June 18, 2025 • 7 mins
Jordana Miller joins Mendte in the Morning to talk about the latest in the middle east as Israel and Iran continue to trade missile fire.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The United States has now sent a second carrier strike
group to the Arabian Sea. They also sent their third
US Navy destroyer. It does sound like we're getting ready
to join Israel and attacking Iran. The United States government
keeps saying it's all defensive, but that's a lot of
(00:20):
equipment now just outside of Iran. Let's get the latest
from what's happening in Israel and we can ask about
this strike group now heading to the Arabian Sea. Jordana
Miller is covering this for ABC News. She is located
in Jerusalem. Let's start with you, Jordana, you and your family,
how was last night?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Last night was better. We had a siren and a
wave of Iranian ballistic missiles at around one point thirty
in the morning and then nothing from about you know, two,
and we haven't had anything this morning warning either, So
you know, everybody, I think, not only myself, but I
(01:05):
think a lot of people in the country had probably
the longest night of sleep since since Friday morning when
this uh when when Israel launched its preemptive strike on Iran.
So that's the good news.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
The tensions here though, are incredibly high, as everybody waits
to see what President Trump decides to do. It's clear
that he's moved military assets into the region, giving him
the option to join Israel in this site. It has
to be said, Uh, there's probably never been a better
(01:41):
moment for the United States to take advantage of the
success that Israel's had over the last several days and
really even going back further, uh, you know with Hsbolah right,
which was one of Iran's one of Iran's proxies and
(02:01):
Hamas the fight there where Iran it appears now in hindsight,
may have made a foolish mistake to attack Israel because
during that war, Israel was able to take out some
initial air defense systems. Now they've done a lot more
damage as we go into day six, and the question
is will the President join and you know and allow
(02:26):
those bunker buster bombs to take part in a strike
on four Dow. That's the Iranian nuclear facility that is
burrowed in a mountain in Quoms right, a site that
you know is widely believed is used for uranium enrichment
for research as well as it could be it could
(02:49):
be holding some of the enriched material that the that
Iran has that Iran has enriched to such a high
level recently to sixty percent. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I heard Wesley Clark talking about this, General Wesley Clark,
and he was saying that it wouldn't take just one
bunker buster. They have it so far down and it's
so well protected.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
It was yeah, about five at least. And the truth
is it's in a mountain.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
We don't know, we you know, you may take more
to get through the rocks of that of that mountain.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Nobody knows just how how dense that that soil of
rock is. But it would take it would probably take
definitely more than one. It would take a sortee or
more likely.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
And Sjoran, I'm sorry interrupt you, but only certains can
carry them, right, right, Only.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
The United States has the planes that can carry those
bunker busters, right unless Israel has outfitted uh some of
its planes to do that, which I would not put
past these Israelis, you know, and we don't know about it.
And those planes are sitting in Cyprus or somewhere else
right close by, you know, we can't. I don't think
(04:12):
anybody anticipated the you know, the penetration of Iran's you know,
the intelligence operation that Israel has been able to carry
out for several years across Iran. That has enabled them
to garner all the intelligence on the sites and do
all kinds of things that have you know, so far
(04:37):
been successful. And by the way, even though the Israelis
have mounted an extraordinary and successful first opening days to
strike against Iran, and I think that comes really across
the board, the Israelis are humble. They know that Iran
still has capabilities. They say, there's still a lot of
work to do, quote unquote, right, Iran still has hundreds
(05:01):
of ballistic missiles, It's a vast country. This is not
an operation that can end, you know, can end you know,
in a few days.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
But I think now many people are not only thinking
about obviously if Trump joins, the United States joins, but
what that means for the length of this war?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Right?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
How can the United States and Israel strike such a
decisive blow that this will not turn into months and
months of war or war of attrition, right, or bog
the United States down? What does that decisive blow look like? Right?
Is it about just for now? Is it about taking
out the supreme leader?
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Right?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
You know?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
What does that look like where we can where the
United States and Israel can say we've done what we
need to do. You know, you know, let's now, you know,
bring in a US back to government. I mean, what
does it look like? And I think those are really
hard questions to answer.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah, I think that's why he left the G seven.
Jordana Miller, thank you so much. ABC News corresponding in Jerusalem.
I'm glad you got a night's sleep. Let's listen to
Wesley Clark talking about the bunker busters.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
It's going to be a big decision if he makes it,
and it probably won't be just one bunker bustering bomb
because one won't necessarily do it. You probably want two, three, five,
over a period of several hours or days to be
absolutely certain that you've got have taken care of.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, and Jordana said, it's probably gonna take more than five.
But the only planes that can carry them right now
are be two stealth bombers and that's American planes. And
now you understand why Donald Trump had to leave the
G seven and go back and discuss this. Wesley Clark
also said something ominous. He said, Thursday sounds like the
(06:55):
day if this decision is going to be made. It's
going to be Thursday. And the fact that he left
the G seven, the fact that we now have two
aircraft carrier strike groups in the area and we have
three destroyers in the area, looks like we're getting involved
with this and taking out Iraqs nuclear facilities once and
(07:17):
for all. And I will tell you this that Saudi
Arabia and Cutter will be applauding. The rest of the
Arab world is applauding. They're as fearful as I run
as we are. Thank you so much to Jordana Miller,
The United States has now sent a second carrier strike
group to the Arabian Sea. They also sent their third
US Navy destroyer. It does sound like we're getting ready
to join Israel and attacking Iran. The United States government
keeps saying it's all defensive, but that's a lot of
(00:20):
equipment now just outside of Iran. Let's get the latest
from what's happening in Israel and we can ask about
this strike group now heading to the Arabian Sea. Jordana
Miller is covering this for ABC News. She is located
in Jerusalem. Let's start with you, Jordana, you and your family,
how was last night?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Last night was better. We had a siren and a
wave of Iranian ballistic missiles at around one point thirty
in the morning and then nothing from about you know, two,
and we haven't had anything this morning warning either, So
you know, everybody, I think, not only myself, but I
(01:05):
think a lot of people in the country had probably
the longest night of sleep since since Friday morning when
this uh when when Israel launched its preemptive strike on Iran.
So that's the good news.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
The tensions here though, are incredibly high, as everybody waits
to see what President Trump decides to do. It's clear
that he's moved military assets into the region, giving him
the option to join Israel in this site. It has
to be said, Uh, there's probably never been a better
(01:41):
moment for the United States to take advantage of the
success that Israel's had over the last several days and
really even going back further, uh, you know with Hsbolah right,
which was one of Iran's one of Iran's proxies and
(02:01):
Hamas the fight there where Iran it appears now in hindsight,
may have made a foolish mistake to attack Israel because
during that war, Israel was able to take out some
initial air defense systems. Now they've done a lot more
damage as we go into day six, and the question
is will the President join and you know and allow
(02:26):
those bunker buster bombs to take part in a strike
on four Dow. That's the Iranian nuclear facility that is
burrowed in a mountain in Quoms right, a site that
you know is widely believed is used for uranium enrichment
for research as well as it could be it could
(02:49):
be holding some of the enriched material that the that
Iran has that Iran has enriched to such a high
level recently to sixty percent. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I heard Wesley Clark talking about this, General Wesley Clark,
and he was saying that it wouldn't take just one
bunker buster. They have it so far down and it's
so well protected.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
It was yeah, about five at least. And the truth
is it's in a mountain.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
We don't know, we you know, you may take more
to get through the rocks of that of that mountain.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Nobody knows just how how dense that that soil of
rock is. But it would take it would probably take
definitely more than one. It would take a sortee or
more likely.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
And Sjoran, I'm sorry interrupt you, but only certains can
carry them, right, right, Only.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
The United States has the planes that can carry those
bunker busters, right unless Israel has outfitted uh some of
its planes to do that, which I would not put
past these Israelis, you know, and we don't know about it.
And those planes are sitting in Cyprus or somewhere else
right close by, you know, we can't. I don't think
(04:12):
anybody anticipated the you know, the penetration of Iran's you know,
the intelligence operation that Israel has been able to carry
out for several years across Iran. That has enabled them
to garner all the intelligence on the sites and do
all kinds of things that have you know, so far
(04:37):
been successful. And by the way, even though the Israelis
have mounted an extraordinary and successful first opening days to
strike against Iran, and I think that comes really across
the board, the Israelis are humble. They know that Iran
still has capabilities. They say, there's still a lot of
work to do, quote unquote, right, Iran still has hundreds
(05:01):
of ballistic missiles, It's a vast country. This is not
an operation that can end, you know, can end you know,
in a few days.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
But I think now many people are not only thinking
about obviously if Trump joins, the United States joins, but
what that means for the length of this war?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Right?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
How can the United States and Israel strike such a
decisive blow that this will not turn into months and
months of war or war of attrition, right, or bog
the United States down? What does that decisive blow look like? Right?
Is it about just for now? Is it about taking
out the supreme leader?
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Right?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
You know?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
What does that look like where we can where the
United States and Israel can say we've done what we
need to do. You know, you know, let's now, you know,
bring in a US back to government. I mean, what
does it look like? And I think those are really
hard questions to answer.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah, I think that's why he left the G seven.
Jordana Miller, thank you so much. ABC News corresponding in Jerusalem.
I'm glad you got a night's sleep. Let's listen to
Wesley Clark talking about the bunker busters.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
It's going to be a big decision if he makes it,
and it probably won't be just one bunker bustering bomb
because one won't necessarily do it. You probably want two, three, five,
over a period of several hours or days to be
absolutely certain that you've got have taken care of.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, and Jordana said, it's probably gonna take more than five.
But the only planes that can carry them right now
are be two stealth bombers and that's American planes. And
now you understand why Donald Trump had to leave the
G seven and go back and discuss this. Wesley Clark
also said something ominous. He said, Thursday sounds like the
(06:55):
day if this decision is going to be made. It's
going to be Thursday. And the fact that he left
the G seven, the fact that we now have two
aircraft carrier strike groups in the area and we have
three destroyers in the area, looks like we're getting involved
with this and taking out Iraqs nuclear facilities once and
(07:17):
for all. And I will tell you this that Saudi
Arabia and Cutter will be applauding. The rest of the
Arab world is applauding. They're as fearful as I run
as we are. Thank you so much to Jordana Miller,
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