Iranian officials ‘didn’t anticipate the Israeli attack, let alone the American one,’ Amit Segal says
The U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear facilities wiped out the Islamic Republic’s centrifuges and buried its stockpile of highly enriched uranium deep underground, according to Amit Segal, one of Israel’s most well-connected journalists.
“There isn’t a single centrifuge left in Iran, as far as I understand,” Segal, the chief political analyst for Israel’s Channel 12, said during a Monday appearance on CNN. “Natanz is fully destroyed. So [are] Esfahan and Fordow, especially the site of the centrifuges.”
I was interviewed by @BiannaGolodryga on @CNN about the uranium buried in Fordo and Israel’s next steps. pic.twitter.com/7pCBcYaYxf
— Amit Segal (@AmitSegal) June 23, 2025
Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, meanwhile, is likely “locked” beneath the rubble at Fordow and Natanz, Segal said. “As far as I understand … most, if not all, of the enriched uranium lies under the ruins of Fordow and Esfahan.”
American forces on Saturday used 7 B-2 stealth bombers and dropped 14 bunker busters in the strike, according to Axios, while other reports indicate that they launched at least 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Esfahan and Natanz. U.S. and Israeli officials have confirmed that all three nuclear sites suffered significant damage.
“I think Iranians were not aware of how devastating this attack [was] going to be, especially the American one,” Segal went on. “They didn’t anticipate the Israeli attack, let alone the American one.”
“One of the proofs is that the military leadership slept at their homes [on] the night where the attack began,” he said. “So I think it would be fair to assume that they haven’t smuggled the uranium.”
President Donald Trump ordered Saturday’s strike after Iran repeatedly snubbed U.S. and Israeli demands to halt its nuclear program. The president has urged Iranian officials to return to the negotiating table and warned the Islamic Republic that any retaliation “will be met with force far greater than what was witnessed.”
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