The Israel Atomic Energy Commission confirmed Wednesday that “critical infrastructure” was destroyed in the US airstrike on Iran’s Fordow nuclear development facility.
“The devastating US strike on Fordow destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable,” the IAEC said in a statement published simultaneously by the White House and the Prime Minister’s Office, affirming previous claims by President Donald Trump and cabinet officials.
“The devastating US attack on Fordow destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility unusable,” the IAEC said.
“We estimate that the US attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli attacks on other components of Iran’s military nuclear program, have set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons for many years,” the Israeli nuclear watchdog said.
“This achievement will be maintained if Iran is denied access to nuclear material,” the IAEC added.
IDF Spokesperson Effie Defrin likewise also told reporters in a briefing on Wednesday, “The assessment is that we have significantly damaged the nuclear program.
“I’ll say it again: we have set it back by years,” Defrin emphasized.
“It was total annihilation, and you will see it,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“Israel is going to issue a report that talks about total annihilation, and you know they have people who were there (in Fordow) after the attack, and they say it was total annihilation.”
The present of Israeli agents at the scene of the destruction was not previously disclosed by the Netanyahu government.
Trump also said that he would be willing to order a repeated attack if Iran were to rebuild its nuclear development program.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed Trump’s remarks.
“There’s no doubt in our minds that very significant, substantial, lasting damage was done to their program,” Rubio told reporters.
A spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry confirmed the assessment, saying the country’s nuclear facilities were “severely damaged” in the US airstrike.
