Washington — Rep. Mike Turner, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that Iran could declare itself a nuclear weapons state “by the end of the year,” blaming the Biden administration’s policies for what would mark a major escalation that the United States has sought to avoid for years.
“What we see now with this administration, [Iran] could declare itself a nuclear-weapon state by the end of this year, with reports appearing in the press indicating that there is a possibility,” Turner said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” . ”
Brennan asked him if Iran’s “supreme leader has changed his mind” about the country’s nuclear capability.
“It is possible, with the progress that has been made under the Biden administration’s policy, that Iran could, there are reports, declare itself a nuclear weapons state by the end of the year, if — and that would not have been the case,” Turner said.
“But that conclusion hasn’t been reached, has it?” Brennan asked.
“No,” Turner replied.
The remarks came as Turner, an Ohio Republican, defended recent comments by former President Donald Trump, who said in recent days that he was not seeking to “harm Iran” and that the United States would be “friendly” toward the country. The former president stressed that “they can’t have a nuclear weapon, and we’re all prepared to make sure they don’t,” because once they do, “it’s going to be a whole different world,” he said.
The former president withdrew the United States of the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal in 2018 after arguing that the agreement — a multinational effort to contain Iran’s nuclear program — allowed Iran to build up nuclear weapons. President Biden has sought to revive some parts of the agreement during his first two years in power, but without success.
Turner said Trump was “anti-Iran,” while asserting that recognizing the strengths of one’s adversaries does not mean “having weaknesses oneself.” He added that “Donald Trump, with his campaign of maximum pressure on Iran, has put the most pressure on Iran that he has ever had in an administration — both economically and militarily.”
“They were on the ropes,” Turner said of Iran. “What we’re seeing now with this administration … they could declare themselves a nuclear-weapon state by the end of the year.”
Turner said that possibility could not have occurred under the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure campaign,” saying that “the flexibility and freedom that they’ve had under the Biden administration has given them the ability to try to influence our elections, to actively try to engage in a conspiracy to evaluate Donald Trump, and to continue their nuclear weapons and their nuclear enrichment programs.”
Federal Investigators CBS News investigated whether Iranian hackers targeted individuals associated with the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns, CBS News learned after the Trump incident. The campaign said it had been hacked earlier this month and suggested that Iranian actors were involved. Earlier this year, U.S. intelligence also detected a Iranian conspiracy against Trump.
Turner said the Biden administration “is not holding Iran accountable for its actions regarding the hacking, disinformation and the alleged assassination attempt against Donald Trump.”
“There is no response that impacts Iran or that deters Iran, or that holds Iran accountable,” Turner added. “And that, of course, translates into increased activity and increased emboldening of Iran to interfere in our elections, and to, I think, put people in danger in our country.”
