The US has only seriously affected one of Iran's three nuclear sites in its strikes on June 22. The damage to the other two is not significant and uranium enrichment can resume in the next few months if Iran wants. This is reported by NBC News, citing current and former US officials who have provided a recent US assessment of the destruction caused by the military operation.
According to the officials, the assessment in question was presented to some US lawmakers, Defense Department officials and allied countries in recent days.
In addition, according to NBC News, US Central Command has developed a much more comprehensive plan for a strike against Iran, which would include striking three additional sites in an operation that would last several weeks, instead of one night.
President Donald Trump was informed of this plan, but it was rejected because it contradicted his efforts to keep the United States out of conflicts abroad, not to deepen them, as well as the possibility of large numbers of casualties on both sides. According to one of the officials, the United States was ready to use all possible options against Iran, but Trump refused.
Discussions have been held within the US and Israeli governments about whether additional strikes on the two less damaged facilities might be necessary if Iran does not soon agree to resume talks with the Trump administration on a nuclear deal or if there are signs that Iran is trying to restore the sites, the sources also told NBC News.
However, they clarified that the latest assessment is a snapshot of the damage caused by the US strikes, with an intelligence-gathering process still underway, which administration officials say is expected to continue for months. The estimates are expected to change over time, and according to two current officials, as the process progresses, the findings show greater damage than previous estimates.
We recall that after the US launched strikes on 3 nuclear sites in Iran, information appeared in the media that these strikes had slowed down Tehran's nuclear program by only a few months. Before the US, strikes on Iranian nuclear sites were also carried out by Israel, and at that time negotiations were underway between Washington and Tehran over the Iranian nuclear program.
The US president responded to these allegations by describing them as "fake news" and categorically stated that Iran's nuclear sites had been completely destroyed. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said that after the US strikes, Iran was "a lot further away from a nuclear weapon".
But after the US and Israeli strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites, including Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan, it remained unclear what happened to about 408kg of uranium enriched to 60% - whether it was destroyed or moved to secret locations.