Experts Suggest Iran Strike Is 'Incomplete'

Even as Trump insists sites were 'obliterated'
Posted Jun 23, 2025 1:00 AM CDT
Experts Suggest Iran Strike Is 'Incomplete'
President Donald Trump speaks from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Saturday, June 21, 2025, after the U.S. military struck three Iranian nuclear and military sites, directly joining Israel's effort to decapitate the country's nuclear program, as Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of...   (Carlos Barria/Pool via AP)

President Trump late Sunday used the word "obliteration" to describe what the US strikes did to Iran's nuclear facilities, but that's not what some early assessments indicate.

  • Trump's post on Truth Social: "Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term! The white structure shown is deeply imbedded into the rock, with even its roof well below ground level, and completely shielded from flame. The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!"

  • More on those satellite images: Experts who looked at satellite photos of the nuclear sites spoke to CNN and NPR and said that it appears the facilities were not destroyed. "If this ends here, it's a really incomplete strike," says one, who suggests Iran's stores of highly enriched uranium do not appear to have been hit. The US appears to have held back from using its most powerful bombs on one of the three sites. The so-called "bunker-buster" bombs were not dropped on Isfahan, sources say. Instead, the site, which holds much of the enriched uranium, was hit with Tomahawk cruise missiles. Says the aforementioned expert, "If this is all there is, here's [what's] left: the entire stockpile of 60% uranium, which was stored at Isfahan in tunnels that are untouched."
See the before and after satellite photos at CBS News. (More US strikes Iran stories.)

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