A leaked U.S. intelligence report has cast doubt on President Donald Trump’s claim that recent American airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities “completely obliterated” Tehran’s atomic programme, suggesting instead that the impact may be far more limited.
The classified assessment by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), leaked to select media outlets on Tuesday, concludes that the strikes have likely only delayed Iran’s uranium enrichment activities by a matter of months. According to the report, two of the key targeted sites were not fully destroyed, and several core elements of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure remain intact.
The DIA also found that a significant portion of Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile — potentially enough for nuclear weapons development — had been moved to undisclosed locations ahead of the attacks. This suggests that Iran may have anticipated the strikes and taken pre-emptive measures to preserve its programme.
These findings starkly contrast with the Trump administration’s narrative. Following the bombings, President Trump declared a major victory, saying the U.S. had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capability. The strikes, launched over the weekend, were aimed at Iran’s major enrichment sites, including Fordow and Isfahan, in a high-risk escalation of tensions between Washington and Tehran.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt quickly pushed back on the leaked report, calling it “flat out wrong” and denouncing the leak as “a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission.”
“The mission achieved what it set out to do — to eliminate Iran’s nuclear threat and send a message to hostile regimes that America will act decisively to protect global security,” Leavitt said in a strongly worded statement.
The intelligence leak comes amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran, brokered after a wave of retaliatory strikes threatened to spiral into full-scale war. President Trump reportedly lashed out at Israel in closed-door meetings for what he described as a failure to comply with agreed terms of the truce, which Washington had worked to enforce behind the scenes.
The current pause in hostilities remains tenuous, with regional and international observers warning that any miscalculation could reignite conflict.
Iran has not formally responded to the U.S. report or President Trump’s remarks. However, sources within the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have previously hinted that operations were relocated and decentralized weeks prior to the attacks, suggesting a strategy of strategic dispersal in anticipation of military escalation.
As the debate over the true impact of the U.S. airstrikes unfolds, questions linger over the future of the Iran nuclear issue, the credibility of American intelligence, and whether military action has meaningfully advanced global non-proliferation goals — or merely delayed an inevitable showdown.
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