A week of shifting descriptions of Iran attack spark ongoing questions about extent of damage and goals

Every week after President Donald Trump ordered a U.S. attack on three Iranian nuclear sites, the reasons and descriptions of what occurred voiced by him, high aides and early intelligence studies paint contrasting photos of the extent of the harm to Iran’s nuclear program.

Whereas the president and Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth repeatedly claimed that Iran’s nuclear program has been “obliterated,” preliminary assessments — together with from the Pentagon’s personal intelligence wing — painted an evolving image because the week went on.

Trump stated he ordered the assault on June 21 to strike a uranium enrichment website positioned in 300 toes deep in a mountain in Fordo in northwestern Iran, an uranium enrichment website in Natanz and the Isfahan Nuclear Expertise Middle following studies that Iranian officers didn’t adjust to worldwide nuclear laws.

And as these early harm assessments forged doubt on the extent to which Iran nuclear program was crippled, a number of of Trump’s high aides and allied lawmakers additionally appeared to reduce the acknowledged targets of the assault.

Listed here are a number of the accounts and characterizations during the last week.

Officers label mission a hit, however present few particulars to start out

On Sunday morning, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed Trump’s assertion from Saturday evening, simply after the strikes, that the websites had been “obliterated.”

“It was clear we devastated the Iranian nuclear program,” he added.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, nonetheless, declined to go as far, saying it could take extra time to evaluate the extent of the harm achieved.

Hegseth acknowledged that harm evaluation was ongoing however caught by the outline he and Trump had been utilizing.

“All of our precision munitions struck the place we needed them to strike and had the specified impact, which suggests particularly the first goal right here, we consider we achieved destruction of capabilities there,” he stated.

Pentagon preliminary harm report leaks

Officers and inspectors from exterior Iran haven’t been in a position to acquire direct entry to the bombed websites to make a first-hand evaluation.

Trump officers had a extra nuanced take after information studies surfaced Tuesday about an preliminary Protection Intelligence Company evaluation that stated the assault set again Iran’s nuclear program solely by months.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the leaks of the navy’s report however didn’t go so far as to assert that the websites had been obliterated.

As an alternative, he insisted that “very important, substantial harm was achieved” to key elements of Iran’s nuclear program, “and we’re simply studying extra about it.”

On the identical time, Rubio supplied extra particulars concerning the assault, together with that the bunker-buster bombs had been dropped on air flow shafts main deep inside Fordo’s closely fortified facility — buried, officers and specialists stated, 200 to 300 toes inside a mountain.

He finally acknowledged that it was troublesome to get a learn on harm inflicted to Fordo at this level, however asserted “the underside line is actual harm was achieved.”

That very same day, Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard claimed in an announcement that the three services had been destroyed.

The director common of the U.N.’s nuclear oversight company, the Worldwide Atomic Power Company, Rafael Grossi, stated Wednesday that he believed a few of Iran’s enriched uranium had been moved from the websites earlier than the assaults.

Trump refuted that evaluation.

“It could have taken two weeks, perhaps. But it surely’s very exhausting to take away that form of materials, very exhausting and really harmful. Plus, they knew we had been coming, and in the event that they know we’re coming, they don’t seem to be going to be down there,” he stated Wednesday.

Trump reiterated that the websites and the uranium had been buried underneath rubble and inaccessible, including that vans seen in satellite tv for pc photos on the plant earlier than the assault — which some speculated might have been used to maneuver the nuclear materials — had been building automobiles getting used to cowl the air flow shaft openings with protecting concrete.

In accordance with the 2 folks accustomed to the DIA’s categorized report, the bombing sealed off the entrances to 2 of the three nuclear websites focused within the assault however a lot of the harm was achieved to constructions above floor, leaving the decrease constructions intact.

The evaluation additionally discovered that no less than some enriched uranium remained – presumably moved from the nuclear websites forward of the blasts.

The following day, on Thursday, Hegseth held a information convention the place he slammed the information media over reporting however didn’t make the identical evaluation on the nuclear supplies.

Requested twice throughout the briefing if he might be extra definitive about whether or not the enriched uranium was moved earlier than the assault, Hegseth stated the Pentagon was “watching each side.”

At that very same Thursday briefing, Caine famous it’s not his job to evaluate the harm, saying, “We don’t grade our personal homework.”

Facility destruction downplayed by officers, ceasefire emphasised

Hegseth additionally highlighted what gave the impression to be a distinct aim of the mission, arguing the assault had succeeded as a result of it led to stopping the combating between Iran and Israel — reasonably than the services’ destruction as a result of it destroyed Iran’s nuclear program.

“We bought that peace, that ceasefire, that possibility due to power, due to [Trump’s] willingness to make use of American navy may that nobody else on the planet can do with the form of planners and operators that the chairman simply laid out,” he stated.

Then, on Friday, Trump echoed that sentiment.

“They put out that fireside as soon as that occurred, as soon as these bombs bought dropped out, that conflict was over,” he stated.

Nonetheless, the president claimed once more that the websites had been obliterated throughout a information convention.

“We completed them off,” he stated, including, “I do not consider that they are going to return into nuclear anytime quickly.”

Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian overseas minister stated on Iranian State TV Thursday, nonetheless, the services weren’t destroyed and his nation may have leverage in negotiations.

The destiny of the enriched uranium

On Capitol Hill on Thursday, after administration officers gave lawmakers a categorized briefing on the strikes, Republican lawmakers acknowledged that the U.S. strikes might not have destroyed Iran’s cache of enriched uranium. However they stated that wasn’t a part of the mission.

“The aim of the mission was to get rid of sure specific elements of their nuclear program. These had been eradicated. To eliminate the nuclear materials was not a part of the mission,” Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., advised CNN.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., stated the “program was obliterated at these three websites,” however added, “I do not know the place the 900 kilos of extremely enriched uranium exists. But it surely wasn’t a part of the targets there.”