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Sources: Israel Warns U.S. Of Iranian Plot To Assassinate Trump; Sources: Trump Admin. Doesn't Want Israel Involved In U.S. Strikes. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired July 10, 2026 - 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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[11:00:28]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is on assignment. You're in The Situation Room.

Breaking news, plot to kill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Intelligence coming in indicating that Iran was devising new ways to go after the President.

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BLITZER: Israel sharing intelligence of an alleged Iranian plan to assassinate President Trump. The commander-in-chief saying he's number one on their kill list.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm on every single one of their lists and so far I guess I've been a little bit lucky, but that maybe doesn't last very long.

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BLITZER: Heightened alert.

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BROWN: The captain of the ship said that things are heating up.

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BLITZER: Fighter pilots at the ready aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln as the President weighs whether to intensify military action against Iran or let diplomacy take the lead. Our Pamela Brown is the first American journalist reporting from that aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea. Her exclusive reporting straight ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

BLITZER: And we begin with the Breaking News. Just minutes ago President Trump indicated that diplomatic efforts between the U.S. and Iran are not necessarily dead. He just posted on social media, and I'm quoting him now, the Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue talks.

We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them in no uncertain terms that the ceasefire is over, end quote. Also breaking right now, Israel says it has uncovered an Iranian plot to try to assassinate President Trump. Israel shared that intelligence with Washington this week.

We've seen many Iranian calls for the President's death, even at this week's funeral gatherings for the former Iranian leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In fact, a hardline Iranian newspaper posted a $100 million bounty on his head. Within the last few days alone, the President has repeatedly mentioned being targeted for death by Iran.

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TRUMP: I'm number one on the kill list for Iran. They're lovely people. I'm number one. I may be gone too because I'm their number one target. It's out all over the place. I'm their number one because they're scum.

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BLITZER: We're covering all the angles of this very important story. Our correspondents and analysts are in the Middle East as well as here in Washington to bring you all the late-breaking developments. I want to go to Pamela Brown first. She's aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln with her reporting on Iran's alleged assassination plot on President Trump.

BROWN: We're told that as recently as this past week, Israel shared new intelligence with the U.S. that it was devising, that Iran was devising a new plot to assassinate President Trump. Now I'm told from talking to a source that in recent weeks there has been an increase of intelligence coming in indicating that Iran was devising new ways to go after the President.

We know ever since his first term, it has looked at President Trump as a target ever since the administration took out the commander Soleimani of Iran. But this is a new plot apparently coming from Israeli intelligence that I should note has not been verified by the U.S., we're told. And one source we spoke to did express some skepticism that this particular intelligence about a specific plot coming from Israel, they do question that given the fact that they believe that Israel may be trying to influence President Trump.

But nonetheless, this is something the intelligence community is looking at and trying to figure out more. We don't have details yet of that specific plot. But the change of Air Force One planes this past week certainly raised a lot of questions. I'm told by a U.S. official that they really want to get diplomacy going, that that is taking the lead and that right now there is diplomacy happening behind the scenes to try to ease tensions. Because as we've been talking about this week, we have seen escalate with strikes back and forth between the U.S. and Iran.

But it's very touch and go. I can tell you when talking to folks here on this ship, there's a feeling that things can change at any second and strikes could resume any minute. And they're trying to make preparations for that. In terms of aircraft, there were operations going on throughout the day with these fighter jets and throughout the night. I believe we have some new exclusive video we can show you from our time here on the Lincoln today. These air operations from these fighter jets that are defensive in nature. I'm told they've been doing these types of operations throughout their time here.

[11:05:05]

But it, of course, took on new meeting today, given this posture of heightened alert. The captain of the ship said that things are heating up. And I can tell you here on the ship, it was a lot busier today with putting armaments on these fighter jets in preparation for potential strikes. Pilots were doing drills. They were getting ready in case they were called on to do a third night of strikes. So far, that hasn't happened. Things are delicate. Diplomacy is underway. But as we've seen throughout this war, things can rapidly change.

BLITZER: Pamela Brown reporting for us and know we'll have much more from Pamela's very exclusive access on board the USS Abraham Lincoln and its fleet that's coming up later this hour, right here in The Situation Room.

And this week's attacks came as Iran buried its former supreme leader, who was killed during the U.S. Israeli airstrikes that kicked off the war with Iran. Frederik Pleitgen has more now from Iran on how the regime views these new developments. A reminder, CNN operates in Iran only with the permission of the government, but we maintain full editorial control of our reporting.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Iranians certainly are saying they're going to maintain their hard line. That's at least as far as the folks in the government is concerned. It's quite interesting because the chief negotiator for the Iranians, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, of course, was on the other side of the negotiating table, which U.S. Vice President J.V. Vance in the memorandum of understanding, was first negotiated and then, of course, later electronically signed.

He came out and he said the U.S. needs to understand that if they strike, they will be hit back. And also, as far as the situation in the Strait of Hormuz is concerned, that also the Iranians are the ones they believe who are going to set the transit routes for any ship traffic that goes through the Strait of Hormuz.

And of course, that incident there was the first thing that ignited the current tit-for-tat strikes that we've been seeing between the Iranians and the United States. But certainly, the Iranians are saying that in any case, they are going to hit back if the United States strikes any targets inside Iran. And really, the incidents that you were talking about earlier are some of the things that have really been on the forefront throughout the better part of the day, specifically some of the daytime strikes that the Iranians say happened around Bushehr, where there is an Iranian nuclear plant.

They say the perimeter of that plant was damaged. The U.S. has so far not acknowledged being behind any strikes there. But the Iranians have said that they launched 10 very powerful ballistic missiles at a U.S. base in Jordan. And that certainly seems to widen this escalating conflict between the two nations, where the Iranians are now using heavier munitions, but also firing beyond U.S. military targets in the Gulf region towards the wider Middle Eastern region.

All of this, of course, also having an effect on the massive funeral procession that you were talking about, bearing the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Iranians are saying that the U.S. struck two railway bridges, which were on the main railway line from Tehran, from the capital of Iran, to Mashhad in the east of Iran, where those funeral processions are happening.

They say a lot of people who wanted to attend those funeral processions were severely delayed and could not proceed any further. So the Iranians obviously saying that had an effect on that. As this really, the ceasefire, we can see it crumbling, as you say, as Iran is going through this very important day of burying the late Supreme Leader.

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

[11:08:26]

And we will continue our special report here in the Situation Room in just a moment. Coming up, there's more Breaking News. President Trump now says talks with Iran are still alive. But the same can't be said for the ceasefire, which he insists is done. So what does all this mean for efforts to avoid going back to an all-out war? That and more when our Situation Room special report continues.

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BLITZER: Welcome back to our Situation Room special report. We're following all the breaking news and the escalating tensions right now between the U.S. and Iran. President Trump posted on social media only moments ago that Iran asked the United States to continue talks and that the U.S. has agreed to do so, but the U.S. has also stated that the ceasefire, he says, is over, over. Two Israeli sources also now tell CNN that the Trump administration does not want Israel involved in the actual fighting over concerns of losing control of the conflict.

One of the sources says the prevailing Israeli view is that President Trump does not want to return to a full-scale war and that the most he may be willing to do is to reinstate the naval blockade on Iranian ports. CNN has reached out to the White House for a comment. Joining us now here in the Situation Room to discuss what's going on, CNN Global Affairs commentator, the former deputy Pentagon press secretary under President Biden, Sabrina Singh, and CNN Global Affairs analyst and former Middle East and North Africa coordinator for the National Security Council, Brett McGurk.

Sabrina, let me start with you. Do you anticipate these Israeli assessments about a potential assassination plot against the President of the United States by Iran are accurate?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: I think these are very credible reports that we're seeing. I mean, Iran has made it no secret that President Trump, potentially other members, are on their target list. I mean, throughout what we saw of the Khomeini processions that over the last few days, I mean, there were posters literally saying, you know, kill President Trump. So I think these threats are credible and, of course, after the 2020 Soleimani strike that the U.S. military carried out, we know Iran was always looking to target the President.

[11:15:01]

I think our military, our Secret Service, are going to work together hand-in-hand to make sure that nothing happens to the President. We have incredible intelligence. I think it's great that, you know, we continue to work with Israel and our partners to make sure that our leaders are safe, but you have to take it seriously and that's part of the reason why, you know, the President flew back on the original Air Force One.

BLITZER: And Trump was often bragging about the killing of Qasem Soleimani, one of the leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran. So it shouldn't necessarily be a surprise that the Iranians would like to plot to kill Trump.

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Wolf, if there is a record, we used to cover it every day in the Biden administration, there's a record from official warnings to DOJ indictments of Iran hiring agents to kill senior officials here on U.S. soil, including President Trump. This is real, credible, I would take it extremely, extremely seriously.

BLITZER: I think they are taking it extremely seriously as well. There have been similar assassination plots in the past. Why is this one different?

SINGH: Well, we're talking about the President of the United States and if Iran were to go through and carry out an assassination attempt on the President, I mean, this would escalate things to another level. Now, of course, we did take out the Supreme Leader, so Iran is looking for a way to, I think, you know, seek revenge and they've been pretty clear about that, but I think targeting the President would lead to a new escalation.

But right now, we're sort of in this pattern, the circular pattern of where Iran strikes at ships, the U.S. strikes back, Iran then counter- strikes, and we're sort of into this cycle. I think what we need to see now is a break in that cycle. Can negotiators get back to the table? Can we get some type of deal that leads to something longer term? BLITZER: What do you think?

MCGURK: I just got back this morning from the Middle East and --

SINGH: Welcome back.

MCGURK: -- everybody's trying to calm this down. The Iranians are sending out messages, which I find preposterous, that these attacks on the ships were kind of a rogue element within the Revolutionary Guards, not their official policy. They're saying, let's get back to discussions, so you kind of see that happening. Look, Wolf, this is a new normal and everybody out there in that region is basically planning for diversification routes to lessen dependency on the Strait of Hormuz. This is happening now at like almost light speed. It's quite remarkable, but this tit-for-tat, I think this is now the new normal that we're in.

It's kind of an escalated situation that we've seen, unfortunately, for years, where the Iranians, through proxies, might target our troops, target something else. We would then seek to deter. That's what is now going on in the Strait of Hormuz with geostrategic major global implications. So again, I think we had the exchange of fire. We now might have some return to back-channel talks, but I expect we'll see other flare-ups.

I think President Trump's right. He does not want to go back to full- scale war, and neither does Iran, from everything I'm hearing. But again, I do not see room here for a diplomatic breakthrough. I think you'll see talking and fighting off and on, tit-for-tat, but you know, watch the price of oil, watch the global implications, because if Iran cannot use that leverage over the Strait of Hormuz to really spike that price of oil, its leverage here starts to really diminish, and that's what everybody in the Middle East right now is trying to do, diversify pipelines, other strategic routes, but that takes time.

BLITZER: Good point, indeed. I want to play for you, Sabrina, what the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently said about her past dealings with Israeli officials, because it's relevant to this current discussion. Listen to -- listen and watch this.

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HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I remember one day I was on the phone for hours with Ehud, with Bibi, with others, you know, and they would say things like, you know, our planes are on the tarmac, and I'd say, well, good luck. I mean, great. Why are you doing this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're saying you were -- they were -- you were being played.

CLINTON: All the time.

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BLITZER: What do you think? SINGH: Well, I think what she's saying is that, you know, the Israeli government, particularly Netanyahu, likes to project that, you know, they are, and they are, I mean, they are under threat. They are, there was a credible threat from Iran, but they really wanted to force the U.S. hand under different administrations, and even the first Trump administration, to go to this war with Iran, and unfortunately, right now, we are in it, and it's, to Brett's point, I think this is now going to be continued, a continued cycle of a tit-for-tat, and it's going to be very, very difficult to reach some type of diplomatic solution to see where we can get this off-ramp to potentially conclude this war, and I think many presidents, including under the Biden administration, we were presented with this plan from Netanyahu. And, you know, the reality was, is that we did not see a way to end, or like, successfully get out of this war, and so this administration is now, you know, in a -- it's a very tough situation.

BLITZER: When the U.S. government receives sensitive intelligence information from the Israelis, what's the reaction?

MCGURK: Well, our intelligence cooperation with Israel and the U.S. is extraordinary, exquisite, and we generally trust what they give us, they trust what we give them, but we also have our own, our own source, but let's make one thing clear. Well, if you know, Iran is determined, for three things, get the U.S. out of the Middle East, they want to be the regional hegemon, and they are determined to eliminating Israel. This is something that they've been working on for decades, we see it all the time, so that threat is very real.

[11:20:11]

Are threat perceptions different between Israel, who are right there in the middle of it, and here in Washington? Absolutely. Do we always agree with what the Israelis might do? Absolutely not. A number of times across the October 7th crisis, Wolf, Biden pulled back the Israelis from doing things they said they wanted to do, to try to deter and de-escalate, not get into a broader regional war like we're in right now.

But these threats from Iran are real, and they are determined, and so long as that system in Iran is still in place with the Revolutionary Guards, which it is, they will remain determined. And so it's a deterrence diplomacy game, very complicated, and this will go on beyond the presidency of Donald Trump.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens. All right, guys, thank you very, very much. Brett McGurk, Sabrina Singh, excellent analysis as usual.

And our special report here in the situation around the war with Iran will continue straight ahead. Also up next, some U.S. officials are skeptical of Israel's new warning for President Trump about a possible assassination plot by Iran. Kevin Liptak is live for us from the White House with CNN's new reporting.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Israel is sharing this intelligence, but could they be looking to influence President Trump's decision-making? More from here at the White House after the break.

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BLITZER: Welcome back to our Situation Room special report. Sources now telling CNN Israel recently warned the U.S. about an Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump. However, other officials suggested Israel's report could be an attempt to sway the President's decision making. All this comes as mediators are trying to bring the U.S. and Iran back to the negotiating table following days of strikes. Trump says the U.S. told Iran it would continue talks, but that the ceasefire, in his words, is over.

Let's go now to CNN's Kevin Liptak over at the White House for us. Kevin, what do we know we're right now about the intelligence Israel has been sharing with the U.S.?

LIPTAK: Yes, and this is according to American officials who are familiar with this exchange of intelligence. They say that Israel recently told the United States that Iran had a new plot to assassinate him. Of course, it is not new that this is an ambition of Tehran's. It has been true for several years now, ever since President Trump ordered up the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the top Iranian general back in 2020.

And you have heard in the ensuing years, repeated warnings by the U.S. government that Iran was looking to take out both President Trump and other senior members of his administration. You heard that from Biden administration officials as well. And President Trump has raised this himself, including just in the last few days, he said when we were over in Turkey for the NATO summit that he had recently seen a list of Iranian assassination targets and that, in fact, he was atop that list.

And so it does add up to certainly an increased threat environment. But you do hear a degree of skepticism from some American officials who wonder whether Israel may be trying to influence the President's decision making here at something of an inflection point in the conflict, as President Trump openly weighs whether to intensify strikes against Iran. You heard him say that he would perhaps go after bridges or desalination plants or even Kharg Island.

So the President very openly considering bringing this war to a new intensity level. And Israel as well has made no secret that it used the President's attempts at diplomacy very skeptically. You know, the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has openly said that he doesn't necessarily believe a full nuclear deal can be reached with Iran over the negotiating table. And you also hear skepticism about the American push on Israel to withdraw troops from southern Lebanon where it's going after Hezbollah. So there are all of these contributing factors here as the Americans weigh what the Israelis have told them.

Now, as for the Iran deal itself, you do see a scramble now among the mediators, including Qatar, to try and get the memorandum of understanding back on the rails, even though President Trump saying this morning that they have informed the United States that, quote, "in no uncertain terms that this cease fire is over." And so you are now, I think, in a very uneasy stage of this conflict, neither back to the full scale war, but also not necessarily back to the cease fire that had been in place now for three weeks. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Kevin Liptak at the White House for us. Kevin, thank you very much for that update.

[11:29:27]

Coming up, my co-anchor Pamela Brown has been aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier all week, the closest U.S. warship to Iran as well, and it's got a whole fleet of ships protecting it. Pamela went one-on-one with the captain of one of those defensive ships. We're going to hear more from him after the break.

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