White House Mobilizes in Response to Reports of "Limited Destruction" of Iran's Nuclear Program
As the United States has struck three of Iran's nuclear facilities, controversy has arisen over claims that Iran's damage is not as severe as the U.S. asserts. On June 25 (local time), the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump strongly refuted these claims and launched a public campaign to shape opinion.
President Trump has maintained that the airstrikes on June 21 "completely destroyed" Iran's uranium enrichment facilities. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also stated that Iran's nuclear ambitions had been destroyed. However, major foreign media outlets such as CNN and The New York Times (NYT) reported the previous day, citing a report from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) under the Department of Defense, that Iran's nuclear program had only been delayed by several months.
In response, the Trump administration directly refuted the media reports and moved to defend President Trump's achievements.
At a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague, Netherlands, President Trump once again emphasized that Iran's nuclear facilities had been completely destroyed.
On his way back to the U.S., President Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, mentioning by name the CNN reporter who questioned the destruction of Iran's nuclear facilities, stating, "She should be fired from CNN! She should be immediately condemned and thrown out 'like a dog'." Regarding the NYT, although he did not mention the reporter by name, he criticized the outlet as being "really bad, sick people." However, he did not comment on the veracity of the DIA report that formed the basis of the news coverage.
In another post, he claimed, "As always, the fake news (NYT and CNN) lied and completely distorted the facts solely for the purpose of disparaging President Donald Trump." He also announced that Secretary of Defense Hegseth would hold a press conference regarding the operation at 8 a.m. on June 26, stating, "The press conference will present interesting and irrefutable results."
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard also supported President Trump's claims on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), stating, "The President's repeated statements that Iran's nuclear facilities have been destroyed are confirmed by new information." She added, "If Iran chooses to rebuild its nuclear capabilities, it will have to reconstruct all three nuclear facilities, which will take years."
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe also wrote on X that "a large amount of credible information" "indicates that Iran's nuclear program has been seriously damaged by the recent precision strikes." He continued, "According to new information from historically reliable and accurate sources and methods, it will take years to rebuild several of Iran's key nuclear facilities."
The White House issued a press release titled, "Iran's Nuclear Facilities Have Been Decimated. Claims to the Contrary Are Fake News." The press release cited a report from the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, which stated, "The destructive U.S. attack on Fordow destroyed key infrastructure on site and rendered the uranium enrichment facility inoperable," and, "We assess that the combination of the U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear facilities and Israel's attacks on other elements of Iran's military nuclear program has set back Iran's nuclear weapons development capability by many years."
The release also included similar statements from Vice President JD Vance, Secretary Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Cain, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Israeli military.
White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt stated in a Fox News interview that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had launched an investigation into the person who leaked the top-secret DIA report to the media and insisted that those who leaked the information "should go to jail."
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