Trump administration fires general who said attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites had minimal effect
Head of US Defense Intelligence Agency Jeffrey Kruse fired alongside two senior Navy officials in latest purge.
Lieutenant-General Jeffrey Kruse's firing comes two months after details of a preliminary assessment of US air strikes against Iran found that Iran’s nuclear programme had been set back only a few months, contradicting assertions from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [File: Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo]
Lieutenant-General Jeffrey Kruse's firing comes two months after details of a preliminary assessment of US air strikes against Iran found that Iran’s nuclear programme had been set back only a few months, contradicting assertions from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [File: Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo]
Published On 23 Aug 202523 Aug 2025
United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired a general whose agency’s preliminary intelligence assessment angered President Donald Trump for reporting that the US attack on
Iranian nuclear sites in June had inflicted limited damage, according to reports.
The Pentagon firings on Friday, which, according to US officials who spoke to the Reuters and Associated Press (AP) news agencies, also include two other senior military commanders, are the latest moves by the Trump administration to purge officials at the Department of Defense .
It was not immediately known on what grounds Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, who led the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) since early 2024, was fired.
But President Trump had previously
decried the agency’s initial findings on US strikes against Iran.
The initial DIA assessment – which was widely reported on by US media –
contradicted claims by Trump that the strikes totally destroyed the nuclear sites, drawing the ire of both the president and officials within his administration.
Kruse “will no longer serve as DIA director”, a senior defence official said on condition of anonymity on Friday, without providing an explanation for the general’s departure.
Prior to becoming director of the DIA, Kruse served as the adviser for military affairs for the director of national intelligence, and also held positions including director of intelligence for the coalition against the ISIL (ISIS) group.
Hegseth also fired Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore, who is chief of the Navy Reserve, as well as Rear Admiral Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who oversees Naval Special Warfare Command, according to officials who spoke to both AP and Reuters.
“The firing of yet another senior national security official underscores the Trump administration’s dangerous habit of treating intelligence as a loyalty test rather than a safeguard for our country,” said US Senator Mark Warner, who is the vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has overseen a purge of top military officers, including the chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles “CQ” Brown, whom he fired without explanation in February.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025...iran-nuclear-sites-damage-angered-trump-fired
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NOTE: As I've said before, it's an information war. Narratives are created, and when challenged internally, those who challenged them are persecuted.