WASHINGTON — A new U.S. intelligence report has found that the recent American airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities have only delayed Tehran’s program by a few months, contradicting President Donald Trump’s public statements that the sites were “totally destroyed.” The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report, according to two individuals familiar with its contents, concludes that Iran’s key nuclear infrastructure remains largely intact and that significant portions of its enriched uranium stockpiles survived the strikes.
The strikes, carried out Saturday at the Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites, inflicted serious damage, but failed to achieve the level of obliteration claimed by both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Sources say that Iran had managed to move some of its highly enriched uranium to undisclosed locations before the attack. Moreover, the country’s centrifuges—essential for uranium enrichment—were not destroyed and are still operational in many areas.
At the Fordo facility, which is buried deep underground and considered one of the most fortified nuclear sites in the world, the entrance was collapsed and surface infrastructure was damaged. However, the subterranean enrichment halls remained intact, confirming earlier internal warnings that the facility would be difficult to neutralize entirely even with precision strikes.
President Trump, speaking publicly and on social media in recent days, maintained that the airstrikes had “completely wiped out” Iran’s nuclear capabilities and insisted the regime would never be able to rebuild. The White House dismissed the DIA’s findings, calling them “flat-out wrong.” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report was a politically motivated leak intended to discredit Trump and undermine the mission, stating, “Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu echoed Trump’s sentiments in a televised address, stating, “We brought to ruin Iran’s nuclear program.” He praised the operation as “historic” and thanked the United States for its support.
However, U.S. intelligence paints a more cautious picture. The CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on the matter. The DIA, as the intelligence branch of the Department of Defense, is tasked with analyzing the military capabilities of adversarial nations and its assessments are often critical in shaping long-term national security policy.
The discrepancy between the administration’s claims and the intelligence assessment is expected to fuel renewed debate over the effectiveness and strategy behind the strike, and whether it has truly altered Iran’s long-term nuclear ambitions or merely delayed them.