WASHINGTON – The United States’ top intelligence official offered contradictory assessments to Senate lawmakers on Wednesday about whether Tehran was working to rebuild its nuclear enrichment program prior to the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran on Feb. 28.
“Prior to Operation Epic Fury, the [US intelligence community] assesses Iran was trying to recover from the severe damage to its nuclear infrastructure sustained during the 12-day war, and continued to refuse to comply with its nuclear obligations with the IAEA,” Gabbard told members of the Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence on Wednesday.
However, in written testimony submitted to the committee prior to the hearing, Gabbard’s office said Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was “obliterated” by the June 2025 US strikes, and that there had been “no efforts” by Iran to rebuild enrichment capability.
Gabbard further said US intelligence assesses Iran’s government “appears to be intact, but largely degraded due to attacks on its leadership and military capabilities.”
Iran’s “conventional military power projection capabilities have largely been destroyed, leaving limited options,” she added in opening remarks.
“The IC assesses that if a hostile regime survives, it will likely seek to begin a yearslong effort to rebuild its military missiles and UAV forces,” Gabbard told lawmakers, making no mention of whether the conflict could push Iranian leaders to pursue nuclear weaponization.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
