国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯周日上午回应了总统唐纳德·特朗普在陈述美国空袭对伊朗核计划造成的损害时，他说该计划已经“被抹杀”，但参谋长联席会议主席丹·凯恩将军似乎不愿意走得更远。
“很明显，我们摧毁了伊朗的核计划，”赫格塞斯在清晨的新闻发布会上对记者说，同时称赞特朗普总统在行动中的作用。
“由于特朗普总统大胆而富有远见的领导以及他对通过实力实现和平的承诺，伊朗的核野心已经被摧毁，”他说。
“许多总统都梦想对伊朗的核计划给予最后一击，但在特朗普总统之前，没有人能做到，”他说。
在周六晚上对全国发表的讲话中，就在袭击发生后，特朗普表示，伊朗的关键核浓缩设施已经“完全彻底地被摧毁”，称这次袭击是“引人注目的军事成功”。
周日上午，凯恩更为谨慎，称“需要一些时间”来评估损失有多大。
“我知道战损很有意思。最终的战斗破坏将需要一些时间，但初步的战斗破坏评估表明，所有三个地点都遭受了极其严重的损害和破坏，”凯恩说。
“我认为BDA仍悬而未决，现在评论那里可能有或没有什么还为时过早，”他说。
后来，Hegseth补充说，“战斗损失评估正在进行中，但正如主席所说，我们的初步评估是，我们所有的精确弹药都击中了我们希望它们击中的地方，并取得了预期的效果，这意味着特别是这里的主要目标，我们相信我们实现了那里能力的摧毁。”
卫星图像似乎显示了山顶上的弹坑，福尔多工厂就深埋在这里。
'Way too early' to know full damage done to Iran nuclear sites, Joint Chiefs chairman says
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday morning echoed PresidentDonald Trumpin stating how much damage U.S. air strikes had done to Iran's nuclear program, saying it had been "obliterated," but Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine appeared not willing to go as far.
"It was clear we devastated the Iranian nuclear program," Hegseth said at an early morning briefing with reporters, while praising President Trump's role in the operation.
"Thanks to President Trump's bold and visionary leadership and his commitment to peace through strength, Iran's nuclear ambitions have been obliterated," he said.
"Many presidents have dreamed of delivering the final blow to Iran's nuclear program, and none could until President Trump," he said.
In his speech to the nation Saturday night, just after the strikes, Trump said Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities had been "completely and totally obliterated," calling the attack a "spectacular military success."
On Sunday morning, Caine was more measure, saying it will "take some time" to assess how much damage has been done.
"I know that battle damage is of great interest. Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction," Caine said.
"I think BDA is still pending and way too early to comment on what may or may not be there," he said.
Later, Hegseth added that "The battle damage assessment is ongoing, but our initial assessment, as the chairman said, is that all of our precision munitions struck where we wanted them to strike and had the desired effect, which means especially the primary target here, we believe we achieved destruction of capabilities there."
Satellite images appeared to show bomb craters on top of the mountain where the Fordo plant is buried deep inside.
