Trump says damage to Iran's nuclear sites is 'far below ground level'

The White House on Thursday stated definitively that Iran has all it needs to produce a nuclear weapon in "a couple of weeks" once given the go-ahead from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"Let's be very clear, Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at her briefing. "All they need is a decision from the supreme leader to do that."

"And it would take a couple of weeks to complete the production of that weapon, which would, of course, pose an existential threat not just to Israel but to the United States and to the entire world," she continued.

How close Iran is to developing a usable nuclear weapon has been at the center of the Israel-Iran conflict, with continuing debate over potential "breakout time" once the nation has stockpiled enough weapons-grade enriched uranium.

The last time the U.S. officially publicly gave a breakout timeline was in July 2024 when then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it would take Iran one to two weeks to enrich enough uranium of 90% purity to get the fissile material needed for a nuclear weapon.

Satellite images show more than two dozen U.S. military aircraft have left Al Udeid airbase in Qatar, the largest U.S. airbase in the region, in recent days.

A satellite photo taken on June 10 shows more than 30 military planes at the base. A satellite photo taken on June 8 shows a nearly empty base with only three planes still visible on the tarmac.

Earlier this week, more than a dozen small U.S. Navy vessels left the U.S. Navy base in Bahrain. They were not given a tasking, but have remained in Bahrain’s territorial waters, according to a U.S. official.

The U.S. military in the Middle East has made adjustments to ensure the force protection of U.S. personnel, a U.S. official told ABC News. This is in line with public comments by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about how the U.S. is in a defensive posture in the region to protect U.S. personnel and interests in the wake of the Israel-Iran conflict.

Over the next 10 to 14 days, there will likely be two aircraft carriers in the Middle East and a third aircraft carrier will be operating in the Mediterranean Sea, providing the Trump administration with additional military options to defend U.S. military interests and personnel in the region.

The Nimitz strike group -- a carrier and three destroyers -- will arrive in the Middle East this weekend, according to two U.S. officials. It will be joining the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson which has been operating in the southern Arabian Sea near Yemen along with a cruiser and three destroyers.

The USS Gerald R Ford carrier strike group will be leaving Norfolk early next week, according to two U.S officials. The carrier’s deployment was previously scheduled and it was always slated to initially deploy to the U.S. European Command area of operations which means it will operate in the Mediterranean Sea, according to the officials. It will likely take about 10 days for the Ford to cross the Atlantic and then be available for operations in the Mediterranean, according to one of the officials.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez

Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said the militia will "act as we see fit," in its first comments since Israel launched an attack on Iran.

"We are not neutral between Iran's legitimate rights and the falsehood of America and its aggression, along with the cancerous tumor 'Israel' and the arrogant powers. We stand with Iran," he said.