As the dust settles on Iranian sites hit by U.S. bombs and missiles over the weekend, there's growing tension over how much the military operation set back Tehran's nuclear program.

The Trump administration is blasting assessments from U.S. intelligence agencies about the damage inflicted by strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, while apparently endorsing an Israeli assessment.

And Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Wednesday that “new intelligence” confirms “Iran's nuclear facilities have been destroyed.”

At the center of the discourse are Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) findings, widely reported Tuesday, that called into question statements made by top Trump administration officials describing Iran’s nuclear facilities as “obliterated.”

The preliminary classified report assessed the attacks had set Iran’s nuclear program back several months, rather than the years or even decades Trump has claimed.

The DIA found the bombing did not destroy the main components of Iran’s nuclear program, failing to collapse the underground buildings of the Fordow Fuel Enrichment plant and the Natanz Enrichment Complex.

What’s more, the assessment found the strikes likely did not destroy much of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, as it was moved before the bombing.

Instead, the 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs dropped on Fordow and Natanz — as well as armaments that struck at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site — significantly damaged aboveground structures while leaving the sites’ centrifuges still “intact,” the assessment said.

President Trump disputed a range of the report’s findings Wednesday, calling them incomplete and saying officials were merely guessing.

“They didn’t see it. All they can do is take a guess,” Trump said while........

© The Hill