U.S. military strikes ordered by President Donald Trump over the weekend failed to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, according to early Pentagon intelligence — directly contradicting Trump’s claim that the attacks “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites.
According to a report by CNN citing four individuals briefed on the Defense Intelligence Agency’s (DIA) initial analysis, the bombing may have set Iran’s nuclear efforts back by only a few months. One person familiar with the intelligence put it bluntly: “So the assessment is that the U.S. set them back maybe a few months, tops.”
The DIA’s judgment was based on battle damage reports from U.S. Central Command after the strikes hit three underground nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan on Saturday night. While the full analysis is ongoing, the early picture directly clashes with Trump’s sweeping claim of “total obliteration.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth echoed Trump on Sunday, insisting the operation destroyed Iran’s ability to build a bomb. “Based on everything we have seen — and I’ve seen it all — our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons,” he said.
But the DIA sees it differently. Two sources told CNN that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile was not destroyed and that key centrifuges used for enrichment remain “largely intact.” The strikes managed to seal off some entrances to the facilities but did not collapse the structures themselves, The New York Times reported.
U.S. intelligence had estimated Iran could build a bomb within three months before the strike. Afterward, the DIA believes the delay is less than six months — a modest disruption, not destruction.
Still, the White House is pushing back hard on the intelligence. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the report entirely: “This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community.”
She went further: “Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”
Despite these public denials, a broader intelligence review is still underway. So far, the DIA is the only agency to have released any findings, and Congress has yet to be formally briefed.
A classified briefing for lawmakers, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was abruptly postponed. Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) suggested the operation was a failure: “Trump claimed ‘all nuclear facilities and capability’ were destroyed,” he wrote on X. “His team knows they can’t back up his bluster and BS.”
Experts warn the strike may backfire. Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear expert at the Middlebury Institute, said, “Technically, it’s probably slightly further away, but politically it’s much more imminent.”
“Iran has been a few months away from a nuclear weapon since about 2007,” he added. “Whatever loss in technical capacity they have suffered, it is more than compensated for by an increase in political will.”
According to multiple reports, Iran moved critical components before the bombing. Over the years, the country has built up around 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium — enough for roughly 10 nuclear bombs if taken to weapons-grade.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, confirmed Monday his agency is seeking access to check Iran’s uranium stockpile. Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance admitted the material is still in Iran’s hands and its location is unknown.
