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Arab News
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
US intel says strikes did not destroy Iran nuclear program
WASHINGTON: A classified preliminary US intelligence report has concluded that American strikes on Iran set back Tehran's nuclear program by just a few months — rather than destroying it as claimed by President Donald Trump. US media on Tuesday cited people familiar with the Defense Intelligence Agency findings as saying the weekend strikes did not fully eliminate Iran's centrifuges or stockpile of enriched uranium. The strikes sealed off entrances to some facilities without destroying underground buildings, according to the report. White House Press Secretary Karline Leavitt confirmed the authenticity of the assessment but said it was 'flat-out wrong and was classified as 'top secret' but was still leaked.' 'The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran's nuclear program,' Leavitt posted on X. 'Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,' she added. US B-2 bombers hit two Iranian nuclear sites with massive GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs over the weekend, while a guided missile submarine struck a third with Tomahawk cruise missiles. Trump called the strikes a 'spectacular military success' and said they had 'obliterated' the nuclear sites, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington's forces had 'devastated the Iranian nuclear program.' General Dan Caine, the top US military officer, has struck a more cautious tone, saying the strikes caused 'extremely severe damage' to the Iranian facilities. Iran's government said Tuesday that it had 'taken the necessary measures' to ensure the continuation of its nuclear program. 'Plans for restarting (the facilities) have been prepared in advance, and our strategy is to ensure that production and services are not disrupted,' the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, said in a statement aired on state television. An adviser to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meanwhile said his country still had stocks of enriched uranium and that 'the game is not over.' Israel launched an unprecedented air campaign targeting Iranian nuclear sites, scientists and top military brass on June 13 in a bid to set back Tehran's nuclear efforts. Trump had spent weeks pursuing a diplomatic path to replace the nuclear deal with Tehran that he tore up during his first term in 2018, but he ultimately decided to take military action. The US operation was massive, with Caine saying it involved more than 125 US aircraft including stealth bombers, fighters, aerial refueling tankers, a guided missile submarine and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Way too early' to know full damage done to Iran nuclear sites: Joint Chiefs chairman
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday morning echoed President Donald Trump in stating how much damage U.S. air strikes had done to Iran's nuclear program, saying it had been "obliterated," but Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine appeared not willing to go as far. "It was clear we devastated the Iranian nuclear program," Hegseth said at an early morning briefing with reporters, while praising President Trump's role in the operation. "Thanks to President Trump's bold and visionary leadership and his commitment to peace through strength, Iran's nuclear ambitions have been obliterated," he said. MORE: Israel-Iran live updates: Hegseth says Iran nuclear ambitions have been 'obliterated' in US attacks "Many presidents have dreamed of delivering the final blow to Iran's nuclear program, and none could until President Trump," he said. In his speech to the nation Saturday night, just after the strikes, Trump said Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities had been "completely and totally obliterated," calling the attack a "spectacular military success." MORE: Vance: 'We're not at war with Iran, we're at war with Iran's nuclear program' On Sunday morning, Caine was more measure, saying it will "take some time" to assess how much damage has been done. MORE: Trump said he was giving Iran a window to come to the table. He struck 2 days later. "I know that battle damage is of great interest. Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction," Caine said. "I think BDA is still pending and way too early to comment on what may or may not be there," he said. Later, Hegseth added that "The battle damage assessment is ongoing, but our initial assessment, as the chairman said, is that all of our precision munitions struck where we wanted them to strike and had the desired effect, which means especially the primary target here, we believe we achieved destruction of capabilities there." MORE: Congressional leaders react to Trump ordering attack on Iran Satellite images appeared to show bomb craters on top of the mountain where the Fordo plant is buried deep inside.
Sky News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Even after US strikes, Iran may still have the ability to make a nuclear bomb
It would be sensible to wait until the dust has settled before judging whether the US strikes on Iran were, in Donald Trump's, words, "a spectacular military success". And when dropping bombs that weigh more than 13 tonnes each, there's going to be a lot of dust. The US claims to have struck Iran's three largest nuclear facilities. Perhaps the most important is the Fordow complex, buried deep in a mountain near the city of Qom - it was the only one not previously damaged by Israeli strikes over the last few days. The claim by the US that it dropped at least six of its largest GBU-57 bunker buster bombs on Fordow is telling. Despite their size, it was known that one of them would be insufficient to penetrate 80+ metres of solid rock believed to shelter Iran's most sophisticated uranium enrichment technology deep within Fordow. It seems the US used their bombs to target the mountain stronghold's three entrances - at least that is what Iranian state media appears to be claiming. The idea is to rely on the significant shockwaves generated by the blasts to destroy infrastructure within and, at the very least, entomb the facility, rendering it useless. For now, at least. If nuclear facilities at Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow were "obliterated" as Donald Trump has claimed, or even crippled, it would certainly halt Iran's ability to enrich the uranium needed to make a viable nuclear weapon. 7:22 But that's not the same as preventing Iran's ability to make a nuclear bomb. To do that, they need "weapons-grade" uranium; the necessary metal-shaping, explosives and timing technology needed to trigger nuclear fission in the bomb; and a mechanism for delivering it. The facilities targeted in the US raid are dedicated to achieving the first objective. Taking naturally occurring uranium ore, which contains around 0.7% uranium 235 - the isotope needed for nuclear fission - and concentrating it. The centrifuges you hear about are the tools needed to enrich U-235 to the 90% purity needed for a compact "implosion"-type warhead that can be delivered by a missile. 0:36 And the reality is Iran's centrifuges have been spinning for a long time. United Nations nuclear inspectors warned in May that Iran had at least 408kg of uranium "enriched" to 60%. Getting to that level represents 90% of the time and effort to get to 90% U-235. And those 400kg would yield enough of that weapons-grade uranium to make nine nuclear weapons, the inspectors concluded. The second element is something Iran has also been working on for two decades. 1:44 Precisely shaping uranium metal and making shaped explosive charges to crush it in the right way to achieve "criticality", the spark for the sub-atomic chain reaction that releases the terrifying energy in a nuclear explosion. In its recent bombing campaign, Israel is thought to have targeted facilities where Iranian nuclear scientists were doing some of that work. But unlike the industrial processes needed to enrich uranium, these later steps can be carried out in laboratory-sized facilities. Easier to pack up and move, and easier to hide from prying eyes. Given that it's understood Iran already moved enriched uranium out of Fordow ahead of the US strike, it's far from certain that Iran has, in fact, lost its ability to make a bomb. And while the strikes may have delayed the logistics, it's possible they've emboldened a threatened Iran to intensify its warhead-making capability if it does still have one. Making a more compact implosion-based warhead is not easy. There is debate among experts about how advanced Iran is along that road. But if it felt sufficiently motivated, it does have other, less sophisticated nuclear options. Even 60% enriched uranium, of which - remember - it has a lot, can be coaxed to criticality in a much larger, cruder nuclear device.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Even after US strikes, Iran may still have the ability to make a nuclear bomb
It would be sensible to wait until the dust has settled before judging whether the US strikes on Iran were, in Donald Trump's, words, "a spectacular military success". And when dropping bombs that weigh more than 13 tonnes each, there's going to be a lot of dust. The US claims to have struck Iran's three largest nuclear facilities. Follow latest: Perhaps the most important is the Fordow complex, buried deep in a mountain near the city of Qom - it was the only one not previously damaged by Israeli strikes over the last few days. The claim by the US that it dropped at least six of its largest GBU-57 bunker buster bombs on Fordow is telling. Despite their size, it was known that one of them would be insufficient to penetrate 80+ metres of solid rock believed to shelter Iran's most sophisticated uranium enrichment technology deep within Fordow. Read more: It seems the US used their bombs to target the mountain stronghold's three entrances - at least that is what Iranian state media appears to be claiming. The idea is to rely on the significant shockwaves generated by the blasts to destroy infrastructure within and, at the very least, entomb the facility, rendering it useless. For now, at least. If nuclear facilities at Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow were "obliterated" as Donald Trump has claimed, or even crippled, it would certainly halt Iran's ability to enrich the uranium needed to make a viable nuclear weapon. But that's not the same as preventing Iran's ability to make a nuclear bomb. To do that, they need "weapons-grade" uranium; the necessary metal-shaping, explosives and timing technology needed to trigger nuclear fission in the bomb; and a mechanism for delivering it. The facilities targeted in the US raid are dedicated to achieving the first objective. Taking naturally occurring uranium ore, which contains around 0.7% uranium 235 - the isotope needed for nuclear fission - and concentrating it. The centrifuges you hear about are the tools needed to enrich U-235 to the 90% purity needed for a compact "implosion"-type warhead that can be delivered by a missile. And the reality is Iran's centrifuges have been spinning for a long time. United Nations nuclear inspectors warned in May that Iran had at least 408kg of uranium "enriched" to 60%. Getting to that level represents 90% of the time and effort to get to 90% U-235. And those 400kg would yield enough of that weapons-grade uranium to make nine nuclear weapons, the inspectors concluded. The second element is something Iran has also been working on for two decades. Precisely shaping uranium metal and making shaped explosive charges to crush it in the right way to achieve "criticality", the spark for the sub-atomic chain reaction that releases the terrifying energy in a nuclear explosion. In its recent bombing campaign, Israel is thought to have targeted facilities where Iranian nuclear scientists were doing some of that work. Analysis on the US strikes:For Trump, the performative presidency just got real But unlike the industrial processes needed to enrich uranium, these later steps can be carried out in laboratory-sized facilities. Easier to pack up and move, and easier to hide from prying eyes. Given that it's understood Iran already moved enriched uranium out of Fordow ahead of the US strike, it's far from certain that Iran has, in fact, lost its ability to make a bomb. And while the strikes may have delayed the logistics, it's possible they've emboldened a threatened Iran to intensify its warhead-making capability if it does still have one. Making a more compact implosion-based warhead is not easy. There is debate among experts about how advanced Iran is along that road. But if it felt sufficiently motivated, it does have other, less sophisticated nuclear options. Even 60% enriched uranium, of which - remember - it has a lot, can be coaxed to criticality in a much larger, cruder nuclear device. This wouldn't pose as much threat to its enemies, as it would be too heavy to fit on even the best of Iran's long-range missiles. But it would, nonetheless, elevate Iran to the status of a nuclear power.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawmakers respond to U.S. launching strikes on 3 Iranian nuclear facilities
Washington — Lawmakers across the political aisle offered a mixed response Saturday following President Trump's announcement that the United States launched strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities. Immediately following Mr. Trump's announcement, Congressional Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Ted Cruz, backed Mr. Trump's actions, while a number of leading Democrats condemned his decision to launch the attack without consulting Congress. In a televised address Saturday night, the president described the strikes as a "spectacular military success" and said "Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated." He warned of "far greater" attacks if Iran does not "make peace." "There is not another military in the World that could have done this," Mr. Trump said in a social media post. "NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!Thank you for your attention to this matter." Here's what lawmakers are saying: Many Republican lawmakers back U.S. strikes in Iran, but not all "Good. This was the right call. The regime deserves it. Well done, President @realDonaldTrump," Sen. Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said on X. House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a social media post that "the military operations in Iran should serve as a clear reminder to our adversaries and allies that President Trump means what he says." "The President gave Iran's leader every opportunity to make a deal, but Iran refused to commit to a nuclear disarmament agreement," Johnson said in the post. "President Trump has been consistent and clear that a nuclear-armed Iran will not be tolerated. That posture has now been enforced with strength, precision, and clarity." Texas Sen. Cruz, who has backed of Israeli strikes against Iranian targets, said in a statement: "As long as Iran was able to access and conduct activities at Fordow, they could still rush to build a nuclear arsenal. Tonight's actions have gone far in foreclosing that possibility, and countering the apocalyptic threat posed by an Iranian nuclear arsenal." Rep. Rick Crawford, Republican chair of the House Intelligence Committee, praised Mr. Trump in a statement and said, "I have been in touch with the White House before this action and will continue to track developments closely with them in the coming days." The strikes announced by Mr. Trump Saturday evening further escalated the conflict between Iran and Israel that started June 13. Mr. Trump, on Wednesday, was still mulling over whether the U.S. military would join Israel's ongoing attacks on Iran. Before the announcement of the strikes, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia was among the few Republicans who opposed the U.S. action, arguing on social media, "This is not our fight." "Every time America is on the verge of greatness, we get involved in another foreign war," she said in a post on X. "There would not be bombs falling on the people of Israel if Netanyahu had not dropped bombs on the people of Iran first." Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, reshared Mr. Trump's post on the strikes with a terse comment: "not constitutional." Massie introduced a resolution on Tuesday to prohibit U.S. involvement in the conflict. A few days earlier, He pointed out that the power to authorize use of military force rests with Congress, and said of the Israel-Iran conflict on X, "This is not our war. But if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution." Some Democrats say U.S. strikes in Iran are unconstitutional House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other Democrats agreed with Massie that the president should have consulted Congress, and on Saturday demanded that lawmakers be "fully and immediately" briefed on the attacks in a classified setting. "President Trump misled the country about his intentions, failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force and risks American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East," Jeffries said. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also called for Congress to enforce the War Powers Act. "President Trump must provide the American people and Congress clear answers on the actions taken tonight and their implications for the safety of Americans," Schumer said in a statement. "No president should be allowed to unilaterally march this nation into something as consequential as war with erratic threats and no strategy. Confronting Iran's ruthless campaign of terror, nuclear ambitions, and regional aggression demands strength, resolve, and strategic clarity. The danger of wider, longer, and more devastating war has now dramatically increased." Sen. Mark Warner, vice chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence, said that while there is "no question that Iran poses a serious threat to regional stability," the president's actions threaten to drag the U.S. into an open-ended conflict "without consulting Congress" and "without a clear strategy." Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who cosponsored Massie's resolution seeking to limit Mr. Trump's war powers, said in a statement early Sunday that Congress "needs to come back to DC immediately to vote" on the resolution "to ensure there is no further conflict and escalation." "Trump's strikes are unconstitutional and put Americans, especially our troops, at risk," Khanna said. Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts called on Congress to return to Washington to vote on Massie's legislation "to stop this madness." Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Mr. Trump's decision to bomb Iran without congressional authorization "is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers." "He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations," the New York Democrat wrote. "It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment." Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been trying to limit Mr. Trump's ability to order U.S. strikes on Iran amid its ongoing war with Israel, emphasizing that only Congress has the power to declare war under the Constitution. The extent of the president's authority to enter foreign conflicts without the approval of the legislative branch has been questioned in recent years. The last time Congress authorized the use of military force was in 2002, against Iraq. A year earlier, days after the 9/11 terror attacks, Congress passed a bill approving the use of military force against nations, organizations or individuals the president determines "planned, authorized, committed, or aided the 9/11 terrorist attacks." Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan urged Democratic colleagues in a post, "Don't make another mistake in dragging our country into another war," and added, "You can stop the President and the war mongers in Congress by signing on to our War Powers Resolution." In contrast to other Congressional Democrats, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania said he fully supports the U.S. strikes on Iran. "As I've long maintained, this was the correct move by @POTUS," Fetterman said in a social media post. "Iran is the world's leading sponsor of terrorism and cannot have nuclear capabilities. I'm grateful for and salute the finest military in the world." Sen. Bernie Sanders, who's on a tour this weekend in red Southern states, announced the news of the U.S. attacks on Iran to his supporters and was met the chants of "no more war" from the crowd. "It is so grossly unconstitutional," Sanders said. "All of you know that the only entity that can take this country to war is the U.S. Congress. The president does not have the right." Sneak peek: The Life and Death of Blaze Bernstein Some key Democratic congressional leaders left out of Trump's Iran attack plans Netanyahu reacts to U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites
