The White House is pushing back against a leaked US intelligence summary that suggests Iran’s underground nuclear sites survived last week’s American‐Israeli air campaign largely intact.President Donald Trump said the joint raids “obliterated” Iran’s ability to build a nuclear bomb and helped secure a ceasefire that ended the “12 Day War.“Fourteen 13 ton bunker busting bombs were dropped on three fortified facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan, according to the Pentagon.CNN reported on June 23 that a preliminary Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) memo, written one day after the strikes, cast doubt on that assessment. The document, labelled “low confidence,” cited information gaps and acknowledged it had not been vetted by the wider intelligence community..Trump allies called the leak an attempt to undercut both the president and the pilots who carried out what they describe as the most complex air operation in US history. “This is a preliminary, low confidence report and will continue to be refined as additional intelligence becomes available,” said the DIA in a rare public statement. “We are working with the appropriate authorities to investigate the unauthorized disclosure of classified information.”Israeli officials dismissed the memo. .In a statement distributed by the White House, the Israel Atomic Energy Commission said, “The devastating US strike on Fordo destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable.”“We assess that the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran’s military nuclear program, has set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years. The achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material.”Israel Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told reporters that “I can say here that the assessment is that we significantly damaged the nuclear program, and I can also say that we set it back by years, I repeat, years.” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said, “Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that’s for sure.”.At the Pentagon, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said cockpit video proves the 30,000 pound “massive ordnance penetrators” hit “exactly the right spot.” Hegseth called claims of limited effect “speculating with other motives.”Vice President J.D. Vance argued the controversy highlights media bias. “President Trump has obliterated the Iranian nuclear program,” said Vance.“The American media seems destined to obliterate their own credibility on this fake story.”.Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine said 125 US aircraft, including B-2 stealth bombers, fifth generation fighters, air-to-air tankers, and a guided missile submarine, took part. “Initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” said Caine.Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed with Caine’s assessment and said, “Everything underneath that mountain is in bad shape.”“There’s no way Iran comes to the table if somehow nothing had happened. This was complete and total obliteration. They are in bad shape. They are way behind today compared to where they were just 7 days ago because of what President Trump did.”Independent analysts largely backed the administration’s account. .International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said, “Given the explosive payload utilized, and the extreme vibration-sensitive nature of centrifuges, very significant damage is expected to have occurred.” David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security wrote that “Overall, Israel’s and US attacks have effectively destroyed Iran’s centrifuge enrichment program. It will be a long time before Iran comes anywhere near the capability it had before the attack.”Andrea Stricker at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies said, “I think that because of the massive damage and the shock wave that would have been sent by 12 Massive Ordnance Penetrators at the Fordow site, that it likely would render its centrifuges damaged or inoperable.”Brian Carter of the American Enterprise Institute called the sites “badly, badly damaged,” while researcher Spencer Faragasso predicted a lengthy recovery..Still, the intelligence community is expected to release an updated, higher confidence assessment within weeks. Until then, officials warn that early snapshots can be misleading.“We put 12 bunker buster bombs on Fordow,” said Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. “There’s no doubt that it breached the canopy, there’s no doubt that it was well within reach of the depth that these bunker buster bombs go to, and there’s no doubt that it was obliterated — so the reporting out there that in some way suggests that we did not achieve the objective is just completely preposterous.”CNN has not retracted its story. The network said it stands by reporter Natasha Bertrand, who previously broke several national security exclusives, including that Hunter Biden’s laptop was “Russian disinformation,” which was found to be false.
