President Donald Trump has insisted that US bombing of Iranian nuclear plants "completely destroyed" the sites after a report said some had largely survived.
On his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump reaffirmed his frequent claim that "all three nuclear sites in Iran were completely destroyed and/or obliterated".
He said it would "take years to bring them back into service and, if Iran wanted to do so, they would be much better off starting anew, in three different locations".
US bombs and missiles targeted Iran's nuclear programme on June 22, hitting the uranium enrichment plant at Fordow, south of Tehran, as well as sites in Isfahan and Natanz.
The attacks, carried out at the same time as an Israeli campaign against Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure, were billed by Washington as a knockout blow to Tehran's years-long covert effort to build nuclear weapons.
Iran insists it has not tried to weaponise its civilian nuclear power programme.
Despite Mr Trump's claims of total success, several US media outlets have reported leaked intelligence suggesting a hazier picture.
The latest to cast doubt was an NBC News report on Friday, quoting a military damage assessment that said only one of the three sites had been destroyed, and even then not in its entirety.
Two other sites were deemed to be repairable and potentially able to resume uranium enrichment within "the next several months", NBC reported, citing five current and former US officials aware of the analysis.
NBC also reported that the Pentagon had prepared an option to inflict far greater damage on Iran's atomic set-up through a bombing campaign lasting for weeks – not the one-night operation chosen by Mr Trump.
The report, citing one current and one former official, said the US President had rejected the more comprehensive attack plan due to fears of casualties and entanglement in the conflict.
