A classified preliminary intelligence report from the United States has found that recent American airstrikes on Iran delayed Tehran’s nuclear programme by only a few months, rather than completely destroying it as President Donald Trump had asserted.
US media outlets on Tuesday cited sources familiar with the Defence Intelligence Agency’s assessment, which indicated that the strikes did not entirely eliminate Iran’s centrifuges or its stockpile of enriched uranium.
According to the report, while the attacks sealed entrances to certain facilities, the underground buildings themselves were not destroyed.
White House Press Secretary Karline Leavitt confirmed the report’s authenticity but labelled it “flat-out wrong” and criticised its leak, which she said aimed to undermine President Trump and discredit the pilots involved.
“Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,” Leavitt wrote on X, praising the operation as flawlessly executed.
The strikes over the weekend involved US B-2 bombers dropping massive GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs on two Iranian nuclear sites, while a guided missile submarine launched Tomahawk cruise missiles at a third.
Trump hailed the strikes as a “spectacular military success” that “obliterated” the nuclear facilities, with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth declaring that US forces had “devastated the Iranian nuclear programme.”
However, General Dan Caine, the top US military official, adopted a more measured tone, describing the damage to the Iranian facilities as “extremely severe” but stopping short of claiming total destruction.
Iran’s government responded on Tuesday by asserting it had “taken the necessary measures” to continue its nuclear programme without interruption. Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told state television that plans to restart the facilities had already been prepared and emphasised their strategy to maintain production and services.
Meanwhile, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated that Iran still possessed enriched uranium stocks and insisted that “the game is not over.”
The US-led air campaign was unprecedented, targeting Iranian nuclear sites, scientists, and senior military officials beginning on 13 June. It was launched after Israel conducted strikes in the same vein, aiming to delay Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Although Trump initially sought a diplomatic resolution to replace the 2015 nuclear deal—which he abandoned during his first term in 2018—he ultimately authorised military action.
General Caine revealed the operation involved over 125 US aircraft, including stealth bombers, fighter jets, aerial refuelling tankers, a guided missile submarine, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance planes.
