John Ratcliffe, director of CIA, said on Wednesday that the Iranian nuclear program “was badly damaged by the recent strikes to its most important enrichment facilities”, and the reporting on a first US secret service report that suggests something else.
The statement of ratcliffe does not expressly mentions US bombs when he says that “the latest, targeted strikes” destroyed the Iranian goals. It was therefore unclear whether the effects of a week of the strikes of the Israel military were also included.
He quoted “a group of credible intelligence”, including “new intelligence from a historically reliable and exact source/method” as factors in the espionage agency's assessment that “several important Iranian nuclear situations were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the years”.
The statement came hours after President Donald Trump had doubled the assertion of his government that US bomb attacks over the weekend had “completely wiped” the Iran nuclear program.
Ratcliffe made his explanation of social media in which he wrote that the CIA evaluation “illegally contradicts public reporting on the destruction of the most important Iranian nuclear facilities”.
Tulsi Gabard, Trump's director of the National Secret Service, later wrote on X on Wednesday that “New Intelligence” Trump's claim confirms that “the nuclear institutions of Iran were destroyed”.
“If the Iranians have chosen the reconstruction, they would have to completely rebuild all three institutions (Natanz, Ford, Esfahan), which would probably take years,” wrote Gabbard.
It also accused “The Propaganda Media”, “illegally leaked secret service estimates” to try “to” undermine the decisive leadership of President Trump “.
The statements by Ratcliffe and Gabard were the recent steps in the efforts of the Trump government to undermine any reporting that does not support the president's description of what the US military in the Middle East has achieved.
In late Wednesday, Trump announced that Defense Minister Pete Hegseth and other military officers will hold a press conference on Thursday morning at 8 a.m. “to fight for the dignity of our great American pilots”.
At a NATO summit in the Haag, the Netherlands, on Wednesday on Wednesday, Trump has reported journalists who first reported on the first assessment of the defense information that American strikes had not completely destroyed their goals.
This assessment showed that the bomb attacks probably reset the Iranian nuclear program for a few months, but not for years.
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The report itself was not published. But it was described by people who are familiar with it, including NBC News. The assessment was only reported by CNN on Tuesday afternoon.
“The report said what it said and it was okay,” said Trump reporters in the Hague after defending his claim that Iran's nuclear skills were “wiped out” by the strikes of the United States.
The damage of the Iranian sites “was serious, think, but they had no idea. They shouldn't have reported a report until they did it,” said Trump.
The President also suggested that the data that the DIA evaluation informed were not sufficient.
“You made a report, but it was how to look at the data, it's just a few days later, so you didn't see the websites,” said Trump.
“The report was not a complete report,” he added.
The Pentagon initiated a “leak examination” with the FBI, said Hegseth on Wednesday. He also noted that the report was temporary and had been referred to as “little trust”.
Hegseth spoke alongside Trump at the NATO press conference and criticized “fake news” and defended the strikes.
The US defense minister Pete Hegseth speaks between the US President Donald Trump and the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a press conference at a NATO summit in the Hague, the Netherlands, June 25, 2025.
Yves Herman | Reuters
“If you want to assess what happened at Fordo, you better get a big shovel and go really deep, because Iran's nuclear program is wiped out,” he said.
The White House also sent the reporters a screenshot of an explanation of the Israel atomic Energy Commission and explained that the US strike on Fordo “destroyed the critical infrastructure of the location and did not make the enrichment system functional”.
Back in Washington, Ratcliffe, Gabbard and other top officials, including the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Dan Caine and deputy foreign minister Christopher Landau, NBC should take part in classified briefings for the congress on Tuesday.
But in the same morning, both briefings were abruptly moved. The Senate's briefing was planned for Thursday, and the spokesman for the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, R-La, said on Friday.
But Chuck Schumer, Chairman of the Senate Minister, said on Wednesday that the list of the people who informed the senators had been changed at the last minute.
Now only Hegseth and Foreign Minister Marco Rubio will create short senators on Thursday, he said.
“The sending of secret service officers to briefings in the congress is a long -term practice,” said Schumer in the Senate.
If Hegseth and Rubio are “the only ones present, they will only pable everything the president wants from them,” he said.
“As a representative of the American people, the congress has entitled to hear from the administration about questions from the national secret service and national security,” said Schumer.
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