Trump Claims Iranian Nuclear Site Has Been “Deleted”

During a press conference at the NAGU Summit in The Hague on Wednesday, President Donald Trump stated that new intelligence sources indicate that the Fordow nuclear site in Iran has been “deleted,” contradicting a CNN report.

In his remarks, Trump referenced a letter from Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission, asserting that a significant US strike had destroyed the site’s essential infrastructure, thereby halting its nuclear operations entirely.

Trump expressed gratitude for the US action, claiming it has significantly delayed Iran’s capacity to develop nuclear weapons for years.

However, he criticized CNN’s report, which suggested the strike did not eliminate the “core components” of the nuclear sites, based on an anonymous early US intelligence assessment. The report alleged that Operation Midnight Hammer merely set the Iranian nuclear efforts back temporarily, allowing them to resume periodically.

Trump remarked, “I just want to thank the pilots. I know they’re malicious… I succumbed to fake news CNN and came back there. Believe it or not, wasting time.”

He noted that the information CNN cited was preliminary and addressed a question about the extent of the damage that could be “limited or very serious.”

“They really didn’t know more than saying it could be limited or severe, and they chose not to include it because it was so early on,” he explained.

He added that since then, additional intelligence has been gathered, and discussions with individuals who visited the site revealed that it has effectively vanished, although the vital components remain intact.

During the briefing, Trump insisted there had been no sign of evacuation before the strike and mentioned that the target’s structure was between 30 and 35 stories.

A reporter asked him if he believed everything was destroyed. Trump responded, “Yeah… I think it’s covered in granite, concrete, and steel.”