Destroyed, delayed by decades according to Trump. It has suffered a significant blow but it is too early to assess the damage according to Israel. Delayed by a few months according to the main US media, citing documents from the Dia, the Pentagon's intelligence agency .
What happened to the Iranian nuclear program , the smoking gun of Israel's 12-day war?
Donald Trump is furious with CNN and the New York Times, which he says want to belittle his successes. But also with the intelligence, which he says provided a document based on "partial" information. And today, in a press briefing with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, he called the news spread by the US media fake.
“Iran’s nuclear program has been delayed for decades ,” he said. “There has been a total destruction of Iran’s nuclear sites , which was a great success for everyone, a perfect action from all points of view.”
"The last thing the Iranians want to do now," he added, "is enrich uranium. They won't build the bomb for a long time."
According to the Israeli military, it is "still too early" to assess the damage caused to Iranian nuclear sites . "It is still too early to assess the results of the operation," Israeli military spokeswoman Effie Defrin said at a press conference. However, "I believe we have dealt a significant blow to the nuclear program and I can also say that we have delayed it by several years," she stressed.
CNN, on the other hand, citing an initial assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) , the operational arm of the Pentagon's intelligence, claims that the US raids did not destroy the main components of the nuclear program and probably delayed its start by a few months .
The analysis of the damage to the sites and the impact of the strikes on Iran’s nuclear ambitions is ongoing and could change as more intelligence becomes available. However, CNN says, the early findings are at odds with President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the strikes have “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. Two of the people familiar with the DIA assessment said Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium had not been destroyed. One said the centrifuges were largely “intact.” “So the (DIA) assessment is that the United States has delayed their work by maybe a few months, at most ,” the source added.
The NYT , which also cites sources from the DIA, is of the same opinion. The bombings, the newspaper writes, did not cause the collapse of the underground buildings but blocked the entrances to two of the facilities. Furthermore, Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles were moved to secret sites before the attack, and Iran retains control of almost all of its nuclear material . This means that if Tehran decides to build a nuclear weapon, it could still be able to do so in a relatively short time.
The attacks severely damaged Fordow’s electrical system, and it is unclear how long it will take Iran to access the underground facilities and then repair the electrical systems and reinstall the equipment that was displaced.
The only certainty at the moment is that Tehran has suspended cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) . "The IAEA, which refused to even slightly condemn the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, has undermined its international credibility," Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said after lawmakers voted to suspend cooperation with the UN body.
(Unioneonline/L)
