Did US strikes cripple Iran’s nuclear program? Intercepted intel sparks debate

Intercepted call of Iranian officials

After the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran during which the U.S. also carried out strikes on Tehran’s nuclear sites questions are now swirling about the extent of the damage inflicted on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

The Washington Post has obtained intercepted communications between senior Iranian officials, in which they describe recent U.S. military strikes on Iran’s nuclear program as less damaging than anticipated, according to four sources familiar with classified U.S. intelligence.

A source who spoke to Reuters, on condition of anonymity, confirmed that account but noted there were doubts about whether the Iranian officials were being truthful, describing the intercepts as unreliable indicators.

Let's take a closer look what the conversation has revealed? 

Analysts have agreed that the strikes involved significant U.S. military force, including 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs and Tomahawk cruise missiles, which caused extensive damage to nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.

However, the degree of destruction and how long Iran may take to rebuild remains under debate, amid reports suggesting that Iran had moved its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium prior to the strikes. The explosions reportedly sealed off entrances to two facilities without collapsing their underground sections.

When questioned about the intercepted communications, a Trump administration official stated the Iranians were “wrong because we’ve destroyed their metal conversion facility. We know that our weapons were delivered precisely where we wanted them to be delivered and they had the effect that we wanted.”

After The Washington Post reached out to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, a senior U.S. intelligence official commented, “one slice of signals intelligence on its own does not reflect the full intelligence picture.”

“A single phone call between unnamed Iranians is not the same as an intelligence assessment, which takes into account a body of evidence, with multiple sources and methods,” the official added.

The Post’s report is the latest to question the extent of damage to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. A leaked early assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency reportedly indicated that the strikes might have only delayed Iran’s nuclear program by a few months.

However, the Post report was dismissed by the White House.

“The notion that unnamed Iranian officials know what happened under hundreds of feet of rubble is nonsense. Their nuclear weapons program is over," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was quoted as saying by the Post.

In a Fox News interview aired Sunday, Trump reaffirmed his belief that the strikes had ended Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “It was obliterated like nobody’s ever seen before. And that meant the end to their nuclear ambitions, at least for a period of time," he told “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.