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The United States bombed Iran and risked a potential destabilization of an entire region and potential all-out war, but at least we crippled their nuclear program for the foreseeable future, right? It doesn’t appear so, actually.
According to reports from multiple outlets, an initial assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies indicates that Saturday’s airstrikes against three major Iranian nuclear facilities didn’t actually destroy the nation’s uranium enrichment program and research capabilities.
According to three sources who spoke to CNN, the country’s nuclear program was likely only set back a few months. The report originated from the Pentagon’s intelligence arm.
Sources who spoke to The New York Times gave a similar assessment, indicating that while the targeted attacks with “bunker buster” munitions managed to bury the entrances of two of the nuclear facilities, they did not destroy the main structures. This includes Fordow, the headquarters of the Iranian nuclear program built deep underneath a mountain.
The findings directly contradict claims from President Donald Trump, who asserted shortly after the strikes that the operation was a “spectacular military success,” and that “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”
Even before news of the assessment broke, early analysis of post-strike satellite images by non-governmental experts indicated that the strikes had not succeeded in the total destruction desired by the president. When asked by reporters on Tuesday morning about such reports, Trump responded that “CNN is scum, and also MSDNC.”
“That place is demolished,” he said, calling CNN and MSNBC “gutless losers” who ought to apologize to the B-2 bombers who flew the bombs to Iran.
The assessment also reportedly indicates that Iran may have moved its stockpile out of the bases ahead of the strikes. Nuclear inspectors from the United Nations previously indicated that such a move was possible, and have demanded access to the sites in order to assess potential damage. In the past several days, both Vice President J.D. Vance and Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, have conceded that they do not know if Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium were in the targeted bases when the strikes took place.
The White House bashed the reports, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt writing on social media that “this alleged ‘assessment’ is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community. The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program.”
“Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,” Leavitt added.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied the accuracy of the assessment in a statement given to his former employer, Fox News, telling the network that “based on everything we have seen, our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons, our bombs to the right spots at each target and worked perfectly.”
Time and further assessment will tell, but for now the Trump administration is doubling down on its claims of total and complete victory, while attempting to keep a handle on an extremely fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
