United States President Donald Trump on Saturday reiterated his assertion that the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22 “completely destroyed” the sites, countering reports suggesting some had largely survived the attacks. On his Truth Social platform, Trump maintained his frequent claim that “all three nuclear sites in Iran were completely destroyed and/or OBLITERATED.”
He contended 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 strikes targeted 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.
These bombings, conducted concurrently with an Israeli campaign against Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure, were framed by Washington as a decisive blow to a years-long covert effort to develop nuclear weapons. Iran, however, consistently maintains that its civilian nuclear power program is not intended for weaponization.
Despite Trump’s claims of total success, several US media outlets have reported leaked intelligence indicating a more ambiguous outcome. Most recently, an NBC News report on Friday, citing a military damage assessment, stated that only one of the three sites was mostly destroyed.
NBC further reported, quoting five current and former US officials familiar with the assessment, that the other two sites were deemed repairable and could potentially resume uranium enrichment activities within “the next several months.” Additionally, NBC revealed that the Pentagon had prepared a more extensive option to inflict greater damage on Iran’s facilities through a bombing campaign that would have spanned several weeks, rather than the single-night operation ultimately chosen by Trump. According to the report, citing one current and one former official, Trump rejected the more comprehensive attack plan due to concerns about potential casualties and entanglement in the conflict.
