‘Sometimes daddy has to use strong words’: Trump praised for ending Israel’s war with Iran

Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte has hailed Donald Trump as ‘Daddy’ for dropping the F-bomb live on TV over alleged ceasefire violations in Israel’s war with Iran.

Former Dutch PM Mark Rutte praised the US president, saying: ‘Sometimes daddy has to use strong words.’

The comment came as leaders of the 32-nation alliance are gathering in The Hague, expected to agree a new defence spending target of 5% of the gross domestic product.

Rutte was referring to the shocking moment yesterday when the president shouted at reporters in front of the White House: ‘They don’t know what the f*** they’re doing.’

Trump had a second meltdown just hours later as he took to Truth Social – in his usual all-caps style – declaring that the Fordow nuclear sites in Iran had been ‘OBLITERATED’ in what he called ‘ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY.’

The only problem? Early US intelligence now suggests the attacks carried out with bunker buster bombs, dropped from B-2 jets, did not destroy the nuclear facilities.

Cue the meltdown.

After the assessment, the US president launched into a bitter tirade online and accused both CNN and the New York Times, which reported on the alleged failure, of teaming up ‘in an attempt to demean’ the strikes.

More than a dozen bombs were unleashed on two of the nuclear facilities, the Fordow Fuel Enrichment plant and the Natanz Enrichment Complex, in Iran.

It is now becoming clear that they did not fully eliminate the centrifuges of the sites and highly enriched uranium, CNN said, citing people familiar with the early report made by the Pentagon’s intelligence arm.

In addition, the assault only pushed back Iran’s nuclear programme by one to two months the earliest, it was claimed.

This means that the Islamic Republic could restart its work in a matter of months, according to sources.

The classified assessment is at odds with the statements of both Trump and high-ranking US officials – including defence secretary Pete Hegseth.

Both have said the weekend strikes essentially eliminated Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump’s administration on Tuesday told the UN Security Council that its strikes had ‘degraded’ Iran’s nuclear programme, short of Trump’s earlier assertion that the facilities had been ‘obliterated.’

Asked for comment, the White House pointed to a statement by Karoline Leavitt in which she slammed the ‘alleged’ conclusion and said it was ‘flat-out wrong.’

She said: ‘Everyone knows what happens when you drop 14 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.’

Satellite images released shortly after the attack show significant damage to Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan – but not to the extent of Trump’s boastful claims.

In Fordow, two craters likely resulting from the bunker busters are seen as well as a damaged air defence site designed to shield the nuclear reactor.

Meanwhile, the above-ground section of the pilot plant, along with key electricity infrastructure, were destroyed in Natanz.

But the images did not provide definitive proof that the heavily fortified underground facilities were breached.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, stressed that no one ‘is in a position to assess the underground damage at Fordow.’

He said the US bombing probably caused ‘very significant’ damage to the site , adding: ‘Given the explosive payload utilised and the extreme(ly) vibration-sensitive nature of centrifuges, very significant damage is expected to have occurred.’

The IAEA has not been able to carry out inspections in Iran since Israel started its military strikes on nuclear facilities there on June 13.

Early this morning, Iran’s Parliament passed a bill to suspend its cooperation with IAEA, saying that agents do not have the right to enter the country for inspections unless the security of the nuclear facilities and peaceful nuclear activities are guaranteed.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said: ‘The attack on nuclear facilities will have a serious impact on Iran’s future path.

‘For years, we tried to show the world that we adhere to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and that we want to act within its framework, but unfortunately, this treaty failed to protect us or our nuclear programme.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.