US President Donald Trump on Friday said that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was mistaken in claiming there was no evidence that Iran is developing 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.
Testimony Taken ‘Out Of Context’
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, 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 finalize the assembly. President Trump has been clear that can’t happen, and I agree.”
She said the media has taken her March testimony “out of context” and was trying to “manufacture division”.
Trump Keeps World Guessing
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 programme is only for peaceful purposes.
In March, Gabbard also 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 Iran had started discussing nuclear weapons in public, “emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran’s decision-making apparatus”.
March View Unchanged
A source with access to US intelligence reports told Reuters the March assessment presented by Gabbard has not changed. The source said US spy services judged it would take up to three years for Iran to build a warhead with which it could hit a target of its choice.
David Albright, a former UN nuclear inspector, questioned the revised view offered by Gabbard on Friday, estimating it would take Iran at least six months to produce a crude nuclear “device” that could not be delivered by a missile.
To produce a nuclear weapon that could be delivered on target by missile would take Iran at least one to two years, said Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security.
Trump’s Trust Issues
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.
(With inputs from Reuters)
