According to the Persian edition of ISNA, while U.S. President Donald Trump has accused Democrats of leaking an initial Pentagon report on the damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities caused by the Israeli regime’s aggressive attack, significant disagreements emerged among U.S. senators following their classified briefing with senior White House officials regarding their assessments of the session.
The U.S. government, which last Sunday, in complicity with the Israeli regime’s aggression against Iran’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, claimed these facilities were destroyed. However, U.S. publications, citing a leaked initial intelligence report, stated that the facilities were only damaged.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking at a Pentagon press conference yesterday, claimed that “Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed,” adding, “Our assessment indicates that reports in U.S. media about the operational failure of the attack are inaccurate. This classified information was leaked because someone is trying to undermine Trump.”
Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), commented on the Trump administration’s claim, stating, “The assertion that Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed is an overstatement. However, there is agreement that serious damage has been inflicted. When the U.S. president claims Iran’s nuclear program has been set back decades, that is a political statement.”
Yesterday, Trump administration officials held a classified briefing in Congress to provide lawmakers with information about the scope of the attack and its damages. The session was initially scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed amid allegations of an intelligence leak.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe attends classified briefing in Congress on damage from U.S. aggressive attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities
The Guardian reported: Republican and Democratic senators have sharply conflicting assessments of the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities. During the session, Democrats criticized Trump’s unilateral decision to attack Iran without congressional approval.
While the briefing was taking place, Trump posted on Truth Social, accusing Democrats of leaking a classified Pentagon report that suggests the attacks only delayed Iran’s nuclear program by a few months, contradicting his own claim that Iran’s nuclear facilities were “eliminated.”
Democrats had criticized Trump’s unilateral action prior to the briefing as well, and this partisan divide persisted after Thursday’s session. The briefing was held without Tulsi Gabbard, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, who had previously told Congress that Iran was not building nuclear weapons. She shifted her stance this week after Trump stated that her assessment of Iran’s nuclear program was “wrong.” Instead of Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, along with other senior administration officials, attended the briefing.
The Guardian noted: Despite clear discrepancies among intelligence agencies regarding the effectiveness of the attacks, Thursday’s briefing did little to clarify assessments for Congress.
South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, claimed, “Destruction is the right word to describe the impact of the attacks. These facilities have been set back for years, not months. No one will be working in those facilities anytime soon. Their operational capacity has been eliminated.”
However, he added that Iran would likely retaliate to rebuild these facilities, claiming—without acknowledging that the IAEA has not confirmed or proven claims of military objectives in Iran’s nuclear program and that Iran’s recent missile attacks on occupied territories were in defense against the Israeli regime’s aggression toward Iran’s sovereignty—“Have we eliminated their desire to build a nuclear weapon? As long as they want to kill all the Jews, the problem persists. I don’t want the American people to think this is over.”
Senator Tom Cotton responds to reporters’ questions about the classified White House-Congress briefing on the aggressive U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities
In contrast, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy stated that Trump’s claim of destroying Iran’s nuclear program is “misleading the public” and questioned why Gabbard was absent from the briefing.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the session “did not provide sufficient answers” to questions about Trump’s claims.
He added, noting that Congress must defend its war powers by passing the War Powers Act, “It was clear there was no coherent strategy, no endgame, no detailed plan to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”
Jim Himes, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called the claim of destroying Iran’s nuclear program “nonsense,” stating, “The only question is whether the Iranian regime has enough material to build a bomb, and if so, how long it would take.”
However, Republican senators like Rand Paul, who lean toward avoiding military intervention, rejected claims of the president’s absolute war powers. In response to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s assertion that Trump’s aggressive action against Iran, as commander-in-chief, was consistent with the U.S. Constitution and his war powers, Paul said, “I think the Speaker needs to reread the Constitution. There are many reasons why our Founding Fathers didn’t want the president to unilaterally wage war.”
The U.S. Senate is set to vote this week on a resolution that would mandate congressional approval for any further military action against Iran. However, given Republican control of the Senate, its passage appears unlikely
