Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240703 : comparemela.com

Im Zachary Cohen in washington and this is cnn hello and welcome to her viewers here in the United States and Around The World. Im wolf blitzer in washington. And we start with Breaking News once again, any moment now, the United Nations Security Council is leaning in new york for an Emergency Meeting discussing the very volatile situation right now in the middle east, there is growing worry Around The World after iran launched. And the precedented attack on israel arrives firstever direct assault on israeli territory from directly inside iran Israel Defense versus say, they shut down almost all of the 350 rockets and missiles so fired of the country overnight. Many of those rockets and missiles were shot down by the us and the uk. Were getting a first look at the destruction, though. Take a look at this this is some israels never team airbase. A senior us military official says there was no significant damage throughout the country as a result of the air Defense System israel President Biden holding talks with the congressional leaders this afternoon. He also held a Virtual Meeting with leaders of the g7 cnn, its covering all of these major developed our correspondence Around The World are standing by, but start in jerusalem right now, were seeing as Jeremy Diamond is standing by jeremy, the israeli war cabinet. I take it for hours today. What decisions have any, officials, there make about a possible Israeli Military response . To irans attack yeah, thats right. Well, fled nearly five hours of meetings between israels top officials, including israels Prime Minister, the top general in the country, the intelligence chief and other members of israels war cabinet. And yet after nearly five hours of debate and deliberations, no decision was made on exactly how and when to carry out a response likely Military Response to this largescale and unprecedented attack that iran launched against israel in the early hours of this its morning. My understanding from speaking with an israeli official familiar with this meeting is that one of the key considerations is exactly when, how quickly to respond to iran and also how big that response should be. Will this be the kind of response that could potentially lead to a allout war between israel and iran, or or will it be a measured response intended to cool down the situation rather than inflame it further that much remains to be determined and a number of considerations are playing part, including the prospects of a fullblown war between iran and israel, but also of course, israels ongoing war in gaza and plans of four a major Ground Offensive into rafah, which Prime Minister netanyahu has described as hamass last bastion amid all of this, we are getting the first images of some of the damage from the few Ballistic Missiles that did indeed make it through israels air Defense System. The 1 of those projectiles that made it through that air Defense System one of them hit a road in the hormone region, which is in the Golan Heights near an Israeli Military facility that iran was targeting there the other fell at the never team airbase in southern israel. And you can see the damage is not enormous and it appears that israeli is working to repair it quite quickly. In particular, at the never team airbase you can see in this footage Israeli Military crews working to repaved a section of what looks like an airstrip that appears to have been hit by one of those missiles. These are of course the images that the Israeli Military themselves themselves are verifying, are releasing. We havent actually been there to verify this our self, but certainly wolf, this is a moment of extreme tension and extreme uncertainty about what the next steps for this region maybe. Very, very nervous situation unfolding, right now. Jeremy standby, i want to bring in and see it as jomana but karachi, whos joining us from london right now, jomana, there is growing concern that this attack iran and an israeli response could spiral into an allout war between these two countries. Whats the feeling around the middle east right now . What are you hearing . Well, you know, well the entire region has been on edge since october. There have always been the fears that is iranian proxies around the region have stepped up their Attacks Specialty targeting us forces. There was always this fear of any sort of miscalculation that cod drive the region into a de conflict. But what we have seen unfold over the last 24 hours has been the worst case scario, d not just since october, something that so many in theegion have been fearing for a very, ve long time, but someave described in t pt as this Doomsday Scenario where you have a direct confrontation between israel and iran and right now, people are on edge as they are waiting. As you heard from jeremy, their the israelis havent decided how and when theyre going to spawned the scale of the israeli response. And this is putting so many people on edge especially as theyve heard from the Iranian Regime saying that if there was to be any sort of israeli response, that they too will respond. And it was going to be a much bigger attack that they will respond in a much fiercer way. Israel targets iran. They also had the warning wolf to the United States saying that if it cooperated, if its supported israel in any possible attack on iran, that this means that its forces in the region will be under threats, that they will no longer be, that they will not be safe very much threatening that therell be attacks on us forces. And this has put wolf so many people across the region in Different Countries where you have us Military Bases and presence, whether its jordan, iraqs elsewhere, has really put them on edge right now. The fears that this really could get out of control spiral out of control and widen across the region. And these are the warnings that President Biden is hearing today from King Abdullah of jordan saying that there must be no escalation by the israelis. And once again, saying that the only way to get to a deescalation to stop this from escalating into a regional war is for an end to the war in gaza, something that he and other leaders in region have been saying and warning since october yeah, this situation could clearly explode. Jomana karadsheh. Thank you very much, Jeremy Diamond. Thanks to you as well. President biden has been holding talks throughout the day including with congressional leaders and g7 leaders as well. Cnns Priscilla Alvarez and Natasha Bertrand are joining me right now. The tasha President Biden made it clear the us will not help israel with an offensive against iran, right . Gharbiyye, whatever officials saying about us support for defensive maneuvers well, this has really never been un negotiable aspect of the us relationship with israel, even amid all of the disagreements and all of the confrontations, the us and israel have had over how it is conducting the war in gaza the fact that the us was always going to support and defend israel militarily against threats from iran and iranbacked groups, Including Hamas and hezbollah, that has always been consistent us policy and its why we have seen the us, of course, continued to provide offensive and defensive weaponry and Military Equipment to the he israelis and so reiterating today, just how solid and ironclad is the word that they continue to use that relationship is a Senior Administration official told reporters that the us is always going to help israel defend itself militarily, even if the us does not actively engage in a strike on iran, or a strike in retaliation for the attacks that we saw last night and junction with these rayleighs because the bottom line here is that while the us wants to give these the tools that it needs to defend itself. And while the us wants to help any way it can, including with these fighter jets and with these Navy Destroyers that helps you down all of these Ballistic Missiles it does not want to participate in a strike that could then widen the conflict even further. So the message from President Biden to these rayleighs over the last several hours has been take this as a win sit back and think very strategically about how youre going to proceed because we are not going to help you launch any kind of offensive attack on a wrong, even though we will help you defend yourselves its important points youre making. Thank you very much. I want to go over to the white house right now. Priscilla alvarez is on the scene for us. What else are you hearing . What other messages are coming out of the white house following irans attack against israel well, theres no doubt wolf that the resounding message continues to be that they do not want this to escalate. That has been the focus here at the white house four months is making sure that there isnt a wider regional conflict and a lot of what the efforts have been since yesterday has been trying to contain the risk of this growing any wider. Now, as you heard, there from natasha, President Biden himself told the israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the us will not participate in any offensive action against iran. It telling him to think carefully and strategically about his next steps. And that was also part of the discussion today that the president had with g7 liters, they met virtually this morning and discuss a diplomatic moves forward, essentially putting an emphasis on nonmilitary actions because they all believed that they dont want to see this conflict escalate in the region. Now part of the reason for this is that the us assessment here is that israel was largely successful. They want them to take the win here there was no major damage to infrastructure and they were also able to defend themselves from multiple missiles that listen to what national Security Council spokesperson john kirby had to say about all of this think about what they threw at israel, right . Several hundred drones and missiles over the course of a few hours. And what damage did they cause . Not very much. I mean, it was an incredible effort by israel, but also it shows that iran is not the military power weight that they, they claimed so you can see there the white house argument that israel again, was largely successful here and needs to think critically about its next steps, of course, israel has told us that it also doesnt want to see escalation in the region that according to a Senior Administration official, but all the same, its still very much an open question. How israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decides to move forward here and whether he does take the president s advice, all of this really an open question at this, our wolff. Yeah, lots of uncertainty unfolding right now. Priscilla alvarez, a white house, Natasha Bertrand to both of you. Thank you very much. Lets get some perspective on all of this from trita parsi, executive Vice President , over at the Quincy Institute for responsible statecraft is yasser the author of an important book entitled losing an enemy . And treated. You wrote yesterday that are runs retaliatory attack was immensely risky. What are the biggest risks . Write down for a run . The biggest risk for the iranians, of course, is that there are was to make sure that they restored what they consider to be their deterrence. And to be able to create what they call the new equation that in the future is what will not be able to target iranian embassies or uranium personnel without getting retaliation from the iranians however, theres a huge flaw in reasoning because if netanyahu decides that he wants to escalate further by attacking iran in response to the iranian attack. Then at that point, the iranians are going to get dragged into a major award that they dont seem to want. Certainly the United States doesnt want but netanyahu was in a different seat here. He knows very well that if this war ends in gaza not only will it be the end of his political carrier, it will also like to be the beginning of his prison sentence. So he has a different incentive when it comes to escalation. Them both the iranians do and President Biden those domestic Political Considerations is really worth remain the Prime Minister directly of israel israels war cabinet. They met for several hours today, the Prime Minister was there, of course is well, what do you expect the israeli response to b . I expect that if President Biden is very firm and makes clear that this is not just about offensive, defensive those terms become somewhat meaningless once the war actually begins. But if the President Biden has really firm and says, we do not want to see an escalation that drags the United States into the war. And thats the most crucial thing for the us at that point, i suspect that netanyahu will shift and he will have a retaliation against iran, but it will be cyber, it will be other things. It will not be an allout military confrontation. Three to the United Nations Security Council is meeting in new york, right now on this issue. What do you, what do you hope to see emerge from that meeting . I think what we will see is a choreographed show. The United States and his allies. Im going to strongly condemned iran, several other countries well do so as well. It will be interesting to see if the chinese and the russians do the same thing as the us and the uk that a couple of days ago when there was a question of condemning the Israeli Attack against Iranian Embassy the us, the uk, and france refused to do so on as a result, the Security Council could not unify along one statement. I suspect that the chinese and the russians will do the same thing this time around. They will have some criticism of the barneas, but there will likely not agree it will president ial statement that condemns your arm for this. How much sway right now does President Biden have on the Israeli Government of Prime Minister new deck . Now, i think throughout all of this, biden has underestimated the amount of leverage he has just take a look at what happened in the last couple of hours the United States played a Critical Role in shooting down those drones and those muscles, had it not been an attack that had been telegraphed 72 hours before the iranians informed regional country she is at was going to attack israel, those countries, of course, immediately informed a us which informed israelis if that was not telegraphs so early and had the United States not played a Critical Role in making sure that all of those different missiles were shot down is will may be in a very different position, right . Now. So as a result, if biden truly wants to end this war and go to the root of a, which is to have a ceasefire in gaza. He does have the leverage whether he wants to use it or not, is a different story. Youve served written there, President Biden had a chance to preempt this entire escalation but are clearly fair to do so. What was your analysis . Well, its not entirely certain that he could have, but there is a very interesting parallel that happened about 25 years ago the taller in afghanistan had taken the city of mass at a sheriff execute a tons of people that but also taking the iranian consulate and executed 11 iranian diplomats. The iranians mobilize. They didnt want to go to war but nevertheless, they had to respond to this attack. They wanted a Security Council, they asked for a very stron