US intelligence agency says US strike failed to ‘destroy’ Iran’s nuclear facilities

US airstrikes failed to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities, setting back the program by only a few months, according to an initial assessment by US intelligence agencies. Reuters reports. The intelligence agency said this as a ‘shaky’ ceasefire between Iran and Israel brokered by US President Donald Trump took effect.

Earlier on Tuesday, both Iran and Israel indicated they would accept Trump’s ceasefire proposal. However, shortly after the ceasefire took effect, Israel accused Iran of violating it. Meanwhile, the US attacked three nuclear facilities in Tehran in the midst of the Iran-Israel conflict before the ceasefire.

Trump claimed at the time that Iran’s nuclear program had been completely destroyed after the US dropped a 30,000-pound bomb. But an initial assessment by a Trump administration intelligence agency contradicted that claim, according to three people familiar with the matter. One source said Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed and the country’s nuclear program, most of which is deep underground, suffered only a month or two of setback.

Iran has long said its nuclear research is for peaceful, civilian energy production, not weapons. Another source said the Defense Intelligence Agency had reported that the attack blocked access to two facilities, but that the underground buildings had not collapsed.

The Washington Post, citing an unnamed person familiar with the report, said some centrifuges were still intact. The Trump administration also told the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that its weekend attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities had “damaged” its nuclear program. After the attacks, Trump demanded the complete destruction of the facilities.