Attacks Continue on Iran, Israel
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It is Thursday, June 19th, and here's what's happening right now on CNN This Morning.

We're following breaking news in the Middle East. Dozens of missiles soaring in the early morning hours, a nuclear facility hit in Iran and a hospital damaged in Israel. Plus this. Unconditional surrender. That means I've had it.

President Trump weighing his options. Can the U.S. get involved in the Iran-Israel conflict without causing a wider war? And the hawks versus the isolationists, GOP infighting over whether the U.S. should assist Israel. But who has the president's ear?

It's now 6 a.m. here on the East Coast, but here's a live look at the damage in Tel Aviv after an Iranian strike earlier this morning. Welcome, everybody. I'm Adi Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with me. And we are going to begin this morning with that breaking news on the escalation between Israel and Iran. So both sides are firing more weapons at each other overnight.

That's a hospital in southern Israel getting hit by an Iranian missile attack. Video taken inside the hospital shows extensive damage. Several injuries were reported, including a 60-year-old woman who is now in stable but serious condition. Israeli officials called the strike a deliberate attack against a civilian target. Iran claims it was targeting a nearby military site.

Now that was just one of several missiles which hit Israel in the past few hours. Another missile got through air defenses in Tel Aviv, striking a high-rise building. In total, at least 65 people have been injured across Israel. Iran is also dealing with a punishing barrage from Israeli warplanes. The IDF targeted Iran's national police headquarters, sending smoke billowing into the sky.

Israeli officials say they've launched dozens of strikes, which they say will continue until Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs are destroyed. There are ballistic missiles coming into Israel now. They're not carrying nuclear warheads. I mean, these things are the size of a semi-trailer packed with TNT, and they come cruising out of the sky and create incredible damage. That production capacity has to be eliminated as well. It's very simple.

joining me now is cnn's nick robertson he's actually outside the hospital that was hit in southern israel um nick we can hear some of the the gathering of the refuse there can you tell me what's going on the current situation yeah audi good morning the soraka medical center that's where we're at just look around me sanji's got a wide angle lens on here you can just see looking here the damage to this building and sanjeev if you can just pan up there to the higher floors

The medical center director here told me it was a fifth floor direct impact on the cancer and neurology ward. He said very fortunately, the 25 patients, bed bound patients that they'd had there until yesterday had been taken to the basement for their safety. That had been a precautionary measure. This direct impact on the hospital, he said, has caused extensive damage.

40 casualties here, most of them with light injuries from broken glass. Most people taking shelter inside the hospital. But to give you a sense of this place, the children's ward is over in that direction. There is a maternity ward in this hospital. I've seen pregnant ladies outside the hospital having to leave with other patients already today. This is the biggest medical facility in the south of Israel. It serves

a million people. I can hear water raining down. It looks like the fire crews are still up there above us, just dousing the building. We know that the fire crews, I just saw them going back inside the building there. The recovery mission, the search mission for people who might be injured or trapped inside the hospital, that is over. But now there's a complete mechanical structural assessment going on here. And as I was saying,

1,200 beds in this hospital. The community it serves, both Arab and Jewish, there are a million people in the community here that use this hospital on a regular basis. The fire guys up here are telling us we've just got to move back a bit. So we're going to stay, keep talking to you. We're just going to move back a bit here. But, Audie, if you just follow me and Sanjeev here, you get a sense of the destruction. Look at all this twisted structure.

Debris around here. Fire trucks backed up as far as you can see.

This has really raised the temperature on this conflict. The politicians who have been coming here have been talking very clearly. This was an intentional strike on the hospital by Iran. And the prime minister very clearly calling for an uptick in strikes on Iran. We're moving now because we're being given very firm instructions to leave the area. You can stay with me, audio, if you like. We're just going to pull back. Thanks, guys. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll try and give you a better perspective of what's going on when we get back down here. Sanjeev, I know you're working the camera as best you can. The fire trucks here, they've been the relief and support. These guys are some of the first on site here. We can turn around and take a look now where we had to pull back from. What you can see up on the top level, the fifth floor, you can see the firefighters

up there giving that inspection. The hospital director told me what's going to happen. They're pouring water on that level. It's all black and charred. When you get a little bit away from the building, maybe, Sanjeev, you can pull up, see the side of the building there. You can see the concrete rip back, topple down. A 1,200-bed hospital, like all hospitals in Israel, this one, as a precautionary measure, had been moving patients to the basement. And that's why

The director said that the casualty toll here was not worse. It could have been far worse. And I think when you try and look at this and

You know, the question at the moment is diplomacy. Is diplomacy going to work? Is it possible at the moment, days like today, when such an emotive site as a hospital, the cancer ward, the urology ward, pregnancy clinic here as well, children's wards part of this hospital, when that happens, that raises the temperature. And it does feel on this seventh day of the conflict,

Clearly, diplomacy, it hardly seems it's a question at the moment, Audie. Yes, Nick, thank you so much. I mean, that's kind of shocking to see such a direct hit by Iran there. Nick Robertson is going to be joining us from Israel throughout the day.

Now, the leaders and the people of Iran are striking a defiant tone as they wait for President Trump to decide whether the U.S. will get involved in attacking them. Late last night, a motorcycle parade of Iranians waving flags filled the streets of Tehran just hours after the country's supreme leader and other high-ranking officials vowed to never surrender. If the Americans decide to get involved militarily,

We have no choice but to retaliate wherever we find the targets necessary to be acted upon. Joining me now is CNN's chief international security correspondent, Nick Payton Walsh. Nick, we just heard him say whatever targets would be necessary, what kind of U.S. targets could be vulnerable to an Iranian counterattack?

Certainly all eyes will point towards US bases in the region but you have to bear in mind two things: the extensive and lengthy telegraphing of that as a possibility if the US did get involved, which is a big if still, then the multiple military bases in the region have had plenty of time to prepare themselves and to evacuate and secondly too you have to ask yourself as well what capabilities

indeed Iran has left that could penetrate more sophisticated US air defenses given the bulk of resources the US seems to have shifted to that area too. So I think you also have to take in mind as well whether Iran really wants to extend its potential adversaries and conflict in the region at a time when we've seen them reduce

Over the past few nights, the volume of ballistic missiles fired unclear quite why what Israel refers to as dozens indeed got through and caused that damage. But be in no doubt as well, the Israeli strikes persist on targets across Iran. That display of defiance, yes, but at the same time as well, our colleague Fred Pligham reporting Tehran streets predominantly deserted. Iran said that its Iraq heavy water

Iraq heavy water plant was hit that has been linked in the past with the possibility of producing plutonium, another path to a nuclear weapon. It was described as inactive but the fact Israel hit it now after days of hitting other nuclear facilities suggests perhaps they're working through their target list and getting to a point where they're hitting things that might potentially be a threat in the future rather than things they consider

to be an immediate threat. So the damage to Iran's military infrastructure clear. Just another example, they've now appointed the third land forces commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps since this conflict began. The first killed in the first night, his successor killed recently, the third now in position. So the turmoil clear, the limitations on Iran's abilities clear as well.

and also to their foreign minister confirming in the last minute he will be going to Geneva to meet with his European counterparts. That's a possible diplomatic off-ramp here, if indeed it's a process that the United States will actually listen to or has some agency in.

Coming up on CNN this morning, President Trump's dilemma. Can the U.S. get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran without igniting a regional war? Plus, will the threat of bunker buster bombs lead to diplomacy or more destruction? And is President Trump ignoring U.S. intel on Iran? A warning from Democrats. If this president is going to suddenly blow off all of the consensus opinion of the intelligence community, well,

What are these folks job? Their job is to speak truth to power, not cook the books.

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And now it's the Sleep Number Everything Smartbed sale. Every smartbed and base are on sale during our Memorial Day event. Up to 50% off. Limited time. Exclusively at a Sleep Number store near you. See store or sleepnumber.com for details. A plan for the U.S. to attack Iran has been reviewed by President Trump, but he's not quite ready to sign off on it.

I have ideas as to what to do, but I haven't made a final. I like to make the final decision one second before it's due, you know, because things change. I mean, especially with war, things change with war. It can go from one extreme to the other.

The president is holding off on a military strike to see if Iran decides to step back from its nuclear program. Sources tell CNN he's receptive to using U.S. military assets to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, but wants to do it without getting dragged into a full-scale war.

Joining me now, Joel Rubin, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and Colonel Cedric Layton, CNN military analyst. I want to come back to the aspect of potential diplomacy, Joel, in a second. But Colonel Layton, first, I want to talk about that strike against the hospital this morning. I think the audience is hearing that Iran took out much Israel took out much of Iran's sort of

air capabilities, military capabilities. But what are we seeing in what Iran is still able to do? So one of the key things, Adi, is the fact that the Israelis were able to eliminate the types of missiles that attack their aircraft. They've basically cleared the skies of that kind of a threat in Iran.

Iran itself. But when it comes to Iran's offensive capabilities, the problem that you have is that there were, at the start of this conflict, about 3,000 missiles that the Iranians had at their disposal, and they still have some that they can use against Israel. And all it takes is one to penetrate the Iron Dome and similar defensive systems that the Israelis have to potentially create a problem like we're seeing in the Be'er Sheva Hospital. The reason why I'm asking is because there's three U.S. aircraft carriers in the region.

which some people are looking at to suggest the U.S. at least positioning itself to act. And in order for the U.S. to get involved with the so-called bunker buster bomb, that would have to be delivered by air. So how does that complicate the potential military avenues? So the...

Most at-risk pieces are going to be the aircraft carriers in the... probably in the Eastern Mediterranean. They could also potentially be in the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf. But those are the most at risk for offensive operations by the Iranians. The B-2 bombers, which would be the most likely means of conveying the special bunker-buster bomb toward the facilities in Iran, would be...

be pretty safe based on what we've seen the Israelis do when it comes to destroying the air defense capability of the Iranians. So we'd basically be riding on top of that to take care of that mission if we were to do that. So Joel, you've been in the room when the military analyst comes in and says, President, these are your options. The president is obviously still looking for options potentially diplomatically, but he's facing a lot more.

of pressure. Here is the former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galan. In order to create a better future for the Middle East, not only for Israel, for all the countries in the Gulf and elsewhere in the Middle East and basically in the world, there is a potential for the United States to be involved.

Lots of pressure. That's a lot of pressure. You know, Adi, happy talk is not the best way to run a foreign policy. And my concern with some of the language about regime change, that there's some kind of magic formula that can be used to change all the Middle East for the better, we've heard that before. We heard that before the war in Iraq. That obviously was not just wrong, but it was devastating to the region and, of course, the United States.

There needs to be a discrete, clear reason and rationale for American military involvement. As the colonel has pointed out, there are real technical issues that we have to look at, real life and death issues. So let's stick to those. We don't need to get into the whole conversation about brand new utopian visions for the Middle East.

All right, you guys stay with us. We're going to talk more this hour. And coming up on CNN this morning, a setback for transgender rights. What's next after the Supreme Court declined to treat transgender people as a protected class? Plus, MAGA mayhem, a closer look at the widening divide in the Republican Party over the president's support of Israel. And we'll also be going live to Tel Aviv, where we're continuing to monitor breaking news developments out of the Middle East. Stick with us.

We're following a major decision from the Supreme Court that could shape the future of healthcare for transgender youth across the country. The court in a six to three decision left in place a Tennessee law that bans transgender minors from receiving gender affirming care, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy.

More than 20 states have enacted laws banning such care for trans minors. Advocates are framing this ruling as a devastating loss, including the mom of one transgender youth whose case was at the center of this legal battle. In a New York Times op-ed released after the decision, she wrote, our hearts are broken. Joining me now to help us understand what this ruling means and what could come next is Elise Adams, a former federal prosecutor. Elise, so...

Sometimes these rulings can be narrow. Can you help us understand what the judges decided to do? Because Chief Justice Robert wrote for the majority that the case carries a lot of weight, but also we leave questions regarding the policy to the people, to elected representatives. Meanwhile, you had Justice Sotomayor writing, by retreating from meaningful judicial review where it matters most, the court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims.

Help us explain those two different views. Sure. That's right, Adi. So essentially what the conservative majority did here was they found that the law, that Tennessee law, did not single anybody out based on identity or here identity.

transgender status. They said that this was not a sex discrimination case because remember, this law, this challenge to the law was brought as an equal protection challenge to the 14th Amendment. They said this was discriminatory based on gender identity or sexual identity, that being transgender. That's what the plaintiffs were arguing. That's what the plaintiffs were arguing. The Supreme Court said, no, this is a neutral law that applies to everybody equally, both

uh, girls and boys, and that the class is age. This law applies to minors and those that are experiencing a medical condition, that being gender dysphoria, and it has to do with their medical treatment. So that is the way the majority chose to treat this law. And because of that, because they said it was not a sex discrimination case,

they were able to apply the most deferential standard of judicial review, that being the rational basis test. So, so long as a state has a legitimate reason for passing a law, unless it is blatantly discriminatory, they're going to uphold it as constitutional. But can I come back to this thing you said? Are they, are they, have they made a ruling in such a way that other cases where transgender plaintiffs come forward and say, we're a protected class, right?

under the law because of gender, that that's, like,

off the table? - Well, Adi, this was a very narrow ruling. I know transgender advocates are framing this, as you said in your opening, as a devastating loss, but this case was really cabined upon medical treatment. So I think in the future, the impact, the immediate impact is this ban is gonna go into effect in Tennessee. There's over 20 states that have similar laws that relate to this gender affirming care. I think when it comes to other transgender issues,

and potential infringement on their rights, that being bathroom bans, transgender athletes. It's going to be a different argument because this argument was so narrow. So the court was essentially able to sidestep this by saying, no, this is a medical issue. This really pertains to medical care. I also just want to respond to something you said about public policy. What the Supreme Court majority essentially said was this is a state's issue. And if you do not like this law, go to the ballot box

and elect other legislators. That's what rational basis is, essentially. It's very deferential to the states. The dissent, Judge Sotomayor was saying, what are you talking about, essentially? This is gender-affirming care. It flies in the face of logic. How could this not be sex discrimination? This is exactly the type of issue that the Supreme Court should take up.

As you said, because it's a somewhat narrow ruling, we may see this issue come up again in some of these other transgender legislation. Elise Adamson is a former federal prosecutor and host of At Least You Heard It podcast. Thank you for being here as always. Thanks, Adi. We're continuing to follow the breaking news in the Middle East. President Trump said he's done negotiating with Iran. But with all the tough talk, are there any back channels still open? Plus, a major hurricane is about to make landfall in Mexico doubling in strength overnight.

Good morning everybody, I'm Adi Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN this morning. It is half past the hour and here's what's happening right now. Israel has ordered its military to intensify strikes on Iran after a hospital in southern Israel was hit by the Iranians. The hospital suffered extensive damage and Israel claims Iran is targeting civilian areas. Iran says it was attacking a military site next to the hospital.

And residents in Mexico are bracing for Hurricane Eric to make landfall near Acapulco this morning. It was upgraded to a Category 4 storm overnight. Eric is expected to unleash flash floods and devastating winds. It's on record to become the strongest June hurricane ever to hit Mexico.

And today is Juneteenth, the anniversary of the day the last slaves were told they were free. Despite being a federal holiday, many celebrations across the country are being scaled back or even canceled. Organizers say safety issues and mounting resistance to diversity, equity, inclusion initiatives are among the top concerns. All right, we want to come back to this question for President Trump, whether he's actually interested in talking with Iran right now.

I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do. I can tell you this, that Iran's got a lot of trouble. Have the Iranians reached out to you? Yes. And what did they say? I said it's very late, you know. I said it's very late to be talking.

As far as we know, senior Trump administration officials are still trying to push for a diplomatic solution. That includes Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Wyckoff, who Trump himself instructed to try and meet with Iranian officials as soon as possible. The Iranian government, which has now called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. But while there are some diplomatic back channels still open, they may not be for long, as tough talk from both sides could be sinking those efforts.

We are not begging for anything. What we are saying is that stop this aggression, then we will have time to do whatever is needed. As long as the aggression continues, as long as this brutality continues, we cannot think of engaging.

Joining me now to discuss Jamil Jaffer, former counsel in the Justice Department's National Security Division. So in a tweet from Iran's mission to the U.N., Iran said that it would not negotiate under duress, shall not accept peace under duress, and certainly not with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance. We've got a bellicose Iran, per the usual, but we've also got this ambiguous Trump.

Help us understand whether or not there is actually some sort of diplomatic on-ramp or off-ramp. Well, Adi, look, the president has made clear that he would like to resolve this problem diplomatically. All the way through and up through the Israeli campaign against Iran, President Trump had been talking about the need to find a deal, a path forward with Iran, a way to put off any military strikes. Word is he tried to put the

put the israelis off of conducting these strikes of course since then he's now adopted their strikes as his own um and has lauded them but right to the moment they actually conducted the strikes he was pressing them and his team was pressing them to hold back um and try to not allow this to go forward at the end of the day though he hasn't supported and now he's trying to use the strikes um and the potential of the u.s viking involved as an effort to bring iran back to the table and find a deal that can work for the united states we'll see if that happens and we'll see what a deal like that looks like because that's a big debate

both within the United States as well as abroad. And considering military options, there is the potential for some sort of limited action, but there's also the potential that something that involves a regional or wider conflict. Given your past experiences with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, do you think that lawmakers should be consulted or vote before any major military action?

Well, this is a topic of much debate on Capitol Hill and with the White House. The president generally believes that all presidents generally believe that they have the ability to take military action for some period of time before Congress has to wait. In fact, the War Powers Resolution, which is designed by Congress to reassert its authority, permits the president in response to an attack and attack.

arguably in the view of some presidents in response to a threat to the United States or our allies can conduct operations before they ask Congress for action. If this becomes an extended conflict, and the view of the law has passed that the president does have to ask Congress for approval, that has happened at times and that has not happened at times. So this is their tension between the executive and legislative branches. In the Constitution, Al-Ahmadi, as you know, the power to declare war is granted to Congress.

Jamil Jaffer is a former counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security. Thank you. Thanks, Adi.

I want to talk more about the politics here because there is clearly a rift in the Republican Party over the Israel-Iran conflict. It's on full display. Here's an example. Senator Ted Cruz making an appearance on Tucker Carlson's show. The former Fox News host spent the first 40 minutes pressing Cruz about his support for Israel. Carlson has been a vocal critic of the strikes in Iran, and Cruz was there to try an assuasion. Why is it relevant whether it's...

It's interesting you're trying to derail my questions by calling me an anti-Semite, which you are. I did not. Of course you are. And rather than be honorable enough to say it right to my face, you are in a sleazy feline way implying it or just asking questions about the Jews. I'm not asking questions about the Jews.

I have there's nothing to do with Jews or Judaism. It has to do with a foreign government. Isn't Israel controlling our foreign policy? That's not about the Jews. You said I'm asking you. You're the one that just called me, I think, a sleazy feline. So let's be clear. It's easy to imply that I'm an anti-Semite, which you just did. No, I just when I'm asking you.

I'm joined by Michael Warren, senior editor at The Dispatch. That may look like an unrelated clip, but it actually is because it gets at a central tension. Those who, like Carlson are saying, is the U.S. unduly influenced by Israel in its foreign policy? The unsavory aspects of that movement that Cruz was bringing up there, but also Cruz, his military position. Help me make sense of this moment.

Well, we can overstate this divide within the Republican Party, because if you look, Adi, at polls, most Republican voters, including people who consider themselves parts of the MAGA movement, there are some polls recently that show they support Israel. They support the American military doing something. Some kind of strike is vaguely worded in these polls, some kind of strike on Iran. Overwhelming majority of Republican voters. So we shouldn't overstate

how many actual people who consider themselves Republicans who support Donald Trump. And Trump has said as much. He says, my supporters are with me. He also says, America first is whatever I say it is. He's kind of right about that. Tell me more. Well, look, I think that is the case that most of Trump's supporters will follow him where he goes. And so it's

most important to follow what Trump is doing. I will say this, we don't need to understate as well the influence of Tucker Carlson and his sort of younger group of call MAGA Republicans, more nationalist Republicans. - Who came up being anti-forever war. - Exactly. - I mean, they have positions in the White House, no?

positions in the White House, throughout the administration. They are the sort of young energy within the party. They're going to be staffing on Capitol Hill, in administrations in the future for quite some time. And I think it's important to recognize that they are definitely a break from the past in terms of the Republican Party and their views about Israel.

but they're still a minority and a pretty small minority, a very vocal minority with somebody with a huge platform like Tucker Carlson as their champion within the broader Republican world. And obviously Trump has heard some aspect of it or has some concerns. He recently referred to Carlson as kooky and just said this about the former Fox commentator. Tucker's a nice guy. He called and apologized the other day.

because he thought he said things that were a little bit too strong, and I appreciated that. And Ted Cruz is a nice guy. If they think that it's okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, then they should oppose me, but nobody thinks it's okay.

That seems pretty fundamental to the argument here. And you even saw J.D. Vance tweeting an extensive post, kind of giving the president room to maneuver with that part of the base. Right. Look, Vance is a politician. He's sort of positioning himself within the party, within the administration, as supportive of Donald Trump. Although Vance is really representative of that kind of younger, less interested in foreign engagements party.

But we should just we should just not lose sight of the fact that in that interview between Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz, Tucker Carlson's really misrepresenting what Republicans like Ted Cruz and even Donald Trump are suggesting. Nobody's talking about boots on the ground. Nobody's talking from a from a position of power, meaning in the Senate or in the administration about any kind of regime change in Iran.

That's sort of the argument that Tucker Carlson would like to have. It's not really reflective of reality. I'll be interested to see, by the way, where J.D. Vance lands on this come 2028 when there's going to be debates about this on a Republican presidential primary stage. 2028. Michael Warren. I'm always looking forward. Get out of here. Get out of here. You're not allowed back. Michael Warren is senior editor at The Dispatch.

Now ahead on CNN this morning, Iran is unleashing a new wave of ballistic missiles across Israel. How are the Iranian people dealing with this conflict? Plus, SpaceX is calling this a, quote, major anomaly. It's Starship exploding on the launch pad.

First on CNN, we're getting a closer look at some of the damage being brought by Israeli airstrikes in Iran. You'll remember this, for example, from earlier this week. That was the moment when an Israeli strike hit a TV network while it was on air. Fred Pleitgen is the first Western journalist in Tehran. He takes us inside the destroyed station.

We're inside the Iranian state broadcasting company, IRIB, which was hit by an Israeli airstrike a couple of days ago. And you can see the damage is absolutely massive. I'm standing in the atrium right now. But if you look around, this whole area has been completely destroyed. All of the offices, all of the technology that they have inside here, the broadcast technology, everything has been rendered pretty much useless.

All right, so we're going to go inside the building now. They have told us that we need to be very careful because obviously there might still be

unexploded parts of bombs in here or something like that. What we see here is the actual studio where an Iranian state TV anchor was sitting and reading the news when the strike hit. You can see here that is an anchor desk right there. And of course, when it happened, the anchor was reading the news and then all of a sudden there was a thud. The studio went black at the beginning. She got up and left, but then later apparently came back

and finished the newscast and is now being hailed as a champion of Iranian media. Some of the main bulk of the explosion must have been here because this place is absolutely charred. If we look back over there, that actually seems to be the main part of what was the newsroom

with a lot of the desks, computers, printers, phones. You can see how much heat must have been emitted by the impact and by the explosion. The phones that they had here are molten. Here also, the keys molten. This screen, and there's actually someone's lunch still at their desk standing here.

which probably they would have been wanting to eat until they had to evacuate the building. You can see there's a spoon here that's also been melted away by this explosion. All of this is playing very big here in Iran. There's a lot of public anger that the Israelis attacked this site. And certainly the Iranians are saying that they condemn this and that there is going to be revenge for this. For Pleikin, CNN, Tehran.

Joining me now to discuss this, Holly Degres, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Holly, first, can I get your reaction to some of the reporting we saw from Fred there? Because this was state media and the symbolism of Israel striking the voice of the government in a way, in such a total way. What do you see when you look at those images? Well, first, I think it's a very important

I knew exactly the location because I used to go on dates with my high school sweetheart at the boot like Carl's Jr. next door to it and walk by it. But it's just to give you a sense of how densely populated Tehran is and how these buildings are housed in these areas.

But, you know, for a lot of Iranians, this is a symbol of a big propaganda arm. Historically, it has paraded forced confessions on television, and it's not a place that many Iranians are getting their information right now. Iranians are relying on diaspora satellite channels

but more importantly on internet and social media. And we've been seeing that the internet has undergone a mere total shutdown in the last less than 24 hours. Is it the strikes or is the government shutting down access to information? The government is shutting down access to information, but it's been cutting off and on. So sometimes maybe our

viewers are familiar with WhatsApp, like seeing a one check. So when we're messaging with our friends and family, we're seeing one check. So we have to call landlines. So without this access to information, Iranians don't know what's happening. And that's what's scary because sometimes the Israeli government is saying that they're going to

hit a certain district and this information is sometimes even coming in the middle of the night. So it's worrisome. - It's interesting you're saying this, CNN, we've actually received some messages from people living in Iran. I'm just gonna read one or two of them that strikes me here, but one mentioning something you talked about. This person says, "When I scroll through our old conversations on WhatsApp," referring to their family, "they've shifted from what color jewelry are you going to wear to are you alive?"

Another message reads, we're all in shock and some of us have nowhere to go. Some of us are still in our apartments just waiting to see if we survive. We've been seeing images of cars leaving and I don't think people fully understand just how many people are still there. Well, for starters, like, Tehran is roughly the size of the LA metro area. So imagine that that's the kind of

That's 10 million people that needs to flee. Not everybody can afford to flee. Not everyone has savings. Some are elderly. It's hard for them to leave.

And so, yes, there's been a mass exodus of people from Tehran leaving, but a lot of them are hunkered down at home. With no information is what you're talking about. No information, no air raid sirens, no shelters, except for they've been offering mosques and schools which aren't even shaped from bombs. So Iranians are really terrified in the capital.

I want to ask you one thing. We've talked so much today about President Trump and his kind of indication of potential backdoor channels, potential some kind of diplomatic conversation. We are not hearing that from Iran. Does that mean that it isn't happening or is there still like what's their end game? Right. If they're saying that they're going to fight no matter what.

So they've been exuding this, I would say, proud sense of, oh, we're going to fight to the death and we're going to stand up for the Islamic Republic. But it seems that according to reports behind closed doors, they're seeking an off ramp. But the thing is, what is that off ramp? U.S. President Donald Trump is saying that they cannot enrich. They want he wants zero enrichment. The Iranians. So complete denuclearization of Iran.

Absolutely. And the Iranians, that's why we're in this situation, because Trump did not receive that messaging during the talks. They were trying to figure that out, but here we are. So are you going to be listening for that in the coming days? Is there any world where Iran can signal it would back off or is it backed into a corner?

I think if we're going to hear it, it's going to be diplomacy and it's not going to be very public facing. I think there's going to be some messaging maybe through Oman, which has been a mediator during these talks, maybe even through the Swiss who have an interest section, the US interest section in Tehran. But right now, I really just don't see an off ramp because

Also, as this war goes on, they haven't technically taken out the nuclear facilities either. So I think unless they decide to surrender, as President Trump full surrendered, tweeted or posted on Truth Social, you're not going to get an off ramp here for now. OK, but thank you for telling us where we should be listening. Oman, the Swiss. I appreciate your time, Holly.

Okay, it is now 55 minutes past the hour. Want to give you your morning roundup. Minnesota police are investigating a possible break-in at Melissa Hortman's home. That's the state representative who had been shot and killed at her house along with her husband. Police had a camera in front of the house. Someone was able to remove it, break a rear window and get inside. The investigation is ongoing.

And a SpaceX Starship rocket exploding into a massive fireball on the launch pad. This happened late last night while preparing for its 10th test flight. SpaceX says no one was injured. The cause of the explosion is still unclear, but SpaceX is calling it, quote, a major anomaly. And a federal judge is ordering the Trump administration to restore scientific research grants that were terminated.

by the National Institutes of Health. Attorneys on the case say the funding cancellations were illegal and discriminatory because they targeted race and gender identity.

As we wrap things up this morning, I can't help but look at the comparisons some are making between now and what happened shortly before the U.S. launched its invasion of Iraq in 2003. It was a time when the U.S. was convinced that Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, was in the process of developing weapons of mass destruction.

That intel turned out to be false, and now some lawmakers are raising flags about how trustworthy U.S. intelligence is this time around as it considers action on Iran. We got a brief as recently as Monday that seems ages ago that said the intelligence community has not changed their assessment that Iran had not moved towards an actual weaponization. And if this president is going to suddenly blow off all of the

consensus opinion of the intelligence community. What are these folks job?

We can't forget Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who raised her own doubts about whether Iran was developing a nuke. Joel Rubin and Colonel Cedric Layton are back. I want to talk about this because as we are waiting for the White House to make a decision, I assume intelligence reports are part of informing that decision. Joel, you're the one who mentioned earlier Iraq, so I want to come to you. Is there a legitimate point from Senator Warner?

Yeah, Adi, there is, clearly. And I was serving in the State Department as a civil servant when we invaded Iraq. And we were lied to. We were lied to by our leaders, by the president and his team, and lied with the goal of pushing us into a war. That's where there's a bit of a difference here. Intelligence matters. It's key.

But this is now a policy debate question. The intelligence is not going to make the decision and it's not going to be used to manipulate the United States into a war because right now there's already a war. Israel's already at war. Iran is already attacking and threatening. So it's much more of a policy issue. But let me bring in the colonel here because honestly, I can't think of...

Iran has been under the microscope for so long. There's a lot of intelligence there. So are we really questioning what we've got between us and what the U.S. is hearing from Israel? So one of the big differences, Adi, between the Iraq situation and the Iran situation is we have been focusing on Iran for a very long time. The very first country that I focused on as an intelligence officer was Iran.

And that really indicates to me that we've got a pretty good book on the Iranians. Now, the question is this. How well do we really know the culture? And one of the key things that happened in the Iraq run-up was the fact that linguistically we had some issues. For example, the...

term al-Qaeda in Arabic actually means the base. And every time the Saddam Hussein regime mentioned that word, people here thought that they were talking about the terrorist group. They weren't. They were talking about the base of the Baath party. So we have to understand. So it's subject to interpretation, which in a way, I think a lot of us, that's the concern we're talking about, right? Which is who's interpreting. We know for a long time, the Trump administration was very sort of

diminishing in how it talked about the U.S. intelligence community. Hostile, in fact, yes. Right. But now's the time when all of that is going to be very valuable. I want to thank you guys for being with us today because there were a lot of questions about what's going on. It's going to help us understand the decision to come. I want to thank you for waking up with us. I'm Adi Cornish, and CNN News Central has the headlines. It's going to start right now.

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