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The Situation Room

Right Now, Iran and Israel Trading More Bombardments; Iranian Foreign Minister in Moscow to Consult With Putin. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 23, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, Israel ramping up strikes on Iran, targeting military headquarter buildings, airports, a prison, and the same nuclear facility the U.S. hit less than two days ago.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, Pamela Brown is off today, and you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin with the breaking news this morning, Iran and Israel trading more aerial bombardments. This is new video coming into The Situation Room showing smoke choking the sky over Tehran after explosions rocked the area. Also, this morning, Israel is confirming that it struck access route to the Fordow nuclear facility in Central Iran. Here, you can see the craters left by the U.S. bunker buster bombs. The U.S. is still assessing the damage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): We have no idea whether these strikes were successful. Now, if what you're looking for is a big boom and a large hole in the ground, I have very little doubt that our bunker-busters did a big boom and a very large hole in the ground.

But, Kasie, we don't know sitting here right now, whether the highly enriched uranium was in the Fordow facility or in the Natanz facility. We have no idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Meanwhile, Israel is saying it's ramping up its attacks today. Targets include the flagship building of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the headquarters of its paramilitary wing. Israel is also striking non-military targets. Here, the IDF attacks, the entrance of Iran's notorious Evin Prison.

Sirens wailing across Israel as warnings are up of incoming missiles from Iran. People taking refuge and shelters refuge from scenes like this. Watch.

A dash cam capturing the moment an Iranian strike slams next to a highway not far from the port city of Ashdod, and then rains debris on the driver. Remarkably, the man was not injured.

We're following all the latest developments for our journalists and crews in Iran, Israel, and Washington. But let's begin with CNN's Fred Pleitgen, who had himself to scramble for cover as Israel unleashed a major bombing just north of Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, we've just witnessed a massive airstrike here on the area of sort of Northern Central Tehran. We actually went downstairs into a shelter once we heard planes overhead, and then we heard explosions. You can see now the sky over the northwest of Tehran is completely filled with smokes. It seemed to us as though it were several really, really strong impacts that took place.

And if we look over to the left here, you can see the smoke seems to be emanating from that area that's more towards the west of Iran, the sort of northwest of Tehran, of the Iranian capital. This is the first time since we've been here that we've seen a heavy airstrike like this in the fairly central part of the city. So, we're only going to be able to be up here for not much longer.

But this is definitely something that I wouldn't say is unprecedented, but it definitely something that we haven't seen in the past couple of days coming, of course, exactly after the Trump administration struck those nuclear facilities and the Iranians are vowing revenge for that.

Of course, the Israelis also continuing their air campaign and right now, as you can see, the skies over Tehran filled with thick black smoke.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN. Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Fred, for that report.

President Trump is already floating the idea of a regime change in Iran, that despite top administration officials insisting that has never been the U.S. goal.

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Listen.

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J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: But our view has been very clear that we don't want a regime change.

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: This mission was not, and has not been about regime change.

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: This wasn't a regime change move.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Let's go live right now to the White House and CNN's Alayna Tree, who's monitoring all of this for us. Alayna, what are you hearing from the Trump administration this morning on this sensitive subject?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, first of all, Wolf, I want to -- I can't overstate that the president really does want a diplomatic deal with Iran following those strikes on Saturday. Of course, a key question is whether or not Iran actually wants that themselves now that the U.S. has moved forward and actually attacked their Iranian nuclear facilities.

But this question of regime change has long been something I know that this administration has wanted to avoid, specifically because they recognize a lot of people do not want to be dragged into another foreign war.

Now, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about this. I was there when she was chatting with reporters. Take a listen to her response on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: If there was Iranian regime refuses to give up their nuclear program or engage in talks, we just took out their nuclear program on Saturday night, as you all know, but if they refuse to engage in diplomacy moving forward, why shouldn't the Iranian people rise up against this brutal terrorist regime? That's a question the president raised last night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now what I find really interesting about that word choice, Wolf, is that she said, why shouldn't the Iranian people think about regime change, of course, it appeared that the president was opening up potentially the United States to getting involved in that as well, something we know Israel has been very open to and keen on, essentially, but this administration really trying to be clear that that is not the goal, all to say the president is meeting with his national security team at 1:00 P.M. today in the Oval Office. This will, of course, be a big topic of that conversation.

BLITZER: Alayna Treene reporting from the White House for us, Alayna, thank you very much from Israel today, a reminder of how random life and death can be in a conflict zone.

A dash cam captures a huge explosion right next to a road near the coastal city of Ashdod, as Iran launched a new wave of strikes on Israel. You can hear the shattered concrete and debris pummel the vehicle. The man inside was not hurt.

CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson, is joining us now live from Tel Aviv. Nic, Israelis have had to scramble into shelters today and on almost every single day in recent days. Tell us what you're seeing today. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Wolf. It appears today as if the Iranians are changing up their tactics a little. Rather than firing 20 or 30 ballistic missiles in one barrage, it was just one missile that they fired at around 3:00 A.M. local time here, set the sirens off across the country, sent everyone to the shelters for safety and security for just one missile, disruptive. And then they had a slightly different tactic again in the mid-morning here. That itself, again, a slightly different tactic, firing a salvo mid-morning.

But, first of all, the sirens went off in the north of the country, then the center, then in the south, then in the north again, and it was four waves of missiles, but, again, a low number of missiles between five and ten total.

Now, that appeared again because it kept people in their shelters for an extended period, longer than normal appeared to be, intended to be disruptive. And the electricity company here said that the strategic facility had been -- had there been an impact near a strategic facility and electricity had been lost to a small, a few communities there. We saw as well flights trying to come in to Ben-Gurion Airport. They were kept flying loops or turned around and went back.

So, Iran changing the tactics, it seems to be disruptive, less than destructive and using less missiles to do it, whether they'll stick with that, we don't know, Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic, on Ben-Gurion Airport, I thought the airport was completely shut down, all flights, incoming and outgoing canceled with the airspace over Israel closed and shut down as well. Is it reopening? Is that what I'm hearing?

ROBERTSON: Yes. This morning, what the government wanted to do, Wolf, was allow a few planes to come in to bring people who've been stuck outside the country and allow people to fly out. New rules and regulations, a total of about 50 people allowed on each aircraft to leave, if and when they get in. They were trying to open windows of availability to just get the aircraft in, get a few people on, turn them around, get them out fast, and that was definitely disrupted this morning. We were looking at Flight Radar tracking about four different aircraft incoming, and they were all forced to stair away from the airspace here, Wolf.

BLITZER: Are these commercial jets or are they private charter planes?

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ROBERTSON: Appeared to be commercial planes, Wolf. What the government is trying to put in place is a system that can allow foreigners here that are stuck to get out, Israelis that are stuck outside the country to get in, but do it in a way where you don't gather too many people together, that you don't have a lengthy process, that you can keep people safe before you get them on the planes and get the planes down briefly, offload quickly, unload quickly, depart quickly. This is the way that they're trying to operate, Wolf.

BLITZER: Interesting. And, Nic, about the latest Israeli military targeting strikes inside Iran today, give us a sense what you're hearing from top Israeli officials about the objective.

ROBERTSON: Yes, really interesting because it seems there's a shift of tactics and focus still hitting missile locations, missile storage facilities still hitting, went back to the Fordow nuclear facility today. However, the defense minister spoke of the most unprecedented strikes force used against Tehran. The IDF listed a number of sites that were hit, the Evin Prison. This is a feared jail that the regime uses in Tehran. The besiege paramilitary force that is repressive to the population, stops the protests on the street and other government -- Iranian government institutions used for internal security, not external security, internal.

And I think what the foreign minister was trying to communicate with a tweet that he published today. He said, we warned Iran to avoid civilian casualties. And you might think that he meant civilian casualties in Israel, but he goes on to say, you didn't, and this was our answer today with a picture of Evin Prison. So, it appears to be a message to the Iranian people that Israel is trying to remove the regime threats to you, which could potentially therefore open the door for them to move towards overthrowing this current regime.

That may be an unrealistic assessment of what could happen but Israel today focused on those internal elements of repression inside Iran. That was different.

BLITZER: Interesting indeed. All right, Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv for us, Nic, stay safe. We'll be in close touch with you.

At the same time all of this is going on. Iran's foreign minister is in Moscow right now to meet with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Abbas Araghchi telling Iranian state media they would be discussing what are called common threats. Russia's Foreign Ministry condemned the U.S. strikes in Iran, saying it flagrantly violates international law. Russia and Iran signed a comprehensive partnership agreement this year cementing their strategic alliance. They've worked closely together as far as Russia's war in Ukraine is concerned.

Let's go live right now to CNN's Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Matthew Chance in London. He's monitoring all of this. So, what new details are coming out of this meeting, Matthew? What are you learning?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's quite an interesting meeting, isn't it? Because, as you mentioned, the Iranians and the Russians are very close, they've got that strategic partnership. It doesn't extend to a military alliance, which is why -- one of the reasons why the Russians haven't provided military assistance at this time for Iran, but there are certainly words of support.

And, you know, the red carpet was rolled out at the Kremlin for the Iranian foreign minister. You can see in those pictures of him sitting in that very ornate room across from Vladimir Putin and his delegation in this very formal environment. Again, words of support from Putin as well.

He made a statement which was very critical indeed of the Israeli and the U.S. action against Iran. It reads like this, act of aggression against Iran has no grounds, no justification. We have a longstanding, friendly and reliable relationship with Iran, and we, for our part, are making efforts to support the Iranian people. That's Vladimir Putin there speaking at that meeting with the Iranian foreign minister.

What he didn't do is offer military support. Now, it's a legal reason. Partly, you've mentioned it, they don't have a defense pact with Iran. But, you know, remember, Russia has its hands full basically in Ukraine where it's fighting that sort of grinding war. It doesn't really have the resources to provide weapons, air defenses, things like that to another country. It needs them itself.

There's also a sense in which, you know, the instability in the Middle East has always kind of profited. Russia. It's one of the biggest oil producers in the world. The oil price is spiking. It could spike further. That has an economic benefit for Russia, and, frankly, it takes people's attention away from what's taking place in Ukraine. So, Russia is using that opportunity to really intensify its military operations there, Wolf.

BLITZER: And as I said, Iran has been a major supporter of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and we'll stay on top of these developments.

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Matthew Chance, thank you very, very much.

Coming up, Israel says it's hitting the access roads to the Fordow nuclear facility in Iran at the same plant the U.S. hit less than two days ago. Does that mean the plant is still functional? We have a detailed military analysis. That's just ahead.

Plus, economic impact, how the escalating Israel-Iran conflict will impact gas prices right here at home.

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: We're following all the latest developments out of the Middle East right now. Israel and Iran are trading strikes for the 11th straight day. Israel's defense minister says, a new round of strikes has not only hit Iran's Fordow nuclear facility again, but also targets, and I'm quoting him now, the heart of Tehran, including a notorious Iranian prison.

[10:20:06]

Let's go to CNN Military Analyst, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. He's at the Magic Wall for us for more. What do we know about these latest attacks, Colonel?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Wolf, there's some really interesting target sets here and on the military side, we have the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, missile-launching storage sites, as well as the Fordow nuclear facility. Of course, that's not really a surprise, but that's been basically what we call a re-strike in the Air Force terminology.

Now, on the non-military side, we have the Evin Prison, which is a major, political prisoner place, The Shahid Beheshti University and airports. Airports actually have a dual use within Iran. They can be used both for civilian purposes as well as military purposes. But these are basically the target sets that the Israelis have struck in, did a little bit, of course, with the Fordow site and the other two nuclear sites.

BLITZER: So, does it look like it's expanding right now, these entire operations, Iran increasing its attacks on Tel Aviv and elsewhere in Israel and the Israelis increasing attacks inside Iran?

LEIGHTON: Yes. I think that would be the case. And right now, you know, I'll take, we will take a quick look at the Operation Midnight Hammer, where everything came in. You know, when you see Fordow Natanz and Isfahan being hit by the B-2s and the TLAMs, the Tomahawk missiles striking from the Persian Gulf, Arabian Gulf area into Isfahan. The American B-2s, of course, went back to Whiteman Air Force Base.

But when you look at the strikes that the Iranians are doing, they are still going on. For example, this is what happened near Tel Aviv just yesterday, and that shows some pretty considerable damage here. Then you have some other strikes that that occurred not too far from there in Mes Yona (ph). Again, some strikes on civilian targets and clearly a lot of damage there.

So, the Iranians are doing these kinds of things. The Israelis are going after a lot of these different areas right here, Wolf. For example, not only the areas in and out outside of the nuclear facilities, but also air defense sites, not only in the western part of Iran, like around here, but they've also gone as far as the central part, like the city of Yazd, which is right in about in this area right here, and several other cities in Iran that indicate.

Basically, what the Israelis are doing is they're moving their envelope of control from the western part of the country into the central and possibly even the eastern part of the country.

BLITZER: You know, I think it's significant, Colonel, that Iran has publicly said it will now undertake, and I'm quoting them now, powerful and targeted operations that will inflict heavy, regretful and unpredictable consequences. That's what Iran is saying, presumably saying they're going to go after U.S. targets in that area.

There are a lot of U.S. targets in that area, 40,000 U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere in the region. You and I have been to the Al Udeid Air Base, for example, and Doha, Qatar, a major U.S. air base. How worried should those U.S. Air Force personnel be right now that Iran could target them, soldiers over at the Camp As Sayliyah, the regional headquarters for the U.S. Military Central Command, not far away?

LEIGHTON: That's right. Camp As Sayliyah and Al Udeid, places that we know very well, Wolf. Basically what we're looking at here is this area right in here. This is Qatar. And all of this is well within range of all the Iranian missiles right here. We're showing the long range missiles, but keep in mind there are also short range missiles that have a real easy time to cross from Iran, which is on this side of the Persian Gulf into the Arabian Peninsula right here, which is where we have not only facilities in Qatar, but also Kuwait, the UAE, and, of course, Saudi Arabia.

BLITZER: Well, let's not forget Bahrain, which is the headquarters for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. So, there are a lot of potential targets for the Iranians right there and the U.S military is taking steps to try to protect them.

LEIGHTON: That's absolutely right, Wolf. And, basically, what you're seeing is an increase in the force protection conditions for all of those bases. And that really makes a big difference because that's going to help protect the troops because all of the different areas that they're looking at to control, they are the ones that really will be the targets for the Iranians. But we can protect ourselves if we concentrate on what the Iranians are doing.

BLITZER: All right. Colonel Leighton, as usual, thank you very, very much.

Right now, the markets are holding relatively steady after the U.S. hit multiple nuclear facilities over the weekend. And while the markets remain flat, there is growing concern that gas prices here in the U.S., indeed around the world could spike.

I want to go live right now to CNN Politics and Business Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich, who's in New York. Vanessa, the president is posting about the oil prices this morning. What is he saying?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, the president watching oil prices very closely and for good reason. We've seen such a dramatic increase in oil prices just in the last few weeks, starting in the beginning of June until now, oil prices up some 18 percent or so.

[10:25:10]

The president saying, everyone keep oil prices down. I'm watching. You're playing right into the hands of the enemy. He also went on to say that he's directing the Department of Energy to drill, baby, drill, saying that he wants the Department of Energy to be drilling right here in the United States so we don't have that reliance on foreign oil.

But if you look at oil prices, they've been flat today, really kind of up and down just slightly, really coming off some of the highs for oil futures that we saw over the weekend. You can see right there, U.S. crude trading at about $73 a barrel, Brent crude, $76 a barrel.

But this, of course, is a dramatic increase from where we were just in the beginning of June, Wolf. Investors are really concerned about one area in particular, the Strait of Hormuz. This is a narrow passageway in the area of Oman and Iran, where a lot of oil, about one fifth of the global production of oil, 20 million barrels come through that narrow passage that you see right there every single day. And you have investors watching very closely to see if there is any interruption in that passageway at all.

And investors wondering, is Iran going to kind of block some of that passageway because of that escalation by Israel and the U.S. on that region and on Iran? What does this mean for all of us, Wolf? Well, gas prices, just look at what they've done in the last week or so. Currently, the national average for a gallon of gas is $3.22 a gallon just from a week ago. Look at that. That's up, significantly, up almost 10 cents there. And then compared to a year ago, we're still not where we were. But the concern is that we're going to see the price of gas rise and we will, according to GasBuddy. In the next few days, we can expect the price of gas to jump by 10 to 30 cents. So, we're almost where we were a year ago.

Of course, Wolf, if there's a deescalation in this conflict, we could see oil prices and then gas prices fall. But as it stands right now, even with the prices we're seeing on the markets, they're going to be about 10 to 30 cents more in the next coming days for a gallon of gas, Wolf.

BLITZER: And if the Straits of Hormuz are shut down for one reason or another, those gas prices would explode, something no one wants to see.

Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you very, very much.

Coming up, whereabouts unknown, the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog says he isn't sure where Iran has put its 900-pound stockpile of enriched uranium. We'll discuss that when we come back.

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