Trump weighs strikes against Iran for nuclear program he says he 'obliterated'
Trump weighs strikes against Iran for nuclear program he says he 'obliterated'
ANNE FLAHERTYTue, February 24, 2026 at 12:27 AM UTC
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Hours after the U.S. military dropped more than a dozen heavy bunker-busting bombs and Tomahawk missiles on three of Iran's major nuclear facilities in June, President Donald Trump declared the operation a "spectacular military success."
"Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated," Trump said in an address to the nation.
The Pentagon backed up Trump's assessment.
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"It's delayed by one to two years. I think we're thinking probably closer to two years," chief spokesperson Sean Parnell told reporters in July.
Petty Officer 1st Class Jesse Monford/US Navy - PHOTO: Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln sails in the Arabian Sea, Feb. 6, 2026.
Now, eight months later, the president is once again weighing military strikes against Iran with the administration providing shifting explanations on the goals. In recent weeks, Trump has said he wanted to stop Tehran's recent deadly crackdown on protestors -- which he said ended at his behest -- as well to curb Iran's ballistic missile arsenal and its nuclear program.
Last week, Trump gave Iran 15 days to cut a deal that would prohibit Iran from enriching uranium. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi refused, saying the country has the right to a nuclear program, which he says is for peaceful purposes.
This weekend, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff suggested the urgency has to do with Iran being dangerously close to obtaining enough highly enriched uranium to make a bomb.
"They're probably a week away from having industrial-grade, bomb-making material, and that's really dangerous. So, [we] can't have that," Witkoff said in an interview with Fox News that aired on Saturday.
But analysts and international inspectors say Iran's access to highly enriched uranium has been a concern for several months already, along with satellite imagery suggesting that Iran is trying to rebuild. An exact picture of Iran's nuclear program is unclear because Iran blocked international inspectors from accessing the sites after the June bombing.
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When asked why the president is focusing on cutting an urgent deal on a nuclear program he says he obliterated months ago, a White House official said "the President has been clear that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons or the capacity to build them, and that they cannot enrich uranium."
Last summer, an early classified assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency concluded the three nuclear sites bombed by the U.S. weren't completely destroyed, leaving much of the materials buried but intact.
Likewise, Rafael Grossi, head of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a February interview with the French television network TFI that he believes much Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium likely remains at the sites bombed by the U.S.
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Andrew Harnik/Getty Images - PHOTO: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (L), accompanied by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine (R), takes a question from a reporter during a news conference at the Pentagon, June 22, 2025, in Arlington, Va.
According to a translation, Grossi said "some of it [the enriched uranium] may be less accessible, but the material is still there."
The IAEA estimates that some 972 pounds of highly enriched uranium remained unaccounted for following the U.S. bombing.
Analysts say a more critical question about Iran is whether the regime has made a decision on how quickly to move toward trying to build a bomb.
In a recent analysis, the Institute for Science and International Security estimated the current probability that the Iranian regime would decide to build a nuclear weapon at 40 to 50 percent.
If Iran decides to move ahead, the group says, its success in building a weapon would probably be even lower -- less than 15% in a short period of time, and 42% over a longer timeframe.
"The war saw the destruction of its gas centrifuge program and much of its nuclear weaponization facilities," according to the group's analysis.
"Nonetheless, important remnants and knowledge remain that could form the core of small gas centrifuge enrichment and nuclear weaponization capabilities," the report added.
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ABC News confirmed last week that among the options Trump is considering is a limited strike against Iran to force its hand negotiating. If that doesn't work, Trump could pursue a possible sustained military operation intended to topple the regime -- a campaign that could last weeks and pose risks to the 30,000 to 40,000 U.S. troops stationed in the region, experts say.
Trump pushed back Monday against media reports that his top military adviser, Gen. Dan Caine, privately cautioned that a lack of munitions and support from allies could pose risks to U.S. troops.
"General Caine, like all of us, would like not to see War but, if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won," Trump posted on his social media platform.
According to a U.S. official, Tehran was expected to offer a new nuclear proposal by Tuesday ahead of another round of negotiations in Geneva led by Witkoff on Thursday. The meeting would be the second round of indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran, with Omanis and Qataris passing notes between the delegations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Iran during a speech to the Knesset on Monday, warning the Iranian ayatollah if Iran strikes Israel, "we will respond with a force they cannot even imagine," according to remarks of his speech google translated from Hebrew to English.
"No one knows what the day will bring. We are vigilant, we are prepared for any scenario," Netanyahu said.
ABC News' Shannon Kingston and Jordana Miller contributed to this report.
Source: “AOL Breaking”
