LIVE | US Cities On High Alert After Iran's Khamenei Vows Revenge For Attack On Nuke Sites

Name: LIVE | US Cities On High Alert After Iran's Khamenei Vows Revenge For Attack On Nuke Sites | N18G
Uploaded: 2025-06-23T10:22:06+00:00
Duration: 40 min 13 s
Channel: Trending News Live Stream Show

Category

🗞

News

Transcript

Display full video transcript

00:00to the border with Iraq. So there's a very calculated approach being adopted over here

00:06when Israel is hitting out at the military bases, as I also highlighted the strategic

00:12location. It is on the border with Iraq. And as we all know, Iraq is also housing one of

00:18the U.S. troops and it's also a U.S. military base. So there is a very calculated, measured

00:26military approach being adopted by Tel Aviv at the moment as they undertake the attack

00:33on Karman Shah. But is this the beginning of many more military stations in Iran to be attacked

00:40by Israel? There seems to be a duplicity in the narrative. The U.S. is maintaining that

00:47they are not at war with Iran because they only meant to destroy Iran's nuclear program.

00:52This is a line that has also been told by Israel. But if strategic locations, which also have

01:00cultural, historical importance for the Kurdish population of Iran, if they are being targeted

01:07by the IDF, you can expect a direct escalation over here because the IDF has just now, as

01:15you rightly shared, gone on to highlight that they are now attacking military infrastructure

01:21in Karman Shah. Their air force fighter jets have been deployed to do so. Yes, there's been an

01:29escalation on both ends. We already are aware that Tel Aviv, Haifa, all of these cities are being

01:36targeted by a barrage of Iranian missiles ever since the strike began, not just by the United States,

01:43since 30th of June, when Israel began attacking Iran. So Israel has very much come under fire.

01:50Central Israel is also being targeted by Iran. But with this latest attack taking place by the

01:58IDF, when they sent out their air force fighter jets to Karman Shah, could lead to a change in the

02:05entire course of this conflict. Because this is a very strategic location as far as Karman Shah is

02:11concerned. It houses a massive size of Kurdish population. At the same time, it's based on the

02:18border of Iraq. This could also raise fears of now the conflict spilling over to other neighboring

02:26countries like Iraq.

02:28Live to CNN.

02:33For Military Perspective Now, joining us, Mark McCarley is a retired U.S. Army Major General,

02:43now an attorney and a consultant. Thanks so much for taking the time this night.

02:46This this night. Nice to work with you again, Jim.

02:50So first, if I could ask you to read those somewhat mixed messages from the defense secretary,

02:57the chairman of the joint chiefs from the podium there, the defense secretary echoing some of the

03:01language Trump has used, devastated, obliterated, et cetera, without offering specificity as to what

03:07exactly that means. The joint chief chairman saying it's too early. I mean, and that's what I've heard

03:12from Iranian, sorry, rather Israeli sources as well. What are the facts at this point?

03:19Well, Jim, Dan Kane is a combat pilot and having flown multiple aircraft and multiple missions into

03:31Iraq and Afghanistan. He is very familiar with what takes place after such a bombing and attack run.

03:38And even if you dump your load, those bombs and hopefully those bombs hit target, there's no

03:45immediate way to clearly ascertain if, in fact, you've hit the mark and you've obliterated that

03:54particular or those particular objectives. Now, he uses a term. We used it all the time. And this is

04:01called battle damage assessment. It's not just one shot. What it requires is analysis on the part of a

04:09whole staff of individuals, most probably at the IED, which is the Air Force Command headquarters

04:16down in Qatar, before we get something definitive. But I do want to look at the tools that we have

04:24available to make that assessment. The first, of course, is the satellite imagery. And all sorts of

04:32spokespeople have said, yeah, we hit, we made contact, or we did not. And then you have a seismic

04:39analysis. You look at whether or not you actually created something like a mini earthquake when you

04:44reach that depth. And then, of course, radiation. If, in fact, some type of radiation, albeit not dangerous,

04:52as some have repeated, has sort of permeated or leaked out of that cavity. But at the end of the

04:58day, the best way of understanding whether we achieve this objective is what we call humant.

05:05Humant is you get somebody on the ground, and that person has to verify it.

05:10Yeah. Well, let me ask you this, because it's quite clear they don't have a definitive

05:16BDA at this point. Based on what you saw of, one, the extent of the targets and what we know of them,

05:24the depth of those targets, and this one strike, quite a comprehensive strike, we should say, using

05:31some of the most powerful weapons in the U.S. arsenal that never had been used before,

05:35these GBU-57 bunker busters. Is it likely that the president gets what he wants here, right,

05:45which is a one and done? That appears to be his intention to at least significantly damage Iran's

05:52nuclear program and perhaps destroy it. Does it look like there was a sufficient—I mean,

05:59can it all be done in one go, in effect? Yeah. And I suppose this looks—not only are we discussing

06:06the military aspects of that attack, that four-door, but also, as well, the consequences

06:11politically, meaning you have this attack. Has that attack caught—

06:16So I guess just to ask you, Secretary, and you know, you and I spoke a few days ago,

06:30and the impression was perhaps there were going to be two weeks, and that there was going to be

06:35diplomacy, and now you've seen these massive series of strikes. So I guess just to frame this

06:42in the way that those who support these strikes are framing it. Do you believe the world is now a

06:48safer place because and after these attacks? Well, not really. For the short term, clearly,

06:57the military attack, which was very, very well carried out for sure, it certainly eliminated,

07:05at least for some time, some of the Iranian facilities. But I've seen no indication that it

07:13would in any way eliminate the nuclear weapons program. And furthermore, for immediate concern,

07:20I believe it's quite likely that Iran moved all of its highly enriched uranium, 400 kilograms

07:28and more to a safer place. So they probably are still in control of this material.

07:37Do you want to avoid awkward typos? Quillbot for Chrome instantly eliminates grammar errors,

07:42so your writing is always flawless. And the best part? Its generative AI can even draft you the perfect

07:49email. When you use Quillbot, you'll feel confident that your communication is polished and professional.

07:55Try it today. It's free.

07:59...cent of things, but that would see that the reality may be very different than,

08:04you know, the sort of political triumphalism that we're seeing?

08:08Well, it's not in conflict in the sense that it does appear to me that the Natanz facility was

08:14probably pretty much obliterated. As the chairman of the Joint Chiefs said, the subterranean damage at

08:22Fordow remains to be evaluated, almost certainly considerable damage obliterated, maybe too strong,

08:29but we don't know. But on the other hand, I think Vice President Vance, for example, specifically noted

08:37that the 60 percent enriched uranium may have been moved to hardened secret places.

08:44And so if they reconstruct the more powerful centrifuges that they have developed in the last

08:51few years, they could enrich that material to weapons grade in pretty short order.

08:57So, and you're right, the Vice President did say that. He specifically highlighted that enriched

09:03uranium. So then if that's the case, Secretary, then where do we go, right? Because it sounds like

09:12then you're back to somehow having a diplomatic solution as the only outcome, even as the United

09:17States has engaged in what, if we're just going to use the words that anybody would use,

09:22is an act of war against another country.

09:25Well, there's no doubt when you bomb facilities on the home turf of a country, it's an act of war

09:32that can't be denied. Now, I think a major question is, and it's a bit of an irony, really,

09:38that the ball is in many ways in Iran's court to determine where things go, because the possibility

09:45of an expanding regional war is still there. I do think if Iran takes military actions that are overt,

09:55as the President has said, there will be a very, very stern response. And I don't think Iran has the

10:02military capability to withstand that, really. But there are other ways of going about their

10:09business. They could have—they're weakened without Hezbollah, without the Syrian government,

10:15but they still have some militias in Iraq. They still have the Houthis. They have the issues

10:20of potentially mining the Hormuz Strait, which would cause some economic chaos.

10:26So I think we need to see where Iran goes on that score. But ultimately, and as we discussed a few

10:33days ago, Aaron, the real solution in the end has to be a political solution that includes very,

10:42very strong verification, for example, within it that can satisfy the United States, Israel,

10:51the Europeans, and, of course, the Iranians have to agree to something which provides them

10:57sufficient economic relief. And before you go, Secretary, just because you have dealt with so

11:02many in the Iranian government, because you were actually negotiating this deal, so you know the

11:05layers of the onion and that maybe command and control has been disrupted and people have been

11:10killed, but others have taken their place. The Ayatollah has named, you know, three people that he

11:14would like to be considered to succeed him if he is assassinated. This is the situation where we are.

11:19But President Trump bringing up this issue of regime change again in a social media post.

11:24Just as you see it, if there were to be, if the Ayatollah was eliminated or assassinated by the U.S.

11:31or Israel, does that really mean regime change?

11:35Well, I'm not going to comment on the, quote, regime. But what I will say, again, is that we need,

11:43no matter what the regime is, we need serious political change in Iran in order to affect an

11:51agreement that brings some peace to the region, allows economic development, not only of Iran,

11:57but also of their neighbors across the Gulf. And so political change is required, however that is

12:03affected.

12:04The world now waiting to see what happens next in the Middle East. President Trump posting on social

12:09media, it's not politically correct to use the term regime change. But if the current Iranian

12:14regime is unable to make Iran great again, why wouldn't there be regime change? It comes as the

12:19U.S. military launched those unprecedented strikes against three of Iran's key nuclear sites in an

12:24operation which involved more than 125 aircraft, including seven stealth B-2 bombers, refueling tankers,

12:30reconnaissance planes, and fighter jets. Joining me now is Republican Congressman Mark Alford of

12:36Missouri. And Congressman, I really appreciate you taking the time. I know, obviously, you know,

12:40you represent where all this started, the district where the Air Force Base is located, the home of

12:45these B-2 self bombers. So just to try to understand exactly how all of this went down, what did you

12:52know and when?

12:56Well, I was out at Whiteman Air Force Base for a change of command on Wednesday. We knew that something

13:01was happening, but we did not know when. It's very important that our leadership, our military,

13:08our president carried this out with the utmost secrecy. There were seven bombers that were at risk,

13:14multiple refueling jets that were at risk, and the 509th airmen and women who carried out this

13:20great mission. Aaron, this is what leadership looks like. Compare this action to what President Biden did

13:25in late August of 21 when he pulled out of Afghanistan and left 13 service members there

13:30to die. This is, that was not the way to operate. President Trump is putting the world on notice.

13:35We are no longer weak. We are strong, and true peace will come through that.

13:39So, Congressman, let me ask you, because obviously, you know, you're emphasizing that you see this as a

13:43moment of leadership and also that you think that the stealth was the point, right, to protect the lives

13:48of those who obviously carried out such a complex and incredible mission. But not everyone agrees

13:55with you, and I don't need to go to the Democratic side to find them. Your Republican colleague from

13:59Kentucky, Congressman Massey, posted on social media saying that this is not constitutional.

14:07Simple words. This is not constitutional. He responded to President Trump's post going

14:12through exactly what happened. Do you think that your Republican colleague is wrong?

14:18Well, look, I like Tom Massey. He's a good guy. He has great feelings for this great country that

14:27we live in, but he's wrong on this issue. 99% of the military actions that have taken place since

14:33World War II did not, the president did not seek approval of Congress. This did not need an approval

14:39of Congress. President Trump notified the leaders of Congress that what was happening,

14:45not until after those B-2 bombers were up in the air, but we could not have risked the damage

14:51to this great mission that was taking place. Look, we decapitated the nuclear ambitions of Iran,

15:01which has been a thorn in our side, which has been a terrorist state for some 43 years,

15:05ever since the Iranian hostage crisis.

15:07So, and I know, obviously, we don't yet know the full extent of what they succeeded at or not.

15:12I know the prime minister of Israel, prime minister Netanyahu, is saying it's unknown,

15:15and we're awaiting those full assessments. But I am wondering, you know, when you think about,

15:22you know, I don't know if you heard Secretary Muniz, who had only good words to say about the military

15:27action itself, but, you know, was talking about how, you know, it's fair to say when you drop bombs

15:33on another country, that's an act of war. Are you comfortable with the president going ahead

15:38with an act of war that could become a full-blown war with American troops' lives on the line

15:43without getting the approval of the people, the American people elected to Congress, people like

15:49yourself, sir? Well, Erin, this is not an act of war. This was a singular strike to decapitate

15:57and take out the nuclear ambitions of a regime that has gone rogue, was rogue from the very

16:03beginning, and would not negotiate a deal for peace. President Trump wants peace. I'm telling you

16:08one more thing. This should really serve as a message to Xi Jinping, don't mess with Taiwan.

16:13A message to Vladimir Putin, don't mess with Europe or any of our NATO partners. The United States of

16:18America is open for business once again, and that business is making America strong again,

16:23making America first so we can be strong for other nations.

16:28Now, just over 24 hours after we first reported the U.S. attack on three Iranian nuclear sites,

16:34major questions remain. How effective were those strikes? Bomb damage assessments still being done.

16:39Did Iran move nuclear material prior to the attacks? And if so, where is it? And how will Iran choose

16:45to respond? Let's drill down on all of that over this next hour. Tonight, U.S. officials

16:49are working to assess the extent of damage caused by yesterday's massive targeted strikes.

16:55They caution it is too early to determine whether the country retains some nuclear capabilities.

17:01The B-2 bombers involved in what is being called Operation Midnight Hammer have now arrived back in

17:06the United States. The operation involved more than 125 aircraft, including some B-2 bombers,

17:10which acted as decoys, according to officials. Now, those bombers were reported to be moving

17:16west, possibly toward Guam. A CNN analysis of satellite images found the attack on Fordo left

17:22behind at least six large craters, likely caused by those bunker buster bombs called massive

17:27ordnance penetrators, which are designed to go deep underground before actually exploding.

17:34In central Iran, the country's largest nuclear complex, known as Isfahan, was struck with more than a

17:39dozen Tomahawk missiles fired by U.S. submarine. At least 18 destroyed or partially destroyed

17:44structures above ground could be seen in those images. According to one senior U.S. lawmaker,

17:50the key question now is whether Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium stockpiles

17:55from those facilities. Vice President J.D. Vance and other administration officials have tried to

18:01make clear today that regime change is not the objective of the Trump administration with this

18:06strike on Iran. But President Trump late today posted on social media saying, if the current

18:11Iranian regime is unable to make Iran great again, why wouldn't there be a regime change?

18:17I'm here with CNN Jerusalem correspondent Jeremy Diamond and CNN's chief international correspondent,

18:22Clarissa Ward. Clarissa, Iranians are at all levels of society trying to figure out what comes next.

18:29What have we seen so far?

18:30So we have a number of different possible scenarios that we could be looking at. The anticipation is

18:35that Iran will respond. Its foreign minister has just said that they will have to respond. But the

18:40question is how? One possibility is that it uses its proxies. Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis,

18:46Qataw of Hezbollah in Iraq. We know that obviously Hamas and Hezbollah have been severely degraded.

18:52I should just say that we're now hearing an alert, which is an indication that we...

18:57So these are the alerts that go out on all of our phones when you're in Israel. It's a 10-minute

19:03warning of incoming missiles or something incoming from Iran. So now the location we're in has a

19:12verbal alarm telling people to go down into bomb shelters. So we have about a 10-minute window

19:18to get down into a bomb shelter. And we'll continue to try to broadcast from that bomb shelter,

19:24even if we can, on the way down. Do you guys want to? Should we go down or do you want to finish this?

19:30Well, we should probably go down. We should probably go down. We should probably go down.

19:32Let's just make sure. Do we have... Are we able to do that? Well, while they're just...

19:37I don't know where you've been sold. But I'd be insane not to play my role.

19:42I know I can break a fall. This takes a long.

19:45Just know that I got a hint that I can lend you. And it don't matter when, I'll protect you.

19:53Call on me.

19:54I'm here whenever. So maybe anyone move by this band.

19:58Just know that I got a hint that I can lend you.

20:00They go for some kind of asymmetrical cyber terrorism or that they go with an economic option

20:09like trying to close the Strait of Hormuz. People I've been talking to in the region seem to feel

20:14that Iraq is the most vulnerable place by virtue of the fact that it's a weak state. You have a lot

20:19of paramilitary forces there. The State Department's evacuated roughly 500 U.S. personnel from there.

20:26But also the broader consensus is that Iran wants to try to pick a move right now that

20:31will show strength or project strength to particularly its own people while not trying to risk further

20:38retaliation, possibly trying to minimize casualties. Because Iran has been significantly weakened

20:44as we've all been talking about and watching.

20:47There are so many questions right now about Iran's capabilities, right? I mean, this siren that's

20:52just coming in now. It's been 20 hours since the last Iranian attack. We saw that barrage

20:58just after 7.30 this morning. We know that they still do have ballistic missile capabilities,

21:03despite having destroyed about half of their launchers, according to the Israeli military.

21:08And so we'll see what more firepower they have for here, but also critically, of course, for

21:12those U.S. bases in the region, which will be easier for the Iranians to target.

21:15All right. I think we're going to head down to the shelters. Chuck, do we have capabilities

21:19as we go down? Just checking your microphone to be ready in a second. Okay, here we go.

21:23All right. Okay. Let's see if we can switch over. So is this actually working? Okay. I'm not...

21:34Get here. What's your microphone? Okay, I think it's... Bring your RFP box. Bring your RFP box.

21:40Can we all go? Yeah. I think we should all get in. So the... Again, you can hear the sirens going off. This is from the hotel. They're warning all the hotel guests to go down.

22:02This is the first time today that we have had an alarm like this. It's obviously something that many here in Tel Aviv have gotten used to over the last 10 or 11 days since this began.

22:20We saw one... There was one alarm shortly after or several hours after the first strike, the strikes on Iran by the United States. This is the first one we've had this morning.

22:35Okay. So it's going to be done here. So... And... Here with Jeremy Diamond. So the... In terms of the... This is the first one today, isn't it?

22:58It's the first one. Not today, because 7 in the morning was the last one. I think we're all a little bit upside down.

23:02Yeah. We're at 3 a.m.

23:03Oh, we're at 3 a.m. Yes. So it is the first one of the day. But what we've noticed, I think, is fewer barrages, but quite high intensity, particularly this morning.

23:13I mean, Jeremy, you were there on the scene. The damage was...

23:16Yeah. I mean, there's also been reports that the Iranians have been using different types of ballistic missiles, some reports of cluster munition use as well.

23:24And we've seen the kind of impact that that can have on the scene. Today, I was at a site in the north of Tel Aviv, in Ramataviv, where you saw a residential block that was almost, you know, completely obliterated by the power of that blast.

23:44You've got to press down the basement, please?

23:46You know, the damage is enormous. More of these ballistic missiles that are indeed getting through those air defense systems. But, you know, quite incredibly, we haven't seen any fatalities in, I believe, a week now, right?

24:04A week.

24:05A week.

24:06The last Monday morning was the last time we saw fatality. That's, of course, a credit to the aerial defense systems, but more importantly, perhaps, to the early warnings that are getting us into bomb shelters and getting millions of other Israelis.

24:17And I'm going to take over here from the White House, Kristen Holmes, the senior White House correspondent, as they go into that shelter. We are losing service there, but we expect to get them back at any moment. Of course, hoping that they are safe as this is continuing. Now, I think we have our signal back. Okay, great.

24:31It is a luxury to have a 10-minute warning. Obviously, in a situation like this, in many cases, obviously, you know, rockets from Gaza, generally, there isn't that, like, a 10-minute window.

24:46No, but it's a different level of threat, right? I mean, Israelis have been living with rockets from Hamas and Hezbollah for many years.

24:55I have never seen Israelis running to the shelter quite so quickly as they have with this because it's a totally different ballgame.

25:02The damage and destruction that has been, you know, been done by these Iranian ballistic missiles is completely different to anything they've seen in many decades.

25:11And there's no question that without those warning sirens, without the bomb shelters, I mean, you would be seeing, you know, many people dying in each one of these strikes. And the fact that the death toll is only 24 as of now in Israel is indeed a credit to all those systems that we've been talking about.

25:29So we are awaiting what will be the red alert, which is the final, like, minute and a half warning before any kind of an impact.

25:36We're – I don't have communication with the – so I can't actually go to anybody else.

25:43So we're stuck talking with each other if that's okay.

25:45Okay. We'll muddle through it.

25:46In terms of Iranian response, there's been a lot of questions about what is going to happen now.

25:51What will the Iranian response be? And obviously these missiles are one form of response.

25:55But what we don't know yet are what decision has been made by Iranian leaders, who's going to be making that decision?

26:02Is it utilizing proxy forces, militias in Iraq, or what have you?

26:06And Iran's foreign minister said today basically that it won't be the government who's making that decision,

26:11and it will be the military that will make that decision. And they have a lot of different tools that they can draw upon,

26:17whether it's proxy forces, whether they go asymmetrical with a terror attack, for example, or kidnapping, or some kind of a cyber attack.

26:26But again, I mean, I mentioned it upstairs, but in the melee, I think it's worth, like, reiterating this idea that, you know,

26:33there's a concern for Iran right now, right? They are hurting. They have incurred a lot of damage.

26:39They want to try to find some kind of a retaliation that potentially restores deterrent or at least projects some image of strength, particularly for Iranians.

26:49But what they don't want to do is do something that is so escalatory that it risks.

26:55And we've heard President Trump said, listen, we're going to draw a line under this if you take it on the chin.

27:01But if you keep going, you have a choice between, I believe he said, peace or tragedy.

27:07So I think for Iran, it's like that question of trying to find...

27:12Just talk about what we have heard from the administration today.

27:15J.D. Vance and others were out saying that regime change is not what the U.S. policy is.

27:21President Trump sent out that social media post late this afternoon talking about or mentioning in a light way about regime change.

27:29Kristen?

27:31Yeah, Anderson, that's right. And one of the things to point out here, I mean, this moment that you guys are going through in Tel Aviv is something that the White House is watching very carefully.

27:38They are very concerned across the administration of any kind of retaliation from Iran.

27:43We have heard a number of officials out there, one, using kind of language saying,

27:47if you come back at us or any of our allies in any kind of way,

27:51that we're going to come back with even more strength than what you saw in the strikes from last night.

27:55We've also heard economic threats. Essentially, we saw Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, as well as Vice President J.D. Vance,

28:03saying that it was suicide for Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz because it would kill them economically, as well as China, as well as the United States.

28:11But there's a lot of messaging going on about what retaliation looks like.

28:14And you can kind of read through the tea leaves where they think that retaliation might be.

28:18Now, when it comes to a regime change, as you just mentioned, I mean, this happened even before these strikes.

28:23We've been asking the Trump administration over and over again, do you support a regime change in Iran?

28:28And that question has been shrugged off a number of times, including on Thursday when Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt was asked that question.

28:34And she said that's not the focus right now. The focus is on making sure Iran does not have a nuclear weapon.

28:39Then you heard Vice President J.D. Vance get out there today, as well as the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth saying this is not about regime change.

28:46Well, all of that seems to have changed this evening. And I'm looking for it right now to pull it up.

28:52When Trump posted on social media that he was maybe OK with a regime change, this is what he said.

28:58He said it's not politically correct to use the term regime change.

29:02But if the current Iranian regime is unable to make Iran great again, why wouldn't there be a regime change?

29:09And then added MIGA, which a play on make America great again, make Iran great again.

29:14This is a surprise to a number of officials who have tried to downplay what we were told by other officials and Israeli officials was kind of a goal,

29:24if not a direct goal, but an indirect goal of the Israeli portion of the conflict with Iran was to get a regime change.

29:31We've heard the U.S. downplay that. And now you have President Trump getting out there on social media and saying this.

29:36And just a quick note, Anderson, you know, we've talked a lot last night about all of the steps that went into this decision that President Trump made.

29:45And I do want to bring up that we now have a whole picture or a whole picture of how this happened.

29:51And just the idea that really these talks about the United States joining Israel to attack Iran began early in the month, June 8th,

30:00when President Trump went to a last minute retreat at Camp David with his national security team.

30:05A last minute to us. We were told about it right before he went.

30:08And then we were told at that point he was briefed on these possible plans, plans that had been drawn up for months.

30:14And it took some time to get President Trump there. He continued to ask questions about, as we know, could we get in and get out, destroy these nuclear sites,

30:23and then get out as fast as possible? Also, does our involvement mean that we get tied up in a conflict long term in the Middle East?

30:30So right now, obviously, though, none of that is not really on their minds.

30:34What's on their minds is what is the retaliation from Iran going to look like? Anderson?

30:39Yeah. Kristen, thanks very much. I appreciate that. I want to bring in Barack Ravid from Axios and CNN.

30:43Barack, you had some extraordinary reporting today about what was happening behind the scenes.

30:49What have you learned in the lead up to this attack?

30:54Hi, Anderson. I hope you're safe over there.

30:59One of the interesting things I learned is that in the 24 to 48 hours before the U.S. strike in Iran, there was a quite extraordinary,

31:10maybe unprecedented cooperation, military cooperation between Israel and the U.S.

31:16when President Trump was talking to Prime Minister Netanyahu, I think it was on Wednesday, and basically told him that he made the decision in principle to go in and join this war.

31:29And Netanyahu asked, OK, how can I help? And one of the things Trump asked him is for Israeli help.

31:36Have you ever wondered how stock trading apps simplify a complicated concept like share market trading that even a common man can understand it?

31:45What's in the system design behind these platforms that can manage the huge traffic yet facilitate real time stock exchange for the users?

31:53If you're really interested to learn the high level design of trading platform, join Scala's masterclass on system design of real time stock market trading platforms and learn how to design systems for such data intensive applications for free.

32:08Where you heard President Trump in his speech thanking the IDF for everything they've done.

32:15Brooke, what are you hearing about Bob damage assessments?

32:20What is Israel or the U.S.'s belief about the extent of the damage?

32:24Obviously, President Trump shortly after the attack, when he spoke to the nation, said it's been obliterated.

32:31Do we know more details?

32:34Well, to be honest, I don't think we know a lot because last I heard a few hours ago, the those, you know, what's called the battle damage assessment has still been ongoing.

32:50But what I heard from one senior Israeli official was that the nuclear facility in Natanz, both the one above the ground that Israel conducted strikes against and the underground facility that the U.S. conducted the strike against, was basically destroyed completely.

33:08There are two other facilities, one in Isfahan and one in Fordow, the fortified facility inside the mountain.

33:17And both of those, according to this senior Israeli official, were badly damaged.

33:22What is badly damaged?

33:23I think we'll need to figure that out and see in the next hours or days.

33:30For you, what are the biggest unanswered questions that you are looking for answers on?

33:36I think, first and foremost, where is the enriched uranium?

33:41There are 400 kilograms of 60 percent enriched uranium, very close to weapons grade.

33:49Prime Minister Netanyahu was asked about it today, and he said that Israel has interesting intelligence about where this material is.

33:57There are there's other material of 20 percent enriched uranium, also hundreds of kilograms.

34:03And that's, I think, the main challenge at the moment, because even though the uranium program has suffered a huge blow, still this material is could be a basis for a new and rehabilitated nuclear program.

34:19And the answer, the question is, where is it? And I don't think a lot of people know, if any.

34:24All right. So the U.S. strikes actually took place in three different areas.

34:30But the one that you hear about the most is the Fordow nuclear plant.

34:34And the reason you will hear about it the most, Fordow is located in the side.

34:39So we just want to go to the before for a second.

34:41As you can see, it's built on the side of a mountain.

34:44And actually, what you're looking at is just the top.

34:47This building over here, it's a side building. It's a support building.

34:50Likely it has heating ventilation. But what you're looking at over here, this is an above ground image.

34:56The uranium enrichment plant is actually hundreds of feet underneath.

35:01So it's actually not present over here.

35:03260 feet below or 80 meters below is actually where it is supposed to be.

35:08And that's what makes it very, very hard to target that you're not targeting something that's over the surface.

35:14Now, we just want to show you on this other side, this visual that you're looking at.

35:18This is the after. And why this after image is so special.

35:23So when we keep saying that the United States has finally deployed the B-2 Spirit.

35:28The B-2 Spirit is a stealth US bomber.

35:31And the reason it is so unique is because it is able to deploy bombs.

35:36And these bombs actually go into the ground.

35:39Once they go into the ground, they are deployed again and again and again.

35:42They drill deeper and deeper and the bombs only go off under the surface.

35:46In fact, they can even go as deep as 200 feet before going off.

35:50You needed this very unique pairing to get at a plant like this.

35:55That is actually where the enrichment facilities are actually located so much underneath the surface.

36:00Seemingly, this is what the US has deployed. And that's why this is such a milestone.

36:05We're just going to take you now to a report on this.

36:08Iranians are gathering to demonstrate against the United States strikes on three nuclear sites.

36:12This is a ground report. Take a look.

36:14There still is a lot of public anger unloading here on the streets of Tehran.

36:23Thousands of people have come here to Revolution Square.

36:27First and foremost to criticize US President Trump and to vow revenge for the strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.

36:35One of the interesting things that we're seeing on the ground now here is that it's not only conservatives in the hard line who are here,

36:42but also people who say they're normally quite critical of the Iranian government.

36:47Even if missiles rain down on my head, I will stay here, she says, and I will sacrifice my life and my blood for my country.

36:56This member of parliament says a lot of those standing here chanting slogans against the United States may have been critics of the policies of the Islamic Republic.

37:06But today, all of us are standing in one line behind the supreme leader.

37:11People now chanting death to America here at Revolution Square.

37:19You can really feel how angry a lot of them are towards President Trump.

37:23Of course, the Iranian government has said that it reserves the right to retaliate for those strikes on the nuclear facilities,

37:30saying that it is their right to have nuclear enrichment, it is their right to have a nuclear program,

37:36and it's not something that they're going to allow the Trump administration to take away from them.

37:41And that is certainly also the sentiment that we're seeing here on the streets of Tehran.

37:48Let's take a closer look now at exactly how the U.S. carried out its air and missile strikes on Iran in what it has dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer.

37:57U.S. officials say the strike package involved B-2 stealth bombers carrying two crew members each,

38:04launched from the U.S. overnight on Friday.

38:06Some headed west and flew over the Pacific as a decoy.

38:11A U.S. submarine also launched more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles,

38:17those targeting the Isfahan nuclear site.

38:20The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff explains exactly how the bomber's massive payloads were deployed.

38:27At approximately 6.40 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, 2.10 a.m. Iran time,

38:36the lead B-2 dropped two GBU-57 massive ordnance penetrator weapons on the first of several aim points at Fordow.

38:46The remaining bombers then hit their targets as well with a total of 14 mops dropped against two nuclear target areas.

38:56The battle damage assessment is ongoing, but our initial assessment, as the chairman said,

39:01is that all of our precision munitions struck where we wanted them to strike and had the desired effect.

39:07To be clear, the Joint Chiefs chairman has warned it is, quote,

39:11way too early to determine whether Iran retains nuclear capabilities.

39:16However, President Trump has claimed, quote, obliteration is an accurate term.

39:21Joining me now, CNN military analyst, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Layton.

39:25As you look at the weapons used, the B-2s, the cruise missiles fired from submarines,

39:32and the number of targets, and just how hard those targets were,

39:37does that look to you like enough to have destroyed,

39:42rather than just damaged these nuclear facilities?

39:47Well, Jim, to be honest, I'm not completely sure yet,

39:49because we've never used the GBU-57 in combat,

39:53and it's hard right now to assess exactly what the damage is underground at Fordow, for example,

40:00or at any of the other sites, like Natanz, where we used the GBU-57.

40:06It's a bit easier, perhaps, to assess what happened with the Tomahawk cruise missiles that hit Esfahan.

LIVE | US Cities On High Alert After Iran's Khamenei Vows Revenge For Attack On Nuke Sites | N18G

Category

Transcript

Recommended