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Israel and Iran Trade Missile Attacks as Hostilities Escalate; Trump and Netanyahu Speak After Iran Fires Missiles at Israel; IDF Says It Struck Military Targets in Western, Central Iran. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired June 07, 2026 - 22:00   ET

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

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for joining me here in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Erica Hill in New York with the breaking news out of Iran, where explosions are being reported in at least three cities. Israel says it has struck military targets in the western and central region of Iran. All of this coming just hours after Israel had vowed retaliation after intercepting missiles launched by Iran for the first time since early April.

Joining me now, CNN's Oren Liebermann. He is live in Jerusalem with the very latest. So Oren, what more do we know about these latest retaliatory attacks?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: At this point, we know very little. There's only been a short statement from the Israeli military which says that they are currently striking what they call military targets in western and central Iran. We don't know much more than that at this point. Of course, it was a major question as to whether and how Israel would respond to Iranian ballistic missiles attacks that happened.

Just about 7 hours ago by the looks of it here, local time, it is 5 in the morning local time. We now see at least part of that response, or at least the beginnings of it, with the Israeli military saying they're carrying out strikes in western and central Iran. As you pointed out, Erica, we're seeing reports of explosions in at least three cities. As we wait to find out what those targets are, it's unclear if Tehran, the capital of Iran, was among the target lists. That might indicate that there was a high-value target, a targeted killing that was part of this strike.

So there's a lot we have to learn here about what's happening here. But all of this comes after President Donald Trump told Barak Ravid from Axios, as well as some other outlets, that he would urge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to respond and not to retaliate. The two leaders, Trump and Netanyahu, spoke on the phone earlier this evening. We don't know the contents of that call, but regardless, we see what's playing out in real time here as Israel carrying out what looks like a wave of strikes against some targets in western and central Iran. Again, the Israeli military says these are military targets. It's

worth noting that it's not, from at least what we can see now, a more escalatory sort of strike package would have been targeting energy infrastructure of Iran. Iran then would have almost certainly responded by targeting Gulf energy infrastructure. At least from what we see now, it looks like that's not what has happened. But of course, this in and of itself is an escalation, and it's unclear where this is headed and how much Trump, who has clearly signaled he wants to rein it in, will be able to do so at this point -- Erica.

HILL: Yes, it's an excellent point. Oren, in the wake of those initial strikes when Israel said it had interrupted -- pardon me -- intercepted these waves, right, of missiles, sources had said they were vowing a powerful response. Of course, there were, as you noted, the words from President Trump saying that he was urging Prime Minister Netanyahu not to. But based on what we saw as well in terms of response from other officials and I know from what you're hearing in terms of your sources, is there a sense that, to your point, this certainly does up things to one level, although not, as you pointed out, not hitting infrastructure, for example, if these were more military targets. But what is the sense within Israel about what this could perhaps lead to next?

LIEBERMANN: That's an excellent question and one that's very difficult to answer right now only because of the time and how this goes. This isn't purely a Netanyahu decision. Trump clearly has influence here and that's why it's so significant that he has indicated he wants to see negotiations, he wants to see de-escalation. Netanyahu has long believed that Iran was not negotiating in good faith. He has been skeptical of their intentions and Israel has believed that negotiations were bound to fall apart and there would be an almost certain return to military activity, that is to at least Israeli strikes on Iran, potentially even joint strikes on Iran, as we saw begin on February 28th.

Where this goes from here, again, that's difficult to tell at this point only because it depends so much on Trump. Did he give Netanyahu in that phone call permission for one wave of strikes? Does this escalate from here? And of course, Iran has a say as well. Will they retaliate to this?

We saw at least three waves of ballistic missiles, not enormous barrages, but of course ballistic missiles in and of themselves are significant, and Iran could respond and we could very quickly be on the escalation ladder here. So these are all the key questions right now. We may learn these answers over the course of the next several hours.

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It's worth catching up our viewers on how we got to this point and how we got here so quickly, especially because it was just a few days ago that the U.S. brokered another ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that was supposed to stop the fighting. Instead, what happens in Lebanon led us exactly to where we are right now. Earlier on Sunday morning, as we saw continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which rejected that ceasefire.

Israel says a couple of Hezbollah rockets targeted northern Israel. Israel then responded by striking the Lebanese capital of Beirut, the Dahieh neighborhood, considered a Hezbollah stronghold. Iran last week had threatened that if Israel struck Beirut, as they did on Sunday, then Iran would fire missiles at Israel. And that's what we're seeing play out right now.

It all shows you the complexity, the difficulty of this region, even as the U.S. is trying to get these ceasefires in place and then get them to hold, which has been just as difficult, if not more so.

HILL: Yes, it certainly has. Oren, really appreciate it. We'll continue to check in with you, of course, throughout the hour. I know you're trying to get those answers started, put you on the spot, my friend, but appreciate it as always.

Also with us here to discuss these developments, CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas, who's also the director of the Counterterrorism Project at the Atlantic Council, and CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Alex, I want to start with you in terms of what you're hearing. Because I know you have your ear very close to the ground in terms of these developments. Even a short time ago you were talking with my colleague Jessica Dean earlier tonight about some of the meetings taking place as we got to this point. Are you surprised at all that we have now seen these strikes?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I'm not surprised. I think President Trump had made it clear that he was hoping that there wouldn't be retaliatory strikes because there were no casualties on the Israeli side. But the United States has been launching counterattacks against Iran as they've been firing on our ships and commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz over the last few weeks. Largely to send a message that you're not going to be able to conduct these types of attacks and get away with it.

So it's really difficult to send that type of message and then ask the Israelis to restrain themselves, particularly because the Israelis were going after Hezbollah, were firing rockets actively into Israel, into areas where they've had civilians displaced for a long time. And Iran has denied the fact that Hezbollah and others are their active proxy forces. This is a tacit mission of the Iranians, that was the case, and the Israelis had to respond to let the Iranians know that they simply were not able to get away with that type of behavior.

HILL: Talk to us, Colonel Leighton, about the type of response that we saw. So as Alex points out, Israel likely felt they needed to do this to show, right, that they would in fact respond. But as Oren pointed out, these are not perhaps as escalatory, one could say, in terms of targets. We're not talking about infrastructure.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, that's right. And I think what we're looking at here is basically from a technical standpoint, Erica, what the Israelis can do without too much U.S. help. They're covering targets in the western and central part of the country. That's within range of Israeli aircraft and of their own refueling capabilities.

So they're moving forward. They're trying to make some tacit strikes here that basically are in response to what the Iranians have done. But the Iranians, of course, may have an effort to counter that, and they may try to respond to this, as Alex was mentioning.

But there are some big aspects here. And one of the things is that if the U.S. doesn't provide any logistical or intelligence support to the Israelis, that kind of limits their ability to go into Iran and cover Iranian airspace. So if that's the case, this may be an effort by the Israelis to, in essence, do one wave of strikes and then pull back from that. But this is, you know, something where we -- you know, it could go either way. It could be that, or it could be just the start of a further escalation.

And a further escalation may drag the United States into it, no matter how limited the Israelis want these strikes to be.

HILL: Alex, when we look at this as well, the president had said he was not happy earlier, President Trump. We know he had a phone call with the prime minister, with Prime Minister Netanyahu. He did not want to see retaliation, but of course Israeli sources had vowed there would be a powerful response. What is the impact here when it comes to the influence of President Trump on the Israelis in this moment?

PLITSAS: But I think, there's two things. There's a relationship between both countries. We saw that there was a spat, verbally that sort of leaked out to the press the other day, in which President Trump had used some pretty strong language with the Prime Minister, you know, when he thought he shouldn't be taking action or doing certain things. And I think the Israelis described it as, you know, there's a squabble amongst friends sometimes that these types of things happen.

I think, you know, during the previous administration, there was a call for restraint when the Iranians launched 200 ballistic missiles and drones at Israel.

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Prime Minister Netanyahu responded with a very limited retaliatory strike, taking out some of the advanced radar systems and a message to Tehran that they could reach out and touch them when they wanted to. And it proved to be insufficient from a deterrent standpoint to prevent the Iranians from attacking again.

And we've been told in retrospect that Prime Minister Netanyahu saw that as a mistake, that he gave into the U.S. position and really should have struck harder. And so he's learned from those types of things. So at the end of the day, what the Israelis will tell you is we will listen to the United States as a partner and as an ally, but at the end of the day, we're responsible for our own security. And so I think Prime Minister Netanyahu, who heard the president out,

understood where he was coming from, appreciated the fact he's trying to get to a deal. But at the end of the day, he needs to serve the security interests of Israel, and he has his own political considerations as well. And last, he's tried restraint in the past, and he's felt it hasn't worked, and that a more forceful response was necessary to prevent the Iranians from striking again.

We'll see if this actually works, as Cedric was mentioning, if this is a one-time strike and we don't see another round. But it's possible this continues to cycle in an escalatory pattern.

HILL: Stay with me, gentlemen. I also want to bring in Julia Benbrook, who's joining us now on the phone. Julia, of course, covers the White House. Julia, as we have been talking about, this is not what President Trump made very clear. This was not what he wanted to see. How is the White House responding now?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Yes, and there are still a lot of questions here as this develops. But we have reached out to the White House for a reaction on these latest developments. And we know that as things took place today, President Donald Trump, he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone. That call came after the Israeli military said it had intercepted waves of missiles fired from Iran.

And an official told our team that during that call, Trump told Netanyahu to hold off on launching a retaliatory attack on Iran and warned him against escalating already soaring tensions in the region. And then in an interview with the Financial Times, Trump said that he calls the shots and that Netanyahu will have no choice but to eventually accept whatever deal the US negotiates with Iran, saying that Trump's decisions are really what's going to push this.

So he's on the phone with Netanyahu telling him not to go further. We don't have all the details there, but that he did not want him to launch a retaliatory strike. And then we see this tonight. Now, Trump did express and often this view of where negotiations were going ahead of this. He said that he believes, quote, were very close. He said this to Fox News. And he was saying that an agreement could be signed Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday of the coming week.

And now this takes place -- again after the Israeli military had intercepted those first strikes. Now there's even more developing here. But he was trying to paint a picture that there would be a deal soon. Obviously, this could cause quite a roadblock. I mean, he said even then, it certainly is not going to help negotiations.

And following those first joint U.S.-Israel strikes against Iran back in February, it's now been just over 100 days since those first strikes. Trump had repeatedly said that this conflict would end soon. He had said it could last for days. It could last for a couple of weeks. He continues to say that it will be soon, but he has been pressing back recently as people have criticized how long this has gone on, saying that he believes that he's moving fast and that these things take time to resolve. So obviously keeping an eye out for all of these developments. This

could you know, cause a lot of concern as for what could happen there in the region and how much longer these negotiations could potentially take. Again, we've reached out to the White House there for any details on how this could impact things going forward.

HILL: Right. And just really quickly, just to your point, the president is saying this is certainly not going to help negotiations to end the war. And he also said Iran should get back to the table and make a deal. Has there been, in terms of what you heard earlier in the day, Julia, has there been an assessment of the potential impact on getting Iran back to the table at this point?

BENBROOK: Following those strikes earlier, the ones that Israel intercepted, he was trying to still paint a picture of this could get done. He said it doesn't help negotiations, but he did think that he could get them to the table. Then in that Financial Times interview, he said that Netanyahu would accept a deal that Trump was able to negotiate.

What's not clear here, though, is on that phone call, we heard from officials that he was telling Netanyahu not to launch retaliatory attack. We now see that that is what is happening. So it will be interesting to see how that relationship is going forward, what the understanding is between the two of them. Trump, though, had said repeatedly that he believes that there will be a deal and that Netanyahu will have no choice but to accept it.

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HILL: We'll be following all those developments. Julia, appreciated. Alex and Colonel Leighton, stay with us, everyone, as we continue to cover the breaking news. We're going to fit in a quick break here. Again, if you're just joining us, Israel now retaliating, striking multiple cities in western and central Iran.

The very latest on the breaking news on the other side of this quick break. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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HILL: Returning to our breaking news. Israel's military says it has struck new military targets in western and central Iran. Iranian state media says several loud blasts were heard in the capital of Tehran. Israel had vowed to retaliate earlier today after Iran targeted an air base in northern Israel on Sunday. Now Israel says it intercepted waves of missiles that have been fired from Iran. This was for the first time since early April.

Back with us, CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas. He's also the director of the Counterterrorism Project at the Atlantic Council, and CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. As we look at where things stand in this moment, for folks who are just joining us, too, I want to just go back for a moment, if we could, to remind everybody how we got here. And that was on Sunday, of course, these strikes. Israel, saying it

had intercepted waves of missiles fired from Iran, as I noted, for the first time since April. Tehran had threatened there would be to come, but it also warned that if Israel struck Beirut, which Israel did on Sunday in response to Hezbollah fire in northern Israel, that Iran may come in.

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When we look at the way all of this is playing out, Colonel Leighton, where is your focus in this moment as we try to determine which way this conflict could turn in this moment.

LEIGHTON: Yes, Erica, I think one of the key things to note is the limitations of the Israeli strike. So is this really the beginning of something more sufficient and more powerful? Or is it basically a response, a response -- a direct response to the Iranian missile attacks on northern Israel? So what the Iranians are trying to do is they're trying to preserve their capabilities with their proxy forces such as Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, the suburb of Dahieh in Beirut, that's basically their central headquarters, and the Israelis struck that, because they wanted to eliminate the threat from that particular area. And they also wanted to make sure that Hezbollah would not come further south and attack settlements in northern Israel like they've been doing for quite some time now.

And so the Israeli response to attack Hezbollah was followed by that Iranian response that hit the northern part of Israel with those missiles. And then the Israelis responded to that because they don't want their territory being attacked by Iran directly. So, this right now is, there's definitely a possibility that this could be contained.

But one of the key things here is, you know, what happens next. And what I'm watching for at this particular juncture is, you know, are the Iranians going to do something else? That something else could be another rocket attack, another missile attack, possibly drone attacks. But the other thing that could happen is they might choose some other kind of weapon.

And if they choose some other kind of weapon, such as perhaps another form of asymmetric attack with, let's say, cyber weapons, you know, how effective would those be, and what kind of an effort would there be on the part of the Israelis to counter those? And I think those attacks such as that could be countered by the Israelis fairly effectively. So that's what I'm looking at, is where is the ladder of escalation in this particular moment? I think there's a chance for an off-ramp here.

But it is definitely an effort by the Israelis to not only go after Iran and respond to that, but also in essence prove their independence from President Trump. And based on President Trump's comments to the Financial Times and other comments that he's made, I think it became pretty clear that the Israelis needed to assert their independence at this particular point in time, and that could have implications for the U.S.-Israeli relationship going forward.

HILL: Yes, certainly. As we watch for all of that, I do want to bring in now Fred Pleitgen, who is joining us live. He is reporting from Iran's capital. Fred, as we were noting, Iranian state media reporting that blasts were heard, loud blasts heard in Tehran. I'm curious if you heard anything.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Erica. Actually, we didn't, but Tehran is obviously a huge city. I'm actually standing on our roof right now overlooking Tehran. It certainly seems fairly calm right now. But you are absolutely right that state media, also the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, did report that apparently there were explosions in several cities here in Iran, including Tehran.

One of the interesting things about the reporting from Tehran itself is that there are some reports indicating that there were also possibly loud blasts heard in a place called Karaj, which is actually just to the west of Tehran. So it is certainly possible that some of these alleged strikes that happened on the Tehran region, that those could have been in the west of Tehran, which far away from where I am right now, but certainly still in the vicinity and the greater urban area of Tehran.

Nevertheless, of course, Iran taking this very seriously, Iranian state media taking this very seriously, the authorities here also taking this very seriously as well. So the reporting that is coming in so far is that it appears as though Tehran, Isfahan, and also Tabriz, which is a city in the north of Iran, that there were loud explosions that were heard there, that those cities weren't possibly struck. Now Tehran is obviously the capital of Iran, by far the largest city in Iran.

But Tabriz and Isfahan are also substantial cities that got hit very hard in March during the active part of the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, were also hit very hard during Israel's campaign against Iran in June of 2025, and also towns that have a lot of industrial area, that have a lot of industrial production. And so certainly those would be areas that people would say could be targets that have been hit in the past and potential targets now as well. So that's the reporting that we have here so far.

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What we also have to point out is that the Iranians had said after their ballistic missile attacks against targets in Israel, in the north of Israel, that if the Israelis strike back, first of all, the Iranians would consider that to be -- would consider the responsibility for that to lie with the United States and with Israel, not just with Israel, but that the United States would be held responsible as well. So that was a very important point to make for the Iranians, and also that there would be an even harsher response coming from Iran then.

I also spoke a couple of days ago to one of the senior military advisers to Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, And he also told me that if this escalates again between the United States and Iran, of course also with Israel, that then the Iranians would strike back very hard, and that this war could be regionalized even further than it already has. Meaning not just the Gulf regions, but also other regions of the globe, like, for instance, the Strait of Bab al-Mandab, which is also a very narrow waterway, that that could be affected. But he also said the Mediterranean region, the Red Sea region.

So going to be very interesting to see how the Iranians deal with this, what their next move could be. But certainly one of the things that they have said is that their next move is going to be harsh if they were attacked again. It appears as though that has now happened.

So certainly a lot of people will be waiting to see as Tehran just now is sort of emerging. 5:55, so almost 6:00 a.m. here. So as you can imagine, the sort of rush hour is just beginning here in the capital city area.

HILL: And, Fred, quick question for you. As you note, of course, things are just the city really just waking up at this point. It's just before 6:00 a.m. local time for you there. But based on what we saw over the last several hours, late night last night for you, what were you seeing in terms of what was being reported and what you were also hearing from sources in terms of what may have been expected in terms of Israeli response?

PLEITGEN: Well, certainly the Iranians said that they for days have been expecting to be attacked again, not just from Israel but from the United States, as things have been heating up in the Persian Gulf region. They certainly have been saying that it's something that they've been preparing for, maybe not necessarily expecting that it would happen, but the threat certainly was always there. There's several interesting points to that question.

First of all, one of the things that certainly stood out to us is that Iranian state TV last night, as Iran struck those targets or attacked those targets in Israel, they were very quick to come out with statements. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps saying that they were firing missiles toward Israel, saying the fact that Israel had attacked the southern suburbs of Beirut was that red line that the Iranians had already said that there would be a harsh response.

And also, one of the things that happens here every night is that there are large gatherings, rallies that are organized here where people chant on the government, support for the government, and especially also support for the military, and that's also something that showed broadly on state TV last night as these attacks were being reported by the Iranians against targets in Israel. So those are some of the things that had been happening here on the ground. But the Iranians certainly have been saying that they are prepared for a moment like this and to definitely expect a very harsh response if the escalation ladder continues or if the parties continue to move up on the escalation ladder.

Certainly, right now, the Iranian military seems to feel very emboldened, seems to feel very strong, seems to feel very much in control. And they have said late last night -- this comes from also the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps -- that they do have a lot of missiles, as they put it, that are prepared to strike, for instance, Israel again if the situation continues to escalate. Again, one of the things that the Iranians had warned is they said that their attack against targets in Israel was a warning that they said needed to be heeded, that otherwise, the escalation that they could bring on would also be extremely harsh -- Erica.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. All right, Fred, we'll continue to monitor it from our end here. So good to have you there on the ground for the reporting. Appreciate it as always.

And just a reminder, while CNN does operate in Iran with the permission of the government, CNN does maintain full editorial control of all its reports. An important note with Fred's critical reporting. Stay with us. We'll be right back as we continue to follow the breaking news.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Hours after Iran launched a missile attack at Israel, it appears the Israeli military is now responding. The IDF saying it has struck military targets in western and central Iran. According to state media, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps says the sounds of explosions were being reported in at least three Iranian cities, including the capital of Tehran.

Also with us this hour, I want to bring in CNN senior political analyst Bloomberg opinion columnist Ron Brownstein. Ron, always good to talk to you.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Erica.

HILL: You know, just before the break, I was talking -- hi there -- I was talking with my colleague Fred Pleitgen, who of course is reporting from Tehran, and just a few days ago, he was speaking with a senior advisor to Iran's supreme leader, talking about negotiations. But who had also said, look, if this escalates and if Israel retaliates. Israel, of course, which just struck a number of targets we're learning in Iran, that from Iran's perspective it would also be considered as if the U.S. was acting in that moment as well.

President Trump said earlier that he did not want to see Prime Minister Netanyahu retaliate, did not want to see a tough response. Here we are in this moment. How would you characterize this moment and where it could potentially lead us?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think it's an extension of where we have been now for several months. You know, one characteristic of President Trump is that he believes he controls the pace, what military planners call escalation dominance in any kind of encounter or confrontation. He believes he is the one who decides how the conflict unfolds, how intense it gets, when to back off, when it ends.

And, you know, repeatedly, I think the world shows that, you know, that's hubris. I mean, whether it was what happened in Minneapolis when ordinary people pushed back against ICE or what we've seen from Iran over the past several months when rather than falling apart or capitulating the way he originally projected, they found ways to strike back asymmetric warfare, you know, the economic warfare of seizing control of the strait.

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And now, you know, we are seeing both Israel and Iran, you know, acting in what they perceive their own interest and with the president having limited ability seemingly to control the pace and the escalation of events.

HILL: You know, to your point, one of the things that President Trump, who had done a couple of interviews, right, has been speaking to reporters since Iran first launched this wave of missiles on northern Israel. One of the things he told the Financial Times when talking about a potential deal to end the war was that Israel would have to accept any U.S. deal because, quote, I call the shots.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, well that's his view.

HILL: When we're seeing the way, this plays out right now.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. I mean, that is his view on really any interaction in which he is a party. He believes he calls the shots. And he, as you know, he often seems surprised when the targets of his pressure and coercion do not simply buckle under against his overwhelming force and find ways to assert their interests and to push back. And I think that's where we are.

You know, it's not clear that he has a way out of this conflict that meets, you know, even a minimum of his goals. It's not clear that restarting active military conflict will get him closer to what he wants, and it's not clear that this standoff certainly is getting him closer to what he wants. He may not have, as you know, it may not -- it appears he does not have as much leverage as he believes, particularly over Iran, but maybe even over Israel as well.

HILL: Well, and what about broader -- speaking in broader terms, right? You mentioned what you see as the hubris on the part of the president. And this is, yes, sort of a well-worn, if you will, refrain in many ways from this president, right?

Which is also, you know, I'm not happy, do what I say, I just need you to do what I say. What is the message that it sends not just to Iran, right, and negotiators there, not just to Israel, but we're talking about the broader region here. What does it say about the ability of the United States of this administration to make things happen?

BROWNSTEIN: You know, I think he saw the war in Iran as a way to demonstrate the magnitude of American power. And I think most countries around the world are interpreting it as a demonstration of the limits of American powers. Certainly our military has had, you know, enormous success at degrading many of their capabilities, but maybe not as lastingly as we would have hoped, and the broader strategic goals of either breaking the regime or forcing them to accept essentially our terms on how to deal with the nuclear issue have failed.

And even if we can negotiate some significant limits on their nuclear program. They have found a new form of deterrence in terms of their ability to squeeze the global economy through their control, through their control or a coercion over the strait. So you know it's hard to see how this ends with the U.S. in a stronger position in the region and really in the world than we began.

I mean, the view of the president was that all of his predecessors would not join Netanyahu in this kind of attack simply because they lacked the will. It may have been that they looked at this and foresaw something like where we are, where even a tremendous military success would not improve your strategic position.

So here he is. It's not clear he has a way out. The election is ticking closer every day. High gas prices continue to exert a heavy downward pressure on his approval rating, and thus the chances of Republicans. And I don't think Iran feels any immediate pressure sufficient to let him out of the vice of his own creation.

HILL: Ron, always good to talk to you. Appreciate it. Thank you.

I also want to bring in now my colleague Julia Benbrook, who's joining us from the White House. What is the White House now saying in response to Israel's retaliation?

BENBROOK: Yes, and I'm actually here in New Jersey. This is where President Donald Trump is spending his weekend. He is at one of his properties here. He's expected to go to the Knicks game tomorrow, so his travel kind of planning around some of that.

But as he's here today, there have been multiple developments. And we have heard from him in several brief phone calls. We have not yet heard from him after this most recent development, these retaliatory strikes from Israel. We have reached out to the White House for more information there and specifically for how this could impact negotiations going forward.

[22:40:00]

But after the news broke that Israel had intercepted ballistic missiles from Iran earlier in the day for what appears to be the first time since early April, Trump did speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone and he urged him not to retaliate. That's what officials have told us. He warned that escalation in the region could lead to escalation to a wider conflict there.

Now after those first strikes, that's when we heard from him. He did speak with Fox News as well. This was in a phone interview. And he was asked about how that development could impact the negotiations side of things.

And he said, it's certainly not going to help negotiations. Going on to add, "What I would suggest to Iran, you've shot your missiles. That's enough. Get back to the table and make a deal."

He then went on, though, to express an optimistic view of where negotiations had been going so far, telling that reporter were very close. I would say an agreement could be -- would be -- excuse me -- signed on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of this coming week. And now this takes place.

Now, of course, we have these further developments. We're waiting on his reaction there. But this as the conflict, it goes into its 100th day.

That's where we are. It has been 100 days since those first joint U.S. Israel strikes against Iran took place. Ever since then, Trump has been giving an optimistic view of when this would end. We've heard multiple predictions from him, from a couple of days to a couple of weeks.

In an interview recently with NBC's Meet the Press, taking place three months after those first strikes, he pushed back against any criticism that this has gone on too long, saying that these things take time to negotiate, these types of deals take time, sometimes even years, to resolve. And then one of the last major developments we're going back over a week now but this was one of the last major developments that we heard from the White House side of things. When it comes to negotiations was that Trump had sent back a proposal to Iran asking for changes.

Officials familiar with that process had told our team that he wanted tougher language when it comes to Iran's nuclear commitments as well as its pledge to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. So there were already some sticking points there. All of this has the potential to change things as well.

We're paying attention anything we hear from the White House. Again, we have those reach outs out. But a lot of his major updates during this conflict have come in Truth Social posts. So monitoring that as well.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. Julia, appreciate it as always. Thank you.

We will be right back in a quick break here as we continue our breaking news coverage of these now strikes from Israel on Iran in retaliation for Iran launching waves of missiles earlier today. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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HILL: And an update for you now on the breaking news. Israel says it struck military targets in western and central Iran. Iran says explosions have been reported in the cities of Tehran, Tabriz, and Isfahan. The IRGC claiming that Israel used air-launched ballistic missiles in its attacks, all of this coming hours after Israel promised retaliation for Iranian strikes on a northern Israel airbase. Joining us -- back with us now, CNN national security analyst Alex

Plitsas says he's also the director of the Counterterrorism Project at the Atlantic Council. And CNN military analyst, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Alex, I want to talk about one of the things that we also heard from Iran, from state-run media earlier tonight, was this threat, right? In which Fred Pleitgen had also mentioned. This threat to block yet another maritime corridor, so this vital corridor known as Bab al- Mandab Strait. What could that mean? How much more could this complicate matters, especially as we look at the location of that, right?

We're talking about Yemen, Eritrea, Djibouti. How key is not only that strait, but also for looking at Yemen, I'm immediately thinking about possible Houthis, right?

PLITSAS: Actually, yes. So if you look at what's on the screen now for the folks who are watching from home, on the top right-hand side, you'll see the Strait of Hormuz. So that's the entrance to the Persian Gulf, right? And that's where you see the choke point between Iran and what's actually a piece of Oman there on the tip of the United Arab Emirates, which has been held at risk using drones and missiles or projectiles, and that's caused, obviously, a crisis because a lot of oil and gas flows through there.

What we haven't heard as much about is the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which Erica just correctly mentioned. Down there in the bottom left on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula between and Djibouti, is the entrance to the Red Sea, which eventually leads all the way up to the Suez Canal up that way. And so that had previously been held at risk by the Houthis.

So if you look at Yemen there on the screen, on the bottom left-hand side of the Arabian Peninsula, about half of the territory there on the left-hand side of the country is largely under the control of the Houthis, who are largely Shia, which is the same sect of Islam that the Iranians practice. And they've had a close relationship.

They give them weapons, they kind of act out on their own, but they do serve as a proxy force. And we've been hearing for months that the Iranians were potentially holding the Houthis in reserve. So to the extent they felt that the war was not going to go their direction or if things started to escalate, they could have the Houthis, you know, turn that back on, because they previously had held the Bab al-Mandab at risk, and the U.S. actually had to put together a naval coalition under the Biden administration to clear that out.

And it was still problematic as large shippers still did not want to transit the straits because it was still held at risk, and they were worried about crew casualties. So this would create a second choke point, also oil and gas and commerce flowing through that would require additional assets to deal with. And it's basically the Iranians flexing, saying, hey, we can cause you additional problems if this goes back and forth. But so far it appears there's only been a single wave of attacks the

Iranians have encountered, so we're sort of waiting to see what happens at this point.

HILL: And Colonel Leighton, when you think about the possibility, right, of that becoming yet another choke point, in terms of readiness in the region, how concerned are you?

LEIGHTON: I'm quite concerned actually, Erica, because, as Alex pointed out, there are so many different possible fronts here in this area. And right now, you don't really have the kind of assets that you would need to handle both the Bab al-Mandab region as well as the Strait of Hormuz.

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Now, they could be deployed, but we have to be very careful with how we conduct those kinds of operations. So naval forces are stretched pretty thin right now if we have to consider those two fronts, and plus there other things that will be going on around the world. We just know that they will happen, whether they're welcome to or not.

And that's the kind of challenge that not only the Navy and the Marines have, but all the other elements of U.S. military powers. So there are certain things that can be done. Our partner nations could potentially work with us, but we've kind of been -- had a history of not having good relations with some of our partner nations now. And so that some of the effectiveness.

But one of the things that is pretty clear, if either one of these straits is choked off, then we have a potential for a world economic problem, and that then will at some point result in other countries getting involved in this, whether it's diplomatically or militarily. But I think they will try the diplomatic option first. But it is a serious consideration, and it could very well impact the flow of oil, the flow of liquefied natural gas, as well as the component parts of fertilizers and other chemical compounds.

So this is something that would result in significant economic dislocations if it's not fixed.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. Cedric Leighton, Alex Plitsas, really appreciate your critical expertise here tonight. Thank you.

Stay with us, our breaking news coverage continues right here on CNN. We're going to fit in a quick break. We'll see you on the other side.

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HILL: The breaking news out of the Middle East. Israel says it has struck military targets in western and central Iran. A U.S. official says President Donald Trump had earlier told Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call to hold off on launching any retaliatory attacks on Iran, this all coming about after Iran earlier today launched waves of missiles, according to Israel, at northern Israel. At the time, there had been a promise of a powerful response from Israeli sources.

We are now seeing again targets hit in western and central Iran by Israel. We're told those were military targets. As we continue to follow the breaking developments, things certainly escalating, although it's important to note looking at the types of targets. We're not talking about infrastructure in this moment. There are questions about the impact on an Israeli air base in northern Israel.

We'll bring you all of those developments here. Stay with us at the top of the hour as we continue to follow the breaking news out of the region. I'm Erica Hill joining you from New York. Our live coverage continues. in just a moment.

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