New CIA report reveals US military strikes caused longer-lasting damage to Iran's nukes than leaked Pentagon intel suggests

Time of India

4 hours ago

US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his claim that
US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites
caused total devastation, despite a leaked assessment by the Pentagon's Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) suggesting only a short-term setback.
'It was very severe. It was obliteration,' Trump said during the NATO summit in The Hague. He added, 'This was a devastating attack, and it knocked them for a loop.'
But the early DIA assessment, marked as 'low confidence', estimated Iran's programme may only have been set back by three to six months. According to sources familiar with the document, the review was based on satellite data gathered within 24 hours of the raid and has not yet been finalised.
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CIA says damage is long-term and deep
CIA Director John Ratcliffe
has challenged the DIA's findings, citing 'a body of credible intelligence' from what he called a 'historically reliable and accurate source' confirming that 'several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years.'
Ratcliffe's public statement further noted that the CIA's conclusions contradicted 'illegally sourced public reporting regarding the destruction of key Iranian nuclear facilities.'
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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard echoed this assessment on X, writing: 'If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities (Natanz, Fordo, Esfahan) entirely, which would likely take years to do.'
Military launched 125-aircraft assault on Iran's nuclear sites
The US operation involved 125 military aircraft targeting three of Iran's main nuclear sites — Natanz, Fordo, and Isfahan — in coordinated strikes. Satellite images taken afterwards show large craters around entrances at Fordo and similar damage at Isfahan. However, it remains unclear whether the underground structures housing sensitive equipment were destroyed.
Trump, speaking to reporters, said: 'The area around the nuclear facilities was burned black. The underground tunnels where uranium was enriched and stored — all collapsed.'
He added that questioning the operation's success was 'very unfair to the pilots, who risked their lives for our country.'
Iran acknowledges damage, but says no 'irreversible' losses
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told Al Jazeera, 'Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that's for sure.' But Iranian MP adviser Mehdi Mohammadi claimed soon after the attacks that 'no irreversible damage was sustained' at Fordo.
The UN's nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said in Vienna that it is possible Iran had moved some of its highly enriched uranium to safer locations in the early stages of the attack. 'It is a scenario we cannot rule out,' he said.
Israel weighs in: Damage likely to delay Iran's nuclear capability by 'years'
Israel's Atomic Energy Commission stated on Wednesday that the strikes had 'rendered the Fordo underground enrichment site inoperable,' and declared that the damage had 'set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years.'
The joint American-Israeli campaign, the Commission said, had crippled critical infrastructure. It added: 'The achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material.'
The fallout has sparked fierce criticism of US intelligence agencies and media outlets that reported the DIA leak. Trump described those reports as 'scum' and 'disgusting,' and said journalists were 'trying to make him look bad.'
At a press conference, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed the leaked DIA analysis as flawed: 'The evidence of what was bombed is buried under a mountain, devastated and obliterated.' He accused reporters of using early, unverified reports to damage the president politically.
Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute, said: 'If it's too early to know, why is Trump saying it's obliterated? Either it's too early to know, or you know.'
One critical concern is whether Iran managed to secure its enriched uranium stockpile and advanced centrifuges before the bombing. Arms control experts say if those components were preserved, Iran could restart its nuclear programme even without the three bombed sites.
Trump dismissed that possibility: 'I believe they didn't have a chance to get anything out, because we acted fast,' he said. 'It's very hard to move that kind of material, and very dangerous.'
Leon Panetta, a former US defence secretary, urged patience: 'That's going to take an extended period of time, at least a number of weeks, before we have a full assessment of the damage done by the attack.'
Talks ahead, but Trump downplays need for diplomacy
Trump said US and Iranian officials would meet soon to resume talks. However, he also downplayed the need for negotiations: 'I don't care if I have an agreement or not. They're not going to be doing it anyway. They've had it.'
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed to NBC that there had been 'direct and indirect communication' with Tehran. However, Iran has not officially acknowledged the prospect of talks.
The leak of the DIA report has led the White House to consider limiting the flow of classified documents to Congress. According to a senior official quoted anonymously, classified briefings originally scheduled for Tuesday are now expected later in the week.
The administration's move to reduce oversight is likely to face pushback from lawmakers, especially amid increasing political division over how the Iran strikes are being represented to the public.
As multiple agencies continue to assess the damage — and global attention remains fixed on whether Iran can rebuild — one thing is certain: the full consequences of the US strikes are yet to be seen.