Scoop: CIA director doubts Iran's intentions on deal, sources say [View all]

Source: msn/Axios

12h


CIA Director John Ratcliffe told President Trump and other senior officials that intelligence gathered by U.S. intelligence agencies raised serious doubts about Iran's willingness to make the nuclear concessions the U.S. is seeking in any final deal, according to three sources familiar with those discussions.

Friction point: Ratcliffe isn't the only skeptic in Trump's top team. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have both expressed concerns and raised questions about the deal in internal discussions, while Vice President Vance and U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner advocated for it, according to two of the sources.

Behind the scenes: There were a series of high-level meetings about the deal between Trump and his advisers in the lead-up to Sunday's announcement.

During those meetings, Trump and his team discussed intelligence gathered by several U.S. intelligence agencies which showed that the way Iranian officials were discussing the deal among themselves was inconsistent with what they were telling the mediators and the U.S., two sources said.

Ratcliffe and Rubio said that based on that intelligence, they doubted the Iranians would agree to take the nuclear steps the U.S. was seeking, according to two sources.

"The intelligence reflects that the Iranian intentions are not in line with their commitments under the deal," the source said.