Gabbard said Iran was not building nukes months before Israel strikes

The White House said President Donald Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard are closely aligned on Iran after the president recently declared he did not “care” what Gabbard had to say during previous Senate testimony after she argued Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. 

Gabbard dismissed concerns Iran was building a nuclear weapon during March testimony before the Senate, just months before Israel launched preemptive strikes on Iran directly in response to Israeli intelligence showing Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a short span of time. 

Trump was asked about Gabbard’s testimony while traveling back to Washington Monday evening from the G7 summit in Canada, and the president said he didn’t “care” what Gabbard had to say in previous testimony and saying he believes Iran is close to building a nuke. 

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“You’ve always said that you don’t believe Iran should be able to have a nuclear weapon,” a reporter asked Trump while aboard Air Force One Monday. “But how close do you personally think that they were to getting one?” 

“Very close,” Trump responded.

“Because Tulsi Gabbard testified in March that the intelligence community said Iran wasn’t building a nuclear weapon,” the reporter continued. 

Trump shot back, “I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one.”

When Gabbard appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee in March, she delivered a statement on behalf of the intelligence community that included testimony that Iran was not actively building a nuclear weapon. 

“Iran’s cyber operations and capabilities also present a serious threat to U.S. networks and data,” Gabbard told the committee March 26. 

The intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003,” she said. 

“We continue to monitor closely if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program,” she added at the time. “In the past year, we’ve seen an erosion of a decades-long taboo in Iran on discussing nuclear weapons in public, likely emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran’s decision-making apparatus. 

“Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons. Iran will likely continue efforts to counter Israel and press for U.S. military withdrawal from the region by aiding, arming and helping to reconstitute its loose consortium of like-minded terrorist actors, which it refers to as its axis of resistance.

“Although weakened, this collection of actors still presents a wide range of threats, including to Israel’s population. U.S. forces deployed in Iraq and Syria, as well as U.S. and international military and commercial shipping and transit.”

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A White House official told Fox News Digital Tuesday afternoon Trump and Gabbard are closely aligned and that the distinction being raised between Gabbard’s March testimony and Trump’s remarks that Iran is “very close” to getting a nuclear weapon is one without a difference. 

The official noted that Gabbard underscored in her March testimony that Iran had the resources to potentially build a nuclear weapon. Her testimony in March reflected intelligence she received that Iran wasn’t building a weapon at the time, but that the country could do so based on the resources it amassed for such an endeavor. 

A senior U.S. intelligence official who works with Gabbard told Fox News Tuesday there is no daylight between the intelligence Israel and the United States have both received on Iran’s uranium enrichment program. 

“Everyone is saying the same thing,” the official said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s estimation earlier in June that Iranian stockpiles included 60% enriched uranium that could become 90%. 

Israel launched preemptive strikes on Iran Thursday evening after months of attempted and stalled nuclear negotiations and subsequent heightened concern that Iran was advancing its nuclear program. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared soon after that the strikes were necessary to “roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.”

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He added that if Israel had not acted, “Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time.” 

Dubbed “Operation Rising Lion,” the strikes targeted Iran’s nuclear and missile infrastructure and killed a handful of senior Iranian military leaders.

Gen. Michael Kurilla, the U.S. Central Command chief, also said June 10, ahead of Israel’s strikes, that Iran has the materials to build a nuclear weapon within one week. 

“It is estimated that current stockpiles and the available centrifuges … are sufficient to produce (Iran’s) first 25kg of weapons-grade material in roughly one week, and enough for up to ten nuclear weapons in three weeks,” he said, according to a previous tweet posted to the White House’s Rapid Response X account.

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Gabbard notably was not invited to Camp David earlier in June, before Israel’s strike on Iran, when Trump huddled with military leaders and top Cabinet officials at the presidential retreat in Maryland. Gabbard had scheduling issues at the time due to the activation of the National Guard in California as violent riots broke out in response to the Trump administration’s immigration raids in Los Angeles, but she was not invited, Fox News learned. 

Officials such as Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did join the talks, Fox Digital previously reported. 

Gabbard, however, was present Tuesday in the White House’s Situation Room, where Trump was monitoring the flaring Middle East clashes. 

Conflict between Israel and Iran has intensified since Thursday. Iran said Israel’s initial strikes were a “declaration of war” and subsequently launched its own strikes on Israel, which have rocked residential communities and killed residents.

Trump had repeatedly urged Iran to make a deal on its nuclear program, but the country pulled out of ongoing talks with the U.S. scheduled for Sunday in Oman. 

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“Iran should have signed the ‘deal’ I told them to sign,” Trump posted to Truth Social Monday evening, when he abruptly left an ongoing G7 summit in Canada to better focus on the Israel–Iran conflict. “What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” 

On Tuesday, Trump announced the U.S. now has “complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” adding in another post that Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei’s location had been determined. 

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“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump posted Tuesday afternoon. “He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” 

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips and Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.