United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran is now much further from developing a nuclear weapon than it was prior to the recent U.S. strike on Tehran’s key nuclear sites.
Speaking on the sidelines of the NATO summit on June 25, 2025, Rubio stated that the operation caused significant and substantial damage to various components of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, with further assessments still underway.
“The bottom line is, they are much further away from a nuclear weapon today than they were before the president took this bold action,” Rubio told Politico on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
Rubio Reveals Iran Suffered Setback
His remarks come days after President Donald Trump revealed through his Truth social that US had destroyed Iranian nuclear sites, leaving them completely destroyed.
United States intelligence assessment, however, said that that the setback was by only few months as reported recently reported by CNN.
Rubio has since denied the media reports stating that they failed to capture the extent of the damage.
“That’s the most important thing to understand — significant, very significant, substantial damage was done to a variety of different components, and we’re just learning more about it,” Rubio added, referring to the damage done to the Iranian nuclear sites.
Also Read: Iran’s Supreme Security Council Announces Ceasefire with Israel
Trump Says Iran Nuclear Sites Destroyed
President Donald Trump has insisted that Iran nuclear weapons were completely destroyed even after an initial intelligence evaluation.
The evaluation stated that the strike had failed to destroy the underground nuclear facilities including “Iran’s enriched uranium.”
However, Trump has maintained that the facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan were affected with the US attack.
Also Read: Trump Left Frustrated After Iran Called His Bluff on Military Action
Iran Fail in Nuclear Obligations
For the first time in 20 years, the global nuclear watchdog has found that Iran has failed to meet its obligations, even as the Trump administration continues talks with the country.
On May 12, 2025, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a resolution warning of a possible referral to the UN Security Council over Iran’s non-compliance.
“Iran’s many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran constitute non-compliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement,” the draft resolution stated.
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