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Pentagon Confirms Up to 2-Year Nuclear Setback for Iran; Netanyahu Warns 'No Hamas' After Ceasefire

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JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – The U.S. Defense Department estimates Iran's nuclear program was set back by as much as two years, as Israel and Hamas apparently are moving closer to another ceasefire agreement, including a hostage exchange.

Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell on Wednesday backed President Donald Trump's assertion that U.S. and Israeli strikes "obliterated" Iran's major nuclear sites. "All of the intelligence that we've seen has led us to believe that Iran's – those facilities, especially – have been completely obliterated," Parnell said.

He added that the action set back Iran's nuclear ambitions by one or two years. "I think we're thinking probably closer to two years, like degraded their program by two years," he estimated.

However, Iran may soon try to return to secret work on building nuclear weapons. The regime's President Masoud Pezeshkian has now signed off on kicking the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), out of Iran. That drew a response from U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce.

She announced, "It is – we'll use the word unacceptable – that Iran chose to suspend cooperation with the IAEA."

The Iranian regime faces threats from both the White House and Israel that bombing will resume if Tehran returns to nuclear weapons manufacturing.

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In Gaza, Trump is also threatening the Hamas terror group, saying conditions will become much worse for its leadership and operatives unless they agree to a new ceasefire deal, one that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already agreed to. "He wants it, too. He's coming here next. He wants to end it, too," Trump stated.

The deal would trigger a 60-day ceasefire, accompanied by a U.S.-backed guarantee of talks aimed at permanently ending the war. During the 60 days, Hamas would free 10 of the 20 remaining surviving hostages.

Idit Ohel, the mother of hostage Alon Ohel, reminded the world of how much they are suffering. "Alon has been in the tunnels, 40 meters under the ground, for more than 630 days," she said this week. "You know, Alon is being starved in captivity."

Gazan Palestinians also say they desperately want the proposed ceasefire.

Asmaa al-Gendy, a woman displaced from the northern Gaza Strip, noted, "The war is almost two years old. We have been displaced, we have gotten exhausted, suffered from hunger, strikes, destruction."

Yet, it's difficult to see how negotiators get past the opposing demands of Hamas and Israel. Hamas insists it stay in power and keep its arms. Israel demands that the group be disarmed and leave the Gaza Strip.

The prime minister cautioned on Wednesday, "I’m telling you, there will be no Hamas. There will be no 'Hamastan;' we're not going back to that."

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About The Author

Julie Stahl
Julie
Stahl

Julie Stahl is a correspondent for CBN News in the Middle East. A Hebrew speaker, she has been covering news in Israel fulltime for more than 20 years. Julie’s life as a journalist has been intertwined with CBN – first as a graduate student in Journalism; then as a journalist with Middle East Television (METV) when it was owned by CBN from 1989-91; and now with the Middle East Bureau of CBN News in Jerusalem since 2009. As a correspondent for CBN News, Julie has covered Israel’s wars with Gaza, rocket attacks on Israeli communities, stories on the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and

About The Author

Paul
Strand

As a freelance reporter for CBN's Jerusalem bureau and during 27 years as senior correspondent in CBN's Washington bureau, Paul Strand has covered a variety of political and social issues, with an emphasis on defense, justice, government, and God’s providential involvement in our world. Strand began his tenure at CBN News in 1985 as an evening assignment editor in Washington, D.C. After a year, he worked with CBN Radio News for three years, returning to the television newsroom to accept a position as a senior editor in 1990. Strand moved back to the nation's capital in 1995 and then to