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How Democrats Are Responding To Trump's Strike On Iran; Growing Fears Iran Could Block Strait Of Hormuz In Retaliation; Sources: U.S. Sees Indications Iran Is Making Preparations To Attack U.S. Military Installations In The Middle East; Iranian State TV: Iran Has Begun Operation Against U.S. Base In Qatar. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired June 23, 2025 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:33:43]

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: GOP leaders are embracing President Trump and his decision to strike Iran's nuclear sites. But Democrats are left with a familiar question. What is their message? A small handful are backing the attack, including Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer, who said the U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan yesterday was essential to preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Others though, like New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, says it's not just a mistake, it's quote, "Absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment."

My panel is back. I mean, this has been obviously the story of Donald Trump, this era of Donald Trump. What do Democrats do? Who is their leader in this moment? How do you see them -- what do you -- what's your take on their handling of this in the 24 hours since the strike happened?

MOLLY BALL, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: I mean, they've been all over the place and I think Democrats, like Republicans, want to see how this plays out before they take a firm position that might then get upended by events, right? If it turns out that this has gone smoothly and we got in and out and the U.S. is victorious, that's a tough position to be on the record saying was a mistake that will drag us into war forever, right?

So you have a lot of Democrats, I think, in waiting and watching or attacking the president primarily for accusing him of having broken a promise without taking a stance on the strikes themselves.

[12:35:07]

But I think in the stances that Democrats have taken, like the ones that you just read, you do see that they are all over the map and that this is not a party that has a clear sense of where it stands, I think, institutionally on an action like this.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: And it comes after we've seen for the last year and a half, I would say since October 7th, 2023, an internal Democratic Party divide and confusion about how to message around Israel, given different factions within the Democratic coalition. But, you know, Hakeem Jeffries, I think in a statement over the weekend, really tried to point the path forward for the caucus overall, which is to your point, just sort of put this entirely on Donald Trump, right? So he owns whatever happens.

Now that may be a success for the United States at the end of the day that Jeffries is gambling, that maybe he's saying, OK, Donald Trump then owns the success too. But he's just saying a complete and utter ownership of everything related to this and all the fallout belongs on Donald Trump's desk. That's his way to play the politics of it, not going as far as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

But then Chuck Schumer is a leader that if he were not a leader in the Senate, you might imagine he would have a statement that sounds more like instead of lawyers.

RAJU: I agree with that.

HANS NICHOLS, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: That's where his instincts are. I mean, he's always been pretty pro-military action or pro-taking a harder line with Iran. I should be very careful with my words here. You know, David, you just reminded me of something that those of us that came of age during the first Iraq war, or the second, the Pottery Barn rule.

And you're offering an addendum, right? It used to be if you break it, you own it. I think what Hakeem Jeffries is saying is that if you even touch it, you own it. And I think that seems to be the lily pad upon which Democrats are trying to be right now. But everything is going to be taken over by events.

You know, we saw over the weekend that there's a fair amount of Democratic concern over the notification and who was notified and whatnot. And that is a legitimate process foul, and they're upset about that. What my sort of thought on the Trump administration is going forward is how much do they want to make sure this is bipartisan?

And the early indications are bipartisanship is not a priority for Donald Trump on foreign affairs, which if this does continue and extend is going to put the country in a different and difficult position.

RAJU: And on the Schumer point, you know, he was the one who was actually critical of the Obama-Iran nuclear deal at the time, just shows you how his politics have shifted over the years.

I do want to talk about the -- how some on the left are saying Democrats should message us, including former Obama adviser, Ben Rhodes, about talking about how the party should embrace the anti-war mantra.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

BEN RHODES, FORMER OBAMA SENIOR ADVISER: -- candidate except Joe Biden since 2004 has run as an anti-war candidate. Like Barack Obama's entire campaign in 2008 was against Hillary Clinton having voted for the Iraq war. I don't understand why the Democrats aren't saying, hey, Donald Trump said he would end all three of these wars, you know, Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, they're all getting worse, and we should not go to war in Iran. Bibi was wrong to bomb Iran. Like, it's right there.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I do think that we are hearing some Democrats say that. I just think that we're -- this goes back to the cohesive message of really being able to hammer home a united front on the topic. And I think if you look at just what you're saying about Schumer, for example, it's not necessarily that his politics have changed. I think if there was another president in office who did this, he probably would have a different reaction.

But I think that this -- a lot of this is the reaction to President Trump himself. And the Democrats just haven't been as united and as loud in their messaging. So you're hearing some of what Ben Rhodes is saying from some Democrats, but it's scattered and it's not coherent and it's not together and it makes it less effective.

RAJU: Yes, and that's been the case since Trump came back to office.

All right, coming up next, drill, baby, drill will break down President Trump's message on oil prices and what it means for you. That's after a quick break.

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[12:43:31]

RAJU: President Trump has oil on the mind today. This morning, he posted on Truth Social, quote, "Everyone, keep oil prices down. I'm watching. You're playing right into the hands of the enemy. Don't do it." And then, two minutes later, he added to the energy department -- "To the Department of Energy, drill, baby, drill! And I mean now."

It comes up in growing fear that Iran could retaliate by disrupting shipping in the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

I want to bring in Jason Bordoff, he's the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University and a former National Security Council Energy adviser to President Obama. Jason, thank you so much for being here with me this afternoon. Explain to our viewers the significance of the Strait of Hormuz and what can Iran really do and what would the impact of any of those actions be?

JASON BORDOFF, FOUNDING DIRECTOR, CENTER ON GLOBAL ENERGY POLICY AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.: Well, thanks for having me on. Yes, it's understandable. President Trump's concerned with oil prices, which we should be clear, haven't surged into the triple digits. This is sort of what's happening now in the Middle East is kind of the mother of all geopolitical oil risk.

And while oil prices are $10 to $15 higher than where they were not long ago, they're not surging into $100, $100 plus territory yet. But the question is what might happen as you asked and what could happen. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most critical choke points for oil and natural gas transit in the world, roughly 20 percent of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas.

Iran theoretically, although it would impose damage on itself, could target, restrict access and try to make it harder for oil to transit through that strait.

[12:45:07]

It could launch missiles and target oil facilities as it did five or six years ago to an important oil facility in Saudi Arabia. It could potentially use asymmetric tools like cyber security, cyber risk to attack energy assets around the world. So as this escalates, energy is a core tool in what Iran has to work with, what others have to work with as well. And Iran's a major producer of oil, the third largest producer in OPEC.

RAJU: Jason Bordoff, I'm going to have to cut this a little bit short because we have -- thank you for joining us, we have had some new reporting and I need to bring in Kristen Holmes here who has something about Iranian retaliation we're hearing.

HOLMES: Yes, so we are hearing that the United States is now preparing for Iranian retaliation on U.S. assets, including potentially the Air Force Base in Qatar, which we also had just been reporting that the airspace had closed, that they were saying it was out of an abundance of precaution.

But we are now learning that they're making -- that they've learned that Iran is making preparations to attack these assets. And again, including that air base. And just one quick note on that, President Trump was the first president to visit that air base since 2003 when he was in the Middle East for his first foreign trip.

So he's actually been to that location. It's something that we put on TV, we kind of highlighted as a big U.S. asset. And so if this comes to fruition, one thing to keep in mind.

RAJU: What's the reaction that's making preparations to attack U.S. military installations in the Middle East? If Iran does carry through with this, what are the impacts?

CHALIAN: Well, I mean, watching in real time how President Trump will sort of calibrate a response to the response. And again, as we've been saying, this will depend on what it looks like, right? Does the response from President Trump in the U.S. differ, depending if an American is harmed, if there is an actual attack in this response? Or if it's just an attempted attack on a U.S. installation and fails?

Do we see different responses come out of the administration? I think watching that calibration is going to be key to understanding how escalatory of an event this may be.

NICHOLS: And if the first term is any guide, then whether or not any Americans are actually harmed in a sort of serious way, we can argue about the strikes that, the Iranian strikes that happened in 2020 that hit the air base in Iraq. There's some severe brain injuries, but there weren't real -- there weren't the kind of casualties that draw a lot of attention. There are no deaths. I think that's a crucial point here. If Trump has the same mentality, if Trump 2.0 looks like Trump 1.0.

RAJU: And just if you're just joining us again, the U.S. has seen indications that Iran is making preparations to attack U.S. military installations in the Middle East, including in an air base in Qatar that's according to officials familiar with the matter. For Trump, if this happens, he has to respond. Because he has said, if you do -- if you retaliate, we'll retaliate in kind.

BALL: Well, that's how these things get started. I mean, the Iranians look very weak after the U.S. strikes and the continuing Israeli barrage. They were under pressure to show that they could do something in return. If this is what they have chosen to do, I think as David's saying, the amount of damage that is done, the extent to which this attack is successful, and whether there are other surprise attacks, whether it's done in concert with other attacks, all of that is going to determine whether and how the U.S. then responds. But if this becomes then a tit for tat of exchanging retaliatory strikes, that potentially paves the way for a broader, deeper, longer conflict.

HOLMES: And I just want to -- we just got this in from a senior White House official that the White House and the Department of Defense are aware of and closely monitoring potential threats to the Air Force Base in Qatar.

RAJU: So this is the official response.

HOLMES: So we are getting this now from the White House -- from a senior White House official.

RAJU: OK. I want to bring in our colleague, Zach Cohen, to tell us about what some of these potential targets might be.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY & JUSTICE REPORTER: Yes. The U.S. military has been preparing for the possibility of an Iranian retaliation against U.S. forces in the Middle East since before Donald Trump decided to take that step and conduct those military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities. And look, in Qatar, that's a base that can house about 10,000 U.S. troops.

Obviously, it's a sprawling air base with U.S. assets that have been actually repositioned in the time leading up to the strike. We know that U.S. military officials moved airplanes that they could not protect under a covering to a different location, similar at the U.S. base in Bahrain, where U.S. Navy ships were repositioned for -- in anticipation of a similar retaliatory response from Iran if Donald Trump did give that go order.

And so, look, I can tell you too, defense officials have been on edge in the aftermath of Saturday's U.S. military strike, kind of anticipating, again, what Iran said it would do, which is to target U.S. forces across the region. They have a variety of proxy groups that can launch ballistic missiles at U.S. forces and also conduct other types of attacks. So that is what we are potentially seeing start up here now.

[12:50:10]

RAJU: All right. And let's go to Kaitlan Collins who's live for us at the White House. Because Kaitlan, the president is in the Situation Room right now amid what we're learning here that there is U.S. making preparations for Iran to attack U.S. military installations, including Qatar. What are you learning?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, yes, here's -- Manu, here's what we know. The president is set to meet with his national security team inside the Oval Office. That's expected to start right now in about 10 minutes.

I was just upstairs at the White House. They said that right now that meeting is still planned. But what's happening inside the Situation Room as of this moment, as they are watching to see this potential Iranian retaliation, potentially in Qatar right now, is we are told by a senior White House official the Joint Chiefs Chairman, General Dan Caine, is in the Situation Room right now alongside the Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, as well.

Other officials are headed that way to get the latest update on what exactly is happening, because they have been closely tracking to see when and where Iran was going to retaliate. And also the scope of that retaliation is a key part that the White House is watching here, because it will determine what the United States' response is.

We've seen officials say, do not attack American troops, do not attack American assets. But obviously an extremely large U.S. base is there, is in Qatar. The President was actually just there a few weeks ago speaking to the U.S. troops that are stationed there during his trip inside the Middle East.

And so this is what we know is happening right now, that these officials are inside the Situation Room. And obviously the question is whether or not the president joins them there for his meeting instead of having it inside the Oval Office. It's basically moving very, very quickly over here at the White House right now, Manu.

RAJU: Kaitlan, I'm going to go to Nick Paton Walsh who's live for us now, because we are now learning -- hearing from the Iranian state TV that says that Iran has begun its operation against U.S. assets in Qatar. Nick, what are you learning?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, it is minimal information at the moment, but Iran's state media said that the operation Basharat al-Fath, the glad tidings of victory, has begun against the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

Now, that may explain some of the videos that we've been seeing -- sent to CNN that show what appear to be explosions in the sky over what we're told is Doha. Look, Qatar, incredibly small. The air base Al Udeid, frankly, enormous in relative terms. Many viewers may be familiar with it as the place through which the United States launched most of its evacuation of Kabul back many years ago now. And so an extraordinary moment here. I should point out, though, as we begin to learn more about this particular attack, there are important things to bear in mind.

One is the context of this. In the last hour, we've been discussing the possibility of this occurring on cable news. So the element of surprise certainly lost here as well.

And also, over the past week or so, the United States has pulled a lot of its aircraft out of that base, fearing specifically an attack like this. And that was well reported at the time, well publicly known. And I can imagine possibly, too, given the warning to Americans in Qatar this morning from the U.S. Embassy to shelter in place.

That was echoed shortly afterwards by the Qataris who closed their airspace to commercial and other traffic, that this was well known it was potentially coming. And therefore, it's highly likely that U.S. personnel on Al Udeid are also sheltering effectively, one would potentially hope as well. We don't know if any of these projectiles or what potentially I imagine are projectiles used in an attack like this by Iran, if any of them have got through defenses.

Some of the videos I've seen from over the skies in Doha do seem to suggest air defenses in action. And look, the United States has some of the more efficient ones out there. And so I think what we may be looking at in the minutes or hours ahead is what we've seen from Iran in the past, which is a response, quick, against a key military target one which they do appear to have telegraphed here to the extent that preparations for this have been discussed on our air in the hours beforehand and resulted in a closure of Qatari airspace.

And this may be like we've seen in the past, Iran making a loud and in its vision, fiery response to an attack on its key infrastructure, and then perhaps hoping to close the door on this or draw a line under the exchange. Now, I think we saw previously after the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the most preeminent military figure that Iran has in 2019, deep concerns of a conflagration region-wide after people believed Iran could respond to that assassination ordered by President Donald Trump back then.

Many shocked, frankly, at the unprecedented move. Critics of the president saying it was reckless. But Iran did not really respond in a, I'd say, meaningful. There were injuries reported at the base that they hit as a response of that.

[12:55:01]

But the response comparatively muted, as compared to what many were concerned might indeed happen. I should say, though, what we're seeing now is still in progress. But as I say, it's something we've discussed on air in the minutes preceding it, suggesting certainly the element of surprise is being lost. But we'll have to see if that's impacting exactly now. RAJU: And just for our viewers, that is Doha on your screen that we're looking at right now. And Nick, there are about 9,000 U.S. troops that are stationed in Qatar, and the 379th Air Expedition Wing is also stationed there. Tell our viewers about the significance of this location from a strategic point of view for the United States, and why the Iranians might have chosen to strike there first.

PATON WALSH: Yes, look, I mean, you say first. This may be the full extent of it. We don't know if there are other attacks potentially occurring as we speak. This is the hub for CENTCOM, for Central Command, the regional military command of an area which covers Syria, Afghanistan, when the U.S. had its longest war there, Iraq, Iran. It's, you know, the busiest part --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Anderson Cooper in Tel Aviv. We have major breaking news this hour. Iran moments ago saying it has begun an operation against a U.S. military base in Qatar. President Trump expected to be convening with his top national security advisers right now at the White House.

CNN's Clarissa Ward is here with me now. We've seen some images. This is very early reporting. What are you hearing?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So we've seen images being posted by people in Doha that appear to show the night sky lighting up with what would assume are intersects of Iranian ballistic missiles. We don't know yet how many missiles, but we can assume that the target is the Al Udeid Air Base. This is the forward command base for CENTCOM.

COOPER: This is the largest U.S. base in the Middle East.

WARD: There's about 10,000 U.S. troops there. So this is significant. I would also say it's very interesting because Qatar has traditionally played the role of mediator. They've had very friendly relationship with Iran and its various proxies. Needless to say, they're probably going to be very unhappy about this, but clearly Iran has made the decision that the gloves are coming off and they're going after these U.S. bases.

We don't yet know if it's only this U.S. base in Qatar, Al Udeid Base. We don't yet know if all of these missiles, and how many of them, again, we don't know, have been intercepted or if some of them have made impact. And so we're waiting to get a clearer picture.

We're trying also to verify those videos that we're seeing, which I should say, Anderson, for the people of Qatar, this is an extraordinary site, right? They have not been actively involved in this conflict on any level beyond --

COOPER: Qatar is where Hamas has been based, actually.

WARD: Hamas has headquarters there. Taliban has headquarters there. Hamas -- I mean, Qatar has played the role of the sort of mediator of the region and has tried to get along with everyone on a certain level in order to do that. So to see an attack take place in Qatar, I think will catch some people by surprise. A lot of people have been speculating that Iraq might be an easier target.

So, yes, we're trying to get more information as to whether any of these missiles have made impact. A number of people reporting, including Barak Ravid, obviously, who's, you know, part of the CNN family as well, but they've spoken to Israeli officials who are confirming this. But we are trying to get a better picture of how many missiles, whether this is the beginning, whether this is just a statement piece, and crucially, whether any of them have made impact.

COOPER: This is the forward headquarters for CENTCOM in the Middle East.

WARD: It is, and so it's a significant target. 10,000 U.S. troops. When you look at the broader picture across the region, 40,000 U.S. troops. A quarter of them, roughly, are at this air base. So -- and I don't know if we're able to show -- are those the pictures that we have been hoping to get from Doha?

COOPER: I think that those are just --

WARD: That's the Doha skyline.

COOPER: Right.

WARD: So what we were seeing earlier in multiple images and videos being posted online by people inside Qatar was, again, a startling image for Qataris of the sky lighting up, you know, similar to what we have been seeing here in (INAUDIBLE) every night.

COOPER: And we don't know the interceptors that we saw, whether that is Qatari authorities or U.S. authorities from this base. And I think you raise an important point. What is this something sort of a message sending? Is it a perfunctory strike that Iran feels they have to respond in some way, and they do this and it's one and done, or will there be more? Will there be other locations as well?

WARD: And this is something we had discussed last night a lot -- this idea of, does Iran just do something to try to project strength, but not with the objective of killing a lot of Americans because they know that will result in a retaliation, but they still, particularly for their own domestic political audience, need to try to show or to save some face, if you will --