Pentagon Says June Strikes Push Back Iran Nuclear Drive Two Years

The U.S. Department of Defense said its 22 June air-strikes on Iran’s main underground nuclear complexes have set Tehran’s atomic programme back by up to two years. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told reporters on 2 July that internal intelligence indicates the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan sites were “completely obliterated,” adding the delay is “probably closer to two years.”

The raid, code-named Operation Midnight Hammer, employed more than a dozen 13-ton bunker-buster bombs dropped from B-2 bombers and over two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles. The new estimate is markedly more optimistic than an initial Defence Intelligence Agency assessment that suggested only a few months’ disruption. U.S. officials say no evidence has emerged that enriched uranium stockpiles were destroyed or removed during the strikes, but maintain the physical damage achieved the operation’s objectives.

Scepticism persists among non-U.S. experts. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi warned last weekend that Iran could restart high-grade enrichment within months, and several analysts believe some highly-enriched uranium was relocated before the attack. In a separate response, President Masoud Pezeshkian signed legislation suspending Iranian cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, limiting independent verification of the Pentagon’s claims.