Trump reiterates US strikes destroyed Iran's nuke sites, says new facilities 'will be obliterated'
"All three nuclear sites in Iran were completely destroyed and/or OBLITERATED. It would take years to bring them back into service, and if Iran wanted to do so, they would be much better off starting anew in three different locations prior to those sites being obliterated, should they decide to do so," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
On Thursday, several news outlets reported new intelligence indicating that Iran's nuclear enrichment site in Fordow was mostly destroyed during the June 21 strikes dubbed Operation 'Midnight Hammer', but the two other principal sites, Natanz and Isfahan, were not and could potentially resume enriching uranium if Tehran greenlights it.
The White House refuted the report, with Pentagon's chief spokesperson Sean Parnell releasing a statement that read, "The credibility of the Fake News Media is similar to that of the current state of the Iranian nuclear facilities: destroyed, in the dirt, and will take years to recover."
"President Trump was clear, and the American people understand: Iran's nuclear facilities in Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz were completely and totally obliterated," it read.
Notably, CNN had reported on June 24 that the US intelligence community believed the US strikes had failed to achieve a complete destruction of key components of Tehran's nuclear program.
A preliminary US intelligence inquiry suggests the attack likely only set Iran's nuclear weapons program back by several months. This was concluded by the US Defense Intelligence Agency, which noted low confidence in the accuracy of their own assessment.
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