Trump Denies Limited Impact of US Strikes on Iran's Nuclear Program

In a recent NATO summit, President Trump asserted that US military action against Iran significantly disrupted its nuclear ambitions, despite a leaked report suggesting otherwise.

Former President Donald Trump and top officials are contesting a leaked intelligence report which claims that US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities have only delayed the country's nuclear program by a few months. Instead, during a NATO summit in The Hague, Trump emphasized the extensive damage inflicted on Iran's nuclear capabilities, suggesting it set back their program "by decades."

The controversial preliminary assessment from the Pentagon, described as being made with "low confidence," reportedly conveyed that while entrances to key enrichment sites such as Fordo and Natanz were sealed, the underground structures remained unharmed. This led to pushback from the White House, which dismissed the claims as "flat-out wrong."

Following the bombings last Saturday, sources revealed that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not entirely destroyed. Trump, while recognizing the uncertainty of the initial assessment, ultimately expressed confidence in the success of the strikes, comparing them to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima during World War II, though he hesitated to use such comparisons.

Accompanying Trump at the summit, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the leaked assessment politically motivated, insisting that the strikes had hit their intended targets accurately. Hegseth characterized the findings of the leak as speculative and critical of the motives behind the release of the information. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also questioned the credibility of the report, labeling the leakers as untrustworthy.

The assessment highlighted that some of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile may have been relocated before the strikes. Reports indicated that the majority of Iran's centrifuges remained unharmed, with only the above-ground facilities suffering damage.

In military intelligence parlance, a "low confidence" rating implies that the information is less reliable due to its fragmented nature. Given this context, the findings may potentially evolve with further intelligence data coming to light. The US executed strikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran using "bunker buster" munitions designed for penetrating fortified underground sites, yet the extent of damage beneath the surface remains unclear.

Despite the assessments, US and Israeli officials have hailed the operation as a success. In contrast, Iranian officials stated that the targets were evacuated prior to the strikes, downplaying any significant impact to their nuclear program. As the situation unfolds, opinions and interpretations of the strikes and their outcomes continue to diverge.