B-2 TARGET: ‘BADLY DAMAGED, POTENTIALLY DESTROYED’: A new U.S. intelligence assessment is lending more support for President Donald Trump’s boasts that Operation Midnight Hammer, in which American B-2 stealth bombers delivered 12 massive bunker-busting bombs with devastating accuracy, left Iran’s key nuclear facility in shambles.
The new reporting, first by NBC News and then by the New York Times, cited multiple U.S. officials as describing Fordow, Iran’s most advanced nuclear site, as “mostly destroyed,” setting back operations there at least two years, if Iran decided to try to rebuild.
“Iran most likely still has a stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% purity, which is just below the level that is usually used in nuclear weapons, U.S. and Israeli officials said. But the officials believe it is buried under rubble,” the New York Times reported. “The assessment concludes those explosions wiped out the thousands of delicate nuclear centrifuges buried under the mountain.”
This week, Trump described the June 22 attack as “the most perfect military maneuver that anybody’s seen probably in 50 years,” repeating his claim that it “knocked out their entire potential nuclear capacity.”
“It was obliterated, you know? I used that term, they said, ‘Well, maybe that’s too much. I said, ‘No. Turned out it was more than obliterated. They can’t go back.”
TWO OTHER FACILITIES LESS DAMAGED: The assessment suggested that Iran’s other nuclear sites, Isfahan and Natanz, “were not as badly damaged and may have been degraded only to a point where nuclear enrichment could resume in the next several months if Iran wants it to,” the NBC report said.
“While the underground facilities at Natanz and tunnels at Isfahan were far less damaged, American officials said that any effort by Iran to repair or gain access to them could be detected,” the New York Times said. “Rebuilding the conversion facilities would also probably be spotted. With much of Iran’s air defenses destroyed, Israeli or the U.S. forces could attack again, stopping any reconstruction efforts.”
The Times also said officials believe the massive GBU-57 bombs dropped on Fordow “wiped out the thousands of delicate nuclear centrifuges buried under the mountain.”
“The Israeli and U.S.-supported attack on Iran’s nuclear enterprise was quite successful. U.S. and Israeli intelligence agree that all those sites are either severely damaged or completely destroyed,” retired Gen. Jack Keane, former Army vice chief of staff and current chairman of the Institute for the Study of War, said on the Fox News program Sunday Morning Futures.
“In terms of the centrifuges themselves, there were about 18,000 of them, most of them advanced. They were located in Natanz and Fordow, and they’re destroyed or so damaged that they’re not repairable,” Keane said on Fox, where he is senior strategic analyst.
“When it comes to enriched uranium, the Isfahan site had the most of it. Some of that enriched uranium certainly is still on the ground. It’s likely in powder form, but the rubble on top of it prevents anybody from getting access to it without a major recovery operation,” Keane told Fox’s Maria Bartiromo.
“If the Iranians attempt to recover it, the Israelis have promised to conduct an attack on it. And, certainly, President Trump has already sanctioned that. And if necessary, if it required the United States’ participation, which I doubt, he would support that as well.”
TRUMP REJECTED BROADER PLAN: Both NBC and the New York Times reported that the U.S. Central Command had presented Trump with a far more extensive weekslong operation that would have inflicted far more damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities, but that Trump opted for a “one and done” approach.
“Military planners in the U.S. Central Command had proposed multiple plans to the White House that would have utilized multiple waves of strikes against the sites,” the New York Times reported. The report specified that Trump was told that destroying the Fordow facility, which is buried more than 250 feet under a mountain, would require multiple days or even weeks of airstrike pounding the same spots over and over again.
“President Donald Trump was briefed on that plan, but it was rejected because it was at odds with his foreign policy instincts to extract the United States from conflicts abroad, not dig deeper into them, as well as the possibility of a high number of casualties on both sides,” NBC quoted “current officials and one former official,” as saying.
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HAPPENING TODAY: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth meets with Israel Defense Minister Israel Katz at 12:30 p.m. at the Pentagon.
The meeting comes as a shaky ceasefire in southern Syria is in effect between armed Druze groups and Bedouin clans that drew Israel into the conflict earlier this week, carrying out air strikes on behalf of the Druze, who form a substantial community in Israel, and are seen as a loyal minority.
“We’ve set a clear policy: demilitarization of the area south of Damascus — from the Golan Heights to the Jabal al-Druze region. That’s one red line. The second is protecting our brothers’ brothers, the Druze in Jabal al-Druze,” Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in ordering the air strikes after it appeared the Syrian government was moving against the Druze.
“I instructed the IDF to act — and to act forcefully. The Air Force struck both the murder squads and the armored vehicles. I also added a target: striking the Defense Ministry in Damascus,” Netanyahu said. “As a result of this intense action, a ceasefire was reached, and Syrian forces retreated back to Damascus.”
“This was a ceasefire achieved through strength — not through pleading, not through begging — through strength,” he said. “This will remain our policy: we will not allow military forces to move south of Damascus, and we will not allow harm to come to the Druze in Jabal al-Druze.”
NETANYAHU TAKES VICTORY LAP AS SYRIAN PRESIDENT PROMISES TO PROTECT DRUZE
ZELENSKY APPOINTS NEW EMISSARY TO U.S.: In a bid to shore up his currently improving relations with the United States, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna as a special envoy to the U.S.
Her official title is “Special Representative of the President of Ukraine for the Development of Cooperation with the United States of America,” and her mission, Zelensky said in a social media post, “will be to work to maintain momentum in our relations with the U.S.”
The title is temporary while Zelensky awaits her confirmation to become Ukraine’s new ambassador to the U.S., as part of his Cabinet shake-up. Former defense minister Rustem Umerov is moving to a position as Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.
PETRAEUS: IT’S THE WEAPONS, NOT THE TARIFFS: Former U.S. Central Commander and CIA Director retired Gen. David Petraeus says the most significant aspect of President Trump’s new willingness to support Ukraine is the resumption of weapons deliveries.
“I think the really important action that’s been taken is not the threat of the 50 days. It’s the resumption of assistance … particularly the air defense and ballistic missile interceptors,” Petraeus said in an appearance on CNN from the Aspen Institute Security Forum. “There are a few other countries from which Ukraine can get those.”
“I’m not sure that it’s enough to turn the tide,” he conceded. However, he added, “What we really should be trying to do is through every means possible to enable Ukraine to change this dynamic on the battlefield where Putin can’t even achieve anything on a daily basis.”
Petraeus noted that Putin’s forces have been suffering what would normally be unsustainable losses on the battlefield to achieve the incremental gains.
“They’re estimated now to have had over a million soldiers killed and wounded, some 500,000 of them, so severely wounded or killed that they couldn’t return to the frontlines. These are almost incomprehensible,” Petraeus said. “Up until now, they’ve been able to delay, to duck and bob and weave … and I think that President Trump now realizes that they have not been in good faith. They have been playing him. He doesn’t like that, and that is great.”
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THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: Zelensky reveals US and Ukraine on verge of drone ‘mega-deal’
Washington Examiner: House panel looks to block DOD from using funds to restore base names
Washington Examiner: Netanyahu takes victory lap as Syrian president promises to protect Druze
Washington Examiner: Understanding the enigmatic Druze community at the heart of Syrian unrest
Washington Examiner: ICE says claims its officers target churches and hospitals are ‘false’
Washington Examiner: House lawmakers make urgent plea to pass immigration reform with Dignity Act
Washington Examiner: Trump administration tracks down 7,500 unaccompanied children who crossed border
Wall Street Journal: Russia Says Ukrainian Drones Targeted Moscow, St. Petersburg
Defense News: US Diverts Patriot Systems from Switzerland to Ukraine
Defense News: Top NATO Commander Rushing to Deliver Fresh Patriots to Ukraine
Kyiv Independent: US general says NATO could seize Russia’s Kaliningrad with ‘unheard of’ speed
NBC: New U.S. assessment finds American strikes destroyed only one of three Iranian nuclear sites
New York Times: New Assessment Finds Site at Focus of US Strikes in Iran Badly Damaged
New York Times: China’s Aircraft Carriers Push into Waters Long Dominated by US
Bloomberg: Billionaire Turns Pentagon Into Trump’s Defense Investment Wing
Air & Space Forces Magazine: What to Watch for the Air Force as House, Senate Advance Differing Defense Bills
Defense One: AI, Satellites, and Golden Dome Shine in New House-Passed Defense Bill
Air & Space Forces Magazine: L3Harris Unveils ‘Wolf Pack’ Concept for Cheap, Kinetic/Nonkinetic Missile Swarms
Task & Purpose: Expect to See More Drones During Training Under New Pentagon Rules
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force Shakes Up Helicopter Plans, Wants to Convert Some HH-60Ws
Breaking Defense: Air Force Sees over Two-Year Delay for Next-Gen Engines
The War Zone: This Is What the UK’s New Stealth Fighter Demonstrator Will Look Like
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Space Force Promotes New NCOs at Breakneck Pace and Sky-High Rate
Forbes: Opinion: President Trump Decreased US Defense Budgets, Here’s The Real Impact
THE CALENDAR:
FRIDAY | JULY 18
11 a.m. Aspen, Colorado — Aspen Institute 2025 Security Forum with U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack; and former CIA Director David Petraeus; Senate Intelligence ranking member Mark Warner (R-VA); Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE); former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson; former Defense Secretary Mark Esper; Australian Ambassador to the U.S. Kevin Rudd; former Defense Secretary Robert Gates; former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; and former White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan https://www.youtube.com/c/aspeninstitute
TUESDAY | JULY 22
1 p.m. — George Washington University Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group Zoom conversation with Lt. Gen. Joel “JB” Vowell, deputy commanding general, U.S. Army Pacific RVSP: Thom Shanker at [email protected]
WEDNESDAY | JULY 23
10 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “Reforming Defense Acquisition to Deliver Capability at the Speed of Relevance,” with testimony from William Bailey, performing the duties of assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology & logistics; Michael Duffey, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment; Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, acting assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration; Brett Seidle, acting assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, performing the duties of undersecretary of the Navy; and Jesse Tolleson, acting assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology http://www.armedservices.house.gov
5 p.m. Center for a New American Security virtual discussion: “The Future of U.S. Foreign Assistance,” with Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA); Lisa Curtis, CNAS senior fellow and program director for Indo-Pacific Security; and moderated by CNAS CEO Richard Fontaine https://www.cnas.org/events/virtual-event-the-future-of-u-s-foreign-assistance
THURSDAY | JULY 24
6:30 a.m. — Association of the U.S. Army Coffee Series discussion: “Army $197.4 billion fiscal year 2026 budget request,” with Maj. Gen. Mark Bennett, director, Army budget https://www.ausa.org/events/coffee-series/mg-bennett
