The US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities did not destroy the country's nuclear program and likely only set it back months, according to an assessment Pentagon preliminary intelligence on the attack.

The Islamic Republic’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not wiped out in Saturday’s strikes, sources familiar with the Defense Intelligence Agency’s assessment told CBS.

The White House said the “completely flawed” assessment was leaked by “a low-level loser in the intelligence community.”

The United States has 18 intelligence agencies, which sometimes produce conflicting reports depending on their mission and area of ??expertise.

For example, the nation’s intelligence community has not yet agreed on how COVID-19 originated.

Future intelligence reports may include more information showing a different level of damage to the facilities.

According to CBS, officials familiar with the report cautioned that it was a preliminary assessment that could change as more information about the sites becomes available.

It is also unclear what level of confidence the report's conclusions were made with.

The United States attacked three nuclear facilities in Iran (Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan) with bunker-buster bombs capable of penetrating 18m of concrete or 61m of earth before exploding.

However, sources familiar with the Pentagon intelligence assessment say the Iranian centrifuges are virtually intact and that the impact was limited to aboveground structures.

The bombs sealed the entrances to two nuclear facilities, and some infrastructure was destroyed or damaged, but much of the deep-seated facility escaped the impact of the blasts.

Anonymous sources told US media that the attack is estimated to have only set Iran back “a few months at most,” and that the restart of its nuclear program may depend on how long it takes the country to excavate and make repairs.

Sources also confirmed to CBS that some of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpiles were moved ahead of the attacks, according to the intelligence assessment.

The GBU-57A/B MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator), the 14,000 kg US bomb, was believed to be the only weapon capable of destroying Iran’s underground uranium enrichment facilities.

Tehran has long claimed that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

In the hours after Saturday’s attacks, General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that assessing the damage to the facilities would take time.

However, he added that “all three sites suffered extremely severe damage and destruction.”

Satellite imagery showed six fresh craters clustered around two entry points at the Fordo nuclear facility, as well as gray dust and debris.

But the images do not clarify the extent of damage to the facility beneath the surface.

Hassan Abedini, deputy political director of Iran’s state broadcaster, said the three facilities targeted by the United States had been evacuated “some time ago” and that Iran “did not suffer a major blow because the materials had already been removed.”

On the other hand, both U.S. and Israeli officials hailed the mission as a success.

In a statement Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that “based on Everything we've seen, and I've seen it all, our bombing campaign disabled Iran's ability to create nuclear weapons. Anyone who says the bombs weren't devastating is just trying to undermine the president and the success of the mission, Hegseth said. U.S. Congressman Brad Sherman, a Democratic member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the BBC that the Trump administration was using vague terms to declare victory when it remains unclear what the strike mission achieved. He added that the administration has not said whether the strikes destroyed Iran's ability to make weapons from its uranium and uranium enrichment centrifuges, or depleted its stockpile, which He said, would be enough to create nine nuclear weapons.

“When they say the program needs to be destroyed, they’re not even saying whether that means destroying the centrifuges and the ability to create uranium in the future or whether it means destroying the stockpile,” Sherman told the BBC.

“All indications, including Vice President Vance’s statement, are that we do not believe we have reached the stockpile,” he said, pointing to footage showing trucks heading toward one of the facilities days before the attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that since hostilities with Iran began on June 13, Israel has managed to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions as well as destroy its missile arsenal.

“We have eliminated two immediate existential threats: the threat of nuclear annihilation and the threat of annihilation with 20,000 ballistic missiles,” Netanyahu said in a video released by his office.

A report by the Saudi news site Al Hadath, citing an anonymous Israeli source, claims that Israel believes most of Iran’s enriched uranium is buried under the rubble.

David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security and an expert on the secret development of nuclear weapons, said the damage Iran suffered from the US strikes means it will “take significant time, investment, and energy” to restore its nuclear program.

In a post on X, Albright added that Iran is “under intense scrutiny and observation by both the US and Israel” and is at risk of further attacks if it tries to rebuild its facilities.

On Monday, Iran responded to the US bombing by launching a missile attack on the Al-Udeid air base in Qatar, where thousands of US troops are based.

The attack was largely intercepted, and no casualties or injuries were reported.

Since the Iranian retaliation, it was A ceasefire has been established between Iran and Israel, brokered by President Trump and Qatari mediators.

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