Pentagon spokesman says US strikes set Iran’s nuclear program back by 1-2 years

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell on Wednesday said that according to assessments by the Department of Defense, Iran’s nuclear program has been set back by one to two years as a result of the U.S. bombing mission dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer. 

“We have degraded their program by one to two years, at least intel assessments inside the department assess that,” Parnell told journalists at the press briefing. 

Asked to clarify if that is the official assessment, Parnell replied, “I think we’re thinking probably closer to two years.” 

Parnell went on to explain that the Pentagon believes the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities weakened Iran’s “physical capability of constructing a bomb.” 

“It’s not just enriched uranium or centrifuges or things like that,” Parnell said. “We destroyed the components that they would need to build a bomb. And so, when you take the constellation of different things into consideration, yeah, we believe that Iran’s nuclear capability has been severely degraded – perhaps even their ambition to build a bomb.” 

Earlier in the briefing, Parnell had been asked if the U.S. had been able to “do a deeper assessment of the damage to the nuclear facilities.” He responded to that question by using the same language that President Donald Trump had used, saying the site had been “completely obliterated.” 

“Our assessment of the battle damage around Fordow, Nantaz, and Isfahan remains unchanged,” Parnell stated in response to that earlier question. “We believe, and certainly all of the intelligence that we’ve seen have led us to believe that Iran’s…those facilities especially, have been completely obliterated.” 

“Based on the success of the U.S. and Israeli military strikes, Iran is much further away today from a nuclear weapon than they were before the president took bold action to fulfill his promise to the American people,” Parnell said. “That promise was that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.” 

After Trump posted to Truth Social on June 21, saying the sites had been “completely and totally obliterated,” several U.S. and international mainstream media agencies ran stories based on a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment (DIA), which claimed that Operation Midnight Hammer may have only set back Iran’s nuclear program by months. 

The DIA’s assessment was preliminary and was characterized by its authors as “low confidence,” a term used to acknowledge that the report’s conclusions could be mistaken. The DIA assessment was released before analysts were able to fully review or assess the sites. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the DIA assessment a “preliminary assessment,” saying it was a “restrike report.” 

During a Pentagon news briefing, Secretary Hegseth explained, “It comes to us to give us an assessment whether a target would need to be restruck.” 

International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi said Iran’s facilities “suffered enormous damage.” 

Speaking to French broadcaster RFI, Grossi said, "I know there’s a lot of debate about the degree of annihilation, total destruction, and so on; what I can tell you, and I think everyone agrees on this, is that very considerable damage has been done.” 

Despite the hesitance of U.S. media to accept the assessment of the Trump administration regarding the Iranian nuclear sites, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Tuesday that the strikes on Fordow 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 an interview with CBS News on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, Mossad chief David Barnea told Netanyahu on Wednesday night that Israel inflicted “significant damage” on Iran during Operation Rising Lion during a visit by the prime minister to the Mossad headquarters. 

However, Barnea cautioned that Israel’s work in Iran is not finished. 

“Our mission is not over.,” Barnea told Netanyahu. “We are committed to continuing to act decisively to prevent a future threat from Iran to the State of Israel and to strive to make the most of the strategic opportunities before us.”