Israel backs away from heavier strikes on Iran, maintaining ceasefire after Trump pressure

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said leakers are “professional stabbers” after reports cited a leaked preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment that said President Donald Trump's strikes on Iran did not destroy three targeted nuclear sites.

“On the stuff about the intelligence, this is what a leaker is telling you,” Rubio told reporters. “The intelligence says that's the game these people play. They read it, and then they go out and characterize it the way they want to characterize. And they're leakers this is the game they play.”

“Here's a fact: the conversion facility -- which, you can't do a nuclear weapon without conversion facility. We can't even find ... where it used to be on the map. You can't even find where it used to be because the whole thing is blackened out. It's gone. It's wiped out. Then we dropped 12 of the strongest bombs on the planet, right down the hole in two places. Everything underneath that mountain is in bad shape,” he continued.

“I refer you to the statement of the IAEA, Mister Grossi,” Rubio added. “You know what he said? He said there was Iran the way it looked the day before the attack and what their nuclear program looks like now. Two very different things. They are way behind where they were just seven days ago. Now anything in the world can be rebuilt, but now we know where it is and if they try to rebuild it, we'll have options there as well.”

Rubio also said “these leakers are professional stabbers.”

“They go out and they read this stuff and then they tell you what it says, against the law. But they characterize it for you in a way that's absolutely false,” he said.

President Donald Trump said Iran will not be building bombs “for a very long time” and “the last thing they want to do” is enrich uranium,

Trump was asked while speaking to reporters at a NATO summit in The Hague what his response was to the Iranian foreign minister saying the country will continue to enrich uranium.

“The last thing they want to do is enrich anything right now,” Trump said. “They want to recover, and we won't let that happen.”

“Look, I've had a relationship over the last four days. They agreed to the ceasefire. And it was a very informal agreement. They both said, that's enough, and they both said it. But, no, they won't do that. The last thing they want to do is enrich. They're not looking to fill that void,” he continued.

“Can you imagine after all of that, they're going to say, ‘oh, let's go and do a bomb?’” He added. “You know, there could be a day in the future and then somebody else taking our place will be saying, don't do it. And maybe they won't do it as well. I don't know, but, they're not going to have a bomb and they're not going to enrich, and we believe all of this stuff is down there.”

Trump said he does not believe Iran has “nearly the time.”

“I think it was just a tremendous victory for everybody … Israel got, hit very hard, especially the last couple of days,” Trump said. "Israel has hit really hard. Those ballistic missiles, boy, they took out a lot of buildings and they've been great. Netanyahu should be very proud of himself. And they've really been great, but they're not going to be building bombs for a long time.”

Acting U.S. envoy to the U.N. Dorothy Shea said U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities "effectively fulfilled our narrow objective: to degrade Iran's capacity to produce a nuclear weapon.”

"These strikes – in accordance with the inherent right to collective self-defense, consistent with the U.N. Charter – aimed to mitigate the threat posed by Iran to Israel, the region and to, more broadly, international peace and security," Shea told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump had said the strikes over the weekend “completely and totally obliterated” Iran's nuclear facilities.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump announced that a ceasefire between Iran and Israel had begun.

"I think it's still early to assess all the strikes. We know we were able to push back the (nuclear) program. We were able to remove the imminent threat that we had," Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told reporters on Tuesday.

A preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment has determined that the U.S. strikes set back Tehran's nuclear program by only months.

"Iran emerged proud and steadfast in the face of this criminal aggression. This proves one simple truth more clearly than ever: Diplomacy and dialogue are the only path to resolving the unnecessary crisis over Iran's peaceful program," Iran's U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told the Security Council.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Israelis responded calmly on Tuesday to U.S. President Donald Trump, who criticized the Jewish State and accused it of violating a ceasefire he brokered with Iran.

The people of Israel expressed gratitude for Trump’s mediation and relief for the end of the conflict.

"Honestly, I don't care that much about what Trump said about Israel. At the end of the day, I think he's the one that truly helped to bring an end to this war and that's what's important to me,” Daniel Kopylkov, a cook, said.

Historian Marc Volovici said Trump's verbal attacks against Israel underscored the Jewish State’s dependence on U.S. political, military and financial support.

"This was just a very small but significant demonstration of how Israel relies on international legitimacy, and especially (the) American one,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Trump blasted Israel after joining the U.S. ally in the war two days before by dropping massive bunker-buster bombs on Iran's underground nuclear sites.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that President Donald Trump “doesn’t know what the F he’s doing” after the president claimed that Israel and Iran do not know what they are doing.

”We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing,” Trump told reporters.

Ocasio-Cortez responded on X: “And he doesn’t know what the F he’s doing either.”

“Mind you instead of focusing on the war he just uncorked, he spent his morning writing essays about me in his blog,” she added.

President Donald Trump lashed out at CNN and the New York Times over reports that U.S. strikes failed to significantly damage three Iranian nuclear facilities.

“FAKE NEWS CNN, TOGETHER WITH THE FAILING NEW YORK TIMES, HAVE TEAMED UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED! BOTH THE TIMES AND CNN ARE GETTING SLAMMED BY THE PUBLIC!”

A report by CNN citing anonymous sources, said the strikes ordered by Trump didn't do the kind of damage that would seriously degrade Tehran's ability to restart its nuclear program.

The preliminary intelligence assessment, which is deemed low confidence in intelligence terms, by the Defense Intelligence Agency said Iran's nuclear program could be back on line in less than a year.

The White House and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have pushed back on the reports.

“Based on everything we have seen — and I’ve seen it all — our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons,” Hegseth said. "Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target—and worked perfectly. The impact of those bombs is buried under a mountain of rubble in Iran; so anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the President and the successful mission.“

The U.S. State Department announced the U.S. Embassy in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza will open as usual beginning on Wednesday now that Home Front Command has lifted all restrictions after Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire.

U.S. government employees were ordered to shelter in place while tensions between Israel and Iran continued to escalate.

Despite many restrictions being lifted, U.S. government employees and family members are restricted from traveling outside greater Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Be’er Sheva areas until further notice, the State Department said. Travel between those areas, though, is allowed, including to and from Ben Gurion Airport.

STATE DEPARTMENT ISSUES WORLDWIDE CAUTION FOR US TRAVELERS FOLLOWING TRUMP'S IRAN STRIKES

The State Department issued a full release on restrictions being lifted, when and where services are expected to resume.

While embassies are reopening, visa operations, for example, will resume in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv starting on Monday, June 30.

But regularly scheduled U.S. passport and Consular Report of Birth Abroad appointments will resume on Wednesday.

The U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend eradicated Iran's ability to produce a nuclear weapon, despite media reports saying the opposite, Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration's special envoy to the Middle East, said Tuesday.

The strikes ordered by President Donald Trump targeted three sites – one each in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow.

“All three of those had most, if not all, the centrifuges damaged or destroyed in a way that it will be almost impossible for them to resurrect that program, in my view and in many other experts' views who have seen the raw data, it will take a period of years," Witkoff told “The Ingraham Angle."

Witkoff described media reports contradicting claims that Iran's nuclear sites were obliterated “completely preposterous.”

He also called for whoever leaked documents about the damage assessment of the three targeted sites to be held accountable.

“Leaking that type of information, whatever the information, whatever side it comes out on, is outrageous," he said. "It's treasonous. So, it ought to be investigated. And whoever did it, whoever is responsible for it, should be held accountable. It could hurt lives in the future."

“It was never going to be a forever war. It was never gonna be a war just for war's sake. It was a war to achieve an objective that I think most Americans should be very, very satisfied with,” Witkoff told the “Ingraham Angle." “I can tell you that I was in those discussions. I watched our commander in chief. He is, he's got this uncanny ability to understand exactly when to push the button and when to pull out. He achieved his objective and that was the end of it.”

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said it is too soon to know how effective President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities will be, despite reports they could be back up and running in less than a year.

Paul told reporters he had seen reports that 400 kg of 60% enriched uranium had been removed from the nuclear facilities before U.S. bombs were dropped in Iran.

The senator was clear, though, that he had not been briefed on the veracity of the missing uranium and learned about the missing uranium through news reports.

As far as the future of Iran’s nuclear program, Paul said he hoped Iran was chastened by the events and want to be part of a community of nations and be friendly with everyone instead of racing toward a nuclear program capable of completing a nuclear weapon.

TRUMP HAILS ‘MONUMENTAL' DAMAGE AS EXPERTS AWAIT VERDICT ON IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM

“So, this will either be heralded as the greatest military strike in recent history or if they make a spiritual nuclear weapon, people will look back, you know, in retrospect and say, ‘oh my goodness, what happened here?’” Paul said. “I don't think it's known yet. I don't think anybody knows. And it may take a while to know. I doubt there will be any kind of inspections. I don't think there’s going to be nuclear inspections. I don't expect Iran to let anybody come in and look at the facilities.”

“They will say one thing, but they will obviously have some propaganda effects that they're trying to display, and others will say something else, but I'm not sure we're going to know for a while.” he continued. “I think it's going to take a while to assess things...but I think ultimately it's going to take a while until Iran reveals which direction they're going.”

Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday praised President Donald Trump's action to strike Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend.

Vance, who spoke at the Ohio Republican Party dinner in Lima, Ohio, said Trump gave Tehran 60 days to give up its nuclear ambitions.

“You don't want the worst people in the world to have a nuclear weapon. So what did the President do? For 60 days, he negotiated aggressively to encourage the Iranian regime to give up those weapons peacefully," Vance said. “And by the way, he was more than willing to accept a peaceful settlement to that problem. But again, this comes back to instincts. When the President realized that there was not going to be a peaceful settlement to that problem, he sent B2 bombers and dropped twelve 30,000-pound bombs on the work facility and destroyed that program.”

“Not only did we destroy the Iranian nuclear program, we did it with zero American casualties,” the vice president added.

Vance noted that many do not want the United States to get involved in a lengthy, protracted conflict.

"We all saw what happened with Iraq and Afghanistan," he said.

Classified briefings for House and Senate members about the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites have been postponed until later in the week, said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

“I have just confirmed with the White House that the classified bipartisan briefing for all House Members will now be held on Friday,” Johnson wrote Tuesday on X. “Senior Administration officials will present the latest information pertaining to the situation involving Israel and Iran.”

Some Democrats expressed frustration at the delay.

“This last-minute postponement of our briefing is outrageous, it’s evasive, it’s derelict. They’re bobbing and weaving and ducking. Senators deserve full transparency. There is a legal obligation for the administration to inform Congress about precisely what is happening,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate Floor.

“What are they afraid of?” he added.

Israel said its forces intercepted two drones that likely came from Iran as both nations continue to observe a fragile ceasefire.

“The Air Force intercepted earlier this evening two unmanned aerial vehicles that were making their way toward the country's territory, likely from Iran," the Israeli Air Force wrote on X. "The interceptions were carried out outside the country's territory.”

Israeli officials have said the country will respond with force if Iran violates the newly agreed-upon ceasefire.

Iran's nuclear program could be back on line in less than a year, according to sources who have seen the Defense Intelligence Agency bomb damage assessment from U.S. strikes this past weekend.

The agency assesses that the Iran nuclear program could be back on line in a matters of “months,” from one to two months on the low end to less than a year on the high end, sources who have seen the classified DIA assessment told Fox News Chief National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin.

The preliminary intelligence assessment, which is deemed low confidence in intelligence terms, is based on satellite images and signals intelligence obtained since the strikes. The focus of the report is on Iran's Fordow facility.

The U.S. bunker buster bombs were able to cave the entrances to the facility, which is built 300 feet underground. Some infrastructure was destroyed, but the overall operations were not destroyed and they could “dig out” and rebuild and repair the power to the facility that powered the centrifuges.

An unknown amount of the highly enriched uranium was moved out of the facility, according to the preliminary DIA intelligence assessment. One possibility, according to the report, is that it was moved to the “3rd site” that the Iranians told the International Atomic Energy Agency about ahead of the strikes.

The DIA is one of 18 intelligence agencies and focuses on military intelligence.

There's no question that Iran's nuclear program has suffered significant damage, said Ret. Gen. David Petraeus.

Petraeus, the former CIA director and commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), praised the U.S. military precision strikes against Iran over the weekend in an effort to degrade its ability to develop a nuclear weapon.

“I suspect that this has set the program back much, much more than many months but the bomb assessment process does need to be complete to validate that,” he said Tuesday on “The Will Cain Show.”

Petraeus noted that officials need to ensure that high-enriched uranium wasn't moved from the targeted sites elsewhere.

“I'm quite confident that this has set back the program a very substantial amount of time, undoubtedly years,” he said. 

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said his agency does not know where nearly 900 pounds of potentially enriched uranium is located, after Iranian officials said it was being removed for protective measures ahead of strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran.

Grossi was a guest on Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” on Tuesday, when he was asked about the whereabouts of the enriched uranium in Iran, as well as other topics concerning the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities on Saturday.

The U.S. military on Saturday carried out massive precision strikes on three key nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.

UN NUCLEAR CHIEF SAYS IRAN HAS MATERIAL TO BUILD BOMBS, BUT NO PLAN TO DO SO

Grossi said Natanz was the first to be hit and sustained “very serious damage” in one of the centrifuge halls where enrichment was being carried out. Isfahan also sustained damage, he added, though nobody has been inside the halls to assess the damage.

MacCallum asked Grossi about a statement in which he previously said he believed 900 pounds of potentially enriched uranium was taken to an ancient site near Isfahan.

“I have to be very precise, Martha…We are the IAEA, so we are not speculating here,” Grossi said. “We do not have information of the whereabouts of this material.”

He told the host Iran officials told him they were taking protective measures which may or may not include moving around the material.

“So, it is quite obvious you are asking me about it, that there is a question there: Where is this?” Grossi said. “So, the way to asserting that is to allow the inspection activity to resume as soon as possible. And I think this would be for the benefit of all.”

The U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities Saturday have rendered ideal results for addressing the crisis between Iran and Israel, according to former President Joe Biden’s National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa.

"Bottom line, this is about the best place we can be," Brett McGurk said in a CNN interview late Monday. "I give extremely high marks to this national security team and President Trump for managing this crisis and getting where we are."

EX-CLINTON OFFICIAL APPLAUDS TRUMP’S 'COURAGEOUS' IRAN CALL, DOUBTS HARRIS WOULD'VE HAD THE NERVE

Additionally, McGurk said that the Trump administration has an opportunity to pursue a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza amid ongoing attempts for months to secure one.

"There’s a chance for diplomacy here," McGurk said. "Not only on the Iran side, but also in Gaza. Those talks are also going on back channel in Cairo; there’s a Hamas delegation there. Try to get that ceasefire in place. And you can come out of this in a place that is far better than we would have anticipated 10 nights ago."

Read more about Trump’s handling of the Iranian conflict.

This is an excerpt from a story by Diana Stancy.

The U.S. bombing campaign to take out Iranian nuclear sites has “obliterated” Iran's ability to produce a nuclear weapon, officials said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt disputed a CNN report that Iran's nuclear facilities were intact.

“Based on everything we have seen — and I’ve seen it all — our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons,” Hegseth said. "Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target—and worked perfectly. The impact of those bombs is buried under a mountain of rubble in Iran; so anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the President and the successful mission.“

Leavitt said the alleged assessment was “flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community.”

“This assessment and the leak is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program,” she said. "Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said his country achieved a historic victory by taking out Iran's nuclear program.

In a video message to Israelis, the prime minister said Israel faced its destruction had it not acted.

“We eliminated two immediate existential threats: the threat of annihilation by nuclear bombs, and the threat of annihilation by 20,000 ballistic missiles,” he said. “Because at the decisive moment, we rose like a lion, stood like an eagle, and our roar shook Tehran and echoed across the world.”

In 12 days of operations, Israel destroyed the main enrichment facility in Natanz, a uranium conversion facility in Isfahan, a heavy water reactor in Arak, as well as eliminating Iran's top nuclear scientists, he said.

“As for the Iranian regime—we delivered crushing blows. We eliminated numerous senior figures, destroyed command posts, struck Revolutionary Guards bases and Basij bases, and targeted symbols of the regime," Netanyahu added. "And this morning, just hours before the ceasefire, we dealt the Ayatollah regime the harshest blow since the start of the war—the worst in its history. Hundreds of regime operatives were eliminated in a devastating strike—the most devastating Tehran has seen in the last 50 years.”

The Israeli leader added that Israel has not forgotten about the hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas.

“We have not paused our efforts for a single moment—not even during the war—to return all our hostages home. Again: the living and the fallen alike. And we will not let up until this sacred mission is complete,” he said.

The group pushing for all hostages being held captive in Gaza by Hamas is calling for their release following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the momentum is on Israel's side to get the remaining hostages released.

“The ceasefire agreement must expand to include Gaza; we call on the government to engage in urgent negotiations that will bring home all the hostages and end the war," the group in a news release. "Those who can achieve a ceasefire with Iran can also end the war in Gaza.”

“To conclude this decisive operation against Iran without leveraging our success to bring home all the hostages would be a grave failure," it said. "The Israeli government has a duty to seize this opportunity with both hands, and pursue with full force a comprehensive deal that will return all 50 hostages in one phase and end the war.”