A preliminary U.S.
intelligence assessment has determined that U.S. strikes over
the weekend on Iranian nuclear facilities have set back Tehran’s
program by only a matter of months, three sources with knowledge
of the matter told Reuters.
The initial report was prepared by the Defense Intelligence
Agency, the Pentagon’s main intelligence arm and one of 18 U.S.
intelligence agencies, said two of the sources, who requested
anonymity to discuss classified matters.
The classified assessment is at odds with the statements of
President Donald Trump and high-ranking U.S. officials –
including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. They have said the
weekend strikes, which used a combination of bunker-busting
bombs and more conventional weapons, essentially eliminated
Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump’s administration on Tuesday told the U.N Security
Council that its weekend strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities
had “degraded” Iran’s nuclear program, short of Trump’s earlier
assertion that the facilities had been “obliterated.”
Asked for comment, the White House pointed to a statement by
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt to CNN, which first
reported the assessment, that the “alleged” conclusion was
“flat-out wrong.”
“Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000
pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,” she
said.
Trump has said the attacks were necessary to prevent Iran
from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran denies it is seeking such
a weapon and says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
Hegseth on Sunday said that the strikes had “obliterated”
Iran’s nuclear ambitions, while Trump said Iran’s crucial
nuclear sites had been “completely and fully obliterated.”
Assessing the damage at the Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz
nuclear sites is expected to be a difficult task, and the DIA is
not the only agency tasked with the job. One source said the
assessment was not universally accepted and had generated
significant disagreement.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
the U.S. did not know the extent of the damage yet.
Still, the initial assessment indicated the strikes may not
have been nearly as successful as the Trump administration has
claimed.
One of the sources said Iran’s enriched uranium stocks had
not been eliminated, and in fact the country’s nuclear program
may have been set back only a month or two.
The Pentagon disputed the notion that the damage to Iran’s
nuclear program was minor, though it did not dispute that the
DIA assessment exists.
“Based on everything we have seen \u2014 and I’ve seen it all \u2014
our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create
nuclear weapons,” Hegseth said in a statement provided to
Reuters.
“Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each
target\u2014and 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.”
Initial military assessments can change as more information
comes to light and it is not uncommon for opinions to vary
across different U.S. intelligence agencies.
Democrats have previously said Trump’s claims that the
weekend strikes eliminated or seriously set back Iran’s nuclear
program were not yet backed by evidence.
“There’s zero evidence that I’ve seen that the nuclear
program was completely and totally obliterated as Donald Trump
has claimed,” House of Representatives Democratic Leader Hakeem
Jeffries said on Monday.
Classified briefings on the matter for members of the House<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A preliminary U.S.intelligence assessment has determined that U.S. strikes overthe weekend on Iranian nuclear facilities have set back Tehran’sprogram by only a matter of months, three sources with knowledgeof the matter told Reuters.The initial report was prepared by the Defense IntelligenceAgency, the Pentagon’s main intelligence arm and one of 18 U.S.intelligence agencies, said two of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n