Trump dismisses DNI Gabbard's assessment that Iran lacks nuclear weapons

In Mar. 2025, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told Congress that U.S. intelligence “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.”

On Jun. 17, 2025, President Donald J. Trump publicly dismissed Gabbard’s assessment, saying “I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one.”

U.S. intelligence sources assess that it would take Iran up to three years to build a nuclear warhead capable of hitting a chosen target.

The U.S. intelligence community budget is approximately $84 billion per year—taxpayer dollars funding analysis and assessments.

Tulsi Gabbard was notably absent from a Jun. 8 Camp David meeting on Israel-Iran tensions, with the White House citing her National Guard training obligation.

This marked the first time in President Trump’s second term that he publicly contradicted his own Director of National Intelligence.

A historical parallel: President George W. Bush’s public disregard for U.S. intelligence on Iraq’s WMD programs led to the 2003 invasion and an estimated 4,500 American combat deaths.

President Trump’s public position on Iran’s nuclear program aligns with statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rather than U.S. intelligence assessments.