Discussion
'There Is No Intel': #Trump's Attacks on #Iran Were Based on Vibes, Sources Say
Following Trump's attacks on Iran, an admin official tells Rolling Stone, "The intelligence assessments have not really changed"
After Trump's decision to strike 3 Iranian #nuclear facilities on Sat, admin ofcls are barely bothering to pretend the unprecedented—& potentially calamitous—attacks were motivated by new #intelligence suggesting Iran was on the brink of having nuclear weapons.
Just months ago, Trump's Director of National Intelligence #TulsiGabbard testified to #Congress, in her opening statement, that the US intel community "continues to assess that #Iran is not building a #nuclear weapon" & had not reauthorized its nuclear weapons program.
While #Trump recently publicly disputed Gabbard's testimony, acc/to 2 admin ofcls with knowledge of internal deliberations in recent weeks, Trump's decision to strike was not driven by any new US #intelligence on Iran.
"There is no intel," said one of the ofcls…."The president is protecting the United States & our interests, [but] the intelligence assessments have not really changed from what they were before."
Sen #ChrisMurphy, who sits on the #ForeignRelations Cmte, confirmed…American #intelligence assessments on #Iran have not changed. "I was briefed on the intelligence last week. Iran posed no imminent threat of attack to the United States. Iran was not close to building a deliverable nuclear weapon."
The second #Trump admin skipped the pretense, opting to speed-run the #US into conflict, at a time when public polling shows that the idea of #war with #Iran is spectacularly unpopular with the American people.
In his address to the nation Saturday evening, Trump said, "Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity & a stop to the #nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror."
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