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India Today
6 days ago
- Politics
- India Today
We can't even see: Iran's president confirms severe damage to nuclear sites by US
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has publicly acknowledged that the US airstrikes on June 22 caused such extensive damage to three of Iran's nuclear facilities that Iranian officials still cannot access them to assess the an interview released on Monday with American conservative broadcaster Tucker Carlson, Pezeshkian said, "We don't have any access to them, we cannot see. And this access will have to wait for that." He added that Iran is open to renewed cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog but cannot yet permit complete inspections at the damaged are ready to hold talks over it," Pezeshkian said. "We have never been the party that has run away from verification. We stand ready to have such supervision. Unfortunately, as a result of the United States' unlawful attacks against our nuclear centres and installations, many of the pieces of equipment and the facilities there have been severely damaged. Therefore, we don't have any access to them, we cannot see. And this access will have to wait for that." The three facilities -- Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan -- were hit by US B-52 bombers deploying bunker-buster munitions aimed at crippling Iran's nuclear infrastructure. The strikes, ordered by President Donald Trump, were part of a broader effort to deter Iran's alleged development of nuclear remarks validate Trump's claims that the strikes dealt a devastating blow. "It was obliteration, and you'll see that," Trump had said during the NATO summit in the Netherlands. Pezeshkian's admission that Iran cannot access its own underground nuclear sites has further fuelled debate about the true scale of the US operation's a US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) report painted a more cautious picture. First reported by CNN, the assessment concluded that while the strikes did cause "significant damage," Iran's nuclear programme had only been set back by a few months and was not "completely and fully obliterated."Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed the leak as "preliminary" and "low confidence," while Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the leakers as "professional stabbers."- EndsWith inputs from APMust Watch
Dubai Eye
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Dubai Eye
Trump says Washington to hold talks with Iran after US 'victory'
US President Donald Trump hailed the swift end to war between Iran and Israel and said Washington would likely seek a commitment from Tehran to end its nuclear ambitions at talks with Iranian officials next week. Trump said his decision to join Israel's attacks by targeting Iranian nuclear sites with huge bunker-busting bombs had ended the war, calling it "a victory for everybody". "It was very severe. It was obliteration," he said, shrugging off an initial assessment by the US Defence Intelligence Agency that Iran's path to building a nuclear weapon may have been set back only by months. Speaking in The Hague where he attended a NATO summit on Wednesday, he said he did not see Iran getting involved again in developing nuclear weapons. Tehran has always denied decades of accusations by Western leaders that it is seeking nuclear arms. "We're going to talk to them next week, with Iran. We may sign an agreement. I don't know. To me, I don't think it's that necessary," Trump said. Anxious Iranians and Israelis sought to resume normal life after the most intense confrontation ever between the two sides. Israel's nuclear agency assessed the strikes had "set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years". The White House also circulated the Israeli assessment, although Trump said he was not relying on Israeli intelligence. He said he was confident Tehran would pursue a diplomatic path towards reconciliation. "I'll tell you, the last thing they want to do is enrich anything right now. They want to recover," he said. If Iran tried to rebuild its nuclear programme, "We won't let that happen. Number one, militarily we won't," he said, adding that he thought "we'll end up having something of a relationship with Iran" to resolve the issue. The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, dismissed what he called the "hourglass approach" of assessing damage to Iran's nuclear programme in terms of months needed to rebuild as besides the point for an issue that needed a long-term solution. "In any case, the technological knowledge is there and the industrial capacity is there. That, no one can deny. So we need to work together with them," he said. His priority was returning international inspectors to Iranian nuclear sites, which he said was the only way to find out precisely what state they were in. IRAN PRESIDENT HINTS AT DOMESTIC REFORMS Israel's bombing campaign, launched with a surprise attack on June 13, wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military leadership and killed leading nuclear scientists. Iran responded with missiles that pierced Israel's defences in large numbers for the first time. Iranian authorities said 627 people were killed and nearly 5,000 injured in Iran, where the extent of the damage could not be independently confirmed because of tight restrictions on media. Twenty-eight people were killed in Israel. Israel claimed to have achieved its goals of destroying Iran's nuclear sites and missiles; Iran claimed to have forced the end of the war by penetrating Israeli defences. Trump said both sides were exhausted but the conflict could restart. Israel's demonstration that it could target Iran's senior leadership seemingly at will poses perhaps the biggest challenge yet for Iran's clerical rulers. President Masoud Pezeshkian, a relative moderate elected last year in a challenge to years of dominance by hardliners, said it could result in reform. "This war and the empathy that it fostered between the people and officials is an opportunity to change the outlook of management and the behaviour of officials so that they can create unity," he said in a statement carried by state media. Still, Iran's authorities moved swiftly to demonstrate their control. The judiciary announced the execution of three men on Wednesday convicted of collaborating with Israel's Mossad spy agency and smuggling equipment used in an assassination. Iran had arrested 700 people accused of ties with Israel during the conflict, the state-affiliated Nournews reported. During the war, both Netanyahu and Trump publicly suggested that it could end with the toppling of Iran's entire system of clerical rule, established in its 1979 revolution. But after the ceasefire, Trump said he did not want to see "regime change" in Iran, which he said would bring chaos at a time when he wanted the situation to settle down.
Daily Mirror
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Trump to give update amid doubt over 'obliteration' of Iran nuclear sites
US President Donald Trump is set to hold a press conference amid the fallout from the Iran nuclear strike leak. Mr Trump announced the "major news conference" would be held to refute claims made in the leak that delivered a gut punch to the president's ego. CIA director John Ratcliffe said several sites had been destroyed and would take years in order to rebuild. But leaked documents from the US Defence Intelligence Agency stated the overall effectiveness of Operation Midnight Hammer had been embellished by the Trump administration, and that the strikes on three nuclear facilities would have set Iran's capabilities back just a few months. Mr Trump was clearly ruffled by the claims made in the leaked report during his visit to the NATO summit, branding the outlets and networks reporting on it as "scum" and the document itself as "fake news". Donald Trump vented his fury over government agency leaks that suggested the strikes in Iran were not as effective as he claimed. Taking to TruthSocial, Mr Trump said: "After 36 hours of dangerously flying through Enemy Territory, they landed, they knew the Success was LEGENDARY, and then, two days later, they started reading Fake News by CNN and The Failing New York Times." Donald Trump said US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth will hold a "major news conference" will offer "interesting and irrefutable" evidence that the strikes "obliterated" Iran's race to obtain a nuclear weapon.
Euronews
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
US strikes on Iran only set back nuclear plans by months, report says
A new US intelligence report found that Iran's nuclear programme has only been set back a few months after US strikes targeted three of the country's nuclear sites last week. The report released by the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) – the intelligence arm of the Pentagon – contradicts statements made by US President Donald Trump on Saturday night, immediately following the conclusion of what he called a 'targeted and precise' operation. Trump said in a televised press conference along with his Vice President JD Vance, State Secretary Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth that Washington's strikes had 'completely and fully obliterated' Iran's nuclear sites. Trump stated that Iran's Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities were dealt damage that sets them back years. The sites were attacked by the US' 13,600-kilogram bunker buster bombs. While satellite imagery showed significant damage to the sites, the report suggests that most of the damage was contained to above-ground structures. At the Fordow uranium enrichment facility, Iran's most well-protected site, located deep underground, the entrance has collapsed, and the infrastructure has sustained damage, necessitating time for repairs. However, the underground infrastructure remains intact, according to an official familiar with the situation. The report's findings also showed that some of Iran's highly enriched uranium was moved out of multiple sites before the US strikes began and survived. The report asserted that Tehran had moved the uranium to other secret nuclear facilities it maintains. The DIA also found that most of Iran's centrifuges are largely intact. 'Flat-out wrong' The White House firmly pushed back on the assessment, calling it 'flat-out wrong'. 'The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran's nuclear program,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. 'Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,' she added. Trump has said in comments and posts on social media in recent days, including Tuesday, that the strikes left the sites in Iran 'totally destroyed' and that Iran will never rebuild its nuclear facilities. Netanyahu said in a televised statement on Tuesday that 'for dozens of years I promised you that Iran would not have nuclear weapons and indeed ... we brought to ruin Iran's nuclear programme." Netanyahu, speaking a day after Trump announced a US-brokered ceasefire between the two nations, claimed that the campaign on Iran was a 'historic victory'. 'We removed two imminent existential threats – the annihilation threat by nuclear bombs and the annihilation threat with 20 thousand ballistic missiles.' Iran said on Tuesday that it was ready to return to the negotiating table with the United States. However, Tehran asserted that it will always continue to defend its 'legitimate rights' and will respond to any Israeli breach of the current truce.
New Straits Times
25-06-2025
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Trump insists Iran strike damage 'severe' despite inconclusive intel
THE HAGUE: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the damage to Iranian nuclear sites from missile strikes over the weekend was severe, though he also acknowledged that the available intelligence on the matter was inconclusive. His comments followed reports by Reuters and other media outlets on Tuesday revealing that the US Defence Intelligence Agency had assessed that the strikes had set back Iran's nuclear program by just a few months, despite administration officials saying the program had been obliterated. "The intelligence was very inconclusive," Trump told reporters before joining a Nato summit in The Hague. "The intelligence says we don't know. It could've been very severe. That's what the intelligence suggests." Later, during the same round of comments, Trump argued that Iran's nuclear deal had been set back "basically decades, because I don't think they'll ever do it again." Trump was sitting alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, who both also cast doubt on the reliability of the DIA assessment. Rubio said the US was opening an investigation into the leak of the DIA report. He also suggested the report's contents had been misrepresented in the media.--REUTERS
