President Donald Trump was schooled on his war with Iran in a segment on 60 Minutes Sunday night.
The story discussed Trump’s ambitions to seize control of what remains of Iran’s nuclear stockpile, either by force or by more diplomatic means.
It also featured a Harvard professor who pointed out the glaring issue with Trump’s claims about his war.
Dr. Matthew Bunn, a nuclear and energy policy analyst at the Harvard Kennedy School who worked as a nuclear adviser in the Clinton White House, spoke to 60 Minutes‘ Cecilia Vega about the president’s claims that he decimated Iran’s nuclear program in strikes conducted last June.
The U.S. struck three nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow, with the president claiming that the strikes had “completely obliterated” the facility at Fordow using six bunker buster bombs, striking the other two facilities with 30 Tomahawk missiles.
“That statement is just not true,” Bunn said.
“You can’t say that a program that still has enough nuclear material for a bunch of nuclear bombs is obliterated,” he continued.
Bunn then hit the Trump administration with the real problem it faces, which is that strikes can’t eliminate expertise.
“There’s no doubt that the combination of the strikes in June of last year, and the ongoing war, have seriously set back Iran’s capabilities. But the remaining capabilities are substantial. You can’t bomb away their knowledge.”
While authorities have not been able to verify Iran’s uranium stockpile since June, the International Atomic Energy Agency believes the country still has a stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
“970 pounds of 60% highly enriched uranium. What can you do with that?” Vega asked Bunn.
“That is enough material for, if you enrich it just a little bit more, for ten to eleven nuclear bombs,” Bunn replied.
60 Minutes also interviewed former National Nuclear Security Administration official Scott Roecker, who said that he doesn’t believe that there is a “lasting, durable solution to Iran’s nuclear program through military means.”
Referring to Project Sapphire, the 1994 operation that saw the U.S. cooperate with Kazakhstan to remove nuclear material from the country following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Roecker said that cooperation was key.
“There was agreement in place with the countries,” he explained. “And so that’s a really key fact here. You wanna have a willing partner who’s working with you hand in hand.”
“I’ve never seen it done without that. Never in my experience have I seen that.”
Since he initiated war with Iran in late February, Trump’s messaging around Iran’s nuclear program has resulted in substantial confusion.
In announcing a ceasefire deal earlier this month, the president claimed that Iran had agreed that “there will be no enrichment of uranium.” A Farsi-language version of the 10-point ceasefire plan, conversely, stated that Iran was demanding “acceptance of enrichment” as one of its stipulations for a deal.
As the deadline for a finalized ceasefire deal loomed, Trump once again resorted to threatening Iran’s civilian infrastructure if the country did not accept his deal.
“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL and I hope they take it,” the 79-year-old wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. “If they don’t the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant and every single Bridge, in Iran! NO MORE MR NICE GUY!”
The official Iranian news agency IRNA announced shortly thereafter that the country would not attend the negotiations expected to begin Monday night ahead of the Wednesday deadline.
“Iran stated that its absence from the second round of talks stems from what it called Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire,” IRNA wrote.
Trump’s war is now in its eighth week with no clear end in sight. At least 13 U.S. service members have been killed, and hundreds more have been injured. Over 2000 Iranians have been killed and thousands injured or displaced.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
