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Iran Supreme Leader Say It Crushed Israel; New Group of Vaccine Advisers Meeting at CDC; Trump Doesn't Rule Out More Patriot Missile Systems for Ukraine. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired June 26, 2025 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: New details this morning on the U.S. military strike against Iran's three key nuclear sites in the days leading up to the operation. The Joint Chiefs of Staff general Dan Caine says Iran tried to cover the main shafts of its Fordow facilities to try to prevent an attack, adding that the concrete cap was removed by the first weapon.

Joining us now, CNN political and global affairs analyst and Axios global affairs correspondent Barack Ravid. Barack, thanks so much for joining us. Let me start with this new assessment from the CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who now says, evidence shows Iran's nuclear program was severely damaged. What are your sources telling you?

BARACK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST AND AXIOS GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. So, my sources tell me more or less the same. I think anything around terms like severe damage, significant damage, this is what the intelligence professionals I speak to talk about. And they base it on several things.

First, the really significant damage caused to the industrial enriched -- uranium enrichment facilities both in Natanz above the ground and below the ground, and to the Fordow facility that the senior Israeli intelligence official told me that the intelligence Israel has shows that there was internal collapse inside this fortified enrichment facility that they know that walls inside the building collapsed, which is, I think, something significant because the centrifuges, the thousands of centrifuges inside are very delicate, very sensitive. And every such collapse basically damages them in a way that you just can't use them anymore. You need to build new ones.

And because Iran's centrifuge production lines were also hit, and because of -- because that Iran's enrichment or uranium stockpiles are also buried under the rubble, both in Fordow and in Isfahan, I think Israeli intelligence believes that it will take you on a very, very long time to get this program back together if they decide to do so.

BLITZER: Based on all your reporting, Barack, and I know you have excellent sources on all sides, are the U.S. and Israeli intelligence assessments right now on the same page?

RAVID: I think that when it comes to the intelligence professionals, I think it's more or less the same. You know, there's always nuance. I don't think there's any raw material -- raw intelligence that Israel and the U.S. do not share on this specific issue these days. I think they share everything and there's always, you know, difference in analysis. So, I don't think everything is a hundred percent the same.

I think that some Israeli intelligence analysts, especially in Israeli military intelligence, were sort of, you know, perplexed by the initial DIA report, because they thought that at the time that this report came out, there was really not enough information to make any determination regarding how severe the damage was and how back the Iranian nuclear program was taken.

So, I think that -- at that moment there was a bit of a, I think, gap or surprise on the Israeli side. But I think that now, several days later, my impression is that they're more or less in the same place.

[10:35:00]

BLITZER: The Iranian supreme leader, the ayatollah, Ali Khamenei, spoke out for the first time today since this so-called ceasefire has gone into effect, claiming that the U.S. is exaggerating the results of the Iranian strikes and that they didn't cause any major damage to nuclear facilities. What could this mean for potential talks if in fact they take place with the U.S.? Yesterday, President Trump said there would be a U.S.-Iranian dialogue next week, a meeting next week. But the Iranians have not confirmed that.

RAVID: I think it's a good sign, Wolf. Because I think it's clear that there's an attempt by the Supreme leader to downplay what has happened over the last two weeks. I think if he does that, it means that he wants to have more maneuvering space to engage in diplomacy. I think we heard from the Iranian president, Pezeshkian, and the Iranian foreign minister, Araghchi, that Iran is interested now to engage in diplomacy with the U.S.

And I think there is a very high likelihood that we will see a meeting between Iranian and U.S. officials next week, which will be, I think the first time in a month or even more than a month that both sides meet directly.

BLITZER: Yes, that would be very significant if, keyword if, if it happens. Barack Ravid, thanks very much for your expertise.

RAVID: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And just ahead, we're over at the CDC for day two of the new vaccine advisers meeting on the agenda, revisiting a target of the controversial panel, a well-known vaccine preservative. We're going to have a lot on that. That's coming up next. We're live.

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[10:40:00]

BLITZER: Right now, a controversial new group of vaccine advisers is meeting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for the second day. It's the first time they've convened since the Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed the entire previous panel of experts. And we're learning right now they're taking aim at long established guidelines for vaccines that have been proven very safe, and that includes vaccines for Hepatitis B, measles, mumps, and rubella, and even chickenpox.

Let's go live right now to CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell who's outside the CDC in Atlanta. Meg, we're learning the advisers have already taken what was being described as a key vote this morning. Walk us through where things stand.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, this is the first time we've seen this panel of advisers take a vote, and these votes are very influential for vaccine policy and insurance coverage in the United States.

So, they voted on a new shot to protect babies against a really dangerous virus for them called RSV. This is the most common cause of hospitalization among babies. It's a respiratory virus that affects babies typically in the wintertime. And this is a new shot from Merck that was already approved by the FDA and there are already some forms of this intervention on the market. And one pediatrician panelist called this really spectacular in terms of the results those have already shown in reducing hospitalizations for babies. So, this was really expected to be something that should receive full support from this committee.

What we saw was a positive vote, but it was split five to two. And there were a lot of questions brought up around safety of this shot that the FDA, the CDC panelists, and the company all said had been well studied and were not actual concerns. And so, that revealed some of the tensions here that we are seeing with this newly appointed committee.

We also saw a lot of questions about flu shots this morning. These are influenza vaccines that have been around for decades, are very well understood in terms of both their safety and their efficacy. And so, sort of revisiting a lot of those questions are things that the public health community is worried about with this panel.

And finally, right now, Wolf, there is a presentation going on that's raised the most eyebrows. It's about a preservative called thimerosal, which was taken out of most vaccines back in 2001 as really a precaution. There had been no safety issues surrounding it, but after that, a lot of advocates started questioning whether it was tied to autism, which has been shown no link, Wolf. So, that's what's going on right now. Back to you.

BLITZER: Lots going on. Meg Tirrell, thank you very much. Meg's over at the CDC for us. For more on all of this, we're joined now by Dr. Fiona Havers. She's an epidemiologist and vaccine expert who spent 13 years at the CDC. She most recently served as a senior adviser on vaccine policy and resigned last week in the wake of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's purging of the agency's vaccine advisory committee. Dr. Havers, thanks so much for joining us. Tell us a little bit more about your decision, first of all, to leave. What was the point of no return? DR. FIONA HAVERS, FORMER CDC VACCINE EXPERT: No return for me was when RFK Jr. fired the 17 members of the advisory committee that gives -- that makes recommendations to CDC about what should be on the immunization schedule. RFK Jr. since taking over as HHS secretary is now using government power to limit access to vaccines.

And he -- the purging of this committee was really the last straw for me. That was the moment where I knew that I really didn't have any faith that the data that CDC puts together was going to be evaluated fairly by whoever he put in place.

BLITZER: And I know, Dr. Havers, you've actually said that a lot of Americans potentially are going to die from vaccine preventable diseases as a result of these latest changes. Who is most at risk?

[10:45:00]

DR. HAVERS: I think in general, young children, we're going to see a return of vaccine preventable diseases that we haven't seen in this country before. We've already seen two measles deaths since RFK Jr. took over as HHS secretary, that's a disease that was eliminated in the United States, but we're now seeing large outbreaks. I think infants are going to be vulnerable. We may see infant death increase for pertussis. And we potentially see a lot of other diseases we haven't heard of like diphtheria and rubella come back if access to vaccines is limited and vaccine confidence continues to go down.

Also, I think older adults or people with underlying medical conditions are going to be at high risk, and they'll -- we'll see an increase in deaths from flu and COVID-19 if vaccination rates in older populations go down, for example.

BLITZER: This is also so worrisome. I want to get your reaction, Dr. Havers, to this new panel that's now sitting and just making these major decisions. What do you see as the most troubling aspect of these new appointments?

DR. HAVERS: Well, I will say that one can see from my CDC colleagues' presentations that they gave yesterday and today, how thorough and evidence-based they are. I will say that there were a number of questions from this committee that really revealed a lack of basic understanding of methodology. There were some questions this morning around the RSV vote that really just showed that the people on the committee who are voting on these products really didn't understand how serious RSV was in young healthy babies, for example.

And I'm also really troubled that this presentation that's going on right now by Lyn Redwood is happening on thimerosal. That is an unprecedented type of presentation to happen. Never have before have I seen a private citizen invited to come and give a sort of overview of the evidence that has not been reviewed by the work group. There's a work group for review vaccine -- type of vaccine that's not been reviewed by the work group and hasn't been vetted by CDC. The type of presentation she's giving is usually given by a CDC official after a lot of clearance. And the fact that she is presenting in this very well-respected -- previously well-respected public forum is just yet another example of RFK Jr.'s interference in CDC's vaccine policy process.

BLITZER: Dr. Fiona Havers, thanks so much for joining us. And thanks all by the way, for all your service at the CDC over the years. We really appreciate that as well, your service and helping to save lives.

DR. HAVERS: Thank you.

BLITZER: Coming up, President Trump won't rule out sending more Patriot air defense missile systems to Ukraine. The message that he could be sending to Vladimir Putin, that's next.

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[10:50:00]

BLITZER: New into CNN today, Ukraine's top general says his forces have stopped Russian advances in the northern part of the country. And this comes as the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has been posting on X that his meeting with President Trump was, quote, "long and substantive."

I want to discuss this and more with McCain Institute's executive director Evelyn Farkas. She was the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia under President Obama. Evelyn, thanks so much for joining us.

Trump said yesterday, the U.S. is considering sending more Patriot air defense missile systems to Ukraine and NATO's. And secretary general says the country is on what he calls an irreversible path to membership. Could this force Vladimir Putin to come to the negotiating team?

EVELYN FARKAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE MCCAIN INSTITUTE AND FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR RUSSIA/UKRAINE/EURASIA: Wolf, maybe not tomorrow, but sooner rather than later, yes. And you should add to this, the fact that President Trump, apparently, according to President Zelenskyy, also talked about co-production of drones and Russia's Iranian friend. We don't know what impact all the war with Israel had on their drone capability, but I'm guessing it had a detrimental effect.

And finally, because President Trump was able to broker a ceasefire that appears to be holding, that has dampened the oil price, which is really significant because Russia's reserves are dwindling.

BLITZER: President Trump has grown increasingly frustrated, I think it's fair to say, with Putin even saying yesterday, it's possible, his word, possible, the Russian leader has ambitions beyond Ukraine. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: General Caine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. He has said that Mr. Putin has territorial ambitions beyond Ukraine. Do you view that in the same way?

TRUMP: It's possible. I mean, it's possible. I know one thing, he'd like to settle. He'd like to get out of this thing. It's a mess for him. He called the other day, he said, can I help you with Iran? I said, no, you can help me with Russia. I consider him a person that's, I think, been misguided. I'm very surprised, actually. I thought we would've had that settled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, Evelyn, where do you think all this this goes from here? I'm talking about the war.

FARKAS: Yes. I mean, President Trump is pretty settled in his mind about Vladimir Putin's views, but it looks like, clearly, based on his rhetoric, maybe he can be moved a little bit to understand that Vladimir Putin doesn't want an end to the war.

So, you know, Wolf, while it looks better for Ukraine right now, Vladimir Putin, I mean, his political future hangs on this war. He's got a war economy, which as I mentioned before, is under incredible stress, and I can go through the data on it, but they have high inflation, high interest rates. Their foreign reserves are dwindling. Again, price of oil being lower, they have fewer reserves. Plus, those reserves are coming in Chinese currency. It's not the one which is not as easily convertible as U.S. dollars or Euros. So, Russia's economy is under pressure. That means that time is not on his side. But again, he's not going to budge.

[10:55:00]

Giving Patriots to Ukraine will help, but Ukraine really needs to provide some kind of impetus for the Russian military to say, we can't do this anymore. So, that means offensive actions. So, we need to help Ukraine more on that front.

BLITZER: Evelyn Farkas, thanks so much for joining us.

FARKAS: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And coming up, how DOGE cuts could weaken U.S. government agencies that are trying to prepare for Iran's potential retaliation. We are getting some new CNN reporting, that's coming up right here in the Situation Room.

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BLITZER: Happening now, breaking news. The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, saying the U.S. attack in Iran was in his --

[11:00:00]