US strikes on Iran 'only set nuclear programme back months' despite Trump's claim sites were 'obliterated'
24 June 2025, 22:02 | Updated: 25 June 2025, 09:06
America's strikes on Iran's nuclear sites only set the country's programme back by a "matter of months", early reports suggest.
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Donald Trump has claimed the US strikes, which targeted sites across Iran, "obliterated" the country's nuclear capabilities.
Saturday's operation, labelled Operation Midnight Hammer, saw a "precision strike in the middle of the night against three nuclear facilities in Iran".
In the days that followed, the White House insisted the strikes completely destroyed Iran's nuclear programme - but new reports suggest otherwise.
Trump said on Tuesday that the media collaborated to "demean" the U.S. strike on the nuclear sites.
Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, called the report’s leak "treasonous".
US does not seek war, says Pentagon after bombing Iran's nuclear sites
"Leaking that type of information, whatever the information, whatever side it comes out on, is outrageous," he told Fox News
"It’s treasonous. So it ought to be investigated, and whoever did it, whoever is responsible for it, should be held accountable."
According to an early US intelligence assessment, first reported by CNN, the country’s nuclear facilities were only partially damaged.
The report was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm, and is based on damage assessment carried out by US Central Command, sources say.
The White House has reportedly acknowledged the claims but rejects them.
One source close to the investigation told CNN Iran’s nuclear centrifuges remain “largely intact.”
“So the (DIA) assessment is that the US set them back maybe a few months, tops,” the source added.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt branded the report “flat out wrong.”
She told CNN: “This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community.
“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.”
Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, has also rejected the report, saying: "Based on everything we have seen - and I've seen it all - our bombing campaign obliterated Iran's ability to create nuclear weapons.
"Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target - and 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."
