Israel attacking Iran with Shannon Kingston From ABC News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening. The Mark Blazer Show with Chuck Douglas.
We opened the show talking about everything that's happening, and
you know, I think at that time when just as
soon as well, a little bit before we came on
the air at three o'clock, there was some what looked
like activity in Tel Aviv, and we it was being

(00:22):
reported that was an apartment building maybe or something along
those lines.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
And let's get the very latest.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Shannon Kingston, ABC News State Department correspondent is joining us
right now.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hi, Shannon, welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
What is the latest with this, Well, we're still trying
to get a grasp on what exactly is happening on
the ground in Israel, but we do know that a
wrong launched some massive counter attack firing back after Israel striked.
Several are struck at several top nuclear targets across the
country overnight, so that situation is rapidly intensifying. I'm talking

(00:57):
to my colleagues in Israel right now. There are airside
iron's blasting. They've all been instructed by the military there
to take cover. But we do suspect at least that
some residential buildings, perhaps some other buildings did take on
missile fire, so we're still trying to see if there
have been any kind of casualties resulting from that that.

(01:18):
I'm looking at some of the first videos and pictures
that have emerged from Israel, and it does look like
there is a significant amount of damage, meaning that this
is likely to only escalate further.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, those are is that from the some of the
missiles that were exploded in air, that from the defense,
and then some of those pieces where I mean, none
of that is actually very very clear right now, correct.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
That's right, And we have seen that in the past
where missoules have been exploded by the Iron Dome, but
still their shrapnel it comes down, it can hit cars, buildings,
people and still do damage. But we're also seeing videos
here that and I don't want to say definitively yet
because the top military minds are still looking at this.
Of course officials are still looking at this, but it

(02:07):
does seem that it is possible at least that some
of those missiles did make it through defenses. But we
also know that the US has been playing a part here.
The Secretary of State others made it very clear that
they were not part of Israel's initial strikes on a run,
but we did expect that they would help descend the

(02:28):
country from retaliation.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, there are six hours ahead of us, from what
I understand, at least in Tel Aviv, there are six
hours ahead, which means it is nighttime there, which that's
typically when we start to kind of see activity and
so on. Some people speculating now to Shannon that the
now what's going to come from Israel is probably going
to be much heavier than even that initial attack that

(02:52):
started with all of this, but based on some retaliation
to this kind of a thing. I don't know if
you heard anything about something along the those lines.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Well, we do know that tempers are hot right now.
The Israeli Defense Minister came out and said how unacceptable
it was that Iran would strike at civilian targets. Since
that does track with what we're seeing, it does appear
that there are civilian buildings that are damaged. Of course,
we don't have more information on Iran's actual targeting, but
we also know that Israel's attacks on Iran never really stop.

(03:23):
This was expected to be a rolling operation, which is
truly remarkable given the scale of the thing we saw
Israel overnight really strike nuclear facilities across the entire massive
expanse of the country of Iran, take out many of
its top military leaders, and assassinating nuclear scientists. So this

(03:45):
was really an attack of an unprecedented scale, something that
Iran hasn't seen anything close to in decades.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
I also read too, we're talking to Shannon Kingston, ABC
News State Department correspondent. I read that, according to Israeli
Prime Minister's office, net and Yahoo and Trump were to
speak sometime today.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Are you aware did they speak?

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Because I haven't seen anything on this, which doesn't mean
that they haven't yet, but have you heard.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
We haven't seen a readout of the call yet, But
we do know that Israeli Prime Minister Netanya, who has
been making the rounds, He's been talking to several leaders,
including Russian leader Vladimir Putin, president of several European countries,
stilling everybody and getting them on the same page. But
we do know that the President has had an interesting

(04:32):
approach to the Israeli attacks. At first, he was against them,
he said. Just last month, he told reporters that he
had tried to dissuade the Israeli Prime Minister from carrying
them out, saying that he preferred to let diplomacy take
its course. But now he's saying that he gave Iran
an ultimatum. He said they had seventy part of me

(04:55):
sixty days to cut a deal, and this was day
sixty one. So he's kind of trying to make it
seemed like this was his idea all alone. And he's
also saying that this is actually going to play to
his hand play the American negotiators and as they try
to cut a new nuclear deal. But that really remains
to be seen because tempers are really really high right now.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
All right, very good, the very latest.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
Shannon Kingston, ABC News State Department correspondent, Shannon, thank.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
You very much, have a good weekend.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
Thanks me too.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (05:25):
Those civilian targets, you know this the Shabbat is we
go with his six pm, I think on Friday night.
The religious this is when there is no you're not emailing,
you're not doing business. This is a religious observance situation,
and I don't know so many people in that country
are dedicated to their their religious observances and practices. If

(05:51):
if they're going to hit civilians, I would say tonight
is probably the night that that would be very dangerous.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
As far as in Israel, yes, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah,
and we know that typically the attacks seem like they
ramp up when it gets dark, right. I think that's
a reasonable assessment.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
There with all of that.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
So anyway, that was that was Shannon, and I appreciate her,
you know, giving us what she has.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
As far as the very latest on this, again.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
I think in the next couple of hours it's probably
we're going to see even more activity based on the
you know, the reports that she was.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
Given us too.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
So so yeah, we'll stay right on top of this
as stuff develops. As you know, all of this develops,
and it's there's no way around it. It's unfortunate because
it's like when you hear Israel as striking military targets
and then Iran, all they want to do is look,
their mission is to kill the Westerners and kill Jews.

(06:49):
That's it, and that's they don't care what that's what
they that's how they fight terrorist mentality.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
That's why you go to a music festival and rape
women and kill children.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, yep, absolutely awful.