Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard asserted that U.S. strikes on Iran were effective in setting back the country’s nuclear capabilities, following reports that the attack set their program back only by a few months.
“New intelligence confirms what @POTUS has stated numerous times: Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed. If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities (Natanz, Fordow, Esfahan) entirely, which would likely take years to do,” Gabbard wrote on the social platform X.
CNN, The New York Times and other news outlets reported Tuesday that an internal government report found strikes on the three facilities over the weekend delayed Iran’s nuclear program by only a few months, despite initial assertions from Trump administration officials that those sites had been destroyed.
The report also said Iran had moved much of its enriched uranium before the strikes, according to multiple outlets.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe also chimed in with a Wednesday afternoon statement saying that Iran’s nuclear program was “severely damaged” by the strike.
“CIA can confirm that a credible body of intelligence indicates Iran’s Nuclear Program has been severely damaged by the recent, targeted strikes. That includes new intelligence from an historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years,” he wrote in a statement he posted on social media platform X.
It was unclear from Gabbard’s statement what new intelligence she was referring to. Media reports on the initial assessment of the damage in Iran noted that it was a preliminary classified assessment.
“The propaganda media has deployed their usual tactic: selectively release portions of illegally leaked classified intelligence assessments (intentionally leaving out the fact that the assessment was written with “low confidence”) to try to undermine President Trump’s decisive leadership and the brave servicemen and women who flawlessly executed a truly historic mission to keep the American people safe and secure,” Gabbard added Wednesday.
President Trump and other top officials have been adamant that the nuclear facilities were “obliterated,” even as experts have said it would take days to determine the extent of the damage.
They’ve also pushed an Israeli intelligence assessment that found the U.S. strikes “set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years.”
“Interesting how the narrative changes,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote on X, referencing reports about Trump calling the initial assessment “inconclusive.”
“One way or the other, the extent of the damage to Iran’s nuclear program will come out,” he added later.
“I trust the analyses of the men and women of our brilliant intelligence community over Donald Trump spiking the football.”
Gabbard’s remarks come after she spent days at odds with the White House after Trump was asked about testimony she gave months earlier in which she said Iran was not as close to developing nuclear capabilities as Israel claimed.
“I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one,” Trump told reporters last week.
Brett Samuels contributed.
Updated at 5:12 p.m. EDT