The White House, on Tuesday, denied the results of an assessment that claimed the US airstrikes on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan did not destroy core components of Iran's nuclear program, arguing that the strikes likely only set the program back by months.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted that the assessment was "flat-out wrong," CNN quoted her as saying.
The assessment, described by CNN on Tuesday, was classified as 'top secret,' but leaked to CNN by an anonymous "low-level loser in the intelligence community" in 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," Leavitt told CNN in a statement.
"Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: Total obliteration," she added.
The US military said the operation went as planned and was "an overwhelming success," CNN noted.
“Based on everything we have seen — and I’ve seen it all — our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons. Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target and worked perfectly. The impact of those bombs is buried under a mountain of rubble in Iran; so anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the President and the successful mission," US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the news site.
“I think it’s been completely demolished,” US President Donald Trump said, adding, “Those pilots hit their targets. Those targets were obliterated, and the pilots should be given credit.”
When a reporter asked Trump about the possibility of Iran rebuilding its nuclear program, he responded, “That place is under rock. That place is demolished.”
Trump, Hegseth, and Leavitt have been consistent on the success of the strikes, but Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, stated that it is "way too early" to comment, the news site noted.
What was the assessment and what did it say?
The assessment was produced by the Pentagon's intelligence division, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). It was based on a battle damage assessment conducted by US Central Command after the strikes, one of the sources told CNN.
Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed in the strikes, and one of the centrifuges was "largely intact," according to the assessment.
None of the sources described how the DIA assessment compares to the view of other intelligence agencies, CNN reported, adding that Washington is continuing to gather intelligence, including from within Iran, with which to assess damage caused.
A CNN spokesperson later told the Jerusalem Post: "CNN stands by our thorough reporting on an early intelligence assessment of the recent strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which has since been confirmed by other news organizations. The White House has acknowledged the existence of the assessment, and their statement is included in our story. "