Trump asserted on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News that Iran was “weeks away” from producing weapons before the Israeli attack on June 13. Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, Iran’s top three nuclear facilities, were targeted by the US nine days later.
Tehran’s nuclear arsenal was not being built, according to US intelligence and the UN nuclear watchdog. Iran has long argued that its nuclear program is only intended for civilian purposes.
In the wake of the attacks, several major news outlets, citing intelligence sources, have reported that the US strikes did not destroy the facilities, despite Trump’s claim that the bombers “obliterated” the sites.
The Fordow plant, which produces the majority of Iran’s highly enriched uranium needed to create nuclear weapons, was named by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Monday, and damage was not disclosed.
Trump claimed over the weekend that the attacks had “deadly set Iran’s nuclear ambitions back by decades,” while IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on Sunday that Iran could resume uranium enrichment in a matter of months.
Iran has more than 400 kg (880lb) of uranium that has been enriched to close to the weapons grade of roughly 90, which would equal nine nuclear weapons if further enriched, according to an IAEA report released last month.
Trump claimed to be spreading “fake news” when Fox News learned that the outlets that questioned the effectiveness of the attacks he ordered and praised were.
They tried to make it into a story, but it turned out that it was destroyed, as nobody has ever seen before, and that put an end to their nuclear ambitions, according to Trump.
Trump questioned whether Iran would restart its nuclear program after the conflict had ended, saying that “the last thing they want to do is think about nuclear.”
Trump claimed that the reports that Iran had removed the enriched uranium from Fordow were false during the attack on the sites.
Nobody thought we would go after that site because everyone said it was impossible because it is located at the base of a mountain and is made of granite, he said, adding that we didn’t give them much notice because they didn’t know we were coming until just then.
He claimed that the bomb “went through it like butter,” as he put it.
Talks about trade
After Canada introduced a new digital services tax on foreign and domestic technology companies, Trump separately told Fox that US trade negotiations with Canada would be suspended “until they drop certain taxes.”
Trump claimed that while Washington, DC has a significant trade deficit with Beijing, the US is “getting along” with China at the moment.
