Trump Administration Bashes ‘Leaker’ Over Claims of Limited Damage to Iranian Nuclear Sites

Following reporting that the U.S. strikes on Iran’s three major nuclear sites only set Iran’s nuclear program back months, Trump administration officials are blaming a “leaker” for circulating such reports.  

“The nuclear sites in Iran are completely destroyed,” Trump wrote on Truth Social late Tuesday night while bashing CNN and The New York Times for reporting that the attack did not dismantle Iran’s nuclear program.  

“Fake news CNN, together with the failing New York Times, have teamed up in an attempt to demean one of the most successful military strikes in history,” Trump wrote. 

CNN reported that Saturday’s strikes on Iran’s Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites did not eliminate “core components” of Iran’s nuclear program and likely only delayed the program by several months. The Times similarly reported that the strikes delayed Iran’s nuclear program, but did not destroy Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.  

CNN and The Times cited a report from the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm, as its source on the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of the strikes.  

Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, told Fox News that leaking such information was “outrageous” and “treasonous.” Witkoff says he has read all the assessment reports from the U.S. and other countries and said the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites were destroyed. 

Additionally, “We put 12 bunker buster bombs on Fordo,” Witkoff said. “There’s no doubt that it breached the canopy … and there’s no doubt that it was obliterated. So, the reporting out there that in some way suggests that we did not achieve the objective is just completely preposterous!” 

Both Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio bashed the “leaker” for claims that the sites were not destroyed.  

“This is what a leaker is telling you the intelligence says, that’s the game these people play,” Rubio said Wednesday while speaking alongside Trump at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands.  

The “fact,” according to Rubio, is that Isfahan, Iran’s conversion facility that is needed to convert nuclear fuel into the needed form for a nuclear weapon, is “gone, it’s wiped out.”  

Robert Greenway, former senior director on the National Security Council during President Donald Trump’s first term, assess the strikes on the nuclear sites have set Iran’s nuclear program back four to five years.  

Iran “should never have been allowed to get to this point,” Greenway, who worked as a senior intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency’s U.S. Central Command before joining the NSC, wrote on X of Iran’s nuclear program.  

The “Biden administration should have taken credible steps to prevent enrichment above 20% as a red line,” Greenway said. “Naturally they were fully committed to appeasing Tehran, which enabled them to do so without consequences. He and his team bear responsibility for the staggering enrichment that took place on their watch.” 

The White House on Wednesday circulated a statement from the Israel Atomic Energy Commission assessing the effectiveness of the strikes. 

“The devastating U.S. strike on Fordo destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facilities inoperable,” according to the commission.  

“We assess that the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran’s military nuclear program, has set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years,” the Israel Atomic Energy Commission continued. “This achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material.”  

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