By Alexandra Snow
A spokesperson for the Pentagon stated on Wednesday that despite Donald Trump’s assertion that he had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites , the actual damage caused by the bunker-buster bombs likely only set back the nuclear programme by a year or two. Until Wednesday’s press conference, no other intelligence official had echoed the term “obliterated”, as it is not typically used in intelligence assessments. However, Sean Parnell seemed to deliberately echo Trump’s language from his post on Truth Social following the bombing , stating that their assessment of the damage “remains unchanged. He said: “All of the intelligence that we’ve seen, has led us to believe that Iran’s, those facilities especially, have been completely obliterated. The interesting side point about this… we have degraded their program by one to two years.” Parnell did not provide further details on the source of the intelligence assessments he referred to, other than to say they came from the defence department. His statement offers a more measured analysis of the damage inflicted on the nuclear facilities at Fordow than Trump’s initial post, according to The Guardian, reports the Irish Star . Last week, responding to a Washington Post article that portrayed the attack as less devastating than Trump had described, Parnell posted on X labelling the information as “fake news. “The mainstream media is engaging in a weaponized smear campaign against America and our incredible troops,” he wrote on X. “The Fake News are knowingly using incomplete, out-of-context and flat-out false intelligence ‘assessments’ to seemingly do the bidding of the Iranian propaganda machine. This isn’t journalism, it’s political activism.” Two days after U.S. B-2 bombers targeted the site, Trump declared that he had also brokered a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. He publicly celebrated this achievement, labelling it the conclusion of the “12 day war.” However, by the following morning, both nations were accusing each other of breaching the ceasefire. Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, suggested on Sunday that Iran could potentially produce enriched uranium within a few months. “They can have in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium,” he stated. “Iran is a very sophisticated country in terms of nuclear technology … You cannot undo the knowledge that you have or the capacities that you have.” Parnell’s statement appeared to echo Trump’s language regarding the damage to Fordow’s sites, despite denying the substance of his claim. This comes amid numerous former Trump appointees who the president has penalised or dismissed for publicly undermining him, regardless of their adherence to fact. For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here .