Updated: 24 JUN 25 16:54 ET

By Natasha Bertrand, Katie Bo Lillis and Zachary Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — 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, according to an early US intelligence assessment that was described by four people briefed on it.

The assessment, which has not been previously reported, was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm. It is based on a battle damage assessment conducted by US Central Command in the aftermath of the US strikes, one of the sources said.

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 are at odds with President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also said on Sunday that Iran’s nuclear ambitions “have been obliterated.”

Two of the people familiar with the assessment said Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed. One of the people said the centrifuges are largely “intact.”

“So the (DIA) assessment is that the US set them back maybe a few months, tops,” this person added.

The White House acknowledged the existence of the assessment but said it disagreed with it.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN in a statement: “This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community. The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program. Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”

The US military has said the operation went as planned and that it was an “overwhelming success.”

It is still early for the US to have a comprehensive picture of the impact of the strikes, and none of the sources described how the DIA assessment compares to the view of other agencies in the intelligence community. The US is continuing to pick up intelligence, including from within Iran as they assess the damage.

Israel had been carrying out strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities for days leading up to the US military operation but claimed to need the US’ 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs to finish the job. While US B-2 bombers dropped over a dozen of the bombs on two of the nuclear facilities, the Fordow Fuel Enrichment plant and the Natanz Enrichment Complex, the bombs did not fully eliminate the sites’ centrifuges and highly enriched uranium, according to the people familiar with the assessment.

Instead, the impact to all three sites — Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan — was largely restricted to aboveground structures, which were severely damaged, the sources said. That includes the sites’ power infrastructure and some of the aboveground facilities used to turn uranium into metal for bomb-making.

Hegseth also told CNN, “Based on everything we have seen — and I’ve seen it all — our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons. Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target and worked perfectly. The impact of those bombs is buried under a mountain of rubble in Iran; so anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the President and the successful mission.“

On Tuesday morning, Trump repeated his belief the damage from the strikes was significant.

“I think it’s been completely demolished,” he said, adding, “Those pilots hit their targets. Those targets were obliterated, and the pilots should be given credit.”

Asked about the possibility of Iran rebuilding its nuclear program, Trump responded, “That place is under rock. That place is demolished.”

While Trump and Hegseth have been bullish about the success of the strikes, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine said Sunday that while the damage assessment was still ongoing it would be “way too early” to comment on whether Iran still retains some nuclear capabilities.

Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman emeritus of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, would not echo Trump’s claims that the Iranian program had been “obliterated” when pressed by CNN on Tuesday.

“I’ve been briefed on this plan in the past, and it was never meant to completely destroy the nuclear facilities, but rather cause significant damage,” McCaul told CNN, referring to the US military plans to strike Iranian nuclear facilities. “But it was always known to be a temporary setback.”

Jeffrey Lewis, a weapons expert and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies who has closely reviewed commercial satellite imagery of the strike sites, agreed with the assessment that the attacks do not appear to have ended Iran’s nuclear program.

“The ceasefire came without either Israel or the United States being able to destroy several key underground nuclear facilities, including near Natanz, Isfahan and Parchin,” Lewis said, referring to the ceasefire between Israel and Iran that Trump announced on Monday. Parchin is a separate nuclear complex near Tehran.

“These facilities could serve as the basis for the rapid reconstitution of Iran’s nuclear program.”

Earlier on Tuesday, classified briefings for both the House and Senate on the operation were canceled.

The all-Senate briefing has been moved to Thursday, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Two separate sources familiar told CNN the briefing for all House lawmakers has also been postponed. It was not immediately clear why it was delayed or when it would be rescheduled.

Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan of New York said on X on Tuesday that “Trump just cancelled a classified House briefing on the Iran strikes with zero explanation. The real reason? He claims he destroyed ‘all nuclear facilities and capability;’ his team knows they can’t back up his bluster and BS.”

As CNN has reported, there have long been questions about whether the US’ bunker-buster bombs, known as Massive Ordnance Penetrators, would be able to fully destroy Iran’s highly fortified nuclear sites that are buried deep underground — particularly at Fordow and Isfahan, Iran’s largest nuclear research complex.

Notably, the US struck Isfahan with Tomahawk missiles launched from a submarine instead of a bunker-buster bomb. That is because there was an understanding that the bomb would likely not successfully penetrate Isfahan’s lower levels, which are buried even deeper than Fordow, one of the sources said.

US officials believe Iran also maintains secret nuclear facilities that were not targeted in the strike and remain operational, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Lauren Fox and Annie Grayer contributed reporting.

WSVN, DEVEN GONZALEZ, PABLO LANGSFIELD, NIST, ANDY SLATER, CNN

By Alex Browning, Aaron Page

Click here for updates on this story

SURFSIDE, Florida (WSVN) — Families and loved ones of the 98 people who lost their lives in the Champlain Towers South building collapse in Surfside will come together to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the tragedy.

Members of the community, families, survivors, and first responders gathered at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday at 88th and Collins to remember and recite the names of those who lost their lives.

“Next thing I know, I was falling, and I had woken up to my home being gone and having a broken femur. So, it’s definitely a very traumatic night that I sometimes have a hard time talking about,” said Deven Gonzalez, a survivor. “Honestly, every other day is a battle. Even on other days it could be my dad’s birthday; it could be a holiday. No matter what, we always relive it. Sometimes we can just be at home, and the flashbacks come back. It’s just definitely having a community all together, not just me, but even all the 98 other families and people who have lost somebody. It’s nice to know that someone is there to support me, because at the end of the day no one else knows what I went through.”

Deven is one of three survivors of the tragedy. Unfortunately, her father, Edgar, was unable to make it out.

Pablo Langsfield lost his daughter, Nicole, and his son-in-law, Luis.

“For the families, the survivors, and the friends, every day is June 24th. Every day we carry the weight of what happened on that tragic night,” he said. “And now, four years later, four long years have passed, and we still don’t know why the building collapsed. We need closure. We need clarity. We need accountability.”

Federal investigators say they are closer than ever to having an answer to what went wrong on that fateful day.

“Our investigation revealed widespread areas where the construction of Champlain Towers South failed to meet the requirements of the design documents and applicable codes and standards,” said Glenn Bell, co-lead investigator of the CTS collapse.

Monday afternoon, the National Institute of Standards and Technology released a comprehensive update of the disaster, suggesting construction and structural failures led to the imminent collapse, including influence from environmental factors for 40 years. The final report is expected to be released in 2026.

“We intend for our investigation of this failure to have a lasting impact, save future lives, and ensure this never happens again,” said Mitrani-Reiser.

Surfside is moving forward with a memorial that will not be on the collapse site, as developers have announced plans to develop the property.

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It was around 1.30 a.m., after the crowds had thinned from the streets of Bordeaux, when Manon felt the prick of a hypodermic needle going into her arm.

“Someone tapped my left forearm. I started to feel numb in the muscle, like you do when you get a vaccine. After about 30 minutes, the injection mark appeared,” she recalled to CNN.

Despite not knowing what she had been injected with – or who had done it – she said she “didn’t want to panic.”

Manon, 22, was one of nearly 150 people in France who reported being pricked with syringes during a nationwide street music festival at the weekend. According to the interior ministry, it remains unclear if date-rape drugs such as Rohypnol or GHB were used in the “needle spiking” attacks, which took place across the country and appear to have involved multiple perpetrators.

Ahead of the festival, which drew crowds of millions of people to the streets, a feminist influencer had warned that calls had been made on social media for women to be targeted with syringes.

After spending 4 a.m. to 7.a.m on Sunday in the emergency room, Manon shared a video of her experience on TikTok.

“It was important for me to raise awareness, because I hadn’t seen any testimonies from people who had been injected,” said Manon, who declined to give her last name for safety reasons.

“We had been told on social media to be careful, but I think people want to know more – how it happens, the symptoms, how it unfolds. It reassured me to talk about it, because at the time, I was completely alone.”

After she got home from the hospital, Manon filed a police report. “It’s important because if we’re too lax, if we say, ‘oh, others will file complaints’, nothing ever changes. I told myself maybe it can have an impact.”

Since Saturday, French police have detained 14 men – aged between 19 and 44 and including both French citizens and foreign nationals, police spokeswoman Agathe Foucault told Radio France Tuesday – but have made no arrests in connection with the needle spikings.

“The police have not identified any perpetrators behind the injections, but the incidents are confirmed,” Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin told CNN affiliate BFMTV Tuesday.

The minister said authorities would also pursue those who had called for the attacks online.

“We are implementing a criminal policy to prosecute those responsible on social media for these very unhealthy injection games targeting women,” Darmanin said.

The feminist influencer Abrège Soeur, who before the festival had warned men on social media were planning such attacks, told CNN the perpetrators’ “objective isn’t only to drug women. It’s to instill fear in them.”

“When people start saying that there will be needle attacks, it spreads in the form of rumor –– some people mention it in group chats, others pick it up, it just gets amplified,” she said, adding, “We need to help women feel safer.”

Manon, who faces a wait of three weeks for her toxicology results, said she had “barely slept the last few days” – but she refuses to be cowed by her experience.

“The Fête de la Musique is meant to be a time of good vibes, music, dancing, having fun. Someone wanted to ruin that moment, to kill that spirit. I told myself I wasn’t going to let it defeat me. I don’t want to be sad or angry. I don’t want to let them win.”

(CNN) — The US bombing mission that targeted three nuclear facilities in Iran over the weekend was a massive undertaking that required its B-2 bomber pilots to test the limits of human endurance during a 37-hour mission.

Seven stealth bombers carrying two crew members each flew nonstop halfway across the world and back in one of the longest air raids in modern military history.

Melvin G. Deaile is one of few people who understands what it is like to be in the cockpit during a marathon operation like the one carried out over the weekend. The retired Air Force colonel was part of the B-2 crew whose 44-hour bombing mission over Afghanistan in 2001 still holds the record for the longest.

Deaile described Saturday’s operation as an “incredible feat.” More than 125 aircraft were used in the attack. Apart from the seven bombers that flew east from Missouri’s Whiteman Air Force Base to strike Iran, the mission also included other B-2 bombers flying west as part of a feint, as well as fighter jets, reconnaissance planes and refueling tankers positioned along the bombers’ routes.

“The thing that to me was more historic than anything is the fact that we had seven jets over the target area, executing seven different bomb runs, all within the matter of 30 minutes,” Deaile said.

The retired colonel, now the director of the School of Advanced Nuclear Deterrence Studies at the Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College, offered to describe aspects of his 2001 mission but made clear he is only speaking from his own personal experience, has no personal insight into Saturday’s raid, and is not speaking on behalf of the Department of Defense.

‘If the president made the call, we were going to fly’

Deaile’s record-setting raid took place in the opening days of Operation Enduring Freedom, launched by then-President George W. Bush less than a month after the 9/11 attacks to target al Qaeda and the Taliban. Long-range, high-altitude bombers like the B-2 were needed for the initial salvo over Afghanistan.

During his time at Whiteman, mission-qualified pilots were trained on a long-duration simulator to help them plan their sleep cycles, but those simulators typically lasted for only 24 hours. The longest sortie Deaile had flown before his record-setting flight was 25 hours.

Bomber crews were identified for the mission ahead of time, but they had no idea when or even whether the operation would take place. Flight doctors gave the crews sleeping pills to help them rest in the days leading up to the bombings, Deaile said.

“We just knew that if the president made the call, we were going to fly the second night,” he said.

On the day of his mission, Deaile, who was the mission commander, woke up three to four hours before his takeoff time to participate in briefings with his pilot and the crew of the other B-2 in their formation. They took off heading west in the stealth bomber named “Spirit of America.”

Policy during Deaile’s time required both crew members to be in their seats at critical flight moments, including takeoff, refueling, bombardment and landing. In the hours between, the two crew members would take turns sleeping in a small cot behind the seats in the cockpit.

“They may have upgraded it in the last 20 years to something a little bit more comfortable, but it was a modified cot behind the two pilots that the crew member not in the seat could clear out and grab some shut-eye for probably about three or four hours in between air refuelings,” Deaile said.

It could be difficult to fall asleep. “Obviously anybody going into combat has a level of anxiety,” Deaile said, “but eventually you’re going to get some shut-eye, just because your body is going to require that.”

Deaile’s mission had him heading west across the Pacific, with the advantage of having about 24 hours of sunlight working against the body’s natural circadian rhythm to keep the pilots from getting drowsy. Both crew members also had some chemical support to stay awake as the mission dragged on.

“The flight doc did have what we call ‘go pills’ authorized for use — amphetamines,” Deaile said. He emphasized policies could have changed in the more than two decades between his flight and the recent mission, and that his experience may not mirror those of Saturday’s bomber crews.

The B-2, made by Northrop Grumman, is one of the most expensive and sophisticated bombers in use. But the toilet situation was primitive. There was a chemical toilet on the plane, but the airmen used it only for what Deaile described as “more pertinent emergencies” to not overfill it.

There was no divider between that toilet and the pilot seats.

“Privacy is the guy looks the other way,” he said.

But high altitudes and pressurized cockpits can dehydrate pilots, and drinking water was crucial. Deaile estimated he and the other pilot drank about a bottle of water an hour. They would urinate in “piddle packs” — essentially Ziploc-like bags filled with kitty litter.

Deaile and the other pilot would pass their time by calculating the amount and weight of urine-filled bags they had accumulated: “These are the things you do when you have 44 hours, right?”

Both pilots also packed a lunch and were given meals designed for pilots to eat in flight. But sitting stationary for dozens of hours — there was room to walk around in the cockpit a bit, but not enough to exercise — doesn’t burn much energy, and Deaile doesn’t recall eating much.

They flew their aircraft across the Pacific and south of India before turning north heading toward Afghanistan. The plane was refueled several times in midair. Once the sun started setting, Deaile took one of the amphetamines given to him by the flight doctor to stay alert.

The crew dropped their payload over Afghanistan, spending about four hours in total over the country before departing. Deaile’s mission was not initially planned to last 44 hours, but once they left Afghan airspace they were ordered to fly back in for another bomb run. Deaile took another upper given to him by the flight doctor. After the second run, the crew landed at Diego Garcia, a military base on an island about 1,100 miles southwest of India.

During a mission debrief, the pilots were shown video of the targets they struck. Then they ate a meal, took about an hour to decompress, and finally fell asleep.

‘The most surreal moment’

Steven Basham, a retired Air Force lieutenant general who flew B-2s over Serbia in 1999, their first use in combat, told CNN that taking off was probably “the most surreal moment” in the lives of the crews in the weekend raid.

“They’re actually executing a mission that no one in the world knows, but for a very few, is taking place,” he said.

One unique aspect of Saturday’s mission is the payload each plane was carrying: 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs that were designed to penetrate deep into the mountains that US officials said fortified aspects of Iran’s nuclear program.

It was the first time that bomb had been used in combat, and only B-2s are capable of carrying these types of bombs.

Seven bombers carried a total of more than a dozen bombs. The impact of the sudden loss of several tons of weight on each aircraft was likely negligible on an aircraft as advanced as the B-2, Basham said.

The refuelings on the way back to Missouri were likely some of the hardest the fatigued crew had ever experienced, he said, but “the one thing that’s going to lift them up is they’re going to enter the coast of the United States again and they’re going to get that ‘welcome home’ from a US controller.”

CNN’s Tom Foreman contributed to this report.

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The situation went down earlier this week on East 12th Street.

“I just heard my mom in a distressed tone, she was like ‘call 911, call 911!’” Dominic Wendel told KRDO in an interview Wednesday. “We ran up there, we didn’t even have any shoes on. It was raining, it was so cold.”

“And it was fully engulfed, and high flames,” Joanne Wendel added.

A small shed fire could have become a major catastrophe in the east Pueblo neighborhood Monday afternoon if it weren’t for people like the Wendels.

“I was standing on my porch, we were planting these flowers and it was getting ready to rain so I was going to pull them back, and we noticed a bunch of white smoke coming from behind the street,” Joanne recounted.

Joanne Wendel, her son Dominic, and her sister, Summer — as well as other neighbors — didn’t wait around.

“Hitting on the doors and windows just to make sure no one was in there,” Summer explained when asked what the family did to help.

They say they’re glad the family ended up being okay, but they’re also breathing a sigh of relief for themselves.

“It just gave a good sense of community,” said Joanne. “You could feel that your home was safe because your neighbors will react.”

“I think it shows that my neighborhood is ready to stand up for one another,” Dominic told us.

Beyond all that, they say this situation shows what the east side of Pueblo is really like.

“People kind of think of it as like the slum area of Pueblo but there’s really a lot of good people that live on this side of town,” Summer said.

Stay up to date with the latest local news, sports, and investigations by downloading the KRDO13 app. Click here to download it from the Apple App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play here.