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Sirens Sound Across Israel After Iranian Missiles Detected; Trump, Netanyahu Speak After New Iranian Ballistic Missile Attack on Israel; Interview with Representative Mike Flood (R-NE); Israel Closes Gaza Crossings After Iran's Missile Attack; German Alexander Zverev Wins First Grand Slam Title. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired June 07, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:01:12]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

We have breaking news for you tonight as Israel says it intercepted a wave of missiles fired by Iran and is now promising a powerful response. Iran warning of further attacks if Israel continues its campaign in Lebanon against Iranian proxy group Hezbollah.

Earlier today, Israel launched strikes on Beirut, the first since it agreed to a ceasefire with Lebanon. And tonight, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking on the phone. Trump saying earlier he was not happy about Israel's attack on Beirut, telling Axios he would urge Israel not to retaliate against Iran.

We'll go now to CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who is live in Tel Aviv.

Jeremy, set the scene for us with the latest of what you're seeing there on the ground and help put into context what we've seen transpire in the last 24 hours.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are at a very tense moment right now in the Middle East, Jessica, following at least three waves of ballistic missiles that are on fired towards northern Israel. The first missiles, Iranian missiles that have been fired towards Israel since the ceasefire came into effect in April. And so now we are on the precipice of either a major escalation and a potential return to all-out war or efforts that could be potentially successful to contain the fallout of these latest strikes.

And that is what we understand is happening right now. As we learned in the last 45 minutes or so that President Trump and Israeli prime minister were on the phone, speaking for the first time since these strikes took place and since President Trump told Axios that he would tell the Israeli prime minister not to retaliate against Iran. But that seems to go against what Israel has been planning this evening, following the Israeli prime minister sitting down with top security officials. We learned from two sources that Israel was planning to retaliate and

that that response would be, quote, "powerful," according to those sources. What we do know is that at least 11 Iranian ballistic missiles were fired towards northern Israel. We saw some of the images of those missiles coming in, interceptors going up, lighting up the night sky. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is claiming to have struck Israel's Ramat David Air Base in northern Israel. The Israeli military would neither confirm nor deny that, but they did acknowledge that their previous claim that all missiles had been intercepted was no longer something that they could stand by.

And so we're at a situation now where, again, Iran carried out these strikes after threatening to do so because if Israel struck the Lebanese capital of Beirut, Israel did so today. Later tonight, we saw Iranian missiles coming in here to Israel. Now the question is, will Israel retaliate despite what it seems -- what seems to be President Trump's urging for Israel not to do so -- Jessica.

DEAN: Yes, a very key question. We will see what transpires.

Jeremy Diamond with the very latest from Tel Aviv. Thank you for that.

Let's bring in CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid. He's also a global affairs correspondent for Axios.

Barak, you spoke with President Trump in the last couple of hours. What is the very latest you're hearing?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, Jessica. I spoke to President Trump shortly before he called the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The call between Trump and Netanyahu was relatively short in comparison to previous calls. I think it was around 15 or 20 minutes. And before the call, Trump told me he's going to ask Netanyahu to stand down, not to retaliate to the Iranian missile attack, mostly because there were no casualties and most of those missiles were intercepted.

[18:05:05]

And President Trump also told me that he thinks there's going to be a deal with or there could be a deal with Iran within days. And he doesn't want this tit-for-tat between Iran and Israel to blow up the deal he's working on. And I think, as far as I hear from sources briefed on the call, is that that was more or less the same message in the call. I still don't have a full picture of what took place in the call, but the only thing I heard was that, what Trump told me before the call was more or less what he told Netanyahu during the call.

DEAN: And it is a very interesting dynamic for Benjamin Netanyahu domestically right now, Barak, because obviously they have -- Israel has vowed this strong response. This very key ally, he needs Donald Trump and obviously wants to keep that relationship intact, urging him not to retaliate. And I thought this was interesting. I saw a post on X from the former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, who could mount some opposition to Netanyahu. But he wrote, "This is a moment of truth. Is Israel a sovereign state

capable of defending itself? A weak or symbolic response would signal to our enemies that the blood of our citizens has been spilled with impunity. Therefore, Israel must act with strength and effectiveness."

So help people understand kind of the situation domestically that Netanyahu faces right now.

RAVID: So I think Netanyahu's situation is that he has an election in three to four months. There's is no specific date set for it, but it should be either, somewhere between mid-September and mid-October. And I think that Netanyahu is -- because of his very close relationship with Donald Trump, they've been, you know, during this war, they went together to this war. They were tied at the hip during this war.

And right now, Netanyahu is in the situation that he's totally dependent on Donald Trump, and Netanyahu's political opponents are saying that's exactly the problem that under Netanyahu, Israel lost its capability to act independently as a sovereign nation. And even though previous U.S. presidents have limited Israel's freedom of operation both in Iran and in Lebanon and in Gaza, I think that now it's this sort of uncharted territory where Israel just suffered quite significant missile attack from Iran.

And now the U.S. president is telling the Israeli prime minister don't do anything. There was a sort of similar incident during the Biden administration in April 2024 where when Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at Israel, this attack was defeated by the U.S. and Israel. And then after it was defeated, President Biden went on the phone with Netanyahu and told him, take the win, don't retaliate.

And eventually they got some sort of understanding that Israel will conduct some sort of a symbolic strike against Iran. And in retrospect, Netanyahu told people that he thought that was a mistake, that he should have responded much more forcefully at that point in time in April 2024. And I think that right now we're in a whole different situation because this is now during an ongoing war with Iran.

And Netanyahu is under much more, much stronger political pressure domestically to retaliate. And I think Netanyahu finds himself in a place he's never been.

DEAN: It will be quite, quite telling to see where we go from here.

Barak Ravid, as always, great to have you. Thank you for your excellent reporting. We really appreciate it.

RAVID: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: And we are joined now by CNN national security analyst and director of the counterterrorism program at the Atlantic Council, Alex Plitsas.

Alex, thank you so much for being here with us. OK, so let's keep building off of what we were just talking about with Barak Ravid there. And he kind of set that what's going on in Israel and what kind of situation this puts Benjamin Netanyahu in. Obviously, we know what President Trump has indicated he wants, which is he wants a good deal, in his view, with Iran, and he wants to bring this to a close. So where does all of this put us at this moment?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So right now, it all comes down to a meeting that Prime Minister Netanyahu is currently having with senior Israeli military leadership, where I believe they're going to decide what the final outcome will be after his call with President Trump.

[18:10:00]

It's very consistent with President Trump's previous thinking. Even if we go back, you know, years previous administration, when he, you know, when he killed Qasem Soleimani, you know, he ordered that strike, the Iranians retaliated with ballistic missiles at bases in Iraq. And in response to that, because there were no U.S. casualties, we did find out afterwards there were traumatic brain injuries, he decided since there were no physical casualties, that he could see at that time that he was not going to retaliate.

The same thing happened when Iran retaliated over the war of the summer. After Operation Midnight Hammer, when the U.S. struck the nuclear facilities, Iran launched ballistic missiles at the U.S. board headquarters for U.S. Central Command outside of Doha, Qatar. And because again, there were no casualties at that point, the president sort of let it go and was done. But it does run counter to the current rules of engagement that U.S. Central Command is operating under.

So for the last few weeks, we've seen a number of incidents where Iran has opened fire on either commercial ships or U.S. Navy vessels with drones or missiles, or some sort of projectile. And the U.S. has retaliated and responded with strikes against targets inside of Iran, one, to degrade their capabilities, but two, to send a clear message that we're not going to stand for that. So it puts, you know, Prime Minister Netanyahu in a very difficult position.

The president has made it clear he believes a deal is close. You know, sources in the region are saying that both sides have sort of dug in their heels was the last I got from the mediators, largely over sequencing Iran wanting more money up front as opposed to being willing to give any gifts before that happens. So it's a difficult task for Prime Minister Netanyahu. So he is, as Barak rightly characterized, in a very difficult position right now.

DEAN: How much was Iran or was Iran counting on this to play out this way, that Trump would step in, try to tamp things down, put Netanyahu in this difficult position?

PLITSAS: So I think for the Iranians, their ultimate goal, again, is survival for the Islamic Republic, for the regime. So they want to survive, and they want to deal on the best terms possible from their perspective. And they believe they've got the upper hand right now in terms they just need to wait him out. We had a famous phrase in Afghanistan that the Taliban would use in terms of you have the watches, but we have the time, meaning we have the advanced weapons, but they just need to wait us out.

And the Iranians kind of feel the same way that they just need to wait the president out. You know, the midterms are coming up. You know, this is something that if they just wait and play the long game here, that this will end in their favor. And so they're letting this play out. And if they can get a good deal in the interim on terms that they find favorable, they'll take it. But until that happens, they're still being stubborn. And that's essentially the message I got from the mediators.

DEAN: It's interesting to hear you categorize that that way, because obviously the administration, the president, would certainly never admit or say that he believes the Iranians have the upper hand at this point. But is it your sense that they at least have an understanding that the Iranians are playing for time here, that they are -- that they do think that they can win, in a way, by doing that?

PLITSAS: Yes. So, I mean, the Iranians believe that they're winning, you know, and that they have the upper hand. Whether or not that's true is yet to be seen. But certainly from their perspective, I don't think the administration would agree with that by any means, to your point that you were making.

DEAN: Right.

PLITSAS: And I think the president's patience is wearing out. You know, he's trying to give this time. I think, you know, we haven't seen U.S. military strikes because he still has faith in this process that it will play out and result in a deal that's at least favorable to the United States, which I think we can characterize as, you know, giving up the enriched, highly enriched uranium, dealing with the long-term right to enrich uranium.

Again, you know, the facilities were destroyed largely over the summer. And then in return, the Iranians want financial relief. And right now, it seems to be the sequencing of events that's the problem, where the Iranians have at least indicated they're willing to give up the highly enriched uranium, who they give it to, how much of it at once is still kind of being worked out in detail, enrichment and how long there would be abandoned places sort of still being worked out.

But up front, out of $24 billion in frozen Iranian funds, they want 12 or want half of that up front, which they're calling a good faith measure because they say they don't trust the United States. But you can imagine the president's perspective if he gives up $12 billion to the Iranians and gets nothing in return but the straits opening, it effectively looks like a payment to return the Strait of Hormuz to a pre-war condition where the Iranians are not really, you know, preventing ships from leaving by holding it at risk with drones and missiles.

So he wants a stronger commitment for any economic relief to be directly tied to that nuclear program. And so there's the give and take on the back and forth. And so, again, if the Iranians think if they can get the economic relief they need, and they can get decent terms, they'll take it. It's a clear signal that they have a liquidity problem. They need cash because they know that once sanctions are lifted, if that happens, it's going to take a while for their banking system to reintegrate globally and for them to get that relief. So that's essentially where we are at the moment.

DEAN: Yes, that money is an important piece of all of this and something to certainly keep an eye on, as you note.

Alex Plitsas, thank you so much. Good to see you.

PLITSAS: You too. Thank you.

DEAN: And stay with CNN, much more of our breaking news coverage of Iran firing those missiles at Israel and what could potentially be coming next. Also, Graham Platner is on the campaign trail amid a number of allegations. We'll be at his rally in Maine as he gears up for Tuesday's high stakes primaries there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:19:35]

DEAN: Back to our breaking news now as President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking on the phone tonight after Iran launched a wave of missiles at Israel. Iran has promised further strikes if Israel continues its military campaign in Lebanon against its proxy Hezbollah. Trump telling Axios he would urge Netanyahu not to retaliate against Iran.

We are joined now by Republican Representative Mike Flood of Nebraska.

[18:20:00]

Congressman, thank you so much for your time tonight as we have this breaking news. It's nice to have you with us. I first just want to get your reaction to the breaking news of these new attacks.

REP. MIKE FLOOD (R-NE): Well, obviously, this shows you where Iran is right now. They've always been a sponsor of terror, and they are continuing it here against our allies in Israel. That's why we have to finish this job. I mean, we can't let this go on and on and on. It's been going on for the better part of 50 years, and we find ourselves in the same situation.

Listen, these Iranians want to draw everything out. We understand that. They're going to continue to hold this over the world's head as long as they possibly can. And that's why I appreciate the president, J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, working to end this without cutting and running. Like it's time for this to end. And now they're sending, you know, more missiles against our allies. Listen, if they had a nuclear bomb, they would use it against us.

DEAN: The president has appeared to think a deal with Iran is still close. He's trying to salvage that as we speak, as we noted, speaking with the Israeli prime minister just a short time ago. But an Iranian official told CNN that these negotiations are deadlocked over these $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets. And I'm curious if you would support a deal that includes Iran getting access to that money.

FLOOD: Well, I'm not in the room to understand what the leverage points are. The fact that Iran is doing this sends the signal that they're trying to get some of their leverage back, and they're making these decisions. So it's hard for me to say this should happen or that should happen. I was really and have been really critical of the way the Obama administration dealt with this. Listen, they sent boatloads of money to Iran. Next thing you know, we've got their terrorist funded cells in Gaza, Hamas, attacking and butchering Israelis. And we saw what happened with Hezbollah on the northern Israel border, the Houthis.

Listen, all of that funded by Iran. And so anytime you talk about giving them any kind of money, you've got to understand what they're planning to use it for. Unless we can assure ourselves and our country and our countrymen that that's not going to happen. But I'm not in a position to be able to understand all the different things in play here right now at this moment.

DEAN: But it does sound like giving Iran access to those billions of dollars is concerning to you, that you don't like the idea of Iran getting access to billions of dollars that had previously been frozen.

FLOOD: Well, I don't trust them. I don't trust their regime. I, you know, I don't trust the way that they have even dealt with this. We don't even know sometimes who we're dealing with. But ultimately, I want peace. I want the strait opened. I want gas prices to come down. But I also don't want to cut and run. And I don't want to live under a constant threat of a nuclear or a dirty bomb on our soil from this world sponsor of terrorism.

And so, you know, like, I want everything at the same time. I want our national security protected. I don't want Iran funding Hamas, the Houthis, or Hezbollah. I don't want them to have a nuclear weapon. And I certainly don't want them to have a dirty bomb. Can I have all those things wrapped up in one box? I think it's possible. I think that's what President Trump has said he's trying to do.

I'm not in the room negotiating right now, but he's been pretty clear. We don't want to live this way anymore. And if we don't deal with the Iranians in this way, we're going to do it for another 50 years.

DEAN: The president did an interview with NBC News, and during that interview, a couple of things I want to ask you about. But first of them, he pushed back on the assertion that that he's broken a campaign promise of keeping the U.S. out of any new military conflicts. He said, I didn't guarantee no war. Kristen Welker pushing back and saying that he had said that as he campaigned.

You continue to hold town halls. And you're one of the few Congress people still doing this. As you're talking to your constituents, do you think voters you're talking to agree with the president on that?

FLOOD: Listen, I think there are some that -- you know, what I will say, and that's a very good question. What I've noticed is that older voters, people that have been dealing with a terrorist regime in Iran since 1979, they're kind of done with them. They want this out of here. They want Iran not capable of generating a nuclear bomb. Younger voters, I've noted, less interested in military intervention in Iran, probably because a lot of this is new to them.

You know, I'm under the opinion that TikTok is spreading antisemitic hate every single day. I've seen it with young people. I go into classrooms and I talk to seniors that are graduating. I'm not saying all of them. But there is this anti-Israel messaging that is pervasive among younger people. And I think it's dangerous. And so I really kind of draw a distinction between more older voters and younger voters.

[18:25:01]

I'm not saying they're all the same. Certainly I recognize also that prices are high. And that's in part tied to the strait being closed. So that creates frustration. And I'm the first to say gas prices are too high. We have to bring them down, but we also can't cut and run and continue to fund terrorism by giving Iran a bunch of money so they can continue to prop up the Houthis, the Hezbollah and Hamas.

DEAN: One other thing about that interview I wanted to ask you is that the president abruptly ended it when they started talking about the election. And he asserted, again, without any evidence, a lot of false claims about the election being rigged and stolen. He walked off the set. Where do you come down on the president continuing to say things that aren't true about our electoral process? Is that appropriate for the president of the United States?

FLOOD: Well, first of all, I didn't see the interview. And I'm being honest. I was at the Nebraska Cattlemen's Ball very late last night. And before that I was at the State Republican Convention, where we are united more than we've ever been in Nebraska. And, you know, between church and then other commitments, I haven't seen it.

But I will say, you know, the president has an unconventional style. He's always had an unconventional style with the media. I'm not going to weigh in on one side or the other on something that I haven't seen. I said when I ran for office in 2022 that I felt Joe Biden is and was the duly elected president of the United States. And, in 2024, the duly elected president is Donald J. Trump.

You know, I'm focused on moving forward. I'm focused on affordability, housing affordability, working a bipartisan housing bill through the Congress, and most -- all of my colleagues, I think, on both sides of the aisle are looking forward to a housing bill passing. And so that's been my focus.

DEAN: I do have a clip. I will play it for you. Here's a small clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Your elections in this country, we're like a third world country.

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS "MEET THE PRESS": But, sir --

TRUMP: Your elections are crooked and you're crooked and "Meet the Press" is crooked.

WELKER: But Mr. President --

TRUMP: And so is ABC and CBS and CNN.

WELKER: But Mr. President --

TRUMP: You're one sided, crooked network. So let's call it quits because I've had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good day.

WELKER: Mr. President --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: You see there, again, that's a short bit of it. But "your elections are crooked" is what he said. They're not. We have -- we've had very fair elections and we've duly elected both President Donald Trump and to your point, President Joe Biden and then Donald Trump again. Does that not concern you that he continues to spread those false statements?

FLOOD: Well, I'll tell you, just yesterday at the State Republican Convention, we had a speaker, a co-chair of the RNC, and she brought forward a lot of credible numbers about the number of poll watchers that indicated different problems throughout the country that were, in part, mostly remedied on election day back in 2025 but -- or 2024. So to say that we don't have these issues, even in Nebraska, I think we had three or four people prosecuted for varying forms of election fraud on a pretty small level,

I know this. The elections in Nebraska, they're safe, they're sound, I trust them. We have great systems in place to ensure that. I do worry about cities like Detroit, Chicago, places where they've historically had all sorts of different kinds of ballot harvesting. And quite frankly, this -- look at California right now. California is still counting ballots. That isn't the way.

DEAN: Yes, they --

FLOOD: When I grew up --

DEAN: They are. They have a very specific system of mail-in ballots that they're allowed to process. But it's not fraud. It's a different way of doing it.

FLOOD: You know, when I grew up in the 1980s, in the 1990s --

DEAN: In terms of how they count -- go ahead.

FLOOD: You know who won on election night. And I think 70 percent of Americans thinks that the way it should work. Like there's a deadline, there's an election day, you count the ballots and you announce the winner. When you are still counting ballots for days, weeks after the election, I just think it depreciates the confidence that Americans have in different systems. And we're going to find out here in a couple of weeks what the Supreme Court says about that. I think that's a ripe issue in front of the court right now. And I hope they say that election day is an election day. You get your vote in on election day and you count it. We don't play these games for weeks thereafter.

DEAN: Yes. And yes, and just to note, in California, you are allowed to mail in your ballot. It can be postmarked on election day. It then can -- is good. So it takes a while for the post office to get it. They then do all of the verification on the backend once they receive that ballot. So it can take some time.

But, Congressman Mike Flood, we really do appreciate your time. Thank you for being here today.

FLOOD: Thank you very much. Have a good weekend. What's left of it.

DEAN: You too. Thank you, thank you.

We are learning new information about Iran's missile attack on Israel. We're going to take you live to Jerusalem. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:34:21]

DEAN: We are continuing to follow breaking news as Israel is vowing to retaliate after Iran launched a series of missiles at Israel earlier tonight.

What you're looking at is Iranian state media video purportedly showing those ballistic missiles being launched. The attack comes on the 100th day of the start of the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran, as President Trump is seeking a ceasefire deal with Tehran. That effort now under question, what happens next?

Sources telling CNN President Trump has held a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tonight, urging him not to retaliate.

[18:35:01]

Let's bring in CNN's Oren Liebermann from Jerusalem, who's been tracking all of the latest developments.

Oren, this phone call quite key as to what happens next and how Israel will proceed forward and what that might potentially mean for these negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. What more can you tell us?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Absolutely. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is already under a tremendous amount of pressure domestically from politicians across the spectrum to respond forcefully in some way to the Iranian ballistic missile salvos. And we've seen at least three of them over the past several hours targeted towards Israel. But, at least according to Barak Ravid, who spoke with President Donald Trump earlier this evening, Trump said he would urge Netanyahu or tell Netanyahu frankly not to respond.

We do know Trump and Netanyahu were on a phone call just a short time ago, according to Israeli and U.S. sources. It's unclear if they've wrapped up that call or if that continues. They have had some rather long calls when it comes to Iran. It seems Netanyahu right now is in a very difficult position. He has little choice but to respond in some fashion. But Trump has limited his options here before. It was at the end of the 12-day war back last June.

So almost exactly a year ago, where Israel wanted to carry out another wave of strikes and Trump effectively forced Israel to turn back its fighter jets. Israel then carried out a rather small symbolic strike. So that's one option here. Another option, although this is incredibly unlikely, is for Netanyahu to simply not listen or buck Trump here and carry out a large wave of strikes. However, Netanyahu has prided himself on his relationship with Trump, and it seems incredibly unlikely that he'll simply go against Trump's -- blatantly go against Trump's demands in this case.

And then there's a spectrum between those couple of options here. But these moments are obviously crucial. Trump is trying to push forward negotiations with Iran. He has repeatedly touted how close they are to getting towards a deal, even as Iran's senior advisers to the supreme leader have told my colleague Fred Pleitgen that negotiations are deadlocked and there isn't a deal happening now.

Moreover, Iran is -- appears to be negotiating from what they see as a position of strength. So it's not clear that there's an easy deal to be had here. And in the middle of this, you have this escalation, not only in the Gulf between Iran and Israel now, so kind of across the Middle East, but also the ongoing escalation, which we've seen over the weekend between Israel and Iran's proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon.

And in fact, it's just worth catching our viewers up on this, that Iran carried out these salvos of ballistic missile strikes because they had threatened last week that if Israel attacks Beirut, they would directly attack Israel. Well, earlier on Sunday, Israel attacked Beirut after several Hezbollah rockets were targeted at northern Israel. And now we find ourselves in the middle of this critical moment and what appears to be an escalation as Trump looks like he's trying to find a way out of this.

DEAN: Right. And so we wait to hear exactly, to your point, what Netanyahu will do, how the president and his administration will press forward with any talks with Iran. In the meantime, we're also hearing Israel is closing the crossing into Gaza due to these strikes. Walk us through that piece of all of this.

LIEBERMANN: This was a statement that came out just a short time ago from the Israeli Liaison Agency that works with agencies and organizations in Gaza and transfers the humanitarian aid in. The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT for short, they announced just a short time ago that because of what they called necessary security measures, they had closed the crossings into and out of Gaza, the Kerem Shalom Crossing, where much of the humanitarian aid crosses in, as well as the Rafah crossing, where a limited number of Palestinians have been able to exit for emergency surgery, medical needs and things like that.

It was also at the beginning of the war on February 28th, just several hours after those opening strikes, that Israel took the same measure. But it didn't last very long. Within just a couple of days, Israel retracted that step and reopened the crossings. And it was over the weekend, so there wasn't really an effect on the ground here. We'll see how long they remain closed at this point. Gaza obviously relies on the humanitarian aid going in. The population of some two million Palestinians there.

Israel insists enough humanitarian aid has gone in since the ceasefire back in October, even as humanitarian aid organizations have warned of the situation on the ground for so many Palestinians who have been displaced, living in tents and waiting for the complete fruition of a ceasefire that looks like it may not happen anytime soon.

DEAN: All right, Oren Liebermann, with the very latest for us from Jerusalem. Thank you for that reporting.

This new attack by Iran on Israel complicates the relationship between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, as Oren was just explaining. We're going to talk more about that when we come back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:44:21]

DEAN: We do have breaking news tonight as we're waiting to learn more details surrounding a phone call between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following a series of the Iranian strikes against Israel. Israel has promised a powerful response but, as Axios has reported tonight, President Trump planned to urge the prime minister not to retaliate.

CNN presidential historian Tim Naftali is joining us now.

Tim, is there a time you can remember in history that's comparable to where the U.S. and Israel and the leaders of those two countries are right now? This is a very dynamic relationship, and it's critical to both men.

[18:45:03]

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, the interests of the two countries have not always been fully aligned. And in the 1980s, the Israelis did not listen to Ronald Reagan. And Ronald Reagan found himself very frustrated by the government of Menachem Begin. At one point, the United States stopped intelligence sharing with Israel because the Israelis had used U.S. intelligence to attack Saddam Hussein's Osirak nuclear reactor. And the Americans had asked that that not happen.

The United States found itself putting troops in Lebanon because the Israelis had gone to Beirut. The United States did not want Israel to invade Lebanon in 1982. The Israelis ignored the preferences of Washington. Well, that's understandable. Israel is an independent country. In the Gulf War, the United States government sent the number two from the State Department to sit in Israel to make sure that the Israeli government did not respond to the Scud attacks that came from Iraq. And Israel didn't.

The United States has always understood that its interests and those of Israel are not completely alike. And there will be times when Israel will define its own national security in ways that we don't agree with. And we're in one of those moments. Now, it is clear that the American people want an off ramp from this war. The president, who doesn't want to become a lame duck president after the midterms, is trying to find an off ramp.

He went into this war, at least from his statements, thinking this was a war of regime change. And it's taking too long. The Israelis, however, are still committed to regime change in Iran. They don't want this off ramp, and they want to be certain that they can get as to limit the power of Iran's surrogates as much as possible, that's Hezbollah and Hamas, before the United States pulls out of the war.

So our interests and those of Israel are not the same right now. And that's the source of this tension.

DEAN: Yes. And more to come in that history.

Tim Naftali, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it.

And Tim also takes part in a CNN Original Series that's premiering tonight called "THIS LAND." It premieres at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific and streams the next day on the CNN app. So keep your eye out for that as well.

Tonight, President Trump is telling the "Financial Times" in an interview that when it comes to Prime Minister Netanyahu, quote, this is from the president, "I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn't call the shots." More on the other side of this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:52:35]

DEAN: We are following the latest on a new wave of ballistic missiles fired by Iran toward Israel. We're going to have much more on that coming up in just a few minutes. But first, for a second day in a row, we have a first time Grand Slam champion on the red clay at the French Open.

And CNN's Don Riddell has more on the men's final at Roland-Garros.

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: They say the best things come to those who wait, but it has been an agonizing wait for the German tennis player, Alexander Zverev. However, he can now finally say that he's a major champion.

On Sunday in Paris, Zverev played in what was his fourth Grand Slam final, and he likely knew he'd never have a better chance. With the biggest stars knocked out or injured, his opponent was Italy's Flavio Cobolli, and the one sided opening set suggested this could easily be Zverev's day. But once Cobolli's nerves had calmed down, he made the best of it, winning the second set and then the fourth with a superb forehand here down the line.

So now it was all to play for in the decisive fifth set. If Zverev had any concerns that another one might slip through his fingers, he didn't show it. Regrouping and storming the set by six games to one, and his emotion was absolutely palpable.

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ALEXANDER ZVEREV, FRENCH OPEN MEN'S CHAMPION: This sport is so special to me in so many ways. I've had the best moments of my life on this court. I had the worst moment of my life on these courts. I was laying in that corner over there four years ago with seven broken ligaments and two fractured bones. I lost a Grand Slam final here two years ago, but now, finally, it's a happy end.

And I just want to say thank you to everybody, because to be honest, we've been through so much. We've been through injuries, we've been through heartbreak, we've been through losses. We've been losers at times as well in the most important moments. But at the end of the day, we're Grand Slam champions now. And that's what counts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: You know, I've said it had been an agonizing journey. Zverev just mentioned how painful it was. This was the scene in 2022, and it took him a long time to recover from that. He was sidelined for seven months.

Let's talk about the heartbreak. He's lost the U.S. Open Final. That was in 2020. He's lost the Australian Open Final to Jannik Sinner.

[18:55:00]

He was a French Open semifinalist three years in a row, and then he lost the final here to Carlos Alcaraz. But this is where the story ultimately led. Finally, a Grand Slam champion. His career has been impressive. He's also an Olympic champion, but it was always missing a little something until now. Well-played, Sascha Zverev.

Back to you.

DEAN: All right, Don Riddell, thanks so much for that.

And we are following that breaking news out of the Middle East as Iran has launched ballistic missiles at Israel. The question now, what will Israel do if they retaliate? Could that jeopardize peace talks between the U.S. and Iran? President Trump and the Israeli prime minister speaking tonight on that. We'll have much more ahead.

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