President Donald Trump claimed shortly after the bombings over the weekend that the facilities in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan were "completely wiped out".
But neither Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium nor the centrifuges used for enrichment are believed to have been destroyed in the attacks, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing sources with insight into a classified initial assessment from the Pentagon's intelligence agency DIA. The entrances to two of the facilities are said to have been destroyed, but the underground buildings are not believed to have collapsed, according to a source for The New York Times.
One of the sources states that the conclusion of the early assessment is that the attack on the three facilities has succeeded in setting back Iran's nuclear program by only a few months.
All three of these had most, if not all, centrifuges damaged or destroyed in a way that will make it almost impossible for them to revive the program. In my opinion, and in the opinion of many other experts who have seen the raw data, it will take several years, says Witkoff to Fox News.
Trump also rejects the media reports.
"The nuclear facilities in Iran are completely destroyed", the president writes in capital letters on Tuesday night and at the same time accuses CNN and The New York Times of being "derogatory towards one of the most successful military attacks in history".
