Washington DC/IBNS: US President Donald Trump has claimed "monumental damage" was caused to the Iranian nuclear sites by Washington's overnight strikes on Tehran, media reports said. However, some independent experts analyzing commercial satellite imagery have been quoted by NPR saying the nation's long-running nuclear enterprise is far from destroyed.

In a post on Truth Social, the President claimed, "Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!

"The white structure shown is deeply imbedded into the rock, with even its roof well below ground level, and completely shielded from flame. The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!"

Trump on Saturday announced bombing Iran's three nuclear sites and said that with this operation, there would either be peace or more tragedy for Tehran.

The sites are Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan.

He thanked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as the Israeli army and said it was teamwork.

In an address to the world and nation from the White House, President Trump said: "A short time ago, the US military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime. Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan.

"Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror."

"Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier."

Iran on Sunday launched new strikes on Israel hours after the US forces joined the Israeli military campaign and attacked three of its key nuclear sites.

The conflict started a week ago when Israel launched airstrikes against Iranian nuclear and military sites, primarily targeting uranium enrichment facilities to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Iran and Israel have been trading missiles and drones at each other since the conflict between the two Middle Eastern countries began last Friday.

The war began when the Israeli military launched "Operation Rising Lion" and attacked Iranian cities, saying it had concluded Tehran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon.

Experts and Iran differ

"At the end of the day there are some really important things that haven't been hit," Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, who tracks Iran's nuclear facilities, told NPR. "If this ends here, it's a really incomplete strike."

Lewis said the strike doesn't seem to have touched Iran's stocks of highly enriched uranium. "Today, it still has that material and we still don't know where it is," he told the US media.

According to The Guardian, Iran has claimed that it evacuated the sites several days ago, and satellite imagery from several days ago suggests there was unusual truck traffic at Fordow.

Hassan Abedini, the deputy political head of Iran’s state broadcaster, said on the state-run TV that Iran had evacuated the three sites – Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow – some time ago.

“The enriched uranium reserves had been transferred from the nuclear centres and there are no materials left there that, if targeted, would cause radiation and be harmful to our compatriots,” he said.

He said, quoted BBC, Iran "didn't suffer a major blow because the materials had already been taken out"

What IAEA says

The head of the UN’s atomic energy watchdog, the IAEA, warned ambassadors the recent military strikes by Israel and now the US on nuclear sites in Iran have badly compromised safety and could pose serious risks if the situation worsens.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said the attacks had caused “a sharp degradation in nuclear safety and security”, even though there had been no radiation leaks which could potentially impact the public so far.

The IAEA chief warned ambassadors that if the short window of opportunity to return to dialogue closes then the destruction could be “unthinkable” while the global nuclear non-proliferation regime “as we know it could crumble and fall.”

Mr. Grossi confirmed that Iran’s main enrichment facility at Natanz had suffered major damage, including to key power infrastructure and underground halls containing uranium materials.

He said the main concern inside the site was now chemical contamination, which can be dangerous if inhaled or ingested.