US intel report: Iran ‘not building nuclear weapon’

Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, says the annual US intelligence threat assessment report published by the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard.

“The IC (intelligence community) continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon,” according to a copy of the document published Thursday.

Nonetheless, it emphasizes that after numerous Israeli attacks on Iranian territory and escalating US threats of war, officials in Tehran have broken “a decades-long taboo … on discussing nuclear weapons in public.”

It also highlights Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium after a February report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), claiming that Iran had significantly increased its inventory since its previous report in November.

Tehran has consistently complained of the IAEA “politicizing” its nuclear energy program and of being “hijacked” by Israel – the only entity in West Asia that has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the world's only regime with unacknowledged nuclear bombs.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said Tuesday he may be “returning soon” to Tehran for talks with Iranian officials. “We are at a very important juncture,” he told Bloomberg TV.

“We know there has been an outreach from President Trump sending a letter to the spiritual leader of Iran,” Grossi added.  

On March 12, Trump delivered a letter to Iran via the United Arab Emirates, reportedly giving the Islamic Republic “a two-month deadline for reaching a new nuclear deal or face military action.”

On his trip to Yerevan on Tuesday, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi underscored the impracticality of engaging in direct talks with the US administration under the reinstated “maximum pressure” campaign.

Araghchi, however, reiterated Iran's commitment to multilateral discussions, citing the ongoing talks with the E3 bloc of nations – France, Germany, and Britain.

Foreign minister: Iran preparing response to Trump’s letter

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Iran has yet to respond to a letter from President Donald Trump of the United States regarding a replacement for the 2015 nuclear deal.

The report by Gabbards' office comes days after the White House national security advisor Mike Waltz told US newscasters that Washington is seeking the “full dismantlement” of Iran's nuclear energy program “in a way that the entire world can see.”

“It is time for Iran to walk away completely from its desire to have a nuclear weapon, and they will not and cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapons program. That is its weaponization and its strategic missiles program,” he said. 

During Barack Obama's tenure, the US signed a nuclear deal with Iran called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). However, the US withdrew from it in 2018 during Trump's first term as president amid pressure from the Israeli lobby in the US.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA renders diplomacy with him pointless.

“The US president saying ‘we are ready to negotiate with Iran’ and calling for negotiations is a deception aimed at misleading global public opinion,” the Leader told a group of students in Tehran.

On Friday, the Leader said the Americans “and others should know that if they do anything malign to the Iranian nation, they will get a hard slap.”

China has said it seeks to propose a plan to renew negotiations on Iran's nuclear program, emphasizing diplomacy, mutual respect, and adherence to the JCPOA.

Last week, Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “Iran, like all other countries, has the right to develop the peaceful atomic sector and peaceful nuclear energy and is taking important steps in this direction. And all this is happening in strict accordance with international law.”

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