Selon une première évaluation des services de renseignements américains, relayée cette nuit par CNN, "leurs composantes essentielles n'ont pas été détruites". Une analyse qui va à l'encontre de ce qu'affirme Donald Trump qui a déclaré ces derniers jours que les frappes américaines ont "complètement détruit" ces installations d'enrichissement nucléaire iraniennes.
Dans la nuit de samedi à dimanche, l'armée américaine a frappé trois sites nucléaires en Iran, situés à Natanz, Ispahan et Fordo, à l'aide de bombardiers B-2.
Ces avions ont largué des bombes anti-bunker de type GBU-57 contre ces installations, pour faire face à la configuration souterraine de Fordo. Mais selon cette évaluation partagée par CNN, les frappes ont surtout touché les structures en surfaces qui, elles, "ont été gravement endommagées".
Ces premiers renseignements doivent encore être affinés par d'autres informations et observations que Washington "continue de recueillir". Mais selon la Defense Intelligence Agency, l'agence de renseignement du Pentagone, ces bombardements "ont retardé de quelques mois au maximum" le programme nucléaire iranien. Cette première évaluation précise même que la grande partie des centrifugeuses visées sont "intactes".
00:00Yeah Boris, so this is an early assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency which is the Pentagon's intelligence arm and we do want to emphasize that the intelligence of course is ongoing, the collection is ongoing and the assessments as a result of that intelligence could change but as of right now the DIA has produced this intelligence assessment that we are told was based on the battle damage assessment that U.S. Central Command has done following those massive bombings and strikes that the U.S. carried out inside Iran last weekend and what we are
00:29told is that based on the assessments of the damage that these bombs implemented on these nuclear sites that as of right now it does not appear that they ended or obliterated Iran's nuclear program instead they only set it back by months according to people who were briefed on the assessment.
00:48Now these findings are obviously at odds with President Donald Trump's repeated assertions that the strikes quote completely and totally obliterated Iran's nuclear enrichment facility something that has been echoed as well by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth but we did ask the White House for comment on this and they appeared to acknowledge the existence of the assessment but they said that they disagreed with it.
01:11According to White House Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt she said quote this alleged assessment is flat out wrong.
01:17She said it was classified as top secret but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous low-level loser in the intelligence community.
01:23The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran's nuclear program.
01:34Everyone knows what happens when you drop 14 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets total obliteration.
01:40Now it's worth noting that there has been some disagreement within the intelligence community and the defense community about just what kind of impact these massive bunker-busting 30,000 pound bombs would actually have on Iranian nuclear facilities because they have never been used in combat before.
01:56They have been tested extensively but when it comes to actually dropping them on Iranian nuclear facilities many of which are very deeply buried underground the impact of those bombs has been unclear.
02:08And so it appears that while these bombs did in fact inflict significant damage on the above ground structures at these nuclear facilities the most sensitive and core parts of the nuclear program which include the centrifuges which include the highly enriched uranium those do not appear to have been severely impacted if impacted at all.
02:28And so this is obviously going to raise new questions about you know why President Trump and the administration have been saying repeatedly that Iran's nuclear program has essentially been ended that it has been completely obliterated.
02:47But we should also note that Secretary of Defense Hegseth did give us a statement as well and he said that based on everything we have seen and I've seen it all our bombing campaign obliterated Iran's ability to create nuclear weapons.
03:01Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target and worked perfectly.
03:05The impact of those bombs is buried under a mountain of rubble in Iran.
03:08So anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the president and the successful mission.
03:15Now it is worth emphasizing again that while the damage we are told according to this DIA assessment was largely limited to the above ground structures those above ground structures are not insignificant.
03:28They include sites power infrastructure.
03:30They include some of those facilities that are used to actually turn uranium into metal for bomb making.
03:35But again you know this very early assessment suggests that the military strikes that were carried out on Saturday may not have gone as far as President Trump has suggested they have.
