Trump says intel chief Tulsi Gabbard ‘softer’ than him on Iran nuclear issue

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE: US President Donald Trump on Sunday hinted at differences among his top aides on their approach to Iran, saying that ​his intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard was “softer” than him on curbing Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Trump, ‌who also suggested that a deal could be near to contain Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, said “yeah, sure,” when asked by a reporter whether he retained confidence in Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence.

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“She’s a ​little bit different in her thought process than me,” Trump said aboard Air ​Force One as he returned to Washington after a weekend at his ⁠Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

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“But that doesn’t make somebody not available to serve. I would ​say that I’m very strong on the fact that I don’t want Iran to have ​a nuclear weapon because if they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it immediately. I think she’s probably a little bit softer on that issue, but that’s okay.”

Trump seldom acknowledges debate among top officials ​over the joint US-Israeli campaign against Iran, which is entering its second month.

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Vice President ​JD Vance has staked out a cautious approach on conflict and some other top Republicans have privately worried about ‌the ⁠conflict’s domestic economic and political costs.

The Republican president’s administration has given conflicting messages about the state of Iran’s nuclear program.

In the run-up to the war, some top administration officials said Iran was weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon, although others — including the president — claimed ​that another US-Israeli campaign ​last summer had ⁠destroyed its weapons program.

Iran has maintained that its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes.

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Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, told lawmakers earlier this ​month that the U.S. intelligence community had “high confidence” that it knows ​where Iran ⁠keeps its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

At the time, she declined to discuss in a public session whether the US has the means to destroy it.

An official with close ties ⁠to ​Gabbard, Joe Kent, who headed the National Counterterrorism Center, ​earlier this month resigned over the war, saying Iran posed no imminent threat to the US.