
Report suggests US strikes only set back Iran's nuclear programme by a few months
©Press Association
A new US intelligence report found that Iran's nuclear program has been set back only a few months after a US strike and was not 'completely and fully obliterated' as President Donald Trump has said, according to two people familiar with the early assessment.
The intelligence report issued by the Defence Intelligence Agency on Monday contradicts statements from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the status of Iran's nuclear facilities. The people were not authorized to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Extra.ie
22 minutes ago
- Extra.ie
Watch: NATO chief calls Donald Trump 'daddy' in bizarre exchange
The Secretary General of NATO has raised eyebrows after he called US President Donald Trump 'daddy' in a meeting about the Israel-Iran conflict. Mr Trump declared a ceasefire between Israel and Iran following 12 days of exchanges over Iran's reported nuclear progress, which was broken just over an hour later when the two countries began firing missiles at each other again. After Mr Trump said that both countries 'don't know what the f**k they're doing,' the fragile ceasefire has held for now; with him speaking on the conflict at a NATO summit with Secretary General Mark Rutte. 'Sometimes daddy has to use strong language.' Nato's secretary general Mark Rutte referred to US President Donald Trump as 'daddy' when discussing the Israel-Iran conflict at the summit in The Hague. — Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) June 25, 2025 After comparing Israel and Iran to 'two kids in a schoolyard,' Mr Trump said 'they fight like hell, you can't stop em. Let em fight for about two to three minutes, then it's easy to stop them.' However, the exchange took a weird turn when Mr Rutte said 'and then daddy [Mr Trump] has to sometimes use strong language,' referring to Mr Trump swearing on live television. The 'daddy' comment raised eyebrows on Twitter (X), with one person commenting 'Is cringe a new component of NATO offensive capabilities?' The Secretary General of NATO has raised eyebrows after he called US President Donald Trump 'daddy' in a meeting about the Israel-Iran conflict. Pic:'This is genuinely nauseating,' another wrote, while another tweeted ''daddy'?? What the actual HELL is going on!? NATO Chief just called Trump 'daddy' on camera and people are losing it!' Israel began launching fresh missiles at Iran, claiming that the country violated the ceasefire that US President Trump announced on Truth Social in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The ceasefire lasted only a few hours, before the exchanges began again. After telling Israel 'DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS [sic],' on Truth Social, Mr Trump addressed the media, where he said both countries were violating the ceasefire, and telling Israel to 'calm down' — before saying that both countries don't know 'what the f**k they're doing.' US president Donald Trump said that Israel and Iran 'don't know what the f**k they're doing' after an hours old ceasefire was broken. Pic: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images 'There was one rocket that I guess was fired overboard after the time limit and now Israel is going out. These guys [have] got to calm down,' Mr Trump said. 'I didn't like the fact that Israel unloaded right after we made the deal. They didn't have to unload. 'We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f**k they're doing.'


Irish Examiner
39 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Trump affirms his commitment to Nato's Article 5 pledge for mutual defence
US President Donald Trump has affirmed his commitment to the Nato alliance's mutual defence guarantee as he attended its summit in the Netherlands. Before landing in the Netherlands on Tuesday, Mr Trump cast doubt on whether the US would abide by Article 5 of the Nato treaty, which calls on all members to defend one another in case of an attack. But on Wednesday, the US president said he stood with that promise. Front row left to right, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, President Donald Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during a group photo of Nato heads of state and government at the Nato summit in The Hague, Netherlands (Geert Vanden Wi 'That's why I'm here,' Mr Trump said as he met with Dick Schoof, the prime minister of the Netherlands. 'Why would I be here?' Meanwhile, the alliance on Wednesday enacted one of the Republican president's chief priorities: a pledge by Nato member countries to increase, sometimes significantly, how much they spend on their defence. 'I've been asking them to go up to 5% for a number of years,' Mr Trump said earlier on Wednesday as he met with Mark Rutte, the alliance's secretary general. 'I think that's going to be very big news.' The 32 leaders endorsed a final summit statement saying: 'Allies commit to invest 5% of GDP annually on core defence requirements as well as defence- and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations.' Spain had already officially announced that it cannot meet the target, and others have voiced reservations, but the investment pledge includes a review of spending in 2029 to monitor progress and reassess the security threat posed by Russia. The boost in spending follows years of Mr Trump's complaints that other countries were not paying their fair share as part of an alliance created as a bulwark against threats from the former Soviet Union. Most Nato countries, with the key exception of Spain, appeared motivated to bolster their own defences not just by Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine but also, perhaps, to placate Mr Trump. 🆕 NATO Allies have agreed to invest 5% of their GDP annually in defence. A substantial commitment in response to significant threats to our security#NATOsummit — NATO (@NATO) June 25, 2025 As a candidate in 2016, Mr Trump suggested that as president he would not necessarily heed the alliance's mutual defence guarantees outlined in Article 5 of the Nato treaty. In March this year, he expressed uncertainty that Nato would come to the United States' defence if needed, though the alliance did just that after the September 11 2001 attacks. On Tuesday, he told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to The Hague for the summit that whether he is committed to Article 5 'depends on your definition'. 'There's numerous definitions of Article 5. You know that, right?' Mr Trump said. 'But I'm committed to being their friends.' He signalled that he would give a more precise definition of what Article 5 means to him once he was at the summit. New Hampshire senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, who travelled to The Hague and met with several foreign leaders at the summit, said other countries raised 'understandable questions' about the US commitment to the alliance, 'certainly given President Trump's past statements'. 'We were very strong and reassuring everyone that we are committed to Nato, we are committed to Article 5, we are committed to maintaining troops on the Eastern flank,' said Ms Shaheen, who represented the US Senate with Democratic senator Chris Coons of Delaware. From right, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth, secretary of state Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump during a meeting with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte at the Nato summit in The Hague, Netherlands (Piroschka Van De Wouw, Pool Photo via AP) Mr Trump also vented to reporters before leaving Washington about the actions by Israel and Iran after his announced ceasefire – although on Monday, he said the ceasefire was 'very good'. After Mr Trump arrived in the Netherlands, news outlets, including The Associated Press, reported that a US intelligence report suggested in an early assessment that Iran's nuclear programme had been set back only a few months by weekend strikes and was not 'completely and fully obliterated', as Mr Trump had said. But on Wednesday morning, Mr Trump and other senior cabinet officials vigorously pushed back on the assessment, and defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the administration was launching an investigation into who disclosed those findings to reporters. 'That hit ended the war,' Mr Trump said. Drawing comparisons to the atomic bombings from the US during the Second World War, he added: 'I don't want to use an example of Hiroshima. I don't want to use an example of Nagasaki. But that was essentially the same thing. That ended that war.' The White House has not said which other world leaders Mr Trump would meet with one on one while in The Hague, but the US president said during his meeting with Mr Rutte that he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later on Wednesday.


Irish Examiner
39 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Seven Israeli soldiers killed in armoured vehicle blast in Gaza, says military
The Israeli military says seven Israeli soldiers were killed in the southern Gaza Strip when a Palestinian attacker attached a bomb to their armoured vehicle, while Palestinian health officials reported that 79 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the strip. The attack on the Israeli troops, which occurred on Tuesday, was one of the deadliest for the army in Gaza in months, and quickly drew the nation's attention back to the grinding conflict with the Hamas militant group after nearly two weeks of war between Israel and Iran. Among the 79 reported killed in Gaza were 33 people who died while trying to access aid. Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organisation, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP) Israel has been operating in Gaza since the Hamas militant group's October 7 2023 attack on Israel. US-led ceasefire efforts have repeatedly stalled. Brigadier General Effie Defrin, the army's chief spokesman, said the soldiers were attacked on Tuesday in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, where the army has operated on and off throughout much of the war. 'Helicopters and rescue forces were sent to the spot. They made attempts to rescue the fighters, but without success,' he said. The army said another soldier was seriously wounded in a separate incident in Khan Younis. It gave no further details, but Hamas claimed on its Telegram channel it had ambushed Israeli soldiers taking cover inside a residential building in the area. More than 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the war began with the October 7 2023 Hamas attack, including more than 400 during the fighting in Gaza. The initial Hamas attack killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and 251 others were taken hostage. Displaced Palestinians living in a tent camp in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Some 50 hostages remain in captivity, at least 20 of whom are believed to still be alive. The Israeli offensive has devastated Gaza and killed more than 56,000 people, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, a branch of the Hamas government. The death toll is by far the highest in any round of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says more than half of the dead were women and children. The ministry said the dead include 5,759 who have been killed since Israel resumed fighting on March 18, shattering a two-month ceasefire. Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, which operates in heavily populated areas. Israel says more than 20,000 Hamas militants have been killed, though it has provided no evidence to support that claim. Hamas has not commented on its casualties. A damaged car carrying furniture and a mattress drives among pedestrians through a market surrounded by destroyed buildings in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Israeli forces shot and killed a 66-year-old Palestinian woman during a raid on Wednesday in east Jerusalem, her husband and a local Palestinian official said. Joudah Al-Obeidi, a 67-year-old resident of the neighbourhood's Shuafat refugee camp, said his wife Zahia Al-Obeidi was standing on the roof of their home when Israeli forces stormed the camp and shot her in the head. He said she had posed no threat. 'It is a crime,' he told The Associated Press. 'What danger did a sick 66-year-old woman pose to them?' Israeli police said they were investigating the incident, saying a woman had arrived at a military checkpoint with 'serious penetrating injuries' and was pronounced dead. They said Israeli forces fired at 'rioters' who threw rocks and heavy objects at them during the operation, with one officer admitted to hospital with a head injury from a large rock. Marouf Al-Refai, the Palestinian official, said Israeli forces stormed the Shuafat refugee camp overnight, killing Ms al-Obeidi with a shot to the head at around 10pm local time and took her body away. Israel captured east Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 Middle East war. It considers the area to be part of its capital – a move that is not internationally recognised. Palestinians want an independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital.