Trump's national intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, told Congress in March that Iran's supreme leader had not reauthorized the dormant program.

Tulsi Gabbard left no doubt when she testified to Congress about Iran’s nuclear program earlier this year.

The country was not building a nuclear weapon, the national intelligence director told lawmakers, and its supreme leader had not reauthorized the dormant program even though it had enriched uranium to higher levels.

But Donald Trump dismissed the assessment of U.S. spy agencies during an overnight flight back to Washington as he cut short his trip to the Group of Seven summit to focus on the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.

“I don’t care what she said,” Trump told reporters. In his view, Iran was “very close” to having a nuclear bomb.

  • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
    11·
    2 days ago

    Yes, and I know it’s not fascism. “Fascism” is a word that has a meaning, and that meaning is not “authoritarian regime I don’t like”.

    • torrentialgrain@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      I would say most if not all boxes of fascism by definition are ticked in Iran.

      Dictatorial leader, forceful suppression of any opposition and/or critics, strong militarism, centralized autocracy, nation above the individual, a strong regimentation of society, …

      • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
        11·
        2 days ago

        I’m not sure how militarized Iranian society is, but most of what you said applies to most dictatorships. On the other hand,

        Ultranationalism, combined with the myth of national rebirth, is a key foundation of fascism.[271] Robert Paxton argues that “a passionate nationalism” is the basis of fascism, combined with “a conspiratorial and Manichean view of history” which holds, “the chosen people have been weakened by political parties, social classes, unassimilable minorities, spoiled rentiers, and rationalist thinkers.”[272] Roger Griffin identifies the core of fascism as being palingenetic ultranationalism.

        -Wikipedia. The idea that there are undesirables in society who must be purged or suppressed to achieve national (as in racial) unity and greatness is a core tenet of fascism that is conspicuously absent from Iran. I mean hell, if Iran was running anything like this they’d go after their Jews (which they have a small number of), Christians or Sunni Muslims to rile up the Shia majority, but they don’t.