U.S. Intel Official Says Iran’s Regime Still Intact But Refuses To Discuss Talks With Trump About War | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. authorities’s prime intelligence official informed lawmakers Wednesday that Iran’s regime “appears to be intact but largely degraded” but repeatedly dodged questions on whether or not President Donald Trump had been warned in regards to the fallout from the weeks-old struggle, together with Iran’s assaults on Gulf nations and its efficient closure of the very important Strait of Hormuz.

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of nationwide intelligence, additionally acknowledged in ready remarks to the Senate Intelligence Committee that U.S. assaults on Iran final yr had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program and that there had been no effort since then to rebuild that functionality.

The assertion was notable given Trump’s repeated assertions {that a} struggle with Iran was obligatory to go off what he stated was an imminent menace from the Islamic Republic. Gabbard pointedly stated that conclusion was the president’s alone to attract as she declined to instantly reply whether or not the intelligence group had likewise assessed that Iran’s nuclear system offered an imminent threat to the United States.

“It is not the intelligence community’s responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat,” she stated at one level.

Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia shot again: “It is precisely your responsibility to determine what constitutes a threat to the United States.”

The testimony got here on the first of two congressional hearings held every year to supply the general public a glimpse into the largely secret operations of the federal government’s intelligence companies and the threats they confront.

The hearings this week happen at a time of scrutiny over the struggle with Iran and heightened considerations about terrorism at house after current assaults at a Michigan synagogue and a Virginia college. Wednesday’s listening to additionally got here a day after the resignation of Joe Kent as director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Kent stated he couldn’t “in good conscience” again the struggle and didn’t agree that Iran posed an imminent menace.

But the hours-long listening to supplied few revelations from Gabbard, who repeatedly declined to debate conversations with Trump, or different senior intelligence officers who testified.

“I am very disappointed,” stated an exasperated Sen. Mark Warner, the highest Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. “It’s the only one time of year the public gets to hear from you guys in this kind of setting.”

A frequent line of questioning for Democrats: What intelligence, if any, had been given to Trump in regards to the struggle’s potential penalties? Trump, as an example, has stated he was shocked that Iran responded to strikes from the United States by attacking Arab nations and has been contending with the financial affect of the efficient closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a physique of water connecting the Persian Gulf to the world’s oceans and an important passageway for oil and gasoline.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in a put up on X that Trump was “fully briefed” on the potential for Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz and that the Pentagon has been planning for the potential for Iran closing it “for DECADES.”

But Trump’s plan to safe the waterway is unclear, particularly after he stated this week that NATO and most different allies had rejected his calls to assist safe it. Iran has stated the strait is open besides to the U.S. and its allies.

Democrats obtained few direct solutions once they pressed administration officers on what Trump understood about that chance, with Gabbard saying she wouldn’t reveal her conversations with him and CIA Director John Ratcliffe observing that he had been in numerous briefings with the president.

“We’re trying to figure out if the president knew what the downside was of the Strait of Hormuz being closed,” stated Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat. “Did he know this was going to happen or did he just disregard it?”

Gabbard appeared to attempt to thread a needle between emphasizing the intelligence group’s views of Iran’s dangers — she stated, as an example, that inside tensions would proceed to extend even when the regime’s management remained intact — and never fully echoing the president’s arguments of an imminent menace.

At one level, Warner famous that Gabbard, in her ready written assertion submitted to the committee, stated Iran’s nuclear enrichment program had been obliterated in strikes final yr, however her opening remarks on Wednesday didn’t use that language.

He requested whether or not she had omitted that reference to evolve to Trump’s claims of an imminent menace. Gabbard insisted that she had skipped a few of her written assertion within the curiosity of time.

Trump has sought to distance himself from Kent. Ratcliffe tried to do the identical Wednesday when he was requested whether or not intelligence supported Kent’s evaluation that Iran was not an imminent menace. “The intelligence reflects the contrary,” Ratcliffe stated.

Gabbard and Ratcliffe fielded nearly all of questions, however different witnesses included the heads of the National Security Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency, in addition to FBI Director Kash Patel, who was pressed in regards to the terrorism menace amid a spate of assaults this month. Those embrace a person with a previous terrorism conviction who opened hearth inside an Old Dominion University classroom in Virginia and a Lebanese-born man in Michigan who drove his automotive right into a synagogue.

One topic that didn’t obtain consideration: a lethal missile strike on an elementary college in Iran, which individuals conversant in the matter have stated the U.S. seemingly carried out on account of outdated intelligence.

Apart from Iran, Gabbard was pressed on her presence at an FBI search in January of the primary election hub in Fulton County, Georgia, the place brokers seized voter information associated to the 2020 presidential election. Her look at a home regulation enforcement operation raised eyebrows provided that Gabbard’s workplace is supposed to focus squarely on international threats.

Warner described her look there as a part of an “organized effort to misuse her national security powers to interfere in domestic politics and potentially provide a pretext for the president’s unconstitutional efforts to seize control of the upcoming elections.”

Gabbard responded that she was current for the search on the request of the president however didn’t take part, although she later stated she helped to supervise it.

The House Intelligence Committee will maintain its personal threats listening to on Thursday.

Associated Press writers Mike Catalini, Ben Finley and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.