The United States intercepted messages between senior Iranian officials discussing US military strikes on Iran's nuclear program, noting that the attack was less destructive than they expected, reported The Washington Post four people familiar with the classified intelligence.
In this correspondence, which was supposed to remain confidential, Iranian government officials speculated on why the strikes ordered by President Donald Trump were not as destructive and extensive as they expected.
The intercepted intelligence provides a more complex picture than the one presented by the president, who claimed that the operation “completely and finally destroyed” Iran's nuclear program. The Trump administration did not dispute the interception of messages, which had not been previously reported, but strongly disagreed with the Iranians' conclusions and questioned their ability to assess the damage inflicted on the three nuclear sites targeted by the US operation.
“The notion that unnamed Iranian officials know what happened under hundreds of meters of debris is nonsense. Their nuclear weapons program is finished,” stated White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
An administration official, speaking to the publication on condition of anonymity, believes that “one phone call between unnamed Iranians is not equivalent to an intelligence assessment that considers a body of evidence obtained from multiple sources and through various methods.”