Tulsi Gabbard: Ayatollah's Regime "Intact but Degraded" 

The United States’ top intelligence official said Wednesday that Iran’s regime remains in place but has been significantly weakened by weeks of US and Israeli military action.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told lawmakers during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing that the Iranian government is “intact” but “largely degraded” following strikes on its leadership and military capabilities.

The hearing, which lasted more than two hours, marked the first public intelligence briefing since the war began in late February. Gabbard appeared alongside senior officials including the heads of the CIA, FBI, NSA and Defense Intelligence Agency.

According to Gabbard, US intelligence agencies assess that Iran’s conventional military capabilities have been severely damaged, limiting its ability to project power. However, she warned that if the regime survives the conflict, it is likely to begin a long-term effort to rebuild its missile and drone programs.

She also said intelligence assessments had long anticipated that Iran could move to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil shipping route. The Pentagon, she added, had taken preemptive steps to prepare for potential attacks on energy infrastructure and US interests across the region.

The issue of whether Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States emerged as a central point of contention during the hearing. Gabbard declined to say whether intelligence agencies had made such a determination, stating that only the president can decide what constitutes an imminent threat.

Her comments drew pushback from Democratic lawmakers, who argued that assessing threats is a core responsibility of the intelligence community.

The debate was sharpened by the resignation a day earlier of Joe Kent, the former head of the National Counterterrorism Center, who said in a public letter that Iran had posed “no imminent threat” to the United States and criticized the decision to go to war.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe rejected that assessment, telling lawmakers that Iran has been a longstanding threat and that it posed an immediate danger at the time of the strikes.

Gabbard also addressed Iran’s nuclear program, saying the country had suffered severe damage to its infrastructure in earlier strikes but continued to show intent to rebuild its enrichment capabilities. In prepared written remarks, she had stated that the program had been “obliterated” and not rebuilt, but she did not include that claim in her oral testimony, citing time constraints.

Lawmakers also pressed officials on whether intelligence agencies had warned President Donald Trump about potential Iranian retaliation, including moves to target regional energy infrastructure and disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Gabbard confirmed that the intelligence community had assessed Iran would likely attempt to control or disrupt the strait, which carries a significant share of global oil shipments, but declined to detail what had been communicated directly to the president.

Officials said that despite the damage inflicted on Iran, the regime remains functional and capable of continued regional attacks, even as internal pressures are expected to grow.