mother, one more victim has yet to be identified.

An even deadlier picture emerges in Iran, where a punishing wave of Israeli air strikes killed 107 people in the conflicts' final hours, according to the Iranian health ministry.

DIAMOND: In the last hour before that ceasefire went into effect, an Iranian ballistic missile slammed directly into this residential building, killing four people.

And now, as you can see, the clean-up crews behind me are clearing the debris. The hope is that it will be the last time they'll have to do that.

DIAMOND (voice-over): As Israel rushes back to normalcy amid a tenuous calm, the residents and rescue crews here are still taking stock of this final deadly strike.

YONATAN HONIG, RESCUE WORKER: You see the big block?

DIAMOND (voice-over): This rescue worker arrived minutes after the missile struck. He is clearly still processing what he saw.

DIAMOND: What did you find in the shelter on the top floor?

HONIG: I have found a woman that were not recognizable. We could not tell if it's a woman or a man or anything.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Paramedics said at least three of the victims were on the top floor, which took a direct hit, where no bomb shelter could save them.

But in the neighboring building:

DIAMOND: Do you think about what if you didn't have that safety room?

DIAMOND (voice-over): Zaur and his wife only just moved to Israel nine months ago. Their new apartment now wrecked. Come back to gather what they can and start over.

ZAUR MIKHAYLOV, BEER SHEVA, ISRAEL RESIDENT: A few minutes later, we walked out and we just followed this destruction.

[02:20:04]

DIAMOND: What went through your mind in that moment?

MIKHAYLOV: God, not him, not for the safety room. We --None -- my wife, kids, none of us will be here today. That's the reality of our life here, but we're going to rebuild.

DIAMOND (voice-over): But if it were up to him, that rebuilding would not come without first avenging his neighbor's deaths.

MIKHAYLOV: I want to see a response, because we just lost four innocent lives over there, behind that building for no reason, children and elder family.

So, I want to see response from our prime minister.

DIAMOND (voice-over): But after so much death and destruction in Israel and Iran, quiet prevails, at least for now. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Beer Sheva, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Iranian state media says authorities have arrested 700 people accused of working as so called mercenaries for Israel. The report from forest news agency says that those individuals were identified and arrested based on public reports and also on intelligence operations.

Now, the Iranian government has cracked down on other sharing online articles in support of Israel for putting the, "Psychological security of society at risk."

Now, other Iranian news outlets they have also reported on alleged executions of people believed to be Israeli agents since the latest conflict began. CNN has reached out to Israel, to their government to confirm those reports.

And then there's a question, what could the Iranian regime be plotting next? Let's go ahead and bring in Hamidreza Azizi, visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. He joins us live from Berlin. It's good to have you.

HAMIDREZA AZIZI, VISITING FELLOW, GERMAN INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL AND SECURITY AFFAIRS: Thank you. SANDOVAL: So, after this weekend's big failure of Iran's air defenses,

what are military leaders in that country doing right now, specifically, if the preliminary assessment that we've all heard about is accurate, and there possibly still is some of that material that requires defending.

AZIZI: Actually, one of the striking phenomenon of the recent war was the very quick loss of the airspace by the Iranian efforts to Israel, and that was the main reason why we saw, you know, incidents like kind of bombardment of Iranian missile silos and so on.

And that affected not only Iran's kind of defense capabilities but also, to some extent, the extent and number of missiles that they could fire.

And on the other hand, of course, the only thing that helped the Iranian government to save the enriched material was the so called passive defense that they were working on, like building these facilities deep underground.

So, it's not clear at the moment what the exact strategy is, especially because although we have -- we do have a ceasefire, there is no clear term. Still, there is no clarity on the exact mechanisms for enforcement, and that means that the Israeli operations, either overt or covert may continue.

So, at the moment, they are trying to basically fill the gaps that they see from within, because there was a lot of intelligence infiltration at the same time as well. But there is no quick fix to the air defense, as we saw, as the main vulnerability.

SANDOVAL: So, hypothetically, if Iran does look to bolster those defenses and maybe even bolster that air force that they may or may not have here. Do they lean on countries like Russia or China to do so?

AZIZI: Actually, one of the very interesting debates that I have seen over the past few days has been on which partner, if any, we can count on to rebuild the Air Force. Because, you know, it is actually very important to note that the whole Iranian military strategy was based on the concept of so called forward defense.

So, it was based, on one hand, on the proxies to extend the geography of the battle far from the Iranian borders, and at the same time working on abilities like missiles to back up this.

But it's obviously failed after the fall of the proxies. And now the kind of -- you know, the fact that without air defenses of war, it's not working the way that it was intended.

[02:25:04]

So, now, the discussion is that Russia couldn't actually provide what we hoped for, for technical reasons or also for political reasons. S- 300 air defense systems didn't work for us the way that they're supposed to. And also, they didn't provide Su-35, so what Iranian researchers are discussing now is to look at China.

It's not clear if they would have the financial capability to get this from China or China would provide this. But especially the recent war in a couple months ago, between -- or conflict, as to say, between Pakistan and India, where the Pakistani fighter just provided by China had a kind of striking and impressive performance, has impacted the way that I think the Iranian military strategists are now looking at things on that front.

SANDOVAL: (INAUDIBLE) we also heard from a former advisor to the Pentagon yesterday as we were trying to see what Iran could potentially be planning next. She said that in addition to rebuilding their deterrence systems, as you point out, it was also likely that they were attempting to close their ranks and recover from what was obviously a massive intelligence failure that left him extremely vulnerable to the United States and certainly to the Israelis.

If you agree, what could that look like for an oppressive regime? I'm sure you heard that reporting just now from Iranian state media of that regime essentially cracking down on what they described as mercenaries for Israel.

AZIZI: Yes, absolutely. I mean, this is a short time measure, which is not surprising for an authoritarian regime, of course, because the fear has always been that, you know, the Islamic Republic fights actually get entangled in two wars at the same time, one with a foreign enemy and another one with kind of a movement, or even a popular uprising within the country.

So, that's not surprising, but that's not going to solve the deeper problem that the Islamic Republic has. We know that, of course, you know a lot of things, like the wave of migration from Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, or, kind of, you know, this kind of ideological focus on cracking down on issues like women's hijab and so on, contributed a lot to this intelligence distraction.

But at the same time, it's clear that, you know, things like the assassination, I mean, clear whereabouts of high ranking, IRGC commanders, military commanders that couldn't have happened without infiltration within the system.

So, in a kind of very corrupt, I would say, and also ideologically oriented system, it is not clear if they will -- if they do have the willingness, and also, if the potential internal infighting will allow for kind of effective, you know, a measure to counteract these security infiltration.

So, societal aspect is one thing, but the infiltration, intelligence infiltration within the elite is another thing that I think is going to be more difficult to counter.

SANDOVAL: I'm so glad you highlight the oppressive nature of this regime, because that could present even further challenges for the United States and its allies to get some cooperation from the ground. Especially this government is clamping down and, according to multiple reports, even carrying out executions. Hamidreza Azizi, we really appreciate your insight. Thank you so much

for your time.

AZIZI: Thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: Of course. Well, still ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, Donald Trump is on the verge of securing a major spending commitment from allies at the NATO Summit in the Netherlands. We're going to take you live there next to The Hague.

Plus, Ukraine asking its Western allies not to forget about Russia and its deadly attacks on civilians, the latest on the war in Ukraine just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:32:18]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage, you are watching "CNN Newsroom." I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. An early U.S. intelligence assessment is now casting doubt on President Trump's claims that the United States has destroyed three of Iran's top nuclear facilities. Now, the assessment was produced by the Pentagon's Intelligence Agency and was recently shared with U.S. lawmakers.

Sources tell CNN the analysis suggesting that the U.S. strikes did not destroy the core components of Iran's nuclear facilities. Instead, they may have set Iran's enrichment capabilities back by not years, but mere months. The sources also saying that the impact of the Isfahan, Fordow, and Natanz sites was largely restricted to above- ground structures. More now from CNN's Chief National Affairs Correspondent, Jeff Zeleny.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: As President Trump went to the NATO Summit with that ceasefire deal in hand, the White House spent the day on Tuesday pushing back aggressively on reports of a preliminary investigation showing that the military strikes on Iran may not have caused the type of damage that President Trump has repeatedly said they did. Now, the president has used the word 'obliterated', that the strikes obliterated the Iranian nuclear program. There has been no evidence of that.

And the president has kept up his defensive language, saying it had been destroyed. But again, the Pentagon has not confirmed that. But now, there is an early assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency, first reported by CNN, that shows the Iranian nuclear program perhaps was just a setback by a few months, certainly not obliterated. Now the question here is, what type of political fallout would there be for the White House? Again, we should point out, this is a very early assessment. Intelligence is continuing to come in about the future of the Iranian nuclear program and the extent of the damage.

But there is no doubt, these reports certainly suggest that the president may have overstated the damage from the, military strikes over the weekend. But there is no sign that this is going to impact, at least in the short term, this fragile ceasefire deal that did appear to be holding throughout the day on Tuesday. The president, of course, spending the day at the NATO Summit talking with world leaders. This is something he believes is a great achievement.

But even as the classified briefings on Capitol Hill scheduled to be held on Tuesday were put off until later in the week, on Thursday for the Senate, on Friday for the House, unclear why that change was made. So the White House very defensive about the reports about the Iranian nuclear program. The question is when additional reports come in, will there be any political fallout for the president?

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.

[02:35:00]

SANDOVAL: And on the topic of NATO, Ukraine is asking its allies at the NATO Summit to remember the massive threat posed by Russia. Russian attacks killed dozens of Ukrainian civilians on Monday and Tuesday alone, two of the war's deadliest days in months. 15 people were killed and more than 170 others wounded by a Russian ballistic missile strike on the city of Dnipro on Tuesday.

And Dnipro's mayor says that the strike caused, as he described it, an unprecedented amount of destruction. It damaged schools, medical facilities, also residential sites. And just moments ago, NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte announcing that the United States is "totally committed to the Article 5 Mutual Defense Clause. And this is coming after President Trump cast doubt on it when he was speaking to reporters on Tuesday.

Here's some of what Rutte just had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK RUTTE, SECRETARY GENERAL, NATO: For me, there is absolute clarity that the United States is totally committed to NATO, totally committed to Article 5. And yes, there is also an expectation which will be fulfilled today, that the Canadians and Europeans will speed up their spending, making sure that we not only are able to defend ourselves against the Russians and others, but also to equalize. And this is fair that we spend the same as the U.S. is spending.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: I want to bring in now Jim Townsend, an Adjunct Senior Fellow in the Trans Atlantic Security Program at the Center for the New American Security. He joins us live from The Hague. It's good to have you.

JIM TOWNSEND, ADJUNCT SENIOR FELLOW, CNAS TRANSATLANTIC SECURITY PROGRAM: It's great to be here. Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Of course. So when it comes to U.S. support for Ukraine, wondering, in your opinion, is there a clear indication of where President Trump actually stands when it comes to the conversations that we're expect -- are expected to take place? TOWNSEND: Well, the fact that they're going to have a bilateral, on the side of the Summit is important. That wasn't a clear earlier on, and now in fact, they're going to have a little bit of a discussion there. So, there is a commitment there in terms of communicating and trying to understand better one another. But in terms of assistance, I think the president is standing by what he's been saying in the past, which is he's not, at least at this point, ready to turn on the spigot the way it was done in the previous administration.

He's still trying to work out some kind of arrangement on a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia. And so, until he gets some feeling on where those two parties are, he's not going to turn on that assistance, but at least he's willing to talk.

SANDOVAL: So we heard from President Trump, essentially some redefining, what we heard from him here a short while ago. And then just a short while ago, we hear from Secretary General Rutte, who should some of NATO allies believe when it comes to where the United States stands when it comes to Article 5?

Hello? We may have lost Jim Townsend. Our thanks to him though for that analysis at the beginning. Again, still a very active NATO Summit happening right now with President Trump there, expected to speak with NATO allies here very soon, and also speak publicly alongside the head of NATO. We'll take you back to more of that coverage in just a few moments.

In the meantime, President Trump calling it total obliteration, but early U.S. Intelligence assessments of the strikes in Iran telling a different story. That's coming up next here on "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:41:50]

SANDOVAL: The ceasefire between Israel and Iran appearing to be holding. But, we also have new reporting on just how much damage the U.S. did in its strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities this past weekend. Some early assessments from U.S. Intelligence now seem to be at odds with President Trump's claims of total obliteration, as he put it. CNN's Natasha Bertrand explains how significant this analysis is.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. military strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities over the weekend did not destroy the core components of Iran's nuclear program and likely only set the program back by a few months. That's according to a very early intelligence assessment that was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, and it was based off of a battle damage assessment conducted by U.S. Central Command.

Now, it's important to note that this is only one intelligence agency's assessment, out of about 17 in the broader intelligence community. And it is not clear at this point just how the other Intel agencies, including the CIA, have assessed the impact of the U.S. military strikes. But it is worth noting, that according to this DIA assessment, which was described to CNN by over half a dozen sources familiar with it, the core underground parts of these three key nuclear facilities were not damaged enough to significantly set back Iran's nuclear program.

And in fact, the enriched uranium that Iran had been storing at these sites was moved, according to several sources familiar with the intelligence on the matter. In addition, it appears that the centrifuges at several of these facilities remain largely intact. And so, this would appear to contradict President Trump's repeated assertions that the nuclear sites were "obliterated" by the U.S. military strikes last weekend.

Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, also gave a very early assessment over the weekend of the success of the U.S. strikes, saying that they had essentially obliterated Iran's nuclear ambitions writ large. Now, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was the top general in the U.S. government and President Trump's top military adviser, he was much more measured early on. And he said that it's still too early to say for sure how much these U.S. military strikes actually degraded Iran's nuclear program.

And so now, we are starting to see the very first assessment come out of the Intel community about just how much this program may have set back Iran's nuclear program. And it appears according to this early assessment that it's only by a few months. In fact, the Israeli assessment coming out of these strikes is similar. They assessed that the impact was less than they had hoped. And so, it remains to be seen moving forward what the other Intel agencies are going to be saying because there's still a lot of intelligence to be collected about these strikes. And of course, much more to be assessed about the actual damage.

But for now, the White House pushing back very strongly against this specific DIA report saying that they consider it to be flat-out wrong.

Natasha Bertrand, CNN, Washington.

[02:45:00]

SANDOVAL: A Nigerian non-profit is making the world of technology and robotics more inclusive for an often marginalized community, one that typically does not have access to science and tech education. You see by equipping deaf students with these skills, the Deaf Technology Foundation is aiming to combat stereotypes and at the same time, offer a chance at some future job opportunities.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WUNI BITRUS, CO-FOUNDER, DEAF TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION: The tech industry in Nigeria is booming. In tech education, before we came in, the entire Africa, there was nothing like that for the deaf community. Acquiring tech skills is either (ph) skills they try to learn on their own, but there wasn't any significant participation of deaf individuals in tech.

MARANATHA HA'A, DEAF STEM EDUCATOR AND VOLUNTEER: We teach them chemistry, biology, and help them use the concepts that we teach that they understand in this subject to be able to apply it into the skills that they're learning in robotics. We don't really have signs from science that could be used to teach them while having the class, they were able to come up, hydrogen, the symbol for hydrogen is H. Since chemistry goes this way, we use H like this for hydrogen. The symbol for helium is He, so we use He for helium, lithium, beryllium -- Be for beryllium, boron, and until we got to the first 20 elements.

BITRUS: Some of our students, they were forbidden from entering the computer labs because the institution thinks that they won't do well. We had to take it upon ourself to change this narrative and to confront these stereotypes. In 2019, we went for the (inaudible) National Robotics Competition in Abuja. (Inaudible) the event, the organizers lent us their robots to practice all night and compete with highly resourced schools, and they did well. They beat about three schools in the first round.

KANENG ROSE KWANDI, LECTURER, DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL EDUCATION & REHABILITATION SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF JOS: We're in a world where technology is the leading role in education, employment and everything. I believe this is the foundation deaf children, youths and adults need in today's world.

BITRUS: Mercy Grimah joined us in 2017. She was 50 years. This is the Deaf Technology Foundation website that Mercy has designed.

MERCY GRIMAH, INSTRUCTOR, DEAF TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION (through interpreter): When I was a student in JS2 (ph), I didn't know anything about computers because our teachers never allowed us to use a computer. Robotics --Robotics, in particular Arduino and web development, those are what I enjoy doing. They don't allow deaf people to study any other course apart from special education. This is the closest to me realizing my dreams.

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[02:52:21]

SANDOVAL: Here in New York City, both sides have rested their cases in the Sean Comb sex trafficking trial. The prosecution took more than six weeks to present their case, including calling 34 witnesses. The defense on the other hand, taking a different approach as CNN's Kara Scannell reports.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lawyers for Sean Combs rested their case without calling any witnesses. The whole defense took about 30 minutes. They read text messages into the record before the jury, including a message that Sean Combs sent to his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, when he asked her what she wanted to do and Ventura said, be your little freak. That is the defense's theory in this entire case. They say that any of the sex that Cassie Ventura and Combs' other girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym 'Jane' engaged in with male escorts was consensual.

They were underscoring that point throughout the cross-examination of the government's witnesses and the break before the jury was there, Sean Combs was asked by the judge how he was feeling. Combs stood up, told the judge he was feeling great, and said he wanted to thank him. He thought the judge was doing an excellent job. He also said that he had spoken with his lawyers thoroughly and he made the decision solely on his own to not take the stand in defense of his own case.

Now his -- this statement and defense's resting came after the prosecution had rested their case. They had called 34 witnesses over the past six, seven weeks of testimony. The jury heard from Ventura, they heard from Jane. They heard from two male escorts who said they received cash and had sex with Ventura. And the jury also heard from several of Combs personal assistants who testified about setting up hotel rooms where the alleged sex trafficking took place and also cleaning them up afterwards.

Now, this all as the prosecution is trying to prove that Combs was engaged in a racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. If found guilty, Combs could face a maximum sentence of life in prison. Closing arguments are expected to begin on Thursday and they're expected to continue into Friday. It is possible the jury could begin deliberations as soon as Friday afternoon.

Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.

SANDOVAL: Now, an update on the mayoral race in America's largest city, New York. Assembly member Zohran Mamdani is on the brink of an absolutely stunning win in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. And this after former Governor Andrew Cuomo conceded the race on Tuesday night. But since Mamdani's first round support so far as you see here falls below 50 percent, the race will formally be decided by rank choice voting, that will be announced starting on July 1st.

[02:55:00]

Mamdani, a 33-year-old Democratic self-described socialist, whose viral videos and proposals appeal to younger progressive voters. In the meantime, Cuomo, his hope may not be lost as he may still appear on the November ballot on a minor party line. He said before he may run, maybe even as an independent. The former governor is still trying to make a comeback less than four years after he resigned amid sexual harassment allegations, which he has denied.

Now to Venice, Italy, this week, billionaire Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos and former news anchor Lauren Sanchez, they are set to get married amid the threat of disruptive protests. Except for the purported $10 million wedding budget, details of the wedding have been highly guarded, very secret, but protestors have displayed anti-Bezos posters and also banners around Venice in several venues that have previously hosted celebrity events in the past.

One organizer is vowing to block the canals and line the streets, as this high-profile wedding may be symbolic of Venice's current problem with overt tourism, some believing that it adds to a dwindling lack of services like schools, hospitals, and even affordable housing for the residents of Venice. Yes, there's still a few left. Axiom Mission 4, it has just taken off for the International Space Station. The crew launching aboard the SpaceX Dragon from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is video from just a short while ago. This is the fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS on a flight that should take about 28 hours. Three space flight novices, they are on board right now for this mission. They will become the first from their respective countries like India, Poland, Hungary, to visit Space Station.

Well, thank you for watching "CNN Newsroom." I'm Polo Sandoval. I have more of your top stories, including more breaking news, after this break. Don't go anywhere.

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