<p>Washington: U.S. President <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> told Congress this week that the Iranian sites bombed by the U.S. housed a "nuclear weapons development program," even though U.S. spy agencies have said no such program existed.</p><p>Trump's claim raised questions whether U.S. intelligence backed up his decision to order the strikes on Iran on Sunday.</p><p>The Republican president made the assertion in a letter dated Monday to House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, a key ally, and it was posted on the White House's website.</p><p>"United States forces conducted a precision strike against three nuclear facilities in Iran used by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for its nuclear weapons development program," Trump wrote.</p>.US strikes may have set back Iran nuclear program only months: Report.<p>The most recent U.S. assessment, presented to Congress in March by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, said Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had not ordered the restarting of a nuclear-weapons effort shuttered in 2003.</p><p>A source with access to U.S. intelligence reports told Reuters last week that the March assessment had not changed.</p><p>Iran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful uses.</p><p>President George Bush justified the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by saying intelligence showed the country had weapons of mass destruction. This was later discredited and prompted a political backlash.</p><p>Trump first cast doubt on intelligence about Iran's nuclear program last week, when he repudiated the assessment that Gabbard delivered to Congress.</p><p>"I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having one," Trump told reporters, referring to a nuclear weapon.</p><p>Gabbard herself on Friday disputed media accounts of her March testimony, saying on X that U.S. intelligence showed Iran could make a nuclear weapon "in weeks to months" if it chose.</p><p>According to unclassified U.S. intelligence reports compiled before the strikes, Iran closed a nuclear weapons program in 2003 - a conclusion shared by the U.N. nuclear watchdog - and has not mastered all of the technologies required. But Tehran does have the expertise to build a warhead at some point, according to the reports.</p><p>The U.S. attacked three Iranian nuclear sites -- Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow -- on Sunday. It hit deeply buried Fordow, where advanced centrifuges could produce low-enriched uranium for nuclear reactor fuel and highly enriched uranium for warheads, with "bunker busting" bombs.</p><p>Trump and other top officials said the sites were obliterated. But a preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment found the attack set back Tehran's program by only months, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.</p><p>A U.S. official who read the assessment said it contained a number of caveats and a more refined report was expected in the coming days and weeks.</p>
<p>Washington: U.S. President <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> told Congress this week that the Iranian sites bombed by the U.S. housed a "nuclear weapons development program," even though U.S. spy agencies have said no such program existed.</p><p>Trump's claim raised questions whether U.S. intelligence backed up his decision to order the strikes on Iran on Sunday.</p><p>The Republican president made the assertion in a letter dated Monday to House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, a key ally, and it was posted on the White House's website.</p><p>"United States forces conducted a precision strike against three nuclear facilities in Iran used by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for its nuclear weapons development program," Trump wrote.</p>.US strikes may have set back Iran nuclear program only months: Report.<p>The most recent U.S. assessment, presented to Congress in March by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, said Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had not ordered the restarting of a nuclear-weapons effort shuttered in 2003.</p><p>A source with access to U.S. intelligence reports told Reuters last week that the March assessment had not changed.</p><p>Iran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful uses.</p><p>President George Bush justified the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by saying intelligence showed the country had weapons of mass destruction. This was later discredited and prompted a political backlash.</p><p>Trump first cast doubt on intelligence about Iran's nuclear program last week, when he repudiated the assessment that Gabbard delivered to Congress.</p><p>"I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having one," Trump told reporters, referring to a nuclear weapon.</p><p>Gabbard herself on Friday disputed media accounts of her March testimony, saying on X that U.S. intelligence showed Iran could make a nuclear weapon "in weeks to months" if it chose.</p><p>According to unclassified U.S. intelligence reports compiled before the strikes, Iran closed a nuclear weapons program in 2003 - a conclusion shared by the U.N. nuclear watchdog - and has not mastered all of the technologies required. But Tehran does have the expertise to build a warhead at some point, according to the reports.</p><p>The U.S. attacked three Iranian nuclear sites -- Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow -- on Sunday. It hit deeply buried Fordow, where advanced centrifuges could produce low-enriched uranium for nuclear reactor fuel and highly enriched uranium for warheads, with "bunker busting" bombs.</p><p>Trump and other top officials said the sites were obliterated. But a preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment found the attack set back Tehran's program by only months, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.</p><p>A U.S. official who read the assessment said it contained a number of caveats and a more refined report was expected in the coming days and weeks.</p>