By
June 22, 2025
Following a high-profile US attack on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, contradictory statements from American officials have raised questions about the true outcome of the operation.
While the political leadership in Washington has declared the strikes a sweeping success, the military’s more cautious tone suggests otherwise.
President Donald Trump quickly framed the attack as a total strategic victory, proclaiming that Iran’s nuclear sites had been “completely and totally obliterated.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reinforced that message in a Pentagon briefing, stating that “Iran’s nuclear facilities have been ‘obliterated'” and later adding that the strikes had “devastated the Iranian nuclear program.”
He noted that the operation had not targeted Iranian civilians or troops and claimed the mission was about “neutralizing threats” rather than regime change. “Trump seeks peace, and Iran should take that path,” Hegseth insisted.
However, this confident political narrative was tempered by military restraint. General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered a more measured assessment.
He confirmed that the three sites, Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, sustained “severe damage and massive destruction,” but carefully noted it was “too soon to say whether Iran still retains some nuclear capability.”
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