Public sentiment regarding the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites is largely negative and deeply polarized. Many commenters express skepticism about the strikes' effectiveness and the legality of military intervention, fearing it may escalate into broader conflict. There is widespread concern over the humanitarian repercussions and a significant critique of the motivations behind the strikes. Overall, the sentiments reflect disappointment in U.S. foreign policy and apprehension about future implications for both countries and global stability.

United States

Iran

Trump Administration

&gt; White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN in a statement: “This alleged assessment is 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. The leaking of this alleged assessment 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. Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”

Whelp...

Per_se_Phone

What stood out the most to me

&gt;The White House acknowledged the existence of the assessment but said they disagreed with it.

&gt;White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN in a statement: “This alleged assessment is 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. The leaking of this alleged assessment 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. Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”

Really concerned about the apparent disconnect between the Whitehouse and its intelligence. You cannot be an effective government if you act outside of reality and this is now multiple times that the Whitehouse has contradicted and insulted its own intelligence. It happened earlier with Trump saying Tulsi Gabbard's statements were wrong. 

I guess what I'm trying to get at is, if the report is fake, just say that. Adding all this context about it's security level and the person who leaked it makes it sound more credible. There's no way anyone at a "low level" anywhere in the intelligence community would have had access to information on this operation. And if they did, they failed to properly compartmentalize this intel, which itself is worrying. But also saying that implies you know who it is, and if you know who it is, shouldn't they be behind bars for leaking top secret Intel, because that's super illegal? But if you did that, that implies the report is legitimate? This statement is very contradictory and this administration honestly just talks too fucking much. It really appears to operating in fantasy land. There's a reason the response to claims of leaked intel is supposed to be "neither confirm nor deny", because doing either just gives away more Intel.

I really worry about the amount of corruption in the US government making us as weak as Russia, who can't follow up any of their claims or threats because everyone inside the country bullshits everything just to appease Putin and don't act within the realm of reality. Maybe it helped these cronies get elected but it's going to get all of us fucked in real world operations.

Ixziga

Buck_Thorn

I doubted these reports till the White House started whining about them so they just be true or else the White House would just laugh it off and tell Iran to post pictures of whatever was left. The fact that they are yelling fake news at the top of their lungs means this operation did not meet objectives.

reelpotatopeeler

A level one loser has top secret clearance.  Now…. Whose fault is that? 😂

Maximum-Conflict1727

Iran says they’ve obliterated Israel… yet Israel still exists. Israel says they’ve obliterated Iran… yet Iran still exists. The U.S. says it’s obligated Iran’s nuclear programme… yet the nuclear programme still exists. Iran says they’ve obliterated the U.S. base in Qatar… yet it still exists.

What I’ve gathered from this is that the world ran by illiterate lunatics. What a farce.

No_Iron_8087

WAIT trump said something that wasn't true?!

piperonyl

So if true that basically means these bunkers cant be destroyed without special ops on the ground?

Mascy

[deleted]

Doesn't matter to Trump. he declared it was, screamed victory and has moved on. He doesn't care about reality

BenPanthera00

Seeing this on CNN as I type. If true this is a big f\*ck up by Trump and only emboldens Iran to build a weapon even more quickly. As it is there is supposedly 900 lb of near weapons grade uranium unaccounted for as said by the IAEA.

thecommuteguy

&gt;The US military strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months, according to an early US intelligence assessment that was described by four people briefed on it.

Well, fuck. That's not good.

dongballs613

So we gave Iran confirmation that their sites are safe from us and every reason to work as fast as they can to get a nuke. 


MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 🇱🇷🇱🇷🇱🇷🦅💪

Huge_JackedMann

I wish there was a reporter who would have asked how a "low level loser" in the intelligence service would have access to a top secret report.

Sodonewithidiots

I mean weren't there reports going out before the strikes that these facilities are in fact not 200 feet under concrete but 1000 feet under mountainous terrain? I have a feeling whatever "bunker buster" bomb you drop is going to have a drastically different outcome when it's up against a mountain compared to JUST concrete?

DasRedBeard87

So the whole thing was performative? They gave notice, bombed some places without significant destruction, then Iran fired missiles without any significant destruction, and that's it? What was the point?

Zakluor

Gonna see what Israel does in the coming weeks. I’m sure they’ll do their own assessment and if they come to the same conclusion, I don’t think they have the luxury of pretending it’s mission accomplished.

Charybdis150

Sil369

«…Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.»

No, we don’t know perfectly well. That’s why we have experts assess the damage. And apparently what happens is…less than planned.

But at least Iran has gotten a moral boost to accelerate development!

framvaren

How can fukwits talk like this in their positions. They are so unprofessional its unbelievable.

MetalWorking3915

I heard an expert on the radio discussing this after the attack and he was saying that it's almost irrelevant if this plant was destroyed or not. Apparently they got the uranium out before the attack anyway, that's the main bit. However he stated that it takes tens of thousands of centrifuges to enrich the uranium, this site alone has about 13000 of them based on intel. Each centrifuge, he said, costs Iran as little as $500 to make, and no I didn't miss a K or M off that figure. I tried to fact check it and the tens of thousands part is definitely correct, Google was telling me $20k cost for each, maybe its cheaper in Iran, who knows, but it's still cheap to build some of them.   

His argument based on those facts was that this attack would be impossible to end Iran's nuclear ambitions. They can just build more cheap centrifuges elsewhere, they probably already have sites around the country. Compare it to an IT datacentre or the power grid, any critical infrastructure, you're going to have a DR site right? Distributed, multiple points of failure? At best, all this attack would have done is slow down their progress a bit. Worst case, it's made them more determined to build and use one when they get it.

HaydnH

if true that's a fucking terrible look for the US

dergster


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Going to be very humiliating if these losers manage to thrust the world into nuclear armageddon

badfortheenvironment

Given that the world is \*finally\* waking up to their war crimes, Netenyahu will absolutely start a regional conflict just to cover his ass.

ProphetOfPr0fit

bomboclawt75

Why couldn’t the Israelis have been given a chunk of Utah?

TipperGore-69

They need a War in order for the world to take eyes off their genocide.

BlackAfroUchiha

The pariah state of Israel will keep upping the ante, now that they've taken off their mask.

Used_Intention6479

Netanyahu's eventual death will become a holiday.

ShakyTheBear

Israel attacking Iranian nuclear sites will be all the justification Iran will need to assemble a bomb. It will be all israels fault and they'll be the only target in the region

lollacakes

If you disagree with ending the world this way you are antisemitic.

Baby_Needles

Israel trying to drag usa in war... no way

Lower_Guide_1670

oh please God let Iran's abilities be what they are alleged to be. Israel should pay for such aggression.

MyCatIsLenin

Oil prices are surging atm due to this news. It’s all tied and rigged

djscuba1012

MJSpice

They’ve done this before, to Iraq’s French-built Osirak nuclear facility. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Opera

arrogant_troll

Israel's and US' own intelligence services have both been saying that Iran is not working on a bomb. Yet Israel wants to attack them anyway. These people are insane.

cobrakai11

Israel will go at it alone, the US will provide intel and support for possible retaliation. I do not believe the US will want to fully get involved with this war as this will harm Trumps (no more stupid wars) policy. For all the bluster and pompous rhetoric Trump is not looking to start another useless war regardless if he thinks Iran is a bad actor. Even our best analysts believe we won’t be able to destroy all their sites completely and will just delay Iran for a year or two max before they fully go for a weapon.

The-Promised

Pretty sure the US is also planning a strike on Iran rn as well. Might not happen if they can talk things out first but the six B-2 bombers sitting at Diego Garcia right now aren't there for nothing.

HolyBunn

4peaks2spheres

This seems insanely stupid. They basically decimated Iran the last time Iran dared to do anything and Iran has now cowered away with very minimal defensive capabilities.


Now they want to push Iran into a corner with no way to defend itself except for the off chance that their nuclear program is further than we think?


This is exactly the kind of situation that would lead to a preemptive strike.


Can this whole region of the world please fuck off? Like it wasn't bad enough to have Putin threaten us with nuclear Armageddon constantly, now we gotta worry about India, Israel, Pakistan and Iran?

Canadian_Border_Czar

Those "Donald the Dove/Hillary the Hawk, Kamala will start WW3" dipshits should feel free to never open their dick holsters ever again.

JacksSenseOfDread

I’ll never not be mad about his election in 2016. The fact he got the popular vote in 2024 is the most embarrassed ive ever been to be American.

And I’ll always have the most disdain for the Bernie or busters types. They got W elected, they got Trump elected.

FCKABRNLSUTN2

This is the happiest day of John Bolton's life

Fetterman is strongly praising Trump today

EasyMoney92

"But she's a woman...but she's not really Black...but she's a Zionist...but her laugh...but she's a cop...but she slept her way to the top...but she's DEI...but she won't go on Joe Rogan's podcast..."

I hope those people are happy right now with their complicity in enabling what is likely our new war. It didn't have to be this way.

jml510

Remember the WW3 talk a while from that Jamie banker guy?  Sigh.

CanadianPanda76

Can't wait to see the news outlets blaming Biden for this

Capital_Gate6718

Lmmfao 

"Im voting for Trump bc im tired of the wars. Trump will bring peace again"  

Oh my. Trump lies to his cult over and over and over and over again and they just keep eating it. Honestly I hate that im laughing about a war but its just so f*cked up im numb to everything anymore. Trump has caused soooo much chaos and now lied yet again straight to Maga face and most  will let it go and make excuses for him. 

What is it going to take for people to be done with him? What does he have to do? Is there a bottom?

Any-Variation4081

A-Fan-Of-Bowman88

Anyone seen Jill Stein lately? Is she hiding in her rat hole ?

amazing_ape

Republicans love war in the middle east. I honestly think that Republicans thought we wouldn't pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq when Trump set Biden up with the worst pull out situation possible. He did, so now Republicans are starting a new war.

YakCDaddy

“The nation appears to be drunk.”

Norton the Third.

StuckInthebasement2

Green-Entrepreneur-2

TheSociologyCat

I think I’m going to drink more tonight. Infact Im going to have a shot of tequila. 

How, I mean how could people supported this lunatic against Harris, I mean I get Harris isn’t perfect but she wouldn’t be starting or trying to start WW3

thetruechevyy1996

He’s a walking disaster always has been always will be. He ruins everyone and everything around him and to people who voted for him and people who say out he vote the blood is on your hands.

LiquidSnape

JustSayingMuch

After tonight we can pretty much forget about peace on Earth ever becoming reality.

CKO1967

So... how much have we spent on "aid" to Israel since Trump became president at this point? That was one of the prime complaints that the suddenly quiet conservative psychopaths had about Ukraine.

Co_OpQuestions

I doubt it, The USAF dropped 12 Of the heaviest conventional bombs in it's Arsenal on Fordow, 2 bombs in each precise point.

And 2 on Natanz.

If Fordow and Natanz are still even slightly operational then it means the only effective method to destroy such underground facilities would be tactical nuclear weapons, and we better hope that doesn't become a standard.


We need to see more credible reports rather than unverified leaks.



Edit:fixed a slight error I made.

JourneyToLDs

it didn’t destroy. it actually renovated and increased property value.

Ok-Noise6652

All eyes will turn to the IAEA, I think.  If Iran allows them to continue monitoring their nuclear program, things will calm down.  If Iran refuses the IAEA, the fighting may reignite.

jimbo2128

To be clear: 


These are all hearsay reports. They are based on the accounts of anonymous sources. At this point - it’s just rumors. 

Further, there’s good reason to believe the Natanz site was entirely destroyed. The current chief of the IAEA believes so. 

He reported his views as follows: 

“Craters are now visible at the Fordow site, Iran’s main location for enriching uranium at 60%, indicating that the use of ground-penetrating munitions. This is consistent with statements from the US. At this time, no one - including the IAEA - is in a position to have fully assessed the underground damage at Fordow. Given the explosive payload utilized, and the extreme vibration-sensitive nature of centrifuges, very significant damage is expected to have occurred”

Source 
https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/statements/iaea-director-generals-introductory-statement-to-the-board-of-governors-23-june-2025


These comments suggest that the Fordow reactor suffered serious damage. 

It will not take “3, 4 months” to rebuild it. The construction of nuclear infrastructure is among the most complex engineering and construction projects known to mankind. It took 2 fricking years for a bar down the street from where I lived to rebuild after the bar exploded due to a freak accident. I don’t believe that a fricking nuclear weapons plant is going to be rebuilt “within months”.

BizzareRep

Eh, it’s exceptionally unlikely that a bombing of that magnitude didn’t destroy the nuclear sites. I just don’t find it likely at all. 

Early-Possibility367

The IRGC’s first priority is preventing a coup. They won’t be funding proxies or rebuilding nuclear capabilities anytime soon. Their economy is in the trash. They’re clinging to power and utterly desperate. They’ve shut down internet for the entire nation during the war. They’re terrified of losing power.

Western media and Middle East ‘experts’ continue to be completely clueless, making everyone stupider about the region.

Good thing israel is smart. We can’t afford not to be.

The Iranians are really going to suffer in the hear term. Crackdowns will be vicious. 

Pray for them.

Agreeable_Recipe3075

They tried their hand at the negotiation table and Trump erratically backed out of the agreement in 2018.

Now he is striking them on their homeland for daring to breech those terms.

The United States &amp; Israel need to sit down and stand back.

ASwagPecan

Iran is going to have to submit to inspections.

Top_Plant5102

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN in a statement: “This alleged assessment is 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. The leaking of this alleged assessment 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. Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”

We live in a simulation lol

logikal_panda

I don’t know if this intel is real, but it’s pretty hilarious how dysfunctional the pentagon has been under Hegseth.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-insiders-reveal-defense-secretary-pete-hegseth-angry-and-unshaven-post-leak-scandal/

&gt; Hegseth was becoming more and more paranoid about the leaks. The situation was “consuming his whole life,” an insider told New York, “when he should have been focused on, you know, our national security.”
One by one, the trio of aides—Caldwell, then Selnick, then Carroll—were escorted out of the Pentagon in April.

Looks like ‘ol Kegsbreath still can’t find the leaker, guess it’s time to fire a few more random people lmao

IntimidatingBlackGuy

If this is true this is incredibly scary and somehow hilarious at the same time.

Iran will most likely get nukes. They are never going to come to the table and discuss a nuclear deal with the Trump admin.

Unless Trump can just bomb again and do it successfully this time, or invade Iran.

Trump and the USA is a fucking joke. The entire world sees it.

podhs

Looks like this was literally for nothing, It only set their nuclear program back months

bruhm0ment4

There's no way Israel would have agreed to a ceasefire if this was true.

ZealousidealExam239

Honestly, I think surface level view of these images won't tell you much. Bunker busters hit at those impact marks and exploded much deeper within the earth. You're not going to see a popped-off smoking mountain top. You can obliterate an underground facility without collapsing a mountain down on top of it. And a single agency's assessment won't tell you much.  
  
We're still fog of war folks, not the time to go "Gotcha!" over one-off reports or satellite imagery til we have more information. White House has access to information from multiple agencies, multiple sources, and frankly sources that might be less likely to leak to the press.

LeggoMyAhegao

I'm curious, since there were plenty of people who expressed support in previous threads for bombing Iran on the basis of stopping them from getting a nuke.

If this damage assessment turns out to be correct and Iran's nuclear capability is only set back by months, would you support further US bombing in Iran? (Before/after hypothetical congressional approval)

Metanoies

Can they just do another bombing run? Or is there an advanced military constraint here I'm not aware of.

JofreySkywalker

eater-of-a-million

Unironically next step would either be continued strikes or utilize SOCOM

xManasboi

Seems like this would be inevitable if everyone was playing their part well.  Humans can dig a couple km down, why would you put your program underground but still not far enough under to be safe from the very famous US bombs?

Conotor

Guys Iran has been weeks away from nukes since 2005 and we did NOTHING about it

Slobodan_Brolosevic

Lol, what a waste. If Iran now knows the bombs only damage surface level structures then this massively weakens Trump’s negotiating position. JCPOA looking like it was a good deal, can always rely on Trump to make Obama look better and better.

Netanyahu gambled that Trump would bomb if they made the strikes and he forced Trump’s hand, it has backfired spectacularly and Trump must be pretty pissed at him for making him look like a fool with a massive foreign policy blunder. Should have negotiated, let that be a lesson, don’t trust Israel they do not care about the US only that it does everything Israel wants even if it is detrimental to American interests.

warsongN17

What's Iran's position on the ceasefire? I'm only reading the US's and Israel's stance

100percentkneegrow

I guess a decade of war in the middle east is the only option left.

waxroy-finerayfool

Recent U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear sites have led to conflicting reports regarding the extent of damage caused, raising concerns about potential radiation risks and environmental crises.

US Strikes on Iran Nuclear Sites

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