Iran’s Uranium Stockpile Largely Intact Despite Strikes, Says US Intelligence
A recent U.S. intelligence assessment has concluded that American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities did not significantly damage the country’s nuclear program.
At least three sources told Reuters that the Defense Intelligence Agency report found Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium remains mostly intact, contradicting President Donald Trump’s earlier claim that the strikes had completely destroyed Tehran’s nuclear capabilities.
The strikes, launched Saturday as part of Operation Midnight Hammer, targeted Iran’s key nuclear sites including Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said over two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched at the Isfahan nuclear site, while two GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs), also known as bunker-buster bombs, struck the Fordo facility. In the following 25 minutes, a total of 14 MOPs were deployed against heavily fortified targets at both the Fordo and Natanz nuclear sites.
The White House dismissed the intelligence findings as “flat out wrong.”
“Based on everything we have seen – and I’ve seen it all – our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons. Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target and worked perfectly,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told CNN.
“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,” he added.
Israel’s ambassador to the U.N. cautioned against drawing early conclusions about the impact of U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear program. “I think it will take some more time to look at the results,” Ambassador Danny Danon told NBC News. “But one thing is for sure, Iran is not a threat today to Israel, to the Middle East, to the stability of the world order.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, President Donald Trump reiterated that a ceasefire was in effect between Israel and Iran, shortly after Iranian state-linked media reported that Tehran had fired its “last round” of missiles at Israel.
“The ceasefire is now in effect. Please do not violate it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Just hours later, Israel accused Iran of breaching the ceasefire with additional missile attacks, an allegation Tehran denied, according to Iranian media outlets.
Trump expressed frustration with both Iran and Israel, saying he was “not happy” with either party and urged Israel not to respond with its own missile strike on Iran.
“I emphasized that Israel will respect the ceasefire — as long as the other side does,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X.
Katz’s statement echoed comments made earlier Tuesday by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who said Iran would uphold the Trump-brokered ceasefire as long as Israel did the same.
“If the Zionist regime does not violate the ceasefire, Iran will not violate it either,” Pezeshkian said during a phone call with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, according to the Iranian presidency’s website.
