INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightReutersImage caption
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats testified to the Senate Intelligence
Committee on Tuesday
North Korea is unlikely to fully give up its nuclear weapons, a US intelligence report says, despite
the hopes of the Trump administration
The Worldwide Threat Assessment report also says Iran is not making nuclear weapons, but that cyber threats from China and Russia are a
Both countries may be seeking to influence the 2020 election, it says.National intelligence director Dan Coats and other intelligence chiefs
presented it to the Senate on Tuesday.North Korea remains "unlikely to give up" its weapon stockpiles and production abilities while it
tries to negotiate "partial denuclearisation steps to obtain key US and international concessions", the report says.Having nuclear weapons
is seen as "critical to regime survival", it reads
President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong-un met in Singapore last June to discuss denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.At the
time, Mr Trump claimed this meeting had ended the North Korean nuclear threat:The two leaders signed an agreement pledging to "work toward
complete denuclearisation" but there was no agreed pathway and little progress has been made since then on the issue
North Korea has always insisted it will not unilaterally give up its nuclear arsenal unless the US removes its own nuclear threat.The White
House has said they will meet for a second time in February, but no date or location has yet been confirmed
Image copyrightReutersImage caption
Notrh Korea's Kim Yong-chol (left) travelled to the US for talks in December
The new US report highlights a growing threat from China and Russia, which are "more aligned than at any point since the
Both countries have sophisticated "cyber espionage" capabilities, which they may try to use to influence the 2020 US presidential election
The report also says Iran is not currently making nuclear weapons, although it says the country's "regional ambitions and improved
military capabilities" will probably threaten US interests in the future
President Trump withdrew the US in 2018 from a landmark deal on curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions, and has imposed stricter sanctions to
try to thwart its actions.He had denounced the 2015 agreement as a "horrible, one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made"
At the Senate hearing CIA director Gina Haspel said Iran was "technically in compliance" with the 2015 nuclear deal, despite the US
withdrawal.Image copyrightAFP/GettyImage caption
President Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018
Elsewhere in the Middle East, the report stresses that the so-called Islamic State group (IS) is not yet defeated, despite the Trump
administration's claims to the contrary
While the group will probably not aim to take new territory, the report assesses IS will try to "exploit Sunni grievances, societal
instability, and stretched security forces to regain territory in Iraq and Syria in the long term".President Trump's decision to withdraw
US troops from Syria shocked allies at home and abroad
Mr Trump said the group had been defeated.The administration has since agreed to slow down the withdrawal.Acting US Defence Secretary
Patrick Shanahan however told reporters on Tuesday that IS is close to losing its remaining territory in Syria
"I'd say 99.5% plus of the IS-controlled territory has been returned to the Syrians
Within a couple of weeks, it'll be 100%," he is quoted as saying
