A US intelligence report has cast doubt on the effectiveness of the recent strikes on Iran and thwarted Donald Trump’s plans to present them at the NATO summit as a foreign policy victory.
According to the Pentagon, Iran’s nuclear programme was only partially affected. Congress is demanding explanations, while Tehran has announced that it will continue its nuclear research. The leak of a preliminary report by the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) has cast doubt on Donald Trump’s claims of “victory” following strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
According to The New York Times, US strikes on targets in Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan did not destroy key components of Iran’s nuclear programme. According to intelligence reports, the programme has only been delayed by a few months, but has not been halted. The report notes that Iran moved some of its equipment and enriched uranium stocks in advance.
The strikes affected infrastructure but did not damage deep underground complexes. These assessments contradict Trump’s statements made immediately after the operation that Iran’s nuclear capabilities had been “completely destroyed.”
In response, Trump posted a video of the bombing of Iran accompanied by a cheerful song.
Trump blamed the press
The US president accused The NYT of spreading “fake news” and trying to undermine his foreign policy success at the NATO summit. US Special Representative for the Middle East Steve Witkoff called the leak “treason” and called for an investigation.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the published assessments were “not accurate” and “misleading to the public.” According to her, the American operation dealt a “devastating blow” to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, and work on the report is continuing.
This alleged “assessment” is completely inaccurate and was provided to The NYT by a low-level anonymous failure in the intelligence community, she said.
Donald Trump arrived at the NATO summit in The Hague on June 24 with the intention of strengthening his position as the leader who “stopped the nuclear threat.” He hoped to use the operation against Iran as a demonstration of US strength and resolve, the NYT notes in its article.
In addition, his administration actively promoted the idea that Trump was the main mediator in the ceasefire between Israel and Iran. However, intelligence assessments leaked to the press just hours after his arrival in The Hague, undermining the declared success.
The NYT described the president’s mood as “shattered” — Trump, according to the publication, was furious and eager to preserve his own narrative at all costs.
“When President Trump arrived in the Netherlands on Tuesday for the annual meeting of NATO allies, he was desperately trying to preserve the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran, ranting and raving so that history would remember him for bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities over the weekend and brokering a peace deal a few days later,” The NYT reports.
Democrats against Trump
After the intelligence leak, some American lawmakers, both Democrats and several Republicans, expressed serious concern and called for an urgent closed-door briefing to assess the intelligence.
Congress is demanding accountability. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer criticised the Trump administration for postponing a planned closed-door briefing on intelligence. He called it “outrageous” and stressed that senators have a right to full information about the operation.
Similar demands were made by Democratic Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, as well as members of the House of Representatives, including Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Jim Himes and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. According to them, Congress was not properly informed before the start of the military operation, and now lawmakers do not understand either the scale of the strike or its consequences.
Even some Republicans were outraged — for example, Senator Thomas Massie also expressed doubts that the White House had acted within its authority.
Iran is not abandoning its nuclear programme
Tehran, in turn, has confirmed that nuclear research will continue. According to President Masoud Pezeshkian, the country is ready for negotiations on the nuclear issue but does not intend to abandon technological development. He also stressed that the US strikes did not achieve their objectives and called them a violation of international law.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), inspectors are continuing to monitor sites in Iran, but access to some sites is difficult. In its official statement, the agency stressed that Iran’s three main nuclear sites were not affected by the Israeli strikes.
The country’s largest nuclear facility in Natanz suffered confirmed damage, with video and photos showing plumes of smoke rising above the complex. However, no increase in radiation levels has been recorded, the IAEA said.
Iran hangs three men for spying for Israel
Iranian authorities executed three men accused of spying for Mossad, Iranian media reported on Wednesday. The executed men were arrested while attempting to smuggle sabotage equipment disguised as alcohol.
On June 22, another man accused of spying for Israel was executed. He passed on secret information about Iran, including information about specific individuals.
Iran shuts down WhatsApp
WhatsApp is now blocked in Iran. An investigation has found that Mossad used the app to track targets, conduct espionage, and coordinate attacks. The same method was used to track down and kill Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
The American authorities, represented by the head of the US House of Representatives, demanded that members of Congress delete WhatsApp because the messenger is not sufficiently controlled by Washington and poses a security threat. According to Axios, the platform was accused of insufficient transparency in data protection, lack of local memory encryption and other risks. WhatsApp must be removed from all Capitol Hill employees’ work devices.
In 2024, Meta acknowledged that the app had been used by Israeli intelligence services, but at the time, it was attributed to WhatsApp users in various countries being hacked via Paragon Solutions spyware.
WhatsApp had already been blocked in Iran amid protests in 2022, but after the change of power in 2024, the ban was lifted in an attempt to improve relations with the United States.
US will strike Iran again if it resumes its nuclear programme
US President Donald Trump said that the US has achieved “tremendous success” in resolving the conflict in the Middle East. According to him, the US will not allow Iran to resume its nuclear programme, but is ready to build “some kind of relationship” with the Islamic Republic.
When asked by journalists whether the US would attack Iran again if the country decided to resume its nuclear programme, Donald Trump replied: “Of course.”
On the night of June 22, the US Air Force attacked three Iranian nuclear facilities: the Fordow uranium enrichment plant and facilities in Natanz and Isfahan.
