Trump says damage from Iran strikes severe despite ‘inconclusive' intelligence
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (June 25, 2025) that the damage to Iranian nuclear sites from missile strikes over the weekend was severe, though he also acknowledged that the available intelligence on the matter was inconclusive.
Israel-Iran conflict LIVE — June 25, 2025
His comments followed reports by Reuters and other media outlets on Tuesday (June 24) revealing that the U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) had assessed that the strikes had set back Iran's nuclear programme by just a few months, despite administration officials saying the programme had been obliterated.
Also read: Iran's parliament takes up Bill to end ties with International Atomic Energy Agency
'The intelligence was very inconclusive,' Mr. Trump told reporters before joining a NATO summit in The Hague. 'The intelligence says we don't know. It could've been very severe. That's what the intelligence suggests.'
Later, during the same round of comments, Mr. Trump argued that Iran's nuclear deal had been set back 'basically decades, because I don't think they'll ever do it again'.
Mr. Trump was sitting alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, who both also cast doubt on the reliability of the DIA assessment.
Mr. Rubio said the U.S. was opening an investigation into the leak of the DIA report. He also suggested the report's contents had been misrepresented in the media.
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The hangings took place at Urmia Prison in West Azerbaijan, Iran's most northwestern province. State-run IRNA cited Iran's judiciary for the news, saying the men had been accused of bringing "assassination equipment" into the country. During the 12-day war, at least 28 people were killed in Israel and more than 1,000 wounded, according to officials. Tehran on Tuesday put the death toll in Iran at 606, with 5,332 people wounded. The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group released figures Wednesday suggesting Israeli strikes on Iran had killed at least 1,054 and wounded 4,476. The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, said 417 of those killed were civilians and 318 were security forces. During the war, Israeli airstrikes also targeted Iran's top military leadership and other sites associated with its ruling theocracy. With the ceasefire, Iranians are trying to return to their normal lives. State media described heavy traffic around the Caspian Sea and other rural areas outside of the capital, Tehran, as people began returning to the city.
