A report says Israeli intelligence rejected pressure from Netanyahu’s office to declare Iran’s nuclear program completely destroyed after last year’s war.
Key Developments
- Yedioth Ahronoth says Netanyahu’s office sought intelligence backing for claims Iran’s nuclear program was destroyed.
- Intelligence officials reportedly refused, saying available evidence did not support the conclusion.
- Israeli scientists allegedly rejected an initial draft they described as “heavily distorted.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office pressured Israel’s intelligence and security establishment to endorse claims that Iran’s nuclear program had been completely destroyed following last year’s war.
The pressure took place despite internal assessments concluding that the available evidence did not support such a finding, according to a report published Saturday by the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
The newspaper said the dispute unfolded shortly after the end of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, when Netanyahu’s government sought to reinforce public statements made by US President Donald Trump declaring that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been “completely destroyed.”
According to the report, Israeli intelligence officials refused to issue such an assessment, arguing that the available intelligence pointed instead to significant—but incomplete—damage.
“There was one small problem with that statement,” the newspaper wrote. “It simply wasn’t true.”
Intelligence Pushes Back
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, preliminary Israeli intelligence assessments—based on satellite imagery, drone reconnaissance and other classified sources—concluded that while Iran’s nuclear facilities had sustained serious damage, they had not been completely destroyed.
The report says Netanyahu’s office nevertheless pressed intelligence agencies, the military and security officials to produce an assessment supporting the government’s public narrative.
One senior intelligence official reportedly refused to sign the requested document, telling his superior: “I cannot sign this.”
The official argued that intelligence agencies lacked sufficient information to determine the full extent of the damage and warned that endorsing unsupported conclusions would compromise their professional credibility.
Scientists Reject Draft
The report also describes resistance within Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Brigadier General Moshe Edri, director general of the commission, agreed to help prepare an assessment but first sought approval from senior nuclear scientists.
Those scientists reportedly rejected the initial draft, describing it as “heavily distorted.”
Among the claims they refused to endorse were assertions that the Fordow enrichment facility had been rendered permanently unusable and that Iran’s nuclear program had been pushed back by many years.
Following internal discussions, a compromise document was reportedly drafted stating that US strikes had destroyed critical infrastructure at Fordow and significantly delayed Iran’s nuclear ambitions, while avoiding any claim that the country’s nuclear program had been eliminated.
The final version also included an important caveat, according to the report: any long-term gains would depend on preventing Iran from regaining access to its remaining stockpile of enriched nuclear material.
The newspaper said Israeli experts estimated Iran still possessed approximately 440 kilograms of fissile material, enough for roughly 11 nuclear weapons, making it impossible to conclude that Tehran’s nuclear program had been completely dismantled.
Pressure to Support Washington
According to the report, Netanyahu’s office sought Israeli institutional backing after the White House attempted to counter an internal Pentagon assessment—first reported by The New York Times—that questioned the effectiveness of US strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The Israeli newspaper said the government hoped an assessment endorsed by Israeli intelligence and nuclear experts would reinforce Washington’s public position.
Neither Netanyahu’s office nor Israel’s intelligence agencies immediately commented on the report.
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