Israeli intelligence rejected backing Iran nuclear claim: Report

Intelligence pushback

Israeli intelligence agencies rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request to endorse the claim that Iran's nuclear program had been completely destroyed, resisting pressure from his office to validate assessments officials deemed professionally unsustainable, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

The confrontation occurred hours after the 12-day war between Israel and Iran ended in June 2025. Netanyahu's office pressed security and military officials to confirm total destruction of Iran's nuclear facilities, reinforcing a claim first made by US President Donald Trump.

"There was one small problem with that statement. It simply wasn't true," the newspaper reported, noting that accurate damage assessments remained unavailable.

War background

From June 13 to June 24, 2025, Israel conducted a military campaign against Iran with US backing, targeting military infrastructure, missile sites and nuclear facilities while assassinating senior commanders and scientists. Iran responded by launching more than 550 ballistic missiles and hundreds of drones at Israeli military and intelligence sites.

Trump initially stated Iran's nuclear program had been destroyed, with Netanyahu later declaring that two "existential threats" — Iran's nuclear program and ballistic missiles — had been eliminated.

Professional objections

"No intelligence official exercising a reasonable degree of professionalism believed that Iran's nuclear program had been eliminated," the report stated. Preliminary assessments based on satellite imagery concluded damage was significant but not complete.

A senior intelligence official refused to sign the requested document, telling his superior: "I cannot sign this." He argued agencies lacked sufficient information to determine full damage extent and warned that endorsing inaccurate assessments would undermine credibility.

The White House sought evidence to counter a Pentagon assessment that concluded damage was far from decisive, prompting Netanyahu's office to seek Israeli institutional support for the US position.

Scientific compromise

Brig. Gen. Moshe Edri, director general of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, agreed to help draft a document but required approval from senior scientists. They initially refused to sign what they described as a "heavily distorted" document rejecting claims that the Fordow enrichment facility had been rendered unusable.

A compromise stated the US strike destroyed critical infrastructure at Fordow and rendered its enrichment facility inoperable, assessing that combined strikes set Iran's nuclear weapons development back by many years. The document stopped short of endorsing Trump's assertion that all three sites had been completely destroyed.

Scientists insisted on a caveat stating those gains would endure only if Iran was prevented from regaining access to nuclear material. They maintained that Iran's remaining stockpile of about 440 kilograms of fissile material — enough for approximately 11 nuclear weapons — meant the program could not be considered destroyed. Neither Netanyahu's office nor Israeli intelligence agencies immediately commented on the report.