Iran’s government has been significantly degraded since the war began on Feb. 28, but it remains intact and Tehran and its proxies are still capable of attacking U.S. and allied interests in the Middle East, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Wednesday.
“The regime in Iran appears to be intact but largely degraded by Operation Epic Fury,” Gabbard said in her opening statement before the Senate Intelligence Committee’s annual hearing on worldwide threats, referring to the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran.
“Even so, Iran and its proxies remain capable of and continue to attack U.S. and allied interests in the Middle East,” she said. “If a hostile regime survives, it will seek to begin a years-long effort to rebuild its missile and UAV forces.”
The hearing was expected to focus heavily on the Iran war, now in its third week. Lawmakers, including some of President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans as well as Democrats, have said they want more information about the air campaign, which has killed thousands, disrupted the lives of millions and rattled energy and financial markets.
Democrats in particular have accused the administration of failing to adequately brief Congress on a conflict that has cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars. They have called for public testimony instead of the classified briefings held over the past two weeks.
Testimony from Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe was also expected to address the resignation Tuesday of a top Gabbard aide over the war.
Joe Kent, who headed the National Counterterrorism Center, became the first senior Trump administration official to resign over the conflict. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence oversees the counterterrorism center. Kent is considered close to Gabbard, who has maintained a relatively low public profile since the war began.
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent wrote in a resignation letter posted on social media. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful lobby.”
The White House rejected Kent’s assertion, calling his claims false.
Gabbard’s threat assessment added to uncertainty over the state of Iran’s nuclear program. Some administration officials said before the war that Iran was weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon, a key justification cited for launching airstrikes.
On Wednesday, however, Gabbard said Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was “obliterated” in U.S. and Israeli strikes in June and that Washington has seen no effort since to rebuild its enrichment capability.
What was Trump told?
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who chairs the committee, praised Trump in his opening statement, saying the president’s actions in Iran and elsewhere had made the world safer.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the committee’s vice chairman, criticized the administration for failing to adequately brief Congress on the war and other matters. He also criticized Gabbard for investigating U.S. elections while the intelligence community has reduced staffing in areas such as monitoring Iran.
Questions have mounted over what intelligence Trump received before deciding to join Israel in striking Iran.
Sources familiar with U.S. intelligence reports have said Trump was warned that attacking Iran could trigger retaliation against U.S. allies in the Gulf, despite his statement Monday that Tehran’s response came as a surprise.
Trump’s assertion followed other administration claims that have not been backed by U.S. intelligence reporting, including that Iran was close to fielding a missile capable of reaching the U.S. homeland and that it would need two to four weeks to produce a nuclear bomb.
According to two sources familiar with the matter, Trump was also briefed ahead of the operation that Tehran would likely seek to close the Strait of Hormuz.
The House Intelligence Committee is scheduled to hold its worldwide threats hearing Thursday.