Iran and Israel agree that US strikes wrecked Iran’s nuclear sites

"Badly damaged" targets

Despite a leaked preliminary Pentagon report to the contrary, both Iran and Israel have come in behind US President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran’s three nuclear targets were “badly damaged” by the US strikes in the early hours of June 22.

Iran's assessment of the situation

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said, "Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that's for sure."

Progress thwarted

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also told the pan-Arab news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the strikes will have "serious and profound effects on the course of the nuclear program.”

A rethink on the cards

Indicating that the country’s nuclear ambitions remain intact, Iran’s foreign minister added that, “We need to rethink how we protect our nuclear facilities.”

Israel Atomic Energy Commission's view

Meanwhile, the Israel Atomic Energy Commission has stated that the strike on the main uranium enrichment facility, Fordo, "destroyed the site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable."

A major setback

"We assess that the American strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran's military nuclear program, has set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years," the commission said in a statement quoted by Newsweek.

Iran's uranium enrichment program

Iran now has uranium enriched to 60%, indicating that it intends to build a nuclear arsenal (90%) as uranium for domestic energy use would require enrichment of just 3-5%, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Trump enraged by leaked report

Estimating that the strikes had only set Iran’s nuclear ambitions back by a few months, the leaked Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report enraged Trump by contradicting his claims that the US strike on Fordo, resulted in “total obliteration” of the site.

The US military's conclusions

As Iran’s main uranium enrichment site, Fordo, is buried 260 ft under a mountain, the US military has concluded that one or two strikes would not be enough and that an attack “would have to come in waves,” according to the New York Times.

B-2 pilots "demeaned"

But at a NATO summit in the Hague, Trump could not resist slamming the DIA report which he said “demeaned” the pilots of the B-2s carrying the bunker buster bombs needed to reach the uranium.

Shutting out Congress

In a supposed bid to prevent such leaks, Trump has taken steps to restrict the amount of classified intelligence the Pentagon shares with Congress.

CIA boss climbs on board

Meanwhile, CIA boss, John Ratcliffe, has also backed Trump’s claims, citing “new intelligence” that offers some evidence of what Trump called the “spectacular military success” of the strikes.

Strikes mean a rebuild required

Ratcliffe said the new intel indicated that “several key Iranian facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years,” CNN reports.

Israeli sources depart from Trump's line

But, while both Iran’s foreign ministry and Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission appeared to be in agreement regarding the scale of the damage, two Israeli sources told ABC News that the result of the strikes was “really not good”.

Possible relocation of uranium

Both sources suggested that an amount of uranium would possibly have been relocated ahead of the strikes and that there is still no assessment of how many centrifuges remain to enrich uranium in the future.

US-Iran talks imminent

But Trump is keeping his tone is upbeat. "We're going to talk to them next week, with Iran," Trump said at the NATO summit. "We may sign an agreement. I don't know."