• Recent US airstrikes severely damaged Iran's nuclear program, requiring years for reconstruction, says CIA.
• Conflicting assessments exist about the extent of damage, with initial reports suggesting limited impact.
• President Trump claims the bombings obliterated major Iranian nuclear facilities.
• Officials emphasize the complexity of evaluating nuclear damage and the implications for future negotiations.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has reported that recent U.S. airstrikes have caused extensive damage to Iran's nuclear facilities, with CIA Director John Ratcliffe stating that several key sites would need to be rebuilt over the course of years. This assessment highlights a significant discrepancy with earlier preliminary reports from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which suggested only a few months’ setback for Iran's nuclear program, raising questions about the reliability of intelligence assessments regarding the airstrikes, according to CBS News and South China Morning Post.

During a briefing, Ratcliffe indicated that new intelligence obtained from historically reliable sources confirmed the extensive damage inflicted on Iranian facilities. "If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities (Natanz, Fordow, Esfahan) entirely," said Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, echoing the CIA's assessment, according to BBC and HuffPost.

President Trump has publicly supported the CIA's narrative, claiming the strikes were a "death blow" to Iran's nuclear ambitions and asserting that they "obliterated" many of Iran's capabilities. However, he faced backlash from conflicting reports highlighting that while damage was significant, it was not as comprehensive as claimed, leading to accusations of misinformation, according to South China Morning Post and HuffPost.

Furthermore, the initial assessments from the DIA, which were revealed to be of "low confidence," indicated that while the attacks caused moderate to severe damage, Iran's core nuclear infrastructure remained largely intact. This contradiction has led to increasing scrutiny of the evaluations surrounding the effectiveness of the U.S. strikes, as highlighted by military and intelligence officials, as noted in reports from CBS News and BBC.