Pentagon recognizes that attack on Iran only delayed nuclear plan, not destroyed it as Trump said
Donald Trump rejected an initial report that questioned the total destruction of Iran nuclear program and called it a campaign by opponents
The US attacks on three key facilities in Iran have not yet been forgotten and after President Donald Trump insisted that the country's nuclear program had been destroyed, the Pentagon revealed other data.
Even before This information, had leaked an initial intelligence assessment that concluded the attacks had only set back Iran’s nuclear program by a few months, sparking Trump’s ire as well as his disdain.
However, the Pentagon confirmed that the US attack on three Iranian nuclear facilities delayed that country’s nuclear program by between one and two years, thus qualifying previous statements that it had completely damaged it.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell noted that all the conversations held since Operation Midnight Hammer with US allies in the region, but also in the rest of the world, show them that they share their opinion on “the degradation of the Iranian nuclear program and the fact that it has been delayed by between one and two years.” “Probably closer to two years,” he said at a news conference.
The Midnight Hammer mission, which took place on June 22, involved some 125 aircraft, including B-2 bombers that dropped powerful 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs on two key uranium enrichment plants: Fordo and Natanz. A submarine also fired Tomahawk missiles at the Isfahan facility.
According to Donald Trump, the operation was a success, but a US intelligence report leaked to the press indicated that the attack only set back Iran's nuclear program by a few months.
"We believe the damage to the Fordo, Isfahan, and Natanz facilities degraded their physical capability to build a bomb. It's not just the enriched uranium, the centrifuges, or anything like that," Parnell said.
"We destroyed the components that are necessary to build a bomb. Taking into account all the different factors, We believe Iran’s nuclear capability has been severely degraded, perhaps even its ambition to build a bomb,” he added.
However, over the weekend, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said Iran could be producing enriched uranium within a few months, raising questions about the effectiveness of the U.S. strikes.
Several experts have also warned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of highly enriched, near-weapons-grade uranium from the deeply buried Fordo site before the attacks and may be hiding it.