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Iran Launches New Barrage Of Missiles At Israel; No Signs Of De-Escalation In Conflict As Trump Issues Ultimatum; Elected Officials Targeted As Fears Grow Over Political Violence. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired June 20, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:01:16]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now. Breaking news. New attacks in Israel. At least 17 people are injured after a fresh round of attacks from Iran. Those strikes hitting as top European diplomats hold talks with Tehran aimed at figuring out the next steps and slowing down this conflict.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown and you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin this morning with breaking news. Iran fires a new barrage of missiles at Israel, sending people scrambling for cover. This is the Israeli port city of Haifa, Israel's third largest city, where explosions fill the air and sirens echo through the streets. Take a look at some of the damage, broken concrete rubble covering the ground.

And just minutes ago, Haifa's mayor spoke to our Nic Robertson live right here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Tell me what has just happened. What are you seeing? What are you learning?

MAYOR YONA YAHAV, HAIFA, ISRAEL: The Iranians have decided to make Haifa a target. And as I see, they succeed. They succeed to choose very important targets. This is a down -- this is the center of the downtown. I revived the downtown and turned it to be a commercial site. And --

ROBERTSON: How -- how many casualties here?

YAHAV: Eleven -- 11 casualties that were moved to the hospital.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And today's strikes come as Iran's foreign minister meets with his European counterparts after President Trump says he's making this new two-week push for diplomacy. This morning, Tehran says it will not discuss its nuclear program while it's under attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me make the position clear. Under the current circumstances, and as the Zionist regime's attacks continue, we are not seeking negotiations with anyone, especially not with the United States, on this matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Meanwhile, Israel and Iran exchange more strikes. An Iranian missile slams into a technology park in southern Israel, less than a mile from the hospital that was struck yesterday. And this morning, we're seeing these new images right here. Israel released this nighttime video of its air force intercepting Iranian drones. Israel also says 60 of its jets struck dozens of military targets overnight in Iran.

And Tehran this morning, protesters, as you see right here, filled the streets burning symbols of Israel and the U.S. and waving Iranian flags. Thousands have demonstrated in cities across the country. CNN chief and national affairs correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, is here in the Situation Room.

So, Jeff, we heard from the White House yesterday that now President Trump wants this two-week window. We've heard him throw out two weeks before on other issues. What does that signal?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: We certainly have. I mean, it signals that, first and foremost, he's trying to buy himself some time here. And also to reclaim the authority in terms of when he will make a decision. There were many in the President's orbit, I'm told, advisers and officials and others who were very worried about the fact that it looked like the President was being essentially pushed into a corner by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

[11:05:00]

So this allows President Trump to reclaim the time, if you will. This is now on his time frame. But we just heard there the idea for diplomacy, the off ramp for diplomacy, if you will, it looks very uncertain because the strikes are still continuing. So at this hour at the White House, the President is scheduled to meet at 11:00 a.m. with his national security team. Just a few moments ago, we saw the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth going into the White House.

So we do know that he'll be meeting again. But the question is, is there room for diplomacy here? There's no doubt that the White House is trying to watch the events and see what's happening. But the President yesterday making that decision, it could be one of the most consequential decisions, at least so far in his presidency, to not strike.

He was being urged by so many allies, Lindsey Graham and others, to take advantage of this urgent opportunity. He decided against that for the moment. So, yes, he said two weeks. And you're right, Pam, we have lost track of the number of times from the first administration, as we covered the White House, and certainly in this administration, where he often says two weeks, two weeks. It's a crutch of his, a verbal crutch, if you will.

But in this case, this two-week period is certainly important because look at the events that are happening on the ground. Things are not stopping there.

BROWN: No, they're not. And if it's so important, it raises the question, why isn't there a representative from the Trump administration in Geneva for these talks between European diplomats and Iranians right now?

ZELENY: It is a good question. I mean, the U.S. is a bit on the sidelines of these conversations. The European discussions were sort of set in advance, not knowing what the U.S. would do. It's hard to see what would actually come out of this. I mean, certainly everyone hopes for diplomacy, but the U.S. is not a party to that necessarily. I think part of it is that the Trump administration does not really want to be a part of a European effort here. I mean, this is a U.S.- Israeli effort to potentially hear. So there aren't high hopes at the White House for much coming out of that meeting.

BROWN: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thank you.

ZELENY: Sure.

BROWN: Wolf?

BLITZER: I want to go live right now to CNN national security correspondent, Kylie Atwood, over at the State Department. Kylie, why is the U.S., and I want to follow up on that question, key question, why is the U.S. not at these talks in Geneva?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, bluntly put, the Iranians have said that they just aren't going to talk to U.S. officials right now. We heard from the Iranian foreign minister earlier today saying that the Iranians have nothing to say to the United States while Israel's operation on Iran is ongoing.

So until the United States pressures Israel to stop that operation, which according to U.S. officials has not happened to date, or until Iran decides it's in its best interest to talk to the United States while that operation is ongoing, it's very unlikely that we will see that change for now. So it's the Europeans who are at the table trying to take the temperature of the Iranians to see if there is any room for a diplomatic push here. As Jeff was saying, there is not a high degree of hopefulness at the White House that this is going to be the meeting that's going to deliver a diplomatic breakthrough.

But we also heard from a White House official who said yesterday that President Trump is open to the allies trying to meet with the Iranians, trying to seek diplomacy, particularly to bring Iran closer to taking his deal. And so what we'll watch for today is if these Europeans get a sense that Iran is in a position where it is more willing to potentially agree to some of the deals that the United States had already put on the table after two months of negotiations directly. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Kylie Atwood at the State Department, thank you very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. We're joined now by Robert S. Spalding III. He's a retired Air Force Brigadier General and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. Thank you so much for being here.

I want our audience to understand you're a former commander of the Air Force's 509th Operations Group. That's the nation's only B-2 self- bomber unit. So that is relevant here because the U.S. would need to use that unit if, in fact, it follows through on the strike on the Fordow nuclear facility in Iran. Walk us through how that could play out.

ROBERT S. SPALDING III, BRIG GEN, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Well, so the operations and maintenance and logistics that allow us to deliver a weapon like that, I mean, that's well established. We train to it every single day. So, like, when you send something on FedEx, you don't think about everything that goes behind that getting delivered. It's the same thing. This is business as usual.

So delivering the weapon, that's -- that's as easy as a farmer crop dusting his field. Now, the weapon itself has been very well engineered and very well tested. So I think the bottom line is if the President chooses to do this, he has every confidence that it will work out well.

BROWN: What would the risk be to U.S. military personnel in an operation like this? Well, you know, before the Israelis took out the air defenses, it was pretty significant. Even with that, the B-2 is fairly capable of going in there. I think the -- the risk now is to not just the troops in the region, but also here at home, terrorist attacks or, you know, they can launch missiles in the region. So that's what I would be concerned about, not concerned about the crews at all.

[11:10:12]

BROWN: And that the crews would involve a two-person crew, in the B-2 --

SPALDING III: Right.

BROWN: -- and then, you know, anyone trying to provide protective cover. I wonder what your view is on the potential strain that President Trump's decision to give this two-week window is putting on Israel's own air defense system.

SPALDING III: Well, I mean, obviously, they have -- the -- the Iranians have launched significant attacks, and, you know, I would be worried about what else could be coming. But, you know, I think they're prepared for it. They've said they're prepared for it. They've prepared the population. They have a good warning system so people can go down into bunkers.

So I think they're prepared to -- to -- to wait it out. And I don't think --

BROWN: And keep control over the Iranian airspace.

SPALDING III: Right. But like I said, I don't think that's a requirement. If the President decides to take out, to use this weapon to take out the centrifuges, I don't think that's a real consideration. You know, they don't have to continue to continuously provide air cover over Iran in the intervening two weeks.

BROWN: In the intervening two weeks. So, in other words, if it's a go, then they can provide that cover again. What do you know about that weapon? It's never been used. How likely do you think it would be successful on one shot? Because we've heard from other experts who say it would take multiple strikes.

SPALDING III: Well, I can't go into too much, but we're very confident the weapon's going to work. And while it hasn't been used, of course, that would involve an attack on Iran, it has been tested.

BROWN: It has been tested. And -- and based on what you know, you are very confident with one, one shot it would work. It would achieve the objective.

SPALDING III: Well, so -- so the -- there's several weapons in the inventory. And so when you -- when you're looking at a hard and deeply buried target, there are tactics. And there's a number of weapons that are designed against a certain target. So I wouldn't consider it a one shot. I would consider what the target needs, we have the capacity to provide. And that may be one airplane, may be two airplanes, may be one weapon, may be four weapons. It just depends on the target.

BROWN: And what would that entail in terms of time? And, you know, just help us understand.

SPALDING III: Well, I mean, obviously the crews are, I mean, that's about a 40-hour mission when you talk about going all the way there, several refuelings. And then, you know, we would probably change crews somewhere before it came home because it's such a long mission. So it's a lot of things to -- to plan for, to work out.

There's a lot of things that you have to think about in terms of contingencies. But, again, this is what we do. This is our business. This is like delivering FedEx. We have the capacity to do it. We have the logistics to do it. We have everything that we need to actually make it happen.

BROWN: All right, Robert Spalding -- General Robert Spalding, I should say thank you so much.

SPALDING III: Thank you.

BROWN: Wolf?

BLITZER: Still ahead, Pamela, what President Trump's two-week pause on Iran means for Israel's strategy in the region.

[11:13:05]

BROWN: And a Republican congressman says he was run off the road on his way to work by someone shouting death threats. Police have just made an arrest. This happening as elected officials at every level sound the alarm about their safety. You're in The Situation Room.

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BROWN: Well, new this morning, a Memphis man is set to be arraigned after police say he visited the mayor's home with a taser, gloves, rope and duct tape. Trenton Abston is charged with attempted kidnapping, stalking and trespassing.

Police say he visited the home of Mayor Paul Young Sunday night because he allegedly wanted to talk about crime in the city. This, of course, is just the latest in a string of really troubling incidents involving elected officials. And they're sparking these urgent conversations about the security of our public servants.

CNN's Tom Foreman is with us in The Situation Room now. Really disturbing stuff. And that the mayor and his family were home when this happened.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And this seemed and again, yet another incident like this.

BROWN: Yes.

FOREMAN: They apparently authorities have video here from outside security video that shows this guy scaling a wall and just going straight for the mayor's front door.

And in this case, the mayor had a ring camera on his front door and he saw the guy standing out there with this hoodie on, according to their -- their testimony, and just seeming nervous and odd. And the mayor didn't open the door and call the police. But yes, duct tape, hoodie, gloves, a taser.

That's what police are saying this guy had there. So what this all adds up to, we don't know. But obviously, you open your door, you see something like that outside your door. It's very alarming.

BROWN: Yes, very alarming. And you also have this other scary incident involving a Republican congressman.

FOREMAN: Yes, we don't know much about this at this moment. Max Miller, congressman from Ohio. He's -- he's saying basically he was confronted on the roadway. We have just learned that there has been an arrest in this. We don't know much beyond that. But authorities have arrested somebody and presumably they'll be charged as following. Listen to what he says about what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MAX MILLER (R-OH): As I was driving to work, some unhinged, deranged man decided to lay on his horn and run me off the road when he couldn't get my attention to show me a Palestinian flag, not to mention death to Israel, death to me, that he wanted to kill me and my family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:20:05]

FOREMAN: Again, we don't really know much beyond what he has said there, so we'll find some facts as it moves forward. Authorities will find them and share them with them, I'm sure.

BROWN: Right. And we're also getting some new information out of Minnesota, right, where there are the horrific shootings there.

FOREMAN: Unbelievable. The details we're getting out of the hospital from these folks here. It really is remarkable. Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, they're talking about the night they were shot, which was the same night that Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed. What they are saying now is that they went to their door at 2:00 in the morning.

They hear this pounding on the door. They say they went to the door with their adult daughter, Hope, who was with them off also. They saw, according to them, this gunman at the door who shot John Hoffman nine times.

BROWN: Oh my goodness.

FOREMAN: His wife, Yvette, was pushing the gunman out the door as he shot her eight times. She got him out the door. The daughter, Hope, locked the door and called 911 and got help to the house. Remarkable that these people survived this and made it through. They're in serious conditions. Big deal in the hospital for them, obviously.

But the fact that this family was able to do that at 2:00 in the morning out of a dead sleep, absolutely remarkable. And, you know, when you -- when you put it into the context of everything we're looking at these days, it's really something a statement from the Hoffmans from the hospital came out in which they said, we are grappling with the reality that we live in a world where public service carries such risks as being targeted because someone disagrees with you or doesn't like what you stand for. As a society, as a nation, as a community, we must work together to return to a level of civility that allows us all to live peacefully. The future for our children depends on that.

And this is against a backdrop of last year, the U.S. Capitol Police investigating 9,000 cases of threats against lawmakers and 83 percent increase over previous years.

BROWN: It's frightening, terrifying.

FOREMAN: Yes. Well, it's remarkable. And this goes beyond just lawmakers, right? This is -- this is a threat on basically the functioning of our society. And, you know, people keep -- people keep simultaneously saying this is unacceptable. We have to stop this and not have it in politics. And yet incendiary language keeps flying, which becomes the jumping off point for some of these people.

BROWN: It so happens when you treat fellow Americans as adversaries rather than fellow citizens.

FOREMAN: Sure.

BROWN: Tom Foreman, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes. Very disturbing indeed.

Up next, what is the likelihood of any progress in the Iran talks? I'm going right now in Geneva if the U.S. and Israel aren't even at the table. We'll discuss that when we come back.

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[11:27:12]

BLITZER: We're following the breaking news talks are underway in Geneva right now between Iran's foreign minister and his European counterparts. President Trump giving a two-week window for diplomacy before deciding whether to strike Iran.

Meanwhile, at least 23 people were injured in Israel earlier today during a fresh wave of Iranian airstrikes. Joining us now, the former U.S. ambassador, former White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and CNN global affairs analyst, Kim Dozier. Rahm, listen to what French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier today. What's your reaction?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): We have to take back control through technical expertise and negotiation. That's why for several days, France has had a clear, simple direction. One, nothing justifies the strikes on energy infrastructure and the civilian population, nothing. And two, we have to absolutely prioritize the return to negotiations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So what do you think, Rahm, is a diplomatic solution really still possible here?

RAHM EMANUEL, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO JAPAN UNDER PRES. BIDEN: Yes, well, that's up to the Iranians. I mean, I would be kind of the good cop, bad cop. That would be the structure.

BLITZER: You're usually the bad cop.

EMANUEL: Well, or -- or worse, to be honest, which is Israel's going to continue to do what they're going to do. They're going to get to support both the defensively and offensively. But we're at the negotiating table as well. We're ready to get here. I do think you should run the string on diplomacy for the simple reason because if you decide to do something kinetic right now, you've taken diplomacy off the table.

Second, Israel, if you go back to the 25 -- 2015 agreement, they've had three objections. One was the octopus, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria. That's been dealt with. Second, missile production. Israel, as you look at it, everybody's focused here in the United States on the nuclear facilities, hitting the missile production. The inability of Iran ever to deliver has been quite effective by Israel to the point and be able to complete.

Third, is a timeframe and the ability to develop the weapons. And to me you run the course of diplomacy because if you do kinetic, you want to show that you have had the time to make it work. And I think that's what I would do right now as I was the President of the United States and that's what I would advise.

Now I am haunted by one thing from my experience. 1994, President Clinton was ready to deal with North Korea, did not because of President Carter going there, et cetera. And I think we now have a problem in North Korea and that slightly is a flashing yellow light that you have to deal with this situation. It has to be dealt with. It should be dealt with at the negotiating table.

But the option exists for a kinetic response to ensure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon and the capacity to deliver that nuclear weapon.

BLITZER: Kim, what do you think the chances are that they can accomplish a breakthrough in these talks in Geneva?

[11:29:56]

KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, I think this is definitely going to be a stick up, even more so than the good cop. They're going to say, look, we cannot hold the Trump administration back from bombing your nuclear sites.