The Pentagon has Launched a Criminal Investigation into Leaked Intelligence About US Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Facilities that Suggested they Were not Destroyed, Contrary to What Trump Claimed, Politico Reports
“This information was intended for internal use and assessment of combat losses,” the head of the department, Piet Hegseth, commented on the situation at the NATO summit in The Hague.
He believes that media reports based on this report are intended to “twist the situation to make the president look bad, even though it was a clear victory.”
“We believe that, most likely, (the consequences of a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities) are serious – up to and including complete destruction,” Hegseth added.
Pentagon launches probe into Iran strike intel leak
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the findings after others called it fake news.
“We’re doing a leak investigation with the FBI right now because this information is for internal purposes, battle damage assessments,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
THE HAGUE — The Pentagon has launched a criminal investigation into the leak of a classified Defense Intelligence Agency report assessing that damage to Iranian nuclear facilities from U.S. airstrikes didn’t significantly set back Tehran’s nuclear program.
“We’re doing a leak investigation with the FBI right now because this information is for internal purposes, battle damage assessments,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the NATO summit on Wednesday. He added that press reports detailing the findings are meant to “spin it to make the president look bad when this was an overwhelming success.”
Seated next to President Donald Trump, NATO chief Mark Rutte and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the start of a day of meetings, Hegseth didn’t provide details of the investigation, but did confirm the classified intelligence assessment and its findings, saying its conclusions are “low confidence.” The comments came after both Trump and Rubio referred to the news reports as fake stories.
Damage to the facilities was “moderate to severe, and we believe far more likely severe and obliterated,” Hegseth said.
Rubio told POLITICO on Wednesday that Iran is now “much further away from a nuclear weapon” after the U.S. dropped 14 bombs weighing 30,000 pounds each on three of Iran’s main nuclear sites.
“The bottom line is, they are much further away from a nuclear weapon today than they were before the president took this bold action,” he said. “Significant, very significant, substantial damage was done to a variety of different components, and we’re just learning more about it,” he added.
Trump said that Iran is “not going to have a bomb, they’re not going to enrich” uranium after the strikes.
Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Wednesday that “it is still early to assess the results of the operation,” but “I believe we have delivered a significant hit to the nuclear program, and I can also say that we have delayed it by several years.”
CNN was first to report the results of the assessment, and the news was later confirmed by other outlets.
Resources:
https://t.me/intelslava/77172
https://www.politico.eu/article/us-pentagon-investigation-iran-intel-leak-pete-hegseth-donald-trump-rubio/
