The US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities have delayed the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme by up to two years, according to a new Pentagon assessment.
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told reporters on Wednesday that the latest intelligence continues to confirm the significant damage inflicted on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
“We have degraded their program by at least one to two years – intel assessments inside the [Defence] Department assess that.... I think we're probably closer to two years,” Parnell stated.
The operation, described by defence officials as the largest B-2 stealth bomber mission in US history, targeted key Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. The strike involved seven B-2 bombers, more than 125 aircraft, Tomahawk cruise missiles and 14 “bunker-buster” bombs.
“Our assessment of the battle damage around Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan remains unchanged – we believe, and certainly all the intelligence we’ve seen leads us to believe, that Iran’s facilities, especially those, have been completely obliterated,” said Parnell.
He emphasised that the attack not only destroyed uranium enrichment equipment but also “the components they would need to build a bomb”. Parnell added: “We believe that sending bombers from Missouri on a 37-hour mission, with not a single shot fired at them, dealt a very strong psychological blow to Iranian leadership.”
Parnell also suggested the operation may have affected not only Iran’s physical capabilities but also its intentions, saying: “We believe that Iran’s nuclear capability has been severely degraded – perhaps even their ambition to build a bomb."
“American action in Iran has set the conditions for global stability,” he continued, adding: “Nations all around the world know that when America is strong and speaks clearly, the world is a better and more stable place.”
This assessment would seem to contradict comments made by Rafael Grossi, director of the UN’s nuclear watchdog the IAEA.
Sharing his agency’s view earlier this week, Grossi said: “The capacities they have are there. They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that.
“Iran has the capacities there; industrial and technological capacities. So if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again.”
He added that the agency’s view was that US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites last week, including the use of “bunker busting” bombs, had caused “severe damage”, but emphasised that it was “not total damage”.
And, discussing whether the IAEA agreed with the US and Israel’s assessment that Iran was attempting to build a nuclear weapon, Grossi said: “We didn’t see a programme that was aiming in that direction, but at the same time, they were not answering very, very important questions that were pending.”
