Satellite Images Reveal Failure of U.S. Strike on Iran's Nuclear Facilities

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The U.S. government claimed that its Midnight Godam Operation on Sunday, June 22, 2025, successfully destroyed Iran’s nuclear facilities located in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.

However, analysis of commercial satellite imagery suggests otherwise. Nuclear experts reported no significant damage to the targeted facilities, based on images provided by Maxar Technologies.

"At the end of the day there are some really important things that haven't been hit," said Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey who tracks Iran's nuclear infrastructure. "If this ends here, it's a really incomplete strike," he told NPR on Sunday, June 22, 2025.

Lewis added that the strikes appeared to have spared Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium. "At present, Iran still has that material, and we still don't know where it is," he said.

This assessment contrasts sharply with the statements from President Donald Trump and other top U.S. officials.

“Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday morning, June 23, 2025.

General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, echoed Trump’s claim during a press briefing at the Pentagon on June 22. "Initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction," he said.

David Albright, President of the Institute for Science and International Security, who has long observed Iran’s nuclear program, offered a more cautious view.

He noted unusual activity at the Fordow and Isfahan sites prior to the attack, particularly the presence of trucks near underground uranium storage areas on Thursday, June 19, 2025.

This has led to speculation that Iran may have relocated its enriched uranium in anticipation of the attack. “It’s still a mystery exactly what was in those trucks. But any highly enriched uranium at Fordow was likely gone before the attack,” Albright told The Free Press on Monday, June 23, 2025.

The absence of significant structural damage could also explain why there have been no reports of nuclear radiation at any of the sites. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which monitors Iran’s nuclear facilities, confirmed no radiation had been detected.

Manan Raeisi, a member of Iran’s parliament representing Qom—the province where Fordow is located—also dismissed U.S. claims. “Preliminary inspections at the site of the attack confirmed no nuclear radiation,” he said.

“Based on verified information, I can say that contrary to the false claims of the American president, the Fordow facility did not suffer significant damage. Most of its impact was only on the surface and easily repairable,” Raeisi told Al Mayadeen on Monday, June 23, 2025.

He criticized Trump’s statement as misleading. “Trump’s fabricated claim about Fordow’s destruction only highlights how ineffective the strikes truly were, so superficial that not a single martyr has been reported at the site,” he said.

The U.S. attack came amid ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, which began when Israel bombed multiple military installations and buildings in Iran on June 13, 2025.

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