Washington: Tulsi Gabbard left no doubt when she testified to Congress about Iran’s nuclear program earlier this year.
The country was not building a nuclear weapon, the national intelligence director told lawmakers, and its supreme leader had not reauthorised the dormant program even though it had enriched uranium to higher levels.
But President Donald Trump dismissed the assessment of US spy agencies during an overnight flight back to Washington as he cut short his trip to the Group of Seven summit to focus on the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.
“I don’t care what she said,” Trump told reporters. In his view, Iran was “very close” to having a nuclear bomb.
Trump’s statement aligned him more closely with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has described a nuclear-armed Iran as an imminent threat, than with his own top intelligence adviser. Trump met with national security officials, including Gabbard, in the Situation Room on Tuesday as he plans next steps.
Administration officials downplayed the inconsistency between Trump and Gabbard, saying that enriching uranium can put Iran on track to having a nuclear weapon.
Gabbard blamed the media for misconstruing her earlier testimony, asserting that “President Trump was saying the same thing that I said.”
“We are on the same page,” she told CNN. Asked for comment, Gabbard’s office referred to those remarks.
In her March testimony to lawmakers, Gabbard said the intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorised the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”
She also said the US was closely monitoring Iran’s nuclear program, noting that the country’s “enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons.”
Gen. Erik Kurilla, who leads US forces in the Middle East, recently testified to Congress that Iran could produce enough nuclear material for 10 weapons in three weeks. However, he did not say how long it would take to assemble the pieces into a bomb.
A senior intelligence official said Trump was right to be concerned because its uranium enrichment far exceeds what would be needed for domestic purposes. Another senior administration official said Iran was as close to having a nuclear weapon as it could be without having one. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues.
Trump’s contradiction of Gabbard echoed his feuds with US spy leaders during his first term, when he viewed them as part of a “deep state” that was undermining his agenda. Most notably, he sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018 when asked if Moscow had interfered in the 2016 election, saying Putin was “extremely strong and powerful in his denial.”
The latest break over Iran was striking because Trump has staffed his second administration with loyalists rather than establishment figures. Gabbard, a military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, was narrowly confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate because of her scant experience with intelligence or managing sprawling organisations.
Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party in 2022 and endorsed Trump in last year’s election, testified Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations defence subcommittee in a closed session that had been previously scheduled about the budget.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee but isn’t on the budget panel, said he’s unaware of any new information that would change the assessment of Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
“Director Gabbard stated publicly in March that the Iranians were not actively pursuing a bomb,” Warner said. “I’ve seen nothing in recent intelligence that contradicts what Director Gabbard said.”
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned that Iran has enough enriched uranium to make several nuclear bombs if it wants to.
AP