U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) had harsh words for the mainstream media after days of speculation that President Donald Trump's strikes on Iran's nuclear sites did not have the destructive effects initially boasted by his administration.
Multiple media outlets recently reported on a leaked preliminary Pentagon assesment, stating that Trump's strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities earlier this week did not have the crippling effect initially claimed by the president, saying the bombings only set Iran's program back a few months.
The report claimed the strikes on the enrichment facilities at Fordow and Natanz had sealed off entrances but failed to destroy underground structures, as was claimed by the administration, which boasted of the so-called bunker-buster bombs used in the attack.
Trump, along with dozens of lawmakers, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and others, were swift to bash the media speculation as merely an attempt to criticize the president, and were disrespecting the airmen who flew the mission to deliver the payloads.
On a Thursday afternoon call with reporters, Tuberville echoed the administration's criticisms of the speculation on the leaked report, calling it a "downright lie."
"[O]f course, the fake liberal media is blatantly lying about the success of President Trump's strikes," Tuberville said. "They can't handle it. CNN has spent the last several days claiming that the strikes were ineffective at eliminating Iran's nuclear program. Mind you, these are the same people that claimed COVID came from bats, Trump wasn't shot, and in 2020, the election was perfect. We all know that all those were wrong. It's shameful and it's a downright lie. You know the liberal media is so blinded by their hatred of President Trump that it's impacting their ability to be fair journalists. Iran even admitted that the strikes caused significant damage to their nuclear facilities. There's no denying that this mission was a spectacular success. We'll see what ultimately happens in the Middle East, but for now, I'm glad that we finally have a commander-in-chief again."
Tuberville stated during the call that he would receive an intelligence briefing later that day. Later reports from that meeting claim multiple Democratic lawmakers were unconvinced by the briefing that Iran's nuclear capabilities were crippled.
Some have speculated that, if the strikes did not halt Iran's nuclear capabilities, a logical next step based on Trump's stated aims would be to reengage the facilities with further strikes.
Tuberville was non-committal on whether he believed the United States should conduct further strikes, stating he didn't want to "jump the gun."
"I don't think we will really know for months, maybe just a few weeks, what really the damage we did to their system," Tuberville stated. "We know it was a lot of damage, we just don't know how much. But, at the end of the day, their scientists have been eliminated. A lot of their leadership has been eliminated; this was by the Israelis, and there was significant damage to all of the machinery and the things that were put together to build their nuclear bomb. So, whether it's a year, or two years, five years, 10 years, it has been delayed, and that's what we needed to happen."
He continued, "I know Israel is doing a great job of defending their country and setting Iran back, but we cannot allow them to have a nuclear weapon. And if we just set them back a month, what we did was good. Now, going back in there and involving the United States, I don't think we need to do that as we speak, but if need be, in the future, I will let President Trump make that decision."
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