US media on Tuesday reported that a classified US intelligence document had concluded that American strikes last weekend did not fully eliminate Iran’s centrifuges or stockpile of enriched uranium.
But a preliminary report by the Defense Intelligence Agency said the bombings sealed off entrances to some facilities without destroying underground buildings, according to US media, which cited sources familiar with the findings.
Trump rebuffed the media reports.”THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!” the president posted on his Truth Social.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has confirmed the assessment was authentic but said it was “flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked.”
“The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear programme,” Leavitt posted on X.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a “historic victory” against Iran despite a US intelligence report.
Netanyahu, in an address to the nation after the ceasefire, announced that “we have thwarted Iran’s nuclear project”. “And if anyone in Iran tries to rebuild it, we will act with the same determination, with the same intensity, to foil any attempt,” he said.
Did The US Destroy Iran’s Nuclear Program?
Contrary to the US narrative of success in obliterating Iran’s nuclear program, is it possible that Tehran outsmarted the United States even before the operation began?
According to reports, the Iranian officials have claimed that they smuggled nearly all of the enriched uranium out of these facilities.
Hassan Abedini, deputy political head of Iran’s state broadcaster, said, “The enriched uranium reserves had been transferred from the nuclear centres,” adding there was no radioactive material at these sites that could cause any harm to civilians. This statement indicates a complete evacuation of enriched uranium.
High-res satellite imagery shows 16 cargo trucks entering tunnels at Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility shortly before the U.S./Israeli strike—raising concerns Tehran may have secretly relocated enriched uranium or critical nuclear materials ahead of the bombing. pic.twitter.com/IU5tyLZyG3
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 23, 2025
Though the claims may appear to be a coping mechanism by the Iranian regime, the satellite imagery dated June 19, published by Maxar Technologies, showed a group of 16 vehicles slithering down a road close to the Fordow plant’s entrance.
Similar claims have emerged about convoys departing the three nuclear sites in the days ahead of the US strike, likely corroborating Iran’s assertions that it had relocated its 400 kilogram stockpile.
The extent of damage is still being ascertained. Several experts reckon that even the most devastating strikes ever launched on Iran’s nuclear sites, including underground Fordow, could not obliterate the West Asian country’s nuclear program.
Counter-Narrative
Satellite images published in the aftermath of the US strikes show six fresh craters, likely bomb entry points, with gray dust and debris scattered around at the Fordow site. Analysts suggest that the strikes targeted ventilation shafts, which are critical for underground operations.
However, challenging that point of view, ‘Patarames,’ an expert that specializes in analyzing Iranian military technology and doctrine by saying, “Iran’s engineers are not fools to design a ventilation shaft which is not designed with a secure blast trap design to avoid the blast wave to enter the centrifuge hall.”
As for Natanz, satellite images showed two craters above underground halls and new damage to above-ground structures, in addition to what Israeli strikes had caused.
Meanwhile, satellite images revealed 18 destroyed or partially destroyed structures at Isfahan, with significant rubble and blackened areas. The Tunnels suspected of storing enriched uranium were also targeted at Isfahan, according to certain reports, but that could not be verified independently by the EurAsian Times.
Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, who tracks Iran’s nuclear facilities, said it is likely that some very important things have not been hit.
If this ends here, it’s an incomplete strike,” Lewis said. Iran’s highly enriched uranium reserves appear to have remained unaffected by the strike. “Today, it still has that material and we still don’t know where it is,” he says.
Taking to X, Dr. Lewis said, “The 400 kg of HEU (highly enriched uranium) was largely stored in underground tunnels near the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility. Despite extensive Israeli and US attacks on the facility, there does not seem to have been any effort to destroy these tunnels or the material that was in them.”
He also highlighted a very crucial point: while the strikes on the enrichment plants Fordow and Natanz appeared successful, there had been no effort to strike the enormous underground facility next to Natanz where Iran can make more centrifuges and maybe do other things.
Meanwhile, David Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security, who has also closely tracked Iran’s nuclear program for years, said: “I think the purpose of the attack was to take out centrifuges and infrastructure, and they feel they accomplished that,” he stated.
However, Albright said that it is also possible that Iran possesses thousands of centrifuges that enrich uranium but were never set up in Natanz and Fordow.
It could be possible to transfer the uranium to a different, secret location where it might be enriched to the 90% level needed for a nuclear weapon in a comparatively short amount of time.
Iran would still need to do more to turn the uranium into a bomb, he added, saying that Iran’s nuclear program can be reconstituted despite the setback it has received.
Chinese experts also weighed in.
Li Zixin, an assistant research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Chinese state-owned publication Global Times that even with bunker-buster bombs, it would be very difficult to destroy the Fordow nuclear facility because it is located almost 100 meters underground.
Another Chinese military expert, Zhang Junshe, shared a similar view, adding that the Fordow site is highly resistant as it lies beneath 90 meters of solid rock.
Despite Trump’s confidence, US Vice President J.D. Vance had taken a more pragmatic approach earlier. In an interview with ABC News on the night of June 22, Vance said he was unable to confirm the status of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium.
The VP said he thought the Iranian nuclear sites were “severely damaged or obliterated, I’m not exactly sure what the difference is.”
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the IAEA’s board of governors on June 23, “Given the explosive payload utilized, and the extreme vibration-sensitive nature of centrifuges, very significant damage is expected to have occurred.” However, he also warned that no group, including the IAEA, is currently able to fully assess the underground damage at Fordow.
Reacting to American strikes on a key Russian ally, former Russian President and Putin loyalist, Dmitry Medvedev said on X: “1. Critical infrastructure of the nuclear fuel cycle appears to have been unaffected or sustained only minor damage. 2. The enrichment of nuclear material — and, now we can say it outright, the future production of nuclear weapons — will continue. 3. A number of countries are ready to directly supply Iran with their own nuclear warheads.”
Though Mededev is notorious for his inflammatory rhetoric and deadly warnings to the West, the mention of direct supply of nuclear warheads may be particularly concerning.
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