US President Donald Trump has pushed back against a recent CNN report that questioned the effectiveness of US airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The report, citing early intelligence assessments, claimed that the attacks did not destroy key parts of Iran’s nuclear program.

Calling the report “fake news”, Trump said the military operation was “ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY.” He also declared,

“THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!”

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to a NATO summit in the Netherlands, Trump expressed frustration over media coverage, especially from CNN. He said,

“And our B2 pilots made this all possible. They had a magnificent hit in the dark of night with no moon, no light, no nothing. They hit the target perfectly, wiped it out, and the press is very disrespectful. I saw CNN fake news going: Well, maybe it wasn’t a perfect hit. It was perfect. They said maybe it did destroy it, we agree, it did destroy it, but maybe it could have destroyed it more. No, No. Everyone hit, and it’s very disrespectful to those great geniuses and patriots that flew those planes through tremendous dangers.”

What the CNN report said

According to CNN, early assessments from US intelligence agencies suggest the strikes on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities may have only slowed Iran’s program by a few months. The report quotes two individuals familiar with the findings.

It further claimed that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile was not destroyed during the strikes and may have been moved to undisclosed locations. The centrifuges targeted by both US and Israeli forces were said to be mostly “intact.”

“So the (DIA) assessment is that the US set them back maybe a few months, tops,” CNN quoted one source as saying.

White House denies CNN’s claims

Karoline Leavitt, the White House Press Secretary, quickly dismissed the CNN report. She called it “flat-out wrong,” adding,

“Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”

Trump has maintained that the strikes completely destroyed Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. However, the CNN report raised doubts about that claim, stating that Iran's capability may not have been entirely wiped out.

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