Israeli intel said to assess Iran’s nuclear program set back ‘several years,’ not destroyed; US intel said to say ‘months’

Israeli intelligence assesses that US and Israeli strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program by “several years,” but did not completely destroy it, as US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed, a senior Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.

The Israeli intelligence assessment is constantly being updated and refined, and a more concrete understanding of the status of Iran’s nuclear program will be available in the coming weeks, the senior Israeli official says.

The Israeli official argues that the military strikes were still worthwhile because the negotiations that the US had previously been pursuing with Iran would not have been able to achieve such results.

Moreover, the strikes on the nuclear program along with other military targets in Iran will serve as a deterrent against the Islamic Republic again trying to enrich uranium.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir also said this evening, “We have set Iran’s nuclear project back by years, and the same goes for its missile program.”

CNN reported earlier that an early US intelligence assessment indicates the US military strikes did not destroy the core components of Tehran’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months.