The Pentagon dismissed its intelligence chief after his office said June airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites only modestly set back the program, contradicting President Donald Trump’s statement that it had been “obliterated,” officials said Friday.
Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who had led the agency since early 2024, was dismissed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after a preliminary report found the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program by only a few months, according to two people familiar with the decision and a White House official.
Trump had declared the operation a sweeping victory. “The Iranian nuclear program was completely and fully obliterated,” the US president said after the strikes.
The US carried out the operation in June, deploying more than 125 aircraft and a guided missile submarine against three Iranian nuclear sites. Trump described the attacks as a “spectacular military success.”
But the early analysis by US Defense Intelligence Agency, delivered to top officials in the days after the operation, concluded that Iran’s program could recover more quickly than the administration said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged in late July that US and Israeli strikes had done "serious harm" to the nuclear sites.
"This damage has not been minor—serious harm has been done to our facilities,” he said in an interview with the state broadcaster.
Trump has a history of dismissing government officials when he disagrees with their data or analysis. In early August, following a disappointing jobs report, he dismissed the official responsible for the data.
The dismissal of the DIA chief caps a week of sweeping changes within the Trump administration, affecting both the intelligence community and military leadership.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence—which oversees coordination among 18 intelligence agencies, including the DIA—also announced plans to significantly reduce its staff and budget.
Before becoming director of the DIA, Kruse served as the military affairs advisor to the director of national intelligence and previously held roles including director of intelligence for the coalition against the Islamic State.
