CNN reported Wednesday that a leaked preliminary intelligence assessment found that President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran did not destroy the core components of its nuclear program, but only set it back a few months. On Thursday morning, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth pointed to numerous other assessments, including from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the CIA, that contradicted the preliminary findings and bolstered Trump’s case that Fordow and other nuclear facilities were “obliterated.” CNN reporter Natasha Bertrand’s track record of getting major stories involving Trump wrong, particularly on the discredited Steele Dossier and Hunter Biden’s laptop, should make readers skeptical of her latest reporting.
Even if Bertrand’s story accurately captured the preliminary assessment of the damage, the strikes achieved major strategic objectives with minimal costs. Crucially, Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon was disrupted for at least the foreseeable future. Reports that the Iranian regime’s nuclear program was accelerating in recent months, including the IAEA’s repeated warnings over Iran’s uranium enrichment levels, made the last resort of military action necessary. The cornerstone of Iran’s foreign policy for the past 46 years has been the obliteration of Israel, and the Islamic Republic could not be allowed the means to execute a second Holocaust. The strikes significantly damaged the capacity for Iran to fulfill its maniacal mission in the short term, at least.
Disrupting Iran’s nuclear weapons program further degraded the rogue state’s regional leverage. With its economy weakened, its military proxies Hezbollah and Hamas decimated, and with the Middle East drifting toward modernization — reports indicate that Israel and Syria are in daily contact, with the latter openly considering joining the Abraham Accords — Iran is in a tenuous position. Massive investment will be required to rebuild its facilities, such as Fordow, at a time when its economy can hardly afford such expenditures. To make matters worse, Israel’s Operation Rising Lion killed at least 14 Iranian nuclear scientists and several key members of the country’s military leadership. Notions that Iran will be able to easily rebuild its infrastructure and regain its former strength are fanciful.
The successful strikes likely restored American deterrence to a significant degree. The Biden administration, through its bungled Afghanistan withdrawal and empty warnings to Iran, typified by former President Joe Biden’s dramatically understated “don’t” following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, squandered America’s credibility on the world stage and emboldened our adversaries to act aggressively. Many have credibly argued that the Afghanistan withdrawal emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel.
But the Iran strikes, executed without a single casualty, signaled that the United States can and will strike high-value targets effectively, even those buried underground. Deterrence relies upon adversaries being convinced of a nation’s willingness and capacity to impose significant costs in response to unwanted behavior. There can be no doubt in the minds of America’s adversaries that the U.S. is willing and capable of backing up its threats and defending its interests. The ceasefire between Israel and Iran, brokered shortly after the American intervention, is evidence that our restored deterrence is beginning to take hold.
PETE HEGSETH EXCORIATES MEDIA FOR COVERAGE OF ASSESSMENT ON IRAN STRIKES
This has the potential to cause other foreign adversaries to think twice about aggression. With China continuing to encircle Taiwan and peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine ongoing, restored deterrence strengthens America’s ability to maneuver through these and other foreign crises.
Regardless of the precise level of destruction caused by Trump’s Iran strikes, they represent a decisive step toward achieving strategic objectives and reasserting American credibility on the world stage.