In the nearly two weeks since the U.S. attacked three Iranian nuclear facilities, several reports revealed conflicting information on the devastation. Now, the Pentagon has released its official damage assessment of the attacks.
What does the Pentagon report say?
Pentagon intelligence experts said Wednesday, July 2, that the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program by up to two years. The assessment is notably more measured than President Donald Trump’s earlier claim that the attack “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
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Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell says the strikes “degraded” Iran’s nuclear program at key sites including Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. However, when reporters pressed Parnell about the intelligence assessment, he maintained the administration’s position had not changed and that the sites were “completely obliterated.”
“It’s delayed by one to two years. I think we’re probably closer to two years,” he said. “It’s not just enriched uranium or centrifuges or things like that. We destroyed the components that they would need to build a bomb.”
How quickly could Iran rebuild?
The question now is how fast Iran might be able to rebuild those facilities and resume uranium enrichment — the core process for developing a nuclear weapon.
The Fordo facility sits buried deep within a mountain, which makes it especially difficult to strike. Natanz remains Iran’s largest enrichment site. Some analysts have raised the possibility that Iran may have preemptively moved material or stored critical components elsewhere.
What are other experts saying?
A senior official with the International Atomic Energy Agency said the U.S. inflicted “a very serious level of damage,” though some essential infrastructure may still be intact. According to the IAEA, Iran could potentially restart centrifuge operations and begin producing enriched uranium “in a matter of months.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that United Nations officials are urging international inspectors to verify the current state of Iran’s nuclear program. Meanwhile, ABC News reports Republican lawmakers have voiced satisfaction with the administration’s handling of the strikes, while Democrats remain skeptical.
CIA Director John Radcliffe stated that credible intelligence confirms U.S. airstrikes “severely damaged” Iran’s nuclear program.
