Gabbard: No sign Iran was rebuilding nuclear program after June strikes
Top US intelligence official offered Senate lawmakers conflicting assessments on whether Iran sought to rebuild its uranium enrichment capabilities after US B2 bomber strikes last year.
WASHINGTON — The United States’ top intelligence official told Senate lawmakers Wednesday that the US had no indication that Tehran had begun working to rebuild its nuclear enrichment program before the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran on Feb. 28.
Testifying before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence were Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard; Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Ratcliffe; Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency Lt. Gen. James Adams, US Marine Corps; and Director of the National Security Agency Lt. Gen. William Hartman.
During the Senate hearing, Gabbard said that US intelligence assessed that Iran’s government had been “trying to recover from the severe damage” inflicted on its uranium enrichment capabilities by US strikes on three key nuclear facilities in June 2025. Her comments appeared to undercut claims by US President Donald Trump made at the outset of the war defending his decision to launch an attack by accusing Iran of posing an “imminent threat” to the United States.
She also stated that Iran “maintained intention” to reconstitute its enrichment program but did not say whether the intelligence community deemed that to be a threat.
In written testimony submitted to the Senate intelligence committee the night prior, however, Gabbard’s office said Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity had been “obliterated” by the June 2025 US strikes, and there had been “no efforts” by Iran to rebuild it since.
Gabbard did not clarify whether her claims were based on repeated statements by Trump that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States and countries in the region.
Ratcliffe, meanwhile, said Iran had been rebuilding its conventional ballistic missile arsenal at an “alarming” rate after the June 2025 Iran-Israel war, faster than the US could produce missile interceptors to protect some 40,000 troops stationed in the Middle East.
Neither Gabbard nor Ratcliffe clarified when asked whether Trump had been briefed that Iran may attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz if attacked, although both said that the current tumult caused by Iran's de facto closure of the waterway had long been predicted by US intelligence assessments.
On Monday, Trump replied “no” when asked by a reporter as to whether any advisers had briefed him that Iran may target neighboring countries with ballistic missiles and drones.
Gabbard further said US intelligence assesses Iran’s government “appears to be intact but largely degraded due to attacks on its leadership and military capabilities."
Iran’s “conventional military power projection capabilities have largely been destroyed, leaving limited options,” she added in opening remarks.
“The IC assesses that if a hostile regime survives, it will likely seek to begin a years-long effort to rebuild its military missiles and UAV forces,” Gabbard told lawmakers, making no mention of whether the conflict could push Iranian leaders to pursue nuclear weaponization.
Asked by Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) as to whether the US military could eliminate Iran’s estimated 1,000 pounds (440 kilograms) of highly enriched uranium without putting troops on the ground in the country, Adams said he could not speak on the matter in an unclassified setting, deferring to the planned closed briefing with the panel later Wednesday.
Ratcliffe added that US intelligence indicated Iran was not planning to get rid of its enriched stockpiles of nuclear material during diplomatic talks prior to the war. “Quite the contrary," he said.
This developing story has been updated since its initial publication.
