Trump insists Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, disputing US intelligence
'She's wrong,' says US president after being told how intel chief Tulsi Gabbard testified Iran is not building nuclear weapon
HAMILTON, Canada
US President Donald Trump on Friday rejected the assessment of his intelligence community that Iran is not developing a nuclear weapon, directly dismissing sworn testimony by his director of national intelligence.
"Then my intelligence community is wrong. Why would the intelligence community say that?" Trump told reporters when asked about the official US position that Iran is not currently building a nuclear weapon.
When the reporter responded that it was Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, who explained that position, Trump shot back: "She's wrong."
The president was responding to congressional testimony from Gabbard, who told lawmakers in March that the intelligence community "continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003."
"The IC continues to monitor closely if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program," she said, using an acronym for the US intelligence community.
CNN separately reported Tuesday that US intelligence does not believe Iran is currently building a nuclear bomb and estimates it would take at least two to three years to produce and deploy one to target a country of its choosing. It cited four anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
Regional tensions have escalated since June 13, when Israel launched airstrikes on multiple sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes.
Israeli authorities said at least 24 people have been killed and hundreds injured since then in Iranian missile attacks. Iran said at least 224 people have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the Israeli assault.
US intelligence believes that Israel's attacks may have only set Iran's nuclear program back by a matter of months, one of the officials said. CNN said that while there has been significant damage to the enrichment site at the Natanz site, the heavily fortified facility at Fordo remains essentially untouched by Israel's strikes.
