Trump grapples for upper hand in debate over damage caused by U.S. strikes on Iran

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday rejected an early intelligence assessment that U.S. strikes inflicted only a marginal setback on Iran's nuclear program, insisting that his country's spies did not have the full picture and defending his own swift conclusion that American bombs and missiles delivered a crushing blow.

“This was a devastating attack, and it knocked them for a loop,” Trump said as his administration scrambled to support his claims, , that Iranian nuclear facilities were “completely and fully obliterated.”

The issue dominated Trump's attendance at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's annual summit in the Netherlands, which was otherwise focused on European security. The White House highlighted an Israeli statement that Iran's nuclear efforts were delayed by years, much longer than the few months determined by American intelligence. A spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry also said the facilities has suffered significant damage.

But those comments fell short of Trump's hyperbole and did little to suggest that U.S. strikes had eliminated the threat of Iran developing a nuclear weapon.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in , limited his own assessment to saying Iran was “much further away from a nuclear weapon today than they were before the president took this bold action.”

Drawing reliable conclusions about the impact of the U.S. strikes remains difficult, especially only days after they took place. That makes the issue a breeding ground for competing claims that could determine how American voters view Trump’s risky decision to join Israel’s attacks on Iran.

Jeffrey Lewis, a professor of nonproliferation at the Middlebury Institute, said Trump was trying to have it both ways.

“If it’s too early to know, why is Trump saying it’s obliterated?” he said. “Either it’s too early to know, or you know.”

Also at stake are , where diplomatic efforts could be required to prevent Iran from rebuilding its nuclear program.

Trump said , resuming a dialogue that was interrupted by nearly two weeks of war, even as he suggested that negotiations were no longer necessary.

“I don’t care if I have an agreement or not," Trump said, because Iran was too badly damaged to even consider rebuilding its program. “They’re not going to be doing it anyway. They’ve had it.”

Iran maintains that its atomic ambitions are for peaceful purposes, while U.S. and Israeli leaders have described the country’s nuclear program as the precursor to obtaining a nuclear weapon.

The episode has triggered some of Trump’s longstanding vendettas against leaks and intelligence officials, whom he has often viewed as a part of a “deep state” dedicated to undermining his agenda. He also lashed out at media outlets that reported on the classified assessment, describing them as “scum” and “disgusting.”

Trump said questioning the effectiveness of the strikes was disrespectful to the military, to attack the nuclear facilities with weapons designed to penetrate deep underground.

The reports, he said, were “very unfair to the pilots, who risked their lives for our country.”

He described the American attack as a definitive conclusion to what he's dubbed “the 12-day war,” much like the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki heralded the end of World War II.

“That ended that war,” he said. “This ended the war.”

During a news conference, Trump briefly ceded the stage to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who lashed out at the media.

“There’s a reason the president calls out the fake news for what it is,” he said. Hegseth said reporters were using a leaked intelligence assessment to politically damage Trump.

“They want to spin it to try to make him look bad,” he said.

Trump pointed to satellite photos that showed the area around the nuclear facilities was “burned black,” and he said that underground tunnels where uranium was enriched and stored were “all collapsed.” He also suggested that Israel had sources on the ground in Iran, saying “they have guys that go in there after the hit” to evaluate the damage.

The bombing “rendered the enrichment facility inoperable," according to a statement distributed by the White House and the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The American strikes, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran’s military nuclear program, have "set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years,” the Israel Atomic Energy Commission said.

In addition, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told Al Jazeera that there was significant damage from U.S. bombers.

“Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that’s for sure,” he said.

One critical question is whether enriched uranium, which could be developed into fuel for a nuclear bomb, was moved out of facilities before the U.S. strikes.

“I believe they didn’t have a chance to get anything out, because we acted fast,” Trump said. He added that “it’s very hard to move that kind of material, and very dangerous.”

Classified briefings for lawmakers, , are now expected to take place Thursday and Friday.