Nearly three weeks into the Iran struggle, officers from the Trump administration testified publicly in entrance of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday. Among the many testimonies, Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard made headlines as she dodged a number of questions concerning the intention behind beginning a struggle with Iran.
The listening to additionally got here a day after the resignation of the Director of the Nationwide Counterterrorism Centre, Joe Kent, as a result of struggle in Iran. Kent claimed that Tehran posed no imminent menace to the US and that the struggle was launched solely because of stress from Israel.
Iran’s nuclear programme – Obliterated or imminent menace?
In the course of the 12 day struggle between Iran and Israel final 12 months, the US stepped in with ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’, focusing on three nuclear services and websites in Iran.
Following this operation, US President Donald Trump on a number of events has claimed that Washington utterly “obliterated” the Iranian nuclear programme.
This assertion has been reiterated many instances by Trump and his officers, on quite a few events, even because the US negotiated with Iran over its nuclear programme.
A key query stays – if Iran’s nuclear services have been actually gone and set again by a long time, what menace did Tehran pose?
In his State of the Union tackle, Trump said that Iran was trying to rebuild its nuclear programme. White Home adviser and particular envoy Steve Witkoff went additional and said that Iran was “every week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making materials.”
Therefore, the “imminent nuclear menace” posed by Iran comes into play once more.
Nevertheless, throughout Wednesday’s listening to. Tulsi Gabbard contradicted Trump and Witkoff and stated that there had been no efforts from Iran to rebuild its programme.
“Because of Operation Midnight Hammer (in June), Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was obliterated. There was no efforts since then to attempt to rebuild their enrichment functionality,” she stated.
Trump additionally said in his SOTU tackle that Iran was constructing an intercontinental ballistic missile, which might seen attain the US.
However Gabbard’s remarks as soon as once more contradicted the president’s after she stated that the intelligence group’s evaluation stayed the identical as earlier than, which is that Iran had made no try and restart its programme.
It’s to be famous that this assertion from Gabbard was solely highlighted after Ossof seen that the DNI had omitted the point out of Operation Midnight hammer throughout her opening remarks.
Is Iran’s menace imminent?
We do not know, and it appears neither does the Trump administration. In his resignation letter, Joe Kent stated that Iran posed no menace to the US and the struggle was manufactured solely primarily based on Israeli stress.
Trump and the White Home continues to state that Iran posed an “imminent menace” to Washington, justifying one more struggle within the Center East.
Nevertheless, issues take a flip after Gabbard did not touch upon what an “imminent menace” actually is.
Throughout her testimony, Gabbard, who’s the Director of Nationwide Intelligence for the US, said that the US President is the one one who can decide what’s or will not be an “imminent menace.”
“It’s not the intelligence group’s accountability to find out what’s and isn’t an imminent menace,” stated Gabbard, which was met with a pointy rebuke from Ossof, who stated it was exactly the accountability of the intelligence group to find out what’s a menace to the US.
Trump shocked that Iran struck again
The US President was as soon as once more contradicted after he not too long ago stated that he didn’t count on Iran to strike again and hit the Gulf areas.
Nevertheless, when the US struck Iran in June 2025, the very first thing Iran did was goal US bases within the Gulf area.
“They weren’t purported to go in any case these different international locations within the Center East. These missiles have been despatched to go after them. They hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. No one anticipated that. We have been shocked. , they fought again,” stated Trump.
Experiences citing US officers and sources accustomed to intelligence assessments stated that Iran’s retaliation had been thought of a doable final result earlier than the strikes. Moreover, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz was additionally thought of a doable retaliatory motion from Iran.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in a publish on X that Trump was “absolutely briefed” on the potential of Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz and that the Pentagon has been planning for the potential of Iran closing it “for DECADES.”
Moreover, Iran itself has brazenly said that any escalation or assault in opposition to it will be thought of an act of struggle, as Trump repeatedly warned of a doable US strike because it pressured Iran to signal a nuclear deal.
