WASHINGTON — Every week after President Donald Trump ordered a U.S. assault on three Iranian nuclear websites, the reasons and descriptions of what occurred voiced by him, prime aides and early intelligence stories paint contrasting photos of the extent of the harm to Iran’s nuclear program.
Whereas the president and Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth repeatedly claimed that Iran’s nuclear program has been “obliterated,” preliminary assessments – together with from the Pentagon’s personal intelligence wing – painted an evolving image because the week went on.
Trump stated he ordered the assault on June 21 to strike a uranium enrichment web site positioned in 300 ft deep in a mountain in Fordo in northwestern Iran, an uranium enrichment web site in Natanz and the Isfahan Nuclear Expertise Heart following stories that Iranian officers didn’t adjust to worldwide nuclear laws.
And as these early harm assessments forged doubt on the extent to which Iran nuclear program was crippled, a number of of Trump’s prime aides and allied lawmakers additionally appeared to cut back the acknowledged objectives of the assault.
Listed below are a few of the accounts and characterizations during the last week.
Officers label mission successful, however present few particulars to start out
On Sunday morning, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed Trump’s assertion from Saturday night time, simply after the strikes, that the websites had been “obliterated.”
“It was clear we devastated the Iranian nuclear program,” he added.
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, nevertheless, declined to go as far, saying it might take extra time to evaluate the extent of the harm completed.
Hegseth acknowledged that harm evaluation was ongoing however caught by the outline he and Trump had been utilizing.
“All of our precision munitions struck the place we needed them to strike and had the specified impact, which implies particularly the first goal right here, we imagine we achieved destruction of capabilities there,” he stated.
Pentagon preliminary harm report leaks
Officers and inspectors from outdoors Iran haven’t been capable of achieve direct entry to the bombed websites to make a first-hand evaluation.
Trump officers had a extra nuanced take after information stories surfaced Tuesday about an preliminary Protection Intelligence Company evaluation that stated the assault set again Iran’s nuclear program solely by months.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the leaks of the navy’s report however didn’t go so far as to say that the websites had been obliterated.
As a substitute, he insisted that “very vital, substantial harm was completed” to key parts of Iran’s nuclear program, “and we’re simply studying extra about it.”
On the similar time, Rubio supplied extra particulars concerning the assault, together with that the bunker-buster bombs had been dropped on air flow shafts main deep inside Fordo’s closely fortified facility — buried, officers and specialists stated, 200 to 300 ft inside a mountain.
He in the end acknowledged that it was tough to get a learn on harm inflicted to Fordo at this level, however asserted “the underside line is actual harm was completed.”
President Donald Trump speaks on the NATO summit as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth pay attention in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025.
(AP Picture/Alex Brandon)
That very same day, Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard claimed in a press release that the three services had been destroyed.
The director normal of the U.N.’s nuclear oversight company, the Worldwide Atomic Power Company, Rafael Grossi, stated Wednesday that he believed a few of Iran’s enriched uranium had been moved from the websites earlier than the assaults.
Trump refuted that evaluation.
“It will have taken two weeks, possibly. Nevertheless it’s very arduous to take away that type of materials, very arduous and really harmful. Plus, they knew we had been coming, and in the event that they know we’re coming, they don’t seem to be going to be down there,” he stated Wednesday.
Trump reiterated that the websites and the uranium had been buried underneath rubble and inaccessible, including that vans seen in satellite tv for pc photographs on the plant earlier than the assault — which some speculated may have been used to maneuver the nuclear materials — had been building autos getting used to cowl the air flow shaft openings with protecting concrete.
In response to the 2 individuals conversant in the DIA’s categorized report, the bombing sealed off the entrances to 2 of the three nuclear websites focused within the assault however many of the harm was completed to buildings above floor, leaving the decrease buildings intact.
The evaluation additionally discovered that at the very least some enriched uranium remained – probably moved from the nuclear websites forward of the blasts.
The following day, on Thursday, Hegseth held a information convention the place he slammed the information media over reporting however didn’t make the identical evaluation on the nuclear supplies.
Requested twice throughout the briefing if he could possibly be extra definitive about whether or not the enriched uranium was moved earlier than the assault, Hegseth stated the Pentagon was “watching each facet.”
At that very same Thursday briefing, Caine famous it isn’t his job to evaluate the harm, saying, “We do not grade our personal homework.”
Facility destruction downplayed by officers, ceasefire emphasised
Hegseth additionally highlighted what gave the impression to be a distinct purpose of the mission, arguing the assault had succeeded as a result of it led to stopping the combating between Iran and Israel – fairly than the services’ destruction as a result of it destroyed Iran’s nuclear program.
“We obtained that peace, that ceasefire, that possibility due to energy, due to [Trump’s] willingness to make use of American navy may that nobody else on the planet can do with the type of planners and operators that the chairman simply laid out,” he stated.
Then, on Friday, Trump echoed that sentiment.
“They put out that fireplace as soon as that occurred, as soon as these bombs obtained dropped out, that warfare was over,” he stated.
Nonetheless, the president claimed once more that the websites had been obliterated throughout a information convention.
“We completed them off,” he stated, including, “I do not imagine that they are going to return into nuclear anytime quickly.”
Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian international minister stated on Iranian State TV Thursday, nevertheless, the services weren’t destroyed and his nation could have leverage in negotiations.
The destiny of the enriched uranium
On Capitol Hill on Thursday, after administration officers gave lawmakers a categorized briefing on the strikes, Republican lawmakers acknowledged that the U.S. strikes might not have destroyed Iran’s cache of enriched uranium. However they stated that wasn’t a part of the mission.
“The aim of the mission was to remove sure specific facets of their nuclear program. These had been eradicated. To eliminate the nuclear materials was not a part of the mission,” Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., advised CNN.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., stated the “program was obliterated at these three websites,” however added, “I do not know the place the 900 kilos of extremely enriched uranium exists. Nevertheless it wasn’t a part of the targets there.”
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