Iran's stockpiles of enriched uranium remain untouched and key centrifuges have been largely left intact, sources tell CNN, contradicting Trump’s claim of total destruction
WASHINGTON — A preliminary US intelligence assessment found that recent American military strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities failed to destroy key components of Iran’s nuclear programme and likely only set it back by a few months, CNN reported on Tuesday.
The assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), a key intelligence agency within the US Department of Defence, is based on a battle damage assessment conducted by US Central Command in the aftermath of the early Sunday morning strikes, said CNN, citing one of seven anonymous sources it says were briefed on the findings.
While the analysis remains ongoing and could change as more data becomes available, it nonetheless clashes with US President Donald Trump’s repeated public insistence that the strikes obliterated the facilities at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US strikes “obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons.”
His remarks were later posted by Trump on his Truth Social account.
“Based on everything we have seen — and I’ve seen it all — our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons,” Trump posted, quoting Hegseth.
Hegseth further emphasised the scale of the operation, saying: “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.”
Two of the sources cited by CNN said however that Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium were not destroyed, while another said the centrifuges used to enrich uranium remain significantly “intact.”
“So the (DIA) assessment is that the US set them back maybe a few months, tops,” said one of the sources.
The White House sharply rebuffed the analysis but appeared to acknowledge its existence.
“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,” spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“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. Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,” she added.
Israel began its air campaign against Iran’s military and nuclear facilities on June 13, striking several of the same sites hit by the US on Sunday.
The US struck the Fordo and Natanz facilities with 14 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs dropped from B-2 stealth bombers, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine said Sunday.
Over two dozen submarine-launched cruise missiles targeted the Isfahan site, he added.
Trump has maintained that the sites “were totally destroyed, and everyone knows it.”
“It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear facilities & capability, and then, STOP THE WAR! ” he said on social media Tuesday. — IANS
