Senate Democrats Still Skeptical US Strikes ‘Obliterated’ Iranian Targets

Senate Democrats emerged from a briefing Thursday from top Trump administration military and intelligence officials unconvinced this past weekend’s U.S. airstrike on three Iranian nuclear sites had “obliterated” them.

“It still appears that we have only set back the Iranian nuclear program by a handful of months,” Connecticut Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy said afterward. “There’s no doubt there was damage done to the program, but the allegations that we have obliterated their program just don’t seem to stand up to reason.”

He also said, “I just do not think the president was telling the truth when he said this program was obliterated. … The president was deliberately misleading the public.”

A preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency analysis on which the news media reported earlier this week suggested the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program by only several months.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a Pentagon briefing prior to the all-senators briefing Thursday, accused the media of distorting the analysis and presented other reports that found the attacks were more damaging.

“One thing is clear from the all-Senators briefing on the Iran strikes:

The Trump admin has no coherent strategy. No end game. No plan,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer posted on X.”
That’s why we need to enforce the War Powers Act, and the administration must provide answers.”

Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine and CIA director John Ratcliffe briefed the senators.

“I don’t think anybody’s been on the ground to assess the extent of the damage,” Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) said after the briefing, according to the news outlet Politico.