Despite the Trump administration’s public messaging, preliminary assessments from the Defense Intelligence Agency, as reported by CNN, Reuters, and The New York Times, paint a different picture.
Recent US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities have been widely portrayed by the Trump administration as a devastating blow to Tehran’s nuclear capabilities.
However, three major Western news outlets—CNN, Reuters, and The New York Times—have reviewed US intelligence assessments indicating that the strikes caused only limited setbacks, and Iran retains the capacity to reconstitute its program in a matter of months.
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A report published by CNN on Tuesday, citing seven sources familiar with a preliminary assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), concluded that the strikes on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan did not fundamentally compromise Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
According to CNN, “the core components of the country’s nuclear program” remain operational, and the attacks “likely only set it back by months.”
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Two individuals familiar with the intelligence said that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed, and the centrifuges were “largely intact.”
One source reportedly added that “enriched uranium was moved out of the sites prior to the US strikes.”
Despite these findings, US President Donald Trump declared on Truth Social that the operation was “one of the most successful military strikes in history” and insisted that Iran’s nuclear sites had been “completely destroyed.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth echoed this sentiment, claiming, “Our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons.”
The DIA assessment contradicts such claims. It suggests that the aboveground infrastructure was damaged, including power facilities and processing buildings, but the underground centrifuge halls—protected by reinforced concrete and deep burial—remained largely untouched.
“So the (DIA) assessment is that the US set them back maybe a few months, tops,” one source told CNN.
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Additionally, weapons expert Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute emphasized that “several key underground nuclear facilities, including near Natanz, Isfahan and Parchin,” were not destroyed and “could serve as the basis for the rapid reconstitution of Iran’s nuclear program.”
CNN also noted that some Iranian facilities—such as Isfahan—were not targeted with bunker busters at all.
Instead, the US opted for Tomahawk missiles, acknowledging the futility of trying to penetrate its deeply buried layers. The report also highlights that classified briefings on the matter for US lawmakers were abruptly canceled.
Reuters: ‘Setback of Only Months’
Reuters news agency likewise confirmed that a preliminary DIA assessment had found the Iranian nuclear program had been delayed by “only a matter of months.”
One source cited in the report estimated that Iran could resume operations in “one to two months.”
The intelligence assessment, according to Reuters, generated internal disagreement among agencies and was “not universally accepted.”
One source noted that while the strikes had “caved in facility entrances and destroyed or damaged infrastructure,” they had “not collapsed underground buildings.”
Importantly, Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not eliminated, and, according to a person familiar with the findings, some centrifuges remain intact.
David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector and head of the Institute for Science and International Security, said on X: “Iran retains an ability to break out and produce weapon-grade uranium.”
The White House, however, rejected the assessment. Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary, repeated to CNN and Reuters: “Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”
Still, classified briefings for the House and Senate were postponed, fueling further skepticism. As Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries stated bluntly: “There’s zero evidence that I’ve seen that the nuclear program was completely and totally obliterated.”
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Satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters showed surface-level cratering near the Fordow enrichment facility, but not conclusive proof of internal collapse.
The report concludes that a full understanding of the strike’s consequences will take weeks to months of further assessment.
NYT: Underground Facilities Remain Intact
The New York Times independently confirmed much of what was reported by CNN and Reuters. Based on a classified DIA report, the Times noted that the strikes “set back the country’s nuclear program by only a few months.”
Officials cited in the report said that “the strikes sealed off the entrances to two of the facilities but did not collapse their underground buildings.”
While Natanz suffered the most visible damage, Fordow and Isfahan—both deeply buried—were largely untouched at their core.
The Times reported that B-2 bombers dropped twelve 30,000-pound bunker busters on Fordow, but multiple experts, including those in the military, warned in advance that the facility was too deep to be destroyed in a single-day strike.
The report noted that “much of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was moved before the strikes,” and some officials suspect Iran retains secret enrichment facilities.
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“Iran retains control of almost all of its nuclear material,” the Times wrote, adding that “if it decides to make a nuclear weapon, it might still be able to do so relatively quickly.”
General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, struck a more cautious tone than his civilian counterparts, stating at a press conference: “It’s way too early to assess how much of Iran’s nuclear program remains.”
While Defense Secretary Hegseth again insisted that the strikes “obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons,” a consensus is emerging among intelligence officials that Iran’s capacity—especially if motivated to rebuild—has not been eliminated.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
There is something very delicate about it
and something is also very reckless, going on, it was again one of the most dangerous and absolute not calculable moments in history, where all warning lights very flashing in bright red, the evermore expanding spiral of violence was almost getting out of control, from contained to regional and on the brink of a global warfare, where no part in the world have been spared of the negative consequences, that there are some people out there to pray for a warfare, with global felt negative impacts and consequences, it’s reckless, psychotic and unthinkable that some just want such a global instability, to use and abuse a top secret document to incite, craz
The world should be thankful, that the drums of war got a bit more silent again it was very close to get out of control and lead to incalculable consequences, where others had to react and got sucked in a war, which they never wanted. A nuclear contamination is one of this incalculable risks, which could have triggered a need to react. Turkiye would have the right to trigger article 5 of NATO, if they would have been effected! On the other side there is Pakistan neighboring Iran, which also maybe had to act in such circumstances!
The other incalculable is the Worlds economic relationships and supply chains of Oil and Gas as well as others, which had pressured others to act to stop this war.
I agree. The “very reckless, going on” is Zionism, Nazi Zionism.