CBS Evening News, 06/19/25

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The president approves a plan for attacking Iran, but. I mean, you don't know that I'm going to even do it. He now says we will know within two weeks. From CBS News headquarters in New York. This is the CBS Evening News. Good evening. I'm John Dickerson. I'm Maurice Dubois. The president has approved a plan for attacking Iran. But will he pull the trigger? We will know.

The White House said today the president will decide within two weeks. That will allow time for any negotiations with Iran. The president believes there is still a substantial chance there will be talks. And while we wait, the war goes on without the United States. Iran fired dozens of missiles into Israel overnight, hitting a hospital.

And Israel hit nuclear sites in Iran. As for any retaliation by Iran here in the United States, CBS News has learned that the FBI is stepping up its efforts to monitor any possible sleeper cells linked to Hezbollah. The terror group... backed by Iran. We begin this evening with Ouija Zhang at the White House. Ouija.

Just three days ago, President Trump warned everyone to evacuate Tehran immediately and rushed back to Washington from an international summit for an emergency meeting in the Situation Room. But tonight, that level of urgency seems to have faded. as he gives Iran another chance.

More than 700 patients were inside the largest hospital in southern Israel when it took a direct hit from Iranian missiles overnight. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate and he lobbied President Trump to... joined the effort to end Iran's nuclear program. He gave them the chance to do it through negotiations. They strung him along. You don't string along Donald Trump. Today, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt delivered this message from Trump.

Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks. But CBS News has learned that Trump believes taking out Iran's for Dow nuclear site is necessary if talks fail, citing the risk of weapons being produced in a relatively short period of time. I think they were a few weeks away from having one.

When the president said a few weeks away, did he mean obtaining enough enriched uranium to start building a weapon? Or did he mean Iran is a few weeks away from completing the production of a weapon? Let's be very clear. Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon. All they need is a decision from the supreme leader to do that. And it would take a couple of weeks to complete the production of that weapon.

on just how close Iran is. Today, the UN agency that inspects nuclear facilities around the world said Iran is accumulating highly enriched uranium at an almost military level, but there was no indication. that there is an active plan to build a nuclear weapon. So, Ouija, we're all wondering here, the main question, what changed? Why did the president add these two weeks?

Well, the sense of urgency and the rhetoric certainly changed, but the end goal has not. And this is a tactic that we have seen the president use often to pressure adversaries and competitors to come around to what he wants, like threatening wildly high terror. to get new trade deals. In this case, what he really wants is for Iran to agree to abandon its nuclear program. And so is there any practical downside then to giving this two-week cushion that he's announced?

Well, some U.S. officials have expressed concern that they don't think Iran really wants to make a deal, and they're just stringing the U.S. along to buy more time. In the meantime, of course, the war continues. those missiles. And Iran claims it has used less than 30 percent of its military capabilities. Okay. Weijia Jiang at the White House. Thanks so much. Now another reminder of the geography of the Middle East.

Iran and Israel are separated by about 1,000 miles and three countries, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq, where thousands of Iranian exiles live and where the United States was at war for nearly nine years. Those Iranian exiles in Iraq are fiercely opposed to the theocratic government in Tehran. Harley Williams has been speaking to them in the Iraqi city of Erbil. Khalsa Fatahi is a leader in one of Iran's outlawed opposition parties.

living in exile across the border in Iraq. Her group represents the Kurdish ethnic minority. They have an armed wing, and Iran's government considers them a terrorist organization. Okay, war is bad. People are dying. But it's still not that much killing that the Iranian regime itself do with own people. A lot of people have been killed just by the regime. You're saying the Iranian regime itself has killed more people? Iran's supreme leader is an 86-year-old Muslim cleric, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

who's ruled a nation of 90 million people for nearly four decades. He's only Iran's second supreme leader since a revolution in 1979, established a conservative... Anti-American Islamic Republic. It's deeply unpopular with many Iranians. Mass protests like those calling for an end to forced Islamic dress and other restrictions on women have been met with deadly force. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on Iranians to rise up against their own government.

But Fatahi told us Iranians do not want Israel or the US to engineer regime change. We don't want their boots on the ground. What is it that you want from the United States? Don't compromise with the regime because they're killing peoples. The world would be a better place without the Iranian regime for all of us.

If this conflict weakens the Ayatollah's grip on power, Fatahi told us her party would work with other Iranian opposition groups to try to topple the regime. Holly Williams in Erbil, Iraq tonight. Thank you.

Now more of the top stories from around the world in the Evening News Roundup. Hundreds of people turned out in Tenafly, New Jersey, to welcome home 21-year-old Yidan Alexander. He was serving in Israel's military when he was taken hostage by Hamas. on October 7, 2023. He spent nearly 600 days in captivity before he was released last month. Another setback for SpaceX's Starship program. A Starship rocket exploded into a fireball during a test last night.

In South Texas, no one was hurt. CBS News space consultant Bill Harwood now on what may have caused it. The SpaceX rocket that exploded Wednesday night is the upper stage of the company's giant starship. We don't yet know exactly what went wrong, but company founder Elon Musk says a high-pressure nitrogen type might have burst open to cause this mishap.

They've launched nine test flights so far, but the last three ended in upper stage failures. NASA is counting on SpaceX to provide a flight-ready version of the Starship to carry its astronauts down to the surface of the moon in just two years. you

And a federal bankruptcy judge will decide tomorrow whether to approve a nearly $7.5 billion settlement involving Purdue Pharma, which made the pain medication OxyContin. Scott McFarlane is in West Virginia. Virginia, a state hard hit by the opioid epidemic, looking at the potential impact of what would be a landmark deal. Jared Buckhalter is a young dad who's the size of a college linebacker.

It was a football injury that eventually overpowered him at 16 when he was hooked on pain-killing pills. Take the best feeling that you've ever had in your life and times that by 10 to a normal person. That's how I could really explain it to someone that has never experienced it. How do you quit that? That's the problem.

Buckhalter lives near Morgantown, West Virginia, the state with the highest opioid overdose death rate in the nation. He's nearly six years clean. Every day, recovery has to be my number one priority. Because if it isn't, I'll lose everything that I put in front of it. When 60 Minutes visited with Buckhalter last year, he said he hoped there'd be a breakthrough to curb America's opioid epidemic, which kills tens of thousands of people a year.

States that are groaning beneath the weight of treating the addicted sued Purdue Pharma, maker of the highly addictive OxyContin. After years of negotiating and the collapse of a previous deal, the company and its owners will pay more than $7 billion over the next 15 years, if approved. Where do you think we can be in 15 years? Is most of this gone? I don't think so.

Dr. Patrick Marshalik is an addiction specialist at West Virginia University. He says he'd like some, but not all of the money spent on treatments. They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and I know it's kind of cliched, but yes, we have tools to help people once they get sick, but it'd be...

nice to have less people getting sick. Roughly 10%, about $850 million of the settlement will go to those who suffered addiction or families of those who died. For Buckhalter, he fears the families who suffered the addiction can never be made whole. They've lost their husband, wives. The pain and suffering that has happened, there's really no dollar that can be reimbursed for all the pain and suffering that we've been through. Scott, what's the best case scenario for Mr. Buckhalter here?

Yes, if the money is approved in the settlement, it'll take months before it's out the door, Maurice and John. Even so, you spread out that money over 50 states, about $850 million for the recovering addicts. That money gets pretty thin, maybe a few thousand.

dollars each it helps but not enough to rebuild lives so Scott I want to ask about the money that then goes to the states will that be spread thinly as well and so how much will it really help those who are suffering from addiction in states that have been hard hit by opioid abuse.

Yeah, John, the doctors here in West Virginia, the epicenter of the epidemic of opioids, say they want some money for treatment. Treatment helps. Treatment works. But they'd like money for preventative measures, too, Maurice and John, to keep people from getting addicted to the next. substance to come along.

Scott McFarland, thank you, Scott. Still ahead here on the CBS Evening News, Rob Marciano with severe storms in the east. A teenager in New York City was struck by lightning. The New Mexico National Guard is now helping the police in crime-plagued outbreaks. Jason Allen will have that story. And also tonight. I'm Janet Chamleon in Durham, North Carolina. As more Americans are aging, the people retiring here are putting a new spin on growing old. That's tonight's Eye on America.

50 years after Jaws scared an entire generation out of the water. I looked down, and there was this great big head, these big white teeth. Radiolab is pulling you back in. It was just like so much fear building of what's going to come out of that blue. Listen to Swimming with Shadows, a Radiolab week of sharks. Anything you dig down on is fascinating. These creatures. wherever you get podcasts.

Now streaming. When people go missing, I get hired to help find them. When lives are on the line. Coulter, please find my daughter. He's the man for the job. I'm going to do everything I can. Don't miss a moment. Coulter's in trouble. I can feel it. Of TV's number one.

Show. These people are dangerous. I'm doing this alone. Not at all. Every Batman gotta have their Robin. Call time! Justin Hartley stars. I made a promise. I would never stop looking. In Tracker. All episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus and returning CBS Fall.

Severe storms are hitting the east coast tonight. Heavy rain, lightning. And Rob Marciano tells us oppressive heat is coming next. Rob. Hey, guys, those storms obviously have been dangerous. That 16-year-old taken to the hospital survived so far. But these are the clusters of storms that rolled through between 3 and 4 o'clock. Look at all that lightning there. 60-mile-an-hour winds reported at Newark, at Dulles Airport as well. And we still have these watches that are in effect from North.

North Carolina all the way up to northern Maine. Now behind this front, the heat is building. That's the other big story. It's building in the upper Midwest. We've got excessive heat watches and warnings from Minnesota to Wisconsin to the Canadian border. That pink, that's 100 degree temperatures, plus the humidity going to feel like up and over.

110. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, this all spreads not just east but south. So from Texas all the way up to New England, we're going to talk about temperatures that will be dangerously hot. in some of these big cities. Speaking of dangers, this was a storm damage from Hurricane Eric early this morning hitting the coast of Mexico south of Acapulco with 125 mile an hour winds. It was a category three storm. It has weakened. Here's what it looks like on the satellite picture.

You see the clouds beginning to fan up north into the Gulf. But this one made history, guys, as the strongest hurricane on record to hit this part of Mexico this early in the year. Rob Marciano, a lot going on. Thank you very much, Rob.

The Pentagon announced this week that 2000 more California National Guard troops have now joined the 2100 already deployed in the Los Angeles area. All of this. over the objections of Governor Newsom as the president cracks down on illegal immigration. Our Jason Allen reports it's quite a different story in Albuquerque. New Mexico National Guard troops have been sent there. by the governor at the re

They busted out our windows. We met James Grice outside his motorcycle shop in Albuquerque, where every day he clears a path through trash and people before he can open the doors. All around the building, it's just a daily thing. Oh, yeah. Someone sleeping right there right now. There are bullet holes in his shop's windows, and Grice and police officers we talked to have their own name for this part of the city. It's always been known as a war zone. There are shootings here, assaults.

Drug abuse, including fentanyl, reaching a level that drove the city's police chief to call for reinforcements here. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency and she authorized deploying about 70 National Guard members to the city. I see drug dealing, drug use, prostitution. I worry about human trafficking. I see violence on the streets. Guard members have been training in crisis intervention and de-escalation.

Unlike California, however, the Guard members in New Mexico are not armed or in military uniform. During two homicide calls and a SWAT activation last week, the Guard members' job was to secure the perimeter. We need to stop playing games with crime. Sean Willoughby doubts the guard will help. He's president of the Albuquerque Police Officers Association.

They can't intervene. They don't have the authority to take anybody to jail. They're not armed. They're going to be in one of the most violent communities in this country in a polo shirt, recognizing themselves as this helper. And they're limited on to what they can do. Civil liberty advocates are uneasy with any plan that increases policing. Still, James Grice says the city needs all the help it can get.

After we finished talking, we came across a crime scene. Albuquerque police were investigating a possible homicide a block from Grice's front door. Jason Allen in Albuquerque, where the National Guard will remain for at least a few more months. Eye on America is next. We take you to a safe, welcoming community for LGBTQ plus Americans to spend their senior years.

They grew up in the early years of the gay rights movement, and now some of the LGBTQ plus community are looking for a welcoming, comfortable, and safe place to retire. Janet Chamblee has tonight's Eye on America from Durham, North Carolina. There's more than just wine and cheese on the menu at this happy hour. This retirement village is serving up a safe space for people 55 and older who identify as LGBTQ+, like 73-year-old Barb Chase.

I lived my life pretty much in the closet. And I was ready for an experience that was super affirming. Village Hearth in Durham, North Carolina is one of the nation's first co-housing developments created specifically for an aging queer population. The 28 single-story pastel-colored cottages are individually owned, but connected physically by walking paths and ideologically by acceptance. As we age...

community is one of the most important things to ensure our continued health. Some 7 million LGBTQ plus Americans will be over age 50 by 2030. Fewer than half of states have laws prohibiting housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. And there is no federal law. That's why Margaret Roche and her wife created Village Hearth more than five years ago when they couldn't find someone.

Where to retire? I know if we ever ended up in assisted living that we would have had to go back in the closet. Why not a co-housing community that wasn't? LGBTQ plus focused. Because then you become, oh, that's the gay couple. Look, there's the lesbians. Patricia Stressler and Tammy Icke moved here from Greensboro, about an hour away, where they lived hiding their relationship. We're still in that generation where we don't want to make people feel uncomfortable.

Like many gay and lesbian seniors, the couple doesn't have the traditional safety net of adult children for connection and care. With this community comes built-in support from each other. What does it say about society that you needed to come here to feel safe in 2025? I think there is a small percentage of people who are very close-minded.

And I think just for day-to-day living, wanting to be comfortable every day, not having to be on guard for anything or anyone. I feel like we're going backwards. And so I think this type of community... is needed more for these seniors trailblazing for decades a chapter with fewer struggles and more happy hours maybe it's not all that different than golfers moving into a place where golf is the focus that's probably very true

Aging with pride as retirees embrace their golden years, painting them with shades of the rainbow. For Eye on America, I'm Janet Shamlian in Durham, North Carolina. And up next on this Juneteenth, a trip back in time. Every week on The Moth Podcast, you'll hear true stories from some of the funniest and most fascinating people in the world.

I had a deeply meaningful experience, something so real that I knew it was going to shape who I was to become for the rest of my life. I saw the Spice Girls on MTV. To hear true stories from actors to astronauts. To people just like you, follow and listen to The Moth on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

In 1776, one of America's first black churches was established in Williamsburg, Virginia. Free and enslaved black people built a 500 square foot meeting house with recycled bricks. After a tornado destroyed it, the church house was rebuilt in 1856. A century later, the colonial Williamsburg Museum bought the property, tore down the building for a parking lot. and paid for a new church nearby. Then, five years ago, archaeologists uncovered the foundation of the original meeting house.

And on this Juneteenth, the museum broke ground to rebuild it on that site. It will have shutters, but like the original, no glass windows. And the bricks will be laid on their sides as they were more than two centuries ago. open next year as part of the museum on the 250th anniversary of America and the first Baptist Church of Williamsburg, reclaiming precious history. Time to build up.

what was torn down. And that is the CBS Evening News this Juneteenth. I'll see you soon on Evening News Plus. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Have a good night. 50 years after Jaws scared an entire generation out of the water. I looked down, and there was this great big head, these big white teeth. Radiolab is pulling you back in.

It was just like so much fear building of what's going to come out of that blue. Listen to Swimming with Shadows, a Radiolab week of sharks. Anything you dig down on is fascinating, these creatures. wherever you get podcasts. Now streaming. When people go missing, I get hired to help find them. When lives are on the line. Coulter, please find my daughter. He's the man for the job. I'm going to do everything I can. Don't miss a moment. Coulter's in trouble. I can feel it. Of TV's number one.

Show. These people are dangerous. I'm doing this alone. Not at all. Every Batman gotta have their Robin. Call time! Justin Hartley stars. I made a promise. I would never stop looking. In Tracker. All episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus and returning CBS Fall.