Trump: Israel sent agents to Iran’s Fordow nuclear site after attack — 'it was total obliteration'

Three days after the U.S. Air Force struck three of Iran’s nuclear sites, the discussion over the extent of the damage continues unabated.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump’s particular ire was directed at reports in the U.S. media that quoted a preliminary intelligence assessment by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), claiming the nuclear program was only set back by several months.

“They’re trying to make this unbelievable victory into something less. Now, even they admit that [Fordow] was hit very hard… it was hit brutally and it knocked it out,” Trump asserted while speaking to reporters at the NATO summit on Wednesday.

.@POTUS: "This was an unbelievable hit by genius pilots and genius people in the military, and they're not being given credit for it because we have scum... CNN is scum. MSDNC is scum. The New York Times is scum." pic.twitter.com/IrRhwgqQaK

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 25, 2025

“This was an unbelievable hit by genius pilots and genius people in the military, and they're not being given credit for it because we have scum that’s in this group… CNN is scum. MSDNC is scum. The New York Times is scum. They’re bad people, they’re sick,” the president charged.

In another comment, he apparently revealed a covert Israeli operation to determine the extent of the damage at the underground facility at Fordow, the most fortified of Iran’s nuclear sites that was hit with 14 bunker-buster bombs.

“Israel is doing a report on it now, I understand, and I was told that they said it was total obliteration. You know they have guys that go in there, after the hit, and they said it was total obliteration,” he said.

.@POTUS: "We hear it was obliteration... I believe they didn't have a chance to get anything out because we acted fast."@SecDef: "They landed precisely where they were supposed to. It was a flawless mission... it was devastation underneath Fordow." pic.twitter.com/29AT9hj8w7

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 25, 2025

There was no immediate comment on the statement by any official Israeli source.

Trump also denied reports that Iran managed to move part of the enriched uranium prior to the strike: “I believe they didn't have a chance to get anything out because we acted fast,” he said.

In addition to Fordow, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the “conversion facility” in Isfahan is “gone.”

“Everything underneath that mountain is in bad shape,” Rubio insisted.

“Any assessment that tells you it was something otherwise is speculating with other motives,” noted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, adding that the intelligence report had “low confidence.”

"This is a preliminary, low confidence report & will continue to be refined as additional intelligence becomes available. We are working with the appropriate authorities to investigate the unauthorized disclosure of classified information."-Senior DIA official

CNN is Fake News! https://t.co/U1G0AH7FxH

— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellATSD) June 25, 2025

When asked whether he would order more strikes against Iran if it started to rebuild its uranium enrichment facilities, Trump replied, “Sure.”

Israel's IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir also assessed that Iran’s nuclear program had been seriously damaged. “We have set Iran’s nuclear project back by years, and the same goes for its missile program,” he said Tuesday.

A senior Israeli official speaking with the Times of Israel confirmed Israel’s preliminary assessment is that the nuclear program was not completely destroyed but stressed that more detailed analysis will take several more weeks.

Even if part of Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium wasn't destroyed, Israel “knows exactly” where they are, an Israeli security source told Saudi news outlet al-Hadath.

He added that “most of the enriched uranium is buried under the rubble in Iran.”

The Israeli Air Force has since conducted strikes on the access roads to Fordow to prevent regime officials from reaching the site.

We saw the reports on the leaked DIA report, and have a few comments.  The aspects raised are addressing a narrow question, albeit an important one, namely how quickly could Iran make a nuclear weapon in a worst case assessment post-attack.  With residual stocks of 60 percent and…

— David Albright (@DAVIDHALBRIGHT1) June 24, 2025

The DIA report only addressed “a narrow question, albeit an important one, namely how quickly could Iran make a nuclear weapon in a worst case assessment post-attack,” explained nuclear weapons expert David Albright, President of the Institute for Science and International Security.

“With residual stocks of 60 percent and hidden centrifuges, Iran retains an ability to breakout and produce weapon-grade uranium,” he wrote on 𝕏.

However, “Considering the damage to Iran's three known enrichment facilities, the destruction of Iran's centrifuge manufacturing capabilities, its uranium conversion facility, uranium metal production plant, and other facilities involved in its nuclear weaponization process, reconstituting these capabilities will take significant time, investment, and energy,” he noted.

The destruction of some 20,000 centrifuges alone creates “a major bottleneck in any reconstitution effort,” Albright wrote.

“Moreover, there has been considerable damage to Iran’s ability to build the nuclear weapon itself,” and Iran is now “under intense scrutiny and observation from the United States and Israel. Any major effort to reconstitute its capabilities may well be met with further strikes.”

Albright concluded: “More analysis and information will be required to completely ascertain the true state of Iran's enrichment and other nuclear capabilities. But to reduce what has happened to a worst case assessment, while it has value, is misleading to say the least.”