Evening Edition: Israel Launches Strike Against Iran's Nuclear Facilities
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I'm Steve Ducey. I'm Dana Perino. I'm Tyrus. And this is the Fox News Rundown. Friday, June 13th, 2025. I'm Eben Brown. War escalates between Israel and Iran. Israel pummels Iran and Israelis hide in shelters while Iran fires retaliatory missiles.

all after nuclear negotiations with the U.S. breakdown due to Iran's stalling. It gave the Iranians a false sense of security, and it's for that reason they thought they could drag the nuclear talks out past 60 days. Well, guess what? Israel attacked on the 61st. This is the Fox News Rundown Evening Edition. ♪

It's Friday afternoon in America, Friday night in Israel as we record this. It is the start of Shabbat. It is normally spent at synagogue and at dinner with family, but Israelis are all huddled in shelters as Iran has started to fire missiles at the Jewish state.

It is their response to the major operation Israel conducted the night before, in which it took Israeli forces mere hours to eliminate much of Iran's nuclear scientists and military leaders, while also causing significant damage to Iran's nuclear facilities where it works on building nuclear weapons. A barrage of missiles fell near Tel Aviv. It appears there are few injuries. It is obvious, though.

that war is underway. "Israelis are rolling with it, right? I mean, it's been more than 600 days of this war. I think that people are used to going into shelters. They're used to warnings of catastrophic things that might happen." Jonathan Shanzer is the executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He is in Jerusalem.

and in a bomb shelter. They are absolutely, I think, in some ways relieved that it seems like we've actually kind of maybe reached close to a final chapter in this war. Because if you think about it, this entire war began on October 7th, but it probably even began before that because the Iranians have been sponsoring various terrorist proxies all around the region. And Israel's been dealing with, you know, Hamas rockets and Hezbollah rockets and Houthi rockets and Shiite militia attacks.

And it all comes from one place. It comes from the regime in Iran. And, you know, we heard now that the regime was getting close to a nuclear weapon. The Israelis had already warned that they were going to attack Iran and make Iran pay. We've seen them actually exchange blows twice last year. Right. But this feels like the main event.

This feels like Israel is finally taking it to the regime. It looks as if they have given the regime not just a bloody nose, but really, I mean, this regime is hobbling right now. They have lost a lot of assets. And so there's, I think, a sense of optimism on the streets. The streets are pretty quiet. I will say that because people are still staying close to their bomb shelters. Last night, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed really essentially the world and he did in English,

He detailed some things that normally I would would have thought maybe would have been kept a little bit closer to the vest, that they were convinced that Iran had perhaps maybe as many as 15 different nuclear weapons, that these were near deployable and it was the time to move. But also discussed how there had been Mossad teams in Iran for quite some time. This is real cloak and dagger stuff.

This is embarrassing, it must be, to the Iranian regime. I mean, we've heard already that the Mossad teams had built a drone factory or a drone base inside Iran. I mean, this shows a level of sophistication that most people probably didn't even think of.

Well, I mean, let me just say the Iranians have known that the Israelis are there for quite some time. Yeah. You'll recall the 2018 episode where the Israelis stole those that massive trove of documents out of the nuclear warehouse that showed back then the Israelis were there. They'd been casing the place for a long time. And it was embarrassing. Then the regime has gone around arresting people, saying that they're spies, saying

I think a lot of those arrests were probably not based on very much. But yeah, the Israelis are crawling around over there. It's very clear that that's the case. I do think the prime minister released information that no one had known. However, I will say, you know, the Israelis always warned that if Iran was on the doorstep of a nuclear weapon, that they would not allow that to happen, that they would attack. And they would say so, and they did so. So that part of it wasn't surprising. The drone base, to explain that they were there

Yeah, that was a surprise. Absolutely. The information that they had about possibly 15 bombs or more. That was also interesting because I think that was information that was, as I understand it, declassified in tandem with the United States. This was part of an effort. They had an understanding of I spoke to senior Israeli officials throughout yesterday and today.

They all seem to indicate that something had changed drastically over the last 48, 72 hours leading up to the attack, and that it was something that the president was aware of and was concerned about, and the Israelis. And it looked like Bibi was, well, revealing what they were concerned about. It was finally out in the open. You're bringing up the point of the cooperation or coordination or at least communication between the Israeli government, the United States government. There has been a contingent discussion

Let's say the Republican Party or the MAGA base that has been very vocal in its opposition to having anything to do with Israel, certainly making the illogical, I think, assumption that that.

an Israeli war against Iran would somehow drag in the United States and drag in United States troops somehow to the point that they would have some kind of boots on the ground type of operation. I think the past 24 hours have proven that to be a bit false or at least, you know, ill-conceived idea. I know yours has been a voice to try to

push back against some of that rhetoric that's been out there, especially on social media where it runs rampant. But have you been vindicated at this point?

No, I mean, not yet. And I think that that's an important thing to note here is we don't know what happens next here. And I think, you know, let's say this is something akin to the Six-Day War, right, where Israel had a lightning victory in the beginning and then was they were able to, you know, to hold on and secure that victory for the long haul. And it changed the trajectory of the Middle East.

That's really what you want. Right. But that may not be what we get. We don't know what the Iranians do in response and we don't know if they attack the United States. So I think the jury is still out. But look, even if the U.S. were to be attacked, that doesn't mean that we're going to enter into World War Three. I think Israel has actually just made sure that that wouldn't happen by destroying nuclear assets.

The other thing that I'll just say about whatever we're going to call them, the isolationists, the neo-isolationists, the China firsters, I've heard all kinds of names. I don't know exactly what to call them, but I think they've done Israel an immense service here over the last five months or longer. What they gave, I think, they gave the impression to the Iranian regime and to the rest of the Middle East that the Republicans were not on board. They were not going, they were not going to help them. They weren't going to communicate with them. They didn't want to be part of this at all.

From what we can tell, Donald Trump was well aware of what was going on. He may have been part of the misdirection that led to the confusion that enabled Israel to be able to establish a base in Iran or near Iran to pre-position assets. So I see actually some very positive things that have come out of this. Paradoxically, I think it gave the Iranians a false sense of security. And it's for that reason they thought they could drag the nuclear talks out past 60 days. Well, guess what?

Israel attacked on the 61st and Donald Trump has now admonished the Iranians saying, "I gave you that time. I told you what you would get. You didn't follow through and now look what happened."

I think that the isolationists played a brilliant role in all of that. Jonathan Shanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies is our guest. He is in a bomb shelter in Jerusalem as Israel is coming under fire. On the Fox News Rundown Evening Edition, please like and subscribe. We'll have more straight ahead.

The Iranians must be again on their back heels here. There's probably a bit more of a desperation than there was 24 hours ago. However, there's a lack of tools at their disposal now and certainly a lack of the brain trust, knowing that Israel has eliminated many of the top generals, number of the nuclear scientists, and the Ayatollah himself is just having to sit there and watch this happen.

You know, how how capable are they of launching bad attacks? I think people are still somehow imagining that this would be some kind of conventional war. But Iran has a network of terrorists at their disposal. They do. I mean, I think, look, we will we should be watching for IRGC sleeper cells in Europe or the United States, right?

maybe even in Israel for that matter. I do think the Israelis have probably got a decent handle on what's going on in their own backyard. I do think, though, that we're going to see missile attacks. For sure, ballistic missiles very likely to fall in Israel. They're going to try to, I'm sure, attack Ben-Gurion Airport, the international airport, Tel Aviv. They're going to do what they can to at least give the impression that they fought back because right now this looks like abject defeat.

But in terms of these sleeper cells, if they activate them in the United States, that is the sure way to draw the United States in. And I don't think the Iranian regime wants this. Right now, they actually have the United States in an interesting place where Donald Trump has not actually taken sides necessarily with Israel. What he said is, you knew this was going to come. And I think the Israelis did a good job. But hey, come back to the negotiating table.

Let's end the nuclear standoff and let's end all of this and let's create a new Middle East. That's what he's offering to the regime. And it'll be very interesting to see if they walk through the door that he's opened or if they choose confrontation with him. I got to say, if they do that, I think they will be making a huge mistake. I don't see this president having a lot of patience here whatsoever.

or much more patience with this regime. He gave them a fair amount of time, as discussed. He gave them 60 days. He himself did not strike or order the strike against Iran. But what he did do is he let the Israelis do what they wanted to do, which, you know, that was part of the deal. Whereas previous U.S. administrations have been holding them back.

Correct. Yeah. I mean, we've seen Israel be restrained by Democrats and Republicans alike. And this was this was unique. And I do think the president deserves full credit for it. I think there were a lot of people that were beginning to wonder whether he was wavering as it related to Israel. People were worrying that he was succumbing to, you know, the wily Iranian negotiators. And, you know, those voices were starting to creep out. The doubts were coming. And now I think they've all been silenced.

And full credit to the president, this really did look like even I mean, it was misdirection, maybe even an information operation that he conducted jointly with probably several countries and factions, which is truly remarkable. I think we're

When we learn about everything that happened here, I think it will make for some fascinating history. And probably a great movie. What is next for this operation? It'd be very hard, I think, for the Israelis to effectuate a regime change in Iran. They'd love for it to happen. But that probably has to happen internally, doesn't it? Certainly the Israelis would welcome it.

Yeah, I mean, look, I will say it's interesting. They named their operation Rising Lion, which is a reference to the old flag of Iran. Right. The pre 1979 revolutionary Iran has a lion on the flag. And I think they were essentially trying to exhort the Iranian people to rise up.

And I do think that there is probably a sense right now as the regime looks around, they saw hints of it last year after the Israelis took out the Iranian air defenses in October, that this regime is maybe not eight feet tall, that this regime is a lot more weak and fragile and potentially bendable or even breakable. But I think that the Israelis need to finish the job. And by that, I think we're talking about doing more damage to the nuclear sites, which is what's happening, taking out leaders from the regime. That's

Absolutely happening. Taking out the ballistic missiles. We're going to see how many the Iranians are able to fire over the course of the next day or three or five. But I think they're in a much weaker spot. And that's exactly what the people of Iran need to see. You got to remember that these people, generally speaking, are pro-West. They don't like their regime. They probably don't like getting attacked.

right now. And there is the risk that they might rally around the flag. But I think generally speaking, they're probably heartened by what they see. And they are starting to think about what it would look like if this Islamist regime that has kept them down since 1979, whether the country would look a lot different. And I do think that the answer is yes.

Meanwhile, tonight it is Shabbat, and the chief rabbinate of Israel has already told people, don't go to synagogue this weekend, stay home, stay near your shelters, and you are in a shelter right now. So tell us about that experience. It may be very common or routine for Israelis. It's not so for Americans to spend extended time deep underground and waiting out something bad.

Right now, I'm three stories underground at a hotel in Jerusalem. Right now, this is an empty room. But 15 minutes ago, there were 100 people in here, all loud and raucous. People were drinking wine at dinner, and you could tell.

But, you know, look, I've been going to Israel since I was fairly young. I started studying this place, you know, in my teens and found it fascinating, along with the rest of the region. But absolutely, this is a unique thing that you have to go into shelters here. I've been, I don't know, probably a dozen or a dozen and a half times in shelters over the years, primarily from Hamas rockets.

in some of these shorter wars, like the one in 2008 or 2012 or 2014 or even 2021, where you have five days, 10 days, even 50 days of rockets, but they don't pose a real threat because we're not talking about ballistic missiles. We're not talking about heavy weapons.

What's happening right now is you got two things. You got Houthi missiles and there was one just before I hopped on here with you. That's why we're in the shelter. And then there's the fear of the other ballistic missiles that Iran has, which may be larger, more powerful, bigger payload. We've not seen those here, not since October.

and April of last year. So the Israelis have been spared that for a time. But I have a feeling that tonight, as the sun goes down in Iran, as the Israelis lose sight of the people that are going to be bringing out these missiles and fueling them and putting them on rocket launchers, you know, you can have night vision goggles. But, you know, as you're trying to scan that landscape from your F-35 going at high speeds may not be the easiest thing to spot. I'm sure that, you know, satellite photos will help.

And I'm sure the Israelis have a sense of where these missiles may be set up. But I do think that we're probably in for it tonight. I'm planning on bringing a pillow down here and hopefully catching a few winks. Jonathan Shanzer with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in a bomb shelter in Jerusalem. Thank you so much for being with us on the Fox News Rundown Evening Edition. Pleasure. Pleasure. Pleasure.

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