US President Donald Trump said nothing was moved from Iranian nuclear facilities targeted by American strikes, echoing his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who earlier on Thursday said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved its uranium to shield it from US strikes over the weekend.
“Nothing was taken out of the facility. Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!” Trump wrote.
However, a report from the Financial Times on Thursday wrote that European leaders said they believe Iran's highly enriched uranium stockpile remains largely intact following US strikes on its main nuclear sites.
The newspaper, citing two people briefed on preliminary intelligence assessments, said European capitals believe Iran’s stockpile of 408 kilograms of uranium enriched close to weapons-grade levels was not concentrated in Fordow, one of its two main enrichment sites, at the time of last weekend’s attack.
'A resolute setback to Iran's nuclear program'
On Thursday, Hegseth briefed the Pentagon press corps on the joint US-Israel strikes, calling them a resolute setback to Iran's nuclear program, The Jerusalem Post previously reported.
He said that with the strikes, Trump had “created the conditions to end the war, decimating – choose your word – obliterating, destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities.”
In his remarks, Hegseth quoted several US and international figures who confirmed that the strikes had destroyed Iran's nuclear program.
He added that he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium to shield it from US strikes on Iran's nuclear program over the weekend.
"I'm not aware of any intelligence that I've reviewed that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise," Hegseth said.
“I hope, with all the ink spilled, all of your outlets find the time to properly recognize this historic change in continental security that other presidents tried to do, other presidents talked about,” he said, as reported by CNN. “President Trump accomplished it. It’s a huge deal.”
This is a developing story.