Iran’s Nukes: Mission Accomplished or Just Paused?
Twelve days of blistering Israeli and US airstrikes may have left Iran’s nuclear dreams buried under mountains of rubble—but what’s been accomplished, and what might come next, is still up for debate. In her deeply reported piece for The Media Line, Maayan Hoffman cuts through the noise, bringing readers expert insight into what really happened—and what still keeps intelligence officials up at night.
By all appearances, the operation hit hard. Iran’s key nuclear facilities—Natanz, Fordo, Isfahan, and Arak—took direct hits. Satellite images show craters where centrifuge halls once stood. Fordo, long thought to be untouchable, got hammered with twelve 30,000-pound bunker busters. The CIA and Mossad say Iran’s nuclear program has been set back by years. Even Iran’s Foreign Ministry admitted “significant damage.”
President Donald Trump wasn’t shy either: “Total obliteration,” he said, citing post-strike Israeli inspections. Israel’s top general called it a “systemic blow.” Mossad chief David Barnea went even further, declaring Israel “a safer, braver country.”
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But some intelligence sources are urging caution. Could Iran restart its enrichment program? Was some uranium smuggled out before the bombs fell? And what about the unexploded threat of cyberwarfare, terrorism, and proxies?
Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser says the biggest hit may have come from the targeted killings of Iran’s nuclear brain trust—14 top scientists. “They basically had everything in their mind,” he said. Rebuilding that knowledge won’t be easy.
Still, the experts agree: Iran isn’t out of the picture forever. Tel Aviv University’s Eyal Zisser warns that if the world lets its guard down, Tehran could be back in the game within years.
Want the full story, the deep dive, and the straight talk? Don’t miss Maayan Hoffman’s full report at The Media Line.
