(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump pushed back against reports that the United States’ attack on Iranian nuclear sites was not the success the White House initially claimed it to be Wednesday.
He wrote on Truth Social, “We just caught the Failing New York Times, working with Fake News CNN, cheating again! They tried to demean the great work our B-2 pilots did, and they were wrong in doing so. These reporters are just BAD AND SICK PEOPLE. You would think they would be proud of the great success we had, instead of trying to always make our Country look bad. TOTAL OBLITERATION!”
Retired Special Forces Lt. Col. Mike Nelson, who has extensive experience with U.S. Central Command, told NewsNation on Wednesday that the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency’s assessment of Operation Midnight Hammer should not be looked at as definitive.
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“The report was an initial reflection, low confidence, and just one portion of the larger (intelligence community) assessment, so largely a partially formed opinion, and one taken out of context from what the rest of the IC thinks,” he said.
Nelson said the assessment is a “best guess” based on several forms of intelligence, including imagery, human intelligence and tracking the movement of equipment in and out of the site.
Nelson continued, “Which is why this one DIA report, early, limited, and only one of many bits of information, should not necessarily be looked at as definitive.”
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The DIA report from Monday stated the attack only pushed back the Iranian nuclear program by months, according to The Associated Press, which spoke with two people familiar with the report. According to the two unnamed sources, the nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan did endure heavy damage; however, they were not fully demolished.
A senior DIA official told NewsNation on Wednesday, “This is a preliminary, low confidence assessment – not a final conclusion – and will continue to be refined as additional intelligence becomes available.”
“We have still not been able to review the actual physical sites themselves, which will give us the best indication,” the source told NewsNation. “We are working with the FBI and other authorities to investigate the unauthorized disclosure of classified information.”
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Pete Hegseth confirmed the leaked report Wednesday. The defense secretary stated, while in the Netherlands for the NATO summit, that the FBI will investigate the leak.
“We are doing a leak investigation with the FBI now, because this information is for internal purposes — battle damage investigation — and CNN and others are trying to spin it to try and make the president look bad when this was an overwhelming success,” Hegseth said.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement Wednesday that the agency can confirm Iran’s nuclear program was “severely damaged” in the bombings.
“This 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,” the statement said in part.
A source close to the White House said the leak of the initial report was an attempt to “degrade a mission that the White House and DOD have come out and said was successful” and “undermine the president and the work of several Air Force pilots that risked their lives to accomplish this mission.”
Nelson lambasted the leakers of the DIA report. He said, “Whoever leaked it lacks the maturity, trustworthiness or professionalism for their job.”
Jonathan Gilliam, former Navy SEAL and FBI special agent, told NewsNation the leak could weaken the United States’ stance with Iran, as the public narrative goes hand in hand with tactical missions.
“Iran responds to projection of power, diminishing this victory in any way on the global stage has the possibility of weakening the chance for overall diplomatic agreements between Israel and Iran,” Gilliam said. “If Iran feels emboldened, they are more likely to step away from the bargaining table in an attempt to rebuild their reputation that has been decimated by Israel’s actions. So as you can see, flexing the narrative and exaggerating the outcome of mission success when needed is vital to the overall projection of power for the president.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
