Donald Trump has said “collected intelligence” since the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites shows the country’s nuclear capabilities have been “obliterated”. The US president’s claim runs counter to a leaked US intelligence report which said the damage had only set Iran’s nuclear programme back a “few months”.
Earlier, Rafael Grossi, head of the UN nuclear watchdog, said of the Fordow site that while “no one, including the IAEA, is in a position to have fully assessed the underground damage”, it is expected to be “very significant”. Grossi said his top priority is getting inspectors back to Iran’s nuclear facilities to assess the impact of US and Israeli military strikes and verify its stocks of enriched uranium.
Mr Trump criticised CNN and the New York Times for their reports on the leaked intelligence assessment, claiming they had teamed up to “demean one of the most successful military strikes in history”. The White House called the intelligence assessment “flat-out wrong”.
However, there is a chance that much of Iran’s highly enriched uranium survived the attacks because it may have been moved by Tehran soon after the first strikes, Grossi said. Iran has also approved a bill to suspend cooperation with the IAEA and accelerate its civilian nuclear programme.
