In the initial aftermath of the June 22 U.S. airstrikes on three of Iran's major nuclear facilities, critics and partisan opponents of President Donald Trump immediately dismissed and downplayed the bunker-busting bombings as ineffective and wasteful.

However, satellite imagery from before and after the strikes reveals extensive damage to roads and above-ground buildings at the sites, as well as evidence suggesting severe damage to fortified underground facilities, Fox News reported.

The images appear to vindicate Trump and others in his administration who have claimed that Iran's nuclear enrichment and technology centers were "obliterated" by the ground-penetrating precision munitions dropped by B-2 stealth bombers.

Before and after satellite images

As shared by USA Today, Maxar Technologies has released a series of satellite images captured before and after the U.S. dropped so-called "bunker buster" bombs on Iran's nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, along with dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles.

At the Fordow underground uranium enrichment facility, photos showed that multiple craters pockmarked the access roads and dirt-covered tunnel entrances, and there were large holes where targeted ventilation shafts used to be.

Likewise, the images revealed substantial damage to the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center, including multiple demolished buildings above-ground and cratered tunnel entrances to the underground facilities.

Similarly, there are now two large, dirt-filled craters at the Natanz centrifuge facility, which played a key role in Iran's uranium enrichment process.

Evidence of significant damage, but full extent remains unclear

ABC News reported that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine said of the airstrikes on Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz, "I know that battle damage is of great interest. Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction."

"I think BDA is still pending and way too early to comment on what may or may not be there," he added cautiously.

Also expressing confidence that damage was done, albeit with some wariness about the extent of said damage, was International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi, who said, "It is clear that Fordow was also directly impacted, but the degree of damage inside the uranium enrichment halls can't be determined with certainty."

He added, "The latest attacks early this morning damaged other buildings in Esfahan. In addition, we have established that entrances to underground tunnels at the site were impacted."

Iran, Trump's critics, claim enriched uranium was moved prior to strikes

Newsweek reported that some satellite images captured in the days before the U.S. airstrikes at Fordow showed a line of more than a dozen large trucks and bulldozers near a tunnel entrance, and some of President Trump's critics, including many Democrats and media pundits, seized upon dubious claims from the Iranian regime that its large stockpile of enriched uranium had been moved to a separate safe location.

However, ABC News reported that some experts believe the trucks and bulldozers were attempting to protect the facility by preemptively covering the tunnel entrances with dirt.

If true, that effort was futile, though, as evidenced by the cratered tunnel entrances and ventilation shafts, not to mention the bluish-gray ash that covered the ground surface and likely indicated successful penetrating strikes on the underground facilities.