Trump dismisses US intelligence, says Iran was 'very close' to having nuclear weapon

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump dismissed the conclusions Tuesday of the US intelligence community after it assessed that Iran is not seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, maintaining that Tehran was "very close" to obtaining one before Israel carried out a series of strikes that have sparked reciprocal attacks from Iran.

“I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having one," Trump told reporters on Air Force One.

The president was responding to congressional testimony from the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi 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.

Gabbard told reporters Tuesday on Capitol Hill that her March testimony aligned with Trump’s statements.

"What President Trump is saying is the same thing I said in my annual threat assessment in March to Congress," Gabbard was quoted by US media.

"Unfortunately, too many people in the media don't care to actually read what I said," she added.

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 Friday 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 Fordow remains essentially untouched by Israel's strikes.

Israel's strikes derailed indirect nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran that had been ongoing since April, and Trump further cast doubt on his desire to return to talks.

"I told them to do the deal. They should have done the deal. Their cities have been blown to pieces. They've lost a lot of people," Trump told reporters. "I'm not too much in a mood to negotiate."

*Diyar Guldogan from Washington, DC contributed to this report.