Donald Trump and his top officials have pushed back on a leaked intelligence report that said US strikes on Iran only set its nuclear programme back by a few months.
Speaking at a Nato summit in The Hague on Wednesday, Trump said the strikes led to the "virtual obliteration" of Iran's nuclear capabilities and set its atomic programme back "by decades".
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was also at the summit, said the preliminary Pentagon assessment was made with "low confidence" and the FBI was investigating the leak.
On Tuesday, sources familiar with the initial report into Saturday's bombings told the BBC's US partner CBS that Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium was not eliminated.
They added that the strikes had only set the country's nuclear programme back by a few months - an assessment the White House swiftly described as "flat-out wrong".
According to the report, strikes on the heavily fortified enrichment facilities at Fordo and Natanz had sealed off entrances but failed to destroy underground structures.
Officials familiar with the leaked Defense Intelligence Agency evaluation warned it was an early assessment that could change as more information becomes available about the sites.
The Defense Intelligence Agency is the Pentagon's own agency which specialises in military intelligence to support operations. It collects large amounts of technical intelligence, but is distinct from other agencies like the CIA.
The US has 18 intelligence agencies, which sometimes produce conflicting reports based on their mission and area of expertise. For example, the American intelligence community is still not in agreement over the origins of Covid-19.
On Wednesday, while sitting alongside Nato Chief Mark Rutte, Trump initially acknowledged some uncertainty, saying the intelligence on the attack was "very inconclusive".
But he then went further in his assessment, saying "it was very severe, it was [an] obliteration".
When asked if the US would strike again should Iran resume its nuclear activities, Trump said: "Sure, but I'm not going to have to worry about that. It's gone for years."
Trump later likened the strikes to America's atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the end of World War Two.
"I don't want to use an example of Hiroshima, I don't want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing - that ended a war," he said.
The US president was flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, who both echoed his scepticism about the leaked intelligence.
Hegseth said the leak was politically motivated and insisted the bombs landed "precisely where they were supposed to".
He added: "Any assessment that tells you it was something otherwise is speculating with other motives." He characterised the leak as "completely false".
Rubio also cast doubt on the leaked report's credibility, suggesting the contents had been distorted in the media and labelling the leakers as "professional stabbers".