An initial U.S. intelligence report indicates that the airstrikes ordered by President Donald Trump against Iran’s nuclear facilities have indeed set back Tehran’s nuclear program by a few months; however, they did not eliminate it entirely. This assessment contradicts claims made by Trump and his top aides regarding the overall success of the mission, according to two anonymous sources familiar with the report.
The classified report, prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), is grounded in the Pentagon’s early evaluation of the damage inflicted by the strikes on key nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. These sites were targeted using advanced earth-penetrating munitions deployed by B-2 bombers and Tomahawk missiles launched from submarines. According to one source, the report concludes that the strikes failed to destroy the core components of Iran’s nuclear program, merely delaying it by a matter of months.
Furthermore, the intelligence suggests that Iran had already moved several batches of its highly-enriched uranium out of these nuclear sites prior to the strikes, leaving its uranium stockpiles largely unaffected. This information was relayed by an anonymous individual who discussed sensitive intelligence matters under the condition of anonymity.
Despite the findings of the intelligence report, President Trump has consistently proclaimed the airstrikes as a complete success. In a recent social media post, he stated, “The sites that we hit in Iran were totally destroyed, and everyone knows it.” CNN was the first to report on the DIA's findings earlier this week, stirring a significant response from the Trump administration.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt refuted the conclusions of the report, labeling it as "flat-out wrong." She did not deny the existence of the report but criticized the leak, attributing it to “a low-level loser in the intelligence community.” Leavitt asserted that the leaks aim to undermine President Trump and discredit the military pilots involved in the operation, claiming, “Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”
Nonproliferation experts and weapons analysts have long argued that completely dismantling Iran’s extensive nuclear infrastructure through bombing alone is nearly impossible. Israel has also targeted various segments of Iran’s nuclear program since the airstrikes began on June 13, claiming to have killed several senior nuclear scientists. Nevertheless, Iran has been developing its nuclear capabilities for decades and possesses a robust team of experts.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimates that components of Iran's nuclear program are distributed across 30 locations, some of which are acknowledged and subject to IAEA inspections, while others are not. Just before Israel commenced its attacks, Iran announced plans to construct another underground centrifuge and storage facility near Natanz—an installation reportedly buried deeper than the Fordow site, which has not been targeted by either Israel or the United States.
The Trump administration had initially scheduled briefings for House members concerning Iran but subsequently postponed them. Congressman Mike Quigley (D-Illinois), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, stated to The Washington Post that there is a prevailing belief in Congress that the administration’s delay is due to the politically embarrassing content of the intelligence assessment. “They don’t delay briefings that have good news,” he remarked.
Quigley chose not to discuss specifics from a classified briefing he received earlier this week but indicated that U.S. intelligence officials have consistently warned that any aerial assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities would yield limited long-term effects. “I was always told you have to finish the job with troops on the ground,” he noted, reinforcing the belief that nothing has changed his perspective on the matter.
This is a developing story, and updates will be provided as more information becomes available.
