Trump on Iran Nuclear Sites: It Was ‘Total Obliteration'

Miami Herald

25-06-2025

President Donald Trump has again described the result of U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities as "total obliteration," after multiple reports on a top secret early intelligence assessment indicated that key elements were not destroyed in the attacks.
The intelligence said Iran may have removed much of its highly enriched uranium from the sites before the strikes, and that components such as centrifuges could have survived. The White House had earlier called such claims false.
The U.S. hit sites at Natanz and Isfahan, but also crucially Fordow, a uranium enrichment facility buried deep in a mountain and hit by 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.
"I believe it was total obliteration, I believe they didn't have a chance to get anything out because we acted fast," Trump said at a NATO summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday, June 25.
"If [the strikes] would have taken two weeks, maybe. But it's very hard to remove that kind of material-very hard and very dangerous for them to remove it. Plus they knew we were coming. And if they knew we were coming, they're not going to be down there."
Trump said Israel is "doing a report on it now" and that they agreed "it was total obliteration."
"You know, they have guys that go in there after the hit, and they said it was total obliteration," Trump said, adding that he had also received reports from two unspecified Iranians who said "this place is gone" about a nuclear facility.
Iran has said it will continue its nuclear program in defiance of Trump. He said Tehran should stop enriching uranium and that the U.S. would act militarily again if it needed to.
The Iranians say their nuclear research is for civilian energy purposes and that they are not seeking to build a nuclear bomb, as claimed by the U.S. and Israel.
However, Iran has enriched uranium to a level that far exceeds what is needed for civil energy, and close to weapons-grade, putting it a short step away from making a bomb if it decided to.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed the attacks will have "serious and profound effects on the course of the nuclear program," adding: "We need to rethink how we protect our nuclear facilities."
Israel's military believes Iran's nuclear facilities suffered significant damage as a result of the Israeli and American strikes and that Tehran's nuclear program has been set back by years.
Israel Defense Forces Chief Spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin gave the assessment at a press briefing on Wednesday, though he cautioned that it is still early and the results of the strikes are undergoing evaluation.
Trump has brokered a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran. He has urged Tehran to engage in new talks and to pursue peace with the U.S. and Israel.
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