US intelligence undercuts Trump’s main justification for war with Iran

One of US President Donald Trump’s central justifications for his war on Iran has been blown out of the water by his own intelligence community, which has concluded that Tehran is not rebuilding the nuclear enrichment capacity destroyed in last year’s US-Israeli attack. In written testimony submitted on 18 March, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said: “As a result of Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme was obliterated. There has been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability.” The assessment undercuts Trump’s repeated claims that Iran posed an “imminent threat” and was close to obtaining a nuclear weapon. When questioned by senators, however, Gabbard did not repeat that conclusion orally and declined to say […]