In the immediate aftermath of the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities on June 22, “Operation Midnight Hammer,” policymakers and experts launched into a heated debate not only about the physical damage of the strikes but also about their impact on Iran’s long-term nuclear ambitions. On the one hand, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director David Petraeus concluded that the strikes did significant damage and cautioned against overinterpreting the leaked Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessment, which stated that the strikes had a limited effect, written with “low confidence.” Conversely, some journalists and experts argued the strikes “backfired” and caused the Iranian regime to be more defiant.
Damage to Iran’s Nuclear Program—Can It Rebuild? (Joseph Rodgers, Heather Williams, and Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. – Center for Strategic & International Studies)
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