Iran-Israel latest: Trump lashes out at leaked intel saying strikes failed to destroy Tehran’s nuclear sites

The Israeli military said seven personnel, an officer and six soldiers, were killed in fighting in the southern Gaza Strip.

In a separate incident, a soldier was severely wounded in southern Gaza, the military added in a statement this morning.

Israeli media reported the seven were in the city of Khan Younis when an explosive device planted on their vehicle detonated, setting it on fire.

Donald Trump has reiterated that US bombers “perfectly” hit and destroyed Iranian nuclear facilities after a leaked US intelligence report suggested the attack on three sites only set it back by a matter of months.

“They hit the target perfectly, wiped it out,” he told reporters on Air Force One.

He accused CNN of being “very disrespectful” to those who carried out the strikes over the weekend.

Earlier on Truth Social, the US president lashed out at American media, saying: “FAKE NEWS CNN, TOGETHER WITH THE FAILING NEW YORK TIMES, HAVE TEAMED UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY.”

The American embassy in Jerusalem, which was closed for days due to the conflict between Israel and Iran, has reopened this morning following a ceasefire between the two nations.

The embassy in a statement said: “Due to the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, Home Front Command has lifted all restrictions.

“The shelter in place orders for US government employees and their family members has been lifted,” it added.

US government employees and their family members are restricted from travel outside the greater Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Beersheba areas until further notice, it said.

Iran executed three men this morning, after they were convicted of collaborating with Israel’s Mossad spy agency and smuggling equipment used in an assassination, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.

Edris Aali, Azad Shojaei, and Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul were executed at Urmia Prison for “spreading corruption on earth and moharebeh (enmity against God) through collaboration with hostile foreign governments in the Zionist regime’s interest”, the report said.

The three were convicted of shipping equipment used in the assassination of one unnamed personality, according to the report.

“They hid the assassination tools in a shipment of alcohol, which ultimately led to the killing of a notable figure,” Mizan added.

Such a public display of unfettered fury by an American president is extraordinary and perhaps unparalleled.

Standing on the South Lawn of the White House, a crowd of journalists had just asked Donald Trump about Israel and Iran’s violations of the ceasefire he had just proudly declared on social media.

Leaning in, a furious Trump spat out that the two nations had been fighting “for so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing”.

In the moments before, he had repeated four times in the space of a few minutes that he was displeased with Israel – the US’s closest ally in the Middle East region, if not the world.

Prime minister Keir Starmer, along with his French and German counterparts, said it was “time for diplomacy” after the shaky ceasefire between Israel and Iran commenced yesterday.

Sir Keir met with French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Nato summit in The Hague.

“The leaders reflected on the volatile situation in the Middle East,” Sir Keir’s office said in a statement following the meeting.

“Now was the time for diplomacy and for Iran to come to the negotiating table, they agreed.”

President Donald Trump has lashed out at American media over the leaked intelligence report that suggested the US airstrikes did not destroy the nuclear program in Iran.

“FAKE NEWS CNN, TOGETHER WITH THE FAILING NEW YORK TIMES, HAVE TEAMED UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY,” the US president ranted on Truth Social.

“THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED! BOTH THE TIMES AND CNN ARE GETTING SLAMMED BY THE PUBLIC,” Mr Trump claimed.

Citing four people briefed on the initial assessment produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), CNN reports that the strikes likely only set Iran’s nuclear ambitions back by months.

The DIA, the Pentagon’s intelligence agency, based its assessment on battle damage analysis carried out by US Central Command after the strikes on Saturday night, according to one source who spoke with CNN.

The sky over Israel and Iran fell silent on Tuesday night as the fragile ceasefire between the two nations appeared to hold after initially faltering.

But even as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Israel had brought Iran’s nuclear program “to ruin”, a new US intelligence report found that the program has been set back only a few months following American airstrikes.

After the truce was supposed to take effect yesterday, Israel accused Iran of launching missiles into its airspace, and the Israeli finance minister vowed that “Tehran will tremble”.

The Iranian military denied firing on Israel, state media reported, but explosions boomed and sirens sounded across northern Israel in the morning.

Mr Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for a Nato summit that, in his view, both sides had violated the nascent agreement.

He had particularly strong words for Israel, a close ally, while suggesting Iran may have fired on the country by mistake.

Iran will not abandon its nuclear technology despite the recent US and Israeli strikes, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said.

“We have made tremendous efforts to achieve this technology, and our scientists have made enormous sacrifices, even losing their lives for this goal,” Mr Araghchi told New Arab website.

“Our people have endured sanctions for this, and a war was imposed on our nation over this issue. No one in Iran will abandon this technology.”

“I imagine that our outlook on the nuclear program and the non-proliferation regime will undergo changes, though I cannot yet determine their direction,” he said, when asked whether Iran would reconsider its stance toward the UN’s nuclear watchdog.