U.S. Strikes Set Iran Nuclear Program Back 'Years,' CIA Says (Live Updates)

Forbes

11 hours ago

June 25, 5 p.m. EDT Ratcliffe said in statement the CIA obtained a 'body of credible evidence' indicating Iran's nuclear program was 'severely damaged' by the U.S. strikes, which includes 'intelligence from a historically reliable source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years.'
11:20 a.m. EDT The U.S. will meet with Iran 'next week' to discuss a possible nuclear agreement, Trump told reporters, though he noted he doesn't 'think it's that necessary' and 'I don't care if I have an agreement or not.'
'The only thing we would be asking for is what we were asking for before,' Trump added, 'We want no nuclear, but we destroyed the nuclear.'
11 a.m. EDT The White House released a statement backing Trump's claims that U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear sites were 'highly successful,' while featuring other supportive comments, including from the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, which claimed, 'The devastating U.S. strike on [Fordow] destroyed the site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable.'
5:15 a.m. EDT Speaking to reporters in the Netherlands ahead of a NATO summit, Trump again insisted the U.S. bombing resulted in 'complete obliteration.'
The president said the intelligence assessment—which suggested minimal damage—was 'very inconclusive,' adding: 'The intelligence says we don't know...It could have been very severe.'
The president said the U.S. bombings 'ended the war,' between Iran and Israel' and said the strikes impact was 'essentially the same thing' as the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings from World War II.
Trump also dismissed suggestions Iran managed to successfully relocate their enriched uranium before the strikes, saying: 'They didn't have a chance to get anything out, because we acted fast...it's very hard to remove that kind of material, very hard and very dangerous for them to remove it.'
1:30 a.m. EDT Trump dismissed the New York Times and CNN's report on the damage assessment in a post on Truth Social which said: 'THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED! BOTH THE TIMES AND CNN ARE GETTING SLAMMED BY THE PUBLIC!'
The president attacked the outlets, saying: 'FAKE NEWS CNN, TOGETHER WITH THE FAILING NEW YORK TIMES, HAVE TEAMED UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY.'
The president's Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff also appeared on Fox News, to refute the reports and said: 'We put 12 bunker buster bombs on Fordow. There's no doubt that it breached the canopy...and there's no doubt that it was obliterated.'
Witkoff also told Fox News host Laura Ingraham, 'it goes without saying that the leaking of that sort of information, whatever the information, whatever site it goes out on, is outrageous, it is treasonous...So it ought to be investigated and whoever did it, whoever is responsible for it should be held accountable.'
June 24, 3:20 p.m. EDT The report, according to unnamed officials interviewed by the New York Times, also says the U.S. bombing closed off the entrances to two enrichment facilities but 'did not collapse their underground buildings.'
Officials told the Times more reports will follow the initial assessment as the U.S. collects more information and as Iran examines the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan sites.
1:38 p.m. EDT Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al-Araby al-Jadeed, a London-based news outlet, that Iran would not return to negotiations with the U.S. if 'aggression' against Iran continued, CNN reported.
1 p.m. EDT Eyal Zamir, Israel's military chief, told reporters Israel's campaign against Iran was not over, though Israel has 'concluded a significant phase' and the Israeli military's focus 'shifts back to Gaza' and dismantling Hamas.
7:40 a.m. EDT Shortly before he left the White House for a NATO summit in the Netherlands, Trump criticized Israel and Iran and accused both of ceasefire violations saying: 'We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f*** they're doing.'
Trump was particularly critical of Israel's actions, saying 'I gotta get Israel to calm down now...I don't like the fact that Israel went out on a mission this morning and I am going to see if I can stop it.'
The president said 'Israel, as soon as we made a deal...came out and dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I've never seen before.'
7:28 a.m. EDT Trump said in a post on TruthSocial that Israel 'is not going to attack Iran' and that all planes will turn around 'while doing a friendly 'Plane Wave.''
In another post shortly after, Trump posted that Iran will 'NEVER REBUILD' its nuclear facilities.
6:55 a.m. EDT In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote: 'ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!'
6:30 a.m. EDT In a post on X, Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote: 'I have instructed the IDF, in coordination with the Prime Minister, to respond forcefully to the violation of the ceasefire by Iran through intense strikes against regime targets in the heart of Tehran.'
'The Iranian regime has severely violated the ceasefire declared by the President of the United States and launched missiles toward Israel, and in accordance with the government's policy as determined—we will respond forcefully to any violation,' he added.
4:45 a.m. EDT Iranian state media denied Israel's claims that it launched a fresh round of aerial attacks after the ceasefire went into effect.
4:20 a.m. EDT The Israeli Defense Forces accused Iran of violating the ceasefire between the two countries by launching another set of missiles toward northern Israel.
A short while later, the country's Defense Minister Israel Katz told the Times of Israel he has instructed the IDF to 'respond forcefully to Iran's violation of the ceasefire with intense strikes against regime targets in the heart of Tehran.'
2:45 a.m. EDT Israel confirmed it had agreed to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Iran but warned that any violations by Tehran would draw a forceful response.
June 24, 1:15 a.m. EDT In a post on his Truth social platform, Trump wrote: 'THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!'
June 23, 11:45 p.m. EDT Iranian state media announced a ceasefire has been 'imposed' on Israel after Iran's 'successful missile attacks,' and the TV anchor claimed that Trump had 'pleaded' with Iran to do so.
The annoucement then cited Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on X, who said: 'As of now, there is NO 'agreement' on any ceasefire...However, provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 am Tehran time, we have no intention to continue our response afterwards.'
6:02 p.m. EDT In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced that Israel and Iran agreed to a 'Complete and Total CEASEFIRE' in the next 24 hours, after days of exchanging air and missile strikes. The president offered no further details about what either side agreed to, but insisted both sides would 'remain PEACEFUL and RESPECTFUL.'
4 p.m. EDT Trump said 'hardly any damage was done,' while 13 of the missiles Iran fired were 'knocked down' and one was 'set free,' he wrote, making multiple inferences that there would be no escalation of the military conflict between Tehran and Washington, while also thanking Iran for 'giving us early notice' of the counterstrikes.
Trump said Iran has 'gotten it all out of their 'system,' and there will, hopefully, be no further hate,' writing 'CONGRATULATIONS WORLD, IT'S TIME FOR PEACE!' in the series of posts.
2 p.m. Officials at the Department of Defense confirmed to multiple outlets that Al Udeid Air Force base was targeted by short and medium-range ballistic missiles, but no casualties have been reported from the attack.
1:10 p.m. EDT In televised remarks, the Iranian government took credit for the attack, which it called 'a mighty and successful response' to the American strikes.
12:48 p.m. EDT Iran filed missiles toward Al Udeid Air Force Base near Doha.
Majed Al-Ansari, a spokesperson for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, condemned the attack and said the nation's air defenses 'successfully thwarted the attack and intercepted the Iranian missiles.'
9:20 a.m. U.S. cities were on edge Monday morning, with Miami briefly shutting down its Metrorail after a 'suspicious package' was found at Stephen P. Clark Government Center in Miami, requiring the building and the surrounding area to be evacuated, the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office told Forbes, while the Miami Herald reported a bomb squad was called.
7:30 a.m. EDT The Israeli military said it struck the routes leading up to Iran's underground Fordow nuclear facility—which was targeted by U.S. bunker busters—'in order to obstruct access' to the site.
6.30 a.m. EDT Russian President condemned the U.S. military's strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, calling it an 'absolutely unprovoked act of aggression against Iran; it has no basis or justification,' after meeting with Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Moscow.
4 a.m. EDT China has been as one of the more vocal critics of the U.S. strikes on Iran, with its foreign ministry saying the move 'seriously violates the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and international law, and escalates tensions in the Middle East.'
June 22, 10:30 p.m. EDT According to NBC News, Iran sent a message to Trump through an intermediary during last week's G7 summit, warning that it would activate sleeper-cells to carry out terror attacks inside the U.S.
9:30 p.m. EDT Earlier on Sunday, the president raised the prospect of regime change in Iran, despite other officials in his administration insisting that the U.S. was not seeking such a thing.
The U.S. struck three nuclear sites across Iran Saturday—Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan, following more than one week of strikes between Iran and Israel, with Trump warning there would be 'peace or tragedy for Iran' depending on whether they retaliated. The next day, Trump claimed Iran's nuclear sites sustained 'monumental damage' from the U.S. strikes, citing satellite images. Iranian military officials accused America of 'committing crimes' against the Iranian state and strikes between Iran and Israel continued over the course of the weekend. The U.S. strike was conducted by seven B2 Spirit bombers that took off from an Air Force base in Missouri overnight, Hegseth and Caine said Sunday. One of those bombers dropped two massive ordnance penetrators on a nuclear facility in Fordo at 2:10 a.m. local time, Caine said—the first of 14 bombs dropped across Iran. Additionally, a submarine launched more than two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles at the nuclear facility in Esfahan around 5 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Caine said. Caine added the operation also involved launching more bombers to the Pacific as a decoy, which he called an 'effort known only to an extremely small number of planners and key leaders.'
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the U.S. operation an 'outrageous, grave, and unprecedented violation of the fundamental principles of the charter of the United Nations and international law' and Trump. On Monday, Iran fired several missiles into the Al Udeid Air Force Base near Doha, one of the largest U.S. air force bases in the Middle East. Trump announced Iran and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire later Monday, which Israel later accused Iran of violating and threatened military action.
'American deterrence is back,' Hegseth said. 'We will act swiftly and decisively when our people, our partners or our interests are threatened.'
The escalation in the Middle East began on June 13 after Israel launched a surprise campaign of airstrikes at key Iranian nuclear facilities, initially killing at least 78 people. Iran responded by launching volleys of missiles at Israeli targets in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The two adversaries continued to exchange strikes over the course of the week, but the U.S. initially stayed out of the conflict. On Thursday, Trump abruptly announced he would make a decision about joining Israel's war against the Middle Eastern nation within two weeks, urging Iran to make a deal. The U.S. and Iran had spent weeks attempting to negotiate a new nuclear deal in Oman, but the talks were suspended after the Israeli campaign began.