Experts Baffled as Donald Trump Claims Struck Iranian Nuclear Sites Were Also 'Drug Factories'

President Donald Trump made a startling claim during a campaign rally in Oklahoma, asserting that the three Iranian nuclear facilities attacked by the US last year were also functioning as "drug factories." The remarks left experts on Iran’s nuclear program completely bewildered.

James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, stated that the assertion was entirely new to him. According to Acton, the Fordow facility—which Trump specifically described—was never used for drug production, and no credible allegations of the sort had ever been made prior to the speech.

When CNN inquired about the remarks, the White House declined to provide any explanation. Analysts suggest that the claim likely stemmed from a verbal slip, as Trump had just been discussing illegal drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the US military operation involving Nicolás Maduro immediately before turning his attention to Iran.

Rather than correcting the misstatement, Trump doubled down on the assertion during his speech. While experts noted that nuclear reactors can produce legal radiopharmaceuticals, the Fordow facility is an enrichment center rather than a reactor, leaving a simple speaking error as the most plausible explanation for the unexpected comment.