US Defence Secretary describes US strikes on Iran nuclear sites a 'flawless mission'

US Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, said on Wednesday that the leaked intelligence report stating that the US attacks did not obliterate the nuclear sites was "top secret", "preliminary and low confidence", rejecting that the US strikes failed their mission.

An early US intelligence assessment indicated that the US military strikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities last week did not destroy the core components of Tehran's nuclear programme and likely only set it back by months, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing three people briefed on it. 

"We believe far more likely that the impact was severe and obliterated. People who build the bombs understand what those bombs can do and deliver those bombs. They landed precisely where they should be - it was a flawless mission," Hegseth said.

"We’re doing a leak investigation with the FBI right now. This information was for internal purposes. CNN and others are trying to spin it to make the president look bad when there was an overwhelming success."

Reporting by MEE news editor Sondos Asem in The Hague