CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard issued separate statements just hours apart. Their aim was to support the White House's position and refute media reports that the attacks allegedly did not prevent the further development of Iran's nuclear program, the portal notes. Politico .

New information

“New intelligence confirms what @POTUS has repeatedly stated: Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed,” Gabbard wrote on Platform X on Wednesday afternoon. Ratcliffe subsequently released his own statement, saying, “Credible intelligence indicates that Iran’s nuclear program has been severely damaged.”

Ratcliffe added that the intelligence comes from a “historically reliable and accurate source/method” and claims that “several key facilities have been destroyed and would take years to restore.” He stressed that the collection of verified information is ongoing.

Neither Gabbard nor Ratcliffe provided details about when or how the intelligence was obtained, but DNI spokeswoman Olivia Coleman confirmed that the information Gabbard is referring to came from U.S. sources.

Unusual behavior of the secret services

The CIA's behavior has been called unusual by some experts. One former CIA media analyst anonymously noted that it was"highly unusual" for the agency's director to issue an assessment in the form of a press release. But he added that the statement itself likely did not compromise sources or methods.

An initial assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which on Tuesday published by CNN and other media outlets claimed that the attacks did not hit key components of the nuclear program and likely only delayed it by a few months. However, the DIA said on Wednesday that this was only a “preliminary assessment with a low level of certainty.”

The DIA reports drew the ire of President Trump, who attacked a CNN reporter and repeated his claim that Iranian facilities had been “leveled to the ground.” Gabbard also lashed out at the “propaganda media.”

Trump was joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a news conference at the NATO summit in the Netherlands. Hegseth accused critics of"undermining a successful mission" and said the Pentagon and FBI were investigating the leak of the classified report.

Israeli officials also expressed support for the US president. The Israeli Atomic Energy Commission said the combined effect of the US and Israeli attacks had"delayed Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years."

But former Deputy Secretary of Defense for the Near East Daniel Shapiro warned against jumping to conclusions. “It is very likely that the facilities were severely damaged, but we should wait for specific data and information,” he said. A thorough assessment of the impact could take several weeks, he said.

In an evening post on Truth Social, Trump announced that Secretary Hegseth plans to call a"major press conference" on Thursday to present "interesting and irrefutable" evidence of the effectiveness of the attacks.

Iran failed to save anything, says Trump

US President Donald Trump said later on Thursday that Iran had not managed to remove material from the Fordow nuclear facility, which was attacked by US bombers over the weekend.

"Nothing was taken out of the facility. It would have been too time-consuming, dangerous, very heavy and difficult to move!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The White House chief of staff says satellite images of a large number of cars near the facility before the US forces attacked did not mean anything was being removed."The cars and small trucks on site belonged to concrete workers who were trying to cover the top of the (ventilation) shafts," Trump said.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a press conference on Thursday that he was unaware of any intelligence that suggested Iran had moved its enriched uranium to protect itself from US attacks.

According to Reuters, several experts have warned that Iran may have moved its stockpile of highly enriched uranium from the Fordow facility before the US bombers attacked it on Sunday night. The experts say Iran may have hidden the stockpile in locations unknown to Israel, the US and UN nuclear inspectors.