The DNI's last report in July warned that Iran was undertaking research activities that "left Tehran better prepared to launch a nuclear-weapons program".
In the new report, the DNI said that since Israel and Iran first exchanged direct military attacks in April, there had been a public debate in Iran about the deterrent value of nuclear weapons.
Such a debate reflects "both the erosion of a decades-old taboo of such discussions in public and a perception that Iran needs to rectify a strategic imbalance with its adversaries", the report said.
This debate risks emboldening "nuclear weapons advocates" within Iran's decision-making apparatus and shifting the thinking of current and future Iranian elites about the utility of nuclear weapons, the DNI said.
IRNA