Details revealed in U.S. strikes against Iran

And CBS News White House reporter Olivia Rinaldi joins us now with more on this. Olivia, very good to see you. It was certainly a passionate press conference. Did we learn anything new about Operation Midnight Hammer and how this all unfolded? Well, Nancy, it was actually fascinating in the briefing. Despite the contention that we heard from the Secretary of Defense, we heard a lot from the Joint Chiefs of Staff leader, General Caine. And he essentially laid out how we got to this point, which was that there's a group that does defensive threat assessments for the United States. And 15 years ago, they noticed that this facility, which they thought was Iran enriching uranium, was starting to be built underground. So they started the assessment of how they would conduct these attacks 15 years ago. And it's been the same two people working on that job since then. And because of that, they were able to notice that the facility was being built underground. There were ventilator systems. There were entry points and exits. And that is how they essentially became able to make this bunker-buster bomb because we had no weapons at the time that could penetrate that deep, about 300 feet deep into the side of a mountain, to destroy this site if they would eventually need to, which, last Saturday, they made that call that this is something that they need to do. So because of that, we learned a lot of details about this operation. We know it was about 36 hours in the skies for those B-2 bombers. And they dropped about 14 30,000-pound bombs on various sites, three different sites in Iran. So a lot of details we learned there among the contention we heard from the Secretary of Defense.

And Olivia, we're also getting a look at the path forward from here at the White House today. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke about potential diplomacy with Iran. I want to ask you about that. But first, let's take a listen.

I can assure all of you, we continue to be in close communication with the Iranians and through our intermediaries as well, namely, the Qataris, who have been an incredible ally and partner throughout this entire effort. And as I said, this administration is always focused on diplomacy and peace. So, Olivia, what do we know about the extent of these talks between the administration and Iran? Well, the president yesterday, during that press conference at NATO, said that there will be talks next week between the US and Iran. This would be the first round of diplomacy that would happen since those strikes occurred last Saturday. So Karoline was asked in the briefing today if there is a meeting scheduled. She said, at the moment, there is no meeting scheduled between the US and Iran. But you heard her there say that there are still conversations happening between the two governments, whether that's between intermediaries or others that are helping in those conversations. And we know that Special Envoy Steve Witkoff has met with the Iranians at least five times in the last several weeks, as we've been getting to this point where the strikes ended up happening. So as a result, we know that they are trying to work on diplomacy, but there is no official meeting scheduled yet. And that is essentially where we're at for steps forward in the fallout from everything that has occurred within the last week, Nancy.

And a lot has happened in the last week, Olivia. We also understand top national security officials are meeting with senators for a classified briefing on those strikes. What do we know about that? Yeah, this was that briefing that was rescheduled from earlier in the week. We know the senators will be getting a briefing today that will include Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth talking about the strikes, their efficacy, and what this looks like for Iran's nuclear program. And I suspect a question that will be asked specifically by Democrats is, why now? Why did this need to be done now? What was the intelligence you saw at that moment that would require this to be done last Saturday, these strikes?

Olivia, we always appreciate your time. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Earlier, we spoke with retired Marine Colonel Mark Cancian about that Pentagon press briefing, and he believes the weapons, quote, "struck where they're supposed to strike" and set back Iran's nuclear program, possibly pressuring the country to make a deal. But he also says the new insight offer does not imply the full-scale attack being touted by the Trump administration. Political side, they are clearly using exaggerated and expressive language. It's important to keep an eye on what the intelligence community and what the military is saying because they are not willing to do that. In fact, General Cain was asked whether he was being pressured to change his views, and he said no. He was expressing his personal views. In the meantime, Iranian lawmakers are moving forward with a bill to suspend the country's cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog following the strikes on its nuclear sites. The bill is now headed to the president for final approval.