‘I don’t care what she said’: Trump dismisses Tulsi Gabbard led US intel report on Iran’s nuclear program | World News
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed the assessment of Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence regarding the Iran’s nuclear program wherein during a congressional testimony in March, she said that “Iran was not building a nuclear weapon” and that “Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.”
Trump, who cut short his visit to the G7 Summit in Canada and rushed back to Washington on Tuesday night to focus on the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, set aside the assessment of Gabbard who was handpicked him to deliver him information from 18 US intelligence agencies.
“I don’t care what she said,” Trump stated. “I think they were very close to having one,” referring to Iran having a nuclear bomb. This stance of Trump has made him more allied with Israeli Prime Miner Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said that a nuclear-armed Iran is an imminent threat. After reaching the White House, Trump met with National Security officials, including Gabbard, in the Situation Room to plan the next steps.
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However, the Trump adminration’s officials downplayed the differences between Trump and Gabbard and said that enriching uranium can put Iran on the track of obtaining a nuclear weapon, reported Associated Press.
Tulsi Gabbard accused the media of misrepresenting her testimony in the Congress, asserting that “President Trump was saying the same thing that I said.” “We are on the same page,” she told CNN. Gabbard’s office also referred to her remark when asked for a comment on the matter.
During the testimony, Gabbard had said that the US was closely monitoring the nuclear program of Iran and that the Islamic country’s “enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons.”
Israel launched strikes against Iran on Friday last week and Iran has retaliated with strikes on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The Israeli strikes on Iran have killed 585 people and wounded 1,326 others, a human rights group has said quoting AP.
