Per week after President Donald Trump ordered a U.S. assault on three Iranian nuclear websites, the reasons and descriptions of what occurred voiced by him, prime aides and early intelligence studies paint contrasting footage of the extent of the harm to Iran’s nuclear program.
Whereas the president and Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth repeatedly claimed that Iran’s nuclear program has been “obliterated,” preliminary assessments — together with from the Pentagon’s personal intelligence wing — painted an evolving image because the week went on.
President Donald Trump departs after talking throughout “One, Huge, Lovely Occasion” within the East Room of the White Home in Washington, D.C., on June 26, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP by way of Getty Photos
Trump mentioned he ordered the assault on June 21 to strike a uranium enrichment web site situated in 300 ft deep in a mountain in Fordo in northwestern Iran, an uranium enrichment web site in Natanz and the Isfahan Nuclear Expertise Heart following studies that Iranian officers did not adjust to worldwide nuclear laws.
And as these early harm assessments solid doubt on the extent to which Iran nuclear program was crippled, a number of of Trump’s prime aides and allied lawmakers additionally appeared to reduce the acknowledged objectives of the assault.
Listed here are a number of the accounts and characterizations over the past week.
Officers label mission a hit, however present few particulars to begin
On Sunday morning, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed Trump’s assertion from Saturday night time, simply after the strikes, that the websites had been “obliterated.”
“It was clear we devastated the Iranian nuclear program,” he added.
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, nonetheless, declined to go as far, saying it could take extra time to evaluate the extent of the harm completed.
Hegseth acknowledged that harm evaluation was ongoing however caught by the outline he and Trump have been utilizing.
“All of our precision munitions struck the place we needed them to strike and had the specified impact, which implies particularly the first goal right here, we consider we achieved destruction of capabilities there,” he mentioned.
Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth throughout a Medal of Honor ceremony for World Conflict II Military Ranger veterans within the Capitol in Washington, June 26, 2025.
Aaron Schwartz/EPA/Shutterstock
Pentagon preliminary harm report leaks
Officers and inspectors from outdoors Iran haven’t been in a position to achieve direct entry to the bombed websites to make a first-hand evaluation.
Trump officers had a extra nuanced take after information studies surfaced Tuesday about an preliminary Protection Intelligence Company evaluation that mentioned the assault set again Iran’s nuclear program solely by months.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the leaks of the army’s report however didn’t go so far as to assert that the websites have been obliterated.
As an alternative, he insisted that “very important, substantial harm was completed” to key parts of Iran’s nuclear program, “and we’re simply studying extra about it.”
On the similar time, Rubio supplied extra particulars in regards to the assault, together with that the bunker-buster bombs have been dropped on air flow shafts main deep inside Fordo’s closely fortified facility — buried, officers and consultants mentioned, 200 to 300 ft inside a mountain.
He in the end acknowledged that it was troublesome to get a learn on harm inflicted to Fordo at this level, however asserted “the underside line is actual harm was completed.”
That very same day, Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard claimed in a press release that the three services have been destroyed.
The director basic of the U.N.’s nuclear oversight company, the Worldwide Atomic Power Company, Rafael Grossi, mentioned Wednesday that he believed a few of Iran’s enriched uranium had been moved from the websites earlier than the assaults.
Trump refuted that evaluation.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends an occasion to advertise President Donald Trump’s home coverage and finances agenda within the East Room of the White Home, on June 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
“It will have taken two weeks, perhaps. Nevertheless it’s very laborious to take away that sort of materials, very laborious and really harmful. Plus, they knew we have been coming, and in the event that they know we’re coming, they don’t seem to be going to be down there,” he mentioned Wednesday.
Trump reiterated that the websites and the uranium have been buried below rubble and inaccessible, including that vans seen in satellite tv for pc photos on the plant earlier than the assault — which some speculated might have been used to maneuver the nuclear materials — have been building automobiles getting used to cowl the air flow shaft openings with protecting concrete.
In response to the 2 individuals aware of the DIA’s categorized report, the bombing sealed off the entrances to 2 of the three nuclear websites focused within the assault however many of the harm was completed to buildings above floor, leaving the decrease buildings intact.
The evaluation additionally discovered that a minimum of some enriched uranium remained – presumably moved from the nuclear websites forward of the blasts.
The subsequent day, on Thursday, Hegseth held a information convention the place he slammed the information media over reporting however didn’t make the identical evaluation on the nuclear supplies.
Requested twice throughout the briefing if he could possibly be extra definitive about whether or not the enriched uranium was moved earlier than the assault, Hegseth mentioned the Pentagon was “watching each side.”
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers Air Drive Gen. Dan Caine turns to look at a video of a bombing take a look at of the GBU-57A/B Huge Ordnance Penetrator used within the assault on the Iranian Fordow Gas Enrichment Plant throughout a information convention on the Pentagon, June 26, 2025, in Arlington, Virginia.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Photos
At that very same Thursday briefing, Caine famous it’s not his job to evaluate the harm, saying, “We don’t grade our personal homework.”
Facility destruction downplayed by officers, ceasefire emphasised
Hegseth additionally highlighted what gave the impression to be a unique aim of the mission, arguing the assault had succeeded as a result of it led to stopping the combating between Iran and Israel — relatively than the services’ destruction as a result of it destroyed Iran’s nuclear program.
“We received that peace, that ceasefire, that choice due to power, due to (Trump’s) willingness to make use of American army may that nobody else on the planet can do with the sort of planners and operators that the chairman simply laid out,” he mentioned.
Then, on Friday, Trump echoed that sentiment.
“They put out that fireplace as soon as that occurred, as soon as these bombs received dropped out, that warfare was over,” he mentioned.
Nonetheless, the president claimed once more that the websites have been obliterated throughout a information convention.
“We completed them off,” he mentioned, including, “I do not consider that they are going to return into nuclear anytime quickly.”
President Donald Trump speaks throughout a gathering with Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Overseas Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner and Rwanda’s Overseas Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe within the Oval Workplace on the White Home in Washington, June 27, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-reynolds/AFP by way of Getty Photos
Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian overseas minister mentioned on Iranian State TV Thursday, nonetheless, the services weren’t destroyed and his nation can have leverage in negotiations.
The destiny of the enriched uranium
On Capitol Hill on Thursday, after administration officers gave lawmakers a categorized briefing on the strikes, Republican lawmakers acknowledged that the U.S. strikes could not have destroyed Iran’s cache of enriched uranium. However they mentioned that wasn’t a part of the mission.
“The aim of the mission was to get rid of sure explicit elements of their nuclear program. These have been eradicated. To eliminate the nuclear materials was not a part of the mission,” Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., instructed CNN.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., mentioned the “program was obliterated at these three websites,” however added, “I do not know the place the 900 kilos of extremely enriched uranium exists. Nevertheless it wasn’t a part of the targets there.”
