Politics Pentagon: Iran's nuclear program set back two years
According to an assessment by the Pentagon, the US airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities have set back the country's nuclear program by around two years. "These facilities in particular have been completely destroyed," said a spokesman for the Department of Defense in Washington on Wednesday (local time), referring to intelligence reports.
03.07.2025, 08:21
SDA
The USA had supported Israel's attacks against the Iranian nuclear program by bombing the most important nuclear facilities. On June 22 (local time), US stealth bombers dropped a total of 14 GBU-57 bunker-busting bombs on Iranian facilities in Fordo, Natan and Isfahan in a mission codenamed "Midnight Hammer".
Completely destroyed or just set back by months?
Since the attacks, the extent of the damage to Iran's nuclear facilities has been discussed with the question of how quickly Tehran can rebuild the destroyed facilities.
US President Donald Trump is talking about the total destruction of the facilities. An initial assessment by the military intelligence agency DIA, however, saw the Iranian nuclear program set back by only a few months.
The top UN nuclear watchdog also believes that Iran is in a position to rebuild its nuclear program after the attacks by Israel and the USA. Despite the attacks on the nuclear facilities, it would be possible to put several centrifuge plants for the enrichment of uranium into operation "within a few months", said Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the end of June.
