President Donald Trump’s administration released “new intelligence” on Wednesday claiming Iran’s nuclear program has been set back “years.”
The new information comes after a leaked early assessment suggested military strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend only set the country’s nuclear program back by mere months.
The preliminary assessment, which was first reported by CNN, contradicted Trump’s claims that the U.S. “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the assessment “flat-out wrong” in a statement to CNN.
“The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program,” Leavitt said.
CNN’s story was quickly matched by several other reputable news outlets and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth revealed Wednesday the intelligence assessment did exist.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard have since announced what they claim is new information revealing further damage to Iran’s nuclear program.
“CIA can confirm that a body of credible intelligence indicates Iran’s Nuclear Program has been severely damaged by the recent, targeted strikes,” Ratcliffe said in a statement Wednesday.
He continued: “This includes new intelligence from a historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years.”
Gabbard also took to X to share the “new intelligence,” which she says confirms what Trump “has stated numerous times: Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed. If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities (Natanz, Fordow, Esfahan) entirely, which would likely take years to do.”
The national intelligence director then criticized what she called the “propaganda media,” claiming it “selectively release[d] portions of illegally leaked classified intelligence assessments (intentionally leaving out the fact that the assessment was written with ‘low confidence’).”
Following the leak, the Trump administration has planned to limit the sharing of classified intelligence with Congress, Axios reported, citing four unnamed sources.
The move comes as several top national security officials are set to brief senators on classified materials Thursday, according to The Washington Post.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be at the meeting, the Post reported, citing Trump officials. Gabbard will not be in attendance.
The Post previously reported that Gabbard and Hegseth are not part of a small group of officials that Trump has turned to as key advisers on the Israel-Iran conflict, which spokespeople for the Cabinet members have denied. The publication cited current and former U.S. officials as well as people close to the Trump administration in its reporting.
