March 19 (UPI) — The United States and Israel’s objectives in the war on Iran are not aligned, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Thursday in a congressional hearing on national security threats.
She told lawmakers on the House Select Committee on Intelligence that Israel is “focused on disabling the Iranian leadership,” starting with the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Iranian supreme leader died in a strike on Feb. 28, the day the United States and Israel began their attacks on Iran.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, asked Gabbard how that differed from the United States’ goals.
“The president has stated that his objectives are to destroy Iran’s ballistic missile-launching capability, their ballistic missile production capability and their navy, the IRGC navy and mine length capability,” she said, referring to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ naval branch.
Gabbard said she didn’t know if Israel supported President Donald Trump’s aim to strike a deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program. She also didn’t answer why Israel attacked Iran’s energy infrastructure despite Trump’s desire not to do so.
“We are not involved … in the operational element of this,” she said. “We’re providing continuously, on a daily basis, the intelligence assessments of the events that are occurring.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who also testified in Thursday’s hearing, answered questions about the status of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, confirming the country had achieved 60% enrichment.
“There’s a reason you’re at 60%, because you are pursuing nuclear ambitions,” he said, adding that he’s not aware of any countries that have reached that level without eventually producing nuclear weapons.
Ratcliffe said Iran had not abandoned its nuclear weapons ambitions after strikes last year.
“The activities to rebuild or reconstitute their nuclear facilities and centrifuges is something that the intelligence, there’s a body of intelligence that I think confirms that,” he said.
Ratcliffe echoed Trump’s sentiments that there was an imminent threat to justify the attack on Iran.
“Nuclear weapons are a grave threat in the hands of religious ideologues,” he said.
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