Trump says US intelligence 'wrong' in saying Iran is not building nuclear bomb
US President Donald Trump said the US director of national intelligence was "wrong" to say Iran was not building nuclear weapons and that Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei had not re-approved the country's suspended nuclear weapons program.
The comments came after Trump earlier this week cast doubt on Tulsi Gabbard's March 25 report to Congress, in which she reiterated the assessment of the US intelligence community. Trump told reporters on June 17, "I don't care" when the intelligence community's findings contradicted his own claims that Iran was in the final stages of developing nuclear weapons.
But speaking on June 20, Mr. Trump went further.
A reporter asked, "Do you have any intelligence that Iran is building nuclear weapons? Your intelligence community says they have no evidence."
The president replied, "Then my intelligence community is wrong. Who in the intelligence community said that?"
“Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard,” the reporter replied. “She’s wrong,” Trump replied.
Ms. Gabbard appeared to defend Trump late on June 20.
“The United States has intelligence that Iran is at a stage where it could produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if it decided to complete the assembly,” she wrote in a social media post. “President Trump has made it clear that this cannot happen, and I agree.”
However, that statement did not contradict her previous assessment that Iran was not building weapons. No US intelligence assessment has concluded that Iran is turning its nuclear program into a weapon.
It is rare for a US president to publicly contradict the country's intelligence community, with critics accusing Mr Trump of blatantly ignoring evidence to justify potential direct US involvement in the war, according to Al Jazeera senior political analyst Marwan Bishara.
“This is not just one person, one group of people saying something,” Bishara assessed. “The entire intelligence community in the United States. He would refute them… it is astonishing.”
Speaking on June 20, President Trump also appeared to downplay the prospect of the United States brokering a ceasefire between Iran and Israel, saying he “may” support such a deal, noting that “Israel is doing well in terms of war, and I think you would say Iran is doing worse.” “It’s hard to make that demand right now. When somebody wins, it’s harder than when they lose,” he added.
Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from Washington, DC said that Mr. Trump "really wanted to emphasize that he would not try to ask Israel to reduce its aerial bombing of Iranian targets."
“It seems like Trump is completely on Israel’s side as things are moving forward, and… it seems like he’s not leaning toward diplomacy, although, again, he’s giving himself two weeks to make a final decision,” the reporter said.
On June 19, President Trump announced that he would take two weeks to decide on the US response to the conflict. Experts said the decision could be transformative.
The United States is seen as one of the few countries with leverage to pressure Israel to step back from the brink of a wider regional war.
At the same time, US military involvement is seen as key to Israel's stated mission of completely destroying Iran's nuclear program, which depends on destroying the underground Fordow enrichment plant.
A successful attack on the facility would require both Washington's 30,000-pound (13,000 kg) GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator and the B-2 bombers needed to deliver it.
Speaking to reporters on June 20, Mr. Trump also downplayed the role of European countries in de-escalating the situation. The statement came hours after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with top diplomats from France, Britain, Germany and the EU in Geneva.
“Europe will not be able to help,” the US president argued.
