By Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that his Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was wrong in suggesting there is no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon.
Trump contested intelligence assessments relayed earlier this year by his spy chief that Tehran was not working on a nuclear weapon when he spoke with reporters at an airport in Morristown, New Jersey.
“She’s wrong,” Trump said.
Gabbard testified to Congress in March that the U.S. intelligence community continued to judge that Tehran was not working on a nuclear warhead.
Trump’s comments came as the president has said he would weigh involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict over the next two weeks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has justified a week of airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets by saying Tehran was on the verge of having a warhead.
Gabbard’s office has previously pointed to quotes from the spy chief saying that she and Trump were “on the same page” regarding the status of Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran denies developing nuclear weapons, saying its uranium enrichment program was only for peaceful purposes.
A source with access to U.S. intelligence reports told Reuters that the assessment presented by Gabbard had not changed.
They said U.S. spy services also judged that it would take up to three years for Iran to build a warhead with which it could hit a target of its choice.
Some experts, however, believe it could take Iran a much shorter time to build and deliver an untested crude nuclear device, although there would be no guarantee it would work.
Trump has frequently disavowed the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies, which he and his supporters have charged – without providing proof – are part of a “deep state” cabal of U.S. officials opposed to his presidency.
The Republican president repeatedly clashed with U.S. spy agencies during his first term, including over an assessment that Moscow worked to sway the 2016 presidential vote in his favor and his acceptance of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denials.
Gabbard, a fierce Trump loyalist, has been among the president’s backers who have aired such allegations.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Leslie Adler, Rod Nickel)
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