US President Donald Trump on Saturday insisted that all three Iranian nuclear facilities targeted in the June 22 strikes were “completely destroyed,” despite new intelligence reports suggesting otherwise.
Posting on his Truth Social platform, Trump doubled down on earlier assertions, saying, “all three nuclear sites in Iran were completely destroyed and/or OBLITERATED.” He further claimed that Iran would be better off starting from scratch, as rebuilding the current sites would take “years.”
The joint US and Israeli airstrikes targeted Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities at Fordo, Isfahan, and Natanz in an attempt to cripple Tehran’s controversial nuclear program. The coordinated bombing was framed by Washington as a decisive move to dismantle what has long been suspected to be covert nuclear weapons development efforts. However, Iran has maintained that its nuclear activities are strictly for civilian purposes.
While Trump touted the strikes as a total success, conflicting reports from US media outlets, including NBC News, have raised questions about the actual damage inflicted. NBC reported on Friday that only one of the three sites—presumed to be Fordo—was mostly destroyed. The other two facilities, according to a classified military damage assessment cited by five current and former US officials, sustained repairable damage and could potentially resume uranium enrichment within “the next several months.”
The report also revealed that the Pentagon had initially prepared a more aggressive, multi-week campaign that would have caused significantly more damage. Trump reportedly dismissed that option, citing concerns about potential casualties and deeper US entanglement in a broader Middle East conflict.
Although the president has painted the operation as a knockout blow, the newly surfaced intelligence paints a more complex picture of the aftermath and the resilience of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
What you should know
Donald Trump claims the US strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities, but leaked assessments suggest only one site was fully destroyed.
The other two may be operational again within months. Trump allegedly chose a limited one-night strike over a more extensive bombing campaign to avoid deeper military involvement.
