President Donald Trump reaffirmed on Wednesday his assertion that U.S. airstrikes had completely eradicated Iran’s nuclear ambitions, responding to emerging intelligence reports that challenge this narrative.
“It’s been obliterated, totally obliterated,” he remarked about the Iranian nuclear facility at Fordo during a press conference while departing a NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands.
However, a preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment indicates that the military operations targeting three Iranian nuclear sites did not entirely dismantle these facilities.
According to this assessment, which was initially reported by CNN and corroborated by NBC News, the strikes are expected to have delayed Iran’s nuclear program by a matter of months rather than years.
Trump acknowledged the existence of the Defense Intelligence Agency’s report, which has not been publicly released but has been described to journalists by sources familiar with it. He criticized the intelligence findings, claiming they lacked sufficient evidence.
“They did a report, but it was like, if you look at the dates, it’s just a few days after, so they didn’t see” the sites, Trump stated.
“The report was not a complete report,” he added.
He noted that the report indicated that the damage from the U.S. airstrikes “may be very severe,” and expressed frustration that this aspect was overlooked in mainstream media coverage.
The intelligence assessments contradict claims from Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who had previously asserted that the bombings had completely “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
The White House has vehemently disputed the intelligence report. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt labeled the initial assessment as “flat-out wrong,” dismissing the credibility of the “anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community” responsible for leaking its findings.
Further support came from Hegseth, who stated on Tuesday evening that “anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the President and the successful mission.”
In response to the leak, the Pentagon has initiated a “leak investigation” with the FBI, as noted by Hegseth on Wednesday. He remarked that the report was only preliminary and had been classified with a “low confidence” rating.
During the press briefing alongside Trump, Hegseth criticized what he described as “fake news” and continued to defend the airstrikes by asserting that “if you want to make an assessment of what happened at Fordo, you better get a big shovel and go really deep, because Iran’s nuclear program is obliterated.”
The White House also disseminated a statement from Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission, which claimed that the U.S. assault on Fordo “destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable.” The commission further stated that the combined efforts of the U.S. and Israel have significantly delayed Iran’s capacity to develop nuclear weapons for many years.
Classified briefings intended for the House and Senate regarding the situation in Iran, originally scheduled for Tuesday, were unexpectedly postponed. The Senate briefing has since been rescheduled for Thursday, while House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., confirmed that his chamber’s briefing will take place on Friday.
