Jordana Miller, ABC News correspondent Interview

Jordana Miller joins Mendte in the Morning to talk about the preemptive strikes that Israel let out last night against Iran in Tehran.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
But joining us now on the line. Very thankful to
have her. She's, of course, an ABC News correspondent who
is over in Israel here to report on the preemptive
strike Israel launched against Iran last night. Jordana Miller joins us. Hello, Geordana,
Hi there.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, the Israelis have been talking and threatening for years
really to take action against Iran's nuclear program, and that
finally played out last night just after three am local time.
Sirens actually rang out across the entire country here in Israel,
not because the Iranians were striking the Israelis, but because

(00:40):
the Defense Department wanted to tell the entire country that
they had launched a preemptive strike on Iran. Those strikes
went on for several years, five different intense waves of strikes,
hitting all kinds of sites, not just the nuclear sites,

(01:01):
but also ballistic missile launchers, factories, and even storage sites,
as well as what turned out to be a very
effective campaign to assassinate much of Iran's top military leadership.

(01:22):
They took out the equivalent of the head of for example,
Iran's Revolutionary Guard, that what would be the head of
the army right. They took out as well, the Joint
Chief Staff that would be the equivalent position on the
Iranian side, as well as the leader of Emergency war planning.

(01:44):
And just a few moments ago we found out that
the Israelis also took out the head of the Israeli
the head of the Iranian Air Force. Those attacks are
continuing now, another wave underway in Shiraz and Tabrize, and
the Israelis say that this is they're calling it a

(02:05):
preemptive strike because they say that the Iranians had actually
moved further towards developing a way to deploy Nuku.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
You broke on me for a second. There, are you there, Jordana.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
We might have just lost her connection.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, that was a tough connection. Since Jordanah Miller on
the line, we're going to try to get back to
her in a minute. She is, of course over in
Israel where all of this is ensuing, and we're just
being pretty mindful of her safety right now as we
attempt to get a report and an update. President Trump
socially about it a short while ago. Let me read
you the Trump Truth social post. I gave Iran a

(02:43):
chance after to make a deal. I told them in
the strongest of words to just do it. But no
matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got,
they just couldn't get it done. I told them it
would be much worse than anything they know anticipated or
were told. That the United States makes the best and
most lethal military equipment anywhere in the world world by far,
and that Israel has a lot of it, with much
more to come, and they know how to use it.

(03:06):
Certain Ironian hardliners spoke bravely, but they didn't know what
was about to happen. They are all dead now, as
Jordana was saying before we lost her, Jordana your back,
So Cam back, Can I ask one quick question? So
you talked about Okay, Israel, It was I guess no
secret that they were, you know, considering a preemptive strike
on around as a deterrent to them developing and enriching

(03:28):
more uranium. But from what I'm reading, they were still
kind of surprised by this, and it was executed in
the type of manner that might have been similar to
what we saw with the pager explosions in Lebanon. They
still managed to effectively get in there and catch them
off guard, did they not?

Speaker 2 (03:45):
They did, and I think you know, they were able,
the Israelis were able to kind of cloud what was
about to happen in the public media in the disputes
between Jerusalem and Washington. That proved to be a great
cover right in the last several days. And not only

(04:07):
did the Americans and others say, we're picking up signals
the Israelis might attack, but we heard President Trump say
not so fast. We're in the middle of negotiations. You know,
you know this might happen, but we want to give
diplomacy a chance, which was seen as a warning to
the Israelis, right, and the Iranians believed the Israelis would

(04:30):
not do it. They wouldn't strike, They wouldn't strike when
they were told naxa strike, right, and they wouldn't strike
alone without the help the military help of the United States.
And in the end, Israel did both right. And you know,
perhaps we will you know, we're still learning really the

(04:51):
American part in this. But it may be that President Trump,
you know, was playing along and knew what was coming,
right well, and this did surprise the Iranians.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
Yeah, that's what I would say. And the one thing
no one can argue, regardless of who knew what or
when is that it was effective. They got the job done.
We're thankful you're safe and we will stay in touch
from here.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Jordana.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Best of luck over there, Jordana Miller, you're the best.
Jordana Milk, ABC News correspondent, She is over in Israel,
and make no mistake about it, they got the job done.
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