US attack on Iran did not destroy its nuclear facilities, according to The New York Times
A classified preliminary report says the US bombing of three nuclear sites in Iran only delayed the country’s nuclear program
The US military strikes that President Donald Trump ordered against Iran's nuclear facilities did not completely destroy the country's nuclear program and probably delayed it only by a few months, according to reports that contradicted the president.
That is, the attack on three Iranian nuclear facilities did not destroy them as initially planned, according to a US intelligence report leaked by the press, although authorities have denied it.
Before the attack on the Isfahan, Natanz and Fordo facilities in the operation dubbed 'Midnight Hammer', intelligence agencies had anticipated that it would take Iran about three months to manufacture a nuclear bomb, according to The New York Times.
After that, the report from the Intelligence Department agency reported by the newspaper raises the expected timeframe to less than six months.
The initial assessment of the damage would suggest that President Donald Trump's statements that the country's nuclear capabilities had been eliminated are exaggerated.
The document adds that the bombings only destroyed a small portion of the nuclear material because most of Iran's enriched uranium reserves were moved before the offensive.
That first five-page report only advances preliminary conclusions that will require further analysis.
According to sources, the enriched uranium was not destroyed and the centrifuges are virtually intact.
Despite that, in his most recent comments Tuesday morning, Trump told reporters, “I think it's been completely demolished.”
When asked for comment Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegset stuck to his own assessment of the damage based on the intelligence he had seen.
“Based on everything we've seen, and I've seen it all, Our bombing campaign destroyed Iran's nuclear capability,” he said in a statement provided to reporters.
CNN even noted that this initial assessment was based on a review by the US Central Command (Centcom) following the attack.
The Pentagon had previously stated that the offensive went as planned and was “an overwhelming success.”
Therefore, following information released calling into question the official version, both Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt denied the information released.
For the Pentagon leader, “whoever says the bombs weren't devastating is only trying to undermine the president and the success of the mission.”
The presidential representative agreed that the document in question is flawed.
According to Leavitt, its leak “is a clear “an attempt to denigrate” Trump and “discredit the brave fighter pilots who carried out a flawlessly executed mission to destroy Iran's nuclear program.”
“We all know what happens when you drop 14 30,000-pound bombs precisely on their targets: total annihilation,” he concluded.

