Trump claimed Iran’s nuclear sites sustained “monumental damage,” while other administration officials say an assessment is ongoing.
Key Facts
An intelligence report issued by the Defense Intelligence Agency on Monday suggests Iran’s nuclear program was delayed less than six months, unnamed officials familiar with the assessment told multiple outlets, and one official told the New York Times the U.S. strikes closed off entrances to two enrichment facilities but “did not collapse their underground buildings.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had said on ABC News on Monday the U.S. was “confident” Iran’s nuclear program was “completely and totally obliterated,” noting there was a “high degree of confidence” the locations the U.S. strikes took place is where Iran stored its enriched uranium and that Iran “no longer [has] the capability … to threaten the world.”
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi appeared to dispute those claims in a statement earlier Monday by suggesting the agency would need to verify damage to Iran’s underground Fordow facility, including whether the site’s uranium enrichment halls were impacted, though he noted the U.S. strikes likely caused “very significant” damage.
On Sunday, hours after the mission, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said an assessment on damage to Iran’s nuclear sites was “still pending,” and Caine claimed it was “way too early for me to comment on what may or may not still be there.”
Vance, in an interview with ABC on Sunday, suggested the U.S. strikes only set back Iran’s potential to weaponize its uranium stockpile and said the U.
