Trump insists Iran nuclear sites 'completely destroyed'; denies leaked US intel report

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (Jun 24) doubled down on his claims that the Iranian nuclear sites were "obliterated" in US strikes. In a post on Truth Social, the US President insisted that the three nuclear facilities were "completely destroyed" as he ridiculed media houses that published reports casting doubt on his claims of the destruction of three nuclear sites in Iran -Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. His statement comes after a leaked US intel report claimed that America was not successful in the destruction of the said plants, and the attack only set back Tehran's nuclear programme by about three months.

Trump slams CNN, New York Times

In a Truth Social post, Trump named and shamed CNN and the New York Times for publishing reports on the leaked intel. The two publishers had posted exclusives on the news. Labelling CNN "fake news" and the New York Times as "failing", Trump claimed that the two sites "have teamed up in an attempt to demean one of the most successful military strikes in history". He then insisted that the "nuclear sites in Iran are destroyed!," before claiming that "both the Times and CNN are getting slammed by the public" for their reports.

US intel report

The report in question is a leaked preliminary, classified report from the United States Defence Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's intelligence arm. It suggests that the recent American bombing campaign on Iran's nuclear facilities — touted by President Donald Trump as a mission that "obliterated" Tehran's capabilities — has in fact, only set the programme back by a few months.

According to the New York Times report, entrances to two key sites were sealed, but the fortified underground complexes themselves — at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan — remain structurally intact. Based on the battle damage assessment conducted by the US Central Command in the aftermath of the strikes, it concluded that while the mission disrupted operations, it didn't collapse the core infrastructure.

Watch | U.S. intelligence says main components of nuke programmme not destroyed

“We took the bomb right out of their hands,” he said, referring to Iran’s enriched uranium program. “Total obliteration,” claimed Trump. However, intel reports paint a murkier picture. Earlier, as per US estimation, Iran was just three months away from making a bomb; now, as per the assessment, Tehran's nuclear timeline has been delayed by as little as three months.