Trump demands “unconditional surrender” from Iran
Fox News’ Mike Tobin is reporting the latest updates from Tel Aviv, Israel. US Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren is debating whether Israel can eliminate Iran’s nuclear program without the help of the US on “American Report.”
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The White House said President Donald Trump and the Director of National Intelligence were closely lined up with Iran after he recently declared that Gabbard “doesn’t care” what he had said in his previous Senate testimony after claiming that Iran had not built nuclear weapons.
Gabbard dismissed concerns that Iran was building nuclear weapons during his March testimony before the Senate, months before Israel began directly in response to Israeli intelligence reports, showing that Iran could produce nuclear weapons in a short period of time.
When asked about Gabbard’s testimony when he returned to Washington Monday evening from Canada’s G7 Summit, Trump said he “doesn’t mind” what Gabbard had to say in his previous testimony, saying Iran believes it’s close to building a nuclear weapon.
How close was Iran to nuclear weapons before Israel’s strike against Tehran?
“I’ve always said Iran doesn’t think it should have nuclear weapons,” a reporter asked Trump on Monday while on board the Air Force. “But how close do you think they’re going to get it?”
“It’s very close,” Trump replied.
National Intelligence Director Tarsi Gabbard dismissed concerns that Iran had been building nuclear weapons during his testimony in front of the Senate in March. (via Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP Getty Images)
“Tarsi Gabbard testified in March that the Intelligence Television community had said that Iran had not built nuclear weapons,” the reporter continued.
“I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having it,” Trump shot.
When Gabbard appeared before the Senate Intelligence Election Committee in March, she issued a statement on behalf of the Intelligence Election Election community, which included testimony that Iran was not actively building nuclear weapons.
“Iran’s cyber operations and capabilities also pose serious threats to U.S. networks and data,” Gabbard told the committee on March 26.
The intelligence news community “continues to assess Iran as not building nuclear weapons, and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not approved the nuclear weapons programme that was stopped in 2003,” she said.
“If Tehran decides to reapprove the nuclear weapons program, we will continue to monitor it,” she added at the time. “For the past year, we have seen decades of taboos in Iran discuss nuclear weapons in public places and promote nuclear weapons supporters, perhaps within Iran’s decision-making equipment.
“Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile is at the highest level and unprecedented against a nuclear-weaponless nation. Iran will continue its efforts to counter Israel, continue its efforts to withdraw from the region, continue its US military, helping to support, arm it, cooperate and reconstruct its loose consortium of flexible terrorist actors.
Israeli air defense systems are being activated to intercept Iranian missiles in Tel Aviv, Israel, during a new barrage of Iranian rockets on June 16, 2025.
“While it has been weakened, this collection of actors still presents a wide range of threats, including the Israeli population. The US military is deployed in Iraq and Syria, and is a military and commercial transport and transportation system both in the US and internationally.”
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White House officials said Tuesday afternoon that Fox News Digital’s Trump and Gabbard were in close alignment, and that Gabbard’s March testimony and Trump’s statement that Iran was “very close” to getting a nuclear weapon was unchanged.
Officials noted that Gabbard highlighted in his March testimony that Iran has the resources to potentially build nuclear weapons. Her testimony in March reflects the intelligence that Iran had not built weapons at the time, but that the country could do so based on the resources it had accumulated for such efforts.
The White House said Trump and Gabbard are in close alignment with Iran. (JackGruber/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
A senior official from the US intelligence news agency working with Gabbard told Fox News on Tuesday there was no sunlight between the intelligence news that Israel and the US received in Iran’s uranium enrichment program.
“Everyone is saying the same thing,” the official said in early June, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency estimates, which contains 60% of the enriched uranium, which could potentially reach 90% of Iran’s stockpiles.
Israel launched its first strike in Iran on Thursday evening after raising concerns that Iran was moving forward with its nuclear program after months of attempts and halting nuclear negotiations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We have quickly declared that a strike is necessary to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.
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He added that if Israel does not act, “Iran can produce nuclear weapons in a very short time.”
The strike, known as the “Operation Raisinglion,” targeted Iran’s nuclear and missile infrastructure and killed senior Iranian military leaders.
Firefighters and rescuers work at Haifa’s missile attack location from Iran in Israel on June 15, 2025 (Rami Shlush/Reuters)
General Michael Kurira, chief of the US Central Command, said on June 10 that Iran had documents to build nuclear weapons within a week, ahead of the Israeli strike.
“Current stockpiles and available centrifuges are estimated to be sufficient to produce the first 25kg of weapon-grade material in about a week, and to produce up to 10 nuclear weapons in three weeks,” he said, according to a previous tweet posted on the White House’s Rapid Response X account.
Trump is being invited to the nuclear weapon as Dni Gabbard claims Tehran hasn’t built a bomb
Gabbard was not invited to Camp David in early June before Israel’s strike in Iran when Trump was huddled with military leaders and cabinet officials in the Maryland presidential withdrawal. Gabbard had schedule issues at the time due to the revitalization of the California National Guard as violent riots broke out in response to the Trump administration’s immigration attack in Los Angeles, but she was not invited, Fox News learned.
Previously reported by Fox Digital, Fox Digital said officials such as Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses were taking part in the speech.
However, Gabbard was present in the White House situation room on Tuesday, where Trump was monitoring the Flairing Middle East clash.
President Donald Trump will speak to reporters on the second half of June 16, 2025, while on his way from Calgary, Canada to a joint base in Andrews, Maryland (Mark Sieferbein/Application).
The conflict between Israel and Iran has been intensifying since Thursday. Iran said Israel’s first strike was a “declaration of war,” and then launched its own strike against Israel, rocking residential communities and killing its residents.
Trump has repeatedly urged Iran to make deals on its nuclear program, but the country has stepped out of ongoing talks with the US scheduled for Sunday in Oman.
Trump meets with national security team as Israeli-Iran conflict escalates
“Iran should have signed a ‘deal’ that I told them to sign,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday evening. “What a shame, a waste of human life. I said that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons. I have said many times! Everyone should evacuate Tehran soon!”
President Donald Trump and President Tarsi Gabbard will shake hands on the 2024 presidential campaign trajectory. (Paul Sansica/Applications)
On Tuesday, Trump announced that the US has “complete and complete control of the sky over Iran,” adding in another post that the top leader of the Iranian Ali Khamenei location has been decided.
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“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Super Leader’ is hiding,” Trump posted Tuesday afternoon. “He’s an easy target, but he’s safe there – we won’t take him out (kill him!), or at least not for now. But we don’t want to shoot missiles at civilians and American soldiers. Our patience is thin.
Morgan Phillips of Fox News Digital and Jennifer Griffin of Fox News have contributed to this report.
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