U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to hold a news conference on Thursday to deliver a fresh assessment of recent American airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, amid growing debate over the effectiveness of the operation.

The briefing comes in the wake of a sharp dispute within U.S. political and intelligence circles regarding the extent to which the strikes disrupted Tehran’s nuclear program.

Following a series of Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military installations and retaliatory missile launches by Iran since June 13, the United States carried out airstrikes over the weekend targeting three key Iranian atomic sites.

An initial classified assessment, first reported by CNN, reportedly concluded that the U.S. strikes did not destroy critical components of the nuclear infrastructure and may have delayed Iran’s nuclear progress by only a few months.

However, the White House has strongly disputed that conclusion. Former President Donald Trump, in public statements, insisted that the U.S. bombardment “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities, specifically citing the heavily fortified Fordo site, located deep within a mountain.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe backed that position on Wednesday, stating that “several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years,” suggesting a far more extensive impact than initially reported.

Meanwhile, nuclear experts and analysts are raising further concerns over the possibility that Iran, anticipating the strikes, may have removed an estimated 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of enriched uranium from the targeted facilities.

The whereabouts of this material remain unknown, heightening fears that it could be hidden or relocated to undisclosed sites.

The upcoming news conference by Secretary Hegseth is expected to provide more clarity on the scale of the damage inflicted by the U.S. strikes and their implications for regional security and nuclear non-proliferation efforts.