Did U.S. Strikes Prevent an Iranian Bomb—or Provoke One?

“The word ‘obliteration’ is being used a lot…I think there’s a little more nuance to it.” Intelligence assessments from the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran, and the United States have provided competing accounts of the functionality of Fordow, Iran’s critical uranium refinement site, and the Iranian nuclear program as a whole. The intelligence community still has a lot of blanks to fill in, including the extent of the damage to various Iranian nuclear sites, the state of Iran’s missile arsenal, and how much of a setback this represents for Iran’s nuclear program. CSIS’s Heather Williams, director of the CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues, joins the podcast to discuss the uncertain status of Iran’s nuclear program following Operation Midnight Hammer and what we should be watching for next.

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Did U.S. Strikes Prevent an Iranian Bomb—or Provoke One? is an episode from The Truth of the Matter by CSIS | Center for Strategic and International Studies.

This episode is 22:28 long.

This episode was published on Jun 30, 2025.

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