Amid reports that the US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites had caused minimal damage to the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme, the Central Intelligence Agency, citing a "body of credible intelligence", confirmed that the strikes by Washington had "severely damaged" Tehran's key nuclear facilities and that it would take years to rebuild those structures.

In an official statement by CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Wednesday (local time), "CIA can confirm that a body of credible intelligence indicates Iran's Nuclear Program has been severely damaged by the recent, targeted strikes. This includes new intelligence from a historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years," reported news agency ANI.

He added that the CIA continues to gather intelligence and keep decision-makers and oversight bodies informed, promising that updates would be shared with the public when possible due to the national significance of the matter.