Sunday, September 21, 2025

US intelligence told senators Iran not building nuclear weapon despite Trump claim, top Democrat says – as it happened

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Despite Trump’s claim, US intelligence briefed senators on Monday that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, Warner says

Despite Donald Trump’s recent claim that Iran was “very close” to making a nuclear weapon when Israel launched its bombing campaign, Mark Warner, the vice-chairman of the US Senate intelligence committee, said on Wednesday that senators were briefed on Monday, after Israel’s attack, that US intelligence agencies still see no evidence that Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons.

In an interview with MSNBC, Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, said that Trump’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, had testified to the Senate in March “that Iran had taken no action towards, moving towards a bomb”.

“And we got reconfirmed … Monday of this week, that the intelligence hasn’t changed,” Warner added.

In her written, opening testimony to the Senate select committee on intelligence on 25 March, Gabbard summarized the collective assessment on Iran of the 18 US intelligence elements that comprise the US intelligence community, which she referred to using the acronym IC:

The IC continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamanei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003. The IC is closely monitoring if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program.

US director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s testimony to the senate in March on Iran.

When Trump was reminded on Tuesday of Gabbard’s testimony that Iran was not pursuing a nuclear weapon, he told reporters: “I don’t care what she said, I think they were very close to having one.”

“Foreign policy by tweet is insane. And that’s what this guy is doing,” Warner told MSNBC about Trump’s social media posts on Iran.

“Then you’ve got the president basically dismissing all of the intelligence,” he added. “I have no foggy idea what American policy is right now towards this circumstance. I’m the vice-chair of the intelligence committee; if I don’t have the foggiest idea, what do the American people know?”

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Key events

Closing summary

This brings our live coverage of the second Trump administration to a close for the day, but our colleagues in Australia continue to cover the Israeli attack on Iran in real time. Here are some of the day’s main developments in US politics:

  • Despite Donald Trump’s claim that Iran was “very close” to having a nuclear weapon when Israel launched its bombing campaign, Mark Warner, the vice-chairman of the US Senate intelligence committee, told MSNBC that senators were briefed on Monday that US intelligence agencies still see no evidence that Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons.

  • Donald Trump said he has still has not made a decision on whether to join Israel’s attack on Iran, but repeated Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Iran was “weeks away” from developing a nuclear weapon.

  • Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell cautioned that officials expect tariffs imposed by Trump to increase prices over the course of the summer. His comments came as the Fed kept interest rates on hold, but signaled it might make two cuts this year, as Trump continues to demand lower rates.

  • As Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, was cross-examined by the senate armed services committee, an official defense department social media account, DOD Rapid Response, posted a series of attacks on Democratic senators on X.

  • Top senate Democrats insisted that Trump needs congressional authorization for any attack on Iran, echoing the 2002 debate in congress over the US attack on Iraq. A star witness that year, who urged congress to back war in Iraq as a way to achieve regime change in Iran, was Benjamin Netanyahu.


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