Trump gives huge update on Iran nuclear sites

President Donald Trump said the U.S. strike in Iran - dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer - over the weekend likely resulted in “total obliteration” of the nation’s nuclear sites. 

When asked about intelligence reports indicating Iran’s nuclear sites were only “partially devastated” in the attack, Trump responded, “Israel is going to be telling us very soon because [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] is going to have people involved in that whole situation.”

“We hear it was obliteration. It was a virtual obliteration. When you take a look at the ground above - don’t forget, the flame is all underground - but everything above, when you look at the before and after picture, everything above is burned black. The trees, everything. There’s one building but that’s a building that sunk substantially into the granite so that the fire goes right over it,” Trump continued. “I believe it was total obliteration.”

Trump said he believes Iranian officials did not have enough time to remove anything from the nuclear sites before the attack, noting that it’s “very hard” and “very dangerous” to remove “that kind of material.”

“Plus, they knew we were coming, and if they know we’re coming, they’re not going to be down there,” Trump said. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed President Trump’s remarks on Operation Midnight Hammer and slammed the media for spreading “fake news” about the successful mission. 

“There’s a reason the president calls out ‘fake news’ for what it is. These pilots, these refuelers, these fighters, these air defenders, the skill and the courage it took to go into enemy territory flying 36 hours on behalf of the American people and the world to take out a nuclear program is beyond what anybody in this audience can fathom,” Hegseth told reporters. 

“And then the instinct of CNN, the instinct of the New York Times is to try to find a way to spin it for their own political reasons to try to hurt President Trump or our country. They don’t care what the troops think. They don’t care what the world thinks. They want to spin it to try to make him look bad based on a leak,” he continued. 

Hegseth accused “leakers” of intentionally sharing incomplete information to support their personal political agendas.

“Because all of the evidence of what was just bombed by twelve 30,000 pound bombs is buried under a mountain, devastated and obliterated. So if you want to make an assessment of what happened at Fordow, you better get a big shovel,” Hegseth said, “and go really deep, because Iran’s nuclear program is obliterated.”

“Those that dropped the bombs precisely in the right place know exactly what happened when that exploded. And you know who else knows? Iran. That’s why they came to the table right away because their nuclear capabilities have been set back beyond what they thought were possible because of the courage of a Commander-in-Chief who led our troops despite what the fake news wants to say,” Hegseth concluded.