Minutes after President Trump announced that U.S. airmen had safely left Iranian airspace following successful strikes on Iran’s nuclear weapon enrichment facilities Saturday night, CNN’s Clarissa Ward took to CNN Newsroom to gripe about how Trump threw a “curveball” into the plans of European leaders who wanted to negotiate with the regime. She went further and suggested that innocent Iranian people were going to “to pay the consequences” for Trump’s decision.
“And so, this is kind of Pandora's box,” Ward told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, lamenting that efforts from European leaders were for not:
This is the whole reason that the Europeans had tried to gather everyone together to sit down in Geneva with limited success, granted, but with some kind of a rough framework, at least for a path forward; and with the hope, perhaps naively, that this two week timeline meant that there was two weeks to try to coalesce some kind of consensus around some sort of framework.
“But it definitely throws a real curveball to anybody who is involved in trying to work on the diplomatic component,” she huffed.
Later, Ward warned that the Islamist regime could be more dangerous than ever. “[A] wounded dog can be their most dangerous when they're kind of on the back foot, when they are weakened,” she said.
Ward suggests that Trump's decision to take out Iran's nuclear weapon enrichment facilities will lead to innocent Iranian people being punished for it.
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) June 22, 2025
"Now, the fear is they could face the [regime's] retaliation of this." pic.twitter.com/SRdXjPNI0d
Wrong. They would be more dangerous with nuclear bombs.
Ward went on to share the fears of an Iranian journalist she was in contact with, suggesting that what happened could lead the regime to conduct retaliatory attacks on the people: “And she said something that really sort of struck me. She said, ‘if the war continues, the country will be destroyed. And if it doesn't, the Islamic Republic will take its revenge on us.’
“And I think for people like this, and there are a lot of them on the ground, this is a profoundly frightening moment, because in some ways they are going to be the ones to pay the consequences,” Ward declared. “They are going to be the ones to wake up tomorrow to a new normal with all the risks that that entails.”
Adding: “And so now the feeling is that they could face the retaliation of this. They could face the wrath of the wounded dogs.”
If the regime were to retaliate against their own people – in an attempt to satiate their impotent rage – it would be on them. To blame anyone one else would be a remove the culpability and responsibility from the perpetrator; like a domestic abuser saying “look at what you made me do.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN Newsroom
June 21, 2025
8:37:32 a.m. Eastern(…)
CLARISSA WARD: And so, this is kind of Pandora's box. This is the whole reason that the Europeans had tried to gather everyone together to sit down in Geneva with limited success, granted, but with some kind of a rough framework, at least for a path forward; and with the hope, perhaps naively, that this two week timeline meant that there was two weeks to try to coalesce some kind of consensus around some sort of framework.
It's clear now that the two weeks was a ruse, and indeed many Israeli officials who we've been talking to, the more optimistic ones, had always thought that perhaps this was a ruse. This was smoke and mirrors to throw people off the scent and then go ahead and act militarily.
But it definitely throws a real curveball to anybody who is involved in trying to work on the diplomatic component. And certainly makes sense why we have seen the U.S. Embassy made the decision to close here in Jerusalem for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. They've been frantically trying to evacuate people out of the country, and I think people are going to be waking up to a new dawn, a new reality, a new Middle East, and a huge amount of ambiguity around what comes next.
(…)
8:53:29 p.m. Eastern
WARD: And I think that, you know, when you talk to people in Iran – and I'm actually just talking right now to a woman who's a journalist inside Iran – that's sort of exactly the fear: that a wounded dog can be their most dangerous when they're kind of on the back foot, when they are weakened.
I've just been speaking to this woman. I've been talking to her throughout the last couple of weeks, but particularly obviously in the last week. She just messaged me to say, ‘My god, everybody's awake. Everybody's in shock.’ Obviously’ they haven't had internet. It comes in in small waves. She's asking, you know, ‘what do you think is going to happen? How will it continue?’ And she said something that really sort of struck me. She said, ‘if the war continues, the country will be destroyed. And if it doesn't, the Islamic Republic will take its revenge on us.’
And I think she speaks for a very specific voice in Iran. But it's an important voice because it's a voice we're not hearing so much of, because there's so much fear about speaking out in Iran, which is that voice of people who feel caught in the middle, who have no love for the regime and the ayatollahs, who have seen their friends and activists killed for literally dancing in YouTube videos. But it will also have no love for Israel, who also are fierce patriots who resent the very idea of being sort of bombed into submission or regime change.
And I think for people like this, and there are a lot of them on the ground, this is a profoundly frightening moment, because in some ways they are going to be the ones to pay the consequences. Right? They are going to be the ones to wake up tomorrow to a new normal with all the risks that that entails.
She told me that people are being rounded up and arrested because obviously we have our own Fred Pleitgen who is inside Tehran. When you suggest to people, ‘would you like to try to make contact with Fred?’ The answer is like, ‘absolutely not,’ because there is such deep fear. There is such deep fear about talking to anyone, risking your life.
And so now the feeling is that they could face the retaliation of this. They could face the wrath of the wounded dogs.
(…)
