Dan “Razin’” Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed reporters Thursday on the U.S. strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, as the Trump administration continues to push back on media characterizations of a preliminary intelligence assessment that suggested the strike may not have been a total success.
Caine said 15 years of planning by PhD-level military officials acting as the “biggest users of supercomputer hours” designed the strikes and that that the bunker-buster bombs dropped on Iran’s Fordow nuclear site “functioned as designed.”
“The weapons all guided to their intended targets,” Caine said.
Asked if he had been pressured or would bow to pressure from the White House to paint a rosier assessment of the strikes, Caine responded: “No, I have not. And I would not.”
The White House embarked on a third day of battling with the media, after several news outlets reported on a preliminary assessment that said the strikes may have only set Iran’s nuclear program back by months.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said information from that preliminary report was leaked to the media with “gaps of information.” He said the “low-confidence” report was not coordinated with the Intelligence Community, which will needs weeks to make a final assessment. He said the media did not report that the assessment also said “severe damage” was a possible outcome from the strikes.
Hegseth blasted the press, including a reporter from Fox News, his old employer.
“You, the press, you cheer against Trump so hard, it’s in your DNA and in your blood to cheer against Trump, because you want him not to be successful so bad, you have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes,” Hegseth said. “You have to hope maybe they weren’t effective.”
Hegseth on Thursday cited new assessments from the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, all of whom reported that Iran’s nuclear facilities suffered major damage.
Rafael Grossi, the director general of the IAEA, determined that the Fordow uranium enrichment plant is “no longer an operational facility.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), a close ally to Israel, posted on X:
“To those who were ‘unimpressed’ or borderline gloating on a leak: Operation Midnight Hammer worked. I’ve been calling for and fully supported those strikes, and it made the world safer. It should transcend partisan politics.”
MEANWHILE…
The Trump administration, furious over the leak, will limit the amount of classified information it shares with Congress going forward.
“This administration wants to be sure that classified information is not ending up in irresponsible hands and that people who have the privilege of viewing this top secret classified information are being responsible with it,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday.
Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, blasted both the leak and the clampdown on intelligence sharing.
“The leak of classified information is unacceptable and should be fully investigated and those responsible held accountable,” Himes said. “It’s also unacceptable for the Administration to use unsubstantiated speculation about the source of a leak to justify cutting off Congress from classified intelligence reporting, particularly when over a million people within the Executive Branch have clearance to access classified top-secret reporting.”
The FBI is investigating the leak, which Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff called “treasonous.”
