Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Iran's Attack On Israel Appear To Have Subsided; Iran Launches Dozens Of Drones Toward Israel; Netanyahu Talks With Biden As Iran Attacks Israel; Biden To Convene G7 Leaders To Coordinate "Diplomatic Response" After Iran Attack. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired April 13, 2024 - 23:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:00:41]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington with our continuing breaking news coverage of Iranian attack on Israel. Israel is about to take its first daytime look at the impact of a massive missile and drone barrage by Iran. This is what it looked like a few hours ago.

The IDF says Iran fired more than 200 missiles and drones on Israel overnight, with the vast majority of them shot down by both Israeli and U.S. defenses before reaching its airspace. Tehran called that a response to an Israeli strike on Iran's embassy in Damascus earlier this month.

Hours ago, an Israeli officials said the war cabinet received an authorization to decide now how it will respond. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken on the phone just in the last hour with U.S. President Joe Biden. And Washington has asked Israel for a heads up about any possible response.

Israel says a seven year-old-girl was injured by shrapnel from an interceptor missile. But there are no injuries directly from the Iranian attacks. The IDF released this statement earlier this evening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAEL CHIEF MILITARY SPOKESPERSON: Tonight, Iran launched a large scale of coordinated attack on Israel. The regime in Iran fired a massive swarm over 200 killer drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles towards the State of Israel.

Together with our allies and partners across the region, we are operating in this very moment to defend Israel from Iran's attack. So far, we've intercepted a vast majority of incoming missiles by Israeli systems. So far, we have intercepted and are continuing to intercept dozens of attack drones as well as cruise missiles and ballistic missiles outside of Israel's border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: CNN's Nic Robertson is monitoring the situation from Jerusalem as we can see there, the sun coming up the morning after he joins us now live. Nic, the Pentagon is saying it is detecting that this missile barrage and drone barrage has now subsided for now. And I wonder if that corresponds to what you're seeing on the ground there.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It feels that way, Jim. I mean, we're still hearing the occasional fighter jet in the sky above us. And I suspect we will do throughout much of the day. But the sense that the fighter jets there were several before that they were circling quite low at times. And the reports that we're getting from around the country do seem to indicate despite what we heard from Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari there, indicating that there were still interceptions going on.

I think he is about to give another update briefing and we may get the IDF assessment of where the current attack stands, because a few hours ago, he was still saying that there were intercepts going on. But of course where it does remain potentially more active. That is along the northern border where we know in the last hour or so the IDF says there's been a barrage of 55 missiles fired by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon, a proxy of Iran into the Golan Heights area in the north of Israel.

So there really is a potential for attention and missiles along that border as we go through the morning hours, even if Iran has actually paused or finished its first wave of attack, but it did last for quite a period of time and was very intense at times as well. Jim.

SCIUTTO: Nic, you heard the IDF spokesman Hagari there speak about Israel and its allies in the region responding to this attack.

[23:05:00]

We know the U.S. took a lead role in that. And the U.S. has acknowledged that it shot down many of these missiles and drones prior to them reaching Israeli territory. Do we know that other nations in the region were involved in defense as well? And is it possible other nations were involved in or not saying that they were involved?

ROBERTSON: Well, we certainly know that there were intercepts over Amman, in Jordan, just to the east of here, sort of on a direct line, if you will, from Iran to Israel and the direction and trajectory you would expect some of those missiles to have taken. But we're not hearing that officially from the Jordanian government.

In fact, it's very interesting looking at the Jordanian newspapers, Jordan Times this morning, and there's barely any mention of the strikes at all. They mentioned the airspace in Jordan being closed. And that would be an apparent effort to play down it appears what's played out in the skies over Jordan last night because many Jordanians, many Palestinians who live in Jordan would be very sensitive about their country directly supporting the defense of Israel. Now, the Saudis as we know have played a significant role in downing

and detecting missiles that the Houthi is have fired over the past few months into Israel. And I think it would be expected because of the location of U.S. missile defense systems inside of Saudi Arabia, that Saudi will have played a role in if not taking down some of those missiles fired at Israel, certainly being part of the sort of radar array and intelligence and pinpointing some of the missiles fired.

And we don't have that from the Saudi government is, in fact, it's interesting, the statement put out by that -- by their foreign ministry in the past couple of hours, talks about the need for calm on both sides, both Iran and Israel. But that is typical of how -- of how Saudi Arabia tries to play this diplomatically, down the middle of the field, if you will, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes, no question and not inconsistent with what we've seen in the past where you might have Arab partners take part but not advertised that participation conscious of the reaction from their own populations. nic Robertson, and Jerusalem, please keep yourself and your team safe.

Joining me now to discuss from Washington Aaron David Miller, he's a former US State Department Middle East negotiator, Senior Fellow now at the Carnegie Endowment. Good to have you on tonight.

And I wonder if you can help us game out what Iran's intent was here because the U.S., Israel, other partners succeeded in taking out the vast majority of these missiles without deaths on the ground on Israeli territory or significant damage.

But this was an extremely large barrage of missiles and drones, one of these missiles apparently taken out in space by the high altitude aero defense system of Israel, was Iran's intent to kill on Israeli soil?

AARON DAVID MILLER, FOMRER U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: You know, I think the Iranians looked for a way to navigate a fine line between making their response qualitatively and quantitatively different than anything they've done in the past, they certainly have done that. This is a historic turning point in the Iranian-Israeli conflict.

But at the same time, perhaps, perhaps, because when you launch 200 missiles, I mean, maybe Israeli technology will work, maybe it won't.

SCIUTTO: Right.

MILLER: The Iranians need some pretty in their calculation, safe assumptions, that in fact, they wouldn't cause a mass casualty event. So they wanted to qualitatively deliver a different response, but at the same time, not set up a set of circumstances, which would prompt the Israelis to respond.

I think there's been a lot of miscalculations here, Jim, and I'm much more impressed with Israeli technology than Israeli intelligence. I mean, October 7, they misdiagnosed Tomasik capacity, and its motivation, April 1 when they struck Reza Zahedi. They clearly underestimated what the Iranians would do in response 200 missiles. And now they're going to respond. There's no question about that.

President 25-minute phone call with the Prime Minister, when U.S. issued a very, very supportive statement of Israel. President is going to convene the G7 tomorrow, the Americans are going to gin up a major diplomatic move to isolate the Iranian, extract the Iranians. The Israelis have called for me security concept but the Israelis are going to strike. The question is when? At what targets in Iran proper.

[23:10:02]

And is there assessment going to be accurate, that in response, the Europeans are not going to retaliate and loose the tiger on Hezbollah, which can do a lot of damage to Israel proper.

SCIUTTO: No question. To your point reading from that statement issued just a short time ago from President Biden he said, among other things, I condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms. Noting, he said that he just spoke with the prime minister. He said he reaffirmed America's ironclad commitment to the security of Israel, we should note, there's been a very public and private disagreement between the U.S. president and the Israeli prime minister, particularly the over the conduct of the war in Gaza. But here a statement of unity.

I want to ask you, Aaron David Miller, about likely Israeli responses. And this is just asking you to speculate because you're not in the room there as they make these decisions. But you had Pastor John Bolton, advocating for an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, which would be quite an escalation.

Do you see that as a potential response here? And what are the potential responses short of that?

MILLER: Not today I don't. I mean, I think that the Israelis have now escaped a good deal of tensions over Gaza. I think, and you notice that statement, Jim, there was no call for restraint by the President.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

MILLER: None. Zero.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

MILLER: So I think the Israelis will look for a series of conventional military targets, I would assume. But I think it's going to be disproportionate. I mean, all of the Israeli rhetoric coming on in the last 12 to 120 hours, seemed to suggest that they understand the magnitude, even though there have been no casualties so far, and the Israelis have intercepted most everything. They understand the magnitude of what these Iranians have done.

And I think their own calculation is they cannot afford to have a new normal, which is every time they go after an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps member in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, that Iran feels it can essentially respond to that with a barrage of missiles at Israel. SCIUTTO: I understand that. But the trouble with each response being disproportionate to the last and we heard the U.S. -- the White House view is that Iran is response to that strike in Damascus, this barrage of missiles and drones is just proportionate if Israel does the same thing. I mean, that == that's the nature of an escalation ladder. Is it not that you escalates out of control?

MILLER: Yes. I mean, I'm not advocating here, Jim. I'm just analyzing. I think that again, how's the Israeli -- Israelis misread Hamas on October 7. They misread Iran on April first. I don't think the Israelis expected 200 cruise drones and ballistic missiles to be launched.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

MILLER: Question is will they get this one, right?

SCIUTTO: Yes.

MILLER: Because I suspect if they strike on hard, Iranians are not going to back down. And I think then your escalatory ladder could ramp up quite quickly.

SCIUTTO: To your point in the statement from President Biden, there was no call for restraint. We do know that President Biden and other senior U.S. officials have been pressuring Israel for some time to dampen down its military operations in Gaza with the intent of allowing aid in reducing civilian casualties.

Do you expect and by the way, the U.S. has asked Iran where Israel rather were told for a heads up as to how it plans to retaliate. And they were miffed, as we know that there was no heads up about the strike in Damascus. I wonder what kind of messages private messages of restraint that the U.S. might be conveying to Israel in the coming days?

MILLER: Very good question. But I only suggest that, you know, in six months, the government or the Biden administration has not imposed a single cost or consequence on Israeli military activities --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

MILLER: -- or the fact that they haven't really been made humanitarian assistance have priority. Iran has a completely different order of magnitude. Democrats and Republicans are already lining up to talk about how we use this in order to isolate Iran. Iran is a bad actor. It doesn't have the sympathy of 2.3 million Palestinians who were exposed to Hamas terror attack and brought to a sort of humanitarian catastrophe is the consequences of Israel's response to that attack.

[23:15:03]

So I think on Iran, if the President is urging the Israelis to be careful and cautious, I suspect it's friendly advice rather than any sort of warning to use the President's language against Iran. Don't I don't think that the President said don't do Benjamin Netanyahu. SCIUTTO: Fair points. Aaron, David Miller. Thanks so much as always.

MILLER: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Still to come. U.S. President Joe Biden speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following Iran strikes details of that crucial call just ahead. Plus, we will discuss Iran's military and its potential next moves. That's after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Breaking news in the Middle East the Israeli military fended off an estimated 200 missiles and drones launched by Iran at Israeli territory overnight calling the large scale attack a quote major escalation. U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who have spoken on the telephone about these attacks, which U.S. officials believe were disproportionate to Israel's strikes though does not acknowledge them on Iran's consulate in Damascus, Syria, which then prompted this retaliation.

[23:20:05]

That's been a major talking point between Biden and his national security team during meetings in the Situation Room, you see a picture there. He shared this photo saying, quote, our commitment to Israel's security against threats from Iran and its proxies is iron clad.

CNN's M.J. Lee joins me now from the White House. And M.J., the relationship between Biden and Netanyahu has been fraught in recent weeks and months over the conduct of the war in Gaza but a strong statement of support from Biden to Israel tonight. Do we know what else was communicated on that phone call?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We do, Jim. We've just gotten the official White House readout of the call between the two leaders. I just wanted to read a small part from it. It says I've just spoken with Prime Minister Netanyahu to reaffirm America's ironclad commitment to the security of Israel. I told him that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks, sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel.

And I'm learning, Jim, from a senior administration official that President Biden also conveyed to the prime minister that he should consider tonight a win, because the US's assessment right now is that Iran attacks were largely unsuccessful. And why does the U.S. have that assessment right now, I'm told by this official that almost all of the drones and missiles that Iran had launched, including more than 100 ballistic missiles had been successfully knocked out of the sky, and that no cruise missile made impact in Israel, and that essentially, nothing of value was hit. Again, this is the U.S. current assessment as of tonight.

I'm also told that the President told the Prime Minister that the U.S. is not going to participate in any offensive operations against Iran. So that's a really important note, given that we have seen the U.S. obviously taking a lot of steps to come to Israel's defense and play a big role in helping to knock down some of those weapons that Iran launched against Israel.

But this is where the U.S. is clearly drawing the line, the President saying anything offensive that might potentially take place from Israel against Iran, that the U.S. is not going to be involved in that.

Now, if you look at the President's statement, it also said that U.S. forces and facilities were not attacked tonight. But it did also say that, obviously, the administration is going to remain vigilant. But this is, of course, going to be a huge sigh of relief for this White House, given that the lengths that the administration has gone to in recent days to ensure that Iran would not go after U.S. personnel and assets, including taking the step of directly communicating with Iran to warn them essentially, which is, of course, really notable given that these are two countries that do not have any formal diplomatic relations.

Now worth noting, Jim, is that this senior official I spoke with would not get into what the President might have advised the Prime Minister to do, in terms of potential next steps in retaliation, responding to what we saw from Iran, that, of course, is going to be such a key space to watch, given that U.S. officials are so set on containing this situation and trying to prevent this from burgeoning into an even bigger conflict going forward.

SCIUTTO: That's quite notable, M.J. Lee, that message here, ironclad support for Israel. Israel's right to defend itself, and maybe your language there, but the U.S. will not participate in offensive operations against Iran. That is setting a limitation, is it not? And perhaps applying some pressure on Israel as to how it might respond?

LEE: Yes, certainly setting a limitation on what the U.S. is not willing to do. And it's essentially saying, I guess, if you're reading between the lines, if you decide to retaliate in a significant way, you're going to be doing it alone, at least without the U.S. aid. You know, we were willing to do all of this to help defend your country and defend your security.

But when it comes to a potential retaliation against Iran, that is something that the U.S. is not willing to be involved in.

Just one other thing, as we're talking about. The President and the Israeli Prime Minister's relationship here that you said at the top has been incredibly fraught. Keep in mind the last time that the two leaders spoke was nine days ago. That phone call, Jim, as you remember very well was prompted by the death of the seven World Central Kitchen workers that was the result of mistaken strikes by the Israelis that caused so much condemnation that infuriated the White House.

[23:25:05]

And that is when the President issued this ultimatum basically saying, if you do not course correct, we might have to reconsider the way that we are supporting you in this war. And then nine days later, we have this conversation after the series of events that we have seen over the last several hours, where the President is saying in no uncertain terms, that the U.S. is commitment to Israel security is ironclad.

So just two phone calls, again, within the span of just nine days or so that really capture the very, very complicated relationship between the two countries, certainly the two leaders and so much that is going on and has unfolded in just a matter of nine days again.

SCIUTTO: No question, too complicated phone calls in that time period. CNN's M.J. Lee at the White House. Thanks so much.

Oren Liebermann joining us now from the Pentagon. And Oren, I understand you have new reporting about exactly how many missiles were taken down, and particularly how many by U.S. forces in the region?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Jim, this is something we've been watching over the course of the past several hours really since this attack began, because we knew the U.S. would try to help intercept as many drones and missiles as it could before they ever reached Israeli airspace and Israeli territory.

We've now heard from two U.S. officials that the U.S. intercepted more than 70 drones that were headed for Israel, as well as at least three perhaps for ballistic missiles that were targeting Israel.

Now we know that according to another U.S. official that fighter jets were part of intercepting those drones. We don't know what types of fighter jets, the U.S. has F-15s, F-16s, potentially other fighters in the area as well. We also don't know if it was exclusively fighter jets to intercept of the drones. It's possible at least right now that there were also ground based aerial defense systems that also took part in intercepting and engaging this massive swarm or ways of drones that had been launched.

As for the ballistic missiles, those were intercepted by at least one of the two destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the U.S. had position those to help in the defense of Israel and intercept anything that was headed that way. There are two destroyers there at this point, according to a number of officials, the USS Arley, Burke, as well as the USS Carney, so at least one of those engaged at least three ballistic missiles that were launched towards Israel.

I believe, and I'd have to triple check this. But if you look back over the course of the six months, we have seen intercepted by U.S. Navy assets, but most of those were in the Red Sea. This may be the first time we're seeing intercepts from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. But there you see the U.S. and Israeli cooperation, this sort of layered multitier defense to do as much as possible to intercept drones and missiles before they ever got to Israel. And of course, at that point, if they got through it, it was Israel's aerial defenses that would kick in.

SCIUTTO: Listen, it's notable. I mean, you mentioned the response to the Houthi missile strikes in the Red Sea that U.S. forces in the region have shown significant capability to shoot down a variety of missiles and drones at a distance over the last several months. I do want to ask Oren and I know that some of this participation is

deliberately quiet. But do we know the extent that other partners in the region took part in helping to detect or take down some of these missiles and drones headed for Israel?

LIEBERMANN: Nothing officially at this point, and frankly, it wouldn't surprise me because of the diplomatic sensitivities. If you simply don't see other countries come forward and say, hey, we helped with our sensors, interceptors. We use our fighters or our ground based systems to intercept some of these drones. That's simply frankly, the nature of the Middle East.

Israel has good military cooperation with a number of those countries, even if they want to keep that quiet. And to your point, it's worth noting that Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari when he spoke several hours ago, he said, Israeli systems and partners, so he didn't specifically mention the US. We know they're included. What other countries are included, Israel it looks like we'll keep quiet about that.

SCIUTTO: I noticed that as well. Partners, plural. Oren Liebermann at the Pentagon, thanks so much.

Please do stay with us. We're going to have the latest on Iran strikes against Israel, discussions of Israel's potential responses as well. When we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:33:02]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. Let's get you up to speed with the latest on Iran's attack on Israel. U.S. officials say the strikes now appear to have subsided after scenes like this played out in the skies over Israel earlier.

The IDF says Iran launched more than 200 drones and ballistic missiles on Israel overnight. A vast majority of them shot down before reaching Israel's airspace including by U.S. forces in the region. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken on the telephone with U.S. President Joe Biden.

According to a senior U.S. official, Biden said the attacks were largely unsuccessful, which Biden described as a win for Israel. Officials say Netanyahu's War Cabinet has now been authorized to decide how to respond. Our M.J. Lee has learned and just reported the President told Netanyahu the U.S. will not take part in any offensive actions against Iran. That's significant. This is how the IDF describe the attacks earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAGARI: Tonight, Iran launched a large scale of coordinated attack on Israel. The regime in Iran fired a massive swarm over 200 killer drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles towards the State of Israel. Together with our allies and partners across the region, we are operating in this very moment to defend Israel from Iran's attack. So far, we've intercepted the vast majority of incoming missiles by

Israeli systems. So far we have intercepted and are continuing to intercept dozens of attack drones as well as cruise missiles and ballistic missiles outside of Israel's border.

[23:35:08]

SCIUTTO: Let's go to Jerusalem with CNN's Nic Robertson is standing by with the latest. Nic, since October 7, and you were there, and we've been covering this for some time the concern has been, does this war expand beyond already the death and suffering we've seen in Gaza, and we saw in southern Israel on October 7, and here you have a direct attack by Iran on Israel unsuccessful, but a direct attack.

So here we are, can you describe the significance of this escalation and where it leaves Israel right now?

ROBERTSON: Well, it's certainly been a concern of Israel's partners in the region, even those that have been helping defend it tonight that Prime Minister Netanyahu has been escalating tensions in the region. Quite simply, they see it through the perspective of or previously, as seen it through the perspective of so many Palestinians killed in Gaza more than 33,000.

Now, which obviously raises the temperature for a lot of the public in this region, despite whatever relationship they governments may have, with the Israel. So there's that.

But I think in the context of where we stand this morning, if you will, with a decision that will be taken by Prime Minister Netanyahu and his war cabinet about how to respond to a decision and conversation that they say that they will have -- with partners, and certainly inform partners, if they move ahead with it.

And I think in the context of what President Biden has decided to do, following his conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu, which is call a meeting of G7 leaders later today, all of these points to the fact that the United States will bring its allies and partners into the equation to try to continue to keep security in the region by not having an escalation. That's certainly in the interests of all these partners.

But I think it gets also to your question also gets the psyche for Israelis and part of that is the threat from Hamas part of it. So this new threat from Iran, that is now something yet another party that can reach inside of Israel, and inflict potential damage and harm inside Israel is something that people haven't had to deal with before.

So this will also be part of the equation. But another part of that equation for the Israeli public has been this growing rift between the United States President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu, which leads to the concern, how much can Israel depend on the United States as it has done in the past?

Ironclad. There was that ironclad support in the defense of Israel tonight, but in offensive measures, that prescribes what Israel can do that President Biden's clear intent, and that's a concern on the minds of many Israelis.

SCIUTTO: Nic, I wonder that phrase stood out to me from M.J.'s reporting a direct direction from the U.S. president to the Israeli prime minister, we won't be involved if you strike back against Iran, does that lead Israel not to strike Iran? Or does it at least restrict its options in terms of striking Iran?

Because certainly, if one were to consider strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities that have been long discussion that Israel would need U.S. help to do so given Israeli or rather Iranian air defenses.

ROBERTSON: And I think we can perhaps broaden the perspective of this out a little more. The United States is not going to support Israel is that purely at a military level. Or is that also using it as diplomatic heft with allies in the region. We've heard what Iran has had to say about any country in the region that lets Israel use its airspace that's a clear warning for countries like Jordan and Iraq.

Now, Israel perhaps in the past thinks it can look to the United States to use its diplomatic leverage to Jordan to Iraq perhaps maybe, to their airspace so that, so even that part of the Israel's potential straight back package could be offered table as well.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

[23:40:00]

ROBERTSON: But it really can have an effect of limiting. I think the idea that Israel, United States will stand behind Israel when Israel is targeted and threatened. But I think we know the relationship between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu is strained. And we also know that Prime Minister Netanyahu has a very hard, tough right wing leaning government that exerts and is able to exert effective pressure on him and the decisions he takes.

There is the possibility here that Prime Minister Netanyahu still does take action against Iran, even if President Biden would rather he didn't.

SCIUTTO: Good point that we've seen that happen before over the objections of the U.S. president. Nic Robertson. Good to have you on. Stay safe.

With U.S. is closely watching of course events in the Middle East as top officials hold critical calls with their Israeli counterparts our breaking news coverage continues in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: We're following breaking news in the Middle East after Iran launched a massive attack on Israel using dozens of missiles and drones. U.S. officials say the wave of strikes appears now to have subsided.

[23:45:00] President Biden told the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, he should consider tonight a win. Because the US's current assessment is that Iran attacks were largely unsuccessful and demonstrated Israel superior military capability along with help from the US.

The Israeli military says the vast majority of missiles and drones were intercepted outside of Israeli territory. There also have been no reports of injuries directly from the Iranian strikes. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to Israel -- to his Israeli counterpart, Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant hours after Iran's attack began. A U.S. official says Austin ask Gallant to give the U.S. a heads up before any potential response from Israel.

The escalating conflict between Israel and Iran comes amid a very, extremely delicate moment in the Middle East hostage and ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas continue. But they've stalled in recent days and weeks.

Joining me now is a representative for families of those Israeli hostages. Here's Jonathan Franks. Jonathan, thanks for joining us tonight.

JONATHAN FRANKS, SPOKESMAN, BRING OUR FAMILIES HOME CAMPAIGN: Hey, good evening. Thanks for having me, Jim. And I do want to clarify, I don't represent those families. I represent the Bring Our Families Home Campaign.

SCIUTTO: Understood. Those families have been frustrated by the progress of negotiations involving a ceasefire in exchange for hostage release, as well as release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. There was already frustration with that process, and hopes raised and then dashed periodically.

I have to assume that tonight with this is Iranian attack on Israel, that those families that others watching these negotiations closely. Fear there's another delay, and perhaps those talks are under threat again.

FRANKS: You know, Jim, I make the same assumption. My heart sank last week when Hamas said it might not have 40 hostages in the humanitarian category that's still alive. And, you know, I as I said to you earlier tonight, I think the hostages got a little further from home tonight.

SCIUTTO: That's a sad fact. I mean, talk to just for folks who might not have been following that headline just a few days ago, Hamas saying, well, 40 of those folks who are still missing, we just don't know who -- where they are. Is the assumption for those taking part in these negotiations, that those hostages are now dead?

FRANKS: That was the way I read it, unfortunately. And I hope to God that it's not true.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

FRANKS: But if it is true, it does say something about sort of this weapon selection and choice of tactics in a combat zone in which you know you have hostages.

SCIUTTO: Or you're suggesting that it's possible that some of them died from Israeli military action.

FRANKS: Right. Lots of bombs coming from airplanes from naval ships. It is just -- I'm just very helpful it's not true, and that this is just two months playing games.

SCIUTTO: What's your best assessment of where these negotiations go from here? I can only imagine that there's an outright pause in talks as Israel, as Iran, as others in the region gauge what the next steps are? And are we on the precipice of a broader, a broader conflict here?

FRANKS: You know, I don't think Hamas is going to come to the table in a meaningful way, while we're on an escalation ladder. We'll probably wait and sit it out. And again, I'd love to be wrong and look really silly for having said that. But that's my fear.

And I think one of the things that I want to do is remind everyone that, you know, there still are a little -- no matter how many of them may have passed, there's a lot of live hostages in Gaza. And we can't let the focus turn off that because, you know, the moment that we do, they get a little further from home.

SCIUTTO: Well, and also, and you know, this better than me, as we -- the more we learn from hostages who have been lucky enough to be released, is that the treatment of those hostages in captivity has just been appalling.

FRANKS: Of course, and I think one, you know, they are after all Hamas, a terrorist group, and we have to remember that there are other government, they're a terrorist group and the way that they've treated these hostages, like you said, is appalling. It's one of the reasons I'm so concerned tonight.

And so concerned to see destabilization of, you know, at least on some skill in the West Bank, as well, because I think, you know, that instability in those incidents might very well be reflected in how the hostages are treated. It's something I'm really concerned debate tonight.

[23:50:01]

SCIUTTO: Well Jonathan Franks, we appreciate the work you do for this campaign. Thanks so much for joining us this evening.

FRANKS: Thanks for having me, Jim.

SCIUTTO: And our breaking news coverage continues after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:54:05] SCIUTTO: Iran's mission to the U.N. is warning that if Israel commits what it called any further military aggression, Tehran's response will be quote, stronger and more resolute. And there you have it. More and more talk of more and more war scenes. Fred Pleitgen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Iranians have said that the massive strikes that they unleashed on Israeli territory were a direct retaliation for the strikes on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus that of course the Iranian say killed several top level members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Now, the Israelis of course have not claimed responsibilities for those strikes in Damascus. But the Iranians have said that they do hold Israel accountable for it. And so they say that right now the retaliation was for a exactly that.

[23:55:00]

The Iranians put out a statement earlier where they said that with this retaliation, as they put it, the matter can be deemed to be concluded. In other words, it could stop there. But the Iranians are also saying that all of that, of course, depends on the United States and depends very much on Israel as well.

In fact, the Iranians are saying that if Israel does decide to take this further to retaliate, once again, that then the Iranians would, for their part also launch what they call a proportional response to all that. The Iranians were saying that the strikes that they conducted, which of course, involves a lot of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, that they consider that to be an act of self-defense, as they put it, in the same time, they warned both the United States and Israel not to take things even further.

One nuance that was very important in all of this, is that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps actually put out a statement as well, where they also said that they hold the U.S. accountable for any actions that Israel would take and told the U.S. as they said, to stay out of the matter, of course, the Iranians threaten the United States quite frequently in the Middle East.

One of the things that we've heard repeatedly from Iranian officials, but also from former members of the IRGC is that they say the United States needs to understand that next to every military base or almost every military base that the U.S. has in the Middle East, that there is an Iranian-backed militia out there that could attack U.S. assets in the Middle East.

So certainly, the Iranians are saying that for the U.S., this could get very real, but at the same time, they also say that they don't want this matter to be taken any further. However, they do say that if -- if the Israelis do launch attacks against Iranian territory, that Iran would be ready. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Thanks so much for watching this evening. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. We continue our breaking news coverage right after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)