Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Israel, and the United States all agreed that President Donald Trump’s historic precision strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites on Saturday “destroyed” and “badly damaged” the facilities’ critical infrastructure.
“Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that’s for sure,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei told Al Jazeera.
Israel’s Defense Forces Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, stated that Iran’s nuclear program has been “significantly damaged,” while the Atomic Energy Commission described the US strikes as “devastating.”
“The devastating U.S. strike on Fordo destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable,” Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission stated. “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.”
It said: “The achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material.”
In the United States, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan “Razin” Caine stated that preliminary battle damage assessments show that “all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction.”
“More than 125 U.S. aircraft participated in this mission, including B-2 stealth bombers, multiple flights of fourth and fifth generation fighters, dozens and dozens of air refueling tankers, a guided missile submarine, and a full array of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft, as well as hundreds of maintenance and operational professionals,” Caine told the media during a briefing.
According to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, “given the 30,000 pounds of explosions and the capability of those munitions, it was devastation underneath Fordow.”
“Any assessment that tells you otherwise is speculating with other motives,” says Hegseth.
The agreement on damage assessment between the US, Israel, and Iran comes in the wake of a report citing leaked low-confidence intelligence from one intelligence agency, which suggested that the US strikes did not destroy Iran’s nuclear sites.
A Defense Intelligence Agency source told Fox News that the “low confidence” assessment was based on only “one day’s worth of intelligence reporting.”
According to the source, more intelligence has been gathered in recent days using different sources and methods.
“This is a preliminary, low-confidence report that will be refined as new intelligence becomes available,” the Defense Intelligence Agency stated. “We are working with the appropriate authorities to investigate the unauthorized disclosure of classified information.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also blasted the report, claiming that Iran’s nuclear program “today looks nothing like it did just a week ago.”
“That story is a false story, and it’s one that really shouldn’t be re-reported because it doesn’t accurately reflect what’s happening,” Mr. Rubio said. “Everything underneath that mountain is in bad shape.”
Rubio also stated, “There is no way Iran comes to the table if nothing has happened.”
“This was complete and utter destruction. “They are in bad shape,” Rubio stated. “They are way behind today compared to where they were just seven days ago because of what President Trump did.”
Even the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi, concluded that “very significant damage is expected to have occurred.”
“At the Esfahan nuclear site, additional buildings were hit, with the US confirming their use of cruise missiles,” he said, according to prepared remarks for the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“Affected buildings include some related to the uranium conversion process,” he informed me. “At this location, the entrances to tunnels used for storing enriched material appear to have been hit.
The Fuel Enrichment Plant at the Natanz enrichment site was targeted, and the United States confirmed that ground-penetrating munitions were used.”
Meanwhile, Trump was in the Netherlands for the NATO Summit, where he received praise from allies for his “decisive” action in Iran.
During Wednesday’s summit, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praised Trump as a “man of strength” and a “man of peace”.
“I just want to recognize your decisive action on Iran,” Rutte said as he began his joint remarks with the president. “You are a man of strength and peace.
And I really want to commend you on your success in negotiating this ceasefire between Israel and Iran. I believe this is important for the entire world.”
On Wednesday, the president declared that if Iran tries to rebuild its nuclear program, the US will strike again.
