Trump's top intelligence chiefs insist: Iran's nuclear facilities were destroyed

The White House again took aim at reports casting doubt on the scope of recent U.S. strikes against the Iranian nuclear program.

This Wednesday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard backed Washington's official version in unison, citing new intelligence information they say shows that airstrikes ordered over the weekend by President Donald Trump destroyed several of Tehran's key nuclear facilities.

In their statements, the Trump administration's top intelligence chiefs asserted that the bombings devastatingly impacted the Iranian regime's nuclear capabilities, directly disproving reports published by outlets such as CNN and The New York Times, which on Tuesday leaked a preliminary assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Pentagon's intelligence arm, suggesting that Iran's nuclear program would only have been delayed for a few months and that its main components, namely enriched uranium and centrifuges, were not significantly impacted.

"New intelligence confirms what @POTUS has stated numerous times: Iran's nuclear facilities have been destroyed," Gabbard wrote in 'X.'

"The propaganda media has deployed their usual tactic: selectively release portions of illegally leaked classified intelligence assessments (intentionally leaving out the fact that the assessment was written with "low confidence") to try to undermine President Trump’s decisive leadership and the brave servicemen and women who flawlessly executed a truly historic mission to keep the American people safe and secure," the Director of National Intelligence added.

Subsequently, Ratcliffe posted an image of his statement on social media about two hours later.

"A body of credible intelligence indicates Iran’s nuclear program has been severely damaged" in the attack ordered over the weekend, Ratcliffe said.

"This includes new intelligence from a historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years," the CIA chief added.

Ratcliffe also said that the CIA continues to gather information "from reliable sources" on the matter.

This White House offensive against the DIA leak comes after several national media outlets published a classified report from the Pentagon's intelligence arm, which directly questioned President Trump's claims about the success of the strike against Iran.

However, multiple reports on the classified report glossed over the fact that the DIA itself admitted that its conclusions about the attack on Iranian nuclear facilities were preliminary and of "low confidence."

According to that document, initially broadcast by the CNN network, the U.S. strikes would not have destroyed Iran's enriched uranium stockpile or its centrifuges, and the nuclear program would have suffered only a setback that was to take a few months to recover.

Nevertheless, President Trump promised Wednesday that on Thursday morning his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, would hold a "Major News Conference "irrefutable" evidence of the operation's success.