Trump aligns with Israel, not spy agencies, on Iran bomb threat
United States: In an unequivocal display before Congress earlier this year, Tulsi Gabbard dismissed any notion that Iran was actively crafting a nuclear weapon. Echoing the consensus of America’s top intelligence brass, she stressed that Tehran’s Supreme Leader had not reignited the long-dormant nuclear weapons agenda—despite elevated uranium enrichment levels.
Yet President Donald Trump, mid-flight from the G7 summit, scorned those intelligence findings. Cutting his diplomatic excursion short, he redirected his attention to the rising turmoil between Israel and Iran.
“I don’t care what she said,” Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One. In his estimation, Iran stood on the precipice of developing a nuclear bomb.
By embracing this stance, Trump synchronized himself not with his intelligence heads, but with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long painted Iran’s nuclear ambitions as an impending catastrophe. With tensions cresting, Trump summoned his national security circle to the White House Situation Room to deliberate next maneuvers.
Gabbard, undeterred by the apparent schism, cast blame on the press for twisting her earlier remarks. “President Trump was saying the same thing that I said,” she explained to CNN, asserting alignment with the administration’s rhetoric. Her office referred back to these statements when pressed.