Iran posed no nuclear threat, Trump’s intelligence chief admits
Iran posed no nuclear threat, Trump’s intelligence chief admits
Tulsi Gabbard’s testimony to senators contradicts US president’s central justification for war
Tulsi Gabbard said Iran posed no active nuclear threat when the US and Israel launched strikes on Tehran.
Iran posed no active nuclear threat at the time of US strikes, according to Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence.
Undermining the US president’s central justification for war, Tulsi Gabbard concluded that Iran was not rebuilding nuclear enrichment capacities destroyed in US-Israeli attacks last June.
The Trump ally disclosed the finding in written testimony for the annual threat assessment but stopped short of repeating it in her public remarks to senators.
“As a result of Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme was obliterated. There have been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability,” Ms Gabbard said in the testimony to the Senate intelligence committee.
Pressed by a Democratic senator on why she had omitted the finding during the hearing, Ms Gabbard said she had not had time to present her full written testimony but did not dispute the assessment.
Mr Trump has repeatedly justified US actions against Iran by saying that it posed an “imminent threat”.
He said after the June 2025 strikes that US forces had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites, but has since claimed that Tehran was only weeks away from building a bomb. It is an assessment not shared by many experts, and at odds with ongoing diplomatic efforts to revive a nuclear deal.
In her remarks to senators, Ms Gabbard said Iran had been dealt heavy blows in recent weeks, including the killing of the former supreme leader Ali Khamenei,but stressed the Islamic Republic remained operational.
As a congresswoman, she had led opposition to war with Iran. On Tuesday, Joe Kent, one of her senior aides, resigned, saying there was no “imminent threat”.
Mr Kent, a former counter-terrorism director, claimed on Wednesday he and other senior officials with doubts about the air strikes “were not allowed” to share them with Mr Trump.
The US president has rejected Mr Kent’s criticism of the war. He said he always thought Mr Kent was “weak on security” and if someone in his administration did not believe Iran was a threat, “we don’t want those people”.
It was revealed on Thursday that the FBI was investigating Mr Kent for allegedly sharing classified information.
As head of the National Counter-terrorism Centre, Mr Kent led the agency responsible for analysing and detecting terrorist threats, reporting to Ms Gabbard.
On Wednesday, he told the Tucker Carlson show that Mr Trump relied on a small circle of advisers in making his decision to strike Iran, claiming that Israel had forced his hand.
“A good deal of key decision makers were not allowed to come and express their opinion to the president,” he told Mr Carlson, a prominent conservative commentator. “There wasn’t a robust debate.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/19/iran-posed-no-nuclear-threat-trumps-intel-chief-admits/
Tulsi Gabbard’s testimony to senators contradicts US president’s central justification for war
Tulsi Gabbard said Iran posed no active nuclear threat when the US and Israel launched strikes on Tehran.
Iran posed no active nuclear threat at the time of US strikes, according to Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence.
Undermining the US president’s central justification for war, Tulsi Gabbard concluded that Iran was not rebuilding nuclear enrichment capacities destroyed in US-Israeli attacks last June.
The Trump ally disclosed the finding in written testimony for the annual threat assessment but stopped short of repeating it in her public remarks to senators.
“As a result of Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme was obliterated. There have been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability,” Ms Gabbard said in the testimony to the Senate intelligence committee.
Pressed by a Democratic senator on why she had omitted the finding during the hearing, Ms Gabbard said she had not had time to present her full written testimony but did not dispute the assessment.
Mr Trump has repeatedly justified US actions against Iran by saying that it posed an “imminent threat”.
He said after the June 2025 strikes that US forces had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites, but has since claimed that Tehran was only weeks away from building a bomb. It is an assessment not shared by many experts, and at odds with ongoing diplomatic efforts to revive a nuclear deal.
In her remarks to senators, Ms Gabbard said Iran had been dealt heavy blows in recent weeks, including the killing of the former supreme leader Ali Khamenei,but stressed the Islamic Republic remained operational.
As a congresswoman, she had led opposition to war with Iran. On Tuesday, Joe Kent, one of her senior aides, resigned, saying there was no “imminent threat”.
Mr Kent, a former counter-terrorism director, claimed on Wednesday he and other senior officials with doubts about the air strikes “were not allowed” to share them with Mr Trump.
The US president has rejected Mr Kent’s criticism of the war. He said he always thought Mr Kent was “weak on security” and if someone in his administration did not believe Iran was a threat, “we don’t want those people”.
It was revealed on Thursday that the FBI was investigating Mr Kent for allegedly sharing classified information.
As head of the National Counter-terrorism Centre, Mr Kent led the agency responsible for analysing and detecting terrorist threats, reporting to Ms Gabbard.
On Wednesday, he told the Tucker Carlson show that Mr Trump relied on a small circle of advisers in making his decision to strike Iran, claiming that Israel had forced his hand.
“A good deal of key decision makers were not allowed to come and express their opinion to the president,” he told Mr Carlson, a prominent conservative commentator. “There wasn’t a robust debate.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/19/iran-posed-no-nuclear-threat-trumps-intel-chief-admits/
