Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday that damage to Iran's nuclear facilities following the 12-day war with Israel was "severe," as the country began to assess the impact of the conflict.
“Experts from Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization are conducting a detailed assessment of the damage,” he told state television.
"Now, the debate over the demand for reparations and the need to provide them has become one of the most important issues on the country's diplomatic agenda," he added.
“These damages are serious, and expert studies and political decisions are being made simultaneously.”
US President Donald Trump has reiterated that the US airstrikes launched against Iran's nuclear facilities in support of its ally Israel"destroyed" them.
Regarding a reported meeting with White House envoys, Araghchi, contradicting President Donald Trump's statement that Washington planned to hold talks with Tehran next week, said Thursday that Iran currently has no plans to meet with the United States.
In an interview on state television, Iran's foreign minister said Tehran was evaluating whether talks with the United States were in its interest, following five previous rounds of negotiations that were disrupted by attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Araghchi said that the relevant authorities were studying the new realities of Iran's nuclear program which he said would serve as a basis for Iran's future diplomatic stance.
Twelve bombs to destroy Fordow
Meanwhile, Pentagon officials on Thursday offered an unprecedented technical account of the U.S. airstrike against Iran's Fordow nuclear complex, one of the world's most heavily protected nuclear facilities. The operation, which included the launch of twelve GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs from B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, was presented by General Dan Caine as the result of more than a decade of planning and intelligence focused exclusively on that target.
“The explosion was the brightest I’ve ever seen, literally daytime,” said one of the pilots escorting the bomber, according to Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The conference was part of the Pentagon's response to a preliminary intelligence assessment that called the damage"significant but not total." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed that assessment: "You want to know what happened at Fordow? Go there with a shovel," he quipped.
During the same briefing, the Pentagon detailed the technical sophistication and coordination of the operation and released a video showing a bunker-buster bomb penetrating a cavern. Officials said it was the same type of munition used in the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. The clip, whose location and date were not disclosed, includes a performance test of the MOP projectile.
Additionally, officials confirmed that the June 21 operation represented the largest operational B-2 bomber offensive in history and the second-longest mission ever flown by that type, surpassed only by operations following September 11, 2001. In total, 14 30,000-pound GBU-57 bombs were used, and more than 125 U.S. military aircraft participated, according to the Pentagon.
