4 weeks ago
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Washington, DC – New media reports successful the United States, citing quality assessments, person formed uncertainty implicit President Donald Trump’s assertion that Washington’s subject strikes past period “obliterated” Iran’s atomic programme.
The Washington Post and NBC News reported that US officials were saying that lone 1 of the 3 Iranian atomic sites – the Fordow installation – targeted by the US has been destroyed.
The Post’s report, released connected Friday, besides raised questions connected whether the centrifuges utilized to enrich uranium astatine the deepest level of Fordow were destroyed oregon moved earlier the attack.
“We decidedly can’t accidental it was obliterated,” an unidentified authoritative told the newspaper, referring to Iran’s atomic programme.
Trump has insisted that the US strikes were a “spectacular” success, lashing retired astatine immoderate reports questioning the level of harm they inflicted connected Iran’s atomic programme.
An archetypal US quality assessment, leaked to respective media outlets aft the onslaught past month, said the strikes failed to destruct cardinal components of Iran’s atomic programme and lone delayed its enactment by months.
But the Pentagon said earlier successful July that the attacks degraded the Iranian programme by one to 2 years.
While the strikes connected Fordow – initially thought to beryllium the astir guarded facility, buried wrong a upland – initially took centre stage, the NBC News and Washington Post reports suggested that the facilities successful Natanz and Isfahan besides had heavy tunnels.
‘Impenetrable’
The US subject did not usage tremendous bunker-busting bombs against the Isfahan tract and targeted aboveground infrastructure instead.
A legislature adjutant acquainted with quality briefings told the Post that the Pentagon had assessed that the underground facilities astatine Isfahan were “pretty overmuch impenetrable”.
The Pentagon responded to some reports by reiterating that each 3 sites were “completely and wholly obliterated”.
Israel, which started the warfare by attacking Iran without nonstop provocation past month, has backed the US administration’s assessment, portion threatening further strikes against Tehran if it resumes its atomic programme.
For its part, Tehran has not provided details astir the authorities of its atomic sites.
Some Iranian officials person said that the facilities sustained important harm from US and Israeli attacks. But Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said aft the warfare that Trump had “exaggerated” the interaction of the strikes.
The determination and authorities of Iran’s highly enriched uranium besides stay unknown.
Iran’s atomic bureau and regulators successful neighbouring states person said they did not observe a spike successful radioactivity aft the bombings, suggesting the strikes did not effect successful uranium contamination.
But Rafael Grossi, the caput of the United Nations atomic watchdog, the IAEA, did not regularisation retired that the uranium containers whitethorn person been damaged successful the attacks.
“We don’t cognize wherever this worldly could beryllium oregon if portion of it could person been nether the onslaught during those 12 days,” Grossi told CBS News past month.
According to Grossi, Iran could resume uranium enrichment successful a “matter of months”.
The war
Israel launched a massive attack against Iran connected June 13, sidesplitting respective apical subject officials, arsenic good arsenic atomic scientists.
The bombing run targeted subject sites, civilian infrastructure and residential buildings crossed the country, sidesplitting hundreds of civilians.
Iran responded with barrages of missiles against Israel that near wide demolition and claimed the lives of astatine slightest 29 people.
The US joined the Israeli run connected June 22, striking the 3 atomic sites. Iran retaliated with a rocket onslaught against an aerial base lodging US troops successful Qatar.
Initially, Trump said the Iranian onslaught was thwarted, but aft outer images showed harm astatine the base, the Pentagon acknowledged that 1 of the missiles was not intercepted.
“One Iranian ballistic rocket impacted Al Udeid Air Base June 23 portion the remainder of the missiles were intercepted by US and Qatari aerial defence systems,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told Al Jazeera successful an email past week.
“The interaction did minimal harm to instrumentality and structures connected the base. There were nary injuries.”
After a ceasefire was reached to extremity the 12-day war, some the US and Iran expressed willingness to prosecute successful diplomacy to resoluteness the atomic file. But talks have not materialised.
Iran and the US were periodically holding atomic talks earlier Israel launched its warfare successful June.
EU-Iran talks
During his archetypal word successful 2018, Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement, known arsenic the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The statement saw Iran standard backmost its atomic programme successful speech for lifting planetary sanctions against its economy.
In caller days, European officials person suggested that they could enforce “snap-back” sanctions against Iran arsenic portion of the woody that has agelong been violated by the US.
Tehran, which started enriching uranium beyond the limits acceptable by the JCPOA aft the US withdrawal, insists that Washington was the enactment that nixed the agreement, stressing that the woody acknowledges Iran’s enrichment rights.
I had a associated teleconference with E3 FMs & EU HR past night, successful which I made the pursuing points clear:
It was the US that withdrew from a two-year negotiated woody -coordinated by EU successful 2015- not Iran; and it was US that near the dialog array successful June this twelvemonth and chose a… pic.twitter.com/NFQdK2HZD4
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) July 18, 2025
On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said helium held talks with the apical diplomats of France, the United Kingdom and Germany – known arsenic the E3 – arsenic good arsenic the European Union’s precocious representative.
Araghchi said Europeans should enactment speech “worn-out policies of menace and pressure”.
“It was the US that withdrew from a two-year negotiated woody – coordinated by EU successful 2015 – not Iran; and it was US that near the dialog array successful June this twelvemonth and chose a subject enactment instead, not Iran,” the Iranian overseas curate said successful a societal media post.
“Any caller circular of talks is lone imaginable erstwhile the different broadside is acceptable for a fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial atomic deal.”
Tehran denies seeking a nuclear bomb. Israel, meanwhile, is wide believed to person an undeclared atomic arsenal.
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