White House rips into 'fake' NBC News report that Trump only 'obliterated' one of three Iran nuclear targets
President Donald Trump has said repeatedly that the attack 'totally obliterated' targets, which include the Natanz enrichment facility that features centrifuges buried deep underground – language that his team stands by.
'As the President has said and experts have verified, Operation Midnight Hammer totally obliterated Iran's nuclear capabilities,' White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told the Daily Mail in response to an explosive report by NBC News. 'America and the world are safer, thanks to his decisive action,' she said.
The Pentagon joined in, blasting the 'Fake News Media' in a statement following an explosive new report by
That report said one of the three sites, was mostly destroyed. But two others had only be 'degraded' to a condition where nuclear enrichment might be able to resume in the next few months.
The attacks, carried about by U.S. B-2 bombers taking off from Missouri, hit the Iranian sites in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The report citing unnamed current and former officials stating the attack on Fordow as being the most successful.
There was less certainty about whether the attack using GBU-57 'bunker buster' bombs was able to take out the other facilities.
The ability to use those munitions were a driving force for the U.S. to enter the conflict, after Israel had already begun its own campaign against Iranian sites and nuclear scientists.
According to the NBC account, based on five current and former U.S. officials, the U.S. military was not able to finish the job at the bunkers deep within the Natanz facility or the tunnels at Isfahan.
In an unusual effort to rebut the story, the White House provided details of a closed-door briefing that CIA Director John Ratcliffe provided to lawmakers. He told them the nuclear program was 'severely damaged' and that multiple facilities were 'completely destroyed,' notably refraining from parroting the White House's own characterization of total obliteration.
The White House official said Ratcliffe told lawmakers a metal conversion facility at Natanz, in north central Iran, would take 'years to rebuilt.'
The Pentagon provided its own pushback, with Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell arguing in one breath that the facilities are 'destroyed ... and will take years to recover' and in the next, doubling down on the commander in chief's more definitive description.
'Iran's nuclear facilities in Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz were completely and totally obliterated. There is no doubt about that,' he said.
The Daily Mail is seeking additional comment from the White House about the condition of facilities as Natanz and Isfahan.
The White House also batted back initial assessments in the immediate aftermath of the attack, and Trump hammered media outlets who reported on them, without denying the veracity of the early accounts.
Trump characterized the reports as attacks on the pilots who bravely carried out the mission.
Trump is standing by his narrative of success, just this week telling attendees at a faith event that he ordered a surprise two-week pause before the attack in response to reporting by CNN that an attack could be imminent.
Trump revealed new details about the mission, highlighting that 52 gasoline tankers supported the operation with flawless in-flight refueling. No damage or mechanical issues occurred to any plane over 37 hours and 40 minutes in challenging territory.
NBC reported that U.S. Central Command had prepared a multi-week campaign targeting three additional sites, but Trump opted for a single, focused mission, rejecting the extended plan to avoid escalating the conflict.
The debate over the effectiveness of the operation reflects wider uncertainties about both the resilience of Iran's nuclear infrastructure and the challenges of verifying a secretive adversary thousands of miles away.
It may be months or years before any reputable actor or entity can sufficiently address the unresolved questions surrounding Iran's nuclear ambitions.
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