‘3 years away’: Iran was not so close to getting nuclear weapon, says US intel countering Israeli claim

Iran-Israel tensions: US President Donald Trump earlier on Tuesday reiterated that "Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, it's very simple".

Israel issued several warnings against Iran's fast-paced move towards obtaining nuclear weapons while launching strikes on the country, saying that it was reaching a point of no return.

While Natanz has suffered 'significant damage' in Israeli strikes, Iran's second nuclear enrichment site Fordow remains intact. (Reuters)

Israel justified its strikes on Iran and said that it was necessary to thwart any nuclear threat from Tehran, adding that it was just months away from assembling an atomic weapon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said shortly after the launch of strikes that Operation Rising Lion was targeting Iran's nuclear and military facilities. Follow Iran Israel war live updates

However, US intelligence assessments said something completely different. CNN reported, citing four people familiar with the assessment, that Iran was up to three years away from being able to produce and deliver a nuclear weapon to a target of its choice.

Another senior US official told the news outlet that Iran "is about as close as you can get before building (a nuclear weapon). If Iran wanted one, they have all the things they need".

Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump insisted that Iran was "very close" to building a nuclear weapon, dismissing what National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard said about it in March.

Gabbard had told lawmakers that according to the assessment done by spy agencies, "Iran is not building a nuclear weapon" and the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "has not authorized the nuclear weapons programme that he suspended in 2003".

However, Trump dismissed it as "I don't care what she said", and pressed that, "I think they were very close to having it."

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he again reiterated, "Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, it's very simple."

He said that he does want a mere ceasefire in Iran; he wants a "real end" to the conflict over Tehran's nuclear programme.

“They should have done the deal. I told them, do the deal,” Trump said. “So I don't know. I'm not too much in the mood to negotiate.”

Since Israeli strikes began on Iran on Friday, US intelligence officials so far believe that Israel might have set back Iran's nuclear programme by just some months, CNN reported.

Though Israel has significantly damaged Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz, the country's second such site, the heavily secured Fordow enrichment site remains intact.

Defense experts reportedly said that Israel lacks the capability needed to damage a fortified facility such as Fordow without the help of specific US weapons and aerial assistance.

Brett McGurk, a former top diplomat to the Middle East under the Trump and Biden administrations, was quoted as saying, "Israel can hover over those nuclear facilities, render them inoperable, but if you really want to dismantle them it's either a US military strike or a deal."

Earlier on Sunday, in an interview with ABC News, Trump said that the US was not yet involved in the Israeli strikes on Iran, but "it's possible we could get involved".