Featured Image Credit: BBC
Topics: Donald Trump, Iran, US News, Politics, World News
Niamh Shackleton
Donald Trump has reacted to reports that Saturday's strikes on Iran did not destroy its nuclear sites.
President Trump ordered the attack on three of Iran's nuclear sites: Fordo (sometimes spelt Fordow), Natanz, and Isfahan.
Named 'Operation Midnight Hammer', over 100 aircraft were involved in the extremely covert mission, including top-end military jets B-2 stealth bombers.
While Trump hailed the strike as 'very successful', separate reports have suggested otherwise.
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An expert who spoke to UK news outlet The Independent said that it's likely Iran had time to move some of its weapons from the affected sites before the bombs hit, meaning its nuclear stockpile might not have been dramatically affected after all.
Dr Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute and a former member of the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB), said: "I understand that Fordow has a symbolic importance to people, but it is by no means the only underground facility associated with Iran's nuclear program."
He added: "Given how long it took the US to strike, it's not clear to me that by the time it was hit, it was even the most important, because the Iranians had had time to power off centrifuges and possibly remove them."
An initial intel assessment produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency echoed similar sentiments.
Speaking to CNN on the matter, two sources familiar with the report said that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed and suggested that the US may have to issue another strike on Iran in the coming months to actually achieve its goal.
Trump and the White House have since reacted to the news of the reports that the strike wasn't as successful as he said. The president called the press 'disrespectful', particularly to the 'great geniuses' who were flying the jets, BBC reports.
He also took to Truth Social to condemn the newly released reports.
"FAKE NEWS CNN, TOGETHER WITH THE FAILING NEW YORK TIMES, HAVE TEAMED UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY," Trump wrote.
"THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED! BOTH THE TIMES AND CNN ARE GETTING SLAMMED BY THE PUBLIC!"
Also directly addressing CNN's article, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, per the outlet in question: "This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community.
"The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program. Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration."
UNILAD has contacted CNN and The New York Times for comment.