US President Donald Trump on Thursday dismissed reports that Iran had evacuated nuclear material before the weekend airstrikes, saying workers at the sites were covering the shafts rather than removing uranium stockpiles.
“The cars and small trucks at the site were from concrete contractors trying to cover the top of the shafts. Nothing was taken out of the facility. It would have taken too long, been too dangerous, very heavy and difficult to move,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Multiple reports suggest Iran had taken significant preparatory measures before the attack, with satellite imagery showing trucks near the nuclear facilities.
Iranian officials have confirmed that the Fordow facility was evacuated and cleared before the attack.
While CNN reported intelligence suggesting that the attacks on the Ford, Natanz and Isfahan sites had set back the program by only a few months, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on Wednesday that “new intelligence confirms” that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been “destroyed”.
Iran admitted on Wednesday that the nuclear facilities had been “severely damaged”, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office estimated that the attacks had set back Iran’s weapons development “by many years”.
Trump has consistently claimed that Iran’s nuclear facilities were “destroyed” in a weekend operation targeting three key sites.
