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Israel, Iran in Fragile Ceasefire; Congress Split about Trump's Decision to Bomb Iran; Soon: Trump Heads to NATO Summit. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired June 24, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[06:00:50]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN THIS MORNING's breaking news coverage of the situation in the Middle East.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with me.

And we are now just hours into an announced ceasefire between Israel and Iran. How is it holding? Well, President Trump touted the deal on social media, writing around midnight Eastern Time, quote, "The ceasefire is now in effect. Please do not violate it."

Just a few hours later, however, Israel accused Iran of doing just that, with reports of Iranian missiles flying towards Northern Israel. The IDF says two of them were intercepted after the ceasefire deadline.

Israel's defense minister says his country will, quote, "respond with force to Iran's utter violation."

Iran denies they violated the deal.

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CORNISH: And just before the ceasefire went into effect, another of Iran's missile attacks killed at least four people in Southern Israel.

Israel had issued alerts for six total waves of Iranian attacks in the past several hours of fighting. Its strikes against Iran also continued until moments before the deadline.

So, while it appears that this fragile ceasefire is in effect, it might be hanging on by a thread.

We've got CNN's Fred Pleitgen here, joining us from Tehran. And, Fred, to start, can you give us some sense of what Iranian officials are saying about these accusations from Israel, that they may have potentially violated the ceasefire?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Audie.

Yes. I talked to a senior Iranian security official, actually, just, I would say, about an hour ago. And he flat out denied that the Iranians had launched any sort of missiles towards Israeli territory. He says so far, no missiles have been fired since the ceasefire went into effect.

The Iranians are also warning the Israelis from striking Iranian territory, saying that then all of Israeli territory would become a target for the Iranians.

So, certainly, the Iranians flat out denying that that was the case.

And actually, just a couple of minutes ago, we also got a statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, claiming that the Israelis had violated what the Iranians call "Iranian soil" three times since the ceasefire went into effect. It's unclear whether they're accusing them of any sort of strikes, but certainly, they are saying that, in some way, shape, or form, their territory was violated by the Israelis.

And this comes, Audie, after -- you're absolutely right. It was really a night where we saw a lot of kinetic activity here over the Iranian capital, especially in the hours leading up to that ceasefire going into effect. There were a lot of airstrikes that took place.

We ourselves were in this position on a rooftop, where we heard jets flying past here. And then pretty big explosions in -- in the near vicinity. Also, a lot of Iranian anti-aircraft fire, outgoing, as well.

This morning, though, everything here is quiet. I've been on the streets of Tehran. There's a lot of cars that are now coming back to the streets. Shops are opening as, of course, people here in Tehran also hope that the ceasefire will somehow hold, despite the fact that, as we've been mentioning, Iran and Israel are already trading accusations that there could have been violations of the ceasefire -- Audie.

CORNISH: Fred, I know it's been hard for people in Iran to get information. The Internet obviously going out here and there. Can you talk about what they are saying about the ceasefire, how they understand it, and what their hopes are?

PLEITGEN: Well, of course, a lot of people, or most people, hope that this -- that the ceasefire is going to hold.

It's been quite interesting to see over the past couple of days that we've been on the ground here. At the beginning, there were a lot of people, when Israel started to air campaign, who left the Iranian capital. But many of them came back in the past couple of days. You can see, especially during the daylight hours, there's a lot more traffic on the streets, a lot more shops opening as people have sort of gotten used to that situation.

They are, however, saying that they hope all of this will end.

There is a lot of public anger here against the Israelis, against President Trump. We were at several rallies where we saw people chanting against the United States, especially after those strikes took place on those Iranian nuclear facilities.

So, the Iranian government, Audie, I think, believes it's in a situation right now where its support among the population here has increased dramatically since these bombing campaigns took place. And it's also something that the military leadership of Iran has said, as well.

[06:05:14]

But on the ground, what we're hearing, seeing from people is that they want to get back to their daily lives. They certainly want to be able to -- to conduct their daily business. And I think what we've been seeing also here is more and more people coming back here to the capital, more and more people trying to get back into some sort of normalcy in the face of this aerial campaign that had been taking place -- Audie.

CORNISH: It's Fred Pleitgen, CNN senior international correspondent in Iran.

OK. So, we've heard a little bit about what is happening on the streets, how people in Iran are talking about this. Now we're going to bring in retired Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson.

General, thank you for being with us this morning.

BRIG. GEN. STEVE ANDERSON (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Great to be here.

CORNISH: I want to start with just the immediate reporting. A few hours ago, Israel saying that they detected an incoming barrage of missiles from Iran. That would be two hours after the ceasefire took effect.

We heard from Fred there. Iran denying this. Can you talk about how significant this is? Or is it just too early after a ceasefire is announced?

ANDERSON: Well, it's probably a little bit too early. There's a lot of coordination required. I've never seen a ceasefire quite like this, where one side starts before another. Usually, it's at the same time, which obviously makes it a lot easier.

But I mean, you know, we've got to take our hats off to Qatar for evidently being the key moderator here. Both sides clearly want to go to ceasefire. I believe that the Israeli campaign has pretty much reached a culmination point. So, it's only natural that they would seek a ceasefire.

And of course, Iran is fighting for its survival. You just heard Fred's reporting. I mean, there's a lot of unrest in the street. They definitely -- it's in their best interest to do a tactical pause.

So, you know, without a doubt, this is probably a good idea, but. But, Audie, I've got to tell you, there's two major problems right now.

First, there's no long-term agreement, you know, that Iran will not seek nuclear weapons, which is why we started this all in the first place.

And the second is there's no accounting for the 400 kilograms of the 60 percent highly enriched uranium that could have been moved. You know, we've heard reports that perhaps 15 trucks were seen leaving on Wednesday from the -- from the Isfahan facility.

And there could be highly rich uranium out there somewhere on the Eastern part of the country that we've got to find.

So, until they solve those two problems, we've got some major problems out there.

CORNISH: And in the meantime, do you expect to hear any -- people have been talking about kind of battle damage assessments, to get any better understanding about what has been accomplished militarily against Iran's nuclear arsenal?

ANDERSON: Yes. I mean, absolutely, it's going to take probably a couple more days. I mean, you know, in order to do the appropriate battle damage, you've got to use not only satellite imagery, which we seem to have plenty of so far, but you've got to have signals intelligence, you know, in which you're monitoring traffic that's going on. You know, communications between key leaders within the Iranian government, et cetera.

And of course, and then you need to have human intelligence. And of course, the Israelis seem to have really good human intelligence. They've had pretty much what we call intelligence dominance throughout this entire period.

But until all those things come together, can you really tell what really happens? I mean, the satellite imagery is great, but it just shows one level. And these -- these mines are particularly, in Fordow, are perhaps 300 feet deep.

So, it's going to be pretty much impossible to know what -- what damage actually occurred, unless you have human intelligence that can provide you that -- that assessment.

CORNISH: Retired Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson, thank you.

ANDERSON: OK.

CORNISH: Now our breaking news coverage continues next. President Trump shedding new light on the ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran. How the deal was brokered.

Plus, any moment now, President Trump will be wheels up, heading to the NATO summit. Will the situation in the Middle East overshadow that meeting?

And a new poll out just more than an hour ago. It shows that Americans -- how Americans feel about the decision to bomb Iran.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People need to rise up and say enough is enough, and we don't want any more endless wars.

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CORNISH: Breaking news this morning: the announced ceasefire between Israel and Iran is now just a few hours old. So, we want to talk about how this all came together.

President Trump says that both Israel and Iran reached out to him to broker it. In a Truth Social post, he congratulated both sides and called the conflict a 12-day war that could have gone on for years and destroyed the entire Middle East.

But Iranian state television offered a different version of events, saying a ceasefire was imposed only after President Trump begged for one following Iran's attack on a U.S. base in Qatar.

Now, as for Israel, they claim to have achieved all the objectives of their operation and removed what they call the immediate threat of a nuclear Iran.

Now, despite the agreement, there is some concern from lawmakers over the president's initial decision to bypass Congress to launch strikes on Iran.

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REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): It's unconstitutional and -- and so, for me, while the president is posting something about a ceasefire, I think what he also posted was an official acknowledgment that this was war. And I think that is something that should be taken into -- into very serious consideration.

REP. DERRICK VAN ORDEN (R-WI): President Trump acted within his constitutional powers. He did his job protecting our allies and American citizens, and that's that. And now we have a ceasefire.

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CORNISH: Joining me now to discuss: Isaac Dovere, CNN senior reporter; Chuck Rocha, Democratic strategist; and Ashley Davis, former George W. Bush White House official.

Isaac, can I just start with you? With the president saying, look, and calling it a 12-day war, kind of putting a -- a timeline around it, so -- in terms of how it's discussed. What do you see in how they approach this moment?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: What we have seen in American politics for the last bunch of years is Donald Trump trying to impose his own vision and his own version of reality on everybody.

And that is what he is trying to do here with this, including saying that there is a ceasefire and here's how it's going to work.

We're going to find out whether Israel and Iran and other countries, especially as he heads to NATO now, followed that.

CORNISH: Yes.

DOVERE: And if we continue living in Donald Trump's world. Maybe we are, and maybe we're not.

CORNISH: Yes. And he's tried to do a couple of deals in the last couple of months with mixed results.

Chuck, I want to come to you, but, Ashley, can I come to you first? Because you hear lawmakers there talking about the War Powers Act, I think from 1973. And the idea that you have to come to Congress.

But it was during the Bush era when you had an open-ended military authorization that I think we're still living with today. What do you see in this moment that Republican and Democratic lawmakers are starting to raise a question?

ASHLEY DAVIS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL UNDER GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, I think there's really just one, which is, Congressman Massie, on the Republican side that really thinks that he potentially broke the War Powers Act.

CORNISH: In the House.

DAVIS: In the House. In the Senate, there is legislation now --

CORNISH: And Rand Paul.

DAVIS: They might be taking up a vote. And Rand Paul is the Republican in the Senate.

I think, from what I understand, Tim Kaine, who is running this effort in the Senate on the Democrat side, said he's going to listen to the briefing today and then decide if he's going to bring up the legislation tomorrow. I think you will --

CORNISH: An intelligence briefing?

DAVIS: Yes. Intelligence briefing by the administration on kind of what has happened.

So, I think that the House will not bring something up, if they do at all, until July. And I don't see that this is passing. Obviously, this is a political statement. Going back to your point about what happened under Bush, that is still in effect. However, it has been said that that's mainly to deal with terrorists. And this -- it has been said several times that this situation does not fit into that.

But according to Article Two of the Constitution, under the commander in chief, he does have the ability to do air strikes. We have not declared war on Iran. Obviously, Biden has done that. Obama has done it. Bush has done it.

So, I think that this is just --

CORNISH: So, you're hearing people looking, right?

DAVIS: Exactly.

CORNISH: With AOC saying, Hey, you mentioned "war" there.

Chuck, can I talk to you about how Democrats are responding in this moment? Because at the end of the day, the president has done real damage to Iran's nuclear ambitions, and now he's talking a ceasefire today.

So, it is a moment for the White House to feel like, look, we have accomplished something.

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It's an interesting time to be a Democrat and to watch how they're reacting to this.

It was something really telling in the statement that the president put out on his Truth Social. He specifically was, like, this was an 11-day war, because he knows that there's no -- nobody palettes a war. He got elected by being an antiwar candidate, I remind everybody.

So, it's important for him to say I had to do this. They're not going to have it, and it's over. Don't worry about anything. I took care of this. I'm strong. There's not going to be anything else you have to worry about.

Because he's worried about repercussions, as you've already seen within his own party are fighting about should we go to war, or shouldn't we? I would draw your attention to Marjorie Taylor Greene or Ted Cruz or other ones there, that there's fighting amongst it, because a lot of folks didn't want any war.

DOVERE: What we don't know. And again, this is how much of Donald Trump's vision of reality is reality; is how much was Iran's nuclear program set back? What damage was actually done. And -- and what will be the continuing fallout from this?

But what -- what a statement about everything, that even on this, the partisan divide -- and it's not just partisan. It's tribal, and it's people who were completely opposed to any of this who were Trump supporters. And then now that he's done it, say it's great.

And Democrats who are opposed to any move here, even if it's attacking Iran with its nuclear facilities and all the threats that all across the world people have been concerned about. And even that falls for a lot of people into the -- the usual camps.

CORNISH: Yes, even as -- as we're going to learn today, the dust is literally settling. You have the president heading to a NATO summit, of course. Will this ceasefire hold even in these hours?

Group chat, please stay with me. We've got a lot to talk about. We're going to continue to monitor breaking news developments out of the Middle East. Any moment now, as you can see, President Trump heading to the NATO summit. And how will his typical kind of go-it-alone approach fare among the allies?

[06:20:08]

Plus, can the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran hold? We're going to be going live to Tel Aviv, where that ceasefire is now in effect.

CNN THIS MORNING's breaking news coverage continues after this.

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CORNISH: President Donald Trump heads to a summit with NATO. You can see his plane standing by. This is just days after launching airstrikes against Iran.

And at this hour, he is departing Washington, en route to the Netherlands for this year's meeting.

So, this will be President Trump's second visit with world leaders just this month, after he suddenly departed the G-7 summit in Canada a little more than a week ago, as the war between Israel and Iran was breaking out.

Now, he returns in the midst of a fragile ceasefire, with diplomatic relations also on thin ice.

[06:25:02]

Joining me now from the Netherlands is CNN's chief international anchor, Christiane Amanpour. And, Christiane, thanks for being here.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: It's great to be here, because this is going to be the big topic of conversation.

Some leaders are already here. I've just spoken to the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, who has really passed the Oval Office test and is doing pretty well in his relationship with President Trump.

And he has said that the Iranian response to those, you know, big bombings of the -- of the nuclear sites, he believes that they match what President Trump says: that it was calibrated and potentially gives way for diplomacy. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: I would lean towards President

Trump's interpretation of it. The military action was also a diplomatic move by Iran. It was -- I mean, we never welcome, obviously, hostilities and -- and reactions, but it was proportionate. It was de-escalatory.

It appears to have been previewed, which allowed -- and there are Canadian soldiers at the Qatari base, as well. So, they were out of harm's way, yes.

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CARNEY: It gives an opening for diplomacy. I think that's the right way to put it. And -- and the question is, does that diplomacy really get traction and move to ending this risk of nuclear proliferation?

And does it lead, as well, to broader -- well, a broader ceasefire in the Middle East, including in Gaza.

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AMANPOUR: And, Audie, that is the question. What are the other things that could lead from this?

But on Iran, of course, many do not understand the timing, because their intelligence did not show that Iran was imminently about to use or weaponize.

But he does say that Iran's enrichment to 60 percent was really a provocation, and that it caused, you know, potentially, Iran to miscalculate. It was trying to prove its capability and negotiate at the same time with President Trump.

But at this time, that was no longer acceptable. And so, Israel and the United States took that action.

CORNISH: Christiane, NATO leaders have for so long leaned on kind of nuclear -- sort of ending proliferation through diplomacy. Are they on the same page with the president? Can we expect any kind of unified statement about this issue from the summit?

AMANPOUR: Well, I'm not sure whether this NATO summit will do that, but they are on board. They all want diplomacy. All of them had called on all sides to de-escalate. You know, until yesterday when President Trump announced after the Iranian calibrated response, proportional response, as they all call it, that there is a ceasefire.

Israel and Iran have declared a ceasefire, although there is some trading of fire right now, we understand. We don't know where this will all lead.

But on the other big issues, he said, for instance, he's going to try to -- and many of the other European leaders are going to try to persuade President Trump to keep up the support of Ukraine. That's one thing. And on the other, to, you know, encourage President Trump to leverage

what he did to help Israel in its setback of Iran's nuclear program, to get Israel to get to a negotiating, you know, situation, again, over the war in Gaza and to get a ceasefire there to end the horrors that are happening in Gaza; to get the hostages back; and to eventually lead to the only thing that will end the Middle East, as he puts it, the Middle East crisis. And that is an eventual path to statehood for the Palestinians.

So, that's what they're hoping Trump will take away from this action that he took in Iran -- Audie.

CORNISH: That's CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour. Thank you.

So, our breaking news coverage of the ceasefire between Israel and Iran continues. There's new polling out, came out in just the last hour, about how Americans feel about the president's decision to bomb nuclear sites in Iran.

And there may be a ceasefire in place. But is Iran's retaliation against the U.S. and Israel over, or is there more to come?

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