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US President Donald Trump has once again asserted his claims on Washington "obliterating" Iranian nuclear sites during its targeted strikes on June 22, riding on Israel's assessment made by the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) on those sites.
In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday (local time), Trump noted the assessment made by IAEC on the Fordow nuclear site in Iran, where Israel's primary nuclear regulatory authority stated that the US' strike had "destroyed the site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable." "Israel just stated that the Nuclear Sites were OBLITERATED! Thank you to our great B-2 pilots, and all others involved!" Trump wrote. Trump's announcement came in the wake of an assessment made by the IAEC, where they detailed the impact of the US strike on Fordow and other nuclear sites, noting that the strikes in Fordow had destroyed its "critical infrastructure" and made the enrichment facility "inoperable". In its statement, as announced by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, IAEC also noted that the US strikes combined with Israel's attacks on the facilities had caused a major setback to Tehran's nuclear weapons development programme by "many years". "The devastating US strike on Fordow destroyed the site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable. We assess that the American strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran's military nuclear program, have set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years. The achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material," IAEC read. Trump's repeated remarks on the US destroying Iran's nuclear sites and causing a major setback to its nuclear development programme have gained much pace following a CNN finding that suggested that the strikes did not destroy nuclear sites in Iran as claimed by the US President or his administration. The findings, first reported by CNN, citing seven individuals briefed on the assessments, noted that the early evaluation from the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) suggested that the attacks only caused a temporary disruption, possibly setting Tehran's nuclear program back by a few months. CNN further reported that the findings based on a battle damage assessment by US Central Command contradict public claims made by US President Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who asserted that the US "completely obliterated" Iran's nuclear capabilities. As per CNN, citing intelligence sources, the centrifuges in Iran's nuclear facilities remain mostly functional, and enriched uranium stockpiles were likely moved before the strikes. The conflict between Iran and Israel began on June 13 when Israel launched a large-scale airstrike targeting Iranian military and nuclear facilities under "Operation Rising Lion". Iran responded by launching "Operation True Promise 3", a campaign involving missile and drone attacks against Israel's infrastructure.(ANI)
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