Matthew Sharp | Real Clear Defense
August 7, 2026
Last Year’s Attacks on Iran Showed American Capabilities Are Impressive – but Also Fragile
-Matthew Sharp, CNSP Senior Nuclear Fellow, for the Real Clear Defense
Last Year’s Attacks on Iran Showed American Capabilities Are Impressive – but Also Fragile
A year ago, Iran was enriching uranium to dangerous levels with more than 20,000 centrifuges; today the number of known high speed centrifuges enriching uranium in Iran is zero.
One can debate the wisdom and long-term effectiveness of the Trump Administration’s 2025 attacks that destroyed Iran’s main enrichment sites, but it is undeniable that they represented an impressive military accomplishment, and that no country but the United States could have pulled it off. That unique capability was built on the back of a generational U.S. investment in international partnerships and basic science; both are today under threat.
From the Real Clear Defense