US strikes fell short, only set back Iran's nuclear programme: Pentagon

The assessment was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's intelligence arm, and is in contradiction to the claims made by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu

The United States conducted military strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran. However, the core infrastructure of the programme remained intact. According to an early intelligence assessment reported by CNN, the strikes are believed to have caused only a temporary setback of a few months.

 

The assessment made by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm, stands in contrast to the claims made by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after military strikes targeted nuclear facilities in Iran over the weekend. The strikes came after the conflict between Israel and Iran escalated, with both sides engaging in counterstrikes and no end in sight.

 

 

The battle damage assessment was conducted by the US Central Command after the strikes carried out over the weekend, the report added. It also suggested that while the Saturday strikes at nuclear sites did significant damage, they were not destroyed completely.

 

It was also reported that before the US strikes hit these facilities, some of Iran’s highly enriched uranium was moved out of multiple sites, adding that some of Iran's centrifuges are largely intact.

 

Trump slams media over Iran report

 

US President Donald Trump reacted sharply to the report, denouncing it as “fake news”. Trump said CNN and The New York Times teamed up to “demean one of the most successful military strikes in history”.

 

In a statement shared on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Fake news CNN, together with the failing New York Times, have teamed up in an attempt to demean one of the most successful military strikes in history. The nuclear sites in Iran are completely destroyed! Both the Times and CNN are getting slammed by the public!”

 

Hegseth says bombs hit exact targets

 

Previously, in posts shared on social media, Trump had claimed that the strikes left the sites in Iran “totally destroyed” and that Iran would never rebuild its nuclear facilities. A similar statement was also made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who noted that Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated. Speaking to CNN, he said, “Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target and worked perfectly. The impact of those bombs is buried under a mountain of rubble in Iran; so anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the President and the successful mission.”

 

White House calls intel ‘flat-out wrong’

 

While the White House acknowledged the assessment, it did not agree with it. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a post on X, wrote, “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 further said, “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 programme.” 

Leavitt added that everyone knows what happens when you drop 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration. 

 

Strike assessment details 

Israel had been attacking nuclear facilities in Iran for days leading up to the intervention by the US military. However, the assessment revealed that it needed the US’ 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs to destroy the facilities. The assessment also noted that the majority of the destruction at the three nuclear locations was limited to surface-level structures. These included significant damage to the power supply systems and certain aboveground facilities involved in converting uranium into bomb-grade metal.

 

Israeli assessment of the impact also found that the US strikes did less damage to Fordow than expected. Israeli officials believed that the combination of US and Israeli actions on the nuclear sites would have pushed Iran’s nuclear ambition back by at least two years.