AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Israeli officials concluded that “some” of Iran’s underground stockpile of enriched uranium survived the U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear sites last month, reported the New York Times on Thursday, citing a senior Israeli official.
The Times report comes amid President Donald Trump’s fierce attacks on both the Times and CNN for reporting on a leaked Pentagon report suggesting that early assessments found the Iranian nuclear sites were not totally destroyed and that Iran could be months from restarting its nuclear program.
The Times of Israel also reported on the comments, but noted that the official also claimed that Iran’s enriched uranium was not removed from the nuclear sites ahead of the U.S. bombings, a key question following the strikes.
“A senior Israeli official said Thursday that Israeli intelligence shows that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium had not been removed from Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan before the three nuclear sites were struck by the US last month amid Israel’s 12-day war with Iran, and has not been moved since,” reported the Times of
The stockpiles of some 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60 percent had not moved, the unnamed official told Reuters.The official suggested, however, that the Iranians might still be able to gain access to the enriched uranium at Isfahan but that it would be very difficult to remove it.
Trump has claimed that the U.S. attacks on the Iranian sites resulted in “total obliteration” and has threatened to sue both CNN and the New York Times for reporting on intelligence that suggested otherwise.
In late June, Trump told reporters during a presser at the NATO summit that an Israeli intelligence report will confirm Iran’s nuclear enrichment site at Fordow was completely destroyed, countering the leaked report from the Pentagon.
“You know they have guys that go in there after the hit, and they said it was total obliteration,” Trump told reporters, adding:
Israel is doing a report on it now, I understand, and I was told that they said it was total obliteration. I believe it was total obliteration, and I believe they didn’t have a chance to get anything out because we acted fast.
Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Effi Defrin discussed Israel’s preliminary assessment of the damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities at the time, saying, “Now, I trust our intelligence analysts in the Intelligence Directorate and in the Air Force. I believe they have proven themselves to be accurate in recent weeks, and I can say here
Trump has slammed CNN for reporting that the leaked Pentagon assessment found the U.S. strikes on Fordow did not “destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months.” CNN’s Natasha Bertrand, citing sources with knowledge of the report, added that “The assessment, which has not been previously reported, was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm. It is based on a battle damage assessment conducted by US Central Command in the aftermath of the US strikes.”
Trump later launched a scathing attack on Bertrand and called for her to be fired. “Natasha Bertrand should be FIRED from CNN! I watched her for three days doing Fake News. She should be IMMEDIATELY reprimanded, and then thrown out ‘like a dog,’” wrote Trump on Truth Social Wednesday, clearly incensed by the Pentagon report being made public. “She lied on the Laptop from Hell Story, and now she lied on the Nuclear Sites Story, attempting to destroy our Patriot Pilots by making them look bad when, in fact, they did a GREAT job and hit ‘pay dirt’ — TOTAL OBLITERATION!”