


Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced Wednesday that new intelligence “confirms” that Iran‘s nuclear facilities targeted in the U.S. military‘s recent operation “have been destroyed,” and “would likely take years” to rebuild.
Gabbard’s latest comments on the effectiveness of the United States’s strikes on Iran’s Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow facilities come amid a swirling controversy that raised doubts as to whether the facilities were damaged or destroyed.
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Gabbard cited “new intelligence” behind her assessment that “Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed,” but did not specify what it was that led her to that conclusion.
An ODNI official told the Washington Examiner, “I would emphasize that it is based on new U.S. intelligence,” but also did not provide details.
Gabbard is among several senior administration officials who have reiterated President Donald Trump’s assessment that the U.S. military operation destroyed the facilities it targeted, contrasting a leaked initial assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency.
The early assessment said the operation likely only set back the Iranian nuclear program a matter of months, whereas Trump referenced a statement from the Atomic Energy Commission of Israel that said the U.S. strikes “had set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons for many years to come.”
The Pentagon, DIA, and FBI are now investigating who leaked the assessment.
“This is a preliminary, low-confidence assessment — not a final conclusion — and will continue to be refined as additional intelligence becomes available,” a senior DIA official told the Washington Examiner. “We have still not been able to review the actual physical sites themselves, which will give us the best indication. We are working with the FBI and other authorities to investigate the unauthorized disclosure of classified information.”
The U.S. military on Saturday dropped 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs, which it had never used operationally before, on the Natanz and Fordow nuclear facilities, both of which have underground components, and a U.S. submarine launched more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles against targets at the Isfahan facility.
Iran’s nuclear facilities were “badly damaged” after “repeated attacks” by Israel and the U.S., Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Al Jazeera.
PETE HEGSETH ANNOUNCES INTELLIGENCE LEAK INVESTIGATION AS PENTAGON HIT WITH MORE CONTROVERSY
Administration officials have accused someone of leaking the initial finding to damage Trump.
“The instinct of CNN, the instinct of the New York Times, is to try to find a way to spin it for their own political reasons, to try to hurt President Trump or our country,” Hegseth said Wednesday. “They don’t care what the troops think. They don’t care what the world thinks. They want to spin it to try to make him look bad based on a leak. Of course, we’ve all seen plenty of leakers, and what do leakers do? They have agendas.”