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Who leaked Iran strikes assessment? Donald Trump points finger at...
The Trump administration has insisted that the operation was a total success and berated journalists for reporting on the intelligence assessment report.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday accused his political opponents of leaking the assessment report by US intelligence, which said that the American military strikes did not fully destroy Iranian nuclear sites.
“The Democrats are the ones who leaked the information on the PERFECT FLIGHT to the Nuclear Sites in Iran,” the US president posted on his Truth Social network. “They should be prosecuted!”
Last week, the United States joined Israel's offensive against Iran and attacked its nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Israel and the United States claimed that the there facilities were being used by Iran to build an atomic bomb in secret.
American B-2 bombers hit two of the nuclear sites with massive GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs, while a guided missile submarine struck the third site with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Since then, US President Donald Trump has claimed that the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had also said that Iran’s nuclear ambitions “have been obliterated.”
However, according to a preliminary American intelligence assessment report, leaked to the media, the strikes only set back Iran's nuclear program by months.
Two people familiar with the assessment of the strikes had told CNN that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed in the attack. One of the people even said that Iran's centrifuges were largely “intact.”
Also Read | ‘Nothing taken out of facility’: Donald Trump on US strikes at Iran nuclear sites
The Trump administration has insisted that the operation was a total success and berated journalists for reporting on an intelligence assessment that raised doubts about the mission.
"Whether it's fake news CNN, MSNBC or the New York Times, there's been fawning coverage of a preliminary assessment," US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said, according to AFP.
The document was "leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn't successful," he added.
