US intelligence director states Iran’s government remains ‘intact’ yet ‘degraded’. 11 hours earlier. Madeline, gehen Sie. Kayla Epstein on kanssani. Images from Getty. The US’s top intelligence official stated on Wednesday that Iran’s regime remains “intact” but “largely degraded.” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, along with other senior Trump administration figures, testified for over two hours at a congressional hearing on global threats to the United States. This marked the first public intelligence briefing since the war started in late February, occurring one day after a senior counterterrorism official resigned, asserting that Iran posed no imminent threat to the US. Gabbard, who oversees national intelligence efforts, noted that the US had foreseen issues in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping route. “The IC [intelligence community] assesses that Iran’s regime appears intact but largely degraded from strikes on its leadership and military assets,” she remarked. Testifying with the directors of the CIA, FBI, NSA, and Defense Intelligence Agency, Gabbard refused to respond to repeated questions from Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff about viewing Iran as an imminent threat. “Only the president can decide what qualifies as an imminent threat,” she replied. Since the war’s onset, bipartisan lawmakers and pundits have scrutinized the US strikes on the Islamic Republic and whether the Trump team anticipated Hormuz disruptions along Iran’s southern coast. President Donald Trump stated that the US launched attacks primarily because Iran was developing nuclear weapons that endangered the US and Israel. On Tuesday, Joe Kent stepped down as director of the national counterterrorism center, declaring in a public resignation letter that Iran presented “no imminent threat” to the US and condemning Trump for the war. CIA Director John Ratcliffe testified on Wednesday that he disagreed with Kent, stating, “I think Iran has been a constant threat to the United States for an extended period of time, and posed an immediate threat at this time.” Gabbard noted that US and Israeli strikes in the Middle East had “largely destroyed” Iran’s military capabilities. She added that intelligence assessments showed Iran was attempting to recover from heavy damage to its nuclear infrastructure from the 12-Day War and was still refusing to meet its nuclear commitments. The US and Israel conducted strikes on Iran over 12 days in June 2025 to eliminate its potential nuclear bomb-making abilities. In prepared remarks for the hearing, Gabbard claimed those attacks had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, with Iran making “no efforts” to reconstruct it. However, she did not read that statement aloud. When Democratic Senator Mark Warner questioned Gabbard about the omission, she explained that she had to shorten her public comments because they were “running long.” “So you chose to leave out the parts that contradict the president,” Warner replied,
