President Donald Trump’s strikes likely did not “obliterate” Iranian nuclear facilities as he claims they did, according to an initial assessment by U.S. intelligence.
Rather, the damage was limited due to the sheer depth of the sites and the apparent fact that much of Iran’s enriched uranium had been moved.
Citing four unnamed people familiar with the early assessment, CNN was first to report that Saturday’s bombings did not destroy the core components of Iran’s nuclear program, likely setting it back by only a few months. Other outlets subsequently confirmed the report, similarly citing unnamed officials because the intelligence assessment is still classified.
The strikes appear to have collapsed the entrances to the facilities, but Iran’s nuclear facilities are housed deep underground in the sides of mountains, beneath layers of concrete.
The Defense Intelligence Agency assessment reportedly states that little nuclear material is believed to have been destroyed.
Some Israeli officials also believe the Iranians may have moved their uranium to smaller, more secret enrichment facilities before the attacks, according to The New York Times.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back hard on the suggestion that Trump is incorrect about the level of destruction.
She wrote on X, “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.”
She added that the leak represented “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 wrote.
Trump has refused to acknowledge that his airstrikes may not have reduced Iran’s nuclear facilities to rubble.
Three sites — Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — were sought by B-2 bombers flown from Missouri’s Whiteman Air Force Base with so-called “bunker-buster” munitions on board. The U.S. is the only nation believed to be capable of bombing a target as deep in the earth as Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites; the bombs’ incredible weight reportedly helps them bore up to 60 feet down before exploding.
“The sites that we hit in Iran were totally destroyed, and everyone knows it,” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social. “Only the Fake News would say anything different in order to try and demean, as much as possible.”
“Obliteration is an accurate term!” he wrote.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu similarly boasted that the U.S. “destroyed” the Fordo site.
“We sent Iran’s nuclear program down the drain,” Netanyahu said.
Iran launched a retaliatory attack on Qatar, home of a large U.S. military base, before a fragile ceasefire between Iran, Israel and the U.S. took hold.
Trump has warned Israel not to break the ceasefire, appearing frustrated with his ally as he departed the White House early Tuesday morning.
Israel and Iran, Trump said, have been fighting “so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.”
