Donald Trump disavows his own spy chief Tulsi Gabbard's take on Iran's nuclear programme
By
Trevor Hunnicutt
, Reuters
President Donald Trump, accompanied by Tulsi Gabbard.
Photo:
ANDREW HARNIK / AFP
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that his Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was wrong in suggesting there was no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon.
Trump contested intelligence assessments relayed earlier this year by his spy chief that Tehran was not building a nuclear weapon when he spoke with reporters at an airport in Morristown, New Jersey.
"She's wrong," Trump said.
In March, Gabbard testified to Congress that the US intelligence community continued to believe that Tehran was not building a nuclear weapon. "The [intelligence community] continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon," she said.
On Friday (US time), Gabbard said in a post on the social media platform X that: "America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalise the assembly. President Trump has been clear that can't happen, and I agree."
She said the media had taken her March testimony "out of context" and was trying to "manufacture division."
The White House has said Trump would weigh involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict over the
next two weeks
. On Tuesday, Trump made similar comments to reporters about Gabbard's assessment.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
justified a week of airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets
by saying Tehran was on the verge of having a warhead.
Iran denies developing nuclear weapons, saying its uranium enrichment program is only for peaceful purposes.
In March, Gabbard described Iran's enriched uranium stockpile as unprecedented for a state without such weapons and said the government was watching the situation closely. She also said that Iran had started discussing nuclear weapons in public, "emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran's decision-making apparatus."
A source with access to US intelligence reports told Reuters that the assessment presented by Gabbard has not changed.
They said US spy services also judged that it would take up to three years for Iran to build a warhead with which it could hit a target of its choice.
Some experts, however, believe it could take Iran a much shorter time to build and deliver an untested crude nuclear device, although there would be no guarantee it would work.
Trump has frequently disavowed the findings of US intelligence agencies, which he and his supporters have charged - without providing proof - are part of a "deep state" cabal of US officials opposed to his presidency.
Gabbard, a fierce Trump loyalist, has been among the president's backers who have aired such allegations.
The Republican president repeatedly clashed with US spy agencies during his first term, including over an assessment that Moscow worked to sway the 2016 presidential vote in his favor and his acceptance of Russian President Vladimir Putin's denials.
- Reuters
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