The Director of the CIA has asserted that recent U.S. airstrikes inflicted significant damage on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, claiming the operations set Tehran’s nuclear ambitions back by several years. This assessment contradicts a previously leaked intelligence report that minimized the effectiveness of the strikes.
U.S. Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, has confirmed that recent strikes by American forces destroyed several key Iranian nuclear sites, though he refrained from claiming that the country’s nuclear program had been entirely dismantled.
His remarks followed the leak of a preliminary Pentagon intelligence assessment that suggested critical elements of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure remained operational despite the bombings—an evaluation that appeared to undercut the severity of the raid.
Former President Donald Trump strongly pushed back against the leaked report, insisting that the operation had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
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Taking to social media on Wednesday, Trump accused the “fake news” media of spreading falsehoods and misrepresenting the facts, claiming they had no access to reliable information.
He also announced that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, alongside senior military officials, would hold a press briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday to present what he called “interesting and irrefutable” evidence defending the mission and the actions of American pilots.
It came as Israel and Iran seemed for a second day to be honouring a fragile ceasefire that Trump helped negotiate this week on the 12th day of the war.
Speaking at The Hague, where he attended a Nato summit on Wednesday, Trump said of the strikes: “It was very severe. It was obliteration.”
Former President Donald Trump has indicated that he may push for a formal commitment from Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions during anticipated talks next week—though Tehran has yet to confirm the existence of any such negotiations.
However, U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff revealed in an interview with NBC that both direct and indirect channels of communication have been opened between Washington and Tehran, suggesting behind-the-scenes diplomatic activity is underway.
Meanwhile, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, a Trump appointee, reaffirmed the agency’s assessment in a newly released statement. He cited “new intelligence from a historically reliable and accurate source/method,” which confirmed that multiple critical Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would require years to reconstruct.