Gabbard Refuses To Say If Iran Represented ‘Imminent’ Threat, Says Regime Is ‘Intact’

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee to answer questions about the Iran war and America’s national security. During that lengthy hearing, she refused to say if she believed Iran represented an “imminent” threat to America and said the regime is largely intact. Ms. Gabbard built her reputation in Congress as a progressive, anti-war lawmaker before running for president in 2020. By 2024, she had re-registered as a Republican and endorsed President Trump. Ms. Gabbard on Wednesday was pressed by lawmakers about the justification for the strikes, considering Mr. Trump had claimed that Iran was close to obtaining a nuclear weapon despite the facilities being “obliterated” last year. During questioning from Senator Jon Ossoff, Ms. Gabbard declined to say if she agreed with the president’s assessment that an attack was likely to happen. “The White House stated on March 1st of this year that this war was launched and was, ‘a military campaign to eliminate the imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime,’” Ms. Ossoff said to Ms. Gabbard. “Was it the assessment of the intelligence community that there was an imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime?”“The intelligence community assessed that Iran maintained the intention to rebuild and to continue to grow their nuclear enrichment capability,” Ms. Gabbard said, leading Mr. Ossoff to ask again if the intelligence community believed there was an “imminent” threat. “Senator, the only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat is the president and he made that determination,” Ms. Gabbard responded. “False,” Ms. Ossoff shot back, cutting her off. “It is not the intelligence community’s responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat,” she said, again declining to answer and she and Mr. Ossoff talked over each other. “That is up to the president based on a volume of information that he receives.”“It is precisely your responsibility to determine what constitutes a threat to the United States,” the senator told her. Like Mr. Trump, Ms. Gabbard expressed confidence that Iranian military capabilities are “largely” destroyed, though she conceded that the regime itself is still “intact.” Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was chosen to succeed his father following the late ayatollah’s death. “The intelligence community assesses the regime in Iran appears to be intact but largely degraded due to attack on its leadership and military capabilities,” Ms. Gabbard told senators in her opening statement. “Conventional military power projection capabilities largely have been destroyed, leaving limited options. Iran’s strategic position has been significantly degraded.”Ms. Gabbard was unsure, however, about how killing the supreme leader may inspire Iranians outside of the regime, which she says is using him as a martyr. “The Iranians are certainly using that as a call to action. The effects of that from an intelligence standpoint remain to be seen,” she said. In her own office, Ms. Gabbard recently faced a high-profile defection. On Tuesday, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, announced he would be resigning in protest amid the war. He says Israeli officials goaded Mr. Trump into launching the war on their behalf. In a statement later that day, Ms. Gabbard said it was not Mr. Kent’s decision to determine the severity of threats to the United States. Without saying if the Iranians posed an imminent threat to America, Ms. Gabbard wrote in her statement that only Mr. Trump had the power to make the determination. “After carefully reviewing all the information before him, President Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion,” Ms. Gabbard said Tuesday.

Gabbard Refuses To Say If Iran Represented ‘Imminent’ Threat, Says Regime Is ‘Intact’

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