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Trump, Israel Say US Airstrike ‘Destroyed’ Crucial Nuclear Facility and Set Iran Back Years
The Epoch Times ^ | 6/25/2025 | Jack Phillips Breaking News Reporter

Posted on 06/25/2025 9:18:05 AM PDT by Forgiven_Sinner

The White House refuted a leaked report that stated Iran’s nuclear capabilities were not totally destroyed in the U.S. airstrike.

President Donald Trump announced that Israeli officials believe the U.S. airstrike targeting an Iranian nuclear site over the weekend has made it “totally inoperable” and set the regime back for years.

“The devastating U.S. strike on Fordow destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility totally inoperable,” Trump told a NATO conference in the Netherlands, reading the statement from the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission

(Excerpt) Read more at theepochtimes.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Iran; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: iran; israel; trump; us
So, who are we going to believe? The US President and Israel or anonymous sources?
1 posted on 06/25/2025 9:18:05 AM PDT by Forgiven_Sinner
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To: Forgiven_Sinner

This shows a diagram the Israelis claimed is of Fordow:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-22/inside-iran-fordow-nuclear-bunker-bombed-by-us/105446636

The diagram is also shown superimposed on exterior pictures of the complex.


2 posted on 06/25/2025 9:20:25 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Forgiven_Sinner

There’s quite likely to be still operable centrifuges in Iran.

The Iranians only need about one percent of the number of centrifuges to convert 60% U-235 to bomb grade compared to the number needed to enrich .7% U-235 uranium to 60% U-235 uranium at industrial scale.


3 posted on 06/25/2025 9:23:29 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Forgiven_Sinner

“the strikes did not destroy much of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium as it was moved before the bombing, people familiar with the [DIA] assessment told the Times.”

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5367478-iran-nuclear-program-delayed-months-report/


4 posted on 06/25/2025 9:34:30 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Forgiven_Sinner

“China can now continue to purchase oil from Iran...”

Trump

Now why would Trump feel compelled to say that?


5 posted on 06/25/2025 9:36:40 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Forgiven_Sinner

So enraging that the people on MSNBC and CNN and others are celebrating that the enemy has gotten a propaganda boost.

I hate them more than I hate the Iranian leaders and Hamas.


6 posted on 06/25/2025 9:49:05 AM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: Forgiven_Sinner

The Left uses words as a weapon. If one outer perimeter fencepost was left standing, democrats and the media will howl that the facility wasn’t destroyed.


7 posted on 06/25/2025 10:16:14 AM PDT by fso301
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To: Forgiven_Sinner

It’s interesting to think about the effects of Israel killing their top nuclear scientists.

They will undoubtedly set up protective measures for their students who study and practice nuclear physics and engineering.

That will cause those students to gain enormous status within their society, particularly with the opposite sex.

That in turn will attract all sorts of pseudo-intellectual nincompoops to the field, who will waste a lot of time in their quest for more status and clout.


8 posted on 06/25/2025 10:21:42 AM PDT by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
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To: Forgiven_Sinner
The 900 pounds of 60% enriched U-235 was not destroyed. It's just inaccessible for a while, and can almost all be recovered in 12-18 months. The centrifuges to turn it into 90% enriched, and to make more 60% enriched, are Iran's real problem. Only a small proportion of those might be recoverable, and it took Iran 10-20 years to acquire the ones it had.

IMO it will take an all-out effort by China, at its own expense, to build and give Iran replacements for those centrifuges in less than 10 years, and probably at least two if they really try. Otherwise China would have to give Iran the centrifuges it is using to build its own nuclear weapons, which won't happen.

Iran already knows how to build nuclear weapons, and almost certainly had already built at least 5-10, but just hadn't tested them. I expect most of those underwent rapid unscheduled disassembly during the bombings. Keep in mind that Iran got complete nuclear weapons designs from North Korea, and can get those again if needed.

9 posted on 06/25/2025 10:32:31 AM PDT by Thud
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To: Forgiven_Sinner

Don’t set them back years. As Rush said, bomb them forward to the Stone Age.


10 posted on 06/25/2025 10:59:49 AM PDT by DPMD
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To: Brian Griffin

Pure guesswork here: So that China can approach bankruptcy buying all the oil, at higher prices due to the sanctions, that the rest of the world won’t be spending their money on.

And on a positive note, it’s an olive branch of sorts to China from or negotiator.

Again, just a WAG, indicating neither approval nor disapproval.


11 posted on 06/25/2025 11:02:13 AM PDT by DPMD
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To: Forgiven_Sinner

To rebuild, Iran will have to receive lots of money from its oil revenues - too bad about all the embargoes ...


12 posted on 06/25/2025 11:19:48 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: Forgiven_Sinner
"So, who are we going to believe? The US President and Israel or anonymous sources?"

How about Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman?

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei on Wednesday confirmed the country’s nuclear facilities had been “badly damaged” in American strikes over the weekend...Speaking to Al Jazeera, Baghaei refused to go into detail but conceded the Sunday strikes by American B-2 bombers using bunker-buster bombs had been significant.

“Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that’s for sure,” he said.

Also, the Israel Atomic Energy Commission...

The White House published on Wednesday a statement from the Israel Atomic Energy Commission that found that the underground Fordo nuclear site was “inoperable” as a result of the strikes. The Prime Minister’s Office shared the same statement with Israeli reporters just minutes later.

“The devastating US strike on Fordo destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable,” the statement read. “We assess that the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran’s military nuclear program, have set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-says-nuclear-sites-badly-damaged-amid-conflicting-reports-on-strikes-success/

 

Also: Trump says Israel sent agents into Iran’s Fordo nuclear site, saw ‘total obliteration’

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that Israel sent agents to Iran’s Fordo nuclear site after US struck it earlier this week, insisting the attack was a success and warning that he was willing to strike again if Iran tried to revive its enrichment program.

“You know they have guys that go in there after the hit, and they said it was total obliteration,” Trump told reporters at the NATO summit in The Hague, speaking about the bombing of Fordo.

“Israel is doing a report on it now, I understand, and I was told that they said it was total obliteration. I believe it was total obliteration, and I believe they didn’t have a chance to get anything out because we acted fast.”

At this point, with what is known...not just in the last few days, but since the summer of 2015, I'd trust Trump to be far more accurate than some unnamed source in the IC who leaked a low confidence initial assesment to CNN with the express intent to attack Trump's and our military's victorious strike. They'll do anything to try and discredit Trump.

13 posted on 06/25/2025 11:36:48 AM PDT by rxsid (HOW CAN A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN'S STATUS BE "GOVERNED" BY GREAT BRITAIN? - Leo Donofrio (2009))
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To: Forgiven_Sinner

Given the history of the last ten years, I see no reason to trust or believe anything coming from the “US Intelligence community” when it applies in any way to the President, or his actions or policies. The fact that this first draft was labeled “low confidence” is about the only thing I would take at face value,


14 posted on 06/25/2025 12:16:54 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative. )
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BREAKING: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says new intelligence report suggests Iran's nuclear facilities "have been destroyed."

"If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities entirely."— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 25, 2025

....

.@PressSec responds to CNN's Fake News story about @POTUS' highly successful strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities: "This story has now been debunked — widely — by not just the United States, but also Iran and Israel as well." pic.twitter.com/E81q8w8KoC— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 25, 2025

...

LEAVITT — Intel leak is being investigated:

"I understand the FBI and the Department of Justice are already on this, as they should be."

Arrest and prosecute! pic.twitter.com/dDFibPa80H— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) June 25, 2025


15 posted on 06/25/2025 12:38:39 PM PDT by rxsid (HOW CAN A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN'S STATUS BE "GOVERNED" BY GREAT BRITAIN? - Leo Donofrio (2009))
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