President Donald Trump said Wednesday that additional intelligence indicates the Iranian nuclear site, Fordow, is “obliterated,” contrary to a CNN report.
Trump read a letter from the Atomic Energy Commission of Israel during his remarks and press conference at the NATO Summit in the Hague, Netherlands, stating Fordow’s enrichment facility was left “inoperable.”
“The devastating U.S. strike on Fordow destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility totally inoperable,” the letter reads, per Trump.
“We assess that the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities has set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons for many years to come. This achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material,” it adds.
Trump then blasted CNN over a report published Wednesday, which said the strikes had not destroyed “core components” of nuclear sites in Iran based on “an early US intelligence assessment” described to the outlet by anonymous sources. The article stated that operation Midnight Hammer “likely only set” the Iranian nuclear program “back by months.”
“I just want to thank our pilots. You know they were maligned…demeaned by fake news CNN, which is back there, believe it or not, wasting time. Nobody’s watching them, so they’re just wasting a lot of time, wasting my time,” he said.
Trump also said the intelligence document CNN cited was a very early assessment and stated that the damage “could be limited or it could be very severe” in response to a question from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
“They really didn’t know other than to say it could be limited or it could be very, very severe, and you didn’t choose to put that because it was very early after,” he said.
“Since then, we’ve collected additional intelligence. We’ve also spoken to people who have seen the site, and the site is obliterated, and we think everything nuclear is down there. They didn’t take it out,” he added.
Trump noted during the press conference that there was “no” indication material was moved before the strike, adding that the targets were 30 to 35 stories underground.
“You think you got it all?” the reporter followed up.
“Oh yeah…we think it’s covered with granite, concrete, and steel,” he said.
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