Israel Launches What It Calls “Preemptive Strikes” on Iran

The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle

NBC News

Politics, Washington, News, President, Policy, Government, Senate, Congress, Msnbc

4.5 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 13 June 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Israel launches what it calls “preemptive strikes” on Iran. Then, Israeli Defense Minister declares nationwide state of emergency, warning that an Iranian attack may be imminent. Plus, California Senator Alex Padilla is forcibly removed from government press conference in LA. Courtney Kube, Hagar Chemali, Peter Baker, General Barry McCaffrey, Joyce Vance, Carol Leonnig, Jeremy Bash and Susan Glasser join The 11th Hour this Thursday.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Good evening. I am Stephanie Ruhl, and we are following breaking news from the Middle East on day 144 of the second Trump administration.
0:10.7	Israel has launched what it called preemptive strikes on Iran. The IDF says it struck dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets, in different areas of Iran.
0:21.5	The Israeli defense minister has also declared a state of emergency throughout the country,
0:26.1	warning that an Iranian missile and drone attack against Israel and its civilian population
0:30.7	is expected in the immediate future.
0:33.5	Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the strikes earlier this evening and said this.
0:38.4	Prime Minister, I've made it clear time and again.
0:42.3	Israel will never allow those who call for our annihilation to develop the means to achieve that goal.
0:49.1	Tonight, Israel backs those words with action.
0:52.8	We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear enrichment program. We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear enrichment program.
0:56.3	We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear weaponization program. We targeted Iran's main enrichment
1:02.6	facility in Natanz. We targeted Iran's leading nuclear scientists working on the Iranian bomb.
1:08.5	We also struck at the heart of Iran's ballistic missile program.
1:13.5	NBC national security correspondent Courtney Kubi joins us now. Courtney, what do we know so far?
1:18.7	Thank you for being here. Yes, Steph. So, I mean, as this is unfolded tonight, I have been struck
1:23.6	by how much detail, like we just heard there from Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Israelis
1:28.6	have provided about exactly what they did here specifically because they, the Prime Minister and
1:34.3	the IDF, are saying very clearly that this is just the beginning of what is expected to be a
1:39.9	campaign that could last days or even longer. Now, we know, as we just heard from the prime minister
1:45.2	there, that they were targeting Iran's nuclear facilities, their nuclear program. They also
1:50.9	went after nuclear scientists, several members, at least, of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
1:58.9	This was a real effort, not just to disable, it appears, Iran's
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 18 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NBC News, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NBC News and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.