- US Spy Chief Tulsi Gabbard said Iran could build a nuclear weapon within "weeks to months"
- She said her earlier statement that Iran was not building a weapon was taken "out of context"
- This came after President Donald Trump publicly criticised her "wrong" information
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Saturday said the US believes that Iran could have a nuclear weapon built "within weeks to months", hours after she was snubbed by President Donald Trump for providing "wrong" information, signalling a possible rift that has spilled out into the open.
In a post on X, the spy chief said her earlier remarks that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon was taken "out of context", and agreed with the President that Tehran cannot attempt to build on its purported ambition.
"The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division. America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalise the assembly. President Trump has been clear that can't happen, and I agree," she posted on the micro-blogging site.
In March, Ms Gabbard testified to Congress that the US intelligence community believes that Tehran was not building a nuclear weapon. "The (intelligence community) continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon," she said.
On Friday, President Trump said Ms Gabbard was wrong in suggesting there was no evidence to prove that Iran is building a nuclear weapon. "She is wrong," he told reporters.
It was for the second time in a week that Mr Trump has undermined Ms Gabbard for her assessment on the matter. "I don't care what she says," he said on Monday, when asked about the spy chief's remarks on the matter.
The developments come at a time when the White House is weighing its involvement in the current Iran-Israel conflict.
The US President's statement aligned him more closely with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has described a nuclear-armed Iran as an imminent threat, than with his own top intelligence adviser.
Administration officials, however, downplayed the inconsistency between Mr Trump and Ms Gabbard, saying that enriching uranium can put Iran on track to having a nuclear weapon.
A source with access to US intelligence reports told Reuters that the assessment presented by Gabbard has not changed. They said the spy services also judged that it would take up to three years for Iran to build a warhead with which it could hit a target of its choice.
Multiple senior officials in the administration also said that Gabbard had been sidelined in the internal discussions about the Iran-Israel conflict.
