U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s claim that Iran will soon have a missile that can hit the United States is not backed by U.S. intelligence reports, and appears \u200bto be exaggerated, according to three sources familiar with the reports, casting doubt on part of his case for a possible attack on the \u200bIslamic Republic. In his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday, Trump \u2060began making his case to the American public for why the U.S. could launch strikes against Iran, saying Tehran was \u201cworking on missiles that will soon reach\u201d the United States. But there have been no changes, two \u200bsources said, to an unclassified 2025 U.S. \u200cDefense Intelligence Agency assessment that Iran could take until 2035 to develop a “militarily viable intercontinental ballistic missile” (ICBM) from its existing satellite-lofting space-launch vehicles (SLV). The White House declined to comment. One source said that even if China or North Korea – which closely cooperate with Iran – provided techno
logical assistance, Iran would probably take up to eight years \u200bat the earliest to produce “something that is actually ICBM level and operational.” The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive intelligence, said they were unaware of any U.S. intelligence assessments that Iran was developing a missile that could soon range the U.S. homeland but did not rule out the possibility of a new intelligence report they were \u200cunaware of. The New York Times first reported that \u200cU.S. intelligence agencies believe Iran is probably \u200byears away from having missiles that can hit the United States. RUBIO SAYS IRAN ON ‘PATHWAY’ TO WEAPONS THAT CAN REACH U.S. Trump’s claim about Iran’s missile capability came as representatives from the U.S. and Iran negotiate over Tehran’s nuclear program, with no signs of a breakthrough that could avert potential U.S. strikes amid a massive military buildup in the region. The U.S. president has done little to expl
ain publicly why he might be leading the U.S. into its most aggressive action against the Islamic \u200bRepublic since its 1979 revolution. In his address on Tuesday, Trump pointed to Tehran’s support for militant groups, its killing of protesters and the country’s missile and nuclear programs as threats to the region and the United States. Without providing evidence, Trump said that Tehran was beginning to rebuild the nuclear program that he claimed had been \u201cobliterated\u201d by U.S. airstrikes last June on three major sites involved with uranium enrichment. U.S. Secretary \u200bof State Marco Rubio on Wednesday referred to Iran\u2019s ballistic missile program in less definitive terms than Trump, saying that Tehran is “on a pathway to one day being able to develop weapons that could reach the continental U.S.” Iran denies seeking a nuclear arsenal, saying its enrichment of uranium \u2013 a process that produces fuel for power plants and nuclear warheads depending on its duration \u2013 is strictly for
civilian uses. In an interview with India Today TV released on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denied that Iran was expanding its missile capabilities. “We are not developing long range missiles. We have limited range \u200cto below 2000 kilometers intentionally,” he said. “We don\u2019t want it to be a global threat. We only have (them) to defend ourselves. Our missiles build deterrence.” WEAPONS PROGRAM SHUTTERED IN 2003, ACCORDING TO IAEA The U.S. intelligence community and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog, have said that Iran shuttered a nuclear weapons development program in 2003. But according to the \u2060IAEA, Tehran has in recent years continued enriching uranium, \u200bincluding to near weapons-grade. Trump has threatened to attack Iran if it executes people arrested during nationwide anti-government protests in January or fails to agree a deal on its nuclear program in talks with the U.S. Ira
n has the largest ballistic missile force in the Middle East, with its missiles able to strike Israel, U.S. bases in the region and parts of Europe.” It also has developed so-called space-launch vehicles that have put \u2060satellites into orbit and that experts say could be modified into \u2060ICBMs that could loft nuclear warheads. While SLVs loft satellites, \u2060ICBMs release re-entry vehicles that protect warheads from the high temperatures and forces produced by hurtling down through the Earth’s atmosphere. But David Albright, a former U.N. nuclear inspector, said Iran was a long way away from being able to mount atop a missile a nuclear warhead-carrying re-entry vehicle that could survive the extreme heat and forces of plunging through Earth\u2019s atmosphere. “Iran can launch a very long-range missile because of its space launch program,” said \u2060Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security think tank. “But it needs lots of work to develop an a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s claim that Iran will soon have a missile that can hit the United States is not backed by U.S. intelligence reports, and appears \u200bto be exaggerated, according to three sources familiar with the reports, casting doubt on part of his case for a possible attack on the \u200bIslamic Republic. In his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n