An American intervention likened to the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in World War II has set back Iran’s nuclear program by “decades,” U.S. President Donald Trump claims.
Speaking at a gathering of NATO leaders in The Hague, Trump disputed reports that the bunker buster bombs dropped by American war planes during the Israel-Iran war had failed to completely destroy the Iranian nuclear facilities.
CNN, which on the confidential Pentagon assessment, said that the attacks had delayed Iran’s nuclear production efforts by just a few months.
The report contradicts statements from U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the status of Iran’s
The report contradicts statements from U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the status of Iran’s
Describing as “scum” those journalists who reported on the assessment that there had been only limited damage to Iran’s nuclear program, Trump said that the intelligence was “very inconclusive” and concluded that the damage “could have been very severe.”
Saying that there had since been additional intelligence reports as well as physical visits, he insisted Wednesday that Iran’s nuclear ambitions had instead been set back by “basically decades.”
“They just went through hell. I think they’ve had it. The last thing they want to do is enrich,” he said, adding that the American bomb strike “ended the war.”
“I don’t want to use an example of Hiroshima, I don’t want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing. That ended that war. This ended the (Israeli-Iran) war. If we didn’t take that out, they’d be fighting right now.”
Iran has enriched uranium to 60 per cent purity, just short of the 90 per cent required to make a nuclear weapon. About 400 kilograms of that highly enriched uranium is currently unaccounted for, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Trump said that American officials would be meeting with the Iranians next week, but brushed off the notion that Iran would try to restart its nuclear program or that he wanted a new formal deal to limit the country’s atomic ambitions.
Asked if he would order more strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities if nuclear enrichment activities continued or resumed, Trump said: “Sure, but I’m not going to have to worry about that.”
“It’s gone for years, years. It’s very tough to rebuild because the whole thing has collapsed. In other words, inside it’s all collapsed. Nobody can get in to see it because it’s collapsed. You can’t go in to see a room that’s got 10 million tonnes of rock in it.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that his country’s military efforts had sent Iran’s nuclear program “down the drain.”
There were more modest impact assessments from the IAEA, which monitors nuclear facilities programs around the world.
On Tuesday, Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi that there has been “extensive damage at several nuclear sites in Iran” as well as “some localized radioactive as well as chemical release inside the affected facilities that contained nuclear material.”
But he said there has been no reports of increased radiation levels outside of the nuclear facilities.
Grossi said the Fordow nuclear site, which was build deep underground, beneath a mountain, has likely suffered damage to access roads close to the facility and at one of its entrances.
The strikes to the Natanz nuclear facility, used to enrichment activities and storage of enriched uranium, “may have caused localized contamination and chemical hazards.”
Iran’s Parliament voted Wednesday to suspend nuclear safety co-operation with the IAEA, though a formal decision to cut ties has not yet been taken.
In a June 22 statement in response to the U.S. attacks, the head of the Atomic Energy Agency of Iran, Mohammad Reza Kardan, said that officials had anticipated attacks on its nuclear facilities and taken defensive measures.
“Due to the previously planned measures and the measures taken, no radiation contamination or nuclear radiation has been observed outside these sites and facilities.”
Trump provided no details on negotiations between Israel and Iran that might result in a longer-term peace deal between the bitter enemies, but he suggested that the American strikes on Iran had resulted in “great progress being made on Gaza.”
“Because of this attack that we made, I think we’re going to have some very good news.”
Israel is still seeking the return of hostages taken by Hamas in the attack of Oct. 7, 2023. United Nations officials are managing a humanitarian catastrophe affecting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier this week, in a briefing for journalists, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jonathan Whitall, said that more than 400 Palestinians have been killed, most of them “shot or shelled trying to reach U.S.-Israeli distribution sites purposefully set up in militarized zones.”
“Just a few days ago more than 60 people were killed and hundreds injured when a tank opened fire on a crowd of people waiting for food trucks to arrive,” he said. “It shouldn’t be this way. There shouldn’t be a death-toll associated with accessing the essentials for life.”
