Recent U.S. military operations targeting Iran’s primary nuclear facilities may have dealt a significant blow to Tehran’s atomic ambitions, delaying its program by as much as two years, according to Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell.
Speaking during his first solo briefing, Parnell stated, “We’re thinking probably closer to two years — like degraded their program by two years,” offering the most definitive public estimate yet from the Department of Defense. His remarks follow weeks of uncertainty and conflicting reports regarding the true impact of the June airstrikes.
While administration officials have consistently described the strikes as devastating to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, early assessments from the Defense Intelligence Agency suggested a far more modest outcome — only several months of disruption. That initial report, leaked to CNN and later acknowledged by officials, led to questions about the operation’s strategic effect.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously insisted the impact was more substantial, though he refrained from giving his own timeline and stopped short of discrediting the DIA’s early conclusions — labeling them instead as “incomplete.”
Parnell declined to elaborate on what new intelligence informed the revised assessment, but maintained that Iran’s nuclear capabilities — and potentially its motivation to pursue a bomb — had been significantly damaged.
The June strikes involved a large-scale assault with over two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles and 14 massive bunker-busting bombs, each weighing around 30,000 pounds. These were aimed at Iran’s most fortified sites — targets previously out of reach for Israel, which had launched its own limited strikes in the weeks prior.
“The picture is sharpening daily,” Parnell noted, adding that intelligence reviews remain ongoing. He assured that further updates will be shared as analysis continues.
