A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Trump administration has revealed a number of new details about U.S. airstrikes on Iran's nuclear program.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The president's top military adviser described an operation many years in the making. And at the end of those years, he said, B-2 pilots put giant bombs on the target and returned safely. At the same briefing, the defense secretary attacked the media, but officials did not give much clarity on exactly how much damage the attack did to Iran's nuclear program.
MARTÍNEZ: For more, we're joined by NPR national security correspondent Greg Myre. Greg, so are we any closer at all to knowing how much damage was done to Iran's nuclear program?
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Well, we're learning more, but we still don't have a clear assessment. And, A, it's probably not realistic to expect one at this point. All the evidence presented by the Trump administration shows the U.S. airstrikes hit their target Sunday at three separate nuclear sites south of Iran's capital, Tehran. But President Trump just got way out ahead of everyone by immediately saying the Iranian program was completely wiped out. There just doesn't appear to be enough intelligence yet to make such a definitive statement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe briefed senators on Capitol Hill Thursday. A number of senators emerged and said it's just too early to tell the full extent of the damage.
MARTÍNEZ: There was also that Pentagon briefing that Steve mentioned earlier, Greg, where we heard about how long the U.S. has been tracking developments at the most important nuclear site, Fordo. So tell us about the briefing.
MYRE: Yeah. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine, said the U.S. detected Iran's work on the mountain in Fordo early on. So way back in 2009, the military selected a couple officers with the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency to work on this full-time.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DAN CAINE: For more than 15 years, this officer and his teammate lived and breathed this single target - Fordo. He watched the Iranians dig it out. He watched the construction, the weather, the discard material, the geology - every nook, every crater. They literally dreamed about this target at night when they slept.
MYRE: And this was extremely sensitive and secretive work. They couldn't discuss it with family or friends. They just kept grinding away all these years, with all the twists and turns involving Iran's nuclear program.
MARTÍNEZ: So what problems did they see?
MYRE: Well, they came to realize the U.S. didn't have a weapon that could reach a target this deep inside a mountain, perhaps 300 feet down. So Caine said they collaborated with munitions experts, and the result was this 30,000-pound bunker-busting bomb known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CAINE: They tested it over and over again. They accomplished hundreds of test shots and dropped many full-scale weapons against extremely realistic targets for a single purpose - kill this target at the time and place of our nation's choosing.
MYRE: And that time and place came Sunday in Iran.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. So it seems like information is trickling in. What are we learning, though?
MYRE: Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said his country's nuclear facilities suffered serious damage, but he didn't provide details. And Rafael Grossi, the head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, also said he believes there was significant damage, but he doesn't think the entire nuclear program was destroyed. Now, a big question is the whereabouts of 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium. Did Iran hide that somewhere before the U.S. attacks? Well, Grossi said Iranian officials told him they did take protective measures for that uranium, which could be used for a bomb eventually.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's Greg Myre. Greg, thank you.
MYRE: Sure thing, A. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
