DUBAI/HAGUE: US President Donald Trump has said that the intelligence following the strikes on Iranian nuclear sites was inconclusive, but also suggested the damage could have been severe, Reuters reports.
“The intelligence was very inconclusive. The intelligence says we don’t know. It could’ve been very severe. That’s what the intelligence suggests,” Trump told reporters ahead of meeting with world leaders at a NATO summit.
“It was very severe. There was obliteration,” he added.
Asked if the United States would strike again if Iran rebuilt its nuclear enrichment programme, US President Donald Trump said: “Sure,” Reuters reports.
The Iran-Israel ceasefire is going well, US President Donald Trump said, adding that this was a great victory for everybody.
ASKED ABOUT NATO’S ARTICLE 5, TRUMP SAYS ‘WE’RE WITH THEM ALL THE WAY’
Asked about Article 5 of NATO’s charter, US President Donald Trump told reporters ahead of a meeting of world leaders at the military alliance’s summit: “We’re with them all the way.”
Trump had cast doubt over the United States’ commitment to defending its NATO partners, suggesting there was “numerous” definitions to the cornerstone of the alliance’s mutual defence pact.
IRAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES BILL TO SUSPEND COOPERATION WITH UN NUCLEAR WATCHDOG
Iran’s parliament approved a bill on Wednesday to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, Iran’s Nournews reported.
The country’s Supreme National Security Council now needs to give final approval to the move, it added.
On Monday, the national security committee of the parliament approved the general outline of the bill meant to fully suspend Tehran’s cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, citing committee spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei.
Rezaei said that according to the bill, installing surveillance cameras, allowing inspections, and submitting reports to the IAEA would be suspended as long as the security of nuclear facilities is not guaranteed.
IRAN’S NUCLEAR SITES NOT DESTROYED, INTELLIGENCE REPORT SAYS
US airstrikes did not destroy Iran’s nuclear capability and only set it back by a few months, according to a preliminary US intelligence assessment.
Trump said over the weekend that the US deployment of 30,000-pound bombs had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme. But that claim appeared to be contradicted by an initial assessment by one of his administration’s intelligence agencies, according to three people familiar with the matter.
One of the sources said Iran’s enriched uranium stocks had not been eliminated, and the country’s nuclear programme, much of which is buried deep underground, may have been set back only a month or two. Iran says its nuclear research is for civilian energy production.
The White House said the intelligence assessment was “flat out wrong.” According to the report, which was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the strikes sealed off the entrances to two of the facilities, but did not collapse underground buildings, said one of the people familiar with its findings.
Some centrifuges still remained intact after the attacks, the Washington Post said, citing an unnamed person familiar with the report.
Trump’s administration told the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that its weekend strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities had “degraded” Iran’s nuclear program, short of Trump’s earlier assertion that the facilities had been “obliterated.”
