Satellite image of the Fordow nuclear site taken on June 22, 2025, Photo: Courtesy of Minospace

 
Several US media outlets reported on Wednesday that initial American intelligence assessments indicate the US strikes on Iran did not destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities and likely only set back its nuclear program by a few months. However, the White House and US defense chief have been pushed back such claims, media reports said. 

However, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters during a briefing on Sunday that the Iranian nuclear ambitions had been "obliterated," describing the military strike as "bold and brilliant,” ABC News said on Tuesday. 

US President Donald Trump echoed that statement on Sunday night, writing on his social media platform Truth Social that "Monumental Damage" had been done to all of Iran's nuclear sites, according to the report. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the reporting on the intelligence assessment was inaccurate, NBC News reported on Wednesday. 

“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,” she said in a statement. 

NBC News said Hegseth also pushed back against the review in a statement, 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.” 

At the deeply buried Fordo uranium enrichment plant, where US B-2 stealth bombers dropped several 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs, the entrance collapsed and infrastructure was damaged, but the underground infrastructure was not destroyed, the AP said, citing the initial American intelligence assessments. The people said that intelligence officials had warned of such an outcome in previous assessments ahead of the strike on Fordo, according to the US media report. 

The intelligence report also said that much of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was moved before the strikes, which destroyed little of the nuclear material. Iran may have moved some of that to secret locations, according to the New York Times (NYT). 

The initial damage assessment suggests that US President’s claim that Iran’s nuclear facilities were “obliterated” was overstated, the NYT said. 

Congress had been set to be briefed on the strike on Tuesday, and lawmakers were expected to ask about the findings, but the session was postponed. Senators are now set be briefed on Thursday, and House members on Friday, according to the NYT. 

Global Times