How Iran conflict has exposed Trump-Gabbard differences

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The Iran-Israel conflict has exposed a growing rift in the White House. On the one hand, you have US President Donald Trump – who has claimed that he is his own best advisor – and on the other you have Tulsi Gabbard, the US Director of National Intelligence. But what happened? How are the two divided? read more
The Iran-Israel conflict has exposed a growing rift in the White House.
On the one hand you have US President Donald Trump – who has claimed that he is his own best advisor.
And on the other you have Tulsi Gabbard, the US Director of National Intelligence.
But what happened? How are the two divided?
Let's take a closer look:
What happened?
As the war between Iran and Israel escalated , Trump on Tuesday rushed back to America from the G7 Summit being held in Canada.
Trump claimed that Iran was 'very close to having a nuclear weapon'.
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'Iran cannot have nuclear weapon,' he added.
He also took to social media to call on the citizens of Tehran to leave the city.
'I just want people to be safe," he added, telling reporters he wanted a 'real end' to the conflict, rather than merely a 'ceasefire.'
Trump also demanded an 'unconditional surrender' from Iran.
Trump's remarks put him in in line with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assessment that Iran was set to acquire a nuclear weapon 'imminently' and that Israel's very survival was at stake.
'If not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time', Netanyahu said. 'It could be a year. It could be within a few months'.
However, Western agencies including that of the United States have contradicted this assessment.
Gabbard, testifying at a House Intelligence Committee hearing in March, said as much.
Tulsi Gabbard at the Faith & Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority Conference in Washington, D.C., on June 21. (Photo: Reuters)
The US intelligence community ' continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme leader Khomeini has not authorised the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003', Gabbard said. 'We continue to monitor closely if Tehran decides to reauthorise its nuclear weapons program'.
Confronted with Gabbard's remarks while flying back, Trump was dismissive.
'I don't care what she said,' the US President said. 'I think they were very close to having one.'
Gabbard tried to do damage control, saying that Trump 'was saying the same thing that I said in my annual threat assessment back in March. Unfortunately too many people in the media don't care to actually read what I said'.
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A senior White House official claimed the two weren't really split.
'There's a distinction. Just because they don't have one does not mean that they don't want to build one,' the official said.
A spokeswoman for Gabbard said she was 'on the same page' as Trump and blamed 'too many people in the media' for misinterpreting her remarks.
The White House is also trying to tamp down on the issue.
White House spokesperson Steven Cheung claimed the president 'has full confidence in his entire exceptional national security team' and insisted that 'efforts by the legacy media to sow internal division are a distraction that will not work.'
Vice President JD Vance also claimed that she was 'an essential member' of team Trump.
'Tulsi Gabbard is a veteran, a patriot, a loyal supporter of President Trump, and a critical part of the coalition he built in 2024,' Vance said in a statement.
Not on the same page
But Gabbard and Trump clearly aren't on the same page – and haven't been for a while.
Gabbard took to social media on June 10 to write that the 'political elite and warmongers' are 'carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers' — and that the world is 'on the brink of nuclear annihilation.'
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The video, which was widely circulated in the White House, seemingly incensed Trump.
So much so that he even mused about doing away with the position of Director of National Intelligence.
Gabbard has long been a sceptic of US intervention in West Asia and of the intelligence agencies she now heads – precisely why Trump appointed her to the job.
Iranian flag flutters in the wind. Image used for representative purpose/AFP
Trump himself has spoken out against being against US interventions around the world and has signalled that he wants to pursue a far more isolationist agenda.
The Trump-Gabbard divide also speaks to a wider briefed in the Maga world.
'Why was Gabbard not invited to the Camp David meeting all day?' asked Steve Bannon, the chief of the Maga isolationist wing, wondered about the high-level meeting Trump held with his cabinet on Sunday.
'You know why … This is a regime change effort,' Carlson responded.
It remains to be seen if Gabbard remains in her post if the US goes to war with Iran.
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With inputs from agencies