Trump compares the American attack on Iran to Japan's nuclear bombing

Describing the weekend attack as “devastating”, the American president said he had brought the conflict between Iran and Israel to a quick conclusion and compared it to nuclear bombs dropped on Japan in 1945.

“I don't want to use Hiroshima's example, I don't want to use Nagasaki's example, but it was basically the same thing, which ended a war,” Trump said at the NATO summit in The Hague on Wednesday.

This ended the war [between Israel and Iran]. If we hadn't hit nuclear facilities, they would have fought now,” he added.

Trump said the intelligence stemming Tuesday, which estimated that the US attacks had delayed the Iranian nuclear programme for only a few months, was not final.

He added that injuries caused at the facilities in Fordow, Nathanz and Isfahan could not be fully appreciated until Israel offers a detailed report.

Trump said the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which compiled the report on Fordow, “do not know exactly” on injuries, and added: “I think Israel will tell us very quickly. ”

IDF spokesman Effie Defrimann said Wednesday: “I can say here, the estimate is that we seriously damaged the nuclear programme, and pushed it back for years. ”

Trump, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and State Secretary Marco Rubio insisted that Fordow was “destroyed”, with the American president saying at the NATO summit that Iran's nuclear programme had been delayed with “decide”.

But Dan Caine, chairman of the U.S. Joint Staff, was more cautious Sunday, saying that while the initial assessment suggested that three “objects experienced extremely serious damage and destruction”, final estimates “would take little time”.

Hegseth said the Pentagon was investigating the leak of the report with the FBI.

Trump's participation at the NATO summit came a day after the establishment of a temporary ceasefire between Iran and Israel after 12 days of war.

The president criticised the two sides on Tuesday for alleged violations of the US-brokered ceasefire, saying it was a truly unhappy “”, especially with Israel.

But in The Hague, he said he was the proud “for Israel that limited its vengeance to a alleged violation of the ceasefire by Tehran, and added: “ [Israel Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyah must be very proud of himself. ”

Trump said he believed that uranium reserves enriched up to 60% rich within Iran would have been hit by US attacks over the weekend.

I don't think they had a chance to extract [the material]... It is very difficult to remove that type of material,” he said.

I think we'll eventually have some kind of relationship with Iran,” the American president added, saying the last “the last” Tehran wants to continue with its nuclear enrichment programme.

Asked if the US could again attack Iran if the Islamic republic rebuilt its nuclear infrastructure in the future, Trump said: “Of course. ”