 "CIA backs Trump, says US strikes 'severely damaged' Iranian nuclear sites")
The head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has said that the US strikes on Iran “severely damaged” its nuclear facilities and set them back by years, as a leaked intelligence report creates ruckus about the extent of destruction caused by the attacks, angering President Donald Trump.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe has said that key nuclear sites in Iran have been destroyed. However, he fell short of giving more details on whether the country’s nuclear programme has been eliminated entirely.
Ratcliffe’s comments come a day after US media cited people familiar with the Defence Intelligence Agency findings as saying the weekend strikes did not fully eliminate Iran’s centrifuges or stockpile of enriched uranium.
However, Trump has reiterated that the strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme, dismissing media reports and expressing anger over the leak.
The CIA chief said that the spy agency’s information on the nuclear sites included “new intelligence from a historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years”.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has also joined Trump’s assessment on the extent of damage to Iranian nuclear facilities. She said, “If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities (Natanz, Fordo, Esfahan) entirely, which would likely take years to do.”
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View All‘Intelligence inconclusive’
Meanwhile, there was a change of tune in Trump’s insistence on damages caused to the nuclear facilities. At the Nato Summit in The Hague, Trump and US Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, cast some doubt over the Pentagon’s intelligence.
“The intelligence was very inconclusive. The intelligence says we don’t know. It could’ve been very severe. That’s what the intelligence suggests,” the president said.
Trump compared the US use of massive bunker-buster bombs on Iran’s Fordow and Natanz uranium enrichment sites to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II, suggesting both served as decisive actions to end a conflict.
What does Iran have to say?
Iran’s nuclear facilities were “badly damaged” in US and Israeli strikes during the 12-day war with Israel, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei told Al Jazeera English on Wednesday.
“Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, thats for sure, because it has come under repeated attacks by Israeli and American aggressors,” Baqaei told the broadcaster.
With inputs from agencies
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