In the Netherlands, President Donald Trump and his top national security team spent considerable time countering an early intelligence assessment suggesting that recent US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities had not significantly impacted the core components of the country's nuclear program, potentially delaying their progress by only a few months.

The report, initially revealed by CNN, visibly frustrated Trump as he navigated a brief NATO summit. The news emerged while he was dining with other leaders at a Dutch royal palace, where he was invited to stay overnight.

On Wednesday, senior administration officials aimed to depict the strikes as far more destructive. A key White House figure stated that the administration would start restricting the dissemination of classified information to Congress, suspecting that the Pentagon's intelligence report was leaked after it was shared via CAPNET, a platform for sharing intelligence with Capitol Hill.

Trump had initially hoped the summit would serve as a celebratory moment following the strikes and his success in brokering a ceasefire between Iran and Israel shortly afterwards. Several leaders praised Trump for his decisive actions against Iran's nuclear ambitions, with NATO chief Mark Rutte notably likening Trump to “daddy” for his efforts in Middle East peacemaking.

Despite this, the Pentagon's intelligence report continued to cast a shadow over Trump's appearances. He addressed the issue directly, criticizing the media and bringing in Secretaries of State and Defense, Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth, to support his arguments publicly. The White House also presented a statement from Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission to reinforce their stance.

Rubio and Hegseth are expected to reiterate their defense on Thursday alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and CIA Director John Ratcliffe during a Senate briefing on the strikes, which had been postponed from Tuesday.

Later on Wednesday, other US intelligence officials, including Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, issued statements claiming new intelligence showed the Iranian facilities had been "destroyed" and would require years to rebuild, though no evidence was provided.

Trump expressed anger multiple times on Wednesday, asserting that the intelligence demeaned the pilots involved in the bombing run. He was also eager to defend his decision to order the strikes, despite opposition from within his own party.

The president drew parallels between these strikes and the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II, suggesting both were effective in terminating conflicts. “If you look at Hiroshima or Nagasaki, that ended a war too,” he remarked at a press conference in The Hague. “This ended a war in a different way, but it was so devastating.”

Trump has not disputed the existence of the report but has emphasized that its conclusions were "inconclusive," suggesting additional intelligence now paints a more devastating picture of the damage.

An insider familiar with the intelligence noted the Defense Intelligence Agency report was released on June 22 at 9 p.m. ET, approximately 24 hours after the US strikes. Officials have stated that a comprehensive "full phase" battle damage assessment typically requires days or weeks.

The report was classified as "low-confidence," which officials publicly confirmed on Wednesday while criticizing its disclosure.

At one stage on Wednesday, Trump acknowledged that early US intelligence suggested the damage “could be limited,” but added that follow-up work indicated it was “obliterated.”

“We’ve gathered additional intelligence. We've spoken to witnesses who have seen the site and the site is – the site is obliterated. We believe everything nuclear is down there,” Trump stated, countering analysts who proposed Iran might have relocated its highly enriched uranium prior to the US strikes.

The White House took the rare step of distributing a statement from Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission asserting the strike on the Fordow enrichment facility “destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable.”

The statement, released by the White House even before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, claimed the combined impact of American bunker-buster bombs and prior Israeli airstrikes “has set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years.” However, Israel had previously declared that Iran’s program was delayed by two years before the US military operation.

In the Netherlands, Trump argued the strikes had crippled Iran’s nuclear capabilities to the extent that negotiating a diplomatic agreement to limit Tehran’s ambitions might no longer be necessary.

“We might sign an agreement,” he stated. “I don’t know. Personally, I don’t think it’s essential. They had a war they fought. Now they're returning to their world. I'm indifferent to whether an agreement is made or not.”

Nevertheless, he noted that discussions between the US and Iran were scheduled for the following week, though the format and scope were unspecified. American and Iranian officials have maintained direct communication since the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and Kristen Holmes contributed to this report.