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One World with Zain Asher

Israel Strikes Iranian Nuclear Facilities and Other Targets, Raising Fears of a Wider Range Conflict; Danon: Iran has Fueled Instability Across the Region; Iranian Officials: Natanz Nuclear Enrichment Facility Suffered Superficial Damage; Trump: We Supported Israel "Like Nobody Has Ever Supported It"; Israel Strikes Iranian Nuclear Facilities, Military Leaders; One Flight Recorder Recovered from Air India Crash. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired June 13, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: Hello, everyone. Live from New York. I'm Bianna Golodryga,

ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: And I'm Zain Asher, this is "One World". Well, let's get right to our breaking news this hour. One of the world's

most volatile regions is on a knife edge at this hour, following an unprecedented Israeli attack on Iran that is raising new fears of an all-

out war.

GOLODRYGA: Israel has declared a state of emergency and is now bracing for retaliation as Tehran vows retribution in response to Israel's

unprecedented targeted strikes on its key nuclear sites. And the assassination of several of its military leaders and nuclear scientists.

The IDF, meanwhile, says Tehran has fired more than 100 drones toward Israeli territory, but it says most of them were intercepted.

ASHER: Yeah, the Israeli Prime Minister warns that it's an ongoing operation that will last many days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: In recent months, Iran has taken steps that it has never taken before, steps to weaponize this

enriched uranium. If not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time. It could be a year. It could be within a few months, less

than a year. This is a clear and present danger to Israel's very survival.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Here's what Iran's President said when he addressed this country earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MASOUD PEZESHKIAN, IRANIAN PRESIDENT: I asked the noble and proud people of Iran here to maintain their unity, integrity and solidarity and to refrain

from rumors and false news that will be caused by the enemy's psychological warfare.

By cooperating and trusting the authorities, they will provide the grounds for a stronger passage through these conditions for the country. Today, the

people of Iran need more than ever to be united and empathetic with each other and with the help of the dear God, we will give a strong and wise

response to the criminal regime with such a valuable spirit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Now the attack came just days before a six round of nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran were scheduled to begin. On social

media earlier U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran to agree to a deal before quote, there is nothing left.

ASHER: Let's bring in CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins us live now from London. So, Nick, how soon do we get a clearer picture on the level and the extent

of damage that has been inflicted on Iran, particularly on its Natanz facility?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, it's clear from the IAEA that it's only Natanz in their assessment,

and indeed, some of the open-source satellite imagery being pushed around on social media at the moment, the Natanz sustain most of the damage.

Iranian officials say it's superficial. That's where the preponderance of enrichment occurred, and it seems to have been the focus of the Israeli

strikes that hit nuclear facilities. Perhaps Israel better verse and exactly what the key parts of the Iranian facilities that might have been

involved in the more weaponizable parts of the nuclear program that it needed to strike indeed were.

We'll know more about that potentially in the days ahead. And there are suggestions there has been no nuclear leak, it seems, from there. But the

damage we're learning more clearly about is, I think, clearer, obviously, to Iran's personnel, senior military structure here hard to keep, frankly,

across the list of key members.

The Head, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, the Head of the IRGC, the Head of the IRGC Air Force. It seems lots of the Iranian Revolutionary

Guard Corps Air Force were, in fact, in a meeting together in a command post that was indeed struck by the Israelis.

Perhaps that gathering dictating some of the timing here, although it does seem more potentially that the diplomacy of the weekend may have expedited

this plan. A plan, though that must have been months, if not years, in the making.

Remember the idea of Israel striking Iran and its nuclear facilities and its infrastructure like this almost unthinkable, while indeed, Iran had a

proxy like Hezbollah, still able to strike Israel from its north out of Lebanon.

Last summer, Hezbollah dismantled in a ruthless but very efficient page of bombing campaign, then military operation afterwards that potentially has

allowed Netanyahu to go after the wider goal of nuclear targets inside of Iran.

[11:05:00]

And I think it's the lack of a palpable, immediate response that we've seen. These 100 drones or so, very little information that any of them

really got through to cause any damage to Iran. That perhaps hint, sorry to Israel, that perhaps hint some of the disarray that Tehran is currently

experiencing.

Their top command waking up this morning to find many of their colleagues dead, their superiors dead, many being swiftly appointed into roles

vacated, and indeed a lot of the imagery suggesting pinpointed strikes on residential blocks around the capital, causing great fear and indeed damage

and death to civilians in the capital as well.

But it leaves certainly Iran's senior command depleted in disarray, I think it's fair to say, and possibly wondering how they would even communicate

with each other safely, given the pinpoint nature of the strike, potentially using cell phone signals to plot any possible response.

So, a moment here that may alter the dynamics of the region may potentially mark the beginning of the decline of Iran as a regional power. Remember,

that was in evidence, potentially back in October when Iran Ian strikes depleted sorry, Israeli strikes depleted so much of Iran's defense

capabilities during strike the retaliation for earlier Iranian moves.

So, so much moving here. But I think it's fair to say, another demonstration of Israel's remarkable military intelligence capabilities,

and one that Iran at this point has yet to really been able to yield a palpable response to. That may come in the days ahead. But it's important

not to lose sight of how weak Iran was before this strike, and indeed, how weak this strike makes Iran look indeed, this morning.

ASHER: All right. Nick Paton Walsh, life for us that. Thank you so much.

GOLODRYGA: Let's bring in Iran Expert Karim Sadjadpour. He is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. And just to put

the size, scale and scope of this attack, it is the largest attack on the Tehran, the capital of Iran since the Iran Iraq war some decades ago.

And Karim, when you look at the ramifications and aftermath of the United States ordering the assassination of IRGC Chief, General Soleimani, back in

2020. The scale of this attack, and going after not only top commanders and generals, but nuclear scientists as well, put it -- put in terms to our

viewers, the setback that this has been for Iran.

KARIM SADJADPOUR, SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE EDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Well, this is hugely significant, and like anything of this consequence, it

really will take years to understand the ramifications of this attack. I'll give you one concrete example, though.

One of the individuals who was killed was a top military commander called Ali Shamkhani. Ali Shamkhani was one of Iran's top strategists. Had he not

been killed, he would be one of the key individuals in planning Iran's retaliation to this. And he was someone who also had aspirations to be a

leader in Iran after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader who has been ruling for four decades.

So, this is going to have so much impact on Iran. And I think, as your colleague stated earlier Iran is -- Iran's power in the Middle East has

been significantly downsized by Israel over the last six months. And the big question now is how Iran responds in the nuclear context, whether they

will choose to make a dash for nuclear weapons?

ASHER: And just in terms of Israel's possible next target, obviously, this time, they focused on Natanz. Do you think they will then go after for

Fordow that's the sort of nuclear site that is effectively underground. It's built into the side of a mountain. It has about two to 3000

centrifuges. Is that next for Israel do you think?

SADJADPOUR: It's debated between Israeli and American military commanders whether Israel has the military capabilities to destroy the Fordow reactor

now. But President Trump tweeted something this morning, essentially telegraphing that if Iran tries to make any moves at his underground

facility the United States would be -- he didn't use these words, but it was kind of implicit in his tweet.

The United States would provide Israel the bunker buster bombs that do have the capacity to destroy Iran's underground nuclear facility. So, Iran has a

very weak hand at the moment.

GOLODRYGA: Can you talk about the vulnerabilities that were once again exposed by this attack? And we should note, as Prime Minister Netanyahu

stated to the Israeli public, this will go on, likely for days, if not weeks, but we saw the blow to their air defense system in last year's

attacks.

There had been concern, I know within Israel that the longer they delayed and put off the subsequent attack that they -- Iran would have the

opportunity to rebuild and regroup some of their air defense systems.

[11:10:00]

Now, knowing the details that you had Israeli jets actually refuelling over Iranian skies and territories, you had Mossad infiltrating on a number of

fronts there within the country. Just how exposed is Iran right now?

SADJADPOUR: Well, Iran's military and nuclear installations have been thoroughly penetrated by Israeli intelligence, and this is not new. You

know, in the last year, the Leader of Hamas was killed while sleeping in a guest house in Tehran.

Ali Shamkhani, the Military Commander whom I mentioned earlier, was reportedly sleeping in his own bedroom when he was killed. It's been

reported that Israel is actually has drone facilities -- built drone facilities inside of Iran. So going back to the Supreme Leader's

calculations, he cannot be confident that if he wants to make a dash for nuclear weapon that he can -- he can get away with doing it without

triggering a response from either Israel or the United States.

ASHER: And just in terms of how much the U.S. was on board. I mean, there's been so much speculation as to whether or not or how much I should say

Netanyahu did this unilaterally, versus how much he relied on Trump to really give him the green light. Many people are saying that Netanyahu

would never have done this had Trump not given him the thumbs up beforehand. What is your take on U.S. involvement, just at least in terms

of Trump giving his blessing.

SADJADPOUR: Well, I also share that perspective that had President Trump said to Prime Minister Netanyahu, absolutely not. We're in the midst of

negotiations, and we want to resolve this issue diplomatically. I'm skeptical that Netanyahu would have taken such a consequential move to defy

Trump.

So, I suspect that, you know, he got at least a yellow light from Trump, if not a green light. And all indications now, since this attack has taken

place, the interviews that Trump has been giving his tweets that he's supportive of the attack, and he believes that it was -- that it was

necessary.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, there's also a narrative out there now that any reported daylight between the two on this issue may have been a coordinated ruse to

throw off Iran as well. The president telling "The Wall Street Journal" today when asked if you had a heads up. Heads up, it wasn't a heads up, it

was we know what's going on. Karim Sadjadpour, always great to have your insights and expertise.

SADJADPOUR: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, Israel's Ambassador to the U.N. has just spoken about the attack. Here's his comments from moments ago.

DANNY DANON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Good morning, last night, the State of Israel launched a preemptive operation against Iran's nuclear and

ballistic missile infrastructure. Dozens of sites across Iran were struck with precision, and many senior terrorists in the IRGC were eliminated.

This was a calculated a necessary action based on clear intelligence and carried out in response to an escalating existential threat. For years, the

Iranian regime has funded and directed attacks against Israel through its terrorist proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

Iran has fueled instability across the region while openly declaring its intent to destroy, to eliminate the State of Israel. But in recent months,

the Iranian threat took a dramatic turn. Iran advanced significantly through nuclear weapons capabilities.

Intelligence obtained by Israel revealed a secret program to develop all necessary parts of a bomb, uranium enrichment, triggering mechanisms in

warhead delivery systems. According to the latest IAEA reports, Iran now has enough material for multiple nuclear weapons and has moved dangerously

close to operational capability.

What's more, Israel uncovered clear evidence that the Iranian regime was planning a surprise attack in coordination with their proxies. They had

planned to invade from all sides with thousands of terrorists and thousands of projectiles. As you know, October 7th was a deeply painful and dramatic

day for all of us.

[11:15:00]

But the danger we confronted last night was of a different magnitude, a surprise attack with a nuclear strike which Iran was preparing for would

have been terminal. Israel could not and would not wait for that moment to arrive. The decision to act last night was not made lightly.

It followed repeated violations by the Iranian regime, continued deception and an absence of meaningful international consequences. Meanwhile, the

Secretary General has made last night a statement expressing concern over our operation. But I must ask, where were the Secretary General when Iran

spent years arming itself while vowing to wipe Israel off the map?

Where was his voice when Iran rained hundreds of missiles and drones on our civilians. His silence in the face of Iran's constant aggression has been

deafening. We acted to protect our citizens. We acted to prevent a threat that would endanger not only Israel but the entire world.

We will not sit quietly while our people are targeted, not again, not ever. Empty words will not stop Iran Israel will thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

DANON: Well, we have to look at the end results, and the end result should be that Iran has no capability to threaten Israel. We believe the

Ayatollahs when they threaten Israel, when they have this clock in the square in Tehran ticking with the hours until the day Israel will be

eliminated, we take it very seriously.

So, we believe those threats, and once we got the intelligence that they're actually acquiring, the means, the capabilities we took actions, please.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks Ambassador. How long is this operation going to go for? And has the U.S. sort of given you any indication that they'll be

there to support, I guess, against any retaliation from Iran? And you know is it -- is one of the goals of this to wreck the nuclear talks, like, what

is -- what's the realistic end goal in terms of pulling apart Iran's nuclear program?

DANON: Well, we don't know how long it will take. In a way, we prepare the population in Israel to embrace for attack coming from Iran. Last night,

they sent more than 100 drones that we intercepted them. We expect more projectiles, and we are preparing the population for very intense data

ahead of us.

We will continue to act until we will know that we eliminated the threat. So, you know, it's not easy when you look at the map, you see the distance

between Israel and Iran. It takes hours to fly there, and the fact that they put so much energy to build those ballistic missiles and to acquire

nuclear capabilities in order to threaten us, we all should be worried about it.

Regarding the U.S. we speak with our allies, Prime Minister Netanyahu made the many phone conversations with world leaders explaining to them why we

did -- what we did. I expect this, that the Security Council will meet today. It's not official yet, but we expect it to meet today, at 03:00 p.m.

And I will explain to the council why we did what we did, and I expect the Security Council to understand the decision we took.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Ambassador, does Israel think that it has significantly -- Iran's nuclear program in last night's -- over early this

morning's strikes, or does it feel that there's more -- eliminate this threat. And secondly, the Iranian Foreign Minister has said that Israel

will live to regret this action. What is your response to that?

DANON: Well, firstly, it is, we are still looking at what are the results from last night attack. More than 200 aircrafts participated in the

operation, more than 100 targets. And we showed our capabilities. You know, mainly the intelligence that we had the whereabouts of the facilities and

what they were doing there.

[11:20:00]

And we will continue to do whatever it takes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

DANON: Well, yeah, so it's not nothing new there. You know, for years they are threatening us. And by the way, they have already sent ballistic

missiles into Israel. So, we didn't wait for them to have a nuclear ability to assemble on the ballistic missiles. But we take seriously those threats.

That's why we took this preemptive attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

DANON: So, I'm telling to the Iranian people very directly that we have nothing against them. We know that they are suffering. You know we have

seen the condition where they live. We thought the regime takes the funding for other things and supporting the people, and our fight is not against

the people of Iran.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are dying.

DANON: And the attack was taken at a time when people were not in the streets, and we did everything we can to minimize civilian casualties.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On radiation.

DANON: On radiation -- you know, I saw reports coming from Iran. I'm sure you know better than me, but those questions you should refer to the

Iranian representative, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

DANON: So, the goals of our operation are very clear, is to make sure that Iran will not have nuclear capabilities and to stop the ballistic missile

operation. And I will elaborate on that. You know, they producing hundreds of missiles. They wanted to get to a position where they can compete with

Russia and the U.S. regarding ballistic missiles.

So, we want to stop both the ballistic missile operation and the nuclear reactor. One last question, please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One last question. This kind of like a vicious cycle, back and forth, back and forth. Ambassador is Israel open to a direct talk

with Iranian counterpart?

DANON: We are a peaceful nation. You know, we had no conflict with Iran. They decided, because the radical ideas and ideology of the regime, not of

the people, to attack Israel and to spend billions against us. But we have no conflict with Iran, no dispute with the Iranian people.

And one can ask themselves why they're spending so much time in funding to send those money to the proxies and to build the capabilities to threaten

Israel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

DANON: We are a peaceful nation. You know, we signed many peace treaties with many nations in the region. We hopefully will sign more treaties in

the future, but when we see a radical regime that is threatened to an alienate us, we take it very seriously. Thank you very much.

GOLODRYGA: There you were listening to Danny Danon, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, really explaining more what he views as Israel's

justification for that unprecedented attack against Iranian nuclear facilities last night, nuclear scientists as well as top military brass and

officials in an attack on Tehran.

As we noted, has not been that scale in many, many decades. You have to go back to the Iran Iraq war. He and all Israeli officials describing Iran and

the Iranian regime and their nuclear program as an existential threat to the country, and saying that he will be speaking more before the U.N.

Security Council later today.

ASHER: On that note, let's bring in CNN Political and National Security Analyst, David Sanger, he's also the White House and National Security

Correspondent for "The New York Times". David, thank you so much for being with us. I enjoyed reading your article today, this morning in "The New

York Times" about this and about the sort of damage to the Natanz facility, potential damage rather, to the Natanz facility.

So, just in terms of the timing of the strikes by Israel. What can you tell us about Israel, the Israeli calculation? Because obviously there has been

quite a bit of planning going into this, and they've been obviously planning for many, many months. But the fact that these strikes took place

days before the U.S. was set to negotiate with Iran on this -- on the nuclear deal, just walk us through Israeli -- the Israeli calculation on

the timing.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Sure. Good to be on with you. The timing has got a couple of different elements. There's a

political part, and we have to ask the question, were the Israelis concerned that President Trump would strike a deal that might leave

enrichment capability in Iran for a number of years, which was sort of where they were headed.

[11:25:00]

As under the agreement that had been drafted by Steve Witkoff, the President's Special Envoy, ultimately, it would have forced Iran, if it was

complied with to get rid of its enrichment, but that might have been several years.

Then there's also the capability question, which is, and you heard Ambassador Danon speak to that just a few moments ago, which was that they

maintained that they had intelligence that Iran's capability had so increased in recent times that their hand was forced. So, they haven't

revealed any secret intelligence that they've gotten since.

We have certainly seen evidence and reported on the evidence that Iran has increased the amount of its enrichment at near bomb grade capability in the

past few months, and done so rather rapidly, and they probably had enough fuel for 9 or 10 weapons. That's another thing from saying that they knew

how to build 9 or 10 weapons in less than months or a year.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, the IAEA also, in a move that we haven't seen for 20 years, yesterday, just came out and said that Iran was not in compliance

with its non-nuclear proliferation agreement as well. So that is notable.

It is interesting, David, because the question then turns to in this operation, as Prime Minister Netanyahu has noted, is ongoing. But the

question turns to, how far back does this type of attack set its nuclear program? And you wrote extensively in your book and in your reporting the

perfect weapon, about a coordinated attack some 15 years ago between the United States and Israel.

A cyberattack called Operation Olympic Games that basically implanted a Stuxnet worm into the centrifuges at Natanz and led to those becoming very

much, you know, non-functional at that point, and that set the country back, yes, several years. But here we are again. What are some of the

questions you have in terms of the ramifications of this attack?

SANGER: Well, the first question, I think Bianna, is, does this set them back, even as far as the Stuxnet attack the Olympic Games, which was the

code name for the U.S. part of the operation, as far as that set it back? And while it's hard to get it precise at the time they did that attack,

leading up to -- you know, 2009, 2010.

Iran had about 5000 centrifuges. They destroyed 1000 or 2000 and then, of course, the Iranians built back up to 20,000. So, you know, one of the

lessons of that experience was, when you do an attack like this, you can redouble a country's determination to go rebuild.

In this case, they struck the Natanz enrichment site. We don't know how much damage is done, but certainly on the surface, it seemed very heavily

damaged. The enrichment halls are well down, probably 100 to 150 feet underground. We don't know how badly they were damaged.

There's another enrichment center called Fordow that's under a mountain. It's about a half mile underground, and the Israelis never tried to touch

that. And so certainly you cannot emerge from this saying that the Iranians are without enrichment capability now. And probably what this is going to

do is drive that even further underground.

ASHER: David Sanger, live for us there. Thank you so much. We'll be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:30:00]

ASHER: I want to update you on our breaking news in Middle East. At this hour, Iran is demanding the U.S. be held accountable for Israel's attack.

Iran has summoned the Swiss Ambassador in Tehran to deliver a warning to the United States, do not interfere with Iran's legitimate response. In

Washington, Donald Trump is meeting with his National Security Council this hour.

GOLODRYGA: Earlier, he told CNN, the Israeli strikes on Iran were, quote, very successful. And in post on Truth Social, he said there is still time

for Iran to end all of this by reaching a deal to curtail its nuclear program. He said, I told them what to do, but they just couldn't get there.

ASHER: Alayna Treene is at the White House for us. So, Alayna, some other things that Donald Trump said, you know, I gave them a 60-day warning, and

today is day 61 they should now come to the table to make a deal before it's too late. It will be too late for them.

So, intimating that, listen, Iran had its chance and they messed it up basically. Just walk us through the coordination that took place, the level

of coordination between Netanyahu and Trump to get to this point.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. Well, look, I mean Zain and Bianna, the White House and this administration and all the conversations I

had, it's very clear that they're trying not to be very specific about what that coordination looks like.

And I would argue that what we are hearing from the president himself today in his public comments and some of the interviews that he's been doing,

including with CNN's Dana Bash, is, you know, last night, what we heard from Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, was that the U.S. had no involvement

in these unprecedented strikes on Iran.

But clearly, we are seeing the president kind of insinuating, you know, we knew this could happen. It's very clear from my conversations with White

House officials that they were prepared for the strikes. I also have some new reporting this just went out moments ago, that the president actually

spoke directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu several times yesterday, including prior to the strikes on Iran.

And so, this idea that, yes, maybe they had no direct involvement in helping with these attacks, but the fact that they may not have known about

it, is clearly just not true. Now I think, of course, the key question is, what happens moving forward? The president is making very clear, that he

still believes and hopes, really, that negotiations on a potential nuclear deal with Iran are still salvageable.

In my conversations with some of these officials and sources familiar with some of the talks of Netanyahu, it's clear that Steve Witkoff the

president's special envoy, it's unclear, I should say if he's still going to Oman this weekend, as previously scheduled to meet with the Iranians.

It seems like that is very unlikely at this point, to have those negotiations continue as early as just two days from now. But in my

conversation, they said Witkoff is making clear that he is ready to meet and continue these talks as soon as the Iranians are. Again, big question

mark is whether or not they actually will want to do that, after what we are seeing now from Israel.

But I also think your point about the president saying the 60-day deadline that he imposed, we had previously reported that he had delivered that

ultimatum via a letter that Witkoff letter delivered essentially, and getting it into the hands of the Iranians.

Him saying that that deadline was yesterday, that the Iranians should have expected this, that they had their chance, and they didn't take it. I think

it's very clear where the president stands on this, and also the fact that he told our colleague that this was a very successful attack, and that he

quotes, we of course, support Israel, obviously, and supported it like nobody has ever supported it before.

[11:35:00]

So of course, I think a key question is now, what, how far does the United States and trying to continue to support Israel, because there was no

mention in the secretary of state's statement yesterday, in Rubio's statement, that the Israel has the right to defend itself. You know, we

hadn't heard that in there.

We do know that at this hour, right now, the president is meeting with his national security team in the situation room. Hopefully we can more, get

more details once that wraps.

GOLODRYGA: And I believe, Alayna, that in an interview with Fox News today, the president said the U.S. will defend itself and Israel if Iran

retaliates. Notable that, that wasn't the language that we heard from the secretary of state yesterday, basically making it clear that, from the

administration's perspective, this was a unilateral action by Israel alone.

We have reporting that the president and prime minister are scheduled to speak later today. Do you know when?

TREENE: That's right. My colleague, Oren Liebermann, and I had reported that this morning that they are expected to meet or speak, excuse me, at

some point today. The timing on that isn't clear, but I can tell you that from my conversations with people here in the Trump Administration, we know

that yesterday, they spoke on different occasions, on several different occasions.

And so, I don't think it would be surprising if they spoke more than once today. Again, though I think whatever goes on during that conversation is

of course, going to be very crucial into how they formulate a response moving forward. Because the key thing here, of course, is that the United

States and the President Donald Trump, believes this very closely.

He wants to be and continues to argue that he is the best ally, the United States is the best ally to Israel, under his leadership, then it has ever

been. And he wants to keep it that way. He wants people to know that. And so, it seems very unlikely at this point that the administration would not

do anything to continue to help and aid them.

The question is, how far I think, will they go? Will they try and help? You know, if the Iranians have all their counter measures into Israel, will the

United States help in trying to counteract those, and some of those, you know, counter measures that they take on any strikes that Iran might send

toward Israel?

Will they help with intelligence? All of that, I think, is what is currently being discussed right now in the situation room. We'll, course,

come back to you all when we get more details on when he further speaks with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

GOLODRYGA: All right, Alayna Treene at the White House for us. Thanks so much.

ASHER: All right, still ahead, we'll have much more on Israel's massive attack on Iranian nuclear facilities and other targets. Live report for you

from London, coming up after the short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:00]

ASHER: Welcome back to "One World". I'm Zain Asher.

GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga.

ASHER: Right, Iran is reeling after Israel launched unprecedented strikes on its nuclear facility and military leadership.

GOLODRYGA: Israel says 200 fighter jets attacked more than 100 targets across Iran early Friday. Several key Iranian military leaders and nuclear

scientists were killed. Now in response, Israel says Iran launched more than 100 drones towards Israel. Let's bring in CNN's Chief Global Affairs

Correspondent, Matthew Chance, who is joining us from London.

Matthew, we know that a number of world leaders are now urging for calm and restraint here in response to this unprecedented attack by Israel. Israel

also telling its citizens to be expecting this to go on, perhaps for days, if not weeks. What are we hearing directly from the Iranians?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well, obviously the Iranians have been absolutely outraged by these attacks that

have taken place. They vowed retaliation. We've already seen some retaliation by Iranian forces against Israel with something like 100 drones

being intercepted by Israeli air defenses and others in the surrounding countries as well, enroute towards Israel.

But that's a pretty muted response compared to the potential that Iran has, with its arsenal of ballistic missiles to really strike hard at Israel. And

so just as Israel is saying that this operation will continue. In fact, I spoke to military officials a few hours ago in Israel, and they said

there's no time limit being put on this.

They're prepared to go on for days if necessary to neutralize what they say is an existential nuclear threat from Iran towards Israel, just as they're

preparing for that, they're all bracing as well for even stronger retaliation coming back from Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE (voice-over): These are unprecedented strikes on Iranian targets. Israel says it's hitting nuclear sites and missile systems as well as

Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists.

NETANYAHU: We will not let the world's most dangerous regime get the world's most dangerous weapons, the increasing range of Iran's ballistic

missiles would bring that nuclear nightmare to the cities of Europe and eventually to America.

CHANCE (voice-over): Israel's pre-dawn raids involving more than 200 aircraft, appear to have been carefully planned. Israel even says its spy

agency smuggled weapons and drones into Iran ahead of the attacks. Striking key uranium enrichment facilities like this one at Natanz, where Iran has

for years been processing nuclear material close to weapons grade levels.

Israel says Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders have also been targeted and killed, including their commander, Hossein Salami, one of Iran's most

prominent military figures. On Iranian state television, reports that at least six Scientists have also been killed, women and children it says are

among the dead.

Iranian Foreign Minister says these Israeli strikes are tantamount to a declaration of -- Israel says more than 100 Iranian drones have already

been intercepted. This is dangerous confrontation in the Middle East. Threatens to spiral.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE (on camera): Yeah, it threatens to spiral militarily. But there's also a deeper risk as well, which is that these Israeli strikes could

actually bolster some hardline voices inside Iran, that have long been calling for a nuclear weapon as the only deterrent that would stop attacks

like this in the future.

In other words, it's quite possible that the gamble here, one of the risks, is that these Israeli strikes, far from removing the nuclear threat from

Iran, may actually increase it and so that's something that I think everybody around the world is now watching very carefully indeed, guys.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Matthew Chance for us in London. Thank you so much.

ASHER: Let's bring in CNN's Barak Ravid, joining us, live now from Washington. Talk to us, Barak about the level of planning that went into

this by the Israelis.

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL & GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, this operation has been in the works for something like, I think, eight months.

[11:45:00]

It started after Israel assassinated Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, in late September. And in October, Netanyahu sat down with the

heads of the security services, the IDF, the intelligence community, and gave them a directive to start preparing a plan for an Israeli strike on

Iran.

But that will not only include the nuclear element, meaning nuclear sites, scientists and nuclear facilities, but also the Iranian military leadership

and the Iranian ballistic missile infrastructure and bases. And the reason for that is that the Israelis realized that both the nuclear issue and the

ballistic missiles are both becoming an existential threat to Israel.

And therefore, the decision was to plan an operation that will remove both threats at the same time, and it was only -- the only issue was, what is

the best timing to do it? And I think the reason it happened now is because the Israelis started feeling that their window of opportunity is closing,

and this is why they had to do it right now.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, I believe it in an interview several months ago, Former Defense Minister Gallant said, and used the analogy of soccer, and

basically said, Iran currently doesn't have a goalie and at their post, and thus, the quicker that Israel would respond, the more successful an attack

would be.

Barak, there's a lot of questions about the U.S. Administration's reaction and response here, I think it's pretty safe to say that action like this,

as daring and large by Israel, would not have happened without a green light and go ahead from President Trump. He said as much today, but your

reporting suggests this.

I know there's some Israeli reporting also that indicates that there have been perhaps numerous conversations behind the scenes, behind closed doors,

maybe even in collaboration, about how this would play out and the TikTok of events even leading up to publicly suggesting there's some daylight

between these two sides, the president chastising Prime Minister Netanyahu about constantly making these threats.

And of course, this meeting that Steve Witkoff was supposed to attend this Sunday in Oman. Can you talk more about that?

RAVID: Yeah, so it really depends who you ask on this issue. What both sides agree is that the U.S. was notified long in advance that this plan

was in the works. What they disagree on is how involved the U.S. was. And Israeli officials tell me that the U.S. did not only -- not object to this

operation, but it literally gave a go ahead to the Israelis.

And that the U.S. was even part of this smoke screen that the Israelis tried to produce in order to manipulate the Iranians to think that

nothing's going on while, you know, the Israeli Air Force was on its way to Iranian airspace. White House officials flatly denied that.

They say that the U.S. was not involved, and they say that the U.S. told Israel ahead of the operation that it doesn't think it's the appropriate

thing to do at the current time, when negotiations are still happening. I have to say that I couldn't square those two versions yet.

But those are the two versions the Israelis claim the U.S. was. It was coordinated with the U.S., that the U.S. was part of the, you know, attempt

to throw off the Iranians, but the U.S. says we were not involved. We knew about it in advance, but we all the Israelis that we were against.

GOLODRYGA: Perhaps it benefits both sides to stick to their own versions of events for as long as possible.

ASHER: Barak Ravid live for us there. Thank you so much.

RAVID: Thank you.

ASHER: Right after the break, we're going to update you on Thursday's Air India crash, including the meeting between the country's Prime Minister and

the sole survivor. Details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:50:00]

ASHER: Investigators have recovered one of the flight recorders from Thursday's Air India crash that claimed at least 290 lives.

GOLODRYGA: This was the same Thursday after the Boeing 787 crash into the hostel at a medical school. Relatives of the victims have been giving DNA

samples to help identify the bodies of their loved ones.

ASHER: Early on Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the crash site. The tragedy actually happened in his home state of Gujarat.

Modi also met with the sole survivor of the crash as well. This is a social media video of Vishwash Kumar Ramesh just after the crash.

He told state media, in his words, I still don't understand how I'm alive. We'll have much more on the story in the next hour with our CNN's Aviation

Analyst Mary Schiavo.

GOLODRYGA: And we'll be right back with more. Still, such an incredible story to see him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:55:00]

GOLODRYGA: Israel's Ambassador to the U.N. says the country's attacks on Iran were, quote, a calculated and necessary action in response to an

existential threat. Israel launched unprecedented strikes targeting Tehran's nuclear facilities and killing some of its most powerful military

leaders and nuclear scientists.

This was the scene in one city in Northwest Iran overnight as plumes of smoke rose from a massive blaze.

ASHER: Yeah, the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency says the main nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz was damaged, but no casualties were reported

there, and radiation levels were not elevated.

GOLODRYGA: The attack came just days before a six round of nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran. On social media earlier U.S. President

Donald Trump warned Iran to agree to a deal before quote, there is nothing left. And we'll have much more on this breaking news story in our next hour

of "One World". Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END