On Tuesday, CNN published an article of debatable accuracy alleging that Saturday’s B-2 strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities were not as successful as President Trump and other administration officials have claimed. However, CBS’s Stephen Colbert wasn’t interested in the nuances of underground nuclear facility bomb damage assessment on The Late Show because if he was, he would not have been able to do his MC Hammer dance in response.
A sarcastic Colbert teed up a clip of Trump by declaring, “Whether or not the ceasefire holds, one thing we know for certain is that our military operation was worth it, because hostilities have ceased, there were no American casualties, and the president told us this.”
In the clip, Trump claimed, “Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”
Colbert responded by referencing the CNN article, “Okay, that's one less problem in the world. Except for one small problem: today we learned that U.S. intelligence has determined Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed, and their centrifuges are largely intact. Oopsa nukey. So, less Operation Midnight Hammer and more Operation MC Hammer. In that Iran's nuclear scientists just sent this message about their centrifuges.”
After brief snippet of MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” music video, Colbert copied the dance. If the CNN article about the Defense Intelligence Agency is correct, it is gross that Colbert would be celebrating a military failure simply to dunk on Trump, but he nevertheless continued, “When confronted with the report, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, ’This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong and was classified as 'top secret.'”
Colbert wasn’t buying it, “Sure, of course. 'Cause that's the way top secret works. 'Psst, I have information that is flat-out wrong. Tell no one.' So, after decades of presidents resisting Israel's entreaties to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, Trump took an enormous risk, put our service members in harm's way, bombed Iran for the first time ever with the largest conventional weapons ever manufactured, which we used for the first time in this bombing, and we didn't end their nuclear program. How did the administration manage that?”
After another clip of Trump, this one of him lamenting Israel and Iran, “don't know what the [bleep] they're doing,” as the ceasefire appeared to be on shaky ground early Tuesday morning, Colbert quipped, “Oh, understood.”
As for the CNN/DIA story, the original article did not mention the assessment was of “low confidence.” The current version does. Second, the allegedly collaborating article from The New York Times reported, “The strikes sealed off the entrances to two of the facilities but did not collapse their underground buildings, the officials said the early findings concluded,” but we know that the Iranians themselves sealed the tunnels prior to Saturday’s raids. Third, while CNN and the DIA claim that Iran’s program has been set back “a few months,” the IDF puts it at “years,” so at best there are conflicting opinions.
Fourth, as for centrifuges, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency has guessed, “Given the explosive payload utilized and the extreme vibration-sensitive nature of centrifuges, very significant damage is expected to have occurred.” That assessment is similar to other experts, who claimed, “Overall, Israel's and U.S. attacks have effectively destroyed Iran’s centrifuge enrichment program. It will be a long time before Iran comes anywhere near the capability it had before the attack.”
Here is a transcript of the June 24 show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
6/24/2025
11:41 PM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: Whether or not the ceasefire holds, one thing we know for certain is that our military operation was worth it, because hostilities have ceased, there were no American casualties, and the president told us this.
DONALD TRUMP: Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.
COLBERT: Okay, that's one less problem in the world. Except for one small problem: today we learned that U.S. intelligence has determined Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed, and their centrifuges are largely intact. Oopsa nukey. So, less Operation Midnight Hammer and more Operation MC Hammer. In that Iran's nuclear scientists just sent this message about their centrifuges.
MC HAMMER: Can't touch this
COLBERT: Still got it. Still got it. I gotta get the big pants. When confronted with the report, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong and was classified as 'top secret.'”
Sure, of course. 'Cause that's the way top secret works. "Psst, I have information that is flat-out wrong. Tell no one." So, after decades of presidents resisting Israel's entreaties to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, Trump took an enormous risk, put our service members in harm's way, bombed Iran for the first time ever with the largest conventional weapons ever manufactured, which we used for the first time in this bombing, and we didn't end their nuclear program. How did the administration manage that?
TRUMP: They don't know what the [bleep] they're doing.
COLBERT: Oh, understood.
