Expert from the Middle East: Iran trying to “save face” after the nuclear site strikes

While total damage to three Iranian nuclear sites continue to be assessed, an expert in the Middle East said that Iran’s declared assessment is only strengthening American and Israeli opinions.

Israel, who said the strikes have replaced the Iranian nuclear program, has the greatest resources in place to take a determination and the most incentive to obtain the right facts, said Jacob Olidort, director of the Center of American Security at America First Policy Institute, told Fox News Digital.

“The United States and Israel say they have achieved their goals,” said Olidort. “Israel has probably planned this for many years, and Israel says that it has achieved its objectives, which destroys Iran’s ability to enrich uranium.”

The United States has launched a surprise strike using B-2 furtive bombers and bunker-business bombs on Iranian nuclear, Natanz and Isfahan installations on Saturday.

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This satellite photo of Planet Labs PBC shows the Iran underground nuclear enrichment site in Fordow after American air strikes targeting the installation on Sunday, June 22, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

Some media reports have rejected the Trump administration’s claims that the sites were destroyed and have made Iran back in its quest to make a nuclear weapon.

Wednesday, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Baghaei, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that “our nuclear installations had been seriously damaged, for sure”, although he refused to go into details.

Olidort said that “everything Iran is doing now is to save the face”.

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“We must never take anything from Iran to its nominal value, but their evaluation can only strengthen the views of Israel and the American vision,” he said.

The card of us strikes on Iran. (Fox News)

The leader of the United Nations nuclear guard dog, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi, reiterated Thursday that the damage caused by the Israelis and the United States in Iranian nuclear installations “is very, very, very considerable”.

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“I think that the annihilation is too much, but it has suffered enormous damage,” said RFI French broadcaster.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.