Trump says Iranian nuclear program set back ‘decades,’ downplaying intel report on strikes
US President Donald Trump says that the Iran-Israel ceasefire is going well while underscoring that the US strikes on the Iran nuclear sites set back the nuclear program for decades.
Iran “won’t be building bombs for a long time” Trump said speaking in a news conference from The Hague.
Trump also downplayed an 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 ahead of meeting with world leaders at a NATO summit.
“It was very severe. There was obliteration,” he added.
A classified preliminary US intelligence report has concluded that American strikes on Iran set back Tehran’s nuclear program by just a few months – rather than destroying it as claimed by President Donald 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.
