Trump doubles down on claim Iran strike 'completely destroyed' nuclear sites
President Trump is doubling down on the administration’s claim that U.S. military strikes “completely destroyed” Iran’s three nuclear sites last month, pushing back against a new assessment reportedly showing that only one of the three facilities was wrecked.
“All three nuclear sites in Iran were completely destroyed and/or OBLITERATED. It would take years to bring them back into service and, if Iran wanted to do so, they would be much better off starting anew, in three different locations, prior to those sites being obliterated, should they decide to do so,” Trump said in a Saturday morning post on Truth Social.
A new intelligence assessment, reported by multiple news outlets on Thursday, indicates that Iran’s nuclear enrichment site in Fordow was mostly destroyed during the June 21 strikes, but the two other principal sites — Natanz and Isfahan — were not and could potentially resume enriching uranium if Tehran greenlights it.
The Defense Department, along with the White House, pushed back on the assessment, contending that the airstrikes, carried out by B-2 bombers and submarines firing Tomahawk cruise missiles, destroyed all three facilities.
“The credibility of the Fake News Media is similar to that of the current state of the Iranian nuclear facilities: destroyed, in the dirt, and will take years to recover,” the department's chief spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. "President Trump was clear and the American people understand: Iran’s nuclear facilities in Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz were completely and totally obliterated."
"There is no doubt about that,” he added.
Parnell told reporters earlier this month that the Defense Department’s intelligence assessments indicated that Iran’s nuclear program was degraded by “one to two years.”
The Trump administration strongly criticized news outlets for reporting in June that an early, low-confidence report, compiled shortly after the U.S. strikes by the Defense Intelligence Agency, said that military strikes on the nuclear facilities only set Iran’s nuclear program back by months.
The U.S. military mission, called Operation Midnight Hammer, was launched on June 21, just days after Israel and Iran began trading blows.
Trump said in late June that he would consider bombing Iran’s nuclear sites again if U.S. intelligence raised more concerns about Tehran’s nuclear enrichment capabilities.