US President Donald Trump disputed an intelligence report that found the airstrikes he ordered on Iran had only a limited impact on its nuclear program, even though the assessment came from the Pentagon.
"The nuclear sites in Iran are completely destroyed," Trump said on Truth Social. He said CNN and the New York Times, which first reported the intelligence findings on Tuesday, "have teamed up in an attempt to demean one of the most successful military strikes in history."
Later, speaking to reporters at a NATO summit in The Hague on Wednesday, he said the report was "very inconclusive" but that he still believed the sites were demolished.
"The intelligence says we don't know," he said. "It could have been very severe. That's what the intelligence says. So I guess that's correct, but I think we can take that we don't know. It was very severe. It was obliteration."
He also suggested Israel would soon be able to give a firm assessment because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "going to have people involved in that whole situation."
The assessment from the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency said the bombing on June 22 likely didn't cripple the core components of Iran's program below ground, including its centrifuges, according to people familiar with its contents. The findings are in line with open-source satellite imagery that shows new craters, possible collapsed tunnel entrances and holes on top of a mountain ridge but no conclusive evidence the attack breached the most heavily protected underground facilities.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has backed Trump's viewpoint on the success of the strikes in Iran. He said the Pentagon's report was "preliminary" and "low confidence," adding that the leak would be investigated.
Trump had said the strikes - on atomic sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan - "totally obliterated" their targets, and dismissed reports casting doubt on the claim. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X Tuesday that the intelligence finding of limited impact was "flat-out wrong."
"The nuclear sites in Iran are completely destroyed," Trump said on Truth Social. He said CNN and the New York Times, which first reported the intelligence findings on Tuesday, "have teamed up in an attempt to demean one of the most successful military strikes in history."
Later, speaking to reporters at a NATO summit in The Hague on Wednesday, he said the report was "very inconclusive" but that he still believed the sites were demolished.
"The intelligence says we don't know," he said. "It could have been very severe. That's what the intelligence says. So I guess that's correct, but I think we can take that we don't know. It was very severe. It was obliteration."
He also suggested Israel would soon be able to give a firm assessment because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "going to have people involved in that whole situation."
The assessment from the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency said the bombing on June 22 likely didn't cripple the core components of Iran's program below ground, including its centrifuges, according to people familiar with its contents. The findings are in line with open-source satellite imagery that shows new craters, possible collapsed tunnel entrances and holes on top of a mountain ridge but no conclusive evidence the attack breached the most heavily protected underground facilities.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has backed Trump's viewpoint on the success of the strikes in Iran. He said the Pentagon's report was "preliminary" and "low confidence," adding that the leak would be investigated.
Trump had said the strikes - on atomic sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan - "totally obliterated" their targets, and dismissed reports casting doubt on the claim. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X Tuesday that the intelligence finding of limited impact was "flat-out wrong."
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