Speaking at a NATO summit held in The Hague on June 25, US President Donald Trump said that US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities have ended tensions between Tehran and Israel, similar to the way nuclear bombings ended World War 2.
I dont want to use Hiroshima or Nagasaki as examples, but in essence, its the same thing. That ended the other conflict. And this time is no different, Trump said.
He affirmed that if the attacks were not carried out, the conflict between Iran and Israel could still be ongoing. The US has launched an unprecedented series of airstrikes on three key Iranian nuclear facilities to support Israel in a 12-day operation. Trump later announced a ceasefire between the two sides, asserting that Iran's nuclear facilities "had been completely destroyed".
However, Iran has denied the claim and stressed that its civilian nuclear program remains intact and will continue to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
A confidential preliminary report from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said the airstrike only delayed Iran's nuclear program for several months. Some sources said that Iran's underground centrifugees - a key device in the process of enriching uranium - were largely unaffected, while the phan waste materials may have been moved to safety before the US launched.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the country would reconsider cooperation under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), as two decades of transparency and trust in Irans peaceful nuclear program have not produced positive results.
Araghchi affirmed that Iran has invested heavily in the nuclear energy program for civil purposes, and will not give up this path.
President Trump also attacked major US media outlets such as CNN, MSNBC and the New York Times, accusing them of mitigating the impact of the attack and calling some reporters bad guys and disease.
Although the US has said the move has ended the conflict, intelligence and reaction assessments from Iran suggest the reality could be more complicated.
