An Israeli member of the Knesset is disputing assertions made by President Donald Trump that one of Iran’s leading nuclear weapons sites has been “obliterated” following strikes by B-2 bombers utilizing bunker buster munitions earlier this week.
During the NATO summit on Wednesday morning, Trump claimed that intelligence agents had examined the Fordow facility and confirmed its destruction. However, MK Aryeh Deri dismissed Trump’s assertion that Israeli operatives had visited Iranian nuclear sites to evaluate the consequences of the strikes.
“No one knows—because no one has visited there yet,” the ultra-Orthodox lawmaker stated to the Haredi news outlet Kikar Hashabbat. “Based on all available statistics, assessments, and satellite imagery, damage has indeed occurred there.”
In the meantime, in response to reports regarding American intelligence evaluations, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi provided a different perspective to Ynet.
“The Iranian program for nuclear weapons production has sustained a significant setback and will require many years to recover,” Hanegbi remarked. “The largest uranium enrichment facility in Natanz has been entirely destroyed.
“The reprocessing facility for metallic uranium in Isfahan has been fully destroyed. The nuclear facility in Arak, which was designed to facilitate a plutogenic pathway for weapons, has also been destroyed. Concerning the extent of the damage inflicted by the American bombing of the underground uranium enrichment facility in Fordow, estimates suggest that it will not be feasible to restore it to normal operational status over time,” he concluded.
Trump and other high-ranking officials in the administration have countered claims made in the last 24 hours regarding reports that the U.S. airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites did not eliminate essential elements of the nuclear program, but merely postponed it by several months.
“It was extremely severe. There was complete obliteration,” Trump stated to reporters in The Hague on Wednesday, where the NATO summit is currently taking place.
He further asserted that the nuclear facilities were entirely destroyed, claiming that the U.S. has “set back the Iranian nuclear program by decades.” The president also remarked that “they’re not going to possess a bomb and they will not enrich,” referring to the Iranians.
He claimed that Israeli operatives had examined the Fordow facility and reported total destruction, adding that Israel would soon provide an official evaluation. “They have personnel who enter the site after the strike; they reported it was total obliteration,” Trump mentioned.
“The intelligence indicates uncertainty. It could have been extremely severe. That is what the intelligence implies,” he continued, likely referencing a Defense Intelligence Agency report that contained “low confidence” information immediately after the strikes, which was subsequently leaked.
“The bombs struck their intended targets, resulting in devastation,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated on Wednesday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has also been acting as Trump’s national security adviser, refuted assertions that the strikes were predominantly ineffective.
“The key takeaway is that they are significantly further from acquiring a nuclear weapon today than they were prior to the president’s decisive action,” Rubio stated. “This is the most crucial point to grasp — substantial, very significant damage was inflicted on various components, and we are only beginning to learn more about it.”
U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, has called for an inquiry to determine the source of the leak regarding the intelligence assessment to the American press.
“It is self-evident that disclosing such information, regardless of its nature or the side from which it originates, is unacceptable. It constitutes treason,” he stated to Fox News. “This matter requires investigation, and those responsible must be held accountable.”
Hegseth revealed on Wednesday that the FBI is probing the leak of the DIA assessment. “Naturally, we are conducting a leak investigation with the FBI at this moment because this information is intended for internal use. Battle damage assessments,” Hegseth remarked.
