President Donald Trump insisted on Wednesday for the American strikes gave an overwhelming blow to the Iranian nuclear program despite a preliminary Evaluation of American intelligence suggesting that the assault only inflicted a marginal setback.
“It was a devastating attack, and that struck them for a loop,” said Trump while his administration deployed a phalanx of senior officials to defend his affirmations that the Iran nuclear program was “completely erased”.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth said Disclosed intelligence assessmentWho said that Iran has not been delayed for a few months that was “preliminary” and “low confidence”. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said officials who revealed the conclusions are “professional stabbers”.
The White House highlighted a statement by the Israeli atomic energy committee which said that Iran has faced a setback of “several years”.
It is difficult to draw reliable conclusions on the impact of American strikes, which makes the question a breeding ground for competing allegations that could determine how Trump’s risky voters see the Israel’s attacks on Iran.
Also in play are Trump’s next steps in the Middle EastWhere diplomatic efforts may be necessary to prevent Iran from reconstructing its nuclear program.
Iran argues that its atomic ambitions are for peaceful purposes, while American and Israeli leaders have described the country’s nuclear program as the precursor to obtaining a nuclear weapon.
One of the targets of the American attack was Fordo, where nuclear infrastructure is buried deep underground. The Israeli commission said in a statement that bombing “had made the center of enrichment inoperable”.
The declaration was distributed by the White House and the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
American strikes on Iranian nuclear installations, combined with Israeli strikes on other parts of the Iranian military nuclear program, “heard Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons of many years,” the press release said.
In addition, Iranian Ministry of Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told Al Jazeera that there were significant damage from American bombers.
“Our nuclear installations have been seriously damaged, for sure,” he said.
The episode has sparked some of Trump’s long -standing vendettas against leaks and intelligence officials, which he has often considered as part of a “deep state” dedicated to undermining his program. He was also unleashed in the media which reported on the classified assessment, describing them as “foam” and “disgusting”.
Trump said that challenging the effectiveness of strikes was disrespectful towards the military, who stole stealth bombers on the other side of the world To attack nuclear installations with weapons designed to penetrate deep underground.
Reports, he said, were “very unfair to the pilots, who risked their lives for our country”.
A critical question is whether enriched uranium, which could be transformed into fuel for a nuclear bomb, was far from the facilities before the United States strikes.
“I think they didn’t have the chance to go out, because we acted quickly,” said Trump. He added that “it is very difficult to move this kind of equipment and very dangerous”.
