President Trump says U.S. strikes obliterated Iran's three nuclear sites, but a report characterizing an early U.S. assessment suggests the strikes only caused a months-long setback in Iran's nuclear ambitions. Charlie D'Agata has more.

Tehran

The United States has joined Israel in striking nuclear targets in Iran. It follows an escalating broader conflict in the region including the ongoing Gaza war.

Iran Strikes

A preliminary assessment by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency indicates that recent B-2 strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites did not result in their total destruction, contrary to statements from the U.S. president. The report suggests the attacks caused damage such as loss of water and electricity and caved-in entrances, setting back Iran's nuclear program by several months.

Israeli officials claim the strikes, combined with their own efforts, have set back Iran's nuclear ambitions for years, but the U.S. assessment remains cautious and is described as low-confidence. The Pentagon has not yet been able to physically inspect the sites, and much of the intelligence relies on external sources, including Israeli intelligence. Further updates are expected as more information becomes available.

Assessing the true impact of U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear sites

We begin the broadcast with questions about the effectiveness of the B-2 strikes on Iran's three nuclear sites. The president says the strikes obliterated the targets, but a report characterizing an early U.S. assessment suggests the strikes only caused a months-long setback in Iran's nuclear ambitions. Here to update us and discuss why this matters is CBS News national security correspondent Charlie Daggett. Charlie, I gave the introduction there to all the back and forth. Where do things stand now on this question of how much damage there was? Yeah, John, the first question on any military operation, big or small, is did it achieve its desired effect? There's nothing in that initial assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency, that's out of the Pentagon, that suggests total obliteration according to sources. In fact, that's not even in the vocabulary used in a traditional battle damage assessment, which ranges from light damage to destroyed. Even semantics aside, it suggests the strikes knocked out water and electricity, caved in entrances to the sites, and that Iran's nuclear program might be set back a few months. The Israelis go a little bit further, saying the prime minister—and this comes from the prime minister's office—saying through the combined efforts of the Israelis and those bombing raids by the U.S., Iran's nuclear program has been set back for years and that it will never recover. But we should note here that the Defense Intelligence Agency released a statement this morning saying, look, this is a preliminary, low-confidence report assessment, not a final conclusion. And importantly, they have not been able to review the actual physical sites themselves. Charlie, the secretary of defense said all of this question about whether it worked or didn't work is really just gotcha about the president. Help people understand what hinges on getting this right and knowing exactly how effective the attack was. Well, as a matter of fact, we might find out more about that tomorrow, how far along the assessment has come, when Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the joint chiefs of staff hold a briefing here at the Pentagon at around 8 o'clock, at least in terms of like how the assessment is being conducted and more about the process itself, right, how you get the information. Again, it's early, so I'm not sure we'll get solid evidence. Why this preliminary report has been described as low-confidence assessment, ideally, you'd want to get the IAEA in there, the nuclear watchdog, to get access, but that doesn't look likely. A lot of it's going to rely on intelligence, and a lot of that may rely on Israeli intelligence. Israeli Mossad agents have been operating inside Iran for years. They would have developed their own spy network there, but then you're going to have thornier issues, like verification that the information they presented is accurate and stands up to scrutiny, because we've already seen how this has been politicized. Indeed, we have. Charlie Daggett at the Pentagon.

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Assessing the true impact of U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear sites

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