U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday publicly belittled his intelligence officials over the sharp disagreements in their foreign policy viewpoints related to Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
"The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong!" said Trump in a Wednesday tweet.
Trump's criticism came one day after top U.S. intelligence officials told the U.S. lawmakers at a Congressional hearing that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons in violation of the 2015 nuclear agreement, contradicting Washington's rhetoric when it quit the landmark pact last May.
Citing alleged Iranian rocket launches, Trump also said in another tweet that Tehran was "coming very to the edge."
"Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!" the White House host added.
Washington has reimposed comprehensive sanctions against Tehran since U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, seeking to curtail "Iran's malign influence across the region."
CIA Director Gina Haspel, National Intelligence Director Dan Coats, and FBI Director Christopher Wray were among the witnesses who testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on global threats to the United States on Tuesday.
The officials' testimony on Pyongyang became another trigger point that invited Trump's rebuttal.
"We currently assess that North Korea (DPRK) will seek to retain its WMD capabilities and is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons," said Coats during the hearing.
In response, Trump said Wednesday that progress is "being made" in negotiations with Pyongyang and he saw a "decent chance" of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
"North Korea relationship is best it has ever been with U.S. ... Decent chance of Denuclearization,"he said in a tweet.
Washington-Pyongyang talks on denuclearization have regained momentum recently as the White House announced over a week ago that the second summit between the leaders of the two countries "will take place near the end of February."
"I look forward to seeing Kim Jong Un (the DPRK's top leader) shortly. Progress being made-big difference!" said the U.S. president.
The meeting between Trump and Kim Jong Un, if held as scheduled, will be the two leaders' second face-to-face encounter following their landmark summit in Singapore last June. Both sides have said they look forward to such a meeting.
Kim said that during his Jan. 7-10 trip to China, his fourth visit to China in less than a year, Pyongyang will make efforts for the second summit between DPRK and U.S. leaders to achieve results that will be welcomed by the international community. The DPRK leader also thanked China for its related efforts.
