‘Propaganda media’: Tulsi Gabbard slams media over reports undermining Iran strike; CIA confirms severe damage

Tulsi Gabbard (left) and John Ratclif (AP)

Top US intelligence officers on Wednesday issued a powerful rebuttal to leaked media reports suggesting restricted damage from current US airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear websites, asserting that the focused services had been the truth is severely hit and would take years to rebuild.Director of nationwide intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accused what she described because the “propaganda media” of selectively leaking labeled assessments in a bid to discredit President Donald Trump’s dealing with of the strikes. In a publish from her official X account, Gabbard stated new intelligence confirms the “complete destruction” of Iran’s nuclear services at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan throughout American airstrikes earlier this week.“If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities entirely,” she wrote, including that such a reconstruction course of “would likely take years.”Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who now serves in Trump’s cupboard, additionally criticised the credibility of current information reports that downplayed the extent of the damage. She claimed that these tales had been based mostly on illegally leaked labeled assessments written with “low confidence” and selectively leaked to mislead the general public.Echoing her remarks, CIA director John Ratcliffe additionally issued a press release on X confirming that the company had “credible intelligence”, together with from trusted sources, displaying that the Iranian nuclear programme had sustained critical setbacks. “Iran’s nuclear facilities have been severely damaged by the recent, targeted strikes,” Ratcliffe stated, noting that the CIA continues to watch the scenario and can replace officers and the general public as extra data turns into obtainable.Both officers immediately challenged preliminary leaks reported by some US media retailers that steered the strikes had left core parts of the Iranian nuclear services intact and had set it again solely by a matter of months. Ratcliffe dismissed these reports as based mostly on illegally obtained intelligence that doesn’t replicate the CIA’s present evaluation.The statements from Gabbard and Ratcliffe mark essentially the most assertive public response from the intelligence neighborhood for the reason that strikes had been carried out.