Israeli sources offer conflicting assessments of US–Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites: Report
Source tells ABC News outcome of attack on Fordo uranium enrichment facility 'really not good'
WASHINGTON
Israeli sources have provided divergent evaluations following US and Israeli airstrikes targeting three key Iranian nuclear facilities, ABC News reported Wednesday.
US forces carried out strikes early Sunday at the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites amid growing fears of a broader conflict.
About the damage at the Fordo uranium enrichment facility, one source told ABC News that the outcome there is "really not good."
Two sources said they do not know how much enriched uranium may have been moved from the sites before the strikes, or how many centrifuges, used to enrich uranium, are left and can be made operational, according to ABC News.
One source said establishing those details could take months, or prove impossible.
An Israeli source with knowledge of the Israeli intelligence assessment told ABC News that the strike on Fordo "got the job done, with the site "damaged beyond repair (sic)."
The assessment is based on "excellent" intelligence sources inside Iran, which includes "info from spies, listening in on what the Iranian leaders themselves are saying and cyber spying capabilities," according to the report.
"You don't have to go down into Fordo to know what happened," the source said.
"If Israel was not satisfied with the results of the U.S. strikes, Israel would have bombed Fordow again. The (sic) was the central target of the whole operation. And Israel did not bomb it again," the source was quoted as saying by ABC News.
The source also disputed suggestions that Iran had time to move enriched uranium stockpiles out of the nuclear facilities before the strikes. "It was stockpiled at Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow and it's now under the rubble," according to the report.
Another Israeli source told ABC News: "The most honest are those who say they don't know yet -- anyone who says it was a failure is pushing in the wrong direction, anyone who says it was 100% obliterated is also pushing in the wrong direction.
US President Donald Trump claimed the sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan were “completely destroyed.”
