All language subtitles for English_United_States_Strike_on_Iran_The_Nuclear_Question_updated

>> Our objective is to defend
the American people by

eliminating imminent threats
from the Iranian regime.

>> SEBASTIAN WALKER: In the
weeks since the U.S.

and Israel attacked Iran,
President Trump has repeatedly

justified the strikes by
claiming Iran was an imminent

nuclear threat.

>> If we didn't do what we're
doing right now, you would have

had a nuclear war, and they
would have taken out many

countries, because you know
what, they're sick people.

If we didn't knock the
hell out of them,

they would have had
a nuclear weapon

within two to four weeks.

They would use it within- the
only question is within one hour

if they did it, or one day.

>> WALKER: In the name of
tackling that threat, the U.S.

and Israel have launched
thousands of strikes on Iran's

nuclear sites, military and
civilan infrastructure, and

leadership, for the second time
in less than a year.

>> Israel has confirmed that the
Supreme Leader of Iran,

Ayatollah Khamanei, has been
killed.

>> WALKER: Iran has responded by
launching attacks on Israel and

U.S.-allied states in the Gulf.

♪ ♪

>> WALKER: Is it possible we can
go to Keraj?

It's where they say they were
manufacturing the centrifuges.

>> WALKER: For months before the
war, we'd been investigating the

status of Iran's nuclear
program.

We visited sites hit in the
first round of the U.S. and

Israeli strikes last year, which
President Trump said

‘obliterated' the regime's
nuclear facilities, and sat down

with one of Iran's most powerful
officials, Ali Larijani, in what

would be one of his last
interviews before he was killed

in an Israeli airstrike.

What's your message to the Trump
administration

if there are more attacks?

>> (speaking Farsi)

(explosion booms)

>> WALKER: Since the current war
broke out, we've been talking to

experts and officials...

President Trump has said that
one of the

reasons for these attacks is
that Iran

was on the verge of a bomb.

Is that the case?

And analyzing satellite imagery
with our partners at the

Washington Post, Bellingcat and
Evident Media...

>> There have not been any major
developments that have pointed

towards any strong signatures of
a return to nuclear capacity.

>> WALKER: To try to understand
the truth about what remains of

Iran's nuclear program, and what
kind of threat it could pose.

>> In terms of the nuclear
question, what we don't know is

what Iran will do next.

The Islamic Republic is built
for survival.

It's been planning for a day
like this since the early 2000s.

(traffic passing by)

♪ ♪

>> SEB WALKER: Last summer,
in the aftermath

of the first wave of
U.S. and Israeli attacks,

I was getting
ready to head to Iran.

Given the challenges
of reporting there,

we'd partnered with

"The Washington Post's"
visual forensics team

to help guide us
on the ground,

and were working with
investigative journalists

from nonprofit outlets
Bellingcat and Evident Media.

Israel had assassinated
nuclear scientists,

and the U.S. had bombed
major nuclear facilities.

Our team was poring
over satellite imagery

to understand from afar
the impacts of the strikes

and how much the nuclear
program had been set back.

Nilo Tabrizy speaks Farsi,
and had been

combing social platforms
accessible in Iran

for images and video

of locations that were hit.

We've been told

we could get access to the site
of an assassination and also

speak to family members of a...
of a killed scientist.

>> That would be really
helpful to us,

because we were
only able to confirm

about five of these names
with their locations.

I think we've gotten close
to exhausting

what we can do from afar,
and this is really where

the field reporting
is going to come in handy.

>> WALKER: Eric Rich
is the "Post's"

deputy investigations editor.

Good to see you.
>> Good to see you.

>> WALKER: Thank you.
>> Have a seat.

I mean, it would be great

if we could coordinate
while you're there.

As you start to get
a sense of, like,

which scientists'
families you might be able

to talk to,
let us know immediately,

and we can start to build sort
of a dossier around that strike.

Also, if anybody is able
to share photos

that they may have
in their phones

from immediately after,

that would obviously be
of even greater interest.

>> WALKER: So sending pictures
back, sending videos back,

that's something that's,
that's helpful for you guys.

>> That would be hugely helpful,
and we can, in real time,

we can analyze them and try to,
you know, understand

if we can draw some conclusions
or inferences that might

shape questions, further
questions that you can ask.

♪ ♪

>> WALKER: In May 2025,

the International Atomic Energy
Agency had said

that Iran had increased
its stockpile

of near-weapons-grade
enriched uranium,

though hadn't found evidence

of a systematic nuclear weapons
program.

But Israel believed Iran
was just a short step away

from producing a nuclear bomb,

which they saw as
an existential threat.

On June 12,
they seized the moment.

>> We're hearing a statement

from Israeli prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu.

>> Moments ago, Israel launched

Operation Rising Lion to roll
back the Iranian threat

to Israel's very survival.

(explosion echoes)

>> In and around the capital,
Tehran,

Israeli targets seem
to be expanding.

>> The Iranians acknowledging

that some of their senior
military leaders

have been killed or wounded.

>> WALKER: The first wave of
attacks hit nuclear facilities,

military targets,
and apartment blocks in Tehran.

I've reported from Iran before,
and foreign journalists

especially are
always closely monitored.

This time, it was even more so.

The government
was tightly controlling

where we went and
who we could talk to.

(phone camera snaps)

But it was a chance to see

some of the damage up close.

Our government minders
brought us

to one of the locations
that was hit,

a building we were told
was known as

the "Professors' Complex,"

since many academics
lived there.

We were shown around
by Iraj Rasooli,

a microbiologist,
and his relative, Hanieh.

(debris clatters)

Whoa, it's still falling down.

>> Yeah.

Just be careful, huh?
>> WALKER: Yeah.

>> Sixth floor was hit.

Where we are standing
is third floor.

>> WALKER: Okay.
>> Four, five,

and one above that, six.

From ninth floor to third floor,
100% destruction.

I was sleeping there.

That was my bedroom.

My elder daughter was sleeping
here,

younger daughter was
sleeping there.

So when I went to help
her brother,

he was thrown from his bed, here
he was sleeping, to that corner.

So when I went to help him,
to lift him up,

so his entire skin
came on my hand.

It was so bad,
he was so badly burned.

>> WALKER: Rasooli said
his son-in-law died.

So did his daughter
and grandson.

Living three floors above them

was a physics professor
named Mohammad Tehranchi.

He was seen by Israel
as a key player

in Iran's pursuit
of a nuclear weapon,

and was sanctioned
by the U.S. in 2020.

Did you know the person
that they were targeting?

>> Yeah, yeah.

>> WALKER: You, you knew
him personally?

>> I knew him, yeah, I knew him.

Yeah.
>> He knew, but he didn't know

that he is an important person
for the government...

>> Yeah, I didn't...
>> WALKER: You didn't know

that he was doing this, this
role in the, in the program?

>> We didn't know... we knew
that he was a physicist,

and he was chancellor
of Islamic Azad University.

>> WALKER: Mm.
>> We knew this much.

So what Israel knew more than
us, that is up to them.

(chuckling):
We don't know, we don't know.

(phone beeps softly)

>> WALKER: Hey so I just
wanted to send a voice note.

(on phone): We're at a building
in the north part of Tehran.

This is the site
of one of the...

killings of
one of the scientists.

Here on the floor
below where his apartment was,

and I think there are six floors
that are missing here.

So, the size of the munition
that was used

was extensive.

(men talking in background,
objects clattering)

(on phone): There were civilians
killed alongside this scientist.

This is Dr. Mohammad Tehranchi.

He's a professor of physics
at one of the universities,

and the residents here say
that they didn't really have

any sense that he was associated
with the nuclear program.

Another strike in Tehran,

less than two hours later,
killed a scientist

named Fereydoon Abbasi,
who used to head

the government agency that
runs Iran's nuclear program.

He had been sanctioned
by the U.S. and E.U.

and survived an assassination
attempt in 2010

widely attributed to Israel.

As we traveled around Tehran,
we saw posters of both men

celebrated as martyrs.

Both Abbasi and Tehranchi

were buried alongside
top military commanders

also killed in
the Israeli strikes.

Thousands attended the funerals.

(man singing in Farsi
over loudspeakers)

>> WALKER: Our reporting
was helping the "Post"

develop a picture
of the importance of Tehranchi

and the other scientists killed.

>> So, he seems like a really
critical character in this.

Do we have any sense
of whether he and the others

were targeted
for their general expertise

or, like, a specific project
that they were working on

that was part of the alleged
nuclear program?

>> I talked about this
with a few different sources,

about how important
are these guys,

and someone mentioned they
went after older scientists.

None of these were younger
people in the field.

And so this one expert said
it's probably because

they want to try to destroy
the brain trust,

like, the, you know, the people
who were foundational in this.

But the other side of it is
that for the past decade or so,

maybe even longer, there's been
a big push in Iran, apparently,

to have people train
and study up

in, in theoretical physics
and nuclear work.

>> WALKER: We repeatedly asked
our minders if we could speak

to relatives of
the assassinated scientists,

who Israel claimed were
leading Iran's nuclear program.

They finally agreed
to introduce us

to Tehranchi's brother, Amir.

>> WALKER: So the U.S. says
that he played a leading role

in efforts to develop
a nuclear device

in the mid-2000s, up to 2003.

What's your response to that?

>> (speaking Farsi):

>> WALKER: So he was placed
on the list of sanctions

by the U.S. government.

Were you surprised
when this happened?

>> (speaking Farsi):

>> WALKER: For people outside
of Iran who are questioning

how much these killings
have set back

Iran's nuclear program,

how big a loss do you think it
is to have his knowledge,

his expertise,
taken out of the equation?

>> (breathes deeply)

(speaking Farsi):

(traffic humming in distance)

♪ ♪

>> WALKER: Hey, I just wanted
to send you a quick note,

because we've just wrapped
an interview

with Tehranchi's brother.

When we were done, he showed me
photographs that he'd taken

that were on his computer.

There were what appeared to be
fragments of the weapon,

pieces of metal,
what looked like rotors,

and also, there was what appears
to be a serial number.

>> S-M...
>> WALKER: S-M-B...

>> BOTH: A-M-S-O-O-A-A.

>> WALKER: 2008.

He didn't want to give us
the originals,

but we've filmed it
on our camera,

and I've taken screenshots
that I'm gonna send to you.

Working with open source
investigators from Bellingcat,

the "Post" team
started piecing together

how the strikes against
the scientists were carried out.

>> So were there,
were there markings

on the alleged fragments,
or you, we couldn't make it out?

>> Yeah, there were
some markings on there

that had a possible part number
and a possible lot number.

You have S-M-B-A-M-S-0-0-4-A.

But with,
a lot of these databases

are private
from the arms company.

So, it's not something we can
check using open sources,

especially if it's a weapon
that hasn't been used before.

>> Trevor, is there anything
at the strike site

that allows us to glean
any insight into whether

this munition was fired
from an aircraft or the ground?

>> So from the damage alone,

the experts we talked to, they
weren't able to confirm that.

It's more likely that it was
a longer-range munition,

like a ballistic missile
or a cruise missile.

(traffic humming in distance)

>> WALKER: Over
the course of several days,

we were taken around Tehran
to various locations

where Israeli strikes
had taken place.

We sent pin locations, photos,

and interviews with witnesses
back to the team in the U.S.,

who combined it
with satellite imagery

and geo-located video
to start to piece together

a bigger picture of
what happened.

♪ ♪

It was an assault at multiple
sites across the city.

The strikes started in the
early hours of the morning

and hit in quick succession.

Nine people Israel viewed as
key to Iran's nuclear program--

scientists, engineers,
physicists-- were killed.

We were able to
confirm the locations

and tally civilian casualties

from the strikes
on Abdolhamid Minouchehr

and Ahmadreza Zolfaghari,

both nuclear
engineering professors,

killed just blocks
from each other.

Further east,
we confirmed the location

and casualties from
the strike on Mansour Asgari,

a physics professor
sanctioned by the U.S.

for alleged ties to
nuclear weapons development.

And in Sa'adat Abad
neighborhood--

where Tehranchi was killed--

witness accounts
combined with images

of the direction of the blast
and structural damage

indicated a weapon or weapons

with the force of
a roughly 500-pound bomb.

Taken together, it reflected

an unprecedented campaign
by Israel

in its scale, weaponry,
and impact.

>> We've already done
great things.

We've taken out their
senior military leadership.

We've taken out
their senior technologists

who are leading the race
to build atomic weapons

that would threaten us,
but not only us.

We've done all that
and many other things,

but we are also aware
of the fact that, uh,

there's more to be done.

(traffic passing by)

>> WALKER: "Washington Post"
reporter Souad Mekhennet

spent time in Israel

interviewing senior intelligence
and military sources

about the operation.

She was able to speak to
a senior military official

who helped plan
the assassinations,

which he said had been years
in the making.

He let her record the meeting,
but didn't want his face shown.

>> (on computer):
We mapped out

a group of roughly 100
scientists,

and we made
an extensive analysis.

And we ended up with a group
of the most valuable targets

to be eliminated.

The second phase was developing
the intelligence

and operation capability
to precisely strike

and eliminate
each one of these targets,

up to the level of
an apartment in Tehran.

(on computer): We've made
everything possible to minimize

the collateral damage
that is expected,

and employed precise force
only against targets

that we thought were critical
to deny Iran's pursuit

of nuclear weapons.

Since knowledge
is the core asset

of any weaponization program,

we assessed
that the elimination

of all major nuclear scientists
in Iran

is a major setback
for the project.

♪ ♪

>> WALKER: We wanted to
find out what Iranian officials

had to say about these
scientists

Israel and the U.S. said were
critical to the nuclear program.

The head of
Iran's nuclear agency,

the AEOI, agreed to meet me.

♪ ♪

Security guards
didn't allow us to film

until we were deep inside

his heavily guarded
headquarters.

Mohammad Eslami oversees
all the country's nuclear sites.

>> WALKER: How much has
the killing of these scientists

set back the nuclear program?

>> (speaking Farsi):

>> WALKER: The U.S. says the
goal of the nuclear program

is to produce a nuclear weapon.

What is your response?

>> (speaking Farsi):

♪ ♪

>> WALKER: We left Tehran
and traveled south,

through the
mountainous landscape

that's home to three nuclear
sites that the U.S. and Israel

have said are the heart of
Iran's secret weapons program,

where its stockpile of
near weapons-grade uranium

was believed to be
produced and stored.

Israel bombed the sites.

And on the tenth day
of the 12-day campaign,

America joined the attack.

(explosions popping)

>> A short time ago,
the U.S. military carried out

massive precision strikes

on the three key
nuclear facilities:

Fordow, Natanz,
and Isfahan.

>> In total, U.S. forces
employed approximately

75 precision-guided weapons
during this operation.

>> Iran's key nuclear
enrichment facilities

have been completely
and totally obliterated.

♪ ♪

>> WALKER: We arrived in Isfahan

12 weeks after
U.S. cruise missiles

slammed into
the nuclear facility

on its outskirts,
where we were hoping to film.

The city looked different from
trips we'd taken here before,

with fewer women wearing
the hijab,

a sign of opposition that
had been building for years

against theocratic rule.

(bells jangling)

As we waited for permission,
our minders told us

we can ask people
about the bombing.

But on that question,

no one wanted to speak.

Excuse me, do you guys speak
English, by any chance?

>> Yes.
>> WALKER: Can we interview you?

>> Um...

>> WALKER: On camera?
Is it possible?

>> Um...

Oh, no.
>> WALKER: Okay.

Can we talk to you on camera?

>> No problem, but...

>> WALKER: Uh-huh.
>> What do you ask me?

>> WALKER:
About the, the 12-Day War.

>> No.
>> WALKER: Okay.

All right, thanks.

(people talking in background)

In the end,
a message came from Tehran

that we're not going to be
allowed to film

the damage at the center.

They claimed it wasn't safe.

This was as close as
they would take us.

The bombed facility
was just behind this ridge.

Do you think we could get
a shot from that place?

>> It's a...

station for cable cars.
>> WALKER: Mm.

For the nuclear center,
could we drive close to it?

Even if we don't stop
and get out?

>> Even from the car,
you need permission.

>> WALKER: Even from the car?
>> Yes.

♪ ♪

>> WALKER:
But away from Isfahan,

my colleagues
back in Washington

had been piecing together
what happened there,

and at the other nuclear sites.

Isfahan is Iran's
largest nuclear complex.

The U.S. says it launched
more than two dozen

precision-guided tomahawks
at the site in June 2025.

Satellite imagery
obtained by

the "Post's"
visual forensics team

showed damage to the main
uranium conversion facility.

>> This piece of damage is
from Israeli strikes previously,

and then this is when the U.S.
hit the Isfahan center here,

and our sources told us
that this damage means

that it was knocked almost
completely out of operation.

>> WALKER: Isfahan
is reported to have held

much of Iran's stockpile of
highly enriched uranium--

and it's believed to be
buried under the rubble there

to this day.

The U.S. said Natanz was struck

by two bunker-busting bombs

known as massive ordnance
penetrators, or M.O.P.s.

Satellite imagery showed
visible penetration points

that align with underground
centrifuge buildings.

Israel had also struck the
electrical infrastructure here,

crippling the site before
the U.S. bombs did their damage.

>> And that electricity
is so key,

because the centrifuges are
spinning at such a high rate

that if the electricity is cut,
the spinning will stop,

and that can compromise
the structural integrity

of these
very delicate machines,

such that they will spin out

and, and sort of destroy
themselves.

>> WALKER: Fordow
took the heaviest hit.

The U.S. focused
the most powerful munitions

on what it considered Iran's
most important enrichment site,

buried deep inside
this mountain range.

The U.S. said B-2 bombers
dropped 12 M.O.P.s,

most of them through two
ventilation shafts.

Satellite imagery
before and after the strike

showed two ventilation openings

that appeared to confirm this,

but not the extent of damage.

>> The M.O.P.s still could've
undermined the centrifuges

even without
penetrating the interior.

If they had penetrated
the halls,

they would've--
it would've been catastrophic.

If it were to hit
from above the facility,

but not inside the facility,

the force of that explosion
would still sort of

move through the rock
and rattle the facility

in a way that could cause

the function of the centrifuges
to be undermined.

>> WALKER:
Regardless of the damage,

the exact location and
status of Iran's stockpile

of highly enriched uranium
would remain

a key unresolved question about
the country's nuclear potential.

In the meantime,
our colleagues at the "Post"

had begun to detect
new activity

at another underground facility
that was not bombed in 2025.

>> (on phone): There's
something I wanted to ask you,

as you're in a pretty sensitive
reporting environment,

so I can't explicitly
say the names,

but there is a site
of interest that we have

that was not hit
by U.S. strikes,

but it's an important site.

So I just wanted to flag--
there has been

some increased activity that
we've seen on satellite imagery.

>> WALKER: The activity
the "Post" had detected

was at a site built
inside a mountain

called Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La,
or Pickaxe Mountain.

On our journey back
from Isfahan,

the road passed close

to Pickaxe Mountain.

We found an excuse
to stop and take pictures.

The complex was somewhere
in this range,

believed to be buried deeper

than any of the facilities
that were bombed.

(message sent sound chimes)

>> Seb took some photos

from here of Pickaxe.

>> WALKER: Our photos
added to a picture

the team was building on Pickaxe
from satellite imagery.

>> You really get a sense
of the topography there,

which you kind of lose
in satellite.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> Part of
the security infrastructure

that is expected at a secure
site like this would be

building perimeter walls
and security features

that help controls what comes in
and what comes out.

Iran had said the purpose
of Pickaxe Mountain

was to house a production plant
for assembling centrifuges.

>> The ability for the regime

to reconstruct centrifuges

is going to be important

in their ability to bounce back,

which puts more eyes

on Pickaxe and if indeed
there is centrifuge construction

taking place there,
what that means is that

they would be able to come back
relatively quickly.

>> WALKER: Analysts also suspect

that Pickaxe's dimensions
and estimated depth

could be used for uranium
enrichment,

or for storing
near-weapons-grade uranium.

Using satellite imagery,

the "Post" was able to show
the site was being fortified

and expanded.

>> Here, this summer on the
right-hand side,

you can see the status of the,
of the security wall underway.

You can see them making
their way through the rock.

Now compare that

here on the left, now this fall,
where you can see

that security perimeter
becoming closer to completion.

>> I think what's
so interesting about this site

is it gets at
this question of what's next.

And we're seeing evidence,
it sounds like,

of a continuation of the program
in this... at this site.

>> WALKER: The satellite imagery
showed that two tunnel entrances

had been
covered with dirt and rock,

which experts say hardens them
against possible airstrikes.

And piles of excavated material,
or "spoil,"

next to the entrances,

had increased in size,

indicating continued
tunneling activity.

Satellite imagery
also showed the presence

of heavy equipment
and construction vehicles.

(indistinct chatter)
(car horn honks)

♪ ♪

>> (on phone):
Hey, Seb, I just want

to touch base
on Pickaxe with you.

The purpose
of Pickaxe is unclear.

International inspectors
have never gained

access to it.

So any information you
could find out

would be really helpful.

>> WALKER: Hey, thanks for that.

We are now back in Tehran.

Hopefully, we're going to get
to speak to a senior official.

I'll take it up with them,
and I'll keep you posted.

Our trip near its end,

we finally heard
that the senior official

we could meet was one
of Iran's most powerful leaders.

Ali Larijani,
who would be assassinated

by Israel just months later,

was in charge of both Iran's
national security

and decisions
around its nuclear policy.

He reported directly

to Ayatollah Khamenei.

Can you say definitively
here, now, after the strikes,

that Iran has no intention
of developing a nuclear weapon?

>> (speaking Farsi):

>> WALKER: And in the future,
is, is that out of the question?

>> (speaking Farsi):

>> WALKER: With the sites that
were hit by American strikes,

President Trump has said

that the enrichment facilities
targeted

were completely
and totally obliterated.

Is he right?

>> (speaking Farsi):

>> WALKER: There's a site south
of Natanz where

international observers
have seen

new reinforcements
of the entrance;

there's been some activity
noticed there.

It's known as Pickaxe Mountain.

Is there any new activity
that these strikes have created?

Is there anything you can
tell us about that site?

>> (speaking Farsi):

>> WALKER: What's your
assessment of the extent

to which these sites
have been damaged,

and how much this has set back
Iran's nuclear program?

>> (speaking Farsi):

(man leading prayer)

>> WALKER: Before leaving Iran,

we'd visited Friday prayer
at the Tehran University campus.

The imams here were handpicked
by the Supreme Leader,

and they echoed his message:
that the 2025 strikes

didn't devastate
the country's nuclear program,

as the U.S.
and Israel had stated.

>> (speaking Farsi):

>> WALKER: Instead, they said,
the bombing had drawn

Iranians closer together

and hardened their resolve.

>> (speaking Farsi):

>> (chanting in Farsi):

>> WALKER: Despite
the 12-Day war,

Iran and its leaders
remained defiant,

and continued
to shroud the nuclear program

in secrecy and mystery.

It was time to leave Iran,

and seek answers elsewhere.

In late 2025,

we traveled to Vienna,
home to the IAEA,

the world's governing
nuclear watchdog.

Rafael Grossi
is the head of the agency.

His inspectors were on
the ground

in Iran prior
to the 2025 bombing,

but hadn't been allowed
to return

to the sites hit by the U.S.
and Israel.

You have the ability
to assess damage

in a unique way
that others don't.

W-what was your
initial assessment after

the strikes on the,
on the key facilities--

Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan?

>> Obviously,
without having physical access

to a place,
any evaluation is partial.

It's not complete.

But the difference between

our assessment and the
assessment of anybody else

is that we knew
exactly what was inside.

>> WALKER: Can you give us
an overall picture

of what that determination was?

>> The determination was,
and still is,

that the damage
was very substantial.

Very substantial.

>> WALKER: While President Trump
had insisted Iran

was nearing a bomb,

Grossi said he hadn't seen

evidence
of an active weapons program,

but he was concerned about

the amount of enriched uranium
Iran had stockpiled.

>> All the access
and inspections that

we were carrying out
allowed us to determine

that there, there is no credible

information that would lead us

to believe that they were
developing a nuclear weapon.

So this I think has
to be said very clearly,

as well as the rest--

a number of, I mean,

a huge amount of near weapon
grade enrichment,

and of course these
technological capabilities

that were there,
which were a source

of legitimate concern
by the international community.

>> Do you think that there
is a risk from these strikes

that it pushes Iran's nuclear
program further underground?

>> If time passes
and inspections do not resume,

well, then, there will be
doubts.

And I mean, I'm not saying
that there will be

an immediate consequence,
but certainly the situation

will, will become a source
of a greater concern

in terms of non-proliferation

or the potential activities
leading to a nuclear weapon.

(crowd shouting)

>> WALKER:
In the months that followed,

tensions continued to build.

After the Iranian regime
violently cracked down

on a wave of anti-government
protests,

killing thousands,

the U.S. began a huge
military buildup in the region.

>> The U.S. military presence
is growing in the Middle East

as tensions rise over
Iran's nuclear capabilities.

>> The Pentagon says it's
sending the Navy's largest

and most
advanced aircraft carrier.

>> WALKER: Amid another round of
negotiations,

President Trump
began threatening Iran

again over its nuclear program.

>> My preference is to solve
this problem through diplomacy.

But one thing is certain,
I will never allow

the world's number one sponsor
of terror,

which they are by far,
to have a nuclear weapon.

Can't let that happen.
(crowd applauds)

>> WALKER: Before I'd left Iran,
I'd asked Ali Larijani

what the world could expect
if there were more strikes.

What's your message
to the Trump administration

if there are more attacks?

What would be
the consequences of that?

>> (speaking Farsi):

(birds chirping)

♪ ♪

>> We begin this hour
with fast-moving developments

out of the Middle East.

Israel says it has
killed two senior

Iranian security officials
in an overnight strike.

>> In the last hour,
Ali Larijani,

a senior figure in the regime,
he's now dead.

>> For decades, Larijani,

well, he was the calm
and the pragmatic face,

if you'd like,
of the Iranian establishment.

>> WALKER: A few months later,

Ali Larijani had been killed.

Along with
Iran's supreme leader,

many of his senior officials,

and more than a thousand
Iranian civilians.

In the middle of the nuclear
negotiations, the U.S.

and Israel had once again
launched

surprise attacks against Iran,

sparking weeks of escalating
violence across the region.

>> Iran has been hitting back
with attacks across the region.

>> A short time ago,
the images coming in,

flames rising from
the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

>> Meanwhile, President Trump
is calling on nations to help

secure the critical
Strait of Hormuz.

>> I would just say that
it's been

an extraordinarily
successful campaign

over the last couple weeks.

>> WALKER: Senator!

I went to Washington as pressure

was building on the president
and his allies

to provide evidence that Iran
had posed an imminent threat.

>> Tonight, the administration's
top counterterrorism official

resigning in protest over
President Trump's war with Iran,

declaring Iran posed no
imminent threat to our nation.

>> WALKER: In a series
of hearings on Capitol Hill,

intelligence officials
were grilled on the issue.

>> Was it the assessment
of the intelligence community

that there was an imminent
nuclear threat

posed by the Iranian regime?

>> The intelligence community
assessed that Iran

maintained the intention
to rebuild

and to continue to grow their
nuclear enrichment capabilities.

>> Was it the assessment
of the intelligence community

that there was a, quote,
"imminent nuclear threat"

posed by the Iranian regime?
Yes or no?

>> Senator, the only person
who can determine what is

and is not an imminent
threat is the president.

♪ ♪

>> WALKER: Nobody from
the Trump administration

would agree to an interview.

But I was able to meet
with the Israeli ambassador

to the United Nations,

who continued to insist

that Iran had been close
to a nuclear weapon.

We believe that they were
very close

to a point where
they can actually assemble

the nuclear capabilities
on the ballistic missiles.

Now, one can argue and say,
"Well, it didn't happen."

But do you want to wait
for that to happen?

Do you want for them
to actually assemble it,

launch it, and then what?

>> WALKER: But with
the nuclear sites,

the nuclear program,

there wasn't anything new

or urgent or imminent
that you saw in that realm

in the lead-up
to these. these recent...

>> No, I have said it
very clearly.

They were moving forward.

And they had the uranium
technology, ballistic missiles,

so the last thing they had to
do is to assemble it together.

Now, I cannot go into details
if they needed, like,

two weeks or two months
to assemble,

but once we realized that they
have the intention to do that,

we were very determined

to stop them.
>> WALKER: How did you realize

that they had that intent?
What changed?

>> Well, you know, we proved
that we have good intelligence.

>> WALKER: Our reporting
colleagues had

been analyzing the strikes

and the ongoing debate
about the threat Iran posed.

>> (on computer): Hi, everyone.
Good to see you all again.

Feels like there are a lot of
big questions in front of us.

Who's going to control
global oil?

What happens to Iran's

political leadership?

Critically, what's the status
of the nuclear program

and the missile program?

I thought it would be useful

to go around the grid

and hear about
everybody's reporting.

>> So this campaign began

unusually in daylight
hours in Tehran and...

>> WALKER: Warren Strobel

is the "Post's" national
intelligence reporter.

>> The campaign very quickly
moved on to military targets,

primarily Iran's
ballistic missiles,

I think there's something
interesting going on here.

Both sides,
both the U.S. and Israel,

are hitting military targets.

But Israel,
and I've just seen a summary

of their campaign,
they are deliberately taking

a lot of their attention,
a lot of their firepower

at regime centers of oppression,
I guess you call it.

They still hope that the people
of Iran will

at some point rise up,

and they're trying to help that;
they really want regime change.

Where it is a little less clear
that the United States

is interested in regime change.

>> We've seen some strikes on

different civilian
infrastructure, too.

So we are seeing,

you know,
it's not just military,

civilian infrastructure,
civilians are being impacted.

And even just in the first week
of this operation,

the civilian death toll in Iran

surpassed that
of the 12-Day war.

>> WALKER: Jarrett Ley had been
examining satellite imagery

to assess whether Iran had
been attempting to re-activate

its nuclear program
in the run-up

to the most recent strikes.

>> At the nuclear sites,

what are we seeing?

>> Since we last reported
on these sites last fall,

we've not seen any major
attempts to reconstitute

or reconstruct these sites.

What we have seen is some
preliminary measures at Isfahan,

leading up to the war,

which were understood by experts

as an ant... in anticipation
of a forthcoming attack.

>> WALKER: The satellite
imagery of Isfahan

shows that three tunnel
entrances were back-filled

with dirt prior
to the latest strikes,

as a potential
defense against an attack.

But our team found no sign

of large-scale reconstruction

at any of the major
nuclear sites,

including
Isfahan, Fordow and Natanz.

>> In the run-up to this war,
there was no

sort of new intelligence

indicating that Iran had made
massive strides forward

in its nuclear program
or ballistic missile program

that would have, perhaps,
justified a conflict.

Obviously, they have
an active nuclear program,

heavily damaged.

They have an active
ballistic missile program,

which they're using in the war,

but there was no kind of
sudden piece

of alarming intelligence.

>> WALKER: As for Iran's
stockpile of enriched uranium,

our team have found no
evidence

that the Iranians have tried
to retrieve it

from the rubble of last year's
strikes.

>> 900 pounds
of uranium enriched

to 60% purity is a concern.

But for the Iranians
to turn that into a bomb,

they would have to go get it.

They would
have to move it securely

without being detected
to a place where

they could further enrich it
to 90%.

They would then have
to take that highly pure,

gaseous uranium,
form it into metal,

and put it atop a warhead
with explosives

that cause
a nuclear chain reaction.

So, um... of course,
it's a concern,

but it seems a little bit hard
for me to believe

that they could do all that
while under intense bombardment

from the United States
and Israel,

unless there's some aspect
to the Iranian program

that we don't know about.

>> And Warren,
to build off of that point,

as Nilo
and I reported last summer,

the site at which they convert

highly enriched uranium
from its gas form

to its metal form at Isfahan
was struck and is destroyed.

And we've seen no evidence

that they've actually rebuilt
that site.

>> WALKER: In the third week
of the war,

the head of the IAEA,
Rafael Grossi,

was in Washington for meetings
with the Trump administration.

He agreed to sit down
with me again.

President Trump has said that

one of the reasons for these
attacks is that Iran

was on the verge of a bomb.

Is that the case?

>> Well, I would generally
abstain

from commenting on comments,

from-- especially from
presidents.

And what I can say is
that the situation

in Iran was concerning.

>> WALKER: This time, Grossi
was reluctant to challenge

the administration's
justifications for war

but expressed frustration

that his inspectors were still
blocked

from Iran's key nuclear sites.

>> We lost

the necessary continuity
of knowledge

to be able to confirm

that everything in Iran
was in peaceful use.

So, as to whether there was

a short distance
or a long distance

to manufacturing nuclear
weapons,

I would not get into that,

but it is clear that there
were some elements of concern.

>> WALKER: Elements of concern,
but...

...evidence of being close
to a bomb.

Did you see anything--
>> We cannot have evidence

when we are not being given
the access

to places and,
and answers to questions

that we were having
on a number of things.

>> WALKER: You said that much
of Iran's

highly enriched uranium
stockpile

was believed to be at Isfahan.

How confident are
you in that assessment?

>> We believe that it's there.

We have been trying to follow,

observing the place,
and so have others.

And the generalized point of
view is that it's still there.

>> WALKER: Is there any
possibility that Iran

could have retrieved
these supplies?

Is that something that you would
be able to observe or tell?

>> One cannot exclude
completely without inspecting,

but as I said,
we believe it's still there.

>> WALKER: Regardless of
the nuclear question,

the U.S. and Israel have said
that a major aim of the war

has also been to eliminate

Iran's conventional
missile capabilities.

>> Our objectives,

given directly from our
"America First" president,

remain exactly
what they were on day one.

Destroy missiles, launchers,

and Iran's defense industrial
base so they cannot rebuild,

destroy their navy, and Iran
never gets a nuclear weapon.

>> WALKER: Back in September
last year,

our minders in Iran had taken us

to the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps missile museum,

where Iran's latest military
hardware was on display.

So are you familiar
with all of these?

>> Yeah, these are a combination
of space launch vehicles

and a couple
of different launchers.

>> WALKER: Decker Eveleth is one
of the leading researchers

on Iran's missile capabilities.
>> Ah, here we go.

I knew it was somewhere
along this valley.

>> WALKER: Like our team,
he said he's seen no evidence

that Iran was within close
reach of a nuclear weapon,

but he told me that based
on his assessments,

it had been making
concerted efforts

to rebuild its conventional
missile stockpile

since the strikes in 2025.

>> So basically all
of the missile production

facilities that were hit during
the 12-Day War were rebuilt.

Whether or not they were
rebuilt with actual

new production machines
inside of those facilities?

Unknown,
but they did do a lot of work

rebuilding those kinds
of facilities,

because, I think at this point,

the missile program is just

the only thing
they have left, really.

>> WALKER: But that in itself
doesn't then pose

an imminent threat to the U.S.
and its allies

in terms of Iran's weaponization
of the nuclear program?

That's a different
consideration.

>> Yes, different consideration.

They can do a lot of damage
with those missiles, right?

But it's, it's a capability

they've had for a long time
already.

And those missiles
can't reach the homeland yet.

>> Israel and the United States
continued to attack Iran today,

hitting the same
kinds of targets

they've struck
throughout this campaign.

>> President Trump
threatened Iran,

saying if they don't reopen
the strait within 48 hours,

the U.S. will start striking
Iran's power plants.

>> WALKER: As the war
has widened,

the U.S. and Israel have hit
thousands of targets

across Iran.

>> They've successfully struck
at least 22 missile bases.

They've basically taken out

the immune system
to the ballistic missiles.

They can no longer produce
new ones.

However, as we've seen
out in the strait

and elsewhere, they still have
munitions in storage.

>> Iran launched one
of its most advanced

ballistic missiles to date
against Israel.

>> Iran has heavily damaged many
petroleum facilities

and other targets in the region.

>> The Strait of Hormuz
is still being blocked by Iran

and that is sending
global energy markets reeling.

>> They can maintain

a resilience within this war
using those munitions

despite the United States'

and Israel's devastating
hits on those facilities.

>> WALKER: Since the
assassination of

Ayatollah Khamanei,

his son Mojtaba Khamanei has
been appointed

as Iran's new supreme leader.

>> We don't know
his leadership credentials.

He's never made a speech.
He's never held public office.

We know that he's
very close to the IRGC,

so a lot of people are,
are saying

that it's really
the IRGC running the show.

>> WALKER: As thousands more
U.S. troops

arrive in the region,
President Trump is

reported to be weighing a
high-risk ground operation

to seize Iran's stockpile of
highly enriched uranium.

At the same time, he has
proposed a plan to end the war -

that, among other demands,

requires Iran to hand over
the stockpile.

>> Talking to sources,
the Islamic Republic is not

at a place where it wants

to have a negotiation
and an off-ramp.

In Mojtaba's first statement,
he talked about closing

the Strait of Hormuz.
He talked about revenge.

>> Amid warnings,
the war in the Middle East

is out of control,

Washington and Tehran
don't appear to be any closer

to seeing eye-to-eye.

>> They are negotiating,
by the way,

and they want to make
a deal so badly,

but they're afraid to say it.

Because they figure they'll
be killed by their own people.

(crowd chanting)

They're also afraid they'll
be killed by us.

>> Iranian military is actually
mocking the president's claims

of any talks,

saying the U.S.
is negotiating with itself.

>> This regime is really built
to withstand

this type of pressure.

Some sources I spoke to were
very concerned

that if they survive this

attack on the future
of the Islamic Republic,

that Iran could rush

to develop a nuclear weapon now
as a form of deterrent.

The strikes in the summer
devastated the three sites.

That we can say for sure.

But what we don't know is what
Iran will do next.

Captioned by

Media Access Group at WGBH

access.wgbh.org

>> For more on this and other
"FRONTLINE" programs,

visit our website at
pbs.org/frontline.

♪ ♪

FRONTLINE's "Strike on Iran: The
Nuclear Question"

is available on Amazon
Prime Video.

♪ ♪