Key parts of Iran's nuclear program still intact, says Pentagon report disputed by Trump

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WASHINGTON — The core components of Iran's nuclear program appear to remain intact after the June 21 U.S. attack, according to a U.S. official who has been briefed on the Defense Intelligence Agency's initial assessment.
President Donald Trump and members of his administration have stated that Iran's nuclear program had been 'obliterated' in the airstrikes and have cast doubt on the report's conclusions.
The report was based on intercepted communications and other intelligence sources in the 96 hours after the U.S. attack spearheaded by U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers dropping the world's most potent conventional weapon – the 30,000-pound, bunker-busting GBU-57.
The U.S. attack, which included submarine-launched cruise missiles, caused extensive damage to infrastructure on the surface, according to the source who discussed the report's findings on condition of anonymity. Less certain is the amount of damage that was done Iran's deeply-buried nuclear facilities.
But intelligence sources indicate that some of the Iranian nuclear program's core components – its centrifuges and enriched uranium – remain intact, the report found. The attack set back Iran's quest to create a nuclear weapon anywhere from six to 12 months, the source said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a statement, dismissed the contention that Iran's nuclear program as politically motivated.
'Based on everything we have seen — and I've seen it all — our bombing campaign obliterated Iran's ability to create nuclear weapons," Hegseth said. "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.'
CNN first reported findings of the Pentagon intelligence agency's report.
The bombs hit two key Iranian nuclear facilities – Fordow and Natanz – on June 21. A third facility, Isfahan, was struck by Tomahawk missiles fired from a U.S. Navy submarine, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters the next morning. An assessment of the damage would take some time, he said.
Trump dug in on his dismissal of the assessment's findings in his comments at a NATO summit in the Netherlands on June 25, comparing the impact of the strikes to the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II.
"It's destroyed," he said of Iran's nuclear program.
Hegseth has said there was "low confidence" in the assessment, which was produced by the Pentagon's intelligence agency. But the official briefed on the report said only portions of the report were labeled low confidence.
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"If you want to make an assessment of what happened at Fordow, you better get a big shovel and go really deep, because Iran's nuclear program is obliterated," he said.
Some researchers and experts have disputed the intelligence assessment's conclusions that Iran's nuclear program is mostly intact.
David Albright, president and founder of the Institute for Science and International Security, said in a social media post the DIA report is "hard to believe."
Fordow "is likely severely damaged or destroyed" and Natanz "is likely destroyed and knocked out of operation" following the U.S. strikes, according to a report from the institute. At Isfahan, the main uranium conversion facility was "severely damaged" and tunnel entrances were collapsed, the report found.
Trump also brushed aside concerns voiced by nuclear officials and experts over whether Iran was able to move its nuclear equipment beforehand and what happened to the enriched uranium stored in tunnels deep underground.
"We think we hit them so hard and so fast, they didn't get to move," he said.
Israel's military said on June 23 it had bombed routes to the Fordow facility to prevent Iran from removing any material.
Trump has taken a victory lap over a ceasefire between Israel and Iran that put an end to 12 days of traded aerial strikes between the two countries. "We think it's over," he said at the NATO summit.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Key parts of Iran's nuclear program still intact: Pentagon assessment