No response returned
General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Thursday released video of the tests of the type of "bunker-buster" bombs that were dropped on over the weekend as he and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sought to illustrate the severity of the strikes amid the .
Caine showed the video of a massive bomb striking an underground target at the joint press conference with Hegseth, saying it was the "culmination of over 15 years of development and testing."
Hegseth slammed the media and the leak of a Defense Intelligence Agency report that said an initial assessment suggested the strikes had only set back Iran's nuclear program by a matter of months.
The Defense Intelligence Agency's initial assessment, according to a senior DIA official, was considered to be a "preliminary, low confidence assessment."
"This report acknowledges it's likely severe damage," Hegseth said. "Again, this is preliminary, leaked — because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn't successful."
Hegseth, after repeated questioning about whether any of the highly enriched uranium had been moved before the attack, said, "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."
When Fox News' Jennifer Griffin asked if the Pentagon had "certainty" that all the highly enriched uranium was inside the Fordo mountain and hadn't been moved, Hegseth responded by insulting her reporting.
"Jennifer, you've been about the worst — the one who misrepresents the most — intentionally," Hegseth told her.
Griffin pushed back, telling Hegseth she had been the first to describe on Saturday night the B-2 bombers, the refueling and "the entire mission with great accuracy."
Posting on Truth Social during the news conference, Mr. Trump criticized other news outlets, and wondered whether the New York Times and CNN "will be firing the reporters who made up the FAKE stories on the Iran Nuclear sites because they got it so wrong. Lets see what happens?"
Mr. Trump and Hegseth have said using multiple 30,000 pound bombs "obliterated" Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Since reports of the DIA's initial assessment surfaced, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard issued a new statement saying the nuclear sites have been "destroyed." CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Iran's nuclear program was "severely damaged."
At a news conference Sunday, Caine said final assessments would take time.
"Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction," Caine said.
