00:00U.S. ally Israel struck dozens of Iranian targets in this dramatic attack that experts say threatens to eventually spiral into an all-out regional war.
00:11U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio insists that the U.S. was not involved in Israel's bombardment of Iran's nuclear sites,
00:18while U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News earlier that he was aware Israel was going to conduct strikes on Iran before they happened
00:27and stressed that Tehran cannot have a nuclear bomb.
00:32We spoke earlier to France 24's Washington correspondent, Fraser Jackson, for more.
00:37The U.S. has been preparing for the last 24 or so hours for this kind of retaliatory strike from the Iranians,
00:45clearly expecting this kind of strike from the Israelis in the first case.
00:49But they've been changing their posture when it comes to their diplomatic efforts in the region.
00:55Of course, we saw Donald Trump effectively evacuate the embassy in Baghdad,
01:00and then he allowed a voluntary evacuation of military spouses from various other military bases in the region.
01:09But we've not really heard directly from Donald Trump on these strikes.
01:14We have heard from him through Fox News.
01:16We're told that he spoke to Brett Baer just a short time ago
01:19and confirmed that he was made aware of these strikes before they took place.
01:24He said that there were no surprises, but once again reiterated that the U.S. was not involved militarily in these strikes.
01:31Now, in this conversation with Brett Baer, he said once again that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb
01:36and we're hoping to get back to the negotiating table.
01:38We'll see there are several people in leadership that will not be coming back.
01:42That there clearly a reference to some of those Iranian leaders who perished in that strike by Israel this evening.
01:48But also in this interview that he gave to Brett Baer, he chiefly said that he reached out to at least one key Middle Eastern ally
01:57to acknowledge that this strike was going to happen, but that once again the U.S. was not involved in the strike.
02:04And he reiterated to this Middle East ally that the goal was still to get Iran back to the negotiating table.
02:10Remember, these talks are still ongoing in Muscat.
02:13This is going to be a significant end to these talks, which was meant to happen in the next couple of weeks.
02:21And we are also told that Steve Wyckoff was going to be meeting with the Iranian foreign minister on Sunday in Muscat.
02:28It's unclear whether that will still happen.
02:30I've reached out to a source at the State Department and they will be getting back to me as soon as they know more.
02:35But at the moment, Donald Trump will be talking this over with his national security team at 11 o'clock on Friday.
02:42That was meant to be a cabinet meeting.
02:44It's now turned to an NSC meeting.
02:46But Fox News is reporting that the president is still looking for that negotiation to continue.
02:52They also say that the president is looking to see if there will be retaliation and says that CENTCOM,
02:57that is the central command which looks over all of that region for the U.S. military,
03:03they say CENTCOM is on high alert and the U.S. is willing to defend itself and Israel if Iran does retaliate.
