The U.S. authorities’s prime intelligence official instructed lawmakers Wednesday (March 19, 2026) that Iran’s regime “seems to be intact however largely degraded” but repeatedly dodged questions on whether or not President Donald Trump had been warned concerning the fallout from the weeks-old warfare, 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 said 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.
Iran-Israel warfare updates on March 18, 2026
The assertion was notable given Mr. Trump’s repeated assertions {that a} warfare with Iran was needed to move off what he stated was an imminent menace from the Islamic Republic. Ms. Gabbard pointedly stated that conclusion was the president’s alone to attract as she declined to immediately reply whether or not the intelligence group had likewise assessed that Iran’s nuclear system offered an imminent danger to america.
“It isn’t the intelligence group’s duty to find out what’s and isn’t an imminent menace,” she stated at one level.
Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia shot again: “It’s exactly your duty to find out what constitutes a menace to america.” The testimony got here on the first of two congressional hearings held annually to supply the general public a glimpse into the largely secret operations of the federal government’s intelligence businesses and the threats they confront.
The hearings this week happen at a time of scrutiny over the warfare with Iran and heightened issues about terrorism at dwelling after latest 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 Nationwide Counterterrorism Middle. Kent stated he couldn’t “in good conscience” again the warfare and didn’t agree that Iran posed an imminent menace.
However the hours-long listening to supplied few revelations from Ms. Gabbard, who repeatedly declined to debate conversations with Trump, or different senior intelligence officers who testified.
“I’m very disenchanted,” stated an exasperated Sen. Mark Warner, the highest Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. “It is the one one time of yr the general public will get to listen to from you guys in this type of setting.” Ms. Gabbard deflected questions on intelligence given to Mr. Trump. A frequent line of questioning for Democrats: What intelligence, if any, had been given to Mr. Trump concerning the warfare’s potential penalties? Mr. Trump, for example, has stated he was shocked that Iran responded to strikes from america by attacking Arab nations and has been contending with the financial impression 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 Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in a publish on X that Mr. Trump was “totally briefed” on the opportunity of Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz and that the Pentagon has been planning for the opportunity of Iran closing it “for DECADES.” However 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 acquired few direct solutions once they pressed administration officers on what Trump understood about that risk, with Gabbard saying she wouldn’t expose her conversations with him and CIA Director John Ratcliffe observing that he had been in numerous briefings with the president.
“We’re making an attempt to determine if the president knew what the draw back was of the Strait of Hormuz being closed,” stated Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat. “Did he know this was going to occur or did he simply disregard it?” Ms. Gabbard appeared to attempt to thread a needle between emphasizing the intelligence group’s views of Iran’s dangers — she stated, for example, that inner tensions would proceed to extend even when the regime’s management remained intact — and never utterly echoing the President’s arguments of an imminent menace.
At one level, Mr. Warner famous that Ms. 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 adapt to Mr. Trump’s claims of an imminent menace. Ms. Gabbard insisted that she had skipped a few of her written assertion within the curiosity of time.
Mr. Trump has sought to distance himself from Mr. Kent. Mr. 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 displays the opposite,” Ratcliffe stated.
Questions on different assaults and Ms. Gabbard’s presence at an FBI search Gabbard and Ratcliffe fielded the vast majority of questions, however different witnesses included the heads of the Nationwide Safety Company and Protection Intelligence Company, in addition to FBI Director Kash Patel, who was pressed concerning the terrorism menace amid a spate of assaults this month. These embody a person with a previous terrorism conviction who opened fireplace inside an Outdated Dominion College classroom in Virginia and a Lebanese-born man in Michigan who drove his automobile right into a synagogue.
One topic that didn’t obtain consideration: a lethal missile strike on an elementary college in Iran, which individuals accustomed to the matter have stated the U.S. seemingly carried out on account of outdated intelligence.
Other than Iran, Ms. Gabbard was pressed on her presence at an FBI search in January of the principle election hub in Fulton County, Georgia, the place brokers seized voter knowledge associated to the 2020 presidential election. Her look at a home legislation enforcement operation raised eyebrows on condition that Ms. Gabbard’s workplace is supposed to focus squarely on overseas threats.
Mr. Warner described her look there as a part of an “organized effort to misuse her nationwide safety powers to intervene in home politics and probably present a pretext for the president’s unconstitutional efforts to grab management of the upcoming elections.” Ms. 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 Home Intelligence Committee will maintain its personal threats listening to on Thursday.
Printed – March 19, 2026 05:24 am IST