General Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Thursday released video of the tests of the type of “bunker-buster” bombs that were dropped on Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend as he and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the severity of the strikes amid the leak of an initial intelligence report.
Caine showed the video of a massive bomb striking an underground target at the joint press conference with Hegseth, saying it was the “culmination of over 15 years of development and testing.”
President Trump announced the press conference on Wednesday night, saying Hegseth and “military representatives” would discuss the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Hegseth slammed the media and the leak of a Defense Intelligence Agency report that said an initial assessment suggested the strikes had only set back Iran’s nuclear program a number of months.
Idrees Ali / REUTERS 
“This report acknowledges it’s likely severe damage,” Hegseth said. “Again, this is preliminary, leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn’t successful.”
An initial assessment suggested the operation potentially only set back Iran’s nuclear program by a matter of months.
The initial assessment was conducted by the Defense Intelligence Agency, and according to a senior DIA official, was considered a “preliminary, low confidence assessment.”
On Thursday, Hegseth slammed media outlets for “breathlessly” reporting the “initial” assessment. He accused the alleged leaker of having an “agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn’t successful.”
Posting on Truth Social during the press conference, Mr. Trump suggested that The New York Times and CNN “will be firing the reporters who made up the FAKE stories on the Iran Nuclear sites because they got it so wrong. Lets see what happens?”
Mr. Trump and Hegseth have said using multiple 30,000 pound bombs “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Since reports of the DIA’s initial assessment surfaced, the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard issued a new statement saying the nuclear sites were “destroyed.” The director of the CIA John Ratcliffe said Iran’s nuclear program had been “severely damaged.”
During a news conference Sunday, Caine said final assessments would take time.
“Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” Caine said.
