Key Points and Summary – One month after “Operation Midnight Hammer,” a fierce war of words continues over the actual success of the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
-While President Trump insists the sites were “obliterated,” a claim he repeated this week while threatening new attacks, media reports citing intelligence assessments suggest a more limited outcome. Iran’s own Foreign Minister admitted the facilities were “seriously damaged” but vowed enrichment would not stop.
-This ongoing battle of narratives leaves the true status of Iran’s nuclear program in a dangerous state of uncertainty, fueling speculation about a potential second round of strikes.
America Could Attack Iran Again
It’s been exactly one month since the U.S. attacked Iran’s nuclear sites on June 22. And since then, President Donald Trump — while continually touting what a success the attack was – has been regularly threatening to attack Iran again, if necessary.
The most recent threat from the president came after Fox News’ Bret Baier interviewed Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi this week, in which the minister vowed that the country would not give up enrichment.
“We cannot give up enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” Araghchi said in the Fox interview. “Our enrichment is so dear to us.”
Iran has continued to maintain all along that its nuclear program is for energy purposes only and is not meant to build nuclear weapons.
Whether Iran continues to have the right to enrich uranium is a point of contention in the current negotiations Iran is holding with European powers this week. The U.S. is not part of those talks, although they have agreed to push for the return of U.N. sanctions, which were lifted in the 2015 nuclear deal, if Iran does not agree to play ball.
Also in the Fox interview, Araghchi revealed how much damage was caused by the U.S. strikes.
“Our facilities have been damaged – seriously damaged,” Araghchi said in the Baier interview. “The extent of which is now under evaluation by our atomic energy organization… But as far as I know, they are seriously damaged.”
Trump Responds
“Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, on the Iran Nuclear Sites: ‘Damages are very severe, they are destroyed,’ Trump said in a Truth Social post this week, as cited by Newsweek. “Of course they are, just like I said, and we will do it again, if necessary!”
In the usual Trump fashion, the president went on to attack other news networks.
“Fake News CNN should immediately fire their phony ‘reporter’ and apologize to me and the great pilots who ‘OBLITERATED’ Iran’s nuclear sites. CNN is a major ratings loser, as is MSDNC!”
To Obliterate or Not to Obliterate
Trump’s shot at the other networks was almost certainly a reference to a CNN report, two days after the Iran attack, which cited an early internal assessment that the Iran strikes did not destroy the nuclear sites.
The report did not definitively claim that the sites were not destroyed, but rather cited an early-stage government assessment, in which the sourcing was “described by seven people briefed on it.” CNN did not make up this report, or the information in it.
The CNN report itself stated that “the White House acknowledged the existence of the assessment but said they disagreed with it,” while White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt went on to describe the responsible leaker or leakers as “an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community.”
NBC News, meanwhile, reported on July 17 that, according to “a recent U.S. assessment of the destruction caused by the military operation,” only one of the three nuclear sites was “mostly destroyed,” while the other two were “not as badly damaged.”
This one cited “five current and former U.S. officials familiar with the assessment.” The NBC report also stated that U.S. Central Command had come up with another, wider plan of attack for Iran, which would have gone on for “several weeks,” rather than a single night, but that Trump opted against that plan and for the one single-night attack that was carried out.
A White House spokesperson responded to the NBC story with “as the President has said and experts have verified, Operation Midnight Hammer totally obliterated Iran’s nuclear capabilities.”
The truth is, determining the degree to which the sites have been damaged is an inexact science, and the government reports, and the news reports about them, have made that clear throughout.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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