Donald Trump has rejected reports that US intelligence is suggesting strikes on Iran didn't destroy nuclear sites. Meanwhile, Iran has executed three men accused of collaborating with Israel. Listen to the latest episode of The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim below as you scroll.
Wednesday 25 June 2025 07:25, UK
A classified briefing in the US on Iran and Israel has been postponed until Friday.
The meeting had been scheduled for yesterday but House Speaker Mike Johnson has now said officials will present the latest information later this week.
Johnson has not provided a reason for the postponement.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has proposed a meeting with Iran's foreign minister amid fears of the impact of US strikes on the country's nuclear sites.
Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement he had written to Abbas Araghchi and stressed the importance of working together and proposed meeting "soon".
He said IAEA inspectors have remained in Iran throughout the conflict and were "ready to start working as soon as possible", going back to the country's nuclear sites and verifying the inventories of nuclear material.
"As I have repeatedly stated 鈥� before and during the conflict 鈥� nuclear facilities should never be attacked due to the very real risk of a serious radiological accident," Grossi said.
"During these attacks, we have seen extensive damage at several nuclear sites in Iran, including its uranium conversion and enrichment facilities.
"Our assessment is that there has been some localised radioactive as well as chemical release inside the affected facilities that contained nuclear material - mainly uranium enriched to varying degrees - but there has been no report of increased off-site radiation levels."
The statement comes after a Iranian lawmaker said Grossi should not be allowed to enter Iran.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy commission in Iran's parliament, said cooperation with the IAEA should be suspended, the Iranian Students' News Agency reported yesterday.
The same commission approved a day earlier the general outline of a bill meant to fully suspend Tehran's cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
The Israeli military has said seven personnel, an officer and six soldiers, were killed in fighting in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday.
In a separate incident, a soldier was severely wounded also in southern Gaza, the military added today.
Israeli media reported the seven were in the city of Khan Younis when an explosive device planted on their vehicle detonated, setting it on fire.
Last month, the IDF ordered residents of Khan Younis to evacuate as it prepared to launch an "unprecedented attack".
People were ordered to move towards al-Mawasi in the west of the strip as the Israeli military launched a new Gaza offensive.
Iran has arrested 700 people accused of ties with Israel over the last 12 days, the Nour News agency reports.
The Iranian state-aligned media Fars News has referred to them as "Israeli mercenaries".
It also reported that 10,000 drones have been seized.
"Since the beginning of Israel's attack on Iran, the Zionist regime's spy network has been highly active in the country; Iranian intelligence and security forces managed to arrest more than 700 of them within 12 days," Fars News reported.
The claims have not been verified by Sky News.
Last night we brought you a report that US intelligence was now suggesting strikes on Iran didn't destroy nuclear sites.
We can bring you more on this today...
An early intelligence assessment indicated that the US military strikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of Tehran's nuclear programme and likely only set it back by months, CNN reported.
While over a dozen bombs were dropped on two of the nuclear facilities, the Fordow Fuel Enrichment plant and the Natanz Enrichment Complex, they did not fully eliminate the sites' centrifuges and highly enriched uranium, CNN said, citing people familiar with the early assessment.
It said the assessment was produced by the Defence Intelligence Agency - Pentagon's intelligence arm - and is based on a battle damage assessment conducted by the US Central Command after the U.S. strikes.
The report by the Defence Intelligence Agency estimated that the programme was delayed less than six months, the New York Times said in another report.
But Trump has rejected this...
In a post on Truth Social the US president said the sites were "completely destroyed".
This is what he had to say...
Iran has executed three men after they were convicted of collaborating with Israel.
The men were accused of working with the Mossad spy agency and smuggling equipment used in an assassination, the Mizan news agency reports.
Mizan did not give further details.
Iran has put to death many individuals convicted of having links with the Mossad and facilitating Israel's operations in the country.
It's just hit 5.30am and the skies over Israel and Iran have fallen quiet.
It's the second day of the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, which got off to a shaky start yesterday - angering Donald Trump.
He said both countries "don't know what the f*** they're doing", but was particularly upset with Israel's prime minister, who we understand turned planes around on Trump's orders.
The truce has appeared to hold since then, with noises from both sides insisting they will abide by the deal as long as the other does.
Meanwhile, Trump is in the Netherlands for a NATO summit, which will have conflicts in the Middle East high on the agenda.
By Mark Stone, US correspondent
Behind the chest-thumping from Donald Trump, and the bewilderment beyond at his statecraft-by-social-media, doubts have now reached fever pitch about the success of the American bombing of Iran's nuclear sites.
Leaks from the US Defence Department suggest the bunker busting bombs dropped on Iran's three nuclear enrichment sites might only have set the country's nuclear capabilities back by months.
"We were assuming that the damage was going to be much more significant than this assessment is finding," said one of three sources, speaking to NBC News.
Donald Trump has been praising US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities - but intelligence suggests the destruction may not have been emphatic as he claims.
In fact, the attacks may have just set the programme back by months, rather than eliminated it entirely - see our post at 21.16.
As a reminder, this map shows the key nuclear locations - and we'll be going through each one.
For context, we use the term nuclear proliferation a lot below, so here's the definition:
The spread of nuclear weapons, and, more generally, the spread of nuclear technology and knowledge that might be put to military use. Nuclear proliferation is controlled by the Nuclear Non鈥恜roliferation Treaty, which recognises five nuclear states: the US, the UK, Russia, China and France.
Natanz
One of Iran's principal uranium enrichment complexes lies on a plain adjacent to mountains outside the Shiite Muslim holy city of Qom, south of Tehran.
Natanz houses facilities including two enrichment plants: the vast, underground Fuel Enrichment Plant and the above-ground Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant.
It was revealed in 2002 that Iran was secretly building the facility, which is said to be three floors underground.
Fordow
Another enrichment site can be found at Fordow - one that is extremely well protected, given that it's thought to be dug into the side of a mountain.
Isfahan
Iran's second-biggest city is home to a large nuclear technology centre, which includes a Fuel Plate Fabrication Plant and a uranium conversion facility.
There is equipment at Isfahan to make uranium metal, a process that is particularly proliferation-sensitive since it can be used to create the core of a nuclear bomb.
Khondab
In Khondab lies a partially built heavy-water research reactor.
These pose a nuclear proliferation risk because they can produce plutonium which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atom bomb.
Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to bring the reactor online in 2026, with a previous 2015 deal seeing the reactor's core removed and filled with concrete to make it unusable.
Tehran
Iran's nuclear research facilities in its capital Tehran include a research reactor.
Bushehr
Iran's only operating nuclear power plant lies in the Bushehr area on the Gulf coast.
The facility uses Russian fuel that Moscow then takes back when it is spent, therefore reducing the proliferation risk.
As Washington wrangles over the true extent of damage US strikes caused at Iranian nuclear sites, new satellite images show their aftermath.
These pictures show the scene at the three sites targeted by the US over the weekend.
Isfahan
Fordow
Natanz
