The US President's claim about the "complete destruction of Iran's nuclear program" has become a major point of contention within the US, and the country's media outlets are questioning his claim one after another.
According to Ashura News, citing Mehr News Agency, US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday, June 22, that the country's military has targeted Iran's main nuclear facilities, namely Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. The US President's claim about the "complete destruction of Tehran's nuclear program" following Washington's attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran's nuclear facilities has become the main point of contention within the United States, and the country's media outlets, one after another, are questioning the claim of the delusional man in the White House, citing sources.
After this blatant and unjustified aggression, Trump claimed that the Islamic Republic of Iran's nuclear facilities were "completely destroyed" in this attack!
His vice president, J.D. Vance, also echoed Trump's claim that Tehran's nuclear facilities were destroyed in these attacks, describing this attack as "one of the most successful military attacks in history."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, took a different tone, without repeating Trump's claim, saying that "the Iranians are further away from a nuclear weapon today than they were before the US president took this action. The most important thing to know is that there has been very significant damage to various parts, and we are currently learning more about it."
Immediately after Trump's claim, CNN reported, citing three sources familiar with an initial US intelligence assessment, that the US military attacks on three Iranian nuclear facilities last week did not destroy critical parts of the country's nuclear program and likely only delayed it by a few months.
The New York Times reported, citing a senior US official, that the attack on Fordow did not destroy the facility, but only damaged it.
Washington reacted angrily after the leak of this information, and White House spokeswoman Carolyn Leavitt, in a statement with unsubstantiated content, claimed to CNN: “This alleged assessment is completely wrong and, despite its extremely secret classification, was leaked to CNN by an anonymous and low-value element in the intelligence community. The disclosure of this alleged report is a blatant attempt to humiliate President Trump and discredit the brave pilots who carried out a flawless operation to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. Everyone knows what happens when 14 30,000-pound bombs land precisely on their targets: total destruction!”
After CNN and the New York Times, the Associated Press also admitted the failure of the US attacks on Fordow. This news agency also announced, based on a US intelligence report, that the US attacks did not cause significant damage to Iran’s nuclear program, but rather delayed it by several months.
The Wall Street Journal also emphasized, citing initial intelligence reports, that Washington’s attacks had set back Iran’s nuclear program by only a few months.
Elsewhere, Reuters, citing informed sources, wrote that the US airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities had failed to destroy the country’s nuclear capability and had only delayed it for a few months. Three informed sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that this initial assessment was prepared by the US Defense Intelligence Agency. According to two of the sources, the US attacks did not destroy Iran’s enriched uranium reserves and that the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program may have been set back only a month or two.
Trump, frustrated by the aforementioned reports and angry about the information leak, claimed on his social network called “Truth Social” that “CNN is a publisher of fake news and has colluded with the bankrupt New York Times in an attempt to discredit one of the most successful military strikes in history”!
Steve Whittaker, Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, responded to the leak and the widespread embarrassment that followed, saying: "It is clear that the leak of such information, regardless of its content and regardless of the source from which it was leaked, is shameful and treasonous. It must be investigated and those responsible must be held accountable."
Today, Rubio distanced himself from Trump's claim about the "total destruction" of Iran's nuclear facilities, saying that the Isfahan site can be rebuilt.
Earlier, Reuters reported, citing a senior Iranian source, that most of the highly enriched uranium at the Fordow nuclear facility had been moved to another location before the US attack.
A few days after the US aggression against Iran's nuclear facilities, which has brought a wave of condemnation from the international community, the broader dimensions of the failure of Washington's attack are becoming clear; however, in the meantime, US supporters have, as expected, refrained from condemning the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
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