US national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard backs Trump, says Iran’s nuclear sites destroyed

US National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard has come out in support of President Donald Trump’s assertions that Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed and it would take Tehran years to rebuild them. Gabbard also slammed the news organisations that reported on a leaked Pentagon intelligence assessment concluding that Iran’s nuclear programme has not been destroyed and has only been set back by months. Gabbard said in a post on X that Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed.
“If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities (Natanz, Fordow, Esfahan) entirely, which would likely take years to do,” she said in the post.

The DNI also took aim at news organisations that published contents of the leaked Pentagon intelligence assessment that concluded Iran’s nuclear programme has not been destroyed and probably only been set back by months.

“The propaganda media has deployed their usual tactic: selectively release portions of illegally leaked classified intelligence assessments (intentionally leaving out the fact that the assessment was written with “low confidence”) to try to undermine President Trump’s decisive leadership and the brave servicemen and women who flawlessly executed a truly historic mission to keep the American people safe and secure,” Gabbard wrote.

The preliminary classified assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s military intelligence wing, said that airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites did not destroy the facilities completely and set Iran’s nuclear programme back by a few months, not years. The assessment was first reported by CNN, followed by NBC News and other outlets.

Trump also acknowledged the existence of the Defense Intelligence Agency’s report, which has not been made public, but suggested the data used was insufficient.

“They did a report, but it was like, if you look at the dates, it’s just a few days after, so they didn’t see the sites,” Trump said. “The report was not a complete report,” he said.

The Pentagon has launched a “leak investigation” with the FBI, Hegseth said Wednesday. He also noted that the report was preliminary and was labelled “low confidence”.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission said that the US strike on Fordo “destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable.”

The combined strikes by the US and Israel have “set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years,” it added.