Trump told Congress Iran had nuclear weapons program, contradicting intelligence assessments

(Patria) - U.S. President Donald Trump told Congress this week that the Iranian sites the United States bombed contained a "nuclear weapons development program," even though U.S. intelligence agencies have said such a program does not exist, Reuters reported.

Trump's claim raised questions about whether U.S. intelligence agencies supported his decision to order strikes on Iran on Sunday.

He made the claim in a letter on Monday to House Speaker Mike Johnson, a key ally, and it was published on the White House website.

"U.S. forces conducted a precise strike on three nuclear facilities in Iran that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran uses for its nuclear weapons development program," Trump wrote.

The latest U.S. assessment, presented to Congress in March by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, states that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not ordered the resumption of nuclear weapons development efforts that were halted in 2003.

A source with access to U.S. intelligence reports told Reuters last week that the March assessment had not changed.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. President George Bush justified the 2003 invasion of Iraq by saying intelligence showed the country possessed weapons of mass destruction. This was later discredited and caused a political backlash.

Trump first expressed doubt about intelligence on Iran's nuclear program last week, when he dismissed the assessment Gabbard presented to Congress. "I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having it," Trump told reporters, referring to nuclear weapons.

Gabbard herself challenged media reports about her March testimony on Friday, saying on social media platform X that U.S. intelligence agencies showed Iran could make a nuclear weapon "in weeks to months" if it wanted to.

According to unclassified U.S. intelligence reports compiled before the attacks, Iran shut down its nuclear weapons program in 2003, a conclusion shared by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, and has not mastered all the necessary technologies. But Tehran has the expertise to build a warhead at some point, according to the reports.

The United States attacked three Iranian nuclear facilities on Sunday - Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow. It hit the deeply buried Fordow, where advanced centrifuges can produce low-enriched uranium for reactor fuel and highly enriched uranium for warheads, with "bunker-buster" bombs.

Trump and other senior officials said the facilities were destroyed. But a preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment showed the attack set back Tehran's program by only a few months, three sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Tuesday.

A U.S. official who read the assessment said it contained a number of caveats and that a more detailed report was expected in the coming days and weeks.