US President Donald Trump has reiterated his claim that the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities “completely destroyed” the sites, despite reports suggesting that some had largely survived. On his Truth Social platform, Trump stated that “all three nuclear sites in Iran were completely destroyed and/or OBLITERATED.” He further emphasized that it would “take years to bring them back into service and, if Iran wanted to do so, they would be much better off starting anew, in three different locations.”
The US bomb and missile attacks struck Iran’s controversial nuclear program on June 22, hitting the uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz. The bombings were carried out simultaneously with an Israeli campaign against Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure and were billed by Washington as a knockout blow to a years-long covert effort to build nuclear weapons.
However, several US media outlets have reported leaked intelligence suggesting a hazier picture. An NBC News report quoted a military damage assessment that only one of the three sites was mostly destroyed. Two other sites were deemed repairable and potentially able to resume uranium enrichment activities within “the next several months,” NBC reported, citing five current and former US officials aware of the assessment.
NBC also reported that the Pentagon had prepared an option to inflict far greater damage on Iran’s facilities through a bombing campaign that would have lasted several weeks — not the one-night operation chosen by Trump. According to the report, citing one current and one former official, Trump rejected the more comprehensive attack plan due to fears of casualties and entanglement in the conflict.
Iran insists it has not tried to weaponize its civilian nuclear power program. Despite Trump’s claims of total success, the actual extent of the damage caused by the strikes on the nuclear sites remains unclear. The discrepancy between Trump’s claims and the reports from US media outlets has raised questions about the effectiveness of the US bombing campaign.