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The recent United States strikes on Iranian nuclear sites set back Tehran’s program by only a matter of months, according to a preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment that was cited in reports by CNN, The New York Times and Reuters on June 25.
The preliminary assessment, which was prepared by the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, found that the strikes did not destroy any core nuclear components and speculated that the Islamic Republic could restart its nuclear program in a matter of months.
The strikes on June 22 saw U.S. stealth bombers dropping over a dozen massive bunker busting bombs on Natanz and Fordow, two uranium enrichment plants buried deep underground. Nuclear attack submarines also launched more than two dozen cruise missiles at Isfahan, a research and development facility.
This came amid a large attack by Israel that began June 13 and ended abruptly eleven days later with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
The assessment is at odds with the statements of President Donald Trump who said that the strikes essentially eliminated Iran’s nuclear program.
The reports by CNN and The New York Times triggered Trump, who lashed out against the two American outlets on Truth Social.
“FAKE NEWS CNN, TOGETHER WITH THE FAILING NEW YORK TIMES, HAVE TEAMED UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY.
THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED! BOTH THE TIMES AND CNN ARE GETTING SLAMMED BY THE PUBLIC!,” Trump wrote.
An Israeli intelligence assessment, cities in a later report by The Times of Israel, appeared just a bit more optimistic. It suggested that Iran’s nuclear program was set back by “several years” by Israeli and U.S. strikes, but acknowledged that it was not completely destroyed.
Meanwhile, Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said that it was still “too early” to assess the damage to Iran’s nuclear program.
“We met all the objectives of the operation as defined for us, even better than we thought. But it is still too early to determine, we are investigating the results of the strikes on the different sections of the nuclear program,” Defrin said in response to a question at a press conference.
“The assessment is that we significantly damaged the nuclear program, and I can say we set it back by years,” he said, basically confirming The Times of Israel’s report.
While it is still too early to assess the extent of damage at the targeted nuclear sites in Iran, all the available information indicates that not all is lost.
United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi on June 25 stated that Iran had taken “special measures” to protect its stocks of enriched uranium, noting that the Islamic Republic still has the nuclear technological know-how, as well as industrial capacity, and no one can deny it.
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you begin to realize why the gbu-57 strikes were such a failure when you find out that the gbu-57 is designed and built by boeing…..
all jokes aside, it’s a good bomb. but we’re talking about bunkers that are at least 100m underground. short of deploying a small nuclear weapon, nothing the us has can hit that deep.
100m….try 600m
i’ve heard figures ranging from 50-1000m underground.
us had 20 gbus and fired 16 of them. boeing can only produce 2 a year, with pricetag 500m. so this shitshow cost us taxpayers 8b. and achieved nothing. hahaha
iran better haul ass and build a nuke while it still can. it’s clear that conventional forces are not an adequate deterrent.
did israeli nuclear bombs stop israel getting pounded? what iran needs more is air force and anti air defense, spy networks and cyber hacking armies
iran will become stronger than ever!
yeah sure as if you’d know. what a load of crap
what is israel achieve? now there will be iranian, turkish and arab nuclear bombs. iaea is getting kicked out of iran so nobody will monitor enrichment. and israeli spy networks in iran have been exposed. they put too much faith in “rising lion” which failed to rise
iran defeated all of nato and russia with just ballestic missiles they didn’t even showcase any of their secret technologies
guys, please, we cannot believe cnn when it suits us!!!
exactly zelly, neither side is credible. usa says its destroyed ok then show me the picture. iran says its not destroyed ok then show me the picture. neither side is showing any pictures but they are both making up stories. this is theatre. all wars are banker’s wars.
trump has cemented his position as a puppet clown before the world . no way iran will leave radioactive materials in harms way to become a dirty bomb for israels wishes