{"id":13333,"date":"2026-02-24T18:32:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T18:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=13333"},"modified":"2026-02-24T18:32:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T18:32:53","slug":"us-re-asserts-2025-strikes-obliterated-irans-nuclear-programme-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=13333","title":{"rendered":"US re-asserts 2025 strikes \u2018obliterated\u2019 Iran\u2019s nuclear programme | Politics News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>The White House\u2019s comment comes days after a senior Trump aide said Iran is one week away from having material for nuclear bomb.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><button class=\"article-listen-container\" aria-labelledby=\"listen-text listen-duration\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-button\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"article-listen-container__text\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-text\">Listen to this article<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"article-listen-container__duration\">4 mins<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/button><button tabindex=\"0\" class=\"tooltip-accessible_trigger\"><svg class=\"icon icon--info icon--main-grey-dark icon--16 listen-to-article-tooltip__icon\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\"><title>info<\/title><path class=\"icon-main-color\" d=\"M12 0a12 12 0 1 0 0 24 12 12 0 0 0 0-24Zm-.226 3.225a2.039 2.039 0 0 1 2.155 1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>The White House has insisted that last year\u2019s strikes against Iran destroyed the country\u2019s nuclear programme despite a recent claim by a senior US official that Tehran is a week away from having bombmaking material.<\/p>\n<p>Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokesperson, told reporters on Tuesday that the June 2025 attack on Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities, known as Operation Midnight Hammer, was an \u201coverwhelmingly successful mission\u201d.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>The attack \u201cdid, in fact, obliterate Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities\u201c, Leavitt said.<\/p>\n<p>But just this weekend, President Donald Trump\u2019s envoy Steve Witkoff suggested that Iran is close to having enough material to build a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material,\u201d Witkoff told Fox News on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Since last June\u2019s strikes, Trump has repeatedly hailed the attack, arguing that it eliminated Iran\u2019s nuclear programme and led to \u201cpeace\u201d in the Middle East. Operation Midnight Hammer came towards the end of a 12-day war Israel initiated with Iran that month.<\/p>\n<p>But eight months later, US and Iranian officials are once again holding talks to reach a nuclear deal and avert another war.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"uncertainty-over-iran-s-nuclear-capabilities\">Uncertainty over Iran\u2019s nuclear capabilities<\/h2>\n<p>On Tuesday, Leavitt said the destruction of Iran\u2019s nuclear programme had been \u201cverified\u201d by Trump and the United Nations\u2019 watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat does not mean that Iran may never try again to establish a nuclear programme that could directly threaten the United States and our allies abroad, and that\u2019s what the president wants to ensure can never happen again,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, after the US attack, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said Iran could resume uranium enrichment \u201cin a matter of months\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>But the UN agency\u2019s inspectors have not been able to assess Iran\u2019s nuclear sites since the US strikes.<\/p>\n<p>The Pentagon\u2019s public assessment was that the Iranian nuclear programme was set back by one to two years.<\/p>\n<p>There has been no official confirmation of the US claims that Iran has restarted nuclear enrichment after the attack.<\/p>\n<p>After a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the US in December, Trump renewed his threats to attack Iran if it tries to rebuild its nuclear or missile programme.<\/p>\n<p>Tensions have spiralled since then, with the US amassing military assets near Iran.<\/p>\n<p>Still, Tehran and Washington are set to hold the third round of negotiations this year to push for a nuclear deal.<\/p>\n<p>Iran, which denies seeking a nuclear weapon, has said it would agree to minimal uranium enrichment under strict IAEA supervision in exchange for lifting sanctions against its economy.<\/p>\n<p>But Trump has repeatedly stressed that it is seeking zero enrichment.<\/p>\n<p>Enrichment is the process of isolating and concentrating a rare variant, or isotope, of uranium that can produce nuclear fission.<\/p>\n<p>At low levels, enriched uranium can power electric plants. If enriched to approximately 90 percent, it can be used for nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n<p>Before the June 2025 war, Iran was enriching uranium at 60 percent purity.<\/p>\n<p>Tehran had been escalating its nuclear programme since 2018, when Trump, during his first term, nixed a multilateral agreement that capped Iran\u2019s enrichment at 3.67 percent. He instead started piling up sanctions on the Iranian economy, as part of a \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The White House on Tuesday suggested the military option against Iran remains on the table.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s first option is always diplomacy. But as he has shown, he is willing to use the lethal force of the United States military if necessary,\u201d Leavitt said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The White House\u2019s comment comes days after a senior Trump aide said Iran is one week away from having material for nuclear bomb. Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a04 mins info The White House has insisted that last year\u2019s strikes against Iran destroyed the country\u2019s nuclear programme despite a recent claim by a senior US official that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}