The Pentagon said on Wednesday that US strikes 10 days ago had degraded Iran’s nuclear program by up to two years, refuting President Donald Trump’s claims about decades of degradation.
Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, offered the figure at a briefing to reporters, adding that the official estimate was “probably closer to two years.” Parnell did not provide evidence to back up his assessment.
“We have degraded their program by one to two years, at least intel assessments inside the Department (of Defense) assess that,” Parnell told a news briefing.
US military bombers carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22 using more than a dozen 30,000-pound (13,600-kg) bunker-buster bombs and more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles.
Over the weekend, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said that Iran could be producing enriched uranium in a few months, raising doubts about how effective U.S. strikes to destroy Tehran’s nuclear program have been.
CNN published a photo for Fordow nuclear site with cranes and excavators filling holes, which affirms Iran has not abandoned the site.
The Bulwark Website stressed that Trump and his administration officials lied to the public by claiming that the US strikes obliterated the Iranian nuclear sites.
The website also derided Trump for claiming that the Iranians neither keep stores of enriched uranium nor intend to build more enrichment sites in the future.
The Bulwark recalled how Trump mocked George Bush for his misrepresented evidence of WMD in Iraq, affirming that the former is repeating the same mistake.
It is worth noting that Iran responded to the US strike by firing missiles at the US military base in Qatar on .
Source: Al-Manar English Website
