A new intelligence report from the US says that recent military strikes on Iran only slowed down the country’s nuclear program by a few months. This goes against what former President Donald Trump claimed — that the sites were completely destroyed.
The report, shared with the media, says the strikes did damage some parts of Iran’s nuclear program. However, it did not destroy Iran’s stock of enriched uranium or stop its centrifuge machines. Many of the underground nuclear sites were only sealed off, not destroyed.
Trump disagreed with the report. He said that news outlets like CNN and The New York Times were lying to make the military look bad. On his Truth Social account, he repeated that the nuclear sites in Iran had been totally destroyed.
The White House confirmed that the report was real but said it was wrong. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested the leak was done to make the administration look bad. She insisted that dropping heavy bombs directly on target leads to total destruction.
Steven Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, also defended the attacks. He said Iran’s main nuclear sites — Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordo — were basically wiped out. According to him, most of Iran’s centrifuges were destroyed, and it would take years for Iran to rebuild.
The military operation happened over the weekend. B-2 stealth bombers dropped bunker-busting bombs, and a submarine launched Tomahawk missiles. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the attack a major blow to Iran’s nuclear efforts.
But General Dan Caine had a more cautious view. He said the strikes caused serious damage, but Iran still has the ability to restart its nuclear work later.
Iran responded by saying it had already prepared to restart the program if it was attacked. The country’s nuclear agency boss, Mohammad Eslami, said everything is running smoothly and nothing has stopped.
An advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, added that Iran still has enriched uranium and warned that this is far from over.
These US strikes came shortly after Israel carried out its own attack on June 13. That operation targeted Iran’s nuclear sites, scientists, and top military leaders to try to slow down the program.
Former President Trump had earlier tried to make a new deal with Iran after pulling the U.S. out of the 2015 nuclear agreement during his first term. But after several weeks of trying, he decided to go ahead with military action instead.
The Pentagon described the recent attack on Iran as one of the biggest in recent years. It involved more than 125 aircraft, including stealth bombers, fuel tankers, spy drones, and missile-launching submarines.
