US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the leak of a government report assessing the damage inflicted to three Iranian nuclear sites by US air strikes, calling it "preliminary" and "low confidence" after several media outlets quoted sources as saying the document showed the operation likely only set back Tehran’s nuclear program by months.
The report was blasted by US President Donald Trump who, along with Hegseth, spoke about the assessment to reporters at The Hague on June 25 where they were attending a NATO summit.
Hegseth said an FBI investigation would be launched into how details of the assessment, produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Pentagon’s intelligence arm, were leaked to several media outlets including CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Reuters.
The assessment said the attack did not destroy the core components of Iran’s nuclear program, putting it at odds with Trump’s claim that the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities.
While Trump told reporters in The Hague that "intelligence was very inconclusive," he believed the damage was "very severe."
"There was total obliteration," he said, adding the attacks set Iran's nuclear program back "decades."
"They're not going to be building bombs for a long time," he added.
Some analysts have expressed doubt over claims by Trump and other US officials that the sites were destroyed.
CNN quoted a source who had been briefed on the contents of the assessment as saying intelligence suggests the strikes set Iran back "maybe a few months, tops.”
The news reports also noted that the DIA analysis is ongoing and could change as more intelligence becomes available.
Hegseth said bombs dropped during the operation landed "right where they were supposed to" and that there was "devastation" left in their wake.
He earlier said the impact of the bombs “is buried under a mountain of rubble,” so anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the president on a successful mission.
Before And After: The Iranian Nuclear Sites Targeted By US Air Strikes
Since the June 21 bombings by the United States, a lack of detailed information on the results have fueled speculation over how effective they were.
Satellite images showed gaping holes in areas at the site, but with the facility deep underground, damage wasn't visible.
Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin told a press conference on June 25 that "it is still early to assess the results of the operation."
"I believe we have delivered a significant hit to the nuclear program, and I can also say that we have delayed it by several years," he added.
Rafael Grossi, head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog (IAEA), has said that the air strikes probably caused "very significant" damage to Fordow, a major uranium enrichment facility, though "at this time, no one, including the IAEA, is in a position to have fully assessed the underground damage."
Grossi told reporters on June 25 that whatever the damage, the real question is how to proceed.
"What is important is that we need [a solution] that will stand the test of time," he said.
The IAEA has not been able to carry out inspections in Iran because of the conflict, which has seen a halt in air strikes from both sides as a truce, agreed on June 24, continues to hold.
Nuclear nonproliferation expert and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Robert Einhorn noted that more than 400 kilograms of Iran’s uranium stockpile enriched to 60 percent purity had been moved and had not been unaccounted for.
“Conceivably, if under Iran's possession, [the stockpile] could be taken to some secret location and used in a nuclear weapons program,” Einhorn told RFE/RL.
Grossi said he received a letter from Tehran on June 13 saying "special measures" had been taken before the bombings to protect the uranium.
"They did not get into details as to what that meant but clearly that was the implicit meaning of that. We can imagine this material is there," Grossi said, suggesting much of that material had survived the attacks.
Danny Danon, Israel's UN ambassador, also said it was still too early to assess the strikes, but noted "we know we were able to push back the [nuclear] program."
"We were able to remove the imminent threat that we had," he said.
