President Donald Trump arrived in the Netherlands on Tuesday in high spirits, eager to showcase his role in orchestrating both a bold military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities and a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Iran. But his confident demeanor quickly unraveled just hours after touchdown, when a leaked U.S. intelligence report directly contradicted his repeated claims that the strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The leaked assessment, which originated from within the Pentagon and was first reported by CNN, painted a far less triumphant picture. It concluded that the strikes had only delayed Iran’s nuclear capabilities by a few months. This finding cast serious doubt on the sweeping victory Trump had been touting.
The revelation punctured the narrative he hoped to dominate the NATO summit: that of a decisive leader who achieved what his predecessors had not.
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Trump had begun using the term “obliterated” even before receiving his first battle damage assessment, and he closely monitored which members of his administration echoed the language, per the Times.
According to the report, the leak not only undercut his version of events but also raised fresh questions about whether he had misled allies and the American public in the lead-up to the summit.
Trump, the report notes, had hoped to bask in praise from NATO leaders, including Secretary General Mark Rutte, who privately applauded his “decisive action” in a note that Trump eagerly shared on social media.
“That was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do,” Rutte wrote in a message to the president. “It makes us all safer.”
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Instead of celebrating an unqualified military success, Trump found himself fending off questions about the accuracy of his statements and the true impact of the strikes. The leak cast a shadow over what was meant to be a diplomatic victory lap, the Times report said.
When asked about the leak by a reporter Tuesday, Trump said, "CNN is scum."
The Times report claims that by the end of the day, Trump’s mood had notably shifted because of the leak.
"The upbeat demeanor crumbled once the intelligence reports started to leak out, with Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, blasting the findings as 'flat-out wrong' and a 'clear attempt to demean President Trump,'" the report stated.
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