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Israel, Iran Trade Missile Attacks as Hostilities Escalate; Iran Threatens to Block Bab al-Mandab Strait if Israeli Attacks Escalate; Iran Says, Contradictory Positions from U.S. are the Main Issue With Negotiations. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired June 07, 2026 - 23:00   ET

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

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[23:00:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour here in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Erica Hill joining you from New York.

And we begin our coverage with the continued breaking news, escalating tensions in the Middle East. Israel saying now it has struck military targets in Western and Central Iran. Explosions reported in at least three cities, including the capital of Tehran. All of this coming just hours after Israel vowed retaliation after intercepting missiles launched by Iran for the first time since early April.

CNN covering the story as only CNN can. We want to begin with Oren Liebermann, who joins us now live from Jerusalem. Oren, we're also just hearing from the IDF that they detected a missile launch from Yemen toward Israeli territory, which would certainly seem to be yet further escalation in this moment.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Very much so. And just about seven or eight minutes ago on my phone, I got a warning of incoming missile fire, and that's almost certainly a result of what the Israeli military says was missiles launched from Yemen.

Now, it's been quite a long time since we have seen the Houthis launch missiles towards Israel. It has happened, but all it indicates is that this could spread, and spread very quickly. Iran had, in fact, said that if Israel escalates, they would close the Bab al-Mandeb strait. That's the southern end of the Red Sea. And if the Strait of Hormuz is one of the critical waterways in the Middle East, the Bab al-Mandeb is the other critical waterway in the Middle East, where if you're passing through the Suez Canal going south, you will cross the Bab al- Mandeb.

And the Houthis who sit in Yemen have the ability, just like Iran does with the Strait of Hormuz, to hold that under threat and to effectively shut off another one of the world's most critical waterways. So, that, at least, is the threat that Iran has put on the table, and the Houthi launches towards Israel that occurred just a short time ago, or at least a warning came just a short time ago, is an indication that Iran may or at least is threatening to carry that out and to attempt to shut down another one of the world's most critical waterways.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military has not given any more details at this point. They issued a statement just about an hour or so ago, maybe a bit more, an hour and a half, saying that they have struck what they described as military targets in Western and Central Iran. We have seen reports of explosions in three Iranian cities, as you pointed out, the capital of Tehran, Tabriz, which is in sort of Northwestern Iran, and then Isfahan. That city has been targeted before, as it had a nuclear site that was a target of, I believe, both the U.S. and Israel, as we've seen over the months of war here.

We're waiting for more details from Israel to see if they targeted any energy infrastructure. That, of course, would be an escalation, and Iran would almost certainly retaliate by targeting Gulf energy infrastructure, or if Israel went after, once again, any senior Iranian officials.

We're at this critical moment here, Erica, where any number of decisions, what President Donald Trump decides to do, what he will let Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu do, or what, or Netanyahu will do on his own. And then, of course, Iran has a say here as well, and it seems likely they will respond with additional ballistic missile fire given the Israeli strikes in Iran.

At this critical moment here as the war very much seems to be restarting, the question, can Trump get this under control and back to the negotiations he so desperately wants?

HILL: Yes, absolutely, such one of many key questions in this moment.

I'm curious, Oren, as well, so earlier in the day -- the IRGC earlier in the day, I should say, in the evening for you, but the IRGC had claimed that it had struck an air base in Northern Israel. I know CNN had reached out to try to confirm that. At the time, they said they couldn't -- I believe it was, couldn't yet provide information about that base. What more do we know about what Iran was claiming?

LIEBERMANN : So, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said they had launched ballistic missiles at the Ramat David Airbase in northern Israel. Now, shortly before that, the Israeli military had put out a statement saying they had intercepted all of the launches that Iran had fired some ten missiles.

We then posed this question to them. There is video circulating and video that Iran has put out that appears to show a missile getting through Israel's air defense system, getting through the Arrow 3 missile, and then David's Sling, and then much more short range is Iron Dome.

[23:05:02]

The Israeli military's response was they had issued that statement before additional waves of ballistic missiles. So, there is at least the possibility that an Iranian missile has gotten through, but that's all we know at this point. Erica?

HILL: Okay. Oren, I really appreciate it, as always. We'll continue to check in with you.

I also want to bring in our colleague, Frederik Pleitgen, who's standing by in Tehran. A reminder, of course, while CNN does operate in Iran with the permission of the government, CNN does maintain full editorial of control of its reports.

Fred, walk us through what you were seeing on your end just after 6:30 there in Tehran.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely right, Erica. It is just after 6:30 right now. And, apparently, some of these explosions in various cities in Iran happened around 4:30 A.M., where the sun would already be out, but, of course, very early in the morning hours.

Now, we didn't actually hear any explosions here in Tehran, but of course we have to remind our viewers that the city is really gigantic. And it appears as though if there were explosions here, they happened towards the west of the city. One of the things that we are hearing is the name of a suburb here called Karaj, which is to the west of Tehran, but is still very much in the greater urban Tehran area. And there were some explosions that were reported from that area.

The fire department of Iran apparently is saying that they don't have any fires that they're putting out in the urban area of Tehran. So, it seems as though if there were strikes, they were limited to the western part of Tehran, which is the reporting that we have right now.

What we're hearing from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, from the authorities here, is that apparently aside from Tehran, both the city of Tabriz and also the city of Isfahan reported explosions as well. Those are two key cities for Iran's military industrial complex. They have a lot of factories out there. They also have a lot of defense facilities out there in those areas as well. Tabriz is in the north of Iran, and Isfahan is, of course, very much in the center of Iran.

The authorities in the area of Isfahan, in the center of Iran, in the central areas of Iran, are saying that so far they don't have any reported casualties from any strikes, they say, in Isfahan or in a place called Najafabad. That is to the west of Isfahan, but again is also very much in the greater urban area of Isfahan. So, right now, it seems as though the assessments there are still very much going on.

At the moment, as I stand here overlooking Tehran on our roof here, it is quiet right now. But, of course, as Oren has already pointed out and as the Iranian authorities have pointed out, they said that if the Israelis would retaliate to Iran's ballistic missiles attacks from last night, that then Iran would induce what they call very harsh strikes on Israel.

They said a lot of ballistic missiles were ready to go. And the Iranians have also been saying over the past couple of days, because, of course, all of this is happening in the wider context of those talks between the United States and Iran, but then also, of course, with the escalations that we've been seeing in the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf area, that Iran is ready for a larger conflict as well.

They have said that they don't make a difference between the United States and between Israel. They say that they held both responsible if there are strikes. So, certainly, it seems as though it could very well be that an escalation on the Iranian part is very now -- is very possible at this point in time.

The Iranian military has been saying it's ready for that, that its missiles are ready to go, and it warned yesterday that its ballistic missile attacks on areas of Israel were a warning to the Israelis and were a warning to the United States to stop the escalation at that point in time, otherwise things could very much get out of control.

And, you know, Erica, I spoke to a senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, a couple of days ago. And he told me that the Iranians could further regionalize this war to other regions than the one it's already in, further than the Gulf, they called the Red Sea area, the Mediterranean area, the Indian Ocean.

So, the Iranians certainly say that they are ready for a wider conflict for an escalation as it seems as though the White House had been trying to tamp things down and to try and keep things under control. Erica?

HILL: And there are concerns of, understandably, about this spreading wider, right, to your point about the interview that you did, but also even the warning that we saw from Iran, of course, about, and Oren was mentioning this as well threatening to block the Strait of Bab al- Mandab, that strait.

As all of these are coming together, are you seeing signs that there could in fact be a push in that direction by Tehran?

PLEITGEN: Well, there certainly seems to be or there could be a push in, in that direction. The Iranians have said that for them the time of tit-for-tat reactions, a time of proportionate reactions to what they call provocations by the United States and Israel is over, is that there could now be disproportionate reactions from the Iranians, and they have been saying that that could hit other regions as well.

[23:10:02]

One of the things, of course, that we've been seeing over the past couple of days is as the U.S. has been striking facilities from the Iranians on some islands in the Persian Gulf, the Iranians have been responding with ballistic missile strikes or with some pretty heavy munitions that they've been shooting at American military facilities in the Gulf region.

And they have said that if these things continue, that their strikes are going to become harsher. And indeed, some of the regions that they have been talking about was the one that you just mentioned, the Bab al-Mandab, which, of course, is a strait a narrow waterway in, i- in the Red Sea that is also extremely important for world commerce.

Of course, right now the Strait of Hormuz also very much under Iran's chokehold as Iran is demanding of the United States to lift its blockade, but they're also speaking about the Mediterranean and about the Indian Ocean. The Iranians right now in the things they are saying, very bold, but at the same time also saying that their missile force is ready to wreak havoc on what it calls the enemies of Iran.

Also, the Iranians, of course, have been launching a lot of drones over the past couple of days as well at targets in the Gulf region, especially U.S. military targets in the Gulf region with some of those things that have been going on there.

But, yes, it certainly seems as though the Iranians are saying that while the diplomatic path, of course, has been going on over the past couple of weeks, and certainly President Trump has said he believes that a deal could be close, that they are also ready for a major escalation and certainly say that any sort of attacks against Iran are going to be met with retaliation that is going to be a lot stronger than the attacks that happened themselves. Erica?

HILL: Yes. We'll watch for those further developments. Fred, as always, great to have you there on the ground, thank you.

Joining us now for more, Benjamin Radd, he's a political scientist and senior fellow at UCLA's Burkle Center for International Relations. Good to have you with us this hour.

I'd like to pick up, if we could, where Fred was kind of leaving off there, right, what we are hearing not only from the Iranians, but the questions about the diplomatic path forward. President Trump expressing some optimism that a deal, I believe he said it could be Monday, could be Tuesday, could be Wednesday. Now, of course, we are dealing with retaliatory strikes and concerns about just how much wider this could spread across the region. What does this tell you about the chances at this point for a diplomatic path in the coming days?

BENJAMIN RADD, SENIOR FELLOW, UCLA BURKLE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Yes. Thank you for having me on. This has become more complicated. I mean, one of the questions to ask is why is Iran all of a sudden escalating in this way? They've done in the last 12 hours what they had yet to do so far in this war, going back to last summer, which is attack Israel in response to Israel attacking Lebanon.

So, this is not a response to Israel attacking Iran and Iran retaliating. This is Iran basically linking now the situation, the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to Iran's direct interest. And so, you know, the question then is why did they do this? Why do they feel emboldened to do this in the midst of these intense diplomatic negotiations?

Now, the challenge there will be if they bring -- if they link Lebanon to this and the plight of Hezbollah, will that be a non-starter? Because from the Israeli perspective, if Hezbollah remains a key Iranian proxy armed with the ability to wreak havoc on Israel's northern border, that's a security situation that Israel will find unsustainable and essentially a red line. In which case then, would Israel agree to or abide by any scenario that essentially ties their hands and prevents them from responding or protecting Israel's northern border? This becomes a key question. And is this a position that President Trump will enforce and impose on the Israelis? And at which point then does Prime Minister Netanyahu make the decision that Israel's fate and, you know, course in this war will have to diverge from that of the United States, and what could that mean?

I think Iran is identifying that there is now some daylight emerging between the United States and Israel possibly on this, and they're looking to exploit it, but they're also dealing with domestic issues. I mean, the country is suffering economically. The blockade is impacting them. We're seeing reports on Persian social media of student unrest, albeit small but nevertheless some pockets of, you know, mobilization.

And so it's not like the Iranians themselves have all the time in the world to really see this through. They probably feel a different sense of urgency, but it is a sense of -- but it is pressure nonetheless.

HILL: Yes, it certainly is. Benjamin Radd, I really appreciate your insight. Thank you.

Stay with us. We are going to fit in a quick break here as we continue our breaking news coverage.

Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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[23:15:00]

HILL: Back to the breaking news. Iran now reporting explosions in at least three cities as Israel launches a new wave of strikes in retaliation. Israel had vowed to retaliate after Iran launched a wave of missiles into Northern Israel on Sunday, targeting an air base among those. Israel's military said it intercepted waves of missiles from Tehran. This was for the first time, of course, since early April.

A U.S. official says President Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on launching retaliatory strikes in an effort to salvage the potential peace talks with Iran.

In an interview with the Financial Times earlier this evening, President Trump said, Mr. Netanyahu would have to accept any deal the U.S. reaches with Iran because the Israeli prime minister, quote, doesn't call the shots.

Joining us now, CNN's Julia Benbrook, who is traveling with President Trump. She joins us from Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

What are we hearing from the White House at this hour, Julia, in response to these retaliatory strikes from Israel on Iran? JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have reached out to the White House for President Donald Trump's reaction to these latest developments after Israel Defense Forces said that it struck military targets in Western and Central Iran. That coming just hours after the Israeli military said that it had intercepted a wave of ballistic missiles from Iran, what appeared to be the first since early April.

Now, between those two major developments, President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone. An official tells our team that Trump warned, urged Netanyahu not to launch retaliatory attacks here, and also warned of escalating the already soaring tensions there in the region.

In an interview with the Financial Times earlier today, Trump said that he calls the shots here, and that, eventually, Netanyahu is going to have no choice but to agree to whatever deal the U.S. and Iran are able to negotiate. So, where does that potential deal stand? Where does that proposed plan stand right now?

He also had an interview with Fox News, a reporter there stationed in Tel Aviv who was actually watching some of those strikes that were intercepted by Israel earlier, saw them out his window, he said. But he was speaking with Trump, and he asked him for his reaction there pretty much in real time, and Trump said this. He said, it's certainly not going to help negotiations, adding, 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 to express an optimistic view of where those talks have been right now, saying that he believed they were in a good spot, that in this coming week, Monday, we're just hours away from Monday now, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, that he thought they would be able to have a deal, and now this happens.

It is unclear how close those two sides have been, though, because a top Iranian official recently told CNN that those negotiations had been deadlocked over 24 billion in frozen Iranian assets.

[23:20:00]

We also know that just about a week ago, Trump had sent back a proposed deal with Iran asking for changes, and officials told us that those changes really centered around wanting tougher language when it comes to Iran's nuclear commitments, as well as its pledge to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

So, things have been really unclear until now. This makes things even more unclear. We are waiting on an official reaction to this latest development to those strikes from Israel, and we're reaching out. We're trying to get more information on that. And, of course, Erica, we know that a lot of his major updates come on Truth Social. He actually was posting not too long ago, but not about this topic.

HILL: All right. We'll continue to monitor it all. Julie, I appreciate it, thank you. Also joining us for a closer look at the escalation in the Middle East, former Israeli Consul General Ambassador Alon Pinkas. Ambassador, good to have you with us, as always. I so appreciate your perspective here.

When we look at the way things are playing out, we also have the IDF just a short time ago saying that there were missiles that had been launched from Yemen toward Israeli territory. We are seeing an escalation. Where do you believe this puts things right now?

ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL IN NEW YORK: Well, good morning, Erica. Look, this escalation was almost predictable since Israel said it would escalate on its own volition, it would escalate the war in Lebanon. The Iranians came back and said that if Israel attacks Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, then Iran itself would retaliate against Israel. Apparently, no one took anyone seriously, and here we are. So the key here is Lebanon.

Now, President Trump announced very bombastically and very dramatically, as he usually does, a ceasefire in Lebanon that was kept for about two minutes. And now the question is, what happens now? I mean, obviously anyone could tell, you know, it could go in one of two ways. Either this further escalates, meaning Iran launches missiles again and Israel retaliates again, or Israel launches another attack and then Iran retaliates. Or people will say, all right, that was a fling. That was a one a one-time, a one-off and we're going back to the negotiating table.

What it does do, going back to your reporter, Erica, to her report, is that it -- I mean, adds urgency. Because the peace or the negotiations over a memorandum that was supposedly published a month ago but never saw any practical implementation, it creates an urgency. And I think that if Trump is invested in the talks with Iran, which he seems to be because of the Strait of Hormuz, et cetera, et cetera, he would not want this escalation, and he's going to try at least to limit this to a one night exchange of missiles.

HILL: When you bring that up in terms of the urgency, it also makes me think of some of the reporting that we just heard from my colleague, Frederik Pleitgen, who's in Tehran, who just a few days ago was speaking with a senior adviser to the supreme leader, right? And the sense there is, you know, Iran is, as Fred was saying, they're done with the tit-for-tat, that Iran is ready for a larger conflict in this moment. Do you see this as a push, in fact, on the part of Iran to larger conflict?

PINKAS: Look, the Iranians seem to be undeterred from a broader conflict. They seem to be under the impression that they had upended the military imbalance or asymmetry and that thanks to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, they strategically triumphed.

They also retained a large portion of their missile, both production and launching capabilities. So, they feel somewhat empowered and geopolitically. They feel much better than they did the day before the war on February 28th. So, I don't think the Iranians want -- I mean, I can't get into their heads, but I don't think -- it doesn't make sense. It, it has no political or geopolitical logic to engage again in a war. But they caught on something here very interesting. They caught that the moment they bicker with Israel, whether an exchange of salvos or an exchange of incendiary rhetoric, it creates a rift between Israel and the U.S. in the region. And it weakens the Americans.

HILL: Yes, absolutely, it is an important point. And also interesting when you pair it with the fact that we have heard, you know, repeatedly from Iran, that they basically see any action by one as an action by both. As we continue to follow the developments, always good to have your input and your expertise, Ambassador. Thank you.

[23:25:00]

Stay with us. Our breaking news coverage continues in just a moment.

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HILL: Just shy of half past the hour here on CNN, and we continue with the breaking news this hour. Israel's military, rather, saying that it has struck new military targets in Western and Central Iran. Iranian state media says several loud blasts have been heard in the capital of Tehran. Israel had vowed earlier to retaliate following Iran's wave of missiles targeting an airbase in Northern Israel on Sunday. Israel did say it intercepted waves of missiles that had been fired from Iran. This was the first time that had happened since early April.

So, before this exchange, my colleague, Fred Pleitgen, spoke with Iran's foreign minister.

[23:30:03]

It's important to note CNN does operate in Iran with the permission of a government, but CNN maintains full editorial control of its reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: Sir, what's the significance of the Minab missile strike for Iran?

ESMAEIL BAGHAEI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: It was a symbol of merciless and wickedness of the American and Israelis, who knowingly and deliberately targeted this school.

Minab is also very famous now because of around 170 students and their teachers were massacred on that day.

PLEITGEN: The Trump administration says it's still investigating the matter.

BAGHAEI: Look, when the secretary of war, in the first days of their aggression against Iran, clearly said that there would be no mercy, no quarters, and they -- many times, they negated the rules of war. They said, we are not going to have to comply with this, what they call it, the stupid rules of engagement. It means that they intentionally targeted these areas with the purpose, with the intention of terrorizing the whole population into submission.

PLEITGEN: At the same time, you're still negotiating with the Trump administration. Can you give us an update?

BAGHAEI: The main problem of negotiating with this administration is that you have to face so many changing positions, moving the goalpost, different statements, contradictory remarks by different officials. So, it makes the whole process very cumbersome, very unstable and very uncertain. So, the exchange of communication still are ongoing.

PLEITGEN: What are the main sticking points? Is it the frozen assets, the highly enriched uranium, enrichment itself?

BAGHAEI: I can tell you there are quite a number of sticky points, but the main issue is that the Americans must understand that they have to recognize Iran's rights. We don't want any concession, by the way. What we want is our rights under NPT as far as nuclear issue is concerned. And at the same time, when they're talking about our blocked assets, they're not going to give us any concession.

They simply must stop their sanctions. They have to learn not to talk to Iranians like the way they have been used to.

PLEITGEN: How dangerous is the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, and could there be a return to war?

BAGHAEI: We have shown that we are steadfast, we are resolute in defending our national security and national interest. We have shown that we are not going to simply watch their violation of the ceasefire and their violation of our sovereignty and national security.

So, our armed forces are steadfast or resolute to respond to any attacks with all force.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Joining me now, Abbas Milani, director of Iranian studies at Stanford University, also a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, and Trita Parsi, executive vice president at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. It's good to have both of you with us.

Abbas, I'll start with you. It's interesting, especially when we hear in that interview from my colleague, Fred Pleitgen, don't talk to Iranians the way they've been used to, that this needs to be essentially approached differently.

Abbas, how do -- what do you see here that would actually change things? What sort of a different approach would change things?

ABBAS MILANI, DIRECTOR OF IRANIAN STUDIES, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: Well, I don't think the tone is really the sticking point, although the tone from the U.S. administration, President Trump, is uneven, sometimes talks as if he will decide, for example, who the next leader of Iran is. Clearly, those are not winning points.

But I think the sticking point, the reason this new escalation has happened, is that Iran now wants to make sure that Israel doesn't attack Hezbollah, doesn't attack Beirut, doesn't create new zones in Lebanon, and that's why the attack has happened.

And none of the points that he raised they've been all raised many, many, many times before have anything to do with why this escalation has happened now.

HILL: So, you're saying this is all about Hezbollah, this is all about Lebanon. But to your point of the why now, I think the question for a lot of people and the why now is, at least from in terms of what we heard from President Trump, is, you know, things were moving along. President Trump signaling there could be a deal, right, announced as soon as tomorrow.

[23:35:00]

So, am I understanding correctly that if that were to happen, right, part of that deal may not include what is happening between Israel and Hezbollah, and therefore, Iran wants to blunt that in some way?

MILANI: I think clearly some in Iran want to blunt that. I think one of the things you have to understand, and I'm sure that your representative there is under considerable constraint. He's talking from a very authoritarian society.

But one of the problems in Iran today is that there is considerable tension within the regime. There is a minority, they are a minority, but they're a powerful minority who say that there should be no deal. They say that Ghalibaf has committed treason. They organized nightly demonstrations. They're threatening to go and organize a sit-in at the parliament. And they could repeatedly speak in the Iranian media that Iran has won this war, it has the upper hand, and that it should continue on a militant path rather than negotiating. And Hezbollah, they say, Lebanon, they say, is absolutely an indispensable part of a ceasefire.

And Mr. Netanyahu, who I think is not in favor of these negotiations, is not in favor of a quick solution to these very difficult negotiations also, I think, is in a position under pressure at home in an upcoming election to now respond and to having initiated the attack in Lebanon the last 24 hours.

HILL: Trita, when we look at the developments of just the last several hours -- so you have the strikes from Iran, right, into Northern Israel, then you have Israel retaliating, and now we have reports from the IDF of a missile being launched from Yemen toward Israeli territory. How concerned are you about further or ongoing, I should say, escalation?

TRITA PARSI, EXECUTIVE V.P., QUINCY INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT: A deal between the United States and Iran not entail a region-wide ceasefire, the risk of regional escalation will be there. And what the Israelis have done, and the timeline that you listed had a preceding point, which is that the Israelis, despite pressure from the United States, and despite warnings from the Iranians not to attack Beirut, decided to attack Beirut. And then the Iranians stood firm by their word, and they attacked Israel, and now the Israelis are attacking Iran, and now we're seeing how this is spreading.

This is a nightmare for the Trump administration, who I think genuinely wanted to get a deal and wanted to get out. They may not be pursuing it exactly the way that I would have preferred necessarily, but I think that they do want to get an out from this war that should not have been started in the first place. And now we see this risk of a significant region-wide escalation.

I think from the Iranian side, they want to see Trump prove that he can reign in the Israelis. And I think from Trump's side, he does not want to pay the cost of reigning in the Israelis unless he knows that he has a deal with the Iranians.

So, I think the signal from the White House is that they're willing to really reign in the Israelis if there is a deal. But short of a deal, they're not willing to pay the political price for such a move.

HILL: Do you believe, Trita, there still is at this point a path forward to some sort of a resolution, some sort of a diplomatic, if you will, resolution?

PARSI: Oh, there certainly still is a pathway forward. It's getting more difficult, obviously. But I think if we look at the situation and zoom out a little bit, we see that there's been several significant points of escalation just in the last two or three weeks. Despite all of that, the two sides, the U.S. and Iran, did not stop talking.

At one point, the Iranians threatened that they would withdraw from talks, but they never did. And even just today, there have been exchanges of messages between the two sides. So, if we had seen an absolute cutting off of the ongoing talks, then that would be an indication that, at that point, the two sides or one side is really believing that there is no utility left in diplomacy, but that is not where we are despite the escalation that we've seen.

HILL: Trita Parsi, Abbas Milani, I appreciate you both joining us this hour. Thank you.

PARSI: Thank you.

HILL: Stay with us as we continue our breaking news coming to us out of the region. Retaliatory strikes between Iran and Israel, where does this leave those negotiations for a possible end to the war? Stay with us. That's next.

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[23:40:00]

HILL: Hours after Iran launched a missile attack at Israel, the Israeli military responding. The IDF says it has struck military targets in Western and Central Iran. Senior IDF commanders were photographed commanding those strikes, as you see here, from the Israeli Air Force Command Center.

According to state media, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps says the sounds of explosions were reported in at least three Iranian cities, including the capital of Tehran.

Lieutenant Colonel Hal Kempfer is a retired U.S. Marine intelligence officer and also the CEO of GRIP, Global Risk Intelligence and Planning, and he joins me from Los Angeles. Good to have you with us.

When we look at these targets, and I think we can maybe put up a map of those cities that were reportedly targeted, military targets, what do you make of the significance of those locations?

[23:45:00]

LT. COL. HAL KEMPFER (RET.), U.S. MARINE INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: Well, Erica, what I see is there was a number of locations. They didn't want to just hit Tehran itself. They didn't want to just hit a peripheral city like, well, strategic, of course, you know, Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz, but they wanted to send a message across Iran, and I think that message was received. I think that basically they showed not just what they were hitting, but also the capability to hit all those cities, which makes everybody across Iran feel vulnerable to potential Israeli strikes.

HILL: So, there's that vulnerability. As all of this is unfolding as well, we also have yet another threat from Iran saying that they could next target as a choke point the Bab al-Mandab Strait. How significant would that be especially given where this is located, right, and the fact that you have the Houthis in Yemen on the edge of this vital waterway?

KEMPFER: Well, it's -- you know, that's entrance to the Red Sea. I've spent a lot of time there working on maritime security matters. It's very familiar to me. That's the Houthi rebels. They're in Yemen. They've already done anti-ship stuff. They already basically stopped shipping there or almost stopped shipping there before. They have a lot of capability, so, obviously, that's a big concern.

The big thing that's different is this is Iran overtly calling the shots. This is different than before where the Houthis were, sure, they're a proxy and everything, but they seem more autonomous, in this case, this is Iran saying, we're going to have our proxies, the Houthis, actually shutting down this other vital waterway. That's a significant change not just in tone but in direction.

HILL: Yes. It absolutely is something we'll be monitoring closely.

Lieutenant Colonel Hal Kempfer, I really appreciate it. Thank you.

I also want to bring in for a closer look at the escalation across the region, my colleague, Paula Hancocks, who's joining us now from Abu Dhabi. We've talked so much, Paula, about the response. Obviously, what we're hearing from Iranian state media, what we are hearing from Israel. Across the greater region, though, there is a likely renewed concern at this moment. What more are you hearing? PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, Erica. I think the coming hours will be absolutely crucial to see whether or not this ceasefire, which is, I think, fragile not quite the word for it, is going to hold or not. What we have seen over recent hours is a serious escalation, a serious test of this ceasefire that was brought in at the beginning of April.

We have heard just in the last half hour or so from the Israeli ambassador to the United States, he has pointed out some of the targets that Israel hit in Iran, saying that it was surface-to-surface missile launch sites, also infrastructure not related to the energy sector. And he did point out that no self-respecting country would tolerate such an attack.

There, of course, a veiled response really to the U.S. president having asked Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, not to respond to Iran's attacks, but pointing out that Israel had no choice but to respond.

So, what we did see a little earlier was, of course, Iran firing three waves, at least, of those ballistic missiles into Israel, again, the first time that we have seen that since April 8th, which is when the ceasefire came into place. And so, of course, the concern is that this could continue to escalate.

This is what we understand at this point that the Israeli prime minister has been meeting with his security cabinet. We know that there will be many conversations, phone calls behind the scenes at this point. Clearly, the United States, the Trump administration, does not want to see this escalation.

We understand that that they believe that they are close to a deal with Iran, although that's not necessarily being confirmed or replicated from what we're hearing from officials in Tehran. We did hear just recently from the foreign minister pointing out there are no formal negotiations in place, although there are still messages being exchanged.

But what we see from this escalation is a very clear sign that the U.S. president does not appear to have the appetite to go back to kinetic activities with this war, and he really is pushing for some kind of deal with Iran. We heard from Fox News, he said Iran needs to get back to the table and make a deal. This is in an interview with President Trump, saying that what is happening is certainly not going to help negotiations but also pointing out that he wasn't happy about Israel striking the Lebanese capital, Beirut, the southern neighborhood, which is known to be a Hezbollah stronghold, which Iran used as a reason to carry out these ballistic missile strikes.

[23:50:07]

Erica?

HILL: Yes. Paula, I really appreciate it. Thank you.

We are going to continue our coverage after a quick break here. Again, we are following all the latest developments now, the back and forth in terms of retaliatory strikes that we are seeing out of Iran and Israel. Stay with us for the very latest on the other side of a quick break.

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[23:55:00]

HILL: We are continuing to follow the breaking news out of the Middle East, where Israel says it has struck military targets in Western and Central Iran in response to Iran targeting an air base in Northern Israel on Sunday. Israel had vowed to retaliate.

President Trump reportedly urging Israel's prime minister not to retaliate. A U.S. official says that came in a phone call with the prime minister. We will continue to follow these developments for you. The IDF also reporting that a missile was recently launched from Yemen toward Israeli territory.

As these developments continue, be sure to stay with CNN for the very latest.

Thanks so much for joining me this hour. I'm Erica Hill. My colleague Becky Anderson picks up our breaking news coverage from Abu Dhabi after this quick break.

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[00:00:00]

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi.