US President Donald Trump said on Friday that its director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbardwas wrong to suggest that there is no evidence Iran builds a nuclear weapon.
Trump challenged intelligence assessments relayed earlier this year by his espionage leader that Tehran did not work on a nuclear weapon when he spoke with journalists at an airport in Morristown, New Jersey.
“She’s wrong,” said Trump.
Gabbard told Congress in March that the American intelligence community continued to judge that Tehran did not work on a nuclear warhead.
Trump’s comments came when the president said he would weigh the involvement in the Iran-Israeli conflict over the next two weeks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu justified A week of air strikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets By saying that Tehran was about to have an warhead.
The Gabbard office previously said that the quotes from the spy chief said that she and Trump were “on the same wavelength” concerning the status of the Iranian nuclear program.
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Iran denies developing nuclear weapons, saying that its uranium enrichment program was only for peaceful purposes.
A source with access to American intelligence reports told Reuters that the evaluation presented by Gabbard had not changed.
They said that the American espionage services also judged that it would take up to three years for Iran to build an warhead with which it could reach a target of its choice.
Some experts, however, believe that it could take Iran much shorter to build and deliver a raw nuclear device not tested, although there would be no guarantee that it would work.
Trump frequently disowned the conclusions of American intelligence agencies, which he and his supporters billed – without providing evidence – are part of a “deep state” cabal of American officials opposed to his presidency.
The Republican President clashed several times with the American espionage agencies during his first mandate, including an assessment that Moscow worked to influence the 2016 presidential vote in his favor and his acceptance of the refusals of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Gabbard, a ferocious loyalist of Trump, was among the supporters of the president who broadcast such allegations.