Pentagon's assessment suggests strikes against Iran likely achieved goals

3/7/2025 6:17

The Pentagon said on

Wednesday that U.S. strikes 10 days ago had degraded Iran's

nuclear program by up to two years, suggesting the U.S. military

operation likely achieved its goals despite a far more cautious

initial assessment that leaked to the public.



Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, offered the figure at a

briefing to reporters, adding that the official estimate was

"probably closer to two years." Parnell did not provide evidence

to back up his assessment.



"We have degraded their program by one to two years, at

least intel assessments inside the Department (of Defense)

assess that," Parnell told a news briefing.



U.S. military bombers carried out strikes against three

Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22 using more than a dozen

30,000-pound (13,600-kg) bunker-buster bombs and more than two

dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles.



The evolving U.S. intelligence about the impact of the

strikes is being closely watched, after President Donald Trump

said almost immediately after they took place that Iran's

program had been obliterated, language echoed by Parnell at

Wednesday's briefing.



Such conclusions often take the U.S. intelligence community

weeks or more to determine.



"All of the intelligence that we've seen (has) led us to

believe that Iran's -- those facilities especially, have been

completely obliterated," Parnell said.



Over the weekend, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog,

Rafael Grossi, said that Iran could be producing enriched

uranium in a few months, raising doubts about how effective U.S.

strikes to destroy Tehran's nuclear program have been.



Several experts have also cautioned that Iran likely moved a

stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of

the deeply buried Fordow site before the strikes and could be

hiding it.



But U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week he

was unaware of intelligence suggesting Iran had moved its highly

enriched uranium to shield it from U.S. strikes.



A preliminary assessment last week from the Defense

Intelligence Agency suggested that the strikes may have only set

back Iran's nuclear program by months. But Trump administration

officials said that assessment was low confidence and had been

overtaken by intelligence showing Iran's nuclear program was

severely damaged.



According to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the

strikes on the Fordow nuclear site caused severe damage.



"No one exactly knows what has transpired in Fordow. That

being said, what we know so far is that the facilities have been

seriously and heavily damaged," Araqchi said in the interview

broadcast by CBS News on Tuesday.