Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the top U.S. military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, are holding a press conference Thursday to discuss the strikes on Iran as the Trump administration has been defending the impact of those strikes.
President Trump announced the press conference on Wednesday night, saying Hegseth and “military representatives” would discuss the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
An initial assessment suggested the operation potentially only set back Iran’s nuclear program by a matter of months.
The initial assessment was conducted by the Defense Intelligence Agency, and according to a senior DIA official, was considered a “preliminary, low confidence assessment.”
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, the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard issued a new statement saying the nuclear sites were “destroyed.” The director of the CIA John Ratcliffe said Iran’s nuclear program had been “severely damaged.”
During 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.
