By Dustin Volz

Iran's nuclear program has been "severely damaged" by last weekend's U.S. military strikes, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe said, backing President Trump's assertions about the bombings. "CIA can confirm that a body of credible intelligence indicates Iran's nuclear program has been severely damaged by the recent, targeted strikes," Ratcliffe said in a statement he posted on X. "This includes new intelligence from an historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years."

Ratcliffe's statement, like an earlier, similar one shared Wednesday by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, sought to support Trump's claims that Iran's nuclear sites had been obliterated in the strikes. The statements follow the leak on Tuesday of a preliminary U.S. intelligence report assessing with low confidence that Iran's nuclear program had only been set back months, a disclosure that the administration has been forcefully trying to rebut.

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June 25, 2025 17:32 ET (21:32 GMT)

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