this is the general status on Iran's nuke development:
U.S. intelligence stands by its opinion that Iran has a large stockpile of enriched uranium but isn't close to creating a weapon. Trump said Wednesday that a weapon is “a few weeks” away.
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters he was perplexed by Trump's assertions as lawmakers have received a different picture from U.S. intelligence officials.
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, told lawmakers in March that U.S. spy agencies assessed that Iran had not made a decision to build nuclear weapons but it had stockpiles of enriched uranium far beyond what is required for civilian purposes. The U.S. intelligence community’s view has not changed since her testimony, the source with knowledge of the matter said.
Warner said Wednesday that he received further confirmation of the March intelligence assessment “this week.”
On Tuesday, President
Trump publicly dismissed Gabbard’s testimony, saying “I don’t care what she said.”
Warner said the administration needed to clarify if there was new intelligence on Iran’s nuclear work.
“So far, at least, the intelligence community has stood by its conclusion that Iran is not moving towards a nuclear weapon. They were enriching additional uranium, but they were not weaponizing that yet, and that (decision) was left with the supreme leader,” Warner said.