Two things can be true at the same time.
It’s possible that the American airstrikes did “obliterate” the Iranian nuclear sites hit on Saturday night.
It’s also possible that Iran retains stockpiles of enriched uranium and nuclear production equipment elsewhere – undisclosed.
We know from the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran has been obstructive, and we know too that the regime has attempted to build new facilities.
This pattern of behaviour makes it possible, even probable, that they have existing hidden programmes.
Preliminary intelligence reports shared with European governments indicated that Iran’s highly-enriched uranium stockpile remains largely intact and that much of it was not concentrated in the Fordow site.
A satellite overview shows the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Facility, along with damage from June 23 airstrikes. Pic: Maxar
Given all this, the storm around the level of destruction caused by Saturday’s American airstrikes could be a distraction. Nevertheless, the early morning Pentagon news conference revealed plenty.
There were two strands to the briefing. From the politician, we got a political attack, and from the general, we got the military detail.
The attack on the media
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth went full throttle on his assault against the ‘fake news’.
He didn’t just shoot the messenger; he sprayed his blunt criticism all over the defence department press room with characteristic disdain. The Fox News anchor-turned-politician has left his past well behind him.
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Hegseth scolds media over strikes reports
“In hunting for scandals all the time, in trying to find wedges and spin stories, this press corps and the press corps miss historic moments,” he said.
“You, and I mean specifically you, the press, specifically you, the press corps, because you cheer against Trump so hard.
“It’s like in your DNA and in your blood to cheer against Trump because you want him not to be successful, so bad. You have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes.”
This was a news conference to counter the leaks to numerous US news outlets, which suggested that the weekend strikes on the Iranian nuclear site might not have been very successful.
The Trump administration has been left angered by leaks. Pic: Reuters
The leaks, which Team Trump believes may have come from Congress, where certain lawmakers were shown the initial intelligence assessments, were from a preliminary report which was marked as containing ‘low confidence’ information.
Mr Hegseth said: “How about we talk about how special America is, that only we have these capabilities.
“I think it’s too much to ask, unfortunately, for the fake news, so we’re used to that, but we also have an opportunity to stand at the podium and read the truth of what’s really happened…
“And the reality is, you want to call it destroyed. You want to call it defeated. You want to call it obliterated. Choose your word. This was a historically successful attack.”
The nuclear sites in Iran attacked by the US
The spy and the specially-designed bomb
The second strand of the news conference, from America’s top general Dan Caine, provided us with new details about the air strikes last Saturday night.
General Caine would not be drawn on the definitive success of the bombings. “We do not mark our own homework,” he said.
Instead, he sought to illustrate how the mission the military was tasked with, and the performance of the weapons used, all played out perfectly.
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‘All six weapons hit Fordow exactly where we wanted’
He revealed the Fordow nuclear site had been under surveillance for 15 years. One intelligence officer, he said, had the job of monitoring the site.
“For more than 15 years, this officer and his teammate lived and breathed this single target,” General Caine said.
“He studied the geology. He watched the Iranians dig it out. He watched the construction, the weather, the discard material, the geology, the construction materials, where the materials came from.
“He looked at the vent shaft, the exhaust shaft, the electrical systems, the environmental control systems, every nook, every crater, every piece of equipment going in and every piece of equipment going out, they literally dreamed about this target at night, when they slept.”
He also revealed the bunker-busting bombs were developed precisely for this mission.
He showed newly-declassified videos of the Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP) bombs exploding in test scenarios.
Together, the information was designed to show the high probability of massive damage to the nuclear sites.
Read more:
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Why did the US attack on Iran avoid some nuclear sites?
A congressional leak?
In a related development, a Trump administration official has confirmed that the White House plans to limit intelligence sharing with lawmakers following the leak of the initial damage assessment.
According to NBC News, the administration plans to post less information on CAPNET, which is the name of a system utilised to share classified material with Congress.
It is not clear whether the assessment was leaked by someone in Congress or by a defence department official, but the speaker of the house – Trump ally Mike Johnson – said he suspects it came from Congress.
“There was a leak, and we’re trying to get down to the bottom of that. It’s dangerous and ridiculous that happened. We’re going to solve that problem, and we’ll keep the coordination,” Mr Johnson told NBC News.
Democratic Party Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticised the development.
“They seem not to want to see the facts get out. Just Trump’s version of the facts, which we know is often false,” Schumer said.
