A preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment indicates that recent American airstrikes have delayed Iran’s nuclear program by only several months, rather than destroying it entirely, the Associated Press reported, quoting two individuals briefed on the findings.
The Defense Intelligence Agency’s report, circulated Monday, stands in contrast to public declarations by President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, both of whom characterized the strikes as a complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
According to the individuals, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter, the strikes inflicted significant damage on facilities at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan, the AP reported. However, the sites were not annihilated, and some key infrastructure remains operable.
Notably, the assessment concludes that Iran managed to relocate portions of its highly enriched uranium stockpile prior to the attacks. Centrifuges essential to advancing enrichment toward weapons-grade levels are believed to have survived.
At the heavily fortified Fordo enrichment site, U.S. B-2 bombers dropped more than a dozen 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs. While surface structures were damaged and the entrance collapsed, underground infrastructure was not fully destroyed, the report found. Intelligence officials had previously warned that the facility’s depth and fortifications might limit the strike’s effectiveness.
White House disputes findings
The White House swiftly rejected the DIA’s conclusions.
“The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”
Neither the CIA nor the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies including the DIA, commented on the report. Israel has also not released an independent assessment.
Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, echoed the administration’s view, telling Fox News that the strikes had eliminated Iran’s nuclear capabilities. He denounced the leak of the assessment as “treasonous” and called for an investigation.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the strikes left Iran’s nuclear program in ruins, writing on social media that the sites were “totally destroyed” and that Iran would never be able to rebuild them.
Netanyahu, speaking in a televised address Tuesday, praised the joint operation. “For dozens of years I promised you that Iran would not have nuclear weapons and indeed, we brought to ruin Iran’s nuclear program,” he said, calling the U.S. partnership “historic.”
Outside experts have long warned that Iran may have preemptively relocated critical components of its program. Satellite imagery from the days preceding the strike showed bulldozers and trucks moving equipment—activity analysts interpret as a possible evacuation of uranium stockpiles.
The assessment adds weight to speculation that Tehran, anticipating U.S. action, preserved the core of its program. Even with visible damage, experts caution that Iran may retain the capacity to enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels and resume work on a nuclear weapon.
Iran maintains that its program is for peaceful purposes, but has enriched uranium well beyond civilian thresholds. Before the U.S. strikes, American and international officials agreed that Iran’s leadership had not yet made the decision to build a weapon, though the International Atomic Energy Agency has warned that Iran possesses enough material to make several bombs if it chose to proceed.
Vice President J.D. Vance, speaking on Fox News on Monday, defended the operation’s impact. He argued that by denying Iran the ability to further enrich its 60-percent stockpile to weapons-grade material, the United States had succeeded in neutralizing the threat.
“If they have 60 percent enriched uranium, but they don’t have the ability to enrich it to 90 percent, and they don’t have the means to weaponize it, that is mission success,” Vance said. “That is the obliteration of their nuclear program.”
According to the United Nations nuclear watchdog, roughly 42 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent is sufficient to produce one atomic bomb if further refined.
