US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites met 'objectives': Pentagon

WASHINGTON

Recent US strikes on three key Iranian nuclear facilities met their objectives, Pentagon officials said Thursday, but stopped short of confirming whether the sites were completely destroyed, noting that the Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) is still pending.

Officials from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) held a phone panel discussion on the June 21 strikes on the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites.

"We have received initial assessments, and the more completed assessments will come in over time," an official told reporters when asked whether they have received any battle damage assessments.

"As the chairman (of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine) said in his press conference two weeks ago, we concluded that we were successful in achieving the objectives we set," the official said.

Asked whether the munitions functioned as designed, including reaching their engineered depths, DTRA officials said that information remains incomplete.

"Exact depth information, I believe, will still be awaiting further detail in the full BDA," the official said.

Pressed on whether the munitions successfully penetrated to their intended depths, the official said "that’s a level of detail that we don’t have access to at this point."

At a news conference on June 22, Caine said initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites "sustained extremely severe damage and destruction" during “Operation Midnight Hammer."

US President Donald Trump said repeatedly that Iran's nuclear sites were "obliterated."

Despite those uncertainties, DTRA officials characterized the mission as a success.

"As the chairman said, we achieved the objective that we had set. We provided the information to the decisionmakers who made decisions with their national command authority to make those strikes the president authorized, and they achieved the effects intended. That's the success," the official said.

When the officials were pressed for clarity on what “effects” were achieved — and whether that meant the facilities were destroyed — the official said full assessments are still underway.

The reporter asked: "Okay, then what effects did you achieve?"

Directing reporters to earlier statements made by Caine during the news conference, the official reiterated that the US was able to strike the facilities "as planned."

"What was the objective?" the reporter said.

"From our perspective, we provided information to enable them to strike where they wanted to strike," the official replied.

Another official said: "As far as the objectives, that kind of goes beyond the scope of questions that we can answer."

Earlier this month, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said that Iran's nuclear program was "degraded" by one to two years due to the US strikes, noting that the sites were "completely obliterated."