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Trump Says, Israel and Iran Don't Know What the F**k They're Doing; Today, Lawmakers receive classified briefing on Israel-Iran Conflict; Stocks Higher as Fed Chair Jerome Powell Testifies on Capitol Hill. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 24, 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, profane anger at both Israel and Iran. President Trump is lashing out, accusing both countries of violating a very fragile ceasefire.

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, a furious President Trump railing against both Iran and Israel for allegedly violating a ceasefire deal that he brokered just hours earlier. We want to warn our viewers, the president drops the F bomb.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bomb to likes of which I've never seen before, The biggest load that we've seen. I'm not happy with Israel. You know, when I say, okay, now you have 12 hours, you don't go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them. So, I'm not happy with them. I'm not happy with Iran either. But I'm really unhappy if Israel's going out this morning because of one rocket that didn't land that was shot, perhaps by mistake that didn't land. I'm not happy about that.

You know what we have? We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing. Do you understand that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The president is enraged, that both countries have launched attacks that jeopardize the cease fire. Iranian state media is saying Israel struck Iran. Our reporter on the ground saw anti-aircraft fire lighting up the sky over the Iranian capital.

Before the ceasefire took effect, Israel warned of six separate waves of incoming Iranian missiles. One got struck -- one got through and struck residential buildings in Be'er Sheva in Southern Israel, killing at least four people.

CNN teams are fanned out across the region and indeed around the world to bring you all the late breaking developments.

Let's go live right now to the White House and CNN's Alayna Treene. Alayna, the president clearly very unhappy with Israel and Iran this morning. What more you learning?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, that's right, Wolf. I was actually out there on the south lawn of the White House, when the president came out and spoke with reporters. He was visibly very frustrated and essentially downright angry, Wolf. And you could see that in not only the language, of course, the profanity that he was using, but the rhetoric and the tone really of how he was saying it.

Now, he did come out and say he was really frustrated with both countries because he believed that they were taking advantage of the opportunity that the ceasefire prevented, and especially the delay that he had, you know, waiting until a certain time. He said that they went out particularly Israel, and dropped what he called a load of bombs. And then he said perhaps both sides violated the deal. Take a listen to how we put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think they both violated it. I don't think they -- I'm not sure they did it intentionally. They couldn't rein people back. I don't like the fact that Israel went out this morning at all, and I'm going to see if I can stop it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, as you could hear there, he said that he didn't like what Israel did and he said he's going to see if he could stop it. He told us as soon as he finished speaking with us, he was going to make some calls. Well, we can report that the president called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and did explain to him what a source told me, a White House official said, was an exceptionally firm and direct call, and he explained what needed to happen to sustain a ceasefire.

And then we later saw the president post on social media, Wolf, saying that after speaking with the Israeli prime minister that essentially that the ceasefire is holding and that Israel is not going to attack Iran. So, it does seem like he was able to get Israel back on the same page and the president arguing that the ceasefire is still in effect. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Alayna Treene at the White House for us, thank you very much. We'll stay in very close touch with you.

I want to go live right now to CNN Jerusalem Correspondent Jeremy Diamond. Jeremy, you're now in Be'er Sheva, the site of that deadly Iranian missile strike earlier today. What can you tell us?

[10:05:00] JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. Right behind me, actually, you have some of the people who were living in that building that was struck by a direct impact from that Iranian ballistic missile. And they are trying to get back into their homes, to get what belongings they still have left inside. So many of the people that we have spoken to are still shaken by what they witnessed.

And here is the former Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant. Let me see if I can get him for a quick interview. We're live on CNN. Would -- Minister Gallant -- I know, but I'm just going to ask him real quick. Minister Gallant, it's Jeremy with CNN. We're live on CNN. Could I speak to you very quickly? Thank you. Just very quickly to understand your thoughts on the ceasefire agreement that just took place.

Okay. So, Minister Gallant not interested in doing an interview right now, but he's clearly here as we have seen so many current and former Israeli officials trying to you know, assess the situation and obviously be seen at this at this scene as well, as there is still a lot of uncertainty.

And this is a very, very fragile ceasefire that we have right now between Israel and Iran and questions about how much longer it will last, if it will continue to last. Certainly, the president of the United States is bringing enormous pressure to bear on both sides, on both the Israeli government and the Iranian government to cut out any of the back and forth strikes that we have seen.

We know that he got on the phone with the Israeli prime minister directly to try and prevent Israel from carrying out any further strikes in Iran, which the Israelis had said would be in retaliation for Iranian violations of that ceasefire agreement in the first hours of this ceasefire.

But, again, the focus right now here is on these people who were impacted in the final hour, Wolf, before that ceasefire agreement actually went into effect, the enormous blast shaking this entire residential neighborhood, and as we know, taking the lives of four people in the last hour before the ceasefire took place. Wolf?

BLITZER: So, Jeremy, just to be precise, and I want to make sure that it's clear, that Iranian strike on that residential building that killed four Israelis in Be'er Sheva occurred just before the ceasefire was supposed to begin, the official start time, is that right?

DIAMOND: That's right, Wolf. And we know that the Israeli military was also carrying out strikes in the hours before that ceasefire was implemented in Iran and in the last hour-and-a-half or so before the ceasefire took effect at 7:00 A.M. local time. We know that Iran was firing more than 20 ballistic missiles. We saw at least five different barrages that set off air raid sirens across Israel. And, of course, here in Be'er Sheva, a missile making a direct impact and killing four people about 40 minutes before that ceasefire was set to start. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Jeremy Diamond reporting for us from Be'er Sheva, thank you very much. I want to get the latest view from Iran right now. CNN's Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After the Israelis made that claim that Iranian missiles were flying towards Israeli territory, I actually -- I got in touch with a senior Iranian official who flat out denied that the Iranians had fired any missiles toward Israel after the ceasefire went into effect. In fact, they said that the moment, that that time had come for the ceasefire, that no missiles had been fired from the Iranian side.

The Iranians are also now warning the Israelis against hitting Iranian territory, saying that that would open up Iranian retaliation once again, and that everything within what they call the occupied territories, of course, meaning all of Israel, would then become a target for Iran.

So, some tough language coming out of Tehran here as well. Also, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which, of course, is that elite wing of Iran's military, claiming that there were several violations of its soil, as they put it, by the Israelis, possibly meaning incursion by some sort of aircraft in the hours after the ceasefire went into effect.

What we're seeing right now actually here in Tehran is that things are fairly calm here. I was on the streets a little bit earlier today. There's a lot of people who are out driving, some shops opening up. But what the president said there about the Israelis unloading overnight after the ceasefire deal was announced was definitely something that we saw and we felt here from our vantage point as well.

I was up here on this roof and we all of a sudden heard Israeli Air Force planes streak -- what seemed to be Israeli Air Force planes streaking past, and then extremely loud explosions rocking our building, and then rocking also a lot of other places in Central Tehran as well. We saw a lot of outgoing anti-aircraft gunfire coming from the Iranians. The skies here over the city really were illuminated.

That went on for the better part of, I would say, about half an hour, 45 minutes, maybe up to an hour where those loud bangs continue. The Israelis at some point even issued evacuation orders for certain districts here in -- around 2:30 in the morning, when obviously people in those districts most probably would have been asleep.

So, it certainly was a night that saw a lot of kinetic activity.

[10:10:02]

And as of right now, the Iranians are saying that their forces are not firing back. The foreign minister of this country, Abbas Araghchi, came out and said that Iranian forces had fired until the moment that the ceasefire went into effect, which the Iranians considered to be 4:00 A.M. in the morning. And that since then, no projectiles, they say, have been fired from Iran towards Israeli territory.

BLITZER: Fred Pleitgen in Tehran for us, thank you very, very much.

Up on Capitol Hill here in Washington, House and Senate lawmakers are set to receive a highly classified briefing on the situation in Iran, marking the first time the Trump administration has briefed all members of either chamber on the situation. And it comes amid very deep divisions over the strikes. While some members of the president's own Republican Party are condemning his decision, others have praised it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): President Trump acted and it was brilliant, it was bold, and it will live in history. To all those who took part in this, God bless you. We have the finest military on Earth. We prove that yet again. But you can have the best military but you don't have the right commander-in-chief, nothing happene.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Well, let's go live now to CNN's Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju. Manu, what more do we know about these upcoming intelligence briefings for Republicans and Democrats?

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Very few members of Congress have learned the details about the strikes that happened over the weekend about the Iranian retaliation, about this tentative ceasefire agreement and about the impact of the U.S.-led strikes against Iran. And that's what they're going to hear behind closed doors today.

Very few members, other than the speaker of the House have gotten these kind of briefings. The speaker told me that he had a classified briefing yesterday morning. And then Mike Johnson also told Republicans in a closed door meeting this morning that he spoke to Donald Trump and Trump told them he urged Netanyahu not to retaliate against Iran. That's what happened in their private phone call this morning.

Now, this all comes as Democrats themselves are divided about this attack over the weekend. Many of them said that Trump should have come to Congress first. And some were also responding to news of the ceasefire. I asked him about that over the last day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): United States admitting that he unilaterally brought the United States into a war without Congressional approval is a very grave public admission. It's illegal. It's unconstitutional.

RAJU: Did the president do the right thing in authorizing these strikes now knowing what we know now?

REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): Well, from a -- if what you care about is the constitution and the law, the answer to that question is an unequivocal no. RAJU: Do you think the President deserves credit for what happened in Iran?

REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): Look, if you're telling me that Israel was able to degrade the Iranian military and the president was able to degrade Iran's nuclear capabilities in 12 days and Iran was unable to respond in any meaningful way, and no American was harmed in the process, that sounds like a win for the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And there had been a big push to try to force a vote in the House and the Senate to curtail Donald Trump's efforts to go against Iran, Wolf. It's unclear if those votes will go forward, but Democrats do have the power to force that vote. It could happen in the Senate as soon as this week, even as Republicans believe they have enough votes to kill that effort going forward. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill, we'll monitor that briefing that's coming up later today.

And this just in, Wall Street reacting to all the breaking news this morning and listening to comments from the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, who's up on Capitol Hill right now testifying to lawmakers on his decision to hold steady when it comes to interest rates.

Let's go live right now to CNN Business and Politics Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich, who's in New York monitoring all of this for us. Vanessa, how are the markets, first of all, digesting all the breaking news this morning?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, markets are up because of the news that Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire. Markets, you can see on your screen right there, the Dow up 250 points. You can see the S&P and the NASDAQ also climbing there.

But also investors are going to pay very close attention to what the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, is going to be saying on Capitol Hill today. This is a semi-annual monetary report that he gives regularly.

We have his prepared remarks and he says essentially, as he's speaking right now, that policy changes are continuing to evolve, that there is still uncertainty. And because of that, he says the Federal Reserve is well-positioned to wait and see. This is that wait-and-see mode that he's been talking about for many, many months now, because he says essentially that the tariffs have really not shown up in the economy just yet, and they're waiting to see if they do.

[10:15:04]

Now, President Trump is not going to be happy with the fact that Jerome Powell is indicating that they're not going to lower interest rates in July. Just this morning, President Trump posting on Truth Social that he wants the Federal Reserve to cut rates by two to three points, that would be dramatic. We've also heard from other members of the Federal Reserve voting board, Christopher Waller, who says that they should actually cut rates in July, but others have been more measured. We heard from just this morning the Cleveland Fed chair who said that she doesn't see a weakening in the economy that would merit imminent rate cuts, though I remain attentive to that possibility, so a little more measured there.

But for consumers, Wolf, what does this mean if the Fed decides not to make any changes, likely mortgage rates, credit card loans, auto loans, student loans, the interest rates on those likely not budging. So, for consumers, they may be wishing for that rate cut in July, but Jerome Powell on Capitol Hill today signaling that maybe that's not going to be the reality, Wolf?

BLITZER: And in the process further irritating President Trump. Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you very, very much for that update.

We're going to continue to follow all the major breaking news that's unfolding right now, but there's other important news happening right now as well. The NTSB is laying out its findings of what caused a door plug to blow out on a Boeing 737 Max at more than 16,000 feet.

And with a fragile ceasefire in place, who is the one to actually enforce it? We'll speak to our retired U.S. Army general. That's coming up next.

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

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BLITZER: We are following all the latest developments out of the Middle East right now, where the newly brokered ceasefire between Israel and Iran hangs in the balance. And this morning, a very furious President Trump lashing out at both sides as the deal he helped broker appeared to, to grow more fragile. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We basically have two countries that have, have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the (BLEEP) they're doing. Do you understand that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Joining us now for more on this CNN Military Analyst and retired U.S. Army Major General James Spider Marks. General, thanks so much for joining us. I want to start, get your quick reaction to what we just heard from the president this morning.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES SPIDER MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Pretty unvarnished, a crystal clear message in his mind that we've got two countries that have not figured out what their next steps need to be and when they need to decide that objectives have been met, and that the campaign on both sides can stop and then let diplomacy take place. But when you're in the middle of -- you know, let's be frank, for 5,000 years, Israel has been under attack, the Jews have been under attack. Their neighbors want them gone. Most of the world embraces that notion that there's anti-Semitism that exists and we need to acknowledge that. So, Israel understands that. Israel's making a move to eliminate a legitimate threat from Iran.

Now, it gets into how do you dial this back. When emotions are involved like this, it's very, very difficult. We see it.

BLITZER: How long do you think general, this so-called ceasefire, assuming there is still a ceasefire, how long do you think it can last?

MARKS: It's very difficult. I don't know what influence our administration has to try to insert itself without getting completely entangled in this thing, and that has been the concern all along.

Now, we can take a step back and say, did the United States very narrowly define its engagement? Yes. It has not destroyed. We don't know what the bomb damage assessment is yet in terms of the strike against those nuclear facilities. We will in short order. But the United States got involved and as a result of that, it is now in a lead position and there has to be some type of influence over the Israeli government to ensure that they can make appropriate steps. That has to be close consultation.

The United States does not have a voice in Iran, but increasingly it's going to have to have, and we need to see if that regime is willing to accept some type of an engagement that will allow for the United States now in a lead position to exert itself.

BLITZER: It's unclear, General, at least at this point, how damaged Iran's Fordow nuclear facility is after that U.S. airstrike over the weekend with those B-2 bombers. When will we be able to get an accurate, precise assessment and how will the U.S. go about determining that?

MARKS: Accurate and precise may be two different things. We may get an accurate reading, but it may be imprecise. It's very difficult. We've got to get sources, human intelligence sources have got to go down into those -- that penetration where those bunker busters entered and then just collapsed the roof over the four oh enrichment facility to see what still remains.

Absent that, it won't be precise. We'll have a certain level of clarity, but we'll also know, I think we can state with confidence, that the enrichment facility has certainly been delayed probably for years and set back for years. That needs to be reconstructed from the Iranian perspective.

[10:25:00]

So, I think it's also fair to say it was not destroyed and destroyed as a military term means it's turned into ether and has gone away. We are -- it's very premature to say that. BLITZER: Israel says it has achieved its goals in Iran but the head of Iran's nuclear program says Tehran planned ahead to ensure it would not be interrupted by attacks. So, if Tehran still has access to enriched uranium, is the Iranian a threat that Israel -- does that still continue and the U.S. -- the threat to the U.S. for that matter, or they're both trying to remove whatever remains of that threat?

MARKS: Yes, very much. I mean, it's still extant. Until it can be confirmed that the enriched uranium, those stockpiles, were damaged, destroyed, defeated in some capacity as a result of these strikes, we have to assume that Iran still has the capacity to move forward. Clearly, it's been delayed and we don't know the level, or at least the speed in terms of how Iran can recreate what possibly has been lost.

But, yes, the world should be worried about this and there needs to be a diligent effort across the board that says, Iran, look, you made some terribly bad decisions to enrich beyond what was needed for commercial use, nuclear power of commercial use. You made a mistake. Don't make that mistake again. And as a result of that mistake, that's where we are. So, there has to be an open door policy that says, come look at what we've got.

BLITZER: General Spider Marks, as usual, thank you very much for joining us.

MARKS: Thank you Wolf.

BLITZER: Secretary of State Marco Rubio is joining the president on his trip to the NATO summit in the Netherlands. We've learned he played a key role in helping secure that fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran.

Joining us now, CNN National Security Correspondent Kylie Atwood. Kylie, take us behind the scenes of how this agreement was reached.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen. What we learned, Wolf, is that as this happened in rapid succession yesterday, this ceasefire came to fruition largely because of the role that the Qataris played in facilitating messages between the United States and the Iranians.

So, according to senior White House officials, it was the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, it was Vice President Vance, and it was also Steve Witkoff, who were serving as critical players here, also, President Trump himself having these phone calls.

According to a source that I spoke with who was familiar with how this process played out, President Trump spoke with the Qatari Emir, and what he told him is that Israel was willing to go for a ceasefire, and he wanted the Qataris' help in getting the Iranians to agree. So, then the Iranians put the prime minister of their country in touch with Vice President Vance to work on what the details would look like. They were able to get agreement from the Iranian side.

All of this happened extremely quickly. And so as we're watching this morning, of course, that there are violations on both sides, frustration from President Trump, we know that he has said to Prime Minister Netanyahu firmly and directly that this ceasefire needs to hold. It's very fragile right now. So, what we're looking to learn also is what the backchannel conversations to the Iranians look like, just underscoring that President Trump wants this to hold and watching today if it actually will.

BLITZER: It was clear to me at least, and I wonder if it was clear to you, from the president's public comments this morning, he clearly is more irritated with the Israelis than he is with the Iranians.

ATWOOD: He was very angry with both sides, but you're right. He called out the Israelis by name more times than he called out the Iranians by name, saying that he is not happy with Israel, that Israel has to calm down. So, he was very clearly irritated with them specifically.

Of course, we know that the Iranians have frustrated him time and time again over the last few months, but we'll have to watch and see what his irritations with Israel actually turns into today.

BLITZER: Significant development. Kylie, thank you very much for joining us here in The Situation Room.

We're, of course, going to continue to follow all the breaking news coming out of the Middle East, but there's other important news we're following as well. We're set to find out what most likely caused that door plug to be blown out of an Alaska Airlines flight more than a year ago. The questions that we could soon have the answers to right after the break,

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