A preliminary US intelligence assessment suggests that the American airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities failed to dismantle the core elements of its nuclear program, contradicting the claims made by President Donald Trump and his aides.
The findings, compiled by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Pentagon’s primary intelligence unit, were shared with CNN by four sources familiar with the matter.
The assessment report is based on a battle evaluation conducted by US Central Command (CENTCOM) in the aftermath of Sunday morning aggression, according to one of the sources quoted by the American broadcaster.
The findings contradict Trump’s repeated assertions that the attacks “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s uranium enrichment capabilities, the report states.
US Defense Secretary also echoed the claims of Trump on Sunday, saying that Iran’s nuclear ambitions “have been obliterated.”
Citing two sources familiar with the DIA assessment, CNN reported that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile remains intact, with one of them noting that the centrifuges targeted in the attacks suffered little damage.
So the [DIA] assessment is that the US set them back maybe a few months, tops,” the source said.
The White House has acknowledged the intelligence assessment but rejected its conclusions in order to avoid further embarrassment for Trump, who made hue and cry about the attacks that experts say are in complete breach of international law.
“The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program. Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement in response to the assessment.
In the days leading up to the US aggression, Israel had already been carrying out its own acts of aggression against Iran, which saw stiff resistance from Iranian armed forces.
They also firmly responded to American attacks on nuclear sites with devastating missile strikes on the US-run Al-Udeid military base in Qatar on Monday, which prompted the US president to call it quits, leaving the regime with no option but to seek a ceasefire.
US B-2 bombers, according to CNN, deployed more than a dozen of these bombs on two major targets – the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant and the Natanz Enrichment Complex – yet the attacks failed to fully destroy the sites’ centrifuges and enriched uranium.
Damage across all three targeted facilities, Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, was primarily limited to aboveground structures, including power systems and facilities used in converting uranium to weapons-grade metal, the CNN cited sources as saying.
Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear weapons expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, told CNN that commercial satellite imagery of the nuclear sites supports the assessment that Iran’s program remains largely intact.
“The ceasefire came without either Israel or the United States being able to destroy several key underground nuclear facilities, including near Natanz, Isfahan, and Parchin,” Lewis said.
“These facilities could serve as the basis for the rapid reconstitution of Iran’s nuclear program,” he added.
