Trump-Iran latest: Supreme leader claims ‘victory’ ahead of US news conference defending strikes on nuclear sites
Donald Trump has announced his defence secretary will hold a “major news conference” today about the US bombing of three Iranian nuclear facilities.
Pete Hegseth, along with military officials, will hold the briefing at 8am EST at the Pentagon, “in order to fight for the Dignity of our Great American Pilots,” the US president wrote on Truth Social.
Ahead of that press conference, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei celebrated Iran’s “victory” over Israel in a post on X. He is also due to appear in a televised message, which will be the first public comment from the 86-year-old leader since the US bombed Iran’s nuclear sites.
Just how much damage was caused to those facilities remains unclear. A leaked Defense Intelligence Agency assessment found that Trump’s airstrikes had only set back the country’s nuclear program by a matter of a few months.
CIA director John Ratcliffe said earlier that “new intelligence” indicates Iran’s nuclear program was severely damaged by recent US strikes, and that it would take years to be rebuilt.
