Middle East Crisis Reactions to the Iran Conflict

Senate Democrats Don't Buy the Iran Report

On Thursday, US senators received a classified briefing on the US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. The briefing was held in Congress, including by CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

After the meeting, several Democratic senators expressed doubts that Iran's nuclear program was really destroyed, as Donald Trump claims.

- I simply don't believe the president was telling the truth when he said the program was wiped out, says Democrat Chris Murphy according to the AP.

Democrat Chuck Schumer believes that the briefing "raised more questions than it answered".

Hegseth slams media reporting on Iran: “You want Trump to fail so badly”

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slams media reporting on the US attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities. He claims that the reports that the facilities were not destroyed are “fake news” and accuses several TV channels and newspapers of being against Donald Trump.

– It’s like it’s in your DNA, in your blood, to be against Trump. You want him to fail so badly that you have to hope that the attacks might not have been effective, says Hegseth.

According to the minister, Iran’s nuclear program is now “destroyed, defeated, wiped out.”

President Trump praises Hegseth’s statement and writes on Truth Social that it was “one of the best and most professional” press conferences he has watched. 

Analysis: Trump is trying to convince the world that the attack was successful

Donald Trump is trying to convince the world that he is telling the truth when he says that Iran's nuclear program has been destroyed in the US attacks on the nuclear facilities. There are two reasons for this, says CNN's Stephen Collinson.

Trump's entire presidency is built around his image as a strong leader, and information that Iran can still produce nuclear weapons would pose a risk of a protracted conflict.

Trump and his staff have therefore stepped up their rhetoric and attacked the media, he writes.

Michael Clarke on Sky News writes in his analysis that the discussion about the damage to Iran's nuclear facilities is secondary. The two most important questions are about something else.

The first question is whether Iran will abandon its attempts to acquire nuclear weapons or will do everything to succeed in doing so. The second is about how long it will take before Iran is "back on the nuclear threshold" if they decide to invest in nuclear weapons.

"Only when we have answers to these two questions can we truly assess whether the American bombings have been a success or not," writes Clarke.