What senators are saying after being briefed on the US strikes on Iran

Emerging from a highly anticipated classified briefing on Thursday, Democratic and Republican senators were not in agreement over exactly how much US strikes on Iran set back that country’s nuclear program.

Many Republicans said that they believe it will now take Iran years longer to build a nuclear weapon, though some acknowledged the threat is not completely neutralized. But Democrats said the picture is far less clear – and one said the US strikes set Iran back only by months.

According to an early US intelligence assessment that was described by seven people briefed on it, 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.

Iran’s nuclear ambitions is ongoing

The analysis of the damage to the sites and the impact of the strikes on Iran’s nuclear ambitions is ongoing, and could change as more intelligence becomes available. But the early findings of the assessment are at odds with President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities.

Iranian nuclear program

“To me, it still appears that we have only set back the Iranian nuclear program by a handful of months. 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,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut told reporters.

“I just don’t think the president was telling the truth when he said the program was obliterated,” Murphy said, adding that he believed Iran still has “significant remaining capability.”

The classified briefing on Thursday

The classified briefing on Thursday was long awaited inside the Capitol, with senators of both parties eager for more information after the surprise attack by the US on Iran. A slate of top US officials spoke to senators: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. That group will also brief House members Friday morning.

Republican senators, including Trump’s top allies, left the briefing touting the effectiveness of the US strikes and — in some instances — echoing Trump’s precise language that it “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear weapon capacity.

“They were obliterated. Nobody can use them anytime soon,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s trusted national security advisers who had been pushing for this exact type of strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.