JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – The U.S. Defense Department estimates Iran’s nuclear program was set back by as much as two years, as Israel and Hamas apparently are moving closer to another ceasefire agreement, including a hostage exchange.
Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell on Wednesday backed President Donald Trump’s assertion that U.S. and Israeli strikes “obliterated” Iran’s major nuclear sites.
“All of the intelligence that we’ve seen has led us to believe that Iran’s – those facilities, especially – have been completely obliterated,” Parnell said.
He added that the action set back Iran’s nuclear ambitions by one or two years.
He estimated, “I think we’re thinking probably closer to two years, like degraded their program by two years.”
However, Iran may soon try to return to secret work on building nuclear weapons. The regime’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has now signed off on kicking the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), out of Iran. That drew a response from U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce.
She announced, ” It is – we’ll use the word unacceptable – that Iran chose to suspend cooperation with the IAEA.”
The Iranian regime faces threats from both the White House and Israel that bombing will resume if Tehran returns to nuclear weapons manufacturing.
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In Gaza, Trump is also threatening the Hamas terror group, saying conditions will become much worse for its leadership and operatives unless they agree to a new ceasefire deal, one that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already agreed to.
“He wants it, too. He’s coming here next. He wants to end it, too,” Trump stated.
The deal would trigger a 60-day ceasefire, accompanied by a U.S.-backed guarantee of talks aimed at permanently ending the war. During the 60 days, Hamas would free 10 of the 20 remaining surviving hostages.
Idit Ohel, the mother of hostage Alon Ohel, reminded the world of how much they are suffering.
“Alon has been in the tunnels, 40 meters under the ground, for more than 630 days,” she said this week. She added, “You know, Alon is being starved in captivity.”
Gazan Palestinians also say they desperately want the proposed ceasefire.
Asmaa al-Gendy, a woman displaced from the northern Gaza Strip, noted, “The war is almost two years old. We have been displaced, we have gotten exhausted, suffered from hunger, strikes, destruction.”
Yet, it’s difficult to see how negotiators get past the opposing demands of Hamas and Israel. Hamas insists it stay in power and keep its arms. Israel demands that the group be disarmed and leave the Gaza Strip.
The prime minister cautioned on Wednesday, “I’m telling you, there will be no Hamas. There will be no ‘Hamastan;’ we’re not going back to that.”
