the arab states involved. so we're trying to keep peace in the region, but it's becoming very hard to do. it's kind of like a rough retried to stop between two guys who are flailing at each other and you're going to get punched on both sides when it comes to the conflict in ukraine the president biden has been very clear. there. they're going to be limits to how involved the united states is. do you think that there will be any limits when it comes to israel that they know that remains to be seen. i mean, i think this is saturday was very unusual, not only in the direct rating attack, but also in the direct us response and of course, a lot of ukrainians were saying, well, why isn't the us defending us the way they're defending israel? but i think there is a logic here that the us is desperately trying to prevent a wider war in the region. and so now the issue is did israel ignore us warnings not to attack iran? and if so, do we wind up defending israel anyway, from the inevitable iranian counter attack, max boot. >> thank you very much for sticking with us all of this

hour. what we know at this hour, a us official has now confirmed to cnn that israel has struck inside of iran abby phillip, laura coates will pick up our special coverage right now ens tonight's strike commas just hours after prime minister benjamin netanyahu

said that israel will make its own decisions when responding to iran's unprecedented weekend airstrikes bikes most of which were intercepted. iran launched that attack and retaliation for a suspected israeli strike on its embassy compound in syria earlier this month. i want to bring in sienna and chief national security correspondent alex marquardt. alex, there is so much to be learned here. you have some brand new reporting what can you tell us well laura, i've heard just moments ago from us vishal confirming that what we have been seeing these videos, these glows in the sky, that this is indeed a an israeli strike against iran, that this is the retaliation by israel that we have frankly been expecting over the course of the past few days in response to that iranian attack last weekend which targeted some 300 drones ballistic and cruise missiles at israel. >> an unprecedented historic attack by iran against israel.

now, what we are seeing according to a us official who i spoke with just moments ago. this is israel's response to that. now we had been told and indeed i'm being told again tonight that the expectation by the us from israeli officials was that this retaliation would be limited in scope and what that has been expected to mean is that it would look something like israeli strikes against military targets, basis, areas where drones take off or missiles were fired from, for example marco rubio, who is the ranking member of the senate intelligence committee. he tweeted just moments ago that israel doesn't necessarily have to fly into iranian airspace to target to target iran on the ground. they can do so from a rocky or syrian airspace so it is highly possible that israeli jets, israeli drones, for example, left israeli airspace flying

through syria, then threw a rock and either firing from a rocky airspace or ben crossing into iranian airspace and carrying out those strikes. one more thing in terms of that limited scope, laura i was also told that it was not expected that civilian targets or nuclear targets would be among the strikes that israel was carrying out. and that is very, very important to note because of course, for years israel has said that iran has every intention of building a nuclear weapon and it has targeted indeed and other ways and more covert ways around nuclear program isfahan, this city where we are now seeing explosions reported by iranian news media that does have a significant nuclear facility. but i'm told well by two different american officials that it is not expected that israel has gone after nuclear facilities inside iran. now this laura is from ron's fars news agency, a semi official

agency in iran. they're saying that three explosions were heard near an army base where fighter jets are located. that is to the northwest of that city of s font. you can see right there on the map in the western central part of iran air defenses were activated, and that is important to note because that does indicate that there was something coming at iran from the sky, perhaps an obvious point, but we could but have also been talking tonight about a cyber attack a special forces more covert attack. but what appears to have happened is israel firing at iran. it could have been drones, it could be missiles, it could be with israeli fighter jets, but those defenses were activated in response and this again, this is according to this iranian news agency to an object that is likely to be a drone. so it is believed that one of the targets may have been an army radar and that several office buildings lost their windows in that area, but

important as we gather more information, laura, this is according to one us official the israeli retaliation for that iranian attack last weekend that the us has feared. the us has been urging israel not to carry out any kind of strike thank telling israel to quote unquote, take the win to recognize that they are able to fend off a massive iranian attack last weekend that was in response, i should say, to israel's attack on the iranian consulate in damascus. so the us is essentially been saying it's even now, guys please don't attack iran. please don't don't escalate the situation and i'm told by a senior us official that earlier today, israeli officials did notify the united states that they would be attacking iran in the coming days. so the us was given a warning that this could happen soon, and that is what appears to be unfolding, right now. laura, alex, in the coming days and here it has now begun, as you mentioned, the take the

win sentiment, largely because the iron dome intercept to what, 95 or 99% of the drones and missiles that were there, i would know that iran did provide some warning& that made some question whether it was purely a performative act. >> they were engaged in or one that was intended to warn a different capacity. i want to bring in cnn white house correspondent priscilla alvarez. priscilla has there been any reaction from the white house tonight? >> laura, the white house has been largely quiet tonight, but you can imagine that they are assessing this as well, looking at all of this footage in real time and also their intelligence. of course, this has been top of mind for the white house and for president biden, who does not want to see this conflict grow any wider in the region, then when he had a phone call with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu over the weekend following that attack by iran, he said that he should think carefully and strategically about next steps and also noted that the united states would not be involved in

any counter-strike against iran. of course, again, the focus there being this is already a very volatile region and not wanting to see it escalate any further. now, we should know that there were a lot of there was quite a bit of movement today here at the white house when it comes to iran. of course, they announced sanctions against iran in an attempt to cut off supplies and further isolate the country. and then and also in addition to that, there was a meeting between senior us officials and israeli officials about last weekend's attack, but also about the potential invasion of rafah by is by israel. so clearly the white house has been monitoring all of this and keeping very close tabs as they seek to try to tain the risk here of a broader regional conflict. but we have also seen since the war and gaza that there have been public grips between president biden and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu was unclear whether the israeli prime minister

would take the president's advice, moving forward. i think that is still a big question tonight as to what conversations were had and whether this was in alignment with where israel told the us would they would be a lot of questions here tonight still about how this is received and how they move forward, and whether the us said does get involved. again, if there is retaliation, another time by ran after this attack by israel. so still a lot of open questions, but the white house cruelly monitoring all of this as of now though, no statement no official statement from the white house because so thank you. we're potato, relying on you for your reporting. >> i want to bring in cnn's nic robertson he's in jerusalem. nick, what has been the response in the region? >> well, what we're hearing from iranian media into the details that we've heard already about drones being shot down it appears that media in iran, both the local media there & the semis state media a

playing down these drones that have been shot down one media is talking about them as small quad copter having cocktails. these very small drones and other media is indicating that the isfahan nuclear facility is secure these again, a details just coming in. we need to run down more information on them, but i think what they are indicative at the moment of is a census being portrayed by the media in iran to the people of iran whatever has happened in the skies above s4 khan overnight and near this military base in isfahan overnight. knowing that it has now been confirmed that israel did strike inside iran, us officials telling us that that from an iranian perspective, there isn't effort to minimize it, potentially even try to

ridicule it so what does that mean if the media in iran is doing it, it tends to imply that that's the tack approach that the government may also take. look, we need to take a beat and wait and see what they actually say, how the government actually responds at the moment we haven't heard from any senior iranian government officials since the report's of these incidents and over the night, since the air defense systems, we're activated in iran in the early hours of the morning, we've been tracking here, i would say for the last three hours or so different reports about unexplained explosions, noises changes, or flight patterns of commercial aircraft over iran it does seem to be coalescing down to the state-run media is only reporting and confirming about the explosions around isfahan. this city, major city, a few hundred miles south of

tehran, that has military bases and also an important uranium enrichment facility so first take, this seems to be being minimized, but i would caveat that with the fact that it's for khan airport is short tehran airport is shut another major airport in iran has shut the western air space in iran is closed. so at the moment iran seems to be in terms of what's in its skies, is taking extreme precautions and pudding commercial aircraft, taking them out of the sky. now, i think won one point we should it's maybe worth bringing, bringing to bear on why such a big area of the skies are being weird it would be from the west of iran if israeli fighter jets were to fly into iran to take part in strikes. now, we're only hearing about drones in

the skies above around at the moment however, knowing that iran switched on its air defense systems in the early hours of the morning, we only you have to think back to early january 2020, shortly after the united states targeted qasem soleimani, that senior figure in the quds force killed him in a drone strike while he was in iraq. well, a few days later, when iranian air, space and air defenses were on heightened alert, they mistaken only shot down a civil passenger aircraft in the skies above tehran on so the fact that they are closing airspace may just be a protection for the civilian aircraft because they don't want to make a mistake again, and shoot down a civilian aircraft mistaking it for a potential fighter jet really important reporting will continue to go to you as well. >> important note that on february 26 of just this year a

nuclear watchdog report did suggests that iran has an enriching uranium two 60%. it's an important figure because weapons-grade uranium needs to be enriched to 90% to make a bomb. and just earlier on our own, airwaves, the iranian foreign minister was speaking to cnn. this is before the strikes, before the strikes instead in the case that israeli regime embarks on adventurism again and takes action against the interests of iran. the next response from us will be immediate. and at a maximum level, it will be decisive. that was the iranian foreign minister speaking to cnn earlier this evening. i want to bring and see it and pentagon correspondent oren liebermann, or in your reported in the region for a very long time, what is israel's message now with this strike a large part of that depends on the damage on the ground and we'll get a better sense of that in the coming hours and days. >> but if the initial reports coming out of iran are correct, and it is fairly minor are relatively small damage than

the message from israel is simply point out that they have the capability to do this. it's not just iran that can fire hundreds of miles and hit israel. israel has the capability to do that exact same thing right back to iran and isfahan is an interesting choice there because of the nuclear facilities, at least in the initial reports, it doesn't seem like that's what israel was going after in this strike. but it's a clear message to iran that if this escalation continues and gets out of control, it is well within israel's capabilities to hit iran nuclear facilities that looks like the message being sent here. of course. now the question, does iran follow-through on the promise made by the foreign minister and others to retaliate for this attack and fire back. is iran going to fire more ballistic missiles and drones at israel? and what happens in that case, the us position is clear, the us will try to help intercept any launches as early as possible that are targeting israel. it's the other countries and the other partners in the region that are the question mark here. they participated for example,

jordan intercepted foreign objects in its airspace over its territory and participating in the interview exception of that iranian attack several days ago. do they do that again? are they willing to take that step or now that they see that this is retaliation, do they step out of that? it's a much bigger task for the us if they have to defend the airspace on their own, that's one of the key questions here. we haven't seen the pentagon comment at this point. we haven't heard of public statement for military officials, but just like the white house, just like israel, the pentagon, obviously watching the situation there very closely, laura. >> all right. we've now seen both countries tried to demonstrate their capability to reach one another, not using a proxy country to facilitate the launching of missiles or drones. of course, we know that the president in states earlier in the week, so that they would not participate in an offensive reaction to iran will continue to watch what's happening. i want to bring in cnn military analysts, kernel, cedric leighton kernel, us officials telling cnn that one of the targets is believed to be the

an army radar. you have very deep experience in iran and in this region. how do you assess this attack i think it could be several things. >> laura& radar site is the perfect area to go after because that it once you get the radar site, than blinds the forces that are using them radar picture of for their activities. so weeds, a perfect site for the israelis to go after. the only thing to keep in mind is we've been talking about are fields and won. one of the reasons that a lot of the airports have been shut down as nick was mentioning in his reporting, is because what iran does is it doubles the use of their civilian airfields as airports as also being air force business for the radiant air force. so in the case of isfahan, the airbase is co-located with the international airport in isfahan, and it's the home to iran fleet of f 14 fighters, which they had acquired during the time of the shas. so those aircraft are of course quite

old antiquated, or they've since been upgraded in some ways using iranian capabilities and other capabilities but they probably pose a very limited threat to the israelis the only thing to keep in mind, laura, is that when it comes to the nuclear facilities in and around s5 on the one that's really important is the natano nuclear facility. and that is 120 kilometers or about 70 miles away from his behind. so if you strike the area around is fine. you are not going to be striking the city of isfahan. that is, you're not going to be striking not tons. and what you are telling them. as we've talked about how do we you are telling everybody that you could reach this area and you can in fact eliminate that threat, or at least attack that threat. if you need, need to do so. >> carnal leighton, just singly compared to the signal that he ran sand by being able to reach israel issued a warning beforehand. and the iron dome

was able, able to intercept the missiles, the drones that was suggesting why some were suggesting two prime minister benjamin and yahoo to quote unquote, take the win. what does it say that iran could not defend against this attack? >> well, for one thing, iran does not have anything similar to the iron dome. so it's clear defenses are fairly antiquated in comparison to the israeli earned offenses. they're not an effective, but they are not as effective as the israeli air defense system, which is a highly sophisticated, one of the best it's in the world. so that is really why you see this difference. and of course, we will have to wait for the battle damage assessments to come out and to get some idea of exactly what was here too, and how effective the israeli strikes work. but it seems like they were able to do this pretty much with impunity. and it tells us that there are basically holes in the iranian air defense system. and that the israelis can take advantage of them if they feel the need

to do so really important to get through inside will continue to lean on you, cedric leyton retired air force colonel. >> i want to bring in bloomberg senior editor. bobby goes to the conversation. bobby, we spoke earlier in the week about antigen the painting. this exact reality. what do you think iran will do next well, laura threshold now has crossed and we were in sort of unknown territory for a long time. >> these two countries have been at a low intensity war, but i feel like now the gloves have come off iran's response is unpredictable. we know the different weapons that it has at its disposal. we've saw a demonstration of what it can do over the last weekend where it fired over 300 missiles and drones to israeli territory, very few of them actually managed to make it through those defenses that the kernel was talking about. but iran showed that it has a capacity to fire a very large number of

projectiles into israeli territory. we also know that iran has the capacity to attack israel through its proxies in lebanon, in iraq, in hamas, in gaza strip, as well as from the houthis in yemen. so we know what both sides are capable of until now. it's been a question of just how far each is prepared to go but just as we were discussing earlier in the week with this escalation of risk-taking, there's always a chance that the next step up is going to be the step too far. i feel that tonight with israel launching and successfully striking iranian targets within iran, we've reached that stage where we are now into into an area of darkness where things

can get very grim very quickly. >> what's the danger of now meeting this particular moment of a broader escalation. are you suggesting that? there are some point of no return that would involve others in the region well, that's that has been the fear of the biden administration throughout which has been which has been why it is it has tried very hard for weeks now and especially in the last 48 and 72 hours, it just tried very, very hard to restrain iraq. >> a beg your pardon. israel from responding to iran's latest attack. now that israel has sort of essentially brushed aside american concerns and gone ahead and made this attack. yes, i am concerned that we now our in an we've now reached a stage where what comes next is very, very hard to predict the iranians are trying to play down the attack, but it's nighttime it is a little hard to know the extent

of the damage i'm not so sure that if the damage is in need substantial i'm not sure iran will be able to conceal that for very long. >> and there's also the question of national pride, particularly from the hardliners of the iranian right, who control that country. >> they will feel like they have to respond on just as the hard right in israel felt after friday's attack, that they had to respond. we're now in the realm of extreme positions on both sides coming to the fore, becoming the dominant position on both sides. >> bobby goes, thank you so much. i want to reference it in play right now. what the iranian foreign minister told cnn's erin burnett just earlier tonight parcel hema our response tuesday, israeli regime was limited in that

hollywood and have on this theme stayed within a minimum of frameworks whereas we could have given much harsher response to the israeli regime following that, we announced that this response is within the framework of legitimate defense according to international laws i'm in we will not continue. however in case the israeli regime, a bit hard. >> but dome embarks on adventurism again, takes action against the interests of iran then next response from us, will be immediate and at a maximum level it will be decisive very daunting words. it will be immediate at a maximum level. it will be decisive. i want to bring in

scene and global affairs analyst kim dozer. kim, the foreign minister, you've heard the words he's spoken that it would be immediate how does the united states, now, i'll go about managing what does obviously now been elevated to the next level one of the scary things that we've been talking about this evening is the fact that the iranians are closing airspace and closing all those different airports because they could be doing that to keep civilian aircraft, say they could be doing that to prepare for immediate retaliation, which is why at this point, i imagine us diplomats western diplomats are reaching out to anyone who has neurons number to say, we've got to stop this now, we're going to try to hold israel back friends iran tried to hold them back because this is something that can tumble. >> write down that escalation ladder as we've been talking about& lead to something really dire, an all out back-and-forth

between the two. and decision by iran to go nuclear and iran's nuclear facilities. i mean, israel i can try to strike them and they have struck some in the past. but they need bunker busters to hit the most sensitive parts of the sites and only the us has that. so we could tumble into a much more conventional war that pulls in the the and iraq doesn't like that. all this is happening from i'm its territory or over its airspace. so you get a lot of countries caught in-between and that's why there's power in that. that's when people will hopefully, perhaps russia, perhaps china's step in and say, okay, this is going too far. >> here with me. thank you for that reported here with me. now, max boot, senior fellow at the council on foreign relations, and also retired army major mike lyons. gentlemen, thank you for being here. we have heard a lot about this capability versus actual damage. how do you see this

result? knowing that both nations now? have been able to reach the others actual territory but there's a distinction here. the iron dome was able to intercept at least 99%. this has now reached iran, although we don't yet know the damage well, first of all, there was no allies on the side of iran, or at protecting them as was in the side of israel, was part of that miraculous solution, frankly, i mean, two the shoot nine, 9% of those rockets, 300 rockets coming towards your country is nothing short of a miracle. >> it was a tremendous military accomplishment. what iran does not have the same air defense capabilities and they likely were on high alert. they would they would probably give it their best shot, but they just don't have the same capability. so where this is escalating now is iran gets, gets violated. the israelis hit actually their targets like with the why behind the target's still remains, was it to get close to nuclear facilities? was it to destroy

aircraft or missiles that were possibly launched from that location on the attack was it again to go after air defense systems that they want to take out now, that will help them in the future. so again, i think it just shows that from a deterrence perspective it's back on the balls, back on the side of israel. they have much more military capability so we don't know. >> i'm talking about the actual areas, whether it was a miss or a message that was being sent as our earlier reporting talks about that the range of targets never specified in precise terms, but nuclear and civilian locations were not in the category of the types of information they were going to try to carry out. when you hear this max and see the potential for escalation, we do know that the united states, according to our reporting, had some notice that it was coming in the days that have an impact on the united states is need to involve themselves or are we still in a watchful position? well, clearly president biden was arguing that israel should

not stage are retaliation. >> take the win from the fact that 99% of the iranian attack was foiled on saturday night, but that wasn't good enough for the israeli war cabinet because this was an unprecedented direct attack. gotten israel from iran. so they felt compelled to show that israel in turn, could strike against iran as we just heard of course the, it looks like the israeli attack is getting through, whereas the urania tag did not get through last saturday. but this is as everybody has been saying, i think this is an extraordinarily dangerous escalation for tat. we don't know what the next step is going to be, but iran certainly has options to retaliate, including hezbollah in lebanon with an estimated 150,000 missiles and rockets poised just over israel's border. very, very dangerous situation. and ultimately at the end of the day, i don't see how israel feats. iran militarily. i also don't see how iran defeats israel militarily. there has to be more of a diplomatic and political solution to this crime crisis.

and i think from israel standpoint last week, when is, when iran was attacking israel, all of a sudden the world, after having turned on israel for the violence of its attack and gaza the world rallied around israel and israel had tremendous cooperation from jordan and other arab states. and i think that's something that israel should try to build on. and really the way to deal with the iranian threat. i think long-term from the israeli perspective is to draw closer to the sunni arab states to get the deal with saudi area back on for saudi arabia to recognize israel, that would be a much more massive win for israel than a random strike on some target and iran, but clearly that's where we are. we're in this military for tat game right now. >> yeah. i don't get the impression just from the conversations we've been having this evening where you've got at a national pride issue from hardline right on the right end iran, that there is potential to conceal the damage to build perhaps propaganda or response this

doesn't strike me as anything that would lead to a so-called draw that we can both return home now, i've reached your territory you've reached mine. it also does suggest that neither side is looking to heed warnings to retreat yeah. >> what's the definition of backing down israel? looks at iran as an existential threat and not only that country, but has and what's going on in gaza. and i know there's, there's surrounded. they've been surrounded by enemies since they started as a country and you heard bbc back october 7, that just time for peace and a time for war, and maybe that work cabinet is calculating that this is the time for war. and maybe they do think max is point, maybe they do think they can defeat around militarily. those are the kind of decisions that governmental officials make. and then whether history shows they're right or wrong but in this case, in this particular case, the element of surprise was on the side of israel or iran should have known something was likely

going to come. we also don't know what else happened if there had been a cyber attack. i mean, we've only seen one layer of potential warfare that's taking place right now. so there's other still courses of action that israel could have taken. we just don't know what they've done that's it important point. there's also concern because they've even that conversation earlier tonight, you'll be heard from the iranian foreign minister. he has set the stage to perhaps manage expectations among his own population, talking about should israel engage in certain behavior that it would be the next response would be immediate yet it wouldn't be at a maximum level. it would be decisive is it possible that these could be the words of a paper tiger anything is possible, but i would take her, rainey and threats pretty seriously. >> i mean, they've they are pretty serious military capabilities and they have a whole network of terrorist proxies throughout the region. so they certainly can do more than what they did last saturday, even though that was a pretty massive attack in and of itself. and i think israel, they currently have israel curly has the most capable

military in the region, but they are also in a very dangerous spot because they are facing a 2d or three front war right now. they're still fighting in gaza they're facing hostilities with hezbollah law across the northern border and now they're getting engaged in a direct war with iran that's, i mean, again, israel very capable state, very powerful military. but that's a lot for them to handle. and they are going to be relying on help from the us and others to try to shield them from some of those dangerous. so i think it's imperative that prime minister netanyahu pay closer attention to what president biden was telling him because israeli security really depends upon the us alliance. i think more so now than ever, this singly enough, john bolton, the former ambassador to the united nations on april 14th, the night of the attack says that israel should attack iran nuclear facilities. now, we do not know the extent of damage or what are the location we did hear from karla dick latent that they know that the area this was was not at the precise location of a nuclear plant,

but we also know from that nuclear watchdog report back in february that iran was enriching uranium two 60%. that weapons-grade uranium needs to be enriched to 90% to make a bomb that's a differential that is quite significant, but still much closer to 90 than it is to zero when you think about the timing, me advice from competing notions. what's your reaction? >> well, first, it's very difficult would be very difficult for israel to attack militarily the nuclear facilities they're not impossible. but why is that? >> it shows dispersed? >> and again, you look at all the different components of how you make a nuclear bomb. >> you first have to mine uranium you convert it into yellowcake, and then it's been, it's enhanced at a certain facility and that's a talents and he said of places, this place is close, is more of a confers and facility. it takes nuclear yellowcake and then it turns it into a different factor that sends it to that facility that actually creates the bump so there's multiple different targets. they would have to attack across wide fronts, all across the country

and also have the knowledge you can't take the knowledge out of iran. they have that capability now, different versus when israel attacked also 1981 for example, or the syrian military when they had a nuclear facility, they brought brought in people from north korea and other places to build that for them. well, in this case, the intellectual capital sits inside of iran. so to say that militarily you're going to take out that capabilities just does not make sense. >> it's important point and also just for people to know about the nuclear facilities in iran, they were built with tiniest assistance. they open back in 1984 the isp behind nuclear technology center, as we're talking about, is iran is largest nuclear research complex. it employs about 3,000 scientists the point about the institutional knowledge we're talking about. and it's also as a multi-purpose research center that has long been suspected of being the center of a secret iranian nuclear weapons program. so i want to bring it now, former middle east

negotiator for the state department, ariane de vogue miller, aaron, the iranian media says the strike was carried out via drone, not missiles. what do you make of that distinction? if israel did indeed use drones and not missiles in this retaliation i doubt if the israelis use drones, and i think the iranians are trying to manage, if not trivialized and ridicule the character and nature of the israeli attack look i mean, i'd step back just for a minute and i don't want to trivialize this moment. >> it went to adversaries that are committed literally for whom this is an essential trouble. conflict change the rules of the game. >> you have an extremely serious situation. >> but the reality learned is that we're in a kind of an information bermuda triangle here we really don't know what the precise motives of the israelis were for conducting this attack. we don't know whether or not this we're still in a messaging or signaling

phase. >> in other words, the israelis had to respond they had to show technical mastery by darkening this attack and it's fani did not presumably go after a nuclear clear facility or a research facility. some radar cedric said or military installations or, or drone installations unclear and we really don't know right now what the nature of the iranian response is going to be? i think within the next 24 hours, we're going to have a pretty good sense of whether or not we are climbing up the escalatory ladder to something the middle east has never experienced before. which is a regional confrontation involving lebanon, iraq, syria, an exchange of ballistic missiles sustained strikes on the part of these rallies against iranian conventional maybe unconventional sites. his vallow opening up with its hundred and 50,000 repository

arsenal of hydrogen lottery weapons would lead to the deaths of hundreds of israelis. the israelis would preempt or counter destroying lebanese infrastructure thousands of lebanese would be killed. it's almost impossible to imagine to add to this that the united states will be able to stay on the sidelines. >> i'm not predicting that. >> i don't know where we're going on this one, but i think clearly i tweeted out and i don't want to trivialize, but i get to sense in the wizard of oz is dorothy said to toto, we're not in kansas anymore and even if you get through this phase without a major iranian retaliation the reality is israel and iran are going to be locked in this competitive struggle. there's no solution to the problem of iranian proxies. there's no solution to the fact that iran has a nuclear weapons threshold state. and this relationship is going to be hanging over the

region and perhaps the international community like some sort of damocles. it's not a good day, but i'm not predicting and i don't think we should rush to the conclusion that we're really now on the cost of a major, major conformation really important. >> thank you so much i have new reporting in as well. from our own barak ravid, and he said this, that he, that israel notified the united states in advance. the official telling him that we weren't not surprised. i want to bring in san and political and national security analysts, david sanger, davidai, what is your reaction to that new reporting from our own animals? okay. ravine and reporting this that the united states had been notified in advance wouldn't surprise me because earlier today there was a meeting between jake sullivan and some sr visiting israelis. it dealt with both this retaliatory

strike and the us advice to the iranians to as president biden put it, take the win, and then moved on to discuss gaza. and with a larger group. and particularly the question of military activity around rafah, israeli activity but i think that the big significance of today is twofold. first of all, the iranians broke the taboo last saturday against direct strikes from ron to israel. and the israelis responded tonight assuming this is indeed what we think it is within israeli direct strike on iran. now, that doesn't mean it was very damaging. we don't know and we won't know till the sun comes up and commercial and spy satellites can go over these sites and from that, we will know right away, because everybody is mapped these sites

it's within a quarter of an inch, whether or not this was nuclear or not. but the early reporting that that alex's hearing house marquardt, earlier reporting i'm hearing is that it appears not to be nuclear but by putting by doing this in this fun the message, the israelis sand is pretty clear that unlike the iranians who couldn't land anything in israel the israelis can attack in this for khan and that leaves the iranians wondering about what's just to the north, which is their most important single facility than the tons nuclear enrichment sayyed, it's not very deep underground and the israelis, of course, of practice, many times what it would take to take it out. it was the site of the olympic games. were stuxnet attack, cyber attack, more than a decade ago and i think the message the israelis are

sending is we can reach it if we want to. >> david, i want you to respond as well. twitter earlier, guess just intimated and the idea that he doubted that israel used missiles, drones instead of missiles. but it was largely perhaps iran trying to minimize and be dismissive. maybe even mock and ridicule israel's capabilities. it might not be obvious to the audience as to why the use of drones versus the missiles would be the subject? of ridicule well missiles would have a bigger impact right away if the drones managed to hit something, something like an amine nations dump, it. >> obviously because result in a large explosion. but there's a limited amount of punch you can pack even with the explosives on a drone and so it sort of depends on what the target was along the way. the drones move really slowly. and

as we learned last saturday night, that gives people an opportunity to go take them out but we're not going to know until we see the nature of the whole or the strike or whatever it is that will end up seeing there. we don't even have any official confirmation, certainly from the israelis are others that they they've done a strike. but american officials seem to have been prepared for this. and seem to be prepared for it to be looking at non nuclear sites. so we'll just have to know when the sun comes up. >> i mean, the world has been urging restraint for fear of turning. obviously, there's conflict into a major regional war. if iran responds quickly are his words were immediately at a maximum level. it would be decisive according to the foreign minister, as he told our own erin burnett earlier today, before this attack, are we on the precipice of that

very thing tonight? >> what you're on the precipice is people misreading signals. i mean, we've seen that happen a lot. laura, in different military activity and then on paper, you work this out for sort of escalate what, what? in the term of art is escalation dominance each each country trying to figure out how they go up the escalation ladder and make it they're the dominant player. but what seems to work for the israeli's may not work for the iranians and vice versa in the israelis were ready, made one miscalculation here when they did the initial strike against the seven irgc officers, they thought that the iranians would take this the way they've taken others and didn't really anticipate that they would see the kind of response they saw less saturday night. so somewhat embarrassed by that. and also determined to show their escalation

dominance. they've gone and presumably done whatever they've done here and we don't know the extent of it yet as you heard earlier, could have included cyber, could have included attacks elsewhere it's going to take us a day or two to sort all of that out. maybe even longer if they're hard to see attacks like cyber attacks. but the chance that the signal you intend to say to send is not the one that's received, is pretty high in situations like this. >> important point, including the idea that we heard earlier today, this notion of being in a informational bermuda triangle as we wait to have all the information i want to bring in, mark dubow, its chief executive of foundation for defense of democracies, and an expert on iran, nuclear program. thank you for being here. cnn is learning that that target was not nuclear, but it is certainly close to a major nuclear facility. so what is

the proximity of this attack to that facility mean to iran tonight? >> well, there's two major facilities. one is actually an isfahan, which is a uranium conversion facility. that's where iran has a essential process of converting yellowcake to uranium fluoride oxide. and it's very important because that is then enriched they also the highly enriched stockpiles are actually contained. it is this is farhan fabrication plants, so around is highly enriched material which is used to be converted into weapons-grade uranium, is in isfahan and then 120 kilometers away is then a times enrichment facility where the next essential stage towards weapons-grade uranium takes place. so this is a symbolic message to the iranians. we can hit your nuclear facilities, but also we can penetrate your air defenses and you are defenseless that's striking notion and i wonder based on what the foreign minister said, we certainly, if the symbolism

is not lost, are you or any of us, it most certainly is not lost on the government. >> and how do you think they intend to respond? is this bluster his threats of it being immediate? a maximum level and decisive or is there some meat on that bone well, depending on if which we're getting conflicting reports, i mean, some reports that actually playing down the nature and severity and strategic messaging of the israeli strike. >> so we'll see what the response is. the other thing that i find it interesting is if perhaps they did actually strike uranium iranian fighter jets on in an error in an air base, they would be some interesting symmetry, almost be poetic, because the iranians tried with their barrage of missiles and drones to strike an israeli air force base and never team and destroy israeli f35 fighter jets. so it'd be certain amount of symmetry of the israelis then turned around

penetrated air defenses successfully and destroyed iranian fighter jets on the runway. i think there's a certain amount of symbolism and symmetry that i think people would find interesting and perhaps even in some respects i'm using and through the eyes of the iranians, highly problematic. it seems to be quite a blow if they were not able to accomplish that, which was done to them. just days later. i wonder about this this informational that void that we're in right now, given that there are perhaps efforts to downplay the impact of israel's attack in the region. the idea of wondering if they're going to really back up the word they've said is the world really at the mercy of iran to give the information that has resulted, or do we have the ability to rely on these commercial or spy satellites to assess independent of what iran tells the world yeah, i have no doubt over the coming day or days

will find it more about exactly what happened. but i really do actually want to emphasize something that i think has not been discussed enough. and that is how vulnerable iran may be if it's air defenses don't work because it's not just the nuclear sites. it's leadership assets as the headquarters of the islamic revolutionary guard-core. the refineries pipelines, and ports. and so what iran has done is it's ring, they're valuable assets with air defenses if they've just discovered today that they're air defenses don't work that is certainly a degree of vulnerability. they must be given pause to the supreme leader, varanasi khamenei, and he's revolutionary guards, if that's the case, their retaliatory decisions must be informed by that vulnerability and they may, they may be careful, they may, they may decide to downplay it and stand down does that mean that the world would now perhaps view iran as less of a formidable threat in the region if they truly are that vulnerable look

i mean i've always said that islamic poppy garan is not ten feet tall. this is not a superpower this is not the united states facing off against the soviet union. we did that with thousands of nuclear missiles aimed at our cities. thank god, right now, ron doesn't have nuclear weapons though they're close. i mean, 60% highly enriched uranium is 97% of what they need to get to 90% enriched uranium. so they're very close and one must take note of that. they are stone's throw from having nuclear weapons. but i think the israelis are now demonstrating that they are willing to go after iran's nuclear weapons program. and they have capabilities that may surprise the range indians and surprise all of us. they've certainly been working on this for many, many years. and i think it's always been said to me by senior israeli officials, if we don't surprise you when we go after those nuclear facilities, then we will fail. so this may be an early demonstration of some new capabilities that israel has. & that the iranians were not aware of. >> thank you so much for your insight. i want to bring back

san and political and national security analyst davidai sanger david president biden, had told israel not to strike iran did here we are. so what position is president biden and now? well, essentially lorries in the position he's been in in gaza, which is repeatedly telling bibi netanyahu that it would be his best advice for the israelis to not strike back or not striking a certain way in the gaza. >> the issue and a concern has been all about humanitarian losses by dropping thousand and 2000 pound bombs and other strikes in populated areas here he was basically saying to the prime minister hey, don't let your ego get in the way here take the win that came from the fact that none of the uranian missiles actually hit any

significant targets are was one tragic casualty of a young girl but by enlarge, it was a failed effort by the iranians. so just take that as the win. a clearly the prime minister felt that he could not do that why is that? why, why is that, david, do you think that that was the issue? >> the reason is responsive to the people of israel who would want a different response, is it saying this age for something later? i suspect laura and i don't i can't crawl into his mind. >> i suspect that it comes out of the israeli view that you never can strike israel and not suffer something back right? and that has been there. their retaliatory doctrine for some time. and that they felt that even doing something of a cyber nature alone or something you

wouldn't see, wouldn't send the message sufficiently to the leadership now, maybe as you just heard before from markowitz, that it's entirely possible that they were demonstrating some new capabilities. but if they were going to go after the nuclear program, believe me, i think we would have known it tonight because we would have seen it in multiple different sites. and while we don't know yet the extent of what happened, that the early the report suggests that wasn't it. but here's my longer-term concern the iranians have, as you reported earlier been enriching at 60%, which is just below bomb grade. uranium. and for reasons that have to do with physics, not politics, that puts them only days or a week week or so away from being able to produce at 90%, which would be bomb grade they had been backing off on the 60% production or so. i'm told by the un inspectors who still get

in there on occasion and now they could well reverse that in a way to threatened that they're going to go all the way to 90%. and i think that could be the escalatory move because i think the israelis and perhaps the united states would feel if they're producing bomb grade uranium, they would have to go after this we don't know that they've they're going to take that step they've always come short of it. the amazing thing about the uranian program is it's taking them longer to get to a bomb than any nation on earth. and that's been deliberate. they have been using this as a a political measure on on the lever here as well as one of physics, they are not real for the bomb. this could change that view thank you. >> i want to go rack quits my panel or second because you're champing at the bit to react to what he's just said. what is your reaction to that? >> so laura, first of all, the reason why israel responded is

because deterrence is based on office and stuff capability, not defensive capability. what israel did defensively, what's tremendous, but from their mind and their mindset, it didn't restore deterrence, altered his show are wrong that it could protect itself if that could happen, deterrence is based on your capability to respond and in such a manner that would wipe out or create such a hard year for the other person. so that's why in their minds, they didn't feel deterrence was done just because of they they taken the win, they had to show off its of capability like they did tonight. >> what's the risk of that max, if any, well, it's a huge risk or because we are rewriting the rules of the road in the middle east and real time we're seeing red lines erased up until last saturday iran had never attacked israel directly, even though those two countries have been locked in a shadow war since 1979. >> and now within a few days of iran attack israel directly. the reports are that israel has attacked iran directly. again, we don't know oh, what's going to happen now, but this is a completely different strategic landscape from the

one that we were familiar with just a few weeks ago, the one that these rarely stop when they attacked the uranium consulate in damascus and killed these iranian generals. they didn't think that iran was going to go and attack israel. now, the israelis are hoping that the iranians don't counter attack, but they very well might. so we don't know where this is going to go because this is a new middle east that were sinking. it's a more dangerous place when i go back to cnn global affairs analyst kim dozer, i mean, to max is point this is right out in the open, which is highly and usual for conflict between israel and iran, right out in the open. and yet we're having this confirmed to us by anonymous officials. >> i don't know that we're going to have the israeli military gives us a pentagon style briefing and tell us what they fired and where and what the point was so unless the iranian state media chooses to show us the leftovers of missiles or drones. we may not know what was fired

specifically, what was hit. you know, a lot of the iranian attack apparently hit an israeli airbase. so it looks like what the israelis may have done is hit an iranian army and airbase. and that's it we're not hearing reports of any explosions in the rest of the country. so this might actually be a return to the covert war that israel has waged against iran since about 20:10, with assassinations suicide odd captors, taking out different parts of the nuclear program so let's see if israel decides to fess up in the next 24 hours because when it comes to the israeli public, they don't need a public declaration. their shore it was their team striking back. >> let's see what iran feels the need to do. >> i want to bring back seat and chief national security correspondent, alex marquardt. alex, this is not something to

us wanted to happen because of course, all the uncertainty of what happens next. right that's absolutely right. >> laura, i think to some extent they knew it was inevitable and inevitability& and speaking with top us officials throughout the course of the week, they did speak about it as a question of when how, and what this would look like. not a question of if, of course they were holding out hope that it would not come to this and that in the words of the administration and numerous administration officials, that they would take the win. what we saw today, earlier today was a meeting of the g7 liters in capri, italy. and we've started seeing the us, uk, the european union of imposing a vast array of sanctions against iran as, as a response to their attack last week again. and so that was essentially a communication

by those western countries by some of israel's closest friends who came to their defense on saturday night to say, listen, we're with you we are taking this action against iran. we are trying to weaken iran, but at the same time, please don't ratchet things up. and carry out a counter strike against iran. but we are told now, laura, that that communication was made by the israelis to the biden administration earlier today, that there was an imminent counter attack are retaliation coming by the israelis against the iranian sayyed, i'm told by one senior us official that the range of time i'm was actually quite large that came earlier today. and then of course tonight, we have seen this retaliation. i just want to point out that there were two significant calls between biden menstruation officials and israeli officials today the israeli defense minister spoke with his us counterpart, secretary of defense lloyd austin we also know that there was a virtual phone call with the national street adviser, jake sullivan and senior israeli official. so there were

there were numerous occasions in which the israeli officials could have told the us officials that this was coming and that's indeed what we understand happened but in the words of one us official, i spoke with moments ago they did not endorse what happened tonight and endorsed this plan because they are so fearful of what could happen next. essentially, the best-case scenario, laura is that iran kind of takes this on the chin and it goes back to that shadow proxy war. but there's a very, very good chance that iran responds directly to israel. yet again, laura very daunting proposition and thinking about all that is happened, the idea of what the foreign minister say earlier today also the questions being raised of what impact of that advanced notice will be on the united states is ability to remain distant from this particular interaction and retaliatory swapping of strikes so