Donald Trump has said that Tulsi Gabbard and the US intelligence community is “wrong” about Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

The US president doubled down on his claim that his own government officials are mistaken about how close Iran is to building a nuclear bomb when challenged by a reporter on Friday.

“What intelligence do you have that Iran is building a nuclear weapon?”, Mr Trump was asked outside Air Force One. “Your intelligence community have said they have no evidence that they are at this point.”

“Well then my intelligence community is wrong,” Mr Trump responded, before asking: “who in my intelligence community said that?”

“Your director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard,” the reporter replies, before the president retorts: ‘She’s wrong.”

Mr Trump added: “Within a matter of weeks, or certainly within a matter of months, they’re going to be able to have a nuclear weapon. We can’t let that happen.”

In March, Ms Gabbard told Congress the intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorised the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”

She also said the US was closely monitoring Iran’s nuclear program, noting that the country’s “enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons.”

Its the second time Mr Trump has directly contradicted Ms Gabbard on the issue, with the US president saying on Thursday that he did not “care what she thinks”.

Speaking aboard Air Force One on his return from the G7 summit in Canada, Mr Trump told reporters: “I think they were very close to having a weapon.”

Ms Gabbard later told CNN that her comments had been taken out of context and that she was on “the same page” as Mr Trump.