Success of US strikes on Iran faces scrutiny

• Trump hints at talks with Iran next week 
• Iran says nuclear sites 'badly damaged'
• Israel says too early to assess damage 
• Report says Iran's centrifuges are largely 'intact'
• Trump raises hope for Gaza ceasefire

President Donald Trump yesterday insisted that US strikes led to the "total obliteration" of Iran's nuclear capabilities, contrary to a leaked US intelligence report that assessed those did not destroy the core components of the programme and likely only set it back by months. 

Trump, who is in the Netherlands to attend a Nato summit, said the strikes set Iran's atomic programme back "decades", while Israel said it was still early to fully assess the damage.

However, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei yesterday said the facilities were "badly damaged" in US and Israeli strikes.

"Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that's for sure, because it has come under repeated attacks by Israeli and American aggressors," Baqaei told al Jazeera.

However, on the ground, the Trump-announced ceasefire was holding yesterday as both sides reported no violations.

Analysts say the US strikes paved the way for Trump to end the 12-day Iran-Israel conflict. Both Iran and Israel have claimed "victory" in the war and pledged to respect the truce if the other side keeps its promise. 

Israel pounded Iranian nuclear and military sites while Iran launched waves of missiles at its foe during their deadliest-ever confrontation.

The United States joined the fray in support of its ally, hitting two nuclear facilities with massive bunker-buster bombs over the weekend, while a guided missile from a submarine struck a third.

But leaked US intelligence cast doubt on the damage caused by American strikes.

According to CNN, the early US intelligence assessment was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's intelligence arm.

The analysis of the damage to the sites and the impact of the strikes on Iran's nuclear ambitions is ongoing, and could change as more intelligence becomes available, according to the assessment.

But the early findings are at odds with Trump's repeated claims that the strikes "completely and totally obliterated" Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also said on Sunday that Iran's nuclear ambitions "have been obliterated."

Two of the people familiar with the assessment said Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed. One of the people said the centrifuges are largely "intact." Another source said that the intelligence assessed enriched uranium was moved out of the sites prior to the US strikes.

It also said the strikes sealed off entrances to some facilities without destroying underground buildings.

"So the (DIA) assessment is that the US set them back maybe a few months, tops," an official told CNN on condition of anonymity.

The White House acknowledged the existence of the assessment but said it disagreed with it.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN in a statement: "This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong… 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."

Trump yesterday refuted the preliminary assessment and said Tehran's nuclear sites were "obliterated."

"They're not going to be building bombs for a long time," said Trump, adding that the strikes had set back the programme by "decades" and that the Iran-Israel ceasefire that he declared was going "very well".

Asked if the United States would strike again if Iran rebuilt its nuclear enrichment programme, Trump said: "Sure."

He later told reporters that Israel and Iran were "both tired, exhausted", going on to say that talks were planned with Iran "next week".

"We may sign an agreement. I don't know," he added. "I mean, they had a war, they fought, now they're going back to their world. I don't care if I have an agreement or not."

Hegseth, who is also at the Nato summit, said the assessment was "a top secret report; it was preliminary; it was low confidence", adding that there were political motives behind leaking it and that an FBI investigation was underway to identify the leaker.

Earlier, Israel's military said it was "still early" to assess the damage caused to Iran's nuclear programme.

"I believe we have delivered a significant hit to the nuclear programme, and I can also say that we have delayed it by several years," said Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin.

The head of Israel's military, Eyal Zamir, on Tuesday said Israel and the United States had set back Iran's nuclear programme "by years".

Israel had said its bombing campaign, which began on June 13, was aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an address to the nation after the ceasefire, announced that "we have thwarted Iran's nuclear project".

"And if anyone in Iran tries to rebuild it, we will act with the same determination, with the same intensity, to foil any attempt," he said.

Iranian lawmakers yesterday voted in favour of suspending cooperation with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, according to state TV.

"The International Atomic Energy Agency, which refused to even marginally condemn the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, put its international credibility up for auction," parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said, according to the broadcaster.

The decision to suspend cooperation with the IAEA still requires the approval of the Guardian Council, a body empowered to vet legislation.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tuesday his country was willing to return to negotiations over its nuclear programme, but that it would continue to "assert its legitimate rights" to the peaceful use of atomic energy.

On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said

Iran remained committed to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but it had failed to "protect us or our nuclear programme", adding that Iran's approach towards the non-proliferation regime "will undergo changes", without elaborating.

Iran and Israel have been locked in a shadow war for decades.

In the 12-day war, Israeli strikes hit nuclear and military targets -- killing scientists and senior military figures -- as well as residential areas, prompting waves of Iranian missile fire on Israel.

The war culminated in US strikes on underground Iranian nuclear sites using bunker-busting bombs -- which Israel lacks -- followed by an Iranian reprisal targeting a US military facility in Qatar, the largest in the Middle East.

Trump shrugged off that response as "weak", thanking Tehran for giving advance notice and announcing the contours of the ceasefire just hours later.

In Iran, people remained uncertain whether the peace would hold.

Amir, 28, fled from Tehran to the Caspian Sea coast and told AFP by phone, "I really don't know... about the ceasefire but honestly, I don't think things will return to normal."

Iranian authorities yesterday announced the gradual easing of internet restrictions imposed during the war with Israel.

Israeli strikes on Iran killed at least 610 civilians and wounded more than 4,700, according to the health ministry.

Iran's attacks on Israel killed 28 people, according to official figures and rescuers.

Countries do not report military casualties of war.