U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium to shield it from U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear program over the weekend.

"I'm not aware of any intelligence that I've reviewed that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise," Hegseth said.

After the strikes, several experts suggested that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of Fordow before the strike early Sunday morning and could be hiding it and other nuclear components in locations unknown to Israel, the U.S. and UN nuclear inspectors.

They noted satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showing "unusual activity" at Fordow on Thursday and Friday, with a long line of vehicles waiting outside an entrance to the facility. A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Sunday that most of the near weapons-grade 60 percent highly enriched uranium had been moved to an undisclosed location before the U.S. attack.

Hegseth's comments denying those claims came at a news briefing where he accused the media of downplaying the success of U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear program following a leaked preliminary assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency suggesting they may have only set back Iran by months.

Hegseth said the assessment was low confidence and, citing comments from CIA Director John Ratcliffe, said it had been overtaken by intelligence showing Iran's nuclear program was severely damaged by recent U.S. strikes and that it would take years to rebuild.