Kremlin says it is too early to assess damage to Iranian nuclear facilities from U.S. bombs
The Kremlin said on Wednesday (June 25, 2025) that it thought it was too early for anyone to have a realistic picture of damage inflicted on Iran's nuclear facilities by U.S. airstrikes.
Israel-Iran conflict highlights: Shaky ceasefire between Israel and Iran appears to hold
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about damage assessments offered by President Donald Trump who has suggested that the U.S. attack obliterated Tehran's nuclear programme. Mr. Peskov said Moscow viewed the attacks on Iran as unprovoked and the situation as concerning.
Russia had indications that Washington and Tehran had open communications channels though, he said, and Moscow was closely monitoring developments and still talking to Iran itself.
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Mint
37 minutes ago
- Mint
Making NATO Great Again Demands More Than Money
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Donald Trump used to quip that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose support. The same might be said of the royal palace in The Hague, where the US president arrived to a hero's welcome despite having relentlessly berated, humiliated and questioned the utility of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and European allies. Even as Trump was his initially cagey self on whether NATO commitments still applied, alliance boss Mark Rutte poured on the charm. America's attack on Iranian nuclear sites, despite its clear repudiation of European diplomatic efforts over the past decade, was praised as 'truly extraordinary'; a move to more than double defense spending targets, another of Trump's obsessions, was described as a 'big success.' Even Germany's Friedrich Merz has described Israel's bombing of Iran as the necessary 'dirty work' of clipping Tehran's nuclear wings. This is apparently called politics — what Europeans feel they must do to preserve an alliance where the US accounts for 70% of capabilities. The America First rhetoric of Vice President JD Vance in February has been politely forgotten in the face of what seems like a flip away from the MAGA world's splendid isolation. After all, Trump has let bunker busters fly; he has publicly laid claim to making 'the world' safer; and he has displayed the kind of credible deterrence Europeans crave as Russia continues to bomb Ukraine. 'Chapeau,' as the French say. Perhaps the global policeman can be persuaded to postpone his retirement with a barrel load of defense spending. Yet this risks being a misreading of the memo from the Mideast. Foreign-policy expert Steven A. Cook has suggested Trump's Iran intervention was a victory of opportunism over ideology — 'Trump likes winners, and, well, the Israelis were kicking ass.' It was also a victory of unilateralism over alliances, with Europeans left in the dark and sidelined by the world's most powerful individual, as French diplomat Sylvie Bermann put it. And in terms of priority, it also put Iran before Russia. Bringing an aspiring regional hegemon to heel isn't a template everywhere, as seen in Trump's subsequent 'very nice' conversation with Vladimir Putin. It's of course tough to pin down where exactly we are between the Pax Americana that for decades upheld a global US-led order and the MAGA alternative that would opt for restraint and retrenchment, particularly in Europe. Trump is neither consistent nor cautious; it may be that he fails to achieve the de-escalation he says he wants. But on the face of it, there are still plenty of elements here in tune with a move away from the old model of global hegemony and towards what's been called 'offshore balancing' — intervening only when necessary to keep aspiring hegemons contained, and otherwise reliant on regional allies to do what Merz might call the 'dirty work.' Given the lack of clarity on where US policy is really headed, European allies would do better to quietly question their strategic dependencies rather than take increasingly Rutte-esque steps to keep them going. 'This is an unhealthy relationship,' says Christopher Layne, distinguished professor of international affairs at Texas A&M University. Promising to spend 5% of gross domestic product on defense may be a victory for Trump, but it's neither realistic for European countries that have only just managed to reach the 2% level after war in Ukraine nor helpful for understanding exactly where the cash should go to fill gaps in building a credible Europe-first deterrence. In this respect, Spain's pushback is saying the quiet bit out loud. Instead of letting Trump's baton conduct the pace of rearmament, it's time for Europe to discover its inner De Gaulle — or at least leaders worthy of the name. Merz and Emmanuel Macron are taking a united stance, but this should go beyond financial commitments and into identifying who should buy what and where in the name of common European defense. It's also notable that there is much talk about defense spending and very little about economic growth, which is AWOL in Germany or France. Europe has a lot of problems, as the US frequently likes to point out, so all the more reason the continent takes ownership of them. This also matters for America's allies beyond Europe. One of the MAGA mantras is that China is the one aspiring hegemon that the US needs to focus on, and Asia the one region where offshore balancing would be too risky given the threat to Taiwan. Yet Trump has also blown hot and cold here, from recent trade talks to his latest declaration that Beijing could keep buying Iranian oil. The US is also reviewing the AUKUS security pact with Australia and the UK. Treaties last while they last, as De Gaulle once said. More From Bloomberg Opinion: This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist writing about the future of money and the future of Europe. Previously, he was a reporter for Reuters and Forbes. 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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Trump compares Iran strikes to bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, calls leaked intel report...
In a controversial move, President Donald Trump has drawn comparisons between his strikes on Iran over the weekend and the US use of nuclear bombs in Japan, saying both were used to successfully end wars. Trump compared his strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities to the US dropping atomic bombs on Japan in WWII — as he insisted the devastation inflicted during both conflicts ended the wars. "I don't want to use an example of Hiroshima, I don't want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing. That ended that war. This ended the war," Trump said. Trump argued that Iran's nuclear program had been set back "basically decades, because I don't think they'll ever do it again" and he turned to top advisers to reinforce that message. He maintained that his surprise strikes on Tehran forced Iran and Israel into entering a ceasefire agreement after 12 days of war. ALSO READ: NATO chief dubs Trump 'daddy' as US President likens Israel-Iran conflict to 'two kids in school yard' 'Had we not succeeded with that hit, that hit ended the war,' Trump said of his decision to drop on three Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend. Broadly, he has argued that the strikes were much more successful than has so far been reported in the U.S. media. Trump plays down intelligence reports Not only did the commander-in-chief compare the impact of American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites to the end of World War Two, he argued that the damage was severe even though available intelligence reports were inconclusive, according to Reuters. He pushed back on a leaked intelligence report that said US strikes on Iran only set its nuclear programme back by a few months. Speaking at a Nato summit in The Hague on Wednesday, Trump said the strikes led to the "virtual obliteration" of Iran's nuclear capabilities and set its atomic programme back "by decades". Live Events Multiple media outlets reported that it had been revealed the US Defense Intelligence Agency had assessed that the strikes had set back Iran's nuclear program by just a few months. But Trump and his top officials are saying it had been obliterated. ALSO READ: Horrifying 'killer bees' spreading across 13 US states and can sting thousands of times in short period "The intelligence was ... very inconclusive," Trump told reporters while meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte ahead of a summit in The Hague. "The intelligence says, 'We don't know, it could have been very severe.' That's what the intelligence says. So I guess that's correct, but I think we can take the 'we don't know'. It was very severe. It was obliteration," Trump added. Trump remained adamant too that Iran wasn't able to remove the uranium being enriched at the sites ahead of the strikes. 'They didn't have a chance to get anything out because we acted fast. If it 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,' Trump said. ALSO READ: Jeff Bezos-Lauren Sanchez has an unusual request for the guests ahead of their high-profile wedding 'Plus they knew we were coming, and if they know we're coming, they're not going to be down there.' He argued the attacks had set Iran's nuclear ambitions back decades because 'they'll ever do it again.' 'They just went through hell. I think they've had it. The last thing they want to do is enrich,' he said. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who both also cast doubt on the reliability of the DIA assessment. "When you actually look at the report - by the way, it was a top secret report - it was preliminary, it was low-confidence," Hegseth said. "This is a political motive here." He said the FBI was investigating a potential leak. Rubio suggested that those responsible for sharing the report had mischaracterized it, saying: "This is the game they play." All three men criticized media reports about the intelligence assessment.
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Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
Trump declares Iran 'victory for everybody' despite concerns over damage
Trump said he was confident Tehran would not try to rebuild its nuclear sites and would instead pursue a diplomatic path towards reconciliation Reuters US President Donald Trump revelled in the swift end to war between Iran and Israel, saying he now expected a relationship with Tehran that would preclude rebuilding its nuclear programme despite uncertainty over damage inflicted by US strikes. As exhausted and anxious Iranians and Israelis both sought to resume normal life after the most intense confrontation ever between the two foes, Iran's president suggested that the war could lead to reforms at home. Trump, speaking in The Hague where he attended a NATO summit on Wednesday, said his decision to join Israel's attacks by targeting Iranian nuclear sites with huge bunker-busting bombs had ended the war, calling it "a victory for everybody". He shrugged off an initial assessment by the US Defense Intelligence Agency that Iran's path to building a nuclear weapon may have been set back only by months, saying the findings were "inconclusive" and he believed the sites had been destroyed. "It was very severe. It was obliteration," he said. Israel's Prime Minister's office released an assessment by Israel's own nuclear agency that the strikes had "set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years". The White House also circulated the Israeli assessment. "I'll tell you, the last thing they want to do is enrich anything right now. They want to recover," he said. If Iran tried to rebuild its nuclear programme, "We won't let that happen. Number one, militarily we won't," he said, adding that he thought "we'll end up having something of a relationship with Iran" to resolve the issue. The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, dismissed what he called the "hourglass approach" of assessing damage to Iran's nuclear programme in terms of months needed to rebuild as besides the point for an issue that needed a long-term solution. "In any case, the technological knowledge is there and the industrial capacity is there. That, no one can deny. So we need to work together with them," he said. His priority was returning international inspectors to Iranian nuclear sites, which he said was the only way to find out precisely what state they were in. Iran has always denied seeking an atomic weapon, which Western countries have accused it of pursuing for decades. IRAN PRESIDENT HINTS AT DOMESTIC REFORMS Israel's bombing campaign, launched with a surprise attack on June 13, wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military leadership and killed its leading nuclear scientists. Iran responded with missiles that pierced Israel's defences in large numbers for the first time. Iranian authorities said 610 people were killed and nearly 5,000 injured in Iran, where the extent of the damage could not be independently confirmed because of tight restrictions on media. Twenty-eight people were killed in Israel. Both Iran and Israel declared victory: Israel claiming to have achieved its goals of destroying Iran's nuclear sites and missiles, and Iran claiming to have forced the end of the war by penetrating Israeli defences with its retaliation. But Israel's demonstration that it could target Iran's senior leadership seemingly at will poses perhaps the biggest challenge ever for Iran's clerical rulers, at a critical juncture when they must find a successor for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, now 86 and in power for 36 years. President Masoud Pezeshkian, a relative moderate elected last year in a challenge to years of dominance by hardliners, said the atmosphere of national solidarity during the Israeli attacks would spur domestic reform. "This war and the empathy that it fostered between the people and officials is an opportunity to change the outlook of management and the behaviour of officials so that they can create unity," he said in a statement carried by state media. Still, Iran's authorities moved swiftly to demonstrate their control. The judiciary announced the execution of three men on Wednesday convicted of collaborating with Israel's Mossad spy agency and smuggling equipment used in an assassination. Iran had arrested 700 people accused of ties with Israel during the conflict, the state-affiliated Nournews reported. During the war, both Netanyahu and Trump publicly suggested that it could end with the toppling of Iran's entire system of clerical rule, established in its 1979 revolution. But after the ceasefire, Trump said he did not want to see "regime change" in Iran, which he said would bring chaos at a time when he wanted the situation to settle down. RELIEF, APPREHENSION, EXHAUSTION In both Iran and Israel, residents expressed relief at the end of the fighting, but also apprehension over the future. "We came back after the ceasefire was announced. People are relieved that the war has stopped, but there's a lot of uncertainty about what comes next," said Farah, 67, who returned to Tehran from Lavasan near the capital where she had fled to escape Israeli bombing. Her grandchildren were worried that the authorities would respond by imposing more severe enforcement of dress codes and other restrictions on social freedoms, she said by phone: "The world will move on and forget about the war â€' but we're the ones who will live with its consequences." In Tel Aviv, Rony Hoter-Ishay Meyer, 38, said the war's end brought mixed emotions - relief that children could return to school and normal life resume, but exhaustion from the stress. "Those past two weeks were catastrophic in Israel and we are very much exhausted and we need to get back to our normal energy."
