PRESIDENT TRUMP and his senior administration officials put on a full court press Wednesday to dispute media characterizations of a preliminary intelligence report minimizing the destruction done to Iran’s nuclear program following U.S. military strikes.
The issue dominated the final day of the NATO Summit in the Netherlands, which was otherwise a success for Trump, with most U.S. allies pledging to ramp up their defense spending.
During a press conference at The Hague, the president was peppered with questions about reports from CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post citing a leaked preliminary intelligence assessment saying the U.S. attacks failed to destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and instead set back Iran’s nuclear ambitions by several months.
Trump said the preliminary assessment was “inconclusive” and was conducted only one day after the strike. He said key information was left out of media reports, arguing the top secret assessment also said the destruction “could be severe.”
The White House said the assessment was a “low-confidence level report” and was not coordinated with the Intelligence Community.
“Since then we’ve collected additional intelligence and we’ve spoken to people who’ve seen the site and the site is obliterated,” Trump said. “We think everything nuclear is down there, [Iran] didn’t take it out… we think we hit them so fast and so hard they didn’t get to move it.”
The White House cited an assessment from the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, which said “the devastating US strike on Fordo destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable.”
“We assess that the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran’s military nuclear program, has set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years,” it added.
Senior administration officials are adamant the destruction is total.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. “wiped out” a nuclear conversion facility that is critical to building a weapon. In an interview with Politico, Rubio said “significant, very significant, substantial damage was done to a variety of different components, and we’re just learning more about it.”
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said “new intelligence” confirmed “Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed.”
“If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities (Natanz, Fordow, Esfahan) entirely, which would likely take years to do,” she posted on X.
The dust-up has Trump taking aim at the news media and the intelligence community, reigniting feuds that dominated Trump’s first term in office.
Vice President Vance also lashed out at the press.
“Pay attention to the reporters who are laundering talking points from junior careerists in the intelligence community,” he posted on X. “President Trump has obliterated the Iranian nuclear program. The American media seems destined to obliterate their own credibility on this fake story.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth questioned the motives of the leaker.
“What do leakers do? They have an agenda, and do they share all the information or just the part they want to introduce?” Hegseth said.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, called the leak “treasonous.” Hegseth said the FBI is investigating.
