U.S. intelligence indicates that the timeline for the Islamic Republic of Iran to produce a nuclear weapon remains unchanged since “Operation Midnight Hammer” in June 2025, Reuters reported on Monday.
Before last year’s 12-day war, U.S. intelligence assessments estimated Tehran could build a nuclear bomb within three to six months; after the June 22, 2025, strikes on key facilities, that timeline was extended to roughly nine to 12 months, three sources familiar with the matter told the wire agency.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has reportedly contemplated additional operations aimed at further impeding Tehran’s nuclear progress. Options under discussion have said to include ground raids to retrieve highly enriched uranium believed to be stored in a tunnel complex at the Isfahan site in central Iran.
“Operation Midnight Hammer obliterated Iran’s nuclear facilities,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales told Reuters in response to Monday’s report. The ongoing war with Iran, dubbed “Operation Epic Fury” by Washington, built on this success “by decimating Iran’s defense industrial base that they once leveraged as a protective shield around their pursuit of a nuclear weapon,” according to the spokeswoman.
U.S. President Donald Trump “has long been clear that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon—and he does not bluff,” she added.
Trump on Monday reaffirmed his commitment to preventing the Islamic regime from acquiring an atomic bomb, addressing a small-business summit at the White House.
“We had to do this little excursion,” he said of the latest military operation against Iran. “I assumed the market would be down 25%, and that was worth it to get rid of lunatics that would have nuclear weapons that can wipe out countries with the push of a button—you can’t do that,” the president continued.
“I had to do it because it should have been done 47 years [ago]; it should have been done by many presidents or other countries, should have been done a long time ago, but we’re doing it and we have no choice, and I’m very proud to be doing it,” Trump added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on April 13 that the Trump administration has made clear that Iran’s enriched uranium was the “central issue” in the now-faltering diplomatic talks with the Islamic Republic. U.S. Vice President JD Vance had called Netanyahu the day before and clarified “that the central issue on the agenda for President Trump and the United States is the removal of all enriched material, and ensuring there is no more enrichment in the coming years, and this could be for decades—no enrichment inside Iran,” the Israeli leader told reporters at a Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
“This is their focus, and of course, it is important to us as well,” said Netanyahu.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, during a hearing at the House Armed Services Committee last week, said that the regime’s remaining 60% enriched uranium has the potential to kill millions of people.
“The history shows us what the lethal potential is of a nuclear weapon, and so you’d have to assume the higher end of that range,” he stated. “And given the radical nature of this regime and the likelihood of them to use it, it gives you a sense of the threat.”
