71 killed in Israeli attack on Iran prison, official says

It would likely take "years" for the Iranians to rebuild all three nuclear facilities struck by the U.S. -- Natanz, Fordow and Esfahan -- because they were "destroyed," U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Wednesday.

Gabbard also criticized what she called the "propaganda media," accusing outlets of trying to "selectively release portions of illegally leaked classified intelligence assessments (intentionally leaving out the fact that the assessment was written with 'low confidence') to try to undermine President Trump’s decisive leadership and the brave servicemen and women who flawlessly executed a truly historic mission to keep the American people safe and secure."

Earlier in the week, CNN reported details from an early Defense Intelligence Agency assessment indicating that the U.S. strikes on Iran only set back its nuclear program by months.

Gabbard told ABC News on Monday that the U.S. strike against Iran obliterated "key Iranian capabilities needed to quickly assemble a nuclear weapon."

"The operation was a resounding success," Gabbard added.

-ABC News' Beatrice Peterson

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander in chief said on Wednesday that his fighters were ready to respond if Israel escalates again, as a fragile ceasefire continues to hold.

"We have never and will never trust this savage enemy. All our fighters have their fingers on the trigger. If the enemy makes a mistake, we will certainly respond with the same courageous defense as we did during the past twelve days. We will never hesitate for a moment in defending this country," Mohammad Pakpour, IRGC commander-in-chief, said.

Mossad Chief David Barnea on Wednesday thanked the CIA for its help in Israel's operations in Iran, saying the Israeli intelligence agency is continuing to keep a "close eye" on Iran.

"I want to express appreciation and gratitude to our central partner, the CIA, for the joint activity, for the operations that came to light. Also to the head of the CIA who supported the Mossad and for bringing forward the right decisions that ultimately made this operation possible," he said.

"We will continue to keep a close eye on all the projects in Iran that we know very well. We will be there [in Iran], as we have been there until now," Barnea noted.

-ABC News' Dana Savir and Will Gretsky

Iran said its nuclear installations were "badly damaged" because it "has come under repeated attacks by Israeli and American aggressors," Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Wednesday.

"There has been a draft bill by our parliament today. It has been adopted. And it talks about suspending our cooperation with the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency]. It talks about suspending. Not putting an end to the cooperation," he said.

"Based on the parliament bill, the IAEA staff are not entitled to enter Iran for inspections, unless security of the nuclear facilities and peaceful activity of Iran is guaranteed," Baghaei noted.

Iran criticized the IAEA, with Baghaei saying the least it "had to do was to explicitly condemn the acts by the U.S. and Israel."

"The international community has to understand that what was done by the United States against Iran was a horrible blow to international diplomacy, to international law and to international ethics," he said.

"After we launched an attack in our defense on the U.S. base in Qatar -- that is the al-Hudeid base -- we received a message from Oman regarding ceasefire. As a country that has never welcomed war, and never doubted in defending ourselves, we accepted this suggestion," Baghaei said.