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Rep. Mike Lawler (D-NY), Is Interviewed About U.S. Assessing Damage To Iran's Nuclear Sites After Strikes; Israel & Iran Trade New Strikes After U.S. Hits Nuclear Sites. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired June 23, 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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[11:00:06]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, Israel unleashing a barrage of missiles right in the heart of Iran's capital, striking military targets and a notorious Iranian prison holding political inmates, as President Trump raises the question of regime change in Iran.

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 this hour with breaking news, a source telling CNN that Israel could achieve the majority of its goals in Iran in just a matter of days, days. The IDF says it's ramping up strikes in Tehran, focusing in on the headquarters of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Israel has killed several members of the IRGC, members of that organization since it first attacked Iran more than a week ago.

Meanwhile, the White House is doubling down on its contentious claim that the U.S. quote, completely and totally obliterated Iran's nuclear sites over the weekend. And President Trump is floating the idea of an Iranian regime change, despite top administration officials insisting that has never been the U.S. goal.

Let's go live right now to the White House and our chief national affairs correspondent, Jeff Zeleny. What are you hearing, Jeff, from the Trump administration about all of this?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, President Trump is defending his weekend military action, which was extraordinary on every level, on every front. The President is standing by his language of obliteration of the nuclear sites in Iran, even as the bomb damage assessments have not come back to verify that. But the President will be meeting with his national security team in the Oval Office in a couple hours.

And, of course, he certainly has that opportunity to, again, defend the action, as well as explain the action not only to the American people, but certainly to his own political movement, which is very divided on this. But in the middle of all of this, the President now is doing something his advisors yesterday did not. He is talking about the potential of regime change. Of course, that would be very controversial, not only politically speaking, but certainly geopolitically speaking. But the President raised this idea last evening in one of his many posts on social media. He says this, it's not the politically correct term to use regime change, but if the current Iranian regime is unable to make Iran great again, why wouldn't there be a regime change? MIGA.

Of course, there's no call to make Iran great again, certainly not by the President's supporters or politicians on either side of the aisle. But the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said the President was simply raising that as a possibility. Take a listen.

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KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President's posture and our military posture has not changed. The President was just simply raising a question that I think many people around the world are asking.

They refuse to engage in diplomacy moving forward. Why shouldn't the Iranian people rise up against this brutal terrorist regime?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So the idea of installing new leaders certainly raises an entirely different set of questions, one that this country has wrestled with, of course, over the last decades with the Iraq war in particular, which still hangs over all of this. But for now, at least, Wolf, the urgent questions here at the White House, how successful were those military strikes? How much of the nuclear capabilities were actually dismantled over the weekend? Those are answers that are still not coming in.

But we do expect the President, again, to meet with his national security team at this hour. That is not an open press event to see him on camera. But we know this President often changes that. So we shall see. But for now, at least, the White House is defending its military strike, even as it floats this new possibility, Wolf.

BLITZER: And Jeff, as a former White House correspondent, I'm just curious, wondering, and you said that the President is going to meet with his top national security advisors in the Oval Office. Normally, a meeting like that would take place in the White House Situation Room, where there's a lot more security, a lot more technology to go over various details. Why the Oval Office?

ZELENY: Wolf, I had that same thought when I saw the schedule today, the President's daily schedule. That, to me, signifies that the president wants to have a public meeting with cameras potentially to talk about this. Again, that has not been scheduled. It's the President's decision, if he would like to come to the -- the cameras and explain his decision to the American people and the world, but very different from an operational-type meeting that's in the Situation Room.

An Oval Office meeting is much more political in nature. The Situation Room, where the President was on Saturday night as these strikes were being unfolded, is certainly different. So we'll keep an eye on that and bring you any up-to-date information, Wolf.

[11:05:04]

BLITZER: So, is the White House going to allow cameras into the Oval Office?

ZELENY: At this moment, it is not open press. At this moment, the President is scheduled to have a closed-door meeting with his advisors. But if past is prologue, many of these events have opened up. Advisors tell me it's up to the President. It's a real-time decision that he wants to use that as a venue to explain his decision.

And Wolf, one thing is very different about this entire strike. The President spent very little time preparing the American people and, indeed, the world for what was to happen on Saturday. So we will see if he spends more time after the fact explaining his decision, that extraordinary decision to strike Iran.

BLITZER: Yes, that's a good point, very good point, because the President loves reporters and T.V. cameras coming into the Oval Office, but they rarely go into the Situation Room at the White House for security reasons. So we'll see what happens in the coming hours. So, Jeff Zeleny, thanks very, very much for that update.

I want to continue this conversation right now. Joining us, Republican Congressman Mike Lawler of New York. He sits on the Foreign Relations Committee. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. I know you strongly support the U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear program. Iran, as you know, is vowing to retaliate. And there are about, what, 40,000 U.S. troops stationed in the region in the Middle East right now, somewhere within range of Iranian missiles.

Do you have any concerns, Congressman, of this escalating into a much wider conflict with the United States?

REP. MIKE LAWLER (D-NY): Well, obviously, as you pointed out, I supported the President's decision to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities. As Republicans and Democrats have said for decades, they cannot get a nuclear weapon. And the President made a difficult but necessary decision to eliminate that threat, to the best of our knowledge at this point.

And obviously, the threat of Iran retaliating is out there. We have to be cognizant of that. It's not just the 40,000 troops and military bases in the region. You have over 700,000 Americans living in Israel, many of whom are dual citizens, live there at least part-time, if not full-time.

And so the threat against not only Americans, but military personnel and American military assets obviously is strong. And so the President was very clear that this was a limited strike to end the threat of a nuclear Iran. But if they retaliate, if they attack American troops or assets or personnel, they will face dire consequences.

And so obviously, our military is prepared and the administration is watching very closely.

BLITZER: When you say dire consequences, if the Iranians retaliate by starting to kill U.S. military personnel stationed in the region or American citizens, for example, in Israel, what does dire consequences mean?

LAWLER: Exactly what I said. I mean, at the end of the day, they will face retaliatory strikes. There's no question about that. Remember, Wolf, Iran is the greatest state sponsor of terror. They have funded Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other terror proxies in the region who have conducted strikes against not only Israel, but U.S. military personnel in the region. They have killed over a thousand Americans. Iran has blood on its hands.

But the fact is that the President has tried to negotiate with them. He gave them 60 days to negotiate in good faith and end their nuclear program. They chose not to. They chose purposefully to continue forward. And ultimately, Israel took action on day 61 and the United States came in to help finish the job.

But the fact is Iran has to recognize that any response that results in an attack on an American base or military personnel or results in the death of Americans will be met with the full force of the United States military.

BLITZER: The head of the United Nations Nuclear Watchdog Organization says he isn't sure where Iran has put its 900-pound stockpile of enriched uranium. Is President Trump claiming victory too soon when he says the nuclear sites were, quote, obliterated?

BLITZER: Well, obviously, we're going to continue to find out more information in the days ahead. And obviously, the intelligence is critical. But eliminating these nuclear facilities is critical in terms of preventing Iran long term from being able to have a nuclear weapon.

Obviously, if they moved enriched uranium, that is something that we are going to have to evaluate and -- and address. But this was an important step. And I guess my question to many is, what would you prefer? Should we wait until Iran uses a nuclear weapon? I mean -- I mean this is the absurdity of much of the -- the response from many of my colleagues in Washington, frankly, who had no problem when Barack Obama used military force in Syria, in Libya, in Pakistan, in Yemen, never once raising any questions about it.

[11:10:30]

And now to object to the President taking a necessary action to eliminate the threat of nuclear Iran, a threat that Republicans and Democrats universally have said is a major threat to global peace and must be stopped at all costs. You can go look at previous statements by Barack Obama. You named the Democrat. They all agreed we needed to stop a nuclear Iran. And yet suddenly they have an objection to it.

BLITZER: President Trump has suggested there should be regime change in Iran. The White House has walked that back a bit, saying the President was simply raising a question. As you said, Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism, the world's number one state sponsor of terrorism, you suggested. But should regime change be a goal, a U.S. goal in this military conflict?

LAWLER: Look, we are not going to send U.S. troops in. We are not seeking to force regime change. But I think the President's point was very simple, which is if the Iranian people, after 46 years of living under this tyranny, under the oppression of the Ayatollah and his terrorist regime, if after 46 years the Iranian people are going to rise up and reclaim their country, this is the moment with a weakened Iran, obliterated with their nuclear program on the brink, this is the moment by which the Iranian people may have the best shot to secure their own freedom. And if that happens, there will not be anyone around the globe who feels bad about the Ayatollah and his regime collapsing.

BLITZER: And the Israelis have pointed out, they suggested to me that one of the reasons they attacked the Evin Prison in Tehran, a notorious Iranian prison, is the hope that a lot of those prisoners inside who oppose the Iranian regime will get out and continue this effort towards what's called regime change. Congressman Mike Lawler of New York, the Republican, thanks very much for joining us.

LAWLER: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: And still ahead, plumes of smoke rising over Tehran as Israel intensifies its strikes right in the heart of the Iranian capital. And as I said, a notorious prison and the headquarters of Iran's Revolutionary Guard are among the latest Israeli targets. Our CNN team is on the ground.

[11:12:49]

And President Trump is calling the U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, a monumental success. But was enough done to curtail Tehran's total nuclear capability? Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: From Israel today, a very dramatic reminder of how random life and death can be in a conflict zone. Listen to this.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

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BLITZER: A dash cam captures a huge explosion right next to a road not far from Ashdod, the coastal city, as Iran launched a new wave of strikes on Israel. You can hear the shattered concrete and debris rain down on that vehicle. The man inside, by the way, was not hurt.

Meanwhile, both Israel and Iran have been trading aerial bombardments throughout the day today. CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, is joining us live from Tel Aviv right now. Nic, Israelis have had to scramble into shelters throughout the day today. Tell us what you've been seeing.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, a couple of different times, Wolf. 3:00 a.m. in the morning, across the country, the sirens went off. People took to their bunkers to get safety. Interestingly, and a perhaps change of tactic by Iran, they only fired one missile and it triggered that big response. Typically, in the past, they've been firing 10, 15, 20, 30 -- 30 missiles.

And then again, 11:00 a.m. in the morning or a little bit before then, a number of siren warnings in the north, then the center, then the south, then back in the north again, a sort of four-wave volley of missiles coming from Iran. The net effect was to put people here in their shelters for longer, Wolf. And that's something that, again, perhaps indicates a change of tactics because Iran didn't use a lot of missiles to do it, just between five and 10 missiles. That's what the IDF said.

One missile, however, did impact close to what a strategic facility is how Israel's electricity company is describing it. And they said as a result of that, electricity was cut, power was cut to a couple of small communities. So disruptive is how those strikes have been. Through the rest of the day, it's been relatively quiet, Wolf.

BLITZER: Israel has a pretty much of a world-class air defense system, the Iron Dome, as it's called, all sorts of other aerial defense systems. Are they not working efficiently this time around?

[11:20:07]

ROBERTSON: They still seem to be. They have a sort of intercept rate. They take out about 90 percent of everything that's incoming. Ten -- approximately 10 percent gets through. And those figures sort of stack up with what we saw today, that strike hitting the car with the father and daughter driving as -- as the blast landed nearby, and then that other impact near the strategic facility in the -- in the southern part of Israel.

So it appears that they are working. You know, and -- but I think what we've seen as -- as well as Iran changing its tactics, we've seen Israel changing its tactics and -- and broadening out and taking in some targets that may really help open the door there for the potential for regime change, targeting the Evin Prison, that feared prison that Iran puts its political opponents inside of, besiege paramilitary pro-regime force that is often used to put down anti- regime protests.

And Israel's defense minister talking about an unprecedented level of strikes going on Tehran with this apparent focus, it seems, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Nic Robertson at Tel Aviv. Stay safe over there. Thank you very, very much.

CNN also has a crew right inside Tehran, which has witnessed several heavy Israeli airstrikes today. CNN's Fred Pleitgen and his team had to scramble for cover as Israel unleashed a major bombing just north of the Iranian capital. Watch this.

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's 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.

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

[11:22:59]

Up next, Israel strikes the Fordow nuclear facility again as a U.N. nuclear watchdog raises serious new questions about the status of Iran's stockpile of nuclear materials. Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: The head of the United Nations Nuclear Watchdog Agency is warning that nearly 900 pounds of Iran's enriched uranium is unaccounted for. Rafael Grossi says that the Iranian regime has made no secret of protecting this material, and he's now calling on inspectors to safely return to Iran and assess the situation.

Joining us now is a former U.N. weapons inspector, David Albright. David, thanks much -- thanks very much for joining us. Is it possible Iran had enough time to actually move the enriched uranium before the weekend U.S. strikes?

DAVID ALBRIGHT, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE & INTL SECURITY: Yes. No, it -- it certainly probably did. I mean, that's one of the costs the -- that we're paying, because Israel didn't kind of button down that facility. It couldn't destroy it, but it could have made it very hard to -- BLITZER: They didn't have the bunker-busting bombs and the B-2 bombers that the U.S. has.

ALBRIGHT: Yes, but they could have done a lot of damage to its ability to operate, hitting the tunnels, the electrical supply. I mean, and -- and it -- it's a price they wanted to pay. So, I mean, I think there's an understanding that these stocks are -- are -- are probably still in the hands of the Iranians, probably most of them in a safe place. And that is something that Israel's going to have to work on. I mean, it -- it's going to have to try to find out --

BLITZER: Not just Israel, the U.S. too.

ALBRIGHT: Well, hopefully. But I think the Mossad has proven a little more adept in these kind of close -- close operations and they -- they are actively trying to recruit people. They've sent out advertisements. There's an e-mail you can contact and they tell you know, use an external VPN if you do.

But there's a lot of unemployed, probably dissatisfied Iranians in the nuclear establishment that may be looking for a different life.

BLITZER: Well, let's see. Mossad, the Israeli intelligence organization dealing on foreign affairs, which has a pretty good record over there in Iran. Sources are telling CNN that the bunker busting bombs were not dropped on the Isfahan facility. Nearly 60 percent of Iran's stockpile of already enriched nuclear material is believed to be stored underground at that facility, Isfahan. How likely is it that this stockpile of uranium wasn't eliminated at that facility?

[11:30:05]

ALBRIGHT: I think it's pretty likely. I mean, the -- the Tomahawks did hit the tunnels --