Israel, US strikes ‘heavily’ set back Iran’s nuclear program: Former defense minister
Israel and US strikes on Iran “heavily” set back Tehran’s nuclear program, but an assessment is needed to determine the full extent of the damage made, Former Israeli Minister of Defense Benny Gantz told Al Arabiya English in an interview on Tuesday.
“Of course, we will have to assess the specific operational outcome of what we did in Iran. I think we have pushed it back, heavily and seriously, years back,” he said.
US B-2 bombers hit two Iranian nuclear sites with massive GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs over the weekend, while a guided missile submarine struck a third with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
US President Donald Trump had called the strikes a “spectacular military success” and said they had “obliterated” the nuclear sites, while US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington’s forces had “devastated the Iranian nuclear program.”
The aim of the strikes was to shut down Iran’s nuclear capabilities and prevent it for further exceeding the threshold of uranium enrichment, Gatz said in the interview with Al Arabiya English.
“Iran went very close and tried to go across the threshold between enrichment and nuclear capacity,” he said.
A few hours after the interview was conducted, a classified preliminary US intelligence report, made public later on Tuesday, concluded that the American strikes on Iran set back Tehran’s nuclear program by just a few months – rather than destroying it as claimed by Trump.
US media on Tuesday cited people familiar with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) findings as saying the weekend strikes did not fully eliminate Iran’s centrifuges or stockpile of enriched uranium.
The aerial bombardments and missile strikes sealed off entrances to some facilities without destroying underground buildings, according to the report.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the authenticity of the DIA assessment but said it was “flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked” in an attempt to undermine Trump and discredit the military operation.
Speaking in a news conference from The Hague, Trump downplayed the intel report regarding the impact of these strikes saying that the strikes contributed in ending the Israel-Iran war.
He said that the intelligence following the strikes on Iranian nuclear sites was inconclusive, but also suggested the damage could have been severe.
“The intelligence was very inconclusive. The intelligence says we don’t know. It could’ve been very severe. That’s what the intelligence suggests,” Trump told reporters.
Iran’s government has said it would continue to ensure the continuation of its nuclear program, with it had “taken the necessary measures” to ensure the continuation of its nuclear program.
Gatz warned that while Israel has “no intention of fighting Iran,” if Tehran exceeds the enrichment threshold, then “[Israel] will have to act again. We know how to do it.”
