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Laura Coates Live

Israel Launches Pre-Emptive Strikes Against Iran; Major Legal Back and Forth Over Trump's Use of California's National Guard. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired June 12, 2025 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, I'm Laura Coates along with Jim Sciutto. We begin with a major breaking news story and a growing risk of open war in the Middle East. Israel has launched what it's calling preemptive strikes against Iran, targeting Iran's nuclear program and long-range missile capabilities.

We still are learning the full scope of the damage. You can see this video from Iranian state TV. It is showing smoke and buildings on fire in the capital, Tehran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement shortly after the strikes revealing what Israel targeted. And that is not just a one-day attack that we're dealing with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat. We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear weaponization program. We targeted Iran's main enrichment facility in Natanz. We targeted Iran's leading nuclear scientists working on the Iranian bomb. We also struck at the heart of Iran's ballistic missile program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: The video you're looking at here now shows smoke rising from the Natanz Nuclear Facility that Netanyahu just mentioned. Israeli security source tells us that top Iranian military leaders were targeted in these strikes. Iranian state media says the head of the country's Revolutionary Guard has been killed.

The question now is how and when Iran will respond. Israeli sources tell us that they are bracing for a retaliation. And Iran has done so before. Right now, the skies are clear over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. But we are learning that some senior Israeli officials have been moved to secret locations.

Back in Washington, sources say that President Trump is convening a cabinet-level meeting to focus on the U.S. response. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has confirmed, quite clearly, quite publicly, that The U.S. had no involvement in these strikes. COATES: CNN's Jeremy Diamond and Oren Liebermann start us off live in

Jerusalem, as well. Oren, let me ask you this question. Tell me what more you're learning about, about this very operation now underway.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, the size and scope of this operation are -- are frankly remarkable. You can see behind me here a new day here coming on the Middle East in what is a very changed region over the course of just the past several hours. Iranian state media, as you pointed out, reporting that the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, General Hossein Salami, has been killed in these Israeli strikes.

Israel has said it went after senior military commanders, as well as senior commanders and officials within the nuclear program as part of these strikes that are meant to go after not only nuclear facilities. And we saw the smoke billowing from the Natanz Enrichment Nuclear Facility there, but also, ballistic missile capabilities and others, as well.

This is not a one-off and the operation is expected to last potentially several days here. An Israeli military official confirming a short time ago that a second wave of attacks had gotten underway. So, you see here dozens of targets -- dozens of strikes against a sweeping array of targets across Iran, pretty much at the edge of the range of Israel's military carrying these out, the planning that went into it.

The U.S. and Israel making clear this was a unilateral Israeli operation, but the timing of this cannot be ignored. Coming just days before the sixth round of nuclear talks between the U.S. and Tehran, Israel had made clear that it was concerned about the direction of those talks was -- and believed that Iran itself was not negotiating.

Honestly, an open lean was simply trying to buy time. It is in that scenario that Israel carried out these broad strikes that are expected to last potentially hours, if not days here with the Home Front Command issuing a warning right as Israel acknowledged these strikes, saying that there can be no large gatherings, there will be a closure of educational activities.

And people need to be ready to head to shelters as the country braces for what could potentially be a much larger retaliation than we have seen in the past two times Iran launched attacks on Israel, and those were breathtaking in and of themselves. Hundreds of ballistic missiles, hundreds of drones the first time, as well.

Overwhelming in some cases, Israel's air defense are needing, Israel's air defense needing assistance from other countries in the region to cope with that. This expected to be potentially much larger. The question, of course, is when does it come?

COATES: The question is still looming. I want to bring in Jeremy to the conversation, as well, because as you know, Israel is saying that it's going to target Iran's nuclear facilities, the military assets, and also key figures in the Iranian military. And this operation, as Oren was talking about, could take a long time. So, talk to me, Jeremy, about the timeline and the targets here.

[23:05:00]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, an Israeli source who I spoke with this evening told me very clearly that this is -- their goal is ultimately to destroy Iran's nuclear program, to eradicate it altogether. And that is a question as to whether or not Israel can actually accomplish that goal. But what is clear is that in order to try and get there, they are going to carry out this operation for several days, if not weeks.

An Israeli source told me very clearly the first thing they said on the phone was this is not a one-day operation. And so, indeed, we are seeing that they are going after a range of targets. They are going after nuclear facilities.

They are going after military targets and they are also going after senior Iranian figures. And I'm told that in coordination with this Israeli Air Force attack on Iranian facilities, there is also a Mossad operation happening right now, deep in the heart of Iran according to an Israeli security source.

And so, what that means is operatives on the ground who are also working to dismantle Iran's air defense and missile capabilities and also clearly that there has been involvement from these clandestine services in terms of the intelligence gathering and the targeting of some of these senior Iranian figures including the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps who we saw was indeed taken out in one of those strikes tonight.

COATES: The severity of this cannot be overstated, Oren. I mean, Israel is saying that it's bracing for what it calls very significant retaliation from Iran. Iran has fired missiles, including ballistic missiles, at Israel just last year. What do they expect that retaliation might look like?

LIEBERMANN: The short answer is bigger. Israeli airspace is closed. There is no timeline on how long it will remain closed. But they've made clear that there are no incoming or outgoing flights as of right now. Meanwhile, hospitals are preparing, essentially clearing out and making sure they have the space in case the retaliation effectively gets through and there are a large number of casualties on the ground here.

Meanwhile, we have gotten multiple alerts on our phones from Israel's home front command saying people have to be near shelters and have to essentially obey the instructions from Home Front Command if and when they come. The key question, of course, is when is that retaliation coming? Iran has made it clear they're working on it and they're planning on it and that it will arrive.

It is expected to be bigger than what we've seen before. Potentially, that means even more ballistic missiles. That makes it harder for Israel's sort of vaunted aerial defense systems to intercept all of that. Another challenge may be that intercepting those in the past was done with -- in coordination with the U.S., which will almost certainly take part, but also other countries in the region that have helped defend Israel.

It's unclear if they'd be willing to do so because this was a unilateral action by Israel. If they're not, this becomes an exponentially harder effort to try to defend against what might be, frankly, a massive retaliation.

COATES: A terrifying limbo we find ourselves in watching. Oren Liebermann, thank you. Please stand by Jeremy, as well. We've got more.

SCIUTTO: Joining us now, CNN political and national security analyst, also happens to work for "The New York Times," David Sanger. Thanks so much for joining tonight, David.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, what an evening, Jim.

SCIUTTO: David, as you look at the range of these operations, nuclear facilities, missile installations, and also senior leadership, does that look to you like an attempt at regime decapitation, regime change?

SANGER: It certainly looks right now, Jim, like it is an effort to decapitate the nuclear and the military leadership. We haven't seen them go after the political leadership, at least as far as we know. And I'm not sure whether they have the specificity of targeting to be able to do that. But two other things jump out at me at this.

You know, for years, Jim, you and I have covered events where the Israelis and sometimes the United States have taken some pretty deep pokes at the Natanz Nuclear Enrichment site, which is, of course, the heart and soul of the Iranian program. They never, however, actually went to try to bomb it, and it is somewhat hardened and underground, not deep underground, but underground.

And we don't know right now whether they achieved their main target here, which was to try to destroy, as Oren suggested before, the heart of the nuclear program. We don't know if they've made any attempt to go after the other major facility for the nuclear program, the Fordow Enrichment site, which is deep underneath a mountain, about a half mile under that mountain and probably beyond Israel's reach.

And we don't know about whether they have gone after all the rest of the nuclear infrastructure and missile infrastructure. If they did it, then it might be harder for Iran to respond the way the Iranians feel like they should, because their own missile program has been crippled to some degree.

[23:10:03]

SCIUTTO: No question. The White House, as you know, of course, David, you've been covering these much like you covered and we covered the Obama administration negotiations with Iran. The White House was planning to continue those negotiations this Sunday meeting on Oman, U.S. and Iranian officials. I imagine that those negotiations are -- are done? SANGER: I imagine they are. I can imagine the Iranians sending their foreign minister to meet Mr. Witkoff in Oman this weekend as their military leadership is dead and their -- many of their facilities are smoking ruins.

I think the bigger risk right now is that Iran has some surviving parts of the nuclear program and this attack drives it much more deeply underground -- that they withdraw from the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, that they simply say at this point they will conduct their nuclear activities without inspection. And while I don't think they could, you know, get back to where they are super quickly, all the past attacks we've seen, they've recovered faster than we thought.

COATES: You know, David, the President campaigned on not having any new conflicts break out on his watch, as we all know. So, how do you expect him to message this in the coming days?

SANGER: It's going to be a little bit difficult because, you know, if this had happened under a previous president, Laura, I think you would have heard President Trump say, well, this never would have happened while I was president because Netanyahu respects me too much and, you know, respects the negotiation process that is going on here.

But in this particular case, Netanyahu listened to the President make his case for letting diplomacy work and decided to short-circuit it. And I would bet that as we dig deeper into this, we're going to find there were some pretty heated exchanges.

I wouldn't be at all surprised because the President did say he wanted to solve this problem peacefully, and he made it clear as recently as this afternoon that he didn't think the diplomacy had yet played out even though it was clearly not making much progress.

COATES: David Sanger, thank you so much for your insight.

SANGER: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: I do want to bring in now Congressman Seth Moulton, Democrat from Massachusetts. He serves on the House Armed Services Committee and we should note as a former Marine Corps officer. Congressman, thanks so much for taking the time this evening.

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): Good to see you.

SCIUTTO: So, first of all, your reaction to these attacks tonight, and is it safe to say that Israel and Iran are now at war?

MOULTON: Well, it certainly looks that way. And although it's very early hours, not even early days, Israel, of course, has said this campaign will go on for a long time and Iran has promised to respond. It's striking that the U.S. administration response, as we saw in Secretary Rubio's statement, is to distance itself from Israel's actions, to say this has nothing to do with us, this is not the route that we were pursuing, and almost pleading with Iran not to attack U.S. facilities. So, it's really going on its own here. We might find out in coming

days that Netanyahu is really going on his own. He's had a lot of success with taking out Iranian proxies. But taking out Iran's nuclear facilities is a different ballgame. So, it's really way too early to see if this will work out.

SCIUTTO: In that statement from Secretary Rubio which we should know included no even phrase of support for -- for Israel or for these strikes, do you see an attempt at plausible deniability for U.S. involvement, or do you see almost explicit or at least implicit disapproval of these strikes?

MOULTON: Well, it's a little hard to say but you know, in general, the Trump administration, especially -- but U.S. administrations in general, have been pretty quick to jump to Israel's side in the past.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

MOULTON: So, it's a pretty striking admission. And yes, they're pleading with Iran not to attack U.S. facilities, but they're also clearly saying this is not the approach that we wanted to take. And although Iran might not believe that, it's a lot of evidence to suggest that this is not what Donald Trump wanted to see happen.

SCIUTTO: You, of course, served in -- in some of the endless wars right in the Middle East is as President Trump has described them. If the intention here by Israel is regime change, I don't have to tell you that the record of attempts at regime change in the region in recent years and decades is not a good one, and the U.S. has cautionary tales of its own to tell. Is that a -- achievable goal for Israel with these strikes, even with a series of strikes over several days, as Israeli officials seem to be describing?

[23:15:06]

MOULTON: Well, my primary concern is that it's less achievable with this kind of military action because this kind of military action empowers the hardliners. It empowers the people in Iran who have said you can't negotiate with the West. We can't have a deal. We need to just pursue this program militarily. And it will certainly reinforce the case that as soon as these strikes are over, Iran should reconstitute its nuclear program.

This is one of the most important questions, Jim, that's always left out, is after this ends, whatever it is, how long does it take Iran to reconstitute? I asked that question of the commander of central command yesterday in a classified hearing, I can't tell you what the answer was because it's classified. But I'll tell you that's a chief concern that I have with any type of military action.

I would love to see a regime change in Iran, and actually a lot of Iranian people want to see that, as well. Iran is more right for a regime change today than Iraq was back in 2003, but you don't get regime change by empowering the hardliners. In fact, you might get a regime that's even worse. SCIUTTO: Do you fear that the U.S. might end up in this war despite

its own desire not to? That either, for instance, when, and perhaps we could expect that Iran will retaliate, that the U.S. could be expected to help defend Israel from those strikes as it has done in the past, at which point, we don't know. But Iran might then strike the U.S., view the U.S. as a-- as a party to this war? Is there inertia here that -- or slippery slope that drags the U.S. into this?

MOULTON: Well, I'm concerned about that. And clearly the Trump administration is very concerned about that since that's what Rubio's statement focuses on. Please don't attack us. And David Sanger is absolutely right. You know, if this had happened under Biden, Trump would be jumping up and down saying, you see, Biden's weak. And that's why Israel's out of control and another war is starting in the Middle East.

Well, this is all happening under Donald Trump. And he's making it very clear through his officials that he's trying everything he can do to not let this spread to the U.S., not let us get drawn in, and --and let's not forget that as dangerous as Iran is with a nuclear weapon. And let me be clear, I've always been strongly, strongly opposed to Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon.

But as dangerous as that is, is not the biggest national security threat the United States faces. Our biggest national security threat is in China, which -- in Asia, where China could literally start World War three over Taiwan. And you know what makes it a lot less -- a lot more likely for China to invade Taiwan? It's seeing the United States bogged down in a war in the Middle East.

SCIUTTO: And this of course would be the second war that Trump hoped to end through diplomacy, through the force of his strength and personality, thinking Ukraine and here and perhaps those efforts thwarted. Congressman Seth Moulton, we appreciate you joining tonight.

MOULTON: See you, Jim.

COATES: We have much more on this breaking news ahead and Fred Pleitgen will, with his deep experience reporting in Iran, standing by with how they might respond tonight. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:22:56]

COATES: Breaking news tonight, Israel striking Iran, saying they've targeted the country's nuclear and military sites. I want to bring in CNN's Frederick Pleitgen, who was recently reporting from Tehran. Fred, the question on everyone's mind tonight is when will Iran retaliate and what will it look like? Do you have any idea?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi Laura, well it's obviously very difficult to stay in these early stages, but one of the things that we can glean from past attacks on Iran is that the Iranians certainly are going to do this in their own way and on their own time, as well. I recall in 2020 I was actually in Iran when Qassem Soleimani, the

head of the Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, who, of course, was for the Iranians a legendary general and someone who was a big adversary of the United States for a very long time in the Middle East, as well, when he was killed we were on the ground.

And the Iranians came in and brought us to an interview with a senior Iranian leader, senior advisor to the supreme leader and said look, the United States killed a general who was very important to us. We are going to retaliate with missile strikes and then it's up to the United States where things go from there.

So, it was a calibrated response and certainly a careful one by the Iranians, as well. And I think that's something that you might see now, as well, that the Iranians are going to take their time, see exactly what their response is going to be.

And over the past couple of days, Laura, I've actually been in touch with senior Iranian officials and they've been telling me that they've already put together a target list -- of targets in Israel, as they said, including what they called "Israel's Clandestine Nuclear Program," and so -- and nuclear facilities. And so, the Iranians clearly already have a target list worked out.

Of course, the weapon of choice for the Iranians has been, for the last couple of years, mostly missiles and drones. So, that's something that most probably, we are going to see again. But again, when and where at this point in time, absolutely unclear. But the Iranians do say that they have a plan in place already, Laura.

SCIUTTO: It's such a good point to remind of the Soleimani strike --

COATES: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: -- as we try to gauge Trump's reaction to these -- these Israeli strikes. Trump, of course, ordered his own quite aggressive strike on Iran, killing Soleimani in his first term.

[23:25:01]

Fred, Israel is saying tonight that Iran has significantly advanced towards obtaining a nuclear weapon. Now, that's a quote there. Do we know more about what that statement's based on?

PLEITGEN: Well, first of all, the Iranians have said that their nuclear program is completely civilian in nature. That's something that we've heard from the Iranians. And I was in Tehran just a couple of days ago speaking to folks from the foreign ministry there. And they kept saying, look, Iran's nuclear program is for civilian purposes. If the U.S. wants things like inspections, that's absolutely no problem.

But one of the things that, of course, they have said is that enrichment is something that they want to continue to do. And if we look at the past couple of days where that resolution was filed by the International Atomic Energy Agency claiming that Iran was not in compliance with some of the things that the IAEA wanted to do, that the Iranians were saying that they were going to do enhanced enrichment, there were facilities already in place for that.

So, the enrichment is definitely something that is key for the Iranians, something that they'd say that they want to continue to do. And certainly something where the capabilities have increased over the past couple of years as a lot of this has been going on. But again, the Iranians have been very adamant saying that they are not after a nuclear weapon.

They say that there is a fatwa, an Islamic decree against having a nuclear weapon. It's not something that they're after. They're willing to have outside powers conduct inspections into their nuclear facilities, but that uranium enrichment is something that they definitely want to keep, they say.

SCIUTTO: And listen, it's worth noting, it's a simple fact that Iran's breakout period has shortened since President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal. It's a fact. Fred Pleitgen, thanks so much. Joining us now, former spokesperson for the IDF and senior fellow at FDD, retired Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus.

Also with us, CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Good to have you both on tonight. Jeremy with us, as well. Lieutenant Colonel Conricus, as we, and I'm certain Israel gauges potential Iranian retaliation, I just wanted to remind viewers of what Iran carried out in October last year when they fired multiple missiles, many dozens of missiles and drones at Israel. And even with Israel's formidable air defenses, some of those missiles got through. We were there, and here was that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO (voice-over): A deadly fireworks display over Tel Aviv. Goodness, there was an impact just to the left of us here.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): And you're talking about Tel Aviv, Jim. We are looking at pictures right now. We are looking at pictures of Tel Aviv, what you're describing.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Oh, Jesus.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Oh.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Oh, God. Okay guys, we got to get off the roof. These are coming down right next to us here.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Please do, Jim. Please do.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): They're coming down. One just about -- we got to go inside.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Jim, please take cover.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SCIUTTO (on-camera): Point being, some of the missiles could get through. And I wonder, one might expect Iran to fire more, attempt to overwhelm those defenses, fire them in groups, fire them while the air defense systems are reloading, et cetera. Does Israel have the capability to defend itself?

JONATHAN CONRICUS, RETIRED LIEUTENANT COLONEL, FORMER IDF SPOKESPERSON: Yeah. Well, hello and happy to be here again. I think I'm not entirely in agreement with how you're reading the situation and how the previous speaker presented the situation. And I would like to offer my perspective on it.

I think we're in a different situation. I think what Israel is doing is not something minor that will leave all of Iran's weapons systems intact and allow Iran to unleash firepower at Israel like they did twice in the past. I think Israel has learned a lot of lessons from the April and October events. And I think what Israel is doing now in the second and third and fourth wave of strikes in Iran is taking care or at least trying to eliminate or significantly cripple Iran's capacity to retaliate against Israel with its vaunted ballistic missiles and drones.

In addition to that, I think that what Israel, you know, first things first, what Israel apparently is striking now after having successfully eliminated a lot or significant key military figures in Iran, which is, I think, a tremendous achievement to catch so many Iranian seniors off guard. But what Israel is doing now is striking the nuclear facilities and people affiliated with the nuclear weapons program.

So, first things first, and that's happening now. And I'm not entirely sure that we will see Iran having the capacity to retaliate as they did last time, because Israel will take preemptive measures against it and not wait for air defenses to be the only line of defense.

[23:30:08]

COATES: This is actually just into us just now. Iran's supreme leader says that "Israel must expect severe punishment." That's the quote. Colonel Leighton, what could Iran's counterattack look like with this now warning?

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, RETIRED COLONEL, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, this could be very interesting. So, when you look at, Laura, how the Iranians used to do these attacks, you when you look at what happened in October of last year and the situation earlier that year before that, you have a situation where they have a lot of rockets, a lot of missiles, and of course the drones.

So, what I think it will look like now would be a massive drone attack if -- if they can mount that kind of an attack. And Jonathan makes a very interesting point because what he's basically saying is that the Israelis have been able to decimate the Iranian counterattack capability or the Iranian attack capabilities.

So, that is going to really depend on how well the Israelis did that. I -- the Iranian attack will look perhaps a bit different. I think it will be more concentrated on drones and will use those if they can get them to Israeli airspace.

So, that's going to be one aspect. I don't think it will be completely devoid of missiles, but I think that they will be diminished in their capacity to respond to the Israeli attack. But of course it remains to be seen. We may be surprised because there always are surprises in these kinds of situations.

SCIUTTO: Lieutenant Colonel Conricus, the IDF Chief of Staff says that Israel is now calling up tens of thousands of reservists. An Israeli source telling CNN tonight, quote, "This is not a one-day attack. The targets include nuclear facilities, missile sites, senior leadership." Is this a decapitation attempt? A decapitation strike?

CONRICUS: Yeah, so I think the key word here is contingencies. I assess that Israel has a very diverse bank of different targets, regime, national infrastructure, economic infrastructure, pure military, and of course nuclear. And Israel is focusing on first things first. That is the real ticking bomb, and Iran's sprint towards fielding a nuclear weapon and the people who are part of that program. And that is what Israel has been targeting first.

I do not think that Israel is doing this size of an operation in order to stop short and only to do that. And I think that Israel will expand and address various different targets in Iran. Again, of course, depending on what Iran will do and how severely Iran will retaliate. It's interesting to note that the Supreme Leader did not write in his tweet, or his people didn't write that Iran declares war on Israel.

He's speaking about a punishment, but the word war is not there. That may indicate that his people are telling him that we don't currently have the capacity to do so and therefore don't declare it, or for any other reason. But I think that Israel is ready with various targets at hand. And this is definitely not a short operation, but this will be something that will go on for the coming hours and probably even days.

COATES: Lieutenant Colonel Conricus, Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you both so much. The former senior advisor to the Secretary of State Tony Blinken, he is standing by. Why he says, this is a quote, "huge middle finger to the White House." Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:38:14]

COATES: Breaking news, Israel is launching strikes on Iran, targeting its nuclear facilities and Iran's top military leaders. The first strike starting around 8:30 Eastern and have continued throughout the night. With us now Ned Price, former State Department spokesperson under President Biden and Aaron David Miller, former State Department Middle East negotiator and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Ned, I'll begin with you because President Trump did not want Israel to strike Iran, but of course now they have. So, what does this mean for U.S.-Israeli relations?

NED PRICE, FORMER SENIOR CIA AND STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Laura, this is an especially fraught time for those relations. And I say that because while clearly, the proximate target of Israel's operation was Iran's nuclear program, perhaps some leadership elements, its military and military infrastructure, there can be little doubt that they were also taking aim at the diplomatic process that the Trump administration has engaged in over the course of several months.

I think we have to remember that Steve Wittkoff, President Trump's special envoy was supposed to meet in Oman in just a couple days for the sixth round of talks with his Iranian counterpart. They were supposed to have both direct and indirect meetings at the foreign minister level. That itself would be notable.

Now, it's true, there have been six rounds and the U.S. and Iranian side clearly did not seem to be anywhere close to a deal, but the diplomatic process was ongoing. And in fact, President Trump, as you alluded to, both publicly as he did as recently as a few hours ago, just a few hours before this operation started, and reportedly privately when he last spoke to Prime Minister Netanyahu on Monday, urged the Israelis not to do this, namely because this diplomatic process was still underway.

[23:40:02]

And yet the Israelis chose to do this. We don't yet know the full effects. We don't yet know the full consequences and implications, but what we do know about this Israeli operation is that it's premature. It's premature because diplomacy had not run its course. There was a window in which the administration had to potentially find a way to a diplomatic off ramp here.

That window was going to expire later this summer in September when this matter would have been referred to the United Nations Security Council. But that window was not closing today. That window would not close tomorrow. But by undertaking this operation today, Prime Minister Netanyahu has very solidly shut that window, it seems.

DIAMOND: One thing that's important to note also is the fact that we know, I've been told by sources that over the course of the last 48 hours, there have been some really intense discussions between U.S. and Israeli officials about the preparations for this strike. We saw, of course, the U.S. take the move to withdraw some of its personnel from bases in the region.

So, clearly, the Israelis were telling the U.S. that this was going to happen. I think we still have to learn a lot more about what the reaction was from the United States, because we have seen President Trump's tone shift somewhat over the course of the last few weeks. You know, initially, he was giving a very clear, not do this to Netanyahu. You know, there are some indications that at least publicly, he was making clear that this diplomacy was not going the way that he had hoped.

Whether or not he actually intended to go through with these talks on Sunday or whether he had had discussions with the Israelis, knew these strikes were going to happen and had decided, okay, let's let them do that, I think we still need to see what the reporting bears out on that front.

(CROSSTALK)

SCIUTTO: So, Aaron David Miller, perhaps you can apply your diplomatic interpretation skills to the Marco Rubio statement in which he says, in effect, we were not involved. We're going to look after our soldiers in the region and no statement of support for Israel there. Is that, in your view, you know, almost expressing disapproval of these -- these attacks?

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: I have a somewhat different take than Ned and Jeremy. I would be the last person who wanted to disagree with them. But look, the Israelis decided on Monday according to Israeli reporting to strike Friday, Thursday night at our time. In those days there's no doubt at Camp David they were making arrangements for -- to activate the Emergency Action Committee in order to begin drawdowns.

So, the administration understood that something was afoot. Now, in order to maintain the element of surprise and to successfully implement this decapitation strategy, which I never banked on as a prelude to the Israeli strikes, no Israeli prime minister would have done this over and above the objections of an American president. Somewhere in between Monday and Friday, the Israelis were -- the President was informed about Israeli intentions.

Now, we don't know what his reaction was. But one thing is clear to me, that he probably didn't say no. And the plausible deniability of that statement, which is very much an America first statement, just as the President cut this deal with the Houthis, it's okay as long as you steer clear of our naval assets and our commercially flagged and owned vessels. But I can't help it if you're going to shell the Israelis with drones and ballistic missiles.

I opened up a conversation with Hamas in March, broken through barriers no Republican or Democratic President would do. If Trump wanted this stopped, he could and, or should have made his views to this Israeli prime minister unmistakably clear.

And I -- I will argue some adventurous reporter will do the TikTok on this, I'm sure. And the administration will have its own stake in spinning this, particularly if this proves to be successful. That someone along the line, Trump could have said, uh-uh (ph). And if you do this, the quality, the nature, the character of this relationship is going to change.

He did not do that, or at least we have no reporting that he did this. And the Israelis went ahead. So, there's plausible denial here, maybe. But I don't think that Netanyahu would have done this without some kind of approval, even if Trump threw his hands up and said, the Iranians are playing me, they're tapping me. And the question in the end was whether the Witkoff-Araghchi meeting was part of the ruse.

SCIUTTO: That's a fair question.

COATES: A lot to ask.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

COATES: I mean, the hours to come. Maybe we'll get some more clarity from the White House on the role, whether they had one or not. Ned Price, Aaron David Miller, thank you.

[23:45:00]

And I also want to thank Jim Sciutto for being with us this hour. Just a quick programming note. He will be anchoring the latest coverage out of the Middle East starting at midnight. Thank you, Jim. We have a quick break ahead and then we'll get to the other major breaking news out of Los Angeles. An appeals court just now stepping into the fight over Trump's use of the National Guard. We have their ruling and we'll bring it to you, next.

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[23:49:33]

COATES: More breaking news tonight, major legal back and forth over President Trump's use of California's National Guard. An appeals court just paused a previous ruling that required Trump to return control of the National Guard to California. That means that for now, Trump can keep those troops there. The ruling comes as the third night of curfew is underway right now in downtown L.A. CNN's Nick Watt is live on the ground.

[23:50:00]

Nick, is the curfew working? What have you seen from protesters tonight?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh yes, the curfew is working. Ever since it kicked in, we've just seen convoys of LAPD vehicles, sirens blaring, driving around the curfew zone. You can hear the helicopters above. You know, even before the curfew, I've got to say there were many more law enforcement than there were protesters. They have found some people to arrest, though. You can see over here, they've been arresting some people, loaded them onto that paddy wagon to take away.

There was a bit of action this afternoon, actually, just after the first ruling came down that Trump could not keep the National Guard here. We actually noticed the National Guard sort of melted away from outside that federal detention center, presumably inside. Left outside were DHS police officers who did make a couple of forays into the crowd after some things were thrown at them.

They came out, grabbed a couple of people dragged them inside. That was about the extent of it. Other than that, pretty peaceful day of protests to be honest. Loud, very loud, but that was the only little sort of flare up, dust up that we've seen. So, right now, yeah, this area, this little slice of downtown that has

been the focus of the protests, it is locked down for a third night. The curfew is working. There's not going be any trouble inside this zone. Now, who knows whether protesters have moved outside the zone. We don't know that. But inside this curfew zone, Laura, it is locked down for a third night. Back to you.

COATES: Nick Watt, thank you so much for your reporting. Joining me now is former U.S. attorney and host of the "Talking Feds" podcast, Harry Litman. Harry, good to see you. What is your reaction tonight to the Ninth Circuit now pausing the ruling?

HARRY LITMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: A totally dizzying day in the courts, Laura, and what has just happened is basically after all this maneuvering, we're back to where we started. So, the district court judge, Judge Chuck Breyer, made a very quick schedule and then had a hearing, went into chambers and -- and pounded out a 36-page opinion that says Trump is wrong for two reasons.

There isn't a rebellion and it's to judges to say, and you're trenching on the state police power. Very definitive, thorough, meticulous opinion. Then he paused it for a day and a half so that the administration could appeal.

They immediately did and just really before we came on air, a sort of motions panel in the Ninth Circuit, we know there are two Trump appointees, CNN has reported, but we don't otherwise know, has said, "administrative stay."

All that means is we're going to put it on hold until we think about it and hear about it next Tuesday in a hearing. It doesn't say Breyer's wrong, but it does restore the status quo. So, as of tonight and this minute, those National Guardsmen have been, again, re- federalized, are under the control of the federal government.

COATES: And you know that Judge Breyer opinion, as you mentioned, it wrote in that ruling that Trump did not satisfy the requirements that must be met to call in the National Guard. You mentioned that these protests are not a rebellion. When you look ahead, this is obviously a can kicked down the road. But at some point --

LITMAN: Yeah.

COATES: -- some will have to assess the strength of the administration's case. How is it?

LITMAN: Well, I think his point is the most important. And when it goes to the Ninth Circuit and the Supreme Court, what is really going to be pivotal is, does the president just get deference to say it's a rebellion? So, the courts keep their hands off. What Breyer said is, the statute says whenever there's a rebellion, the President, et cetera, that means it's for the judges to say, is there or isn't there rebellion?

Just like, Laura, in the Alien Enemies Act, it's for the judges to say, is there an invasion? If that holds, I think Trump will lose. This doesn't rise to the level of historical rebellions for a number of reasons. If, however, the courts, or especially the U.S. Supreme Court says, we don't get into this, it's -- we defer to whatever the President thinks, then Trump is going to win and have a real path to unreviewable power.

COATES: By the way, the administration was threatening to go right to the Supreme Court had this order not been paused in a hearing next week.

LITMAN: Right.

COATES: But the ruling that has been paused, it didn't specifically address the use of those, what, 700 or so Marines. Why not?

LITMAN: Because they're really the next step, Laura, and you know, judges have to wait until there's really a battle. So, what he could do and seems poised to do, and Homan says let's do right now, is bring the Marines in under the Insurrection Act.

[23:55:00]

That's what he would need to invoke. And then, they would really get to -- to act like the, you know, traditions in America say should almost never happened. They would be regular law enforcement officers arresting, searching, seizing and the like. But the administration hasn't done that yet.

As of now, the Marines, it's actually unclear if they've even arrived in L.A. But that part of the federal law enforcement presence is just not in play yet. All we have, so far, is the National Guard having been federalized. So, that's why the judge didn't decide it.

COATES: And we know that that hearing is going to take place now on Tuesday. As you mentioned, the original ruling was going to be paused until tomorrow, Friday. That's now been delayed to review until Tuesday in full. So, we have a little bit of ways to go to figure out, which means that that National Guard, unit and beyond, will remain throughout the weekend, as well. Harry Litman --

(CROSSTALK)

LITMAN: That's exactly right.

COATES: Yeah.

LITMAN: -- hang on to your hats, but that's right. We are now where we were before. And now, remember, they can't do regular police work either. They are there --

COATES: Yeah.

LITMAN: -- to protect federal property and employees. But as of now --

COATES: Well --

LITMAN: -- they can and must do that.

COATES: A resolution ahead, perhaps. Thank you so much. And thank you all for watching our breaking news coverage of Israel's strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. It continues now with Jim Sciutto in just a moment.

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