WASHINGTON (BN24) — U.S. airstrikes on three key Iranian nuclear sites ordered by President Donald Trump earlier this month have set back Tehran’s atomic program by several months but failed to destroy it, according to an initial assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) obtained by multiple sources familiar with the classified report.
The preliminary damage assessment contradicts Trump’s repeated claims that the strikes, carried out with B-2 Spirit bombers and submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles, had “totally destroyed” Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. The strikes targeted facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, but intelligence sources say Iran had moved critical assets, including enriched uranium stockpiles, prior to the attacks.
The DIA’s findings, first reported by CNN, suggest Iran’s nuclear program remains intact, though disrupted. Some centrifuges used to enrich uranium reportedly survived the bombardment, and evidence indicates that batches of highly enriched uranium were removed from at least one site before the strikes. One source, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the material, said the attack may delay Iran’s nuclear advancement “by months, not years.”
Trump, however, continues to portray the mission as a resounding success. “The sites that we hit in Iran were totally destroyed, and everyone knows it,” he wrote in a Truth Social post Monday. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down on the administration’s narrative, dismissing the leaked report as a smear from a “low-level loser” in the intelligence community.
The strikes came amid a fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Iran following a 12-day conflict. The Fordow facility—considered Iran’s most deeply buried and fortified enrichment site—was reportedly heavily damaged and rendered unusable for the near term, according to a senior U.S. official.
Still, questions linger about the survivability and dispersion of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Experts have long maintained that airstrikes alone are unlikely to eliminate Iran’s capabilities, given the country’s decades of research and its multiple undisclosed enrichment locations. Iran’s recent construction of a new underground facility near Natanz, buried even deeper than Fordow, underscores the difficulty of neutralizing the entire program through aerial bombardment.
Vice President JD Vance offered conflicting views on the impact of the strikes, calling the mission a “destruction” of Iran’s nuclear program in a Fox News interview, but later acknowledging that while enrichment may have been disrupted, intelligence remains classified. “Even if Iran has uranium, it can no longer enrich it,” Vance said, adding that the U.S. reserves the right to strike again.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials claim their own strikes killed up to a dozen Iranian nuclear scientists. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency estimates Iran’s nuclear assets are spread across at least 30 facilities, many of which remain operational or have yet to be inspected. An IAEA visit to a new underground site near Natanz was canceled following the strikes.
Congressional skepticism over the Trump administration’s claims has grown. A classified briefing for House members was abruptly postponed Tuesday, prompting Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, to speculate that the administration was avoiding political fallout. “They don’t delay briefings that have good news,” he said.
The Pentagon’s Operation Midnight Hammer marked the first combat use of the 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a bunker-busting bomb designed to destroy underground facilities. While it demonstrated U.S. technological reach, analysts warn that the strikes also gave Iran and other adversaries insight into the limitations of U.S. munitions.
President Trump has continued to press Iran for a new nuclear deal that would permanently eliminate its enrichment capability. Tehran, which is party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, maintains that its nuclear activities are strictly for peaceful purposes and has refused to forfeit its right to enrichment.
washingtonpost
