The U.S. military strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months, according to an early U.S. intelligence assessment that was described by three people briefed on it.

Washington

A preliminary assessment from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency suggests that recent American strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities did not destroy the core elements of Iran's nuclear program. The assessment, based on battle damage reports, indicates that the strikes only set back the program by several months, with most sensitive components, such as centrifuges and highly enriched uranium, remaining largely intact.

This finding contrasts with public statements from President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who have claimed that the strikes completely obliterated Iran's nuclear capabilities. The White House has disputed the intelligence assessment, calling it incorrect and criticizing its leak. The strikes caused significant damage to above-ground structures, including power infrastructure and facilities related to uranium processing, but the core underground components appear to have survived.

Report: U.S. strikes on Iran did not destroy nuclear sites

Yeah, Boris, so this is an early assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency, which is the Pentagon's intelligence arm. And we do want to emphasize that the intelligence, of course, is ongoing. The collection is ongoing. And the assessments as a result of that intelligence could change. But as of right now, the DIA has produced this intelligence assessment that we are told was based on the battle damage assessment that U.S. Central Command has done following those massive bombings and strikes that the U.S. carried out inside Iran last weekend. And what we are told is that based on the assessments of the damage that these bombs implemented on these nuclear sites, that as of right now, it does not appear that they ended or obliterated Iran's nuclear program. Instead, they only set it back by months, according to people who were briefed on the assessment. Now, these findings are obviously at odds with President Donald Trump's repeated assertions that the strikes, quote, completely and totally obliterated Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities, something that has been echoed as well by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. But we did ask the White House for comments on this, and they appeared to acknowledge the existence of the assessment, but they said that they disagreed with it. According to White House Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt, she said, quote, this alleged assessment is flat out wrong. She said it was classified as top secret, but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous low-level loser in the intelligence community. 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 program. Everyone knows what happens when you drop 14 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets. Total obliteration. Now, it's worth noting that there has been some disagreement within the intelligence community and the defense community about just what kind of impact these massive bunker busting 30,000 pound bombs would actually have on Iranian nuclear facilities, because they have never been used in combat before. They have been tested extensively, but when it comes to actually dropping them on Iranian nuclear facilities, many of which are very deeply buried underground, the impact of those bombs has been unclear. And so it appears that while these bombs did, in fact, inflict significant damage on the above ground structures at these nuclear facilities, the most sensitive and core parts of the nuclear program, which include the centrifuges, which include the highly enriched uranium, those do not appear to have been severely impacted, if impacted at all, with one of our sources who has seen the assessment describing all of those core components as largely intact. And so this is obviously going to raise new questions about why President Trump and the administration have been saying repeatedly that Iran's nuclear program has essentially been ended, that it has been completely obliterated. But we should also note that Secretary of Defense Hegseth did give us a statement as well, and he said that based on everything we have seen, and I've seen it all, our bombing campaign obliterated Iran's ability to create nuclear weapons. 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. Now, it is worth emphasizing again that while the damage, we are told, according to this DIA assessment, was largely limited to the above ground structures, those above ground structures are not insignificant. They include sites power infrastructure, they include some of those facilities that are used to actually turn uranium into metal for bomb making. But again, you know, this very early assessment suggests that the military strikes that were carried out on Saturday may not have gone as far as President Trump has suggested they have.

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