From LifeSiteNews

By Dave DeCamp

When asked about Tulsi Gabbard’s assessment, President Trump said, ‘I don’t care what she said. I think they’re very close to having [a nuclear weapon].’

Ahead of Israel’s attacks on Iran, U.S. intelligence assessed that Iran was not pursuing nuclear weapons and that even if it chose to do so, it would take up to three years for Tehran to be able to produce and deliver a nuclear bomb against a target of its choosing, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the intelligence.

The U.S. assessment goes against the claims from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who launched the war under the pretext of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. But President Trump appears to be taking Israel’s word over his own intelligence agencies, as he told reporters that he didn’t care about his director of national intelligence’s assessment on the issue.

In March, DNI Tulsi Gabbard said that “Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.” Her assessment was reflected in the Intelligence Community’s annual threat assessment.

When asked about this assessment, President Trump said, “I don’t care what she said. I think they’re very close to having [a nuclear weapon].”

Netanyahu claimed in an interview on Sunday that he shared intelligence with the U.S. that Iran could have developed a nuclear weapon within months or a year, although that was not the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies, based on the CNN report. But even based on Netanyahu’s own timeline, the U.S. would have had time to continue negotiations with Iran.

Israel attacked Iran two days before another round of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran was set to be held. Trump had been demanding that Iran eliminate its nuclear enrichment program, which was a non-starter for Tehran. Despite the apparent impasse, Iran was set to present a counter-proposal to the U.S., but the talks were canceled after Israel launched its war.

Reprinted with permission from Antiwar.com.

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Mariane Angela

Economist Steve Moore appeared on Fox Business Tuesday to discuss what he called the significance of expanding domestic oil and gas production in the United States.

President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14154 aims to secure U.S. energy independence and global leadership by awarding 10-year oil and gas leases. During an appearance on “The Bottom Line,” Moore said that if Trump’s energy policies succeed then America will no longer have to rely on foreign oil.

“If Trump goes forward with what he wants to do, and our energy secretary is all in on this, produce as much oil and gas as we can here at home in Texas and North Dakota and Oklahoma and these other states. Then we’re not held hostage anymore to what’s happening in the Middle East,” Moore said. “That’s what’s so frustrating. We have more of this stuff than anybody does.”

WATCH: 

Moore then pointed to some of former President Joe Biden’s early decisions, particularly the cancellation of pipelines. Moore said these actions left the U.S. vulnerable to external energy crises.

“I don’t want to overemphasize the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It’s good that we have this sort of safety knot in case you have some kind of blow up in the Middle East, like we have now. But, ultimately, what Joe Biden did was the most sinister of all,” Moore said. “You guys remember what was the first thing when he became president? He canceled pipelines. He destroyed our energy infrastructure.”

During his first term, Trump signed executive orders to advance major pipelines, including instructing TransCanada to resubmit its application for a cross-border permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, which is designed to transport oil from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast. On his first day in office, Biden revoked the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, effectively halting its development.