US spies said Iran wasn't building a nuclear weapon. Trump dismisses
that assessment
[June 18, 2025]
By CHRIS MEGERIAN and DAVID KLEPPER
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 reauthorized the
dormant program even though it had enriched uranium to higher levels.
But President Donald Trump dismissed the assessment of U.S. 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 authorized the nuclear
weapons program he suspended in 2003.”
She also said the U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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
organizations.
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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard leaves U.S. Capitol
after a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Monday, June.
16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party in 2022 and endorsed Trump in
last year's election, testified Tuesday before the Senate
Appropriations defense 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. Iran maintains its nuclear program is
peaceful.
An earlier intelligence report, compiled in November under
then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat, also said Iran “is not
building a nuclear weapon.”
However, it said the country has “undertaken activities that better
position it to produce one, if it so chooses,” such as increasing
stockpiles of enriched uranium and operating more advanced
centrifuges. The report did not include any estimates for a timeline
for how quickly a bomb could be built.
Trump's immigration agenda is another place where he's split with
intelligence assessments. He cited the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798
wartime law, to deport Venezuelan migrants, which he justified by
claiming that the Tren de Aragua gang was coordinating with the
Venezuelan government. However, an intelligence assessment in April
found no evidence of that.
Gabbard fired the two veteran intelligence officers who led the
panel that created the assessment, saying they were terminated
because of their opposition to Trump.
In response to those reports, the White House released a statement
from Gabbard supporting the president.
“President Trump took necessary and historic action to safeguard our
nation when he deported these violent Tren de Aragua terrorists,”
the statement said. “Now that America is safer without these
terrorists in our cities, deep state actors have resorted to using
their propaganda arm to attack the President’s successful policies.”
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