CIA Director John Ratcliffe has reportedly told US President Donald Trump that the intelligence agency has significant reservations about a potential agreement with Iran, particularly regarding Tehran's willingness to make nuclear concessions, according to a report by Axios.
High-Level Meetings Reveal Divisions
Axios reported on Tuesday that Ratcliffe, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, voiced concerns about the agreement. In contrast, Vice President JD Vance and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner advocated for the deal. The report indicated that Trump and his advisers held a series of high-level meetings to discuss the proposed agreement.
Intelligence Raises Red Flags
During these meetings, Trump and his team reviewed intelligence suggesting that Iranian officials were discussing the deal internally in a manner “inconsistent with what they were telling the mediators and the US,” according to the report. Ratcliffe and Rubio argued that this intelligence raised doubts about whether Iran would follow through on the nuclear-related steps demanded by Washington.
A White House official commented, “President Trump listens to all opinions on any given issue -- but everyone understands he is the final decision-maker.” The official added that the agreement “meets all of the red lines that the administration has long articulated by ensuring that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon, they cannot keep their highly enriched uranium, and they cannot hold the world's energy supply hostage.”
