Uranium Acquisition Unsuccessful Before U.S. Airstrike on Iranian Site
The fight for storyline supremacy continues: Was the US completely able to obliterate Iran's nuclear aspirations, or merely disrupted its nuclear program? The White House is attempting to dispel the latter notion.
The White House has brushed off rumors that Iran might have relocated its enriched uranium before the US attacks on its nuclear facilities. "Let me be clear - we had no inkling that any enriched uranium was on the move before the blitz," stated Karoline Leavitt, Trump's spokesperson, to Fox News. Such reports are pure hogwash.
Politics Trump tramples CNN report: "Lousy network" "What's buried beneath the rubble is the result of those successful attacks last weekend," she added. B-2 stealth bombers from the US pummeled two Iranian nuclear facilities with GBU-57 bunker-busting bombs, while a submarine struck against a third facility with Tomahawk cruise missiles. Trump heralded the attacks as a "killer military victory."
Media outlets reported on Tuesday, citing a preliminary US intelligence report, that the attacks delayed Iran's nuclear program by a few months at best. Only the entrances to some facilities were blocked, without any underground buildings being decimated.
No access for IAEA
But Trump rhetorically repeated on Wednesday, at the NATO summit in The Hague, that Iran's nuclear facilities were "fully annihilated." He also announced that his defense minister, Pete Hegseth, will host a press conference today at 8 a.m. local time (2 p.m. CEST) to "exonerate the valor of our admirable American military personnel."
Politics Legal expert: "It's a living system" Pre-emptive strikes against Iran - is international law crumbling? Donald Trump's intelligence chiefs also dashed pundits' conjectures about the state of Iran's nuclear facilities. CIA Director John Ratcliffe relayed that a "historically reliable" source unveiled that "multiple critical Iranian nuclear complexes have been annihilated and will take years to rebuild."
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, added his two cents to the mix. The IAEA has been barred from inspecting uranium stocks following the hostilities, Grossi revealed on French television. "I'm not implying that it's been squirreled away or hidden," he clarified, referring to Iran's enriched uranium.
Ceasefire since Tuesday
According to the UN nuclear watchdog, Iran possesses around 408 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent. The IAEA's last inspection of these reserves was conducted on June 10 - three days prior to the initiation of Israeli attacks. When fortified to 90 percent, this material would provide enough bomb-grade uranium for at least nine nuclear warheads.
Politics "A drastic turn of events" A former bomber pilot weighs in on the Iran mission's complexity Israel launched a "preemptive" significant assault on Iran on June 13, citing Iran's advanced nuclear and missile programs. Iran counterattacked Israel with colossal waves of aggression.
The US jumped into the Israeli-Iranian dispute on Sunday night, bombing Iran's Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities. Iran then attacked the US airbase in Qatar, Al-Udeid, on Monday. After twelve days of hostilities, a ceasefire between Israel and Iran came into force on Tuesday.
Sources: ntv.de, jog/AFP
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