Israel derailed Iran’s EMP weapons program during the recently concluded 12-day war, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
Besides an elaborate nuclear weapons program, the Iranian regime had been developing nuclear-generated electromagnetic pulse (EMP) devices capable of striking the telecommunications, internet, and banking infrastructure of a country or a region. These EMP bombs can also disrupt power, water, and other public utilities.
“Israeli and American sources said the bombing campaign, in addition to destroying many of the Iranian centrifuges that enrich uranium, shattered most elements of Iran’s aggressive program to prepare to weaponize that uranium,” David Ignatius wrote in his article for the WP. “For example, Israeli sources believe the Iranians were studying an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon that could cripple Israel electronically, a more-complex nuclear fusion bomb, as well as a standard fission warhead.”
Washington Post's David Ignatius concedes -- President Trump's attack on Iran effectively destroyed their nuclear weapons program AND the Israel's targeted killing of top program brass and scientists will likely deter ANYONE from attempting to rebuild it any time soon. pic.twitter.com/9CfI45Nw4w
— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) July 26, 2025
The 12-day operation “turned back the clock on Iran’s nuclear program,” the article added. “Israeli and American assessments agree Tehran’s infrastructure to finish a bomb is shattered.”
The WP columnist Ignatius further reported:
Israeli and American sources said the bombing campaign, in addition to destroying many of the Iranian centrifuges that enrich uranium, shattered most elements of Iran’s aggressive program to prepare to weaponize that uranium.
The most devastating, and least reported, aspect of Israel’s campaign may have been its targeting of Iran’s leading nuclear scientists. Sources said strikes in the first hours of the war killed all of Iran’s first and second tier of physicists and other nuclear scientists, as well as most of the third tier. (…)
The United States struck the final blow, with Air Force B-2 bombers carrying bunker-busting bombs and Navy ships launching Tomahawk missiles. That strike capped Israel’s devastation of Iran’s program and gave President Donald Trump a share of the success — and also provided an important demonstration of U.S. military might. (…)
Beyond targeting the nuclear facilities and the scientists who worked there, Israeli attacks destroyed logistical foundations of the program, including its headquarters, archives, laboratories and testing equipment, the Israeli source said. This devastation may increase Iran’s desire to possess a nuclear deterrent, but it will be hard to reconstruct all these pieces.
The revelation comes after the mainstream media repeatedly questioned President Donald Trump’s assessment of the success of the U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear weapons sites that took place nearly five weeks ago. President Trump described the strikes as “a spectacular military success,” adding that “Iran’s key enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”
| The Times of Israel adds: |
also destroyed roughly half of Tehran’s 3,000 ballistic missiles and 80% of its 500 missile launchers. Unnamed Israeli sources were cited as saying Tehran was planning to raise its ballistic missile stockpile to at least 8,000, meaning any further delay to the strike against Iran would have exposed Israel to much greater damage from missile strikes.However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
along with Israel’s successes, Jerusalem was dealt an "unwelcome surprise" when it discovered Iran had more solid-fuel missiles than previously expected, the report said. Such missiles are more difficult to shoot down, according to an Israeli source cited by the Post.