TEHRAN – The Trump administration is struggling to prove to US media that it was a successful strike at Iran’s nuclear site on June 22. That is, as Donald Trump and his cabinet members have said, it leads to the “elimination” of the facility. Iran has yet to comment on the full extent of damage caused by the American bomb.
Some American media use what they describe as “leaked” intelligence to suggest that the attacks have not been successful. CNN said the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) concluded that while the surface structure remains damaged, key underground centrifuges and enriched uranium stockpile survived unharmed.
In his rage, Trump assaulted a media outlet covering the leak, calling it “Scum” and “Fake News” to undermine what CNN, The New York Times and MSNBC call “one of the most successful military strikes in history.” He made a statement while attending the NATO Forum in The Hague.
Other officials made more or less similar statements. Defense Secretary Pete Hegses deed the DIA findings as a “preliminary low” report leaked due to political motivation, vowing to the FBI hunt for the “anonymous low-level loser.” Special envoy Steve Witkoff branded the leak “rebellious” by claiming that all three sites were “damaged or destroyed” and that the reconstruction would be “year.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused the leaker of being “professional stabbing” with the aim of blocking diplomacy.
In an interview with western media, Esmaeir Baghhai, a spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the country’s nuclear facilities were “devastly damaged.” “That’s certainly true because (they) are being attacked repeatedly,” he said. However, Baghaei said there was no more to add, as damage ratings are “a technical issue issue.”