Iran Press/America: Those conclusions are part of an annual Worldwide Threat Assessment released on Tuesday that also stressed the growing cyberthreat from Russia and China, which it said were now 'more aligned than at any point since the mid-1950s.'
According to The New York Times, the 42-page threat report found that American trade policies and 'unilateralism'—central themes of Donald Trump’s 'America First' approach—have strained traditional alliances and prompted foreign partners to seek new relationships.
In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee linked to the release of the report, America's intelligence chiefs tried to avoid directly questioning administration policies. Yet they detailed a different ranking of the threats facing the United States, starting with cyber attacks and moving on to North Korea and Iran.
Daniel Coats, the national intelligence director, told lawmakers that Daesh terrorists (also known as ISIS) would continue 'to stoke violence' in Syria. He was backed up by the written review, which said there were thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria and a dozen Daesh terror networks around the world.
Just last month, Donald Trump said: “We have won against ISIS; we’ve beaten them, and we’ve beaten them badly”, whilst announcing the withdrawal of American troops from Syria.
The starkest contradiction drawn by the intelligence chiefs was their assessment of North Korea.
Coats cited 'some activity that is inconsistent with full denuclearization', adding that most of what North Korea has dismantled is reversible. He said the North’s “leaders ultimately view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival and that North Korea is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capability.”
That assessment of North Korea was echoed by the head of the Defence Intelligence Agency, Lt Gen Robert Ashley. He told the Senate committee: “The capability and threat that existed a year ago are still there.”
On one of president Trump’s key assertions—that Iran had cheated on the spirit of the 2015 nuclear agreement (known as JCPOA) even if it was temporarily following its terms—Dan Coats said Tehran continued to comply with the deal even after the president announced in May that the United States would withdraw from it.
"We do not believe Iran is currently undertaking activities we judge necessary to produce a nuclear device," Coats said.
Donald Trump had called the nuclear agreement, also known as JCPOA, 'defective at its core'. Trump abrogated the nuclear agreement (JCPOA) in May last year and his administration has threatened sanctions against anyone doing business with Iran.
Trump has also dismissed climate change as a hoax, and on Tuesday tweeted: “What the hell is going on with Global Warming? Please come back fast, we need you!”
The administration has scrubbed references to climate science from government websites, but Coats’s report presented it as a major threat to the world.
“Climate hazards such as extreme weather, higher temperatures, droughts, floods, wildfires, storms, sea level rise, soil degradation, and acidifying oceans are intensifying, threatening infrastructure, health, and water and food security,” Coats warned. 211/103
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