“That hit ended the war,” Donald Trump declared at a presser during this week’s NATO conference at The Hague. Had the US not struck the Fordow facility, “Iran would still be fighting,” Trump claimed. He compared it to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in its impact on Iranian leadership, and scoffed at reports that 12 GBU-57s didn’t do enough damage to the nuclear-development facilities as political spin based off a manipulated leak, seized upon by a hostile media industry in the US. And Trump reiterated that the US would strike again if Iran attempted to reopen enrichment facilities or open new locations for the purpose of developing nuclear weapons
Sky News has a lengthy video of the presser, which I’ve embedded at the end, but our own Townhall correspondent and managing editor Katie Pavlich took part in the Q&A. Trump offered praise for Katie, saying he’d always answer her questions and then jokingly wondered whether he should have admitted it. Katie asked Trump to respond to the Iranian foreign minister’s declaration that they would remain defiant:
President Trump responds to Iran’s FM at NATO:
“The last thing they want to do is enrich anything right now, they want to recover.”
“They’re not going to have a bomb and they’re not going to enrich.” https://t.co/unZWAs8pMu pic.twitter.com/J4pgRZuoTm
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) June 25, 2025
Trump, Marco Rubio, and Pete Hegseth had a few words about the Protection Racket Media “scum” attempting to downplay the impact of those strikes:
At NATO, Trump unloads on “scum” CNN, New York Times and “MSDNC” for “demeaning pilots” and coverage of U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites pic.twitter.com/HAd9W4sOlx
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) June 25, 2025
As it turns out, Israel also had some questions about those reports. Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized that their own assessment of the damage at Fordow shows that its “critical infrastructure” was “destroyed” and that the site was essentially inoperable:
The Prime Minister’s Office on behalf of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC):
The devastating US strike on Fordow destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable.
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— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) June 25, 2025
The achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) June 25, 2025
The IDF concurred shortly afterward, albeit with the caveat of their assessment still being preliminary in nature:
Israel’s military thinks the recent war with Iran has set the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program back by years, but the assessment is preliminary, and it is too early to know for sure, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Effi Defrin said Wednesday.
“We met all the objectives of the operation as defined for us, and even did so better than we had optimally expected,” Defrin said, but he cautioned: “I say this with humility, because it’s still too early to determine.”
“We are investigating and reviewing the results of our strikes on every part of this puzzle, as I’ve previously called it, the various components of the nuclear program and more,” he said.
“Now, I trust our intelligence analysts in the Intelligence Directorate and in the Air Force. I believe they have proven themselves to be accurate in recent weeks, and I can say here that the assessment is that we significantly damaged the nuclear program, and I can also say that we set it back by years, I repeat, years.”
But don’t take the word of the US or Israel for this. Take the Iranians’ word for it, as supplied by Al Jazeera via the Jerusalem Post:
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said US strikes on Sunday had caused significant damage to its nuclear facilities, Al Jazeera reported.
“Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that’s for sure,” Baghaei said on Wednesday, according to the report.
It might be a while before the Iranians can even access Fordow. New satellite imagery shows the now-familiar vent holes opened up by the GBU-57 bunker busters, but also the significant damage done before and after the American raid by the Israeli air force. The roads have been taken out in the mountain passes, to an extent that may take weeks or months to repair. Even when they get to the site, the apparent access points to the underground facility no longer exist:
Fresh Maxar satellite images show new damage at Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility following Israeli airstrikes on June 23. The strikes appear to have targeted access roads and tunnel entrances, leaving several craters and damaged structures clearly visible. https://t.co/937CPCAS3S pic.twitter.com/uny2a6b8gB
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 25, 2025
The NATO meeting is ongoing, with a new presser starting as this post gets written. Katie reports that Trump has declared that “We’ve restored the credibility of American deterrence,” and that NATO must now act to join the US in its financial commitments to keep up. With one exception, the alliance members have agreed to more than double their financial commitment to common defense:
NATO allies on Wednesday agreed to more than double their defense spending target from 2% of gross domestic product to 5% by 2035, in the most decisive move from the alliance in over a decade.
In a joint declaration, the Western military bloc said it was “united in the face of profound security threats and challenges,” in particular the long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security and the “persistent threat” of terrorism.
“Allies commit to invest 5% of GDP annually on core defence requirements as well as defence-and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations.,” it continued.
Trump has certainly restored the credibility of American leadership of NATO. He came to The Hague to deliver blunt assessments of NATO flabbiness, shortly after showing that the US has completely changed direction. NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte showered him with praise, as you’ll see below, but Trump wants more than praise — he wants action. It’s time to put the enemies of the West on notice, as Trump himself did this weekend. We’ll have more on that later, obviously.
