Latest news with #MahmoudPezeshkian
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘We don't have any access': Iran's president backs Trump's claims of damage caused by U.S. strikes in interview
Iranian President Mahmoud Pezeshkian offered a rare moment of insight regarding the state of his country's nuclear program over the weekend in an interview with Tucker Carlson that was published Monday. U.S. forces struck three facilities across Iran associated with the development of nuclear weapons on June 22. The Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan sites were hit with an array of weaponry including 'bunker-buster' bombs dropped by B-52 bombers with the capability of damaging or destroying underground targets. An initial intelligence assessment obtained by Reuters and other news outlets reported that the strikes only set Iranian development efforts back by months, but the White House and Defense Department have insisted that further assessments put the damage at a greater level than was initially reported. In the lead-up to the interview's publication, Carlson told viewers of his channel that he didn't ask Pezeshkian about the status of the nuclear program and the country's weapons development, given that he expected the Iranian government to be deceptive on the matter. Still, the Iranian president offered a comment about the program's fate offhandedly during the interview, telling Carlson: 'the facilities there have been severely damaged, and therefore we don't have any access to them, and we cannot see - unless this access is going to be [restored], we have to see how much they have been damaged.' The admission that Iranian officials are apparently still unable to access the underground facilities targeted by U.S. strikes lends credence to the Trump administration's assertions that heavy damage was done, potentially knocking them totally out of commission for the foreseeable future. An initial U.S. intelligence assessment was leaked to the press and caused headaches for the administration as it claimed that Iran's stockpile of uranium was not hit during the attack and that centrifuges at the three sites were mostly intact following the strikes. Officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth angrily scolded reporters after publication of the assessment, which they blamed on an effort to make the president look bad. A report from the Wall Street Journal in the days after the initial assessment's leak detailed a separate assessment delivered to members of Congress by CIA Director John Ratcliffe. According to Ratcliffe, the strikes were successful in achieving total destruction of the metals conversion site at Esfahan, which was Iran's only known facility capable of converting enriched uranium into metal — a key final-stage process in production of a weapon, and a capacity that Iran will require years to rebuild. International Atomic Energy Agency director Rafael Grossi told CBS News in late June that Iran could be producing enriched uranium again within a matter of months, explaining that the country's nuclear program did not suffer 'total' destruction. But the lack of a metals conversion facility could mean that the country is incapable of producing anything beyond a relatively unsophisticated weapon, unless it harbors a secret second site outside of Esfahan. The Times of Israel reported one expert as saying that it was a credible possibility for Iran to have another hidden metal conversion site. 'It is clear that there has been severe damage, but it's not total damage, first of all,' Gross said. 'And secondly, Iran has the capacities there; industrial and technological capacities. So if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again.' NBC News reported in late June that experts believed the destruction of Iran's air defense systems and continued efforts by Israeli intelligence to uncover hidden aspects of Iran's nuclear capabilities would make keeping a site like Esfahan hidden a near impossibility. 'Iran's principal challenge in pursuing a covert pathway is going to be keeping it hidden from U.S. and Israeli detection,' Eric Brewer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative told NBC. 'That's the key challenge, because both countries, particularly Israel, have demonstrated an ability to penetrate Iran's nuclear program.'


The Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
‘We don't have any access': Iran's president backs Trump's claims of damage caused by U.S. strikes in interview
Iranian President Mahmoud Pezeshkian offered a rare moment of insight regarding the state of his country's nuclear program over the weekend in an interview with Tucker Carlson that was published Monday. U.S. forces struck three facilities across Iran associated with the development of nuclear weapons on June 22. The Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan sites were hit with an array of weaponry including 'bunker-buster' bombs dropped by B-52 bombers with the capability of damaging or destroying underground targets. An initial intelligence assessment obtained by Reuters and other news outlets reported that the strikes only set Iranian development efforts back by months, but the White House and Defense Department have insisted that further assessments put the damage at a greater level than was initially reported. In the lead-up to the interview's publication, Carlson told viewers of his channel that he didn't ask Pezeshkian about the status of the nuclear program and the country's weapons development, given that he expected the Iranian government to be deceptive on the matter. Still, the Iranian president offered a comment about the program's fate offhandedly during the interview, telling Carlson: 'the facilities there have been severely damaged, and therefore we don't have any access to them, and we cannot see - unless this access is going to be [restored], we have to see how much they have been damaged.' The admission that Iranian officials are apparently still unable to access the underground facilities targeted by U.S. strikes lends credence to the Trump administration's assertions that heavy damage was done, potentially knocking them totally out of commission for the foreseeable future. An initial U.S. intelligence assessment was leaked to the press and caused headaches for the administration as it claimed that Iran's stockpile of uranium was not hit during the attack and that centrifuges at the three sites were mostly intact following the strikes. Officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth angrily scolded reporters after publication of the assessment, which they blamed on an effort to make the president look bad. A report from the Wall Street Journa l in the days after the initial assessment's leak detailed a separate assessment delivered to members of Congress by CIA Director John Ratcliffe. According to Ratcliffe, the strikes were successful in achieving total destruction of the metals conversion site at Esfahan, which was Iran's only known facility capable of converting enriched uranium into metal — a key final-stage process in production of a weapon, and a capacity that Iran will require years to rebuild. International Atomic Energy Agency director Rafael Grossi told CBS News in late June that Iran could be producing enriched uranium again within a matter of months, explaining that the country's nuclear program did not suffer 'total' destruction. But the lack of a metals conversion facility could mean that the country is incapable of producing anything beyond a relatively unsophisticated weapon, unless it harbors a secret second site outside of Esfahan. The Times of Israel reported one expert as saying that it was a credible possibility for Iran to have another hidden metal conversion site. 'It is clear that there has been severe damage, but it's not total damage, first of all,' Gross said. 'And secondly, Iran has the capacities there; industrial and technological capacities. So if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again.' NBC News reported in late June that experts believed the destruction of Iran's air defense systems and continued efforts by Israeli intelligence to uncover hidden aspects of Iran's nuclear capabilities would make keeping a site like Esfahan hidden a near impossibility. 'Iran's principal challenge in pursuing a covert pathway is going to be keeping it hidden from U.S. and Israeli detection,' Eric Brewer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative told NBC. 'That's the key challenge, because both countries, particularly Israel, have demonstrated an ability to penetrate Iran's nuclear program.'


Fox News
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Iran launches attack on US base in Qatar, Iranian state TV reports
Iran said it launched a retaliatory attack on Al-Udeid, the U.S. airbase in Qatar, on Monday. Explosions were heard in Doha, a source told Fox News. Iranian state media reported that "Operation Fatah's Blessing against the American Al-Udeid base in Qatar has begun." Just before the attack, Iran's President Mahmoud Pezeshkian issued a warning promising not to let Saturday's strikes on its nuclear facilities go "unanswered." "We neither initiated the war nor wanted it; but we will not leave the aggression against #GreaterIran unanswered. We will stand by the security of this #belovednation with all our being and respond to every wound on Iran's body with faith, wisdom, and determination," he wrote on X. The base is home to 10,000 American forces and is the U.S.'s largest military installation in the Middle East. Located southwest of Doha, it serves as a hub for logistical operations for the U.S. mission to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria. It also hosts Central Command's (CENTCOM) Forward Headquarters, as well as its air forces and special operations in the region. It also has been used as a headquarters for British involvement in airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq. President Donald Trump visited Al Udeid last month on May 15, where he inked a $1 billion military sales agreement with Doha. Qatar has walked a tight line between friendly relations with the U.S., through efforts to expand the base, and with Iran. Prior to the attack, Qatar suspended all flights and promised to "take all necessary preventive measures." The attack was not entirely unexpected – satellite images showed the U.S. moved most of its unhangered aircraft out of Al Udeid last week. Iran vowed to retaliate against the U.S. after American B-2 bombers dropped 14 bunker buster bombs on three Iranian nuclear sites. "The criminal US must know that in addition to punishing its illegitimate and aggressive offspring, the hands of Islam's fighters within the armed forces have been freed to take any action against its interests and military, and we will never back down in this regard," Abdolrahim Mousavi, the new chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, warned in a statement. But Trump warned Iran after Saturday's strikes on its nuclear hubs: "Any retaliation by Iran against the United States of America will be met with force far greater than what was witnessed tonight." The air base also hosts an array of military assets: B-52 strategic bombers, C-17 Globemaster transports and RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft, in addition to 379th Air Expeditionary Wing's airlift, aerial refueling, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.