UPDATE - Trump insists Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, disputing US intelligence

ADDS REMARKS OF DNI CHIEF

By Merve Aydogan

HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - US President Donald Trump on Friday rejected the assessment of his intelligence community that Iran is not developing a nuclear weapon, directly dismissing testimony by his director of national intelligence.

"Then my intelligence community is wrong. Why would the intelligence community say that?" Trump told reporters when asked about the official US position that Iran is not currently building a nuclear weapon.

When the reporter responded that it was Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, who explained that position, Trump shot back: "She's wrong."

The president was responding to congressional testimony from 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.

“I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One late Monday, after leaving the G7 summit in Canada earlier than expected amid the heightened conflict between Israel and Iran.

Gabbard said Friday that her views aligned with Trump’s statements.

"America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly. President Trump has been clear that can’t happen, and I agree," Gabbard wrote on X.

She said the media took her testimony "out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division."

CNN reported Thursday that Trump has come to see Gabbard as "off message" on the conflict in the Middle East.

Citing a senior White House adviser, CNN said Trump’s annoyance with Gabbard peaked earlier this month when she posted a three-minute video warning that the world is “closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before,” and blamed the “political elite and warmongers” for stoking fear and tensions between nuclear powers.”

Regional tensions have escalated since June 13, when Israel launched airstrikes on multiple sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes.

*Diyar Guldogan from Washington, DC contributed to this report