Trump Denies CNN Report Claiming Iran Nuclear Site Remains Intact

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - United States President, Donald Trump, condemned CNN on Tuesday, accusing the network of spreading false information following its report on the early assessment of U.S. intelligence. As reported by Anadolu, the U.S. intelligence referred to Iran's nuclear program not being destroyed due to the weekend's attack.

"FAKE NEWS CNN, TOGETHER WITH THE FAILING NEW YORK TIMES, HAVE TEAMED UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY. THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED! BOTH THE TIMES AND CNN ARE GETTING SLAMMED BY THE PUBLIC!" he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

CNN's report cited the initial assessment of U.S. intelligence showing that the U.S. attack on three Iranian nuclear facilities failed to destroy the main components of the country's nuclear program and likely only delayed it for a few months.

Prior to this, Trump delivered a statement conveyed by his Middle East special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Fox News.

"We put 12 bunker buster bombs on Fordo. There’s no doubt that it breached the canopy. There’s no doubt that it was well within reach of the depth that these bunker buster bombs go to, and there’s no doubt that it was obliterated. So the reporting out there that in some way suggests that we did not achieve the objective is just completely preposterous!" said Witkoff, referring to Iran's underground Fordow nuclear facility.

In support of this position, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told CNN that "our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons," and further emphasized that "the impact of these bombs is buried beneath the rubble in Iran."

He added that any claims diminishing the effectiveness of the attack are an effort to "undermine the president and the successful mission."

Despite official statements, CNN's report cited sources indicating that Iran's enriched uranium stockpile was not destroyed, while other sources noted that the centrifuges used for uranium enrichment mostly remained "intact."

The ceasefire between Israel and Iran came into effect on Tuesday at 04:00 GMT, ending a 12-day war.

Both countries pledged not to violate the ceasefire unless provoked, although there were previous allegations of violations.

However, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered a heavy strike against Tehran, accusing Iran of violating the ceasefire, which he denied, with a warning of a strong response to any new attacks.

Trump said he does not believe the ceasefire was violated but expressed frustration with Israel.

"I'm not happy with Israel. When I say, ‘OK, now you have 12 hours,’ you don't go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them. So I'm not happy with them. I'm not happy with Iran either," he said, according to CNN.

"But I'm really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning because of one rocket that didn't land, that was shot, perhaps by mistake, that didn't land. I'm not happy about that."

"We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the (expletive deleted) they're doing. Do you understand that?" he added.

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