Washington, June 26, 2025: US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has claimed that recent American airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites resulted in the “total obliteration” of Iran’s capability to build a nuclear weapon, declaring the operation a major success.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Hegseth stated, “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 spots at each target and worked perfectly.” He further asserted that the devastation inflicted on the targeted facilities is now buried “under a mountain of rubble in Iran.”
The strikes, conducted on Sunday, targeted key Iranian nuclear installations at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, in the aftermath of Israeli aggression and amid rising tensions in the region. The Pentagon has maintained that the operations were precise and decisive.
However, a CNN report published a day earlier cited an early US intelligence assessment that appeared to contradict Hegseth’s confident claims. According to sources familiar with the report, prepared by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and US Central Command, the strikes failed to destroy Iran’s core nuclear infrastructure and likely only delayed its nuclear program by a few months.
The assessment reportedly indicated that although over a dozen 30,000-pound bombs were dropped on the Fordow and Natanz sites, they did not eliminate Iran’s centrifuge arrays or stockpiles of highly enriched uranium. Two sources told CNN that Iran’s uranium stockpile had remained intact.
In response, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected the CNN report as “inaccurate,” emphasizing that the DIA assessment was classified and should not have been leaked. Writing on X, she said, “This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong… Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”
Meanwhile, Iranian authorities confirmed the strikes but downplayed their effectiveness. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran condemned the attacks as “a brutal action that contravenes international law and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).” It claimed that no nuclear leak had occurred and referred to the assault as part of ongoing hostilities initiated by Israel.
An official in Qom province told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the Fordow facility had suffered structural damage, but operations had not been compromised, nor had any radioactive material leaked.
The strikes came just days before US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Iran and Israel, effectively ending the 12-day conflict. Posting on Truth Social, President Trump said, “This is a war that could have lasted for years and devastated the entire Middle East, but it didn’t — and it never will.”
He praised the restraint shown by both countries and added, “Blessings to Israel, to Iran, to the Middle East, and to the entire world. God bless Israel, God bless Iran, God bless the Middle East, God bless the United States, and God bless the entire world.”
While the ceasefire has brought a temporary halt to hostilities, conflicting narratives about the success of the US air campaign suggest that tensions over Iran’s nuclear program — and regional stability — remain far from resolved.
