Trump reaffirms the destruction of all nuclear sites in Iran and strongly criticize the US media
US President Donald Trump reiterated on Tuesday that the military strike his forces launched on Iran on Sunday totally destroyed the three targeted nuclear sites, denying media reports citing intelligence sources that the strike only delayed Tehran’s nuclear program by a few months.
Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Fake News CNN, in conjunction with the Failing New York Times, have joined forces to discredit one of the most successful military strikes in history… Iran’s nuclear sites have been completely destroyed!”
Trump’s post came after several US media outlets reported a secret preliminary report prepared by the US Defense Intelligence Agency that the US strike on Iran set back Tehran’s nuclear program by only a few months, rather than destroying it.
These media outlets quoted people familiar with the report as saying that the strike didn’t completely destroy the centrifuges or the enriched uranium stockpile, but rather closed the entrances to some facilities without destroying the underground buildings.
White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt quickly denied the information, asserting that the assessment was “completely false and was classified top secret, yet it was leaked”.
In turn, Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, confirmed that the nuclear facilities in Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow had been destroyed.
“Most, if not all, of the centrifuges at these three facilities have been damaged or destroyed,” he said.
“It will be almost impossible for them (the Iranians) to revive this program… In my view, and in the view of many other experts who have seen the preliminary data, it will take them years,” he added.
