After the U.S. bombed Iran on June 21, Donald Trump claimed that Iran’s nuclear sites were “obliterated.” Most intelligence and satellite imagery, including a preliminary intelligence assessment that was later reported in the press. What has emerged since has found a more ambiguous conclusion. Still, Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and others in the administration have considered it an affront to the pilots involved in the mission to imply that the mission wasn’t entirely successful. This has continued with Trump and his allies ripping the reporting in general. Now, there’s another report indicating that the attack may not have actually “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites.
According to the Washington Post, the U.S. has “obtained intercepted communication between senior Iranian officials discussing this month’s U.S. military strikes on Iran’s nuclear program and remarking that the attack was less devastating than they had expected.”
Breaking news: U.S. intelligence obtained private communication among Iranian officials, discussing this month’s military strikes on Iran’s nuclear program and remarking that the attack was less devastating than they had expected. https://t.co/CaLyUNLVXm
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 29, 2025
The Post story cited “four people familiar with the classified intelligence circulating within the U.S. government.”
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
How did the Trump Administration react to the report?
“The Trump administration did not dispute the existence of the intercepted communication, which has not been previously reported, but strenuously disagreed with the Iranians’ conclusions and cast doubt on their ability to assess the damage at the three nuclear facilities targeted in the U.S. operation.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who last week denounced the leakers of the earlier story as a “low-level loser,” commented to the Post.
BREAKING: The U.S. intercepted communications between senior Iranian officials discussing the U.S. strike on Iran’s nuclear program, saying the attack was less devastating than expected, the Washington Post reports. pic.twitter.com/vroygOxo5Q
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) June 29, 2025
“It’s shameful that The Washington Post is helping people commit felonies by publishing out-of-context leaks,” Leavitt told the Post. “The notion that unnamed Iranian officials know what happened under hundreds of feet of rubble is nonsense. Their nuclear weapons program is over.”
Another quote in the story, from an unnamed administration official, stated that the assessment on the Iran call was “wrong because we’ve destroyed their metal conversion facility. We know that our weapons were delivered precisely where we wanted them to be delivered, and they had the effect that we wanted.”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
