SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Trump insists Iran nuclear sites destroyed amid reports some survived
Washington, July 19 (AFP) Jul 19, 2025
President Donald Trump on Saturday insisted that US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities "completely destroyed" the sites after a report said that some had largely survived.

On his Truth Social platform, Trump reiterated his frequent claim that "all three nuclear sites in Iran were completely destroyed and/or OBLITERATED."

He said it would "take years to bring them back into service and, if Iran wanted to do so, they would be much better off starting anew, in three different locations."

US bomb and missile attacks struck Iran's controversial nuclear program on June 22, hitting the uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz.

The bombings, carried out at the same time as an Israeli campaign against Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure, were billed by Washington as a knockout blow to a years-long covert effort to build nuclear weapons.

Iran insists it has not tried to weaponize its civilian nuclear power program.

Despite Trump's claims of total success, several US media outlets have reported leaked intelligence suggesting a hazier picture.

The latest to cast doubt was an NBC News report Friday, quoting a military damage assessment that only one of the three sites was mostly destroyed.

Two other sites were deemed to be repairable and potentially able to resume uranium enrichment activities within "the next several months," NBC reported, citing five current and former US officials aware of the assessment.

NBC also reported that the Pentagon had prepared an option to inflict far greater damage on Iran's facilities through a bombing campaign that would have lasted several weeks -- not the one-night operation chosen by Trump.

According to the report, citing one current and one former official, Trump rejected the more comprehensive attack plan due to fears of casualties and entanglement in the conflict.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
SPHEREx completes first full sky infrared map of the cosmos
CoDICE instrument returns first-light particle data for IMAP mission
Top 5 High Volatility Games For 2026 Chase The Biggest Jackpots Today

24/7 Energy News Coverage
The Quantum Age will be Powered by Fusion
Physicists map axion production paths inside deuterium tritium fusion reactors
Hybrid excitons speed ultrafast energy transfer at 2D organic interface

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
SDA expands Tracking Layer satellite awards and related missile defense contracts
Space Systems Command activates System Delta 80 for assured space access
Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions to provide SAR reconnaissance data to German military

24/7 News Coverage
Philosopher argues AI consciousness may remain unknowable
Climate driven model explores Neanderthal and modern human overlap in Iberia
Economic losses from natural disasters down by a third in 2025: Swiss Re



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.