Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday called a rare Pentagon press conference to defend the U.S. strikes on Iran and lambast the media’s coverage of the effectiveness of the operation.
Hegseth criticized “fawning coverage” of early intelligence findings of the impact of Saturday’s bombing of three Iranian nuclear facilities – which suggested the strikes did not fully take out Tehran’s nuclear program and only set it back by a few months.
“Whether it’s fake news CNN, MSNBC or The New York Times, there’s been fawning coverage of a preliminary assessment,” Hegseth said during a Pentagon press conference. “It was preliminary – a day and a half after the actual strike – when it admits itself in writing that it requires weeks to accumulate the necessary data to make such an assessment.”
“There’s low confidence in this particular report,” he added.
The Trump administration has pushed back hard at a Defense Intelligence Agency summary that has seemed to refute President Trump’s repeated insistence that Iran’s nuclear program has been “obliterated” and set back by years.
Trump on Wednesday disputed the report’s findings, calling them incomplete and saying officials were merely guessing.
The DIA findings, initially reported by The New York Times and CNN on Tuesday, found the bombing failed to collapse the deep underground buildings of the Fordow Fuel Enrichment plant and the Natanz Enrichment Complex and likely did not destroy much of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, as it was moved before the bombing.
The 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs dropped on Fordow and Natanz — as well as armaments that struck at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site – did significantly damage aboveground structures but left the sites’ centrifuges still “intact,” according to the assessment.
But Hegseth on Thursday framed the reporting as an attack on the American warfighter and Trump, insisting the president “created the conditions to end the war, decimating – choose your word – obliterating, destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities.”
He also claimed the DIA report was revealed as “someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn’t successful.”
“I hope, with all the ink spilled, all of your outlets find the time to properly recognize this historic change in continental security that other presidents tried to do, other presidents talked about,” Hegseth said. “President Trump accomplished it. It’s a huge deal.”
The Pentagon chief leaned heavily on recent statements released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA director John Ratcliffe in seeking to dismiss the DIA assessment.
Ratcliffe a day prior on Wednesday stated that Iran’s nuclear program “has been severely damaged” and specific facilities “were destroyed,” while Gabbard referred to “new intelligence” that confirmed Trump’s assertion that “Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed.”
Hegseth also refuted claims that enriched uranium was moved from the Iranian facilities prior to the strike.
“I’m not aware of any intelligence that I’ve reviewed that says things were not where they were supposed to be – moved or otherwise,” Hegseth said when asked about the enriched uranium stockpiles.
Trump has also pushed back hard at the idea the strikes did not destroy the uranium stockpile, insisting on Truth Social on Thursday – directly after Hegseth wrapped up the press conference – that “Nothing was taken out of facility. Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move.”
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, who appeared alongside Hegseth, said Sunday that initial battle damage assessments indicated the sites “sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” but that a full assessment would take time.
Asked about the previous comments and whether he would also describe the sites as “obliterated,” Caine said the Joint Chiefs “don’t do” battle damage assessments or “grade its own homework,” referring questions to the intelligence community.
“The IC should be able to help you answer that question,” Caine said. “They look at a variety, as the secretary has alluded to, they look at a variety of things. I don’t do that. They do all, all different sources of intel, which I’d refer you to them to get clarity.”