The U.S Secretary of Defense under President Trump has disclosed classified intelligence suggesting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure has suffered catastrophic damage following recent American airstrikes. According to the intel brief, several underground facilities, including Fordow, were "crushed beyond recovery," effectively collapsing Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
00:00When it admits itself in writing that it requires weeks to accumulate the necessary data to make such an assessment, it's preliminary.
00:06There's low confidence in this particular report.
00:09That means your entire premise is predicated on a linchpin.
00:12If you're wrong, everything else is wrong.
00:14I want to read some of the assessments that have been provided,
00:17because whether it's fake news, CNN, MSNBC, or the New York Times,
00:23there's been fawning coverage of a preliminary assessment.
00:27I haven't had a chance to read it.
00:28No, every outlet has breathlessly reported on a preliminary assessment from DIA.
00:34I'm looking at it right now.
00:37Again, it was preliminary a day and a half after the actual strike.
00:41When it admits itself in writing that it requires weeks to accumulate the necessary data to make such an assessment, it's preliminary.
00:48It points out that it's not been coordinated with the intelligence community at all.
00:53There's low confidence in this particular report.
00:56There's, it says in the report, there are gaps in the information.
00:59It says in the report, multiple linchpin assumptions are what this assessment, a linchpin assumption.
01:05You know what that is?
01:06That means your entire premise is predicated on a linchpin.
01:09If you're wrong, everything else is wrong.
01:12And yet, still, this report acknowledges it's likely severe damage.
01:16Again, this is preliminary, but leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn't successful.
01:25I'm going to get to the chairman in a moment because he's going to lay out the particulars for you based on his professional military experience.
01:31But here's what other folks are saying.
01:32The DIA that put that report out says that this is a preliminary low confidence report and will continue to be refined as additional intelligence becomes available.
01:45How about the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission?
01:47The devastating U.S. strikes on Fordow destroyed the site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable.
01:56Have any of these quotes made their way into the New York Times or the Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN?
02:03Any of these quotes?
02:04How about this one?
02:04This is a new one from the U.N., the United Nations.
02:07No friend of the United States or certainly Israel often.
02:10Here's the head of the U.N. Atomic Energy Agency this morning, Rafael Grossi.
02:16U.S. and Israeli strikes caused enormous damage to Iran's nuclear sites.
02:23Don't take my word for it.
02:24How about the IDF's chief of staff?
02:26I can say here that the assessment is that we significantly damaged the nuclear program, setting it back by years.
02:33I repeat, years.
02:35The Iranian foreign minister, the spokesman.
02:38Our nuclear institutions have been badly damaged, that's for sure.
02:42I'm sure that's an understatement.
02:44John Radcliffe, the director of the CIA, putting out a statement just last night.
02:49CIA can confirm that a body of credible intelligence indicates Iran's nuclear program has been severely damaged by recent targeted strikes.
02:58This includes new intelligence from a historically reliable, very different than preliminary assessment, with low confidence.
03:06He's saying historically reliable and accurate source of method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years.
03:19CIA continues to collect additional reliably sourced information to keep appropriate decision makers fully informed.
03:28How about DNI Tulsi Gabbard yesterday?
03:31She writes, and I quote,
03:33New intelligence confirms what POTUS has stated numerous times.
03:37Iran's nuclear facilities have been destroyed.
03:42Institute for Science and International Security President David Albright,
03:47overall Israel and U.S. attacks have effectively destroyed Iran's centrifuge enrichment program.
03:55Time and time again, I can go down the list.
03:58Those that understand, those that see, those that do proper assessments recognize that what the United States military did was historic.
