The Pentagon has announced that the recent US military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities have set back the country’s nuclear programme by one to two years. Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell stated that the three Iranian nuclear facilities targeted by Washington were destroyed, describing the strikes as a “bold operation”. “We have degraded their programme by one to two years at least,” Parnell told reporters. “Intel assessments inside the department assess that.” Parnell later added, “We’re thinking probably closer to two years”.
The US strikes, which were carried out using B-2 stealth bombers and Tomahawk missiles, targeted the Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant, the Natanz Nuclear Facility, and the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center. President Donald Trump claimed that the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme, although some US officials have conceded that the extent of the damage is still being assessed.
An initial US intelligence assessment leaked to several media outlets suggested that the strikes failed to destroy key components of Iran’s nuclear programme and only delayed its work by months. However, Trump has consistently maintained that the attacks wrecked Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying they were “obliterated like nobody’s ever seen before”.
Iran has been coy about providing details about the state of its nuclear sites, although some officials have acknowledged that the facilities sustained significant damage. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that Trump had “exaggerated” the impact of the strikes. Meanwhile, Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has warned that Iran could begin producing enriched uranium again within months.
The IAEA has also expressed concerns about the location and state of Iran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium. Grossi noted that satellite images showed trucks moving out of Fordow before the US strikes, and that it’s possible some uranium may have been moved or destroyed during the attack. “We don’t know where this material could be or if part of it could have been under the attack during those 12 days,” Grossi said. “So some could have been destroyed as part of the attack, but some could have been moved”.
The US strikes have sparked international debate and concern, with some nations urging restraint and diplomatic solutions. The Iranian parliament has passed a law suspending cooperation with the IAEA, citing the agency’s failure to condemn the US and Israeli attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities.
In response, the US State Department has called on Iran to allow the IAEA access to its nuclear programme, stating that it’s “unacceptable” for Iran to suspend cooperation at a time when it has a “window of opportunity to reverse course and choose a path of peace and prosperity”.