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The FBI has begun investigating how a preliminary intelligence assessment regarding the impact of U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear sites became public, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters.
Speaking to the press at the NATO Summit in the Netherlands, Hegseth confirmed the top-secret report – which suggested the attack had not wiped out the Iranian nuclear program as claimed by President Donald Trump – was real but emphasized that it was a “preliminary” and “low-confidence” assessment, not a final conclusion about the damage caused.
Both Donald Trump and Hegseth have repeatedly stated since Saturday night that the bombing of three nuclear facilities was successful, with the president claiming that they had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s enrichment facilities.
“We are doing a leak investigation with the FBI now, because this information is for internal purposes — battle damage investigation — and CNN and others are trying to spin it to try and make the president look bad when this was an overwhelming success,” Hegseth told reporters in the Hague, standing beside the president and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The preliminary report from the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) stated that the strikes on three sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan only set back Tehran’s nuclear ambitions by a few months.
CNN was the first to report on the assessment’s findings, with multiple other outlets confirming their reporting soon after on Tuesday.
Hegseth said: “The amount of munitions — six per location — any assessment that tells you it was something otherwise, is speculating with other motives, and we know that, because when you actually look at the report — by the way, it was a top secret report — it was preliminary, it was low-confidence, so you make assessments based on what you know.”
The secretary criticized the media for its reporting, pushing back by saying: “Those that dropped the bombs precisely in the right place know exactly what happened when that exploded.”
“And you know who else knows: Iran,” he continued.
“If you want to make an assessment of what happened at Fordow, you better get a big shovel and go really deep, because Iran's nuclear program is obliterated,” Hegseth added.
Rubio called the leakers “professional stabbers.”
“On this stuff about the intelligence — this is what a leaker is telling you the intelligence says,” he said. “That’s the game these people play. They read it and then they go out and characterize it the way they want.”
CNN’s reporting cited four people briefed on the initial assessment, which was based on battle damage analysis carried out by U.S. Central Command after the strikes on Saturday night, according to one source.
Two of the people cited by CNN who are familiar with the assessment said Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed. One said the centrifuges are largely “intact.”
That person added: “So the assessment is that the U.S. set them back maybe a few months, tops.”
While analysis of the damage to the three sites is still ongoing and may change as more information becomes available, these initial findings contradict the U.S. military’s early claims that the operation was an “overwhelming success.”
The White House acknowledged the existence of the report on Tuesday, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying: “This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community.”
She continued: “The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program. Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”
The assessment stated that the strikes led to the sealing of entrances at two nuclear enrichment facilities, including Fordow. Two sources familiar with the report's findings told CBS News that Iran’s restart of its enrichment program might depend on how quickly it can clear the entrances and repair electrical and water supplies.
Some of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile was moved before the strikes, one of the sources said. Vice President JD Vance conceded on Sunday that the stockpile is still in Iranian hands and its whereabouts are unknown.
“This is a preliminary, low-confidence assessment — not a final conclusion — and will continue to be refined as additional intelligence becomes available,” a senior DIA official told CBS on Wednesday. “We have still not been able to review the actual physical sites themselves, which will give us the best indication.”
The official added that the agency was “working with the FBI and other authorities to investigate the unauthorized disclosure of classified information.”
A comprehensive analysis of the damage to Iran’s nuclear program is still underway by the broader U.S. intelligence community, and the DIA assessment is the only one to be spoken of so far. Therefore, a comparison with the findings of other agencies is not possible at this time.
Unusually, in an effort to bolster the administration’s victorious assessment of the strikes, the White House released a statement on behalf of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, which said that the strike on Fordow has destroyed critical infrastructure, rendering it inoperable, and that the bombing has set back the Iranian nuclear program by “many years.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that France will conduct its own review of the damage from the strikes: “We are in the process of finalizing our own analyses, and will then compare them with those of other interested countries, including Americans, Europeans and Israelis.”
