US intelligence officials claim Iran’s nuclear facilities were destroyed

Two of President Donald Trump’s top intelligence officials claimed that new intelligence indicates Iran’s nuclear facilities were “destroyed” in US airstrikes over the weekend.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard issued their statements hours apart, reinforcing the administration’s day-long effort to counter media reports of an initial government assessment that the strikes did not significantly set back Iran’s nuclear program.

“New intelligence confirms what @POTUS [the US President] has stated repeatedly: Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed,” Gabbard announced on X.

Ratcliffe shared an image of his own statement on social media about two hours later. “Credible intelligence sources indicate that Iran’s nuclear program has been severely damaged in the recent attacks,” Ratcliffe’s statement read.

The CIA chief asserted that this information included “new intelligence from a historically reliable and accurate source/method,” indicating that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would take years to rebuild.

Ratcliffe added that the agency continues to gather “information from reliable sources” on the matter.

Neither Gabbard nor Ratcliffe provided further details about the intelligence or when it was obtained. However, DNI spokesperson Olivia Coleman later confirmed that the intelligence Gabbard mentioned was from US sources.

A former CIA analyst, speaking to POLITICO, described it as “highly unusual” for the agency’s director to release an analytical assessment in a press statement.

However, this individual, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence processes, said it was unlikely the statement disclosed any sources or methods.

The Defense Intelligence Agency’s (DIA) earlier assessment was reported on Tuesday by CNN and other media outlets. It stated that the strikes had not destroyed essential components of the country’s nuclear program and had likely only delayed it by a few months.

On Wednesday, the DIA emphasized that its findings were not conclusive.

“This is a preliminary and low-confidence assessment, not a definitive conclusion,” the DIA said in a statement. “The assessment will become clearer as additional intelligence is obtained. We have not yet been able to inspect the physical facilities, which will provide us with the best indication.”

The leak of the DIA’s assessment infuriated Trump. On Wednesday, he posted an angry message targeting one of the CNN reporters who wrote the initial story, reiterating his claim that Iran’s nuclear facilities were “destroyed.”

Gabbard also criticized the “propaganda media” in her post.

During a nearly hour-long press conference at the NATO summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, standing alongside Trump, took turns angrily refuting the findings of the DIA report and the media’s coverage of it.

“Those who say the bombs were not destructive are just trying to undermine the president and the successful mission,” Hegseth charged at one point. The Secretary of Defense also told reporters that the Pentagon and the FBI were investigating how the classified report was leaked.

Israeli officials also defended Trump. On Wednesday, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office released a statement from the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, which claimed that the combined effect of US and Israeli strikes had “set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by years.”

Daniel Shapiro, who served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East during the Biden administration, cautioned against placing too much confidence in initial assessments.

“It is highly likely that these facilities have been seriously damaged, but we must wait for the data and actual information,” Shapiro said. He estimated that it would normally take the intelligence community several weeks to reach a definitive conclusion about the impact of such an attack.

In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday evening, Trump hinted that the administration might soon share more information about the damage caused by the strikes.

Trump announced that Pentagon chief Hegseth would hold an “interesting and undeniable” press conference today (June 26).