US intelligence assessments indicate that strikes on Iranian nuclear sites set the country's atomic programme back by up to two years, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
“We have degraded their programme by one to two years at least. Intel [intelligence] assessments inside the [Defence] Department assess that,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told journalists, later adding: “We're thinking probably closer to two years.”
American B-2 bombers hit two Iranian nuclear sites with GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs last month, while a guided missile submarine struck a third site with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Israel launched an unprecedented air campaign on Iranian nuclear sites, scientists and top military commanders on June 13 in a bid to end the country's nuclear programme, which Tehran says is for civilian purposes but Washington and other powers insist is aimed at acquiring atomic weapons.
US President Donald Trump spent weeks pursuing a diplomatic path to replace the nuclear deal between world powers and Tehran, which he tore up during his first term in 2018, but he ultimately decided to take military action.
