US strikes hold back Iranian nuclear programme by two years

US intelligence assessments have revealed that strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities have delayed Tehran’s atomic programme by up to two years, according to France 24 via Reuters on July 2nd.

Pentagon issued a statement on July 2nd that the strikes which targeted Iran 10 days ago had set Iran’s nuclear programme potentially back by two years, indicating that the US military operation most likely fulfilled its objective despite a far more cautious initial evaluation that had come to surface.

Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, revealed the figures at a briefing with reporters, adding that the official estimate was “probably closer to two years.” Parnell did not provide any sort of evidence backing this statement.

‘’We have degraded their programme by one to two years, at least intel assessments inside the Department (of Defence) assess that”, Parnell said during a news briefing.

The US military bombers had launched strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22nd using more than 12 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs and over 24 Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles, which caused the delay for nuclear production in Iran.

The US intelligence concerning the impact of the US strikes are being closely observed, after US President Donald Trump stated almost immediately after they happened, that Iran’s programme had been destroyed – his rhetoric mirrored Parnell’s at the July 2nd briefing. These conclusions would typically take the US intelligence community weeks or longer to determine.

“All of the intelligence that we’ve seen (has) led us to believe that Iran’s – those facilities especially, have been completely obliterated’’, Parnell said.

The head of UN nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, stated that Iran could be making enriched uranium in a few months, prompting reservations about the extent to which US strikes were effective in obliterating Iran’s nuclear programme.

Several experts, however, stated that Iran could most likely have moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of the Fordow site before the attacks and could be masking it.

However, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, stated he was not aware of intelligence, indicating Iran had moved its highly enriched uranium to protect it from US attacks.

A preliminary assessment from the Defence Intelligence Agency indicates that the strikes may have set back Iran’s nuclear programme by months. However, Trump administration officials said that assessment had been overtaken by intelligence, which presented Iran’s nuclear programme as extremely damaged by these attacks.

The Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the strikes on the Fordow nuclear site caused severe damage.

‘’No one exactly knows what transpired in Fordow. That being said, what we know so far is that the facilities have been seriously and heavily damaged.’’ Araqchi’s said during the interview aired by CBS News on July 1st.

France 24 via Reuters, CBS News