Trump insists U.S. strikes ‘obliterated’ nuclear sites, says talks with Iran could resume

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• Amna Nawaz:

  President Trump again forcefully defended his conclusion that the bombing he ordered of Iranian nuclear facilities — quote — "obliterated them."

• Geoff Bennett:

  And to further support the president's position, CIA Director John Ratcliffe released a statement late this afternoon affirming the administration's claims about the effectiveness of the strikes, saying the agency's assessment — quote — "includes new intelligence from a historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years."

  Nick Schifrin again reports from The Hague tonight to start our coverage.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Tonight, as the intelligence community examines the aftermath of dozens of Tomahawk missile hits, bunker-buster bomb craters and Israel's 12-day campaign in Iran, President Trump insisted the intelligence proves his case.

  Donald Trump, President of the United States: We have collected additional intelligence. We have also spoken to people who have seen the site, and the site is obliterated.

• Nick Schifrin:

  He revealed Israeli agents reached Iran's Fordow enrichment site buried deep inside a mountain to conclude the U.S. strikes — quote — "destroyed the site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable."

  U.S. officials describe new intelligence not just from the damage to facilities capable of creating weapons-grade nuclear fuel, but also the sites capable of converting that fuel into the form needed to produce a weapon and capable of converting uranium into metal fitted with explosives had been destroyed.

  Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State: So, in Isfahan, there was this conversion site, which is how you turn this metal into something that's useful. That's wiped out.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Two officials told "PBS News Hour" an initial Defense Intelligence Agency assessment concluded the U.S. bombs dropped on Fordow did not obliterate the site and Iran could gain access to it eventually. That's a conclusion echoed today by U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi.

• Rafael Grossi, Director General, IAEA:

  The reconstruction of the infrastructure is not impossible. First, there has been some that survived the attacks, and then this is work that Iran knows how to do. It would take some time.

• Nick Schifrin:

  But, today, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth revealed that initial DIA conclusion was low-confidence.

• Pete Hegseth, U.S. Defense Secretary:

  And why is there low confidence? Because all of the evidence of what was just bombed by 12 30,000-pound bombs is buried under a mountain.

• Nick Schifrin:

  And President Trump, who has long questioned intelligence analyst loyalty, said today he no longer wanted preliminary assessments.

• Donald Trump:

  I would say issue the report when you know what happened.

• Nick Schifrin:

  In Iran today, the regime tried to display resilience, and supporters rallied in the streets. But now the focus could turn to diplomacy. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff had been negotiating with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi with Oman mediating.

  Today, President Trump said those talks would resume, but did not need to produce a new nuclear deal.

• Donald Trump:

  We're going to talk to them next week, with Iran. We may sign an agreement. I don't know. To me, I don't think it's that necessary.

• Nick Schifrin:

  The administration and its allies argued they have set Iran's program back years because of the damage done to each aspect of the program. But critics are concerned that the strikes have actually set back diplomacy, which could have bought more time on Iran's nuclear program, and, Geoff, could convince Iran once and for all to pursue a nuclear weapon as the only way to defend itself.

• Geoff Bennett:

  And, Nick, you're joining us from in front of the NATO summit. What were the leaders able to agree on today?

• Nick Schifrin:

  The leaders announced a historic pledge to increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP, including 3.5 percent on weapons and 1.5 percent on what's called defense-related spending, everything from cybersecurity to infrastructure.

  President Trump did not disrupt this summit, as some senior European officials told me that they feared that he would. In fact, Geoff, the same President Trump who nearly a decade ago said that he would be OK if NATO broke up instead today said that he was — quote — "honored" to be here and happy to help NATO members defend themselves.

  And he also said that he would try and help Ukraine by sending more air defense, including in this interchange with BBC Ukrainian reporter Myroslava Petsa.

• Myroslava Petsa, BBC Ukraine:

  We know that Russia has been pounding Ukraine really heavily right now.

• Donald Trump:

  Are you living yourself now in Ukraine?

• Myroslava Petsa:

  My husband is there. And…

• Donald Trump:

  Wow. I can see you're very — it's amazing. And…

• Myroslava Petsa:

  And me with the kids, I'm in Warsaw, actually, because he wanted me to be…

• Donald Trump:

  Is your husband a soldier? No?

• Myroslava Petsa:

  He's…

• Donald Trump:

  He's there now?

• Myroslava Petsa:

  Yes.

• Donald Trump:

  Wow. That's rough stuff, right? They do want to have the anti-missile missiles, OK, as they call them, the Patriots. And we're going to see if we can make some available. No, that's a very good question. And I wish you a lot of luck. I mean, I can see it's very upsetting to you. So, say hello to your husband, OK?

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