White House Denies Leaked Intelligence Report on Iran Nuclear Site Strikes

The White House has rebuffed an intelligence assessment suggesting that the recent US airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities did not completely destroy the sites, instead downplaying the report as "fake news" leaked by a "low-level loser" to undermine President Donald Trump. The preliminary analysis, produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, reportedly found that the strikes only set back Iran's enrichment program by a few months, but the White House dismissed it as an attempt to discredit Trump and the fighter pilots involved in the mission.

Key Takeaways:

• The Defense Intelligence Agency produced a preliminary analysis suggesting that the US airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities did not completely destroy the sites.
• The report found that the strikes only set back Iran's enrichment program by a few months, but the White House rejected this assessment as "flat-out wrong".
• White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt publicly accused CNN of "fake news" for revealing the report, claiming it was leaked by an anonymous, low-level intelligence official.
• The White House emphasized that the bombing of Iran's nuclear sites was a perfectly executed mission, with 14 30,000-pound bombs being dropped on the targets, resulting in "total obliteration".
• Iran has stated that its nuclear program will resume without interruption, with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran saying it will restart enrichment and that the program will not stop.
• The leaked preliminary assessment is likely to be raised at a classified briefing by Democrats on Thursday, which may include additional information on Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium.
• The report also suggests that Iran had moved much of its stockpile of enriched uranium to secret nuclear sites before the strikes.

Statistics:

• 14 30,000-pound bombs were dropped on Iran's nuclear facilities during the US airstrikes.
• Iran's nuclear program has been set back by only a few months, according to the rejected intelligence assessment.
• Iran has a stockpile of enriched uranium, although the exact amount is not specified in the report.
• The strikes were carried out using deception and decoys, with the use of 30,000-pound "bunker bombs" for the first time in US military history.
• The White House referred to the leaked report as "fake news" and "top secret" classified information.

Sources:

• Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) (https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1937599769544982577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
• The Daily Beast (https://www.thedailybeast.com/karoline-leavitt-melts-down-at-loser-for-iran-failure-leak/)